Thank You! Judge Jed Rakoff!!!

While Keith Olbermann is often histrionic and goes off the deep end hyperbolically, I am very glad he had Matt Taibbi on this evening and I watched his broadcast on Current TV.   First, Olberman did not mention anything about Herman Cain's lack of ability to resist the White Woman (her last name, is "White", so it's not a racial dig)... but secondly... and Much More Importantly... Olbermann and Taibbi talked about Federal Judge Jed Rakoff's recent ruling where he THREW OUT the settlement that the SEC and CITI Group (pronounced "Shitty Group") reached wherein CITI was going to pay just over a 1/4 of a billion dollars in fines for defrauding investors when they said worthless mortgages were AAA rated, prime rib, awesome investments.  Well, actually, according to the Taibbi interview, CITI would ADMIT TO NO WRONG DOING, and pay the fines, but would not have to say why, and no further discussion would come of it.

Rakoff threw out the settlement, not just "no" but "Hell No".  "Don't come back into my court room" until you can prove the facts of the case, and show clearly what was done.  No bribes.  No smoke & mirrors.  No tiny slap on the wrist (a 1/4 billion sounds like alot to you and me, but this is Shitty bank, on of the 5 highest grossing 'profit' banks that is 'too big to fail' in the US, and the amount of profit they raked in by tax payer bailouts and corporate executive bonuses is unfathomably obscene since 2008).

Now, NPR had reported the settlement was rejected by "a federal Judge" but DID NOT SAY WHY.  Good thing we still have access to the google in the US; a quick search here (MSN/Money), here (Fox Business), here (Businessinsider), and here (Bloomberg) give more details.  But 3 of the 4 of these corporately held, corporately friendly, don't insult-Citi-they-are-our-friends "news agencies" barely mention on what grounds Rakoff rejected the claim.  Businessinsider does a nice job of summarizing, in writing, what Olbermann and Taibbi discussed on Current this evening (link here). 

Judge Jed Rakoff has inserted a tiny sliver of hope in a merde pie that the SEC, Congress, the largest Banks, Wall Street, and a toothless US Treasury have served us all.  Thank you Judge Rakoff.

Sadly... the case will probably never see Rakoff's court room again, as Citi will go judge shopping, until they can find one they can buy off, and get their pathetic little settlement approved.  grrrrrr.