The Breakfast Club (The War Racket)

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 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) 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.

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This Day in History

Ex-Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa disappears; Medicare and Medicaid signed into law; A blast rocks Black Tom Island; The USS Indianapolis sunk; Henry Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger born.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

Smedley Butler

Breakfast News

Last slave ship: Alabama files federal claim of ownership

Some felons unable to pay fines, fees to vote in Miami-Dade

Black Virginia lawmakers to boycott Trump’s Jamestown visit

US moves to limit asylum for threatened family members

New York reduces penalties for marijuana possession

Johnson presses EU to give way amid no-deal Brexit warnings

Putin opponent sent back to jail after suspected poisoning

China defends Hong Kong police, blames Western forces

French group sues over toxic lead from Notre Dame fire

It’s official: UK broke temperature record during heat wave

Sailing to America: Teen to bring her climate activism to US

India’s tiger population rises to nearly 3,000

Breakfast Blogs

Sunday Was a Big Night for Unfortunate Exercises of Our Second Amendment Rights Charles P. Pierce, Esquire Politics

Aspiring Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe Does Not Want DOJ’s Mob Experts Exchanging Information with Mob Experts emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel

How To Continue Playing The Game Trump Began With The Cummings Tweets Echidne, at her blog

McConnell thinks protecting elections from foreign interference is “modern McCarthyism” digby aka Heather Digby Parton, Hullabaloo

President soulmate Tom Sullivan, Hullabaloo

“Virtual Iowa Caucuses” Demand Cybersecurity Attention: 2020 Election Security Can’t Wait Till 2020 Joshua Geltzer, Just Security

Who Will Be the Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on Aug. 15? Robert Chesney, Lawfare

Biden’s plan Paul Campos, Lawyers, Guns and Money

Dersh Erik Loomis, Lawyers, Guns and Money

Donald Trump Gets Mighty Touchy When A Black Man Threatens To Sue Ivanka, Huh? Five Dollar Feminist. Wonkette

Donald Trump Was The 9/11 First Responder Of Donald Trump’s Dreams Evan Hurst, Wonkette

It’s about the RPM Yastreblyansky, The Rectification of Names

JOE BIDEN ISN’T JUST THE FRONT-RUNNER — HE’S THE FAVORITE, AND MEDIA COVERAGE MAY BE THE REASON Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog