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.
Breakfast Tune: Dead schrimp blues ( Robert Johnson ) – banjo-harmonica-feet
Today in History
Breakfast News & Blogs Below
California drought shaming takes on a class-conscious edge
Rose Hackman, The Guardian
In California, a new season of drought brings a new season of drought shaming – or, for those using YouTube, Instagram, Twitter or the “community-minded” app VizSafe, #droughtshaming. Call it tech-savvy snitching for the opulence-sick and environmentally conscious.
But this year #droughtshaming – the act of naming-and-shaming water-wasters on social media – has taken on a new, class-conscious, anti-corporate life of its own.
Targets in the past few weeks have included Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, for maintaining obscenely green, lush lawns, visible from the air; Walmart, for sourcing its bottled water from the drought-stricken state at enormous profit; rich Beverly Hills residents, for filling up their pools; and even a local Ritz hotel that was “water misting” its too-rich-to-be-hot patrons. …
Alibaba sued for selling alleged counterfeit luxury goods
Reuters
A group of luxury goods makers sued Alibaba Group Holding on Friday, contending the Chinese online shopping giant had knowingly made it possible for counterfeiters to sell their products throughout the world.
Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and other brands owned by Paris-based Kering filed the suit in Manhattan federal court seeking damages and an injunction for alleged violations of trademark and racketeering laws.
The lawsuit alleged that Alibaba had conspired to manufacture, offer for sale and traffic in counterfeit products bearing their trademarks without their permission. …
U.S. Approved Raid to Kill “Senior Islamic State official” in Syria
Adam Johnson, AlterNet
Saturday morning, the White House announced it approved a raid to kill “senior Islamic State official” Abu Sayyaf in Syria, in what one U.S. official referred to as “the first direct action” by U.S. forces inside Syria.
Previously, the White House has acknowledged U.S. soldiers have carried out hostage rescue missions in Syria but this is the first time they have admitted doing so expressly for military purposes. According to a White House statement the raid was “launched from Iraq” with the full consent of Iraq authorities. The White House said Sayyaf’s wife was captured and the couple had been keeping a Yazidi slave.
Though the White House provided no evidence to support this claim, Human Rights Watch documented the enslavement of the Yazidi, an ethno-religious group, by the Islamic State in October 2014. …
US special forces kill Isis commander and capture wife in Syria raid
Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian
US special operations forces have killed an Islamic State commander through a dramatic and secretive raid into Syria and have taken a woman prisoner, the first US-held detainee of the war against Isis and a move that places immediate stress on one of Barack Obama’s signature wartime policies.
Ashton Carter, the US defense secretary, confirmed on Saturday that Obama ordered the elite troops to raid a location in eastern Syria and “capture” an Isis figure, Abu Sayyaf. Unusually, Carter said the raid also targeted the man’s wife, identified as Umm Sayyaf.
Abu Sayyaf was killed in the raid, Carter said. Umm Sayyaf was taken prisoner – a rarity for the Obama administration, whose reluctance to add to the complexities of US wartime detentions has often led it to kill battlefield targets instead of capturing them. …
- How The First Church Of Cannabis Plans To Test Indiana’s New Religious Freedom Law
Jack Jenkins - Police: Man enraged by lack of mac ‘n cheese at rest stop
AP - Samantha Bee on Her Lovely Late-Night Show Set Ideas
Jenna Marotta - With US Accountability MIA, Poland to Make Payout for Torture of CIA
Jon Queally
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac:
Beaver takes shopping trip inside Alaska hardware store
AP
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – A beaver walked into an Alaska hardware store on Friday, but couldn’t find anything for his lodge.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports (http://is.gd/6oWIqo) the beaver triggered the automatic doors and walked into Lowe’s about 7 a.m. Friday.
Employees trapped the beaver with a cardboard box in the plumbing department. A state wildlife biologist was called.
…
Lowe’s assistant manager Adam Vanhoveln says the beaver didn’t cause too much of a commotion, and it didn’t reach the lumber department.
Breakfast Quote:
A lot of people believe what other people say.
B. B. King
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