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Good Morning!
Orchid room at Longwood Gardens. March, 2012 by KBO
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
~Winston Churchill
News
DOJ Will Not Prosecute Goldman Sachs in Financial Crisis Probe
The Justice Department has decided it will not prosecute Goldman Sachs or its employees for their role in the financial crisis, following an investigation by senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). The congressional investigation found problems with the credit rating agencies and poor oversight from regulators, and highlighted abuses by Goldman Sachs and other large investment banks. Senator Levin sent a formal referral to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation in April 2011.
The investigative report by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Levin, found that Goldman Sachs "used net short positions to benefit from the downturn in the mortgage market, and designed, marketed, and sold CDOs in ways that created conflicts of interest with the firm's clients and at times led to the bank's profiting from the same products that caused substantial losses for its clients."
A statement from the Justice Department issued late on Thursday evening noted, "Based on the law and evidence as they exist at this time, there is not a viable basis to bring a criminal prosecution with respect to Goldman Sachs or its employees in regard to the allegations set forth in the report."
Military’s ‘persona’ software cost millions, used for ‘classified social media activities’
[What does the military use social media for?] Well, we can’t tell you: That’s “classified,” a CENTCOM spokesman recently informed Raw Story.
One use that’s confirmed, however, is the manipulation of social media through the use of fake online “personas” managed by the military. Raw Story recently reported that the US Air Force had solicited private sector vendors for something called “persona management software.” Such a technology would allow single individuals to command virtual armies of fake, digital “people” across numerous social media portals.
These “personas” were to have detailed, fictionalized backgrounds, to make them believable to outside observers, and a sophisticated identity protection service was to back them up, preventing suspicious readers from uncovering the real person behind the account. They even worked out ways to game geolocating services, so these “personas” could be virtually inserted anywhere in the world, providing ostensibly live commentary on real events, even while the operator was not really present.
Gun Lobby Loves 3D-Printed Weapons
Designing gadgets with desktop 3D printers is nothing new. But until now, no one has ever used an at-home thermoplastic machine to help build a pistol. For one of the nation’s gun lobbies, it’s about time.
The firearm in question is a .22-caliber rifle developed by Wisconsin engineer and amateur gunsmith Michael Guslick. Using his Stratasys 3D printing machine and blueprints downloaded from the internet, Guslick successfully printed the lower receiver — or frame — of an AR-15 rifle and turned it into a gun. He also shared the results on his blog.
Obama, Not Reid, Should Be Taking on Mitt Romney's Tax Record
Obama has gone after Mitt’s tax returns – a little. He’s released a few ads here and there, including one called "Makes You Wonder" that called Mitt’s use of carried interest in his tax return a "trick," a semantic move for which Obama was criticized, since it was actually nothing of the sort. Mitt Romney’s ability to pay a top rate of 15% for his work was no trick at all but a fully-legal expression of the values of our current political system, a system, again, that Mitt Romney is “proud of” and thinks is “fair.”
The reason the Obama administration hasn’t gone after this aggressively is probably the same reason it hasn’t fought harder to repeal that carried interest tax break (which Obama incidentally promised to do four years ago), and the same reason that everyone from Corey Booker to Bill Clinton has urged Obama to lay off the theme of private equity thuggery in his campaign against Romney. Big-time politicians are still afraid to explain to the American people how exactly it is that many Wall Street firms make their money, because they’re afraid to lose access to the crumbs those firms sometimes toss their way.
Groups Sue EPA Over Clean Water
The groups say that during the BP Plc-Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, more than 1.8 million gallons of dispersants were dumped into the Gulf of Mexico with little knowledge of the toxic effect.
EPA spokeswoman Hanady Kader says the agency just received the lawsuit and would have no immediate comment.
As Severe Storms Overwhelm China’s Infrastructure, Experts Warn That Climate Change Will Make The Problem Worse
On July 21st, the heaviest rainstorm to strike Beijing, China in over 60 years dumped an average of more than 7 inches of rain across the city, causing floods and leading to the deaths of more than 70 people. One suburb, Fangshan, received more than 18 inches of rain from the storm.
The storm triggered devastating mudslides and have left thousands displaced or homeless.
According to Wu Zhenghua, a researcher at the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, rainstorms like this one will become more and more common in the future, thanks to a warming planet:
British Columbia “firewall” anyone?
Has Stephen Harper abandoned the idea that provinces have rights? Is he prepared to ride roughshod over the wishes of the vast majority of British Columbians? Has he reversed himself or is it merely the case that provinces only have rights when they seek to promote fossil fuel expansionism, never to manage such development?
Perhaps it is time for Mr. Harper’s former colleague, Mr. Boessenkool, to brief Premier Clark on how to build a firewall. And maybe he could remind the Prime Minister of how he once urged provinces to resist and object “to an aggressive and hostile federal government … encroach(ing) on legitimate provincial jurisdiction.”
CNN and Time Suspend Journalist After Admission of Plagiarism
Time magazine and CNN suspended Fareed Zakaria, the writer and television host, on Friday after he apologized for plagiarizing a New Yorker article in his column on gun control in the Aug. 20 issue of Time.
[ ... ]
Mr. Zakaria issued a statement Friday afternoon saying: “Media reporters have pointed out that paragraphs in my Time column this week bear close similarities to paragraphs in Jill Lepore’s essay in the April 23 issue of The New Yorker. They are right. I made a terrible mistake. It is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. I apologize unreservedly to her, to my editors at Time, and to my readers.”
Blog Posts of Interest
Freaky Friday — Charlie Haden Sounds Like A Rain Forest by WarrenS on DailyKos
The Evening Blues - 8-10-12 by joe shikspack on DailyKos
Sea Ice Decimated Huge Store May Have Broken Arctic Ocean Stratification by FishOutof
Water on DailyKos