Research

FBI Secret Surveillance and Secret Policies

If history is any guide, lax oversight and secrecy are a recipe for abusive political intelligence gathering by the FBI. Pervasive official secrecy continues to threaten our national values under the Obama administration, in spite of a declared…

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Connecticut State Police Keep Tabs on Greens

Connecticut state troopers’ surveillance of Green Party activists serves as the latest warning of whether we should allow government to conduct political intelligence and engage in “preventive” policing. A May 31, 2009 article in the Hartford…

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Remembering the New Right

Political Strategy and the Building of the GOP Coalition

A color image of Paul Weyrich, a black and white image of Morton Blackwell, and a color image of Richard Viguerie.

When the Washington Post ran an obituary for Paul Weyrich on its front page last December, the casual reader could be forgiven for not recognizing the name. But those who followed conservative politics inside Washington probably approved of the…

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Battle over Labor Law Reform Shows True Power of the Right

A sign that says "On strike for living wages"

Some people may enjoy watching the Right thrash around trying to find its way in the Obama Age, but I take the election results and their aftermath as a sign of a country dangerously divided. There really was a stark difference in the major party…

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Toxic to Democracy

Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, & Scapegoating

In his 2009 report, Toxic to Democracy: Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, & Scapegoating, former PRA Senior Analyst Chip Berlet traces the roots of conspiracism throughout U.S. and European history and challenges it as a form of…

Guest Commentary: Killing for Life Returns

The murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas raises again the question of what it means to defend life through killing. When militant antiabortionists began bombing clinics and shooting doctors in the 1980s and 1990s, law enforcement officials looked…

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Provocation Masquerading as Anti-Terror Policy?

A word of advice to activists and people praying at mosques. If a guy offers you a free stinger missile, he’s probably an informer. If he offers you free IEDs, he’s probably an informer. If he asks you to pledge an oath to his foreign terrorist…

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More Informants, More Fear

On May 17, the Des Moines Register reported that the FBI planted an informant in an Iowa City “anarchist collective” planning to “disrupt the Republican convention.” Those advocating undercover surveillance say the government should spy upon…

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Homeland's Lexicon of "Extremism"

In May 2009, Homeland Security released — and quickly retracted — a “Domestic Extremism Lexicon,” one in a series of reference aids designed to provide operational and…

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Defending Convention Dissent in St. Paul

On May 15, 2009, Judge Wilson of the Ramsey County District Court granted RNC defendant Sean McCoy’s motion for a new trial. So far, St. Paul has prosecuted ten defendants on 34 charges without a single conviction involving arrests during the…

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Boston Police Snoop at Celebs - Who's Next?

So Boston police troll the Criminal Record Information system to find personal information about local movie stars and sports heroes. We know that from a state audit released on May 6, 2009.

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Von Mises Rises from the Scrap Heap of History

Corporate coffers are spilling out tens of millions of dollars to block the Employee Free Choice Act and keep unions from having a fair chance at organizing workers. Their propagandists claim this confrontation is a “firestorm bordering on…

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Government Sets Sights on Extremists

Hot Air Leads to Violence? Homeland Security apparently thinks so. The Department of Homeland Security recently warned law enforcement that disenchanted, angry Americans are like kernels of corn under heat, ready to pop at any time.

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Thought Police Patrol Virginia

If the Virginia Fusion Center (VFC) isn’t careful, people might think its intelligence analysts are America’s thought police. Take a look at its 2009 Threat Assessment, which talks about “subversive thought” as a marker for violent terrorism and…

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Getting the Facts on Guantanamo Detainees

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released on April 3, 2009, 75 percent of voters say that safety is more important than fairness in determining what countries the US government sends freed Guantanamo inmates. While some element of N.I.M.B.Y.…

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Card Check, FDR, and Right-Wing History

The Obama administration will face stiff opposition to the pro-union “Card Check” legislation he promised to support, known officially as the Employee Free Choice Act. Opponents have launched a campaign that highlights the lack of union democracy,…

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Tying the Not

How the Right Succeeded in Passing Proposition 8

A group of people holding signs that read "Vote No on Prop 8"

On June 26, 2008, 1,000 ministers, mostly from evangelical congregations, met by conference call to discuss tactics for passing Proposition 8, a ballot initiative to ban same sex marriage in California by amending the state constitution.

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New Tactics and Coalitions Take Aim at Planned Parenthood

A sign that says "I stand with planned parenthood"

For the leaders and workers of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, attacks from right-wing foes are nothing new. Almost from the moment that the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, the federation and its clinics have been in the…

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Scott Lively’s Quotes

Selections from Scott Lively’s presentations at a conference in Kampala, Uganda in March 2009

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Texas Fusion Center Casts Wide Net

The North Central Texas Fusion Center (NCTFC) recently issued a Prevention Awareness Bulletin alerting law enforcement to beware of “significant” threats posed by a Muslim civil rights group, the antiwar organization ANSWER, and International Action…

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