Yesterday I grew the green cloud for the fourth day in a row. I think Republicans are now afraid to get within a block of me. Today I’m leaving shortly for PT/OT with Courtney. I won’t be back until lunch time, so this is today’s only article.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:33 (average 5:02). Drooling!! To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Media Matters: Watch An International Correspondent Push Back On O'Reilly's Anti-Muslim Fearmongering
Barf Bag Alert!!
O'Lielly, the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, and Republican politicians and pundit use fear to promote hate, but the European journalist would not buy into it. How about it, Lona? Are Europeans "under siege" or are you putting it in its proper perspective.
From NY Times: A day after Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina signed a sweeping law eliminating anti-discrimination protections for all lesbians, gays and bisexuals and barring transgender people from using bathrooms that do not match the gender they were born with, the battle lines were clear in a bitterly divided state.
On social media and in public rallies, civil rights groups, businesses and politicians expressed dismay at the law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by the governor within just 12 hours during a hasty special session on Wednesday.
American Airlines, which employs 14,000 people in the state and has its second largest hub in Charlotte, along with other companies with operations in the state, including Apple, Dow Chemical, PayPal, Red Hat and Biogen, all issued statements critical of the new law.
“Our future as Americans should be focused on inclusion and prosperity, and not discrimination and division,” Apple said in a statement. “We were disappointed to see Governor McCrory sign this legislation.”
Welcome to The Republican Fascist Theocracy of McCrorystan!
From Alternet:
The following is an excerpt from the new book Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy by Joseph E. Stiglitz (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2016):…
…
End “Too Big to Fail”
We have yet to undertake the reforms needed to end too big to fail and thus reduce the potential for failure of large financial institutions to damage the broader economy. Banks that are backed by the government and are so big that their failure will cause the entire economy to contract don’t need to internalize the costs of their failures and can reap huge benefits from risky bets. They have a perverse incentive to take on excess risk, knowing that should a problem arise they will be bailed out, with losses being borne by others. This, of course, is exactly what occurred in the 2008 financial crisis, the impacts of which still reverberate throughout the economy.
Despite recent experience and the Dodd-Frank reform, banks are still not only too big to fail, but also too big to manage—evidenced by repeated failures like the “London Whale.” And even when they are not too big to fail, they can be too interconnected, too interlinked to fail: with excessive linkages (e.g., those associated with CDs and derivatives), the failure of one institution can lead to a cascade of other failures—stoppable only with a government bailout. That is why interlinkages need to be transparent and regulated.
The Financial Stability Oversight Council should assess large, systemically risky financial firms with an additional capital surcharge above what regulators currently assess under the Basel Accords in order to make failure less likely and more manageable. Moreover, being too big to fail (or too interconnected to fail) gives banks an advantage: they don’t have to account for the costs their failure poses to the system as a whole, and get a subsidy as a result. The surcharge corrects for a market distortion that otherwise would favor such banks, even if they are not more efficient than smaller ones.
A surcharge would force banks to internalize the true cost of their risks and improve economic efficiency, while insulating taxpayers from the costs of failed institutions. And, to avoid the unproductive debate over how to exactly quantify “systemically important financial institutions,” the requirements should be graduated rather than set to a specific level.
Further, if firms are incapable of producing “living wills” that the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation believe show how they can unwind in bankruptcy without causing massive costs to the rest of the economy, then these institutions need to be broken up along business lines and by size so that potential failures can be better managed. In addition, living wills and their analyses should be made public. The wills have to be designed to work not just in normal times but also in the abnormal times associated with a financial crisis. Some doubt whether meaningful living wills can in fact be constructed, given the kind of turmoil that can arise in the midst of a crisis. If this is the case, then the only recourse is to begin the process of breaking up the too big to fail institutions in the same way we once broke up Standard Oil and AT&T.
That's the first of six steps needed to reform our corrupt financial system, I agree with them. Click through for the other five.
Cartoon:
24 Responses to “Open Thread–3/25/2016”
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4:18 Yellow indeed. Looks tasty.
Media Matters – Typical example of O'Liely interrupting and not accepting any answer that wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. Barf bag indeed.
NY Times – Doesn't he look exactly like Himmler? Or do you think it's just the glasses?
Alternet – And we need to muster, and elect, the political will to do all of it. I wish us luck.
Cartoon – I have some patterns for knitting hoodies. Fortunately, none of them look like those!
Isn't that an insult to Himmler.
Kudos to Alan Hall!
Sad that NC shot itself in their economic foot while two other former confederate states did not go down that slippery road of unconstitutionality.
Stiglitz makes good sense clear for even those who shy away from trying to understand financial or economic issues.
Is your cartoon in honor of congressional supoenas of the special investigation into proven fantasies to all those who might provide abortion services to put them at risk?
If you're referring to the graphic on the NY Times short take, It's the McCrorystan State Flag.
The actual cartoon responds to how Republicans assocoate hoodies with Black Criminals. That was one of their jusytifications for murdering Trayvon.
MM: O'Reilly trying to wiggle fear into the conversation, and the reporter did an awesome job by negating the conversation. ''We will get on with our lives'', "we're quite resilient". Thanks for the BBA too!
NYT: WOW! Are we going backwards or what??? This is horrible. I have some very dear friends in NC, I am sending this link to them.
Cartoon: When I see pictures like this, I'm reminded of the dunce caps. Public shaming went with it too.
You should be proud of your green cloud, plus…it had positive results. LOL. Hope your OT/PT went well too. Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Yes we are!
On Public shaming, see today's Open Thread.
There is a LOT of companies leaving North Carolina, from what I read online today. That's fantastic! The BIG companies that are leaving will have to be gone out of there before I believe it.
Love the cartoon!
Good!
O'Liely s
declares hat Europe is "under seige,' and never goes back on that, himself. He says"Wow!" in apparent negative response to the idea that "boots on the ground," just create more enemies, when that has been proven time and again. Frickin SOB!
And I used to think that South Carolina sucked! I very much hope that N.C.'s econoomyh goes the way of that other great RED state, Kansas…then he and Brownback can go to hell in a handbasket together!
Too big to fail is a very useful myth, for the rich!
I really must take the time to "spell check" myself!
I'm the King of Typoland!!
Too big to fail (without destrroying the economy) does not meen to big to break up.
2:57 I wanted to say "No warbler fricassée today Puddy Tat!", but I can't. I hope someone else can save this beautiful little bird!
Media Matters — Kudos to Mr Hall for not giving in to the ravings of a lunatic, O'Lielly. No barf bag alert needed as it was pure joy to see O'Lielly taken aback. He's such an ignorant ass!
NY Times — McCrory is just another ignorant Republican out to destroy his state, McCrorystan . . . and he surely will with BS legislation like this that has to be unconstitutional. Add more issues to Moral Mondays! Andy did a piece on this.
Alternet — I know someone that would love to read Stiglitz's new book. ME!!!
Stiglitz makes so much sense! I posted The Myth of America’s Golden Age on 27/11/2015 which is the title of an article in Politico written by Stiglitz. TC posted Meet Joseph Stiglitz on 02/10/2015 if anyone would like a refresher.
Cartoon — From all the talk about hoodies following the murder of Trayvon Martin, I guess these guysd didn't get the message! . . . or is it all in the style and colour of the hoodie and/or wearer? These idiots are such losers!
Burp!! Bernie's Birdie is next!!
North Carolina is another state that are disenfranchising voters courtesy of Gov. Pat McCrory and his hooded cronies.
Watch This 12-Year-Old Girl Take On North Carolina’s Voter ID Bill
Madison Kimrey gave an impassioned speech against the bill at a Burlington, N.C., rally.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/watch-this-12-year-old-girl-take-on-north-carolinas-voter-id#.kraZJk4DX
"But after the Supreme Court, courtesy of the racist Scalia, gutted the VRA in 2013, North Carolina could make election changes without federal oversight."
North Carolina’s new voting restrictions are preventing African-Americans and Democrats from voting. North Carolina Voters Condemn Voter Discrimination during North Carolina’s Primary
Allison Riggs, staff attorney at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice
“Ever since we lost the VRA, every day in North Carolina has been a struggle to ensure that all eligible voters are guaranteed their constitutional right to vote. We have been challenging these voter suppression efforts in federal and state court for the last three years, and have come across countless people who have been disenfranchised. Voters, especially people of color, face hurdles and challenges every day down here. We need the extra protection of the VRA.”
http://www.civilrights.org/press/2016/voter-discrimination-north-carolina.html
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Excellent links!
Two more petitions found in the emails. This is not an isolated disenfranchised voting event as seen in Arizona, North Carolina. This is happening all over USA especially wherever there is a republican governor: North Carolina, Texas, Michigan and so on. This is also happening in small communities all over, e.g: Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell.
The next petition uses very strong language and I'm not surprised. There are a lot of angry voters out there!
"Congress, listen up — Voting during the primaries has been a shit show all over America. Millions of voters have endured long hours waiting to vote. Thousands of voters have been turned away. That ain’t Democracy. Do your fucking job and fix this."
http://other98.com/demand-voters-bill-rights/?can_id=37fa63e1cec03a98965fa3189029c6a6&source=email-let-us-vote-dammit&email_referrer=let-us-vote-dammit&email_subject=let-us-vote-dammit&link_id=1
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Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell has done it again.
As Arizona’s top official in charge of making sure every eligible person can vote and that every vote is counted in Arizona’s most populous county, Helen Purcell is primarily responsible for Tuesday’s disastrous primary election that left thousands unable to vote.
For the good of Maricopa county, our nation, and our democracy tell Helen Purcell it’s time for her to resign. #AdiosHelen
http://act.presente.org/sign/helen?t=2&referring_akid=1437.505317.VZuj6d
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Done.
Both signed from email. Thanks.
Here is one more petition and this one is from CREDO.
Tell the Department of Justice: Investigate voter disenfranchisement in Arizona
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/az_voter_suppression?t
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Won't. I have a majkore bone to pick with Credo.
Well, Mr. McCrory – and all your like-minded, homophobic Rethuglican cronies – YOU are one of the biggest reasons that the ACLU tops my donor list every year.
You can expect that ACLU Lawsuit any day now.
Wooo Hooo!!
I hope Courtney could appreciate you arriving in a four-day thick green cloud, TomCat? 😉
MM: Of course we're not "under siege" nor do we feel "under siege". Make no mistake, we have our own brands of Republicans in each country, for instance the PVV of Geert Wilders here in The Netherlands, The British have their UKIP, the French have le Front National of Marine le Pen and Germany has its Pagida, all loudly proclaiming that borders should be closed, all Muslims are terrorists and that all citizens who return from Iraq should be incarcerated preemptively and they have followers, of course. But the strange thing is that they seem to lose their hold on people as more attacks occur and more people and governments unite against Da'esh. America sees itself as the main victim of attacks like these, but Europe has quite a history of attacks like these, but then often from inside by regional separatist like the IRA (Irish) and the ETA (Basks) or political like the Bader-Meinhoff (Germany). And we've already had our share of attacks by Al Qaida (England, Spain) of course. However, Europeans in general haven't given in to feeling besieged over the years, nor have they given in to terrorism. The countries that refuse to take in Syrian refugees try and use the "terrorist" argument, but most everyone knows these are the countries with a history of xenophobia and Islamophobia and antisemitism. What the Da'esh seems to accomplish most now, is unifying people within the different countries and across Europe. What I hear most now is the perspective that these very young suicide bombers, most of whom are born in Europe, must have be terribly desperate, isolated from their own communities and the rest of society, feeling dejected and hopeless, without a proper education and without a chance of a job and often already with a (petty) criminal record. It's in no way extenuating what they've done, but the realization that if we want to prevent more of this in the future, we need to do something about the situation immigrants find themselves in on a daily basis. Geert Wilders may blame all Muslims, but fortunately there are still many others who are willing to look at the beam in the eye of society.
I haven't more time today, so I'll have to sign off here. Have a very good Easter, everyone!