Author: Joshua De Leon

A Dallas, Texas-based stockbroker was sentenced to 84 months incarceration after being convicted of heading a “pump and dump” investment scheme, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.  The sentence is an immense proclamation that those who lie and manipulate the stock market will be caught and punished and their greed will be their downfall. The convicted, Joshua Wayne Lankford, was connected to a “pump and dump” investment scheme where he and several other co-conspirators were charged and convicted for buying up penny stocks and fraudulently manipulating their value and selling them at an overinflated price.  Essentially,...

A recent report has implicated Apple as one of the “largest tax avoiders” in America.  The Los Angeles Times reported that Tim Cook, Apple chief executive, testified before a Senate panel to explain Apple’s offshore banking. Of Apple’s $145 billion, the techno corporation kept $102 billion in offshore accounts, said the Senate committee.  Instead of admitting that Apple housed such an immense amount of money to avoid corporate taxes, which corporate lobbyists are trying to lower, Cook defends Apple’s practices saying that the company “not only compl(ies) with the laws but . . . compl(ies) with the spirit of...

The University of British Columbia recently published a study indicating that certain over-the-counter painkillers, like Tylenol, can be taken to relieve anxiety.  The study, as explained by doctoral student and researcher Daniel Randles, discovered that Tylenol has the ability to help people deal with the stress and anxiety associated with “existential dread,” suggesting that “anxiety about finding meaning in life and feeling physical pain may be rooted in the same part of the brain.” For instance, one part of the study, which consisted of 120 college students, involved dividing the students into two groups and giving one group of...

First off, it’s a bewilderment that people still even smoke crack, especially a politician.  Rob Ford, mayor of Toronto, was videotaped allegedly smoking crack, dubbing him around the web as a “Canadian Marion Barry.”  However, Ford’s past endeavors make Barry look like an Eagle Scout turn D.A.R.E. spokesman. Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto has fallen into to similar scandal, according to the Toronto Star.  Rob Ford has accrued a rather notorious reputation in the realm of Canadian publicity and politics.  The SFGate has indicated that Ford has faced accusations of campaign law violations, made public obscenities, being drunk in public,...

Verizon is the company that just willfully handed over the phone records of its AP journalist customers to the United States Department of Justice.  And to further twist the knife, Verizon defended its crude actions. Verizon spokeswoman, Debra Lewis, said that Verizon “complies with legal processes for requests for information by law enforcement, and don’t comment, can’t comment on any specific individual request or customer.”  It’s tough to discern what is more frightening and fearsome; the fact that Verizon, with a large and loyal customer base, just gives away its customers phone records without question or curiosity, or that...