Welcome to Hell”, a sign held by striking first responders that met arriving tourists.
Category: First
U.S. Veteran Is First to Be Convicted in American Courtroom of Supporting ISIS
A federal jury found U.S. Air Force veteran Tairod Pugh guilty Wednesday of trying to join ISIS in Syria in the first ISIS-related verdict to be reached in an American courtroom. The 48-year-old American citizen was arrested in New Jersey last year after a stint working as an airplane mechanic in the Middle East. Pugh was deported back to the U.S. from Egypt where the FBI kept tabs on him.
Pugh watched online ISIS propaganda content and went so far as to pen a letter to his wife pledging his support for ISIS and referencing their life together in paradise after he died a martyr. “But [Pugh] had not sent the letter, giving his defense an opening to argue that although Mr. Pugh was an ardent ideological supporter of the Islamic State, his visions of joining the group were just fantasies,” the New York Times notes. “The jury rejected that defense, convicting him of crimes that carry a potential 35-year sentence.”
Washington considers nation’s first carbon emissions tax
Washington could become the first state in the nation to impose a direct tax on carbon emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline and natural gas.
A ballot measure before the state Legislature would create a carbon tax of $25 per metric ton of fossil fuel emissions burned in Washington, while reducing taxes.
Lawmakers have until the end of the session on March 10, to enact Initiative 732, offer an alternative proposal or automatically pass the carbon-tax measure to voters in November as written. It’s not clear whether lawmakers will approve an alternative by the end of the session.
The grass-roots group Carbon Washington — which gathered more than 350,000 signatures to qualify the initiative — says a carbon tax is the best way to reduce emissions and tackle global warming. It says the tax encourages people and businesses to switch to cleaner energy by making fossil fuels more expensive.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/washington-considers-nations-first-carbon-emissions-tax
Maryland first state in US to issue guidelines on police profiling
Law enforcement may use personal characteristics only if they have “credible information” that such characteristics are “directly relevant” to the investigation of a crime.
“They can still act on bona fide leaders and bona fide intelligence. They can do great police work, but you can’t just stop anyone of a certain race or a certain ethnicity,” Frosh said, according to WJZ News.
The guidelines came with other specific examples. After a report of a serious crime, police can’t question every suspect of a certain race in a neighborhood or stop people on vague grounds for suspicious behavior. In a controversial case earlier this year, officers arrested a Baltimore man named Freddie Gray because he had run away on seeing them. He later died in police custody, sparking riots in the city.
http://www.rt.com/usa/313570-maryland-first-guidelines-police-profiling/
MARYLAND FIRST STATE IN US TO ISSUE GUIDELINES ON POLICE PROFILING
Police do a dangerous, difficult job, and they do it well. But experience shows that improper profiling by police does terrible damage,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh while unveiling the new guidelines in a nine-page memorandum on Tuesday.
Under the rules, officers are banned from using race or ethnicity in making decisions during routine operations, investigations, and traffic stops. The guidelines also include a ban on profiling based on national origin, identity, disability, or religion.
http://www.infowars.com/maryland-first-state-in-us-to-issue-guidelines-on-police-profiling/
PENNSYLVANIA TO BECOME FIRST STATE TO USE “PRECRIME” STATISTICS IN CRIMINAL SENTENCING
As technology generally continues to advance, one thing you can be sure of is the criminal justice system’s use of innovative new “tools” will grow exponentially. This can be a good thing, but it can also be a very dangerous thing. Pennsylvania’s new law that permits the use of data showing whether people are “deemed likely to commit additional crimes” in criminal sentencing, is a perfect example of how an over reliance on technology can be a threat to liberty and due process.
Rather than explaining my position on the matter right here, I think it best to make my points within excerpts from the article itself. From Five Thirty Eight:
Criminal sentencing has long been based on the present crime and, sometimes, the defendant’s past criminal record. In Pennsylvania, judges could soon consider a new dimension: the future.
Pennsylvania is on the verge of becoming one of the first states in the country to base criminal sentences not only on what crimes people have been convicted of, but also on whether they are deemed likely to commit additional crimes. As early as next year, judges there could receive statistically derived tools known as risk assessments to help them decide how much prison time — if any — to assign.
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