Archive for crime

Former GOP state chairman, McCain fundraiser busted for Facebook scam

busted 6

Former Oregon Republican chairman, gubernatorial candidate, Florida financier, and creepy little fraud Craig Berkman was arrested for (allegedly) “bilking investors out of millions in a scheme to sell fake Facebook shares, ” per Newser.

He was claiming he had access to Facebook shares which was a big fat lie. And he managed to rake in $8 million by telling that big fat lie.

And this wasn’t the first time. He pulled the same kind of scams over at LinkedIn and other social media sites, but got nabbed for those, too.

Here’s his Wiki:

Craig Berkman (born about 1943) is a longtime venture capitalist and was an influential Republican politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. He was known as a big donor in national Republican circles. He chaired the Oregon Republican Party in the early 1990s, opposing the far right Oregon Citizens Alliance. He ran for chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1993 and for Governor of Oregon in 1996, losing the former race to Haley Barbour and the latter to Denny Smith in the primary election.[1]

Oregonlive.com described him this way in 2008:

“He was the hope of the old Republican moderate establishment.”

And check out Meet Craig Berkman, crooked McCain fundraiser.

Maybe this was his version of “outreach.” Another family values Republican bites the dust.

Republican Las Vegas woman arrested after trying to vote twice

Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller said that the FBI has arrested a Republican Las Vegas woman, charging that she tried to vote twice in the presidential election.

Roxanne Rubin first voted at an early voting place in Henderson and then, that same day, she tried to vote again at a polling site in Las Vegas. She denied that she’d already voted.

Via CBS Las Vegas:

Rubin was arrested around 4 p.m. at the Riviera hotel-casino, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. She was charged with one felony count of voting more than once in the same election.

It’s the Republicans that have tried to suppress the vote in several Republican-run states, and from the reports I’ve seen, it’s Republicans who have been caught committing voter fraud.

Voter I.D. fraud is nearly non-existent, and, of course, the GOP-generated Voter I.D. laws affect mostly Democratic voters.

MoveOn: “Strong possibility of Romney criminal liability” in personal financial disclosure filings

New Legal Analysis Finds Strong Possibility of Romney Criminal Liability for Misrepresentation He Made in F…

Earlier, I posted Finally! Accountant explains Romney’s offshore accounts, blind trust, taxes, and more… in layman’s terms.

How about in legal terms? Via MoveOn:

CONCLUSION

The facts known about Gov. Romney’s role in Bain Capital entities after 1999 strongly suggest that Gov. Romney made a false statement in violation of the False Statements Act in categorically asserting, in 2011, on his Financial Disclosure Form, that since February 1999, he had not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way. At a minimum,the facts call out for a full investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Works for me.

Quickie- FBI: violent crime down for fifth straight year

Isn’t normal for it usually to go the other way during a recession? Strange.

WASHINGTON -- The FBI says the number of violent crimes reported to police fell 4 percent last year when compared to 2010 and the number of property crimes went down 0.8 percent.

The bureau says that murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault all went down in 2011.

The preliminary data is based on information the FBI gathered from 14,009 law enforcement agencies around the United States.

Attention Liberal Pundits- New Black Panthers vs Right To Lifers

Dear Liberal Pundits-

May I respectfully suggest that the next time some RW talker gets all frothy as to why “The New Black Panther” party is not being investigated over their wanted poster about George Zimmerman , you remind them of THE YEARS of violent hate speech, disgusting flyers and harassment of Tiller’s employees and family that never were prosecuted (never mind the Fox media backup). Why? Because it’s NOT ILLEGAL.

Oh, and Ms Strident “Journalist” from the Washington Times, La Raza is not running to George Zimmerman’s side because NO INJUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE TO GEORGE ZIMMERMAN!!! I can bet that they’d be there in a heartbeat if the situations were reversed.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New Black Panther Party was not investigated in ’08 BECAUSE NO CRIME WAS COMMITTED. Seriously folks, it’s easy and simple, no need to investigate the lint in your belly button.

Al Franken to push bill that would make violations of net neutrality a crime

I ran out of time to post this yesterday, but saving net neutrality is no less important than the battles for democracy in Wisconsin and Michigan, because without it, you wouldn’t be receiving news about either of them:

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) plans to introduce a bill that would make net neutrality violations a crime.

The Justice Department cannot take enforcement actions against cable and phone companies who block websites, according to experts and congressional Democrats. [...]

Franken framed net neutrality as a fight against profit-driven corporations… “They’ll tell you that putting rules in place to preserve net neutrality as it exists today amounts to a ‘government takeover’ of the Internet, a talking point that deserves a place alongside ‘death panels’ and ‘Obama’s a Muslim’ in the pantheon of lies that aren’t just baldly false, but completely ridiculous,” he said.

Key words: “Block websites.” If you enjoy streaming Nicole Sandler or other shows like hers online, or visiting sites you trust to give you reliable information instead of, say, Fox, then you need to encourage others to do some reading up on this subject.

Franken wants to amend antitrust laws to “call violations of net neutrality out for what they are: anti-competitive actions by powerful media conglomerates that represent violations of our anti-trust laws.”

We’ve had enough corporate rule to last three lifetimes, and thankfully, we have Senator Al Franken to drive that point home.

Quickie- Violence declines in first half of 2010, FBI says

With all the economic turmoil, this is really rather surprising.

Reported violent crimes in the U.S. declined 6.2 percent in the first six months of this year, the FBI said.

In its preliminary report for January through June 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was a 2.8 percent decline in property crimes compared with the first half of 2009.

Fueling the decline were a 10.7 percent drop in robberies and a 7.1 percent decrease in murders, the bureau said today. Rapes fell 6.2 percent and aggravated assaults declined 3.9 percent.

The report showed that previous crime decreases are continuing. In September, the FBI said violent crime in 2009 declined for the third year in a row. The violent crime rate last year fell 5.3 percent, and property crime declined 4.6 percent.