Obama Seeks to Change Sentences for Crack Possession

Obama Seeks to Change Sentences for Crack Possession - FOXNews.com

H1N1 'swine' flu confirmed in Colorado

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has confirmed that Colorado has its first cases of "swine" flu and expect many more.

According to the CDPHE, two people in Colorado have been diagnosed with swine flu.

"As we expected, the virus is in Colorado," Dr. Ned Calonge, Colorado's chief medical officer, said.

Calogne said at a news conference today, the first case was a woman in her 30s from Arapahoe County who had just returned from a cruise in Mexico. She had also spent a few days in San Diego, which also has confirmed cases, therefore authorities haven't been able to pinpoint where or when she may have contracted the virus. She hasn't been hospitalized.

The second case was a man in his 40s from Douglas County who works as a baggage handler at Denver International Airport. According to CDPHE officials, the case at DIA is a reminder to be vigilant about your health in public areas.

The baggage handler was hospitalized for three days and released today.

Authorities say both people are recovering and are doing well.

"This does not change our approach to the H1N1 flue outbreak," Calogne said. "All of our planning activities are in place. We will continue to look for new cases, we have response that's in place and up and running commiserate to the severity of the illness that we're seeing."

"Additional specimens" were tested today. It isn't clear when these results will be available, according to CDPHE.

"All the stuff we've been telling you, about be prepared, take precautions, and right now it looks like it's the seasonal flu. That's the same message," Calogne said.

12 states have confirmed cases of swine flu: California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, South Carolina, New York, Massachusetts. Full story from 9News

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Swine flu prompts World Health Organization to raise alert level

Swine flu prompts World Health Organization to raise alert level - Los Angeles Times

Warning pandemic imminent

CDC: Swine flu claims 1st victim

Toddler dies from swine flu

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today confirmed the nation's first death in the swine flu outbreak, a 23-month-old child in Texas.

CDC: Swine flu claims 1st victim in US - Boston.com
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Swine Flu Outbreak Continues To Grow

According to the CDC's website, the human swine flu outbreak continues to grow in the U.S. and worldwide.

Today, CDC is reporting additional cases of confirmed swine influenza and a number of hospitalizations of swine flu patients.

Internationally, the situation is more serious, with additional countries reporting confirmed cases of swine flu. In response to the intensifying outbreak, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 4.

A Phase 4 alert is characterized by confirmed person-to-person spread of a new influenza virus able to cause community-level outbreaks. The increase in the pandemic alert phase indicates that the likelihood of a pandemic has increased. There are a total of 6 alert levels.

CDC has activated its emergency operation center to coordinate the agency's emergency response. CDC's goals are to reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by this swine influenza virus.

On Monday, CDC issued a travel warning recommending that people avoid non-essential travel to Mexico. CDC continues to issue interim guidance daily on their website and through health alert network notices.

CDC's Division of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is releasing one-quarter of its antiviral drugs, personal protective equipment, and respiratory protection devices to help states respond to the outbreak.

The swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir.

On the Net:
Centers for Disease Control - See number of confirmed U.S. cases.

FedEx and other private delivery carriers have been notified to have their critical fleet ready to help transport the antiviral drugs and protection equipment and devices if needed.
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swine flu colorado swine flu denver colo influenza

CDC Director: "Swine Flu Outbreak is Evolving and Changing Rapidly"

FOXNews.com - Swine Flu Fears Close Numerous Schools in Several States - Infectious Disease

Richard Besser, M.D., Acting Director of the Center for Disease Control, says the swine flu outbreak in the U.S. is evolving and changing rapidly.

World Health Organization raises the swine flu pandemic to phase 4 - MSNBC
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World governments race to contain swine flu outbreak - Los Angeles Times

World governments race to contain the swine flu outbreak - Los Angeles Times

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U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency

Swine Flu Outbreak in the United States

U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency in Wake of Swine Flu - FOXNews.com

U.S. government declares crises: "Swine Flu will likely spread across the country," says Centers for Disease Control.

"Swine Flu was brought into the country by people coming and going from Mexico. There's no telling how many cases we are going to see in the U.S. - could be in the hundreds," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Homeland Security.
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WHO: Mexico swine flu has 'pandemic potential' - Boston.com

WHO: Mexico swine flu has 'pandemic potential' - Boston.com

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FOXNews.com - CDC: 8 Confirmed Cases of Swine Flu in U.S. - Cold & Flu

FOXNews.com - CDC: 8 Confirmed Cases of Swine Flu in U.S. - Cold & Flu

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Mexico drug cartel teaching members values, moral principles

MEXICO CITY - A drug cartel in Mexico is telling their members to avoid heavy drinking and using narcotics and live a clean family life as it tries to build a well-run criminal organization, according to police.

Rafael Cedeno, a leader of "The Family" cartel based in the western state of Michoacan, told police after he was arrested he had trained several thousand cartel members with courses in ethics and personal improvement.

"The indoctrination of this group consisted of courses they considered to be for personal improvement, values, ethical and moral principles. The objective was for the subordinates to avoid drugs, hard drinking and maintain family unity," say federal police.

Cedeno, 47, was arrested at a family baptism on Saturday with 43 others after a raid by police in helicopters. Cedeno is accused of ordering the murder of rivals and running prostitution rings of young girls.

About 6, 300 people were killed in the bitter war between Mexico drug cartels last year. The conflict has spilled over the border into the United States.

The training courses show the level of organization of Mexico's cartels, well-armed groups which often control territory and take on federal police and the army.

The point of training was "to have better motivational and emotional control over the members," Cedeno said. "The Family" has previously portrayed itself as a local organization protecting Michoacan residents from outside drug smugglers, many of whom frequently indulge in drugs or drink.

The group, a splitter group from the Gulf Cartel, now fights its former allies for control of territory in Michoacan, often leaving gruesome messages next to decapitated heads. REUTERS

Mexico's drug wars
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Grisly murder brings Mexican drug war to U.S.

Five men found dead in an apartment in Columbiana, Alabama - victims of the expanding Mexican drug war.

In a county that might see five homicides in a year, the call over the Sheriff's radio revealed little about the gruesome scene that awaited Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry and his deputies.

Once Sheriff Curry laid eyes on the horrific crime-scene, he called the state, the FBI, DEA, anyone he could think of.

"I don't know what I've got," he warned them. "But I'm gonna need help."

The five dead men were scattered about the living room of one apartment in a complex of hundreds.

Some of the men showed signs of torture. Burns seared into their earlobes revealed where modified jumper cables had been clamped as an improvised electrocution device. Adhesive duct tape used to blind the victims still clung to wrists and faces, from mouths to noses.

As a final touch, throats were slashed open, post-mortem.

It didn't take long for Sheriff Curry, state investigators and federal agents to piece together clues. A murder scene, clean save for the crimson-turned-brown stains now spotting the carpet. Just a couple of mattresses tossed onto the floor. It was a typical stash house.

Curry soon found out it was a retaliation hit over drug money with ties to Mexico's notorious Gulf Cartel.

Curry also learned what Drug Enforcement Administration agents have long understood. The drug war, knows no boundaries. It had landed in his back yard, in the foothills of the Appalachians, in Alabama's wealthiest county.

One thousand, twenty-four miles from the Mexican border.

Forget for a moment the phrase "War on Drugs" - ridiculed a lot since President Richard Nixon coined it. Wars are suppose to eventuaaly end. Many Americans wonder, nearly four decades later, will this one ever be won?

In Mexico, some 45,000 army troops patrol territories long rued by narcotraffickers. Places like Tijuana, in the border state of Baja California, Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from Texas, Cuidad Juarez, next door to El Paso. The central state of Michoacan and resort cities like Acapulco, an hour south of the place where, months ago, the decapitated bodies of 12 soldiers were discovered with a sign that read: "For every one of mine that you kill, I will kill 10."

10,560 people have been killed since 2006, the year President Felipe Calderon took office and launched his campaign against the organized crime gangs that move cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin to a vast U.S. market. Consider that fewer than 4,300 American service members have died in the six-year war in Iraq.

The cartels are fighting each other for power, and the Calderon administration for their very survival. Never before has a Mexican president gone after narco-networks with such force.


Now the cartels have brought the fight to us. In 230 cities, the Mexican drug trafficking organizations maintain distribution hubs or supply drugs to local distributors, according to the U.S. Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center.


Places like Miami and other longtime transportation points along the California, Arizona and Texas borders. But also Twin Falls, Idaho, Billings, Montana, Witchita, Kansas, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Atlanta.

Even affluent Shelby County, Alabama.

The quintuple homicide occurred just outside the Birminham city limits and about a half-hour's drive north of Columbiana, the county seat.

"We became a hub without knowing it," Sheriff Curry says. We've got to wake people up because we're seeing it all over the place. It is now firmly located throughout the country."

In Phoenix, the nation's fifth-largest city, police report close to 1,000 kidnappings over the past three years tied to border smuggling, be it human or drugs or both. The rise parallels a shift in illegal immigrant crossings at the California, Arizona and Texas borders, where many of the same gangs transporting people transport drugs.

The perpetrators are often after ransom money, for a drug load lost or from a family that paid to have a relative brought to the U.S.

The problem has earned the city the unfortunate distinction of "America's kidnapping capital" even though the incidents are mostly out of sight and out of mind for law-abiding residents and overall crime, including homicides, which was down last year.

In Atlanta, which has become a major distribution hub for the Gulf Cartel, trafficker-on-trafficker violence has become more common as the cartels, in the face of Calderon's crackdown, impose tighter payment schedules and grow less tolerant of extending credit, according to the DEA Atlanta office.

That is blamed, in part, for the much-publicized kidnapping last summer in the middle-class Atlanta suburb of Lilburn. Acting on a tip, DEA agentsfound a Dominican man chained to a wall in the basement of a house, severely dehydrated and badly beaten. He had been lured from Rhode Island because he owed $300,000 in drug debts.

In border communities were trafficking is common it's not unusual to hear a drug-related crime on the evening news. What is unusual is where drug-related violence is now erupting, where disribution cells, hubs and sub-hubs have surfaced.

How the apartment in an affluent area of Alabama became the site of a drug hit in many ways tells the story of the narco-trade in America in 2009, and of the challenges law enforcement faces in combating the problem i big cities and small towns across the nation.

Before Aug. 20, 2008, when the five men were found, the assumption had been that the big drug hauls were passing through Shelby County and on to cities with larger markets.

Alabama has long had its share of street dealers. Home-grown pot passed hands. Then powder cocaine and crack. Meth labs cropped up here and there. "Just a local issue," says Sheriff Curry.

"There weren't really any traffickers in our county. But over time it's escalated into a sophisticated transportation structure that moved marijuana, then moved powder cocaine and is now moving crystal meth."

The rise of the Mexican cartels was brought about during the '80s after authorities cracked down on Columbian traffickers and choked off routes along the Caribbean and in South Florida. The Columbians aligned with Mexicans for transportation, then began paying their Mexican subcontractors in cocaine.

As more Columbian traffickers were brought down, the Mexicans took over both transportation and distribution. A decade ago, 60 percent of the cocaine entering the U.S. came through Mexico. Now 90 percent comes from Mexico.

Texas and other border states become primary distribution hubs. Agents at the FBI'S violent crime task force Birmingham office say Alabama dealers have been known to fly into Houston, rent a car, pick up loads at a warehouse or mall parking lot and drive back to Alabama.

"Houston is their home base and has been for a long time," according to the DEA.

Traffickers feel comfortable operating in the suburbs surrounding Houston, Memphis, Atlanta, Birmingham and other little pockets of the country because they can "blend in in plain sight," according to the DEA.

The flood of Mexicans coming into the U.S. communities over the past decade and a half has helped provide cover for traffickers looking to expand into new markets or build distribution hubs in quiet suburbs with fewer law officers than the big cities.

Shelby has long been Alabama's fastest-growing county, with its proximity to Birmingham, good schools and a growing corporate corridor along Highway 280. The number of Mexicans grew 126 percent from 2000 t0 2007.

"It was once rare to see a Latino at the local Wal-Mart or gas station", say residents. "Now, dozens upon dozens of Hispanic day laborers line Lorma Road in the northern part of the county.

Making it "easy for drug traffickers," say law enforcement. "You don't stand out."

There is another reason though why communities like Columbiana and others have become "sub-hubs."

With some 4.9 million trucks crossing into the United States from Mexico every year, tractor-trailers have become a transportation mode of choice among traffickers.

Shelby County is a trucking mecca, with highways 65, 20, 59 and 459 running east to Atlanta, north to Nashville, south to New Orleans, west to Dallas. Once reluctant to haul drug shipments too far beyond a border state, drivers are willing to take more chances now, because there are so many trucks on the road.

Since January, 27 people have been sentenced in Alabama federal court in only one case for using tractor-trailers to transport cocaine and marijuana from Mexico across the border to Brownsville, Texas, then up through Birmingham on Interstate 65 to northern Alabama for dristribution. Investigators seized 77 pounds of cocaine during the investigation - more than the DEA seized in the entire state of Alabama in all of 1999. The scheme, according to the indictment, had operated since 2004.

Amid all of this, an operation moved into Shelby County, leading to the 911 call on Aug. 20.

A simple welfare check of residents brought sheriff's deputies to the Cahaba Lakes Apartments off Highway 280, just down the road a little from upscale Vestavia Hills, whose motto is "A Better Place To Live."

The victims were Latin, all illegal immigrants, according to law enforcement. Interviews with family members and associates helped investigators piece together a sketchy portrait of what happened.

Agents described it as friendly competition turned deadly among a group of distributors from Atlanta and Birmingham that often sold and shared drug loads when one or the other group was running low. At some point, about a half-million in drug money went missing. One group suspected the other of taking it, and went after the five men at Cahaba Lakes Apartments.

Investigators say the money was never found.

Whether an order came directly from Mexico, or the decision was made down the food chain, investigators don't know. The DEA notes that making a direct connection between the street level distributors charged in the murders and a specific cartel boss back in Mexico isn't easy in a business with so many players at various levels.

"From our investigation, we know that they were moving large quantities of drugs, which were probably brought in here under the supervision of the Gulf Cartel, because the Gulf Cartel is the dominant one here," says the DEA. "That money was suppose to be moving and disappeared. So the attempt was to locate where was the money and who took it?" It was a contract hit.

Since then, Sheriff Curry has pushed aside concerns about resources and has assigned a deputy to a DEA task force, and another to work with the FBI.

Heads of cartels have been toppled. Juan Garcia Abrego, a former chief of the Gulf Cartel and once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, is erving 11 life terms in a Colorado federal prison after his 1996 arrest in Mexico and extradition to the U.S. His successor, Osiel Cardenas, awaits trial in Houston after his 2007 extradition from Mexico.

These handovers have become almost routine under President Calderon, who reversed long-standing practice and allowed more Mexicans to be tried in the United States. Last year, he extradited a record 95 wanted criminals, including several high-ranking members of the Tijuana-based Arrellano-Felix Cartel.

In February, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of 750 people as part of "Operation Xcellerator," which targeted Mexico's most powerful drug organization, the Sinaloa Cartel. Another 175 were arrested last fall as part of "Project Reckoning," an investigation into the Gulf Cartel.

President Barack Obama has promised to dispatch hundreds of additional agents to the border, along with more gear and drug-sniffing dogs. "If the steps that we've taken do not get the job done," President Obama said, "then we will do more."

Sources:
Associated Press
Drug Enforcement Administration
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Alabama state law enforcement

Related Reports

D. Brian Blackwell

Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Janet Napolitano

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The lawsuit claims that her Department's "Rightwing Extremism Policy," as reflected in the recently publicized Intelligence Assessment, "Rightwing Extemism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," violates the civil liberteries of combat veterans as well as American citizens by targeting them for disfavored treatment on account of their political beliefs.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S.District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage, Iraqi War Marine veteran Kevin Murray, and Gregg Cunningham (President of the pro-life organization Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, Inc. (CBR).

The Law Center claims that Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security have violated the plaintiffs' First and Fifth Amendment Constitutional rights by attempting to stifle their free speech, expressive association, and equal protection rights.

The lawsuit further claims that the Department of Homeland Security encourages law enforcement officers throughout the United States to target and report citizens to federal officials as suspicious rightwing extremists and potential terrorists because of their political beliefs.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center stated, "The Obama Administration has declared war on American patriots and our Constitution. The Report even admits that DHS has no specific information on any plans of violence by so-called 'rightwing extremists.' Rather, what they do have is the expression of political opinions by certain individuals and organizations that oppose the Obama Administration's policies, and this expression is protected speech under the First Amendment."

Thompson added, "Janet Napolitano is lying to the American people when she says the Report is not based on ideology or political beliefs. In fact, her report would have the admiration of any current or past dictator in the way it targets political opponents."

The Report says that law enforcement should use the following in determining whether someone is a threat to society.

• Gun owner


• Returning war veteran


• Opposes restrictions on firearms


• Opposes the policies of President Barack Obama


• Opposes illegal immigration


• Opposes continuation of free-trade agreements


• Opposes same-sex marriages


• Has paranoia of foreign regimes


• Fear Communist regimes


• Opposes one world government


• Bemoans the decline of U.S. stature in the world


• Upset with loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to China and India
  

If you are a registered gun owner, returning war veteran, or are actively involved in any of the above listed political beliefs, you are on the DHS list as a rightwing extremist and potential domestic terrorist.

The Thomas More Law Center is asking the court to declare that the DHS policy violates the First and Fifth Amendments, to permanently enjoin the Policy and its application to the plaintiffs' speech and other activities, and to award the plaintiffs their reasonable attorney's fees and costs for having to bring this lawsuit in order to clear their names.

The Thomas More Law Center's complaint

D. Brian Blackwell

DHS issued report on extremism despite concerns

DHS issued report on extremism despite concerns - Boston.com

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano issued a report to law enforcement across the country last week targeting conservative republicans, returning war veterans, and gun owners - labeling them right-wing extremists.

"Returning war veterans are potential Timothy McVeigh's," says Napolitano.

The government considers you a terrorist threat if you oppose President Obama's policies, own a gun, oppose abortion or are a returning war veteran.

Obama Vows to Disarm Mexican Drug Cartels - First 100 Days of Presidency

Obama Vows to Disarm Mexican Drug Cartels - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

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Mainstream Media Sneers at Tea Party Protests

FOXNews.com - Mainstream Media Sneers at Tea Party Protests - Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld

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High School Student Killed In Love Triangle Involving Teacher

An 18-year-old Chandler, Arizona high school student caught with his 48-year-old math teacher in her bedroom was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, who was himself a former student of hers.

Chandler police say 20-year-old Sixto Balbuena told them he never meant to kill Samuel Valdivia. "The blade went in like going into butter," said Balbuena. "I just wanted to show Valdivia how much he hurt me by sleeping with Tamara Hofmann.

Balbuena, a Navy sailor on leave from California, was arrested after police found him covered in blood and told them about the killing. He is charged with second-degree murder and remains in jail in lieu of $100,000 bond.

Balbuena found his girlfriend naked and Valdivia in his boxer shorts in Hofmann's bedroom around 2:40 a.m. Friday, according to police reports and court documents.

Balbuena told police that Valdivia apologized to him before Balbuena began kicking, punching and throwing things at him, according to a police probable cause statement. "I wanted to teach him a lesson," said Balbuena.

Balbuena stabbed Valdivia in the lower side with a kitchen knife. Valdivia later died at a hospital.

Balbuena also threw Hofmann to the floor, jumped on top of her, and demanded to know how long she had been cheating on him, according to documents.

Hofmann was Valdivia's math teacher at El Dorado High School in Chandler and was also Balbuena's teacher when he attended Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe.

Balbuena is the one who called 911. He told officers he felt remorse for stabbing Valdivia after seeing him lying on the floor struggling to breathe.

Hofmann is being investigated for potential misconduct relative to her involvement with Valdivia.

A 2006 Chandler police report states that police suspected Hofmann of having a sexual relationship with a then 17-year-old Balbuena. Both Hofmann and Balbuena denied being in a sexual relationship, and police closed the case.

D. Brian Blackwell

April 15 Tax Day Tea Party rallies

Hundreds of taxpayers across the U.S. are geared up for a Tax Day Tea Party rally tomorrow to protest the out of control income tax system and run away government spending. Get information and follow events as they unfold in your town at: TaxDayTeaParty.com
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Couple's tax documents certifiably lost, blunder by the post office may cost them big

As they do each year, Dave and Ann Milhous gathered up all of their tax information, including W-2's, 1099's and charitable donation receipts.

In late February, Ann took the package to the post office to ship it to their tax preparer. She paid $10 to send it by certified mail. They waited and waited for their tax preparer to send them back the finished product so they could mail in their returns to the IRS.

"We kept after our tax preparer - "Why are you not sending our stuff back'? Says Ann. "They said, 'Because we never got it.' "

In late March, the Milhouses gained a greater understanding of what certified means. They received notice that their package had been delivered to the wrong address.

Their packet went to the Internal Revenue Service instead of their tax preparer. Their packet of information is sitting in a heap at the IRS waiting to be processed. And that won't happen because their accountant never received their information and thus never completed tax returns for them. More at: The Modesto Bee
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Search continues for University of St. Thomas freshman Dan Zamlen

The search continues along the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Paul for 19-year-old Dan Zamlen, a Universityof St. Thomas freshman who disappeared April 5. VIDEO

Related: Search continues for St. Thomas student Dan Zamlen missing since Sunday

Captain freed from captivity after being held by Somali pirates - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

Captain freed from captivity after being held by Somali pirates - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

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Man jailed for dodging child support for 14 kids, owes over half-a-million in back payments

A 42-year-old former Flint, Michigan man who authorities say fathered 14 children with 13 different women in Cenesee County and owes over $530,000 in child support has been jailed for dodging payments.

Thomas Frazier was booked into the Genesee County jail Thursday. He could spent 90 days behind bars if he doesn't pay $27,900. Court records say he hasn't made payments in the child support cases in six years.

Frazier had been avoiding the law by moving state to state, making it difficult to locate him for payments. Frazier was caught with the help of private investigator Brian Blackwell.

Frazier says he's been saddled with debt for children he says are not all his. Frazier says it's unrealistic for authorities to expect him to pay child suport that at one point was $3,000 a month. He says he thinks he only fathered three of the children. MORE

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Sunday school teacher arrested for murdering 8-year-old girl

TRACY, Calif. - A California Sunday school teacher was arrested for kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, whose body was found Monday stuffed inside a suitcase found in an irrigation pond.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was taken into custody at 11:55 p.m., about five hours after she drove herself to the Tracy police station at the request of police.

A massive search for Cantu included hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officers. The search ended April 8 when farm workers who were draining the irrigation pond to water fields found a suitcase.

Huckaby had told a local newspaper that Cantu visited her home March 27, the day she disappeared. Huckaby said she left her suitcase in the driveway that day, and that it was missing.

Melissa Huckaby is the granddaughter of Pastor Clifford Lawless, whose Clover Road Baptist Church was the subject of a police search. Huckaby taught Sunday school at the church.

Huckaby's family had been questioned at length during the investigation, and their homes and vehicles were searched.

Tracy is a city of 78,000 about 60 miles east of San Francisco.

Related: Body of 8-year-old found in suitcase

D. Brian Blackwell

Intellipedia: Wikipedia for spies

A new generation of analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency and its sister agencies has created Intellipedia, a classified version of Wikipedia they say is transforming the way American spy agencies handle top secret information by fostering collaboration across Washington, D.C. and around the world.

Since its inception in 2006, Intellipedia has grown to a 900,000 page magnum opus of espionage, handling some 100,000 user accounts and 5,000 page edits a day, according to the CIA and the office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Intellipedia's godfather is CIA analyst D. Galvin Andrus, who wrote a paper in 2004 titled "The Wiki and the Blog: Towards a Complex Adaptive Intelligence Community."

For decades, the U.S. intelligence system had been structured to answer static Cold War questions, like how many missiles there are in Siberia. What America needed after Sept.11, 2001, Andrus argued, was something that could handle rapidly changing, complicated threats. Intelligence organizations needed to become complex and adaptive, driven to judgments by bottom-up collaboration, like financial markets or ant colonies - or Wikipedia.

Sean Dennehy, 39, and Don Burke, 43, used the Andrus paper to push the idea of an intelliegence community Wiki on their superiors at the CIA. They didn't get very far until the newly organized Office of the Director of National Intelligence decided the idea had potential, and even then it faced resistance from the old timers at the agency.

"There's been pushback throughout the whole process," says Burke. Many analysts say they prefer the old, proprietary databases managed by individual agencies and aren't really interested in trying anything new.

One of the biggest hurdles has been convincing spies that Intellipedia would be safe from outsider access. To aasuage them, Intellipedia is built into the existing networks known as Intelink, which connects the 16 different spy agencies in the U.S., as well as the U.S. military, the State Department and other agencies with access to intelligence information.

After three years, Intellipedia is up and running. It operates in three different spheres: unclassified, secret and top secret, with top secret the most active, having 439,387 pages and 57,248 user accounts.

Intellipedia is largely managed by volunteers and patrolled by 'shepherds' who keep track of individual pages in their areas of expertise. Like Wikipedia, articles are created instantly - a page on the Mumbai terror attack last November was up within minutes of the news breaking about the incident - but authorship must be clear; nobody can hide behind a user name.

Intellipedia's boosters concede that Intellipedia is just an adjunct to the work of America's intelligence analysts. No finished intelligence product for decision makers is generated out of Intellipedia - National Intelligence Estimates are still written the old-fashioned way, authored and circulated for peer review and consensus.

CIA

D. Brian Blackwell

Homes, Cars, Artwork Seized in Colorado Ponzi Investigation

A former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operated an investment Ponzi scheme from his Aurora, Colorado home for nearly 15 years, stealing millions of dollars from investors.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) states that Shawn Merriman, an unlicensed broker, collected up to $20 million from investors in several states to support his lavish lifestyle.

Federal Marshals Wednesday froze bank accounts and seized cars, guns, valuable artwork, a boat, Merriman's home in Aurora, two homes in Island Park, Idaho, and artwork from a home in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Several classis cars were seized, including a silver Aston Martin, 1932 and 1936 Auburns and a 1932 Ford Highboy. Authorities also seized artworks that included Rembrandts and other Old Masters.

Merriman, a former stock broker, began an investment fund in 1995 that employed an aggressive strategy, but he quickly lost $400,000. So he started fake investment funds to hide losses and cover withdrawal requests.

Merriman attracted investors through friends and business associates at his church. Thirty-eight people in Colorado, Minnesota and Utah invested money with Merriman.

Merriman never invested any of the money. He spent the money on a lavish lifestyle for himself instead.

The U.S. attorney's office seized Merriman's assets earlier this month to preserve as much money as possible.

The piece of crap [Merriman] showed investors a single-page document and promised annual returns of 7 to 20 percent, according to court documents. He also fabricated monthly statements.

According to a court document filed by the SEC, Merriman confessed to authorities on March 18, 2009 that he had been engaging in a Ponzi scheme. He told authorities he had about $7 million in assets left, mostly in investment-grade art.

Among the 37 works of art sought by federal authorities are Rembrandt's 1633 masterpiece "Descent From the Cross: The Second Plate" and 1654 masterpiece "The Entombment", two works by Picasso; four bronze busts, and an acrylic sculpture.

Merriman says he he had collected 56 of Rembrandt's 70 religious prints, some which had been on display throughout Mormon buildings in Denver.

Investors in Ponzi schemes seldom recover more than 5 percent of their money according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Neither Merriman nor his companies were licensed brokers.

D. Brian Blackwell

ShamWow pitchman in brawl with hooker

TV pitchman Vince Shlomi had a bloody battle with a Miami prostitute Tuesday. The 44-year-old ShamWow pitchman paid Sasha Harris $1,000 for sex which was to occur in Shlomi's $750-a-night room at the lavish Setai Hotel.

According to the police report, Shlomi kissed the 26-year-old Harris, who responded by biting his tonque and not letting go. Shlomi then punched Harris several times until she released his tonque.

Shlomi then went to the hotel's lobby, where security called police. A Miami Beach Police Department CSI unit arrived along with patrol officers at the Setai to photograph the aftermath of the Feb. 7 brawl, which left blood on the hotel room's walls, floor, door, phone, bed and towels.

Officers were also dispatched to the Mount Sinai Medical Center to photograph Shlomi and Harris, who were being treated for their injuries. Both were handcuffed to hospital beds since they had been arrested for felony battery. Prosecutors decided not to pursue charges against either combatant.

Police evidence photos
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Search continues for St. Thomas student Dan Zamlen missing since Sunday

Over 500 students, a state patrol helicopter, a boat, and a Sheriff's bloodhound continue to search for missing University of St. Thomas freshman Daniel Zamlen, but have found no new clues.

Zamlen, who turned 19 today, was reported missing around 2:30 a.m. Sunday by friends who say they were on the phone with him when his cell phone abruptly cut out. His friends say he called out for help before the conversation ended.

Zamlen, from Eveleth, Minn., had left a party because of an argument, and told a friend over the phone that he was walking along the Mississippi River on St. Claire Avenue toward Mississippi River Boulevard South.

Zamlen, who has type I diabetes, had been drinking, say friends.

The friends have refused to reveal to the public what upset Zamlen, but say it was not an extraordinary disagreement.

The bloodhound from neighboring Hennepin County found a scent trail that led to the street corner where Zamlen was last known to be, according to St. Paul police. The trail ended there.

Investigators say they cannot find footprints that match Zamlen's size facing away from the river, towards the road.

A helicopter from the Minnesota State Patrol searched farther up river to the University of Minnesota campus, where one friend said he might have been headed to meet friends from the Iron Range.

The State Patrol helicopter has made low passes along the Mississippi River searching for any sign of Zamlen. Firefighters climbed down the bank of the Mississipi Monday, but saw no sign of Zamlen.

A Hennipin County deputy sheriff searched the river bank with a bloodhound Monday, moving upstream along the ragged shoreline from the spot where supposedly Zamlen made his last phone call. The deputy and his dog made it to the Marshall Avenue Bridge, which is about one mile upstream, but did not pick up a trace of Zamlen.

Zamlen was last seen at an off-campus party, near Cretin Avenue and St. Claire, at about 2:30 Sunday according to friends. He left on foot and called friends, who were at the party, on his cell phone, and was trying to direct one of those friends to where he was when the call ended abruptly.

Zamlen's last words were, "Oh my god, oh my god."

Police have found no activity in his bank accounts or phone records after he was reported missing.

Students and people from the community have dispersed in groups of 50 to scour back yards and alleys within a two-mile radius of campus. They were told that Zamlen is likely physically and mentally exhausted, if not in a coma, from low blood sugar and a lack of insulin.

Searchers were told to listen for a beeping noise from Zamlen's OmniPod, a device that injects insulin into his body that can beep up to a week to warn of a low or absent insulin supply.

Students also searched the College of St. Catherine campus because of its resemblance and proximity to St. Thomas.

Zamlen's father, Dale, is concerned that searchers cannot search garages, where he thinks his son might have sought refuge. His mother, Sally, has been awed by the volunteer response.

Zamlen lives in Brady Hall. He is 6 feet 1 and 175 pounds with blond/light brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a dark blue, zip-up fleece, light blue T-shirt, blue jeans and brown Dr. Martens shoes. He was carrying a black iPhone and a blue hand-held insulin meter.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the University of St. Thomas Public Safety Department (campus police) at 651-962-5555.

Related:

Minnesota college student missing after leaving party

KSTP Eyewitness News

KARE 11 News
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smiley face killers investigation

Body of 8-year-old found in suitcase

The body of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu who had been missing for 10 days from her Northern California home was found Monday, stuffed inside a suitcase found in an irrigation pond.

She was found a few miles from her Tracy, California mobile home park. Over 100 mourners, many holding candles, gathered outside the park Monday night after the body was found.

The outgoing second-grader went to visit a friend on Friday and never made it home.

The family and police launched a massive search in and around the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park.

Police reviewed surveillance footage and reexamined a disturbing encounter that Sandra had with an older man nearly two years ago.

Video from a surveillance camera outside of the family's home showed Sandra walking away from her home, also away from the only exit to the mobile home park.

Sandra's aunt Angie Chavez says the children in the park would often play at one another's home and also in the park's open spaces, including a basketball court and a swimming pool.

It was in that pool in the summer of 2007 that the Chavezes placed a call to police that is now being looked at more carefully. A little late don't you think?

A man made an inappropriate move with Sandra in plain sight. "My mother-in-law saw him march over, sweep her hair off her face and give her a kiss on the lips," Chavez says, adding that the man was an Orchard Estates resident who still lives in the park.

In addition to local police and the FBI, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had a team of retired law enforcement professionals, part of a program called "Team Adam," helping both law enforcement and Sandra's family.

An autopsy is to be performed today.

Surveillance Video courtesy of KXTV News 10
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Minnesota college student missing after leaving a house party

Thank you Steven Schmitt for the following tip and news report from FOX 9 News, Twin Cities.

Another college student missing after leaving a party

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Dan Zamlen, 18, a freshman student at the University of St. Thomas, has been missing since early Sunday. Zamlen of Eveleth, Minnesota was last heard from around 3 a.m. on Sunday as he walked home from a house party.

Zamlen was last known to be walking along Mississippi River Boulevard near St. Clair Avenue in St. Paul. He had been drinking alcohol and is a type-one diabetic.

According to family members, he was talking with a friend on the phone while walking home, and the last words he spoke were, "Oh my god, oh my god." At that point, the phone cut out and the friend called police.

A helicopter was used Sunday to search along the river, but nothing was found.

Dan Zamlen is 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 175 pounds. He was last seen wearing a blue jacket and blue jeans.

St. Thomas' Emergency Notification was used to send a text message to all students, staff and faculty of the University of St. Thomas at noon on Sunday. The text message said the university is attempting to locate Dan Zamlen and anyone with information is asked to contact the university's Public Safety Department at (651) 962-5555.

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FOX 9 News Twin Cities

I know that many people in Minnesota read this blog. I'd greatly appreciate any updates you can provide me with concerning this case. Send them to brianblackwell at gmail.com

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About St. Thomas University

D. Brian Blackwell

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smiley face killers smiley face drownings

Satanic Cults, 'Smiley Face' Killers

Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo was the High Priest and Sara Maria Aldrete his High Priestess.

What they were doing was uncovered after a 21-year-old college student, Mark Kilroy, became missing.

A student at the University of Texas, Kilroy went with three classmates to Matamoros, Mexico, just over the border. It was March 1987, and they went from bar to bar, as students on spring break usually do. But Mark disappeared.

His family instigated a search, which didn't turn up anything until they got a tip about a drug raid on a remote homestead called Rancho Santa Elena.

A blond man had been seen bound and gagged in a van at the ranch. A search turned up an altar of some kind in a shed, along with bloodstains, human hair and something else organic that was later identified as part of a human brain.

A severed goat's head indicated that the people who lived there were involved in a religious cult, which turned out to be a Satanic form of Santeria. Human sacrifice was performed to protect them from police attacks. Mark Kilroy had been among the victims.

Kilroy's headless torso was discovered in a mass grave containing the decapitated and mutilated bodies of 14 other men and boys.

All the victims had been killed on the orders of the cult-leaders, Constanzo and Aldrete, who had fled before the raid. They had insisted that prior to any major drug deal, they needed the heart and brain of a human victim to boil and consume. Many hapless victims had served that purpose.

The two elders were traced to Mexico City in 1989, but police were too late to capture Constanzo. He had ordered his cult members to shoot him while he was locked in an embrace with his homosexual lover, and they had obeyed.

Aldrete fled the apartment they were living in but was caught. She was indicted, along with other surviving members of the cult.

Aldrete was sentenced to six years for her involvement in the crimes, and in another trial was convicted of multiple murders, for which, she received a sentence of 62 years. Aldrete's four accomplices from the ranch each received 67 years. More (from forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland).
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Keith Jesperson: 'Happy Face' Killer

'Smiley Face' Killers

D. Brian Blackwell

Major Mexican Drug Trafficker Arrested

An heir to one of Mexico's most notorious narcotics empires was arrested by Mexican authorities today as he exercised in a city park.

Carrillo Leyva inherited a top position in the Juarez drug cartel from his father Amando Carillo Fuentes, who was nicknamed "the Lord of the Skies" for sending jetliners full of cocaine to the United States.

The father was considered Mexico's No. 1 drug trafficker when he died in 1997 during plastic surgery to change his appearance. The U.S. Embassy said today that the embattled remnant of his cartel is still "one of Mexico's most ruthless organized criminal gangs, which controls one of the primary transportation routes for illegal drug shipments into the United States."

Prosecutors say Carillo Leyva, 32, is second only to his uncle Vicente Carillo Fuentes in the gang, which battles with upstart cartels have fed a bloodbath that has seen 1,600 people killed in its home base of Ciudad Juarez since last year.

A week ago, Mexico's government posted a $2.1 million reward for the apprehension of Carillo Leyva and 23 other top cartel suspects. Another figure on the list and two sidekicks facing smaller bounties have already been captured.

Masked police officers wearing helmets and bulletproof vests hauled the piece of crap Carillo Leyva before cameras at a news conference early today.

The announcement of Carillo Leyva's arrest came shortly before U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met with Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora and Interior Minister Fernando Gomez-Mont in Cuernavaca to discuss new ways for fighting the drug cartels while maintaining somewhat of an open border.

Over 9,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and vowed to bring the drug cartels to justice.

Carillo Leyva was caught while exercising in a park in Mexico City's mansion-dotted Las Lomas neighborhood. He was using an alias, Alejandro Peralta Alvarez, and was passing himself off as a businessman. Authorities were able to track him down through his wife, who did not change her name. The government has records showing her sister was married to Rodolfo Carillo Fuentes, a brother of the cartel leader.

According to the U.S. Embassy, Carrillo Leyva faces no charges in the United States.

Two weeks ago, police arrested Vicente "El Vicentillo" Zambada, a top figure in Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel. President Calderon has described Zambada's father, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada as "perhaps the most important leader of cartels in Mexico."

Also today, Guatemalan police captured Juan Policarpo, one of 11 drug traffickers involved in the gruesome killings of 15 Nicaraguans and a Dutch man aboard a bus in November.

Investigators say that the drug gang was looking for a rival trafficker's shipment when it stopped the bus in eastern Guatemala. They didn't find any drugs, but killed and burned the bodies of the passengers anyway, for no reason. Policarpo is the second bottom-feeder arrested in the case.

D. Brian Blackwell

Accident Response, Rescue Fees, 'Crash Tax' comes to Colorado

Next time you are in a fender bender, you could end up with more than just a cracked bumper and some chipped paint. If the fire department responds, they might charge you with what are called "accident response fees" or "rescue fees." Critics call them a "crash tax."

It's a "hidden backdoor tax," says Carole Walker of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, a trade group representing insurance companies.

CBS4 employee Jud Luyties learned about accident response fees first-hand on Dec. 12. He was involved in a multi-vehicle accident on northbound Interstate 25 as he was driving home. He was not hurt and his automobile only sustained minor damage to the rear bumper. He required no medical treatment yet he was handed an "accident response and rescue bill" by a firefighter. They were charging him $200 for responding to the accident.

Equally as bothersome to Luyties was the language on the bill that he was asked to sign. It read, "I agree to pay the rescue bill regardless whether I need, request or refuse medical treatment, and regardless whether I am transported by the fire district to an emergency care facility."

You are obligated to pay the "accident response and rescue bill" if you get one. If you do not pay the bill, collection and/or legal action will be taken against you.

More about what the shitheads in government are up to

AccidentResponseFees.com

Pennsylvania passed a new law in December that prohibits municipalities from charging a fee when local police or fire departments are called to the scene of an automobile accident. The new law (House Bill 131) was signed by Governor Ed Rendell on Dec. 18. Link to story
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G20 protesters riot, clash with police

Nearly two dozen people were arrested today when G-20 protesters clashed with riot police in central London, breaking into the heavily guarded Royal Bank of Scotland and smashing its windows.

Over 4,000 anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists and others clogged the streets of London's financial district for what demonstrators are calling "Financial Fool's Day."

The protests are in retaliation of tomorrow's Group of 20 (G20) summit of world government and corporate leaders and international bankers, who claim they are trying to stop the growing global economic and financial collapse.

Protesters also tried to storm the Bank of England and pelted police with eggs and fruit. A battered effigy of a banker in a bowler's hat hung on a traffic light near the Bank of England.

A violent mob wearing balaclavas' broke into the RBS building and stole keyboards and used them to break windows.

Other protesters spray-painted graffiti on the RBS building, writing "class war" and thieves."

Riot police battled protesters carrying banners that read "Abolish Money."

Protesters focused on the Royal Bank of Scotland because it was bailed out by the British government after a series of crooked deals that brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. Its former chief executive Fred Goodwin, 50, will be receiving an annual pension of 703,000 pounds ($1.2 million). Unemployment in Britain is at 2 million and rising.

The protests in London's financial district - known as "The City" - came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama held a news conference at Britain's Foreign Office elsewhere in the city so they would not have to face protesters.

At least one bobby (police officer) was injured when a printer and other office equipment was thrown out of an RBS window.

Hundreds cheered as a blue office chair was used to smash one of the windows.

Two men - one wearing a suit - exchanged punches in the financial district before police intervened.

Of the nearly two dozen people arrested, offenses included disorderly behavior, illegally wearing a police uniform, carrying knives and assault. One person was arrested for drug possession.

Protesters also waved banners reading "Banks are evil," Eat the bankers," and "0% interest."

Financial workers leaning out of office windows taunted demonstrators and waived 10 pound notes at them.

More protests are planned in London for the G20 meeting, which begins tomorrow.

D. Brian Blackwell

Tens of thousands protest G20 summit

Tens of thousands of people have marched across London protesting the G20 summit involving government and corporate world leaders and international bankers. Marchers are demanding jobs, economic justice and environmental accountability.

More than 150 groups threw their backing behind the "Put People First" march.

Security has been tight around a group of people waving anarchist flags. Anarchists and others promised violence before the G20 meeting.

The G20 summit protests is taking place against a backdrop of a deepening global economic and financial meltdown. Growing public anger over bankers' pay and bonuses, and the painful fallout from the crises experienced by workers and small business owners (real small business owners not the mid-size corporations claiming to be small businesses.)

The marchers are seeking a more transparent and democratic economic recovery plan. MORE

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