"Robert Khuzami, the former head of enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is joining Kirkland & Ellis LLP, reports BusinessWeek. Mark Filip, a partner in charge of Kirkland’s government enforcement defense and internal investigations, said Khuzami will help immediately in securities enforcement defense, advising boards and companies and counseling financial institutions on securities regulations." Continue reading →
"ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council. It is a little-known conservative think tank. It is the source of the 'stand your ground' laws. It is now running for cover. Bill Gates’s foundation says it will not send money any longer. So has McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Foods. This reveals what ALEC has concealed for decades. The Establishment Left has always written checks to ALEC, which has kept ALEC on a short leash. ALEC is getting out of the law enforcement and social policy fields. It will return to its 'economic roots.' The Trayvon Martin case is the cause. Zimmerman was declared not guilty. But that does not matter at ALEC." Continue reading →
"Gun owners are not losing. They are winning. Nowhere is this more visible than in this pair of maps. The first shows concealed carry states in 1981. The second shows them in 2011. In most states, any adult can carry a concealed pistol. Local governments may not prohibit this." Continue reading →
"Adam is in a cage in solitary confinement, and he wants to reach out to his friends and fans in person. For the next few hours, he'll be able to interact with his fans through the mail, and he'd like to be able to thank his supporters personally and answer any questions they might have. While the government has desperately struggled to silence Adam, we shouldn't forget about the positivity that defines his approach. I would love for everyone to send him messages about how they woke up to the liberty movement, and how they plan to spread the message of Liberty in their own personal lives. Let's make sure that the Man can't get him down." Continue reading →
"Inventors are continuing to tap into the power of surveillance cameras, and capabilities that might have seemed like James Bond tricks are now reality, such as face-recognition software and license-plate readers. One such invention aims to 'see' potential crime before it happens. AISight is software that uses artificial intelligence to learn over time what normal behavior the camera records, so it can recognize when there is abnormal behavior. The system will send an alert to whoever is monitoring the cameras, such as a security guard, who can then decide how to react to the situation." Continue reading →
"A jury acquitted Levi Chavez of murdering his wife and trying to make the hairdresser's death look like a suicide. Prosecutor Bryan McKay, who told jurors during closing arguments that Chavez used his department-issued gun to commit 'cold-blooded, calculated, planned-out murder,' declined to comment after the verdict. A wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Tera Chavez alleges the former officer killed his wife to keep her from disclosing an alleged staged theft of a truck for insurance money. Chavez acknowledged having a string of mistresses, searching a website on how to kill someone with martial arts moves, and ignoring his wife's calls for help." Continue reading →
"He was claiming to be a police officer, but the man she had seen looked to her more like an armed thug. Her boyfriend, Dorris, was calmer, and yelled back that he wanted to see some ID. But the man just demanded they open the door. The actual words, the couple say, were, 'We're the f------ police; open the f------ door.' Then, to the couple's horror — and as Goldsberry huddled in the hallway with gun in hand — the front door they had thought was locked pushed open. A man edged around the corner and pointed a gun and a fiercely bright light at them, and yelled even more. 'Drop the f------ gun or I'll f------ shoot you,' he shouted, then said it again and again." Continue reading →
"President Barack Obama has questioned the wisdom of 'Stand Your Ground' laws, which in many states provide that a person using justified force in self-defense against an attacker has no duty to retreat before using that force. However, in 2004, then-State Senator Obama co-sponsored a bill that strengthened an Illinois law providing for the use of lethal force in self-defense, making the use of such force more likely. Though Obama had made gun control a signature issue early in his career in the state capitol representing the urban, liberal district of Hyde Park, the need to appeal to voters statewide may have prompted Obama's co-sponsorship of the self-defense legislation." Continue reading →
"A mechanism to protect the American people from unwarranted government surveillance became instead a bureaucratic mechanism to rubber stamp government applications for surveillance. The Court is structured such that applications for surveillance are rarely ever denied. If a judge were to reject an application, that judge would have to immediately write a report detailing every reason for the rejection, then transmit the report to a 3-person court of review. If that court finds that the application was properly denied, it must also write a report, which is then subject to a writ of certiorari by the Supreme Court. No reviews are necessary if an application is granted." Continue reading →
"Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly said she knew nothing about American surveillance activities in Germany. But documents show that German intelligence cooperates closely with the NSA and even uses spy software provided by the US. The shift to a more offensive German security policy began in 2007. Since then, there have been 'regular US-German analytic exchanges and closer cooperation in tracking both German and non-German extremist targets.' The German foreign intelligence agency went even further in its effort to please the Americans, 'working to influence the German government to relax interpretation of the privacy laws'." Continue reading →