Jul 24 2018

The Breakfast club (Fire ‘Em)

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.

photo stress free zone_zps7hlsflkj.jpg

This Day in History

A key ruling during the Watergate scandal; Nixon and Khrushchev hold a ‘kitchen debate’ during the Cold War; Brigham Young and Mormon followers arrive in present-day Utah; Apollo 11’s crew returns home.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

I don’t want to overthrow the government. I wanna fire ’em.

Gallagher

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Jul 23 2018

The Five ‘Mystery’ Witnesses

Well, the real mystery is why they felt they needed immunity.

Five Financiers Granted Immunity Ahead of Manafort Trial
by BRANDI BUCHMAN, Court House News Services
July 23, 2018

A federal judge said Monday he will push back the start of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s trial on multiple fraud charges six days, and that he will grant immunity to five witnesses scheduled to testify for the prosecution.

The five witnesses granted immunity Monday are James Brennan, Donna Duggan, Conor O”Brien, Cindy Laporta and Dennis Raico, all of whom are connected to financial institutions.

And that’s all anybody really has reported (though the cited article has a pretty thorough summary of the charges as they relate to payments for services by Ukraine and the representation of those assets for taxes, bank reports, and registration as an agent.

Rawstory does better-

Here’s what we know about the 5 witnesses getting immunity in exchange for Manafort testimony
by Tana Ganeva, Raw Story
23 Jul 2018 at 16:30 ET

  1. Dennis Raico worked with Federal Savings Bank (FSB), a Chicago bank that supplied Manafort with a $16 million dollar loan, TPM reported. In 2017, Raico was sued for $78,750.00 for fraudulent inducement and breach of good faith covenant over a loan in a property deal.
  2. Cindy Laporta is an accountant affiliated with KWC accounting services, which are named as tax organizers for Manafort starting in 2012. The Mueller indictment contains an email chain between Laporta and others regarding Manafort’s “Int’l Income Question.”
  3. Conor O’Brien is primarily cited in the indictment in relation to email chains linked to DMP International. Manafort co-founded Davis Manafort Partners (DMP) in 2005, to engage in political consulting, with staff in the US, Ukraine and Russia.
  4. Donna Duggan appears in email chains about Chubb insurance, a Zurich based insurance company that focuses on property insurance.
  5. James Brennan: In an email from Dennis Raico to James Brennan sent on December 7th, 2016, the two discussed “moving forward with Manafort’s Brooklyn property.”

Prosecutors have said they don’t expect a single witness to utter the word “Russia.”

Jul 23 2018

Cartnoon

Because Volcanoes and Dinosaurs.

Jul 23 2018

The Breakfast Club (Doubt)

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.

photo stress free zone_zps7hlsflkj.jpg

This Day in History

Race rioting hits Detroit; Former President Ulysses S. Grant dies; Britain’s Prince Andrew marries ‘Fergie’; Vanessa Williams gives up Miss America crown; Golfer Tiger Woods wins career grand slam.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

When in doubt, don’t.

Benjamin Franklin

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Jul 22 2018

Not A Rant

A Closer Look

Because Tax Cuts solve everything.

Jul 22 2018

Feminist Content

My Netflix and YouTube accounts are suddenly filled with “Strong Female Lead” suggestions which is funny because I’ve always considered myself more a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Mary Sue/Action/Superhero kinda guy.

Watch Moana and Lilo and Stitch a few times and get so totally labeled.

To be fair I streamed all the Direct-to-DVD Sequels too and Julia and Chocolat and Practical Magic, but also Justice League (so much less than you think), Wonder Woman (best DC ever but flawed), Suicide Squad (not terrible– Will Smith does Will Smith, hypercompetent emotionless Assassin, Robbie and Leto light the screen with crazy and I mean light as in a Zippo in the corner of a thermite blanket), and Atomic Blonde, and…

Ok, I think I’m beginning to sense a pattern here. Speaking of Netflix, so does Michelle Wolf-

Happy Puppet Story Time (very Meta)

Yeah, binged that 3 times. Here are some other items that will make sure I get invited to view more profoundly insightful/intelligent/funny things that happen to be said and done by women-

ICE Recruitment

Angry Bitter Hate

Angry and bitter? Try Hannah Gadsby.

Babies

Jul 22 2018

The Breakfast Club (Robbers)

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 10:30am (ET) 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.

photo 807561379_e6771a7c8e_zps7668d00e.jpg

AP’s Today in History for July 22nd

Wiley Post completes first solo flight around the world; Robber John Dillinger shot dead; Saddam Hussein’s sons killed in Iraq; The September 11th Commission releases its report; Birth of the Frisbee.

Breakfast Tune Barbara Lamb and Danny Barnes – Bootsy Met a Bank Robber

 
 

Something to think about, Breakfast News & Blogs below

 
 

CAN THIS PROGRESSIVE WOMAN OF COLOR PULL OFF AN OCASIO-CORTEZ-STYLE UPSET IN MASSACHUSETTS?
Eoin Higgins, The Intercept

IN THE WEEKS since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘s surprise victory in New York’s 14th District, the Democratic Party has been waking up to the possibility that a progressive wave could overturn the party’s leadership and usher in a new guard — one led by young women of color. Ocasio-Cortez said as much in her victory speech, delivered from a bar top at the pool hall in the Bronx that hosted her election night party.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of primaries to go. When we get to November, we should be electing a caucus,” she said.

That’s what Tahirah Amatul-Wadud is hoping will happen in Massachusetts’s 1st District, where she’s mounting an insurgent campaign against Richard Neal, one of the longest serving Democratic representatives in the House.

According to Amatul-Wadud, Neal represents everything that’s wrong with Washington Democrats. He’s an uninvolved career politician who puts the interests of his national donors in front of the people he represents, Amatul-Wadud says, and his seniority in the House hasn’t brought much benefit to the region. While Ocasio-Cortez effectively dinged her primary opponent, Joe Crowley, by pointing out that he and his family don’t live in his congressional district, Neal’s reputation among his constituents might be worse: Last year, some of his rural constituents took out an ad in the local Weekend Gazette asking, “Has anyone seen this man? (yes, he’s your congressman).”

Amatul-Wadud hopes to fill that absence.

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Something to think about over coffee prozac

Trump Demands NATO Allies Match U.S. Commitment To Prioritizing Military Spending Over Healthcare
The Onion

BRUSSELS—Blasting member states for failing to contribute their “fair share,” President Trump demanded at a summit meeting Wednesday that NATO allies match the U.S. commitment to making military spending a far greater national priority than healthcare.

“In the United States, we’ve gone above and beyond to make sure military expenditures are our number one concern above all else, including access to life-saving medications for sick people, and it’s high time other NATO countries did the same,” said Trump, lambasting German chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders who he remarked “really ought to be spending maybe even 50 percent of their GDP” on defense instead of endlessly sinking funds into essential medical care for their citizens.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful how the United States comes in and picks up the slack for these nations who insist on throwing their money away on the prevention and treatment of deadly diseases. It’s an embarrassment, everyone’s laughing at us, and I’ll tell you what—we aren’t going to put up with it anymore.”

Representatives from the 28 other NATO countries later issued statements concurring with Trump’s assessment that the United States has become a laughingstock.

Jul 21 2018

Traveling Through Times Zones Once Again

For the next couple of weeks business and family will once again take me through several time zones. It affords me a different perspective on events here in the US and how the rest of the world perceives them and us. While I was putting the final details of my packing this morning. I happened to catch this exchange between MSNBC hosts Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump’s private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Monday in Helsinki, Finland and the possible chaos it could cause in the near future:

“We don’t know what Trump and Putin talked about in the meeting,”

“We don’t know what Trump may have conceded or promised or given away, what he might have told him in terms of U.S. secrets.”

“But because we have to assume the Russians made a recording there, the Russians not only know what happened in that room because Putin was there, but they have a recording that they can manipulate to their desire.”

“So, whatever they want to make it seem like Trump said, whatever they’re going to take to the bank, when they need to say, ‘Hey, listen, the U.S. president gave us permission to do this,’ they’re absolutely free to doctor that tape if they need to.”

“Whatever Trump actually said is probably bad enough, but whatever they want to make him say, they can retroactively do. And there’s no American rebuttal to it because there were no Americans in that room other than Trump and the translator to keep him honest.”

There was much in that whole encounter and the news conference after that made me not only nauseous but raised the hairs on the back of my neck. To even suggest that we would send a former ambassador or any American citizen to Russia to be interrogated is beyond imagination but that is exactly what Trump said he would consider. It is just more evidence that Trump is Putin’s puppet.

Jul 21 2018

Health and Fitness News

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

What To Cook This Weekend

Tomato season is here. Besides the classic all-American BLT, here are some great recipes to use those tasty orbs during these sultry Summer days.

Garlicky Tomato Toast (Pan Con Tomate)

Some version of tomatoes on toast — a juicy American B.L.T. or Italian tomato-topped bruschetta — is always a good idea, but that’s especially true during high summer, when tomatoes are at their peak. One superior combination comes from Barcelona, where a slice of toast is rubbed with garlic and juicy ripe tomatoes, then anointed with olive oil.

Tomates Farcies (Stuffed Tomatoes)

A simple mixture of bread crumbs and herbs is all you need to make these Provençal baked stuffed tomatoes. Serve them with nearly any summer meal, even for breakfast, alongside fried eggs.

Classic Caprese Salad

This classic summer dish doesn’t get any simpler or more delicious. Use different-colored heirloom tomatoes for the prettiest salad, and buffalo milk mozzarella for the best tasting one.

Cherry Tomato Caesar Salad

Whether the tomatoes deserve it or not, I make some version of a tomato Caesar salad every summer. Here, I inverted the usual proportions of lettuce to tomatoes, favoring the tomatoes. It was the juiciest of Caesars, and pretty, too, dotted with anchovies and curls of Parmesan.

Best Gazpacho

This version has no bread and is a creamy orange-pink rather than a lipstick red. That is because a large quantity of olive oil is required for making delicious gazpacho, rather than take-it-or-leave it gazpacho. The emulsion of red tomato juice, palest green cucumber juice and golden olive oil produces the right color and a smooth, almost fluffy texture.

Greek Tomato Salad

Sweet, ripe summer tomatoes, salt and olive oil are all you need. The flourishes here — green pepper, red onion, chopped mint and pinch of oregano — are optional, but they add brightness. Good Greek feta cheese takes it over the top.

Health and Fitness News

Bayer to Halt Sales of Essure Birth Control Implant

FDA Warns of Deaths Tied to Tainted Synthetic Pot

Women Diabetics’ Cancer Risk Higher than Men’s

Low-Dose Aspirin May Help Against Ovarian Cancer

Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Raw Turkey Sickens 90

Summer Safety: Saltwater A Lethal Threat to Dogs

Adrenaline Shot Can Save Lives But With Big Risks

U.S. Deaths From Liver Disease Rising Rapidly

Supplement May Ease Sickle Cell Pain

More Pregnant Women Having Heart Attacks

Could an Early Dinner Lower Risk of Some Cancers?

HPV Shot Rids 97-Year-Old of Advanced Skin Cancer

Jury Still Out on Probiotics

New MRI Test May Predict Severity of MS

Brain Scans Yield More Clues to Autism

Hidden Blood in Feces Can Signal More Than Cancer

Vitamin D Little Help Against Brain Diseases

Eczema Can Dramatically Hurt Quality of Life

Smoking May Boost Risk of AFib

Opioids Given Too Easily to Children, Study Finds

Jul 21 2018

The Breakfast Club (Broken Places)

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.

photo stress free zone_zps7hlsflkj.jpg

This Day in History

First major battle in America’s Civil War fought at Bull Run in Virginia; Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’ concludes; Peace deal ends Indochina War; Author Ernest Hemingway and actor-comedian Robin Williams born.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.

Ernest Hemingway

Continue reading

Jul 20 2018

The Russian Connection: Helsinki Deuxième Partie

Pardon my French but Donald Trump got such a thrill out of his two hour private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he has invited Vlad to visit the Fall for a repeat performance. Our buddy Charlie Pierce and I had the same nightmarish thought, what if this coincides with Trump’s military parade? Wouldn’t that be just the show? Also like Uncle Charlie, I have the same sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that our democratic institutions in this country are being threatened by a narcissistic, misogynist waste of human protoplasm.

Here is what else Charlie had to say about Helsinki Part Two:

If I didn’t know that there is a murder of crows sitting upon the capitol these days, I might even applaud the move as an immortal masterpiece of pure trolling. If the threat to democratic institutions weren’t so imminent, I’d buy a beach chair and a cooler full of coldies, sit back, and watch the show.

For ten days or so, ever since the Helsinki in a Handbasket press conference, the president* has seemed to go out of his way to prove himself at the very least a useful device in an autocrat’s toolbox. He has spent a couple of days flopping around like a bass in a boat, trying to explain that “would” meant “wouldn’t,” and that he wasn’t really considering shipping a former ambassador to Russia for questioning.

Evidence has piled up that his presidential campaign, and his subsequent administration*, may have functioned primarily as laundromat for ill-gotten currencies of many lands. Evidence has emerged that much of conservative Republican politics may have served to fluff and fold the proceeds of the Volga Bagmen. The president*’s one-time campaign manager is about to begin the first of what may be a prolonged miniseries of trials, most of them centering on work he did in what we used to call The Former Soviet Union. [..]

It was going to be an eventful autumn anyway. The future of the Supreme Court for the next 30-odd years is going to be hanging fire as the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh comes before the Senate. Robert Mueller is due to produce his report. And we will be winding into the homestretch of one of the most crucial midterm elections most of us have ever experienced. Now, with all of that going on, the president* has presumed to invite his favorite thuggish kleptocrat to town. There will be bands and bunting. There will be a state dinner to which many influential Republicans, and members of Congress, many of whom will be running for re-election at the time, will be invited. I predict a staggering number of unbreakable tonsorial appointments. The announcement caught the Director of National Intelligence flatfooted on live television. This would be delicious if the whole thing weren’t so poisonous. [..]

They have something on him. Almost everyone is convinced of that now. And, at least in the fog of the president*’s head, what they have on him is sufficiently lethal for him to act like an autocrat’s apprentice all over the world. [..]

The squirming already has begun. Mitch McConnell huffed and puffed and pretended he still has dignity on which to stand while his colleagues all try to cram themselves behind the drapes of the caucus room at the same time. [..]

The rest of us have to come to grips with the fact that there is no real mystery any more. The president* of the United States is a reckless vandal who is in thrall to a man whose only real goal in life is to loot his own failing country and hobble this one. Putin is a brutal con-man who has found a transparently bad one that he can play like a cheap violin. How the president* got into this situation almost seems irrelevant at this point; there well may be a video of some icky water-sports in a Moscow hotel, but I still think it’s all about money that Russians needed to clean, and that the president* needed to keep his Potemkin empire afloat. In that context, this latest, scarcely believable plot twist has a certain mad logic to it. In for a dime, in for a ruble.

This charade of a parade and cozying up to his handler strikes me as a another attempt at distracting attention from the real issues this country is facing all due to Trump’s economic, domestic and foreign policies.

It’s already been a long, hot Summer with everyone wondering just how far Trump will go with these outrageous acts and just how much longer will the Republicans cover for him. From the predictions of the Fall midterm elections, the American people may be at the end of the line. Democrats need to win back congress to put the brakes on this egomaniac pretending to be president.

Jul 20 2018

Wait, wasn’t she being punished for calling Ivanka “feckless”?

You think I’m kidding? Try to find May 30th, I dare you. Not even the Wikipedia entry survived un-vandalized (last time I looked, time wounds some heels).

Devil take it! What a mess! What a mess.

Most of us have spent thousands of dollars on improv classes. We are not bright people.

A Gift for Words

Yeah, like a 20 year old, a random Internet quiz proves it.

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