A.M. Links: Al Qaeda-Linked Rebels in Syria Attack Village, NRA and ACLU Team Up Against NSA, NYC Public School Administrators Accused of Sexually Assaulting Students

|


John Kerry's freedom fighters.
Credit: FreedomHouse / Foter / CC BY
  • Syrian rebels linked to Al Qaeda attacked a largely Christian village, shelling it from a mountaintop hotel that they captured. While the United States contemplates whether it will join the fight, there are new signs that rebel forces are fragmenting into autonomous ideological groups.
  • A Palestinian official said that an agreement proposed by Israel, which would create a Palestinian state but keep dozens of Jewish settlements and military bases in the West Bank, is unacceptable. 
  • The National Rifle Association is  coming into the ring to fight alongside the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit challenging the National Security Administration's phone-tracking program.
  • Belts and shoes are no longer signs of being a terrorist in the eyes of the Transportation Security Administration.
  • Administrators at a New York City public school are accused of sexually assaulting students and keeping them quiet by threatening them with deportation.
  • Federal prosecutors will attempt to place a gag order on the jailed activist-journalist Barrett Brown, who faces up to 100 years in prison for alleged offences relating to his work exposing online surveillance.

Follow Reason and Reason 24/7 on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.  You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here. Have a news tip? Send it to us!