Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

In other words, I’m a liar, A Liar, A LIAR!

So Mitch McConnell “intends” to do this and that. Well, maybe we should ask Susan Collins or Bob Corker just what Mitch McConnell’s “intentions” are worth. Has he taken any of the actions he promised them in return for their votes on the Cut Cut Cut Bill?

No?

Well, if that’s the way you’re going to treat the members of your own Party why should a single Democrat believe you now?

Of course some will, because they’re cowards and Quislings who should be booted from the Party so they can take those Government Tit Sucking jobs on K Street they want and crave. Corrupt through and through.

And even imputing the finest of motives and most sincere of “intentions” to McConnell (which I don’t for a moment, he’s a scumbag piece of crap), Paul Ryan has publicly stated he doesn’t feel bound by any Senate agreements.

So what do you get for your Treason Democrats?

A great steaming heap of nothing.

If you are sincere about your goals to do right for Domestic Spending by linking it to Military Spending, to provide Health Insurance for 9 Million Children, to save Immigration especially for Dreamers in the face of a Racist and Bigoted Republican Party (they all are, the fact you play squash with them in the Senate Gymnasium doesn’t erase the taint- it makes you stink just like them), you know you have to attach it to “Must Pass Legislation”.

That’s what this is.

Or will you pretend to believe the promises of a proven liar and “Wait!” for a better day, a more timely season?

In short, as Dr. King puts it- “Never”.

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.

U.S. Supreme Court legalizes abortion; Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty; Queen Victoria dies; “The Crucible” opens;”Laugh-In” premieres.

If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?

Will Rogers

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Es gibt keine verzweifelten Lagen, es gibt nur verzweifelte Menschen.- Heinz Guderian

Sorry, I didn’t want to write this before I was sure. In one year Donald Trump has managed to shut down the Federal Government. It’s not every day you get to see a Superpower Paper Tiger burst into flames so I recommend pulling out your hot dogs (wienies has such unfortunate connotations in the current context) and your Marshmallows, Hershey Bars, and Graham (for Lindsey) Crackers and get ready to toast them in the embers.

Let’s start out with the bad. It’s inexcusable Chuck Schumer was willing to cave on the border wall and highly likely that Institutional Democrats are going to agree to some kind of “clean” Continuing Resolution since they too are unwilling to accept a “Yes” (meaning a 20 point polling margin that squarely blames Trump, the most unpopular ever, and the Republicans, even more unpopular). What kind of support does it take, oh brave profile in courage Democrats, to make you stop sucking the Tits of your Corporatist Donors and serve your voters instead?

That said it’s kind of cool that they showed any resistance at all.

You know, a year and a day ago I stood on the Washington Mall with 2 Million others and though at 120+ my body is weaker than when I was eating hot dogs in Hillsboro my spirit hasn’t aged a bit.

How did that turn out? Well, of the 194 arrested on January 20th, 6 have been acquitted by Jury and 129 have had their charges dismissed leaving only 59 still facing trial. Reports that most of the truly guilty were outside agitators from Neo-Nazi and Klan Militia groups in Michigan, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon running false flag operations as Anti-Fascists have not been disproven, instead they’ve been ignored.

Surprising after all the fine people at Charlottesville.

The Women’s March the next day had not a single arrest, even for public drunkeness or urination (though I was very grateful the Porta-Potties on Pennsylvania Avenue were not padlocked). Not a whiff of weed either, remarkably disciplined.

And discipline is what I encourage going forward.

In an ideal world Chuck Schumer would have sat there, expressionless, fingers tented, until Mitch McConnell came to him. Going forward there would be no Continuing Resolution until after Trump gives his so-called State of the Union. We are not united, racist Neo-Confederates who represent the dumbest part of the Bell Curve have stolen the Government through ruthless Gerrymandering and transparent Corruption. Were I a Representative my seat would be empty in the most highly visible way I could manage, maybe I’d send an Aid or Intern to deposit some Mylar Party Balloons with a Happy Face on one side and “Good Luck With That!” on the other.

It is not enough to simply have spoiled his Mar-A-Lago Anniversary Party.

Man schlägt jemanden mit der Faust und nicht mit gespreizten Fingern.

Look, Guderian was a thoroughgoing Nazi but at least, like Sherman, he understood Politics by other means was not Beanbags. We’re waaay beyond Beanbags. Until I’m convinced otherwise Institutional Democrats don’t get that.

Prove me wrong.

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.

Iran releases American hostages; Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy innaugurated as President.

I do think the patriotic thing to do is to critique my country. How else do you make a country better but by pointing out its flaws?

Bill Maher

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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.

Robert E. Lee born; Indira Gandhi elected prime minister of India;President Bill Clinton admits making false statements under oath;Singer Janis Joplin born; Dolly Parton is born.

The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever.

Herb Caen

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I mean, if you don’t like lobsters you don’t really need any excuse, more for me. If you must there’s always Leviticus (better not see you wearing wool and cotton at the same time) or an allergy (my allergy to Bell Peppers is very real, I also don’t like them).

To pretend that shooting cows in the head with a bolt gun (see, we can’t even waste a bullet, it’s uneconomic) is somehow more humane is sheer hypocrisy. You eat meat or you don’t. As we learn more about plants we find their behavior is not much different from animals though they are less mobile and take longer to react. Feel better about yourself now?

Not that I’m particularly tortured by vegans or vegetarians unless they go out of their way. Eat what you enjoy. I’m more offended by people like Trump who will take a perfectly good piece of beef, incinerate it into shoe leather, and wash it down with ketchup.

I’m sorry sir, you’re welcome to anything else on the menu with the house’s compliments but my Chef refuses to cook it that way and I pay him a great deal more than your tab.

No, my restaurant is not for sale. To you.

So it turns out even Tim Kaine and Mark Warner (Ds Virginia) are definitively against the Continuing Resolution as it stands including just SCHIP (because nobody wants kids to die except Republicans who at least have the decency to desire it secretly) no DACA at all (which only kills Black and Brown kids because however upstanding they may be as individuals they’re not White like Norwegians, so much for content of character) and the reason it’s noteworthy is Virginia’s lousy with Government employees who are going to lose their paychecks in a Shutdown.

Trump, McConnell, Ryan, and the Republicans have already lost Mike Rounds (R SD), and Lindsey Graham (R SC) and it requires a 60 vote majority that leaves them 13 Democrats short in the Senate at least. Think they’re going to pick it up with John Tester (D MT)? Politico says not so.

Not that this is some kind of grand Leftist triumph or at least Centerist capitulation as MSNBC would have you believe.

Who is going to get the blame? Well, it’s as much institutional as it is circumstantial. Republicans are hanging their hats on the fact they’re a bunch of racist xenophobes and that their hate of Black and Brown people at least ingratiates them with their base of Klanners and Neo-Nazis despite the large majorities of U.S. voters who are not as prejudiced.

Democrats benefit from the perception they’re pro Big Government (not so much really) and defending the weak and helpless but there’s no denying that they are the opposition who are going to make it difficult to continue “business as usual”.

Oh well, what did Martin Luther King have to say about this? I’m sure I read it just the other day.

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.
…
I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

We shall see if Institutional Democrats are suited for the task before them.

By the time I was in my Senior Year of High School I lacked but a quarter credit of Gym to graduate and while I scheduled myself an apparently rigorous array of academics I didn’t really take it very seriously because what were they going to do? Flunk me?

Umm… as it turns out my Phys Ed teacher kind of resented that I’d used my Varsity Sport exemption (Swim Team) to avoid it 3 years running and made me ritually humiliate myself (I got detention and had to clean out everyone’s stinky locker) before he’d sign off, but other than that I had my own office (ok, technically I shared it with the other editors of the alternative student newspaper), a magical pass that made my presence optional after Home Room (again newspaper), and a well trained Home Room teacher I saw for about 3 weeks ever before she decided I was hopeless and disruptive (she wrote me a glowing recommendation in my yearbook).

So I was living the Ferris Bueller dream without having to cough up a lung. Oh yeah.

All of which goes to explain why I was running out of electives and decided to join Choir as well as Band because I needed something to amuse me besides tests and papers (which I dutifully continued to ace, #47 out of 735).

And the practice room was a convenient place to hang out and socialize if you weren’t a regular in the Smoking Lounge or didn’t like the lunchroom stink of the Commons or the solitary silent confinement of the Library (though I was welcome in all those places). If you were especially inoffensive yet involved you could even grab a chair in the office the Choir Conductor and the Band Director shared which was cool because they were padded and spun around and rolled, just like real office chairs.

The particular incident I’m about to relate took place before I made myself persona non grata by snitching in print (newspaper again) the Band Director was playing favorites in his grading (there were elements of religious and sexual discrimination too, but we couldn’t quite prove that) putting the kibosh on his promotion and ultimately costing him his job (who says actions don’t have consequences?). That’s not the piece I won a Columbia School of Journalism Award for anyway, that was a story proving God doesn’t exist (what about atheist are you not understanding?).

Anyway the Band Director was pretty much an ill tempered jerk, even to his colleagues, and unloved by Slytherin which, by definition, puts him lower than a snake’s belly. On this day when I wandered into the office, as was now my custom to establish my daily attendance, he was engaged in a phone dispute that made him very upset. He hung up with a bang and when the Choir Conductor made some mild remark like- “So what did he say?” he picked up the phone and threw it at him.

It was stopped only by the wire attaching it to the wall. Yes, I am old enough to remember when phones had wires.

Suddenly he noticed my presence and was all up in my face shouting and shaking his finger at me- “How long have you been there?”

Well, long enough to see you assault the Choir Conductor. Just like you’re assaulting me now. If you touch me, well, that would be battery.

That folks is the difference. I can assault you with mere words. If there is physical contact it’s not just assault but battery. They’re both classified as violent crimes. Something to remember in the #metoo moment.

I have mixed emotions. I have certainly made people feel bad and I think in every instance I was entirely justified in doing so. Non je ne regrette rien, the good, the bad, it’s all the same. On the other hand I was just a snot nosed smart ass and didn’t give a moment to consideration of the effect my choices made on the people around me. Indeed, I don’t today.

I suppose that makes me a horrible, or at least dangerous, person to know.