Like Leonardo over at To The People, I’m wondering why the assassination of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey isn’t getting more press coverage. Is it because the killer, though a Muslim, didn’t do anything as horrific as stab a 5-page letter filled with threats to his victim’s chest?

The more details that emerge about Your Black Muslim Bakery, the shadier it looks, particularly since founder Yusuf Bey’s death and the subsequent passing of its leadership to Yusuf’s son, Waajid Aliawaad Bey. And the confessed killer, Devaughdre Broussard, described himself as a “good soldier” for gunning Bailey down, but that’s apparently not sensational enough to get wide-spread national coverage from Bailey’s journalist brethren, either. Or maybe they’re afraid that a politically incorrect commentary about the whole sordid affair might cause them to join Bailey in the afterlife?

I mean, really, what does it take for a murder to get noticed around here? Broussard must not have been creative enough to set himself apart from any other Oakland thug such that the media would give Bailey’s murder the attention which, judging from initial news coverage, it seems to warrant.

Prosecutors seek OK to create phony files

Florida’s prosecutors are floating a proposal to the Legislature to give them the power to secretly falsify public court records—with a judge’s approval—for undercover law enforcement purposes.

Spurred by Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, the draft bill would limit the authority to manufacture and plant fake documents in court files to 180 days. But it also provides for an unlimited number of 30-day extensions.

Just wait, it gets better…

A second, longer version of the bill has been prefiled with the House. It would convey authority to falsify any public record to prosecutors, judges, mayors, sheriffs, coroners and other public officers unless they were acting corruptly.

Gee, wasn’t there a time when falsifying court documents was considered “acting corruptly?”

Given the lack of oversight already provided when signing search warrants with what are often later revealed to be false statements or gross omissions, excuse me if I don’t suddenly have enough faith in judicial oversight in this matter.

Someone needs to put the smackdown on these power-hungry bastards and inform them that transparancy in court proceedings is no longer going to be considered optional.

Disgusting.

Bills would require samples of DNA from crime suspects

A bill in the House would require police to take DNA samples from anyone convicted of a felony or a gross misdemeanor, while a more aggressive bill in the Senate would require a DNA sample from anyone arrested for those offenses. Existing law requires DNA samples to be taken only from convicted felons.

The Washington State Patrol’s DNA database feeds the one used by the FBI.

But this quote is really a gem:

“The problem we have is that in our justice system, people are assumed innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “I support the idea of the bill, but you can’t help law enforcement all the time.”

I can’t pretend we still operate under “innocent until proven guilty” as a standard in our judicial system, but even if we did, that’s a PROBLEM?

Additionally, requiring DNA upon arrest for crimes that have nothing to do with DNA evidence on the theory that the arrested individual will likely commit more severe crimes is more than Draconian - it brings us into the era of Thought Crime. You might become a more violent offender, so you, Mr. Shoplifter, deserve to be in our little database for life, just in case you decide go career in your criminal life.

It’s shit like this that destroys my faith in America. The fact that this would even be proposed seriously (by more than one person, no less)… I can’t even go on.

All I can do is hope that in 30 or 40 years we’ll look back on this period in American history with disgust and shame. Wishful thinking, I know.

And I’m not placing any bets on the possibility that if such an attrocity were to become law, we’d suddenly find police abusing their “round up the usual suspects” powers just to collect more DNA profiles.

Renton foe of computerized voting is featured in HBO documentary

On Thursday at 9 p.m., HBO will air “Hacking Democracy,” a 90-minute documentary that chronicles Harris’ quest to expose security holes in computerized voting systems, which she says could be exploited by computer hackers and, worse, never discovered because of the lack of a paper trail. Her nonprofit, Black Box Voting, monitors election integrity.

“She’s like the Erin Brockovich of the voting-machine world,” said Sarah Teale, an executive producer whose previous films include “Dealing Dogs” and “Bellevue: Inside Out” (about the New York City psychiatric hospital, not the city on the Eastside).

Two British filmmakers tail Harris, 55, as she digs through records in elections-office trash and confronts officials with a video camera Michael Moore-style. The film insinuates — but does not prove — voter fraud in several counties around the country.

Not that I wasn’t aware of the problems with electronic voting and with Diebold systems in particular, but I’ll be interested to see what the documentary covers. Definitely setting up the DVR to record this one.