“The state of Black America is in crisis—and we see justice challenged at every turn.” Its findings, said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, “are a clarion call that a more comprehensive, inclusive and on-the-ground recovery is necessary to ensure a healthy future for our nation and that we cannot expect to successfully move forward when …
Police killed more than twice as many people as reported by US government
An average of 545 people killed by local and state law enforcement officers in the US went uncounted in the country’s most authoritative crime statistics every year for almost a decade, according to a report released on Tuesday. The first-ever attempt by US record-keepers to estimate the number of uncounted “law enforcement homicides” exposed previous official tallies as capturing less …
THE ORWELLIAN RE-BRANDING OF “MASS SURVEILLANCE” AS MERELY “BULK COLLECTION”
Just as the Bush administration and the U.S. media re-labelled “torture” with the Orwellian euphemism “enhanced interrogation techniques” to make it more palatable, the governments and media of the Five Eyes surveillance alliance are now attempting to re-brand “mass surveillance” as “bulk collection” in order to make it less menacing (and less illegal). In the past several weeks, this is the clearly …
Former Pinochet Officer, Investigated for Torture and Murder, Taught at Pentagon
‘His hiring undermines our moral authority on both human rights and in the war on terror,’ says former intelligence officer Nadia Prupis A former member of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s brutal regime taught at the Pentagon’s top university for 13 years, despite repeated complaints from his colleagues about his past as a torturer and murderer of political dissidents in the …
‘Patriot Act 2.0’? Senate Cybersecurity Bill Seen as Trojan Horse for More Spying
The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee approved a cybersecurity bill during a secret session on Thursday, marking the next step in a process that critics warn will nefariously expand the government’s already substantial surveillance powers. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which passed by 14-1 vote, would ostensibly protect against large-scale data thefts of private consumer information, exemplified by recent hacks …
What Are They Hiding? UN Official Slams US for Limiting Access to Prisons
A United Nations investigator has accused the U.S. of blocking access to prisons—including state and federal facilities where an estimated 80,000 people are in solitary confinement and the military prison at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba—leading civil liberties experts to wonder, “Is the United States hiding something?” Juan Méndez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday that for …
The paramilitary occupation of America
It is necessary to call things by their right names. The obscene regularity of police murders in the United States has reached the point where it is appropriate to speak of the police as an occupying army, whose daily violence and brutality can best be described as a war against the country’s poor and working people. Practically every day brings …
Ten reasons to vote against the use of military force
Dear Colleague, I was honored to serve in Congress for 16 years. During that time I provided information and helped to create debates over U.S. policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and other nations, defending the Article I, Section 8 responsibilities of Congress on matters of war and peace. Those of you who know me are aware that I avoid partisanship. …
Cruel and Inhuman: UN Slams US as Only Nation that Sentences Children to Die In Prison
A United Nations human rights expert strongly condemned the U.S. on Tuesday for being the “only State in the world that still sentences children to life imprisonment without the opportunity for parole,” thereby imposing cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. Juan Méndez, the Special Rapporteur on torture, made the comments in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva—building from his …
Wikimedia vs. NSA: Major Lawsuit Challenges Government Surveillance of US Citizens
The ACLU has filed a lawsuit, on behalf of Wikipedia and other organizations, challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s mass interception and searching of Americans’ international communications. (Image: Available logos/with overlay) Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia and one of the most highly-trafficked websites in the world, announcedTuesday that it—alongside a host of civil liberty advocates, news outlets, and privacy rights organizations—has filed …








