Category: Uncategorized

Alabama SB 221 is likely to receive a vote on the Senate floor during the week of April 27-May 1. Bills that have passed committee and are awaiting a Senate vote “stand in line”, and SB 221 is now number nine in the list. The Alabama Senate usually holds floor sessions on two days a week, and it is not possible to know which two days that will be in the coming week. SB 221 lowers the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties and non-presidential independents from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5%. It …read more

New York, NY– Four Swedish police officers vacationing in New York City were on the subway on Wednesday when a fight broke out. The train operator asked if there were any police riding who could help with the situation. The Scandinavian patrolmen were very soothing and non-aggressive as they de-escalated the situation instead of escalating it, the way we have seen so often from our own men and women in blue.

The officers were on their way to see a performance of Les Misérables when the train operator frantically asked for assistance. “Are there any police officers on the …read more

Annapolis, Maryland – A bill that would allow people on parole and probation to use marijuana recently passed in Maryland’s House of Delegates. It will now head to Senate for another vote. The proposed bill comes a year after the state voted to decriminalize marijuana possession, but only up to 10 grams, larger amounts still carry potential prison sentences.
As with many states across the country, politicians in Maryland have been hesitant to fully end marijuana prohibition. However, they are slowly allowing bills to slip through that slightly lessen the legal penalties relating to marijuana use and possession.
According to Delegate David …read more

We provide a SHOCKING detail about the effectiveness of the Patriot Act, in the letter below.

A Patriot Act provision that authorizes warrantless bulk surveillance EXPIRES June 1.
If you want it dead and gone forever, tell Congress through DownsizeDC.org’s Surveillance State Repeal Act campaign.

You may copy or edit this letter that I sent…
Edward Snowden shocked America when he revealed extensive spying on the American people, authorized by Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

Mitch McConnell, however, sees NOTHING wrong with 215. He’s by-passing the committee process to ram through a bill extending the Patriot Act for …read more

The United Independent Party is ballot-qualified in Massachusetts. However, since it doesn’t expect to run a presidential candidate in 2016, and because President is the only statewide office on the ballot in 2016 in Massachusetts, the party will lose its qualified status in November 2016 unless it has registration membership of 1% of the number of registered voters.
According to this story, the party has 2,300 registered members, and needs about 43,000 by November 2016. The party’s registration drive began in December 2014. …read more

Norman Leahy and Paul Goldman have this op-ed in the Washington Post, criticizing the exclusion of Joseph Morrissey from the Democratic primary ballot this year for State Senate. The op-ed makes it clear that he is being kept off the ballot under the theory that he doesn’t have enough valid signatures, when he really does have enough valid signatures. …read more

We’ve seen a number of Bitcoin applications launch over the past few months and have noticed some things that work well to drive new users. Here’s some tips for launching a Bitcoin app built with Coinbase:

Use Coinbase Connect, our OAuth2 protocol that makes it easy for millions of bitcoin wallet holders to send, receive, buy, sell and securely store bitcoin within your app

Submit your app to the Coinbase App Gallery
1.) Login to Coinbase account and go to >Settings>API Access: …read more

Denver, CO — A recently proposed bill in Colorado imposing legal penalties on police officers who interfere with citizens filming them could soon become law. The state’s House Of Representatives passed the bill this week, and it will now move on to vote in the Senate.
If it becomes law, the bill would reportedly require police officers to have someone’s consent or a warrant to physically take or destroy a persons camera or footage. If an officer violates this law, the victim would then be able to seek damages up to $15,000 plus attorney fees. This would also be the first …read more

Dade City, FL– In body camera footage that was released on Wednesday, a Pasco County sheriff’s deputy is seen shooting and killing a woman’s dog, because of a burglar alarm going off.

The deputy arrived at Carla Gloger’s home after a silent alarm was tripped. The officer barely attempted to open the gate to her long driveway, and instead hopped a fence to get onto the property, ignoring warning signs about the woman owning dogs. Gloger maintains that the situation may have been very different had the officer opened the gate and drove up the driveway.
As he approached the …read more

Colorado Representative Dominick Moreno (D-Commerce City) has introduced HB 1354. Currently, Colorado lets independents vote in party primaries if the independent joins one of the parties on primary day. The bill would allow independent voters to vote in major party primaries without joining any party.
The bill provides that a special primary ballot, containing the names of all primary candidates, would be prepared just for independent voters. An independent voter choosing that ballot could only vote for one candidate per office, but would be free to choose a Democrat for one office or a Republican for another office.
Major …read more