The Breakfast Club (Wandering Star)

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.

 photo 807561379_e6771a7c8e_zps7668d00e.jpg

This Day in History

Inmates seize control of Attica prison in upstate New York; Mao Zedong, Communist China’s founding leader, dies; Elvis Presley first appears on TV’s Ed Sullivan Show; Soul singer Otis Redding born.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Mark Twain

Breakfast News

Angela Merkel: plan to share 160,000 refugees across EU may not be enough

Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said a controversial plan due to be unveiled by the European commission (EC) to share out 160,000 refugees among European Union states might not be enough, and warned that Europe may have to accept even bigger numbers.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the EC president, will give details on Wednesday of his blueprint to tackle Europe’s largest refugee crisis since the second world war. He wants EU governments to agree a binding quota system that will see refugees relocated from overstretched countries such as Italy and Greece.

Speaking after a meeting in Berlin with Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Löfven, Merkel called Juncker’s proposal a first important step. But she said any new system had to be able to respond to the situation on the ground, and deal with the fact that many more refugees may come in future.

Iran deal: Obama may have support he needs to avoid using veto

The White House is on the verge of a dramatic political victory in Congress after a flurry of last-minute endorsements for its Iran nuclear deal put Democrats within sight of enough votes to spare Barack Obama from needing to veto a motion of disapproval from Congress.

At least 41 Democratic senators have now expressed their support for the international deal, which aims to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, after Oregon senator Ron Wyden joined Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Gary Peters of Michigan in endorsing the agreement on Tuesday.

In theory, this should be enough for the Democratic minority leader, Harry Reid, to block Republican efforts to pass a vote of disapproval on the deal and thereby obviate the need for the president to take the politically embarrassing step of vetoing the legislation.

Baltimore to pay Freddie Gray’s family $6.4m in wrongful death settlement

The city of Baltimore has agreed to pay a $6.4m settlement to the family of Freddie Gray, whose death in custody earlier this year sparked several nights of protests and rioting.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a statement on Tuesday she had proposed the payout in order to avoid “costly and protracted litigation” from the Gray family that she said “would only make it more difficult for our city to heal”.

“This settlement is being proposed solely because it is in the best interest of the city,” said Rawlings-Blake.

The mayor stressed, however, that the settlement should not be seen as an admission of guilt by city authorities. Six police officers involved in Gray’s arrest in April are being criminally prosecuted over his death.

Google gets into the home-delivered grocery game with Express

First they came for your search, then they came for your phone, now they want your groceries. Google is getting into the fresh foods business. The company confirmed on Tuesday that Google Express, the company’s delivery service, will send fresh fruits and vegetables to customers in San Francisco and one other city (so far unnamed) later this year.

The tech company also announced it will expand its next-day delivery service – which is already available in cities including Chicago, New York and San Francisco and works with partners like Barnes & Noble, Target and ToysRUs – to areas in the midwest.

“Today, we’re very excited to be further expanding our efforts – making it easy for over 25 million people in the midwest to get things they need from stores they love – delivered overnight,” said Brian Elliott, general manager of Google Express.

Russian five-year-olds dig their way out of nursery to buy sports car

Two five-year-old Russian boys used spades to dig their way out of their kindergarten and set off on a mission to buy a Jaguar sports car, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily has reported.

The two boys disappeared as their group took part in a supervised walk in the grounds of the kindergarten in the city of Magnitogorsk in the Urals region, the tabloid said. [..]

After reaching freedom, the boys walked just over a mile to a car showroom selling luxury cars. A female driver noticed them and asked what they were doing. They told her they had come from their kindergarten to buy a Jaguar but did not have any money.

She put them in her car and drove them to a police station.

—–

Must Read Blog Posts

Warren Increases the Pain Factor for Choosing Corporate-Friendly Democrats David Dayen, The Intercept

‘A Dangerous International Precedent’: British Government Embraces Killer Drones Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter @ ShadowProof

Stingrays and Public Safety Operations emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel

What Exactly Is the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal About? Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics

Dick Cheney’s despicable alternate history just got even worse Heather Digby Parton, Salon

Confidential Informants: Inherently Trustworthy Until They’re Not Tim Cushing, Techdirt

—–