Animal Farm

X-ray full-body scanners to be taken out of U.S. airports

"According to Bloomberg News, OSI Systems, the company that makes the scanners, was unable to write a software program that would cover passengers’ genitals. The TSA has terminated its $5 million contract with OSI’s Rapiscan unit, which was awarded to the company with a software fix in mind. The TSA removed 76 of the Rapiscan machines from the nation’s busiest airports in 2011. The remaining 174 machines will now be decommissioned. The TSA plans to switch over to scanners manufactured by a company called L-3 Communications Holdings, which use radio signals rather than X-rays to scan passengers for weapons." Continue reading →

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Supreme Court to consider if silence can be evidence of guilt

"The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether a suspect's refusal to answer police questions prior to being arrested and read his rights can be introduced as evidence of guilt at his subsequent murder trial. Salinas' lawyer argued that his client deserved a Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, even though he had not been under arrest or read his rights under the landmark 1966 decision Miranda v. Arizona. Last April, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction but noted that federal appeals courts are split as to whether 'pre-arrest, pre-Miranda silence is admissible as substantive evidence of guilt.'" Continue reading →

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DOJ sends bundle of completely censored documents in response to ACLU lawsuit

"Responding to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Department of Justice (DOJ) turned over a bundle of documents that are completely blacked out. The lawsuit was filed after the DOJ ignored a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information on how the agency interpreted a 2011 Supreme Court decision that bans law enforcement from using GPS technology to track Americans without a warrant. The Department responded to the lawsuit with 111 pages of attorney memos, but only two pages are legible. The rest are covered by large black rectangles that blot out all useful information." Continue reading →

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D.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

"The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454. The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department also waged a war on firearms by creating a special Gun Recovery Unit in 1995. The campaign meant that officers were obliged to spend time searching otherwise law-abiding citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingD.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

D.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

"The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454. The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department also waged a war on firearms by creating a special Gun Recovery Unit in 1995. The campaign meant that officers were obliged to spend time searching otherwise law-abiding citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingD.C. Prosecutor: A Gun Ban That Misfired

ICE Agents Raid Wrong House In Moore, OK

"With guns drawn in the home he's lived in for over 10 years, Estrada says agents realized after about five minutes they had the wrong guy. But he says he was kept in handcuffs for another 40 minutes to be fingerprinted. He says he was even asked for his green card. Carlos says he's done nothing but try to do what's right and obey the law. He's been a legal U.S. citizen since 1988. He was told he had been under surveillance by ICE agents for three years and was showed a picture of himself at his job in 2010." Continue reading →

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Does Facebook Help the Prosecution, But Not Defense?

"[P]rosecutors generally have an easier time than defense attorneys getting private information out of Facebook and other social networks, as highlighted in an ongoing Portland murder case. In that case, the defense attorney has evidence of a Facebook conversation in which a key witness reportedly tells a friend he was pressured by police into falsely incriminating the defendant. Facebook rebuffed the defense attorney’s subpoena seeking access to the conversation, citing the federal Stored Communications Act, which protects the privacy of electronic communications like e-mail – but which carves out an exemption for law enforcement." Continue reading →

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Michigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

"On Election Day, voters in four cities - totaling over a million people - decided in favor of municipal initiatives to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis. Sixty-five percent of Detroit voters approved Proposal M, removing local criminal penalties pertaining to the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults over age 21. Nonetheless, in the two months following these votes, city lawmakers have largely failed to implement any changes in law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

Michigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

"On Election Day, voters in four cities - totaling over a million people - decided in favor of municipal initiatives to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis. Sixty-five percent of Detroit voters approved Proposal M, removing local criminal penalties pertaining to the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults over age 21. Nonetheless, in the two months following these votes, city lawmakers have largely failed to implement any changes in law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures