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“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
~Anais Nin
Twin Gingers photo credit: Lady Libertine
News
right...
JPMorgan executive Ina Drew steps down after $2bn loss
It had been reported on Monday that Ms Drew, one of JPMorgan's best-paid executives, had offered her resignation several times following disclosure of the losses last Thursday.
However, in a statement issued in New York, Mr Dimon said: "Ina Drew has been a great partner over her many years with our firm. Despite our recent losses in the CIO, Ina's vast contributions to our company should not be overshadowed by these events."
"It's important to remember that our company is very strong and well capitalised. We maintain our fortress balance sheet and capital strength to withstand setbacks like this."
JPMorgan's shares opened down a further 3% after falling almost 10% on Friday following news of the trading blunder. Mr Dimon had previously dismissed growing speculation that the bank was facing losses.
Last year's Person of the Year still going strong...
Occupy Chicago Prepares for NATO
Even though the G8 participants have fled the great city of Chicago in order to bunker down at Camp David, organizers and protesters continue to diligently prepare for the other major conference scheduled for this week, NATO.
boo hoo...
Ron Paul to end 'active campaigning' for Republican nod
US Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is to end active campaigning, a statement says, and will not campaign in states yet to hold primaries. But the Texas congressman will continue to try to win delegates awarded at forthcoming state conventions. Mr Paul has 104 delegates, behind Mitt Romney's 966, with 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
for real boo hoo, this is sad, from their own study ...
Navy Says Their Sonar And Explosion Tests Could Harm More Marine Life Than Previously Thought
The U.S. Navy says its use of sonar and explosives could potentially hurt more dolphins and whales in Hawaii and California waters than previously thought. The new research and more thorough analysis are part of an environmental impact statement covering Navy training and testing planned for 2014 and 2019.
The Navy estimates its use of explosives and sonar may unintentionally cause more than 1,600 instances of hearing loss or other injury to marine mammals in one year. It calculates its use of explosives may inadvertently cause more than 200 marine mammal deaths a year.
Hurricane center to develop six- and seven-day forecasts
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - For the first time, the National Hurricane Center plans to develop six- and seven-day track forecasts for an entire storm season.
It also plans to do a better job keeping them secret, as they leaked out to the public last year, cutting the experiment short.
After 42 years in House, Charles Rangel might lose primary
Now the man who did the unthinkable in 1970 by defeating legendary Harlem firebrand Adam Clayton Powell faces perhaps the toughest run of his career since he squared off against Powell.
Rangel’s health, the new district boundaries, demographic changes within Harlem and Rangel’s 2010 censure by the House for multiple ethics violations have attracted some challengers for New York’s June 26 Democratic primary. They pose a serious threat to the former House Ways and Means Committee chairman and fourth most senior member of Congress, political experts say.
It happened fifty-years ago, yet the judge found that if Volume V was declassified, it would "harm the deliberative process".
Some Bay of Pigs history to remain secret
A federal judge has ruled that the last volume in a CIA history of the Bay of Pigs invasion that was written more than 30 years ago and 51 years after the ill-fated Cuban mission should remain secret.
[ ... ]
The Washington-based National Security Archive, a research institute and library, filed suit last year asking for declassification of all five volumes in the set after its previous FOIA requests were unsuccessful.
Volumes I, II, and IV were released last April. Volume III had actually been declassified in 1998 but researchers remained unaware of the fact until a Villanova university professor found it stashed in a box at the National Archives Kennedy Assassination Records Collection in 2005.
Volume V is a rebuttal by CIA historian Jack Pfeiffer, who died in 1997, of a report by the intelligence agency’s inspector general that found the CIA was primarily responsible for the failure of the invasion.
Kyl: "We don't want to be on the record"
"If we made tough decisions," said Kyl, who is not seeking re-election, "we'd have to take votes. If we made votes, those votes will be on the record.
"If those votes are on the record before the election," he said, "our constituents would know what we really think and how we act, and some of them may not like it.
"And so we don't want to be on the record."
The Rise and Rise of the Super-Rich
Forget the 1 percent. The real super-rich have left everyone behind the past 30 years. What's going on?
This is what a second Gilded Age looks like.
[ ... ]
It tells a three-part history of our economy over the last century. It's a story about the age of the rentiers, their retreat, and subsequent return.
in case you missed it...
Democracy Now! Chomsky: Occupy Wall Street "Has Created Something That Didn’t Really Exist" in U.S. — Solidarity
Well, that’s the kind of thing that the Occupy movement began to break. It said, "Yeah, we’re in it together." That’s what the old labor movement used to be. I mean, I can remember, as a kid in the '30s, when the situation was objectively much worse. But then, my family was mostly unemployed working-class here in New York. But there was a sense of hopefulness, largely because of labor organizing, which not only provided benefits to the people involved, but also made them part of something in which we can work together. The term "solidarity" wasn't just a vacuous term. And to rebuild that kind of thing, even if it’s in small pieces of the society, can become very important, can change the conception of how a society ought to function.
Humpback whales intervene in killer whale hunt w/ VIDEO
The humpbacks at Monterey Bay were trumpeting, diving and slapping their pectoral fins against the water.
"It didn't seem at all like they were confused… they were definitely there with a purpose," said Ms Bromley.
Blog Posts of Interest
This is a new section in the What's Happenin' diaries that will be updated throughout the day to promote selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
Hawaii Becomes the First State in the U.S. to Ban Plastic Bags!
When the governor of Honolulu County signed into law the plastic bag ban last week that the County Council approved, Hawaii became the first state in the nation where every city and unincorporated area is covered by a plastic bag ban. This was not done by the state legislature, but instead by all four County Councils - a great example of local activists and decision makers addressing the serious issue of plastic pollution.
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Wild Elephants gather inexplicably, mourn death of “Elephant Whisperer”
For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of late author Lawrence Anthony, the conservationist who saved their lives.The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years ago as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony, who had grown up in the bush and was known as the “Elephant Whisperer.”
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Monday Hedges... he's spot on (again)...
Colonized by Corporations
Revolutions take time.
Another plug for a Benefit event coming up this weekend on 5/19 in Boston, see WarrenS diary from 5/13/12:
“Playing For The Planet: World Flutes Against Climate Change”