The War at Home

A collection of 58 posts

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The Enduring Surveillance Act of 2023

Here comes the legislative vehicle to save the expiring NSA and FBI surveillance powers called Section 702. Its (predictable) offer to reformers is: nothing!

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The Antisemite Defense League

To Elon Musk's rescue rides the ADL's Jonathan Greenblatt. When you conflate Anti-Zionism and antisemitism, it's a short step to saying only Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

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The Anti-Surveillance Coalition's Highest-Stakes Gamble

They're leveraging the renewal of Section 702 for by far the most sweeping surveillance reform since 9/11. But won't 702 immediately be used against Palestinians and their allies?

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Islamophobia Kills. Protect Your Neighbors

It was a matter of time before someone listened to the politicians and media figures dehumanizing Palestinians and took action. The victim was a six-year old boy

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St. Augustine's 9/11 Anniversary

Lord, implored President Biden, let us "turn the page" on the War on Terror. Just not yet.

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Drones Over Brooklyn, RICO for Cop City Protesters

As the Air Force pursues AI-powered drones for combat, the NYPD uses older models to spy on Caribbean Brooklyn. What starts as military tech doesn't stay as military tech. PLUS: Georgia files egregious charges against the anti-Cop City movement!

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Who Is And Isn't A Terrorist, January 6 Edition

An Iraq combat veteran turned Proud Boy sentenced for seditious conspiracy applies the logic of 9/11 to 1/6.

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Rudy Giuliani Was A Creation of The New York Media

This is for every New Yorker who in the 1990s watched our local press launder a racist authoritarian mayor into someone who'd save the city from… the people who live here. He always was who he is now

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Biden Goes All In On FBI/NSA Mass Surveillance

The White House's final offer on surveillance reform: nothing. At least they stripped away the pretense that there's any way to fix Section 702. PLUS: Pee-Wee's last adventure

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Gillibrand And Biden Protect Troops The Military Simply Left To Be Sexually Assaulted

The chain of command was never more important than the right of servicemembers not to be sexually abused. I can still hear the Pentagon saying they should never break the chain

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Mark Milley's Last Mistake

This guy simply should not have been chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His final attempt to build the U.S. military of the future is gibberish.

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If 9/11 Was God's Vengeance for Homosexuality, What's Pat Robertson's Death During Pride Month?

God was very, very far from the War on Terror. Those who wanted to make it an explicit religious war were not.

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When Protest Is 'Terrorism,' Material-Support Charges Are Next

Wednesday's arrests of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund over Cop City could be a strike against protest infrastructure nationwide, warns Cat Brooks of the Anti-Police Terror Project.

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How To Deter FBI Surveillance Crime: Make Them Write It Down

A recent spy-court document suggests that fear of getting caught stops the FBI from a lot of its "backdoor searches." How might a criminologist view this phenomenon?!

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Based Fiona Hill

Here's a rare example of an eminence willing to take clear-eyed stock of most of the world's rejection of coalescing Cold Wars. PLUS: Elon Musk, antisemitism, capitalism and Magneto! AND: Get used to being a needle in U.S. intelligence's HAYSTAC!

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A Strangler in a Strange Land

Daniel Penny killed Jordan Neely with his bare hands on video, but every institution in New York seems to be on Penny’s side. Why?

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The Killing of Jordan Neely In The Shadow of The Rent Guidelines Board

Homelessness can happen to anyone in this economy, and anyone means you and me. Don't live in New York if you're afraid of New Yorkers.

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The Chud Era of National Security Leaks

Expanding the Security State means relying on millions of people with secret clearances. As time passes, more and more of them are going to be inveterate posters. PLUS: Tech bros kill each other and blame the homeless!

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Will Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Close The Homan Square Black Site?

The incoming mayor put closing Homan Square in his platform. Veteran organizers and abolitionists are optimistic he'll follow through. PLUS: Is Chinese diplomacy ending the Yemen war?

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Biden: Department of Homeland Security 'As Important As It’s Ever Been'

Maybe in the sense that it's never been important. But as DHS turns 20, the administration is signaling that the post-9/11 institution is here to stay

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When They're White, They're 'Tactical Athletes'

Edited by Sam Thielman IN REIGN OF TERROR, now available in paperback, I wrote: Never would America acknowledge that the violent, reactionary dangers that it attributed to its enemies were also part of its own history. That was the meaning of Oklahoma City. It was the meaning of January 6.

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Michael Molcher on Judge Dredd and The Endpoint of 'Policing by Consent'

Molcher's new book, I Am The Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future, is a great one. He speaks to FOREVER WARS about the politics of crime

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Terrorism and Counterterrorism in Cop City

We get a potential glimpse into the future of the War on Terror at Atlanta's $90 million law-enforcement training center—and the police shooting of a protester. PLUS: U.S. strikes in Somalia, raids in Syria and ominous signs at Guantanamo

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Free Daniel Hale

And with that, we'll see you in 2023. But first, don't turn away from Lynzy Billing's unforgettable ProPublica report about the cost of a parcel of rice, a can of oil and some sugar.

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Some of Those That Work Fusion Centers Are The Same As Constitution-Enders

Oath Keepers in the Department of Homeland Security "would ultimately choose the Oath Keepers over the department," says Daryl Johnson, whom DHS canceled for warning about this kind of thing. PLUS: I'll be speaking at a Thursday press conference for clemency for drone whistleblower Daniel Hale.