For instance, at the June hearing that terminated the Mendez’s parental rights, they were peppered with seemingly irrelevant questions about their English-speaking ability and immigration status. “Describe for the court why even three years after [the children went into the state’s custody] you cannot speak English without an interpreter,” asked Bruce Kling, special assistant attorney…
Category: Liberty
Wisconsin Gov. Wants Protesters To Pay For Security
Yesterday, the Walker administration took a step that is likely to antagonize protesters further. His administration enacted new regulations that would require permits to protest at the Capitol and other state buildings. The controversial part is that the bill allows officials to charge groups for the security and clean-up costs of such events. The Milwaukee…
Senate Votes To Let Military Detain Americans Indefinitely, White House Threatens Veto
“Congress is essentially authorizing the indefinite imprisonment of American citizens, without charge,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein D-Calif., who offered another amendment — which has not yet gotten a vote — that she said would correct the problem. “We are not a nation that locks up its citizens without charge. “Backers of military detention of Americans…
“Repeat violent offenders get to walk while casual pot smokers get terrorized by SWAT teams”
A year and a half ago she was beaten by a neighborhood thug outside of a city bar. It took months of do-it-yourself sleuthing, a meeting with a city alderman and a public shaming in a community newspaper before the Chicago Police Department would pay any attention to her. About a year later, Shaver got…
“We are just not going to allow a tent city. Just period.” – UC Davis Blames Violence on Budget
On Friday, a group of University of California, Davis students, part of the Occupy Wall Street movement on campus, became the latest victims of alleged police brutality to be captured on video. The videos show the students seated on the ground as a UC Davis police officer brandishes a red canister of pepper spray, showing…
So Fla’s Secret Private Prison
In one of South Floridas upscale, rural enclaves, where peacocks roam and horse trails are as common as sidewalks, town leaders decided to bring in much of their money from an unusual business: a prison. Only the leaders of Southwest Ranches kept their plans quiet from residents for almost a decade, and the project has…
Police: 177 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested
At least 177 people have been arrested during clashes between police and Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in New York City, part of a day of mass gatherings in response to efforts to break up Occupy Wall Street camps nationwide. Thousands of protesters took to the streets around the U.S., including Los Angeles, Dallas, Portland,…
Scores arrested as police clear NY Occupy camp
Hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear, descended on Zuccotti Park after midnight Tuesday in a surprise sweep of the Occupy Wall Street headquarters. Some protesters were chained to trees and each other but were nevertheless removed from the park, which was cleared in less than three hours in what appeared to…
Mayor Jean Quan’s Legal Adviser Quits Over Clearing Of Occupy Oakland Camp
As a platoon of Oakland Police Department officers began clearing out Occupy Oakland’s encampment for a second time at Frank Ogawa Plaza downtown, one of Mayor Jean Quan’s advisers resigned in protest. Quan’s legal adviser Dan Siegel announced his decision via Twitter early this morning. Siegel tweeted: No longer Mayor Quan’s legal advisor. Resigned at…
Warner Bros: we issued takedowns for files we never saw, didn’t own copyright to
In a Monday court filing, Warner Brothers admitted that it has issued takedown notices for files without looking at them first. The studio also acknowledged that it issued takedown notices for a number of URLs that its adversary, the locker site Hotfile, says were obviously not Warner Brothers’ content. Hotfile has been locked in a…
Senate Halts GOP Bid To Repeal ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules
Senate Democrats on Thursday turned back a Republican attempt to repeal federal rules designed to prevent Internet service providers from discriminating against those who send content and other services over their networks. Republicans argued that “net neutrality” rules announced by the Federal Communications Commission last December were another example of federal regulatory overreach that would…
Man Outed As Undercover Cop At Occupy Oakland Condemns Police Brutality, Supports The Movement
Across the country, police have used undercover and/or plainsclothed police officers to monitor occupations and protests that are a part of the 99 Percent Movement. Earlier today, the Tennessean published excerpts from emails sent by the Tennessee Highway Patrol that confirmed not only that police were infiltrating Occupy Nashville but that they were hoping for…
Paramilitary Policing From Seattle to Occupy Wall Street
My support for a militaristic solution caused all hell to break loose. Rocks, bottles and newspaper racks went flying. Windows were smashed, stores were looted, fires lighted; and more gas filled the streets, with some cops clearly overreacting, escalating and prolonging the conflict. The “Battle in Seattle,” as the WTO protests and their…
American Citizen Racially Profiled At School In Alabama Because She Looked Foreign
In the wake of HB 56, Alabama’s extreme immigration law, students have been bullied by their peers simply for looking Hispanic, and now even one teacher has singled out a student because she looked foreign — even though she is an American citizen. The ACLU reports that a teacher gave Cineo Gonzales’ young…
The War Against the Poor
Some facts: early in 2011, the US Census Bureau reported that 14.3 percent of the population, or 47 million people—one in six Americans—were living below the official poverty threshold, currently set at $22,400 annually for a family of four. Some 19 million people are living in what is called extreme poverty, which means that their…
Week in Review | Video Summary | Nov. 2011 Week 1 | TRP
A year out from the presidential election of 2012, here is a sampling of the video stories in the news the past week. We’ve got PBS on the generational impacts on the election, Chris Matthews on the election and his new book, some polling data and a few words from our President, corporate tax rates,…
Occupy Nashville vs. GOP confrontation turns into love fest
Hey, you socialist hippie weirdos! Hey, you boot-heel-licking fascist twerps! Group hug! That was essentially the vibe in Nashville on Thursday night, as a rare rash of love broke out across the political divide between Occupy Nashville protesters and a conservative counter-protesting group. Jeff Woods, a writer with the Nashville Scene newspaper, reports that…
Student jailed 2 nights when she can’t show ID
Early in the morning on Oct. 22, a Saturday, Ms. Zucker, 21, and her friend Alex Fischer, also 21, were stopped by the police in Riverside Park and given tickets for trespassing. Mr. Fischer was permitted to leave after he produced his driver’s license. But Ms. Zucker, on a visit to New York…
Oakland Police Under a Cloud for Violent Occupy Crackdown
A shot-filled bean-bag round held by a protester at Frank Ogawa Plaza Tuesday night. Schuyler Erle/Twitter On Tuesday night I was at the intersection of 14th and Broadway, just outside Frank Ogawa Plaza, for several harrowing hours: I witnessed police officers firing projectiles indiscriminately into the crowd—not carefully targeting instigators, as OPD policy dictates. Freelance…
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Says She Will Minimize Police Presence And That She Supports The Movement
After the first heavy-handed police crackdown on demonstrators in Oakland, Mayor Jean Quan wrote a statement on her Facebook page praising police for closing down the Occupy Oakland protest encampment. Now, facing anger from across the world, Quan is backing down on her aggressive language and even says she supports the goals of the movement….