Via RTAmerica: “On Wednesday, Army Private First Class Bradley Manning was in Fort Meade, MD where his pre-trial hearings continued. Manning’s court-martial was originally scheduled to begin in March, but now justice for PFC Manning will have to wait longer. A military judge has pushed back the start date to
Continue readingTag: civil liberties
The Canadian Progressive: FBI “plot to identify and assassinate Occupy leaders”?
The FBI hatched a “plot to identify and assassinate Occupy leaders”? It’d seem so, according to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and civil liberties activists. Information obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund via a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that the FBI: a) “collaborated with other federal agencies,
Continue readingwmtc: greenwald, ellsberg, and others launch freedom of press foundation to fight government censorship and secrecy
An important and exciting column by Glenn Greenwald. See original for more links. New press freedom group is launched to block US government attacks Nothing is more vital than enabling true transparency and adversarial journalism, and preventing further assaults on them Several weeks ago, I wrote about the steps taken
Continue readingwmtc: ten years too many: stop secret trials in canada
Today, International Human Rights Day, marks ten years since Mohamed Harkat was arrested under a so-called Security Certificate. Security Certificates allow for arrests, prosecutions, and imprisonments outside the rule of law. Those people caught in the Security Certificate trap can be detained for indefinite periods of time, including years in
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Go Back To Sleep America, At Your Own Peril
I never reprint other people’s writings, no matter how good – but I will make an exception for this. This article is a true must-read. Please, take the time to read it. Then act. Good morning America. It’s time for a new day. Kudos and warm thanks to Jill Dalton
Continue readingwmtc: first they came for pride: city of toronto vs free speech
Last week, I blogged about the ongoing pattern of harassment and discrimination against people who express solidarity with the Palestinian people. This isn’t in the same universe as the oppression endured by Palestine every day; nonetheless, it’s a violation of our own civil liberties and rights, and raises a huge
Continue readingwmtc: illegal detention abroad, censorship and media propaganda at home: solidarity with palestine under attack
As you may have heard, the ship The Estelle, sailing in international waters, was illegally boarded by the Israeli navy, and its occupants taken into custody. Among those being held are Jim Manley, a Canadian, and a former New Democrat MP. The Estelle is part of the Freedom Flotilla movement,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: We’ll All Be Muslims Soon Enough – Chris Hedges
We’re discrete about it, sometimes, but we treat Muslims amongst us differently. We’re suspicious of the way they dress, their religion, their culture and, well, just what they’re really up to. And we’ve worked out ways to keep tabs on them in the hope of being able to spot acts
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Democratic Party platform and the dismal record on civil liberties
The Republican Tampa outing was like an outsized town hall meeting compared to the Democrats’ mega-convention in Charlotte. The DNC audience was like a sea with no horizon… a microcosm of America. Speech after barn burner speech electrified the audience with high minded talk of values, calls to action and
Continue readingwmtc: why is "entitled" a dirty word? some thoughts on what we are all entitled to.
When did “entitled” become a dirty word? Why do we hear “entitled” being used as catch-all slur, a derogatory description to be thrown at progressive people working for change? And why should we permit this word to retain such a heavily negative connotation? Here are some people I have seen
Continue readingwmtc: dispatches from post-racial america: stop-and-frisk on a national level
Remember when Barack Obama was elected, how international media declared that racism in the US had been vanquished? How academics and pundits started using the term “post-racial” to describe US culture? Was that before or after the tea-partiers paraded around with pictures of monkeys and openly called for assassination? Before
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: The day Canada’s white supremacists saluted Stephen Harper
So far, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s ideology-inspired of project of social and political engineering expresses itself most eloquently as the Conservatives’ egregious assault on civil liberties, the metamorphosis of Canada into a petro-state, and militarization of both Canadian society and foreign policy. We’re yet to acknowledge how this project oppresses
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Harper Determined to Erase Pierre Trudeau From Public Consciousness
No doubt, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are determined to create a Canadian nationalism that is both socially conservative and loyal to the British Empire. Their key strategy is to radically revise history and suppress certain moments that do not identify with past Conservative leaders. This penchant for naked revisionism
Continue readingwmtc: rtod: extremism normalized
Revolutionary thought of the day: Remember when, in the wake of the 9/11 attack, the Patriot Act was controversial, held up as the symbolic face of Bush/Cheney radicalism and widely lamented as a threat to core American liberties and restraints on federal surveillance and detention powers? Yet now, the Patriot
Continue readingwmtc: olympics. not.
The 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics kick off today, with Opening Ceremonies that are supposed to be completely over-the-top. With a £27 million price tag ($42.5 million Canadian) for those three hours alone, they ought to be. We’re told that one billion people worldwide will watch the Opening Ceremonies. I
Continue readingwmtc: coming soon to a canadian town near you: the fbi
I seldom play the scary “US is taking over Canada” card, but if the Harper government was any deeper into Washington, you’d need a colonoscopy to find them. I blogged about this here, and I’m glad to see the CBC recognize the issue. This is scary, dangerous, and truly disgusting. When
Continue readingwmtc: homophobic much? queer man challenges blood donation law, is arrested
Someone check the calendar. What century is this again? Are queer men still denied the right and responsibility of blood donation in 2012? Do we think a response on a questionnaire is adequate protection against the HIV virus entering the blood supply? Of course not. All the damn blood has
Continue readingwmtc: why is someone from the house of commons and office of privy council reading my blog for hours?
Progressive bloggers, check your stats. The Statcounter for wmtc shows “multiple visits spread out over several days” from an IP address in the House of Commons, and a separate visit from the Office of the Privy Council. This visitor or visitors spent time at several of my “greatest hits” posts,
Continue readingwmtc: fbi to operate within canada, cbsa using us-style tactics: the deep integration we should fear and protest
The CBSA harassing political journalists trying to enter Canada: bad. The FBI free to operate within Canadian borders: worse. Years ago when people stoked fears of co-called “deep integration” between Canada and the United States, conversations tended to focus on tangible signs like a North American currency. I admit I
Continue readingwmtc: casseroles: they’re not just for montreal anymore
Last night in Toronto: And everywhere: And onward:
Continue reading