Deutsche Bank CEO Target of Suspected Letter Bomb
December 8th, 2011I don’t know how, or even if, this fits in at all, but remember this little tidbit from my 2006 piece about the Wall Street Chop Shop:
I handled some issues for the secondary marketing department, even, would you believe, for the person who pulled the trigger on these paper dumps at the end of the month.
“Who buys this stuff?” I asked.
“Oh lots and lots of people. Well, banks and insurance companies mostly. [Large European Bank name deleted] buys a lot of it.”
I wonder if [Large European Bank name deleted] knew what I knew or cared about how those loans were generated. (Of course, they knew and didn’t care. They’ll sell this toilet paper debt to some other sucker down the line.)
Ok, [Large European Bank name deleted] was Deutsche Bank.
I’m not sure if we know how many hot potatoes they got stuck with when the shit hit the fan. I just think it’s an interesting coincidence that the CEO of the bank that was buying a lot of the toxic waste that the “Chop Shop” was generating just happened to receive a letter bomb.
Maybe Deutsche Bank sold some of those hot, steaming “Chop Shop” securities to another party who wasn’t too pleased with the result. In, Unloading Toxic Waste Mortgage Backed Securities: “We Americans Were Very Clever,” I wrote:
At some point, this thing is going to start looking less like a financial crisis and more like a mob war.
Questions, questions…
Via: CNBC:
The New York Police Department alerted Wall Street after confirmation that a letter bomb was sent to the CEO of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany.
“NYPD learned that a letter bomb was detected by x-ray equipment in the bank’s mail room this morning, 1 p.m. Frankfurt time. We stepped up security at Deutsche Bank offices in New York and reminded — out of an abundance of caution — our 10,000 private security “Shield” members to follow guidelines for the detection and handling of suspicious packages and letters,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, NYPD.
German police are investigating the suspicious envelope, addressed to chief executive Josef Ackermann at Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank.
“The explosive device in Frankfurt contained shrapnel. It did not detonate,” confirmed Commissioner Browne.
In New York, a spokesman from the bank confirmed the news: “Today Deutsche Bank received a suspect package addressed to Dr. Ackermann. The relevant unit of the bank informed the police in Frankfurt. The police have undertaken an investigation.”
Frankfurt police spokesman Alexander Kiessling said: “There was a piece of mail that arrived at Deutsche Bank that was noticed. It was noticed because it seemed unusual.”
Ackermann is the face of capitalism in Germany and is one of the few senior managers in the country who is always surrounded by bodyguards.
He is due to retire in May next year after more than 10 years at the helm of the bank.
A U.S. law enforcement official told Reuters that the package carried a return address from the European Central Bank, which is also located in Germany’s financial centre.
Banking sources said the bank had stepped up security measures around the world.
ATF Wanted to Use “Fast and Furious” to Justify More Gun Control Legislation
December 8th, 2011This is absolutely incredible.
Via: CBS:
Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation “Fast and Furious” to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.
In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the “big fish.” But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called “gunwalking,” and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
ATF officials didn’t intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called “Demand Letter 3”. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or “long guns.” Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.
On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:
“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.”
Afghani$cam: $400-a-Gallon Gasoline
December 7th, 2011Via: Wall Street Journal:
Parachuting a barrel of fuel to a remote Afghan base takes sharp flying skills, steady nerves and flawless timing.
It also costs a lot of money—up to $400 a gallon, by military estimates.
But the Pentagon is stuck with the expense for the foreseeable future, especially given the recent deterioration in U.S.-Pakistani relations.
“We’re going to burn a lot of gas to drop a lot of gas,” said Capt. Zack Albaugh, a California Air National Guard pilot deployed with the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. He spoke just before a recent mission to supply a remote base near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, scene of cross-border rocket attacks that have heightened regional tensions this fall.
Class of Homebuyers Claims BofA Found a New Dirty Trick
December 7th, 2011This one will take your breath away.
Via: Courthouse New Service:
Bank of America found a new way to illegally extract money from customers, according to a federal class action: deduct taxes and insurance from mortgage payments, even though the homebuyers make those payments themselves, then call the mortgage in default for the unauthorized deductions, and charge late fees and penalties.
Lead plaintiffs Rick and Susan Dolfo say that’s what Bank of America did to them.
“This is yet another tale of Bank of America cheating its customers,” the complaint states. “In 2005, plaintiffs obtained a residential mortgage loan. Bank of America subsequently bought the servicing rights to the loan. From the time the loan was issued, plaintiffs complied with their obligations under the loan agreement. They made their monthly payments, maintained the required homeowner’s insurance coverage and timely paid their property taxes. Nonetheless, in December 2009, plaintiffs noticed on their monthly mortgage statement that Bank of America paid their property taxes and homeowner’s insurance without the plaintiffs’ knowledge or consent, and even though plaintiffs also paid them. To fund the impound account, and without informing the plaintiffs, Bank of America took money from plaintiffs’ monthly mortgage payment, not leaving enough to cover plaintiffs’ monthly mortgage payment, throwing plaintiffs into default. Once in default, Bank of America, as the loan servicer, was ale to charge additional fees and penalties. Bank of America also falsely reported to credit agencies that plaintiffs were in default on their mortgage.”
U.S. Air Force Funds SETI, Will Investigate Using Radio Telescope Array to Detect and Track Orbiting Space Objects
December 7th, 2011Via: SETI Institute:
The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is once again searching planetary systems for signals that would be evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Among its first targets are some of the exoplanet candidates recently discovered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
“This is a superb opportunity for SETI observations,” said Jill Tarter, the Director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute. “For the first time, we can point our telescopes at stars, and know that those stars actually host planetary systems – including at least one that begins to approximate an Earth analog in the habitable zone around its host star. That’s the type of world that might be home to a civilization capable of building radio transmitters.”
The ATA had been placed in hibernation mode last April as the result of the withdrawal of the SETI Institute’s former partner, U.C. Berkeley, due to budgetary shortfalls.
…
The restart of SETI work at the ATA has been made possible thanks to the interest and generosity of the public who supported SETI research via the www.SETIStars.org web site. Additional funds necessary for observatory re-activation and operations are being provided by the United States Air Force as part of a formal assessment of the instrument’s utility for Space Situational Awareness (see www.seti.org/afspc for more information).
Harnessing Desert Sun to Power Europe
December 7th, 2011Is it just a coincidence that several of the countries that will be supplying Europe with power derived from the sun are experiencing regime change and riots?
Via: BBC:
It is a beguiling idea – harvest sunshine, and a little wind, from the empty deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, and use it to produce clean power for the region and for Europe.
Desertec, a group based in Germany with heavyweight commercial backers including Siemens and Deutsche Bank, says the scheme would also bring the regions around the Mediterranean closer together, while providing jobs and stability for the countries in the south.
It has chosen Morocco, which is embarking on its own ambitious solar programme, for its first “reference” project – a plant meant to show that its grand vision is feasible.
Desertec expects to see the first electricity flowing through undersea cables from Morocco to Spain as early as 2014.
Eight Companies Hit with Lawsuit Over Carrier IQ Software
December 7th, 2011Via: Computerworld:
Apple is one of eight companies that have been named in another class-action lawsuit filed over the use of Carrier IQ software in mobile handsets.
The lawsuit was filed last Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware and accuses Carrier IQ, three wireless carriers, and four handset makers of violating the Federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Electronic Communications Act, and the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
The complaint was filed on behalf of four individuals, who are described in court papers as owners of mobile handsets with Carrier IQ software on them. Those named in the lawsuit besides Apple and Carrier IQ, are AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, HTC, Samsung and Motorola. All of these companies have admitted that their handsets include Carrier IQ software.
The carriers have insisted that the software is being used only for network diagnostics purposes while the handset makers have claimed that they integrated Carrier IQ in their devices only because the carriers specifically asked them to.
This is at least the third publicly known lawsuit seeking class-action status that has been filed over the Carrier IQ issue since a major controversy over its software erupted late last month.
Russia: Election Fraud at All Levels of the Vote
December 7th, 2011Ballots filled out with pens containing erasable ink?
Via: France24:
Opposition leaders called for a second round of mass demonstrations in Moscow on Tuesday, to protest against last weekend’s parliamentary election amid widespread claims of irregularities favouring Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. Our Observer on the ground, who participated in Sunday’s election as an observer for an opposition party, described what he witnessed once the polls closed and counting began.
On Monday, President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the vote as “fair, honest and democratic” as official results revealed that the ruling United Russia party had lost a total of 77 seats in the State Duma, barely hanging on to its majority.
Although the results were largely interpreted as a sign of Putin and his party’s waning popularity, the prime minister – who hopes to resume his role at the helm of the country in Russia’s 2012 presidential elections – dismissed the poll’s significance, noting that United Russia still had enough of a majority to pass most legislation without seeking outside support.
Yet many who participated in Sunday’s elections claim support for Putin was grossly inflated by election fraud at all levels of the vote. These allegations were later backed up by European election monitors, who said the vote count was “characterized by frequent procedural violations and instances of apparent manipulation, including several serious indications of ballot box stuffing”.
As anger grew over the results, thousands turned out in Moscow on Monday evening to protest against the prime minister’s 12-year-reign, demanding a “Russia without Putin”. Police arrested at least 300 people at the demonstration, according to media reports.
Alabama: Inmates Can Replace Hispanic Farmhands
December 7th, 2011Via: Politico:
Alabama farmers frantically looking for workers to replace those that have fled the state in the wake of its tough new immigration law should just stop by their local prison, according to the head of Alabama’s agriculture department.
John McMillan, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, told the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday that inmate labor through the state’s work-release program offers a short-term solution to the sudden labor shortage that has hit Alabama since enforcement of its illegal immigration law kicked in.
Some farmers have said the state’s new law has driven away Hispanic migrant farm workers — and without another potential labor source, they say produce may have to be left to rot in the fields.
“We are optimistic that by Monday, we will have some help for farmers,” McMillan said.
Under the law, employers must use the E-Verify system to check workers’ legality and police can ask for documentation of anyone they stop, detain or arrest.
Research Credit: noncompliant
Library of Congress to Receive Entire Twitter Archive
December 7th, 2011Via: Federal News Radio:
The Library of Congress and Twitter have signed an agreement that will see an archive of every public Tweet ever sent handed over to the library’s repository of historical documents.
“We have an agreement with Twitter where they have a bunch of servers with their historic archive of tweets, everything that was sent out and declared to be public,” said Bill Lefurgy, the digital initiatives program manager at the library’s national digital information infrastructure and preservation program. “The archives don’t contain tweets that users have protected, but everything else — billions and billions of tweets — are there.”
Lefurgy joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris Tuesday morning to talk about the library’s digital mission.
Using new technical processes it has developed, Twitter is moving a large quantity of electronic data from one electronic source to another. “They’ve had to do some pretty nifty experimentation and invention to develop the tools and a process to be able to move all of that data over to us,” Lefurgy said.
The Library of Congress has long been the repository of important, historical documents and the Twitter library, as a whole, is something historic in itself.
“We were excited to be involved with acquiring the Twitter archives because it’s a unique record of our time,” Lefurgy said. “It’s also a unique way of communication. It’s not so much that people are going to be interested in what you or I had for lunch, which some people like to say on Twitter.”
Researchers will be able to look at the Twitter archive as a complete set of data, which they could then data-mine for interesting information.
“There have been studies involved with what are the moods of the public at various times of the day in reaction to certain kinds of news events,” Lefurgy said. “There’s all these interesting kinds of mixing and matching that can be done using the tweets as a big set of data.”
