This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Crime

  • Daylight shooting in DC claims four

    Speaking of guns and DC, the Washington Times reports that four men were shot during daylight today in Northeast DC;

    First responders were called to the 3900 block of Minnesota Avenue Northeast at 1:11 p.m. and located four gunshot victims, said D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Tim Wilson.

    Two men suffered life-threatening injuries and a spokesman for the police department said one man had been shot multiple times and another once in the chest. A third man was shot in the leg and the fourth victim’s injuries were not known.

    It was not known whether the victims were adults or juveniles.

    See, I don’t believe the story – after all, guns are heavily restricted in the nation’s capitol and no one is supposed to take their weapons out of their homes. So unless the four were shot from one of the nearby houses, I have to call bullshit on the article. Because everyone knows that gun control legislation works.

  • About That “Wonderful” Federal Lifeline Phone Program . . .

    Many of you doubtless have doubts and misgivings about the “Lifeline” program – the Federally subsidized program to provide basic phone service to the “poor”.  I for one certainly do.

    The program is sometimes derisively referred to as the “Obama phone” program.  That’s a misnomer.  The program dates to 1985, during the Reagan administration.  It was begun as a way to subsidize emergency phone service for the poorest of the poor.

    It’s funded from the “universal service fee” – one of those incomprehensible mandatory fees tacked onto the phone bills of paying customers.  (IMO those fees are intentionally incomprehensible to hide what they’re being used to fund, but that’s another story . . . . )

    Originally the Lifeline program was landline-only.  But in 2005, the Bush administration opened the program to cell phones.

    “Really bad idea, sir.”

    From there, soon things began to go off the rails – badly.  During the last few years, program costs have skyrocketed.  Costs went from around $800 million in 2008 to roughly $2.2 billion in 2012.

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  • Jerome P. Burney and his victimless crime

    Jerome P Burney

    The Associated Press reports that Jerome P. Burney ripped off well-meaning employers who would plan to pay deployed employees while they were serving in the military. However the forty-year-old was NOT in the military. His little scheme netted him more than $363,000 in pay from May 2004 to August 2008;

    Forty-year-old Jerome P. Burney pleaded guilty Monday to one count of wire fraud. The Journal Gazette reported that Burney’s plea agreement calls for him to make restitution to several companies he had bilked as part of his scheme.

    Federal prosecutors say Burney sought jobs with companies that would pay employees being deployed as part of their military service the difference between their military pay and their employer pay.

    From Fort Wayne.com

    Burney applied for jobs at area companies, unnamed in court documents, which provided military pay differential policies.

    Those policies offered employees who were deployed with the Army National Guard or other branches of the service an amount of money equal to the difference in their base rate of pay at their employer and the amount of money they would be paid by the military during their deployment, according to court documents.

    Burney would then fax military deployment orders to his employers, saying he would be away from his job beginning on a certain date and continuing for up to a year, with the possibility that the deployment could be extended for an additional year, according to court documents.

    He also told his employers he had some military training from time to time that would also require he be away from his job and he would again be provided with the differential pay, according to court documents.

    The orders were fraudulent and Burney was not a member of the military, according to court documents.

    After a period of time with one particular company, Burney would leave and go to another company that offered the same benefit, according to court documents.

  • About That Proposed National Cemetery Law . . . .

    Burial in a National Cemetery is a benefit accorded to most veterans.  However, as is the case with most government benefits, it’s not a right guaranteed by the Constitution.  Congress created the benefit, and Congress can set the rules as it sees fit.

    Congress occasionally does change the rules about burial in National Cemeteries, or allow the VA to do so.*  Today, those rules are considerably more lenient than I’d personally prefer.  A veteran with a Dishonorable Discharge is banned by law from burial in a National Cemetery; all others who qualify legally as veterans – including those who accepted discharge in lieu of court-martial or received a Bad Conduct Discharge – can be.  (Those with less than an honorable discharge are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and can be buried in National Cemeteries if the VA approves.)

    Congress has placed a number of legal restrictions on burial in National Cemeteries.  The aforementioned ban on those with a DD being buried therein is one such legal restriction.  Another is the fact that even an honorably discharged veteran loses the benefit if he or she (1) is convicted of a capital crime, (2) dies before they can be tried for a capital crime, or (3) if clear and convincing evidence exists that the individual committed a capital crime.

    However, there is presently no legal authority for the VA to order the removal remains once interred.  And that apparent omission in the law has led to the following conundrum.

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  • About That Little “IRS Thing” . . . .

    Well, things sometimes move slowly in an investigation.  That’s especially true when those in charge seem to be “slow-rolling” things or ignoring blatant wrongdoing.

    But not everybody is “marking time”.  It seems that we have two different media organizations who are continuing to investigate this possible criminal conspiracy issue.  They’ve identified at least one – and likely two – IRS insiders who leaked confidential IRS information about conservative groups to the Administration’s political allies and/or other unauthorized persons.  And they’ve also identified at least one of the recipients of this unlawfully disclosed information – who later made it public.

    One of these organizations, National Review Online, has identified the individual who unlawfully leaked donor list information for the National Organization for Marriage.  This information was used by Romney’s political enemies during the 2012 Presidential campaign.

    National Review has not yet publicly disclosed the identity of the IRS source for the leak.  However, they have identified the recipient:  Matthew Meisel, a former associate of Romney at Bain & Company, who presumably has an axe to grind.  Meisel in turn passed this information along to others who were not authorized to receive it – specifically, to the “Human Rights Campaign” – thus making the information public.

    The second media organization, the Washington Examiner, has obtained e-mails identifying the individual who leaked tax return information about multiple conservative groups (including the American Future Fund and the American Issues Project) to the Federal Election Commission.  This information does not appear to have been used during the 2012 Presidential campaign; however, the disclosure of this information was nonetheless unlawful.   And it also raises an interesting question:  why would the FEC ask for information regarding groups that had applied for, but not yet received, tax-exempt status?

    The Washington Examiner has not publicly identified the specific individuals who received this information.  However, they have identified the leak’s source:  one each Ms. Lois Lehrner.

    If you’re thinking that name rings a bell – you’re right.  Lois Lehrner is indeed the former senior official at the IRS who was at or near the center of this controversy from day one.

    It’s unclear if the two leaks had the same source.  The articles seem to indicate they likely don’t, but until National Review Online identifies the source of the leaks to Meisel, we won’t know that for certain.

    If I were Lerner and Meisel – and anyone else directly involved – I think I’d consult with legal counsel pronto.  If what’s alleged is correct, they may have some ‘splainin’ to do in court.  Unauthorized public disclosure of confidential IRS tax information by anyone appears to be a Federal crime under 26 USC 6103(a).  And doing so apparently is a Federal felony.

    Stay tuned.

  • Wounded Mom/Cop doesn’t quit

    PintoNag sends us a link to Today which tells the story of one tenacious mom who is also a cop. 40-year-old Ann Carrizales was shot in the face and chest at a vehicle stop recently when the driver shot her then fled the scene. Carrizales then gave chase in her own vehicle;

    “It wasn’t an option for me to give up,” the 40-year-old former Marine and mother of two told NBC’s Janet Shamlian. “I had to stay in that fight because I am a mom and they shot me and they were absolutely not going to get away with that, because I will do everything I can to come home to my children every day.”

    Then, bleeding and in pain, she got into her squad car and gave chase. The pursuit lasted more than 20 miles.

    “I knew that it was what I needed to do, to catch these guys,” she said. “You can’t shoot me and drive away: It’s not allowed.”

    “You need people like me out here to do this, and I’m so proud to do it and honored to do it,” she said.

    I don’t know, I just like her whole attitude.

  • #@&!! TDY Fraud

    I alluded earlier to a problem in the Arizona Air National Guard.  It looks like the subject of this article was the reason.

    It appears as if some of those assigned to the 214th Reconnaissance Squadron, Arizona Air National Guard and based in Tucson, were really enduring a hardship tour operating those remotely-piloted aircraft (RPAs).

    How bad, you ask?  As in drawing TDY allowances while living at home and flying RPA missions in support of deployed troops.

    One of the indicted was an O6 – Colonel Gregg Davies.  Ranks of the remaining personnel indicted were not immediately available.

    Davies reportedly used his position “to circumvent measures that were supposed to prevent unauthorized temporary duty entitlements when military members are neither deployed nor away for training from their home.”  The others apparently just raked in their unauthorized cash – to the tune of over $1 million total.  Many individuals involved are thought to have pocketed upwards of $100,000.

    I hope the justice system burns the hell out of these fools.

  • Joseph Earl Steward; phony cop solicits for WWP donations in OH

    joseph_steward.jpg

    Preston sends us a link to an article about Joseph Earl Steward who is wandering around neighborhoods in central Ohio claiming that he’s collecting for the Wounded Warrior Project, according to the Columbus Dispatch;

    Officials with the Wounded Warrior Project, which provides services to injured military members as they transition to civilian life, said they have no record of Steward working for the organization and have received no money from him. The project also noted that it does not solicit door-to-door.

    Fraud detectives said Steward gave receipts to donors and had records of more than 300 donors who gave money. Most donations were $10 to $20, but there also were checks of up to $500. Steward provided donors with a fake tax ID number taken off a fraudulent form.

    “These are good-hearted people who thought they were donating to the Wounded Warrior Project,” said Columbus Police Sgt. Keith Kline. Police say that Steward collected at least several thousand dollars.

    Central Ohio’s TV10 reports that he’s also pretending to be a police officer and that he’s wanted on several warrants;

    Police say they believe Joseph Steward, who also is known as Joseph Earl Steward or Charles Steward, has been identifying himself as an officer and asking for cash donations for the Wounded Warrior Project.

    Joseph, 45, also is wanted on several warrants through the Columbus Division of Police and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.

    He is wanted for identity theft out of the City of Columbus.

    Carryout owner Fady Abuayyash told 10TV News on Monday that Steward came to his store on Oct. 3 and claimed he was a sheriff’s deputy.

    A Google search turns up several arrests and mug shots for Steward over the last several years.