2021-01-18: News Headlines

Staff (2021-01-18). MLK Day Special: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in His Own Words. democracynow.org Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, "I've Been to…

MEE and agencies (2021-01-17). Australian father and son released by Qatar after months jailed without charge. middleeasteye.net Australian father and son released by Qatar after months jailed without charge | Advocacy group says the two men, one a professor who had been on Doha's Covid-19 task force, were secretly detained and tortured | Sun, 01/17/2021 – 09: 59 | Professor Lukman Thalib (right) received a teaching award at Qatar University in 2018. He is a public health expert and helped Qatar with its Covid-19 re…

Fight Back (2021-01-17). New Orleans FRSO announces MLK Day Virtual Rally. fightbacknews.org New Orleans, LA – Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) will host a Martin Luther King Day Virtual Rally this Monday, January 18. In support of a call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, New Orleans FRSO demands a mass release from prisons during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The rally will also demand justice for Jacob Blake and an end to police crimes everywhere. The gathering will take place over Zoom, as the city recently transitioned to stricter COVID safety measures. | After a long holiday season, this will be an opportunity for the community to regroup. "I'm just excite…

Sophia Purdy-Moore (2021-01-17). This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let's not whitewash what he stood for. thecanary.co As we approach Martin Luther King Jr. Day on 18 January, it's important to challenge the dominant narratives that surround him. His history as a radical, anti-racist, anti-war, anti-capitalist leftist has been whitewashed to produce something more palatable for the mainstream. However, the iconic civil rights leader posed a legitimate threat to America's white supremacist, militaristic, imperialist, materialistic status quo. | King stood firm

Ben Terrall (2021-01-17). The Indonesian Massacres of 1965-1966. counterpunch.org Of all the tragic events of the 20th Century, the 1965-1966 campaign of mass killing in Indonesia is among the least known in the U.S. Researchers estimate that the Washington-backed Indonesian military and its civilian militias killed up to one million people. Around a million others were arbitrarily imprisoned with little to no legal process,

Ben Terrall (2021-01-17). Revisiting the Indonesian Massacres of 1965-1966. counterpunch.org Of all the tragic events of the 20th Century, the 1965-1966 campaign of mass killing in Indonesia is among the least known in the U.S. Researchers estimate that the Washington-backed Indonesian military and its civilian militias killed up to one million people. Around a million others were arbitrarily imprisoned with little to no legal process,

RT (2021-01-17). Russia's FM spokeswoman urges US & other countries decrying Navalny's detention 'not to interfere' with Russian law. rt.com Instead of rushing to condemn the detention of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny upon his return to Moscow, foreign politicians should focus on domestic issues at hand and respect the Russian law, Maria Zakharova has said. | In a Facebook

RT (2021-01-17). Russian opposition figure Navalny detained at passport control after returning to Moscow following almost five months in Germany. rt.com Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been detained by police at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after returning from Germany, where he had been recovering following an alleged poisoning attempt last summer. | Navalny and his wife Yulia left the plane together on Sunday evening with the rest of the passengers and drove to the terminal in a bus. The activist was arrested at the immigration desk. | Russia's prison authority has confirmed the detention. Navalny, who was wanted for breaching the terms of his probation from a previous criminal case, will remain in custody until the court rules on pre-trial res…

sputniknews (2021-01-17). Zakharova Calls For Respecting International Law After Sullivan Comments on Navalny. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – In response to comments on the detention of Russian opposition vlogger Alexey Navalny made by Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor for US President-elect Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova advised foreign officials to respect international law and focus on domestic issues.

Isaac Scher (2021-01-17). Illinois Will End Cash Bail — and Limit Use of High-Tech Incarceration. zcomm.org Reformers typically propose predictive algorithms and electronic monitoring as alternatives to money bail. Illinois is different…

_____ (2021-01-17). Apache Stronghold Lawsuit Over Oak Flat Halts Transfer To Mining Company. popularresistance.org Apache Stronghold, on behalf of traditional Apache religious and cultural leaders, placed a lien on Oak Flat on Wednesday, January 13, with the Pinal County Recorder's Office. The lien prevents the planned transfer of Oak Flat, or Chi'chil Bildagoteel, to a foreign mining company until the recently filed ongoing Apache Stronghold lawsuit is finalized. | The lien and one of the lawsuit claims are based on the Treaty of Santa Fe of 1852 between the United States and the Apache which promises that Apache lands, at the center of which lies Chi'chil Bildagoteel, are to remain in Apache ownership. The Treaty of Santa F…

_____ (2021-01-17). Mariame Kaba Talks Abolition, Mutual Aid And Campus Police. popularresistance.org Activist and prison-industrial complex abolitionist Mariame Kaba celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by praising NU Community Not Cops and speaking to the importance of mutual aid and political organizing in Wednesday's MLK Dream Week virtual keynote. | The keynote, which was broadcast to over 1,000 attendees, began with a virtual performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by Northwestern Community Ensemble members and alumni. Kaba then delivered her speech in which she laid out core tenets of abolitionist practice, tying the current movement to King's principles. | "Abolitionists have a lot to le…

WSWS (2021-01-16). US government executes intellectually disabled death row prisoner Corey Johnson. wsws.org Johnson's execution was the second time in less than five weeks that the federal government executed a likely intellectually disabled death row prisoner. The US Supreme Court denied his emergency application for a stay to permit him to present evidence of his disability.

_____ (2021-01-16). Black Lives Matter Protestors Charged As A Gang. popularresistance.org Maricopa County, AZ – In Washington, D.C., members of a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol and killed a police officer are so far being charged mainly with disorderly conduct and unlawful entry. The man photographed with his feet on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk faces three charges that carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison. After the violent siege, some members of the mob simply returned to their hotel. | Many were quick to point out an apparent double standard when compared to the way police in D.C. treated Black Lives Matter protesters over the summer—like when they tear gassed protesters to cl…

teleSUR (2021-01-16). Activists Demand Justice for Indigenous Leader Milagro Sala. telesurenglish.net Social movements mobilized in Jujuy province, Argentina on Saturday to demand freedom for the Indigenous activist Milagro Salas as January 16 marks the fifth anniversary of her illegal imprisonment. | RELATED: | Sala, the Tupac Amaru leader, gained nationwide notoriety for her fight against powerful conservative politicians in Jujuy province. The activist spent over three years in jail under inhumane conditions until the authori…

Workers World Party (2021-01-16). PDF of January 14 issue. workers.org Download the 12-page PDF. Special Coverage: Resisting White Supremacy No fascist coup! Fight back with workers' power Georgia grassroots victory; Marcy on violence and the state; Threat of fascism remains; Black Lives Matter and 'democracy'; 'Fraudulent' elections; as imperialist ploy; Charlottesville's how-to lessons; Fascists, the FBI — and legislators; Capitol . . . |

via Silicon Valley deBug (2021-01-15). Hunger Strike Starts Tonight in Santa Clara County Jail. indybay.org Prisoners of Santa Clara County Main Jail 7B will be standing in protest in the form of a hunger strike beginning tonight challenging their conditions of confinement and cruel and unusual punishment, specifically the jail and medical staff response towards Covid outbreaks in the jail. | The letter below is from the county jail prisoners to the Jail Administration.

Anthony DiMaggio (2021-01-15). A (Not-So-New) Profile of the American Right: On the Authoritarian-Fascist Crisis. counterpunch.org Following the January 6th neofascistic attacks on Capitol Hill, Americans are quickly waking up to the realities of growing extremism on the right. There is now a large share of reactionaries in this country who are drawing false equivalencies between Antifa and Black Lives Matter on the left, and the neofascists on the right. What

Caleb Granger (2021-01-15). La Marque, Texas protest demands jailing of cop who killed Joshua Feast. liberationnews.org On January 9, exactly one month after Joshua Feast was killed by officer Jose Santos in La Marque, Texas, over 100 people turned to march on La Marque City Hall to let officials know that Feast's murder will not be forgotten.

Roberta Wood (2021-01-15). Communists like my uncle were sent to prison because they fought for democracy. peoplesworld.org My late uncle, LeRoy H. Wood, spent years in a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa., for what he did in Washington, D.C. Roy was convicted of "conspiring to teach the advocacy of the overthrow of the U.S. government by force and violence." No, Uncle Roy was not a billionaire who incited a mob to storm …

W. T. Whitney (2021-01-15). The Shortage of Black Physicians is a Legacy of Racism and Class-Based Discrimination. counterpunch.org "Nobody wants to be an emergency at Harlem Hospital but if the Negro surgeon is visiting, pride cuts down the pain." Author Toni Morrison was alluding to the scarcity of Black physicians in 1926 (Jazz, 1992). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took similar note almost 100 years later. The basketball legend pointed out that, "Black babies survive more

commondreams (2021-01-15). Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Failure to Cut Airplane Climate Pollution. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Anoa Changa (2021-01-15). Georgia Organizers Won Because They Didn't Treat Elections as a Be-All, End-All. zcomm.org "We are undoing a history of voter suppression and injustice in Black and Brown communities. The changes we are seeing now didn't happen overnight, and we are not solving our challenges with just one vote."

_____ (2021-01-15). Black Cops Warned About Racist Capitol Police Officers For Years. popularresistance.org When Kim Dine took over as the new chief of the U.S. Capitol Police in 2012, he knew he had a serious problem. | Since 2001, hundreds of Black officers had sued the department for racial discrimination. They alleged that white officers called Black colleagues slurs like the N-word and that one officer found a hangman's noose on his locker. White officers were called "huk lovers" or "FOGs" — short for "friends of gangsters" — if they were friendly with their Black colleagues. Black officers faced "unprovoked traffic stops" from fellow Capitol Police officers. One Black officer claimed he heard a collea…

Fight Back (2021-01-15). SEIU Local 73: Statement of support for Human Rights Day 7 in the Philippines. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73. | | On International Human Rights Day, December 10, the Philippine National Police raided the homes and jailed Dennise Velasco of Defend Jobs Philippines; Romina Astudillo, Deputy Secretary-General of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Metro Manila; Mark Ryan Cruz, Regional Executive Committee of KMU-Metro Manila; Jaymie Gregorio Jr. of KMU-Metro Manila; Joel Demate of Solidarity of Labor Rights and Welfare (SOLAR); Rodrigo Esparago of Sandigang Manggagawa sa Quezon City (SMQC), and journalist Lady Ann…

teleSUR (2021-01-15). Ecuador's Local Governments Filed a Claim Against Budget Cuts. telesurenglish.net Consortium of Provincial Governments of Ecuador (Congope) Chairman Pablo Jurado filed a lawsuit of "unconstitutionality" before the Constitutional Court (CC) against budget cuts promoted by Presidente Lenin Moreno. | RELATED: | The claim seeks to obtain a ruling on the government's decision to suspend local budgets which have suffered in some cases a cut of 60 percent. | Congope representatives held that the provincial govern…

David W. Mathisen (2021-01-15). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Born this Day: Prophet Who Saw the "Far Deeper Malady" globalresearch.ca January 15 is the day on which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929. | He would go on to become one of the most powerful voices of all time against racism, oppression, violence, imperialism, and …

Somil Trivedi (2021-01-15). The Unspoken Agreement Between Prosecutors and Law Enforcement. aclu.org Last week's physical and civic violence at the U.S. Capitol has raised a terrifying set of questions about American democracy, including the potential complicity of law enforcement in insurrection. The president-elect joined the entire freethinking world in noticing that, if Trump's mob had been Black, it would not have received the same concierge service. But Trump's coup attempt was not the only law enforcement catastrophe last week: We cannot forget that, two days earlier, Kenosha County, Wisconsin District Attorney Mike Graveley chose not to charge police officer Rusten Shesky for shooting Jacob Blake seve…

Melvin Goodman (2021-01-14). Bibi and Jonathan Pollard: Two Anti-American Peas in Their Own Pod. counterpunch.org Last month, the New York Times described the hero's welcome in Israel for Jonathan Pollard, who served 30 years in jail for spying for Israel, as "relatively subdued." In view of the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led this "subdued" reception, it is time to throw some shade on Bibi and Jonathan. After all, the United States has supplied Israeli with huge amounts of military and economic aid as well as intelligence support over the years with very little return.

CounterPunch News Service (2021-01-14). Western Wolf Coalition Files Lawsuit Challenging Nationwide Wolf Delisting. counterpunch.org Today, WildEarth Guardians and a coalition of Western wolf advocates, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (the Service) decision to prematurely strip wolves of federal protections in the contiguous 48 states, in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The most recent data from the Service and its

Don Fitz (2021-01-14). Two Principles of Racial Equity that Outrage Liberals. dissidentvoice.org The May 25, 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a civil rights explosion. It ignited pushes to demilitarize the police, reallocate police over-funding to necessary social services, end economic and power divides, and replace symbols of oppression with recognition of those who have suffered and resisted. In University City, one of the oldest …

commondreams (2021-01-14). ACLU Comment on Scathing Family Separation Watchdog Report. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-14). Lawsuits Challenge Trump Administration's Latest Assaults on Endangered Species Act. commondreams.org ______________________________…