Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Big-Bank Bad Guys Bully Democracy
BillMoyers | Richard Eskow | 03/03/15

For so-called "masters of the universe," Wall Street executives sure seem touchy about criticism. It seems they don't like being painted as the bad guys. But if they don't like being criticized, why do so many of them keep behaving like B-movie villains? That's exactly what executives from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America looked like after an article appeared last week detailing their coordinated attempt to intimidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and other Democrats who want to fix the mess on Wall Street.

They've cheated customers and defrauded investors. Now they want to use our legalized system of campaign-cash corruption to protect themselves from the very government which rescued them. ... Read more
TYT | Elizabeth Warren Declares War On Wall Street Banks (04/05/15) [5:38]

Ed Snowden tells John Oliver: 'They are still collecting everybody's information, including your dick pics'
RawStory | Tom Boggioni | 03/06/15

Oliver began the segment by noting that Congress is faced with reauthorizing the Patriot Act on June 1 which contains many of the loosely interpreted laws allowing the government to spy on U.S. citizens.

"Over the last couple of years, you've probably heard about strange-sounding programs, such as XKeyscore, Muscular, Prism, and Mystic, which are, coincidentally, also the names of some of Florida's least popular strip clubs, " Oliver explained, before using the voice of a pitchman. "Welcome to XKeyscore -- our dancers are fully unredacted and Tuesdays are wing nights." ... Read more

Why John Oliver Can't Find Americans Who Know Edward Snowden's Name (It's Not About Snowden)
https://firstlook.org/theintercept | Glenn Greenwald | 04/06/15

... Oliver's overall discussion is good (and, naturally, quite funny), but the specific point he wants to make here is misguided. Contrary to what Oliver says, it's actually not surprising at all that a large number of Americans are unaware of who Snowden is, nor does it say much at all about the surveillance debate. That's because a large number of Americans, by choice, are remarkably unaware of virtually all political matters. The befuddled reactions of the Times Square interviewees when asked about Snowden illustrate little about the specific surveillance issue but a great deal about the full-scale political disengagement of a substantial chunk of the American population.

Even more striking is what they do and do not know. An Annenberg Public Policy Center poll from last September found that only 36% of Americans can name the three branches of government, and only 38% know the GOP controls the House. The Center's 2011 poll "found just 15 percent of Americans could correctly identify the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, while 27 percent knew Randy Jackson was a judge on American Idol."

A 2010 Findlaw.com poll found that almost 2/3 of Americans -- 65% -- were incapable of naming even a single member of the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2010 Pew poll discovered that 41% of Americans are unable to name the current Vice President of the U.S; in other words, Oliver could just as easily (if not more easily) compile a video of Times Square visitors looking stumped when asked if they knew who Joe Biden, or Antonin Scalia, is.... Read more

Ted Cruz Isn't an Idiot -- He's Delusional and That's Far More Dangerous
AlterNet | Sophia A. McClennen | 04/01/15

For those who think like Cruz, there is virtually no amount of data, reality checks or facts that can persuade them to give up their false ideas.

Since Ted Cruz first announced his candidacy, much has been made of his chances of winning, his arrogance and his extreme conservative views. But most of the controversy over his candidacy centers on his lying.

It is no surprise to any of us that politicians lie. We generally assume they stretch the truth to get elected, to denigrate their political foes, and to bolster their images. But Cruz may just represent one of the biggest liars in recent history. In fact, he may be a whole new form of political liar.

The Daily Beast reports that, "Cruz's Politifact track record for publicly asserted falsehoods is the second-highest among front-runners, totaling 56 percent of all statements they've looked at." And Matthew Rozsa tell us that "Googling 'Ted Cruz lies' pulls back an astonishing 7,890,000 results, and on Twitter, the two phrases are basically synonymous." ... Read more
Ted Cruz's PolitiFact File

*RT | CrossTalk: Mideast Aflame (04/06/15) [24:11]

RT | Keiser Report: Destroy Capitalism to... Save Capitalism?! (E740) (04/04/15) [23:46]