la liberté avant tout
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org In a ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, the nation’s top court found that a police officer who mistakenly interprets a law and pulls someone over hasn’t violated their Fourth Amendment rights. The case pertained to a traffic stop initiated on Nicholas Heien in North Carolina, on account…
By Yaël Ossowski / December 12, 2014 / Watchdog.org BLOATED: A recent report finds FirstNet has had millions in cost overruns and continues to have problems with conflicts of interest for board members. By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org A new government agency tasked with creating a public broadband system for first responders with billions…
SNOOP: One Senator wants to stop the practice of requiring back doors into phones and computers, which would allow the federal government to snoop on Americans. By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon wants to ban the practice of requiring tech companies to integrate back doors into their devices, allowing the…
GOING HOME: More illegal immigrants than ever are heading home. By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org While opponents to President Obama’s Nov. 20 executive action are decrying the plan’s legal consequence and calling attention to the scourge of illegal immigrants in the country, the numbers are saying the problem is actually not as severe as in years…
By Yaël Ossowski / November 19, 2014 / Watchdog.org NOTHING TO SAY HERE: President Barack Obama listens during a 2009 meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the State Dining Room of the White House. By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org The New York Times and others are reporting that President Obama will sign an…
By Yaël Ossowski / November 19, 2014 / Watchdog.org With a name like Federal Communications Commission, one would expect the nation’s premier regulator of the public airwaves to be a functioning government bureaucracy with access to the federal coffers. But much like the Federal Reserve, which regulates monetary policy for the United States, the…
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org The credit card industry got a huge boost from President Obama last month when he signed an executive order requiring a switch to chip-and-pin technology for government vendors and agencies. It dictates the Department of the Treasury “take necessary steps” to guarantee payment terminals authorized by the agency have “enhanced security features”…
LINE FORMS HERE: Philadelphia school systems could soon become the centers of government handouts. By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org Instead of the welfare office and City Hall, Philadelphia residents may soon be lining up at schools to apply for government benefits. A proposed bill by the Philadelphia City Council would make public schools the “one-stop…
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org Speaking in New York City last week, Wall Street billionaire Tom Steyer laid clear his vision for penalizing people whose actions may contribute to climate change. “We need to reward people whose behavior reduces climate risk and penalize people who add to it,” said Steyer “If we can get this right, I think…
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org Ramping up the focus on the economic consequences of global warming, the newly minted Risky Business Project has unveiled a report predicting billions of dollars in damage if government fails to intervene. The report is laden with photos of recent hurricanes, floods, and storms, hoping to connect these weather events to the burning of fossil fuels and…