theatlantic:

Senators Who Went Easy on JPMorgan CEO Received $582,088 from JPMorgan

As The Nation’s George Zornick reports, it’s hard to expect Senators to ask tough questions of the CEO of JPMorgan Chase when the members of the Senate Banking Committee are collective sitting on $582,088 in contributions from JPMorgan Chase. Zornick put a chart together detailing the various campaign contributions that the members of the Senate’s Banking Committee received from Dimon’s firm, like Chairman Tim Johnson who got $38,995 and ranking member Richard Shelby who got close to $73,000 — Sen. Mark Warner wins out with $108,800 in donations.

[Image: The Nation]=

it is not just that our representatives are bought and paid for, we all knew that, it happens everywhere in the world. what is shocking is rather how cheaply our representatives are bought and paid for.

(via bapeonion)

bapeonion:

nhaler:

whipporwill:

The Mayor of Oakland has acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security had participated in an 18-city mayor conference call advising mayors on “how to suppress” Occupy protests

US citizens of all political persuasions are still reeling from images of unparallelled police brutality in a coordinated crackdown against peaceful OWS protesters in cities across the nation this past week. 

 The National Union of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a Freedom of Information Act request to investigate possible federal involvement with law enforcement practices that appeared to target journalists. The New York Times reported that “New York cops have arrested, punched, whacked, shoved to the ground and tossed a barrier at reporters and photographers” covering protests. 

 Wonkette and Washingtonsblog.com reported that the Mayor of Oakland acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security had participated in an 18-city mayor conference call advising mayors on “how to suppress” Occupy protests.

To Europeans, the enormity of this breach may not be obvious at first. Our system of government prohibits the creation of a federalised police force, and forbids federal or militarised involvement in municipal peacekeeping.

I noticed that rightwing pundits and politicians on the TV shows on which I was appearing were all on-message against OWS. Journalist Chris Hayes reported on a leaked memo that revealed lobbyists vying for an $850,000 contract to smear Occupy. Message coordination of this kind is impossible without a full-court press at the top. This was clearly not simply a case of a freaked-out mayors’, city-by-city municipal overreaction against mess in the parks and cranky campers. As the puzzle pieces fit together, they began to show coordination against OWS at the highest national levels.

You know, sometimes the media really stands with people, and sometimes it doesn’t. How many media entities are still out there, saying “What is OWS about?” How many are taking the questions and positions of OWS strait to the politicians themselves? How many are taking outright stands against the police brutality, and prominently covering it before their own journalists become targets? 

Furthermore, have we all forgotten about the despicable Rupert Murdoch trial already? Nobody even brings up the point that it was revealed nearly all major news agencies were implicated in illegal phone hacking and the illegal acquisition of personal information. 

Lol no media company would report on how they were implicated on phone hacking. Nor would one narc on the other. They have standards. Clearly.