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
Nazi war crimes trial begins at Nuremberg; Robert F. Kennedy born; Britain’s future Queen Elizabeth II marries; Spain’s dictator Francisco Franco dies; Mexican Revolution begins; ‘Cabaret’ hits Broadway.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.
Breakfast News
Armed With Fear, Not Facts, Officials Go After Encryption in Wake of Paris
Despite no available evidence that terror suspects used encryption to plan the Paris attacks, U.S. intelligence officials and lawmakers are seizing on the massacre to demand access to protected communications—in what critics warn is a blatant attempt to exploit fear in order to expand state surveillance.
Speaking at a cybersecurity conference in New York on Wednesday, FBI director James Comey argued that it is critical for government officials to have the power to read encrypted messages. Encryption has long been embraced by civil liberties advocates as a method for protecting internet and smartphone messages from spying and censorship—and ultimately safeguarding human rights.
Emergency Lawsuit Filed To Fight FDA Approval of ‘Frankenfish’
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday approved the sale and consumption of genetically modified (GM or GMO) salmon, delivering a big win to the biotech industry and ignoring long-held concerns by environmental and public health advocates who say the “Frankenfish” pose too many ecological risks to authorize.
At least one consumer advocacy group announced immediate plans to sue the FDA over its approval of AquaBounty’s GMO salmon, which is now set to become the first genetically engineered food animal in the world.
“The fallout from this decision will have enormous impact on the environment,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety (CFS). The organization was left with no other choice, he added, “but to file suit to stop the introduction of this dangerous contaminant.”
Two Syrian families present themselves to authorities at US-Mexico border
Eight Syrian refugees turned themselves in to immigration authorities along the US-Mexico border this week, officials said Thursday, and their chances of being allowed to stay are unclear due to political upheaval in the wake of the Paris attacks.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that two families – two men, two women and four children – presented themselves Tuesday in Laredo and are being held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It’s not uncommon for Syrians and others from the Middle East to seek asylum in the US through various routes, often flying first to Mexico.
Ohio pro-life senators suggests food banks as Planned Parenthood substitute
Ohio this week became the latest state poised to defund Planned Parenthood in reaction to dubious videos accusing its employees of violating federal law.
But in an apparent first, its lawmakers are not going after the family planning funds that legislators in many other states have targeted. Instead, Ohio abortion foes are taking aim at $1.3m Planned Parenthood uses to conduct STI and HIV tests, and infant mortality reduction programs to supplement the state’s troubled healthcare system.
In defense of the cuts, senators disseminated a list of alternative providers that include dentist offices, school nurses and a food bank as options for Ohio women.
Value of huge Botswana diamond still unknown
The Canadian mining company which this week unearthed the world’s largest diamond in more than a century says it cannot put a value on the 222g (7.8oz) stone.
The 1,111-carat gem was hauled from an open pit mine in central Botswana, by the Lucara Diamond Corporation, a Vancouver based firm.
William Lamb, the company’s chief executive, said Lucara had already been inundated with inquiries from potential buyers, but said it was impossible to price the diamond at this stage. The stone, the second largest ever recovered, was too large to fit inside the company’s own scanner, so it was be transported to Antwerp for closer inspection.
4,000 coins found in Roman treasure trove in Swiss orchard
A trove of more than 4,000 bronze and silver coins dating back to ancient Rome, uncovered this summer in the orchard of a fruit and vegetable farmer, has been described as one of the biggest treasures of this kind found in Switzerland.
The huge hoard of coins, buried about 1,700 years ago and weighing 15kg (33lb), was discovered in Ueken, in Switzerland’s northern canton of Aargau, after the farmer spotted some shimmering green coins on a molehill in his cherry orchard.
He guessed the coins were Roman, following an archaeological discovery a few months earlier, of remains of an early Roman settlement in the nearby town of Frick. He contacted the regional archaeological service , which later labelled it one of the largest such finds for Switzerland.
Remaining two NC Wyeth paintings stolen in 2013 return to Maine
A pair of stolen NC Wyeth paintings worth up to $500,000 apiece have been recovered and will be displayed in Maine along with four other stolen paintings recouped nearly a year ago in California, officials said Thursday.
The two paintings were recovered last month when a third party surrendered them to a retired FBI agent in the Boston area, Harold Shaw, special agent in charge of the bureau’s Boston field office, told reporters at the Portland Museum of Art, where the paintings were on display. No additional arrests have been made, and the investigation is continuing, he said.
All six Wyeth paintings were stolen in May 2013 from the home of a Portland businessman. Four of them were recovered by the FBI last December in Los Angeles, and three people were arrested at the time.
Must Read Blog Posts
47 Democrats Just Voted for Terror Charles Pierce, Esquire Poltical< Dianne Feinstein Inadvertently Calls to Expose America’s Critical Infrastructure to Hackers emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
Outside Powers Must End Their Proxy Wars in Syria Charles Glass, The Intercept
‘You Can’t Buy My Soul’: Drone Whistleblowers Speak Out Kevin Gosztola, ShadowProof
TPP’s Orwellian Definition of “Science” in its Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Chapter Lambert Strether of Corrente, naked capitalism
Ted Koppel Writes Entire Book About How Hackers Will Take Down Our Electric Grid… And Never Spoke To Any Experts Mike Masnick, Techdirt