#civilliberties — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #civilliberties, aggregated by home.social.
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America After 9/11: 25 Years of Fear, War, Surveillance and Permanent Emergency
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America After 9/11: 25 Years of Fear, War, Surveillance and Permanent Emergency
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America After 9/11: 25 Years of Fear, War, Surveillance and Permanent Emergency
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America After 9/11: 25 Years of Fear, War, Surveillance and Permanent Emergency
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Twenty-Five Years of “Temporary”: How the Patriot Act Became Permanent
By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — September 11, 2026
Twenty-five years ago today, the United States experienced the deadliest foreign attack on its soil in modern history. The September 11, 2001 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and shocked the nation into a state of collective fear and urgency. In Washington, that fear translated into speed. Within weeks, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, a sweeping expansion of federal surveillance and law-enforcement authority described at the time as temporary, emergency legislation.
A quarter-century later, most of those powers remain in force.
This article examines where the Patriot Act came from, how it moved so quickly, and how every administration since 2001—across both parties—has contributed to its endurance.
A Law That Predated the Crisis
Despite its association with September 11, the Patriot Act was not created from scratch after the attacks. Its core provisions had been debated in Washington for at least five to ten years prior.
Throughout the 1990s, federal agencies repeatedly sought expanded authority to conduct wiretaps across multiple devices, share intelligence between law enforcement and intelligence agencies, monitor financial transactions more closely, and standardize identity and address records for people living outside traditional housing structures. These proposals regularly stalled in Congress due to civil-liberty concerns and the absence of political urgency.
September 11 provided that urgency. Proposals that had previously failed were rapidly consolidated into a single bill, introduced on October 23, 2001, and passed three days later. Many lawmakers later acknowledged that they had not read the full text before voting.
The Bush Administration: Emergency Powers Become Law
Under President George W. Bush, the Patriot Act was framed as a wartime necessity. The administration argued that extraordinary threats required extraordinary tools and assured the public that the measures were temporary.
The law expanded federal authority to conduct surveillance under Section 215, allowed delayed-notification searches, broadened access to business and banking records, and lowered barriers between intelligence and law enforcement databases. Sunset clauses were included, reinforcing the claim that these powers would expire once the emergency passed.
For many Americans, the impact was indirect but real. Financial institutions tightened compliance rules. Address databases were standardized. People living in mobile-home parks, rural communities, and other nontraditional housing arrangements saw their records altered without notice. Missed bank statements, disrupted accounts, and bureaucratic errors became common side effects of a system designed to prioritize traceability over continuity.
No comprehensive mechanism was created to address or remedy these disruptions.
The Obama Administration: Normalization and Limited Reform
When Barack Obama took office in 2009, the surveillance framework was already embedded in federal practice. Rather than dismantle it, his administration treated it as a baseline reality.
Key Patriot Act provisions were reauthorized, and surveillance programs were defended in court as lawful and necessary. The Justice Department argued that the authorities had become integral to national security operations.
Meaningful change came only after the 2013 disclosures by Edward Snowden. In response, Congress passed the USA Freedom Act in 2015, which ended some forms of bulk data collection and added modest transparency requirements. Certain data storage responsibilities were shifted from the government to private companies.
These changes narrowed the scope of specific programs but left the broader surveillance architecture intact. Emergency authority had become routine governance.
The First Trump Administration: Rhetoric Without Rollback
Donald Trump entered office in 2017 denouncing the “deep state” while inheriting its tools. During his first term, surveillance authorities were renewed with minimal reform. Foreign intelligence programs that incidentally collected Americans’ data continued to expand.
Public criticism of intelligence agencies increased, but structural oversight did not. The result was continuity rather than change. The surveillance state remained intact, accompanied by louder political rhetoric.
The Biden Administration: Quiet Continuity
From 2021 to 2024, the Biden administration maintained existing authorities with little public debate. Surveillance programs were renewed, and civil-liberties language returned to official statements, but no major structural reforms were pursued.
By this point, the Patriot Act and its successor authorities were no longer discussed as emergency measures. They were treated as permanent components of federal infrastructure.
Trump’s Return and the Risk of Repurposing
With Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in 2025, the long-term implications of the Patriot Act have become clearer. The law was written with the assumption that institutional norms and good-faith restraint would guide its use.
Those assumptions are increasingly fragile. Authorities created for counterterrorism can be repurposed for immigration enforcement, protest monitoring, political surveillance, or media pressure. The risk lies not in new powers, but in the continued availability of old ones.
The Permanence of “Temporary”
From the outset, Americans were told the Patriot Act was temporary. That it would expire once the emergency ended. Instead, sunset clauses were repeatedly extended, reauthorizations became routine, and each administration passed expanded authority to the next.
Twenty-five years later, the emergency persists not because the original threat remains unchanged, but because emergency power is easier to retain than to relinquish.
A Quarter-Century Reckoning
September 11, 2026 marks twenty-five years since the attacks that reshaped the United States. It also marks twenty-five years of a legal framework that quietly altered daily life, often without notice, consent, or effective recourse.
The Patriot Act did not endure by accident. It survived because fear moved faster than democratic deliberation—and because no administration, Republican or Democratic, chose to fully unwind what crisis had built.
The question now is no longer how it began, but whether Americans are willing to confront the reality that “temporary” has lasted a generation.
For more social commentary, please see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com
This essay will be archived as part of the ongoing WPS News Monthly Brief Series available through Amazon.
References
American Civil Liberties Union. (2021). Surveillance under the USA PATRIOT Act.
https://www.aclu.org/issues/national-security/privacy-and-surveillance/surveillance-under-patriot-actGreenwald, G. (2014). No place to hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. surveillance state. Metropolitan Books.
USA FREEDOM Act of 2015, Pub. L. No. 114–23, 129 Stat. 268.
USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107–56, 115 Stat. 272.
#911Anniversary #CivilLiberties #ConstitutionalRights #Democracy #emergencyPowers #opinion #PatriotAct #Politics #security #Surveillance #USNationalSecurity -
"The Home Office and police were criticised in the aftermath of the weekend for failing to take a hard line on the #FarRight. #Environment campaigners and #CiviLliberties groups have complained that there appears to be a “two-tier” approach, with peaceful climate protesters prosecuted more aggressively than far-right agitators."
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Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay before her death this week - "When you’re lucky enough to have lived a long life, as I have done, your role is to remind us how far we have come." https://periscope.corsfix.com/?https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fculture%2Flife-and-letters%2Fgloria-steinems-final-essay= #civilliberties #women #girls #law #civilrights #justice #equality #publichealth #choice #privacy #freedom #voting #democracy
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Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay before her death this week - "When you’re lucky enough to have lived a long life, as I have done, your role is to remind us how far we have come." https://periscope.corsfix.com/?https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fculture%2Flife-and-letters%2Fgloria-steinems-final-essay= #civilliberties #women #girls #law #civilrights #justice #equality #publichealth #choice #privacy #freedom #voting #democracy
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Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay before her death this week - "When you’re lucky enough to have lived a long life, as I have done, your role is to remind us how far we have come." https://periscope.corsfix.com/?https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fculture%2Flife-and-letters%2Fgloria-steinems-final-essay= #civilliberties #women #girls #law #civilrights #justice #equality #publichealth #choice #privacy #freedom #voting #democracy
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Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay before her death this week - "When you’re lucky enough to have lived a long life, as I have done, your role is to remind us how far we have come." https://periscope.corsfix.com/?https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fculture%2Flife-and-letters%2Fgloria-steinems-final-essay= #civilliberties #women #girls #law #civilrights #justice #equality #publichealth #choice #privacy #freedom #voting #democracy
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Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay before her death this week - "When you’re lucky enough to have lived a long life, as I have done, your role is to remind us how far we have come." https://periscope.corsfix.com/?https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fculture%2Flife-and-letters%2Fgloria-steinems-final-essay= #civilliberties #women #girls #law #civilrights #justice #equality #publichealth #choice #privacy #freedom #voting #democracy
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this.weekinsecurity:
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Vigilantism comes for Flock
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"More Americans than ever are destroying Flock license plate cameras amid rising backlash against the company. Is the tide turning on intrusive U.S. mass surveillance, and where does the privacy fight go next?"https://this.weekinsecurity.com/vigilantism-comes-for-flock/
4.9.2026
#BigBrother #CivilLiberties #Flock #Freiheitsrechte #Kennzeichenscanner #LicensePlateCamera #LicensePlateTracking #Massenüberwachung #MassSurveillance #Privacy #Surveillance #Überwachung
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Texas: Faith, Freedom, and Mind Your Damn Business
By Cliff Potts, CSO
Editor-in-Chief, WPS NewsBaybay City, Leyte, Philippines — September 4, 2026, 9:15 p.m. PHT
Texas talks about faith constantly and practices freedom inconsistently. Religion is waved like a banner while personal liberty is quietly narrowed, regulated, or punished when it doesn’t line up with political fashion. This contradiction has become so normal that many Texans barely notice it anymore.
Faith is not the problem. Power is.
Faith Is Personal, Not Administrative
Texas is home to churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, meeting houses, and people who believe quietly or not at all. That pluralism is not a flaw. It is a fact. Faith has always been part of Texas life, but it has never belonged to the state.
When government begins enforcing one version of belief, it stops protecting faith and starts weaponizing it. That does not strengthen religion. It cheapens it. Faith that requires government backing is not faith—it is insecurity dressed up as authority.
People believe deeply without being coerced. The state does not need to supervise that.
Freedom Means Leaving People Alone
Texas politicians love to invoke freedom while inserting themselves into private decisions about bodies, families, education, and belief. That is not freedom. It is control wrapped in familiar language.
True freedom is not loud. It is boring. It is the quiet confidence that your neighbor’s life choices are none of your business unless they cause real harm. A free society tolerates disagreement without demanding conformity.
If a belief system is strong, it does not need the force of law to survive.
Religion in Schools Without Indoctrination
Teaching about religion is not the same thing as preaching it. Students benefit from understanding the beliefs that shape history, culture, and global affairs. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Indigenous traditions, and secular ethics all belong in a serious education.
Teaching one belief as truth while excluding others is not education. It is indoctrination. Texas should be confident enough to teach broadly without fear.
Knowledge does not weaken faith. It strengthens discernment.
The Myth of Moral Decline
Texas politics often leans on claims of moral collapse to justify intrusion into private life. These claims rarely hold up under scrutiny. Crime trends, family structures, and social behavior are influenced far more by economics, education, and stability than by religious enforcement.
Blaming social problems on belief differences avoids addressing harder causes like poverty, healthcare access, housing, and education. Moral panic is easier than policy work.
A serious state solves problems instead of sermonizing about them.
Faith Communities Do Real Work
Faith-based organizations are often the first to respond when communities struggle. They feed people, shelter families, provide counseling, and show up quietly without demanding credit. That work matters. It deserves respect and support.
What it does not require is political dominance. Faith communities are strongest when they act voluntarily, not when they are fused to state power.
Service speaks louder than slogans.
Freedom of Conscience Cuts Both Ways
Freedom of religion includes the freedom not to believe. It includes the freedom to change beliefs. It includes the freedom to practice quietly without public approval. Protecting conscience means accepting outcomes you may personally dislike.
That is the price of liberty. It is also its strength.
Texas cannot claim to honor freedom while punishing people for living differently.
When Government Picks Winners
History offers no shortage of warnings about governments that decide which beliefs are acceptable. Even when intentions begin as sincere, outcomes tend toward exclusion, resentment, and abuse. Texas is not immune to that pattern.
Keeping church and state separate does not weaken either. It protects both from corruption.
Personal Faith, Public Restraint
Leaders are allowed their faith. They are allowed to be guided by conscience. What they are not allowed to do is impose that conscience as law when it infringes on the rights of others.
Restraint is not betrayal. It is maturity.
What a Confident Texas Would Do
A confident Texas would protect freedom of worship for everyone and freedom from coercion for everyone else. It would teach religion academically, not devotionally. It would trust families and individuals to handle belief without supervision.
Most of all, it would stop confusing moral authority with legal power.
Why This Matters Going Forward
Faith will continue to shape Texas culture. That is not in question. The question is whether it will be used to inspire service and compassion—or to justify intrusion and control.
Freedom survives only when people mind their own damn business.
Texas is strong enough to do that.
This essay will be archived as part of the ongoing WPS News Monthly Brief Series available through Amazon.
References (APA)
#churchAndState #CivilLiberties #educationPolicy #personalFreedom #religiousFreedom #TexasPolitics #TexasReligion #WPSNews
Pew Research Center. (2025). Religious diversity and belief in the United States.
First Amendment Center. (2025). Religion, government, and constitutional boundaries.
National Council of State Legislatures. (2025). Religious freedom and public policy analysis.
Gallup. (2025). Public attitudes toward religion and government.
American Academy of Religion. (2025). Teaching religion in public education. -
"While standing in a private parking lot in Sussex, Wisconsin, on May 4, 2025, Napoleon Jones witnessed a traffic stop made by an out-of-county police officer. "It just didn't sit right with me," Jones told TMJ4 News, a local NBC News affiliate. "So I did what I legally could do, and I walked over and recorded it."
Jones, a United States Navy veteran, was well within his rights to record the police stop. But even though he recorded from a safe distance without interfering, that didn't stop the Waukesha County Sheriff's deputy, Brandon Shayhorn, from later unlawfully stopping and arresting Jones.
After Shayhorn completed the traffic stop, Jones returned to his vehicle. But before Jones could exit the parking lot, Shayhorn turned on his lights and initiated a second stop, claiming Jones' temporary license plate, displayed in the rearview window, was unreadable, reports TMJ4 News. Shayhorn demanded to see Jones' driver's license, but Jones refused, arguing that he'd been unlawfully pulled over on private property. Video clips of the encounter show the deputy opening Jones' door and pulling him from his vehicle."
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Ontario's cash bail law is unconstitutional – and Ford knows it. BUT "they deliberately undermine confidence in #courts, plow under the Charter and #civilliberties, and use real human suffering to manufacture a political grievance." https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion/ontarios-cash-bail-law-is-unconstitutional-and-ford-knows-it/394586
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Flock is in Lafayette. Who else is watching you?
Everyone’s heard of Flock cameras. But they’re not the only ones watching Lafayette.https://thecurrentla.com/2026/flock-is-in-lafayette-who-else-is-watching-you/
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What #Flock’s defenders are missing
As cities reconsider the tech, it’s worth asking how design choices have shaped trade-off between solving crimes and protecting civil liberties
New policies don’t address broader concerns from #civilliberties and #privacy groups that Flock is turning crime-stopping tool into #masssurveillance. Criticisms led to a growing backlash that already has some cities canceling contracts and some states trying to ban #ALPR
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/08/17/1142200/what-flocks-defenders-are-missing/
https://archive.ph/q3iXJ -
Since 2001, the Australian government has passed more than 100 pieces of "national security" legislation that limits our speech, our liberties, our rights and our movements, in ways most people don’t understand until it applies to them.
#australia #ausgov #authoritarianism #civilliberties #activism #surveillance
https://www.deepcutnews.com/p/dave-hughess-common-sense-is-just -
“The fact that Trump is now taking inspiration from Britain’s repression of the movement for Palestinian freedom exposes just how dangerous this ban is and should be a wake-up call to anyone who cares about #FreeSpeech and #CivilLiberties.”
#UKPol #USPol #PalestineAction
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/26/us-issues-sanctions-uk-based-palestine-action
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Flock’s license-plate network was used by Wisconsin police to track a man’s trips to Michigan and justify a car search. 🚨
As some cities drop Flock, others are replacing it with Axon ALPR systems that can blend into existing street infrastructure. 📷#TechNews #Flock #Axon #ALPR #Surveillance #Privacy #DigitalRights #CivilLiberties #Security #Technology #PoliceTech #DataPrivacy #SmartCities
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A US activist faces felony charges after using GrapheneOS’s duress code to erase his phone during a border search. 🔐
The DOJ alleges the deletion violated a law barring destruction of property to prevent seizure. ⚖️#TechNews #GrapheneOS #Privacy #DigitalRights #Encryption #OpenSource #Security #FOSS #UserControl #Technology #Mobile #CivilLiberties #Cybersecurity
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Which topic at "The Forever War and the First Amendment" are you most curious about? Share in comments👇
📍The Lee C. Bollinger Forum, Columbia University
📅 September 9–10
RSVP: knightcolumbia.org/events/the-f...
#FirstAmendment #PressFreedom #WarOnTerror #CivilLiberties #Journalism
The Forever War and the First ... -
"This designation lacks any real legal weight because U.S. law has no formal domestic terrorist organization category. Creating one risks infringing on First Amendment protected speech. #DomesticTerrorism itself is not a chargeable offense."
https://www.govexec.com/defense/2026/07/trump-directive-reshaped-governments-counterterrorism-approach/414869/
#NSPM7 #USpol #USpolitics #stateRepression #civilLiberties #freedomOfSpeech #Trump #Rubio #justice #fascization -
🚨 A 23-year-old Florida woman spent 13 days in jail and seven months under threat of life in prison for a triple-fatal hit-and-run she had nothing to do with.
On Oct 4, 2025, a speeding Dodge Durango caused a chain-reaction pileup on I-4 near DeBary, killing motorcyclist Joaquin Deno and Flagler County Deputy Administrator Jorge Salinas and his wife Nancy. Witnesses said the SUV was black, and a Flock license-plate reader had caught Lindsey Isaacs' black 2025 Durango about 3 miles west of the crash minutes before it happened. FHP seized her car that night and arrested her in April on eight felony counts, including three counts of vehicular homicide.
The case fell apart quickly: her SUV had zero damage, a 911 caller had reported the fleeing SUV was maroon (with the first three digits of its plate), and maroon paint transfer was found on one of the struck cars. Charges were dropped May 22, and Alisa Montalvo, 47, was arrested instead. Her maroon Durango had its driver-side doors replaced and airbags removed or stuffed back in to hide the crash.
The camera did what it was asked; the investigators just stopped looking once it handed them a suspect. Isaacs has since filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against FHP.
Read more:
https://www.wesh.com/article/woman-wrongfully-arrested-in-deadly-i-4-crash-speaks-out-after-charges-dropped/71393304
https://reason.com/2026/08/13/flock-cameras-and-license-plate-readers-are-everywhere-can-we-trust-cops-with-them/
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2026/05/24/wrong-woman-jailed-in-deadly-i-4-hit-and-run-after-witnesses-misidentified-suv-color-records-show/ -
#CivilLiberties groups Monday asked #SCOTUS to hear their challenge of a #Texas #law requiring that all #PublicSchools’ classrooms display the #TenCommandments, potentially setting up a landmark clash over the #SeparationOfChurchAndState.
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"A Sacramento immigration law firm claims #ICE agents arrived at its office without a warrant, threatened to break in, and targeted the firm based on a list of addresses allegedly linked to undocumented immigrants":
https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-immigration-law-firm-ice-agents/73441433
#brutality #thuggery #recklessness #HumanRights #CivilLiberties #politics -
Flock cameras, and automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are _inherently_ unlawful, _unavoidably_ contrary to the U.S. Constitution.
Yet another expert's view: youtube.com/shorts/DUQGu...
#USpol #law #CivilLiberties #CivilRights #FourthAmendment #4thAmendment
Ohio professor specialized in ... -
Flock cameras, and automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are _inherently_ unlawful, _unavoidably_ contrary to the U.S. Constitution.
Yet another expert's view: https://youtube.com/shorts/DUQGu4l4a2g
#USpol #law #CivilLiberties #CivilRights #FourthAmendment #4thAmendment
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“France's Constitutional Council on Friday, August 14, struck down the ban on social media for children under 15, a flagship policy of President Emmanuel Macron's second term, calling the measure "a disproportionate restriction" on freedom of expression.
The Council ruled that Article 1 of a law adopted in July, intended to protect minors from the risks associated with the use of social media, "constitutes a restriction that is not appropriate, necessary or proportionate" to the freedom of expression and communication of under-15s.
While recognizing the "constitutional requirement to protect the best interests of the child," the judges said that such a broad ban "could apply to online communication services for which the risks to the health and safety of minors (...) have not been established."”
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Despite 'New' Updates, Flock's Creepy #Cameras Remain Major #CivilLiberties Threat
In response to Flock’s announcement of operational changes, the #ACLU breaks down why many fall short.
#alpr #flock #surveillance #privacy -
Investigations| Jul 30 2026
Canadian universities set up a secret network to crack down on student Palestine demonstrators
Universities in Canada coordinated to spy on and violently clear student encampments. Then, they deleted the evidence
by Euan Thomson & David Slater
#Canada #cdnpoli #FreePalestine #encampments #civilliberties
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Québec’s Bill 9 doesn’t just ban symbols — it bans obligations
#Quebec #Canada #Bill9 #Bill21 #ReligiousFreedom #Law #HumanRights #Islam #CharterRights #Secularism #Faith #SupremeCourt #Politics #QuebecPolitics #CivilLiberties #FreedomOfReligion #Politics
https://the-14.com/quebecs-bill-9-doesnt-just-ban-symbols-it-bans-obligations/ -
For all of you who want to be directly involved with the inner circle of the new European Citizens' Initiative for Universal Basic Income, head over to https://basic-income.eu
Become a volunteer, a supporter, a donor or simply a friendly face keeping everyone motivated until we achieve our goal.
We will make this happen!
#UBI4ME #UBI #UniversalBasicIncome #BetterFuture #politics #Europe #EU #civilliberties #humanrights
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Dawn of our Country's Semiquincentennial at the Lewistown Courthouse. #Semiquincentennial #anniversary #usaanniversary #usacelebration #celebration #history #historical #celebrate #patriotic #jingo #jingoism #civilwar #civilwarmonument #monument #concrete #courthouse #civilliberties #civilrights #scotusiscorrupt #potusiscorrupt #flotusiscorrupt #corruption #corruptioningovernment #governmentcorruption #EndCitizensUnited
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A quotation from Henry Commager
The Bill of Rights was not written into the Constitution in order to protect governments from “trouble,” but so that the people might have a legitimate method of causing trouble to governments they no longer trusted.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Letter (1971-06-17) to the Editor, New York TimesMore about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #henrycommager #commager #pentagonpapers #billofrights #civilliberties #civilrights #Constitution #dissent #firstamendment #freepress #freedomofthepress #government #petition #protest #thepeople
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Battle of The Beanfield
There are certain moments in modern British history that seem to sit just beyond the edge of official memory. Events that everybody vaguely remembers, yet somehow never quite make it into the comfortable national story we tell ourselves.
The Battle of Orgreave is one. The miners’ strike is another. The poll tax riots. Hillsborough. Brixton. They linger in photographs, old television footage and the memories of those who were there, carrying the uncomfortable reminder that Britain is not always as civilised, measured and orderly as it likes to imagine itself to be.
The Battle of the Beanfield belongs firmly in that category.
Forty years on, it remains one of the most controversial policing operations in modern British history. More than 1,300 police officers confronted a convoy of around 600 New Age Travellers attempting to reach Stonehenge on 1 June 1985. By the end of the day, dozens of people had been injured, hundreds had been arrested and an entire way of life had effectively been marked for destruction.
What happened in that Hampshire beanfield has never been the subject of a full public inquiry. Yet for many people who witnessed the decline of Britain’s traditional industries during the Thatcher years, the images remain painfully familiar.
I grew up in Yorkshire through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. I watched pit villages hollow out. I watched steelworks close. I watched communities that had existed for generations suddenly find themselves described as obstacles to progress. There was a language that emerged during those years. Certain groups became “the problem”. Miners. Trade unionists. Travellers. Alternative communities. Anyone who stood outside the increasingly rigid idea of what Britain was supposed to become.
That is one reason the Battle of the Beanfield still matters.
To understand the confrontation itself, we first need to understand the strange, colourful and often misunderstood world that produced it.
The Stonehenge Free Festival began in 1974. It emerged from the wider countercultural movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining music, environmentalism, spiritual exploration, political activism and communal living. Over the following decade it grew steadily, becoming one of the largest free gatherings in Britain. By the early 1980s thousands of people travelled to Stonehenge each summer to celebrate the solstice. The festival attracted an eclectic mix of punks, bikers, druids, musicians, environmental campaigners, anarchists, hippies and families living on the road.
The people who became known as the Peace Convoy were not a single organisation. They were a loose collection of travellers, festival-goers and alternative communities who spent much of the year moving between free festivals, protest camps and temporary settlements. Some were escaping unemployment. Some rejected consumer culture. Others simply wanted a different way of living. Many travelled in converted buses, coaches, ambulances and vans that doubled as homes.
To their supporters they represented freedom, creativity and resistance to conformity.
To their critics they represented disorder.
By 1984 tensions were reaching breaking point. The Stonehenge festival had become enormous. Estimates suggested attendance reached around 100,000 people. Concerns were raised about damage to the archaeological landscape, litter, unauthorised trading and open drug use. English Heritage, which had recently taken over management of the site, came under increasing pressure to act. Local authorities and police forces were equally determined that the gathering should not continue in its existing form. A High Court injunction was obtained to prevent the 1985 festival from taking place. The state had drawn a line.
On the morning of 1 June 1985, the Peace Convoy left Savernake Forest and began moving towards Stonehenge. Around 140 vehicles carried approximately 600 people. Many were families. Children were travelling alongside adults who had spent years living on the road. They knew there would be police opposition. Few appear to have anticipated what was waiting for them.
Police had prepared extensively.
The miners’ strike had ended only months earlier. During that bitter industrial conflict police forces had developed new methods of coordination, rapid deployment and large-scale public order operations. Senior officers later openly acknowledged that lessons learned during the strike had informed preparations for dealing with the travellers.
A four-mile exclusion zone had been established around Stonehenge. Roadblocks were prepared. Officers from multiple forces were assembled. Some estimates place police numbers at around 1,300. Others suggest even higher figures by the end of the operation.
The convoy encountered its first major roadblock near Shipton Bellinger, several miles from Stonehenge. According to police accounts, some traveller vehicles attempted to push through the blockade and rammed police vehicles. Travellers and independent witnesses tell a very different story. They describe a convoy seeking negotiation before finding itself trapped and surrounded.
Whatever happened during those first moments, the situation rapidly escalated.As vehicles attempted to leave the road and move into adjacent fields, police began smashing windows and making arrests. The convoy became scattered across farmland. Families were separated. Children became lost in the confusion. What followed would become one of the most infamous confrontations in modern British policing.
Television footage remains difficult to watch even now.
Officers in riot gear strike vehicle windows with truncheons. People are dragged from buses and vans. Terrified children can be seen inside shattered vehicles. Journalists and witnesses described police hitting men and women indiscriminately. Several accounts alleged pregnant women and individuals carrying babies were assaulted during the operation. Numerous vehicles that functioned as homes were systematically damaged.
The Earl of Cardigan, whose family owned Savernake Forest and who had followed the convoy on a motorcycle, later provided testimony that proved deeply damaging to official police narratives. He described officers rushing vehicles with drawn truncheons, shouting at occupants and creating scenes of intimidation and violence that contradicted many early police claims.
Journalists present that day reported similar concerns.
ITN footage captured scenes that shocked many viewers. Photographer Alan Lodge later described the event as an ambush rather than a battle. Others argued the very name “Battle of the Beanfield” created a misleading impression of two evenly matched sides. One side possessed riot shields, command structures, communications systems and overwhelming numerical superiority. The other consisted largely of civilians living in vehicles.
By the end of the operation, 537 people had been arrested. It remains one of the largest mass arrests of civilians in modern British history. Most of the charges eventually collapsed or were dismissed.
That fact alone raises uncomfortable questions.
If hundreds of supposedly dangerous lawbreakers had been lawfully apprehended while carrying out serious criminal acts, one might expect hundreds of successful prosecutions to follow. Instead, much of the legal case simply evaporated.
Years later, travellers successfully pursued civil actions against Wiltshire Police. Damages were awarded for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and property damage. One police sergeant was convicted of actual bodily harm arising from the events of that day.
Yet despite these outcomes, there has never been a full public inquiry.
Perhaps that is because the Battle of the Beanfield was about more than Stonehenge.
Looking back now, it feels impossible to separate it from the wider atmosphere of Britain in the mid-1980s. This was a country being transformed at extraordinary speed. Traditional industries were disappearing. Unemployment was soaring in many regions. Entire communities were fighting for survival. Alternative lifestyles increasingly found themselves portrayed as threats to public order rather than expressions of individual freedom.
For many people in mining and industrial areas, there is a recognisable pattern.
First comes the language.
A group is described as troublesome, outdated or undesirable.
Then comes the media narrative.
Then comes the justification.
Then comes the force.
That does not mean every traveller was a saint, any more than every miner was. Human beings are messy. Large gatherings bring problems. Some attendees at the Stonehenge festivals undoubtedly caused damage. Some individuals within the traveller movement undoubtedly committed crimes. A serious historical assessment has to acknowledge that reality. The archaeological concerns surrounding Stonehenge were genuine. Local residents had legitimate complaints. Authorities were entitled to seek solutions.
But none of that explains the scale of what happened on 1 June 1985.
The images of smashed homes, frightened children and riot police advancing across fields continue to disturb because they seem wildly disproportionate. They suggest a state determined not merely to enforce an injunction but to send a message.
And the message was received.
The traveller movement never fully recovered.
Legislation introduced during the following years increasingly restricted nomadic lifestyles and unauthorised gatherings. The Public Order Act 1986 and later the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 created new powers that made life significantly harder for travellers, free festivals and eventually the emerging rave culture.
In many ways the Beanfield became a blueprint. The same language used against travellers would later be applied to ravers, squatters, protesters and environmental activists. Alternative communities were increasingly framed not as citizens exercising freedoms but as public order problems requiring management.
Yet the legacy of the Beanfield refuses to disappear.
Songs were written about it. The Levellers turned it into a folk-punk anthem that introduced a new generation to the story. Hawkwind referenced it. Writers, filmmakers and activists kept returning to it. Every summer solstice the memory resurfaces among those who remember what happened.
Perhaps that is because the Battle of the Beanfield sits at the crossroads of so many larger questions.
Who gets to occupy public space?
Who decides what constitutes a legitimate way of living?
How much power should the state possess when dealing with communities that reject mainstream norms?
And perhaps most importantly of all, what happens when governments begin to see certain groups not as citizens but as enemies?
Forty years later those questions feel remarkably current.
The travellers who set out for Stonehenge in 1985 were not trying to overthrow the government. They were trying to reach a festival. They were trying to celebrate a solstice. They were trying, in their own eccentric and imperfect way, to live differently.
Many paid a heavy price for that.
For those of us who grew up watching pits close, furnaces go cold and communities written off as inconvenient relics of the past, the Beanfield feels like part of the same story. Different people. Different landscape. Different politics perhaps. But the same underlying lesson.
When power decides a group no longer belongs, it rarely begins with dialogue.
It begins with exclusion.
Then comes the roadblock.
Further Reading
Andy Worthington, The Battle of the Beanfield
Christopher Chippindale, Stoned Henge: Events and Issues at the Summer Solstice, 1985
Emma Hallett, BBC News, Summer Solstice: How the Stonehenge Battles Faded
Tony Thompson, The Observer, Twenty Years After, Mystery Still Clouds Battle of the Beanfield
English Heritage, Stonehenge 1977–85: A Dig in Time and a Confrontation
Copyright © Mysterious Times 2026. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from Mysterious Times, except in the case of brief quotations used for review, criticism or scholarly reference.
#1980sBritain #1985Events #AlternativeBritain #AlternativeCommunities #AlternativeLifestyles #BattleOfTheBeanfield #BritishCounterculture #BritishFolklore #BritishHistory #BritishProtestCulture #BritishSociety #BritishSubcultures #CivilLiberties #CivilRights #ContemporaryHistory #CounterculturalHistory #Counterculture #CountercultureHistory #culturalHeritage #CulturalResistance #Druidry #EnglishCountryside #EnglishHeritage #FestivalCulture #ForgottenHistory #FreeFestivals #FreeSpiritBritain #FreedomOfMovement #Hampshire #HiddenHistory #HistoricalAnalysis #HistoricalConflict #HistoricalControversies #HistoricalMysteries #HistoryFeatures #LongReadHistory #LostBritain #MargaretThatcher #MiningCommunities #ModernBritishMythology #ModernFolklore #ModernLegends #MysteriousTimes #NewAgeMovement #NewAgeTravellers #Paganism #PeaceConvoy #PeopleSHistory #PoliceHistory #PoliticalHistory #ProtestHistory #ProtestMovements #PublicOrder #RoadProtestHistory #RuralEngland #SocialChange #SocialCommentary #socialHistory #SocialJustice #SolsticeCelebrations #SolsticeTraditions #StatePower #Stonehenge #StonehengeFreeFestival #StonehengeHistory #SummerSolstice #ThatcherEra #Thatcherism #TravellerMovement #TravellerRights #TravellingCommunities #UKHistory #UndergroundBritain #UnofficialBritain #Wiltshire #WorkingClassHistory #YorkshireHistory -
A quotation from Henry Commager
Who are those who are really disloyal? Those who inflame racial hatreds, who sow religious and class dissensions. Those who subvert the Constitution by violating the freedom of the ballot box. Those who make a mockery of majority rule by the use of the filibuster. Those who impair democracy by denying equal educational facilities. Those who frustrate justice by lynch law or by making a farce of jury trials. Those who deny freedom of speech and of the press and of assembly. Those who press for special favors against the interest of the commonwealth. Those who regard public office as a source of private gain. Those who would exalt the military over the civil. Those who for selfish and private purposes stir up national antagonisms and expose the world to the ruin of war.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 3, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #henrycommager #America #civilliberties #civilrights #corruption #demagoguery #democracy #disloyalty #division #firstamendment #freepress #freespeech #freedomofreligion #freedomofspeech #freedomofthepress #injustice #jingoism #justice #loyalty #loyaltyoath #military #patriotism #publicoffice #religiousfreedom #unAmerican #usvsthem #votersuppression #votingrights #war #warmongering
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This never stops - #ICE agents will be stationed outside #MarineCorps #graduation events in #SouthCarolina. As the U.S. continues to fight the war in #Iran, the Marine Corps has boosted protection measures on bases, requiring everyone to present REAL IDs, #passports or #birthcertificates to access any sites. #civilliberties #democracy #military https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/ice-agents-will-stationed-marine-corps-graduation-events-south-carolin-rcna265941 #democracy #government #politics
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How tight is the #RightToProtest?
From 418 arrests in 1977 to fresh clashes in Sydney: Debate over #Australia’s right to protest continues
"What many may not realise is that the right to protest in Australia is not protected by one simple law. It’s implied in the constitution under freedom of political communication and exists under international human rights law, which Australia has agreed to uphold. Only #Queensland, #Victoria and the #ACT explicitly protect the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of association and freedom of expression. And laws protecting the right to peaceful protest in Australia can be limited."
By Rhiannon Stevens
Sat 14 Feb, 2026" 'The day of the political street march is over,' Joh Bjelke-Petersen declared. 'Don’t bother to apply for a permit. You won’t get one. That’s government policy now.'
"A few weeks later, thousands of people defied then-Queensland premier Bjelke-Petersen’s proclamation and gathered in Brisbane for an #AntiUranium march.
"Ian Curr remembers an intense, unrelenting heat on that day nearly 50 years ago. It was 'boiling hot', the long-time #AntiNuclear activist says. So hot that when protesters sat on the road, arms linked in passive defiance, it was 'not very pleasant' because the tarmac was scorching. Other memories emerge from the haze: lines of police, three and four deep, surrounding protesters; a woman with tears streaming down her face who had just heard her partner was arrested.
"Fear swirled up spines and into the air. These were the years after the #Springbok tour #AntiApartheid protests had been violently suppressed.
"That afternoon in October 1977, 418 people were arrested and Queensland’s 'RightToMarch' movement quickly entered a new era. #CivilLiberties demonstrations continued until the ban — originally enacted to curb a growing anti-nuclear movement — was lifted two years later.
"Ross Gwyther was exhilarated seeing some 5,000 anti-nuclear marchers turn out that day. But the sensation was tempered by an 'intense fear because there’d already been many cases of #PoliceBrutality'.
"These were extraordinary times, as the Fitzgerald Inquiry would later attest. For Gwyther and many of the #ratbags, #activists and #CivilLibertarians of Queensland it was a defining moment. That era in Brisbane radicalised a lot of people, Gwyther says, who embarked on a lifetime of 'political activism, both through parliamentary politics or by grassroots politics'.
"These moments mark you, Curr says, turning to the events in Sydney this week. 'The people who saw that violence in Sydney, in 40 or 50 years, they will not forget it. In the same way I do not forget police brandishing batons and punching and throwing people into paddy wagons. It’s something you do not forget.'
"In the aftermath of last Monday’s protest against Israeli President #IsaacHerzog’s visit in #Sydney, shaky, chaotic videos began to emerge online. A man lies on tram tracks, restrained by officers who punch him 18 times. #Protesters are pushed, they struggle to their feet, crowds stumble around them. Men bowed in prayer are wrenched from their worship by police. A grandmother is in hospital with a spinal injury. She says she feared being suffocated in a stampede as she lay on the ground in agony. She alleges she was pushed over by police."
Read more:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-15/right-to-protest-fragile-police-powers-gaza-herzog/106331356#ACAB #AustraliaPol #AusPol #CriminalizingProtest #Australia #AntiProtestLaws #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #UraniumMines #WorldPol #IsraeliWarCrimes
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The Holiday Odor Trap
Filed Under: Odor Politics
Most people assume the holiday rush is measured in miles, delays, and crowded kitchens. The truth is uglier. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, the country sees a spike in traffic stops that begin with the same old claim, that an officer “smelled marijuana.” Courts have spent years separating odor from impairment, yet the loophole stays wide open. It gives law enforcement a way to turn ordinary travel into a fishing expedition.
Some states have ruled that smell alone cannot justify a search, while others treat it as fair game. The public rarely knows the difference. Drivers heading to see family pass through counties where a scent on a jacket is enough to escalate a stop. Officers use it because it works. It softens the ground for questioning, it expands their authority, and it moves the conversation away from what actually matters, which is whether the driver is safe.
Most holiday travelers are not impaired. They are tired, stressed, and trying to get where they are going. cannabis lives in homes and clothes the same way kitchen spices do. A single smoked joint on Thanksgiving Eve can leave a jacket scented for days. Officers know this. Courts know this. Yet people still get pulled aside because the scent is treated like a confession.
The pattern is predictable. The officer leans in, mentions odor, then asks questions that have nothing to do with driving. People feel cornered and start explaining things they never needed to explain. That is the moment a simple stop becomes a long delay on the side of the road.
Holiday traffic and police practice collide in a way that punishes normal life. The country is filled with legal markets. People buy edibles and flower for the same reason they buy wine. They visit friends. They share a moment on the porch. The plant is legal in half the country, but its scent is still treated like probable cause.
The holiday season should not require a legal strategy, yet that is where the country stands. Smell is treated as suspicion even in states that claim to respect legalization. People drive through a patchwork of laws that shift from town to town. What protects a driver in one county is ignored in the next.
The courts may eventually close the gap. Legislatures may force consistency. Until then, drivers are left with common sense and preparation. The safest choice is to remove the excuse entirely. Officers cannot prove what they cannot smell, and they cannot escalate what they cannot justify.
Practical Tips For Holiday Drivers Who Want To Avoid The Odor Trap
Keep jackets and bags outside the smoking area. Most odor claims come from clothing, not the person.
Use clean gear during travel days. People who vape during the holiday tend to switch to something low profile. This is where PAX vaporizers fit naturally because they keep the ritual clean and contained.
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by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 10, 2025December 9, 2025WHY WEED SHOPS DON’T HIRE HEADS
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by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 9, 2025December 8, 2025advertisement
Do not store old flower containers or ash in the car. Empty jars and forgotten tubes hold scent long after they are cleaned.
Seal anything with a smell. A simple airtight pouch prevents the easiest excuse an officer can use.
Travel clear headed. Some readers prefer relief without impairment during long drives. Endoca CBD has become a steady choice because it stays consistent.
Know the rules in the state you are driving through. Odor is not probable cause in some states, yet it remains a tool in others.
Keep conversations simple and respectful. You do not need to explain your holiday habits.
Remember that odor is not evidence of impairment. Courts have split them apart. Officers blend them because it expands their authority.
©2025 Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This content is the exclusive property of Pot Culture Magazine and may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews.
Affiliate Disclosure: Pot Culture Magazine may receive commissions from purchases made through affiliate links such as Cheech & Chong and Endoca. This helps support our independent journalism without affecting our editorial standards.
F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
Federal lawmakers quietly inserted language into a budget bill that could criminalize countless cannabis seeds based solely on the THC profile of the parent plant. The move threatens growers, breeders, medical cultivators, and the genetic diversity that built modern cannabis culture. This seismic shift puts control of the plant’s future in the hands of federal…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 8, 2025December 7, 2025Reefer Report Card Vol. 26: Nov 29-Dec 06
This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes the scromiting panic, Washington’s latest hemp crackdown, and the Supreme Court inching toward a decision that could rewrite prohibition. Patients and veterans stayed stuck in outdated systems while global reform moved forward with hesitation. Panic got headlines. Weed got scapegoated. The world kept smoking anyway.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 6, 2025December 6, 2025American newsrooms turned a simple overuse incident into a nationwide scare. Scromiting headlines exploded overnight, burying real CHS facts under panic and misinformation. Pot Culture breaks down what actually happened, why the media keeps confusing overuse with syndrome, and how fear travels faster than truth when cannabis is involved.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 5, 2025December 4, 2025Omaha Tribe Legal Cannabis vs Nebraska Prohibition
Nebraska still criminalizes cannabis, yet the Omaha Tribe has built a legal system with real rules, licensing, and a working industry on sovereign land. This update shows how the Tribe keeps moving forward while the state stays rooted in prohibition. The border is now the flashpoint. Step across it with cannabis and everything changes.
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 4, 2025December 3, 2025Virginia just greenlit its long-delayed cannabis market. But is the launch plan built to last, or is it already showing cracks? The blueprint promises equity, protection from corporate takeover, and sustainable access. Advocates say it could be the first real test of Southern legalization. Pot Culture breaks it all down with facts, receipts, and no…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 3, 2025December 2, 2025Holiday Survival with Cannabis, Not Chaos
The holidays hit harder than they should. Travel turns messy, families spark arguments, and the season demands cheer nobody actually feels. Cannabis becomes the counterweight, steadying people through the noise while alcohol keeps causing wreckage. This feature cuts through the lies, the pressure, and the culture, showing how the plant helps people survive December without…
by Pot Culture MagazineDecember 2, 2025December 1, 2025#blackFriday #cannabis #cannabisCommunity #cannabisCulture #cannabisRights #cannabisSmell #cannabiscommunity #carSearches #civilLiberties #consumerSafety #courtRulings #crime #holidayTravel #lawEnforement #legalMarkets #marijuana #marijuanaNews #odorLaws #odorPolitics #police #policeStops #potCultureMagazine #roadsideEncounters #search #searchPractices #smell #thanksgiving #trafficStops #travelPrep
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Suicide of the West: How Western Culture is Being Eroded
https://beitmenotyou.online/suicide-of-the-west-how-western-culture-is-being-eroded/
#Politics #PrivacySafty #Censorship #CivilLiberties #EUDigitalPolicy #FreeSpeech #GovernmentOverreach #MigrationCrisis #OnlineSafetyAct #Surveillance #WesternCivilization #WesternValues #WorldEconomicForum -
#Texas just gutted #FreeSpeech on #college #campuses. Is your state next?
New laws in the Lone Star State will silence dissent and undermine #faculty authority.
By Laura Benitez and Jonathan Friedman
July 14, 2025"As thousands of students return to college campuses this fall, they will find themselves stepping into an environment reshaped by political and ideological mandates. Across the country, state legislators have been racing to exert new influence over free expression in higher education. Now, Texas has surged to the forefront, closing its 2025 legislative session by passing two alarming laws that take effect Sept. 1.
"Signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June, the new laws amount to a stunningly aggressive legislative crackdown on campus protest (#SB2972) and academic shared governance (#SB37) at public colleges and universities. The laws will not just silence dissent and undermine faculty authority in Texas; they provide a blueprint for how to dismantle academic freedom and chill speech on campus state by state.
"Only a few years ago, conservative lawmakers railed against college 'free-speech zones,' arguing that liberal administrators were muzzling students on the rest of campus. In 2019, Texas legislators joined other states in taking action by declaring all outdoor spaces on public campuses open for protest and speech by students, employees and the general public.
"Now, some of the same legislators have done an about-face. The campus protest law actually directs public colleges and universities to implement a version of free-speech zones and adopt sweeping limitations on protests. #Encampments? Banned. #Megaphones or #speakers during 'class hours'? Forbidden — if anyone claims your 'expressive activity' is one that 'intimidates others' or 'interferes' with an employee’s duties. Even wearing a mask during a protest — something many do for safety — could land a student or employee a disciplinary hearing resulting in 'sanctions.' And any expressive activity between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. is off-limits altogether."
Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/14/texas-campus-free-speech/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2LuBD#TexasProtestLaws #ProtestLaws #ProtestLawsTexas #Project2025 #AntiProtestLaws #Authoritarianism #SilencingFreeSpeech #Censorship #AcademicFreedom #AntiMaskLaws #Fascism #USPol #CivilLiberties #Texas
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Police arrest 83-year-old at silent protest against Palestine Action ban
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyGOmqk_XsQ
“we are losing our civil liberties”
Police in London have arrested an 83-year-old woman for holding a sign expressing support for Palestine Action, the activist group was recently proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000.
#London #Protest #CivilLiberties #AbuseOfPower #Terrorism #WarCrimes #AntiGenocide #SilencingDissent #PalestineSolidarity #StandUpFightBack #CriminalGovernment #UK
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Last week, the Secretary of #Defense authorized the mobilization of up to 700 DoD #military personnel in support of U.S. #Immigration and Customs Enforcement #ICE in #Florida, #Louisiana, and #Texas. #democracy #dueprocess #civilliberties #legalresearch #immigration #deportation #immigrants
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2/2 US Protest Law Tracker - Updates to #Federal #Protest Laws introduced in 2025.
Latest updates: Jun. 10, 2025 (US Federal)
#S982: Potential penalties for #universities based on protest #policies
Would make federal accreditation of colleges and universities—and thus their access to federal funds—contingent on the institution’s policies on responding to protests. Under the “No Tax Dollars for College #Encampments Act of 2024,” universities would have to regularly disclose how they respond to campus “incidents of civil disturbance,” defined to include “a demonstration, riot, or strike,” and their accreditation would be linked to such policies and practices. The bill sponsor cited #ProPalestine campus protests as motivation for the bill; he introduced the same bill in 2024.
(Full text of bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/982)
Status: pending
Introduced 12 Mar 2025.
Issue(s): Campus Protests, Riot#HR2065: Harsh penalties for protesters who conceal their identity
Would make it a federal crime, subject to a lengthy prison sentence, to wear a #mask or other disguise while protesting in an "intimidating" or “oppressive” way. Under the “Unmasking Hamas Act,” anyone "in disguise, including while wearing a mask" who "injures, oppresses, threatens, or intimidates any person" exercising their constitutional rights could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison as well as fined. The bill does not define “oppress,” nor does the bill specify what is meant by “disguise,” other than that it includes a “mask.” The bill’s substantive provisions are identical to the “Unmasking Antifa Act,” which lawmakers have introduced in several previous sessions. Sponsors of the bill made clear that it is a response to pro-Palestine protesters, some of whom have worn masks to avoid retaliation.
(Full text of bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2065/text?s=1&r=64&q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22actionDate%3A%5C%22119%7C2025-03-11%5C%22+AND+%28billIsReserved%3A%5C%22N%5C%22+OR+type%3A%5C%22AMENDMENT%5C%22%29%22%7D)
Status: pending
Introduced 11 Mar 2025.
Issue(s): #FaceCoveringS 937: Barring student protesters from federal loans and loan forgiveness
Would exclude student protesters from federal financial aid and loan forgiveness if they commit any crime at a campus protest. The bill would cover someone convicted of “any offense” under “any Federal or State law” that is “related to the individual’s conduct at and during the course of a protest” at a college or university. As such, a student convicted of even a nonviolent, state law misdemeanor at a campus protest, such as failing to disperse, would be deemed ineligible for federal student loans; they would also be ineligible for having existing federal loans forgiven, cancelled, waived or modified. The sponsor of the bill said it was a response to pro-Palestine protests at colleges and universities.
(Read full text of bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/937)
Status: pending
Introduced 11 Mar 2025.
Issue(s): Campus Protests, Limit on Public Benefits#HR1057: Penalties for protesters on interstate #highways
Would create steep new penalties for protesters deemed to be “deliberately delaying traffic,” “standing or approaching a motor vehicle,” or “endangering the safe movement of a motor vehicle” on an interstate highway “with the intent to obstruct the free, convenient, and normal use of the interstate highway.” The new federal offense would be punishable by up to $10,000 and 15 years in prison—a far harsher penalty than is the case under many states' laws, which generally already criminalize walking or standing on the highway. The bill provides an exception for “any lawful activity” authorized by federal, state, or local law. However, it could still seemingly cover far more than “blocking” the interstate, including a peaceful protest on the shoulder of an interstate or a convoy-style, driving protest that slowed traffic. The sponsor of the bill made clear that it was in response to protesters. The same bill was introduced as HR 7349 in 2024.
(Full text of bill: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1057)
Status: pending
Introduced 6 Feb 2025.
Issue(s): #TrafficInterference#ProtestLaws #protestors #protestors_in_prison #CivilLiberties #Fascism #USA #USPol #NoKings #Project2025 #TrumpIsAFascist
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#anncavoukian #CanadianCharter #CanadianConstitutionFoundation #canadianlaw #civilliberties #constitutionalrights #digitalsurveillancecanada #distracteddriving #dominicnaimool #dronepolicing #dronesurveillance #joshdehaas #KingstonPolice #lawenforcementtechnology #legalchallenge #personalprivacy #policedrones #policetechnologyethics #privacyrights #publicsafety #Section8 #surveillancecontroversy #trafficenforcement #unreasonablesearchandseizure
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The Jewish Institutional Reaction to #MahmoudKhalil's Abduction
#JewishCurrents' Arielle Angel, Mari Cohen, & Alex Kane discuss how American Jewish groups have reacted to the arrest of the #PalestineSolidarity activist
https://jewishcurrents.org/the-jewish-institutional-reaction-to-mahmoud-khalils-abduction
#USpol #USpolitics #JewishAmericanPolitics #FreeMahmoudKhalil #StudentProtests #RightToProtest #FreeSpeechOnCampus #StateRepression #CivilLiberties #Palestine #Gaza @palestine
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https://www.thenation.com/article/society/project-2025-doj-justice/
#TheNation 7 June 2024
Under #Trump, the #DOJ Will Become the Legal Wing of the #MAGAMovement
by #ElieMystalShould Trump win, #conservatives have a plan to use the #DeptOfJustice to make their darkest desires legal, whilst removing the legal means to STOP THEM
#USAShitShow #Election2024 #Project2025
#farright #Christofascists #fascism #whitesupremacism #rightwing #MAGA #GOPieceOfShit #ComstockActRights at risk
#LGBTQIAplus :newpride: :anqueer_flag:
#SolidarityWithPalestine🇵🇸 , etc
#RightsForAllGenders
#CivilLiberties
#ClimateChangeIssues -
#Gaza in Context: A Collaborative Project
#Students Rising: Dismantling Reprression, Imagining Futures Part 4A Conversation with Students & Activists on the Front Lines
1) https://youtu.be/a4ZIPjEhVTw
2) https://youtu.be/8w9U9TySY60
#Palestine #PalestineSolidarity #GazaSolidarity #GazaSolidarityEncampments #StudentActivism #StudentProtests #CampusActivism #PalestineActivism #USpol #USpolitics #FreeSpeech #StateRepression #PoliceViolence #CivilLiberties #Jadaliyya @palestine
