U.S. News/Police Violence
House Passes Bill To Protect Israeli PM Netanyahu From ICC Prosecution
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/09/politics/house-icc-sanctions-bill-israel/index.html
MAGA 'Influencers' Are Being Paid to Promote Israel
https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64800
Incoming Trump team is questioning civil servants at National Security Council about their loyalty
U.S. Transfers 11 Guantanamo Detainees To Oman After More Than 2 Decades Without Charge
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/united-states-guantanamo_n_677d0429e4b0baeb8f9a8b4a
Only In America- Nearly 800 prisoners now helping to battle Los Angeles fires
Texas Cop Caught on Camera Shooting a Man 15 Times for JAYWALKING
"Initially, authorities claimed Jeffery Schopp was killed by a gunshot to the chest, but after further investigation, the San Antonio Police Department now insists his death was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound."
5 Years After George Floyd's Murder, Minneapolis Police FINALLY Approve Consent Decree with DOJ
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minneapolis-city-council-consent-decree-doj-meeting/
Minneapolis police give homeless encampment 9 days to move
Black Man Sues Glynn County Police After Being Arrested for Refusing To Give ID
"A Georgia man is suing the Glynn County Police Department after he was arrested for refusing to give them his name. The arrest lacked probable cause, an officer later wrote in an incident report. Brunswick, Georgia, resident David Smiley filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on January 2 alleging that two Glynn County police officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizures when they arrested him on the night of December 5, 2023, for loitering and prowling."
‘Crime Suppression’ Policing and Excessive Force at the Memphis Police Department
NY corrections officers beat and choked a Black inmate in a 'George Floyd challenge'
“Do you think you was going to get away with raping a white woman?” one of the officers allegedly told him, according to the documents. “Since you want to play games I got one for you. Hold your I.D. with your right pinky against the wall and if the I.D. falls, then you’re dead. Let’s give him the George Floyd Challenge!” court documents noted an officer said. ”
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25481568-barton-v-khan/
Seattle cop who killed Jaahnavi Kandula with patrol car 2 years ago is FINALLY fired
Big Pharma Continues to Hide the Truth of Covid Vaccine Side Affects
https://brownstone.org/articles/big-pharma-continues-to-hide-the-truth/
https://brownstone.org/articles/congresss-golden-opportunity-for-reform/
Supreme Court Justice Alito says he spoke with Trump about former law clerk before Supreme Court filing in "hush money" case
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alito-trump-law-clerk/
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/09/nx-s1-5253865/the-ethical-implications-of-president-elect-trumps-call-with-justice-alito
Supreme Court Justice Alito’s Ethical Failures Demand Immediate Recusal
https://accountable.us/accountable-us-justice-alitos-ethical-failures-demand-immediate-recusal/
Justice Dept will not publicly release all of special counsel report on Trump
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-justice-dept-will-not-publicly-release-all-special-counsels-report-trump-2025-01-08/
Trump Begs Appeals Court To Block Special Counsel Report From Going Public
DISGUSTED- Trump sentenced to penalty-free 'unconditional discharge' in hush money case
Trump baffled as judge in his case is replaced and reinstated
Trump Had to Be Talked Out of Picking Fox Star Maria Bartiromo for VP
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-had-to-be-talked-out-of-picking-fox-star-for-vp/
DOJ insiders slam own department's probe of Trump's Jan. 6 links
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/06/politics/doj-trump-jan-6-riot/index.html
Trump Pardoning Jan. 6 Insurrectionists Would Endorse Attacks on Democracy
Ex-GOP insider rips DC for brushing off Trump's coup attempt
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/january-6-memory-trump/681216/
Trump vowed to pardon Jan. 6 rioters. Here’s what to know
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/trump-pardons-january6-insurrection-congress-security/
Trump says he did not defame Central Park 5 at debate, claims his comments were ‘substantially true’
Republican justices block certification of NC election outcome in race for one of its own seats
Prosecutors say they’ve uncovered ‘additional criminal conduct’ by NYC Mayor Adams
Biden Is About to Hand Over a Vast and Unconstitutional DNA Database to Trump
"Last May, my organization, the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, published Raiding the Genome, a new report exposing the massive DNA collection program being run by the Department of Homeland Security. We found that over the last four years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol took DNA from over 1.5 million people. This is nearly 50 times the number of samples they collected in all preceding years combined, an increase of around 5,000 percent."
Trump “Border Czar” Runs Firm Helping Secure Federal Contracts For Homeland Security Clients
https://accountable.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12-17-Thomas-Homan-Border-Czar-Conflicts-Controversies-1.pdf
Homeland Security Review: Wildfires as a Tool for Terrorism
https://homelandsecurityreview.com/
Surveillance technology could supercharge Trump's plans
ICE claims Boston police refused 198 immigration detainer requests for ‘egregious crime’ in 2024
https://www.masslive.com/boston/2025/01/boston-police-refused-all-immigration-detainer-requests-from-ice-last-year.html
https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/01/07/boston-police-defied-all-15-civil-immigration-detainer-requests-from-ice-in-2024/
What if ICE Agents Show Up? Schools Prepare Teachers and Parents
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/us/immigration-deportations-ice-schools.html
Human Rights and “Countering Terrorist Travel”
"The CT Travel Program’s API and PNR collection and sharing system was never designed with human rights in mind. It is marked by ad hoc thinking and the absence of rigorous analysis of how the technology and the international framework for data sharing it facilitates could be designed and operated in a manner which complies with relevant legal obligations, particularly international human rights law. The current UN approach to API and PNR data collection and sharing which is facilitated by the UNOCT and UN implementing partners in the CT Travel Program and go Travel software platform represents a profound human rights risk and a serious reputational risk for the UN itself."
https://papersplease.org/wp/2025/01/06/human-rights-and-countering-terrorist-travel/
Port of Palm Beach used facial recognition to ID 1,400 passengers, setting a new record
https://www.cruisehive.com/florida-port-sets-new-record-with-facial-recognition/156134
Trump’s Pick for DHS Secretary Brings History of Biometrics
https://govciomedia.com/trumps-dhs-secretary-pick-prioritizes-tech-to-boost-security/
YAWN- Republican Lawmakers Ask GAO To Review TSA AI and Facial Recognition
DHS S&T Reimagining Biometric Screening Technology at Airports
TSA to accept West Virginia digital IDs
https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2025/01/07/tsa-expands-acceptance-digital-ids-west-virginia
Biden administration drafting executive order to expand the use of digital IDs
IDEMIA Facial Recognition Wins $194.5M GSA Contract
DoD Report Says Chinese-Made Facial Recognition CCTV Cameras And Drones Pose Significant Risks To Americans
The 19th IEEE International Conference on Facial and Gesture Recognition
Detriot Pistons to use ID.me facial recognition to ID fans
Cerence AI Signs Long-Term, Partnership to Put Facial Recognition In Luxury Auto's
Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America to use "FlexConnect" to ID drivers and passengers
"The system’s (FlexConnect) core feature involves collecting and analyzing various data points through AWS, leading to enhanced insights regarding driver habits, environmental conditions on the road, and even the health of cabin occupants."
https://interestingengineering.com/ces-2025/ai-cockpit-cars-mitsubishi-amazon
Synectics (facial recognition) opening an office in the United Arab Emirates
Dartmouth College to use Palm Scanners in Dining Hall to ID Students
RIP CIA Front's 'Overt Operations'
"The National Endowment for Democracy’s grant database has been removed from the web. Until recently, a searchable interface allowed visitors to view detailed records of Washington-funded NGOs, civil society groups, and media projects in particular countries - covering most of the world - the sums involved, and entities responsible for delivering these initiatives. This resource has now inexplicably vanished, and with it, enormous amounts of incontrovertible, self-incriminating evidence of destructive US skullduggery abroad."
Courts must end the intelligence community’s defiance of the law
There are two problems with the NSA’s use of a Glomar response. First, our filing doesn’t concern a secret CIA program to recover a Soviet submarine with cryptographic machines and nuclear-tipped torpedoes. We seek top-line facts the public and Congress should know — how much is the NSA spending on collecting people’s personal information, and who is selling it to them? Our query includes an internal NSA policy document likely responsive to our FOIA request because it was identified as such in the report by the NSA’s advisory panel. Second, the NSA responded that its records are protected by Glomar even though the NSA did not search for these records. How can the agency determine these are nuclear-torpedo-level secrets when it hasn’t even looked at them? Congress should weigh in on whether the expansive Glomar responses from the NSA and other agencies conform to the law. Otherwise, as Joseph Heller wrote, we could one day jeopardize our “traditional rights and independence by daring to exercise them.”
PPSA’s Year-End Review: Ups and Downs for Surveillance Reform
https://www.protectprivacynow.org/news/ppsas-year-end-review-ups-and-downs-for-surveillance-reform
What’s next for our privacy?
New Orleans Police hires former Boston, NYC, LA Police leader William Bratton as security consultant
BS WARNING- The Grand Junction Police Department Opens Registration for the 2025 Community Police Academy
https://www.gjcity.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1629
CentralSquare Acquires Blueline AI (Police Body Cams)
https://www.centralsquare.com/blueline
HBO documentary “Surveilled” investigates the growing business of commercial spyware
Secret Phone Surveillance Tech Was Likely Deployed at 2024 DNC
https://www.wired.com/story/2024-dnc-cell-site-simulator-phone-surveillance/
More than 210 Chicago police CCTV cameras broadcast sensitive information to the open Internet
"More than 170 police surveillance cameras—including more than 40 in and around Chicago—broadcast real-time video and license plate data directly onto the open Internet."
https://chicagoreader.com/news/license-plate-motorola-privacy/
NY governor touts increased surveillance amid MTA mayhem: Cameras in 'every single subway car'
Cop City Is A Disability Issue, and Disabled Organizers Must Fight To Stop It
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cop-city-disability
Police Violence
Pam Bondi lobbied for corporate clients that fought the DOJ. Now Trump wants her to run it
YAWN: Supreme Court to Decide If It Will Hear Qualified Immunity Case From Maryland
The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, has filed an amicus brief supporting Kodi’s claims. Its attorneys argue that the shooting violated rights that were enshrined in the 14th Amendment, which says states cannot deprive citizens of life, liberty or property without due process of law; and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which enforced those due process provisions when white supremacists were killing Black citizens with impunity.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-578.html
PA Supreme Court To Cops: If You Can’t Prove A Warrant Existed, You Can’t Expect Us To Consider It ‘Valid’
Texas Supreme Court ruled cop who crashed into innocent couple injuring driver and passenger can't be sued
Houston police "initiated a high-speed chase to pursue a suspect evading arrest for paying $40 to solicit sexual activity from another adult."
Maine Supreme Court judge's ruling acknowledges that hundreds of prisoners’ rights are being denied
"On Friday, Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy delivered a pivotal ruling: Maine is denying the constitutional rights of hundreds of defendants statewide, many of whom have waited months for counsel. She is the first to rule that this is a statewide problem, and it could get a widespread remedy. That might include releasing people from jail if they have waited more than a few days for an attorney, or dismissing their cases entirely."
Maine Supreme Court proposes barring justices from disciplining peers
Attorneys May Have to Ask Expert Witnesses "Whether They Have Used AI in Drafting Their Declarations and What They Have Done to Verify Any AI-Generated Content"
Florida’s ‘Halo Law’ Goes Into Effect, Which Will Just Let More Cops Dodge Accountability
Judge Won't Recuse In Talc Fight Due To Law Firm Work
Bankruptcy Judge Got Combative in Secret Romance Questioning
Houston Police evidence room infested with 'drug-addicted' rats to be cleared out
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-drug-rats-evidence-20027356.php
Coast Guard is resisting oversight of mishandled sexual misconduct cases
‘Want to go down that road, huh?’ Videos released of Mass. sheriff's DWI arrest
Framingham, Mass. is step closer to getting regional justice center (new courthouse)
Renaming courthouses "regional justice centers" is slap in the face to every resident!
https://budget.digital.mass.gov/capital/fy25/beneficiary-agency/judiciary/trial-court/b548/
Another Court Says A Drug Dog Sniff Is A Search, Requires Probable Cause To Justify It
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/01/06/another-court-says-a-drug-dog-sniff-is-a-search-requires-probable-cause-to-justify-it/
Appeals Court revives Baltimore man’s wrongful conviction suit over 1986 murder
Decades after their deaths, an ex-Florida deputy admitted killing his wife and a store clerk
Mississippi cop suspended without pay after chase that led to 3 deaths
Ohio searches 5-year-old boy’s pockets alongside his dad during routine traffic stop
LAPD Deputy Pleads Guilty To Beating A Transgender Person Who Flipped Him Off
Kentucky Cops Arrest Man for Shouting at Them From his Balcony
https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/rettig.pdf
‘I thought he was going to kill him’: Trial for NH cop accused of assaulting homeless man in 2023
https://www.concordmonitor.com/Richard-Cobb-trial-Concord-Police-Department-58820052
NH Cop Accused Of Assault, Takes The Stand In His Own Defense
‘We have to win that fight’: NH cop testifies he acted reasonably
https://www.concordmonitor.com/Richard-Cobb-Concord-Police-trial-day-2-58854137
NH cop found not guilty of simple assault charges
https://www.wmur.com/article/concord-police-officer-assault-not-guilty-011025/63396243
Nine NYPD detectives moved to Department of Investigation following sex-for-OT scandal
https://nypost.com/2025/01/11/us-news/nypd-sleuths-join-doi-to-help-with-corruption-investigations/
Two NYPD detectives under disgraced chief Jeffrey Maddrey mired in overtime probe
NYPD detective union launches pilot program with Uber to try and stop officers from getting arrested for DWI's
The Detectives’ Endowment Association plans to launch an app this month in partnership with Uber that will use union funds to pick up gumshoes who have had one too many, officials said. “We have so many issues with DWIs and coming home from parties and different events,” a 37-year-old NYPD detective who lives in Long Island told The Post. “It’s a great benefit to not have to worry, to just to use the app and get a ride home.”
Hit by an NYPD cruiser, she tried to report the accident. That’s when the runaround started
Oak Ridge North cop arrested on child pornography charges
Florida deputy crashes into car stopped for school bus while looking at porn
Columbus cop sentenced months after pleading guilty to federal drug charges
Hendersonville cop arrested for DUI, driving 104 MPH
https://www.wsmv.com/video/2025/01/08/hendersonville-police-officer-arrested/
Settlement reached in Antioch police officers racial discrimination text investigation
https://www.courthousenews.com/settlement-reached-in-antioch-pd-race-discrimination-investigation/
Frisco Cop Arrested for Theft by a Public Servant
https://www.friscotexas.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2199
Lafayette school cop arrested for theft
Colorado cop fired over social media posts gets second chance at First Amendment suit
DISGUSTED- Proposed plea deal would bring no jail time for Vermont sheriff in sexual assault case
Boston cop accused of domestic violence suspended by POST commission
The Murder of Robert Brooks Shines a Light on Abuse and Racism in New York Prisons
https://theappeal.org/robert-brooks-murder-new-york-prisons-racism-brutality/