Fix the Flaws in Forensic ScienceTHE F.B.I. stunned the legal community on Monday with its acknowledgment that testimony by its forensic scientists about hair identification was scientifically indefensible in nearly every one of more than 250 cases reviewed. But the conclusion should come as no surprise to scientists.
Morgan Stanley in talks to pay $500 mn fine to settle mortgage-bond probe – mediaUS bank Morgan Stanley is reportedly in talks with the Attorney General of New York over the payment of about $500 million to settle claims for misleading investors with mortgage-backed securities issued before the financial crisis.
Unions, activists look to derail Trans-Pacific Partnership fast-trackTrade unions, populist activists and many Democratic lawmakers are rallying against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. They say the secretive treaty is harmful to US workers, the economy and environmental policies. Social justice activists from more than 30 states marched in downtown Washington, DC, on Monday, chanting ” This is what hypocrisy looks like!”
‘Crimes and Impunity’: Amnesty slams US failure to act on torture reportAmnesty International has accused Washington of “sweeping under the carpet” a December Senate report that the CIA tortured militants using the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” during the post 9/11 War on Terror. Naureen Shah, a researcher for Amnesty, accused the Obama administration of ignoring the painstaking five year investigation, which culminated in the Senate Report.
Pioneering a Cure for Virulent Judicial MisconductSeveral months ago, our corporate sponsor introduced to America the concept of Judicial Engineering. The topic is addressed via a wiki, “a website that allows collaborative editing of its content and structure by its users.” The wiki describes Judicial Engineering as a unique form of judicial misconduct in America.
As it moved to seize home, bank never told widow her loan was insuredFor more than a decade after her husband died, Laura Coleman Biggs paid her mortgage to a Bank of America subsidiary. She was never told, even as she was weeks from losing her home, that her husband had actually protected her against foreclosure.
Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual DemocracyAsking “[w]ho really rules?” researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America’s political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power.
The rise of the working poor and the non-working richThe ranks of the working poor are growing because wages at the bottom have dropped, adjusted for inflation. With increasing numbers of Americans taking low-paying jobs in retail sales, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, child care, elder care and other personal services, the pay of the bottom fifth is falling closer to the minimum wage.
Why Wall Street banks may turn their back on DemsCitigroup has decided to withhold donations for now to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee over concerns that Senate Democrats could give Warren and lawmakers who share her views more power, sources inside the bank told Reuters.
Court Accepts DOJ’s ‘State Secrets’ Claim to Protect Shadowy Neocons: a New LowA truly stunning debasement of the U.S. justice system just occurred through the joint efforts of the Obama Justice Department and a meek and frightened Obama-appointed federal judge, Edgardo Ramos, all in order to protect an extremist neocon front group from scrutiny and accountability. The details are crucial for understanding the magnitude of the abuse here.
Cops trained to justify use of deadly force – former US MarshalWhen it comes to officer-involved shootings, the problem lies with law enforcement’s training that instructs cops to say they felt the suspects were a threat, either to the officers or to the public, a retired US Marshal told RT. READ MORE: ‘I was sickened by what I saw’ – N.
‘Endless & vicious cycle’ of misdemeanor charges targeting America’s poor – reportStrapped for cash after the 2008 financial crisis, local governments are bilking the poor through elaborate schemes of “offender-financed criminal justice services,” according to a new report by the Institute of Policy Studies.
Iceland looks at ending boom and bust with radical money planMr Sigurjonsson said the problem each time arose from ballooning credit during a strong economic cycle. Frosti Sigurjonsson’s report, entitled A Better Monetary System For Iceland He argued the central bank was unable to contain the credit boom, allowing inflation to rise and sparking exaggerated risk-taking and speculation, the threat of bank collapse and costly state interventions.
Politics, ‘hypocrisy’ cost US global economic leadership: ex-Treasury chiefThe US may no longer be in control of the global economy, warned former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, urging Washington to regain dominance by honoring commitments and stopping its own hypocrisy.
Victims of Financial Wrongdoing Need a More Muscular S.E.C.Given the many billions of dollars financial companies have paid in regulatory and legal settlements related to the mortgage crisis, how much money has actually found its way into the pockets of investors harmed by their actions? Less than you may think.
Palestine gets ICC membership, opening door to Israel war crimes prosecutionPalestine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs arrives at #ICC, as#RomeStatute enters into force for Palestine pic.twitter.com/rzLTi4qqEd – Int’l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) April 1, 2015 The April 1 accession to the International Criminal Court is the most substantial step to date in Palestine’s international legal campaign to seek justice for Israel’s operation ‘Protective Edge’ last summer, in which thousands of civilians were killed.
Barrett Brown’s email suspended ‘for using it for the wrong thing’American journalist Barrett Brown, who is serving over five years in prison for his links to the hacktivist collective Anonymous, had his email suspended for a year after he contacted a journalist about potential wrongdoing by the Bureau of Prisons.
Former Guantanamo boss faces French court inquiryGuantanamo prison ex-chief Geoffrey Miller has been summoned by a French court over the use of torture in the detention facility a decade ago, following a lawsuit from two French citizens who were former inmates of the infamous military jail.
BNP Paribas, Bank Of America Settle 2009 MBS Suit – Law360BNP Paribas Mortgage Corp. and Bank of America NA have settled a lawsuit over BofA’s handling of hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgage-backed notes, according to a New York federal court filing signed Tuesday.