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 hungoverwe’ve been bailed outwe’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.
This Day in History
Virginia Tech shooting kills 32 students and faculty; Country’s deadliest industrial accident in Texas; Vladimir Lenin returns to Russia after years of exile; Charlie Chaplin born; Prince Andrew and Duchess of York announce divorce; Rolling Stone release debut album; Michael Jordan plays last NBA game.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.
The roof is fully engaged, the central spire has collapsed, the medieval stained glass windows (I’ve worked with stained glass a bit) are threatened with destruction not to mention the many Gargoyles and sculptures and other priceless art inside the Cathedral.
They started building it in 1160 which means it’s 859 years old.
It’s incredibly depressing and so I’ll distract you and myself with this-
Maryann Thorpe
It’s not easy being green
Did you know Kermit was hooked on Oxy? Well you would if you’d watched the John Oliver I posted earlier.
Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from> around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Pondering the Pundits”.
A surprising, important difference between the Green New Deal and Medicare for all.
Right now there are two big progressive ideas out there: the Green New Deal on climate change and “Medicare for all” on health reform. Both would move U.S. policy significantly to the left. Each is sponsored by a self-proclaimed socialist: the Green New Deal by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Medicare for all by Bernie Sanders. (Of course, neither of them is a socialist in the traditional sense.) Both ideas horrify not just conservatives but also many self-proclaimed centrists.
Yet while they may seem similar if you think of everything as left versus right, they’re very different on another dimension, which you might call purity versus pragmatism. And that difference is why I believe progressives should enthusiastically embrace the G.N.D. while being much more cautious about M4A.
You see, for all its sweeping ambition, the Green New Deal is arguably an exercise in pragmatism — in the proposition that the perfect is the enemy of the good.
Extraditing the founder of WikiLeaks is an attempt by the US to intimidate anyone who exposes its crimes
States that commit crimes in foreign lands depend on at least passive acquiescence. This is achieved in a number of ways. One is the “othering” of the victims: the stripping away of their humanity, because if you imagined them to be people like your own children or your neighbours, their suffering and deaths would be intolerable. Another approach is to portray opponents of foreign aggression as traitors, or in league with hostile powers. And another strategy is to cover up the consequences of foreign wars, to ensure that the populace is kept intentionally unaware of the acts committed in their name. [..]
But Assange’s extradition to the US must be passionately opposed. It is notable that Obama’s administration itself concluded that to prosecute Assange for publishing documents would gravely imperil press freedom. Yes, this is a defence of journalism and media freedom. But it is also about the attempt to intimidate those who expose crimes committed by the world’s last remaining superpower. The US wishes to hide its crimes so it can continue to commit them with impunity: that’s why, last month, Trump signed an executive order to cover up civilian deaths from drones, the use of which has hugely escalated in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan.
Silence kills, because a public that is uninformed about the slaughter of innocent people by their own government will not exert pressure to stop the killing. For the sake of stopping crimes yet to be committed, this extradition – and the intentionally chilling precedent it sets – must be defeated.
In 1820 China had the largest economy in the world. By 1787 the British East India Company was selling them 680,000 pounds of Opium a year. They weren’t the only providers, just one of the bigger ones. Among the English they had a Crown Monopoly on the Trade.
By 1833 they were providing 5.1 Million pounds and after years of attempting to buy them off, in 1839 the Chinese seized a bunch of it. Britain, not satisfied with the value of the settlement for the property, engaged in an aggressive military campaign against China called The First Opium War.
China was resoundingly defeated and in the diktat of Nanking surrendered control of Hong Kong in perpetuity, and opened the ports of Shanghai, Canton, Ningpo, Foochow, and Amoy, gave most favored nation status to the English and added provisions for British extraterritoriality (meaning British citizens were not subject to Chinese law). There was a Second Opium War in 1856 but it was more about Territorial expansion and trading in Chinese Slaves than Opium.
All of which are very bad things to do.
Three Songs about Heroin, an Opioid
I’ve had Opioids, Codeine for a variety of ills (toothache), Morphine for Hospital level pain (I call that a 6, 10 is passed out and 9 is I want to die), Fentanyl as an anesthetic (I don’t remember missing a full day per se but there were events other people attest to that I can’t recall), and Oxycontin, a lot of it over a fair amount of time (3 – 4 weeks maybe) after I broke my leg in half a dozen places.
Never finished it. At the end it was just making me paranoid and itch all over so I stopped. Didn’t affect my overall pain level which normally runs at about a 2. Yeah, pretty much every day, you get used to it.
Withdrawal? Didn’t notice it (I already felt pretty crappy) so my experience is mine and probably not typical.
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 hungoverwe’ve been bailed outwe’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.
This Day in History
The Titanic sinks off the coast of Newfoundland; President Abraham Lincoln dies; Jackie Robinson becomes first African American player in Major League Baseball; US launches air raid against Libya; Cambodian Communist revolutionary Pol Pot dies; Punk rocker Joey Ramone dies at age 49.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.
Bah, I feel I have a good mix. Most of it is as funny as it can be under the circumstances. I should be more socially active, that’s what all the websites tell me. I think it eats your soul. Not because of disagreement, it’s the demand for instant response.
I have a cell to call out, maybe get a text. My Voice Mail is full so please don’t bother and don’t pretend you’ve reached me either.
I read. I write. I’m trying to give up obsessive competitiveness. Were I still at dK I’d be duking it out with Elise to see who could finish with more comments and higher mojo (I posted over 100 per day and carried an average mojo of 5 Recs per).
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 hungoverwe’ve been bailed outwe’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.
Update 2: So, we have a US extradition charge. This is a direct assault on the freedom of the press and those who say it isn’t are fools. The DOJ claim is that Assange didn’t just accept Manning’s documents, he encouraged Manning to go get more. Journalists do this all the time. Likewise, Assange is not American and Wikileaks is not an American institution, so the US is claiming extraordinary extradition rights.
So, it begins. The US put a ton of pressure on Ecuador to make this happen:
More: WikiLeaks says its founder Assange did not "walk out of the embassy". The Ecuadorian ambassador invited British police into the embassy and he was immediately arrested https://t.co/FWYZSDrQlE
In itself, this isn’t a big deal, though Ecuador’s caving is pathetic (if rather expected). The question is: What comes next? If Assange is extradited to the US, it will be a huge blow for freedom of the press. Since the Swedish sexual assault charges have been rescinded, if that doesn’t happen this all seems rather overblown.
This has nothing to do with Assange being something of a piece of work. It has to do with the fact that the information Wikileaks released with collateral murder, and even with the DNC leak, was legitimate journalistic information. The idea that journalists don’t accept info from state actors or don’t have political biases and preferences is hilariously wrong and stupid.
It’s also absurd to pretend that Assange has been treated as any other suspect. He hasn’t. His entire case has been politicized from the start, with pressure exerted that is not routine for the sort of sexual assault of which he was accused.
This is a political situation, from its start to its conclusion, whatever that might be.
Remember that Manning was just recently sent to prison on contempt charges because she refused to cooperate with a US grand jury on Wikileaks.
Assange isn’t a nice guy and that isn’t relevant to either his rights, or the bad precedent which will be set if he is prosecuted for releasing information, no matter what the source or reason.
Jason Crow was one of the victorious Democrats who ran in last year’s midterm election on a promise to reject campaign cash controlled by business interests. In one of his first television commercials in the campaign, Crow, now a member of Congress from Colorado, touted his pledge not “to take a dime of corporate PAC money.” Recent campaign finance filings reveal that, about two weeks after being sworn into office, Crow accepted $5,000 from the American Hospital Association PAC, which represents public and private hospital companies across the country.
The Colorado Democrat is one of several newly elected House Democrats to have run on a pledge to eschew corporate money, but have found a broad loophole to begin collecting funds from political action committees affiliated with big business.
…
The pledge loophole being exploited by these Democrats hinges on the Federal Election Commission’s designations for noncandidate-affiliated PACs. The elections regulator allows six different registrations, which include corporate, labor union, and trade association PACs. Trade associations are private groups typically formed by a collection of businesses from the same industry to advance shared interests in politics and public policy. Oil companies such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil, for instance, are represented by the American Petroleum Institute. Banks have the American Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable.
Though the groups are not directly designated as corporate PACs — which are set up by for-profit companies and only take money from a particular company’s employees — they nonetheless represent infusions of corporate money into electoral politics by operating as coalitions to advance shared industry lobbying goals.
Some Democrats who pledged not to take corporate PAC money are leveraging the different FEC designations to stay true to the letter of their promises while violating their spirit.
Pondering the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
On Sunday mornings we present a preview of the guests on the morning talk shows so you can choose which ones to watch or some do something more worth your time on a Sunday morning.
This Week with George Stephanopolis: The guests on Sunday’s “This Week” are: White House press secretary Sarah Sanders; Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MI); and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH).
The roundtable guests are: ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl; former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ); Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel; Democratic Strategist Stefanie Brown James; and Republican Strategist Alice Stewart.
Face the Nation: Host Margaret Brennan’s guests are: Face the Nation will not be seen this week due to coverage of the Masters Golf Tournament.
Meet the Press with Chuck Todd: The guests on this week’s “MTP” are: White House spokesperson and liar Kellyanne Conway; and 2020 presidential candidate Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA)
The panel guests are: David Brooks, New York Times columnist; MSNBC host Kasie Hunt; Danielle Pletka, conservative commentator and Eugene Robinson, Washington Post columnist.
State of the Union with Jake Tapper: Mr. Tapper’s guests are: Chair of the House Justice Committee Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY); Sen. Rick “Voldemort” Scott (R-FL); and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
His panel guests are: Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D); conservative commentator Scott Jennings; former Obama State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki; conservative commentator Linda Chavez.
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