Author: Joe from MassPrivateI

Business Insider

Apple will start assigning so-called “trust scores” for Apple devices in a bid to combat fraud.

First spotted by VentureBeat, a new provision has quietly appeared updated in the iTunes Store privacy page:   Continue reading “Apple will log about how many ‘phone calls or emails you send and receive’ to give your device a ‘trust score’”

Campus Reform – by Zachary Petrizzo

Vegan advocacy nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is demanding that the University of Nebraska at Lincoln part ways with its longstanding tradition of releasing party balloons at university football games.

PETA started an online petition to ban the balloons, alleging that they are “an environmental hazard and can travel vast distances before finally bursting and falling to the ground or into bodies of water.” The school has released thousands of balloons after its first touchdown at home football games, for the past 50 years.   Continue reading “PETA demands university ban football game balloons”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

Cincinnati police officer Kevin Brown’s decision to fire a Taser at an 11-year-old girl suspected of shoplifting from a grocery store in August immediately drew criticism from city officials and advocates.

But Ohio state Representative John Becker had a different take. Had it been his daughter, he announced in an August newsletter, “I’d be ashamed and embarrassed that she did something stupid enough to get herself tased.”  

Continue reading “State Legislator Says 11-Year-Old Tased By Cop Deserved It And Her Parents Probably Suck”

Reason – by Joe Setyon

A proposal under consideration in California would allow marijuana businesses to deliver weed straight to people’s doorsteps, even in places where it’s illegal to sell pot.

Sounds convenient, right? Not according to Morgan Hill Police Chief David Swing, president of the California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA), who warned the proposal could lead to robberies, assaults, and homicides.   Continue reading “California Police Chief Claims Legal Weed Delivery Could Lead to ‘Assaults and Homicides’”

The American Conservative – by Michael Shindler

The United States is a nation rife with indebtedness: student loans, credit card balances, unpaid medical bills, and hefty mortgages are all familiar features of American life. During certain points in history, people faced the prospect of incarceration when they could not honor their private debts. In America, the Supreme Court judged this grim practice unconstitutional in 1983—yet even today, many Americans are threatened with jail time or even sent to prison at the behest of creditors hungry for payment.   Continue reading “Private Creditors Can Put You in Jail”

Truthout – by Mike Ludwig

According to Misha Mitchell, an attorney for a conservation group in Louisiana’s ecologically sensitive Atchafalaya Basin, Energy Transfer Partners and other private oil interests broke the law when they began building a section of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline on a parcel of private land in the iconic river swamp without permission from the landowners.

Mitchell filed a lawsuit against the pipeline project on behalf of landowner Peter Aaslestad and his family after construction began on their property in late July, but work continued on the property until Monday, when Energy Transfer Partners struck a deal in a local court with the plaintiffs to temporarily halt construction.   Continue reading “States Allow For-Profit Pipeline Companies to Seize Private Property”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

No police department should ever have to explain why they tased an 87-year-old woman. It’s not that the public doesn’t deserve an explanation. It’s that there is seldom any reason to deploy force against 5’2″ 87-year-old. But that’s what Chatsworth Police Chief Josh Etheridge had to do after one of his officers tased the woman during a “confrontation” behind the local Boys and Girls Club.

The police chief of a small Georgia town is defending an officer who deployed a stun gun on a “smiling” 87-year-old woman, saying she refused to comply with numerous commands to put down a kitchen knife she was using to cut dandelions.  

Continue reading “Police Officers At A Tactical Disadvantage Bravely Tase 87-Year-Old Woman Into Submission”

WCCB – by Justin Pryor

MORGANTON, NC — A former Lieutenant with the Burke County Narcotics Task Force has been indicted for allegedly embezzling thousands of dollars in drug funds.

Former Lt. Jody Price was served a Bill of Indictment Wednesday for Embezzlement by a Local Government Employee. According to investigators with the SBI, Price is accused of embezzling more than $16,000.   Continue reading “Former Burke County Narcotics Lieutenant Indicted On Embezzlement Charges”

MassPrivateI

Earlier this month it was revealed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) now includes all fifty states.

“The NVDRS claims to be a surveillance system that pulls together data on violent deaths in all 50 states including information about homicides, such as homicides perpetrated by an intimate partner (e.g., boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband), child abuse and neglect or child abuse homicides, suicides, and deaths where individuals are killed by law enforcement in the line of duty. “   Continue reading “The CDC’s “National Violent Death Reporting System” posts inaccurate police killings figures”

The New American – by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.

A recent political statement made by the CEO of Levi Strauss is likely to see the denim company torn apart just like the pair of jeans on the company’s iconic label.

Chip Bergh, the San Francisco-based company’s chief executive, announced the creation of the Safer Tomorrow Fund, an initiative aimed at “working to end gun violence in America.”   Continue reading “Levi Strauss to Spend Over $1 Million in Support of Increasing Gun Control”

Natural News – by JD Heyes

Despite the fact that major storms can leave communities devastated and vulnerable to criminal acts in the aftermath like looting, one North Carolina city is acting to prevent its citizens from defending themselves if Hurricane Florence, now bearing down on the state, makes landfall and wreaks havoc.

As reported by The Gun Feed, the Firearms Policy Coalition and Firearms Policy Foundation announced Tuesday that both organizations sent a pre-litigation demand letter to the Town of Leland, N.C., whose officials have banned “some lawful and constitutionally protected firearm-related conduct in advance” of the hurricane. The letter was sent by the Diguiseppe Law Firm in Wilmington, N.C.   Continue reading “Leland, North Carolina already CRIMINALIZING all personal firearms ahead of the coming hurricane… city leaders believe hurricanes nullify the Constitution”

Star Telegram – by Bud Kennedy

DALLAS  Weary after a 15-hour police shift, Officer Amber Guyger made mistakes that were both sloppy and deadly.

The death of Dallas resident Botham Jean, 26, in what she mistook for a home invasion will haunt both her and the city of Dallas for years. Continue reading “Some Texas police facing charges are now sent to treatment, not jail. Is that fair?”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Vizio Smart TV owners who haven’t heard that the internet-connected televisions had been spying on them may find out about it directly from their Smart TV itself, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The secret “feature” was exposed in November 2015, when journalistic watchdog ProPublica revealed that Vizio TVs track viewing habits and share them with advertisers.    Continue reading “Vizio Smart TV’s Caught Spying; Will Display Pop-Up Notification For Class Action Lawsuit”

MassPrivateI

All across the country, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is hard at work convincing cities to lower their speed limits from 30 MPH to 25 MPH.

The national effort to lower speed limits in cities is known as “Vision-Zero.”

To date, the NHTSA, NSC and the IIHS have convinced more than thirty cities to lower their speed limits.   Continue reading “Boston’s Vision-Zero Exposed: Lowering the speed limit increases speeding ticket revenue by 47%”