Finally Friday Reads: Definitely Not the Normal Timeline

Posted: September 4, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: "Der Fuehrer's Face", #MAGAnomics, 2026 Elections, American Fascists, Fox Right-Wing Propaganda Network | Tags: , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“Given trump’s track record of hiring Fox News pundits. Maria Bartiromo, come on down!” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

The end of the week is always good for a little drama. It’s not that I want to go all gossip rag, but anytime something weird happens to a hyper Trumper, especially one kicked from Fox News, I’m all in. Fox News is not worth watching, but what it does is always of interest. It’s still the home of blatant right-wing propaganda.

Maria Bartiromo used to be a business reporter with a following on the normal Fox Business schedule. Now, she’s been inexplicably booted from Fox. It is always interesting to watch the back-and-forth relationships between the network that flies its freak flag continually and what’s going on in the current West Wing.  This is so weird that I can’t help but follow it.

This head line comes from Status News.  It’s written by Oliver Darcy, a former CNN senior Media Reporter. “Bartiromo’s Fox Betrayal. Fox News offered no explanation for Maria Bartiromo’s abrupt firing. But Status has learned what happened behind the scenes and why it put the longtime host at odds with her own network.”

On Thursday afternoon, Fox News issued a press release that reverberated through the media and political worlds. In a terse statement, the network announced that it had severed ties with Maria Bartiromo, the once-respected business journalist who in recent years became consumed by right-wing conspiracy theories. “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” Fox News said.

That was it. The Rupert Murdoch-controlled network offered no explanation for parting ways with the high-profile host, who is known to be very close to Donald Trump. It didn’t even explicitly say that Bartiromo had been fired—though make no mistake, she was. In the hours that followed, insiders wondered what had gone awry. What had Bartiromo done to get pink-slipped by the outlet she had called home for more than a decade?

Status has learned that Bartiromo’s termination stems from an incident, which has not previously been reported, that occurred in July. After Trump delivered his unhinged prime time speech in which he pushed more conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, this time making a number of allegations against China, I am told that Fox issued guidance to senior employees instructing them to steer clear of giving credence to Trump’s delusional claims. I’m told that the guidance was issued in writing.

Indeed, the day after Trump’s prime time address, Fox conspicuously avoided covering the debunked claims the president had pushed. The lack of coverage raised eyebrows among media observers at the time. It also appears to have caught the attention of the White House.

It’s unclear whether Trump or someone at the White House inquired with Bartiromo about the lack of coverage. But ultimately Bartiromo spilled the secret, Status has learned, divulging to the White House that Trump’s speech had received scant coverage on the channel because network bosses had ordered it so. I’m even told the text message in which Fox Business brass offered their guidance was shared by Bartiromo with the White House. In doing so, Bartiromo not only effectively betrayed her employer, but also disclosed confidential company information, violating the terms of her employment agreement.

Well, isn’t that interesting.  The Hill has this analysis. “Trump: Fans ‘will not be happy’ Bartiromo out at Fox News.” The reporter on this story is Mira Bhakta.

President Trump said late Thursday that Maria Bartiromo’s fans will not be happy that the host is out at Fox News.

“I can’t believe Maria Bartiromo is no longer going to have her great show(s) on FoxNews/Business,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Three different shows, always number one. Maria is a total professional, and a true warrior.”

“Her fans, of which there are many, will not be happy. God bless you, Maria,” he added.

Bartiromo worked at Fox Business for just more than 12 years and grew to be one of Trump’s most vocal supporters on the network. Before that, she worked as a financial journalist for 20 years at CNBC, where she won an Emmy Award for a documentary about Google.

Fox abruptly announced that the final episode of “Mornings with Maria” aired Thursday morning and that the show would be called “Mornings with Fox Business” beginning Friday and feature rotating hosts.

The network will also rename “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” to “FBN’s Wall Street,” with a new host.

Fox News gave few details on what led to Bartiromo’s departure.

Hot Air‘s Ed Morrissey has this new headline up this afternoon.  “War? Bartiromo Gets Boot From Fox, Lawyers Up.”

Reporters live by the leak. Sometimes, they die by the leak too … if they’re the leaker. Allegedly.

“Word leaked out yesterday that Fox Business Channel and longtime host Maria Bartiromo had parted ways. At first, observers expected to hear that she had left to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary. However, her former booking producer Breanna Morello made it sound as though Fox cut ties with Bartiromo rather than the other way around:

@Breanna Morello
Fox Corp is parting ways with Maria Bartiromo. As her former booking producer, I can say she is the hardest-working journalist at the company. Bartiromo has given everything to her 12 years of work at Fox Corp. She worked six days a week and has a presence on their platforms seven days a week. She was always a class act and embodied what journalism should be. I look forward to seeing what she does next.
As I noted in last night’s Final Word, the situation was confusing enough to become a topic in Vice President J.D. Vance’s press briefing at the White House. When asked about it, Vance seemed surprised to hear the news, calling her a “very very dear friend.” Vance also said he didn’t think she would be coming into the White House …
Well, more of the worst economic policy ever is likely on the way. This is from CNBC. “Trump doubles down on threat to halt trade with top partners unless Fed cuts rates.” This story is reported by Kevin Breuninger.

President Donald Trump on Friday doubled down on his threat to cut off trade with countries that have surpluses with the U.S. unless the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates.

“What I’m saying, very simply, is that we should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world,” Trump said in the Oval Office Friday afternoon. He had been asked about his Truth Social post earlier in the day declaring, “LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT.”

Trump issued that sweeping ultimatum after urging the Fed and its chairman, Kevin Warsh, to “get smart” and cut rates following a much-stronger-than-expected monthly jobs report.

Read Trump’s full post:

Great jobs number just announced, breaking all estimates (except mine!) by double and triple – And you haven’t seen anything yet! EMPLOYERS ADDED 162,000 JOB IN AUGUST. Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A. is a much stronger credit than it was just a short time ago! A STRONG COUNTRY MEANS A LOWER INTEREST RATE – IT’S A BETTER CREDIT…Very simple! We should have the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World, like “the old days.” Without the United States agreeing to allow them their big surpluses, and we could stop that immediately, they would no longer be considered financially ELITE! LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT, which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ridiculous and very costly Tariff decision, strongly acknowledged “the President” has an absolute right to do. IT’S BETTER THAN TARIFFS! The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart – BE PATRIOTS for a change. High interest rates put the U.S.A. at a very unfair disadvantage, and I won’t allow that to happen! President DONALD J. TRUMP

The Fed declined to comment on Trump’s post.

It’s likely also one the reasons for this phenomenon.  This story is reported by Catherine Rampell writing at The Bulwark. “Europe’s Gold Fled the Nazis. Now It’s Fleeing Trump. Our allies once trusted America to safeguard their reserves. Now they worry the president might freeze them.” 

NEARLY A CENTURY AGO, our European allies evacuated their gold to America to safeguard it from the Nazis. Today, some European countries are taking it back—apparently to protect it from Donald Trump.

I wish this were a gag about our president’s garish tastes.

It is not.

In a frightening sign of just how much trust has been lost between the United States and its erstwhile allies, billions of dollars of gold reserves are being repatriated or otherwise moved out of Trump’s reach.

Yesterday, the Dutch central bank announced that it had shifted about $12 billion of gold reserves held mostly in New York over to London vaults instead.1 This follows a similar move by France’s central bank, which recently sold off about $15 billion of bullion held in New York, replacing it with gold bars stored in Paris instead. And for the past year, Germany and Italy—the second- and third-largest holders of gold reserves, respectively, after the United States—have been debating whether to pull their gold from U.S. vaults, too.

Paul Krugman has even more frightening details to outline on his SubStack.  “Ingots We No Longer Trust. America’s word is as good as gold — that is, unreliable.” This really sends a bad signal to every one.

For the most part, monetary gold — gold held as reserves by national central banks — is a lot like the stones of Yap. Central banks own trillions of dollars’ worth of gold, which they sometimes sell to each other to settle international payments. But these transfers rarely involve physically moving gold across borders. A large fraction of the world’s gold reserves actually sits in a vault underneath the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, although the New York Fed does move ingots between compartments when transfers take place.

And why not? The sanctity of nations’ ownership of gold stored in New York is guaranteed by the word of the U.S. government — a government that is utterly reliable, because it honors the role of law.

Or anyway, that’s the country we used to be.

“Rule of law” is not a phrase often applied to the Trump administration. And the administration has special contempt for international law. Many of Trump’s tariffs have been ruled illegal under U.S. law, but more or less all of those tariffs were and are in clear violation of past agreements solemnly signed by previous U.S. presidents, including Trump himself.

So the idea that the U.S. government might devise some excuse to seize gold held in the Fed’s vault is no longer far-fetched. And nations are taking precautions. Earlier this week the Dutch central bank announced that it was shifting about $12 billion in gold from the vault in New York to the Bank of England’s vault in London. This follows a move by the French central bank to shift an even larger sum from New York to Paris. Other countries are considering similar moves.

The direct economic or financial impact of these actions will be minimal. There won’t even be large trans-Atlantic gold shipments: foreign central banks will sell their New York gold to private buyers in America and replenish it with purchases from private sellers in Europe.

But the symbolism is chilling. America is no longer trusted. Foreign governments can no longer count on us to obey the most basic rules, like the commandment that thou shalt not steal other people’s gold.

A federal prosecutor investigating the murder of a man by an ICE office is under investigation.  This is scary and shows how out of control the DOJ has become. This is from CBS News.  There a quite a few reporters on this story. “Federal prosecutor fired after investigating ICE officer for civil rights offenses in Minnesota shooting, sources say.” Violating civil rights of people is evidently A-OK with the Trump Regime’s war on the U.S. Constitution.

A federal prosecutor in Minnesota who was investigating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer for possible civil rights crimes has been fired, four sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans was investigating ICE officer Christian Castro over the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant earlier this year. The Justice Department ultimately charged Castro this week with making false statements about the incident, but the indictment remains sealed, CBS News has previously reported.

Earlier this week, ProPublica reported that Evans told attorneys for the man who was shot, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, and other victims to prepare for Castro to only be charged with making false statements, which would carry lesser penalties than criminal charges that he violated people’s constitutional rights under color of law.

ProPublica quoted directly from an email it said Evans had sent to the attorneys.

“This is being directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney,” the email from Evans reportedly said. “I objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could. It wasn’t enough.” (CBS News has not obtained the email reviewed by ProPublica.)

Three sources told CBS News that Evans is under investigation by the Justice Department. Two sources said the investigation focuses on allegations of leaking.

This country is a cesspool.  The elected officials that we vote for and count on to ensure the Constitutionality of actions taken here are sadly missing. But the, look at this headline, and you’ll see that clearly. This is Politico‘s take on a Wall Street Journal Investigation.  “‘Too lazy to do the job’: Democrats dump on Fetterman after WSJ report. The Wall Street Journal’s story recounted multiple instances of Sen. John Fetterman refusing to meet with constituents in Washington even for scheduled meetings.” Gregory Svirnovskiy has the lede.

A swath of Democrats denounced Sen. John Fetterman in the aftermath of a Wall Street Journal report that showed the Pennsylvania Democrat routinely ducking meetings with constituents, skirting committee hearings and contemplating skipping a police funeral in his home state.

“John Fetterman is a disgrace,” Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) wrote Thursday night on X. “Our state deserves better than a lazy trust fund baby who is too lazy to do the job.”

“There is a lot I could say about this report of John Fetterman’s pathetic behavior as a Senator,” Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) wrote on the platform Friday morning. “But between the laziness, disrespect, and willingness to carry water for a foreign government, it shows us something we already know: this man has no sense of duty. He is not up for the high office he was elected to — and we in Pennsylvania will do something about it in 2028.”

The Journal’s story recounted multiple instances of Fetterman refusing to meet with constituents in Washington, even for scheduled meetings. In one case, he canceled on three paralyzed military veterans in his office, telling his staff that he was feeling unwell. But Fetterman came into the office shortly thereafter to prepare for a live hit with Fox News.

 I have a feeling he’s not alone. Many of our elected officials are not doing their jobs. I certainly hope the midterms are based on change. I’d like to believe our democracy is still recoverable.

What’s’ on your Reading, Action, and Blogging list today?

Losar and Lundi Gras Reads

Posted: February 20, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , , , , | 24 Comments

Losar Tashi Delek to you, Sky Dancers! Happy 2150 to everybody!

So, it’s the beginning of a new year for those of us following the Buddhism of the Himalayas. Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, and I’m following the traditional old-school way of resting up the day before. Plus, Losar is a day to clean house; mine needs that more than I need to see a few parades.

When my kids were younger, we read Jataka stories during Spring break. These stories are lessons in developing a moral framework.

Ani Wangmo, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, reminded me of one story that always seemed sad and yet, heroic. This is an excellent lesson to think about on this auspicious day!

Irrelated to astrology, rabbit is one of the four harmonious friends from Buddhist folklore, sharing their living environment and collaborating peacefully. May all beings strive for such harmony in the world, in this year and beyond.

In a Jataka story a rabbit’s virtue draws attention of the gods, who challenge him to test the sincerity of his dedication to serving others. The rabbit sacrificed his life for others, and in his honour the gods imprinted his shape to the moon, so that when we look at it, we can always remember virtue. May we always selflessly strive to benefit all beings.

Losar Shrine with chemar bo (butter sculptures) at the new Gyuto Foundation Center in Richmond, California. You’ll notice this butter sculpture has our friends.

This story also reminds me of former President and Rosalyn Carter, who spent endless hours rebuilding and building homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Today, the story reminds me of other harmonious friends as President Biden’s surprise trip to Ukraine demonstrates our country’s unwavering commitment to democracy abroad, even if it’s endangered here at home.   This is the headline from the New York Times. “Biden Visits Kyiv, Ukraine’s Embattled Capital, as Air-Raid Siren Sounds. President Biden took a nearly 10-hour train ride from the border of Poland to show his administration’s “unwavering support” nearly a year into Russia’s invasion.” Good for him because the FAUX nation wants to bail on them.

President Biden made a surprise trip to the embattled capital of Ukraine on Monday, traveling under a cloak of secrecy into a war zone to demonstrate what he called America’s “unwavering support” of the effort to beat back Russian forces nearly a year after they invaded the country.

Mr. Biden arrived early Monday morning to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the two stepped out into the streets of Kyiv even as an air-raid siren sounded, a dramatic moment that underscored the investment the United States has made in Ukraine’s independence.

“One year later, Kyiv stands,” Mr. Biden declared at Mr. Zelensky’s side in Mariinsky Palace, the gilded ceremonial home of the Ukrainian president. “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands.”

“Thank you so much for coming, Mr. President, at a huge moment for Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Mr. Biden promised to release another $500 million in military aid in coming days, mentioning artillery ammunition, Javelin missiles and Howitzers, but he did not talk about the advanced arms that Ukraine has sought. Mr. Zelensky told reporters that he and the president spoke about “long range weapons and the weapons that may still be supplied to Ukraine even though it wasn’t supplied before.”

This is from David Rothkopf at the Daily Beast. “Biden’s Trip to Kyiv is the Ultimate Humiliation for Putin—and Trump.” It should humiliate the Fucks at FAUX, but hey, they just care about their ratings.

Stirringly, just days ahead of the one year anniversary of Russia’s brutal offensive against Ukraine, Biden walked through the streets of Kyiv, paid his respects to those who had fallen in defense of Ukraine, and said, “Freedom is priceless. It’s worth fighting for, for as long as it takes.”

Biden also movingly invoked the conversation he had with Zelensky last February as Russia’s massive escalation of its nine-year-old war of unprovoked aggression against Ukraine. He recalled with Zelensky at his side, “You said you didn’t know when we’d be able to speak again. That dark night…the world was literally bracing for the fall of Kyiv…perhaps even the end of Ukraine.”

Of course, the symbolism of the American president standing alongside Zelensky, walking through the Ukrainian capital even as air raid sirens sounded, carried many other messages as well.

To those fighting for Ukraine, it was a vitally important message of solidarity that came with further commitments from Biden of military support for Ukraine.

To Vladimir Putin, it was Biden’s way of saying, “I am here in Kyiv and you are not. You not only did not take Kyiv in days as some predicted, but your attack was rebuffed. Your army suffered a humiliating defeat from which it has not recovered.”

Chotrul Duchen Monlam Chenmo – Great Prayer Festival of Miracles- Tibetan Butter Lantern Festival 2023

And, now we turn our eyes to the Fucks at Faux News. Mike Allen of Axios has this exclusive. “Scoop: McCarthy gives Tucker Carlson access to trove of Jan. 6 riot tape. “It’s not very comforting knowing that second in line to Biden is this fascist jerk.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, McCarthy sources tell me.

  • Carlson TV producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove, which includes multiple camera angles from all over Capitol grounds. Excerpts will begin airing in the coming weeks.

Why it matters: Carlson has repeatedly questioned official accounts of 1/6, downplaying the insurrection as “vandalism.”

  • Now his shows — “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News, and “Tucker Carlson Today” and “Tucker Carlson Originals” on the streaming service Fox Nation — have a massive trove of raw material.

Carlson told me: “[T]here was never any legitimate reason for this footage to remain secret.”

  • “If there was ever a question that’s in the public’s interest to know, it’s what actually happened on January 6. By definition, this video will reveal it. It’s impossible for me to understand why any honest person would be bothered by that.”

There’s some more on the MAGA Propaganda Station today. Charles Kaiser writes this news at The Guardian, “How Dominion Voting Systems filing proves Fox News was ‘deliberately lying'”

Document makes clear senior Fox News figures knew after 2020 election voter fraud claims were false – and it’s likely a landmark case

The Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe said Dominion Voting Systems’ brief requesting summary judgment against Fox News for defamation – and $1.6bn – is “likely to succeed and likely to be a landmark” in the history of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

“I have never seen a defamation case with such overwhelming proof that the defendant admitted in writing that it was making up fake information in order to increase its viewership and its revenues,” Tribe told the Guardian. “Fox and its producers and performers were lying as part of their business model.”

The case concerns Fox News’s repetition of Donald Trump’s lie that his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden was the result of electoral fraud, including claims about Dominion voting machines.

Tribe said the filing “establishes that Fox was not only reckless” but also that producers, owners and personalities were “deliberately lying and knew they were lying about the nature of Dominion’s machines and the supposed way they could be manipulated”.

Filed last week, the 192-page document makes it clear that senior figures at Fox News from Rupert Murdoch down knew immediately after the election that claims of voter fraud, in particular those aimed at Dominion, were false.

Tucker Carlson called the charges “ludicrous” and “off the rails”. Sean Hannity texted about “F’ing lunatics”. A senior network vice-president called one of the stories “MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS”.

But none of this knowledge prevented hosts from repeating lies about everything from imaginary algorithms shaving votes from Dominion machines to non-existent ties between the company and Venezuela

Tribe was one of several first amendment experts to call the filing nearly unprecedented.

More comments from the other expert witnesses are in the article at the link above.

Here are two articles showing how climate change is causing global havoc. BB’s Boston has hardly had a winter. It’s in the 80s in New Orleans for the end of the Carnivale season and the beginning of Lent. That’s a little early for those temperatures.

Ana Mano / Reuters:
Three dozen dead as Brazil rains cause calamity

Oliver Milman / The Guardian:
‘Not much time left’: Salt Lake City’s mayor on the Great Lake drying up

This is from last fall from the Yale Enviornment 360. “As Himalayan Glaciers Melt, a Water Crisis Looms in South Asia. Warmer air is thinning most of the vast mountain range’s glaciers, known as the Third Pole, because they contain so much ice. The melting could have far-reaching consequences for flood risk and for water security for a billion people who rely on meltwater for their survival.”

Spring came early this year in the high mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, a remote border region of Pakistan. Record temperatures in March and April hastened melting of the Shisper Glacier, creating a lake that swelled and, on May 7, burst through an ice dam. A torrent of water and debris flooded the valley below, damaging fields and houses, wrecking two power plants, and washing away parts of the main highway and a bridge connecting Pakistan and China.

Pakistan’s climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, tweeted videos of the destruction and highlighted the vulnerability of a region with the largest number of glaciers outside the Earth’s poles. Why were these glaciers losing mass so quickly? Rehman put it succinctly. “High global temperatures,” she said.

Just over a decade ago, relatively little was known about glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, the vast ice mountains that run across Central and South Asia, from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east. But a step-up in research in the past 10 years — spurred in part by an embarrassing error in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2007 Fourth Assessment Report, which predicted that Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035 — has led to enormous strides in understanding.

Like I said, Lundi Gras is still my day of rest!  But here’s a look at what’s going on today! So, this is my peak holiday season! Y’all can keep that stuff after Halloween and before Twelfth night!

Have a great day, whatever you’re up to!

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

Monday Reads

Posted: March 25, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

library reading room NYPLGood Morning!

There’s more than just a bit of March madness in the air and you don’t have to be watching basketball to catch it.  It seems that the Republican Party’s Teabots have decided to boycott Fox News for being too liberal.  Yes, you read that right.  Fox is not fair and balanced towards their viewpoints so off with th eir heads!!!!

Among the demands the protesters have is that Fox News “be the right-wing CBS News: to break stories, to break information, and to do what news organizations have always done with such stories: break politicians,” that the network have at least one segment on Benghazi every night on two of its prime-time shows; that Fox similarly devote investigative resources to discovering the truth of Obama’s birth certificate; and that the network cease striving to be “fair and balanced.”

“We need Fox to turn right,” said Hjerlied. “We think this is a coverup and Fox is aiding and abetting it. This is the way Hitler started taking over Germany, by managing and manipulating the news media.”

The descriptions of the boycotters and their preferences for conspiracy sites is pretty obvious. Poor Fox and the Republican Party Establishment just cannot shove these loonies back into their boxes.

Agreement has been reached on what to do with Cyprus and its unstable banks.  The agreement will not be put to a vote of parliament.

Cyprus will close down one of its two biggest banks and restructure the second one as part of an international bailout, Cyprus and underwoodinternational lenders agreed on Tuesday.

Bank depositors of up to 100,000 euros will not suffer any losses but bigger depositors will contribute to recapitalizing the bank that is to be restructured – Bank of Cyprus.

Shareholders, bondholders and those who held deposits above 100,000 euros in Laiki bank, which will be closed down, will cover the cost of the resolution, euro zone ministers and the International Monetary Fund decided.

Depositors with more than 100,000 euros in the Bank of Cyprus will see their money above that threshold frozen until it is clear how much of it will be needed to recapitalize the bank so that it can reach a capital ratio of 9 percent.

Here’s some discussion of what the Cyprus fallout could be around the world by Marshall Auerback.  Moody’s says Cyprus is still at risk of default, euro zone exit should these steps resolve the current crisis.  So, what type of precedent does this set for such a risky move with no real guarantee of success?

Regardless of the ultimate form this bailout takes, it is increasingly hard to view Cyprus as a “one-off,” which has no implications for us here in the US. What Cyprus has demonstrated is that even with deposit insurance, your deposits are not in fact a risk-free guaranteed asset, but actually simply another branch in the creditor tree in relation to your bank if it fails. That was made abundantly clear by no less than the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the central bankers’ bank back in the heart of the financial crisis. The BIS noted that bank failures had become increasingly expensive for governments and taxpayers and therefore recommended an “Open Bank Resolution,” which would ensure that, as far as possible , “any future losses are ultimately borne by the bank’s shareholders and creditors.” (See primer on the Open Market Resolution concept by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.)

Why does this matter? Because, you, as a depositor are legally considered a “creditor” of your bank, not simply a customer who may have entrusted your entire life savings with the very same institution.

The science editor at BBC News wonders why there is such a fuss about extinction which leads to the question “would the world be a better place if we still had velociraptors? But, is natural extinction different than man-caused extinction?

We are certainly far better off without velociraptors slashing their way through our cities. Our streets are safer with no sabre-toothed tigers. And imagine trying to swat one of those monster prehistoric insects like a vulture-sized dragonfly.

The question of extinction most recently surfaced at the talks on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – the treaty meant to save endangered species from the devastating effects of trade.

The slaughter of rhino, the decimation of elephant, the forlorn last stand of the tiger – all had their profiles raised as the delegates in Bangkok negotiated their fate.

And anyone hearing the protests and the campaigns, and the shocking statistics about the losses, might be forgiven for thinking that extinction was some new kind of evil that was not invented until rapacious and uncaring mankind came along.

I should state right now that some of the most ghastly examples are indeed entirely the result of man’s activities, sometimes unwittingly, sometimes carelessly.

hepburn readingWe’re seeing slow, drawn out, death-by-lobbying of the hopes for better gun safety laws.  The NRA is pushing the meme that gun-free zones–like the Sandy Hook School–attract mass murderers.  Mark Follman takes on this myth.

Ever since the massacres in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., this idea has been repeated like some surreal requiem: The reason that mass gun violence keeps happening is because the United States is full of places that ban guns.

Second Amendment activists have long floated this theme, and now lawmaker sacross the nation are using it, too. During a recent floor debate in the Colorado legislature, Republican state Rep. Carole Murray put it this way: “Most of the mass killings that we talk about have been affected in gun-free zones. So when you have a gun-free zone, it’s like saying, ‘Come and get me.'”

The argument claims to explain both the motive behind mass shootings and how they play out. The killers deliberately choose sites where firearms are forbidden, gun-rights advocates say, and because there are no weapons, no “good guy with a gun” will be on hand to stop the crime.

Sound bite sophistry

With its overtones of fear and heroism, the argument makes for slick sound bites. But here’s the problem: Both its underlying assumptions are contradicted by data. Not only is there zero evidence to support them, our examination at Mother Jones of America’s mass shootings indicates they are just plain wrong.

Among the 62 mass shootings over the past 30 years that we studied, not a single case includes evidence that the killer chose to target a place because it banned guns. To the contrary, in many of the cases there was clearly another motive for the choice of location. For example, 20 were workplace shootings, most of which involved perpetrators who felt wronged by employers and colleagues. Last September, when a troubled man working at a sign manufacturer in Minneapolis was told he would be let go, he pulled out a 9mm Glock and killed six people and injured another before putting a bullet in his own head. Similar tragedies unfolded at a beer distributor in Connecticut in 2010 and at a plastics factory in Kentucky in 2008.

Or consider the 12 school shootings we documented, in which all but one of the killers had personal ties to the school they struck.librarian reading

Or take the man who opened fire in suburban Milwaukee last August: Are we to believe that a white supremacist targeted the Sikh temple there not because it was filled with members of a religious minority he despised, but because it was a place that didn’t allow firearms?

Despite the momentum in Congress of the NRA, Mayor Mike Bloomberg is going to spend beaucoups bux trying to get a better outcome.

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg wants new gun control legislation so bad that he’s set to spend a staggering $12 million of his own money on ads targeting US senators in a dozen states.

As the New York Times reports, Bloomberg’s new wave of ads, which begin on Monday, support universal background checks for nearly all gun purchases, but do not mention a ban on assault weapons. The ads, run under the auspices of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group funded and co-chaired by Bloomberg, will target Sens. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Patrick Toomey (R-Penn.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

Bloomberg’s $12 million ad buy further cements his position as the main political force challenging the clout of the National Rifle Association. For decades, the NRA has used its money and manpower to oust politicians who support any new regulation of guns in America. The threat of NRA attacks helped stifle any effort at new gun laws, including requiring background checks for most gun purchases and reinstating the ban on assault rifles, which expired in 2004. Now, by pumping money into Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Independence USA, his super-PAC, Bloomberg hopes to counter the might of the NRA, while giving cover to pro-gun-control legislators.

Today, SCOTUS hears arguments on California’s Prop 8 and will begin to hear arguments on the constitutionality of DOMA.

California Attorney General Kemala Harris gave an impassioned, pithy defense of marriage equality during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s hearing on whether California’s Proposition 8, which overturned the state’s marriage equality law, is itself constitutional.

Asked by CNN’s Candy Crowley to explain why she was refusing to defend the state’s proposition, Harris insisted that the measure undermined the fundamental rights of gay Americans, taking away their equal protections under the law:

I am absolutely against a ban on same-sex marriages because [bans] are simply unconstitutional. And it is one thing to read the polls, which we have discussed which show again that a majority of Americans are in favor of same sex marriage, but it is more important to read the Constitution. And the Constitution of the United States dictates, I believe, under every court precedent that we have discussed in terms of describing marriage as a fundamental right that the same-sex couples that are before the United states supreme court — Mrs. Windsor, Miss Perry — be allowed to have equal protection under the laws as any Americans when it comes to their ability to join themselves with their loving partners in marriage and raise their children. And 61% of Californians are in favor of same-sex marriage.

Harris is considered an up and comer to the national political scene.  You can follow the link above to see the interview.  We will be following the arguments closely today and will keep you updated as things happen.

So. that’s it for me this morning.  What’s on your reading and blogging list today?