Free Republic

...Among other lessons of 9/11, we have learned the cost of squeamishness that prevented closer scrutiny of young Arab men entering the country even when their behavior raised suspicions.... [A]n airline ticket-taker recalls being stunned by the strange look on the face of customer Mohamed Atta--particularly the unsettling fury the man exuded. Still, he could not bring himself to raise any alarm: indeed, when he heard later that the plane Atta was on had been one of those that crashed in the terror attacks, the agent felt terrible. Terrible because he had been suspicious of the passenger and thought he...

So the New York Civil Liberties Union has decided to sue the NYPD on the grounds that subway bag searches are unconstitutional. At first glance, there doesn't seem anything surprising or wrong about such a choice. After all, isn't that what civil-liberties unions are supposed to do? Well, yes, except nobody — even civil-liberties unions — is supposed to bring frivolous and harassing lawsuits that clog up the time and energy of those being sued. There is no way the NYCLU can win this suit, because the Supreme Court has already held, in pretty definitive terms, that these sorts of...

The leftists and neo-libs are out in full force, these days. The NY Times, or the primary PR and news division of the Democrat Party, is “investigating” the adoption of the Roberts children. It calls the investigation a standard background check. Hmmm. Since when did investigating a SCOTUS appointee’s adoption of children become a “standard background check”? Before this nominee, when was this ever affected? The answer is never. But, the media and the Dems see Roberts as a probable conservative judge. And, as we have already been told by the liberal and leftist contingent of the Democrat Party (specifically...

The ever-clueless New York Civil Liberties Union has leaped head-first into the ongoing controversy sur rounding alleged anti-Israel bias and intimidation of students at Columbia University by siding — surprise, surprise — with the accused professors. Indeed, the NYCLU - proving that it doesn't need Norman Siegel in charge to look through the wrong end of the telescope - charges that an investigation into the students' charges is "likely to descend into an inquisition." Actually, there's little chance of that: As The New York Sun reported, Columbia President Lee Bollinger has stacked the deck of his fact-finding committee, choosing...

The NY Civil Liberties Union... filed... in federal court, alleging police misconduct during the Republican National Convention. The fact that the protests in August went off virtually without a hitch — despite drawing perhaps as many as half a million people over the course of the week — is a testament both to the professionalism of the police and the responsible attitudes of most protesters. The mass march on the Sunday before the convention, in particular, was a model of police-protester cooperation: Dissenting voices were heard, disruption and violence were virtually nonexistent.... It was this element in the crowd that,...

LISTINGS The RNC Protests By Kate Crane The Convention Weds., Aug. 25 Know Your Rights training, NYCLU Get briefed by the New York Civil Liberties Union on your constitutional rights at the protests and what to do if the police infringe upon them. The workshop will cover recent changes to laws, how to interact with police and how to handle being stopped or searched. NYCLU, 520 8th Ave. (betw. 36th St.), 212-344-3005, x266 (rsvp req.); 7. National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer training Legal observers perform the crucial task of observing arrests and watching out for any inappropriate police behavior. Fourth...