Group items tagged

Two new Obama proposals would dramatically expand the government's already vast surveillance powers

When many cynics thought it impossible, the President reaches an all-new low in his abysmal civil liberties record

The Obama/Bush weapon for shielding presidential lawbreaking from judicial review becomes stronger

A plan to put two Americans on trial for espionage sparks non-ironic outrage

The justifications for Obama's hit list reveal what is missing most from American political thought

A partial defense of Obama's assassination program highlights the corrupted rationale which justifies it

Those claiming that terrorists don't belong in court -- because some might win -- reject basic American justice

The deceit and propaganda which justify both wars are identical, as are the harms they cause

Listen to an interview with 18-year-old American Gulet Mohamed from his detention in Kuwait

Think tank "scholars" are lavishly funded to defend elite prerogatives

On CNN last night, I debated anchor Jessica Yellin and Bush official Fran Townsend and their views were identical

Demands that it be easier to involuntarily commit the mentally ill are knee-jerk and irrational

Obama has won the War on Terror debate -- for the American Right.  And they're quite appreciative

A proposal to help Bank of America destroy the group and its advocates reveal a deeply lawless mindset

Amnesty denounces the conditions of Bradley Manning's detention, while new documents shed light on detainee deaths

In March, 2002, American citizen Jose Padilla was arrested in Chicago and publicly accused by then-Attorney-General John Ashcroft of being "The Dirty Bomber."  Shortly thereafter, he was transferred to a military brig in South Carolina, where he was held for almost two years completely incommunicado (charged with no crime and denied all access to the outside world, including even a lawyer) and was brutally tortured, both physically and psychologically.  All of this -- including the torture -- was carried out pursuant to orders from President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld and other high-ranking officials.  Just as the Supreme Court was about to hear Padilla's plea to be charged or released -- and thus finally decide if the President has the power to imprison American citizens on U.S. soil with no charges of any kind -- the Government indicted him in a federal court on charges far less serious than Ashcroft had touted years earlier, causing the Supreme Court to dismiss Padilla's arguments as "moot"; Padilla was then convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison.