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Michael Drebeen, a deputy solicitor general in the Obama administration, had a rough morning last Tuesday. He argued two Supreme Court cases back to back, defending a notoriously vague federal criminal statute -- and the justices worked him over vigorously. The 1988 law at issue aims at public corruption and corporate misconduct, but sweeps far too broadly, criminalizing schemes to "deprive another of the intangible right of honest services." If that language seems a little, well, intangible to you, you're not alone. Hurling hypotheticals, the justices strained to find a limiting principle that could prevent the law from covering an...

LONDON, England - Former President Ronald Reagan said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' Yet the size of America's government is exploding and if you want to see where big government will lead the U.S., take a look at Britain. ..... Police State Britain today is almost a police state. The British people are under more government surveillance than the Chinese. There are cameras everywhere. Dr. Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute in London and author of The Rotten State of Britain, said, "in the...

Israel Border Police officers shot at an American student's laptop as she entered Israel via Taba, Egypt, two weeks ago. Lily Sussman, 21, wrote on her blog that border police subjected her to two hours of questioning and searches prior to shooting her Apple Macbook three times. "They had pressed every sock and scarf with a security device, ripped open soap and had me strip extra layers. They asked me tons of questions? where are you going?" Sussman wrote, describing the experience.

Ohio justices: Cell phone searches require warrant COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police officers must obtain a search warrant before searching the contents of a suspect’s cell phone unless their safety is in danger, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday on an issue that appears never to have reached another state high court or the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled 5-4 in favor of Antwaun Smith, who was arrested on drug charges after he answered a cell phone call from a crack cocaine user acting as a police informant. Officers took Smith’s cell phone when he was arrested and, acting...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new Internal Revenue Service unit set up to catch rich tax cheats hiding their wealth in complex business entities is rapidly taking shape with the hiring of hundreds of employees..... President Barack Obama has proposed tightening tax rules for U.S. multinationals, including one in which companies delay paying taxes on income earned offshore, a legal practice known as deferral that officials say is abused.... "With any new thing, you never want to be the guinea pig," Mary Lou Fahey, general counsel for the Tax Executive Institute, comprised of business executives, said.

Motorists who receive minor parking or traffic tickets in Indianapolis, Indiana are being threatened with fines of up to $2500 if they attempt to take the ticket to court. A local attorney with the firm Roberts and Bishop was so outraged by what he saw in Marion County traffic court that he filed a class action suit yesterday seeking to have the practice banned as unconstitutional. "The deck is stacked against the motorist," lawyer Paul K. Ogden wrote. "To penalize that person for seeking justice seems wrong. I know it is done for the purpose of discouraging baseless challenges to...

Mark Tijssen, a major in the Canadian military, stands in front of a meat smoker containing the remains of a pig that could cost him thousands of dollars in fines. Tijssen's family home was raided by members of the Intelligence and Investigations Section of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ottawa Police last month while he was preparing a pizza dinner for children on a Friday night. Mark Tijssen's family has been slaughtering their own animals and handing that skill from father to son for at least three generations. But changes to Ontario's Food Safety Act has landed him and...

Police serving order shot at, ATF says LINDA SATTER ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE A Pulaski County man fired several shots Tuesday at officers who attempted to serve a federal warrant at his mobile home at 3106 W. Justice Road in northern Pulaski County, a federal agent said. No one was injured, and the resident, Johnny Davis, surrendered at about 2:30 p.m., roughly four hours after his standoff with officers began, said Joe Riehl, special agent in charge of the New Orleans Field Division for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Riehl said ATF agents obtained a warrant charging Davis with...

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Tiger Woods has canceled yet another meeting with the Florida Highway Patrol. We're told Tiger's lawyer canceled the meeting the FHP had wanted for 3:00 PM ET today. The lawyer gave no reason for the cancellation

...the [NY police] department was accepting proposals from companies that would link acoustic sensors to cameras that swivel toward spots where shots are fired, ideally capturing the culprit’s image. Such a system was recently deployed in Mount Vernon, in Westchester County; its police department bought audio sensors from ShotSpotter and swiveling cameras from another vendor.

by JASON WHITELY / WFAA-TV Posted on November 20, 2009 at 12:56 AM WYLIE - A canister of pepper spray is now at the center of a Wylie dispute after a North Texas man found out what most people don't know, anyone who carries it can face a felony. Jason Simpkins admitted he looked suspicious when a Wylie officer stopped him while he was driving his truck with a jet ski inside his lawn mowing trailer. It happened early on the morning of August 22. "I didn't have a problem with it at first," Simpkins said. "I gave him my...

PORTSMOUTH — A Kensington man was found guilty of criminal threatening for holding an open pocket knife at his side while asking two people who were walking behind him at midnight, "Why are you following me?" The pair walking behind Dustin Almon, 28, of 27 Wild Rose Lane, were state Liquor Enforcement cops, both in plain clothes without any indicators that they were members of law enforcement, according to testimony during a Thursday Portsmouth District Court trial. Both were also carrying concealed handguns and Tasers, they testified. One of them, Officer Anthony Cattabriga, said he was walking behind Almon on...

HOLLY HILL -- The yard sale at 722 Center Ave. has been canceled. That much is clear. The rest of the story, including allegations that police threatened to arrest the 80-year-old homeowner because she didn't have a permit? Not so much. The facts are these: After 60 years in Holly Hill, Pauline Liles is moving to Tennessee to live with her daughter's family. Her husband, Jack, is already there, having suffered a stroke that has immobilized him. Pauline, an old hand at yard sales, was hoping to sell most of their stuff before joining him next week. She advertised the...

Not long ago, Americans feared and ridiculed the police states cursing too many parts of the world. We worried that they might one day conquer us despite their poverty and general misery even as we mocked their totalitarian tactics — especially their “Papers, please” mentality.  Indeed, being forced to prove one’s identity to a bureaucrat on demand, having to carry and produce documents with personal information for his approval — or condemnation — seemed especially horrifying. One of our classic films, Casablanca, revolved around the deadly hassles of obtaining or forging such papers under the Nazis; episodes of Mission Impossible...

<p>A New Jersey appeals court has concluded that Americans have no Second Amendment right to buy a handgun.</p> <p>In a case decided last week, the superior court upheld a state law saying that nobody may possess "any handgun" without obtaining law enforcement approval and permission in advance.</p>

Parents have been banned from supervising their children in public playgrounds, because they have not undergone criminal record checks. Only council-vetted "play rangers" are now allowed to monitor youngsters in two adventure areas in Watford while parents must watch from outside a perimeter fence. The Watford Borough Council policy has been attacked as insulting and a disgrace by furious relatives who say they are being labelled as potential paedophiles.

Armed officers in full battle gear will be scattered throughout the Bay Area this weekend, rescuing hostages, fighting bank robbers and quelling terrorism at the Oakland Airport, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the NASA Ames Research Center and 22 other high profile sites. There will be the sound of gunfire and blasts - all part of Urban Shield, one of the biggest domestic terrorism drills in the country. The $1 million, two-day event begins Saturday and will test the training of 27 crack teams from throughout the state, elsewhere in the country and the world.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Even his best friend betrayed him. Stelian Tanase found out when he asked to see the thick file that Romania's communist-era secret police had kept on him. The revelation nearly knocked the wind out of him: His closest pal was an informer who regularly told agents what Tanase was up to. "In a way, I haven't even recovered today," said Tanase, a novelist who was placed under surveillance and had his home bugged during the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's regime. "He was the one person on Earth I had the most faith in," he said. "And...

Bryce Williams wasn't expecting to walk through a metal detector or have his bags screened for explosives at the Greyhound bus terminal near downtown Orlando. But Williams and 689 other passengers went through tougher-than-normal security procedures Thursday as part of a random check coordinated by the U.S. The idea is to keep off guard terrorists and others who mean harm, thereby improving safety for passengers and workers. There was no specific threat to the bus station on John Young Parkway south of Colonial Drive. Although the TSA is best known for its agents at airports, the agency's Visible Intermodal Prevention...

On September 10th of this year the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) posted a press release informing the world that “from October 19-25, more than 60 network TV shows [will] spotlight the power and personal benefits of service,� and that this “unprecedented block of TV programming is the first wave of a multi-year ‘I Participate’ campaign.� On its face this all sounds rather benign in that silly, liberal do-gooder kind of way. The networks have launched these kinds of campaigns before and other than some clunky exposition awkwardly inserted into your favorite show to meet the mandate — no harm, no...

Former police association contractor charged with snooping on 'Joe the Plumber' Wednesday, October 14, 2009 11:42 AM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch A former contractor for the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police has been charged with rummaging through state computers to retrieve confidential information about "Joe the Plumber." Brett A. Gerke, 52, of 2329 Woodcreek Place on the Far North Side, is charged with attempted unauthorized use of property. Gerke entered a diversion program on Oct. 2, which typically results in the dismissal of a criminal charge. He has not entered a plea. The charge is a first-degree...

Sacramento, CA – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law legislation that will help law enforcement officials track down and apprehend armed criminals and other prohibited persons. AB 962 by Assembly Member Kevin DeLeon (D-Los Angeles) had the support of law enforcement officials from across the state and was modeled after successful city ordinances, including the cities of Sacramento and Los Angeles. AB 962 was the Brady Campaign´s top priority bill in this year´s legislature. The law requires maintenance of purchaser records by handgun ammunition vendors. Local law enforcement can use these records to find illegal guns. "The purchase records will...

New York - On the heels of breaking up an alleged bomb terror plot, New York is planning to place high-tech security cameras, license plate readers, and "weapons sensors" in midtown Manhattan. Office workers and tourists – and possible terrorists – will have cameras watching their every move as they visit Macy's, shop for diamonds at Tiffany & Co., or gawk in Times Square. The apparatus, paid for by some $24 million in Department of Homeland Security funding, will expand a similar effort already underway in lower Manhattan where cameras focus on the Federal Reserve, the New York Stock Exchange,...

A new internet game is about to be launched which allows 'super snooper' players to plug into the nation's CCTV cameras and report on members of the public committing crimes. The 'Internet Eyes' service involves players scouring thousands of CCTV cameras installed in shops, businesses and town centres across Britain looking for law-breakers. Players who help catch the most criminals each month will win cash prizes up to £1,000. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218225/Internet-game-awards-points-people-spotting-crimes-CCTV-cameras-branded-snoopers-paradise.html#ixzz0TNOMuvRg

Needed: A 'clean line' to determine lawfulness"You don't need to know. You can't know." That's what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search. The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris' longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor. The six agents, wearing SWAT gear and carrying weapons, were with - get this- the...

So as it turns out, even the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has its own SWAT team. You don’t need to know. You can’t know.” That’s what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search. The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris’ longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor. The six agents, wearing...

PHOENIX (CN) - A homeowner says a Phoenix police officer shot him six times in the back during a 911 home-invasion call, and the 911 tape recorded the officer's partner saying, "That's all right. Don't worry about it. I got your back. ... We clear?" The family says the officers were not aware that the 911 call was still recording as they spoke about covering up the shooting. In their complaint in Maricopa County Court, Anthony and Lesley Arambula say an armed intruder "crashed through the front window" of their home on Sept. 17, 2008 and ran into one of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's big city police chiefs are backing an anti-terrorism community watch program to educate people about what behavior is truly suspicious and ought to be reported to police. Police Chief William Bratton of Los Angeles, whose department developed the iWATCH program, calls it the 21st century version of Neighborhood Watch. Using brochures, public service announcements and meetings with community groups, iWATCH is designed to deliver concrete advice on how the public can follow the oft-repeated post-9/11 recommendation: "If you see something, say something." Program materials list nine types of suspicious behavior that should prompt people to...

Several college students claim they were trapped and attacked with tear gas on the University of Pittsburgh's campus while they observed the G-20 summit protests in Pittsburgh. Anarchists were behind some of the clashes with police during the protests, but many students say they were involuntarily caught up in the melee and arrested or tear gassed as police blocked outlets. In the following video posted on YouTube on Sept. 25, riot police allegedly trapped a group of students on a staircase and launched tear gas at them while they coughed, screamed and desperately tried to escape:

"...Two River Authority officials have entered into a 10-year contract with an out-of-state security firm to bring 1,000 prisoners to the Hardin jail by mid March, but law enforcement has never heard of the firm..."

The State of New Jersey is now mandating every school child be vaccinated, otherwise they will be kicked out of class. This ABC news report covers the story

Rally in Albany Tuesday Over H1N1 Flu Shot Debate (New York, NY) -- Hundreds of health care workers will rally in Albany Tuesday, angry that they are being made to receive H1N1 flu shots. The State Health Department has made it mandatory that all health care workers get immunized by November 30th. The protestors say their rights are being violated and that they can not be forced to get a H1N1 flu shot. Officials say there will be exceptions for those health care workers who have a personal health issue that would prevent them from getting the shot. WOR News...

Recently declassified documents obtained by Wired magazine reveal a massive Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data mining operation. It already possesses over 1.5 billion records from government and private-sector sources. That figure is expected by the FBI to balloon to over 6 billion within a few years. And it is not just terrorists they are after.  According to the documents, the National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) is being used to pursue multiple types of non-terrorism domestic investigations. It is also meant to be able to sort through the data — everything from health and travel records to credit card...

CLINTON — When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs. Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won’t endure the same embarrassment she still is facing. “This is a very traumatic experience,” Harpold said. Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of...

A Chilton County [AL] woman is fighting an effort by federal prosecutors to seize her home and 40 acres in a marijuana case against her husband, who committed suicide during his trial. Mara Lynn Williams, 56, a cancer survivor who works as a nurse at Jackson Hospital in Montgomery, said she knew that her husband, Royce, 53, used marijuana for chronic pain after multiple surgeries. But she said she did not know he was growing it on their acreage, and she was not charged in the criminal case. Her husband was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot in a car...

Ensign receives handwritten confirmation This doesn't happen often enough. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staft Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold." The note was a follow-up to Ensign's questioning at the markup.

[Judge Napolitano speaking]: "Both houses of the legislature have enacted this law, and once Governor Deval Patrick signs it, and he says that he will, it will become the law, and it will allow him to declare an emergency, and once he declares an emergency, he can authorize non-health care personnel, read that to mean police, to vaccinate people against their will. Now can they force adults to take vaccination? No. They will incarcerate adults without a trial, without charges, without even a search warrant who refuse to be vaccinated; this is what the statute authorizes. The staute also authorizes...

Bangor Police Chief Ron Gastia ... “It nonetheless remains necessary to increase the parking revenue and address the limited enforcement of on-street parking.” In that memo, which was leaked to the Bangor Daily News earlier this week, he announced the enactment of a new quota system demanding that patrol officers write a minimum of 10 parking tickets per month. He has since reduced the quota to five tickets a month. Gastia had not intended that internal memo to get into the hands of the public or the media, and when I spoke with him Friday he was clearly not happy...

Five years ago, car-wash owner Orman Wilson set up a pension plan for himself and six employees. For that, he may owe the IRS a $1.2 million tax penalty. Mr. Wilson, the owner of 19 coin-operated car washes in Houston, says he relied on four advisers, including a certified public accountant, to set up a plan that received approval from the Internal Revenue Service. Then, in late 2007, the IRS found fault with the plan and assessed it $250,000 -- plus special penalties of $1.2 million. ... The source of the distress: tax-law changes made by Congress in 2004. At...

Americans who slap $1 pricetags on their used possessions at garage sales or bazaar events risk being slapped with fines of up to $15 million, thanks to a new government campaign.

VIDEO At Link HERE .A Houston man was handcuffed and assaulted by cops for posting anti-Obama flyers around his town, actions described as “criminal vandalism” by police and some local residents, despite the fact that giant pro-Obama murals are openly displayed in the same neighborhood for all to see. 21-year-old Mark Fuhre, an Alex Jones Show listener, decided to post the flyers even though the Infowars Obama Joker Poster Contest had ended, because he wanted to alert his neighbors to the cult of personality being manufactured around Obama and how the establishment is stifling any criticism of the President by...

James O'Keefe's foray into filmmaking may cost him a few years in the slammer. O'Keefe and fellow conservative activist/budding investigative journalist Hannah Giles were the ones who dressed up like a pimp and a prostitute, respectively (or not), and went to the offices of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) in D.C. and Baltimore looking for advice on how to buy a house. The resulting video caused quite a commotion and resulted in the firing of four ACORN employees, as well as other repercussions for those who support the organization. In Maryland, it's against the law to...

In 2007, Shreveport police officer Wiley Willis arrested 38-year-old Angela Garbarino on suspicion of drunken driving. While in custody, as captured on the video below, Garbarino began arguing with Willis about what she said was her right to make a phone call. About a minute later, Willis walked over and turned off the video camera. When the camera returns back on, Garbarino was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. She was later photographed with severe facial injuries that looked to have come from a beating. Willis’ attorney stated that she tripped and fell while the...

The Obama administration wants to maintain the secrecy of terrorist watch-list information it routinely shares with federal, state and local agencies, a move that rights groups say would make it difficult for people who have been improperly included on such lists to challenge the government. Intelligence officials in the administration are pressing for legislation that would exempt "terrorist identity information" from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Such information--which includes names, aliases, fingerprints and other biometric identifiers--is widely shared with law enforcement agencies and intelligence "fusion centers," which combine state and federal counterterrorism resources. Still, some officials say public...

Suit Claims Police, Hospital Acted Improperly LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. -- An Indiana man has filed a lawsuit claiming that police forcibly withdrew blood and urine from his body during a drunken driving arrest, WLWT-TV reported. According to the suit, police arrested Jamie Lockard, 53, on suspicion of drunken driving in March. A Breathalyzer test showed he was under the legal limit, but Officer Brian Miller doubted the findings. Lockard and his attorney claim in the suit that police took him to Dearborn County Hospital and forced him to submit to a urine and blood test. Police said they obtained a warrant,...

EDINBURG — As the old adage goes, it’s better to have a gun and not need it, than to need a gun and not have it. With that in mind, say hello to the B.E.A.R. — the Rio Grande Valley’s newest tool to fight potentially violent standoffs and manhunts. The armor-plated vehicle stands more than 12 feet tall and can carry at least three six-member SWAT teams inside — or rescue 35 schoolchildren. A detachable battering ram at the front of the vehicle promises to smash through suspected drug cartel members’ reinforced lairs or other structures. Eight openings in the...

Insulted in Restroom, Texas Judge Jails Court Attendee, 69, for Contempt Posted 1 hour, 15 minutes ago By Martha Neil Angry about a Texas judge's ruling in a custody matter involving his granddaughter, Don Bandelman followed the jurist into a public restroom at the Caldwell County courthouse. Then the 69-year-old called District Judge Jack Robison a fool, reports the American-Statesman. Bandelman says the judge told him to leave, and he did. But then Robison had his bailiffs arrest Bandelman on the courthouse outside the sidewalk and, without any hearing, sentenced him to a 30-day jail term for contempt, the article...

This is a video of an old man (the likes of which actually built this country) at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire. From what I understand, the old guy asked if the people in front of him were even from NH- he implied the congresswoman packed the small venue with supporters/friends. He is then dragged away by guys in black- what uniforms are the officers wearing?

Some of the 4,000 downtown residents who live near a potential security perimeter during the G-20 summit have begun to think about how they will move around then. KDKA-TV News has learned that some residential management firms have told their residents that apartment communities near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center will have to provide a list of residents to the city which would be put in a database. That would allow residents to show a photo ID at a checkpoint. A driver's license or a city issued credential would be used if a driver's license isn't up to date.

Court denies appeal in dog case Mary Jo Denton Herald-Citizen Staff Thursday, Sep 03, 2009 COOKEVILLE -- The shooting of a pet dog by a police officer at a traffic stop here six years ago is still being argued over in lawsuits. Just today, Thursday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals released a ruling denying an appeal by Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper David Bush, who was one of several officers present at the stop that day and who was found guilty of excessive force in restraining James Smoak of North Carolina, the owner of the dog. Police officers here had...