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.
Breakfast Tune: Fearless (Pink Floyd cover)
Today in History: September 6th
President William McKinley shot in Buffalo, N.Y.; Funeral held for Britain’s Princess Diana; Mother Teresa mourned in India; Movie director Akira Kurosawa dies; Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame born. (Sept. 6)
Something to Think about, Breakfast News & Blogs Below
Europe set for bruising battle over sharing refugee burden
Ian Traynor, The Guardian
Eastern European leaders have rejected calls from Berlin, Paris, and Brussels for a concerted and binding policy of sharing refugees across the EU, setting the scene for a bruising 10 days of battles over how Europe responds to its worst post-war migration emergency.
The prime ministers of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia met in Prague on Friday and set themselves robustly against pressure, mainly from Berlin, for sharing the refugee burden on a mandatory basis.
Eastern European countries are expected to offer to take in more people from those arriving in Greece, Italy and Hungary, but they rejected proposals that would make the distribution of refugees compulsory and permanent. …
Japan lifts evacuation order for town near Fukushima
The Associated Press
Japan’s government on Saturday lifted a 4 1/2-year-old evacuation order for the northeastern town of Naraha that had sent all of the town’s 7,400 residents away following the disaster at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.
Naraha became the first to get the order lifted among seven municipalities forced to empty entirely due to radiation contamination following the massive earthquake and tsunami that sent the plant’s reactors into triple meltdowns in March 2011.
The central government has said radiation levels in Naraha have fallen to levels deemed safe following decontamination efforts. …
In Guatemala, a justice experiment gone right
Kate Newman & Rodrigo Fuentes, Al Jazeera
GUATEMALA CITY – Many Guatemalans felt vindicated to see the country’s former president, Otto Pérez Molina, in court Friday for heading a major corruption scheme. Following several months of massive protests – more than 100,000 people gathered in Guatemala City on August 27, the country’s largest protest of all time – Congress voted to remove the President’s immunity so that he could be tried for his crimes. In the late hours of Sept. 2, President Otto Pérez Molina resigned.
This newly emboldened citizenry is thanks in great part to the work of Thelma Aldana, the country’s Public Prosecutor, and Iván Velásquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala. Known by its Spanish acronym CICIG, the commission works to eradicate criminal networks in Guatemala. It operates under a U.N. mandate alongside the country’s Office of the Public Prosecutor and other state institutions.
CICIG has functioned under three commissioners: Spaniard Carlos Castresana, Costa Rican Francisco Dall’Anese and Colombian Iván Velásquez, who has been in office since 2013. …
- A rates hike may hurt the US economy – so why don’t the 2016 candidates seem to care?
Dean Baker - In ‘Win for Public Schools,’ Wash. Supreme Court Rules Charter Schools Unconstitutional
Andrea Germanos - A Summer Tale of a Very Big Bank
Christopher Brauchli
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac:
Texas teen fatally shoots himself while taking selfie
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A 19-year-old Texas man who was posing with a gun for a social media selfie photo accidentally shot himself and died from the wounds, Houston police said on Wednesday.
“A witness told police he was taking a selfie with a gun and the gun accidentally discharged,” Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said.
The identity of the man killed in the Tuesday incident in Houston has been withheld pending an investigation by the coroner. …
Breakfast Quote:
I found that the loudest fans in the world are in Istanbul.
Roger Waters
1 comment
Author