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 July 3rd
Union forces win the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War; George Washington takes charge of the Continental Army; Algeria gains independence; Actor Tom Cruise born; Singer Jim Morrison dies.
Breakfast Tune Death by Banjo – Light My Fire
Something to Think about, Breakfast News & Blogs Below
In Transparent Act, Obama Administration Erases Civilian Deaths From Drone Strikes
Kevin Gosztola
President Barack Obama’s administration claims 64 to 116 “non-combatants” have been killed by CIA or United States military drone strikes. The number is preposterously low, and the best evidence yet of how the government propagandizes the public into believing drones are “precise” and rarely kill anyone but targeted “terrorists.”
The casualty counts, along with an executive order on “pre- and post-strike policies,” were released right before Fourth of July weekend, a clear act aimed at ensuring the least amount of attention was given to the administration’s latest effort to conceal the truth of who is killed by targeted assassinations.
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However, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, based in London, has documented news reports of U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen for years. The New York Times, BBC, and Dawn.com in Pakistan have each used the data compiled by the Bureau.According to the Bureau, drone strikes by the Obama administration have killed over 400 civilians in Pakistan, including dozens of children. In Yemen, at least 65 civilians have been killed in drone strikes, as well as 68 civilians in “other covert operations.” There have been at least 10 civilians killed in Somalia by drone strikes or “other covert operations.”
This indicates the Obama administration effectively erased the deaths of more than 400 civilians, including children ….
In response to this transparent act of government deception, Jennifer Gibson, an attorney for Reprieve, declared, “For three years now, President Obama has been promising to shed light on the CIA’s covert drone program. Today, he had a golden opportunity to do just that. Instead, he chose to do the opposite. He published numbers that are hundreds lower than even the lowest estimates by independent organizations.”
“The only thing those numbers tell us is that this administration simply doesn’t know who it has killed. Back in 2011, it claimed to have killed ‘only 60’ civilians,” Gibson added. “Does it really expect us to believe that it has killed only 4 more civilians since then, despite taking hundreds more strikes?” …
Major Political News Outlets Offer Interviews for Sale at DNC and RNC Conventions
Lee Fang
FOR HIGH-ROLLING special interests looking to make an impression at the presidential conventions next month, one option is to pay a lot of money to a media outlet. Lobbyists for the oil industry, for instance, are picking up the tab for leading Beltway publications to host energy policy discussions at the convention, including The Atlantic and Politico.
And for the right price, some political media outlets are even offering special interviews with editorial staffers and promotional coverage at the convention.
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Politico’s nearly nonstop programming during the conventions is led by the outlet’s “award-winning team of reporters and editors.” In both Cleveland and Philadelphia, Politico plans to hold a “Caucus Energy Conversation” sponsored by Vote4Energy.org, an election effort of the American Petroleum Institute, which is the lobbying arm of Chevron, ExxonMobil, and other major oil and gas companies.Politico is also hosting a discussion of the economy with the Peter G. Peterson Institute, an advocacy group that pushes for cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Other Politico convention event sponsors include Microsoft, Diageo, Google, and Bank of America.
Vote4Energy is also listed as the underwriter for The Atlantic’s “cocktail caucus during the Democratic convention” to explore “the nation’s energy and environment landscape.”
The Intercept asked both Politico and The Atlantic if such sponsorship deals might make it difficult to ask adversarial questions to sponsors at these events. “We do not defer any of that control to event underwriters. Our events are produced by an Atlantic editorial team, which has full control over speakers selected and panels produced, and events are moderated by journalists — both from The Atlantic and outside of it — who have complete editorial independence over each conversation,” Anna C. Bross, senior director of communications with The Atlantic, said in a statement. Politico did not respond. …
CIA knew it had the wrong man, but kept him anyway
Matthew Schofield
BERLIN
By January of 2004, when German citizen Khaleed al Masri arrived at the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prison in Afghanistan, agency officials were pretty sure he wasn’t a terrorist. They also knew he didn’t know any terrorists, or much about anything in the world of international terror.In short, they suspected they’d nabbed the wrong man.
Still, the agency continued to imprison and interrogate him, according to a recently released internal CIA report on Masri’s arrest. The report claims that Masri suffered no physical abuse during his wrongful imprisonment, though it acknowledges that for months he was kept in a “small cell with some clothing, bedding and a bucket for his waste.” …
Adding to the sense of injustice: Even though the agency realized early on that Masri was the wrong man, it couldn’t figure out how to release him without having to acknowledge its mistake. The agency eventually dumped him unceremoniously in Albania and essentially pretended his arrest and detention had never happened. …
Officials most responsible were promoted …
Juno Probe Will Run Hellish Radiation Gauntlet at Jupiter Monday
Mike Wall
The Juno spacecraft’s long-awaited arrival at Jupiter Monday (July 4) will be a baptism by fire.
If all goes according to plan Monday night, Juno will slip into orbit around the giant planet and get its first taste of the solar system’s most intense radiation environment — a region where huge swarms of electrons are accelerated to nearly the speed of light by Jupiter’s magnetic field, which is 20,000 times more powerful than Earth’s.
“Once these electrons hit a spacecraft, they immediately begin to ricochet and release energy, creating secondary photons and particles, which then ricochet,” Heidi Becker, leader of Juno’s radiation-monitoring team, said during a news conference last month. “It’s like a spray of radiation bullets.” …
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Wimbledon’s Most Controversial Figure This Year Is a Dress
Mary Elizabeth Williams
It’s a prestigious competition featuring some of the greatest athletes in the world. Anyway, let’s talk about what the ladies in it are wearing! And whether we can see their midriffs!
The controversial breakout star of Wimbledon this year has turned out to be the NikeCourt Premier Slam Dress — a short, swingy, babydoll-like piece of attire that has created a storm on the court. At issue are both its questionable practicality and, gasp, its potential to flutter in a revealing manner.
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Though the dress conforms to the Wimbledon standards of “decency,” its billowy nature has caused a ruckus, because apparently nobody’s ever seen a woman’s midsection anywhere. The Telegraph called it “revealing” while “Inside Edition” naturally went all in, calling it “skimpy” and “naughty.” And the CBC, trotting out the greatest word combination in search engine optimization ever, reported that “Nike brings wardrobe malfunctions to Wimbledon.” Yet as Christina Cauterucci asked this week in Slate, why are women still expected to play tennis in dresses in the first place? Soberingly, it’s the same question Slate first asked 15 years ago. …