Gerald Corrigan, 74, went outside his house at midnight to check his satellite dish after the TV signal failed. It was a trap: he was shot in the dark with a crossbow bolt, which punctured internal organs and led to his death three weeks later from sepsis. His killer was Terence Whall, 39, convicted today of Corrigan's murder.
Police suspected Whall, a local with a crossbow collection, but had no evidence to tie him to the crime. How was he caught? His partner's car was mysteriously torched, which led police to contact its manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, which sent them its backed-up telematics records.
The vehicle was driven to Corrigan's house the day before the killing, then to a nearby beach, then back to Whall's residence. On the day itself, the car was driven to the beach an hour before the attack. It was next started about 12 minutes after it.
The system recorded the trunk being opened and closed twice, before and after Corrigan was shot.
Image: Family photo (handout) / Crown Prosecution Service Read the rest
Reporting at the WSJ today says Alphabet/Google hasn't met the demands of state investigators to surrender emails, texts, and other documents in an ongoing anticompetitive digital-ad practices investigation. Read the rest
Sure, this absolutely passes the corruption smell test. Everything is fine. Trump and his klepto-regime are (of course) supporting Oracle's Larry Ellison in his Supreme Court fight with Google. The same day the same Larry Ellison hosted a massive fundraiser for Trump in California.
From reporting by Malathi Nayak at Bloomberg News:
The Trump administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an appeal by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, boosting Oracle Corp.’s bid to collect more than $8 billion in royalties for Google’s use of copyrighted programming code in the Android operating system.
The administration weighed in on the high-stakes case on the same day that President Donald Trump attended a re-election campaign fundraiser in California hosted by Oracle’s co-founder, billionaire Larry Ellison.
Ellison hosted a golf outing and photos with Trump. The event cost a minimum of $100,000 per couple to attend, with a higher ticket price of $250,000 for those who wanted to participate in a policy roundtable with the president, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported.
read more:
Trump Backs Supporter Larry Ellison in Court Fight With Google
[ Malathi Nayak, February 19, 2020] Read the rest
Roger Stone, political operative and longtime confidant of President Trump, is sentenced to 40 months in prison by a federal judge who condemned his lies to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction. Read the rest
The IRS is suing Facebook for $9bn over unpaid taxes, reports Reuters, targeting its licensing of "intellectual property" to its own Irish subsidiary to shift profits to that lower-taxed jurisdiction.
Under the arrangement, Facebook’s subsidiaries pay royalties to the U.S.-based parent for access to its trademark, users and platform technologies. From 2010 to 2016, Facebook Ireland paid Facebook U.S. more than $14 billion in royalties and cost-sharing payments, according to the court filing.
The company said the low valuation reflected the risks associated with Facebook’s international expansion, which took place in 2010 before its IPO and the development of its most lucrative digital advertising products.
The practice used to be called Double Irish but has become more elaborate in recent years with changes to the law; Ireland remains the hot place to store profits. Read the rest
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has opened an investigation into a former Google employee’s pregnancy discrimination case, CNBC reports. Read the rest
Julian Assange, the jailed founder of Wikileaks, is no longer being held in solitary confinement and his health is improving, said his spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson to reporters on Tuesday. Read the rest
Marijuana businesses pay for 66% of state’s sponsored highway miles under Clean Colorado program
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed this week claims that severely intellectually and physically disabled patients at a state-operated home in Iowa were used as “guinea pigs” in sexual arousal research experiments. Read the rest
Aww, the sycophant is sick of it. Read the rest
A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered the Pentagon to temporarily halt work on the cloud computing 'JEDI' contract, in what represents a major win for Amazon.com and Jeff Bezos. Read the rest
President Trump today was asked by a reporter if he would pardon Roger Stone. Read the rest
A California lawyer was arrested by federal authorities who say she was also selling guns and distributing methamphetamine. Sadly, neither are covered under attorney-client privilege. Read the rest
The Federal Trade Commission today ordered five big tech companies to provide detailed information about their previous acquisitions of small companies, expanding the agency's investigation into possible antitrust concerns in digital markets. Read the rest
After a video of a woman luring deer into her home went viral, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is reminding humans -- yet again -- to please, please, just leave deer and all other wildlife alone.
Do not feed the animals.
Do not post videos of yourself feeding wild animals in your home. Read the rest
"You are not samurai!" yells murder defendant Todd Winkler, jabbing his finger at the judge presiding over his murder trial in Placerville, Calif. Winkler, a former fighter pilot and pharmaceutical executive, was ultimately found guilty of murdering his second wife with a pair of scissors. His conviction brought new attention to the death of his first wife in a 1999 car wreck, but no charges were ever filed.
CBS News produced a documentary highlighting his dubious claims to mental illness, The Two Faces of Todd Winkler. The general conclusion from acquaintances and experts seems to be that he's faking it. Read the rest
Allegheny County Common Pleas judge Mark Tranquilli was reassigned this week after uttering what CBS euphemistically describes as "racially charged remarks": referring to a black juror as "Aunt Jemima" and speculating about her "baby daddy ... slinging heroin". He will not preside over criminal trials until an investigation is complete.
Tranquilly made the remarks to a prosecutor, according to a complaint, in private conference after a not-guilty verdict that displeased him: "you weren't out of strikes when you put Aunt Jemima on the jury."
The prosecutor's office typed up the remarks and turned him in to his boss, Judge Kim Berkeley Clark, who immediately reassigned him to dealing with traffic appeals and school truants in summary appeals court.
Meet Judge Kim:
Read the rest
