"In Texas a teenager has been caged since March and is facing a further eight years behind bars after he joked about committing violence, while in California a man is to be caged for 32 months after he grabbed a boy and 'sniffed' his arm. Both cases include charges of terrorism." Continue reading →
"Joe Lefeged is the 31st NFL player to be arrested since the Super Bowl, according to an extensive database of player arrests compiled by U-T San Diego. Two players, former Chicago Bears tight end Evan Rodriguez and former Detroit Lions wide receiver Titus Young, were arrested multiple times in that span. Twenty-eight of those players were on an NFL roster at the time of arrest, with three others, including Young, free agents. Since the last game of the 2012 season, these players have been charged with a variety of offenses, including public intoxication, assault, marijuana possession, illegal gun possession and drunken driving." Continue reading →
"The mandatory E-Verify system requires Americans to carry a 'tamper-proof' social security card. Before they can legally begin a job, American citizens will have to show the card to their prospective employer, who will then have to verify their identity and eligibility to hold a job in the US by running the information through the newly-created federal E-Verify database. The database will contain photographs taken from passport files and state driver’s licenses. The law gives federal bureaucrats broad discretion in adding other 'biometric' identifiers to the database and broad authority to determine what features the 'tamper proof' card should contain." Continue reading →
"Starting this fall, high school students in New Jersey who taunt each other during games will be subject to investigation not only by the state's athletic association, but the state's government. Thanks to collaboration between NJSIAA, the New Jersey Attorney General, and the New Jersey Civil Rights Division, 'discriminatory conduct will also be reported to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and may result in further investigation.'" Continue reading →
"It's not just the National Security Agency secretly vacuuming up your personal data. Local police agencies are increasingly adopting Big Data technologies such as automatic license-plate readers that gather information about everyone, whether they've broken the law or not. A lot of the information ends up on the 14th floor of a federal office building in San Francisco, where a 'fusion center' run by state and local law enforcement agencies combines the data with a plethora of personal information about you, from credit reports to car rentals to unlisted phone numbers to gun licenses." Continue reading →
“An 84-year-old Florida man returned home with his wife Sunday afternoon only to find a burglar’s car parked in his driveway and the man stuffing the resident’s belongings into his car. After several warnings, the elderly man shot at the robber, but … Continue reading →
"It is telling that in ten years there were only 15 terrorism related 'sneak and peak' warrants issued while the rest were predominantly for drugs. It is this mission creep which has led to many of the abuses behind not just the Drug War, but the War on Terror. It is the permanent state of war that has contributed to the lack of transparency that should concern all Americans as laws and technology collide. How do we balance the need for security and maintain our civil liberties? It is this discussion that requires the full light of day. Whether Edward Snowden’s leak of NSA information is heroic or treasonous, what he revealed about America should startle us all." Continue reading →
"Along the north side of their Dupont Circle station, hundreds of mysterious morning glories and other flowers have been coming up in planter boxes along the Metro's north escalators. Metro found out who the secret flower planter was when they received a polite letter on June 3 written by the flower planter himself, Henry Docter. Henry sent a letter asking permission to continue caring for hundreds of flowers he had planted a week earlier at the Metro transit system. Immediately, the Metro responded to Docter on June 11 with a 'cease and desist' letter threatening 'arrest, fines and imprisonment' if Docter tried to weed, water, or tend to the flowers." Continue reading →
"The leaked news about the FBI and NSA PRISM surveillance project may well be the most important news event of your life. I would say it is the most important news story. They so far are downplaying revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) intercepts every email and text and other data and stores them on a giant supercomputer in Utah, placing the NSA coverage below such pressing concerns as immigration reform and Supreme Court decisions concerning gay marriage. Alternatively, I would call it the PRISM scandal, but I can’t do that either. It’s not a scandal unless people are up in arms, and there is no evidence of that." Continue reading →
"RCMP revealed Thursday that officers have seized a 'substantial amount' of firearms from homes in evacuated High River. 'We just want to make sure that all of those things are in a spot that we control, simply because of what they are,' said Sgt. Brian Topham. 'People have a significant amount of money invested in firearms ... so we put them in a place that we control and that they’re safe.' About 30 RCMP officers set up a blockade, preventing 50 residents from walking into the town. Dozens more police cars, lights on, could be seen lining streets in the town on standby. Officers laid down a spike belt to stop anyone from attempting to drive past the blockade." Continue reading →