Category: Uncategorized

I received an email just the other day from a follower of this blog and a listener to my science and tech podcast–Sovryn Tech–that made a pretty interesting point that I think I’ve largely glossed over with the Dark Android Project: Smartphones without SIM cards.
Regular readers of this blog (and those that have set up their own Dark Android devices) know that I recommend using tablets instead of smartphones due to phones (and some tablets, true) having SIM cards in them, and we now know for certain that SIM cards are a huge security issue. But if you have a …read more

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

On October 1, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Heffernan v City of Paterson, New Jersey, 14-1280. The individual who brought the case had been a police detective who was demoted because he was seen with a campaign sign in his car. The lower court, the Third Circuit, upheld his firing. See this story. …read more