News

Guard rescued at SC prison; officers control unit

AP - U.S. News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A guard held hostage at a South Carolina high security prison was rescued early Wednesday after a standoff of more than six hours, a corrections department spokesman said....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Cuban man's super-tall bike a new sight in Havana

AP - World News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
HAVANA (AP) -- Many people would be leery of cycling through chaotic downtown Havana, sharing its narrow, potholed streets with the darting scooters, incorrigible jaywalkers and hulking 1950s Detroit classics that clog every byway....

VA: Drivers' license checkpoint constitutional

FourthAmendment.com - News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57

A “checkpoint,” without hardly tell us what for, was valid where it snared the defendant, an habitual driving offender with no license. Desposito v. Commonwealth, 2012 Va. App. LEXIS 185 (June 5, 2012):

Appellant's challenge to the validity of the checkpoint is limited to two points: (1) the supervisor's direction that the checkpoint should be conducted "during the lunchtime" leaves the officers with unbridled discretion as to the time of operation; and (2) the plan is flawed because while it requires a 30-minute minimum operational duration, the plan does not establish a maximum time, thus allowing the officers at the checkpoint to determine the duration of the operation. These omissions, appellant contends, render the checkpoint constitutionally unsound, thus violating his Fourth Amendment rights.

"As a preliminary matter, checkpoints with the primary objective of enforcing safety requirements are constitutional." Wright v. Commonwealth, 52 Va. App. 263, 268, 663 S.E.2d 108, 111 (2008) (citing Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 658 (1979)); see also Palmer v. Commonwealth, 36 Va. App. 169, 172, 549 S.E.2d 29, 30 (2001) (holding the purpose of a checkpoint was valid when officers stopped vehicles to look for "any violations on the vehicles, such as drivers' license, equipment, [or] inspection").

. . .

The reasonableness of such seizures, which are less intrusive than a traditional arrest, depends "on a balance between the public interest and the individual's right to personal security free from arbitrary interference by law officers." Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 50-51 (1979) (citing Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 109 (1977)). In considering the constitutionality of these seizures on appeal, we must weigh "the gravity of the public concerns served by the seizure, the degree to which the seizure advances the public interest, and the severity of the interference with individual liberty." Id. at 51.

What is the public interest in stopping everybody to look for a driver's license? Bank robbers, kidnapers [Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 183 (1949) (Jackson, J., dissenting)], DUIs? Yes. General crime control, no. I just cannot accept that a driver's license checkpoint is constitutional under Edmund or Sitz. And, yes, Prouse was decided in 1979, and its throwaway reference to driver's license checkpoints was wrong then and its still wrong. If SCOTUS is concerned about "it could happen to us," then they might now agree. To quote "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Uh, what country do you think this is?" American highways are not constitution free zones.

Please, somebody, take this up.

First lady reads Letterman's Top Ten

CNN - Top Stories - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
First lady Michelle Obama reads David Letterman's Top Ten List about gardening.
Categories: CNN, News

FDR's D-Day prayer

CNN - Top Stories - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used this national radio address to pray for the troops.
Categories: CNN, News

New NKorean leader stages massive children's rally

AP - World News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday made his second speech at a major public event since taking power in December, addressing a children's rally aimed at winning a new generation's support....

VIDEO: Viewing Venus in the City of Angels

BBC - News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
Skywatchers in California have headed to the hills above Los Angeles to watch the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun.
Categories: BBC, News

Day in pictures: 6 June 2012

BBC - News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
24 hours of news photos: 6 June 2012
Categories: BBC, News

Walker to mend political divide with brats, beer

AP - U.S. News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Gov. Scott Walker, fresh from becoming the nation's first governor to survive a recall election, wants to go about mending Wisconsin's political divide in an egalitarian way: over brats and beer....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Walker to mend political divide with brats, beer

AP - Politics - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Gov. Scott Walker, fresh from becoming the nation's first governor to survive a recall election, wants to go about mending Wisconsin's political divide in an egalitarian way: over brats and beer....

AUDIO: Boring man explains Dull decision

BBC - News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
The US town of Boring in Oregon has voted in favour of "pairing" with the village of Dull in Perthshire, Scotland.
Categories: BBC, News

War Machine: A Gold Mine for The Elite

TruthNews.US - News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
Infowars.com | Vice-Presidential frontrunner Marco Rubio told the elitist Council on Foreign Relations during an event last week that the American people should be prepared for a war with Iran.

Minneapolis Chaos! How Purified Water Shut Down Airport

TruthNews.US - News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
Infowars.com | In another stupendous incident of comical over-reaction, the TSA ordered the evacuation of two airport terminals in Minneapolis after a water purification device was found in a woman’s luggage.

VIDEO: Live Queen's tennis

BBC - News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
Live BBC coverage of the Aegon Championships from the Queen's Tennis Club in London. (UK users only)
Categories: BBC, News

Remembering Bob Chapman: Defender of Life

TruthNews.US - News - Wed, 2025-05-21 02:57
Infowars.com| It is with great sadness that we learned today of the passing of Bob Chapman, a true patriot and a frequent guest on the Alex Jones Show whose insight on the global economy was second to none.
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