"Law enforcement reminders of the consequences of criminal behavior are supposed to curb illegal activity, but some of these intimidation strategies may be backfiring, especially among youth. In the latest study of stop and frisk policies, in which law enforcement randomly stop individuals for questioning even if they aren't engaged in criminal activity, researchers found that those who were stopped were more likely than those who were not to engage in delinquent behavior later on."

New York's stop and frisk policy has led to racial profiling and targeting of law abiding minority citizens.

The suppression of early voting is proving to be a useful tactic for Republicans in suppressing voter rights. Republicans have failed to utilized early voting to their advantage whereas Democrats, especially President Obama, have had huge success in getting minorities out to vote. It's disappointing to see so many Republican states introduce and pass these types of voter suppression laws. The recent Supreme Court Voters Right Act decision open the door for these types of laws that will certainly repress of the rights of the elderly and minorities.

Jose Antonio Vargas was brought here as a child illegally under no choice of his own. What I find hard to believe is he's broken numerous federal and employment laws, achieved a measure of success and still didn't try to obtain U.S. citizenship during that time. I must ask myself, this is clearly an educated man, did he not pursue a legal path to citizenship, is there no path of citizenship for children born here or is he just waiting to get deported?

The statistics don't seem to support NRA's position that putting more controls in place to restrict gun access would drive more guns into the hands of criminals or putting gun safety features on hand guns would require more government regulation. Criminals are the very ones that need to be regulated and are often banned from possessing fire arms. If they have them, they're bought underground and they don't go through proper channels, and who wouldn't want a mentally ill person screened prior to purchasing a hand gun? None of this limits legitimate American citizens from possessing handguns and doesn't violate a person's second amendment right.

The Obama administration is proposing new rules to share student personal data with public agencies and private entities without consent of the student or his/her family. The information to be shared includes but not limited to grades, household income, mental issues and disciplinary actions. Sharing of such information violates the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act which is designed to protect student and family rights.

Kentucky and North Carolina have passed Racial Justice Acts to counter systemic racial bias in the unfair sentencing of African Americans to the death penalty for killing whites. Statistical data shows there's is significant bias in the administration of the death penalty yet in two major cases before the Supreme Court, the Court ruled in favor of systemic injustice and upheld the death penalty in both cases. The Racial Justice Acts passed by Kentucky and North Carolina are a step in the right direction to remove systemic bias.

The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a fifth graders right to distribute invitations to her church's Christmas party. The school had banned the student from distributing the invitations citing the invitations contained religious materials. The court's decision was based on the First Amendment's right to free speech.

Google is under intense scrutiny after it's role in the National Security Association scandal that involving mass surveillance of U.S. Citizens. In a recent court filing, Google asserts non gmail users sending emails to Gmail accounts can't expect any privacy when sending the email correspondence. Google scans the email using an electronic program to target ads to the end user. Non gmail users can expect their personal and/ or professional email correspondence to be intercepted and read before being delivered to the gmail end user.

This article discusses the recent North Carolina Voter ID law. Republicans claim the law will reduce voter fraud while democrats claim the law will illegally target minorities and the poor. Included in the Voter ID law are provisions that severely limit early voting that President Obama and democrats have used to gain an advantage over Republicans. Lawsuits have already been filed challenging North Carolina's Voter ID law.