Free Republic

South Carolina legislators moved closer to overriding the governor's veto of a bill allowing officers to search people on probation or parole without a warrant. The Senate on Wednesday voted 36-7 to override Gov. Mark Sanford's veto. It now goes to the House. The measure allows officers to bypass going to a judge for a warrant before searching a probationer or parolee on the street. Their vehicles and any possession could also be searched. Inmates would have to sign off on the searches before they're released. If they don't agree, they could stay in prison for their full term. Sanford...

SAN FRANCISCO – Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old computer salesman and community college student, took his car in for an oil change earlier this month and his mechanic spotted an odd wire hanging from the undercarriage. The wire was attached to a strange magnetic device that puzzled Afifi and the mechanic. They freed it from the car and posted images of it online, asking for help in identifying it. Two days later, FBI agents arrived at Afifi's Santa Clara apartment and demanded the return of their property — a global positioning system tracking device now at the center of a raging...

A 20-year-old college student in California said he was shocked to discover he has been followed by the FBI when earlier this week he found a GPS tracker placed underneath his car. Yasir Afifi, a half-Egyptian, half-American Muslim and U.S. citizen, said he was having the oil changed on his car last Sunday at a Santa Clara, Calif., auto shop when he noticed a wire and the black device underneath the automobile as it was being raised. "I was born here in Santa Clara, I just turned 20 last August. I'm a sales manager, we sell laptops and I'm a...

PHOTO CAPTION: "Yasir Afifi said the FBI planted a GPS device on his car and later confiscated it when a friend posted this photo online. (Credit: khaledthegypsy/REDDIT)" SNIPPET: "Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old student and U.S.-born citizen found a GPS tracking device on his car. A friend posted pictures of the device, which resulted in the FBI coming by Afifi's Santa Clara, Calif., apartment to retrieve the surveillance equipment. It seems the FBI was tracking Afifi's movements..."