Both John Travolta and David Letterman have been the targets of extortion attempts, and both men have gone public and testified against the alleged extortionists. In Travolta’s case, Liz McNeil and Siobhan Morrissey of PEOPLE magazine explain that the plot began with the tragedy of Travolta’s son’s death in their Bahaman home. Tarino Lightbourn, an…
Category: U.S.
The courts and privacy
A New York Times editorial in today’s paper looks at whether the majority is still as free as it had been to impose its morality through the law: […] The Alabama Supreme Court sided with the 11th Circuit court. “Public morality,” the majority said, “can still serve as a legitimate rational basis for regulating commercial…
Lawmakers Cave to FBI in Patriot Act Debate
David Kravets reports: Powerful Senate leaders on Thursday bowed to FBI concerns that adding privacy protections to an expiring provision of the Patriot Act could jeopardize “ongoing” terror investigations. The Patriot Act was adopted six weeks after the 2001 terror attacks, and greatly expanded the government’s power to intrude into the private lives of Americans…
NH congressman questions Social Security on glitch
As an update to a story previously reported here, Holly Ramer of the Associated Press reports: Rep. Paul Hodes has asked the Social Security Administration to investigate and stop a processing glitch that linked U.S. numbers to those issued in three foreign countries and could be causing credit problems for his constituents. The problem—which mostly…