2806

How many federal workers got a bridge loan, as Wilbur Ross sensibly suggested? Not many, apparently!

2807

Well… 42% apparently. How many paid Wilbur’s “low” interest rate, or worse, I wonder. Probably a lot.

2808

I wandered over to Fox News website to see what their opinion was on this deal and to my surprise the coverage was basically nonexistent. They are pretending it didn’t happen. Top stories are scaremongering over the Green New Deal, an abortion piece, and further “proof” that there is no Trump conspiracy related to the election.

If Fox News is ignoring it, it must have been a big win!.

2809

That’s would suggest that Fox got word from the top to shut the fuck up so that Trump signs the deal.

2810

…or that he is going to sign the deal if it is approved, so…

2811

Could be.

I feel like Trump doesn’t really have enough independence to do that. I think he needs to have Fox tell him what to do.

2812

Bollard Wall is their stage name

2813

There have been two comprehensive immigration bills that passed the Senate with 60+ votes. Each contained a considerable amount of money for border security, and both times the House Majority refused to take it up.

2814

I see Ted Cruz is putting forth a bill to take El Chapo’s assets and use them to fund the wall. They estimate the assets are worth $14B but I doubt they would translate into that much actual money. Still, they might be able to squeeze a few billion out of it and Trump could crow that Mexico was paying for it.

2815

I think estimate is a very generous term here. More like completely fabricated guess that is a single line in a court document for an estimated asset seizure they want to pursue.

It would be like saying, I am going to seize Company X, they made 14 billion dollars in 2018, we are getting 14 Billion dollars! When, in fact, a lot of that money is gone paid to employees, capital investments, taxes, legal fees, etc. How much cash on hand did they have?

Some experts believe that the 14 Billion number comes from specifically an estimate of the money El Chapo’s cartel was making, not based on any review of the assets the man himself held. A more likely estimate is in the 2-4 billion range.

2816

Worth noting, he said before turning off any and all notifications for this thread after yesterday… ;)

  1. Government shutdowns are incredibly unpopular across a wide swath of voters in all political spectrums.

  2. The GOP fallback position on this has always been a complete capitulation and return to the basic parameters of the pre-Christmas budget deal regarding border security. Both Democrats and Republicans have known that if push comes to shove, the Republicans can go back to that rock bottom and essentially end negotiations over concessions to the Dems. Once the GOP did that, they knew they didn’t have to give Democrats anything else. Democrats know that too, and still tried to prize loose some concessions with mixed, unsuccessful results.

  3. Republicans are perfectly happy to call the Democrats’ bluff on voting down the deal reached on Monday. They’re willing to do so because they are very likely making the smart bet that framing the issues as Democrats being unwilling to accept a deal on border security that they once were happy to go with is going to play just as poorly as Trump reneging on that pre-Christmas deal.

  4. Republicans long game if Democrats reject this deal: wait for two weeks of really bad polling for Democrats, and lots of questions for Democrats who are now presidential candidates, that Democrats will have to come back to the table and up the ante and offer $3-4 billion in border security and specific wall language, which allows them to declare an almost unequivocal win.

  5. In the event of another shutdown, those effected will overwhelmingly be persons traditionally thought of as the Democratic Party base. It will be framed (whether its justified or not) as the extreme wing of the Democratic Party killing a deal that will now horribly and adversely affect working class Democrats. If you’re wanting to make Howard Schultz–who right now is a laughingstock, polling terribly–into a real problematic spoiler to contend with, this is how that happens. Steve Schmidt is licking his chops.

  6. This is and was and remains a win for Democrats. Refusing to accept the big win and continuing to throw the ball in the fourth quarter, or refusing to dribble the ball into the corner and end the game (there, I’ve covered both footballs in analogies) is essentially daring a “Defeat from the jaws of victory/Dems still can’t get their shit together” narrative.

  7. The other big upshot to not be lost in all this is Mitch McConnell breaking from the White House. Mitch was once a guy who was all about “I won’t bring something to a vote the President won’t sign.” Now he’s signalling that if this passes, he’ll bring a veto-proof majority if need be. A White House facing possible impeachment in the next 18 months really doesn’t want to call the bluff of a veto override in the Senate right now.

2817

In that case, the better play, financially, would be for the U.S. government to take over the operation and revive it so it continues to generate 14 Billion a year for them.

2818

Now we are on to something.

2819

The CIA agent dedicated to stalking your digital life got a good laugh out of that one, then buried his head in a swimming pool of “liberated” cocaine.

2820

I see how this might be equally good as a CR, or equally good as whatever Democrats offered earlier. And I see how Democrats might have politically backed themselves into a corner.

But if so, it means that Pelosi/McConnell pass something equally good as what Ryan/McConnell passed. If you think Pelosi did a good job, then you have to admit Ryan did a good job.

This is not a “win” for Democrats. It’s a missed opportunity.

2821
2822

In the “That oughta be that” department:

2823

Alright, soon we can make a new thread about the debt limit!

2824

EDIT:

Sorry, sounds like it wasn’t included in the deal agreed upon, but Senate and House Democrats are working to add it – and/or make Senate and House Republicans look pretty bad by refusing it.

2825

Figures. DJT is used to stiffing contractors.