07 Aug 2015

Obama Administration Shamefully Attempts to Scuttle Court Order Against Immigrant Family Detention

On Thursday, President Barack Obama’s administration requested that a federal court reverse a July 24 order which prohibited the detention of mothers and children who fled violence in countries in Central America. This represents a slimy attempt to push Judge Dolly M. Gee into scuttling an order, which sought to hold the Obama administration accountable for corruption and misconduct that has been ongoing as a result of immigration policies. But the administration does not stop there.

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07 Aug 2015

Gorbachev Calls For U.S. Demilitarization On 70th Anniversary Of Hiroshima Bombing

Former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, who pushed for nuclear disarmament in meetings with President Ronald Reagan, told Der Spiegel that the US as an “insurmountable obstacle on the road to a nuclear-free world,” and suggested, “That’s why we have to put demilitarization back on the agenda of international politics.”

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07 Aug 2015

U of I Chancellor Resigns As Judge Rules In Favor Of Professor Fired Over Gaza Tweets

The chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), who was involved in firing Professor Steven Salaita over tweets he sent about Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza, has announced her resignation yesterday. The announcement comes as a federal judge refused to dismiss Salaita’s lawsuit against the university for violating his free speech.

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06 Aug 2015

Let Us Never Ask Where the Protest Music Has Gone Ever Again

There’s a popular idea, often repeated in the media, that all the protest music is gone. Kevin Gosztola’s new Protest Music Project will highlight the best protest music of the 2010s, and provide new artists a forum to highlight their best work. Most of all, it will help end the myth that protest music died with the 1960s.

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06 Aug 2015

Journalist, Who Unmasked ECHELON, On 40 Years Exposing The Global Surveillance State

Kevin Gosztola interviews Duncan Campbell, recently published in The Intercept, about his 4 decades as a journalist dedicated to uncovering the surveillance state and the international ECHELON program. Campbell says less has changed for today’s journalists than you might think.

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05 Aug 2015

ZeroFOX Executives Defend Labeling Black Lives Matter Activists As Threats

Executives of the “social media risk management” firm ZeroFOX have defended an assessment the company produced for Baltimore, which labeled Black Lives Matter activists as “threat actors.” After Baltimore police killed Freddie Gray, an uprising, which included rioting, occurred. ZeroFOX offered pro bono assistance to city officials and produced a “confidential” report identifying supposed threats to the city. It recommended steps city officials could take to protect security, including keeping a close eye on protest leaders.

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04 Aug 2015

Kentucky Deputy Sheriff Sued For Handcuffing Disabled Children, Abusing Girl With ‘Pain Compliance’

A lawsuit filed yesterday in Kentucky challenges the handcuffing of schoolchildren, especially those with disabilities, as a way of dealing with behavioral problems. According to the ACLU suit, two children with Attention Deficit Disorder and other disabilities, were “unlawfully restrained and handcuffed at school with excessive force and without necessity.”

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03 Aug 2015

Federal Judge Strikes Down Idaho ‘Ag-Gag Law,’ Defends Undercover Investigations Of Food Industry

An Idaho law enacted to permit the state to jail anyone, who conducts undercover investigations and secretly records animal abuse, was rejected as unconstitutional by a federal judge. The decision marked the first time a federal court had struck down a state’s “ag-gag law.”

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03 Aug 2015

NYPD Chief Bill Bratton: ‘Minority Report’ Is Modern Fact, Not Fiction

In Philip K. Dick’s “Minority Report,” the authoritarian system in place to predict crime and catch individuals before they commit crimes is dystopian fantasy. In the mind of New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton, this story is part of today’s reality, one the NYPD is fueling through experiments with predictive policing.

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02 Aug 2015

Introducing Shadowproof

Over the past decade at Firedoglake, we have had the privilege of being on the front lines of many critical reporting and advocacy projects. FDL’s work brought attention to and supported marijuana legalization, the Occupy movement, Keystone XL pipeline protests, Hurricane Sandy relief, Chelsea Manning, WikiLeaks, and John Kiriakou—just to

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