Category: Uncategorized

Meng Wanzhou.

The warrant had been there since Aug. 22.  It is really just timing or, put another way, a lot of balls in the air.

Fraud.  According to an American Greed episode (!) it is the hardest crime to prove.  Proving intent to commit fraud is very difficult.

Recently, there was the documentary on Stanford Bank from the perspective of Toronto Dominion bank.  Apparently, other banks were wary and Toronto Dominion was not.  It is pretty darn complex and a lot of people in China will not understand it.  You cannot operate an illegal business without an illegal bank.

That is what I am working on.

Also, the pattern shows the crime and intent.

 

That is surely what we all need, a paleofuture blog.

It has not been a good year for the T. Rowe Price Communications and Technology fund, formerly the Media and Telecommunications fund.  Normally it is up about 20% a year.

As far as I can tell, not a whole lot has changed in terms of the growth.  Computers, smartphones, they are virtually one in the same and they are still getting better.  A lot of people have them; some still don’t, particularly in developing markets.

I had never heard of Huawei.  I know a little about ZTE because I have a ZTE phone.

Did you receive the presidential text?  Just imagine such a world.

It is a lot more than just a computer.  It is about communication, real people in everyday life, and every possible ramification within that.

So you are going to steal our technology and use it against us?

There is no question about it.  It is the new cold war.

 

I do not like Trump.  Perhaps Russia really isn’t a threat and China is.  But this has been going on a long time.  I like that his hard-headedness and forceful negotiations are showing up here.

Unindicted co-conspirator?  That is worth a read.

Michael Cohen.  Maybe that is the difference between a 2nd-level white collar criminal and an everyday blue collar one who spends their life in and out of jail.  For decades Cohen led the high life as Trumps fixer and having your boss and (former) protector elected president doesn’t hurt.

Then the fall came hard.  You can see it in his face and in his actions.  He only wants to preserve his family and do his best to avoid prison.  That life is over and he fully realizes it.

For a while he tried to continue with the old ways but it was over.  He was caught.

And there is no way he is a rogue lawyer.  It is one more giant stain on Trump, and it is one of many.  Could it bring him down or can he ride it out is the only real storyline.

 

Of all the stories that actually happened on American Greed and similar programs this one sticks out.

Nancy Pfister did not leave the greatest of legacies.  She went to college for a little while and never held a job.  Well into her fifties she was very attractive.  She was very well-versed in the ‘I am entitled to more’ syndrome.

All she really had was a $4 million house, mostly given the 36 acres, a $90K allowance, and a reputation.

The chances of success for her tenants and the man who murdered her were slim.  There was no lease or background check and they were paying $4K a month in rent, utilities, and expenses plus stress to satisfy Pfister and/or repair hassles and it was impossible.  And, they did not really have the money, at least not liquid.  Their brand new home spa business in tiny Aspen was a fiction if not a delusional fantasy.

But still, Nancy Pfister did not deserve to die, not like that or in any other way.

The hero of the story is Kathy Carpenter.

—

She is the former bank loan officer demoted because of problems including drinking.  Still, she was sharp enough and likeable enough to stay on as a teller.  How many people wouldn’t want such a job in Aspen?  Apparently the job also came with a subsidized apartment in town.

‘You’ve got something going for you but you are fat.’ Pfister said, or something like that, when they first met.  She used the bank and they saw each other.  Probably or hopefully she apologized and it was accompanied by something like I’m sorry but people who know me know I always say what is on my mind.

While Pfister never really did or accomplish anything, the story goes that she offered Carpenter a job as her personal assistant.  Carpenter turned it down by saying “You can’t afford me.”

Touche.

Put very simply, the poor woman said headboard–there is blood on the headboard–and had to go through the loss of her friend.  The police harassed her and destroyed her endlessly.  [I think she lost her job and home, and she moved in with her mother.] The police, led by the wise old (that is sarcasm) Lisa Miller, destroyed her.  All she did was find and try to help her now dead friend.

The police were gross.  Luckily, the murder weapon and thus the murderer fell into their hands.  Then he made things even easier by confessing.

Still they did not believe it and they harassed the brave Ms. Carpenter.  It reminds me of the little woman who broke the Eric Conn enterprise.  Her name is Jennifer Griffith.

I was going to write that apparently she and her (later) accomplice in doing the right thing Sarah Carver did not get anything out of it.  That still may be true.  But the whistleblower suit was instrumental in exposing and bringing down the ring.

 

Monday is American Greed day on CNBC.  It borders on obsession to watch the videos.  There are so many.

It helps to turn on the computer and let it go for a few hours.

I already had the video when I downloaded Season 12.  It helps to follow it if it is live TV.

There are a lot of similarities in the stories.  Many are about health care–oxycontin, hospice, addiction treatment, and medicare and medicaid fraud.  A lot are about financial fraud, like Madoff and Allen Stanford, both selling and buying it.  Some of the criminals are in their twenties or even teens and they have never accomplished or experienced anything else.  And some are older and they have done it in varying degrees for their whole lives.  Almost always there are outward signs of ostentation.

Usually the main characters are con artists–people who gain the trust of others and then abuse it.  They do not change.  They do not understand, or rather, they likely view it as the way of the world and it is worth it.  “Fun while it lasted,” may be the mantra.  That is the title of Bruce McNall’s memoir.

There has not been an American Greed episode on McNall.  But he was a crook from the get-go.  The coins and antiquities were swiped.

But the best thing about the show and stories like those it tells are the real people involved.  Sometimes they are stupid, sometimes they are not, and always they are real.  They give great interviews and they say wise things.  The whisleblowers especially are great.

(more…)

I finally figured it out.  Customer satisfaction.  Residents and taxpayers come first.

Stock answer when the 911 operator argues:  you are allowing crime in front of my house and I do not feel safe.

If RE the park:  you are allowing crime and you are preventing the use of the park for its intended purposes.  You are preventing others from using and enjoying the park.  (Example:  you shouldn’t need a dog for protection to walk in the park.)

 

If  I was writing a marketing plan and performing a competitive analysis…  My advantage is I will take the time and figure it out.

But this site is about writing.  That is what I have come to recognize about writing too:  It is about taking the long, complete road and telling the whole story.

Obstruction of justice.  I know it is a criminal charge, but still.  To say it will come out in the civil filings is way premature, but one way or another it will be exposed and corrected.

A key is “duty to report.”  At least it makes it makes it a step closer to simple.  Civil rights is not simple.  Is personal injury?

 

One of the things I like about sitcom writing is the ability to play with time.  In this case everyone is responsible for 20 years.  I have the records and proof.

 

Finally, technology.  We are going to employ technology.  Video, we are almost there.  Next, voice to text to cover more ground (e.g., Liebe, I explained it to you; illegal act on public property; EPRD teaching kids crime is OK; signs at Stagecoach Park; emails to Ted Mink; Jeffco won’t send commercial vehicles to open space (e.g., Elk Meadow); NEVER case numbers or case dispositions or tickets/prosecution; 2 motives theories; Ellen Wakeman (?) county attorney; free court costs because of income at poverty level; Phoenix FAA decision (City of Phoenix wants to protect the airport; Why does Jeffco want to protect DIA and not residents?; etc.).

If the sheriff’s department will not respond when I call 911  maybe I should use Twitter?

Voice to text posts, podcasts!

 

One more week of prep.  First step, email to board outlining 911 plans.

 

To all the women who I have had a rocky relationship with and have blasted here, I apologize.  It is in the past and many posts down.  I only did what I had to do and what on some level I think is right.

If I did not think it was right and if I did not want to put it out there in public it would not be here.

For now I have other things that I must tackle and write about.  Because that is why this site is here.

 

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/15-1158/15-1158-2017-08-29.html

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=wXv3CgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Guilt+by+Matrimony:+A+Memoir+of+Love,+Madness,+and+the+Murder+of+Nancy+Pfister&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8paPp8NHeAhXF5oMKHfkJAbEQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Guilt%20by%20Matrimony%3A%20A%20Memoir%20of%20Love%2C%20Madness%2C%20and%20the%20Murder%20of%20Nancy%20Pfister&f=false

 

EDIT:  Sinema won.  The backlash is more potent than thought and it continues.

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/414854-arizona-senate-race-a-virtual-tie-poll

This is the only race I am familiar with.  Sinema is interesting but a flake.  The Air Force veteran is boring, but in the bigger picture probably better.

Except–I don’t know details–her implicit ties to the GOP leader.

This is the most exciting day besides Ohio State at Michigan.

Like interest rate hikes, it may be gradual because he has power.  And he has made some tough and respectable stands, e.g., no one wants to see China do things that in the U.S. are crimes.  And it will be the right thing for all.  Checks and balances are needed.

Trump and president are not a good fit.  A lot of people say he is an embarrassment and they are going to speak.

It is a referendum on Trump.

Wasn’t there a movie with a bee-bitten Mathew Broderick called Election Day?

Now that it is over, I say “baby steps.”  Thankfully there is a check on more ridiculousness and embarrassment.  But there is going to be little progress toward anything with the veto power.

I used to think that was an appropriate, even good way to govern, what with a Democratic House and Republican Senate.  But that is with a reasonable President and less contentious Congress.  (All caps?)

They are respected institutions.  But I do not respect Trump.

Yesterday the first lady was on 20/20 or some-such.  I do not respect her either.  Anyone married to Trump is not an independent woman.  I listened to her.  She did not sound like a woman with purpose.

First, the personal side.  Trump is worse than a brash New Yorker; he is very wealthy, supremely powerful brash New Yorker.  I had CNBC on in the background and had to switch channels at 11:30 when he came on.  I kept trying to turn back but it was still going two hours later.  I knew he was going to be boastful but he was ultra-disgusting egomaniacal.

Which leads us into reality.  A lot of people do not like Trump.  He knows that yet he manages to stay in power.  However Briebart or whoever cares to define it, that base is real.  It is part of America.  For the past several years it has been big and powerful enough to provide support.

It is not going to wane until it is out of power.

The economy is strong, not because of Trump but he helped prolong or intensify it.  All that means is that it will probably swing back in the other direction harder and faster than it might have.  He is dangerous person there too, in the longer term.

Immigration?  That is going to hurt the economy too because, despite robots, labor still counts.  Diversity and basic humanitarianism?  I don’t know–I never thought “immigration” was an issue.  I am not familiar enough with the laws.  I think the laws should be enforced because laws without enforcement is a farce.

Health care is supposedly the biggest issue per research.  The reality is rich people do not have to worry as much about health care.  Trump favors the rich…

The “safer” candidate won in Arizona.  Ted Cruz beat Beto in Texas.

Oh, perhaps the one, biggest, great thing that came from the elections is more women.  It is about time.

Baby steps.