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 November 6th
Abraham Lincoln wins four-way race for President as American Civil War nears; March music ‘king’ John Phillip Sousa born; Composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky dies; Director Mike Nichols born.
Breakfast Tune Swan Creek
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, no doubt had banjo in mind when he wrote “Swan Lake” Here, Banjo Professor Bill Knopf give us a keen insight into Tchaikovsky’s thinking about how the banjo stands apart from the other orchestral instruments. (Classical longhairs might prefer the banjo standing apart, down the hall and to the right). To preserve its bluegrass flavor, Knopf prefers it be known as “Swan Creek.”
Something to Think about, Breakfast News & Blogs Below
Dakota Access Pipeline Builder Ignored Obama Admin Request to Halt Construction
Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has confirmed to DeSmog that Energy Transfer Partners, the owner of the proposed Dakota Access pipeline, has ignored the Obama administration’s September 9 request to voluntarily halt construction in a disputed area, 20 miles east and west of Lake Oahe and the Missouri River.
The confirmation came in the aftermath of a video published by drone pilot Shiyé Bidziil on the news website Indian Country Today titled, “Drone Footage of Dakota Access Pipeline Approaching Missouri River.” Published November 2, this video offers an airborne view of pipeline construction — coupled with heavily guarded concrete fortresses around key construction locales — in close proximity to the Missouri River.
“The Army will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the Lake Oahe site under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other federal laws,” reads the initial September 9 statement disseminated by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Interior, and Army Corps.
“Therefore, construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time. In the interim, we request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe.”
After showing the video to Curry Graham, Director of Public Affairs for the Army Corps, Graham confirmed to DeSmog that Energy Transfer Partners has proceeded with construction inside of the administration’s requested zone. Graham also said construction has halted just short of the federal property bordering Lake Oahe. …
Michigan residents deplore plan to let Nestlé pump water for next to nothing
Jessica Glenza, The Guardian
Michigan regulators were deluged with angry comments this week, after reports that the state had drafted a permit approval for Nestlé to nearly double the amount of groundwater it pumps from a plant in Evart, Michigan to 210m gallons a year.
The pumping increase is only expected to cost the Swiss food giant $200 a year, and possibly the price of a permit fee, because its bottling plant in Evart is considered a private well under state law, regulators said.
In a statement, Nestlé touted the move as a boon to the state because it is created “some 20 new jobs”. The company is valued at $219bn.
Some local residents were not so enthusiastic.
“Why on earth would the state of Michigan, given our lack of money to address water matters of our own, like Flint, even consider giving MORE water for little or no cost to a foreign corporation with annual profits in the billions?” …
U.S. regulator found another cheat device in Audi car: report
Maria Sheahan; Additional reporting by Andreas Cremer and Joe White, Reuters
A U.S. regulator found software in some Audi vehicles that lowered their carbon dioxide emissions if it detected they were being used under test conditions, Bild am Sonntag reported.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) discovered the software in an automatic transmission Audi last summer, the German weekly newspaper said, without citing any sources.
CARB had no immediate comment and Audi was not immediately available for comment on Sunday’s Bild am Sonntag report.
The paper said the device, which was not the same as the one which triggered last year’s diesel emissions scandal at Audi parent Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), was also used in diesel and gasoline-powered cars in Europe.
VW’s admission that it had installed software that deactivated pollution controls on more than 11 million diesel vehicles sold worldwide, triggered the deepest business crisis in the German carmaker’s history. …
Alabama Prison Officials Retaliate Against Prison Strike Leader By Cutting Water To Cell
BY
Advocates say prison officials at the Kilby Correctional Facility in Alabama turned off the water to Kinetik Justice Amun’s solitary cell after he initiated a hunger strike. Officials then transferred him to the Limestone Correctional Facility, which has a “behavioral modification program” known among prisoners as a “hot bay” dorm in which prisoners are forced to live in pairs in hot and squalid solitary confinement cells.
Kinetik, also known as Robert Earl Counsil, is the second leader of the Free Alabama Movement (FAM) to be transferred to Limestone. FAM is a group of incarcerated people and their families struggling to end prison slavery and shed light on inhumane conditions in Alabama’s prison system.
…
The Alabama Department of Corrections is currently facing a federal investigation into the rampant violence, overcrowding, and structural decay in its prison system. Kinetik believes his transfer was an act of retaliation by prison officials for his political activity, and that they timed the transfer to prevent him from meeting with this lawyer.Kinetik is an outspoken advocate for the human rights of the incarcerated. Along with Dhati Khalid and Bennu Hannibal Ra-Sun, Kinetik and the Free Alabama Movement were some of the people behind the call-to-action for the national prison strike against prison slave labor, which began on September 9. …
- Making the Rich Pay
Samantha Winslow
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Hannah Summers
- Samsung to launch AI assistant service for Galaxy S8
Se Young Lee and Nataly Pak
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Man angry cops didn’t have arrest warrant for him is jailed
EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Police say a Pennsylvania man who became angry when told there were no outstanding warrants for his arrest has been jailed.
Cambria Township police say 40-year-old Mervin Sollenberger arrived at the Cambria County jail late Tuesday to surrender on outstanding arrest warrants. But police told him there were no warrants for his arrest.
WJAC-TV (http://bit.ly/2f4nuAJ ) reports that’s when the Duncansville man became enraged, threatening to assault the jail’s guards and kicking a steel cage door at the lockup.
Sollenberger has been charged with making terroristic threats and disorderly conduct. He remained jailed Thursday after failing to post 10 percent of his $20,000 bail.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for Sollenberger. He faces a preliminary hearing Nov. 8.