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Ninth Circuit allows suit challenging military surveillance

Army surveillance, like Army regimentation, is at war with the principles of the First Amendment. . . There can be no influence more paralyzing of that objective than Army surveillance. When an intelligence officer looks over every nonconformist’s shoulder in the library, or walks invisibly by his side in a picket line, or infiltrates his club, the America once extolled as the voice of liberty heard around the world no longer is cast in the image which Jefferson and Madison designed . . .

Police Torture and the Death Penalty in Illinois: Ten Years Later

G. Flint Taylor
The Nation
January 11, 2013

On January 11, 2003, the world watched as Illinois Governor George Ryan, days before leaving office, granted clemencies to all 163 men and women on death row in his state, reducing their sentences to life without parole. The previous day he had pardoned four death row prisoners—Madison Hobley, Aaron Patterson, Leroy Orange and Stanley Howard—all of whom had been tortured into giving false confessions by police officers working under notorious Chicago police commander Jon Burge.

Ahead of Inauguration, Report Explores Militarized Approach to Protest Policing

January 16, 2013

Next Monday, January 21, over 3,000 law enforcement officers and some 13,000 military troops will descend on the Washington Mall. The occasion is not a coup but the presidential inauguration, which will prompt the kind of militarized police mobilization that is a hallmark of National Special Security Events (NSSEs).

The NATO 5: Manufactured Crimes Used to Paint Political Dissidents as Terrorists

Kris Hermes
Huffington Post
January 25, 2013

A high-stakes game is being played in the United States today called, "To Catch a Terrorist." The public need not worry, though, as the risks are surprisingly low. In this game, the police claim to prevent nefarious terrorist plots, while in reality they're taking credit for foiling the same victimless crimes they themselves manufacture.

NLG Stands up for Palestine Solidarity Activists

Palestine Solidarity Legal Support logo

From college campuses to community centers across the country, students and other activists have faced orchestrated and aggressive attacks when speaking in support of Palestinian rights. Many have had their viewpoints shut down and have even been called anti-Semitic. Once vibrant forums for free speech are becoming restrictive places where individuals daring to speak out against injustice are unabashedly bullied.

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