Sunday, May 20, 2012
Incredible Images Of Woodpeckers
Saturday, May 19, 2012
The Daily Drift
Another day
Today's readers have been in:
Galati, Romania
Reykjavik, Iceland
Prague, Czech Republic
Sampaloc, Philippines
Lomonosov, Russia
Karachi, Pakistan
Amman, Jordan
Dublin, Ireland
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Bern, Switzerland
Groningen, Netherlands
London, England
Paramaribo, Suriname
Cairo, Egypt
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Singapore, Singapore
Bangkok, Thailand
Zagreb, Croatia
Naaldwijk, Netherlands
Cork, Ireland
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Paris, France
Zurich, Switzerland
Klang, Malaysia
Montreal, Canada
Today in History
| 715 | St. Gregory II begins his reign as Catholic Pope. | |
| 1535 | French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail for North America. | |
| 1536 | Anne Boleyn is beheaded on Tower Green. | |
| 1568 | Defeated by the Protestants, Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England where Queen Elizabeth imprisons her. | |
| 1588 | The Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon, Spain. | |
| 1608 | The Protestant states form the Evangelical Union of Lutherans and Calvinists. | |
| 1635 | Cardinal Richelieu of France intervenes in the great conflict in Europe by declaring war on the Hapsburgs in Spain. | |
| 1643 | The French army defeats a Spanish army at Rocroi, France. | |
| 1780 | Near total darkness descends on New England at noon. No explanation is found. | |
| 1856 | Senator Charles Sumner speaks out against slavery. | |
| 1858 | A pro-slavery band led by Charles Hameton executes unarmed Free State men near Marais des Cygnes on the Kansas-Missouri border. | |
| 1863 | Union General Ulysses S. Grant's first attack on Vicksburg is repulsed. | |
| 1864 | The Union and Confederate armies launch their last attacks against each other at Spotsylvania, Virginia. | |
| 1921 | Congress sharply curbs immigration, setting a national quota system. | |
| 1935 | The National Football League adopts an annual college draft to begin in 1936. | |
| 1964 | U.S. diplomats find at least 40 microphones planted in the American embassy in Moscow. | |
| 1967 | U.S. planes bomb Hanoi for the first time. |
Romney slams Obama for not fixing the shrub/repugican financial problems
What part of the Great repugican Recession did Mitt Romney not see? Oh that's
right, he didn't see it because nobody in his elite group has been
touched by the Great Recession. Everyone would love to see the national
debt reduced, including Obama. What is even more important now is
improving the employment problem, which should dwarf all other
discussions. Employment may not be an issue for the Romney class, but
it certainly is for everyone else.
It's important to note that what Romney is suggesting when he talks about cutting the debt is strict austerity. As the world has noticed, austerity is having a disastrous impact on economies across the UK and Europe. Austerity works when there's an already growing economy but it deepens and extends a crisis when an economy is failing.
One can blame Obama for failing to appreciate how serious the banking crisis was in 2008 (thanks to his delusional economic team) but had he chopped deeper into the Republican-created debt problem, the US would be in much worse economic condition today.
To be clear, what Mitt Romney is promoting on the fund raising trail is the failed policy of austerity. Maybe someone in the Corporate Media world wants to call him out for this and ask him where such policies have ever worked in a weak economy? While they're at it, they can also ask him how removed from the real world he must be if he's managed to miss the Great Recession.
Bloomberg:
It's important to note that what Romney is suggesting when he talks about cutting the debt is strict austerity. As the world has noticed, austerity is having a disastrous impact on economies across the UK and Europe. Austerity works when there's an already growing economy but it deepens and extends a crisis when an economy is failing.
One can blame Obama for failing to appreciate how serious the banking crisis was in 2008 (thanks to his delusional economic team) but had he chopped deeper into the Republican-created debt problem, the US would be in much worse economic condition today.
To be clear, what Mitt Romney is promoting on the fund raising trail is the failed policy of austerity. Maybe someone in the Corporate Media world wants to call him out for this and ask him where such policies have ever worked in a weak economy? While they're at it, they can also ask him how removed from the real world he must be if he's managed to miss the Great Recession.
Bloomberg:
“I find it incomprehensible that a president could come to office and call his predecessor’s record irresponsible and unpatriotic, and then do almost nothing to fix it,” he said.
Bush began his first term in 2001 with a budget surplus that was wiped out by the cost of two wars and tax cuts initiated in his presidency, and the yearly government deficit reached $454.8 billion shortly before he left office in January 2009. Under Obama, the deficit rose to $1.42 trillion at the end of his first year, and is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to be $977 billion in fiscal 2013.
At a fundraiser later in the day -- the first of a four- stop, almost $10 million money tour Romney is making at lavish hotels, country clubs and private homes around Florida -- the former Massachusetts governor kept up his criticism of the president and promised his donors he’d run a more business- friendly government if elected.
JPMorgan losses expand to $3 billion
Sometimes the market really does work. JPMorgan had been taking such
large positions in the market that others had to know where they were.
Once there's blood in the water, you can count on other sharks stepping
in and joining the feeding frenzy.
How's that risk genius team doing at JPMorgan now and why is Dimon still CEO?
How's that risk genius team doing at JPMorgan now and why is Dimon still CEO?
The trading losses suffered by JPMorgan Chase have surged in recent days, surpassing the bank’s initial $2 billion estimate by at least $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the losses.Meanwhile the Federal Reserve is investigating the JPMorgan trades to confirm that they were within the guidelines of a federally insurance bank. Dimon currently sits on the board of the NY Federal Reserve, though Elizabeth Warren is calling for his resignation.
When Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive, announced the losses last Thursday, he indicated they could double within the next few quarters. But that process has been compressed into four trading days as hedge funds and other investors take advantage of JPMorgan’s distress, fueling faster deterioration in the underlying credit market positions held by the bank.
A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment, although Mr. Dimon has said the total paper trading losses will be volatile depending on day-to-day market fluctuations.
Merkel gives herself a pay raise, Hollande gives himself a pay cut
The pro-austerity Angela Merkel and her team are giving themselves a pay raise during an economic crisis while the pro-stimulus, anti-austerity government of François Hollande are forcing a pay cut. Huh.
Merkel now open to stimulus to save Greek economy
At this point it's probably too late for any option other than default.
Angela Merkel has repeatedly missed critical timing moments for little
more than political posturing at home, so her latest compromise position
is frustrating to say the least. During the previous rescue attempts
she forced Greece to accept lousy terms and harsh austerity, policies
which most knew would destroy the Greek economy.
Merkel got what she wanted and Greece went the way that most economists predicted. Once again, it's too little, too late and mismanagement of the eurozone by Angela Merkel. Heaven forbid this mindset is voted in this November during the US elections.
Merkel got what she wanted and Greece went the way that most economists predicted. Once again, it's too little, too late and mismanagement of the eurozone by Angela Merkel. Heaven forbid this mindset is voted in this November during the US elections.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said Wednesday that she was ready to discuss stimulus programs to get the Greek economy growing again and that she was committed to keeping Greece in the eurozone, signaling a softer approach toward the struggling country.
The fierce rhetorical salvos out of Germany in the past week gave way to conciliatory gestures by Merkel, who throughout the crisis has shown a propensity for managing through brinkmanship. "I have the will, the determination to keep Greece in the eurozone," she said in an interview on CNBC on Wednesday, in what appeared to be an attempt to relax an increasingly tense situation.
If Greek officials are looking for "stimulus to be pursued for growth in the eurozone, which we could pursue in the interest of Greece, we're open for this," Merkel said. "Germany is open for this."
Appeals court affirms minority voting rights law
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a key provision of the
landmark U.S. voting rights law aimed at protecting minorities in states
and local areas with a history of racial discrimination.
The Justice Deptartment supports right to film police
It's one of the few good moves to come out of this Justice Department.
Police forces across the US have increasingly been abusing their power
during legitimate protests, including taking away video recordings that
show abusive police behavior. While such tactics may be normal in some
countries, we should never accept that behavior in the US.
More via Wired:
More via Wired:
In a surprising letter (.pdf) sent on Monday to attorneys for the Baltimore Police Department, the Justice Department also strongly asserted that officers who seize and destroy such recordings without a warrant or without due process are in strict violation of the individual’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The letter was sent to the police department as it prepares for meetings to discuss a settlement over a civil lawsuit brought by a citizen who sued the department after his camera was seized by police.
In the lawsuit, Christopher Sharp alleged that in May 2010, Baltimore City police officers seized, searched and deleted the contents of his mobile phone after he used it to record them as they were arresting a friend of his.
The TSA is useless
A "former FBI Special Agent and head of the Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force Al Qaeda squad" says the TSA is useless. Not annoying - useless.
Here's a summary at BoingBoing, with links to the source material.
Here's a summary at BoingBoing, with links to the source material.
Man robs store with underwear on head
Police in southwest Idaho say a man chose briefs over boxers to wear on his head as he held up a coffee shop and stole a safe.
And I Quote
Miles Davis turned to Nancy Reagan and said...
In 1987, he was invited to a White House dinner by Ronald Reagan. Few of the guests appeared to know who he was. During dinner, Nancy Reagan turned to him and asked what he'd done with his life to merit an invitation. Straight-faced, Davis replied: "Well, I've changed the course of music five or six times. What have you done except fuck the president?"
Touring indie band picks up hitchhiker who looks like John Waters. It was John Waters.
So what happened once the car pulls up alongside him and he gets in the van? We pulled up and we saw him and everyone went, "That's definitely John Waters." We opened the door and I said, "Hello how you doing? Where ya coming from?" And he said Baltimore. We were like, "Uh huh," totally knowing that he was from Baltimore. So we said, "Come on in!" He got in the van and he got all tangled up in the seat belt, it was really adorable. That was the first thing that happened. We're traveling in a van and there are all these seat belts that block your way. You know, the ones that go from the side to the seats in the middle.Hitchhiking Director John Waters Picked Up In Ohio By Indie Rock Band
So he was totally tangled and he didn't even remove himself. He just sort of sat down, entrenched in seat belts. He was a perfect gentlemen. We addressed the fact that we knew it was John Waters and he very calmly accepted that information. It sort of rolls on from there. The shock of the event wore off pretty quickly in exchange for the warmth and the kindness and cleverness of this human being that's now sitting next to you. He became a human being very quickly. He answered every single question and he was even a little shy about photos. Finally it was like, "My mom wants a picture" and "Do you mind if I Tweet this" and he was fine with it. We were like, "What on earth are you doing this for?" He was like, "I have a lot of control in my life and I just wanted to let go of the reins a little bit, have an adventure." He's such a true artist and it's so cool!
Band Who Picked Up Hitchhiking John Waters Talks About Their Six Hours With The Director
The Biography of Shoes
When you're getting to go about your in the morning have you ever
stopped and wondered where and when did shoes come from? Even if you
haven't, the origins of shoes is a rather interesting one.
Ten Landlocked Countries With Navies
In some regions, roads may be unreliable or circuitous, and a river or lake may be the easiest way to move military forces around the country. Sometimes, possession of a body of water may actually be contested - for example, countries around the landlocked Caspian Sea have different views of how ownership should be divided.
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