Obviously, there is one thing about the deal that I don’t like.  It does not extend protection for the DREAMers.  I have no doubt that the deal will pass the Senate, because Bought Bitch Mitch (R-KY) appears to be keeping his word and has scheduled Immigration for next week.  I believe he will, so I have no problem with Senators who vote for it.  Paul Lyin’ Ryan (R-WI) has also committed that he will put a bill on the House floor to extend protection for DREAMers, and there’s the rub.  We don’t call him Lyin’ Ryan for nothing.

…The vote on Thursday will not complete the budget process — rather, will set the budgetary caps for the next two years and extend the current level of funding through March 23.

That will give congressional appropriators enough time to hash out the exact details of where the money will go.

With that in mind, here’s what’s in the legislation that Congress will vote on Thursday:

• Extends of current federal funding through March 23.
• Lifts the statutory budget caps for defense and non-defense spending by a combined $296 billion over the next two years.
• The defense cap would be increased to $629 billion for fiscal year 2018 and $647 billion for fiscal year 2019 — an increase of $165 over the current caps over the two years.
• The nondefense cap would increased to $579 billion for fiscal year 2018 and $597 billion for fiscal year 2019 — an increase of $131 billion billion over the current caps during the two years.
• Suspends the debt ceiling until March 1, 2019.
• Offers $89.3 billion in additional funding for areas hit by natural disasters in 2017.
• $23.5 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund.
• $17.39 billion for the US Army Corps of Engineers for projects to prevent future damage.
• $28 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development to help rebuild homes and infrastructure.
• The rest would go toward funds within the Small Business Administration, the Department of Defense, Veteran’s Administration, and other agencies to help repair damages.
• Extends of certain Medicare provisions, including funding for community health centers, removing a cap on therapy services, funding for rural and Medicare-dependent hospitals, and more.
• Extends certain tax provisions and edits to some parts of the tax code — including provisions from the recently passed GOP tax law.
• Adds four years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The previous funding bill signed in January extended CHIP for six years, so funding will now last 10 years.
• Adds funds for agencies above current levels to mitigate the effects of the short-term funding bill. That includes increased funding for the upcoming 2020 Census, Southeastern Power Administration, the F-35A fighter jet program, and more.

It’s seems likely, though not completely clear, that the bill will pass….

Inserted from <Business Insider>

There it is.  There is a lot I like, such as dumping the sequester system.  It does preserve a deadline of 3/23, if Republicans welch on their promise to DREAMers.  But I have not made up my mind let.  So I laid it out for you to make up your own minds.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

I grew up watching Soviet military parades.  Seeing thousands of troops goose-stepping and weapons of all kinds moving past inspired my awe and fear in my elementary school days.  Russia still has them, and the troops all salute Vladimir Putin (R-RU).  That makes Putin’s Piddle Pervert jealous. Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten wants to have lots of salutes directed at him, just like his Sugar Daddy.

A troubling Washington Post report reveals that President Donald Trump plans to have soldiers marching and tanks driving through Washington, D.C. in a "grand military parade."

“The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” a military official told the Post. “This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared to confirm the plan…

…The president was reportedly inspired to hold a U.S. military parade after attending the Bastille Day celebration in Paris as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron.

As the world’s dominant military power, the U.S. traditionally avoids parading war weapons through the streets…

Inserted from <Alternet>

Here’s video:

You can be sure that the French connection served only to remind the Fuhrer of Daddy Putin’s parades.  It must not happen.  Our military is not for the aggrandizement of one monster, and the damage tanks would do to the streets.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

The five day clock is ticking.  An accurate memo covering the events surrounding Carter Page’s participation into Trump’s Russian conspiracy is waiting for Trump’s authorization to release.  He has five days to decide.  I look forward to reading it, but I doubt that I’ll get the chance anytime soon.

The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to make public a classified Democratic memorandum rebutting Republican claims that the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had abused their powers to wiretap a former Trump campaign official, setting up a possible clash with President Trump.

The vote gives Mr. Trump five days to review the Democratic memo and determine whether he will try to block its release. A decision to stop it could lead to an ugly standoff between the president, his top law enforcement and intelligence advisers and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Trump vocally supported the release of the Republicans’ memo last week, declassifying its contents on Friday over the objections of Democrats and his own F.B.I., which issued a rare public statement to warn that it had “grave concerns” about the memo’s accuracy. On Saturday, he claimed, incorrectly, that the memo “totally vindicates” him in the continuing investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

The 10-page Democratic document is certain to be less flattering to his case. Democrats have said the memo corrects mischaracterizations by the Republicans and adds crucial context to actions by the F.B.I. and the Justice Department in obtaining a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order to wiretap the former Trump aide, Carter Page, in October 2016.

If Mr. Trump tries to block the Democratic memo’s release, House rules allow Democrats to seek a closed-door vote of the full House of Representatives to override the president. With some Republicans now arguing for its release, there is a possibility that the House could override the president’s decision in a rare rebuke to his authority…

Inserted from <NY Times>

Rachel Maddow explained the situation in her usual thorough way.

Here’s how I see it.  I expect Trump, who considers failure to praise him treason, to either deny release, or redact so much that the memo will be unintelligible.  Democrats will seek the House vote to override Trump’s decision, expecting the Republicans that voted for release and others to join them.  However, I think their vote to release the Schiff memo was only a scam to appear bipartisan, because they expected Trump to block its release for them.  When he does, Republicans, who voted for release, will slither into the rationale that, even though they really wanted to release the memo, they must defer to supporting their Fuhrer’s position on national security instead.  I want very much to be dead wrong about this.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

Pictured below is part of one of the last truly pristine tracts of land on the face of this earth.  The Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is home to hundreds of species that have nowhere left to go.  ANWR is on the verge of being opened for drilling, and all it took was for a criminal corporate oil baron to put in a private call to the Pumpkin Pollution Pig!

As if we needed another example of Trump putting his business and personal relationships over those of the American people and the environment, the president has now admitted that he didn’t think about drilling on in the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) until an oil industry executive prompted him to.

According to Trump, who recalled the call during a speech at the Republican Member Conference this week:

A friend of mine called up in that world, in that business and said ‘is it true you’re thinking about ANWR?’ I said, ‘yeah, I think we’re going to get it but you know,.”

He said, “are you kidding? You know that’s the biggest thing by itself. Ronald Reagan and every president has wanted to get ANWR approved.”

And after that, I said, “oh, make sure that’s in the [$1.5 trillion tax] bill.”

 

Trump added, “I really didn’t care about it,” he said. “Then when I heard that everybody wanted it, for 40 years, everybody tried to get it approved, ‘Make sure you don’t lose ANWR.’”

As Trump’s friend mentioned, the oil and gas industry have been pressing for ANWR to be open for drilling for many, many years. Congress only lifted the 40-year ban as part of the Republican tax reform bill approved in December. The tax plan included a “backdoor drilling provision” that was added to secure the vote of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has long supported arctic drilling.

According to both scientists and conservationists, opening the ANWR for oil and gas drilling would cause irreparable harm to “the most beautiful, pristine wildlife refuge that we have in the United States.”…

Submitted from <Nation of Change>

Here’s the video (only 41 sec.)

Barf Bag Alert!!

I don’t know what we can do to stop it, except protest and support those groups that try to block the polluters as the deploy their destructive equipment.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!