Jan 14 2018

The Breakfast Club (Norwegian Wood)

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.

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AP’s Today in History for January 14th

George Wallace sworn in as Gov of Alabama, 1784 peace treaty with Britain ends revolution, 1943 Allied leaders pledge to continue WWII until unconditional surrender.

 

Breakfast Tune Norwegian Wood

 

Something to think about, Breakfast News & Blogs below

 
Hawaii ballistic missile false alarm results in panic
Julia Carrie Wong and Liz Barney, The Guardian

An alert about an incoming ballistic missile sent Hawaii into panic for about 30 minutes on Saturday, until emergency officials announced that the message had been sent in error.

The alert, which was sent to cellphones, said there was a threat “inbound to Hawaii” and said residents should seek shelter. “This is not a drill,” it added.

Tensions between the Trump administration and nuclear-armed North Korea have increased over fears the regime in Pyongyang may be able to reach US territory with a nuclear-armed missile. …

 
The Same Democrats Who Denounce Trump as a Lawless, Treasonous Authoritarian Just Voted to Give Him Vast Warrantless Spying Powers
Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept

LEADING CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS have spent the last year relentlessly accusing Donald Trump of being controlled by or treasonously loyal to a hostile foreign power. Over the last several months, they have added to those disloyalty charges a new set of alleged crimes: abusing the powers of the executive branch — including the Justice Department and FBI — to vindictively punish political opponents while corruptly protecting the serious crimes of his allies, including his own family members and possibly himself.

The inescapable conclusion from all of this, they have relentlessly insisted, is that Trump is a lawless authoritarian of the type the U.S. has not seen in the Oval Office for decades, if ever: a leader who has no regard for constitutional values or legal limits and thus, poses a grave, unique, and existential threat to the institutions of American democracy. Reflecting the severity of these fears, the anti-Trump opposition movement that has coalesced within Democratic Party politics has appropriated a slogan — expressed in the hashtag form of contemporary online activism — that was historically used by those who unite, at all costs, to defeat domestic tyranny: #Resistance.

One would hope, and expect, that those who genuinely view Trump as a menace of this magnitude and view themselves as #Resistance fighters would do everything within their ability to impose as many limits and safeguards as possible on the powers he is able to wield. If “resistance” means anything, at a minimum it should entail a refusal to trust a dangerous authoritarian to wield vast power with little checks or oversight. …

 
Louisiana teacher handcuffed forcibly after asking questions at board meeting
Jamiles Lartey, The Guardian

A Louisiana teacher who was forcibly removed from a school board hearing was booked on two crimes and bonded out of jail on Tuesday morning, court documents show.

Deyshia Hargrave, a middle school English teacher in the Vermilion Parish School District was handcuffed and dragged out of the meeting by a town marshal on Monday night after voicing her concerns about a contract that would give a raise to the district’s top administrator. During the public comments period, Hargrave was asked to stop asking questions, and she obeyed. Then when she was called on again by the board, the marshal stepped up and asked her to leave. The exchange was captured in video footage that has since gone viral.

Hargrave exited the room on her own, but once she reached the hallway, the officer took her to the ground and handcuffed her, leaving onlookers shocked. Court documents suggest she spent several hours in police custody before paying a bond to be released.

“What are you doing, can you explain!” Hargrave yelled as the officer picked her up from the floor and pushed her towards an exit, commanding her to “stop resisting”.

Hargrave responded: “I am not, you just pushed me to the floor!” …

 
PRIVATE PRISON CONTINUES TO SEND ICE DETAINEES TO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR REFUSING VOLUNTARY LABOR
Spencer Woodman, The Intercept

OFFICIALS AT A privately run Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in rural Georgia locked an immigrant detainee in solitary confinement last November as punishment for encouraging fellow detainees to stop working in a labor program that ICE says is strictly voluntary.

Shoaib Ahmed, a 24-year-old who immigrated to America to escape political persecution in Bangladesh, told The Intercept that the privately run detention center placed him in isolation for 10 days after an officer overheard him simply saying “no work tomorrow.” Ahmed said he was expressing frustration over the detention center — run by prison contractor CoreCivic — having delayed his weekly paycheck of $20 for work in the facility’s kitchen.

Those in ICE custody often work for as little as $1 per day and cannot legally be compelled to work.

Ahmed’s account adds to a growing chorus of ICE detainees who allege that they have been forced to work in for-profit ICE facilities or else risk punishment with solitary confinement — a harsh form of captivity that, if prolonged, can amount to torture. Late last month, ICE detainees at a CoreCivic-run facility in California sued the private prison contractor, alleging that they had been threatened with solitary confinement if they did not work. In October, The Intercept reported that officials had placed another detainee in solitary confinement for 30 days for “encouraging others to participate in a work stoppage” at the same privately run facility where Ahmed was disciplined, the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something to think about over coffee prozac

People On Twitter Tell Trump No One In Norway Wants To Come To His ‘Shithole Country

After President Donald Trump made racist remarks lamenting immigrants coming from “shithole countries” like Haiti and nations in Africa rather than from Norway, people on Twitter, including some actually from Norway, were quick to remark that, for many Norwegians, America may seem to be a bit of a shithole.
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Jan 13 2018

Throwball Divisional Playoffs 2018: Titans at Patsies

I have fond enough memories of Tennessee. My Club (capo di tutti) met there frequently and the first time I visited it was Memphis. I highly recommend Mud Island, a concrete representation of the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to the Gulf you can easily stride across like some Gulliver in the Northern sections terminating in a bilious green cess pool representing the Gulf that our more inebriated could not resist bathing in despite strict signage to the contrary and disapproval of the staff.

I understand there are also some jazz and blues venues.

For me the highlight was scamming my way into Graceland, pretending to be an accredited member of the press. Not only did I get to go through the Big Gate (the one you see in all the pictures, peon tourists go through a smaller door at the side) I was able to see the fatal toilet and lie on Elvis’ grave and think about death.

You may have a different definition of fun.

Later we had a visitor from my Club who was temporarily assigned to a local business HQ and didn’t have anything to do in his spare time. So we showed him around Stars Hollow including Luke’s and Miss Patty’s. Of course we took him to Teriyaki Joe’s, he was from Tennessee and had probably never seen Sashimi before.

I think he enjoyed himself. When I later visited Chattanooga I was visiting the Tennessee Hospitality Suite where the price for a Jack and Coke was a story. Well, you know me-

They didn’t bury him–they planted one end, and let him stand up, same as a monument. And they nailed a sign on it and put–put on–put on it–sacred to–the m-e-m-o-r-y–of fourteen y-a-r-d-s–of three-ply–car–-pet–containing all that was–m-o-r-t-a-l–of–of–W-i-l-l-i-a-m–W-h-e–”

I of course didn’t recognize him at all until he in turn told me of his stay in the Nutmeg State but it was all good and I was served doubles for the duration.

Chattanooga was quirky like that. I got bumped from a normal room to the “haunted” suite. I watched ducks tromp through the lobby to the central fountain. I introduced my buddy Ben to the niceties of Scotch and Cigars in the convenient Scotch and Cigar lounge (later I covered for him when he stole the National logo off the stage and stashed it in my room, “Ben would never do something like that,” said I who had accompanied him on dozens of early morning raids- to be fair, at the time I had no idea). I enjoyed Graves Grain Slurpies in a tacky shop next to the Fire Engine Museum.

In all the time I’ve been in Tennessee I was never once been served the meal I ordered even when I’ve sent it back for correction, but they’re very pleasant about it. They don’t make bourbon which is aged only in new charred Oak casks in the State of Kentucky, but they do make some nice sippin’ whiskey. They also have a fascinating Aquarium that details the various habitats and ecosystems along the Tennessee River that is well worth the 3 or 4 hour visit.

So, Tennessee. Red necked, bigoted, misogynous, and racist but not in an ‘in your face’ kind of way.

Let’s talk about the Patsies. I lived in Baahsten for a while and though it’s a wonderful place there is no denying that it has a certain kind of edgy inferiority vibe that comes from generations of comparison to The City (C’mon, you know what I’m talking about). The Great God Citgo is better, the pizza is better (umm… not better than Pepe’s), the Baseball is better despite that annoying record of futility…

I’ll tell you what’s better- The Constitution, it’s skinnier than Connecticut so it takes less time to figure out you’re hopelessly lost, and soon they will allow you to buy 2 ounces of recreational weed.

Oh, and Rachel Maddow and Charlie Pierce live there. Arlo Guthrie wrote a song about it, you remember Alice, and the Restaurant.

What’s not better is the lying, cheating Patsies. They lied to Hartford about moving the team. They cheat every chance they get, not limited to underinflated balls. Tom Brady is over rated and old and Bill Belichick hasn’t had an original idea in decades, instead coasting on Brady’s fading arm.

I hope the Titans kick their ass, but if not the Titans somebody, anybody else.

Yeah, that’s who I hate.

Jan 13 2018

Cable News Could Use More Like Joy Reid

MSNBC host Joy Reid does not suffer rude fools lightly. She asks direct questions of her guests and has the facts at her fingertips. Her interview this morning with Donald Trump apologist Pastor Mark Burns was the perfect example for other host of cable news on how to handle guests who won’t answer questions, spew false talking points and fake news. Burns had been trying to justify Trump’s racist comments about Haiti and African countries using Biblical quotes. Joy was having none of it. After putting up with his pontificating for so long, she cut his mike.

“One more question, I will give you one more chance to answer my question, then we’ll be done here,” Reid warned.

“You’re wasting my time when you talk over me and don’t answer my question,” Reid noted.

“You’re wasting my time,” Pastor Burns replied.

“Then good-bye,” Reid replied, ending the segment. “Let’s bring in our panel.”

The look on Joy’s face was priceless but that was not the end of it. Joy’s response is a thing of beauty.

Slightly 45 minutes later, Pastor Burns posted a video on Twitter from the car MSNBC provided him to take him back to his residence, thanking Reid but also criticizing her for sticking up for the people of Haiti — who Trump believes live in a “sh*thole.”

“She’s always been very kind and I think fair to me,” Burns said in the clip shown on AM Joy. “But I think, obviously in the interview that you just saw if you watch Joy, that she should just move to Haiti since she’s more concerned about Haitian immigrants than black Americans here in poverty.”

“Wow” Reid responded. “Let me address you. sir, I always do try to be kind to the people who are on the show, but we’re not friends. You’re somebody that I am glad that you’re willing to come on and I do try to be fair to you and I’m glad that you can see that.”

“As to the idea that I need to move to Haiti to be concerned about the people there; sir, you are a pastor,” she continued. “And in the Bible — you love to quote the Bible. Let me quote you John. It says: ‘Whoever sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?’” [..]

“I too am the child of immigrants and African-Americans and people who consider ourselves African-Americans, some of us have parents who are immigrants,” she added. [..]

“I hope that you will open your heart to the people of this world, to the people of this country and do your duty as a Christian to love your neighbor as yourself,” she stated before sarcastically adding, “But thanks for sharing your views.”

A word of caution to Trump apologists (I’m being kind), don not mess with Joy Reid.

Jan 13 2018

Throwball Divisional Playoffs 2018: Falcons at Eagles

Yeah, yeah. All about who you hate the most but this year’s field is so filled with fail that I’m hard put to summon any enthusiasm at all, thus the disinterest in the Wild Card round.

Besides, I had guests and places to go and things to do that were far more important than any stupid Throwball Game, it is barely above Turn Left Bumper Cars in attracting my attention, a scant nanosecond above a test pattern and far below an interesting Screen Saver (anyone else remember Flying Toasters?).

This (yawn) waste of 4 hours of my life I will never recover pits the Falcons against the Eagles and at least I have the hate thing going for me. The Eagles are in the same Division as my second favorite Giants (The worst thing they did all year was win 3 games thereby putting the 0 – 16 Browns at the head of the Draft) and I want them to lose bigly. It could easily happen as their late season performance sucked and the Falcons didn’t look so bad last week.

TMC on the other hand favors the Eagles on the basis of- Georgia. While I consider anything south of Virginia fundamentally shithole country (can I say that? The Donald does.) I never let my prejudice stand in the way of trashing regional rivals.

Anyway, next up is a team I really hate, the lying, cheating Patsies.

Jan 13 2018

Health and Fitness

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

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday and a chance to play around in the kitchen an extra day. Here are some ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus some fun snack recipes.

Oat and Apple Pancakes With Yogurt

The oats, nuts, and fruit in this batter will start your day on the right nutritional foot—even with a generous glug of maple syrup poured over the top.

Fried Egg on Toast with Salted Herb Butter and Radishes

When you have some herbs threatening to go past their prime in the crisper drawer, preserve them by making herb butter, which just happens to be an excellent landing pad for a perfectly fried egg.

Slow-Cooker Oatmeal With Apples and Ginger

Knowing you have a bubbling hot breakfast waiting for you on a chilly morning makes getting out of bed so much easier. This recipe feeds a crowd, but it also reheats easily for individual servings throughout the week.

Lemony Pasta with Cauliflower, Chickpeas, and Arugula

This is a vegetarian pasta lunch (or dinner!) that’s full of so much fresh arugula, it almost feels like eating a salad. In a good way.

Brothy Poached Chicken with Mushrooms and Fresh Chile

The real star of this dish is the flavorful ginger- and allspice-scented broth. Comforting anytime, it’s positively liquid gold for anyone feeling the first tingles of cold season.

Seared Scallops with Brown Butter and Lemon Pan Sauce

Juice lemons. Spoon out capers. Heat pan. Cook scallops. Make sauce in same pan. Serve.

Korean Fried Chicken

In this spicy version of classic Korean fried chicken, juicy, boneless chicken thighs are dipped in a light batter to form an extra-crispy crust, then lacquered with a gingery hot sauce.

One-Skillet Chicken with Buttery Orzo

Step One: cook orzo pasta in the drippings from roasted chicken thighs. Step Two: win.

Traditional Soft Pretzels

Maybe you’re looking for a weekend baking project. In that case, tackle pretzels. Once you’ve made a traditional German-style one from scratch, you’ll never settle for those beer hall imposters again.

Salted Coconut Granola

If you like to use Sundays to get ahead on your weekly cooking, make a big batch of this salty-sweet granola. You’ll have a delicious breakfast ready for you every day the following week.

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Jan 13 2018

The Breakfast Club (Ballad Of The Wall)

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

Japan apologizes; Douglas Wilder of Virginia is sworn in; “J’accuse” published;Composer Stephen Fost dies.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

We didn’t defeat the Nazis by becoming Nazis.

Nick Clooney

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Jan 12 2018

The Russian Connection: If This Be Treason

Treason as defined by Article 3, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump accused a line FBI agent of treason.

 

Mr. Trump, unprompted, labeled as “treason” a text message written by Peter Strzok, an agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who was removed in July as a top investigator on the special counsel’s team investigating whether Russia colluded with associates of Mr. Trump to influence the 2016 presidential election.

“A man is tweeting to his lover that if [Democrat Hillary Clinton ] loses, we’ll essentially do the insurance policy. We’ll go to phase two and we’ll get this guy out of office,” said Mr. Trump, giving his interpretation of Mr. Strzok’s text message.

“This is the FBI we’re talking about—that is treason,” the president said. “That is a treasonous act. What he tweeted to his lover is a treasonous act.”

Obviously, the Idiot in Chief has no clear definition of treason because he’s never read the Constitution. Even if he has, he has no comprehension of the law with which he plays fast and loose.

If Trump wanted too play fast and loose with that charge, he need look no further than his eldest son, Donald, Jr. who arranged a meeting in Trump Tower, just floors below his residence, with known foreign agents of an adversarial nation to acquire illegally obtained information against his opponent in the 2016 election.

That is about as close to the definition of treason you can get without actually being at war.

The list of Trump campaign officials who engaged in this chicanery is long and getting longer. Trump is right, there was no collusion with Russians, there was a conspiracy to put the power of the US presidency in the hands of a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It should be very clear by now, Donald Trump will do and say anything outrageous to take the focus off the issue that Russia interfered with the 2016 election, the investigation into his campaign conspiring with Putin’s agents and attempts to obstruct that investigation. Even Republican members of congress have joined the ranks of the Trump White House to cover up the conspiracy and end the investigation.

 

Jan 12 2018

The Racist-in-Chief

If there was any ever doubt in anyone’s mind that Donald Trump is a racist, that doubt was erased yesterday. In a meeting in the Oval Office discussing the protected status of immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Africa countries as part of a bipartisan immigration bill, according to a Washington Post report, Trump went off in an angry rant and said this: “Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?” He later suggested that the U.S. should bring in more immigrants from countries like Norway.

The White house has issued several statements since this news broke but none deny that Trump said this. This is not the first time Trump has let his racist views come out in public. Newsweek has a list of his past racist comments:

  1. Donald Trump kicked off his 2016 presidential bid by disparaging Mexican immigrants.“They are not our friend, believe me,” he said. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
  2. According to the New York Times, Trump said during a meeting in June that Haitians “all have AIDS.” The White House vehemently denied the report.
  3. During the same interview, Trump said that Nigerian immigrants wouldn’t ever “go back to their huts” in Africa.

In addition to immigrants, the president has also faced criticism for “racist” comments about people from other countries regardless of their immigration status.

  1. In the same interview, rump said that Afghanistan is a “terrorist haven.”
  2. During the 2016 presidential election, Trump called out a gold star Muslim family, and insinuated that the mother wasn’t talking because she was Muslim.“If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News in July.
  3. In May, Trump said that federal judge Gonzalo Curie couldn’t fairly hear the case because he’s Mexican. “We’re building a wall between here and Mexico. The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings — rulings that people can’t even believe,” he said.
  4. Before his career as a politician, Trump allegedly wouldn’t rent to black people back in the 1970s. This led to his company being sued twice by the Justice Department for discrimination.
  5. Trump retweeted an anti-Semitic meme.
  6. He was called a racist in November after he said this to Navajo Code Talkers: “I just want to thank you because you’re very, very special people. You were here long before any of us were here, although we have a representative in Congress who, they say, was here a long time ago. They call her ‘Pocahontas.’ But you know what, I like you because you are special. You are special people.”
  7. Trump claimed that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
  8. When Trump addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition in December 2015, he called himself “a negotiator like you folks,” which many people said brought up Jewish stereotypes.
  9. Trump once said, “Laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that,” according to John R. O’Donnell, author of his 1991 book Trumped!
  10. The president blamed “many sides” for neo-Nazi violence last year.
  11. Trump retweeted anti-Muslim propaganda from a far-right British group last November.
  12. During the 2016 presidential election, Trump pointed to a black man and said, “Look at my African American over there.”
  13. He retweeted false statistics about white homicide victims after a black activist was kicked and punched by at one of his rallies in Alabama.
  14. Trump asked African-American reporter April Ryan to set up a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. Prior to this exchange, he said that many African Americans were “living in hell,” in reference to conditions in inner cities, Politico reported.

“You actually have to curse to report on the president of the United States” To quote Donald Trump, “Sad.”

MSNBC Host Joy Reid, sitting in for “All In” host Chris Hayes, explains how her parents were from parts of the world where, according to President Trump, you’ll find ‘shithole countries’ from which the United States should not accept immigrants.

CNN host Anderson Cooper sent an emotional message to Haitians on the eighth anniversary of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that devastated their country.

Anyone making excuses for this man’s racist comments is as racist as he is.

Jan 12 2018

The Breakfast Club (5 Lies A Day)

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

Congress authorizes military force to expel Iraq from Kuwait; Soviet forces begin large offensive against Nazi Germany; First woman elected to U.S. Senate; Writer Agatha Christie dies; ‘All in the Family’ debuts on CBS.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.

Thomas Jefferson

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Jan 11 2018

The Red Wave

There is a red wave in congress, especially the House of Representatives with thirty one members of the Republican caucus heading for the door before the 2018 mid-term elections, stoking fears among the GOP leadership that they could lose control of the House to Democrats. The Democrats meed 25 seats to take back the gavel.

he unprecedented number of Republican retirements, which includes the sitting chairmen of eight different congressional committees, is a bad omen for the speaker, Paul Ryan, as he seeks to keep control of the lower chamber.

So far, five Republicans representing districts where Hillary Clinton won in 2016 are not seeking re-election this year. Four of them, including Issa, are retiring. The fifth, Martha McSally of Arizona, is seeking the state’s open Senate seat in a competitive primary against Tea Partier Kelli Ward and controversial former sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Representative Darrell Issa was a particular blow to the California GOP where they currently hold 14 congressional seats.

Issa had the closest race of any member of Congress in 2016. He beat his Democratic opponent Doug Applegate by 1,600 votes in a district that swung heavily against Republicans in the presidential race. Clinton won by seven points in a district that Republican Mitt Romney won by a similar margin in 2012.

Issa’s retirement is a major blow to House Republicans in a district that analysts had considered a toss-up. Not only was Issa a nine-term incumbent but as one of the richest members of Congress, he was able to self-fund his campaign.

His decision not to seek another term makes him the second swing-district California Republican to retire in the past week. On Monday, Ed Royce, the chairman of the House foreign relations committee, announced he too would retire. Royce, a 13-term incumbent, represents a district where Clinton won by nearly 10 points in 2016.

Both California Republicans are victims of the changing political demographics of the state. They both represent parts of Orange County, the once deep-red bastion of suburban conservatism that has undergone a transformation in recent years. In 2016, Clinton became the first Democrat to win there since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936.

While about the same number of Democrats and Republicans are leaving thier seats to run for other offices, there will be only 15 empty Democratic seats as opposed to the 31, so far, for Republicans. The big wins in Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial and state legislative races could spur a bigger exodus among the GOP worried over te political environment under the Trump administration. The more Republicans retire in districts that Hillary Clinton carried last year, the more the GOP majority is at risk.

Contributing to the read wave out the door are Trump’s low favorability rating and the inability of the House to pass any meaningful legislation. The trend at this point is giving the edge to control the house to the Democrats. As for the Senate, the retirements of Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), plus the unprecedented win in Alabama and outside change or regaining the majority in the Senate even though they are defending more seats than the Republicans.

The Democrats needs to keep up the momentum through the next several months and get the massage out on their agenda other than just being anti-Trump.

Jan 11 2018

Trump Dumb. Staff Worried.

Hey, I have Cliffs Notes too.

Jan 11 2018

The Breakfast Club (Top Versus Bottom)

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

U.S. government warns of smoking risks, Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to fly solo across Pacific, Major League Baseball introduces designated hitter.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

Politics isn’t about left versus right; it’s about top versus bottom.

Jim Hightower

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