Brainwashing children should not be allowed…
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/catechesisbooks/bible-basics-a-baby-believer-counting-primer
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/catechesisbooks/bible-basics-a-baby-believer-counting-primer
Tag: USA
Albuquerque Police Seize Vehicle From Owner Whose Son Drove It While Drunk; Want $4,000 To Give It Back | Techdirt
According to last year’s lawsuit against the city, Albuquerque forecasts how many vehicles it will not only seize, but sell at auction. The city’s 2016 budget estimates it will have 1,200 vehicle seizure hearings, release 350 vehicles under agreements with the property owners, immobilize 600 vehicles, and to sell 625 vehicles at auction.In fact, the Albuquerque city council approved a $2.5 million bond to build a bigger parking lot for cars seized under the DWI program. The revenue to pay for the bond will come from the DWI program.
Stupid Patent of the Month: Elsevier Patents Online Peer Review | Electronic Frontier Foundation
On August 30, 2016, the Patent Office issued U.S. Patent No. 9,430,468, titled; “Online peer review and method.” The owner of this patent is none other than Elsevier, the giant academic publisher. When it first applied for the patent, Elsevier sought very broad claims that could have covered a wide range of online peer review. Fortunately, by the time the patent actually issued, its claims had been narrowed significantly. So, as a practical matter, the patent will be difficult to enforce. But we still think the patent is stupid, invalid, and an indictment of the system.
Source: Stupid Patent of the Month: Elsevier Patents Online Peer Review | Electronic Frontier Foundation
AT&T lectures Google Fiber about challenges of broadband investment | Ars Technica
Google Fiber’s reported struggles cause AT&T to take a victory lap.
Source: AT&T lectures Google Fiber about challenges of broadband investment | Ars Technica
20 Years Later, Poverty Is Up, But Architects of “Welfare Reform” Have No Regrets
This week marks the 20th anniversary of “welfare reform,” the 1996 law passed by Congress and administered by President Bill Clinton that strictly limited the amount of federal cash assistance that the poorest Americans can receive — transforming the Aid for Families with Dependent Children program into the more restrictive Temporary Aid for Needy Families.One of the main impacts of the law was to help double the number of American households living in extreme poverty in America – defined as living on less than $2 a day.
Source: 20 Years Later, Poverty Is Up, But Architects of “Welfare Reform” Have No Regrets
“Deadly Heat” in U.S. Prisons Is Killing Inmates and Spawning Lawsuits
IN THE SUMMER months, 84 inmates at the Price Daniel Unit, a medium-security prison four hours west of Dallas, share a 10-gallon cooler of water that’s kept locked in a common area. An inmate there can expect to receive one 8 oz. cup every four hours, according to Benny Hernandez, a man serving a 10-year sentence at the prison. The National Academy of Medicine recommends that adults drink about twice that amount under normal conditions and even more in hot climates. According to Hernandez, in the summer the temperature in his prison’s housing areas can reach an astonishing 140 degrees.The prison provides ice for the cooler twice a day, but the ice has long melted before the hottest part of the day, he wrote in a post on Prison Writers, a website where inmates share their experiences behind bars. “Prisoners look upon the summer months in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) with dread and trepidation,” he wrote. “For one is acutely aware that one may not survive another summer. Many do not.”
Source: “Deadly Heat” in U.S. Prisons Is Killing Inmates and Spawning Lawsuits
FBI-Controlled Megaupload Domain Now Features Soft Porn – TorrentFreak
As part of its criminal case against Megaupload, the U.S. Government seized several domain names belonging to Kim Dotcom’s file-hosting service. Nearly five years later the authorities still control the domains but they haven’t done a very good job of securing them. Megaupload.org now links to a soft porn portal.
Source: FBI-Controlled Megaupload Domain Now Features Soft Porn – TorrentFreak
Arrest Warrant Issued For District Attorney Involved In DEA’s California Wiretap Warrant Mill | Techdirt
It’s not uncommon for Zellerbach to go missing when people need him. When Zellerbach ran the DA’s office, he was rarely there. The DEA found his office to be just as accommodating, with or without him, though. Although the DEA was supposed to run its wiretap warrant requests through federal judges and have them signed by the district attorney himself, it often found it easier to obtain a signature from whoever happened to be at the office and run them by Riverside County judge Helios Hernandez, who approved five times as many wiretap applications as any other judge in the US.The wiretap applications’ reach frequently exceeded their jurisdictional grasp, traveling far outside of Riverside County, California, to be deployed against suspects as far away as North Carolina. But that was only one issue with the warrants applications approved by Zellerbach’s office.
EpiPen Uproar Highlights Company’s Family Ties to Congress
The CEO of a former Fortune 500 company, who is also the daughter of a U.S. senator, is under fire for jacking up the rates of a life-saving anti-allergy treatment.
Source: EpiPen Uproar Highlights Company’s Family Ties to Congress
Stupid Stupid Minnesota Law Says Cars Parked In A Driveway Are A Safety Hazard
John Krenik lives in St. Paul, Minn. and owns two collector cars that he keeps in his driveway. I’d like to tell you more about the cars, but I can’t because they’re both under tarps. Tarps that were used to “screen” the cars, per Minnesota law. Incredibly, this isn’t enough for Krenik’s neighbors or the state of Minnesota, which has declared these cars a public health hazard. Get ready to get so frustrated you punch your screen.
Source: Stupid Stupid Minnesota Law Says Cars Parked In A Driveway Are A Safety Hazard