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.
AP’s Today in History for May 28th
Novelist Ian Fleming is born. Baseball’s National League approves moving the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. Duke fo Windsor dies.
Breakfast Tune The Ballad of Godzilla
Something to think about, Breakfast News & Blogs below
Authorities: Emergency alert at N.J. nuclear plant a false alarm
USA Today – The (Vineland, N.J.) Daily Journal
LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK, N.J. — So that frightening broadcast alert about an emergency at the Salem County nuclear power plant … never mind, authorities say.
An emergency broadcast message sent to televisions across south New Jersey around 9 p.m. ET Tuesday was just a mistake, according to state and county emergency management officials.
“There is NO emergency at our Hope Creek nuclear plant,” PSEG Nuclear spokesman Joe Delmar said in an email. “We are conducting an emergency drill. Some of the drill scenario was mistaken for an actual emergency. We are working with the NJ Office of Emergency Management to correct this information. Again, there is NO emergency.” …
Tory nerves fray as Jeremy Corbyn narrows Theresa May’s lead in new poll
Toby Helm and Michael Savage, The Guardian
Jeremy Corbyn has dramatically cut Theresa May’s previously commanding lead in approval ratings among voters, according to the latest Opinium/Observer poll, in a further sign that the race for Downing Street may be tightening with 10 days to go until the general election.
The narrowing of May’s lead suggests her decision to call a snap election and then focus her campaign almost entirely on her leadership, contrasting it with Corbyn’s, may be backfiring.
More than a third of voters (37%) say their opinion of the prime minister is more negative than at the start of the campaign, against 25% who say it is more positive.
The opposite is true of the Labour leader, with 39% saying they have a more positive view of Corbyn compared with 14% who now have a more negative view. …
Chinese jets intercept U.S surveillance plane: U.S. officials
Idrees Ali; Ryan Woo, Reuters
Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a U.S. Navy surveillance plane over the South China Sea on Wednesday, with one coming within 200 yards (180 meters) of the American aircraft, U.S. officials told Reuters.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial reports showed that the U.S. P-3 Orion surveillance plane was 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Hong Kong in international airspace when the Chinese aircraft carried out the unsafe intercept. One Chinese aircraft flew in front of the American plane, restricting its ability to maneuver.
The Pentagon confirmed that two Chinese jets had carried out the intercept, saying it was “unsafe and unprofessional.”
“We continue to review the facts of this incident and will convey our concerns through appropriate channels with the Chinese government,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander Gary Ross said in a statement. …
DEA LIED TO CONGRESS ABOUT DEADLY RAID THAT KILLED FOUR HONDURANS, GOVERNMENT REPORT SAYS
Mattathias Schwartz, The Intercept
THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION repeatedly lied to Congress about fatal shooting incidents in Honduras, including the killing of four civilians during a DEA-led operation, according to a devastating 424-page report released today by the inspectors general for the State and Justice departments. The report depicts how the DEA withheld information from the U.S. ambassador in Honduras, passed incorrect information up the chain of command, repeatedly misrepresented the U.S. role as an adviser in what was actually a U.S.-led operation, recruited an informant to back up the DEA’s version of events and then stuck by the informant’s story despite its “inconsistent and contradictory accounts.” The DEA told Congress that its informant had passed a polygraph test, but the report concludes that test was undocumented and “largely useless.”
Most importantly, the report states that the DEA falsely characterized the deaths of four Hondurans as a shootout with drug traffickers despite proof on video that DEA-led forces fired on unarmed civilians. The dead were traveling on a passenger boat to a town called Ahuas, on the remote Mosquito Coast. Almost immediately, the mayor of Ahuas and other Honduran officials protested that the dead were innocent; the DEA maintained that its forces had been fired upon by drug traffickers. Today, more than five years later, the report confirms that the people of Ahuas were telling the truth. There was no crossfire. It was a DEA agent who ordered a helicopter gunner to open fire on the passenger boat. The four dead Hondurans — Emerson Martínez, Candelaria Trapp, Hasked Brooks Wood, and Juana Jackson — posed no threat. The DEA gave a grossly inaccurate depiction of its own operations to Congress and let that account stand uncorrected.
It is unclear whether the DEA personnel involved in the Ahuas shootings and the subsequent misrepresentations will face any sanction for their behavior. The inspectors general did not recommend charging any of the agency’s personnel with obstruction of justice or other criminal violations. Instead, they recommended that the DEA improve its internal procedures around reviewing shootings. …
Something to think about over coffee prozac
Woman Accused Of Startling Horses In T.Rex Costume Faces Charges
Horsing around in a T. Rex costume can be fun, but leave the horses out of it.
A North Carolina woman is facing charges after police in Charleston, South Carolina, said she startled a pair of carriage horses Thursday night while dressed as a T. Rex.
Nicole Wells, 26, was allegedly in the dinosaur duds as a carriage passed her on the street, according to Charleston Police Dept. spokesman Charles Francis.
“The individual in the costume stopped and began making growling noises at the horses,” Francis told the Charleston Post and Courier. “This spooked the horses and they began backing up. The carriage then struck an unoccupied vehicle and caused minor damage to its bumper.” …
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