The FBI Questions a Stormwatcher
Michael Galindo has a hobby taking pictures of storms as a volunteer for the National Weather Service’s Skywarn program. On September 13 he took a few pictures of a brewing storm which, unknown to him, happened to be near the Lyondell Refinery outside Houston. And I wouldn’t be mentioning this if it hadn’t taken an [...]
TSA Metastasis Continues Unabated
The TSA is well-know for annoying air travelers, but I’ve been worried for a while about the TSA’s attempts to branch out to annoy people using other modes of transportation. As it turns out, I wasn’t imaginative enough: After all, why should the Transporation Security Agency limit their activities to annoying only people who are [...]
Checkpoint Friendly
I just bought a new laptop computer, and now I’m looking for a backpack with a padded laptop compartment, so I don’t break my new toy in the first month. So as I’m looking on Amazon and reading reviews, I notice that a lot of laptops are labeled “Checkpoint Friendly,” meaning they open up easily [...]
Metra: No Fourth Amendment for You!
Chicago will be hosting the NATO summit meeting this month, and it’s turning into a typical display of government arrogance. For a recent example, the Metra commuter rail system has announced that they will be stopping service on the line that runs through the summit location: Metra plans to operate regular service on 10 of its [...]
More TSA Metastasis
One of the things Kip Hawley left out of his explanation of why the TSA sucks is the TSA’s infestation of other forms of transportation, such as the one described in this press release from the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority: In an unprecedented approach that involved four law enforcement agencies – including federal agents – [...]
Make Them Stop Taking Our Computers
There are many things wrong in this story, but let me focus on this one for the moment: That’s right, not only were they forced to live under the accusation of being child pornographers, but the FBI naturally had to seize all their computers, since they contained all the evidence. Like nice pictures of their [...]
Waiting For the TSA to Metastasize
The Transportation Security Agency’s latest plans to abuse passengers have attracted a lot of attention. People aren’t pleased at having to choose between body-imaging that shows all their naughty bits or a pat-down that that feels an awful lot like a sexual assault. Maybe this time the outrage will lead to action, and someone will [...]
Sailing the Waters Of Civil Forfeiture
I’ve been writing about the un-American and totalitarian horror of civil forfeiture laws for a while, and I’ve been following the issue on and off for two decades, so the latest bit of outrage to make the rounds isn’t really a surprise: On Monday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the Missouri Highway Patrol and the [...]
Do You Like Touching Children?
Attention, pedophiles! Do you like touching children? Well, if you haven’t been arrested yet, you’ve probably already applied for this job: God, I hate this kind of crap.
Bush Was Confused About Job Description
After reading some of the comments from GW’s recent NBC interview, I understand better the unconstitutional responses to 9/11 America is still suffering under. When questioned about the use of torture Bush’s response was: “I will tell you this: using those techniques saved lives. My job was to protect America. And I did.” We really [...]
Tanya Treadway – Enemy of the First Amendment
Can somebody explain to me what the hell is going on in Jacob Sullum’s latest post at Reason‘s Hit&Run blog? Here’s the background: Last week Kansas physician Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda, who worked as a nurse in his practice, were sentenced to 30 and 33 years, respectively, for painkiller prescriptions the Drug Enforcement Administration [...]
Norm Pattis Fights Evil
So there I am, reading Norm Pattis’s latest missive: The government has seized the life savings of a hard working couple whose son was growing marijuana in their basement. The feds also want to seize the couple’s home. There is no evidence to suggest the couple was complicit in their child’s activity. None. The pot [...]
Pledge Allegiance or Go to Jail
I’ve always been a bit wary of extremely overt flag-waving patriots. Maybe it’s just a reaction I have after watching the hoards of people forced to wave Soviet flags while at gunpoint, or the coerced crowds joining in the celebrations of Mao’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution by furiously whipping little Chinese flags to and fro. Some of those people [...]
Another Reason Not To Consent To Searches
Scott Greenfield points out that if the police ask to search your car and you consent, the courts have ruled that you are consenting to let the police take your car apart. Here’s the language he quotes from United States v. Garcia: The search here was reasonable. When the officers requested permission to search the [...]
The Murderous Cops of Fairfax County, Virginia
Police officers in Fairfax County, Virginia, have been killing civilians. Then they’ve been stonewalling everyone who asks about it, not even revealing the names of the officers who pulled the trigger: Last November along the roadside of Richmond Highway, a major thoroughfare in Fairfax County, Virginia, a police officer shot and killed David Masters, an [...]
Abuse, Involving Children
Matt Brown at the Chander Criminal Defense blog had a client who was accused of hurting her child, but the prosecutor dropped the charges. Nevertheless, Arizona Child Protective Services apparently ignored all that and conducted their own investigation. Brown blogged his account of their interview with his client. It’s one of the most chilling things [...]
The Continuing Evil of Civil Asset Forfeiture
By the way, Radley Balko is not just a guy who knows how to find wacky videos. He’s also one of the most interesting investigative reporters working today. His latest piece is about some of the shocking things being done in the area of civil asset forfeiture. I’ve been saying for a while that asset [...]
The TSA as Child Porn Ring
Here’s an angle on the TSA’s new full-body imaging that I wish I’d thought of: Wouldn’t a full-body image of someone under the age of 18 be child pornography as a matter of law? Maybe.
The Warlord of Maricopa
At some point, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio decided that the rules no longer applied to him. He and his deputies had all the guns, so why couldn’t they do whatever they want? If those guys in Somalia and Afganistan could become warlords, why couldn’t he do it right here in America? I think it [...]
The Warlord of Maricopa
Joe Arpaio is a scary guy. He’s the Sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, and if things go the wrong way today, I think he’ll be the closest thing this country has to a third-world warlord. As usual, Scott Greenfield explains.