KATHLEEN GEIER NAILS IT

She concludes her piece about "Flash Boys" with an excellent summation:

The entire financial industry has become a gigantic con. The public outrage over high-frequency trading is a welcome development, but let’s hope it doesn’t stop there.

Despite the publication in 1989 of Liar's Poker followed by "The Greatest Bank Robbery Ever" in 1990, most Americans don't seem to care that the banksters and their enablers are fundamentally corrupt.

SERENDIPITY

I was looking through this blog's archives for something about local Tucson elections and I found this gem from Karl "New Math" Rove in October 2006:

Q: When Congress reconvenes in January, how many Democrats will be in the House and how many Democrats will be in the Senate?

Rove: A minority in each body. I expect Republican majorities in both houses.

Q: How can you be so sure of that?

Rove: Because I'm looking at it not only at the macro level but at individual races on a race-by-race level. I see the quality of the candidates and the issues on the table. I see the activity they have in place and I see the grassroots activity being generated around the country by the campaigns in conjunction with the Republican National Committee's 72-hour (voter turnout) task force. And I'm being inundated with data from all the individual races. It points strongly to a Republican Senate and to a Republican House.

Here's what happened:

DEMOCRATS RETAKE CONGRESS
Democrats took control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time in a dozen years in the 2006 midterm elections, and President Bush and top Democrats quickly promised to get along despite a rancorous campaign.

In 2012, Rove cemented his reputation for being a GOP hack.

EH, MAYBE JOSH MARSHALL IS CORRECT

The Big Pharma articles are VERY clearly marked as such so maybe this is a case of "no harm, no foul" -

ANOTHER GRIFTER AD DURING LIMBAUGH'S SHOW

I didn't give my email, name or phone number so I don't know exactly what's on the page after this:

I suspect not much of real interest because of these statements on the disclaimer page:

The income or financial examples given are in no way meant as a representation of actual or possible earnings, nor are they meant as an inducement, promise, guarantee or prediction of income of any kind. No income claims, promises, predictions or guarantees are made of any kind.

LOCAL TIDBIT

Emil Franzi, a Pima County AZ native, hosts a conservative radio on KVOI from 1pm to 3pm on Saturday.  He's pretty much another cranky old & ignorant white man and just now he mentioned that he was close to  Murray Rothbard for a number of years.  I suppose the best summary of Rothbard's ideas is here:

A prolific author and Austrian economist, Murray Rothbard promoted a form of free market anarchism he called “anarcho-capitalism.”

Economist Murray N. Rothbard mounted the most comprehensive intellectual challenge ever attempted against the legitimacy of government. During a career that spanned more than 40 years, he explained why private individuals, private companies and other voluntary associations can do whatever needs to be done.

Rothbard was mainly influenced by the horrid von Mises and that;s why there's a Rothbard bio on the von Mises site.

UPDATE: Rothbard also supported neo-fascist Pat Buchanan in the latter's primary challenge to George H. W. Bush.

AS VP BIDEN MIGHT SAY...

this is a "big fucking deal."  I can't recall Japan ever taking such an active role toward N. Korea and my emotional reaction is "it's about time!!!"

Japan orders military to strike any new North Korea missile launches

TOKYO Fri Apr 4, 2014 11:54pm EDT
(Reuters) - Japan has ordered a destroyer in the Sea of Japan to strike any ballistic missiles that may be launched by North Korea in the coming weeks after Pyongyang fired a Rodong medium-range missile over the sea, a government source said on Saturday.

Japanese Aegis destroyers in the Sea of Japan are equipped with advanced radar equipment able to track multiple targets and carry missiles designed to take out targets at the edge of space.

I'M DISAPPOINTED

Henry at Crooked Timber writes about Josh Marshall of TPM fame allowing Big Pharma a spot in his magazine.  Marshall denies that he will cede any editorial control but I think Big Pharma is so damn crooked that it would be better if Marshall backed out of the deal.

CONSERVATISM AS A PERSONALITY & SPECIES TRAIT

Years ago I noted a study that provided evidence that political conservatism is due to personality factors that can be observed in young children.  There is some evidence that the differences between conservatives and liberals is reflected in some basic physiological responses to stimuli.  This also suggests that there is a genetic basic of conservative ideology and that means that conservatives will be with us for a VERY long time.

I THINK OBAMACARE IS NOW SAFE

I thought there was hope when the conservatives went from "repeal" to "repeal and replace" and now in an email from a Bagger group, they've given up on repeal:

New from TheTeaParty.net:

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Dear Patriot, Obamacare is a disaster and it just keeps getting worse.  Despite Obama's illegal delays the executive branch doesn't get to make laws the law is now enrolling people. We can be sure that their number of 7 million is nonsense but now that people are paying for their Obamacare saving our country from it just got a lot harder. We can no longer simply repeal Obamacare we have to unravel it!

REMARKS ON CHARLES KOCH'S WSJ OP-ED

(Here's a link to the original if you want to check my quotes.)

The problems begin in the 2nd paragraph:

Unfortunately, the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law and personal freedom are under attack by the nation's own government. That's why, if we want to restore a free society and create greater well-being and opportunity for all Americans, we have no choice but to fight for those principles

There is no equality before the law and I don't think there ever has been so that means talking about trying to "restore a free society" meaningless.

In the 3rd paragraph, we have a standardized wingnut lie:

The central belief and fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for you. 

This is NOT what the Administration believes just as it's NOT what liberals believe. Another version of this lie is re-stated in the penultimate paragraph:

Instead of fostering a system that enables people to help themselves, America is now saddled with a system that destroys value, raises costs, hinders innovation and relegates millions of citizens to a life of poverty, dependency and hopelessness.

CHARLES KOCH GETS OPINION PIECE IN THE WSJ...

and all he got for it was a False rating from PunditFact:

Charles Koch, in op-ed, says his political engagement began only in the last decade
Charles Koch wrote that "it was only in the past decade that I realized the need to also engage in the political process."

Even if you ignore the deep reservoir of money Koch spent on "educational" and lobbying efforts -- expenditures that could plausibly be described as "political" -- Charles Koch personally gave a little more than $50,000 to candidates and political committees donations prior to 2004. And collectively, his brother and the PAC of the company they own directly supported candidates and political committees to the tune of $7 million over the same period. We rate his claim False.

LIMBAUGH'S STREAK CONTINUES

I wonder if he will ever break through to the truth?

From PunditFact:

Limbaugh said Wisconsin is "one of the bluest" states, but under Walker its unemployment rate "is around 3.5%."
Although Wisconsin has voted for the Democratic nominee in the last seven presidential contests, as a frequent battleground state, it is far from being an automatic in the Democratic column. At the state level, meanwhile, Wisconsin is currently Republican red but was recently Democratic blue, and by other measures it is somewhere between the two.
As for unemployment under Walker, it has dropped to near 6 percent, but nowhere near 3.5 percent.
We rate Limbaugh’s statement False.

EVER HEARD OF PLATTSBURGH, NY?

(h/t Atrios)

Probably not but that's where I was born & we refer to our part of NYS as the North Country.  About 40 years ago I learned that a goof friend's younger brother was getting screwed out of overtime by a local McDonald's and I attributed to one of delightful characteristics of what Sarah Palin calls "the Real America."   Apparently it's part of the SOP for McDonald's:

Two former McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) store managers, assisting with a campaign to raise pay for fast-food workers, said they helped withhold employees’ wages at the restaurant chain after facing pressure to keep labor costs down.

The ex-managers, who came forward as part of an effort backed by worker advocacy group Fast Food Forward, said they engaged in tactics such as asking employees to continue working after they clocked out or adding unpaid breaks to time sheets. They took the steps to avoid exceeding a store’s strict goals for wage expenses, said Lakia Williams, a former assistant manager at a McDonald’s in Charleston, South Carolina.

ANOTHER TAKE ON THE BLACK "CULTURE OF POVERTY"

Conservatives routinely point to the high percentage of black single mothers as one cause of the black poverty rate but that's not true.  In the 1960s, the percent of black children born to single mothers was about 24% and in 2010 that rate had increased to 72%.  IF this was truly a causal factor, then we should see a corresponding increase in the black poverty rate BUT WE DON'T:

WACKOS IN THE NEWS

The WaPo notes that Glenn Beck is being sued for defamation & slander and Mediate notes that Ted Cruz's FB poll backfired.

UPDATE: The Beck story is getting a lot of coverage: POLITICO, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Times and Newsmax.

MANY MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE!

Mark Steyn and others have been sued by Prof. Michael Mann for defamation and now Glenn Beck is being sued for pulling the same kind of crap:

Muslim victim of Boston Marathon bombing sues Glenn Beck for defamation and slander
By Travis Gettys
Monday, March 31, 2014 12:14 EDT
The Raw Story

A Muslim victim of the Boston Marathon bombing has sued Glenn Beck for defamation and slander after the talk show host accused him of funding the attacks.

Race spectator Abdulrahman Alharbi filed a federal lawsuit against Beck and his companies, The Blaze Inc. and Mercury Radio Arts, and his radio syndicator, Premier Radio Networks.

Authorities quickly determined that Alharbi, a Saudi national of Middle Eastern descent, had no involvement in the attacks.

But Beck “repeatedly and falsely” identified Alharbi as an active participant in the bombings, the suit claims.
The lawsuit also claims Beck questioned the motives of federal authorities who declined to arrest or detain the college student, reported Courthouse News.

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD...

Noel Sheppard once posted that I was "an animal" so I am pleased to report that he's dead at the age of 53.

NOW ANOTHER ECONOMIST I READ TURNS OUT TO BE A NEO-LIBERAL WANKER

First was Mark Thoma, second is Brad DeLong:

The optimistic view is that our collective ingenuity will create so many things for people to do that are so attractive to the rich that they will pay through the nose for them and so recreate a middle-class society.

For DeLong, a return to Feudalism seems to be a "good" outcome. Adam Smith described this in WoN.

I'VE NOTICED POSTS & ARTICLES ABOUT MILITARIZED AMERICAN POLICE FORCES

(h/t billmon)

and I didn't pay much attention until now because I wasn't sure this was a real problem.  I now think it is, in part because of the ACLU's work, in part because of these pics from Albuquerque:

At the moment, you can watch a live civilian video stream here.

UPDATE: The Twitter account (OpAlbuquerque ) for following the events in Albuquerque was suspended a few minutes ago.

I GUESS TED CRUZ BELIEVES HIS OWN BULLSHIT

(h/t Garion_55)

 http://www.facebook.com/SenatorTedCruz/posts/517779935000978

CHRISTIE STATES THE OBVIOUS...

but Zionists like Adelson are strongly opposed to the term "Occupied Territories."  In related news, this story on POLITICO got the attention of the anti-Semites:

NadePaulKuciGravMcKi Wolfgang Goethe • 5 hours ago

Federal Reserve
News Media
Government
Wall Street
AIPAC
 

Ace DeLightfull Unreal Uknow • 3 hours ago

HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF. THIS TIME THE TARGET IS AMERICA . THEY HAVE ALWAYS TRIED TO BE THE NEW WORLD ORDER. DOMINATION FREAKS
George Washington ( in Maxims of George Washington by A. A. Appleton & Co.):
"They (the Jews) work more effectively against us, than the enemy’s armies. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in… It is much to be lamented that each state, long ago, has not hunted them down as pest to society and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America." George Washington

 

HOBBY LOBBY HYPOCRISY

(h/t John G. Cole)

I noted before that the company wasn't concerned about contraceptive coverage until Obamacare and now I learn that Hobby Lobby is seriously hypocritical: