back to article Hardworking Americans keep busy during the government shutdown driving up smut traffic

Recent statistics indicate that not is only the US government shutdown lengthening, so too is the amount of time spent in the Washington DC area on, ahem, adult pursuits. Montreal-based smut purveyor PornHub has published its (very, very NSFW) findings into the impact the shutdown is having on the voyeuristic – and otherwise …

  1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    I expect a lot of Gov employees

    will be actively looking or have already found other jobs. They can't keep on waiting for Trump and Capitol Hill to settle their squabble.

    but how will Mexico pay for that wall eh?

    /s

  2. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    My Favorite

    on Pornhub (Video is SFW but the side bar adds ..... it IS Pornhub after all)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If it carries on past Friday it will have cost the American economy more that the cost of the wall but it's nice to see people keeping busy. I would try and work out the logic behind it all but it's lost on me. A wall to stop people that tunnel under the border and a shutdown that only punishes ordinary workers. Congress still get paid which is just as well because I'm guessing the not as wealthy among them would be stuck leaving a situation where only the rich can run for office.

  4. Eddy Ito

    I'm shocked!

    Huh, here I thought visits to porn sites would have dropped precipitously. Although I suppose with fewer people walking about to butt in it could just be congresscritters with a little more time, among other things, on their hands.

    1. Mark 85
      Holmes

      Re: I'm shocked!

      Probably both CongressCritters and worker bees. Idle hands and all that though obviously someone's hands aren't idle.

  5. Chris G

    Hardw**king Americans keep busy during the government shutdown.....................

  6. Version 1.0 Silver badge

    Another Republican fail

    At least this proves that, contrary to what we're told, Government workers actually do spend most of their day working - and now that they have some time off they are enjoying playing with themselves...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another Republican fail

      Quite a reach you got there, care to explain your "proof?" One could counter-argue that because the US is still operating pretty well it proves most Federal workers don't work very much.

      1. Tom 38

        Re: Another Republican fail

        Agree with Big John, this shutdown has shown that you can totally shrink the number of US federal employees without any effect, all you need is 800,000 slaves...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Another Republican fail

          "Slaves"? I believe the correct term is "drones."

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Another Republican fail

            You're right, back when you guys still did have slavery, the master had to provide food and lodging, now you just expect them to work anyway #ShutdownDiet

          2. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

            Re: Another Republican fail

            "Slaves"? I believe the correct term is "drones."

            Human workers expected to work without pay? No, the term really is "Slaves".

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Another Republican fail

              They will be paid, just not in time to pay the bills :-/. Then you have workers that are "essential" or being "called back", which then creates a strange categorical divide of workers... workers working to get paid, and workers not working to get paid. Government.

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Another Republican fail

        "One could counter-argue that because the US is still operating pretty well it proves most Federal workers don't work very much."

        It might seem that way if you have little to no interactions with the departments which are closed or running with minimal staff and are not one of the many who have not been paid for a long while now.

        Not to mention the downturn in spending. nearly 400,000 have been "furlough" so may not even get their back pay at all. Another 400,000+ are working without pay so are also minimising spending as much as possible. Then there's the millions of contractors not being paid and likely those workers never will be paid.

        That's a significant hit to the economy which won't show for a while. Lots of people will see the effects sooner or later.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Another Republican fail

          The buzz on the Right is that Trump may decide to use an obscure federal shutdown rule that will soon come into effect to basically lay off a lot of the bloated federal bureaucracy all at once. They pretty much all vote Democrat anyway, which figures since that's the party of big government.

          For those who think this would cripple the government, be aware that while governments always have deadwood, this particular government has acquired vast amounts of it in the last few decades, and they are all handsomely overpaid. Nearly all of the richest counties in the country now cluster around Washington DC, due to the presence of that big, heavily compensated workforce.

          Some insiders have talked about having to spend 90% of their efforts dealing with the intransigence of the rest of the workers, who generally do as little as possible in the knowledge that their jobs are armour-plated, thanks to the many government union deals with the politicians over the years. It's the way of the bureaucrat.

          Personally I doubt Trump can pull it off, but it would be very beneficial to the country if he could. Most of us deeply resent what's happened and view that bureaucracy as elite snobs that want to become our de facto masters forever.

          1. jake Silver badge

            Re: Another Republican fail

            So THAT's how all y'all are going to try to spin the Idiot In Chief's latest abject failure.

            Whatever. It's still a failure, as is damn near everything the bumbling boob touches.

  7. PhilipN Silver badge

    Appalling, El Reg

    How can you unashamedly publish such an article. "Very, very NSFW" is atrocious grammar!!

  8. The Nazz

    Not surprised they're Hard up.

    You know, like when you haven't been paid for a month and running low on readies. Might just be a UK expression, even just a northern one.

    I'm also reminded of a past conversation with the Mrs.

    "What are you doing watching porn?"

    "I'm not."

    "Yes, you are, it looks like porn to me. So WHAT are you doing?"

    "I'm learning German the hard way."

  9. jake Silver badge

    8AM to noon drop, obvious explanation.

    The folks who are furloughed are at home, so the stay-at-home .sig others aren't getting their morning porn fix.

  10. Nolveys
    Paris Hilton

    This government shutdown has been very long and very hard. It's tempting to finger Trump, but the democrats have been plugging things up too. Hopefully they can pound something out before too long or either congress or the White House pulls out.

    I can honestly see the thrust of Trump's point, though maybe foreigners penetrating into places they don't belong isn't so bad. Let's just hope that the slope isn't too slippery.

    This is certainly a sticky situation and we seem so be stuck between a eock and a hard place.

    1. DJO Silver badge

      It's tempting to finger Trump, but the democrats have been plugging things up too.

      Trump could have asked for finance before when the Republicans controlled the purse strings but he didn't, now the Democrats have control it's a national emergency?

      This is (at least) 100% down to Trump, there is no emergency just a fit of pique from "Individual 1", a contrived problem and a transparent attempt to blacken the Democrats in the House.

      Al the Democrats are doing is refusing to finance a pointless vanity project which everybody knows will have zero effect on illegal border crossings.

      1. Nolveys

        Trump could have asked for finance before when the Republicans controlled the purse strings but he didn't, now the Democrats have control it's a national emergency?

        You just want Trump on his hands and knees with someegg on his face, don't you? You can't have your cream pie and eat it too.

        Al the Democrats are doing is refusing to finance a pointless vanity project which everybody knows will have zero effect on illegal border crossings.

        Are you saying that the immigrants will use the back door? I don't think the back door is big enough for that, it'll be a tight squeeze.

        1. adam 40 Silver badge

          Fnarr fnarr!

          Your "in your end - oh!" was lost on Mr DJO, methinks!

          I just hope Nancy Pelosi will pay more lip service to Trump

    2. Tom 38

      Lets just hope it all ends with a money shot for all the workers currently on their knees.

      [edit]

      Trump could have asked for finance before when the Republicans controlled the purse strings but he didn't, now the Democrats have control it's a national emergency?

      whoosh

      1. Nolveys

        If it hadn't been for DJO's post I would have assumed that all the down-votes were from people who found the humour disgusting and juvenile. I never would have imagined that anyone would have taken that nonsense seriously.

        1. Tom 38
          Coat

          I know, right? Sufficiently advanced satire is often undetectable, although I would have thought all the nob gags would have given it away. Oh well.

  11. The Nazz

    Only $5.4bn for the wall?

    Around that figure is being requested. Maybe a waste maybe not.

    Anyone, certainly on the US side of the pond, got an approximate figure for the total dollars spent on the Presidential campaigns run by Trump and the loser Clinton ( not to mention the also rans Sanders and many others).

    I'd wager that the latter figure dwarfs the funding sought for the wall.

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