Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act is Dead
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I got this email from a friend and it is worth sharing with you all.
Dear Haitham,
I do know if you were aware of this impending law before the United States Congress. It was a chilling one. But it seems to have been throttled before becoming law here. I think this would interest your readers, especially in Europe and the Mideast, who were not aware of the bill or of its demise.
Best wishes,
John
Thank you, John!
And here is the news:
Dear Friends,
Have you heard the news? The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act is dead. And I think grassroots opposition killed it.According to an obscure paragraph in CQ Politics on December 14, the Senate version of the bill “died a quiet death” in early December. What’s amazing to me (or really, shouldn’t be a surprise, I guess) is how well hidden this is. I could find no mention on Thomas, or anywhere else on the web (please help me if I’ve missed something). Thanks to our friends at the ACLU for alerting us to this obscure paragraph!
The wildfire of grassroots opposition to this “thought crime” bill, which apparently stopped it cold, is receiving no credit. And because this lone CQ article is the singular reference to the death of the bill, articles churning up opposition to HR 1955 and S 1959 continue to populate the Internet. In a case of odd timing, the Committee on Homeland Security issued a “Fact Sheet” (PDF) declaring each point of opposition to the bill to be myth. The “Fact Sheet” was released (according to Atlantic Free Press) on December 17, though the bill had expired in the Senate earlier in December.
Continue reading…
Here’s the CQ Politics article. You’ll have to dig deep to find the reference to Violent Radicalization, or use “Find” and search on “radical” to find it more easily.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-000002643554For more information on the bill that is currently resting in peace, see BORDC’s legislation page:
http://bordc.org/threats/legislation/index.php#intelligenceMore news from this week, including a new film documenting U.S. sanctioned torture, Jose Padilla’s $1 lawsuit against torture-enabler John Yoo, renewed opposition to REAL ID, CIA videotapes, Guantanamo, warrantless wiretapping, and White House destruction of evidence (email backups) is available from the BORDC website and news page: http://bordc.org and http://bordc.org/news/
The grassroots cannot be stopped!
Links:
CQ Politics paragraph on Violent Radicalization & Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act’s “quiet death”: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-000002643554
Atlantic Free Press article:
http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/3117/81/Committee on Homeland Security’s Fact Sheet:
http://homeland.house.gov/sitedocuments/hr1955factsheetpdf.pdfHR 1955:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.01955:S 1959:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01959:More links and articles on BORDC Legislation Page: http://bordc.org/threats/legislation/index.php#intelligence
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3 Comments on “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act is Dead”
meanwhile…”Padilla acted with terrorist aim, U.S. judge says”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080115/ts_nm/usa_padilla_dc;_ylt=AvGiSnNAVSw8SYj8SgJn98ZZ.3QA
“The judge also found that two co-defendants, Adham Hassoun and Kifah Jayyousi, were eligible for tougher sentences under the terrorism enhancement provision, so they too could be sentenced to life in prison.
Hassoun, a 45-year-old Lebanese-born Palestinian computer programmer was accused of recruiting jihadists, or holy warriors — including Padilla — at a Florida mosque. Jayyousi, a 46-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan and U.S. Navy veteran, wrote a newsletter that denounced atrocities against Muslims.
Both said they supported legitimate charities that aided Muslims who were under attack.”
What I read was “Muslims bad, Christians good”, “Arab name bad, Christian name good”.
What ever happened to judging people by who they are and not what they are.
Bill Robinson and I co-authored that Baltimore Sun “Thought Police” op-ed last November - one of the very few articles that the mainstream media has printed attacking the Harman/Collins “Violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism” bill. Robinson was in D.C. last week and called on the staff of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. No one there is yet ready to declare the bill dead despite the CQ report. Our fear? Once the election is over the bills will be revived in one form or another and pushed through in a bipartisan juggernaut. That will be more likely if McCain is victorious but don’t rule out such a bill under a Democratic president.
Ralph E. Shaffer
Professor Emeritus, history
Cal Poly Pomona
reshaffer@csupomona.edu