Nate Silver speculates that, with both sides dug in, the shutdown could end with a bang rather than a whimper.
There’s the possibility that the shutdown ends not with a whimper (with Trump caving or with he and Pelosi anticlimactically reaching a compromise) but instead with a literal or proverbial bang, such as the government bungling a response to a natural or man-made disaster.
The likelihood of this grows with each passing day. Fortunately, the frequency of major meteor strikes is only about once in every 250,000 years. And with any luck it will come down in Canada instead.
Non-essential employees…
Every gop senator up in 2020 who voted in favor of lifting the sanctions needs to be asked why they supported a Russian economic stimulus package while our down own government was shut down.
Hell, all of them need to explain this. Looking at you Mittens.
“Russia, this is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe,” Romney said.
No problem.
No Trump hotels or golf courses are in danger.
But Mr. Trump, WHO WILL MAN THE RAKES!?!
Thank you for finally running an article about the actual practical effects of the shutdown, not just unpaid workers. Unfortunately, the recent coverage points to how little the press actually pays attention to what our government does.
Most of us don’t interact with the federal government on a day-to-day basis, which probably makes it hard to develop stories with broad appeal. However, virtually every American does interact with the feds at least on April 15, and multiple times throughout the year even thought we may not be aware of what they’re doing. The more these small practical impact stories get out, the more Americans realize the feds are there for a reason in our society and their work is a good part of what holds our country together.
As a supplement to this story, FEMA has stopped all activity with the communities impacted by the fires, or Houston for the floods, for recovery efforts. These disasters are on the verge of bankrupting the effected communities and the eventual hope of federal relief, of any kind, just hit the big pause button. If you don’t think this is a big deal, then I pray your community stays safe and never has a disaster.
Similar to how he’s trying to recall IRS workers so that they can get refunds out (all to cover his own ass on this shutdown, of course), perhaps donnie can at least find some money somewhere for fire prevention. It doesn’t have to be anything major - we’re just talking a few hundred rakes and brooms to help with sweeping the forest floors for combustible materials like they do in Scandanavian forests.
A tragedy may be needed to end the shutdown.
Second your comments. My step-son is assistant chief of a Forest Service hot shot crew in central Oregon, and is beginning to chafe at the loss of controlled burn and hiring/training opportunities. His comment: “First week or two was okay, but now this is just plain stupid.”