Free Republic

The No. 2 officer at the military command in charge of all U.S. nuclear war-fighting forces is suspected in a case involving counterfeit gambling chips at a western Iowa casino and has been suspended from his duties, officials said.Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina has not been arrested or charged, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation special agent David Dales said Saturday. The state investigation is ongoing.Giardina, deputy commander at U.S. Strategic Command, was suspended on Sept. 3 and is under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a Strategic Command spokeswoman said.The highly unusual action against a high-ranking officer at Strategic...

In 2019, Brandon McDowell was contacted by a sophomore in college who asked to buy Percocet, a prescription painkiller. What the 20-year-old sold her instead were counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that can be lethal in a dose as small as 2 milligrams. Hours later, Alexandra Capelouto, also 20, was dead in her Temecula, California, home. It is an increasingly common scenario as fentanyl overdoses have become a leading cause of death for minors in the last five years, with more than 74,000 people dying in the U.S. from a synthetic opioid in 2023, according to...

Google blamed a ‘glitch’ for how the Harris Camp was able to edit news headlines to make it look like major news outlets favored her. As previously reported, the Harris Campaign edited news headlines with Google search ads to make it appear major news outlets such as Reuters, CBS News, CNN, NPR and AP are on her side. While these major news outlets are shilling for Harris, her campaign edited the news headlines without the outlets’ consent or knowledge. The ads say “sponsored” but the outlets did not publish the text. The favorable headlines were written by the Harris...

The Kamala Harris campaign has been editing press headlines and putting the fake versions in ads as a way to spread disinformation. That's according to a new report that found multiple instances of Google ads being manipulated without the consent of the various news organizations linked to the false headlines.🚨🚨 The Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and descriptions within Google search ads that make it appear as if the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are on her side, Axios has found.https://t.co/uW3VlgoXLK— Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) August 13, 2024The Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and...

The Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and descriptions within Google search ads that make it appear as if the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are on her side, Axios has found. Why it matters: It's a common practice in the commercial advertising world that doesn't violate Google's policies, but the ads mimic real news results from Search closely enough that they have news outlets caught off guard. According to Google's ad transparency center, the Trump campaign isn't running these types of ads, but this technique has been used by campaigns before. The ads say that...

Despite corporate media’s unabashed u-turn to support Kamala Harris, her campaign has been busted creating made-up headlines next to the names of real news outlets to trick people into thinking they’ve stumbled upon the real thing, Axios reports. Upon hearing the news, The Guardian lost their sh*t, telling Axios: “While we understand why an organization might wish to align itself with the Guardian’s trusted brand, we need to ensure it is being used appropriately and with our permission. We’ll be reaching out to Google for more information about this practice.”

I want to ask the question why doesn't Ukraine just produced the whole King Kaboodle of Russian ruble counterfeit and injected into the Russian economy and what would be the effect I'm not suggesting it I'm not recommending it it's a thought experiment from a monetary historian ...it might make the world a better place just a thought experiment

The problem has been traced back to a Chinese supplier. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating an issue involving the authenticity of titanium used in Airbus and Boeing jets after a supplier discovered holes in the metal due to corrosion. This has raised suspicions that a supply chain partner may have falsified documentation, much like the AOG Technics scandal uncovered last year. As first reported by The New York Times, Airbus and Boeing partner Spirit AeroSystems has alleged that titanium used on recently-built aircraft at both planemakers may have been falsely verified, leading the FAA to launch an investigation....

Police in the northern German port city of Kiel on Friday said they had discovered counterfeit cash worth more than $103 million. Officials think the haul of low-quality forgeries was part of a wider shipment operation for falsified bills from Turkey, through Germany, to the United States. How did police find the counterfeit notes? Investigators tracked the company locations of a suspect after US security authorities tipped off German federal police. State police in Schleswig-Holstein said they conducted "extensive searches" of an apartment and two company addresses, in both Schleswig-Holstein and neighboring Hamburg. Officers discovered and seized four pallets containing...

Those watches, handbags and sunglasses might look awfully alluring when laid out on a New York City street corner — but the feds want holiday shoppers to keep walking. That was the message they hammered home Tuesday as federal authorities warned people not to shell out their hard-earned dollars for fraudulent goods — whose very existence poses a shadowy threat to the country, they said. “Today we’re here to warn the public again with an old saying that will stand the test of time: If the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is,” Marina Vides, assistant special...

Delta, American, United and Southwest Airlines have discovered that unapproved jet engine parts with fake safety certificates have been installed inside their planes. The airline companies and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency have claimed that AOG Technics, a leading global aircraft support provider to the air transport industry, sold them the fake parts. The airlines stated that AOG Technics falsified the required airworthiness documents for the spare parts and mass-produced artificial safety certificates in order to sell its engine parts to them. Parts sold by the problematic company have been found in 126 engines across the airlines and several...

A police traffic stop in suburban Chicago turned into federal charges after cops found law enforcement badges and about $800,000 in counterfeit U.S. Savings Bonds in the driver’s car, according to a newly-filed criminal complaint. Robert R. Krilich, 58, is charged with possessing a counterfeit U.S. security intending to defraud. Rosemont police pulled Krilich over on Tuesday afternoon because they didn’t see a license plate on his car, officials said. Things snowballed from there. First, Krilich told the officers that he just picked up his car from O’Hare after returning from Las Vegas, and he believed someone stole his plates...

There's been an alarming rise in Made in China counterfeit postage stamps here in America ... The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has been struggling for years, saddled with an outmoded business model and huge retiree pension liabilities. And now, added to its inflationary and management woes comes a new threat: counterfeit stamps from China marketed online through paid ads on Google and Facebook, among other platforms. Counterfeiting currency, bonds, or other government paper of value is a form of warfare. The British printed Continental paper dollars to undermine the American economy during the Revolutionary War. The Union encouraged counterfeiting against...

Video link here: MILLIONS OF FAKE BALLOTS CREATED AND ALIGNED WITH "UNDELIVERABLES" The Video is an hour, but is worth it. It exposes tactics and schemes that are marked by deception, designed to be hidden and remain hidden when inevitable audits take place. To spare those who complain about long videos disrupting their precious lifestyles and schedules in spite of the takedown of their country and their way of life, the following condenses the findings and encapsulates the information at-a-glance. FIRST: 1. If the Pandemic is over, why are there millions of mail-in ballots in circulation?Clearly, massive election theft requires...

After a spate of bad publicity over winning a Goliath-versus-David lawsuit, Eric Clapton’s management has announced it does not intend to collect the money owed by a German woman who was sued for putting a bootleg CD of a 1980s Clapton concert up for sale on eBay.The woman had been ordered to pay approximately $4,000 after a judge ruled she had infringed Clapton’s copyright by trying to sell the more than 30-year-old CD, which her late husband had purchased at a department store, for 9.95 euros, or roughly $11.20. The illicit disc was removed from the site after a day...

[h/t ymani cricket]

Customs and Border Protection officers seized thousands of counterfeit auto parts headed to the Philadelphia area. A shipment from China containing nearly 6,000 pieces was destined from the Feasterville-Trevose area. Officials say there were door locks, steering wheel switches, headlights, taillights, and more. The suggested retail price was nearly $300,000. Experts remind residents to always buy from reputable vendors.

The Butterfly Effect, simply put, is the proposition that small events can trigger and lead to much larger and significant events. It is derived from the idea of a butterfly flapping its wings and causing a tornado elsewhere in the world. On Wednesday of this week, the third day of the trial of Derek Chauvin, a store clerk by the name of Christopher Martin, who took the counterfeit twenty-dollar bill George Floyd was using to pay for a pack of cigarettes, testified that he almost paid for it with his own money before changing his mind. This one small decision...

Fake or fraudulent coronavirus vaccine cards are growing in popularity as governments and businesses mull the idea of using the documentation as a possible way to begin relaxing pandemic restrictions. The fraudulent proof of COVID-19 prophylaxis could be used as a way for the vaccine-hesitant — or those tired of waiting to qualify for the vaccines — to pass off their verification of immunity. Nearly a third of American adults have said they would not get the coronavirus vaccine if it was available to them, NPR reported. Where are fake vaccine cards being sold? The fake blank cards have been...

U.S. Customs And Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport seized 36 counterfeit guitars recently that if authentic, would have had a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $158,692. The guitars arrived in 36 different shipments from China on December 15. Officers suspected the guitars to be counterfeit and detained them to continue their investigation. The collection consisted of 27 Gibson, six Fender, two CF Martin and one Paul Reed Smith guitars. Many of the Gibsons were of the Les Paul line of custom guitars. Even Jimmy Page's Gibson double neck made the collection, as did an axe purportedly autographed...