Election Results Map

Tenn. bill criticized for targeting Muslims splits Tea Party – USATODAY.com. The Kingsport man is a conservative Christian who wants the government to keep its hands off his wallet and his personal life. And that’s why, he said, a bill in the Tennessee Legislature that originally targeted supporters of Islamic law is a bad idea for Tennessee. State officials could have used the bill to punish unpopular groups, he said.  Today, that’s Muslims, he said. Tomorrow, that could be the Tea Party. He pointed to a 2009 report by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, funded in part by the Department…

Police Powers in New York – NYTimes.com. The Police Department’s tendency toward blanket surveillance is on vivid display in its stop-and-frisk program, which results in the stopping of more than 600,000 mainly minority citizens on the streets every year. The department credits the program with reducing crime, but there is no proof that it does. A study carried out in connection with a federal lawsuit against the department has found that only about 6 percent of stops result in arrest and that less than 1 percent turn up weapons. In addition to criminalizing the victims of these stops, the program…