Research

Defending Convention Dissent in St. Paul

On May 15, 2009, Judge Wilson of the Ramsey County District Court granted RNC defendant Sean McCoy’s motion for a new trial. So far, St. Paul has prosecuted ten defendants on 34 charges without a single conviction involving arrests during the…

Article

Boston Police Snoop at Celebs - Who's Next?

So Boston police troll the Criminal Record Information system to find personal information about local movie stars and sports heroes. We know that from a state audit released on May 6, 2009.

Article

Von Mises Rises from the Scrap Heap of History

Corporate coffers are spilling out tens of millions of dollars to block the Employee Free Choice Act and keep unions from having a fair chance at organizing workers. Their propagandists claim this confrontation is a “firestorm bordering on…

Article

Government Sets Sights on Extremists

Hot Air Leads to Violence? Homeland Security apparently thinks so. The Department of Homeland Security recently warned law enforcement that disenchanted, angry Americans are like kernels of corn under heat, ready to pop at any time.

Article

Thought Police Patrol Virginia

If the Virginia Fusion Center (VFC) isn’t careful, people might think its intelligence analysts are America’s thought police. Take a look at its 2009 Threat Assessment, which talks about “subversive thought” as a marker for violent terrorism and…

Article

Getting the Facts on Guantanamo Detainees

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released on April 3, 2009, 75 percent of voters say that safety is more important than fairness in determining what countries the US government sends freed Guantanamo inmates. While some element of N.I.M.B.Y.…

Article

Card Check, FDR, and Right-Wing History

The Obama administration will face stiff opposition to the pro-union “Card Check” legislation he promised to support, known officially as the Employee Free Choice Act. Opponents have launched a campaign that highlights the lack of union democracy,…

Article

Tying the Not

How the Right Succeeded in Passing Proposition 8

A group of people holding signs that read "Vote No on Prop 8"

On June 26, 2008, 1,000 ministers, mostly from evangelical congregations, met by conference call to discuss tactics for passing Proposition 8, a ballot initiative to ban same sex marriage in California by amending the state constitution.

Article

New Tactics and Coalitions Take Aim at Planned Parenthood

A sign that says "I stand with planned parenthood"

For the leaders and workers of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, attacks from right-wing foes are nothing new. Almost from the moment that the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, the federation and its clinics have been in the…

Article

Scott Lively’s Quotes

Selections from Scott Lively’s presentations at a conference in Kampala, Uganda in March 2009

Article

Texas Fusion Center Casts Wide Net

The North Central Texas Fusion Center (NCTFC) recently issued a Prevention Awareness Bulletin alerting law enforcement to beware of “significant” threats posed by a Muslim civil rights group, the antiwar organization ANSWER, and International Action…

Article

A Growing Threat to Basic Human Rights

While gender-based discrimination and oppression are nothing new abroad, for the past decade the U.S. Christian Right has been aggressively exporting its campaigns against reproductive rights and gay rights to countries around the world. Recently,…

Article

Sexual Minorities Uganda Letter to Parliament Protesting Anti-Gay Witchhunt

RE: Launch of hate campaign against sexual minorities

Article

Ugandans oppose U.S. Christian Right interference in Africa's sexual politics

Efforts to mobilize Ugandans to hunt down and imprison Ugandan gays and lesbians received worldwide attention during a three-day Family Life Network conference held March 3-5 in Kampala. But the media haven’t caught up with the rest of the story:…

Press Release

Remembering Giuseppe Conlon on St. Pat's Day

All I need to know about the war on terror I learned from “In the Name of the Father,” the story of the Guilford Four. After a pub bombing south of London in 1974, British police rounded up three men from Belfast and a young Englishwoman.

Article

Fusion Centers: Just Part of the Problem

Props go to The Muckracker, a blog of the Center for Investigative Reporting for drawing attention to Obama’s $260 million budget request for fusion centers. Its critique of the reality show “Homeland Security USA” is also prescient, well-deserved…

Article

FBI: Preventing Violence or Provoking It?

On March 16, David McKay goes on trial for a second time. The jury must decide whether an FBI informant named Brandon Darby induced McKay to make Molotov cocktails on the eve of the Republican National Convention.

Article

$260 Million for Fusion Center Analysts

Obama wants to hire thousands of intelligence analysts for state fusion centers to the tune of $260 million. Liberty Beat thinks there are better ways to fight terrorism than sifting through commercial databases, “suspicious activity” reports,…

Article

New blog on civil liberties from PRA

For the latest news and insightful analysis about civil liberties, Political Research Associates and Public Eye invite you to visit our new blog, Liberty Beat.

Press Release

Anti-Union Campaigns and The Big Three Bullies

Corporate America and a well-funded network of ultraconservative think tanks and policy centers are raising tens of millions of dollars to fight pending legislation allowing union card check campaigns. These campaigns collect a majority of worker…

Article

Search

Research