This video was posted by a family who says that they were terrified when Georgia DeKalb Sheriff deputies came to their home around 1:30 am and virtually tore down their door. It turns out that this is all about an unpaid civil fine by the mother, Natania Griffin, who was 15 days late in paying $1,000. What is notable is the deputy repeatedly threatening the man while referring to his videotaping them.
Continue reading “Video: Sheriff Deputies Raid Home To Enforce A Civil Fine”
There was a national controversy created recently when a rodeo clown, Tuffy Gessling, put together an act involving a President Barack Obama mask at the Missouri State Fair. The announcer reportedly called out “This bull’s going to get’cha, Obama! He’s gonna get’cha!” The reaction was fierce. Gessling was given a lifetime ban and the announcer, Mark Ficken, resigned. All clowns will now have to go through a “sensitivity training” course after the incident. However, The President of the Missouri Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Mary Radliff is calling for the prosecution of the key players for a hate crime. Radliff’s statements shows how broad this controversial crime has become and how it can now threaten free speech principles.
This week we got another insight into the focus of the security agencies in the United States. Documents revealed that the U.S. Secret Service kept free-information activist Aaron Swartz under close watch until he killed himself following an abusive prosecution by the Administration. At the same time, the CIA reportedly zeroed in on famed MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky despite earlier denials. The prior investigation of Chomsky and the more recent investigation of Swartz shows little has changed in how civil libertarians are viewed by the government.
Continue reading “Report: Secret Service Targeted Aaron Swartz”
President Barack Obama was widely ridiculed last week for his latest effort to quiet public unrest over his massive warrantless surveillance programs. As we discussed, Obama made statements on the program and Snowden that were disengenuous at best and viewed by civil libertarians as facially dishonest. His main “reform” was the rather laughable suggestion that his Administration, once again, would review itself and he would create yet another hand-picked committee to monitor his unchecked authority. While some of us said that Obama’s comments showed almost open contempt for the intelligence of the public and the independence of the press, nothing prepared us this week for his announcement on who would head the review: National Intelligence Chief John Clapper. That’s right. Clapper, the man who admitted to lying before Congress on these programs and has been protected by Congress and Attorney General Eric Holder from a perjury charge. The White House announced Clapper’s selection on Monday and Clapper issued a statement announcing his intention to find a way to preserve national security while “maintaing the public trust.” On Tuesday, the outcry over Clapper’s selection led the White House to try to backpedal and explain this insulting appointment. The White House now says that Clapper will not “lead” the panel and that it will remain “independent” even with his looming presence.
The New Mexico Supreme Court has attracted considerable attention this week with its ruling in the State of New Mexico v. Samora where it ruled that courts could not exclude jurors who did not speak English. Michael Anthony Samora was charged with first-degree murder and other crimes for the bludgeoning death of his girlfriend and a subsequent robbery and stabbing at an Albuquerque convenience store. He appealed on the grounds that a juror was excluded because he could not follow the proceedings in English. The Court agreed but found that the error did not deny him a fair trial.
I have previously discussed the curiosity of California’s Democratic leaders in Congress leading the fight for massive warrantless surveillance and attacks on privacy. California Senator Dianne Feinstein has long been viewed as hazard to civil liberties from her knowledge of the torture program to consistent support for the expansion of a security state system. Feinstein is now back in that ignoble role this week, fighting to limit the meaning of journalist to prevent bloggers and others from being able to claim protections from surveillance or compelled testimony. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin has joined Feinstein in seeking to define most people out of protections for media.
You know those Democratic members who are encouraging citizens to forget about warrantless surveillance (with the help of media allies who are calling for the country to simply “move on”). They seem to be struggling to find ways to change the story as President Obama proposes a facially meaningless set of “reforms” to lull the public back to a comfortable sleep. For civil libertarians, it seemed like Sen. Charles Schmuer was adding this week to the effort to get citizens to stop thinking about government bugs and start thinking about nature’s ticks. Schumer is calling on New Yorkers to check themselves and be vigilant in the face of the threat of ticks.
President Barack Obama on Friday seemed to acknowledge that the determined effort by the White House and Congress to demonize Edward Snowden has not exactly worked. The White House has put pressure on many people in this town to make clear that Snowden is not to be praised in the media or by members of Congress. Various reporters and new organizations have held the line in mocking Snowden or refusing to call him a “whistleblower” rather than a “leaker.” After all, the fear seems to be that Snowden has to be a traitor or Obama would look like a tyrant. Even high-ranking members have been frog walked back before cameras for uttering a work of praise for Snowden. The problem is that it has convinced few people, even with alteration of Wikipedia and other sites to maintain the party line. Now Obama has come forward to assure people that Snowden is no patriot. No, I guess that title belongs to Obama and others who have engaged in warrantless surveillance and continue to mislead the public on the erosion of privacy and civil liberties. Those patriotic souls include John Clapper who lie under oath to mislead the public about the programs. He is not a perjurer but a patriot in America’s New Animal Farm. Notably, however, not a single reporter asked Obama about the perjury by Clapper. Instead, Obama laid out another set of meaningless measures designed to lull the public back into a comfortably and controllable sleep.
Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
On July 18th, 2013, the City of Detroit made news because the state appointed emergency manager officially filed for a Chapter 9 bankruptcy. “Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history on Thursday, setting the stage for a costly court battle with creditors and opening a new chapter in the long struggle to revive the city that was the cradle of the American auto industry.
The bankruptcy, if approved by a federal judge, would force Detroit’s thousands of creditors into negotiations with the city’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr to resolve an estimated $18.5 billion in debt that has crippled Michigan’s largest city.” Tribune
There is no dispute that the City of Detroit has been mismanaged for years, but now that the Emergency Manager has filed the bankruptcy, just who will lose the most in the bankruptcy process? Continue reading “Will Detroit’s Pensioners Lose out to Big Banks?”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
We have previously discussed the pathetic attempt to justify the seizure of every American’s phone data based on its “contribution” in apprehending terrorists. We also discussed the conflating of successful NSA programs overseas with the domestic metadata collection to give the impression that the domestic collection is contributing to the hunt for terrorists. The massive NSA surveillance utterly failed to detect the Boston Marathon bombings. It is not surprising that government officials would try to connect the NSA surveillance with terrorism prevention: polls suggest that Americans are more willing to accept the surveillance if it helps reduce the threat of terrorism. However, there is a lucrative and successful use of the NSA’s collection of all communications – the Drug War.
National Security Agency has been reeling from leaks showing massive warrantless surveillance programs capturing communications for every American. These disclosures have further shown that officials like National Intelligence Director John Clapper committed perjury before Congress, though the White House and Congress have protected him from any charge in America’s Animal Farm system. Now, NSA director General Keith Alexander has indicated that he has a solution. With the public saying that it is more afraid of the government than terrorists and NSA workers balking at participating in such authoritarian programs, Alexander wants to replace the workers with machines. Machines don’t leak. Indeed, they have no sympathy or morals at all. They are perfect. That would leave citizens as simply the objects rather than the objectors for surveillance. So, the Obama Administration has finally found the barrier to the creation of the perfect government: the citizens themselves.
Continue reading “Machines Don’t Leak: NSA Moves To Replace Humans With Machines To Stop Leaks”
Below is my column this morning in USA Today on the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan. The trial raises the problem of when you have a defendant who states that he is as guilty as sin under our criminal law but who wants to talk about the sin rather than the crime. It is not the first time we have dealt with unhinged self-represented defendants but Hasan is more unsettling than just another fool for a lawyer.
Continue reading “The Hasan Trial: An “Ugly Thing” Takes Center Court”
On the heels of President Barack Obama again assuring that public that there is no domestic surveillance programs on their communications, the New York Times is reporting even broader surveillance by the Administration than previously reported.
We have been following the effort by countries like Iran and China to block access to particular sites viewed as anti-Islamic or anti-social. However, I have heard from a couple U.S. government employees that, since the Snowden disclosures, their agencies have blocked access to the Guardian website. When they try to get on to the site at the Energy Department for example it is simply blocked. I am trying to get answers from the Administration but wanted to ask some of our regulars for help on these reports.
Continue reading “Is The Administration Blocking Access To The Guardian?”
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
It has not made a lot of noise in the main stream media, but recently, an important case filed jointly by the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights challenging the Department of Justice and the Obama Administration’s drone war was argued in front of Judge Rosemary Collyer. That case is Anwar Al-Aulaqi vs. Panetta, et al and it was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 2012. You can find the filing here.
What makes this case so important is that it was filed on behalf of the estate of a 16-year-old American citizen who was killed by an American drone strike, along with other victims, in Yemen in 2011. Recently the United States Department of Justice presented a defense that is quite striking. Continue reading “The Most Important Court Case You May Never Have Heard Of”