Sandy Weill: “I got mine, f*** you.”, Financipocalypse, The Mittstorm Cometh VII: Degredations, Louie Gohmert, the fraud of Voter Fraud, NYPD Brutality, and NRA Members for Gun Control.
Welcome to the Daily Sausage.
First up, from Maximo in today’s Open Thread, the engineer of the mega-merger between Citicorp and Travelers Group Inc. in 1998 which required overturning the New Deal-era Glass-Steagal Act which kept deposit-making banks from merging with investment banks, Sanford “Sandy” Weill, has come out and said that the “too big to fail banks” need to be broken up.
I’ve gotten pretty good at translating Banker, so let me give this a shot:
Sanford “Sandy” Weill, whose responsible for kicking off the deregulation of Wall Street which ultimately lead to the financial crash in 2008, has decided, in his infinite wisdom, that he was wrong 14 years ago, and that now that he got his the rest of you peasants can go fuck yourselves.
Weill is not the first former banker or politician to come crawling out of the woodwork to express their thoughts that the big banks should be broken up. As a matter of fact, it seems like everyone involved in the repeal, from President Clinton on down, now realizes that letting Wall Street gamble with taxpayer money was a really fucking stupid idea. They should all get together and form some kind of Hindsight Superfriends. Weill can be Hindsight Seaman.
Next up, Congressional Republicans are once again pointing a loaded weapon at the financial head of the United States by refusing to act on the coming Financipocalypse unless Congressional Democrats agree to continue the massive tax cuts for individuals making over $250,000 a year. However, this time there’s a twist: House Republicans are reportedly considering a measure that would defund any area of government charged with implementing areas of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare”. This would include the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Health and Human Services, and numerous other Federal agencies, prompting a government shutdown just before the November general election.
I hope everyone’s been doing their yoga and pilates, because there’s going to be a lot of bending over and kissing your ass goodbye between now and January.
And now for our regular installment of The Mittstorm Cometh VII: Degredations
The Romney campaign continued the GOP tradition of using only the most gossamer of coverings for the underlying racist invective against the President, this time with an advisor remarking on Mitt Romney’s Anglo-Saxon heritage made him better positioned to understand the “special relationship” between Britain and the US.
Unless I’m mistaken, Mitt Romney’s people are the same stodgy intolerant assholes the Brits kicked out four hundred years ago for being douchebags by sticking them on a boat and telling them to sail until they hit land, which coincidentally was Plymouth Rock, whereas Barack Obama’s people couldn’t eat at the same lunch counter as Mitt Romney’s people up until about fifty years ago or so.
By the time any American citizen has graduated from the fifth grade, they understand the “special relationship” between Britain and the US. It’s not rocket science, and it has zilch to do with the origin of one’s parents. This is race baiting, pure and simple. Mitt Romney might as well run a campaign ad that has all 44 Presidents in order, then when gets to President Obama he should start playing “One of these things (Is not like the other)” from Sesame Street. Less subtle, sure, but arguably more effective in turning out his old, white, racist base that is terrified there’s a black man in the White House. Mittstorm Level: 3 – Richard Pryor’s First Black President
We haven’t talked much about Mitt Romney’s foreign policy credentials because, well, Mitt Romney doesn’t even have foreign policy credentials. I’m sure he’s got an old boarding pass for a flight somewhere international, but that’s as “credentialed” as he gets.
I mean, what’s Mitt Romney’s foreign policy? Bomb Iran? Increase military spending? Give Israel a handjob? Smack China around a bit for taking all those jobs Mitt Romney outsourced to China? Blow up more of the sandy bits of the world with drones remote controlled from an air conditioned trailer in Kansas?
I mean, I can’t even really blame Mitt Romney. John Bolton, former Ambassador to the UN under George W. Bush (which should automatically disqualify him from any foreign policy job anywhere, but I digress), is a big supporter of Michele Bachmann’s Islamophobia. He’s also part of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy team. You’d figure with all his money, Mitt Romney could buy better friends.
Did I mention that his opponent killed Osama Bin Laden? Mittstorm Level: 5 – Mitt Romney keeps asking which branch The A-Team reports to.
While we’re talking foreign policy, there is apparently discussion that Mitt Romney could pick up the Jewish vote. Yes, because a bunch of elderly Jews are going to vote for a Mormon. Apparently no one has told Mitt Romney about the special relationship between Black and Jews.
In other news, Louie Gohmert, who is now his own punchline, called John McCain “numbnuts” for criticizing Michele Bachmann’s comments regarding Clinton aide Huma Abedin. He also suggested that McCain himself is being influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood. I can’t even make fun of this, because it’s gone from funny to concerning to just depressing.
The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates posted this wonderful video from the Rachel Maddow show, guest hosted by Ezra Klein, on the completely and totally made up issue of voter fraud. Let’s ponder Ezra’s timeline. 2006, no voter ID laws anywhere in the country. 2008, Barack Obama gets elected thanks to massive turnout among the young and minorities, becoming the first president in history to win election without winning the majority of the white vote. 2010, Republicans take control of multiple states, both legislatures and governor’s mansions. Present, over 180 laws introduced or passed in 41 states restricting people’s ability to vote, primarily the young and minorities. Is it possible that this is a coincidence? Sure. Is it likely? About as likely as pigs flying out of my ass.
Occupy Wall Street hasn’t gotten nearly the coverage it should, primarily because it challenges the existing power structures, including our increasingly militarized police force. The NYPD is no stranger to controversy involving excessive force, racial profiling, corruption, etc., but the allegations made here regarding the over the top treatment of Occupy protesters is chilling. Can you imagine the outrage if police departments were doing this to the Tea Party? Imagine images running on your nightly news of police officers dressed in riot gear forcing old white people out of their hoverounds and onto the hoods of cop cars and guys dressed in tricorn hats and Captain America outfits getting pepper-sprayed; there’d be chaos in the streets and we’d be demanding those officers be prosecuted. As it is, it gets swept under the rug.
Finally, we have a new report that indicates that the large majority of gun-owning members of the NRA support five policies regarding gun control that are in direct contradiction to what the NRA is pushing for legislatively. I can’t help but wonder if these numbers are going to find their way into the hands of Congressional Democrats, who may grow a backbone and take on an increasingly nutty and dangerous gun lobby.
