Today's edition of quick hits:
*Are sanctions against Iran having the desired effect? It sure looks like it.
* With this in mind, it's noteworthy Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be adopting a shift in emphasis away from a military confrontation and towards economic remedies.
* Next steps in Libya: "The American military's top-secret Joint Special Operations Command is preparing detailed information that could be used to kill or capture some of the militants suspected in the attack last month in Libya that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, senior military and counterterrorism officials said on Tuesday."
* New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman targets JPMorgan Chase: "The federal mortgage task force that was formed in January by the Justice Department filed its first complaint against a big bank on Monday, citing a broad pattern of misconduct in the packaging and sale of mortgage securities during the housing boom."
* On a related note, Schneiderman said the move "will serve as a template for suits against other issuers."
* The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was part of this move: "American Express will reimburse $85 million to about 250,000 customers to resolve accusations that the company violated federal law in its marketing, billing and debt collection practices, the company and the government said Monday."
* Vice President Biden sympathized with the plight of the middle class, and in the process, gave Romney/Ryan another bouncing ball to chase.
* It's counter-intuitive, but political scientists report the effect of presidential-candidate debates on the larger campaign are "mild, and in most cases, effectively nil." What's more, "what effects do exist are often caused by factors wholly beyond the candidates' control."
* And in light of the news out of Pennsylvania this morning, Ari Berman puts the case in the larger context, noting the Republican voter-suppression laws blocked this year in the courts.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
To Vice President Biden via Ms. Romney: STOP IT! STOP IT!
Sometimes you have to take time to enjoy watching the dog chase its own tail.
I support most of what the President has done.
That being said, it's absolutely shameful that no one from the the collapse of the banking industry has been held accountable by the Federal Government.
So if this ever happened again, could the parties involved cite lack of action by the Obama administration as a defense?
@Dogjudge - this might be of interest:
SEC Enforcement Actions Addressing Misconduct That Led to or Arose From the Financial Crisis:
http://sec.gov/spotlight/enf-actions-fc.shtml
This isn't over. The attorneys general from both New York and Delaware (Biden's son) are still working on this, and I expect there will be some action. I am thinking, if not jail terms, at least some big fines for some bankers AND banks coming down the pike...
By the way, it's Bear Sterns' actions under scrutiny. Bear Sterns was taken over by Chase at the govt's request. So, is it fair for JPM to be sued for doing a favor for the gov't? If JPM didn't acquire, there'd be no recourse.
What's up with Romney campaign's election day task force training? Looks like he's got these special training sessions setup for each swing state. This is the first I've heard of that, but if you Google "Election Day Operations Task Force Training" look at all the listings of state by state sessions with a form for each state.
Anyone have any info on this? What are they training for? Is this more voter suppression, this time aimed at election day?
This made me feel a little better about the Patriots after last weeks $7.5 million Romney fundraising dinner Johnny Kraft hosted that Rachel spoke about. To all Patriots fans:
"[Robert] Kraft is one of the few NFL owners who has contributed directly to Barack Obama. Kraft gave $5,000 to Obama this cycle. He's also given $12,900 to the Democratic National Committee."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-romney-donations-nfl-contributions-woody-johnson-2012-9?op=1#ixzz28BdEXCt1
"With this in mind, it's noteworthy Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be adopting a shift in emphasis away from a military confrontation and towards economic remedies"
What cartoon graphic will he use this time?
Allah as a pan-handler.
* New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman targets JPMorgan Chase: "The federal mortgage task force that was formed in January by the Justice Department filed its first complaint against a big bank on Monday, citing a broad pattern of misconduct in the packaging and sale of mortgage securities during the housing boom."
Surprisingly, it was not against any of the actual biggest players in the sub prime crisis, but against JPM who took over Bear Stearns at the urgent pleading of then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.
A more cynical mind would be tempted to believe that this was retaliation against Jamie Dimon for having publicly broken with the administration. After all, it's not as if Citigroup, was as late as 2007 the leading firm in sub-prime mortgage origination and headed by former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/08/citi-negative-on-subprime_n_531130.html
It's also not as if current Obama Chiief of Staff Jack Lew is a former Citigroup head of housing related prop trading up until 2006. It's also not as if former Obama OMB director Peter Orzag is currently Vice Chair of Citigroup.
Now THAT might look suspicious
Monday's Mini-Report
By Steve Benen
-
Mon Oct 1, 2012 5:30 PM EDT
bannedagain
#5 - Mon Oct 1, 2012 6:27 PM EDT
One trick pony.
Yes, as expected, the Feds had no way to bring charges, so they went to Schneiderman and the state of NY. You DO realize that this isn't a Federal suit, right?
Moreover none of this is new information. It has been available to the state of NY for years. Funny though that Scheniderman suddenly decides to bring suit 30 days before the election.
This piece is a pretty devastating takedown of what a shoddy piece of political work this suit is:
"It is the first case to emerge from the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group, led by Mr. Schneiderman, which was formed in January.
Yet it contains little new information about how Wall Street bundled together several poorly underwritten subprime mortgages and sold them to investors on the promise that they were safe investments. And as a civil case, it may result in a finding of a violation, but that would come only after years of discovery and legal maneuvering.
Indeed, the complaint filed by Mr. Schneiderman quotes information from, among other sources, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s report issued two years ago to show how mortgage underwriting standards were largely ignored by Bear Stearns.
The claimed losses from the instruments issued in 2006 and 2007 total approximately $22.5 billion. That is not insignificant but hardly makes Bear Stearns the worst offender, or a unique actor in this area."
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/in-the-j-p-morgan-suit-a-lack-of-new-news/
Yep Rollo,
bantroll only has one thing on his mind: to troll this site and post anything in an attempt to make Obama look bad. Which is not working very well.
Does anyone else think that Pokebattles are the best way to handle presidential debates? Or really, any debates ever?
Rachel Maddow's guest this evening made a common error in attempting to show that welfare aid (whatever is left of it) is different from Social Security because "we pay for Social Security." Before "reform," over 80% of AFDC recipients (people with some of the greatest barriers to employment) voluntarily quit welfare for work by the time their children began school. Nearly all recipients worked before/after receiving aid, paying taxes, with those taxes going toward covering the costs of welfare programs -- just like Social Security. We need to get beyond the notion that there is such a thing as "government money." Tax dollars are the people's money, public dollars, and they are supposed to be used for the benefit of the people/country. With few exceptions, welfare recipients paid more into the system than they ever received in benefits. Today, those same dollars go toward covering the tax bills owed by the rich/corporations, "making up the difference" for every tax cut they get. That a handful of the very rich feel that public dollars are wasted if they are used for the survival of ordinary Americans tells us a great deal about the character of today's rich.
in another they can't leave it alone moment, Fox is bringing out a speech from 2007 to associate Obama with Rev Wright again.
Personally, I like Wright. He has a few crazy ideas of course, but many others that are spot on.
I heard the speech and was appalled!
Yeah, 'cause all of those black folks, blah, blah, blah, more troll speak, blah blah blah.
Rev Wright has spent more time in the miltary than all the people at Fox and every Romney ever born combined.
He's a really interesting character. Must give one helluva sermon.
Yeah right, bantroll.
Everyone knows exactly what you are about on this thread. And nobody cares about the bull@!$%# you post.
Regarding Lybia, two thoughts. First, why does our gov't keep leaking operations that should be secret. It would suffice to just say everything is being looked at. Second, why no discussion here or by Maddow over the gov't handling of communication after the attack, and now events prior to the attack?
Maddow won't say anything against Obama administration
Maddow has been critical of Obama, but that goes against your troll diatribe.
I agree she has been critical. However, she usually comes down on him when he's either not supporting or is slow to support progressive issues. Lybia points to the integrity of the admin.
And again Tom:
This is coming from a person who plans to support robme knowing that robme will eliminate the medicare program that you use, so excuse me for not taking anything you have to say seriously.
I wonder if
have anything to do with one another. If Obama, Cameron, Merkel and/or the French guy met openly with Mr. A that would be a big, bouncy, shining, sparkly ball for the kittenesque Romney campaign to bat around shouting "Appeasement! Appeasement!" The NATO group could be using the prospect of another neo-con led, guano insano, war-mongering Republican presidency as the hard place against the rock of sanctions to grind out concessions.
Just throwing this out there for discussion.
*It's a transliteration, I get to spell it however the hell I want as long as I hit all the syllables.
We were blessed to see the debate. It shed a light on how incompetent Obama is without a teleprompter. He is a puppet of other’s thoughts and without talking points from them he does not know facts. He is so detached and busy enjoying the benefits of being president that he has not had time to really know what his job requires of him. He truly looked like an empty suit. Romney’s experience and knowledge shined.