DhafirTrial

By Fran Quigley Commondreams

In just ten months, the United States managed to transform an 82 year-old Catholic nun and two pacifists from non-violent anti-nuclear peace protestors accused of misdemeanor trespassing into federal felons convicted of violent crimes of terrorism. (more…)

Wired.com

We all know surveillance is big in Putin’s Russia. What you may not know is that Russia’s surveillance tech is being used all over — even here in the U.S. (more…)

See also Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform

Last night I was on Bill Maher’s HBO show “Real Time”. There have always been numerous views of Maher’s with which I agree. But he has become one of the most vocal and extreme advocates of the view that – while religion generally should be criticized - Islam is a uniquelythreatening and destructive force and that Muslims are uniquely oppressive and violent, and that mentality has infected many of his policy views (more…)

Chris Hedges  Truthdig

A tiny tip of the vast subterranean network of governmental and intelligence agencies from around the world dedicated to destroying WikiLeaks and arresting its founder, Julian Assange, appears outside the red-brick building on Hans Crescent Street that houses the Ecuadorean Embassy. Assange, the world’s best-known political refugee, has been in the embassy since he was offered sanctuary there last June. (more…)

Melvin Haywood, pictured above, spent eight years in solitary confinement at Tamms supermax until the Prisoner Review Board granted him parole from prison.  (more…)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., proposed her first piece of stand-alone legislation Wednesday, the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act. The bill is aimed at giving students who take out federally subsidized loans the same interest rate the big banks get when they borrow from the government. (more…)

Glenn Greenwald Guardian U.K.

The real capabilities and behavior of the US surveillance state are almost entirely unknown to the American public because, like most things of significance done by the US government, it operates behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy. (more…)

As the Gallup poll shows, of all religious groups surveyed–including nonbelievers–Muslims are the least likely to say it’s OK to kill civilians (more…)