government shutdown

Appropriations bills break down in Senate over GOP poison pills

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I warned you at the end of July that The budget deal does not avert a government shutdown this fall. Congress still has to pass the appropriations bills to fund the government by September 30. Already, “Senate appropriators had barely begun work on Tuesday before the process blew up, mired in disagreements over abortion-related “poison … Read more

Border deal agreed to ‘in principle’ (don’t hold your breath) (updated)

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Monday night, House and Senate negotiators on Monday night agreed in principle to provide $1.375 billion for fencing and other physical barriers at the Mexican border, part of a broader agreement that would stave off another partial government shutdown without funding President Trump’s wall. Border Deal Is Reached ‘in Principle’:

The agreement would allow for 55 miles of new bollard fencing, with some restrictions on location based on community and environmental concerns, according to two congressional aides, who requested anonymity to disclose details of the private negotiations. This is only a fraction of the more than 200 miles of steel-and-concrete wall that Mr. Trump demanded — and 10 miles less than negotiators agreed on last summer, before Democrats took control of the House.

The agreement “in principle” must still pass the House and the Senate, and secure President Trump’s signature.

Good luck with that. The racist polemicists of the alt-right who make up Trump’s unofficial “kitchen cabinet” of advisers and who were responsible for the Trump Shutdown last month are already trashing this agreement “in principle.”

Trump’s minister of propaganda at Fox News aka Trump TV, Sean Hannity, the man whom Trump talks to most nights before going to bed, was already trashing the deal Monday night. ‘Garbage compromise’: Hannity warns Republicans not to back spending deal:

President Donald Trump’s most ardent cable news defender cut away briefly from the president’s Monday night rally in El Paso, Texas, to issue a warning to Republican lawmakers: Don’t back congressional negotiators’ latest border deal.

“On this new, so-called compromise, I’m getting details,” said Fox News host Sean Hannity, referring to the tentative agreement reached by a bipartisan conference committee that would allocate roughly $1.375 billion for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“1.3 billion? That’s not a — not even a wall, a barrier?” Hannity said.

“I’m going to tell this tonight and we will get back into this tomorrow,” he continued. “Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain.”

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Average tax refunds are down 8.4 percent under Trump tax law

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Average tax refunds were down last week 8.4 percent for the first week of the tax season over the same time last year, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Dipping refunds are inflaming a growing army of taxpayers stunned by the consequences of the Trump administration’s tax law — and the effects of the partial government shutdown. Average Tax Refunds Down 8.4 Percent As Angry Taxpayers Vent On Twitter:

The average refund check paid out so far has been $1,865, down from $2,035 at the same point in 2018, according to IRS data. Low-income taxpayers often file early to pocket the money as soon as possible. Many taxpayers count on the refunds to make important payments, or spend the money on things like home repairs, a vacation or a car.

The IRS had estimated it would issue about 2.3 percent fewer refunds this year as a result of the changes in the federal tax law, according to Bloomberg. MSNBC reports that 30 million Americans will owe the IRS money this year — 3 million more than before Trump’s tax law.

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The State of Disunion Speech

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President Donald Trump’s State of Disunion speech will be little remembered and soon forgotten.

It was actually two speeches in a mashup that was both contradictory and ironic.

The opening and closing sections of the speech were soaring patriotic paeans to the “Greatest Generation” that liberated the world from fascism for the 75th anniversary year of D-Day this June — ironic for a Russian asset who has threatened to pull the U.S. out of NATO, for which he has been rebuked by his own party, US Senate votes to defend NATO as Trump attacks alliance, and who has vigorously attacked our European allies while currying favor with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. And Trumpism is the new American fascism.

While feigning calls for unity and bipartisanship — Before Expected Call for Unity, Trump Laced Into Democrats at Lunch for TV Anchors — the middle part of his speech was actually his campaign themes for 2020, a rehash of his divisive 2016 campaign — build the wall, make abortions illegal, tax cuts for plutocrats, eliminate consumer protection regulations, repeal and replace “Obamacare,” and an “America First” foreign policy withdrawing America from its role as the leader of the free world. Trump also made the fantastical claim that the U.S. would be at war with North Korea today if he had not been elected president — this from the man who elevated war tensions with North Korea with his “rocket man” insults until he sought to curry favor with another dictator, Kim Jong-un.

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‘ I can’t tell where the lies end and the dementia begins’

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On Friday, President Trump held a press availability to make claims about his “big beautiful wall” on the Mexico border that was incoherent nonsense. Video Link.

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REPORTER: Mr. President, why not just go ahead and do the national emergency now? (talk over)

TRUMP: We’re building the wall now. We’re building the wall. People don’t understand that, they’re starting to learn. We’re spending a lot of money that we have on hand. It’s like in a business, but we have money on hand, and we’re building, I would say we will have 115 miles of wall, maybe a little more than that shortly. Uh, it’s being built. Some of it’s already completed. And in San Diego, if you look, it’s been completed. It’s really beautiful, brand new. Uh, we have other wall that’s under construction, and we’re giving out a lot of contracts. So we’re building the wall. It’s getting built one way or the other.

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