David - ACLU - Fidanque takes the JTTF to Task

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Produced by: 
KBOO
Program:: 
Air date: 
Fri, 12/12/2014 - 10:00am to 10:15am
Interview with David Fidanque, Executive Director of the ACLU Oregon Affiliate

1, The police state goes to school.  Yesterday The Portland State University (PSU) Board of Trustees on Thursday approved a plan to enhance campus safety and authorize an armed police force on campus to augment PSU’s current unarmed security staff
The board voted 11 to 2 to approve the plan, specifying that PSU will not deploy police officers until after an committee made up of administration, faculty, staff and students spend the next six months setting guidelines for the new safety plan.
PSU would join Oregon Health and Science University, Oregon State University and the University of Oregon in having an armed police force on campus.
 
2, Will Portland return to the odious embrace of the Joint Terrorism Task Force embrace?  Under the guidance of Charlie Hales it seems unlikely.  But let's hear from the ACLU on the burning question...David Fidanque joins us...
 
 
2,  Rio Tinto, a global 'Super-Corp' will own a 2400 acre sacred Apache tract of land if the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passes.  the The House approved the  bill  then sent it to the Senate for a fast vote in a process that won’t allow amendments to be made. The Senate is expected to act on it this week.
The land swap bill, called the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013 (H.R. 687), was attached as a rider to the annual must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) along with several other land-related bills.
If approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama, the land swap legislation will allow Resolution Copper Co., a subsidiary of the controversial international mining conglomerate Rio Tinto, to acquire 2,400 acres of the federally protected public land in the Tonto National Forest in southeast Arizona in exchange for 5,000 acres in parcels scattered around the state. Resolution Copper plans a massive deep underground copper mine using a technique called block caving in which a shaft is drilled more than a mile deep into the earth and the material is excavated without any reinforcement of the extraction area. Block caving leaves the land above vulnerable to collapse.
 
 
3,  Turns out that in the long run,  shooting  wolves does not save livestock.  In fact it could just make matters worse. A new study has found that—paradoxically—killing a wolf can increase the risk that wolves will prey on livestock in the future.  The research, published today in the scientific journal PLOS One, flies in the face of the common idea that the swiftest and surest way to deal with wolves threatening livestock is by shooting the predators. It adds to a growing understanding of how humans influence the complex dynamics driving these pack animals, sometimes with unexpected consequences.
 
4,  Top 10 for worst governor winner Rick Scott just took another loss in his war on people. His 2011 law requiring drug tests for people applying for welfare has been struck down.   The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, ruled that the law, one of the strictest in the country, was an unreasonable search because Florida officials had failed to show a “substantial need” to test all people who applied for welfare benefits. Applicants were required to submit to urine tests, a measure that Mr. Scott said would protect children of welfare applicants by ensuring that their parents were not buying and using drugs.
 
5,  Very disturbing evidence, both circumstantial as well as potentially damning, coming out of Chicago. Activists in Chicago say that the police have been using "Stingray" technology to listen in on the phones of various people during protests. What's the technology do?   The technology essentially puts up a wall between the user’s phone and their provider, forcing phones in the immediate area to send data to the police instead of the nearest cell towers.
 
 
6,  In March of this year, the Illinois Supreme Court killed the Illinois "eavesdropping law." This controversial law, which required someone recording a conversation to obtain permission from all parties being recorded, was ostensibly in place to protect citizens' private conversations. Instead, it ended up protecting the police and lawmakers from citizens recording their interactions with them.
Luckily, the Illinois Supreme Court determined the law was too broad and violated the First Amendment rights of individuals who were recording interactions in public places.
But now, apparently, the law has been revived and has been passed by both the Illinois House and Senate, tacked on as an amendment to an existing unrelated bill.
 
7,  Here’s one for the history books, and a slap on the wrist for stock-holders like Bill Gates and George Soros. Monsanto stock has been downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ after an annual seed dealer industry survey showed bleak returns.
This may be the most depressing news in seven years for Monsanto, but great news for the seed industry, which has been monopolized by the chemical peddler since the early 1990s. The target price for (MON +0.1%) has been lowered from $140 to $127. Conditions affecting the downgrade include “greater discounting, reduced trait purchases, reduced spending on seeds, and share gains for non-major seeds brands” – with hardly a mention of the grass-roots, and international efforts of people to shine a light on Monsanto’s illegal influence on the world seed market.

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