statism

Left In The Dark: Copper Thieves Rob Detroit Freeways Of Light

"MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi said roughly 20 percent of the lights on poles and beneath overpasses on freeways in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair counties are dark. 'We are responsible for about 5,500 light poles and also about 5,000 individual lights that are installed beneath overpasses,' Morosi told The Detroit News. 'Right now we’re estimating 1,100 outages to those poles for a number of reasons.' The main reason for many of the outages, according to Morosi, is copper thieves – who are stripping metal from the transformer cabinets." Continue reading →

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Kansas Supreme Court Rules Passing Sobriety Test Is Meaningless

"Roadside sobriety tests can be used only to gather evidence to convict a driver, not to exonerate him, according to the Kansas Supreme Court. The decision came down in the case of Bruno Edgar, who was stopped at a driver's license roadblock on July 29, 2007. The officer decided to conduct three of the standard field sobriety tests. Edgar passed the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, passed the one-leg stand and 'did fine' on the nine-step walk-and-turn test. The officer then told Edgar he had no choice but to submit to a preliminary breath test (PBT) and that he had no right to consult an attorney regarding the test. Edgar failed and was convicted of DUI." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKansas Supreme Court Rules Passing Sobriety Test Is Meaningless

Is Your Local Police Department Using Pictures of Pregnant Women and Children for Target Practice?

"What if I told you police in your town could desensitize themselves to the idea of shooting a (armed) child, pregnant woman, or young mother, for just a couple of bucks? The 'No More Hesitation' series from Law Enforcement Targets Inc. offers exactly that. For less than 99 cents per target, police can shoot at real-life images 'designed to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training.' The series contains seven targets in all, titled Pregnant Woman, Older Man 1, Older Man 2, Older Woman, Young Mother, Young Girl, and Little Brother. Each of the depicted subjects is armed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs Your Local Police Department Using Pictures of Pregnant Women and Children for Target Practice?

Singaporean photographer Leslie Kee arrested for selling art book containing uncensored genitalia

"The 41 year old, who has taken pictures of a number of Japanese pop stars including Ayumi Hamasaki, Yumi Matsutoya, and Kumi Koda, as well as internationally famous models Naomi Campbell and Maggi Q, was taken into police custody along with two employees of the book’s publisher at an art gallery in Tokyo. Officials say the gallery showing for Kee’s photography was held in Tokyo’s Minami Aoyama district. It was there that the three sold seven copies of the illegal book to two different customers. The book violates Japan’s laws that require any pictures of male or female genitalia to be censored, which is most often done by pixellation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSingaporean photographer Leslie Kee arrested for selling art book containing uncensored genitalia

Paris women allowed to wear pants after two hundred year-old ban is lifted

"An archaic by-law banning Parisian women from wearing trousers has finally been repealed 214 years after it was originally introduced. The November 1799 decree stipulated that any woman wishing to wear men’s clothing in the French capital had to seek official permission from the city authorities. It was amended two times a century later, when women were given the freedom to don 'pantalons' [trousers] if they were 'holding the handlebars of a bicycle or the reins of a horse.' The decree was passed when the working class fashion of wearing long trousers (as opposed to the aristocratic knee-length 'culottes') became a symbol of the French revolution." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingParis women allowed to wear pants after two hundred year-old ban is lifted

NC lawmaker: Women should ‘duct tape’ nipples to stay out of jail

"Republican state Rep. Tim Moore says that women can protect themselves from a new law that makes baring female breasts illegal by simply applying duct tape to their nipples. On Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee C approved House Bill 34, which makes it a Class H felony to purposefully expose 'private parts' for the 'purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.' The bill expands the state’s definition of 'private parts' to include a woman’s 'nipple, or any portion of the areola.' Republican state Rep. Rayne Brown told lawmakers that she was co-sponsoring the bill because activists had held a topless women’s rights rally last summer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNC lawmaker: Women should ‘duct tape’ nipples to stay out of jail

Mom in America arrested for inviting strippers to 16-year-old son’s birthday party

"A woman in New York was arrested Monday for allegedly hiring strippers to attend her 16-year-old son’s birthday party. Judy Viger, 33, has been charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. Police said Viger paid for two adult female entertainers to perform 'personal and intimate dances' at the birthday party at Spare Time Bowling Center in South Glens Falls last year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMom in America arrested for inviting strippers to 16-year-old son’s birthday party

‘Anything That Moves’: Civilians And The Vietnam War

"On March 16, 1968, between 347 and 504 unarmed Vietnamese civilians were gunned down by members of the U.S. Army in what became known as the My Lai Massacre. The U.S. government has maintained that atrocities like this were isolated incidents in the conflict. Nick Turse says otherwise. In his new book, Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam, Turse argues that the intentional killing of civilians was quite common in a war that claimed 2 million civilian lives, with 5.3 million civilians wounded and 11 million refugees." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Anything That Moves’: Civilians And The Vietnam War

Ohio Court Upholds Police Entry Into Home Over Failure To Signal Turn

"The Ohio Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the police use of a battering ram on the home of a suspect who failed to properly signal a turn. On December 12, 2011, Dayton Police Officers Michael Saylors and Randy Beane saw the gold Oldsmobile Intrigue belonging to Jeffrey Lam near the intersection of Hodapp and Lorain Avenues. While the officers were following Lam to his home at 645 Creighton Avenue, they noted he allegedly failed to use his turn signal. Lam ran out of his car into his home and locked the door. After failing to kick in the door, the officers used a battering ram and knocked it down. In the course of a search of the house for 'officer safety,' drugs were found." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOhio Court Upholds Police Entry Into Home Over Failure To Signal Turn