Boston is also one of three cities, selected in February, for the launch of a pilot program with the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the National Counterterrorism Center to “counter violent extremism.” But local advocates for civil rights worry the program is really infringing on Muslims’ rights.

“Forgetting about the thug sheriff for a moment — there is a real issue here when children with disabilities in school become violent. My little cousin was victimized constantly by a little girl with disabilities who spat at her and punched her in the face in public …”

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.”

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.”

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.

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