Looking ahead to 2015 in civil liberties

December 30, 2014 4:41 PM

"some of these prognostications may seem a wee bit hyperbolic, a bit paranoid, maybe even a little nutty" What will American civil liberties look like in 2015? If things take a turn for the worse, they might look a little familiar. Slate also explored this terrain today, but not at such length.

Balko (MeFi's own) previously on the blue.

posted by doctornemo (17 comments total)

Yeah, I read this article this morning. It is a ragehole.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:51 PM on December 30, 2014

> In the name of “preparation,” school officials will stage terrifying active-shooter scenarios on children in which cops and other community leaders storm school buildings with guns. In some cases, neither parents nor children will be notified ahead of time that the scenario is a drill.

This...will not happen.
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:16 PM on December 30, 2014

They sort of have.
posted by halifix at 5:25 PM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

This...will not happen.
Somebody didn't read to the end of the article.
posted by 445supermag at 5:27 PM on December 30, 2014 [4 favorites]

See? You can have commenters with opposite opinions who both don't read the article fully!

sorry
posted by halifix at 5:33 PM on December 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

I hope nobody ever tries an active-shooter scenario on people who are not expecting it, for the actor's sake if nothing else. I think at least some people will react by charging the 'shooter', throwing things, returning fire with guns they're technically not supposed to have, etc.
posted by Mitrovarr at 5:42 PM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

43 instances of "Surely this…." God Bless America.
posted by ob1quixote at 5:46 PM on December 30, 2014 [4 favorites]

Yet another. WTF?
posted by five fresh fish at 11:24 PM on December 30, 2014

What a fucked up country.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:23 AM on December 31, 2014

Police will detain and handcuff some poor guy because of . . . Nickelback.

I'm okay with this. *clicks the link* Oh, nevermind, that's fucked up.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:02 AM on December 31, 2014 [5 favorites]

"Consider these questions: What if the government asserted the power to engage in major military operations without congressional authorization, secretly eavesdrop on private conversations, collect and store data on innocent citizens, use lethal drone strikes against civilians outside war zones, and conceal evidence of torture and war crimes even from Congress itself? Would that be a constitutional crisis?"
from Garrett Epps
posted by doctornemo at 10:30 AM on December 31, 2014 [3 favorites]

Yep, I was about ten items down, without clicking any links, and suddenly thought..."these aren't projections or predictions, this shit has already happened."

But I kind of follow this stuff.
posted by telstar at 4:00 PM on January 1, 2015

Over 1000 people killed by cops in 2014, FBI Trying to Falsely Report Actual Numbers
posted by jeffburdges at 9:48 PM on January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!

Feh.
posted by homunculus at 12:59 PM on January 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Man Turning In Stray Dog to Animal Shelter, Killed by Police After Refusing to Show ID
posted by jeffburdges at 7:03 PM on January 3, 2015

Arrest video : Man holds up hands and lies down — and cops still kick him in the face and taser him
posted by jeffburdges at 5:14 AM on January 5, 2015

Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD 10 Times Every Single Day
posted by jeffburdges at 8:11 AM on January 11, 2015