Games: AFN aired championships after all, but Washington isn't finished playing

So the little bit of egg we have on our face is welcomed, being that initial reports that deployed troops wouldn't be able to watch the NFL conference championship games on Sunday were a little premature.

As it turns out, the Armed Forces Network was able to air the games so that servicemen and women around the world were able to see them.

Small conciliation that is, however, to the federal employees and civilian support staffers around the country today left wondering how long they are going to be out of work, working for free or, for area business owners, unable to depend on the revenue typically generated from those federally employed patrons.

The time for blame-shifting is over. The public's tolerance for name calling and tweeting what not so long ago would have been unconscionable utterances which are now -- to the further detriment of our society -- par for the proverbial course has passed.

It's time now to fix it. What will that take? Partisanship? No.  Practicality? Maybe.

Perhaps a couple of stiff brandies in some back-office meetings are what's in order.

The holdups remain the same as at the outset, DACA being the biggest compromise needed, and no one seemingly certain at all on what an agreement on that might look like.

The GOP wants the government funded and running before discussing a deal on immigration -- a short-term solution on DACA has been proposed by Democrats with the promise of a longer, closer look at overall immigration reform to follow.

Republicans aren't going for it, fearing that an approval without appropriation is just anther round of empty promises. It's put up or shut up, and the Democrats are seeking a handshake bargain where an inked deal is required.

And so, stalemate.

The longer the standstill wages on, however, the longer economies like our own here at the doorstep of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base will suffer.

Published in Editorials on January 21, 2018 9:45 PM