Hold Fast

Will Bunch makes a very powerful and provocative point regarding President Obama’s radically reduced definition of civilians by making “all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants.” Moreover: Counterterrorism officials insist this approach is one of simple logic: people in an area of known terrorist activity, or found with a top Qaeda operative, are [...]

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In an op-ed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal which is largely about refinancing tools, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan gives the Obama administration a heavy does of credit for a recent drop in Nevada foreclosure filings. Too many homeowners in Nevada are still underwater or struggling to meet their mortgage, but the state has made real [...]

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Lots of pixels are justifiably spilled today following a long, detailed article in the New York Times about the Obama administration’s use of kill lists, drone attacks, and other extrajudicial tactics for fighting perceived enemies. Except, of course, we find out that in this case enemies include any military age men in an area where [...]

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Stephanie Cutter is OFA’s Deputy Campaign Manager. She tweeted: @stefcutter FACT CHECK: Romney off on Obama’s relationship with teachers’ unions; it’s anything but cozy: //wapo.st/Lu0nYZ The article she links to is an AP fact check that outlines how Mitt Romney is wrong to say Obama is cozy with teachers’ unions. From the article: ROMNEY: “President [...]

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Matt Stoller, again writing at Naked Capitalism, makes this observation about narratives from the left and right about President Obama: There are two broad narratives about Barack Obama from American elites.  On the right, there’s a racist narrative about Obama’s socialist Kenyan origins, with offshoot dishonest arguments about his policies.  He’s anti-corporate!  He’s gone on [...]

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Matt Stoller, writing at Naked Capitalism, has a really important observation about the two political parties and their shared lack of desire to have strong regulators looking at the banking sector. The hearing was about District Court Judge Jed Rakoff’s refusal to sustain the Citigroup settlement with the SEC.  What was interesting about it, from [...]

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Yves Smith: Preventing blow-ups like the JPMorgan “hedge” that bears no resemblance to any known hedge isn’t difficult. What makes preventing it difficult is that banks that exist only by virtue of state-granted charters — and more recently, huge transfers from the public — have persuaded public officials and regulators that they have a God-granted [...]

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There has been a recent push by Wall Street’s defenders to undermine public support for the return to Glass-Steagall, the Depression era law which banned federally insured commercial banks from doing investment banking. The issue has come to light following the JP Morgan Fail Whale trades and the recognition that even the weak Volcker Rule [...]

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Last year liberals found a small handful of state Attorneys General to elevate as heroes for their efforts to investigate robosigning and hold banks accountable for committing foreclosure fraud. That cohort, which eventually acquiesced to the Obama administration and got on board a very weak settlement deal with the nation’s five largest banks, included New [...]

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Charles Pierce, while writing on the demise of pro-austerity “centrist” group Americans Elect, notes: If there was ever a time when the country needed “centrist” solutions less, and a vigorous and raucous class-based debate over who should profit from the American system, it’s right now. This is indeed a fact.

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