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AP: Bank Of America Agrees To Nearly $17B Settlement
The government has reached a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America over its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, the Justice Department announced Thursday. The deal calls for the bank, the second-largest in the U.S., to pay a $5 billion cash penalty, another $4.6 billion in remediation payments and provide about $7 billion in relief to struggling homeowners. The settlement is by far the largest deal the Justice Department has reached with a bank over the 2008 mortgage meltdown.
In the last year, JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to a $13 billion settlement while Citigroup reached a separate $7 billion deal. At a news conference, Attorney General Eric Holder said the bank and its Countrywide and Merrill Lynch subsidiaries had “engaged in pervasive schemes to defraud financial institutions and other investors” by misrepresenting the soundness of mortgage-backed securities. The penalties, Holder said, go “far beyond the cost of doing business.”
More here
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U.S. new home construction in July surges to highest rate of the year: bloom.bg/1thUZkn
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Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) August 19, 2025****
U.S. jobless claims fall below 300,000 for third time in five weeks on.mktw.net/VHNYNi
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(@MarketWatch) August 21, 2025****
MORE: Officials say Bank of America will pay $10B in cash and provide consumer relief valued at $7B: apne.ws/1AytYMQ
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The Associated Press (@AP) August 20, 2025****
Bloomberg: Housing Starts Rebound In U.S. As Inflation Eases
Home construction rebounded in July and the cost of living rose at a slower pace, showing a strengthening U.S. economy has yet to generate a sustained pickup in inflation. A 15.7 percent jump took housing starts to a 1.09 million annualized rate, the strongest since November, and halted a two-month slide, the Commerce Department said in Washington. The consumer price index increased 0.1 percent after rising 0.3 percent in June, the Labor Department also reported. An improving job market and cheaper borrowing costs are helping revive residential real estate, helping boost sales at companies such as Home Depot Inc. (HD) As inflation continues to run below the Federal Reserve’s target, it gives the central bank room to keep interest rates low well after the projected end of its bond-buying program in October.
The pickup in housing starts in the U.S. exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of 75 economists. The median projection called for 965,000, within a range of 898,000 to 1.03 million. The Commerce Department also revised June’s reading up to a 945,000 pace from a previously reported 893,000. The report also indicated the building industry will probably consolidate gains in coming months as permits for future projects advanced 8.1 percent to a 1.05 million pace, about in line with the current level of starts. The gain reflected the most applications for single-family dwellings since November.
More here
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Temporary employees are getting bumped to full-time at highest rate in three years: bloom.bg/1ssaxUD http://t.co/y7RPp7waBP
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Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) August 11, 2025****
Bloomberg: Job Market Tilts Toward U.S. Workers In Virtuous Cycle
The balance of power in the job market is shifting slowly toward employees from employers. Bob Funk sees it firsthand from his position as chief executive officer of staffing agency Express Employment Professionals. “We’re short of people in a number of cities,” he said. So he’s changing the focus of his $2.5 billion, Oklahoma City-based business. Instead of concentrating on finding jobs for those who want them, Express Employment is putting more effort into finding workers for companies that need them. “We’re back in the recruiting market again,” Funk said. The 74-year-old industry veteran isn’t the only one to notice the change. Americans who have been hunting for employment for more than six months
are finding they’re having better luck landing a job, while people who had given up looking are returning to the labor force to resume their search. Companies, meanwhile, are beefing up their in-house recruiting teams and increasingly using complicated computer algorithms to scour the Web for prospective job candidates. This is all good news for the economy, according to Nariman Behravesh, the Lexington, Massachusetts-based chief economist for IHS Inc. He said the U.S. has entered a “virtuous cycle” where job gains are leading to increased household expenditures, encouraging employers to hire more workers. Consumer spending rose in June by the most in three months, according to Commerce Department data published Aug. 1.
More here
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White House.gov
I’m on that team!
Me too! Congrats on beating me, Jacqueline! :star:
We actually ran in togethah, honey bunch! Congrats to you!
Oops. None of the reporters at this NSA briefing in the vacation locale are wearing neckties. OH THE HUMANITY.
But they insist on the President wearing a necktie, probably even when he is in the pool.
I think it’s time for me to go eat some donuts for lunch and watch a little HGTV! It’s all so freakin’ blatant, isn’t it? Grrrr.
LOL
They just don’t know it!
Today’s Twins: Jacqueline and No Child. Not Terrible, Just Terrible-ish.
Thank you Nerdy, what a team!
I think my twin’s name is NCLB, or am I on another page “again”?
Like I’d make that mistake (/rushing to edit comment)
She who controls the edit key controls the universe.
#Orwell-ish
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” — George Orwell
Edit by Chips: Rock on George!
:-)
Ha.
Could not keep up with Jacqueline. http://data2.whicdn.com/images/60972493/large.gif
You’re welcome, Chips.
J’OB - CONGRATS!!!!
Thanks, GGail! And now I’m outta here, to take my mind off the insanity for a bit.
But I’ll be BACK!!!
Hello!
A Gold :star: Recipient too :)
Congrats.
Laugh break (Laura Olin worked for Obama 2012):
Aw, Sarah Barracuda is butt hurt.
Palin is a professional victim ….what a loser
“The two officers involved have been placed on administrative duty, per department policy.”
All of a sudden, they have a “policy.”
They handcuffed a dead body. How sick and STUPID is that???
“Oh, I’m sorry, was that corpse threatening you?”
“Yes, the corpse was within 21 feet of me, so, according to policy, I felt threatened.”
O/T: Definitely off topic but need to step away for a bit and wanted to share. I just heard a caller on THartmann’s Show. They had a good discussion. At the end, he said that he used to be a Fox devotee. Found Thom’s show about 6 months ago and praised him and said how much he respects him and he thanked him couple of times for what he does. There’s HOPE……..one person at a time.
I usually listen to TH since the shake up in programing due to RR’s departure. He bashes PBO and has Senator Bernie on every week.
1st question GOLF activities of POTUS…..wow….
2nd Jon Karl…..Golf…..
http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/press-briefing-principal-deputy-press-secretary-eric-schultz-0
I wish just once they would say : Does anyone have a serious question, raise your hand.
JO’B Au :star: winner ;)
Love ya!
PBO again, working for America and getting the job. But all media wants to focus on instead is the “optics” of his playing golf…
And smiling with Alonzo Morning… What could they be smiling about? Was it a missed putt? Did they place a bet? What could it be?
Excellent Piece Nerdy Wonka. How I wish that TOD was a TV/Cable medium so Many, especially those in USA can see what fantastic job NW, Chips…the Lady with Huge <3 , Amk, LP, Zizi2, LL, The TOD Twitter Brigades and all the Contributors provide 24/7 here at TOD. Thanks Gang.
Amen. Ditto. Yep. Unh hunh unh hunh. What Nena20409 Said. Thank you thank you thank you.
Thanks, Nena.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/08/19/is_barack_obama_more_of_a_realist_than_i_am_stephen_m_walt_iraq_russia_gaza
Interesting article on Obama’s foreign policy. It’s definitely a refreshing take in comparison to the MSM narrative about Obama being “weak” or “clueless”, but there are some key aspects I disagree.
Most notably is the fact that while Obama clearly considers US interests in every action he takes on foreign policy, a large component of his doctrine relies on mutual cooperation. For example on the Ukraine crisis, Obama was able to levy the economic coordination between the EU and the US in order to strike hard at Russia. Also, a big aspect of Obama’s strategies in Asia have relied on establishing partnerships with countries like Burma and Vietnam. The end result of this has been a weakening of China’s influence in the region, while also bringing those countries closer to democracy.
Agree.
No surprise, but documenting it is always worthwhile ….
BTW, Security Council meeting, on Russians additional invasion of Ukraine, is closed to all but members and their staff.
Iowa GOPer: Child Immigrants Could Be Arriving ‘Highly Trained As Warriors’
The Iowa conservative activist shared her concerns with her guest, tea partier Mary Huls.
“When we see these kids, you and I think young kids, we think maybe 12-year-olds, maybe even homeschoolers — or excuse me, middle schoolers,” Scott said. “But we know back in our revolution, we had 12-year-olds fighting in our revolution and for many of these kids, depending on where they’re coming from, they could be coming from other countries and be highly trained as warriors who will meet up with their group here and actually rise up against us as Americans. We have no idea what’s coming through our borders but I would say biblically it’s not a Christian nation when you entice people to do wrong.”
Scott’s guest echoed her concerns, affirming that children are receiving warrior training.
“We do know that Hamas and — I’m sorry Hezbollah fund several training camps in Venezuela and other South American countries and they are training these young, these youths, beginning as early as eight or nine years through the MS-13 gangs but they are being trained as warriors,” Huls said. “You’re absolutely right.”
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MS 13 is NOT in South America….gawd these people are idiots.
Unbelieveable
I wrote this on the other thread, but I hope all that blood money goes directly to civil suits and damages for the terror that this ugly police force has inflicted on the residents of Ferguson.
Controversial filmmaker and Republican operative David Bossie accompanied Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) when the senator took several reporters to watch him perform surgery in Central America. Bossie’s past work, which includes deliberately doctoring evidence to smear the Clintons, has been denounced by fellow Republicans, including Newt Gingrich and former President George H. W. Bush.
According to The Washington Post, Paul visited Guatemala this week to spend some time practicing medicine again (Paul is an ophthalmologist), but the presence on the trip of Citizen’s United President David Bossie “cast aside any doubt that the trip was merely an opportunity for the senator to reconnect with his medical roots”:
Paul’s association with Bossie links him to the operative’s shady past. In 1998, Bossie was fired from his job as chief investigator for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform — which was investigating alleged Clinton White House finance abuses — because he released selectively edited transcripts that gave the false impression that then-first lady Hillary Clinton had been implicated in wrongdoing. The full comments revealed that Clinton had done nothing wrong. The Washington Post reported in a May 1998 article that then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) told the chairman of the committee upon Bossie’s removal, “I’m embarrassed for you, I’m embarrassed for myself, and I’m embarrassed for the [House Republican] conference at the circus that went on at your committee.”
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/08/22/the-shady-filmmaker-on-rand-pauls-press-tour/200517
Brooke.Baldwin of CNN
…you may want to check a MAP.
The Kurds are on OUR side ? Do you know that the Kurds are in IRAQ ?
We are helping them, not the other way around.
Good Grief.
It appears the Kurd fighters have surrounded ISIL in a town close by.
Dressed like Rick James.
Ha!!
lolol….can you the President with locks…mercy….but i bet you he could rock them
Congressman’s Office Sorry For Using Soviet Medals In Veterans Ad
WOODLAND PARK, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey congressman’s office is red-faced over a Facebook ad about veteran benefits that featured Soviet military medals.
Rep. Scott Garrett’s spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that the office was sorry an initial review did not catch the use of the stock photo. Maggie Seidel says the ad was produced by an outside vendor and is no longer running.
The ad asked people to like Garrett’s page to learn what he’s doing to support veterans’ benefits.
Two veterans who live in the Republican’s district complained about the ad. One of them, Eugene Romanick, tells The Record (http://bit.ly/1s9b8H6 ) newspaper that the medals are Soviet, and have red stars with hammers and sickles all over them.
Someone on the SCOTUS gets it.
PREACH!
thank you mr president.
also, i think any business that refuses to provide full medical care to half its employees should be required to state that clearly in any job application process. if you’re like me, when you interview for a job and they say, yes there is a medical policy provided as a benefit with this position, you don’t ask to read the policy. recruitment ads, application forms, all the steps of the hiring process should include that very important info. not too much to ask of these businesses and non-profits, since they are so proudly averse to offering contraceptive and other care for women.
hey everybody!!! meta’s serving cake over on her blog!! go over and wish her a happy anniversary <3
http://pastrystudio.blogspot.com/2014/08/chocolate-almond-raspberry-cake.html
Hey, thanks buddy! Grab a fork!
yum :)
Happy Anniversary meta!!!
Thank you, sir! Just trying to stay out of trouble.
To die for as usual Meta.
Bring on the sugar coma! Well Done, Meta! Have a fun anniversary!
7 is a Lucky number. Congrats.
Why is my mouth watering? Wow…..I am craving for something juicy and sweet ;)
Congrats Meta:-) wishing you more sweetness and many many more years:-)
xoxo
Thank you very much, everyone!
That looks fabulous, Meta! My favorite combination is chocolate + raspberry!
I love your beautiful photographs…and I love how you talk the instructions….it is almost as if you are in my kitchen with me…will try this 7th anniversary cake
Happy Anniversary Meta/Pastry Studio…
I would kill for a piece of that Cake!! Hmmmmmmm!
This seems very positive!!! How did this even happen in FL? Now, I’ll read the link.
Oops, not so fast. doesn’t start this year. Victory for GOP.
A Democratic state judge in Texas is suggesting that Republican Gov. Rick Perry’s strong denunciations of his indictment could be seen as a threat to the grand jurors, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Julie Kocurek, an elected judge, said “no one is above the law.”
“I have a duty to make sure that our members of the grand jury are protected,” she’s quoted as saying. “I am defending the integrity of our grand jury system.”
It’s far from clear that Perry was threatening the grand jury. The statement he made, to which Kocurek was reportedly referring, was this: “I am confident we will ultimately prevail, that this farce of a prosecution will be revealed for what it is, and that those responsible will be held to account.”
Everyday the Obama Administration does something tohelp our fellow citizens. Today extending contraception coverage.
No wonder the media is focused on vital matters such as the President’s neckwear.
Wow!
disgusting….
Each and every day, the racists are out and about proving who they are in broad day light.
Huhm… and Racism it’s so over..SMDH!
yes they are…they have come out of hiding…
And Obama plays golf while all this is happening…the optics are bad y’all!
George Zimmerman Arrested While Visiting Ferguson
http://nationalreport.net/george-zimmerman-arrested-visiting-ferguson/
I don’t think this is Kasai. This is a satire site and that story has been debunked. :)
Phew…thank you HP
So glad to hear:-)
Navy Discharges African-American Sailor For Refusing To Cut Off Her Natural Hair
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/08/22/3474590/navy-discharges-african-american-sailor-for-refusing-to-cut-off-her-natural-hair/
She has not changed her hairstyle since 2005, why is it a problem in 2014 ?
This jury panel is not balanced. AT.ALL.
It takes but 9 votes to convict. Now that in town with 67% AAs is truly off.
I did the research and it takes 9 votes to get a “true bill.” Which is an indictment.
If a true bill isn’t voted for, then there are still a few paths to get a charge.
The 9/3 is a fairly accurate representation for St. Louis County which is the juridiction. This particular grand jury serves for several months and has been serving.
If their term expires during the Ferguson hearings the terms of the Grand jurors will be extended in order to complete the hearing.
St Louis county - you’re right about that vicki. :)
St Louis County is mostly white. Is that what you mean, hf?
Yes. I see your point now with respect to the racial balance. My initial comment was on the basis of my focusing on just Ferguson, but taking into account the breakdown of the entire county, then it makes sense, as you said.
Hey you two, I’ve seen others make that point too, that the ratio is reflective of the entire county. But if pockets of the county have large white or African American majorities, shouldn’t that be taken in to consideration and a greater balance ensured?
Yes indeed, you would think they would take this into account, especially since the incident occurred in the city of Ferguson which is one of those pockets.
It’s obvious that the deck is already stacked towards letting Wilson get off…
But Wilson and his supporters had better understand acquittal or not, it’s never going back to nice cushy life and business as usual. His remaining days on earth will be living hell…and like Zimmerman, he will self-destruct eventually. He’s going to regret the day he pulled the trigger on that kid - even if he never admits it to anyone.
I don’t see how, Chips.
This jury was empaneled many months ago. How could appropriately weighted juries come about? You’re not suggesting that different towns within a county have separate court systems reflective of race?
I really don’t know how it could be done Vicki, but it’s a serious problem in a case like this where a predominantly white jury, at a time of heightened racial tensions, will decide Wilson’s fate. It’s the old thing of justice needing to be seen to be done, and the Ferguson community really needs to see it done. And even if the white jurors are the most honest on earth, the understandable perception will be that they voted along race lines if Wilson walks.
I’m not a big fan of quotas, but I do think to ensure a community’s confidence in the justice system they should be considered for juries. I think it’s a given that juries should be 50-50 men and women, how you do it along race lines I don’t know, but the communities served by these juries must feel they are representative of them.
The Navy has decided to separate Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (SW/AW) Jessica Sims, a 12-year sailor, for failing to obey an order to cut off her natural hairstyle, according to a Wednesday statement from the chief of naval personnel’s office.
Navy officials have decided to separate a 12-year African-American sailor for failing to obey an order to cut off her natural hairstyle.
Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (SW/AW) Jessica Sims confirmed to Navy Times that she will be honorably discharged Friday, after refusing to trim her locks, which she had worn most of her time in the Navy. After a delay on her discharge, officials ruled that Sims’ locks were out of regs and that her bun was too bulky to be worn with a gas mask
http://www.wvec.com/news/Navy-Officials-decide-to-boot-HM2-for-her-locks-272279111.html
Okay….the saga of Don Sterling Continues? Oh myyy!
Martha’s VY WH presser 8-22-14
http://www.c-span.org/video/?321118-1/white-house-briefing
We are the Media…
https://twitter.com/conradhackett/status/502647907578048512
Michael Eric Dyson needs to STFU.
Love it Erick Dyson got a huge a__whooping on his Wapo op-ed bashing PBO…a site to see indeed…He’s been silent for a few days…
Nerdy’s new post:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/08/22/access-to-birth-control-obamacare-guarantees-that/
That plane looks like a Mig 29.