 | The Balloon Boy's parents are in hot water. Lawyer David Lane released a statement saying that the father, Richard Heene, will plead guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant. . . . more |
This is an extremely bizarre case. Authorities discovered the body of a U.S. Census worker hanged near a cemetery in Kentucky with the word "fed" scrawled . . . more
In this Washington Post piece, David Simon (creator of HBO's The Wire) rails righteously against the Baltimore Police Department's questionable actions and the failure of the enervated Baltimore Sun to hold them to account.
In an American city, a police officer with the authority to take human life can now do so in the shadows, while his higher-ups can claim that this is necessary not to avoid public accountability, but to mitigate against a nonexistent wave of threats. And the last remaining daily newspaper in town no longer has the manpower, the expertise or the institutional memory to challenge any of it.Read it. (And watch it, in case you haven't.)
There are a few articles in the Weekend Journal about the Bernard Madoff Ponzi pyramid scheme, in which Madoff allegedly duped investors out of some $50 billion. This one talks about Madoff's private nature and inscrutable "investing" strategy. This details the sad story of former Fort Lee, NJ mayor Burt Ross. This lists numerous other victims of Madoff's scam, including major names, hedge funds, companies, non-profits, and foreign investors.
It's incredible that this could happen. For all of these people - independent investors, fund managers, charity organizations - to blindly trust Madoff with billions in capital boggles the mind. It goes against the most basic of investment advice: Know what you're investing in. Diversify. It's a combination of greed, delusion - there had to be on some level - and "rolling with the good times" as Madoff brought in high, consistent returns of between 10-12% per year. Forget that these were ludicrous in a declining market, forget that monthly statements from Madoff Securities represented quite literally impossible profits. Investors basked in the ignorant comfort of those fat returns.
A lot of blame to go around beyond Madoff, of course. The SEC didn't investigate Madoff Securities for years until just recently despite evidence and entreaties to do so from several people. And how about these countless funds investing others' money in something that nobody understood? What a disaster.
The ICC's Commercial Crime Services division has a live piracy map which is updated with reports of piracy this year, which are increasing in both number and boldness. Every incident has a pinpointed location and report to go along with it:
This is kind of a strange phenomenon. Modern piracy seems so...anachronistic. But it's big business, especially in the Gulf of Aden. Somalia's status as a failed state means it is an excellent haven for pirates. Other hot spots include the Ivory Coast, East African waters, and the Southeast Asian seas. Don't be surprised to see this grow into a bigger issue over the next six months. I'm talking major international naval coalition-level response.
