Thomas Bowers: Epstein Connection to Dead Trump Banker [???]
December 3rd, 2019Related: “Deutsche Bank Executive Who Signed Off On Trump Loans Kills Himself At Age 55”
Via: TruePundit:
Bowers headed the private wealth banking division for Deutsche Bank and signed off on millions in loans to Epstein. Bowers, prior to taking over the private banking arm at Deutsche Bank, served in the same top position at Citibank, as the head of the bank’s private wealth arm. Citigroup also made massive loans to Epstein, according to records and banking sources who spoke to True Pundit.
True Pundit founder Mike “Thomas Paine” Moore previously headed anti-money laundering for a major Citigroup division during the time frame Citi commenced large loans to Epstein.
“The loans to Epstein were personal and commercial,” Paine confirmed. “The Citi loans I can confirm were for more than $25 million. Some were secured, some were not.”
Did Citi bend its lending rules for Epstein? Paine said that appears “quite likely,” with Bowers and other Citi executives he later recruited to work for him at Deutsche all working to secure the approvals regardless of compliance-related red flags.
And sources said Citi loaned Epstein much more money, eclipsing $100 million and also allowed Epstein to use the bank to send thousands of wire transfers from his accounts. Bowers, who turned up dead just days ago, brokered the loans for Epstein, sources said.
Bowers was the chief of Deutsche Bank’s Private Wealth Management division and worked from the bank’s Park Avenue offices in New York City. At Citi, Bowers served as the chief of the The Citi Private Bank and previously ran Citigroup’s Global Markets and Wealth Management businesses.
And when Bowers left Citi for Deutsche Bank, Epstein followed.
Meanwhile, Epstein stopped making payments on his millions in outstanding Citi loans. But that mattered little because Bowers approved new high-risk loans and credit lines from Deutsche Bank, sources said.
And that relationship with Epstein continued until Bowers left Deutsche Bank in 2015. By that time, Epstein had chalked up untold millions in loans with the help of Bowers who recruited many of his top private wealth top bankers from Citi to Deutsche Bank.
FDA Bowed to Industry for Decades as Alarms Were Sounded Over Talc
December 3rd, 2019Via: Reuters:
Over the past 50 years, the FDA has relied upon–and often deferred to–industry even as outside experts and consumers repeatedly raised serious health concerns about talc powders and cosmetics, a Reuters investigation found.
Again and again since at least the 1970s, the agency has downplayed the risk of asbestos contamination and declined to issue warnings or impose safety standards, according to documents produced in court proceedings and in response to public records requests.
Astronomers Are About to Detect the Light from the Very First Stars in the Universe
December 3rd, 2019Via: Universe Today:
A team of scientists working with the Murchison Widefield Array (WMA) radio telescope are trying to find the signal from the Universe’s first stars. Those first stars formed after the Universe’s Dark Ages. To find their first light, the researchers are looking for the signal from neutral hydrogen, the gas that dominated the Universe after the Dark Ages.
Ontario RAT Folding Pocket Knives
December 3rd, 2019My youngest son, Reed, chose an Ontario RAT-1 for his first knife six months ago. I’m definitely no expert on knives or EDC gear, but I’ve been so astonished by the quality, durability and low price of the Ontario RAT-1 knife, I wanted to tell you about it.
Reed is extremely hard on his tools in general and his RAT-1 gets the same treatment as everything else. He carries the knife on him every day, all day. He is constantly cutting, carving and whittling wood. He strips bark. He cuts rope. Despite my warning to him that he’s probably going to ruin the liner lock on the knife, he batons wood with it. Prying stuff with the tip, risking blade bends or breaks? Check.
Despite all of this, he is able to maintain the blade’s sharpness to such a degree that he uses it as a sort of quazi Exacto blade for his art work.
Here’s the knife after six months:
Earlier today, I sat down with Reed and we took the knife completely apart to clean and oil it and see how it’s holding up. It had a bit or dirt and sand between the handles and the scales. There was a small amount of surface rust on the tang near the pivot. We were able to remove the rust with a couple of drops of 3-in-One oil on a rag. Other than that, a bit of the black finish had rubbed off the clip and the little logo that was on the blade had also worn off. Despite batonning, the liner lock was perfect. With a hint of 3-in-One on all the metal parts, we reassembled the knife and it was ready to go again.
Before we took it apart and after reassembly, there was no play/slop in the blade at all when locked open. With a bit of adjustment on the pivot screws, we got the blade to line up perfectly centered between the scales again when closed, just like it came from the factory.
Come to think of it, that tiny bit of rust we encountered on the tang was probably due to Reed attacking some banana trees (which are full of water) with the knife. Some of the gunk around the pivot was probably old banana tree pulp.
I noticed that all the screws were set with blue Loctite from the factory. I didn’t have any Loctite so we didn’t replace it. I don’t know how necessary it is, but Reed had switched the clip configuration on the knife when he got it and, despite not replacing the Loctite then, those screws have not backed out at all after constant use for six months. (I wonder if to-Loctite or not-Loctite debates fester in weird backwaters of the Internet… I’m seeing a miasma of grey beards, suspenders and Pall Mall cigarette smoke.)
The Ontario RAT folding knives come in different sizes, colors, handle materials and blade steels. The RAT-1 is the big RAT, the RAT-2 is much smaller. I bought a RAT-2/AUS-8 for myself (black knife on the left in the picture below). I hardly notice it for EDC around our farm. I paid $25 for that knife, which is an unbelievable value in my opinion.
I thought AUS-8 was the way to go for the steel selection due to ease of sharpening and I have not been disappointed. Reed is able to maintain the edge sharpness very easily. D2 steel will hold an edge longer (apparently), but it will also be more difficult to sharpen and more prone to rust.
In summary, you can’t go wrong with the Ontario RAT knives.
Google Has 10,000 Employees Censoring YouTube Videos, Some of Them Starting to Believe Conspiracy Theories
December 3rd, 2019Via: RealClearPolitics:
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki tells Lesley Stahl what the video platform is doing about hate speech in an interview Sunday on the CBS newsmagazine program ’60 Minutes.’
Wojcicki told ’60 Minutes’ that Google employs 10,000 people to focus on “controversial content.” She described their schedule, which includes time for therapy. Stahl also said there are reports that the “monitors” are “beginning to buy the conspiracy theories.”
“What we really had to do was tighten our enforcement of that to make sure we were catching everything and we use a combination of people and machines,” Wojcicki explained. “So Google as a whole has about 10,000 people that are focused on controversial content.”
Lesley Stahl: I’m told that it is very stressful to be looking at these questionable videos all the time. And that there’s actually counselors to make sure that there aren’t mental problems with the people who are doing this work. Is that true?
Susan Wojcicki: It’s a very important area for us. We try to do everything we can to make sure that this is a good work environment. Our reviewers work five hours of the eight hours reviewing videos. They have the opportunity to take a break whenever they want.
Lesley Stahl: I also heard that these monitors, reviewers, sometimes, they’re beginning to buy the conspiracy theories.
Susan Wojcicki: I’ve definitely heard about that. And we work really hard with all of our reviewers to make sure that, you know, we’re providing the right services for them.
More: 60 Minutes: How does YouTube handle the site’s misinformation, conspiracy theories and hate?
Homeland Security Proposes Face Scans for All U.S. Citizens Entering or Exiting Country
December 2nd, 2019Via: Reuters:
The Trump administration intends to propose a regulation next year that would require all travelers – including U.S. citizens – to be photographed when entering or leaving the United States, according to the administration’s regulatory agenda.
The proposed regulation, slated to be issued in July by the Homeland Security Department, would be part of a broader system to track travelers as they enter and exit the United States.
The plan has already drawn opposition from some privacy advocates. Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, blasted the idea in a written statement on Monday.
“Travelers, including U.S. citizens, should not have to submit to invasive biometric scans simply as a condition of exercising their constitutional right to travel,” he said.
China: Police Interrogate Man After He Criticized Them on Social Media
December 2nd, 2019Via: Ezra Levant:
China spies on social media conversations. Then they bring dissidents in for a real-life chat. I’d say we’re AT LEAST five years away from that over here, so no worries. pic.twitter.com/HjXzqsgr8S
— Ezra Levant ? (@ezralevant) December 1, 2019
India: Rampaging Monkeys Will Be Tracked Using Microsoft Facial Recognition AI So Worst Offenders Can Be Sterilized
December 2nd, 2019Via: Daily Mail:
Rampaging monkeys will be tracked using Microsoft face recognition technology so the worst offenders can be sterilised after causing chaos across India.
The booming primate population has reached crisis levels in recent years with spates of attacks on humans, including babies being killed by the animals.
Researchers at the Indraprastha Institute of IT (IIIT) in Delhi, working with new Microsoft artificial intelligence (AI) hope to track down monkeys which are causing carnage.
They are using Microsoft ‘AI for Earth’ to pass on data to organisations which can administer contraception or carry out sterilisation.
Effects of Noise on Vascular Function, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammation
December 1st, 2019Via: PubMed:
Epidemiological studies indicate that traffic noise increases the incidence of coronary artery disease, hypertension and stroke. The underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Field studies with nighttime noise exposure demonstrate that aircraft noise leads to vascular dysfunction, which is markedly improved by vitamin C, suggesting a key role of oxidative stress in causing this phenomenon.
Related: From Lawn Mowers To Rock Concerts, Our ‘Deafening World’ Is Hurting Our Ears
China Introduces Mandatory Face Scans for Phone Users
December 1st, 2019Via: AFP:
China will require telecom operators to collect face scans when registering new phone users at offline outlets starting Sunday, according to the country’s information technology authority, as Beijing continues to tighten cyberspace controls.
In September, China’s industry and information technology ministry issued a notice on “safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of citizens online”, which laid out rules for enforcing real-name registration.
The notice said telecom operators should use “artificial intelligence and other technical means” to verify people’s identities when they take a new phone number.
A China Unicom customer service representative told AFP that the December 1 “portrait matching” requirement means customers registering for a new phone number may have to record themselves turning their head and blinking.
