I want to remind people that it’s only Wednesday, and early afternoon at that. Things don’t seem to pop until 4 pm.

But still…

Been a busy week and it’s only half through.

Couple’s Therapy

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Ok. Therapy is not like this. Not even with the guy who wishes he had a machete. Everyone takes a turn expressing the issues they’ve had to deal with since the last session and the other members of the Group give their suggestions on ways they can cope, if they have any, and those who choose not to participate (normally the ones whose participation is mandated I’ve observed) get to see us veterans who don’t care anymore about stranger’s perceptions hash it out, mostly in very polite and friendly ways. It’s only questions, you don’t have to answer or you can lie your ass off. It’s just advice, you don’t have to take it.

If you don’t collectively talk long enough to fill the hour they give you a mimeographed “exercise” to participate in, like First Grade.

They either get it or they don’t, 8 – 12 weeks is a long time to stay curled in a corner but you can waste a lot of time if you like. They give you a meaningless piece of paper (well, your lawyer can use it in court to prove you participated) when you “graduate”.

However I think an essential piece of Therapy is Anonymity. How else can you be honest? Meeting someone who belongs to your Group in real life, at the Grocery Store say, is incredibly awkward, like seeing your Math Teacher in a bathing suit at the Swimming Pool.

So Couples’ Therapy is different. I sometimes think that having your Therapist know the people you are talking about would give them a better understanding of your situation, and it probably would. On the other hand your Therapist is also supposed to be your coach and advocate and support you emotionally.

It puts them in an incredibly difficult position.

The results of confrontations like these, even in theraputic settings, can be nothing but bad. The Therapist may forget but you and your significant other will remember, resent, and regret until both of you die. Not something I’d like to be responsible for.

People frequently tell me I’d be a great Therapist and it’s true I’m a good listener and sometimes have beneficial suggestions but I’d sooner French Kiss a Wasp Nest.

My Therapist has exactly one chair in her office.

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.

Civil rights marchers attacked in Selma, Alabama; Nazi Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler sends troops into the demilitarized Rhineland; Movie director Stanley Kubrick dies.

The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.

Don Marquis

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Commonly called Lysistrata the Greek actually translates to “Army Disbander”. The Comedy (in a Classical sense, they’re often not what we would consider humorous) by Aristophanes was first performed in Athens in 411 BCE.

The concept was (and there is almost no evidence for it as historical fact) that the women of Greece would have a Sex Strike with No Man getting No Nookie Nohow until they ended the Peloponnesian War.

Athens lost this War to Sparta and probably deserved to, much though we venerate Athens and disparage Sparta today. Athens had a very expansionist Imperial policy and defeated several City-States closely allied with Sparta. After a series of successful coastal raids and forcing a humiliating treaty (Peace of Nicias, 421 BCE) on Sparta, Athens started encroaching on the territories of Sparta again culminating with a disastrous expedition to Syracuse (Sicily, not New York) which was totally defeated in 413 BCE, just 2 years before the production of Lysistrata.

It was so bad that it completely shifted the balance of power. Sparta allied itself with Persia which was still a great Empire despite Thermopylae (not as important as Movies make it seem) and Salamis. After the sack of Athens (the Greeks lost at Thermopylae you know) the Athenian Fleet was able to destroy the bulk of the Persian Fleet at Salamis and Xerxes I was forced to withdraw the majority of his Army in 479 BCE because he could no longer support them from the sea. The Greeks quickly defeated the rest.

So the Athenians, who had started the War with the Persians by carving up great portions of Asia Minor (mostly Turkey today), went right back into business with a vengeance. I know this is not the version you get in your textbooks because “Democracy!”, but it’s true enough- you could look it up.

While the expedition to Syracuse was preparing its attack Alcibiades, who was supposed to lead the force, was falsely (well, probably) accused of defiling religious property before departure and promptly took up with the Spartans who were happy to have him. Alcibiades told the Spartans that Syracuse was merely a prelude to a scheme to take over the World. Well, Italy and Carthage at least and what else mattered?

A group of Oligarchs siezed power in Athens and started negotiating with the Spartans which might have worked except that the Athenian Reserve Fleet was released after the pasting the Expeditionary Force took and they and the remains of the Regular Navy weren’t too happy with the prospect and attacked and under the re-defected Alcibiades (loyalty was a flexible thing in Classical times) defeated the Spartans at Syme. This happened the same year, 411 BCE, Lysistrata was produced.

With that prelude I introduce-

Why It’s Hard for Conservatives to Date in DC Right Now
by Mimi Montgomery, Washingtonian
March 5, 2018

Washington has the most singles actively dating and using dating apps, according to a recent Time Out ranking, so it’s not surprising that political standoffs would take place in packed bars and Bumble conversations. The League, a selective dating app, says its DC users are 15 times more likely to mention politics in their bios since the 2016 presidential election, and one-third say they wouldn’t date someone with contrasting political beliefs.
…
“A lot of times you’ll connect with someone [on an app] and they’ll Google you, find out you worked for Trump’s campaign, and then it’s pretty much all downhill from there,” says a Trump Administration official.

People who work in right-wing media say they don’t have it any better.

“The political divide has gotten so wide that a lot of younger liberals don’t have any interest in meeting conservatives,” says a reporter at a conservative media company. Working for a right-wing publication is such an obstacle to dating in DC, he doesn’t put his employer on any dating apps and avoids talking about it until meeting someone face-to-face, he says.

“The policies and these things that are attached to the right whether or not you’re a supporter of Trump have been pre-supposed on you, and it’s like a black mark,” says another reporter at the same outlet, who describes himself as a moderate conservative.

He once brought a woman back to his place, and while checking out his bookshelf, she noticed some books by conservative thinkers, he says. “She was like, ‘Oh no. First question: Did you vote for Trump?’,” the reporter says. He told her no, but that he was conservative. “She was like ‘I have to get out of here. I can’t see you,’ and left.”

While Republicans say the line between textbook conservatism and Trumpism is blurred frequently, most Democrats I spoke with say they can distinguish a difference between those in favor of the administration and Never Trump-ers.

“If you’re dating someone and they say ‘I think we should have lower marginal tax rates,’ that’s different than dating someone who doesn’t think a woman should have a right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy,” says a single woman at a progressive nonprofit. “There’s a spectrum there.”

Most of the self-identifying progressives I talked with said they could tell how far right a man or woman leaned based on their dating-app photos—”Make America Great Again” hats are an obvious tell, but some also listed photos of US flag paraphernalia, hunting gear, or fratty beach parties as turn-offs.

Conversely, a young White House staffer says she typically looks for someone from the South when swiping through profiles, as she thinks they’ll be more receptive to her support of the President. She swipes left on anyone who went to a small, liberal-arts college or has a photo “wearing one of those pink hats on their heads” at the Women’s March, she says, as she thinks they wouldn’t be compatible.
…
When she first moved to DC, a former Obama White House staffer who now works at the Aspen Institute was set up on a date with a Republican who worked on Capitol Hill. “We had a really nice time, but at the end of the date, he told me he didn’t believe in global warming,” she says. “I started laughing, because I’m from Colorado and didn’t realize people actually didn’t believe in global warming. But he was serious.”

They didn’t go out again.

Republicans say it’s liberals who are more likely to turn down someone across the aisle. “Democrats are usually more vocal” about their opposition, the Trump staffer says, and therefore quicker to demonize all conservatives.

“I feel like they look at me and are like, here’s a tall white dude with brown hair wearing loafers, and he probably has a picture of Reagan and the NRA in his bedroom or something,” says one of the reporters from the conservative media company. “I just think they have a very hyperbolic view of what a conservative is.”

No, that’s actually a very realistic view of what a Conservative is. Oh, and I’m now convinced that there’s something in the water that triggers D.C. Bipartisan Madness among the Political and Media Elites. Strangely it doesn’t seem to effect the oppressed.

When I was in Flint I couldn’t get a drink that wasn’t made with their lead contaminated water. No bottled Pop- Iced Tea, Coffee, and Fountain Drinks only. I finally settled for an Amstel Light and I checked the label 3 times to make sure it was bottled in Amsterdam. I’m going to play it safe during my upcoming visit to the March For Our Lives and stop at Costco and pick up a case of Seltzer.

Now, you may want to know how the Peloponnesian War and Lysistrata came out.

Badly.

After a further victory against the Spartan Fleet at Cyzicus (a really big one) in 410 BCE, Alcibiades was able to use his popularity to remove the Oligarchical regime and Athens was, over the course of the next 4 years, able to restore much of its original position. Then he suffered a minor defeat in a Naval battle at Notium in 406 BCE and was promptly cashiered again, this time permanently. The Persian King Cyrus was finally able to assemble a Fleet large enough to defeat the Athenians and at Aegospotami in 405 BCE reduced them to a mere 12 remaining ships. Facing stavation they surrendered in 404 BCE. Funny huh?

The surrender stripped Athens of its walls, its fleet, and all of its overseas possessions. Corinth and Thebes demanded that Athens should be destroyed and all its citizens should be enslaved. However, the Spartans announced their refusal to destroy a city that had done a good service at a time of greatest danger to Greece, and took Athens into their own system.
…
The overall effect of the war in Greece proper was to substitute a Spartan empire for an Athenian one. After the battle of Aegospotami, Sparta took over the Athenian empire and kept all of its tribute revenues for itself; Sparta’s allies, who had made greater sacrifices for the war effort than had Sparta, got nothing.
…
Sparta was later humbled by Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC(E), but the rivalry between Athens and Sparta was brought to an end a few decades later when Philip II of Macedon conquered all of Greece except Sparta.

Lysistrata’s Second Act is about the struggle to maintain the Strike in the face of the fact that the Ladies were… ah… inconstant in their resolve. Older Ladies can take some solace in the fact that they were the only ones talking any sense at all while everyone else was as randy as rabbits including the Older Guys who couldn’t deliver even a grunt and a mumble. ‘Night dzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

But in the Third Act everyone reconciled and there was a righteous orgy with wine and singing and dancing and other stuff. All performed by males in masks mind you because that’s the way it was.

It was a Comedy! Ha. Ha. Ha.

Haven’t forgotten about you Cosby either.

Zack Morris Is Trash

Episode 4- The Time Zack Morris Lost His Friend’s Dog In A Poker Game

Episode 5- The Time Zack Morris Sold Swimsuit Photos Of Underage Girls

Episode 6- The Time Zack Morris Drove Drunk And Crashed The Car

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.

The Alamo falls; The Dred Scott decision brings America closer to Civil War; Renaissance artist Michelangelo born; Walter Cronkite leaves ‘The CBS Evening News’; Ed McMahon and Rob Reiner born.

“The noblest art is that of making others happy”

P.T. Barnum

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We have large trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. NAFTA, which is under renegotiation right now, has been a bad deal for U.S.A. Massive relocation of companies & jobs. Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed. Also, Canada must..

…treat our farmers much better. Highly restrictive. Mexico must do much more on stopping drugs from pouring into the U.S. They have not done what needs to be done. Millions of people addicted and dying….treat our farmers much better. Highly restrictive. Mexico must do much more on stopping drugs from pouring into the U.S. They have not done what needs to be done. Millions of people addicted and dying.

We are on the losing side of almost all trade deals. Our friends and enemies have taken advantage of the U.S. for many years. Our Steel and Aluminum industries are dead. Sorry, it’s time for a change! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! – @realDonaldTrump

Now I don’t know much about Mexico except we don’t need their stinkin’ weed when we can grow much finer in our Hydroponic Gardens, but I think it’s a mistake to shut off that sweet, sweet Black Tar which is much safer than the Oxycontin and Fentanyl Big Pharma is poisoning us with. Oh, and keep up with the Cocaine too because without Speed Balls Entertainers, Actors, and Musicians will be forced into Meth which will make their teeth fall out and kill them even quicker, putting us at a disadvantage in the International Culture War where we are already losing ground to the Chinese and Indians. Can you imagine Star Wars or The Avengers in Mandarin or Hindi? We’ll have nothing to listen to except K-Pop!

Let’s not forget we need those ‘migros to harvest all that GMO produce and kill, pluck, and rinse the Clorinated Chicken we’ll be forcing on Canada. The Auto Industry (which employs roughly 100 times the number of people in Aluminum and Steel) is already not happy with $175 price increase on materials, are you serious about completely disrupting the supply chains it’s taken 20 years to build?

Well that doesn’t matter because we’ll just slap a Tariff on Imported Cars. Yeah but, it will still raise the price for consumers (== voters) and totally eliminate whatever specious benefits you claim from your Cut, Cut, Cut Bill. Republicans are afraid because that’s the only bit of good news they can point to (not that it’s really good news, they just think they can confuse enough people about it).

As for Canada? Well, they don’t really need the U.S. at all. They can trade wherever they want. They have plenty of excess Agriculture production and Heavy Industry. They have Universal Health Care, good Beer, Back Bacon, and Tim Horton’s. Starting July 1st they’ll have legal weed at $7 (Canadian) a gram!

When I travel in Canada I get the sense they pity us more than anything else.

What is in fact wrong with our Trade Agreements is Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) which guts the sovereign Legal System of the United States and the ridiculous Intellectual Property (IP) protections designed to keep Mickey Mouse a revenue producing thrall of Disney Inc. in perpetuity.

Other than that if countries want to reject our stuff because it’s the product of a The Jungle dystopian system that is indifferent to quality and thus makes crappy junk that breaks all the time and is unhealthy to boot…

Free Markets baby. I thought you believed in those.

Trump says Canada and Mexico will escape new tariffs only after NAFTA concessions
by Damian Paletta, Washington Post
March 5, 2018

The three NAFTA partners — Canada, Mexico and the United States — have been locked in talks aimed at possibly revamping the trade deal, but no clear framework has so far emerged. The latest round of negotiations is expected to wrap up Monday in Mexico City.
…
Trump has threatened to withdraw NAFTA pact since the 2016 campaign, saying the 24-year-old deal allowed manufacturers to relocate to Mexico and take advantage of cheaper labor. Even a number of Democrats have said NAFTA should be reworked, but Canada and Mexico have resisted Trump’s strong-arm tactics.

And a number of GOP lawmakers are apoplectic about what would happen if Trump withdrew from NAFTA, warning it could devastate the U.S. agriculture industry.
…
Canada and European Union officials have both said they would likely retaliate with tariffs on U.S. goods if the White House imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump, in response, claimed brazenly that he could win a trade war easily.

Trump’s trade skirmishes now have multiple fronts.

Monday’s attacks on Canada and Mexico come two days after Trump singled out Germany, threatening to impose a tax on all European auto imports brought into the United States.

Trump Advisers Fervently Defend Tariffs (Unless They Change, That Is)
By ANA SWANSON, The New York Times
MARCH 4, 2018

Mr. (Peter) Navarro and Mr. (Wilbur) Ross have been among the staunchest defenders of the trade action, which would hit global trading partners like Canada and South Korea much more than China, which the administration has described as the primary culprit in putting American metal makers out of business. Both men backed the tariffs, saying the benefits to American metal makers would be considerable and the costs to industries that use those metals in their products — like automakers and food packagers — negligible.

Mr. Ross described the effect of the tariff as “a fraction of a penny on a can of beer.” Mr. Navarro clashed with Chris Wallace of Fox News, who tried to get the economic adviser to admit that those costs, when multiplied by all products that use steel and aluminum over the entire economy, would escalate into the billions of dollars. Mr. Navarro said he saw the costs as “insignificant” in the mission to preserve the steel and aluminum industries, which have seen factories pick up and move from the United States to cheaper parts of the world.

The White House’s plan continued to face fierce criticism, including from Republicans who believe free trade is in the interest of the economy.
…
Economists say the tariffs, if applied without exceptions, would harm allies like Canada, South Korea and the European Union, which export more steel to the United States than China does. Shortly after the tariffs were announced, the European Union responded by saying that it was already preparing to levy retaliatory tariffs on American products, including orange juice, bluejeans and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

“You’re letting China off the hook,” Mr. (Lindsey) Graham said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “China wins when we fight with Europe.”

While you were watching the Oscars (Want to shorten it up Jimmy? Ditch the Montages and Musical Numbers except for the nominated songs and In Memoriam. Who cares about 90 years of Oscar winning War Movies? Limit commercials to 2 minutes of every 15. Then give that time to the Award Winners for genuine thanks and a chance to tell us something about their life and Art.) John Oliver was taking a look at NRA TV.

So the Oscars are “woke”.

Hurray I guess.

7 Racist And Sexist Ads That Are Shockingly Recent

5 Bizarrely Specific Sexist Stereotypes in Modern Ads

4 Types of Bullying We Are Shockingly OK With

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.

The Boston Massacre; Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech; The Soviet Union’s dictator Josef Stalin dies; Comedian John Belushi found dead; Country singer Patsy Cline killed in a plane crash.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

Hunter S. Thompson

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Mentioned I was going, right?

Gonna play hell with my March Madness coverage.