The Breakfast Club (Stayin’ Alive)

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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This Day in History

South Africa frees Nelson Mandela; Allied leaders in the last months of World War II sign the Yalta accords; Ayatollah Khomeini’s followers seize power in Iran; inventor Thomas Edison born.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

Thomas A. Edison

Breakfast News

Syria airstrike hits Médecins Sans Frontières-supported hospital

An airstrike hit a hospital in southern Syria that is supported by Médecins Sans Frontières, killing three people and wounding six, the medical charity has said.

“The strike on Tafas field hospital, some 12 km (seven miles) from the Jordanian border, took place on the night of 5 February,” MSF said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that a nurse was among the casualties. “It caused partial damage to the hospital building, and put its heavily used ambulance service out of action.

“The hospital is the latest medical facility to be hit in a series of airstrikes in southern Syria, which have been escalating over the past two months.”

FBI moves in on last four occupiers at Oregon wildlife refuge

Federal agents on Wednesday closed in on the last four anti-government militants still holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon after a 40-day-old armed occupation, the FBI said in a statement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said no shots have been fired and that negotiations to end the occupation without violence were continuing.

The four protesters were indicted last week along with 12 others previously arrested on charges of conspiring to impede federal officers during the standoff at the compound.

The takeover at Malheur, which began on Jan. 2, was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting fires that spread to federal property in the vicinity of the refuge.

Justice Dept. sues Ferguson, Missouri, to force police reforms

The U.S. Justice Department sued Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday to force the city to change its police department and court system after the federal government found both to be biased against minorities.

The St. Louis suburb, a symbol of problems with policing and race in the United States, earlier on Wednesday said it wanted to change an agreement it had negotiated with the federal government due to the costs involved.

“The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for their city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them safe,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference.

She said the agreement that was decided upon had been painstakingly negotiated and Ferguson officials knew that rejecting it would invite litigation.

Tamir Rice: Cleveland says family owes $500 for EMS after fatal police shooting

The city of Cleveland wants the family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy killed by police, to pay hundreds of dollars to the government to cover “emergency medical services” for the child’s “last dying expense”, according to records.

The city’s attorneys filed a claim on Wednesday against Rice’s estate alleging that the family owes $500 for an unpaid EMS bill from the boy’s death, sparking outrage from Ohio supporters of the family who described it as a particularly cruel legal maneuver.

“The callousness, insensitivity, and poor judgment required for the city to send a bill after its own police officers killed a 12-year-old child is breathtaking,” Subodh Chandra, the family’s attorney, said in an email. “This adds insult to homicide.”

French Foreign Minister Fabius leaves office, wider reshuffle due

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday he was leaving the government ahead of a reshuffle President Francois Hollande is set to announce in coming days to reshape his team ahead of the 2017 presidential elections.

The reshuffle comes at a time when a beleaguered Hollande is suffering a fresh drop in popularity and deep discontent within his party over contested plans to strip French citizenship from people convicted of terrorism.

“I will be leaving office,” Fabius told reporters, adding that a wider reshuffle, which has been in the works for months, would be announced later this week.

Fabius, 69, who played a prominent role in sealing an international deal with Iran limiting its nuclear program and helped broker a global climate change agreement, was picked by Hollande to head the country’s top constitutional court.

Breakfast Blogs

Last Call: The Life and Death of an Ambulance Driver in Yemen Shuaib Almosawa, The Intercept

Obama Celebrates Nine Years of Doing Nothing About Money in Politics Jon Schwarz, The Intercept

The Victories in New Hampshire, and the Darkness to Come Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics

District Attorneys Use Spying as Cover To Demand a Law Enforcement Back Door emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel

CIA Director Freaks Out After Senator Wyden Points Out How The CIA Spied On The Senate Mike Masnick, Techdirt