Daily Dispatch 2/13/19

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InAlienable
Daily Dispatch
February 13, 2019
Countdown to Shutdown v.2.0 National EmergencyShutdown v.2.0:

 

// Set the date we're counting down to
var countDownDate = new Date("Feb 15, 2019 0:00:01").getTime();

// Update the count down every 1 second
var x = setInterval(function() {

// Get todays date and time
var now = new Date().getTime();

// Find the distance between now and the count down date
var distance = countDownDate - now;

// Time calculations for days, hours, minutes and seconds
var days = Math.floor(distance / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));
var hours = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)) / (1000 * 60 * 60));
var minutes = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60)) / (1000 * 60));
var seconds = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60)) / 1000);

// Output the result in an element with id="demo"
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = days + "d " + hours + "h "
+ minutes + "m " + seconds + "s ";

// If the count down is over, write some text
if (distance < 0) {
clearInterval(x);
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "EXPIRED";
}
}, 1000);

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Compromise reached?!

Well, we didn’t think they would do it. Then we were pretty sure they would do it. Then we decided they definitely wouldn’t do it. But lo and behold, they did it!

The diligent and indefatigable conference committee reached a deal that is expected to pass both houses of Congress thus averting a government shutdown, assuming the president is willing to sign it. (Details here.)

After saying he probably wouldn’t earlier today, Donald Trump is now hinting that he will sign the negotiated spending bill and just go get his border wall money from elsewhere (national emergency), but hasn’t promised yet, because he sees Friday less as an appropriations deadline and more as a mid-season finale.

He’s still trying to spin this as a win, even though the funds set aside for his border wall in the final bill ($1.375 billion) is LESS than what was in the original bipartisan spending agreement reached BEFORE the December shutdown ($1.6 billion).

Ask for $5.7 billion → turn down $1.6 → settle for $1.3  =  the Art of the Deal?

The president is also bragging that he had 35,000 people at his El Paso rally [he had 6,500 according to the city’s fire department] because the fire marshal agreed to ignore the max capacity [the fire marshal most decidedly did not do this] and that’s way more people than the 300 who showed up for Beto O’Rourke’s rally down the street [which actually had 7,000].

We’ll take a wild guess that if you had to choose to listen to either Trump’s rally speech (during which a BBC journalist was assaulted by a crowd member) or Beto’s, you probably pick the latter, so here it is (this one is probably SFW, though he has been known to drop an F-bomb now and then):

Meanwhile, Ted Cruz is getting cute with acronyms, proposing the “Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order” Act -- aka the EL CHAPO Act. The purpose is to take the $14 billion in assets to be seized by authorities after the drug kingpin’s conviction and use them to fund the border wall.

Other Stories:

The House Majority Leader says a bi-partisan bill to protect DACA and TPS recipients is in the works.

The Senate Homeland Security committee delayed a vote on the nomination of current acting ICE director Ron Vitiello, after a union that represents 7,000 ICE agents asked the committee to vote Vitiello down, saying he “lacks the judgement and professionalism to effectively lead a federal agency.”

From NYT: “Videoconferencing in Immigration Court: High-Tech Solution or Rights Violation?”

From The Nation: “Rethinking Ralph Northam: Progressives shouldn’t expect infallibility from our leaders”

From NBC News: “Rapper 21 Savage relased on bond from ICE detention in immigration case”

From WaPo: “On El Paso’s Shelter Place, an American divide over immigrants and immigration”

Bonus Videos: Late night coverage of the spending deal and the border wall.