Dear Troublemakers, Amid the very dark clouds emanating from Washington, particularly the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision on Trump’s Muslim ban and the administration’s baffling interpretation of it (Grandma isn’t a bona fide relation?), we see activists creating silver linings across

Dear Troublemakers, What makes a community safe? Is it police officers decked out in military gear patrolling the streets, watching over peaceful protests, or raiding homes of people suspected of low level crimes? Is it expanding the federal death penalty?

Dear Troublemakers, At a recent hearing on Russian interference in the election, the ignorance of many members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was on full display. This is the Committee that was established in 1977 after revelations

Dear Troublemakers, Pundits are falling all over themselves proclaiming Trump’s speech “presidential,” but we will not be distracted by soaring rhetoric that cloaks racist and repressive policies. This is what he said: “Each American generation passes the torch of truth,

Donald Trump has wasted no time in unleashing an assault on civil liberties and truth, has he? But if he thought the deluge would leave us stunned, he was wrong. Tens of thousands of people have taken to  the streets.

Dear Troublemakers, Thanks to all who contributed to our #GivingTuesday fundraising drive! There is tremendous hunger in cities, towns, and counties to organize to protect civil liberties in the face of the incoming administration. We are scrambling to support all

Dear Troublemakers, I have lots to update you on since our last newsletter, so let’s dig in! On the surveillance front: we had several meetings in October with members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to educate them and

Dear Troublemakers, Isn’t it time for President Obama to end his War on Whistleblowers? And we don’t mean just the villification of Ed Snowden, whose case has gotten renewed attention thanks to the new movie about him. We mean all

Dear Troublemakers, I hope you’ve had a wonderful summer under starry skies (and the watchful eyes of our government). It seems like every week a new story of outrageous surveillance hits the papers. Of course, we’ve been hard at work

Dear Troublemaker, Whistleblower Chelsea Manning is in the news again. You’ll remember that six years ago Private Manning courageously exposed some of the worst abuses of the Iraq war and US diplomacy, bringing down the wrath of the U.S. government

Dear Troublemakers, The hateful rhetoric and fear-mongering has reached toxic levels here in Washington and around the country, as politicians on both sides of the aisle seek to score political points by promoting legislation and policies that trample due process

Dear Troublemakers, The FBI has built a colossal biometric database that contains the most intimate personal details (photos of your face, your tattoos, your iris, your fingerprints) of millions of people, many, if not most, of whom have never even

Forty-eight years ago today, when he was just 39, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. I wonder what more he could have accomplished had he not been killed. And I also can’t help but think how much more the civil