Government Shutdown

[Jeff]

Democrats have voted 13 times against re-opening the Gov't.
The Schumer Shutdown in full effect!

[gcode]

Dems coordinating with health insurance companies?

SURPRISED? DEMS WON'T SAY IF THEY COORDINATE WITH HEALTHCARE INSURERS: The central demand of Hill Democrats is the government stays shutdown until Republicans and President Donald Trump agree to permanent extension of Joe Bide's "temporary" Obamacare tax subsidies.

Since healthcare insurers already reap hundreds of billions of tax dollars through those subsidies and will get even more if the subsidies become permanent, it seems imminently logical to ask what is the connection, if any? But as I report this morning for The Washington Stand:

"Spokesmen for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffres (D-N.Y.), House Minority Whip Kathleen Clarke (D-Mass.), and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) were each asked by TWS earlier this week if they or any members of their leadership or personal staffs have "met with executives, registered lobbyists or any other representatives" of the 10 biggest Obamacare healthcare insurers.

Of course they didn't respond. And if they did say something, you can be certain it would be about "protecting" millions of Americans from higher premium costs that will surely follow termination of the subsidies on 12/31/25 and preserving Obamacare.

But here's what they won't/can't say: The "temporary" subsidies approved in 2021 and then extended to 2025  doubled enrollment, but premiums, fraudulent enrollments, denied claims and the overall costs to taxpayers also increased dramatically. That's why the abject failure of Obamacare is the odiferous skunk in Democrats' shutdown strategy, a fact even the Washington Post editorial board has acknowledged.

And here's the other things they won't/can't say: Massive campaign contributions from healthcare insurers going to the very Democrats in Congress now refusing to re-open the government and let members of the U.S. military, air traffic controllers, and hundreds of thousands of other federal workers be paid. And maybe, just maybe, the Democrats shutdown strategy explains why those healthcare insurers have spent record amounts lobbying Congress in the first three quarters of 2025.

And here's a question for the Trump administration: Why is Dr. Oz the only one talking about his agency's new investigation that is confirming the hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid benefits going to illegal immigrants, a fact that directly contradicts the claim Democrats have made incessantly since Shutdown Day One?

[SuperHoneyBadger]

Whip Dick Durbin

I don't think a serious gov't would have this combination of words as an option.

[Smit]

If you can't trust Instapundit, who the hell can you trust?!?! 

[Rstewart]

We're really feelin the lack of personnel and purchasing shut-down.  Working on a big project currently and we can't purchase materials... project due date isn't moving to the right either.

[mowens]

... project due date isn't moving to the right either

It always moves to the right for engineering but never programming.

[beej]

has anybody asked democrats why they made the Obamacare subsidies temporary in the first place?

[SuperHoneyBadger]

has anybody asked democrats why they made the Obamacare subsidies temporary in the first place?

"We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy"

And then figure out how to get rich off it later, it would seem.

[Newbeeee™]

It always moves to the right for engineering but never programming.

GingerBeering dept has allll the time in the world!!!!

[jstell]

At least I'm evading the war zone in Portland.
Send in the troops!

So, after the No Kings festival, a few hundred folks were in front of ICE building. 
What came out in court yesterday:
1)   8 National Guard troops had been in the building the day (Oct.4) that they were banned from being deployed in Portland by the federal judge, remaining till midnight even though the judges order was before 4pm.
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/10/judge-questions-delay-in-removing-national-guard-from-portland-ice-building.html
2)   On the evening of No Kings, a federal officer on the street in front of the building shot a pepper canister into the ground into the crowd, but it bounced up to the building, unleashing a ten-minute torrent of gas and pepper balls from the roof as agents "returned" fire into the crowd from above.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2025/10/small-but-growing-crowd-gathers-outside-portland-ice-live-updates.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/portland-police-chief-reveals-troops-205410488.html

View this post on Instagram

[jstell]

I don't know why it is not showing the full length of the insta post, or any of the text that goes with it.

edit:  Ah, if you click in the white part of the header bar, it will take you to instagram and then the whole thing becomes visible.

[Smit]

That's not going to look good to the Nobel Prize committee, is it? 

[jstell]

This shows the actual event that set off the 10-minute deluge.  They show it a few times including slow motion.  Why the fuckers were out in the middle of the street beyond the protesters they were 'trying to push away from the building is beyond me.  Federal agents apparently aren't trained to pay attention to what's behind what they're shooting at.  Isn't that like the first rule of gun safety once you have your finger on the trigger? 
Video should start at 1:44, action begins at 1:48 and in about 20 seconds you'll see the same shot several times from a few different angles.  At 1:52 the one that flares over the crowd looks like it hits the apartment building kitty-corner across the street (ICE building out of frame to the right) but I think it just disappeared behind the sign as it went down the side street.  Or maybe it ended up on someone's balcony.  That'd be about par for the course the way these knucleheads are operating.

[CNCAppsJames]

• Treat all guns as if they are always loaded.
• Never let the muzzle point at anything that you are not willing to destroy.
• Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have made the decision to shoot.
• Be sure of your target and what is behind it.

[jstell]

I don't suppose the intent was to destroy the ground.  Startled the other agent next to him though, if you watched the video 1:48-2:07.

As for the list, not #1, but as I speculated above, first rule after the #3 which is the one that allows finger to trigger.