The Solution to this and the Next Economic Crisis
I long meant to do a piece looking at how the Japanese earthquake exposed the problems with our current supply chain. Matt Stoller has taken what happened after the earthquake as an opportunity to reflect on the possibility of systemic failure…
Goldman's Latest Scam: Turning Empty Space into Riches
Who knew that Detroit was so commodity-rich it was ruining entire segments of industry?
Only, I presume Detroit gets little to none of the fortune Goldman is making by hoarding aluminum in warehouses in the city, thereby driving the price…
Links, 7/27/11
Apparently, the ducks that live in the Grand River think we should "Give peace a chance." McCaffrey the MilleniaLab and I saw this on our walk this morning.
Justice and Injustice
All my complaints that DOJ won't indict banksters? Well,…
DOJ's Twisted Notion of Rule of Law Is Poisoning Our Country
Yesterday, Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to 2 years and a $10,000 fine for his successful efforts to expose an improper BLM drilling auction.
At his hearing, DeChristopher rebutted the prosecution's claim that he needed to face a tough…
Four Mobs: Yet More Bizarre Thinking Behind Administration's Transnational Crime Program
Robert Chesney took a look at the Executive Order associated with the Administration's roll-out of its Transnational Crime Organization program yesterday, which basically blocks the property of a group considered to be a TCO (note, in some places…
Links, 7/26/11
(This video documents a mother's effort to get her son a Voter ID card in WI.)
Good News for Kids
McDonalds is rolling out new and improved Happy Meals, now with fruits or veggies and fewer fries. These Happier Meals will have 20%…
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,…