swordfish

Well - like DJT - She is not a polished politician......And SF learned a new phrase today..... https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ocasio-cortez-vows-to-run-train-on-progressive-agenda-in-bizarre-turn-of-phrase Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., used a strange – and sexually charged – phrase to describe to The Washington Post her plan for implementing a progressive agenda. “... enjoy being exhausted for the next two years while we run train on the progressive agenda,” the newly minted congresswoman told the newspaper. The choice of words sent the Internet into a tizzy, as it has a well-known and highly disturbing connotation. According to the Urban Dictionary, to “run train” means “to gangbang” someone. The phrase was injected into more mainstream parlance in October, after a client of adult film industry lawyer Michael Avenatti claimed – with no evidence – that now-Supreme Court Justice Bret Kavanaugh “ran trains” on girls while in high school near Washington, D.C.

SF really wishes DE would explain this statement.......I know several federal employees who are neither veterans nor veterinarians......

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/01/trumps_shutdown_trap.html?fbclid=IwAR1TTfuren5WzGQaEFbJmVWUxGokw6N27TPPkN3CjDnjHINWzxr1YbUZR4Y Has President Trump suckered Democrats and the Deep State into a trap that will enable a radical downsizing of the federal bureaucracy? In only five more days of the already "longest government shutdown in history" (25 days and counting, as of today), a heretofore obscure threshold will be reached, enabling permanent layoffs of bureaucrats furloughed 30 days or more. Don't believe me that federal bureaucrats can be laid off? Well, in bureaucratese, a layoff is called a RIF – a Reduction in Force – and of course, it comes with a slew of civil service protections. But, if the guidelines are followed, bureaucrats can be laid off – as in no more job. It is all explained by Michael Roberts here (updated after the beginning of the partial shutdown): Update: See also: OMB issues guidance on Reduction in Force layoffs due to partial shutdown A lot of procedures must be followed, and merit ("performance") is the last consideration, but based on the criteria above, employees already furloughed can be laid off ("RIFed") once they have been furloughed for 30 days or 22 work days: This seems to be what was referenced in this remarkable essay written by an "unidentified senior Trump official" published in the Daily Caller, which vouches for the authenticity of the author and explains that it is protecting him from adverse career consequences should the name become known. I strongly recommend reading the whole thing. The purported senior official makes the case that devotion to "process" eats up most of the time of federal bureaucrats and is also used by enemies of President Trump's initiatives to stymie the legitimate orders issued by his senior officials: Then the senior official notes what I have just called the "trap": Those officials who waste time and stymie the president's initiatives now are not present because they are not categorized as "essential." Keep in mind that saboteurs cannot be individually identified and RIFed, but they can be included in the layoffs if they meet the criteria above in terms of seniority and service, and they must be given 60 days' notice. But once they are gone, they are no longer free to obstruct using the "process" as their friend, because they are gone. You can expect lawsuits on every conceivable point, and I suspect that the definition of "furlough" will be one matter of dispute. If this was the plan all along, it would explain why President Trump goaded Chuck and Nancy in his televised meeting with them last year, boasting that he would claim credit for the shutdown. How could they resist a prolonged shutdown when he made it so easy to blame him? President Trump has proven that he is a "disruptor" who changes the framework of thinking on major issues by refusing to accept the "givens" – the assumptions of how things always have been done and therefore always must be done. So who is the "senior official"? I don't know, but I think Stephen Miller is the sort of bold thinker who might volunteer to telegraph the strategy just five days before the deadline. Give Chuck and Nancy something to think about and probably reject as unthinkable. Then they can't complain that they weren't warned once the trap is sprung. Such a mass RIF would be the Trump version of Ronald Reagan firing the air traffic controllers when they went on an illegal strike in 1981. That was completely unexpected by his enemies, vehemently criticized, and successful. Among other benefits, it taught the leaders of the USSR that Ronald Reagan was a man whose threats cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric. If you think that Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, Angela Merkel, and any other foreign leaders would not draw the same conclusion from a massive RIF, then you are kidding yourself. Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/01/trumps_shutdown_trap.html#ixzz5crzZTHoa Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook Interesting theory......

https://apnews.com/d90578a1687049e9a67db01582ce4278 Also from that article - Speaker Pelosi asks the President to delay SOTU speech. In a letter to Trump, Pelosi cited security concerns, noting that both the Secret Service and the Homeland Security Department are entangled in the partial government shutdown, now in its fourth week. She added that unless the government reopens this week, they should find another date or Trump should deliver the address in writing. https://nypost.com/2019/01/16/secret-service-dhs-say-they-can-handle-state-of-the-union-security/ The Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security said they can handle security at President Trump’s State of the Union address — which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants Trump to postpone. Both federal agencies have been largely shuttered as the partial government shutdown enters its record-breaking 26th day. But Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen wrote on Twitter that both agencies are good to go. “The Department of Homeland Security and the US Secret Service are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union. We thank the Service for their mission focus and dedication and for all they do each day to secure our homeland,” she wrote. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Pelosi’s request was “unbecoming” and motivated by politics, not security concerns. “It is not a security issue — that’s politics. It’s pure politics,” he told the network. What doesn't she want us to hear from the President?

https://apnews.com/d90578a1687049e9a67db01582ce4278 Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Tuesday the shutdown is slowing growth more than predicted. An economic shift could rattle Trump, who has tied his political fortunes to the stock market and repeatedly stressed economic gains as evidence that his tax-cut package and deregulation efforts are succeeding. Economic optimism had already cooled somewhat as Trump’s trade fight with China shook the markets. Hassett told reporters the White House is doubling its estimate of the strain on the economy of the shutdown, and now calculates that it is slowing growth by about 0.1 percentage points a week. With the shutdown in its fourth week, that suggests the economy has lost nearly a half-percentage point of growth so far, though some of that occurred at the end of last year and some in the first quarter of this year. Hassett said the economy should get a boost when the government re-opens. SF wonders - how does the shutdown slow growth in an economy like the US? Except for the 800,000 employees, who will receive back pay after the shutdown, how does the growth of a capitalist based economy slow down because of a shutdown?

Those who chuckled at this supposed irony missed a major detail, even though it was noted in the press coverage: Paul's surgery will take place at the Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario. The clinic is private, and run for profit; The Toronto Star's Daniel Dale, who is from Thornhill, notes that it was "grandfathered in to Ontario's socialized health system."

Glad to see this come to pass - FINALLY - Should've been done back when the original plans were done in 2004 -2005 that the Amish community turned down.......fearing a tax increase.......that didn't happen after the new school was built.....🤬

https://mix935roanoke.iheart.com/content/2019-01-15-president-trump-catered-fast-food-buffet-to-honor-clemson-tigers/?fbclid=IwAR0oOd6IN-BBwIPLJeb2O9g2JphDbRIvXreXhShOS7xw2IWOOQzLrmdWgt8 The Clemson boys didn't look too upset by this. I love guy in the middle of the pack, 2 Big Macs, a couple of other burgers......

I would kinda expect this story from USA Today, or CNN, not NPR. I certainly wouldn't expect it to be so opinionated from NPR. Unless it was meant as an opinion piece from them, but it wasn't classified as such. Here's another quote from that article you didn't copy: Perhaps befitting Trump's hard stance on the southern border, it is not clear whether tacos were served at the gathering. Is this now the News?

SF has a general agreement with Ron Swanson and Muda.........Government shutdowns are OK with me...... I have a sister-in-law who lives in Pentagon City, and is an FBI employee (accounting) and is actually surviving this shutdown because she has been in DC for over a decade and knows how to plan. HOWEVER - the cost of living in a place like DC is exponentially higher than what we are used to. I suppose this would apply to most large metropolitan areas, but her small 2 bedroom condo (on the bottom floor of a 5 story complex just South of the Pentagon and about a mile from the nearest subway station) was a bargain at $395,000. This abode would set some one in Indiana back about $75,000 - $100,000 maybe. She is not having any problems, as I said she can plan better than most, and of course will get back pay and family will help if needed. She still has to get in to work every day and back home, but will survive.

Teachers are predominantly female in the United States, particularly in primary education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 76 percent of public-school teachers were female. Over 80 percent of social workers are female. Soooo - It's a woman's fault after all?

In order to fly - yes, yes you will.....

Cold McDonald's on expensive plates could not be any more perfect a representation of Trump. NPR - Really?

Did anyone else notice that Gehrig Dieter (the former standout player for the controversial SB Washington team a few years back) made the field on Sunday playing for the Chiefs and had an 11 yard catch? SF did. Congrats to Mr. Dieter for lasting through the college years and making it to the Pros.....

Glad to hear - Thanks to DK and the others involved in getting the GID back up!!