ABC News 7

CHICAGO (WLS) — A Chicago police dispatcher has been charged in connection with a road rage incident in which an 18-year-old woman was shot Wednesday in the McKinley Park neighborhood.

Kelli McGrath appeared disheveled in court Friday, wearing a red, down, winter coat and gray sweat outfit.

The Chicago dispatcher is now facing a felony charge in a road rage case. Her attorney, James McKay, set up the defense Friday.   Continue reading “Prosecutors: Chicago police dispatcher charged in road rage shooting”

USA Today

A Navy patrol boat fired warning shots near an Iranian naval ship that was conducting “an unsafe and unprofessional interaction” with a U.S. ship in international waters of the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, the Navy said.

The USS Thunderbolt was involved coalition exercises when the Iranian ship came within 150 yards, the Navy said in a statement. The Iranian ship did not respond to repeated attempts to establish radio communications, and warning flares and blasts of the ships whistle also were ignored, the Navy said.   Continue reading “Navy fires warning shots at Iranian ship in ‘tense encounter’”

Detroit Free Press – by Paul Egan

LANSING — Michigan State Police Trooper Craig Tuer thought he was protected by a vow of confidentiality when he spoke at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting about how troopers in a special enforcement unit drank and drove state vehicles during training sessions.

But another attendee reported the infractions to the State Police, prompting an internal investigation and trouble for Tuer’s colleagues.   Continue reading “State trooper alleges MSP retaliated against him for attending AA meetings”

RT

Major global oil producers have almost fully complied with the crude production cut deal over the last six month, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday.

“The countries showed an unprecedented high level of discipline and compliance, which over six months stands at a level close to 100 percent, and in some countries even more than 100 percent,” Novak said.   Continue reading “OPEC, non-OPEC oil output cuts compliance nears 100% – Russian energy minister”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the effort by congressional Republicans to pass a health care bill (all times local): 11:30 a.m. Sen. Rand Paul says he will vote “yes” on a pivotal health care vote Tuesday afternoon after receiving assurances from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Paul had been a holdout against McConnell’s plans for legislation to repeal and replace “Obamacare.” He argued it did not go far enough in getting rid of the Obama law. But Paul says McConnell has informed him the Senate will take up a straight-forward repeal bill as he has been urging. And if that’s the case he will vote “yes” to open debate on the legislation.   Continue reading “The Latest: Rand Paul to vote “yes” on health care vote”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to meet and detail a probe into a 2015 crash between a commuter train and an SUV that killed six people in the New York suburbs, a day after a U.S. official told The Associated Press that investigators determined the crash was extra deadly because of an unusual rail design.

The NTSB is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Washington, where a final report of the February 2015 crash is expected to be presented. The Metro-North Railroad train crashed into an SUV on the tracks at a crossing in Valhalla, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of New York City. The impact sparked an explosion, and flames blasted into the passenger area, burning out the first car of the train. The driver of the SUV and five people aboard the train were killed. More than a dozen others were injured.   Continue reading “US safety board to detail findings of deadly NY train crash”

Mail.com

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The tractor-trailer was pitch-black inside, crammed with maybe 90 immigrants or more, and already hot when it left the Texas border town of Laredo for the 150-mile trip north to San Antonio.

It wasn’t long before the passengers, sweating profusely in the rising oven-like heat, started crying and pleading for water. Children whimpered. People took turns breathing through a single hole in the wall. They pounded on the sides of the truck and yelled to try to get the driver’s attention. Then they began passing out.   Continue reading “Mexican officials: At least 25 people in truck were Mexican”

The Last Refuge – by Sundance

Until tonight we had not paid much attention to the national headline grabbing story of the ten dead illegal aliens killed from overheating and dehydration during a 100 person human trafficking/smuggling operation in Texas.  –Story Here– However, when reviewing the story and file video we immediately notice something that doesn’t appear to be discussed in the media anywhere.  Look:   Continue reading “Something Sketchy Noticed in Story of Texas Illegal Migrants Killed in Semi Trailer…”

Fox 10 News

WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain will make a dramatic return to the Senate for a make-or-break vote on Republican health care legislation Tuesday just days after getting diagnosed with brain cancer, giving an emotional and arithmetical boost to his party’s reeling effort to repeal Obamacare.

The decision by the 80-year-old senator to travel to Washington from his Arizona home was announced by his office in a brief press release late Monday night. It comes with the GOP bill to erase and replace President Barack Obama’s law on the brink as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushes toward a pivotal vote Tuesday, prodded by an impatient and frustrated President Donald Trump.   Continue reading “John McCain making dramatic Senate return for crucial health vote”

Institute for Justice – by J. Justin Wilson

St. Paul, Minn.—In a blow to the constitutional rights of Minnesotan renters, the state Supreme Court ruled today that cities do not need to provide evidence of a suspected housing code violation in order to obtain an administrative search warrant to inspect renters’ homes without their permission. Today’s decision denies Minnesota’s renters—and the landlords who want to support them— protection from unconstitutional searches of their homes.

The court also ruled that cities now need to give notice to tenants before trying to get warrants—something that cities were not required to do before—and that tenants have the right to come to court to challenge the scope of the warrant to protect the privacy of their homes.   Continue reading “Minnesota Supreme Court Upholds Unconstitutional Searches of Renters’ Homes”

CBS News

FRESNO, Calif. — Police in Fresno, California, have released dramatic surveillance footage showing a customer stepping in to prevent an armed robbery at a Starbucks.

Authorities said the video shows a hero taking down a man who will soon face many felony charges, CBS affiliate KGPE-TV in Fresno reports.
Continue reading “Dramatic video shows Starbucks customer fighting off armed robber”

NPR – by Merrit Kennedy

Israel has removed controversial metal detectors at the entrance to a holy site in Jerusalem, aiming to ease tension after days of protests.

But it remains to be seen whether Muslim worshippers will accept the security measures that Israel plans to implement in their place. The metal detectors were installed at the Muslim-administered site after several Israeli Arabs shot dead two Israeli police officers there.   Continue reading “Israel Dismantles Controversial Metal Detectors At Jerusalem Holy Site”

MassPrivateI

According to an article in Phys.org, Disney Research used facial biometrics to spy on 150 movie audiences during Star Wars and other movies.

Fastcodesign warns, “we could be moving toward an age where cameras lurk in movie theaters”.

Disney used infrared cameras to spy on moviegoers   Continue reading “Star Wars movies to use facial recognition to spy on audiences?”

The Organic Prepper

The era of artificial intelligence and technological deceit is upon us. If you think “fake news” and propaganda is bad right now, just wait.

And you won’t have to wait very long, at that.

Pretty soon, computer wizardry and artificial intelligence will allow video footage to be created that is practically indiscernible from the real deal. Add to this holograph technology, and soon, a person could appear to be speaking, live, in front of you, and you’d never even know it was all fake. The ethical ramifications of AI and technology are simply mind-boggling. In fact, some folks even believe it will signal the beginning of the end of humanity.
Continue reading “Welcome to the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Technological Deceit”

Ars Technica – by David Kravets

If you’re not a US military or police buff, you probably have never heard of the 1033 Program. It essentially provides a bureaucratic means to transfer excess military grade weapons to local law enforcement agencies. Sure, you may not like local police departments having all types of military gear, such as grenade launchers, helicopters, boats, M14s, M16s, and so on.

And you probably won’t like how the agency seemingly doles out the weapons to anybody. All you have to do is apply, create a fake website, and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) will oblige. Law enforcement experience is not required. There doesn’t seem to be a requirement that the requesting agency actually be real, either.  Continue reading “How to get free US military weapons—build fake website and DOD will oblige”

Tech Dirt – by Mike Masnick

I thought writing about San Diego Comic Con being censorial assholes would be the strangest story we’d write about Comic Con this year, but leave it to airline security to come up with an even more bizarre story. Apparently United Airlines (because of course it would be United) put up a sign at the airport in San Diego telling people that all books needed to be removed from checked bags. A Twitter user named Adi Chappo tweeted a picture of the sign at the airport:   Continue reading “United Says TSA Wants All Comic Con Comic Books Searched; TSA Says ‘Not Us’”

Yahoo News

For the 2018 model year, Dodge has rolled out some minor but useful updates to the Charger Pursuit police car. It now features a larger infotainment screen standard. It moves from 5 inches to 7 inches. But if police departments wish, they can opt for a massive 12-inch touchscreen that can replace a cumbersome laptop computer.   Continue reading “2018 Dodge Charger Pursuit ambush prevention system enhanced to protect cops”