Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

I can't imagine how I would improve on Janet Tavakoli's commentary on this situation. So I'll just steal it. ------------------------------   I thought this sort of incompetence was contained in the financial world. But the "investigation" into the California jihadists tells you all you need to know about D.C.'s lack of ability to govern. ABC News confirmed that Malik, the female San Bernardino shooter, gave a fake Pakistani village address on her visa application. She also belonged to a mosque tied to terrorism when she lived in Pakistan. Yet she got a green card last summer. This is an example of what you can expect of "background checks" and refugee "vetting." The FBI is supposedly investigating the San Bernardino shootings as terrorism. Well, let's see, the female shooter posted support for ISIS on her Facebook account at the same time POTUS claimed we were safe from ISIS. It seems terrorism is an easy case to make. But wait! Wh...

Janet Tavakoli has a new book out entitled Unveiled Threat: A Personal Experience of Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism. Yes, I know. There are hordes of people these days wielding pens (or keyboards) these days to give their view of the world's discontents and the violently discontented. One can't keep up with them, nor should that be an aspiration. But I know Tavakoli. We aren't close friends but we are work acquaintances -- I have been happy to quote her as a source or to call her for guidance on ongoing stories. None of these ongoing stories has had a lot to do with terrorism. So this drew me up short. You see, Tavakoli is an expert on  "structured finance." her firm, unsurprisingly called "Tavakoli Structured Finance Inc." offers as her webpage says "independent risk consulting and expert witnesses services ... for derivatives, credit derivatives, synthetic collateralized debt obligations, total return swaps, special purp...

On a recent trip to NYC I discovered ads in the Metronorth train cars promoting Fox Business News on the ground that they have Charlie Gasparino reporting for them. Really?  That's the selling point?  Former CNBC editor Charlie Gasbag has switched over? Remember Charlie isn't at CNBC anymore largely because he flipped out over the air over the harmless expression., "What have you got?" During the worst of the 2008 crisis, on the regular late-afternoon program "Closing Bell," anchor Dylan Ratigan introduced CG, obviously under the impression that CG was about to share with him and us some important new datum about a shakeup in the management ranks at Merrill Lynch. Indeed, the camera than framed Charles' face with the unsubtle words "Mgmt Turmoil Continues at Merrill Lynch" below. Here's a Youtube vido of the weird exchange . Anyway, Charles ended up conveying no news at all and wasting a good deal of time on a rather busy news ...