The Difference Between Prisoners Of War And Homeless People
Posted on February 23, 2013 in Political Cartoons
Perhaps these “takers” ask for so much at home because they receive even less than prisoners abroad.
The 21st Century Untouchables
Posted on February 23, 2013 in Articles
The Article: Crime and No Punishment by Dennis Kelleher in The Huffington Post.
The Text: PBS’s Frontline had a terrific show last night called the “Untouchables” and was another report on the fact that not one single Wall Street bank or executive has been criminally prosecuted for any conduct related to the largest financial collapse since the Great Crash of 1929. Watch the show here.
While that’s bad enough, what’s worse is watching the most senior so-called law enforcement officials in our country offer one pathetic excuse after another for why they have so grossly failed to do their job. To non-lawyers or non-professionals, these excuses may seem reasonable or plausible, but frankly none of them withstand the simplest scrutiny. That is why none of those senior officials will subject themselves to a public debate or “unfriendly” audience where real questions — and follow-up questions — are asked and they aren’t allowed to spin or squirm their way out of answering.
The show’s exclusive focus was on criminal prosecution, but the track record of the SEC is even worse in some ways. The SEC pretends to enforce the law on Wall Street with puny slap-on-the-wrist fines (that the biggest banks get to pay with shareholders money and insurance policies) that misleads the public into believing that the SEC is doing their job, while signaling to Wall Street that they have nothing to worry about. Indeed, the SEC has given Wall Street a road map to avoid future liability for their senior executives. As we have detailed, “SEC Enforcement Has Incentivized, Rewarded and Guaranteed More Wall Street Crime.”
Hitler: Obama’s Dad?
Posted on February 22, 2013 in Videos
Another (satirical, we hope) birther revelation: the 72-year-old Adolph Hitler fled to Kenya and fathered Barack Hussein Obama.
Salman Rushdie On Freedom Of Thought
Posted on February 22, 2013 in Uncategorized
As someone to whom a fatwah’s been issued, I think Rushdie has some authority on the matter.
Why The Justice System Targeted Aaron Swartz
Posted on February 22, 2013 in Articles
The Article: Why Did the Justice System Target Aaron Swartz by Steven Hsieh in Rolling Stone.
The Text: Hundreds of mourners filled the Great Hall at New York’s Cooper Union on January 19th to honor the life of Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who took his own life earlier this month at age 26.
Swartz was well-known in technology circles for helping develop the RSS web feed format and the popular site Reddit, among other accomplishments. At the time of his death, he was facing 13 felony charges and up to 50 years in prison: Prosecutors had accused him of using MIT’s network to download too many scholarly articles from an academic database called JSTOR.
Swartz’s friends and family have said they believe he was driven to his death by a justice system that hounded him needlessly over an alleged crime with no real victims. “[He was] forced by the government to spend every fiber of his being on this damnable, senseless trial,” his partner Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman said at the memorial, “with no guarantee that he could exonerate himself at the end of it.”
