Sorry Glenn, George Floyd was not murdered by the “Minneapolis Police Department.” He was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer. By saying what you did, you 1) impugned all of the men and women of that department, 2) lessen Chauvin’s personal culpability, 3) play into the narrative of institutional/ structural racism. You should edit that.
Fantastic article but I will disagree on one point
"affirmatively defending the stifling of political speech is, at least for now, still a bridge too far for the group"
This lack of interest in the central free speech issues of the day is bad enough, but the ACLU has sued a woman in Washington state to block a FOIA request.
The ACLU has spent decades pushing for these types of public disclosure laws, used them extensively to try and hold various governments to account, published information to educate private citizens on how to use those laws to good effect. This woman went on the ACLU's website, followed their directions on how to file a FOIA request and then was sued by the ACLU of Washington state to try and prevent the disclosure of information on state run prisons. The ACLU has actively started fighting its traditional role. They're not just sitting on their hands and offering empty platitudes; they have crossed the line into helping the state keep private citizens in the dark about how their government functions because this deals with trans rights in a way that does not line up with their position.
Wanna get rich? Have no soul Start or join a neutral non profit or charity group which purports to work for the public good. Forge personal relationships with business, political and media elites and wait for the money to roll in.
Get Shell Oil to sponsor your green movement, Nike to sponsor your human right movement and tech monopolies to sponsor free speech advocacy. Just one catch - you will need to form a few blind spots (hopefully no one will notice) and remain silent when it counts.
"[Cullors] denounced the Post reporting as "frankly racist, and sexist.”"
Mostly off topic, but I'm so sick of this reflexive response whenever a woman and/or non-white on the political left is subjected to scrutiny. It's one more way of saying off limits - shut up!
I mean, the whole Facebook thing - I deleted my account in early 2017 after the 2016 shitshow there, and it was obvious where it was going. Isn't that the correct response here? Vis a vis the ACLU, isn't that also a lost cause? The organization is not coming back from where it has gone.
What you are seeing is why lifelong conservatives have never, and will never trust the liberal media.
A lot of people would call me a fucking hippie. I worked in the environmental industry in the early 90's, well before it was cool to be green. Everything they say in the media, on the left, is almost 100% BULLSHIT.
The right has its own myriad problems, but the left does not know how to do anything but lie in the media and frame narratives 24/7.
Just google Walter Duranty. Google Jayson Blair. Google Brian Williams. The list goes on and on and on. Liars and PR shills, ever since 1996.
As a long time-admirer of the ACLU, it has been very sad to see them devolve into an identity-politics advocacy group. Their rapid and drastic metamorphosis has left a void in the fabric of US society (despite the existence of FIRE and other, smaller, similarly-minded groups). I foolishly held out hope that the departure of Trump to Mar-a-lago and authoritarian, identity-obsessed "liberals" to brunch would see the ACLU pivot back to its core mission, but unfortunately the opposite has occurred. Their ongoing, bizarre obsession with transgender "issues" during a period of time when free speech itself is under concerted attack by virtually ever power structure in the country is sickening and astounding. Just as bad as ACLU's silence on these critical issues, has been their proactive, such as their defense of privileged, bigoted asshole Oumou Kanoute, who falsely defamed several low-wage workers at Smith college as racists. Very simply, the ACLU bears absolutely no resemblance to the organization it once was, despite the lingering presence of some older lawyers who may still (silently) support their founding principles. When I get their solicitation for funds these days, it goes right into the trash.
With courage in such short supply among left-leaning organizations, this sort of tawdry behavior isn't too surprising. Like the NYTimes and WaPo, ACLU has determined that they make more money by giving a slice of their audience what they want instead of sticking to their foundational principles. Given the epic grift of the #BLM organization and its leaders, I wonder which of these groups will be the first to break the wall of silence and shout that the emperor has no clothes.
The ACLU lost its integrity years ago, and yes, it was over BLM/Antifa. It has refused to counter Antifa's suppression of free speech for years. Now it's an apologist for BLM. Liberals have chosen power politics over constitutional law, from the White House to the grassroots, they are corrupting the system.
I'm wondering, Glenn, if you have any thoughts on alternative organizations that are, or can, take up the mantle of the ACLU's prior uncompromising defense of free speech. The group Defending Rights and Dissent seems as if it is in the right ballpark, and yet I don't see combatting internet censorship getting much emphasis from it. There's the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, but last time I checked, it also seemed to shy away from confronting censorship that targets liberal orthodoxy. I pose the question because I'm wondering whether a new organization needs to be created. As a constitutional lawyer myself, I would be willing to support such an endeavor if there does not appear to be a better alternative.
I guess I'm suffering from some ailment lately because I find myself having a very cynical take on most of the bullshit passing for discourse and public policy.
The American CIVIL LIBERTIES Union - have not been supporting civil liberties for years now. It's another grifting organization, like most corporations pitting ethnicities and values against each other trying to capitalize on division.
Governors have become local dictators, and the law is a fucking joke. I truly appreciate the angst of those who are triggered by all the infringements on the First Amendment, but frankly -you assholes have this coming. For decades you've shit on the 2nd Amendment and the DUE PROCESS OF LAW and now it's biting you in the ass. Suck it.
I had assumed the following story was an April Fools joke:
"In the policy, updated April 1, the ACLU says that it may share personal information "with communications platforms, such as Facebook and Mother Jones," and "may also share ACLU supporter information with organizations that display our advertisements or petitions to their subscribers ...
However, after reading this article by Mr. Greenwald, I am not so sure. It would be useful to ask a spokesperson for the Anti-Civil Liberties Union to comment.
These people literally called for the banning of speech while Donald Trump was president and could decide what speech was permissible. The idea that THEIR speech could be wrongthink never once occurred to them, which sort of shows you how much forethought they have.
With rare exception, the ACLU doesn't even defend the 1st amendment or civil rights when the State directly crushes and incarcerates people in clear violation of the Constitution and the 1st amendment: (Julian Assange, Sex workers, Title 9 reform to allow those accused to face and respond to their accuser). Given that they now turn a blind eye to State abuse, ignoring censorship by private organization must be easy.
To the endless frustration of those groups who have their civil rights violated by the State on a routine basis, the ACLU will often send a performative tweet of support that, but will not make a single call, spend a single dime or a single attorney hour to actually defending these people from the State.
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Center for Constitutional Rights, FIRE and the EFF do far more actual work to defend our civil rights and freedom of expression on a fraction of the budget the ACLU collects to provide only performative support since Ira Glasser stepped down as the 5th executive of the ACLU in 2001.
These are the groups we should support financially and otherwise.
After being a proud and card carrying ACLU member for 20 years, I cancelled my membership when ACLU failed to stand up to prosecution of Assange.
Sorry Glenn, George Floyd was not murdered by the “Minneapolis Police Department.” He was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer. By saying what you did, you 1) impugned all of the men and women of that department, 2) lessen Chauvin’s personal culpability, 3) play into the narrative of institutional/ structural racism. You should edit that.
Fantastic article but I will disagree on one point
"affirmatively defending the stifling of political speech is, at least for now, still a bridge too far for the group"
This lack of interest in the central free speech issues of the day is bad enough, but the ACLU has sued a woman in Washington state to block a FOIA request.
https://apnews.com/press-release/pr-newswire/sports-north-america-correctional-systems-prisons-social-affairs-9b0213b0096cf3a906bd80e9490087a7
The ACLU has spent decades pushing for these types of public disclosure laws, used them extensively to try and hold various governments to account, published information to educate private citizens on how to use those laws to good effect. This woman went on the ACLU's website, followed their directions on how to file a FOIA request and then was sued by the ACLU of Washington state to try and prevent the disclosure of information on state run prisons. The ACLU has actively started fighting its traditional role. They're not just sitting on their hands and offering empty platitudes; they have crossed the line into helping the state keep private citizens in the dark about how their government functions because this deals with trans rights in a way that does not line up with their position.
Wanna get rich? Have no soul Start or join a neutral non profit or charity group which purports to work for the public good. Forge personal relationships with business, political and media elites and wait for the money to roll in.
Get Shell Oil to sponsor your green movement, Nike to sponsor your human right movement and tech monopolies to sponsor free speech advocacy. Just one catch - you will need to form a few blind spots (hopefully no one will notice) and remain silent when it counts.
"[Cullors] denounced the Post reporting as "frankly racist, and sexist.”"
Mostly off topic, but I'm so sick of this reflexive response whenever a woman and/or non-white on the political left is subjected to scrutiny. It's one more way of saying off limits - shut up!
I mean, the whole Facebook thing - I deleted my account in early 2017 after the 2016 shitshow there, and it was obvious where it was going. Isn't that the correct response here? Vis a vis the ACLU, isn't that also a lost cause? The organization is not coming back from where it has gone.
What you are seeing is why lifelong conservatives have never, and will never trust the liberal media.
A lot of people would call me a fucking hippie. I worked in the environmental industry in the early 90's, well before it was cool to be green. Everything they say in the media, on the left, is almost 100% BULLSHIT.
The right has its own myriad problems, but the left does not know how to do anything but lie in the media and frame narratives 24/7.
Just google Walter Duranty. Google Jayson Blair. Google Brian Williams. The list goes on and on and on. Liars and PR shills, ever since 1996.
As a long time-admirer of the ACLU, it has been very sad to see them devolve into an identity-politics advocacy group. Their rapid and drastic metamorphosis has left a void in the fabric of US society (despite the existence of FIRE and other, smaller, similarly-minded groups). I foolishly held out hope that the departure of Trump to Mar-a-lago and authoritarian, identity-obsessed "liberals" to brunch would see the ACLU pivot back to its core mission, but unfortunately the opposite has occurred. Their ongoing, bizarre obsession with transgender "issues" during a period of time when free speech itself is under concerted attack by virtually ever power structure in the country is sickening and astounding. Just as bad as ACLU's silence on these critical issues, has been their proactive, such as their defense of privileged, bigoted asshole Oumou Kanoute, who falsely defamed several low-wage workers at Smith college as racists. Very simply, the ACLU bears absolutely no resemblance to the organization it once was, despite the lingering presence of some older lawyers who may still (silently) support their founding principles. When I get their solicitation for funds these days, it goes right into the trash.
With courage in such short supply among left-leaning organizations, this sort of tawdry behavior isn't too surprising. Like the NYTimes and WaPo, ACLU has determined that they make more money by giving a slice of their audience what they want instead of sticking to their foundational principles. Given the epic grift of the #BLM organization and its leaders, I wonder which of these groups will be the first to break the wall of silence and shout that the emperor has no clothes.
The ACLU lost its integrity years ago, and yes, it was over BLM/Antifa. It has refused to counter Antifa's suppression of free speech for years. Now it's an apologist for BLM. Liberals have chosen power politics over constitutional law, from the White House to the grassroots, they are corrupting the system.
I'm wondering, Glenn, if you have any thoughts on alternative organizations that are, or can, take up the mantle of the ACLU's prior uncompromising defense of free speech. The group Defending Rights and Dissent seems as if it is in the right ballpark, and yet I don't see combatting internet censorship getting much emphasis from it. There's the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, but last time I checked, it also seemed to shy away from confronting censorship that targets liberal orthodoxy. I pose the question because I'm wondering whether a new organization needs to be created. As a constitutional lawyer myself, I would be willing to support such an endeavor if there does not appear to be a better alternative.
I guess I'm suffering from some ailment lately because I find myself having a very cynical take on most of the bullshit passing for discourse and public policy.
The American CIVIL LIBERTIES Union - have not been supporting civil liberties for years now. It's another grifting organization, like most corporations pitting ethnicities and values against each other trying to capitalize on division.
Governors have become local dictators, and the law is a fucking joke. I truly appreciate the angst of those who are triggered by all the infringements on the First Amendment, but frankly -you assholes have this coming. For decades you've shit on the 2nd Amendment and the DUE PROCESS OF LAW and now it's biting you in the ass. Suck it.
I had assumed the following story was an April Fools joke:
"In the policy, updated April 1, the ACLU says that it may share personal information "with communications platforms, such as Facebook and Mother Jones," and "may also share ACLU supporter information with organizations that display our advertisements or petitions to their subscribers ...
https://news.yahoo.com/aclu-says-shares-user-data-134345916.html
However, after reading this article by Mr. Greenwald, I am not so sure. It would be useful to ask a spokesperson for the Anti-Civil Liberties Union to comment.
These people literally called for the banning of speech while Donald Trump was president and could decide what speech was permissible. The idea that THEIR speech could be wrongthink never once occurred to them, which sort of shows you how much forethought they have.
Great article Mr. Greewald.
With rare exception, the ACLU doesn't even defend the 1st amendment or civil rights when the State directly crushes and incarcerates people in clear violation of the Constitution and the 1st amendment: (Julian Assange, Sex workers, Title 9 reform to allow those accused to face and respond to their accuser). Given that they now turn a blind eye to State abuse, ignoring censorship by private organization must be easy.
To the endless frustration of those groups who have their civil rights violated by the State on a routine basis, the ACLU will often send a performative tweet of support that, but will not make a single call, spend a single dime or a single attorney hour to actually defending these people from the State.
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Center for Constitutional Rights, FIRE and the EFF do far more actual work to defend our civil rights and freedom of expression on a fraction of the budget the ACLU collects to provide only performative support since Ira Glasser stepped down as the 5th executive of the ACLU in 2001.
These are the groups we should support financially and otherwise.
It's really sad what has happened to the ACLU.