Originally published at: Portland Points to Random Use of Force by Fed Officers as It Fights Nat’l Guard Deployment - TPM – Talking Points Memo
Startling to Watch One figure has emerged repeatedly in the first two days of a trial over President Trump’s attempted deployment of the National Guard to Portland: The out-of-control, tear gas-happy federal officer. On Thursday, Portland’s Caroline Turco showed the witness, Assistant Chief Craig Dobson of the Portland Police, a video showing federal officers deploying…
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We’re 30 days into the government shutdown with minimal signs of movement from either side on where they stand. Democratic leadership continues to push for measures that would protect the expiring Obamacare subsidies among other health care related policies in exchange for their votes. Republican leadership say they will not negotiate until the government reopens.
My company lobbyist reported today that the two sides are finally talking quietly behind the scenes. They are trying to figure out a way that both sides can say they won. The Dems will get what they are asking for regarding SNAP and the ACA but they will vote for a clean CR for several parts of the government spending. Normal legislative stuff.
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saying that election monitors are “fairly ordinary so long as there is a reason to monitor that relates to federal laws that the DOJ enforces.”
There is no reason for them to be monitoring our elections. And if they try to interfere I hope the CA State police arrest them, hog tie them, then throw them in a cell somewhere and forget where.
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In any normal administration that would sound promising. But in this one, King Trump decides when the shutdown ends, and he has no concept of “both sides saying they won.” He’s zero sum game all the way. He won’t pull the puppet strings on Magic Mike to restart the government until he’s convinced this can be a win for the R’s and a loss for the Dems. Someone has to lose, and it has to be the Dems.
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The presumes CF-DJT (and Project 2025) will abide by any passed budget bill.
Evidence of that?
Less than zero.
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an infusion of federal law enforcement has only inflamed the protests.
The Speaker of the House should be removed immediately for violating his oath.
It is inexcusable – and beyond a presidential immunity – for Mike Johnson to choose whether or not to swear in a duly elected representative. It’s his duty to do it.
This extension of Mitch McConnell’s perversion has got to stop.
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election monitors are “fairly ordinary so long as there is a reason to monitor that relates to federal laws that the DOJ enforces.”
He added that transparency for both the state and the federal government is a good thing, so long as all “observers and monitors that represent the state or the federal government, or a campaign, or candidate or political party, be authorized under the law and understand that their role is to be a fly on the wall.”
You know that with convicted felon’s election monitors they will not follow the law and they will refuse to be flies on the wall. Just saying.
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@zenicetus and @tigersharktoo have it: congress is in a double bind.
- Republicans cannot follow through on any promise Trump opposes; he decides.
- Regardless of what Republicans and Democrats agree to, opposed or not, Trump’s administration either follows Trump or whatever grift is permitted under his regime.
Trump is untrustworthy and thus so are his adherents. Only the next election or impeachment can cure this.
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I read this earlier this morning from elsewhere, so I am not taking credit:
Imagine if the dumbest person in the world and humanity’s biggest asshole were the same person, and that guy was president.
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The Chipotle/Shake Shack article link brought this to mind:
One benefit of the shutdown for Trump is that none of the usual labor & economic statistics are being released. I’m pretty sure we’re either in or on the precipice of a recession, while Trump’s horrid economic policies keep pushing inflation upward.
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I’ve never liked the word “pet”. To me it makes my dog, cat or other critter an object. My furry friends have their own personalities and they are deserving of respect.
Recently I’ve had that distaste reinforced. I have prostate cancer. Part of the work up to lossible surgery was a PET scan to determine if the cancer had spread out of my prostate gland (it has not). To do the scan I was injected with a small dose of an element called gallium. It was a radioactive version connected to an antibody specific for my sort of cancer. I hate needles. So the combo of a needle, radioactivity in my body, and 30 minutes in a tube shaped machine scanning me has made pet all the more undesirable
Don’t get me wrong. I’m just in a cranky mood
I will say that I liked both the image of the insects and the kitty!!!
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That is exactly what I thought when I read the report, but a lot of Republican congresscritters are getting really itchy. They want to have some chance to win in the fall. MAGA Mike meet hard place. .
As to the lobbyists, they have clients who want the shutdown to end so they grasp at straws.
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Trump’s word is meaningless.
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SWEAR IN ADELITA GRIJALVA!!! She has been duly elected in a Special Election held Sept 23rd to represent Arizona’s 7th CD
We have been without a representative since March of this year when Raul Grijalva died. Adelita has properly shown her credentials. Our state AG has approved the vote. We wait for Speaker Johnson to do his goddamned job and swear her in to office. 
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I’m so glad that the cancer hasn’t spread. I’ll do my best not to refer to my animal roommates as objects and I really appreciate the admonition as, this is a pet peeve of mine as well. Can’t believe I used that word!
The spider has left for the winter. We thought that maybe she had passed, but more likely she found a hole in the wall and will sleep it out, as all we found was molt. I’m glad it’s gone because, that thing bit me once and it hurt. Also, I’m glad to be rid of its web that spanned the entire window. It’s a hobo spider, and they’re mean. But we certainly don’t hold that against the spider. Not its fault. It was fun watching it instantly move several feet to kill a fly, like some cross between Spider-Man and the flash.
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Regarding the shutdown and the Dems’ negotiating position: I can’t understand why, given that the cause of the loss of benefits (SNAP, health insurance subsidies) was the virtually one-sided passage of the Big Bad Bad Bad Bill, there should be ANY expectation that if the negotiations were to occur AFTER passage of a CR, Republicans would say anything but “Pound Sand.”
Even if there’s a “deal” to restore that funding, which would significantly spike the deficit BECAUSE of the Billionaires’ Tax Cut in the BBBB, there’s little reason to suppose TFG would honor it.
Not at all sure what the alternative is when you’re dealing with liars and cheats. Seems like, it they renege, that has to be one more bit of evidence why you shouldn’t vote Republican if you believe in the America that existed before January 20, as if there wasn’t plenty of evidence already.
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darr, great news on the scan ! I had the same procedure done when my cancer returned, it was very….. distasteful ….. You’re on the way to a successful procedure so hope the mood improves. As for the pets, I have very little human interaction down here but spend countless hours with my furry friends getting to know their personalities. Just snapped this pic of Nosey the Curious Cat on my porch, it reminds me of the old RCA Victor dog logo.
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I don’t care much for spiders but try not to kill any creature. I’m not sure the species name on this one but it’s the Belizean variant of a wolf spider. Took this pic of one on my bathroom wall a few days ago and left it be. My exception is if I find one too close to my bed or clothes, their bites are supposed to be quite painful.
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The one one critter that is death on sight from me are mosquitos. In the early 1990’s in Southern Mexico one gave me malaria.
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