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
Iran releases American hostages; Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy inaugurated as President.
Breakfast Tunes
Glenn Fry (November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016)
Take it easy, Glenn
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
I’m just a bleeping maniac in straight clothing. There’s no reason to dress my monster up.
Glenn Frey
Breakfast News
French President Francois Hollande Declares Economic Emergency
French President Francois Hollande has declared what he called “a state of economic emergency” and says it’s time to redefine France’s economic and social model.
Hollande laid out a series of proposed economic measures Monday in an annual speech to business leaders to boost long-stagnant French growth and reduce chronic unemployment.
The first measures he proposed are relatively modest, and he said they would not “put into question” the 35-hour workweek. He did not seek to assume any new emergency powers.
Most threats to humans come from science and technology, warns Hawking
The human race faces one its most dangerous centuries yet as progress in science and technology becomes an ever greater threat to our existence, Stephen Hawking warns.
The chances of disaster on planet Earth will rise to a near certainty in the next one to ten thousand years, the eminent cosmologist said, but it will take more than a century to set up colonies in space where human beings could live on among the stars.[..]
Speaking to the Radio Times ahead of the BBC Reith Lecture, in which he will explain the science of black holes, Hawking said most of the threats humans now face come from advances in science and technology, such as nuclear weapons and genetically engineered viruses.
World’s oceans warming at increasingly faster rate, new study finds
The world’s oceans are warming at a quickening rate, with the past 20 years accounting for half of the increase in ocean heat content that has occurred since pre-industrial times, a new study has found.
US scientists discovered that much of the extra heat in the ocean is buried deep underwater, with 35% of the additional warmth found at depths below 700 meters. This means far more heat is present in the far reaches of the ocean than 20 years ago, when it contained just 20% of the extra heat produced from the release of greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution.
The paper, published in Nature Climate Change, sheds further light on the vast quantities of heat being absorbed by the world’s oceans.
Denmark broke world record for wind power in 2015
Denmark produced 42% of its electricity from wind turbines last year according to official data, the highest figure yet recorded worldwide.
The new year-end figures showed a 3% rise on 2014, which was itself a record year for Danish wind energy generation.
The country’s minister for energy, utilities and climate, Lars Christian Lilleholt, called the record significant and said: “Hopefully, Denmark can serve as an example to other countries that it is possible to have both ambitious green policies with a high proportion of wind energy and other renewables in the energy supply, and still have a high security of supply and competitive prices on electricity.”
Two Western Danish regions – Jutland and Funen – supplied more electricity than the area’s inhabitants consumed for the equivalent of 60 days of the year.
Breakfast Blogs
When the Possible President of the United States Is Questioned About a Michael Bay Movie Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
Implementation Day Fallout: Neocons Have Nuclear Meltdown Over Prisoner Exchange Jim White, emptywheel
In War Games, Navy SEALs Normalize Treating U.S. Citizens as Enemy Kevin Gozstola, ShadowProof
If The Answers Frighten You, David driftglass, driftglass
Facebook Nixes Picture Of Bronze Mermaid Statue For Showing Too Much ‘Skin’ Timothy Geigner, Techdirt