From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
EAST MOLINE, Illinois — Illinois troopers plan to start dressing up like construction workers as they patrol work zones.
“Somebody is going to get hurt,” disguised Illinois State Trooper Ron Salier said. “That’s why we’re out here. We are trying to make a difference and educate people.” Continue reading “Illinois troopers patrol undercover dressed as construction workers”
What is it going to take for Americans to realize that law enforcement has become an extension of Big Brother?
All across the country, police officers are secretly using facial recognition to identify neighbors and people of interest. Continue reading “Police Use Lexis Nexis Facial Recognition To Identify Your Family And Friends”
The family of a man shot by St. Paul police officers in 2015 said Thursday that they were outraged when they heard the department planned to sell the vehicle he was killed in.
But police said Thursday that Marcus Golden’s vehicle will not be put up for auction, and they will waive its impound lot fees. Continue reading “Family of man fatally shot by St. Paul officers fights police move to sell his SUV”
The two police officers who were involved in a fatal shooting last summer in Anaheim, California, will not face any criminal charges, the police chief said Wednesday.
Sean Staymates and Kevin Pedersen fired more than 70 times at 50-year-old Eliuth Penaloza Nava, who they’d been told was armed and acting erratically, according to authorities. Continue reading “Video shows police firing 76 shots at suspect. The officers won’t be charged in his death”
Institute for Justice – by J. Justin Wilson
St. Petersburg, Fla.—Yesterday, the city of Dunedin, Florida did something unthinkable: it authorized the foreclosure of someone’s home in order to collect fines the city assessed for having grass that was too long.
And now, today, Jim Ficken, a 69-year old resident of Dunedin, is fighting back. He’s partnered with the Institute for Justice (IJ), a national public interest law firm, to sue the city to end its abusive practice of saddling homeowners with outrageously large fines—or even foreclosures—for minor code enforcement matters. The lawsuit, which was filed in Pinellas County Court, argues that the fines are excessive under the excessive fines clauses of the U.S. and Florida Constitutions. Earlier this year, IJ won a unanimous decision affirming the importance of Eighth Amendment at the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue reading “Florida Man Could Lose His Home For Having Long Grass”
If you don’t wan’t your dog to run away, you leash him. The government doesn’t want you to run away, either – but has a different kind of leash in mind.
The commuter tax.
It’s called the mileage tax but like so many things being pushed down our throats the term used doesn’t describe what’s actually meant. Continue reading “The Commuter (and Privacy and Other Things) Tax”
More police officers were killed by attackers in 2018 than in 2017, but it’s still, fortunately, a very rare occurrence according to FBI statistics released this week.
In all, 106 law enforcement officers were killed during the line of duty last year. Of those, 55 were killed by felonious attacks, and 51 died a result of accidents. In 2017, 46 officers were killed in attacks, and 47 died in accidents. Continue reading “In 2018, 55 U.S. Law Enforcement Officers Were Killed by Attackers”
Soon free speech will be a thing of the past in paranoid America.
DIGIT Lab’s “Hate Incident Reporting” app promises to turn complete strangers into secret, hate speech/bias spies.
Watch what you say, because the person sitting next to you could be reporting you to law enforcement. Continue reading “Offended By What Someone Said? Now You Can Report Them To Law Enforcement”
National Motorists Association
Editor’s Note: Over the years, the NMA has received occasional contact from law enforcement officers who have complained about department policies, sometimes crafted to avoid direct violation of state anti-ticket-quota laws, which force officers to write a predetermined number of citations during each work shift. The following commentary recently submitted to us by “Officer Frank” is perhaps the most heartfelt and eloquent that we have seen on the topic. These are his words, altered only to protect his identity and location. Continue reading “Officer Frank Discusses “Required Contacts” (Traffic Stops & Ticket Quotas)”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker is proposing that all gun owners be licensed by the federal government, a process that would include an interview and safety training.
National licensing is one of more than a dozen specific proposals in a sweeping gun control agenda the U.S. senator from New Jersey released on Monday. It’s his second policy rollout in three weeks as he tries to break through the crowded Democratic primary field. Continue reading “Cory Booker Proposes National License for All Gun Owners”
ON WEDNESDAY, Human Rights Watch released a troubling report about a phone application made by the Chinese government. The app provides law enforcement with easy, daily access to data detailing the religious activity, blood type, and even the amount of electricity used by ethnic minority Muslims living in the western province of Xinjiang. Continue reading “Chinese Fund Backed By Hunter Biden Invested In Technology Used To Surveil Muslims”
Greenwich Time – by Ellen Nakashima, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has signaled in recent weeks that it may seek the permanent renewal of a surveillance law that has, among other things, enabled the National Security Agency to gather and analyze Americans’ phone records as part of terrorism investigations, according to five U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Continue reading “Permanent renewal of NSA law possible”
Imagine calling an Uber to go to the movies and finding out that law enforcement knows who you are, where you are, where you are going and when you arrived at your destination.
This is no fairy tale because Uber’s partnership with RapidSOS will allow law enforcement to know everything about you in real-time. Continue reading “Uber To Track Drivers And Passengers In Real-Time Using RapidSOS app”
The Department of Homeland Security will start a DNA testing pilot program next week to help identify and prosecute individuals posing as families in an effort to target human smuggling, two department officials confirmed to CNN.
The Rapid DNA testing, as it’s known, involves a cheek swab and can, on average, provide results in about 90 minutes, a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said. Continue reading “DHS to start DNA testing to establish family relationships on the border”
Obeying the speed limit (or any other law) is no defense against vindictive armed government workers, as the first video which follows below shows.
The AGW who stopped this car with the threat of murderous violence – implicit in everynon-consensual interaction with an AGW – admits, openly, that the driver was notexceeding the posted speed limit – but asserts that his not exceeding it is itself “suspicious.” This assertion of “suspicion” gives him, the AGW, pretext to stop anyone he likes and subject them to an Authority Display. Continue reading “The New “Stop Resisting””
Boston Globe – by Danny McDonald
A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to the assault weapons ban in Massachusetts, in what Attorney General Maura Healey called a “defeat for the gun lobby.”
The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, on Friday affirmed a federal judge’s ruling that last year dismissed the lawsuit, which was filed by gun advocates and a group of gun retailers. Continue reading “Appeals court rejects challenge to Massachusetts assault weapons ban”
If ever you needed a reason to turn off your cellphone, then maybe this story this will convince you.
The Palm Beach Post recently revealed how the City of Palm Beach, Florida wants to track everyone’s cellphones. Continue reading “Cities Are Tracking Everyone’s Cell Phone Signal”
This month Colorado became the 15th state to enact a “red flag” law that authorizes court orders forbidding gun possession by people deemed a threat to themselves or others. The new law, which has drawn strong criticism from Second Amendment advocates, including some county sheriffs, illustrates the civil liberties concerns raised by such attempts to identify and disarm people prone to suicide or homicide. Continue reading “Colorado’s New ‘Red Flag’ Law Illustrates the Pitfalls of Disarming People Based on Their Future Behavior”
In open defiance of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, the union that represents the city’s roughly 900 rank-and-file police officers announced that it is partnering with a national police organization to offer free “warrior-style” training for any officer who wants it.
According to a news release posted to the Law Officer website, the free online training — valued at $55,000 a year — is offered to officers for as long as Frey remains mayor. The training, which covers a range of issues, from “officer survival” and leadership to fitness and de-escalation, was designed to ensure that officers could “return home each day to their family regardless of the dangers that they may face and the ignorance of some politicians,” the release said. Continue reading “Minneapolis police union offers free ‘warrior’ training, in defiance of mayor’s ban”
At one high school in Texas, parents can’t just roll out of bed in the morning to drop off their kids anymore.
James Madison High School in Houston has implemented a dress code targeted toward parents that has riled some people up. Continue reading “A Houston high school has implemented a dress code — for parents”