This is the first installment of the Civil Liberties Roundup I introduced before the New Year. It will be a running aggregation of news stories and other important items related to the outline of topics I described. As I mentioned in that post, I hope this can be collaborative with HA readers, so please feel free to email me with any items you feel I’ve left out. Here’s the roundup:
Americans continue to demand more accountability from the Obama Administration over the torture regime implemented by the U.S. government during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Vindu Goel and Andrew E. Kramer write in the Washington Post about web freedom across the globe.
In an interview with Democracy Now, Scott Horton discusses the war on terror and CIA torture. More is being discovered about the way we’ve been waging war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Matt Taibbi talks about the disparity in who goes to jail in the United States.
Radley Balko has his list of civil liberties ‘predictions’ for 2105.
John Knefel writes in VICE about a Surveillance Industry conference.
Religious fundamentalists in the U.S. Congress have introduced a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks.
Oklahoma lawmakers are considering a ban on hoodies clothing that can conceal identity in public.
Illinois is holding some criminal offenders in jail even after they’ve been released or paroled because they can’t afford the imposed fees for “adequate” post-incarceration residency.
The police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland is even worse than you thought.
A University of Pennsylvania student was visited by police in the Homeland Security Bureau over attempts to organize protests in the city of Philadelphia.
In Florida, a dishonest informant and incompetent police actions led to a tragic drug war raid that ended with a dead man and $5 worth of seized pot.
El Salvador continues to arrest women who have miscarriages under their draconian abortion laws.
The British Home Office is mandating that school officials report on toddlers who show signs of being at risk of becoming terrorists.
In Russia, opposition leader and Putin critic Alexei Navalny was given a suspended sentence for embezzlement, while his brother was jailed. Also in Russia, transgendered people are being barred from getting driver’s licenses.
Prosecutors looking into corruption within the government of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan were removed by the top judicial body in the country.
In Azerbaijan, journalist and government critic Khadija Ismayilova was arrested in December and charged with the crime of trying to drive someone to suicide. Later in December, a U.S.-backed radio station was shut down as well.
The Syrian government is going to great lengths to prevent military desertions in its ongoing war against many of its own citizens.
The Islamic State in regions formerly controlled by Iraq and Syria put out a guide for how female slaves should be treated. Thousands of Yezidi girls and women are still missing in the region.
In Saudi Arabia, 12 Pakistanis were executed for drug smuggling from October to December alone. Also, a woman was arrested after attempting to sneak into a soccer stadium dressed as a man. And a liberal activist is set to be publicly flogged for blasphemy.
The kingdom of Bahrain arrested the head of the main opposition group for unspecified reasons.
In Israel, the only female Arab lawmaker is being forced to stand trial for incitement to violence. Meanwhile, numerous high-ranking members of the government continue to push for the removal of Israel’s African immigrant population.
Several African nations, including Cameroon and Kenya, are pushing through strict, vague anti-terror laws that are ripe for abuse.
Egypt continues to arrest large numbers of journalists. Al-Jazeera English’s former Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fadel Fahmy writes about his ongoing persecution here. An Egyptian court also banned an annual Jewish festival that had been a regular occurrence since 1979.
Also in Egypt, a writer faces trial for insulting Islam during an October religious holiday celebration.
The Sudanese government continues to get away with a genocide in Darfur.
In Gambia, new anti-homosexuality legislation passed in October is creating a witch hunt where homosexuals are being arrested, tortured, and told to leave the country.
The Chinese government announced that they are reducing the number of offenses that can result in a death penalty.
In Indonesia, drug trafficking is a crime still punished with death by firing squad.
In the Philippines, there’s a large backlog in the criminal justice system with many people being jailed for long periods of time before receiving a trial.
Speaking of civil liberties, here’s a guy who’s right up Puddyfuckwad’s putrid alley. L. Brooks Patterson is a Republican politician and county executive of Oakland County, Michigan. This is no small deal; this county is part of the Detroit metro area and has as much population is Pierce, Thurston, and Kitsap counties combined — well over a million people. As a young lawyer, Patterson made his chops by fighting against desegregation and school busing. But his main claim to fame is his vision for Detroit’s black residents:
“I said what we’re gonna do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it and then throw in the blankets and the corn.”
This is just the kind of retrograde thinking that appeals to our own resident troll, Puddyfuckwad, and all others on the political right who yearn for the good ol’ days of the 1800s, when our nation’s foremost thinkers rounded up the surviving Native Americans, herded them onto reservations, and threw in some blankets and corn.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2.....servation/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I’d have a hard time being a Republican and hanging out with people like L. Brooks Patterson. I couldn’t do it even if the Koch brothers offered to pay me. I have a conscience.
I think we still have some unfinished civil rights work to do here in our own country.
Typical libtard overreaction… http://pjmedia.com/blog/does-o.....r-hoodies/ Here is the proposed law…
So that white pointy hat so many DUMMOCRETINS have in their closets isn’t banned except when you choose to commit a crime. So that batman mask would be illegally worn if you are committing a crime. Speaking to real hoodie bans
It’s A-OK to enact something as a HOODIE ban in libtard led NYC but flyover Oklahoma and enact a HOOD ban… gotta overreact to that!
Typical libtard news standard… overreact to things dreamed about but not present in legislation!
Sux to be Lee swallowing more libtard swill!
Sure is amazing how HA’s IDIOT Wabbit @1 reacts to something a conservative says butt when a libtard says something dumb it’s skipped right over by the IDIOT Wabbit. Puddy been saying Detroit blacks and their CIVIL LIBERTIES have been trapped living in that reservation for years. Ask the buttspigot with the crazed databaze for the PuddyLinks. Now we see how Detroit under DUMMOCRETIN rule since the 60s has become a cespool in Michigan. http://gawker.com/detroit-repo.....-703785086 Wait for an hour for the police to arrive. Yes that’s protecting your CIVIL LIBERTIES! Anyone remember ex-mayor and Kwame Kilpatrick… jail member? He protected his CIVIL LIBERTIES by graft and corruption. Nuthin ever was said by HA’s IDIOT Wabbit over that! How about this sad story IDIOT Wabbit? http://archive.freep.com/artic.....h-stabbing 90 minutes… She dead! What about her CIVIL LIBERTIES?
Sad realities of DUMMOCRETIN led Detroit IDIOT Wabbit! Ask HA’s buttspigot (coming up on its 10 year anniversary of polluting threads everywhere) for a review of Puddy’s Detroit commentary on CIVIL LIBERTIES!
Sheeeeeesh IDIOT Wabbit, you are a real piece of “work”!
@3
Thanks, original post is updated to clarify.
You are welcome Lee!
In Florida, a dishonest informant and incompetent police actions led to a tragic drug war raid that ended with a dead man and $5 worth of seized pot. That should say Tampa Bay… one of the scummiest DUMMOCRETIN led police departments in all of America. http://www.newstalkflorida.com.....bad-light/
@6
You do realize that you don’t have any good reason to write all your comments in the tone of a retarded child, right?
Lee,
That’s your perception as wrong as it is! I don’t write all of them as perceived by you, just the whack-out thread leads or subsequent numerical NorthWest Marching Moonbat Thought Entries where the facts are so wrong it’s downright laughable! The Oklahoma “hoodie” one above comes to mind. You bought it hook line and sinker from The Kooks, PMSNBC and TPM for example! Unfortunately this is another example of the left wrong materials put forth by your side! This hoodie argument was disproven Monday yet your side continued to run with it! Witness the Daily Kooks article JUST TWO DAYS AGO!
Utter BULLSHITTIUM from a site quoted from every day in HA DUMMOCRETINS! What about white men wearing hoodies? They will get a pass per Daily Kooks! They are as Kookie as ever!
See ya. Back to studying. Certification exam time again!
You really should do some research on Haneen Zoabi, her main goal is to do what she can to destroy Israel from within. Incitement is the least she should be charged with.
@4 “Sure is amazing how HA’s IDIOT Wabbit @1 reacts to something a conservative says butt when a libtard says something dumb it’s skipped right over by the IDIOT Wabbit.”
I’m a Democratic party hack and liberal propagandist. If you want me to work for your side, then pay me. I won’t do it free. You wouldn’t work for someone else without getting paid for your time and effort, so why do you expect me to, dumbass?
@10
I’m well aware of Zoabi. I stand up for free speech even when it’s speech I don’t agree with or am even offended by.
@9
Write like a normal person or I will start deleting your comments. The normal “I’m retarded, please forgive me” routine isn’t going to fly in these comment threads permanently.
@13. Please do. That would make the site much better.
@14
I intend to be a little stricter about assholery in the comments in these, but still want to be open to people contributing and providing corrections (which he did initially). Choice is his, if he comments like a sane adult, great. If he comments like a retarded child, the comments will be removed.