Month

Archives: Bill of Rights

Priebus: Trump Could Amend Constitution to Abolish 1st Amendment

TeleSur | - - A constitutional amendment to stem negative coverage of any administration would require a supermajority in both houses of Congress. U.S. President Donald Trumps's chief of staff, Reince Priebus,…

Trump Straining to bring back Torture, Indefinite Detention?

By Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - When George W. Bush and Dick Cheney launched their forever wars -- under the banner of a “Global War on Terror” -- they…

As Trump Breaks it, Top Ten Things we need to do to Fix America

By William R. Polk | (Informed Comment) | - - Let me suggest what seem to me to be the major categories of challenges men who care about the country face, but…

Given Trump’s Betrayal, Can we Crowdfund American Aid and Soft Power Abroad?

David Holdridge | (Informed Comment) | - - The current debate between liberals and the Trump Administration on American soft power abroad is not being framed correctly. Liberals should be arguing for…

Is Trump right to doubt that Islam is a Religion?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka again declined to say on Wednesday in an NPR interview whether President Trump believes Islam is "a religion." He…

Is Trump a bigger danger to the US or Europe?

By Joschka Fischer | (Project Syndicate) | - - BERLIN – Little more than a month after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, it has become clear that nothing good will come of…

Will Trump use the Next ISIL attack to sweep away our Liberties?

By Allison Beth Hodgkins | (Informed Comment) | - - You have to hand to the civil society groups pushing back on the Trump administration’s recent executive orders banning the entry of…

Protesters Face Increasing Criminalization in Trump Era

TeleSur | - - Changes aim to hit protestors with criminal records and beefed up fines and impunity for police who accidentally kill them. Donald Trump was officially sworn in Friday as…

A Living Wage & a Right to Live: Resisting a government of Generals and Billionaires

By Rebecca Gordon | (Tomdispatch.com) | - - Many of the folks I know are getting ready to play serious defense in 2017, and they’re not wrong. Before we take up our…

Bruited Trump pick for Nat’l Intel shreds 4th Amendment, wants Total Surveillance

TeleSur | - - On Thursday multiple mainstream media outlets reported that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Republican Senator Dan Coats, an outspoken advocate of illegal domestic surveillance programs, to…

Top 5 Reasons Senate Dems should block all Trump Supreme Court Nominees, Forever

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - We don't need a Trump-nominated supreme Court justice. We desperately don't need such a person. And there is no reason to have one.…

Can Trump be checked and balanced?

By Ulrike G. Theuerkauf | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | - - The US Presidential system has been much heralded as a prime example of horizontal accountability, but there is no guarantee how Donald…

Will Trump Bring in a New Era of Surveillance and Torture?

TeleSur | - - Trump's picks for important security positions look intent on rolling back civil liberties. While there are many questions about what U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will change once he…

US: Trump’s Justice, CIA Picks Threaten Rights

Human Rights Watch | - - (Washington) – President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as United States attorney general reinforces fears that Trump’s administration will threaten human rights protections,…

Have Americans joined Egyptians in losing right to Protest & to Privacy?

By Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah | (Inter Press Service) | - - LONDON (IPS) - Many US citizens may instinctively believe they still live in the land of the free, but a new global…

Dear Americans: Want Security? Try the Bill of Rights

By Karen J. Greenberg | ( Tomdispatch.com) | - - One vivid image of the historical relationship between government power and individual liberties in America has long been the swing of the…

Nixonian Donald Trump threatens writers who dare Criticize him

By Richard Tofel | ProPublica | - - In 1733, New York printer John Peter Zenger began publishing the eighth newspaper in the American colonies, and the first willing to venture criticism…

Making Case for Pardon, Snowden Says Leaks Were ‘Necessary, Vital Things’

by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - 'I think when people look at the calculations of benefit, it is clear that in the wake of 2013 the laws of…

Can Americans get back their Democracy from the Oligarchy?

By John Scales Avery | (Inter Press Service) | - - COPENHAGEN, (IPS) - As many observers around the world have pointed out, the United States is no longer a true democracy.…

On the Fourth of July: None of us has Inalienable Rights if American Muslims don’t

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - On this day when the United States was first conceived in rebellion against people being deprived of their God-given rights to life, liberty…