A bill to protect pregnant women and their unborn children introduced in the South Dakota legislature was set aside, temporarily at least, on February 17 after critics and pro-abortion groups created an uproar claiming it could have legalized the killing of abortionists.

Outside a court hearing for the so-called “Underwear Bomber,” an attorney who was on board the targeted plane renewed a series of shocking accusations, claiming the U.S. federal government was behind the whole plot.   

SUNDAY, 9 JANUARY 2011

After a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, left at least six dead and more than a dozen wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the politicization of the tragedy has already begun. And despite an absence of much concrete information on the shooter’s motives — who at this point appears to be a deranged leftist — efforts to demonize the Second Amendment and conservatives in general are already taking flight.

A six-month investigation by USA Today uncovered a pattern of “serious, glaring misconduct” among federal prosecutors, whose abuses have resulted in innocent citizens being put in prison and countless wasted tax dollars, the paper revealed late last week. The probe is grabbing headlines and making waves across the country.

A report by the Justice Department’s Inspector General blasted the Federal Bureau of Investigation for lying and spying on anti-war activists, animal-rights groups, and environmentalists, calling the improper “terror” investigations "unreasonable and inconsistent with FBI policy."

A new effort to hand control over the Internet to the United Nations is underway as oppressive regimes such as the communist dictatorship ruling mainland China clamor for more censorship and regulation of the World Wide Web.

The Obama administration has remained silent so far, having failed to even select a leader to defend U.S. interests at upcoming talks on the subject. But critics of the global move are already striking back, warning that transferring Internet governance to the UN would be a massive blow to freedom and prosperity for the whole planet.

A coalition of hacker activists known as “Anonymous” — styling itself a “hacktivist” collective that fights for Internet freedom — took credit for bringing down websites belonging to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Copyright Office, and multiple heavy-hitting industry association sites. Most of the websites were back online by Friday morning.

The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks began releasing documents last week related to what it calls the “mass surveillance industry,” a little-known but expansive underworld of contractors offering tools for governments — from brutal dictatorships to more moderate Western states — to monitor citizens and hunt down dissidents. Furious activists reacted to the revelations by calling for stricter controls and measures to hold the firms accountable as “accomplices” to mass murder.  

A group of anti-world government hacker activists or “hacktivists” under the banner of “TeamPoison” hacked the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), releasing hundreds of passwords belonging to the organization’s bureaucrats. The release also included a message blasting the global body and its affiliates for corruption, fraud, and atrocities, along with a warning of more attacks to come.

The Federal Reserve is seeking contractors to build a tool that will monitor and analyze blogs, news reports, and social-media chatter about the central bank and its policies, with a goal of being able to use “public relations” strategies to counter the growing barrage of negative publicity. But critics quickly added to the institution’s troubled image as the news spread by lambasting the half-baked scheme as “Orwellian” spying and “intimidation.”