The Wall: President trump was up and tweeting threats to countries where migrants are coming from; Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. He wrote, “We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries – taking advantage of U.S. for years!”

  He also said he will entirely shut the southern border if Congress doesn’t give him the wall.

  He’s putting out everything he’s got. Among a flurry of tweets yesterday demanding his wall and blaming Democrats for not letting him have it, Trump used the murder of a California police officer to drive in a wedge.

  He tweeted, “There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!”

  Democrats are not likely to let it happen. Trump tweeted, as if he would have any way of knowing, “Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?”

  Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement, “The only rational conclusion is that the Democrat Party is openly choosing to keep our government closed to protect illegal immigrants rather than the American people.” 

  No, they just don’t want a $25 billion wall.

  The partial government closure is almost certainly going to carry into the new year. Neither the House nor the Senate did anything yesterday. The Democrats have three plans in hand, none of which would pay for Trump’s wall.

  “We will vote swiftly to reopen government and show that Democrats will govern responsibly in stark contrast to this chaotic White House,” House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.About 800,000 federal workers across the country are furloughed or working without pay.

Thank You for Your Service:President Trump is being criticized for politicizing his appearance with troops in Iraq, where he signed “Make America Great Again” hats and trashed Democrats for not paying for his border wall. Some reports say the hats, which first appeared during his campaign, were handed out by staffers. 

  The President tweeted, “If these brave young people ask me to sign their hat, I will sign. Can you imagine my saying NO? We brought or gave NO hats as the Fake News first reported!”

  Trump still gave a political speech and lied to the troops about giving them the biggest pay raise ever. “You haven’t gotten one in more than 10 years — more than 10 years,” he said.They get a raise in the mid two percents every year, but Trump told them,  “I said, “No.  Make it 10 percent.  Make it more than 10 percent.”  

  The actual raise was 2.4 percent in 2018 and 2.6 percent for 2019.

Trigger Finger: The organization Gun Owners of America filed a lawsuit in federal court in Michigan challenging the Trump administration’s ban on sale and ownership of bump stocks.

  The spring-loaded rifle stocks convert a semi-automatic assault rifle to a full-auto machine gun. Several of them were used in the Las Vegas massacre in which 58 people were killed.

  The GOA is a gun rights organization that’s beginning to make a big name for itself in competition with the National rifle Association.

  “These dangerous regulations can go much farther than just bump stocks,” Erich Pratt, executive director of GOA said in a statement. “The goal of the anti-gun left is, ultimately, not just banning bump stocks, but, rather, putting ‘points on the board’ toward its goal of banning civilian ownership of all firearms.”

The Roundup: The Dow Jones took another steep dive yesterday then finished in the black. It’s a roller coaster. — A new poll named Michele Obama the most admired woman in America, edging out Hillary Clinton for the first time in 17 years. Barack stayed on as most admired man for the 11^thyear in a row. Donald Trump finished second for the fourth year. Bet he loves that.

The Prague Connection: The McClatchy newspapers report that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s cell phone pinged in Prague in late summer 2016 during the presidential campaign. The paper says Cohen left an electronic record to support claims that he met secretly there with Russian officials, “four people with knowledge of the matter say.”

  The report says, “The phone and surveillance data, which have not previously been disclosed, lend new credence to a key part of a former British spy’s dossier of Kremlin intelligence describing purported coordination between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s election meddling operation.”

Barrell of Fun:A 71-year-old Frenchman has set off in a giant orange plywood barrel with the intention of drifting across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean.

  Jean-Jacques Savin believes it will take about three months for wind and ocean currents to carry him to the warm waters of the Caribbean. His craft is 10 feet long and just shy of seven feet wide.

  Inside, he’s got a bunk, a kitchen counter, a captain’s chair with a view through a porthole, as well as food, water, and wine. He plans to chart his progress on Facebook. He said he hopes to hit land on a French island where the paperwork will be easier. He’s optimistic.

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