The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
Every citizen needs to realize and protect their civil rights. Fighting for these rights is an absolute necessity, especially when it comes to the protection of freedom, equality, or integrity. Any kind of violation of civil rights regarding gender, race, or religion may result in severe consequences.
January 12,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, This is a society-wide phenomenon. An anti-Trump mania has millions in its grip. Just not enough millions to outnumber the people openly or secretly supporting him and (obviously) voting for him! An assistant dean of a county college was publicly busted ripping out a neighbor’s pro-Trump lawn signs prior to the general election in 2016, so lawless, biased anti-Trump behavior was never limited to people on the fringe of society. Seemingly well-balanced or respectable citizens who hate Trump can’t even control themselves according to age old law, much less modern political norms. Neither this pro-Trump commenter, nor most other fellow Trump supporters in northern New Jersey, could keep pro-Trump lawn signs unmolested in the grass for more than a few hours from late 2015, when Trump was beginning to dominate the field vying for the Republican nomination for president, straight through to the November 2016 general election. Clearly, freedom of speech, and of political association, have been de facto suspended in this country.
By Sara Jerde | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 13, 2016 at 1:16 PM, updated December 13, 2016 at 2:36 PM
MAHWAH — The state agreed with Ramapo College that an associate professor violated workplace discrimination laws when she made a crude comment.
The associate professor, identified only by the initials “M.V.” in the state civil service commission’s decision, was accused of calling her colleague a “fat b—-” during a Law and Society Convening Group meeting.
The female professor who made the complaint filed a complaint in 2014, stating that she was subjected to sex and gender discrimination and further retaliation after “M.V.” called her a “bully” and a “tattletale.”
It’s not clear if M.V. has been formally punished for her comments by the college. A college spokeswoman did not immediately have a comment.
An investigation by the college’s Office of Affirmative Action and Workplace Compliance determined that M.V. violated state policy with her crude comment, but that there was nothing to substantiate the claim of retaliation.
The professor who made the complaint argued that her work has been affected because she has not been able to attend the meetings when M.V. is present.
May 31, 7:36 PM EDT
BY ERICA WERNER AND KEN DILANIAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Security Agency will lose its authority at midnight to collect Americans’ phone records in bulk, after an extraordinary Sunday Senate session failed to produce an 11th-hour deal to extend the fiercely contested program.
Intelligence officials warned that the outcome amounts to a win for terrorists. But civil liberties groups applauded the demise, at least temporarily, of the once-secret post-Sept. 11 program made public by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which critics say is an unconstitutional intrusion into Americans’ privacy.
The program is all but certain to be revived in a matter of days, although it also looks certain to be completely overhauled under House-passed legislation that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reluctantly blessed in an about-face Sunday evening. With most senators opposed to extending current law unchanged, even for a short time, McConnell said the House bill was the only option left other than letting the program die off entirely. The Senate voted 77-17 to move ahead on the House-passed bill.
But no final action was expected before Sunday’s midnight deadline after McConnell’s fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul served notice that he would assert his prerogatives under Senate rules to delay a final vote for several days.
“This is what we fought the revolution over, are we going to so blithely give up our freedom? … I’m not going to take it anymore,” Paul declared on the Senate floor, as supporters wearing red “Stand With Rand” T-shirts packed the spectator gallery.
McConnell countered: “We shouldn’t be disarming unilaterally as our enemies grow more sophisticated and aggressive, and we certainly should not be doing so based on a campaign of demagoguery and disinformation launched in the wake of the unlawful actions of Edward Snowden.”
Web Freedom Is Seen as a Growing Global Issue
By VINDU GOEL and ANDREW E. KRAMERJAN. 1, 2015
SAN FRANCISCO — Government censorship of the Internet is a cat-and-mouse game. And despite more aggressive tactics in recent months, the cats have been largely frustrated while the mice wriggle away.
But this year, the challenges for Silicon Valley will mount, with Russia and Turkey in particular trying to tighten controls on foreign-based Internet companies. Major American companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google are increasingly being put in the tricky position of figuring out which laws and orders to comply with around the world — and which to ignore or contest.
On Wednesday, Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, signed the latest version of a personal data law that will require companies to store data about Russian users on computers inside the country, where it will be easier for the government to get access to it. With few companies expected to comply with the law, which goes into effect Sept. 1, a confrontation may well erupt.
The clumsiness of current censorship efforts was apparent in mid-December, when Russia’s Internet regulator demanded that Facebook remove a page that was promoting an anti-government rally. After Facebook blocked the page for its 10 million or so Russian users, dozens of copycat pages popped up and the word spread on other social networks like Twitter. That created even more publicity for the planned Jan. 15 event, intended to protest the sentencing of Aleksei A. Navalny, a leading opposition figure.
