Pot Dispensaries Sue L.A. Over Moratorium

Medical Marijuana Collectives’ Suit Comes As the City Struggles to Write a New Ordinance. A newly formed association of Los Angeles medical marijuana collectives has challenged the city’s efforts to control dispensaries, claiming in a lawsuit that the 2-year-old moratorium is unconstitutionally vague and that the City Council violated state law when it extended the [...]

5 Things the Corporate Media Don’t Want You to Know About Cannabis

Writing in the journal Science nearly four decades ago, State University of New York sociologist Erich Goode documented the media’s complicity in maintaining cannabis prohibition. He observed: “[T]ests and experiments purporting to demonstrate the ravages of marijuana consumption receive enormous attention from the media, and their findings become accepted as fact by the public.  But [...]

US soldiers urged to pray for Muslims to become Christians

On Friday, several thousand Muslims gathered in DC for a very peaceful National Day of Prayer.  At the same time, several Evangelical Christian groups gathered to protest the event.  According to a Fox News story, At a separate event, held simultaneously in a conference room at the Rayburn House Office Building, a group calling itself [...]

Insurance Company Settles Claim for Discriminating against Atheists

GuideOne Mutual Insurance didn’t see any problem with offering special benefits to god-fearing consumers, but atheists and agnostics, not to mention the federal government, sure did. The Department of Justice sued GuideOne in federal court in Kentucky after receiving complaints about the insurer’s “FaithGuard” policy that offered homebuyers, owners and renters in 19 states special [...]

Attorney: Oklahoma City bomb tapes appear edited

OKLAHOMA CITY  — Long-secret security tapes showing the chaos immediately after the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building are blank in the minutes before the blast and appear to have been edited, an attorney who obtained the recordings said Sunday. “The real story is what’s missing,” said Jesse Trentadue, a Salt Lake City attorney [...]

U.S. Foreign Extradition Map

Before his arrest last week, Roman Polanski had successfully evaded the long arm of the U.S. law for several decades. Here’s a map portraying which nations do and do not have extradition treaties with the United States.  If you ever commit a serious crime and need to flee and start a new life somewhere else, [...]

Web sites with anonymous comments denied university press passes

A recent story on a football game in the INDenver Times highlighted a Colorado University press policy that limits which web sites are granted press passes to cover athletic games. INDenver Times said it had turned off the online comments section on a story about Colorado University’s win against the Wyoming Cowboys because the school [...]

October 22nd: Stop Police Brutality, Repression and The Criminalization of a Generation

Criminalizing Teens For Being Teens

Radley Balko calls this essay “one of the more moving blog posts I’ve read in a long time.” Classically Liberal writes: [Sex crime] laws are not so much protecting children from predators as they are turning them into predators. Look at this chart. Individuals who are legally defined as sex offenders. When you look at the [...]

Feingold: ‘Sneak-and-peek’ searches being used for regular crimes

The Justice Department made 763 requests for “sneak-and-peek” warrants in 2008, but only three of those had to with terrorism investigations, Sen. Russ Feingold told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. “Sneak-and-peek” warrants allow law enforcement officials to break into homes and businesses and search the premises without the investigated party knowing. The authority [...]

Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine

Valery Yarynich glances nervously over his shoulder. Clad in a brown leather jacket, the 72-year-old former Soviet colonel is hunkered in the back of the dimly lit Iron Gate restaurant in Washington, DC. It’s March 2009—the Berlin Wall came down two decades ago—but the lean and fit Yarynich is as jumpy as an informant dodging [...]

Firepower and freedom

The brilliant thinkers that wrote our Constitution had it right… They had just fought a war to overthrow an oppressive government, and they had won it by having similar technologies to this oppressive Government and tactics more suitable to the type of war they were fighting. These geniuses wrote the Second Amendment to ensure that [...]

Lawsuit challenges marijuana nuisance ordinance

A civil lawsuit filed September 11 in Ukiah against the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Tom Allman challenges the nuisance ordinance limiting parcels to no more than 25 marijuana plants. The suit contends the 25 plant per parcel rule contradicts state law, which places no limit on the number of plants a qualified [...]

Hearing set for Imperial Valley prosecutor, Jon Willis, on domestic violence charges

An arraignment hearing is set Oct. 19 in El Centro for a local prosecutor charged with assaulting his wife with a beer can. Jonathan Lee Willis, 61, a seven-year Imperial County deputy district attorney, faces two misdemeanor charges: assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and a single count of corporal injury to [...]

Deputy whose gun killed mother, son resigns

A sheriff’s deputy whose service weapon was used last month to kill a mother and son in Ontario has resigned, authorities confirmed Wednesday. Andrew Gressley, 25, was placed on paid administrative leave on Aug. 27 while sheriff’s officials investigated how his department-issued Glock .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol ended up in the hands of a parolee and [...]

Merced police used Taser on unarmed, legless man in a wheelchair

The Merced Police Department‘s Internal Affairs Division is investigating a complaint alleging that an officer twice used a Taser against an unarmed, wheelchair-bound man with no legs. The incident occurred Sept. 11. The man who was Tasered, 40-year-old Gregory Williams, a double-leg amputee, spent six days in jail on suspicion of domestic violence and resisting [...]

Turkish PM manhandled by US Secret Service

Disagreements over security measures have reportedly led to a scuffle between Turkish Prime Minister and US President Barack Obama’s Secret Service bodyguards. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in the US on Wednesday to attend the United Nations General Assembly and the G20 summit. According to “Cumhuriyet”, a Turkish daily newspaper, despite long talks, security services of [...]

New York police comes down on Russia Today correspondent

As the United Nations session continued, Russia Today (RT) correspondent Marina Portnaya was verbally abused and harassed by overzealous New York City Police Department officers. She was prevented from broadcasting and denied the use of her phone, but was later told she had done nothing wrong. However, a live broadcast associate was told that our [...]

Carter says US likely behind coup against Chavez

Former US president Jimmy Carter says that Washington may have played a role in a failed coup against Venezuelan leftist leader Hugo Chavez in 2002. “I think there is no doubt that in 2002, the United States had at the very least full knowledge about the coup, and could even have been directly involved,” Carter [...]

Deputy declares intention to run for San Bernardino County Sheriff

A 24-year San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy has announced his candidacy for sheriff in the June 2010 election. Mark Averbeck, 47, of Redlands, will appear at a question-and-answer session sponsored by the Safety Employees Benefit Association, the union representing county law enforcement employees, at 6 p.m. Oct. 7 at the San Bernardino Hilton. Averback works [...]

Jury deadlocks again at deputy’s extortion trial

A jury has deadlocked for the second time — generating the third mistrial — in the case of a former sheriff’s deputy accused of attempting to extort a San Manuel tribal member. Defendant John Thomas Laurent returns to court Sept. 30 for a status hearing. The defense is expected to request the charges against Laurent [...]

“We’re Number 37″ – Paul Hipp

Compliance by Design: The Continuing Allure of “Non-Lethal” Weapons

Although so-called non-lethal weapons (NLWs) have been around for decades and range from CS gas to pepper spray and from the low-tech water cannon to the Taser, their use by military and police agencies world-wide are designed to ensure compliance from hostile “natives.” And with ever-more devilish torture tools being dreamed up by the likes [...]

Former CBS anchorman, Dan Rather, warns of corporate influence over news

(WMR) – On September 16, Dan Rather, the former anchor of the CBS Evening News, warned that today’s news is shaped by very powerful corporate network owners who “are in bed with powerful political interests” that are influenced by government regulatory interests. Rather spoke at a National Press Club remembrance of his colleague Walter Cronkite, his [...]

Wyoming officers fired in TASER incident

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two police officers who chased and Tasered a 76-year-old man driving a tractor in a Wyoming town parade have been fired. Bud Grose, who was shocked five times by Officer Michael Kavenius, welcomed the decision announced Tuesday by the Glenrock Police Department. “Hopefully this will kind of help bring the community together [...]

Off-duty Detroit cop shoots wife, then himself

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Shots rang out in the parking lot of the Canton Public Library this morning as an off-duty Detroit Police Department homicide investigator shot and killed his wife, also a DPD officer, and then shot himself, according to investigators. Ed Williams, 36, is on life support pending organ donation, Canton Township Police [...]

Authorities: Marine confessed to killing wife

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Marine charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife had confessed to the killing in a 911 call, police said Tuesday. Cpl. Cody Daniel Richardson, 22, of Carroll, N.H., was charged in the death of his 21-year-old wife, Jessy, Jacksonville police said. He was held under a $1 [...]

Schofield soldier charged in shooting

BAGHDAD — A soldier has been charged with murder in the slaying of a civilian contractor on an American base in Iraq, the military said Tuesday. Spc. Beyshee Velez of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, was charged Monday in the Sept. 13 shooting death of a contractor who worked for Houston-based KBR at Camp Speicher in the [...]

Ex-Eglin contractor set for sentencing

PENSACOLA, Fla. — A former government contractor at Eglin Air Force Base is scheduled for sentencing in federal court Tuesday after pleading guilty in June to destroying corporate records and other charges. Theodore Sumrall faces 25 years in prison and more than $500,000 in fines if convicted of two counts of destroying records and helping [...]

Retired AF officer on trial in China spy case

A convicted spy who sold U.S. military secrets to China told jurors Monday how he recruited a retired Air Force officer into divulging classified information on U.S.-China military relations and other sensitive topics over the span of a decade. James W. Fondren Jr., who retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1996 [...]

The Teachers Union “Would Protect a Dead Body in the Classroom”

Paraphrasing the old publicist’s line: If you read one article on government schools this year, you must read “The Rubber Room: The battle over New York City’s worst teachers” in the August 31 edition of The New Yorker by Steve Brill. (I apologize for taking so long to get to it, but New Yorker issues [...]

CREW’s Most Corrupt: Rep. Jerry Lewis

Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is a sixteen-term member of Congress, representing the 41st district of California. Currently the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, his ethics issues stem primarily from the misuse of his position as chairman of the committee to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks to family and friends in direct [...]

Private company plans illegal-immigrant prison in Adelanto

ADELANTO • A private prison operator has plans to build a 2,200-bed detention center that holds illegal immigrants on 51 acres near two other local prisons. The Adelanto City Council will decide on Wednesday whether to approve the GEO Group Inc.’s development plan and conditional use permit to construct a new correctional facility on the [...]

Banned Books Week organizers remind public of freedom of speech

The arguments over whether to allow Temecula schools to teach the book “Speak” with its themes of date rape, underage drinking and depression still echo as national Banned Book Week begins Saturday. The annual campaign, from Saturday to Oct. 3, is organized by the American Library Association. It is intended to remind Americans not to [...]

San Bernardino council votes to send ultimatum to church after receiving sex offender memo

SAN BERNARDINO – The San Bernardino City Council voted late Monday night to send an ultimatum to a local church that hosts an Operation Phoenix youth center after council members received a leaked memo reporting that a registered sex offender had performed work on the premises.The council voted 5-0, following the recommendation of Councilwoman Wendy [...]

“Tough on Crime” is Not a Winner in Manhattan DA Race

On Sep. 15, Cyrus Vance Jr. overwhelmingly beat Leslie Crocker Snyder in the race to be Manhattan’s next district attorney. Since there is no Republican challenger, Vance will be voted into office in November. Snyder, who built her career as a ruthless prosecutor and judge, was beaten so bad that The Village Voice quoted her [...]

Time to end the war on drugs

Vancouver in British Columbia, Ciudad Juárez in northern Mexico and Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan are unlikely cousins. But together these three places and their ilk have wrought a remarkable change in one of the world’s most important debates over the past two years. For decades, the idea of legalizing narcotics was supported by only [...]

Massachusetts OKs Secret Use Of GPS On Suspects

For the first time, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that the state constitution allows police to break into a suspect’s car to secretly install tracking devices using a global positioning system, provided that authorities have a warrant before they do so. In a unanimous ruling written by Justice Judith Cowin, the state’s highest [...]

IG Report on the U.S. National Central Bureau of INTERPOL

United States National Central Bureau of INTERPOL The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General has just released this report which addresses the United States National Central Bureau (USNCB) of INTERPOL. “Our objectives for this audit were to evaluate the USNCB’s efforts to ensure sharing of INTERPOL information among federal, state, local, and tribal [...]

Brazil Book on Nuclear Weapons Draws Scrutiny

A book published this year in Brazil on “The Physics of Nuclear Explosives” prompted concerns at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it revealed classified nuclear weapons design information and that it might signify a renewed interest by Brazil in developing such weapons.  The U.S. Government also requested further details on the matter, the [...]

Sesame Street takes tour of bases

Elmo, Cookie Monster and their buddies are taking their Sesame Street message to military children at bases in Europe, Alaska and Hawaii. The Muppet USO tour started Sept. 8 at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom. Military children are being treated to Muppet performances and giveaways from the Sesame Workshop and the United Service Organizations [...]

Definition of ‘journalist’ scaled back in federal shield bill

An amendment to the bipartisan Senate bill that would create a federal shield law for journalists will likely exclude many bloggers and internet journalists, according to the text of the amendment introduced by Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. The amendment to the Free Flow of Information Act was quickly adopted when Sen. Schumer, [...]

Exam questions are a trade secret in Ohio

Ohio’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the annual exam given to ninth-graders in Cincinnati’s Public Schools is not a public record subject to disclosure because it is a trade secret and therefore exempt from public records law, The Columbus Dispatch reports. In a 5-2 decision, the justices sided with the school district’s attorneys, who [...]

Arizona Parents Sue Over Kids’ Bath Pictures

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Wal-Mart are suing the state and the retail giant. Lisa and Anthony ”A.J.” Demaree’s three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Wal-Mart [...]

Informing Students of Their Rights

Here’s a rather silly article on the Fox News website. In the wake of 9/11, lots of schools started requiring students to say the Pledge of Allegiance again, a practice that had waned. But the Supreme Court has ruled, quite correctly, that no student can be forced to say that pledge. But most students almost [...]

Scientists: Obama’s election may reduce terrorism

Will Barack Obama’s election make terrorists less eager to strike? A data analysis released Thursday suggests it could make a difference. In the Science magazine study, researchers Alan Bennett Krueger of Princeton University and Jitka Maleèková of the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Science in Prague looked at terrorist attacks in nine countries, [...]

The Day the Death Star Went Down

ICE performs undercover operations with help from satellite tracking devices

[ Note: The firm mentioned, Eastcor Engineering, is listed with the phone number (410) 820-5521.  This number is also listed to David Jackson, Jen McMaster and George Vojtech, all at the same address. ] The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit of the Department of Homeland Security is planning to award a $39,800 sole source [...]

Do You Have the Right to Flip Off a Cop?

David Hackbart was mad, and he wanted to show it, but he didn’t think he would end up in federal court protecting his right to a rude gesture and demanding that the city of Pittsburgh stop violating the First Amendment rights of its residents. Hackbart, 34, was looking for a parking space on busy Murray [...]

Paraguay rejects joint military drills with US

The Paraguay’s leftist leader has rejected a US plan for joint military exercises after US-Colombia military deal sparked controversy in South America. “There would be about 500 US military and other personnel in the country and that wouldn’t go unnoticed,” President Fernando Lugo said on Thursday. He also noted that he was no longer in [...]