Laws restrain only the lawful

Seen here in the comments.

Freedom who loves must first be wise and good

Freedom who loves, must first be wise and good;

But from that mark how far they rove we see,

For all this waste of wealth, and loss of blood.

-- John Milton (1608-1674)

CNBC story on conservative anger with Trump deliberately omits the centrality of differences over illegal immigration policy

That's what Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter are all about, after all, but CNBC just dances around this as if it didn't really exist.

Ann Coulter only tweets almost every day a "border wall lack-of-progress" update.

Conservatives are outraged also that Trump would trade a wall for DACA-type amnesty. DACA is illegal. Obama's executive order was unconstitutional. Trump acts like it's no big deal, just like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin becoming dictators for life is no big deal to him, either.

It's a propaganda technique: Pretend something doesn't exist, and it doesn't. It's called marginalization. The communist Alinsky made it one of his rules for radicals. To talk about what your enemy wants to talk about is to assist your enemy by publicizing his issues, so don't do it.

See for yourself here.

The kids are a little late to the game: The violence against children began when we chose abortion over them

There were 167 votes against the omnibus in the US House: 90 Republican, 77 Democrat

The House Roll Call is here, the Senate here. There were 32 votes against in the Senate: 23 Republican, 8 Democrat, and Bernie Sanders.

For all the previous action on HR 1625, see here.

87% of the Michigan Congressional Delegation, both Republican and Democrat, voted "Yea", except for good guys House Republicans Justin Amash and Jack Bergman.

Notable "Yea" votes included Republican goodfellas:

Kevin Brady of Texas, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, Duncan Hunter of California (ouch), Darrell Issa of California, Will Hurd of Texas, Peter King of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Kevin McCarthy of California, Michael McCaul of Texas, Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Devin Nunes of California, Peter Roskam of Illinois, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, of course, Steve "Bullseye" Scalise of Louisiana, and Joe "You Lie!" Wilson of South Carolina.

Say it isn't so, Joe!   

The line of the week was Rush Limbaugh's: "Whenever you see the word omnibus, think trash can"

Here:

So on this, for example, this omnibus, whenever you see that word, folks, just think of a trash can. No! In fact, think of a Christmas tree with anything you want gift wrapped underneath it. That’s what omnibus means.

He had it right the first time. A conservative's trash can is a liberal's Christmas tree.

Mark Levin yesterday said he thinks we've reached the point of no return

If that's true then it's down to us or them.

Michael Savage yesterday said it feels like we lost an election

It still does.

Like all the other Baby Boom presidents Trump has squandered his power and opportunities

And his closest enemies sat quietly by and let him do so, convincing him that war is the father of everything.

Winning means you have political capital.

In Washington you either spend that as soon as you get it or you lose it.

For not delivering Trump is already finished, but he will be the last to know.

Trump will never sign another bill like this because by that time Democrats will be in charge and be busy with something more important

Trump gives in and signs spending bill, shows us his Bezos Balls

Republican spending bill re-empowers agencies, not just courts, to decide if someone is competent to buy a gun or possess one

Reported here:

Unfortunately, the spending bill passed Thursday allows the ban to be reinstituted because it reauthorizes the 2007 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act. This act allowed government agencies, not just the courts, to determine if someone is mentally incompetent to buy or possess a gun.

House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said during testimony late Wednesday that he was “disturbed” that the bill would undo part of Republicans’ good work. But by Thursday morning, the House leadership had decided to go ahead with the measure.

Despite the name Fix-NICS, the bill is likely to cause more problems than it is worth.

Nancy Pelosi is quite content for Trump to think he's getting his wall, and urges him to sign the spending bill

Quoted here:

". . . if you want to think you're getting a wall, you just think it and sign the bill."

Call 202-456-1111 and tell Trump to veto the spending bill

House Freedom Caucus urges Trump to veto spending bill

Reported here.

Spending bill is a giant FU to Trump, prevents him from using any of the new border wall prototypes

Reported here:

But, crucially, the bill specifically prevents the Trump administration from using any of the new wall designs it commissioned and tested in California last year. All money has to be spent on “operationally effective designs deployed as of the date of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017” — a bill Trump signed on May 5, 2017.

If President Trump cared less about his wall than about a wall, this wouldn’t be an issue. But everything we know about the president indicates that’s not the case, and that this is a blow to his ego — he reportedly upbraided congressional Republicans this week for not supporting it, claiming they “owed” him for his support for the tax bill and his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The bullying tactics do not appear to have worked. ...

Trump wanted 1,000 new ICE agents; he’s getting barely 100, and none of them are the field agents responsible for arresting unauthorized immigrants. (Instead, ICE is getting more staff for investigations and mission support.)

And when it comes to immigration detention, Congress isn’t just refusing to give the White House the 20 percent increase in detention Trump asked for — it’s rebuking ICE for overspending and expecting Congress to bail it out. 

h/t Mickey Kaus

Asian stock indices cratered overnight in the wake of Trump's imposition of tariffs on China

Jobs Americans won't do: Ruthlessly efficient Hungarian soldiers, prisoners, unemployed built 110 mile razor wire border fence in mere weeks for $80 million

Reuters, dateline Sarok, Hungary, Sept. 23, 2015:

Built in a matter of weeks by soldiers, prison laborers and cadres of the unemployed, a vast new wall along Balkan frontiers is a monument to the ruthless efficiency with which Prime Minister Viktor Orban has mobilized Hungary against migrants. ...

While Europe dithered over a collective response, Hungary took matters into its own hands, shutting off the route with a new fence along its entire 175 km (110 mile) border with Serbia, topped with razor wire and guarded by helmeted riot police.

It was erected at a cost of 22 billion forints (about $80 million), a rare example of efficiency in a country which built its last underground metro line ten years behind schedule at triple the projected cost.

The government says it put the military in charge of the construction so that it could act more quickly. By swiftly mobilizing state resources, the authorities also managed to turn the fence into a national project, immensely popular at home even as it is denounced by European partners. ...

In just days since it shut the Serbian frontier, Hungary has already moved even faster to shut the border with Croatia, which is inside the European Union but outside the Schengen zone.

A 41-kilometre temporary fence was thrown up within four days. Work is already underway on a permanent barrier, with machines clearing the land, fence posts driven into the ground and razor wire rolled out.

Equivalent cost for 2,000 mile US southern border wall using soldiers, prisoners and the unemployed for labor: $1.45 billion. Actual US estimates of the cost run north of $20 billion and of the timeline to complete many years.

Where there's a will, there's a way, but we obviously don't have the will, or the imagination, Trump included.

Senate passes massive spending bill in the middle of the night, sends it to Trump

CNBC reports here:

The Senate passed a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill in the early morning hours of Friday, sending it to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.

Congress approved the more than 2,200-page legislation swiftly with a midnight Friday government shutdown deadline looming. The plan was released only Wednesday night. The House approved the bill Thursday afternoon by a 256-167 vote with bipartisan backing. ...

[Trump] reportedly threatened to veto it days ago, but tweeted his support for it Wednesday night after a discussion with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. ...

It would put $1.57 billion in new funding toward fencing along the border with Mexico and border security technology such as aircraft and sensors. Trump had sought billions more in funding for a physical barrier on the border after he promised to build a wall as a candidate.

Limbaugh predicts the omnibus spending bill will make Trumpists go wobbly

Well, they should since it's a total betrayal.