State Senator Sued for Allegedly Blocking a Constituent from Public Facebook Page
According to the lawsuit, Nelson blocked Church after he questioned the accuracy of one of the senator’s online posts. After a tense back and forth, Church claims that Nelson deleted his comments and told him to either “mind his manners or go someplace else to post [his] propaganda.”
Monroe County’s Police Chief Says His Officers Will Not Enforce New “Annoyance” Law
On December 4th, Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter condemned the county’s new “annoyance” law, calling it a “solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” One month earlier, the Monroe County legislature passed a measure that would allow police officers to arrest anyone that “annoys, alarms, or threatens the personal safety of an officer.”
Devin Nunes Files $435 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN
The California representative has filed three separate defamation lawsuits this year. In his third, Nunes claims that CNN published a “demonstrably false hit piece” about an alleged trip the congressman took to Austria to meet with an ex-Ukranian official.
Federal Judge Says Iowa Can’t Enforce Its Newest Ag-Gag Law
The newest law is the state’s second attempt to stop journalists and activists from going undercover to report on meat processing plants, livestock facilities, and puppy mills. An older version of the bill was struck down as unconstitutional in January.
Snowden Responds to DOJ Lawsuit, Argues Government Selectively Enforces Prepublication Review Rules
“There is a strong likelihood that the government would have subjected Mr. Snowden specifically to such discriminatory treatment,” Snowden’s lawyers wrote. “A whistleblower the government considers to be a traitor would have been seeking permission from the very agencies on which he blew the whistle to speak about his views on surveillance."
Supreme Court Declines to Intervene in Defamation Suit Brought by Prominent Climate Scientist
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a defamation suit filed by a climate scientist against the National Review and Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank. Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State, sued the magazine and the think tank in 2012 after they accused him of manipulating his climate data.
Google Announces New Policy on Political Advertisements
On November 20th, Google announced that the company will restrict how precisely political ads can target users on its search engine and on YouTube. Political ads can still be delivered according to gender, age, and location, as well according to the content of the website users visit. However, the new policy states that ads can’t be directed to users based on the public voter record or their political affiliations.
Broome County Legislators Want to Criminalize “Annoying” First Responders
Broome County legislators have introduced a bill that would criminalize any behavior that “annoy, alarm, or threaten the safety of any emergency first responder.” According to Scott Baker, a Republican legislator who introduced the bill, it was in response to recent events around the country, including a protest at a Columbus Day parade in the town of Binghamton, NY.