Category Archives: politics

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Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke | Matt Taibbi

If you’ve ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you’ve ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or “drug paraphernalia” in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me.

Breuer this week signed off on a settlement deal with the British banking giant HSBC that is the ultimate insult to every ordinary person who’s ever had his life altered by a narcotics charge. Despite the fact that HSBC admitted to laundering billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels (among others) and violating a host of important banking laws (from the Bank Secrecy Act to the Trading With the Enemy Act), Breuer and his Justice Department elected not to pursue criminal prosecutions of the bank, opting instead for a “record” financial settlement of $1.9 billion, which as one analyst noted is about five weeks of income for the bank.

Continued:

via Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke | | Rolling Stone.

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As Admin Preps “Enduring Presence” in Afghanistan, Peace Activists Build Ties to War Victims – YouTube

Published on Dec 14, 2012

DemocracyNow.org – While the U.S. military is preparing to extend what is already the nation’s longest war, new ties are emerging between the peace movement here and in Afghanistan. The group “Afghan Peace Volunteers” recently invited international peace activists to help launch a campaign called “2 Million Friends for Peace in Afghanistan,” a nod to the number of Afghans killed in the last four decades of war and occupation. We’re joined by two U.S. peace activists recently back from Afghanistan: Ann Wright, a retired Army colonel and former U.S. diplomat who helped oversee the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan in 2001; and John Dear, a Catholic priest and longtime peace activist who was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

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Matt Taibbi: After Laundering $800 Million in Drug Money, How Did HSBC Execs Avoid Jail?

Published on Dec 13, 2012

DemocracyNow.org – The banking giant HSBC has escaped indictment for laundering billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels and groups linked to al-Qaeda. Despite evidence of wrongdoing, the U.S. Department of Justice has allowed the bank to avoid prosecution and pay a $1.9 billion fine. No top HSBC officials will face charges, either. We’re joined by Rolling Stone Contributing Editor Matt Taibbi, author of “Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History.” “You can do real time in jail in America for all kinds of ridiculous offenses,” Taibbi says. “Here we have a bank that laundered $800 million dollars of drug money and they can’t find a way to put anybody in jail for that? That sends an incredible message, not just to the financial sector, but to everybody. It’s an obvious, clear double standard where one set of people gets to break the rules as much as they want and another set of people can’t break any rules at all without going to jail.”

via Matt Taibbi: After Laundering $800 Million in Drug Money, How Did HSBC Execs Avoid Jail? – YouTube.

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Matt Taibbi on the Unfolding Libor Scandal & What Sen. DeMint’s Exit Means for Fractured GOP

Published on Dec 13, 2012

DemocracyNow.org – News of HSBC’s $1.9 billion fine comes as three low-level traders were arrested in London as part of an international investigation into 16 international banks accused of rigging a key global interest rate used in contracts worth trillions of dollars. The London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor, is the average interest rate at which banks can borrow from each other. We’re joined by Matt Taibbi, Contributing Editor for Rolling Stone magazine and author of “Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History.” Taibbi also comments on the departure of Republican senator and Tea Party-favorite Jim DeMint of South Carolina.

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Comedian: Liberal comics ‘don’t want to make fun of Obama because they feel that it will weaken him’ | The Daily Caller

Conservative stand-up comedian Evan Sayet says there is “no doubt” his fellow comics have taken it easy on President Barack Obama.

“They’ve even admitted it themselves,” he told The Daily Caller.

“Liberals don’t want to make fun of Obama because they feel that it will weaken him if they honestly point out his foibles and his shortcomings. The narrative is that Obama is sort of a god (in fact, Evan Thomas of Newsweek said exactly that.) Gods don’t have any flaws. Thus, if they point out a single flaw, they are entirely destroying the narrative.”

via Comedian: Liberal comics ‘don’t want to make fun of Obama because they feel that it will weaken him’ | The Daily Caller.

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Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World History | ZeroHedge

TechDirt notes:

In a radio interview, Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin (who’s been one of the best at covering the surveillance state in the US) made a simple observation that puts much of this into context: the US surveillance regime has more data on the average American than the Stasi ever did on East Germans.

via Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World History | ZeroHedge.

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Anti-Tax Crusader Grover Norquist | The Diane Rehm Show from WAMU and NPR

Tax policy has never been easy — for politicians to agree on or for Americans who are not accounting experts to understand. Now we have the so-called fiscal cliff looming over the nation, and the Obama administration and Republican leaders are at a stalemate on how to avert it. Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist has played an outsized role in the debate. Most Republican members of the current Congress have signed Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. But with November elections over and the fiscal cliff just weeks away, some pledge-signers have begun to waver. Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform joins Diane to talk about one of life’s two certainties: taxes.

Guests

Grover Norquist president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen Democrat of Maryland and ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

Rep. Ted Yoho Republican congressman-elect of Florida.

Video: Inside The Studio

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, talked about the so-called fiscal cliff and his no-tax pledge. Norquist said President Barack Obama’s proposal to avoid the fiscal cliff is “unserious,” and he proposed broadcasting the negotiations on C-SPAN. “I think he’s trying to take us off the cliff and blame other people,” Norquist said about Obama. About the public negotiation, Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen replied, “It would be good if Speaker [John] Boehner actually put his plan on paper like the president has so the public can see what it is.” Norquist also responded to a listener’s question about why he continues to refer to policies enforced under President Ronald Reagan’s administration, even though more than 30 years have since passed since Reagan was president.

via Anti-Tax Crusader Grover Norquist | The Diane Rehm Show from WAMU and NPR.

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What Is Obama So Afraid Of? | ZeroHedge

I saw this memo on the official whitehouse.gov website the other day, but I was traveling and never had a chance to post it.  I figured it would be too late by now, yet I am still not seeing it being widely discussed.  It implies that the Obama Administration may be very worried about the truth getting out about all of their crimes, potentially via leaks from high places.  Read it for yourself, but the language is pretty clear.  Here are some excerpts:

via What Is Obama So Afraid Of? | ZeroHedge.