everywordshesays asked: whom would you choose to be members of a three-person team (the members of which may be either dead or alive) to run the rest of your life?
I don’t want a council to run my life.
The Web according to Samuel Rubenfeld, a journalist published in The Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com, Dow Jones Newswires, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Midland (Texas) Reporter-Telegram, The Hill, Village Voice, Newsday, Times of Middle Country and my alma mater's campus newspaper, The Hofstra Chronicle.
I write the Corruption Currents blog, which is hosted on the Wall Street Journal's website.
I'm 25 and I live in Astoria, Queens. I listen to a ton of music and read a lot about politics, public policy, the news media and the future of journalism. I also am a big fan of the Knicks, Jets and Mets. Expect a heavy dose of things to read. • Ask me anything
Samuel Rubenfeld's Tumblr
I write the Corruption Currents blog, which is hosted on the Wall Street Journal's website.
I'm 25 and I live in Astoria, Queens. I listen to a ton of music and read a lot about politics, public policy, the news media and the future of journalism. I also am a big fan of the Knicks, Jets and Mets. Expect a heavy dose of things to read. • Ask me anything
Samuel Rubenfeld's Tumblr
“It was a scene from a spy novel.”
— Reporter’s Notebook: Inside Obama’s Secret Trip to Afghanistan - ABC News
White House Targets Iran, Syria Sanctions Evaders - Corruption Currents - WSJ
he U.S. Treasury Department now has the power to designate individuals and entities violating sanctions on Iran and Syria who were previously outside the U.S. enforcement regime.
An executive order signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama grants the Treasury Department the authority to bar the identified individuals and entities from the U.S. financial and commercial systems.
“Whoever tries to evade our sanctions does so at the expense of the people of Syria and Iran, and they will be held accountable,” said David S. Cohen, undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, in a statement.
The order gives Treasury another way to get at those violating U.S. sanctions in a way existing authority could have theoretically reached, but would be difficult to execute against, a senior Treasury official said during a conference call to discuss the new measures.
Patrick Ewing attempts to block Alonzo Mourning during Game 1 of the 2000 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Knicks and Heat. New York would go onto win the series in seven games. The Knicks are currently down 0-2 to the Heat and will likely be without Amar’e Stoudemire, who injured his hand after punching the glass casing around a fire extinguisher. (Bob Rosato/SI)
Happy May Day! Solidarity with the extremely talented ironworkers of Long Island City.
“Following Ms. Cosmadopoulos’s path — from the edge of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Carroll Gardens, to Williamsburg, then Bushwick, and finally to Bedford-Stuyvesant — creates a rough map of rising rents across parts of Brooklyn.”
— Stalking the $600 Apartment in a Changing Brooklyn - NYTimes.com
“Peter Sillen, an independent filmmaker, made a short documentary about the Grand Luncheonette in 1997, casting it as an emblem of the larger battle, since lost, to preserve some of the earthy character of Times Square. Mr. Hakim comes across in the film as gentle (“Be right with you, young man”), authoritative (“Hot dogs, hot dogs! Git y’hot dogs hee-ah!”) and wise (“A knish? It’s potatoes,” he explains to an off-camera customer. “Potatoes inside, outside, every side”).”
— Fred Hakim, Times Square Hot-Dog Vendor, Dies at 83 - NYTimes.com
“Moments after the Knicks absorbed a 104-94 loss to the Miami Heat on Monday night, Stoudemire punched a fire-extinguisher case mounted on an arena corridor, slicing open the side of his hand. The extent of the injury was not immediately clear, and the team left for the airport without providing details.”
— N.B.A. Playoffs — Knicks Lose Game 2 to Heat - NYTimes.com
the-law-bender asked: about your lastname, do you know it's origin?
I don’t. I know I have family that came through Ellis Island about 110 years ago, but that’s about it. They mostly settled in Brooklyn.
US Probes Lebanese Banking Operations - Corruption Currents - WSJ
The Obama administration is intensifying its scrutiny of Lebanon’s financial system out of suspicion it is being used by Syria, Iran and Hezbollah to evade sanctions and fund their activity, the Wall Street Journal reported late last week.
Beirut and Washington have been working over the past 14 months to impose sanctions and close banks, but the U.S. Treasury Department and Drug Enforcement Administration are continuing a probe into an alleged Hezbollah-linked money laundering operation, the Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.
They allege the operation involves hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money from a Lebanese narco-trafficker that they say have gone to the Lebanese militia and political group designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Treasury, meanwhile, is holding the Lebanese regulators’ feet to the fire to monitor local banks with operations in Damascus and Tehran, the Journal report said.
Sometimes you just listen to Sister Kisser’s “Operation Stay Alive”
Sometimes you scream the lyrics to this while listening to it during a (depressed) walk on Steinway St. in Astoria.
(Source: Spotify, via headtowall)
Former SNC-Lavalin Exec Arrested In Switzerland - Corruption Currents - WSJ
Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. said late Sunday its former construction head Riadh Ben Aissa has been placed under arrest in Switzerland.
The Montreal-based company said in a statement it had no details on his status. He left the company Feb. 9, the statement said. A report from CBC News, citing justice officials in Bern, said he has been in custody since mid-April.
Ben Aissa is being held on suspicion of corrupt practices, fraud and money laundering in connection with dealings conducted in North Africa, the CBC News report said, quoting an official with the Swiss federal prosecutor’s office.
