The banksters’ blatant fraud in the run-up to the financial crisis hasn’t gone unnoticed to one top lawyer in the nation. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman – who also chairs the President’s mortgage fraud task force – filed a civil suit against JP Morgan Chase for “widespread fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities.” This is the first legal action brought against the banks by this taskforce.

Most of the allegations are actually again failed bank Bear Stearns, which was bought by JP Morgan Chase just before the economy went into meltdown in 2008. According to the lawsuit – banksters at Bear Stearns knowingly sold defective loans and mortgage backed securities and kept their investors in the dark about how crummy these deals were.

Just like banksters at Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns’ banksters openly bragged to each other about how bad the deals were and how much their customers are getting screwed. Officials within Schneiderman’s office are suggesting the JP Morgan Chase is just the first in a long line of banks that could be hit with similar lawsuits.

Yes, hitting the banks with lawsuits for their fraud is a good thing. But we need to go a step further – instead of civil lawsuits – we need criminal lawsuits. The only way to stop these billionaire predators from crashing our economy against – is to send some suits to jail.

-Thom

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Monday's Daily Stack

Quote: "The first responsibility of the press is to use its freedom to protect the rights and liberties of all individuals. The press must speak out, and, if the occasion arises, raise bloody hell." -- Herblock 1957 (aka Herbert Lawrence Block, American editorial cartoonist and author best known for his commentary on national domestic and foreign policy from a liberal perspective 1909-2001).

Article: "Nationwide GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal Widens, Becomes Criminal Matter in Florida" by Brad Friedman.

Article: "Pakistan backs drones’ aim, not method: Khar" by AFP.

Article: "My Testimony for the Downing Street Memo Hearings" by Cindy Sheehan, June 16 2005.

Book: "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story" by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Article: "Ralph Reed's Group Compares Obama Policies to Nazi Germany" by Andy Kroll.

The very, very ugly: "Fox News viewers worst-informed, study finds" by Chris Irvine.

Article: "Pictured: 'Beautiful' family slain hours after church by 'mentally ill father who was tormented by the prospect of Obama winning the election'" by Emily Anne Epstein.

Book: "Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became "People" - And How You Can Fight Back" by Thom Hartmann - new updated version out now!

Article: "Mitt Romney's zingers" by Jed Lewison.

Transcript: "Meet the Press September 30: Chris Christie, David Plouffe, Ralph Reed, Ed Rendell, Katty Kay, Chuck Todd, Richard Engel" by MSNBC.

"Taking Our Country Back": in a tight race against Tea Party Republican Congressman Bobby Schilling
- Cheri Bustos, former journalist / running for Congress (D-IL, 17th district)

Article: "Outside spending up: Groups shell out $2.5M; more to come" by Eric Timmons.

Article: "Bustos’ campaign: Poll shows virtual dead heat" by Ed Tibbetts.

Hour Two: Will the "Billionaires & Ballot Bandits" win?
- Greg Palast, BBC News & The Guardian / Author, "Billionaires & Ballot Bandits"

Book: "Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps" by Greg Palast.

Book: "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg Palast.

Article: "Romney's Breakfast of Billionaires" by Greg Palast.

Site: "Ballot Bandits".

Article: "Suspicious Voter Registration Forms Found in 10 Florida Counties" by Matea Gold, Joseph Tanfani and Melanie Mason.

Article: "GOP Fires Controversial Voter Suppression Operative, but Is He Still Playing Dirty Tricks In California?" by Lee Fang.

Article: "1994 economic crisis in Mexico" by Wikipedia. "By the end of the crisis, the U.S. actually had made a $500 million profit on the loans"

Article: "Noam Chomsky: If I were in a swing state, I’d vote for Obama" by Eric W. Dolan.

Article: "Michael Moore in Wisconsin: 'America is not broke'" by Susie Madrak.

Book: "Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove's Secret Kingdom of Power" by Craig Unger.

Article: "Ann Romney: If elected, "mental well-being" Mitt's biggest challenge" by Lindsey Boerma.

Article: " GOP’s October surprise? Source reveals "Jimmy Carter Strategy" to make Obama seem weak on defense in campaign's final month " by Craig Unger.

Hour Three: Supreme Agenda...Affirmative Action Could be Dead Within a Month
- Horace Cooper, Conservative commentator / Attorney & National Center for Public Policy Research

Article: "Race, income, and enrollment patterns in highly selective colleges, 1982-2004" by Sean F. Reardon, Rachel Baker, Daniel Klasik.

Article: "In Just Weeks, Affirmative Action As We Know It Could Be Dead" by Khalil Abdullah.

Article: "Supreme Court Term Begins, Major Rulings Ahead" by AP.

The good: Church Of England: "Show us corporate culture has changed, banks told" by Ed Thornton.

The bad: "Why Mitt Romney’s Lyme Disease Mailers Are Dangerous" by Judd Legum.

The very, very ugly: "Video shows Philadelphia police officer punch woman during street gathering" by CNN.

Speech "Transcript: Michelle Obama's Convention Speech", 2012.

Article: "Woman Registering Only Romney Voters In Colorado Worked For Consulting Firm With Ties To Voter Fraud Dropped By RNC".

Article: "Lifeline Program for Low-Income Consumers" by FCC.

Article: "Vote counting company tied to Romney" by Gerry Bello & Bob Fitrakis.

Article: "Who owns Scytl? George Soros isn’t in the voting machines, but the intelligence community is" by Gerry Bello.

Article: ""Most Dangerous City in America" Is Disbanding Its Current Police Force" by Kate Zernike.

Article: "Drone attacks in Pakistan are counterproductive, says report" by Owen Bowcott.

Article: "How Many Anarchists and "Animal Conservationists" Are the Feds Spying On?" by Nicholas Kamm.

Article: "Brown, Warren fire away over voting, work records" by Michael Levenson.

Article: "Occupy D.C. celebrates one-year anniversary with K Street protest" by Annie Gowen.

Hour One: PA Voter ID
- Mimi Marziani, Democracy Program-Brennan Center for Justice

Florida Congressman Demands Bipartisan Investigation Of GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal
- Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL, 19th District)

Heist opening nationwide!
- Frances Causey, Co-Director/Producer-HEIST

Hour Two: Sharia law in America...(and other fairytales?!)
- Dr. Andrew Bostom, Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University Medical School / "Islam Researcher" & author of several books on the subject including his latest, Sharia versus Freedom.

Standoff w/Bain happening at the Sensata plant right now
- Tom Gaulrapp, Sensata employee of 33 years / blockade participant

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

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The first debate between President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney is tonight...we'll be taking a close look at what to expect...

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