Bill of Rights

By Juan Cole Secretary of State John Kerry said that Edward Snowden should “return home and come back here and stand in our system of justice and make his case.” Kerry seems to have a high opinion of the Department of Justice and the US courts when it comes to national security issues. I can’t […]

Bill of Rights

House Passes Fake USA Freedom Act; Only hope is Senate

contributors

As explained earlier, due to pressure from the White House and NSA’s supporters in Congress, what could have been real NSA reform was completely changed at the last minute, in secret. The bill, which was substantially different than what both the Judiciary…

Bill of Rights

Rep. Louie Gohmert: Constitution only fit for Americans who ‘cling to God and guns’

Juan Cole

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) recently asserted that the U.S. Constitution only applied to people “who cling to their God and their guns.” Speaking at a rally in Iowa for Republican Senate candidate Sam Clovis on Friday, Gohmert recalled that he had…

Bill of Rights

US Supreme Court: First Amendment is Only For Christians, Upholds State-Sponsored Prayer

Juan Cole

Welcome to the theocracy! Monday morning was a dark day for America. The Supreme Court set a frightening precedent in its finding that beginning legislative sessions with prayers does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. As…

Bill of Rights

The Impunity of American Torture: From Abu Ghraib to Sen. Feinstein’s Brawl with the CIA

Juan Cole

(by Karen J. Greenberg via Tomdispatch.com) It’s mind-boggling. Torture is still up for grabs in America. No one questions anymore whether the CIA waterboarded one individual 83 times or another 186 times. The basic facts are no longer in dispute either by those who champion torture or those who, like myself, despise the very idea […]

Bill of Rights

Christian Sharia Law: Iowa Governor’s Proclamation Destroys Separation Of Church And State

Juan Cole

The astroturfed pandemic of Christian self-righteousness continues to plumb new depths, proving that like their Bible, there isn’t a part of the Constitution they won’t ignore, twist, or warp, in an effort to shore up their abjectly amoral personal…

Barack Obama

Uncle Sam’s Eternal Gua-Gulag: US Continues to Imprison Dozens of Yemenis Cleared or Never Charged

Juan Cole

(Human Rights Watch) (Washington, DC) – The US should expedite the return of Yemeni detainees cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to President Barack Obama. Human Rights Watch released a video showing the plight of families of Yemeni detainees. All Guantanamo detainees should be returned or resettled, or charged […]

Bill of Rights

ACLU Complains: CIA to Filter Release by Senate of Torture Report

Juan Cole

(By Sarah Lazare) The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee voted Thursday to partially lift the media and public blackout of its 6,300 page investigation into widespread CIA torture, extrajudicial detentions, unlawful renditions, and lying to the U.S. government in the so-called 'War on Terror.' In an 11 to 3 decision, the committee voted to submit the […]

Bill of Rights

Tea Party Opponents of Muslim Cemetery Claim Islam is not a Religion

Juan Cole

TN Tea Partiers freak out on TV reporter for covering their effort to block Muslim cemetery (via Raw Story ) Tempers flared in a confrontation between anti-Islamic activists and proponents of a plan to build an Islamic cemetery adjacent to a mosque in Murfreesboro, TN. WSMV Channel 4 reported that supporters of the Islamic Center […]