Free Talk Live

A report of a wandering alligator in the woods is what lead Independence Police officers to shoot at a concrete lawn ornament over the weekend, according to a statement released by police this week.

Rick Sheridan was working in his garage when he heard gunshots, and said he found officers lined up on the bank, shooting at the large reptile. "The officer fired two rounds, and killed my concrete, ornamental alligator," Sheridan said.

FREETOWN (Reuters) – Police in Sierra Leone have called in the army and fire brigade to try to take back control of a police station which has been overrun by hundreds of poisonous snakes.

Snake charmers have tried in vain to lure the beasts, mostly cobras and vipers, out of Gerihun police station in the southern district of Bo. Attempts to smoke them out also failed.

Officers and residents wanting to report crimes have grown too afraid to come to the building.

Even more proof that it will be regular people who prevent bad things from happening, not the government --

from KVDR Denver:

"LA JUNTA, Colo. - Police in southern Colorado arrested a New Jersey man for allegedly threatening to blow up an Amtrak passenger train.

A former transit police officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting an unarmed man on an Oakland train station platform was sentenced by a Los Angeles judge Friday to "two" years in prison.

In late February, the Transportation Security Administration took over the Amtrak station in Savannah, Ga., and thoroughly searched every person who entered. None of the passengers got into trouble, but the TSA certainly did — big time.

Remember the Pentagon Office of Special Plans that helped collect dubious intelligence that led to the war in Iraq? Or the program where the Pentagon secretly briefed military analysts to promote the Iraq war?

Americans that take photographs in public places are now considered to be potential terrorists by many over-zealous state employees that have bought into all the "war on terror" rhetoric and the irrational fear-mongering it has brought with it. According to WJZ-13 CBS in Baltimore, several Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) officials recently detained a man illegally for simply snapping a few pictures at a train station -- and the detaining officers tried to use the Patriot Act as justification for their abusive actions.

Reversing a near decade-long ban, Amtrak will allow passengers to bring guns on most trains starting next month. The change, pushed by gun-rights advocates and ordered by Congress, aligns Amtrak’s firearm policy with air travel rules that allow unloaded guns to be stored in locked baggage holds. Federal Homeland Security officials on Monday said they are OK with guns being on trains as long as security protocols are enforced. "It’s deemed safe and appropriate," federal Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez said. "If people follow the rules, it’s pretty simple."

Public Buses That Listen To Passengers' Conversations

The Daily had an interesting report this week — picked up by Wired — about “government officials quietly installing sophisticated audio surveillance systems on public buses across the country to eavesdrop on passengers.” I know what you’re thinking: “Woo! More epic bus fight scenes that come with audio.”