Police State

Family of slain Walmart shoplifting suspect want answers

"Shelly Frey's family and community activists want to know why a Harris County sheriff's deputy shot the 27-year-old to death in a Walmart parking lot. Her relatives said no proof exists to show that Frey was stealing from the store on Friday, according to a news report from KPRC-Channel 2. Before the shooting, a Walmart employee told Campbell that the women were stuffing store merchandise into their bags. Suspect Tiasa Andrews began to drive away while the deputy was standing between the open door and the driver's seat. Shelly Frey later died from a gunshot wound at an apartment complex in the 1300 block of Greens Parkway." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFamily of slain Walmart shoplifting suspect want answers

New Hampshire police Taser Chinese woman who tried to buy too many iPhones

"Police in Nashua, New Hampshire say they were forced to use a Taser on a 44-year-old Chinese woman who does not speak English after she was told to leave an Apple Store because she was trying to buy too many iPhones. Through a translator, Xiaojie Li told WMUR that she had bought two iPhones from the Pheasant Lane Mall Apple Store on Friday and returned on Tuesday to buy more to send to her family in China. Shoppers captured cell phone video of police — who were providing security at the store’s request — using a stun gun on Li as she laid on the mall floor screaming." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Hampshire police Taser Chinese woman who tried to buy too many iPhones

Europeans outraged over the US using Patriot Act for worldwide spying

"Researchers from the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law say that legislation enacted to allegedly protect the security of US citizens has in the process eroded privacy protections on a global scale. As more and more companies and individuals across the world begin relying on cloud computing to store information digitally on remote servers, the Dutch researchers warn that the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allow for those files to be fed into the US intelligence community, disregarding privacy safeguards in place for others around the globe." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuropeans outraged over the US using Patriot Act for worldwide spying

Pentagon to expand intelligence gathering to rival CIA

"The Pentagon, in a major expansion of its intelligence gathering activities, plans to assemble an espionage network rivaling the Central Intelligence Agency in size. Citing unnamed US officials, the Washington Post said that as part of the project, US military officials will send hundreds of additional spies overseas. They also plan to overhaul the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which has focused primarily during the past decade on activities related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the expansion is complete, the DIA is expected to have as many as 1,600 intelligence 'collectors' around the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon to expand intelligence gathering to rival CIA

“Officer of the Month” Admits to Planting Drug Evidence

"In April, Reichert, a K-9 officer who specializes in drug interdiction and seizures, was recognized as 'Officer of the Month' for what was described as his 'proactive and innovative philosophy of law enforcement.' His novel approach involves manufacturing evidence and lying under oath – a fact recognized in multiple federal court rulings and Reichert’s brief termination in 2009 after he was put on a roster of police officers considered unsuitable to testify in court. In a subsequent video deposition, Reichert has admitted to planting narcotics evidence on vehicles in motel parking lots near the interstate, supposedly as a training exercise." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Officer of the Month” Admits to Planting Drug Evidence

Secret Service Turns Up the Heat On Circulating Liberty Dollar Coins

"Some years ago, news reporter Simon Constable joked that you should hide your Liberty Dollars because the feds are coming after them! Unfortunately, the Secret Service just took an alarmingly big step in that direction. I just received the message below that was sent to an E-Bay seller who had all his NORFED Liberty Dollar (NORFED) removed from his site." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret Service Turns Up the Heat On Circulating Liberty Dollar Coins

10-Year Veteran TSA Screener Busted for Stealing iPads at JFK

"A Transportation Security Administration screener has been arrested on charges he swiped iPads and other electronic devices from passengers' luggage at John F. Kennedy Airport. Port Authority spokesman Steven Coleman said Wednesday that 32-year-old Sean Henry, of Brooklyn, was nabbed in a sting operation using decoy bags in cooperation with the TSA. Coleman says Henry was arrested after leaving work carrying in his backpack two planted iPads and other electronic devices. He says stolen items were also found in Henry's home." Continue reading →

Continue Reading10-Year Veteran TSA Screener Busted for Stealing iPads at JFK

Crime-Ridden Camden To Dump City Police Force

"As the New Jersey city of Camden blasts through its all-time-high homicide record — exceeding 60 murders so far this year — city officials have an unusual solution to rising crime: laying off the entire police department. Camden officials say it's the only affordable way to bring down crime, but critics call the strategy a deliberate move to bust the police union. People say they turn to crime because they can't make money doing anything else." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCrime-Ridden Camden To Dump City Police Force

Glenn Greenwald: Laptop seizures by US government highlight 9/11-era climate of fear

"A nation in which liberties are systematically abused - in which limitations on state power are ignored without consequence - is one which gives rise to a climate of fear. This climate of fear, in turn, leads citizens to refrain from exercising their political rights, because they know the government can act against them without real constraints. This morning, the New York Times reports on the US government's practice of targeting US dissidents - or those whom it believes to be engaging in dissent - with extremely invasive border searches, including seizing (and sometimes keeping for months) their laptops and other electronic data, all without any warrants." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Laptop seizures by US government highlight 9/11-era climate of fear

Ninth Circuit Gives the A-OK For Warrantless Home Video Surveillance

"Can law enforcement enter your house and use a secret video camera to record the intimate details inside? On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unfortunately answered that question with 'yes.' On suspicion of nothing more than the benign misdemeanor of selling eagle feathers, the government got to intrude inside the home and record every intimate detail it could: books on a shelf, letters on a coffee table, pictures on a wall." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNinth Circuit Gives the A-OK For Warrantless Home Video Surveillance