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
Russian cosmonaut first man to walk in space; Mahatma Gandhi is sent to prison for civic disobedience, Italy’s Mussolini agrees to enter WWII; Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube removed; Singer John Philips dies.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.
Breakfast News
Cyprus dispute threatens to derail EU-Turkey pact over refugees
A deal between the EU and Turkey to stem the flow of refugees and migrants to Europe is hanging in the balance, over a decades-long dispute about the divided island of Cyprus.
The 28 leaders of the EU are racing to patch up a deal with Ankara before a meeting with Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, on Friday. At a summit in Brussels on Thursday night the EU agreed what it was ready to offer Turkey. But the offer fell far short of Ankara’s demands, as Cyprus vowed to block any deal that would speed up Turkey’s EU accession.
US Marshals spent $10m on equipment for warrantless Stingray surveillance
The US Marshals Service spent more than $10m on secret, possibly airborne equipment and software for warrantless surveillance of Americans’ cellphones, documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have revealed.
The documents are heavily redacted, but they show that the Marshals Service purchased more than $10m in hardware and software from Harris Corporation, the manufacturer of the cellphone snooping device known as a Stingray, between 2009 and 2014.
Rancher Cliven Bundy denied bail over infamous 2014 government standoff
Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who led an infamous standoff with the federal government in 2014, was denied bail in federal court and will remain behind bars as he awaits trial on charges that he threatened, assaulted and conspired against law enforcement.
US judge Carl Hoffman Jr ruled at a hearing in Las Vegas on Thursday that Bundy, 69, would pose a danger to the public if he was released, according to Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office.
The rancher, who become the unofficial leader of the anti-government land-use rights movement in the west after his high-profile conflict with federal officials, was previously denied bail in Portland, Oregon, where he was arrested last month.
Hotel with three floors of marijuana raided by Spanish police
Spanish police have uncovered hundreds of marijuana plants in a disused hotel on the Mediterranean coast and arrested four people as part of the operation.
Officers raided the hotel in the town of Pineda de Mar, about 40 miles (60km) north of Barcelona, on Wednesday and found marijuana plants in various stages of growth covering three of its five floors, police said.
“The group was preparing other rooms on other floors to increase the area of cultivation,” said a statement.
Police arrested two Russian women, aged 27 and 40, and two Spanish men, aged 34 and 63, from the nearby towns of Blanes and Lloret de Mar on suspicion of running the marijuana growth operation.
SeaWorld decides to stop killer whale breeding program
SeaWorld will stop breeding orca whales in captivity, the company announced on Thursday, a move applauded by animal rights activists who have been calling for an end to the public exhibition of the animals altogether for years.
“By making this the last generation of orcas in our care and reimagining how guests will experience these beautiful animals, we are fulfilling our mission of providing visitors to our parks with experiences that matter,” said Joel Manby, president and CEO of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc.
The breeding program will end immediately, and the killer whales currently at its parks will be the last, Manby said.
Hidden rooms at tomb of Tutankhamun raise hopes of new treasures
As even the least attentive school-age students of history will recall, Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 was the archeological discovery of that century. Now a find of similar importance could be soon unearthed – in a chamber directly behind that of the boy king.
Radar scans of Tutankhamun’s resting place in Luxor have shown a 90% chance that there are two hidden chambers to the rear of it, possibly containing metal and organic material, according to Egypt’s antiquities minister, Dr Mamdouh Eldamaty.
Dog believed lost at sea turns up on island used by US navy
A dog believed to have drowned after disappearing from a fishing boat off the California coast five weeks ago was found on an island owned by the US navy and is to be reunited with her owner.
Luna, a blue-eyed German shepherd-husky mix, apparently swam two miles to San Clemente Island, off the San Diego coast, where navy employees found her on Tuesday, Naval Base Coronado spokeswoman Sandy DeMunnik said.
“It was a long haul for a puppy across treacherous terrain,” DeMunnik said. “She was a little thinner, but none the worse for wear.”
Luna, who is about 18 months old, was on a fishing boat with her owner Nick Haworth when she went missing before early on 10 February while Haworth and a crew member hauled in a catch, DeMunnik said.
Breakfast Blogs
#FlintWaterCrisis: I Don’t Think That Report Said What You Think It Said, Gov Rayne, emptywheel
Connecting the Dots on the Hillary Emails emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
These California Cops Are Munching Pot Brownies for Justice Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
Is Donald Trump ‘Completely Mental’? Yes. LeftOfCenter, Crooks and Lairs
Medical Examiner Sues City Of New York After Being Forced Out Of Her Job For Questioning DNA Testing Techniques Tim Cushing, Techdirt