A passenger was removed from a Boston-to-Washington flight today. His carry-on luggage was "allegedly making odd noises." Uh.
Send an email to the author of this post at Hamilton@gawker.com.
Passenger Removed From Boston-To-Washington Flight
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON (AP) — A passenger on a flight departing from Boston was released on his own recognizance after being arrested when other passengers reported that he had placed a suspicious package in the overhead bin.
State police say 35-year-old Ognjen Milatovic (OHN'-yen mee-luh-TOH'-vich) of Hudson refused the crew's request to hang up his cell phone and sit down on a US Airways Inc. flight bound for Washington, D.C., Monday.
Passengers reported hearing strange noises coming from a plastic bag. State police said later that the bag contained a set of keys, a bagel with cream cheese, some other small food items, a hat and a wallet.
Milatovic, a mathematics and statistics professor at the University of North Florida, was arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct and interfering with operation of an aircraft. His lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
His father, Boris Milatovic, told WHDH-TV the incident was a "misunderstanding."
Did Rudy Giuliani, Tom Ridge, John Bolton, and a bunch of other neocons really attend a rally in support of a communist Saddam Hussein-loving terrorist organization last month? Yes! Is that really a crime? Yes!
In today's New York Times, attorney David Cole points out that the Patriot Act makes it a (thought) crime to help, want to help, or in any way nod approvingly toward a group that has been designated a terrorist entity by the State Department. For instance: The U.S. has decided that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which conducts attacks against our NATO ally Turkey, is a terrorist group. So anyone who, say, wants to train PKK members on how to petition the U.N. for redress of grievances against Turkey, is guilty of the crime of providing material support to a terrorist organization. Cole represented a group called the Humanitarian Law Project in a case before the Supreme Court last year arguing that the material support law is unconstitutional, and he lost. So it's settled.
Which makes it very odd that Giuliani, Bolton, Ridge, Bush-era Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and Bush Homland Security adviser Frances Frago Townsend attended a rally last month in Paris to support the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a terror group dedicated to overthrowing the Iranian regime. It's odd because 1) The MEK are communists (that's an MEK terrorist pictured along with the group's logo, which features a sickle), 2) they helped Saddam Hussein carry out atrocities against Iraq's Shiite population in the 1990s, and 3) they killed Americans in the 1980s and helped carry out the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. But it's also odd because the MEK is currently on that State Department list of terror groups, so happy thoughts about them are illegal.
The former Bush officials presumably like the MEK because the MEK wants to kill Iranians, which is a good thing right now even though Saddam Hussein probably killed more Iranians than anyone who ever lived and that didn't seem to get him much sympathy from John Bolton. The Middle East is confusing! "The United States should not just be on your side," Giuliani told the MEK crowd at the rally. "It should be enthusiastically on your side. You want the same things we want." The event was sponsored by something called the French Committee for a Democratic Iran, which the Washington Post describes as "a pressure group formed to support MEK."
Giuliani's use of the second-person there—the U.S. should be on "your side"—is kind of important, because under the Supreme Court's interpretation of the material support statute, any public "advocacy performed in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign terrorist organization" is a crime. Giuliani could say "I love the MEK" on Fox News, and that wouldn't be a crime. But if he says it in a way that is coordinated with the MEK, then it becomes a crime. And when you say it actually, directly to the MEK at a rally for a pressure group formed to support the MEK, that sounds a lot like coordination.
Of course, Giuliani et. al. don't really want MEK to go around killing people. They probably just want to bring the group out into the open and help it pursue the end to Iranian tyranny through peaceable, lawful conduct. And any law that criminalizes that sort of support is a stupid and bad law. Right, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who had the enthusiastic support of Giuliani during your nomination process?
Material support meant to "promot[e] peaceable, lawful conduct,"...can further terrorism by foreign groups in multiple ways. "Material support" is a valuable resource by definition. Such support frees up other resources within the organization that may be put to violent ends. It also importantly helps lend legitimacy to foreign terrorist groups-legitimacy that makes it easier for those groups to persist, to recruit members, and to raise funds-all of which facilitate more terrorist attacks.
We put in calls to Giuliani, Bolton, Mukasey, and Ridge to ask how they differentiate their attendance at a rally of MEK members from supporting a terrorist group, but haven't heard back.
Send an email to the author of this post at john@gawker.com.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took up the time-honored tradition of hooking up friends on the way out of office by reducing the prison term of political ally Fabian Nuñez's son, Esteban, who participated in the murder of a college student.
Send an email to Jeff Neumann, the author of this post, at jeff@gawker.com.
Elderly greeter at Utah store says she was harassed by a police chief.
and feel better about herself in 2011.
But on Dec. 27, the 35-year-old from Coral Gables,
Fla., died just a few hours into her procedure for
abdominal liposuction and buttock injections, which
she was undergoing at a private cosmetic surgery
clinic in south Florida.
Spencer Aronfeld, the attorney representing the
Zelaya family, said the family was told by employees at
the Strax Rejuvenation Clinic, a private center in Ft.
Lauderdale, that Lidvian would be able to go home
shortly after the procedure.
Zelaya, a U.S. resident from Nicaragua, underwent
breast augmentation at the same clinic a few years
ago with no complications.
"She had some degree of confidence in the facility,"
said Aronfeld.
But three hours into the procedure, clinic assistants
told Zelaya's husband that something had gone
wrong. Zelaya was rushed to Florida Medical Center,
where she was pronounced dead.
"We don't know precisely what went wrong," said
Aronfeld, who has handled cosmetic procedure
malpractice cases for more than two decades.
"Something didn't go appropriately in this case. Right
now I'm in investigative mode rather than accusatory
mode," he said.
"Right now I'm bound by federal privacy laws," said
Phillip Feanney, general counsel who represents Strax
Rejuvenation.
According to Feanney, Strax Rejuvenation is unable
to confirm Zelaya was a patient at the Fort Lauderdale
clinic. The clinic is awaiting routine medical error
reports, he said.
Cosmetic surgery is common among many people
clinics compete with flashy advertisements and s
pecial promotions aimed at south Florida residents.
According to the family, Zelaya was in perfect medical
condition, and the clinic cleared her through a pre-
operative screening. Now, the family is urging anyone
considering cosmetic surgery to undergo a second,
pre-surgical health evaluation by an independent
primary care physician.
"I think it's an inherent conflict of interest if you are
getting screened by the surgeon who wants to do the
procedure," said Aronfeld.
Aronfeld said he is looking into the clinic's history
and Gordon's background.
According to public records, Dr. Roger L. Gordon,
Zelaya's consulting plastic surgeon at Strax
Rejuvenation Clinic who allegedly performed the
procedure, has had 20 lawsuits filed against him
since 2004.
Public records filed by the Maryland Board of
Physicians show that he was put on probation, but
the reason was not disclosed. In Florida, Gordon had
his staff privileges terminated from the Florida
Medical Center, however public records do not
"We are not in the role of accusing, we're in the
process of investigating," Aronfeld said.
The family said they are awaiting medical records
and autopsy results before deciding to file a lawsuit.
"At this time we have a lot of questions. We want to
know who screened her, how she was screened, and
what happened," said Aronfeld.
ABC News' Lauren Pearle contributed to this report.
11-year-old girl hailed as brave hero escaping physical and sexual torture.
found today in a suburban San Diego home that
burned down Saturday after a man called 911
claiming to have shot his wife and saying he was
going to set their house on fire.
The remains of one body, which authorities said
today appeared to be that of a 60-year-old man, were
removed from the rubble after the fire was
extinguished Saturday, but officials have not
identified the victim.
The blaze in Santee, Calif., caused a neighbor's
house to catch fire, according to the San Diego
County Sheriff's Department, because firefighters were
hindered by threats from someone inside the house
and the sound of explosions as the house burned.
The fire at the home, which public records indicate
belonged to 60-year-old Michael Cour and 70-year-o
ld Janice Gervais since 1999, was reported at 2:40
p.m. Saturday.
The World Savings Bank had foreclosed on the
property on Dec. 6, and the couple filed for voluntary
bankruptcy last summer, according to KABC-TV Los
Angeles.
A man called 911 Saturday afternoon and told
deputies that he had shot his wife and was going to
burn his house down, at which point a homicide unit
from the shriff's department was immediately sent to
the scene.
The man also said he would shoot any deputies who
showed up, according to the San Diego Union-
Tribune.
Neighbors speaking with ABC News affiliate KGTV in
San Diego said they smelled gas coming from the
house before the fire.
Nathan Hoover, one of the neighbors, also said he
thought his neighbor was joking when he told him
and his roommates on Saturday that he was going to
Hoover said that within minutes he saw flames
shooting from the house and he began to hear
unusual loud noises.
"Here we are smelling gasoline in the house coming
over, so we knew that he wasn't messing around,"
Hoover said.
"There were explosions ... so he must have owned a
lot of ammunition or had plans or something," he s
aid. "You could hear the pow ... that type of sound."
Speaking with KGTV, Hoover said that he knows little
about the residents at the house, but he said it was a
man and wife, whose names he never knew.
Santee Deputy Fire Chief Richard Mattick said
firefighters who arrived on the scene were not able to
immediately enter the house, as there was a clear
threat that an armed man may be inside.
"Our primary concern, of course, is life safety, our
personnel and the public," Mattick said. "We don't
know the quantity that's in there, we don't know if
there are weapons or gunpowder in there extra ... so
we take those things very seriously."
m., destroyed the home and caused damage to a
nearby home, according to a Heartland Fire
Department dispatcher.
Once the fire was officially out, firefighters
discovered the charred remains of one person, and
began searching for a second body.
Speaking to the San Diego Union-Tribune, neighbor
Ruth Taloza said the man who lived in the house
recently came to her home to give her an air
compressor. When she walked across the street to
thank him, he revealed that his wife has cancer, and
that they were losing their home.
"He told me they're being kicked out of their home
and they were both laid off from their jobs," Taloza
said. "They had tried for a lower loan rate and were
denied."
The sheriff's bomb arson squad and a homicide unit
are investigating the incident, according to the San
Diego Sheriff's Department.
It began with a sheriff's deputy investigating a report
of gunfire at a trailer park. By the time it was over, the
deputy and the suspected shooter were dead, and a
police officer was wounded in a gunbattle with the
suspect.
"This is the worst day of my entire law enforcement
career," said Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly, who has
been sheriff for 24 years.
Deputy Suzanne Hopper was shot Saturday as she
tried to photograph a footprint in the Enon Beach
mobile-home park in western Ohio, Kelly said.
Hopper, who was married last year and had two
children, didn't have the opportunity to return fire or
take cover, he said.
Police officers were trying to talk to the shooting
suspect when he fired on them from inside a trailer,
and a German Township officer was wounded in an
exchange of gunfire, Kelly said. There were "many,
many, many" shots fired by the suspect and eight
officers, he said.
The wounded officer, Jeremy Blum, was hospitalized
in fair condition, a hospital supervisor said.
Authorities were still investigating and weren't ready
to say whether police gunfire killed the suspect,
whose identity wasn't released, Kelly said. It's
possible the suspect, who had "a history" with the
sheriff's office, killed himself, he said.
Enon Beach resident Angelina Inman said she looked
out of her trailer at the park, which sits near a
highway, to see the deputy lying on the ground. She
watched as another officer tried to reach her body.
"He was itching to get her," Inman said. "He kept
radioing in, can he please get her, and he was told no
because it wasn't secure. You could see that male
sheriff crying — he wanted to get her, he wanted to
get her bad."
Sgt. Dustin White had accompanied Hopper to the
and about 50 miles west of Columbus, and was
interviewing a family whose trailer had been shot at
when he heard Hopper scream, Kelly said.
"We believed we had an active shooter, which we did,
and we wanted to get her some medical attention, but
we didn't want to get anyone else shot," the sheriff
said.
Enon Beach acts as a seasonal campground with some
summer-only residents and others who live there
year-round. A portion of Interstate 70 was closed
twice for a total of about an hour because the trailer
park is so close to the roadway, Ohio State Highway
Patrol Lt. Gary Lewis said.
A girl who lives in the trailer park said she knew the
shooting suspect and he had a temper.
"He was a quiet person, but if you made him mad —
he wasn't very pleasant," 15-year-old Chelsea Bagley
said.
Her mother's boyfriend, John Burkhardt, said he heard
the shots fired in the neighborhood. Police then
arrived, Burkhardt said, and for several minutes
authorities asked the suspect over a loud speaker to
come out and surrender.
Burkhardt said. "They were begging him to come out,
but he wouldn't come out."
Shortly after, Burkhardt said, authorities opened fire
on the man's trailer.
"All hell broke loose," he said.
Police threw smoke grenades before storming the
trailer and finding the suspect dead, Kelly said.
He said he had hired Hopper in 1999 and had known
her since the police academy.
Hopper, 40, was known for her dedication to the job
and adherence to keeping herself safe, Kelly said. The
former officer of the year was wearing a protective
vest Saturday, but it didn't shield her from the gunfire
that killed her, he said.
"If she would have known there was a suspect in that
trailer she'd have never walked that way without
additional units and without taking cover," Kelly said.
Hopper once went six straight years without calling
in sick and often put on charity events for the Special
Olympics and other causes, Kelly said.
"Her personnel file is filled with accolades and
commendations and always service before self," he
said.
The Air Force has a fancy new camera technology, called "Gorgon Stare," which can "transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town." Too bad it's basically useless!
Yes, that's right, the Air Force has a new toy:
The system, made up of nine video cameras mounted on a remotely piloted aircraft, can transmit live images to soldiers on the ground or to analysts tracking enemy movements. It can send up to 65 different images to different users.... Maj. Gen. James O. Poss, the Air Force's assistant deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance [says] "Gorgon Stare will be looking at a whole city, so there will be no way for the adversary to know what we're looking at, and we can see everything."
How great is that? They'll never know what we're looking at, because we're looking at everything!
Except that... we still don't actually have the capacity to actually look at everything.
Questions persist, however, about whether the military has the capability to sift through huge quantities of imagery quickly enough to convey useful data to troops in the field.
And even if we could, we still would have no clue what we're looking at!
Officials also acknowledge that Gorgon Stare is of limited value unless they can match it with improved human intelligence—eyewitness reports of who is doing what on the ground.
Hurrah! We've built a $17.5 million machine, the main purpose of which is to produce functionally indecipherable data in quantities well beyond our capabilities to process it (a.k.a. "reality"). Who do they have designing this shit? Borges?
[WaPo; image via Getty]
Send an email to Max Read, the author of this post, at max@gawker.com.
