by Andy Worthington  

Yesterday, I was rung by a journalist from Press TV, asking me to discuss my recent article, US Judge Rules Against Military Detention of US Terror Suspects – But What About the Foreigners in Guantánamo?

My three and a half minute commentary is available here, and in it I reiterated that, while I fully understand the outrage in the United States about the provisions demanding the mandatory military of alleged terror suspects — including US citizens — that were included by dangerously deluded or cynical lawmakers in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), what has been largely missing from the conversation is a recognition that this assault on the rights of American not to be arbitrarily imprisoned by their own government would not have been possible without the existence of Guantánamo.

by Glen Ford 

The Obama administration is methodically erecting the legal structures of a police state. The president late last year smoothed the way for bipartisan passage through Congress of a preventive detention bill that is so vaguely worded, a federal judge in New York last week ruled that it is likely to be successfully challenged on Constitutional grounds.

And in Richmond, Virginia, a three-judge appeals court heard Justice Department lawyers argue that reporters can be compelled to reveal the identities of whistleblowers in so-called national security cases.

From Revolution 

For many months leading up to the May 20-21 NATO Summit, Chicago news has been filled with stories about new laws passed, new police equipment obtained, and military training exercises conducted.

These NATO Summit "security" measures are part of a many-sided militarization of society. This includes creating a security state atmosphere which is meant to be threatening to potential protesters and the broader public while at the same time it covers over that this is a summit of war criminals. 

by Kevin Gosztola

Ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Chicago, hundreds gathered for a People’s Summit hosted by Occupy Chicago. Various speakers discussed how NATO perpetuates policies of war abroad. A number of speakers also described the war at home that includes austerity measures and a culture of fear that violates the civil liberties or rights of certain groups of people, like Muslims.

Abdul Malik Mujahid, founder of the Muslim Peace Coalition, spoke about the targeting of Muslims in America. He notes 400,000 Muslims live in Chicago, but very few Muslims will be out protesting NATO this weekend. That is because there is a “fear regime” that discourages Muslims from participating. This regime includes monitoring and spying by the FBI, which has grown into a domestic intelligence agency that has interviewed over 700,000 Muslims since the September 11th attacks.

by Stephen Lendman 

FBI Director Robert Mueller wants Congress to enact greater surveillance powers following the false flag underwear bomb plot blamed on Al Qaeda. In May 9 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, he said: "We've seen over the last several days, particularly with regard to the IED that was recently recovered, that terrorism is and should be and continues to be our No. 1 priority and the No. 1 priority of a number of our intelligence agencies."

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance provisions expire at year end. National Intelligence Director James Clapper and Attorney General Eric Holder call renewing them the intelligence community's top legislative priority.

So does Mueller. He also wants more.

from Revolution

The Illinois Appellate Court in February continued and intensified the unjust persecution of Gregory Koger by upholding his conviction for three misdemeanors and upholding the outrageous 300-day sentence for documenting with an iPhone camera the attempts to suppress the speech of Sunsara Taylor.

Koger was arrested in November 2009 at the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago (EHSC) when he was videotaping a short statement by Revolution writer Sunsara Taylor. For that "crime," the police grabbed, beat and maced him.

by Glenn Greenwald 

by Li Onesto

20 Freedom Fighters Expose Crimes of Stop and Frisk

24-7-365: Police Precincts, USA—Black and Latino people, especially young males, shackled, pulled out of paddy wagons and from the back seats of police cars, marched into waiting cells and interrogation rooms, sometimes bloodied; they’re the “unlucky ones” who didn’t get let go after being stopped and frisked by the police. There’s a good chance they’ll end up as one of the 2.4 million people incarcerated in this country that brags about being the “land of the free.”

* * * * *

On May 4—the fifth day of a (non-jury) trial of 20 people charged with two counts of disorderly conduct, stemming from an October 21, 2011 protest at the 28th Precinct in Harlem against the NYPD policy of stop-and-frisk—Judge Robert Mandelbaum found all defendants guilty. Three were found guilty of only one count; all were sentenced to time served and $120 fine; one defendant was also given community service.

From the Stop Mass Incarceration Network

Following Judge Robert Mandelbaum's ruling yesterday that all twenty were guilty of disorderly conduct, defendants in the "stop and frisk" trial conveyed to the court that regardless of the decision, they knew that what they did was right.

At trial's end, the diverse group, which included ministers, teachers and professors, and community activists of various ethnic and social backgrounds held an impromptu press conference on the courthouse steps.  The group was spirited and united in their commitment to continue the struggle, blending frank discussion with humor--and even song--in a strong display of friendship and solidarity.  A supporter in the crowd held up an open copy of the U.S. Constitution throughout.

by Matthis Chiroux

Two non-violent student activists were arrested yesterday and a dozen others brutalized by campus police at Brooklyn College when they peacefully congregated in a hallway outside the president's office. The students were participating in a national day of action to defend education endorsed by the likes of Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein and were attempting to deliver a petition to the president calling for increased aid and services for students when police moved in to choke, beat and arrest members of the crowd.

by Margaret Kimberley

The FBI and the Justice Department are still up to their old tricks. Not only do they continue to entrap Muslims in terror cases that wouldn’t exist without FBI involvement, but now they silence anyone who complains, charging them with trumped up offenses and insuring that the assault on law continues.

Khalifa al-Kalili is an American Muslim from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning in January of this year he was stalked by a man calling himself Muhammad but who has now been identified as Shahed Hussain. Hussain was on the verge of being convicted of a felony when he became an FBI informant in 2002. It was Hussain who entrapped four African American men from Newburgh, New York, into a phony plot to bomb synagogues in the Bronx.