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White supremacy is terrorism.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

No one could have predicted…

I really should read my own blog.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Republicans in disarray!

Not all heroes wear capes.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Breaking News: Trump Backs Down on His SotU Speech

Breaking News: Trump Backs Down on His SotU Speech

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Per The Hill:

… “As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative – I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over.”

Trump clarified earlier statements suggesting he may do an “alternative” State of the Union, writing that he was not seeking an alternative venue because “there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber.”

“I look forward to giving a “great” State of the Union Address in the near future!” he added….

Bets on which Media Village Idiot will first proclaim this a Brillant Strategery to distract from (a) Ari Melber’s Roundtable of Mookery; (b) the increasingly loud protests against Trump’s Shitshow Shutdown; or (c) Steven Miller telling Trump he should totally set things up for an Argo reboot in Venezuela?

ETA: (h/t commentor LAMH)

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    Cue a day of people, especially on Fox, saying (accurately) that “Trump caved”, and by this time tomorrow there’s a fair chance that he’ll be back to trying to give the speech next Tuesday.

  4. 4.

    Adam L Silverman

    Nailed it!

    the only way the President, or anyone else for that matter, makes a joint address to Congress is if both chambers pass a joint concurrent resolution inviting that person to do so. Speaker Pelosi has now made it abundantly clear that until the partial shutdown is ended and the parts of the government that are now closed are reopened, there will not be a joint concurrent resolution brought up, let alone passed, in the House of Representatives inviting the President to deliver the State of the Union address. The President needs to come to terms with a simple reality: he is not in control over this matter. Speaker Pelosi is both smarter than he is and a strategic thinker, which he isn’t. He has no power over her. And he has no power over the House of Representatives, provided it is is not being led by a figurative invertebrate, like Paul Ryan, who is afraid of both mean presidential tweets, Gym Jordan, Mark Meadows, and the base of the Republican Party. While Senator McConnell may be willing to finish his project of transforming the Senate into a parliament subservient to the President as head of government provided the president is a Republican, Speaker Pelosi is not willing to do that with the House of Representatives. She is also not going to play the President’s games. She said no, she means no, and she has the ability, unlike the President’s other female targets and victims over the years, to actually enforce that no.

  5. 5.

    Luthe

    That loud cackling y’all just heard from western Connecticut was me expressing my delight at how delicious the schadenfreude pie is tonight.

  6. 6.

    trollhattan

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Trump’s vanity is a card that can be played over and over and over again, ad infinitum. Our Nancy knows this; why did it take everybody else so long to figure it out.

  7. 7.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber.”

    Turns out I was right. Trump needs that high, specifically in the House chambers, where he can force those who hate him to applaud him.

  9. 9.

    hells littlest angel

    … Ari Melber’s Roundtable of Mookery …

    Just a few minutes ago, I gave up attempting to watch that. The portions of self-serving bullshit were just too large. Did I miss anything significant?

  10. 10.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Adam L Silverman:

    She said no, she means no, and she has the ability, unlike the President’s other female targets and victims over the years, to actually enforce that no.

    I’m sure that’s eating him alive too.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: In terms of politics, it didn’t, she’s just the first Democrat in a position to do something about it. She’s spent the past two years thinking about how she would handle him. Developing plans and strategies. She did the homework. And now we’re seeing the results.

  12. 12.

    Brachiator

    This shit is crazy. And Trump backing down, apparently. I don’t believe it. I don’t trust him.

    What a crazy moment in history, and all because of his silly stubbornness.

    I had to step away from the Internets for a while today to get away from the craziness. Oh well, more tomorrow.

    Is Trump going to make up for this by having a White House meeting with the Catholic school punks? Is he going to buy them some burgers and pizza?

    Can we get Obama back as acting president until things get straightened out?

  13. 13.

    Felanius Kootea

    Go Nancy! I can’t wait to see what form Trump’s reversal on this issue takes once Presidents Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh weigh in on how his capitulation to the Speaker of the House is the gravest threat to his re-election.

  14. 14.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Brachiator:

    Is Trump going to make up for this by having a White House meeting with the Catholic school punks?

    AFAIK, he had already done that. He’s such a scumbag. Did that Savannah Guthrie interview with the MAGA brat get aired despite public protest?

  15. 15.

    MisterForkbeard

    If I had to bet, Trump realized he REALLY REALLY wanted to give the speech in the House, would look petty and weak if he did it elsewhere, and that he didn’t have the ability to change her mind.

    So he agreed. Then they’ll start putting out notices that Trump is being the Responsible One, and Nancy Pelosi is terrible at her job and so on. Expect Fox and contrarians to pick this up and run with it.

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anne Laurie: Game, set, and match!
    http://www.sfweekly.com/news/the-battle-over-the-state-of-the-union-just-intensified/

    So, what is this “concurrent resolution”? The Civic-minded Adam Silverman of Balloon Juice explains:

    The only way the President, or anyone else for that matter, makes a joint address to Congress is if both chambers pass a joint concurrent resolution inviting that person to do so. Speaker Pelosi has now made it abundantly clear that until the partial shutdown is ended and the parts of the government that are now closed are reopened, there will not be a joint concurrent resolution brought up, let alone passed, in the House of Representatives inviting the President to deliver the State of the Union address. The President needs to come to terms with a simple reality: he is not in control over this matter.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me!

    — “Labyrinth”

  19. 19.

    lamh36

    @Brachiator: naw they already said if that meeting happens it’ll be after the shutdown…i mean can’t feed this rich kids Mickey Ds and pizza…I mean what are they poor college football players ??

  21. 21.

    MisterForkbeard

    @MisterForkbeard: Or to add some additional guesses: I think Trump realizes he’s might eventually have to give in on the wall and take whatever face-saving thing he can get. So maybe he’s decided he’d rather have the SOTU right after that to get his “I totally won” version of the situation out there with a big microphone.

  26. 26.

    dmsilev

    Fox News’ website has the headline “Trump blinks”. Breitbart’s lead story, meanwhile, is about Al Sharpton.

  31. 31.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Yarrow:
    I was hoping he’d cave and reopen the government just to get his SOTU, but we can’t get everything we want

  32. 32.

    Raoul

    Trump has apparently also decided to pivot to a foreign policy crisis. While a chunk of the gov’t is shut down. Brilliant.

    WaPo: U.S. to defy Venezuelan order for American diplomats to leave Caracas in 72 hours

  33. 33.

    Yarrow

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:

    Did that Savannah Guthrie interview with the MAGA brat get aired despite public protest?

    Yes, but they showed it sometime after the first half hour of the show. The first half hour is where the important stuff goes so they were trying to bury it.

  35. 35.

    Aleta

    From National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Paul Rinaldi, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) President Joe DePete, and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) President Sara Nelson

    “We have a growing concern for the safety and security of our members, our airlines, and the traveling public due to the government shutdown.
    …

    “Due to the shutdown, air traffic controllers, transportation security officers, safety inspectors, air marshals, federal law enforcement officers, FBI agents, and many other critical workers have been working without pay for over a month. Staffing in our air traffic control facilities is already at a 30-year low and controllers are only able to maintain the system’s efficiency and capacity by working overtime, including 10-hour days and 6-day workweeks at many of our nation’s busiest facilities. Due to the shutdown, the FAA has frozen hiring and shuttered its training academy, so there is no plan in effect to fill the FAA’s critical staffing need. Even if the FAA were hiring, it takes two to four years to become fully facility certified and achieve Certified Professional Controller (CPC) status. Almost 20% of CPCs are eligible to retire today. There are no options to keep these professionals at work without a paycheck when they can no longer afford to support their families. When they elect to retire, the National Airspace System (NAS) will be crippled”.
    …
    …

    I know they want to reduce federal workers and would love to hurt these unions, but I hope the thought of a drop in air travel for safety reasons is putting pressure on them. They don’t seem to have much feeling about depriving money for food and rent (is this helping the credit card cos?) but I hope this statement applied some pressure.

  36. 36.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Adam L Silverman: My attenna’s been intermittently out this week. That must be why I’ve gotten so few emails.

    Or none of my friends care about birthdays at our age.

  37. 37.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    I don’t believe it. I don’t trust him.

    A very wise position.
    Old school. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. And I’m old and have a bad back, and he outweighs me by a metric shitton.

  38. 38.

    opiejeanne

    @Raoul: vWhat the everlasting fuck? Are we gonna send in the marines to protect them? (On top of the ones already there). Ridiculous.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: Its’ on my business card. Right under

    Adam L. Silverman, PhD
    Consultant
    National Security & Strategy,
    Irregular, Asymmetric, & Unconventional Warfare,
    Insurgency & Terrorism, Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations
    ***Civic Minded***

  43. 43.

    Suzanne

    @dmsilev: I periodically enjoy/torture myself by checking in on Breitbart and National Review to see how the deluded are deluding. Breitbart is absolutely hilarious in how it constructs this alternate reality and completely ignores essentially everything that all the other media out,etc are discussing.

    Like….Al Sharpton? Fo’ realz? Did he do or say anything important in the last twelve months, never mind the last twelve hours?

  44. 44.

    Anne Laurie

    @Raoul: And the poor bastids (potentially) to be taken hostage, apparently, aren’t even getting paid right now.

    Because this is the hellmouth timeline, I’m convinced one of Bannon’s moles in the Oval Office was inspired by Tony Mendez’s obituaries.

    No, they’re not smart enough to figure out that “it worked out well for the GOP” because when the embassy in Tehran was swarmed, the GOP was not the party in the White House. (Just the party making deals with the enemy to ensure their figurehead got elected, right, Ronnie?)

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Raoul: As we speak Commanding General SOUTHCOM, Commanding General SOCSOUTH, Commanding General SOCOM, and Commanding General JSOC are guzzling Maalox.

  46. 46.

    opiejeanne

    @Aleta: We saved up for a trip to Europe in May, but I didn’t buy the tickets last week because of the shutdown. I will wait to see my niece’s baby (due in April) until next year. She will be in Italy this spring for the birth, probably not going back to Uganda. She and her husband work for the UN.

  49. 49.

    joel hanes

    I fear what a humiliated Trump might do.
    I hope the military is feeling particularly level-headed.

  52. 52.

    Mike in NC

    Fat Bastard can give his SOTU speech at a Klan rally in Mississippi. MAGA hats will be available at 50% off. Sad!

  53. 53.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @joel hanes:
    He might just decide to send in the Marines to Venezuela to get his war on. Trump desperately wants the popularity and good will that GWB squandered after 9/11.

  54. 54.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Yarrow:
    I guess that’s good? I would rather they have just shelved the damn thing, but I suppose they had to save face somehow.

  56. 56.

    Yarrow

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I was kind of surprised. I figured it would be in the first half hour block but I think it was even in the second hour, which is way down the list. I did note that they made poor Craig Melvin say something like, “good to hear what he had to say” or something dumb like that. He was pretty good at faking that he meant those words, but not quite believable.

  57. 57.

    Aleta

    About Zephen Xaver

    A mother of one of his close friends he played football with said he struggled with depression and never had a good self image.

    “Zephen has stayed at my house, played on the same football team as my son,” the mother said. “Zephen had messaged me in May and told me he was moving to Florida. He was hopeful about his new start. I know people are going to drag his name, his family’s name through the mud. Truth is, Zephen had good family support, was a good friend to anyone that would take time to know him. This is an example of mental illness. He had always struggled with depression and never had a good self image. I know he fought himself and fought to do the best he could in life. I’m heartbroken and sick to my stomach that this has happened. I pray for everyone that was effected by this. I pray for the victims and Zephen’s Family.”

    “He wrote me a long message one time about how he, basically he just wanted to go away,” one friend said. “He didn’t want to be here. He just kind of wanted to drift off to sleep and not wake up.”

    On top of struggling with depression and fitting in socially, friends say Xaver tried hard to live up to his dad’s expectations by playing football.

    “The kid’s gone through a lot,” one friend said. “I don’t know details of his and his dad’s relationship, but I know it wasn’t good. And I know that depression is nothing to mess around with. I mean, he struggled with it for a long time.”

    Other reports mention additionally a break with reality, which can happen around his age to those who’re susceptible.

  60. 60.

    Mike in NC

    Ah yes, the “Venezuela Threat”. Several years ago I was Watch Captain during a USJFCOM exercise that had multiple scenarios (that originated in the Pentagon) and included a need to send a Navy task group off of Venezuela to address their alleged ballistic missile threat. I made a phone call and quashed that silly bullshit.

  61. 61.

    lamh36

    @Yarrow: Km imagining Savannah’s Black and other minority colleagues don’t want to touch it ten door pole. Although I wouldn’t put ir pass the PR firm to ask for the white reporter specifically/

  62. 62.

    lamh36

    Anyhoo. Off to bed. I expect to wake up to some anger tweets or Fox & Friends interview, once Chump sees that even Fox News is gently reporting that he’s folded like a cheap suit!

    Good night BJ

  63. 63.

    Raoul

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: There’s a shit ton of reasons to hope he does not. Here’s but one, which I had not known till a few minutes ago.

    Families for troops killed in action would not receive the $100,000 death benefit during the shutdown or military funded travel for funeral or memorial services.

    So, does this mean the families of the four killed by ISIS are having benefits delayed or cancelled? Why is this not front f’ing page news?

  64. 64.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Aleta: Thomas Szasz has much to answer for. If there is a just Deity he is experiencing a very unpleasant afterlife.

  66. 66.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Mary G:

    Remember us little people when you’re a famous pundit!

    But you have to have a brainectomy performed first before you can become a pundit! Little known fact.

    @Yarrow:

    As a POC, I’m sure Craig Melvin detested NBC’s decision to air the interview. Did you watch it btw? Was Guthrie just as uncomfortable as that promo pic suggested? Shit’s getting so bad that people are having a hard time ignoring it anymore it seems; the masks people put on are becoming strained in the face of Trumpian evil and depravity.

  70. 70.

    Mnemosyne

    @Aleta:

    Major depression can trigger a psychotic break, particularly if it’s left untreated long enough. This is one of the reasons that African-Americans with major depression get misdiagnosed with schizophrenia at a high rate — they have untreated major depression that develops psychotic features and then the psychosis gets misdiagnosed as schizophrenia and the underlying mood disorder that’s causing the psychosis never gets addressed.

  71. 71.

    Yarrow

    @lamh36: @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I didn’t watch it. I was skimming around trying to find a weather update and then remembered they were showing the interview and just looked for it. I expected it in the first half hour but it wasn’t there. I think it was the second hour but am not sure.

    I did stop to watch the post-interview reactions of Craig Melvin and Hoda Kotb because I wanted to see how they’d react. They had their game faces on but Craig Melvin couldn’t quite hide how he felt.

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    @Aleta:

    Though another thought just occurred to me: he murdered five people in a state with a very active death penalty. Now I’m wondering if this was meant to be a suicide by cop, with a fail-safe of suicide by death penalty.

  74. 74.

    cain

    @opiejeanne:
    I’m leaving for Belgium next week.. Jesus Christ I hope I’m able to come back. That will be some serious shit if I end up stuck in Europe.

  75. 75.

    Aleta

    USDA meat inspectors also have begun calling in sick — in numbers large enough to trigger an agency crackdown. The inspectors were told Jan. 11 to bring in a doctor’s note, even if they were ill for a single day, records show.

    Six days later, after protests from union leaders, agency officials reverted to existing policy, which calls for a doctor’s note after three days.

    I wonder what’s happening with border inspections of food imports. Hamburger comes in from many countries and is mixed together before distribution. Those numbers of inspectors were already reduced in 2017 if I recall correctly.

  76. 76.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Raoul:

    So, does this mean the families of the four killed by ISIS are having benefits delayed or cancelled? Why is this not front f’ing page news?

    It wouldn’t surprise me. As for why it’s not bigger news, a lot of crazy shit is happening all the time. Trump’s numbers are slipping because of the shutdown, even among self-identified Republicans. There was a poll that was as low as 34% approval for all Americans I believe. 77% of Republicans approve of his performance, which is down. That “compromise” bill hasn’t seemed to worked as well as McConnell and Trump wanted.

  78. 78.

    Aleta

    @Aleta: “Those numbers of inspectors ” — by which I mean, imported food inspectors in general. I don’t know specifically how hamburger is inspected at the border, or the number of inspectors for meat.

  79. 79.

    Mary G

    WaPo has a story by the excellent Josh Dawsey and Robert Costa about Jared Kushner, the legend in his own mind, who is convinced that he is going to get a compromise through. There is this:

    “They can’t jam Pelosi. They never will. They think Nancy Pelosi will have to eat something. She’s not going to have to eat anything,” said one senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

    It’s delightfully snarky in a news kind of way, starting with the headline “Master negotiator’ or ‘nonentity’? Kushner thrusts himself into middle of shutdown talks.”

    Also, the Republican who “loves the Cush” and raves about his masterly skills is Matt Gaetz, numbskull from Florida. Democrats are quoted as saying they haven’t heard from him in weeks, and Shakira Knight, Trump’s lead negotiator who’s thrown up her hands and quit is quoted as saying he’s “delusional.”

    So much winning!

  81. 81.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Jay:
    Tell that to Team Trump, who saw fit to cut a recruitment program aimed at immigrants that drew 10,000 recruits annually. They’re not playing with a full deck.

    @Yarrow:

    They had their game faces on but Craig Melvin couldn’t quite hide how he felt.

    I’d have the same problem. It’s why I never did Debate Club/Team in HS. I could never sincerely argue for a position I didn’t agree with, especially one I found morally reprehensible. The same can be said for federal employees working for the Trump admin. I couldn’t stand implementing stupid and cruel policy.

  83. 83.

    Jay

    @Aleta:

    Canadian exports are inspected at the Canadian Processor.

    You are more in danger from US meat, not imports, ( other than China), before because the USDA “caved” to industry, now because the few inspections arn’t happening.

    Vegtables and other produce are a bigger danger right now.

    Needy Admin-istration killed the $5 testing of irrigation water for contamination back in Seltember.

  84. 84.

    Mary G

    @Mary G: Correction, my bad reading comprehension fail, Shakira Knight didn’t call Kushner delusional, that was another anonymous administration official. She has only expressed unease.

  85. 85.

    Jay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:

    That’s why the Pentagon will spend the next few weeks fucking calls from the White Supremacy House.

    They need time to create and print out the Big Little Picture Book of the Tapped Out US Military on Furlough and Unpaid.

  86. 86.

    Aleta

    @Mary G: Another quote is from a friend of JK’s whom he made editor of the Observer when he owned it. He was criticized by writers for pushing into print, rather secretly, many wikileaks stories about HRC, Assange, etc. He was also a ghost writer for Giulianni and his employee for years. Last year Kush tried to get him a position in the WH but it was said that he failed to convince the FBI. Using that guy for a quote suggests to me that 1– one again Kushner’s PR people orchestrated some of the story for the reporters, to give him good press 2–they couldn’t find more impartial-seeming people to give quotes?

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: @Jay: SOUTHCOM doesn’t have any allocated forces. Just aligned. All three Corps headquarters are allocated. I Corps to PACOM and III Corps, which is allocated to CENTCOM and XVIII Airborne Corps, which is the rapid response/ready Corps, are rotating into and out of Iraq every 12 months as the CJTF OIR command group and headquarters. I suppose you could throw either a division at the problem.

    All the Marine Expeditionary Units are currently in use.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Aleta: FDA and USDA are doing inspections of imported food, its the domestic stuff that FDA wasn’t doing. And now, apparently, USDA is having trouble doing. There will be a major food borne disease outbreak soon, people will die, it will be very bad.

  89. 89.

    Aleta

    @Jay: I believe the US imports meat from around 20 countries? Nothing from Canada worries me. Hamburger-use meat comes from all over and doesn’t stay separate, last I heard.

  90. 90.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Adam L Silverman:
    In other words, the Marines wouldn’t be sent unless Trump allocated some to SOUTHCOM under his authority as CIC?

    A division consists of 10,000 to 20,000 infantry, right?

  91. 91.

    Jay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And Venezwela has over 800,000, with between 1 and 1.5 million “irregulars”, and “terrain”.

    “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

    The US is also a little short on allies these days for some reason.

  95. 95.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Suzanne:

    I periodically enjoy/torture myself by checking in on Breitbart

    He’s still dead, I drove by the cemetery yesterday.

    ETA: Congrats on the perspective spawn, sorry to hear about the sinus problems.

  96. 96.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Jay:

    And Venezwela has over 800,000, with between 1 and 1.5 million “irregulars”, and “terrain”

    That’s what nukes are for, silly! //

  98. 98.

    Raoul

    @Mary G: But the efforts carry risks for both him and the president, whose boasts of being a savvy dealmaker are at the heart of his political appeal.

    Ding ding. That’s part of the journalist and pundit tone shift that’s been under way since Nancy’s first letter. Trump buckling now confirms what a lot of people have suspected (and the BJ cognoscenti have known): he’s just not very good at this. Or anything.

  99. 99.

    Adam L Silverman

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: The President doesn’t personally allocate anyone. Each services has a forces command, which does so in conjunction with the appropriate offices at the Pentagon and the Combatant Commands as needed. On the Army side of things divisions are somewhat fluid because of what is called Force Modularity. Meaning you can pull, plug, and play any number of echelons at brigade and below depending on the mission. So, for instance, a brigade combat team, which usually has around 4,500 to 5,500 personnel or so could have more or less depending on what was or was not deployed.

  100. 100.

    Jay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:

    As Adam tried to point out, the US is “tapped out”, unless the Pentagon wants to pull out troops completely from Task A, to Task B, and that takes time and massive logistics.

    All the US is “capable of” regarding “new” military adventures is a few airstrikes, drone strikes and missiles. There are no more “boots” to be put on the ground, because they are all busy.

  101. 101.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jay: I don’t see the US doing anything, but, perhaps, sending in some SOF to execute a non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) and get the embassy folks and other Americans out.

  102. 102.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jay: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar salad not to serve it. Thrice upon the Lupercal the Roman salad bars it did fill.

  104. 104.

    Aleta

    @Jay: For sure. And all kinds of other processed food made here. Not saying hamburger is the biggest worry, but it’s an example of poor control.

    @Adam L Silverman: The way I picture it is that the meat destined for hamburger is inspected at the border by the FDA (whose inspectors were reduced in 2017) and then ( it’s said) it is all mixed together. I imagine the US-produced mixtures are also inspected before distribution. But I don’t know the mixing is all done before getting here, instead.

  105. 105.

    Raoul

    @Mary G: But ohh, my. Continuing to read, and Rep. Matt Gaetz ramming himself up “Cush’s” tuchus, that’s not brown nosing, it’s whole body invasion.

    “I’ll tell you what, he’s turned out to be a master negotiator and a competent force on the Hill. Jared has really deployed private-sector dealmaking to this process and brought that to Trump world.”

    I think I might be sick.

  106. 106.

    Mnemosyne

    @Raoul:

    Trump has always been the emperor with no clothes. The MSM and Republicans have been propping him up and making excuses for him since 2015.

  107. 107.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Adam L Silverman:
    But couldn’t the President theoretically do that? The POTUS is the ultimate authority in the military chain of command. Unless Congress or the courts stopped him that is?

  110. 110.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Jay:
    I understood that. It’s just I don’t think Trump will take no for an answer if he feels that’s his only chance to escape the hole he’s dug for himself with the shutdown. Unless he caves and reopens the government?

  112. 112.

    Jay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The only need for that, is Needy Admin’s refusal to withdraw them on Maduro’s demand.

    Not sure you are going to get an “Atlas” out of this, more an “Eagle Claw”.

  115. 115.

    Anne Laurie

    @Adam L Silverman: Speaking of which…

  116. 116.

    bluehill

    @Raoul: Seems to me that business people who are good negotiators don’t have multiple bankruptcies and do not get essentially blacklisted by almost every major bank in the US. There is a difference between steamrolling people because you have all the leverage and negotiating with someone who is on equal footing as he is learning with Madam Speaker. None of this is news to the press, but I guess even they thought the Apprentice was real.

  117. 117.

    Aleta

    @Jay: testing of irrigation water for contamination
    Yeah, I read the article about the irrigation water issue for one of the farms that produced the contaminated romaine. The lettuce contamination had been reported over a year ago too, but it took them a long time to trace, and it’s not from just one farm. It’s preposterous the way the production ‘food chains’ are so convoluted that they can’t find sources after 1 1/2 years. We’re lucky here to have a lot of small local farmers for most of what we eat. Sad to say, climate warming has helped the small farms here have a longer the growing season, so now there are more of them and more profitable, and it’s a benefit to us. But if I could, I’d choose not to have the warming patterns and shifts in ecology, instead of the increased produce and eggs.

  118. 118.

    MomSense

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:

    A very happy birthday ????? to you!

    Yesterday was nuts. We had to leave at 315 am to get my mom to Boston for some more eye surgery. I drove home in rush hour with a semi zonked out mom reclined in the passenger seat saying the strangest things. Oh and I stopped at Whole Foods in Portland to grab something to eat and just as I got there they evacuated the store. There were fire trucks but I didn’t see a fire.

  119. 119.

    Jay

    @Anne Laurie:

    Venezwela’s not going to give Needy Admin his bloody shirt.

    The most they will do, is round em all up, put them on planes, and if Needy Admin want’s to shoot the planes down, he can try.

  120. 120.

    Jay

    @Aleta:

    Yup, $5 bucks a day to stop it at the source, too expensive,

    Tracing it back after 23 people die, through 6 processors, 22 wholesalers and 2798 farms,

    Priceless.

  124. 124.

    david

    Hey, has anyone seen the cover of the supermarket tabloid “Globe” this week?

    Cover picture is an unflattering one of Rush Limbaugh. The blurbs on the cover indicate
    they’re doing a slam piece on him. This, on the same week that National Enquirer is doing
    their hit on Jeff Bezos.

    Aren’t both publications run by the same outfit? Did Limbaugh say something to earn the ire
    of David Pecker? Can’t believe it’s just happenstance.

  126. 126.

    Mary G

    @Anne Laurie: That’s what I thought first. Maybe not Venezuela, but some place, they’re going to get Americans killed. They’ll try to bully someone, or some government, that has guns and isn’t afraid to use them.

  127. 127.

    Aleta

    Denver Post, Wed. evening

    Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner’s spokesman told us Wednesday he intends to vote for a clean funding bill that would open the government with no increased border-security funding attached.

    It’s the right thing to do.

    We cannot stress enough that our democracy’s health is at stake in this political stalemate. When we allow funding measures and budgets to be tied to policy objectives and pet projects, everyone suffers. …

    This 33-day, partial shutdown is driven by President Donald Trump’s demands for $5.7 billion for a wall on America’s southern border. It should stand as the last time our politicians abuse federal workers as though they are disposable pawns in a grander game of political chess.

  131. 131.

    prostratedragon

    @lamh36: What the Speaker said:

    Mr. President, I hope by saying “near future” you mean you will support the House-passed package to #EndTheShutdown that the Senate will vote on tomorrow. Please accept this proposal so we can re-open government, repay our federal workers and then negotiate our differences.

    What Trump heard: (cue electric glide procession line). And he just might have to take it.

  132. 132.

    Jay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: o

    To rephrase it, there are maybe 3 Organization of American States countries, that would send troops to a US “regime change” operation in Venezuela,

    If it was the heavy Armoured 350,000 strong Desert Storm,

    Or even the 150,000 strong heavy Armoured Dubya Dubya Me Too,

    Ain’t nobody following a 15,000 strong light infantry “tip of the slear” into Caracas.

  134. 134.

    Ken

    @Adam L Silverman: So the brilliant plan is to refuse to withdraw embassy personnel when asked, so you can send in troops to withdraw them?

    I just don’t think Trump’s going to get the necessary optics. The Venezuelans aren’t going to storm the embassy and take the personnel hostage.

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