# Tennessee woman arrested for printing own money after reading online Obama had made it legal **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162 "2015-07-14T18:55:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/1 "2015-07-14T18:55:08Z")
> **[Tennessee woman arrested for printing own money after reading online Obama...](https://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/)** > > In a case of "It was on the Internet so it must be true," a Tennessee woman was arrested for trying to use counterfeit money, explaining to police that she read online that President Barack Obama had passed a law making it legal, reports the Times... > [@](#): > > Pamela Downs, 45, of Kingsport was arrested on Sunday after giving a clerk at gas station a $5 bill which he suspected might be counterfeit. > … > After agreeing to have her purse searched, police discovered a fake $100 bill printed in black and white with the backside glued on upside down. Police also found receipts in her purse showing she had purchased a printer and copy paper at a local Walmart. > > After being handcuffed and placed in a cruiser, Downs reportedly said, “I don’t give a \*\*\*\*, all these other bitches get to print money so I can too.” > > In an interview at the jail, Downs admitted to printing the money in her apartment, stating that she read online that President Obama had made a new law permitting her to print her own money because she is on a fixed income. What the hell is she using for a news source? ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/2 "2015-07-14T18:57:42Z")
Maybe: > **[Obama wants people to print their own money](http://theskunk.org/2009/02/obama-wants-citizens-to-print-their-own-money/)** > > DENVER -- The way out of the country's economic woes is to let citizens print their own money, said President Barack Obama to a cheering crowd of of unemployed construction workers in the Mile High City. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/3 "2015-07-14T19:08:20Z")
“Downs has been charged with criminal simulation and counterfeiting.” She’ll walk. She certainly isn’t a very good simulation of a criminal. And it won’t be me that goes anywhere with her name… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/4 "2015-07-14T19:12:37Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > Maybe: > [http://theskunk.org/2009/02/obama-wants-citizens-to-print-their-own-money/](http://theskunk.org/2009/02/obama-wants-citizens-to-print-their-own-money/) “Tasteless American Satire For The Ill-Informed” Too many big-syllable words. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/5 "2015-07-14T19:13:46Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > Maybe: > [http://theskunk.org/2009/02/obama-wants-citizens-to-print-their-own-money/](http://theskunk.org/2009/02/obama-wants-citizens-to-print-their-own-money/) You may be right. These idiotic fake news sites have fooled more than a few people. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/6 "2015-07-14T19:18:36Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > You may be right. These idiotic fake news sites have fooled more than a few people. Most of them don’t actually advertise that they are fake right on the headline though. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/7 "2015-07-14T19:26:57Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Most of them don’t actually advertise that they are fake right on the headline though. I’m not saying she was a careful reader. She may have only read the headline. Bein that she glued the two sides together I’m guessing this wasn’t a particularly good counterfeit. I read an autobiography once of a secret service agent that mentioned he once arrested someone that after a newspaper printed examples of a counterfeit bill to let people know what to look for - the person cut out the front and back from the paper (of a counterfeit bill) - glued them together and colored them with a crayon or magic marker - and successfully passed a few before getting caught. Another actually counterfeited QUARTERS (not many) and when the secret service showed up to arrest him he was burying his dead son out back and they waited until the burial was over to arrest him. We aren’t dealing with bright people here. Although her initial claims were that she got it (the counterfeit) at another gas station - so she might be lying about the whole thing, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she read something like that and used the “I got it somewhere else” cause she didn’t think the police would understand the secret knowledge she had. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/8 "2015-07-14T19:32:08Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > I’m not saying she was a careful reader. She may have only read the headline. Read? She looks like every apartment-courtyard welfare-queen system-worker who swims in a world of Seekret Trix passed among like types. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_from\_CB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@Alex\_from\_CB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_from_CB)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/9 "2015-07-14T19:48:15Z")
The sad part is that she’s The President of The University of Tennessee. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/10 "2015-07-14T20:02:41Z")
> [@Alex\_from\_CB](#): > > The sad part is that she’s The President of The University of Tennessee. That is sad. Where will they find someone as smart as her for a replacement? ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/11 "2015-07-14T20:23:08Z")
The average Obama voter and support I presume. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/12 "2015-07-14T20:32:20Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > [Tennessee woman arrested for printing own money after reading online Obama had made it legal](http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/) > What the hell is she using for a news source? It mentioned something about a backside… ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/13 "2015-07-14T20:38:39Z")
I have to say, I’m a little disappointed that she didn’t use her exciting foray into the printing business to advance the cause of feminism and FINALLY place a woman on U.S. currency. Although she probably would have selected somebody completely silly like, oh, Taylor Swift, so I guess it’s for the best that she didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/14 "2015-07-14T20:55:36Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > The average Obama voter and support I presume. reported ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/15 "2015-07-14T20:55:49Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > The average Obama voter and support I presume. Indeed, and a pity she’s a white woman, which deprives you and the rest of the Algonquin Round Table of conservative comment-section _humoristes_ yet another opportunity to inject the _hilarious_ witticism that she ‘looks like one of Obama’s sons’. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/16 "2015-07-15T03:14:55Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > The average Obama voter and support I presume. An uneducated white woman from Tennessee? You think she’s a typical Obama voter? ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/17 "2015-07-15T05:00:24Z")
Well, I’ve been comparing the hilarious activities of PM Tsipras to those of a dumb criminal. This one is raising the bar… Lemme guess: You tried to print front and back on the same paper but couldn’t figure out why the printer just printed the back in the same place as the front. I do have to admit though, that upon hooking up a flatbed scanner to a shiny new _color_ printer, the first test was a nice, crisp 20… ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/18 "2015-07-15T15:15:27Z")
This was about half an hour from my hometown. There are almost certainly more boneheads per capita there than in my current stomping grounds outside DC, but it’s not a burg full of slack jawed yokels either. As children’s author Arnold Lobel wrote is his book Fables, “when the need is strong, there are those who will believe anything.” ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/19 "2015-07-15T15:34:57Z")
This is my favorite part: > [@](#): > > After agreeing to have her purse searched, police discovered a fake $100 bill printed in black and white with the backside glued on upside down. Police also found receipts in her purse showing she had purchased a printer and copy paper at a local Walmart. I wish I could have seen the cop’s face when he found the receipts. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162/20 "2015-07-15T22:23:52Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > I read an autobiography once of a secret service agent that mentioned he once arrested someone that after a newspaper printed examples of a counterfeit bill to let people know what to look for - the person cut out the front and back from the paper (of a counterfeit bill) - glued them together and colored them with a crayon or magic marker - and successfully passed a few before getting caught. I can see that. You know those counterfeit-detecting pens that cashiers use? They make a black mark on regular white paper and a yellowish mark on paper currency. They also leave a yellowish mark on newsprint. Try it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-woman-arrested-for-printing-own-money-after-reading-online-obama-had-made-it-legal/725162.md?page=2)