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"How the Arrest Went Down" (of NYC car bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad)

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Home » Discuss » General Discussion: Presidency

Clio the Leo

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Tue May-04-10 08:14 AM
Original message

"How the Arrest Went Down" (of NYC car bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad)

Edited on Tue May-04-10 08:15 AM by Clio the Leo

THE PRESIDENT WAS BRIEFED SIX TIMES YESTERDAY and was notifed of the arrest at 12:05 a.m., all by John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

<snip>

PATHFINDER WAS BOUGHT FOR CASH -- AP: "Law enforcement officials say Shahzad bought the ... 1993 Nissan Pathfinder, from a Connecticut man about three weeks ago and paid cash. ... The vehicle identification number had been removed from the Pathfinder's dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine, and investigators used it to find the owner of record, who told them he had sold the vehicle to a stranger."

HOW THE ARREST WENT DOWN -- A PLAYBOOK EXCLUSIVE -- The FBI used the VIN to find the seller, who had offered the Pathfinder on Craigslist. Agents were able to recover the number from a pre-paid cellphone that had been captured in the course of the sale. The suspect didn't still have the phone. But using a lot of technology and access to database, agents located the suspect. "They were able to basically get one phone number and by running it through a number of databases, figure out who they thought the guy was," an official said.

BEHIND THE SCENES -- HOLDER MANAGED CAPTURE THROUGH THE NIGHT: Around 2:30 p.m., Attorney General Eric Holder was pulled out of a meeting to take a call from David S. Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Kris said the FBI thought it had identified the guy, and knew his rough location. "There was a huge fog-of-war element, where you think you have him, but you're not sure," an official said. "Everyone's telephoning headquarters." Holder ordered up substantial resources to track and capture the suspect. The A.G. stayed at Justice until 9:30 p.m., then went home, had dinner and put his kids to bed. At 11:30 p.m., Holder was called about the arrest. He was rushed back to DOJ, complete with flashing lights. He didn't go to his office but straight to the National Security Division's 7th-floor SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) for real-time updates. Officials worked until 1:10 to nail everything down. Assured it was the guy, DOJ issued a news advisory. Holder walked in front of the camera at 1:30 a.m.

http://www.politico.com/playbook/

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jaxx

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Tue May-04-10 08:18 AM
Response to Original message

1. Good article at WaPo too......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050400192.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead

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DrToast

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Tue May-04-10 09:33 AM
Response to Reply #1

17. It says his plane had left the gate before they realized he was on it!

How the hell does that happen? Didn't they think to put him on a no-fly list once they knew his name?

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snagglepuss

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Tue May-04-10 11:33 AM
Response to Reply #17

25. Good question. nt

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jaxx

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Tue May-04-10 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #17

29. According to this winger site

<snip> Faisal Shahzad had apparently been placed on the do-not-fly list earlier in the day, so a match was made against his passport when he tried to board an international airplane flight. This is a good win for the department of homeland security. We�ll leave the incompetence at preventing the attack for others to analyze.

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=6169

(it's a vile site and article, but came up first googling...Results 1 - 10 of about 1,190,000 for Faisal Shahzad had been placed on the do-not-fly list earlier in the day.)

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Phx_Dem

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Tue May-04-10 01:57 PM
Response to Reply #17

39. They put him on the no-fly list and the terrorist watch list as soon as they

identified him "mid-day on Monday." The Feds found him on the airline manfest as soon as it was released. According to ABC, airlines only check the no-fly list against people entering the country, not leaving it.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/did_times_square_bomb_suspect_almost_get_away.php?ref=fpa

The Washington Post reported that according to "a source close to the United Arab Emirates," Faisal Shahzad's name was put on the U.S. government's no-fly list around midday Monday.

Late Update: DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano confirmed today that Shahzad was put on the no-fly list yesterday, ABC News reports. She added that the government only became aware of his presence on the flight -- presumably after being tipped off by the airline -- after the manifest was completed.

ABC offers a potential reason why Shahzad was able to get on the plane: the government only checks people's documents as they enter the U.S., not as they exit. A former Bush administration official told ABC that when counter-terrorism experts recently proposed that we also check people as they're leaving -- as many other countries do -- "the airlines went ballistic," arguing that such step would be expensive and cause delays. So the idea was dropped.

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Cha

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Tue May-04-10 02:58 PM
Response to Reply #1

43. Thank you, jaxx..that was

an interestingly written sequence of the events.

"Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee's subcommittee on intelligence, said Shahzad "went through secondary screening upon his return from a lengthy trip to Pakistan last year." She said the screening "yielded critical contact information that was entered into the system and used in his arrest."

She said Shahzad's name was added Monday to the U.S. government's no-fly list, which was still being disseminated as he bought his airline ticket en route to the airport.

Despite a reported lack of "chatter" before the Times Square incident, Harman said, "dots were correctly and rapidly connected."

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lamp_shade

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Tue May-04-10 08:20 AM
Response to Original message

2. Can you believe somebody unrecced this? I just offset it. Jeezum crow.

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Cronus Protagonist

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Tue May-04-10 11:28 AM
Response to Reply #2

24. I'm surprised you didn't get this in the first post

Edited on Tue May-04-10 11:28 AM by Cronus Protagonist

These thread killer posts about unrecs really work best when they're the first response to an op.

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Cha

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Tue May-04-10 11:54 AM
Response to Reply #24

27. You're wrong..they don't kill the thread at all.

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Cronus Protagonist

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Tue May-04-10 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #27

46. I cna't even remember the OP now... it's all about unrecs

I think that's a sign of a dead thread.

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lamp_shade

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Tue May-04-10 01:49 PM
Response to Reply #24

38. I had to sneeze. Sorry I wasn't fast enough.

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Cha

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Tue May-04-10 02:59 PM
Response to Reply #38

44. ..

:)

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Arkana

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Tue May-04-10 02:15 PM
Response to Reply #2

40. Either there's a guy going around unreccing every post in the forums

or there's some sort of error in the code.

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burning rain

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Tue May-04-10 07:16 PM
Response to Reply #2

47. I bet I can describe unreccers of this thread.

Sentimentalists desperate to believe that Shahzad is not a terrorist and has no religious motivation, who want to claim that he's just crazy, but can no longer argue that case, so they just try to make Shahzad threads go away by unreccing them.

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zipplewrath

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Tue May-04-10 08:20 AM
Response to Original message

3. Kinda makes ya wonder

"But using a lot of technology and access to database..."

Don't ya kinda wonder what this is? After the last 8 years, and Obama's vote on Telecom immunity, don't ya kinda wonder how they tracked a guy through a phone that he didn't actually have anymore? What kinda database has that kinda info on that short notice?

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Clio the Leo

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Tue May-04-10 08:22 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. lol, perhaps we now have ONE thing to thank Dick Cheney for. NT

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CherokeeDem

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Tue May-04-10 08:40 AM
Response to Reply #4

11. Difference being...

I trust these guys more than Cheney's crowd to use the intel gathered to go after the real bad guys. I think Cheney believed the 'bad guys' were anyone who didn't agree with him.

Damn good detective work...exactly how we should be fighting the terrorists.

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Canuckistanian

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Tue May-04-10 08:51 AM
Response to Reply #11

12. And he was captured WITHOUT having to invade a country

Edited on Tue May-04-10 08:51 AM by Canuckistanian

Amazing how that works, huh?

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boppers

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Tue May-04-10 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #3

30. "using a lot of technology and access to database"...

I dunno what method they used, but every cell phone (including yours) leaves a semi-permanent record:
Of every call made.
Of every number called.
Of every call received.
Of every number calling you.
Of every rough location (local cell tower) a call was made from or transferred to.
Of every SMS text/message/picture sent.
Of every SMS text/message/picture received.
(etc.)

Basically, every cell phone (like every internet connection) is *always* tracked. The legal hurdle is if a government agency can *demand* access to the tracking information. It's also useful to realize that there is a difference between "demand" and "request".

As far as what kind of db has that info on short notice, well, if you know who to talk to, all of them have that kind of information available within seconds/minutes. Most telecoms can, and will, divulge that data in the time it takes to send a fax authorizing/requesting the data.

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zipplewrath

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Tue May-04-10 12:28 PM
Response to Reply #30

32. But the guy no longer had the phone

So they some how, quickly, correlated information from a phone that was not related directly to the owner, nor still in the possession of the owner, through other means, back to the owner. I can ultimately see a line there, depending upon what mistakes the guy made. But I'm surprised that the general data is correlated quite in this fashion.

As an example. Okay, it was a phone the guy bought off the wall at 7-11. And he made the mistake of using a credit card. That means that they found the phone (through the guy that sold the car) traced it back to a sale at a 7-11 (using the computers that do inventory control for 7-11). That connected that sale to the credit card from the point of sale, and got to a data base with VISA to determine to whom the card belonged.

It's not that I don't know that all that info is available. It's that it is available, over a weekend, through multiple databases, to the federal government. One would think a warrant or two would have been required.

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boppers

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Tue May-04-10 01:11 PM
Response to Reply #32

34. Two points:

Firstly, judicial oversight, like law enforcement, has folks at work 24/7, and there was over 24 hours between discovery and arrest. With only ten people, that's 240 man hours, or six weeks, of work. A ten minute warrant hearing in a six-week chunk of time is reasonably possible.

Secondly, there are now mechanisms to request data, and later (if needed for court evidence) request a warrant to make the evidence usable in court. It's a part of PATRIOT that really creeps a lot of civil libertarians out.

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zipplewrath

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Tue May-04-10 01:17 PM
Response to Reply #34

35. Kinda my point

Each one of those steps requires them (presumably) to go BACK for a new warrant (along with the associated paperwork). I suspect it is a case that we don't bother with that now. We just dig through all the data bases, with warrants to follow.

We hated it when Bush did this kinda stuff. I guess we don't care anymore.

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WhiteTara

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Tue May-04-10 08:23 AM
Response to Original message

5. kicking for the morning crowd

:kick:

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FSogol

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Tue May-04-10 08:26 AM
Response to Original message

6. K&R. Democrats Plan: Investigate and arrest the people responsible.

Republican Plan: Invade some country. Give away money and contracts to independent contractors.

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Arkana

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Tue May-04-10 08:53 AM
Response to Reply #6

13. I disagree.

Republican plan: Blame Democratic President for "not keeping us safe", proceed to run fear-and-smear campaign in 2012

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Jeff In Milwaukee

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Tue May-04-10 12:37 PM
Response to Reply #13

33. Now, kids. Let's not fight.

When it comes to mendacity and stupid policy decisions, the Republicans are experts at multi-talking. You BOTH get your way!

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paparush

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Tue May-04-10 08:26 AM
Response to Original message

7. Dick Cheney will be making the Sunday morning talk show rounds..

thumping his cyborg chest about how the Patriot Act, and Wiretapping and water boarding just saved the planet from this homicidal evil-doer.

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Jennicut

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Tue May-04-10 08:26 AM
Response to Original message

8. The only thing Politico got wrong was that the car was sold to a 19 year old woman in Bridgeport, a

Edited on Tue May-04-10 08:27 AM by Jennicut

college student. She is kind of shaken up about the whole thing.
For those that don't know, Bridgeport is near the CT shoreline. Not that far from NYC. With traffic on the Merritt Parkway, probably takes almost 2 hours to drive there.

One major thing that impresses me about all of this is the detective work. Just plain old good detective work to catch this guy.

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Dappleganger

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Tue May-04-10 09:21 AM
Response to Reply #8

16. Yes it was.

Somebody certainly needs a nice bonus.

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ananda

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Tue May-04-10 08:29 AM
Response to Original message

9. Movie of the week couldn't make a better plot.

I mean, using VIN numbers and prepaid cell database...

Then ... catching him on board the plane as it was
on the runway.

WOW.

That's impressive.

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snagglepuss

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Tue May-04-10 11:34 AM
Response to Reply #9

26. +1

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activa8tr

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Tue May-04-10 02:26 PM
Response to Reply #9

41. I'm sure HBO and Hollywood writers are starting casting calls already...

this will be a GREAT made for TV movie for the first sweeps in the fall season,
complete with Bloomberg, Holder, and Obama from their actual TV appearances.

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Ian David

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Tue May-04-10 08:34 AM
Response to Original message

10. I'm guessing he used the pre-paid cellphone to book his flight to Dubai. Not a genius. n/t

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AlphaCentauri

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Tue May-04-10 09:50 AM
Response to Reply #10

21. He might bough the phone with his credit card

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Ian David

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Tue May-04-10 09:51 AM
Response to Reply #21

22. Yeah, but that would be REALLY stupid. n/t

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Beer Snob-50

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Tue May-04-10 09:03 AM
Response to Original message

14. freepers are posting

that wht the obama admin did was no big deal because the guy was able to get on the plane to dubia (sp). if it was bush, they would have let him land there and then just invade the fucking country.

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AlphaCentauri

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Tue May-04-10 09:52 AM
Response to Reply #14

23. I'm surprise they are not claiming that Big Brother is looking at their phone records n/t

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elehhhhna

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Tue May-04-10 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #14

45. Well, Bush DID catch OBL. Oh, wait...nevermind

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ClarkUSA

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Tue May-04-10 09:08 AM
Response to Original message

15. Pakistani Taliban took credit for the attempted car bombing prior to Shahzad's arrest.

Edited on Tue May-04-10 09:11 AM by ClarkUSA

MSNBC terrorism expert Evan Coleman said yesterday that the Pakistani Taliban sent a "somewhat specific" video last week warning of an attack. Then they claimed responsibility for this act yesterday. Now there's been an arrest of a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin who recently spent 5 months in Pakistan who lied about working on Wall Street to his neighbor who paid cash for the SUV involved in the attempted car bombing and who was caught at JFK on his way to Dubai. If he had succeeded, it would have been a terrible catastrophe for this nation on top of the oil spill. I hope this crazy asshole never sees the light of day again as a free man.

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ima_sinnic

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Tue May-04-10 09:42 AM
Response to Reply #15

19. it's curious that someone would go through that big naturalization process and then become a traitor

-- or was it part of a really long-term plan? why bother to become a citizen? or did he become bitter, or perhaps he was made an offer he couldn't refuse?

just seems strange to me to adopt a country as your own and then set about blowing it up.

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Change Happens

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Tue May-04-10 09:41 AM
Response to Original message

18. Thank you Mr. President and the team...........nt

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janet118

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Tue May-04-10 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #18

20. And the alert vendor who reported the vehicle to police . . .

President Obama called him today to thank him. At last, a president with real class.

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Cha

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Tue May-04-10 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #20

31. Good to know..thanks, janet. nt

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merci_me

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Tue May-04-10 11:55 AM
Response to Original message

28. Question about photo from Time Square

It looked to me like in the picture, taken from the back as he pulled off a shirt, it's so grainy in everything I saw, but to me it looked like he had a bald spot. Sort of the Friar Tuck type of bald spot. I even heard several news readers say he was thought to be early or mid 40's. With all the video they say they have, is there something out there that shows someone who looks as young as the man they are showing as having been arrested? Are they saying that he is the one who is seen removing his shirt, or could that be a yet to identified person?

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ieoeja

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Tue May-04-10 01:22 PM
Response to Reply #28

36. They realized shirt guy was the wrong guy. (nt)

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Phx_Dem

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Tue May-04-10 01:28 PM
Response to Original message

37. Asshat Bloomberg asks "Why was he allowed to get on a plane?"

When he should be asking, "Why was he allowed to park and abandon his vehicle, with hazard lights on, in Times Square?" After all, the cops didn't notice the car, and who knows how long it would have sat there if a street vendor hadn't brought it to their attention.

Partisan sniping serves no purpose Mayor. Maybe you should look at own role before critizing the people who caught the guy in two days.

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Cha

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Tue May-04-10 02:36 PM
Response to Reply #37

42. Trying to deflect?

Hope that's a good lesson for any abandoned cars if anyone else gets any stupid ideas.

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