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
Crisis unfolds in Little Rock, Ark. over racial integration in schools; Ford rolls out its ill-fated Edsel; Attorney William Kunstler dies; Mark Spitz sets Olympic gold record; Singer Beyonce born.
Breakfast Tunes
Breakfast News
Justice Dept. to probe Ferguson police force
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this week will launch a broad civil rights investigation into the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department, according to two federal law enforcement officials.
The investigation, which could be announced as early as Thursday afternoon, will be conducted by the Justice Department’s civil rights division and follow a process similar to that used to investigate complaints of profiling and the use of excessive force in other police departments across the country, the officials said. [..]
Holder’s decision will represent the Obama administration’s most aggressive step to address the Ferguson shooting, which set off days of often-violent clashes between police and demonstrators in the streets of the St. Louis suburb.
The federal officials said the probe will look not only at Ferguson but also at other police departments in St. Louis County. Some, like Ferguson, are predominantly white departments serving majority-African-American communities, and at least one department invited the Justice Department to look at its practices. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the pending inquiry.
Warming Gulf of Maine Imperils Lobster, Fish Catch
Imagine Cape Cod without cod. Maine without lobster. The region’s famous rocky beaches invisible, obscured by constant high waters.
It’s already starting to happen. The culprit is the warming seas – and in particular the Gulf of Maine, whose waters are heating up faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, scientists say.
Long-established species of commercial fish, like cod, herring and northern shrimp, are departing for colder waters. Black sea bass, blue crabs and new species of squid – all highly unusual for the Gulf – are turning up in fishermen’s nets.
The Gulf of Maine’s warming reflects broader trends around the North Atlantic. But the statistic – accepted by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – underscores particular fears about the Gulf’s unique ecosystem and the lucrative fishing industries it supports for three U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.
Louisiana judge ends streak of gay rights victories with marriage ruling
A judge in Louisiana on Wednesday delivered the first federal ruling against same-sex marriage rights since key portions of the Defense of Marriage Act were struck down by the supreme court in 2013.
The ruling breaks a string of 21 court victories for the gay rights movement, since the Doma decision.
Declaring Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage constitutional, Judge Martin LC Feldman ruled that the state had a “legitimate interest under a rational basis”, for “addressing the meaning of marriage through the democratic process”. Louisiana law bans same-sex marriage and does not recognise same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
Feldman rejected due process, equal protection and free speech claims in a lawsuit against state attorney general James D Caldwell. The case, Robicheaux v Caldwell, was brought by two couples: Derek Penton and Jon Robicheaux, and Courtney and Nadine Blanchard.
DNA clears North Carolina inmates after 30 years in prison
North Carolina’s longest-serving death row inmate and his half-brother serving a life sentence have been exonerated and released from prison after spending more than 30 years behind bars for a rape and murder they did not commit.
Robeson County superior court acted with lightning speed to free the two men, Leon Brown and Henry McCollum, who were 15 and 19 at the time of their arrest in 1983. It was testimony to the overwhelming strength of the evidence that was presented to the court that judge Douglas Sasser cleared them of the murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie on the first day of a hearing to consider new DNA evidence in the case.
The evidence absolved McCollum and Brown, now 46 and 50, of any link to biological material collected at the crime scene. It also found a positive match with a known sex offender from the same small town who was living just feet away from the field in which Buie’s body was found.
Netflix pushes for rule allowing cities to build high-speed internet services
Netflix has called on US regulators to free up cities and local governments to build out their own high-speed internet services. The move is the latest in a series of challenges Netflix has made to policies being championed by the telecom and cable companies.
In a filing made public on Tuesday, Netflix told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that it should step in to block state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that prevent cities from expanding their own services to compete with companies such as Comcast, Cox or Time Warner Cab [..]
In its submission Netflix argued the expansion was a public good. “When municipalities harness that technology to extend new opportunities to new communities, federal and state laws should encourage that initiative, or at the very least, get out of the way,” it said.
Immigration tensions bubble up among Democrats as midterms near
Tensions within the Democratic party over immigration burst into the open on Wednesday as pro-reform campaigners accused party moderates in the Senate of leaning on the White House to delay action until after November’s midterm elections.
Luis Gutiérrez, a Chicago congressman and leading proponent of immigration reform in the House of Representatives, urged unnamed critics in the Senate to stand aside and let president Obama take executive action to reduce deportations without delay. [..]
The White House had previously promised to complete a review of its legal options and announce concrete measures before the end of the summer but has grown increasingly vague on timing in recent days amid rumoured pressure from Senate campaign teams worried about the impact on their midterm electoral chances.
Must Read Blog Posts
Cop Finally Convicted in Killing Peter van Buren, FDL The Diessenter
The Holder-Clapper Letter Ought to Make You Worried about Leahy’s USA Freedom Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
“What Else Haven’t You Let Us Know?” 2nd Circuit Asks DOJ Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
Judge Says Los Angeles Law Enforcement Doesn’t Need To Turn Over License Plate Reader Data Tim Cushing, Techdirt
Therapy session digby, Hullabaloo
No, You Will Not Be President, Either Charles P. Pierce, Esquire’s Politics Blog
Froomkin Blogs Again: Obama Makes Bushism the New Normal Dan Froomkin, The Intersept