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
labama Gov. George Wallace shot on presidential campaign trail; Newly-founded Israel attacked by Arab neighbors; The U.S. Supreme Court breaks up Standard Oil.; Country singer June Carter Cash dies.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Contrary to what people say, there’s no upper limit to stupidity.
Breakfast News
The 1997 law that limits compensation to victims of railway accidents
The victims of Tuesday’s tragic railway derailment in Philadelphia may find themselves twice victimized when they attempt to recover damages from Amtrak, thanks to a 1997 law that caps damages to all passengers injured in a major railway accident to $200 million.
The Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act (ARAA), passed to save the railway from bankruptcy, was lauded by then-President Bill Clinton as the “most comprehensive restructuring of Amtrak since the early 1980s.”
Legal analysts and plaintiffs’ attorneys say it was a bailout.
Protests in Seattle greet Shell oil rig destined for Arctic drilling
The first of two Royal Dutch Shell drilling rigs slated for Arctic oil exploration has arrived in Seattle as environmental activists gear up for days of protests over plans to store the equipment at the city’s port.
Shell is planning to use Seattle as a base to store and maintain the rigs and other equipment as it resumes exploration and drilling this summer in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, where it has not drilled since a mishap-filled 2012 season.
The decision to resume drilling, and the port’s decision to allow Shell to lease space in Seattle, has been met with anger by some city leaders and environmental activists who say drilling in the delicate Arctic ecosystem could lead to an ecological disaster.
Charlotte to pay $2.25m to family of black man shot dead by white officer
The city of Charlotte has reached a $2.25m settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of a black man shot to death by a white police officer in 2013.
City attorney Bob Hagemann announced at a news conference Thursday that the Charlotte city council unanimously approved the settlement with the family of Jonathan Ferrell. He said he expects the city to pay the family within a matter of days.
Hagemann said the settlement contains no admission of guilt.
Isis reaches gates of ancient Syrian city Palmyra, stoking fears of destruction
Islamic State group fighters have advanced to the gates of ancient Palmyra on Thursday, raising fears the Syrian world heritage site could face destruction of the kind the jihadis have already wreaked in Iraq.
Isis fighters were battling Syrian troops less than two kilometres (barely a mile) from the remains of one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world, Syria’s director of antiquities said.
The jihadists reached the oasis town after a lightning advance across the desert in which they overran government forces in fierce fighting that cost the lives of 110 combatants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Opah, the world’s first warm-blooded fish species, flaps fins to generate heat
The opah is the first fish species found to be fully warm-blooded, circulating heated blood throughout its body much like mammals and birds, research has revealed.
The fish, found in the waters off the US, Australia and several other countries, generates heat by constantly flapping its fins and has developed an internal “heat exchange” system within its gills to conserve the warmth.
This adaptation means warm blood that leaves the opah’s body core helps heat cold blood returning from the surface of the gills where it absorbs oxygen, maintaining an average body temperature of about 4C to 5C.
Must Read Blog Posts
Russ Feingold Wants His Old Job Back Charles P. Pierce, Esquire Politics
Politico Gives CIA’s Worst WMD Liar a Platform to Slam Seymour Hersh Jon Schwarz, The Intercept
Obama’s War on Leaks Faces Backlash in Court Peter Maass, The Intercept
Elizabeth Warren’s Trade Deal Fears Confirmed: Canada Uses NAFTA to Challenge Volcker Rule Yves Smith, naked capitalism
Nestle is closing in on privatized water in Oregon Louis Ropek, AMERICAblog
Ex-CIA Officials To New York Times: Don’t Try To Hold The CIA Accountable. The CIA Will Hold The CIA Accountable. Tim Cushing, Techdirt
Wyoming Makes Reporting Environmental Disasters Illegal Glyn Moody, Techdirt