Taking photographs and videos of things that are plainly visible from public spaces is your constitutional right. That includes federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police and other government officials carrying out their duties. Unfortunately, law enforcement officers often order people to stop taking photographs or video in public places, and sometimes harass, detain or even arrest people who use their cameras or cell phone recording devices in public.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court cites motivation to ‘avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled.’

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that black men in Boston who avoid run-ins with police officers may be justifiably motivated by a desire to “avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled,” and their flight should not be automatically interpreted as evidence of “criminal activity.”

The ruling throws out an unlawful firearm possession conviction against African-American man Jimmy Warren, whose arrest nearly five years ago appears to be a case study in racial profiling.

http://www.alternet.org/human-rights/court-rules-black-men-may-be-justified-running-police

GOP policy expert predicts debate failure for Trump: ‘He can’t fake his way through 90 minutes’

A Republican Party policy guru predicts the upcoming presidential debate won’t go well for Donald Trump, who’s already complaining that he won’t get a fair shot.

Hillary Clinton has scaled back her campaign schedule this week to prepare for Monday’s debate against her Republican rival, while Trump asks his supporters what he should say and “works the reds” by claiming the debates are “rigged” against him.

But, according to CNN contributor and Hoover Institution research fellow Lanhee Chen, the real estate developer and former reality TV star won’t be able to wing it in this debate like he did during the GOP primaries.

“He can’t fake his way through 90 minutes,” said Chen, in an appearance on CNN’s “Party People” podcast with Kevin Madden and Mary Katherine Ham.
Chen, who worked on the presidential campaigns for Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, said voters in the general election expect to hear more substance than GOP primary voters.


http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/gop-policy-expert-predicts-debate-failure-for-trump-he-cant-fake-his-way-through-90-minutes/

"Neil Young joins the protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline with his new song and video for "Indian Givers." The video combines footage of the recent protests against the pipeline with footage of Young singing the track while driving in his car."

NEAR THE STANDING ROCK SIOUX RESERVATION, N.D. (AP) — Tribal flags, horses, tents, hand-built shelters and teepees dominate one of the biggest, newest communities in North Dakota, built in a valley on federal land near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers.

It’s a semi-permanent, sprawling gathering with a new school for dozens of children and an increasingly organized system to deliver water and meals to the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people from tribes across North America who’ve joined the Standing Rock Sioux in their legal fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline to protect sacred sites and a river that’s a source of water for millions of people.

“This is better than where most people came from,” said 34-year-old Vandee Kahlsa, referencing the oft-harsh conditions of reservations across the United States. The Santa Fe, New Mexico, resident, who is Osage and Cherokee, has been at the camp for more than a month.

The encampment has averaged about 4,000 people recently, he estimated; only 25 of North Dakota’s 357 towns have more than 2,000 people. It’s been called the largest gathering of Native Americans in a century, and the first time all seven bands of Sioux have come together in since Gen. George Custer’s ill-fated 1876 expedition at the Battle of Little Big Horn, Edwards and others say.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/09/16/oil-pipeline-protest-city/

Donald Trump floated rolling back food safety regulations if he wins the White House in November.

In a fact sheet posted online Thursday, the campaign highlighted a number of "specific regulations to be eliminated" under the GOP nominee's economic plan, including what they called the "FDA Food Police."

“The FDA Food Police, which dictate how the federal government expects farmers to produce fruits and vegetables and even dictates the nutritional content of dog food,” it read.

“The rules govern the soil farmers use, farm and food production hygiene, food packaging, food temperatures and even what animals may roam which fields and when,” the statement continued. "It also greatly increased inspections of food 'facilities,' and levies new taxes to pay for this inspection overkill."

http://thehill.com/regulation/healthcare/296152-trump-says-he-would-eliminate-food-safety-regulations