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
President Woodrow Wilson is born; John C. Calhoun becomes the first vice president of the United States to resign; Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “Gulag Archipelago” is published; Actor Denzel Washington and comic book creator Stan Lee are born.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
‘We, The People’ is more than a statement of purpose. It is an acknowledgement of an obligation to each other.
Breakfast News
Christmastime storms, tornadoes kill at least 41 in U.S
Storms hit southern and central U.S. states over the Christmas holiday, unleashing floods and tornadoes that killed at least 41 people, flattened buildings and snarled transportation for millions during a busy travel time.
At least 11 people were killed in the Dallas area over the weekend by tornadoes, including one packing winds of up to 200 miles per hour (322 km per hour). The twister hit the city of Garland, killing eight people and blowing vehicles off highways.
“A tornado of that strength is very rare in a metropolitan area,” National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bishop said in a telephone interview. Powerful tornadoes are a staple of spring and summer in central states but occur less frequently in winter, according to U.S. weather data
‘Unprecedented’ Flooding Inundates Towns In Northern England
British Prime Minister David Cameron sent hundreds more troops into northern England on Sunday to help exhausted residents and emergency workers fight back rising river waters that have inundated towns and cities after weeks of heavy rain.
Cameron said the flooding is “unprecedented” and vowed to do everything possible to protect people and their property as the damage spread to the major cities York, Leeds and Manchester. He said protective systems and contingency plans will be reviewed because the frequency of such extreme weather events seems to be on the rise.
Weeks of persistent rainfall has saturated the ground and swollen the rivers to record levels, leaving entire swathes of northern England, and smaller parts of Wales and Scotland, vulnerable. Several hundred flood warnings remain in effect.
More than 100,000 flee El Niño flooding in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay
More than 100,000 people evacuated their homes in the bordering areas of Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina due to severe flooding in the wake of heavy summer rains brought on by El Niño, authorities said.
The Paraguayan government declared a state of emergency in Asunción and seven regions of the country. Several people were killed by falling trees, local media reported.
“[The flooding] was directly influenced by the El Niño phenomenon which has intensified the frequency and intensity of rains,” the national emergencies office said.
This year’s El Niño, which is linked to global climate fluctuations, is the worst in more than 15 years, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
Blizzard blasts New Mexico, Texas, piling snow up to 10 feet high
The Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles are bracing for what National Weather Service forecasters are calling a “historic blizzard”. Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, were in the path of the storm. High winds will drive wind chills as low as 10 below zero and cause low visibility due to blowing and drifting snow.
A blizzard warning was to go into effect for the region at 6 p.m. Saturday and last until Monday morning.
In central Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, a mixture of rain, sleet and freezing rain tapered off Sunday afternoon. [..]
Fierce Winter Storm Goliath plowed into the southern High Plains on Sunday, bringing blizzard conditions and forcing at least one governor to declare a state of emergency.
California firefighters work to contain last stretch of wildfire
More than 400 California firefighters battled on Sunday to contain a final stretch of wildfire that caused the temporary closure of a major highway and forced evacuations northwest of Los Angeles, officials said.
The fire charred some 1,235 acres between the coastal cities of Ventura and Carpinteria. Firefighters had dug containment lines around 70 percent of the blaze by early afternoon, Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Captain Mike Lindbery said.
“We have a handle on it, but that handle can be very fragile if certain events occur,” Lindbery said.
The main concerns facing firefighters were winds or wild embers starting flare-ups outside the containment line.
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