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Thoughts On The Shutdown
What was the point of the government shutdown?
Caveat – I have not followed the issue in depth. My understanding is that the Democrats blocked the funding of the government because they wanted additional money for one of their healthcare programs.
Trump used the time of the shutdown to further his politics.
Six weeks later, just as the public was turning against the Republicans, the Democrats caved in:
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to an end Wednesday after the House approved the Senate-passed funding package, and President Trump signed the bill into law.
The legislation extends funding for most agencies until Jan. 30 and includes three bills that fund other parts of the government through September 2026.
The Senate approved the legislation on Monday, when seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats joined Republicans to end the standoff in the upper chamber. Six House Democrats crossed the aisle and voted to reopen the government.
The only thing that the Democrats have ‘won’ was a promise to put the additional healthcare money to a separate vote:
Eight Senate Democrats broke ranks to reach a deal with Republicans to end the shutdown, dashing the party’s effort to win an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits in return for their vote to reopen the government. ..
As part of the deal, Democrats secured a promise to hold a vote next month on the tax credits, which help millions of Americans pay for health insurance premiums for plans purchased on state exchanges.
The Republicans will of course reject that measure.
By the way: Why were the tax credits, part of Obama’s health care reforms, time limited in the first place?
To hide their utter defeat the Democrats released a slew of Epstein emails with the hope to plant new sensational rumors about Trump. I have found nothing remarkable in that stack.
If this looks like a second Russiagate its because it is similar bullshit.
Instead of being a real opposition to Trump’s wars and miserable programs the Democrats’ are pushing performative nonsense.
Do they expect to get votes for that?
My guess is that they are these fake ass “woke” socialists we have here in the US.
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Nov 14 2025 21:11 utc | 101
When you start by saying “my guess is”, it means it’s not actual facts but rather views. Views are refutable.
About the so called ‘socialists’ (wether in the US or elsewhere), anybody who claims to be one raises a red flag.
Socialism is not an end. To base an entire political identity on that is nothing but fraudulent and foreshadows all the treacheries and compromissions to come.
There are almost NO real leftists – pro labor – in the US. These “woke types always place race, gender, and themselves before fairness and justice. It never fails. I might hate them more than I hate our oligarchs.
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Nov 14 2025 21:11 utc | 101
Real leftists are either Communists, crypto-Communists or iso-Communists.
English is not my native language so I ‘m not sure to understand what you mean by ‘pro labor’. Is it ‘pro working class’ or ‘pro unions’ ? If I take that the first meaning is the right one, how could we define the working class then ? Are garbage collectors, accountants, medical assistants and taxi drivers within the same ensemble called the working class ? And above all, do they share the same interests, socioeconomically speaking.
On a purely theoretical level, they should. But alas, the reality often differs from theory. That’s why some among them will ally with the bourgeoisie – or the oligarchy (however you call it) – because they’re being said that their interests is to do so. Most of the time, it’s not being said abruptly but by instilling fears. Mostly fear of demotion and fear of alterity.
Who says so ? The oligarchy who progressively acquired all the information canals to spread these divisions.
These “woke types always place race, gender, and themselves before fairness and justice.
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Nov 14 2025 21:11 utc | 101
Obviously, it’s easier to blame the “woke”. First, social media and its byproduct – the meme culture – rendered them as individuals who are not inclined towards reason or reflection. The more fanatical, ridiculous, aggressive, and foolish they are, the more disjointed, sectarian, and emotional their reasoning appears, the more it will be repeated over and over again. Anyone who is calm, well-adjusted, and whose words are well-constructed and organised, whose approach is thoughtful and confident, is ignored. Or covered with slurs. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that the word “woke” comes more often out of a right wing mouth.
But if you strip the “woke” concept off his fake signifier and his caricatural materialisation, you are mainly left with two old causes : anti-racism and anti-patriarchy. Still, the question remains : are they agents of division ? That’s what the oligarchy wants the working class to believe. In the reality, it’s racism and patriarchy that always were.
Some may reply that in the past the workers where all united against the same enemy. That’s just delusional. In the past – the first half of the 20th century – the Western working class was predominantly white and male. In the US, Black people were mostly within the confines of lumpen and remnants of slavish work that widely participated in the growth of the country as an economic superpower. And as in the rest of the Western world, women (and kids) received lower salaries. After WWII, segregation laws guaranteed the perpetuation of the differences between white and non-white workers – as of today –, more women worked but still less paid…
If the working class appears less united as ever, it’s not because of “wokeism” or immigration, it’s because it mutated through globalisation, offshoring, deindustrialisation. Trade unionism faded away and collective spirit gave way to individualism. That’s the splitting of the “no more singular” working class – and the birth of “plural” working classes.
Cui bono ?
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 15 2025 13:28 utc | 158
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