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[Starver]

Screwier than an alpha-helix, sheetier than a beta-pleated-sheet.

[Doomblade187]

I'm curious: what, at this point, is "this thing?" The Wall has been scaled back in Trump's own rhetoric from an Xty-foot-high reinforced concrete barrier stretching from sea to sea to strategically placed steel barriers anyway, which no one has opposed on principle, only as a matter of maximizing return on investment. Nor is the amount necessarily "paltry" for political reasons; we could reasonably expect the 700+ miles of barrier added in the last 12 years to have been placed as effectively as possible, and there's no real point building walls where nobody's crossing just to say that we're building walls. Perhaps 50 miles is all we're projected to need.

We need the big beautiful wall to stop the caravans and end the crisis. It just doesn't work without the wall. It doesn't. It just doesn't work.

Apparently, this deal is based on border patrol budget requests.

[nenjin]

This is no victory - I'm willing to bet he won't take the deal. He'd be a fool to sign on to this as it's presented, in fact. That's not enough money to actually do this thing, all it is is cash set aside mainly to replace existing bollard fencing with newer bollard fencing. A paltry 50 miles will actually be coverage where there was none before.

I'm curious: what, at this point, is "this thing?" The Wall has been scaled back in Trump's own rhetoric from an Xty-foot-high reinforced concrete barrier stretching from sea to sea to strategically placed steel barriers anyway, which no one has opposed on principle, only as a matter of maximizing return on investment. Nor is the amount necessarily "paltry" for political reasons; we could reasonably expect the 700+ miles of barrier added in the last 12 years to have been placed as effectively as possible, and there's no real point building walls where nobody's crossing just to say that we're building walls. Perhaps 50 miles is all we're projected to need.

The point is winning. Do a thing that liberals and democrats oppose, rub it in their faces. That's what motivated Trump from the beginning, and what continues to motivate his base. He wants to do a thing he said he'd do that everyone said he couldn't; his base essentially wants the same thing, except for his base its about beating the opposition more than the actual content of it. If Trump wanted to build a statue of Jesus bigger than the statue of liberty, his base would be all over it because it's something the average liberal democrat would oppose.

It's a multi-billion dollar game of political chicken, to feed one man's ego and an entire country's savage need to piss their own countrymen off for no real benefit.

At the end of the day if he gets the funding to build a picket fence, he will call it a win. And so will his base. And the high of that will last all of 30 seconds.

[Dunamisdeos]

Welcome to American politics. None of this is considered wrong, it's the way things are.

[MrRoboto75]

I kinda wish congress would put country before concrete and just bypass a veto with no wall funding.  But that's a pipe dream right there.

[hector13]

That would require some Republican support, and that would mean them supporting The Other Side, which is tantamount to political suicide.

Trump has said a shutdown is unlikely though, whatever that means tomorrow.

[MrRoboto75]

Trump says a lot of things with a random amount of factuality and a random amount of consistency with previous statements.

In other words, I guess the government is going to fail, again.

[smjjames]

He's said that he 'isn't happy' with the deal that Congress made. He's also said that he might keep government open and go the route of executive action.

Found off of The Guardian, Yahoo news posted a new article on Sen. Klobuchars treatment of staff, she's starting to sound in some ways, worse than Trump. Sure, it'll take time to weed out the facts from those who just want to attack her and possibly also corroborate specific events, but the issue shows no sign of slowing down.

I did a quick search of Maragaret Thatcher about staff treatment and while she seems to have been strict towards her staff, she treated her ministers more harshly than she did her staff. So, the Iron Lady comparison I attempted earlier doesn't work.

[Starver]

I'd look up "margaret thatcher spitting image vegetables" on YouTube and post the link for you, but I've been eating up mobile data recently.

[smjjames]

Not sure what that would have to do with anything. I was just saying that my earlier comparison with Margaret Thatcher appears to be wrong.

[Loud Whispers]

Not sure what that would have to do with anything. I was just saying that my earlier comparison with Margaret Thatcher appears to be wrong.

Maggie got her "Iron Lady" title from her foreign policy, not her treatment of colleagues

[Starver]

Not sure what that would have to do with anything. I was just saying that my earlier comparison with Margaret Thatcher appears to be wrong.

The (satirical, but reflective of apparent reality) latex-puppet show Spitting Image famously had a short skit going somewhat thusly:

SCENE: RESTAURANT, MAGGIE PUPPET AND ENTIRE SET OF CABINET PUPPETS AT TABLE, OBSEQUIOUS; WAITER PUPPET WAITS UPON HER IN A FAR LESS OBSEQUIOUS BUT WAITERY WAY
Waiter, to Maggie: Can I take your order?
Maggie: I'll have the beef. Rare.
Waiter: And what about the vegetables?
Maggie: Oh, they'll have the beef as well.
Entire Cabinet: <nothing, for She has just spoken for them>

The people behind Spitting Image (when later asked) averred that it seemed that, far from undermining Maggie with their satire, their portrayals probably strengthened her position until she lost it anyway.  But you probably don't need to know much more about that kind of thing.

[Loud Whispers]

You'd better goooo nowwwwww

[Trolldefender99]

I'm just waiting for both parties to collapse around the world, radical socialists that want to be like Venezuela and turned on by George Soros money, and right wing racists that are starting to take over europe (and briefly in the US but they mostly got voted out) and commiting hate crimes and murder.

Then when both sides collapse, hopefully something better appears. Cause as it is, there is not one single political or government type that is working in the modern world. its all quickly becoming completely radical socialists or radical right wing parties, and very little in-between.

[Loud Whispers]

I'm just waiting for both parties to collapse around the world, radical socialists that want to be like Venezuela and turned on by George Soros money, and right wing racists that are starting to take over europe (and briefly in the US but they mostly got voted out) and commiting hate crimes and murder.

Then when both sides collapse, hopefully something better appears. Cause as it is, there is not one single political or government type that is working in the modern world. its all quickly becoming completely radical socialists or radical right wing parties, and very little in-between.

Nah what'll happen is the extremists will collapse and get replaced by people who'll make you miss the extremists