What ever makes people think they can do crazy things to federal agents and get away with it?

Maybe we should ask Ted Schlenker of Louisville, a former Kentucky gun shop owner.

Authorities charged him with mailing a 9 mm pistol and a threatening letter to an ATF agent who had been investigating his activities, the Associated Press reported.

To read the full story click here.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• FBI Arrests Minnesota White Supremacists on Weapons, Drug Charges (Anti-Defamation League)
• Rodney King, 20 Years After L.A.’s Riots (LA Times)
• FBI: 5 Men, Arrested in Plot to Blow up Bridge Near Cleveland (Washington Post)
• Bin Laden’s Last Stand: In Final Months, Terrorist Leader Worried About his Legacy (Washington Post)
• Wrongly Convicted Colorado Man Set Free After 16 years (Reuters)
• Israel Security Boss ‘Meets EU Brass Over Iran Talks’ (AFP)

At the White House Correspondence Dinner on Saturday, President Obama delivered a little humor about an issue that has probably not generated a lot of laughs at the White House: The Secret Service scandal involving hookers.

“I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew,” Obama said to the crowd of journalists and Hollywood types.

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Michael B. Steinbach is taking over the FBI’s Jacksonville Division.

Steinbach, the special assistant to associate deputy director Thomas Harrington at FBI Headquarters, began his career in April 1995 and was first assigned to the Chicago divison, working fugitives and violent crimes.

In 2003, he went to headquarters as a supervisor in the Counterterrorism Division.

Part of his job there was to provide program management for FBI operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in Afghanistan.

In 2004, he headed off to Afghanistan to serve as the deputy on-scene commander for FBI operations. As result of his stint there, he was awarded the Shield of Bravery.

In 2005, Mr. Steinbach he was promoted to assistant legal attaché for Tel Aviv, Israel, and in January 2006 he was appointed as legal attaché there.

While in Israel, he worked with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on FBI investigative matters, with an emphasis on national security issues.

In 2008, he became a supervisor of the Violent Crimes Task Force at the FBI Washington Field Office.

In 2009, he was promoted to assistant section chief for the International Terrorism Operations Section, Counterterrorism Division.

In May 2010, he became deputy director for Law Enforcement Services at the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. Later that year, he was assigned to his most recent post.

In October of that year, he was appointed to his most recent post.

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Ink fingerprints are out.

The FBI is requiring the Florida Dept of Law Enforcement to submit fingerprint background checks digitally, reports Naples News.

Consequently,  employers might get back results on background checks up to 2 months sooner.

To read more click here.

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The U.S. likes to think that it contributes positively to many countries. In Mexico, that’s not always the case.

ATF reports that 68,000 guns recovered by Mexican authorities between January 2007 and December 2011 were traced back to the U.S., USA Today reports.

The paper reported that many weapons were recovered after drug cartel shootouts or found in raids.

To read more click here.

Some of the more exciting action in the NBA these days may be off the court.

The behind the scenes dealings of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is apparently going to be  scrutinized by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, which has issued a subpoena.

The investigation follows the NBPA’s Executive Director Billy Hunter and executive committee’s refusal to review financial and business practices when requested by their President Derek Fisher, an Oklahoma City Thunder guard, earlier this month, according to Bloomberg Business Week. After refusing the review, the committee asked Fisher to resign.

Hunter, who has served in his current position since 1996, through 2 major run-ins with players, has two children and a daughter-in-law working with the Association directly or indirectly.

Bloomberg gleaned from public records that the New York-based union has paid $4.8 million to Hunter’s family members and their professional firms since 2001. The association has appointed six player representatives and executive committee members to a special committee, to oversee an internal inquiry that will include a financial audit. Hunter has recused himself from the review process.

“The mere fact that there may be nepotism is not going to in and of itself draw the interest of investigators,” William Gould, an emeritus professor at Stanford Law School and a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview.

To read more click here.

photo loriferber.com

Robert F. Kennedy was shot dead in an L.A. hotel in 1968, just moments after winning California’s Democratic primary election. The facts beyond that may be in the air if “new” evidence of a second shooter is allowed in court for the first time, 44 years later.

The convicted lone gunman Sirhan Sirhan is appealing his life sentence on the grounds of new evidence, and currently awaits a U.S. District Court ruling which could see him released, re-tried or granted a hearing, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.

Sirhan was the only person ever arrested in the case, and this is the first time he has contested his single-shooter conviction. The U.K. Daily Mail reports that witness Nina Rhodes-Hughes, now 78, was a volunteer on Kennedy’s campaign at the time and is adamant that she heard 12-14 shots, many more than the max 8 Sirhan could have fired with his small-caliber handgun.

Sirhan’s lawyer William Pepper called the alleged FBI alteration of Rhodes-Hughes’ story ‘deplorable’ and ‘criminal’ and said it ‘mirrors the experience of other witnesses’. If granted, the hearing would illuminate Rhodes-Hughes’ and others’ eyewitness accounts which swear by more than 8 shots, as recorded in L.A. Police summaries but contradicted by FBI reports.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Retiring FBI Agent took Creative Approach (Police One)
• FBI, Local Police Search for Bloodstains, Other Traces in Panama Hostel Where Woman Vanished (Washington Post)
• Chaperones Included in New Secret Service Conduct Rules (Fox News)
• Data Harvesting at Google Not a Rogue Act, Report Finds (NY Times)
• FDA May Let Patients buy Drugs Without Prescriptions (Washington Times)