Courier Journal – by Morgan Watkins

Gov. Matt Bevin has signed a controversial “Blue Lives Matter” bill into law that makes it a hate crime to target police officers, putting Kentucky at the forefront of a new political trend.

Last year, Louisiana became the first state to extend hate-crime protections to police officers. Since then, a flurry of similar bills have been filed in other states, and Kentucky’s own proposal zoomed through the Republican-dominated legislature this year.   Continue reading “Kentucky becomes the 2nd state to pass Blue Lives Matter law”

Campus Reform – by Toni Airaksinen

A Wellesley College student has created a public database of professors who commit “ableist microaggressions” or fail to “respect” students’ pronoun preferences.

The project, “Wellesley Professors and Student’s Mental Health,” was launched Friday by Wellesley junior Elizabeth Engel, who told Campus Reform she was inspired to create the project after experiencing difficulties with professors herself.   Continue reading “Student creates database to report profs for microaggressions”

News 10

LATHAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) – The Troy police officer accused of driving drunk and crashing his car into a Colonie police vehicle pleaded not guilty.

Kevin P. McKenna, 26, was arrested shortly after midnight Saturday on Troy-Schenectady Road near Goodrich Avenue.

McKenna was driving a Chevy Silverado pickup truck when he crashed into the back of a Colonie Police transportation vehicle as it was pulled over conducting a traffic stop. Police said their lights were flashing at the time.   Continue reading “Drunk Off-Duty Cop Crashed Into a Police Vehicle With its Lights on”

MassPrivateI

Earlier this month, Utah lawmakers passed HB155 which would make it illegal to have a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05%. A 0.05% BAC translates into only one or two alcoholic drinks!

“The proposal would mean that a 150-pound man could get a DUI after two beers, while a 120-pound woman could get one after a single drink…”  Continue reading “NTSB convincing states to lower drunk driving minimum to one or two drinks”

Ocala – by Austin L. Miller

OCALA — The Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Air Force have provided more details on the accused military deserter who was apprehended on Tuesday.

Deputies and several U.S. Air Force special agents, according to a Sheriff’s Office report, met at the intersection of West State Road 40 and Southwest 80th Avenue. There, agents told deputies they had an arrest warrant for Linley Benson Lemburg for leaving the U.S. Air Force in 1972. Military agents also told the deputies that Lemburg lived nearby and that he goes by the name William Michael Robertson.   Continue reading “75 year-old Vietnam vet charged with deserting from US military 45 years ago”

USA Today – by Melanie Eversley

A federal grand jury indicted the Philadelphia district attorney Tuesday on charges related to what officials described as a five-year corruption spree that included accepting tens of thousands of dollars in concealed bribes, a trip to the Dominican Republic and a 1997 Jaguar from business owners.

The charges against Seth Williams, 50, a Democrat, also included confiscating money intended for a relative’s nursing home care and using the funds for his own personal use.   Continue reading “Philadelphia district attorney indicted on bribery, corruption charges”

McClatchy DC – by Peter Stone and Greg Gordon

WASHINGTON – Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories — some fictional — that favored Donald Trump’s presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say.

Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as “bots,” to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said.
Continue reading “FBI’s Russian-influence probe includes a look at far-right news sites”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

There’s something to be said for an informed electorate, although it really shouldn’t be elected officials advocating for it. They’d benefit least from people knowing more about sausage and the making thereof. And legislators definitely shouldn’t be robbing the First Amendment to pay for better information, as a few California lawmakers are attempting to do.

A new bill, pointed out by the EFF’s Dave Maass, seems to be a response of sorts to “fake news” and other political detritus of this highly-partisan system. Ostensibly, the bill is aimed at keeping voters from being misled on issues that affect them. The problem is, this bill would allow the government to determine what is or isn’t misleading and apply to a citizen’s social media posts, blog, etc.   Continue reading “California Lawmakers Looking To Make Bad Law Worse By Banning ‘False’ Political Speech”

Breitbart – by Tom Ciccotta

The University of Arizona’s College of Humanities is instructing students to say “ouch!” when they are offended by a faculty member or classmate.

The guidelines for how to response to offensive speech is outlined in a new handbook for faculty, which is entitled “Diversity and Inclusiveness in the Classroom.”  

Students are instructed to use “ouch” to indicate that they have been offended. Offenders are instructed to use “oops” to signify their acknowledgment that their words have offended one of their peers.   Continue reading “University of Arizona Instructs Students to Say ‘Ouch!’ when Offended”

The Christian Science Monitor – Patrik Jonsson

ATLANTA—After watching protests erupt around the country against police shootings, tougher immigration laws, and the Trump administration, Arizona state Sen. John Kavanagh reportedly came to a conclusion: “This stuff is all planned” by “ideologues” and “anarchists,” he told the Arizona Capitol Times.

In response, Senator Kavanagh sponsored a bill patterned on the kind of racketeering laws usually reserved for the Mafia: Anyone involved in a protest could be guilty of a felony if things get out of control, “whether or not such person knows [the] identity” of the person actually breaking a law.   Continue reading “New protest bills: Stamping out ‘economic terrorism’ or chilling free expression?”

USA Today

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville’s mayor announced that he has asked the FBI to investigate what he called “our worst nightmare,” the alleged sexual abuse of children in the police department’s Youth Explorer program.

Mayor Greg Fischer also said he had hired former U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey to review an investigation conducted by Louisville Metro Police and determine whether “errors were made,” including by police Chief Steve Conrad.   Continue reading “Louisville mayor asks FBI to investigate child sex-abuse claims against police”

Tony Webster

WHEN POLICE SUSPECT a person of a crime, their internet searches are sometimes damning. But in these situations, police already have a suspect, forensically recovering internet history files from their devices to figure out what they searched.

Increasingly, police are working cases the other way around: by using administrative subpoenas and search warrants to compel internet and communications providers to identify anyone matching certain parameters.
Continue reading “Minnesota judge signs a search warrant for personal information on anyone who Googled someone’s name”

Paul Craig Roberts

The US Constitution applies to US citizens, and the amendments known as the Bill of Rights guarantee due process as a protection of US citizens’ civil liberties. That’s the theory but not the practice.

Trump’s travel ban applies to non-US citizens, primarily to refugees from the Bush/Obama bombings of numerous Muslim countries. Some of these refugees, whose families and countries were destroyed by American troops, could harbor feelings of revenge against Americans. The Ninth Circuit Panel’s injunction against Trump’s executive order gives the Constitution’s protection of US citizens to non-citizens, apparently on the basis of due process and religious discrimination arguments. The panel of judges said that Trump’s executive order “runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy.”   Continue reading “Federal Courts Say Foreigners, Not US Citizens, Are Entitled To Due Process”

Daily Caller – by Eric Owens

Emerson College, a fancypants school dedicated solely to communication and performing arts, has officially deemed the word “homosexual” to be offensive.

Emerson’s online “Guidelines for Inclusive Language” makes the proclamation.

“Use gay or lesbian when describing people who are attracted to members of the same sex,” school officials instruct in the guide. “Avoid the use of homosexual and homosexual relationship.”   Continue reading “Language Police At Fancypants College Deem The Word ‘Homosexual’ Offensive Now”

Tenth Amendment Center – by Mike Maharrey

PHOENIX, Ariz. (March 16, 2017) – Yesterday, an Arizona House Committee unanimously passed a bill that would ban the use of “stingrays” to track the location of phones and sweep up electronic communications without a warrant in most situations. The proposed law would not only protect privacy in Arizona, but would also hinder one aspect of the federal surveillance state.   Continue reading “Arizona Committee Passes Bill to Prohibit Warrantless Stingray Spying”

Fox 8 News – by Jessica Dill

MEDINA TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The driver who was shot and killed after a police chase ended on Interstate 71 in Medina Township Tuesday morning wasn’t in his vehicle alone.

Family members of Roy Dale Evans Jr. said he was in the car with his girlfriend and three children during the chase, which happened early Tuesday morning.   Continue reading “Girlfriend who was with driver killed after police chase explains chain of events”