Fusion center declares nation’s oldest universities possible terror threat

A newly leaked terrorism assessment from a law enforcement fusion center in Virginia highlights US universities as potential “radicalization nodes” for terrorists.
RAW STORY has published the entirety of the 215 page report, available here in PDF format.

ACLU Report on Reconsideration of the Patriot Act

Reclaiming Patriotism: A Call to Reconsider the Patriot Act
“This report identifies the Patriot Act provisions that require intensive oversight and modification to prevent abuse. [...] More than seven years after its implementation, there is little evidence to demonstrate that the Patriot Act has made America more secure from terrorists. [...]

Hawthorne police review use of Taser on middle school student

Hawthorne police have launched a misconduct investigation of an officer who used a 50,000-volt stun gun on a violent autistic 12-year-old boy at one of the city’s middle schools, authorities said.
Such use of electroshock weapons by police on young students is rare, but high-profile incidents have sparked fierce debate around the [...]

NAACP seeks records in Pasadena police shooting

PASADENA – Local NAACP officials Thursday called on the Police Department to release crucial documents and video surrounding the death of a local man shot by officers during an altercation last week.
The letter sent to the department and news outlets came as police refused to comment further on the events of [...]

Hersh: Children sodomized at Abu Ghraib, on tape

After Donald Rumsfeld testified on the Hill about Abu Ghraib in May, there was talk of more photos and video in the Pentagon’s custody more horrific than anything made public so far. “If these are released to the public, obviously it’s going to make matters worse,” Rumsfeld said. Since [...]

The Missing Memos

The Bush administration’s controversial policies on detentions, interrogations and warrantless wiretapping were underpinned by legal memoranda. While some of those memos have been released (primarily as a result of ACLU lawsuits), the former administration kept far more memos secret than has been previously understood. At least three dozen by [...]

Jimenez receives apology from school district

When Mariah Jimenez wore a politically charged T-shirt to school Nov. 3, her action sparked a debate on the First Amendment and free speech. It took several months, but her rights, and those of other students are now protected.
Jimenez, a Big Bear High School sophomore, wore a T-shirt to school [...]

NSA Whistleblower Tells More on Illegal Wiretapping of US Citizens (videos)

On January 21, former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice appeared Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show. Tice, who helped expose the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping in December 2005, told Olbermann government programs designed to spy on the American people are more extensive and far reaching than previously admitted. “The National Security [...]

“Fusion Centers”

Ever hear of a Fusion Center?
They are run by the Department of Homeland Security and are locally based across the country.
A fusion center is an effective and efficient mechanism to exchange information and intelligence, maximize resources, streamline operations, and improve the ability to fight crime and terrorism by merging data [...]

County Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Erase State’s Medical Marijuana Law

San Diego County filed papers this week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to erase California’s medical marijuana law, arguing that federal prohibitions outlawing the substance supersede California’s law allowing sick people to use it.
The county is asking the nation’s highest court to overturn a state appellate court’s July decision upholding [...]

Report: U.S. Surveillance Society Running Rampant

If you think you’re being watched, you’re probably right.
The American Civil Liberties Union posted a website Monday showing that government-financed surveillance cameras are running rampant across the United States.
All the while, studies suggest they do nothing to cut down on violent crime. San Francisco, for example, has spent $700,000 for dozens [...]

Church sues over soldiers’ funeral protest ban

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Westboro Baptist Church member has sued the city of St. Joseph over its ordinance banning protests at soldiers’ funerals.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, asks a judge to declare the ordinance and its enforcement unconstitutional.

Baltimore ends public oversight of police killings

Baltimore police will no longer release the names of officers who kill or injure people, changing a long-standing practice that the department believes put officers at risk.
The decision is prompting criticism from several Baltimore leaders, who said withholding officers’ names will only endanger an already tenuous relationship between the [...]

ACLU files suit to allow counter-recruiting

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The ACLU is suing a North Carolina school system it says has denied access to a pacifist who wants to talk to students about alternatives to the military.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that Sally Ferrell represents North Carolina Peace Action and says Wilkes County Schools haven’t allowed [...]

Feds Act Against Eureka, Arcata Over Voted Measures to Restrict Military Recruiter Access to Minors

EUREKA — Emergency closed-session City Council meetings last night in Eureka and later today in Arcata were called as local officials scrambled to respond to a notice of pending legal action in United States District Court to invalidate two ballot measures adopted by voters in each city on Nov. 4.
The Department [...]

ACLU Challenges Border Patrol’s Searches

SEATTLE — The note from U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan to the U.S. Border Patrol was short and to the point: Stop sending petty marijuana cases to his office.”
It is our long-standing policy to use limited federal resources to pursue the sophisticated criminal organizations who smuggle millions of dollars of drugs, guns [...]

Big Bear High School Sophomore, Mariah Jimenez, Represented by ACLU in 1st Amendment Dispute

Mariah Jimenez is standing up for her rights. She is proud of her actions.
The Big Bear High School sophomore class president and the ACLU joined forces after Jimenez was asked to change her shirt on Nov. 3. The shirt was printed with “Prop 8 Equals Hate.” On Nov. 4, California [...]

LAPD Deal Restricts Searches on Homeless

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police officers face significant restrictions on how they search and detain people under a settlement announced Thursday in a long-running case involving the rights of the homeless on skid row.
The agreement comes 18 months after a federal judge found that the Los Angeles Police Department was [...]

Court Rules Patriot Act’s “National Security Letter” Gag Provisions Unconstitutional

NEW YORK – A federal appeals court today upheld, in part, a decision striking down provisions of the Patriot Act that prevent national security letter (NSL) recipients from speaking out about the secret records demands. The decision comes in an American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil [...]

“No Child Left Behind “: “Trojan Horse” for Pentagon Recruiters

The Pentagon has used the No Child Left Behind Act as a Trojan Horse to propagandize vulnerable teenage students, invade their privacy, harass them, and get them to enlist.
Passage of the NCLB in 2001 has given Pentagon recruiters “unprecedented access to public high schools and to students’ personal [...]

Washington Post: 20,000 More U.S. Troops To Be Deployed For “Domestic Security”

The Washington Post today reports on plans to station 20,000 more U.S. troops inside America for purposes of “domestic security” from September 2011, an expansion of Northcom’s militarization of the country in preparation for potential civil unrest following a total economic collapse or a mass terror attack.

America’s Child Soldiers: US Military Recruiting Children

In violation of its pledge to the United Nations not to recruit children into the military, the Pentagon “regularly target(s) children under 17,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says.
The Pentagon “heavily recruits on high school campuses, targeting students for recruitment as early as possible and generally without limits on the age of students they [...]

Documents Released By the Government in Response to The ACLU’s Cell Phone FOIA Requests

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a lawsuit in July 2008 urging a federal court to order the Department of Justice (DOJ) to turn over records related to the government’s use of people’s cell phones as tracking devices. Click the links below to open pdfs of documents released to [...]