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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#268551: Jan 24th 2019 at 10:06:44 PM

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/01/24/day-735/

    Day 735: History and tradition. 
1/ The Senate failed to advance a pair of competing proposals to reopen the government and end the partial shutdown, which is now in its 34th day. The first vote was on a Republican-backed proposal to allocate $5.7 billion for Trump's border wall. The second vote was on a Democratic-backed proposal to temporarily reopen the shuttered government agencies without providing any money for a wall. Both measures fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance. The two votes were the first the Senate has taken to reopen the government since the shutdown began on Dec. 22. (Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/senate-votes-shutdown-congress/index.html

2/ House Democrats are preparing a funding proposal that is expected to include at least $5 billion for border protection efforts, but won't include new money for Trump's border wall. The money would go to the Department of Homeland Security and be used for new technology and more law enforcement agents. (Politico / Vox)

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/23/house-democrats-border-security-plan-1120982

Trump is pushing for a "large down payment" on his border wall in exchange for a potential deal to reopen the government for three weeks. Trump suggested that he'd back a deal by Mitch Mc Connell and Chuck Schumer "if they come to a reasonable agreement." He then added: "I have other alternatives." [This story is developing…] (CNBC) / NBC News)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/white-house-demands-large-down-payment-on-the-wall-as-schumer-and-mcconnell-try-to-reach-shutdown-deal.html

3/ The White House is preparing a draft proclamation for Trump to declare a national emergency at the border. They've identified more than $7 billion in potential funds for his border wall by pulling $681 million from the treasury forfeiture funds, $3.6 billion in military construction, $3 billion in Pentagon civil works funds, and $200 million in Department of Homeland Security funds. Trump's advisers are divided on the issue. (CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/trump-border-wall-emergency-draft/index.html

4/ Trump won't deliver his State of the Union address during the shutdown after all, capitulating to Nancy Pelosi, who vowed not to pass a "concurrent resolution authorizing the president's State of the Union address in the House chamber until government has opened." The White House was reportedly caught off-guard by Pelosi's statement, leaving officials scrambling for a response. Officials also worried that a campaign-style rally wouldn't be formal enough for the traditional speech, and that Trump is prone to veer off message during a rally. The other reason: TV networks might not carry the rally live. Trump instead tweeted that he will wait until the shutdown is over because nowhere could compete with the "history and tradition" of the House chamber. Fox News host Laura Ingraham, meanwhile, called Trump's decision to concede to Pelosi was a "bad decision." (CNN / The Guardian / New York Times / CBS News)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/politics/white-house-state-of-the-union-off-guard/index.html

5/ Trump's commerce secretary doesn't "really quite understand why" unpaid federal workers are going food banks when they could take out low-interest loans from banks and credit unions to cover their bills. The suggestion by Wilbur Ross comes as roughly 800,000 unpaid federal workers are about to miss their second paycheck due to the shutdown. Chuck Schumer called Ross' comments "unreal" while Pelosi characterized them as a "let-them-eat-cake attitude." (CNBC / Politico / CNN / Washington Post)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/business/wilbur-ross-loans-food-assistance-government-shutdown/index.html

Air traffic controllers' union: "We cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break." Union leaders said staffing at air traffic control facilities was at a "30-year low" as employees continue to callout. Airlines also warned that passengers will soon face worse delays and more canceled flights if the partial federal government shutdown drags on further. (The Guardian) / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/23/air-traffic-controllers-government-shutdown-warning

John Kelly and four other former Homeland Security secretaries called on Trump to end the shutdown on national security grounds. Kelly, along with Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano, and Jeh Johnson sent a joint letter to Trump calling on him "to restore the funding necessary to ensure our homeland remains safe and that the Department's critical national security functions continue without compromise." (Daily Beast)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-trump-chief-of-staff-john-kelly-calls-on-president-to-end-shutdown

The White House economist said the U.S. economy will grow "very close to zero" if the shutdown persists through March. Economists at J.P. Morgan said the government shutdown is beginning to take its toll on the U.S. economy, as they cut their first quarter growth estimate to 1.75%. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/us-economy-estimated-to-be-growing-at-less-than-2-percent-due-to-shutdown-jp-morgan-says.html

6/ The Senate Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena for Michael Cohen to testify in mid-February after he delayed his public testimony before the House Oversight Committee over alleged "ongoing threats against his family from President Trump" and members of his legal team. Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, said his client will "he will honor the subpoena." It is not clear if the House Oversight and Intelligence committees will also issue subpoenas for Cohen, who is expected to begin serving a three-year prison term in early March. Trump weighed in on Twitter, calling Cohen a "bad lawyer." (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/michael-cohen-subpoenaed-senate-intelligence-committee/index.html

Paul Manafort's lawyers argued that special counsel prosecutors wrongly twisted memory lapses and misstatements by Manafort into deliberate lies about his interactions with Russian citizen Konstantin Kilimnik, who received the polling data in 2016 as Trump was closing in on the Republican presidential nomination. (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/us/politics/paul-manafort-mueller-investigation.html

poll/ 50% of Americans believe Robert Mueller's investigation is justified. 45% believe it is politically motivated. In November, 46% of Americans thought the investigation was justified and 51% believed it was politically motivated. (CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/mueller-investigation-cbs-poll/index.html

poll/ 60% of Americans blame Trump for the shutdown. 65% of Americans, including 86% of Democrats, 69% of independents and 33% of Republicans, call the shutdown a major problem. (Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/dad8086738a64b4ba78c0404d5d04e79

Notables.

The Trump administration hasn't imposed required sanctions on Moscow nearly three months after determining that Russia had violated the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act in connection with the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. (NBC News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-admin-has-not-imposed-new-sanctions-russia-required-law-n962216

Russia warned the U.S. against launching a military intervention in Venezuela after Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in a coup d'etat and Trump threatened to use the "full weight" of U.S. economic and diplomatic power to stabilize the country. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela "would be a catastrophic scenario that would shake the foundations of the development model which we see in Latin America." (NBC News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-warns-u-s-against-military-intervention-venezuela-n962091

Elizabeth Warren plans to propose a "wealth tax" on Americans with more than $50 million in assets. The tax is projected to apply to less than 0.1% of households and would raise approximately $2.75 trillion over 10 years. (Washington Post / CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/elizabeth-warren-to-propose-new-wealth-tax-economic-advisor.html

The U.S. and China are still "miles and miles" apart on a trade deal with "lots and lots of issues." The Dow and S&P 500 traded lower after Wilbur Ross' remarks. (Bloomberg / CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/stock-market-major-earnings-and-data-in-focus.html

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#268552: Jan 24th 2019 at 10:14:21 PM

Double post for a couple of non-wtf stories:

‘This is your fault’: GOP senators clash over shutdown inside private luncheon

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/this-is-your-fault-gop-senators-clash-over-shutdown-inside-private-luncheon/2019/01/24/cde0ca22-2045-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html

Republican senators clashed with one another and confronted Vice President Pence inside a private luncheon on Thursday, as anger hit a boiling point over the longest government shutdown in history.

“This is your fault,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told Majority Leader Mitch Mc Connell (R-Ky.) at one point, according to two Republicans who attended the lunch and witnessed the exchange.

“Are you suggesting I’m enjoying this?” Mc Connell snapped back, according to the people who attended the lunch.

Johnson spokesman Ben Voelkel confirmed the confrontation. He said Johnson was expressing frustration with the day’s proceedings — votes on dueling plans to reopen the government, both of which failed to advance.

The people who attended the lunch spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a closed-door session. Aides to Mc Connell, citing regular policy on GOP lunches, declined to comment on the gathering.

The argument was one of several heated moments in a lunch that came just before the Senate voted on the opposing plans to end the shutdown offered by President Trump and Democrats.

The outbursts highlighted the toll the shutdown has taken on Republican lawmakers, who are dealing with growing concerns from constituents and blame from Democrats, all while facing pressure from conservatives to stand with Trump in his demand for money to build a wall on the border with Mexico.


Analysis: Trump just lost a lot of leverage in the shutdown

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/01/24/trump-just-lost-key-leverage-shutdown/

While the measure failed, the Republican crossovers are significant. Shutdowns are about both sides holding the line — and that’s especially the case on the GOP side. Trump is demanding $5.7 billion in border wall funding or he won’t reopen the government, but six GOP senators just served notice that they won’t hold that line with him.

They’ll emphasize that they all voted for both bills, including the one with Trump’s wall funding, and that they just want to see the government open again. But their votes can’t help but present a somewhat divided and irresolute Republican front — in contrast to a very united Democratic one. They’re all saying they won’t make the same demand Trump is making. And when it comes to past shutdowns, this is generally how things begin to head toward a conclusion.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#268553: Jan 24th 2019 at 10:16:06 PM

[up]As math792d has said before: let them eat each other.

Disgusted, but not surprised
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#268554: Jan 24th 2019 at 10:22:58 PM

Damn, where is the world's smallest violin when you need it?

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#268555: Jan 24th 2019 at 10:25:32 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#268556: Jan 24th 2019 at 10:27:50 PM

With regards to AOC and populism, here's what really gets me and makes me feel confident in her: she's a team player.

Populists don't play well with others. They ride the Great Man narrative. Trump literally said about the problems in our system, exact words, "I alone can fix it."

AOC doesn't do that. To my knowledge, she's never done that. She supports Pelosi and works hard to raise awareness of issues that the party as a whole are in favor of, using the platform that her popularity has garnered for her.

The greatest "threat" that AOC's popularity poses to America is that she might cause people to start listening to the ideas that Democrats have been trying to explain for decades.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#268557: Jan 24th 2019 at 10:31:12 PM

I call Ocasio-Cortez a populist because, as I've pointed out before, that is what she has called herself.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#268558: Jan 24th 2019 at 10:59:54 PM

I find it weirdly fascinating how weirdly terrified the Right is of AOC. Because from where I'm standing, the only real difference between her and a generic politician is that she's female, not white, and young enough to know how to be charismatic on the internet.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#268559: Jan 24th 2019 at 11:01:38 PM

I agree that while I'm still pretty skeptical of AOC on the whole and still don't trust her to be effective in a direct position of authority at this point, my overall opinion of her remains positive due to her willingness to play along and help others instead of trying to champion herself and her causes at the expense of the other Democrats. She's putting in the time to bring them to her level, rather than positioning herself apart from them as some anti-establishment politicians tend to do.

[up]She also self-identified as a (the horror!) socialist, which I'll admit made me a little wary, but similar to Bernie most of her platform remain within the realm of social democracy or the less extreme forms of democratic socialism. So no tankie bullshit from her that I know of thus far.

Edited by AlleyOop on Jan 24th 2019 at 2:03:26 PM

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#268560: Jan 24th 2019 at 11:07:13 PM

"Are you suggesting I'm enjoying this?", asks Mitch.

Gee I wonder where they might have gotten that impression...

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#268561: Jan 24th 2019 at 11:16:20 PM

I see I'm not the only one who picked up the sense that the right is scared to death of AOC. grin

Do not obey in advance.
Steven (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#268562: Jan 24th 2019 at 11:49:24 PM

I think it was brought up already, but that guy who told people to take out a loan during the shutdown can go fuck himself.

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#268563: Jan 24th 2019 at 11:50:24 PM

It's not just that she's a Wo C but that she has "extreme" politics and doesn't let the right wqlk all over her. Any time they try to smear her she fires right back and basically tells them to fuck off (only not in so many words).

To them this is all unacceptable and a threat to the social order, so naturally they'd view her as a threat.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#268564: Jan 24th 2019 at 11:56:55 PM

[up][up] Is this our new "let them eat cake"?

Steven (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#268565: Jan 25th 2019 at 12:05:46 AM

@alley

It seems so. They can't fathom how people can't just put themselves into debt for everything.

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#268566: Jan 25th 2019 at 12:10:39 AM

The Guardian had an article with a section explaining why it's so bad.

The Consumer Federation of America executive director, Jack Gillis, said the commerce secretary’s comments were out of sync with the reality of consumer lending.

“One of the challenges the workers are going to face in getting loans is they have zero income right now. Your income is the most important driver of your ability to get a loan,” he said.

A number of local banks and credit unions around the country have in fact offered interest-free loans to affected federal workers, but Gillis said that is not something all workers can count on. “At this point, it’s few and far between in terms of availability, he said.

Getting a loan is not as simple as walking into a bank and asking for one, even for people with once-steady incomes.

“For virtually every loan, you need some collateral. The concept of walking into a financial institution and saying, ‘I need a loan for 30 days to carry me through’ is a ludicrous concept,” Gillis said. “You have to have collateral, which is why some people may tap into second mortgages on their homes.”

He warned that federal workers may be ensnared by notorious payday loan operations, which charge sky-high interest rates.

“It’s going to be very easy for some of these folks to become victims of payday lenders, and end up paying 200%, 300% interest because they need the money fast and they may not have the credit rating necessary to get a personal loan,” he said. “This is the perfect environment for payday lenders to wreak havoc.”

SteamKnight Since: Jun, 2018
#268567: Jan 25th 2019 at 12:18:58 AM

To be honest, I'm surprised that there are still no riot, considering how bad the situation is.

I'm not as witty as I think I am. It's a scientifically-proven fact.
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#268568: Jan 25th 2019 at 12:55:11 AM

Probably because the furloughed workers are still a relatively small percentage of people overall.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#268569: Jan 25th 2019 at 12:58:58 AM

[up]The asshole actually brought that up, trying to dismiss it as no big deal or something.

In the CNBC interview, Ross also played down the importance of the 800,000 unpaid workers in a broader economic context.

“I think that’s a great deal of hyperbole,” he said of predictions that the shutdown would hurt the country’s image.

“You’re talking about 800,000 workers, and while I feel sorry for the individuals that have hardship cases, 800,000 workers. If they never got their pay – which is not the case, they will eventually get it, but if they never got it, you’re talking about a third of a percent on our GDP. So it’s not like it’s a gigantic number overall.”

Disgusted, but not surprised
SteamKnight Since: Jun, 2018
#268570: Jan 25th 2019 at 1:19:34 AM

[up] Yikes, that comment is either an extremely bad attempt to spin things or he is just being a dick just for the sake of being a dick. It is really hard to know with this administration.

I'm not as witty as I think I am. It's a scientifically-proven fact.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#268571: Jan 25th 2019 at 1:22:37 AM

[up]He's a privileged billionaire. It's probably a mix of being out of touch and genuine contempt for people who have to live paycheck by paycheck.

Disgusted, but not surprised
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#268572: Jan 25th 2019 at 1:29:44 AM

And not having sufficient imagination skills or academic understanding to compensate for the inexperience, either.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#268573: Jan 25th 2019 at 3:31:11 AM

[up]Or an average capacity to empathise even beyond those factors. tongue

In my experience, the more financial insulation an individual has between themselves and others, the more it is likely to impact their personality negatively when interacting with others.

The short version: try shopping in Gstaad wearing week-old, unwashed hiking gear and holding a measly C-permit.

Edited by Euodiachloris on Jan 25th 2019 at 11:35:51 AM

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#268575: Jan 25th 2019 at 4:23:11 AM

Mueller Time strikes again.

Man, if I'd been involved in the Trump campaign, I'd seriously consider a lifelong vacation in Russia about now.


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