Category: ethics

send HSBC bankers to PRISON

On By Rick McIn ethics, governmentLeave a comment

In the USA people get sent to jail for the most trivial of reasons. They have the highest rate of incarceration in the world. By far.

I don’t get why bankers are immune.

Appearing at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) grilled officials from the Treasury Department over why criminal charges were not filed against officials at HSBC who helped launder hundreds of millions of dollars for drug cartels.

The HSBC scandal resulted in the Department of Justice and Treasury announcing a record $1.92 billion fine after finding that the international bank repeatedly helped the world’s most violent drug gangs move at least $881 million in ill-gotten gains through numerous countries the U.S. has economic sanctions against.

“HSBC paid a fine, but no one individual went to trial, no individual was banned from banking, and there was no hearing to consider shutting down HSBC’s activities here in the United States,” Warren said. “So, what I’d like is, you’re the experts on money laundering. I’d like an opinion: What does it take — how many billions do you have to launder for drug lords and how many economic sanctions do you have to violate — before someone will consider shutting down a financial institution like this?”..

read more – A question that has not been answered

If I was an American politician, I wouldn’t be droning on about drones. I’d be campaigning for throwing decision makers at criminal banks in prison.

I’d start with this guy, Stuart Gulliver, the chief executive of HSBC.

Gulliver

He was paid $11.1 million last year, despite missing cost and profit targets and a record money laundering fine.

I don’t care if he’s guilty or not. The captain goes down with the ship.

The political gain I’d get from personally dragging him by the ear into prison would far outweigh the years of court battles.

When people ask me why I think Obama’s a lousy President, his gutlessness in dealing with those who most caused the crash of 2008 is high on my list of reasons.

Iceland arrested corrupt bankers. … How did that work out for them? 🙂

related:

• HSBC money laundering: too big to jail

• HSBC Bankers Get No Jail Time for Terrorist Financing While Somali Sentenced for Charity

In Defense of Drones

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, product endorsementsLeave a comment

They’re the worst form of war, except for all the others.

By William Saletan in Slate

… Drones kill fewer civilians, as a percentage of total fatalities, than any other military weapon. …

read more

I agree.

obama-1

The main downside … when terrorists get drones. Public figures will then have to stay out of sight 24/7.

Lance Armstrong: Cheating Scumbag

On By Rick McIn cycling, dead to me, ethics, product complaints1 Comment

I wasn’t all that big a Tour de France fan.

Not like Dave Adlard.

Dave relates with and concurs with this missive from a real hero, Alastair Humphreys:

Lance Armstrong broke my heart. Or a tiny little bit of it, anyway. …

Then when Lance gave Ullrich “the look” on Alpe d’Huez on 2001 I was completely smitten. Shortly after that I set off to cycle round the world. I thought of Lance often. When I was struggling up long mountain passes I’d get up out of the saddle, give my imaginary opponents “the look” and put on a sprint. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Through all the years of allegations about Lance’s drug use I defended him strongly. I secretly suspected that he might be up to something. But I hoped -I really hoped- that he was clean. That he was the inspirational figure he always loudly proclaimed himself to be. He passed hundreds of tests. I wanted to believe. So I believed. I felt sorry for all the cynics. Sorry they couldn’t believe in miracles. …

The only regret Lance Armstrong appears to feel, since he was left with no option but to admit to having cheated in every single one of his Tour victories, is that he got caught.

Cheating was one thing. Showing no remorse is another. …

Lance Armstrong: Cheating Scumbag

All true.

But I have to add the usual disclaimer. The Cheating Scumbag is a superb athlete. I would love to have seen what he could have done without the drugs.

Darrell Scott’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee

On By Rick McIn ethics, Facebook, firearms, governmentLeave a comment

If you’re on Facebook you can’t avoid seeing Mr. Darrell Scott’s impassioned words after his daughter had been killed in the Columbine shooting.

darrell scott

He defends the NRA. And says:

… “We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. … “

I respect Darrell Scott’s position. And am wounded by his loss.

But the testimony has been much warped over time, having been so often spun by Gundamentalists.

Here’s one version of Snope’s clarifications:

That Darrell Scott spoke the words attributed to him is fact. However, the opening and closing comments appended to the Internet-circulated version of them are misleading and erroneous….

Darrell Scott didn’t say anything to our “national leaders,” nor is it true that his testimony was “not received well.” Scott was not delivering testimony to a crowded House chamber full of incredulous, unprepared, and shocked Congressmen; he was talking to a few sub-committee members and a stenographer. He was only one of many people who gave testimony to the Subcommittee on Crime, and it’s unlikely that most Congressmen heard what he said, or even knew that he had testified. His words certainly didn’t prompt outrage from an unreceptive audience, as implied here….

“The media” didn’t prevent anyone from hearing Mr. Scott’s speech; most news outlets simply didn’t give it much coverage because it wasn’t particularly newsworthy.

… Mr. Scott really didn’t offer much of substance, and what he did have to say had already been said earlier and louder by many others. Also as noted above, Mr. Scott was merely one of many people who gave testimony in front of the House Subcommittee on Crime in the wake of the Littleton shootings. Other parents of shooting victims spoke as well, but you won’t find that fact acknowledged here, much less any indication of what they said. Why should their words be any less important than Darrell Scott’s? (Perhaps the reason they’re not mentioned is because their opinions didn’t agree with Mr. Scott’s, and therefore didn’t agree with the opinions of whoever wrote the prologue and coda to this piece.)

… Darrell Scott’s speech was reported by the Associated Press and picked up by several big-city newspapers, hardly evidence of a hostile “media” conspiracy to suppress it and thereby prevent the world at large from hearing it.

read more on Snopes

DON’T GET YOUR FACTS FROM FACEBOOK.

It’s more crap than fact.

A Time / CNN poll mid-January found that 55% of Americans favor stricter gun control, 44% are against.

It’s a good idea to restrict assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

The argument that Americans need defend themselves against the U.S. Army is delusion.

What percentage of American soldiers would be unwilling to invade Texas? … For example.

50%? … 70%?

the NEW American slavery

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, moviesLeave a comment

Prison.

I like Quentin Tarantino. If you don’t like film violence, boycott his movies.

Freedom from speech.

That’s your right.

I heard Tarantino recently interviewed on NPR Fresh Air — he came off very badly. Still no good argument FOR the ultra violence. After 20 years.

I’d like to see him direct a film without that crutch.

But Tarantino brought up a very good point in another interview. The many parallels between the American prison population and old slavery.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.


 

Obviously the U.S.A. has to find a way to reduce the number of those in prison for marijuana possession. It’s no more dangerous than legal alcohol.

related – Django review by By Jim Emerson

(via Upworthy – How To Enslave A People When Slavery Is Already Illegal)

my gun stance

On By Rick McIn bad news, education, ethics, firearms, government, happiness2 Comments

In Yemen.

Rick gun

Guns are tools. Tools that can be used for right or wrong.

The nations with the most guns / capita:

United States 88.8
Serbia 58.2
Yemen 54.8
Switzerland
Cyprus
Saudi Arabia
Iraq
Finland

More guns = more accidents. More gun murders.

Everyone mourned the 20 children of Newton. Know that 260 school children were killed in Chicago over a 3yr span. It happens all the time.

But doesn’t hit the mainstream media each time.

Still, the U.S.A. is only 10th on the list of firearm-related deaths. Switzerland is 5th. Mexico is 9th.

It’s not an exact correlation. Guns in the U.S.A. prevent some killings.

Dana and Fred recently moved from Vegas to Regina, Canada. There’s far less chance for their son to be hurt by guns in Regina than Vegas. I really believe that.

… If I could wave a magic wand and render all the hand guns in the world ineffective, I would. There would be a net calming effect, I predict.

Perhaps I’m wrong.

In any case, there is no magic wand. We must deal with the cards on the table now.

Actually, I don’t believe the pro gun nuts and the anti gun zealots are all that far apart.

Aside from the worst extremists, the majority would agree that it should be legal for hunters to own hunting guns. That it should be legal for people to defend their families and homes.

Most would agree there’s no need for an assault weapon for hunting nor home defense.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee:

“An AK-47 is a Russian-made weapon that is made for war. An AR-15, which is an answer to the AK-47 . . . these high-capacity [guns] . . . you can shoot 50 to 60 rounds within a minute. Within a minute you can literally shoot through brick, shoot through steel.”

Speaking at a news conference with Rep. John Conyers and myself, Chief Godbee expressed dismay that there has been no action to revive the assault-weapons ban that was allowed to expire in 2004 when George W. Bush was president. …

Police chiefs are right: Ban assault weapons

That ban should be put in place. And enforced.

Penalties should be very strict.

Release the marijuana smokers from U.S. prisons to free up space for those carrying illegal weapons.

Bring the troops home. Use the money for Home Defence. Especially defending Americans from assault weapon attack.

Use the money to take better care of the mentally ill.

Use the money to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor in the U.S.A. 

Not family handouts. But improved schools.

We’ll still have mass shootings, but hopefully fewer.

Personally, I feel it’s time for the N.R.A. to moderate their positions.

Critics of the N.R.A. have some very good points.

I admire George H. W. Bush for resigning from the N.R.A. in 1996.

He was right.

In fact, looking back with 20/20 vision, George H was more often right than wrong. His son, just the opposite.

biggest winner last night – Nate Silver

On By Rick McIn blogs, ethics, government, product endorsements, things getting betterLeave a comment

… Silver runs a blog called FiveThirtyEight, which is licensed by the Times. In 2008 he called the presidential election with incredible accuracy, getting 49 out of 50 states right.

But this year he rolled a perfect score, 50 out of 50, even nailing the margins in many cases. His uncanny accuracy on this year’s election represents what Rowinski calls a victory of “logic over punditry.”

… What does it mean when some punk kid baseball nerd can just wade into politics and start kicking butt on all these long-time “experts” who have spent their entire lives covering politics?

It means something big is happening.

… The age of voodoo is over. The era of talking about something as a “dark art” is done. In a world with big computers and big data, there are no dark arts. …

Read Write Web – Why Nate Silver Won, And Why It Matters

The fact check sites have helped. But what we really need are the facts.

It’s time to take down bloviating pundits in the USA, Dick Morris often being listed as WORST.

It’s Moneyball time. 🙂