SEC Inspector General: Yes, BoA Got Special Treatment
The WaPo reports that an SEC Inspector General report shows that the SEC gave Bank of America lenient treatment when it fined BoA for its funny business surrounding the Merrill Lynch acquisition, but did not place limits on BoA's ability to…
Condi and Khalid El-Masri: Perhaps We're Not the Ones to Teach Afghans about Rule of Law?
I chuckled to myself when I read Steven Aftergood's post on our efforts to instill rule of law in Afghanistan. Not that I don't support the goal, mind you. But I question whether the United States is in a position anymore to be teaching others…
Glenn Fine Stepping Down as DOJ Inspector General
Back during the FISA Amendment Act, Jay Rockefeller tried hard to prevent DOJ's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, to have any role in overseeing the revamped domestic surveillance program. I always assumed that was because Fine, unlike the other…
Vampire Squid Pissy about Response to Data Octopus Demands
We've discussed US negotiations with Europe over the SWIFT database at length here. Basically, after the Lisbon Treaty went into effect last year, the EU Parliament balked at giving Americans free run of the SWIFT database. The EU and US put…
Excellent Panel Announced for Perry Prop 8 Appeal
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bmazWhen the appeal in Perry v. Scwarzenegger was initially lodged, I put forth the possibility that the panel assigned to hear the full merits appeal in December might be the earlier panel of Judges Wardlaw, Fisher and Berzon, which had heard substantive…
Can White People Be Charged with Use of a WMD?
Let's look at the following two examples of men arrested in the last week to see how the federal crime "Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction" is used.
Mohamed Osman Mohamud: Mohamud was arrested Friday on charges of "attempting to use a weapon…
WikiLeaks Cable Dump Goes Live
Here's the NYT overview. Here's one interesting detail:
Clashes with Europe over human rights: American officials sharply warned Germany in 2007 not to enforce arrest warrants for Central Intelligence Agency officers involved in a bungled operation…
John Bellinger: If the War Is Illegal, Just Change the Law
John Bellinger has been publicly suggesting the Obama Administration had exceeded the terms of the AUMF for some time. So it is unsurprising that he took the opportunity of a Republican House, the incoming Armed Services Chair's explicit support…
Did the US Issue a Prior Restraint Request to the NYT, Too?
Skdadl, who has been tweeting up a storm on the upcoming WikiLeaks dump, noted that the British government has issued D-notices regarding the upcoming dump, which is basically a non-binding request on editors to brief the government before doing…
The German "I Told You So"
The next WikiLeaks dump is about to reveal to the world what the United States really thinks of the world leaders it pretends to like and the degree to which it overlooks corruption among friends (it sounds like the reports will include confirmation…
Correlation Does Not Equal KochNation
I wasn't going to write a post debunking this Nation article on the opposition to gate grope. Sure, it was a specious hit on John Tyner, the "Don't touch my junk" dude. But I figured as soon as anyone read this passage:
Tyner attended private…
Turkey Trash: Eat the Bird and Pass the Damn Ball
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bmazEat turkey and watch football; it is what was contemplated by the primordial ooze!
Ireland Cuts Minimum Wage 11.5% to Protect 12.5% Corporate Tax Rate
The Fianna Fail government in Ireland has released the austerity plan it promised in response for the big bank bailout the rest of Europe forced on it.
There's a lot that's awful in it: big cuts in pension, huge increases in tuition costs,…
Fines and "Resolving this Mess"
Yves does a thorough smackdown on the departing Michael Barr's description of all the things the government is going to get to the bottom of the foreclosure fraud problem, noting that the foreclosure task force simply isn't investigating the…
FSOC's 15 Minutes to Save the World
As I noted, the Financial Stability Oversight Council is meeting today. As announced, they discussed foreclosure fraud and securitization.
For less than 15 minutes.
And then they moved on, without once raising the issue of whether or not…
Did Just 170,000 Passengers Get Groped by Strangers Last Week? Or a Million?
You know how I mocked the White House for dismissing the problem of gate rape by saying only 170,000 passengers had had their genitalia groped by a stranger working for the government?
I noted that their pushback was potentially inconsistent.…
Michael Barr--Liaison on Foreclosure Fraud Investigation--Leaves Treasury
Just one week ago, Iowa's Attorney General Tom Miller told Chris Dodd that Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions Michael Barr was the key person from Treasury working with the Attorneys General investigation into foreclosure…
White House: Only 170,000 People Have Had Genitalia Groped by Complete Stranger in Last Week
The White House has started a pushback campaign on gate rape that is reminiscent of "Recovery Summer" or "Mission Accomplished" for its credibility.
It consists of a number of things, in addition to the inevitable army of talking-point-people…
John Pistole Ignored DHS Advice to Warn about Gate Rape
Apparently, John Pistole not only promised to Congress--but failed to deliver--public education about why gate rape was necessary. But he ignored advice from DHS to provide a public explanation in advance, too.
In an hour-long discussion…
How Ireland Is Like AIG
This summarizes everything I've been hearing about the forced bailout of Ireland over the weekend.
The pressure for a bailout of Ireland did not come from Ireland itself—it came from Eurozone officials. If anything, Irish Finance Minister…