President and VP Doing a Heck of a Lot of International Travel Compared With Other Administrations

By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden haven’t been shy about traveling out of the country. Mark Sullivan, the director of the U.S. Secret Service, told a Congressional panel Thursday morning that President Obama went on 31 international trips in his first year in office, a “significant increase…

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Feds Indict 2 Computer Programmers for Madoff

By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Bernie Madoff’s house of cards continues to crumble. Two computer programmers for Madoff’s investment firm– George Perez and Jerome O’Hara — were indicted Wednesday in New York on charges of conspiracy and falsifying records. Authorities charged that the men helped dupe the Securities and Exchange Commission and a European accounting firm…

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Senate Passes Bill to Lessen Sentences for Crack Cocaine

By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A bill that lessens the sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine sailed through the Senate Wednesday night, the website Main Justice reported. The Fair Sentencing Act establishes an 18-to-1 sentencing ratio for crack and powder cocaine offenses as opposed to the current 100-to-1 ratio. In other words, a…

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“JihadJane” Confessed to FBI

By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The woman nicknamed “JihadJane” has confessed to the FBI about helping plot the murder of a Swedish cartoonist, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The paper, citing “two people close to the investigation” reported that Colleen LaRose gave her confession shortly after she was arrested in October at Philadelphia International Airport where she…

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FBI Dir. Robert Mueller Defends Handling of Christmas Day Bombing Incident in Detroit

By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III on Wednesday found himself defending the handling of the Christmas day bombing attempt in Detroit — this time before a Congressional committee. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., told Mueller he would have preferred that a team of interrogation experts had been brought to Detroit…

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