Recently, Rex Rammell declared that he wanted to buy some Obama tags, presumably for hunting the President of the United States.
Any gubernatorial candidate should be aware that threats against the President carry a fine and prison term of p to five years. (See 18 USC §871).
I had a good laugh viewing the Wonder Bread Intoxilyzer video on the Pinellas County Florida Criminal Lawyer Blog. Basically, it shows a man blowing a 0.025 BAC level after consuming a few slices of Wonder Bread. Instead of the Twinkie defense, will we soon be hearing about the Wonder Bread defense. Will drivers start stashing an open container of Wonder Bread in their vehicles so that if they were ever pulled over, they can just blame the bread?
I spotted this headline in the Washington Post: Arrest in Chandra Levy Case ‘Imminent’. Of course, the only question in my mind was whether or not the person that was going to be arrested was Gary Condit. After all, I haven’t heard of any other name associated with the case. Well, it’s not him.
Also, talk about misleading headlines. The actual quote was that an arrest warrant is imminent in the next couple of days. Well, as we all know, an arrest warrant is not the same thing as an arrest because the authorization to arrest an individual is not the same as actually arresting the individual. A court may issue an arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden, but good luck tracking him down and actually arresting him. Additionally, I wouldn’t say “in the next couple of days” qualifies as being imminent. I think of imminent as happening some time this afternoon, not the next few days.
On January 1, California prohibited persons from texting while driving. This new law, found in California Vehicle Code Section 23123.5, covers activities beyond text messaging. Specifically, the section states
A person shall not drive a motor vehicle while using an electronic wireless communications device to write, send or read a text-based communication.
The code further states that this prohibition applies to text messages, instant messages and electronic mails. Now, for the strange part. The code specifically excludes “read[ing], select[ing] or enter[ing] a telephone number or name … for the purpose of making or receiving a telephone call.” So, some form of text input is apparently safe, but not others.
The real quirk is the focus on text-based communication. Video conferencing? Gaming? Entering text into an electronic diary? Maintaining a to-do list? Not prohibited by this law.
San Francisco Chronicle: 8 Crack Dealers Shielded by S.F. Walk Away. An effort by San Francisco to shield eight young Honduran crack dealers from federal immigration officials backfired when the youths escaped from Southern California group homes within days of their arrival, officials said Monday.
I understand how some local governments don’t want to demonize illegal aliens. They’re not illegal, they’re undocumented. 🙄 However, you should distinguish between the hard-working guy scrubbing dishes in the restaurant and the crack dealer, right?
The IRS is conducting an investigation to determine the tax liabilities of US taxpayers who have signature authority over bank accounts at or over American Express, MasterCard, or Visa credit, debit or charge cards issued by banks or other financial institutions in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey/Sark/Alderney, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Samoa, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Switzerland, Turks and Caicos and Vanuatu.
For this investigation, the IRS has sought account records from PayPal, as well as from MasterCard International and VISA International.
And, how does the IRS go about finding these offshore tax havens? Here’s the money quote:
I have reviewed various offshore/tax haven related Web sites on the Internet. A search of the Internet with any search engine using the key words “offshore” or “tax haven” will produce a very large number of hits.
So, while offshore banks can use websites to market to American taxpayers, the IRS, powered by Google, can also find these same websites and figure out which individuals or institutions may dedicated to helping individuals with significant assets preserve or enhance their wealth with anonymity and ease through offshore bank accounts and credit cards.
We are all familiar with the $10,000 cash transaction limit that triggers certain bank reporting requirements. So, presuming that Eliot Spitzer operated under this threshold, how does an experienced former prosecutor get caught shuffling money around to support a “private matter”?Well, Sharon Imhoff explains it all.
Reuters: Marion Jones Tells Oprah She was Tired of the Lies. “Disgraced Olympian Marion Jones [was] stripped of her medals and fac[es] six months in prison.
Her crime? Lying to prosecutors about her steroid use. Should have just asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Perjury is a B.S. offense. Sure, we don’t want people lying under oath to prosecutors or in court, but these prosecutions seem more like political stunts than true crackdowns on criminals. Doesn’t make me feel any safer knowing that Martha Stewart or Marion Jones is behind bars. I’m pretty sure that if politicians were prosecuted for lying to the American public, Congress would work pretty hard to make the crime of perjury disappear.
New York Times: Democrats Call for Inquiry in Destruction of Tapes by C.I.A. Democratic lawmakers reacted with surprise and anger today to the disclosure that the Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody.
What is the CIA’s document retention policy?
Last weekend, I had spotted Donald Kerr’s comments about reinterpreting privacy to mean that the government should have access to our private communications and financial information provided proper safeguards are in place. Who trusts the government to erect proper safeguards? Today, PC World reported that a former FBI and CIA employee had plead guilty to accessing a U.S. government computer system for unlawful purposes. The details of this case should make everyone think twice about granting the government unfettered access to all our private data.
In this case, a woman from Lebanon obtained American citizenship by entering into a fraudulent marriage. With her U.S. citizenship in hand, she was then able to secure employment with the FBI and CIA, two governmental agencies you assume would perform rigorous background checks on all their job applicants. Then, while working at the FBI, she looked up information on her family members and Hizballah. Sure, the government was able to secure a conviction, but let’s talk about those government safeguards. We’re talking about an ex-waitress and hostess at a Detroit restaurant, not a highly trained mole trying to embed into the upper echelons of our government. If she can penetrate the FBI and CIA, we’re screwed. And, all your neighbors who work for the government are reading through your file on the taxpayer’s dime. Good grief!