Bank of America in Record $16.7 Billion Mortgage Settlement
August 21st, 2014If you think that sounds like a big number, notice the part in bold below.
Anyway, what’s the U.S. government going to do with its cut?
Send more tanks to collapsing American cities?
Via: BBC:
Bank of America has agreed to pay a record $16.7bn (£10bn) to US authorities for misleading investors about the quality of loans it sold.
The loans were sold by Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch before Bank of America bought them in 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.
The associate attorney general said “no institution is either too big or too powerful to escape” punishment.
The settlement will cut the bank’s third-quarter profits by $5.3bn.
Bank of America will pay a total of $9.65bn in cash and provide consumer relief worth about $7bn, much of which will go towards homeowners struggling with their mortgages.
The cash component consists of a $5bn civil penalty and $4.63 billion in compensation payments.
Private Military Contractor Providing Security for One Person in Ferguson
August 21st, 2014Via: The Verge:
A menagerie of armed state and federal agents have filtered in and out of Ferguson, Missouri for more than a week as unrest has grown there, and now even a private military company is joining the mix. Asymmetric Solutions, a PMC that claims to be “capable of deploying highly qualified former special operations personnel” to “anywhere on the globe in a moments notice” will be providing a security detail to an unnamed individual visiting Ferguson.
Asymmetric Solutions announced the job on Twitter, noting that the assignment is saddening and unexpected.
Research Credit: P7y845W4
And Now… Former CIA Officer: ‘A Lot of Communication’ Between ISIS, Mexican Cartels
August 21st, 2014U.S. Intelligence Connections to Mexican Cartels – Check
U.S. Funded and Armed “ISIS” – Check
Southern Border of U.S. Left Wide Open On Purpose – Check
Back on 20 June, I wrote the following about the border mess:
So what you have here is some sort of scam designed to get Americans to accept a “solution” that wouldn’t be accepted under anything like normal circumstances. The poor immigrants are being used as props.
Maybe the purpose of the border catastrophe is coming into focus…
Maybe some of this is being ordered up for inside The Homeland.
Here’s Cheney to enlighten us:
Former Vice President Dick Cheney was on “Hannity” to discuss the threat of ISIS and the horrific beheading of American journalist James Foley.
“After watching this [beheading] video, I’m pretty convinced that we have a group of people at war with us. Would you agree with that?” Hannity asked.
“Absolutely,” Cheney said, calling ISIS “very much a threat to the United States” and to our friends and allies.
While Cheney said the beheading of an American reporter is a terrible development, he cautioned, “Magnify that a million times over because that’s what’s in store for the rest of the world if we don’t deal effectively with this crisis.”
Whatever Cheney and the gang are going to do this time, I hope it doesn’t involve a mushroom cloud.
Via: Breitbart:
Former CIA covert operations officer Mike Baker said that he believes there is “a lot of communication” between ISIS and Mexican drug cartels given past efforts by al Qaeda to do likewise on Thursday’s “Laura Ingraham Show.”
“We’ve had good intel over the years about al Qaeda, about their efforts to coordinate with, as an example, Mexican cartels…in an effort to try to exploit our southern border” he reported, adding that a terrorist group like ISIS “absolutely” knows about the lack of security on the border.
Ferguson: Cop Pointing a Rifle at Protesters Says He Will “Fucking Kill” Them, Tells Them to Go Fuck Themselves When Asked His Name
August 20th, 2014Via: YouTube:
Sea Plankton Found Outside International Space Station
August 20th, 2014Via: Stuff:
It’s not quite extraterrestrial life, but scientists have discovered sea plankton growing in space.
Russian space officials have confirmed traces of plankton and other micro-organisms were found living on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS), and it appears they’ve been living there for years.
Russian astronaut Olek Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov made the discovery after a routine spacewalk around the ISS, during which they took samples from illuminators on its surface, Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported overnight.
High-precision equipment later revealed the presence of micro-organisms on the wipes.
Space officials claimed the plankton were not carried there at launch, but are thought to have been blown over by air currents on Earth.
The particles, invisible to the naked eye, were able to survive in the vacuum of space, despite zero gravity, freezing temperatures, lack of oxygen, and cosmic radiation.
Russia Forces Its Popular Bloggers to Register — Or Else
August 20th, 2014Via: Bloomberg:
Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking names. Potentially thousands.
The former KGB colonel, concerned with how social media can be used to undermine his authority, this month expanded his regulation of media to the blogosphere, requiring those with at least 3,000 daily readers to register their real names and contact information. So far, about 580 bloggers in Russia have applied to register with the country’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor.
The government says this is needed so it can remove inaccurate or defamatory information on the Internet. But some bloggers fear it will limit free speech, allow Putin to close down blogs he doesn’t like and give him an excuse to block sites such as Twitter in the future.
The total number of bloggers who are required to register may be several thousand. Roskomnadzor may shut down the accounts of those who don’t follow the new rule. Roskomnadzor sent Eduard Limonov and Boris Akunin, who are known for their opposition to the government, requests to register their blogs, according to the daily newspaper Izvestia.
Police Come Under Gunfire, Arrest 31 in Missouri Racial Unrest
August 19th, 2014Heavy gun fire???
Via: Reuters:
Police said early on Tuesday they came under heavy gunfire and arrested 31 people during another night of racially charged protests in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman 10 days ago.
Demonstrations, mostly peaceful but with spasms of violence by smaller groups, have flared since Michael Brown, 18, was shot dead while walking down a residential street on August 9.
State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, briefing reporters on Monday’s night’s violence, said “our officers came under heavy gunfire” in one area.
“Not a single bullet was fired by officers despite coming under heavy attack,” he told a news conference. Riot police had confiscated two guns from protesters and what looked like a petrol bomb. Four officers had been injured.
Johnson separately told CNN that two people were shot within the crowd, but not by police, and were taken to hospital. There was no immediate word on their condition.
Ebola: Liberian Army Ordered to ‘Shoot on Sight’ Anyone Crossing Sierra Leone Border
August 19th, 2014Via: International Business Times:
Liberia’s armed forces have been given orders to shoot people on sight who are attempting to illegally cross the border from Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone, according to local media reports.
The order was given to soldiers stationed in Bomi and Grand Cape Mount counties on the border with Sierra Leone in hope of preventing the spread of the deadly virus, deputy chief of staff, Colonel Eric Dennis said.
The decision comes as the search for 17 Liberian Ebola patients, who escaped an attack on a quarantine centre in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, continues.
“We have not yet found them,” said Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown.
“Those who looted the place took away mattresses and bedding that were soaked with fluids from the patients.”
Yesterday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged all countries affected by Ebola to conduct “exit screening” of individuals at all international airports, seaports and major land crossings.
Navy Conducts First Series of Drone and Manned Fighter Jet Operations
August 19th, 2014Via: Los Angeles Times:
The U.S. Navy said its jet-powered, bat-winged X-47B drone has conducted carrier deck operations and performed maneuvers alongside an F/A-18 fighter jet, marking the first time manned and unmanned aircraft have operated together on the same carrier.
Navy officials hailed the test flights of the experimental drone, which were completed Sunday on the Theodore Roosevelt in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, as a milestone in carrier-based naval aviation.
“Today we showed that the X-47B could take off, land and fly in the carrier pattern with manned aircraft while maintaining normal flight deck operations,” Capt. said Beau Duarte, program manager for the Navy’s unmanned carrier aviation office, in a statement. “This is key for the future carrier air wing.”
Combat drones used by the Air Force and CIA are controlled remotely by a human pilot, often sitting thousands of miles away. The Navy drone is designed to carry out a combat mission controlled almost entirely by a computer.
A human pilot would design its flight path and send it on its way. A computer program would guide it from a ship to the target and back.
Unlike the Predator and other propeller-driven combat drones, the X-47B is stealthy and jet-powered. Built by Northrop Grumman Corp., it looks like a mini-B-2 stealth bomber.
36% of Americans Haven’t Saved Anything for Retirement
August 18th, 2014Via: CBS:
Over a third of all Americans (36%) have not saved any money for retirement, according to a new Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) report. Sixty-nine percent of 18-29 year-olds haven’t saved anything, along with 33% of 30-49 year-olds, 26% of 50-64 year-olds and 14% of people 65 and older.
