Controversies

New California Law Gives Journalists 5-Day Warning of Records Seizure by State

The five-day notice is intended to give journalists and publishers time to challenge the subpoena or narrow the scope of information the third party would be required to disclose. The new law, which was drafted by Democratic state Sen. Ted Lieu of Torrance, also requires the notice to include an explanation of why the government wants the records and why it can’t obtain the information through alternate sources. read more

More U.S. Deaths from Prescription Drug Abuse than from Heroin and Cocaine Combined

The two areas of the U.S. with the highest rates of prescription-drug overdoses are Appalachia and the Southwest. West Virginia leads the nation, with 28.9 deaths per every 100,000 people. Prescription overdoses have skyrocketed in the state by 605% since 1999. Men between the ages 25 and 54 are most likely to abuse drugs like OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin. But rates among female abusers are accelerating, increasing by 400% over the past 14 years. read more

CIA Plans to Shutter Public Access to Foreign News Service…after more than 50 Years

Journalists and researchers who have long relied on foreign news posted on an open Central Intelligence Agency-fed website will lose access at the end of this year. The CIA’s Open Source Center has decided to halt its information feed to the publicly accessible World News Connection (WNC) as of December 31, ending 50 years of this service. read more

Conservative Activists Plotted Government Shutdown Shortly After Obama Reelection

Early in 2013, Edwin Meese III, former attorney general under President Ronald Reagan, gathered together a group of conservative activists in the capital to plot strategy for stopping Obama’s health care law from going into effect in October. The meeting produced a “blueprint to defunding Obamacare” that Meese and leaders of nearly 40 conservative groups pledged to implement. read more

Wisconsin Imprisons Black and Native American Men at Twice the National Rate

Pawasarat said the state started locking up African-Americans in droves last decade, when Wisconsin’s Three Strikes law went into effect. That caused a tripling of the prison population, and resulted in about half of the black men in their 30s or early 40s in Milwaukee County spending time in the state’s correctional facilities, he said. “And two-thirds of the men come from the six poorest zip codes in Milwaukee,” Pawasarat added. read more

Nebraska Supreme Court Rules 16-Year-Old not Mature Enough for an Abortion, but Mature Enough to become a Mother

Bataillon rejected the girl’s request to waive the parental consent requirement, saying she would have to ask her foster parents for permission. The judge’s ruling seemed to conflict with state law that says the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is considered the guardian of wards. The judge also ruled that the girl did not demonstrate sufficient maturity to make the decision to seek an abortion. read more

FBI Accused of Using No-Fly List to Recruit Informants

According to the complaint, Tanvir landed on the no-fly list after refusing an FBI request to work as an informant in his predominantly Muslim community. When Tanvir contacted the bureau, FBI agents offered to take him off the list in exchange for information. read more

NSA Director Alexander Uses Weasel Words to Avoid Details of Cell Phone Tracking Program

“Under Section 215 [of the Patriot Act], NSA is not receiving cell site location data and has no current plans to do so.” Alexander limited his answer to NSA’s present conduct under Section 215, much to the dissatisfaction of Sen. Wyden. Note what he left out of his answer: Is NSA collecting location data under any other section of the Patriot Act or under an unknown or secret source of authority? How about other agencies? Have they collected such data in the past? read more

NSA Director Alexander Admits He Lied about Phone Surveillance Stopping 54 Terror Plots

Alexander admitted that only 13 of the 54 cases were connected to the United States. He also told the committee that only one or two suspected plots were identified as a result of bulk phone record collection. read more

Privacy Officers—from Government to Industry—Are Disillusioned and Under Fire

Callahan's DHS colleagues accused her of being a “terrorist” for trying to put the brakes on agency work that threatened people’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. Some officials even told her that if she got in the way of DHS efforts to prevent a terrorist attack, she would have to explain her actions to Congress. read more

Miami Police Accused of Using “Excited Delirium” to Cover Deaths in Custody

Officially, 29 deaths have been attributed by the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office to “excited delirium syndrome,” an uncommon brain malfunction not recognized by the American Medical Association. Of the 29 deaths linked to the syndrome, most have involved police action, including officers using physical restraint or stun guns on the victims. read more

Florida Court Suggests African-Americans May Have Right to “Stand Your Ground” Defense Too

When Marissa Alexander, who is black, fired a warning shot into the ceiling near her estranged husband, she claimed that she was acting out of self-defense during a heated conversation with the man who had previously abused her. Her husband was not injured. But the judge ruled that the stand-your-ground law didn’t apply in Alexander’s case. After a jury found her guilty in May 2012, Alexander—who had no prior criminal history—received a 20-year prison sentence from the judge. read more

U.S. Government’s Secret Documents Filled with Classification Errors

Examples noted by Horowitz included a Federal Bureau of Investigation official classifying a terrorist watch list that was supposed to be public information, and an official from the Justice Department’s National Security Division who shielded unclassified laws, statutes and designations from otherwise classified documents, according to Courthouse News Service (CNS). read more

Most Americans Are Frustrated with Government; Approval of Congress Hits Bottom

President Barack Obama has managed to keep his numbers from falling further, according to CNN/ORC. His approval/disapproval ratings are at 44%/53%, which is virtually the same as they were in the last poll (45%/52%). Americans also disapprove of the Democratic and Republican parties. The Dems’ approval rating stands at 43%, while the GOP’s is 32%. The Tea Party is also not well liked, with only a 31% approval rating. read more

NSA Collects and Stores Web History of Millions of Users, Creates Profiles of U.S. Citizens

At one time the NSA only created profiles of foreigners it was watching. But officials decided to include Americans as part of their “discover and track” operations to find connections between intelligence targets overseas and people in the United States. This policy shift occurred even though there were internal concerns that Americans’ privacy rights might be violated in the process. read more

North Carolina Latest State to be Sued by Justice Department Over Voter ID Law

The Justice Department is challenging four provisions of North Carolina’s voting law, including the requirement that residents show a photo ID at polling places before casting their ballots. The administration also objects to the elimination of the first seven days of early voting; the elimination of same-day voter registration during the early-voting period; and the prohibition on counting provisional ballots cast by voters in their home county but outside their home voting precinct. read more