The Breakfast Club (Same S#!+ Different Day)

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 March 15th

Julius Caesar assassinated in Rome; Johnson urges passage of Voting Rights Act; Worldcom CEO Bernard Ebbers convicted of fraud; Elizabeth Taylor marries Richard Burton; “My Fair Lady” debuts on Broadway.

Breakfast Tune “Cripple Creek” on the banjo, by Tracy Newman

Something to think about, Breakfast News & Blogs below

Exclusive: New OPCW whistleblower slams ‘abhorrent mistreatment’ of Douma investigators
A fourth OPCW whistleblower has emerged to defend the two veteran inspectors who challenged a cover-up of the chemical weapons probe in Douma, Syria. The new whistleblower lamented that other staffers have been “frightened into silence.”
Aaron Mate, The Gray Zone

A new Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) whistleblower has surfaced in response to a malicious and factually flawed attack by OPCW leadership on two veteran inspectors who challenged the official story of an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government in Douma.

In a statement provided to The Grayzone, the new OPCW whistleblower described being “horrified” by the “abhorrent … mistreatment” of the inspectors. The new whistleblower also warned of a climate of intimidation designed to keep other staffers “frightened into silence.”

The official is now the fourth OPCW whistleblower to air serious concerns about the chemical watchdog’s Douma probe. The Grayzone has independently verified the official’s identity and status with the OPCW, and granted them anonymity to protect them from potential retaliation.

Their full emailed statement can be seen here, and is transcribed at the conclusion of this article.

…

• GOP LAWMAKER WHO VOTED AGAINST PAID SICK LEAVE IN FLORIDA TAKES PAID LEAVE FROM CONGRESS
  Lee Fang

• Moving Our Pharmaceutical Factories Overseas Was A Huge Mistake
  Olivia Webb

• HOW THE SENATE PAVED THE WAY FOR CORONAVIRUS PROFITEERING, AND HOW CONGRESS COULD UNDO IT
  Ryan Grim, Aída Chávez

• Bernie’s Last Chance
  MATT TAIBBI

• Sanders taps Rev. Jesse Jackson as campaign advisor
  J. EDWARD MORENO

• Elite Media Dismiss Voter Suppression on Grounds That It’s ‘Complicated’
  JULIE HOLLAR

• At ‘Shock Doctrine Press Conference,’ Trump Bails Out Oil Industry, Not US Families, as Coronavirus Crisis Intensifies
  Jon Queally

• ‘Grotesque Level of Greed’: Owned by World’s Richest Man Jeff Bezos, Whole Foods Wants Workers to Pay for Colleagues’ Sick Leave During Coronavirus Pandemic
  Jon Queally

• Super PACs Are Pouring Millions Into Backing Joe Biden
  Ilma Hasan

• “Shit-Life Syndrome,” Trump Voters, and Clueless Dems
  BRUCE E. LEVINE

• Bernie’s Mistakes
  TED RALL

• The Hunt depicts elites hunting the poor for sport. The ‘satire’ feels a little too real
  BJessa Crispin

• Forget the Gaffes, What About Biden’s Lies?
  Mehdi Hasan

• AFRICAN NATIONS TURN THE TABLES, IMPOSING TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS AGAINST U.S., EUROPE, AND CHINA TO STAVE OFF CORONAVIRUS
  Joe Penney

• Kushner Announces Doctors HATE Him After He Discovered One Weird Trick To CURE Coronavirus
  The Onion

Something to think about over coffee prozac

 
Toilet Paper Wars and the Shithouse of Capitalism
Simon Springer
 

The run on toilet paper has brought the failings of capitalism front and center to the bathroom of every house across Australia, a trend that has now spread to other countries…

…

There is a key difference between toilet paper and housing though. Toilet paper shortages are unlikely to be a prolonged phenomenon. The boom will soon bust. Major retailers have already begun placing limits on the amount people can buy. They have intervened in the market, recognizing that any supposed invocation of it being “free” is a dystopian fantasy that is detrimental to the community as a whole. The housing situation, on the other hand, is a protracted affair, and one that leaves many people out in the cold. It is not going to fix itself, and successive governments all around the world have proven that they are unwilling to regulate in ways that are equitable. In the face of such ineffectuality and inequality, the question then becomes: how much shit are people willing to take?