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
America enters World War Two; Former Beatle John Lennon is shot to death in New York.
Breakfast Tunes
Remembering Holly Woodlawn
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!
Breakfast News
US supreme court rejects challenge to Chicago suburb’s assault weapons ban
The US supreme court on Monday rejected an appeal from gun owners who challenged a Chicago suburb’s ban on assault weapons.
The justices, acting in the aftermath of the San Bernardino, California, mass shooting, left in place a lower court ruling that found that local governments have leeway in deciding how to regulate firearms. The federal appeals court in Chicago upheld the city of Highland Park’s 2013 gun law that bans semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.
In October, the federal appeals court in New York largely upheld similar laws in Connecticut and New York, among a handful of states that ban semi-automatic weapons.
The supreme court has repeatedly turned away challenges to gun restrictions since two landmark decisions that spelled out the right to a handgun to defend one’s own home.
Paris climate talks: biggest polluters back tougher warming target
The world’s biggest climate polluters rallied around a stronger target for limiting warming on Monday, saying they were open to the 1.5C goal endorsed by the most vulnerable countries.
In the final push to a climate agreement, the US, Canada, China and the European Union declared they were now on board with demands from African countries to adopt an even more ambitious goal to limit warming.
“We can’t go home and say ’we saved the planet, check.’ This issue will continue to be a top priority for the president and the White House coming out of Paris heading into next year and for remaining time that he is in office because there is more work to do,” a White House official said.
Small island states say the current temperature goal of 2C would bring doom, drowning low-lying areas, and forcing mass migration.
Opec bid to kill off US shale sends oil price down to 2009 low
Oil prices have slumped by 5% after the latest attempt by Saudi Arabia to kill off the threat from the US shale industry sent crude to its lowest level since the depths of the global recession almost seven years ago.
Signs of disarray in the Opec oil cartel prompted fears of a global glut of oil, wiping $2 off the price of a barrel of crude on Monday and leading to speculation that energy costs could continue tumbling over the coming weeks.
Shares in energy companies lost ground as the impact of the drop in oil prices rippled through European stock markets. Prices of other commodities also weakened following disappointment among traders that Opec had decided late last week to keep flooding the global market with cheap oil.
Germany on course to accept one million refugees in 2015
Germany registered 964,574 new asylum seekers in the first 11 months of the year, putting Europe’s top economy on track for a million arrivals in 2015, official figures have shown.
Some 206,101 migrants entered the country in November alone, a new monthly record, up from a previous high of 181,166 in October, according to the interior ministry.
The number of arrivals for the year so far was more than four times the total for all of 2014 with Germany now the top European destination for people fleeing conflict, repression and misery in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
The data did not provide a breakdown of the nationalities of the new arrivals.
Chicago officer not charged in second controversial death as video is released
The Chicago officer who fatally shot Ronald Johnson III as he ran from police will not be charged, prosecutors announced on Monday before the public release of video of the shooting.
Cook County state’s attorney Anita Alvarez announced her decision not to prosecute officer George Hernandez after showing dashboard camera footage of the confusing scene that preceded and followed the shooting of the 25-year-old, in October 2014.
The footage, which had no audio, showed the flashes from Hernandez’s gun as Johnson ran away from officers.
Prosecutors allege Johnson was armed at the time of the shooting, a claim his family disputes.
Breakfast Blogs
Donald Trump Is a Desperate Man Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
Obama Hints at Renewed Pressure on Encryption, Clinton Waves Off First Amendment Dan Froomkin, The Intercept
5 Truths About Terrorism No One Seems Eager to Admit Allen Clifton, Forward Progress< @MSNBC Assisted Suicide Watch Continues driftglass
Shorter Salon: So What About The Dead People, Let’s Concentrate On My Ego Allison Hantschel, First Draft @ Crooks and Liars