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
Bolshevik Revolution takes place; America’s 2000 presidential vote faces limbo; Nixon loses Calif. governor’s race; Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses; Evangelist Billy Graham and singer Joni Mitchell born.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day. Dalai Lama
Breakfast News
Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline and hails US as leader on climate change
Barack Obama ended seven years of high-wire political drama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, saying the decision reflected America’s determination to be a global leader in the fight against climate change.
The move, less than four weeks before more than 190 countries gather in Paris to try to reach a global deal to reduce carbon pollution, reinforces Obama’s commitment to making climate change the domestic and international legacy of his second term in the White House – even in the face of Republican hostility.
‘Assault on Free Speech in India’ as Government Moves to Destroy Greenpeace
Marking an escalation of ongoing hostilities between the Indian government and Greenpeace India, the Tamil Nadu Registrar of Societies on Wednesday cancelled the environmental NGO’s license to operate in the country—a move akin to kicking the group out altogether.
“While several international leaders, including the United Nations Secretary General, have recently upheld the importance of civil society in healthy democracies, this notice is the latest assault on free speech in India,” Greenpeace India said in a statement. “Over the last 18 months, Greenpeace India has endured repeated attempts at suppression through different government authorities, and prepares yet again to seek legal redress.”
Ruptured Dams Engulf Brazilian Village in Toxic Mine Waste
At least two dams ruptured at a Brazilian open-pit mine on Thursday, sending a torrent of toxic sludge and wastewater pouring into a nearby village—submerging vehicles, sweeping away homes, and leaving over a dozen people feared dead.
Located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, the mine is run by Samarco, a joint project between the Australian company BHP Billiton—the world’s biggest mining company—and the Brazilian company Vale—the largest iron ore producer. The structures that failed were tailings dams, which hold toxic chemicals and other waste from the mining process.
‘Bright Spots’ Worldwide Show 100% Renewable Can and Must be Done
As a new UN report finds that emissions pledges made by governments for the upcoming climate talks in Paris represent just half of what they need to be to keep warming under the 2C threshold, places around the world are proving themselves to be “bright spots” in the transition to a clean energy.
In one recent example, Austria’s biggest state and home to over 1.6 million people, Lower Austria, said Thursday that all of its electricity is now being generated by renewables.
Religious children are meaner than their secular counterparts, study finds
Children from religious families are less kind and more punitive than those from non-religious households, according to a new study.
Academics from seven universities across the world studied Christian, Muslim and non-religious children to test the relationship between religion and morality.
They found that religious belief is a negative influence on children’s altruism.
“Overall, our findings … contradict the commonsense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind towards others,” said the authors of The Negative Association Between Religiousness and Children’s Altruism Across the World, published this week in Current Biology.
Must Read Blog Posts
So Hillary Clinton Didn’t Send Classified Material on Her Email After All Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
It’s Not Just the FISA Court, It’s the Game of Surveillance Whack-a-Mole emptywheel aka marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
Mexican Supreme Court Rules Prohibition Of Cannabis Unconstitutional Claire Bernish, ShadowProof
Full Text of TPP, Including Annexes, and Boy is it Nasty Yves Smith, naked capitalism
US Officials Have No Problem Leaking Classified Surveillance Information… As Long As It Fits Their Narrative Techdirt administrator, Techdirt