Sam Sacks - page 32

A suspended policy that allowed local police to keep much of the assets they confiscate from fellow suspects—even those who have not been convicted or charged with any crime—was reinstated on Monday evening by the Department of Justice. The notorious “equitable sharing” program permits local cops to use federal law to seize property, possessions, and cash from individuals they suspect of wrongdoing. It was temporarily halted in December. A DOJ spokesperson, Peter Carr, told the Washington Post that an improved budget situation allowed the department to reinstate… Keep Reading

Members of Congress have long been skeptical of the administration’s claims about digital privacy, and the government’s latest maneuver will likely set off those lawmakers’ bullshit detectors once more. On Monday night, the Department of Justice informed a federal magistrate judge in California that it would no longer try to compel Apple to disable security features on an iPhone–one that belonged to deceased San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. At least one Member of Congress, a leading proponent of online civil liberties, reacted to the news by accusing the feds… Keep Reading

The FBI will soon implement a new program to pressure teachers and religious leaders into serving as informants, an advocacy group is warning. In a statement issued late last week, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) slammed a new Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program set to be unveiled by the Bureau in the coming days–one that will rely on local leaders to snitch on troubled youth under the disguise of counseling. The launch of the “Shared Responsibility Committees” (SRC) has been in the works since last Fall. It is the latest… Keep Reading

In their bid to keep the military prison at Guantanamo Bay open indefinitely, Republican lawmakers have already blocked detainee transfers to certain countries that are known hotbeds of extremist activity like Yemen. On Wednesday, one GOP lawmaker suggested we should go a step further and prevent releases to countries with politics that offend America’s right-wing sensibilities. During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) pressed the State Department’s Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure, Lee Wolosky, about the late 2014 transfer of six Gitmo… Keep Reading

A US citizen who was arrested for protesting a Donald Trump presidential event in Arizona claims she was turned over by local officials to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because of her Latina last name. Jacinta Gonzalez explained over the weekend what happened to her and two other activists as they tried to shut down roads outside the GOP frontrunner’s rally in Fountain Hills, Ariz. on Saturday. “I know that the two colleagues I was arrested with were released,” she said in a video posted… Keep Reading