Bank of America Paid Bonuses to Foreclose: LawsuitBank of America routinely denied qualified borrowers a chance to modify their loans to more affordable terms and paid cash bonuses to bank staffers for pushing homeowners into foreclosure, according to affidavits filed last week in a Massachusetts lawsuit. “We were told to lie to customers,” said Simone Gordon, who worked in the bank’s loss mitigation department until February 2012.
Exclusive: Whistleblower Says State Department Trying to Bully Her Into SilenceThe State Department investigator who accused colleagues last week of using drugs, soliciting prostitutes, and having sex with minors says that Foggy Bottom is now engaged in an “intimidation” campaign to stop her. Last week’s leaks by Aurelia Fedenisn, a former State Department inspector general investigator, shined a light on alleged wrongdoing by U.S.
Body scanner ruling could squelch NSA domestic spyingElectronic Privacy Information Center organizes request by leading technologists to halt National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance. They’re trying a novel argument from a 2011 lawsuit. (Credit: Getty Images) A high-profile group of technologists and privacy advocates is attempting to halt domestic surveillance of Americans through a clever twist: using federal bureaucratic rules against federal bureaucrats.
MIDNIGHT IN THE AMERICAN EMPIREA Moscow-based, American political commentator for the TV news channel Russia Today looks with alarm and dismay at what he sees as the corporate domination of his native land. In this passionate debut laced with sardonic humor, Pittsburgh native Bridge writes that American citizens, formerly rugged individualists, have been reduced to mere consumers under the heel of profit-driven, power-hungry transnational corporate elites.
From Ike to “The Matrix”: Welcome to the American dystopiaPart Orwellian security state, part Huxley wonderland and part “Matrix,” America is three dystopias in one! Topics: Movies, Politics, Surveillance, technology, surveillance state, surveillance society, 1984, Barack Obama, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Science Fiction and Fantasy, the matrix, Editor’s Picks, Entertainment News, Politics News American society has been sliding toward the realm of dystopian science fiction – toward a nightmarish mishmash of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Philip K.
Former Bank of America workers allege it lied to home ownersSix former Bank of America Corp. employees have alleged that the bank deliberately denied eligible home owners loan modifications and lied to them about the status of their mortgage payments and documents. The bank allegedly used these tactics to shepherd homeowners into foreclosure, as well as in-house loan modifications.
NSA spying flap extends to contents of U.S. phone callsNational Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too. (Credit: Getty Images) The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls, a participant in the briefing said.
Lawsuit: BofA gave bonuses, gift cards for meeting foreclosure quotasNEW YORK Bank of America Corp. rewarded staff with cash bonuses and gift cards for meeting quotas tied to sending distressed homeowners into foreclosure, former employees said in court documents. Mortgage workers falsified records and were told to delay U.S.
Accused bank robber wants NSA phone records for his defenseDefense lawyers for Terrance Brown, a south Florida man facing bank robbery charges, have asked for NSA mobile phone surveillance records to be supplied in order to support his claim that he was not in the vicinity of the bank at the time it was robbed.
Secret Court Ruling Put Tech Companies in Data BindSAN FRANCISCO – In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo ‘s top lawyers made their case. The government had sought help in spying on certain foreign users, without a warrant, and Yahoo had refused, saying the broad requests were unconstitutional. The judges disagreed. That left Yahoo two choices: Hand over the data or break the law.
Mindfulness Can Turn You On“Ultimately, I see mindfulness as a love affair — with life, with reality and imagination, with the beauty of your own being, with your heart and body and mind, and with the world.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn Being “turned on” no longer has to happen only in the bedroom.
Take Action: Repeal the Monsanto Protection ActIt’s one of the most outrageous special interest provisions in years. Written anonymously, the Monsanto Protection Act allows corporations to sell genetically-modified seeds even when federal courts have blocked them from doing so. Think about that: We have a process for making sure that genetically-modified seeds aren’t sold, planted and grown until we know that they don’t pose a threat to other crops or to humans.
Merkley waves Verizon phone, demands NSA chief share grounds for seizing dataIn a dramatic exchange Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) demanded National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander explain why the agency was legally authorized to obtain his personal cellphone data. Waving his Verizon phone from his seat, Merkley asked Alexander to explain “what authorized investigation gave you the grounds” to seize information on his calls and those of millions of other Americans.
Only One Big Telecom CEO Refused To Cave To The NSA … And He’s Been In Jail For 4 YearsREUTERS/Rick Wilking Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio is currently serving a six-year sentence after being convicted of insider trading in April 2007 for selling $52 million of stock in the spring of 2001 as the telecommunications carrier appeared to be deteriorating.
Why you should worry about the NSAPAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images None of us want another terrorist attack in the United States. Equally, most of us have nothing to hide from the federal government, which already has so many ways of knowing about us.
Lawsuits over government surveillance languishSAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Before there was Edward Snowden and the leak of explosive documents showing widespread government surveillance, there was Mark Klein – a telecommunications technician who alleged that AT&T was allowing U.S. spies to siphon vast amounts of customer data without warrants.
Lawyers rail at police response to Turkey protestsANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Thousands of black-robed Turkish lawyers stormed out of their courthouses Wednesday, shouting about the rough treatment police dished out to their colleagues amid Turkey’s biggest anti-government protests in years. The rallies by clapping, chanting jurists added a new twist to the nearly two weeks of protests that started in Istanbul and spread to dozens of other Turkish cities.
Here’s what’s happening to employment …
John Poindexter’s Plan for “Total Information Awareness” in Effect by Another NameCOLEEN ROWLEY, rowleyclan at earthlink.net Rowley is a former FBI special agent and division counsel whose May 2002 memo described some of the FBI’s pre-9/11 failures and was named one of Time magazine’s “Persons of the Year” in 2002.
