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.
This Day in History
Breakfast News
—–
Oscar Pistorius Weeps Through Apology to Reeva Steenkamp’s Family
Oscar Pistorius took the stand today and apologized to the family of his slain girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and told the court that he thought he was protecting her.
Pistorius, 27, struggled to keep his composure during his testimony, crying a times and other times speaking so low through a wavering voice that the judge politely asked him to speak up. Others in the courtroom also cried during Pistorius’ testimony.
—–
Relative Calm in Parts of Syria Is Deceptive
The change of atmosphere here in the Syrian capital is unmistakable. The boom of shelling no longer dominates the days and nights. Tensions over security are draining from the city like air from a balloon. Checkpoints remain ubiquitous but sentries are relaxed, even jocular, teasing strangers, “Any bombs?”
As government forces seize the last insurgent strongholds along the Lebanese border, securing the strategic corridor from Damascus to the coast, President Bashar al-Assad’s home region, the message from the government is clear: It is winning, and it can afford to be magnanimous. It is offering what it calls reconciliation to repentant opponents, and some are accepting.
But the relative tranquillity may be deceptive. Beneath a calm imposed by military force, siege and starvation, the stage appears set for an unstable period of prolonged conflict that could explode again months or years on. Resentment and distrust smolder on all sides. The country remains divided between government areas and the insurgent-held north. In the capital, the ferment seems clamped down, rather than soothed.
—–
Kiev says Russia provokes trouble in eastern Ukraine, just as in Crimea
The Ukrainian government dispatched its highest-level police and security officials to the eastern part of the country Monday in an effort to put down separatist violence described as inspired by Russia and following a script that played out in Crimea.
“The plan is to destabilize the situation,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an emergency cabinet meeting Monday morning. “The plan is for foreign troops to cross the border and seize the country’s territory, which we will not allow.”
—–
Most Immigrants Deported Under Obama Had Thin or No Criminal Record
Most of the 2 million people who have been deported under President Barack Obama were expelled after committing minor infractions, despite Obama’s promise that his administration was targeting immigrants who were threats to the community.
The New York Times found in an investigation of government records that two-thirds of immigrants deported from the U.S. since 2008 committed minor traffic violations or had no criminal record at all. Another 20% – about 394,000 people – had a criminal record or faced drug charges.
—–
2 Die in Florida Plane Crash During Zombie Movie Filming
Authorities say two people are dead after their small plane crashed as they filmed a zombie movie in north Florida.
Marion County Sheriff’s officials say the plane went down around 8 p.m. Sunday in Summerfield, near Ocala.
—–
How to Fix Rehab: Expert Who Lost Son to Addiction Has a Plan
The call came on a Saturday, a day after Thomas McLellan told an auditorium of graduate students to rethink the science of addiction. As a research psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, no one knew more about the subject. But despite his expertise, both McLellan’s sons had become addicts. His oldest was in rehab for alcohol abuse.
But the call-from a sobbing relative-was about Bo, the younger son, who had begun to mix drinking with pills. He finished college the day of his dad’s lecture, and died of an overdose the very same night.
—–
An Entire Day Of LAX Takeoffs In One Epic Photo
—–
On March 29, the sun unleashed a massive X-class solar flare causing a brief radio disturbance while generating a series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
CMEs are powerful plasma eruptions near the surface of the sun driven by kinks in the solar magnetic field.
Earlier this month, scientists came a step closer to understanding this powerful phenomenon behind solar flares by witnessing, for the first time, the mechanism behind it.
—–
Simple Blood Test To Spot Early Lung Cancer Getting Closer
One of these days there could well be a simple blood test that can help diagnose and track cancers. We aren’t there yet, but a burst of research in this area shows we are getting a lot closer.
In the latest of these studies, scientists have used blood samples to identify people with lung cancer.
At the Stanford School of Medicine, spends some of his time as a radiation oncologist treating patients with cancer, and some of his time delving into the world of DNA. In particular, he’s been working on ways to detect DNA that has been shed from a tumor and ends up in a patient’s blood.
—–
Must Read Blog Posts
The Neverending CIA Drone Story Actually about Outsourced Intelligence
How Rare Are Anti-Gay-Marriage Donations in Silicon Valley?
Sunday Train: Koch Brothers Aim to Screw Tennessee Transit Riders & Motorists
Anti-Capitalist Meetup: IWD in Cardiff, Wales – a talk on Austerity and Women
—–
The Daily Wiki
Sycophant
—–
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.
—–
Breakfast Tunes
—–
1 comments
Author