By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI is trying to determine whether a series of deliberate cuts of fiber optic cable in the San Francisco area are related and were intended to be an act of terrorism. IDG News Service reports that telecom cables were intentionally cut in Fremont, Walnut Creek, Alamo, Berkeley and San Jose…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Less than a week after the discovery that the FBI was using fictitious names of companies to conceal the use of small planes to spy on Americans, Sen. Al Franken is demanding more information on the surveillance flights, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The small planes, mostly single-engine Cessnas, were used…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI’s inside source on the FIFA investigation admitted to federal authorities that he took bribes from two countries that wanted to host the World Cup, according to ABC News. The informant, Charles Blazer, an American ex-FIFA executive committee member, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and fraud in 2013. New documents…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The primary target of the widening FIFA investigation has become the organization’s president, Sepp Blatter, the Los Angeles Times reports. Citing two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Times writes that Blatter has become the focus of an investigation into bribery by the soccer’s world governing body. “He’s a…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Federal investigators are worried they are about to lose surveillance tools that have been valuable in the fight against terrorism. The Associated Press reports that the surveillance is part of the controversial Patriot Act that offered more investigative tools. But those tools are at risk because they are set to expire…
By Laurence Kotlikoff Forbes Contributor People of little means in our country are routinely being incarcerated for minor crimes. Meanwhile, big-time criminals engaging in major financial crimes that effectively involve the theft of billions of dollars from the public aren’t being prosecuted. Today we learned of yet another huge settlement by five of the largest banks…
By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post WASHINGTON — A top member of President Obama’s Secret Service detail under investigation for his conduct during a White House bomb threat probe notified the agency this week that he plans to retire, according to officials familiar with his decision. The decision by Marc Connolly came ahead of…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com In an unusual move for a city, Baltimore’s mayor is asking for a full-scale civil rights investigation into alleged abuse within the police department following a riot over the police-involved death of Freddie Gray and other black suspects. “We all know that Baltimore continues to have a fractured relationship between the…
