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You are here: Home / The Government Shutdown Explained from the Perspective of Someone Who is Sick of This Fucking Bullshit

The Government Shutdown Explained from the Perspective of Someone Who is Sick of This Fucking Bullshit

by John Cole|  January 18, 20187:45 pm| 151 Comments

This post is in: Sociopaths

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It’s almost impossible to understand what is going on in the shutdown debate because there are so many moving pieces and it has been so over complicated by throwing in DACA and SCHIP. So let’s break it down.

On the Republican side, you have multiple different groups.

1.) You have the crazy people and criminally uninformed like the President and Matt Gaetz.
2.) You have the certified sociopaths like the House Freedom Caucus and Ted Cruz.
3.) You have the racists like Steve King.
4.) You have the people who just like to hurt people like Tom Cotton and Mitch McConnell.
5.) You have the people who like to pretend to govern and love an easy rub and tug from a foolish media, but if given the opportunity will join the previous four groups, like McCain, Graham, Collins, Flake, Sasse.
6.) You have the people who will just do whatever they think is best for them, but in the process do what actually hurts them the most, like Marco Rubio.

On the Democratic side, you have:

1.) the good governance/bipartisanship fetishists like Manchin, Heitkamp, etc.
2.) House Minority Leadership who is just trying to keep this shit together
3.) and the group I most relate to which is the “Fuck you Trump and Republicans I am going to hold you down and pummel you as hard and as often as I can I don’t trust a fucking thing you do and I am so over your fucking bullshit” like our beloved Great Aunt Maxine of the Immaculate Eyeroll.

Out of those groups, you have to somehow cobble together a spending bill. This should be no problem, but the Republicans want to pass a spending bill that is so awful that it will get no Democratic support, so they have to do it alone, but it is also not awful enough for the House Freedom Caucus and folks like Cotton and Cruz, and this is further complicated by the fact that no matter what they put together, Orange Julius Caesar is too fucking stupid to understand it and rnadomly spews nonsense on twitter, disrupting whatever progress the sociopaths are currently working on. It’s basically a bad heist movie where they should be able to get away with a clean steal, but are too busy tripping over each other’s dicks and it ends up like the end of Reservoir Dogs.

Further complicating matters are two issues that, if brought up by themselves, would pass with overwhelming support. Clean DACA and SCHIP bills would both pass tomorrow if introduced. But the Republicans won’t do that, because they know how awful their priorites are, so they have taken Dreamers and sick kids hostage because they think they can peel off some Democratic support. The problem is, part of the Republican heist team doesn’t care if the hostages live. So while they’ve got a gun to the head of kids and the dreamers and are backing out of the bank saying “don’t fuck with me or I’ll shoot,” the Steve King crowd and the House Freedom Caucus are trying to figure out a way to shoot the Dreamers and sick kids while still getting out of the building with the loot.

So that’s why we are where we are.

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Previous Post: « Ohhhhh, Internet, I Love it When You Give it to Me Good Like That
Next Post: A Brief (Additional) Note On The Potential Shutdown »

Reader Interactions

151Comments

  1. 1.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    January 18, 2018 at 7:47 pm

    Pretty much.

    And since the shit show is so awful, I’m linking something to cheer everybody up.

  2. 2.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 18, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    Thank you, John. The headline is something I’ve been contemplating today.

    The only thing I would add is the damage and waste in all government agencies that has already been incurred by preparing for a shutdown, the damage and waste that would come from a shutdown, and the damage and waste from destroyed morale whichever way the vote goes.

  3. 3.

    different-church-lady

    January 18, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    So that’s why we are where we are.

    Well, actually we are where we are because a substantial amount of the American electorate has decided that Awful with a capital A is the right way to be. Everything you’ve described is just a symptom of that.

    Nonetheless I thank you for the breakdown of it. In fact, it really describes everything that’s going through congress at the moment.

  4. 4.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    January 18, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    I don’t know if it’s even worth bringing up, but there’s a shitload of overlap among those Republican groups. Most Republicans in Congress fall into at least two.

  5. 5.

    Mike in NC

    January 18, 2018 at 7:53 pm

    Government shutdown is liable to blow up the stock market if it lasts long enough.

  6. 6.

    different-church-lady

    January 18, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I got an ad for Digestive Advantage, so I’m thinking that’s not quite what you meant by “cheer everybody up”.

  7. 7.

    MomSense

    January 18, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    I am soooo sick of this fucking bullshit. And to think that we have to go through all of these machinations over the basics- the general welfare. This is madness!

  8. 8.

    glory b

    January 18, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    Tweety just said that Trump’s speech in South Fayette (NOT PITTSBURGH) was a great barn burner and if he keeps this up, he will be formidable in 2018 and the Dems are just counting on him being horrible and not doing enough to wi!, yada yada, Black people’s employment numbers! yada yada…

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    January 18, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    I feel like it’s now or never on DACA, CHIP and taking care of our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico. We have significant pain either way. I hope the Democrats stay strong so at least we’ll have gotten something significant for the pain.

  10. 10.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 6

    January 18, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    Would it be helpful if Dems in both houses have legislation ready to offer with our priorities already laid out?

    They could go to the Rethug leadership and say: “we got the goods, all you have to do is let it be voted on.”

    and leave it at that?

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    Someone will blink and at least settle for a February stopgap spending agreement. The GOP will not let Trump give a State of the Union address with a government shutdown in place.

  12. 12.

    SteveinSC

    January 18, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    The fourth estate represented by the spitting idiot Chris Matthews, who long ago should have been drowned in a vat of Irish Whiskey, is swooning tonight that the Democrats need to come up with someone who can give the erection-engendering response he got in trumps speech in Pennsylvania. He’s been moping around since he last dished on George Bush’s codpiece on the “Mission Accomplished Show.” The fact that the congenital liar is out of town when as president he is supposed to help the legislative process is beyond the metaphor mangling mental defect. Jesus Fucking Christ they are unbearable.

  13. 13.

    gene108

    January 18, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    Passing a budget is pretty much the only fucking job specified by the Constitution for Congress to do.

    And Republicans don’t even want to do that one job.

    I wish the media would hound them on this failure, because it is pretty big difference compared to when Democrats were in charge in 2009 and got a lot of shit done that getting a budget passed was way, way down on the list of accomplishments.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    January 18, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    @SteveinSC:
    @glory b:

    I just had the misfortune of catching his latest tingle about Trump’s speech. Why does that misogynist still have a job?

  15. 15.

    matt

    January 18, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    @glory b: Why does that piece of shit still have a job?

  16. 16.

    Aleta

    January 18, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    The Unicorn 3D Night Light * will not be enough tonight.
    * Curated ad

  17. 17.

    Roger Moore

    January 18, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    2.) You have the certified sociopaths like the House Freedom Caucus and Ted Cruz.
    …
    4.) You have the people who just like to hurt people like Tom Cotton and Mitch McConnell.

    I don’t think “sociopaths” and “people who just like to hurt people” are separate groups.

  18. 18.

    PPCLI

    January 18, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    OT. I thought I couldn’t be shocked by this administration but I was wrong. Another Trumpite heard from…
    https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/01/18/politics/kfile-carl-higbie-on-the-radio/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

  19. 19.

    HinTN

    January 18, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    Tweety – leg thrill – tumbrel

    Dat ‘ll do it

  20. 20.

    gene108

    January 18, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    @SteveinSC:

    Erin Burnett had Ed Markey on. She played a clip of Chuck Shumer, from the 2013 shut down, saying Democrats were the adults in the room, and holding immigration and other stuff hostage. Paraphrasing Shumer, what the Republicans were doing was like having your wife and kids held hostage and then the hostage taker wants to negotiate over the price of the house.

    She tried to bate Markey by saying aren’t Democrats being hypocritical now, based on Shumer’s statement.

    Markey, at least, didn’t agree, but after a bit of rambling he finally got around to saying Republicans control government and a shut down is on them.

    I really wish Democrats, when they go on T.V. have some talking points down that they insist on hitting, because they just do not come across as being forceful.

  21. 21.

    oatler.

    January 18, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    I was dumb enough to have NBC network news on when they reported how Both Sides are threatening a shutdown. All it needed was Chuck Todd interviewing Republicans because GO COMCAST.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    January 18, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    @Roger Moore: There are different types of sociopaths. Not all of us like to hurt people.

  23. 23.

    Shana

    January 18, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    That’s up there with your tire rims and anthrax post. Nice work breaking it down John.

  24. 24.

    pacem appellant

    January 18, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    Nice! I’ve been sick for several days and mercifully unplugged for the most part (except for my PvZ2 addition on my phone). This summary is succinct and informative. You rock, JGC!

  25. 25.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    Well put John, now could you explain this to the media; they tell me that the Democrats are holding up the spending bill.

    It’s basically a bad heist movie where they should be able to get away with a clean steal, but are too busy tripping over each other’s dicks and it ends up like the end of Reservoir Dogs.

    Actually, it’s more like this.

  26. 26.

    B.B.A.

    January 18, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @Brachiator: On Monday he flies to Davos. Oh, that’ll look great, the President hobnobbing with other countries’ rich and powerful at a ski resort in Switzerland, while Congress bickers over whether to turn the lights back on.

    Felix Salmon thinks it’s puzzling why Trump wants to go to the spiritual home of globalist cucks, but to me it’s completely obvious. It may be called the “World Economic Forum” but it isn’t about globalism or the economy or anything being discussed there. It’s about status games, cliques and who gets to wear a badge with a shiny hologram. For Trump, getting to be taken seriously by these people and wear the shiniest badge is why he wanted to be president in the first place. Everything else is gravy.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    January 18, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    @PPCLI: Trump hires the best people.

  28. 28.

    debbie

    January 18, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Speaking of damage and waste, NPR reported that Nick Mulvaney, new head of the CFPB, notified Janet Yellin that he would need zero funds for the second quarter. That can’t be good news for consumers. ?

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    January 18, 2018 at 8:21 pm

    I am barely restraining myself from starting a Facebook fight with my BFF’s “pro-life” sister by asking if her kids going to the “pro-life” march will say anything about the 9 million living kids who are about to lose their healthcare, or if they only care about the “unborn.”

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    January 18, 2018 at 8:21 pm

    I think you’re overestimating the Republicans. The reason clean CHIP and DACA won’t come up is precisely because they would pass. It isn’t just the furthest out there assholes like Steve King who want to shoot the hostages; Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell want to kill them, too. The only difference is Steve King wants to be seen shooting the hostages because he thinks it will help him with his constituents, while Ryan and McConnell don’t want to be seen doing it and would rather try to pin the blame on the Democrats.

  31. 31.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2018 at 8:21 pm

    @debbie: Mission Accomplished!

  32. 32.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 18, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    I propose an elegant solution for emboldened racists that Brachiator was alluding to a few threads ago. When you hear someone say something horrifying racist or do something racist, you immediately and mercilessly beat the living shit out of them. That’ll learn ’em.

  33. 33.

    tobie

    January 18, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    @RobertDSC-iPhone 6:

    Would it be helpful if Dems in both houses have legislation ready to offer with our priorities already laid out?

    Pelosi tried that this morning. She suggested to Ryan that he put up for a vote BOTH a clean DACA bill and a nativist immigration bill. Her assumption was that the former would get a majority of Dems and moderate Republicans. Ryan of course said no. Republicans don’t want to legislate. They just want to vanquish Dems in whichever way they can. I gather from this thread that the media is offering him welcome assists. Why o why????

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    January 18, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    @debbie: Isn’t there something in the constitution or the oath of office about promising to enforce the laws?

  35. 35.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    Speaking of reprehensible assholes. Tom Cotton is sending cease and desist letters to constituents.

  36. 36.

    Caphilldcne

    January 18, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    @Mnemosyne: unlurking to say go for it!

  37. 37.

    B.B.A.

    January 18, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    @WaterGirl: Yabut, Obama didn’t enforce the immigration laws when he did DACA, therefore both sides. More after this message from our sponsors.

  38. 38.

    tobie

    January 18, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Have you seen the bumper sticker: Republicans you until you’re born?

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    January 18, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    @Teddys Person: These bastards have no idea that they are there to serve. They have completely lost the plot.

  40. 40.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    @Teddys Person: Dude must have skipped his Con Law class at HLS.

  41. 41.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2018 at 8:28 pm

    I think the House has agreed to a short term spending bill. From CNN:

    The House voted Thursday night to avert a government shutdown, sending the bill on to the Senate, where its future is much less certain.

    Shortly before the House vote, the Freedom Caucus said a majority of its members would vote to support a stopgap spending measure, a key sign that holdout conservatives who had been undecided earlier had come on board.

  42. 42.

    raven

    January 18, 2018 at 8:29 pm

    @Brachiator: Just in the house, right?

  43. 43.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 8:29 pm

    @WaterGirl: I worked for the federal government in the ’90s and almost everyone I worked with bought into the idea that government agencies should be run like business. I spent my days reminding them that we were public servants not corporate employees. I was not popular.

  44. 44.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Apparently, he thinks the Constitution is just a suggestion.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    January 18, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    For those who were wondering (me) here’s how Trump laundered the hush money to the actress:

    President Donald Trump’s lawyer used a private Delaware company to pay a former adult-film star $130,000 in return for her agreeing to not publicly discuss an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, according to corporate records and people familiar with the matter.
    The lawyer, Michael Cohen, established Essential Consultants LLC, on Oct. 17, 2016, just before the 2016 presidential election, corporate documents show. Mr. Cohen, who is based in New York, then used a bank account linked to the entity to send the payment to the client-trust account of a lawyer representing the woman, Stephanie Clifford, one of the people said.

    “Essential Consultants” actually sounds like an escort service, so good job there Michael.

    To further mask the identities of the people involved in the agreement, the parties used pseudonyms, with Ms. Clifford identified as “Peggy Peterson,” according to a person familiar with the matter.

  46. 46.

    Aleta

    January 18, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    Did the Rs manage to push any judicial appointments through today?

  47. 47.

    danielx

    January 18, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    For Dems, I gotta go with door #3.

  48. 48.

    Roger Moore

    January 18, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    @tobie:
    What it boils down to is that both Ryan and McConnell are using their power to control the agenda to stymie the will of the majority. Unfortunately, the Republicans who would vote for things like CHIP and the DREAM Act are afraid of going against leadership by signing a discharge petition, so there’s no way of forcing the issue.

  49. 49.

    Millard Filmore

    January 18, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    starting a Facebook fight with my BFF’s “pro-life” sister

    Here are some questions if you should decide to start that fight:

    1) how much government money should be allocated to ensure that these non-aborted kids live a happy and fulfilling life? (my guess is the answer is zero)
    2) what is the point of demanding these unborn babies be brought into the world if you just throw them to the wolves when they get here?
    3) please explain the morality of fighting birth control, fighting abortion, fighting like demons to bring babies into the world when you won’t take care of the kids that are already here.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    January 18, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    This, however remains a mystery- why did media keep this from the public?

    After the Journal published its story Friday, several media organizations said Ms. Clifford or her manager discussed the alleged sexual encounter with them in the weeks before the 2016 election.

    That woulda been quite the story.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    January 18, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    These bastards have no idea that they are there to serve.

    They’re serving; it’s just who they’re serving that’s the problem. They need to be reminded that they are not (R-Koch Industries).

  52. 52.

    John Revolta

    January 18, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    @SteveinSC: I had an uncle who drowned in a vat of Irish whiskey.
    Took him three hours.

    Well, he got out four times to pee.

  53. 53.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Don’t think of it as a fight. Think of it as your civic duty.

  54. 54.

    debbie

    January 18, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    The Capitol Police will no doubt school you on freedom of speech, you jackass.

    I think this is criminal misuse of government stationery.

  55. 55.

    Roger Moore

    January 18, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    Apparently, he thinks the Constitution is just a suggestion an impediment.

    FTFY.

  56. 56.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 8:38 pm

    @Roger Moore: Ah, much better :-)

  57. 57.

    chris

    January 18, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    @Aleta: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a15391420/judiciary-nominees-2018/

    Only the best people.

  58. 58.

    debbie

    January 18, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    @raven:

    Right. Cough any better?

  59. 59.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 18, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    @Teddys Person: My federal time in the ’90s was in the army (at the beginning of the decade) and the courts (at the end). Both places were blessedly free of that concept.

  60. 60.

    MomSense

    January 18, 2018 at 8:41 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Go for it.

  61. 61.

    danielx

    January 18, 2018 at 8:41 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I am barely restraining myself from starting a Facebook fight with my BFF’s “pro-life” sister by asking if her kids going to the “pro-life” march will say anything about the 9 million living kids who are about to lose their healthcare, or if they only care about the “unborn.”

    That would be alternative #2, I believe.

  62. 62.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2018 at 8:41 pm

    @debbie:

    I think this is criminal misuse of government stationery.

    And his franking privileges.

  63. 63.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 18, 2018 at 8:41 pm

    @tobie:
    Yes. It cannot be stressed enough how much the government dysfunction of the last seven years has been because of Boehner, Ryan, and McConnell themselves. If they did not abuse their power, there have been enough ‘merely asshole’ Republicans to perform basic governance. They are extremists at the far end of their parties who magically get treated like they’re helpless victims.

  64. 64.

    kindness

    January 18, 2018 at 8:41 pm

    I’m in the shut it down contingent unless we get a clean S-Chip & Dreamer inclusion. Stop letting it be an issue. 9 Democratic Senate votes needed to pass anything. Republicans have to give to get.

    The unspoken complication is that the whole Freedom Caucus/TeaHaddist/Grover Norquist ‘No Compromise!’ demand went from crazy idea to actual position on any issue. No Compromise. It was a mantra almost. They believed it & that they could. They still haven’t come to terms they can’t as evidenced by the FC nuts making more demands. Everyone who isn’t insane knows everyone has to cut a deal. Republicans still haven’t told that to their people. Until we start seeing that on Fox News, there will be no progress.

  65. 65.

    Aleta

    January 18, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    @Aleta: Yeah, I guess they did get 17 out. Such hard workers. They must be all tuckered out.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee approved 17 of President Trump’s judicial nominations Thursday, including two who received “not qualified” ratings from the American Bar Association and one who was opposed by the Congressional Black Caucus.

    Democrats on the committee took particular issue with the nomination of Thomas Farr to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, who was a lawyer for Sen. Jesse Helms’ re-election campaign when it tried to intimidate black voters.

    Helms’ campaign sent out a postcard in 1990 to more than 100,000 voters, most of whom were black, suggesting they were ineligible to vote.

    Farr, who worked as a lawyer for the re-election campaign, told Sen Cory Booker, D-N.J., in a letter last year he did not know about the content of the postcards and said he was “appalled” when he saw the language on them.

    The Congressional Black Caucus opposed Farr’s nomination and encouraged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject it.

    On Thursday, Booker and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., the Judiciary Committee’s two newest members, called for Farr to appear before the committee for a second hearing. But Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, rejected their request.

  66. 66.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I worked at the IRS.

  67. 67.

    Shana

    January 18, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    @Teddys Person: Perhaps not popular, but you have the satisfaction of having been right.

  68. 68.

    Mel

    January 18, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Go for it, I say. There comes a point at which keeping your sanity is worth far more than keeping the peace, when dealing with wingnut in-laws and family-adjacent folks.

  69. 69.

    Aleta

    January 18, 2018 at 8:45 pm

    @chris: Thanks.

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    @raven:

    Just in the house, right?

    Yep. Now the proposal goes to the Senate, for more fun and games.

  71. 71.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    @Shana: Most time, righteous indignation feeds my soul. I currently work as an adjunct instructor, and I recently went on a rant to my department chair about how demoralizing being an adjunct is and how the college is stealing our labor.

  72. 72.

    Jonny Scrum-half

    January 18, 2018 at 8:47 pm

    1. If Waters was in N Dakota or W Virginia, or Heitkamp or Manchin were in So Cal, their approaches would be different than they are now. Whatever Manchin and Heitkamp are doing is fine by me, because they’re providing Democratic votes in places where that’s difficult to do.
    2. I don’t think that McConnell wants to hurt people. He just doesn’t give a shit if he hurts people in pursuit of power.
    3. I don’t know if this message is too complicated, but the fact is that Republicans used their budget process (which requires only 51 votes) to try to repeal Obamacare and to pass a tax bill on which they openly rejected any Democratic input. They knew what they were doing, so unless they play ball now they are on their own.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    January 18, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    @SteveinSC:
    Alrighty then, Senator Gillibrand, who has actual fucks to give, report to the on-deck circle. Let’s see what you’ve got. Ten bonus quatloos for each fuck given.

  74. 74.

    frosty

    January 18, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    This is the best analysis of the political process I’ve read since the Tire Rims and Anthrax explanation. Kudos John!

  75. 75.

    Gravenstone

    January 18, 2018 at 8:52 pm

    @Mike in NC: Wonder if Trump will brag about the performance after that happens?

  76. 76.

    Steeplejack

    January 18, 2018 at 8:52 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    You worked at the IRS?! From your previous comment:

    [. . .] almost everyone I worked with bought into the idea that government agencies should be run like business.

    Fine, put the field agents on commission (with a minimal “draw”) and turn them loose on the big scofflaws. You get a million in back taxes, you get 5%! That’s just good business.

  77. 77.

    frosty

    January 18, 2018 at 8:52 pm

    @Teddys Person: I find that ranting about your job to management isn’t the best career move. Fortunately, you’re in academia and protected by tenure … oh, wait.

  78. 78.

    Gretchen

    January 18, 2018 at 8:53 pm

    @Aleta: My idiot Senator Moran bragged on Facebook about getting one of the unqualifieds approved. Idiot.

  79. 79.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 8:55 pm

    @frosty: We’re unionized so there’s some protection there (i.e., I get good evaluations), and I’m good at what I do and quite popular with the students (my classes fill up faster than the full time faculty classes). Plus my department chair is cool and totally understood. I’m in history and most historians understand labor issues.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    @Aleta:

    The Senate Judiciary Committee approved 17 of President Trump’s judicial nominations Thursday, including two who received “not qualified” ratings from the American Bar Association and one who was opposed by the Congressional Black Caucus.

    Not qualified. Racist.

    Trump’s “only the best people.”

    It just never stops.

  81. 81.

    glory b

    January 18, 2018 at 9:00 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I say go for it.

  82. 82.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    @Steeplejack: That idea actually floated around. I worked in DC not in a field office. I analyzed the impact of new tax policy on the taxpayers and did some opinion research work (surveys and focus groups).

  83. 83.

    Davebo

    January 18, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    This is the sort of bad take that makes me wish Twitter cut things down to 100 characters.

    I should have stopped reading after “and it has been so over complicated by throwing in DACA and SCHIP.”

  84. 84.

    glory b

    January 18, 2018 at 9:02 pm

    @Steeplejack: I read somewhere that the first IRS agents were paid by commission only.

  85. 85.

    efgoldman

    January 18, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    @SteveinSC:

    idiot Chris Matthews, who long ago should have been drowned in a vat of Irish Whiskey

    He did that years ago. Before Obama. Everything else is just “glug”

  86. 86.

    raven

    January 18, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    @debbie: Getting there, my bride got back from being trapped in a Holiday Inn Express in Phenix City, AL for two days while her meetings got cancelled. I finally served us up a square meal after weeks on the road and under the weather!

  87. 87.

    raven

    January 18, 2018 at 9:08 pm

    @Teddys Person: It’s not like your chair can do anything about it.

  88. 88.

    efgoldman

    January 18, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    @Baud:

    Not all of us like to hurt people.

    Then what’s the point of being a sociopath?

  89. 89.

    Omnes Omnibus

    January 18, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    @efgoldman: Knowing that you could if you wanted to.

  90. 90.

    Ohio Mom

    January 18, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I am waiting for someone to write a book on the definitive history of the anti-abortion movement.

    I have read blog posts here and there and while I don’t recall all the details (this is why I need someone to write the book!), it was created out of whole cloth by pretty much the same people who developed the rest of the radical right.

    Envangelicals were not originally anti-choice, they were suckered into it, they are being used. They come out looking like the gullible fools we know they are.

    Not that your BFF’s sister is capable of embarrassment.

  91. 91.

    Shana

    January 18, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @Teddys Person: Sometimes being able to just rant is helpful. I hope this one was more than just that.

  92. 92.

    frosty

    January 18, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @Teddys Person: Good for you, that’s better than I would have thought.

  93. 93.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 18, 2018 at 9:12 pm

    @Baud: Good question. I could have sworn that he was accused of sexual harassment/misconduct recently. Surprised he still has a show. Can’t stand him.

  94. 94.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 9:12 pm

    @raven: True, but the whole conversation started because the chair complained that I didn’t return an e-mail sent to me when I wasn’t under contract. Our contracts don’t start until the first day of classes. So, when we’re on breaks, I’m not an employee of the college.

  95. 95.

    Mike J

    January 18, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    I worked for the federal government in the ’90s and almost everyone I worked with bought into the idea that government agencies should be run like business

    It’s a pity more people don’t know how badly most businesses are run.

  96. 96.

    chris

    January 18, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    Oh, FFS! These people just ain’t right. (via Daniel Dale)

    HOLY SHIT Now, Tucker Carlson's guest, Republican Congressman Scott Perry from PA, just said ISIS did the Vegas shooting pic.twitter.com/JfSciElOdf— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) 19 January 2018

  97. 97.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    OT: I spent about 12 hours doing this and I think I’ve got something I’m sort of happy with: Pasadena’s Colorado Street Bridge sunset timelapse(take 2).

  98. 98.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    @Shana: The rants are especially soul-satisfying when I drop a couple of f-bombs.

  99. 99.

    efgoldman

    January 18, 2018 at 9:15 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    Tom Cotton is sending cease and desist letters to constituents.

    Snake wil probably get rte-elected anyway. There are enough racist white people in Arkansas

    ETA: BTW that’s blatantly unconstitutional. Redress of grievances etc. You’d think a Harvard grad (law school?) would know that.

    Fuckem

  100. 100.

    raven

    January 18, 2018 at 9:15 pm

    @Teddys Person: Ah, we have that situation with some senior administrators who actually remain on faculty at their institutions while they work for the system office. They can’t work on days when their institution is on break or off for any reason.

  101. 101.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 18, 2018 at 9:16 pm

    @Mike J: Can you imagine the howls if the government were run like Google, where employees are encouraged to work on fun side-projects 20% of the time?

  102. 102.

    Tim C.

    January 18, 2018 at 9:18 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Fred Clark over at Slacktivist accurately describes the Anti-Abortion movement has “Deeply-Held Biblical Beliefs” that have been around for less time than the McDonald’s Happy Meal.

  103. 103.

    trollhattan

    January 18, 2018 at 9:20 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    Cool! I hear people bitch about “bulb ramping” doing time lapses–is that something you encounter and work around? Have built a couple in-camera (because it’s there) and do see exposure shifts and other artifacts not in yours.

  104. 104.

    trollhattan

    January 18, 2018 at 9:20 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Monsters!

  105. 105.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 9:21 pm

    @Tim C.: That is the most awesome thing I’ve read in a long time.

  106. 106.

    B.B.A.

    January 18, 2018 at 9:21 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Catholics have been consistently anti-abortion forever. Which is why evangelicals, historically, weren’t – it was popery, Whore of Babylon, etc.

  107. 107.

    Mike J

    January 18, 2018 at 9:22 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I think the “run the government like a business” crowd envision something less like Google and more like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

  108. 108.

    Baud

    January 18, 2018 at 9:23 pm

    @efgoldman: Freedom.

  109. 109.

    efgoldman

    January 18, 2018 at 9:23 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    I recently went on a rant to my department chair about how demoralizing being an adjunct is and how the college is stealing our labor.

    Hope your resume is shipshape and that you get a new job for next fall, quickly.

  110. 110.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 18, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    @chris: Why not? If you’re going to lie, lie big.

  111. 111.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    @trollhattan: I was using ‘P’ mode on my camera and got a lot of exposure shifts. I just installed a mod on my camera that will do ramping, I’m going to test that out next time I shoot a sunset(it also does focus stacking which I’m really excited about). I used LRTimelapse to do the post processing and it smooths out a lot of the exposure shifts really nicely, I think I’m going to buy a copy(I was using an evaluation copy to test this out).

  112. 112.

    Ohio Mom

    January 18, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    @Teddys Person: You are going to have to be satisfied with knowing you are helping your students understand history and teaching them how to think critically.

    One of the seminal events of my life was my seventh grade history teacher explaining why taxes were good and necessary — that people who have benefitted greatly from the ways things are set up owe the rest of us for allowing them to prosper — and that big government projects like the Erie Canal (I grew up in NYC) can create prosperity for many.

    Thank you Mr. Sol Turk! (who could forget a name like that?)

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    January 18, 2018 at 9:27 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Jerry Falwell couldn’t spell ‘abortion’ five years ago.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  114. 114.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 18, 2018 at 9:27 pm

    Any word from Ozark about his son?

  115. 115.

    Ohio Mom

    January 18, 2018 at 9:29 pm

    @Tim C.: Slackavist very well might have been the source of the blog posts I read once upon a time — he would be an excellent choice of author for the book I would commission, if I was in a position to commission a book.

  116. 116.

    J R in WV

    January 18, 2018 at 9:31 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    You should point out to your BFF’s in-law that in the Holy Bible, a child isn’t named (ie, not really yet born and alive) until it is at least 30 days old, post birth. There is no penalty in the Bible for “abortion”. It was not a concept in the time of the prophets when the Holy Bible was handed down by G-D.

    The whole abortion festival is made up out of whole cloth to take advantage of people who believe blindly in a book they have never even read, but are instructed about by other men who haven’t read it either. That would probably end the issue between the two of you, a net improvement in your life either way, right?

  117. 117.

    karensky

    January 18, 2018 at 9:31 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): yup

  118. 118.

    Teddys Person

    January 18, 2018 at 9:32 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Oh, I am and don’t complain about the time I spend on my students but that’s what the college counts on to keep adjunct on staff. I recently had a conversation with a current student who was in my 19th century US history class in the spring and is now in my 20th century class. My classes are filled with mostly high school students taking classes for both high school and college credit (instead of AP classes in their high schools). We were talking about her 4-year college plans, and I asked her what she wanted to study. She didn’t know, and I told her once she got to university she’d have a professor that would turn her on to something and that would be it. She responded that I did that for history for her.

  119. 119.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    January 18, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    I just remembered, Eliot Spitzer had to resign from office for paying for sex in order for the US Attorney to drop charges.

  120. 120.

    raven

    January 18, 2018 at 9:35 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Not that I’ve seen.

  121. 121.

    raven

    January 18, 2018 at 9:39 pm

    Ice in the yard.

  122. 122.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 18, 2018 at 9:40 pm

    @Shana: seconded.

  123. 123.

    Ohio Mom

    January 18, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    @Mike J: I think lots of people have worked in businesses that are poorly run, they just think it is something idiosyncratic to their workplace. Because big companies are not eager to publicize all their inner workings, it is hard to compare notes.

    Governments of all levels in a democracy — their inner workings and records are public by law. There’s lots of easily available information on screw-ups.

    All that just feeds into the myth that businesses are intrinsically better run than gummint.

  124. 124.

    frosty

    January 18, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    @chris: Shit, that’s my congressman. I knew he was a Teahadi and Freedom Caucus asshole, but I didn’t know he was an idiot too.

    I think Carville is wrong. PA isn’t Alabama up the middle. Even Alabama is better than this.

  125. 125.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 18, 2018 at 9:45 pm

    @raven: oooh, very pretty.

  126. 126.

    Ohio Mom

    January 18, 2018 at 9:49 pm

    @Another Scott: Maybe I should commission an anthology. Fred Clark can write one chapter, Jill LePore another.

    Your link in that old thread was probably another one of the things I read long ago and now only dimly remember.

  127. 127.

    satby

    January 18, 2018 at 9:49 pm

    @Mnemosyne: go for it. I always do.
    If course, have way less “friends” on FB now.
    Not much meat, but what there is is cherce.

  128. 128.

    Mary G

    January 18, 2018 at 9:56 pm

    @raven: Yikes!

    Ed Kilgore at NY Magazine has an explanation of the moves made by Congressional Republicans this week, which he describes as Kabuki theater.

    Basically they can’t come to agreement among themselves, especially in the Senate. If they make the bill more conservative, they lose the ones who’re pretending to be moderate, and vice versa.

    So the House passed a bill today that they know can’t pass the Senate, then plan to blame Democrats for the shutdown.

    Overnight the spin machines will whir. Possibly some sort of very brief, nobody-gets-anything extension of spending might be yet reached before the lights go off (my favorite idea is a two-week extension that would expire, fittingly, on Groundhog Day). But the big question at the moment is whether Republicans can convince at least two of their wayward senators to climb back on board and vote for the bill so that the GOP can argue it was killed by a Democratic filibuster.

    But that means they have to herd their own cats back into line (Lindsey Graham, Mike Rounds, and Rand Paul have all announced opposition; Mike Lee’s looking shaky, and John McCain’s absent).

    I don’t think it’s going to work the way they think it will. I kind of wish nine Democrats would vote for cloture while stating their opposition, thus forcing Republicans to go on the record on this piece of shit bill. The ads write themselves.

  129. 129.

    satby

    January 18, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: so cool.

  130. 130.

    trollhattan

    January 18, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    Thanks, looking forward to your next experiments!

    My camera can do focus stacking and bracketing, but those projects are round tuits ATM.

  131. 131.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 18, 2018 at 10:07 pm

    @frosty:

    Even Alabama is better than this.

    No, it’s not.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    January 18, 2018 at 10:09 pm

    Thanks, all. I’m still debating with myself because this is my BFF’s older sister (and I’m friends with a third sister in that family as well) and I don’t want my other two friends to close ranks out of family loyalty even though they don’t agree with her either. Need to think of a reasonably tactful way to say it so that if she gets pissy, it’s on her, not on me. ?

  133. 133.

    debbie

    January 18, 2018 at 10:10 pm

    @raven:

    Huh. Very cool effect.

  134. 134.

    Mary G

    January 18, 2018 at 10:10 pm

    Shit, in the 40 minutes it took me to peck out a comment on the last thread, you’re well away on a new one. Blast this balky tablet and the torn tendons in my hands.

    Link

  135. 135.

    Ohio Mom

    January 18, 2018 at 10:13 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Maybe try to get her to join you in tsk-taking the horrible maternal death statistics coming out of Texas?

    She may not have heard about how many families are losing their wives, mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins and nieces because Planned Parenthood was pushed out of the state.

  136. 136.

    pat

    January 18, 2018 at 10:19 pm

    Hey John,
    I just got here and have not read any of the comments, but do you think you could get a job writing this stuff for the WaPo? You would get a lot of positive comments.
    Jest saying….

  137. 137.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    January 18, 2018 at 10:25 pm

    @Mary G: Bill Kristol was on MSNBC saying Drumpf will get blamed for the shutdown as they control all levers and can’t make the train work and the politics will be good for the Dems.

  138. 138.

    Mnemosyne

    January 18, 2018 at 10:34 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I’m leaning towards something like, “Meanwhile, 9 million existing children will lose their healthcare on January 31st” with a link.

    Still debating.

  139. 139.

    Brachiator

    January 18, 2018 at 10:45 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    All that just feeds into the myth that businesses are intrinsically better run than gummint.

    A poorly run business will ultimately cease to exist. A poorly run government can hang on far, far longer.

    But I agree with your point that it is nonsense that businesses are intrinsically better run than government.

  140. 140.

    Cowboy Diva

    January 18, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @Teddys Person: The IRS in the ’90s (especially before the RRA act of 1996) was a very different place than it is today. I’d like to think the changes are for the better, but that power that ROs had to get people to sign away their own CSEDs? that must have been magical.

  141. 141.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 18, 2018 at 11:01 pm

    @trollhattan: Mine does focus bracketing, but without the mod, doesn’t do focus stacking. Focus bracketing just affects the depth of field.

    @satby: My head still hurts from that one.

  142. 142.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    January 18, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Heh, new Rule….. Any CEO or executive that publicly says that government should be run like a business must have their company run under federal/state disclosure laws for the next year. that would shut them up quick.

  143. 143.

    Jack the Second

    January 18, 2018 at 11:17 pm

    @Teddys Person: Thank you for your service.

  144. 144.

    Johannes

    January 18, 2018 at 11:27 pm

    When confronted by wingnuts, la Caterina is apt to cry out, “Reclaiming my time! Reclaiming my time!”

    Of course I love her; how could you not?

  145. 145.

    joel hanes

    January 18, 2018 at 11:54 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    Envangelicals were not originally anti-choice

    You'll be interested to know that neither were Roman Catholics for the first seventeen centuries.

    The Catholic tradition was that ensoulment occurred at "quickening", thought to happen when the mother first felt the fetus move on its own. That happens roughly around the end of the first trimester. Before that milestone, the developing fetus was not held to have an immortal soul, and so first-term abortion was not considered murder.

    IIRC, the doctrinal change was made about 1820, as part of a political deal between rival factions in the Vatican who were vying to get one of their own as the next Pope.

  146. 146.

    joel hanes

    January 18, 2018 at 11:59 pm

    @B.B.A.:

    No. The ensoulment-at-conception doctrine that deens early abortion be murder was not the traditional Catholic doctrine, and was introduced early in the nineteenth centure, for reasons of internal Church politics.

  147. 147.

    chopper

    January 19, 2018 at 9:29 am

    yup. Ryan is running according to the boehner rule so he doesn’t want to introduce a decent bill that will pass with dem votes, and the GOP leadership is from the school of “extract concessions no matter how popular or pro forma the bill”.

  148. 148.

    mere mortal

    January 19, 2018 at 11:34 am

    Strong metaphor, extended throughout the post.

    Good stuff, Mr. Cole.

  149. 149.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2018 at 11:35 am

    @Teddys Person: You either have a service attitude or you don’t. It’s not something that can really be taught.

  150. 150.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2018 at 11:36 am

    @Kay: Now all we need is the SOURCE of the funds. That is probably what they will nail him for. “In-kind” contributions to the campaign.

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2018 at 11:38 am

    @Roger Moore: You are so right! I should have said “serve the public” or “serve the citizens they rare supposed to represent”.

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