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The New Rules are Kinda Fun

Old Bathos
@OldBathos
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This is what you see if you go to the Dept. of Agriculture web page:

Nobody but Trump would inspire this kind of pushback. The established rules of a shutdown were such that it was never the fault of Democrats, and it would end when sustained media pressure caused the GOP to cave. It was OK for government employees at all levels to blame the GOP, and that was the sole news narrative. It was OK to try to close off outdoor federal parks even if they were never actually manned or patrolled and otherwise act to punish taxpayers--and blame Republicans. It is delightfully weird that there is serious pushback this time and a battle over the narrative that has never really happened before.

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Discussion (26)

  • Old Bathos@OldBathos

    The WaPo today has no frontpage stories about suffering due to mean GOP shutdown!! Trump is paying the troops, solving the Middle East...so much winning.

    It is deeply pathetic but almost certainly true that Schumer did not want to deflate the passions of the clown fest due in DC this weekend for the "No Kings [Except Obama]" rally so no deal before next week.

    The post-Floyd death riots/BLM/affirmative action are increasingly losing issues for the left. Nobody believes the climate scare BS anymore. The threat to the First Amendment has ended because Jimmy Kimmel is still on the air after an eternal three days of fascist oppression. Trump got the IDF to back off as part of the deal so the only genocide is Arab-on-Arab killing mostly by Hamas.

    So what is a committed lefty to do? Will Greta have to get a real job? Are the Democrats really going to make protecting illegal alien criminals and pervs in the ladies room their new core issues?

  • Mark Camp@MarkCamp
    President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.

    People who continually moan that the two sides—Democrats and Trump Republicans cannot agree on anything, take note. They agree completely about this:

    When the Department of Agriculture is fully funded and operating, it is supporting those who feed the American people.

    How exactly does the Department of Agriculture support them?

    In part by

    • Federal Government subsidies to agricultural corporations like Cargill, Monsanto, Bayer, and Tyson Foods. That was over half a trillion USD in handouts between 1995 and 2024.
    • Direct Federal Government restriction of competition for favored corporations and individuals, creating dependable profit streams for that privileged class that would not be possible without the restrictions. The increased revenue to the beneficiaries is much larger than the cost of perennial contributions to the Democrat and Republican parties and candidates, and lobbying expenses.
    • Indirectly restricting competition through burdensome regulations that eliminate all the competitors who are too small or poorly connected to survive as farmers.

    Updating the web page is an important function for government, too. It promotes the continued existence and expansion Department of Agriculture, which relies on voters having an image of the permanent army of benevolent and generous bureaucrats “supporting the farmers”.

    Without a steady stream of favorable propaganda to conceal the true nature of the welfare state from the citizens, it would collapse.

    But the latest crop of statist parasites have found a way to get even MORE propaganda benefit of social media under the selective “shutdown”. That is the subject of the OP.

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