From Hope Marston at the Bill of Rights Defense Committee:
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" 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.
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.
For more information on the bill that is currently resting in peace, see BORDC's legislation page.
More 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.
