COMMON DREAMS: News Alert: Warnings of 'Patriot Act 2.0' as House Prepares to Vote on Mass Spying Authority

 

Warnings of 'Patriot Act 2.0' as House Prepares to Vote on Mass Spying Authority April 12, 2024 The U.S. House is expected to vote Friday on legislation to reauthorize a surveillance authority that intelligence agencies have heavily abused to collect the communications of activists, journalists, and lawmakers without a warrant. Friday's vote will come after House Republicans earlier this week blocked Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) attempt to advance legislation reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows U.S. agencies to spy on non-citizens located outside of the country. READ THE FULL STORY

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Let this video help you reimagine our broken democracy

 

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April 12, 2024 Hey readers, MJ digital producer Sam here. It seems like everyone these days is yelling about democracy. "We need to save democracy!" "Democracy is on the ballot!" "This election is between democracy and authoritarianism!" My response? To hell with our American democracy. Hear me out. The first election I was able to vote in was in 2016. (We all know how that went.) So, I hardly see American democracy as something to model or replicate. But my frustrations with US democracy go much deeper than 2016. In fact, it goes back to this country's founding. As I explain in a new video to accompany Ari Berman’s latest piece on minority rule, the Constitution was designed to include explicitly anti-democratic features. It was built to favor the rich and the white. As much as Joe Biden wants voters to prove that US democracy "isn’t a relic of history," Ari makes crystal clear that 2024's threats against democracy, including Donald Trump himself, are so much older and more profound than the former president. But our broken democracy is something I also see as fixable. I hope this video helps decipher the roots of what needs to be changed for everyone frustrated with how a minority of white, wealthy, religious conservatives have taken over every aspect of American life despite the majority of us wanting something different. Because I don’t care what the Founding Fathers wanted for democracy. — Sam Van Pykeren P.S. Stick around for a silly post-credits scene!

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The Conservative War on Democracy Was Over 200 Years in the Making Democracy is on the ballot in 2024—just not in the way you think. TEXT BY ARI BERMAN, VIDEO BY SAM VAN PYKEREN

FROM MOTHER JONES Mother Jones and Grist team up for an Earth Week event! Join Mother Jones, Grist, and the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School on April 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET as leaders in the environmental justice space discuss equity, infrastructure, jobs, and the urban energy transition. Featuring the “father of environmental justice,” Dr. Robert Bullard (Texas Southern University, Bullard Center for Environmental & Climate Justice), Jade Begay (Indigenous rights advocate and climate researcher), and Leah Thomas (intersectional environmentalist), we’ll dig into the issues, opportunities, and solutions driving an equitable transformation for America. For tickets, click this link.

Why a porn star-payoff is exactly the right first criminal trial for Donald Trump BY DAVID CORN Communicating with Elon Musk's X is like traversing a scorched hellscape BY MICHAEL MECHANIC "Abortionist": The label that turns healthcare workers into criminals BY KATIE HERCHENROEDER Will anti-fracking congresswoman Summer Lee hold her Pennsylvania seat? BY KEERTI GOPAL AND KILEY BENSE

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Can Maine Lead the Way to a Future without Forever Chemicals? As the EPA rolls out limits in water, PFAS compounds lurk on farms and in food. BY BRIDGET HUBER

MOTHER JONES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE An important update on our finances We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals—and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, and the crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon.   Neither is Mother Jones. Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, which creates the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal and other investigative projects.   It’s going to be hard making it all work, and we simply can’t afford to fall behind our fundraising targets month after month. If you can part with even just a few bucks, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today. And thank you so much to everyone who recently has. We’re grateful. Donate

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Five Questions with Kristy Parker, Special Counsel at Protect Democracy

JOYCE VANCE APR 13 ∙ PREVIEW

On their website, the advocacy group Protect Democracy warns that democracy is in danger but tells readers that “Together, we can preserve democracy for future generations.” The group is nonpartisan and cross-ideological.

Kristy Parker is a Special Counsel with Protect Democracy. Previously, she served in trial attorney and leadership roles for 15 years in DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and for four years in the Torts Branch of DOJ’s Civil Division. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Pictured: Kristy in her natural habitat, Nats Park. KPNatsFan is her Twitter handle.

Kristy’s skilled hand has guided some of Protect Democracy’s recent work in the area of election-related prosecutions, which has special importance as we approach the first criminal trial of a former president on Monday. Protect Democracy published an analysis called Prosecuting Political Leaders During an Election, A framework for understanding when it’s appropriate to prosecute a candidate for public office.

Trump and his followers call it “election interference” when any prosecutor indicts him, despite protections including the requirement that a grand jury review the evidence and find probable cause exists before they can indict. So, this is a good time for us to discuss whether that’s true. Kristy discusses the essential facts, law, and analysis necessary to push back when Trump supporters call prosecuting him a witch hunt—which it most certainly isn’t! We’re lucky to have her with us as our guest tonight. You’ll go away from this one armed with the best arguments for rejecting the nonsense Trump is trying to convince the country of.

No matter what he says, prosecutions are not election interference, and after reading “Five Questions With” tonight, you’ll know exactly why.

“Five Questions With” is a special edition of Civil Discourse for paid subscribers only. The rest of the newsletter is available to everyone. Five Questions is my way of saying thank you to those of you who can support this work with paid subscriptions so I can keep it free for everyone.