"Correct on the fast food hamburger. I'll just have to take my chances on the blueberries. They don't currently thrive at my elevation/latitude, although I'm pinning my hopes for the future on global warming!"

And be damned with the rest of Humanity then I guess. Sucks for them right?

Correct on the fast food hamburger. I'll just have to take my chances on the blueberries. They don't currently thrive at my elevation/latitude, although I'm pinning my hopes for the future on global warming!

yeah, those are the kinds of people you only hear about when something goes horribly wrong. if you're in charge of ensuring people's health and safety, no news is good news.

JL

"I've never heard of a single "food safety worker" in my part of the world."

So I guess you never have or are never ever going to buy a hamburger from any fast food establishment, or lettuce or blueberries, etc. from a grocery store. How nice for you. Meanwhile the rest of us will play Russian roulette with E.Coli etc.

I'm certain those Russkies are shaking and quaking, but the question is, is it from fear or from laughter??

The Defendants’ conspiracy constitutes an act of previously unimaginable treachery: the campaign of the presidential nominee of a major party in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the Presidency. In carrying out their conspiratorial objective, the Defendants disseminated documents and data stolen from the DNC in violation of the laws of the United States, as well as the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia. Under the laws of this nation, Russia and its co-conspirators must answer for their actions.

Plaintiff the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”) brings this Complaint against The Russian Federation (“Russia”); Aras Iskenerovich Agalarov (“Aras Agalarov”); Emin Araz Agalarov (“Emin Agalarov”); Joseph Mifsud (“Mifsud”); WikiLeaks; Julian Assange (“Assange”); Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. (“the Trump Campaign”); Donald J. Trump, Jr. (“Trump, Jr.”); Paul J. Manafort; Jr. (“Manafort”); Roger J. Stone, Jr. (“Stone”); Jared C. Kushner (“Kushner”); George Papadapoulos (“Papadapoulos”); and Richard W. Gates, III (“Gates”); and alleges as follows:

What follows is a step-by-step breakdown of theft of DNC data and how the folks/orgs listed above stole the data and used it to help Blotus become POTUS.

https://regmedia.co.uk/2019/01/18/dnc-hack-allegations.pdf

Sorry to hear the sad facts of your miserable existence, but it's your choice, and you've gotta live with it, right?

As for the REST of us, who have things to pay for, it continues. You want to go off-grid, fine, enjoy yourself. Don't expect the rest of us to pull up stakes as well, though. I LIKE 'food safety worker' on the list, since I can't get right down to the dirt as you can - I have to buy that off the shelf.

Day 29.

I realize that I, and my general situation, are not representative of everybody - I'm ancient and I live far out in the boondocks where almost nothing meaningful ever happens, but I've scanned your list, and believe it or not, I cant find a single person nor organization there that is likely to have the slightest impact on my life were he/it to go permanently clear out of existence.

Far as I'm aware, there hasn't been a large plan crash within 500 miles of me in my lifetime.

I've never heard of a single "food safety worker" in my part of the world.

The only border within a thousand miles is the Canadian, and I don't think even it is being "patrolled".

Nearest coast would be Washingto/Oregon, and I seriously doubt that it is needing much "guarding".

Don't earn any money, so havent had dealings with the I.R.S. in decades.

I think there may be a single TSA agent at the local airport, but I haven't been there in decades either.

I've never had dealings with the SBA nor needed any permits except hunting licenses, driving licenses etc, which are state level bureaucracies, and are not shut down.

So, I reiterate, I (and you'd be surprised how many others) am getting along just hunky dory with shutdown!

"I'm betting nobody ever realized just how easy it is to get along perfectly well without "non-essential" government. How much of a leap is it from "non-essential" to "superfluous??"

You have some pretty strange ideas.

NTSB crash inspectors.

Food safety workers.

Border patrol agents.

The U.S. Coast Guard.

I.R.S. workers processing tax refunds.

Air traffic controllers and TSA agents.

Small business loans and the processing of all kinds of permits that allow businesses to operate.

That's just some of the government affected by the shut down that you are calling non-essential.

They all seem pretty essential to me and are very much being noticed by people and businesses alike.

we're not getting along without them, we're getting along without PAYING them.

JL

we are not negotiating any other government funding until the secret service members who protect our government get PAID.

we are not going to discuss any additional border security issues until the coast guard and TSA who are ALREADY protecting our borders get PAID.

we are not going to sit for a presidential address in our chamber until the parks service and forest rangers get PAID.

until you let the government pay its workers, we're not going to even discuss paying for anything else, period, full stop.

yes, exactly! this is less about funding or policy than it is about what kind of government we will have.

i forget where i read about it recently, but one author said very aptly that democracy isn't about ends, it's about means. if the norm becomes using 'any means necessary' to achieve every end, this ceases to be a republic and becomes an autocracy. that above all is why chuck and nancy cannot under any circumstances negotiate anything whatsoever with donald so long as he is attempting to use the government's closure as leverage.

JL

Totally agree. Unfortunately I think that ultimately, should the Dems take my suggestion up, the GOP will move to declare a national emergency.

Since the time of Gingrich the GOP has been trying to transition our government from a republican/presidential form to a parliamentary form with autocratic tendencies. The Dems are totally not with out fault here as they have also gone along with this shift by playing the tit for tat game or worse by failing to call out the fact that this is not how the system is supposed to work.

By not calling out the fact that the operation of the government and the power of the purse belongs solely to congress and that the GOP is refusing to do it's job and is deferring it's responsibility to the whims of the executive the Dems are squandering an opportunity to shift our country back towards functional government and are giving the GOP the opportunity to control the narrative as we head into 2020.

Either way this works out I think that history will look back on this as either the point that we repaired our form of government or let it die.

i think many of us are on the same page there. i personally think the bill should be couched in a civics lesson - this country was founded on compromise. the way that works is if you want us to accept something we think is not very good (wall), you have to give us something we think IS very good in return. opening the government is not very good, it's just something you're responsible for doing, and it's your own fault for not doing it, so that's not something we can accept in trade. it's also your own fault DACA recipients are currently in jeopardy, so while a reversal of course is welcome, that's also not something we can accept in trade, unless you have something additional to offer. mr. president, in order for a compromise to work, you have to compromise too.

JL

I think now more than ever it is time for the Dems to put together the massive kitchen sink bill that includes a structured ONE time spending of 5.7 Billion for the "wall" that dictates how the "wall" money can be spent.

Think about it, a bill containing HR1, DACA and TPS with permanent pathway to citizenship, VAWA renewal (something totally under reported), protections for the earned social programs (I hate "entitlements" I have paid into and I have earned the benefits) SS and MEDICARE all wrapped up into one package would force the GOP to show what they really stand for and who they really represent.

The Dems need to get smart and change their tone and act gracious to the opening offer (supposedly made today even though it is just a bunch of old GOP offers)then hit back hard with the kitchen sink.

The end result could mean I could recoup what I lost in the grand giveaway to the top one percent during the "great" recession (it wasn't great for me, I lost my ass from my 401k being raided, again...). The GOP responses and crocodile death roll imitations can only drive my popcorn, butter, and salt futures through the roof and drive down GOP ratings for 2020.

just a sobering thought - this is only the halfway point of donald's first term in office, and there's no guarantee he won't get another.

"No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the plain people." --HL Mencken

JL

-CW

This week, she showed the rest of the country what she's made of, that much was for sure. Let's see what Trump comes up with tomorrow afternoon, and then let's see how Pelosi responds...

Fresh blood is definitely needed, but that's not to say that older and more experience hands can't be there to guide them...

:-)

-CW

agreed. love her or hate her, nancy was the most impressive politician in the country this week, hands down.

JL

That may be the best week yet.

I've based my aversion to her, simply enough, on things that she has said that make it easy for people to say fresh blood is needed in the Democratic party.

But, I completely agree with the MIDOTW award this week.

So we end up with late-breaking statement from Special Counsel's office:

BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office, and characteriztion of documents and testimony obtained by this office regarding Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony are not accurate.

Since this isn't a blanket statement that the article is just plain false it has generated a lot of confusion.

BuzzFeed published the SCO statement and said they're standing by their story.
______________

I just saw a clip of Rachel Maddow talking to BuzzFeed News editor (Ben Smith?) about this - he says they've reached out to the SCO to try to get clarification on what they are challenging. He said the reporters have been on this story as it's developed for 2 years and that the sources are rock solid.

?