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
Saddam Hussein is executed; Fire in Chicago kills 600 people; Vladimir Lenin proclaims the establishment of the Soviet Union; The United Auto Workers union stage their first “sit-down” strike; Musician Bo Diddley is born.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
I’m not afraid of terrorism at all. I’m afraid of loss of our freedom, loss of mobility, loss of global comradeship.
Breakfast News
Wounded Syrian fighters and civilians evacuated under UN deal
Hundreds of wounded fighters and civilians from opposing sides of the Syrian war arrived in Lebanon on Monday night from Shia villages in Syria, as part of a UN-backed deal which also saw dozens of rebel fighters and their families evacuated to Turkey.
The landmark deal is the latest step in a six-month truce brokered by backers of both Bashar al-Assad’s government and the rebels fighting to overthrow him and could act as a model for local ceasefires meant to reduce the violence in a civil war that has claimed more than a quarter of a million lives. The UN-brokered deal comes ahead of next month’s peace talks in Vienna, aimed at resolving the five-year crisis.
Guinea has been declared free of Ebola, leaving Liberia as the only country still awaiting an official end to the epidemic.
People in the capital, Conakry, greeted the declaration by authorities and the World Health Organisation with mixed emotions: more than 2,500 people died from the virus, which damaged the country’s economy, and health and education sectors.
“Several of my family are dead. This situation has shown us how much we must fight for those who are survivors,” Fanta Oulen Camara, who works for Médecins Sans Frontières, told Reuters.
Court throws out Facebook lawsuit against fugitive claiming 50% stake
A New York state appeals court on Tuesday threw out Facebook Inc’s unusual malicious prosecution lawsuit against DLA Piper and other law firms that have represented a fugitive who claimed a 50% stake in the social media company.
Reversing a lower court ruling that favored Facebook and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, the appellate division in Manhattan found a lack of evidence that the law firms knew or should have known that their client Paul Ceglia’s case was fraudulent and based on fabricated evidence.
Revealed: Thatcher’s mystery gems, Reagan’s reading and moon dust
A diamond and emerald necklace allegedly given to Margaret Thatcher by a Middle Eastern oil minister but never declared as a gift caused consternation inside No 10, newly released documents reveal.
Downing Street press officers were alerted when a Guardian journalist called about the supposed clandestine donation in October 1985, according to documents released by the National Archives in Kew on Wednesday.
The jewels, said to have included earrings and a bracelet, were allegedly given by the then president of Opec, Mana Saeed al-Otaiba from the United Arab Emirates. A No 10 press officer wrote in a detailed note: “David Pallister of the Guardian has been enquiring about certain gifts allegedly made to the prime minister in March 1982 by Dr Otaiba.
Giant squid that swam into Japanese bay guided back out to sea by diver
A giant squid, rarely seen outside of deep waters, has been filmed swimming near a pier in central Japan.
The 3.7-metre-long squid was spotted swimming under fishing boats at Toyama Bay on Christmas Eve.
It reportedly lingered around the moorings for several hours and was captured on video using a submersible camera.
It is not known why the squid ventured so close to shore, but local dive shop owner Akinobu Kimura, who joined the squid in the water to guide it back out to sea, told CNN it seemed “lively”.
Breakfast Blogs
The Tamir Rice Shooting Reveals the Darkness at the Heart of Open Carry Laws Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
Those Demanding Free Speech Limits to Fight ISIS Pose a Greater Threat to U.S. Than ISIS Glenn Greenwald, The intercept
Can The Empire Be Audited? Dan Wright, ShadowProof
Drowning In Ignorance: UK Government Ignored Flood Warnings Michaela Whitton, ShadowProof
It Wasn’t Just Exxon — They All Knew Gaius Publius, naked capitalism
Who Needs A No-Fly List When You Can Just Ground 91 Million Citizens? Tim Cushing, Techdirt