#aclu

[branddmc]

Ignorance is not bliss... it allows a false history to thrive.

~Jeff Robinson~

[rebuiltzine]

Every Drive Is Now a Record. Maryland Hasn’t Reckoned With What That Means. Lee Schmidt and Crystal Arrington, whose cars were tracked extensively by Norfolk's automated license plate readers, challenged this surveillance as a Fourth Amendment violation. After a federal ruling upheld the city’s practices, a recent Supreme Court decision weakened Norfolk's defense. Maryland's automated license plate reader laws face scrutiny in light of these developments.... https://mdbaynews.com/2026/07/15/maryland-license-plate-surveillance-fourth-amendment/

[rebuiltzine]

Maryland Built a Legal Wall Against ICE Surveillance Data. Is Anyone Checking If It Holds? Maryland has embraced automated license plate readers (ALPR) with minimal public backlash, contrasting with Virginia's intense scrutiny over similar technology. While Maryland has implemented laws to protect data from federal immigration enforcement, concerns remain about the use and oversight of these systems, highlighting an underlying tension between public safety and privacy....

[sage-sips]

Brew If Forward: Thank you for the inspiration @optimisticsoap !!

View On WordPress

[pintadorartist]

HELP SAVE AMERICAN SCIENCE, SEND A COMMENT IN 5 DAYS!!!!!

The Office of Management and Budget has written a proposal named  200.340(a)(2), that if implemented, will kill science in not just the country but the world.

In simple terms, proposal  200.340(a)(2)  would allow any federal agency can terminate any active grant at any time, for any reason, as long as it determines the award no longer serves its priorities or "the national interest as they exist at the time of the termination." There is no objective standard for what those terms mean, no requirement to demonstrate harm, and no appeal right. More broadly this will have impacts beyond higher education including state and local municipalities, non-profits…any organization that receives federal grant funding.

A researcher three years into a five-year NIH grant can lose funding mid-study because a political appointee issues a new priority memo. The agency needs only to provide a brief written rationale. Participants will be abandoned. Staff must be let go. Data may be lost.

We have FIVE days to comment against this change, below you can leave a comment alongside resource and templates to help you make your comment.

We also need to call, email, and fax our representatives to let them know of this awful attack on science and waste of taxpayer funds, the resource link also has resources for what to say to your legislator alongside a link to find them as well.

Leave a comment here:

https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/OMB-2026-0034-0001

Resources to help make your comment:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O_A3Iv261Jzo7kwxHuK-_oAx7E4_kZyNzQil0JTvkyo/edit?usp=sharing

Find your legislators here:

https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Fax them here:

https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php

[justinspoliticalcorner]

ACLU Set To Spend $25 Million Boosting Abortion, Voting Rights In Midterms

The group is targeting state Supreme Court and legislative races, as well as referenda, in nine states.

Kevin Robillard at HuffPost:

The American Civil Liberties Union is set to spend $25 million boosting abortion and voting rights in the midterm elections, the group told HuffPost, putting money into referenda, state legislative battles and state Supreme Court races in nine states. “The next generation of battles over abortion, voting rights and democracy will not be decided primarily in Washington,” Deirdre Schifeling, the ACLU’s chief political and advocacy officer, said in an interview. “They are being decided right now in real time at the state level.” The spending aims to set up long-term “constitutional infrastructure” in each state to protect both abortion and voting rights. Many Democrats have reduced their focus on such issues during President Donald Trump’s second term and prioritized affordability and other economic issues. In Montana and Kansas, the ACLU plans to fund groups opposing referenda that would make state Supreme Court elections partisan. In Missouri, they are spending to protect the results of a successful referendum protecting abortion rights that was passed in 2024 after the legislature put a measure on the ballot to reverse it. And in Virginia, they will back a referendum aiming to add language protecting abortion rights to the state constitution. The ACLU is supporting “pro-civil rights” Supreme Court candidates in Michigan, Montana and North Carolina, and putting money into state House races in Georgia, Montana and North Carolina to prevent Republicans from gaining supermajorities in each. They’re also backing the incumbent Democratic secretaries of state in Nevada and Arizona.

The group plans to focus its spending on the “ACLU Sway” – a roughly 14% chunk of the electorate that they believe they can uniquely influence. That chunk is about two-thirds low-propensity Democrats, Schifeling said, and about one-third Republicans and independents. “There’s a whole segment of the Republican Party that actually does believe in rights and liberties and democracy, and is not part of this MAGA force,” she said, noting many were older white women, along with a population of libertarian-leaning men.

[...] The group greatly increased its direct involvement in politics during the first Trump era, getting involved in federal elections for the first time and even backing primary challenges to incumbent prosecutors in major cities across the country, pushing candidates on criminal justice and immigration issues in particular.

That ultimately culminated in an effort to influence the 2020 Democratic primary, including a now-famous questionnaire where then-Sen. Kamala Harris indicated she supported funding gender-affirming care for people who were incarcerated. Her answer became one of the Trump campaign’s most prominent ads, alleging Harris was for “they/them” while Trump was for “you.” Centrist Democrats, in particular, criticized the ACLU and other liberal groups for pushing candidates to take definitive stances on controversial cultural issues.

The ACLU is set to spend $25M this election cycle boosting pro-abortion rights and voting rights messaging in various races.

[spawnofvulcan-knits]

[resist-much]