1…………> Global Warming: The Damage
“The Convention on Biological Diversity has very little leadership. There is no-one setting the bar, holding the standard of what a nation should do. So, science like this report holds nations to account and maybe embarrasses them to take some leadership because right now no nation is showing that leadership.
“When it comes to their natural heritage, we are running out of time; the extinction crisis is on. Thirty percent of species will go extinct in the next 50 years if we don’t safeguard nature properly,” said Prof. James Watson from the University of Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Millions of square miles of forests, parks, and conservation areas are under “intense human pressure” from mining, logging, and farming, with countries rich and poor, are quick to designate protected areas but fail to follow up with funding and enforcement.
2…………> Kingsmen Gang: Busted
A federal jury in Buffalo, New York, has convicted three leaders and members of the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club (KMC) gang identified as David Pirk, 67, KMC National President, Andre Jenkins aka Little Bear, 39, and Timothy Enix, aka Blaze, 58, KMC Nomad, on multiple charges for their roles in a major racketeering operation in furtherance of crime of violence, murder in aid of racketeering, possession and discharge of a firearm in a crime of violence, using and maintaining premises for drug dealing and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime
“The defendants and their associates transformed the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club into a vicious gang that terrorized the Buffalo area, engaging in senseless murders, brutal violence, robberies, and drug trafficking,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. “But after today’s verdict, the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club’s reign of terror is coming to an end. The U.S. Department of Justice and our partners will aggressively pursue violent gangs wherever they are found and bring them to justice.”
“Motorcycle gangs have evolved over 70 years from bar-room brawlers to somewhat sophisticated criminals,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Loeffert. “The Kingsmen’s leadership not only voiced a desire to turn its club into a “one-percenter” gang, it acted on that desire when Paul Maue and DJ Szymanski were killed. Those murders told everyone that the Kingsmen do not want to be aligned with the vast majority of riders who are law-abiding citizens. With today’s verdicts, the repeated and regular acts of violence so inculcated into the culture of the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club are over.”
Defendant David Pirk, wanted to establish the KMC as a one percent club, meaning that that 99 percent of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens with the remaining one percent engaged in certain activities such as drug and firearm trafficking, acts of violence, murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping, drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering.
3…………> High Seas Competition: China Carriers
China’s second aircraft carrier left its dock at Dalian Shipyard in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, for its first sea trials, and joined other ships of PLA Navy for a show of force.
4………….> Cartel’s Banker: Rabobank
Rabobank National Association (Rabobank), a Roseville, California subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., was sentenced for impairing, impeding and obstructing its primary regulator, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the OCC), by concealing deficiencies in its anti-money laundering (AML) program and for obstructing the OCC’s examination of Rabobank. Rabobank was sentenced to a two-year term of probation, and ordered to pay the statutory maximum fine of $500,000. Additionally, as part of its guilty plea, Rabobank forfeited $368,701,259 to the United States as a result of allowing illicit funds to be processed through the bank.
“Rabobank’s branches on the Mexican border processed hundreds of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions likely tied to international narcotics trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. “Instead of filing reports that would have alerted law enforcement to the suspicious activity, as required by law, the bank looked the other way and then compounded its misconduct by conspiring to cover-up its failures and deceiving its regulator. Today’s sentence and the related forfeiture demonstrate that the Department of Justice will use all the tools at our disposal to combat drug trafficking and transnational crime—including prosecuting financial institutions that turn a blind eye to illicit proceeds moving through their customers’ accounts.”
On Feb. 7, Rabobank pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to corruptly obstruct an examination of a financial institution, admitting that between 2009 and 2012 it implemented policies and procedures that precluded and suppressed its investigations into potentially suspicious transactions near the U.S.-Mexico border, much of which was conducted by customers and through accounts that Rabobank had previously designated “High-Risk.”
As a result of its failures, Rabobank admitted that certain customer accounts were involved in not less than $368,701,259 in suspicious transactions that were either unreported or untimely reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as required by the BSA. These transactions included high-volume cash deposits and withdrawals, check transactions, electronic transfers, and wire transfers that were consistent with illegal activity such as trade-based money laundering, bulk cash smuggling, structuring, and the black market peso exchange.
5………….> A Message Of Peace
Leave the madness behind and listen to the music of eternal peace, Christus Vincit circa 1982.
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