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
Bruno Richard Hauptmann convicted in the Lindbergh baby kidnap-murder; The World War II bombing of Dresden begins; Konstantin Chernenko becomes Soviet leader; Peter Gabriel born; Waylon Jennings dies.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Be yourself. The world worships the original.
Ingrid Bergman
Breakfast News
GOP Assault on Social Security Could be ‘Death Sentence’ for Nation’s Disabled
The claim that either the old-age or disability trust funds has run dry is ‘one of the hoariest lies in the conservatives’ playbook.’
Republican opposition to a plan that would shore up a critical government safety-net program amounts to a new front in the GOP’s class war and could equal a “death sentence” for many poor recipients, defenders of Social Security said this week.
The White House has proposed shifting money between two Social Security accounts in order to avert deep cuts in disability payments-specifically, reallocating a small portion of the Social Security payroll tax from its old-age account to disability for five years-as has been done numerous times in the past.
The AARP and other elder advocacy groups support the strategy, which would extend by 17 years the life of the disability reserve, currently projected to be exhausted by the end of 2016, according to acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration Carolyn Colvin.
Amid Lopsided Recovery, Republicans Plan Cuts to Food Stamp Program
‘We cannot balance the budget on the backs of poor people,’ said Rep. Jim McGovern
House Republicans are reportedly renewing efforts to cut the federal food stamp program, increasing restrictions on benefits and who may qualify for them.
House Agriculture Committee chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) will introduce the effort at the committee’s February 25 meeting, the first of several hearings scheduled this year to debate the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which administers food stamps. Conaway told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that implementing changes may take months, but reports suggest that Republicans will aim to slash funding for the program and tighten eligibility requirements.
Currently, a family of four making less than $2,584 a month may qualify for the SNAP program.
However, food stamp rules are already being tightened across the country.
Groups Call Time on Obama: Veto Congress’ KXL Bill, Then Kill Project Outright
Soaked with contributions from oil and gas interests, members of Republican-controlled House easily approve tar sands pipeline project
With members who receive large financial backing from oil and gas interests playing the dominant role, the House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday evening which would force the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Having already been approved by the Senate, the passage sets up a promised veto of the measure from President Obama as it heads to his desk.
In a 270-152 vote, which fell largely along party lines, the Republican-controlled House easily passed the measure. Twenty-nine Democrats joined with Republicans in favor of the bill.
The Senate passed same the bill by a 62-36 margin last month. Neither the House nor the Senate appears to have enough votes to override a presidential veto.
Sara Shor, a campaigner with 350.org, a group vocally opposed to the tar sands pipeline project known as KLX, described the ploy by Republicans and some Democrats in Congress to force its approval as a “charade” and said her group fully expects Obame to keep his pledge to veto the legislation. Obama now has ten days to veto or approve the legislation.
However, Shor added, “Once he vetoes this bill, the pipeline won’t be stopped, so we hope he will then use his power to reject the pipeline outright.”
Federal judge orders Alabama official to issue marriage licenses to gay couples
Standoff intensifies as US district court judge targets Mobile County official in ruling that reinforces previous decision striking down same-sex marriage ban
The dramatic standoff involving more than 40 probate judges in Alabama who are refusing to administer same-sex marriage has been intensified by a federal court that has ordered an official in Mobile to begin issuing licenses or face possible consequences.
US district judge Callie Granade has bolstered her own ruling from three weeks ago that found that Alabama’s ban on gay marriages unconstitutional. On Thursday she ordered the probate judge in Mobile, the state’s third largest city, to conform to that stricture.
Don Davis has kept his probate office in Mobile closed since Monday in defiance of federal instructions to allow same-sex marriages to go ahead. He has cited the opinion of the chief justice of the state’s supreme court, Roy Moore, who has given a counter-order to probate judges that they should not participate in gay marriages, as to do so would be to violate the word of God.
Granade ruled: “Judge Davis may not deny them a license on the ground that plaintiffs constitute same-sex couples or because it is prohibited by the sanctity of marriage.”
Jeb Bush emails: rush to redact 12,000 people’s social security details
Messages posted online from putative presidential candidate’s time as Florida governor contained information that could lead to identity theft
Jeb Bush’s team has hurriedly redacted the social security numbers and other identity details of 12,000 people from emails released online covering the putative presidential candidate’s eight years as Florida governor.
The emails contained names, birthdates and social security numbers – the three pieces of information key to identity theft.
Bush had opened up the 332,999 emails to public scrutiny, seeking to portray himself as a tech-savvy executive, in touch with constituents and an active administrator.
But tucked away in some of the messages were the personal details of thousands of people.
Texas senator proposes bill to allow concealed weapons nationwide
NRA-backed ‘reciprocity’ legislation would require a state to honor permits issued by other states as gun safety advocates say it is ‘irresponsible’
A US senator from Texas wants to enable Americans to travel across state lines with their concealed weapons.
The Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, introduced this week by US Senator John Cornyn, would allow concealed weapons permits issued in one state to be recognized in any state.
The nation’s largest gun rights group cheered the legislation, saying it would “respect the rights” of gun owners.
“The current patchwork of state and local laws is confusing for even the most conscientious and well-informed concealed carry permit holders,” Chris W Cox, executive director of the NRA-ILA, the group’s lobbying branch, said in a statement.
Chelsea Manning allowed to have hormone therapy
Reports suggest Army will allow treatment for former analyst who is serving 35-year sentence for WikiLeaks disclosure
Chelsea Manning, the US Army intelligence analyst who was the source of the massive WikiLeaks disclosure of state secrets, has been granted hormone therapy in her transition to a woman, a report suggested on Thursday.
Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence in military prison for her role in one of the largest leaks in US history, will be allowed hormonal treatment by the Army hierarchy, according to a memo obtained by USA Today. It would mark an important milestone for the military that continues to bar transgender people from service. No current member of the armed forces has ever been approved such therapy.
The breakthrough is set out in a memo signed earlier this month by Colonel Erica Nelson, commandant of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas where Manning is being held. It says: “After carefully considering the recommendation that [hormone treatment] is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding [the treatment] to Inmate Manning’s treatment plan.”
US faces worst droughts in 1,000 years, predict scientists
Climate change is likely to cause decade-long mega-droughts across US south-west and Great Plains, new study shows
The US south-west and the Great Plains will face decade-long droughts far worse than any experienced over the last 1,000 years because of climate change, researchers said on Thursday.
The coming drought age – caused by higher temperatures under climate change – will make it nearly impossible to carry on with current life-as-normal conditions across a vast swathe of the country.
The droughts will be far worse than the one in California – or those seen in ancient times, such as the calamity that led to the decline of the Anasazi civilizations in the 13th century, the researchers said.
Plan to Release GMO Mosquitoes ‘A Science Experiment Run Amok’
Effort by biotechnology firm meant to stop tropical diseases in Florida could have risky impacts, critics say.
A biotechnology company’s plan to release millions of genetically engineered mosquitoes the Florida Keys to combat tropical diseases has been criticized as “a science experiment run amok” by a watchdog organization.
The plan, which local officials hope to get underway this spring, is meant to control the population of Aedes aegypti, which spreads dengue fever and chikungunya.
The state of Florida reported (pdf) six cases of locally acquired dengue and 11 of chikungunya in 2014.
Human-Driven Extraction Has Doomed Caribou. So Why Are Wolves Paying Deadly Price?
Province engages in controversial wolf-killing to help caribou numbers, but humans ‘stay the course with the unsustainable industrial scale fossil fuel extraction’
Alberta’s attempt to boost caribou numbers by killing wolves is an inhumane approach that fails to target the root of the problem-the extractivist industries-says a group scientists.
Explaining how the wolves came to be seen as the problem, Kaleigh Rogers writes at Vice:
See, roads and industrial development built to take advantage of Alberta’s rich natural resources has impacted the woodland habitat, in part allowing wolves to more easily gain access to the caribou herds. While the wolves aren’t to blame, they have been contributing to the diminishing caribou population and nearly wiped them out in some areas, so the government decided to introduce a systematic wolf cull to address the immediate problem.
Controversy erupted in November following the publication of an analysis in the Canadian Journal of Zoology, which, as CBC News reported at the time, assessed
Must Read Blog Posts
What POTUS wouldn’t tell Ezra Klein: The scary truth about America’s new trade deal David Dayen, Salon
Dianne Feinstein Calls Out NCTC Head for Bullshit Torture Report Threat Assessment Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
Shackling is banned in New York. So why are incarcerated pregnant women still being restrained during labor? Katie McDonough, Salon
“Sarah Palin with a Harvard degree”: Why new senator Tom Cotton is so frightening Heather Digby Parton, Salon
Obama Asks Congress to Authorize War That’s Already Started Cora Currier, The Intercept
FBI Director Defends Police, Says Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist Juan Thompson, The intercept
DailyDirt: NYC Subways Filled With Unknown Specie s Michael, Ho, Techdirt
Automatic License Plate Readers Also Gathering Millions Of Facial Photos Daily Tim Cushing, Techdort
Sriracha Boss On Trademark: Mmmmm, No Thanks Timothy Geigner, Techdirt
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