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
Uprising topples Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu; Richard Reid tries to set off explosives in his shoes on a flight from Paris to Miami; French army officer Alfred Dreyfus convicted of treason; Madonna marries film director Guy Ritchie.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.
Breakfast News
UN refugee chief says Trump-style rhetoric helps Islamic State
People who reject Syrian refugees are the “best allies” of Islamic State militants and other extremists, the United Nations refugee chief said on Monday after US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposed an entry ban on foreign Muslims.
More than 4.3 million Syrians have fled a nearly five-year civil war. UN High Commissioner for refugees Antonio Guterres told the Security Council they cannot be blamed for the terror they are risking their lives to escape.
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini banned from football for eight years by Fifa
The downfall of Sepp Blatter and the disgraced Fifa president’s one-time heir apparent, Michel Platini, is all but complete after both were banned from football for eight years by the world governing body’s own ethics committee.
Both men were cleared of corruption charges but found guilty of a series of other breaches including a conflict of interest and dereliction of duty over a 2m Swiss francs (£1.35m) “disloyal payment” from Blatter to Platini, the Uefa president, in 2011.
While they will fight to clear their name at Fifa’s own appeals committee and the court of arbitration for sport, the verdict looks likely to finally bring the curtain down on Blatter’s controversial 40-year tenure at Fifa and Platini’s hopes of replacing him in the top job.
FDA drops lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men
US government health officials are lifting the nation’s 32-year-old lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, but major restrictions will remain on who can donate.
The ban had been aimed at preventing the transmission of HIV, the virus which causes Aids, but medical groups and gay activists have long said the ban could no longer be justified, based on modern testing methods. The US Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that the change is “backed by sound science and continues to protect our blood supply”.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX returns to flight and pulls off dramatic, historic landing
Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket at its landing pad here Monday evening in its first flight since its rocket exploded six months ago.
The historic landing, the first time a rocket launched a payload into orbit and then returned safely to Earth, was cheered as a sign that SpaceX, the darling of the commercial space industry, has its momentum back. [..]
Monday’s flight, initially delayed because of technical concerns, was the second time in a month that a billionaire-backed venture launched a rocket into space and recovered it. And it represents yet another significant step forward in the quest to open up the cosmos to the masses.
Wild bees on the decline in key US agricultural ecosystems – study
Wild bees, crucial pollinators for many crops, are on the decline in some of the main agricultural regions of the United States, according to scientists who produced the first national map of bee populations and identified numerous trouble spots.
The researchers on Monday cited 139 counties as especially worrisome, with wild bee numbers decreasing while farmland for crops dependent on such pollinators is increasing.
The counties included agricultural regions of California such as the Central Valley, as well as the Pacific northwest, the upper midwest and Great Plains, west Texas and the southern Mississippi river valley.
The counties grew crops such as almonds, pumpkins, squashes, blueberries, watermelons, peaches and apples that are highly dependent on pollinators, or had large amounts of less-pollinator-dependent crops including soybeans, canola and cotton.
US plans to extend endangered species status to lions in Africa
The US plans to extend its endangered species protection to lions in Africa, five months after an American dentist caused an international furore by killing Cecil, a famed lion which lived in Zimbabwe.
US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will classify lions in southern and eastern Africa as threatened, with those in the central and western regions covered by full endangered status. The move will place tighter restrictions on the import of lion “trophies”, such as paws or heads.
While the US cannot regulate hunting in other countries, the move is significant because around half of all lion hunting in Africa is conducted by Americans. According to FWS data, more than 5,600 lions have been killed and imported by American hunters over the past decade.
Breakfast Blogs
Saturday Night’s Alright for Polite Disagreements (When No One’s Watching) Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction Ed Walker, emptywheel
Democratic Debate Spawns Fantasy Talk on Encryption Jenna McLaughlin, The Intercept
A Secret Catalogue of Government Gear for Spying on Your Cellphone Jeremy Scahill and Margot Williams, The Intercept
Florida City’s Police Guidance Says Citizen Recordings Likely Legal; Tries To Find Ways To Make Them Criminal Acts Tim Cushing, Techdirt
US Gov’t Agencies Freak Out Over Juniper Backdoor; Perhaps They’ll Now Realize Why Backdoors Are A Mistake Mike Masnick, Techdirt