Land Of The Flea

Florida woman charged with felony battery for kissing cop’s nose

"A Florida woman is in jail on Tuesday after being charged with felony battery for allegedly kissing a police officer on the nose. According to a police report obtained by The Smoking Gun, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the home of 62-year-old Peggy Hill on Saturday after a dispute with a neighbor about a fence between their properties. The report claimed that Sgt. Randy Lamb was speaking to Hill when 'she approached him and kissed him on the nose against his will.'" Continue reading →

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Missouri woman faces jail for recycling tires into flower planters

"A Missouri woman says that she is prepared to go to jail after authorities in Sugar Creek threatened her over a recycling project that turns tires into flower planters. 'I was just really interested in recycling and I’m really big on self-sufficiency,' she explained. Sugar Creek, however, claimed the number of tires she was storing could attract mosquitos and lower property values. Shelton was issued a citation, but she said she was refusing to pay the fine based on principle." Continue reading →

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U.S. Spends $16 Billion Every Year To Care For Elderly Prisoners

"By the year 2030, there will be upward of 400,000 elderly prisoners — nearly a third of the projected total penal population. State and federal prisons spend an estimated $16 billion taxpayer dollars a year keeping elderly convicts in the clink…. Nearly a quarter of that price tag – roughly $3 billion taxpayer dollars annually – is devoted to providing health care to sick or drying prisoners. Although prison budgets and balance sheets vary state-to-state, certain jurisdictions offer striking evidence of the immense cost of medical care for elderly prisoners." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Spends $16 Billion Every Year To Care For Elderly Prisoners

The Latest Suburban Crime Wave

"One mother is hauled off to the police station. Another is clapped in handcuffs. The mothers' offenses? They let their kids wait in the car while they ran a quick errand. The laws differ in their particulars, but basically they state that a child under age 6, 7 or, in Utah, 9, cannot be left alone in the car for more than five or 10 minutes. In Nebraska, having your 6-year-old wait in the car is an offense in the same category as allowing the child to be 'deprived of necessary food' or 'sexually exploited.' In Louisiana, a second kid-in-car infraction carries a sentence of not less than one year in prison, 'with or without hard labor.'" Continue reading →

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Snowden Issues Statement Condemning Actions of Both Obama and Biden

"For decades the United States of America have been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum." Continue reading →

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Putin says Snowden should stop harming ‘our American partners’

"President Vladimir Putin made starkly clear on Monday that Edward Snowden was not welcome in Russia, and voiced solidarity with the United States over the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contactor. However, Putin repeated that Russia had no intention of handing the American over to the United States, which wants him on espionage charges. For the second time in a week, he said Russian intelligence agencies were not working with Snowden and urged him to leave as soon as possible. 'If he wants to go away somewhere and someone will accept him there, by all means,' Putin said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPutin says Snowden should stop harming ‘our American partners’

Putin says Snowden should stop harming ‘our American partners’

"President Vladimir Putin made starkly clear on Monday that Edward Snowden was not welcome in Russia, and voiced solidarity with the United States over the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contactor. However, Putin repeated that Russia had no intention of handing the American over to the United States, which wants him on espionage charges. For the second time in a week, he said Russian intelligence agencies were not working with Snowden and urged him to leave as soon as possible. 'If he wants to go away somewhere and someone will accept him there, by all means,' Putin said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPutin says Snowden should stop harming ‘our American partners’

Vermont Marijuana Decriminalization Law Goes Into Effect

"Starting Monday, Vermonters will not be arrested for possessing less than an ounce of marijuana. The decriminalization law, signed by Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) last month, will remove criminal penalties on small amounts of cannabis and replace them with civil fines. According to the new measure, first-time offenders will not get more than a $200 fine for possession. The fine will increase for repeat offenders -- $300 for a second offense and $500 for every offense thereafter -- but, under the law, marijuana possession will no longer result in the creation of a criminal record." Continue reading →

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Out-Of-Control Officers Find Comfort & $100,000′s In Back Pay In Arbitration

"Boston Police Officer David Williams is carving out an interesting career path for himself: He gets fired for using excessive force or lying to investigators, takes a breather from police work, and then gets reinstated with back pay by a labor arbitrator. Nice work if you can get it. Especially in Boston, where an officer gets credit for all of those lucrative hours of overtime and details he might have worked had he had stayed out of trouble in the first place." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOut-Of-Control Officers Find Comfort & $100,000′s In Back Pay In Arbitration