Castle 2.21 Den of Thieves – Sam Anders (BSG) – Michael Trucco joins cast for season in recurring role..
Yay Anders! Always glad to see BSG cast back on the tube…Michael Trucco is signed for the rest of this season.
Clips from Trucco’s first appearance in the episode that aired this week:
“Den of Thieves” – Investigating the murder of a thief, Castle and Beckett are surprised to learn that Esposito has a personal connection to the suspected killer. Another surprise is in line for Castle when Beckett hits it off with the handsome Robbery detective assigned to the case, Tom Demming (Michael Trucco in a recurring role rest of season). Now this romantic triangle must work together to solve the case, on “Castle,” MONDAY, APRIL 19 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC.
Obama Financial Reform bill maintains Too Big To Fail bailouts: Geithner admits to Brad Sherman (D-CA) the financial reform bill will allow Treasury to give unlimited funds in future ‘failures’..
Update: CSPAN has the full hearing up here, see here for the testimony of the examiner who did the forensic accounting on the Lehman collapse. He starts out explaining how highest levels of regulators were ‘concerned’ about Lehman in 2007 but did absolutely nothing, not the NYFed not the SEC. None of them took action.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner tells Rep. Brad Sherman that “You cannot know in advance how much money you will need to resolve a Lehman.” This confirms the Democrats want to set up a bailout fund without limits.
Perfect. The big behemoths who brought us to our knees will get nifty low rates since everyone will know once this is passed, their debts are protected by taxpayers funds in bailouts of hand selected collateral debtholders by Treasury in future failures…kill this bill it is a giant gift to JPMC, GS and whomever is making money on FAN FRED FHA Citi BofA, see the excellent analysis at Naked Capitalism:
In a letter to Senate majority leader Harry Reid and minority leader Mitch McConnell, luminaries including former SEC Chief Accountant Lynn Turner, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, hedge fund owner Jim Chanos, former Lehman Brothers Vice Chair Peter Solomon, former S&L investigator Bill Black, former Senate Banking Committee Chief Economist Rob Johnson, economists Dean Baker, Barry Eichengreen and others pointed out that Dodd’s proposed financial reform legislation wouldn’t have prevented the current crisis … and won’t prevent the next crisis.
Dodd himself has admitted that his bill “will not stop the next crisis from coming”.
In fact, the bill is wholly ineffective, failing to address the core things which need to be done to stabilize the economy. See this, this and this….
The House Financial Services Cmte heard testimony from SEC head Mary Schapiro, Bernanke and Geithner on the regulatory failures during Lehman. I support a well regulated free market. Not a market with tons of regulations that no one enforces on the select few who payoff the regulators or otherwise ‘capture’ them.
It was CRYSTAL clear that they HAVE THE POWERS THEY NEED already in the case of Lehman, and they were victims of REGULATORY CAPTURE and failed to act. Tim Geithner specifically admitted to Ed Royce R-CA that yes as head of NY Fed under his purview Lehman FAILED stress tests, yet they did..nothing. Here is Royce telling Geithner LAST JULY that the permanent bailout authority they had in the bill then was unacceptable
Sarbanes Oxley was the regulation needed, Dick Fuld signed the financial statements under SarbOx he should be prosecuted. We got better results from Dubyah with Enron for Gawd’s sake.
They don’t need more unchecked power to proclaim bailouts and seize large American firms without Congressional approval and dole out bailouts a la GM and Chrysler in the way they deem fit. That is exactly what the Dodd bill does.
Team Obama has repeatedly told Mark Warner D-VA, Chris Dodd, D-Countrywide, Blanche Lincoln -D-AR, to pull out of negotiations with the GOP, specifically Bob Corker R-TN and Shelby R-GA. They portray Obama as entering the fray early on this one. HA! AS IF!! Dodd and Shelby and sometimes Corker have been hammering at this for over a year already. Pullllease….
This is all kabuki from the team of ubergeniuses that funded Os campaign and who apparently have killed the Volcker Rule..again. We really have no one to fight for us here IMO.
The GOP will not allow the Volcker Rule which would effectively limit some of the risks of collapse and TBTF,(since we have no earthly idea what the banks are really holding, Repo 105s and all) (and the bank taxes the Left is levying globally will assure financial business doesn’t flee to UK for now) and the Dems are in bed with these guys calling the shots on regulation, see Dodd, Chris and the WH which wants to leave the rule vague and they claim that is by design:
…Banks for months have groused that the Volcker rule, which proposes to ban banks that take deposits from trading securities for the firm’s benefit only, doesn’t offer a well-defined description of what constitutes proprietary trading activity.
Banks including JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs argue that there are gray areas in which they are engaging in proprietary trading to hedge their own activities as financial intermediaries with clients.
“What [lawmakers] are outlining is the idea of what we are trying to prevent,” the official said. “These are guidelines. What the banks are saying is, ‘We want that to be written into the law — the details of which kind of transactions should count — and I think that that’s a bit disingenuous.”…
Exile on Main Street baby. Hey I’ll party with the people patriots anyday of the week. When push comes to shove, people look out for each other here in ‘the Middle’. I love Main St. It is my favorite part of Disneyland in fact, lol.
Main St, U.S.A. Disneyland
YGN: ‘Kick-Ass’ Review: Brutal, Bloody, Brilliant…
By Matt and Nat, follow them at YourGeekNews/BSGcast:
We couldn’t have been more blown away by Kick-Ass. A top-notch story, great performances, incredible humour and a surprisingly meaty film-going experience were disguised as a goofy superhero comedy by Lionsgate’s one-dimensional advertizing campaign. If you haven’t seen Kick-Ass, and you can take some gruesome violence and potty-mouthed humour, you owe yourself a night out at the movies to let Matthew Vaughn and Mark Millar Kick your Ass!
Twofer Tuesday: Shout out to the Big Dawg – Stop all of your sobbing…
Update: AP at HA puts me some knowledge. Big Dawg did in fact discuss the rhetoric against Chris Christie R-NJ, so he has the left in mind too when he cautions this way. Great to know. I still think the water is too muddied for him to raise Oklahoma City in this context.
…In fairness, Clinton mentioned Christie as being a target of incendiary rhetoric in his Oklahoma City interview with Tapper over the weekend. What he didn’t mention, conveniently, was any culpability for mainstream liberals in inspiring this sort of reaction to smaller government….
Okay Big Dawg. I mean this in the nicest way possible, please Stop Your Sobbing and Shuddupayourface.
You know I am a fan. I watched you resist the Obama-Carter push to label us as racist earlier this year. You knew after they played that card on you it wasn’t true. Now I am asking you to consider that we are not inciting anything by expressing ourselves freely.
I know you were scarred in a way by Oklahoma City and the VRWC. But we Tea Party Patriots are as peaceful a group as any I have ever seen. Maybe you didn’t mean to tar us as extremists tossing incendiary rhetoric that could lead to violence. I certainly hope it is the lamestream media twisting your words.
I would like to think you realize your comments would do far more good were they taken to heart by Trumka of AFLCIO and by SEIU who are marching on Wall St next week in the thousands as part of their class warfare rhetoric. Or by the lamestream media who is ratcheting up the sense of anger on the left. Or by OFA which sends out endless emails dehumanizing anyone they perceive as interfering with the implementation of the Obama ‘transformative’ process. But after what happened to Hillary, you should know better than to talk to the NYT, they are carrying water for Team Obama.
We are peaceful. We are patriots. We are proud of our country, our rallies, our voices and our right to speak freely. If you are too insulated to see this is not 1994, that Obama is not you and that what he is doing is an incredible overreach of government into our lives, that is your cross to bear. But please stop labeling Americans.
Many of us are lifelong Democrats who voted for you and Hillary. We love America and we cannot be ‘guilted’ into withdrawing our support from the Tea Party so please stop.
Pew Research finds more Americans distrust their government than ever, and that it not because we are speaking out. We are speaking out because of the overhanded, overreaching, overregulating, overspending, overtaxing, and overweening pride and arrogance of Team Obama and their top down transformation of we the people into something we do not want to be.
Update: Gutierrez (D-IL) asks Obama to ‘intervene’; Kyl & McCain call for 3k Nat’l Guard troops at border; AZ Illegal Immigration enforcement bill goes to Gov Brewer for signature by Sunday to enact…
Update: Oh look Luis Gutierrez (d-il) is pulling Obama’s chain again on immigration, Is it gonna be Kerry and Cap and Tax or Gutierrez and immigration this May? and with Grahamnesty on both!? This will hurt MACs campaign… tick-tock..
Hispanic lawmakers want President Barack Obama to intervene if Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer doesn’t veto a sweeping illegal immigration bill that would require police to stop anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
“The governor of Arizona should veto the bill, and if she doesn’t the president of the United States, Barack Obama, should assert the federal government’s preeminent role in regulating and enforcing our nation’s immigration law,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), said Tuesday.
A senior administration official said the White House was studying the bill….
Update: Video added
Update: Sen Kyl and MAC (in his continuing evolution to ‘tuff’ on illegal immigration) outlined a 10 point plan to secure the southern border yesterday h/t AZ StarNet:
10-step border security action plan unveiled by Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl:
• Immediately deploy 3,000 National Guard troops along the Arizona-Mexico border and add 3,000 Custom and Border Protection agents to the Arizona-Mexico border by 2015.
• Fund and support Operation Streamline in Arizona’s two Border Patrol sectors to ensure that repeat illegal border crossers go to jail for 15 to 60 days.
• Provide $100 million, an increase of $40 million, for Operation Stonegarden, a program that provides funds to Arizona’s border law enforcement for additional costs related to illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
• Offer hardship-duty pay to Border Patrol agents assigned to rural, high trafficking areas.
• Complete the 700 miles of fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico and construct double- and triple-layer fencing at appropriate locations along the border.
• Increase the 25 mobile surveillance systems and three Predator B aerial drones in place along the Arizona-Mexico border. Send additional fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to the Arizona-Mexico border.
• Increase funding for vital radio communications and interoperability between agencies.
• Provide funding for additional Border Patrol stations in the Tucson Sector and explore the possibility of an additional Border Patrol sector for Arizona. Create six additional permanent Border Patrol forward operating bases, and provide funding to upgrade the existing bases to include modular buildings, electricity and potable water. Complete construction of the planned permanent checkpoint in Arizona. Deploy additional temporary roving checkpoints.
• Require the federal government to fully reimburse state and local governments for the costs of incarcerating criminal aliens.
• Place one full-time federal magistrate in Cochise County and provide full funding for and authorization of the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative to reimburse state, county, tribal, and municipal governments for costs associated with the prosecution and pretrial detention of federally-initiated criminal cases declined by local offices of the U.S. attorneys.
Senate gave the final approval to some changes and the bill is now with the Governor waiting for signature. I sent her an email asking her to sign it and letting her know that hubby and I although lifelong Dems support this bill. Never hurts to let a pol who is running for office know they have bipartisan support on an issue! Hopefully she will sign it.
The question of whether police will be required to ask people if they are in this country legally is now in the hands of Gov. Jan Brewer.On a 17-11 margin Monday, the state Senate gave final approval to a package of changes in state law that proponents say will help crack down on illegal immigration. Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, the architect of the plan, said state action is necessary because of the political failure in Washington to secure the border.
While some changes are minor, like making it a crime to stop in traffic to solicit a day laborer, the heart of the bill is aimed at what Pearce said is “removing the handcuffs” from local police.
To that end, SB 1070 would overrule any policy or procedure of a city council or police department that keeps officers from enforcing federal immigration laws. It also says that, when practicable, police must inquire about the immigration status of those they encounter as part of their regular activities.
And to ensure compliance, the legislation permits anyone who believes police aren’t doing all they should to file suit, with judges required to impose fines of up to $5,000 a day if the citizen suit succeeds.
It also lets police arrest illegal immigrants and charge them with the state crime of not carrying their visas or resident alien documents issued by the U.S. government….
Key provisions of SB 1070
– Prohibits any government agency or official from restricting enforcement of immigration laws “to less than the full extent permitted by federal law.”
– In situations where “reasonable suspicion exists” someone is in this country illegally, “a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person” except if it would hinder or obstruct an investigation.
– Says police “may not solely consider race, color or national origin.”
Romney endorses Rubio…
Mitt endorses Rubio, finally! :0) I want pics…
NRO Corner has good interview and discussion of what MiM considers his imminent announcement of an Indy run:
…In recent days, rumors have swirled in Florida over whether Crist will abandon his primary campaign against Rubio, either to drop out or to run as an independent. Polls show Crist potentially beating Rubio as an independent candidate in a three-way race — so does Rubio want Crist to stay in the GOP primary? “I actually, to be quite frank, really don’t even think a lot about it in those terms,” Rubio says. “To me, the race is about going to Washington, D.C., standing up to Obama’s agenda, and offering an alternative. As far as I’m concerned, I’m the only one in this race that will do that. That’s why I got in it when no one thought I could win. Whether it’s Charlie Crist or Kendrick Meek (the probable Democratic nominee), both have been supporters of the Obama agenda, so the race doesn’t really change from my perspective. It’s still about the same things, and still I’m the only one in the race that will stand up to the Obama agenda and offer a clear alternative.”
Does Crist still have a place in the GOP? Romney says he does. “He has a place in the party, because he’s still in the primary,” he says. “I hope that he either continues in the primary, or, if he concludes that he does not want to remain in the primary, steps aside and helps to unite the party behind Marco Rubio.” And if Crist plays his cards right, Romney believes he will have a future in Republican politics. “Down the road, or in other spots, he may well find a place where he can make a real contribution. He helped to build the Republican party in Florida, and he certainly wouldn’t want to be one of those who want to detract from it.”..
Emphasis mine, I think that is Romney offering a nice spot to Charlie in ’12 or on his ’12 campaign staff if he will drop his Indy run…code for, hey if I get the primary spot in ’12 you won’t be on my coattails if you screw the party..but Crist is one of those with no loyalty whatsoever or he wouldn’t have pulled a ‘Bill Judas Richardson aka Arlen Benedict Specter’ on Rudy when he flipped his backing to MAC with no notice now would he?
Hotline reports that Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) called Gov. Charlie Crist to urge him not to run as an independent in the Florida Republican Senate primary. Crist did not answer the phone, and has reportedly not returned the call.
Yeah Charlie will go Indy any second now..and based on where he has been spending his time I bet he will split the Dem vote from Meeks, stealing the teachers union
another high-school rally/lecture:
Gov. Charlie Crist is making two appearances in the Tampa Bay area Monday, including a stop at his high school alma mater.
Crist, praised by teachers for vetoing a controversial bill last week that sought to tie teacher pay to student performance, stops at St. Petersburg High at 12:30 p.m. The governor will address the school in the auditorium and may take questions from the audience, which will include students.
And here Rubio demonstrates how to handle the fact that Romney helped implement a UHC system in Mass, it is very simple and I do not understand all the flustered GOP speak about Romney not able to ‘defend’ it in ’12, don’t let Dems frame the topic, sheesh:
…Rubio has spent much of his campaign focused on health care. Is he a fan of Romney’s Massachusetts health-care plan? “It’s a work in progress,” Rubio says, speaking of the Bay State program.
“There are major distinctions between that and what Obama is trying to do in Washington. For one, it didn’t raise any taxes. Number two, it is not adding to our deficit. That is my biggest objection to Obamacare, although there are many others. My number-one objection to Obamacare is that we can’t afford it, even if it was the greatest idea in the world.”
“Florida and Massachusetts are very different places,” Rubio continues. “All I would say to you is that states were designed to be laboratories for creative thoughts and ideas. That’s what the Framers of our great republic intended. They wanted the states to be the places that came up with innovation and competition. And I’ll tell you what, if Massachusetts gets it wrong and Florida gets it right, people will move to Florida, and businesses will move to Florida, and vice versa. There are just major distinctions between what’s happening in Washington and what I hope states will do. Like I said, what I’m not in favor of is what Barack Obama has done, which is to raise taxes and add to the federal deficit in exchange of taking a step toward a single-payer system in America.”
Free and Strong America, Romney’s PAC, is contributing the maximum $5,000 allowed to Rubio’s campaign. In 2006, Romney, then head of the Republican Governors Association, traveled to Florida to support Crist’s gubernatorial candidacy with a $1 million check. In light of that history, Rubio says, Romney’s endorsement is “another boost” for his campaign….
Since people are all ‘wee weed up’ about how to handle MASS UHC in ’12 if Romney wins the primary, can I add I would like to vote for the Romney/Rubio ticket? Of course I am a recovering Dem without a voice in the GOP primary, but hey I am all on board with Mitt-Marco. The business saavy of Mitt, with his slightly squishy center on some social issues to keep we moderates, plus the rock solid fiscal conservatism of Marco and all he brings on social issues to the ticket for those on the right.
Win/Win AFAIAC, easy on the eyes too *cough cough* fundraising calendar GOP where is it? !
MiM meets Brandon Sanderson plus the Suvudu Cage Match of the multiverse…
MiM met Brandon Sanderson at his book signing for The Gathering Storm..
Warbreaker is out in paperback, and Alcatraz Book 3 was awesome according to MiM Jr..the Wheel of Time collaborative work is a sad but satisfying read as we await the final two volumes of Memory of Light..
Mr. MiM meets Brandon Sanderson
Check it out -Best thing I’ve read today (I can haz in gamer format please?!) from Brandon’s Amazon Blog - Suvudu Cage Match:
So, from what I’ve heard, Rand won the Suvudu cage match.
This leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I am pleased and proud. On the other hand, George R. R. Martin’s write-up of how he thought things would go was simply epic. In his version, the fight went as it should have in many ways, particularly near the end. Rand and Jamie, sword to sword, man to man. A win without a kill, respect given on both sides.
Robert Jordan is smiling somewhere, Mr. Martin.
If we take an infinite multiverse view of things (as is suggested in the Wheel of Time world) then what Mr. Martin wrote did indeed happen. And it didn’t. And everything in between happened as well.
However, in the version imagined by Brandon Sanderson, here’s how the fight goes down.
Mr. Martin’s narrative is more or less dead on until the end. Rand and Jamie struggle and fight, and it comes down to man against man. However, neither man can gain advantage over the other.
Then something flickers in Rand’s vision. Perhaps it’s a trick of the light. Perhaps it’s an assassin’s bolt, dipped in the poison of an asp and fired toward Rand in a moment of weakness. Perhaps it’s Rand’s madness asserting itself. Regardless of the cause, he thinks he’s being attacked by someone other than Jamie and his allies. Treachery, a violation of the trial of seven.
It may be real. It may not be.
Rand, in desperation, somehow forms weaves of power. Reckless weaves, fueled by anger, perhaps delusion (or perhaps when the One Power pool surrounding King’s Landing was used up, some started trickling in from surrounding areas through One Power drainage ditches and has just come close enough for Rand to tap). He creates a gateway through which to escape, but also lets loose a brilliant bolt of balefire, firing it at shadows moving on the other side of that gateway.
A column of liquid light springs forth, passes through the gateway, and hits Suvudu itself.
Now, it’s hard to say what effect this should have. Balefire, for those unaware, has the power to burn threads from the pattern and rework time itself. Kill someone with balefire, and things they did prior to being killed will be reversed.
Perhaps this should mean that the battle never happened. Perhaps it should wipe the entire experience from our minds. But balefire is an odd thing, as is a contest such as this one. And so, Rand’s actions remove the previous fights from existence, but don’t change what is happening between him and Jamie.
Through accident, Rand’s balefire brings back each and every fighter who participated in this tournament. Everyone appears on the battlefield at once.
Rand and Jamie stare in wonder at the chaos that follows.
Aragorn, Garet, and Hiro have a conversation about who is really the greatest swordsman in the world. It involves much stabbing, some pizza, and very little coding.
Kahlan exclaims that she was never part of a “fantasy” novel in the first place, and so disappears in a puff of hypocrisy.
Arthur Dent says, “Oh no, not again.”
Dumbledore tries to send Lyra on a quest to find some random magical object that is going to save the world, really, and is terribly important. So important that he can’t go himself. Honestly.
Roland ponders for twenty-two years before telling you what he does.
Harry Dresden decides this is really all too much work, and wanders off to get himself something to drink. He gets beaten up seventeen times on his way, but saves two orphanages.
Ender writes a poem about the Shrike, entitled “It Might Be a Demonic, Sadistic, Terrible Monster Made of Blades, Thorns, and Terror—but It’s Really Just Misunderstood.”
Kvothe flies in, riding Temeraire, Hermione at his side, and— (I’ve written the second two thirds of this sentence, but I’m not giving them to you yet.)
The Wee Free Men start chatting about this interesting fellow they met WHO SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS and wonders if this is all going to create a great big paradoxical mess he will have to fix.
Edward broods.
Ged, Vlad, and Conan give Eragon a wedgie.
Polgara throws something breakable at somebody, then goes to find Belgarath, who is most likely drinking with Mat, Tyrion, and Harry at this point.
Haplo and Raistlin get into an argument about how to pronounce Drizzt’s name.
Elric tries to decide just who among these people he likes the most, so that he can be forced to feed them to Stormbringer at a terribly dramatic moment, causing much personal angst.
Anita takes out Edward for good measure.
Gandalf and Aslan eye everyone mysteriously, then have a discussion over tea about whose resurrection was more meaningful.
Locke steals Gandalf’s staff and sells it on eBay as an authentic prop from the film trilogy. He then does the same thing with Hermione’s wand.
And at that point, the great Cthulhu himself awakens, and his terrible, alien nature drives everyone irrevocably insane.
Rand wins by default, since he was already insane, and Cthulhu showing up doesn’t really change him at all.
Ladies and gentlemen, we just got Cthulhu’d.
Best,
Brandon
More Blog Posts at Brandonsanderson.com
This is syndicated from Brandon Sanderson Blog.
Final ‘Lost’ cast photo released – series finale events planned…
h/t THR Live Feed
Variety has scoop on events planned to celebrate the series finale-
…ABC hasn’t announced the event, but it’s believed to be a fundraiser. According to Cuse, the event will feature a live orchestra — conducted by Oscar winner Michael Giacchino (who serves as “Lost’s” composer) — performing music from the show.
The penultimate episode will be screened for that night’s aud, while several cast members (and Cuse and exec producer Damon Lindelof) will be in attendance.
That’s a big deal — attendees will get to see that pivotal episode a full five days before the rest of the world. Expect the audience to be asked not to Tweet, blog or even telegraph any spoilers, under penalty of smoke monster. Tickets aren’t on sale yet….
ginaswo
