DETROIT — Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) led Congressmembers Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Cori Bush (MO-01), Greg Casar (TX-35), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on the Department of Justice to uphold the First Amendment’s protections for the freedom of the press by dropping the Trump-era charges against Australian publisher Julian Assange and withdrawing the American extradition request currently pending with the British government.
News and Commentary
By RootsAction
Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg helped to end the Vietnam War when he bravely provided the Pentagon Papers to media outlets in 1971. Ever since then, he has been a tireless and inspiring advocate for peace and prevention of nuclear war.
By Ryan Grim : The Intercept
Rep. Rashida Tlaib is collecting signatures on a letter calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to end the extradition drive against WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange.
By Todd Miller : Institute for Public Accuracy
Miller writes at The Border Chronicle and just wrote the piece “Autonomous Surveillance Towers Are Creeping Up the California Coast.”
By Erica Techo -- UGA Today
Study shows that as newsrooms shrink, so does the trust of some former sources
The whistleblowers who once trusted journalism are losing faith in the institution.
Published by Chip Gibbons: Defending Rights & Dissent
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, international financial summits, like the IMF and the World Bank, attracted masses of protesters. In many cases, protesters engaged in civil disobedience. They were also met with brutal repression by police that included physical violence and illegal arrests. The media helped peddle police narratives that painted them as violent rioters engaged in senseless destruction for destruction’s sake. The reality is that protesters were victims of police riots.
Published by Cody Bloomfield: Defending Rights & Dissent
In an absurd ruling, the Eighth Circuit denied that boycotts are political expression. Now, the Supreme Court has denied writ of certiorari, letting the Eighth Circuit’s ruling in Arkansas Times LP v. Waldrip stand. This is a missed opportunity for the Supreme Court to take a stand for the proud tradition of political boycott in the United States.
By Sharon Kyle: LA Progressive
Carey Shenkman and Ralph Engelman took what many might consider and a dry topic and made it accessible to all.
By Jesselyn Radack - Kathleen McClellan: Salon.com
What happened to whistleblowers like our client Daniel Hale never happens to high-level government officials
We can now add Vice President Mike Pence to the list of former presidents and vice presidents who have had classified information found in their homes. While there are marked differences between Donald Trump intentionally keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, and refusing to cooperate with authorities, and Pence and Joe Biden's apparent discovery of classified documents that inadvertently ended up in their homes — and were returned voluntarily and promptly — the commonality between these cases and others involving high-level officials is the lack of serious punishment.
By Ben Cohen: Salon.com
Ben & Jerry's co-founder: Joe Biden stood up for press freedom as a candidate — but backtracked in the White House