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.
Peace for Paris pic.twitter.com/Lh1PQ91ncY
— banksy (@thereaIbanksy) November 13, 2015
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
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.
Breakfast News
The Paris police prefect has now confirmed that the attackers at the Bataclan rock venue blew themselves up with suicide belts as police closed in, killing four.
He said the gunmen first sprayed cafes outside the venue with machine gunfire, then went inside the concert hall and killed more before the assault by security forces.
The prefect, Michel Cadot, said one set of attackers was at the Stade de France, and at nearly the same time the second group attacked within the city.
Cadot said all the attackers are believed dead, although authorities are hunting for any possible accomplices.
The US supreme court has agreed to hear a challenge to one of the nation’s harshest abortion laws in what could be the most consequential case on abortion rights the court has taken in 23 years.
The law, known as HB2, is a Texas measure passed in 2013 that has since led to the closure of more than half the state’s abortion clinics. Out of the hundreds of new abortion restrictions lawmakers have passed since 2010, few have had such a profound impact on abortion access in a single state.
Is ICC Actually Investigating Western Powers? Probe Targets NATO Torture and Abuse in Afghanistan
Prosecutors for the International Criminal Court declared Thursday that they have information which “suggests” that U.S.-led, international forces in Afghanistan are responsible for “physical and psychological” violence and torture that “debased the basic human dignity” of those detained.
The office of ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda released the Report on Preliminary Examination Activities (pdf), which includes brief summaries of investigations into alleged crimes committed by all parties to the conflict since 2003, including U.S. and NATO forces.
The preliminary investigation notes that the U.S. military’s investigation of its own crimes “did not go higher than the brigade commander level” or lead to criminal proceedings of any kind.
Judge’s reversal over same-sex couple’s foster baby may be temporary – officials
A Utah judge reversed his decision to take a baby girl from her lesbian foster parents and place her with a heterosexual couple after his ruling caused widespread backlash, but child welfare officials say the change could be temporary.
In an order released on Friday, Judge Scott Johansen allowed the nine-month-old baby to stay for now with April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce, a married couple from the city of Price.
It comes after Johansen said in court on Tuesday that the baby should be removed from the couple’s home within a week. Utah officials and the couple filed court challenges demanding he rescind the order.
Transgender homicide rate hits historic high in US, says new report
The number of transgender homicide victims in the US has hit a historic high, according to a new report from advocates, leading members of Congress to officially respond to an emerging pattern of tragedy with the first-ever forum on transgender violence.
The Human Rights Campaign report documented 21 transgender homicide victims so far in 2015, almost all of them transgender women of color, and likely an underestimate due to the difficulty of tracking the homicides. Among all 53 transgender murders from 2013 to 2015, not a single one was prosecuted or reported as a hate crime, the report found.
“There are now more transgender homicide victims in 2015 than in any other year that advocates have recorded,” said HRC president Chad Griffin in a statement.
Must Read Blog Posts
Worst Paris reactions Salon Staff, Salon
What Does Politico Really Tell Us About the Lead-up to 9/11? Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
It’s Harder for FBI to Get Location Data from Phone Companies Under FISA than Other Ways emptywheel aka Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel
Over $1 Trillion Spent Since Nixon Began The War On Drugs
$5M Jury Award for One Foreclosure Fraud Makes U.S. Punishment Look Trivial David Dayen, The Intercept
Supreme Court Examines The Sixth Amendment Ramifications Of Pre-Conviction Asset Seizures Tim Cushing, Techdirt
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