Fargo foreclosure manual on trialWells Fargo is in a federal judge’s hot seat. America’s largest mortgage servicer just lost the battle to keep its controversial Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Foreclosure Attorney Procedure Manual out of federal court in New York.
Why Economist Thomas Piketty Has Scared the Pants Off the American RightThomas Piketty is no radical. His 700-page book Capital in the 21st Century is certainly not some kind of screed filled with calls for class warfare. In fact, the wonky and mild-mannered French economist opens his tome with a description of his typical Gen X abhorrence of what he calls the “lazy rhetoric of anticapitalism.”
Family awarded $3 million in first US fracking trialReuters / Shannon Stapleton After three years of legal wrangling, a Texas family has won its case against a company engaged in hydraulic fracturing near their home. The family, which suffered tangible health deterioration after the fracking began, was awarded $3 million.
Police may stop drivers based only on anonymous tip, rules Supreme CourtLaw enforcement officials may now stop US drivers based only on the information gleaned in an anonymous tip phoned in by a caller who dialed 911, the Supreme Court ruled in a tight decision Tuesday.
In prison forever: Gitmo detainees might not see freedom even after Afghan War endsReuters / Brennan Linsley / Pool The United States military plans to end its combat role in Afghanistan later this year and close the chapter on America’s longest-running war, but the Afghan men being held at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay aren’t expected to see any changes.
US govt must provide details to justify drone killing of American – judgeThe US Department of Justice must turn over important details from a key memo which the government has used to justify targeted killings across the Middle East – including the drone strike that killed an American who joined Al-Qaeda, a US judge has ruled.
Did Michigan just trigger ‘constitutional convention’? Bid gains steamA never before used option – a political wild card of sorts that gives states rather than Congress the power to initiate a change to the U.S. Constitution – could soon be in play, with Washington lawmakers forced to meet and deal with adding a balanced budget amendment to the law of the land.
Russia prepares to attack the petrodollarThe existence of “petrodollars” is one of the pillars of America’s economic might because it creates a significant external demand for American currency, allowing the US to accumulate enormous debts without defaulting. If a Japanese buyer wants to buy a barrel of Saudi oil, he has to pay in dollars even if no American oil company ever touches the said barrel.
Larry Summers explains Washington to Elizabeth Warren in one sentence:
“In the spring of 2009, after the panel issued its third report, critical of the bailout, Larry Summers took Warren out to dinner in Washington and, she recalls, told her that she had a choice to make. She could be an insider or an outsider, but if she was going to be an insider she needed to understand one unbreakable rule about insiders: ‘They don’t criticize other insiders.'”
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/04/21/140421crbo_books_lepore?currentPage=all
EFF and Sunlight Foundation come together to build Contact-CongressIf you’ve never contacted your congress person then you might not realize how difficult our politicians have made it to get a hold of them. There are 535 members of the House and Senate all whom have some arcane contact form on their websites that obscure their direct email address.
Does Meditation Have Health Benefits?“The Healthy Geezer” answers questions about health and aging in his weekly column. Question: Does meditating have any real health benefits? Answer: Meditation definitely reduces stress. And too much stress is bad for your health. There is some research that indicates meditation may help with: Allergies, anxiety, asthma, binge eating, cancer, depression, fatigue, heart disease, high blood pressure, pain, sleep difficulties and substance abuse.
Who Goes to Jail? Matt Taibbi on American Injustice Gap from Wall Street to Main StreetAward-winning journalist Matt Taibbi is out with an explosive new book that asks why the vast majority of white-collar criminals have avoided prison since the financial crisis began, while an unequal justice system imprisons the poor and people of color on a mass scale.
Defense Council’s Video Catches 5 Cops Lying on Witness Stand “Many, many, many, many times”In a ‘Perry Mason’ moment, a video played in court contradicts police officers who testified their drug arrest was proper April 15, 2014By Steve SchmadekeChicago Tribune One by one, five police officers took the witness stand at the Skokie courthouse late last month for what would typically be a routine hearing on whether evidence in…
What John Roberts Doesn’t Get About CorruptionIn McCutcheon v. FEC, the landmark case that threw out aggregate limits on campaign spending last week, Chief Justice John Roberts made clear that for the majority of this current Supreme Court, corruption means quid pro quo corruption. In other words, if it’s not punishable by a bribery statute, it’s not corruption.
Consumers may be barred from suing General Mills for ‘liking’ company on FacebookReuters / Brendan McDermid Under a new privacy policy, Fortune 500 corporation General Mills claims that anyone who has received anything from it that can be deemed a benefit – even agreeing to “like” it on Facebook – withdraws rights to sue the company.
Philadelphia cuts cooperation with ICE deportation policePhiladelphia law enforcement officials will stop taking immigrants into custody on behalf of the federal government unless provided with a warrant. The news comes after city Mayor Michael Nutter signed an executive order on Wednesday.
Snowden’s email provider Lavabit loses federal appealReuters / Lavabit.com A federal appeals panel on Wednesday dismissed what attorneys for the Lavabit email service said was “immense public concern” surrounding the government’s request for the site’s encryption keys, and instead upheld a lower court’s earlier ruling.
Ron Paul’s nonprofit refuses to disclose list of donors to the IRSRon Paul (Reuters/Robert Galbraith) The United States Federal Reserve is usually the government office finding itself most often in the crosshairs of former Texas congressman Ron Paul, but now the longtime lawmaker is setting his sights on another agency: the Internal Revenue Service.
“We are in great danger”: Ex-banker details how mega-banks destroyed America“It no longer matters who sits in the White House,” former Goldman Sachs managing director Nomi Prins writes in her new book ” All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power.” “Presidents no longer even try to garner banker support for population-friendly policies, and bankers operate oblivious to the needs of national economies.