A Government That Gives Licenses Won’t Hesitate to Take Them Away

"Without a license, one is no longer legally permitted to work. This is to say, barbers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, and pilots (the list is extensive) who are otherwise skilled at their occupations can be removed from the legal workforce if the governing body deems their student loan repayment unsatisfactory."

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Congress Needs to Put a Stop to Asset Forfeiture

"Revenues generated through forfeiture may be spent with virtually no oversight. Funds distributed to local or state agencies via the equitable sharing program are similarly beyond the reach of state or local lawmakers. Perhaps this lack of accountability explains how funds supposedly reserved for 'law enforcement purposes' wind up getting spent on margarita machines, training trips to Hawaii, and chrome accents for Harley Davidson motorcycles."

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In Duterte’s anti-drug pogrom, police and cameras tell different stories

"Chilling surveillance footage of a drug-war operation in Manila raises fresh doubts about police actions in President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal anti-narcotics campaign. Reuters obtained the footage, which shows the deadly operation from start to finish."

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US-Backed Saudi Coalition Should Lift Its Yemen Blockade

"There are no heroes in the civil war between Houthi rebels, who have Iranian backing and were responsible for killing Saleh, and the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government. Both sides have inflicted death and suffering on civilians. The Saudi coalition currently has a partial blockade on ports and airfields controlled by the Houthis. Hostilities have already killed or wounded at least 14,000 people in nearly three years, and countless others have died from disease and starvation. Some 1 million people have contracted cholera in part because the lack of fuel has affected the ability to pump clean water."

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Judge halts Indiana city’s code-enforcement property seizure racket

"The judge had particularly harsh words for Hall, who indicated in emails that it would be 'financially disastrous' for residents to try to improve their homes, because the homes would be demolished anyway. Such statements, coupled with the city’s policy of not levying fines against LLC-owned homes, undermine the goal of maintaining safety, Mount said."

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The U.S.-Saudi Starvation Blockade

"President Obama first approved U.S. support for the Saudi war effort. President Trump has continued the Obama policy. The war in Yemen has now become his war and his human rights catastrophe. Yemen today is arguably the worst humanitarian crisis on earth, and America’s role in it is undeniable and indispensable."

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At Guantánamo, a Death Penalty Case Without a Death Penalty Lawyer

"The judge’s departure from the rules, which require learned counsel at every part of a capital prosecution, is inexplicable. Even beyond the binding military commission rules, the American Bar Association’s guidelines for capital cases have long explained that the unique and complex labyrinth of capital trial preparation and investigation requires qualified death penalty counsel represent the defendant at every stage of the proceedings. Nonetheless, Judge Spath suggested that the junior defense counsel should, alone, stand in the place of learned counsel and a team with deep knowledge of the voluminous issues that the case raises."

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U.S. Coast Guard operating secret floating prisons in Pacific Ocean

"Coast Guard officials say they can do this because the drug smugglers aren't under arrest until they reach U.S. shores, but some of the worst cases are drawing criticism even from Coast Guard officials. Many families, in fact, believe that their loved ones — husbands, fathers, sons — had disappeared."

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Federal judge says St. Louis police targeted protesters for retaliation

"Police made mass arrests that swept up journalists, onlookers and even a black undercover officer, who was reportedly beaten. This also seems like one of those 'How would we view this if it happened in another country?' moments. A judge just found the police guilty of using chemical agents on protesters because those protesters were criticizing the police."

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