Author: Joe from MassPrivateI

Huffington Post – by Matt Sledge

The federal government this week announced a reform to an investigative tool that gives the FBI sweeping surveillance power. But a target of that surveillance said the change appears to leave investigators with vast power to snoop — in secret.

The FBI uses national security letters to force business owners to hand over records on their customers, as long as the records are related to a national security investigation. No court approval is needed, and the FBI can impose a gag order on recipients, forbidding them from revealing even the existence of a letter.   Continue reading “The Gaping Hole In Obama’s FBI Surveillance Reform”

Washington’s Blog

Putting the Terror Threat In Perspective

The terror threat is greatly exaggerated. After all, the type of counter-terror experts who frequently appear on the mainstream news are motivated to hype the terror threat, because it drums up business  for them.

The same is true for government employees.  As former FBI assistant director Thomas Fuentes put it last week:   Continue reading “There Are Far Fewer Terror Attacks Now Than In the 1970s”

AZ Central – by Laurie Roberts

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is asking for dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a teacher who was brutally assaulted and raped after being left in an unguarded prison classroom with a convicted sex offender.

The AG’s reasoning is essentially this: the woman knew she was in a prison, so what did she expect?   Continue reading “AG’s Office: Raped teacher should have known better”

What the F***k is wrong with this country? Is cough medicine a weapon, will you need an FID card to purchase it?

The Gazette – by Tom Roeder

The alcohol – rum, vodka, wine and hard cider – listed in the latest allegation of sexual assault between Air Force Academy cadets is being viewed in a new way by the military and civilian prosecutors.   Continue reading “Alcohol redefined as ‘weapon’ in sexual assault cases by prosecutors, military officials”

WECT 6 News – by Connie Leonard

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – A Louisville Metro police officer who worked as a Jefferson County Public School student resource officer is facing serious charges.

Jonathan Hardin, 31, a sworn LMPD officer who worked as a school resource officer at Olmstead Academy North, is accused of assaulting two students at the school on two days in January. According to the warrant, both incidents are captured on surveillance video.   Continue reading “Police Officer Beat a Student For Cutting In Line, Gave One Child Brain Damage”

Salt Lake Tribune – by NATE CARLISLE

A defense attorney is asking that his client’s drug charges be dismissed and is accusing a former Ogden police officer — who was recently charged with drug-related crimes — of lying to a judge to obtain permission for wiretaps.

Attorney Randall Richards also suggests in court documents that the former officer, Don Henry Johnson, set fire to his own house last year and has lied about evidence related to the wiretap case having been destroyed in the blaze.   Continue reading “Former Utah cop lied to a judge to get wiretaps, tried to destroy evidence in fire, defense attorney claims”

Natural News – by Mike Adams

A Merck vaccine scientist was threatened with jail time for trying to expose the outright scientific fraud and data falsification being used by the vaccine industry to make its faulty products appear to work even when they don’t, according to a document filed with the United States government.

Former Merck virologist Stephen A Krahling tried to go to the FDA with evidence of vaccine research fraud taking place at Merck, but he was threatened with jail time by Merck’s own people, according to a False Claims Act document he and another co-worker filed with the federal government.   Continue reading “Merck vaccine scientist threatened with jail time for trying to expose massive vaccine data manipulation and fraud”

The Newspaper

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday slammed the use of the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test commonly given on the side of the road to motorists suspected of driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol. The court made the point in reversing the conviction of William J. Molitor, a driver who showed few signs of intoxication and was only given a breath test after he failed the controversial eye test.

Nystagmus is the abnormal and involuntary jerking of the eyeballs as they track an object to the extreme range of their motion. The jerking movement tends to occur earlier for those who are either intoxicated or suffer from a number of different ailments. Police officers usually test for this by asking suspects to follow the motion of a penlight with their eyes.   Continue reading “Kansas Supreme Court Compares DUI Sobriety Test To Magic 8 Ball & Ouija Board”

Courthouse News – by VICTORIA PRIESKOP

ALBUQUERQUE (CN) – A small-town New Mexico mayor had two women in their seventies maliciously prosecuted when they questioned how she was using money for the senior center, the surviving woman claims in court.

Floy Watson and the Estate of Doris Lark sued the Village of Tijeras, Mayor Gloria Chavez, the senior center manager and a deputy village clerk, on Jan. 27 in Bernalillo County Court. Tijeras, pop. 550, is east of Albuquerque.   Continue reading “Small-Town Politics: a Big Court Headache”

LA Times – by Maura Dolan

The hearing seemed largely routine until a state prosecutor approached the lectern.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Kevin R. Vienna was there to urge three judges on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold murder convictions against Johnny Baca for two 1995 killings in Riverside County. Other courts had already determined that prosecutors had presented false evidence in Baca’s trial but upheld the verdicts anyway.   Continue reading “U.S. judges see ‘epidemic’ of prosecutorial misconduct in California”

Del Mar-Carmel Valley Patch – by Kelly Wheeler

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Two married former San Diego police officers who broke into people’s homes while on duty and stole prescription painkillers to feed their drug addictions were each sentenced today to three years in state prison.

Bryce Charpentier, 32, and Jennifer Charpentier, 42, pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit a burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime — possession and sale of a controlled substance — selling or furnishing a narcotic substance and possession of a firearm by an addict.   Continue reading “Addicted Married Ex-Cops Get Prison Time For Stealing Painkillers”

Ars Technica – by Sam Machkovech

SEATTLE—On Wednesday, the Washington Technology Industry Association hosted the Seattle International Smart Gun Symposium, an event that King County Sheriff John Urquhart called the “first symposium I’ve heard of anywhere about this topic.” The hours-long series of panels invited lawmakers, smart gun industry representatives, and gun safety advocates to speak on the subject of “user authorized” guns—meaning firearms that can only discharge in the hands of pre-authorized owners.   Continue reading ““Nation’s first” smart gun symposium talks safety, risks, and delays”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

So much for the power of open records requests. Sure, you get some scratch paper out of the deal, but otherwise, there’s nothing “open” about this shooting report delivered in response to the Wichita Eagle’s request. (h/t to Techdirt reader Brig C. McCoy, via KansasExposed.org)

The city of Wichita has released a heavily redacted public incident report from the Jan. 3 police shooting of John Quintero. Continue reading “Wichita Police Respond To Request For Shooting Incident Details With A Handful Of Fully-Redacted Pages”

Fox News – by William La Jeunesse, Maxim Lott

A federal judge angrily accused Justice Department attorneys in newly unsealed documents of “fraud upon the court” by intimidating a witness in a case involving a former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent who alleges the agency trashed his reputation.

Judge Francis Allegra, who was appointed to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 1998 by President Bill Clinton, is presiding over a suit brought by former ATF agent Jay Dobyns against the government agency, which he claims retaliated against him and damaged his reputation. Dobyns infiltrated Hell’s Angels and worked on cases involving the Aryan Brotherhood and MS-13 during his law enforcement career.    Continue reading “Federal judge blasts DOJ lawyers in case of ATF whistle-blower”

Washington Post – by Tom Jackman

John B. Geer stood with his hands on top of the storm door of his Springfield, Va., townhouse and calmly said to four Fairfax County police officers with guns pointed at him: “I don’t want anybody to get shot . . . .And I don’t wanna get shot, ’cause I don’t want to die today.”

But as one officer tried to ease Geer through the standoff, another officer, Adam D. Torres, shot and killed Geer from 17 feet away, telling investigators that he saw Geer move his hands to his waist and thought he might be reaching for a weapon, according to newly released documents from the county.   Continue reading “John B. Geer had hands up when shot by police, four officers say in documents”