Sitting down and catching up on my reading and talking head shows, I’m quickly reminded of the shallowness in today’s society when I’m watching things that clearly aren’t what they appear to be on the surface.

I’ve caught snippets of the “organic” and “student-led” anti-gun protests in DC and Detroit.

Pretty impressive for something that by all accounts was organized by a bunch of high school students.

From the professional stage and media system all the way down to the smallest details like the printed lanyards/backstage passes to the “I call BS.” & “I will vote” pins/stickers, it’s not too shabby.

But, I’ve attended more than a few high school drama productions in my time.

Those kids put plenty of heart and certainly a lot of effort into their sets and performances…but nothing even remotely like I saw on TV. That was light-years beyond the skill sets of those kids…especially when done in the span of about one month!

And then you have the democrats making another go a tipping the elections in their direction. Their ideas aren’t working, their candidates are uninspiring (unless you like getting free things), so they’re changing things up.

Much like the similarly “organic” Voters Not Politicians, their latest attempt is a group called Promote the Vote, which much like VNP, certainly has a lot of democrats behind the scenes pulling the strings.

But that’s just crazy talk, they’ll respond.

This is a legitimate extension of the outrage from the electorate…or some other silly nonsense along those lines.

Silly nonsense now being spewed forth by a certain political party which had lost its way long ago…and apparently never correctly learned the lessons from history.

{More about who they are below the fold}

For those of you keeping track, the federal government doesn’t actually run under a budget, per se. It hasn’t been for a number of years now. It’s been limping along under continuing resolutions, which are a stop-gap measure used when Congress is unwilling to do the job that they worked so hard to obtain.

Now, one would think that after the ‘16 Elections, someone, I don’t know, who said that they would restore fiscal sanity to Washington, said that they would adhere to our Constitution, said that they no longer do things the same way might want to be a little more mindful of their jobs, and I don’t know…FOLLOW THROUGH WITH WHAT THEY HAD PROMISED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHEN THEY RAN FOR OFFICE!

Did we get that last Thursday in the $1.3-Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill/CR?

After all, it’s not that easy to go through 2,000+ pages of legislation in less than three days. Much less retain what you have read.

A “republican-led” Congress should easily be able to follow its Constitution Authority, find what is and is not appropriate spending and do what is right for the American Taxpayer.

They even said that they would do it right here (click on Constitutional Authority Statement link at right):

[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 48 (Monday, March 20, 2017)]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. ROYCE of California:

H.R. 1625.

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following:

Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States

[Page H2240]

About Constitutional Authority Statements

On January 5, 2011, the House of Representatives adopted an amendment to House Rule XII. Rule XII, clause 7(c) requires that, to be accepted for introduction by the House Clerk, all bills (H.R.) and joint resolutions (H.J.Res.) must provide a document stating “as specifically as practicable the power or powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the bill or joint resolution.”

It’s a shame that these “learned and experienced” republicans never read about the powers of the government being few and defined?

If you count the half a billion to Planned Parenthood, continued funding for the CPB/NEA, half a billion in pork for Sen. Chuck Schumer, NO FUNDING for The Wall, continued foreign aid up the wazoo, continued funding for illegal  “Sanctuary Cities”, using taxpayer funds to promote gun control (Dickie Amendment, anyone?), and a continued fear of outright killing Obamacare (is Snydercaid finally on the ropes?)…then the answer is sadly no.

And oh yeah, Congress gave themselves a raise in all of this.

So, who can we thank for this?

Well, in a 256-167 vote in the House (do I really need to tell readers how Sens. Peters & Stabenow voted?), you can thank Reps. Mitchell (which is personally disappointing), Bishop, Trott, Moolenaar, Huizenga, Upton, and Walberg.

I haven’t agreed with him for a while now, but kudos go out to Reps. Amash (along with Bergman) for having the integrity to vote “NO”.

And our President?

Initially, he was heeding the warnings of fellow Conservatives who strongly urged him to veto this huge heaping, steaming pile of bull droppings and tell Lyin’ Ryan and Squish McConnell to go back to the drawing board. He even said so himself here.

I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018

Sadly, in the end, he folded up like a wet newspaper and gave Team “d” everything they wanted. Purportedly, he was so disgusted by this, that he claimed that he would never do that again.

I firmly remain skeptical of that statement!

I honestly don’t know what brought about Pres. Trump’s change of heart on this, nor do I think it is even relevant to this post.

Yes, I am very disappointed in his cowardice.

Speaking of cowardice, I’m going to have a talk with my Rep’s office tomorrow on his little part in all of this.

Monday will very probably go something like this: I’ll have a hard time getting someone to open up his office door on Van Dyke (all of that reflective one-way material on the office door makes it hard to see Constituents wanting to get it to see their representative). I’ll get a gatekeeper (probably Amanda) who will pleasantly take down my concerns. I’ll have his chief of staff (or someone else from his office) call me later to tell me that the representative has been made aware of my concerns and will try to spin his vote as a positive (most likely with the military funding), and pleasantly tell me that if I have any other questions or concerns to contact his office.

Call me a closet optimist, but I’m still going anyway.

If something different emerges, I’ll pass along.

Not everything in life (and politics) is plastic and artificial.