Well, one cannot say that all truth has been removed from politics.

Tim Minchin — White Wine In The Sun.

The vote on SOPA has been delayed until early next year, which may give online petitioners opposed to the act time to gather more signatures–they have 29,000 and counting. And it may give the RIAA and several studios time to explain a wee little problem they have: Someone/s at the RIAA has downloaded sixty full episodes of Dexter, according to a program which logged the BitTorrent activity of some 50 million users.

David Dayen does a lovely job of dissecting this wretchedly dishonest exercise in Galtian self-pity by Jamie Dimon and his fellow one-percenter elites, but I can’t help taking a swing at that fastball they parked right over the plate.

So anyway, how many of these self-alleged “job creators” are totally self-made superior beings? Hmmm, not many.

In Which I Compare our Political System and Centrist Third Party Wankers to a Ridiculously Oversimplified Cola War

I want to thank all of you who have donated. These items have made a real difference in the lives of those who have been camping out at Occupy Kansas City. And they have made a big difference to me as well.

You do have to marvel at the way in which the 1% tries to pull off the trick of evoking sympathy for how hard it is to be them, as if a commentary on income inequality above where it was during the Roman empire is actually just an attack on their character. But that hasn’t stopped the whining.

Hacker Adrian Lamo was called to the stand by the prosecution to testify in the Pfc. Bradley Manning hearing. He took the stand just after a federal agent described his role as a confidential informant for the government. The testimony was some of the most exciting testimony thus far.

Until now, only the State Attorney General could bring action under the Martin Act, a securities fraud law in New York State that is much more expansive than federal statutes. Typically the plaintiff must prove intent to commit fraud; under the Martin Act the plaintiff need only prove that fraud was committed. Now, as a result of a new ruling, any aggrieved private actor can use the Martin Act as part of their lawsuit. This empowers investors of all sizes to go after the banks on securities fraud.

Paul Krugman links to Kim Lane Scheppele about the current state of politics in Hungary. Scheppele notes that after winning the last election the Fidesz party is radically re-writing the constitution in very anti-democratic ways, attempting to make Fidesz policy and political power permanent. Some measures look familiar and should be a warning sign to Americans.