Stories by Liliana Segura

Liliana Segura is an AlterNet staff writer and editor of Rights & Liberties and World Special Coverage. Follow her on Twitter.

Starbucks' Cop-Out to Gun Nuts: Customers Served Coffee While Strapped

Starbucks has become a popular gathering spot for some Second Amendment crusaders, but the company is pretending it doesn't have the power to keep them out.
Posted on Feb 9, 2010, Source: AlterNet

ACORN Smear Collaborator Claims Persecution to Raise Money for Her Legal Troubles

In a bizarre fundraising appeal, James O'Keefe's co-conspirator Hannah Giles claims ACORN is trying to 'destroy' her -- and invites you to donate $35 to $5,000 to her legal fund.
Posted on Feb 8, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Planned Parenthood Posts Pro-Woman Ad, Putting the Pressure on CBS

With Super Bowl Sunday only a few days away, the fight over Focus on the Family's overtly anti-choice ad featuring University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is raging.
Posted on Feb 4, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Battle Over Super Bowl Abortion Ad Rages on: Is Tim Tebow's Birth Story Even True?

High-profile lawyer argues it's an impossible scenario that doctors would have suggested abortion as a viable option for Tebow in the first place.
Posted on Feb 1, 2010, Source: AlterNet

White House in a Bind; Pressure Builds to Move Key 9/11 Trial Out of New York City

Obama is being forced to seek alternate venues for the trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed after a revolt by local politicians, reigniting right-wing opposition to a civilian trial.
Posted on Jan 29, 2010, Source: AlterNet

How Members of Congress Are Advancing Anti-Muslim Hysteria to Push a Radical Legal Agenda

Islamophobes in Congress like Joe Lieberman are trying to set the U.S. on a path to establish a different set of legal standards for Muslims.
Posted on Jan 28, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Four More Gitmo Prisoners Released, But Obama Has Dark Plans For Many Who Remain

The Obama administration has selected some 50 Guantanamo prisoners to be held indefinitely, without charge or trial.
Posted on Jan 26, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Supreme Court's 'Radical and Destructive' Decision Hands Over Democracy to the Corporations

One expert calls the Citizens United decision 'the most radical and destructive campaign finance decision in the history of the Supreme Court.'
Posted on Jan 21, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Muckraking AlterNet Coverage Exposes Wrongful Incarceration

After 23 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Michael Tillman, a victim of police torture, is finally free.
Posted on Jan 15, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Can They Do That? How You Get Screwed at Work

A new book shows the power corporations wield over their employees has gone too far. It's time to take action.
Posted on Jan 11, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Politicians Are Portraying 'Gitmo North' as a Terrific Local Jobs Program -- Don't Count On It

Politicians' claim that moving detainees to Illinois will create 3,000 jobs is a distraction from an ugly reality; Gitmo is not being closed, it is being moved onto U.S. soil.
Posted on Dec 17, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Homeland Security Embarks on Big Brother Programs to Read Our Minds and Emotions

Half-baked Homeland Security is spending millions to develop sensors capable of detecting a person's level of 'malintent' as a counterterrorism tool.
Posted on Dec 9, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Feeling Nervous? 3,000 Behavior Detection Officers Will Be Watching You at the Airport This Thanksgiving

Nearly 100,000 passengers were pulled aside by TSA behavior watchers last year, and it remains to be proven whether you can spot terrorists by the looks on their faces.
Posted on Nov 24, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Ugly Truth: Most U.S. Kids Sentenced to Die In Prison Are Black

The U.S. stands alone in the world in condemning thousands of juveniles to life without parole. And race is a huge factor. Will the Supreme Court even consider it?
Posted on Nov 11, 2009, Source: AlterNet

16-Year Old Got Life Without Parole for Killing Her Abusive Pimp -- Should Teens Be Condemned to Die in Jail?

Two cases in the Supreme Court could alter the fates of over 2,500 people serving life without parole for crimes they committed as teenagers.
Posted on Oct 31, 2009, Source: AlterNet

4 Prisoners Facing Executions or Serving Extreme Jail Sentences Who Very Well May Be Innocent

Recent evidence shows that an executed Texas man was innocent. There are others who still might avoid that fate.
Posted on Oct 26, 2009, Source: AlterNet

4 Supreme Court Cases That Will Say a Lot About the Direction of Our Country

Would a Human Sacrifice TV Channel be protected by the First Amendment? Answers to this and other key questions will be answered.
Posted on Oct 12, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Do You Want the Right to Kill Yourself? Renegade Doctor Offers Controversial 'Death Kit'

Dr. Philip Nitschke has caused uproar from Australia to the UK over his unapologetic pro-suicide philosophy -- and now he's bringing his cause to the States.
Posted on Oct 3, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Tracking Sex Offenders on Your Phone: Smart or Paranoid?

A hot new iPhone App uses GPS technology to track registered sex offenders everywhere. Are they keeping you safe, or profiting off paranoia?
Posted on Sep 24, 2009, Source: AlterNet

A Recipe for Disaster: School Cops Are Being Armed with 50,000-Volt Tasers

Tasers aren't 'nonlethal'; they've killed hundreds. With younger people being especially vulnerable to the Taser's shock, the risks could be very deadly.
Posted on Sep 16, 2009, Source: AlterNet

With Its Prisons Dangerously Full, Why Is California Fighting for Custody of a Dying Prisoner Across the Country?

While other states release low-risk, high-cost prisoners, CA officials want to jail another terminal prisoner, on taxpayers' dime.
Posted on Sep 12, 2009, Source: AlterNet

How Do We Pass Rational Sex-Offender Laws With Psychos Like Phillip Garrido on the Loose?

With apparent psychos like Garrido wreaking havoc, it's hard for society to be reasonable about the thousands of people have been wrongly swept up by excessive sex offender laws.
Posted on Sep 4, 2009, Source: AlterNet

How Yawning Got One Court Spectator Six Months in the Slammer and Other Disturbing Acts of Judicial Tyranny

When judges take on airs and lash out in fits of whimsical bullying, innocent people can end up paying the price with jail time -- or their lives.
Posted on Aug 21, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Can Brutal and Racist Cops Change to Become More 'Sensitive'?

The Boston policeman who called Gates a "banana-eating jungle monkey" had taken racial-sensitivity training classes. It's not clear they work.
Posted on Aug 18, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Do Hate Crime Laws Do Any Good?

There's no indication that getting hate crimes on the books actually prevents them.
Posted on Aug 4, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Racism Is the Prime Cause for Debunked Obama Birth Certificate Conspiracy Theory

The "birther" conspiracy has been utterly debunked, yet more GOP establishment figures have embraced the transparently racist cause.
Posted on Jul 28, 2009, Source: AlterNet

DNA Evidence Is No Panacea for Solving Crimes: Huge Backlogs, Inept Testing and Corruption Stand in the Way

Laws expanding DNA collection from people accused of crimes are passing in states across the country. But it doesn't mean that justice will be done.
Posted on Jul 16, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Obama Puts Evangelical in Charge of National Institutes of Health -- Will His Religion Get in the Way of Science?

Francis Collins has defended practices derided by the God squad. But a man committed to reconciling faith and science brings back bad Bush memories.
Posted on Jul 11, 2009, Source: AlterNet

While the U.S. Dilly Dallies on Honduras, We Continue to Support a Right-Wing Thug in Colombia

Alvaro Uribe could be re-elected through just the type of referendum the ousted Manuel Zelaya has been accused of trying to carry out.
Posted on Jul 2, 2009, Source: AlterNet

'A Comedy of Errors': Why It's Time to Get Rid of the So-Called Terrorist Watch List

A new report finds people on the terrorist watch list can more easily buy guns than board planes. But the real problem lies deeper than that.
Posted on Jun 27, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Life After Guantanamo: Why the Media's Happy-Ending Narrative Is Totally Bankrupt

The transfer of four Uighur prisoners to Bermuda has been treated like a happy human-interest story, but the truth is far darker.
Posted on Jun 20, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Note from AlterNet: I Tell Stories for People Who Can't Tell Their Own -- We Need Your Support

At AlterNet, I'm fighting for a society that doesn't victimize the innocent and vulnerable. To do it right, I need your support.
Posted on Jun 12, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Is Your Newest Facebook Friend a Sleazeball Debt Collector?

Exposing the latest and slimiest ways the "financial services" industry is raking it in from cash-crunched Americans.
Posted on Jun 10, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Five New Reasons (and One Old One) Why We Must Close Guantanamo Now

A surprising poll shows that by wide margins, Americans don't want to see Gitmo shut down -- here's why it should be closed forever.
Posted on Jun 6, 2009, Source: AlterNet

200 Executions and Counting: Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Cruel Death Tally

Today marks the 200th execution under Perry, a record even deadlier than George W. Bush's tenure. What's the matter with Texas?
Posted on Jun 2, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Controversy Over Torture Photos and Military Commissions Heats Up in Washington

How far is Obama going to roll back the legacy of Bush's torture policies?
Posted on May 16, 2009, Source: AlterNet

'The Most Humiliating Experience I Have Ever Had' -- Why Is the Supreme Court So Callous About Privacy?

A teenage girl is strip-searched and gets snickered at by old men in robes for challenging it -- what's so funny about the Fourth Amendment?
Posted on May 9, 2009, Source: AlterNet

The Soaring Rate of Abandoned Animals Is the Latest Sign of a Deep Economic Crisis

Abandoned animals and "foreclosure pets" are the innocent victims of our financial downward spiral.
Posted on Apr 28, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Thousands of Pages of Evidence and a Quarter Million Signatures: What Will It Take For Attorney General to Prosecute Torture Crimes?

Amid citizen outrage and news that torture was used to extract a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, Eric Holder won't say if he intends to prosecute.
Posted on Apr 24, 2009, Source: AlterNet

'A Ton More People Were Wiretapped Than We've Been Led to Believe': FBI Whistleblower Thomas Tamm

The man who blew the lid off Bush's spying program believes more details on government spying must, and will, come to light.
Posted on Apr 18, 2009, Source: AlterNet

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