We are seeing the death of democracy in Russia.
24
May 13
Tornado insured losses estimated at $2 billion-$5 billion
The new reality with weather. Every major disaster is disastrous financially as well. We have to find answers to it or face ruin.
22
May 13
Elizabeth Warren Interrogates Jack Lew On The Growing Size Of Too Big To Fail Banks
Warren has kept her promise, so far. It’s why Obama threw her under the bus:
The biggest banks were already huge before the financial crisis, and concentration in the banking industry was in fact one of the causes of the crash. Yet they have gotten even bigger since then. Just 12 banks, 0.2 percent, control nearly 70 percent of total bank assets, and the 20 biggest hold assets equal to nearly 85 percent of the country’s entire economic output.
21
May 13
Before Deadly Tornado Hit, Oklahoma Senators Worked To Undermine Disaster Relief
Oklahoma residents will now turn to government assistance for emergency disaster aid after a tornado ripped through the state on Monday, leaving dozens dead and tearing apart hundreds of buildings. But the same night that many residents lost their homes, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) told CQ Roll Call insisted he would “absolutely” require any federal disaster aid to be offset by other budget cuts. He later clarified on Tuesday, promising, “I can assure Oklahomans that any and all available aid will be delivered without delay.”
21
May 13
New Draft Fracking Rules Give Industry a Free Pass, But Were They Written By ExxonMobil?
Another example of how big business owns this administration:
DeSmogBlog notes that the Bureau of Land Managemen’s recently-released rules governing fracking on federal lands ”will adopt the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model bill written by ExxonMobil for fracking chemical fluid disclosure on U.S. public.” It uses a voluntary online chemical disclosure database that has “truck-sized” loopholes, most notably that it’s voluntary — editors.
21
May 13
Douglas Shulman, Former IRS Chief, Says He Doesn’t Know How Tea Party Targeting Happened
Maybe it was pure coincidence.
20
May 13
Obama DOJ formally accuses journalist in leak case of committing crimes
It is now well known that the Obama justice department has prosecuted more government leakers under the 1917 Espionage Act than all prior administrations combined – in fact, double the number of all such prior prosecutions. But as last week’s controversy over the DOJ’s pursuit of the phone records of AP reporters illustrated, this obsessive fixation in defense of secrecy also targets, and severely damages, journalists specifically and the newsgathering process in general.
New revelations emerged yesterday in the Washington Post that are perhaps the most extreme yet when it comes to the DOJ’s attacks on press freedoms. It involves the prosecution of State Department adviser Stephen Kim, a naturalized citizen from South Korea who was indicted in 2009 for allegedly telling Fox News’ chief Washington correspondent, James Rosen, that US intelligence believed North Korea would respond to additional UN sanctions with more nuclear tests – something Rosen then reported. Kim did not obtain unauthorized access to classified information, nor steal documents, nor sell secrets, nor pass them to an enemy of the US. Instead, the DOJ alleges that he merely communicated this innocuous information to a journalist – something done every day in Washington – and, for that, this arms expert and long-time government employee faces more than a decade in prison for “espionage”.
20
May 13
NYC lawmakers furious over ‘ghetto tour’ by Bronx bus company
Tourists are crowding onto a Bronx bus tour that promises “a ride through a real New York City ‘GHETTO’ ” — and local politicians are furious.
Three times a week, Real Bronx Tours takes riders — mainly white Europeans and Australians — on a trip that includes stops at food-pantry lines and a “pickpocket” park.Last week, on the first stop of the $45 tour, guide Lynn Battaglia, from Pittsburgh, pointed out a housing project. She then mocked the Grand Concourse, modeled after a Parisian boulevard.
“Do you feel like we’re on the Champs-Elysées?” she teased a couple from Paris.
19
May 13
AP CEO calls Records Seizure Unconstitutional
The president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press on Sunday called the government’s secret seizure of two months of reporters’ phone records “unconstitutional” and said the news cooperative had not ruled out legal action against the Justice Department.
Gary Pruitt, in his first television interviews since it was revealed the Justice Department subpoenaed phone records of AP reporters and editors, said the move already has had a chilling effect on journalism. Pruitt said the seizure has made sources less willing to talk to AP journalists and, in the long term, could limit Americans’ information from all news outlets.
Pruitt told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the government has no business monitoring the AP’s newsgathering activities.
“And if they restrict that apparatus … the people of the United States will only know what the government wants them to know and that’s not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment,” he said.
via AP CEO calls records seizure unconstitutional – Yahoo! News.
17
May 13
CDC: 20 percent of U.S. youths have mental health issues
As many as one-fifth of American children and teens suffer from a mental disorder such as anxiety or depression and the incidence of such ailments is rising, a study released Thursday said.
“A total of 13 percent to 20 percent of children living in the United States experience a mental disorder in a given year,” according to the report examining the mental health of adolescents released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The data, reported in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), said mental problems among youth are “an important public health issue in the United States because of their prevalence, early onset, and impact on the child, family and community, with an estimated total annual cost of $247 billion.”
via CDC: 20 percent of U.S. youths have mental health issues | The Raw Story.
16
May 13
Defense official says U.S. has authority to target terrorists anywhere
A senior Pentagon official told a Senate committee Thursday that the U.S. would be at war with Al Qaeda for 15 to 20 more years and said the military could target terrorists anywhere under a law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Michael Sheehan, assistant secretary of Defense in charge of special operations, said America’s battle with terrorist groups spanned the globe “from Boston to the FATA,” meaning Pakistan’s tribal areas.
via Defense official says U.S. has authority to target terrorists anywhere – latimes.com.
16
May 13
ICE admits hundreds of illegal immigrants with criminal records
Hundreds of illegal immigrants with criminal records were released earlier this year as the Obama administration prepared for budget cuts, according to newly released data that challenged claims the program involved “low-risk” individuals.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement released the figures to two top senators, after a three-month delay and under the threat of congressional subpoenas.
Of the 2,226 detainees that were released in February, the department revealed, “622 have been identified as having some type of criminal conviction.”
A statement from Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., who received the stats, said 32 of them had multiple felony convictions. The department then “re-apprehended” 24 of those, the senators said, after realizing the “seriousness” of their crimes.
via ICE admits hundreds of illegal immigrants with criminal records released | Fox News.
16
May 13
Jobless claims jump in warning sign for labor market
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits climbed last week at the fastest pace in six months, a worrisome sign for the economy which has been hit by government austerity.
