Random News and Notes 27 October
It is day 27 of the Schumer Shutdown. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made the rounds on the SUnday shows and was asked a similar question by both Kristen Welker and Martha Radditz. When will Trump meet with the Dems to end the shutdown?
Bessent wasn’t having it. Watch:
. . .They’ve dug in. The American people are hostage to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries’ poll numbers! 52 Republican senators have voted 11 times to reopen the government. I call on moderate Democratic senators to end this craziness. You’ll be heroes.
ABC: Your party controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. You don’t think you bear any responsibility for this?!
BESSENT: WHAT can we do? What can we do for this desperate act? We call on them to change their minds because I can tell you, the $1.5 TRILLION in spending that they’re calling for, that’s NOT on the table! We inherited a MESS…we’re NOT gonna let them be irresponsible with the budget again.
One of the things I really I like about this administration is the way they do not bend over for the media. Bessent slapped down both Welker and Radditz with a bit of reality. None of the MSM is used to the effective pushback that they are getting from Trump’s staff. Also, Kristen Welker is really dumb.
Our coverage of the Schumer Shutdown continues. It seems the Dems have lost the government unions on the issue. The American Federation of Government Employees is now calling on Schumer to pass a clean CR.
AFGE is the largest federal union outside the postal workers and represents some 800,000 federal employees. AFGE president Everett Kelley issued a statement on the shut down. It reads (in part):
. . . Today I’m making mine: it’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.
As president of the American Federation of Government Employees, I represent over 800,000 federal and D.C. government workers who serve with pride and professionalism.
They ensure our skies are safe, our veterans receive care, our borders are protected, and our food is inspected. They come from every political background and every corner of this nation. What unites them is a simple belief: that service to country is honorable work. . .
. . .Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues. . .
While I have issues with governmental unions, I think Kelley gets it here.
Expanding on a note Phantom Byte brought us at AM conversation today, The Navy lost two aircraft in the South China Sea in separate incidents in the past 24 hours. Both aircraft were assigned to the USS Nimitz and went down within 30 minutes of each other.
You may recall that the skipper of the Nimitz was relieved a while back for somehow managing to hit a merchant vessel and damaging the carrier. The ship also had two Hornet losses in recent months, with one going overboard during emergency maneuvers and one due to ‘arrestment failure’.
There were elections in Argentina on Sunday. The results were a pleasant surprise for Argentine President Javier Milei. His La Libertad Avanza party netted more than 40% of the votes cast.
Milei’s party and allied blocs picked up 14 seats in the Senate and 64 in the lower house of Congress on Sunday, bolstering the government’s support in the legislature enough to uphold presidential vetoes and block impeachment efforts.
