Escaped Egyptian tycoon attempts to smuggle out tons of antiques

Airport Customs stopped yesterday evening 100 parcels allegedly belonging to Egyptian tycoon Hussein Salem, which were headed to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The parcels weighed three tons together and included paintings, antiques, carpets, gold plated trays, gold statues, expensive watches, clocks, clothes and items that may be subject to the Egyptian Law for the Protection of Antiquities.

Sayed Ibrahim, the head of customs, said that airport officials became suspicious when they realised how heavy the packages were and decided to check their contents. He added that the parcels belong to an export company and included papers associated with a Saudi Prince and were heading to Jeddah. The bags were being smuggled by a person holding a Palestinian passport.

Ibrahim informed the airport’s prosecution office who revealed that the items belong to a businessman who is trying to smuggle them out of the country. Ibrahim adds that the items included photos of Salem with Arab leaders and kings, as well as with ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his former chief of staff Zakaria Azmi, along with a carpet with Salem’s name written on it. This led airport officials to believe that they belonged to the businessman, and a committee was formed to investigate the matter.

Salem is one of the closest friends of Mubarak and owns a significant number of touristic sites in Sharm El-Sheikh and shares in the East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG) which exports gas to Israel. On 10 March, the Cairo Criminal Court confirmed a decision to freeze all his personal and family assets. Salem fled the country on 26 January, one a day after the revolution began.

via Escaped Egyptian tycoon attempts to smuggle out tons of antiques - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online.

Escaped Egyptian tycoon attempts to smuggle out tons of antiques

Airport Customs stopped yesterday evening 100 parcels allegedly belonging to Egyptian tycoon Hussein Salem, which were headed to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The parcels weighed three tons together and included paintings, antiques, carpets, gold plated trays, gold statues, expensive watches, clocks, clothes and items that may be subject to the Egyptian Law for the Protection of Antiquities.

Sayed Ibrahim, the head of customs, said that airport officials became suspicious when they realised how heavy the packages were and decided to check their contents. He added that the parcels belong to an export company and included papers associated with a Saudi Prince and were heading to Jeddah. The bags were being smuggled by a person holding a Palestinian passport.

Ibrahim informed the airport’s prosecution office who revealed that the items belong to a businessman who is trying to smuggle them out of the country. Ibrahim adds that the items included photos of Salem with Arab leaders and kings, as well as with ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his former chief of staff Zakaria Azmi, along with a carpet with Salem’s name written on it. This led airport officials to believe that they belonged to the businessman, and a committee was formed to investigate the matter.

Salem is one of the closest friends of Mubarak and owns a significant number of touristic sites in Sharm El-Sheikh and shares in the East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG) which exports gas to Israel. On 10 March, the Cairo Criminal Court confirmed a decision to freeze all his personal and family assets. Salem fled the country on 26 January, one a day after the revolution began.

via Escaped Egyptian tycoon attempts to smuggle out tons of antiques - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online.

Minister: About 1,000 relics stolen during Egyptian uprising

Thieves stole around 1,000 relics from museums and archeological sites across Egypt since protests against the government broke out in January, Egypt's minister for antiquities Zahi Hawass said Sunday in a newspaper interview.

"We are investigating all the incidents to find the items. Up until now we have identified many culprits, criminals who were looking for gold or mummies and who lacked knowledge of the value of the items they stole," he told Spanish daily El Mundo.

"They were not organized, they lived near the archeological sites where the objects were kept. They would take advantage of the night to enter the archeological sites and pillage," he added.

"About 1,000 objects were stolen, none of them major items. There is an inventory of everything and it will be difficult for the items to leave the country."

The inventory of all the items that were stolen during the uprising and the weeks of unrest that followed will be given to UNESCO, the UN cultural agency, Hawass said.

The tomb of Hetep-ka at Saqqara and the tomb of Em-pi at Giza as well as the Egyptian museum in Cairo, which houses most of the King Tutankhamen collection, were among the places targeted by thieves, he added. ...

via Minister: About 1,000 relics stolen during Egyptian uprising | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt.

Superman comic stolen from Nicolas Cage is found

A 1938 comic featuring Superman's debut that has been recovered in a storage locker in the US appears to be the copy stolen from Nicolas Cage, police say.

The 47-year-old actor, who accepted an insurance payout after the 2000 theft, said last week's find, in Los Angeles, was "divine providence".

He said he was hopeful the "heirloom", a mint condition copy of Action Comics No 1, would be returned to his family.

In March 2010, a copy of the comic sold for $1.5m (£920,000) at a US auction.

Detective Don Hrycyk, of the Los Angeles Police Department's art theft department, said an investigation into the theft and recovery - from a locker in the San Fernando Valley - was in its early stages.

He said a number of false leads had been generated over the years, including a 2002 tip-off that the comic was in a safety deposit box in Tennessee.

When detectives followed the lead, they found a replica of the comic's cover wrapped around a woman's underwear catalogue.

Detective Hrycyk said it was unclear if Cage would be reunited with the comic and that the actor would have to work out details with the insurance company.

Action Comics No 1 - of which 100 are said to still be in existence - sold originally for 10 cents.

Comic book fan Cage was once linked to a film version of Superman and has a son called Kal-El - the birth name given to the indestructible hero.

via BBC News - Superman comic stolen from Nicolas Cage is found.

Superboy (Kal-El) is a native of the planet Krypton, the son of Jor-El, Krypton's most brilliant scientist and inventor, and his wife Lara. Finding evidence that the planet is about to be destroyed, Jor-El fails to convince the ruling Science Council, so he conducts tests with model rockets to enable his own family to escape. His tests meet with mixed success. In one experiment, Kal-El's pet dog Krypto is lost when a test rocket carrying Krypto is knocked off course by a meteor.

As Krypton's destruction approaches, Jor-El still has not built a rocket large enough to hold his family. With the planet coming apart beneath them, Jor-El and Lara put their two-year old son in a model rocket, launch it just minutes ahead of Krypton's destruction, and send Kal-El to the planet Earth. Found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, an older couple with no children of their own, the child is anonymously left at a Smallville orphanage. Some days later, the Kents successfully adopt the toddler. They name the boy Clark Kent, using Martha's maiden name for his first name. ...

On his eighth birthday, Clark dons an indestructible costume woven by Martha from the Kryptonian blankets that accompanied him on his journey to Earth. He becomes the costumed hero Superboy, the first superhero of Earth-One. Around the same time as his public debut, Superboy learns of his Kryptonian origin, and several weeks later, he gives reporter Perry White the exclusive story about his alien background. Though most of Superboy's early adventures occur in the vicinity of Smallville, he becomes famous for his superheroics around the globe. Superboy's status as both Smallville's hometown hero and as a national/global hero are reflected in the emergency-signal system that he establishes with Chief Parker of the Smallville Police and the President of the United States. As Superboy repeatedly ventures into interstellar space, his super-heroics also bring him fame on other worlds.

In Smallville, Superboy uses tunnels from the basement of the Kents' house and general store to make quick, concealed exits when Superboy is needed. Superboy also maintains a secret lab in the basement of the Kent house, where he builds Superboy and Clark Kent robots to cover for him when he is busy elsewhere or otherwise unavailable. ...

via Wikipedia

Police await lab results in newspaper bombing case

Investigators are awaiting the results of lab tests in the case of a Northern California man who was injured when an explosive device wrapped inside a newspaper exploded.Vacaville Police Lt. Randy Weaver said Tuesday the tests could help identify the chemistry of the device, the triggering mechanism and other details. It exploded March 27 in a neighborhood in Vacaville, about 30 miles west of Sacramento. Jose Sanchez-Zarco, who is 85, was critically injured when he tried to retrieve a newspaper stuffed inside a plastic bag. It was resting on the lawn between his home and a neighbor's.The blast nearly severed his right little finger and injured his leg, arm and side. He was released last week from a Sacramento hospital, but police say he will require physical therapy.

via Police await lab results in newspaper bombing case.

Following the explosion, about 50 homes were evacuated while members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) as well as the Travis Air Force Base bomb squad searched the Browns Valley neighborhood for other possible devices and began collecting evidence, which was then sent for analysis at a Walnut Creek laboratory.

According to Helen Dunkel, public information officer for ATF's San Francisco Field Division, on-scene evidence at such incidents is collected with careful attention to the preservation of any possible fingerprints or DNA that may have been left behind by the bomb maker.

She said investigators who respond to the scene of an explosion grid off the area, walking hundreds of feet back and forth looking for any remaining fragments from the device.

"You look high, you look low, you look everywhere," Dunkel said, adding that the trajectory from some explosions can launch fragments onto the roofs of neighboring houses. ...

Vacaville police Sgt. Jeff King said a week-old recording turned over to police by a Bay Area radio station on Tuesday in which a caller to a talk show complains about his elderly neighbor stealing his paper is not connected to the local investigation.

"It has nothing to do with our case," King said of the tape in which the caller threatens to "throw up" in his paper and leave it out for his neighbor to grab. ...

Anyone with information related to the attack is asked to contact the Vacaville Police Department at 449-5200, or call Crime Stoppers and leave an anonymous tip at 644-STOP. Crime Stoppers may pay up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.

via mercurynews

A guy who makes it to 85 years old shouldn't have to deal with this kind of stupid crap. I hope they find the bomber soon. I'll donate to increase the reward leading to a conviction.

How to rob me of $10 right now!

I just discovered that you can download my entire CD -- Xenophilia, Cafe of Love, from 2001 -- free on your iPhone.

Go to the App store and get the free app called "MOG".

Use the free 7 day trial then search for "Xenophilia" and tap the arrows to download all my songs to your iPhone.

Listen for free for a week, then you have to pay to keep listening.

I do not believe that I get a cent from people using the free version of this app to listen to my music.

I also do not think I get paid when people are paying $10/month to keep using the app after the trial.

Do not buy my CD on my web site, because you can get the whole thing, the Cafe of Love, at a price all iPhone users will love: FREE.

If nothing else, check out my song "Crop Circles", still one of my favorite weird songs.

Similar Artists feature

Hey neat, there is a feature to find similar artists on the MOG radio. The similar artist software found: "Wild Pack of Family Dogs" by Modest Mouse. Hmm. Nah. I like my stuff better.

But wait, "Big Dipper" by Built to Spill is great. And I really like "Cha Cha Cha" by The Little One's. Oh, and I love "Last Song" by Matt Pond, beautiful!

Okay, this is a freakin' cool app.

But it ain't right.



Related:

A website that sold Beatles songs online for 25 cents apiece before they became legally available has agreed to pay record companies nearly $1 million to settle a federal lawsuit.U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton Tucker signed off on the settlement between BlueBeat.com and music companies EMI Group PLC, Capitol Records and Virgin Records America on Friday. The judge ruled in December that the site violated the music labels' copyrights and presented unfair competition.

A trial to determine how much BlueBeat owed the companies was scheduled to begin Tuesday in Santa Ana, Calif.

BlueBeat streamed and sold music by the Fab Four and other top-name acts, including Coldplay and Lily Allen, for several days before music companies sued to shut it down in November 2009. By then, the site had already distributed more than 67,000 songs by The Beatles. - cnbc

Oh wow, I found a song I sang on with Anton Barbeau. I think that's me singing on "Please Sir I've Got A Wooden Leg" ... and at least one other song on Anton's "A Splendid Tray".

Ha, oh yeah, check out "a Robot Tells Jokes" by Doug Powell. Reminds me of good times with the comedy show.

I'm falling asleep to Bill Ives version of the Beatles song Michelle. Nicely done vocal jazz.

Then Nora Jones' "Don't Know Why" pops up and I re-live Maui and the time I almost got married. And I see clearly for a heartbeat or two that I'm a fool hiding from the sick and wicked world, and missing, in my suit of armor, the ability to touch my dream ... I drift asleep... and the iPhone I'm writing this on slips from my fingers and floats to the floor in slow motion.

Police: Pennsylvania Woman Hid 54 Bags of Heroin, Money in Her Vagina

David Lohr - Authorities in Pennsylvania arrested a 27-year-old woman who they say hid more than 100 items -- including 54 bags of heroin and loose change -- in her vagina.

Investigators took Karin Mackaliunas into custody last weekend after she was involved in a motor vehicle crash, according to police in Scranton. Officers in nearby Dunmore heard about the accident and, suspecting that she had been involved in the recent burglary of a local inn, asked Scranton police to detain Mackaliunas for questioning.

During a routine search, Scranton police Officer Nancy Baumann found three bags of heroin inside Mackaliunas' coat, records show. Baumann placed Mackaliunas in the back of the patrol car and was taking her to police headquarters when she noticed Mackaliunas fidgeting. The two women then got into a struggle, after which Mackaliunas asked to speak with another officer, whom she told she had "hidden more heroin in her vagina," according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators took Mackaliunas to Community Medical Center for further examination, police said. Doctors there retrieved "up 54 bags of heroin, 31 empty bags used to package heroin, 8.5 prescription pills and $51.22" during a cavity search, according to the criminal complaint.

Mackaliunas was jailed on $25,000 bail on charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of possession of a controlled substance, police said.

She is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing sometime today. It is not clear whether she has an attorney.

via Police: Pennsylvania Woman Hid 54 Bags of Heroin, Money in Her Vagina.

If you count the atoms, she probably hid billions of items up there.  Here's hoping Karin gets some help to recover and get back on the right track.  Getting busted may end up saving her life if she turns it around.

Heroin (known on the streets as horse, smack, big H, black tar, caballo, junk, TNT, skag, chiva, gear, Evil, "H", and "Boy") is a highly addictive drug made from the opium poppy. - link

University of Adelaide researchers have made a breakthrough in the treatment of heroin addiction which could improve treatment success rates for millions of heroin users around the world.  Researchers in the Discipline of Pharmacology have discovered a genetic variation that may help determine the most effective methadone dosage levels for individual heroin addicts. The genetic discovery reveals why some people are either less efficient or more effective in distributing drugs throughout their body to the central nervous system. Lead researcher Dr Janet Coller says accurate dosing of methadone is essential to successfully treat drug addicts because up to 62% fail to remain in the methadone program due to the severe withdrawal symptoms. "Individualised dosing may decrease the incidence of withdrawal symptoms in some people and therefore encourage them to continue with the methadone treatment." An estimated 10 million people worldwide are heroin dependent, including 74,000 Australians, incurring enormous health, social and economic costs. "More than 40,000 people are undergoing methadone treatment in Australia and only 38% of them are staying in the program at the moment. Most drop out at the start of the treatment when the withdrawal effects are severe," Dr Coller says.

via Jan. 29, 2007,  ScienceDaily

 

Call-Forwarding Scam Reappears: Don't Be Tricked Into Dialing *72

Officials are warning people to be careful of an old con that's popped up again -- the call forwarding scam.

Victims often think they're doing a kindness to a stranger or for a friend. The phone rings, usually late at night, and callers tell the victim someone has been injured, and to contact an officer at the scene.

How to get the officer? By dialing *72, then a phone number.

But that *72 only activates the call forwarding function -- letting the con artists make collect phone calls and pay-per call services on your dime. Many people don't find out they've been conned until they receive a whopping phone bill.

It's recently been an issue in Michigan, where the Isabella County Sheriff's office issued a warning.

A similar scam involved someone claiming to be an inmate, saying he dialed the wrong number, explaining he has been arrested -- and please dial *72 and the "right number" so he can reach his mother or family.

That's how the scam started in 2004, when Cook County Jail inmates in Chicago used *72 to make hundreds of long-distance calls, all paid for by someone else.

Better Business Bureau officials say consumers who fall for the scam should dial *73 to deactivate the feature and report unauthorized charges to their phone companies.

via Call-Forwarding Scam Reappears: Don't Be Tricked Into Dialing *72.

An MP3 can be used to hack your car

Hackers could gain access to a vehicle’s computer systems remotely, security experts from the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Washington have found.

In one example, cellphone hardware installed in luxury cars was attacked, allowing the team to inject malicious code into the car’s electronic controls. In theory, hackers could then sell the car to a thief, giving them its location and unlocking it remotely. The team also managed to take control of the car using a Trojan app on a phone that used an Android operating system and had been paired with the car’s Bluetooth system.

The researchers were able to show that software embedded in an MP3 file could install itself into the car’s firmware, enabling similar exploits to those above. If the car had a self-parking system, it could in theory be driven away by the hacker.

via How an MP3 can be used to hack your car | KurzweilAI.

U.S. man convicted of encouraging suicides

The former Minnesota nurse who targeted depressed people online, including Carleton University student Nadia Kajouji, has been found guilty of aiding two suicides.

William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, of Faribault, Minn., was charged in April with two counts of aiding suicide in the 2005 hanging death of Mark Drybrough, 32, of Coventry, England, and the March 2008 drowning of Kajouji, 18, of Brampton, Ont.

Melchert-Dinkel had declined a jury trial and left his fate to a judge in Minnesota. That judge issued his decision Tuesday.

Kajouji's older brother said he's glad to close this chapter, even though it won't bring his sister back.

"It shows that this crime isn't going unpunished and that's the bottom line," Marc Kajouji, 32, said from Brampton. "It could be a deterrent for the future."

Prosecutors say Melchert-Dinkel cruised chat rooms for depressed people, posed as a female nurse, feigned compassion, and entered fake suicide pacts or gave instructions on how they could kill themselves.

They said Melchert-Dinkel acknowledged participating in online chats about suicide with up to 20 people and entering into fake suicide pacts with about 10 people, five of whom he believed killed themselves. ...

via U.S. man convicted of encouraging suicides - Toronto - CBC News.

Swedish police seize musical deadly weapon

When police raided a home in Luleå in northern Sweden last November they discovered a small arsenal of weapons, including a shot-gun built into a guitar.The police had received a tip off that the 54-year-old man was hoarding a bevy of unlicensed firearms in his house and performed a raid.

"They are therapy to keep off the drink," the man told police interrogators, according to the local Norrländska Demokraten (NSD).

Aside from the six more conventional weapons found in the apartment and a quantity of ammunition, police discovered that a wall-mounted guitar was not quite as it first appeared.

The neck of the guitar has been hollowed out and equipped with two shotgun barrels, while the body of the string instrument contained the beginnings of trigger mechanism.

In police interviews the man described the home made musical weapon as "a fun thing that was not finished".

Police found a further six weapons including a sawn off shotgun, a home made sub-machine gun, a Mauser rifle, two revolvers and a walking stick adapted to function as a rifle.

Stickers belonging to three known gangs in the Luleå area were also found at the man's house and led to police suspicions that the 54-year-old was buying and selling stolen weapons.

The man is now set to face charges concerning aggravated weapons crimes and receiving stolen goods, the newspaper reported.

via Swedish police seize musical deadly weapon - The Local.

Man tells police he set fire because of Satan

Convinced that he was sharing a motel room with Satan, a man set his blankets ablaze in Lynnwood on Friday, according to what he told police.

The man, 52, of Redmond, had been staying at the Days Inn on 196th Street SW for about a month, according to a police affidavit filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.

Fire crews were called about 8:30 a.m. Friday when smoke began pouring out of the second floor room where the man was staying.

The fire was contained to one room because of fire sprinklers, officials said. About six rooms were damaged in all, as well as guests' personal property.

The man told police that he set the room on fire because Satan was in there, according to the affidavit. He reportedly said he wanted to protect "the good people" by setting the fire.

The investigation showed that flames began in the room in at least four different places, including the blankets.

Hotel officials told police the man had repeatedly called hotel employees the "anti-Christ" and "spawns of Satan."

Hotel management had asked the man to move out the day of the fire.

The man was being held Monday at Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree arson. Police who searched his room after the fire found two bottles of lighter fluid, records show.

The case remains under investigation by Lynnwood police. No injuries were reported.

via HeraldNet.com - Local news: Man tells police he set fire because of Satan.

Crime is increasing, can I kill a home intruder legally in California?

Yes, in California you can shoot and kill a home invader if you have reasonable fear that you will be killed or will suffer great bodily injury.

I think anyone crazy enough to break into my home when I am there is also potentially crazy enough to kill me, but the law says that self-defense is in play if you think they have a weapon and that they will kill or greatly injure you.

California Penal Code § 198.5 sets forth that unlawful, forcible entry into one's residence by someone not a member of the household creates the presumption that the resident held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury should he or she use deadly force against the intruder. This would make the homicide justifiable under CPC § 197. CALCRIM 506 gives the instruction, "A defendant is not required to retreat. He or she is entitled to stand his or her ground and defend himself or herself and, if reasonably necessary, to pursue an assailant until the danger has passed. This is so even if safety could have been achieved by retreating." However, it also states that "People v. Ceballos specifically held that burglaries which 'do not reasonably create a fear of great bodily harm' are not sufficient 'cause for exaction of human life.'" - yahoo

If the intruder is running away and you grab the person and drag him back into your home and then kill him, and someone saw you do it, that's no good.  You'd probably go to prison for that.

Know the self-defense laws in your state. Some cases may surprise you. It was deemed legitimate self defense in one case for a person to shoot an attacker who was choking him into unconsciousness.

Although some states require that you retreat before responding to force with force, California self-defense law does not.²¹ In fact, even if you think you may face a deadly attack by, for example, going somewhere you know an enemy frequently hangs out...and are subsequently compelled to act in self-defense...you are still permitted to go to that location.²²

However, you are not permitted to seek a fight with the intent to create a real or illusory necessity to act in self-defense.²³

...

Penal Code 211 robbery is defined as the taking of another's property from his/her possession or immediate presence accomplished by force or fear.²⁹ As a "forcible and atrocious crime," it will be presumed that you acted reasonably if you defended yourself while you were being robbed.

Using deadly force in self-defense will be excused if a gun or other weapon was used during the commission of the robbery.

- link

Just make sure you really think your home intruder has a gun or other weapon before you take them out.  Pretty much anything can be a weapon.

Alligator Found Guarding Southern California Pot Farm

When police raided a pot farm in this Southern California desert community, they found an unusual watchdog -- a 4-foot alligator named Wally.The 55-pound American alligator was found lounging Monday night in a black cement mixing tub located in the back area of a house where 2,285 plants were growing, police said. One man was arrested, and Wally was taken to an animal sanctuary, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.The marijuana was valued at $1.5 million. [The alligator] ... was turned over to the California Department of Fish and Game, which found a good foster home -- Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary, which rescues captive-bred animals such as big cats, reptiles and birds. It is illegal to own alligators in California. ...

via Alligator Found Guarding Southern California Pot Farm.

MS-13 gang member yelled 'the beast has eaten!' after murder of man he mistook for a Blood: witness

An MS-13 gang member whooped it up, shouting "The beast has eaten!" after murdering a Queens man he mistook for a rival Blood, a government witness testified Thursday.

Julio Chavez is charged with emptying his revolver into Maurice Parker on May 18, 2007, in Flushing.

Chavez then hopped into a SUV, flashed gang signs and yelled in Spanish, former MS-13 gang member Jose Molina said in Brooklyn Federal Court.

" 'Yeah, homie, that's how you're supposed to do it,'" Chavez said, according to Molina. "'You see the blood coming out of his head?'"

Molina said Chavez then uttered, "The beast has eaten!"

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Kazemi asked the witness to translate the meaning of Chavez's rant.

"That he had just given a soul to the devil," Molina said.

Parker, 21, was not a Blood and was mistakenly targeted because he had on red sweatshirt. ...

via MS-13 gang member yelled 'the beast has eaten!' after murder of man he mistook for a Blood: witness.

I usually skip the stories like this, but this one is really weird. I can't figure out how a person's mind could get so messed up. I imagine that he was ritualistically beaten as a kid, that he was a witness to one or more murders, and that he did a lot of drugs and that the drugs fried out his brain so all that was left was a psychopathic  lizard knot.  But that doesn't explain it, because not even cold blooded reptiles enjoy killing? After looking a bit, I think the following very particular kind of brain malfunction could be involved:

... Both psychopaths and the average person rank the KKK with a burning cross as a moral violation. But there's a key difference: Psychopaths' brains behave differently from that of a nonpsychopathic person. When a normal person sees a morally objectionable photo, his limbic system lights up. This is what Kiehl calls the "emotional circuit," involving the orbital cortex above the eyes and the amygdala deep in the brain. But Kiehl says when psychopaths like Dugan see the KKK picture, their emotional circuit does not engage in the same way.

"We have a lot of data that shows psychopaths do tend to process this information differently," Kiehl says. "And Brian looked like he was processing it like the other individuals we've studied with psychopathy."

Kiehl says the emotional circuit may be what stops a person from breaking into that house or killing that girl. But in psychopaths like Dugan, the brakes don't work. Kiehl says psychopaths are a little like people with very low IQs who are not fully responsible for their actions. The courts treat people with low IQs differently. For example, they can't get the death penalty.

"What if I told you that a psychopath has an emotional IQ that's like a 5-year-old?" Kiehl asks. "Well, if that was the case, we'd make the same argument for individuals with low emotional IQ — that maybe they're not as deserving of punishment, not as deserving of culpability, etc."...

- NPR

Kucinich compares Bradley Manning detention to Abu Ghraib

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) charged today that the miilitary's treatment of Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking confidential materials to Wikileaks, is comparable to the abuse carried out at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Manning was forced Wednesday night to sleep naked in his cell at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., the Marines confirmed Friday. First Lt. Brian Villiard called it a "situationally driven" event, but would not elaborate on what led to the stripping of Manning, the Associated Press reports. The actions were described as "not punitive."

"Is this Quantico or Abu Ghraib?" Kucinich said in a statement today. "Officials have confirmed the 'non-punitive' stripping of an American soldier who has not been found guilty of any crime. This 'non-punitive' action would be considered a violation of the Army Field Manual if used in an interrogation overseas. The justification for and purpose of this action certainly raises questions of 'cruel and unusual punishment,' and could constitute a potential violation of international law."

The congressman cited the Army Field Manuel, which states: "If used in conjunction with intelligence interrogations, prohibited actions include, but are not limited to- Forcing the detainee to be naked, perform sexual acts or pose in a sexual manner."

Kucinich said he has repeatedly requested to visit Manning, in order to observe the conditions of his detainment. Manning has been held in restrictive conditions at Quantico since July 2010, and some have questioned why the legal proceedings against him have taken so long. ...

via Kucinich compares Bradley Manning detention to Abu Ghraib - Political Hotsheet - CBS News.

Thief steals almost $250,000 via plane's toilet

An ingenious thief swiped almost a quarter million dollars on a flight in the Caribbean after sneaking into the cash-laden cargo hold via the toilet, police said Thursday.

A Brink's security employee placed three sacks of cash containing a total $1.65 million in the hold of the Air Antilles plane before it headed from the French island of Guadeloupe to the Franco-Dutch island of Saint Martin.

The security guard took his seat on the ATR-42 turboprop plane but when the flight landed 40 minutes later it was discovered that $236,809 were missing from the sacks.

Police are seeking a man who complained he felt ill and spent most of the journey in the toilet. In fact, he was removing panels to gain access to the hold in the rear of the plane.

Shortly before landing, the unnamed man -- who was travelling with a woman who appeared concerned about his health - asked a hostess for an ambulance to meet him on the tarmac, witnesses said.

When the ambulance arrived, the man said he felt suddenly better and walked out of the airport without having to go through the normal security checks and disappeared, police said.

Cleaners who found bundles of notes in the toilet raised the alarm. The woman travelling with him was questioned in the baggage arrival hall but did not have any of the missing money.

via Thief steals almost $250,000 via plane's toilet - Seven News Queensland.

Sacramento man given prison sentence for trafficking underage girls

United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Deandre Lornell Brown, 25, of Sacramento, was convicted today of five counts of conspiracy, sex trafficking of children and using force, fraud, or coercion, and participating in a venture that engaged in sex trafficking of children. The guilty verdict was returned by a federal court jury in Sacramento after a five-day trial before United States District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr.According to testimony presented at trial, Brown met and recruited two underage girls to work for him as prostitutes in and around the Sacramento area. Brown recruited the first minor (Victim #1) in 2005, and she continued to work for him until his arrest in September 2009.

Brown used force, threats of force, and coercion to force Victim #1 to prostitute for him. These acts included rape, pistol-whipping, and putting a pistol into Victim #1’s mouth and fingering the trigger. Brown also regularly assaulted Victim #1, slapping, punching, and kicking her. In one incident described during the trial, Brown inflicted wounds on Victim #1 that were so severe, including pouring bleach into open wounds on Victim #1’s body, that emergency medical treatment was required. In another incident, Brown described for Victim #1 how he would kill her and her family if she ever tried to leave him. According to Victim #1, the only person that Brown would spare during his murderous rampage was Victim #1’s infant daughter, whom Brown would leave on the doorstep of a stranger.

Brown recruited the second minor (Victim #2) on September 2, 2009, as she was walking near Arden Fair Mall. Victim #2 worked for Brown until September 13, 2009, when she ran away following a beating that Brown inflicted in an apartment used by Brown off Stockton Boulevard. During the time that she was with him, Victim #2 was anally raped, forced to engage in sexual acts with other prostitutes that worked for Brown, and assaulted.

Brown forced Victims #1 and #2, along with a third prostitute, his co-defendant in the case, Brittney Beacham, to work for him primarily in the Stockton Boulevard area of South Sacramento. Brown drove the girls to the “Stockton blade,” posted online advertisements on prostitution websites advertising the girls’ services, monitored and supervised their activities, and collected the money that they earned from prostitution. Brown also violently enforced his pimping rules in order to maintain control of the girls. Those rules included forcing the girls to refer to him as “Poppa,” requiring them to work nearly every day of the year, and not permitting them to speak with any African-American males.

For her role in prostituting Victim #2, Beacham pled guilty to misprision of a felony on April 19, 2010.

Judge Damrell stated that the jurors had been exposed to a “cesspool” of activities not seen by most residents of the Eastern District of California that turned 15- and 16-year-old girls into 40-year-old women in a matter of weeks, leaving scars that would last a lifetime. This case is the product of an extensive joint investigation by the Sacramento Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working together as part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Kyle Reardon and Michael Beckwith are prosecuting the case.

Brown is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Damrell on November 29, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. He faces a sentence of no less than 15 years, and up to life in prison, a lifetime period of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

via FBI.gov

Hats off to the FBI for getting this pimp filth off of our streets. I don't understand how this could go on for four years almost every night of the year before he was caught. Don't people call the police from their car cell phones when they see underage girls walking the streets?

Burgulars twarted by Blind man who tackled them

A blind man has taken on two burglars who broke into his home.

Keith Jones, 48, from Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, says he sensed where the pair were standing and tackled them.

But the raiders fled without stealing anything when Mr Jones, who has been blind since he was three, grabbed the phone to alert police.

Gwent Police, who are hunting for the two men, said: "Keith did a great job. He was incredibly brave to tackle two men he couldn't see."

Mr Jones, a voluntary worker, uses a white cane to get about in the adapted home he shares with wife Blessing, 37.

He said he put one of the raiders in a bear hug and tried to pin the other one down at the same time. One managed to escape while he kept wrestling the other by wrapping his arms around him.

But the burglar freed himself when Mr Jones grabbed the phone, and the pair got away with only an empty satellite navigation box.

He said: "I'm sure they singled me out because they thought I'd be an easy touch but they were wrong.

"It's a shame really but I couldn't hang on to him and call the police at the same time so he got away."

He said: "It was quite scary because I couldn't see the burglars but I wasn't going to let them get away with anything.

"I hope the embarrassment gets them to give up their life of crime and try something new. They could be the shame of the criminal community." ...

via BBC News - Blind man tackles burglars in his Ebbw Vale house.

What crazy sick desperation makes people try to rob a blind man? I hope his neighbors will keep an eye out for the criminals. Meanwhile, Mr. Jones should get a fierce guard dog.

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?

Matt Taibbi - ... Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up and cashed in on the phony financial boom — an industrywide scam that involved the mass sale of mismarked, fraudulent mortgage-backed securities — has ever been convicted. Their names by now are familiar to even the most casual Middle American news consumer: companies like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Most of these firms were directly involved in elaborate fraud and theft. Lehman Brothers hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bonuses. Goldman Sachs failed to tell clients how it put together the born-to-lose toxic mortgage deals it was selling.

What's more, many of these companies had corporate chieftains whose actions cost investors billions — from AIG derivatives chief Joe Cassano, who assured investors they would not lose even "one dollar" just months before his unit imploded, to the $263 million in compensation that former Lehman chief Dick "The Gorilla" Fuld conveniently failed to disclose. Yet not one of them has faced time behind bars. ...

Instead, federal regulators and prosecutors have let the banks and finance companies that tried to burn the world economy to the ground get off with carefully orchestrated settlements — whitewash jobs that involve the firms paying pathetically small fines without even being required to admit wrongdoing. To add insult to injury, the people who actually committed the crimes almost never pay the fines themselves; banks caught defrauding their shareholders often use shareholder money to foot the tab of justice. "If the allegations in these settlements are true," says Jed Rakoff, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, "it's management buying its way off cheap, from the pockets of their victims." ...

Read more:  Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? | Rolling Stone Politics.