By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Syrian refugees in New Jersey are alarmed by phone calls they are receiving from the FBI.

The immigrants have declined to meet with the FBI because of their fear of law enforcement, NJ Spotlight reports. 

But FBI officials said the refugees have nothing to worry about.

There is “nothing covert about what we’re doing in this operation,” said special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Newark, Timothy Gallagher. “When they’re ready to sit down, we’d be happy to sit down. This is outreach. This is not surveillance.” 

Refugees are afraid of contact with federal law enforcement, immigrant advocates said.

“They come from a police dictatorship where speaking to government agencies can make people disappear, sometimes for years, so they’re definitely very afraid,” said Mohamed Khairullah, a Syrian-American and the mayor of Prospect Park, NJ.

In Syria, refuges often had bad encounters with law enforcement.

Fred Trump, father of Donald Trump.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI released hundreds of pages of documents related to its 1970s investigation of racial discrimination in housing units owned and operated by Trump Management Co., which was run by President Trump’s father, Fred.

As a result of the investigation, the Justice Department’s Civil rights Division sued Trump Management Co. in 1973.

The new documents contain law enforcement notes and interviews with the company, management and tenants.

One employee told investigators that Fred Trump directed the worker to screen applicants and not “rent to blacks.”

“I asked Fred Trump what his policy was regarding minorities and he said it was absolutely against the law to discriminate,” said the unidentified employee, who eventually was fired. “At a later time during my two weeks at (one of Trumps’s building), Fred Trump told me not to rent to blacks.”

Trump, the employee said, “also wanted me to get rid of the blacks that were in the building by telling them cheap housing was available for them at only $500 down payment, which Trump would offer to pay himself. Trump didn’t tell me where this housing was located.”

In 1975, Trump Management entered into a consent decree with the government. Under the agreement, the Trump acknowledged no wrongdoing and were prohibited from “discriminating against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling.”

Donald Trump

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies have launched multiple investigation into President Trump’s relationship with Russia during and after the 2016 election, four national security officials told Bloomberg. 

The focus is on Trump’s advisers and associates who are suspected of talking with Russian officials.

Federal authorities also are investigating Russia’s efforts to disrupt the presidential election.

Bloomberg wrote:

Trump associates whose activities the agencies are examining include his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, energy consultant Carter Page, longtime Republican operative Roger Stone and Flynn, two of the officials said. Manafort, in a statement to Bloomberg, said he “never had any connection to Putin or the Russian government — either directly or indirectly — before during or after the campaign.”

The FBI has two parallel ongoing investigations, one official said. A counterintelligence investigation is looking at Russian espionage activities and to what extent, if any, they involve communications with or collusion by U.S. officials. The second, a cybersecurity investigation, is probing the hacking of U.S. political groups and operatives.

TSA sword found at an airport, via Myrtle Beach International Airport.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

An 80-year-old woman was surprised when she learned that her walking cane contained a hidden sword that was discovered by security at a South Carolina airport, the TSA said.

The woman relinquished her cane after security found a hidden blade nearly the length of the cane at the Myrtle Beach International Airport., the Sun News reports. 

“She had no clue it was in there,” TSA spokesman Mark Howell said.

The woman said she received the cane from her son.

The TSA said it’s not uncommon for people to buy items at thrift stores without knowing that a weapon is stored inside.

Other Stories of Interest

• FBI to Special-Order a Pair of Tiny Handcuffs (Satire)
• Families Stunned After FBI Raids Adoption Agency
• Trump: FBI Shouldn’t Release Information About Ongoing  Investigations
• House Republicans Seek Investigation into Potential Illegal DOJ Leaks
• Border Patrol Agent at New Haven’s Union Station Raise Immigration Fears