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
Nazi Germany bombs English town of Coventry during World War II; ‘Moby-Dick’ published; Nellie Bly begins globe-trotting trek; Leonard Bernstein makes conducting debut; Composer Aaron Copland born.
Breakfast Tunes
The late Leonard Bernstein made his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall on November 14, 1943 when the scheduled conductor fell ill. Oddly, the day was also composer Aaron Copeland’s birthday whom Bernstein had met at Copeland’s birthday party in 1938 while Bernstein was a student at Harvard.
Breakfast News
US wealth inequality – top 0.1% worth as much as the bottom 90%
Not since the Great Depression has wealth inequality in the US been so acute, new in-depth study finds
Wealth inequality in the US is at near record levels according to a new study by academics. Over the past three decades, the share of household wealth owned by the top 0.1% has increased from 7% to 22%. For the bottom 90% of families, a combination of rising debt, the collapse of the value of their assets during the financial crisis, and stagnant real wages have led to the erosion of wealth. [..]
The growing indebtedness of most Americans is the main reason behind the erosion of the wealth share of the bottom 90%, according to the report’s authors. Many middle-class families own their homes and have pensions, but too many have higher mortgage repayments, higher credit card bills, and higher student loans to service. The average wealth of bottom 90% jumped during the stock market boom of the late 1990s and the housing bubble of the early 2000s. But it then collapsed during and after the most recent financial crisis.
Since then, there has been no recovery in the wealth of the middle class and the poor, the authors say. The average wealth of the bottom 90% of families is equal to $80,000 in 2012- the same level as in 1986. In contrast, the average wealth for the top 1% more than tripled between 1980 and 2012.
‘Killer robots’ need to be strictly monitored, nations warn at UN meeting
Countries warn of potential dangers of autonomous weapons systems they say are at risk of violating international and humanitarian law
“Killer robots” – autonomous weapons systems that can identify and destroy targets in the absence of human control – should be strictly monitored to prevent violations of international or humanitarian law, nations from around the world demanded on Thursday.
The European Union, France, Spain, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Mexico and Sierra Leone, among other states, lined up at a special UN meeting in Geneva to warn of the potential dangers of this rapidly advancing technology. Several countries spoke of the need for ongoing scrutiny to ensure that the weapons conformed to the Geneva conventions’ rules on proportionality in war.
Former Massey CEO indicted over West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29
Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship charged following mine safety investigation that followed the fatal 2010 blast
The former CEO who oversaw the West Virginia mine that exploded in 2010, killing 29 people, was indicted on Thursday on federal charges related to a mine safety investigation that followed the blast.
US attorney Booth Goodwin said a federal grand jury indicted former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship on charges that include conspiracy to violate mandatory federal mine safety and health standards, conspiracy to impede federal mine safety officials, making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission and securities fraud.
Blankenship could face up to 31 years in prison if convicted.
Congress to vote on Keystone pipeline in high-stakes challenge to Obama
Senate and House of Representatives schedule votes to support controversial pipeline, hours after president announced historic emissions deal with China
Both chambers of the US Congress will vote on a bill to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline in the coming days, in what could amount to an immediate challenge to Barack Obama’s efforts to reduce global carbon emissions.
The decision by Democratic leaders in the Senate to schedule a vote for Tuesday next week on the Keystone legislation was taken after the party’s Louisiana senator, Mary Landrieu, spent Wednesday afternoon engaged in a high-stakes bid to force the vote.
Landrieu, a longtime critic of Obama’s energy policy, is locked in a tight re-election battle against the Republican congressman Bill Cassidy, which will be resolved in a runoff on 6 December, after neither managed to gain the 50% required for an outright victory in the midterms last week.
Less than 24 hours after Obama announced a deal with China to limit and reduce carbon emissions, Landrieu took the Senate floor to call for unanimous consent for a vote on her bill to approve the pipeline.
Fracking accident kills one and seriously injures two at well site in Colorado
Three men were trying to heat a frozen high-pressure water line when something went wrong and the line ruptured
An accident at a hydraulic fracturing site in northern Colorado killed one worker and seriously injured two others Thursday, authorities said.
The three men were trying to heat a frozen high-pressure water line at the oil or gas well site when it ruptured, Weld County sheriff’s Sgt Sean Standridge said. One man was hit by a stream of water or fracking fluid and died from the impact.
The accident happened near Mead, about 35 miles north of Denver, on the fourth straight day of frigid weather in the region.
“The pipe was frozen and they were trying to heat it up to get it flowing again,” Standridge said. The injured men were flown to hospitals, he said.
US military considers sending combat troops to battle Isis forces in Iraq
General Martin Dempsey tells House committee that he would consider abandoning Obama’s pledge and send troops to fight Isis in Iraq
The top-ranking officer in the American military said on Thursday that the US is actively considering the direct use of troops in the toughest upcoming fights against the Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq, less than a week after Barack Obama doubled troop levels there.
General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, indicated to the House of Representatives armed services committee that the strength of Isis relative to the Iraqi army may be such that he would recommend abandoning Obama’s oft-repeated pledge against returning US ground troops to combat in Iraq.
Retaking the critical city of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest, and re-establishing the border between Iraq and Syria that Isis has erased “will be fairly complex terrain” for the Iraqi security forces that the US is once again supporting, Dempsey acknowledged.
Pope Francis to build showers for homeless in St. Peter’s Square
In his latest bid to ease the suffering of the poor – and upend the expectations of the papacy – Pope Francis plans to build showers for the homeless under the sweeping white colonnade of St. Peter’s Square.
Three showers are to be built into refurbished public restrooms provided for Catholic pilgrims along the marble columns leading into the historic basilica, which was completed in 1626
Nebraska Hospital To Evaluate Ebola Patient From Sierra Leone
The Nebraska Medical Center said that it would soon evaluate an Ebola patient from Sierra Leone in a statement on Thursday night, but had not confirmed that the man would be treated at its Biocontainment Unit. The patient was to be evaluated by a medical crew when it arrived in Sierra Leone. If the patient was deemed stable enough to travel, he was expected to arrive at the facility on Saturday, said the statement from Taylor Wilson, the hospital’s Senior Media Relations Coordinator.
Earlier the hospital had issued a press release indicating that the hospital was not currently expecting to receive and treat a third Ebola patient, contrary to some media reports claiming otherwise.
Must Read Blog Posts
US Delegation Refuses to Explain to UN Committee Why Durham Review Ended in No Torture Prosecutions Kevin Gosztola, FDL The Dissenter
Jihadis Using Cruise Ships to Reach Middle East (Not Satire) Peter van Buren, FDL The Dissenter
Fixes for USA Freedom Act Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
Xi Upstages Obama, Puts Another Nail in TransPacific Partnership Coffin Yves Smith, naked capitalism
Former ‘Vampire Squid’ VP Jim Himes Favored To Head Up DCCC Suzie Madrak, Crooks and Liars
Harry Reid Surrenders His Sword Gaius PubliusGaius Publius, Down With Tyranny
The Occupy Model ek hornbeck, The Stars Hollow Gazette
Net Neutrality May Soon Be Dead, Thank You, Mr. President TMC, The Stars Hollow Gazette
Rise of the Nones (and other things Democrats should pay attention to but probably won’t) riverdaughter (aka goldberry), The Confluence
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