MONDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Iraq: “Members of United States-allied Awakening Councils have quit or been dismissed from their positions in significant numbers in recent months, prey to an intensive recruitment campaign by the Sunni insurgency, according to government officials, current and former members of the Awakening and insurgents.”
* That was quick: “Bank of America said Monday that it will effectively lift its foreclosure freeze on Oct. 25 when it begins resubmitting foreclosure documents to courts in 23 states. The bank said the new documents will be used in 102,000 foreclosure actions in which judgment is pending in the 23 states.”
* You’ve got to be kidding me: “Some employees of Florida’s largest ‘foreclosure mill’ were given jewelry, cars and houses from the firm, in exchange for altering and forging key documents used to obtain foreclosures, according to a statement released today by the Florida Attorney General’s Office.”
* Homegrown terrorism: “Four men accused of planting bombs outside synagogues in the Bronx and plotting to fire missiles at military planes were convicted on Monday, in a case that was widely seen as an important test of the entrapment defense…. The four defendants — Onta Williams, Laguerre Payen, James Cromitie and David Williams IV — face up to life in prison. Mr. Williams and Mr. Payen were found not guilty of one charge, attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States.”
* That’s really not what we wanted to see: “Output at factories, mines and utilities fell 0.2 percent, the first decline since the recession ended in June 2009, according to figures from the Fed today.”
* Headlines like these tells us quite a bit: “Rather Than Investigating Foreclosure Fraud, House Republicans Vow To Investigate Loans To Poor People.”
* A minor detail that the far-right Concerned Taxpayers of America neglects to mention to the public: the group consists of just two people.
* Former New York Stock Exchange Director Ken Langone’s partisan whining appears to have no foundation in reality.
* When PayPal’s founder offered to give $100,000 to kids to drop out of college and become entrepreneurs, it really wasn’t a good idea.
* If you haven’t seen Jonah Goldberg’s Book TV panel, it featured an exchange — which had nothing to do with Jonah Goldberg — that has to be one of the more bizarre things ever aired on C-SPAN.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
