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 Tunes
“Calypso” To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean, to ride on the crest of the wild raging storm.
To work in the service of life and the living, in search of the answers to questions unknown.
To be part of the movement and part of the growing, part of beginning to understand.
Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to,
the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell.
Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you
to light up the darkness and show us the way.
For though we are strangers in your silent world, to live on the land we must learn from the sea.
To be true as the tide and free as a wind swell, joyful and loving in letting it be.
Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to,
the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell.
Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.
Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to,
the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell.
Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.
Breakfast News
CIA initially ‘kept Colin Powell in the dark’ about torture practices
A Senate report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention practices after the 9/11 attacks concludes that the agency initially kept the secretary of state and some US ambassadors in the dark about harsh techniques and secret prisons, according to a document circulating among White House staff.
The still-classified report also says some ambassadors who were informed about interrogations of al-Qaida detainees at so-called black sites in their countries were instructed not to tell their superiors at the State Department, the document says.
US condemns shelling of UN school in Gaza but restocks Israeli ammunition
The United States issued a firm condemnation of the shelling of a United Nations school in Gaza that killed at least 16 Palestinians on Wednesday, but also confirmed it restocked Israel’s dwindling supplies of ammunition.
The White House expressed concern that thousands of civilians who had sought protection from the UN were at risk after the shelling of the girls’ elementary school. Some 3,300 civilians were taking shelter there, after being told by Israel to leave their homes.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which runs the school, said its initial assessment was that it has been struck by Israeli artillery.
U.S. Attorney Warns Cuomo on Ethics Case
In an escalation of the confrontation between the United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over the governor’s cancellation of his own anticorruption commission, Mr. Bharara has threatened to investigate the Cuomo administration for possible obstruction of justice or witness tampering.
The warning, in a sharply worded letter from Mr. Bharara’s office, came after several members of the panel issued public statements defending the governor’s handling of the panel, known as the Moreland Commission, which Mr. Cuomo created last year with promises of cleaning up corruption in state politics but shut down abruptly in March.
Mr. Bharara’s office has been investigating the shutdown of the commission, and pursuing its unfinished corruption cases, since April.
Massachusetts governor signs law to limit protests at abortion clinics
Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick on Wednesday signed into law a measure allowing to police to order anti-abortion protesters away from clinic entrances if their presence impedes public access.
The measure comes a month after the US Supreme Court knocked down a 2007 Massachusetts law prohibiting protests within 35 feet (11 meters) of the entrances of reproductive health facilities, a measure that the top court found violated the right to freedom of speech.
Argentina heads for second default as talks with bondholders break down
Argentina was heading for its second debt default in 13 years on Wednesday night after negotiations with bondholders broke down in New York.
Axel Kicillof, Argentina’s economy minister, said US hedge funds rejected the country’s latest offer.
Kicillof has been locked in intense negotiations with holdout creditors demanding to be paid the full value for bonds they own on which Argentina defaulted. The talks have been overseen by a mediator appointed by a US judge who ordered Argentina to pay the creditors.
The court-appointed mediator, Daniel Pollack, confirmed that no agreement had been reached and “the Republic of Argentina will imminently be in default”.Argentina was heading for its second debt default in 13 years on Wednesday night after negotiations with bondholders broke down in New York.
Axel Kicillof, Argentina’s economy minister, said US hedge funds rejected the country’s latest offer.
Kicillof has been locked in intense negotiations with holdout creditors demanding to be paid the full value for bonds they own on which Argentina defaulted. The talks have been overseen by a mediator appointed by a US judge who ordered Argentina to pay the creditors.
The court-appointed mediator, Daniel Pollack, confirmed that no agreement had been reached and “the Republic of Argentina will imminently be in default”.
Liberia shuts schools as Ebola spreads, Peace Corps leaves three countries
Liberia will close schools and consider quarantining some communities, it said on Wednesday, rolling out the toughest measures yet imposed by a West African government to halt the worst outbreak on record of the deadly Ebola virus.
“This is a major public health emergency. It’s fierce, deadly and many of our countrymen are dying and we need to act to stop the spread,” Lewis Brown, Liberia’s information minister, told Reuters. “We need the support of the international community now more than ever. We desperately need all the help we can get.”
Chihuahuas’ uniforms the buzz of baseball
In a season full of memorable and eye-catcing Minor League theme uniforms, the El Paso Chihuahuas have raised the bar. Or perhaps the bone.
The Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres unveiled its newest look yesterday, a “Bark at the Park” uniform top that, appropriately, is a huge photograph of an actual chihuahua. Photos of the jersey began making their way around the web, and by Thursday afternoon, the dog-inspired threads had been officially dubbed “the best jerseys in sports” by USA Today.
The jerseys — described by Sports Illustrated as “the most amazing uniforms of all time” — will be worn by El Paso players during a Pacific Coast League game against Reno on Aug. 3 before being auctioned off to benefit the Humane Society of El Paso. The team, which relocated to Texas this spring, said the uniforms “feature the face of a Chihuahua embodying the spirit of the brand.”
Crop circle in Germany attracts many visitorsCrop circle in Germany attracts many visitors
Thousands of people are trekking to a Bavarian farmer’s field to check out a mysterious set of crop circles.
The ornate design was discovered by a balloonist last week and news of the find quickly spread online.
Must Read Blog Posts
How Worshiping The Market Can Bring Ebola to the US by spocko, My FDL
Failure in Iraq, and the Coming Failure in Afghanistan, ExplainedFailure in Iraq, and the Coming Failure in Afghanistan, Explained by Peter van Buren, FDL The Dissenter
UK Government Report Recommends Ending Online Anonymity by Mike Masnick, Techdirt
DC Circuit Court Tells District Officials They Can No Longer Hide From FOIA Requests By Using Personal Email Accounts by Tim Cushing, Techdirt
ISPs tell government that congestion is “not a problem,” impose data caps anyway by Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica
Active attack on Tor network tried to decloak users for five months by Dan Goodin, Ars Technica
The Daily Wiki
Genocide is the systematic destruction of all or part of a racial, ethnic, religious or national group via the (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Genocide entails also the Conspiracy to commit genocide; Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; Attempt to commit genocide; and Complicity in genocide. What constitutes enough of a “part” to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars. While a precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). Article 2 of this convention defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Stupid Shit by LaEscapee
Cross posted to The Stars Hollow Gazette and Voices on the Square
