Author: Joe from MassPrivateI

PrawfsBlawg – by Tracy Hresko Pearl

A little over a year ago, as I became fully immersed in my research about driverless cars, I had a conversation with a colleague in which I managed to convince him (I think) that mass adoption of fully driverless vehicles will be an overwhelming net positive for society.  I talked about how these vehicles will dramatically improve highway safety, reduce traffic, increase productivity, and enhance the independence of disabled and elderly individuals.  As the conversation wound down, however, he noted that, despite everything I had said, he would always love driving.  He asked whether, once fully driverless cars are widely available, he would still be able to drive his own car.  I quickly reassured him he would always be able to do so, but as we parted ways, I questioned what I had just told him.  If autonomous vehicle advocates are correct about the dramatic safety gains fully driverless cars stand to offer, might the government eventually outlaw human-driven cars on public roads?     Continue reading “They’re Coming for Your Cars…”

The Newspaper

High court in West Virginia declares drunk driving laws even apply to roads that are not open to the public.

West Virginians can be charged with drunk driving on their own private land, even if they represent no danger to others. The state Supreme Court of Appeals laid down this new precedent last month, overturning previous interpretations of the state’s driving under the influence (DUI) law.   Continue reading “West Virginia Supreme Court Expands DUI To Private Property”

MassPrivateI

According to a Virginia Police PowerPoint presentation titled, “Domestic Terrorism and Extremist Group” the police are ‘secretly’ classifying citizens as “extremists” and “subversives.”

The Virginia Police presentation, is proof that Americans are being classified as “extremists” based on their political activities.   Continue reading “Activists and police misconduct websites are considered “extremists” by police”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

There’s a new brand of terrorism on the loose and Washington State Senator Doug Ericksen is the only one who can stop it. (h/t Jeff Pohjola)

State Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, said Wednesday he is preparing a bill that would create a new crime of “economic terrorism…”  

Continue reading “State Senator Wants To Turn First Amendment Activity Into ‘Economic Terrorism’”

The Intercept – by Sam Biddle

THE FIELDS OF artificial intelligence and machine learning are moving so quickly that any notion of ethics is lagging decades behind, or left to works of science fiction. This might explain a new study out of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which says computers can tell whether you will be a criminal based on nothing more than your facial features.

The bankrupt attempt to infer moral qualities from physiology was a popular pursuit for millennia, particularly among those who wanted to justify the supremacy of one racial group over another. But phrenology, which involved studying the cranium to determine someone’s character and intelligence, was debunked around the time of the Industrial Revolution, and few outside of the pseudo-scientific fringe would still claim that the shape of your mouth or size of your eyelids might predict whether you’ll become a rapist or thief.  Continue reading “Study Claims Artificial Intelligence Can Predict Who Will Be Criminals Based on Facial Features”

The Duran – by Alex Christoforou

Having trouble makes sense of what news is real and what news is fake. Worry no more, The Duran has compiled a list of news sources you should avoid at all costs.

The Duran’s List of False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources.

Disclaimer 1: All of the contents in this document reflect the opinion of the author and are for not educational purposes, because fundamentally I believe you are smart enough to make your own decisions. This resource was split into categories around 2:29pm GMT +2 on 17/11/16.   Continue reading “List of False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources”

Consumerist – by Chris Moran

Over a period of seven years, JPMorgan Chase hired or gave internships to around 200 individuals, not because they were the best people for their positions (they often weren’t), but at the request of foreign government officials and clients. That practice, alleged U.S. regulators, was a violation of federal law. Now Chase has agreed to pay a total of more than $264 million to settle these allegations of nepotism-gone-too-far.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act forbids certain companies and company officials from making “an offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization of the payment of any money, or offer, gift, promise to give, or authorization of the giving of anything of value to any foreign official” to gain influence or secure an unfair advantage.   Continue reading “JPMorgan Chase To Pay $264M To Settle Corruption Allegations For Hiring Friends, Family Of Government Officials”

Reason – Jacob Sullum

Like a California law that took effect last January, the gun control initiative that Washington voters overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday authorizes court orders that deprive people of the right to arms without due process. In fact, Initiative 1491, which was backed by Gov. Jay Inslee and attracted support from 71 percent of voters, is even less respectful of due process and the Second Amendment.   Continue reading “A Resounding Vote Against Due Process and the Second Amendment”

Tenth Amendment Center – by Kelli Sladick

The USA Freedom Act was sold as pledge to end NSA’s bulk collection program concerning of metadata. However, this law didn’t end bulk collection of metadata. It shifted the responsibility to telecommunications providers. The result of this law, has actually increased the spying efficiency of the NSA.

In other words, the promised “reform” made NSA spying worse.   Continue reading “Congressional “Reforms” Made NSA Spying Worse”

New York Daily News – by PETER SBLENDORIO

They threw the book at her.

Actress Tika Sumpter says her mother was arrested Monday — all because of a $10 late fee at her local library.

“Make sure you turn in your library books North Carolina,” the actress began a lengthy Twitter missive. “My mom was just arrested for having a late fee of 10 dollars on an overdue book!”   Continue reading “Actress Tika Sumpter says her mother was arrested for $10 library late fee”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

A disabled vet with PTSD accidentally called a suicide prevention hotline when intending to dial the Veterans Crisis Line. Within hours, he was dealing with DC Metro’s finest, dispatched to handle an attempted suicide. This brief quote from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals opinion [PDF] — part of veteran Matthew Corrigan’s first conversation with responding officers — sets the tone for the next several hours of Constitutional violations.   Continue reading “Appeals Court To Cops: If You ‘Don’t Have Time’ For ‘Constitutional Bullshit,’ You Don’t Get Immunity”

Liberty Blitzkrieg – by Michael Krieger

Open the Books is back with another important government transparency report. This time, the organization looked closely at California payrolls, and found that 218,667 public sector employees earn six-figure salaries (in many cases far above that threshold), at a cost of $35 billion.

If Californians are fine with this sort of thing, more power to them, but it’s important to be knowledgable about where and how tax dollars are spent.   Continue reading “Meet California’s 218,667 Public Employees Making Over $100,000/Year”

Liberty Blitzkrieg – by Michael Krieger

More disappointing than the Obama administration itself (which was very disappointing), were the seemingly endless hordes of fake liberals constantly justifying and making excuses for his well documented litany of civil liberties abuses. Naturally, I likewise expect countless Trump supporters to instinctively make similar excuses for Trump if he should end up naming former Goldman Sachs Partner, and overall finance miscreant, Steve Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary. This is a huge part of our problem as a nation. Rather than having well defined principles and defending them, we tend to pick personalities we like and then cheer them on as uncritically as our favorite sports teams.   Continue reading “President Obama Leaves Behind a Deplorable Civil Liberties Legacy”

Tenth Amendment Center

EDITOR’S NOTE:  The following is a post from TAC member, Glen Burdue. All members have access to submit posts and share their views anonymously, or publicly. 

2 Kansas disabled veterans are about to be put in jail by a federal judge for following Kansas law.   Continue reading “Kansas Action Alert: Gun Rights Trial Coming to a Close”