With the much under-reported partial federal government “shut-down” being eclipsed by the battle over The Wall by President Trump, who is aggravating the republican swamp-dwellers by actually keeping his campaign promise, compared to recalcitrant democrats claiming that the entire concept is “immoral”, what passes for an unbiased press is hoping that you’ll pay more attention to the shinny object (aka The Wall debate) rather than what is really happening in America.
There are a couple of stories making the rounds, that taken individually, might not pique everyone’s interest for very long, but taken collectively should be sounding alarm bells at the highest levels of what passes for leadership in the Michigan Republican Party.
Especially considering who was the actual cause behind it.
I’ve got to admit, I was more than a little underwhelmed at last night’s speech.
A quick check of what is available on the speech easily corroborates the MSM spin-machine rushing into action to provide cover for their own side.
Obviously video from C-Span nor The White House itself was readily available.
Nothing really new was actually said, and that’s the problem (more on that in a bit).
Pres. Trump reiterated his position, albeit in an un-Trump-like fashion (very measured and scripted).
Team d, who looked more like two p.o.’d parents ready to scold their teenager for coming home after curfew, were just dripping with emotion of how NOT having the American Government performing non-essential functions (which just begs the question of why we are even paying for them in the first place), can be quickly and easily remedied if only Pres. Trump would acquiesce.
Sorry, scooter! Pres. Trump already did that multiple times already via Beavis & Butt-Head (aka Lyin’ Ryan & Squish McConnell).
IMHO, Pres. Trump went about it the wrong way. He used words, when imagery would’ve been far more effective.
Below is a very small sampling of what I mean (just wait for Chuck’s comment in the clip below):
Actions from the “friendly & peaceful migrants” from just last week.
Actions from the “friendly & peaceful migrants” from just last month.
People make resolutions (which they‘ll most likely break before February 1st).
Another session of Congress prepares to ramp up in the midst of a government “shutdown”.
The democrats give President Trump more posturing and obstructionism because…well, illegal aliens (and Americans on the public dole) matter significantly more to them than the safety of the people who actually put them in office in the first place.
After four long years of legislative hearings, public education, and good-old-fashioned compromise, the Michigan Senate and House last week passed a series of bills to regulate internet gaming in the state. Earning overwhelming, bipartisan supermajorities in both houses, the bills landed on Governor Rick Snyder’s desk with a clear mandate from the legislature.
What did Snyder do? The Governor ‘dropped the ball in the endzone’, vetoed the bills at the 11th-hour, and then he was less than honest with Michiganders about his reasons for doing so. Par for the course for someone who started with such promise but leaves the office with approval ratings in the 30’s – covered in the stench of the Flint water crisis and sexual abuse scandal at Michigan State.
According to his veto message, Governor Snyder killed regulated internet gaming because the data doesn’t exist to justify it, and he fears that internet gaming will cannibalize the state lottery and existing casinos.
Regional 'payoffs' still ignore proper role of government.
Cronyism is now everywhere.
I have written at the beginning of Snyder’s terms that he was the guy who essentially brought the neu-cronyism to Michigan. He invented the current form, and served as its first overlord. Money spent in ways that used to invite constitutional challenges, now routinely passes through the sieve of Lansing into favored projects and could be expected to always get the blessing of the governor.
I doubt the new governor will do anything but enhance it’s reach as she attempts to cajole lawmakers from the ‘other side’ to embrace her sure-to-be bizarre mechanizations that raise the cost of government further. Sadly, it is a Republican legislature that continues to make this kind of thing happen:
$10M In Sports Funding Coming: Is Indoor Traverse City Sports Complex Next?
By Beth Milligan | Dec. 29, 2018
$10 million in state funding is headed to northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula to create a regional sports commission – an initiative that dovetails with an effort by Traverse City Tourism to explore opening a year-round indoor sports complex in Traverse City.
Governor Rick Snyder signed off Friday on two supplemental spending bills totaling $1.3 billion for numerous projects throughout the state, including road upgrades, contamination clean-up, and education initiatives. The bills – approved earlier this month by state lawmakers – also include funding for community projects throughout Michigan, including $10 million to establish the Northern Michigan Regional Tourism and Sports Fund and to create a Great Lakes Sports Commission.
…
… Traverse City Tourism hired a consulting firm earlier this year to conduct a feasibility study on whether there is a need for such a facility in the area, how much it would cost to construct, and if it would be financially sustainable. The firm’s results are expected in January. But Traverse City Tourism President/CEO Trevor Tkach says preliminary findings “prove there is enough demand to run a cash-positive business if the facility gets built.”
Maybe “cash positive” means profit? Maybe, maybe not.
Lame duck session is one of the most fascinating and illuminating times within our government. It is a period when all pretenses of our democracy are jettisoned and a mad cash grab takes place as term-limited legislators secure employment and other benefits in smoke-filled backrooms with lobbyists. It rips off the facade and exposes government for the cruel, soulless machine that it truly is.
Few watched the late-night session that went past 3AM last week when the worst bills were being rammed down our throats. I tuned in to watch the after-hours con job the next day on the Michigan Legislature website as I was sleeping at the time. The fact that the proceedings took place in the dead of night begs the following questions: What are the optics of using the midnight hour to push the lousiest bills forward? What does someone who is less politically inclined think of Republicans after the media reports on these shenanigans? And is it any wonder why we took it on the chin during last month’s mid-term elections?
Another chapter in the quest to rewrite history that progressives cannot accept.
When Gov. Snyder and Michigan Republicans bailed out the Detroit Public School System and City of Detroit a few years earlier, many posters on this site (myself included), warned everyone that it wouldn’t take long for inept & corrupt former political structure to reassert itself when the time presented itself.
So in the midst of all of the post-election analysis, we’ve heard the “experts” from other outlets drone on about why the 2018 Election went the way it did.
We’ve heard them tell us that this is the vaunted “Blue Wave” sweeping across America. Despite the rash of ballots “miraculously” showing up in places like Florida (and apparently now here) along with Arizona, democrats still only control the House.
We’ve been told that this is the year of the woman. Yet, I’m waiting to hear why superior candidates like Lang and Epstein didn’t benefit from this?
Finally, the media (or infotainment complex…take your pick), dredges up their favorite rationale for last Tuesday Night’s results: It’s all President Trump’s fault.
(10)Nuh Uh.
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