No Need For Assault Weapons

In wake of the Aurora tragedy, Benjamin Van Houten joins Jennifer Granholm to discuss the need–or rather lack thereof–for assault weapons.

THANKS, Obama!

For, you know, well actually I don’t know. But thanks for nothing, anyway!

Ending A Rotten Culture

The Article: Let’s end this rotten culture that only rewards rogues by Will Hutton in The Guardian.

The Text: Investment banking is an organised scam masquerading as a business. It is defined by endemic conflicts of interest, systemic amoral behaviour and extreme avarice. Many of its senior figures should be serving prison sentences or disgraced – and would have been if British regulators had been weaned off the doctrine of ” light touch” regulation earlier and if the Serious Fraud Office’s budget had not been emasculated by Mr Osborne. It is a tax on wealth generation and an enemy of honest endeavour – the beast that is devouring British capitalism.

The £290m fine on Barclays for rigging the interest rates in the inter-bank market is a defining moment. Not just for Barclays but for every bank with which it colluded. Barclays had the wit to come clean first – the first of many banks to suffer political and moral opprobrium for illicitly inflating its profits. It was also trying to protect itself from “reputational damage” – not wanting other banks’ assessment of its creditworthiness to become public .

In the light of what we now know, that seems laughable. But between autumn 2007 and spring 2009, Barclays was fighting for its life as an independent bank. Had the news surfaced that other banks harboured such doubts about its credit standing, Barclays might have ended up being owned by the British taxpayer like RBS and Lloyds.

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Please Take Me Home

Hipster heaven: Grimes + Blood Dimamonds team up for a sun drenched summer hit conveniently called “Phone Sex”. It’s like the Vengaboys for twenty-somethings.

We Need A New Civil Rights Movement

We live in a colorblind society? Really? Just take a look at the mass incarceration rates when stratified by race.