SHAHID BUTTAR, via Amy E. Ferrer, media at bordc.org
Buttar is executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, which is organizing a news conference today at the National Press Club on the National Defense Authorization Act. He said today: “By naming ‘the protester’ as its ‘Person of the Year,’ Time magazine recognized the immense value of everyday people raising their voices to share their concerns with their neighbors and elected leaders. That recognition is timely in the U.S., with the anniversary of the Bill of Rights looming tomorrow, alongside a vote on the National Defense Authorization Act and its draconian provisions for indefinite and arbitrary military detention for U.S. citizens — and quite likely activists, in particular, given the various ways in which non-violent protest have been treated as terrorism by our federal, state and local governments. … The NDAA would give the U.S. military the power to imprison U.S. citizens indefinitely and without trial or any proof that they committed a crime. The NDAA threatens the First Amendment, as well as the Fifth and Sixth, and removes the judiciary from its constitutional role. It is blatantly unconstitutional and should be rejected by the White House and Congress to reflect the transpartisan concerns of the American people.”

Grassroots coalitions in more than a dozen cities are holding anti-NDAA Bill of Rights Day events this week, including Boston, New York City, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Tacoma, WA. A map listing the events, including time and place details, is available here.

BRUCE FEIN, bruce at thelichfieldgroup.com
Fein was deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and is author of “Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy.” He said today: “The NDAA proves that a people of sheep invites a government of wolves.” He will be among the participants at today’s news conference. Others include David Cole, professor at Georgetown University Law Center; author of “Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror,” and Sue Udry, executive director, Defending Dissent Foundation. For details, see.