Free Republic

Time after time, Obama's lawyers defending the NDAA's section 1021 affirm our worst fears about its threat to our liberty (Activist and reporter Tangerine Bolen, a plaintiff in the case against the NDAA, speaking to the media after a New York judge enjoined section 2012 of the law.) I am one of the lead plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit against the National Defense Authorization Act, which gives the president the power to hold any US citizen anywhere for as long as he wants, without charge or trial. In a May hearing, Judge Katherine Forrest issued an injunction against it; this...

Despite a mainstream media blackout on the topic, the alternative media is abuzz with this week’s hearing on the constitutionality of the clearly unconstitutional NDAA. In case you don’t remember, section 1021 of the NDAA, which Obama signed into law on December 31 of last year, allows the government to lock up U.S. citizens indefinitely without a trial. At the time of signing, Obama penned a pathetic letter to many of his outraged supporters where he basically said he signed it but he won’t use it. Thanks pal! In any event, the Administration is showing its true colors by appealing...

”This is a battlefield that we must stand upon. And we need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the Chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain’t on the table. Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else! You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the...

Imagine government without responsibility toward its citizens — let me give you a hint, it looks a lot like Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime. America is blessed with a Constitution that protects Americans so they are not afraid that each new leader will turn the country into a fascist nation. No matter how much anyone disagrees with a president's policies, we can take solace in the protections of the Constitution. The Constitution's authority is supreme and every piece of legislation must fit within the Constitution's limits. This is why I, along with many constituents of Michigan's 1st District were so worried...

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (NDAA) is making its way through Congress and if it is in any way different from last year’s unconstitutional onslaught against the American public, it is only for the worse. Last year, Congress overwhelmingly passed and Barack Hussein Obama signed into law the most egregious assault on due process rights in the nation’s history. The NDAA of 2012 gave Obama unlimited authority to have members of the U.S. military detain any American citizen he suspected of posing a potential threat to the United States. According to the Act, such citizens face an indefinite...

The following self-learning course from the U.S. Army Military Police School at Fort McClellan describes procedures for military police involvement in civil disturbance operations. The course makes it clear that temporary detention facilities in the event of a civil disturbance overloading local resources would be operated under existing military doctrine for internment facilities. The course cites U.S. Army FM 3-19.40 Internment/Resettlement Operations, which is now numbered FM 3-39.40 since its most recent revision in 2010, as the primary reference for the operation of these facilities. This lesson is designed to describe the nature and causes of disaffection and social unrest;...

The Obama administration plans to arm Italy’s fleet of Reaper drone aircraft, a move that could open the door for sales of advanced hunter-killer drone technology to other allies, according to lawmakers and others familiar with the matter. The sale would make Italy the first foreign country besides Britain to fly U.S. drones armed with missiles and laser-guided bombs. U.S. officials said Italy intends initially to deploy the armed drones in Afghanistan. Lawmakers who question the planned deal say the decision to “weaponize” Italy’s unarmed surveillance drones could make it harder for the U.S. to deny similar capabilities to other...

Obama's 'kill list' revealed: How President uses Al Qaeda 'baseball cards' to decide who will live and who will die ......Full Title Barack Obama has insisted on personally approving a 'kill list' of Al Qaeda terrorists who should be hunted down and executed, according to reports. The U.S. president requests that his advisers draw up 'baseball cards' with pictures and biographies that he pores over to see who should live and who should die. As part of the bizarre ‘nomination’ process he then retires for personal reflection to work out whether or not to order a drone strike to take...

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Federal prosecutors on Friday urged a judge to lift her order barring enforcement of part of a new law that permits indefinite military detention, a measure critics including a prize-winning journalist say is too vague and threatens free speech. Manhattan federal court Judge Katherine Forrest this month ruled in favor of activists and reporters who said they feared being detained under a section of the law, signed by President Barack Obama in December. The government says indefinite military detention without trial is justified in some cases involving militants and their supporters. But critics worry that the law...

Before the dust began to settle around New York City’s twin towers, Washington’s political elites were contemplating the benefits in sheer legislative power a terror attack of such magnitude could bestow upon the benevolent despots of Capitol Hill. In a secretly recorded, 1992 address to the Bilderberg Organization, Henry Kissinger made this statement: “Today’s Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened [their] very existence.” Though Kissinger was speaking...

The Defense funding bill that will get a house vote later this week includes provisions that would protect conscience rights for military chaplains and prohibit same-sex marriage ceremonies from being performed on U.S. military bases. Amendments to the Fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act authored by House Armed Services Committee members Steve Palazzo (R-Miss.) and Todd Akin (R-Mo.) for that purpose were approved in committee last week, but not without a fight. The provisions continued to be a source of controversy as debate on the bill began on the House floor Wednesday. Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) said the amendment only...

A Senate bill intended to tighten economic sanctions against Iran was blocked Thursday by Senate Republicans who said they were holding out for an even tougher measure that included an explicit threat of a U.S. military strike if Iran refuses to curb its nuclear ambitions. The surprise opposition to the sanctions bill -- which was endorsed by a Senate committee two months ago with bipartisan support -- left in doubt the fate of Democrat-backed legislation that sought to close loopholes and crack down on international banks that help Iran sell its oil to overseas customers... Republican resistance to the measure...

The Republican led House has voted to allow U.S. military action against Iran if the regime threatens the U.S. or it’s allies (Israel) with nuclear weapons. According to a section of the National Defense Authorization Act, “it shall be the policy of the United States to take all necessary measures, including military action if required, to prevent Iran from threatening the United States, its allies or Iran’s neighbors with a nuclear weapon,” reported Raw Story. The use of the word threaten literally makes it possible for the U.S. to attack Iran whenever they please by simply claiming that they were...

In a considerable setback for a president eager to ravage the due process rights of the American people, Federal Judge Kathleen Forrest granted a preliminary injunction on Wednesday, striking down those sections of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012 which sought to provide Barack Obama the power to indefinitely detain citizens without benefit of their 5th Amendment rights. Signed very quietly into law on New Year’s Eve, the controversial Act has been roundly criticized as unconstitutional by groups on both the political left and right. Of greatest concern was Section 1021 which grants the United States military authority...

The reckless crew is at it again. Libertarian extremists, who purport to be the face of the tea party movement, and their pals on the Lawyer Left, whose obsession is more rights for mass-murderers, are again making common cause. Their target, once more, is the detention procedure codified in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This time the ringleaders are Representatives Justin Amash (R., MI) and Adam Smith (D., WA). With a new NDAA up for consideration, these congressmen are reprising the starring role played a few months back by Sen. Rand Paul (R., KY). I argued in opposition to...

A New York judge ruled yesterday that the government may not lock up American citizens without due process as allowed by the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Bob Van Voris and Patricia Hurtado at Bloomberg report U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled against President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and the Department of Defense and in favor of a group opposing provision 1021 of the NDAA. The opposition, including former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges, filed the complaint January 13....A bit of background: Late last year Senate Armed Services Chairman senior member John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Carl Levin...

Out today, a 68-page opinion from Judge Katherine Forrest of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, entering a preliminary injunction barring the federal government from enforcing the substantive detention authority codified by the FY2012 NDAA on the ground that enforcement of the relevant provision (section 1021) might interfere with the plaintiffs’ First and Fifth Amendment rights. There’s a lot here, including the central holding (that the NDAA is not merely a “reaffirmation” of the AUMF), but I haven’t had the chance to read it carefully yet. Suffice it to say, I imagine folks will have...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A judge on Wednesday struck down a portion of a law giving the government wide powers to regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists, saying it left journalists, scholars and political activists facing the prospect of indefinite detention for exercising First Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan said in a written ruling that a single page of the law has a "chilling impact on First Amendment rights." She cited testimony by journalists that they feared their association with certain individuals overseas could result in their arrest because a provision of the...

Remember the NDAA? Yeah, for a variety of reasons that bill got a lot of attention last year -- mostly focused on the question of detainment of terrorists. But there are some other nuggets in the bill, including one tidbit about "military activities in cyberspace." The existing version of the NDAA does grant the Defense Department the ability to conduct such military activities, but only "upon direction by the President" and if the purpose is to "defend our Nation, Allies and interests," subject to existing laws. However, the House Armed Services Committee is getting ready to do a markup on...

A left-right alliance against military detention of terrorists. The tea party movement has generally been constructive, but every so often it runs off the road. A case in point is its emerging condominium with the anti-antiterror left to block terrorist detentions. This strange alliance has developed in response to one of Congress's rare bipartisan achievements—the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). That bill affirmed the long-standing distinction between civilian justice and the rules of war by letting the President detain terrorists (including U.S. citizens) captured anywhere and question them as long as necessary. A President can decide to try them...