This Politico article quotes several experts on polls, who agree that presidential primary debate sponsors are depending on polls far too much when they decide which candidates to invite. …read more
Early Saturday morning, a trauma hospital run by Doctors without Borders (MSF) in Kunduz, Afghanistan “was hit by a series of aerial bombing raids at approximately 15 minute intervals.” MSF …
New York, NY (RT) — A 25-year-old woman is suing the NYPD, after two of its officers charged with investigating her rape case got her drunk in a hotel room and sexually assaulted her.
The complaint made on Tuesday relates to an incident in January 2013, when the Seattle nursing student was assaulted by a “social acquaintance” at an apartment. She reported the assault by phone in June, and was told the Special Victims Unit would handle the case.
According to the New York Daily News, Lieutenant Adam Lamboy and Detective Lucazs Skorzewski arrived to take the woman’s statement on July 5. …read more
Orange County, FL — In just the past seven years, Deputy Richard Nye, with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, has been the subject of a whopping 21 excessive force complaints. Three of these “isolated incidents” happened in the last two months alone and were all caught on video.
Given Nye’s ludicrously violent and corrupt past, this man should have never been carrying a badge. However, this seems to be the nature of the thin blue line.
In mid-September, Nye was captured on video kicking a man in the face as he lay face-down on the ground in handcuffs. Prior to that Nye …read more
On October 1, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Puerto Rico v Valle, 15-108. Technically the case is about criminal law, but the courts, to resolve this case, must also resolve whether Puerto Rico has any sovereignty or whether Congress has all sovereignty over Puerto Rico.
A resident of Puerto Rico was indicted by the federal government for the illegal sale of firearms. He plead guilty and served a short term. Then he was indicted by Puerto Rico authorities for the gun violation. The Puerto Rico Supreme Court ruled that he could not be prosecuted by …read more
Bronx, NY — A mother is regretting her decision to call the police to help her find her son last year after their visit landed the 24-year-old nonverbal autistic man in the hospital.
Ana Baltazar, mother of Miguel Torruella, called 9-1-1 last year after her son went missing. Within an hour, the police had found Torruella. However, lacking the training and subsequent competence to deal with a nonverbal autistic person, the NYPD used the only resource they have to handle the situation – violence.
When police found Torruella, he was scared and lost, walking down the street. Torruella’s inability to communicate with …read more
Orono, MN – For more than a year, we have been following the story of a Minnesota man, Jay Nygard, who is routinely risking jail time because he refuses to remove a wind turbine from his property. Nygard has been in and out of court over the years, and despite a short-lived victory in October, he was recently back in front of a judge facing a contempt of court charge for refusing a court order to remove the turbines from his property.
He did eventually remove the turbines, leaving only the cement bases because removing them would cause structural damage to …read more
Time Magazine has this list of all the Republican primaries and caucuses, and the number of delegates each state and territory sends to the national convention. …read more
Recently, the Constitutional Court, Indonesia’s highest court, struck down a ballot access restriction on independent candidates in regional elections. See this story. …read more
Costilla County, CO — Across the U.S., local zoning officials are making it increasingly difficult for people to go off the grid, in some instances threatening people with jail time for collecting rainwater or not hooking into local utilities.
As zoning laws have increasingly targeted the off-grid lifestyle, many have moved to the Southwestern U.S. as an escape from overzealous zoning officials.
In Costilla County, Colorado, there has been a major influx of off-grid residents to the San Luis Valley. The combination of lax zoning regulations, cheap property, and an already thriving community of self-reliant off-grid homesteaders has led to many new …read more
