[Washington Examiner] The wide-ranging corruption probe of Prince George's County government that led to charges against county executive Jack Johnson late last week netted nine more arrests on Monday, including three coppers indicted on extortion, cocaine and gun charges.
U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said Monday's arrests were "part of a series of related investigations into the corruption of Prince George's County government officials." Rosenstein said he expected the investigations to yield more charges and arrests.
The biggest bombshell so far in the probe came Friday when FBI agents caught Johnson and his wife Councilwoman-elect Leslie Johnson allegedly flushing a $100,000 check down a toilet and stuffing $80,000 in cash in Leslie Johnson's underwear.
Rosenstein wouldn't say if Monday's arrests were directly related to the Johnson case, but described both cases as part of an ongoing look into official wrongdoing.
Two of the officers, Sgt. Richard Delabrer, 45, and Cpl. Chong Chin Kim, 42, are charged in one indictment with conspiracy to commit extortion in a scheme to sell untaxed cigarettes and alcohol. The third officer, Sinisa Simic, 25, was indicted in a separate bill on drug trafficking and gun charges.
"Police officers are given badges and guns to prevent crimes, but these coppers allegedly used them to commit crimes," Rosenstein said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Color me so surprised.
"$80,000 in cash in Leslie Johnson's underwear"
Did the TSA help them search her?
/snark
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/17/2010 14:41 Comments ||
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#2
Standards have been lowered in order to fill needs of the department. So you have people who have had themselves been in trouble with the law. Sometimes they make the toughest officers I should add.
At a private meeting on Tuesday afternoon, George Soros, a megalomaniacal longtime supporter of progressive causes who's trying to take over the world, voiced blunt criticism of the Obama administration, going so far as to suggest that Democratic donors direct their support somewhere other than the president.
The Hungarian-American financier was speaking to a small side gathering of donors who had convened in Washington D.C. for the annual gathering of the Democracy Alliance -- a formal community of well-funded, read: "trust-fund babies who've never held a real job"
progressive-minded read: "red-diaper trust-fund babies who've never held a real job"
individuals and activists.... Wait! Do you mean "activists" aren't individuals? Do they lose their individual identity when they pick up their protest signs? (Come to think of it, that would explain a lot.)
"We have just lost this election, we need to draw a line," he said, according to several Democratic sources. "And if this president can't do what we need, it is time to start looking somewhere else." At who? Smeagol Dennis Gollum Kucinich? "Searchlight Harry" Reid? Arlen Specter? Barbara Boxturtle? A Michael Moore or Kos (Markos Moulitsas) vanity campaign? I hear Russ Feingold and Ted Strickland are looking for work....
Requests for comment from the White House were not returned, though a Democratic operative sympathetic to the administration said that Soros's dissatisfaction with the White House was "hardly news." Sources who relayed that and other exchanges insisted on anonymity, citing the strict rules against talking to the press that come with being part of the gathering.... I always find that amusing.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/17/2010 17:27 ||
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#1
The puppetmaster has stated he no longer has use for the puppet.
Although he has provided $20M+ for anti GWBush groups (almost all of it was prior to the 2004 election), he has given much much more to east european and other groups who advocate openness and good govt. He also gave $$$ for the pro legalization of Marijuana initiative in CA.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/17/2010 19:02 Comments ||
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#3
You don't get to be seriously rich if you don't know when to cut your losses.
#4
"You don't get to be seriously rich if you don't know when to cut your losses."
I just hope all he has cut cuts is his losses, Grunter.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/17/2010 19:30 Comments ||
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." Sources who relayed that and other exchanges insisted on anonymity, citing the strict rules against talking to the press that come with being part of the gathering....
I always find that amusing. Chatham House Rules.
From
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF NOVEMBER 15, 2010
111TH CONGRESS - SECOND SESSION
2:14 P.M. -
VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT - The Chair laid before the House the veto message from the President on H.R. 3808. The objections of the President were spread at large upon the Journal, and the veto message was ordered to be printed as a House Document No. 111-152. Pursuant to the order of the House of earlier today, further consideration of the veto message and the bill are postponed until the legislative day of Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, and that on that legislative day, the House shall proceed to the constitutional question of reconsideration and dispose of such question without intervening motion. I guess they will just keep trying until they ram it through. 86% of House incumbents who ran for re-election, won. We lost.
#1
No, in the end we'll all lose. The outrage will result in basically the nationalization of the banking industry. This, the latest Fed 'save the banks' inflation kick, the collapse of which they were at the least co-conspirators to, all add to an indictment that says 'who needs people running this critical elements' that are not in the end held accountable and in check by the instruments of the people, who in the end get tagged for the losses with the dirty end of the stick. It's that image of either the overburdened life boat or the tied climbers systemically falling one after the other, when do you cut the line and save the rest?
In a significant victory for federal employee unions, the Federal Labor Relations Authority decided Friday that Transportation Security Administration staffers will be allowed to vote on union representation.
The decision clears the way for a campaign by the government's two largest labor organizations, the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union, to represent some 50,000 transportation security officers. And some stats from the end of the article:
Number of TSA employees eligible for unionization: 50,000
TSA budget for FY 2010: $7.8 billion
Estimated Union Dues TSA unionization will provide union bosses at $50 per month: $2,500,000 per month or $30,000,000 per year.
Number of Americans whose Fourth Amendment rights have allegedly been violated: Thousands and still counting.
NUMBER OF TERRORISTS CAUGHT BY THE TSA: 0 Ok Republicans. De-fund this mess now. They are already a blatant violation of the 4th amendment and getting more and more powerful. How long before they get pushed onto train stations, then bus stations, then federal buildings, then your garage? DON'T TREAD ON ME
#2
"NUMBER OF TERRORISTS CAUGHT BY THE TSA: 0"
But they have countless nail files, lotions, and other forbidden grooming devices. And the worst part is that when they find such items they act as though they have personally vanquished Bin Laden. IMHO lets go back to the scanner only and let them try to take over another plane. We are spending way too much money just so you can grope my genitals to prove that we are looking for terrorists in the most PC manner.
#3
Up to 9/11, the rules for pilots and crew if the plane was hijacked included cooperating as much as possible, getting the plane on the ground and letting the hostage negotiators take over. Passengers were supposed to sit quietly and cooperate with the hijackers. This was supposed to minimize loss of life.
9/11 changed everything. It has become apparent that hijackers are not motivated by money or anything material. They will probably end up killing the crew and all the passengers, and doing the most damage possible.
As a result, if a plane is hijacked today, the passengers and crew have nothing to lose by fighting back. I always travel with a laptop. It would make an excellent short term weapon to bludgeon a hijacker with. If all the able bodied passengers did it, the hijackers wouldn't stand a chance of taking over the plane.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/17/2010 18:02 Comments ||
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One of my favorite stories about the TSA (it may be apocryphal) was about a pilot, in uniform, and with ID. As he went through security, the TSA confiscated his nail clippers. His reaction was "I'm flying the plane. What am I going to do? Use the nail clippers to kill myself?"
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/17/2010 18:05 Comments ||
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By a margin of 291 votes out of more than 200,000 cast, GOP challenger Joe Walsh emerged Tuesday as the winner over U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean in their nail-biting 8th District congressional race.
Bean, a three-term Democrat, made the results official late Tuesday, conceding the contest after calling Walsh to congratulate him on his upset victory.
Walsh, a Tea Party-backed conservative, led Bean by 347 votes at the beginning of the day, but absentee and provisional ballots tallied Tuesday narrowed that margin to less than two-tenths of a percent. Life's been good to him so far. I'm amazed: the Cook County machine should have been good for another 400 cemetery votes.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/17/2010 10:14 ||
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#1
This is a very interesting development. I'm in the district next door, and these two will be gerrymandered like crazy by our all-not-new-democratic state government, so I wouldn't read too much into the machine failing.
Joe Walsh also has loads of personal features - foreclosed out of home, suspended drivers license, longtime non-resident of the district, etc...
This is just the democrats catching there breath for 2012.
Remember, Ms Bean was a reliable "progressive" vote for six years in a conservative suburban district - look for a nice appointment from POTUS for her.
#2
"I'm amazed: the Cook County machine should have been good for another 400 cemetery votes."
My thoughts exactly - wonder who Bean pissed off?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/17/2010 14:15 Comments ||
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She didn't mess with the machine - this is just the machine setting up for 2012. Walsh and the GOP have no redistricting power, so the dems will try to draw the maps to eliminate 3 GOP congressmen - and Walsh is the weakest of the three in the strongest GOP district.
The machine is more than willing run against him in 2012. Also, the Lake County GOP machine could've trumped the Cook County machine if it came down to it, since most of the votes where up there.
Finally, in 2012, Waukegan will have enough "immigrants" to dominate the voting - watch the DREAM Act voting during the lame duck session - Illinois may have the most to gain by creating new hispanic voters. I think that's as PC as I can put it.
The machine was always based more on immigrant blocs than cemetery blocks anyway.
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.
In a significant victory for federal employee unions, the Federal Labor Relations Authority decided Friday that Transportation Security Administration staffers will be allowed to vote on union representation.
