Five individuals suspected of being involved in plotting the September 11th attacks are due for arraignment on May 5. They are to be formally charged with “terrorism-related crimes that could bring the death penalty if the defendants are convicted.” And, as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports, the government under the Obama administration is moving to censor any testimony from the individuals on torture or inhumane treatment they experienced while detained in CIA “secret” prisons.

This strategy session sounds like a thinly veiled campaign event designed to make 150 potential donors feel important and listened to. If is actually a sincere effort to try to solve this problem let me take five minutes to completely solve it with my three step plan.

In the past month Mitt Romney has significantly gained on President Obama in several key swing states, according to Quinnipiac polling. Currently Obama has the lead in Pennsylvania but is effectively tied with Romney in both Florida and Ohio.

ast week at this time, the Bahraini government was “celebrating” their Formula One race by arresting a British Channel 4 television news crew who attempted to report on conditions in the country. The video here is the report they have now been able to file with footage smuggled out when they were deported.

Activists, lawyers, human rights advocates, civil liberties defenders and others came together for a major international summit on drone warfare and the issues created by drone use yesterday. The summit was co-organized by CODEPINK, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Reprieve. An exceptional lineup of speakers addressed participants detailing salient and significant aspects around the Obama administration’s expansion of the covert drone wars in countries like Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

The day wrapped up with a speech from Jeremy Scahill of The Nation, who has been one of the few journalists to actually travel to these countries where the covert drone war is playing out.

The White House wants to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “free trade” agreement with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Japan is waiting in the wings, Canada and Mexico want in, Taiwan has announced its intention to meet membership requirements and China says it will “earnestly study” whether to seek entry into the agreement.

Basically, the TPP is NAFTA on steroids.

Just like in 2008, young people overwhelmingly prefer Obama over a Republican President, but the difference is this year young people are not overly enthusiastic about voting.

Even though the President has been essentially albeit unofficially campaigning for months with events that just happen to be in strategic battleground states, next week he will attend his first two official public rallies of the 2012 election. The locations for the kick-off of Obama 2012 are Columbus, Ohio and Richmond, Virginia.

Thousands mourn Salah Abbas Habib who was killed by Bahrain security forces while court delays Al Khawaja appeal on the 75th day of his hunger strike. Meanwhile Obama ignores the monarchy’s attacks on civil rights activists.

The surveillance state in the United States has only grown in America since the September 11th attacks. It has increasingly been used to spy and intrude on the lives of journalists and activists. And, during a Democracy Now! special, a full hour was spent delving into the National Security Agency’s evolution into an entity that illegally collects and sifts through private emails, cell phone calls and possibly Internet searches and other personal data of Americans.

The special also looked closely at the stories of two individuals that have been targeted by the Homeland Security Department—journalist Laura Poitras, who has directed documentaries on the Iraq War and Yemen, and computer security researcher Jacob Appelbaum, who once served as a stand-in for Julian Assange at a hackers conference.