As expected, the usual attention/relevance seekers are adding their unsolicited voices to the conversation over the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson by our latest social media-anointed accused hero Luigi Mangione.

Politicians and media pundits just have to ingratiate us with their informed opinions that almost always start of with “Murder is bad, BUT….” and then go on to find twisted ways to justify a murder of someone who may do something they don’t like. Even while, in this case, the murder victim had zero to do with whatever the accused issues are/were.

Over the years, circumstances brought me to opine on several instances I titled “When Bad Things Happen To….” We’re usually talking about those who arrogantly refer to Americans as “average” or “ordinary people” because we all know they consider themselves so more extraordinary than us.

When people commit crime, the media gleefully splashes the accused’ face all over their broadcasts. Yet when a media person is busted, we’re told we must forgive and eventually forget it ever happened so that person can continue to make a living.

If anyone attacked a prompter-reader for their hypocrisy, media collective would be outraged if it was said that attack was bad, BUT….

When our politicians target a certain segment of the population, they demand the “letter of the law” be upheld. When they screw up, they demand we forgive them and eventually forget it ever happened so they can raise money for their reelection.

If anyone attacked a politician for an offence (and we’re talking sexual indiscretions to bribery), all politicians would be outraged if it was said that attack was bad, BUT….

When Obamacare was passed, every American was seemingly forced into acquiring government-run healthcare that imposed much higher premiums and deductibles. Every business that employed more than 50 people were required to cover their employees. Let’s not forget, Capitol Hill politicians found a way to exempt themselves by saying each office was a business that employed less than 50 people and, lo and behold, an exclusive health care program was created just for them that was far cheaper and had better coverage than the “Affordable Care Act” scam that was mandatory for everyone else.

If anyone attacked a politician for the harsh health care increase and resulting financial hardship, all politicians would be outraged if it was said that attack was bad, BUT….

When the COVID-19 pandemic initially hit, politicians nationwide shut down their states and millions of Americans essentially lost their means of income.

However, one of the first thing politicians on Capitol Hill did was pass the “Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act” that essentially assured no federal employee would miss a paycheck and, coincidently, that law was seemingly replicated in state houses nationwide so most public servants would be paid uninterrupted.

We all know how some shutdown governors (most of whom never missed receiving a taxpayer-funded paycheck) blew off the very mandates they imposed on their populations and arrogantly found reasons to justify and flaunt their privilege.

If anyone attacked a governor for the loss of a business or job and all the negative fallout that comes with sudden unemployment, all politicians would be outraged if it was said that attack was bad, BUT….

We’ve been beat over the head about the only real instance of violence at a conservative rally, “January 6th” by Democrats and their media. We’ve seen the pictures of Capitol Hill politicians cowering-in-place at the horror mass violence brings.

However these are the same politicians who, in some cases, justified and excused the mass liberal Democrat mayhem that held the nation hostage during the Summer of 2020 where mostly black businesses were burned and looted, public and private businesses were vandalized, too many people were injured or killed and police officers all over the country were wounded and/or assassinated.

The horror experienced by Americans was “mostly peaceful” and not the best optics, BUT….

Thanks to the American people, President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s reelection has reduced the Democrat Party and their fake news media accomplices into a temporary state of irrelevance, thus the musings of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Governor Chris Murphy, Michael Moore and many others on social media have been met with the appropriate outrage.

“Violence is never the answer, BUT people can be pushed only so far,” Warren told HuffPost.

This mental illness is nothing new to Democrats; from the civil war they waged to keep slaves to the mass murder of innocent babies in the womb. Their adherence to the “by any means necessary” mindset gives them license to impose whatever violence they deem appropriate. That is, until it happens to them and in most cases, by them.

Then violence is never the answer.

No ands, ifs, or BUTs….

Without the shield of anonymity provided many of the phony brave on social media, Croatian Member of the European Parliament Mislav Kolakušić came right out and said to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s face what many in and around Ottawa would be punished for.

MEP Kolakušić has probably become the latest permanent member of that “Your money’s no good here” club in every restaurant and bar in Canada.

Not to mention for anything delivered by truck….

At a time of national pandemic angst, it was supposed to sound so nice.

“We are in this together.”

But as some of us came to realize, that was not the case.

In retrospect, had President Trump known what was to become of the United States as we knew it, he may had referred to the first tenant of the 1994 Contract with America before obliging the suggestions of bureaucrats.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government: First: Require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress.
— U-S-History.com

The COVID-19 shutdown resulted in thousands of businesses and corporations around the nation being ordered shutdown for an undermined amount of time, thus resulting in millions of Americans losing their jobs. It became ironic that those who were in the position of locally determining who could reopen and how long were those whose personal paychecks were never in jeopardy: politicians, their staffs, federal and state employees, and unelected officials.

MARCH 30
More states issued stay-at-home directives.

Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., issued orders requiring their residents to stay home. Similar orders went into effect for Kansas and North Carolina. Other states had previously put strict measures in place. The new orders meant that least 265 million Americans were being urged to stay home.
— New York Times, Coronavirus timeline, 7/21/20

Had an Executive Order or Memo been issued by the president that required the suspension of all taxpayer-funded salaries on the federal and state level as long as private citizens were forced to stay home and not earn theirs, just how serious would the “advice” of  so-called health officials been taken given how all-over-the-map the models have been since the Coronavirus made landfall?

Would there have even been talk of a prolonged shutdown had the generous salaries of governors and mayors (some between $3000-4000 weekly!) been in the slightest way been threatened. How many on Capitol Hill would have told Dr. Fauci to go pound sand if their paychecks and that of their staff would have been cut off until some curve was flattened? How many of our federal and state employees would feel so cavalier to demand Americans on social media shut up and stay home if they weren’t receiving steady paychecks? We already know how quickly they squawk when there’s any kind of government shutdown that always results in their getting paid on the back end.

And given their specific First Amendment status, maybe the media could have been also included in a paycheck stoppage. The Freedom of the Press would not be halted; they just wouldn’t get paid for what they did and the professional media has enough rainy day cash lying around to last for a short duration.

How do you think their coverage of the “pandemic” would be if they weren’t receiving compensation for their time? Instead of telling us all to stay home and keep everyone else safe, do you think they might have introduced the term “herd immunity” into their daily action lines? Do you think this whole shutdown thing would be considered an policy that should be very, very temporary?

This has again turned out to be just another example of the “Do as I say, not as I do” two-tiered system of American government which calls into doubt the known seriousness of the pandemic when we’ve also seen the many examples of politicians and elites finding convenient justifications to go for a walk in the park, visit beauty salons, the gym, parties, fundraisers, and of course, #BlackLivesMatter protests… masks optional.

ObamaCare was good enough of us while federal politicians and their staffs wrote themselves a way around it, saving thousands of dollars we were mandated to pay. Now, the COVID-19 crisis has given us state and local politicians who play their constituents like an accordion, setting arbitrary phased reopening dates, just to yank them back in a manner that would make any garden variety sadist smile with envy.

The economy was the issue that would have seen President Trump sailing into a second term. Keeping it in the tank is a political no-brainer.

And until we’re really “in this together”, the political class will continue to inflict their political pain on all of us because it doesn’t hurt them at all.

It’s not hard to imagine how those in federal and state federal government can be so casual when it comes to their evolving time schedules as to when the nation will be fully open for business because it’s as simple as follow the money. They’re getting theirs thus there’s no sense of urgency, the “process” of politics can run it’s course because certain taxpayer-funded paychecks have been assured to come in uninterrupted.

United States Congressman and Senator weekly salary: $3,346 (assured through 9/21)
Average federal employee weekly salary: $1,730
Average state employee weekly salary varies: (highest) Washington, D.C $2,222,
….Maryland $2,086, Virginia $1,967
Former president lifelong pension benefit weekly: $4,051
Congressional lifelong pension benefit weekly: $2,676

Here’s how the elected have been financially weathering the shutdown while the American people have to live with their edicts….

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) weekly salary: $2,848
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) weekly salary: $3,878
Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) weekly salary: $1,730
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) forgoes his weekly $2,884 salary
Delaware Governor John Carney Jr. (D) weekly salary: $3,288
Hawaii Governor David Ige (D) weekly salary: $3,051
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) forgoes his $3,411 weekly salary
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) weekly salary: N/A
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) weekly salary: $2,500
Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) Weekly salary: $1,346
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) weekly salary: $3,269
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R) weekly salary: $3,557
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) weekly salary: $3,063
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) weekly salary: $2,454
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak (D) pledged to donate his $2,876 weekly salary
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) weekly salary: $3,365
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) weekly salary: $3,846
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) weekly salary: $2,775
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) weekly salary: $2,954
Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D) weekly salary: $1,896
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) weekly salary: $3,747
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (D) weekly salary: $2,802
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) weekly salary: $2,956
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) weekly salary: $3,365
Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) weekly salary: $3,520
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) weekly salary: $2,937

Everyday life gets even harder to endure at the mayoral level….

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) weekly salary: $4,975
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) weekly salary: $4,771
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) weekly salary: $4,157
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) weekly salary: $3,846
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D) weekly salary: $3,365
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (D) weekly salary: $3,292
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) weekly salary: $2,833

Remember this when the political class drags this process out to collect more COVID-19 “data”, fat-and-comfortable government employees go on social media and tell those who fund their incoming paychecks to shut up and stay home, humble yourself and visit a food bank, decline to pay your rent and bills, never leave home (and if you must risk killing us all, not without a mask), and succumb to your movements being tracked and stored.

It must be nice.

NOTE — We’re not including self-centered celebrities because they don’t have the power over us they believe they have.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, introduced on April 25 a road map for the state’s reopening. While the numbers of new cases and deaths remain high, total hospitalizations have remained flat for the past week. Hogan plans to begin a phased, data-driven reopening in early May.
— Epoch Times, 4/26/20

A contrast in the sense of urgency perspective is in order.

We’re not seeing too many media stories of the hardships locked-down Americans are enduring at the hands of governors who are arbitrarily keeping them from putting that all-important food on their tables.

It could rightfully be argued had federal and state elected and employees had their paychecks cut off, the calls for reopening the nation and getting back to work would be entirely different.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who enacted some of the most aggressive stay-at-home measures in the country, defended her decision and echoed Hogan’s call for a measured approach to reopening. Whitmer, a Democrat, extended Michigan’s stay-at-home order until May 15 while easing restrictions on some activities such as boating and golfing.

In New Jersey, the situation on the ground suggested that the state may be weeks away from a phased reopening, according to Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat.
— Epoch Times, 4/26/20

China needed our economy to be as damaged as theirs, COVID-19 predictions and dubious “data” models were efficiently used to foment public panic, and Democrats saw this as a crisis too good to waste.

Based on their previously documented priorities, certain new developments may worry the well-fed privileged….

In recent weeks, Tyson Foods has been forced to temporarily pause operations at a number of plants following outbreaks of COVID-19, or because of staffing shortages caused by the pandemic.

“In addition to meat shortages, this is a serious food waste issue,” John H. Tyson claimed. “Farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation. Millions of animals – chickens, pigs and cattle – will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities. The food supply chain is breaking.”
— Fox Business, 4/27/20

As along as government employees, governors, mayors and high-paid journalists continue to receive their paychecks uninterrupted, there will be no sense of urgency and the American people will continue to be pawns of a political system that can’t allow the economy to rebound prior to the November presidential election.

That’s what this is really all about.

In this particular case, simple numbers explain why things don’t get done in an efficient manner in our nation’s capital.

Americans’ incomes have risen in recent years, but the wealth hasn’t been evenly distributed, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. There were 21 counties with median household incomes above $100,000, the new estimates show, and half of the top 10 fell in northern Virginia, just outside the nation’s capital, which itself boasted a median income of $77,649.
— US News & World Report, 12/6/19

The Washington D.C. region including The District, Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia is unsympathetically referred to as “recession proof” because when cyclical economic downturns befall the rest of the nation, certain people are almost always spared the pain.

The Great Recession is one of the most severe economic downturns in American history. Washington D.C. appeared almost unscathed as the rest of the country suffered. The capital city was also one of the first places to start seeing growth when the recovery started. Washington’s success stirred resentment as the region thrived amidst the downturn. New buildings and a wealthy economy were fueled by the federal government and taxpayers.
— Inside Sources, 8/7/17

One would think those fortunate enough to be gainfully employed with generous compensation and benefits would be grateful to those who pay to maintain those comfortable lifestyles.

Alas, that is not always the case….

…
Unlike most industries that actually create and manufacture products that people are willing to purchase, D.C. creates virtually nothing aside from constant reasons why they should keep their jobs, if not create more for those with mediocre creativity and incentive to improve their skills.

One possible reason there is so much resistance to the Trump presidency is that the president’s business acumen has exposed a culture where the actual completion of a project puts fat-and-happy incomes in peril. After a building is erected, those who built it move on and look for another construction project. In D.C., simple tasks are oh-so slowly performed as to not put their jobs in peril and that philosophy trickles down to the lackluster approach of foreign policy, health care, or mostly anything that could improve the lives of citizens by making a solvable problem go away.

The cost of living is also much higher in this area because higher-paid federal employees have more disposable income and those who service them took note many, many years ago.

One thing that drives the capital and its environs is those very large federal paychecks, which now amount to about $90,000 a year in money wages and just under $125,000 a year in total compensation. Washington pay has long been above the national average, but it is pulling away. In 2000, the median compensation for an American worker at large was about 74 percent of the median compensation for a federal employee; today, the average working taxpayer makes only 55 percent of what the average federal tax-eater makes. Our would-be class warriors talk about “transfers of wealth” and “transfers of income” when they mean mere changes in those metrics, but in this case, there is a literal transfer, with the most fearsome agency of the federal government — our corrupt and politicized IRS — raiding our households and businesses to support $1,000-a-night La Tur habits in Washington.
— National Review, 11/6/16

This has also had the negative effect of gentrification which, despite the faux laments, makes these areas whiter, more “progressive” thus less tolerant of those not well paid, liberal and white.

The mediocrity, when it comes to the calibre of the typical federal employee, is also a self-maintaining mechanism because they are in the majority. Federal employee unions have made it almost impossible to shed dead weight and generous pensions are one of the sole motivators of those who’ll do just enough to do their “25” so taxpayers can enjoy the privilege of supporting them for the rest of their lives.

And that is why you see Hill staffers who put in ten years at modestly-paid jobs and then go to work at lobby shops that pay them enough to drive a Bentley and live in one of those horrifying weird $3 million suburban piles in Arlington.

The nonprofit sector (representing many ideologies and causes) also thrives where principles are sanctimoniously packaged; principals are lavishly compensated while they suck up to those in the immediate area who enjoy annual tax write offs. Their overheads are many times more than those in private sector, and they really don’t have to achieve their promoted missions. The media is hardly any better as so many employees never leave their office spaces to collect news, but simply search online for interesting stories they can repackage (aggregate) and make their own.

Whenever the gloom-and-doom of a government shutdown reaches public awareness, it’s been shown many Americans are fairly indifferent because they’re rarely inconvenienced. But it the D.C. area, it’s time to panic. The media throws government employee sob stories in our faces. We’re to feel sorry for those who’ll suddenly find themselves out of work while most everyone knows as soon as the shutdown ends, these employees will be back to work and receive compensation for the forced time off.

But the most ironic is how the media mismanages optics by presenting federal employees, most of whom one would think is primarily worried about how to pay rent or a mortgage, daycare costs, make car payments, etc.

One in five new vehicles sold in those states is from a luxury marque (about a third higher than the national average) with BMW leading the way, because D.C. is exactly that douchey, and Mercedes-Benz in second place. Aston-Martin is unusually popular in Virginia; Bentley sells unusually well in Maryland.

It turns out most important to these employees is food, which bad optics is manifest when you see the obese whining on broadcast news, alerts are issued by local supermarkets and restaurants that a federal government identification card entitles them to free meals, goodie bags and breaks on bills because we should all sympathize with them; a concept not bestowed on Americans when politically-bollixed bad times hit the rest of the nation.

Restaurants are offering free food for workers who present their government IDs, historic sites are offering passes to federal workers, major banks are rolling out special assistance programs, and some centers are even offering free knitting classes for government employees.
— The Hill, 1/3/19

So, pay attention whenever census numbers again reveal the have-and-have-nots are not just a rich vs. the poor political narrative. It’s also a reminder that there are hundreds of thousands of people in one relatively small region of the United States that are living a comfortable life and despite what they’re not doing or doing TO us, expect us to maintain them.

And guess which America the media and punditry sympathizes with?

For example, a Boston restaurant which has been open since the late 1820s (no, that isn’t a typo) will soon be closing because of mandatory minimum wage hikes that will make it harder for them to compete. There is scant media, social or otherwise, outcry for the looming financial harm to their employees.

Michael Weinstein, CEO of Ark Restaurant Group, which owns and operates Durgin-Park, this week said the restaurant will close on Jan. 12 because fewer customers are coming through the doors and costs have risen. Manager Kenneth Thimothee said the state’s new minimum hourly wage, which rose from $3.75 to $4.35 for tipped workers and from $11 to $12 for other employees, is partially to blame. And Durgin-Park will not be the only high-profile restaurant that will close this year, said Bob Luz, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.
— Boston Herald, 1/5/19

The minimum wage law was passed by the Massachusetts Democrat supermajority and signed by the RINO governor, which is why so little of its destructive and predicted ramifications are being talked about. The federal government #shutdown is now being given headline status because a Republican president can blamed and all we’re hearing is how adversely it’s affected federal employees.

“As we discussed, I am a federal employee who has recently been furloughed due to a lack of funding of my agency. Because of this, my income has been severely cut and I am unable to pay the entire cost of my mortgage, along with my other expenses.”
— Office of Personnel Management “sample letter” for employee creditors

Remember that when you have hard times and you’re pleading for compassion from some of these very same people.

Federal Workers, Some in ‘Panic Mode,’ Share Shutdown Fears on Social Media

Many Americans who’ve interacted with federal employees are less than sympathetic.

Voters are overwhelmingly aware that there’s a partial shutdown of the federal government, but so far at least it isn’t bothering them.
— Rasmussen, 1/4/19

Maybe because more of us have had to endure the negative ramifications of the illegal alien presence in our country than any interaction (good or bad) with a faceless federal employee.

While we know some federal employees who fall into that “essential” column, too many others are publicly whining about their paychecks (which they will recoup in full once the shutdown ends), and despite what they say, it’s all about them; NOT the general public who they claim to care so much about.

Federal workers already collect bigger salaries, on average, than workers in the private economy doing comparable jobs. Their benefits packages are also on average 47 percent fatter, according to the Congressional Budget Office. They get up to 49 paid days off a year. And firing them is often impossible. Then, at age 55, if they’ve put in 30 years, they get a gold-plated ­retirement package almost ­unheard of in private enterprise, including defined benefits that protect them from inflation.

In short, federal employees are riding the gravy train, and the rest of us working stiffs who pay the taxes to support the federal government are taken for a ride.
— New York Post, 1/2/19

We’re being inundated with news story after news story about the hardships these employees are now facing because of the Democrat/Trump impasse over the relatively meager funding of the border wall.

Our personal experience with federal employees has been mixed, but I will say some of the conduct we have been exposed to would NEVER be tolerated in the private sector, but then again we all know how some private sector coworkers would conduct themselves if they knew they couldn’t easily be fired.

There is also a very visual consistency when it comes to federal employees and media stories tend to back this up: they are literally well fed and comfortable.

When we lose our jobs, how many restaurants and schools offer us a free meal?

Jose Andres, who owns restaurants in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and other places across the U.S., has reached out on Twitter saying that his D.C. locations will be providing a free sandwich for lunch to federal workers impacted by the partial shutdown.
— Fox 5, 1/4/19

A Maryland school board member is seeking immediate action to make school lunches free for all students in his county during the federal government shutdown. Prince George’s County is home to several federal offices, including the Food and Drug Administration, National Archives, Goddard Space Flight Center, the Census Bureau and National Archives.
— Fox 5, 1/5/19

We were always on our own or left to the dubious mercy of some of the very public sector employees who saw no sense of urgency in our situation, in fact, some of them considered us a nuisance.

Again, look at the local news reports with footage of federal employee as well as interviews, and you’ll see one thing in common: gluttony.

How many of these government workers, when we go to them for help, really give a shit but we’re supposed to care once the shoe is on the other foot. We’ve personally experienced horrible customer service at the VA hospital in Washington, D.C. and the employees involved will remain because things rarely get fixed within the government club.

Public employee unions are trying to stop reform of the Veterans Administration, where in 2014 it was uncovered that employees doctored patient waiting lists to make themselves look good. Vets on the phony waitlists died waiting for care.

We’re now talking about federal employees who’ve lived off the taxpayer dime for literally decades so they can retire in manners few of us can relate to. Unlike the private sector where performance is essential to the survival of the employer, public sector employees don’t have to do a good job because the government will never go out of business, per se. Unlike the private sector where bad service means fewer people coming into a restaurant, federal employees will have a job even if their customer service skills suck and they know it.

Federal employees even showing up for work has become a topic of discussion….

Now, multiply this by the 438 agencies and sub-agencies and you understand why (despite media insistence Americans care) most Americans are somewhat unsympathetic regarding a government shutdown.

Seeing how inflated wages aren’t enough, the American people are given an entire week annually to show government employees just how much we couldn’t survive without them.

Honor public servants in your community with a note of thanks by organizing a letter writing or e-mail campaign. You can also distribute an electronic thank you card which can be forwarded to other public servants.
— Public Service Recognition Week “Celebration Toolkit”

The Southern Maryland/Northern Virginia region is one of the wealthiest in the nation. When I first moved here in 2009, the first thing I noticed was the head-turning number of very expensive cars driving north on Route 1 heading into D.C. every morning.

Remember, there was ZERO sympathy for those in the American public who suffered the ramifications of those in the White House and Capitol Hill who were assured they could keep their doctors and health insurance and families would “save” $2500 annually in premiums. The result of those blatant lies were lost jobs, broken families and no one in the federal government issued suggestions to the impacted on how to stave off creditors. No one offered free meals to those who lost hours at their places of employment and subsequently had trouble meeting their financial obligations.

As the government shutdown will be blamed solely on President Trump, we’ll be bombarded with as many federal employee #ShutdownStories sob stories as can be rounded up.

CNN: “Federal worker: I worry every day about food”

Crimes by illegal aliens can be managed and muted. But when the American people are negatively impacted by misguided liberal Democrat policies; policies the political class and their staffs exempt themselves from, there is no sympathy, let alone comparative media coverage.

Despite what you’re consuming from the media elite who are relatively shielded from the long-standing inaction of the federal government regarding the effects of illegal immigration, some federal employees are onboard with the president.

More than half of federal workers approve of Trump’s changes, ­according to a June poll. After all, they have to pick up the slack from these bad apples and resent seeing them promoted regardless of their inferior performance.

Federal employees and contractors are living pretty well off forcibly confiscated tax dollars of the American people. Even though they mostly will be reimbursed for their #shutdown inconvenience, one number we’ll never be told is how much money it would’ve cost to fund the government every day to pay these employees; some of whom are productive but many more who are dead weight.