Category: Uncategorized

“There is no statutory authority that requires any local police agency or any state police agency to report anything.”
One of the most vital pieces of information free citizens need to know is how often their own government kills their fellow citizen. In the US, we have absolutely no idea how many of our fellow citizens’ lives are taken prematurely through state sanctioned violence.
“The Daily Show’s” Jason Jones and Samantha Bee hosted the show Tuesday night in the absence of regular host, Jon Stewart.

Their report, while funny, is no laughing matter. Watch the video below to see exactly how broken this …read more

Hundreds of protesters standing in front of the Ferguson police department are demanding justice for Mike Brown, a black teenager killed by a white cop. Rallies in downtown St. Louis have drawn thousands, all standing up against police brutality.
RT.com
The mother of Michael Brown, who was killed in the August 9 shooting, marched with a group of some 300 people on Ferguson police department on Saturday afternoon.
Officers now w shields and zip ties in front, facing a taunting crowd and dozen+ media #FergusonOctober @ajplus pic.twitter.com/OG2WPLaVbP
— Shadi Rahimi (@shadirahimi) October 12, 2014

#Ferguson – some turn protest into street festival, others let their …read more

According to Scotusblog, briefs are being filed on this weekend (October 11 and 12, Saturday and Sunday) in the Fifth Circuit, in the case over whether the Texas government photo-ID law for voters at the polls should be reinstated. A few days ago a U.S. District Court held the law unconstitutional and enjoined it. Thanks(More)… …read more

Here is the New York city ballot for November 4, 2014. Compared to the upstate ballot (which looks entirely different), the New York city ballot seems not as bad as it could have been. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link. …read more

On their website, the National Neighborhood Watch Institute (NNWI) stresses that citizens should only report crime, not try to stop it in action. They warn their readers: “Always remember that your responsibility is to report crime. Do not take any risks to prevent a crime or try to make an arrest. The responsibility for apprehending criminals belongs to the police/sheriff.”
This policy of encouraging defenselessness among civilians is both unsafe and immoral.
LETTING IT HAPPEN
Police, no matter how hard they try, rarely reach a crime scene in time to stop it. The Bureau of Justice notes that in the case of …read more

“You wanna get f**cked up?” “Mister, it was just a cigarette, sir, it was just a cigarette.”
Brooklyn, NY — Cellphone video has been released showing a disturbing interaction between an NYPD cop and a teenager.
The incompetent and belligerent cop mistook a tobacco cigarette for marijuana and proceeded to violently assault Marcel Hamer, 17, of Brooklyn.
Since the video surfaced the officer has been placed on suspension.
The incident happened on June 4 of this year when two plainclothes NYPD officers approached Hamer and accused him of smoking marijuana.
When the video begins Hamer is already on the ground, pleading with the belligerent thug …read more

The Leavenworth (Kansas) Times has this interesting column by political scientist Ernest Evans, on the useful role minor parties have played in U.S. history. …read more

The Brookings Institution, a venerable think tank in Washington, D.C., has posted this article about top-two primaries. The report, by Professor Elaine Kamarck and Georgetown Graduate Student Alexander R. Podkul, uses confusing vocabulary, and sometimes refers to top-two primaries as “blanket primaries.” Blanket primaries only exist in Alaska, and they provide that the top vote-getter(More)… …read more

Mike Huckabee recently said in a speech that if the Republican Party doesn’t continue to vigorously fight same-sex marriage, he will leave the party and become an independent. See this story. In 2008, Huckabee ran for the Republican presidential nomination and polled the third highest number of popular votes in Republican presidential primaries. He received(More)… …read more

On October 9, opponents of strict government-photo I.D. requirements for voting at the polls scored two victories. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Wisconsin cannot require such I.D. for the November 4, 2014 election. Here is the one-page order in Frank v Walker, 14A352. Also, U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ruled the(More)… …read more