NPR

When Hurricane Irma was bearing down on Florida last month, Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency. On Monday, he did the same thing in Alachua County, ahead of a speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

“We live in a country where everyone has the right to voice their opinion, however, we have zero tolerance for violence and public safety is always our number one priority,” Scott said in a statement. “This executive order is an additional step to ensure that the University of Florida and the entire community is prepared so everyone can stay safe.”  Continue reading “Florida’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Ahead Of Richard Spencer Speech”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

The Intercept has obtained a leaked asset forfeiture guide for seizures performed by ICE. (It has, unfortunately, chosen not to share the original document. Then again, the last non-Snowden leak it published appears to have helped out the document’s source.)

For those familiar with the process of civil asset forfeiture, the contents of the guide are mostly unsurprising. Despite the document dating back to 2010, ICE did confirm the version seen by The Intercept is its most recent guidance. ICE is allowed to seize property without bringing charges or securing convictions — something still permitted by federal law (your state laws may vary) and greatly encouraged by the new head of the DOJ, Jeff Sessions.   Continue reading “Use A Landline To Talk About Criminal Activity? The Government Can Seize The House Around It”

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos had virtually disappeared before he surfaced on Wednesday’s episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

The 25-year-old, who was shot in the leg after encountering the Mandalay Bay gunman on Oct. 1, refused repeated requests to tell his story. His home was plastered with “NO TRESPASSING” and “NO MEDIA ON PROPERTY” signs. And on Oct. 12, hours before he was supposed to be interviewed on Fox News’ “The Sean Hannity Show” — followed by scheduled interviews with NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN — Campos simply walked away from a hotel suite.   Continue reading “‘Ellen’ producers mum on how they landed Jesus Campos interview”

Reason – by Jacob Sullum

Since 2012 federal prosecutors have been trying to imprison three medical marijuana users in Washington, arguing that they grew cannabis for profit rather than relief of their symptoms. In a startling shift this week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Spokane finally conceded what the defendants—Rhonda Firestack-Harvey; her son, Rolland Gregg; and his wife, Michelle Gregg—have been saying all along: that they grew marijuana in compliance with Washington’s law allowing medical use of the plant. The government also admitted in a brief filed on Monday night that its pursuit of the case has therefore been illegal since December 2014, when Congress first passed a spending rider that prohibits the Justice Department from prosecuting people for conduct permitted by state medical marijuana laws.
Continue reading “Feds Admit Their Prosecution of Medical Marijuana Users in Washington Was Illegal”

USA Today

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As the clock ticked closer to white nationalist Richard Spencer’s speech at the University of Florida, the campus was on edge amid concerns over potential violence between supporters and counterprotesters.

Students and faculty expressed fear and worry about Spencer’s Thursday appearance and the increased security presence.

“The students are scared, especially our students who are from minority communities,” said Vincent Adejumo, a lecturer in African-American studies. “Many of them have already left town. Parents have great concern.   Continue reading “University of Florida braces for Richard Spencer speech”

RT

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) and Al-Qaeda terrorists are plotting to take down a plane and carry out a devastating explosion on the scale of 9/11, senior US security official Elaine Duke warns.

“The terrorist organizations, be it ISIS or Al-Qaeda or others, want to have the big explosion like they did on 9/11. They want to take down aircraft, the intelligence is clear on that,” the acting US secretary of homeland security said during a visit to the UK, as cited by British media.   Continue reading “‘Severe threat’: ISIS & Al-Qaeda planning 9/11-style ‘big explosion,’ US security chief warns”

Mail.com

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A judge on Wednesday halted the execution of a man known as the Houston area’s “Tourniquet Killer” so authorities can investigate an alleged scheme in which the inmate says a fellow death row prisoner asked him to confess to another killing.

Anthony Allen Shore was scheduled to be given a lethal injection Wednesday evening, but the judge withdrew the execution warrant at prosecutors’ request just hours before Shore was set to die. His death was rescheduled for Jan. 18.   Continue reading “Texas man’s execution halted amid alleged confession scheme”

Fox News – by Todd Starnes

Back in 1925, the American Legion erected a memorial in Bladensburg, Md., to honor the memory of 49 men who perished during World War I.

The 40-foot tall memorial became known as the “Peace Cross.”

In 2014, the American Humanist Association — a group that believes in “being good without a god” — filed a lawsuit alleging the cross-shaped memorial is unconstitutional and demanding it be demolished, altered, or removed.    Continue reading “Federal court rules World War I memorial cross must be torn down”

Clarion Ledger – by Bracey Harris

A predominately black public school in Mississippi named after Confederate President Jefferson Davis will be stripped of that moniker next year and replaced with that of another president whose character students, parents and teachers have said is more fitting — Barack Obama.

Davis Magnet IB PTA President Janelle Jefferson announced at the Jackson School Board meeting Tuesday evening that school stakeholders voted on Oct. 5 to rename the school Barack Obama Magnet IB.   Continue reading “JPS school honoring Jefferson Davis to be renamed after Barack Obama”

Mail.com

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A white former Oklahoma police officer was convicted of first-degree manslaughter late Wednesday in the off-duty fatal shooting of his daughter’s black boyfriend after jurors in three previous trials couldn’t decide whether to find him guilty of murder.

Jurors deliberated about six hours before finding ex-Tulsa officer Shannon Kepler, 57, guilty of the lesser charge in the August 2014 killing of 19-year-old Jeremey Lake, who had just started dating Kepler’s then-18-year-old daughter, Lisa.   Continue reading “Jury convicts ex-Oklahoma police officer in 4th murder trial”

Mail.com

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A sweeping multistate manhunt that kept the Mid-Atlantic region on high alert for more than 10 hours ended when law enforcement officers on foot chased down a man they say shot six people, killing three, in two separate shootings.

Radee Prince, 37, of Elkton, Maryland, shot five co-workers early Wednesday at a granite company in Maryland, then drove to Wilmington, Delaware, and shot an acquaintance in the head at a used car lot, police in Maryland and Delaware said.   Continue reading “Police capture shooter they say targeted 6 people he knew”

Fox News

A top Senate Republican is probing potential “conflicts of interest” for Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration regarding the 2010 approval of a controversial uranium deal with a Russian company, amid new details about donations from “interested parties” and an FBI corruption probe involving employees of the same Russian firm.

“This committee has an obligation to get to the bottom of this issue,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday, at the start of a hearing with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.   Continue reading “Grassley probes Clinton ‘conflicts of interest’ amid new questions in Russia uranium deal”

World Jewish Congress

NEW YORK – The World Jewish Congress and the pro-Israel LGBTQ organization A Wider Bridge will co-host a special discussion on October 26, 2017 on the exclusion of Zionism from the LGBTQ discourse and community. LGBTQ n’ Z: A Conversation About Pride, Zionism, and Inclusivity was conceived of following a contentious summer of Pride events across the United States, where marchers carrying rainbow flags emblazoned with the Star of David were shunned, physically and verbally accosted, and excluded.

Matt Nosanchuk, Former Associate Director of Public Engagement and the White House’s liaison to the American Jewish community, will open the event as keynote speaker, followed by a discussion with experienced LGBTQ-Zionist activists moderated by Slate journalist Mark Joseph Stern.   Continue reading “World Jewish Congress co-hosts LGBTQ n’ Z: A Conversation About Pride, Zionism, and Inclusivity”

KCRA 3 News

FOLSOM, Calif. (KCRA) — A new California law will force the Folsom Cordova Unified School District to end its policy of allowing select employees to store and – if necessary – access guns on campus.

School officials sent out a statement Monday after Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 424 into law over the weekend. The bill, authored by Sacramento Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, expands the ban of firearms in a school zone to include school employees.   Continue reading “Folsom school staff can’t have guns on campus due to new California law”

Revisionist History – by Michael Hoffman

My bedtime reading is the Babylonian Talmud. It’s true. I find horror literature relaxing. I take a volume of the Talmud and a pencil and sit on the edge of my bed and study for 20 to 30 minutes every night, secure in the thought that it will not be anytime soon that I run out of material, since the Talmud consists of more than 30 volumes, much of it turgid minutiae about subjects so prurient they boggle the mind (Sanhedrin 82b: “Zimri engaged in 424 acts of intercourse with Cozbi in one day”). It is perhaps the most pornographic “sacred” text of any major religion, with the possible exception of the Tantra of the Hindus.    Continue reading “America is under Talmudic law, not Sharia law”

The Captain’s Journal – by Herschel Smith

The Daily Journal:

Radio talk show host and TV commentator Hugh Hewitt is among a growing number of conservatives calling for monitoring the stockpiling of large-capacity ammunition feeding devices similar to how Sudafed is controlled.
Continue reading “The Controllers: “We Want Monitoring Of Ammunition Stockpiling””

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Archive: TWFTT 10-18-17