Free Republic

My Gloom By Daniel Pipes FrontPageMagazine.com | December 20, 2005 Unlike most Americans, 9/11 made me feel more secure. Finally, the country was focused on issues that had long worried me. “The FBI is engaged in the largest operation in its history,” I wrote in late 2001, “armed marshals will again be flying on US aircraft, and the immigration service has placed foreign students under increased scrutiny. I feel safer when Islamist organizations are exposed, illicit money channels closed down, and immigration regulations reviewed. The amassing of American forces near Iraq and Afghanistan cheers me. The newfound alarm is healthy,...

Channel 33 news is reporting that a suspected terrorist has been arrested along with an "inert" car bomb in downtown Dallas. The is a Muslim jihadi. Details as I find them.

Wells Fargo says it has fired an executive who had been under investigation for personal use of a bank-owned house in the exclusive Malibu Colony.

Wells Fargo also will likely cut dividend to boost capital, analyst says BY ALISTAIR BARR SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Bank of America Corp. needs more than $80 billion in new common equity capital to support the huge amount of assets on its balance sheet, an analyst said Tuesday. Friedman, Billings, Ramsey's Paul Miller also said Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) probably will have to cut its dividend soon as that bank tries to boost capital. Shares of Bank of America slumped 29% to close at $5.10 on Tuesday. That's the lowest level since late 1990. Wells Fargo lost 24% to...

he story of the two-bedroom, one-bath shack on West Hopi Street, is the story of this year's financial panic, told in 576 square feet. It helps explain how a series of bad decisions can add up to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Less than two years ago, Integrity Funding LLC, a local lender, gave a $103,000 mortgage to the owner, Marvene Halterman, an unemployed woman with a long list of creditors and, by her own account, a long history of drug and alcohol abuse. For a $350 fee, an appraiser hired by Integrity, Michael T. Asher, valued...

In front of a ballroom full of N.C. bankers in January 2006, Wachovia chief executive Ken Thompson warned of the dangers of “toxic” home loans. A problem with so-called option adjustable-rate mortgages, he told the group, was that homeowners can end up owing more at the end of the month than the beginning, which can be a “tough situation” for customers and lenders. “I have literally been amazed at the terms offered by some mortgage lenders, thankfully not at Wachovia and thankfully not so much in North Carolina,” he said. Four months later in May 2006, Thompson took a $24...

An FBI sweep launched in Puerto Rico to prevent a "domestic terrorist attack" is eliciting widespread outrage on the island - and as far away as New York City - with critics accusing the agency of trying to use terrorism as a guise to turn public opinion against Puerto Rico's independence movement. The Friday morning raid on the U.S. commonwealth, which targeted five private homes and one business, was launched to prevent attacks from the Boricua Popular Army, the FBI said. The special agent in charge of the San Juan Division of the FBI, Luis Fraticelli, said the searches were...

SAN FRANCISCO---When Ronaldo Labindao came up to the bank officer’s desk on Monday, he looked like any other person here applying for a credit card. He signed a few papers and couldn’t wait to buy a new computer. But Labindao is neither a U.S. citizen nor legal resident. He came to this country from the Philippines in 1995 and illegally overstayed his visa. Labindao is one of the beneficiaries of a new program by California’s Wells Fargo Bank, which gives loan opportunities to individuals without a Social Security Number. “You don’t need to have a credit history to get approved....

Osama bin Laden tried to purchase the world's largest pearl, the Pearl of Allah, as a gift to Saddam Hussein "to unite the Arab cultures," and Hussein was prepared to accept, according to the pearl's owner. Victor Barbish, who owns sixty-six percent of the pearl on behalf of his daughter, told WorldNetDaily he received an offer in 1999 from individuals who said they were "from bin Laden's group" to purchase the pearl for $60 million to give to Hussein as an overture of unity between al-Qaida and the Iraqi government.

SAN FRANCISCO- Mexican laborers who say they're owed money for working on American farms and railroads more than 50 years ago called for a boycott Thursday of the bank they say transferred their wages. Laborers called for a boycott of Wells Fargo banks a day after their lawsuit against the bank, the U.S. and Mexican governments and three Mexican banks was dismissed. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer concluded Wednesday that the workers weren't entitled to relief in a U.S. court. The bank said Thursday it acted responsibly. "We believe we completely fulfilled our responsibility to transfer the money," Wells Fargo...