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
Pink Floyd releases its best-selling album “The Wall”; Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Dick Clark born; World Trade Organization’s meeting met by 40-thousand protesters;
Breakfast Tunes
Remembering Cynthia Robinson
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.
Breakfast News
Climate change protests take place around the world on eve of summit
From Melbourne to Mexico City, tens of thousands of people worldwide hit the streets this weekend for a global climate march, pressing world leaders to push for a bold international agreement at the upcoming climate summit in Paris.
The center for the demonstrations was supposed to be Paris, where nearly 150 world leaders are gathering for a U.N. global summit on climate change that kicks off Monday. But after the terrorist attacks there more than two weeks ago that killed at least 130 people, French police banned large protests.
Colorado Victims Identified as Iraq Veteran and Woman From Hawaii
As an Army specialist in Iraq, Ke’Arre M. Stewart lived with fear and saw tragedy, a friend said. At home in the United States, he felt safe. Then a man in a trench coat opened fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic here — and shortly after, Mr. Stewart, 29, along with two others, was dead. [..]
In a post on Facebook on Sunday, John Ah-King announced the death of his daughter, Jennifer Markovsky, 35, in the attack. “To my daughter Jennifer I’m going to miss so much,” he wrote. “Life was to short my beloved daughter.”
Europe, Turkey seal deal to stem flow of migrants
Turkey will help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for cash, visas and renewed talks on its joining the European Union in a deal struck Sunday that the Turkish prime minister called a “new beginning” for the uneasy neighbors.
Leaders of the 28 European Union states met Turkish premier Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels on Sunday evening to give their collective political blessing to an agreement hammered out by diplomats over the past few weeks.
A key element is $3.2 billion in EU aid for the 2.2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. The money is intended to raise the refugees’ living standards so that more will stay put rather than attempt often-perilous crossings to the Greek islands and the EU.
Sea Shepherd Blasts Japan’s Plan to Slaughter 4,000 Minke Whales
Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd warned Japan against resuming “research” whaling in the Antarctic in defiance of an international court of justice ruling that it cease the practice and called on the Australian government to intervene.
After a decade of activism by Sea Shepherd and other groups, Japan was forced to abandon its 2014-15 Southern Ocean hunt after the International Court of Justice said the annual expedition was a commercial activity masquerading as research. But on Saturday, Japanese media reported it would start again soon, despite a call by global regulators for more evidence that the expeditions have a scientific purpose. Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun and other media said the Japanese fleet could depart possibly by the end of December.
Despite international disapproval, Japan has hunted whales in the Southern Ocean under an exemption in the global whaling moratorium that allows for lethal research.
Town demolishes veteran’s house while he has surgery
When a Navy veteran traveled from Long Island to Florida for a knee replacement, his house was the last thing on his mind. But now his memory of it is all he can think about.
Philip Williams’s home was demolished in the spring by town officials while he spent about six months recuperating from surgical complications in Fort Lauderdale. Back in New York, officials in the town of Hempstead deemed his modest two-story home unfit for habitation and knocked it down.
The 69-year-old has waged a legal battle against the suburban New York town. He wants reimbursement — for the house and all the belongings inside.
’12 Days of Christmas’ Items Top $34K, up 0.6 Percent
Lords a-leaping is the U.S. economy slow to recover!
The cost of 10 lords a-leaping increased 3 percent over last year, but nine of the other 12 gifts listed in the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” stayed the same price as last year, according to the 32nd annual PNC Wealth Management Christmas Price Index released Monday.
The index is a whimsical way the Pittsburgh-based bank tracks inflation.
The set of gifts spelled out in the final verse of the song would cost $34,131 this year, or 0.6 percent more than the adjusted 2014 price of $33,933. PNC decided to adjust the historic prices of turtle doves and swans after realizing the prices quoted by vendors didn’t reflect the birds’ overall value on the open market over the years.