IA AG's Office Whining That They're Not Getting Credit for Settlement Bank of America Violated
The folks desperately working to give the banks a Get Out of Jail Free card for their servicing abuses are trying hard to deny they're not doing so.
Take this anonymous accusation from someone involved in the settlement talks claiming that…
NYPD's Failed Ethnic Profiling Program
When Goldman and Apuzzo exposed NYPD's domestic spying program last week, NYPD insisted it didn't exist. So this time, they've posted documentary proof.
As they report, the domestic spying program employed a "Demographics Unit" that mapped…
Obama & Holder Push AZ USAtty Burke Out Over ATF GunRunner Cock-Up
Coming across the wire this morning was this stunning announcement by the Department of Justice:
Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on the Resignation of U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis Burke 08/30/2011 01:01 PM EDT
…
True "Resilience" Would Help Prevent the Next 3,420 Climate-Related Deaths, Too
This article--showing how many stupid projects have been funded in the name of homeland security in the last decade--has been making the rounds. Everyone has been pointing to its details on how few people have died in terrorist attacks.
"The…
How Are Americans Feeling about Their Own Circumstances Now, David Plouffe?
Perhaps I'm getting tiresome with this point, but sorry, I'm going to make it again.
Two months ago, David Plouffe dismissed the possibility that the unemployment rate would have any effect on Obama's reelection chances. He (correctly) noted…
Links, 8/29/11
Mr. EW took this picture this weekend of a teeny frog living in a hole in a picnic table (that's his index finger in the picture, giving you a sense of how small this fella was).
While he doesn't use the word "lie" (he lists "reasons…
The Auto Industry and America's Future
I wanted to point to four different discussions as a way to situate a larger discussion of where the auto industry is at:
This LAT story on how the auto rebound is driving what little recovery we're having in the US
NYT Magazine asking…
Paying for Climate Change by Gutting Programs to Deal with It
Brian Beutler has a post predicting that Eric Cantor will do the same thing with Irene disaster aid he did with hypothetical aid to his own constituents after the earthquake: demand budget cuts to pay for any aid.
Now, in the wake of Hurricane…
Rule of Law, Food Safety Edition
We talk a lot about the decline of the rule of law on this blog: about how the MOTUs get away with torture, wiretapping, financial fraud, lying to Congress, ruining the environment, and the like. The problem, it seems, is that the government…
Trash Talk: Belgian Grand Prix A Trip To The Spa
Well, as Rosalind helpfully pointed out on the Gone Fishing thread, I am a bit of a late tease with the Trash Talk thread this weekend. Sorry about that,things got a bit catawampus yesterday. Today is my daughter Jenna's sweet sixteen birthday…
Gone Fishing to the Most Beautiful Place in America
Mr. EW and McCaffrey the MilleniaLab and I are off for the weekend--apparently, with a horde of others who take their travel tips from Good Morning America, which voted Sleeping Bear Dunes the most beautiful place in the US.
Between you…
The Government Still Doesn't Say Whether or Not It Has Recordings of James Risen
There's an interesting passage in this government filing to get Judge Leonie Brinkema to reconsider her guidelines regarding James Risen's testimony in the Jeffrey Sterling suit. It seems to address Brinkema's suggestion in her ruling that there…
Eric Cantor's Nuclear Failure
As I noted last week, the VA earthquake last week happened in Eric Cantor's district, just miles from a nuclear power plant. I reported then that the plant had lost power and switched to backup diesel generators.
But it turns out that…
Links, August 25, 2011
I got really behind on these for a few days, so some of these are dated.
A senior military officer claims they've finally "got our arms around" contracting to Afghan contractors. But if that doesn't work, a senior congressional staffer says,…
Jamie Dimon's Company Fined $88.3 Million for Trading with the Enemy
That's not the technical term for violating economic sanctions against Cuba, Sudan, Iran, and Liberia (and FWIW I think the sanctions against Cuba are stupid).
Nevertheless, that's basically what the sanctions JP Morgan Chase just admitted…
Paul Kanjorski: Government Can't Control Multinationals Anymore
I confess. When I read Zach Carter's account of his interview with Paul Kanjorski, my first response was to wonder why HuffPo had decided an interview with the former Congressman would make for the (admittedly very fascinating) article that…
How Would States Divvy Up the Foreclosure Settlement?
For the record, I still doubt the 50-State-Less-the-Rule-of-Law-AGs Settlement will happen. A year in, they haven't even agreed on the underlying guidelines for the settlement, like what they do with MERS.
But this line in the LAT's coverage…
Turns Out Cheney Was Never Really Vice President After All
I regret to inform you--and I do mean regret--that I'm going to have set aside a good deal of the next week "looking backward" at Dick Cheney's career. His book is out next week and already he's dropping some bombs, as only Dick can drop bombs.
Such…
The Timing of the Schneiderman Attack
I find this article odd for the way it mentions nothing of Bank of America's attempts to game the legal system to stay in business, much less Tom Miller, Shaun Donovan, and Kathryn Wylde's increasing attacks on Eric Schneiderman. Because his…
NYPD's Spooks Didn't Find Two of the Most Significant Terrorists to Attempt Attacks on NYC
The AP's Goldman and Apuzzo have another blockbuster counterterrorism article, this time describing how the NYPD has built its own intelligence service to target Muslims. It's long, but it's worth reading the whole thing. Keep an eye out for…