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Being a real estate agent is often seen as a somewhat glamorous job, one that virtually anyone can do and potentially get rich from.
In fact, becoming a real estate agent (or Realtor, as the National Association of Realtors calls them) can be a simple matter of taking a two-week course and passing a licensing exam. In a sense, getting into the business is easy.
But being successful is tough!
The stereotypical Realtor is one who drives around in a luxury car and projects an image of success in order to impress his or her clients enough so that they list or buy a house with them (the movie American Beauty does a great job of creating a stereotypical Realtor). However, this is not always the case. In fact, the proportion of "rich" or extremely successful Realtors is very small. Let's take a look at what most Realtors make, and then take a look at what separates the successful Realtors from the rest of the pack.
The reality of the real estate profession
In reality, the median income of a Realtor in 2012 was $43,500, which is well above the $34,900 figure from 2011. This really illustrates how much a Realtor's income can fluctuate -- and can plummet in a bad housing market. Only 2% of Realtors earn more than $250,000 per year, and even to get in the upper five-digit range is rare, especially in the early stages of a realtor's career.
According to U.S. News, realtors in the 75th percentile make $61,960, and those at the 25th percentile make just $27,200. This data is from 2011, so these figures are undoubtedly a little bit higher now, especially with the improvement in the housing market, but it is a good indicator of the range and uncertainty involved in the profession.
According to a survey of 1,758 real estate professionals conducted by ActiveRain, 22% of real estate agents earned less than $35,000 per year, and just 21% earned $100,000 or more. This is far from a "rich" profession. In fact, these income levels look pretty similar to professions that are thought of as lower-income, such as education and law enforcement.
Since it's pretty safe to assume that those considering the real estate profession are aspiring to be in the upper income brackets, let's see what they might be able to do to swing the odds in their favor.
The exceptions
We'll define the "exceptions" as those real estate agents who earn $100,000 or more, which is roughly the upper 20% of realtors. Agents who make six figures (or more) spend six times more on technology and ten times more on marketing efforts than their lower-income colleagues.
In other words, those who spend more money tend to make more money. The higher earners are also much more likely to actively blog about real estate in order to attract potential buyers and sellers, and they are are much more likely to use online video sites such as YouTube to broadcast videos of their listings and other real estate topics.
Also, the more successful Realtors tended to be the most experienced. Most of the successful real estate agents surveyed had 11 to 20 years of experience.
In a nutshell
Becoming a real estate professional probably won't make you rich overnight. While there are methods that seem to be effective, the best way to be successful in real estate is similar to that in most other businesses: Learn all you can, effectively use the latest technologies, and don't be afraid to spend money in order to make money.
While a career as a real estate professional can certainly pay the bills and earn you a good living, those aspiring Realtors with visions of driving clients to properties in their new Porsche may need a reality check.
Real Estate + Apple? This device makes it possible.
Apple recently recruited a secret-development "dream team" to guarantee its newest smart device was kept hidden from the public for as long as possible. But the secret is out, and some early viewers are claiming its destined to change everything from banking to health care. In fact, ABI Research predicts 485 million of this type of device will be sold per year. But one small company makes Apple's gadget possible. And its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early-in-the-know investors. To be one of them, and see Apple's newest smart gizmo, just click here!
Matthew Frankel has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com and Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com and Netflix. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Mythcon 43
Across the Continents:
Myths and legends from Europe
and Asia meet and mingle
University of California-Berkeley
Guests of Honor
Prof. G. Ronald Murphy, SJ – Scholar
Myth and folklore scholar, winner of the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for The Owl, the Raven & the Dove: The Religious Meaning of the Grimms' Magic Fairy Tales (2002) and Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram's Parzival (2007). Author of the forthcoming Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North from Oxford University Press.
Malinda Lo – Author – malindalo.com
Author of young adult fantasy and science fiction novels Ash (nominee for the 2010 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature), Huntress, and Adaptation.

subset: commoncrawl


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REDMWC's Blogs
8 May 2012 - Starting Over
Tuesday, May 08, 2012 4 comments
Well, I feel like I am starting over. I have been pretty poor at tracking since the holidays - and now it's May! A lot of it stems from re-injuring my back in December. I feel like I haven't been myself since. I am afraid to get back i...
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October was So-SO
Tuesday, November 01, 2011 1 comments
I made 3 goals for myself in October: Goal 1: Stick with tracking everything I eat through Sparkpeople Monday-Friday throughout October. ****UPDATE**** I did OK with this, but not great. I did better for Breakfast and Lunch, but dinne...
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Always, Sometimes, Nevers
Friday, October 21, 2011 0 comments
A comment on my last blog post made me think about my SP Diet. I am still actively trying to lose weight (and I have been!) so, I still consider myself on a diet--rather than just maintaining my health, fitness, weight, etc. Part of wh...
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The Derby 15
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 1 comments
When someone joins roller derby, they do it for all kinds of reasons. Make new (female) friends, be active, they miss team sports, they want to be part of something, they saw a bout/Whip It/Heard someone on the train and are already in love with...
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Me this weekend.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 3 comments
Photo of me in my new green uniform (I have the "C" on my arm).
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Updating Goals - October
Tuesday, October 04, 2011 1 comments
OK, I have updated my weight loss goal-to lose 22 pounds by the end of the year. I am a bit worried about having this goal go through the holiday season-but I think Sparkpeople has armed me with the tools to make good decisions and not be r...
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Trying Something New
Monday, October 03, 2011 3 comments
Maybe this will help me get on track--let's look at my physical successes after losing 40 lbs. before:
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Where is the motivation?
Monday, September 19, 2011 5 comments
OK, i am not done. I am not ready to say this is where I want to be. So, why I have lost all motivation for SparkPeople, for exercise and for eating well? I need to stop being my own roadblock. I have lost 40lbs. I don't want to take a...
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Back in Action...
Tuesday, September 06, 2011 1 comments
OK-so since the last blog entry I have been pretty much ignoring SparkPeople. I don't think I have gained weight--though I have been indulging more than I should. I have about 15 lbs to make it to my next goal and 25lbs before I decide...
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Jinxed It
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 1 comments
I am back from a fantastic weeklong vacation at the OBX. I didn't track my food--probably drank too much--but didn't go overboard either. I think my weight stayed the same--but I am giving my self one more week off the scale just in case! I...
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I'm No Hater
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 1 comments
Yesterday--someone came up to me and said "You look different, not better--just different." She went on to ask me if it was on purpose--if I was happy. And like any good derby girl--if I can tell the difference in my skating. This got...
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A Week Later and Some Perspective
Friday, July 22, 2011 4 comments
Happy Friday--Again! I've made it another week. I feel strong today. I just re-read my last blog post--and a week later--I don't care at all that I ate an extra 250 calories. WHO CARES? This cannot be about calories, or the indi...
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Wow--Today is TOUGH
Friday, July 15, 2011 0 comments
So, today is my toughest day on this diet since I started in March. It's not that I haven't "gone off plan" before, but I have always PLANNED those moments when I indulged in whatever is was I was indulging in. That plan could include going...
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Quick Check In
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 0 comments
So, I did it. I went home yesterday and immediately did my workout. Plan is to do it again, then run some errands after. I feel stronger--thanks Jillian!--and can't wait to keep going. Also, I am now wearing pants that are a size I hav...
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Monday Morning and I Feel Alright
Monday, July 11, 2011 1 comments
Happy Monday! This weekend was pretty good. I started a couple of challenges last week: the SparkPeople 28 Day Bootcamp and the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I did well and mostly stuck with them. I admit, I did neither yesterday. I m...
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Apr 29, 2011 11:05 AM
We love when companies make it easy on us. We aren't always awake enough to match shades ourselves. Jane Iredale PurePressed Triple Eyeshadow in Khaki Kraze ($27) may have a name we aren't krazy about but the colors work really well for blue eyed broads. The green, brown, cream combo (lash line, crease, brow line) are classic partners for fair skin tones. Like rubies and royal marriages. Or SPF 75 and umbrellas.
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2010 American Heritage Chocolate Celebration
February 13, 2010
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
What could be better than a family-friendly Valentine's Day Celebration with Chocolate? Wether you have kids of your own, steal your nieces and nephews for the day (so mom and dad can have a break) or are just a big kid or chocolate lover yourself, head to Historic Deerfield, MA for the 7th Annual American Heritage Chocolate Celebration.
Experience chocolate the way early New Englanders did. Activities include demonstrations, lectures, open hearth cacao roasting, museum tours, a silversmith hot chocolate pot making demonstration, arts and crafts and horse-drawn wagon rides. And, what celebration isn't complete with that magical food group: CHOCOLATE and lots of it! Gourmet desserts, foods and beverages, all featuring chocolate as the main theme, will be prepared by Champney's Restaurant & Tavern at the Deerfield Inn.
American Heritage Chocolate® is a re-creation of colonial American chocolate produced by the Historic Division of Mars, Inc.
For a full schedule: Events Schedule
Event tickets: $12 adults, $5 children ages 6-21; under 6 free; food tickets are additional.
For more information: (413-775-7214) or visit www.historic-deerfield.org
From Hartford: Take I-91 North to Exit 24 in Mass. At the end of the ramp, bear right onto Routes 5&10. Drive about 5 miles and on the right is a sign for Historic Deerfield and the Deerfield Inn.


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By PAUL DELANEYStaff Reporter
April 18, 2013 | Vol. 116 -- No. 52
After an undefeated previous week Medical Lake softball fell in a pair of Northeast A League games 14-4 at Riverside and 16-7 at home to Lakeside.
A nine-run second inning set the tone at Riverside. After Medical Lake cut it to 9-3 with three runs in the top of the third, the Rams matched that for a 12-3 lead. Medical Lake was limited to six hits including triples Rachel Stanfill and Kayla Pruitt.
Lakeside also had a fast start by scoring eight runs in the top of the first and held back a couple of Cardinal rallies, one that cut it to a 12-7 game in the fourth. Faith Keister had four hits a...
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By Amanda Keefer (aka Mamma Mia)
On our way to school today five-year-old Mia blurted out, "Mom, there's two things I'll never do. Text while driving or have a baby."
When I heard these words come out of Mia's mouth, I did everything I could to keep my composure. Her serious demeanor meant one giggle out of me would send my deeply emotional child into hysterics. Calmly, I asked if she could explain. (Which, by the way, is exactly what she wanted.)
Her response was, "Well, we saw a re-enactment of what can happen when you text while driving and it was scary. I know a baby has to come out of your private area and that is scary too."
Cherished are the moments that make me stop and look at the world through a five-year-old's eyes. Oh, and it makes for great material to tweet and blog about.
Amanda Keefer, Orlando, FL resident and author of The Mamma Mia Blog, began the blog in 2009 after being inspired by her witty and talkative daughter, Mia. Now, a mom of two girls, Amanda has no lack of content in her busy world. Even with a full-time career in marketing and two girls (one hanging from each leg), there's always time to blog. Amanda prides herself on the philosophy of working hard to be a good parent, but never working hard to be perfect. Content includes honest accounts of real life parenting situations, tips, travel, random giveaways and local events.
Twitter: @mammamiafl on Twitter


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Use data to pinpoint markets in specific countries. Experts from the Data Dissemination Branch will demonstrate how foreign trade data from the U.S. Census Bureau can help you find emerging markets, determine market share, analyze competition and find average selling prices for thousands of commodities.
May 18, 2011


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May 12, 2012
LOS ANGELES - The fourth-seeded UCLA men's tennis team cruised in the first round of the NCAA Championships on Saturday, registering a 4-0 victory over Eastern Kentucky at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. With the win, the Bruins (23-3) advance to Sunday's second round and will take on San Diego (18-9) at 1:00 p.m. The Toreros were 4-0 winners over Fresno State earlier in the day.
UCLA secured a 1-0 lead heading into singles play by taking two quick wins in doubles play. Marcos Giron and Warren Hardie led things off for the Bruins, downing Jan Dombrowski and Parul Verma, 8-3 at court No. 3. UCLA's 85th-ranked Nick Meister and Dennis Novikov then finished things off with another 8-3 win over Philip Janz and Niklas Schroeder at court No. 2.
Sophomore Adrien Puget would put UCLA ahead 2-0 once singles began as he didn't lose a single game in a 6-0, 6-0 win over Joao Maio at court No. 5. Dennis Mkrtchian then brought the Bruins within a point of clinching with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Emilio Piriz at the No. 6 spot.
Novikov got the clinching win for the Bruins at the No. 3 position when he overcame Janz, 6-4, 6-0.
When play was suspended, both Meister and Giron were leading their matches at court Nos. 2 and 4, respectively.
Sunday marks the first meeting between UCLA and San Diego this season. First serve is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
2012 NCAA Men's Tennis Regionals (First Round)
#4 UCLA 4, Eastern Kentucky 0
May 12, 2012 at Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles Tennis Center)
|1. #44 Alex Brigham/Puget (UCLA) vs. Kilentovsky/Carles Pons (EKU) 5-5, unfinished
|2. #85 Meister/Novikov (UCLA) def. Janz/Schroeder (EKU) 8-3
|3. Giron/Warren Hardie (UCLA) def. Jan Dombrowski/Verma (EKU) 8-3
|1. #62 Clay Thompson (UCLA) vs. Hugo Kilentovsky (EKU) 1-6, 3-3, unfinished
|2. #16 Nick Meister (UCLA) vs. Niklas Schroeder (EKU) 6-0, 4-3, unfinished
|3. Dennis Novikov (UCLA) def. Philip Janz (EKU) 6-4, 6-0
|4. #84 Marcos Giron (UCLA) vs. Parul Verma (EKU) 6-1, 1-3, unfinished
|5. #46 Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. Joao Maio (EKU) 6-0, 6-0
|6. Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) def. Emilio Piriz (EKU) 6-3, 6-2
|Match Notes
|Eastern Kentucky 19-10
|UCLA 23-3; National ranking #4
|Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (5,6,3)


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Today, if somebody wants to go see a movie they head for the nearest movie multi-plex, usually some distance today. These theaters have a multitude of screens, and at any given time can have as many different films as it has screens. In the past, however, this was not so. Films just released would be played at first run movie houses downtown, such as the Fox, the United Artist, etc., and going to one of these films would be a major event, worthy of getting dressed up for the evening. For the more casual movie-goer, second- run neighborhood theaters offered up these films after they left the downtown theaters. One such neighborhood theater was Michigan Avenue's Senate.
The Senate theater, located at 6424 Michigan Avenue, just east of Livernois, came into existence during the era of the silent film, being built in 1926. At this time, movies were accompanied by live music played during the film, setting the mood and acting as the film score. This theater, like many of its fellow movie houses, came equipped with an organ system for this purpose; this would be crucial to its later survival. It could seat about 1200 people, and had only one screen, unlike today's mega-plexes. it also was occasionally hosted live acts, such as the young entertainer Danny Thomas. It was remodeled several times, first into an Art Deco motif, and then into the Art Moderne. From its inception it showed movies to countless individuals in the area, and did so through the mid- 1950s. At the end of its run it was turned into an X- rated movie house, but this did not last long: By the mid- to - late fifties it was closed.
This is not the end of the story, due in a large part to its organ sound system. The Detroit Theater Organ Club (later the Detroit Theater Organ Society) had saved the Fisher Theater's magnificent organ, which had been removed in 1960 for remodeling from a movie theater, and had been kept by the club at a smaller facility, which was soon outgrown. After finding the Senate was available, the club fixed up the theater and restored it to its former glory, holding monthly concerts on this piece of instrumental history here for the next four decades. The Senate, with its seating reduced to about nine hundred seats, brought this instrument of the silent era into the present day, though regrettably it could not accompany movies as it was intended, due to the removal of the projectors from the theater prior to the club taking possession of the facility.
This era ended at the end of 2009. The DTOS abandoned the theater, moving the organ to the Redford Theater in Northwest Detroit, where hopefully it will someday be installed. The Senate is now left to the elements again, having been placed up for sale. Unless someone with a vision for the redevelopment of this theater steps forward and preserves it, the curtains may have come down on it, one of the last of its kind, for the final time.


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Oct 21, 2011 11:30 AM
We admit we kind of swooned when we saw this Floral Wrap Dress ($79) from Tinley Road. We even made our husband avert his eyes from the action flick he was engrossed in to view our new obsession. We could tell by the way he looked at it for more than a fraction of a second he was into it, too. We want to match it with a sexy pair of wedges and demand our man take us out to sushi! Or at least not to Taco Bell... again...
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Jessica's Favourite Albums of 2013
Kicking off the week two batch of MapleMusic Recordings & Fontana North staff favourite album lists is our Marketing Coordinator, the ever-helpful Jessica Molina. She's laid out her top 10 in no particular order except for #1.
Northcote – Northcote Born Ruffians – Birthmarks Local Natives – Hummingbird
Charles Bradley – Victim of Love Foals – Holy Fire On An On – Give In
Kiev – Falling Bough Wisdom Teeth Dinosaur Bones – Shaky Dream Mount Kimbie – Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
#1: Typhoon – White Lighter
"This album is incredible from start to finish. Typhoon would also make my "best live shows of 2013″ list… but we don't have one of those going yet. If you're fortunate to ever catch these guys live, don't let the opportunity pass! Until then, listen and fall in love with this record. You're welcome!" – Jessica Molina


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|Clouser Deep Minnow
Clouser Deep Minnow
Hook: Mustad 3407, sizes 4 to 1/0.
Note: The Clouser Minnow revolutionized saltwater fly fishing. Tie this pattern with the usual bucktail wing, as a Half 'n Half with a hackle tail, or with a synthetic wing to create a fly up to 8 or 10 inches long. Let your imagination and the fishing conditions dictate the type of Clouser Minnows you tie. This example is fairly fancy with a peacock-herl topping.


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Amanda Locke
Red Raiders Cap Fall Season With 10-6 Win Over Odessa
Texas Tech pitchers combine for 10 strikeouts in final game of fall schedule.
Gregory Announces First Signing Class at Texas Tech
Texas Tech signed seven future Red Raiders to National Letters of Intent on Monday
Red Raider Softball Announces Four Fall Camp Dates
Adrian Gregory will host her first camp as Texas Tech's head coach on Sept. 20
Gregory Announces Inaugural Staff at Texas Tech
Sharonda McDonald named associate head coach while Amanda Locke will serve as assistant coach
Texas Tech Softball Begins Fall Practice
Red Raiders start practice for the Fall season at Rocky Johnson Field.
Texas Tech vs. Texas - Friday
Texas Tech vs. Texas - Friday
Texas Tech vs. Texas - Senior Day
Texas Tech vs. Texas - Senior Day
Texas Tech vs. Tulsa
Texas Tech vs. Tulsa
Texas Tech vs. Utah Valley
Texas Tech vs. Utah Valley
Locke, a former All-American at Alabama, serves as Texas Tech's primary pitching coach while also assisting with hitting instruction. She plays a part in Tech's recruiting efforts as well as other aspects of the program.
She joined the Tech program following two seasons as the pitching coach at Northwestern State where she helped lead the Lady Demons to two-consecutive Southland Conference Tournament Championships and a pair of appearances in an NCAA Regionals.
Northwestern State advanced to the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional in 2013, marking the program's first postseason appearance since the 2002 season. The Lady Demons returned to the postseason again this past year, advancing to the NCAA Waco Regional. Northwestern State had not previously made NCAA postseason appearances in back-to-back years prior to Locke's arrival.
In her two seasons with the Lady Demons, Northwestern State won a total of 70 games, including 40 in 2013 which marked the program's first 40-win season since 2002. The Lady Demons were just 19-31 the season prior to Locke's arrival.
Locke tutored a pair of All-Southland Conference pitchers during her tenure in Kylie Roos and Kaylee Guidry, who earned second team honors in both of Locke's two seasons. Roos finished 17-5 with a 1.54 ERA in 2013 for a Northwestern State program that cut its team ERA from 3.88 the year prior to Locke's arrival to an impressive 2.15 average.
Locke's hiring at Northwestern State followed a stellar playing career at Alabama where she helped lead the Crimson Tide to the program's first NCAA National Championship in 2012. She was an NFCA second team All-American and an All-SEC selection her senior year as Alabama finished 60-8 overall after topping Oklahoma for the national title. It marked the first national title ever for a member of the Southeastern Conference.
The Mesquite, Texas native was also named the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2009 and was an NFCA All-Region honoree as both a junior and senior. She was also a member of the All-SEC Academic Team all four years as well.
Locke was the ultimate utility player for the Crimson Tide, appearing in a total 0f 224 games over her career as either a pitcher or position player. She is among the all-time offensive leaders at Alabama, ranking third for career home runs (54) and eighth for RBI (161).
Her senior campaign was possibly her best while in Tuscaloosa as she slugged a .703 percentage while recording 18 home runs, 56 RBI and 116 total bases, all of which ranked second in single-season history.
Locke totaled four RBI during the championship series against Oklahoma alone, driving a three-run double during the second game of the series before adding a RBI single in Alabama's 5-4 victory in the finale that sealed the program's first national title. The performance earned Locke WCWS All-Tournament honors.
Locke played for the Texas Glory travel team before enrolling at Alabama. She earned her degree in exercise sports science from Alabama in 2012.


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Skydiving.com now has a network skydiving location serving Pinconning and Bay County in Michigan. Call Skydiving.com at 1-800-617-7948 for details, free information and specials on skydiving in Pinconning, MI today!
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Few grocery aisles are more dynamic than beverage. Americans, in search of something new, convenient, and better for them, have moved away from sugary soft drinks in favor of bottled water, energy drinks and teas with a breakneck momentum that's surprised even the most veteran industry observers. Take bottled water, whose share of the U.S. beverage market continues to gain while carbonated soft drinks' ebbs. Beverage Marketing Corp. predicts that water's share will reach almost 29% by 2010, ...
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The easiest way to learn how to use Autorun MAX!, is to simply start it up and use it. You'll find that is both intuitive and easy to use. If you have any questions about what a particular dialog box option does, just click on the Help button to get a full description.
However, if you enjoy learning everything there is to know about your software, the Help menu is your friend. That's were you'll find links to both the User's Guide and the full Help File/Command Reference.
We've also made these resource available to you online in "webhelp" format, if you'd like to take a peek before installing the software.


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Matthew Woodward
View from the Birth Day
Now through July 12, 2012 at the Chicago Cultural Center
contributing writer, Melissa Gumbs
Matthew Woodward's exhibition View from the Birth Day is one of a series of shows running this summer at the Chicago Cultural Center. This is an ideal venue for the Chicagoan's exhibit being that his works were created as part of the artist's response to an art exhibition displayed nearly two years earlier in the same location. The original show, entitled Louis Sullivan's Idea, celebrated the famed architect's ideas and buildings. Woodward's work is especially concerned with the decorative ornamentation that was central to Sullivan's designs.
The gallery space sets a subdued tone for the exhibition by lowering the studio lights, drawing viewers in closer to the works and placing a focused emphasis on the large scale art tacked to the walls. Woodward utilizes reductive drawing techniques in his charcoal and graphite works creating strong visual contrast through erasing and removing darker values as well as building texture through his layering techniques. But the artist doesn't stop there. He also rips, bends, and folds his work giving many of them sculptural qualities. While the majority of the works are completed solely in shades of gray, black, white, a few of the pieces have a hint or a brown ochre color which upon further examination is discovered to be coffee. Those select areas of color have an effect of warming up the show and were a keen addition to the constructed layers.
The centerpiece of the show is three similar-looking pieces entitled Sullivan Installation which fill an entire gallery wall. Completed in 2012, the works are still attached to the roll paper they were made on, ending in a small coil of white upon the floor. In the gentle curve of paper joining the wall to the floor is a collection of pencil shavings and charcoal scraps, creating an appearance that the artist just completed the work moments before.
The final wall consists of studies the artist created while working on the large pieces. Done on a variety of papers, it is fascinating to examine the various experimental approaches and materials Woodward played with during the art making process.
It is wonderful to see a return to a classical drawing approach especially coupled with the quintessential ornamentation and decoration associated with the work of architect Louis Sullivan. This is a uniquely Chicago exhibition in many ways. Created by a local artist, it was inspired by a Chicago Cultural Center show about a Chicago architect and the works, many of which are named after city streets, are being displayed in their place of inspiration. Take time and stop in and see the show before it closes; these works need to be seen in person and more importantly in the city that inspired them.


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Social Responsibility
Associate Volunteers
Our hands-on commitment to teaching financial education.
Throughout the Old National footprint, our associates devote many hours to teaching financial education. As a company, we support and highly encourage their efforts. Here are a few of the ways our associates are working to improve financial knowledge for people of all ages.
A few recent highlights
Indiana National Guard Financial Education
Vincennes University Money Smart Classes
In our Vincennes, Indiana region, Sales Manager Chris Hertel and Retail Center Manager David Stowers volunteer to provide Money Smart classes to students at Vincennes University. Classes are offered three times a semester, for a total of six classes a school year. VU students earn extra credit for taking the classes, which are coordinated through the student services director. The classes are taught in a three-part series:
Part 1: Basics of checking and savings
Part 2: Credit scores and consumer loans
Part 3: Fraud awareness and basic investing
Old National associates also teach Money Smart classes to other community groups and organizations.
Boulware Homeless Shelter Classes
In Owensboro, Kentucky, Affinity Relationship Banker Sam Taylor and Retail Center Manager Jennifer Allen volunteer many hours teaching Real Life Finance classes at the Boulware Homeless Shelter. Classes cover budgeting and basic financial education for homeless individuals, with the goal of preparing them to re-enter the workforce and home life. Sam also teaches financial education classes at the Oasis shelter and Owensboro Regional Recovery.
The list of Old National associates providing financial education in our communities is extensive, and the above represent only a few. Check back for future highlights.
Here's What You Can Do Next


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Need more of it than usual given the wacky stuff I've been reading into the wee hours over the weekend — like this stuff:
Former DHS Secretary now University of California prez surveils staff emails
Holy cats. This is ugly. After an alleged network security breach in June last year at UCLA's medical center, an outside party was contracted by University of California president Janet Napolitano to monitor networks at all of University of California's campuses. Collection of content both inbound and outbound, in violation of UoC-Berkeley's IT policy, is alleged. UCOP has been opaque about the reason for the monitoring or data collection. Keep an eye on this case.
DDoS attack on HSBC crimps UK freelancers' tax filing
The end of January in the United Kingdom is the filing deadline for the self-employed. Unfortunately, those who banked with HSBC lost access to their records for roughly four hours on Friday due to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. It's the second service outage inside a month for HSBC. The last outage lasted roughly two days but was not attributed to a DDoS. If UK lawmakers were testy after the first outage in January, they're going to be ugly today.
Oil crash: massive wealth transfer, or increased dependency on oil?
Francisco Blanch, Commodities and Derivatives Strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch, claims plummeting oil prices have transferred roughly $3 trillion to consumers away from oil producers, and the resulting uptick in consumption will spur the economy. This assumption neatly ignores the likelihood consumers will have to pay one way or another for increasing losses due to unchecked climate change. Buying more insurance against weather damage and paying more taxes to replace infrastructure, as well as paying more for food due to crop losses won't stimulate anything but consumer frustration.
War of words inside military about F-35's readiness
In a December memo, the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation Michael Gilmore wrote that the Joint Program Office's July 2017 deadline for the F-35 jet's full warfighting capability is "not realistic." Software completion, testing and debugging is the risk. Folks in JPO are pushing back, with at least one official grousing online. So not cool, JPO. Address the concerns and then get to work on that software. Americans are paying for a working jet, not trash talk on Facebook.
Speaking of military…Sonic boom(s) caused minor earthquake in New Jersey
Just for fun, browse through a Twitter search for tweets from last Friday. Something caused more than one sonic boom — perhaps as many as nine — loud enough to register as an earthquake on USGS' meters. At first, the military said it knew nothing about it, claiming there are no training exercises or other missions in the area. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility-Virginia, Federal Aviation Administration, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command had no knowledge of flights in the area capable of generating sonic booms. But then the Navy piped up later, saying the Naval Test Wing Atlantic had been conducting test flights. Though not named, the F-35 fighter is believed to be the source of the booms. Were JPO and Lockheed Martin trying to make a rather loud and indiscreet point?
Or were the sonic booms due to some other unknown/unspecified cause, given Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst's inability to explain the booms when asked? USGS' website is still taking feedback from folks in New Jersey — did you feel the earth move, too?
Time to taper off from espresso and move to an Americano. Hope your Monday is as caffeinated as you need it to be.
I'm preparing to do a series of posts on CISA, the bill passed out of SSCI this week that, unlike most of the previous attempts to use cybersecurity to justify domestic spying, may well succeed (I've been using OTI's redline version which shows how SSCI simply renamed things to be able to claim they're addressing privacy concerns).
But — particularly given Richard Burr's office's assurances this bill is great because "business groups like the Financial Services Roundtable and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association have already expressed their support for the bill" — I wanted to raise a question I've been pondering.
To what extent have banks won themselves immunity by serving as intelligence partners for the federal government?
I ask for two reasons.
First, when asked why she, along with Main Justice's Lanny Breuer, authorized the sweetheart deal for recidivist transnational crime organization HSBC, Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch implied that there was insufficient admissible evidence to try any individuals associated with this recidivism.
I and the dedicated career prosecutors handling the investigation carefully considered whether there was sufficient admissible evidence to prosecute an individual and whether such a prosecution otherwise would have been consistent with the principles of federal prosecution contained in the United States Attorney's Manual.
That's surprising given that Carl Levin managed to come up with 300-some pages of evidence. Obviously, there are several explanations for this response: she's lying, the evidence is inadmissible because HSBC provided it willingly thereby making it unusable for prosecution, or the evidence was collected in ways that makes it inadmissible.
It's the last one I've been thinking about: is it remotely conceivable that all the abundant evidence against banksters their regulators have used to obtain serial handslaps is for some reason inadmissible in a criminal proceeding?
I started thinking about that as a real possibility when PCLOB revealed that Treasury's Office of Intelligence and Analysis has never once — not in the 30-plus years since Ronnie Reagan told them they had to — come up with minimization procedures to protect US person privacy with data collected under EO 12333. Maybe that didn't matter so much in 1981, but since 2004, Treasury has had an ever-increasing role in using intelligence (collected from where?) to impose judgments against people with almost no due process. And those judgements are, in turn, used to impose other judgments on Americans with almost no due process.
The thing is, you'd think banks might care that Treasury wasn't complying with Executive Branch requirements on privacy protection. Not only because they care (ha!) about their customers, whether American or not, but because many of them are, themselves, US persons. US bank US person status should limit how much Treasury diddles with bank-related intelligence, but Treasury doesn't appear bound by that.
Which leads me to suspect, at least, that there's something in it for the banks, something that more than makes up for the serial handslaps for sanctions violations.
And one possibility is that because of the way this data is collected and shared, it can't be used in a trial. Voila! Bank immunity.
All that's just a wildarsed guess.
But one made all the more pressing given that Treasury is among the Appropriate Federal Entities that will be default intelligence recipients for cyber information under CISA.
The term ''appropriate Federal entities'' means the following:
(A) The Department of Commerce.
(B) The Department of Defense.
(C) The Department of Energy.
(D) The Department of Homeland Security.
(E) The Department of Justice.
(F) The Department of the Treasury.
(G) The Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
To some degree, this is not in the least bit surprising. After all, financial regulators have increasingly made cybersecurity a key regulatory concern of late, so it makes sense for Treasury to be in the loop.
But banksters rarely — never! — add regulatory exposure for themselves without a fight and, as Burr's office has made clear, the banks love this bill.
One more datapoint, back to HSBC. As I noted when Lanny Breuer and Loretta Lynch announced that handslap, Breuer neglected to mention that HSBC was getting a handslap not just for helping cartels profit off drugs, but also helping terrorists fund their activities (at the time Pete Seda was being held without bail on charges the government insisted amounted to material support for terrorists for handing a check to Chechens using cash that had come indirectly from HSBC). The actual settlement, however, made mention of it by explaining that HSBC had "assisted the Government in investigations of certain individuals suspected of money laundering and terrorist financing." By dint of that cooperation, in other words, HSBC went from being a material supporter of terrorism to being a deputy financial cop. And Breuer expanded that notion of banks serving as deputized financial cops thereafter.
Are the methods and terms by which we're collecting all this financial intelligence to use against some bad guys precisely what prevents us from holding the even bigger bad guys — the ones affecting far more of us directly, in the form of the houses we own, the towns we live in, the opportunity costs paid to financial crime — accountable?
And will this system now be replicated under CISA (or has it, already) as banks turn into cyber crime deputized cops?
Loretta Lynch is an excellent nominee for Attorney General, and her prior actions in whitewashing the blatant and rampant criminality of HSBC should not be held against her, because she didn't know that at the time she last whitewashed that criminal enterprise, right?
No. Nothing could be further from the truth.
This is a cop out by Lynch's advocates. Lynch either knew, or damn well should have known. She signed off on the HSBC Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), if she was less than fully informed, that is on her. That is what signing legal documents stands for….responsibility. Banks like HSBC, Credit Suisse, ING etc were, and still are, a cesspool of criminal activity and avoidance schemes. Willful blindness to the same old bankster crimes by Lynch doesn't cut it (great piece by David Dayen by the way).
But, all the above ignores the Swiss Alps sized mountains of evidence that we know Lynch was aware of and blithely swept under the rug by her HSBC DPA. So, we are basically left to decide whether Lynch is a bankster loving toady that is her own woman and cravenly whitewashed this all on her own, or whether she is a clueless stooge taking orders to whitewash it by DOJ Main. Both views are terminally unattractive and emblematic of the oblivious, turn the other cheek to protect the monied class, rot that infects the Department of Justice on the crimes of the century to date.
And that is only scratching the real surface of my objections to Lynch. There are many other areas where Lynch has proven herself to be a dedicated, dyed in the wool "law and order adherent" and, as Marcy Wheeler artfully coined, "executive maximalist". Lynch's ridiculous contortion, and expansion, of extraterritorial jurisdiction to suit the convenient whims of the Obama Administration's unparalleled assault on the Rule of Law in the war on terror is incredibly troubling. Though, to be fair, EDNY is the landing point of JFK International and a frequent jurisdiction by designation. Some of these same questions could have been asked of Preet Bharara (see, e.g. U.S. v. Warsame) Loretta Lynch has every bit the same, if not indeed more, skin in the game as Bharara, whether by choice or chance.
Lynch has never uttered a word in dissent from this ridiculous expansion of extraterritorial jurisdiction. Lynch's record in this regard is crystal clear from cases like US v. Ahmed, Yousef, et. al. where even Lynch and her office acknowledged that their targets could not have "posed a specific threat to the United States" much less have committed specific acts against the US.
This unconscionable expansion is clearly all good by Lynch, and the ends justify the means because there might be "scary terrists" out there. That is just dandy by American "executive maximalists", but it is toxic to the Rule of Law, both domestically and internationally (See, supra). If the US, and its putative Attorney General, are to set precedents in jurisdictional reach on common alleged terroristic support, then they ought live by them on seminal concerns like torture and war crimes under international legal norms. Loretta Lynch has demonstrated a proclivity for the convenience of the former and a toady like disdain for the latter.
And the same willingness to go along to get along with contortion of the Rule of Law in that regard seems beyond certain to extend to her treatment of surveillance issues and warrant applications, state secrets, over-classification, attack on the press and, critically, separation of powers issues. Those types of concerns, along with how the Civil Rights Division is utilized to rein in out of control militarized cops and voting rights issues, how the OLC stands up to Executive overreach, whether OPR is allowed to continue to shield disgraceful and unethical AUSAs, and whether she has the balls to stand up to the infamously insulated inner Obama circle in the White House. Do you really think Loretta Lynch would have backed up Carolyn Krass and OLC in telling Obama no on the Libyan War Powers Resolution issue?
For my part, I don't think there is a chance in hell Lynch would have stood up to Obama on a war powers, nor any other critical issue, and that is a huge problem. Krass and Holder may have lost the Libyan WPR battle, but at least they had the guts to stand up and say no, and leave a record of the same for posterity.
That is what really counts, not the tripe being discussed in the press, and the typically preening clown show "hearing" in front of SJC. That is where the rubber meets the road for an AG nominee, not that she simply put away some mobsters and did not disgrace herself – well, beyond the above, anyway (which she absolutely did) – during her time as US Attorney in EDNY. If you are a participant in, or interested observer of, the criminal justice system as I am, we should aspire to something better than Eric Holder. Holder may not have been everything hoped for from an Obama AG when the Administration took office in January of 2009, but he was a breath of fresh air coming off the AG line of the Bush/Cheney regime. Loretta Lynch is not better, and is not forward progress from Holder, indeed she is several steps down in the wrong direction. That is not the way to go.
The fact that Loretta Lynch is celebrated as a great nominee by not just Democrats in general, but the so called progressives in specific, is embarrassing. She is absolutely horrible. If Bush had put her up for nomination, people of the progressive ilk, far and wide, would be screaming bloody murder. Well, she is the same person, and she is a terrible nominee. And that does not bode well for the Rule of Law over the remainder of the Obama Administration.
And this post has not even touched on more mundane, day to day, criminal law and procedure issues on which Lynch is terrible. And horrible regression from Eric Holder. Say for instance pot. Decriminalization, indeed legalization, of marijuana is one of the backbone elements of reducing both the jail and prison incarceration rate, especially in relation to minorities. Loretta Lynch is unconscionably against that (See, e.g., p. 49 (of pdf) et. seq.). Lynch appears no more enlightened on other sentencing and prison reform, indeed, she seems to be of a standard hard core prosecutorial wind up law and order lock em up mentality. Lynch's positions on relentless Brady violations by the DOJ were equally milquetoast, if not pathetic (See, e.g. p. 203 (of pdf) et. seq.). This discussion could go on and on, but Loretta Lynch will never come out to be a better nominee for Attorney General.
Observers ought stop and think about the legal quality, or lack thereof, of the nominee they are blindly endorsing. If you want more enlightened criminal justice policy, to really combat the prison state and war on drugs, and to rein in the out of control security state and war on terror apparatus, Loretta Lynch is a patently terrible choice; we can, and should, do better.
As part of her Questions for the Record, Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch was asked about her role in the HSBC handslap in 2012. (See Q 38, h/t Katherine Hawkins)
38. As United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, you helped secure nearly $2 billion from HSBC over its failure to establish proper procedures to prevent money laundering by drug cartels and terrorists. You were quoted in a DOJ press release saying, "HSBC's blatant failure to implement proper anti-money laundering controls facilitated the laundering of at least $881 million in drug proceeds through the U.S. financial system."
You stated that the bank's "willful flouting of U.S. sanctions laws and regulations resulted in the processing of hundreds of millions of dollars in [Office of Foreign Assets Control]-prohibited transactions." Still, no criminal penalties have been assessed for any executive who may have been involved.
a. Did you make any decision or recommendation on charging any individual with a crime?
i. If so, please describe any and all decisions or recommendations you made.
ii. Please explain why such decisions or recommendations were made.
b. If you did not make any decision or recommendation on charging any individual with a crime, who made the decision not to prosecute?
RESPONSE: On December 11, 2012, the Department filed an information charging HSBC Bank USA with violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and HSBC Holdings with violating U.S. economic sanctions (the two entities are collectively referred to as "HSBC"). Pursuant to a deferred prosecution agreement ("DPA"), HSBC admitted its wrongdoing, agreed to forfeit $1.256 billion, and agreed to implement significant remedial measures, including, among other things, to follow the highest global anti-money laundering standards in all jurisdictions in which it operates. As the United States District Judge who approved the deferred prosecution found, "the DPA imposes upon HSBC significant, and in some respect extraordinary, measures" and the "decision to approve the DPA is easy, for it accomplishes a great deal." Although grand jury secrecy rules prevent me from discussing the facts involving any individual or entity against whom we decided not to bring criminal charges, as I do in all cases in which I am involved, I and the dedicated career prosecutors handling the investigation carefully considered whether there was sufficient admissible evidence to prosecute an individual and whether such a prosecution otherwise would have been consistent with the principles of federal prosecution contained in the United States Attorney's Manual.
I want to reiterate, particularly in the context of recent media reports regarding the release of HSBC files pertaining to its tax clients, that the Deferred Prosecution Agreement reached with HSBC addresses only the charges filed in the criminal violations of the Bank Secrecy Act for failures to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program and for sanctions violations. The DPA explicitly does not provide any protection against prosecution for conduct beyond what was described in the Statement of Facts. Furthermore, I should note the DPA explicitly mentions that the agreement does not bind the Department's Tax Division, nor the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division. information, which are limited to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act for failures to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program and for sanctions violations. The DPA explicitly does not provide any protection against prosecution for conduct beyond what was described in the Statement of Facts. Furthermore, I should note the DPA explicitly mentions that the agreement does not bind the Department's Tax Division, nor the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division. [my emphasis]
Lynch seems to want to have her cake and eat it too.
Sure, she and her prosecutors were unable to find the evidence in Carl Levin's gift-wrapped case. But trust her, she seems to be saying, she might one day see fit to charge some warm bodies with fraud if she's confirmed.
And note she makes no mention of material support for terrorism????
Because if you're a bank, such things are legal, apparently.
As I noted in this post, the declaration submitted in EFF's FOIA for Section 215 by ODNI's Jennifer Hudson is remarkably revealing. I'm particularly intrigued by these comments about the financial dragnet order released on March 28.
A FISC Supplemental Order in BR 10-82, dated November 23, 2010 and consisting of two pages, has been withheld in part to protect certain classified and law enforcement sensitive information. The case underlying BR 10-82 is an FBI counterterrorism investigation of a specific target. That investigation is still pending. Here, in the course of a pending counterterrorism investigation, the FBI sought authorization under the FISA to obtain financial records, under the FISA's business records provision, pertaining to the target of the investigation and in fact obtained such authorization.
Here, in the course of a pending counterterrorism investigation, the FBI sought authorization under the FISA to obtain certain financial records. The FISC Supplemental Order, which was issued in relation to its authorization for such collection, was thus compiled for law enforcement purposes, in furtherance of a national security investigation within the FBI's authorized law enforcement duties.
Here, the FBI has determined that the release of the final paragraph of the order, which describes certain requirements reflecting the FBI's particular implementation of the authority granted by the FISC, could reasonably be expected to adversely impact the pending investigation and any resulting prosecutions. Release of this paragraph would reveal the specific and unique implementation requirements imposed on the FBI under this FISA-authorized collection during a particular time period. It is unclear what and how much the target might already know about the FBI's investigation. However, as more fully explained in my classified ex parte, in camera declaration, there is reason to believe that the target or others knowledgeable about the nature and timing of the investigation could piece together this information, the docket number, the dates of the collection, and other information which has already been released or deduced to assemble a picture that would reveal to the target that the target was the subject of a particular type of intelligence collection during a specific time period, and by extension, that the target's associates during that period may have been subject to similar intelligence collections. This could lead the target to deduce the scope, focus, and direction of the FBI's investigative efforts, and potentially any gaps in the collections, from which the target could deduce times when the target's activities were "safe." [my emphasis]
The bolded section says that certain people — the target, but also "others knowledgeable about the nature and timing of the investigation" — could put the financial dragnet request together with other information released or deduced to figure out that the target and his associates had had their financial data collected.
Gosh, that's like waving a flag at anyone who might be "knowledgeable about the nature of the investigation."
What counterterrorism investigation has generated sufficient attention such that not only the target, but outsiders, would recognize this order pertains the investigation in question? The investigation would be:
The CIA & etc. Money Order Orders
One obvious possibility is the generalized CIA investigation into Western Union and international money transfers reported by WSJ and NYT last year. While both stories said the CIA got these orders, I suggested it likely that FBI submitted the orders and disseminated the information as broadly as FBI's information sharing rules allowed, not least because CIA has no analytical advantage on such orders, as NSA would have for the phone dragnet.
There are two reasons this is unlikely. First, there's the timing. The WSJ version of the story, at least, suggested this had been going on some time, before 2010. If that's the case, then there's no reason to believe a new order in 2010 reviewed this issue. And while I don't think the 2010 order necessarily indicates the first financial 215 order (after all, it took 2.5 years before FISC weighed the equivalent question in the phone dragnet), it is unlikely that this order comes from an existing program.
That's true, too, because this seems to be tied to a specific investigation, rather than the enterprise counterterrorism investigation that underlies the phone dragnet (and presumably the CIA program). So while this practice generated enough attention to be the investigation, I doubt it is.
The Scary Car Broker Plot
Then there's what I call the Scary Car Broker Plot, which I wrote about here. Basically, it's a giant investigation into drug trafficking from Colombia through Western Africa that contributes some money to Hezbollah and therefore has been treated as a terror terror terror investigation when in reality it is a drug investigation. Treasury named Ayman Joumaa, the ultimate target of that investigation, a Specially Designated Trafficker in February 2011, so presumably the investigation was very active in November 2010, when FISC issued the order. The case's domestic component involves the car broker businesses of a slew of (probably completely innocent) Lebanese-Americans, who did business with the larger network via wire transfers.
The Car Buyers also received wire transfers for the purpose of buying and shipping used cars from other account holders at the Lebanese Banks ("Additional Transferors"), including the OFAC-designated Phenicia Shipping (Offshore); Ali Salhab and Yasmin Shipping & Trading; Fadi Star and its owners, Mohammad Hammoud and Fadi Hammoudi Fakih for General Trade, Khodor Fakih, and Ali Fakih; and Youssef Nehme.
Perhaps most interesting, the government got at these businessmen by suing them, rather than charging them, which raised significant Fifth Amendment Issues. So between that tactic and Joumaa's rather celebrated status, I believe this is a possible case. And the timing — from 2007 until 2011, when Joumaa got listed — would certainly make sense.
All that said, this aspect of the investigation was made public in the suit naming the car brokers, so FBI would be hard-pressed to claim that providing more details would compromise the investigation.
HSBC's Material Support for Terrorism
Then there's a very enticing possibility: that this is an investigation into HSBC for its material support for terrorism, in the form of providing cash dollars to the al Rajhi bank which went on to support terrorist attacks (including 9/11).
HSBC's wrist slap for money laundering is one of the most noted legal atrocities in recent memory, but most people focus on the bank's role laundering money for drug cartels. Yet as I've always emphasized, HSBC also played a key role in providing money to al Qaeda-related terrorists.
As the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations' report made clear, HSBC's material support for terror continued until 2010.
After the 9-11 terrorist attack in 2001, evidence began to emerge that Al Rajhi Bank and some of its owners had links to financing organizations associated with terrorism, including evidence that the bank's key founder was an early financial benefactor of al Qaeda. In 2005, HSBC announced internally that its affiliates should sever ties with Al Rajhi Bank, but then reversed itself four months later, leaving the decision up to each affiliate. HSBC Middle East, among other HSBC affiliates, continued to do business with the bank.
Due to terrorist financing concerns, HBUS closed the correspondent banking and banknotes accounts it had provided to Al Rajhi Bank. For nearly two years, HBUS Compliance personnel resisted pressure from HSBC personnel in the Middle East and United States to resume business ties with Al Rajhi Bank. In December 2006, however, after Al Rajhi Bank threatened to pull all of its business from HSBC unless it regained access to HBUS' U.S. banknotes program, HBUS agreed to resume supplying Al Rajhi Bank with shipments of U.S. dollars. Despite ongoing troubling information, HBUS provided nearly $1 billion in U.S. dollars to Al Rajhi Bank until 2010, when HSBC decided, on a global basis, to exit the U.S. banknotes business. HBUS also supplied U.S. dollars to two other banks, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. and Social Islami Bank, despite evidence of links to terrorist financing. Each of these specific cases shows how a global bank can pressure its U.S. affiliate to provide banks in countries at high risk of terrorist financing with access to U.S. dollars and the U.S. financial system. [my emphasis]
Now, the timing may match up here, and I'd really love for a bankster to be busted for supporting terrorism. Plus, an ongoing investigation into this part of HSBC's crimes might explain why Lanny Breuer said nothing about it when he announced the settlement with HSBC. But I doubt this is the investigation. That's because former Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey moved to HSBC after this point in time, in large part in a thus-far futile attempt to try to clean up the bank. And I can't imagine a lawyer could ethically take on this role while (presumably) knowing about such seizures. Moreover, as the PSI report made clear, there are abundant other ways to get at the kind of data at issue in the HSBC investigation without Section 215 orders.
Who am I kidding? This DOJ won't ever really investigate a bank!
WikiLeaks the Aider of Al Qaeda
I realize these three possibilities do not exhaust the list of sufficiently significant and sufficiently old terrorism investigations that might be the target named in the order. So I'm happy to hear other possibilities.
But there is one other investigation that is a near perfect fit for almost all the description provided by Hudson: WikiLeaks.
As I've reported, EPIC sued to enforce a FOIA for records the FBI has on investigations into WikiLeaks supporters. The FOIA asked for and FBI did not deny having, among other things, financial records.
All records of any agency communications with financial services companies including, but not limited to Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal, regarding lists of individuals who have demonstrated, through monetary donations or other means, support or interest in WikiLeaks.
In addition to withholding information that they apparently have because of an ongoing investigation (though the Judge has required the government to confirm it is still ongoing by April 25), the government also claimed exemption under a statute that they bizarrely refused to name. I speculated four months before Edward Snowden's leaks that that statute was Section 215.
And the timing on this investigation is a perfect fit. On November 3, 2010, Joint Terrorism Task Force Officer Darin Louck seized David House's computer as he came across the border from Mexico. While House refused to give the government his encryption passwords, the seizure makes it clear FBI was targeting WikiLeaks supporters. Then, according Alexa O'Brien, on November 21, 2010, a report on the upcoming Cablegate release was included in President Obama's Daily Brief. The government spent the weeks leading up to the first releases in Cablegate on November 28, 2010 scrambling to understand what might be in them. On December 4, PayPal started refusing donations to WikiLeaks. And on December 6, Eric Holder stated publicly he had authorized extraordinary investigative measures "just last week."
Nor would he say whether the actions involved search warrants, requests under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes wiretaps or other means, describing them only as "significant."
"I authorized just last week a number of things to be done so that we can, hopefully, get to the bottom of this and hold people accountable as they should be," he said.
December 6 was a Monday and technically Tuesday, November 23 would have been 2 weeks earlier, just 2 days before Thanksgiving. But a Section 215 order doesn't require AG approval, and indeed, dragnet orders often generate leads for more intrusive kinds of surveillance.
Moreover, according to Hudson's declaration, this order did precisely what EPIC's FOIA seems to confirm FBI did, investigate not just Julian Assange, but also his associates (also known as supporters), including WikiLeaks donors.
The only thing — and it is a significant thing — that would suggest this guess is wrong is Hudson's description of this as a "counterterrorism" investigation and not a "counterespionage" investigation (which is how Holder was discussing it in December 2010).
But that doesn't necessarily rule WikiLeaks out. As noted above, already by early November 2010, the FBI had JTTF agents involved in the investigation. And central to the government's failed claim that Chelsea Manning had aided the enemy was that she had made the Afghan war logs available knowing (from the DIA report she accessed) that the government worried about al Qaeda accessing such things, and that some Afghan war logs were found at Osama bin Laden's compound. So the government clearly has treated its WikiLeaks investigation as a counterterrorism investigation.
Moreover, all Hudson's declaration claims is that the government currently considers this a counterterrorism investigation. Section 215 can be used for counterintelligence investigations (as I've noted over and over). Since the Osama bin Laden raid revealed al Qaeda had accessed cables, the government has maintained that it does involve al Qaeda. So it may be that Hudson's reference to the investigation as a counterterrorism investigation only refers to its current status, and not the status used to obtain the order in 2010.
That said, Hudson also provided a classified version of her statement to Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers, and I can't imagine she'd try to pitch the WikiLeaks case as a counterterrorism one if a judge actually got to check her work. But you never know!
It's likely that I'm forgetting a very obviously publicly known counterterrorism investigation.
But I think it possible that either the Scary Car Broker plot or WikiLeaks is the target named in the order.
As I noted last year, when DOJ trumpeted their settlement with HSBC for a slew of money laundering violations, they didn't mention that HSBC had provided almost a billion dollars to a Saudi bank that funded terrorists. Effectively, HSBC's material support for terrorism for 5 years after it first realized it was doing so got completely ignored.
It turns out, between the time in 2010 when HSBC stopped providing cash dollars to a terror-supporting bank and the time of the DOJ settlement, HSBC was still violating counterterrorism sanctions. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Controls just issued another settlement with HSBC's US branch, detailing how HSBC processed 3 transfers totaling over $40,164 involving Husayn Tajideen after the bank learned he had gotten listed a designated terrorist. Not a huge amount of money, but over 4 times what Basaaly Moalin is going to jail for.
It's OFAC's rationale it uses to rationalize giving a recidivist just a $32,400 penalty that I find particularly egregious.
The settlement amount reflects OFAC's consideration of the following facts and circumstances, pursuant to the General Factors under OFAC's Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines, 31 C.F.R. part 501, app. A. OFAC considered the following to be mitigating factors: HBUS voluntarily self-disclosed the apparent violations to OFAC; HBUS took appropriate remedial action in response to these apparent violations and now has a more robust compliance program in place; and HBUS has not received a penalty notice or Finding of Violation from OFAC for substantially similar apparent violations in the five years preceding the earliest date of the transactions giving rise to the apparent violations. The settlement amount reflects the following aggravating factors: HBUS managers and employees whose primary responsibility includes OFAC compliance were aware of the first apparent violation and had reason to be aware of the second and third apparent violations; the apparent violations resulted in actual economic benefit to an SDGT; HBUS is a large and commercially sophisticated financial institution; HBUS initially provided an incomplete response to an administrative subpoena; and, at the time of the first apparent violation, HBUS' compliance program did not screen all MT 199 messages for potential OFAC matches. OFAC further reduced the proposed penalty in light of HBUS' agreement to settle its potential liability for the apparent violations. [my emphasis]
Some of this is typical mumbo jumbo (though in this case, should be read with the awareness that Stuart Levey, who used to be Under Secretary of Terrorism Finance and Intelligence, got named HSBC's General Counsel in 2012, so the subsequent actions likely represent his involvement).
But the claim that HBUS hadn't had any substantially similar violations in the five years previous is just ridiculous. They had been busted for all sorts of very similar money laundering problems involving known drug kingpins and were uniquely important in providing cash that terrorists likely used for significant attacks. It's only not substantially similar because it is orders of magnitude worse, so much so DOJ got involved and the settlement was with a different agency!
And in response to a recidivist being caught again, OFAC fines a bank with $14 billion in profits $32,400.
Update: In a statement to WSJ, Treasury said this settlement with a recidivist is unrelated to the past settlement with the recidivist.
But a Treasury spokesman said in an email that Tuesday's settlement is unrelated to the December 2012 agreement with OFAC and other federal and state agencies.
"This action is similar to other settlements OFAC has reached with regard to apparent violations committed by U.S. financial institutions," he said.
Yesterday, the Italian magazine Panorama claimed that the NSA had wiretapped the Vatican.
I have some questions about the veracity of the report. NSA has denied it more vigorously than other allegations of tapping world leaders. Panorama is not known to have access to the Edward Snowden documents. One key claim — that the current Pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has been surveilled since 2005 — was actually sourced to WikiLeaks in the story (In addition to cables on Argentine politics, Bergoglio shows up in a 2003 cable speculating on the possibility of a Latin American Pope).
All that said, I am intrigued by this claim.
Panorama said the recorded Vatican phone calls were catalogued by the NSA in four categories – leadership intentions, threats to the financial system, foreign policy objectives and human rights.
I did a quick review of WikiLeaks cables on the Vatican (remember, these are classified at no more than the Secret level, and therefore are not going to have any intercept information in them, and they of course stop at 2010). The human rights issues pertain to interfaith dialogue and the rights of Catholics in repressive countries, the Church's role in anti-gay laws, and allegations of anti-Semitism (this cable, on the Church prioritizing unity and thereby endorsing Holocaust denial, is one of the few Secret ones). There are fewer that relate directly to the Church's role in the financial system; though a good many cables with "financial" content relate to Syria or, especially, Lebanon, and include the Vatican because of its influence with Christian power brokers in the region (this cable, on Syrian money laundering, was forwarded to the Vatican mission for some reason).
But there two other reasons why the Vatican might be an NSA target based on those topics: its multi-decade cover-up of pedophilia (and the impact legal investigations and settlements might have around the world), and the Vatican's role in money laundering. The recent disclosures of Vatican money laundering suggest Iraq, Iran, and Indonesia have used the bank, as well as the Italian mafia, but given its ties to Lebanon, I wouldn't be surprised if it were also laundering money from that country, which is another close focus of the US' own money laundering attention.
In other words, in addition to wiretapping the Vatican because it wields special influence in countries around the world (the leadership intentions and foreign policy objectives category), the US would have reason to surveil it because of what amount to Vatican actions that make it a Transnational Criminal Organization, completely apart from matters of faith.
That is, if NSA applied its apparent mandate to track TCOs indiscriminately.
But I bet you they don't. While I am sure they track Latin American, African, and South Asian drug networks, I'm certain they track Russian mobsters who have ties to online crime, and I'm sure they are tracking and probably have an active role in the investigation of Yakuza's ties to big Japanese banks (most of these are either named Treasury drug kingpin or TCO targets), I also believe if the NSA tracked transnational crime organizations generally, its efforts would be shut down tomorrow.
Imagine, for example, if in addition to using Title III wiretaps (though barely) and self-disclosure and evidence generated by other financial institutions in put-back suits, the NSA used its bulk collection to track JPMC's international transfers to see whether any of it constituted "foreign intelligence," and from that referred any evidence of a crime to the FBI? Imagine if the NSA were stealing all of JPMC's transfer information, even outside its access to SWIFT, to see how JPMC laundered its world-destabilizing actions through multiple jurisdictions? And both JPMC and HSBC have a known history of material support for terrorism, which certainly ought to justify such spying (noting, of course, that I think JPMC did get spied on in conjunction with the Scary Iran Plot, which may have forced FinCEN to settle with it on other outstanding sanction violation issues).
They wouldn't even need to track JPMC and other multinational banks in the name of transnational crime and terrorism; the Sovereign Wealth Funds of the world — both of volatile Middle Eastern countries, Asian targets, but even in Europe — have effectively become foreign policy entities. Do they track what Qatar and the Emirates do with their SWFs?
As I said, I doubt it. While I suspect as this scandal develops we'll find more and more evidence that the NSA has spied on targets selected for their financial competition with the US and UK (we've already seen hints they collected intelligence on the Euro versus the dollar, Brazil's competitive position vis as vis the US, for example), I also suspect if there were ever a hint that the NSA treated JPMC or HSBC like it did other TCO targets, it would get shut down in a matter of weeks.
I'm in the middle of a deep dive in the Section 215 White Paper — expect plenty of analysis on it in coming attractions!
But I want to make a discrete point about this passage, which describes what happen to query results.
Results of authorized queries are stored and are available only to those analysts trained in the restrictions on the handling and dissemination of the metadata. Query results can be further analyzed only for valid foreign intelligence purposes. Based on this analysis of the data, the NSA then provides leads to the FBI or others in the Intelligence Community. For U.S. persons, these leads are limited to counterterrorism investigations.
The Primary Order released several weeks back calls these stored query results "the corporate store." As ACLU laid out, the government can do pretty much whatever it wants with this corporate store — and their analysis of it is not audited.
All of this information, the primary order says, is dumped into something called the "corporate store." Incredibly, the FISC imposes norestrictions on what analysts may subsequently do with the information. The FISC's primary order contains a crucially revealing footnote stating that "the Court understands that NSA may apply the full range of SIGINT analytic tradecraft to the result of intelligence analysis queries of the collected [telephone] metadata." In short, once a calling record is added to the corporate store, anything goes.
More troubling, if the government is combining the results of all its queries in this "corporate store," as seems likely, then it has a massive pool of telephone data that it can analyze in any way it chooses, unmoored from the specific investigations that gave rise to the initial queries. To put it in individual terms: If, for some reason, your phone number happens to be within three hops of an NSA target, all of your calling records may be in the corporate store, and thus available for any NSA analyst to search at will.
But it's even worse than that. The primary order prominently states that whenever the government accesses the wholesale telephone-metadata database, "an auditable record of the activity shall be generated." It might feel fairly comforting to know that, if the government abuses its access to all Americans' call data, it might eventually be called to account—until you read footnote 6 of the primary order, which exempts entirely the government's use of the "corporate store" from the audit-trail requirement.
The passage from the White Paper seems to suggest there are limits (though it doesn't explain where they come from, because they clearly don't come from FISC).
This analysis must have a valid foreign intelligence purpose — which can include political information, economic information, espionage information, military information, drug information, and the like. Anything other countries do, basically.
But if the data in the corporate store pertains to US persons, the FBI can only get a lead "for counterterrorism purposes."
At one level, this is (small) comfort, because it provides a level of protection on the dragnet use.
But it also may explain why HSBC's US subsidiary didn't get caught laundering al Qaeda's money, or why JP Morgan always gets to self-disclose its support for Iranian "terrorism." So long as the government chooses not to treat banks laundering money for terrorists as material support for terror, then they can consider these links (which surely they've come across in their "corporate store!) evidence of a financial crime, not a terrorist one, and just bury it.
I would be curious, though, whether the government has ever used the "corporate store" to police Iran sanctions. Does that count as a counterterrorism purpose? And if so, is that why Treasury "finds" evidence of international bank violations so much more often than it does American bank violations?
Colleen Rowley has a great list of questions Jim Comey should be asked today in his confirmation hearing (I'll be live-tweeting it, so follow the twitter feed over there. >>>>>>
Here are five questions I would add:
Glenn Greenwald has a tremendous scoop, for the first time I know of publishing a Section 215 warrant — in this case one asking for all US-based traffic metadata from Verizon Business Services from April until July.
Now, I think that this actually affects just a subset of all Verizon traffic: the business-focused traffic rather than Verizon Wireless or similar consumer products most people subscribe to (and if that's so, the shitstorm that is about to break out will be all the more interesting given that rich businessmen will be concerned about their privacy for once).
Also, this does not ask for call content. It asks only for metadata, independent of any identifying data.
In other words, they're using this not to wiretap the conversations of Occupy Wall Street activists but to do pattern analysis on the telecom traffic of (I think) larger businesses.
The request does, however, ask for location data (and Verizon does offer bundles that would include both cell and cloud computing). So maybe the FBI is analyzing where all Verizon's business customers are meeting for lunch.
My extremely wildarsed guess is that this is part of hacking investigation, possibly even the alleged Iranian hacking of power companies in the US (those stories were first reported in early May).
I say that because cybersecurity is a big part of what Verizon Enterprise (as I believe they now go by) sells to its business customers; the infographic above, warning of data breaches when you least expect it (heh), is part of one they use to fear-monger its customers. Energy consumers are one of its target customer bases. And the case studies it describes involve several Smart Grid projects. Precisely the kind of thing the government is most freaked out about right now.
After all, aside from Medicare fraud, the government simply doesn't investigate businesses, ever. Certainly not the kind of bankster businesses we'd like them to investigate. One of the few things they investigate business activities for is to see if they've been compromised. Moreover, the Section 215 order requires either a counterintelligence or a counterterrorist nexus, and the government has gone to great lengths to protect large businesses, like HSBC or Chiquita, that have materially supported terrorists.
Anyway, that's all a wildarsed guess, as I said.
Ah well. If the government can use Section 215 orders to investigate all the Muslims in Aurora, CO who were buying haircare products in 2009, I'm sure big business won't mind if the government collects evidence of their crimes in search of Iran or someone similar.
Update: Note, this order seems to show a really interesting organizational detail. This is clearly an FBI order (I'm not sure who, besides the FBI, uses Section 215 anyway). But the FISA Court orders Verizon to turn the data over to the NSC. This seems to suggest that FBI has NSA store and, presumably, do the data analysis, for at least their big telecom collections in investigations. That also means the FBI, which can operate domestically, is getting this for DOD, which has limits on domestic law enforcement.


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X-POSITION: Bunn Brings "Civil War II" to Marvel's X-Men
Comic Books
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Courtesy of Image Comics, CBR presents an exclusive preview of artist Riley Rossmo's "Dia De Los Muertos" #1, in which he teams with different writers for an anthology-style miniseries.
In January, artist Riley Rossmo launches "Dia De Los Muertos," an anthology centered around the Mexican Day of the Dead. CBR spoke with Rossmo and the first issue's three writers about the project. Plus, exclusive art!
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Aamu Song, Johan Olin, Powerbook (2), Macbook, PC laptop, Elna Sewing machine, Bernina 800DL serger, Makita drill setti, MiniDV, 3 camera, Tool box (well equipped), Adobe Creative Suite, Macromedia StudioMX, Intern (1) comprise Company. They craft fun, delightful, whimsical, childish (in the best possible way), and engaging designs. Their products are a hybrid of naive functionalism and witty form. Their work makes me smile. This video explains their work very well as well.
Here they are as Penguins!


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Justin Bieber is proving controversy can have a lot of value if you hang in there. In spite of a series of allegations of legal problems he has been offered $1 million to appear in strip club ads by Hustler reported Fox News on May 19, 2014. The marketing executives at pornographer Larry Flynt's Hustler Clubs empire have made this offer to Bieber hoping he will front a TV promotion for the company's venues.
Hustler marketing director David Lieberman has suggested Bieber kiss a sexy lapdancer dressed in a bikini for a possible commercial. Another suggestion was that he appear in an advertisement which promotes the U.K. Hustler Club with a girl dressed in a skimpy Union Jack outfit.
As part of the $1 million contract Hustler's bosses have also promised to throw Bieber a 21st birthday party with his father Jeremy alongside him. Hustler's people seem to feel Bieber helps to represent a shining example of having a great father who has helped him pass through the uniquely American rite of passage of going to a strip club even though he is Canadian.
Meanwhile Bieber was recently seen partying with Paris Hilton in Cannes reports E! Online on May 18, 2014. Bieber at 20 and Hilton at 33 both did not allow their age difference to stand in the way of enjoying themselves together. Hilton was seen hopping on Bieber's lap while he was shirtless. Soon thereafter they left the club together. It appears Bieber is leading a really exciting life these days.


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Largely, the dances existing in Bali do not only serve as an entertaining art, but also as ritual dance devoted to gods. Therefore, it is not surprising if the dances in Bali are mostly performed in temples, including the Rejang Dance. This dance has many variants such as the Rejang Renteng, Rejang Bengkel, Rejang Ayodpadi, Rejang Galuh, Rejang Dewa, Rejang Palak, Rejang Mebingin, Rejang Makitut, Rejang Haja and Rejang Negara. In Balinese community, the most popularly staged rejang dance is the Rejang Dewa. Rejang Dewa is a ritual dance of the Balinese community. It is a sacred presentation to welcome and entertain the gods coming down from heaven to earth. Among the Balinese Hindu community, the Rejang Dewa dance is staged in the deva yajña ritual such as temple anniversary or piodalan.
In contrast to the Sanghyang Dance denoting the dance of the gods-goddesses as well as other holy spirits entering into the body of the dancers, the Rejang Dewa is a sacred offering to gods. During the temple ceremony, gods are invited through mantra and puja to come down from heaven, and then abide in the sacred objects like Pratima or effigy. To welcome and cheer the arrival of the gods, people then perform Rejang Dewa dance. Through the dance, people express their sincere gratitude to gods for their willingness to come down to earth.
Rejang Dewa dance is performed by female dancers usually around a holy place or shrine, where the effigies are placed. The Rejang Dewa dancers generally put on the attires dominated by white and yellow colors with a headdress made of materials such as young coconut leaves. "White is a symbol of purity, while yellow is sacred just like the moon and the sun. Most of the sacred dances put on the attires definitely dominated by white and yellow colors," said Kadek Suartaya, a lecturer in Philosophy and Art Criticism, in the Indonesia Institute of the Arts (ISI) Denpasar when met not long ago.
In performing the Rejang Dewa dance, the dancers usually make a circle in the temple or shrine courtyard. Sometimes, the dancers carry out this dance while holding hands. As a welcoming dance to gods, aside from having to be performed in sacred place like a temple, it also has the other requirements. "In the context of sacredness, Rejang Dewa dance must be danced by a girl who has not got their period yet. In the Balinese belief, if the Rejang Dewa dance is performed by women who have got their menstruation, gods and goddess will not be willing to come down to earth. This also applies to the other wali dance such as the Sanghyang dance. Hence, most of the dancers performing this dance remain at elementary school," he added.
In terms of the type of the movement, the Rejang Dewa is said to be quite simple, while the tempo of its movement is slow and tender. Dominant movements used in the Rejang Dewa dance is ngembat and ngelikas or left and right movements performed while moving forward slowly. When dancing, the dancers of Rejang Dewa generally have no dialogue or singing. Rejang Dewa dance is generally accompanied by gamelan music, although there are also accompanied by tembang or Song. Gamelan accompaniment of the Rejang Dewa dance in general is Gong Kebyar gamelan music.
Rejang Dewa dance is a ritual dance whose performance is always associated with ritual, where it is mainly performed in the Deva Yajña ritual in temple. It is commonly performed in the temple outermost courtyard located closer to the placement of ritual oblations or the other places considered to be sacred. (BTN/sak)
Presents Local Culture and Potential Lake Beratan and Bedugul region in general pose the tourism…
The beautiful Pompei city with a high culture disappeared due to the extremely terrible eruption…


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China Is Turning Dead Babies Into Pills
Oh dear God.
Since August of last year, South Korean customs officials have reportedly intercepted 17,000 pills made from the remains of fetuses or stillborn babies. The pills, which originate from China, are "in demand because they are viewed as being a medicinal 'cure-all,'" according to the Daily Mail. We should have listened to Rick Santorum when he probably warned us about this!


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All branches of Marin County Free Library will be closed on Monday, July 4 for Independence Day.
New book reviewed on NPR - Fresh Air
Drift: The Unmooring Of American Military Power
In her new book, Drift: the Unmooring of American Military Power, Rachel Maddow, identifies what she believes to be a battle between the priorities of civilian life and war. The host of the critically acclaimed The Rachel Maddow Show explains that today's focus on national security is actually compromising national stability and traces the historical events and contributing factors that have promoted a deeply militarized American culture.
There are several copies available at Marin County libraries. Place a hold on a copy yourself or call your local library to have a hold placed for you.


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|Coordinator, Sports Nutrition
|Hennessey, Oklahoma
B.S. and M.S. degrees in Nutritional Sciences from Oklahoma State University
Registered Dietitian (RD)
Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD)
Licensed Dietitian (LD)
Certified Personal Trainer - National Exercise Trainer Association (CPT-NETA)
Work Experience:
► 2011-Present: Washington State University Coordinator of Sports Nutrition
► 2009-2011: Director of Dietary and Head Clinical Dietitian at Estes Park Medical Center, Estes Park, CO
► 2008-2009: Consulting Sports RD for Oklahoma State University Athletics
► 2006-2009: Personal Trainer and Group Aerobics Instructor, Oklahoma State University Recreation Center
Hometown: Hennessey, OK
Husband: Justin
Children: Lane (son)
Contact Information:
Coordinator of Sports Nutrition
Washington State University
Bohler Addition M-90A
Email: email@example.com
Phone: (509) 335-4665