The Breakfast Club (Smokin’ Hot)

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 January 12th

Congress authorizes military force to expel Iraq from Kuwait; Soviet forces begin large offensive against Nazi Germany; First woman elected to U.S. Senate; Writer Agatha Christie dies; ‘All in the Family’ debuts on CBS.

Breakfast Tune Smokey Mokes by Roger Sprung on 1963-64 Folkways LP.

Something to think about, Breakfast News & Blogs below

Esper contradicts Trump claim Iran planned attacks on four US embassies
Richard Luscombe, The Guardian

Seeking to explain Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was planning attacks on four American embassies before the US killed Iranian Gen Qassem Suleimani in a drone strike, defense secretary Mike Esper found himself in the dangerous position of contradicting the president.

Asked on CBS’s Face the Nation if there had been a specific or tangible threat, Esper said: “I didn’t see one with regard to four embassies.”

Trump’s claim on Fox News on Friday prompted fierce criticism from members of Congress who were not briefed before the strike and who say such a threat was not mentioned in a classified briefing on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Esper added: “What I’m saying is I share the president’s view that, probably, my expectation was that they were going to go after our embassies.

…

• Economists ‘Surprised Americans Aren’t Revolting’ Over $8,000 Tax They Pay Each Year Due to For-Profit Healthcare System
  Julia Conley

• Ex-US intel officer: Pompeo ‘lying through his teeth’ on Iran
  PUSHBACK WITH AARON MATÉ

• Study Shows Medicare for All Could Save US $600 Billion Annually on Paperwork and Other ‘Useless Bureaucracy’
  Jake Johnson

• ‘Like sending bees to war’: the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession
  Annette McGivney

• ‘Biden Bait’: New Warren Bankruptcy Reform Plan Reignites 2005 Fight With 2020 Rival
  Jessica Corbett

• The Centrist’s dictionary: Here’s what corporate Democrats really mean when they say things like ‘purity test’
  Richard J. Eskow

• With 2020 Endorsement, Racial Justice Group Says Movement Behind Bernie Sanders ‘Will Change This Country’
  Jessica Corbett

• Polls show Bernie Sanders is top threat to Joe Biden
  Igor Derysh

• For Grasping Scope of Climate Crisis and ‘Fully Embracing’ Green New Deal, Youth-Led Sunrise Movement Endorses Bernie Sanders
  Jake Johnson

• The Americans Joe Biden Left Behind on the Bankruptcy Bill
  ADAM LEVITIN

• ‘See? Not Radical’: New Poll Shows Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Support a Wealth Tax to Fund Universal Programs
  Julia Conley

• CNN TO PAY $76 MILLION IN BACKPAY
  NLRB

• On the Issue of “Electability”
  ANDREW LEVINE

• Unremovable malware found preinstalled on low-end smartphone sold in the US
  Catalin Cimpanu

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s New PAC Is Already Raising Big Money
  Daniel Marans

• Bible Lobbyist: We Can’t Print Bibles in America Anymore
  Matt Stoller

• Noam Chomsky: US Is a Rogue State and Suleimani’s Assassination Confirms It
  C.J. Polychroniou

• Assassination, Lies and the Trump Difference
  PAUL STREET

• JOE BIDEN IS GETTING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF AIR COVER IN IOWA FROM UNDISCLOSED DONORS
  Akela Lacy

• Here’s why the west coast could shift time zones in 2020
  NICOLE KARLIS

• U.S. STRIKE ON IRANIAN COMMANDER IN YEMEN THE NIGHT OF SULEIMANI’S ASSASSINATION KILLED THE WRONG MAN
  Alex Emmons

Something to think about over coffee prozac

 
Nation’s defense contractors promise no attack against US will go unprofitable
Cat Astronaut, Duffle Blog
 

WASHINGTON — Following calls for revenge after a U.S. strike which killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, American defense contractors have promised that no attacks against the U.S. will go unprofitable.

“Let us assure the American people right now, any strike against the United States and its citizens will be met with swift and costly acquisitions programs,” said Raytheon spokesman Derg Douglas. “With the full weight of our lobbying and manufacturing infrastructure behind us, Congre—I mean Iran will have no choice but to bend to our will.”

Industry executives have promised that many of the programs they develop will be so expensive and irrelevant to the war effort that Iran will be constantly on its heels, with no idea what it will be hit with next.

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