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  • Attorney: ‘Guerilla-Like Police Tactics’ Used in First American Drone Arrest

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The lawyer for the first American arrested with the help of a pilotless drone says “guerilla-like police tactics” were used to make the arrest.

    Lakota, N.D., resident Rodney Brossart was arrested last June after a bizarre 16-hour standoff with police in which Brossart was repeatedly tased after allegedly threatening to kill officers who came onto his property. After the standoff, a SWAT team from nearby Grand Forks called in a Predator drone owned by the Department of Homeland Security to determine that they could safely arrest Brossart. He and police were sparring over the ownership of six cows that had wandered onto his farm.

    Bruce Quick, Brossart’s lawyer, said in court documents obtained by U.S. News that the use of the drone was “outrageous government conduct,” and that the drone was “dispatched without judicial approval or a warrant.”

    In a separate interview, Quick says the case was mishandled from the start, and that police shouldn’t have arrested Brossart in the first place. The use of the Predator drone was the last in a long-line of police misbehavior, he says.

    “The whole thing is full of constitutional violations,” he says. “The drone use is a secondary concern.”

    Full article: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/05/03/attorney-guerilla-like-police-tactics-used-in-first-american-drone-arrest


    News and Politics

  • Miami-Dade Police Drone Spotted Over Memorial Day Weekend Partiers

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    After perfecting them overseas in military situations, it was only a matter of time before the government and law enforcement would start using aerial drones for monitoring US citizens back home. And that time is now, as partygoers in Miami recently discovered.

    Back in January of 2011 Miami’s police force acknowledged that they’d be the first in the country to employ camera-equipped drones to keep tabs on the city. So while its appearance isn’t a complete surprise, this clipfrom YouTube user ‘miamiearl’ showing one of the drones monitoring partygoers at a recent Memorial Day weekend celebration, is still a little unsettling.

    http://libertycrier.com/u-s-constitution/miami-dade-police-drone-spotted-over-memorial-day-weekend-partiers/


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  • Ron Paul Supporters Sue RNC for Helping Romney

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    While Mitt Romney may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, it’s premature to say that the rancor over the nomination is over.

    Supporters of Ron Paul have filed a lawsuit against the Republican National Committee and just about all the state parties, claiming that they gave Mr. Romney inappropriate assistance during the primaries and harassed Paul supporters, including the use of violence and intimidation, AP reported.

    The alleged threats of violence in the complaint include “dressing security type people in dark clothing searching out supporters of a Candidate Defendants do not approve of to harass and intimidate said Delegates from voting their conscience.”

    Mr. Paul’s campaign has said it doesn’t support the lawsuit, but he gave some encouragement to his followers, telling CNN that they had been “pushed around” and that the Republican Party didn’t follow the rules in every instance.

    The suit is seeking clarification from a federal court in California over whether delegates at the national convention can vote for any candidate of their choice, even if those delegates were won by Mr. Romney. The suit also alleges that the RNC violates federal law by requiring them to sign pledges to back a certain candidate, restricting delegates’ voting options and illegally limiting their vote, the National Journal reported.

    Full article: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/06/21/ron-paul-supporters-sue-rnc-for-helping-romney/


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