TX Court Would Rather See Man Die in Jail from Seizures than Have Traces of a Plant in His Urine

Port Acres, TX – After setting a legal precedent for medical marijuana use in the state of Texas, courts are now going back on their decision allowing an epileptic man to use his medication during probation.
Last month, we reported on the case of Jeremy Bourque, an epileptic, and self-prescribed medical marijuana patient. He was facing jail time for growing three marijuana plants; the intended use of which being personal medical consumption. Jeremy had contacted us with the good news that not only was he able to avoid jail time, but the terms of his probation would also allow for him …read more

British Public Watches 7-Party Debate

On the evening of April 2, the leaders of seven political parties in Great Britain debated each other. All seven party leaders appear to have performed without making any obvious gaffes. See this story. Also, here is another story. For another, see this story. Each of these three articles is quite different from the others. …read more

Greenville, South Carolina, City Council May Restore Partisan Elections for City Office on April 6

According to this story, the Greenville, South Carolina, city council will vote on April 6 whether to convert the city’s elections back from non-partisan to partisan elections.
If the city council does reinstate partisan city elections, the Greenville County Republican Party will once more be able to sue over state law that says parties must pay for open primaries in municipal partisan elections. The 4th circuit last month rejected the party’s lawsuit because Greenville had switched to non-partisan city elections last year. The 4th circuit said it was unlikely that the city would reinstate partisan elections. But, that …read more

Biker Threatened with Jail if He Doesn’t Apologize for Swearing at a Cop, He Stands his Ground

In a video uploaded to Facebook on Wednesday, Michael Cates filmed a disturbing interaction between police and retired truck driver, Russel Ayers. The recording shows police threatening Ayers with incarceration after he refused to apologize to an officer, after calling him a “f*cking asshole.”
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The confrontation took place after the officer’s partner allegedly came close to plowing through a group of bikers on Highway 62 in Thomasville, North Carolina. The cruiser was reportedly going 100 mph in a 60 mph zone, with no siren or lights.
“All I want you to do is apologize for what you called my brother, the guy …read more

Kansas Statistics Expert Probes Conceivable Electronic Vote-Counting Errors in Kansas November 2014 Election

Beth Clarkson, chief statistician for the National Institute for Aviation Research, and a Kansas, has been studying November 2014 Kansas election returns, and she has noted odd patterns in the precinct voting returns. On April 1 she filed a lawsuit in state court to obtain records that would help her to investigate further. See this story. UPDATE: See here for more about Clarkson. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. …read more

Bits is the new default – and all new users get 100 bits for free!

Almost a year ago we launched an option to see bitcoin amounts in bits in your Coinbase wallet. One bitcoin is equal to 1,000,000 bits, and, like many people, we at Coinbase believe that bits will eventually be the common way people send bitcoin in everyday payments.

Today we’re launching 3 improvements to our bits integration – and in addition, bits will be the default for all new customers signing up. Existing customers can enable (or disable) bits at any time on the settings page.

These changes are live today on web and will be available in our mobile apps in the …read more

Buy Bitcoin With iDEAL On Coinbase

We’re excited to announce support for iDEAL, a popular payment method in the Netherlands, for buying bitcoin on Coinbase. To get started visit your accounts page, click on your EUR wallet (if you have one), and then click “Deposit”. Coinbase users with accounts at the following banks can now fund their EUR wallet via iDEAL:

ABN AMRO
ASN Bank
ING
Knab
Rabobank
RegioBank
SNS Bank
Triodos Bank
Van Lanschot
Customers using iDEAL who later want to cash out their euro wallet can do so via SEPA. The ability to buy and sell bitcoin on Coinbase is available in 24 countries worldwide. If we don’t yet support your country, sign up …read more

VIDEO: Cop Shoots Man in the Chest, Then Tells him “You’re Lucky I Didn’t Shoot You in the Head”

Richmond, VA — A disturbing video surfaced on YouTube Wednesday showing the apparent aftermath of a police involved shooting.
The video shows a man laying on the ground in handcuffs, with a bullet wound to the chest. He’s looking around and asking officers who shot him, when the cop who shot him responds.
“Why the f**k did you shoot me?” asks the man. “I didn’t point sh*t at you man!”
“You pointed a gun,” the cop replies. “You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you in the head.”
The onlookers then erupt in anger after hearing such words.
It is unclear whether or not the man had …read more

Celebrity Police State: Chris Rock Takes Selfies Documenting His Recent Harassment by the NYPD

New York City, N.Y. – Comedian Chris Rock has never been one to hold his tongue and is well known for using his comedy as a means of social commentary. One of his past routines entitled “How Not To Get Your Ass Kicked By The Police,” may have come in handy this past Monday, when Rock uploaded a photo of himself being stopped by police to his Twitter account.
Stopped by the cops again wish me luck. pic.twitter.com/6t0wlgwkrJ
— Chris Rock (@chrisrock) March 31, 2015

This marks the third time in the past seven weeks that Rock has been pulled over by police.
Last …read more