Police State

Maryland Gives Up On Traffic Camera Reform After $100,000 In Industry Contributions

"Nearly $100,000 in direct contributions to Maryland lawmakers from speed camera companies paid off with the state dropping a proposed reform bill. Maryland's General Assembly adjourned for the year on Monday with balloons and confetti showering delegates. Governor Martin O'Malley (D) made the rounds, congratulating lawmakers on for a job he considered well done. Photo enforcement firms also ended the day with a celebration after their investment paid off with the defeat of all legislation that might have imposed limits or quality checks on their ticketing operations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMaryland Gives Up On Traffic Camera Reform After $100,000 In Industry Contributions

FBI Trying to Infiltrate Keene, New Hampshire

"Apparently the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been trying very, very hard to infiltrate the KAC, judging from this account of the arrest of one of the club’s members, Rich Paul, on marijuana charges. Paul is going on trial for petty marijuana distribution offenses pursuant to testimony by an undercover FBI informant. It looks as if the trial is on state charges, but what’s interesting and disturbing is the interest the federal government has taken in the case. FBI agent Phillip Christiana apparently tried to pressure Paul into wearing a wire into the KAC and luring people into pot transactions, offering him immunity from prosecution in exchange." Continue reading →

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Obama would rather look stupid than interfere with the flow of cash to drug-war profiteers

"The White House spends all year traveling around the country talking about their 'third way' and their '21st Century Drug Policy' — that the focus needs to be on treatment and that we can’t arrest our way out of drug problems. That there’s too much focus on incarceration. At the same time, they’re dealing with severe national budget pressures, so you’d think this would be the perfect excuse to actually significantly reduce spending on things like domestic drug law enforcement. Well, the budget for domestic drug law enforcement was 9.4 billion in 2012, and they’re asking for 9.5 billion in 2014." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama would rather look stupid than interfere with the flow of cash to drug-war profiteers

Missouri man arrested at hospital for refusing to leave gay partner

"A gay man was arrested at a hospital in Missouri this week when he refused to leave the bedside of his partner, and now a restraining order is preventing him from any type of visitation. Roger Gorley told WDAF that even though he has power of attorney to handle his partner’s affairs, a family member asked him to leave when he visited Research Medical Center in Kansas City on Tuesday. Gorley said he refused to leave his partner Allen’s bedside, and that’s when security put him in handcuffs and escorted him from the building. He said the nurse refused to confirm that the couple shared power of attorney and made medical decisions for each other." Continue reading →

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Do Police See Guns as a threat to “Officer Safety”?

"The view that so-called weak gun laws endanger the lives of police doesn’t seem to be shared by many police officers. A survey of 15,000 active-duty police officers conducted on behalf of PoliceOne.com found that nearly all of them – 95 percent – said that a federal ban on high-capacity ammo magazines would not reduce violent crime. Seventy-one percent said that a federal ban on so-called assault weapons would likewise be useless as a crime reduction measure – and twenty percent said that it would actually have a negative effect on reducing violent crime." Continue reading →

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Cops Charge BB Gun Owner For Being In Vicinity Of Presidential Route

"By Tuesday, the story had changed. '…Joseph Stravinskas, 27, was shooting at cans behind a house about half an hour before the presidential motorcade came by.' No matter. They arrested poor Joseph and charged him 'with breach of peace in the second degree, threatening in the second degree and interfering with an officer' – though he instantly obeyed the thugs’ commands, according to the newspaper." Continue reading →

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Reclaiming our Police Forces

"A couple of articles worth reading on the subject of Law Enforcement. One of the real important reasons for ending the drug war, in my opinion, has been to reclaim the positive relationship between police and their communities. The drug war in particular, along with militarization, has turned the police against those they are supposed to serve, and vice versa." Continue reading →

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Court orders NYPD to pay $360,000 for raid that destroyed Occupy Wall Street library

"Around 1 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2011, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ordered the NYPD to evict protestors — some of whom had camped there for almost two months — from Zuccotti Park in New York City’s Financial District. The police threw away 5,554 books from the Occupy library and destroyed media equipment in addition to removing tents, tarps, and belongings. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided that the NYPD’s actions violated the protestors’ rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCourt orders NYPD to pay $360,000 for raid that destroyed Occupy Wall Street library

Secrets of FBI Smartphone Surveillance Tool Revealed in Court Fight

"A legal fight over the government’s use of a secret surveillance tool has provided new insight into how the controversial tool works and the extent to which Verizon Wireless aided federal agents in using it to track a suspect. Verizon reprogrammed his aircard so that when an incoming voice call arrived, the card would disconnect from any legitimate cell tower to which it was already connected, and send real-time cell-site location data to Verizon, which forwarded the data to the FBI. This allowed the FBI to position its stingray in the neighborhood where Rigmaiden resided. The stingray then 'broadcast a very strong signal' to force the air card into connecting to it." Continue reading →

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Government spying hurts the economy

"With laws like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), the United States could be losing out on much needed business opportunities. Legislation like these allow the government to spy on customers' data, and RT's Liz Wahl takes a look at why companies are thinking twice before investing in the US." Continue reading →

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