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
World War II’s Yalta Conference; O.J. Simpson found liable for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend; Patty Hearst kidnapped; the Massachusetts gay marriage ruling; aviator Charles Lindbergh born.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Stupid Shit by LaEscapee
Breakfast News
Almost 2,500 Now Killed by Covert US Drone Strikes Since Obama Inauguration Six Years Ago
At least 2,464 people have now been killed by US drone strikes outside the country’s declared war zones since President Barack Obama’s inauguration six years ago, the Bureau’s latest monthly report reveals.
Of the total killed since Obama took his oath of office on January 20 2009, at least 314 have been civilians, while the number of confirmed strikes under his administration now stands at 456.
Research by the Bureau also shows there have now been nearly nine times more strikes under Obama in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia than there were under his predecessor, George W Bush.
And the covert Obama strikes, the first of which hit Pakistan just three days after his inauguration, have killed almost six times more people and twice as many civilians than those ordered in the Bush years, the data shows.
Final EPA Review Makes It Clear: ‘Keystone a Climate Disaster’
In a letter to the State Department released Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the Keystone XL pipeline would “significantly increase” greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands-a declaration environmentalists hope will serve as a final nail in the project’s coffin.
“The EPA’s assessment is spot-on,” said Danielle Droitsch, Canada project director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “There should be no more doubt that President Obama must reject the proposed pipeline once and for all. If built, it would transport Canadian tar sands oil-the dirtiest fuel on the planet-through America’s heartland, only to be refined and then shipped abroad. The pipeline would threaten our waters, our lands and turbo-charge climate pollution. It’s absolutely not in our national interest.”
In the letter (pdf), EPA said the recent drop in oil prices means that building Keystone XL would promote further expansion of Canadian tar sands, unleashing more greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbating climate change.
As California Water Resources Dwindle, New Fears Over Drilling Waste Contamination
With the blessing of California state regulators, drilling companies have injected an untold amount of toxic wastewater left over from fracking and other drilling operations into aquifers, according to an investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle published on Sunday.
In October, it was confirmed that nearly 3 billion gallons of oil industry wastewater had been illegally dumped in aquifers through at least nine disposal wells. According to data reviewed by The Chronicle, it is now evident that more than 170 such wells injected a mix of “briny water, hydrocarbons and trace chemicals,” including acid, into aquifers suitable for drinking and irrigation.
This information about the extent of the aquifer contamination comes as the state’s historic drought continues to push many desperate municipalities to tap groundwater reserves for drinking water and agricultural irrigation.
College Completion Gap Between Rich and Poor Has Doubled: Study
The college completion gap between rich and poor students has doubled over the past four decades, according to a new report published Tuesday.
Only 9 percent of students from the lowest-income families currently earn bachelor’s degrees by age 24, in contrast to the 77 percent of students from the wealthiest families. While the number of wealthy students obtaining bachelor’s degrees has nearly doubled since 1970, when it stood at 44 percent, it has inched only three percentage points for low-income students-up from 6 percent-in forty years, according to the report, Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States (pdf).
Moreover, the study found that the enrollment gap between rich and poor students has narrowed across the board-indicating that more low-income students are entering college, but far fewer are able to finish.
FCC Poised to Protect Local Internet Alternatives Over Service Giants
In what could be a major victory for public alternatives to internet service giants , the Federal Communications Commission introduced a draft proposal to kill municipal broadband limits in two states this week.
Commissioners are expected to vote on the proposal on February 26, the same day they are likely to vote on net neutrality regulations. The draft was introduced by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.
If passed, the policy will preempt state laws that limit the extent to which cities can buy and operate internet service-laws which are reportedly preventing alternative, publicly-owned broadband providers from competing with major ISP companies like Comcast and Verizon. Local broadband operators petitioned the FCC to intervene on their behalf.
Canada ‘Can’t Hide’ From Climate Impacts of Energy East Pipeline, Groups Say
More than 100,000 messages from people across Canada were hand-delivered on Monday to the National Energy Board’s office in Calgary demanding climate impacts be considered in the agency’s review of the proposed Energy East tar sands pipeline.
The largest petition ever delivered to the NEB-organized by environmental and civil society groups including 350.org, Leadnow.ca, the Council of Canadians, Greenpeace, and Avaaz-calls on NEB head Peter Watson to “either include climate impacts and community voices in his review, or lose all credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of the Canadian people.”
The Energy East pipeline would transport 1.1 million barrels per day of toxic tar sands oil from Alberta to the Atlantic Ocean, traversing at least 90 watersheds and 961 waterways between Alberta and New Brunswick-including some protected by Indigenous treaty rights.
From scavenging seaweed to swearing, Rhode Island plans to ditch archaic laws
Rhode Island’s gardeners, boxers and shameless swearers beware: you could be breaking the law and not even know it.
A law restricting the amount of seaweed Barrington residents can take from the public beach to use as fertiliser has been on the books for nearly 200 years. Since at least 1798 it’s been illegal to arrange to meet another person and engage in a fight – a deed punishable by jail time of up to 10 years.
And drivers who pass another vehicle on the left are still supposed to give a “timely, audible signal” – an easing of the original 1916 law specifying that a bell or horn should be used.
A Rhode Island lawmaker wants to repeal these outdated laws and many others – a process that would happen every year if his proposal is passed.
Freedom is not washing your hands? US senator picks bad day for health joke
If ever there was a good time to crack a joke about dismantling the basic public health infrastructure of the United States, it was not this week, with top Republicans on Capitol Hill questioning the fundamental science of vaccines.
But newly minted Republican senator Thom Tillis jumped in anyway, bragging at a public forum about a shining point he had made in a debate about regulations on business. As the video that started to go viral on Tuesday made all too clear, his not-too-serious idea involved employees who might not wash their hands.
Tillis opposes regulations on business. To illustrate how much he opposes them, he took up an example that, on a day when the speaker of the House had to clarify that he supports vaccinations, could be seen as unfortunate.
The senator said he would gladly abolish rules requiring food service employees to wash their hands after using the toilet, so long as businesses had to post a sign notifying the public.
Must Read Blog Posts
Blind Partisanship: Why US Peace Movement is So Small David Swanson, MyFDL
How DEA Keeps Defendants in the Dark on Role Intelligence Agencies Play in Their Prosecution Kevin Gosztola, FDL The Dissenter
Standard & Poor’s To Pay $1.4 Billion For Causing Financial Crisis DSWright, FDL
U.S. Says Details of Aid to Afghan Army Now a Secret, from Americans at Least Peter Van Buren, FDL
“People could die and that’s OK”: Why the right’s free-market health philosophy is ludicrous Heather Digby Parton, Salon
Rand Paul needs to be shushed: Why the confrontational brat is not ready for prime time Joan Walsh, Salon
Democrats Reward Steve Israel for Incompetence Tammany Tiger, causus99percent
Obama Budget ‘Partisan-Gridlock’ Fake-Out! libbyliberal, Corrente
NYPD Commissioner: Because Terrorism And Protests Are Roughly The Same Thing, A New Special Unit Will Handle Both Tim Cushing, Techdirt