MORE JEEBUS GRIFTING

I received an email from a conservative group that's promoting this agit-prop and the Huckster is behind it:

WASHINGTON TIMES ALMOST AS BAD AS THE NATIONAL REVIEW

As far as I know, the National Review has never turned a profit and the Washington Times is only a tiny bit better:

Turnaround! Washington Times poised to post first profit in 32-year history

Revenue growth, expense reductions, restructuring cut losses, change media company’s course

By Jennifer Harper - The Washington Times - Thursday, November 13, 2014 

Achieving success in a particularly unforgiving marketplace, The Washington Times is on course to reach profitability in 2015 for the first time in its 32-year history, President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Beasley announced Friday.
Mr. Beasley said the media company had eliminated nearly $25 million in annual losses over the last two years through a combination of revenue growth, expense reductions and restructuring.
“I don’t think for a minute that we’re done changing. But we’ve changed with the industry, and the marketplace has guided us,” Mr. Beasley said. “We don’t want to send the message that we’re there yet. But profitability is in sight.”

---

MORE ON THE NET NEUTRALITY ISSUE

The WaPo published an op-ed by Michael Mandel of the Progressive Policy Institute.  PPI is essentially another neo-liberal organization so we should not be surprised that Mandel makes some spurious claims about the state of the Internet in America, like this one:

The U.S. data sector — including wired and wireless broadband — is the envy of the world, administering a powerful boost to consumer welfare, generating high-paying jobs and encouraging tens of billions of dollars in corporate investment.

This is FALSE as you see by comparing the US to other OECD countries.

COST PER MEGABIT/SEC DOWNLOAD

Japan	0.04
Netherlands	0.08
Sweden	0.11
Finland	0.22
Korea	0.22
France	0.23
Estonia	0.27
Hungary	0.30
Australia	0.34
Slovenia	0.35
Slovak Republic	0.35
Denmark	0.36
Canada	0.39
United Kingdom	0.39
Czech Republic	0.40
Germany	0.40
Iceland	0.42
Poland	0.45
Norway	0.46
Portugal	0.46
Switzerland	0.47
Luxembourg	0.52
United States	0.53
Austria	0.56
Belgium	0.59
Ireland	0.61
Italy	0.64
New Zealand	0.65
Spain	0.74
Israel	0.77
Chile	0.96
Turkey	1.12
Greece	1.25
Mexico	1.69

LINE CHARGES

Denmark	1.79
Korea	2.07
United Kingdom	2.12
Netherlands	4.52
Austria	5.05
France	5.10
Portugal	6.27
Iceland	6.75
Australia	6.81
Italy	6.93
Canada	9.86
Luxembourg	10.56
Israel	11.78
Czech Republic	12.35
Estonia	13.35
Finland	15.99
Greece	16.72
Norway	18.02
Slovak Republic	18.10
Sweden	18.63
Chile	19.28
Japan	21.34
Germany	23.25
Slovenia	25.94
Hungary	26.67
Belgium	28.93
Spain	38.16
United States	41.70
Ireland	47.17
Turkey	48.98
Switzerland	58.06
Mexico	58.98
Poland	127.12
New Zealand	130.20

THIS IS AMUSING

CHART OF THE DAY: Apple now worth more than the entire Russian stock market

Apple Could Swallow Whole Russian Stock Market

I'M A PURIST ON TAX INVERSIONS

Pres. Obama nominated a bankster to be the next Treasury undersecretary and one of the banksters' legal enablers came to the defense of legal corporate tax evasion, inversions:

H. Rodgin Cohen, senior chairman of New York-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, which has done work with Lazard, said it would be absurd for Washington to blacklist bankers who’ve been involved with inversions.

“Why should a banker not work for any one of hundreds of companies that have one sort of tax break or another?” Cohen said. “Inversions are just one. We have a tax code that is just riddled with loopholes and exceptions. So should you never work on any of those? Is there a purity test?” 

THIS IS VERY GOOD NEWS

One of Sean Hannity's best buddies (newer link here) is facing some serious charges:

Ex-CEO of mine that blew up, killing 29, indicted
John Raby, AP 5:34 p.m. EST November 13, 2014
USA TODAY

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The former CEO who oversaw the West Virginia mine that exploded in 2010, killing 29 people, was indicted Thursday on federal charges related to a safety investigation that followed the blast.

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, who is accused of conspiring to violate safety and health standards at Upper Big Branch Mine, is the highest-ranking executive to face charges in the blast. The explosion and investigation afterward led to the overhaul of the way the federal government oversees mine safety.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said a federal grand jury indicted Blankenship on charges including conspiracy to violate mandatory federal mine safety and health standards, conspiracy to impede federal mine safety officials, making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission and securities fraud.

Blankenship could face up to 31 years in prison if convicted.

CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO HOST OR DERANGED COP-KILLER?

The similarities are scary:

Our nation is far from what it was and what it should be. I have seen so many depressing changes made in my time that I cannot imagine what it must be like for you. There is so much wrong and on so many levels only passing through the crucible of another revolution can get us back the liberties we once had. I do not pretend to know what that revolution will look like or even if it would be successful.

Full text here.

MORE GORE-INGS OF THE DEMOCRATS

Today I heard Chuck Todd on Huge Ego Hewitt's radio show discuss/promote his new book and the title alone clues you in to Todd's Villager Blindness: "The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House." The use of the word "Stranger" fits perfectly with the wingnut and Villager complaints about the President: that he's not an American citizen, that he comes from and likes an exotic background, he's a secret Muslim, he hates American values, he's a secret Communist, etc. ad nauseum.

I then decided to look a little more closely at a supposedly devastating critique of the President and his National Security Council and found that David Rothkopf, the author, is just as blind as Todd.  This was a telling comment:

Steve Hadley was quite successful, actually, as Bush's national security advisor, helping with the benefit of a largely new team elsewhere in the administration to enable Bush to change course in his last couple of years and finish much stronger than he had started.

Not as fucked up does NOT equal stronger and it never will.

ANOTHER BAD CHOICE BY PRES. OBAMA?

He has nominated Antonio Weiss of Lazard, Ltd. to be the next undersecretary of the Treasury:

As undersecretary for domestic finance, Weiss, 48, would coordinate policies on banking, debt financing, capital markets and regulation. The undersecretary, who is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate, also works on implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial law. 

Institutional Investor in 2009 provided some background on Weiss:

Weiss followed an unusual path to banking. In 1988 he earned a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Yale University, where he edited the campus literary magazine, then was hired as a senior editor at New York-based Paris Review by the magazine's late founder, journalist and adventurer George Plimpton. "I was smart enough to know there was no hope of my becoming George Plimpton, so I quickly went and did something else," notes Weiss.

Intrigued by tales of swashbuckling Wall Street, Weiss did a two-year-long investment banking training program at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 1990, then went to Harvard Business School for an MBA before joining Lazard in 1994 as an associate banker. He hasn't forgotten his first passion, though, remaining a contributor and adviser at Paris Review and becoming its publisher last year.

In 1997, as one of the Lazard bankers advising ITT Corp. on a hostile takeover offer from Hilton Hotels Corp., Weiss was reminded of the value of diplomacy. ITT ended up spinning off its auto-parts business and selling its Sheraton Hotel unit to white knight Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide for $10.5 billion in shares and cash rather than accept an all-cash bid from Hilton, whose then-CEO, Stephen Bollenbach, had alienated ITT by calling its then-CEO, Rand Araskog, a "superweenie."

Lazard sent Weiss to its Paris office in 2002 to help expand the firm's operations in continental Europe. Weiss broadened the franchise beyond Lazard's French stronghold by picking up corporate takeover mandates from companies such as Italian automaker Fiat, Swiss food producer Nestl& and German engineering group Siemens. In 2006 the bank named him one of three vice chairmen of European investment banking.

THE BANKSTERS GET ANOTHER SLAP ON THE WRIST...

and the wrist belongs to the owners (shareholders), not the banksters.

Regulators fine global banks $4.3 billion in currency investigation

By Kirstin Ridley, Joshua Franklin and Aruna Viswanatha
LONDON/ZURICH/NEW YORK Wed Nov 12, 2014 5:10pm EST

(Reuters) - Regulators fined six major banks a total of $4.3 billion for failing to stop traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market, following a yearlong global investigation.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, UBS AG and Bank of America Corp all faced penalties resulting from the inquiry, which has put the largely unregulated $5-trillion-a-day market on a tighter leash, accelerated the push to automate trading and ensnared the Bank of England.

Authorities accused dealers of sharing confidential information about client orders and coordinating trades to boost their own profits. The foreign exchange benchmark they allegedly manipulated is used by asset managers and corporate treasurers to value their holdings.

POLITICO ALSO LIKES THE STUPID

It published an article on Paul Ryan by JR Ross which has the sub-title "Is he too smart to be President?"

THE WAPO DOES HIRE STUPIDS LIKE ZACHARY GOLDFARB

You may recall that the payroll tax was cut as part of Obama's stimulus package but this overpaid dodo of a policy editor doesn't recall that:

In 2013, most Americans had a good bit less money, after adjusting for taxes, than the year before. That's because in 2013, a huge tax increase affecting ordinary workers took effect, raising the employee payroll tax from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent.

CD2 IN ARIZONA

If the Arizona Republic's article is correct, there is no legal basis for Martha McSally to request that some provisional ballots be excluded from the vote counting:

Barber-McSally race heads toward potential recount
Rob O'Dell, The Republic | azcentral.com 9:08 p.m. MST November 10, 2014

The high-stakes nature of the race was reflected Monday in a legal challenge by McSally to stop provisional votes from being counted. Pima County Superior Court Judge James Marner denied her request for a temporary restraining order to stop counting early ballots because he said there would not be irreparable harm done by continuing to count the votes.

Roads said the election-procedure manual says the poll worker must sign the provisional ballot, but the manual also says "a provisional ballot shall not be rejected solely for the lack of signature on the affidavit by polling place election officials."

And here's the rule for a mandatory recount:

A mandatory recount will occur if either candidate wins the race by fewer than 200 votes.

THIS IS SHOCKING

(h/t Avedon Carol)

Pres. Obama is worse for the bottom 90% than even Pres. George W. Bush was so low gas prices didn't make a difference in turn out or votes. From Naked Capitalism:

ANOTHER POST FOR THE ARCHIVES

Pres. Obama came out in favor of net neutrality and here are his remarks from the WH site:

The President's Statement

An open Internet is essential to the American economy, and increasingly to our very way of life. By lowering the cost of launching a new idea, igniting new political movements, and bringing communities closer together, it has been one of the most significant democratizing influences the world has ever known.
“Net neutrality” has been built into the fabric of the Internet since its creation — but it is also a principle that we cannot take for granted. We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas. That is why today, I am asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to answer the call of almost 4 million public comments, and implement the strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality.
When I was a candidate for this office, I made clear my commitment to a free and open Internet, and my commitment remains as strong as ever. Four years ago, the FCC tried to implement rules that would protect net neutrality with little to no impact on the telecommunications companies that make important investments in our economy. After the rules were challenged, the court reviewing the rules agreed with the FCC that net neutrality was essential for preserving an environment that encourages new investment in the network, new online services and content, and everything else that makes up the Internet as we now know it. Unfortunately, the court ultimately struck down the rules — not because it disagreed with the need to protect net neutrality, but because it believed the FCC had taken the wrong legal approach.
The FCC is an independent agency, and ultimately this decision is theirs alone. I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online. The rules I am asking for are simple, common-sense steps that reflect the Internet you and I use every day, and that some ISPs already observe. These bright-line rules include:

• No blocking. If a consumer requests access to a website or service, and the content is legal, your ISP should not be permitted to block it. That way, every player — not just those commercially affiliated with an ISP — gets a fair shot at your business.
• No throttling. Nor should ISPs be able to intentionally slow down some content or speed up others — through a process often called “throttling” — based on the type of service or your ISP’s preferences.
• Increased transparency. The connection between consumers and ISPs — the so-called “last mile” — is not the only place some sites might get special treatment. So, I am also asking the FCC to make full use of the transparency authorities the court recently upheld, and if necessary to apply net neutrality rules to points of interconnection between the ISP and the rest of the Internet.
• No paid prioritization. Simply put: No service should be stuck in a “slow lane” because it does not pay a fee. That kind of gatekeeping would undermine the level playing field essential to the Internet’s growth. So, as I have before, I am asking for an explicit ban on paid prioritization and any other restriction that has a similar effect.

If carefully designed, these rules should not create any undue burden for ISPs, and can have clear, monitored exceptions for reasonable network management and for specialized services such as dedicated, mission-critical networks serving a hospital. But combined, these rules mean everything for preserving the Internet’s openness.
The rules also have to reflect the way people use the Internet today, which increasingly means on a mobile device. I believe the FCC should make these rules fully applicable to mobile broadband as well, while recognizing the special challenges that come with managing wireless networks.
To be current, these rules must also build on the lessons of the past. For almost a century, our law has recognized that companies who connect you to the world have special obligations not to exploit the monopoly they enjoy over access in and out of your home or business. That is why a phone call from a customer of one phone company can reliably reach a customer of a different one, and why you will not be penalized solely for calling someone who is using another provider. It is common sense that the same philosophy should guide any service that is based on the transmission of information — whether a phone call, or a packet of data.
So the time has come for the FCC to recognize that broadband service is of the same importance and must carry the same obligations as so many of the other vital services do. To do that, I believe the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act — while at the same time forbearing from rate regulation and other provisions less relevant to broadband services. This is a basic acknowledgment of the services ISPs provide to American homes and businesses, and the straightforward obligations necessary to ensure the network works for everyone — not just one or two companies.
Investment in wired and wireless networks has supported jobs and made America the center of a vibrant ecosystem of digital devices, apps, and platforms that fuel growth and expand opportunity. Importantly, network investment remained strong under the previous net neutrality regime, before it was struck down by the court; in fact, the court agreed that protecting net neutrality helps foster more investment and innovation. If the FCC appropriately forbears from the Title II regulations that are not needed to implement the principles above — principles that most ISPs have followed for years — it will help ensure new rules are consistent with incentives for further investment in the infrastructure of the Internet.
The Internet has been one of the greatest gifts our economy — and our society — has ever known. The FCC was chartered to promote competition, innovation, and investment in our networks. In service of that mission, there is no higher calling than protecting an open, accessible, and free Internet. I thank the Commissioners for having served this cause with distinction and integrity, and I respectfully ask them to adopt the policies I have outlined here, to preserve this technology’s promise for today, and future generations to come.

CONSERVATIVE PUNDITS AREN'T ALWAYS WACKED-OUT

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is usually provides a great target for mockery but this time, he's made a few good points:

6 bills the GOP should pass: Column
Glenn Harlan Reynolds 12:10 p.m. EST November 10, 2014
USA TODAY

2 Decriminalize marijuana at the federal level.

4 Make birth-control pills available over the counter.

I'm not sure about his other 4 bills.

DOUG DUCEY MEANS MORE PROBLEMS FOR MANY ARIZONANS

The governor-elect has conflicting economic goals but that probably won't stop him and enough Republican legislators from overturning Medicaid expansion.  This is from Ducey's campaign site:

Controlling the cost of Medicaid expansion. The expansion of Medicaid as part of Obamacare receives significant federal money…for the first three years. After that the rules will change, and Arizona taxpayers may need to pay considerably more. As governor I will prepare for all scenarios, and I will not allow a massive new entitlement to grow into a huge financial burden for future generations of Arizonans. We will keep a lid on health care costs, period.
Helping those who truly need it. We want to care for our most vulnerable and needy citizens, and we want our health care options in Arizona to be the best in the nation. Medicaid is a program originally designed to take care of the destitute and disabled, but it’s now being expanded as a middle class entitlement. We need to focus our efforts on people who genuinely need the help and can’t do without it.