Wednesday, January 16, 2019

FREAKING RIVER, CRY ME A

As of a month ago, I've gone six years without a regular paycheck and since I'm 63, the chances of my ever getting another one are non-existent.  The small inheritance from my father that I live on pays the rent, the bills and buys food along with an extravagance now and then. 

So far

As we slog through the fourth week of the longest government shutdown in history, 10 Cabinet-level agencies and dozens of others remain closed, forcing approximately 800,000 federal workers to make ends meet without pay—indefinitely. This number includes 52,000 employees at the U.S. Coast Guard—which in 2018 had a “nearly fivefold increase in the number of migrants” intercepted off the West Coast. It also includes 51,000 TSA officers, a snub that has prompted shuttered checkpoints and longer security lines at U.S. airports.

Translated, while President Trump touts “a growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border from a mostly fictitious influx of drugs and criminals, agencies on the actual front lines of illegal immigration and terrorism are languishing.

To treat federal workers as categorically non-essential—as this shutdown does—is a huge mistake.

4 comments:

Katherine said...

Ah, Kristol and Company. Of course they're taking the anti-Trump view of this and everything else.

As I understand it airports have the option of doing their own security screening. This is an excellent opportunity to privatize.

The Little Myrmidon said...

So, I suppose you've heard about Pelosi's plane trip to Brussels and Afghanistan not getting off the ground.

Katherine said...

TLM, I think it's wonderful! I laughed out loud when I heard.

unreconstructed rebel said...

Nancy, sweetie, If you want the tax payers of this country to fund your "fact finding" junkets, give the President $5B for his wall. Considering the amount you lot waste, it isn't much.

BTW, I distinctly remember a picture of you suitable scarfed while visiting the Butcher of Syria. How did that little junket work out?