Schumer worries that if they shut it all down, Musk will have the power to destroy any part of the federal government he wants. He has the nerve to say this the day after they gutted the Department of Education. Schumer is worried about a reality that already exists! Everyone to the left of Hitler should be somewhere between being a mutineer intent on deposing Schumer immediately and lighting this whole thing on fire and building a new party.
Oh, and Schumer is speaking at Politics & Prose bookstore in DC next week, unless its cancelled due to protests that are already being planned. How dare he show himself and beg for book sales from a city he just sold out? But why stand up for DC in the face of the urgency for another book tour event for the Democratic Party leadership? Itās like Schumer and Jeffries are playing their own game called āWho is more useless?ā This is bullshit.
A Quinnipiac poll taken today shows that if the government does shut down, people would blame the increasingly unpopular Trump. This is worse than voluntary compliance. This is complicity. This is bullshit.
Chuck Schumer needs to resign so he can finally get that spine transplant that heās been putting off.
He almost certainly is. Thing is, he may also be giving Elno and co. the cover they need to do all of this with even less accountability, as it will have some color of law behind it. But yeah, I agree, I have no idea any more.
I guess heās right that there seem to be no good answers on what he right thing to do is. Heās still a spineless coward, though.
I donāt hear muskfuck egging on a shutdown, which, if schumer were right, he would probably be doing.
I donāt like the shutdown either, but more (some?) active defiance is necessary.
Thereās no good option.
Yeah, I am inclined to the shut down position, too, but Iām afraid it DOES open up space for them to do more damage. So, yeah, no good options for the Dems here.
One other thingā¦ Lately, Iāve been thinking that our perception of the Mump regime needs to be read through pro-wrestling Kayfabe. Assume everything that happens or even that leaks is sort of fakish, made up to some for the press in order to distract from whatās actually happening. I donāt trust the reports of the infighting between cabinet members and Musk, for example. So not egging on the shutdown might not tell us much about their plans if it does shut down? they are not speaking about against it either, soā¦ 
She knows better than Iā¦
Iām not so sure the āblameā matters, either way (or: it doesnt have to matter). Ted Cruz is widely disliked (or, at best, tolerated by allies), kicked off the shutdown in 2013, and still got re-elected. Twice. If the Democrats are worried that a shutdown will hurt their re-election chances, Iām unconvinced.
ETA: Trying to call my Senators, again, this time to point out what I just said above. I either canāt connect, or get hold music.
P.S. the direct numbers (instead of the automated switchboard) finally worked. Although both went to voice mail. For the 2nd call I managed to finish off with ādonāt cooperate with these fraudsters, gonifs & schnooksā
I donāt get his position on this. DOGE would be shut down right with the rest of the government. Judges have already ruled that it isnāt a cabinet department, isnāt essential, and is advisory in nature. Legally, under a shutdown, DOGE ceases to operate.
It would seem like a nearly perfect way to stop them cold and later reverse anything they attempt to do during shutdown.
Would it? Itās not in the government, though, by their own admission (and under law, as you note), and even if it was, why would they adhere to anything anyone told them to do? Have they thus far?
They are already acting in an extra-legal way, so why would the law be any hindrance to anything.
Are dodgy staff government employees? Or consultants getting paid via MuskFuck? What could be more āhard coreā than working without getting paid when the offices are closed? We already know they āworkā nights and weekends.
They were placed under the Treasury Department by a judge in the same ruling that made them advisory employees only.
This has been my point all along, though. If they arenāt part of a government agency, then they have no authority over government employees. If they are part of a government agency, then they have to follow that agenciesā rules and work within its limitations. That is what judges have been ruling consistently so far.
As a non-essential government agency, during a shutdown NOTHING they do has any validity. If they attempted to interfere with an essential agency, they would be doing so as private citizens and subject to immediate arrest. If they came with private security, they could be legally fired upon by federal law enforcement.
This is what should have been happening all along. Federal employees should have been ignoring DOGE, or when DOGE used force, fighting back. Literally fighting. The law would be on their side.
Doing what, though? If they arenāt allowed access to government buildings or government systems, what exactly would they be doing with that āwork?ā
Right at the beginning of this there was the story where they got goverment employees to give them access by threatening to call the marshals. There is no reason the marshalls should be on their side but somehow it worked anyway. 