The Breakfast Club (Defying Gravity)

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

Nazi Blitz on Britain begins in World War II; Mobutu Sese Seko dies; Panama Canal Treaties signed; Rapper Tupac Shakur shot; ESPN debuts; Pro Football Hall of Fame dedicated; Rock star Buddy Holly born.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

Diversity has been written into the DNA of American life; any institution that lacks a rainbow array has come to seem diminished, if not diseased.

Joe Klein

Breakfast News

Dorian’s floodwaters trap people in attics in North Carolina

N. Carolina election tests Trump clout, suburbs’ GOP flight

Smoke, not fire, blamed for 34 deaths in dive boat disaster

Maine to allow ranked votes in general presidential election

Trump challenges California power to control auto pollution

Alaska’s hot, dry summer leads to droughts in some areas

Judge threatens to bring the heat to Texas prison officials

As feds loom, states hit Facebook, Google with new probes

In a twist, Colorado asks EPA to lower state’s air rating

Michigan funeral service held for deported Iraqi national

Governor to take Tree of Life mezuzah to Holocaust memorials

Tourists may pay tolls to drive crooked San Francisco street

Brexit crisis grows as opposition rejects snap election call

Hong Kong braces for airport protests after overnight unrest

In the Amazon, indigenous debate how to save their lands

Cracks in Saudi-UAE coalition risk new war in Yemen

‘Only animals can live here’: Storm victims await evacuation

Afghan president postpones US trip to discuss Taliban deal

H&M stops buying leather from Brazil over Amazon fires

US to allow trophy hunter to import body of rare black rhino

Breakfast Blogs

Trump’s Big, Dumb, Imaginary Wall Is Now Even More Important Than Free Money Charles P. Pierce, Esquire Politics

Flynn Steps in It 2.0: Emmet Sullivan Will Make Sidney Powell Explain Why She Asked to Declassify Totally Irrelevant Secrets emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel

Is Trump blackmailing Ukraine? digby aka Heather Digby Parton, Hullabaloo

Who are the swingers? Tom Sullivan, Hullabaloo

Trump Cuts “Muscle” from European Defense to Fund Border Wall Kate Brennan, Just Security

Heading for (Another) Ukraine-Russia Gas Fight? Steven Pifer, Lawfare

The Police: Always and Still Fascist Erik Loomis, Lawyers, Guns and Money

The Flagrant Racism of the North Carolina Gerrymander Scott Lemieux, Lawyers, Guns and Money

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Weaponize the Department of Justice DNexon, Lawyers, Guns and Money

Great job white people Paul Campos, Lawyers, Guns and Money

David Brooks to World: “Shut up! It’s Daddy, you shithead! Where’s my bourbon? Can’t you fucking remember anything?” driftglass, at his blog

Literary Corner: Make Like an Alt-Man Yastreblyansky, The Rectification of Names

University Of Alabama Dean YOU’RE FIRED For Tweeting While Black Stephen Robinson, Wonkette

David Brooks Stands Athwart History Yelling ‘BOTH SIDES!’ Doktor Zoom, Wonkette

Donald Trump HEREBY ORDERS Jobs Report To Be AWESOME!!!1! Five Dollar Feminist

Boston Judge Goes Wilding On Defense Lawyer, ‘Straight Pride Parade’ Counterprotesters Jamie Lynn Crofts, Wonkette

SO WHAT MADE OUR NIHILISTS IN EXPENSIVE SUITS THE WAY THEY ARE? Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog