News & Commentary

As another example of excessive police force against a student hits the headlines, it makes me wonder when the outrage over such treatment of children will compel our policy makers to say “enough.” 

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Imagine a better road where students, instead of getting suspended or expelled from school as disciplinary actions, are given a chance to heal. Such is the path of "restorative justice."

You know things are bad when the best defense you can conjure is incompetence.

The opening of Birmingham's ritzy, remodeled Emagine Palladium movie theater should be a moment of celebration. Unfortunately, it has been marred by a discriminatory policy that bans most teenagers from the premises.

DETROIT—Citing concerns about both age discrimination and the stereotyping of teens, the ACLU of Michigan in a letter today urged the owner of the newly renovated Emagine Palladium theater in Birmingham to repeal a policy that prohibits minors unless they are accompanied by an adult or have a $350 “platinum membership” being offered by the theater.

There is a famous story about President Franklin D. Roosevelt where in a policy meeting he purportedly said: "Alright Gentlemen, I agree with you, now make me do it."

In the past, when we talked about “reproductive rights” being under attack, one could reasonably infer that abortion rights were being undermined. These days, that inference has to be broadened to include everything from access to birth control to access to proper medical care during a pregnancy. That is why we now use the broader reference to “women’s rights” being under attack because, let’s face it, only women have to bear the brunt lawmakers’ obsession with politicizing pregnancy and child birth.

State police in Michigan have been secretly using hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of cell site simulator equipment to locate and track cell phones since at least 2006, according to records obtained by the ACLU and ACLU of Michigan. And although the agency justified its initial purchase of the surveillance gear as "vital to the war on terrorism," the records show that the department used its cell site simulators in 128 run-of-the-mill investigations last year—not a single one of which was for terrorism. The records also highlight the continuing problem of excessive secrecy about use of this invasive tracking equipment.