Anonymous Companies Fighting National Security Letters Back Twitter’s NSL Battle

Via LH

EFF’s Clients’ Identities Must Remain Secret, But Still Speak Out About Unconstitutional Gag Orders

San Francisco – Two companies who must remain anonymous about their fight against secret government demands for information known as national security letters (NSLs) are backing Twitter’s lawsuit over its rights to publish information about NSLs it may have received. The companies—a telecom and an Internet company—are represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Twitter filed its suit in October, saying users deserved to know certain basic facts about NSLs that the government did or did not serve on the social media company. NSLs—issued by the federal government but not approved by a judge—almost always contain a gag order barring the companies from notifying their customers or the public that any demands have been made.

More @ End The Lie

Religious hate suspected in Southfield bus stop stabbings

Via comment by Sioux on Family Can't Believe Their Son Was Shot While Comm...

 

 I's a muslim or sumptin'.

A man asked two people whether they were Muslims before stabbing them at a Southfield bus stop on Saturday, the victims told police.

A 52-year-old Detroit man was stabbed five times; once in the face, once in the neck and three times in the back, Southfield Police Chief Eric Hawkins said. A 51-year-old Detroit man who tried to intervene was stabbed in the hand. The incident happened at about 10:30 p.m. near Northland Mall at 21500 Northwestern Highway.

Minutes later and a few blocks away, police arrested Terrence Lavaron Thomas, 39, of Detroit, who's accused of stabbing the two men. He was carrying two knives and some marijuana, and he told police he was a Muslim,according to Southfield Police Department.

More @ Detroit Free Press

Ukrainian Soldiers Ordered by High Command to Destroy Equipment, Evacuate Debaltseve

Via Terry

 

Map of the Debaltseve salient tells the tale of woe facing the Ukrainian military

(The rebel command has stated that any military movement on Kiev's part in the salient will be met by force, so we shall see if they are allowed to leave peacefully or not.)

****************************

The news tonight took a dire turn when the Ukrainian high command gave the order to destroy all heavy equipment (armor, artillery, etc.) and evacuate the Debaltseve pocket. This news just broke at 22:16 tonight, Kiev time and here is the translated page (Google Translate) from the Ukrainian news site, UAPress.info:

More @ Shenandoah

Border Patrol Ordered to Release Drunk Drivers, “Allow Them to Go On Their Way”

The Obama administration has ordered federal agents responsible for protecting one of the nation’s busiest and most crime-infested regions near Mexico to stop apprehending drunk drivers, according to an internal government memo that also concedes an officer that elects to detain them is “acting within the course and scope of his employment.”

Obtained by Judicial Watch this week, the notice is titled “Enforcement Options With Alcohol-Impaired Drivers” and directs the 4,000-plus U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Tucson, Arizona sector to “release” individuals under the influence and “allow them to go on their way.” The document acknowledges that this feels counter-intuitive for Border Patrol agents, but eases concerns by answering a hypothetical question for the officers who have sworn to uphold the law:

“If you allow this driver to continue down the road and they kill someone, aren’t you liable?” The answer is no, according to the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo. “There is no legal requirement for a Border Patrol agent to intervene in a state crime, including DUI,” the order says, adding that “therefore there is generally no liability that will attach to the agent or agency for failing to act in this situation.

More @ Judicial Watch

Man Out on Date with Female Who is not His Wife Gets a Surprising Note from Couple Who Noticed

When a man takes his wife out to dinner, most people pay no mind. However, when a man takes a female out to dinner who is not his wife, some people take notice, as in the case of a particular couple over this past weekend.

A single father took his little six-year-old girl out for a Valentine's Day dinner. A couple, who both grew up without fathers, took notice of the loved being demonstrated by this father towards his daughter and decided to write him and encouraging note.

More @ Freedom Outpost

Watters' World: Malibu Presidents Day Edition

10 Hours of Walking in Paris as a Jew

To tell you the truth, I imagine if I walked for 10 hours in Paris, I would receive that many disparaging remarks of some sort.

New High-School Physics Curriculum Includes Lessons on White Privilege

Dingbat of the year award.

A high-school physics teacher has developed his own six-day curriculum that he uses to teach about institutional racism, privilege, and social justice as part of his seniors’ physics classes.

The teacher, Moses Rifkin of University Prep in Seattle, has also been promoting the lesson plan to other high-school science instructors.

John Burk, a math and physics teacher from Delaware, said that he learned about the curriculum when he met Rifkin at a People of Color Conference and gushed that it “brilliantly brings lessons about social justice, privilege, and institutional racism into the physics classroom.”

More @ National Review

50 Million Down The Tubes: How 17 Conservative PACs Are Spending Their Money

Via Sioux 

 

The late, great Eric Hoffer once said that, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

Some people have started to wonder whether that’s happened to groups in the conservative movement – and that’s understandable. Reports about sleazy activities by conservative groups have not exactly been in short supply over the last couple of years. Damaging stories have popped up on the Daily Beast, Mother Jones, Washington Post, the Politico and at the Daily Caller among other outlets.

Additionally, for those of us who have a lot of friends in the Tea Party and among grassroots conservatives, stories of abuse have become rampant. That may be why you’ve heard people like Ann Coulter and Dana Loesch publicly suggesting that there are groups out there ripping people off. However, the problem with the articles that have come out so far is that most of them have come from liberal outlets and have only discussed limited aspects of a few organizations. That naturally led people to wonder if they were reading hit pieces. As to the rumors, there are always two sides to every story and it’s difficult to know how much weight to place on anecdotal stories.

More @ Right Wing News

ISIS Burns ’45 People’ to Death in Iraqi City of al-Baghdadi, Say Reports

Via Billy

The Islamic State, or ISIS, burned more than 45 people to death in Iraq because they worked for the Iraqi security forces, according to a report on Tuesday.

Details about the killings are not clear yet, but the killings are believed to have been near the town of al-Baghdadi in western Anbar province in Iraq. Al-Baghdadi, which located near an air base that houses more than 300 U.S. Marines, was recently captured by Jihadist Islamic State militants last week.

According to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency, 30 people were burned to death. Meanwhile, an official told the BBC that 45 people were burned.

More @ The Epoch Times