IRS Nabs Pimp

For the last several years the government has been putting a case against Randall Jones for operating six brothels in the Houston area. 

I've been following the case with some interest as two offices I had worked out of were close to, or next to these "Escape Lounges", touted as stress relief places.  I had been amazed that these brothels would advertise and operate in the open without consequence.  In the end the IRS got Jones for tax evasion.

The Houston Chronicle has a post today regarding Jones' sentencing: 33 months and $15,000 in restitution.

The only reason I am posting this, though, is due to a comment from the IRS spokeswoman and a reader's response:

IRS spokeswoman Robin Sabin of Houston said that even income derived from illegal activities has to be reported to the IRS.

She suggested Schedule C for the small-business owner and the 1040 line “other income” for the freelancer. “You should report your ill-gotten gains just like you report any legal income,” Sabin said when Jones entered his guilty plea.

And the reader's response:

CB021 wrote: "which line on the 1040 is for pimping?..."

The story from the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6425827.html

ATM Card Skimming Awareness

I came across a presentation on ATM card skimming prepared by a security group for a bank.  It's worth reviewing.

ATM Card Skimming and PIN capturing Awareness Guide

DHS Report - You're Likely an Extremist

Here's the new DHS report on "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment".

If you read through it you will probably realize that you, too, are an extremist:

* Do you believe in the 2nd Amendment?
* Are you against a large tyrannical federal government?
* Do you have concerns about the economy, immigration, trade and a New World Order?

You, my friend, are being watched by the DHS.

Don't Lie to Me About Firearms Smuggled to Mexico

I was positive that the statistics the government quoted on US firearms smuggled to Mexico were flat out wrong.  I kept wondering why a drug cartel would buy semi-auto firearms that were being smuggled in small batches from the US?  Why wouldn't they just buy fully auto rifles on the international market... The whole time they have!

An excellent piece from Fox News lays out the statistics:

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.

A Look at the Numbers

In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced -- and of those, 90 percent -- 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover -- were found to have come from the U.S.

But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.

In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.

So, if not from the U.S., where do they come from? There are a variety of sources:

-- The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar, with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers from Spain, Israel and former Soviet bloc manufacturers.

-- Russian crime organizations. Interpol says Russian Mafia groups such as Poldolskaya and Moscow-based Solntsevskaya are actively trafficking drugs and arms in Mexico.

- South America. During the late 1990s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) established a clandestine arms smuggling and drug trafficking partnership with the Tijuana cartel, according to the Federal Research Division report from the Library of Congress.

-- Asia. According to a 2006 Amnesty International Report, China has provided arms to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Chinese assault weapons and Korean explosives have been recovered in Mexico.

-- The Mexican Army. More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them, including the standard issue M-16 assault rifle made in Belgium.

-- Guatemala. U.S. intelligence agencies say traffickers move immigrants, stolen cars, guns and drugs, including most of America's cocaine, along the porous Mexican-Guatemalan border. On March 27, La Hora, a Guatemalan newspaper, reported that police seized 500 grenades and a load of AK-47s on the border. Police say the cache was transported by a Mexican drug cartel operating out of Ixcan, a border town.

This is OUTRAGEOUS.  The term "ASSAULT WEAPON" is semantic at best and is used to describe how a rifle LOOKS, not works. 

This is feel good BS and I'm NOT standing for it... I am FURIOUS! 

The "BAN" is a bunch of retarded legislation aimed at semi-automatic weapons... Eric Holder uses violence in Mexico, describing AUTOMATIC weapons, as an excuse to implement the ban in THE UNITED STATES.  Semi-auto and Fully Auto ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

The "Ban" bill doesn't even address the functioning of a fire-arm... it gets into what kind of attachments and magazines you can buy... IDIOTS, I can BUY 30-round and 100-round mags ANYWHERE!!!

I AM SO PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW...

TO HELL WITH THIS ADMINISTRATION!

Watch this video if you have NO idea what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysf8x477c30

Obama to Seek New Assault Weapons Ban

Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.

Sen. Begich co-sponsors concealed carry bill

 

 

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Sen. Begich co-sponsors concealed carry bill

via NRA-ILA News by NRA-ILA on 2/25/09

In an effort to secure the rights of individuals to lawfully carry concealed firearms across state lines, Sen. Mark Begich is co sponsoring the Respecting States Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act.

 

 

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New York Times -- Dangerously Wrong

 

 

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New York Times -- Dangerously Wrong

via NSSF: Aiming for Accuracy by Ted Novin on 2/20/09

Today's New York Times ran an editorial blasting a law enforcement protection measure, the Tiahrt Amendment, which secures federal firearms trace data from the general public.  According to the Times, the Tiahrt Amendment should be repealed because it only serves to " ???protect shady gun dealers and gun traffickers from detection, arrest and punishment.???

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.  The Tiahrt Amendment (which is supported by ATF and the Fraternal Order of Police) only limits general public access to firearms trace data so as to protect ongoing criminal investigations and to save the lives of law enforcement officers and others.  No law enforcement agency in the country has ever been denied access to firearm trace data about their community by ATF. Not a single one.

One would think that the New York Times, sharing a home with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, would remember the damage caused by the mayor of Gotham when he misused tracing data to launch so-called ???sting??? operations against firearms retailers ??? without the knowledge of either ATF or his own police department.  Mr. Bloomberg interfered with as many as 18 on-going criminal investigations forcing ATF to pull agents out of the field for their own protection.

This morning NSSF fired off a letter to the editor. You may want to do the same.

 

 

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Disposable Mugger's Wallet Gets You Off Scott Free or Gets You Beat Up [Clev...

Here's a better solution:

Purchase a concealable handgun. Take it to the range and practice shooting. Go home and practice drawing from a concealed holster. Take a Concealed Handgun License class, pass, receive your Concealed Handgun License. Next, always carry your pistol with you.

If you're mugged by an unarmed mugger, draw down and make a citizens arrest (yes, you can do that).

If you're mugged by an armed mugger, drawn down and "stop" the perpetrator.

This does three things:

1). It keeps you from becoming a crime victim statistic
2). It doesn't reward the thug, thereby increasing the chance that he will do it again.
3). It cleanses society of thuggery and undesirables.

Take control of your own security and stop relying on the government.

 

 

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Disposable Mugger's Wallet Gets You Off Scott Free or Gets You Beat Up [Clever Uses]

via Lifehacker by Adam Pash on 2/18/09

A mugger's wallet is a disposable second wallet that you're more than happy to give away to a mugger. It contains a few bucks, a non-essential ID, but not much else that would endanger your identity.

Photo by jenlight.

Web site wikiHow walks through how to put together your own mugger's wallet to minimize the impact of a mugging—that is, rather than losing your cash, credit cards, and driver's license, you just lose a few bucks and other items you won't miss parting with temporarily.

The idea is clearly clever, but keep this in mind: Getting mugged is a big deal, and none of us at Lifehacker HQ want to see any of our readers get hurt. If you decide to try the mugger's wallet, do so at your own risk, and make sure you cobble together a seriously convincing mugger's wallet. If you've already built something similar to the mugger's wallet, share your tips and tricks in the comments.

How to Make a Mugger's Wallet [wikiHow]

 

 

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Catalytic Converter Thefts in Houston

A colleague, Mike, and I went to the West Oaks mall to buy a gift for another colleague who's last day is Wednesday.  We decided to stop first for lunch at the Applebee's at the periphery of the mall.  We were inside for just over half an hour and when we came out and Mike started his truck the engine roared to life.  The exhaust sound was much louder than it should be so we checked his truck out.  Looking under the Tundra he noticed his catalytic converter had been sawed off. 

As we went into the Mall another Toyota SUV roared to life.  We approached the guy and looked under his truck and sure enough his catalytic converter had been stolen as well.

View Larger Map

When we got back to the office Mike called around and a Toyota dealership told him it would cost $1200 dollars each for the to catalytic converters he needs for his truck.  He then called O'Reilly's Auto Parts and the guy on the other end of the phone told him that he, too, had his stolen recently.

Apparently the thieves were getting $25-$30 a piece at scrap metal places earlier this month when metals were more expensive. 

Not to be outdone my sister had her rental car stolen at a hotel near the airport the Friday before Christmas.

'Tis the season.

The Castle Doctrine

There's an article from the AP discussing the rise of self-defense related shootings across the country:  

Self-defense slayings against intruders on the rise | Front page | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

The first point the article is the use of the term "slaying" rather than shooting makes indicates the journalist thinks that self-defense is wrong.  The NRA is also blamed in this article for the rise in slayings do to the aggressive nature of the rollout in 33 states of the doctrine.

To be clear the Castle Doctrine only establishes that an individual does not have a duty to retreat before using deadly force in their home or vehicle.  In other words, if criminal breaks into a home, the home owner doesn't have an obligation to attempt to flee the home before shooting the criminal intruder.  In Mississippi the law has been extended to include businesses.

The Cases sited in the article:

1. A convenience store clerk chased an unarmed man down after he alledgedly stole a case of beer.  The clerk shot the man as he was leaving in his truck.  The man has been indicted by a grand jury. (Jackson, Ms)
2. A convenience store clerk ran after an armed robber and shot him in the back outside the store.  The clerk was neither charged or indicted by the grand jury.  (Jackson, Ms)
3. A man who shot an intruder climbing through a window in his home.  He was neither charged nor indicted. (San Antonio, Tx)
4. A man who shot another man through his front door.  The man who was shot was beating on his door and the home owner feared for his life. (Lexington, Ky)
5. A woman shot an ex-boyfriend who climbed through the window of her home.  She was not arrested but was indicted by the coroner's jury.  It is reckoned that the jury did not understand the Castle Doctrine law that had recently been passed. (Adair County, Mo)
6. Joe Horn, a neighbor who shot and killed two unarmed robbers in the back in his neighbors front yard.  This story received nation-wide headlines and established legal basis for the self-defense from prosecution under the Castle Doctrine.  Mr. Horn was neither arrested or indicted. (Pasadena, Tx)

The article makes it seem as though home owners are callous murderers for defending their lives.  It is the criminal who sought to create the scenario in which their death occurs.  Home-owners and store clerks have a right to life. 

The journalist who wrote this article attempts to lump the store shooting of the unarmed beer thief into the same category as the other cases, but glances over the fact that the store clerk will now have to prove self-defense in a court of law.  He hasn't gotten away free.  He's been indicted on murder charges.  And that's where the gray-area is.  If the thief is in his vehicle and is unarmed, can you shoot him?  I certainly wouldn't have, but as Surinder Singh puts it "For them, it's a case of beer. For us, it's our property. That person didn't have respect for his life. He put his life against one case of beer."

I think the Castle Doctrine is an excellent self-defense clause for individuals who take responsibility for their own safety.  If you read the article you will see that the journalist doesn't think so.  I guess she'll wait for the police to rescue him from a home-intruder at 3 o'clock in the morning.