Two investment firms in one, and in just one week! Goldman Sachs: sell J.C. Penny short. Goldman Sachs: sole underwriter for 84 million new shares of J.C.Penny. I realize that Goldman’s not a retail broker for little old ladies and thus has no particular fiduciary duty to buyers of its new issue, but wouldn’t it be difficult to do this with a straight face?

No wonder the pros use computer terminals to communicate these days.

The bad news just doesn’t seem to stop for J.C. Penney. The embattled retailer saw its shares fall dramatically in afterhours trading on Thursday after the company announced plans to issue 84 million shares, with Goldman Sachs as the sole underwriter. Goldman, whose own research department caused a massive double digit decline in the stock a few days ago with a scathing research report that called for shorting the company, has the option of selling an additional 12.6 million shares within 30 days. Hours before, the company’s controller had announced he was resigning.

And this distinguishes him from a “real” federal agent how?

Man posing as a federal agent stealing from citizens.

Key fobs that look like scary guns, no; heroin, okie dokie

Walter Olson, Overlawyered.com: Great moments in Teacher Tenure

Whether or not the Drug War counts as an irresistible force, it seems to have run into an immovable object in the form of New York City teacher tenure [New York Law Journal]:

Termination was too harsh a penalty for a tenured teacher who created a spurt of news stories after he was found with bags of heroin when trying to enter Manhattan Supreme Court, where he was serving on jury duty….

“There is no evidence that the conduct with which petitioner was charged affects his performance as a teacher or that any publicity would impair his capacity to discharge his responsibilities as a teacher,” [Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Manuel] Mendez wrote in Matter of Esteban v. Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, 651904/13.

Anything to distract from poor teaching

 

Gunplay at the Obama Corral

Rhode Island student suspended for key chain fob that looked like a gun.

A 12-year-old boy was suspended from a Coventry middle school after his parents said he brought a small gun keychain to school.

Joseph Lyssikatos said the keychain was in his backpack at Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School on Thursday when it fell out. A classmate picked it up and started showing it to other students.

A teacher confiscated it and before Joseph knew it, he was suspended.

Speaking to talk host Matt Allen, on 630AM/99.7FM WPRO, Joseph’s father, Keith Bonanno, said that school officials have not been anxious to speak with the family.   The school’s behavioral specialist told Mr. Bonanno that Joseph is “lucky that he didn’t get suspended for ten days, or even worse expelled.”

According to data provided by the state Department of Education, only 68% of students in Joseph’s class are “proficient” in math.  Just 26% achieved “proficient with distinction” on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) tests conducted last year.

The militarization of our police forces, XXXIIII ….

 

Hunting nudists on Miacomet beach

$600,000 armored vehicles are being passed out like candy to any police force that wants one.

This phenomenon is spreading as quickly as SWAT teams. Up in New Hampshire, Concord’s police chief wants one to combat libertarians and (hey, Dollar Bill, listen up!) Occupy New Hampshire “terrorists”. 

Jacksonville, North Carolina (wherever that is) has requested one.

In fact, the wind up of the Iraq and Afghanistan was has freed up thousands on now-surplus vehicles and if a police force wants a couple, they’re there for the taking. This has some people worried.

These days, everyone who opposes the government is a terrorist. Just yesterday, for instance, Harry Reid called Republicans who oppose ObamaKare “terrorists”. So it should give civil libertarians of all stripes pause to consider what’s going down. The left was silent when the IRS targeted Tea Party groups because the Tea Party is the Left’s favorite enemy, but as the song goes, “it can happen to you” – in Concord, New Hampshire, it already has.