Flotsam and Jetsam - Govt Goes into 'Shut-down Lite'

Did you notice? About half the Federal government has gone into the usual shutdown mode (essential workers only, with retroactive pay, and presumably retroactively paid vacation for the rest) until the House and Senate come to an agreement that mollifies the usual suspects, mostly Democrats opposed to ICE (which is already funded by the BBB!), and a few silly Republicans willing to let the perfect be the enemy of the good (I'm looking at you, Rand Paul). From NewsNation, Trump on partial shutdown: ‘Hopefully enough people will use their heads’, not a safe bet. "Multiple federal agencies, including the departments of Defense, State, Treasury, Homeland Security (DHS) and others, saw their funding lapse at 12 a.m. Saturday, launching the government into another temporary shutdown. Senators raced to pass a major funding package consisting of five regular appropriations bills and a two-week stopgap measure for DHS by the Friday night deadline. But it still needs approval in the House, which is not set to return to Washington until Monday. Democrats had pledged to block the full $1.2 trillion package over objections to the DHS funding portion, which included an additional $10 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)." Ryan King at NYPo, Mike Johnson ‘confident’ gov’t shutdown will end Tuesday – as he shoots down Dem demands. unseen1 @unseen1_unseen, "The trump economic plan is working. Tariffs, deregulation, tax cuts, rate cuts, illegal immigration crackdown, energy build out." Quote Truflation @truflation, "US CPI inflation dropped significantly today from 1.24% to 0.86% in our independent price data, the lowest since 2020. Truflation US CPI today: 0.86% Y/Y. The biggest downward drivers were: 1. Utilities down -0.13% 2. Clothing -0.08%, 3. Housing -0.05%, 4. Transport -0.05%, 5. Food -0.04% " At Da Signal, ‘Substantial Refunds’ Coming to Taxpayers Soon, Senior Treasury Official Says. At Fox, Doug MacKinnon opines on The most unique thing Trump could do with stolen money recovered from blue states "Trump administration should create a lottery system to aid disadvantaged citizens." I don't like it. There should be nothing random about who gets it. From CJ, Trump’s Fed Pick Could Be Just What the Central Bank Needs "If he acts in harmony with his past statements, Kevin Warsh could restore the Fed’s integrity and independence."

USA Today, I'm a conservative. I want a whole lot more John Fettermans. "Fetterman's nuance on Noem, DHS funding vote is refreshing"

Democrats are still praying for the pony under the pile of Epstein horse shit. Nick Arama at RedState, About Those 'Tips' on Trump and Epstein in Latest Files Dump. "as with anything that the left spreads about Trump, there's a big catch they leave out. These are what one might kindly term "random nutter" contacts, meaning there's no evidence to support any of the claims. That's why I'm not going to post them. Even the NY Times is showing some sense for once, and they're not even going there. For example, one claim involved the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes in 1995-1996. Yet the golf course didn't even exist then, which puts a small crimp in the claim. But that hasn't stopped folks on the left from spreading it." NYPo, Trump threatens to sue Michael Wolff, Epstein estate — and insists fresh document dump absolves him.

Fortune reads the tea leaves, Top energy expert says probability the U.S. will attack Iran soon is 75% as risk of major disruption to oil supply is priced in — ‘this one is real.’ Sundance at CTH hosts Sunday Talks – Venezuela Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado Discusses Her Goals and Objectives. From News Wax, US May Make a Deal on Cuba, Trump Says, "I think, you know, we’ll be kind.”

PJM's Matt Margolis likes how the ‘Melania’ Movie Humiliates Critics and Media Naysayers with Historic Box Office. "Over at Rotten Tomatoes, the film earns a mere 6% from critics, but a stunning 98% from fans." At TownHall, Kevin McCullough compares Melania vs. Hillary. From NYPo, Trump announces two-year closure of Trump Kennedy Center for major renovations. No skin off my nose. 

Larry Elder at Hat Hair has a fun 12 Question Quiz: What 'Fascist' 'Xenophobe' 'Tyrant' Said This?

Scott Pinsker at PJM notes The Two Agents Who Shot Alex Pretti Have Been Doxxed — and Liberals HATE Their Names! Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry @pegobry_en, "Your multiracial working class coalition, sir:" Quote Thomas Chatterton Williams @thomaschattwill, "The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez. https://propublica.org/article/alex-pretti-shooting-cbp-agents-identified-jesus-ochoa-raymundo-gutierrez" NBC reports DOJ opens a civil rights probe into Alex Pretti's fatal shooting in Minneapolis, deputy AG says, ""We’re looking at everything that would shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday." PM points out this poll, JUST IN: 92% of likely GOP voters approve of Trump, 93% approve of deportations after Pretti shooting. CBS abets a criminal, Agents were pursuing an immigrant when they killed Alex Pretti. Now, he shares his story. "I think, maybe if I hadn't gone to that place, or I don't know, a little later or a little earlier, I mean, that never would have happened," Huerta Chuma told CBS News during a phone interview conducted in Spanish."

At the Victory Girls Don Lemon: Invading Church Services Is Journalism. From NYPo, Don Lemon needs to choose —journalist or agitator, he can’t be both. Marc J. Randazza @marcorandazza, "The FACE Act was a great compromise. The left wanted people to be able to get abortions in peace. I think that’s fair. We wanted to go to church in peace. That’s fair. And the left agreed in large part because they probably thought “what kind of a banshee goblin fucktard would want to go and start intimidating people from going to church?” They felt like they gave up nothing. Fast forward and they’ve become such a bunch of nose ring gothapottamus lunatics that they can’t even leave churches alone." Douglass Mackey @douglassmackey, "My passport was confiscated by DOJ for 4.5 years. J6ers charged with misdemeanors were given pre-trial house arrest. Tim Hale was held in solitary confinement pre-trial for 18 months. And a MN federal judge just granted Don permission to take his annual vacation in France." At PM, disgust that Hollywood celebs give Don Lemon a STANDING OVATION at Grammy gala after arrest for storming church. At Althouse, "I've got nothing but respect for Don Lemon's husband." "Do you see that man's face?" Commenter Wilbur says Yeah, I remember the look on my father's face every time he had to bring my mother home from jail or prison. Mark Hemingway @Heminator, "This should be in the ellipses hall of fame." Quote Ted Lieu @tedlieu, "Replying to @B2BFCM and @WhiteHouse
“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Frank J. Fleming @IMAO_, "Did he just yada yada freedom of religion?"

Sundance hosts DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Discussing Minneapolis Chaos Amid Ongoing ICE Operations. News Wax, Trump Orders DHS to Avoid Protests in Democrat-Led Cities Without Federal Request, let 'em burn. Hat Hair's Josh Hammer calls it The Rise of the New Confederacy. "In essence, Ellison and his Minnesota's Democratic Party leadership confreres argue that the constitutional federalism articulated in the Tenth Amendment and its corollary of "states' rights" can shield the Land of 10,000 Lakes from the long enforcement arm of federal immigration law. Ellison and Minnesota Democrats claim that by declaring their state and cities to be illegal alien "sanctuaries," they can "nullify" federal immigration law. Stop me if you've heard that one before." At Da Caller, LAPD Says It Will Not Enforce Gavin Newsom’s Mask Ban For ICE Agents. Fox, Seattle mayor pushes local police to track, investigate ICE agents' enforcement activities, "Mayor Katie Wilson is requiring Seattle Police officers to investigate and document ICE activities with body cameras after deadly Minneapolis shootings," Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson puts ICE ‘on notice’ with executive order seeking prosecution of agents, "Brandon Johnson signs executive order directing police to document alleged illegal activity by federal immigration agents." and Alleged MS-13 gang member accused of 5 murders in home country nabbed in Virginia, "Illegal alien who allegedly admitted to 5 murders in El Salvador arrested in Virginia just weeks before Gov Spanberger ended ICE cooperation." Greg Price @greg_price11, "In order to stop the U.S. government from defending our borders, checking IDs, and removing people who don't have a right to be here, we must set up a border, check IDs, and remove people who we don't want here." Quote CrimeWatchMpls @CrimeWatchMpls, "Submitted from south Minneapolis - Agitators have set up roadblocks and are checking people's ID who try to pass through the area from 32nd to 34th and Cedar Ave. This is absurd." Dave Strom at Hat Hair sees Antifa Can Do Anything It Wants in Portland and Get Away With It Apparently. Twitchy says 'Uh oh, Trump's Lost San Francisco': Brian Allen Works Overtime to Make Anti-ICE Uprising a Thing. NYPo, The perils of toxic empathy in Minneapolis makes it feel like 2020 all over again. Fox Business, San Francisco bakery faces online backlash for selling controversial 'F--- ICE' cookies "Owner Hilary Passman says she has no plans to stop selling the controversial shortbread cookies." At Da Signal, Go Big, Then Go Smart: Trump, ICE, and the Law. How to Skip the Left’s PR Trap.

David Burge @iowahawkblog, "An aspiring artist and war veteran went to a beer hall. Now he and his girlfriend are dead in an underground bunker." Quote Q.S. Quay @hemingquay "Turns out you can make anyone seem innocent if you leave out the middle part of the story where they committed the crime. “A math professor moved to a cabin in Montana. Now he’s serving life in prison.”"

Scott McLallen at TownHall reports Judge Blocks Trump's Executive Order Requiring Citizenship to Vote. Of course, we always knew this would have to be appealed up the the Supreme Court.

From Althouse, Has there ever been a worse impersonation on "SNL" than Pete Davidson's complete failure even to attempt to seem the slightest bit like Tom Homan? "Look:"

Tim O'Brien at PJM sees ‘Midtermunition': Mamdani Is Already Trashing New York to Third-World Status. At Insty, THE “WARMTH OF COLLECTIVISM” TURNS OUT AS USUAL: Robert Pondiscio @rpondiscio, "Just arrived in NYC where, nearly a week after the storm, the warmth of collectivism has proven unable to melt snow. Or collect trash." UPDATE: Zohran Mamdani Wore Custom Carhartt to Tackle His First Snowstorm as Mayor: Snowstorms have long been an aptitude test for New York City mayors. For this particular blizzard, Mamdani coolly dressed the part. "So he’s flunked the test, but at least he was sharply dressed."

From Althouse, "Newsom was profoundly dyslexic.... By the third grade, he had worked himself into a panic over his trouble with reading and math." "Writes Nathan Heller, in "Gavin Newsom Is Playing the Long Game/California’s governor has been touted as the Democrats’ best shot in 2028. But first he’ll need to convince voters that he’s not just a slick establishment politician" (The New Yorker)." Going for the sympathy vote. At Civitas, California’s Proposed Billionaire Tax and Its Portents for Normal People. Billionaires leave, take jobs with them. Pirate Wires sees Death by Ballot Prop: How California Outsourced Legislation to the Mob, "a brief history of organized shoplifting rings, housing deadlocks, and other fun consequences of the state's 'direct democracy' experiment."

Brandon Straka #WalkAway @BrandonStraka, "Michigan election fraud claims explode as poll workers testify they were threatened, blocked from challenging ballots, and shut out of rooms while disputed votes were processed." Driscoll at Insty, THE PEOPLE WHO CAST THE VOTES DECIDE NOTHING. THE PEOPLE WHO COUNT THE VOTES DECIDE EVERYTHING: Hans Mahncke @HansMahncke, "The most indefensible part of what happened in Georgia in 2020 is that you do not need body cam footage, confessions, or insider testimony to know, as in know with absolute certainty, that a small group of people locking themselves in a room until well after midnight to count ballots with no supervision and no observers is unacceptable and will always be unacceptable. Even if the suitcases pulled from under the tables were somehow legitimate, and there are plenty of reasons to doubt that, it still would not matter. Counting votes in secret in the middle of the night, with no oversight and no way to verify what was or was not happening, is fundamentally illegitimate. I still cannot fathom how this was ever allowed to happen, and even more astonishing, how after the surveillance footage was released, everyone involved closed ranks and pretended there was nothing to see. Elections simply cannot be run this way." Quote Robert Bowes @Robert_B_Bowes, "Ruby Freeman on body cam said she was told by Fulton election bosses that the (Biden) count was low, it was really low and to scan as many ballots as she could. She said there were no more to scan and then "Boom, under the table, cut the zip ties" and then scan them and rescan them; so that's how the number went up."

CBS whines Detroit judge, 3 others, accused of embezzling $273K from vulnerable adults. The Canadian Press is pretty happy about the Misconduct complaint dismissed against judge who handled El Salvador prison deportation case, Boasberg.

Matt Margolis hears the peasants at CNN are revolting: There’s a Revolt at CNN Over Scott Jennings, because he makes all the Democrats and CNN journolists look bad.

From Campus Reform, Fordham restricts public media promotion of ICE-defense training. At The College Fix, Despite DEI bans, some public universities maintain DEI requirements, research finds, the grift is too good to quit. Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter, "NFL officially appointed influential storyteller Dhar Mann as its first-ever Chief Kindness Officer and Creator of the Week for Super Bowl LX." floridanow1 @floridanow1, "Could you imagine Butkus, Lombardi, Jim Taylor reacting to a NFL storyteller and Chief Kindness Officer?"