Free Republic

The company behind America's latest mission to soft-land on the Moon is battling to save the project. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic says its Peregrine spacecraft has a faulty propulsion system, which, unless fixed, will prevent a lunar touch-down. The problem has already made it difficult for the craft to point its solar panels at the Sun to generate electricity. Astrobotic is already talking about changing its mission goals. The 1.2-tonne lander was launched early on Monday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Vulcan rocket. It is aiming to become the first American mission in half a century to make a controlled landing...

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, once considered a frontrunner for Google’s $20 million Lunar XPRIZE until it withdrew from competition last December citing unrealistic deadlines, announced recently that it has chosen United Launch Alliance as its partner for a planned moon landing in 2019—the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. While the selection of a ULA Atlas V rocket as Astrobotic’s taxi service to geosynchronous Earth orbit is new, the remainder of the plan has been in place for some time: Astrobotic’s Peregrine landing craft will take three to six months to ride the gravitational fields of Earth, the moon, and sun, then make...

Is it good that Wasendorf is going away, most likely for the rest of his life? Of course- the man is a sociopathic criminal. But the problem is that the incentives, the controls, and the "processes" that PFG engaged in to cheat thousands of clients out of their life savings are pervasive throughout the US financial system. It is this, and not an individual appeals court case which incidentally has no impact on a completely standalone bankruptcy process and whose outcome can be appealed under any other jurisdiction, that US investors, or what's left of them, should be worried about....

The NFA is collusion with the Banksters, government and judiciary have achieved their goal. The entire concept of "customer segregated funds" is officially, completely, legally dead. Guys, it is OVER. I know that many of you are still cowering in normalcy bias, unable to deal with reality, unable to face the world as it is, but you have GOT to snap out of it. The marketplace is DESTROYED. You CANNOT be in these markets. All legal protections are now officially gone. Do you remember how I told you about the Ponzi scheme that imploded in 2007 called "Sentinel Management Group"...

*snip* FBI agents arrested Russell Wasendorf, Sr., 64, of Cedar Falls on Friday. Federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint charging the CEO of Peregrine Financial Group, Inc., with making false statements to regulators and released documents detailing a wide-ranging fraud scheme that apparently fooled colleagues, customers and regulators for years *snip* Peregrine Financial Group, which marketed itself as PFGBest with offices in Chicago, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, the same day federal regulators filed civil fraud charges alleging the firm falsely claimed a bank account contained more than $220 million when it actually had about $6 million. The money in...

*snip* The accusations began on Monday when Peregrine’s front-line regulator, the National Futures Association (NFA), hit the firm with an enforcement action prohibiting it from doing any more business after finding that it failed to meet key financial requirements. Yesterday the CFTC, a U.S. regulator, got involved and sued Peregrine for fraud by misappropriating customer funds, violated customer fund segregation laws, and made false statements in financial statements filed with the Commission. This isn’t just another firm going bust because for the second time in less than a year customer funds that should have been protected have gone missing amid...

<p>WASHINGTON - At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute at least $1 million each to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups, to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up during the last three decades.</p>

A peregrine falcon named Cielo has died after the 2-month-old bird likely crashed into San Jose City Hall where she and her family have been living on a ledge. She is believed to have died late Monday night or early Tuesday morning after being driven to an animal hospital that specializes in birds on Monday morning. Cielo's siblings, Meyye and Mercury, are alive and well. In fact, her sister and brother, respectively, are flying about, and expected to leave the nest - literally - sometime this summer. The falcon family has drawn widespread interest from bird watchers throughout the world...

Specialty breed - Members of the Northwest roller club are accused of killing birds of prey, some endangeredShowing a visitor through the Hillsboro shelters where he raises "roller" pigeons, Ivan Hanchett described how he trapped hawks so they wouldn't bother his precious flock. He suffocated the hawks in garbage bags, he said, and put them in the trash, noting he had "never seen a hawk that could hold its breath more than three seconds." Hanchett went on: Oregon aficionados of the roller pigeon -- a special breed flown in competitions -- commonly capture and kill hawks and falcons that attack...

The U.S. Attorney's Office has filed a secret lawsuit against Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham that contends he should forfeit his Rancho Santa Fe home to the government because it was purchased with illegally obtained money. Notice of the lawsuit and the government's interest in the property was filed with the San Diego County Recorder's Office. Cunningham's attorney, Lee Blalack, declined to comment yesterday on the lawsuit but said he had filed a motion challenging the U.S. government's legal claim on the house. The home – a five-bedroom, eight-bath Spanish colonial estate on Via Del Charro – was listed for sale...

Claim filed on Cunningham house          U.S. lawsuit seeks forfeiture of property By Dani Dodge UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 18, 2005 Randy "Duke" Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe home was listed for $3.5 million. Embattled MZM sold to investment group The U.S. Attorney's Office has filed a secret lawsuit against Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham that contends he should forfeit his Rancho Santa Fe home to the government because it was purchased with illegally obtained money. Notice of the lawsuit and the government's interest in the property was filed with the San Diego County Recorder's Office. Cunningham's attorney, Lee Blalack, declined to...

<p>The story is all too familiar. Several months ago, before WorldCom and in the wake of Enron and Global Crossing, Peregrine Systems, Inc., a lesser-known San Diego-based software company, announced it had overstated its earnings by $100 million — while "independent" accounting firm Arthur Andersen was overseeing the books. Another corporation, another lie, and another investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.</p>

In fiscal 2000 Peregrine reported losses of $18 million. Yesterday, the number was revised to $217 million. In fiscal 2001, the company claimed losses of $852 million. Now, Peregrine says that number was really $1.84 billion. In the first three quarters of fiscal 2002, Peregrine claimed losses of $677 million. Yesterday, it revised the number to show losses of $2.03 billion. Peregrine Systems has finally tallied up the extent of its massive accounting fraud. The San Diego software maker acknowledged yesterday that the scope of the fraud is more than twice as large as it reported last summer, shortly before...

Give a bird a fish...On Sunday, my son and I went on falcon hunt with his Cub Scout Den. God bless the Cub Scouts, they do fine things when they're not preaching Communism. It was an actual hunt, a Harris hawk avidly pursuing juicy young jack-rabbits. The falconers taught us a lot, all of it fascinating to me. For instance, not only was the recent de-listing of the Peregrine falcon from the Endangered Species List brought about by falconers, they actually introduced many more breeding pairs than the Feds had sought. A question: How could predatory birds raised in captivity...