THIS AWARD-WINNING VISUALIZATION ANALYZES 240 MILLION LIGHT YEARS OF SPACE TO PEEL BACK THE LAYERS OF INVISIBLE WEBBING HOLDING OUR UNIVERSE TOGETHER.
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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In the News
By Helena Bachmann in Geneva, Time Magazine, March 15, 2012
[....] In early February, in a move that rattled Switzerland's financial industry, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Wegelin on charges of helping wealthy Americans hide $1.2 billion from U.S. tax authorities. As the first foreign bank in history to be indicted by the U.S. government, the ruined Wegelin was quickly sold to a former rival, Raiffeisen Group. But the Obama Administration was just getting started — it also ramped up the pressure on 11 more Swiss financial institutions to hand over their American clients' names. Now it looks like U.S. authorities might get their wish.
On March 4, the Swiss parliament approved an amendment to the country's existing tax accord with the U.S., which, when ratified by the U.S. Senate, will give the American government unprecedented access to accounts held by its citizens in Switzerland. While the existing agreement has long allowed the release of tax information in cases of proven wrongdoing, various stumbling blocks, like different interpretations of tax evasion under Swiss and American laws, often slowed or even halted the process. [....]
The amended treaty will now allow U.S. authorities to identify American tax evaders who exhibit certain "behavioral patterns" more easily [....]
The Great Legal Paradox of Our Time: How Civil Libertarians Strengthened the National Security State
By Jack Goldsmith, The New Republic, March 16, 2012
When Michael Ratner argued in a February 2002 lawsuit that British citizen Shafiq Rasul had a legal right to challenge his detention at Guantanamo Bay, there was little reason to believe he and his colleagues at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) would play any role in shaping America’s national security landscape. The country was still seething with anger over the attacks of 9/11, and longing for revenge. The few legal precedents that existed were not very encouraging. (“Never in American history had the [Supreme] Court tried in any way to interfere with a war in progress,” noted Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in The Imperial Presidency.) And the Ratner-led CCR was a far-left legal advocacy organization—the group had previously represented the Attica rioters, the Chicago Eight, Nicaraguan contras, and assorted other “violent radicals, Communist front-groups, cop-killers, and sworn enemies of the United States,” in the words of conservative critic [....]
And yet, a decade later, it’s now clear that Ratner and progressive activists like him have had an outsized impact on national security policy—though not exactly the one they would have wished [....]
Two months after Barack Obama’s inauguration, his administration filed its first brief in a constitutional habeas corpus case from GTMO. To Ratner’s astonishment, the brief argued for a broad power of indefinite military detention over GTMO detainees [....]
By Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times, March 17/18, 2012
GREENVILLE, Ohio — For those feeling down about the United States and its place in the world, meet Drew Lovejoy, a 17-year-old from rural Ohio. His background could not be more American. His father is black and Baptist from Georgia and his mother is white and Jewish from Iowa. But his fame is international after winning the all-Ireland dancing championship in Dublin for a third straight year.
Drew is the first to admit that this is a lot to take in, so he sometimes hides part of his biography for the sake of convenience. As in 2010, when he became the first person of color to win the world championship for Irish dancing — the highest honor in that small and close-knit world — and a group of male dancers in their 70s, all of them Irish, offered their congratulations.
“They said, ‘We never thought it would happen, but we’re thrilled that it did,’ ” said Drew’s mother, Andee Goldberg. She added, “They don’t even know he’s Jewish. That hasn’t been broached. I think it would be too overwhelming.” [....]
By Spencer Ackerman, Danger Room @ wired.com, March 15, 2012
Here’s how you know the Afghan surge really is coming to an end: The U.S. Army is starting to pack up its stuff, close its bases and begin the arduous logistical work of downsizing in Afghanistan [....]
By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, March 16, 2012
Washington (CNN) -- Tapping away at his computer in the study of the suburban compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that he called home for the last years of his life, Osama bin Laden wrote memos urging his followers to continue to try to attack the United States, suggesting, for instance, they mount assassination attempts against President Obama and Gen. David Petraeus.
While he urged his organization on to attack America, bin Laden was also keenly aware that al Qaeda was in deep trouble because of the campaign of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan and also because the brutal tactics of his followers had alienated many Muslims.
According to senior Obama administration officials who have reviewed the "treasure trove" of the thousands of documents that were picked up by the U.S. Navy SEALs from bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, the leaders of al Qaeda understood that the group they led was "beleaguered." CNN was given a briefing this week by senior administration officials who have been analyzing the documents.
Bin Laden wrote a 48-page memo to a deputy in October 2010 that surveyed the state of his organization. He was particularly concerned that al Qaeda's longtime sanctuary in Waziristan in Pakistan's tribal areas was now too dangerous because of the campaign of American drone strikes there that had picked off many of his key lieutenants [....]
Also see:
New York Times' version of the same: Bin Laden Plot Against Obama Outlined in Documents, by John H. Cushman Jr., March 16/17. It does cover other items, such as:
[....] The documents include one in which Bin Laden asked his top lieutenant, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, to find out from a Pakistani terrorist named Ilyas Kashmiri “the steps he has taken” toward assassinating Mr. Obama and the top American general in the region. Mr. Kashmiri had long been one of the chief targets of American counterintelligence forces.
That account emerged in a column by David Ignaitius that was published Friday morning on the Web site of The Washington Post. Mr. Ignatius said he had been granted access to translations of the documents from the raid last year that have been declassified and will be made public soon [....]
By Tony Perry and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2012
Reporting from San Diego and Los Angeles -- San Diego police said Friday that they don't expect to seek any criminal charges against Jason Russell, the filmmaker behind the viral "Kony 2012" video, after a bizarre incident.
Russell was acting oddly, dressed only in underwear and darting in and out of traffic in the Pacific Beach neighborhood, when officers spotted him on Thursday afternoon, authorities said. Police said some callers reported that Russell was naked and touching himself [....]
At the headquarters of Invisible Children, the San Diego nonprofit that produced the video about African militia leader Joseph Kony, security guards blocked the entrance. Workers could be seen removing black and red "Kony 2012" banners from inside the lobby. No one answered the phones, but people could be seen inside talking on cellphones. Some were crying.
A New York-based public relations firm released a statement from the organization's chief executive, Ben Keesey, acknowledging that Russell had been hospitalized [....]
I like this guy and believe that this short interview is well worth watching.
BEIJING — As the Chinese government forges ahead on a multibillion-dollar effort to blanket the country with surveillance cameras, one American company stands to profit: Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney. In December, a Bain-run fund in which a Romney family blind trust has holdings purchased the video surveillance division of a Chinese company that claims to be the largest supplier to the government’s Safe Cities program, a highly advanced monitoring system....a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Gansu Province....said the cameras helped the authorities identify and detain nearly 200 monks who participated in a protest at his monastery in 2008....
In response to Netanyahu's AIPAC speech, Haaretz's editor-in-chief says that what looks like a preparation for war, acts like a preparation for war, and quacks like a preparation for war, is a preparation for war.
It appears that authorities in Ohio are narrowing down the specific processes causing this strange phenomenon.
I remember being a young Marine recruit at Parris Island, August of 1966, running, running, boots thumping on the grinder, exulting in the sense of power and communion that comes of men acting in unison, shouting, “Luke the Gook comes marching by, stick your bayonet in his eye, lef rye lef rye lef....” Only an idiot goes to PI—Third Batallion, Disneyland, in my case—in August. I was one. It goes with being nineteen.
Julian Borger with David Rohde, guardian.co.uk, 14 March 2012
Transcript of
Our transatlantic webchat on Afghanistan with international affairs experts from the Guardian and Reuters
Highly recommended, both have been on this beat and related for over a decade. Borger has long shown himself to have a lot of strong sources on the diplomatic front, and Rohde was the one kidnapped by the Taliban when he worked for the NYT and knows Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as any Westerner can.
By Robert Booth, Mona Mahmood and Luke Harding, guardian.co.uk, 14 March 2012
• Messages show president Bashar al-Assad took advice from Iran
• Under-pressure leader made light of of promised reforms
• Assad's wife spent thousands shopping on jewellery and furniture
[....] The revelations are contained in more than 3,000 documents that activists say are emails downloaded from private accounts belonging to Assad and his wife Asma.
The messages, which have been obtained by the Guardian, are said to have been intercepted by members of the opposition Supreme Council of the Revolution group between June and early February [....]
The Guardian has made extensive efforts to authenticate the emails by checking their contents against established facts and contacting 10 individuals whose correspondence appears in the cache. These checks suggest the messages are genuine, but it has not been possible to verify every one [....]
By Martin Hutchinson, Asia Times Online, March 13, 2012
Only China of the much-lauded "BRIC" countries is (possibly) living up to its fast-growth billing. The economies of Russia, Brazil and India are facing slowing or suspect expansion, and given their political leadership their outlook is far from bright [....]
But also see:
China Struggles to Bridge Gap Between Rich, Poor
by Shannon van Sant, Voice of America News, March 13, 2012
[....] In his opening speech to the NPC, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao announced plans to slow the economy to help curb inflation - which China wants to keep below four percent. Wen also said the government will take measures to restrain rising property prices [....]
and:
Chinese Economy in ‘Hard Landing’: JPMorgan
By Weiyi Lim, Bloomberg News, March 14
China’s economy is already in a so- called “hard landing,” according to Adrian Mowat, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief Asian and emerging-market strategist. “If you look at the Chinese data, you should stop debating about a hard landing,” Mowat, who is based in Hong Kong, said at a conference in Singapore yesterday. “China is in a hard landing. Car sales are down, cement production is down, steel production is down, construction stocks are down. It’s not a debate anymore, it’s a fact.” [....]
By John Feffer, Asia Times Online, March 13, 2012
It's not likely that an Occupy Pyongyang movement will set up tents in Kim Il-sung Square any time soon. Protest, after all, is virtually non-existent in that society. But the same widening inequalities that plague the United States and the global economy can also be found inside North Korea.
What was once a relatively equitable society, albeit at the low end of per-capita gross domestic product, has been experiencing a rapid polarization in wealth. The implications of this widening gap on North Korean government policy - as well as on international policies promoting human security inside North Korea - are enormous. [....]
Georgia (STOGA1)’s lottery players are the biggest suckers in a nation buying more than $50 billion a year in tickets for state-run games, which have the worst odds of any form of legal gambling.
Players in Georgia, whose per capita income is about 10 percent below the U.S. average, are doing the most damage to their personal finances. They spent the second-highest chunk of their income on the lottery, which funds college scholarships and pre-kindergarten, according to the Sucker Index created by Bloomberg Rankings.
Another shooting in Texas, this time in a courthouse located in Jefferson County--Beaumont, Texas.
CNN claims at least four dead (3 confirmed).
I just bring this up because yesterday a US general happened to remark that although the recent flip-out of a US soldier in Afghanistan was a tragedy--ending in the murder of 13 innocent civilians; ''these things happen all the time in America."
By Dominik Drutschman, Spiegel Online, March 14, 2012
Mozambique-born Ibraimo Alberto was the only black man in the eastern German town of Schwedt. But half a year ago, after 21 years, he fled the daily racism and moved to the western city of Karlsruhe with his family. The social worker and former boxer is trying to come to terms with his experiences
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment, March 14, 2012
A new poll shows that the US public, showing a broad consensus across parties, wants the Iran nuclear enrichment issue dealt with through negotiations. They even want to entrust the issue to the UN security council. They think that the US should discourage Israel from attacking Iran. They are convinced that an attack would be a disaster and lead to a long-term conflict. And they hold that if Israel goes it alone and does strike Iran, the United States should remain neutral [....]
By Greg Smith, New York Times Guest Op-Ed, March 14, 2012
Editor's note: Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Excerpt: [....] It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail. Even after the S.E.C., Fabulous Fab, Abacus, God’s work, Carl Levin, Vampire Squids? No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don’t know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client’s goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.
It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth: If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn’t matter how smart you are.
These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, “How much money did we make off the client?” It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave [....]
Also see:
A Public Exit From Goldman Sachs Hits at a Wounded Wall Street, by Nelson D. Schwartz, New York Times, March 14
and:
Goldman director quits 'morally bankrupt' firm, by Juliette Garside and Jill Treanor,
Guardian.co.uk, 14 March
And now it begins.......
As a member of a heavily male- and GOP-dominated state Senate since 2008, Ohio legislator Nina Turner says she has cringed watching her colleagues pass bill after bill to regulate women's reproductive health. Now, the Democrat has become the latest in a series of female state legislators to give her male colleagues a taste of their own medicine by introducing a bill that limits men's ability to get a Viagra prescription without meeting certain government conditions........
I would urge all these bills to include targeting vasectomies too!
Will they pass? Very doubtful. But, maybe, just maybe, women who are not involved and submitting to the horrific actions against women's healthcare, will pay attention and take note in the fact that women are being subjected to restrictions and disrespect for their well being that men are not.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will win Tuesday night's Alabama and Mississippi primaries, CBS News projects.
And Newt doesn't seem to be getting out of the race. But who knows. He did attack Mitt bi time.
....Afghans seem increasingly uncertain about their country’s fate once the Americans withdraw. Asylum applications to other countries are at an all-time high, while passport applications have overwhelmed the Afghan Foreign Ministry’s ability to process them. More than 500 people line up outside the passport office in Kabul every morning even in the bitterest weather. Many respected Afghans have fled the country......Cash moving through Kabul International Airport has gone up drastically in the past year, so that now about $4 billion is leaving the country, in a legitimate annual economy of about $15 billion.
