Category Archives: National Security vs Police State

Exposé of ‘Scandalous’ US Spying Sparks Calls for Congress to Act

“These new details add up to a horrifying picture that proves the need for Congress to… enact comprehensive privacy protections for Americans before reauthorizing any spying powers,” said one campaigner.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-20-2023 by Common Dreams

A U.S. senator is sounding the alarm about a “long-running dragnet surveillance program” enabling law enforcement to :request often-warrantless searches of trillions of domestic phone records.” Photo: Ivan Radic/flickr/CC

Privacy advocates on Monday renewed demands for swift congressional action on government surveillance in response to new WIRED reporting on a federally funded program through which law enforcement obtains phone records from AT&T.

“This is a long-running dragnet surveillance program in which the White House pays AT&T to provide all federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies the ability to request often-warrantless searches of trillions of domestic phone records,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote Sunday in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, which WIRED obtained and published in full.

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Press Freedom Group Slams Tom Cotton for Boosting ‘Malicious Disinformation’ About Gaza Journalists

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The U.S. senator and top Israeli officials have “put journalists’ lives at risk” by seizing on a baseless report, the Freedom of the Press Foundation said.

By Jake Johnson. Published 11-11-2023 by Common Dreams

*Senator Tom Cotton. Photo: Michael Vadon/flickr/CC*

A U.S.-based press freedom group slammed Republican Sen. Tom Cotton and top Israeli officials on Friday for uncritically boosting a report that falsely suggested Gaza-based photojournalists who were on the scene during Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel last month were in some way complicit in the assault.

The report, published on November 8 by the Israeli media watchdog HonestReporting, stated that “judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping, and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically.”

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Report Exposes US Media for Framing Social Justice Protests as ‘Terrorism’

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“Equating activism with terrorism is undemocratic and serves to silence dissenters,” said Deepa Kumar, who analyzed how major U.S. media outlets have covered protesters of “Cop City” in Georgia.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-7-2023 by Common Dreams

*Stop Cop City solidarity protest in New York City March 2023. Photo: Felton Davis/flickr/CC*

A paper published Tuesday by a media studies scholar explores what she calls “one of the enduring costs of the ‘War on Terror,'” mainstream outlets parroting police talking points on terrorism and “legitimating state violence while stifling democratic protest.”

Rutgers University professor Deepa Kumar’s paper—released by the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs—focuses on how major U.S. media outlets have covered protesters of “Cop City,” Atlanta’s proposed Public Safety Training Center just outside of city limits in Georgia.

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US Corporate Media Outlets Allow IDF to Vet ‘All Materials’ From Embedded Reporters in Gaza

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“Israel is killing the journalists that expose their crimes, then bribing the journalists that cover for them,” said one critic.

By Brett Wilkins Published 11-6-2023 by Common Dreams

CNN’s Jeremy Diamond points toward Israeli military hardware in a field near Israel’s border with Gaza.
(Photo: CNN screen grab)

U.S. corporate media outlets have granted Israeli military commanders pre-publication review rights for “all materials and footage” recorded by their correspondents embedded with the Israel Defense Forces during the invasion of Gaza, a precondition condemned by press freedom advocates.

“Journalists embedded with the IDF in Gaza operate under the observation of Israeli commanders in the field, and are not permitted to move unaccompanied within the Gaza Strip,” Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN‘s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” explained in a segment on Sunday.

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Kidnapping Charges for Idaho Teen and Mother Seen as Test Case for ‘Abortion Trafficking’ Law

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“Prosecutors seeking to test out laws like this are likely to go after people who won’t garner much sympathy from the public,” wrote one author and abortion rights activist.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-31-2023 by Common Dreams

*An Idaho teenager and his mother are facing kidnapping and other charges for alleged crimes including kidnapping after they took a 15-year-old girl to Oregon for an abortion. Photo: Zach/flickr/CC*

An Idaho teenager and his mother who allegedly took a 15-year-old girl to neighboring Oregon for an abortion without parental knowledge or consent are facing felony kidnapping and other charges in a prosecution viewed as a test case for the state’s “abortion trafficking” statute.

In April, Idaho became the first state in the nation to pass a so-called “abortion trafficking” law, criminalizing the transportation of pregnant minors within the state for the purpose of obtaining an abortion or abortion medication. While 18-year-old Kadyn Swainston and his 42-year-old mother Rachael Swainston of Pocatello were not charged under the law—perhaps because it is being challenged in court—author and activist Jessica Valenti noted that “prosecutors used the exact language of the trafficking law in the kidnapping charge.”

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60% of US Oil and Gas Infrastructure Now Protected by Anti-Protest Laws: Greenpeace

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Fossil fuel companies have contributed millions of dollars to legislators who sponsored such laws, according to a new report.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 10-25-2023 by Common Dreams

*Photo: Joe Brusky/Overpass Light Brigade/flickr/cc*

In the seven years since the massive protests against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock, the fossil fuel industry and their allies in politics and law enforcement have been hard at work to prevent a repeat: Around 60% of oil and gas infrastructure in the U.S. is now shielded by anti-protest laws that make direct action much riskier for activists and frontline communities who want to protect their local and global home from dangerous pollution, a new Greenpeace report has found.

The report, Dollars vs. Democracy 2023: Inside the Fossil Fuel Industry’s Playbook to Suppress Protest and Dissent in the United States, reveals that fossil fuel companies made up nine of the 10 most determined lobbyists for anti-protest measures since 2017 and that 25 oil, gas, coal, and energy companies contributed more than $5 million to legislators who sponsored these laws.

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Israel Readying Emergency Regulations Allowing Arrest of Journalists for Factual Reporting

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One Israeli journalist said Israel’s far-right government—trying to stop Al Jazeera’s Gaza broadcasts—is “acting more like Putin’s” regime.

By Brett Wilkins Published 10-16-2023 by Common Dreams

*Shlomo Karhi, a member of the right-wing Likud party who is currently Israel’s communications minister, with Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Shlomo Karhi/Facebook*

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi confirmed Sunday that he is drafting regulations that will empower him to order police to arrest journalists for factual reporting and target anyone he believes has damaged national morale during Israel’s ongoing war against Gaza.

Haaretz reports that Karhi—a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party—is preparing draft emergency regulations titled “Limiting Aid to the Enemy through Communication” which would allow him to direct police to arrest any civilian, remove them from their home, and seize their property if he believes they have disseminated information that might harm national morale or be used as “enemy propaganda.”

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Narges Mohammadi: Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Champion of Women’s Rights Jailed in Iran

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Mohammadi, said the prize committee, “fights for women against systematic discrimination and oppression.”

By Jon Queally. Published 9-6-2023 by Common Dreams

*Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi*. Image: The Nobel Prize/X

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee on Friday awarded its prestigious prize this year to Narges Mohammadi, the human rights defender currently imprisoned in her home country of Iran.

Mohammadi deserved the recognition for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” said Nobel Peace Prize Committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen during the announcement ceremony in Oslo.

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Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner Ramzi bin al-Shibh Unfit for 9/11 Trial, Says Military Judge

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“This decision by the military judge today does mark the first time that the United States has formally acknowledged the CIA torture program produced profound and prolonged psychological harm,” said al-Shibh’s lawyer.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 9-22-2023 by Common Dreams

Ramzi bin al-Shibh holds a document while posing for this 2010 photo.
(Photo: International Committee of the Red Cross)

A U.S. military judge on Thursday found Guantánamo Bay prisoner Ramzi bin al-Shibh—who stands accused of being a key 9/11 organizer—unfit to stand trial because he suffers from mental illness his attorney says was caused by CIA torture years ago.

Air Force Col. Matthew McCall severed al-Shibh, a 51-year-old Yemeni, from the conspiracy case involving four other defendants who allegedly organized the cell of militants in Hamburg, Germany who hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and flew it into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan on September 11, 2001. Al-Shibh had been charged as an accomplice in the case.

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Actions Across US Urge Biden to End ‘Cruel’ Immigration Detention and Deportations

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“Our tax dollars need to be used to strengthen our families and communities and uphold our human rights, not for the militarization of our beloved borderlands,” said one activist.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 9-15-2023 by Common Dreams

Migrant rights advocates rally outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on September 15, 2023. Photo: SBCC/Twitter

A coalition of over 80 advocacy groups on Friday co-sponsored demonstrations in eight U.S. states and Washington, D.C. as part of a national day of action demanding the Biden administration close all federal immigration detention centers, release all migrants in custody, and end deportations.

Throughout his campaign, President Joe Biden “pledged to create an immigration system that is just and humane, including ending for-profit immigration detention,” the coalition—which is organizing under the Defund Hate and Communities Not Cages banners—said in a statement.

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Category Archives: National Security vs Police State