Tag: police state

Court Refuses Qualified Immunity for Alabama Cop Who ‘Insulted’ and Killed Man Who Was Trying to Help Stray Dog

A federal appeals court on Thursday declined to grant qualified immunity to an Alabama police officer who shot and killed a man “without warning” for failing to show identification after he attempted to help a stray dog his family found in a parking lot.

Robert Earl Lawrence was shot in the stomach by Dothan Police Sergeant Adrianne Woodruff and he bled out on the pavement “on the next to last day of the year” in 2014. His three young children and his girlfriend were in the car–screaming while it happened.

Prior to his death and altercation with police, Lawrence, reportedly a sovereign citizen, was just trying to help the dog his family found near the local Walmart by taking it to the Dothan Animal Shelter.

But Lawrence’s attempt to help quickly went askew.

“The receptionist told Lawrence that they accepted dogs only from residents of Houston County,” the court notes. “He told her that he was from nearby Geneva County but had found the dog in Houston County. She agreed to take the dog but asked for his identification. He refused to provide it, claiming that being required to do so would violate his federal privacy rights.”

A brief argument ensued and Woodruff entered the room–reiterating the shelter’s policy about accepting strays and advising Lawrence to fill out an intake form. He declined and left the shelter, “carrying the dog with him,” saying he would just leave the animal on the road.

Woodruff followed Lawrence out and warned him that dumping the dog would be considered a crime. She also copied down his tag number–in line with a policy for people who threaten to dump animals the shelter refuses to take in. As Lawrence got into his car, Woodruff grabbed him from behind and said “You’re not leaving.”

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Court rules NSA phone snooping illegal — after 7-year delay

The National Security Agency program that swept up details on billions of Americans’ phone calls was illegal and possibly unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

However, the unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the role the so-called telephone metadata program played in a criminal terror-fundraising case against four Somali immigrants was so minor that it did not undermine their convictions.

The long-awaited decision is a victory for prosecutors, but some language in the court’s opinion could be viewed as a rebuke of sorts to officials who defended the snooping by pointing to the case involving Basaaly Moalin and three other men found guilty by a San Diego jury in 2013 on charges of fundraising for Al-Shabaab.

Judge Marsha Berzon’s opinion, which contains a half-dozen references to the role of former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden in disclosing the NSA metadata program, concludes that the “bulk collection” of such data violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The call-tracking effort began without court authorization under President George W. Bush following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A similar program was approved by the secretive FISA Court beginning in 2006 and renewed numerous times, but the 9th Circuit panel said those rulings were legally flawed.

The appeals court stopped just short of saying that the snooping was definitely unconstitutional, but rejected the Justice Department’s arguments that collecting the metadata did not amount to a search under a 40-year-old legal precedent because customers voluntarily share such info with telephone providers.

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Coronavirus: Pregnant Victorian woman filmed arrest

A pregnant anti-lockdown protester has live-streamed her arrest on social media and been charged for allegedly inciting a protest against COVID-19 restrictions in Ballarat’s CBD.

The video on the woman’s Facebook page had already been viewed more than 1.4 million times in the space of four hours by Wednesday night, with comments describing the scenes as “absolutely disgusting”.

“What the actual f***!” one person wrote, echoing many others.

Detectives descended on the woman’s Miners Rest home today, armed with a search warrant, after they became aware of a “prohibited gathering” scheduled to take place in the regional Victorian city this Saturday.

Officers raided the 28-year-old’s home and seized her mobile phone and computer equipment, after she greeted them at the door in pink pyjamas.

Upon being told she was going to be arrested, the woman began to cry and told officers she would “happily” delete her social media posts, with her Facebook page reportedly containing links to a “peaceful, freedom day” protest scheduled for the weekend.

“The government has gone to extreme measures and are using scare tactics through the media to prevent the Melbourne protest,” the event’s description said.

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Off-duty Cop and Friends Assault Restaurant Owner, Smash Desk After Being Asked to Mask Up

Surveillance video from inside Ming Dynasty showed an off-duty Quincy police officer and three other people become violent and go crazy when a dispute arose over wearing a face mask.

The video shows a 49-year-old woman smashing the front desk of the restaurant over the mask dispute, while attacking the owner.

“She was pushing my husband and smashed my front desk,” restaurant owner Lei Yan said. “It put my husband’s life in danger.”

Accompanying the woman was the off duty cop who also became irate and was using his badge to justify his illegal actions.

Yan said the group came in after midnight and was very drunk. She said the incident started after the restaurant refused to serve them drinks.

“When they came in, they looked very drunk,” Yan stated.

After being refused drinks, the group of drunks then allegedly left their seats to protest Yan’s decision and refused to put on masks.

That’s when the violence started and when the cop protected the offender.

“He just took his police ID, showing our whole bar, our whole restaurant,” restaurant co-owner Jimmy Tian said. “Like, I’m a police officer, I don’t need a mask.”

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ROBOCOP IS HERE – NEW POLICE HELMET SCANS FOR SIGNS OF COVID-19 AND USES FACIAL RECOGNITION

It took 33 years but Robocop is now here. Well, not exactly, but the rise of the police state fueled by advancements in technology has given birth to a heads-up display equipped helmet sure to please the most anxious of peace officers. It’s called a “Smart Helmet” and it can screen airport passengers for symptoms the COVID-19 virus as well as provide the scanning officer with other vital records.

Public officials in Flint, Michigan cannot provide clean drinking water to their residents but travelers to Bishop International Airport can get a glimpse of the new robotic cop helmets where they’re currently deployed.

Under the guise of screening passengers for COVID-19, the Smart Helmet, produced by KeyBiz based in Italy, can scan travelers’ body temperatures from over 20 feet away.

But the Smart Helmet is not limited to temperature body scans which any laser guided thermometer can do, not in the slightest. Facial recognition software is installed which can provide the police officer with information related to outstanding warrants, if an individual is identified on a terror watch list or a no-fly list, and can read license plates for outstanding warrants, stolen vehicle information, criminal histories, etc. Even if you are completely innocent, you will be subject to these scans.

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