No Woody

Vevet Jones (I know how it’s spelled)

Squatter’s Rights

Amember Be?

100%

Seasonal Fare

Holiday Dinner

Bake Off

What a nice surprise. A night out.

News

Special Report

Oh, other news.

The Last Polka

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

Washington’s army routs the British in the Battle of New Jersey; Manuel Noriega surrenders to U.S. forces; Jack Ruby dies; Author J.R.R. Tolkien is born.

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

J. R. R. Tolkien

Continue reading

The Washington Post confirms that Qassem Soleimani has been assassinated, at Baghdad Airport in Iraq, while on a diplomatic mission from the Iranian Government under the protection of the “Sovereign” Government of Iraq. Also reported killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a member of the Iraqi military.

Now I’m not going to argue these were nice guys. Qassem Soleimani was pretty much the operational head of the Iranian Irregular Forces throughout the Middle East. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis had his Rank by courtesy, he was the head of one of the largest Shi’ite militias in Iraq.

Oh, and we admit doing it. Yay us.

What do you think will come of this?

In Iraq the choice is stark. Leave or die. The Iraqi Government is Shia and totally controlled by Iran. Agreement to deploy over. Boots and Trucks or Helicopters from the Embassy, your choice.

Helicopters might not be so easy. Anything in the Persian Gulf is a target not an asset. No reinforcements, Gulf closed.

Elsewhere? The entire Middle East will be in flames. It will be Jamal, Siffin, and Karbala all over again.

Only this time the Shia will win. Welcome to the Great Jihad. Surprising the number of so called Christians willing to perish in Islamic Armageddon.

The problem for Republicans is that Unindicted Co-conspirator Bottomless Pinocchio is guilty, Guilty!, GUILTY!!! and as they say the truth will out.

They’re guilty too as either direct participants in a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization and the Crimes of Bribery and Extortion or as Accessories After the Fact in Obstruction of Justice.

Despite the braying of ‘Centrist’ Asses, people (as noted below) notice those things and I hope they’re punished as they deserve at the Ballot Box.

But it’s not enough! They must be Criminally Charged, Convicted, and sent to Prison! Hard Time! Maximum Sentences!

They must be torn out Root and Branch. Nuked from Orbit (It’s the only way to be sure).

Pursued with the full vigor of The Law and The Majesty and Power of The United States of America.

A sham trial for Trump carries risks for Republicans, too
By Greg Sargent, Washington Post
Jan. 2, 2020

McConnell might succeed in wiring Trump’s trial to exclude new witnesses and evidence — and in preventing any unpleasant new revelations. But even if that happens, that is best seen as the least bad outcome for Republicans. And even that outcome will be freighted with political risk for them going forward.

A new investigative report from Kate Brannen for the Just Security website underscores the point.

Brannen obtained numerous emails among administration officials that show internal concern over the legality of Trump’s freezing of military aid to Ukraine was deeper than previously known.

To recap, the New York Times recently published a detailed chronology that illustrated this consternation in great detail. The Times report showed, among other things, that top officials worried the aid freeze violated the law, since the money had been appropriated by Congress, and that no one could get a straight answer to why Trump froze the aid (he was extorting Ukraine into carrying out his political dirty deeds).

That Times report expanded on emails obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, pursuant to CPI’s Freedom of Information Act request for documents from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department pertaining to the freezing of the aid.

The CPI request resulted in some revelations. We learned that Michael Duffey, a top political appointee to OMB, urged Pentagon officials to keep the hold on the aid quiet.

But much of what CPI obtained has been redacted by the Justice Department.

That’s where Brannen’s scoop for Just Security comes in. Brannen viewed some of the emails obtained by CPI — but without the redactions — and thus learned some of what the Justice Department blacked out. Among the new revelations:

• Duffey stated unequivocally that Trump was demanding that the freeze continue, even when the Pentagon badly wanted the money released.
• Elaine McCusker, the acting Pentagon comptroller, directly asked OMB if the continued hold had been run through the Defense Department general counsel, which indicated an “early concern about the legality of these actions,” as Brannen writes.
• McCusker emailed OMB officials to dispute OMB’s claim that the hold could still allow for the funds to be released in a timely fashion, and on another occasion, warned that this was in doubt. This showed concern that Trump’s hold was putting the prospects for that aid ever getting to Ukraine in real danger, undercutting a GOP talking point downplaying the hold’s significance.
• McCusker informed OMB officials that administration lawyers had deemed it necessary for OMB to take additional procedural steps as part of the freezing of the aid — underscoring further worries about the legality of it.
• McCusker repeatedly questioned OMB’s characterization of both the process and the potential consequences of the hold, showing additional concern about the White House’s forthrightness about what was happening.

All this was blacked out by the Justice Department. We keep learning that worries about the legality, propriety and ramifications of Trump’s freezing of the aid were worse than previously known — and so were efforts to keep all of it buried.

As it is, everything we already know about Trump’s corrupt pressure on Ukraine, and about ringleader Gordon Sondland’s communication directly to top Ukrainian officials that the military aid was conditioned on doing Trump’s bidding — which happened as Sondland took direction straight from Trump — indicates bottomless corruption.

But the story keeps getting more damning.

McConnell is not in absolute control of this process. If a few vulnerable GOP senators want a more open trial, then it might happen. These new revelations should increase the pressure on them.

Of course, McConnell very well might succeed in getting 51 GOP senators to support a sham trial. But even if he does, this new reporting shows there’s still a lot more about this whole process that remains unknown, and could still come out.

The CPI is pushing in court for the full release of all those emails in unredacted form, and it’s possible they might get them in a few months. Meanwhile, media organizations will keep digging — and producing revelations.

McConnell might pull off a sham trial and a quick acquittal. But anything that comes out after that will be pinned directly on those vulnerable GOP senators, showcasing in retrospect how bad the Senate GOP’s coverup on Trump’s behalf really was.

Republicans might see this as a risk worth taking, since allowing witnesses and new evidence at Trump’s trial might be even more risky. But it’s still not a position to be envied.

You know something? If you’re a Racist and a Bigot you shouldn’t have any political power.

Ever.

They are right to view this as existential. Carthago Delanda Est.

Don’t expect any from me. I write for myself and I’m not very diplomatic. In argument I will crush you like a bug, then do it again to watch you squirm, and finally, mercifully leave you beaten and bleeding at the rhetorical roadside to slink off and lick your wounds.

What is the best thing in life?

Of course the biggest idiots all play Black Knight- “It’s only a flesh wound! Come back here you coward and I’ll gum you tho death!” This is why I consider the ablility to walk away as critical to an Internet Writer as it is to a Professional Gambler (some people make money, I know a few).

What does it mean to be “too far left” — and why are conservatives not scolded about centrism?
by David Masciotra, Salon
January 2, 2020

I was recently prodded to consider the realities — and futilities — of persuasive writing when a friend observed that I regularly include the phrase “people of conscience” in political essays to refer to those who might reflect favorably upon my analysis. I’ve also used “voters of reason,” “citizens of conscience,” and my personal favorite, “anyone with minimal sanity.”

Joan Didion once advised writers to avoid the temptation of repeating a sentence construct that “works” too frequently. My answer to my friend’s inquiry about my own violation of Didion’s rule is that I have always despised when writers abusively employ the pronoun “we,” because it takes far too much granted, and that when writing about politics, Donald Trump’s poll numbers prove that “Americans” or another sweeping term of populism is meaningless.

So, I am left communicating to the people who believe that locking children in cages, where they are vulnerable to sexual abuse, because of their immigration status is wrong. I am left writing to those who believe it is a moral outrage that there are citizens of the world’s wealthiest nation dying for lack of insulin. I am left writing to Americans who believe that the president mocking a disabled journalist, insulting a reporter by referring to her menstrual cycle, and cracking wise that a deceased Congressman is in hell is not merely “politically incorrect,” but indicative of the kind of cruelty that makes the detention of children and the horrific gaps of health care inequality politically feasible.

In other words, “people of conscience” and “anyone with minimal sanity.”

There are many causes of ideological stratification — gerrymandering, social media, Fox News — but what few of the handsomely paid punditry acknowledge is that it only travels in one direction, and that is rightward. In the current election season, there is significant speculation regarding whether or not a candidate who is “too far left,” meaning Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, will alienate “moderate” voters. This question is never applied to a right wing candidate no matter how regressive his ideas.

Tax cuts for billionaires, apparently, will not repel the romanticized centrists, nor will appointing judges who will undermine abortion rights, or eliminating the last remnants of an already paltry social safety net for the poor. It appears that the political stalemate in America is that right wing candidates and officials are free to do whatever they please, while progressives must answer to an invisible ombudsman.

Part of my identification of my audience is a refusal to entertain the delusion that more than a few Trump voters, or even those who still cling to the dubious label “independent,” which I suspect translates into “right winger who feels slightly bad about it,” are susceptible to conversion. If Trump’s words and deeds, along with those of the Republican Senate and the Bush administration of the early years of the 21st Century, have not already convinced a voter that the Republican Party is dangerous to human life, then little anyone writes will make a difference.

It is true that the Democratic Party is only the second most dangerous party in the country, but it is within their ranks that debates about Medicare for All, the most effective means of combating climate change, and criminal justice reform exist. So, for better and worse, “voters of conscience” are relegated to the too often, too hapless party of wafflers and hedgers.

Writers like me are then standing behind the pulpit facing not the congregation, but the choir. The hope is that preaching to the choir will make its members sing louder and better. It turns out, contrary to the analysis of most political commentators, that the choir is quite large and capable.

Polls indicate that anywhere from 51 to 70 percent of Americans support Medicare for All. According to a September 2019 poll, a majority also favored tuition free college and student debt relief. Most Americans, unlike the Republican Party, view climate change as a crisis necessitating significant action.

The numbers on economic and environmental issues become even more encouraging among voters under the age of 35 — the majority of whom also support the legalization of marijuana.

Public opinion, especially among the demographic that represents the future of the country, makes it bizarre that pundits, debate moderators, and newspaper columnists are not demanding answers from Republicans and centrist Democrats as to why they are so “elite” and “out of touch” that they aren’t advocating a free health care, pot for everybody, tree-hugging agenda.

The “polarization” and “tribalism” routine is actually the bamboozlement of the left, manipulating its adherents into believing that the responsibility rests with them to make concessions to the “reasonable” middle. As it ages, its biases become more obvious, and its concerns more distant from the lived experience of most Americans, the “reasonable” middle of baby boomers, moderates, and seekers of compromise with politicians whose positions are inhumane, begins to appear “radical,” “unelectable” and “extreme.”

“Voters of conscience” can win.

Quite the optimist he is.

You know the whole point of South Pacific is what incredible bigots and racists we are and Nellie Forbush is the paradigm. People think she’s the Hero because she’s the main character but she’s basically evil and it ruins her own life (well, in the sense that she has no man, especially a rich one, and no family and no prospect of either) and the lives of those around her.

I don’t know why folks like Musicals. They’re usually pretty bleak.

You’re soaking in it.

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

WV mine blast; JFK declares he’s running for President; Japan captures Manila, Philippines during WWII; Lindbergh baby trial; Annie closes on Broadway.

Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.

Isaac Asimov

Continue reading

Can you light a candle?

Day Drinking! It’s a Tradition!

Mommy. Dearest.

Shrill

It’s the Eternal Punishment for our Sins!

Jeff Goldblum (isn’t he in everything and didn’t we do this last year?)

You’re a mean one, Ms. Binch

I don’t expect new material tonight.

My YouTube turns up odd things and I’m trying to drive the Klansmen and Neo Nazis who’ve infected it off my History feed.

I try and vet for the most part, but I can’t be expected to examine the whole ouvre and what can I say? I find the Battle of Five Forks fascinating. If I let something slip though I apologize.

Here are some street scenes from around a century ago

1896 – 1901 New York

Late 1890s – Paris

1911 – New York

1912 – Los Angeles

1913 – Stockholm

1913 – 1915 Tokyo

1927 – Paris