Archive for the 'Police State' Category
Criminal: How Lockup Quotas and “Low-Crime Taxes” Guarantee Profits for Private Prison Corporations
September 25th, 2013Via: In the Public Interest: This report discusses the use of prison bed occupancy guarantee clauses in prison privatization contracts and explores how bed occupancy guarantees undermine criminal justice policy and democratic, accountable government. The report sheds light on the for-profit private prison industry’s reliance on high prison populations, and how these occupancy guarantee provisions […]
On Constitution Day, California College Student Ordered to Stop Handing Out Constitutions
September 20th, 2013Via: Huffington Post: Robert Van Tuinen, a student at Modesto Junior College in California, had a theory. He believed that the policies at his college limiting protests and expression were so restrictive that the college would try to shut him down even if he tried to hand out copies of the United States Constitution on […]
Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing NSA’s
September 2nd, 2013Via: New York Times: For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans’ phone calls — parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency’s hotly disputed collection […]
Will Robots Replace Rent-a-Cops?
August 31st, 2013Via: Motherboard: Has a fear of robotics ever kept anyone from robbing banks? I’m not talking about the surveillance systems, laser-armed tripwires, noisy alarms, or automated locks on the doors. I’m talking about actual robots—an evolution of the ROOMBA Vacuum cleaner, but with legs, not cute, and definitely not something you want to rob. Now, […]
Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Warrantless Cellphone Searches
August 20th, 2013Via: Washington Post: If the police arrest you, do they need a warrant to rifle through your cellphone? Courts have been split on the question. Last week the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue and rule that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless cellphone searches.
Texas Police Hit Organic Farm With Massive SWAT Raid
August 18th, 2013Via: Huffington Post: A small organic farm in Arlington, Texas, was the target of a massive police action last week that included aerial surveillance, a SWAT raid and a 10-hour search. Members of the local police raiding party had a search warrant for marijuana plants, which they failed to find at the Garden of Eden […]
Two-Year-Old Taken from Parents Because They Smoked Pot Is Murdered in Foster Care
August 8th, 2013Via: Alternet: Two-year-old Alexandria Hill was placed in foster care after her parents were caught smoking marijuana in their home while she slept. Authorities charged them with “neglectful supervision,” and just months away from getting their baby back, the loving parents learned they would never see their young child again. Placed in a foster home […]
U.S. COMMUNICATIONS INTELLIGENCE SECRETLY SHARED WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR USE AGAINST AMERICANS IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
August 5th, 2013“It is the height of naivete to think that once collected this information won’t be used.” —Former Stasi Lieutenant Colonel On NSA’s Mass Surveillance The United States is using the most awesome and terrifying surveillance infrastructure ever created to target its own citizens for criminal investigations. Intuitively obvious in activist circles for several decades —> […]
FBI Agents Gave Informants Permission to Break the Law Thousands of Times in 2011
August 4th, 2013Via: USA Today: The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation’s top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime. The U.S. Justice Department ordered the FBI to begin tracking crimes […]
Google Searches Result in Visit from Joint Terrorism Task Force
August 2nd, 2013Any lawyers who click through are likely to experience grand mal seizures when they read about how the suspect dealt with this bogus fishing expedition. Suspect: Invited Joint Terrorism Task Force (mainly FBI, but could actually include people from a variety of agencies) inside his house. Suspect: Consented to a search of his house. Suspect: […]
