Gromnir

customs issues holding up produce and perishables at ports is gonna be felt by shipping companies immediate, but the average consumer won't notice. there will be travel issues for many people, but again, is gonna take time more marked and noticeable impact to be felt nationwide. some folks will be hurt painful and immediate, and for those select folks the change will be dramatic, but overall... also helps that we have never seen a british person voluntarily eat a fresh vegetable and only rare eat fresh fruit, so some immediate concerns will be marginalized by curious culinary and dietary preferences o' those most direct impacted by brexit. am kidding... if only slight. HA! Good Fun!

am thinking brexit will be worse than many imagine, but not nearly as dramatic. bad timing o' the chinese economic slowdown is gonna exacerbate impact o' brexit on world economy. is not gonna be road warrior apocalypse, but we wouldn't be surprised by increasing levels o' violence at border o' northern ireland, violence which will only get worse if the economic situation on either/both side(s) o' the border becomes bleak. while limited violence will be dramatic and newsworthy, the real problems is gonna be economic which is gonna take many months (maybe a year) to be noticed by most folks in britain and the eu... and the rest o' the world. am not gonna be hoarding mre and gold in preparation for brexit, but would be shocked if there weren't a real and noticeable global impact if brexit actual happens. HA! Good Fun!

first o' all, thank you very much for screwing up our effort to insulate our self from this silliness. other than headlines and pictures o' smolett posted at various news sites, we had almost 0 idea what were the central issue to the story. *grumble* in any event, the boy who cried wolf is attributed to aesop, and he (maybe she, who knows) were ~600 bc? am doubting aesop invented the situation. warning: a little sweary. ok, alot o' sweary. the following kinda story gets considerable press when such is made public: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/25/local/la-me-rape-dismiss-20120525 am thinking the most common variation is the blackmail threat to cry rather than the actual crying o' wolf. derek threatens peter, says he will go to the cops if peter doesn't sign over the filburn riverfront property. threat works 'cause o' situation or 'cause peter has a history o' violence or drug use or crime or whatnot. while we do not know smolett, if accusations is true, then he is stoopid and a d-bag. hoping he would have moment o' clarity and/or conscience to admit his mistake requires us ignore the stoopidity and d-bagness we have necessarily already assumed. however, as with the linked false rape case, this story is gonna get resurrected every time there is an accusation by a minority celebrity who claims they were targeted by racist or homophobic ne'er-do-wells. w/o definitive video proof, or depositions from the dozen or so nuns who happened to witness the event, this uncommon silliness is gonna be held up as evidence that certain kinds o' people cannot be trusted. "you can't claim it never happens because jussie smolett already did it." unfortunate. am now gonna thurough undercut everything we already stated by observing how the vast majority o' professional actors we has met are seeming a bit touched. we lament hasty generalization, then we go ahead and observe how am tending to assume there is more than a fair share o' odd folks in the entertainment biz? actors do stuff which is unreasonable or stoopid and am having a tendency to deem results as plausible. am not suggesting we believe actors is going out and faking crimes all the time or even frequent. however, if an actor gets caught doing something abject stoopid or extreme quixotic, we do not have same level o' surprise as when a random forklift operator or pharmacist does same. oh well. HA! Good Fun!

No you shouldn't because all positions doesn't have the same worth. The most important position on the field, without question or debate, is the QB and a running back isn't even second on that list. So if you're sitting at #2 with an aging QB who at best is average and it's a QB rich draft class, you better take a QB. The stars won't align better than that. and the giants only got the second best player in the draft. quenton nelson were all-pro year 1 and is already the best run blocker (based on pff weekly ratings) in the nfl, but who picks a guard so early, eh? saquon barkley got more attention than nelson because barkley played rb. is same reasoning why even less deserving qbs mighta' deserved attention from the giants. position matters. the thing is, am sympathizing with the giants last year. saquon, while only 2nd best, looked like the other projected future hall o' fame player in the draft. the qbs, while having good ratings from experts, confused us. sam darnold, for example, threw a whole lotta ints for a 1st round caliber qb and his completion percentage were barely a sniff above 60%... and he were the guy most teams said were number 1 for the qbs? unfortunately, the guys this year are wowing the pundits less than the group o' qbs from last year. top guy might be kyler murray who played in the defense prohibited big 12 and is maybe 5'10". justin hebert were seeming the top guy for 2019, but with the change in offensive schemes, his accuracy numbers suffered in 2018. so the big and strong-armed pro-style qb from oregon decided to go back to oregon for one more year, which were bad news for anybody looking for a qb in 2019. dwayne haskins has a pretty high ceiling, but he also has low basement potential. the ohio st. qb threw 70% completion, which sounds good until you watch game tape. wr were making haskins look better than he were, and if nfl corners were covering his passes, many more woulda' been defensed or intercepted. poor reads; even when he made passes he were often throwing to the wrong guy. haskins has the talent, but he needs to be with the right team. gonna need a year or two to coach haskins to nfl-level competence. without good qb coaching and time to develop in the abbreviated nfl practices (thanks cba) haskins will cement bad habits without learning better habits. regardless, is haskins or murray or lock or jones genuine top-five kinda guys? one o' 'em, at least, is likely to be chosen in such rarefied air, but am having a hard time justifying based on anything other than the qb desperation a few nfl teams suffer. speaking o' qb desperation, am not certain why we do not hear more noise from the buccaneers regarding a qb change. jameis winston were terrible last year and caused the team off-the-field headaches as well. keep jameis as qb might be the right thing to do if bucs do not believe they can improve their situation through the draft or fa this year, but am surprised to see a team throw in the towel on a season in february. HA! Good Fun!

am not posting to be an annoying know-it-all, but rather 'cause am suspecting gd is actual interested in incorporation, whether he knew it were called incorporation or not. SCOTUS decisions reveal most o' the bill o' rights is applicable to states. the mechanic for such findings is in sec 1. o' the 14th amendment. incorporation. supremacy clause is different. "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." am hopeful we quoted correct. would be kinda embarrassing if we missed something. regardless, due process clause has carried most o' the incorporation weight over the years. discovered in the last couple minutes there is many terrible articles 'bout incorporation online. *sigh* http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/incorp.htm provides general info which is, for the most part, accurate and simple to understand. HA! Good Fun! ps is of note to ConLaw pundits (nobody else) that in Timbs, gorsuch and thomas wrote separate conferences which invoked privileges and immunities clause instead o' due process to be expanding incorporation o' the 8th amendment. this seeming minor difference could be important as it telegraphs discontent o' a couple o' Justices with the current state o' due process clause jurisprudence.

noon is for lunch. elevenses is self explanatory and afternoon tea is 'tween lunch and dinner... but high tea is also 'tween lunch and dinner. high tea is traditional after work but before dinner. 'course dinner time were 8ish, so... from our extreme limited experience walking past high tea being served and seeing postings for such, the time is some non-specific hour later afternoon, though we have also seen early afternoon services. menu will either be entire sweet or a mixture o' sweet and savory. am thinking high tea is one o' those things which musta' evolved haphazard and organic so that now the only thing anybody agrees 'pon is that Americans do it wrong. HA! Good Fun!

beltway outsider ain't enough to be considered untainted in 2019. state governors and senators is no longer outsiders in the sense reagan and carter were. career politician = party stooge? regardless, is why we specific noted beltway insiders and career politicians were suffering from unspecific voter ill will in 2016. also, ultimate outsider branding might be a stretch for guys such as george w. bush. he were up against steven forbes and pat buchanan for the republican nomination after all, and he were the son o' a former President. clinton were so political moderate and tight with banking interests, he made bush seem like a hippie by comparison, and bill sure weren't more an outsider than jerry brown. heck, ross perot were actual leading polls in 1992 campaign, then he had his dismal showing in the debates. also, obama were a US senator before he became President. etc. the real outsiders typical disappear midway through the primaries. 1992 and 2016 were a bit different. 'course trump didn't make the same mistake as perot and run 3rd party. HA! Good Fun!

Doesn't sound intended. But maybe they changed their minds... if current weapon aoe behavior is the new normal, am hoping obsidian announces so we might get started on our journey towards acceptance. HA! Good Fun!

why would anybody care if she is a she? alternative, gets our shorts in a twist recognizing she is 16. am assuming she has been doing her dora the explorer bit for the past couple years? am thinking jade didn't put together multiple polar expeditions from paper route savings. take a whole lotta money to do what she has done and ain't as if she is making a major contribution to science or society by visiting places which has already been discovered. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station the station has a gift shop. applaud a kid for her self-indulgent vanity project funded by rich parents who didn't have courage to steer her towards a more constructive outlet? ... 'course perhaps am bitter 'cause we didn't own a new pair o' shoes 'til we were 16. am willing to admit we might be looking at this skewed. HA! Good Fun!

gonna disagree. republicans in 16 didn't fully understand the magnitude o' the dissatisfaction within their party. had a field o' familiar moderates and one outsider wingnut. republicans, at least the voting republicans, didn't want familiar. so much resentment towards beltway insiders and career politicians that the one stark alternative became the improbable default choice. am knowing the democrat field is ridiculous large, but keep in mind, in spite o' your observation, it were a republican candidate who ended up winning in 2016. am thinking the problem for democrats ain't numbers just as numbers weren't the real problem in 2016 for republicans. problem for democrats is party identity. democrat candidates is current all trying to show just how progressive they can be, w/o going full democratic socialist... with the exception o' bernie sanders. "tax the rich" has become new refrain, but am not certain how far the democrats will go on such thin policy. if independents is forced to choose 'tween a moderate democrat and trump, am thinking they go with the democrat, and independents functional decided the last election. at the moment, independents, who voted more in favor o' trump than clinton in 2016, has largely flipped, but what if democrats skew towards the lunatic fringe and embrace somebody more like ocasio-cortez? independents, in spite o' their growing dissatisfaction with trump, will need make a hard choice and am not liking democrat chances if they force independents to choose 'tween trump and an equal unrestrained democrat. am thinking democrats current have an edge... right up until they choose candidate, regardless o' size o' the field. unfortunate, we can foresee democrat primaries going as did republican leading up to 2016. winnow down candidates until only the most extreme outsider remains worked for republicans in part 'cause hillary were disliked by independents and by more than a few democrats. democrats can't count on reversing the playbook on the republicans. as an aside, independents also tend to trust mueller. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/independents-trust-mueller-which-could-be-bad-news-for-trump/ HA! Good Fun!

This is amazing. whenever we see blue will, we cannot help but wonder, "why didn't he listen to mr. wonka?" HA! Good Fun!

love thy neighbor shtick is ez? *chuckle* history suggests otherwise. even so, is not a hard message for non-christians as most o' the major religions got variations o' the Golden Rule. given how ubiquitous is the foundational teaching we posted earlier, should be easy to find common ground. should be. is the dogma which gets in the way. and is simple, but not a simplification btw https://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/passage/?q=luke+10:25-28 multiple variations on the same can be found new and old testament. thomas jefferson, maybe you heard o' him, spent considerable effort attempting to reconstruct an uncorrupted christian bible. years o' effort. eventual reaches conclusion jesus' doctrine is "simple and tend all towards the happiness of man." three principles: 1) God is a perfect existence; 2) there is an afterlife; and 3) the golden rule. oh, and christ had his moments o' snark. didn't cut thomas much slack and thomas were an apostle for chrissakes. "It's easy to love God and love your neghbor." knew you would provide more chuckles soon. am gonna forgo further religious talk as is doomed to go nowhere useful, but we observe we agree with gorth that if one assumes jesus is a divine being, he would almost certain get a chuckle outta life of brian. if not, we fear for us all. am not as confident 'bout the humor o' south park's virgin mary song. god, like most o' us, might be a bit more sensitive 'bout his mother. check on youtube for patent offensive lyrics, but if you laugh and then smell brimstone, don't blame Gromnir. HA! Good Fun!

in an unaired sixty minutes segment from the early 80s, jesus were interviewed by ed bradley. when questioned 'bout his political ideology and whether he identified with marxism or anarchists, jesus replied, "well ed, my message is simple: love God and your neighbors with all your heart. that's it. this common sense morality is the entirety of my teaching. those who find additional wisdom or foolishness in my guidance have brought their own water to the river, so to speak. dogma beyond the message is profligate and exists only to glorify those who spread the message." segment were never aired national as it were discovered almost too late that neo-nazis, sons o' the confederacy and people who bring young children with them to movies all had an adverse reaction when watching jesus via a television transmission. HA! Good Fun!

we read sakai pov on kamikaze. were an intriguing read as were suggesting the pilots weren't so much dying glorious and honorable deaths for country and emperor as were making a practical choice in attempting to protect family and loved ones knowing full well they didn't have sufficient training and equipment to engage in traditional combat. 'course he also were one o' the nanjing massacre deniers, so... HA! Good Fun!

Ancient Earth Globe plug in your street address and see how geography has changed in the past million years... or hundreds o' millions o' years. HA! Good Fun!

so, did nfl or kaepernick win? am curious how folks see the settlement. more relevant to 2019 football, we heard a weird rumour from a friend o' ours who were a scout for an nfl team up 'til a couple o' years past-- still has a few connections. apparent, numerous nfl teams now serious believe the cardinals has decided to throw in the towel on rosen and is considering trading down in the draft to be selecting a qb. were an earlier rumour the cardinals wanted kyler murray. regardless, in addition to dolphins, broncos, redskins, jaguars and giants, cardinals is now included by many in the list o' teams looking for a qb as early as round 1... with raiders and bengals getting a few mentions. HA! Good Fun!

for those interested, we got the link to the 2016 dea national drug threat assessment summary. is often quoted by folks when discussing border walls and drugs. particular noteworthy is following: page 7, which describes mexican cartel common utilized methods for transporting drugs. immediate subsequent pages mention the other tco (transnational criminal organization) and their smuggling methods o' choice. page 25, figure 26-- shows drug deaths from cpd (controlled prescription drugs) compared to cocaine and heroin. pp 60-62 include photos o' creative heroin smuggling techniques. fentanyl section is a mere 7 pages in length, half which is pictures and diagrams. worth reading as fentanyl is an increasing threat. china is main source. am admitting we only skimmed mj section. pp 131-132 cover use o' synthetic cannabinoids in prisons. page 173 shows trends in adolescent drug use 'tween 2011 and 2015. as an aside, the illicit finance section were somewhat illuminating. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing is a joke, but reality is a goodly % our work-related emergencies is precise 'cause somebody planned poor. clients rare come to Gromnir for help when they first realize they got a problem. is proverbial 11th hour when we get a call asking if so-n'-so can show up at office asap. as often as not, people want a tro for yesterday. also, happens less nowadays, but if somebody slight higher up the food chain blunders, we will be called 'pon to fix. if p00p is rolling downhill, is almost always emergency p00p . 'bout 5% emergencies is 'cause o' our poor planning. have been doing our job for a goodly period o' time and nevertheless we infrequent manage to prioritize wrong. most common aspect o' our poor planning is 'cause somebody nominal under our immediate supervision to whom we has entrusted limited autonomy fails to plan proper and doesn't let us know they has gotten upside down until situation becomes an emergency. their mistake is our mistake. remaining 1-2% is so-called act o' god stuff. we attempt to plan for act of god, but in rare situations, finagle's law makes a mockery o' such efforts... so is fair to actual make this part o' Gromnir's blunders. regardless, we would have a whole lotta free time if not for other folks' emergencies. HA! Good Fun!

have you considered introducing music? HA! Good Fun!

you don’t have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers have always wondered what a hurl classroom must look like. now we know, yes? loser teachers is all 'bout the indoctrination. tough for us to get worked up 'bout the "loser" comments. were more o' an eye-roll kinda reaction to junior's silly statement, but is a good excuse to post a stalag 17 clip. am a huge fan o' william holden and billy wilder. HA! Good Fun!

Currently we have also those rather serious ones: - AoE weapons not applying afflictions/effects with their AoE - (certain) summons don't scale with level - Essence Interrupter destroys loot (including quest relevant loot). They can be little game breakers. Either if you're in the middle of a playthrough and your build suddenly doesn't work anymore or because you destroy quest items. the aoe thing particular affected our most recent play, so we put game on hold 'til there were a fix. were mollified a bit 'cause short after we realized existence o' the issue, obsidian specific stated they were aware o' the problem and they were working on implementation o' a fix "asap." in the grand scheme, three weeks sans deadfire has been no biggie, particular as we got rl stuff occupying our time. however, am anticipating at least another three weeks elapses 'fore the next patch. asap indeed. HA! Good Fun!

Hey! Better than the typical 'monkey see, monkey do' behavior I see on the forum at times, I suppose. Not as desperate But as SSjames picked up, it was meant as non-serious and I should add non-harmful. I have no doubt that some may not be able to pick up on such a thing though or try to make it as a 'Look at me!' thing as per usual on the forum. assumed it had to be a joke, otherwise why would you use the deflection and false equivalency we so recent criticized to make your point 'bout trump. cortez? what relevance does cortez have on whether or not trump is skeevy, mendacious and/or incompetent? had to be a joke, right? and is no way one overlooks the significance o' early clinton and obama administration signature programs such as nafta, obamacare, deficit reduction act, etc. yes? sure, Gromnir were opposed to most such efforts, but successful championing such efforts were major executive milestones. leave value considerations up to individual, but deny significance? obvious joke. other than the tax reform act, trump were a miserable disappointment insofar as executive accomplishment. both houses and almost nothing to show for it. couldn't even get obamacare repealed and had to resort to nuclear option to get Justices appointed, which will no doubt haunt republicans in future as harry reid's similar myopic efforts came back as something akin to the nameless undead thing from democrat's worstest nightmares. use competent AND honest to describe trump? see, we knew you were kidding. heck, one reason Congress had so much difficulty negotiating with the President is 'cause he kept changing his position. he supported dreamers, right up until he didn't. caught his aides off guard with his honest intentions more than a couple times. 'course he were no doubt honestly flip-flopping even when he were playing fast and loose with facts. well, is good to enjoy a laugh from time-to-time. am suspecting we won't need wait long for another such opportunity, eh? @gd before the national emergency bit, we woulda' been ambivalent 'bout trump v. clinton. am suspecting with clinton in office, ginsburg mighta' already retired. potential three activist Justices added to the Court? now admitted, such Justices woulda' been relative moderate given the situation in the senate, but is a scenario we dislike considering. trump has done considerable harm to USA cache abroad, and he has ignorant gutted a few executive branch departments we hate to see damaged or destroyed, but for the most part, as we noted earlier, trump efforts has been limited by his own inability to build consensus within even his own party and by his mercurial nature. given how little trump accomplished with both houses o' Congress backing him, we were not over concerned with next two years. the US will recover from trump. the thing is, the national emergency bit is worrisome. is a Constitutional crisis... unless Courts decide it isn't. what if Court does its own pontius pilate play? Congress made this mess with national emergencies act, so let them fix it? Congress has power to delegate its authority. so, it's up to Congress to put big boy pants on and fix problems o' their own making. Court ironic decides case by claiming deference to Congress? mess. HA! Good Fun!

trump says stoopid and ignorant stuff with shocking regularity. am not thinking trump is playing some long con or confidence game when he reveals how little he knows. trump appears willful ignorant. if facts don't mesh with his uneducated beliefs, he will ignore facts in favor o' what he knows to be true. tillerson reported called trump an expletive moron following an intelligence briefing, and such does not surprise. trump is also a mediocre businessman at best https://www.vox.com/2015/9/2/9248963/donald-trump-index-fund trump has, 'ccording to some sources, relied on questionable business practices and shady dealings to end up with wealth a bit less than he woulda' had if he invested in a conservate s&p fund back when he first got daddy's money. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html the thing is, within the narrow fields o' shady ny real estate and shameless self promotion, am thinking trump has a kinda animal cunning, if not intelligence. trump got himself so far in debt (near $1 billion personal and $9 billion for trump organization) banks functional couldn't call in debt. woulda' been devastating. so, with deutsche bank bailing him outta trouble, and the tax benefits o' carrying a huge loss forward for years, trump were able to seize on the renewed interest in the trump brand 'cause o' the tv show to resurrect his fortunes. even so, took nerve and perception to turn a campy tv spot into a major self-promotion opportunity. or use simpson's monorail episode if you prefer. maybe if he could sing like robert preston, we would find trump to be as entertaining does the base. as is, am baffled by how ignorant and mendacious is trump. even so, while Gromnir never woulda' thought two years o' political failures could be countered by transparent deflection, false equivalency arguments and fear mongering, trump has managed to actual tighten his grip on his base. serious. with both houses o' Congress, has any President accomplished so little in their first two years? don't know if counts as intelligence, but to keep base loyalty under such conditions is resulting in a kinda morbid fascination. HA! Good Fun!

reform party got 19% in 1992 presidential. where is the reform party today? 1992 did not herald the advent o' an emergent 3rd party... and with candidates such as johnson, libertarians is a long freaking way from anything like 19%. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/could-a-libertarian-win-a-senate-race-this-year/ libertarian party has been 'round a long time and it has had more than a few relative cinderella moments. however, failures is just as likely to follow success for the libertarian party with failures and success being equal pedestrian. 2016 libertarian cause were ultimate meaningless for libertarians, but johnson candidacy mighta' been a contributing factor in getting trump elected, so congrats? margins were so thin in battleground states that seeming inconsequential influences, stuff which might normal be dismissed as rounding errors, became dispositive. trying to get a libertarian Presidential candidate, any candidate, exposure is not a good approach. gary johnson performance no doubt discouraged as many potential voters as it attracted. is bass ackwards. gary johnson got votes 'cause some folks liked him, but more so 'cause his candidacy were a faceless vote against historical unpopular republican and democrat candidates. am suspecting lord buckethead woulda' garnered similar numbers if he were the recognized 3rd party candidate. libertarians may have genuine success local and state. as such, libertarian efforts should focus on developing local and state. national attention is not needed and may actual be counter-productive as it produces aleppo moments which will be what is remembered most by the vast majority o' folks come 2020. have mentioned elsewhere how Gromnir most identifies libertarian. such like doesn't blind us. @malcador multiple past Presidents also told him they had wished they had built a wall, save for fact none o' them actually had. https://www.apnews.com/0b368a320d744c94819206c45ae9f2b6 is so tough to believe trump about anything. he lies when he don't need to and when there is no good reason to do so. however, military construction funds make sense as target for trump's cash grab. military takes serious the notion o' civilian leadership with trump as commander in chief. this kinda thing is rare. serving military commanders don't often overt refute President. have any top brass complain 'bout trump actions is unlikely. there will be retired military and anonymous serving colonels and generals who will complain, but all that needs happen is for fox news to get a couple retired military who is trump stumpers to says opposite. military build projects is large and less political than other potential sources. billions is allocated for stuff such as military housing, but such projects is invariably multi-year and is unlikely to touch off popular resentment if they is delayed. a bunch o' military buildings go unpainted for 2019? is voters gonna care? 'course trump ain't gonna get anywhere close to $8 billion from delay paint or upgrade co detectors in military buildings. there is gonna be big military contracts which is affected, and am suspecting those projects cut is gonna be in predominant democrat districts wherein civilian contractors and workers is gonna be bearing immediate brunt o' delays. republicans gotta see how dangerous it is to support this kinda executive overreach. unfortunate, the alternative were another shutdown. HA! Good Fun!

am not sure it is fair to generalize republicans based on trump or this specific event. pains us to admit, but we got some sympathy for the lickspittle republicans who are caving to trump demands; they are in an impossible position. all year, mcconnell and other republicans has been warning o' the institutional dangers o' utilizing national emergency to effective circumvent Congress. unfortunate, the President is indifferent to opinions other than hannity and limbaugh and coulter. so Congressional republicans show up at wh, hats in hand, with a bipartisan compromise to avoid a second shutdown fully aware a mercurial and volatile President is gonna be unhappy with getting so little for his border wall boondoggle. what to do? 'ccording to virtual all polls, the first shutdown was blamed most on President and republicans much more than blame were directed at democrats. no surprise. those video images o' trump taking ownership o' a possible shutdown were played on almost a loop by a number o' unsympathetic media sources. were no doubt apparent to every washington republican not named trump that a second shutdown woulda' devastated the republican party in the short-term. balance. on one side is extreme important institutional concerns regarding a chief executive doing an end-around on Congress. other side is impact on republicans seeking reelection in next cycle and the impact a second successive shutdown would have on party interests. is a devil and deep blue sea proposition, but the institutionalists have one hope: the Courts. mcconnell is no doubt praying for the Courts to bail his arse outta this mess. if Court rubs the President's nose in the mess he is making, then is no precedent problem. is not as if a President has never tried anything similar... though it has been a long time. but what bitter irony if the Court don't fix this mess, eh? mcconnell has been brilliant in using ill-considered precedent created by harry reid and the democrats to load fed courts at all levels with sympathetic judges. if those judges defer to the executive, then mcconnell will be sympathizing with captain tupolev. is not an ideological motivation which has Congressional republicans siding, reluctant, with trump on a national emergency. is pure pragmatism and self preservation. am thinking is doubtful even gd believes independents is immune to such considerations? HA! Good Fun! ps given showing of independents on national stage am thinking it shouldn't come as a shock we won't be voting for any similar candidates in the future.