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
Nazi Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler born; Gunfire erupts at Columbine High; Cubans in the Mariel boatlift arrive in the U.S.; Ted Williams makes his baseball debut; Singer Luther Vandross born.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
And it seems to me important for a country, for a nation to certainly know about its glorious achievements but also to know where its ideals failed, in order to keep that from happening again.
Breakfast News
Panama Papers: US launches criminal inquiry into tax avoidance claims
The US Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the widespread international tax avoidance schemes exposed by the Panama Papers leak, published by the Guardian and other journalistic partners.
Preet Bharara, the US attorney for Manhattan, said he had “opened a criminal investigation regarding matters to which the Panama Papers are relevant”.
Bharara has written to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which coordinated the unprecedented leak of 11.5m files from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca, to ask for further information to assist with his criminal investigation.
Flint water crisis: criminal charges expected against several people
Criminal charges are expected to be announced on Wednesday against a number of people linked to the city of Flint’s two-year water contamination crisis.
The expected charges stem from a criminal investigation launched in January by Michigan’s attorney general, Bill Schuette, who created a team of nine full-time investigators. Investigators have said the scope of potential criminal charges that may be considered include misconduct in office and involuntary manslaughter, and the inquiry continues.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many individuals would be charged, but as many as four people could face felony or misdemeanor counts, according to the Detroit Free Press, which cited three sources familiar with the investigation. A WXYZ-TV reporter also said, citing unnamed sources, that charges are forthcoming against three people.
Syrian talks appear doomed as air strike kills dozens in market
Syrian peace talks appeared all but doomed on Tuesday after air strikes killed about 40 people in a crowded vegetable market in rebel territory, with the opposition saying a truce was finished and it would keep out of negotiations indefinitely.
A monitoring group said it believed the strike on the market in Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province was the deadliest single attack since a partial ceasefire took effect on Feb. 27.
The main opposition HNC described the attack as a “dangerous escalation” which reinforced its decision a day earlier to suspend negotiations. France described the bloodshed as “another massacre”.
A rescue worker said warplanes had simultaneously struck markets in two towns in Idlib killing at least 38 people in Maarat al-Numan and 10 others in nearby Kafr Nubl.
Appeals Court Favors Transgender Student in Virginia Restroom Case
Weeks after a new North Carolina law put transgender bathroom access at the heart of the nation’s culture wars, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled on Tuesday in favor of a transgender student who was born female and wishes to use the boys’ restroom at his rural Virginia high school.
Advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people note that the ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit applies to North Carolina, where the controversial law approved last month limits transgender people to bathrooms in government buildings, including public schools, that correspond with the gender listed on their birth certificates.
As a result of the ruling, those advocates say, that portion of the North Carolina law that applies to public schools now clearly violates Title IX — the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in schools.
India says it still wants back British queen’s crown jewel
India will make all possible efforts to get back the Koh-i-Noor Diamond from Britain despite comments by New Delhi’s solicitor general that the priceless jewel should stay with the former colonial ruler, the government said on Tuesday.
India has repeatedly demanded that Britain return the 105-carat diamond, which was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 and today sits on display as part of the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
India’s solicitor general surprised many on Monday when he told the Supreme Court that his country should forgo its claims to the jewel because it was given to Britain as a gift by an Indian king in 1851, rather than stolen as many Indians today believe.
Breakfast Blogs
5 Pieces of Zen to Keep Us Sane Through the Rest of This Election Charles Pierce, Esquire Poltics
Apple’s Spiking National Security Requests Could Reflect USA Freedom Compliance emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
The Real Lessons Of The George Clooney Fundraiser driftglass, Crooks and Liars
The few, the proud, the “maintainers” Tom Sullivan, Hullabaloo
City Council Using Open Records Requests To See What Members Are Saying About Them Behind Their Backs Tim Cusing, Techdirt