The Breakfast Club (Egg Nog for Morning People)

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.

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This Day in History

Chuck Yeager breaks sound barrier; Britain’s Battle of Hastings takes place; Martin Luther King, Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize; Former President Theodore Roosevelt shot; Singer Bing Crosby dies.

Breakfast Chuckle

Breakfast News

Investigation Into Missing Iraqi Cash Ended in Lebanon Bunker

Not long after American forces defeated the Iraqi

government of Saddam Hussein in 2003, caravans of trucks began to

arrive at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington on a regular basis,

unloading an unusual cargo – pallets of shrink-wrapped $100 bills. The

cash, withdrawn from Iraqi government accounts held in the United

States, was loaded onto Air Force C-17 transport planes bound for

Baghdad, where the Bush administration hoped it would provide a quick

financial infusion for Iraq's new government and the country's battered

economy.

Over the next year and a half, $12 billion to $14 billion was sent to

Iraq in the airlift, and an additional $5 billion was sent by

electronic transfer. Exactly what happened to that money after it

arrived in Baghdad became one of the many unanswered questions from the

chaotic days of the American occupation, when billions were flowing into

the country from the United States and corruption was rampant.

Finding the answer became first the job and then the obsession of

Stuart W. Bowen Jr., a friend from Texas of President George W. Bush

who in 2004 was appointed to serve as a special inspector general to

investigate corruption and waste in Iraq. Before his office was finally

shut down last year, Mr. Bowen believed he might have succeeded – but

only partly – in that mission.

C.D.C. Rethinking Methods to Stop Spread of Ebola

The transmission of the Ebola virus to a nurse

here forced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday to

reconsider its approach to containing the disease, with state and

federal officials re-examining whether equipment and procedures were

adequate or too loosely followed, and whether more decontamination steps

are necessary when health workers leave isolation units.

"We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control,

because even a single infection is unacceptable," Dr. Thomas R. Frieden,

director of the C.D.C., told reporters. [..]

A team of C.D.C. officials – reinforcements sent to Dallas in the

aftermath of the second Ebola case diagnosed in the United States –

worked through the night at the hospital to identify what was described

as a "large group" of health care workers who might be at risk of

infection because they treated the original Ebola victim, Thomas Eric

Duncan, 42, at the hospital from the time he was admitted on Sept. 28

until he died last Wednesday.

And they are now watching hospital personnel as they put on and

take off their protective garb, retraining the staff and evaluating the

type of protective equipment being used. They were considering using

cleaning products that kill the virus to spray down workers who come out

of the isolation unit where the nurse is being treated.

CDC chief urges US 'rethink' of Ebola strategy after second diagnosis

CDC chief says hospitals need to be prepared to diagnose patients after officials confirm first case contracted in the US

Federal health officials are imploring hospitals to "think Ebola" as

officials in Texas scramble to identify all staff involved in the care

of America's patient zero in the wake of the diagnosis of a female nurse

who is the first person to contract the disease in the US.

"We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection and

control because even a single infection is unacceptable," Tom Frieden,

director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said

at a press conference on Monday. [..]

"If this one individual was infected and we don't know how,

within the isolation unit, then it is possible that other individuals

could have been infected as well," Frieden said. "So we consider them to

potentially be at risk."

Highway Guardrail May Be Deadly, States Say

By last month, state transportation officials in Missouri said they had seen enough.

Federal highway officials had long insisted that guardrails

throughout the state were safe. But some guardrail heads had apparently

malfunctioned, in essence turning the rails into spears when cars hit

them and injuring people instead of cushioning the blow, Missouri

officials said.

"The device is not always performing as it is designed and

intended," a Missouri transportation official wrote of the problematic

rail heads in an internal communication.

Because of its safety concerns, Missouri banned further

installation of the rail heads on Sept. 24. It joined Nevada, which

prohibited further purchases in January, and was followed six days later

by Massachusetts. Lawsuits say the guardrails were to blame for five

deaths, and many more injuries, in at least 14 accidents nationwide.

Major supermarket chains changed how they label meat, surprising customers and USDA

In recent weeks, Giant stores nationwide changed

their labeling procedures, making it difficult for customers to know the

quality of meat. Rather than providing different options, the company

labeled meat simply as "USDA graded" – a description that applies to all

but a tiny amount of meat approved for sale in the United States.

Larry Meadows, a Department of Agriculture official who is one of the

people charged with overseeing the nation's meat supply, said in an

interview that the action was problematic. "We've never seen anyone use

anything like the 'USDA graded' label before," said Meadows, associate

deputy administrator of the USDA's livestock, poultry and feed program.

"The label is truthful, but it's also misleading."

Meadows said one reason a company might use a more generic label

is to save money, or to blur the impact of introducing an unusually high

amount of lower-quality beef.

Giant's corporate parent, Ahold USA, which was ordered to stop

the practice, acknowledged the change in labeling at its stores, which

include Martin's, Stop 'N Shop and the grocery delivery service Peapod.

Sea level rise over past century unmatched in 6,000 years, says study

Research finds 20cm rise since start of 20th century, caused by global warming and the melting of polar ice, is unprecedented

The rise in sea levels seen over the past century is unmatched by any

period in the past 6,000 years, according to a lengthy analysis of

historical sea level trends.

The reconstruction of 35,000 years of sea level fluctuations

finds that there is no evidence that levels changed by more than 20cm in

a relatively steady period that lasted between 6,000 years ago and

about 150 years ago.

This makes the past century extremely unusual in the historical

record, with about a 20cm rise in global sea levels since the start of

the 20th century. Scientists have identified rising temperatures, which

have caused polar ice to melt and thermal expansion of the sea, as a

primary cause of the sea level increase.

Pentagon: global warming will change how US military trains and goes to war

Climate change to become immediate factor for all strategic, operational and planning decisions

Global warming is changing the way the US trains for and goes to war –

affecting war games, weapons systems, training exercises, and military

installations – according to the Pentagon.

The defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, will tell a high-level

meeting of military leaders on Monday that the Pentagon is undertaking

sweeping changes to operation systems and installations to keep up with a

growing threat of rising seas, droughts, and natural disasters caused

by climate change.

"A changing climate will have real impacts on our military and

the way it executes its missions," Hagel wrote in his introduction to a

Pentagon report out today. "We are considering the impacts of climate

change in our war games and defence planning scenarios."Global warming

is changing the way the US trains for and goes to war – affecting war

games, weapons systems, training exercises, and military installations –

according to the Pentagon.

The defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, will tell a high-level

meeting of military leaders on Monday that the Pentagon is undertaking

sweeping changes to operation systems and installations to keep up with a

growing threat of rising seas, droughts, and natural disasters caused

by climate change.

"A changing climate will have real impacts on our military and

the way it executes its missions," Hagel wrote in his introduction to a

Pentagon report out today. "We are considering the impacts of climate

change in our war games and defence planning scenarios."

'Global Frackdown' Aims to Slay Myths and Force End to Fracking Bonanza

'Across the globe a powerful movement is

emerging that rejects policies incentivizing fracked natural gas as a

bridge fuel to as sustainable future.'

Anti-fracking activists all over the world turned up their megaphones

and took to the streets of their communities on Saturday to partipate

in the "Global Frackdown" as they demanded an end to the destructive

practice of hydraulic-fracture drilling that the oil and gas industries

are aggressively trying to expand in regions across the planet.

"Across the globe a powerful movement is emerging that rejects

policies incentivizing fracked natural gas as a bridge fuel to as

sustainable future. Any initiative claiming to promote sustainable

energy for all must stimulate energy efficiency and renewable energy

programs, not foster fracking for oil and gas," said Wenonah Hauter, the

executive director of  U.S.-based Food & Water Watch, which

spear-headed the day of action.

Across the world, other events were being tracked via Twitter under the hashtag GlobalFrackdown

Clergy among dozens arrested on final day of 'Ferguson October' protests

Hundreds marched on Ferguson police station in 'Weekend of Resistance' to protest killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown

Ferguson police arrested about 20 clergy members and the radical

intellectual and activist Cornel West during civil disobedience protests

on Monday over the killing of an unarmed 18-year-old African American

man, Michael Brown, by a white police officer two months ago.

Several hundred people marched on Ferguson police station for a

"Moral Monday" protest on the final day of a "Weekend of Resistance"

that brought activists from across the US to demand that Darren Wilson,

the officer who shot Brown, be put on trial and to protest over broader

issues of racial profiling and use of excessive force by police officers

in other places.

About 100 members of the clergy joined the march which began at a local church up the street.

Must Read Blog Posts

Elizabeth Warren Says Obama Administration 'Protected Wall Street Not Families' DSWright, FDL New Desk

Jim Comey Lied When He Claimed FBI Needs a Judge to Read Your Email Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel

The No Fly List and DOJ's Notice Concessions Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel

Is Someone Funding Saudi's Oil Flood? Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel

Attention deniers: Earth just had its hottest September ever recorded Lindsay Abrams, Salon

Freaky Weird Prescience (Ebola Post) riverdaughter. The Confluence

Why Africa Can't Handle Ebola: the Destruction of the 3rd World Ian Welsh

For-Profit Education Profits Everyone… Except Students, Teachers, Taxpayers And America Down with Tyranny

Snowden: I Probably Wouldn't Have Revealed Quite As Much As Reporters Did Mike Masnick, Techdirt

What Atrios said

Emphasis

I don't expect the church to have views on gender and sexuality that

I'd totally embrace any time soon. My problem has long been with the

emphasis. Think homosexual "acts" are a sin? Abortion and birth control

are wrong? Okay, fine, go ahead. It's your church. But these weren't

exactly things that Jesus dude spent much time focusing on, at least

according to that little book that's in my hotel nightstand. Even if

basic doctrine doesn't change radically, one would hope the emphasis does.