Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: karajorma on November 30, 2012, 08:11:12 pm
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http://abcnews.go.com/International/paul-frampton-court-argentina-convicts-unc-professor-drug/story?id=17799280
A court in Argentina has convicted an Oxford educated University of North Carolina professor of attempting to smuggle four pounds of cocaine into the United States.
Paul Frampton, a 68-year-old esteemed professor of physics and astronomy, says he thought he was flying to South America to meet with a bikini model but ended up getting caught in what they call a "honey trap."
Frampton flew to Bolivia from North Carolina earlier this year after communicating with someone who claimed to be Denise Milani, winner of Miss Bikini World 2007. She never showed up.
Instead, Frampton says he was met by a man who gave him a suitcase, identifying himself as an intermediary for Milani, and instructing him to take it to her in Argentina.
Once there, he says he could not find her and decided to board a plane home, with that suitcase in hand. Police opened it up at the airport and found more than four pounds of cocaine inside.
"He has a high IQ, is well-known and very distinguished in the field of physics and other scientific areas, but when it comes to common sense he scored a zero," said former DC homicide investigator Rod Wheeler.
The Argentinean court sentenced Frampton to serve four years and eight months in custody after prosecutors there presented evidence of text messages they say Frampton sent to the person he thought was the model, saying, "I'm worried about the sniffer dogs," and "I'm looking after your special little suitcase."
The University of North Carolina has cut off Frampton's salary in a move that prompted dozens of his colleagues at the university to sign a letter of protest to administrators.
"As more information about his case becomes available ... it becomes more and more obvious that Paul was the innocent, although very gullible, victim of a scam," the joint letter said.
Many wrote separate letters of reference on a website they created to support the embattled professor, who is hoping to serve his time under house arrest in Argentina at a friend's apartment.
From prison Frampton has said, "It does seem unfair that an innocent scam victim is treated as a professional drug smuggler."
Frampton's Argentinean lawyer told ABC News she would have no comment until having a chance to review the judge's complete ruling, which she expects to be released early next week.
However, it appears this is not the first time Frampton has been in hot water over a woman.
The Telegraph, a London based paper that serves Great Britain , reported that friends say he once met another woman online and flew to China to marry her. This time, the woman was real, but after seeing Frampton, she reportedly canceled the wedding.
Unlucky in love, unlucky in drug smuggling. :lol:
What I find hilarious though is the fact that there are drug smuggling gangs who will give their mule four pounds of cocaine and then forget to actually meet the guy so they can get it back off him. :D
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Perfect for a movie, seriously. Poor sod.
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He may not have known what he was doing, but I can't help but think the sentence fits just for the sheer stupidity of it all. :p
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my kinda thread
*reads*
meh, i thought these were real, but after a couple lines its alright. lets apply some specific impulse.
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:lol: They needa let this guy go and tell this story to their kids.
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text messages they say Frampton sent to the person he thought was the model, saying, "I'm worried about the sniffer dogs," and "I'm looking after your special little suitcase."
that sounds like he knew what was in the suitcase to me.
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Smart professors make acid, not traffic cocaine. :p
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that sounds like he knew what was in the suitcase to me.
Indeed, it sounds to me like he was willing to be a drug mule if it meant he got to have sex with Denise Milani.
You can't plead innocence on the grounds of "But I didn't actually get to have sex with Denise Milani" or the jails would be empty. :p
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It's not because I'm Argentinean, but this man's story sounds more than a bit suspicious. Specially this part:
"The Argentinean court sentenced Frampton to serve four years and eight months in custody after prosecutors there presented evidence of text messages they say Frampton sent to the person he thought was the model, saying, "I'm worried about the sniffer dogs," and "I'm looking after your special little suitcase." "
Besides, he just seems to be too intelligent to be SO gullible.
Good reaction from the University, though.
*Looks up Denise Milani on Google*
Holy...!!! :jaw:
EDIT: Bah! They beat me to it. :lol:
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*Looks up Denise Milani on Google*
Holy...!!! :jaw:
Looked her up on google images and my computer screen just went BOIIIIIIIIING and I was like DAAAAAAAAYUM!
ahem.
So this guy's got like a **** ton (http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Paul+Frampton&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C47&as_sdtp=) of papers, some of 'em are great reads.
Mmmmmm, bimaximal neutrino mixing. Ohhh, you sexy thing. =]
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It's not because I'm Argentinean, but this man's story sounds more than a bit suspicious. Specially this part:
"The Argentinean court sentenced Frampton to serve four years and eight months in custody after prosecutors there presented evidence of text messages they say Frampton sent to the person he thought was the model, saying, "I'm worried about the sniffer dogs," and "I'm looking after your special little suitcase." "
Besides, he just seems to be too intelligent to be SO gullible.
Good reaction from the University, though.
*Looks up Denise Milani on Google*
Holy...!!! :jaw:
EDIT: Bah! They beat me to it. :lol:
Actually, geniuses can sometimes be REALLY stupid when it comes to things that aren't in their field of expertise.
But yeah, in this case it sounds like he knew what was in the suitcase, or at least knew that it was something he shouldn't have been trying to fly with.
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This is me having zero sympathy for this idiot. Number 1 rule of airports is don't carry luggage you didn't pack yourself and supervise the entire time. Number 2 is if you know you have drugs because some asshole gave them to you, drop them where you are or turn them into the authorities immediately.
And I'm sorry, a 68-year old physics prof should know better than to believe this **** in the first place. Idiot.
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I know, I really hate it when stupid 20-somethings get caught smuggling drugs in the far east and then complain about it. But at least there is the faint possibility that a 18 or 19-year old is too naive to know it was dumb.
Bit hard to make that excuse at 68.
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well, he IS a UNC professor...
also, having seen the girl.... would not hit that.
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:looks at pictures on google:
Am I the only one who s getting a case of real life "uncanny valley"... when boobs are just at that size where they are... uhm... a bit... too large? LOL.
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:looks at pictures on google:
Am I the only one who s getting a case of real life "uncanny valley"... when boobs are just at that size where they are... uhm... a bit... too large? LOL.
Probably, considering Uncanny Valley reactions can be directly traced to motion.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183861/Denise-Milani-Bikini-model-terrified-drugs-gang-used-honeytrap-science-professor.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183861/Denise-Milani-Bikini-model-terrified-drugs-gang-used-honeytrap-science-professor.html)
who would've guessed she's married?
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The comments on the hacking put an interesting spin on things. It's quite possible someone sent him a message from the actual Ms Milani's facebook or email address redirecting him to another account "she" uses privately.
He's still a fool for agreeing to carry the drugs but at least that would explain how he might have not rumbled that he wasn't talking to the real person. I mean, if you meet someone on a dating site claiming to be her, you'd probably be all "yeah, yeah" but if you then got a confirmation message from her official site on facebook.....
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I say, unwittingly or not.
The crime was commited, do the time.
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and there were emails from an obsessive fan :eek2:
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What I find hilarious though is the fact that there are drug smuggling gangs who will give their mule four pounds of cocaine and then forget to actually meet the guy so they can get it back off him. :D
He was to smuggle them into the USA, which he nearly did.
The Boobs would then ask the Physics to give the Drugs to someone after arriving in the States.
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Maybe, but why not get him to fly from Bolivia straight to the US?
Instead, Frampton says he was met by a man who gave him a suitcase, identifying himself as an intermediary for Milani, and instructing him to take it to her in Argentina.
Once there, he says he could not find her and decided to board a plane home, with that suitcase in hand. Police opened it up at the airport and found more than four pounds of cocaine inside.
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That I don't know, they might have wanted to play games with the guy for their collective giggles, or games with the TSA with the drugs coming from a different country than expected, or they have some established paths to smuggle stuff...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/world/americas/for-drug-traffickers-argentina-has-become-a-destination.html?_r=0
Looks like Argentina seems to be a both pit stop and a destination for smugglers, so after further reading it's hard to tell where the suitcase was to be delivered.
I'd still vote US though, but not with near 100% certainty.
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Given the fact that I suspect he knew what he was doing, he probably was meant to take the bag to the US to meet her but concocted the story about not meeting her and heading home. The alternative is rather silly.
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In the usual New York Times fashion, half of that article is actually pretty accurate data, and the other half of it is misleading information and statements that blatantly ignore our historical background and laws. But from what I've investigated about them so far, that seems to be another day in the office for this Emily Schamll and her polemical boss Mark Thompson.
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It's cute when you use words you apparently don't understand.
But more seriously, does a mirror hurt that much? Argentina has had a somewhat turbulent relationship with reality impacting on its nationalism, so when an Argentine stands up to bat for their country I'm not really inclined to treat them seriously unless they provide verifiable details.
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It's cute when you use words you apparently don't understand.
What words exactly? Despite my efforts I'm not a native speaker, it does helps to get some positive feedback instead of patronizing treatment (though I guess I really can't expect something else from you).
But more seriously, does a mirror hurt that much?
Not in the least. A lot of what she says is true. Every country has problems (Hell! Even the US has problems). I think it's not something to be ashamed of. We're doing everything we can to take care of this problem, but we're doing it our way, not taking hints from foreign media corporations.
Argentina has had a somewhat turbulent relationship with reality impacting on its nationalism, so when an Argentine stands up to bat for their country I'm not really inclined to treat them seriously unless they provide verifiable details.
Ermmm... aren't you supposed to ask HER for verifiable details? Her call to "aim the full might of its military on traffickers" ignores that it is illegal for the Argentinean military to intervene in internal conflicts after the Dirty War. You see, tortures, forced disappearances, state-sponsored terrorism and a civil war between the leftist guerrillas and the armed forces leave countries in a touchy mood with this kind of things. There are other things to be said of that article, like citing Claudio Izaguirre as an unbiased authority figure when he is a highly polemical individual with frequent outbursts of xenophobia. But really, the thing that really bothers me is the way she hints that we should get the military to intervene when even she has to admit that we've been doing things the right way so far (drug raids every day, drug traffickers being brought to justice, etc.) So what does she wants the military involvement for? She knows about our country and its historical background with the armed forces, she's not just being ignorant.
Now may I ask you, why are you saying I use words without knowing them, and then you judge a whole nation without knowing it? That's prejudice, you know. Not the most rational thing from someone who demands "verifiable details".
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*Double posting for great justice.*
Now, on for the second part. Let's speculate a bit, as a mind excercise. Let's wonder: Why would the New York Times publish an article like that, knowing full well what they're asking for? why would the New York Times want the military's involvement, when it would take a coup d'etat to get them involved in the first place? Well, this is where it comes to speculation from my side, but based on hard data. There are some interesting things to be said about this Mark Thompson. But the one that really bothers me is:
- Mark Thompson, during his tenure in the BBC, developed ties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Thompson_%28television_executive%29#Accusations_of_Pro-Israeli_editorial_stance) with former Prime-Minister and former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon from Israel.
- Ariel Sharon was the Defense Minister of Israel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Defense_%28Israel%29#List_of_Ministers) under Prime Minister Menachem Begin during the South Atlantic Conflict (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War) between Argentina and the United Kingdom. It is my understanding that, as Defense Minister of Israel, he was responsible to oversee Israel's military industries.
The Ministry of Defense oversees most of the Israeli security forces, including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), IMI, the Israel Military Industries, IAI, Israel Aircraft Industries.[1]
So any sale would have needed his approval, right?
- Israel sold armament and military equipment (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379008/A-deep-rooted-hatred-British-How-Israelis-armed-junta-Falklands-conflict.html) (I don't have an exact number, but we were indeed a major client) to Argentina during the conflict. Argentina was under a military dictatorship at the time.
So, while this still isn't enough evidence to determine without a doubt that there's something fishy behind this, it's indeed quite a suspicious connection isn't it? Sounds to me like it was easier for weapons manufacturers in Israel (and other countries, by the way) to deal with a corrupt military junta and get away with blood-tainted money (that military equipment killed British soldiers, in an avoidable conflict) than it is to deal with a democratic government and try to do the same. And weapons manufacturers seem to be the only ones who benefit from a "war on narcos", as judging by the current state of those countries Ms. Schmall postulates as examples of how to deal with the drug problem (and if you don't have friends to talk to in Mexico and Colombia and access to their press in its native language, don't even try to tell me they are doing well).
The Argentinean society in this last few years has been debating about this whole drugs problem. The two prominent factions are those who want to legalize it and put it under state regulation or control while promoting treatment for addicts, and those who want a total war against drugs and drug users. I'm willing to listen to arguments from both sides, since I sincerely think both sides have society's best interest in mind. But I want those arguments coming from rational people without a questionable background, and who understand the problem from the inside. Not from the New York Times, and not from someone like Izaguirre.
Finally, a priceless comment from the mouth of Claudio Izaguirre (http://www.lanueva.com/edicion_impresa/nota/12/12/2010/acc030.html), Ms Schmall unbiased autority figure:
"[...] si no metemos al Ejército a diezmar a los 30 o 40 mil tipos que están al frente de la venta de drogas en la Argentina, no los sacamos más. No se olviden de que la Fuerza Aérea Argentina tiene prohibido controlar nuestro cielo, este es otro dato más"
Translation:
"[...] if we don't get the Army involved to decimate those 30000* or 40000 guys behind drug sales in Argentina, we'll never get them out of here. Let's not forget that the Argentine Air Force isn't allowed to police our skies, that's another piece of relevant data"
*: 30000 is (oh so casually) an estimated number of people dissapeared or killed during the last dictatorship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War). It's not an obscure number either, it's a widely known estimation with a profound meaning in the Argentinean society.
Seems pretty clear to me that Ms. Schmall knows who she's citing and what she's pushing for...