. . . a stratified concoction like when you make your own Arnie Palmer?
But trying to draw from one level with a straw only works for a few sips
Below are two differing views regarding one stratus – the border wall
Our comment follows
By Printus LeBlanc at The Daily Torch (Americans for Limited Government)
The D.C. swamp hides behind military to get omnibus passed
If you haven’t heard, President Trump signed a horrendous $1.3 trillion omnibus bill on Friday. The bill funded the military, but that’s about all of President Trump’s priorities it funded. Leadership in the House and Senate used the military as a hostage to get the funding for their pet projects through and convince the President he must sign the bill if he wanted to fund the military. Did the GOP establishment and Democrat party sneak one by the President?
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer voiced his approval of the spending bill stating, “Overall, we Democrats are very happy with what we have been able to accomplish on a number of very important priorities.” He should be happy, he is getting the rest of the country to pay for the gateway project, a tunnel between New Jersey and New York that is likely to become the Big Dig 2.0.
Schumer added, “we’re able to accomplish more in the minority than we were when we had the presidency or even were in the majority.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also gloated about the spending bill, calling it, “a tremendous victory for the American people,” noting the bill doesn’t fund the promised border wall. She continued, “if you want to think you’re getting a wall, just think it, and sign the bill.”
Dara Lind of the uber progressive publication Vox is bragging about the omnibus writing, “Trump wanted 1,000 new ICE agents; he’s getting barely 100, and none of them are the field agents responsible for arresting unauthorized immigrants. (Instead, ICE is getting more staff for investigations and mission support.) And when it comes to immigration detention, Congress isn’t just refusing to give the White House the 20 percent increase in detention Trump asked for — it’s rebuking ICE for overspending and expecting Congress to bail it out.” The bill decreases the ability of ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens. I don’t remember any Republican running on reducing the number of criminal illegal aliens deported.
Many people will remember just a short time ago President Trump was touring the new prototypes of the border wall. The prototypes looked nice and impressive, but that is all they will ever be, prototypes. While many will try and save face proclaiming this budget funds the wall, that is not simply true. The budget funds some fencing, but it specifically prohibits the funding of any of the prototypes. The bill states, “The amounts designated…shall only be available for operationally effective designs deployed as of the date of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017…such as currently deployed steel bollard designs that prioritize agent safety.”
That means Republican leadership let President Trump go down to the border and tour the new prototype walls, knowing the wall would not be funded. Did they intentionally try to embarrass the President?
Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) tells a story of Rep. Maxine Watters (D-Calif.) bragging in the elevator to the Republicans, “I’m so happy that you all put all the things I wanted in the omnibus!” If Watters got everything she wanted, did Republican leadership even put up a fight? Besides defense spending what did they get?
In what is probably the most insulting aspect of the omnibus, the U.S. taxpayers are borrowing money from China, only to send millions back to China for developmental aid, only to have China charge U.S. taxpayers interest on the free money we gave them. This omnibus created a new level of asinine that was previously unthinkable.
The House of Representatives did its job, why didn’t the Senate? The House passed all its appropriations bills, but the Senate passed none. This is why there was an omnibus instead of individual appropriations bills. The Senate refused to put appropriations bills together so it could use the military as cover for funding non-essential projects.
Passage of the omnibus means that for Trump priorities like building the wall, the September 30 deadline for the end of the fiscal year is probably the last chance to get it fully funded before the Congressional midterm elections.
Hopefully the Democrats taking victory laps and spiking the ball will wake the President up to the notion not all those around him are working for his agenda. The President now knows he cannot trust Republican leadership and must be more engaged. The President must put pressure on the Senate to pass appropriations bills and push his agenda through. If needs be, the President must get Senators on record as voting against the military and for wasteful spending projects. Finally, President Trump must be more willing to draw a line in the sand that will result in a veto when crossed. Veto threats have to be issued before votes, not after.
This from Accredited Times*, a publication we have not been familiar with, and only glancing through it at this point we do not have a full appreciation. It appears full of satire** at least some of it amenable to our views, but the presentation here, satire or not, presents something to consider. (Excerpt)
RED ALERT: Trump to Begin Building the Border Wall — Yes, the FULL WALL
As an initial matter, Pelosi is technically correct that the Consolidated Appropriations Act contains explicit language imposing restrictions on border wall construction with respect to certain funds. Section 230 of the Act (starting on page 673) states: “Of the amount made available in this Act under ‘U.S. Customs and Border Protection—Procurement, Construction, and Improvements,’ $1,571,000,000 shall be available only as follows . . .” (emphasis added). Section 230 then lists a limited number of border fencing projects, including “$251,000,000 for approximately 14 miles of secondary fencing . . . along the southwest border in the San Diego Sector,” “$445,000,000 for 25 miles of primary pedestrian levee fencing along the southwest border in the Rio Grande Valley Sector,” “$196,000,000 for primary pedestrian fencing along the southwest border in the Rio Grande Valley Sector,” and “$445,000,000 for replacement of existing primary pedestrian fencing along the southwest border.” Overall, Pelosi is right that the Act substantially restricts Trump’s ability to use this money for the “Great Wall of Trump.”
Trump, however, has apparently outsmarted Pelosi and the Democrats — which probably shocks you as much as it shocks us. Although the Act undoubtedly restricts Trump’s ability to use certain “U.S. Customs and Border Protection” funds for the wall, nothing stops Trump from using the massive military funds that he also received under the Act for exactly the same purpose. And now Trump has flat-out stated via Twitter (where else?) that he plans on doing just that:
Donald J. TrumpVerified account @realDonaldTrump
5h5 hours ago
Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!
Yes, you read that correctly. Trump has ordered his deplorables to “build” the “WALL” through the “M” — i.e., the military.
Last year, Democrats attempted to remove Trump’s ability to spend defense authorizations for border security. But, shockingly, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and his goons on the House Rules Committee removed the Democrats’ proposed prohibition from the final bill. As a result, there is literally nothing stopping Trump from using ordinary defense funding for border security and defensive fortifications along the Southern border.
Complete. F*cking. Disaster.
So not sure Trump actually played Dems on this, that is a bit too sycophantic for us to claim, and as we have stated Trump could have played this out better politically for himself. Taking the wall money from the other military funds takes from other aspects of readiness and research that should not have needed to be reduced. However to his credit he is trying to make some lemonade.
But what about all the Dem boondoggles and political infrastructure Omnibus funds/ rolls over? . . . DACA, PBS, Planned Parenthood and so much more?
Stupid of Republican Senate leadership as they get no cred’s for championing the wall (they will claim anything depending on expediency of the day of course). Not saying the House under Ryan is worthy as they depend on the Senate for dirty work which McConnell and Republicans blame on their system which they refuse to fix.
R Mall
*From their pages: The Accredited Times is dedicated to bringing you unapologetic, relevant articles by fearless writers. We report on current affairs, covering any topic from finance and politics to technology and entertainment.
** the thing about satirizing the left, it is difficult to separate whole truth from satire (which contains truth). They so often parody themselves.
The Democrats and Media and likely John McCain and other RINO Republicans will no doubt accuse Trump of playing politics with the military and hurting military readiness. And they will not make the same mistake again in September. This claim may even work to a degree, especially if some accident or attack occurs and can be blamed on Trump taking “money away from the military”. No doubt the media will hunt up military families struggling to make it on military pay, and trot out a parade of people ill served by the Obama Administration, such as Vets who have been abused by the VA or whatnot. That will then be Trump’s fault for taking the funding, not Obama’s.
The straightforward approach is always best. Now Trump can be accused of being a snake. And this may be added to articles of impeachment if the idiot Republicans lose the House, something this Omnibris could cause.
All well reasoned. Please keep reading and commenting. R Mall