Official thuggery, bad prosecutions, and bad law – Page 18

Thursday links

Published February 1, 2018 6:08 am by Claire

I never had any idea there were such things as Formula One “grid girls.” Now they’re losing their jobs (because feminism) and they’re not taking it lightly.

She asked for help with postpartum depression. The nurse called the cops instead. (Slate’s take on this is different than yours or mine might be.)

If Bezos and Buffett “lift the veil” on health-care prices, insurers are in trouble.

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Midweek links

Published January 31, 2018 8:21 am by Claire

Bruce Schneier on Section 702 reauthorization and federal “freedom” to snoop on you.

Yikes. Hawaii. You actually kept this delusional emergency worker on the job despite 10 years of complaints and reprimands? Lawsuits incoming …

Yet another case of research stating the obvious. Yet in an interesting way. You really are “on the same wavelength” as your friends.

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Weekend links

Published January 27, 2018 11:18 am by Claire

LaVoy Finicum’s widow is suing the FBI and Oregon state police. Big time.

“Your papers, please!” The all-American version.

You’ve probably heard that Ursula K. LeGuin died this week. Here’s some wisdom from her on that strange subject known as “spare time” and the even stranger subjects of creative work and life.

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Thursday links

Published January 25, 2018 1:24 am by Claire

The NSA’s mission statement as of last year. The NSA’s mission statement today. Seems they’ve given up on “honesty” and turned “transparency” into pure authoritarianism. But then, did anybody believe them in the first place? (Via The Intercept)

“When Corruption is a Job Perk” (cops and “get out of jail free” cards for their friends and relatives). But no worries! The cop union plans to cut corruption by as much as 1/3. Maybe even 1/2 for retired cops.

Commander Zero has interesting observations on a little-known experiment in starvation — and also offers his readers a chance to get in on a heavily discounted bulk buy of those excellent Mountain House foods.

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Tuesday links

Published January 23, 2018 1:11 am by Claire

li>Five months of texts missing? That’s nothing. “Losing” or destroying inconvenient evidence is the FBI’s stock in trade says Jim Bovard.

Craft beer. The strangest, happiest economic story in America.

“The myth of the playground pusher.” “Drug-free school zones” are nothing more than an excuse to increase sentences for “crimes” that have nothing to do with schools.

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Midweek links

Published January 17, 2018 7:33 am by Claire

We were worried about our rights when the IRS started using private bill collectors. Did we even consider that the poor IRS might actually lose money on the deal?

Nissan wants to read your mind.

Richard Rahn talks rationally about immigration from sh*tholes (or ratholes or sh*thouses; the claims about Trump’s language are mutating) — and in the process includes three branches of my ancestry. I’m so proud.

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Tuesday links

Published January 16, 2018 9:42 am by Claire

Here’s a Hawaiian who had a plan in case of nuke attack. Not a great plan, but still.

“Am I a bad feminist?” asks Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale. Seems so because she — gasp! — believes in due process even for men.

Guess we should have figured that. The jihadis who tried to shoot up that “Draw Mohammed” contest in 2015 were egged on and even accompanied by an undercoverFBI agent — and apparently neither the FBI nor the DoJ warned attendees that the U.S. government was sending wannabe murderers their way. Thank heaven for armed Texans!

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Friday links

Published January 12, 2018 1:32 am by Claire

You’ve heard of the Great Wall of China and Trump’s border wall. But how ’bout the Great Hedge of India? The Brits created it in a futile (but persistent) attempt to halt salt smuggling.

Another city’s red-light camera program bites the dust.

There’s a new surveillance policy for truckers that’s likely to hurt us all.

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Midweek links

Published January 10, 2018 7:22 am by Claire

Between the Equifax breach and the new tax law, this could be a bad year for both fraudulent tax returns and IRS confusion.

In southern California they’re looking for victims in a weather-related mudslide. In Washington state, they’re watching a potentially larger landslide in the making. Local officials are pooh-poohing the potential impact; geologists and geophysicists are saying, “Close the damn freeway NOW and prepare for Yakima to flood.”

GetRichSlowly.org: Hopping off the hedonic treadmill.

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Case dismissed … with prejudice

Published January 8, 2018 4:33 pm by Claire

Federal prosecutors, who have made such a botch of everything connected with the Bundy ranch, have lost. Definitively. Humiliatingly. Deservedly. Their case against Cliven, two of his sons, and another man has been dismissed with prejudice following last month’s mistrial. Meaning no re-trial. Now. Will the feds retreat and accept that this whole woeful business has been overreach (and under-honesty) on their part from the beginning? Or will they find some other way to get revenge on the harmless (but defiant) Mormon rancher and his clan? I first got this news on NPR this afternoon. To hear them tell it,…

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Category: Official thuggery, bad prosecutions, and bad law