By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Southwestern ranchers are complaining that Border Patrol isn’t doing enough to protect them from smugglers and others who illegally cross the Mexican border.

The Associated Press reports that ranchers vented their frustrations during a conference of western sheriffs in Arizona.

Ranchers said they won’t even call Border Patrol anymore because they know no one will help.

Border Patrol countered that steps are being taken to improve safety.

“We want to do everything we can to stop it. We have a difference of opinion on how we do that, but this situation is not OK,” Paul Beeson, the commander for the CPB Joint Field Command in Arizona, said.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

An FBI investigation has been unable to determine whether Virginia Beach police deleted cellphone video of cops repeatedly stunning a teenager inside a car.

“There is insufficient evidence to prove that anyone tampered with the phone,” Macie Pridgen, a spokeswoman for the commonwealth’s attorney, told the Virginia Pilot. 

Police sent the video the FBI for analysis, which came up inconclusive.

Still, the person who recorded the video, Courtney Griffith, plans to sue police for allegedly violating her civil rights, her attorney said.

The FBI “can’t confirm it happened, and they can’t confirm that it didn’t happen either,” her attorney, Scott Hallauer, said of video being deleted.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

More fiber-optic cables were severed in California, this time in Livermore on Monday night.

The Washington Times reports that AT&T is offering a $250,000 reward for information on the latest attacks.

It’s just the latest attack on fiber-optic cables in California.

“It’s a serious matter and affects public safety at large,” AT&T spokesman Jim Greer said Tuesday, USA Today reported.

Security officials believe the attacks could be acts of terrorism.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

In what appears to be a swipe at Republican candidates, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson warned against “over-simplistic rhetoric” about terrorism that recalls the sensational Communist red scares in the 1950s, CNN reports.

The comments came during a lecture at Westminster College in Missouri as authorities discussed terrorism and immigration.

Johnson cautioned that overheated rhetoric can cause unnecessary “fear, hate, suspicion, prejudice and government over-reach.”

“In this environment, the first impulse may be to suspect all Muslims living among us in this country are potential terrorists,” Johnson said.

Pope Francis

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The Secret Service director emphasized that there are no credible threats against Pope Francis during his highly anticipated trip to the U.S., just a day after agents claimed that the pope was not safe. 

“There is nothing that we’re overly concerned about,” Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy said Wednesday, less than a week before the pope’s visit.

Clancy said “unprecedented” security efforts have been taken to protect the pope.

“This is definitely challenging,” Clancy still acknowledged.

“You break it down city by city, venue by venue,” he said.

Other Stories of Interest

• Friend of Accused Charleston Church Gunman Under FBI Investigation
• FBI Warns Citizens to Beware of Cybercrime, Technology’s Lax Security
• Authorities Consult with FBI in Unsolved Murder of College Freshman
• Republican Candidates Reveal Dream Secret Service Code Names
• FBI Joins Investigation into Jewelry Store Robberies in Florida