Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Your Morning News 6.30.09
Posted by Josh in Honduras, Madoff, Ponzi Scheme, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Your Morning News
From the Associated Press
Rolls over What? Eh? We are doing this now? Reaches forcomputer, sound of empty bottles breaking. OK, let’s see what’s in the news
Bernard Madoff, the mastermind behind the biggest financial swindle in history, was sentenced to 150 years behind bars for what his judge called an “extraordinarily evil” fraud. Madoff’s ponzi scheme cost investors something like $13 billion and shook the nation’s faith in its financial and legal systems. But he is going to jail! The recession is over! Right? The big question is if it is possible that a fraud of that scale was perpitrated by one man or if Madoff is taking the fall for his sons and other employees. Also, have you gotten this far without knowing what a Ponzi scheme is?
Apparently the Supreme Court overturned some decision about Firefighters and Civil Rights. It is a “big deal” because President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was a member of the panel that wrote the decision reversed by the justices. Check out the always excellent SCOTUSblog for an analysis of the decision.
Did you know that there was a coup in Honduras? No? You probably haven’t heard about it because they all Twitter in Spanish or something. I don’t really understand what is going on, but there is a good breakdown of the issue in today’s New York Times op-ed page.
As a side note: Happy Birthday Dad!