Do You Hear Laughter, Democrats?

<![CDATA[In 1956's The Ten Commandments, after Yul Brynner's Pharoah released the Hebrew slaves from bondage, his Queen, Nefretiri, played by Anne Baxter, was bitter at losing her son in the final plague God brought on Egypt during the first Passover. She uttered the question, dripping with condescension, "Do you hear laughter, Pharoah?" The same laughter of mocking and derision is cascading down on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and the rest of the Congressional and Senate Democrats in the wake of the Schumer shutdown, now entering Day 2. If there has to be a government shutdown, October is as good a month as any for it to happen, especially when caused by the Democrats, because it's a perfect lead-in for Halloween. Schumer and the Democrats are leading a zombie shutdown. Schumer's debacle is already a dead shutdown walking. The first vote, the last chance for Democrats before the shutdown went into effect Tuesday night at Midnight, didn't just reveal one defection for the left, there were three. Joining John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has no desire to drive off the cliff for nothing, was Angus King of Maine, who claims independent status but conferences with Democrats, and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. Typically, whichever side is trying to pull a stunt, whether it be a filibuster or a shutdown, they eventually break down in their numbers. The line almost always breaks down at some point, but they at least start on the first day locked in solidarity. This shutdown was not even that united. At the White House Press Briefing room Wednesday, Vice-President J.D. Vance joined Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and dominated media coverage. Every cable news outlet and major network heard Vance clearly outline what the shutdown is for and who caused it, and why the terms of it are ridiculous and a non-starter. ]]>