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First Read - Obama expected to pick Army's Dempsey as next Chairman of Joint Chiefs
First Read - Obama expected to pick Army's Dempsey as next Chairman of Joint Chiefs: "From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski
Officials in the Pentagon tell NBC News that President Barack Obama is expected to call Army Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey Thursday to tell him he's been selected to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Dempsey, who had two combat commands in Iraq and as CENTCOM Commander oversaw both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, took over as Army Chief of Staff only six weeks ago.
The White House was forced to change course over questions about the personal conduct of Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman, Marine General James Cartwright, the early frontrunner for the job. While on the road, General Cartwright reportedly permitted a drunken female military aide to sleep it off in his hotel room.
Although an investigation by the Pentagon Inspector General found no evidence of any personal relationship or wrongdoing, the incident raised doubts about Cartwright's personal judgement.
If confirmed, Dempsey would takeover from the retiring Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, on October 1."
Officials in the Pentagon tell NBC News that President Barack Obama is expected to call Army Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey Thursday to tell him he's been selected to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Dempsey, who had two combat commands in Iraq and as CENTCOM Commander oversaw both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, took over as Army Chief of Staff only six weeks ago.
The White House was forced to change course over questions about the personal conduct of Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman, Marine General James Cartwright, the early frontrunner for the job. While on the road, General Cartwright reportedly permitted a drunken female military aide to sleep it off in his hotel room.
Although an investigation by the Pentagon Inspector General found no evidence of any personal relationship or wrongdoing, the incident raised doubts about Cartwright's personal judgement.
If confirmed, Dempsey would takeover from the retiring Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, on October 1."
Open Channel - CIA to search bin Laden compound
Open Channel - CIA to search bin Laden compound: "By Robert Windrem
NBC News investigative producer for special projects
U.S. officials confirm the Washington Post report that Pakistan has agreed to allow the CIA to send a forensics team to examine the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed as Islamabad tries to repair relations with its largest benefactor.
Under the agreement, the CIA has 'permission to use sophisticated equipment in a search for al-Qaeda materials that may have been hidden inside walls or buried at the site,' the Post reported.
The U.S. apparently also will get access to any materials gathered by Pakistani security forces after the May 2 raid in Abbottabad. NBC News has reported that 'operational logs' of al-Qaeda were retrieved by the Pakistanis in the days after the assault on the compound. Most, if not all, of the materials seized by the Navy SEALs that morning were grabbed from bin Laden's bedroom office. The SEALS simply didn't have time to conduct a more thorough search.
There is speculation that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may visit Pakistan this weekend. So, it's not a bad thing for Pakistan to grant this another access in advance of her rumored trip."
Congress votes to extend Patriot Act provisions - Politics - Capitol Hill - msnbc.com
Congress votes to extend Patriot Act provisions - Politics - Capitol Hill - msnbc.com: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks to reporters following a budget vote late in the day on Wednesday at the Capitol in Washington.
By JIM ABRAMS
updated 1 hour 45 minutes ago
Share Print Font:
WASHINGTON — Congress on Thursday passed a four-year extension of post-Sept. 11 powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists. Votes taken in rapid succession in the Senate and House came after lawmakers rejected attempts to temper the law enforcement powers to ensure that individual liberties are not abused."
Following the 250-153 evening vote in the House, the legislation to renew three terrorism-fighting authorities headed for the president's signature with only hours to go before the provisions expire at midnight.
With Obama currently in Europe, the White House said the president would use an autopen machine that holds a pen and signs his actual signature. It is only used with proper authorization of the president. Obama will be awakened at 5:45 a.m. in France so he can review and approve the bill and authorize his signature, the White House said.
A short-term expiration would not interrupt ongoing operations but would bar the government from seeking warrants for new investigations.
Congress bumped up against the deadline mainly because of the stubborn resistance from a single senator, Republican freshman Rand Paul of Kentucky, who saw the terrorist-hunting powers as an abuse of privacy rights. Paul held up the final vote for several days while he demanded a chance to change the bill to diminish the government's ability to monitor individual actions. The bill passed the Senate 72-23.
The measure would add four years to the legal life of roving wiretaps — those authorized for a person rather than a communications line or device — of court-ordered searches of business records and of surveillance of non-American "lone wolf" suspects without confirmed ties to terrorist groups.
'Lone wolf' provision
The roving wiretaps and access to business records are small parts of the USA Patriot Act enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But unlike most of the act, which is permanent law, those provisions must be renewed periodically because of concerns that they could be used to violate privacy rights. The same applies to the "lone wolf" provision, which was part of a 2004 intelligence law.
Paul argued that in the rush to meet the terrorist threat in 2001 Congress enacted a Patriot Act that tramples on individual liberties. He had some backing from liberal Democrats and civil liberties groups who have long contended the law gives the government authority to spy on innocent citizens.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he voted for the act when he was a House member in 2001 "while ground zero was still burning." But "I soon realized it gave too much power to government without enough judicial and congressional oversight."
Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said the provision on collecting business records can expose law-abiding citizens to government scrutiny. "If we cannot limit investigations to terrorism or other nefarious activities, where do they end?" he asked.
"The Patriot Act has been used improperly again and again by law enforcement to invade Americans' privacy and violate their constitutional rights," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington legislative office.
Still, coming just a month after intelligence and military forces tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden, there was little appetite for tampering with the terrorism-fighting tools. These tools, said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, "have kept us safe for nearly a decade and Americans today should be relieved and reassured to know that these programs will continue."
Intelligence officials have denied improper use of surveillance tools, and this week both FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sent letters to congressional leaders warning of serious national security consequences if the provisions were allowed to lapse.
The Obama administration says that without the three authorities the FBI might not be able to obtain information on terrorist plotting inside the U.S. and that a terrorist who communicates using different cell phones and email accounts could escape timely surveillance.
"When the clock strikes midnight tomorrow, we would be giving terrorists the opportunity to plot attacks against our country, undetected," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor Wednesday. In unusually personal criticism of a fellow senator, he warned that Paul, by blocking swift passage of the bill, "is threatening to take away the best tools we have for stopping them."
Nation divided
The nation itself is divided over the Patriot Act, as reflected in a Pew Research Center poll last February, before the killing of bin Laden, that found that 34 percent felt the law "goes too far and poses a threat to civil liberties. Some 42 percent considered it "a necessary tool that helps the government find terrorists." That was a slight turnaround from 2004 when 39 percent thought it went too far and 33 percent said it was necessary.
Paul, after complaining that Reid's remarks were "personally insulting," asked whether the nation "should have some rules that say before they come into your house, before they go into your banking records, that a judge should be asked for permission, that there should be judicial review? Do we want a lawless land?"
Paul agreed to let the bill go forward after he was given a vote on two amendments to rein in government surveillance powers. Both were soundly defeated. The more controversial, an amendment that would have restricted powers to obtain gun records in terrorist investigations, was defeated 85-10 after lawmakers received a letter from the National Rifle Association stating that it was not taking a position on the measure.
According to a senior Justice Department national security official testifying to Congress last March, the government has sought roving wiretap authority in about 20 cases a year between 2001 and 2010 and has sought warrants for business records less than 40 times a year, on average. The government has yet to use the lone wolf authority.
But the ACLU also points out that court approvals for business record access jumped from 21 in 2009 to 96 last year, and the organization contends the Patriot Act has blurred the line between investigations of actual terrorists and those not suspected of doing anything wrong.
Two Democratic critics of the Patriot Act, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Udall of Colorado, on Thursday extracted a promise from Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that she would hold hearings with intelligence and law enforcement officials on how the law is being carried out.
Wyden says that while there are numerous interpretations of how the Patriot Act works, the official government interpretation of the law remains classified. "A significant gap has developed now between what the public thinks the law says and what the government secretly claims it says," Wyden said.
___
Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman and Pete Yost contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You | Cracked.com
6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You | Cracked.com:
Cezary Jan Strusiewicz 2,414,869 views
Read more: 6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you.html#ixzz1NW0yX8aZ
"We are so lucky to be living in an era of law when it's no longer common for, say, suspects to be interrogated with live cobras tied to the ends of nightsticks. Unfortunately, there are still many colorful ways the police can royally screw you while Lady Justice shrugs.
For instance, you might be surprised to learn that right now in the U.S., it's actually legal for the cops to..."
#6. Steal Your Stuff
Imagine you had your car stolen, but then fortune smiles upon you and the cops find it after the thief used it to smuggle 200 pounds of cocaine across the border, running over 30 children in the process while sexually assaulting the car itself.
You realize you're going to need to get all of its fluids replaced from a mechanic with a soft voice and gentle hands, but you still want it back, because hey, it's your car, right?
Yeeeah, there's some bad news: It has been sold to buy a new espresso machine for the station's break room.
It's called civil asset forfeiture. You probably already have heard of something like this, where the police get to seize the car and house of some drug kingpin and stick the money in the department's budget (that's criminal forfeiture).
But then there's this loophole where the police can seize anything they suspect has been used in a crime, even if it doesn't belong to the criminal, and even if there hasn't been a conviction.
"Let's take the jet. Those bootlegged DVDs from China had to get here somehow."
Then if you, as the actual owner of the goods, try to challenge it, the burden of proof is on you to prove you didn't know it was going to be used in a crime. That's civil forfeiture.
For the police, there is no legal requirement to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that, say, your TV set was once used by a ring of Dutch pedophiles to view kiddie porn. They can simply take it, without ever giving it back, even if they never formally charge anyone for a crime.
You're Shitting Me!
In 2004, Zaher El-Ali, a Jordanian immigrant and U.S. citizen, sold a truck to a man who agreed to pay for it in installments. Before he could finish the payments though, the man was arrested for drunk driving and the truck was seized. Seeing as the car still legally belonged to Zaher (he still had the title), he demanded it back. The police refused, and possibly laughed.
Because civil forfeitures are so simple, over 40 percent of police executives admitted their budgets depend on cash from them. That means each year, those stations have a quota of forfeitures to fill and technically there is really no stopping them from filling it with YOUR Xbox.
#5. Guess Your Car's Speed and Ticket You For It
Does this scenario sound familiar to you?
Cop: Sir, do you know how fast you were going?
You: Oh, couldn't have been more than 40, 42.
Cop: Sir, it was over 100. I have it on my radar.
You: I see.
Cop: Sir, where are your pants?
You: That's actually a very funny story, officer...
"All the drug money in the pockets was weighing me down."
Luckily, those days are in the past. Not the part about "spending the night in jail for driving bottomless around school zones," the radar thing. Police don't need them anymore because now they can just guess your speed and ticket you based on that.
That's as of June 2010, when the Ohio Supreme Court decided in a 5-1 ruling that a trained officer doesn't need any of those newfangled gizmos to determine if a car was speeding. In accordance with the ruling, the visual estimate of an experienced police officer is enough to convict anyone of speeding, without the need for pesky wastes of time like independent verification and evidence.
Some might argue that this grants too much power to the police, but really, what's the worst thing that could happen?
A horrible movie gets made.
You're Shitting Me!
Mark Jenney of Akron definitely wasn't the first person to ever get ticketed without a radar reading. But unlike other motorists, he refused to take it lying down and fought back, all the way to the state's Supreme Court.
Sure, in the end he lost and had to pay his ticket, involuntarily helping to legalize radar-less ticketing and probably losing a shit-heap of money in attorney fees but... wait, we forgot where we were going with this.
Was it, "Next time, just pay the damn ticket?"
#4. Arrest You For Drinking in a Bar
Picture yourself on a typical Wednesday morning, hunched over a shot of whiskey ready to commit mass murder on your brain cells, the smug little bastards. After taking one sip, a bunch of cops burst in and tackle you to the ground. In your state of shock and confusion you apologize for drinking and beg them not to tell your parents. It takes several minutes before you realize that you are 26, live alone and that you were just arrested for tasting alcohol in a bar.
Yeah, they got me for assault.
That's the scenario in states with very broad Public Intoxication laws, like Texas. In 2006, Texas scored the highest number of drunk-driving fatalities in the country and, after determining that this was the rare problem that could not be blamed on immigrants or homosexuals, state officials decided to do something about it.
First, they fired a bunch of guns to clear their heads. Then they moved on.
Namely, they dusted off an old 1993 law and gang-interpreted it atop a pinball machine until it somehow became legal to arrest people for so much as being near a bottle of booze, anywhere. Including in a bar.
We're not exaggerating for the sake of comedy here. Not only have they decided a bar is part of the "public" that "public intoxication" forbids, but they don't even require a breathalyzer test to determine if a suspect really is drunk. They can make arrests based on nothing more than their hunches.
You're Shitting Me!
In June 2009, Fort Worth officers used the new public intoxications regulations to arrest a bunch of folks at local bars that, by the way, happened to be the area gay and Hispanic bars. Naturally, according to witness testimonies, none of the arrestees were actually drunk, though they were dangerously brownish/homosexual.
So that's what happened to Ricky Martin.
Damn, you mean the police are abusing a law that basically allows them to arrest anyone they please as long as there is some alcohol in their vicinity? In the South?
Read more: 6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you.html#ixzz1NW18wHju
"In the face! IN THE FACE!"
"Memorizing is also a sort of recording. Stop remembering this!"
"Why does he have so many pictures of his balls on here?"
Yeeeah I am thinking NOT.
He's not telling you about the fish he caught last year.
No, no, she's cool. Said she never used a condom in her life. You think I should ask her out?
She knits all her own condoms.
"Can I get a 'prostitute stew' with a 'handjob salad' please?"
"Let this one go, she doesn't have any condoms on her."
And we have to surf the bestiality sites to make sure our good name isn't sullied.
"Did I overdo it with the syphilis and incest rape? Probably not."
Or, in Bruce Wayne's case, the Batman.
Yeah, Dawson: D-A-W-S-
Read more: 6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you_p2.html#ixzz1NW1fqInH
Cezary Jan Strusiewicz 2,414,869 views
Read more: 6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you.html#ixzz1NW0yX8aZ
"We are so lucky to be living in an era of law when it's no longer common for, say, suspects to be interrogated with live cobras tied to the ends of nightsticks. Unfortunately, there are still many colorful ways the police can royally screw you while Lady Justice shrugs.
For instance, you might be surprised to learn that right now in the U.S., it's actually legal for the cops to..."
#6. Steal Your Stuff
Imagine you had your car stolen, but then fortune smiles upon you and the cops find it after the thief used it to smuggle 200 pounds of cocaine across the border, running over 30 children in the process while sexually assaulting the car itself.
You realize you're going to need to get all of its fluids replaced from a mechanic with a soft voice and gentle hands, but you still want it back, because hey, it's your car, right?
Yeeeah, there's some bad news: It has been sold to buy a new espresso machine for the station's break room.
It's called civil asset forfeiture. You probably already have heard of something like this, where the police get to seize the car and house of some drug kingpin and stick the money in the department's budget (that's criminal forfeiture).
But then there's this loophole where the police can seize anything they suspect has been used in a crime, even if it doesn't belong to the criminal, and even if there hasn't been a conviction.
"Let's take the jet. Those bootlegged DVDs from China had to get here somehow."
Then if you, as the actual owner of the goods, try to challenge it, the burden of proof is on you to prove you didn't know it was going to be used in a crime. That's civil forfeiture.
For the police, there is no legal requirement to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that, say, your TV set was once used by a ring of Dutch pedophiles to view kiddie porn. They can simply take it, without ever giving it back, even if they never formally charge anyone for a crime.
You're Shitting Me!
In 2004, Zaher El-Ali, a Jordanian immigrant and U.S. citizen, sold a truck to a man who agreed to pay for it in installments. Before he could finish the payments though, the man was arrested for drunk driving and the truck was seized. Seeing as the car still legally belonged to Zaher (he still had the title), he demanded it back. The police refused, and possibly laughed.
Because civil forfeitures are so simple, over 40 percent of police executives admitted their budgets depend on cash from them. That means each year, those stations have a quota of forfeitures to fill and technically there is really no stopping them from filling it with YOUR Xbox.
#5. Guess Your Car's Speed and Ticket You For It
Does this scenario sound familiar to you?
Cop: Sir, do you know how fast you were going?
You: Oh, couldn't have been more than 40, 42.
Cop: Sir, it was over 100. I have it on my radar.
You: I see.
Cop: Sir, where are your pants?
You: That's actually a very funny story, officer...
"All the drug money in the pockets was weighing me down."
Luckily, those days are in the past. Not the part about "spending the night in jail for driving bottomless around school zones," the radar thing. Police don't need them anymore because now they can just guess your speed and ticket you based on that.
That's as of June 2010, when the Ohio Supreme Court decided in a 5-1 ruling that a trained officer doesn't need any of those newfangled gizmos to determine if a car was speeding. In accordance with the ruling, the visual estimate of an experienced police officer is enough to convict anyone of speeding, without the need for pesky wastes of time like independent verification and evidence.
Some might argue that this grants too much power to the police, but really, what's the worst thing that could happen?
A horrible movie gets made.
You're Shitting Me!
Mark Jenney of Akron definitely wasn't the first person to ever get ticketed without a radar reading. But unlike other motorists, he refused to take it lying down and fought back, all the way to the state's Supreme Court.
Sure, in the end he lost and had to pay his ticket, involuntarily helping to legalize radar-less ticketing and probably losing a shit-heap of money in attorney fees but... wait, we forgot where we were going with this.
Was it, "Next time, just pay the damn ticket?"
#4. Arrest You For Drinking in a Bar
Picture yourself on a typical Wednesday morning, hunched over a shot of whiskey ready to commit mass murder on your brain cells, the smug little bastards. After taking one sip, a bunch of cops burst in and tackle you to the ground. In your state of shock and confusion you apologize for drinking and beg them not to tell your parents. It takes several minutes before you realize that you are 26, live alone and that you were just arrested for tasting alcohol in a bar.
Yeah, they got me for assault.
That's the scenario in states with very broad Public Intoxication laws, like Texas. In 2006, Texas scored the highest number of drunk-driving fatalities in the country and, after determining that this was the rare problem that could not be blamed on immigrants or homosexuals, state officials decided to do something about it.
First, they fired a bunch of guns to clear their heads. Then they moved on.
Namely, they dusted off an old 1993 law and gang-interpreted it atop a pinball machine until it somehow became legal to arrest people for so much as being near a bottle of booze, anywhere. Including in a bar.
We're not exaggerating for the sake of comedy here. Not only have they decided a bar is part of the "public" that "public intoxication" forbids, but they don't even require a breathalyzer test to determine if a suspect really is drunk. They can make arrests based on nothing more than their hunches.
You're Shitting Me!
In June 2009, Fort Worth officers used the new public intoxications regulations to arrest a bunch of folks at local bars that, by the way, happened to be the area gay and Hispanic bars. Naturally, according to witness testimonies, none of the arrestees were actually drunk, though they were dangerously brownish/homosexual.
So that's what happened to Ricky Martin.
Damn, you mean the police are abusing a law that basically allows them to arrest anyone they please as long as there is some alcohol in their vicinity? In the South?
Read more: 6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you.html#ixzz1NW18wHju
#3.
Arrest You For Filming Them
If you search for "asshole cop" on YouTube you will instantly get hundreds if not thousands of videos of some police officer tasing or otherwise abusing some kid or grandmother who may or may not deserve it. Police abuse videos surely are the fastest growing segment of online entertainment.
"In the face! IN THE FACE!"
Sadly, that entire genre might be on its way out. Currently, three states had made it illegal to film on-duty police officers, even (and especially) if they are beating up handicapped minorities in the middle of the town square.
"Memorizing is also a sort of recording. Stop remembering this!"
In Illinois, Massachusetts and Maryland, they require both parties to consent to any recording for it to be legal. So, that cop whom you just filmed spouting profanities that reinvent the very idea of racism? Unless he always dreamt of being an Internet sensation, he can easily bust your ass and confiscate your camera.
"Why does he have so many pictures of his balls on here?"
There are 12 states in total that enforce an all-party-consent law, but only three interpret it to include public places of gathering with absolutely no expectation of privacy. So on one hand, that kind of sucks for people trying to record police misconduct, but on the other, hey, apparently security cameras are now illegal in parts of the Northeast! Looting party next week!
Yeeeah I am thinking NOT.
You're Shitting Me!
Earlier this year, a Chicago man by the name of Christopher Drew was arrested for peddling goods without a license - a misdemeanor only slightly more socially-damaging than stealing garbage. But because he videotaped the arrest, Drew is now being charged with illegal recording, a class I felony punishable with up to 15 years of sharing a prison-cell with a 300 pound mountain of perversity named Bubba.
He's not telling you about the fish he caught last year.
The case of Anthony Graber is even more disturbing. On March 5, Graber was pulled over for speeding and immediately had a gun pulled on him by an off-duty policeman. Luckily, his helmet had a built-in camera, so after 10 days, the video of this encounter hit YouTube.
This magically elevated Graber's speeding to an "egregious traffic violation" and had him arrested for breaking wiretapping laws... punishable by up to 16 years in prison. We're pretty sure you get less than that for having a flamethrower strapped to your helmet.
#2.
Book You For Carrying Condoms
Spotting a prostitute can prove to be one of the most important skills you will ever learn, especially when it comes to telling real hookers from undercover cops. And thus, we present you with this wonderful bit of information on proper Whore Identification: In Washington, D.C. women carrying more than two condoms on themselves are considered prostitutes and can be arrested as such.
No, no, she's cool. Said she never used a condom in her life. You think I should ask her out?
Or at least that's the case in D.C.'s designated Prostitution Free Zones. You can't be having prostitutes in your Prostitution Free Zones--that would defeat their very purpose--so is it really an overreaction of the D.C. police for arresting all women "congregating without a destination" in PFZs with at least three condoms in their purses? After all, those are the internationally recognized signs of people who takes stranger dick into their bodies for money.
She knits all her own condoms.
Come on, three entire condoms should be enough to last a typical person an entire lifetime of sexual activity. That's why they only sell them individually at ridiculously marked-up prices. Add such suspicious behavior as "hanging out" into the mix and you have all the ingredients for Prostitute Stew.
"Can I get a 'prostitute stew' with a 'handjob salad' please?"
You're Shitting Me!
The new practice has already caught the attention of various women rights groups around the country, and not just because innocent girls are possibly being thrown into holding cells with women that go by names like "Discount Debbie." The main worry here is all that delicious AIDS the real working girls are spreading like well, like working girls who suddenly found condoms to be a huge liability.
"Let this one go, she doesn't have any condoms on her."
Man, who could have predicted that with the new Rubber Standard most prostitutes wouldn't clean up their acts and go get MBAs or something, but rather start doing it without protection?
#1.
Steal Your Identity
For the last couple of years, Identity Theft has been the exalted Grand Poobah of the American Paranoia Club, and for good reasons. The thought that someone out there might go into a long, prosperous career in bestiality porn, using our name and credit to fund it, constantly keeps us up at night.
And we have to surf the bestiality sites to make sure our good name isn't sullied.
But you know what would be even scarier? If it was the police who took your identity and then created an entire new chapter in your life, one where they made you, like, a stripper from Ohio. Which is something the law actually permits them to do.
"Did I overdo it with the syphilis and incest rape? Probably not."
This used to be illegal no more than eight years ago, but it all changed when Ohio passed a new law aimed at combating, ironically, identity theft. The 2002 law allows law enforcement agencies to take anyone's personal information (driver's license number, Social Security Number, etc.) and give it to an agent to use while undercover.
That in itself wouldn't be so bad if the cops were using your identity to pose as somebody cool, like a mafia hitman or a T-Rex.
Or, in Bruce Wayne's case, the Batman.
Sadly, the reality is most often less professional assassins and more street walkers or nude dancers.
You're Shitting Me!
As far as we know, Haley Dawson has never taken her clothes off professionally. But for one month in 2003, a woman with the same name, address and SSN danced naked in front of a bunch of drunkards and Internet perverts at a strip-joint in Troy, Ohio. That woman was actually Michelle Szuhay, a criminal-justice student participating in an undercover police operation, using Dawson's identity as her cover.
Yeah, Dawson: D-A-W-S-
Naturally, the real Ms. Dawson wasn't informed that her good name was being tarnished and fantasized about by sweaty middle-aged guys for over 30 days. But it was all worth it, after local liquor-agents could charge the owner of the club with two misdemeanor charges of furnishing alcohol without a permit. The ends justify the means, people!
Cezary Jan Strusiewicz is a freelance online journalist and Japanese-English-Polish translator. Contact him via c.j.strusiewicz@gmail.com
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Read more: 6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you_p2.html#ixzz1NW1fqInH
Muslim group: two imams pulled from plane bound for North Carolina - CNN.com
Muslim group: two imams pulled from plane bound for North Carolina - CNN.com: "(CNN) -- An airline is investigating the removal of two imams from a flight headed to North Carolina, ostensibly because passengers felt uncomfortable with their presence of the pair -- both clad in Islamic attire.
The incident occurred Friday on an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight from Tennessee to North Carolina and it involved Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul were wearing traditional Muslim dress, CNN affiliate WCNC reported."
Rahman, who is a professor at the University of Memphis, told the affiliate that the incident reminded him of the prejudice Rosa Parks faced during the civil rights movement.
"That history I found today in that plane, and it shouldn't happen with any other person," he said.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which operated the flight, said the incident is under investigation, and apologized "for any inconvenience that this may have caused."
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations, told CNN the two men contacted his office and said they were told that passengers were uncomfortable with them on the flight.
"They went through security, even went through secondary security, and got on the plane, were taxiing out," he said.
But then, they were taxied back, Hooper said.
"TSA came on and pulled them off and said the pilot was refusing to fly with them because passengers were uncomfortable with them," Hooper said, referring to the Transportation Security Administration.
Hooper said officials re-screened them and found they were no threat.
While officials tried to get the men back on the plane, "the pilot absolutely refused and ultimately took off," Hooper said.
The airlines did not say why the two men were taken off the flight, but said they were given the opportunity to fly on a different flight.
"Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 5452 from Memphis to Charlotte returned to the gate to allow for additional screening of a passenger and the passenger's companion," the statement said. "We take security and safety very seriously, and the event is currently under investigation."
CNN's Rick Martin, Craig Bell and Maria Ebrahimji contributed to this report.
The incident occurred Friday on an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight from Tennessee to North Carolina and it involved Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul were wearing traditional Muslim dress, CNN affiliate WCNC reported."
Rahman, who is a professor at the University of Memphis, told the affiliate that the incident reminded him of the prejudice Rosa Parks faced during the civil rights movement.
"That history I found today in that plane, and it shouldn't happen with any other person," he said.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which operated the flight, said the incident is under investigation, and apologized "for any inconvenience that this may have caused."
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations, told CNN the two men contacted his office and said they were told that passengers were uncomfortable with them on the flight.
"They went through security, even went through secondary security, and got on the plane, were taxiing out," he said.
But then, they were taxied back, Hooper said.
"TSA came on and pulled them off and said the pilot was refusing to fly with them because passengers were uncomfortable with them," Hooper said, referring to the Transportation Security Administration.
Hooper said officials re-screened them and found they were no threat.
While officials tried to get the men back on the plane, "the pilot absolutely refused and ultimately took off," Hooper said.
The airlines did not say why the two men were taken off the flight, but said they were given the opportunity to fly on a different flight.
"Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 5452 from Memphis to Charlotte returned to the gate to allow for additional screening of a passenger and the passenger's companion," the statement said. "We take security and safety very seriously, and the event is currently under investigation."
CNN's Rick Martin, Craig Bell and Maria Ebrahimji contributed to this report.
Ex-Bosnian leader to head home after court ruling frees him - CNN.com
Ex-Bosnian leader to head home after court ruling frees him - CNN.com: "London, England (CNN) -- Former Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic will leave London for Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Wednesday, a day after a British court ruled that he not be extradited to Serbia.
Ganic called the extradition request 'a textbook example of abuse,' accusing the Serbian government of trying to 'undermine the judiciary in this country.'
The extradition request was politically motivated, Justice Timothy Workman found in throwing it out."
Ganic called the extradition request 'a textbook example of abuse,' accusing the Serbian government of trying to 'undermine the judiciary in this country.'
The extradition request was politically motivated, Justice Timothy Workman found in throwing it out."
"No striking or substantial new evidence" was brought against him, the judge ruled.
Ganic, who was arrested at England's Heathrow Airport in March at Serbia's request, is wanted in Serbia for conspiracy to murder in breach of the Geneva Conventions, a spokesman at Britain's Foreign Office said.
Ganic's lawyer, Stephen Gentle, denied that he had any role in the 1992 killings in question. In April, Gentle said that "the extradition request is politically motivated. It is legally flawed, and he has nothing to hide."
Ganic was the vice president of Bosnia during the civil war there between 1992 and 1995 and was twice president of the Bosnian-Croat Federation in the years following the 1995 Dayton peace agreement. Many independent commentators at the time regarded Ganic as a relative moderate in the wartime Bosnian leadership.
Though Bosnian, Ganic was born in Serbia and speaks with a recognizable Serbian accent. He holds dual nationality in the former Yugoslav republics.
CNN's Andrew Carey contributed to this report.
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