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Dissent NewsWire
This is What Democracy Looks Like!
In 2018 DRAD and our grassroots supporters and activists worked hard to to defend the right to protest, challenge FBI abuses, oppose the Countering Violent Extremism program. We also defended whistleblowers, fought surveillance and censorship, championed internet freedom, and continued to rally against Guantanamo and torture.
Statement on the Potential Prosecution of Julian Assange
The Trump Administration has demonstrated an unrestrained contempt for journalists, whistleblowers, and truth tellers. Charging an individual with publishing information–even classified information–would be an unprecedented act of aggression against press freedom. Defending Rights & Dissent has long opposed the use of the Espionage Act against whistleblowers or journalists and called for it to be amended or repealed.
ICE’s Chilling Attack on Free Speech and Dissent
According to ICE’s data, there was a 41% increase in the number of undocumented immigrants arrested by the agency in 2017 compared to the previous year.
The 14th Amendment is Working Hard to Protect Your Rights
Much like Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey or oatmeal raisin cookies, the constitution’s 14th Amendment is remarkably underrated.
Yet Another Ag-Gag Law Struck Down. This Time in Wyoming.
Attempts to insulate the agricultural industry from public scrutiny by using “ag-gag” laws suffered another major blow. On October 29, 2018, a federal judge ruled found that Wyoming’s ag-gag laws were unconstitutional. Ag-gag laws in other states have suffered similar fates.
Crystal Jones is our November Patriot. Cleveland’s first female heavy equipment operator demanded free speech (and got it).
Ms. Jones recently settled a lawsuit that she filed in 2017 against the City of Cleveland forcing the City’s Administration to cease the suppression of her and her co-workers first amendment rights to free speech relative to working conditions on the job, misogyny, and disparate treatment.
An Executive Order Cannot Override the 14th Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment is one of the cornerstones of modern protections for civil liberties. It was passed during Reconstruction in order to rectify the horrifying decision of the Supreme Court that held African-Americans could never be citizens of the United States. It was meant both to grant citizenship rights to the newly emancipated slaves and to stop the former slave states of the Confederacy from violating their civil liberties.
Challenging Countering Violent Extremism Programs in the DMV
Defending Rights & Dissent has teamed up with the Justice for Muslims Collective to host an informative discussion for residents of DC, Maryland, and Virginia about the ways the Countering Violent Extremism program is impacting communities in the area.
DRAD Staff Pens Washington Post Op-Ed on Why It’s Misguided to Embrace the FBI
Defending Rights & Dissent Policy & Legislative Counsel Chip Gibbons wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post on why the left cannot embrace the FBI.
Now Is The Time To End US Participation in Saudi-Led War in Yemen
This US military assistance constitutes “hostilities” under the War Powers Act. It is entirely illegal for any president–be it Trump or Obama–to engage in hostilities without Congressional authorization. And isn’t just the War Powers Act, the Constitution also gives Congress the exclusive power to initiate military action.