Tag Archives: Bill of Rights

Mark Nestmann: They’ve spit on the Bill of Rights yet again

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“[The Wisconsin Supreme Court] recently ruled that police do not need a search warrant to forcibly open locked doors in a private home.  It’s bad enough that a citizen can be fined and imprisoned for possession of a plant with medicinal properties. But with this decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has declared that so long as police have permission to enter a home with or without a warrant, once they’re inside, they can conduct a protective sweep. Police then have the right to rifle through your belongings, break down locked doors, and seize evidence that can later be used against you.”

http://www.nestmann.com/theyve-spit-on-the-bill-of-rights-yet-again

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Homeland Security to subpoena Techdirt over an article comment

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“This week, Techdirt’s Tim Cushing published a story about the Hancock County, IN Sheriff’s Department officers who stole $240,000 under color of asset forfeiture.  Digger, a Techdirt commenter, remarked, ‘The only ‘bonus’ these criminals [the Sheriff’s Department officers] are likely to see could be a bullet to their apparently empty skulls.’  This prompted the Department of Homeland Security to contact Techdirt and ask whom they should send a subpoena to in order to get at the identity of Digger. Masnick is worried that the subpoena, when and if it arrives, could come with a gag order, so he’s publishing now.”

http://boingboing.net/2016/05/06/homeland-security-want-to-subp.html

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National Security Letters are now constitutional, judge rules

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“A judge who in 2013 declared that National Security Letters (NSLs) were unconstitutional has now changed her mind in an unsealed ruling made public Thursday.  Federal investigators issue tens of thousands of NSLs each year to banks, ISPs, car dealers, insurance companies, doctors, and others. The letters, which demand personal information, don’t need a judge’s signature and come with a gag to the recipient that forbids the disclosure of the NSL to the public or the target. Information sought in one case included a target’s complete Web browsing history, the IP addresses of everyone a person has corresponded with, and records of all online purchases.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/in-a-reversal-judge-now-says-national-security-letters-are-constitutional/

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Navy Uses US Citizens as Pawns in Domestic War Games

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“Beginning in mid-January, Navy SEALs will be practicing unannounced and clandestine combat beach landings across Washington State’s Puget Sound and many other coastal areas of that state. Navy SEALs carrying ‘simulated’ weapons may also travel across public and private property within city limits, and may swim through public and private marinas occupied by people living on boats. They could conduct war game patrols on roads through residential communities. In addition to tribal, state, federal and county lands, there are many properties on the Navy’s list of training sites marked as private.”

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34367-exclusive-navy-uses-us-citizens-as-pawns-in-domestic-war-games

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2015 News Stories You Should Have Heard About, But Probably Didn’t

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“In 2015, the iron fist of power clamped down on humanity, from warfare to terrorism (I repeat myself) to surveillance, police brutality, and corporate hegemony. The environment was repeatedly decimated, the health of citizens was constantly put at risk, and the justice system and media alike were perverted to serve the interests of the powers that be.  However, while 2015 was discouraging for more reasons than most of us can count, many of the year’s most underreported stories evidence not only a widespread pattern that explicitly reveals the nature of power, but pushback from human beings worldwide on a path toward a better world.”

http://theantimedia.org/15-news-stories-from-2015-you-should-have-heard-about-but-probably-didnt/

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Oklahoma Official Used Asset Forfeiture to Pay Back His Student Loans

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“An assistant district attorney in the state of Oklahoma lived rent-free in a house confiscated by local law enforcement under the practice of asset forfeiture. His office paid the utility bills. He remained there for five years, despite a court order to sell the house at auction.  Another district attorney used $5,000 worth of confiscated funds to pay back his student loans.  These are just a few of the gems unearthed during a recent hearing on Oklahoma authorities’ liberal use of asset forfeiture to take property from suspected criminals and spend it on personal enrichment.  Unsurprisingly, cops are desperate to preserve the practice.”

https://reason.com/blog/2015/07/22/oklahoma-official-used-asset-forfeiture

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Tamir Rice Protesters March to Prosecutor’s Home, Demand Resignation

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“Protesters upset by a decision not to indict two white police officers in the shooting death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who had a pellet gun, marched to the home of the prosecutor Friday and repeated calls for him to resign.  Tamir was shot within two seconds of the officers’ police cruiser skidding to a stop near the boy.  McGinty said police radio personnel contributed to the tragedy by failing to pass along the ‘all-important fact’ that a 911 caller said the gunman was probably a juvenile and the gun probably was not real. Mayor Frank Jackson and Police Chief Calvin Williams said that as protests continue, they plan to balance public safety with protesters’ First Amendment rights.”

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tamir-rice-protesters-march-prosecutor-s-home-demand-resignation-n489071

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Free Speech Limits to Fight ISIS Pose a Greater Threat Than ISIS

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“Fast forward to 2015, where the aging al Qaeda brand has become decisively less scary and ISIS has been unveiled as the new never-before-seen menace. There are now once again calls for restrictions on the First Amendment’s free speech protections, but they come not from far-right radicals in universally discredited neocon journals, but rather from the most mainstream voices, as highlighted this week by the New York Times. The NYT cites two recent articles, one in Bloomberg by long-time Obama adviser Cass Sunstein and the other in Slate by law professor Eric Posner, that suggested limitations on the First Amendment in order to fight ISIS.”

https://theintercept.com/2015/12/29/those-demanding-free-speech-limits-to-fight-isis-pose-a-greater-threat-to-u-s-than-isis/

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Want My Blood? Get a Warrant.

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“‘Probable cause,’ a phrase used by the Fourth Amendment itself, has never been precisely defined, but it is not a very high standard. According to the Supreme Court, it may amount to no more than a ‘substantial chance’ or a ‘fair probability.’  Nor is getting a judge to certify probable cause much of a burden in an age of instantaneous mobile communications and electronic warrants. But police tend to take short cuts when they are available, so it is not surprising that the cops who arrested Birchfield, Beylund, and Bernard for driving under the influence (DUI) made no attempt to obtain warrants authorizing chemical testing of the alcohol in their blood.”

https://reason.com/archives/2015/12/21/want-my-blood-get-a-warrant

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Kansas Couple SWAT Raided After Tea Was Mistaken for Marijuana

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“U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum said police acted legally and reasonably in planning and conducting the fruitless raid on the home of Robert and Adlynn Harte, former CIA employees whose children were 7 and 13 at the time. The family was held at gunpoint for two and a half hours while Johnson County sheriff’s deputies went through the house, after which they gave the Hartes a receipt saying ‘no items taken’ in lieu of an apology. Because the cops refused to say why they thought the Hartes were growing marijuana, the couple spent a year and $25,000 in legal fees to get a look at the affidavit supporting the search warrant.”

https://reason.com/blog/2015/12/22/couple-whose-tea-was-mistaken-for-mariju

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