Susan Crabtree reports: The Obama administration is standing firm in its support of several George W. Bush-era Patriot Act powers in the face of sharp criticism from civil rights groups, liberal Democrats and a Dec. 31 deadline to extend key provisions of the bill. The Justice Department recently reiterated its request for Congress to extend…
Category: Featured News
Leaders set to include ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal in defense authorization bill
Eric Zimmermann reports: Democratic leaders plan to repeal the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in next year’s defense authorization bill. Both the White House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) back the strategy of using the defense bill to change policy on gays in the military, an aide to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told The…
German privacy law vs. our First Amendment
David Kravets writes: Wikipedia is under a censorship attack by a convicted German murderer invoking his country’s privacy laws in a bid to remove references to him killing Bavarian actor Walter Sedlmayr in 1990. Lawyers for Wolfgang Werle, of Erding Germany, sent Wikipedia a cease-and-desist letter (.pdf) demanding the free encyclopedia remove Werle’s name from…
The price our veterans may pay
While people honor veterans today, let’s not forget that a simple parade or “thank you” is not enough for those who returned from serving their country and are now homeless. An editorial in today’s New York Times notes: About one-third of all adult homeless men are veterans, and an average night finds an estimated 131,000…