I have rejected all religions (including Paganism) and belive only in the study of philosophy. What is truth? Is it unchanging law? Oh this is new. Respect for Ceasar? Until now it has been noticably lacking.

Evangelical Leaders Are Frustrated at G.O.P. Caution on Kavanaugh Allegation
By Jeremy W. Peters and Elizabeth Dias, Washington Post
Sept. 20, 2018

Worried their chance to cement a conservative majority on the Supreme Court could slip away, a growing number of evangelical and anti-abortion leaders are expressing frustration that Senate Republicans and the White House are not protecting Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh more forcefully from a sexual assault allegation and warning that conservative voters may stay home in November if his nomination falls apart.

Several of these leaders, including ones with close ties to the White House and Senate Republicans, are urging Republicans to move forward with a confirmation vote imminently unless the woman who accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual assault, Christine Blasey Ford, agrees to share her story with the Senate Judiciary Committee within the next few days.

The pleas are, in part, an attempt to apply political pressure: Some evangelical leaders are warning that religious conservatives may feel little motivation to vote in the midterm elections unless Senate Republicans move the nomination out of committee soon and do more to defend Judge Kavanaugh from what they say is a desperate Democratic ploy to prevent President Trump from filling future court vacancies.

“One of the political costs of failing to confirm Brett Kavanaugh is likely the loss of the United States Senate,” said Ralph Reed, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition who is in frequent contact with the White House.

“If Republicans were to fail to defend and confirm such an obviously and eminently qualified and decent nominee,” Mr. Reed added, “then it will be very difficult to motivate and energize faith-based and conservative voters in November.”

The evangelist Franklin Graham, one of Mr. Trump’s most unwavering defenders, told the Christian Broadcasting Network this week, “I hope the Senate is smarter than this, and they’re not going to let this stop the process from moving forward and confirming this man.”

Social conservatives are already envisioning a worst-case scenario related to Judge Kavanaugh, and they say it is not a remote one. Republican promises to shift the Supreme Court further to the right — which just a few days ago seemed like a fait accompli — have been one of the major reasons conservatives say they are willing to tolerate an otherwise dysfunctional Republican-controlled government. If Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination fails, and recent political history is any guide, voters will most likely point the finger not at Mr. Trump but at Republican lawmakers.

To be sure, evangelicals leaders are trying to push Senate leaders to stiffen their resolve to force the Kavanaugh confirmation to a vote at a time when it may be politically perilous to do so. And the likelihood that the base will stay home in November and risk handing the Senate to the Democrats may be relatively low, given how popular Mr. Trump remains with white evangelicals.

The reason the prospect of Judge Kavanaugh’s defeat is so alarming to conservatives is that they fear he could be the last shot at reshaping the nation’s highest court for years. If Republicans were to lose control of the Senate, where they hold a 51-to-49 majority, in November, Mr. Trump would find it difficult to get anyone confirmed before the end of the year. Even if Senate leaders were able to schedule hearings and hold a vote, there could be defections from Republican senators uneasy about using a lame duck session to ram through a lifetime appointment that would tip the court’s ideological balance.

Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas and one of Mr. Trump’s most vocal evangelical supporters, said he did not know who was telling the truth, Judge Kavanaugh or Dr. Blasey. “But I can say with absolute certainty,” he added, “that the Democrats don’t care who is telling the truth. Their only interest is in delaying and derailing this confirmation.”
…
The importance of the Supreme Court to the Trump White House and the Republican Party is difficult to overstate. Mr. Trump has heralded Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Judge Kavanaugh, his two Supreme Court nominees, as crowning achievements in an otherwise uneven presidency. Conservative groups have spent tens of millions of dollars building the men up as legal luminaries, gentleman scholars and the fulfillment of Mr. Trump’s campaign promise to nominate judges who have “a record of applying the Constitution just as it was written,” as one ad by the Judicial Crisis Network described Judge Kavanaugh.

A relatively smooth, predictable confirmation fight has also been a key part of Republicans’ strategy to keep the Senate. In the 10 states that Mr. Trump won where Democratic senators are up for re-election, Republicans have attacked Democrats for either opposing the judge or remaining noncommittal. But Dr. Blasey’s claims may have given Democrats who were on the fence a way to vote no without paying a steep political price.

Even social conservatives who describe Dr. Blasey’s account as part of a Democratic plot to upend the nomination acknowledge the bind they are in. While they decry the process as tainted and unfair, some are also arguing that they cannot be indifferent and insensitive to a victim.
…
But many conservatives see little use in being deferential when, they argue, the Democrats play by no such rules. They look back at the failed confirmation of the Republican nominee Robert Bork in 1987, whose writings on civil rights were picked over by Democrats, and the 1991 hearings for Clarence Thomas, who faced testimony from Anita Hill that he had sexually harassed her, and they see a sophisticated and ruthless Democratic machine bent on discrediting their nominees.

“Republicans are right, as a moral matter as well as a political matter, to take allegations of misbehavior like this seriously,” said Frank Cannon, president of the American Principles Project and a veteran social conservative strategist. “At the same time, we’ve seen anything and everything thrown at Republican Supreme Court nominees for decades,” he added, noting that Republicans have been slow to understand that Democrats are “playing by different rules.”

“From the point of view of the average Republican conservative,” Mr. Cannon added, “these people aren’t the apparent monsters they’re being made out to be,” referring to maligned judicial nominees like Justice Thomas, Judge Bork and Judge Kavanaugh.

Privately, some conservatives were thrilled that Dr. Blasey and her lawyer have resisted the opportunity to testify in the Senate on Monday and demanded instead that the F.B.I. first investigate her claims. That would be just enough, they said, to give Republicans the justification for moving forward without her. The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, made clear on Wednesday that he would not postpone a hearing past Monday.

And once the Senate puts the Kavanaugh nomination on track for a final vote, barring any unforeseen disclosures, that sets up a fight that Republicans could win in the Senate but might ultimately lose at the ballot box in November. The level of outrage could run so hot among Democrats, who would likely use every procedural and political tool at their disposal to delay confirmation, that it could provide even more fuel to an already energized liberal base.

Some conservatives, however, seem happy to have that fight.

“Given the confirmation theatrics, followed by this allegation that was held until the last moment, this could be seen as another partisan attack and could actually fuel conservative turnout,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

Conservatives are likely to use protests and other forms of resistance to Judge Kavanaugh as a way to clarify for unmotivated Republican voters what Democratic control of the Senate means: a Trump-nominated Supreme Court justice would never be confirmed again.

“If Chuck Schumer is majority leader and Dianne Feinstein is chairman of the Judiciary Committee,” said Mr. Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, “it will be open season on any Trump nominee to the federal bench at any level of the judiciary.”

Who is this Jesus? Why is he important? But to keep you vultures happy I shall flog him!

Ugh. Not Enough Brain Bleach.

Be Democrats

Beep Beep

Some News? What News?

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.

Magellan begins globe-trotting voyage; Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal dies; Actress Sophia Loren born; Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in ‘Battle of the Sexes’; Singer Jim Croce dies in plane crash.

Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.

Sophocles

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The Blender is optional as is the ice but you miss the “Slurpee” effect.

Those who experience blackouts should refrain from using heavy and dangerous machinery.

Andrew Jackson- Worst President Ever?

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.

A pivotal battle in the American Revolution; President James Garfield dies; Bruno Hauptmann arrested in the Lindbergh baby case; Unabomber’s manifesto published; ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’ premieres.

If moderation is a fault, then indifference is a crime.

Jack Kerouac

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I’m a Historian and part of the punishment was not only Economics 101 where I learned about Aggregate Demand and Supply (one metaphor is the difference between too cheap to meter and “I wonder what this puppy would do if I cranked it up to 11.” Instead of water I could sell buckets.) but also Political Science 101 where I learned the sad and depressing fact that Political Parties exist for only one reason-

To elect their members to office.

That’s it. It’s not about principles or progress at all, just a naked grab for power with a motivated (and hopefully angry with torches and pitchforks and tar and feathers) mob at your back to protect you during your looting.

Having accepted that cynical piece of wisdom I’m disappointed, not angry, with Institutional Democrats not based on motivation but on effectiveness. It’s about the Electoral Victory stupid and despite clear popular majorities on the issues your inablity to achieve results. Who’s the Pragmatist? You have 60 years of demonstrated fecklessness!

Which is why I’m never surprised by stories like this-

‘I question their competency’: Devin Nunes challenger rips DCCC
By DAVID SIDERS, Politico
09/18/2018

Andrew Janz emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s top online fundraisers this year, marshaling an army of small donors in his campaign to unseat Republican Rep. Devin Nunes.

But there’s one thing he says he can’t get: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to return his calls.

The 34-year-old prosecutor contends that the Democratic Party’s House campaign arm has cut him out of promised fundraising money and frozen him out in his bid to unseat Nunes, a top ally of President Donald Trump who has worked tirelessly to delegitimize the probe into Russian inteference in the 2016 presidential election.
…
Janz’s candidacy is unique — both for his fundraising prowess and the high-profile opponent he faces, a top target of Democrats’ vitriol nationwide.

Janz raked in more than $1 million in July alone through ActBlue, the online Democratic fundraising platform. That’s more than two of the party’s biggest online fundraisers — Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — collected on the platform during the same month.

Janz declined to name the DCCC spokesperson he said told him he was “on your own.” But Greven said DCCC staffers and congressional members assured the campaign last year that if Janz demonstrated an ability to raise money, the DCCC would be helpful.

“If our national party can’t get up and get excited about taking down Devin Nunes, the person that stands closest to Trump, I don’t know who they can get excited to take down,” said Greven. “I’m sure [the DCCC] thought this kid’s never going to raise any money, and this is going to go away.”
…
Nunes is taking no chances. Capitalizing on his controversial role in the investigation of Russia meddling in the 2016 election, Nunes has raised more than $7 million this election cycle, with $6.1 million in cash on hand at the end of the last quarter.

With Nunes’ cash and structural advantages in the district, as well as Janz’s ability to raise his own money, Pyers said, “It would be a complete waste of DCCC resources to do much there.”

In an email, DCCC spokeswoman Amanda Sherman said “the DCCC trusts candidates to run campaigns that work best for their individual districts, which is exactly what Andrew Janz is doing.”

She said he “has built a strong, independent, Central Valley focused campaign, that will make this race competitive.”

A DCCC aide said the committee continues to monitor the situation and that a political staffer assigned to the race has been in the Central Valley twice. The aide said the DCCC “has never offered any aid to Janz that it hasn’t delivered.”

Yet local Democrats have long complained that the party’s inability to make inroads in the Central Valley owes, in part, to national Democrats’ lack of attention here. The party has failed in previous elections to flip two nearby Valley districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016.

“The DCCC’s behavior is apathetic,” said Humberto Gomez Jr., the California Democratic Party’s regional director in the area. “Here we have a candidate in [California’s 22nd District] who’s the most viable, who’s raised the most, and who has the most attention. … What does the DCCC do? Screw everything up.”
…
Greven said the DCCC has given Janz access to a generic database used by Democratic candidates nationally and compiled an opposition research book on Nunes worth $9,000. But she said the DCCC has not provided any substantial assistance, including with voter registration, turnout or other field operations.

The DCCC has not included Janz in its “Red to Blue” program, designed for top-tier candidates in the nation’s most competitive House races. And Janz was not invited to appear with former President Barack Obama at a DCCC event in Anaheim this month. The DCCC said the event was limited to Democrats running in seven Republican-held House districts in California that Clinton carried in 2016.

Following the June primary, Greven said Janz appeared at a DCCC event in Washington with other candidates and was promised a share of the fundraising proceeds, but that “the check never came.” Ever since, Janz said he has been telling donors not to give to the DCCC, but rather to contribute directly to his campaign.

“We don’t need their help. … We are fine without them at this point,” said Janz. “I just question sometimes their motives, and I question their competency.”

“Historically, Democrats have not targeted the Central Valley, they have not targeted districts like mine, and have really given up,” Janz said. “And this has allowed people like Devin Nunes to return to Congress year after year after year.”

Janz has drawn some measure of support from Democrats outside the DCCC. Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who has helped Janz raise money, said Janz has never complained about the DCCC to him and that Janz has “raised the money to tell his story.”

“[It’s a district] where we have no business being as close as we are,” said Swalwell. But with Janz, he said, “We’ve got a hell of a shot.”

Janz has done little to ingratiate himself to the DCCC. A gun owner with a moderate profile, he has said publicly that he would not support House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for speaker if Democrats retake the House in November.

“Look, we’re one of the few races here in California where the DCCC isn’t pulling the strings behind the scenes, and I think that allows me to go out there and be myself,” Janz said. “I’m not using DCCC talking points, I’m not using their consultants. I’m really being my own person.”

Describing the campaign as an “arms race,” Greven said, “This is the only time we’re ever going to get a hit at this guy. This is our one shot.”

The DCCC, she said, is “blowing it.”

Yep.

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.

Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act; Anthrax tainted letters sent to NBC and the New York Post.

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

Edmund Burke

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Perhaps I am the heartless and cruel bastard I pretend to be. I should accept on face value everything Christine Blasey Ford has said about her sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh There’s no doubt that if her recollection is at all accurate ‘sexual assault’ is the correct and proper name for what happened though I suspect Kavanaugh would dispute that philosophically- boys will be boys and girls just have to learn to get along- and if he was anywhere near as drunk as reported has very little actual memory of the event.

What, after all, is the significance to you of one human being in a parade of anonymous interchangeable sex dolls you grappled into submission of a sort. I imagine were she the harlot of Babylon she’d have been hard put to find an artifice that elicited any response, you besotted tease, other than your love of dominance and abuse, and lust for conquest.

It’s just that there are many, many other reasons Kavanaugh is unfit to be a Judge of any sort, let alone a Justice.

Let’s start with perjury. The man lies under oath. This is a proven fact Republicans just ignore.

He supports Torture and Universal Domestic Surveillance by the Government of average citizens (Yeah, those missing W years).

Unsurprisingly he’s also against Personal Medical Privacy, holding the Government has a compelling interest in managing your sex life. Not just Roe, Griswold. Griswold was about whether you could use those Onan enabling sin buckets called “condoms” while having State Sanctioned Marital Relations with your Lady/Wife.

He already calls Birth Control Pills “abortion drugs”. What about “wrongly decided” don’t you get?

I thought we were making progress, definitely Murkowski, maybe some Western Senator with a failing campaign (looking right at you, Heller) who wants to suck up to Native Americans. I try to avoid relying on Sue Collins for anything and do so here, but optimistically I didn’t think Tim Scott was an impossible get.

Now the cards are in the air again. Flake, for one, is being flaky and is posing. We’ll have a “Pubic Hair” hearing and he said she said. I’d like to think #metoo knows what they’re doing.

I suppose anything that slows the juggernaught is worth trying. At least my opinion of the bourgeoisie remains unaffected- nothing like a little T&A to perk their interest.