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.
AP’s Today in History for May 15th
Alabama Gov. George Wallace shot on presidential campaign trail; Newly-founded Israel attacked by Arab neighbors; The U.S. Supreme Court breaks up Standard Oil.; Country singer June Carter Cash dies.
Breakfast Tune June Carter Cash – Rose of San Antone & Rabbit in a Log
Rose of San Antone on Auto Harp & Rabbit in a Log on Banjo (Starts at 1:30)
Something to Think about, Breakfast News & Blogs Below
Verizon Calls in SWAT Team to Keep Exploited Overseas Workers Under Wraps
Nika Knight, Common Dreams
Representatives from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the union whose members are currently engaged in a weeks-long strike against Verizon for its “corporate greed,” say they discovered this week that the communications behemoth has publicly lied about the extent of its offshoring of jobs.
The union representatives, including CWA staff, a representative of UNI (global labor federation) and representatives of KMU (a Filipino union), traveled to the Philippines for four days this week to investigate a report from local Verizon employees who sent word that the corporation was lying to its American workers about the size of its offshore operations in the country.
“Verizon is offshoring work far beyond what has previously been reported and what the company publicly has claimed. Verizon is offshoring customer service calls to numerous call centers in the Philippines, where workers are paid just $1.78 an hour and forced to work overtime without compensation,” wrote the CWA in a statement.
When Verizon got wind of CWA’s discovery on Wednesday, according to the union, rather than meet with union representatives the company sent a SWAT team and armed guards after them. …
Polls: Sanders has more potential to beat Trump
Ryan Rifai, Al Jazeera
Recent polls have demonstrated that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders holds a much higher potential to defeat Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, in an election than Hillary Clinton, although the latter is the Democratic party’s front-runner.
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However, RealClearPolitics showed on Tuesday that Sanders had a 13 percent advantage over Trump, while Clinton had five more points than Trump.A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday signalled a tight coin-toss race between Clinton and Trump, without reporting on Sanders. …
Chaos erupts at NV Democratic convention amid tensions between Clinton and Sanders supporters
Bethania Palma Markus, Raw Story
The Democratic convention in Nevada turned violent on Saturday, with at least one fight breaking out, according to video posted Twitter users who were in attendance.
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The Sun reports that the Democratic convention in Clark County last month was rocky due to the deep rift between the supporters of the two candidates. Clinton currently leads in the state, though a Sanders supporter was quoted as saying the senator had “won” Nevada after the convention there.The Democrats were meeting Saturday at the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, while Republicans were holding their event at the Reno/Sparks Convention Center, both starting at 9 a.m. local time, News3LV reports. According to The Hill, Sanders supporters were angry over convention rules and delegate counts, and also booed U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who is a Clinton supporter. …
US Army Chaplain Resigns in Protest Over Drones, ‘Policy of Unaccountable Killing’
Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams
An Army chaplain has resigned in protest over the United States “policy of unaccountable killing” through drone warfare and the nation’s continued investment into nuclear weapons, which “threaten the existence of humankind and the earth.”
In his letter sent April 12, 2016 to President Barack Obama, Rev. John Antal, a Unitarian Universalist Church minister in Rock Tavern, New York, wrote, “The Executive Branch continues to claim the right to kill anyone, anywhere on earth, at any tie, for secret reasons, based on secret evidence, in a secret process, undertaken by unidentified officials.”
Antal served as a chaplain from September 2012 to February 2013 at the Kandahar Airbase in southern Afghanistan. “While deployed,” he wrote in Feb. 2015 a the Times Herald-Record, “I concluded our drone strikes disproportionately kill innocent people.” …
- Ukraine’s Jamala wins Eurovision contest with 1944
Al Jazeera and agencies
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Philadelphia police van is disguised as Google Maps vehicle
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia police officers attached a large Google Maps logo to a surveillance van in an apparent attempt to disguise it as one of the company’s street-filming cars.
Police spokesman Lt. John Stanford said Friday that no one was authorized by the department to place the decal on the van. He says it appeared officers were “being creative.”
The department was made aware of the decal by a news outlet Wednesday and it was removed the same day.
A Google spokeswoman confirms the van was not part of its Street View fleet and says it’s looking into the report. …
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