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Eric Holder’s abdication

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Dana Milbank - May. 16 - As the nation’s top law enforcement official, Eric Holder is privy to all kinds of sensitive information. But he seems to be proud of how little he knows. Why didn’t his Justice Department inform the Associated Press, as the law requires, before pawing through reporters’ phone records ? ...

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Op-Ed Columnist: In the Boy Scouts’ Gay Debate, Religion Beyond the Right

Tue, 07 May 2013 01:06:00 -0700

New York Times - By By FRANK BRUNI - May. 07 (Opinion) - As the Boy Scouts of America reassesses its ban on gay scouts and leaders, we’re hearing a lot about the organization’s need to remain sensitive to people whose religions condemn homosexual behavior.

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Islamists Demand that Bangladesh's Women Stay at Home

Sun, 05 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Global Voices - By Pantha Rahman Reza, Rezwan - May. 05 (News) - Members of a radical Islamist party in Bangladesh attacked female journalists on assignment as the group marched in the country's capital to demand strict Islamic law, including a ban on free mixing of the sexes. Until its demands are met, the party has promised to cut off the city of Dhaka from the rest of the country on May 5, 2013 by stationing its activists at all six entry points into the city.

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Government Seeks to Fine Companies for Not Complying With Wiretap Orders

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Wired - By Kim Zetter - Apr. 30 (News) - It isn’t often that communications companies push back against government requests to monitor customers and hand over information about them, but a government task force is seeking to make it even harder for companies to say no. The task force is pushing for legislation that would penalize companies like Google, Facebook and Skype that fail to comply with court orders for wiretapping, according to the Washington Post. The cost of non-complying would be an escalating series of fines, starting at tens of thousands of dollars. Fines that remained unpaid after 90 days would double daily.

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House honors ‘four little girls’ killed in Birmingham church bombing

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Ed O'Keefe - Apr. 25 (Special Report) - The House voted Wednesday to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the four young girls killed in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., a seminal moment in the civil rights movement. ...

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Charts: How Much Danger Do We Face From Homegrown Jihadist Terrorists?

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Dave Gilson - Apr. 24 (Opinion) - More MoJo coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings Perhaps the most unusual thing about the Boston Marathon bombing is that it happened at all. While we've seen all manner of terrorist bomb plots since September 11—the Times Square bomber , the underwear bomber , even the guys who fantasized about destroying the Sears Tower —all have been thwarted by the FBI, the perpetrators' own bumbling, or both . If one or both of the suspects in last week's attack, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were motivated by radical Islamic beliefs , then they will have the dubious distinction of being the first domestic jihadists to have set off a bomb on American soil since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. While America has been fixated on the threat of Islamic terrorism for more than a decade, all but a few domestic terror plots have failed. Between September 11 and the end of 2012, there were no successful bomb plots by jihadist terrorists in the United States. Jihadists killed 17 ...

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Obama Poised to Deliver Another Blow to Whistleblower Protections

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Dana Liebelson - Apr. 24 - The Obama administration entered the White House pledging to be the most transparent in history. Since then, the administration has hit more nat-sec whistleblowers, who are arguably in a position to expose the worst abuses of government power, with the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined, often lumping them in with criminal leakers and spies. But Obama defenders point out that, thanks to the president's Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, other types of federal whistleblowers have gained unprecedented protections , including compensation in successful cases and stronger penalties against retaliatory managers. Now that silver lining could vanish, a casualty of a lengthy legal battle between whistleblower advocates and defense agencies. The case, Berry v. Conyers , involves two Department of Defense employees, neither occupying a high-level or particularly sensitive position: One did stockroom management and the other was an accounting technician (basically a ...

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Jeremy Scahill: The Secret Story Behind Obama's Assassination of Two Americans in Yemen

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Jeremy Scahill, Amy Goodman - Apr. 23 (News Analysis) - While the Obama administration has defended the killing of Anwar, it has never publicly explained why Abdulrahman was targeted in a separate drone strike two weeks later. Scahill reveals CIA Director John Brennan, Obama’s former senior adviser on counterterrorism and homeland security, suspected that the teenager had been killed "intentionally." "The idea that you can simply have one branch of government unilaterally and in secret declare that an American citizen should be executed or assassinated without having to present any evidence whatsoever, to me, is a — we should view that with great sobriety about the implications for our country,"

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‘Political groups in Washington downplayed Chechen threat’

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

rt.com - Apr. 22 (Opinion) -

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Glenn Greenwald on Boston Marathon Arrest: Will We Deny Constitutional Rights in the Name of Fear?

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Glenn Greenwald, Amy Goodman - Apr. 22 (Interview) - "It’s sort of odd that the debate is Lindsey Graham’s extremist theory [to hold Tsarnaev as an enemy combatant] or rushing to give President Obama credit for what ought to be just reflexive, which is, if you arrest a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil of a crime, before you imprison him, you actually charge him with a crime and give him the right to a lawyer," Greenwald says. "The fact those are the two sort of extremes being debated, I think, is illustrative of where we’ve come."

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After Obama Shuns Probe, Bipartisan Panel Finds ‘Indisputable’ Evidence US Tortured Under Bush

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 17 (Special Report) - The report concludes that never before in U.S. history had there been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.”

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'War on Whistleblowers' Film Highlights Dangers of Crackdown

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Rolling Stone - By John Knefel - Apr. 17 (Review) - A still from Robert Greenwald's film 'War on Whistleblowers' Greenwald describes the philosophical underpinnings of the national security state as two-fold. The first is an ideological belief that extreme secrecy results in increased security – "a notion

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Obama Whistleblower Prosecutions Lead To Chilling Effect On Press

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Matt Sledge - Apr. 16 (News Report) - It was an investigative story clearly in the public interest, shedding new light on the government’s long-running targeted-killing program in Pakistan. But now Landay, a veteran national security reporter for the McClatchy newspaper chain, is concerned that the Obama administration could next investigate him in hopes of finding the sources for “top-secret U.S. intelligence reports” cited in the story. “Do I think that they could come after me?” Landay asked, in an interview with The Huffington Post. “Yes.”

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Intelligence Documents Suggest Obama Administration Lied About Who Drones Kill

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Steven Hseih - Apr. 10 (News Report) - The documents also provide a glimpse into the Obama administration’s seemingly thin rationale for executing some attacks. Contrary to claims of the CIA program’s precision and “ exceedingly rare” civilian casualties, the intelligence reports proves that “drone operators weren’t always certain who they were killing.” McClatchy’s report notes that several drone victims “died in what appeared to be signature strikes,” or attacks carried out based on a “signature” pattern of behavior, rather than a known identity.

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What?! Enviro Activist Re-Imprisoned for Writing a Blog Post

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Steven Hsieh - Apr. 06 (News Report) - McGowan’s wife, Jenny Synan says officials re-jailed her husband for writing a Huffington Post blog piece critical of a controversial prison program designed to restrict inmates’ communication to the outside world.

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Who Polices Prosecutors Who Abuse Their Authority? Usually Nobody

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Joaquin Sapien, Sergio Hernandez - Apr. 03 (Investigative Report) - Bennett, a two-time felon, was eventually captured, convicted of murder, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. But Bennett never served anywhere near that sentence. He has, in fact, been free since 2008 because Claude Stuart, the former Queens ass

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Conservative Morality: Free Pass for Criminal Bankers, Restrictions for Women and Gay Citizens

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Robert Reich - Mar. 31 (Opinion) - Conservative moralists don't want women to have control over their bodies or same-sex couples to marry, but they don't give a hoot about billionaires taking over our democracy for personal gain or big bankers taking over our economy. Yet these violations of public morality are far more dangerous to our society because they undermine the public trust that's essential to both our democracy and economy.

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Religious Leaders Call on President Obama to Reconsider His Position on Drone Strikes

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - Mar. 30 (Opinion) - Six religious leaders from across the country joined together during the week of Easter to call on President Obama to reexamine his position on drone strikes. In briefings and explanations to the American public President Obama's administration has used Just War Theory to justify CIA and U.S. military use of drone strikes throughout the world. Joining forces with director and producer Robert Greenwald, these rabbis, reverends, and priests created a short video sharing why drone strikes in Pakistan violate Just War Theory.

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The fun-filled ocean resort at Guantánamo Bay |

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Glenn Greenwald - Mar. 28 (Advocacy) - A growing hunger strike among detainees is mocked by gullible journalists spouting familiar Potemkin Village propaganda If you're looking for a fun activity-filled resort to take your family for a summer vacation, you simply cannot do better than Club GTMO, according to a new glossy travel guide just published by Robert Johnson, the Defense Editor of Business Insider, under the guise of a news article. Scrumptious meals. Video games galore for the kids. Outdoor sports. Newspapers from your hometown delivered by smiling bellhops to the front door of your villa. Picturesque Caribbean vistas. All that and more can be yours - provided that you're "compliant". What more could vacationers - or prisoners kept in a cage for more than a decade with no charges thousands of miles away from their family - possibly want? They are, proclaims Johnson, treated "absurdly well". Not just well: absurdly well. They are, he actually writes, lavished with "resort treatment". The context for Johnson's glowing ...

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A historic moment for same-sex marriage arrives before Supreme Court

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Robert Barnes - Mar. 26 (News Report) - A four-year legal battle to extend the right of marriage to same-sex couples no matter where they live gets its moment before the Supreme Court on Tuesday in historic oral arguments difficult to imagine even a decade ago. ...

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Corporate kangaroo courts have quietly usurped our constitutional right to trial by judge and jury

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Hightower Lowdown - By Jim Hightower - Mar. 26 (Opinion) - does it deliver justice? It could, for the original concept of voluntary, face-to-face resolution of conflict--without the elaborate structure of lawyers, judges, and juries--makes sense in many cases. But remember what Mae West said of her own virtue: "I used to be Snow White, then I drifted." Likewise, today's practice of arbitration has drifted far away from the purity of the concept.

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Anthony Lewis, indefatigable champion of civil liberties and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, dies at 85

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Emily Langer - Mar. 26 () - Anthony Lewis, an indefatigable champion of civil liberties who became known during his half-century with the New York Times as one of the most trenchant legal journalists of his generation and was twice a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, died March 25 at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was two days shy of his 86th birthday. Read full article >>

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Dahr Jamail Returns to Iraq to Find Rampant Torture and a Failed State Living in "Utter Devastation"

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Nermeen Shaikh, Amy Goodman, Ghali Al-Atwani, Dahr Jamail - Mar. 20 (Special Report) - Investigative journalist Dahr Jamail reported for Democracy Now! throughout the early stages of the U.S. invasion of Iraq 10 years ago. Now with Al Jazeera, Jamail has just returned from Iraq once again, finding what he calls a "failed state" living in "utter devastation." In part one of our interview, Jamail discusses the harrowing security situation for Iraqis living in fear of bombings, executions and kidnappings, the widespread torture in Iraq's prisons, and the breakdown of security in what he calls a "lawless state." Jamail is the author of "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq" and "The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan." [includes rush transcript]

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Why invading Iraq was a terrible mistake

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - By Hans Blix - Mar. 19 (Opinion) - I headed the U.N. inspections in Iraq at the time of the war 10 years ago. Today, I look again at the reasons why this terrible mistake -- and violation of the U.N. charter -- took place and explore if any lessons be drawn. Here are my thoughts.

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Pope Francis' Junta Past: Argentine Journalist on New Pontiff's Ties to Abduction of Jesuit Priests

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Mar. 14 (News Analysis) - While praised for his work with the poor, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio -- now Pope Francis -- has long been dogged by accusations of his role during Argentina's military dictatorship. We speak to Horacio Verbitsky, a leading Argentine journalist who exposed Francis' connection to the abduction of two Jesuit priests. Verbitsky is an investigative journalist for the newspaper Página/12, or Page/12, and head of the Center for Legal and Social Studies, an Argentine human rights organization. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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