The next big story

Life will go on. Sandy will pass and elections will conclude too. And damage will be done all around. But the world will still turn, especially up in that big white palace of justice in DC. Details at scotusblog, here.

To my peeps in the Northeast, stay safe

(Thank Elvis, Romney is still all talk.)

Man, I miss Newt Gingrich

From his SuperPAC, Winning Our Future. It’s art.

At last, at long last

You may recall that the world-wide financial collapse four years ago was entirely the fault of irresponsible mortgage seekers who demanded houses they couldn’t afford. In other words, the little people did it. Remember that?

Since then – and while a whole passel of criminals who posed as investment bankers, ripped off their investors and made themselves obscenely rich, continued to enjoy their summers in The Hamptons – our Justice Department has been distressingly silent.

But lo, at last.

Federal prosecutors hit Bank of America with a $1 billion-plus civil mortgage fraud lawsuit Wednesday, accusing the banking giant of engineering a scheme that defrauded federally-backed agencies during the national financial crisis.

The complaint . . .  accuses the bank of using a loan-origination program called the “Hustle” to process mortgage applications at high speed with little financial checking  . . .

The result was defective mortgage loans that defaulted after Bank of America sold them to federal mortgage loan guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, causing more than $1 billion in losses and thousands of foreclosures . . .

“Countrywide and Bank of America made disastrously bad loans and stuck taxpayers with the bill,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara . . . [they]  systematically removed every check in favor of its own balance – they cast aside underwriters, eliminated quality controls, incentivized unqualified personnel to cut corners and concealed the resulting defects,” said Bharara.

Yeah.

Says it all

I almost forgot

Romnesia.

I don’t think this debate changed anything

I don’t think Romney lost any ground tongiht. I don’t think Obama gained any. But we do now know they both want to marry Israel in a flower garden, something that needed clarifying.

I really don’t like Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is a deeply dishonest person.

I don’t know what else to say – I’m still digesting how much I was disturbed by his affect and his lies tonight.

Liveblogging debate #3, or ‘what the hell do we do when this one’s over?’

1030 pm – okay, moving into closing statements. I’ll just listen. Liveblogging over.

1028 pm -Mitt says American such a prosperous nation, it’s a shame what’s happened in last four years.

1027 pm – are closing statements scheduled? We’ve got 3 minutes left.

1024 pm  – Ooooh, Mitt’s feelings are hurt. Obama called him names. And again, more lying. It’s getting to Obama. Mitt is slimey smooth. Obama is frustrated and pissed. Solyndra!!! Romney is doing that condescension again. And he can overtalk anyone. The man is unbeleivable. Just unbeleivable. He just talks and talks and talks and he lies and lies and lies. Quite remarkable.

1023 pm – Obama: America is a Pacific power. So there.

1021 pm – Obama – we’re not buying cars from China, we’re selling cars to China! US exports to China have doubled since ’09. So, Mitt?

1019 pm – BUT, currency manipulator!! Day One! So now he’s listing all the bad bad things China is doing,, but, you know, not an adversary in any shape or form. Egad.

1015 pm – Obama: China adversary and potential partner. Mitt: First, government bad. “we don’t have to be an adversary in any shape or form’. I cannot beleive he just said that! Is Mitt chiding prez for not being nice enough to China?

THIS THING is a draw so far. Romney, lying little shit that he is, sounds strong. He’s been reminded of his manners, and that helps. Obama is strong and I think he’s getting a bit pissed with the lying  . . .

1010 pm – Schieffer just said “obama’ for “osama’.. Nice.

1008 pm – Obama: we’re are so getting out of Afghanistan!

1004 pm – Romney talking Afghan as if he were president and listing all that he’s done and how good it is. But, Pakistan!! Some people think it doenst matter (oh, not you Mr. President).  O Christ, he wants benchmarks for Pakistan. He’s going to fix Pakistan.

1003 pm – Romney tried the talk over moderator again. Scheiffer shut him down and it passed. Someone obviously had a cautionary word with Mitt before tonight

958 pm – Obama didn’t have fundraisers when he went to Israel. Romney took donors with him. So there! Ooooh, Romney says he has such a great relationshhip with Netanyahu, Israel wouldn’t do anything like bomb Iran without talking to Mitt first. They’re close. Really close.

956 pm – Romney says it’s four years later than when Obama came into office. And he hurt Israels’ feelings.

953 pm – oooh, Mitt’s saying Chavez and other scary names.

Obama didn’t save Iran – he was probably dreaming of socialist utopias. Also, Romney doing some serious lying here.

950 pm – here comes that creepy smile again. He’s smirking – who knew the man could smirk?

947 pm – Mitt repeating Obama’s words re Iran. He seems to think his words are original. Sanctions? Mitt called for them five years ago, so I guess that’s why we have them today. But he would of course ‘tighten’ them. Does he know Iran’s currency has crashed? He’ll launch diplomatic efforts – clever lad. He thinks Prez Ahmajinidad should be dragged before world court for genocide because of what he said? Puzzling.

946 pm – stupid Israel question. Is an attack on them an attack on us? (Does Schieffer watch the news?)

944 pm – Obama. We don’t have as many ships as whenever, true. But we also don’t have as many horses or bayonets.

940 pm – Barry on military for a minute or two. Somehow Mitt is talking again. And boy oh boy! He balanced budgets lots of them. Romney won’t cut military. Sinking down to Limbaugh type talking points about numbers of ships and planes and the sequester.

939 pm – Romney is utterly shameless. Absolutely  shameless. Taking credit for stuff he didn’t do. Insisting he did it. And he’s still talking. Obamacare goes! He’ll cut ‘programs’.  Balanced budget – presto!

937 pm – I’d like to see who ends up having had more speaking time. Sure feels like Romney right now.

932 pm – Mitt said our alliances are weak. Barry says Romney wants to go back to Bush/Cheney days. Mitt says he has a plan too. He’ll get America working again. Five Steps!!!!! Energy independance! More trade! Latin America! China? Meh, China doesn’t matter. Latin America! Schools! Kids! Balanced budget! Or we’re Greece ya’know. Champion small business!!

931 pm – Mitt’s been speaking for a long long time. Also, we blew it in Iran.

930 pm – Mitt loves our military and allies. And America. And guess what, we have 42 allies. Obama destroyed America! Mitt going all flag waving and bumper sticker. America must be strong. America must leave. But Obama ruined economy – no jobs, bad bad Obama, what a mess he made. Also, our military needs to be stronger. Again!

925 pm – Barry talking Egypt – Israel, women, counter terrorism – talking region, goals of peoples there. Mitt says he agreed with Obama re Egypt at time of revolution, except, see, Obama blew it cuz he didn’t see it coming and control every single second of the revolution.

920 pm – question: would you do no fly zones in Syria? Mitt – no military intervention. None. But still, Obama screwing it up. Ahhh, ‘we have to make sure they have the arms they need’. Again, pretty much exactly what we’re doing right now.

918 pm -Barry: intervening has risks and is very serious. Who is the ‘opposition’. Romney: Syria important! Israel! Seeing to replacement govt be responsible people. No war! Actually,, he’s basically rephrasing everything Obama just said. He’s talked about Isreal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia – no mention of Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey who are being pulled in right now??? Hey Mitt, what about them?

915 pm – Syria bad bad bad.  Barry talking, Mitt can’t wait to hit back.

914 pm part deux – Barry is saying Commander in Chief a lot. Romney looking over with that genuinely creepy smile of his.

914 pm – arguing! Anyone involved in a drinking game can now take a sip

911 pm – Re Romney’s earlier claim that Russia is our greatest foreign threat: “The 1980’s are calling,, they want their foreign policy back.” Obama to Romney. Good.

908 pm – Barry didn’t say bin Laden. (but he wanted to!)

907 pm – Mitt says we can’t kill our way out of this mess. Peacenik.

906 pm – Barack looks steely eyed.

904 pm – Libya!

901 pm – the rules are, oh hell,, who cares.

9 pm – And we’re off.

So maybe I’ll liveblog . ..

Maybe.

Twelve attacks on US embassies – 2001 to 2008

Attacks on US embassies from 2001-2008 killed a total of 35 people. Of course they weren’t Americans so it doesn’t matter. Plus, Bush. From here.

Paris, France, September 13, 2001: Four men were arrested in Rotterdam on conspiracy to plant a suicide bomber in the U.S. embassy in Paris. The NATO headquarters in Brussels was also targeted. The plot was discovered in July 2001 when a conspirator named Djamel Beghal was arrested in Dubai for passport fraud. He confessed after an interrogation. All the conspirators were part of a small satellite of Al-Qaeda.

Karachi, Pakistan, June 14, 2002, February 28, 2003, March 15, 2004, and March 2, 2006: The string of bombings and attempted bombings outside the U.S. consult in Karachi were thought to be in retaliation for the War on Terror in Afghanistan, and later Iraq.

• The first bomb in June 2002 was a suicide bomber, who killed 12 and injured 51 people.
• In February 2003, a gunman killed two police officer and injured five others outside the consulate.
• In March 2004, an attempted bombing was stopped when police discovered 200 gallons of liquid explosives in the back of a truck.
• In March 2006, another suicide bomber killed six people outside a nearby Marriott Hotel.

Tashkent, Uzbekistan, July 30, 2004: The U.S. and Israeli embassies were targeted by suicide bombers. Two security guards were killed.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, December 6, 2004: Militants breached the outer wall of the U.S. consulate and began shooting, but did not enter the consulate. Five civilians and the gunmen were killed. Ten people were wounded.

Damascus, Syria, September 12, 2006: Three gunmen were killed after they tossed grenades over the embassy’s outer wall and a car bomb exploded outside the embassy. A Syrian security guard and a Chinese diplomat also died.

Athens, Greece, January 12, 2007: A rocket-propelled grenade was fired into the front of the U.S. embassy around 6 am in the morning. No one was killed or hurt. A Greek terrorist group called “Revolutionary Struggle” claimed responsibility.

Istanbul, Turkey, July 9, 2008: Kurdish Turks open fired around 11 am, killing six people and injuring one. The three men had suspected Al-Qaeda links, but this was never proven.

San’a, Yemen, September 7, 2008: 19 people died and at least 16 were injured when a group of men disguised at police attacked the outer security rim of the U.S. embassy. Al-Qaeda affiliate Islamic Jihad of Yemen claimed responsibility.

 

 

Huge. Very big. Very, very big. Really.

Donald  Trump said on Fox & Friends Monday that he’ll reveal “very big” news about President Barack Obama by Wednesday, but declined to give  any hints about his plan.

“Something very, very big concerning the president of the United States,” he  said. “It’s going to be very big. I know one thing — you will cover it in a very  big fashion.”

From Politico where there’s also video of the historic announcement from this morning’s edition of Fox & Friends.

But Congressman, however did you find the time? Did you finish up with Fast and Furious? Already?

Until now,  US Rep Darryl Issa been merely been a stupid congress critter. An irritation. Until now:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa(R-CA) compromised the identities of several Libyans working with the U.S. government and placed their lives in danger when he released reams of State Department communications Friday, according to Obama administration officials.

Issa posted 166 pages of sensitive but unclassified State Department communications related to Libya on the committee’s website afternoon as part of his effort to investigate security failures and expose contradictions in the administration’s statements regarding the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi . . .

. . . But Issa didn’t bother to redact the names of Libyan civilians and local leaders mentioned in the cables, and just as with the WikiLeaks dump of State Department cables last year, the administration says that Issa has done damage to U.S. efforts to work with those Libyans and exposed them to physical danger from the very groups that had an interest in attacking the U.S. consulate.

Troll caution: Assange/Issa not equivalent. Assange not a US Congressman.

This is my favorite part:

[Foreign Policy Magazine] pointed out that even WikiLeaks had approached the State Department and offered to negotiate retractions of sensitive information before releasing their cables. [Committee Spokesman Frederick] Hill confirmed that Issa did not grant the State Department that opportunity but said it was the State Department’s fault for not releasing the documents when they were first requested.

But, but, but . . . he’s not a Mormon!

The Salt Lake City Tribune (I love any newspaper that calls itself ‘Tribune’) just endorsed a candidate for President. Guess who.

(They’re rolling in tonight. More endorsements from elite liberal newspapers: The Denver Post and The Tampa Bay Times.)

Friday Night Oldie

The presses shut down on a big one

Newsweek. Newsweek will cease print publication at the end of this year and become all digital. And there will be a pay wall.

We’ve seen this happening with lots of publications of course, but this is really huge. And there will be more to follow I’m sure.

When I worked in magazine publishing, which I did for many years, I did business with a number of the offset plants around the country who also printed Newsweek and Time. They were big companies those printers. No doubt in recent years, fewer plants and fewer personnel have been involved, so the damage won’t be as widespread as it once would have been, but damaging it will be to vendors of all stripes. Even today, Newsweek has been printing a million and a half copies every week.

Good news for the trees though.

 

 

These are wonderful

Offered without comment and with a giggle

Well dangle me from a debate tree!

Charles Krauthammer saw the same thing as me! Last night, when I said Obama was now ‘hurting’ Romney, I added that I hoped Ali was watching.

And ole’ Charles?

I actually picked that up at Glenn Beck’s site. I do need to get a life.

It really was a very fine debate

I’ve watched debates for far too many years, over which time they’ve became more and more vapid, almost like campaign appearances.

I think this one was superior for four reasons:

1. The quality of the questions
2. The moderator’s success at keeping the candidates on track and on time
3. The substantive nature of the debate itself
4. The pace. It never slowed down. That alone made it compelling.

Most of all though, this debate was a success for the first reason. And that must be credited to Crowley; she chose the questions. Every single one was relevant, direct and well stated, and the balance of subject matter was meticulous.

The Benghazi ‘terror/act of terror’ kerfuffle aside (and that of course is taking up a lot of oxygen), this was a good debate and the moderator deserves a lot of credit for that. 

(Or did it just seem that way to me because my popcorn was especially tasty? )

Wow, there’s live blogging and then there’s live blogging

Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog not only blogged the debate – they did it with charts, graphs, and full detail rebuttals. How did they do that?

Quite remarkable. It starts here . . . scroll up.

So far the world doesn’t agree with me

But I say the President had a great debate. Great.

Candy Crowley set a new standard

The lady was thorough and professional. More of this please. 

Ice cream!

Last question – these have been terrific questions from the audience by the way

I think this has been a very successful use of the Town Hall format. It’s been lively, focused and dynamic. And every single question has been relevant. A lot of the credit goes to Crowley I think. She chose the questions and she chose well. Not a single frivolous question.

Romney screwed up his response to this last question by not answering, doing a ‘closing remarks’ thing. And it sounded just like the last time.

Obama is now starting to actually answer the question. He’s using the time the way he wants to as well, but he’s framing it well as an answer to the question.

Outsourcing. Governor?

China! Great question sez Mitt. Jobs go offshore ‘from time to time’. Some turn of phrase that, eh?

Entrepreneurs! Big Business! Small business! Jobs. China! Manipulating their currency! I’ll fix it. Ohhh, here comes an ‘on Day One’ moment -he’ll label China a currency manipulator. And that ought to do it.

He said regulations quadrupled under this president. What the hell is he talking about?

Also, taxes! And regulations! again. And, of course, Obama’s fault!

Guns

It’ll be interesting to see our friends on the right spin this. Obama is charged with having done nothing to get AK-47’s off the streets. So he’s spinning a bit because as we know he’s not so much as mentioned guns in four years.

But the Tea Party and the NRA and FOX say he’s the greatest enemy of the 2nd Amendment since before the remote control.

Play with that one Rush.

Romney: marriage! The American system! Fast and Furious! He just said we don’t know how it worked exactly, but Fast and Furious!

Wheee – Candy, you rock! Romney said he wouldn’t ban any guns and Candy mentioned he put an assault weapon ban in place in Massachusetts. She asked him why he changed his mind! She did! Really.

And here’s Benghazi

I think he’s handling this.  A sticky issue but his posture IS presidential and his tone is firm. Good. And he took my advice to respond as the President, not the candidate.

Mitt? Whatcha got to say here Mitt? Apology tour!!!

Barry: Blame Hillary? Nope. The buck stops here bub. Hey, he’s taking it to Romney. Getting mad. Wonderful!

Romney:  You lied.

(what’s the audience making noise about?)

Immigration

Obama strong, talks about immigrants striving, people wanting to come to America.

Romeny? E-verify. Arizona. Obama didn’t do immigration in first year.

And Mitt just violated time again. Romney has been over the top on this grab for more minutes a number of times now.

Mitt is losing ground I think

It’s taken a while, but I think Obama is hurting him now. (I hope Ali is watching!)

Romney is repeating himself yet again. And talking in bumper sticker. That’s not going to work tonight.

And he’s addressing a guy who exhibited personal financial strain but not addressing that at all – just the litany again – dear Elvis, he just mentioned energy.

Bush messed us up – are you like him Mitt?

That was the question. Romney says something about contraceptives. Now something aboout energy security. And trade. More of it.. Also, balanced budget. Ohh boy, he’s the real anti-Bush now. Small business. Also. Lower taxes for them of course. Obamacare kills jobs.

So there you go.

(Obama is doing a fine retort. I’m feeling a littlle better.)