“The US has never brought a death penalty case for a drug offense, but following the president’s call for executions last spring, Attorney General Sessions sent a memo to prosecutors urging them to consider seeking the death penalty in some cases.”
Read more: https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/jun/27/150_organizations_condemn_trumps
“Civil rights advocates and medical groups are arguing the databases should be used to identify problem patients and get them into treatment. The American Medical Association calls for the databases to be placed under health departments rather than the police agencies and disciplinary boards that control most of them.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/databases-key-crackdown-on-opioids-686879
“In the hands of government surveillance programs and law enforcement agencies, there’s simply no way that face recognition software will be not used to harm citizens.”
“Microsoft Corp. scrubbed an online reference to its work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the agency faces criticism for its role in separating families at the U.S.-Mexican border.”
“In April, an expert advisory panel for the FDA voted unanimously to recommend Epidiolex’s approval and determined that ‘CBD has a negligible abuse potential.’ The DEA did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment. But GW said it expects that the DEA will reschedule CBD within 90 days.”
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents repeatedly target U.S. citizens for deportation by mistake, making wrongful arrests based on incomplete government records, bad data and lax investigations, according to a Times review of federal lawsuits, internal ICE documents and interviews.”
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-citizens-ice-20180427-htmlstory.html
“A visitor from France says she was jogging along the beach south of White Rock, B.C., when she crossed the U.S. border without realizing it. So began a two-week nightmare that landed her in a prison jumpsuit.”
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4717060
“The Canadian government has worked for the past three years to expand its involvement in Tuscan, without public acknowledgment or public consultation.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/21/canada-us-tuscan-anti-terrorist-database-at-borders
“A company that developed a massive database for police body cameras has joined forces with the world’s biggest manufacturer of consumer unmanned aerial vehicles to sell surveillance drones to police departments.”
“The Constitution must take account of vast technological changes, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, noting that digital data can provide a comprehensive, detailed — and intrusive — overview of private affairs that would have been impossible to imagine not long ago.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/us/politics/supreme-court-warrants-cell-phone-privacy.html