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
U.S. Marines begin landing on Iwo Jima; President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives the U.S. Military the authority to relocate and detain Japanese-Americans.
Breakfast Tunes
Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac
At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun.
Breakfast News
MSF stops sharing Syria hospital locations after ‘deliberate’ attacks
Hospitals in opposition-held parts of Syria are refusing to share GPS coordinates with Russian and Syrian authorities because of repeated attacks on medical facilities and workers, Médecins Sans Frontières and humanitarian workers on the ground have said.
International charity MSF said it took the decision not to formally inform Syria’s government or its Russian allies about the location of some medical facilities, such as the one hit by a deadly airstrike this week, amid concerns that doing so could make them targets.
Joanne Liu, MSF International president, told reporters in Geneva that deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructures were routine. “Healthcare in Syria is in the crosshair of bombs and missiles. It has collapsed,” Liu said. “Let me be clear: attacks on civilians and hospitals must stop. The normalisation of such attacks is intolerable.”
Trials halted for all Baltimore police officers charged in death of Freddie Gray
The trials of all the Baltimore officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray have been put on hold by Maryland’s highest court, in a delay that could set back the high-profile cases of alleged police brutality for months.
The six officers facing trials over the death of Gray after a spinal injury in the back of a police van were due in court this winter. But after a jury couldn’t reach a decision in the first case, that of officer William Porter, every other trial has been held up over whether Porter can be compelled to testify in each of these other cases without risking self-incrimination.
Prosecutors have appealed rulings on whether Porter must testify, and the Maryland court of appeals said late Thursday that it would hear all the appeals together on 3 March. After the hearing, the court could take months to issue a written decision.
Kentucky Senate votes to create separate marriage forms for same-sex couples
Kentucky’s Senate approved a bill on Thursday that creates different marriage license forms for same-sex and heterosexual couples.
The primary purpose of the legislation was to remove the names of county clerks from marriage licenses – a response to the controversy surrounding Rowan County clerk Kim Davis and her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
But the Republican-controlled Senate amended the bill as a way to show its support for marriage between a man and a woman, with one Republican senator saying any form that did not include the words “bride” and “groom” risked being disrespectful to the “traditional family”.
Woman charged in Oregon standoff seeks $666bn from government
Shawna Cox, a key figure in the Oregon militia standoff who is accused of conspiring against the government, says she “suffered damages from the works of the devil” and wants federal officials to award her $666bn.
Cox, a 59-year-old Kanab, Utah woman facing federal charges for her role in the armed occupation of a wildlife refuge, has filed a “counter criminal complaint” against “federal employees” seeking “six hundred sixty six billion, six hundred sixty six million, six hundred sixty six thousand, six hundred sixty six dollars and sixty six cents”.
Cox is one of two women in the group of 25 people that federal authorities have charged in connection with the occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge that began 2 January and ended last week after a dramatic standoff with the FBI.
Head of Russian Orthodox church quizzes penguin on Antarctica visit
Fresh from his historic meeting in Cuba with Pope Francis last week, the head of the Russian Orthodox church has broken new ground again with a visit to Antarctica to commune with penguins.
Patriarch Kirill flew from Punta Arenas in Chile to Russia’s Bellingshausen Station on King George’s Island, becoming the first head of the Russian Orthodox church to visit the seventh continent. The station, which is home to 30 scientists studying weather conditions, marine mammals and sea ice, is named after the imperial Russian navy captain Fabian von Bellingshausen, who is generally credited with discovering Antarctica in 1820.
The spiritual leader conducted a prayer service at his church’s southernmost outpost – a traditional wooden structure that was constructed in Russia’s Altai mountains and shipped to Antarctica in 2003.
After sprinkling polar researchers with holy water and holding a requiem for the 64 Russian explorers who have died in Antarctica, Patriarch Kirill had a chance to enjoy the relatively balmy summer weather, with temperatures now just above freezing. The Russian Orthodox church posted a video of him setting out in a dinghy and visiting a rocky shore, where hundreds of penguins were waddling about.
“What, little one? What’s troubling you?” the patriarch asked one bold penguin that seemed to confront him, holding out its stubby wings and sticking out its neck.
Breakfast Blogs
The Roots of Donald Trump’s Candidacy Lie in a South Carolina Cemetery Charles Pierce, Esquire Politics
FBI Won’t Explain Its Bizarre New Way of Measuring Its Success Fighting Terror Jenna McLaughlin, The Intercept
The Problem With The Bourgeois Feminist Defense Of Hillary Clinton Roqayah Chamseddine, ShadowProof
There’s Something Hinky About That Fox Poll With Sanders In The Lead Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog
FCC Votes to Dismantle Cable’s Monopoly Over The Set Top Box Karl Bode, Techdirt
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