Imagine that China’s dictator, Xi Jinping, sends one million Chinese troops to invade the United States. Fighting breaks out all over the U.S. as U.S. troops and civilians battle against the Chinese invaders. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are killed. Meanwhile, China has taken over Florida and declared it an overseas province of China, with Chinese nationals taking over control of the Florida government.   read more

The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that home begins at the window screen - even if only the fingertips have succeeded in breaking and entering. Anthony Holt was convicted of breaking and entering a home in Las Cruces and was sentenced to five years and five months in prison. He appealed, claiming that only his fingertips had entered the home, as the homeowner heard him, and when she caught him in the act, he said, "Oh, I'm sorry," and vamoosed.   read more

The lawsuit asks a judge to force the state to prevent women from being sexually abused by male guards. The prison culture permits supposed "willing" or "consensual" sexual contact between prisoners and guards even though "state law, prison policy, and common sense make clear that women in custody are unable to consent in the coercive prison environment," the lawsuit said. Guards are so unlikely to be punished for misbehavior that they freely disregard policies that would stop them, it said.   read more

The story of how some of the country’s leading civil society advocates came to lose faith in the White House’s privacy initiative does not follow the typical plot of Washington gridlock. It is a tale of clashing visions for U.S. society and commerce. And it provides an instructive preview of looming battles among government agencies for control over industries like drones, smartphones and gadgets yet to come.   read more

State and local officials assured the public on several occasions that the water was safe. But many residents here believe the damage has already been done in Hoosick Falls. Families have lined up to have their blood drawn and their wells tested. Banks stopped giving out mortgages, and some local residents stopped washing their dishes, their clothes and themselves. Erin Brockovich has been to town.   read more

The complaint claims that the voting law affects more than 600 mentally ill residents, and could affect up to 850 given the maximum occupancy of the five state hospitals that house such residents. Featherston claims the law is a form of discrimination because similar restrictions do not apply to college students and those who live in a veterans home, who are allowed by law to vote in those precincts. The residents of those facilities have no other homes where they could claim residency to vote.   read more

In March 2011, Marciel had to deal with the fallout from the WikiLeaks release of State Department cables that accused Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of corruption and abuse of power, including using the national intelligence service to spy on his political rivals. He also helped Boeing sell $23 billion worth of planes to an Indonesian airline.   read more

In January, a government-appointed panel recommended that all pregnant women and new mothers be screened for depression. Public health advocates rejoiced. But the panel didn't mention one possible consequence of a diagnosis: Life and disability insurance providers have sometimes penalized women with these mental illnesses by charging them more money, excluding mental illness from coverage or declining to cover them at all. And it’s perfectly legal.   read more

This year I saw every one of the 31 nominated feature films and 15 nominated shorts. My favorite film of the year was The Big Short. As for the other nominees, I actually liked—or at least was entertained by—all of them. I found Spotlight, The Martian, Bridge of Spies and even Mad Max: Fury Road, to be standard, template Hollywood-type films: well-made and engaging, but nothing special.   read more

The tax collecting agency said 390,000 more taxpayer accounts may have compromised than the 334,000 it warned about a year and a half ago. The breach was first discovered in May 2015, and the increase first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The sensitive information can be used for identity theft or to claim fraudulent tax refunds. In addition, hackers have tried to access almost 600,000 additional IRS accounts in an attempt to gain private information on taxpayers.   read more

Although the agency processes hundreds of safety violations each year, it appears that not a single case has ever been referred for criminal investigation, the report said. The inspector general's office estimated 20 percent, or 227 out of 1,126 violations, may have warranted criminal referral. The agency's attorneys told the watchdog that they didn't make criminal referrals because they didn't know the procedures for doing so, and they didn't think it was part of their job.   read more

With his enormous online platform, Trump has badgered and humiliated those who have dared cross him during the presidential race. He has latched on to their vulnerabilities, mocking their physical characteristics and personality quirks. He has made statements that have later been exposed as false or deceptive — only after they have ricocheted across the Internet. The experience is nightmarish and a form of public degradation intended to scare off adversaries by making an example of them.   read more

The shortcomings underscore the findings of a blistering audit by the inspector general from last June that drew attention to the safety agency’s undertrained staff and weak processes for analyzing the safety data it collects from automakers and consumers. In one especially glaring example, the agency workers in charge of interpreting data that can help regulators detect potential defects told auditors that they have no training or background in statistics.   read more

"We are disappointed that the court reached this decision despite the unrebutted evidence that this law poses a real hardship to many Florida women, but will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that this demeaning and intrusive law is quickly stopped in its tracks," said Florida ACLU's Nancy Abudu. Meanwhile, legislation sponsor Rep. Jennifer Sullivan called the news "a huge win for women's health."   read more

A Washington spy court's "secret, ex parte proceedings" do not provide the oversight required to restrain the NSA's Upstream program, a privacy group argued in a court filing Thursday. Brought to light by Edward Snowden, the NSA program Upstream intercepts traffic from what has been called the "Internet's backbone." Last year, the ACLU represented nine media and human rights groups in challenging the program for its "suspicionless seizure and searching of Internet traffic."   read more

State police treated the media like an enemy and made no distinction between journalists and environmental protesters they were removing and arresting at a highway construction site, a news photographer testified Friday. Photojournalist Stephen Eberhard said officers subjected him to a pattern of intimidation, threats and harassment to deter him from covering one of the state's largest highway projects in decades. "I was not expecting any officer of the law to attack me like that," he said.   read more

A sweeping sage grouse conservation effort that the government announced last September is riddled with loopholes and will not be enough to protect the bird from extinction, according to a new lawsuit. There are too many exceptions favorable to industry at the expense of the bird, it claims. It follows legal challenges against the same rules from mining companies, ranchers and state officials, who argue that the administration's actions will impede economic development.   read more