The Right of the People, Even At the Airport

Arguing that "bizarre does not equal disruptive," a judge has ruled in favor of a Virginia man who sued TSA officials who handcuffed, arrested and interrogated him after he stripped down at airport security to reveal the core of the Fourth Amendment written on his chest. Though a dissenting judge argued Aaron Tobey’s "antics" created "a diversion that nefarious actors could have exploited to dangerous effect," Judge Roger Gregory ruled free speech "cannot be suppressed solely because the government disagrees with it." "Mr. Tobey engaged in a silent, peaceful protest using the text of our Constitution... Our Forefather Benjamin Franklin warned (that) those ‘who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.’"

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A Long and Proud Tradition: Sierra Club's New Embrace of Civil Disobedience

In the wake of last week's announcement by The Sierra Club it was endorsing civil disobedience for the first time in 120 years to fight the Keystone pipeline, more from director Michael Brune on "following in the hallowed footsteps of Thoreau." No word yet on just what the group plans to do. "Either we leave at least two-thirds of the known fossil fuel reserves in the ground, or we destroy our planet as we know it."

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A Line Has Been Crossed: Anonymous Hacks DOJ

Launching "Operation Last Resort," Anonymous twice hacked the Justice Department's Sentencing Commission to protest the death of Aaron Swartz and a legal system "wielded less and less to uphold justice, and more and more to exercise control (and) power." The group turned the website into a video game and threatened to release DOJ data if the government fails to reform flawed cyber crime laws that allow almost unfettered prosecutorial power. "Anonymous has observed for some time now the trajectory of justice in the United States with growing concern...We have seen the erosion of due process, the dilution of constitutional rights, the usurpation of the rightful authority of courts by the discretion of prosecutors."

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