Shut It Down! And Look Up…

December 20, 2024–Thursday afternoon Speaker Mike Johnson’s Plan B Continuing Resolution, leaving us facing the very real possibility of a government shutdown.

*yawn*

Seriously, Johnson’s Plan B spending bill going down in flames didn’t even make my top 5 most interesting things that happened Thursday. The Senate passed the (always horrible) NDAA, which stripped out federal funding for transgender care for dependents of military personnel. It looks like “Lady G” Lindsey Graham is going to be the point man to block RFK Jr’s confirmation. The Wall Street Journal dropped an explosive report alleging that Biden was senile from his first day in office (which we all knew) and detailing how he and the country were “managed” these last four years. The incoming administration needs to investigate the bejeebers out of this, to find out just who was complicit in it, and who’s been running the country. It also casts the need to investigate the 2020 election in a critically urgent light, to ensure the Big Steal never happens again. We need to know just who was covering for old Joe, and which unelected scoundrels were really pulling the strings that created the dumpster fires his presidency is leaving us.

It also dropped today that Dr. Jill—who had been one of the main ones covering for Joe—has a serious mad on, and is encouraging Joe to “burn it all down” as he leaves office. Reportedly, Obama, Pelosi and Kamala are at the top of her “naughty list,” but the rest of the Democrat and DC establishment are on it.

Personally, I wish Dr. Jill all the best in this endeavor—just please leave the rest of us and the world alone, okay?

Given the goo goo eyes Jill was making at President-elect Trump in Paris, maybe she should ask him for some help? Just a thought…

It also came out Thursday that the Biden Regime has doubled the number of U.S. troops in Syria from 900 to more than 2000–and the Pentagon’s spokesman just “recently learned” about this. These are the same people who want us to believe they don’t know anything about the drones that are swarming all over except that 1) we’re not in any danger and 2) they’re definitely NOT aliens.

Riiiiiiiight.

I honestly don’t know which is worse—the mad dash to World War III or the fact that the government has lost all credibility at this point. I do know that I haven’t been abducted yet, and I’m not getting any younger here! Chop, chop, little gray guys!

So, yes; Thursday was just another horrible day in the Imperial Capital as the Empire continues to crash and burn…but at least the new Superman trailer dropped. That was probably the best thing that happened Thursday, because so much is riding on next summer’s Superman movie. The first movie poster was released earlier this week with the simple tag line “Look Up,” and it’s simple, dramatic and colorful.

The new Superman movie is not just about the fate of James Gunn’s DC cinematic universe. It’s about legacy and greatness making a comeback. Comics and movies have gone terribly woke, none more so than the superhero genre, and the country is collectively sick of it as the box office flops show.

Superman used to stand for Truth, Justice and the American Way. Will that come back to the big screen? I’m cautiously optimistic—unlike how I feel about Congress’ ability to do its job and give us a budget that’s actually reasonable and workable for regular Americans, instead of the Deep State, bureaucrats, Lefties and lobbyists.

We all knew this shutdown threat was going to happen months ago when the last CR was passed, to only take us through the 20th. We all knew there would be an attempt to cram zillions in pork spending and Democrat wokey BS into it, and all the Usual Suspects would say it had to be passed or else GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN!!!

This is the part where we’re all supposed to run screaming to the phones to demand our Glorious Leaders save us from the ultimate bogeyman of GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN!!!

*yawn* again. Ye gods, this is so boringly predictable. So, I amused myself for a while thinking up clickbait headlines for this OpEd ripping off popular Christmas songs: I’m dreaming of a Government Shutdown, Shutdown Claus is Coming to Town, and Shut it Down, Shut it Down, Shut it Down were just a few of the ideas that came to mind. Then, I saw the Superman trailer and changed my mind.

Here’s the deal: yes, our farmers need help. Yes, the hurricane victims desperately need help. Guess what? They needed help weeks ago (months ago, for the farmers), and where was Congress then? Not doing their jobs and getting them that help, that’s for sure.

Let’s be brutally honest: even if the CR had passed, nothing of substance would be done for the farmers or hurricane victims until January at the earliest. Do you seriously think FEMA would suddenly rush out to airlift pallets of cash and supplies to North Carolina and Tennessee the week before Christmas? The same FEMA that’s been seizing supplies that were donated to help those people? And really, what federal bureaucrat is going to do anything useful for the next two weeks? The government will effectively shut down around noon on Friday anyway, and business as usual won’t resume until sometime the first week of January.

For all practical purposes, shutting the government down until early January would barely be noticed by most of us. Yes, a lot of federal workers and military personnel wouldn’t get checks, and that’s bad, especially the military guys and gals. But, they’ll get their back pay. That’s something that seriously needs to be changed, too; if you’re active duty and serving you are “essential” as far as I’m concerned. Bureaucrats…not so much, especially the work from home crowd.

Here’s a thought: all work from home bureaucrats, all members of Congress and all congressional staff shouldn’t get paid during a shutdown, and they shouldn’t get back pay when the government reopens, either.

That one change would drastically reduce future shutdowns, but I’m not going to hold my breath until it becomes the law.

As always, there was a bunch of drama surrounding the CR this week. Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump all panned the 1500 page Plan A monster, and when it went down in flames Hakeem Jefferies opened his pie hole, saying “MAGA extremists in the House GOP…are simply doing the bidding of their wealthy donors and puppeteers.”

Umm, Hak, old chum…have you looked at your own party lately? Wasn’t it your donors and elites that forced old Joe out and installed Kamala, Miss 2024 DEI Hire of the Year? Forbes at one time counted 83 billionaires supporting Harris to only 52 backing Trump. Just shut up—elections have consequences. You lost.

Trump got mad and said some uncomplimentary things about a few Republicans who voted against the Plan B he was supporting, but here’s where I’ve got to disagree with him. Plan B, while better than the porky, woke Plan A, was still unacceptable. It would have suspended the debt ceiling for two years, increased the debt by $4-odd trillion, and had no real spending cuts. No, the 38 House members who voted against it were right to do so. Sorry, Mr. President; I know you wanted this, but having no debt ceiling for two years? Hard NO.

Rep. Thomas Massie said it best:

“This isn’t complicated.

Separate the bills and vote on them individually.

One vote on the clean CR.

One vote on the debt limit.

One vote on disaster relief.

One vote on farm bailouts.

Radical right? Individual bills for each issue.”

I suspect we’ll see something tried Friday to avert the shutdown, but maybe not. Maybe the Dems will try to ride a shutdown over the holidays to try to smear Trump and the Republicans. God knows it won’t be the first time, but this time I think things are different enough that it won’t work for them nearly as well as they think it will.

We all know the debt is too damn high. Spending has to be cut, and that means less government and fewer government goodies. Throwing out the debt limit for a government that hasn’t been able to control its spending in decades isn’t the way forward. Besides, if we’re $37 trillion in debt, why do we even have “nonessential” stuff to shut down? Why should we wait until January for DOGE to start whacking? Why not start now? If it takes a shutdown, so be it!

While we’re at it, why not keep Congress in DC until they get their act together? Lots of Americans have to work through the holidays—why shouldn’t they?

Making Congress spend Christmas at work, when they’ve had literally all year to do this, would be another way to prevent future shutdowns. Can we lock them up in the old Greenbrier bunker until we get real budget cuts? Asking for a friend….

So, shut it down. Cut spending—start with eliminating the Department of Education—Massie already has a bill for that—and all foreign aid. Clamp down hard on the debt ceiling, cut waste wherever it’s found, and realize that one of Congress’s main jobs is to do the budgets. Not a string of CRs—budgets. How long has it been since we’ve seen them do that on time? 1997, maybe?

If Congress isn’t willing to stay at work until their job is done, then let the government shutdown. We all know who’ll be responsible for that.

Meanwhile, watch the Superman trailer, and think about Truth, Justice and the American Way—cause there’s precious little of them in the Capital District these days.

As per usual, I’ll put links to the interesting bits above when I put this piece on my Substack, DocContrarian.Substack.com. It’s free, and you don’t have to sign up to read it there.

Superman (2025) Official Teaser Trailer: https://youtu.be/FVQeKimcpuA?si=SLIiy18FsP1yFOe7

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/ publishers.