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
Pope John Paul II’s funeral held at the Vatican; Artist Pablo Picasso and teen AIDS patient Ryan White die; Hank Aaron becomes baseball’s career home run king; Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain found dead.
Breakfast Tunes
During a taping of the show in March 1968, while singing a duet with Belafonte titled “On the Path of Glory”, an anti-war song that she had composed, Petula Clark innocently and naturally touched Belafonte’s arm toward the end of the song. Doyle Lott, a vice president from Chrysler, the show’s sponsor, was present at the taping. Lott objected to the “interracial touching” and feared the brief moment would offend Southern viewers — this at a time when racial conflict was a major issue in the U.S. Lott insisted they substitute a different take — one with Clark and Belafonte standing well away from each other. But Clark and her husband, Claude Wolff, the executive producer of the show, refused. They destroyed all the other takes of the song, and delivered the finished program to NBC with the touching segment as part of the show. Clark, who had ownership of the special, told NBC that the performance would be shown intact or she would not allow the special to be aired at all. Meanwhile, at Chrysler, by March 10, 1968, Doyle Lott was relieved of his responsibilities.
The Clark-Belafonte-Chrysler incident soon made the news, as American newspapers and magazines reported on the controversy. The press stories, however, only heightened viewer interest in the show. Advertising for the Petula Clark Show ran all across the country, with some local TV guides featuring Clark and Belafonte on the cover. The show was broadcast on April 8th, 1968 with Clark doing several numbers on her own as well as Belafonte doing several on his own before they sang together. It marked the first time a man and woman of different races exchanged physical contact on American television. When the show finally aired, it received high ratings and critical acclaim.
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
If one is going to err, one should err on the side of liberty and freedom.
Kofi Annan
Breakfast News
DEA to decide soon whether to stop classifying marijuana like heroin
The Drug Enforcement Administration said it could decide whether marijuana should remain classified at the same level as LSD and heroin in “the first half of 2016”.
The agency slipped this news into a letter to the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, who with seven other senators, had asked for more information on marijuana’s scheduling and about limits on medical marijuana research. The 25-page letter was obtained by Matt Ferner at the Huffington Post.
Because marijuana is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, it cannot be used in research and cannot be dispensed in pharmacies. Its use is also more restricted than drugs in the four lower classifications, which include cocaine and meth – Schedule II controlled substances.
Colombia’s highest court paves way for marriage equality in surprise ruling
Colombia’s highest court has given the green light to gay marriage in the conservative, mostly Catholic country.
The magistrates of the constitutional court voted six to three against a proposed ruling that said marriage applied only to unions between men and women and that it was up to the congress and not the court to decide on same-sex marriage.
Magistrate Alberto Rojas, who voted against the proposed ruling and will now write up the majority decision making gay marriage legal, said: “All human beings … have the fundamental right to be married with no discrimination.”
A small group of marriage equality activists celebrated on the steps of the court, chanting: “Yes sir, I will get married because here in Colombia the law now allows me to.”
Scientists find fracking contaminated Wyoming water after EPA halted study
Two scientists have highlighted dangerous water contamination from a fracking operation in Wyoming, three years after the US Environmental Protection Agency decided to abandon its investigation into the matter.
The report found there were dangerous levels of chemicals in the underground water supply used by the 230 residents of Pavillion, a small town in central Wyoming. Levels of benzine, a flammable liquid used in fuel, were 50 times above the allowable limit, while chemicals were dumped in unlined pits and cement barriers to protect groundwater were inadequate, the research found.
Pfizer’s merger collapse prompts speculation it will seek new takeover
Barack Obama’s derailment of Pfizer’s $160bn (£114bn) merger with Allergan sparked immediate speculation on Wednesday that the US drugs company would turn its attention to another big pharmaceutical takeover.
Pfizer, best known for Viagra and its cholesterol pill Lipitor, will pay the Botox producer Allergan $150m for pulling out of what would have been the world’s biggest healthcare deal, first announced in November and now abandoned after the US Treasury Department stunned financial markets with measures to clamp down on tax efficient mergers and takeovers.
Shares in the pharmaceutical companies Shire and AstraZeneca were the biggest gainers on the FTSE 100, each rising by more than 4.5%, on speculation that they could be targets for acquisition-hungry Pfizer, which has now failed to pull off two major deals in two years.
World Bank to spend 28% of investments on climate change projects
The World Bank has made a “fundamental shift” in its role of alleviating global poverty, by refocusing its financing efforts towards tackling climate change, the group said on Thursday.
The world’s biggest provider of public finance to developing countries said it would spend 28% of its investments directly on climate change projects, and that all of its future spending would take account of global warming.
At last year’s landmark conference on climate change in Paris, the World Bank and its fellow development banks were made the linchpins of providing financial assistance to the poor world, to enable countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of global warming.
Breakfast Blogs
This Lawsuit Against Rick Snyder Over the Flint Water Crisis Is Brilliant Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
The Return Of Andrew Sullivan. God Help Us All. driftglass, Crooks and Liars
You Can’t Make The Fever Break Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog
John Yoo’s Two Justifications for Stellar Wind emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
FBI Plays It Coy Regarding Their iPhone Exploit Leigh Beadon, Techdirt