The area around my house in the city is not particularly scenic. Many of the houses are very old and run down, and a number of them have lots of junk in the yards. Still, I manage to find some pretty things to photograph. There are a few of these bushes with the bright red berries growing along the RR right-of-way, and I prefer to look at them, rather than the piles of garbage some people like to dump there.
It saddens me that we are still in the midst of the government shutdown, and it has become a political game of who will blink first. Both sides argue that they need to stand firm on this never-ending debate about a border wall, but that need is not for the benefit of the general public, even though some people say so.
The “need” that both sides have is to make sure they do nothing to upset their chances of re-election. After the December 19th effort to fund the government into February failed in the House due to intense lobbying by Conservatives, Republican senators dug in, and Mitch McConnell stated he would not bring any funding legislation to the floor unless approved by Trump.
Really?
Isn’t Congress supposed to be one wing of the check-and-balance part of government that insures that nobody has absolute power? How can tRump hold the Senate hostage like that? More importantly, how can he live with himself, knowing the effects of this shutdown?
Regular readers of my blog might be thinking that I hate tRump. I don’t. I just have little respect for him as a person and as a leader. Sure there have been some good thing happen in the U.S. since he took office: Economic growth, lower unemployment, business growth and a healthy retail market.
While some of the good news on the economic front is due to policies tRump has enacted, some of it is not. The economy had started to recover long before he was sworn in. According to a report on Vox News last August:
In July, the economy clocked its 93rd uninterrupted month of job growth — the longest stretch in American history.
Let’s see. Ninety-three months equals 7.75 years, which pretty much covers the previous administration.
But back to the current issue. A report in USA Today on lists five ways the government shutdown could end and the reasons it probably won’t happen any time soon. Not surprising, the reasons are all about political maneuvering.
Meanwhile, national parks are overflowing with trash and debris because there are no park workers to keep the parks clean. Airport security is not as tight as it needs to be as flight inspectors are furloughed. And there is a real danger that tax returns will not be sent out.
All of those federal workers who would be doing those jobs, or are doing those jobs with no paycheck, are really starting to worry. Many of them are the average-Joe, living from paycheck to paycheck, and their livelihoods are being threatened.
And some of them are the people who voted for tRump. When will he stop listening to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter and think about all those voters out there who perhaps are not as enamored of him as they once were?
I also ask the Democratic leaders in Congress to step aside from politics long enough to do their job.
Please!
That’s all for me for today, folks. I’m getting offline to work on the third book in the Seasons Mystery Series, Desperate Season. I hope you have a good week, and it is productive. Be safe. Be happy.