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Eurozone jobless rate hits record

BBC - News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
Unemployment in the eurozone reached a record high again in March, as joblessness also rose in Italy and Germany.
Categories: BBC, News

Radioactive beach warning ignored

BBC - News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
A confidential report seen by the BBC shows the government was warned of the potential risks of the MoD's radioactive waste decades ago.
Categories: BBC, News

New Law Review article: Police Efficiency and the Fourth Amendment

FourthAmendment.com - News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56

L. Song Richardson, Police Efficiency and the Fourth Amendment, 87 Indiana Law Journal 1143 (Summer, 2012):

This Article argues that provocative new research in the mind and behavioral sciences can transform our understanding of core Fourth Amendment principles. Recent research in the field of implicit social cognition-a combination of social psychology, cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience -demonstrates that individuals have implicit (nonconscious) biases that can perniciously affect the perceptions, judgments, and behaviors that are integral to core Fourth Amendment principles. Drawing from recent implicit social cognition research and prior work, this Article attempts to solve a conceptual puzzle that continues to stymie courts and Fourth Amendment scholars. How can the reasonable suspicion standard promote efficient policing-policing that protects liberty against arbitrary intrusion while simultaneously promoting effective law enforcement?

The reasonable suspicion standard attempts to strike a delicate balance between individual privacy rights and law enforcement needs. This standard serves law enforcement interests by permitting officers to act on their suspicions of criminal activity even in the absence of probable cause. However, in order to prevent arbitrary police actions, courts impose an articulation requirement that obliges officers to justify the intrusion by stating the facts-not mere hunches-that led them to feel suspicious of the individual's ambiguous behaviors. Courts then review these facts to determine whether they give rise to a reasonable inference of criminality.

Ultimately, the standard fails to protect against unjustified encroachments upon individual liberty because it treats suspicion as an objective concept. Courts assume that it is possible to objectively determine whether people are acting suspiciously. They also assume that only people who are behaving suspiciously will be accosted by the police and restrained in their freedom to walk away. This assumption is crucial to the efficacy of the safeguards against arbitrary policing offered by the reasonable suspicion standard.

This Article makes the case, however, that the assumptions driving Fourth Amendment stop-and-frisk jurisprudence are flawed; they are based upon a critical misunderstanding of the nature of suspicion. Implicit social cognition research demonstrates that implicit biases can affect whether police interpret an individual's ambiguous behaviors as suspicious. For instance, studies repeatedly reveal that people evaluate ambiguous actions performed by non-Whites as suspicious and criminal while identical actions performed by Whites go unnoticed. The current operation of the articulation requirement does not ameliorate the problem because an officer will likely be unaware that nonconscious biases affected his or her interpretation of ambiguous behavior. Thus, an officer who acts on his suspicions can easily point to the specific facts that he believes made him feel suspicious without even realizing that implicit biases affected how he interpreted the behavior.

. . .

My argument unfolds in three parts. Part I introduces the science of implicit social cognition and examines its relevance to core Fourth Amendment principles. Part II scrutinizes the reasonable suspicion standard and exposes its weaknesses. Part III draws from implicit social cognition research to reconceptualize the reasonable suspicion standard. It ends by considering some of the benefits and shortcomings of this new approach.

Via Race, Racism, and the Law.

Parties gear up for polling day

BBC - News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
Political parties are carrying out a last day of campaigning ahead of local elections in England, Scotland and Wales on Thursday.
Categories: BBC, News

US: Activist to stay in China, did not want asylum

AP - World News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
BEIJING (AP) -- A U.S. official says the blind Chinese activist who sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy did not ask for asylum and is staying in China after receiving assurances that he will be treated as a normal citizen....

MI6 spy death 'probably unlawful'

BBC - News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
Someone else was probably involved in the death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams whose body was found padlocked in a bag in 2010, a coroner says.
Categories: BBC, News

"Sacaja-Whiner": Elizabeth Warren and the oppression Olympics

Elizabeth Warren has claimed questionable Native American minority status for years to reap career "diversity" benefits.

SPIN METER: Romney used fees to close budget gap

AP - Politics - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney's boast that he closed a $3 billion budget gap as Massachusetts governor without raising taxes is a cornerstone of his White House campaign, a way to highlight his pitch for lower taxes and leaner government in a race where federal budget deficits and the slumping economy are hot issues....

SPIN METER: Romney used fees to close budget gap

AP - Politics - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney's boast that he closed a $3 billion budget gap as Massachusetts governor without raising taxes is a cornerstone of his White House campaign, a way to highlight his pitch for lower taxes and leaner government in a race where federal budget deficits and the slumping economy are hot issues....

SPIN METER: Romney used fees to close budget gap

AP - Politics - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney's boast that he closed a $3 billion budget gap as Massachusetts governor without raising taxes is a cornerstone of his White House campaign, a way to highlight his pitch for lower taxes and leaner government in a race where federal budget deficits and the slumping economy are hot issues....

SPIN METER: Romney used fees to close budget gap

AP - Politics - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney's boast that he closed a $3 billion budget gap as Massachusetts governor without raising taxes is a cornerstone of his White House campaign, a way to highlight his pitch for lower taxes and leaner government in a race where federal budget deficits and the slumping economy are hot issues....

SPIN METER: Romney used fees to close budget gap

AP - Politics - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney's boast that he closed a $3 billion budget gap as Massachusetts governor without raising taxes is a cornerstone of his White House campaign, a way to highlight his pitch for lower taxes and leaner government in a race where federal budget deficits and the slumping economy are hot issues....

SPIN METER: Romney used fees to close budget gap

AP - Politics - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney's boast that he closed a $3 billion budget gap as Massachusetts governor without raising taxes is a cornerstone of his White House campaign, a way to highlight his pitch for lower taxes and leaner government in a race where federal budget deficits and the slumping economy are hot issues....

Tsunami-swept Harley in container found in Canada

AP - World News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
TOKYO (AP) -- It must have been a wild ride. Japanese media say a Harley-Davidson motorcycle lost in last year's tsunami has washed up on a Canadian island about 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles) away....

Analysis: Obama has 2 narratives on Afghanistan

AP - U.S. News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In President Barack Obama's twin narratives, the United States is both leaving Afghanistan and staying there....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Analysis: Obama has 2 narratives on Afghanistan

AP - Politics - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In President Barack Obama's twin narratives, the United States is both leaving Afghanistan and staying there....

Analysis: Obama has 2 narratives on Afghanistan

AP - U.S. News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In President Barack Obama's twin narratives, the United States is both leaving Afghanistan and staying there....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Analysis: Obama has 2 narratives on Afghanistan

AP - Politics - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In President Barack Obama's twin narratives, the United States is both leaving Afghanistan and staying there....

Military hopes for 'great leader' from Egypt vote

AP - World News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's military ruler said Wednesday he hopes that a "great leader" will emerge from the country's upcoming presidential election, and said it will be a free and fair vote that will reflect the will of the people....

Syrian leader says terrorists are behind unrest

AP - World News - Sun, 2026-05-10 18:56
BEIRUT (AP) -- In his first interview since December, Syrian President Bashar Assad insisted Tuesday his regime is fighting back against foreign mercenaries who want to overthrow him, not innocent Syrians aspiring for democracy in a yearlong uprising....
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