That's an astute prediction. Trump "governs" on the basis of news cycles.

at this point, perhaps not so far out there.

JL

Shutdown ends on Feb 7th when Trump declares National Emergency.

Feb 7th is the day Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify, in public and broadcast live on every network, to Congress.

yes! that's exactly what i'm talking about! republicans and democrats are shutting down the government to intentionally undermine the political importance of pie!

JL

Ahem.

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There is no crisis on the southern border.

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Friends always,

Texas

Neil is right since Trump's only way out of this BS now is actually to declare a "national emergency." He's laying the groundwork for it now by having his aides talk about a "humanitarian" and "national crisis." It's really the only move he has left and then allow the Senate to reopen the government and claim a false victory.

The only real question remaining is: Will PT declare a "national emergency" before January 23... National Pie Day?

I think he definitely will. Donald can't compete with pie, so he'll definitely want to take away its thunder. :)

I take your point, but this is America and we don't like kings. The more he acts like a little dictator, the more likely he is to get the boot in 2020. Then the Democratic President can declare a one day national emergency and repeal everything he has done using emergency powers.

Oh, boy! Sounds like Mikey Cohen will be singing in public. A little rough around the edges, but otherwise a very nice singing voice. I highly recommend the inimitable Mr. Cohen.

Get your popcorn ready. :)

You are quite right about that. Among the rough and tumble pushcart ice cream vendors of NYC Trump is known as Donny Two Scoops. Those who mess with the frozen mob tend to end up in the East River wearing a pair of cement filled ice cream buckets As the "wise guys" put it: "Dez Baskin' wit duh Robins."

"The Democrats should shout loudly about how Trump better "dare not declare a national emergency", with a few challenges to his manhood ("he doesn't have the balls to do it", "he can bully his staff, but he can't push us around 'cos he'll never declare a national emergency", etc.) and push him into the choice."

The problem with declaring a "national emergency" is that: leaders declaring emergencies to “go around the usual legal processes” is usually the first step in “what happens in authoritarian countries,” that have lost their democracy and freedom, as CNN's Jeffrey Toobin pointed out.

The media have their own drivers -- the broadcast minutes and column inches need to be filled to sell the advertising to pay the salaries of editors, reporters and management. And each outlet is competing against every other one to get the story out first.

Those two factors mean the media -- mainstream and fringe -- will never stop covering the news. And, as painful as it is sometimes, the fact is they -- including CW -- shouldn't stop doing their jobs.

So here I am again carrying US government debit (well more like the company I contract with) under the terms of the contract we are required to support the Coast Guard, they will pay us eventually, but we will carry their debit and also pay interest on monies we have put out thus resulting in losses on the contract that we will not be reimbursed for.

It also will mean that next month when we cross the 500k debit threshold the company will start dragging it's feet on my expense reimbursements, which means I will be losing money personally as well and ultimately could lead to me working without pay as well. it happened last time...

If the Dems wanted to put some pressure on the GOP they should pass a standalone bill, NOW, mandating that back pay will be guaranteed for all personnel affected by the shut down as well as paying clearly documented financial penalties for them. They should also mandate that the interest clock starts ticking for contractors required to provide services to departments during a shutdown. If the GOP votes against that it will truly show where their feelings lie.

Otherwise flying is going to be a nightmare.

Pie will never work for this problem.... Donald is firmly in the pocket of big Ice Cream.

I hear the big D's favorite late night two scoops is collusion Crunch.