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
Highlights of this day in history: the ‘day the music died’ during early rock ‘n roll; the Luna 9 probe lands on the Moon; the first woman to pilot a Space Shuttle; painter Norman Rockwell and composer Felix Mendelssohn born.
Breakfast Tunes
February 3,1959:
Within minutes of takeoff from the Mason City, IA Airport, at around 1:00 AM CST, the chartered Beech-Craft Bonanza airplane No. N3794N containing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper crashes into the Iowa countryside, killing all three in addition to pilot Roger Peterson. The plane, headed for the next “Winter Dance Party” tour stop in Fargo, ND, had been chartered by Holly in order for the band members to travel in heated comfort and to arrive early for their next gig.
When he learns that band member Waylon Jennings, who would eventually become a country star in his own right, has decided to take the freezing bus instead, Holly jokes, “Well, I hope your old bus freezes up.” Jennings jokes back, “Well, I hope your plane crashes.” Another Holly band member, Tommy Allsup, flips Valens for the last available seat, losing the coin toss.Valens exclaims, “That’s the first time I’ve won anything in my life!”
Pilot Peterson, not having been informed of worsening weather conditions, decides to fly “on instruments,” meaning without visual confirmation of the horizon, which leads to the crash. The tragedy was later immortalized as “The Day The Music Died” by Don McLean in his famous song “American Pie.”
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
It is not easy to be a pioneer – but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for all the riches in the world.
Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States.
Breakfast News
First Zika virus case contracted in US was sexually transmitted, officials say
Officials in Texas have reported the first case of Zika contracted in the US mainland, and said that the virus was sexually transmitted. If confirmed, the case would be only the second documented example of the virus being passed between humans through sexual contact.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the Zika infection, while Dallas County officials said they performed the “public health follow-up” to determine that the infection was sexually transmitted.
In an email to the Guardian, the CDC also warned for the first time that women or those hoping to become pregnant should “consult with their healthcare professional if their partner has had exposure to Zika virus”.
Eurosceptics reject British PM’s EU draft deal
Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday hailed a draft deal for key changes to Britain’s European Union membership as “real progress,” but eurosceptics immediately rejected it, with one calling it “polishing poo”.
The draft proposals to keep Britain in the bloc, unveiled by EU President Donald Tusk on Tuesday, include a four-year brake on benefit payments for EU workers and protection for countries that do not use the euro currency.
Cameron called the plan “a very strong and powerful package” that incorporated “very important changes” as he outlined its contents during a speech in Chippenham, southwest England.
But opposition from eurosceptics was stiff, with lawmaker Steve Baker accusing the prime minster of “polishing poo”, exposing the acrimony surrounding the campaign ahead of the in/out referendum on Britain’s EU membership expected later this year.
Flint mayor calls for immediate removal of corroded lead pipes
Joined by other former and current mayors, the mayor of Flint, Michigan, called for immediate action to remove corroded lead pipes from the city’s contaminated water distribution system on Tuesday.
“We are here to take a stand to get the lead out of Flint right now,” said Mayor Karen Weaver of the city’s water crisis, which has exposed an untold number of children and adults to high levels of lead. “We want to make sure we identify every place that is high risk. This is where we want to start.”
Republican Michigan governor Rick Synder said this week that removing the corroded lead pipes isn’t on his “short-term” agenda.
“It’s a lot of work to take out pipes, to redo all of the infrastructure, that’s a whole planning process,” the governor said at a press conference.
Weaver said on Tuesday that the initial steps taken by Snyder, including the $28.5m in immediate funding he has requested from the state legislature, are “good first steps”. But they’re not enough to fix a problem that could cost more than a billion dollars to resolve in the coming decades, she said. Joining Weaver at a press conference were Lansing mayor Virg Bernero, Pontiac mayor Deirdre Waterman, and former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin.
Los Angeles files criminal charges against SoCalGas over massive gas leak
The utility company whose blown-out natural gas well forced the evacuation of thousands of people in the Los Angeles area faced criminal charges on Tuesday for failing to report the massive breach to the authorities.
With the criminal complaint, Southern California Gas Company faces mounting legal challenges for its response to the underground blow-out of its natural gas storage well, which was discovered on 23 October.
Earlier on Tuesday, the state of California joined a lawsuit against the firm.
In the criminal proceedings, SoCalGas was charged with failing to inform the authorities immediately upon discovering the blow-out at Aliso Canyon storage facility, and for spewing contaminants into the air.
The blow-out in one of the country’s largest natural gas storage wells was the largest known to experts, and is currently the single largest source of climate change pollution in California.
UN panel finds Mexico’s arrest of organizer Nestora Salgado illegal
A United Nations panel has ruled that Mexico’s 2013 arrest and continuing detention of a community police leader was illegal, raising hopes among her supporters she could be freed.
Nestora Salgado is a Seattle-area resident who returned to her native Mexico and led a vigilante-style – but legal – community police force, which mounted patrols to protect residents from cartel operatives.
A dual U.S.-Mexico citizen, Salgado was arrested in August 2013 after people detained by her group alleged they had been kidnapped. A federal judge cleared her of those charges, but a related state case has kept her imprisoned.
The International Human Rights Clinic at Seattle University Law School has been pursuing her case at the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva, Switzerland, for about two years. In a decision reached in December and communicated to her lawyers on Tuesday, the five-member panel called her arrest arbitrary and said Mexico should not only free her but compensate her for the violation of her human rights.
Breakfast Blogs
This Is Not the Way the Democratic Campaign Should Be Conducted Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
What Is The Sanders Foreign Policy Doctrine? Dan Wright, ShadowProof
Chamber of Commerce expects Clinton to support TPP as president Gaius Publius, Hullabaloo
Why Is the Postal Inspection Service Investigating the Flint Water Crisis? emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
Grexit Risk May Be Back Sooner Than You Think Yves Smith, naked capitalism
The Cable Industry Is Absolutely Terrified Of Set Top Box Competition Karl Bode, Techdirt