shutting down the government

A day or two ago I saw a scare headline in Politico: "CHANCES OF A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ARE SKYROCKETING… There’s been next to no progress on a deal to lift mandatory government spending caps that take effect in January, so aides in both parties have said they believe that a shutdown is becoming more and more likely. Remember: Funding expires at the end of September." That seemed ominous.

For anyone who thinks Maddow is only good for explaining complicated Putin-Gate conspiracy theories and related judicial developments, the video above is one of her best-ever segments... and unrelated to Putin-Gate. This is Maddow at her very best-- and probably started a ball rolling that put enough pressure on Trump for him to order the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 8 jets "immediately." Key points about the two crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX 8:

No government shutdown today. The Senate passed the compromise bill 83-16 and then the House passed it 300-128 at night. 87 Republicans voted yes and 109 of them voted NO. 213 Dems voted yes and just 19 Democrats voted NO.

UPDATE: Trump caves again-- won't shut down the government. Earlier this morning, beaten like a dog, Trump was reported by CNN to be preparing to sign the bill to keep the government open without any money for his foolish vanity-wall. The deal falls far short of all his demands but he's knows he's been beaten and has no choice, despite the rantings and ravings of Ann Coulter.

Mattis and Kelly by Nancy OhanianA new poll from Morning Consult offered some more bad news for Trump and his congressional enablers-- and for xenophobes in general.

by NoahOver the years, I've encountered a ton of Republicans who wail and whine about their taxes and socialism. A lot of them come from red states that take more federal money than any blue state ever did. I've had these lost souls tell me that they voted for Trump because "Socialism doesn't work." I've seen their eyes glaze over and felt their palpable anxiety at the mere mention of President Obama's name.

by NoahSen. Mark Warner (D-VA) isn't on my list of favorite Senators. But he's right this time. We are now into a three week agreement that, more properly should be called a truce or a temporary cease-fire, instead of being trumpeted as an end to the shutdown. End?

Friday, Michael Bloomberg was campaigning in front of the Democratic Business Council of Northern Virginia when he assailed Señor Trumpanzee for what he called "a complete failure of presidential leadership" and "totally incompetent management." Addressing the Trump-McConnell shutdown, he added that "The whole episode really is a cynical, political stunt, and, unfortunately, we’re the ones paying the price.

On Thursday McConnell finally allowed a clean bill to open the government to be voted on, but first he presented Trump's frankenstein version of a bill that included nearly $6 billion for a small piece of his vanity wall, a vanity wall that will make many of his criminal cronies much wealthier. The only Democrat to vote for the Trump/McConnell bill was, predictably, Joe Manchin.

by NoahFor decades now, Republicans have campaigned on their hate for government and gullible, foolish, and willfully ignorant voters have supported them by voting against their own best interests time and time again. Now, the chickens have come home to roost like a bloody scene from The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock.