Animal Farm

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 →

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LAPD Detains Photographer For ‘Interfering’ With Police From 90 Feet Away

"Words like 'interference' or 'obstruction' seem to be thrown around quite frequently when law enforcement officers decide they'd rather not be filmed while on duty. How the passive act of filming can interfere with investigations or obstruct officials is left to the imagination. Fortunately (I guess...), law enforcement officials have very vivid imaginations. This allows them to arrest, detain, hassle or confiscate devices as needed, in order preserve the peace by chilling speech. The latest definition of 'interference' stretches the limits of credulity -- to nearly 100 feet." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLAPD Detains Photographer For ‘Interfering’ With Police From 90 Feet Away

New Nanotech Set to Track, Self-Destruct, and GPS Tag Guns Wirelessly

"The technological system utilizes tiny devices that are implanted in guns and other weapons. These devices are more than chips; they are actual mechanical processes created by precision engineering that can affect the weapon’s operations. The devices include miniature GPS systems designed to make guns easier to track and self-destruct systems that could cause them to explode if they receive a wireless signal. The technology coincides with the ‘smart gun’ technology Anthony Gucciardi has broken down in the past, which can be used to ‘turn off’ weapons when in gun free zones or whenever designated by government." Continue reading →

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The NSA-DEA police state tango

"As revolutionary and noted hypocrite Thomas Jefferson once observed, the spread of tyranny only requires our silence. Millions of people have been sent to prison on drug-war convictions over the last 20 years. Most of those people have been poor and black. We will never know how many of those cases resulted from secret evidence collected by spy agencies, but it might not be a small number. One of the Reuters articles that broke this story quotes DEA officials as saying that the 'parallel construction' tactic had been used by the agency 'virtually every day since the 1990s.'" Continue reading →

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Disabled veteran kicked off boardwalk because of service dog

"A North Wildwood police officer issued Jared and his wife a summons because of the dog. Goering said, 'I expected to get more respect from him because of the jobs that we both have to do.' 'He mockingly asked if all veterans get service dogs,' said Jared’s wife, Sally Goering, 'his dog is medically necessary and he is a service dog.' In 2009, Jared was serving in Afghanistan when his vehicle was blown up by IEDs, twice, within 36 hours. Now, Jared uses his 3-year-old service dog, Gator, short for Navigator, to help him walk, and to get up and down stairs." Continue reading →

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Maine Governor LePage: I’d like to blow up newspaper building

"Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) wasted no time in making a disturbing joke after boarding a flight simulator during a Friday appearance, the Bangor Daily News reported on Friday. 'I want to find the Press Herald building and blow it up,' LePage said in video posted online from his appearance at an event hosted by defense contractor Pratt & Whitney, referring to the Portland Press Herald. LePage later told a WMTW-TV reporter he was targeting both newspapers in the simulation. Later that day, LePage sent a tweet to the Press-Herald, saying, 'Threatened? It was a joke, folks.' Local FBI officials told the Press-Herald they did not expect him to carry out such a threat." Continue reading →

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“Punishment Has Been Achieved”

"'Punishment for this offense has been achieved.' With those words, which are found near the end of an August 8 motion to dismiss a spurious battery charge against Sandpoint, Idaho resident Rita Hutchens, the author – Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank – incriminates himself. Rita Hutchens is a tiny 57-year-old internationally respected quilt artist who has never committed a violent act against anybody. She was accused of 'criminal battery' because she threw a ballpoint pen at a desk in the Sandpoint City Hall while doing research for a potential lawsuit against the city." Continue reading →

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Video Shows Pembroke Pines Cop Punching Mentally Ill Girl

"The public defenders uncovered what they’re calling systematic use of physical and chemical force to restrain patients at the Pembroke Pines Facility. They said their investigation revealed kids are routinely tied hand and foot to their beds and administered drugs to knock them out. Weekes said his office conducted five, separate interviews with clients at the facility, all of whom said they had essentially been hogtied and injected – knocked unconscious. Dr. Michael Jochananov, the facility’s director, declined to speak with CBS4′s Gary Nelson at the center Thursday." Continue reading →

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Miami cops defend actions after graffiti artist dies following arrest

"Miami Beach Police Chief Raymond Martinez defended his department’s actions amid growing outrage over the death of an immigrant artist who was Tasered by one of his officers. 'They had an encounter,' Martinez said to WSVN-TV on Friday regarding the death of Israel Hernández-Llach Tuesday morning. 'They were gonna place someone under arrest for a crime. Even though it was only graffiti, it’s still a crime. The subject ran from them. Now he’s eluding police. It’s resisting arrest, if you will.' Miami New Times reported on Friday that Mercado’s record includes charges of battery and excessive force levied against him." Continue reading →

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