Very soon, our choices for dissent will be to be silent or to be silenced. And America is going to simply let it happen.

#21

I don't really care, as long as the money is returned to where it was borrowed from when the shutdown is over.

Also, if they're going to pay anybody who's working, they should pay everybody who's working.

We live in two economies.

The top +/-10 percent is spending like nothing is wrong. The bottom +/-50 percent is struggling to pay bills and eat.

"Thune is just lying here. ACA premium support isn't riddled with waste, fraud and abuse. It's reconciled out on everyone's annual taxes, and the only way to commit fraud on it is to literally do tax fraud. He's just making ---- up, and he's either too stupid to be a Senator or too evil."

Dante Atkins is correct. Unless someone is cheating on their taxes, it gets sorted out on the tax return. It's not fraud when yearly income is sometimes unpredictable. I expect to take a tax hit for this because I underestimated my income for this year.

For most people it will not be deliberate or nefarious, as the partisan Onenut implies.

I wonder who is cleaning up the ketchup this morning.

#26

Agree

In my opinion, the abuse of disability programs is a natural outgrowth of an economy that cannot sustain the lower class.

#21 | Posted by snoofy

I think there is some truth to that.

"Dems hate this because it's usually them who are cheating the system and allowing it."

Of the ones I've known abusing the system, most are Republicans.

My statement is anecdotal. Perhaps I should have withheld it. But I've personally known a number of people who were perfectly capable of working, who were collecting SSDI benefits. Same goes for military disability benefits.

I'll qualify it this time... In my opinion, disability programs are rife with abuse.

Some Examples:
Couple who both collect full SSDI for floaters in their eyes. They see better than I do.
Person who collected military disability for lactose intolerance.
More than one obese person who collects SSDI for undefined back problems.
Woman who collects SSDI for undefined neurological issues.
Middle aged men and women who collect military disability, even as they work full time jobs and lead very active lives... Golf, hiking, boating, etc. One of them still works as a baggage handler at a local airport.. mostly so he can travel for free. Another works as a prison guard. Most of his health issues are related to alcohol consumption.
...
None of the above are any more disabled than I am.

I'm not saying that these programs should be eliminated. There are MANY people who genuinely need these benefits. But I think recipients should get far more scrutiny. It feels like far more than .3% to me.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of fraud in the SSDI program.

#12

It might be a good idea for Canadians to fly around anyway. Trump/Miller may eventually be unhinged enough to fire on a Canadian airliner.

I suspect Mexico will enjoy a surge in Canadian tourism, as the US becomes flyover country.

I wouldn't be surprised if NATO assigned the AIRCOM Command Billet to someone from another nation.

#3 | Posted by madbomber

And perhaps they should. The US under the Trump Regime seems just fine with relinquishing many of its leadership roles around the world.

The Trump regime is proving daily that they don't gaf about business that relies on tourism.

#16 | Posted by MSgt

Who eventually pays the tariffs?

Not too conservative... SCOTUS is corrupt.

#170 | Posted by eberly

Trump policy is responsible for most of this failure. But no worries! Trump will come in and be their savior, with taxpayers funding the bailout.

Maybe they need to look for another job. Or qualify for one.

#116 | Posted by boaz

And even if they do, SOMEBODY still needs to do those crappy jobs. SOMEBODY deserves to make a living doing so.

#4

That's being pretty rude to the chimp.

But to be fair, as long as Trump and this GOP are in charge, it's hard to see any urgency in opening the government back up. They're only going to make it worse.

Irwin and Goodall. And soon David Attenborough. I hope someone out there can step up to their level as advocates for the planet.

RIP, Jane.

Republicans needed 7 iirc Democrats to vote along with them. I'm pretty sure that didn't happen.

#56 | Posted by lfthndthrds

Then shouldn't the Republicans stay in town and work something out with at least 7 Democrats to fix this? They seem to have left town.

Isn't that what the ACA is for?

#90 | Posted by lfthndthrds

You obviously haven't checked Exchange premiums in a while. Health insurance is expensive, even on ACA plans. And thanks to the Big BS Bill that does away with subsidies, it's about to get MUCH worse for many hard working Americans.

"Russian Interference"

I'm glad the Moldovan populace isn't as gullible as too many US voters.

And now the other clowns are doing this to Trump over free health care for illegals.

#25 | Posted by fishpaw

"Democrats are trying to give illegal immigrants healthcare"... This is a blatant lie. But it's still being parroted all the way up to the Speaker of the House. Illegal immigrants are not collecting Medicaid, or any other safety-net benefits that are afforded to US citizens or people who are in our country legally. Yet the forums are full of MAGA folks, parroting this talking point relentlessly. Stop the lies!

Yeah! Just great! Next year our insurance is going to be over $30k a year. And if we lose our hospital, the next one is more than an hour away. Just how I imagined my early 60s.