News Story
10th Anniversary of Sept. 11 Didn’t Stop People From Bringing Guns to Airports
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com You’d think just two weeks after the 10th Anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, people would be conscious about bringing guns to airports. You’d think. But nooo. As part of ticklethewire.com’s occasional check up on guns at airports, we found that 20 firearms were found at airport checkpoints in the U.S….
Column: Atty. Gen. Holder Need to Step and Take Responsibility for ATF’s Fast and Furious
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. is an honorable man. So I believe him when he tells Congress he didn’t know about ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious until the controversy exploded in 2011. The problem is that he needs to take responsibility for it. Period. He’s the top dog. People in his…
Sentencing Shift Gives New Leverage to Prosecutors
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. New York Times GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After decades of new laws to toughen sentencing for criminals, prosecutors have gained greater leverage to extract guilty pleas from defendants and reduce the number of cases that go to trial, often by using the threat of more serious charges with mandatory sentences or…
The War of the Letters: Rep. Issa Fires Back at Atty. Gen. Holder; Accuses Holder of Shifting Blame
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The war of letters between Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) and Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. continues. The latest: Issa released on Monday a letter he sent to Holder sharply chastising him. Issa’s letter was in response to one Holder wrote Friday to Issa saying his his Congressional testimony on Operation Fast…
It’s Out: Whitey Bulger Tipster is Former Miss Iceland
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com The former Miss Iceland Anna Bjornsdottir was splitting her time between Iceland and Santa Monica, Calif. when, at home in Iceland, she saw a photo of her Santa Monica neighbors, Carole and Charlie Gasko, flash across the TV screen, according to CBS Boston. The Gaskos’ were actually mob boss Whitey Bulger…
Miami Fed Juror Charged With Soliciting Bribe During Trial
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Italo Campagna was serving as a juror in Miami an ongoing federal criminal trial when he slipped the defendant’s father a piece of paper outside the courthouse with a telephone number on it. Later that afternoon, Campagna, 55, met with the defendant’s brother, who had contacted him, and arranged to meet…
Upcoming Article Raises More Questions About Anthrax Attack
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and SCOTT SHANE New York Times A decade after wisps of anthrax sent through the mail killed 5 people, sickened 17 others and terrorized the nation, biologists and chemists still disagree on whether federal investigators got the right man and whether the F.B.I.’s long inquiry brushed aside important clues. Now, three…
FBI Unveils New Facial Recognition System
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com Prepare yourselves for a protracted battle between privacy rights advocates and the FBI this winter. FBI officials told the website NextGov by January they will activate a nationwide facial recognition service, allowing local police in select states to identify unknown subjects in photos. The Feds are embarking on “a multiyear, $1 billion…