Biden Gets Heated In Front Of Ohio Workers
Volcker To Dimon: Just Give Up Your Banking License And We’re Cool
Why Republicans Are Flirting With Another Debt Limit Debacle
TPM Editors’ Blog Opinions, Context & Ideas from TPM Editors
It’s All Good
Mitt Romney: JP Morgan’s $2 billion loss was someone else’s $2 billion gain.
Stung Hard
A new public corruption case bubbling up in, of all places, Arizona …
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Saverin: This Had Nothing To Do With Taxes
Eduardo Saverin tells the Times his decision to renounce his US citizenship had nothing to do with US taxes. “This had nothing to do with taxes. I was born in Brazil, I was an American citizen for about 10 years. I thought of myself as a global citizen.”
He Was Warned
It sounds like consular officials in Singapore would have made very clear to Eduardo Saverin that he faced being barred for life from the USA.
Read More →Buh-Bye
Over recent days we’ve been following the story of Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook, now resident in Singapore, who has renounced his citizenship to avoid the big time tax bill that would have come with the Facebook IPO windfall. But will Saverin ever be able to set in the US again?
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Crosstabs: Episode 2
In today’s Crosstabs, TPM Poll Editor Kyle Leighton looks at the key demographic groups Obama and Romney are fighting over for November.
To view full sized video, click here.
Small But Solid Lead
Three polls out in the last few days show a very consistent picture. Gov. Scott Walker has a small but solid lead over Democrat Tom Barrett in the Wisconsin recall election. The TPM Poll Average has it at Walker 50.5% to Barrett 44.2%.
Well That Settles That!
The National Coalition for Men has endorsed the House GOP’s version of the Violence Against Women Act.
John Boehner’s Selective Accounting
Speaker Boehner’s insistence that no increase in the debt limit is possible without corresponding dollar-for-dollar budget reductions does not apply to the House GOP’s own Ryan budget.
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Volcker Smokes Dimon
JP Morgan can do all the proprietary trading it wants, Paul Volcker tells Bill Moyers – it just has to surrender its banking license.
What’s Your Favorite Recent Book?
Besides non-stop coverage of politics, one of my biggest interests with TPM over the years has been books – reviewing them, discussing them with readers and so forth. And we’re planning a new section of the site to do that in a more compelling and on-going way. But for today, I have a more specific question.
Read More →Big Vote Today
The House votes today on the Violence Against Women Act, with Republicans introducing amendments to tone down their version and escape some of the heat they’re getting and Democrats saying, not good enough.
Good Money
Bloomberg says Facebook Co-founder could save a cool $67 million by dumping his US citizenship.
Kinda Weird
The new Washington Post/ABC poll shows independents are pretty negative on Gov. Romney’s proposal to repeal ‘Obamacare’ root and branch – yet at the same time, fairly big majorities of voters say they want the law repealed.
Sure, Sign Us Up!
Senate Republicans back Speaker Boehner’s call for another debt limit showdown.
The Birthers’ Last Gasp
It having been proven (again, and again, and again) that President Obama is indeed a citizen of these United States of America, what’s left of the ‘birther’ brigade has been getting busy inventing other alternate histories. But not everyone on the lunatic fringe is happy about it.
The New Debt Limit Deathrace
So just why is the GOP toying with another debt limit disaster? Brian Beutler explains.
Big Upset in Nebraska
State Sen. Deb Fischer pulls off an upset in the Nebraska GOP Senate primary.
Da Dough Run Run
Depositors withdrew nearly $1 billion (U.S.) from Greek banks Monday.
Everybody’s Doing It
Even Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) is evolving on gay rights – now saying that sexual orientation should not be considered when nominating judges to the state bench.
Romney, RNC Plan To Ditch Nevada GOP
Fed up with Nevada’s state GOP after earlier primary missteps, Romney and the RNC plan to create a “shadow state party.”
Widow Unnerved By James O'Keefe Voter Fraud Stunt
The widow of a North Carolina man is upset at conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe for using his name.
Most Recent Latest news stories from TPM reporters
FBI Snags Arizona Republican-Turned-Democrat In Ticket-Bribery Sting
Update: May 16, 2012, 7:37 PM An three-year undercover FBI operation has nabbed an Arizona Democrat who allegedly accepted thousands of dollars’ worth of tickets to sporting and charity events in exchange for advancing the interests of a fake real estate company in Tempe. Ben Arredondo, 63, was charged by a federal grand jury with bribery, fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements to FBI agents. The Republican-turned-Democrat allegedly received over $6,000 in tickets…
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Senate Republicans Vote Overwhelmingly For Controversial GOP Budget
Nearly all Senate Republicans joined their House colleagues in risky territory Wednesday by voting in support of the controversial GOP budget, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) – a blueprint for the country’s future that has become a political lightning rod and a defining document for the 2012 elections. Among its most contentious features, the plan would phase out the existing Medicare program and replace it with a subsidized private insurance system for seniors; dramatically slash …
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Widow Unnerved By James O’Keefe Voter Fraud Stunt
“If he were my son I would spank him.” That’s how the widow of a North Carolina man whose name was presented at a polling station by an activist working with James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas responded to a video the group released this week showing an individual using her deceased husband’s name. As Media Matters points out, Michael Bolton, Jr. – a very much alive son of the widow who spoke to TPM – is registered to vote at the same address as his recently deceased father. The poll …
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Obama Order Looks To Deter Disruptions In Yemen
An executive order issued by President Obama today authorizes sanctions against people and entities who “obstruct” Yemen’s political transition, the latest sign of the administration’s increased focus on the country. The order allows the Treasury Department, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to seize the U.S.-based assets, or assets that come under the control of a U.S. person or entity, of anyone who has “engaged in acts that directly or indirectly threaten the peace,The…
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Biden To Ohio Workers: Romney Doesn’t ‘Get Who We Are’
Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it. That’s the message Vice President Joe Biden drilled in to a crowd in eastern Ohio Wednesday, playing up his working-class roots. “They don’t get us. They don’t get who we are,” Biden bellowed. “My mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams.” “Absolutely,” a man in the audience volunteered. In a passionate speech at M7 Technologies, an advanced manufacturing facility in Youngstown, Biden used his own working-class roots – his family…
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National Coalition For Men Endorses GOP Version Of VAWA Bill
House GOP legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act got an unexpected endorsement Tuesday – one that Democrats couldn’t be happier with. In a letter to all members, provided to TPM by Democratic aides, the president of the National Coalition for Men, wrote to endorse the House GOP’s VAWA bill over a Senate-passed counterpart that extends the laws protections to same-sex couples, immigrants, and native American women (you can read the full letter here): “The Houseand…
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Poll: Walker Leads Barrett By 6 Points In Wisconsin Recall
The new Marquette University Law School poll of the Wisconsin recall shows Republican Gov. Scott Walker with a solid lead over his Democratic rival, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Walker Barrett leads 50 percent to 44 percent. The survey of likely voters was conducted from May 9-12, and has a 4.1 percent margin of error. Among the wider pool registered voters, Walker still leads by a virtually identical margin of 51 percent to 43 percent. The general election will be on June 5, just…
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Walker: New Data Says Wisconsin Gained Jobs In 2011
So did Wisconsin lose jobs, or gain them, in 2011? The answer could make a huge difference in the June 5 recall election of Republican Gov. Scott Walker. The Walker administration is now touting a new set of numbers to assert that Walker has actually been creating jobs, in spite of separate data that says otherwise. Walker has been facing questions about a promise he made in 2010 to create 250,000 private-sector jobs during his first term. The monthly surveys from the federal Bureau…
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Volcker To Dimon: Just Give Up Your Banking License And We’re Cool (VIDEO)
How’s this for serendipity?
Just a couple weeks before Jamie Dimon announced publicly that his banking firm JPMorgan had lost a stunning $2 billion betting with depositor funds, he took to Fox News to criticize the Volcker Rule, meant to ban federally backstopped banks from engaging in proprietary trading.
Bill Moyers invited former Fed chairman Paul Volcker – the architect of the rule – to respond:
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GOP Budget Violates Boehner’s Debt Ceiling Demand
House Speaker John Boehner’s demand Tuesday that the next increase in the debt limit be accompanied by dollar-for-dollar “cuts and reforms” apparently comes with a caveat: It doesn’t apply to the GOP budget drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Ryan’s House-passed blueprint would increase the nation’s debt by $5 trillion over a decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The plan has the strong support of congressional Republicans and conservatives.
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Crunch Time: House To Vote On Violence Against Women Act
With a vote in the House scheduled Wednesday on the Violence Against Women Act, House Republicans are taking steps to ease the political blowback they have been getting on the issue, but Democrats and advocacy groups fret that the new proposals from the House GOP would still be a step backward. The weeks-long skirmish over the VAWA, which has already passed the Senate, is a high-stakes battle for women voters in an election, as Democrats seek to hold their sizable polling advantage…
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House Committee Torpedoes Military Biofuel Programs
By Tina Casey Tucked away in the House Armed Services Committee’s proposed Pentagon budget is a provision that could bring the U.S. military’s ambitious foray into biofuels to a screeching halt. Earlier this week, the Republican-led committee voted to ban the Department of Defense from purchasing alternative fuels that cost more than “traditional” fossil fuels. That would eliminate several emerging biofuels that have undergone successful testing by the Air Force and Navy over the…
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GM To Pull Ads From Facebook
General Motors says it will pull its advertising from Facebook, after determining that paid ads had little impact on consumers. The move comes at an awkward time for Facebook, who go public later this week.
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Batty ‘Birther’ Movie Divides Conspiracy Diehards
“Birthers” are flipping their tinfoil hats over a new film that claims President Barack Obama’s father was not a Kenyan goat herder but rather a communist journalist nearly four decades older than his mother. The problem? It undermines a bedrock of birther lore: that the president is ineligible to be commander-in-chief. “Dreams From My Real Father,” a 97-minute film narrated by an Obama impersonator, weaves the narrative that Obama’s grandfather wasn’t a furniture salesman but an…
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Why Republicans Are Flirting With Debt Limit Debacle 2.0
Whether or not he can make it stick in any meaningful way, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) revealed on Tuesday that Republicans still have an appetite for debt limit brinksmanship – even after the last round nearly crippled the economy, and left the GOP’s congressional approval ratings in the sewer. When Republicans went home for recess last August, after placing the country’s AAA credit rating at risk, and narrowly avoiding a self-imposed default on the national debt, they…
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Debtpocalypse 2.0 Cometh: GOP Unites Behind Boehner’s Debt Ceiling Demand
Senate Republicans quickly united behind House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Tuesday after he telegraphed his intention to use the debt limit as leverage to avoid a scheduled tax increase. Democrats balked at his demand that raising the debt ceiling – which is set to max out this December – be paired dollar-for-dollar with spending “cuts and reforms.” The widening rift foreshadows another self-inflicted battle, the likes of which nearly collapsed the U.S. economy last fall. “A…
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Let The Honeymoon Begin: Romney’s Poll Numbers Perk Up
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have outlasted his Republican presidential primary foes. But the brutal contest sure didn’t help him with general election voters. As the Republican primaries and caucuses dragged on, Romney saw his standing plummet among Americans as a whole. Yet as summer approaches, things may have changed. Now that Romney is in full general election mode, voters are taking a second look, and it’s showing up in the numbers: After the former governor’s…
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In Upset, Deb Fischer Wins Nebraska GOP Senate Nomination
Nebraska state Sen. Deb Fischer has won the Republican nomination for Senate in a huge last-minute upset. Fischer will face former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey in the race to replace retiring Sen. Ben Nelson (D). In the GOP race, a statewide establishment favorite, state Attorney General Jon Bruning, went up against an ultra-conservative insurgent, former state Attorney General Don Stenberg, who was supported by the Club For Growth and Sen. Jim DeMint. In the end, Bruning and…
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Ex-Ensign Aide Doug Hampton Reaches Plea Deal
Doug Hampton, the former aide to ex-Sen. John Ensign, has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors, according to a court records. Details of the plea deal were not immediately available, but court records show that Hampton has a plea agreement hearing scheduled for June 7. Hampton, whose wife Cynthia Hampton had an affair with Ensign, pleaded not guilty to seven separate charges in April 2011 of violating laws banning congressional staffers and members of Congress from lobbying…
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DOJ: Issa’s Move To Hold AG In Contempt ‘Unprecedented’
Rep. Darrell Issa’s drive to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt is “unwarranted,” “unprecedented” and “ill-advised,” a top Justice Department official said in a letter to the California Republican, who is chair of the House Oversight Committee, on Tuesday. Deputy Attorney General James Cole also wrote that the committee’s “core questions” on the flawed gun trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious “have been answered.” Cole suggested that the lack of documents…
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