AntiWar.com | Publicly criticizing the Iraq War has been the pretext for a lot of flimsy government actions, but does hearing someone publicly criticize the occupation rise to the level of probable cause? That’s the question that the Supreme Court will be considering in a new case agreed upon today. The plaintiff, Steven Howards, was arrested by the Secret Service in 2006 after he told Vice President Dick Cheney, who was at the Colorado mall for a hand-shaking event, that he thought the Iraq War was “disgusting.”

Consortium News | U.S. intelligence says the terror threat from al-Qaeda is receding, but Congress keeps on expanding the scope of this “war” so as not to look “weak on terror,” now adding new military powers that could be used against American citizens, writes ex-FBI agent Coleen Rowley. The political, military industrial, corporate class in Washington DC continues to re-make our Constitutional Republic into a powerful, unaccountable Military Empire.

ChuckBaldwinLive.com | It is well documented that many of America’s Founding Fathers had a very real and deep-seated distrust of standing armies–and for good reason. They had just fought a costly and bloody war for independence, which had been largely predicated upon the propensities for the abuse and misuse of individual liberties by a pervasive and powerful standing army (belonging to Great Britain) amongst them.

Salon.com | A bill co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin and GOP Sen. John McCain  (S. 1867) — included in the pending defense authorization bill — is predictably on its way to passage. It is triggering substantial alarm in many circles, including from the ACLU – and rightly so. But there are also many misconceptions about it that have been circulating that should be clarified, including a possible White House veto.

Reuters |  American citizens are not immune from being treated like an enemy if they take up arms against the United States, the CIA general counsel said on Thursday. CIA General Counsel Stephen Preston was responding to a question at an American Bar Association national security conference about the killing of Americans overseas without presenting evidence of wrongdoing.

TheNewAmerican.com | “I cannot comprehend how my teenage grandson was killed by a Hellfire missile,” a grieving grandfather complained to Time magazine, “how nothing was left of him except small pieces of flesh. Why? Is America safer now that a boy was killed?”

PrisonPlanet.com | The Senate last night codified into law the power of the U.S. military to indefinitely detain an American citizen with no charge, no trial and no oversight whatsoever with the passage of S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act.

CNET | Just what is Carrier IQ's software doing on your phone? And do you really need to worry about it? A 25-year-old systems administrator in Connecticut set off a media firestorm after discovering mysterious software on his Android that appeared to be recording his activities. Software maker Carrier IQ says the software is designed to give carriers usage and other stats so they can improve the network and service. But the researcher argues that the software represents a serious privacy threat because sensitive data is being logged without user permission.

NYT | Julian P. Heicklen, a 79-year-old retired chemistry professor, has often stood on a plaza outside the United States Courthouse in Manhattan, holding a “Jury Info” sign and handing out brochures that advocate jury nullification, the controversial view that if jurors disagree with a law, they may ignore their oaths to follow it and may acquit a defendant who violated it.

RT | There is a bill in the US Senate called the National Defense Authorization Act and it could be voted on as early as this week. This bill gives the president the authority to indefinitely imprison American citizens without a court hearing, both domestically and abroad. Senate Bill 1867 is bringing the battlefield to the homeland. Alex Jones, radio host of The Alex Jones Show, tells us what this could mean for America’s future.

Raw Story | States that have passed initiatives to legalize medical marijuana have also seen a decline in traffic fatalities, according to a new study out this week by the Institute for the Study of Labor.

Washingtonsblog.com | I noted last year: According to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General (via AP), the FBI spied on an anti-war rally in Pittsburgh sponsored by a nonviolent anti-war and anti-discrimination group, pretending it was preventing terrorism:

Youtube | Col. Douglas Macgregor, (Ret.), explains why provisions of the NDAA fly in the face of Constitutional principles and what's really needed to reform our military and bring it into the 21st century.

CNET | Confidential guidelines telling police how to access Facebook, Microsoft, Blizzard, and AOL user accounts have appeared online this week. The files, known colloquially as law enforcement guidelines, typically tell police what types of user data are stored, how long they're retained, and what procedures to use to gain access to them.

Yahoo | As if life wasn't already tense enough for Americans who can't pay their debts, collection agencies are now taking advantage of archaic state laws to have some debtors arrested and sent to jail. More than one-third of US states allow debtors to be arrested and jailed, says Jessica Silver-Greenberg in the Wall Street Journal.