Formal notices won't be going out until Dec. 1, but some employees of the former Washington Mutual banking operations already are being told informally they'll be among those laid off by the bank's new owner, JPMorgan Chase.

Employees in such groups and departments as human resources, legal, risk management, fraud management and compliance have been advised by supervisors that they'll be getting layoff warning notices, and some have even been told not to show up for work between now and Dec. 1.

JPMorgan Chase isn't saying how many have been told informally or how many will be laid off.

Federal regulators took control of Washington Mutual's banking operations Sept. 25 and sold them to JPMorgan Chase the same day. In meetings with employees the following week, JPMorgan Chase officials said WaMu employees will wind up in one of three groups: those to be laid off, those who will stay for an extended transition period and those who will have permanent positions with the new company.

JPMorgan Chase plans to issue 60-day Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices Dec. 1, with employees officially losing their jobs at the end of January. They'd also receive severance calculated on length of time with the company.

Washington Mutual had 43,000 employees nationally and 2,200 retail branches. But the brunt of the cuts is expected to fall in Seattle, where many of it administrative, operations and support personnel work in positions that duplicate jobs JPMorgan Chase already has. WaMu's Seattle-area employment was more than 4,300.

Via P.I.

When dumb fucking racist white bigots in the south claimed that African Americans were trying to "take away [their] rights," they were lying. What African Americans were pressing for "then" was equal treatment under the law—equal rights, equal freedoms, equal responsibilities. Nothing was "taken" from white people when blacks won the right to vote or to go to integrated schools or to eat at a Woolworth's lunch counter or to marry a white person. Nothing was "taken" from white bigots except the "right" to oppress and discriminate against African Americans.

Gay and lesbians—including African American gays and lesbians—are "now" pressing for equal treatment under the law, equal rights and responsibilities. Nothing is taken from straight people when gays and lesbians are not discriminated against—nothing except the "right" of straight people to oppress and discriminate against gays and lesbians. And in California last Tuesday majorities of African Americans and Latinos—and others—voted to "take away" the right of gays and lesbians to legally marry. When gays and lesbians—including African American gays and lesbians—say that voters of color helped to "take away" our rights, it's the truth.

Making a moral equivalency between "white power" and "gay power" is as offensive as it is ridiculous. It should particularly offend African American gays and lesbians. Who's making you invisible now?

UPDATE: Dan Walters at the SacBee says new voters drawn to the polls by Obama helped put Prop 8 over the top. Not so, says Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, whose numbers crunching has to be afforded more credibility. (Silver, er, fingers older voters.) But I've never said that African American voters put Prop 8 over the top, only that African American voters went disproportionately for Prop 8, which is not in dispute. It's the furious response to the simple statement of fact that is fueling this argument.

No one group of voters singlehandedly passed Prop 8.

At Risque Cafe, 3419 N. Clark, country-fried bacon ($6) is on the appetizer menu. Raw bacon strips are put in an egg wash, dredged in a heavily peppered flour and then deep fried in vegetable oil, says chef Andrew Niemeyer.

Or free bacon:

If you don't want your bacon messed with, then head over to Bucktown's Chinaski's Bar, 1935 N. Damen, which offers all-you-can eat bacon on the first Monday of every month. For free.

"All true religions have to have some monthly faith meeting," says one employee, when asked about the purpose of the bottomless bacon bowl.

Free bacon and a cheap Bukowski reference. What more can you ask for in these post-election days?

Hey slog commenters from Chicago, let's do a Slog Happy here. With bacon.

Iran is not Mr. Ahmadinejad. Bush, however, makes Iran an enemy by making Mr. Ahmadinejad Iran. Remove Bush and you remove his Iran, Ahmadinejad. When Bush goes, Mr. Ahmadinejad goes with him.

This passage appeared on Time.com this week:

Ahmadinejad clearly would have preferred a McCain victory, so that he could have used the Senator's "bomb Iran" jokes and tough rhetoric to talk up the idea of an imminent U.S. threat, urging the electorate to back him as an act of defiance. Even if Obama's victory represents more of a change in style than the substance of its policy, the confluence of economic bad times and the possibility of an improved, respectful relationship with the U.S. based on dialogue — and the prospect of U.S. withdrawal from Iraq — sets the scene for an Ahmadinejad defeat. Of course, Iran's President does not make national-security decisions; that's the prerogative of the Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei. But a change in presidential style in Tehran paralleling the stylistic change in Washington may combine to reduce the risk of escalation and confrontation.

Historically, black Californians have voted in about the same proportion as their population, in the 6 percent to 7 percent range, while Latinos, although more than a third of the state's population, have been about 13 percent of voters.

Last week, however, 10 percent of voters were African American while 18 percent were Latino, and applying exit poll data to that extra turnout reveals that the pro-Obama surge among those two groups gave Proposition 8 an extra 500,000-plus votes, slightly more than the measure's margin of victory.

To put it another way, had Obama not been so popular and had voter turnout been more traditional – meaning the proportion of white voters had been higher – chances are fairly strong that Proposition 8 would have failed.

Via Ben Smith.

Here's a gem from a few seconds in, when Palin explains whether the margin of Obama's victory surprised her:

You know, it did, I thought that it would be closer, but then, taking a step back and being able to consider why it was at the margin was as great as it was, it makes sense.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday expressed hope that the California Supreme Court would overturn Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage. He also predicted that the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who have already wed would not see their marriages nullified by the initiative.

"It's unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end," Schwarzenegger said in an interview Sunday on CNN. "I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area."

...With his favorable comments toward gay marriage, the governor's thinking appears to have evolved on the issue...

On Sunday, he urged backers of gay marriage to follow the lesson he learned as a bodybuilder trying to lift weights that were too heavy for him at first. "I learned that you should never ever give up. . . . They should never give up. They should be on it and on it until they get it done."

Los Angeles Jews voted overwhelmingly against a California constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, according to an exit poll.

On Proposition 8, Jewish Angelinos voted 78 percent against the ban while only 8 percent supported the ban, according to the survey of 1,200 voters in 50 precincts. The remainder declined to respond. The Jews’ vote against the ban was the highest proportion of any ethnic or religious group.

The review of today's White House appearance:

The coral-red silk crepe sheath features three-quarter sleeves, an empire waist and a high neckline with a burst of sunray pleats emanating from the collar. Purchased several months ago, but not yet worn to a major event, [Maria] Pinto thought Mrs. O might debut it for election night. Mrs. O accessorized the look with simple gold hoop earrings and patent leather red heels.

We have to say, Mrs. O looked fresh-faced and well-rested today. The mini break post-election has really done her well. And the dress. The clean lines flatter her figure, while the pleating at the neckline adds just the right touch of detail. If this isn’t Jackie-esque, we don’t know what is.

Barack Obama, man of the city, is going to create the White House Office of Urban Policy.

There was a time when a city could be the capital of a century, the way Paris was the capital of the 19th century. In the 20th century, particularly the second half, cities could only be the capital of a decade--for example, Washington, D.C. was the capital of the '60s, or Los Angeles was the capital of the '80s. The '90s, however, had two capitals: Seattle and New York City.

As with century capitals, decade capitals have clear conclusions. Washington, D.C., came to an end with Watergate; L.A. ended with the Rodney King riots; Seattle ended with WTO; and New York ended with WTC. Now the question is this: What is the capital of this decade?

The answer has finally arrived: Chicago.

We have left the Seattle/New York period and entered the Chicago one. We get a sense of this in every sentence Chicago Fan writes:

Apart from the irony of Obama resembling McCain’s putative President-hero [Teddy Roosevelt], there will be a lot of practical results from Obama’s Chicago connections. Beyond upping the odds that Chicago will land the 2016 Olympics, I can also assure you that Hyde Park-Kenwood (Obama’s home neighborhood) has just become the safest urban neighborhood in America, despite its high crime stats

One other point: The dominance of The Windy City over the next decade also marks the end of capital-sharing arrangements and the return of the one.

But, wait, is there something we are missing? Chicago is really the capital of the next decade; Seattle and New York were the capitals of the 90s. What about the OOs? Was it just a vacuum? No. Something was there. Between the end of the Sea/NY stage and the start (November 4th) of the current one there's nothing but the capital of the 10th century, Baghdad. It returned as a zombie capital, a negative capital, the capital of an upside down world, the capital of the Bush years.

Baghdad is the capital of the OOs.

Barack Obama: Renegade
Michelle Obama: Renaissance
Malia Obama: Radiance
Sasha Obama: Rosebud

Also:
Joe Biden: Celtic
Jill Biden: Capri

And:
George W. Bush: Tumbler
Laura Bush: Tempo