this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
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13% of federal civilian workforce is affected, although DHS – which spurred budget standoff – remains funded

A limited US government shutdown came into effect on Saturday – the third of Donald Trump’s second term – after negotiations between the White House and Democrats in Congress failed to agree on new restrictions for federal immigration agents.

The shutdown affects about 13% of the federal civilian workforce and is confined to agencies under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which screens airline passengers.

The latest shutdown is unlikely to be lifted soon – US lawmakers have left Washington DC for a 10-day break.

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[–] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 16 points 22 hours ago

It will never not amaze me…shits broke and we all hate each other….let’s just go home.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I can't wait for Chuck Schumer to cave by making secret backroom deals to give the Republicans everything they want again.

[–] MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

And organize it such that none of the Dems crossing the aisle are on the ballots this year. "What are you gonna do, primary somebody who didn't cross the aisle for this?" Uhh, yeah actually. If they don't call out their colleagues for sabotaging the attempt to stonewall fascism, then they are quietly complicit. Especially if one senator votes for and the other against. Tell them to go on the record in public denouncing their colleague's vote to support fascism or donate to their primary opponent.

Idk every state's situation, but this is the case here in VA. Warner (Senator on the ballot this year) voted to stay shut down last time, but Kaine (the Senator not on the ballot) voted to give them everything they wanted and reopen. Kaine never responded to my questioning about that dumbass move, so I asked Warner to publicly condemn Kaine's vote and refusal to respond to a constituent asking for an explanation, but he responded saying some bullshit about a lot of VA residents being federal employees, like he was defending the vote he himself didn't cast.

Anyway, VA primary is in June, so I'll be researching and donating to one or two of Warner's opponents. I urge others to do the same. Virginia may be blue again right now, but let's make it the right kind of blue, and that comes from participation in the primary. If "blue no matter who" rubs you the wrong way, then you'd better be voting in the primary for the blue that you actually want. For me, that means actual leftist policies and standing up to fascism. You might be fine with neoliberal capitalist apologism and diet colonialism. Whatever, we might disagree, but don't stay home and then whine about what happened while you refused to participate. I'm pissed off at the backroom deals that "blue no matter who" got us, but I blame apathy and ignorance in the primaries more than anything that happened in the general. So if you're pissed off that the longest government shut down in history was given up for absolutely nothing, fucking vote in the primary and purge these "blue no matter who" shitheads so we can get actual representation that fights for the people and not the owner class donors. Get yourself a candidate that you're actually excited to support. If one isn't running, run for office yourself. You're not a career politician, but politician was never meant to be a career in the first place.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

The "vote blue no matter who" people are the exact neoliberals who got us Trump in the first place. What's the point of voting blue if you're going to get another pro-elite, pro-capitalism, anti-working class political party? The "vote blue no matter who" people also happen to never talk about ranked choice voting or any other voting system that can get us out of this two party system because the elite benefit from that very system.

[–] MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works 1 points 55 minutes ago

Agreed. But ranked choice ain't coming from anybody but progressives, and progressives ain't happening unless we push them across the finish line in their primary. We're stuck with the first past the post, two party bullshit system until we can put progressives in power despite the system working against that. Progressive policies are popular, it's just that a combination of voter apathy and corporate propaganda have successfully oppressed the will of the people. While we still have free and fair elections, primaries are the key to setting us free. If those go away, we can still free ourselves, but it might take following some recipes from a certain cookbook.

Apes together strong.

[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Wonder if the coastguards will get their paychecks.

[–] zigmus64@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago (2 children)
[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 11 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

"The Coast Guard is the only branch of the U.S. Armed Forces within the Department of Homeland Security."

Source: https://www.uscg.mil/Units/Organization/

[–] zigmus64@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

Oh shit! The more you know! Thanks for the info. I was quite confidently incorrect.

[–] Astrius@lemmy.ml 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

You mean the department of war ? Pukes everywhere

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

No, they mean department of defense.

The president and his cabinet don't arbitrarily decide names. There are actual procedures to go about doing so.

Alternatively if you feel like it doesn't matter since theyre all going along with it, I feel like the DOD and Gulf of Mexico are two of the very few entities it's okay to deadname, along with Twitter.

[–] zigmus64@lemmy.world 5 points 22 hours ago

All these wieners hell bent on “efficiency” go rename shit arbitrarily in meaningless ways, then spend tons of taxpayer dollars to change letterhead, signage, etc. it’s not cheap, and extremely wasteful.

[–] decapitae@sh.itjust.works 5 points 22 hours ago

They're taking a bit of time for themselves to decide if they want to go full nazi or keep slow peddling it.

[–] flandish@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

oh no. anyway ..