Constitution

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – It has been the position of the US presidents for decades that the status of Jerusalem in international law is unsettled. That is why the US embassy is in Tel Aviv, and why US passports showing the place of birth as Jerusalem just list the name […]

Bill of Rights

Fighting for Privacy, Two Years After Snowden

contributors

By Richard Esguerra | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – Two years ago today, Glenn Greenwald published in the Guardian a single document confirming a key piece of the NSA’s surveillance program, a document that fundamentally transformed EFF’s long-running battle for an end to unchecked government surveillance. To recap briefly, the document was a secret […]

Bill of Rights

Thank you, Edward Snowden: An End to General Warrants as so-called PATRIOT Act expires

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The US government behemoth dedicated to spying on us all in contravention of the Constitution will likely be only slightly inconvenienced by the expiration of the misnamed “PATRIOT Act”, forced by Sen. Rand Paul late Sunday night. But at least a few baby steps back toward democracy will […]

Bill of Rights

Why Rand Paul is right to Kill the So-Called PATRIOT Act: It was never about Terrorism

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has vowed to force the expiration of the so-called PATRIOT Act on Sunday. Paul is right that it is unconstitutional and in this regard he is a better constitutional scholar than Barack Obama, whose stance on this issue is, to say the least, […]

Bill of Rights

Why the so-called USA PATRIOT Act can’t actually Keep America Safe

contributors

by CHARLES KURZMAN for ISLAMiCommentary: Charles Kurzman With the “USA PATRIOT Act” set to expire at the end of the month, you might expect supporters of domestic surveillance to tout the take-down of the biggest plot of violent extremism America has experienced so far this year. Not the plot by two men who drove to […]

Bill of Rights

Snowden’s Revenge: USA “Freedom” [Surveillance] Act Fails in Senate

contributors

By Nadia Prupis, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) — “The failure of these bills to pass shows just how dramatically the politics of surveillance changed once the extent of the government’s surveillance programs became known to the public.” In a move that is being hailed by civil liberties advocates as a victory for privacy rights, the […]

Bill of Rights

Obama Prosecutes another Whistleblower to Senate for “Espionage”

contributors

By John Kiriakou | (Foreign Policy in Focus) Jeffrey Sterling learned the hard way that the feds will throw the book at anyone who embarrasses them. Jeffrey Sterling recently stood before a judge as his sentence was read. The former CIA officer, the judge declared, would spend 42 months — that’s three and half years […]

Bill of Rights

Unlike Congress, Majority of Americans Oppose NSA Spying

contributors

By Nadia Prupis, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – Survey commissioned by ACLU shows “how disconnected members of Congress are from the feelings of a lot of the public.” A new survey which found that most Americans oppose NSA surveillance comes as some key sections of the Patriot Act near their expiration date. (Photo: mlliu/flickr/cc) […]

Bill of Rights

The National Security State gets Real: 9 Ways the US is becoming Bizarro World

Tom Engelhardt

By Tomd Engledhardt | (Tomdispatch.com) | – It’s commonplace to speak of “the fog of war,” of what can’t be known in the midst of battle, of the inability of both generals and foot soldiers to foresee developments once fighting is underway. And yet that fog is nothing compared to the murky nature of the […]