Pennsylvania police officers no longer need a warrant to search a citizen’s vehicle, according to a recent state Supreme Court opinion. The high court’s opinion, released Tuesday, is being called a drastic change in citizens’ rights and police powers. Previously, citizens could refuse an officer’s request to search a vehicle. In most cases, the officer would then need a warrant
Author: mediahitman
By Ralph Being forced into virtually admitting that it has never heard of a mugshot before, the FBI has taken the position that it does not keep files on A-List terror suspects, at least not files with photographs anyway. Forget that a good part of law enforcement is identification, in order to, you know, make sure you have the right guy. Did he have a mole or anything? Picking suspects out of a line-up or binder of photos. That sort of thing.
After a recent rash of mysterious apparent suicides shook the financial world, researchers are scrambling to find answers about what really is the reason behind these multiple deaths. Some observers have now come to a rather shocking conclusion. Wall Street on Parade bloggers Pam and Russ Martens wrote this week that something seems awry regarding the bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) policies held by JPMorgan Chase. Traditional life insurance policies ensure that the loved ones of the deceased are compensated fairly in the event of a death
State officials in Michigan and Pennsylvania have been awarded roughly $2.4 million in federal funds to test an online ID system that’s been called a “driver’s license for the internet,” and it could soon exist from coast to coast. The “National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace” program has been in development for years, but it’s about to finally be rolled-out to a degree in two locales in order to see if using government-certified IDs on the web is something worth considering on a much larger scale.
Could Edward Snowden be coming home? The former intelligence contractor retained a well-known attorney with expertise in the United States Espionage Act last summer in hopes of reaching an agreement with the US government, the New York Times reports. On Tuesday, Times journalists Charlie Savage and Matt Apuzzo wrote that the 30-year-old ex-systems administrator for the US National Security Agency sought the assistance of accomplished DC-based attorney Plato Cacheris last year with the goal of reaching a plea deal with the federal government.
Former state Rep. Keith Farnham was charged Monday with possessing child pornography in a federal complaint that claims the Democrat traded lurid content online from his legislative office in Elgin. Farnham, 66, is accused of having two videos depicting child pornography on a state-owned computer that federal agents seized in March from his office.
While the state of Oregon gears up to test its shores for radioactive contamination from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, university scientists have found that radiation levels in some albacore tuna caught off its coast have tripled. According to researchers at the University of Oregon, the results came after tests analyzed the cesium levels in 26 tuna caught prior to the 2011 nuclear calamity – as far back as 2008 – and those caught after the accident.
A county court in Pennsylvania ruled against a widow who lost her house over a $6.30 late fee. The property was sold for $116,000 to cover the debt, in what the woman argued was an improper move by the authorities. The home of Eileen F. Battisti, 53, was sold at a September 2011 tax sale to cover the paltry debt, which arose from an interest rate charge on Battisti’s 2009 tax bill. Beaver County auctioned off the house, with an estimated value of $280,000, selling it for $116,000 to SP Lewis.
Hundreds of millions of gallons of treated water are unaccounted for in Waterloo, Iowa — an ironic name given the situation. The Waterloo Water Works said it is missing 851 million gallons of water. According to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, that’s enough to fill 1,300 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
A new study estimated that no less than four percent of the approximately 3,000 US prisoners waiting to be put to death are in fact innocent of the crimes they committed, a shocking number that is far less than the inmates who are freed before execution.
A study of Cold War spy-satellite photos has tripled the number of known archaeological sites across the Middle East, revealing thousands of ancient cities, roads, canals, and other ruins. In recent decades archaeologists have often used declassified satellite images to spot archaeological sites in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.
While the flying cars from “The Jetsons” may still be a pipe dream, driverless cars are not. Google is test-driving autonomous (or self-driving) cars on the roads around its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. And car companies are racing to follow suit. Google’s self-driving car project began in 2009 with nearly 100,000 miles of secretive testing on California highways, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company filed for a patent for “transitioning a mixed-mode vehicle to autonomous mode” in May 2011.
A major security flaw affecting several versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser was discovered over the weekend, and the percentage of computer users that could be compromised by the exploit is absolutely staggering. Bill Gates’ Microsoft Corp. announced on Saturday that Internet Explorer versions 6 through 11 are all vulnerable to a glitch that when properly exploited can give hackers remote access to a victim’s computer.
The United States is reportedly increasing the number of intelligence officers deployed to Iraq amidst new waves of violence there being attributed to jihadists from the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On Friday, Reuters reported that the Pentagon has sent an entire team of high-level American intelligence agents abroad in order to investigate reports of growing insurgency, citing two current and one former US officials familiar with the matter.
The US government has operated multiple social media services around the world in hopes of providing a forum for debate and possibly political unrest. The programs, which operated in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, and dozens of other countries, were similar to ZunZuneo, a US-created social media service that had 40,000 users in Cuba at its peak.
Pro-Russian protesters have seized a local state TV station in the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, demanding that Russian TV channels be broadcast there. They also want to launch a “Donetsk People’s Republic” TV channel. According to media reports, technical work is currently being done at the TV station to restart the transmission of Russian channels. Itar-Tass reports that some Russian TV channels have resumed work in Donetsk.
Verizon Wireless will monitor customers’ activities on wireless devices as well as wired or Wi-Fi-connected desktop computers and laptops. Collected data on users’ online activity will then be passed to marketers for targeted advertising. Verizon customers recently began receiving a notice from the company that it is “enhancing” its Relevant Mobile Advertising operations to glean more information from its customers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Unknown assailants landed in helicopters and attacked a checkpoint in Soledar city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a militia source told RIA Novosti adding that there is a fight going on. There is no information on the number of casualties. Soledar is located about 30 kilometers south east of Slavyansk. The people’s governor of Donbass region Denis Pushilin confirmed to RT that there is fighting in Soledar.