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
George Wallace sworn in as Alabama governor; Revolutionary war formally ended; Roosevelt, Churchill meet in Casablanca.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
Somewhere in the world there is an epigram for every dilemma.
Breakfast News
Oil and US share prices tumble over fears for global economy
US stocks fell heavily on Wednesday, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 falling 2.5% to take the index below 1,900 points for the first time since September, due to growing concerns about the falling oil price, which dipped below $30 a barrel for the first time in nearly 12 years.
The S&P 500, which closed at 1,890 points, suffered its worst day since September and has fallen by 10% since its November peak taking it into “correction” territory, something that has not happened since August 2014.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped by 364 points, or 2.2%, to 16,151, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 159 points, or 3.4%, to 4,526. This deepened the New York stock exchange’s already worst start to a year on record
US to expand refugee admissions for Central Americans fleeing violence
The US is to expand its refugee programme to help thousands of people fleeing violence in Central America avoid a perilous journey often exploited by human smugglers, secretary of state John Kerry has announced.
The office of the UN high commissioner for refugees will now conduct initial screenings to test whether people from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala may qualify as refugees eligible to move to the US legally.
The move came after a backlash from Democrats in Congress who urged Barack Obama to halt the deportations of families who have fled drug-fuelled violence, corruption and institutional breakdown in the three countries and entered the US without documentation.
US to crack down on high-end real estate purchased with ‘dirty money’
The US government on Wednesday announced a crackdown on corrupt foreign officials and international criminal masterminds buying up multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartments with “dirty money”.
Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a branch of the Treasury, said “all cash” buyers of high-end properties would be forced to reveal the true “beneficial owner” and would no longer be able to hide behind a string of shell companies.
“We are seeking to understand the risk that corrupt foreign officials, or transnational criminals, may be using premium US real estate to secretly invest millions in dirty money,” Calvery said.
Al Jazeera America To Shut Down By End Of April
Al Jazeera America will shut down its operations in the United States by the end of April, the company told employees in a meeting on Wednesday.
Al Jazeera America President Kate O’Brian tearfully relayed the news to stunned colleagues, alongside CEO Al Anstey. In a memo to staff, Anstey said the decision was driven by the “fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in an increasingly digital world, and because of the current global financial challenges.”
That Anstey framed the decision as a business move was striking, since the Qatar-backed Al Jazeera Media Network seemed more motivated to expand its global influence through a U.S. cable network than it did to turn a profit, especially in the short term.
G.E. Is Moving Headquarters to Boston and Itself Into the Digital Era
General Electric, the nation’s largest industrial company, makes products like jet engines, locomotives and gas turbines. Its corporate reputation is tied to producing big, heavy equipment — atoms by the ton, not the ephemeral bits of software.
Yet Jeffrey R. Immelt, the chief executive, predicted last September that G.E. would be a “top 10 software company” by 2020. In recent years, the company has steadily built up its software business, and its industrial products are increasingly loaded with digital sensors, all part of an effort to be a leader in the “industrial Internet.”
Now, in its latest step to remake itself — and its public image — as an industrial company for the digital era, G.E. said it was moving its headquarters from its longtime sprawling suburban home in Fairfield, Conn., to the high-tech environs of Boston.
Fossil fuel burning ‘postponing next ice age’
Humanity’s burning of fossil fuels is postponing the next global ice age for at least 100,000 years, according to new research that has discovered the tipping point which plunges the planet into deep freezes.
Showing that human activity, via climate change, can alter global processes like ice ages is compelling evidence that the planet has entered a new geological epoch, dubbed the Anthropocene, according to the scientists.
Other recent research listed evidence from plastic pollution to the mass extinction of wildlife to show that the Earth has entered the Anthropocene.
The new research also shows that a major ice age was narrowly missed just before the industrial revolution , probably because the development of agriculture had nudged the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere just above the tipping point.
MH370 search finds 19th-century shipwreck – but no plane
The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has uncovered a shipwreck deep underwater, officials said on Wednesday, the second such discovery since the search began almost two years ago.
The wreck is an iron or steel-hulled vessel believed to have gone down at the turn of the 19th century, and has been discovered 3.7km down.
One of three ships searching for MH370, Havila Harmony, used an autonomous underwater vehicle to further examine the find and captured high-resolution sonar imagery.
Breakfast Blogs
The Big Water Crisis Isn’t Looming Around the Corner. It’s Already Here. Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
Marco Rubio Connected To Federal Investigation For Tax Evasion Dan Wright, ShadowProof
From Google Payroll to Government and Back Again David Dayen, The Intercept
The news notices the news Gaius Publius, Hulabaloo
Can the federal courts decide Ted Cruz’s eligibility? No problem. Jack M. Balkin, Balkinization
Latest Email Dump Shows Hillary Clinton Telling Aide To Send Classified Documents Over Unsecure Fax Line Tim Cushing, Techdirt
NY State Legislator Proposes Ban On Sale Of Encrypted Smartphones Tim Cushing, Techdirt
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