donal brown

A secretive division of the Department of Homeland Security investigated some 20 journalists to obtain their travel records and financial and personal information. In spite of an internal investigation that resulted in referrals for criminal prosecution of the investigators targeting journalists, no charges were filed, and the division called Customs and Border Protection is still operating. (Yahoo! News, December 11, 221, by Jana Winter) The Associated Press is asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

A New York Times investigation showed that serious abuses by the nation’s nursing homes were not including in a federal rating system set up to provide information to people about the safety and quality of the homes. Over 2700 “dangerous incidents” were omitted in entering the data in the ratings system run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (C.M.S.). (The New York Times, December 10, 2021, by Robert Gebeloff, Katie Thomas, and Jessica

Texas politicians are pressuring public school librarians to remove books from their libraries, in the words of Republican lawmaker Matt Krause, books that would cause “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of [a student’s] race or sex.” Eight hundred and fifty books were on his list. In response a San Antonio school district banned 414 books from its libraries. (The Atlantic, December 8, 2021, by Emma Sarappo) Krause’s list features

A Texas federal judge ruled that a law restricting social media platform regulation of user content violated their First Amendment rights. (Ars Technica, December 2, 2021, by Jon Brodkin) Texas legislators passed the law to keep Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from censoring conservative content. They were especially motivated by the suspension of former President Donald Trump in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. (USA Today, December 2, 2021, by Jessica Guynn)

Arrests of journalists around the world reached a new high of 293 in 202, up from 280 in 2020. Writes Arlene Getz of Committee to Protect Journalists, December 9, 2021, “Emboldened autocrats are increasingly ignoring due process and flouting international norms to keep themselves in power. In a world preoccupied with COVID-19 and trying to prioritize issues like climate change, repressive governments are clearly aware that public outrage at human rights abuses is blunted and