Category: Politics

Supreme Court Rules Government Violated Privacy Rights in GPS Tracking Case » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union. In a major victory for privacy, today in U.S. v. Jones the Supreme Court unanimously held that, “The Government’s attachment of the GPS device to the vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment.” The Court found that the government violated the Fourth Amendment, which protects American from unreasonable searches, when it placed a GPS device to Antoine Jones’s car and tracked his movements continuously for…

Behind the Bars of Supermax, Contemplating Aristotle and Islamic Extremism – Document – NYTimes.com. Randall Todd Royer, 38, a Missouri-born Muslim convert known as Ismail, is nearly eight years into a 20-year prison sentence for helping friends go to an extremist training camp in Pakistan. In the highest-security prison in the United States, known as the federal Supermax, he wrote about prison life and his views about Islamic extremism in a year-long written correspondence with a New York Times reporter.

How a couple in Alaska became the terrorists next door – latimes.com. To Rockwood, the plot involving targeted assassinations and bombs was a "pure fantasy" created by a government agent he thought was his friend, a common refrain in the nation's burgeoning number of "home-grown" terrorism plots prosecuted since the Sept. 11 attacks.

My friend, Wajahat Ali, hits some good notes in this interview. Exposing Hate, Resisting Victimization: Islamophobia & the Path Forward | Straight Talk Podcast with Dr. Hathout. What are we doing as a nation to our own? In this conversation taped at the MPAC convention with speaker, author and playwright Wajahat Ali (co-author of “Fear Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network” study), Dr. Maher Hathout examines the small but powerful network fueling hate and its dangerous impact on politics, media and public opinion at home and abroad. As their hateful messages become more and more mainstream, how can we…

The destruction of knowledge is a sign of desperation and despotism. It’s no accident that it coincides with the militarization of our police forces. OWS Library Update < Killing the Buddha. Back in November of 2011, an epic act of state occurred in New York City—the seizure and destruction of the OWS library. More seizures ensued. The library reappeared on the Brooklyn Bridge. Readers and writers all over the world spoke out against the so-called Bloomberg Bibliocide. What’s been happening with our favorite library? KtB recently caught up with People’s Librarian Betsy Fagin via email.

I love The Dream. I love the fact that he got this appointment. However, I don’t think engaging young people should be the primary selling point about a guy who was getting to retire when I was a kid.  News from The Associated Press. In a move to engage young people worldwide, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a global cultural ambassador.

TSA Seeks to Expand the Airport Experience Into Everyday Life » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Los Angeles Times today reports on the TSA’s VIPR program, in which roving teams of security agents bring the joys of the airport security experience into bus and train stations, highways, the subway, and other transportation facilities around the country (a Daily Caller story on the program from earlier this year is here).  This program represents nothing less than a direct assault on the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. It’s also an exceedingly dumb security measure. But…

INFOGRAPHIC: Guantanamo by the Numbers » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union. This Wednesday, January 11 marks 10 years since the first prisoners were sent to Guantánamo. Over the last decade, the prison camp has become a symbol of injustice, abuse and disregard for the rule of law.

NY TIMES: “When Will We Stop the Scapegoating of Muslims in America?” | The Crescent Post. As the 2012 presidential election approaches, it has been difficult for me to listen to the political scapegoating of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims. A decade ago, as an attorney at the Department of Justice, I worked with colleagues in the civil rights division to address the unprecedented backlash in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. We investigated complaints of brutal hate crimes in neighborhoods, vandalism at places of worship, bullying at schools, and discrimination in the workplace aimed primarily at those…

Quote For The Day – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast. "Waterboarding is torture. It’s contrary to America’s traditions. It’s contrary to our ideals. That’s not who we are. That’s not how we operate. We don’t need it in order to prosecute the war on terrorism. And we did the right thing by ending that practice. If we want to lead around the world, part of our leadership is setting a good example. And anybody who has actually read about and understands the practice of waterboarding would say that that is torture. And that's not something…