Reports are surfacing that Brian Micon who plead guilty to operating an unlicensed gambling site in June has been sentenced to two years of probation and a 25,000 United States dollar fine. The fine was negotiated earlier along forfeitures of computing equipment, 900 United States dollars, and 3.0996 Bitcoins. The only item to be determined during the sentencing was the length of his probation.
Category Archives: North America
Bull Farmer Killed in Shootout While Protecting Life
Jack Yantis of Council, Idaho was killed by sheriff's deputies while defending one of his bulls from execution by those same sheriffs. The bull had been mauled earlier by a Subaru station wagon. The injured, disoriented, and likely concussed bull sought the attention of emergency responders who instead focused their efforts on the protected occupants of the Subaru which had attacked him. In Idaho livestock including bulls have the right of way on all roadways inside the state, and the Subaru occupants under the law had liability for the cost of treating the bull's injuries. By the time Yantis arrived to tend to his wounded bull, sheriff's deputies had made the decision to kill it for their convenience. The Associated Press reports that the official story from the Idaho State Police is that Yantis and both deputies all discharged their weapons even though Yantis was the only person struck down by gunfire (archived). No information has yet been made public on the value derived from the bull's use as a stud nor on the market value of the bull. Mr. Yantis was murdered in the defense of his property and his livelihood.
Ohio Ballot Measure Seeks Creation of Protected Monopoly
A ballot measure being voted on today in Ohio would legalize marijuana while explicitly restricting permitted production to a cartel of 10 farmers. Another measure on the ballot today in Ohio would prohibit the use of ballot initiatives to create protected cartels.
US DoD Extracts Guilty Pleas From Mom and Pop Competitors
The US Navy operating under the larger umbrella of the United States Department of Defense managed to extract guilty pleas from a husband and wife accused of marketing heroin on a United States warship (archived). The couple's marketing of heroin of course makes them competitors to the organized heroin operations occurring in the United States Department of Defense whose activity has lead to heroin overtaking many other drugs of abuse over the course of the United State's adventure in Afghanistan (archived).
Judge Grants Local Cop Immunity as Federal Agent
Federal Judge Lee Yeakel has granted immunity to former Austin, Texas police detective Charles Kleinert on manslaughter charges (archived). Yeakel justified his finding of immunity as Kleinert was working on a joint task force with Federal agents, and Yeakel justified the decision to grant immunity rather than investigate the crime thusly: Continue reading
Billion Dollar Blimp Victim of Police Shooting
The Associated Press reports that once its rampage ended in its descent to the ground the Billion Dollar Blimp was fired upon by Pennsylvania State Police officers armed with shotguns until its complete deflation (archived). The Associated Press report also includes a minimum damage estimate of 2,000,000 United States dollars.
Illinois Universities Follow State in Credit Rating Freefall
Six Illinois public universities has their credit rating lowered by Moody’s Investors Service following in the footsteps of the Illinois state government. Southern Illinois Univesity and Northern Illinois University were lowered to Baa1 matching the state government, Northeastern Illinois University was downgraded to Baa2, and three more universities1 were downgraded to Baa3 status (archived). The budget standoff in Illinois continues with lottery winnings continuing to be rationed and labor unrest including the East Saint Louis teacher's strike is ongoing. There are no publicly facing indications that Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and the legislature are anywhere near resolving the Illinois budget situation.
Western Illinois University, Eastern Illinois University, and Governor's State University ↩
Google Fiber Dissapoints First City to Host Service
The Kansas City Star reports that Google Fiber has severely disappointed Kansas City, home of the first Google Fiber installation (archived). This outage lead to Kansas City customers of Google Fiber missing the first inning and a half of their Royals playing in the World Series. The outage included the rare inside the park home run by Alcides Escobar on the first pitch of the game. Service was reportedly restored for most customers by 7:35, though some customers were still afflicted by the outage much later. Google representative Kelly Carnago said “We’re sorry for the inconvenience” and offered customers a two day service credit for depriving Kansas City of the least depressing thing happening there. Bitcoin mining "vendor" Butterfly Labs is/was located in a suburb of Kansas City.
Billion Dollar Blimp Brings Destruction
In the United States a Billion Dollar NORAD JLENS Blimp has broken free from its moorings and is leaving havoc and destruction as it roams. The JLENS mission is declared to be missile detection and defense, though the declared capabilities make it capable of abusive ground level surveillance. The wild blimp is dragging 6,700 feet of cable behind it shorting out power lines and leaving a pronounced trail on the earth underneath it.
IRS Declares Cryptome Charity 2 Days After Key Revocation
On Cryptome's front page, the top is occupied by an announcement that they received a letter from the IRS dated September 17th granting them status as a 501(c)(3) charity whose donations are now tax deductible (archived). The date on the letter is only 2 days after the announcement of the revocation of then current Cryptome PGP keys. It is unknown if the events are connected, though the timing raises suspicions.