StupidiNews!

• The campaign finance case of former Democratic VP candidate and senator John Edwards will go to jury today in North Carolina.
• House Democrats have introduced legislation to register voters in all 50 states online called the Voter Empowerment Act.
• JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will be grilled by Senate Banking Committee members in June wanting to know more about the bank's multi-billion dollar losses.
• Facebook stock hits Wall Street today at $38 a share, giving the social network a total market value of $104 billion.
• The Justice Department has weighed in on the constitutional right for civilians to record police activities, sending a letter to the Baltimore PD defending that right.

Last Call

At least one billionaire conservative's pet super-PAC is vowing to go into the depths of hatred, bigotry and racism that even the McCain campaign wouldn't touch, and will do so in October as the presidential election season nears the home stretch.

The plan, which is awaiting approval, calls for running commercials linking Mr. Obama to incendiary comments by his former spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., whose race-related sermons made him a highly charged figure in the 2008 campaign. 

“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way,” says the proposal, which was overseen by Fred Davis and commissioned by Joe Ricketts, the founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Mr. Ricketts is increasingly putting his fortune to work in conservative politics. 

The $10 million plan, one of several being studied by Mr. Ricketts, includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who espouses what is known as “black liberation theology.” 

The group suggested hiring as a spokesman an “extremely literate conservative African-American” who can argue that Mr. Obama misled the nation by presenting himself as what the proposal calls a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.” 

Oh please let that be Herman Cain.  That would be the most awesome thing ever.

And if the name Joe Ricketts sounds familiar, he's the guy who bought himself a GOP senate candidate in Nebraska's primary this week, funding Deb Fischer's out-of-nowhere win over state AG Jon Bruning in a last minute victory to take on Bob Kerrey for Ben Nelson's seat.  And Joe Ricketts plays hardball with his billions.

A copy of a detailed advertising plan was obtained by The New York Times through a person not connected to the proposal who was alarmed by its tone. It is titled “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan to End His Spending for Good.” 

The proposal was presented last week in Chicago to associates and family members of Mr. Ricketts, who is also the patriarch of the family that owns the Chicago Cubs. 

Brian Baker, president and general counsel of a super PAC called the Ending Spending Action Fund, said Mr. Ricketts had studied several advertising proposals in recent months and had not signed off on a specific approach to taking on Mr. Obama. 

“Joe Ricketts is prepared to spend significant resources in the 2012 election in both the presidential race and Congressional races,” Mr. Baker said in an interview Wednesday. “He is very concerned about the future direction of the country and plans to take a stand.” 

Citizens United means Ricketts and others like him can publicly announce they are spending their fortunes to buy our government and your vote through awful campaign smears, and that doing so is free speech protected by the Constitution.  Isn't America great?

And here's the best part of all.  Turns out Mr. Gubment Spends Too Much here sought a $200 million public finance deal to renovate Wrigley Field.  Frees up a bunch of green so he can spend it on attacking the President, huh?

Can’t make this stuff up, folks.

The Only Card In Orange Julius's Deck

Ezra Klein correctly points out that GOP House Speaker John Boehner is going to threaten to shut down the government over the debt limit.  It's literally the only card in the deck at this point for him.

Of course he will. For one thing, it worked well for him in 2011. Republicans got more than $900 billion in immediate spending cuts, as well as $1.2 trillion in triggered spending cuts -- though they don't much like the $500 billion or so of those cuts scheduled to fall on the Pentagon. They also drove President Obama's approval ratings beneath 40 percent. And while I'm not one who thinks Republicans intentionally tank the economy to undermine Obama, there's little doubt that the effect of the debt-ceiling debacle was to set back the recovery, brightening Republican prospects and darkening Democratic ones. The fact is that it's easier to be sanguine about economic showdowns when you're not the ones in charge.

For another, it's Boehner's only option in 2012. The Democrats, for once, have nothing but fiscal leverage. They've got the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, which all Republicans would hate and many Democrats would welcome. They've got the aforementioned spending trigger, which Republicans really have begun to fear for its cuts to defense spending. They can do nothing -- or, more likely, offer Republicans a deal they can't accept -- and the resulting paralysis will swing fiscal policy far, far, far to the left. Threatening to default on the national debt is Boehner's only piece of counter-leverage.

So of course Boehner will try and use the debt ceiling as leverage again. And again. And again. It's pretty clear that, at this point, there's no going back to the time when debt-ceiling increases came smoothly. If I were the market, I'd take the fact that the leader of one of the two parties has publicly said that he "welcomes" debt-ceiling showdowns as evidence that the United States is almost certain to default on its debt -- if only temporarily -- within the next decade or so. 

Let's also give credit where credit is due:  President Obama and the Democrats maneuvered John Boehner into the corner he's in right now, and he went of his own volition like the moron he is.  Nobody, not even his own side, believes Boehner has the upper hand here.  The most likely outcome will be nothing, and in this case nothing means all of the Bush tax cuts expire.  That won't happen until January...after the elections.  Nothing he can do about it either.

So Boehner will fold, just like he has folded so many times before.

Only In America, Part 2

Earlier this week I talked about Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who has renounced his US citizenship presumably to avoid getting dinged with a huge tax bill when his share of Facebook puts him squarely in the billionaire category when the stock goes public.

Here's the problem:  there's laws involving that.  And the law in that case says "You can't return to the US at all if you pull this crap."  Josh Marshall:

Over the last few days I’ve been exchanging emails with TPM Reader PM, who notes that US immigration law does not look kindly on former citizens who renounce their citizenship to avoid US taxes. Specifically, it doesn’t look like Saverin should ever be able again to get a Visa to enter the United States.

Sec. 212. [8 U.S.C. 1182] details general classes of aliens ineligible to gain entrance into the United States. And the law specifically references people in Saverin’s category …

Former citizens who renounced citizenship to avoid taxation.-Any alien who is a former citizen of the United States who officially renounces United States citizenship and who is determined by the Attorney General to have renounced United States citizenship for the purpose of avoiding taxation by the United States is excludable

The question PM and I have had was whether Saverin realized this was a consequence of his decision. And the latest from his lawyer suggests that he very much does. His lawyer is now attacking the “the false impression that tax was the reason behind Eduardo’s decision.”

In other words, if the AG (in this case Eric Holder) determines this is the case, Eduardo here is persona non grata if the Justics Department goes that route.  It'll be very interesting to see how this plays out if all this really does apply to the Saverin case.

I won't shed a tear for the guy.

Show Me Stopped Clock Syndrome

Even Jay Nixon can't get it wrong all the time:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s elder abuse law could soon be expanded to protect older citizens from financial exploitation.

The House voted 147-2 in favor of legislation that makes it a crime for those with authority over an elderly person to take advantage of that person’s state of mind for financial gain.

The provision would apply to people who have guardianship, power of attorney or some other financial management role for seniors.

This must be done, and the sooner the better.

Not to get too personal, but I had to rescue a relative from predatory relatives.  This relative has Alzheimer's, and before we knew folks were stealing from her all of our family heirlooms were gone.  She was the youngest surviving of eleven siblings.  Over $25,000 in cash disappeared from her bank.  My grandfather's old fiddle was never seen again (my heart still breaks!).  Anything of value was stolen and she forgot they had been there before an hour had passed.

This happens far too often, and the state makes it pretty difficult to step in and protect some of our most vulnerable citizens.  When people become more desperate, they prey on the weak and the easily confused.  Missouri's system is sorely lacking in resources and enforcement.

We Knew It Could Get Worse

Risking blinding a waitress for less than three dollars, this week has been a leader for silly and useless crimes.  I said then it could have been worse, and lo and behold we have a winner.  I wasn't even trying, I just stumbled upon such stupidity that I could not refuse to share it with you.

A feud between neighbors that escalated from egging each other's apartments to a friend of one resident getting fatally stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife has resulted in a guilty plea for murder.

Juan Antonio Rivera, 32, thwarted his jury trial Monday with a last-minute agreement that included a promise from prosecutors to ask for no more than 33 years in prison. State District Judge Raymond Angelini is set to determine his sentence next month.

Yup.  From egging apartments to a fatal stabbing. One could make an argument that in the old days, this would be written off as a feud.  I disagree, however.  In the past, this would have been known as "so stupid it's finer than frog hair" and dismissed as too dumb to be true.

It's surely wrong to wonder, but I'd love to read an account of the escalation path that led to this.  Or what excuse the defense may try to use to make this look like anything other than murder, and someone who should be separated from the public for the safety of the public.

Chris Bag O' Failure

Turns out Gov. Chris Bag 'O Donuts Christie couldn't even help Mitt Romney win New Jersey if he was on the ticket.

Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) would not be able to deliver the Garden State if he were chosen as Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick, a new survey shows.

Without running mates, Romney gets 39 percent to the president’s 49 percent in New Jersey, according to a Wednesday Quinnipiac University poll.

With Christie on the ticket, Romney bumps up to 42 percent, compared with the president’s 50 percent.

“Color New Jersey blue. President Barack Obama beats Gov. Mitt Romney and Christie’s presence on the Republican ticket doesn’t help Romney,” says Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Fail.  Absolute fail.  Christie can't even deliver his own state if he were Romney's veep, it looks like Romney would still lose by double digits.

I never expected Christie to be Romney's selection (my money's still on Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman, the Most Boring Man On Earth) but this has to seal it.

StupidiVid: So Easy A Canadian 12-Year-Old Can Do It

Meet Victoria Grant, who apparently is a lot smarter than a lot of people you and I know.




Smart kid.

If 12-year old Victoria Grant can explain how banks that print our nation's currency and their puppet global banks are the most immoral criminal institutions on our planet responsible for oppression, mass suffering, and misery, shame on anyone else that is too lazy and/or too misanthropic to take the time or effort to watch this six minute video to understand this essential truth that is probably the most important misunderstood truth in the entire world. No humanitarian efforts will ever make a sustainable impact in this world if we first don't tackle the fact that our modern banking system is criminal and must be destroyed, the truth of which 12-year old Victoria already understands.

Yep.  Worth a watch, at least.

StupidiNews!

• A new United Nations report finds Iran is shipping weapons to Syria, just as the al-Assad regime is complaining of the influence of "foreign fighters" in the conflict.
• A Manhattan federal judge has blocked the detention part of the latest defense authorization bill, determining it violates due process and free press provisions of the Constitution.
• LA coroners have determined that Andrew Breitbart died of natural causes including a narrowing of the arteries.
• The European Central Bank is pulling loans to some Greek banks as ECB head Mario Draghi says he won't compromise the institution just to keep Greece in the eurozone.
• A new study shows Americans are willing to pay more for clean energy, more than Republicans in Congress would allow to pass the House and Senate.

Last Call

There was some state primary news made yesterday in my old home state of Nebraska, where Tea Party candidate State Sen. Deb Fischer literally came out of nowhere to blindside AG Jon Bruning to take the GOP Senate primary race against Democrat Bob Kerrey.

Her late surge, perhaps unprecedented in modern-day Nebraska political history, upended a Senate race that appeared to be settled as recently as 10 days ago with the GOP prize within the grasp of Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning.

Fischer suddenly gained momentum with late endorsements from 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Lincoln, then rode the momentum of a weekend TV ad blitz mounted by Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts and his political action committee.

The super PAC ads purchased by Ending Spending supported Fischer and roughed up Bruning with attacks on his character and ethical behavior as attorney general. Within days, his support collapsed and the race was scrambled.

In other words, Joe Ricketts just bought himself a senator on the cheap in the last week of the campaign.  Fischer raised less than 15% of Bruning's war chest, but she had Moose Lady on her side.  Thanks, Citizens United!  Bob Kerrey is already crying foul.

As for Kerrey, the former senator took his own jab at Fischer, noting that a super PAC funded by former Omaha businessman Joe Ricketts funneled money into her race, helping her over the finish line.

Kerrey decried the large amount of money pouring into campaigns and asked what Ricketts expected in return.

“When he calls on her, what's he going to get?" Kerrey asked. "Does he want lower taxes? Probably. Does he want less regulation? Probably. And when you put that kind of money up, the question's going to occur."

The main attack on Bob Kerrey is that he's been outside Nebraska too long.  But now, Fischer's neatly purchased primary bought with money and influence from outside the state goes a long way towards blunting that criticism completely.  We'll see how the race polls now, and if Kerrey has a chance.  I'll say he has more of one than against Bruning, but not by much.

Would be nice to keep the seat blue, however.

Meet Pete, Austerian Elite

If you've not heard the name of Wall Street tycoon Peter J. Peterson, you've seen the ads his foundation has put out.  If America has a king of the Austerians, it's this guy.

Peter Peterson, a Wall Street billionaire who has been calling for cuts to Social Security and other government programs for years, is hosting a "fiscal summit" Tuesday that brings together Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, former President Bill Clinton, Rep. Paul Ryan, House Speaker John Boehner, Tom Brokaw and Politico's John Harris, among a host of other elites who will gather at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium.

Now, how can a guy like Peterson have that much pull with Clinton, Paul Ryan, Orange Julius, and the Village press?  Real simple:  He's spent close to a half a billion dollars in 4 years in order to convince Democrats, Republicans and the Village that it's time to end government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

According to a review of tax documents from 2007 through 2011, Peterson has personally contributed at least $458 million to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to cast Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and government spending as in a state of crisis, in desperate need of dramatic cuts. Peterson's millions have done next to nothing to change public opinion: In survey after survey, Americans reject the idea of cutting Social Security and Medicare. A recent national tour organized by AmericaSpeaks and largely funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation was met by audiences who rebuffed his proposals.

But Peterson has been able to drive a major shift in elite consensus about government spending, with talk of "grand bargains" that would slash entitlements, cut corporate tax rates and end personal tax breaks, such as the mortgage deduction, that benefit the middle class.  

That's right, much like the Koch Brothers, Peterson is putting his fortune where his ideas are, and those ideas are that the majority of the tax burden in this country has to fall on the middle class while the rich are spared.  The idea of our "spending crisis" and "debt crisis" in the Village press comes directly from Pete Peterson hosting summits like this and spending hundreds of millions of dollars of his own personal fortune in order to talk America's lawmakers into throwing the middle class and the poor under the bus.

Peterson is in this debate for the long haul: He's even working on children. Earlier this month, Columbia University's Teachers College released a new curriculum about the federal budget and fiscal policy that will be distributed free to every high school in the country. "Understanding Fiscal Responsibility" was introduced at a ceremony featuring Peter Orszag, a former Obama administration official who left to join Citigroup. The Peterson Foundation has already given $1.6 million of a promised $2.4 million for the curriculum.

The first two lessons are titled "Social Security and the National Debt" and "Medicare and the National Debt." The curriculum wants teens to ask, "How high a value do we place on guaranteeing quality health care to the elderly?"

Another effort to persuade America's youth about the shakiness of the entitlement programs is a joint venture between the Peterson Foundation and mtvU, the campus-based network created by MTV Networks, called Indebted. Peterson has already shelled out nearly $2 million to fund this effort to convince college students that Social Security won't be there for them, so therefore it should be slashed now -- a self-fulfilling policy prescription if ever there was one. 

So yeah, stuff like this makes Peterson one of the most dangerous guys in America, a billionaire trying to buy trillions in government spending cuts so that they can be given directly to the the richest Americans in tax cuts and loopholes.  Pete Peterson is literally quite rich enough to buy our government.

And he's been doing it for the last five years.  Think about that.  And now with Citizens United, he can buy the Congress he needs to make his twisted fantasies of millions of Americans losing their safety nets to make him billions come true.

Ain't America great?


 

Greek Fire, Part 56

And the Greeks fly too close to the firmament and get torched.  The good news is they've come up with the latest bailout payment and for now won't default.  The bad news is the government is no go, and that means more elections in a month and a huge question mark as to what happens next.

“The country is once again headed to elections in a few days under adverse conditions,” Evangelos Venizelos, the leader of the socialist Pasok party said. “The Greek people told us they didn’t want elections but a coalition government, that they want Greece in the euro.

I wouldn't bet a lot of money on that last part there.

Venizelos spoke after he and other party leaders met Papoulias today in Athens. A second election in less than two months threatens to extend the political gridlock that has left the country without a government since the last vote.

Greece’s political impasse means elections will probably be held next month, with polls showing that could boost the anti- bailout Syriza party to the top spot. The country may run out of money by early July.

The standoff has reignited concern the country will renege on pledges to cut spending as required by the terms of its two bailouts worth 240 billion euros ($306 billion) negotiated since May 2010, and, ultimately, leave the euro area. 

I wouldn't bet a lot of money on that last part there, either.   Greece is at this point facing the "Grexit" from the euro, and it's going to cause mass chaos in the rest of the eurozone.  Been talking about this for a long time now.  We're in the endgame now.

In Which Bon Yearns For A Clue Bat

This is the kind of stupidity that often ends in someone being really hurt.  Second degree burns is nothing to sneeze at, but when you put a nut like this in a situation it could have been worse.

(CBS) PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Police are on the lookout for 52-year-old David Timbers, who they say threw a cup of hot coffee at a doughnut shop employee, causing second-degree burns in a dispute over $2.40, CBS Philly reports.

The entire incident was caught on tape on May 8 inside a Fresh Donuts store in west Philadelphia. Timbers is seen arguing with the clerk and insisting that he paid for his sandwich. The clerk maintained that he didn't, which added to Timbers' frustration.

"I paid her! She told me I didn't, so she can take that and keep the sandwich," said Timbers on tape.

Police said Timbers grabbed a cup of hot coffee from the employee's hand and threw it at her. The victim suffered second-degree burns on her arm.

Cameras inside the store show that Timbers indeed never paid $2.40, according to police.

It could have been a legitimate mistake on his part, right up until the point of assault.  Two dollars isn't worth hurting someone for, bleah.  We see self-important jerks like this every day, I hope for each one of these that goes off, ten are silenced by common sense.

Doctor Sleep

Taking part of the sting away from the Gunslinger delay, we have a sequel to The Shining to look forward to.  Titled Doctor Sleep, it follows Danny Torrance through his adult years, and brings him back to his original strength as one of the strongest "shiners" that ever existed.

Here's a clip from FirstShowing.net:

Way back in November of 2009 we got word that Stephen King was working on a sequel novel to The Shining, the book on which the classic Stanley Kubrick horror film of the same name is based. Well, King has been hard at work on the book titled Doctor Sleep, and the reason we're so interested in it is because of the potential for a film sequel. Apparently the book is slated to hit shelves on January 15th next year, and there's a good chance a studio could pick up the film rights to the book before then. In the meantime, how about we give you the official synopsis that just made its way online from the most official source.Read on!

You can always read more at stephenking.com to stay in the loop.  Right now there are no movie deals, but it's very possible.  It would take a brave director to compete with the original, a horror standard, but someone will likely bite at the challenge.

Either way, the book is coming, and that is enough to put a perk in my day.

Dimon Dog Days, Part 2

Would Presidents McCain or Romney have given the green light to the FBI launching a probe into the country's biggest bank?  I'm thinking not.

The FBI has opened a probe into trading losses at JPMorgan Chase & Co, stepping up the pressure on the bank after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve said they were also looking into the wrong-way bets that led to the losses.

Yet at the same time, shareholders backed embattled Chief Executive Jamie Dimon at the bank's annual shareholders meeting in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday, voting against a proposal to split the CEO and chairman roles.

Though shareholders mostly gave Dimon a pass, pressure mounted on the bank to reclaim some of the millions of dollars it paid to the executives who oversaw the trades. Dimon said JPMorgan would pursue more disciplinary action against those who were responsible.

"We will do the right thing. That may well include clawbacks," he told reporters after the annual meeting.

The timing on any such move was not clear, though, and the various regulatory probes could add complications. A source familiar with the FBI investigation, opened by the agency's New York office, described it as being at a preliminary stage.

Granted, this is very much an election year ploy, and Dimon remains on the NY Fed board (and personally I don't think Dimon is very long for that particular position.)  Still, no matter what the Obama administration's motives here are, the results are what matters and it comes as a warning to the rest of the banks in Big Casino land that there's actually a price when you come up snake eyes and expect the taxpayers to foot the bill.

Dimon too will be under tremendous pressure to give up any bonus cash along with executives in order to pay back losses.  The stockholders will most likely insist, especially the big hedge fund guys and big pension fund holders.

The Dimon Dog's days may be numbered.  We'll see.