Category: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Warren vs. Weiss

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Aunt Bibban's Memorial

She gave a barnburner of a speech yesterday:

Speaking at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, Warren cast her opposition to Weiss as part of a bigger battle against the influence of the finance industry in Washington.

“Why does the revolving door matter?” she said. “Because it means that too much of the time, the wind blows from the same direction. Time after time in government, the Wall Street view prevails, and time after time, conflicting views are crowded out.”

Warren also continued to make the case for why Weiss specifically should not be confirmed. She said Weiss’ defenders haven’t shown that his experience as Lazard’s head of global banking prepares him for a job focused on domestic markets and financial regulation. She railed against his ties to Wall Street as “a corporate deal maker” and stood by her criticism of the Obama administration for selecting too many bankers for government posts.

“For me, this is one spin of the revolving door too many,” Warren said. “Enough is enough.”
Warren said the undersecretary job entails more than just peddling U.S. Treasuries to foreign investors and that Weiss would play a key role in crafting policy.

Torture report

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

The word “rectal” appears 48 times. Anal “rehydration,” anal “feeding” that consisted of putting the guy’s dinner in a blender and shoving it up his rectum.

Page 50: “This group of officers included individuals who, among other issues, had engaged in inappropriate detainee interrogations, had workplace anger management issues, and had reportedly admitted to sexual assault.”

The White House press secretary was advised to avoid using the term “humane treatment” when discussing the detention of al-Qa’ida and Taliban personnel.

Page 100 – Majid Khan’s lunch tray, consisting of a meal of hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts, and raisins was “pureed” and rectally infused. Mustafa al-Hawsawi … was later diagnosed with chronic hemorrhoids, an anal fissure, and symptomatic rectal prolapse.

New Jersey sucks

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

NJ Governor Chris Christie Can Shut Down A Bridge And Not Get Arrested

Thanks to Chris Christie’s remarkable leadership! Say, here’s a thought: Maybe he should run for president:

New Jersey is the eighth-worst run state in the country, according to a report on WallStreet247.com.

Although the Garden State has a relatively low poverty rate and the third-highest median income in the nation, it was offset by several negative factors, the study said. Among the items that worked against New Jersey: a downward trending credit rating as well as the 10th-highest unemployment rate and a high debt per capita.

The study said New Jersey’s cost of living is the third highest in the United States — 14 percent higher than the typical state. Its reported debt per capita of $7857 in 2012 was the fifth highest in the nation.

The rankings were compiled in three major categories: financial position, economic outcomes, and social outcomes.

The three worst-run states in country according to WallStreet247.com are Illinois, New Mexico and Mississippi. The three best-run are North Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska.

New Jersey’s neighbors all fared better — Delaware was ranked 13th best; New York 33rd and Pennsylvania 26th.

Uh huh

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

We know he’s a crook. It’s only a matter of time before he gets tripped up:

A year ago, a New Jersey legislative committee held a hearing that blew the lid off official explanations of four days of traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge. It would be another month before the cause of the lane closures was traced back to an email from Gov. Chris Christie’s deputy chief of staff. And the governor still maintains he didn’t pay much attention to the controversy until he found out he was lied to by Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelly.

But newly disclosed phone records – supplied by AT&T to the New Jersey legislature and obtained by WNYC – show that Christie’s current Chief of Staff, Regina Egea, communicated by cell phone with Gov. Christie 12 times during that hearing on December 9, 2013. The Governor initiated the contact, about 30 minutes into the testimony, and sent a total of three texts to the aide. Egea replied nine times before the testimony concluded. The records show only one other text from Egea to Christie that month, on Christmas Day.

A timeline of the testimony, created by WNYC based on recordings of the hearing and tweets sent that day, shows that around the time of the text messages, witnesses delivered some of their sharpest blows to the Christie administration’s version of the Bridgegate events.

The new evidence contrasts with a report the governor’s legal team issued last March, which did not reveal any texts about the lane closures sent from Christie to anyone from September 2013, when the Fort Lee traffic tie-ups occurred, through January. And it contradicts the sworn testimony of Egea that there was only one text from her to Christie that day.

‘The cops are still out of control’

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

serpico
Frank Serpico:

Forty-odd years on, my story probably seems like ancient history to most people, layered over with Hollywood legend. For me it’s not, since at the age of 78 I’m still deaf in one ear and I walk with a limp and I carry fragments of the bullet near my brain. I am also, all these years later, still persona non grata in the NYPD. Never mind that, thanks to Sidney Lumet’s direction and Al Pacino’s brilliant acting, “Serpico” ranks No. 40 on the American Film Institute’s list of all-time movie heroes, or that as I travel around the country and the world, police officers often tell me they were inspired to join the force after seeing the movie at an early age.

In the NYPD that means little next to my 40-year-old heresy, as they see it. I still get hate mail from active and retired police officers. A couple of years ago after the death of David Durk — the police officer who was one of my few allies inside the department in my efforts to expose graft — the Internet message board “NYPD Rant” featured some choice messages directed at me. “Join your mentor, Rat scum!” said one. An ex-con recently related to me that a precinct captain had once said to him, “If it wasn’t for that fuckin’ Serpico, I coulda been a millionaire today.” My informer went on to say, “Frank, you don’t seem to understand, they had a well-oiled money making machine going and you came along and threw a handful of sand in the gears.”

In 1971 I was awarded the Medal of Honor, the NYPD’s highest award for bravery in action, but it wasn’t for taking on an army of corrupt cops. It was most likely due to the insistence of Police Chief Sid Cooper, a rare good guy who was well aware of the murky side of the NYPD that I’d try to expose. But they handed the medal to me like an afterthought, like tossing me a pack of cigarettes. After all this time, I’ve never been given a proper certificate with my medal. And although living Medal of Honor winners are typically invited to yearly award ceremonies, I’ve only been invited once — and it was by Bernard Kerick, who ironically was the only NYPD commissioner to later serve time in prison.

A few years ago, after the New York Police Museum refused my guns and other memorabilia, I loaned them to the Italian-American museum right down street from police headquarters, and they invited me to their annual dinner. I didn’t know it was planned, but the chief of police from Rome, Italy, was there, and he gave me a plaque. The New York City police officers who were there wouldn’t even look at me.

Continue reading “‘The cops are still out of control’” →

Trading policy positions for contributions

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Yves Smith on the nomination of Antonio Weiss to head Treasury, and the ensuing attacks on Elizabeth Warren. Go read it all, it’s fascinating. But this is a key point:

So what Sorkin is trying to spin as a plus is something we warned about earlier: that the Obama Administration is now making important policy roles into patronage positions, to be handed out as prizes to important fundraisers. Before, that sort of thing used to be limited to ambassadorships and secondary posts like head of the Export-Import Bank. Now it’s going to unquestionably important roles.

Fraternities teach valuable lessons about brotherhood

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

Where on earth do these wacky women get the idea that fraternities promote sexual violence toward women? From Georgia Tech’s Phi Kappa Tau:

Leader: Who can take a bicycle,
Group: Who can take a bicycle,
Leader: Tear off the seat.
Group: Tear off the seat.
Leader: Impale a virgin on it, and push her down a bumpy street.
Leader: The S & M man.
Group: Oh the S & M man.
Leader: Oh the S & M man.
Group: Oh the S & M man.
Chorus: The S &M man,
‘Cause he mixes it with love,
And makes the hurt feel good
Makes the hurt feel good.
Who can take two ice picks
Stick ’em in her ears
Ride her like a Harley while he pokes her in the rear
Who can take two jumper cables
Hook ’em to her tits
Turn on the juice and electrocute the bitch
Continue reading “Fraternities teach valuable lessons about brotherhood” →

Good

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

Robert P. McCulloch - Hands Up Don't Indict

Get this guy any way you can:

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – After facing criticism for his handling of the Ferguson grand jury investigation, St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch may have his law license threatened.

A group headed by Dr. Christi Griffin with the Ethics Project will meet tonight to determine whether it will file an ethics complaint against McCulloch with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, an agency of the Missouri Supreme Court.

Griffin says initial reports from the Ferguson police chief that Darren Wilson did not know that Michael Brown was suspected in an earlier convenience store robbery were changed in testimony before the grand jury, and she believes that represents perjury.
Continue reading “Good” →

Christianity is the religion of peace

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

The suspect was allegedly threatening people in the Muslim community on Facebook. He is also reported to have aimed a gun at some local Muslims and threatened to kill them:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A teenager who was is in surgery at Children’s Mercy Hospital after being hit by a man driving an SUV near Admiral Boulevard and The Paseo on Thursday night has died. The 15-year-old boy lost a lot of blood when his legs were severed in what police believe was an intentional attack outside the Somali Center of Kansas City.

“It became pretty clear that this was not an accidental crash, there is a considerable amount of evidence that leads us to believe it was intentional,” Sergeant Bill Mahoney with KCPD said.

The teenage boy was getting into a car outside of the Somali Center when he was hit. A male suspect in his 30’s is in custody.

“Suspect apparently hit him and another individual as they were getting into a car that was parked along the north side of Admiral Boulevard,” Sgt. Mahoney said. “Vehicle then was damaged, he tried to leave the scene but couldn’t get anywhere in the vehicle. He bailed out of it, started running eastbound and was apprehended by officers.”

H/t Jason Kalafat, a DC Federal Criminal Lawyer.