bill of rights

Obama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me [2008]

"For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and 'wiretaps without warrants,' he said. (He was referring to the lingering legal fallout over reports that the National Security Agency scooped up Americans' phone and Internet activities without court orders, ostensibly to monitor terrorist plots, in the years after the September 11 attacks.) In our own Technology Voters' Guide, when asked whether he supports shielding telecommunications and Internet companies from lawsuits accusing them of illegal spying, Obama gave us a one-word response: 'No.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me [2008]

Obama, Former Civil Rights Attorney, Shreds Constitution

"The train of civil rights abridgments which picked up steam under Bush just keeps rollin’ with the Obama administration at the throttle. Just because you don’t think the state will persecute you today, remember that Japanese Internment wasn’t so long ago, or that according to Noam Chomsky 'The most civilised part of the world, with the highest cultural standards 70 years ago was Germany. No more need be said.' Just because the government appears less psychopathic or genocidal today does not mean it will be this way tomorrow." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama, Former Civil Rights Attorney, Shreds Constitution

NY Senate passes bill making ‘annoying’ police a crime

"The New York State Senate passed a controversial bill on Wednesday that aims to classify ‘aggravated harassment of a police officer’ as a crime. 'Our system of laws is established to protect the foundations of our society,' Senator Griffo said. 'Police officers who risk their lives every day in our cities and on our highways deserve every possible protection, and those who treat them with disrespect, harass them and create situations that can lead to injuries deserve to pay a price for their actions.' Griffo said that New York police require extra safeguards because 'too many people in our society have lost the respect they need to have for a police officer….'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNY Senate passes bill making ‘annoying’ police a crime

Tyranny is Infinitely More Obscene than Naughty Words

"Barboza wasn’t happy about the ticket. When he mailed his payment to the Sullivan County Court, the 22-year-old included a vulgar message expressing contempt for the town, to which he referred as 'Tyranny' rather than 'Liberty,' New York. The court rejected his payment and ordered Barboza to make a two-hour trip to attend court. At the October 2012 hearing, a judge upbraided Barboza for his language, and police handcuffed and arrested him for violating the state’s “aggravated harassment” statute. Barboza was booked, fingerprinted, handcuffed to a bench, and forced to pay $200 bail. He has filed a lawsuit against the police officers who arrested him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTyranny is Infinitely More Obscene than Naughty Words

Professor in Jesus-stomping controversy reinstated, will teach online courses

"Non-tenured communications instructor Deandre Poole will teach online courses this summer and in the fall. Poole endured quite a lot last semester after then-junior Ryan Rotela, a devout Mormon, was suspended from class because he complained about one of Poole’s assignments. According to a letter written by FAU associate dean Rozalia Williams, Rotela faced several possible charges including 'acts of verbal, written or physical abuse; threats, intimidation, harassment, coercion; or other conduct which threaten the health, safety or welfare of any person.' The charges against Rotela were apparently hastily dismissed at some point." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingProfessor in Jesus-stomping controversy reinstated, will teach online courses

Texting while judging: Judge texted assistance to prosecutors during trial(s)

"Not only is the judge who texted advice to prosecutors still on the bench, the assistant prosecutor accused of passing on her texts has herself been elected state district judge! Further evidence that the mechanisms for holding prosecutors and judges accountable for misconduct in Texas simply aren't effective or functional. A report by a court observer from the DA's office found that this was 'not the first time' the judge had provided such ex parte assistance and the lead prosecutor said her second chair was 'in her ear all the time regarding information she believes to be given her by Judge Coker via text during trial,' not just in this case but in others." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexting while judging: Judge texted assistance to prosecutors during trial(s)

The Whistleblower’s Guide to the Orwellian Galaxy: How to Leak to the Press

"It is, as one commenter noted, 'a dangerous time to be right when the government is wrong.' We now live in a world where public servants informing the public about government behavior or wrongdoing must practice the tradecraft of spies and drug dealers à la The Wire. Even the head of the CIA can’t email his mistress without being identified by the FBI. And privately collected data isn’t immune, either; highly sensitive metadata is particularly vulnerable thanks to the Third Party Doctrine. So how can one safely leak information to the press, let alone coordinate a Deep Throat-style meetup? Here’s a guide." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Whistleblower’s Guide to the Orwellian Galaxy: How to Leak to the Press

Is the lawlessness of Obama’s drone policy coming home?

"Global powers have an antisocial habit of bringing their work back home. The British government imported some of the methods it used against its colonial subjects to suppress domestic protests and strikes. Once an administrative class becomes accustomed to treating foreigners as if they have no rights, and once the domestic population broadly accepts their justifications, it is almost inevitable that the habit migrates from one arena into another. If hundreds of people living abroad can be executed by American agents on no more than suspicion, should we be surprised if residents of the United States began to be treated the same way?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs the lawlessness of Obama’s drone policy coming home?

Thank you for your service, Mr. Snowden

"Tellingly, the tools of Big Media and big government are not apprising you of these facts. Like a tortoise in its shell, they’ve retreated from the watersheds that are the AP, the IRS and the NSA scandals, informing you only of what New York and Northeast elites think is important: 'Most of you still like Obama.' Come every Memorial Day – more aptly called 'Dying For Nothing Day' – we direct a commonplace saying at members of a military that has not defended authentic American liberties for decades. It is, however, to a young man such as this that we should say 'Thank you for your service, Mr. Snowden.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThank you for your service, Mr. Snowden

Jimmy Carter: U.S. Has ‘A Cruel and Unusual Record’

“Recent legislation has made legal the president’s right to detain a person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist organizations or ‘associated forces,’ a broad, vague power that can be abused without meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress. In addition to American citizens’ being targeted for assassination or indefinite detention, recent laws have canceled the restraints in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to allow unprecedented violations of our rights to privacy through warrantless wiretapping and government mining of our electronic communications.” Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJimmy Carter: U.S. Has ‘A Cruel and Unusual Record’