Talking Points Memo

Nothing To See Here

2012-05-24T21:43:19Z

SEC reportedly decides against any enforcement action against former executives of Lehman Brothers for the collapse that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis.

'Clarification' Of The Day

2012-05-24T21:35:06Z

Grover Norquist: Hey, lay off! I was comparing Chuck Schumer to Weimar Germany, not Nazi Germany.

Never a Shortage of Morons

2012-05-24T21:26:03Z

NJ Mayor and 22 year old son arrested for hacking an email account and website being used to organize a recall effort against him.

Presented By:

2012-05-24T21:26:03Z

Wow

2012-05-24T19:55:49Z

Google logged 1.2 million copyright complaints ... last month.

The New Patron Saint Of Anti-Tax Zealots

2012-05-24T17:19:30Z

Chuck Schumer, on conservatives defending Facebook's Eduardo Saverin: "In the name of low taxes for the wealthy, they have lionized an inherently unpatriotic person."

That's The Way To Do It

2012-05-24T16:59:56Z

If you're going to endorse a hardcore anti-Muslim candidate, do it on letterhead from one of George Wallace's presidential campaigns.

Deafening Silence?

2012-05-24T16:47:43Z

Are other TPM Readers in Wisconsin having the same experience as TPM Reader DS ...

Maybe you're already hearing this from other sources, but it is 2 weeks from an historic recall election and the virtual silence in the air is really palpable around here. If you're not watching TV (where I have to assume there are ads running by the thousands) you wouldn't even know an election was happening.

A story here or there in the newspaper. Yard signs, but not even that many. No rallies. No big events. Just phone calls and the usual emails asking for money.
Now, I am in Dane County, which is expected to go pretty heavily for Barrett, so perhaps this is not where campaigns are focusing their efforts. But the quiet is almost eerie. Combined with the polls, which show basically the same outcome as the last time Barrett and Walker faced off, it makes one wonder whether Barrett is just a really poor campaigner or whether it was a poor choice on the part of the recall effort not to wait to start the recall and try to schedule it in November with the general.

Either way, the silence is deafening at the moment.

Playing For Keeps

2012-05-24T16:21:50Z

Democrats escalate battle for women voters with equal pay bill that Republicans oppose.

Key State Watch

2012-05-24T16:19:41Z

New polling out on Florida, Ohio, and Virginia shows Obama ahead of Romney in all three swing states.

Dragon's-Eye View

2012-05-24T16:15:39Z

Video of SpaceX's Dragon doing an initial flyby of the International Space Station in advance of its attempted docking.

Blue In The Face

2012-05-24T14:18:12Z

I don't know how many different stories we've written on this same general theme -- more than 100? -- but it has been the driving dynamic of U.S. politics for three years now and shows no sign of being resolved anytime soon: a smart, cogent, practical, and likely successful fix for the economy and the federal budget is right there for the taking if only Republicans would put empirical economic evidence ahead of anti-tax ideology.

Presented By:

2012-05-24T14:18:12Z

Something Deep In The Psyche

2012-05-24T13:09:28Z

Sara Libby takes a close look at how reapportionment in state legislatures after the 2010 census disproportionately affected female incumbents -- of both parties.

Today's Very Cool Thing

2012-05-24T12:50:01Z

Why store data in a thumb drive, when you could actually store it in your thumb?

Key Strategic Decision

2012-05-23T22:10:22Z

The Romney campaign seems to have decided that it can't repair the damage to his chances with Hispanics post-primary and he'll focus on getting votes elsewhere.

Performance Art, Right?

2012-05-23T21:34:28Z

It won't be easy. I know. But take a moment to plumb the depths of your memory and peer far back through the mists of time to ... last Friday, when CNBC was freaking out over Facebook's IPO. And then compare that to today, when CNBC was freaking out over Facebook's IPO for entirely different reasons.

Who Did What -- And When

2012-05-23T21:15:18Z

The Facebook IPO as a cultural event was bizarro, especially if you suffered with a vicious hangover after the .com boom. But the allegations of selective disclosure of material information about the company's business prospects to preferred investors in advance of the IPO? That's a different story entirely. We've put together a timeline of the events relevant to these new allegations.

It could turn out that the selective disclosure investigations may provide us, as if we needed it (see, e.g., JP Morgan), with another window into the systemic corruption of Wall Street. In that sense, these allegations may reveal less about Facebook, Inc., than about a financial system that survived its own self-inflicted near-death experience in 2008 with its venality intact.

Both Sides Agree: It's The Economy, Stupid

2012-05-23T20:52:13Z

Click here for full-size player.

'La-La Land'

2012-05-23T19:56:41Z

House GOP to Obama: You're in "La-La Land" on a debt limit increase.

Fake!

2012-05-23T19:29:42Z

Hawaii's actual verification of President Obama's birth.

Presented By:

2012-05-23T19:29:42Z

Thanks, Ken Bennett

2012-05-23T19:13:10Z

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett last night finally called an end to his ill-advised investigation into the undisputed facts of President Obama's birth.

Hawaii was even kind enough to furnish him with a souvenir of the week that was.

Stu Varney Says Facebook

2012-05-23T17:47:39Z

Courtesy of our video captain Michael Lester, the most bizarrely excellent clip you'll watch today.

Carney to Reporters: BS

2012-05-23T16:39:48Z

Press Secretary Jay Carney berates "BS" reporting of Obama 'spending spree', reporting based on "sloth and laziness."

On His Own Terms

2012-05-23T16:34:55Z

Patrick Fitzgerald steps down as U.S. attorney in Chicago.

You Don't Say?

2012-05-23T15:30:20Z

DC Republicans reinvent themselves as Keynesians to warn of the impending harm to the U.S. economy of cutting government spending.

Counter-Narrative Alert

2012-05-23T15:28:14Z

How does federal spending under Obama stack up against recent past presidents? Take a look.

The John Edwards Trial In Pictures

2012-05-23T13:25:52Z

While the jury continues to deliberate, a look at the cast of characters from the monthlong trial.

Motion Control Computing Wars

2012-05-23T13:12:39Z

One day soon you'll be moving your finger through the air to read this piece.

Presented By:

2012-05-23T13:12:39Z

BRAAAINS

2012-05-23T12:20:02Z

Birtherism. The undead dream that just won't go away.

Boom! Hawaii Replies

2012-05-23T03:58:39Z

Hawaii replies to Arizona's birther-curious Secretary of State, officially confirming Obama's birth.

Prosaically Named 'Dashboard' Debuts Tomorrow

2012-05-23T03:50:07Z

The Obama campaign is debuting its new and much-hyped social/organizing/recruiting dashboard tomorrow. They've named it 'Dashboard'.