News & Commentary
Only in America: 16-Year-Old Locked Up for the Rest of His Life
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By By Steven M. Watt, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU Human Rights Program
How I'm Celebrating Gloria Steinem's Birthday
What would happen, for instance, if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?
The answer is clear - menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event:
Men would brag about how long and how much.
Boys would mark the onset of menses, that longed-for proof of manhood, with religious ritual and stag parties.
Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea to help stamp out monthly discomforts.
Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. (Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of commercial brands such as John Wayne Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-dope Pads.)
By By Diana Scholl, Communications Strategist, ACLU
Government Agency Proposes Datamining Individuals' Financial Transactions
The endless tide of NSA revelations has made us all too familiar with government agencies’ hunger for personal information, especially in the context of national security. But we’re also seeing surveillance systems being set up by smaller, less newsworthy agencies to monitor our day-to-day activities.
By By Sandra Fulton, ACLU Washington Legislative Office
30 Years a Prisoner
12 Years a Slave was painful to watch, perhaps the only comfort being that you could walk out of the movie theater into 2014, where such cruelty is ostensibly a thing of the past.
By By Angel Harris, Staff Attorney, ACLU Capital Punishment Project
Sensible Policy, Not Smaller Handcuffs
You may have heard recently about Dontadrian Bruce, the Mississippi high-school student who was almost expelled for holding up the number "3" with his fingers in a photo taken by his science teacher. Dontradian is number 3 on the football team – and despite his being an A/B student with no history of serious disciplinary problems, the school said he was making a gang sign.
By By Nicole Kief, ACLU & Jennifer Bellamy, Washington Legislative Office
On the Agenda: March 24-28
Have you tuned into cable news lately? I have, and based on what I've seen, the only thing happening in the world these days is the ongoing saga of Malaysian Airlines MH370. While the story is fascinating and heartbreaking, it's a bit hard to remember that there are other important stories out there. Like how Duke's loss totally busted my March Madness bracket.
By By Meghan Groob, Media Relations Associate, ACLU
What's the Difference Between Force Feeding and Waterboarding?
The Department of Defense this month publicly released its newest rationalization for the abusive force-feeding program at Guantánamo Bay. In this latest memo on hunger strike policies, the abusive force-feeding program is referred to as "medical intervention."
By By Zak Newman, Washington Legislative Office, ACLU
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