Sunday, May 20th, 2012
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Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
- California liberals worry that federal pot raids will make people distrustful of government. Let’s hope so!
- National Guard Units aiding state drug war efforts. And possibly in defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Kyllo.
- This article on the Otto Zehm killing aptly demonstrates the many problems with police unions.
- Both Reuters and Walter Olson throw water on the notion that Stand Your Ground and Castle Doctrine laws are filling the streets with blood.
- The sponsors the 1978 California law that substantially expanded the state’s use of the death penalty are now arguing for its repeal.
- Clark County, Nevada DA won’t charge a cop who was caught on film repeatedly kicking a man in the head. The man was in diabetic shock at the time. The officer has a history of misconduct, which the DA apparently didn’t know about until it was uncovered by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
- Union claims it should be able to force anyone who wants to work in a particular field to join the union and pay dues, and that it should then be able to use a portion of those dues for political activities. And it claims that preventing it from doing so is a violation of the union’s free speech.
- How the pun changed world history.
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Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
- Here’s a writeup of the talks I and other panelists gave at Ohio University last week.
- “All four telecom firms also offer so-called “tower dumps” that allow police to see the numbers of every user accessing a certain cell tower over a certain time at an hourly rate.”
- Cop shoots other cop while trying to kill dogs.
- Chicago police managed to “persuade” a man to confess to two murders that were committed while he was in the custody of Chicago police.
- Tape captures Alabama public school teachers verbally abusing a student with cerebral palsy.
- For those of you who, like me, have a thing for photos of abandoned places.
- (Attempted) puppycide: Woman calls police to report a burglary. Police respond, shoot
and kill her dog, don’t catch the burglars.
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Sunday, March 18th, 2012
- A point that can’t be made often enough when discussing labor in the developing wrold.
- Jeffrey Havard again denied by the Mississippi Supreme Court. I’ve written about Havard’s case several times, but here’s a good summary. The only real evidence against him was now-disputed testimony from Steven Hayne. Yet he’s now perilously close to an execution date. I’ll have more on this later.
- Jacob Sullum on the injustice in the Dharun Ravi verdict. It’s disappointing to see people normally skeptical of the criminal justice system celebrating Ravi’s possible imprisonment.
- NPR asks three people who want to go to war with Syria what we should do about Syria.
- Senators say if they could tell you how the PATRIOT Act is being used, you’d be appalled.
- Police officer accused of sexual battery, rape while in uniform offered deal to plead guilty to extortion. He’ll get probation and the chance to clear his record entirely.
- State politicians aren’t using money from the mortgage settlement to help out homeowners. So basically, politicians used desperate homeowners as a prop to punish banks in order to get funding to help pay down budget deficits created by politicians. If you’re surprised by this, you haven’t been paying attention.
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Monday, March 5th, 2012
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Friday, February 3rd, 2012
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Friday, January 6th, 2012
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012
- Seattle policy on dash cam videos: We will happily release the police dash cam videos you have requested for your lawsuit . . . just as soon as the statute of limitations expires.
- The historian Newt Gingrich is apparently unaware that Washington and Jefferson grew hemp. He also seems to think we had a drug war back then. That, or he thinks Washington and Jefferson were just shooting up pot smokers, vigilante-style.
- Utah cop is killed, several others are injured after a shootout during a drug raid. The suspect had no prior criminal record, save for a traffic misdemeanor. The police haven’t yet said if they found any drugs.
- Citing prosecutorial misconduct, a Texas judge has vacated the conviction of man who has served 31 years for rape.
- Illinois police officer writes woman a traffic ticket, then looks her up in the DMV database and asks her out on a date.
- Houston man arrested, jailed for 36 hours for photographing an arrest is looking for representation for a lawsuit.
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Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
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Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
- Another example of how when police know a suspect is actually armed and dangerous, they find other ways to apprehend them than to send in the SWAT team while the suspect is sleeping.
- America’s is losing its faith in government. If this brings some skepticism about giving government ever-more power (though it likely won’t), it’s a good thing. But it also means government is failing at its most basic and fundamental obligations.
- Mark Hemingway on how the fact-checking trend in journalism has evolved into a way for journalists to simply validate their own opinions.
- The Supreme Court may be on its way to authorizing medical patents. Tim Lee explains why this is something to worry about.
- Alabama: Where it’s illegal to brew your own beer, but it’s perfectly fine to drink while you’re serving on the jury in a death penalty case.
- The latest in the Michael Mermel saga: An Illinois court has reversed the conviction of Juan Rivera, the subject of the New York Times piece that led to prosecutor Mermel’s resignation.
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