DhafirTrial

The Dangerous Cult of the Guardian

Jonathan Cook Counterpunch

There could be no better proof of the revolution — care of the internet — occurring in the accessibility of information and informed commentary than the reaction of our mainstream, corporate media. (more…)

By GARY FIELDS And JOHN R. EMSHWILLER Wall Street Journal

For centuries, a bedrock principle of criminal law has held that people must know they are doing something wrong before they can be found guilty. The concept is known as mens rea, Latin for a “guilty mind.”

This legal protection is now being eroded as the U.S. federal criminal code dramatically swells. In recent decades, Congress has repeatedly crafted laws that weaken or disregard the notion of criminal intent. Today not only are there thousands more criminal laws than before, but it is easier to fall afoul of them.(more…)

Peter Van Buren TomDispatch

On the same day that more than 250,000 unredacted State Department cables hemorrhaged out onto the Internet, I was interrogated for the first time in my 23-year State Department career by State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security(DS) and told I was under investigation for allegedly disclosing classified information. (more…)

The United States consolidated its domination of a shrinking global arms market in 2010, signing 21.3 billion dollars in new weapons orders with foreign countries, according to the latest edition of an annual report on conventional weapons transfers by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). (more…)

Glenn Greenwald Salon

The last decade has spawned a massive expansion of the domestic Surveillance State.  Worse, the U.S. Government has vested itself with the virtually unchallenged ability to operate this surveillance regime in full secrecy and even beyond the reach of judicial review, which is another way of saying: above and beyond the rule of law. (more…)

Michael Ratner and Margaret Ratner Kunstler

These assaults upon and criminalization of dissent–from the surveillance of activists to the federalization of local law enforcement to the labeling of activists as “terrorists”–dismantle piece by piece a core right considered essential to meaningful democracy. (more…)

Their names suggest selfless dedication to democracy. Fair Districts Mass. Protect Your Vote. The Center for a Better New Jersey. And their stated goals are unarguable: In the partisan fight to redraw congressional districts, states should stick to the principle of one person, one vote.  (more…)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. officials correctly designated an Islamic charity, Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation (AHIF) Oregon, as supporting terrorism but improperly seized its assets, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday. (more…)