Author: Joe from MassPrivateI

Mint Press News – by Whitney Webb

For over a decade, pro-Israel and ultra-nationalist Israeli settler groups have sought to weaponize the popular online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, through concerted covert editing campaigns, offering Wikipedia editing courses to West Bank settlers and even formal alliances between Israel and Wikipedia to allow Israelis to create and edit content in a variety of languages.  Continue reading “How a Small Group of Pro-Israel Activists Blacklisted MintPress on Wikipedia”

New Hampshire Union Leader – by Jason Schreiber

Continue reading “Hampton officer resigns following arrest for DWI, allegedly reported for duty intoxicated”

The Oregonian – by Betsy Hammond

Records that local government officials in Oregon create in the course of their government work are not public records and do not have to be disclosed unless they are “owned, used or retained” by a wider public body such as a city council or school district, an Oregon judge has ruled.

A West Linn teenager had asked a court to force West Linn City Councilor Teri Cummings to make public the notes she made during council sessions and other official meetings. But Judge Henry C. Breithaupt, a retired Oregon Tax Court judge presiding as a senior judge in Clackamas County Circuit Court, ruled orally last week that the public is not entitled them.  Continue reading “Records of city councilors, mayors, sheriffs not necessarily subject to Oregon public records law, judge rules”

Natural News – by Ethan Huff

A family from Sacramento, California, is being punished by the “gods” of Big Tech for sounding the alarm about the dangers associated with 5G “small cell” towers, which are beginning to pop up in residential neighborhoods all across the country.

After a 5G small cell tower was recently installed directly outside their home, the Davidsons took to social media to warn that the transmission device was causing both electromagnetic sensitivity and microwave sickness, two conditions that are also associated with exposure to “smart” electric meters.  Continue reading “YouTube begins banning critics of 5G cell towers to cover up the crimes of the telecommunications industry”

Reason – by Zuri Davis

A Pennsylvania college student is suing Harrisburg police and Dauphin County correctional officers following a severe and unprovoked beating behind bars.

Leticia C. Chavez-Freed, who is representing Jarrett Leaman, 24, shared a copy of the lawsuit with Reason. According to the suit, Leaman and his friends were drinking at bars around town on June 29. Leaman was arrested at the end of the night for public drunkeness, as he was “visibly intoxicated and not communicative.”  Continue reading “A Lawsuit Details a Horrific Night of Beatings in a Pennsylvania Jail”

Reason – by Jacob Sullum

This morning a Phoenix TV station aired a feel-good story about cops who are “rewarding people for good driving behavior” by pulling them over and giving them coupons for drinks at Circle K convenience stores. “If you see a Tempe police officer pulling you over,” chirped Colleen Sikora, a correspondent for the NBC affiliate KPNX, “it may not be a bad thing. If an officer sees someone following traffic laws correctly related to bicycles and pedestrians, they can pull you over, but instead of a citation, you’ll get a free drink coupon for either a cold drink or hot beverage…They’re kicking off the campaign this morning at 8 a.m., so if you see police lights in your rear view mirror, maybe hold off on the panic.”  Continue reading “When Is Violating the Constitution by Pulling Over Motorists With No Legal Justification ‘Not a Bad Thing’?”

Newsweek

Maine police officer who died from an accidental drug overdose had stolen fentanyl during a traffic stop just weeks prior, it has been revealed.

Lewiston Police Officer Nicholas Meserve was found dead inside his home on February 8. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later ruled that the 34-year-old died as a result of acute fentanyl intoxication.  Continue reading “Police officer who died from accidental overdose pocketed fentanyl during traffic stop”

Daily Mail

Prominent thinkers in the fields of artificial intelligence say that predictive policing tools are not only ‘useless,’ but may be helping to drive mass incarceration.

In a letter published earlier this month the experts, from MIT, Harvard, Princeton, NYU, UC Berkeley and Columbia spoke out on the topic in an unprecedented showing of skepticism toward the technology.  Continue reading “A.I. Predictive Policing Could Lead to Mass Incarceration”

Penn Live

HARRISBURG — People convicted of theft for such minor issues as overdue library books or plumbing bills may not realize they have a record because a district judge in northwestern Pennsylvania misclassified civil claims against them, a state official said Thursday.

Former District Judge Brenda Williams Nichols misclassified more than 800 civil claims as theft of services violations while serving in office from 2014 through 2017, Democratic Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said.  Continue reading “Hundreds in Pa. wrongly got criminal record for unpaid bills: audit”

CBS DFW

AMARILLO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A school district in Texas will begin drug testing students as young as 12 years old who are interested in playing sports or participating in other extracurricular activities.

Testing will begin with the resumption of classes next month at Bushland Independent School District and will be required of students in grades seven through 12 who play in the band, sit on the student council, assemble a yearbook, play chess or participate in other clubs. Students who receive a permit to park at the high school also will be subjected to testing.  Continue reading “Texas School District To Drug Test Students As Young As 12”

Hawaii News Now

Continue reading “New Hawaiian law makes it illegal to start walking on the countdown timer”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has reached a conclusion that defies easy summation. But here’s an attempt: it is not well-established that cops shouldn’t shoot children they’ve ordered to lie prone on the ground while trying to shoot a dog that posed no threat to officers.

In reversing the lower court’s denial of qualified immunity to Officer Michael Vickers, the Appeals Court has opened the door to preventing the stupidest, most-inept cops from being held responsible for their careless blunders.  Continue reading “Appeals Court Says No Rights Were Violated When A Cop Shot At A ‘Non-Threatening’ Dog But Hit A Kid Instead”

USA Today

A 10-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department is facing life in prison after the department’s investigation into a rape accusation linked him to another unsolved sexual assault from 2015.

William Rodriguez, 33, was arrested and charged with two counts of forcible rape, with a special allegation of multiple victims Tuesday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Rodriguez is accused of sexually assaulting a female acquaintance at his home last November.  Continue reading “Los Angeles police officer charged with multiple rapes after DNA links him to cold case”

Tenth Amendment Center – by Mike Maharrey

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (July 24, 2019) – Today, an Arkansas law decriminalizing the manufacture and possession of firearm sound suppressors in the state goes into effect. The new law not only removes a layer of state regulation; it will help foster an environment hostile to federal gun control in Arkansas.  Continue reading “Now In Effect: New Arkansas Law Decriminalizes Firearm “Silencers””

USA Today – by Kristine Philips

DUNEDIN, Fla. – Kristi Allen read the letter and thought it had to be a scam.

It said she owed $92,600 in fines for overgrown vegetation and a stagnant swimming pool at a house she no longer owned. She must pay in two weeks, the letter said, and it hinted that she could be sued if she didn’t. Including interest charges and other fees, her debt swelled to $103,559, about twice her yearly income.  Continue reading “A Florida woman was fined $100,000 for a dirty pool and overgrown grass. When do fines become excessive?”