[Washington Free Bacon] NEW YORK (Rooters) -- U.S. authorities announced charges on Wednesday against a former Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor and a technology specialist at the agency for failing to disclose their ownership stake in a New Jersey strip club.
David Polos and Glen Glover, the DEA employees, made false statements to the government by not disclosing they were part owners of Twins Plus Go-Go Lounge in South Hackensack, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan. Klik here for directions, events, and lunch specials.
The club features scantily clad and sometimes topless women, many of whom were undocumented immigrants illegally in the United States, the complaint said.
Prosecutors said the men did not disclose their role at the club during 2011 background checks conducted to discover any outside employment that could create concerns about their proximity to crime or their risk of being blackmailed. False statements on a periodic security clearance re-investigation...ooooopsie. What about the last 5 years of income tax returns ?
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the men kept their jobs secret from the DEA, "betraying the oaths they had taken and creating needless risk for the agency they worked for." Hey Bennie, whatcha doing after the shift? IMA headed over to Dave and Glen's for a few cold ones and some of those wings.
Both men surrendered to the FBI early on Wednesday and were expected to appear in court later in the day.
#2
They made false statements? What if they did not make false statements? Would their operation of this strip joint still be a problem? I've known of a few local cops who operate clubs. A friend was a bouncer in one of these places a few years back.
Thanks for the website URL. They have lunch specials? If I ever have the misfortune to find myself in New Jersey and they are still in business, I'll reference the directions.
#9
Some Parties have ventral committees
To suckle crib-dwellers in cities:
"We'll fatten our kitties
On milk from tough titties!
Who cares if it burdens your kiddies?"
Or maybe not.
Check out the hilarious image at the link. Maybe RB needs this in the gallery. :-)
Lt. General Jon Davis, Head of Marine Corps aviation, told Reuters that they might declare a squadron of 10 Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) F-35 military aircraft ready for combat by July 15 this year. Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin also delivered six F-35B aircraft to the USS Wasp amphibious warship for operational testing.
Through FY2013, the F-35 program has received a total of roughly $83.3 billion of funding in then-year dollars, including roughly $49.0 billion in research and development, about 33.1 billion in procurement, and roughly $1.2 billion in military construction.
The Pentagon plans to spend about $10.6 billion on the F-35 in the fiscal year ending Oct. 1, 2015 a 23 percent increase over the previous year. The money will buy 57 aircraft versus 38 from the prior spending plan. The procurement figure is also higher than the 55 the Pentagon had previously said it was planning to buy this year.
Lockheed has so far made 120 F-35s and has another 100 in various stages of production. According to the company, each plane costs about $108 million, a 57 percent decline from eight years ago. Lockheed expects the price to fall to $85 million by 2019 as production gets more efficient.
In 2014, Lockheed delivered 36 F-35 fighter jets, producing them at an average rate of 3 per month. During the fourth quarter, Lockheed also finalized the lot 8 production (LRIP -- low rate initial production) contract with the government for 43 F-35s. Deliveries for this contract will be made in 2015. So, Lockheed's F-35 production and delivery volume is set to rise in the current year. Thereafter, in 2016 and 2017, F-35 production will significantly ramp up, crossing a run rate of 100 annual deliveries in 2018.
Lockheed's revenue rose by 9% per year to $12.5 billion, and its profit improved to $904 million in the fourth quarter. This strong fourth quarter enabled Lockheed to grow its 2014 top line, against expectations and the company's own guidance. Lockheed posted $45.6 billion in total revenue in 2014, up marginally from $45.4 billion in 2013.
The Daily Beast reported last month that incomplete software means F-35 fighters won't be able to fire their 25mm cannons until 2019 at the earliest, years after the jet goes into operation. Even once the gun is able to fire, the jet isn't designed to carry much ammunition, making the cannon of limited use. The Pentagon disputed the severity of the reported problems.
Playing catch-up with Russia?
The Pentagon's Counter-Electronics High-Power Advanced Microwave Project (CHAMP) has been one of the sci-fi like weapons programs that has the ability to change warfare as we know forever. Now it looks like the CHAMP has found an ideal delivery vehicle, the stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range.
The whole idea behind CHAMP is to be able to destroy an enemy's command, control, communication and computing, surveillance and intelligence (C4SI) capabilities without doing any damage to the people or traditional infrastructure in and around it. In other words, it can eliminate a facility's effectiveness by destroying the electronics within it alone, via a microwave pulse, without kinetically attacking the facility itself. Think of it as the mother of all less than lethal weapons.
The effects of a CHAMP are very similar to what would happen during an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) caused by a high-altitude nuclear detonation or by a powerful solar storm, just on a much smaller, more focused scale. Unlike an EMP bomb, which are area weapons and indiscriminate as to who they target within their blast area, CHAMP is really an EMP assassin that comes in and surgically eliminates an enemy's war enabling technology, barely leaving a fingerprint it was ever even there.
The technology has been around conceptually for many years and something like it was even rumored to have been deployed secretly before. For instance, there were reports that during the fall of Qaddafi, unmanned aircraft orbited over Libya's most volatile weapons stockpiles and zapped vehicles engines and electronics that approached.
Regardless of if this technology already exists in any operational form or not, CHAMP is a heavier hitting capability that could very well save many lives while dealing the enemy a huge blow during the opening stages of major air campaigns. CHAMP, which is a Boeing and Air Force Research Laboratory project, was successfully tested in 2012 aboard a AGM-86 Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM). During the test, which occurred over a bombing and testing range in Utah, the CHAMP equipped CALCM flew over a two story building filled with computers and other powered technology and initiated a high-power, directed microwave burst above it as it passed by. The burst knocked out all the equipment inside. The test went on to zap six more targets successfully before the missile crashed itself in a pre-designated area. Other test flights are set to have followed, and even hardened targets were not completely immune to CHAMP's zapping power.
CHAMP's previous tests are said to have used a unit based on a powerful vacuum tube that used a magnetron that produces large directed pulses of microwave radiation. Newer systems will most likely be based on Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESAs) like those used in cutting-edge radar systems. These systems have a whole slew of advantages of their 'analogue' predecessors, one of which is miniaturization, beam focus and agility.
X-band AESA radar arrays are currently flying aboard F-15C and F/A-18E/F/G and F-22 fighters, and will be a centerpiece sensor aboard the F-35. They are also migrating to airborne surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as surface combatants. Details as to these platform's ability to use their powerful radars for pinpoint "soft kill" attacks against electronics, especially those fitted onto sensitive enemy sensors and even incoming missiles, remains cloaked in classification but is clearly exists. As one contact of mine in the electronic warfare field puts, "everywhere there is an aperture (an antenna or radar array) there is a vulnerability."
Now, as CHAMP is nearing operational form, it needs a proper platform that can deploy it against the enemy. Although the CALCM is a proven weapon, and converting older AGM-86s over to CHAMP makes sense in the interim, it is an old missile and not nearly as capable or survivable as modern stealthy cruise missiles such as Lockheed's Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, or JASSM.
JASSM-ER (for Extended Range) is a logical platform for CHAMP as it can be launched by both bombers and fighters, and is a proven design that is already being evolved into a highly advanced anti-ship missile, the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile, or LRASM. Also, it is smart and stealthy, able to actively detect threatening radars and evade or attack them, making it survivable against the world's most capable air defense systems.
The ER model also offers double the range as the older AGM-158 JASSM model (about 550 miles), and this may even end up being extended further as the CHAMP equipped JASSM-ER will need no terminal homing sensor or warhead at all, which could make space for more fuel.
Once integrated into JASSM-ER, CHAMP will be a 'first day of war' standoff weapon that can be launched outside an enemy's area-denial/anti-access capabilities, and fly a route over known C4SI facilities, zapping them along its way, before destroying itself at the end of its mission. Because of its stealth design, long-range and is expendable, it will fly where no other assets could and because it does not blow anything up, its use does not necessarily give away the fact that the enemy is under direct attack in the first place. In that sense, it is a psychological weapon, capable of at least partially blinding an enemy before they even know that a larger-scale attack is coming.
CHAMP may have trouble knocking out the most hardened enemy electronic systems, but their sensors are possibly another story. Command and control components and sensors used at surface-to-air missile sites and for integrated air defense system connectivity could be put at great risk by the stealthy JASSM-ER/CHAMP combo. Such a system could loiter for prolonged periods of time over enemy territory, and use similar radar warning receivers as those featured on the LRASM to attack enemy air defense nodes that come online.
If a swarm of these missiles were networked together, they could work as a team to suppress the enemy's ability to communicate and defend itself in real time without any direction from human operators. In such a role, CHAMP equipped JASSM-ERs could be used alongside Miniature Air Launched Decoys to play complete havoc on an enemy's ability to defend its airspace to an incoming attack.
Although the stealthy and expensive JASSM-ER will be an effective 'fire and forget' platform for a CHAMP-like device, this capability is really suited for unmanned aircraft that can have all the advantages of JASSM-ER but can return to base to be used again when their mission ends. Really, any combat aircraft could benefit from a CHAMP-like ability.
Even if laser weaponry is seen as the future's super pinpoint aerial attack capability, it still causes physical damage to its target, including to human beings. CHAMP on the other hand would be able to neutralize many targets by destroying electronics alone. In doing so the system could be greatly effective at doing everything from stopping trucks full of insurgents, to rendering improvised explosive devices (IEDs) inoperable, to disabling massive command and control facilities full of computers and communications devices. As such, everything from a Predator unmanned aircraft to an F-35 could use such a capability in its quiver.
Seeing as CHAMP can fit inside a CALCM today, and probably inside a small diameter bomb in the future, there is no reason to think that combat aircraft around the globe won't be equipped with CHAMP-like pods in the not so distant future. Even here at home, law enforcement could use such a device to totally eliminate dangerous high-speed vehicle chases. The Coast Guard and Navy could also potentially use similar devices to disable unresponsive ships or those that are swarming around surface combatants in a combined attack.
A very precise, close-in air defense version of CHAMP, based on an AESA type emitter, could solve the White House's and other VVIP's hobby drone problems. Simply zap them out of the sky by frying their electronic components instead of using kinetic weapons, such as missiles or bullets, or even lasers. This precise 'soft kill' capability solves so many modern day security and defense problems that it could very well revolutionize the way we look at 'striking' a target.
Right now, CHAMP is like the first guided bombs of the 1970s. Sure, its technology is exciting and shown to be effective, but where it will quickly lead has the ability to change modern warfare as we know it forever, and for the better.
[AA.TR] Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza said Wednesday that elections will be the only way to end the current political crisis in the East African country.
"I'm confident that successful elections will be way-out of the current crisis in Burundi," Nkurunziza said in a televised speech.
He called on officials to rally voters "to turn out heavily in the elections."
Earlier Wednesday, Nkurunziza postponed legislative and municipal elections -- which had been scheduled for May 25 -- to June 5.
Burundi has been rocked by protests since late April, when the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy named Nkurunziza -- in power since 2005 -- as its candidate for June presidential polls.
The situation took a turn for the worse last week when a group of army generals staged a failed coup attempt against Nkurunziza while he was attending a regional summit in Tanzania.
The opposition says Nkurunziza does not have the right to seek a third term in office, citing Burundi's constitution, which limits the number of terms a president can serve to two.
Burundi's Constitutional Court, however, has ruled that a third-term bid by Nkurunziza would not violate the national charter.
The court ruled that, since he was elected in 2005 by parliament and not by popular vote, Nkurunziza's first stint in office should not be counted as a presidential term per se.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2015 00:00 ||
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[AA.TR] Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko has said his country is fighting a war with Russia.
"Can I be absolutely clear with you: This is not a fight with Russian-backed separatists, this is a real war with Russia," Poroshenko said, speaking to the BBC on Tuesday.
"The fact that we captured Russian regular special forces fighters is strong evidence of that."
The Ukrainian army on Tuesday published photos and a video of two Russians captured during a battle in Lugansk, part of the eastern region in which the conflict with pro-Moscow separatists is still raging.
The men admitted on the video being part of the "Russian regular army." They said they entered the country with a larger force two months ago.
Moscow on Tuesday admitted that the two men had been part of the country's armed forces but claimed that the men were no longer in their army.
Eight Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Monday in fighting in the eastern region, in despite of a ceasefire agreement signed in Belarus' capital Minsk on Feb. 12.
The Ukrainian government blames the renewed fighting on a buildup of Russian troops near the border. Russia denies having sent arms or soldiers into Ukraine.
Poroshenko said that Russia "is clearly preparing an offensive and I think we should be ready and not give them any chance for a provocation. That will be their own responsibility entirely."
More than 6,200 people have been killed so far in the conflict in Ukraine, according to UN statistics.
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05/21/2015 00:00 ||
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[CNN] Above the South China Sea (CNN)--The Chinese navy issued warnings eight times as a U.S. surveillance plane on Wednesday swooped over islands that Beijing is using to extend its zone of influence.
The series of man-made islands and the massive Chinese military build-up on them have alarmed the Pentagon, which is carrying out the surveillance flights in order to make clear the U.S. does not recognize China's territorial claims. The militarized islands have also alarmed America's regional allies.
#3
The Preezy took time off from teething:
"Though elderly bigots are seething,
Our old Constitution
Requires execution
To make it more living and breathing."
#4
See also IIRC RELATED YAHOO NEWS > THE US AND CHINA JUST HAD A CONFRONTATION IN THE AIR OVER THE DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA.
* RELATED CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Repost] US NAVY SHIP [USS Fort Worth LCS] MET CHINESE VESSEL DURING SOUTH CHINA SEA PATROL [PLAN Type 054A FFG].
* GMA NEWS > US MAY GIVE PHILIPPINES MORE SUPPORT TO COUNTER PRESSURE FROM CHINA OVER SEA DISPUTES.
Patrick Cronin from the CNAS-Asia-Pacific Affairs Think-tank.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > WILL CHINA COMPLY WID ASEAN UNDER US PRESURE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTES?
The larger question remains is China willing to amend, delay or give up its self-perceived Manifest Destiny or Geopol/MilPol Ambitions as the World's de facto "post-US", future World #1, AS CHINA KNOWS OR RECOGNIZES THAT IFF IT DOES, IT IS HIGHLY LIKELY THAT US REGIONAL ALLIES WILL OVER TIME ONLY GET MORE STRONGER RELATIVE TO CHINA.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > JAPAN TO DEPLOY ANTI-AIR, ANTI-SHIP BALLISTIC MISSLES TO STRATEGIC ISLAND [Ishigaki] NEAR TAIWAN.
Move by Tokyo ala JSDF all but certain to infuriate or anger Beijing + PLA.
In China's mind, as undoubtedly related or linked to ...
* WORLD NEWS > [Yahoo News] US-ASIA AMPHIBIOUS FORCES' GATHERING SIGNALS NUDGE TO CHINA CONTAINMENT.
versus
* TOPIX [Rediff] CHINA IS MOVING FROM COOPERATION TO CONFRONTATION.
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > PLA ARMY DAILY DENOUNCES US THREAT TO DEPLOY AIRCRAFT AND SHIPS TO DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA. US MUST NOT THINK THAT CHINA + PLA ARE AFRAID OF WAR.
[DAWN] Dr Zulfikar Mirza, a disgruntled and disowned leader of the Pakistain Peoples Party, on Tuesday thwarted the provincial government's efforts to arrest him as the Sindh High Court on his plea not only restrained law-enforcers from arresting him, but also served on the provincial and city police chiefs show-cause notices for attempting to take him into custody despite his being on protective bail in all 13 cases registered against him and his associates.
Mirza, who reached an antiterrorism court at around 11am, confined himself inside the courtroom for over eight hours as extraordinary security arrangements were made with hundreds of coppers surrounding the ATC, located adjacent to the SHC.
Apprehending Mirza's arrest, his counsel filed a fresh constitutional petition in the SHC in the late afternoon against the provincial authorities for making arrangements and attempts to arrest him.
Mirza's wife, Dr Fahmida Mirza, also later reached the SHC as the news about the possible arrest of her husband spread.
A division bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah became irked when the petitioner's counsel submitted that the authorities had made extensive arrangements for his client's arrest despite earlier assurance by the government law officer that he would not be tossed in the calaboose Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! The counsel pointed out that earlier in the first half of the day, a division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto had taken up Mirza's petition seeking transfer of all cases against him to Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... He said that the bench was also informed that the authorities appeared to have decided to arrest Mirza as a very large number of coppers along with their senior officers had besieged the entire locality around the ATC. He said that the bench had ordered the authorities not to arrest Mirza and act in accordance with the law.
The bench headed by Justice Shah issued show-cause notices to the inspector general of police and the DIG-Karachi for disobeying the court's order and restrained the authorities from arresting Mirza.
The court halted its proceedings for a while and summoned the IGP and the DIG concerned. Later, it was informed that the two coppers could not be contacted. Then the court summoned the home secretary who appeared in the evening to earn censure from the judges.
The home secretary was directed by the judges to order withdrawal of the heavy contingent of police from around the ATC and SHC.
At around 7pm, Mirza left the ATC after the deployment of police was removed.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Federal Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday requested the media refrain from arriving at conclusions on the Axact fake degrees scam, saying he had ordered an inquiry into the allegations and the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) had begun scrutiny on Tuesday.
Stressing that the sensitive investigation will take time, the minister said it was not possible to assert that a crime had been committed just hours after the investigation had commenced.
Dispelling several misconceptions reported by media outlets on Tuesday, Nisar said the seven-member investigating team had not been changed.
"No committee has been changed, as reported in media, nor has the case been transferred from FIA's cyber wing. I also read a news report saying that names had been placed on the exit-control list (ECL), which is not true."
Nisar went on to say that no Axact official was placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! as had been portrayed yesterday, adding that some high-level company directors had been called in for questioning.
"This is not a murder case we're investigating. No one has been killed or hurt."
"We have seized 42 company servers, and experts suggest it could take a month to conduct forensic auditing," said the interior minister. Nisar said foreign technicians may be sought from abroad if needed.
He said Axact offices in Rawalpindi and Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... had been sealed, adding that Sherlocks believe it would be beneficial to conduct forensic auditing and investigations inside the company offices.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[AA.TR] Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza said Wednesday that elections will be the only way to end the current political crisis in the East African country.
[DAWN] Federal Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday requested the media refrain from arriving at conclusions on the Axact fake degrees scam, saying he had ordered an inquiry into the allegations and the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) had begun scrutiny on Tuesday.
