Median Net Worth of Whites Twenty Times that of African-Americans
The Pew Research Center has a report showing not just the decline in net worth across demographic groups from 2005 to 2009, but more importantly, the relative net worth of those groups.
It shows that, no matter how bad the $23,000 drop in…
Links, 7/25/11
Our Collapsing Empire
Remember how much better Hillary was on trade than Obama in the primary? She gave a really depressing speech--talking up free trade--in Hong Kong today.
Oh. Sorry. Bob Baer was only mostly serious when he said…
The Blinds Spots of the Administration's New Transnational Organized Crime Program
John Brennan, Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano, and some other Administration bigwigs just rolled out the Administration's new Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime (TOC). Here's how they define TOC:
Transnational organized crime refers…
Preserving the Fabric of Our Society as They Roll Out the Shock Doctrine
The economist Milton Friedman, along with F. Hayek, is one of the villains of Naomi Klein’s book. According to her, Friedman has stated that “only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change. When that crisis occurs,…
F1 German GP at Nurburgring & A New York Rainbow In the Night
This weekend does not bring the excitement of last did with the Women's World Cup, but there are three notable events, two of which are even sports related.
First up is the German Grand Prix from the famed Nurburgring in the Eifel Mountains.…
Naming Terrorism
As you probably heard, two weeks ago, a guy named Rodrick Dantzler went on a killing spree here in Grand Rapids, shooting his wife and her family, and an ex-girlfriend and her family. He was reportedly bipolar and had a history of violence;…
The Ugly Truth On What Was Really "Left At The Altar"
I was away during the dueling banjos press conferences of Barack Obama and John Boehner this afternoon. Apparently it was quite the show. Despite stating repeatedly how he was "left at the altar" by his Orange Glo golfing chum Boehner, President…
Links, 7/22/11
Your Daily Murdoch
Tony Blair's Attorney General--the guy who provided specious legal justification for the UK to go to war with us in Iraq--is catching some heat for not investigating the Murdoch hacking allegations more thoroughy.
The…
What shall we condone?
Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri's lawyers end their letter to Navy Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald--who will decide whether al-Nashiri will face the death penalty--with an appeal to his role in deciding what we as a nation will condone:
One pivotal and…
The Chief of Staff from JP Morgan
Joe Subday has a post focusing on Bill Daley's role in the serial capitulation Obama is making to the debt hostage-takers.
Politico's David Rogers and Carrie Budoff Brown report on the $3 trillion deal under discussion between Obama and Boehner.…
Links, 7/21
Our Crashing Economy
Obama is going to delay his push for Congress to approve 3 job-killing trade deals until after the August recess in the hopes he can get Trade Adjustment Assistance included. I guess he hopes to continue to pretend these…
Obama DOJ Doubles Down on President's Ability to Detain US Citizens with No Charges
Back in February, Obama's DOJ stopped defending Donald Rumsfeld and others in Jose Padilla's Bivens suit against them (though we're still footing the bill for their pricey lawyers). At the time, it seemed DOJ might have concerns about the claims…
At Some Point, Lanny Breuer Is Responsible for William Welch's "Judgment"
Shane Harris has a long profile of William Welch, the thuggish prosecutor in charge of Obama's persecution of whistleblowers. One of the things he did for the profile is review all of Welch's cases as an AUSA; he found three of them that, while…
Links, 7/20/11
Our Dying Economy
This is a terrible story on Obama's apparent decision that he is helpless in the face of the continued crappy housing market. The story seems designed to support the false claim that the only hope of improvement is a settlement,…
Famine in Somalia Ought to Lead Us to Rethink War on Terror
In the US, most of the news on Somalia in recent days has focused on the war on terror. First, there was the arrest of alleged al-Shabaab figure Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame. Then there was Jeremy Scahill's important piece on the CIA's black site…
Patrick Leahy in Big Rush to Reconfirm the Guy Who Won't Solve Leahy's Attempted Murder
By now, it should be clear that, contrary to their claims, the FBI has not solved the anthrax killings. Sure, Bruce Ivins can't be ruled out as having been involved. But the FBI has offered no plausible explanation for the following:
How…
DOJ: These Aren't the BioPort Spores You're Looking For
DOJ just submitted a filing asserting that a number of claims they made in filings last week were erroneous.They're claiming that:
1) Their statement of facts supporting their claim asserting that no anthrax disappeared from USAMRIID…
The Inevitable Collapse of Legitimacy Under Secret Law: WikiLeaks Hacks
DOJ indicted 16 alleged hackers today, 14 of whom were purportedly involved in hacking PayPal after it refused to accept payments for WikiLeaks.
According to the San Jose indictment, in late November 2010, WikiLeaks released a large amount…
Links, 7/19/11
Our American Empire
Yesterday, I noted that Bob Baer predicts an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities this fall. Today, Reuters reports that Iran is adding more sophisticated centrifuges to its nuclear development program, presumably…
Rupert Murdoch: I went through Mr. Brown's back door many times
I'm livetweeting the Murdoch hearings--follow along @emptywheel.
The highlights thus far are:
MP Watson kept refusing to let James Murdoch answer questions for his father. At one point, Watson said, "Your father is responsible for corporate…