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New York Mayor Bloomberg to appeal ruling that blocked stop-and-frisk policy

“New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday said he would appeal a federal judge’s ruling that the police department’s ‘stop and frisk’ crime-fighting tactics violate constitutional rights. Bloomberg remained firm in his argument that the practice drove down the city’s crime rate, saying, ‘The possibility of being stopped acts as a vital deterrent.’ His administration plans to ask for a stay of the judge’s order until the appeal is heard, officials told a press conference.” Continue reading →

Tennessee judge changes baby’s name after ruling it a conflict with her beliefs

“A baby named ‘Messiah’ must be renamed, according to a judge in Tennessee, because Messiah is a ‘earned’ title in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The mother, Jaleesa Martin of Newport, Tenn., is appealing the decision handed down by Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew, who renamed the 7-month-old child ‘Martin DeShawn McCullough,’ after the parents came to her in a dispute over the child’s last name, according to the Tennesseean. The new name includes both parent’s last names but leaves out Messiah, ‘which is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,’ Ballew said.” Continue reading →

Mob attacks gay couple’s engagement ceremony in Haiti

“A British man and his Haitian partner were attacked by dozens of locals who threw molotov cocktails and rocks at the couple’s private engagement ceremony, police said. Several people were injured, two cars were set ablaze and windows were smashed at the residence where the ceremony took place in Port-au-Prince late Saturday. Police arrived just in time to prevent people being killed, inspector Patrick Rosarion told AFP.” Continue reading →

Vigilante Detroit residents attack suspected rapist after police fail to act

“Residents in southwest Detroit took matters into their own hands after local police delayed prosecution on a suspected rape in their neighborhood. According to the Detroit Free Press, a group of residents twice attacked the unidentified 43-year-old man on Aug. 5, believing him to be responsible for raping a 15-year-old girl who has Down’s Syndrome, leaving him with wounds on his legs and head. No arrests have been made in either attack against the alleged rapist. The campaign against the man began online, with Facebook posts featuring a picture of the man and warnings like, ‘The law better find this fool before the streets do.'” Continue reading →

Judge blocks BART union’s proposed strike in San Francisco through October

“A judge on Sunday blocked a threatened San Francisco-area rail worker strike that could have disabled a critical part of the region’s transportation system serving 400,000 daily passengers. The BART rail system was shut down for 4-1/2 days in July when union workers walked off the job, creating severe roadway congestion and forcing commuters to miss work or crowd onto a limited number of other public transportation options. BART management says the average employee gets an annual salary of $79,500 plus $50,800 in benefits, and it is concerned the cost of benefits will continue to climb after increasing by nearly 200 percent in 10 years.” Continue reading →

NYPD’s ‘Stop and frisk’ tactics ruled unconstitutional by federal judge

“A federal judge has ruled that the New York City Police Department’s heavily-criticized ‘stop and frisk’ approach to crimefighting is unconstitutional, the New York Times reported on Monday. The ruling by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin is the latest blow to the policy, which data suggests has not been effective in actually preventing shootings in the city while being decried for targeting Black and Latino men almost exclusively. Commissioner Ray Kelly had defended the policy, calling it ‘a fact of urban life’ in an August 2012 interview with a radio program geared toward teenagers.” Continue reading →

On 10th anniversary, Pirate Bay launches PirateBrowser to evade filesharing blocks

“The PirateBrowser website explains that the application combines Tor client Vidalia – which anonymises data connections – with the FireFox Portable Edition browser, the FoxyProxy add-on and ‘some custom configs’. The site also claims that the browser is an anti-censorship tool rather than purely for piracy, citing countries including Iran and North Korea alongside the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Italy and Ireland as places it expects PirateBrowser to be particularly useful.” Continue reading →

Holder to propose curtailing mandatory minimum drug sentences

“The Justice Department plans to change how it prosecutes some non-violent drug offenders, so they would no longer face mandatory minimum prison sentences, in an overhaul of federal prison policy that Attorney General Eric Holder will unveil on Monday. The United States imprisons a higher percentage of its population than other large countries, largely because of anti-drug laws passed in the 1980s and 1990s. Holder will also reveal a plan to create a slate of local guidelines to determine if cases should be subject to federal charges.” Continue reading →