Philip Diehl, head of the U.S. Mint from 1994-2000, tells Capital New York that the minting of a trillion dollar coin to circumvent a fight over the debt ceiling is perfectly legal.
Diehl
was head of the Mint when the law giving authorization for such a move
was passed and says, "My understanding of how this all works suggests
that this is a viable alternative."
He added: "One of the ironies in this story is that a GOP Congress
passed the legislation over the objections of a Democratic Treasury, and
now, today, Treasury may well be in a position to use the law as
leverage to neutralize the GOP's threat to hold the debt limit hostage."
The Daily Beast has more on the possible tactic.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Merkley, Udall Release Filibuster Reform Plan, Claim Between 48 and 51 Votes
By David Weigel
This afternoon, as the pomp of the 113th Congress's opening wound down, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall -- the freshmen behind filibuster reform -- sat reporters down to tell them of coming victory.
This afternoon, as the pomp of the 113th Congress's opening wound down, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall -- the freshmen behind filibuster reform -- sat reporters down to tell them of coming victory.
"Reform of the rules will be front and center when we return," said Udall, referring to the work Congress would do after the president's inauguration. "I don't think you should infer anything into the fact that we've delayed the vote. Momentum is on our side -- my uncle Mo used to refer to the 'big mo.'"
That was an ominous reference -- Mo Udall spoke of momentum right before losing key Democratic primaries -- but Udall confidentally spoke of "51" votes for reform in the reformers' pockets. Merkley would only refer to "48" votes, and Democrats have balked at saying who was still holding out. (Hint: Mark Pryor, Carl Levin, Joe Donnelly.) But when someone pointed that out, and asked whether a rival, weak bipartisan reform would stunt the plan, Merkley joined the confidence parade.
"Most serious reforms of the rules occur because the leader has 51 votes behind him," he said. "That's where Harry Reid is now. When I refered to 48, I was only referring to public whip counts. But Harry can say 'I have 51 votes with me.' That's what allows him to negotiate."
The rule changes in question were handed out to reporters; both senators averred that the "talking filibuster" was the hardest to build a majority for.
- Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Proceed: Clears a path to debate by making motions to proceed not subject to a filibuster, but providing two hours of debate.
- Require a Talking Filibuster: Forces Senators who filibuster to actually speak on the floor, greatly increasing public accountability and requiring time and energy if the minority wants to use this tool to obstruct the Senate.
- Expedite Nominations: Reduces post-cloture debate on nominations from 30 hours to 2 hours, except for Supreme Court Justices (for whom the current 30 hours would remain intact).
- Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Establish a Conference Committee: Reduces the steps to establish a conference committee from three motions to one, and limits debate the consolidated motion to 2 hours.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Morning Joe Millionaires Continue Their Demand That Obama Cut Social Safety Nets
By Heather
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting really tired of watching a bunch of extremely rich pundits sit around and tell the rest of us that there just hasn't been enough shared sacrifice from the working class, the elderly and the poor yet in order to solve our deficit problem. But that's exactly what the viewers are treated to day after day on MSNBC's three hour long Villager conventional wisdom regurgitation-fest called Morning Joe.
This Wednesday was no exception and immediately following the so-called "fiscal cliff" debacle coming to a conclusion, and the pundits on there didn't miss a beat with demands that President Obama had better get out there and use his bully pulpit to explain to the American people that we're all just going to have to be willing to give a little more in order for Republicans to not kill the hostage called the world's economy over this upcoming debt ceiling standoff.
This week we had Tom Brokaw going on Meet the Press and telling everyone that there's nothing wrong with raising the retirement age for Social Security and telling the lie that Americans are living longer. It's little wonder he'd have that view since he's not ever going to have to worry about his retirement security. And yes, rich people like himself are living to be older. Not so much for most of the rest of us.
If these guys want to go on the air and pontificate about how we ought to get a pound of flesh out of the working class, I think their salaries and net worth ought to be displayed right under their names in the chryon for the viewers. Maybe they'd feel a little differently about their opinions.
According to Forbes, Brokaw has an estimated net worth of $70 million.
And if the site Celebrity Networth is accurate, Scarborough's is $18 million and Brzezinski's is $8 million.
I'm not sure what some of the others who were on there this Wednesday like David Walker, Chuck Todd, Dan Senor, Richard Haas and Mark Halperin are worth, but I'm pretty sure they're all being paid really well and aren't worried about relying on Social Security for a comfortable retirement as well. But every one of them was joining in on carping about the deficit that none of them cared about it when Bush was blowing holes in it a mile wide with tax cuts and wars that weren't paid for. Deficits only matter when Democrats are elected as president.
And as far as Walker's claim that his group has gone around the country and gotten a positive response from ordinary people as they explained to them that they need to cut our social safety nets in order to balance the budget, well, that's not the experience our own Susie Madrak had when she went to one of them. As she noted:
They also keep pretending like Social Security adds to our deficit. It doesn't and it has a surplus. And if they want to solve the problem with Medicare, we need to fix our health care costs over all. We pay way more than any other developed country with worse outcomes and putting seniors into the private insurance market doesn't solve the problem. It just shifts the costs around and drives them up. But you won't hear that discussion while they're pounding their fists about lowing the deficit.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting really tired of watching a bunch of extremely rich pundits sit around and tell the rest of us that there just hasn't been enough shared sacrifice from the working class, the elderly and the poor yet in order to solve our deficit problem. But that's exactly what the viewers are treated to day after day on MSNBC's three hour long Villager conventional wisdom regurgitation-fest called Morning Joe.
This Wednesday was no exception and immediately following the so-called "fiscal cliff" debacle coming to a conclusion, and the pundits on there didn't miss a beat with demands that President Obama had better get out there and use his bully pulpit to explain to the American people that we're all just going to have to be willing to give a little more in order for Republicans to not kill the hostage called the world's economy over this upcoming debt ceiling standoff.
This week we had Tom Brokaw going on Meet the Press and telling everyone that there's nothing wrong with raising the retirement age for Social Security and telling the lie that Americans are living longer. It's little wonder he'd have that view since he's not ever going to have to worry about his retirement security. And yes, rich people like himself are living to be older. Not so much for most of the rest of us.
If these guys want to go on the air and pontificate about how we ought to get a pound of flesh out of the working class, I think their salaries and net worth ought to be displayed right under their names in the chryon for the viewers. Maybe they'd feel a little differently about their opinions.
According to Forbes, Brokaw has an estimated net worth of $70 million.
And if the site Celebrity Networth is accurate, Scarborough's is $18 million and Brzezinski's is $8 million.
I'm not sure what some of the others who were on there this Wednesday like David Walker, Chuck Todd, Dan Senor, Richard Haas and Mark Halperin are worth, but I'm pretty sure they're all being paid really well and aren't worried about relying on Social Security for a comfortable retirement as well. But every one of them was joining in on carping about the deficit that none of them cared about it when Bush was blowing holes in it a mile wide with tax cuts and wars that weren't paid for. Deficits only matter when Democrats are elected as president.
And as far as Walker's claim that his group has gone around the country and gotten a positive response from ordinary people as they explained to them that they need to cut our social safety nets in order to balance the budget, well, that's not the experience our own Susie Madrak had when she went to one of them. As she noted:
You know what most of them wanted to do? Soak the rich -- and cut defense spending. [...]And of course absent from this conversation was any discussion about what to do to get Americans back to work. If we were at full employment and had some sort of decent economic growth in the United States, this deficit problem would take care of itself because we'd have more people paying taxes.
I thought maybe it was just my table, but when they tabulated the results, it was pretty much the same throughout the crowded ballroom of several hundred attendees.
They also keep pretending like Social Security adds to our deficit. It doesn't and it has a surplus. And if they want to solve the problem with Medicare, we need to fix our health care costs over all. We pay way more than any other developed country with worse outcomes and putting seniors into the private insurance market doesn't solve the problem. It just shifts the costs around and drives them up. But you won't hear that discussion while they're pounding their fists about lowing the deficit.
Boehner Says He'll No Longer Negotiate with Obama
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) "is signaling that at least one thing
will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he's telling
Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with
President Obama," The Hill reports.
"During both 2011 and 2012, the Speaker spent weeks shuttling between the Capitol and the White House for meetings with the president in the hopes of striking a grand bargain on the deficit. Those efforts ended in failure, leaving Boehner feeling burned by Obama and, at times, isolated within his conference."
Instead, he'll try to "pass bills through the House that can then be adopted, amended or reconciled by the Senate."
"During both 2011 and 2012, the Speaker spent weeks shuttling between the Capitol and the White House for meetings with the president in the hopes of striking a grand bargain on the deficit. Those efforts ended in failure, leaving Boehner feeling burned by Obama and, at times, isolated within his conference."
Instead, he'll try to "pass bills through the House that can then be adopted, amended or reconciled by the Senate."
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Christie Slams House Republicans
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) absolutely
unloaded on House Republicans for spiking the hurricane relief bill last
night. It's must-see video.
Fiscal Cliff Bill Passes House
Posted by Tor at 11:56 PM
Ending a climactic fiscal showdown in the final hours of the 112th Congress, the House late Tuesday passed and sent to President Obama legislation to avert big income tax increases on most Americans and prevent large cuts in spending for the Pentagon and other government programs.
The measure, brought to the House floor less than 24 hours after its passage in the Senate, passed 257 to 167 with 85 Republicans joining 172 Democrats in voting to allow income taxes to rise for the first time in two decades, in this case for the highest-earning Americans. Voting no were 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats.
Ending a climactic fiscal showdown in the final hours of the 112th Congress, the House late Tuesday passed and sent to President Obama legislation to avert big income tax increases on most Americans and prevent large cuts in spending for the Pentagon and other government programs.
The measure, brought to the House floor less than 24 hours after its passage in the Senate, passed 257 to 167 with 85 Republicans joining 172 Democrats in voting to allow income taxes to rise for the first time in two decades, in this case for the highest-earning Americans. Voting no were 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Congress Plunges U.S. Over The Fiscal Cliff
With only hours left until the end-of-year fiscal cliff deadline,
Congress is not expected to make a deal regarding the fiscal cliff.
Only hours after President Barack Obama and leading members of Congress said on Monday afternoon that a deal between lawmakers was within reach, reports out of Washington suggest that a compromise will not be made before the new year. Bloomberg News and CNBC both reported eight hours before the 12-midnight deadline that no vote would be made before the end of the year.
If the fiscal cliff can’t be averted, there will be a lot in store for the new year. Taxes will go up, spending will go down and the limit on how much money the United States can borrow will once again be maxed out.
For starters, just about every working American can expect to see changes in their paycheck in 2013. If a deal isn’t cut on Capitol Hill before January 1, payroll taxes will increase across the board by two full percentage points, at least for the first $113,700 of income earned. Payroll taxes will rise instantly from 4.2 to 6.2 percent, snipping a substantial amount of money from every middle- and lower-class worker’s paycheck starting right away to help save the country from default.
Even those who don’t need to work will be asked to endure some austerity policies, too: Americans earning high wages will be asked to pay all new taxes to cover the cost of Pres. Obama’s hallmark health care legislation, and Capital gains and qualified dividends will be subject to higher fees, as well.
Those already without work won’t be having it any easier, either. Extended unemployment benefits will be over instantly for around 2 million residents, effecting many of the Americans on the lookout for work but unable to find any — currently around 7.9 percent of the labor force. Additionally, those looking for assistance will be subjected to a scaled back entitlement program, with funding for Medicare expected to be trimmed by around one-third.
The unemployed, of course, won’t be the only Americans pinching pennies. Should Congress fall to act in time, federal spending will see some significant changes. Also inevitable if the Senate and House can’t hold it together are billions of dollars in defense spending being stripped away. In all, sequestration would trigger around $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts, with an estimated $55 billion being taken out of the Pentagon in just 2013. During the next decade, the military would miss out on around ten-times that amount.
"If they are allowed to occur as currently scheduled, the long-term consequences will permanently alter the course of the US economy's performance, changing its competitive position in the global economy," Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University and Chmura Economics and Analytics determined in a report on sequestration earlier this year. According to those researchers, more than 2 million Americans will see their jobs eradicated in just 2013 because automatic spending cuts will make their jobs essentially obsolete.
Of course, tax hikes aren’t imperative and the military budget might be saved from a severe slashing. Democrats and Republicans in halves of Congress are trying to come to an agreement that will see lawmakers making serious sacrifices in order to keep the country afloat during a time of tremendous fiscal turmoil.
“Analysts expect that the austerity crisis will weaken the economic recovery and quite possibly plunge the United States back into a recession,” the Washington Post reports this week.
Back in June, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that Washington lawmakers would have until the end of the year to iron out a deal or suffer some seriously grim consequences.
“The so-called fiscal cliff would, if allowed to occur, pose a significant threat to the recovery,” Bernanke warned. “If no action were taken and the fiscal cliff were to kick in in its full size, I think it would be very likely that the economy would begin to contract or possibly go even into recession, and that unemployment would begin to rise.”
That was six months, though, and senators and congressman have but only a few hours before the new year arrives.
Speaking from the White House Monday, December 31, Pres. Obama offered an early afternoon address that seemed to suggest a deal was almost all set.
"Keep the pressure on over the next 12 hours or so," he said. "Let's see if we can get this thing done."
Only hours after President Barack Obama and leading members of Congress said on Monday afternoon that a deal between lawmakers was within reach, reports out of Washington suggest that a compromise will not be made before the new year. Bloomberg News and CNBC both reported eight hours before the 12-midnight deadline that no vote would be made before the end of the year.
If the fiscal cliff can’t be averted, there will be a lot in store for the new year. Taxes will go up, spending will go down and the limit on how much money the United States can borrow will once again be maxed out.
For starters, just about every working American can expect to see changes in their paycheck in 2013. If a deal isn’t cut on Capitol Hill before January 1, payroll taxes will increase across the board by two full percentage points, at least for the first $113,700 of income earned. Payroll taxes will rise instantly from 4.2 to 6.2 percent, snipping a substantial amount of money from every middle- and lower-class worker’s paycheck starting right away to help save the country from default.
Even those who don’t need to work will be asked to endure some austerity policies, too: Americans earning high wages will be asked to pay all new taxes to cover the cost of Pres. Obama’s hallmark health care legislation, and Capital gains and qualified dividends will be subject to higher fees, as well.
Those already without work won’t be having it any easier, either. Extended unemployment benefits will be over instantly for around 2 million residents, effecting many of the Americans on the lookout for work but unable to find any — currently around 7.9 percent of the labor force. Additionally, those looking for assistance will be subjected to a scaled back entitlement program, with funding for Medicare expected to be trimmed by around one-third.
The unemployed, of course, won’t be the only Americans pinching pennies. Should Congress fall to act in time, federal spending will see some significant changes. Also inevitable if the Senate and House can’t hold it together are billions of dollars in defense spending being stripped away. In all, sequestration would trigger around $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts, with an estimated $55 billion being taken out of the Pentagon in just 2013. During the next decade, the military would miss out on around ten-times that amount.
"If they are allowed to occur as currently scheduled, the long-term consequences will permanently alter the course of the US economy's performance, changing its competitive position in the global economy," Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University and Chmura Economics and Analytics determined in a report on sequestration earlier this year. According to those researchers, more than 2 million Americans will see their jobs eradicated in just 2013 because automatic spending cuts will make their jobs essentially obsolete.
Of course, tax hikes aren’t imperative and the military budget might be saved from a severe slashing. Democrats and Republicans in halves of Congress are trying to come to an agreement that will see lawmakers making serious sacrifices in order to keep the country afloat during a time of tremendous fiscal turmoil.
“Analysts expect that the austerity crisis will weaken the economic recovery and quite possibly plunge the United States back into a recession,” the Washington Post reports this week.
Back in June, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that Washington lawmakers would have until the end of the year to iron out a deal or suffer some seriously grim consequences.
“The so-called fiscal cliff would, if allowed to occur, pose a significant threat to the recovery,” Bernanke warned. “If no action were taken and the fiscal cliff were to kick in in its full size, I think it would be very likely that the economy would begin to contract or possibly go even into recession, and that unemployment would begin to rise.”
That was six months, though, and senators and congressman have but only a few hours before the new year arrives.
Speaking from the White House Monday, December 31, Pres. Obama offered an early afternoon address that seemed to suggest a deal was almost all set.
"Keep the pressure on over the next 12 hours or so," he said. "Let's see if we can get this thing done."
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Deal Reached To Prevent Milk Price Hike
By Alan Colmes
Leaders in the House and Agriculture committees agreed to a one-year extension of the farm bill, which could stop milk prices from doubling in early 2013.
Leaders in the House and Agriculture committees agreed to a one-year extension of the farm bill, which could stop milk prices from doubling in early 2013.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman
Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., indicated the House could vote on the bill
soon, though House leaders have not yet agreed to put the bill on the
floor. In addition to the one-year extension that has the backing of the
committees, the House GOP is also considering two other extension
bills: a one-month extension and an even smaller bill that would merely
extend dairy policy that expires Jan. 1.
Expiration of those dairy programs could
mean higher prices at the grocery store within a few weeks. Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack said Americans face the prospect of paying $7 for a
gallon of milk if the current dairy program lapsed and the government
returned to a 1948 formula for calculating milk price supports.
President Obama can easily satisfy and silence liberal critics
By Demo_Chris
Some folks have said that President Obama’s liberal critics are purists, and that we will accept nothing less than progressive perfection. That, like the Tea Party folks on the right, anything less than this leaves us frothing in self-righteous rage.
I disagree. In my opinion, silencing the critics is easy.
Your liberal critics are not fools. We understand that politics is the art of the possible, and that it requires compromise. We knew this when we voted. But the promise, the expectation, was that we were sending a champion of our beliefs to the negotiation table. Someone to fight for our principles.
We voted for someone to demand and fight for…
* Ending the wars.
* Drastic cuts in military spending.
* Closing Gitmo and all the secret prisons.
* Eliminating the Patriot act and all domestic spying.
* Removal of the cap on social security.
* Lowering the age of eligibility and increasing benefits.
* Increasing safety net spending.
* Massive and necessary infrastructure investment.
* Radically increasing the tax rate on affluent Americans.
* Taxing capital gains as income.
* Significant efforts to address wealth inequality.
* A champion of civil rights for ALL.
* Eliminating so-called Free Trade Agreements.
* Blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants.
* Serious action to address global warming.
* Single payer healthcare.
Obviously, being intelligent people, we knew we would not get everything we wanted; we might not get anything we wanted. We knew our champion might have to compromise, but our beliefs would be represented.
President Obama asked for that job. Now he is refusing to do it. He is positioning himself, not as the champion of liberal democratic voters (or even the majority of Americans), but as the voice of rational conservatism.
President Obama, silencing your liberal critics is easy. Stop representing the GOP, and start representing the people who voted for you. That’s the job you said you wanted, so do it.
Some folks have said that President Obama’s liberal critics are purists, and that we will accept nothing less than progressive perfection. That, like the Tea Party folks on the right, anything less than this leaves us frothing in self-righteous rage.
I disagree. In my opinion, silencing the critics is easy.
Your liberal critics are not fools. We understand that politics is the art of the possible, and that it requires compromise. We knew this when we voted. But the promise, the expectation, was that we were sending a champion of our beliefs to the negotiation table. Someone to fight for our principles.
We voted for someone to demand and fight for…
* Ending the wars.
* Drastic cuts in military spending.
* Closing Gitmo and all the secret prisons.
* Eliminating the Patriot act and all domestic spying.
* Removal of the cap on social security.
* Lowering the age of eligibility and increasing benefits.
* Increasing safety net spending.
* Massive and necessary infrastructure investment.
* Radically increasing the tax rate on affluent Americans.
* Taxing capital gains as income.
* Significant efforts to address wealth inequality.
* A champion of civil rights for ALL.
* Eliminating so-called Free Trade Agreements.
* Blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants.
* Serious action to address global warming.
* Single payer healthcare.
Obviously, being intelligent people, we knew we would not get everything we wanted; we might not get anything we wanted. We knew our champion might have to compromise, but our beliefs would be represented.
President Obama asked for that job. Now he is refusing to do it. He is positioning himself, not as the champion of liberal democratic voters (or even the majority of Americans), but as the voice of rational conservatism.
President Obama, silencing your liberal critics is easy. Stop representing the GOP, and start representing the people who voted for you. That’s the job you said you wanted, so do it.
Eagles fire Andy Reid
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Andy Reid has been fired after 14 seasons as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, with the official announcement coming Monday, according to a person informed of the team's plans for releasing Reid.
The person, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the Eagles haven't made any announcement yet, was unsure if it will be spun as Reid resigning or if he'll be fired, but said it's clear he will not coach the Eagles after Sunday's 42-7 loss to the New York Giants.
HOT SEAT: Who's in trouble as Black Monday nears?
"Either way, I understand," Reid said in his postgame press conference. "If I'm here again, I'll love every minute of it. If I'm not, I'll understand that, too."
The Eagles denied that Reid had been told that his stint with the team is over.
Three of Reid's four children were at the game. Sons Britt and Spencer were on the sideline. His wife, Tammy, and his daughter, Crosby, sat on a folding table waiting for him after the locker room. They got into a golf cart with him as he drove off. Another daughter did not attend.
Reid's son, Garrett, died of a drug overdose while working with the team in the strength and conditioning program during the preseason.
Reid, who has one year remaining on his contract, has said repeatedly he wants to coach next season and is expected to garner interest as jobs begin to open Monday. The San Diego Chargers and the Arizona Cardinals are at the top of the list of potential suitors.
Reid and owner Jeffrey Lurie met on Friday, though there are conflicting reports as to whether Lurie told Reid he's going to be fired. CSNPhilly.com, citing two Eagles sources, said Reid was told he will be fired. The Eagles' radio broadcast stated Lurie did not tell Reid he's out.
Reid said Sunday he hasn't spoken to Lurie about his future.
In his tenure with the Eagles, Reid was 130-93-1 in the regular season, good for most wins in franchise history. But he was 10-9 in the postseason, with the 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX obviously the most painful of the defeats.
Reid's Eagles also dropped a pair of NFC Championship games at home (to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January 2003 and the Carolina Panthers in 2004) as well as two on the road (to the St. Louis Rams in 2002 and the Arizona Cardinals in 2009).
Several candidates could be atop owner Jeffrey Lurie's wish list, including Oregon coach Chip Kelly and Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter.
SKFU teases us with what could be a native PlayStation Vita hack
By
It seems hacking progress is regularly attempted outside of the PSPemu (which is the typical eCFW and VHBL) by SKFU. Awhile back you may remember our reporting on news that the developer SKFU was able to get a developer PS Vita and had slowly started to peal back the veil of his own Vita exploit by releasing common app paths in the Vitas filesystem.
Now, SKFU has revealed a picture of what could be a native Vita exploit, confirming that he has made progress with that Dev unit. SKFU posted the picture below and playfully teasing us by saying “VHBL is not the only thing working on 2.02
”
It
seems that if this photo is correct, SKFU has been able to do a very in
depth analysis (something we saw with his reveal of the Vitas common
app eboot paths) of the Vita and has made some progress in his
investigations. What’s shown in the picture is a custom icon and naming
of said application.
It seems hacking progress is regularly attempted outside of the PSPemu (which is the typical eCFW and VHBL) by SKFU. Awhile back you may remember our reporting on news that the developer SKFU was able to get a developer PS Vita and had slowly started to peal back the veil of his own Vita exploit by releasing common app paths in the Vitas filesystem.
Now, SKFU has revealed a picture of what could be a native Vita exploit, confirming that he has made progress with that Dev unit. SKFU posted the picture below and playfully teasing us by saying “VHBL is not the only thing working on 2.02
”It
seems that if this photo is correct, SKFU has been able to do a very in
depth analysis (something we saw with his reveal of the Vitas common
app eboot paths) of the Vita and has made some progress in his
investigations. What’s shown in the picture is a custom icon and naming
of said application.
But don’t get too
excited yet. Showing icons of homebrews in the XMB has always been
possible on the PSP, it didn’t mean the PSP would accept to run them if
they weren’t signed. The PS Vita however is known to prevent you from
even copying homebrews to the memory stick, so SKFU has at least figured
out how to do that… or is this just a feature of the dev units?
This could be a false lead, but as of now this is the only known one outside the pspemu, besides Yifanlu’s UVL. This
is likely to be a huge and developing story so stay tuned for more
information, we’ll try to reach out to SKFU for more details on this.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Racism in America
2012 brought us the re-election of America's first African-American president, and it also brought us a surge in hate speech and racist stunts. The latest comes from a man in Kentucky, who has put up an Obama mannequin with a watermelon in front of his house. Michael Eric Dyson talks with activist Marcia Dyson and Marc Morial of the National Urban League.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Matt Damon: ‘The Game Is rigged’
Matt Damon rather infamously said in 2011 that he wouldn’t mind if President Barack Obama — whom the actor had supported in 2008 — was a one-term president because he’d rather have a “one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done.” (The comment even earned Damon some flak from the president himself.)
But, he still did his part to give Obama a second term, admitting that he still voted for him in November.
“I assume there will be some Supreme Court appointments in this next term; that alone was reason to vote for him,” Damon told Playboy magazine in its January 2013 issue. “I don’t think I said anything a lot of people weren’t thinking. It’s easier now more than ever in my life to feel the fix is in, the game is rigged and no matter how hard you work to change things, it just doesn’t matter.”
Damon also was asked for his thoughts on Clint Eastwood’s performance at the Republican National Convention (the two worked together on 2010’s “Hereafter”).
“I heard the backlash, but I never saw the whole thing because I just didn’t want to see my friend … you know. Look, his knowledge of filmmaking is so vast and deep that he can wing it beautifully on the set. What he did at the RNC was an unrehearsed bit he decided to do at the last minute. You can’t go onstage and do 12 minutes of stand-up completely unrehearsed. But I agree with what Bill Maher said — Clint killed it at the convention for 12 minutes, and the audience loved him. I wouldn’t do that unless I spent a month rehearsing.”
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Spike Lee takes issue with 'Django Unchained'
Director Spike Lee is criticizing Quentin Tarantino's new film, "Django Unchained," an homage to spaghetti Westerns, set in the antebellum South. Lee has critiqued Tarantino's use of racial slurs before, and now believes this latest film is "disrespectful" to his ancestors. Michael Eric Dyson explains.
Tagg Romney tells why Mitt lost the presidency
MSNBC contributor Jonathan Capehart and Republican strategist Susan Del Percio
discuss revelations – coming from eldest Romney son, Tagg – that their
candidate-dad may not have been that interested in the job.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Sam Donaldson To Tea Partiers: “It’s Not Your Country Anymore”
By Alan Colmes
“It’s our country,” not yours, says former ABC star Sam Donaldson.
“It’s the Tea Party and thinking of the Tea Party and people like that that are driving the Republicans out of contention as a national party,” he said.
Donaldson said that he had a particular aversion to the campaign slogan “We want to take back our country.”
“Guys, it’s not your country anymore – it’s our country and you’re part of it, but that thinking is going to defeat Republicans nationally if they don’t get rid of it,” he said.
“It’s our country,” not yours, says former ABC star Sam Donaldson.
“It’s the Tea Party and thinking of the Tea Party and people like that that are driving the Republicans out of contention as a national party,” he said.
Donaldson said that he had a particular aversion to the campaign slogan “We want to take back our country.”
“Guys, it’s not your country anymore – it’s our country and you’re part of it, but that thinking is going to defeat Republicans nationally if they don’t get rid of it,” he said.
PlayStation Vita: the progress and the plan
Sorry that it’s been a while since I’ve said anything about the Vita. I was caught by surprise the last time of all the media attention from just a simple call for help. While I still don’t want to say too much right now, I do want to answer some common questions I’ve been getting and also go over what needs to be done.
If this is news to you, please read this interview I’ve done a while ago about it.
Did you hack the Vita? That’s a very vague question. What I have done, is run native code on the Vita with the same permissions as the game being exploited. This means I can load homebrews written and optimized for the Vita’s CPU and take full advantage of the CPU speed and RAM (unlike the PSP emulator or PSM, both impose artificial limits on resources and system functions). What has NOT been done (yet) is unlocking the system completely for tasks like USB interfacing, custom themes/system mods/plugins, and (fortunately) pirating games.
What’s UVLoader and how far along is it? The last I’ve spoken, I was beginning work on UVL and asked for any help I could get. Even though, I did not really get help, I did find people who were interested in what I was doing and we exchanged information. I also want to brag that I finished the main functionalities of UVL in a couple of weeks, and it has been “done” for about three months now. (Quotes around “done” because I decided to not worry about some features yet). That means, I can basically load most (most being the few that I manually built without an open sdk) compiled homebrews. You can run your standard hello worlds and spinning cubes and such, but in theory, it should load any homebrew built.
When’s the release? What’s taking so long? So as I’ve said, the loader was done three months ago. I have a couple of reasons for not releasing yet. The main reason is that currently, there is no open SDK for compiling and linking Vita homebrew like pspsdk did for the PSP. That means, even with the loader, it would be useless for users because there are no homebrew games, emulators, etc to run, and it would be useless for developers because they can’t build homebrews either. So what’s the progress on the open sdk? Zero, as I’m typing this right now. I have an idea of what it should look like and I spoke to a couple of people who are interested in helping, but so far, no code is written. Why is that? Because for me, I am very busy with lots of other unrelated things, and unfortunately, only me and a handful of other people know enough about the device and the executable format and etc to make the open sdk and none of us have the time currently.
The second reason is that having a Vita exploit at this stage (when it is really hard to find exploits) is very rare if not a once in a lifetime thing. Me and others I’ve talked to agree that right now it’s more important to use this exploit to gather more information about the system in order to find more exploits and such than it is to run homebrews right now. We have PSM for homebrew games and PSP emulator for homebrew emulators, so there really isn’t a huge demand for native PSVita homebrews yet. As I’ll expand on below, we’ve only scratched the surface of Vita hacking and there’s so much more to see.
Are you looking for testers/can I test UVLoader? There’s no need to “test” UVLoader right now because, as I’ve stated before, there isn’t any compiled homebrew and nothing to compile them anyways. Yes, UVL works with some of the custom still I’ve built manually, but it is unwise to write complex stuff without a working SDK.
Can I help? Depends who you are. If you’re an established reverse engineer, you know how to contact me. If you just want to “beta test,” read above. If you know any other way of helping me, don’t ask, just do it™, since UVL is open source. Even though I don’t accept monetary donations before I release anything, if you have access to broken Vitas, memory cards, games, etc, or any unused hardware reversing tools like logic analyzers; anything you wouldn’t mind parting with, one of the things me and others involved don’t have access to is funds for materials to test some of the more… risky ideas and if you could help with that respect, just use the contact link at the top of the page to get in touch with me.
What needs to be done to “hack” the Vita? Again, that term is very vague, but I know what you mean. This is the perfect time to describe (as far as I know) the Vita’s security structure and what needs to be done at each level.
PSP emulator
I’ll start with the PSP emulator just because that is what’s “hacked” right now. How much control do you have of the Vita when you use vHBL? Almost none. On the PSP itself, games are “sandboxed” (meaning some other process tells it what functions of the PSP can be used by the current game, main thing being that one game can’t load another game). Because the Vita emulates the PSP, it also emulates this structure.PSP kernel
One level up, we have “kernel exploits” on the PSP, which means that we are no longer limited to what functions of the PSP we can use. Any PSP function that is emulated by the Vita can be used, that’s why you see ISO loading as the main thing. However, all of this, the PSP emulator, sits in the Vita game sandbox. This sandbox is just like the PSP one, in that another Vita process tells the game (in this case, the PSP emulator running some PSP game) what Vita functions can be used in a similar fashion. For example, if a game doesn’t explicitly declare that it’s going to use the camera or bluetooth (and Sony approves), any code that tries to use these functions will crash.Vita userland
This is where UVLoader works; we exploited some game to run code inside it’s sandbox, meaning that if that game doesn’t have camera functions, no UVLoader Vita homebrew can use the camera either. This also means, of course, we can’t load pirated Vita games and so on. A fun fact here is that, in theory, if someone finds an exploit in Kermit, the system inside the PSP emulator that talks to the Vita through a virtual serial port, they can run UVLoader in the process hosting the emulator (one level higher than a PSP kernel exploit), meaning they may be able to modify the emulator to have more RAM or faster CPU or etc. Another advantage of running UVLoader here is that because the PSP emulator has access to more Vita hardware than most games (bluetooth, camera, etc), homebrews could have more access too.However, it’s easier said than done. It’s hard to appreciate how hard it is to get a Vita userland exploit. Let’s work backwards: we want to somehow run native ARM code, how? Well, the classic route is some stack smash. But wait, modern ARM processors have XN (eXecute Never), which is a feature that only allow code in memory to run at specific locations (these locations are determined by the kernel and are read only). Ok, we have some other choices here: heap overflows, ROP (google if you don’t know), and so on (assuming you even know you got a working exploit, which in itself is hard to know without additional information; most “crashes” are useless), but all of these choices require that you know enough about the system to create a payload fitted for the system. That means, you need either a memory sniffer or somehow dump the memory. Well, let’s rule out hardware memory sniffing since the Vita has the RAM on the same system-on-a-chip as the CPU. How do we dump the memory then? Usually, you need to run some code to dump the memory or do some kind of oracle attack on crashes or error messages or something. Option one only works if we hacked the system before, and the second one, AFAIK, won’t work because the Vita doesn’t give any information when it crashes. So how did I get the first userland exploit? I’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader…
Vita kernel (lv2?)
Vita userland is the most we have access right now and PSP kernel mode is the most that is public. What comes after? Remember all information at this point could be wrong and is based off of the little evidence I have currently. We are in the Vita sandbox right now, which means we can run homebrew, but we can’t use functions that the game doesn’t use (camera, bluetooth, USB, etc). We also can’t modify the system (run Linux, change the theme, add plugins, etc). For those to work, we need to go one level up: the Vita kernel, which might be called lv2. Even with complete userland access, we can’t even poke at the kernel. The kernel acts like a black box, providing functions to the system through syscalls. You pass input into these syscalls and it returns some output, without revealing how the output is created. The kernel’s memory is separate from userland obviously, and even guessing what syscalls do (there’s no names in the memory, only numbers) is a challenge. In order to hack the kernel, we have a problem that is very much like the one I’ve stated above about getting Vita userland, except with even more limitations. Again, there’s the circular problem of needing a kernel RAM dump to inspect for exploits and requiring a kernel exploit to dump the RAM. Now, there’s even less “places” to inspect (visually and programmatically). In order of likelihood, one of the following needs to happen before there’s even a CHANCE of a kernel exploit: 1) Sony does something stupid like the PS3 keys leak, 2) we get REALLY lucky and basically stumble upon an exploit by just testing one of the several hundreds of syscalls with one of an infinite amount of different inputs, 3) some information leaks out from Sony HQ.It’s still unknown how much control we would have if kernel mode is compromised, but me and some others think that we MAY at least be able to do something like a homebrew enabler (HEN) that patches signature checks temporarily until reboot, allowing for homebrews with no sandbox limitations (access to camera, BT, etc) and POSSIBILITY system plugins and themes. It is very unlikely at any keys will be found at this point or being able to create or run a CFW.
Hypervisor? (lv1?)
At this point, it is purely a thought experiment, as we literally have no information beyond what we THINK the kernel does. It is highly possible that there is a hypervisor that makes sure everything running is signed and the kernel isn’t acting up and such. Getting to this would be EVEN HARDER than getting kernel, which I already think is impossible. Even at kernel, it seems to be over my skill limit, but this would definitely be above me, and someone with real skills would have to attack this. I’m thinking at least, decaps will have to be attempted here. If somehow this gets hacked, we may be able to run CFWs, but like the PS3 before the lv0, newer firmwares would not be able to be CFW’d until…Bootloader? (lv0?)
Again, only conjecture at this point, but this is the holy grail, the final boss. Once this is compromised, the Vita would be “hacked” in every sense of the word. We may never get here (and by never, I mean maybe 5-10 years, but I would most likely not be working on the Vita at this point). Here’s is where I think the keys are stored. With this compromised, CFW of any past, present, or future firmwares could be created, and anything would be possible.Summary
I guess to summarize, the reason there’s no release in the foreseeable future isn’t just because I don’t have time to make an sdk so there won’t be homebrews to use even if UVL is released. Even if the SDK does get done, at this point, it would be more attractive to use the control we currently have, double down, and try to get more control. If the exploit is revealed prematurely, getting the game pulled, and the firmware patched, sure we may get a fast N64 emulator in a couple of months when somebody has the chance to write it (and at that point, most people might be enticed to upgrade anyways for new firmware features and PSN access), but we will have to start at square one (read above about finding userland exploits) before having another chance at exploring the full potential of the system. Deep down, I am a researcher, and would have more interest in reversing the system than I would at making a release for users just so I could be the “first”. Like all gambles, I may end up with nothing, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.Monday, December 24, 2012
Lindsey Graham Continues His Hostage Taking Threats on the Debt Ceiling
By Heather
Here we go again with Lindsey Graham continuing to threaten to use the debt ceiling to inflict pain on the working class, or as he calls it, "saving Social Security and Medicare." Graham made this exact same threat almost a year ago where he was a little more specific about his plans for our social safety nets.
Lindsey Graham: Don't Allow Debt Ceiling to Be Raised Without Cuts and Means Testing for Social Security
Here he was on the same show, Meet the Press, again telling David Gregory that we should risk the full faith and credit of the United States of America if Democrats won't give him his pound of flesh from our senior citizens:
Chuck Schumer responded by reminding the viewers just how reckless Graham's remarks are and by reiterating that President Obama is not going to allow what happened the last time around to happen again. That apparently has had zero affect on Graham who is still going to go out there and stomp his feet and make ridiculous comparisons to Greece to try to scare the public, when the ones they ought to be afraid of are Graham and his fellow Republicans who are determined to continue to destroy what's left of the middle class in America and to shred every one of our social safety nets for the most vulnerable among us.
Graham feigns concern over the budget deficit now, but he never has those same concerns back when Bush was blowing mile wide holes in it with tax cuts for the rich and invading a couple of countries which he refused to put on the books. Graham's solutions never seem to include any military spending, since that's apparently the only jobs program that Republicans like -- putting military contractors to work.
Here we go again with Lindsey Graham continuing to threaten to use the debt ceiling to inflict pain on the working class, or as he calls it, "saving Social Security and Medicare." Graham made this exact same threat almost a year ago where he was a little more specific about his plans for our social safety nets.
Lindsey Graham: Don't Allow Debt Ceiling to Be Raised Without Cuts and Means Testing for Social Security
Here he was on the same show, Meet the Press, again telling David Gregory that we should risk the full faith and credit of the United States of America if Democrats won't give him his pound of flesh from our senior citizens:
GREGORY: Sen. Graham, the question for you is could you vote for a bill that extended tax cuts for $250 thousand and below, extended unemployment insurance as the President wants to do and in some way delays some of these automatic spending cuts? Could you vote for that in the short term?
GRAHAM: No. If you want leaders, then you have to lead and the President's been a pathetic fiscal leader. He's produced three budgets and can't get one vote for any of his budgets. You know, Boehner will be Tip O'Neill. Obama needs to be Ronald Reagan and here's what I would vote for. I would vote for revenues, including tax rate hikes, even though I don't like them to get a... to save the country from becoming Greece.
But I'm not going to set aside the $1.2 trillion in cuts. Any hope of going over the fiscal cliff must start in the Senate. Not one Democrat would support the idea that we could protect 99 percent of Americans from a tax increase. Boehner's Plan B I thought made sense. To my Republican colleagues, the Ronald Reagan model is that if you get 80 percent of what you want, that's a pretty good day. We have the same objective of lowering taxes. I like Simpson-Bowles. Eliminate deductions, lower rates, put money on the debt. Tax rate hikes are a partisan solution driven by the President, but he's going to get tax rate hikes. […]
There will not be a big deal. The big chance for a big deal is with the debt ceiling. That's when we will have leverage to turn the country around, prevent it from becoming Greece and save Social Security and Medicare. And anybody listening to this program, I will raise the debt ceiling only if we save Medicare and Social Security from insolvency and prevent this country from becoming Greece. No more borrowing without addressing why we're in debt to begin with. That's where the real chance for change occurs, at the debt ceiling debate.
Chuck Schumer responded by reminding the viewers just how reckless Graham's remarks are and by reiterating that President Obama is not going to allow what happened the last time around to happen again. That apparently has had zero affect on Graham who is still going to go out there and stomp his feet and make ridiculous comparisons to Greece to try to scare the public, when the ones they ought to be afraid of are Graham and his fellow Republicans who are determined to continue to destroy what's left of the middle class in America and to shred every one of our social safety nets for the most vulnerable among us.
Graham feigns concern over the budget deficit now, but he never has those same concerns back when Bush was blowing mile wide holes in it with tax cuts for the rich and invading a couple of countries which he refused to put on the books. Graham's solutions never seem to include any military spending, since that's apparently the only jobs program that Republicans like -- putting military contractors to work.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Two Republican Debacles in 12 Hours
By Taegan Goddard
John Dickerson notes Republicans had two major setbacks in rapid succession: Speaker John Boehner's failed "Plan B" to avert the fiscal cliff and the NRA's embarrassing press conference.
"The Republican Party is in a rebuilding mode after its 2012 election loss. These two events--a defiant NRA and an incompetent leadership--cannot be the face of confrontation the GOP wants to show the public on high-profile issues. Tea Party activists and gun owners are a key part of the party base. But these public acts are out of sync with the moment and completely at odds with party's need to widen its membership."
Joe Conason: What Americans should learn from the "Republican apocalypse."
John Dickerson notes Republicans had two major setbacks in rapid succession: Speaker John Boehner's failed "Plan B" to avert the fiscal cliff and the NRA's embarrassing press conference.
"The Republican Party is in a rebuilding mode after its 2012 election loss. These two events--a defiant NRA and an incompetent leadership--cannot be the face of confrontation the GOP wants to show the public on high-profile issues. Tea Party activists and gun owners are a key part of the party base. But these public acts are out of sync with the moment and completely at odds with party's need to widen its membership."
Joe Conason: What Americans should learn from the "Republican apocalypse."
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