To enter her apartment. Free Thought Project

Despite recent study proving the obvious health advantages of inhaling water vapor versus smoke. Reason

Relevant snippets:

“The differences between vapers and smokers were dramatic, ranging from 57 percent reductions in three volatile organic compounds (ethylene oxide, acrylonitrile, and vinyl chloride) to 97 percent reductions in acrylonitrile (another VOC) and in a tobacco-specific nitrosamine, a potent carcinogen. The levels for vapers were at least as low as those for NRT users and in some cases lower, which is striking because NRT is widely accepted as a safe alternative to cigarettes.

This study, which involved long-term e-cigarette users, reinforces the results of a 2016 study finding large reductions in toxins and carcinogens among smokers who switched to vaping during a two-week experiment. Shahab et al.’s findings also jibe with chemical analyses of e-cigarette liquids and the aerosol they produce, work that led Public Health England to endorse an estimate that vaping is something like 95 percent safer than smoking.

The huge difference in risk between vaping and smoking is hardly surprising, since the former involves inhaling an aerosol that typically consists of propylene glycol, glycerin, water, flavoring, and nicotine, while the latter involves inhaling tobacco smoke, which contains thousands of chemicals, hundreds of which are toxic or carcinogenic. Yet misconceptions about the hazards of vaping are widespread, thanks to public health officials and anti-tobacco activists who seem intent on obscuring the truth.”

Duterte’s murder spree, which has racked up a body count of more than 7,600, is running out of victims. Sydney Morning Herald

The “Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act” would require a probable-cause warrant for cell-site simulation surveillance, like the secretive use of the Stingray.  From Ars Technica:

“The federal circuit courts of appeal and the lower courts have been all over the map when it comes to this bread-and-butter privacy issue. Even AT&T has said it was confused about the law, and it has demanded clarity on the issue. To that end, a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers proposed legislation Wednesday that seeks to answer the question once and for all: the government would need probable-cause warrants to obtain geolocation data on suspects.

“Outdated laws shouldn’t be an excuse for open season on tracking Americans, and owning a smartphone or fitness tracker shouldn’t give the government a blank check to track your movements,” Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, said of the legislation he’s co-sponsoring.”

18,000 people have died at the hands of the police in the US since the year 2000.  Automatic escalation of a situation to the point that lethal force is justified, the selection of people prone to want to kill, and a serious lack of consequences for clearly unjustified uses of deadly force, among other reasons, are to blame. Copblock

Beatings, needless cavity searches, sexual abuse of children, harassment, and all-around automatic sadism-for-the-hell-of-it by knuckle-draggers who’ve had power over lives handed to them has been here for awhile.  People that lives within 100 miles of the US border know this. Techdirt

Over the course of 18 years.

Cops put far too much faith in surveillance tech, while neglecting to build trust with a public that could actually be of help in criminal cases. The surveillance tech ends up being an expensive, useless mess, and the police have poisoned the well by betraying the public’s trust too many times.  Baltimore Sun

Former Black Panther member makes good  use of the FBI’s massive file on him. VICE

Techdirt. It’s called an “assessment”, and they use it to spy on anyone, regardless of whether allegations of wrongdoing exist.