“Tancítaro represents a quiet but telling trend in Mexico, where a handful of towns and cities are effectively seceding, partly or in whole. These are acts of desperation, revealing the degree to which Mexico’s police and politicians are seen as part of the threat.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/07/world/americas/mexico-state-corruption.html
“The state of New California would incorporate most of the state’s rural counties, leaving the urban coastal counties to the current state of California. But unlike other separation movements in the past, the state of New California wants to do things by the book, citing Article 4, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution and working with the state legislature to get it done, similar to the way West Virginia was formed.”
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-california-declares-independence-from-rest-of-state/
“Nine people in California have been charged after they handed out food to the homeless, violating a rule about sharing food in public places. The group were protesting against an emergency ordinance in the city of El Cajon which was introduced in response to California’s hepatitis A outbreak. They handed out food, clothes and toiletries on Sunday before police arrived and issued citations.”
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42690251
“The Yoder family, like others of their sect, shun the use of electricity, especially when it is from the grid. For years, the Yoders have been fighting the sewer connection order because it requires them to install an electric grinder pump to shunt waste from their home into the Sugar Grove Area Sewer Authority’s system in Warren County. Rejected was the family’s argument that they should simply be allowed to keep using their outdoor privy, which lacks electricity and running water.”
Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/01/old_order_amish_family_must_co.html
“Their guidance claims the authority to search a traveler’s electronic devices ‘with or without suspicion.’ The guidance now claims passengers are ‘obligated’ to turn over their devices as well as passcodes for examination. If they fail to do so, agents can seize the device. That is all considered a ‘basic search.’ Agents must have suspicion in order to conduct an ‘advanced search.’ This includes copying information from devices, or analyzing them with other equipment. Finally, CBP agents can not ‘intentionally’ search information stored on the cloud, versus on the device’s hard drive.”
“Federal officers would look to arrest more than 1,500 undocumented people while sending a message that immigration policy will be enforced in the sanctuary state, according to a source familiar with the operation. Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, declined to comment Tuesday on plans for the operation. The campaign, centered in the Bay Area, could happen within weeks, and is expected to become the biggest enforcement action of its kind under President Trump, said the source, who requested anonymity because the plans have not been made public.”
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Feds-planning-massive-Northern-California-12502689.php
“The DEA’s Special Operations Division is one of several tools the government uses to hide the origins of criminal investigations nationwide, in potential violation of constitutional protections. In a report released today, ‘Dark Side: Secret Origins of Evidence in U.S. Criminal Cases,’ Human Rights Watch documents the use of parallel construction by federal and local police agencies, finding the practice is used in the United States ‘frequently and possibly even daily.'”
Read more: https://theintercept.com/2018/01/09/dark-side-fbi-dea-illegal-searches-secret-evidence/
“Just to be clear, the city attorney is arguing that a white jury was acting with racial prejudice when it ruled against police officers who killed a black man.”
“State corrections officials say the recordings generally were not listened to or provided to law enforcement, though in one case, that did happen. And defense lawyers suspect the problem may be prevalent.”
“If a citizen speaks at a public meeting and says something a politician doesn’t like, can the citizen be arrested, cuffed, and carted off to the hoosegow? Suppose that, during this fraught encounter, the citizen violates some law—even by accident, even one no one has ever heard of, even one dug up after the fact—does that make her arrest constitutional? Deyshia Hargrave, meet Fane Lozman. You need to follow his case.”