A Short List Of Things We ACTUALLY NEED That Trump's Wall Shutdown Is Costing Us

Don’t follow politics? That’s OK — you don’t have to pay attention to get hurt by Donald Trump!
In case you’ve missed all the D.C. drama over the past month, here’s essentially what happened:

Congress agreed on how to fund the government. Yes, agreed, across the aisle and everything — the bill passed unanimously in the Senate. But then Trump happened…
The Unindicted Co-Conspirator-In-Chief got shamed by fringe whack jobs Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter for not getting his wall money. (You know, the one he told supporters Mexico would pay for? Yeah, he’s now demanding it get paid for using our tax dollars.)
So Trump refused to sign the funding bill. And on December 22 the government shut down.
Now he’s demanding billions of dollars to pay for a wall and promises to keep the government shut down until he gets it.
Democrats are flat-out refusing, which is actually fine with us — since, you know, they’re democratically elected representatives of us, and polls show again and again MOST AMERICANS ARE AGAINST THE STUPID WALL.

That brings us to today.
With the government shut down in its third week, we’re starting to see some things going missing — things we actually need from our government, not a ridiculous 15th century wall.
Here’s a brief list:

1. Food Safety

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb just warned the public all routine domestic food inspections had been suspended.
What the FDA?? We NEED those inspections!
Your Fox News-watching grandma may be terrified of immigrants (despite their statistically lower crime rates), but you know what’s a lot more likely to endanger her life? E. coli!
Gottlieb said the agency is trying to figure out how to bring back enough workers to at least inspect the highest risk foods, like seafood and cheese.
But as they go longer without funding, you can expect more bacteria contaminations and bug infestations in your groceries.
Ask grandma what’s scarier: Refugees who just want a better life in the land of opportunity? Or THIS?!

Eesh.

2. Federal Park Management

Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2019

Trump can’t stop blaming California’s wildfires on forest management — remember when he said the President of Finland told him we should be raking the forests (which was a lie, btw).
Just on Wednesday Trump tweeted a threat (above) about withholding FEMA money from the state.
The thing is, that’s federal land the fires are starting on — land managed by the FEDERAL government. The longer the shutdown goes on, the less managed federal land is, and that’s not just in California.
All over the country federal parks are almost completely unsupervised. Fewer rangers means less safety and greatly delayed rescue; so far three accidental deaths have occurred.
There are also no open bathroom facilities, and the treasured American lands are being covered in trash.
Just more making America great again…

3. Airport Security

Just this week Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to conflate the figure of 4,000 suspected terrorists intercepted coming into our country with border security?
Even Fox News host Chris Wallace had to correct her, pointing out Homeland Security stated all those suspects were apprehended at airports, NOT at the border.
Well, guess which security is suffering as a result of the shutdown??
The TSA is apparently one of those government jobs deemed too important to be sent home in the event of a shutdown but not enough to keep paying.
Well, it turns out hundreds of employees who don’t want to work for free have been calling in sick so they can go work temp jobs — you know, so they can pay their rent!
The place where security against acts of terror is most needed? That’s getting severely understaffed.
How safe does everyone feel about that right now?

So what’s next?
Food stamps. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is about to run out of funding, and that means no more food stamps.
That’s mostly grocery assistance for children and the elderly, btw.
All over a ridiculous wall America doesn’t want…
[Image via Dennis Van Tine/Future Image/WENN.]