Top Stories
Lawsuit Contends National “Suspicious Activity” Database is Way too Broad
Taking photos of public art or being a minority is enough to land an American on the federal government’s watch list for being suspicious, which is now being challenged in court.
The plaintiffs contend the Suspicious Activity Reporting program is much too broad, resulting in innocent people being added to the database. The program also sweeps up details about individuals exercising their First Amendment rights. Others have done nothing except be a member of certain ethnic groups.
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Federal Budget Deficit Finally Dips to Pre-Recession Level
The smaller deficit, estimated at $583 billion, was caused by slower defense spending, less-than-anticipated spending on Hurricane Sandy rebuilding and smaller-than-expected costs of Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance subsidies. During the depths of the recession, the deficit reached $1.4 trillion. Budget cuts since have meant the government is spending less, but that has also slowed job growth, so tax receipts have not increased as much as they might have. read more
Pesticides Suspected in Deaths of Birds and Bees
The Dutch study looked at the population of 15 types of birds and found a consistent decline in the population where Imidacloprid was present in surface water. Researchers believe the chemical kills off the insects that the birds eat, but they’re still unsure of the reason for the population decline.
Other research has fingered neonicotinoids for the recent die-off of honeybees. read more
40 Percent of Colleges Haven’t Investigated a Sex Assault Case in 5 Years
A probe initiated by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) discovered many disturbing facts in the world of higher education and its approach to handling rapes and other sexual assaults.
One that jumps right off the page: More than 40% of colleges and universities, including many private for-profit schools, haven’t investigated a single sexual assault case on their campuses over the past five years. read more
British Foreign Office Claims Documents Relating to CIA Abduction Program were “Accidentally” Destroyed
The British government said that secret files documenting its role in a secret CIA program were destroyed by “water damage.”
The information in question purportedly contained details about CIA flights in 2002 carrying detainees to and from the secret military installation known as Diego Garcia, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
The British-controlled island may have housed a “black site” prison operated by the CIA for interrogating detainees. read more
San Francisco First Large City to Force Treatment of Mentally Ill
Despite fierce opposition from mental health advocates, San Francisco leaders have approved a policy by which a judge can be petitioned to order mandatory treatment for the mentally ill.
The policy change came as a result of the approval of a 12-year-old statute, Laura’s Law. The law was named after teenager Laura Wilcox, who was murdered in 2001 by a psychiatric patient.
Nevada County, where Wilcox was murdered, was the first to adopt the program. Orange County has since signed on. read more
Prosecution of Public Officials for Corruption Declines under Obama
The drop is even sharper when the Justice Department numbers are put up alongside those from 2004 (down 32% when there were 760 cases under Bush) and 1994 (down 27% when 711 were reported under Clinton).
TRAC says public corruption referrals sent from federal agencies to Justice have averaged 1,674 during the past five years. This total is about the same as under Bush (1,663 referrals).
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NSA Collected Love Letters and Family Photos of Americans not Associated with Terrorism
All kinds of personal communications—from intimate messages to family photos—have been collected and stored in secret repositories controlled by the NSA.
Performed under the guise of counterterrorism operations, the collecting of personal emails, text messages and images has by far outnumbered those of would-be threats.
Within the files are communications of people discussing their sex lives, financial worries, health concerns and even their broken dreams. read more
Female Justices Object to Unsigned Supreme Court Order Favoring Christian College’s Objection to Birth Control Compromise
When forms are submitted, third parties are then authorized to provide birth control to the insured. The court endorsed Wheaton’s refusal to use mandatory forms for the transfer on the grounds that they led indirectly to the use of birth control. Sotomayor wrote that the court had undermined its own ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, which upheld the use of the forms. “Those who are bound by our decisions usually believe they can take us at our word,” she said. “Not so today.” read more
Oklahoma Earthquakes Blamed on Disposal of Fracking Waste
The small town of Jones has experienced more than 2,500 earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater since 2008 that researchers say were triggered by a significant increase in wastewater injection volumes. The four well sites have disposed of approximately four million barrels of water a month deep below the earth’s surface.
Geologists say the injection of so much water could increase subterranean pressure near underground faults, helping push them past their tipping point. read more
Supreme Court Corporate Majority Continues to Support Chamber of Commerce Agenda
The Chamber was victorious in 11 out of 16 cases in which it supported one side, according to the Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC), which has been keeping tabs on the court led by Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.
Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas all voted the Chamber’s position more than 70% of the time.
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Privacy and Civil Liberties Board Reports that NSA Warrantless Surveillance is Okay
The NSA also can legally vacuum up information from so-called “upstream sources, such as by tapping undersea cables,” the PCLOB stated in its report, according to Wired.
These activities have pushed “close to the line of constitutional reasonableness,” the board’s members agreed, which did little to assuage privacy advocates hoping for a tougher response.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the report “legally flawed and factually incomplete.”
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Hobby Lobby Ruling Puts Rights of Employers above Rights of Employees
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wrote the dissenting opinion, warned that the ruling was a “decision of startling breadth” which could lead to employees losing out on other rights, such as vaccinations and certain medications if their employers object. “Suppose an employer’s sincerely held religious belief is offended by health coverage of…paying the minimum wage or according women equal pay for substantially similar work?” she asked. read more
Blackwater Manager Threatened to Kill State Dept. Investigator; Bush Administration Sided with Blackwater
Richter added in his memo, “I took Mr. Carroll’s threat seriously. We were in a combat zone where things can happen quite unexpectedly, especially when issues involve potentially negative impacts on a lucrative security contract.”
Surprisingly, U.S. diplomats in the Baghdad embassy sided with Blackwater and told Richter he should go home and stop disrupting the embassy’s relationship with the company read more
SWAT Teams Avoid Transparency by Registering as Private Corporations
In Massachusetts, many SWAT teams are run by law enforcement councils (LEC). Some of these LECs hide behind corporate identities when public records requests are made.
Those LECs have incorporated under the 501(c)(3) section of the tax code and claim that they’re exempt from public records requests. read more
As Food Imports Increase, FDA Can’t Keep Up with Inspections
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors allow nearly all food imports to enter the country without undergoing visual examination.
“The FDA has been outgunned and overmatched for years as a rising tide of imported food has found a place at the U.S. dinner table,” FairWarning’s Rick Schmitt wrote. “Because of budget constraints ordinarily only 1 percent to 2 percent of food imports are physically inspected by the agency at the border each year.”
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