Gizmodo – by Matt Novak

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants to develop technology that scans the faces of travelers as they enter and leave the US. The difficult part? The agency wants to do it without anyone needing to get out of their cars.

First spotted by Nextgov, DHS has posted a public notice calling on technology companies to submit proposals for the system by January 2018. The agency is hosting an “industry day” in Silicon Valley on November 14th to give businesses more information about what it is they’re looking for exactly.   Continue reading “US Homeland Security Wants Facial Recognition to Identify People in Moving Cars”

Newsweek – by Beatrice Dupuy

Teachers in one Oregon school district who fail to report the sexual activity of their students could be at risk of being fined or losing their jobs.

The Salem-Keizer district officials told teachers that if they hear about their students having sex they must report it to law enforcement or Department of Human Services officials. District officials say they are just following state law that has put them in a bind with their students.   Continue reading “Oregon Teachers Told To Report Their Students For Having Sex”

AlterNet – by Ramzy Baroud

Israeli footprints are becoming more apparent in the US security apparatus. Such a fact does not bode well for ordinary Americans.

US Senate Bill S.720 should have been a wake-up call. The bill, drafted by the Israel lobby group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as part of its “2017 Lobbying Agenda,” is set to punish any individual or company that boycotts Israel for its violation of Palestinian human rights.   Continue reading “Walls and Militarized Police: How Israel Is Exporting Its Occupation to the United States”

Lew Rockwell – by Laurence M. Vance

President Trump is in hot water for supposedly disrespecting the family of a slain U.S. soldier.

Earlier this month, four U.S. soldiers were killed in an ambush by Islamic extremists/militants/terrorists/bad guys in the African country of Niger during a joint patrol by American and Niger forces. At a press conference over a week later, a reporter asked the president: “Why haven’t we heard anything from you so far about the soldiers that were killed in Niger? And what do you have to say about that?”   Continue reading “What U.S. Soldiers Actually Sign up For”

The Texas Tribune

When Melinda Sandlin walked out of Discount Furniture in Austin in late 2014, she was sure the store had put her on a payment plan to buy a new bedroom suite worth $2,750.

A year later, after realizing she had sent in more than $3,000 for her seven-piece set, she figured she was done. So Sandlin told the store clerk she wasn’t going to be making any more monthly payments.

“I already bought it out,” she recalls telling them. “And they’re like, ‘Oh no, read your contract. It’s a rental contract. It’s not a purchase contract.’ ”   Continue reading “How renting furniture in Texas can land you in jail”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

MARYLAND HEIGHTS • They call it the great pumpkin caper of suburban St. Louis.

It all started on the midnight watch for one Maryland Heights police officer the night of Oct. 18. It was about 1:40 a.m. when the first call came in: The pumpkins were missing.

First in one subdivision — Pinehurst — then more calls from another — Arrow Heights. There soon seemed to be gaping holes in fall stoop displays everywhere in the area.   Continue reading “Pumpkin-nappers try to carve out a crime spree in Maryland Heights”

WQAD 8 News

IOWA – Enough drivers are apparently confusing signs warning drivers of deer crossings with signs for crosswalks that Iowa transportation officials were forced to offer some clarification Tuesday.

The yellow signs do appear similar – one with the silhouette of a deer and the other a pedestrian – but the DOT outlined the difference on Facebook:   Continue reading “‘Deer can’t read signs’ DOT officials remind Iowa drivers”

The Intercept – by Lee Fang

IN A RULING seen as a major win for the largest media conglomerates in the country, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the Main Studio Rule, a 77-year-old regulation that required local television and radio broadcasters to maintain physical studios in the communities they serve.

The Tuesday vote, along party lines, with Republican commissioners supporting repeal, clears the way for major media companies to continue buying up local stations and eliminating positions for journalists, while centralizing programming decisions.  Continue reading “Fake News Alert: Media Conglomerates Convince FCC That Facebook Can Replace Local News Stations”

MassPrivateI

The University of California San Francisco-East Bay (UCSF) in California, recently published a press release on the American College of Surgeons website. It’s titled ‘Automatic Acoustic Gunshot Sensor Technology May Benefit Shooting Victims.’

The press release, claims law enforcement can locate gunshot victims faster using ShotSpotter (SST).   Continue reading “University with close ties to DHS claims, ShotSpotter saves lives”

WFTV News

PLANTATION, Fla. (AP) – A police officer accidentally tasered a 10-year-old boy after telling him and his brother that the stun gun was dangerous and shouldn’t be touched.

The Sun Sentinel reports Plantation police Officer Iris Stan was staying with a friend and her two sons after being displaced by Hurricane Irma. She decided to discuss gun safety on Sept. 14 because her bedroom door didn’t lock and there were children in the house.   Continue reading “Officer accidentally tasers boy,10, during gun safety lesson”

Sun Sentinel – by Adam Sacasa

It had been just 90 minutes after paramedics took a dying 85-year-old man from his West Boynton home to the hospital.

With no one home, in came an intruder of the unusual kind: A sheriff’s deputy who knew exactly how to carry out a burglary, authorities say. He had gotten the home-garage code from the sheriff’s dispatch log and used it to creep inside the residence, they say.

What Palm Beach County sheriff’s Deputy Jason Cooke may not have known: The home’s surveillance system detected motion inside the home and instantly notified Moe Rosoff’s sons, who watched the footage from afar and notified authorities, a sheriff’s report says.  Continue reading “Deputy accused of burglarizing home of man who was dying at hospital”

Mother Jones – by Samantha Michaels

The country’s biggest private prison company last week held its annual leadership conference at a golf resort owned by President Donald Trump, underscoring an increasingly cozy relationship between the ever-expanding industry and the White House.

GEO Group executives met for several days at the Trump National Doral near Miami, the Washington Post reports, as the company continues to hold multiple lucrative prison contracts with the federal government.    Continue reading “America’s Biggest Private Prison Company Just Hosted Its Annual Conference at a Trump Golf Resort”

Liberty Blitzkrieg – by  Michael Krieger

I know I must sound like a broken record by now, but Wall Street owns the U.S. economy and until that’s dealt with, the American public will continue to be preyed upon voraciously and lawlessly by some of the most unethical parasites the world has ever seen. Obama was a historical disaster on this issue, coddling and protecting banker oligarchs every step of the way. Trump’s no different.

The latest evidence that things are getting even worse came last evening when the U.S. Senate voted to deliver Wall Street another gift on a silver platter.   Continue reading “America First is a Joke. Wall Street Wins Again”

Baltimore Post Examiner – by Doug Poppa, October 8, 2017

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department borrowed armored vehicles from a Las Vegas based company, Battlefield Las Vegas, during last Sunday’s massacre of innocent concert-goers.

According to LVMPD radio traffic that night the police dispatcher stated, “Units be advised there is going to be three armored cars enroute to South Central Area Command followed by a silver Dodge Ram, okay per SWAT.” Minutes later; “3Ocean55, we have three armored cars that are at Russell and Las Vegas Boulevard, they’re not affiliated with law enforcement but the sergeant called them from Battlefield Las Vegas and they’re waiting for orders.” [Police dispatcher] They’re going to be going to South Central Area Command we’ve been advised.” “3Ocean55 copy.”   Continue reading “Las Vegas Police borrowed armored vehicles from private company”

Intellihub

LAS VEGAS (INTELLIHUB) — According to actual law enforcement communications from the night of the Oct 1 massacre, a private company named Battlefield Vegas worked hand-in-hand with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department after receiving orders to deliver three armored vehicles to South Central Aera Command as strike teams were being dispatched to numerous casinos along the strip.  Continue reading “Private paramilitary firm worked hand-in-hand with LVMPD on the night of the Las Vegas massacre”

Muck Rock – by Emma Best

Declassified documents in the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) archives show that while the CIA was looking to include the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) in its war on leaks, the National Security Agency (NSA) was seriously considering using the Espionage Act to target target Puzzle Palace author James Bamford for using FOIA.

While Bamford has briefly discussed this on a handful of occasions, the declassified memos and briefings from NSA confirm that this was more than just an intimidation tactic or a passing thought – the NSA had truly wanted to jail a journalist for his use of public records. When the Agency determined that this was unlikely to happen, they moved on to exploring other legal avenues which could be used to punish Bamford for his FOIA work.  Continue reading “NSA wanted to use the Espionage Act to prosecute a journalist for using FOIA”

NJ.com – by S.P. Sullivan

TRENTON — Prosecutors in New Jersey are notifying more than 20,000 people charged with drunken driving that their cases are under review after a State Police sergeant who oversaw breath-testing devices was accused of falsifying records, NJ Advance Media has learned.

County prosecutors have been sending letters to people charged with driving while intoxicated between 2008 and 2016 informing them a specially appointed judge would weigh “whether you are entitled to relief” based on the accusations against the sergeant.   Continue reading “20K drivers busted for DWIs could have their cases appealed in N.J.”

Illinois Policy – by Austin Berg

The Metropolitan Planning Council, or MPC, unveiled a 10-year, $43 billion plan April 4 to fund state and local roads, public transportation, railways and “new and large-scale projects of all types” across Illinois.

How will the MPC fund such a plan in a state that can’t pay its bills? Easy: Massive tax and fee hikes. Illinois state Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, has filed a bill to this effect.  Continue reading “New Bill Would Make Illinois Gas Taxes Highest In The Nation”

Mother Jones – by Russ Choma, Nick Schwellenbach

In recent months, a political bribery scandal has gripped Alabama involving the state’s largest coal company and the powerful, politically connected law firm it retained to fend off a federal effort to clean up a badly polluted North Birmingham neighborhood—an undertaking that could result in major financial liability for the company. The controversy has already ensnared one state lawmaker, and it has cast attention on the actions of other Alabama politicians, including the one ultimately responsible for overseeing the bribery case and potential environmental litigation: Attorney General Jeff Sessions.   Continue reading “Jeff Sessions Is in Charge of a Bribery Prosecution Involving Two of His Top Donors”