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I see no point in continuing. Expect light posting tomorrow through the weekend.
• Nate Silver has caucus projections, as well as the New Hampshire primary. He’s currently predicting a Romney-Romney double win. There’s really no other adult running a campaign for modern conservatives.
• This Steve Randy Waldman post on complexity in the financial markets is bound to be controversial, but there is some great writing in here.
• I assume the Economist depicts these assaults on classical economics as a threat to the established order, but the established order has been full of FAIL the past several years, so at least some of these other options are getting a hearing. I’d add that the Austrian school is far closer to orthodoxy among economic elites these days, and that’s part of the problem.
• 2011 featured an historic rollback in abortion rights, mostly in the states.
• The thing is that ads already appear on PBS, and in fact the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is responsible for a much smaller portion of the annual budget of public television and radio than most people, even members of Congress, believe.
• Kim Jong-un has been named the Supreme Leader of North Korea.
• Matt Stoller is well worth reading on Ron Paul and liberal reactions thereto.
• The initial reports got this wrong: David Petraeus didn’t almost resign when the order came to draw down troops in Afghanistan, lunatic neocon Max Boot told him to resign, and Petraeus declined.
• This is really revolting. Blue Shield of California illegally rescinded the policies of over 1,000 sick patients, and their penalty is… a measly $2 million? To be split by the city and county? This does pile on a state settlement that got an additional $3 million out of Blue Shield and got the policies of the affected patients restored. But keep in mind that one patient, Patsy Bates, got $9 million in a jury trial against HealthNet in a rescission case.
• Charlie Pierce takes a whack at that awful high Broderist piece on Obama not schmoozing enough.
• Egyptian military forces raided a series of nonprofits and civil society groups, a pretty bad sign for the country going forward.
• Surprised that anyone at this point in Europe would run on joining the euro currency union. Because it’s been so well-run? Speaking of which, so much for the end of the euro crisis. Italy couldn’t sell all their bonds without ECB help today.
• Muslim leaders boycott an interfaith breakfast in New York City in protest of the NYPD’s spying activities against their community.
• China lifted its rare earth minerals export quota, one of the more important pieces of economic news you won’t hear about.
• A bill in the South Carolina legislature would ban the Nikki Haley-approved phone greeting from public offices of “It’s a great day in South Carolina” until it’s actually a great day in South Carolina. Genius.
• Great story about an innovative direct action to shame Bank of America into completing a loan modification.
• Hugo Chavez asserts that the United States is giving Latin American leaders cancer. Not seeing the evidence for this one, but OK.
• I will actually get to cast a vote next June on whether porn movie actors should have to wear condoms. The TV ads for this one are going to be, er, intense.
• Why the small Pennsylvania college Franklin & Marshall is so huge in Europe.
• Give apes iPads and watch them illegally download copyrighted movies! #SOPAArgumentNumber243
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Here’s hoping this becomes a big trend.
“Beginning Sunday, Connecticut will jettison its private health plans from Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program. Instead of paying the companies a set monthly fee to cover the health costs of more than 400,000 children and parents, the state will assume financial responsibility.
. . .
“State officials say the companies, including Hartford-based Aetna, did not fulfill their promise of lower costs and better care.”
LINK.
Re the Chavez cancer statement: surely you could see that one coming. It’s overdue, actually.
Interesting historical overview of the US secret assassination program
U.S. eyes first BP criminal charges over Gulf spill: report
“Citing sources close to the matter, the Journal said the prosecutors are focusing on US-based BP engineers and at least one supervisor who they say may have provided false information to regulators on the risks of deep water drilling in the Gulf.
. . .
“A conviction on that charge would carry a fine and up to five years in prison, the newspaper said.
“The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has already issued a second list of violations regarding BP’s operation of the Macondo well that blew out in April 2010, causing the worst maritime environmental disaster in history.”
LINK.
Going after the big fish, are we? I don’t think Tony Hayward is losing sleep yet.
A couple of things: Hugo shouldn’t feel alone the U.S. Gov’t is giving us all cancer. GMO in the morning, GMO in the midday, GMO in the evening. A good dose of GMO goes a long, long way. Second, on the Austrian school: you don’t need to travel that far to know that too loose lending, profligate tax cuts and outrageous military spending will send 99% of us to the poor house. Then, after that will be left alone and playing the new board game of DumpsterDiving & Fending.
But, but, but, allan, it carries a fine.
Don’t forget diabetes, esp as regard gm corn syrup/sucrose.
Secret Subpoena For Twitter User Account Info Allowed to Proceed
“Twitter must comply with a formerly secretive subpoena and hand user account information over to the Boston Police Department as part of a criminal investigation, according to a Massachusetts superior court judge’s ruling in a closed hearing on Thursday, the Boston Globe’s Metrodesk reported.
“The ruling from the Suffolk Superior Court judge was a blow to one of the Twitter users named in the subpoena, @p0isAn0N, aka Guido Fawkes, and his lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union in Massachusetts, who filed a motion to overturn the subpoena originally served by the Suffolk District Attorney on December 14.”
LINK
Just one minute and eighteen seconds!
“In his latest sharply-worded order, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff chastised the SEC for not telling him it had filed an emergency request with an appeals court to put the case on hold, after making the same request to him.
“So when Rakoff on Tuesday issued a ruling opposing any delay in the case, he was beaten to the punch; 78 seconds earlier, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had granted the SEC the temporary halt it sought.
“He also accused the SEC and Citigroup of potentially “misleading” the court, saying they called him around 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT) on Tuesday to discuss the case, without mentioning the filing with the 2nd Circuit.”
LINK.
Telecom customers may sue government over wiretapping, court says
An appellate panel reinstates a lawsuit against the federal government over post-9/11 warrantless wiretapping and sends the case back to U.S. district court for trial.
LINK.
For those who don’t appreciate CarrierIQ (here and here), look here.