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Good Morning!
Cone flower. August, 2012 by joanneleon
“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
~Oscar Wilde
News
Ecuador Grants Julian Assange Asylum; U.S. Seen as "Hidden Hand" Behind U.K. Threat to Raid Embassy
America’s Vassal Acts Decisively and Illegally
I returned to the UK today to be astonished by private confirmation from within the FCO that the UK government has indeed decided – after immense pressure from the Obama administration – to enter the Ecuadorean Embassy and seize Julian Assange.
This will be, beyond any argument, a blatant breach of the Vienna Convention of 1961, to which the UK is one of the original parties and which encodes the centuries – arguably millennia – of practice which have enabled diplomatic relations to function. The Vienna Convention is the most subscribed single international treaty in the world.
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I hope to have more information soon on the threats used by the US administration. William Hague had been supporting the move against the concerted advice of his own officials; Ken Clarke has been opposing the move against the advice of his. I gather the decision to act has been taken in Number 10.
Pinochet had women raped by dogs and Britain wouldn’t extradite him
TrapWire: Spying On YOU?
Judge: Former ACORN worker can sue James O’Keefe
A federal judge last week allowed a lawsuit against conservative activists James O’Keefe and Hanna Giles to proceed, according to Courthouse News Service.
Former ACORN worker Juan Carlos Vera sued O’Keefe and Giles in 2010 for allegedly illegally taping their confidential conversation to make the now infamous “ACORN pimp” video. After the heavily-edited video was released in 2009, Vera was fired from ACORN and Congress later voted to defund the organization, which led to its bankruptcy. ...
O’Keefe argued that Vera had no expectation of privacy. But U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz said that Vera “reasonably believed that the conversation was private because it was held in his office with no one else present, and he believed that no one else was listening in on his conversation.” He denied O’Keefe’s motion for a summary judgement.
U.S. lawmakers accuse Walmart of tax evasion and money laundering
Two US lawmakers probing bribery allegations against Walmart in Mexico say they have documents suggesting the US retail giant may also have engaged in tax evasion and money laundering.
The congressmen, Elijah Cummings and Henry Waxman, made their claim in a letter to Walmart Chief Executive Michael Duke dated Tuesday, urging him to respond to requests for information about allegations that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
“We have obtained internal company documents, including internal audit reports, from other sources suggesting that Walmart may have had compliance issues relating not only to bribery, but also to ‘questionable financial behavior’ including tax evasion and money laundering in Mexico,” said the letter, dated Tuesday.
Tapping Into the Land, and Dividing Its People
BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION, Mont. — The mountains along the eastern edge of Glacier National Park rise from the prairie like dinosaur teeth, their silvery ridges and teardrop fields of snow forming the doorway to one of America’s most pristine places.
Yes, there is beauty here on the Blackfeet reservation, but there is also oil, locked away in the tight shale thousands of feet underground. And tribal leaders have decided to tap their land’s buried wealth. The move has divided the tribe while igniting a debate over the promise and perils of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in a place where grizzlies roam into backyards and many residents see the land as something living and sacred.
Will this 1% law suit against police brutality be handled differently than all the others?
Deutsche Bank Executive Claims Abuse by Los Angeles Police
The executive, Brian Mulligan, has said that he has suffered a broken shoulder blade and numerous fractures after being detained by police in mid-May, according to news reports.
The police department has told news outlets that Mr. Mulligan, a former Hollywood executive turned investment banker, was showing erratic behavior on the night of May 15. Mr. Mulligan has claimed through a lawyer that he was illegally detained in a motel room by police officers who were trying to steal his money.
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He has since filed a $50 million claim against the city, Bloomberg and The Journal reported, in what would be the first step toward a formal lawsuit.
The recent developments are an unusual mark on the record of Mr. Mulligan, a prominent banker charged with lining up financing for Hollywood movies. His previous jobs included serving as the chairman of Fox TV, a position he left in September 2001.
The hurdles were too high...
No Criminal Case Is Likely in Loss at MF Global
The hurdles to building a criminal case were always high with MF Global, which filed for bankruptcy in October after a huge bet on European debt unnerved the market. But a lack of charges in the largest Wall Street blowup since 2008 is likely to fuel frustration with the government’s struggle to charge financial executives. Just a few individuals — none of them top Wall Street players — have been prosecuted for the risky acts that led to recent failures and billions of dollars in losses.
Global investigation is winding down, federal authorities are seeking to interview the former chief of the firm, Jon S. Corzine, next month, according to the people involved in the case. Authorities hope that Mr. Corzine, who is expected to accept the invitation, will shed light on the actions of other employees at MF Global.
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While the government’s findings would remove the darkest cloud looming over Mr. Corzine — the threat of criminal charges — the former Goldman Sachs chief is not yet in the clear. A bankruptcy trustee on Wednesday joined customers’ lawsuits against Mr. Corzine, and regulators are still considering civil enforcement actions, which could cost him millions of dollars or ban him from working on Wall Street.
Mr. Corzine, in a bid to rebuild his image and engage his passion for trading, is weighing whether to start a hedge fund, according to people with knowledge of his plans. He is currently trading with his family’s wealth.
[ Emphasis added. ]
Fallout Over Corzine Hedge Fund Story
Media outlets have jumped on the story with a mix of outrage and some potential support within the GS alumnae and hedge fund community.
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“I have seen things in the last four years I have not seen in the previous thirty, and here is another.” –David Moenning, CIO and founder at StateoftheMarkets.com
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“Yes I trust Jon Corzine and I think if he starts a fund he will make money, and be very successful. We closed our seeding business, so I couldn’t seed him, but he is a person that I would have no problem being partners with. We have different politics, but that would make it even more interesting.” –Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci, ex- GS and SkyBridge Capital founder and frequent CNBC guest
The lamest defense from a source that is usually pretty good. Whoosh! Does this guy miss the point or what? The Wall Street mentality (of some, others are down to earth) is mind boggling. He wants to start a hedge fund because of the enormous fees and this justifies it? They also note that Corzine probably has plenty of money in his personal bank accounts. Too bad his clients don't have theirs anymore.
Why Jon Corzine wants to run a hedge fund
The nerve! To think that someone would think they’re qualified to manage money after running a firm where more than $1 billion in client funds disappeared as the place sank into bankruptcy. The audacity!
Calm down, everyone. Let’s take a breath now and understand what a hedge fund really is.
Sure, there are hedge funds like Bridgewater Associates that manage tens of billions and win big tax breaks from the state of Connecticut so they can build palatial headquarters. And then there are rather more modest operations comprised of a handful of guys huddled around a Bloomberg terminal looking for stocks or bonds or currencies or commodities or derivatives to buy long or sell short.
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No, what makes a hedge fund a hedge fund is the fees. Specifically, a hedge fund manager typically charges investors fees equal to 2% of the fund’s assets under management and also pockets 20% of the investment gains (if any). Indeed, as The Economist once noted, the funds are “a compensation scheme masquerading as an asset class.”
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Doubtless he has plenty of his own money from his days as CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to start a hedge fund. The question, of course, is whether after the fiasco at MF Global he can persuade anyone to invest with him.
11 Are Killed As U.S. Copter Goes Down In Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — Seven American soldiers and three Afghan soldiers and an interpreter were killed after daybreak on Thursday when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan, the American-led military command here said.
A spokesman for the Taliban said the group had shot down the helicopter, but American officials said there was no indication yet that enemy fire was the cause. The helicopter crashed in a Taliban-controlled area in the northern part of Kandahar Province known as Shah Wali Kot around 10 a.m. on Thursday, an official at the Kandahar provincial governor’s office said.
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The Taliban had also claimed that its fighters in the Shah Wali Kot district had shot down a Chinook helicopter on Wednesday with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing 33 American soldiers who were flying overhead in support of a night raid on houses in the area, according to a translation of a Taliban statement by the SITE Intelligence Group.
How Not to Reconstruct Iraq, Afghanistan -- or America
Then there’s that other why question: Why, in our zeal to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, we never considered spending a fraction as much to rebuild Detroit, New Orleans, or Cleveland (projects that, unlike Afghanistan and Iraq in their heyday, have never enjoyed widespread support)?
I use the term “reconstruction” for convenience, but it is important to understand what the U.S. means by it. Once corruption and pure greed are strained out (most projects in Iraq and Afghanistan were simply vehicles for contractors to suck money out of the government) and the vanity projects crossed off (building things and naming them after the sitting ambassador was a popular suck-up technique), what’s left is our desire for them to be like us.
Leaked Israel memo: propaganda or Iran war plan?
Richard Silverstein - the American blogger who says he has been given the text of a memo outlining Israel's plans for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities - is clear about what he thinks it is.
He says it came from a senior Israeli politician - a former minister - and he describes it as a "sales pitch", used by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak to try to win round sceptical members of Israel's divided inner security cabinet. ...
He believes it was passed by a serving officer to the politician and then leaked by him precisely to alert the outside world to the scale of Israel's military plan to strike at Iran and thus to reduce its chances of ever happening.
An unprecedented public debate is underway in Israel on the wisdom of launching an attack against Iran. And this leaked document, whatever its source, and whatever its original purpose, has become an element in that debate.
Yemen: Two years on, journalist still behind bars
The Yemeni authorities must set aside the conviction of a journalist imprisoned after he alleged US involvement in fatal air strikes in the country – including the use of cluster bombs – and release him, Amnesty International said today.
Thursday marks two years since Abdul Ilah Haydar Shayi’, an investigative journalist specializing in counter-terrorism affairs, was arrested at his home in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, on charges of links to al-Qa’ida. He has been behind bars ever since.
On 18 January 2011, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. On 1 February 2011, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh issued an order to free him, but it was not carried out after US President Barack Obama expressed concern over the journalist’s release.
'Stars Earn Stripes' receives criticism from veterans
On Monday, nine Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Bishop Desmond Tutu sent a letter to NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt, producer Mark Burnett and host retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, among others, calling for NBC to cancel the program.
According to The Associated Press, the Nobel Laureates protested the show on the grounds that it glorifies war and violence.
Several veterans also criticized the show during a live discussion on the Huffington Post on Tuesday. Even Stephen Colbert mocked the show Tuesday, saying, "I’m sure the 80,000 U.S. soldiers risking their lives in Afghanistan are wondering why they let their agents talk them into that."
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In its review, The Times' Robert Lloyd said, "Whatever else you make of it -- and it's enough to say that if you like this sort of thing, you will like this thing -- it's all, or partly, for a good cause."
Blog Posts of Interest
The Evening Blues - 8-16-12 by joe shikspack on DailyKos
Top 10 Trans-friendly Colleges and Universities by rserven on DailyKos
Wolves - Shoot on sight in Wyoming (with a petition) by Agathena on DailyKos
Scott Olsen & the Iraq Vets Against the War Stage Sit-in For Bradley Manning At Obama Office in Oak. by jpmassar on DailyKos
Maynard Ferguson - Chameleon
We are ready for some serious change. We are ready to take up the tools of a free and analytic press to peacefully undermine the stranglehold of the kleptocrats on our battered democracy. We are ready to expose and publicize their greed, lies and illegal machinations and hold their enablers in government and the media to account. Are you in?
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
~ Margaret Mead
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