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Puerto Rico Man Charged with Threatening U.S. Attorney from Prison
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A Puerto Rico man has been arrested and charged with threatening a U.S. Attorney while in jail, the FBI said Monday. Jose Villafane-Cotto was charged last week with mailing threatening communication and threatening a federal official. He is accused of threatening U.S. Attorney Rose Emilia Rodriguez Velez of the District of…
Second-in-Command Ousted at Secret Service Days Before House Testimony
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Just months after Secret Service Director Julia Pierson was forced out of her job, the second-ranking official was stepping down, the Secret Service said Monday. The Washington Post reports that Deputy Director Alvin “A.T.” Smith was ousted just three days before he was to testify during a House oversight committee about…
Records: FBI Spied on Numerous African American Authors, Scholars for Decades
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI and its notoriously paranoid director J. Edgar Hoover spied on prominent African American writers for decades, monitoring their activities and critiquing their work. The Guardian reports that newly declassified documents from the FBI show extensive surveillance of black writers and scholars, including Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Claude McKay….
Homeland Security Chief Warns of 30,000 Furloughs If Congress Doesn’t Reach Funding Pact
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com If Congress fails to reach a funding agreement by the end of February, Homeland Security will furlough at least 30,000 workers in what could have far-reaching ramifications, the department’s head, Jeh Johnson, said. The Huffington Post reports that Johnson is stepping up his rhetoric in the face of a potential DHS…
Woman Who Says She Was a ‘Sex Slave’ for Prince Andrew, Others Says Videos Exist
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The woman at the center of the Prince Andrew “sex slave” scandal said she believes the FBI has video of her having sex with billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein and “some of his powerful friends,” the Independent reports. Virginia Roberts, now 31, said in sworn statements in court last week that she…
Man Drives Pickup Through Coast Guard Station Gate, Assaults Personnel in Michigan
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Investigators are baffled after a 34-year-old man drove his pickup truck through a Coast Guard station gate Sunday morning in Michigan and assaulted personnel after saying he had packed his vehicle with explosives, WZZM-TV reports. The man, whose identity has not yet been released, was subdued and arrested at the Grand…
FBI Combats Computer Hackers with Cyber Crimes Task Force in Louisville
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The alarming increase in computer attacks has prompted the FBI to create a cyber crimes task force in Louisville, WDRB.com reports. To combat the sophistication, the FBI is recruiting computer-savvy people. “There’s a changing in the F.B.I. for sure,” said Michael Russo Jr., a Supervisory Special Agent with the F.B.I. Russo…
Former Baseball Star Chipper Jones Claimed Sandy Hook Shooting Was a Hoax
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The horrific Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 children and six staff members was a hoax? So claimed former Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones in an odd tweet that suggested the FBI confirmed the shooting was not real, Huffington Post reports. The next day, on Saturday, Jones apologized, saying he…