Pirate's Cove

When one thinks about bat guano insane webzines, Salon is usually one of the first recipients of that thought. Salon is so barking moonbat that I often wonder if they do it on purpose, that they’re simply trolling the Internet, that this their articles are over-the-top on purpose. Then we get to Slate, which acts almost like Salon’s little sister/brother (I wonder if Slate can provide just a few more ad popups?)

The 10 Worst Civil Liberties Violations of 2014

The world may not actually be falling apart—but it feels like America is. From police brutality and botched executions to voter suppression and election corruption, 2014 was a terrible year for civil liberties in the United States. Protests were quelled by military-grade weapons in scenes worthy of a banana republic, and the divide between the rich and the poor in the freedom and justice they are afforded is Dickensian in its scope. While the country has evolved on marriage equality, it often appears to be backtracking on just about every other advance we have made, from the racial and gender progress of the 1960s to the most basic principles of the criminal justice system. Below, we’ve listed the top 10 civil liberties nightmares of 2014 in no particular order. Here’s hoping this list is harder to put together next year.

Some are more hoot-worthy than others

9. The Supreme Court invites our corporate bosses to takes away our birth control.

In the court’s Hobby Lobby decision, the same five conservatives ruled that “closely held corporations” had a religious right to deny female employees certain forms of birth control, if those employers believe the device or method causes abortions. It matters not at all whether the device or method in fact causes abortions. Writing for the court, Justice Samuel Alito downplayed the notion that women’s health and autonomy are “compelling interests,” leaving female employees’ intensely private health care choices at the mercy of their bosses. Alito reasoned that employees could rely on the government’s birth control accommodation granted to religious hospitals and colleges —then the court immediately suggested that the accommodation might be against the law, too.

I love this line of thought that far Left Progressives push, as it bears no relation to reality, and it portrays women as poor little things that need a big Progressive to watch out for them, that women cannot afford to spend a few bucks on condoms and birth control pills, that they can only do this under the Big Hand Of Government. It’s a very sexist position held by Progressives.

2. Abortion clinic closures.

Roe v. Wade is still good law in America. Abortion is still legal. And yet throughout the country, abortion clinics are being shuttered at record rates. According to this report from Bloomberg last month, the rate of clinic closures is unprecedented. Since 2011, legislative reforms, protests, and a series of onerous and costly new regulations have ensured that more clinics than ever are closing their doors. One in 10 clinics have shut or stopped providing the procedure since 2011. Four states, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, have only a single clinic now in operation.

It’s very upsetting for Progressives that abortion clinics are now obliged to have the same standards as other medical facilities, and that they will actually be inspected regularly. I thought Progressives cared about women’s health? It’s very telling that so many clinics have closed because they cannot be at the same standards as a typical medical clinic.

1. Grand juries reviewing police misconduct.

2014 has been a terrible year for relations between cops and citizens. A spiral of mistrust has led to a spiral of brutality and violence that exploded with the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley, and John Crawford, among others. Then Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot and killed two Brooklyn police officers, claiming he was acting in the name of those who had been killed by police. This deplorable, appalling act of alleged retribution sparked a new wave of recriminations and accusations.

One fundamental problem with the criminal justice system that came to light this fall illuminates the reason there is such distrust between police and communities of color: We should not continue to use the grand jury system to hold police to account.

So, let me get this straight: they’re upset about what they perceive as botched justice, so in order to address this “justice denied”, they want to eliminate the Fifth Amendment Rights of all police officers “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury…”.

There are several other things they are Very Upset about, such as 7. The great torture shrug. Say, whatever happened to that torture report? After a brief outrage, the issue has vanished like a fart in the wind. Then there’s 6. Voting rights, for which they cannot provide any factual evidence that voter ID and other instituted measures reduced voting.

In fairness, they do have a point regarding 4. The Ferguson protest crackdown (cops going overboard with use of military implements and tactics early on) and 3. Civil forfeiture, especially taking away property without even proving that a crime has occurred.

What they forgot are the continued revelations as to the CIA spying on Americans. And the many civil rights violations of Obama and his administration. These are issues that affect a huge swath of Americans.

Crossed at Right Wing News.