Citizen Suspect: We’re All Under Attack in the WikiLeaks Case

Our civil liberties and First Amendment rights are threatened by the Supreme Court’s decisions in the Julian Assange case; if Mitt Romney’s father was still around, he’d probably endorse Obama; meanwhile, Fox News is ruining the GOP. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

The Assange case means we are all suspects now Washington’s enemy is not “terrorism” but the principle of free speech and voices of conscience within its militarist state.

Falling in Love With Dusty Treaties One of the more surprising twists in recent Middle East punditry is a sudden surge of interest among pro-Israel hard-liners in the fine points of international law.

Can Italy Change? What would it mean for a country to change profoundly? What real news would we get of that and how would it feel to its citizens?

Citizen Philosophers: Teaching Justice in Brazil Getting out of the cave and seeing things as they really are: that’s what philosophy is about, according to Almira Ribeiro, a high school teacher in a beautiful, poor and violent neighborhood in Brazil’s northeast.

Journals Inflate Their Prestige by Coercing Authors to Cite Them A survey published this week in Science shows that journal editors often ask prospective authors to add superfluous citations of the journal to articles, and authors feel they can’t refuse.

Science decodes ‘internal voices’ Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words.

A tale of two Romneys If former Michigan governor and auto-industry CEO George Romney — father of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney — were here today, his son would probably be calling him a European socialist. And George Romney would probably be supporting the auto policies of Obama and possibly endorsing the president for reelection.

Lower-Income Republicans Say Government Does Too Little for Poor People Mitt Romney’s statement that he is focused solely on the problems of middle class Americans, not the poor, may not sit well with lower-income voters within his own party.

Is Ron Paul Selling Out To Mitt Romney — Already? Watching Ron Paul and Mitt Romney campaign for president, they would seem to be polar opposites in their perspectives on critical issues, from economic policy to foreign affairs. Yet close observers of both now agree that these two very different candidates are covertly allied against Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, the surviving insurgents.

How Fox News Is Destroying The Republican Party More and more despondent conservatives are expressing alarm over the unfolding Republican primary season and what they see as the party’s dwindling chances of defeating President Obama in November. If the current state of concern transforms into a larger, enveloping blame game, Fox News chairman Ailes ought be a looming target.