I thought it might be time for another
post on my fair state. As many of you know we can get, ummm, rather
cold in the winter. This has led to some rather unusual ways of
dealing with our propensity to hibernate until spring. It has become
a tradition to brave the elements on New Year's Day by jumping into
what is really, literally, ice cold water. We call it the Polar
Plunge. I know, some might find it, well, odd, but you just gotta
think outside the box.
I ran across a video from this year's
plunge on Lake Minnetonka. It does appear that we have dragged some
poor, innocent visitors from foreign lands into our crazy world. But
they took it in stride and with good humor.
I must say that some of those people
can swim quite quickly.
Happy New Year Everyone!
48 comments:
It's my understanding the ‛polar bear plunge’, as a New Year's tradition, actually started in New York City (at least so far as American participation; earlier examples exist abroad).
Changing subjects…
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I've notice another step along the continuüm in the right-leaning press. The Washington Times has officially adopted Trump's derogatory pseudonym for Elizabeth Warren. Most recently they've used the appellation to the exclusion of her real name on their editorial page. WashingtonTimes That's a real editorial, not an Op-Ed.
I can only conclude they either believe that Trump needs the assistance, or that the dedicated Trumpkins respond most enthusiastically to this sort of dimunition of their ‛enemies’, and thus such headlines are apt to get more readers. Gotta be one of the two.
It's my understanding the ‛polar bear plunge’, as a New Year's tradition, actually started in New York City (at least so far as American participation; earlier examples exist abroad).
I never said we invented it, just that we were crazy enough to do it. At least some of us. I, personally, have never indulged. I would prefer sitting in front of a nice warm fire to celebrate New Years.
And, of course, Lake Minnetonka isn't the only lake in Minnesota that has a polar plunge. It is fairly common.
...such headlines are apt to get more readers.
Gets my vote.
Word is the ‛briefing’ of congressional leaders did not prompt any movement on anybody's part.
Small wonder that.
I'm guessing that the shutdown will continue until enough Republican Senators join with the Democratic Senate Minority to override a Trump veto.
The other possibility is that Trump pays an exorbitant price to get the Democrats to finally relent and give him something in excess of $1.3 billion in funding for ‛border security’, something he can later call a ‛wall’.
Third possibility is the Democrats back down and give Trump his win for virtually no price. I think this one not likely. Last possibility is Trump backs down, also not likely.
I'm not sure how long it'll take for one of those things to happen. We may be lookin' at this shutdown for a long time.
In which case there are a lot of people out there who will be disappointed if they were hoping for a tax refund this year. That's a non starter until the shutdown ends. Even if the shutdown ends right now the IRS is still scrambling to make changes for the new tax law. That's why they haven't posted the date when you can file yet. The lights are on, but nobody's home.
Story seems to be that our good citizens still have to pay them; they still demand payment on time; they just don't make payment on time; takin' but not givin'.
The Democrats picked up seven (7) Republican Senators to re-open all government departments except Homeland Security (except The Wall). That's a majority of 54 total. They need 60 to break the Republicans' filibuster in the Senate. They need six more
I'm bettin' on that's how this shutdown gets ended. I don't know when, but it's lookin' like we now know how.
Oops, I misread; it was seven members of the House who voted with the Democrats. Not quite such a big deal after all.
Story seems to be that our good citizens still have to pay them; they still demand payment on time; they just don't make payment on time; takin' but not givin'.
lol! Let's suppose this drags on and the IRS doesn't have the staff to finalize program changes to handle the tax reform act changes. So they can't really accept tax returns. Okay, so everyone will have to file an extension or send in a payment, usually via mail. Who opens all of those envelopes?
Bwahahaha! Perhaps Trump can fill in while he's sitting at the White House waiting for everyone to come to him hat in hand and accept whatever he wants. Cause it's gonna be kind of hard to find almost $6 billion for his boondoggle if they can't cash the checks.
They need 60 to break the Republicans' filibuster in the Senate. They need six more
I'm bettin' on that's how this shutdown gets ended. I don't know when, but it's lookin' like we now know how.
I agree. The only way is to take Trump out of the equation.
This will end once it comes home to people exactly what they are screwing up by backing Trump.
*whispers softly*
Never mess with the IRS. Bwahahaha!
"Let's suppose this drags on and the IRS doesn't have the staff to
finalize program changes to handle the tax reform act changes."
That doesn't change the taxpayers' responsibilities. One can call up the IRS experts, get them to give advice on a subject, take their advice, and then they can still charge you for making any ‛errors’ on your taxes. You can prove conclusively that they told you to do just what you did, and they can still hit you up for penalties and interest and such as that. It's your responsibility to get it done right and on time, notwithstanding anything they may tell you and then later decide to disavow.
Them's the rules.
Trump is finally going to escape Washington DC today, managing a trip to ostensibly head ‛staff meetings’ at Camp David, where the on-site golf course is hidden from the prying eyes of the press. (Does anybody really believe Trump is even remotely interested in ‛staff meetings’?)
However, the weather is looking uncoöperative, so he may find himself golfless for several more days yet.
Them's the rules.
Yup, all true in the normal course of events.
We will still be required to send in payments, if owed. Those who get refunds are tough out of luck. But if by "IRS experts" you actually mean IRS experts their availability is questionable. Believe me, we've already noticed this.
Yeah, by ‛IRS experts’ I meant those IRS agents who deign to answer questions from concerned taxpayers about what's allowed and what's not and how to figure their taxes.
Well, so far auditors have gone missing and so have those who are in charge of setting up electronic filing of various required business reports. I guess time will tell who else is among the missing.
I listened to a small part of a Nancy Pelosi interview. She actually sounded reasonable and like someone I would vote for. Sheesh how Trump has changed my viewpoints on things.
"Trump has changed my viewpoints on things."
Happens.
Trump may also have come up with an alternate ending for his government shutdown problem. He's contemplating a declaration of a National Emergency under which he would simply seize the power to build The Great Wall of Trump; and he would simply order that it be done. This would almost certainly be immediately enjoined by the federal courts, and this would get him off the immediate hook with Glenn Hannibaugh and the rest of the FoxNews voices.
I'm getting more and more solidly in favor of impeaching Trump. Needs to be done, on principle.
"Ttwo aspects of Nixon’s departure tend to get over-
looked today. One, he was never impeached. Two,
most Republicans — both voters and elites — stuck by
him until almost the very end. His approval rating
among Republicans was still about 50 percent when,
realizing in the summer of 1974 that he was doomed,
he resigned."
NewYorkTimes (Op-Ed)
But, the need still needs to be demonstrated to the majority whom either support Trump, or don't actually follow politics that closely. Groundwork's gotta be laid; that's still yet to do. I don't know that we ought to hold out hope that the Republican Senate will ever convict him, but I think they ought to be made to face up to it.
I don't know that we ought to hold out hope that the Republican Senate will ever convict him, but I think they ought to be made to face up to it.
All of our elected officials have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Part of that is to defend our country against all enemies be they foreign or domestic. That anyone would allow someone to sit in the office of the President who has done more to undermine our democracy with his autocratic tendencies is to break their oath.
While I have never really liked Nancy Pelosi, in that bit of interview I watched she did make a valid point. Our government was set up with checks and balances, meaning that no branch of our government was meant to be more powerful than another. The Executive branch was meant to be no more powerful than Congress or the Legislative branches.
He's contemplating a declaration of a National Emergency under which he would simply seize the power to build The Great Wall of Trump; and he would simply order that it be done.
There is no national emergency except in Trump's bid to grab sole power. The Republicans, if they go along with him, are acting counter to the very heart of our democracy. This is not a left or right issue, this is a democratic or autocratic one.
What are we?
"The Republicans, if they go along with him, are acting counter
to the very heart of our democracy."
And I want them to have to go on record with that. I figure the full scope of Trump's criminal activities are likely to sink in with the dedicated Trumpkins only after he's lead them to electoral ruin. When it becomes apparent that he's not their savior; that he can't make coal clean or profitable, that jobs lost to technology aren't coming back from Mexico, that the darkies are still moving up into previously all white suburbs, that high-paying repetitive assembly line jobs are not going to reappear, when he can't win reëlection, they'll turn on him.
When that happens I want the Republican Senators to be on record for having tried to save him.
(Mostly it'll be Trump's failure to get fascists reëlected that'll cause them to turn on him. Remember that the Republicans didn't turn on Dubya in a major way until after he was out of office and his tenure had resulted in a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate majority. They don't take to failure very well.)
When that happens I want the Republican Senators to be on record for having tried to save him.
It would certainly be a telling record of their real character, or lack thereof.
The Trump White House has announced late today that this year's tax refunds will go out without delays.
Kinda like the White House's previous announcement that ISIS has been defeated.
(The Treasury Department is not quite sure that tax refund thing can be made to happen. Nobody believes the line about ISIS.)
Retired Senator Jon Kyl (R-AR) is now the second person to turn down an offer on the job of Secretary of Defense for Donald Trump, replacing Jim Mattis. (First refusal was retired general (four star) Jack Keane.)
Generally, Secretary of Defense is a highly sought after position. Now, not so much.
"Republican support for an emergency declaration to
build President Donald Trump’s border wall is growing
in Congress, as GOP leaders and White House officials
view it as a way out of a shutdown fight they’re losing.
*** [A]n emergency declaration of a border crisis — to
free up billions of dollars for Trump's border wall —
would allow Republicans to reopen the federal govern-
ment without looking like they've caved to Democrats."
Politico
Not to mention that it will get the Senate Republicans off the hook on the growing calls for them to defy Trump and reopen the government over his objections. They won't have to cross Trump.
(This sort of thing is why I want to get them on the record voting to save Trump from impeachment. After Trump is gone (in 2020) we're still gonna wanna hold a bunch of Republican Senators to account for their support of the four year reign of Trump.)
Paul Manafort reportedly suffers ‛depression and anxiety’, according to his lawyers. WashingtonPost
Mueller's great mystery discovery case has apparently been resolved by the full Supreme Court in Mueller's favor. Still damn little else is known about it.
Forgot the link; Politico
Seems the folks at Politico have rewritten the article I linked to abover ↑↑ (Tue Jan 08, 01:50:00 pm). The sentences are both still in there, but they're not in the same paragraph anymore--it's been substantially rewritten since I quoted it, and they didn't bother to note the rewrite.
Still damn little else is known about it.
I've always loved a good mystery.
Hmmm...his Orangeness is speaking trying to drum up support for his boondoggle. I feel the need for a nap coming on...
I didn't get a stopwatch on it, but it seems to me that the President took about twice the time that Chuck and Nancy devoted to their response. Can't say either side likely scored significant converts. This would be a bad outcome for Trump, as he was losing ground before these addresses to the voters, and he did nothing to change that dynamic.
My theory is that Trump's going to see the Mexican border so's to manufacture some legal basis to support his decision (already made I think) to declare a national emergency and issue a Royal Decree that the Pentagon build his Great Wall out of the Pentagon's budget. He'll get a legal challenge; that's a foregone conclusion. But, after he personally views the border he can make the claim that his decision to issue the Royal Decree was based on what he saw on his visit. (Otherwise he's gotta ask his minions to create a paper trail of some sort to bolster his ‛emergency’ declaration. But, if he pretends it's based on his own trip to the border then he can, to some extent, keep the judges from picking apart his pretexts).
I figure he comes back and convenes a cabinet meeting on Friday to discuss his ‛findings’, and then, either Friday or Saturday, he issues the Emergency Proclamation and Royal Decree.
I figure he comes back and convenes a cabinet meeting on Friday to discuss his ‛findings’, and then, either Friday or Saturday, he issues the Emergency Proclamation and Royal Decree.
Which will be challenged in the courts So while all that is going on, what happens to the shutdown? Or more specifically, the people who are out of work because of Trump's behavior?
Trump doesn't give a damn about The Wall. Trump gives a damn about keeping his 38%+ behind him to hold off impeachment. He needs to be seen by them as fighting for The Wall. He wants the fight, not The Wall.
So, after he's made his proclamation, and that gets challenged in federal court, he's off the hook while the court battle is going on. He can go back to his default position where The Wall is once again a go-to call-and-response audience participation event for keeping the fever up at his campaign rallies.
At that point the Republicans in Congress will be free to vote for the remaining budget funding and all will be well.
Press Conference
link
As he headed out of Washington this morning, Trump allowed to the assembled press that he ‛probably’ was going to declare a national emergency on the southern border. ABCNews
Nice to see you're alive, Marcus.
As he headed out of Washington this morning, Trump allowed to the assembled press that he ‛probably’ was going to declare a national emergency on the southern border.
And so goes another day in the life of Donald J. Trump and the merry-go-round he has put the United States on.
They seem to be hesitating, or at least Bolton is, on the Syria withdrawal. And around and around we go, where we stop nobody knows!
Trump is running up against a surprising source of resistance to his national emergency gambit. The usually supportive ‛Freedom Caucus’ in the House is having conflicted thoughts about the prospect of ceding more authority to the executive branch of government. Politico
Time came to drop the hammer and Trump chickened out. Ain't gonna declare an emergency after all. (Not this weekend anyway.) Associated Press May be that push-back from his normally compliant ‛Freedom Caucus’ that scared him out of it.
The usually supportive ‛Freedom Caucus’ in the House is having conflicted thoughts about the prospect of ceding more authority to the executive branch of government.
Perhaps they started to wonder what might happen if it were a Democrat in the White House.
In addition to the previously known investigation regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election, it now surfaces that the FBI had opened a counter-intelligence operation investigating Trump himself for espionage, which investigation was then turned over to Robert Mueller's Office of Special Counsel. NewYorkTimes
Just what's come of that investigation is still unknown outside the investigation, but the New York Times has solid enough evidence of the existence of said counter-intelligence investigation to now be reporting on it. #Beyond_Mere_Collusion
Huh! I was just coming back to mention the NYT's story.
Yeah, kinda big deal there.
Trumptweets: Seems the morning news brings morning tweets from Trump. He's also noticed the New York Times' piece on himself being investigated for essentially working for Putin. He's not pleased with this development.
I'm sure he's not...
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