Featured Stories
Arpaio on Trial (Update)
July 24, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
When testimony in the trial began last Thursday, Sheriff's Deputy Louis DiPietro took the stand as plaintiffs' attorneys zeroed in on his motivation for stopping Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, a Mexican tourist in the U.S. legally, who was stopped outside a church in Cave Creek where day laborers were known to gather. Melendres was the passenger in a car driven by a White driver.
Melendres claims that deputies detained him for nine hours and that the detention was unlawful. (This plainly would violate the "stop" conditions for SB 1070 laid down by the U.S. Supreme Court recently in Arizona v. U.S.) Attorneys for the plaintiffs have long contended that the Sheriff's Office conflates being Hispanic and being a day laborer with being an undocumented immigrant. DiPietro said as much in his testimony. Racial profiling trial: Ruling to be based on current conditions.
When testimony resumed on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow directed questions to Deputy Louis DiPietro. Arpaio's words used against him at racial-profiling case:
[Judge] Snow focused in on the background, training and experience of Deputy Louis DiPietro, who stopped a car in Cave Creek that had just picked up a group of day laborers, including Manuel de Jesus Ortega-Melendres. Ortega-Melendres is a named plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Of particular interest to Snow was a statement DiPietro made last week regarding his opinion that most day laborers are in the country illegally. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have long contended that the Sheriff's Office conflates being Hispanic and being a day laborer with being an undocumented immigrant.
DiPietro said he formed that opinion based on the stop he made in Cave Creek nearly five years ago.
"Is there any other basis other than that day on which you have now formed that opinion," Snow asked.
"The fact that that type of work doesn't require any type of, um, you don't have to show an ID, um, it would be easier, that type of work would be easier for, um, a person in this country illegally to, um, get because they wouldn't have the proper paperwork for other types of employment," DiPietro replied.
After a little more than an hour on the stand, DiPietro was excused.
On to the main event Tuesday. Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio took the witness stand next.
Even in Apologizing, Russell Pearce Demonstrates Unfitness For Office
July 24, 2012
By Michael Bryan Today Russell Pearce finally threw in the towel and just apologized for his wooden-headed statements on Facebook following the Aurora massacre. But even as he apologized for having caused offense, he doubled down: "I will never understand policies that disarm honest citizens and leave them vulnerable to the premeditated attacks of madmen…" … Read more
Mr. Romney, Your Apology From The Obama Campaign, Sir…
July 24, 2012
By Michael Bryan
Well, that happened… Campaign Obama's Stephanie Cutter issued an apology today to Mr. Romney for saying that he was either a liar or a felon for his SEC filings with Bain from 1999 to 2002. It was heart-felt and moving. It should more than satisfy Mr. Romney's wounded sensibilities.
See the historic apology after the click…
Ken Bennett completes his transformation into unabashed partisan
July 24, 2012
by
by David Safier Ken Bennett is taking his decision to deny the voters a chance to decide on renewing the one cent sales tax to the Supreme Court. A few weeks ago, Bennett was planning to accept Judge Oberbillig's decision. In an op-ed piece nearly two weeks ago in the Arizona Daily Star, Bennett wrote … Read more
Mitt Romney: Fearless Leader
July 23, 2012
by
by David Safier I got another Dear Friend letter from Mitt Romney. Yadda yadda yadda, here's the money pitch: I know Mitt was a young guy when Rocky and Bullwinkle was around, but just in case he's forgotten or never watched quality TV: Fearless Leader was Boris and Natasha's boss. Here are two clips from … Read more
Wealth hoarding in offshore tax havens by the super rich
July 23, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Super rich individuals and their families have as much as $32 trillion of hidden financial assets in offshore tax havens, representing up to $280 billion in lost income tax revenues. Super rich hold $32 trillion in offshore havens:
The research was carried out for the group Tax Justice Network, which campaigns against tax havens, by James Henry, former chief economist at consultants McKinsey & Co.
He used data from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and central banks.
The study estimating the extent of global private financial wealth held in offshore accounts – excluding non-financial assets such as real estate, gold, yachts and racehorses – puts the sum at between $21 and $32 trillion.
The report also highlights the impact on the balance sheets of 139 developing countries of money held in tax havens by private elites, putting wealth beyond the reach of local tax authorities.
The research estimates that since the 1970s, the richest citizens of these 139 countries had amassed $7.3 to $9.3 trillion of "unrecorded offshore wealth" by 2010.
More details from Daily Kos, World's elite loots at least $21 trillion and stashes it in tax-avoiding hideaways:
According to James Henry, a former chief economist at consultancy McKinsey, half of that gigantic stash is owned by just 92,000 individuals. That is 0.001 percent of the world's population.
Fabricating faux controversy for GOPropaganda
July 23, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I posted last week about how the mighty Wurlitzer of the right-wing noise machine, led by FAUX News Fraudcasting, fabricated a controversy by selectively editing a speech by President Obama to purposefully distort his words into "You didn"t build that," for GOPropaganda last week that the GOP and Willard "Mittens" Romney himself picked up and ran with. Then FAUX News Fraudcasting congratulated everyone, including the "lamesteam" media villagers, for repeating their GOPropaganda. FAUX News Fraudcasting was mighty proud of its "big lie" GOPropaganda capability.
For what it's worth, Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler, whom the Romney campaign has cited in defense of Romney's ridiculous "retroactive retirement" from Bain Capital claim (Kessler finally relented from his equally ridiculous support over the weekend), today demolishes Romney’s ongoing falsehoods, noting that conservative claims about Obama’s larger argument don’t change the simple truth that Romney’s use of the specific “didn’t build that” quote out of context clearly alters its meaning.
It seems Romney is losing even his last defender in Glenn Kessler with his shameless lying.
This latest line of attack is rendered more ridiculous with this revelation from Steve Benen, Romney's 'it takes a village' argument in 2002:
In retrospect, this is probably a quote Mitt Romney wishes he could take back.
This clip (below the fold) comes from the opening ceremonies at the 2002 Winter Olympics, at which Romney reminded the athletes, "[You] Olympians know, however, that you didn't get here solely on your own power. For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them."
(Update) The Fire Next Time: The Euro financial crisis reaching critical mass
July 23, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Just as every legitimate economist predicted, the austerity measures by the European Union to resolve its Euro financial crisis are insufficient and misguided, and are not working. European markets teetering on fears that bank bailout will fall short:
Spanish borrowing costs soared for the third-straight trading day on Monday as fears grew that the country’s teetering financial situation was too dire to be calmed by a limited bailout of its banking system.
European leaders have worked to stanch their economic crisis in recent weeks, giving Spain a partial bailout targeting its banks and considering additional European oversight for those banks. But investors on Monday were trading Spanish 10-year bonds at euro-era highs as markets dropped and officials braced for a tough stretch of negotiations about Europe’s future.
* * *
The Bank of Spain added to the bad news Monday, announcing that the Spanish economy shrank by 0.4 percent in the second quarter of 2012, slightly worse than at the beginning of the year. Spanish media reports over the weekend said that six of Spain’s troubled regional governments were preparing to ask the national government for financial assistance. Should that happen, Spanish leaders would come under more pressure to ask for aid beyond the $121 billion that was earmarked for their banking system last month.
* * *
The new fears over the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy sent the currency to its lowest levels in more than two years, at $1.21, and pushed Spanish and German markets down by more than 3 percent on Monday, with Spanish regulators imposing a ban on short sales on Spain’s stock indexes to try to keep markets from plunging further. The reaction suggests that the initial bailout may turn out to be insufficient before it has even formally gone into operation. That will take place this week.
