Free Republic

Liberal without even Trying From the times of the Great Depression through the 1950’s, some people were known as those who were just “passing through” town. During that time, one could pass through a town anonymously. Those days are gone. With fingerprint, information, a certifiable form of identification, a social security number, a speck of DNA or a face recognition photograph authorities have the ability to know everything there is to know about an individual. That individual had better have their legal ducks in a row before passing anywhere. This is but a tiny fragment of an example of those...

Agents test fire weapons to narrow leads in the June 8 killing of the girls near Weleetka. WELEETKA — More than three dozen guns from the Weleetka area were test fired over the weekend as authorities worked to narrow their leads into the June 8 slayings of two girls. Jessica Brown, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said more than 60 letters were sent out to registered owners of .40-caliber handguns, asking them to voluntarily submit their weapons for testing on Saturday and Sunday at the Okfuskee County Courthouse at Okemah. Brown said about 40 of those owners...

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that border control agents who found child porn on a traveler's laptop didn't violate the man's right to be free from unreasonable searches. "We are satisfied that reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage devices at the border," Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote. O'Scannlain went on to say that the defendant "has failed to distinguish how the search of his laptop and its electronic contents is logically any different from the suspicionless border searches of travelers' luggage that the Supreme Court and...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court affirmed Wednesday that police have the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even when done during an arrest that turns out to have violated state law. The unanimous decision comes in a case from Portsmouth, Va., where city detectives seized crack cocaine from a motorist after arresting him for a traffic ticket offense. David Lee Moore was pulled over for driving on a suspended license. The violation is a minor crime in Virginia and calls for police to issue a court summons and let the driver go. Instead, city detectives arrested Moore and prosecutors...

Son got his first ticket. Policeman said he didn't stop at a stop sign. It was dark, not even street lights in this area, but he saw this difficult-to-tell action in the dark, when Nathan says he had come to a stop. He didn't argue though. But then he wanted to search the car. We've always told son not to agree to that, there is no reason. (actually, his former-cop dad told him don't agree to it) Dad is not in the picture, so I have to ask you all. This was his first traffic stop and he was nervous....

Once again, homeschoolers across the country are facing the threat of daytime curfews. Within the last year, city councils in California, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas have considered such curfews. Daytime curfews are unnecessary for good order. They are often touted as a way to reduce truancy and juvenile crime, but there is little or no evidence to support this. The impact on law-abiding youth, however, is undisputed: restricting a young person’s freedom to move about during the day creates an atmosphere of fear reminiscent of totalitarian states, and often leads to harassment of homeschoolers. Daytime curfews can be...

"There comes a point in time where all the discussion and analysis has to stop. We are now six years away from 9/11. Simply kicking this problem further down the road is a time-tested Washington way of smothering a proposal with process," said Chertoff. "The time has come to bite the bullet." Or, as Jack Bauer might say (while in the midst of breaking half a dozen laws in the name of stopping an impending attack), "We're running out of time!" Chertoff summarized the major features of the final rules as follows: People must provide documentation that proves who they...

The frustration of proving one's age to buy things like alcohol and tobacco does not end when you reach the appropriate legal age. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have a youthful appearance are forever burdened with having to carry a state-issued ID card to every place where we might want to buy alcohol or tobacco. Over the past few years, we've been gradually subjected to another, more intrusive ID-related hassle -- that of electronic drivers license scanning. It's one thing when a government representative scans your driver's license; it's another thing entirely when a restaurant does it,...

Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives...

While coming home from my son's friend's house I heard on the scanner that there was an accident 1 block past my house. I had my camera with me so I decided to stop and take pictures. I am a budding independent citizen journalist. While filming the accident scene I also film a gal on the sidewalk that claims she hurt her neck. Her friend is holding her neck and shoulders as some kind of c-spine protection. A MHP officer comes over and asks her questions and then asks me if I saw the accident. No, I answer I only...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States change their definition of privacy. Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information. Kerr's comments come as Congress is taking a second look at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Lawmakers hastily changed the 1978 law last summer to allow the government to eavesdrop inside the United States without court permission, so...

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff visited Seattle on Friday to help Gov. Christine Gregoire kick off a pilot program that will allow Washington state residents to use a security-enhanced driver's license, rather than a passport, to travel to and from Canada. Chertoff predicted the new licenses will help meet the department's dual goals of enhancing security and reducing wait-times at the border. In a wide-ranging discussion with The Seattle Times editorial board after the event, Chertoff spoke repeatedly of his agency's efforts to balance competing demands. On issues ranging from port security to air travel to home-grown terrorism, Chertoff described...

Missouri: Police Roadblock Harassment Caught on TapeSt. Louis County, Missouri threaten to arrest a teenager for refusing to discuss his personal travel plans. A teenager harassed by police in St. Louis, Missouri caught the incident on tape. Brett Darrow, 19, had his video camera rolling last month as he drove his 1997 Maxima, minding his own business. He approached a drunk driving roadblock where he was stopped, detained and threatened with arrest when he declined to enter a conversation with a police officer about his personal travel habits. Now Darrow is considering filing suit against St. Louis County Police. "I'm...

LOS ANGELES A camera phone captured a UCLA student being shot with a stun gun by a police officer after he allegedly refused repeated requests to show his student identification and would not leave a campus library, university police said Wednesday. The incident occurred about 11 p.m. Tuesday after police did a routine check of student ID at the Powell Library computer lab. "This is a long-standing library policy to ensure the safety of students during the late-night hours," said UCLA Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein. She said police tried to escort Mostafa Tabatabainejad, 23, out of the library after...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Security "pat-downs" of fans at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games are unconstitutional and unreasonable, a federal judge ruled Friday, throwing into question the practice at NFL games nationwide. U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore issued an order siding with a Bucs season-ticket holder who had sued to stop the fan searches that began last season after the NFL implemented enhanced security measures. High school civics teacher Gordon Johnson sued the Tampa Sports Authority, which operates the stadium, to stop officials from conducting the "suspicionless" searches. A state judge agreed with Johnston that the searches are likely unconstitutional and...

The war over immigration reform among conservatives continues, and, as in most wars, truth has been one of the first casualties. Those who disagree with the hardening positions of people who would adopt more restrictive policies or with people who favor less restrictive measures are attacked as know-nothings, traitors or handmaidens of evil forces out to destroy the America we live in. Many conservatives reacted angrily to the way the Bush administration tried to demonize opposition to the president’s quasi-amnesty and guest-worker proposals when they were first introduced. Critics at the time were characterized as racists or “nativists” more interested...

Human Events Online has been leading the coverage of the so-called “Security and Prosperity Partnership,” a unilateral program implemented by the Bush Administration designed to set the course for a North American Union that would subsume our national sovereignty. A de facto treaty signed by the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., the agreement was never submitted to the Senate for ratification. Now it can be revealed that plans for the North American Union include a tri-national “North American Union” ID card. Recent testimony to Congress by a Homeland Security official reinforces the point. At a June 8 hearing...

A deeply divided Houston City Council today voted to approve a five year contract for the city's proposed red light camera program. American Traffic Solutions Inc. will now begin setting up cameras at ten intersections around town judged to be the most accident-prone. The cameras are set up to take pictures of red light runner's license plates. Violators caught by the cameras will be mailed a $75 ticket. Those who have three violations within one year would have to pay $150 for each ticket after the first two. Debate over the use of the cameras has raged ever since Mayor...

In 1775, New Hampshire was the first colony to declare its independence from oppressive laws and taxes levied by the British crown. Now it may become the first state to declare its independence from an oppressive digital ID law concocted in Washington, D.C. New Hampshire's House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a remarkable bill, HB 1582, that would prohibit the state from participating in the national ID card system that will be created in 2008. A state Senate vote is expected as early as next week. The federal law in question is the Real ID Act (here's our FAQ on...

From Anchorage it takes 90 minutes on a propeller plane to reach this fishing village on the state's southwestern edge, a place where some people still make raincoats out of walrus intestine. This is the Alaskan bush at its most remote. Here, tundra meets sea, and sea turns to ice for half the year. Scattered, almost hidden, in the terrain are some of the most isolated communities on American soil. People choose to live in outposts like Dillingham (pop. 2,400) for that reason: to be left alone. So eyebrows were raised in January when the first surveillance cameras went up...

If you are stopped by police in Kansas, don’t be surprised if the officer pulls out a little black box and takes your fingerprints. The gadget allows officers to identify people by fingerprints without hauling them to the police station. Over the next year the Kansas Bureau of Investigation will test 60 of the devices with law enforcement agencies around the state. State officials said similar tests are being planned for New York, Milwaukee and Hawaii. “This is definitely new,” said Gary Page, Overland Park Police Department crime lab. “It’s been talked about, but as far as I know they...

New Yorkers, get ready for your closeup. The NYPD is installing 505 surveillance cameras around the city - and pushing to safeguard lower Manhattan with a "ring of steel" that could track hundreds of thousands of people and cars a day, authorities revealed yesterday. .. The NYPD also has applied for $81.5 million in federal aid to install surveillance cameras, computerized license plate readers and vehicle barriers around lower Manhattan, Kelly said. .. But don't expect the NYPD to install its cameras without battling the New York Civil Liberties Union. The watchdog group's associate legal director, Chris Dunn, questioned the...

Chemical plant technician Steven Lozano really got nailed: speeding, an expired inspection sticker, an expired driver's license and dubious proof of insurance. The cost of his traffic infractions: $675 and a wait in line recently at Houston Municipal Court. What Lozano didn't know — few people do — is that only about half of the hefty fines had anything to do with his traffic conduct. The rest were "surcharges." They included money for a prison-guard training institute at Sam Houston State University and money for a juvenile-crime program at Prairie View A&M, among other things. "A lot of this has...

Carol Johns of Pascagoula says she doesn't need a state law to make her wear a seat belt. But, she acknowledges a law might have helped persuade her to buckle up years ago when she was a teenager learning to drive. "Whether we realize it or not, young people have a lot of respect for what the law says,'' said Johns, who's 55 and says she has only been wearing a seat belt regularly for three years. Mississippi could be on the verge of strengthening its seat belt law from a secondary offense to a primary one, meaning a law...

Bill Would Allow Arrests For No Reason In Public Place Citizens Would Also Have To Show ID UPDATED: 7:22 pm EST December 19, 2005 CLEVELAND -- A bill on Gov. Bob Taft's desk right now is drawing a lot of criticism, NewsChannel5 reported. One state representative said it resembles Gestapo-style tactics of government, and there could be changes coming on the streets of Ohio's small towns and big cities. The Ohio Patriot Act has made it to the Taft's desk, and with the stroke of a pen, it would most likely become the toughest terrorism bill in the country. The...

Police Hit Grandmother With Taser Gun Five Times Officer Said Woman Resisted Arrest POSTED: 4:47 pm EST December 7, 2005 UPDATED: 9:52 pm EST December 7, 2005 FRANKLIN, Ohio -- A 68-year-old woman was hit with a Taser gun by police in an Ohio city five times. The police officer in the case, a lieutenant with the Franklin Police Department, claims he is the victim in the case, NBC 4's Mike Bowersock reported. Beverly Kidwell, 68, was in the waiting room of the police department in suburban Dayton when the incident occurred. According to police, she came into the station...

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) - A Hamilton County sheriff's deputy faces a lawsuit for using a Taser on a woman who refused to put down her cell phone after she was stopped on suspicion of drunken driving. Jennifer Marshall says she was trying to phone her lawyer when Deputy Greg Lockhart pressed the stun gun to her arm as another deputy held her. Police contend Marshall refused to drop the cell phone after Lockhart warned her she would have to go to jail if she did not submit to a blood test. Hamilton County Sheriff Doug Carter says Lockhart followed department...

MIAMI - Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant. Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats. "This is an in-your-face type of strategy. It's letting the terrorists know we are out there," Fernandez said.The operations will keep terrorists off guard, Fernandez said. He said al-Qaida and other terrorist groups plot attacks by putting places under surveillance...

AP) POMONA, Calif. Pomona police arrested 20 people, impounded 171 vehicles and issued 194 citations during a sobriety and license check operation that wrapped up early this morning.

Judge rips Kmart raid's mass arrests Calling actions unconstitutional, she rules 10 suits can now proceedBy HARVEY RICECopyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Calling the operation "almost totalitarian," a federal judge says a Houston police plan that led to 278 arrests in a Kmart parking lot almost three years ago was unconstitutional. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas allows all 10 lawsuits filed in the wake of the Aug. 18, 2002, mass arrest, and a smaller operation the previous night, to proceed.The "plan to detain all persons ... with no regard for the existence of open businesses and their customers,...

The era of easy travel for U.S. citizens returning from Latin America and the Caribbean is over. Within months they will have to present passports -- instead of driver's licenses or birth certificates -- if they want to clear passport control. By year's end, the U.S. government will require Americans returning by air or sea from the Caribbean and Central and South America to carry U.S. passports -- a major change in travel procedures for citizens who for decades have been readmitted by merely flashing a driver's license or a birth certificate. It's the first in a series of phased-in...

<p>In the last three months the obsessed minority of freepers but very vocal who hate President Bush have been bombarding us with every illegal immigration thread under the sun so they have their "BASH BUSH ORGY".</p> <p>Pick up your phone and report to the INS about an illegal immigrant and his employer. I am sure you know at least one illegal immigrant who works in a convenient store, on a gas station, clean the garbage in your office, clean the bathroom at your work place... And I am sure you know one of these employers who hire illegal immigrants. Go ahead Mucho Guys, do your duty and report them to the INS. Let us see how courageous you are and let us see your action following your rhetoric.</p>

MADD: Sobriety checks key to stopping drunken driving 1/12/2005, 6:56 p.m. ET By LAURIE KELLMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The best way to further reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities is to set up more sobriety checkpoints, especially in the 10 states, including Michigan, that currently bar them, Mothers Against Drunk Driving said Wednesday. "This is a proven, effective strategy," said MADD President Wendy Hamilton. "It really does have credible scientific backing that proves that it reduces alcohol-related fatalities by 20 percent." Increasing the number of sobriety checkpoints and funding for advertising them is the group's first priority as it...

Ok, here is my question: How much information does DMV give out about us. I just recently (today) ordered a pizza. The clerk tells me he needs my driver's license number (now I figured before that was to check my address), just out of curiousity I decided to ask him "why?". "Oh," he tells me, "it's to check whether we can accept your checks or not, if your credit is good." Now, what in tar blazes is this about? Some shmo at the pizza joint can check my credit rating? Or whether I've bounced a check (which I haven't, mind...

One screener had four Social Security numbers and a conviction for shoplifting, and as seen on a surveillance videotape exclusively obtained by CBS News, he used his position to steal jewelry and more from airline passengers' bags. WCBS's Cheryl Fiandaca reports for The Early Show. Transportation Security Administration screener Clarence Henry is supposed to be looking for bombs in checked luggage. Instead, he's looking for jewelry and cash. A surveillance video appears to show Henry carefully picking through the jewelry case in a bag - looking for expensive pieces and pocketing them when he finds them. And Henry isn't the...

9/11 staff report focuses on immigration Hijackers' visa applications were incomplete - A new report from the now-defunct Sept. 11 commission details the lax controls on immigration and customs that the hijackers exploited to carry out their plot. The report, compiled by the commission’s staff, says 13 of the 19 hijackers applying for visas presented passports that were less than three weeks old, yet their visa applications were met with no increased scrutiny. Two of the hijackers, the report said, lied on their applications “in detectable ways” but were not questioned about those lies. And all 19 of the hijackers’...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sept. 11 commissioners told Congress on Monday they want the federal government to set standards for getting driver's licenses to make it harder for terrorists to fake their identities. Commission Chairman Thomas Kean told the Senate Commerce Committee that ID cards helped terrorists prepare for the Sept. 11 hijackings by allowing them to board commercial flights. "The time at which terrorists are most vulnerable is when they move around," Kean told the committee. The Sept. 11 report issued last month said the United States must expand its border security system into a larger network of screening points,...

Court: No Right to Keep Names From Police 3 minutes ago By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people do not have a constitutional right to refuse to tell police their names. The 5-4 decision frees the government to arrest and punish people who won't cooperate by revealing their identity. The decision, reached by a divided court, was a defeat for privacy rights advocates who argued that the government could use this power to force people who have done nothing wrong to submit to fingerprinting or divulge more personal information. Police, meanwhile, had...

Thousands of Muslim women will be exempted from having to show their faces on identity cards as the Government moves to allay fears among British Muslims that the new cards will be used to target them in the 'war on terror'. As David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, faced attack for not allowing enough debate over the introduction of the first ID cards in Britain since the Second World War, officials made it clear that if Muslim women do not want to reveal their faces in public, that would be respected. Instead of a photograph, there would be an exemption for...

Identity cards for all Britons 'by 2013' PA News 11 November 2003 The cost of a passport will increase to £77 under plans for a compulsory national identity card, ministers said today. The controversial new cards will be held by everyone in Britain by 2013 and will be based on existing passports and possibly on driving licences in a £3 billion project. Home Secretary David Blunkett said the scheme would include "biometric" details such as someone's fingerprints or an image of their eye, stored on a microchip in each card. They will have to be produced to see a doctor,...