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.
This Day in History
The Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in Lake Superior; Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies; Henry Stanley finds David Livingstone in central Africa; Film composer Ennio Morricone born; ‘Sesame Street’ premieres.
SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29. When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America’s Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there.
For seventeen years Fitzgerald carried taconite iron ore from mines near Duluth, Minnesota, to iron works in Detroit, Toledo, and other Great Lakes ports. As a “workhorse,” she set seasonal haul records six times, often breaking her own previous record. Captain Peter Pulcer was known for piping music day or night over the ship’s intercom while passing through the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers (between Lakes Huron and Erie), and entertaining spectators at the Soo Locks (between Lakes Superior and Huron) with a running commentary about the ship. Her size, record-breaking performance, and “DJ captain” endeared Fitzgerald to boat watchers. [..]
The sinking of Edmund Fitzgerald is one of the best-known disasters in the history of Great Lakes shipping. Gordon Lightfoot made it the subject of his 1976 hit song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” after reading an article, “The Cruelest Month,” printed in Newsweek‘s November 24, 1975, issue.
The sinking led to changes in Great Lakes shipping regulations and practices that included mandatory survival suits, depth finders, positioning systems, increased freeboard, and more frequent inspection of vessels.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. Andre Gide
Breakfast News
NSA phone records collection ‘likely violates constitution’, US judge rules
A federal judge ruled against the National Security Agency on Monday, saying that its bulk collection of telephone metadata “likely violates the constitution”. The government filed a request for an emergency stay of the order, saying it believed it was likely to win on appeal.
In a case brought by activist Larry Klayman, Washington DC district court judge Richard Leon ruled that the NSA must cease collecting the defendants’ information. Leon said he believed it was “substantially likely” that “the program is unlawful”, and that in that event, “the plaintiffs have suffered concrete harm traceable to the challenged program”.
A different panel of judges in a similar case ruled in favor of the NSA in October.
Sonia Sotomayor lambastes justices for backing officer who shot fleeing suspect
Supreme court justice Sonia Sotomayor accused her fellow justices of “sanctioning a shoot first, think later approach” after they overwhelmingly backed a police officer who ignored orders and shot a fleeing suspect in Texas.
Eight members of the nine-strong bench overturned a lower court ruling against trooper Chadrin Mullenix and found he was entitled to immunity from lawsuits. Legal experts say the ruling will likely make it harder to sue police in the future for using deadly force.
Mullenix was sued by the family of Israel Leija after he fired into Leija’s fleeing car despite having been told by a superior to wait for the vehicle to reach a series of tire spikes that had been set up nearby.
Two top officials of the University of Missouri resigned Monday under pressure about a lack of responsiveness by university administrators to racist incidents on the Columbia campus and intense pressure from the student body.
The president, Tim Wolfe, announced his resignation at a news conference Monday morning. He was followed several hours later by the university’s chancellor and effective chief executive, R Bowen Loftin.
‘Angola Three’ prisoner Albert Woodfox stays behind bars after court order
A federal appeals court says Louisiana can keep the “Angola Three” inmate Albert Woodfox in jail and continue plans to try him a third time for the 1972 murder of a prison guard.
Monday night’s 2-1 decision by the fifth US circuit court of appeals reverses a June order by US District Judge James Brady.
Brady had ordered Woodfox’s immediate release. He had barred a third trial, saying the state could not try Woodfox fairly more than 40 years after the killing.
The fifth circuit disagreed, saying Brady had abused his discretion.
SeaWorld to end killer whale shows in wake of mounting protests
SeaWorld will end theatrical orca shows at its theme park in San Diego next year as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the company in the wake of mounting protests over its treatment of animals.
Joel Manby, SeaWorld’s chief executive, said he had listened to guests’ criticism of its Shamu stadium whale circus and it would end the “theatrical killer whale experience” in San Diego by the end of 2016.
He said the company will replace its Californian Shamu show – in which whales dive, jump and splash guests to the demands of their trainers – with “an all new orca experience focused on the natural environment [of the whales]”.
Must Read Blog Posts
Bill O’Reilly Is Right on Ronald Reagan’s Battle with Alzheimer’s Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
Government Still Hasn’t Cleared One of Jeffrey Sterling’s Appellate Lawyers emptywheel aka Marcy Wheel, emptywheel
Sometimes you have to clear out the old to make room for the newSometimes you have to clear out the old to make room for the new Gaius Publius, Hullabaloo
Only Edward Snowden Can Save James Bond Dan Froomkin, The Intercept
‘Hundreds’ Of Teens Found Sexting At A Single School And Everyone Seems Unsure Of How To Proceed Tim Cushing, Techdirt
1 comment
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Bon hour, mes amis. This summer I spent some time in the North Country. In a small town on the eastern most coast, the residents are collecting funds for a memorial park honoring the thousands brave men and women who lave been lost at sea. Today the bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald will ring 30 times, 29 for the crew and one for all others. I’m a sailor, I love the sea. Tonight i light a candle in their memory