BORDER/CONGRESS/GOVERNMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Donald Trump stormed out of a shutdown meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday [1-9-19], threatening to declare a national emergency at the border after Democrats refused him money for a border wall. Trump later called the meeting ‘a total waste of time.’ Meanwhile, the partial shutdown droned on for 800,000 federal workers, slowly affecting millions more. But first: Auto-thefts are at an 8-year high. Why? Maybe because people leave key fobs in cars with push-start buttons, letting thieves just hit the gas and go…The shutdown is getting real for Americans: Weddings are upended as national parks close. New craft beers can’t hit the market without approval from the shuttered Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Native American tribes could face reduced health care with half the Bureau of Indian Affairs at home. The National Zoo is closed. The Smithsonian Institution is closed. And federal employees begin missing paychecks this week.”
–USA Today Editors, “‘Waste of time’: Trump exits shutdown talks,” USA Today, January 9, 2019 5:05 pm