Coleman co-sponsors troubling, under-the-radar domestic terrorism bill

"Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman is the Senate co-sponsor of a little-noticed domestic anti-terrorism bill that could carry us several steps closer to the good old days of the House Un-American Activities Committee and Joe McCarthy. The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (S.1959) is currently in committee after passing the House last year with no media scrutiny and no real debate by a 404-6 margin. The primary sponsor of the Senate bill is fellow Republican Susan Collins of Maine.

"The purpose of the measure is to create a permanent federal commission to scrutinize radicals and would-be terrorists, and to fund a series of university-based centers devoted to ferreting out and tracking the dangerous subversives among us. The latter would operate under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security. A handful of critics from the blogosphere and the legal world have called out the measure on grounds that it its vague mandate amounts to criminalizing dissent. But even in the civil liberties demi-monde, it seems to be making little impact.

"One reason the bill has attracted so little attention: It's a thoroughly bipartisan push that actually originated in the Democratic party ...
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Thought Crime Bill

Alert Congress: Violent Radicalization & Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act fails to meet Constitutional Benchmarks

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Categories: terrorism, war-on-terror, surveillance, liberty, authoritarianism, usa