Cop Stages Own Murder After Stealing from Kids Program to Pay for Porn, Mortgage Payments

Illinois police Wednesday confirmed that one of its officers executed "a carefully staged suicide" which triggered an extensive manhunt for suspects that did not exist, after the cop became nervous about an audit he believed would expose his years-long embezzlement of public funds. At a press conference Wednesday, authorities revealed that Lieutenant Charles Joseph Gliniewicz's had committed suicide in September, but staged it to look like he had been killed in the line of duty. "Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community," said Lake County Major Crimes Task Force commander...

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Ashton Carter: U.S. to Begin 'Direct Action on the Ground' in Iraq, Syria

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday that the U.S. will begin "direct action on the ground" against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria. "We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground," Carter said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee, using an alternative name for the militant group. Carter pointed to last week's rescue operation with Kurdish forces in northern Iraq to free hostages held by ISIS. Carter and Pentagon officials initially refused to characterize the rescue operation...

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NASA to Los Angeles: Get ready for 5.0 quake

((NEWSER) – NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is out with a study predicting that Los Angeles has a 99.9% chance of experiencing an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater within the next two and a half years. "There’s enough energy stored to produce about a magnitude 6.1 to 6.3 earthquake" with an epicenter in La Habra, which was hit by a quake in 2014, says a JPL geophysicist, per CBS LA. Earthquake scientists used information from the La Habra quake to make their predictions, and found that there's a 35% chance of an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 or greater, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. But other experts aren't convinced;...

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Afghanistan and Pakistan Hit by Huge Earthquake

KABUL, Afghanistan — A deadly earthquake hit northern Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday afternoon, registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 and causing heavy damage in one of the world’s most impoverished and war-torn regions. At least 122 people were reported killed, with 100 or more of them in Pakistan, and that figure seemed likely to rise significantly, officials in both countries said. The quake, which struck at 1:39 p.m., was centered in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 28 miles southwest of the district of Jurm in Afghanistan and about 160 miles northeast of Kabul, the Afghan capital. The quake’s depth was reported at 132...

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Could you be a 'super-forecaster'?

Political forecasting is among the most vital roles played by the intelligence services: determining which country's government is most likely to collapse in the next few months, or whether a given nation has weapons of mass destruction that render them a threat. But what happens when there's no way to assess the quality of those forecasts – or the people making them? In 2004, the Butler Review on the events leading up to the 2003 Iraq invasion found that the British Government's decision to invade – based on the premise that Saddam Hussein had WMDs – was the result of a major intelligence failure. It is just one example of how the predictions...

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Why Debt and Money Created ‘Out of Thin Air’ Are Necessary, Not Evil

Paul Solman sets the record straight on how he explains economics to himself and to his readers, tackling three different questions about the Federal Reserve, pictured above. Photo courtesy of Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Paul Solman sets the record straight on how he explains economics to himself and to his readers, tackling three different questions about the Federal Reserve, pictured above. Photo courtesy of Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images. I am about to address three entirely reasonable questions concerning the Federal Reserve and its monetary policy. But first, let me make a general observation addressed to those...

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MasterCard Tests 'Selfie Pay' Technology

MasterCard may soon roll out a new feature on its smartphone app that lets users pay for online purchases by taking "selfies." The financial services company is testing technology that allows customers to authorize transactions using photos of themselves instead of passwords, the company announced in a news release in August. Some 200 employees of the First Tech Federal Credit Union are currently taking part in a two-month "selfie pay" pilot program, which runs through October, USA Today reports. Another trial is underway in the Netherlands. Ajay Bhalla, president of MasterCard's security company Enterprise Solutions, has called the technology...

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Kentucky Prosecutor: Being Hispanic Is Good Enough Reason For Police To Pull You Over

Being Hispanic in Oldham County, Kentucky is enough to be pulled over by a cop, according to one prosecutor. You can also be coerced into a plea deal if you have a certain last name. Last July, Mauro Martinez was pulled over for speeding but he was not charged. Instead, he was cited for not having a license because he only had a Guatemalan ID at the time. During a court hearing about the citation, Assistant County Attorney Travis Combs pointed out that the defendant’s issue was that he was pulled over for being Hispanic. In a video recording of the hearing, prosecuting attorney John K. Carter says “that’s probable cause.” After a video of...

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Signal-Scrambling Tech 'Freezes' Drones in Midair

A new device that can detect, target and deter commercial drones could be used to keep the flying robots away from areas where they're not wanted, like government properties, airports or your own backyard. The new Anti-UAV Defense System (AUDS) was developed by three tech companies in the United Kingdom. It has a radar detection component, advanced tracking capabilities and a sneaky little onboard device that keeps drones at bay. Rather than melting drones in midair like Boeing's new Compact Laser Weapons System, AUDS shoots the flying vehicles with something that doesn't destroy them — radio waves. Drone operators typically communicate...

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Chinese hack attacks against US companies persist despite leader's pledge, report says

Read More >> WASHINGTON –  Chinese hacking attempts on American corporate intellectual property have occurred with regularity over the past three weeks, suggesting that China almost immediately began violating its newly minted cyberagreement with the United States, according to a newly published analysis by a cybersecurity company with close ties to the U.S. government. relatedPostsWidget({ 'containerSelector':'div.post-body' ,'loadingText':'loading...' }); The Irvine, California-based company, CrowdStrike, says it documented seven Chinese cyberattacks against U.S. technology and pharmaceuticals companies "where the...

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Dutch Investigators Say MH17 Downed by Russian-Made Missile

GILZE-RIJEN AIR BASE, Netherlands—Investigators probing the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 concluded that a sophisticated, Russian-made antiaircraft missile struck the Boeing Co. 777 jetliner, causing it to break apart in midair and plummet for up to a minute and a half before the wreckage hit the ground. The Buk missile was fired from eastern Ukraine, said Tjibbe Joustra, chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, as the agency, which is leading the crash investigation, published its final report into the crash that killed all 298 people on board. It is the first time those involved in the probe have publicly endorsed the long-held view...

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Millions of T-Mobile customers exposed in Experian breach

(Reuters) - Experian Plc , the world's biggest consumer credit monitoring firm, on Thursday disclosed a massive data breach that exposed sensitive personal data of some 15 million people who applied for service with T-Mobile US Inc . Connecticut's attorney general said he will launch an investigation into the breach. Experian said it discovered the theft of the T-Mobile customer data from one of its servers on Sept. 15. The computer stored information about some 15 million people who had applied for service with telecoms carrier T-Mobile during the prior two years, Experian said. T-Mobile Chief Executive John Legere said the data included...

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Gunman opens fire at Oregon college; at least 9 killed

ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) — A gunman opened fire at a rural Oregon community college Thursday, killing at least nine people before dying in a shootout with police, authorities said. One survivor said he demanded his victims state their religion before he started shooting. The killer, identified only as a 20-year-old man, invaded a classroom at Umpqua Community College in the small timber town of Roseburg, about 180 miles south of Portland. Authorities shed no light on his motive and said they were investigating. Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said 10 people were dead and seven wounded after the attack. He did not clarify whether the number...

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5 fired at Miami-Dade lockup where teen died in beat-down

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER At a since-shuttered juvenile corrections center in Pahokee, staff members used Snickers bars to get kids to beat each other up. In Broward County’s juvenile lockup, free iced tea has purportedly been similarly employed. Department of Juvenile Justice administrators won’t say if they think that’s what happened to Elord Revolte, the 17-year-old who died last month after a vicious attack by more than a dozen detainees at the Miami-Dade juvenile lockup. But they did say this late Wednesday evening: Five staffers at the lockup, including three supervisors, have been fired for infractions that include failing...

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Principal Wounded in South Dakota High School Shooting

A student shot and injured the principal of a South Dakota high school on Wednesday morning, shortly before the unnamed suspect was tackled to the ground by the assistant principal and athletic coach, according to local reports. The school's superintendent, James Holbeck, said in a statement that no students were hurt in the shooting, according to the Associated Press. Sioux Falls Police said the school's assistant principal Ryan Rollinger, who is the assistant football coach at Harrisburg High School, ran to the scene after hearing a gunshot. Together with athletic director Joey Struwe, the men tackled the student, who has since been...

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US Defense Official: Russia Launchs Airstrikes in Syria

A U.S. defense official tells The Associated Press that Russia has launched airstrikes in Syria. The move follows a unanimous vote by Russian lawmakers to allow President Vladimir Putin to order airstrikes in Syria, where Russia has deployed fighter jets and other weapons in recent weeks. The Kremlin sought to play down the decision, saying it will only use its air force in the Mideast country, not ground troops. UPDATEDMom Threw Newborn Out 7th-Floor Window to Death: Police The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the airstrikes publicly, said they were launched Wednesday...

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