A Palestinian stone thrower wears an improvised 'hoodie' during clashes with Israeli soldiers following a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlement expansion, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on November 4, 2011. By Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images.
Felix Salmon argues that the big banks aren't scared of today's Bank Transfer Day, a movement urging people to switch from commercial banks to not-for-profit credit unions:
[T]he big banks don’t particularly want all those retail-deposit funds — they’re getting precious little interest on them, and they come with all manner of expensive obligations to mail out statements and provide smiling service at teller windows and generally do the whole customer-service thing, which as we all know big banks are very bad at. Historically, they’ve done what they have to do on that front because they’ve been able to extract all manner of overdraft fees and interchange fees and the like, but that fee income is shrinking now, thanks to Dodd-Frank, and the fact is that millions of small bank accounts are actually unprofitable now for the big banks, and those banks won’t shed many tears if those customers go off to a credit union instead.
Meanwhile, credit unions have seen an uptick.
Today on the Dish, we pored over the results of the first Dish Check, Matt Taibbi added his two cents, and we learned of a new torture technique devised at Gitmo. The jobs situation isn’t getting worse (there are even signs of continued growth), our sense of fairness stems from justice and not equality, and Obamacare is working. The allegations against Herman Cain challenge the central premise of his candidacy, Jennifer Rubin anticipated that his polling would slide soon enough, and sexual harassment is primarily about the abuse of power (readers weighed in here). Mitt Romney's electability argument came into question, the former governor is a human being after all, and his party's inhumanity alienated the religious right. In our video feature, Andrew shared his thoughts on psychoanalysis.
Sarkozy couldn't be bothered by the BBC, a modest defense budget may lead to more reasonable policies, and professionals understand that torture doesn't work. The CIA is now killing people without knowing who they are, Qaddafi's stockpiles are unaccounted for, and Egypt must properly confront the abuses of authoritarianism. Turkey's rise is offsetting Iranian dominance, Anonymous backed off its threats against Los Zetas, and we contemplated the implications of such a netwar.
The information age may not have room for a middle class, Will Wilkinson sifted through progressive and conservative notions of success, and Chait leveled Pethokoukis on inequality. Timothy Lee elaborated on the case against software patents, Larry Kramer thinks the HRC is the dregs, and robots are better at chess than chores. We revisited the horrors of "smacking," checked in on Jurassic Park obsessives, and the boy scouts wore beards. Pleasure isn't incompatible with victimization, yawning is contagious where empathy is great, and dogs have moral instincts. We dwelled on the relationship between sugar and hyperactivity, and college is cheaper than we think.
Fake app of the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.
Thursday on the Dish, the collective net worth of American lawmakers jumped 25 percent in two years, Dodd-Frank failed in a comprehensive simulation of a banking crisis, and Silver gave Obama a 50-50 shot at re-election. In our video feature, Andrew made the conservative case against extreme income inequality, 40 House Republicans endorsed tax revenues, and occupiers brought Oakland to a standstill. The Hermanator relapsed, he won Pamela Geller's endorsement, and Pajamas Media uncovered new "details" of a sexual harassment incident (related correction of the day here). Pejman Yousefzadeh called out Cain supporters, the only way past this for Cain is through it, and most of Cain's defenders piped down (some are even taking the charges seriously). Romney leads the field in endorsements and potential support, his foreign policy got worse (as did Perry's), and readers weighed in on Huntsman's hapless campaign.
Greece toyed with a potential exit from the Euro, Andrew was impressed by Papandreou's strategy (others felt differently), Frum blamed Germany, and Italy is too big to fail. We chewed over US strategy in Somalia, wondered if the Syrian opposition could coalesce under a unified organizational umbrella, and marked 100 years of air war. We assessed the latest speculation on Iran as the Israeli military resisted war, a veteran grappled with the impulse to torture, and Bruce Crumley mocked the French satirical newspaper firebombed for caricaturing Muhammad.
Mariah Blake unraveled a doozy of a Ponzi scheme in the Midwest, the Tea Party threat waned, and the death penalty stretches the legal system. Readers reacted to a horrific story of "Texas domestic justice" and shared their stories of abuse, and the hard problem of consciousness is so hard. We appraised college degrees, scientists said that sugar doesn't make kids hyper, but parents begged to differ.
Hathos alert here, app of the day here, correction of the day here, cool ad watch here, MHB here, VFYW here, FOTD here, and amusing profiles in Republican intellectual gymnastics here and here.
By Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images.
Wednesday on the Dish, Herman Cain owned South Carolina, he reminded us of his foreign policy ignorance, and we got to know his wife Gloria. Derbyshire ridiculed sexual harassment as Cain faced more accusations, the Hermanator played an uncertain race card, and Dreher saw Cain candidacy's as a sign of decadence. The Republican base flat-out rejected an intelligent and capable two-term governor with deep domestic and foreign policy experience, T-Paw nostalgia took hold, and the Obamacons dispersed. Obama's allies offered up a vision of "Mitt Romney's America," Mitt ducked the press, we graphed Rick Perry's baffling tax plan, and the Texas governor was somehow sober during this speech.
A former American Foreign Service worker collected Qaddafi's stamps, Stuart Schoffmann unpacked Israel's particular "theocratic tendencies," and Mollie Ziegler investigated the relationship between mental illness and religious fundamentalism. Iran isn't prepared to absorb popular resentment in the Middle East, Libya's military has trust issues, and China's Global Times rebranded Chinese nationalism.
Andrew introduced "Dish-Check," and invited readers to correct or refine his post about the sources of the financial collapse. Glenn Greenwald captured the accountability deficit,memories may determine the election, and readers reflected on nature and grace in The Tree of Life. BofA retreated, Josh Barro found the Washington establishment reassuring, and the supercommittee underwhelmed. The Christianist's faith isn't strong enough to withstand another human being's happiness, a gay Christian was shunned, and HuffPo uncovered some gruesome homosexuality "cures." Amicable divorce is on the rise, technology can see what you're thinking, and Fairfield County is probably the most unequal county in America. Houston police unleashed unmanned drones, a Texas judge attacked his daughter, and the screeching sound of fingernails on a chalkboard is amplified inside our ears. We weighed the Internet, parsed Steve Jobs' last words, and cursed the new Google Reader. A humanoid military robot sweats, and "Scott Tenorman Must Die."
FOTD here, VFYW here, MHB here, and the new "Ask Andrew Anything" video archive is here.
Nelspruit, South Africa, 12 pm
Tuesday on the Dish, the Greek prime minister called for a voter referendum on the EU bailout, and pandemonium ensued. Sexual harassment allegations are currently a net win for Herman Cain, readers weighed in on the claims, and we anticipated his wife's meeting with the press. Everything is going according to Cain's business plan, he backed a foreign government over his own, and a Republican operative understood the implications of the fringe frontrunner's hold on the party. George Will engaged in some pretty egregious credentializing pre-Romney take-down, Michael Gerson made an uncomfortable case for the flip-flopper, Huntsman's campaign charged, and Rick Perry is not a "talker." In our video feature, Andrew shared his reading list.
The Qatari leadership preempted domestic demands for democratic reform, Spencer Ackerman admitted to being "too blinded with fears of Iraq 2.0" when in came to Libya, and if Tunisia is a dolphin in transition, Egypt is a whale.
The occupiers are hippies for the era of Eisenhower, a reader commemorated "America, the Beautiful," and Jonathan Bernstein cheered 17-year-old suffragists. Military service makes great presidents, daylight drives consumption, and potatoes elevated living standards. Bridgeport is more unequal than Zimbabwe, humanity needs borders, and readers pointed out that the drug czar is legally required to oppose any effort to legalize marijuana. "The Clinton Magic" works, Niall Ferguson fetishized the West, and cohort replacement affects policies and practices. The new Lorax movie is a disgrace, reality TV stars cheapened marriage (while profiting from it), and for many women marriage is still very much an expectation and a goal.
Word cloud of the day here, hathos alert here, stoned Siri here, and home news here. FOTD here, MHB here, VFYW here, and VFYW contest winner #74 here.
Monday on the Dish, Herman Cain faced allegations of sexual harassment, a few on the right took them seriously, and it's possible that we're headed for another "high-tech lynching" drama. A management-side employment lawyer urged caution, the legacy of Palin endured, and in our video feature, Andrew discussed Cain's performance art in the context of a degenerate Republican Party. Bartlett pinpointed Cain's underlying appeal, and Andrewtook Obama to task for ducking the marijuana debate entirely.
The GOP suffered through a love-hate relationship with Mitt, Tea Party leaders in Congress begged for stimulus, and lower speed limits save lives. Hollywood entered the OWS fray, we wondered how the movement would end, and financial services professionals only comprise 14% of the top 1%. We assessed population growth and inventoried global resources, campaign finance reform obscures the path of money, and the drug war undermines American foreign policy. The problem is that we're "so damn stubborn," Steve Jobs was sort of a jerk but we're inclined to deify him anyway, and niceness is penalized in the workplace. Readers defended patent laws, effective studying requires deep thinking, and our national anthem thread continued. We revisited moving costs, foster care families are confronted with a political dilemma, and a Catholic priest celebrated Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life.
In Wiccan New Year-related coverage, we relished highbrow fright, caught up on the neuroscience and pharmacology of zombies, and Williamsburg observed Halloween constantly. We were captivated by Spike Jonze’s spooky stop-motion animation, and cars haunt trick-or-treaters. Pet costume of the day here, Jack-o'-lantern of the day here, cool exorcist ad watch here, FOTD here, and MHB here.
Quote for the day here, reality check here, VFYW here, and charming, illustrated guide to depression here.
– M.A.
Alexis cracks a smile:
I think you'll enjoy how the video manages to send up nearly every startup cliche in just two minutes.
In order to explain OWS, Jonah Lehrer describes a study done with monkeys:
The primatologists trained brown capuchin monkeys to give them pebbles in exchange for cucumbers. Almost overnight, a capuchin economy developed, with hungry monkeys harvesting small stones. But the marketplace was disrupted when the scientists got mischievous: instead of giving every monkey a cucumber in exchange for pebbles, they started giving some monkeys a tasty grape instead. (Monkeys prefer grapes to cucumbers.) After witnessing this injustice, the monkeys earning cucumbers went on strike.
Some started throwing their cucumbers at the scientists; the vast majority just stopped collecting pebbles. The capuchin economy ground to a halt. The monkeys were willing to forfeit cheap food simply to register their anger at the arbitrary pay scale. This labor unrest among monkeys illuminates our innate sense of fairness. It’s not that the primates demanded equality — some capuchins collected many more pebbles than others, and that never created a problem — it’s that they couldn’t stand when the inequality was a result of injustice.
Sarah Topol worries that the diffusion of the dictator's stockpile during the fighting may undermine the new government:
Each brigade says it has registered its fighters’ weapons in their own books (each brigade has a binder of weapons and fighters). But the guns people bought on the black market or looted from Qaddafi stockpiles are unaccounted for. In one home in Misrata, a family showed me machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and rockets they keep wrapped in sheets, hidden under beds and sofas. So everyone still has weapons, even if there is no obvious enemy to point them at. Instead, regional rivalries are flaring up. During the military parade in Misrata, one guy in my convoy chastised a nearby vehicle for belting out songs from eastern Libya. “We’re from Misrata, why are you singing about Benghazi?” he shouted. The singers immediately changed their tune.
Daniel Serwer advocates international support to help deal with this sort of problem.
(Photo: Forces loyal to Libya's new rulers take part in a military parade organized by the municipality of Tripoli to celebrate the ouster of former leader Moamer Kadhafi on November 2, 2011. By Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images.)
Timothy B. Lee fleshes out his case against software patents in a new article:
[W]hile a small team of brilliant engineers can build some of the world’s best software, it has no hope of keeping up with big companies’ rate of patent filings. Patents threaten to turn Silicon Valley into a place where new firms must develop large legal bureaucracies before they can challenge incumbent firms.
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen looks at One World Trade Center at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, in New York, on November 4, 2011. By Emmanuel Dunand /AFP/Getty Images.
Spencer Ackerman reads a new WSJ report touting CIA "tightening" of restrictions on drone strikes as demonstrating how unconstrained our shadow war has become:
The CIA is now killing people without knowing who they are, on suspicion of association with terrorist groups. The article does not define the standards are for "suspicion" and "association…" The State Department is sick of it. It fears the rise of really anti-American leadership in Pakistan, riding into power on a wave of outrage over the drones.
Huma Yusuf profiles Imran Khan, a Pakistani politician who may haunt Foggy Bottom.
Judith Scott-Clayton claims that it's cheaper than we think because few students pay full price:
This growing gap between sticker prices and net prices is not a bad thing; it enables colleges (or states) to price discriminate. Because tuition at most public and nonprofit institutions fails to cover per-student expenditures, keeping published prices low would mean providing a blanket subsidy to all students regardless of need.
The Dish 
