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May 11, 2012 | | CIVIL RIGHTS In an election year nearly 50 years ago, President Johnson took a risky stand on a civil rights—and triumphed. Historian and Johnson biographer Robert Dallek writes on the parallels with Obama’s gay-marriage endorsement, noting how, like LBJ, Obama has taken on one of the country’s most volatile issues during an election year. Whatever happens in the long term, Dallek writes, Obama’s stand may be one for the history books. CHUMS Former queen of Fleet Street Rebekah Brooks took the stand in London Friday morning to answer questions about allegations of hacking that occurred at the defunct Murdoch News of the World during her tenure as editor. Among the revelations: that Prime Minister David Cameron sent her text messages ending “LOL” thinking the acronym stood for “lots of love.” Brooks said that she and Cameron occasionally discussed allegations of hacking at the paper between 2009 and 2011. Whoops Federal securities regulators said Friday they have been investigating JPMorgan Chase’s hedge-fund losses.The announcement followed CEO Jamie Dimon’s admission that $2 billion was lost from “egregious mistakes” on a hedging strategy. JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, estimates the business unit will post a loss of $800 million this quarter, when it previously forecast a profit of $200 million. Dimon said in a hastily arranged conference call to investors that the report “puts egg on our face.” He linked the losses to a trader nicknamed the “London Whale,” who had allegedly amassed a outsized position that hedge funds bet against. Regulators said Friday that they had discussions with JPMorgan Chase the division that allegedly lost the money for a month. MORE MONEY Billionaire Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin has given up his U.S. citizenship in advance of the social network’s planned initial public offering, a move that could save him on taxes. The Brazilian-born Saverin now lives in Singapore, and stands to profit handsomely from Facebook’s IPO. In other news, Facebook’s nearly $100 billion initial public offering has come under review by the Federal Trade Commission, the Financial Times reported Thursday. Neither Facebook nor the FTC would comment yesterday on the alleged investigation by regulators into the social network’s acquisition of Instagram. An FTC investigation of the deal would be routine considering the massive size of Facebook’s planned IPO, but a probe could toss a monkey wrench in plans to go public next week. STRIKE THREE Chilean cruise worker Fabian Zanzi came forward on Friday with claims of sexual misconduct against actor John Travolta. Zanzi alleges that Travolta made unwanted advances toward him on a Royal Caribbean cruise in 2009, and that the actor took off his bathrobe in his presence. “When he got close to me, he took off his white robe and was naked,” Zanzi told Chilean reporters. Travolta also offered him $12,000 for sex, Zanzi said, an offer the cruise worker said he turned down. Travolta’s lawyer Marty Singer rebutted the claim, calling it “ridiculous.” | | 
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