Obama Sidles Up to the People Not Creating Jobs

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emptywheel
From the Department of reading the wrong message in an election is this news, of Timmeh Geithner meeting with the Chamber of Commerce's odious Thomas Donohue to talk about international issues (read: "let's talk about other countries we can…
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Letter to DOJ and John Durham Re: Torture Tape Crimes Expiring

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bmaz
As we have heard absolutely nothing from Eric Holder, John Durham, the DOJ or the Obama Administration in relation to indictments or other results of the investigation Mr. John Durham has been conducting since January 8, 2008, nearly three years, I thought a letter was in order asking just exactly what their status was. Here is that letter.
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Neo-Feudalism and the Housing Crisis

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emptywheel
A number of people have linked to the part of this Joseph Stiglitz interview where he says we won't fix the economy without some good old fashioned prosecutions. But I wanted to highlight where he describes the way our system of debt imposes…
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Team Auto Never Talked to Team Healthcare Reform

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emptywheel
In Steven Rattner's book, he describes newly elected Barack Obama asking his advisors "Why can't [the US automakers] make a Corolla?" Implicitly, of course, he was asking "why can't they make a Corolla in the United States." His economic advisors,…
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Bush Admits to Approving Torture--But Which Use of It?

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emptywheel
The WaPo reports that Bush, in his book, admits to approving waterboarding. In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed,…
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Wacky GOP Hearings Ideas

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emptywheel
Mary, who apparently is not a twit, noticed that those of us who are have been brainstorming all the great hearings the GOP will hold now that they control the House. And, in her infinite wisdom, she asked for a thread here so everyone can all…
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Want to Sue the Banksters? Ask WhereIsTheNote

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emptywheel
Remember WhereIsTheNote? In the face of mounting evidence that the banks foreclosing on homes did not comply with legal requirements during securitization of mortgages and therefore don't have legal standing to foreclose, the SEIU and some…
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An Awfully Painful Way to Convince the President Our Economy Is Not Moving

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emptywheel
Remember when Robert Gibbs justified his attack on the professional left by suggesting that they didn't understand--but the rest of the country did--that Obama had gotten our economy moving again? Remember Recovery Summer, Obama's effort to…
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Ballots and the Bench: The Iowa Judges

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bmaz
In a devastating night for Democrats, there was a notable and disturbing loss that did not draw enough attention, that of the so called "Iowa Judges". From NPR: Iowa voters decided to remove three State Supreme Court justices who'd overturned…
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Feingold

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emptywheel
The Senate just lost its most principled member, Russ Feingold. Consider it a beacon of our money- and fearmonger- drenched politics. Feingold was the perfect politician for America as our founders envisioned it. But a terrible politician when…
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How's Tim Kaine Working for You Dems?

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emptywheel
At this point of the evening, let me remind you that Tim Kaine, former Governor of Virginia, is the DNC Chair presiding over this debacle tonight. Sure, sure, it's a wave election. Presidential parties always lose in the first midterm. But…
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Freddie Repossesses Its Files

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emptywheel
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had already suspended all their work with David Stern. But now they've officially severed all relations with him and Freddie has taken their files away. Freddie Mac took the rare step of removing loan files after…
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Republicans Trying to Capitalize on Housing Crisis, Again

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emptywheel
You may remember how, in 2008, MI's Republicans planned to conduct voter caging at the polls based on foreclosure lists (Democrats went to court to stop this). It appears the Republicans--this time in Kansas--are trying similar cynical efforts…
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NYT and the Iranian Capture Story

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emptywheel
In a curious story yesterday, the NYT quotes freed Iranian captive Sarah Shourd explaining that when she and two other hikers were captured in July 2009, they were inside Iran. Ms. Shourd, 32, said she wanted to correct the gathering false…
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Rattner, Wagoner, and How to Run a Car Company

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emptywheel
I'm going to have a few follow-up posts about Steven Rattner's Overhaul generally and Saturday's book salon on it. But for the moment, I wanted to add something to two excellent reviews of it by Malcom Gladwell and Felix Salmon. Together, they…
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Let the Drones Begin

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emptywheel
Fresh off exempting Yemen from any sanctions for its use of child soldiers and partly in response to this week's attempted package bombings, the government appears to be ready to let the CIA start operating drones in Yemen. Allowing the U.S.…
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Citi's Fear

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emptywheel
I wanted to return to a detail I mentioned in yesterday's book salon. As I noted, in his book on the auto bailout, Steven Rattner described Citi as being worried during the Chrysler negotiations that retail customers would retaliate if Citi…
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FDL Book Salon Welcomes Steven Rattner, Author of Overhaul

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emptywheel
I come to Steven Rattner's Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry from a very particular perspective. As a Michigander whose husband still works in the auto industry and whose town…
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Trash Talk: Giants v. Texas

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emptywheel
Apparently, football started early this week, with San Francisco's team beating the Texas team one TD, a conversion, and a field goal to a TD on Wednesday, and shutting them out last night with three field goals. I understand the quarterbacks…
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Obama and the Constitutionality of DADT and Other LGBT Discrimination

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bmaz
All signs point to the fact that President Obama considers DADT and LGBT discrimination to be merely a political problem and not a Constitutional rights issue. But the Constitution and its fundamental equality, due process and first amendment protections is not a political issue football to be tossed around, nor is it properly enforced by degree of popularity in the latest Gallup poll trendline.
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