Friday, September 25th, 2009
So apparently, slamming a man’s head into the pavement, breaking his teeth, is a perfectly acceptable method of arresting him for running a red light on his bicycle. Good to keep in mind.
Study says torture may destroy the very memories interrogators are trying to elicit.
Cool pictures from the Sydney dust storm.
DOJ official tells Congress that in 2008, of 763 “sneak and peek” warrants issued–a variety of warrant the PATRIOT Act made easier to obtain–just three were related to terrorism investigations. Sixty-five percent were related to drug investigations.
Lawsuit claims Boston cops beat a man for filming them with his cell phone.
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Saturday, September 12th, 2009
Fire chief shot in the back in court by cop will be charged with battering a police officer. Seems there’s a disagreement over who shoved whom first.
Checking Obama’s math on the number of people without health insurance.
Kittycide.
Wonderful photo collection from Afghanistan and Nepal.
I told you this would happen. We don’t even have a health care plan yet and the anti-fact advocates are already figuring out how to use it to police what you eat.
9/11 didn’t change everything. And that’s a good thing.
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Saturday, May 30th, 2009
More details emerge in the Oklahoma story where a police officer was caught on a camera phone assaulting an EMT.
State police raid a charity poker game in Maine, seize $500 intended for a food co-op.
Some beautiful photos from Africa.
More surprises in Judge Sotomayor’s record: She rarely allows claims of private race discrimination to go forward. I imagine you, readers, will have mixed reactions to this one.
Craig T. Nelson, tax protester.
The “non-lethal” Taser strikes again.
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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
It’s a sad state of affairs when a ninja can’t even successfully rob a dry cleaning store.
More sad photos of Detroit.
The story behind the fabulously precise hack of Time magazine’s “most influential people” poll.
This just seems like a really bad idea, doesn’t it?
Bulldog beauty pageant.
Two St. Louis cops accused of lying on multiple search warrant affidavits.
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Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
Someone should tell the governor of New York that 90 percent of Internet porn is free.
If you try to…um…sit, I’ll tax the seat….
The D.C. Examiner editorializes in favor of the Calvo SWAT transparency bill.
Huge collection of photos from Nazi-era Germany.
Boston Globe finds that the private cars of police officials are routinely illegally parked in and around police department buildings. And never ticketed.
Anne Applebaum on the enduring legacy of Smoot-Hawley.
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Sunday, January 11th, 2009
Cop shoots dog during drug raid, bullet goes through dog, hits DEA agent also on the raid. The article says the man they raided has yet to be charged with any crime.
Photos from the abandoned soundstage of The Wire.
The Secret saved my life!
Tilt-shift photography plus stop-motion animation. Pretty cool.
Feds considering “drug war surge” into Mexico.
Hooray for the Internets! Hottest video on Iran’s version of Digg shows a high-ranking cleric “doing some Nasnas” with a prostitute.
My people have a long and rich history.
Photos of babies’ first-day expressions.
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Saturday, December 27th, 2008
Cheney versus the rule of law.
Survey of emergency room physicians shows nearly all believe police use excessive force in arresting and detaining suspects.
Former Treasury Sec. John Snow says Bush administration “forgot” the basic principle that before the government implements expansive new programs pushing home ownership, it should probably make sure those people can actually afford the homes they’re buying.
Flash Speak & Spell.
Will it blend: Bic lighter? With fireball goodness.
Will Obama decriminalize marijuana?
Eartha Kitt, RIP. The Agitatrix does a mean version of “Santa Baby.”
Beautiful panoramic of Hong Kong at night.
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
NFL to broadcast a Chargers-Raider game in 3-D? Sounds interesting, but please, keep the 3-d cameras Al Davis. Someone could get hurt.
Post-reductio Canada. What an incredibly stupid conception of civil rights.
British police protest plan to arm officers with Tasers, arguing, “There is no doubt that in some circumstances Tasers are a very effective alternative to firearms or asps [metal batons] but their use must be tightly controlled and we have seen no case made out to extend their availability.”
Practical, nonconventional uses for a portable digital camera.
Texas officials are digging in with their plan to require some tech support experts to obtain a private investigator’s license. When this story first came out, some of these same officials pooh-poohed the scare stories as an overreaction. But then why refuse to clarify the ambiguous language that have critics concerned?
Australian researcher finds that the parts of the country where prostitution is decriminalized and least regulated have the healthiest sex workers.
Obama nominee for DHS chief has a history of embarrassing alliances with Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
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Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
Fascinating story in the Washington Post about the ancient, conquered viruses encased in the human genome.
Good op-ed in this morning’s Baltimore Sun about police raids.
Beautiful photos of London at night.
Female Iraq War vet found in a contractor’s tent beaten, raped, shot in the head, and partially burned, with lye poured on her vagina. Somehow, Army doctors ruled her death a “suicide.” Dr. Hayne must be doing autopsies for the federal government, now.
Tough guys and puppies.
An Atlanta judge arrested for drunk driving who refused to take a breath test will not lose his license after the cop who pulled him over “lost the paperwork” associated with the arrest. How convenient.
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Friday, April 18th, 2008
The GOP is blocking an investigation into possible corruption involving an earmark secured by Alaska Rep. Don Young. Unbelievable. Forget ethics and morality. How many times does this party have to get its ass kicked at the polls before they’ll learn?
Politicians in the state of Minnesota can’t keep their budget in order. So they’re turning to banks and financial institutions to do their police work for them, and help catch tax cheats. The reader who sent me this asks, “What happened to the Fourth Amendment?” I assume he was joking.
Pretty cool use of imaging technology to figure out what was really going on a few weeks ago with that reflection in Dick Cheney’s glasses.
Wrong door raid in Britain. Welcome to the drug war, American style!
Very cool photos of a native tree-dwelling tribe in Indonesia.
Correction: At the first link, I misstated what’s going on. Most of the Senate, several GOP leaders, and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer want the matter referred to the Justice Department. Pelosi and maverick GOP Sen. Tom Coburn want Young’s case referred to the Ethics Committee. I’m not sure I’d trust either to do a proper investigation. The Ethics Committee is notoriously soft on the members it investigates. And this Justice Department is overtly political, especially on matters of public corruption. But I apologize for misstating what actually happened.
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