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FCC To Suspend Most Operations Thursday if the Partial Government Shutdown Continues (fcc.gov)

The Federal Communications Commission will suspend most operations in the middle of the day January 3 if the partial government shutdown continues, the agency has announced [PDF]. In a statement, it said: In the event of a continued partial lapse in federal government funding, the Federal Communications Commission will suspend most operations in the middle of the day on Thursday, January 3. At that time, employees will have up to four hours to complete an orderly shutdown of operations. However, work required for the protection of life and property will continue, as will any work related to spectrum auctions, which is funded by auction proceeds. In addition, the Office of the Inspector General will continue operations until further notice. The Commission on Wednesday will release a Public Notice detailing the effects the suspension of operations will have, including on electronic filing and database systems, filing deadlines, regulatory and application fee payments, transaction shot clocks, and more. The Public Notice will be available on the Commission's website, www.fcc.gov.

7 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Gradual Vice Clamp [Re:Shutdown is kind of by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Which volunteers are taking up the slack on [some toilets & garbage duties].

    Oh, traditional communism. How about that. But how long can we expect them to keep that up?

    That is exactly what it does have for anything of consequence.

    Like I said, consequence is relative and time-related. Just because you can postpone something doesn't mean it has no consequence. I can postpone dental visits for a year or so, but if I never went to a dentist, I'd probably have screwy or missing teeth. (Then again, some rural people seem to view such as a badge of honor for reasons that escape me.)

    MakeGovernmentSmallAgain

    Whether the gov't is too big or too small in general is probably another debate for another time. Let's try to focus on specifics here. And nobody agrees on what parts are too big. The military is too is big by some accounts, I would note.

  2. Tactically all this benefits Trump mightily by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Largely because they're using funds left over. The Smithsonian, for instance, will close on the 2nd or 3rd of Jan IIRC because of lack of funds. I imagine the national parks will close as well.

    All the outdoor parks and memorials will remain open because there's no need to close them. Trees keep growing, rivers keep flowing...

    Just wait. All those school trips to the Smithsonian will start kicking in sometime after the holiday break, and you'll see stories of disappointed kids in the news.

    Disappointed children from the richest counties in the nation is press that helps Trump though, so it will quickly die off.

    The best possible scenario here is for Trump to do zip, he gets massive bad press

    And here is where you discover exactly why it's super bad to have journalists deliver massive bad press on a subject 24x7 - because when the subject does deserve it, absolutely no-one pays attention or cares.

    both parties come together to over-ride his veto.

    That is actually what Trump is hoping for and would assure him a 20/20 victory. Funny how many people that hate Trump so badly, seem to take steps to ensure him achieving whatever victory he desires...

    If they had just quietly paid for the wall they could have plastered him with the failure of it in 2020. Here's a big 'ol tactical clue for Democrats: Half-assed wall is way better for the Democrats than zero wall. Trump has got more benefit out of a fictional wall than Pink Floyd!

    Some people claim that True is playing eight-dimensional chess. I think he's just an average guy who managed to work his way into the kingdom of the sub-level morons.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. Re:Shutdown is kind of a joke by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Basically "anything that is really at all useful carries on".

    My guess is you never knew anything the FCC actually did, so you have no idea.

    That's just for the FCC but the general trend carries across the whole government.

    Except the EPA isn't monitoring pollution, the FDA isn't approving drugs, Social Security is shut down (if you're on it you keep getting checks, but you cannot get on it). Military, etc. as already fully funded, but if this keeps going on, there's a lot of programs that are going to start shutting down.

    you can still update passports...

    At consulates, not everywhere.

    and most national parks are still open.

    Most national parks have some pre-shutdown funding still available. They'll all be closed if this keeps going on. In the mean time, they've suspended trash pickup and restroom maintenance.

    It's possible that this partial shutdown, since like 3/4 of the budget was already allocated, may go on for a while. But I doubt it. My guess is it'll be pretty obvious in a few weeks once the last few dollars run out and people get out of the holidays slowdown and want to do things that require a non-shutdown government.

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
  4. Re:Why do Democrats hate America? by Cyberax · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A milk jug full of pure fentanyl is enough to give a hit to every junkie in the US. That's how powerful it is.

  5. Re:Not supposed to, but 60% of them do by Cyberax · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Theoretically illegal aliens aren't supposed to be able to apply on their own, but in fact about 60% do receive public assistance.

    Only immigrants with children born in the US (i.e. the US citizen) can receive public assistance. I would like to see the source for the 60% figure, that doesn't seem to be correct.

    Certain states with a lot of illegal immigrants, which are known for being liberal and flouting federal law regarding immigration and drugs, go ahead and hand out the money.

    That's up to states, they can't dole out federal money to illegals.

    The six dependents don't have to be legal.

    That's not how welfare works (SNAP, EITC or TANF). You can't claim welfare for dependents who are not the US citizen and there's also a 5-year ban. The exception I think is WIC which does give benefits to the mother of the US citizen. Here's an overview: https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-rep...

    My background: I'm a legal immigrant and I actually researched that stuff before immigration, in case I needed it.

  6. Re:Why do Democrats hate America? by psycho12345 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here's food for thought:

    It took the Nazis 10 years to round up and murder 6-8 million people. They had the full force of the Gestapo and local police to enforce their will. They didn't have to bother with courts or any such rule of law nonsense.They also had the help of government records, in both Germany and in the lands they conquered/annexed. And yet it still took them 10 years.

    What you are proposing eclipses that in scope of people and area. So good luck, you will need to turn American into the Fourth Reich to achieve it and it will still take you over a decade.

  7. Re: Shutdown is kind of a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What about the essential personnel who are working without the promise of ever being paid for it? I don't know about you but I don't work for free. And if this administration has taught you anything, past actions don't matter a damn, we do what the fuck ever now. Add to that government jobs may be cushy and perky but for my field at least I would require a more advanced degree and about 3 decades of experience in government to be making what I make in the private sector. Given my current experience and degree I would be making about a quarter what I make now. I pity the government worker deemed essential working for nothing right now and IF they get back pay its going to suck.