Man Accused of Selling Golf Ball Finders As Bomb Detectors 131
CNET reports that a British businessman named Jim McCormick is facing charges now for fraud; McCormick "charged 27,000 pounds (around $41,000) for devices that weren't quite what he said they were." That's putting it mildly; what he was selling as bomb detecting devices were actually souped-up (or souped-down, with non-functional circuitboards and other flim-flammery) golf-ball detectors. The Daily Mail has some enlightening pictures.
James Randi has been warning about these guys (Score:5, Interesting)
James Randi has been really after this guy and others
it's just a dowsing rod and there are several people making the same device
Here is a video of James Randi warning others about the bullshit scam of this and others exactly like it in the UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruTmqfGJhTI [youtube.com]
They finally started listening to him it seems
I'm torn on this one. (Score:4, Interesting)
On the one hand, he's scum. On the other hand, anyone who believed
He produced glossy brochures to trick potential investors into believing the devices could detect tiny amounts of explosive from three miles away , the Old Bailey heard.
shouldn't be in charge of the fry/chip station, let alone be in charge of ordering military equipment.
Re:James Randi has been warning about these guys (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:daily mail? seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)
wtf is the Daily Mail doing here? It is a tabloid.
The "article" had more information about his stupid home than anything about his shady business practices or how no one noticed anything wrong with these devices.
How dare you slander tabloids by comparing the Daily Mail to them!
Why the Daily Mail is Evil [youtube.com]
Transgender teacher kills self after Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn denounces her [boingboing.net]
Fuck the Daily Mail.
TSA makes old story new again (Score:0, Interesting)
You've all seen (I hope) the video of TSA agents grabbing drinks from the hands of people in airports, so they can dip their 'explosive detecting' swab into the beverage? This is exactly the same thing as the concept within this article.
Years ago we had the identical process used to send multiple Irish people to prison in the UK on false claims that they were bombers for the IRA. And by 'identical process' I mean a fake test used by the security services working for a police state, so that targets of the state could be harassed, imprisoned, and possibly convicted in court. In the case of the innocent 'IRA bombers', it was a 'chemical' swap of the hands- a charade designed to make betas think that forensic science was being done.
The technique actually goes back thousands of years, and actually predates formal science. In those early days, agents of the state would say they had a 'magical' religious item that would divine the guilt or innocence of types of people currently targeted by the state. Today, pseudo-science is used so betas, with their high-school 'education', can be convinced of the validity of the tests by propaganda articles in the mainstream press.
I have a memory greater than a goldfish, so I actually recall the promotion of McCormick's devices in the press back when he was successfully selling them to governments. Articles were written backing the 'science' behind the bomb detectors. You had to go to what Slashdot editors love to call the 'tinfoil hat' forums to find people expressing outrage that such devices were widely in use in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
But here's the point. Team Obama, and Team Bush LOVED to deploy devices like this. Why? Because as I said at the top, they allowed the uniformed thugs to harass and/or take-out anyone they so desired on the basis of 'positive' results for bomb signs. Most of those arrested would be found later by their loved ones dead, with signs of extensive torture- usually by power drill. Even you betas can read (at the BBC and in the Guardian) how the USA was murdering 3000 people a month in this way in Iraq to exterminate all effective opposition to the invasion.
Essentially if you were a male and expressed opposition (in any form) to the US genocide in Iraq, you would be tested with one of these devices, declared a potential 'terrorist' and taken to one of America's torture sites. Here, Iraqi allies of the Americans (Ironically people aligned with Iran), would torture you to extract names of future victims, and then murder you. McCormick's little boxes (and similar products from other sources) played a key part.
Today, the same Yanks that love to see their uniformed goons wage aggressive wars (the supreme crime against Humanity) are subject to identical treatment by the TSA. Pre-crime 'intent' detecting cameras. Chemical swabs. Commands to 'freeze'. Goons that use 'attitude' or big breast as an excuse to give a traveler 'special' attention. Alphas tell curious and dubious betas that it is 'security theatre'. The truth, ie., that Americans are getting the same treatment they dished out to Iraqi and Afghan civilians for the exact same reason, must never be said.
Morons here will dribble about the 'accuracy' of McCormick's devices (and mention the name of establishment shill, Randi) as if that were the point. When your rights can be stepped on when police state goons have 'reasonable' suspicion, the state will ensure said goons have the mechanism to rustle up 'reasonable' suspicion whenever they need it.
One last thought. Everyone who raped, tortured and murdered in the name of 'invasion' was given full and complete immunity against all prosecution by the UN. Of course, some armies still imposed 'military discipline' for certain crimes, when they became public, but every private mercenary was completely above the law, and not one was EVER punished for crimes in Iraq or Afghanistan.