Not long after Dodd-Frank got passed, the company made arguments for a loophole in the Volcker Rule, which takes effect in July, to allow some of the types of portfolio hedging that that company used as it produced a $2 billion loss recently. “JPMorgan was the one that made the strongest arguments to allow hedging, and specifically to allow this type of portfolio hedging,” noted one Treasury Department official. Officials who worked on the law, such as Sen. Carl Levin, have made it clear that allowing for this type of activity was not their intention with the law. Now, they have a pretty clear $2 billion argument against allowing such a loophole to get through. (photo by Scott Eells/Bloomberg; edit for clarity)
Maybe I shouldn’t do these things, but I’ve worked my life building this company and it’s been successful. I want to enjoy it. Whether it’s living lavishly, I think that’s all relative.Green Mountain Coffee founder Robert Stiller • Discussing the stock sale which cost him the chairmanship of his company earlier this week. Stiller, who founded the company in the 1980s and has seen its fortunes rise with its popular K-Cup machines, abruptly sold 5 million shares last week while the stock was in the midst of a sharp decline. The sale was in violation of company policy. Stiller, who still owns 8 million shares of the company’s stock, also dumped a $50 million stake in Krispy Kreme at roughly the same time. Stiller and another person will remain on the board for now, but had his pay suspended and his leadership role removed.
I also encourage everyone to continue to pressure Kellogg’s to pivot: they refuse to criticize Jon Stewart for his April 16 “vagina manger” stunt and indeed acted irresponsibly when they offered a lame response to our serious concerns.
Today, all the top management at Kellogg’s will receive a color photo of a naked woman with her legs spread and a nativity scene ornament in between. Let’s see if that jars them. Over 700 photos have been sent to leaders in Battle Creek, Michigan.
One gets the feeling that this is the latest salvo in an arms race that started way back with the successful campaign to starve Glenn Beck of advertisers.
Contrary to what many believe, the central effect of such negative advertising isn’t to move voters from supporting another candidate to backing yours, as Mitt Romney and his allies have discovered during this primary season. The main effect is not even to move undecided voters into your column. No, the real effect of negative advertising is to energize and solidify support among your ideological base while turning everyone else off to the other candidate, the campaign and the entire electoral process. Negative advertising isn’t about changing minds; it’s about altering the composition of the voter pool on Election Day by turning moderate voters into non-voters.The Washington Post’s Stephen Pearlstein • Offering a counterpoint to Ezra Klein’s point from the other night; Pearlstein suggests politicians want people to turn off from the political process, because it helps them stabilize the electoral pool come election time. Which is how we get stuff like Obama eating dog food on an Etch A Sketch with Mitt Romney’s face drawn on it, or something like that.
![thedailywhat:
Breaking News of the Day: Zimmerman Takes the Stand at Bond Hearing: The family of George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the February 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, asked a Florida judge this morning to grant bail while he awaits trial. Family members — testifying by phone because they say they have been threatened — argued that Zimmerman is neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community.
“He is absolutely not a violent person,” said his wife, Shellie Zimmerman.
Defense attorney Mark O’Mara would prefer that Zimmerman be allowed to leave the area, if he is granted bond, because of concerns about his safety. “Normally, the conditions are that you stay local. I think that is going to be difficult,” he said. “I think nobody would deny the fact that if George Zimmerman were walking down the street today, he would be at risk. That is a reality.”
George Zimmerman took the stand to make a statement.
“I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was, I thought he was a little bit younger than I am and I did not know if he was armed or not.”
[lat]
That Zimmerman statement hits a raw nerve. Let’s hope that as this trial commences, a much broader picture comes out. In related news, ABC News acquired a witness photo, allegedly of ZImmerman minutes after the shooting, that shows blood on the back of his head. However, the prosecutor in the case says they were aware of the photo but it did not affect the decision to charge Zimmerman with second-degree murder.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2sa9hRyK11qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
Breaking News of the Day: Zimmerman Takes the Stand at Bond Hearing: The family of George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the February 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, asked a Florida judge this morning to grant bail while he awaits trial. Family members — testifying by phone because they say they have been threatened — argued that Zimmerman is neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community.
“He is absolutely not a violent person,” said his wife, Shellie Zimmerman.
Defense attorney Mark O’Mara would prefer that Zimmerman be allowed to leave the area, if he is granted bond, because of concerns about his safety. “Normally, the conditions are that you stay local. I think that is going to be difficult,” he said. “I think nobody would deny the fact that if George Zimmerman were walking down the street today, he would be at risk. That is a reality.”
George Zimmerman took the stand to make a statement.
“I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was, I thought he was a little bit younger than I am and I did not know if he was armed or not.”
[lat]
That Zimmerman statement hits a raw nerve. Let’s hope that as this trial commences, a much broader picture comes out. In related news, ABC News acquired a witness photo, allegedly of ZImmerman minutes after the shooting, that shows blood on the back of his head. However, the prosecutor in the case says they were aware of the photo but it did not affect the decision to charge Zimmerman with second-degree murder.
I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?Just-retired Secret Service agent David Randall Chaney • Joking on his Facebook page about … wait for it … Sarah Palin, who he was protecting during the 2008 campaign. He left that comment on a photo that shows him keeping watch over the vice presidential candidate. Not exactly a good look for a guy who was forced to retire as a result of a scandal allegedly involving prostitutes in Colombia.
Personally, suspension or not, it’s probably best I’m never in a room with (Gregg) Williams and wonder if such an order crosses the lines of the aggressive, competitive spirit we all know and love about the sport and leans closer to a criminal act and therefore litigious matter.Chicago White Sox GM Kenny Williams • Expressing anger at the now-suspended former defensive coordinator, who spearheaded a controversial bounty system on his NFL teams, which encouraged defensive players to violent hit receivers. Williams has a reason to be upset — his son is San Francisco 49ers receiver Kyle Williams, who was one of the players targeted in an audio recording released Thursday. The receiver has known a history of concussions.
“I am confident that the supreme court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress,” Obama said.
The president chided Republicans for making “judicial activism” an election issue, by objecting to rulings ranging from the supreme court’s finding of a right to abortion to the recent striking down by federal judges of a referendum barring gay marriage in California, while pressing the judiciary to overturn the will of Congress.
“I’d just remind conservative commentators that, for years, what we have heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism, or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law,” Obama said. “Well, this is a good example, and I’m pretty confident that this court will recognise that and not take that step.”
While the court is certainly not looking the best today, what with this decision and all, is it really Obama’s spot to say this? Then again, Obama does have a history of criticizing the court when it comes to unpopular cases.
The reporter...
I can’t add much to what’s already been (and will be) ...
One of the perks of being an early employee...
Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Thanks. I guess my thoughts are as follows:
1. I think...
Google was the rich kid who, after having discovered he wasn’t invited to the party, built his own party in retaliation. The fact that no one came to Google’s party became the elephant in the room.Former Google (and current Microsoft) employee James Whittaker • Discussing why he left the company. One word and a symbol: Google+. Whittaker had some tough words for his former company, comparing them to a TV network that’s now focused on the commercials instead of creating great shows. This is the second-most-scathing open letter of the day; most days, it would easily be in first place. However … why did he go to Microsoft? It’s not like they’re seen as being much better about innovation *cough* Courier *cough*.
I’m certainly not going to be silenced.Georgetown student Sandra Fluke • Responding to the controversy that began Wednesday, when conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh began a series of attacks on her character and asked that she upload videos of her sexual encounters for his viewing pleasure. Fluke became the target of Limbaugh’s rage after testifying before Congress on Georgetown’s contraceptive policy; however, Limbaugh’s comments cost him four sponsors, and condemnation from pundits across the country. Friday afternoon, President Obama called Sandra to offer words of encouragement and support, and Georgetown president John J. DeGioia defended the student in a statement calling Limbaugh’s attacks “misogynistic” and “vitriolic”. source (via • follow)
They are purposefully depriving him of this opportunity (to shave) so he looks unkempt.Lawyer Victor Acevedo • Discussing the treatment of his client, teacher Mark Berndt, who stands accused of doing unspeakable things to his Miramonte Elementary School students. (Trigger warning on that link.) Berndt pleaded not guilty today in court, and his lawyer says that Berndt’s disheveled appearance prevented him from going in front of court with dignity. Acevedo also complained that his jailers identified Berndt as a child molester over the jail’s loudspeaker. “We cannot have the sheriff’s department deputies acting in such a way to essentially put a bull’s-eye on his head,” he told reporters after the hearing. The sheriff’s office took the claim seriously, investigating the complaint, which was denied by jail officials.
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