Possible arrests coming for former JPMorgan execs

Reuters: U.S. authorities are considering arresting two former JPMorgan Chase & Co employees for their alleged role in masking $6.2 billion “London Whale” losses, according to two people familiar with the situation.

In the latest twist in a scandal that has tainted the reputation of the largest U.S. bank and led to calls for greater oversight of its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, the main target of the investigation is Javier Martin-Artajo, who worked in London as the direct supervisor of Bruno Iksil, the trader who became known as “the London Whale,” the sources said.

The United States is also looking at Julien Grout, Iksil’s junior trader, according to one of the sources. Both sources spoke on condition that they not be otherwise identified as the investigation is ongoing.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Iksil, who earned his nickname after making outsized bets in a thinly traded derivatives market, is cooperating with the government and will not face any charges. His cooperation is essential to any arrest, the same sources said.

"Honor among thieves" is a myth — at least, among this particular class of thieves.

[photo via Wikimedia Commons]

AIG may sue because bailout wasn’t a cushy enough deal. Sen. Warren is displeased

New York Times:

Fresh from paying back a $182 billion bailout, the American International Group has been running a nationwide advertising campaign with the tagline “Thank you America.”

Behind the scenes, the restored insurance company is weighing whether to tell the government agencies that rescued it during the financial crisis: thanks, but you cheated our shareholders.

The board of A.I.G. will meet on Wednesday to consider joining a $25 billion shareholder lawsuit against the government, court records show. The lawsuit does not argue that government help was not needed. It contends that the onerous nature of the rescue — the taking of what became a 92 percent stake in the company, the deal’s high interest rates and the funneling of billions to the insurer’s Wall Street clients — deprived shareholders of tens of billions of dollars and violated the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the taking of private property for “public use, without just compensation.”

Maurice R. Greenberg, A.I.G.’s former chief executive, who remains a major investor in the company, filed the lawsuit in 2011 on behalf of fellow shareholders. He has since urged A.I.G. to join the case, a move that could nudge the government into settlement talks.

So basically, the saved drowning victim is suing the lifeguard because the fabric on the lifepreserver gave him a rash. Boo freakin’ hoo, you whiny little dick. No one made you accept the deal.

Newly-minted Senator Elizabeth Warren released a statement:

Beginning in 2008, the federal government poured billions of dollars into AIG to save it from bankruptcy. AIG’s reckless bets nearly crashed our entire economy. Taxpayers across this country saved AIG from ruin, and it would be outrageous for this company to turn around and sue the federal government because they think the deal wasn’t generous enough. Even today, the government provides an ongoing, stealth bailout, propping up AIG with special tax breaks — tax breaks that Congress should stop. AIG should thank American taxpayers for their help, not bite the hand that fed them for helping them out in a crisis.

In other words, if AIG thinks they got too little, they’re delusional. They’re got too much and are still getting too much. Corporate welfare beggars can’t be choosers.

[image source]

News Roundup for 5/21/12

How Mitt Romney sees America

-Headline of the Day-
"GOP Governors Contradict Romney, Tout Job Growth And Improving Economy."

To hear Mitt Romney tell it, the United States is in a deep, deep crisis. Packs of wild dogs roam the streets, chasing down old ladies, while packs of starving immigrant anchor babies hunt down the packs of wild dogs. Society and civilization are crumbling, poverty spreads out across the land, and two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse -- Famine and Pestilence -- ride scout for the others to follow. It's freakin' Road Warrior out there -- and only a hero named Mittens can save us.

The problems with Romney's message is that a) it's not even remotely true and b) it really screws over Republican governors.

See the fortunes of govs are like the fortunes of presidents; the economy is a big chunk of what they're judged on. So, while local governors are trying to tell everyone that everything's coming along nicely, Mitt's out there running around telling those same voters, "WE'RE ALL GOING TO FREAKIN' DIE!" In fact, at least one governor who isn't doing so awfully well is busy trying to lie about how well his state's economy is doing. So Mitt's not really helping here.

According to the report, "Across the country, in fact, unemployment rates are falling and jobs are returning to state economies, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest jobs report detailed last week. As Romney continues to ignore the fact that the economy is recovering, facts -- and the Republican governors who have endorsed him -- are telling a different story."

Well see, right there's your problem: facts. Every good conservative knows that facts hate America. Now if we could just figure out why Republican governors do as well... (ThinkProgress)


-Wall Street zoo-



That seems a little unfair to hyenas. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Grover Norquist: Trying To Stop Billionaires From Dodging Taxes Makes You A Nazi."

And being Grover Norquist makes you a fucking idiot. (ThinkProgress)

News Roundup for 2/20/12

Not the world's best sheriff

-Headline of the Day-
"Deputy accidentally shoots woman in concealed weapons class."

South Carolina's Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright thinks every lady should carry a gun, because his cops suck. No, really. After an attempted rape in his jurisdiction last year, Wright said, "Our form of justice is not making it. Carry a concealed weapon. That’ll fix it."

"Liberals call me and tell me the chain-gang form of justice isn’t working," he went on. "Well, let me inform you, your form of justice isn’t working either."

Yeah, about that. According to the report, "A South Carolina sheriff who has called for women to be armed isn’t backing down after one of his deputies accidentally shot a female student during a concealed handgun class."

Now, maybe it's just my tremendous good fortune, but I've never been shot by a cop. Seems to me that the way things operate in my little corner of the universe is working out just fine, while Chuck's way of doing things is a little bit of a failure.

"At a press conference over the weekend, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright explained that Deputy Skip Smith should have checked to make sure that Crystal Smith’s .22 caliber pistol was unloaded," the report goes on. He was showing her how hold the gun properly, when it went off, shooting her through the arm and into her side. I'm guessing Skip's got a weird definition of the word "properly."

At least Sheriff Chuck's right about one thing; his cops suck. (Raw Story, with video)


-Separation of church, state, and you-



"And you guys better not try anything gay, either!" (McClatchy)



-Bonus HotD-
"Wall Street Abandons Republicans -- Now Supports Higher Taxes on the Wealthy."

Those with occupations on Wall Street join Occupy Wall Street. At this rate, Republicans will officially be out of friends by July. (Huffington Post)

Stories to Watch: 11/22/11

I'm not posting to Griper Blade this week, to give me more time to do that whole Thanksgiving thing. I'm raising some sourdough right now and I should be able to bake it later tonight. Then I'll freeze it until the big day. My bread has been turning out well lately, so it should be a nice addition to the feast. Now here's the news...


When it comes to climate, the media really are chumps.


Another GOP debate to skip.


Dems are standing by Occupy Wall Street -- even as OWS isn't necessarily standing with them.


David Brooks wrote something stupid again.


A pregnant Seattle protester miscarries after being subjected to police abuse at an Occupy protest. Time for all the "pro-life" types to start freaking out of police brutality -- but we all know they won't. I'm guessing "abortion-by-cop" is going to be A-OK with them.


Finally, Republicans say that businesses are overtaxed and over-regulated. Business owners disagree.

Related articles

• Occupy Seattle protester claims police caused her miscarriage (guardian.co.uk)
• Fox News calls pepper spray a food product (rt.com)
• OWS protesters interrupt Obama's speech (VIDEO) (rt.com)
• Pregnant Woman Blasted with Pepper Spray by SPD Reportedly Miscarries (slog.thestranger.com)

News Roundup for 11/15/11

Armed and dangerous -- no, not the cops...

-Headline of the Day-
"City Claims Occupy Wall Street Protesters Were Stockpiling Weapons, Fights Court Order To Reopen Park."

Them Occupy Wall Street commies got big piles of guns and stuff!

Wait, no. According to the City of New York, currently fighting a legal battle to declare Zuccatti Park a free-speech-free zone, are getting a little creative in their defense. Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway "filed a motion on behalf of the city today opposing a court order requiring the NYPD to allow Occupy Wall Street demonstrators back into Zuccotti Park."

In that motion, Holloway wrote, "It was our understanding that the protesters may have had a significant number of items that could potentially be used as weapons." For the record, that could be pretty much anything. The biggest threat to public safety cited were "cardboard tubes with metal pipes inside," which I guess are more weapony than just metal pipes. Other evidence of a heavily armed protesters includes the aftermath of an October 1st march across the Brooklyn Bridge, where authorities reportedly found "knives, mace and hypodermic needles were observed discarded on the roadway."

OK, I'm going to go ahead and call bullshit on that one. One, who discards a knife? Those things cost money. And cops have been macing protesters, not the other way around. Finally, hypodermic needles? Yeah, that's my weapon of choice, right up there with thumbtacks -- it's New York, those are called "litter." I'm surprised they didn't include used condoms in that list of "weaponry."

There's a lesson to be learned here, of course. If you're going to stockpile weapons (or be accused of it) make sure they're guns.

When the cops come to take your guns away, the NRA will have a hissy. Guaranteed. (Gothamist)


-Racism is dead!-


Click to embiggen

Except when it's not. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Scalia and Thomas dine with healthcare law challengers as court takes case."

You know, it's one thing to have a conflict of interest and it's quite another to go out of your way to create it. The first is called "random stuff that happens in life," the second is called "being a dick about it." (LA Times)

Stories to Watch: 11/13/11

Dealt with leaves again yesterday. There's this Norway maple in the back that holds onto it's leaves until the last minute, so when everyone else is done with their raking, I'm just getting started. It's about done now, but there's no guarantee they'll all fall before the snow comes. Now here's the news...

***
Images wider than my center column have always been a problem for me, so I've added another upgrade to the site. Opening the image in a new window has been the solution I've been going with, but I don't like switching between tabs to look at charts, graphs, illustrations, etc. that go along with posts. Maybe it's just me, but I find it breaks the chain of thought.

So now when you see a "click to enlarge" link, click it or the thumbnail to open the image. It'll open in the same window and shrink to fit to your screen, if necessary. To view the image at full resolution, click the diagonal arrow at the bottom center and drag the image with your mouse to scroll. Click the arrow again to return to resized. And click the close button at the top or hit escape to return to the page. In a gallery, hit the left and right arrow icons to navigate. Here, try it. Pick a thumbnail.



This should be universal, but on the off-chance it doesn't work with your browser, images should just open in the conventional manner.

***
Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul complain that last night's GOP debate was unfair -- and they're right. Team Bachmann got hold of a CBS News email saying that she would "not going to get many questions during the debate and she's nearly off the charts." Yes, it's true that Bachmann no longer stands a chance in hell of the nomination, but by using polling to decide how many questions she gets that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Here again, we see presidential debates as a way for the media to generate news stories -- and not as an informative part of the democratic process.


Bill O'Reilly's book on the Lincoln assassination is like everything else Bill does -- it's complete bullshit.


Occupy Portland defies a police order to clear out.


Herman Cain has conversations with God, who -- according to Cain -- told him to run for president. Oh, and Herman's just like Moses. That's what you want in a president; delusional megalomania.


Michele Bachmann thinks America should be more like a China that exists only in her imagination.


Finally, it's back. Republican candidates say we shouldn't torture people -- we should just do things that are torture and call it something else. Because that's what good people do.

Related articles

• Bill O'Reilly: "What's this Kenji Economics?" (notesandobservations.me)
• Cain, Bachmann want to reinstate waterboarding (sfgate.com)
• Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Day 57, Occupy Portland Survives Night but Still Faces Eviction (dissenter.firedoglake.com)
• Ore. Occupy protesters defy deadline to leave (abclocal.go.com)

Stories to Watch: 11/8/11

More fun with RSS feeds. After putting together the Progressive News Must-Read Superfeed, I wanted to do something with it that was easy. So I fed it into the Progressive News Must-Read Twitterfeed. That's basically a bot account that tweets the first item at the moment in the Superfeed, once every half hour -- I'll crank that up later, but I have to do some research on it first. I'm not sure offhand how many hits I can send to Twitter's API in a day. It's nowhere near as comprehensive as the Superfeed, but it gets the job done when you're on Twitter. I'll put icons for all this stuff on my blogs later -- probably this weekend, if not sooner. Now here's the news...


A second Cain accuser steps forward.


Erick Erick joins the anti-Mittens jihad, which is going to be embarrassing when Romney wins the nomination and all the righties try to pretend he's the best thing ever.


President Obama threatens to veto an anti-net-neutrality bill if it reaches his desk.


The Affordable Care Act passes constitutional muster in a very conservative court.


OWS is on the right track; income inequality works really well for the Wall Street crowd.


Republican dirty tricks in the Ohio elections.


In Italy, Silvio Berllusconi says he's ready to resign.


Gallup finds that GOP voters are beginning to realize that Herman Cain probably isn't a wonderful guy.


Finally, watch to see how these races turn out tonight.

Related articles

• Fifth woman comes forward with story of unwanted advance from Herman Cain (dailykos.com)
• And Then There Were Five Herman Cain Accusers [Herman Cain] (gawker.com)
• Despite Ratings Drop, Herman Cain Remains Top For GOP Primary (huffingtonpost.com)
• Herman Cain: Accuser Is Lying (blogs.wsj.com)

Stories to Watch: 11/1/11

OK, so I've got the widget working. It still needs some CSS tweaks (and probably a complete redesign after that), but it works for now and that's what matters. Thanks to frequent commenter Vet for a very helpful suggestion. So now my problem is that the widget doesn't resize videos. No big deal, really. I've been tagging the Tumblr posts "#blogwire" and only feeding the RSS from those posts to the script. The widget actually allows more than one RSS feed, so I'll make a new tag on Diigo -- probably "videowire" -- and feed that along with the other. Diigo just posts the link and summary, so problem solved. When I put a video post up, look for "VIDEO:" in the headline. Now here's the news...


NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg again shows his Wall Street allegiance by talking bullshit about banks and the mortgage meltdown. To hear Mike tell it, Big Bad Congress marched on Wall Street, put a gun to bankers' heads, and made them bundle up bad debt into toxic assets.


Yes, Rick Perry really is extremely dumb.


As Bank of America drops their debit fee plan, Greg Sargent wonders if the big banks aren't getting a little skittish about Occupy Wall Street.


One of the women Herman Cain is accused of harassing wants to come forward, but is barred from doing so by the settlement agreement.


MF Global, under the leadership of former NJ Gov. and Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine, collapses under the weight of its own fuckedupedness.


It's not really news, but Chick-Fil-A is run by one bigoted individual.


Possible big, big, big trouble for Mittens.


The rich congress critters get richer.


Finally, Solyndra hasn't cut American's appetite for solar energy. Nice try, GOP.

Related articles

• BLOOMBERG: This Could Mean Potentially Serious Charges For Jon Corzine (businessinsider.com)
• MF Global may have millions missing (money.cnn.com)
• Mike Bloomberg: Blame Congress, Not Banks For The Mortgage Crisis (businessinsider.com)
• Mitt Romney Entwined with Players In Stanford Ponzi Scheme (crooksandliars.com)

Stories to Watch: 10/27/11

Finally got around to trying an alternative to kneading bread dough today. It's pretty easy, kind of like the way you work pizza dough. Takes a while though -- more than two hours. Still, most of that time it's just sitting in a bowl, so -- physically speaking -- it's a lot easier. I've got the dough in the fridge and I'll rise it and bake it tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. Now here's the news...


Google's Politics & Elections Blog has a post up comparing searches for the Occupy movement and the Tea Party. Bottom line; search traffic for Occupy Wall Street is 66% higher than the Tea Party's traffic ever was.


Another interesting trend in search traffic from the Google report: "Despite big leads in polls and search traffic for Occupy Wall Street, it is almost in a dead heat with the Tea Party for the volume of news coverage. Using Advanced Search in Google News we found that between October 7 and last week, Occupy Wall Street only barely bests the Tea Party when we examine the number of news pieces covering each movement: 29,000 to 22,000." While I don't have any doubt that the 'baggers are over-covered, terms like "Tea Party-backed Senator" and "Rep. X, a Tea Party favorite" probably have a lot to do with those numbers. Wait until we have a few "Occupy Wall Street" senators and representatives to talk about and we'll see if those stats change.


Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, perhaps realizing that calling a police riot "a generally peaceful resolution" to the Occupy Oakland protest was absurd bullshit, issues a second statement saying she stands with the 99%. Mitt "The Weathervane" Romney would be proud.


Boehner says he has "great concerns" that the president is overstepping his constitutional authority to deal with student loans and mortgages without congress. But those concerns aren't so great that he'd take Obama to court and risk being proven as wrong as he obviously is.


Mark this as the moment the Rick Perry campaign began to wind down.


Bad news for the GOP; the economy is recovering much faster than expected. Going to have to sabotage that right pronto.


This is censorship taken to a whole other level; North Korea basically exiles citizens working in Libya, so they won't come home and spread tales of revolution and freedom.


Finally, even millionaires want higher taxes on millionaires. In other words, Republicans are "defending" people who don't want to be defended.

Related articles

• Google Data: 'Occupy Wall Street' Now Tops 'Tea Party' In Recent Searches (mediaite.com)
• Occupy Wall Street Beats Tea Party in Searches on Google (mashable.com)
• Occupy Wall Street already has at least as much support as tea party (dailykos.com)
• Why Occupy Wall Street is not just a leftwing Tea Party | Ana Marie Cox (guardian.co.uk)

News Roundup for 10/26/11

Mitt Romney, shown listing the many positions he's taken on the issues

-Headline of the day-
"Mitt Romney: Actually, I do support Ohio law."

Oh Mittens, you're so flippity-floppity.

Yesterday, Romney visited a GOP phonebank in Ohio, to boost the spirits of all the temps the state party had hired to pester people about the attempted repeal of a union-busting law by referendum. For the record, the Republican Party would be against the repeal, because then all the temps would probably unionize.

Anyway, while visiting this hive of feverish activity, Mittens was asked what he thought of the law. Romney instinctively sensed that someone was trying to pin him down on a position (a position, BTW, he's already been pinned down on) and pretty much refused to answer the question. Mittens wasn't at a phonebank that was doing get out the vote for the union-busting ballot measure to voice an opinion about it. He wasn't interested in "particular ballot issues," he said. And everyone wondered what the hell he was doing there then.

So this all became a big thing, with people on the right calling him a coward and people on the left calling him a scaredy-pants. Mitt was going to have to put a lid on this right pronto. While in Virginia today, he basically said, "Oh, you mean that ballot issue!"

"What I was referring to is I know there are other ballot questions there in Ohio and I wasn't taking a position on those," he said. "With regard to Question 2, which is the collective bargaining question, I am 110 percent behind Gov. Kasich in support of that."

Which, of course, brings us to this:

Columbus Dispatch:

Issue 2 is getting smashed by 25 points, 57 percent to 32 percent, in Quinnipiac’s latest poll. The survey by the Connecticut university, released two weeks before the election, is the final public poll planned on the controversial law, which is on hold until voters have their say.

Yeah, Romney just came out in favor of the least popular thing since the clap. Way to pick a winner, Mittens! (Politico)


-Competing visions-
Occupy Wall Street's counterpart isn't the Tea Party.


Click to embiggen

It's a much more dangerous bunch of crazies. (Truthdig)


-Bonus HotD-
"Washington Post Illustrates Oakland Police Brutality With Cop Petting Kitty."

No, really. (Wonkette)

Stories to Watch: 10/25/11

Meatloaf tonight. It's what I do when I can't think of anything else to make. But that's OK, I like meatloaf. Now here's the news...


Mitt Romney avoids offering an opinion of the repeal of Ohio's union-busting law -- while visiting a phone bank making calls on behalf of the law. Finger in the wind.


DNC chair Rep. Debbie Wassserman Schultz on Rick Perry's tax plan: "My reaction to Rick Perry's new/old plan is that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Robbing from the poor to give to the rich hasn't been working so far, but this time for sure!


Elizabeth Warren v. Scott Brown just became a proxy war for Occupy Wall Street v. Wall Street. Guess who's on whose side?


The Congressional Budget Office confirms that the rich have been making plenty of money.


Rick Santorum is busy confirming everyone's preconception of him as a ridiculous bigot and national embarrassment.


Americans' approval of congress is at a whopping 9%. I think Gaddafi enjoyed more support among Libyans.


Finally, it's a race to collect bribes donations in the Scott Walker recall in Wisconsin.

Related articles

• Great Moments in Rick Perry Campaign Ad History: The Sausage Factory [Video] (gawker.com)
• Rick Perry Debuts 20% Flat Tax Plan In Wall Street Journal (alan.com)
• Republicans attack Elizabeth Warren for Occupy Wall Street support (dailykos.com)
• What Rick Perry's Flat-Tax Announcement Didn't Say (swampland.time.com)

News Roundup for 10/24/11

Freedom

-Headline of the Day-
"Chemical bomb tossed into Occupy Maine encampment."

If there's one thing we've learned from the Bush administration it's that bombs create smoking craters of liberty. And so it was that a fine American hero threw glorious freedom into the kitchen tent of the Occupy Maine protest.

According to the report, a patriot -- believed to be driving an "older model silver four-door sedan, possibly a Toyota or Nissan" -- tossed a bomb "into the camp's kitchen, a tarped area where food is cooked and served. Protest organizers said the explosion lifted a large table about a foot off the ground." Police describe the weapon as a "homemade bomb, which consisted of chemicals poured into a plastic Gatorade container [that] could have caused serious injury." Unfortunately, none of the godless hippie communists were injured.

"We are more motivated to keep doing what we're doing," said one protester. "They have heard us and we're making a difference."

Clearly, more bursting bombs of liberty are in order, so don't be surprised when you read about them. (Portland Press Herald)


-Bad news for Rupert-
The Supreme Court is expected to rule the Stolen Valor Act -- which makes it a crime to claim military honors you never received -- to be constitutional. The ramifications are staggering.


Click to embiggen

We can only hope. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Taxpayer Funded ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’ Tell Jewish Woman To Convert To Christianity Or Go To Hell."

Your tax dollars at work. Isn't mixing religion and government just freakin' great? (ThinkProgress)

Stories to Watch: 10/16/11

Pancake brinner tonight. Life is good. Now here's the news...


99-percenters go global.


Be prepare for a political shitstorm of biblical proportions; a far-left wing activist obtains emails from the Tea Party, then shares them with the FBI so the government can keep tabs on the movement. Oh wait, I read that wrong -- a far-right wing activist got leaked documents about Occupy Wall Street to the feds. Well, then that's just fine. Move along. Nothing to see here.


Police arrest protesters in an NYC Citibank for "trespassing." Protesters say they were trying to close their accounts and were arrested for it. Citibank says "Only one person asked to close an account and was accommodated." Neither the trespassing charge nor Citibank's statement account for video of a bank customer being arrested outside Citibank -- apparently her crime was in talking to protesters holding cameras.


Herman Cain, Koch addict.


Unsurprisingly, Mittens "Pink Slip" Romney is Wall Street's candidate of choice -- which explains why Obama's targeting Romney as a Wall Street shill.


Things do not look good on the climate front.


Fox & Friends continues to be the most ridiculous, brainless morning news circus out there.


Finally, mass arrests in Occupy Chicago protests.

Related articles

• Woman arrested while trying to close her Citibank account (dangerousminds.net)
• This Video of NYPD Arresting a Woman at Citibank Certainly Doesn't Look Good [Video] (gawker.com)
• NYPD Arrests 24 for Attempting to Close Their Citibank Accounts; BoA Threatens Customers Attempting to Close Theirs (slog.thestranger.com)
• Meet the Guy Who Snitched on Occupy Wall Street to the FBI and NYPD [Occupy Wall Street] (gawker.com)

Stories to Watch: 10/14/11

Got some stuff I need to do later and I'm running out of time right now, so tonight's going to be a shorty. Now here's the news...


Another day, another violent police action against the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Police and city governments should probably be aware that every incident like this is a PR coup for the movement. In other words, if you want them to go away, you're doing it wrong.


On the anti-Wall Street front; something's up. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner promises "dramatic enforcement actions" against financial criminals.


Josh Marshall detects a distinct shift away from deficits and toward jobs.


An appeals court blocks parts of Alabama's insane anti-immigration law.


Do regulations kill jobs? The answer is no.


Finally, the rapture preacher is back with a new date for the end of the world.

Related articles

• Occupy Wall Street Cleanup Delayed, What Next? (mtv.com)
• Top 10 Occupy Wall Street Conspiracy Theories (huffingtonpost.com)
• On TIME.com: 'The World Is Watching' Occupy Wall Street Protesters (newsfeed.time.com)
• Occupy Wall Street Face Off with Police [Photos] (wcbsfm.radio.com)

News Roundup for 10/14/11

George Soros (Reuters file photo)

-Headline of the Day-
"Reuters's Dizzying Changes to Its Soros-Occupy Wall Street Story."

Yesterday, Reuters posted a story about how it looked like shadowy gazillionare and source of all evil George Soros was behind all of this Occupy Wall Street business. Their evidence? Soros once gave money to a group that gave money to a group involved with OWS -- so that sounds super-solid already, right?

And it turns out that Soros gave money to the group that gave money back in 2009 and 2007 -- long before OWS was anybody's idea for anything. At this point, the reporting hinges on "if you squint real hard and drink a lot of vodka and ignore the fact that time exists, it kind of looks like maybe its possible that George Soros had maybe something to do with all this. Maybe."

So not everyone was sold on this and people started pointing out that this was really shitty reporting. At this point, Reuters changed the story to "Soros: not a funder of Wall Street protests." No, really. Apparently good reporting now involves the process of elimination. Look for the big, widely distributed story that Lexx Luthor isn't behind this thing either.

But the fixed story is not the only version that Reuters is distributing -- they also feature the unfixed story, in case that's what you like better.

So, if you live in the real world, then you can learn that George Soros has been ruled out as the mastermind behind the 99-percenters. If you're a Tea Party nutjob who blames George Soros every time it rains, then the uncorrected version is the one for you.

And through it all, the story has been updated and rewritten to death, when the most obvious solution would be a retraction. "Reuters cannot -- must not -- get a reputation as a right-wing media outlet," writes Reuters' own blogger Felix Salmon. "We have to report the news as impartially as we can. In this case, there was no story, and nothing to report. Inventing a tenuous and intellectually-dishonest link between Soros and OWS might get us traffic from Matt Drudge -- but that’s traffic which, frankly, we don’t particularly value or care for."

If that's the case, maybe leaving an uncorrected version of the story up for wingnut blogs to link to isn't the wisest decision ever. (Atlantic Wire)


-Wall Street reconsiders this "too big to fail" stuff-


Click to embiggen

Why do citizens have a monopoly on the citizenry? (DailyKos)


-Bonus HotD-
"Moody's Economist Says GOP Jobs Bill Would 'Likely Push The Economy Back Into Recession.'"

Which is weird, because that's exactly what it did when it was called "Bush's economic plan." (ThinkProgress)

Stories to Watch: 10/13/11

Sorry for the late headlines, but for some reason a windows update was sucking up all my CPU power. Never did that before. I couldn't get anything to work, so I decided to let the updater run its course while I got something to eat. Seems to be working fine. Now here's the [somewhat abbreviated] news...


A Reuters story trying to tie the 99-percenters to George Soros is so weak that even a Reuters blogger can't get behind it.


A Wall Street CEO writes a very strange op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that seems to blame President Obama for ungrateful panhandlers.


Remember how Michael Bloomberg said the Wall Street protesters could stay as long as they wanted? Yeah, that was bullshit. He's trying to run them out again.


Americans support Occupy Wall Street and oppose the Tea Party. This is a fact the 'baggers don't seem to like much.


Can we all stop pretending that Paul Ryan is some sort of economic genius now?


Finally, Ron Paul's got the mange or something.

Related articles

• This Week In Occupy Wall Street Signs (huffingtonpost.com)
• Why Liberals Should Welcome Occupy Wall Street (huffingtonpost.com)
• Mayor Bloomberg Needs To Keep His Word, Let Occupy Wall Street Stay in Liberty Plaza (treehugger.com)

News Roundup for 10/11/11

100% dumb

-Headline of the Day-
"About those '53 percent.'"

You might've heard that some "conservative activists" [read "paid corporate whores"] have put together a site they call We are the 53%. Erick Erickson is one of the brainiacs behind this thing and, since he's a clown, it's all very stupid. Basically, it's a way to make fun of another blog -- We are the 99% -- where people share stories about how they're either barely getting by or are not getting by at all. This seems the obvious thing to do, because these 99-percenter stories are all from people who've been wrongfully evicted or developed cancer or had their jobs shipped overseas or had their better-paid spouse die on them. Since conservatives are assholes, they're going to kick these people when they're down. And get a good chuckle out of it at the same time.

Anyhoo, as I said, it's all very stupid. Many of the people on the site claiming to be the 53% (i.e., people who pay income tax) clearly aren't, but aren't smart enough to figure that out. In other cases, they're chumps who are getting fucked ("I work 60 hours a week on a salary that pays me for 45 hours"), but think it's somehow "unamerican" to try to do anything to get unfucked. These are deeply, deeply dumb people.

But, as I said, Erick-Erick is a clown, so a big part of the fun comes from his story of hardship (he's a professional pundit and a CNN contributor); "I work three jobs. I have a house I can’t sell. My family insurance costs are outrageous. But I don’t blame Wall Street. Suck it up you whiners. I am the 53% subsidizing you so you can hang out on Wall Street and complain."

To which Steve Benen responds that this is all crap. It's "rather foolish" to argue Erick-Erick works three jobs and, even if he did, it'd be even crazier to say it was because he has to. Not blaming Wall Street for a weak housing market caused by securitized debt in the form of "toxic assets" is even crazier. And, of course, his "family insurance costs" are something Erick-Erick literally gets paid to keep high, by virtue of being a professional opponent of healthcare reform. In short, Erick-Erick is -- as I keep saying over and over -- a freakin' clown. At this point, saying he's a hack would be giving him too much credit.

What Benen doesn't point out -- and I'm surprised he doesn't -- is that Erik-Erik and all these bobbleheads on his site just spent the last three years bitching about the economy. But now that someone comes along and places the blame where it belongs... Why, there's nothing wrong with the economy! Everything's great! Stop whining! (this "reasoning" is rampant on the right; see my handy infographic here)

"If there are any actual 'whiners' in this scenario," Benen asks, "shouldn't the label go to millionaires who shudder at the idea of paying Clinton-era tax rates?"

Yes. Yes it should. Quit your bitching, Erick-Erick, and pull your goddam weight. (Political Animal)


-Why the wingnuts don't love Mittens-


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And let's not even get started on their whole "save Medicare from being slashed by Obamacare/slash Medicare!" thing. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Conservative Fundraiser Wants To 'Clear K Street Of Protesters' By Hitting 'A Few With A Car.'"

Nathan Wurtzel is also a clown. (ThinkProgress)

Stories to Watch: 10/10/11

I've pointed it out before, but I think the new movie Real Steel was originally pitched as Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots: The Movie. Prove me wrong. Either way, you couldn't pay me to see it. Now here's the news...


Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News rips Eric Cantor up, down, and sideways for hypocritically calling the 99-percenters a "mob." Cantor is a "a dull young congressman clearly aspiring to be an even duller presidential candidate someday," in Lupica's view. He sounds "like one of the pompous patriots of Cable America and talk radio who have made Occupy Wall Street an attack on capitalism. And if it's an attack on capitalism, that means it must be an attack on them. Rich and white. Generally, their rallying cry goes something like this: I've got mine." There's more fire than substance here, but it's still nice to see.


And, of course, the Wall Street Ministry of Propaganda makes a big deal about what the Iranian Ministry of Propaganda says about the Wall Street protests. Heads up to Fox News: the stuff Iran's government says is usually bullshit and smart people don't pay it no never mind no how.


Michael Bloomberg says that the protesters can stay at Zuccotti Park for as long as they want. That'll probably be a nice change from pepper spray and cracking heads.


Rick Perry's already being written off.


Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbinky plans to run for congress, apparently unaware that his 15 minutes of fame ran out a long, long time ago.


The statistical and demographic information you can glean from the We Are the 99% Tumblr blog is really kind of fascinating.


Finally, you kind of wish they'd make up their damned minds. First the Wisconsin GOP puts up metal detectors in the state Capitol, now they want to allow concealed carry there.

Related articles

• Occupy Wall Street Has Some Bad News For The Rich Residents Of The Upper East Side (businessinsider.com)
• Bloomberg Won't Stop Occupy Wall Street, But He Thinks Winter Will (timesunion.com)
• Here Are The Viral Subway Ads That Slam Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, And The Mets (businessinsider.com)
• Rick Perry Campaign Launches Anti-Mitt Romney Ad (abcnews.go.com)

News Roundup for 10/10/11

Getting someplace

-Headline of the Day-
"Poll: Half the country has heard about the Occupy Wall Street protests."

CNN is out with a good news/bad news poll. The good news is "roughly half" (51%) of the people CNN polled were aware of the Occupy Wall Street protests and the bad news is that, of them, 54% don't have an opinion about them either way. But the bad news breaks down further as good bad news for the 99-percenters and bad bad news for the people backing the suits. CNN reports that "27% say they agree with the movement's overall position on the financial system and social change, with 19% saying disagree with Occupy Wall Street on those issues."

In better news for the 99-percenters, Occupy Wall Street is winning the internet by an extremely wide margin. "Those who use social media were more likely to support the goals of the movement, with a full third of those respondents saying they agreed with the group's overall position," reports The Hill. "Only 14 percent of social media users said they did not support the protesters."

It's a start. Occupy Facebook! (CNN)


-GOP consistency on display-

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No comment needed, I guess. (DailyKos)


-Bonus HotD-
"Almost Twice As Many People Have Heard of Occupy Wall Street As Rick Perry."

Or, "Fun With Mix-and-Match Polling." (Wonkette)