The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has chosen leftist activist David Hogg to serve in one of its top roles. Over the weekend, DNC members picked Hogg to serve as vice chair alongside Artie Blanco and Malcolm Kenyatta. They also elected Ken Martin, a longtime leader of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, to become chairman. I’ve just been elected as a Vice Chair of the DNC. I’m deeply grateful to the members for their trust and belief in me and I don’t take it lightly. Now it’s time to get to work. ? pic.twitter.com/3ypkRc62hL — David Hogg ? (@davidhogg111) February 2, 2025 Hogg became a high-profile gun control proponent after surviving the 2018 Parkland high school shooting in Florida in which 17 people were killed. In his bid for DNC vice chair, Hogg was endorsed by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s failed vice-presidential candidate in the 2024 election. As previously reported by The Daily Wire: Hogg has a history of outlandish statements and self-promotion; in June 2022, he accused Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of avoiding him because Hogg “triggered” him, writing in a later-deleted tweet, “Rubio staff said I can’t meet with him or his staff because I ‘trigger’ him. I just wanna have a conversation. Please meet with me @marcorubio I just want to figure out how we can stop these things from happening. We have to end the continuous debate and find what we can agree on.” “No one said such a thing,” Rubio’s Chief of Staff Michael Needham responded to Hogg. “As for the meeting, you must be confused as we had a 2p meeting scheduled with you. However, since you are lying and clearly using this all for self-promotion, that meeting is now cancelled [sic]. … the reporter doing a profile of you knows the meeting is real since she was emailing yesterday with our comms team about it. Don’t lie again — we have receipts.” Also, the reporter doing a profile of you knows the meeting is real since she was emailing yesterday with our comms team about it. Don’t lie again — we have receipts. — Michael Needham (@MikeNeedham) June 9, 2022   In August 2018, Hogg claimed that the “NRA is pulling strings to increase gun sales in a record low year.” He was immediately fact-checked: There have been about 1 million more FBI background checks, the most reliable indicator of gun sales, this year than last year and this year is on pace to be the second-best in the history of NICS. So, no, gun sales are not experiencing a record low year. https://t.co/3TuvrVnvOu — Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) August 24, 2018 In September 2020, Hogg stated, “The use of violence to acquire political power is deeply rooted in imperialism, capitalism and white supremacy[.] I personally refuse to believe that the use of this same violence will ever create nonviolent systems of government that represent and support everyone.” He later apologized, but added, “Let me be clear what I am NOT trying to do is tell BIPOC people how they should react to violence directed at them by the state. It’s not my place or any white persons to direct or criticize the way BIPOC people choose to defend themselves against this violence from the state.” Hogg was accepted to Harvard University despite getting only a 1270 on his SATs. “The bottom 25% of students admitted had an average score of 1460,” Business Insider noted. After Hogg was elected as DNC vice chair, Hogg’s critics took a moment to point out some of his prior comments. “DNC Vice Chair David Hogg has some legitimately INSANE views that are wildly out of step with the American people,” said conservative communicator Steve Guest. “Good to see that the Democrat Party has learned absolutely nothing.” Here’s some of what Guest and others highlighted: He also has 0 knowledge about how the Constitution works. pic.twitter.com/nhX7HDouQz — Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 2, 2025 Throwback to when the new DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, got destroyed by a Chinese immigrant on gun control pic.twitter.com/KCdeXXT0SF — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 2, 2025 Dear America, The democrats just elected rabid anti-gun activist David Hogg as Vice Chairman for the DNC. In 2023, Hogg posted, “You have no right to a gun.” To every hunter/gun owner in America, it’s time to vote (30% of Pennsylvania hunters are NOT registered to vote). pic.twitter.com/mW8lwi1omB — ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) February 2, 2025 The new Vice Chair of the DNC wants to Defund the Police. pic.twitter.com/66JtnaVk8J — Jerry Dunleavy IV ?? (@JerryDunleavy) February 2, 2025

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said over the weekend that the point of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on other countries is to “make them feel pain.” Noem made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” when asked about the tariffs Trump announced last week. “These countries have an opportunity to get on board with the President of the United States and to partner with us to deal with illegal immigration, to take back their individuals that have been in our country illegally,” she said. “We want to repatriate them home. And they can be partners. So economically, yes, they will feel – they will feel pain. They will feel what this consequences are, and we’ll be able to continue to go forward with a president who’s strong, who’s putting America first.” Host Kristen Welker noted that Trump indicated that the reason he was implementing the tariffs was to combat the trafficking of fentanyl and illegal aliens into the U.S. When asked about tariffs leading to higher prices for consumers and how that helps Trump fulfill his campaign promise of lowering prices, Noem pointed to the administration’s recent spat with Colombia. “You’ve seen the president take action already this week with Colombia,” Noem said. “And you saw Colombia react in a very positive way that was good for everyone involved. Canada, Mexico, other countries have the opportunity to do exactly the same. So we have a strong leader. He has laid down exactly what he is going to do and what the consequences are. I encourage their leadership teams to get on board and to make sure that they’re not pushing up prices.” “If prices go up, it’s because of other people’s reactions to America’s laws,” she claimed. “And that’s what President Trump is doing. He is making sure that we’re not picking and choosing winners and losers, that the law applies equally to everybody, American citizens. It applies to those who are here illegally. And our world leaders across the country and across the world, they can help us, or they’re going to face some consequences.”

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), whose state has been at the forefront of former President Joe Biden’s illegal immigration crisis, signaled over the weekend that he does not support President Donald Trump deporting illegal aliens back to their home countries. Kelly made the remarks during an NBC News interview on Sunday on “Meet The Press” when asked about ICE agents carrying out routine immigration raids. “Do you support what you are seeing so far, the deportation plan, as it’s been carried out by the president?” asked host Kristen Welker. “Yeah, I don’t,” Kelly said. “For a number of reasons. It seems to be more about intimidation of a big population of people. It’s going down the road of mass deportation, which he said he would do, which would rip communities apart. These are really bad ideas.” “It’s all about scaring and intimidating people,” he said. “It’s the same thing for Guantanamo Bay. Building a facility there is because it just sounds very frightening to a lot of folks. When you’re a criminal, we need to find where you are and we need to take you into custody, and if you’re not documented, you should be returned. That makes sense. I’m all about public safety and border security. But we’ve got to do it in a way in accordance with our values.”

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) signaled support for President Donald Trump’s tariffs against China, Mexico, and Canada over the weekend. Schmitt made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” when asked why Trump was leveling harder tariffs against Canada than China. “All we have to do is look at President Trump’s first four years where he instituted tariffs,” Schmitt said. “We didn’t see inflation. In fact, we saw record wage growth. We saw $200 billion plus go into the Treasury from those tariffs. Tariffs that help even the playing field with countries who have been ripping us off, quite frankly, for generations. China, specifically. I think the American people are tired of being ripped off.” “They’re tired of seeing their jobs go overseas,” he continued. “But I think these tariffs specifically, Kristen, are meant to bring Canada and Mexico to the table for the fentanyl that is streaming into our communities. It’s also worth noting, in the last four years, that the trade imbalance and our trade deficit has gone up 200% plus with Canada and up 52% with Mexico.” “The fact is, these countries are taking advantage of us,” he added. “All along the while, we’ve got fentanyl streaming into our country. So Mexico has a choice. They can choose to trade with the United States or continue to cozy up with the cartels. It’s pretty simple.” WATCH: Mexico has a choice: they can choose to trade with the United States or continue to cozy up with the cartels. It’s pretty simple, pic.twitter.com/U1yBWEaVP7 — Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) February 2, 2025

The following is an edited transcript of an interview between Morning Wire host Georgia Howe and Vani Hari, aka The Food Babe, on her support for RFK Jr. during his Senate confirmation hearings and how her personal story led her to fight to remove harmful chemicals from children’s food. Catch the full interview on a special Sunday edition of Morning Wire. * * * Make America Healthy Again champion, RFK Jr., was grilled on Capitol Hill this week as part of his confirmation process to become Health and Human Services Secretary. Despite fierce opposition from some Senators, parents and health advocates on both sides of the aisle have lined up to support him. In this episode we speak with Vani Hari, longtime food activist and New York Times bestselling author who was in the room supporting Kennedy during his Senate confirmation hearings. She explains why she believes parents are finally winning the battle to get chemicals out of kids’ food. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images GEORGIA: Joining us to discuss the war over chemical-laced packaged food is Vani Hari, bestselling author, activist, and creator of the Food Babe blog. Vani thanks so much for coming on. VANI: Thank you so much for having me. GEORGIA: So first off, tell me a little bit about your path to food activism. How did you become interested in nutrition to begin with? VANI: My parents came here as immigrants in the 1960s. And when they came to the United States, they were big on adopting the American culture. So when my dad went back to have an arranged marriage to my mother in India and they ended up coming here to live the rest of their lives, the first thing he introduced her to was a McDonald’s hamburger. And that’s how I was raised on an American standard diet. We were one of the only Indian families in Charlotte, North Carolina at that point, where I grew up and where I live now. So everything was kind of handed to us in terms of what we should be eating and my parents were very trusting of the American food system. As a result, I was really sick as a child. I had eczema, I had asthma, I was in and out of doctor’s offices for most of my life. I was on so many prescription drugs. When my parents would take me to see doctors, they never asked them, like, “What is she eating? What are you feeding her?” They never asked about my diet, they just put me on the next medication. And that is how I grew up. In my early 20s, I hit rock bottom when I ended up in the hospital having to get my appendix taken out, one of my organs. At the time they said, “Your appendix is something you don’t even need. It’s an organ that just can come out.” They made such a light situation out of it. I started to question what the doctors were telling me. Why did God give us an appendix? Why do we evolve having an appendix? I wanted to find answers. What happened to my appendix and why was it about to burst? Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg via Getty Images So when I started to research what was happening in my body, I found out that I had extreme inflammation, and that was coming from my diet. When I started to make changes shortly after that scare, I remember getting this one big book and there was a concept in it that hit me like a ton of bricks: The majority of foods on the grocery store shelf are dead. They’re not alive. And I thought, that’s how I’ve felt for most of my life. Like a zombie. Not wanting to get up in the morning to go to school. Not wanting to participate in activities or physical sport activities because I didn’t have the energy because of my asthma. So when I started to take the concepts in that book and apply them to my life, I started to eat as much real living food as possible, things like fruits and vegetables and things that I would find at the farmer’s market — my whole life changes. I mean, it was dramatic to the point where I lost all of the weight that I had put on as a result of this lifestyle. I also started to realize a level of health that I never thought was possible. I got off nine prescription drugs, and the people around me who grew up with me — my relatives, my friends, my family — they were like, “Whoa, you have made a dramatic transformation in your appearance. What are you doing? We want a piece of what you’re doing.” They actually begged me to start a blog to share this information, to share my recipes and what I was doing, and why I suddenly refused to eat candy because it had artificial food dyes. They wanted to know the green drink that I was drinking and what was in it and how they could make it at home. And this is before we even had a Whole Foods in Charlotte. Back then it was the little mom and pop natural food stores or the farmer’s market. So I had to really teach people in my community and people around me about these new methodologies of how to take care of your health and actually look at the root cause of what’s happening in your body. I started to realize that there were so many people out there beyond my friends and family who didn’t know the truth about what was happening in our food supply. I wanted to investigate it for them. And I wanted to investigate it for my own personal reasons. There are so many products that I thought were healthy but weren’t actually healthy. Things that I thought were good for me because they only had 400 calories or this many fat grams or they had the marketing of “eat fresh” at their fast food chain — I thought I was eating fresh, but I found out I wasn’t. So I started to investigate these major fast food chains and major food companies. And then companies started reaching out to me. I think the first one was a yogurt chain who I was very upset with because they were really promoting the fact that they were using “organic milk” in their yogurt. And I thought, “This is amazing. This is so awesome. I could go to the mall and I can have this treat and it’s good for me.” But when you looked at the ingredients, they were coloring their products with artificial food dye. They were putting in preservatives and trans fats. Yes they were starting with organic milk, but they were adding 30 more chemicals to the concoction they put in the machines. So I wrote about that and how duped I felt, and it went so viral that the CEO of the company reached out to me, pulled the marketing off their stores, and apologized. GEORGIA: Wow. VANI: That was my first taste of activism, and my first taste of, “Oh my gosh, my voice can make a difference.” And then Chick-fil-A invited me to their headquarters after I wrote an article called “Chemical Filet or Chick-fil-A?” I showed the hundred ingredients that they have in their Chick-fil-A sandwich and how I thought they were healthier than going to McDonald’s. But when I compared them to the McDonald’s ingredients they were virtually the same. And this really shocked people. I mean, it went so viral that the executives at Chick-fil-A invited me to their headquarters to consult on their menu items on how to make their ingredients better.  When I was taking off work to go there to consult with them, instead of consulting with the banking institutions, I was like, “Okay, something got to give here. Like this is obviously way more impactful than what I’m doing at the banks.” So I ended up deciding to quit my job. I was not making a dime doing Food Babe. It was literally a passion project. The beautiful thing that happened after I quit my job was, I was able to spend 100% of my time researching the food industry. And the first thing I did — you know, I was an avid traveler. I loved to travel, it’s been a passion of mine since I was a little girl. And whenever I would go to Europe or another country, I’d always feel better. I felt better. I liked the food better, it tasted better. And I thought, “What’s going on here? Why is it so different?” So I started to compare products that we have here in the United States to products that they sell in other countries — the exact same products. Like a Doritos package here in the United States versus a Doritos package in Europe. And I would compare the ingredients. I did this large investigation and I think the title is something like, “How U.S. Companies Are Exploiting Americans.” I showed these stark differences between the same product that’s being sold here and in other countries, and how in other countries they’re using better and safer ingredients. And while here they’re using man-made chemical additives. That side-by-side comparison went so viral that it was an opportunity to finally say, “You know what, we need to hold the food companies accountable for this.” Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images One of the examples in that investigation was Quaker Oats. Here in the United States, Quaker Oats has a “Strawberry and Cream” Quaker Oat pack, right? They had dyed Apple pieces to make them strawberry — dyed with a Red 40, an artificial food dye, linked to hyperactivity in children and can be contaminated with carcinogens. But in Europe, they’re using real strawberries. And you know, Quaker quickly got caught on that and that product doesn’t exist anymore, thankfully. But it was something that I just couldn’t believe the stark differences. So I decided to take on one of the largest food companies in the world, which was Kraft at the time. They were serving little children Mac and Cheese with artificial food dyes — Yellow-5 and Yellow-6. Meanwhile, in Europe, they’re using paprika and beta carotene. It was a viral petition. It was so exciting, for the first time we were on national TV. So I took them on. I remember it [the petition] gained a lot of steam, like 270,000 signatures, very quickly. And on April 1 — it wasn’t Happy April Fool’s Day for Kraft that day because I took the petition to their headquarters and I demanded a meeting and they sat down with me. I sat down and I looked them in the eye and I just said, “Why aren’t you doing this for American children? You already have the formulation in other countries. Why are we getting the man-made additives that are linked to all of these health issues that we’re experiencing? You know we have crazy chronic rates of disease with our kids, we have like close to half of children on some kind of medication. What is going on here?” And they looked at me and they said, “We have to agree to disagree.” And they dismissed me. And I thought, you know what? I’m not going to let up. I’m going to keep leading the charge. I’m going to keep educating the public. I’m going to tell people the truth about these chemicals. Within six or seven months, they had to change because what happened was we were able to change the marketplace. People went from Kraft Macaroni and Cheese to their competitor, Annie’s, who didn’t use artificial food dyes. And then General Mills saw an opportunity — we’re going to buy Annie’s for $800 million. So, at that point, Kraft’s like, “Shoot, we’re going to lose all our market share. We need to change right now.” And they did. The funniest part of it all, which just makes me laugh to this day, is whenever they told the press that they were making the change, they’re like, “It had nothing to do with the petition,” right? “It had nothing to do with the worldwide press on this issue.” So I took that momentum and took on more giants… * * * Catch the FULL INTERVIEW on Morning Wire

Pets hate going to the vet. And can we really blame them? It’s not like we humans enjoy our visits to the doctor, either. That said, Hannah Hickman’s cat is not like most others. This adorable black-and-white cat, named Demarcus, absolutely loves his visits to the vet. No, really. He actually and truly has a fantastic time. Allow me to paint a clearer picture. Imagine, if you will, a pet who hates the vet more than anything. For example, this puppy who is extremely picky about who is allowed to examine her. Then there’s this tiny kitten who is much more dangerous than she seems. With those two in mind, the level of love that Demarcus has for the vet is at the same intensity as their hatred. See for yourself in the video below. @hhgrade713 #catsoftiktok #cats ♬ original sound – Hhgrade713 While most pets would cower in fear or beg to leave, Demarcus can’t wait for the vet workers — or, as he’d probably call them, his friends — to arrive. Because that’s simply how much this cute kitty loves to be around others. Even the vet is the perfect place to hang out! “As a former vet receptionist they’re absolutely fighting over who gets to be the tech for his room lol,” someone admits in reply to Hannah’s video, with another adding, “I know those techs talk about him all day afterwards.” This Adorable Cat Isn’t The Only One Who Loves The Vet… In sharing Demarcus’ love for the vet, others are now sharing their own similar stories. Turns out, this odd love for the vet may be more common than you think! Sounds like these four-legged friends need to have a play date, perhaps one that takes place at a vet’s office… “My social butterfly of a cat purrs so loudly at the vet that they struggle to hear his heartbeat,” someone shares. “He and Demarcus understand each other.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post Most Pets Hate Going To The Vet, But Demarcus The Cat Loves It! appeared first on InspireMore.

The LAPD called the protests 'non-permitted'

Charli XCX emerged from Cambridge, England, with a distinctive blend of pop sensibility and experimental ambition that quickly set her apart in a crowded musical landscape. Raised in Essex, she honed her songwriting skills from an early age, drawing inspiration from diverse pop acts and embracing a creative vision that would later redefine contemporary pop music. Her early exposure to music and performance laid a strong foundation for a career marked by both commercial success and artistic exploration. Her foray into the music industry began with an independent spirit; as a teenager, Charli began sharing her music online and performing The post Complete List Of Charli-XCX Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Donald Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders in his first week in office. One of them outlawed DEI—diversity, equity, inclusion—quotas, or reverse racial discrimination, whichever term you like to use, in government, but it doesn’t, I think, apply to private entities, unless you enroll at any private entity, a university like mine, Stanford, who gets federal funds, will be subject to it. And that’s going to be tricky, but I hope he tries to make that executive order as well. My point is, we’ve had some things in the news very quickly. Columbia University, right at the beginning of the new spring semester, had a class offered by a Jewish professor on the history of Israel and Judaism in the Middle East, and it was swarmed by pro-Palestinian protesters. We don’t know who they were. They had mask on, of course, and they disrupted the class because it was what taught by [a] Jewish person and there were Jewish students there, and they disrupted it. And now we’re told that Columbia University, it’s under a shadow of suspicion that they are antisemitic to tell you the truth. They are now looking at these people. I would advise all of these people though, this is not Joe Biden. If you are on a student visa and you disrupted or broke into a classroom, and you, what, committed a felony, or the university suspends you, then I think it’s very likely that the State Department will look at your student visa. This came up because at New York University last year, during the finals, no less—the same type of protest swarmed the library and disrupted everything and New York University has suspended those pro-Palestinian, I shouldn’t say pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas protesters for one year. So, what are they going to do if some of them are on foreign student visas? My point is this, all of these elite students at these elite universities talk a great game, but when—they’ve never faced any consequences. If Donald Trump and if these universities are afraid of Donald Trump and they clamp down, I think you’re going to see deterrence start to work to discourage other protests, because one thing we know about all these young students, they are careerist and they are used to being pampered, whether they’re Americans or foreigners. And if some of them have to go back to their beloved Palestine or Syria or Egypt, they’re going to be very unhappy. And if some of these children of the elite are suspended or charged with felonies, and that’s on their record, they’re going to be very unhappy. I’d like to finish very quickly with another thing that came up related to education. There’s a wonderful interview with Marc Andreessen, the Wall Street entrepreneur financier, but especially a techie. And he was the one that created Netscape. He’s a multi-billionaire along with his partner, Ben Horowitz. He gave a long interview to a New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat, but here’s what I’m interested in—at one point, he was asked, what made you change? Why did you endorse Donald Trump? And he said, among other things, they tried to control our industry. In other words, he said, we could deal with the taxes. We could deal even with the regulation, but they wanted to pick winners or losers and deny us to create, to express ourselves. But here’s the point. He said, and we looked at the students that we were hiring from these elite universities, the DEI people, the radical, and we realized from what they were saying about us, their employers, they wanted to destroy us. This should, this should be taken very seriously by Stanford University, by UC Berkeley, by USC, by UCLA, by Caltech, all these universities that feed into Silicon Valley. These people are getting very tired of your graduates going in there and they’re not prepared very well. The entrance exams have been watered down. There are four years without a SAT requirement, four years without a comparative adjudication of GPA, the quality of the graduates that Silicon Valley people like Andreessen hire is going like this and the activism and the obnoxiousness is going like this. And if I was to distill that entire interview, it would be something like, we in Silicon Valley don’t really respect the Stanford brand or the UCLA brand or the Berkeley brand very much anymore because these people are not very good at what they used to be excellent at, and they don’t like the people who hire them, and the people who hire them are us. So, we’re going to see some big changes, and it’s long overdue. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Silicon Valley Is Sick and Tired Of Its Woke Employees appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A taxpayer-funded sob story about federal workers being cruelly required to return to work at (gasp!) the office every single day aired earlier this week on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition show, headlined “Trump wants federal workers back the office, meaning longer days and added expenses.” But the single example offered wasn't exactly the stuff of a nightmare commute. Host A Martinez introduced the brief story. A Martinez: Federal agencies have submitted plans for their workers to return to the office full time for the first time since the pandemic, as directed by President Trump. That means thousands of government workers will likely descend on Washington each day. Scott Maucione from member station WYPR reports from Baltimore. Maryland public radio reporter Maucione presumably went out looking for sympathetic stories, but the thin gruel of anecdotes he returned with wasn't exactly reminiscent of the Trail of Tears (Twenty minutes in the car!). Maucione actually had to grant dubious anonymity to this hard-put female bureaucrat for his radio report. Scott Maucione: It takes Lane 20 minutes to drive to the train station in Baltimore. Lane: The train ride is anywhere from about 40 minutes to an hour. I wake up at 4:10 in the morning and I get to work bright and early between about 6:00 and 6:15. Maucione: Lane's a Federal employee and works in-person two days a week, a common setup for some Federal workers. NPR is only using her middle name because she fears speaking out about the new telework policies may jeopardize her job. Lane says she works those two in-person days back-to-back, finishing up at the office around 3:00 p.m. and getting back home around 5:00. Lane: You know, I'm so exhausted at the end of the day. By that third morning when I'm, you know, waking up and teleworking, I am just so brain dead. It's actually hard to focus that next day. I cannot imagine trying to get in the car and go in a third day. Not exactly an inspiring work ethic there. Maucione makes it sound like a trial for federal workers to actually go into work every day, though even in the post-COVID age of telecommuting, millions of private sector Americans have no choice. Maucione: Lane, like many of the more than 300,000 Federal employees in the surrounding DC area, may have to find a way to make it into the office five days a week, depending on how agencies implement a new executive memo from the Trump administration…. He continued nonsensically: Maucione: The Trump administration's memo claims that telework has degraded government services and made it difficult to supervise workers. However, Federal agencies have had telework policies and agreements with employees for 15 years. The Office of Personnel Management has produced numerous studies that show Federal teleworking improves morale, retention and stress. But what about the key metric of productivity? "Public" broadcasting inevitably sides with bureaucrats and not the people that pay for them.  This story, irrationally sympathetic to federal workers and dismissive of taxpayer concerns, is reminiscent of the many one-sided media stories of the plight of federal workers during government shutdowns, often instigated by Republican attempts to slow the growth of federal program spending. Here's a deathless example from 1995: “On December 22  -- just six days after the start of the second shutdown -- ABC’s Jack Smith lamented on World News Tonight: “The shutdown now has a human face. Joe Skattleberry and his wife Lisa both work for the government. Both have been furloughed. They can’t afford a Christmas tree.”