Free Republic

Woman steals $10k worth of mini alcohol bottles • An aeroplane cleaner working at JFK Airport has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than 1,400 miniature bottles of booze worth US$10,000. Juanette Cullum, 48, of Brooklyn, allegedly stole the alcohol over a three-year period from American Airlines planes in Terminal 8, reports the New York Post. Police were alerted to the thefts by an airport security guard, and uncovered 1,429 miniatures bottles hidden in a wardrobe at Cullum’s home. On average, the 50ml bottles have an RRP of US$7 each on flights. But while the loot is estimated to worth...

Is Jonathan Gruber — the MIT economist who seemingly dropped out of public view after he was caught on camera bragging about how he and other Obamacare architects misled the American public — now advising the Department of Labor? No evidence indicates that he is, but the authors of DOL’s sweeping new seven-part group of regulations that would sharply curtail choices of assets and investment strategies in 401(k)s, IRAs, and other savings plans appear to share Gruber’s mindset on the “stupidity of the American voter” (a revelation that Rich Lowry aptly described as “an unvarnished look into the progressive mind,...

MIAMI (CNN) - Inside a plane at Miami International Airport, baggage handlers are going on a shopping spree with passengers' bags. What they don't know is that they are being recorded on a hidden camera. The Miami-Dade Police Department set up the camera as part of an ongoing police investigation into luggage thefts by the very airport workers who are supposed to get bags safely onto planes. "It's a problem we all face," said police Lt. Pete Estis. "We will continue to be proactive until we can see that the claims of pilfering through luggage will actually decrease."And these insider...

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Framing himself as a politician who's unafraid to share "hard truths" with the American people, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is proposing an income cap on Social Security benefits as part of major restructuring plan announced ahead of a likely presidential bid. The Republican is set to deliver a speech Tuesday in New Hampshire outlining his ideas on reforming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — so-called entitlement programs. As part of the plan, he'll propose phasing out Social Security payments for those making more than $80,000 in other income and eliminating them for those making $200,000...

A New York Police Department detective has been suspended after a Brooklyn deli owner uncovered security camera footage that appears to show the officer pocketing nearly $3,000 in cash during a raid earlier this month, police said.The detective, Ian Cyrus, 49 years old, has been suspended pending an internal affairs investigation into the April 3 incident, NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis said Thursday.“That video combined with an allegation of theft is enough to warrant an investigation,” Mr. Davis said. “It’s good enough to support taking appropriate action at the time. The video is indicative of activity that requires more investigation.”Detective Cyrus...

IRS commissioner John Koskinen laughed at the idea that Congress could abolish the IRS. "The Tea Party types may have wet dreams over the prospect of eliminating the IRS, but it's not going to happen," Koskinen gibed. "Too many congressmen on both sides of the aisle want the funds our agency extracts from taxpayers. One of the big attractions to holding office is the ability to dole out money to favored constituents. Hampering the IRS in any way would put a kink in that pipeline." "The main gripe average people have with our agency is the complexity of the tax...

Man who stole wedding ring off dying woman’s finger at Taco Bell sentenced to 11 years A Wichita man will spend more than 11 years in prison for stealing a wedding ring and other items from a woman who was dying from a brain aneurysm in a Taco Bell drive-through in December 2013. Sedgwick County District Judge Christopher Magana ordered Daquantrius Johnson to serve the 136-month term consecutive to other sentences he received for crimes committed while on felony probation in a 2013 burglary case. The sentences in those cases totaled 111 months, which means Johnson, 21, will be incarcerated...

Riviera Beach man stole a Maserati, police said, and took his friends for a spin before being arrested by Palm Beach Gardens police. According to an arrest report, Byron Desravines, 19, was spotted by officers in a Maserati just after 1 p.m. Thursday on the corner of PGA and RCA boulevards after police got a hit on the car's license plate that it was stolen.

Can law enforcement seize an innocent person's property? If you think the answer is no, just ask David Laase. In May 2006, he received an unexpected phone call at 1 a.m. from his wife. She had been arrested for DUI, later pleaded guilty and paid all court-imposed fines. However, that punishment was not enough under the state's civil forfeiture laws. Isanti County sheriffs seized the $35,000 Chevrolet Tahoe she was driving at the time of the stop and refused to return it to Laase, even though he jointly owned the vehicle and had done nothing wrong. Laase became a victim...

Weeks before other Republicans are expected to announce their presidential candidacies, Ted Cruz has already injected a very nasty little virus into the right-wing primary process: the ridiculous idea that the IRS should be abolished.While some have been quick to conclude this idea indicates Cruz is truly stupid, I don’t think he is. You just have to understand that the real intent of the abolish-the-IRS campaign pledge cannot be publicly stated. As The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell notes, the IRS is a cash-flow-positive agency, generating around $255 in income for every $1 assigned to it in federal funding. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities adds...

Ask security experts what to do when hit with ransomware – the sophisticated malware that infects a device or network, uses military-grade encryption to restrict access, and demands payment for the decryption key – and you'll typically get the same answer: "never pay the ransom." But for many, that's simply not an option. For example, last November an employee in the Sheriff's Department in Dickinson County, Tenn., accidentally clicked on a malicious ad and exposed the office network to the infamous CryptoWall ransomware. Detective Jeff McCliss told local News Channel 5 that CryptoWall had encrypted "every sort of document you...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)ROSWELL, GA (CBS46) - A Taco Bell cashier was caught robbing customers right in front of their eyes, according to police. Authorities said when customers would pull up to the drive-through window and hand over their credit card, Rosetta Brinson would pretend the card reader didn't work, telling customers she had to manually enter their number. Her crimes were caught on surveillance video. Brinson snapped screen shots of customers' information and would later ring up charges on their accounts. Heather Tinsley, a customer, couldn't believe it. "It's disturbing actually,” Tinsley said. “That's something you really shouldn't do." Jose Vega, a...

A survey of Bill Clinton's murders in Arkansas, and some of Bill and Hillary's other crimes.

A top marketing consultant for the Democratic party who worked for both the Bill and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns and for Barack Obama was busted in a bizarre purse snatching at a Flatiron District restaurant, the Daily News has learned. Michael Coscia, 52, was dining with celebrity jewelry designer Shahla Karimi, 33, at Almond on E. 22nd St. Wednesday night when they were accused of stealing a $3,100 Celine shoulder bag from another patron, according to court records. Both were arraigned on fourth-degree grand larceny charges and criminal possession of stolen property in Manhattan Criminal Court late Thursday night and...

Ferguson has allowed its focus on revenue generation to fundamentally compromise the role of Ferguson’s municipal court. The municipal court does not act as a neutral arbiter of the law or a check on unlawful police conduct. … Our investigation has found overwhelming evidence of minor municipal code violations resulting in multiple arrests, jail time, and payments that exceed the cost of the original ticket many times over. One woman, discussed above, received two parking tickets for a single violation in 2007 that then totaled $151 plus fees. Over seven years later, she still owed Ferguson $541—after already paying $550...

If you picked up a Star Tribune last weekend, you might have read two seemingly unrelated stories. On Saturday, news of a $1.9 billion surplus, with the state budget growing to $42.5 billion for the next two years (“Surging surplus raises the stakes, Feb. 28). On Sunday, a solid piece of investigative journalism about political cronyism on the Iron Range (“Range agency deep into DFL politics, pockets,” March 1). What if these two stories were related? Researchers at Indiana University published a study last year that explored the impact of public officials’ corruption on the size and allocation of state...

The FBI and the IRS are investigating a social services group that was shut down last fall after a state audit found its CEO spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on trips and other perks. Minnesota Public Radio News reported Friday that the federal investigation into Community Action of Minneapolis was revealed in documents filed in Ramsey County District Court. The documents were filed by court-appointed receiver Michael Knight, who is going through Community Action's books. "There are ongoing investigations by the FBI, the IRS and the DOC (Minnesota Department of Commerce) that are draining time and...

A 5-year-old boy was “screaming his lungs out” Sunday as he came “flying out of the door” of an SUV during a botched theft of a flat-screen TV from a Falmouth Wal-Mart by his mom and her boyfriend, according to police reports released yesterday. Eyewitnesses said they ran to help as the crying boy fell “out of the car onto the ground” and then got up and started to chase the SUV.

I got hacked twice this month. The first time I was going for a layup at the local gym. The second time was learning I'm among the more than 313,000 Minnesotans and nearly 80 million Americans whose personal information might have been accessed during the recent Anthem health insurer data breach. The compromised information includes names, member health identification numbers, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and employment and income information. Now, I'm an old-school, practical kind of guy. I try as much as I can to pay bills and items face to face with cash. I shred...

Under the false pretense of calling for new and tougher so-called fiduciary standards for financial brokers, advisers and retirement plan representatives, the White House once again horned in on Wall Street’s compensation formulas. However, what the president surely knows is that a vast majority of retirement plans — IRAs and 401(k)s — are in simple fee-based products like mutual funds. The commission-based accounts are for those who prefer to direct their brokers in certain purchases inside some of their retirement products. The key to the White House’s interference is in its nuanced language. Currently, a broker may make a recommendation...