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19 Apr 2011 11:04

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Biz: That was a big loan: Goldman Sachs just paid back Warren Buffett

  • $5
    billion     the amount Warren Buffett loaned to Goldman Sachs at the nadir of the financial crisis back in 2008; wish we could loan out that kind of cash
  • $5.64 billion the amount they paid Warren back last quarter, including interest earned — that’s on top of dividends they already paid out source
  • » A pretty hefty one-time charge: While Goldman Sachs’ profits for the current quarter, $2.74 billion, were down 21 percent from a year earlier because of the payday to their sugar daddy, if you don’t count the payment to Warren, their profits — $8.38 billion — would have been up by 49 percent from a year earlier. In other words, they’re richer than we are and Wall Street is celebrating.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2011 10:51

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U.S.: Obama’s declining book sales = 70% drop in income in 2010

  • $1.7M the amount the Obamas made in 2010, according to their tax return, released Monday
  • $454k the amount in taxes the First Family paid, roughly 27 percent of their total income
  • $5.5M the amount the Obamas made last year, when Barack’s books sold better source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2011 10:30

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Politics: 2012 election poll: Nobody’s really doing it for GOP voters yet

  • It really sucks to be a GOP voter right now. Despite wide frustration on the right side of the aisle over Barack Obama’s policies, nobody appears to be doing the trick for conservative voters, according to this poll by The Washington Post and ABC News. And it gets worse: In a general election, Obama would best the entire field. Only Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee really get within fighting distance. Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich are 15 points behind. Sarah Palin is 17 points behind, by far the worst showing. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2011 10:04

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Politics: Donald Trump: Gary Busey makes 2012 election choice easy for us

  • Donald Trump had the birther vote. Now he has the Busey vote. Whose opinion are you gonna trust anyway, those stupid pundits or a guy who once did a movie called “The Gingerdead Man“? A guy who couldn’t even win a season of “Celebrity Apprentice”? We know where we’re putting our money. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2011 00:06

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U.S.: Gas Rising: Six states in the US pay at least $4.00 per gallon

  • $4.48 average cost per gallon for gas in Hawaii, the most expensive in the nation
  • $3.54 cost per gallon in Montana, the state with the cheapest gas
  • 26 days straight; that’s how long gas prices in the US have been rising source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2011 23:07

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U.S.: Artist paints anti-gay church leader in compromising position with Satan

  • Well, this is awesome: The delightful Westboro Baptist Church, best known for protesting the funerals of soldiers and screaming “God Hates Fags” at anyone who will listen, just got a taste of its own medicine. The man pictured above is New York artist Scott LoBaido. LoBaido traveled to the church’s headquarters in Topeka, Kansas last weekend, set up shop across the street, and proceded to paint the above work of art. In case you can’t tell, it’s an image of WBC founder Fred Phelps, wearing nothing but a pair of purple underwear, lovingly embracing the Devil, as his daughter (the equally-charming Shirley Phelps-Roper) gazes on in anticipation. The police tried to stop LoBaido, but as his creation clearly qualifies as art, the anti-picketing laws afforded to the church didn’t apply. LoBaido is a traveling artist who paints patriotic imagery around the United States. He blasted Lady Gaga while making this masterpiece (which he plans to auction off for charity on eBay), earning him a police citation for violating anti-noise laws. We think it was well-worth it. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2011 22:15

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Politics: Wisconsin: Recall campaign gains steam, control of State Senate now in play

  • three number of GOP State Senators in Wisconsin who will face a recall election, thanks to Democratic organizing efforts
  • three number of seats that have to change hands in order for Democrats to gain control of the Wisconsin State Senate source
  • » Total Recall: Democratic efforts to flip control of the Wisconsin State Senate just reached an important milestone, as organizers have now collected enough signatures to force three Republican senators into recall elections. If Democrats win all three elections, they’ll be rewarded with control of the Wisconsin State Senate. This is, of course, pending validation of the collected signatures; in all three cases, Democratic organizers submitted around 150% of the required number of signatures, so it’s unlikely that the petitions will be invalidated on those grounds. If Democrats are successful in recalling even one Wisconsin Republican, it’ll be an enormous victory for the pro-union movement, which launched the recall campaign last month in response to Governor Scott Walker’s union-busting “budget-repair” bill.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

18 Apr 2011 21:44

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U.S.: Obama wants cooler high-tech gizmos in the White House

  • I always thought I was going to have really cool phones and stuff. I’m like, c’mon guys, I’m the President of the United States. Where’s the fancy buttons and stuff and the big screen comes up? It doesn’t happen.
  • President Obama • At a private fundraising event in Chicago. This is the sort of quote that will endear those who already like Obama and disgust those who hate him. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2011 21:12

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Biz, U.S.: Question: What company wants to hire a lot of people, stat?

  • 50,000 new jobs, but there’s a catch source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2011 16:56

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World: Nigerian Presidential election goes to Goodluck Jonathan

  • Goodluck Jonathan wins in Nigeria: So says Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, but his political opposition has claimed intimidation, ballot stuffing, and the like. Project 2011 Swift Count, a Nigerian election observer, sought to rebut that claim — while they acknowledged that violence, intimidation and illegal voting took place in isolated incidents, they say their reports from a random group of 1,468 polling stations suggest this didn’t change the eventual outcome. Nonetheless, many Nigerians have been hurt in an outbreak of election day riots, a grim and depressing reality to be sure. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
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