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
President Ronald Reagan born; Hillary Clinton runs for the U.S. Senate; Britain’s King George VI dies; baseball legend Babe Ruth and reggae superstar Bob Marley born.
Breakfast Tunes
Happy Birthday, Natalie. Be well
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
What’s One More War
I don’t claim to know how to solve all the world’s problems, but arming everyone and letting God sort it out hasn’t worked very well lately.
Breakfast News
New Jersey Gov. Christie Signs Bill ‘Siding With Private Water Companies’ Over Public Water
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law on Thursday legislation that critics say sells out the state’s water supply and democratic process for private profits.
The Water Infrastructure Protection Act, which purportedly aims to address aging infrastructure , allows for fast-tracking of sales of municipal water systems to private entities.
Among the sponsors of the measure, which passed the state legislature in December, was Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), who stated Thursday: “We recognize that there are times when private entities might be most capable of operating, maintaining and upgrading drinking water and sanitary wastewater systems,” and keeps “the public’s ability to be part of the process.”
Quite the opposite, according to the law’s critics.
Oil-Soaked Interest Groups Doing Their Best to Kill Mass Transit
Fossil fuel-backed, billionaire-friendly interests are doing their best to kill any increase in the federal gas tax-in turn, hobbling efforts to boost mass transit or fix America’s crumbling infrastructure.
Last Wednesday, a laundry list of about 50 anti-government groups, including the Koch Brothers-backed groups like Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Partners, and Club for Growth, sent a letter (pdf) to Congress stating “strong opposition” to raising the gas tax. The tax, which has sat at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993, finances the dwindling Highway Trust Fund and pays for roads and bridges around the country.
Defense Department’s Legal Bid to Suppress Detainee Abuse Photos Reaches ‘Line in the Sand’
A years-long legal battle to compel the Department of Defense to release over 2,000 photos depicting abuse and torture of detainees in U.S. custody may have reached a critical moment on Wednesday.
Some of the photos have been described as being possibly more disturbing than those from Abu Ghraib. The Telegraph previously reported that they “were largely taken by U.S. troops themselves as they posed with prisoners or corpses and were gathered during the course of 203 military investigations in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
At the Manhattan hearing, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein issued the DoD a one-week deadline to submit its reasons for suppressing each of the photos, as the court had ordered last year, according to reporting by Newsweekand The Guardian.
Hellerstein said the case had reached “a line in the sand,” and said, “I could give you more time to satisfy my ruling…but I am not changing my view,” Newsweek reports.
Amid New Claims, Calls Intensify to Declassify Saudi Chapter of 9/11 Report
Following developments this week in which the alleged 20th hijacker of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 claimed in a stated deposition that prominent officials within the Saudi government offered substantial financial support for al Qaeda in the years prior to the plot against targets in New York City and Washington, D.C., renewed calls are emerging for the U.S. government to declassify a chapter of the official 9/11 Commission Report which is thought to detail its conclusions about the role Saudi Arabian higher-ups may or may not have played in those events.
Fifteen of the nineteen identified hijackers were Saudi nationals and questions have long-simmered about what, if any, knowledge Saudi officials may have had about the attack or-more contentiously-if any members of the nation’s royal family or intelligence services may have played an active role in financing or enabling it.
As Specter of Wider War Threatens, Jordan Targets ISIS with New Airstrikes
The Jordanian government appears to be escalating the country’s participation in the U.S.-led war on ISIS, launching air strikes and executions in the wake of the burning death of Jordanian pilot, First Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh, which was revealed earlier this week.
An anonymous Jordanian official confirmed to AFP on Thursday that the military had launched a strike against ISIS following al-Kasasbeh’s execution but did not specify in which country the attack occurred. Jordan has conducted numerous strikes within Syria, as journalist Chris Woods documents, but has not yet bombed targets inside Iraq.
Analysts, however, warn that the heavy response merely plays into the hands of ISIS, which they say has a direct interest in the ratcheting up of tensions and violence across the region.
‘Black Girls Matter’: Report Exposes System Oppression of Often-Ignored Groups
Girls of color regularly face harsher school punishments than their white counterparts, while simultaneously being ignored by legislative and community efforts to close the school-to-prison pipeline, despite the proven negative impacts of zero-tolerance discipline which exposes minority girls to expulsion, violence, and arrest, a new study released Wednesday has found.
Punitive disciplinary policies “negatively impact Black girls and other girls of color. Yet much of the existing research literature excludes girls from the analysis, leading many stakeholders to infer that girls of color are not also at risk,” according to the report, titled Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected (pdf).
Published by the African American Policy Forum jointly with Columbia University, the report seeks to “increase awareness of the gendered consequences of disciplinary and push-out policies for girls of color, and, in particular, Black girls.”
Monsanto Crops Pushing Monarch Butterfly to ‘Verge of Extinction’
Herbicide-resistant genetically modified crops have brought the iconic monarch butterfly to the brink of extinction, according to a new report presented by the Center for Food Safety to Congress on Thursday.
The report, Monarchs in Peril (pdf), is the most comprehensive look yet at how Monsanto’s ‘Roundup Ready’ crops have helped decimate the monarch population, which has declined by 90 percent in the past 20 years.
“This report is a wake-up call. This iconic species is on the verge of extinction because of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crop system,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director at Center for Food Safety. “To let the monarch butterfly die out in order to allow Monsanto to sell its signature herbicide for a few more years is simply shameful.”
Must Read Blog Posts
Senators Disregard Security Agencies’ Calls to Close Guantanamo, One Says Prisoners ‘Can Rot in Hell’ Kevin Gosztola, FDL The Dissenter
Ukraine Report Creates Conflict Within Brookings Institution DSWright, FDL News Desk
How CIA Criminalized a Senate Staffer Google Search Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
Brilliant New Iraq Strategy Unveiled: Promote Sunni-Shia Reconciliation Jim White, emptywheel
[EFF Launches Awards Program For Most Outrageous Failures In FOIA Responses ] Mike Masnick, Techdirt
Judge Resigns From Forensic Science Committee, Calls Out DOJ’s ‘Trial By Ambush’ Tactics Tim Cushing, Techdirt
The World’s Email Encryption Software Relies On One Guy, Who Is Going Broke Julia Angwin, Techdirt