FBI

By Mark Jaycox and Rainey Reitman | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) A bipartisan group of congressional leaders has reintroduced the USA Freedom Act. The bill is an attempt to rein in the intelligence community’s “Collect It All” strategy, and passing USA Freedom is a first, small step in the right direction. However, it has serious faults […]

FBI

A Letter of Apology to My Grandson: A Pox on Twenty-First-Century America

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) Dear Grandson, Consider my address book — and yes, the simple fact that I have one already tells you a good deal about me. All the names, street addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers that matter to me are still on paper, not in a computer or on an […]

Bill of Rights

Keystone XL Opponents Interrogated by FBI

contributors

TheLipTV | – “Keystone XL pipeline opponents are being interrogated by the FBI who are using what one lawyer called “intimidation” and “force,” according to recent reports. This comes after President Barack Obama vetoed legislation that would have authorized the building of the pipeline last week. Accounts suggest that the FBI had been inquiring about […]

Bill of Rights

Only 1/2 of 1% of “Patriot” Act Secret Warrants Used against Terrorism

contributors

By Mark Jaycox via Electronic Frontier Foundation The Patriot Act continues to wreak its havoc on civil liberties. Section 213 was included in the Patriot Act over the protests of privacy advocates and granted law enforcement the power to conduct a search while delaying notice to the suspect of the search. Known as a “sneak […]

Bill of Rights

Gov’t: Be Careful what you Say on Facebook: “Are you on the Terrorist Watchlist?”

contributors

AJ+ “One million people worldwide have been swept up by TIDE, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment. It’s a list of people suspected of being terrorists that’s managed by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center. But how easy is it to get on the list, and are we step closer to a world where everyone’s a suspect?” […]

Bill of Rights

One Nation, under SWAT: The undemocratic Militarization of the Police

contributors

By Matthew Harwood via Tomdispatch.com Jason Westcott was afraid. One night last fall, he discovered via Facebook that a friend of a friend was planning with some co-conspirators to break in to his home. They were intent on stealing Wescott’s handgun and a couple of TV sets. According to the Facebook message, the suspect was […]

FBI

Most would-be US Terrorists Wouldn’t have Committed a Crime without FBI Entrapment

contributors

Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC) –The US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have targeted American Muslims in abusive counterterrorism “sting operations” based on religious and ethnic identity, Human Rights Watch and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute said in a report released today. Many of the more than 500 terrorism-related cases […]

Bush

Dear America: You’re in the Army Now

contributors

By William J. Astore I spent four college years in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and then served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. In the military, especially in basic training, you have no privacy. The government owns you. You’re “government issue,” just another G.I., a number on a dogtag that has your […]

Constitution

Former FBI Agent: NYPD’s Muslim-Spying Demographics Unit Was Almost Completely Useless

Juan Cole

Certain demographics are desirable. 18-34? Taste-makers and early adopters. 35-49? Money. Muslim and New York City resident? Being a member of this group meant (until recently) having First Amendment-protected activities being closely scrutinized by…