by Michael Harthorne. And they aren't stopping there. Seven armed US Marshals in combat gear showed up on the doorstep of 48-year-old Paul Aker's home Thursday in Houston, the New York Daily News
reports. His crime? Failing to pay a $1,500 student loan he received in
1987. "I say, 'What is this all about?'" Aker recalls. "They say, 'Shut
up, ... MORE
Showing posts with label police state. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police state. Show all posts
Armed Marshals Bust Man Over Unpaid Student Loan
by Michael Harthorne. And they aren't stopping there. Seven armed US Marshals in combat gear showed up on the doorstep of 48-year-old Paul Aker's home Thursday in Houston, the New York Daily News
reports. His crime? Failing to pay a $1,500 student loan he received in
1987. "I say, 'What is this all about?'" Aker recalls. "They say, 'Shut
up, ... MORENYPD Wants To Make "Resisting Arrest" Into A Felony
by Cory Doctorow. Cops want sharper teeth. It's no secret that "resisting arrest" is the go-to excuse for violence committed against suspects by corrupt cops -- it's practically a running gag. But if NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton gets his way, resisting arrest will offer near-perfect impunity to his force's most violent and sleazy officers, ... MORETim Cushing: Drug Dogs Don't Even Have To Be Right Half The Time To Be Considered 'Reliable' By The Courts
The pretense of probable cause. All in all, this motion to suppress evidence worked out for the plaintiff, but it does little to address concerns that drug dogs are basically blank permission slips for inquisitive cops. The defendant -- Emile Martin -- was in a vehicle driven by another person (simply referred to as "Montgomery" in the opinion). This vehicle ... MORECity Of Buffalo Is Raking In Big Bucks From Auto Drivers After Wildly Expanding Their Traffic Citation Industry
by Matthew Spina. Throughout last year, Buffalo police pulled over more drivers and handed more tickets to each. But the flood began in July – after City Hall created its new “traffic violations agency” to grab more money than ever from traffic fines. The traffic agency flung open its doors July 1. From that day through December, police issued 30,000 ... MOREAsset Forfeiture Steals Due Process Rights
A Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial. On a dark desert highway, a sleek, Navy-blue Ford Explorer forces a car to the side of the road. Armed men emerge from the SUV and demand that the occupants of the car open their trunk. Inside, they find $250,000 in cash. The men take the money, leaving the car's passengers on the roadside. They ... MOREPolice State Update: Ex-Cop California Assemblyman Wants Encrytion Keys For All Cell Phones Available To The Police
by Cyrus Farivar. A second state lawmaker has now introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale of smartphones with unbreakable encryption. Except this time, despite very similar language to a pending New York bill, the stated rationale is to fight human trafficking, rather than terrorism. Specifically, California Assemblymember Jim Cooper’s
(D-Elk ... MORETexas Police Turning Into Mobile Debt Collectors
by John Cassidy. Reduced to tax collectors with badges. Two new technologies and one failed state program could make highway travel perilous for Texans traveling between San Antonio, Austin and Houston. Law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction over I-10 east of San
Antonio and I-35 between San Antonio and Austin have signed contracts ... MOREBoston Police Seek Charges Against Marijuana Advocate
by Milton J. Valencia. Boston police are seeking criminal charges against Bill Downing, one of the state’s most vocal marijuana legalization supporters, a move that his lawyer calls retaliation for his criticism of the state’s regulation of the medical marijuana industry. A magistrate judge is scheduled to consider whether to approve a complaint filed by ... MORENew Way For Cops To Surveil You: Your Threat ‘Score’
by Justin Jouvenal. While officers raced to a recent 911 call about a man threatening his ex-girlfriend, a police operator in headquarters consulted software that scored the suspect’s potential for violence the way a bank might run a credit report. The program scoured billions of data points, including arrest reports, property records, commercial ... MOREThe State Of The Nation: A Dictatorship Without Tears
by John W. Whitehead. While only 1 in 5 Americans claim to trust the government to do what is right, the majority of the people are not quite ready to ditch the American experiment in liberty. Or at least they’re not quite ready to ditch the government with which they have been saddled. It doesn’t matter that the government has shown itself to be ... MOREShould Used Tea Leaves Be Probable Cause For Drug Raids?
by Justin Monticello. Former CIA employees Robert and Adlynn Harte, along with their 7- and
13-year-old children, were held at gunpoint by sheriff's deputies for
several hours as a search
for drugs was conducted in their home. The probable cause that led to
the raid? A visit to a hydroponics store for a horticultural project and
wet tea ... MOREJohn W. Whitehead: Playing The Government's Game
When it comes to violence, we all lose. Yes, the government is corrupt. Yes, the system is broken. By broken, I mean it’s “dysfunctional, gridlocked, and, in general, incapable of doing what needs to be done.” Yes, the government is out of control and overreaching on almost every front. Yes, the government’s excesses—pork barrel spending, ... MOREForce Awakens As Asset-Forfeiture Plunder Is Threatened
by Orange County Register editorial. The Justice Department gave civil liberties advocates an early Christmas present last week when it announced that it would be suspending indefinitely its “equitable sharing” asset forfeiture program, which notoriously allowed state and local police agencies to bypass restrictions on forfeiture by partnering with ... MOREProtection For Cops Who Kill Unarmed Civilians
"We don't second guess police officers." A grand jury's decision not to indict an officer who killed a
12-year-old holding a toy gun sheds light on a criminal-justice system
that gives fairly broad deference to police officers' version of events. As Business Insider's Natasha Bertrand reported, the prosecutor in the case of the 12-year-old said, ... MORE
DOJ Suspends Asset Forfeiture Equitable Sharing
by Mikayla Hellwich. Police currently take more of citizens’ assets than thieves do. The Department of Justice released a memorandum addressed to local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies Monday to announce that the equitable sharing program for asset forfeiture funds has been temporarily suspended due to financial considerations. ... MOREJohn W. Whitehead: What’s In Store For Freedom In 2016?
You might want to sit down for this. As I illustrate in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People,
we in the emerging American police state find ourselves reliving the
same set of circumstances over and over again: egregious surveillance,
strip searches, police shootings of unarmed citizens, government spying, ... MOREJustin Gardner: A Federal Judge Just Shamed The DEA For Fabricating Sham Cases Trying To Justify War On Drugs
Entrapment, law enforcement's favorite tool. Since the War on Drugs began in earnest under Nixon and Reagan, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has ruined millions of lives for nonviolent, victimless behavior. The DEA’s drug crusade is not limited to the homeland either, as it also has sole responsibility for pursing international ... MOREDOJ Suspends Abusive Asset Forfeiture Program – For Now
by Ilya Somin. On Monday, the Justice Department suspended its abusive “equitable sharing” asset forfeiture program, which incentivizes state and local governments to seize the property of criminal suspects – including many who have never even been charged with any crime, much less convicted. The program enables state law enforcement ... MOREWhat If Jesus Had Been Born In The American Police State?
by John W. Whitehead. The Christmas narrative of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one. The Roman Empire, a police state in its own right, had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, ... MORE
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