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Stop-and-Frisk: Associated Press: “A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked a judge’s order requiring changes to the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program and removed the judge from the case. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the decisions of Judge Shira Scheindlin will be stayed pending the outcome of an appeal by the city. The judge had ruled in August the city violated the Constitution in the way it carried out its program of stopping and questioning people. … The appeals court said the judge needed to be removed from the case because she ran afoul of the code of conduct for U.S. judges by compromising the necessity for a judge to avoid the appearance of partiality in part because of a series of media interviews and public statements responding publicly to criticism of the court.”
Insta-Analysis: New York Times: “The panel [also] criticized how [Scheindlin] had steered the lawsuit to her courtroom when it was filed in early 2008. … The ruling effectively puts off a battery of changes that … Scheindlin … had ordered for the Police Department. Those include the operations of the monitor who was given the task to oversee reforms to the Police Department’s stop-and-frisk practices, which Judge Scheindlin found to violate the Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. … The judges ordered that the stop-and-frisk lawsuit be reassigned to another judge.”
It’s Thursday, October 31st, Happy Halloween. Welcome to the Slatest PM. Follow your afternoon host on Twitter at @JoshVoorhees, and the whole team at @Slatest.
The Slatest: We Can All Stop Stocking Up on Sriracha Sauce Now
Your Trick-or-Treating Forecast: NBC News: “A ferocious storm system was hurtling from Texas to the Northeast Thursday, promising to lash a long arm of the U.S. with buckets of rain and high winds, meteorologists said, as officials in three states postponed trick-or-treating to Friday. Meteorologists warned people in the Ohio Valley, the lower Mississippi Valley and western Gulf Coast to brace for harsh gusts of wind, hail and even tornadoes — a scary forecast just in time for Halloween revelry. Trick-or-treating has been pushed to Friday in scores of cities in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio — states expected to bear the brunt of the severe storm system, according to Weather.com. … As the massive weather system barrels eastward, officials are warning people in the Midwest and Northeast to take precautions ahead of the storm. … Heavy rain may pound the Northeast on Friday, with high wind watches posted for the Great Lakes as well as areas of southern New England and Long Island, according to the National Weather Service.”
The Slatest: Police Say They Have the Video of Toronto’s Mayor (Allegedly) Smoking Crack
House GOP’s Not Done With Sebelius Yet: CBS News: “The Republican head of the House Oversight Committee on Friday announced he’s subpoenaed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for the information regarding the botched HealthCare.gov launch that she’s so far declined to hand over voluntarily. Specifically, committee chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has called on HHS to hand over documents on the number of people who attempted to enroll in an insurance plan through HealthCare.gov and the number who did so successfully, as well as a full documentation of the efforts to test the site.”
Weigel: Republicans Not Expecting the Return of Filibuster Wars
Baby Steps in Syria: Reuters: “Syria has destroyed or rendered inoperable all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament program, the international chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which won the Nobel Peace prize this month, said its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites across the country. The remaining two were too dangerous to reach for inspection but the chemical equipment had already been moved to other sites that experts had visited, it said. … The next target date is November 15, by when the OPCW and Syria must agree to a detailed plan of destruction, including how and where to destroy more than 1,000 metric tons of toxic agents and munitions.”
The World: War Is Keeping the World From Eradicating Polio
Prepare For Takeoff: Wall Street Journal: “Federal aviation regulators on Thursday unveiled steps to lift restrictions on electronic devices in flight, saying that fliers generally should be allowed to use tablets, e-readers and other gadgets during all phases of flight by the end of this year. … Current rules require passengers to turn off all electronic devices on planes below 10,000 feet. Under the new rules, passengers will be able to use hand-held devices such as tablets and e-readers from gate to gate. Larger items like laptops will have to be stowed during takeoffs and landings. Passengers will be able to use smartphones below 10,000 feet to watch movies, listen to music or access the onboard Wi-Fi system, if available, but the cellular signal must be turned off.”
Future Tense: House Intelligence Chair: “You Can’t Have Your Privacy Violated if You Don’t Know Your Privacy Is Violated”
Hillary Watch: Washington Post: “In recent stump speeches and policy remarks, Bill and Hillary Clinton have offered sharp criticisms of the partisan gridlock paralyzing Washington, signaling a potential 2016 campaign theme if Hillary Clinton chooses to run for president. The Clintons’ critiques in recent days have been explicitly aimed at congressional Republicans, who helped spur a 16-day government shutdown and potential debt default in October. But their remarks also seem to contain an implicit rebuke of President Obama’s failure to change Washington as he pledged when first running for the White House. The arguments suggest a way that Hillary Clinton could attempt to run in 2016 as an agent of change — potentially putting her at odds with the two-term Democrat she would be seeking to replace. … Such themes of change and comity are particularly ironic for the Clintons considering that one or the other has held public office in Washington for the past two decades. Bill Clinton’s tenure in office was also marked by fierce partisan battles that roiled the nation, including an impeachment fight and two government shutdowns.”
XX Factor: Republicans, You Need Women to Attack Women
San Diego Sexting: ABC News: “San Diego police say dozens of students could face criminal charges for sending sexually explicit photos of fellow students. Police say it all started when a dozen teen girls took naked pictures of themselves and texted them to their boyfriends. Soon, those photos reached friends at six different high schools and a middle school in San Diego. Some of the girls, according to police, were as young as 13 and many of them did not know their photos have been circulated. … Some of the male students who received and forwarded the graphic images could be charged with possession or distribution of child pornography.”
The Slatest: Edward Snowden Has a New IT Job. No, Really.
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