Rashida Tlaib et al: Capitol attack should not be used as a pretext for reducing civil liberties

[lpetrich]

Tlaib Leads Colleagues to Urge Civil Liberties Be Protected in Wake of Capitol Attack | Representative Rashida Tlaib
noting
NationalSecurityOpp.pdf

Rashida Tlaib and her colleagues have sent a letter to the House and Senate leadership, urging them not to support any new legislation that reduces civil liberties.

“The Trump mob’s success in breaching the Capitol was not due to a lack of resources at the disposal of federal law enforcement, and in this moment we must resist the erosion of our civil liberties and Constitutional freedoms, however well-intentioned proposed security reforms may be,” the lawmakers wrote. “We firmly believe that the national security and surveillance powers of the U.S. government are already too broad, undefined, and unaccountable to the people.”

The letter described some previous initiatives.

• The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) – As we all know, the HUAC – born as a reaction to the rise of pro-Nazi, fascist elements in the U.S.in the lead up to Second World War – quickly turned a blind eye to domestic fascist activity and used its powers to target a wide variety of Civil Rights and leftist leaders, such as the Honorable Coleman A.Young and Langston Hughes.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) – In the 1950s and 1960s the FBI’s COINTELPRO domestic surveillance program, sold as a non-partisan program to target extremism on both ends of the political spectrum, failed to take serious action against the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) while targeting a wide array of Black, Indigenous, environmentalist, anti-war, leftist and peaceful protest groups with illegal wiretaps, warrantless searches, and other illegal, repressive activities. ...
• The USA Patriot Act – In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, Congress hastily passed this disastrous legislative attack on Americans civil liberties in the name of national security that significantly undermined many of the reforms that stemmed from the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (Church Committee) investigation into – amongst other scandals – COINTELPRO. ...
• The FBI’s Assessment Authority and Operation IRON FIST – Following the birth of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2014 in response to the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, the FBI has consistently utilized its “assessment” authority to target BLM activists for surveillance and harassment. ...

RT and her cosigners then proposed:

1. Fully investigate the violent January 6, 2021 attack in a non-partisan, transparent manner.
2. Commit today to release all findings from any investigations into the attack to the public.
3. Recognize white nationalist and QAnon groups as the national security threat that they are and take action to combat them through existing laws, powers and regulations.
4. Recognize that the reason that the threat posed by these groups hasn’t already been adequately addressed is because of a deeply ingrained unwillingness and/or hesitancy to act against these groups within all three branches of government, especially in the law enforcement community, including the Department of Justice, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and intelligence agencies, not the result of insufficient domestic national security and/or surveillance powers.

The letter was cosigned by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Jamaal Bowman, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Mondaire Jones, Barbara Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley.

This will also apply to increasing militarization of domestic police forces. AOC in a recent town hall stated that the problem with the Capitol attacks was not inadequate police forces overall, but the lack of deployment of existing ones -- ones that are sometimes in excess of what is needed in many places. She has elsewhere stated that we don't need new laws, but enforcement of existing ones.

 

[lpetrich]

Sign now to Congress: Don’t expand national security powers at the expense of our rights

In the wake of the attack, some members of Congress are pushing to expand our domestic terrorism laws. But such measures will further erode our human and civil rights.

Every time our country has increased its national security powers, they’ve been used to disproportionately target, surveil, and criminalize already-over-policed communities of color and religious minorities—the same marginalized groups targeted by white nationalists.

Sign now to tell Congress: Don’t expand national security powers at the expense of our rights. Use existing tools to hold white nationalists and insurrectionists accountable.

Democracy for America on Twitter: "We’re joining @RashidaTlaib in the fight against expanding national security powers at the expense of our rights. Congress must use existing tools to hold white nationalists and insurrectionists accountable. Sign the petition here: (link)" / Twitter
then RT herself again:
Rashida Tlaib on Twitter: "We don't need new laws. What happened on January 6th is already illegal and can be addressed with current criminal statutes. There needs to be political will and courage in law enforcement agencies to take on white supremacy and white nationalist terrorism seriously." / Twitter

 

[Derec]

Translation: she wants this scrutiny to only apply to the Right/white extremists, and never to Left/black/Islamist extremists that she belongs to and/or is allied with.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Tlaib Leads Colleagues to Urge Civil Liberties Be Protected in Wake of Capitol Attack | Representative Rashida Tlaib
noting
NationalSecurityOpp.pdf

Rashida Tlaib and her colleagues have sent a letter to the House and Senate leadership, urging them not to support any new legislation that reduces civil liberties.

The letter described some previous initiatives.

RT and her cosigners then proposed:

1. Fully investigate the violent January 6, 2021 attack in a non-partisan, transparent manner.
2. Commit today to release all findings from any investigations into the attack to the public.
3. Recognize white nationalist and QAnon groups as the national security threat that they are and take action to combat them through existing laws, powers and regulations.
4. Recognize that the reason that the threat posed by these groups hasn’t already been adequately addressed is because of a deeply ingrained unwillingness and/or hesitancy to act against these groups within all three branches of government, especially in the law enforcement community, including the Department of Justice, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and intelligence agencies, not the result of insufficient domestic national security and/or surveillance powers.

The letter was cosigned by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Jamaal Bowman, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Mondaire Jones, Barbara Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley.

This will also apply to increasing militarization of domestic police forces. AOC in a recent town hall stated that the problem with the Capitol attacks was not inadequate police forces overall, but the lack of deployment of existing ones -- ones that are sometimes in excess of what is needed in many places. She has elsewhere stated that we don't need new laws, but enforcement of existing ones.

Seriously??!! Sorry, but our legislators were dramatically underprotected. Those bubbas would have had no chance against a larger better trained force.