(2018-12-20). America's Mixed Messages: On Board the USS Detention. commondreams.org As the shackling of men on the decks of ships reveals, the Coast Guard's present war-on-drugs detention mission is not one it has exactly been prepared for. (Photo: US Coast Guard) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/uscoast.jpeg…
(2018-12-20). 'Moral disaster' unfolding in child migrant detention centers. peoplesworld.org 
Decades after the U.S. stopped institutionalizing kids because large and crowded orphanages were causing lasting trauma, it is happening again. The federal government has placed most of the 14,300 migrant toddlers, children, and teens in its care in detention centers and residential facilities packed with hundreds, or thousands, of children. As the year draws to …
(2018-12-20). NAACP Launches Boycott of Facebook: Platform Is Unhealthy for African Americans & U.S. Democracy. democracynow.org 
Facebook is under fire again, this time for new revelations that Russian trolls targeted African Americans on social media in an effort to influence the vote ahead of the 2016 election. A pair of bipartisan reports published by the Senate Intelligence Committee Monday claim the Russian government focused on African Americans in its effort to suppress the turnout of voters likely to cast ballots for Hillary Clinton, spreading fake news and sowing discord in the run-up to the election. The NAACP has launched a Facebook boycott in response, demanding the social media giant be held responsible. We speak with Derrick…
(2018-12-20). PRISON AND SENTENCING REFORM PASSES THE US SENATE. naacp.org On December 18, 2018, the U.S. Senate passed, by a vote of 87 yeas to 12 nays, its version of the First Step Act, legislation which begins to reform our nation's sentencing laws and prison terms. This bipartisan legislation, which has been strongly supported and promoted by the White House, offers some important improvements to the current federal criminal […]
(2018-12-20). Argentine Senate Unanimously Passes Law Against Gender Violence. telesurenglish.net The Argentine Senate Wednesday unanimously approved the Micaela Law to eradicate gender-based violence. The 59 legislators present in the Senate passed the Micaela Bill. | RELATED: | Argentine Activist Milagro Sala Faces up to 40 Years in Prison | The bill, named after Micaela Garcia, a femicide victim, calls for mandatory gender sensitivity training…
(2018-12-20). Spain: Catalans Protest PM Sanchez's Visit to Barcelona. telesurenglish.net Nine Catalan pro-freedom leaders, who are jailed, called Thursday for large but peaceful protests to mark a visit by Spain's cabinet. | RELATED: | Catalans Mark 1st Anniversary of Independence Referendum | Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will chair his weekly cabinet meeting in the Catalan capital of Barcelona Friday, as a part the effort to resolve the polit…
(2018-12-20). US Makes Top 5 In Record Year Of Killed Journalists. telesurenglish.net Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says that the number of slain and detained journalists increased worldwide in 2018. | RELATED: | Myanmar Court Green Lights Jailed Reporters' Appeal | For the first time in history the United States is among the top five deadliest countries for murdered journalists, with six members of the media unfortunately meeting their end in the U.S. | The U.S. was fourth on the list because of the June 2018 mass shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. Ja…
(2018-12-20). Unions, civil rights group pan Trump "school safety" commission's recommendations. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—Teachers unions and a top civil rights group panned "school safety" recommendations from a Trump-named panel of four Cabinet secretaries, saying they do little or nothing to stop the scourge of mass shootings in the nation's schools. And one of their recommendations—restoring discrimination in discipline of "problem" students—is thinly veiled racism against young African Americans, …
(2018-12-20). The Lives We Changed in 2018. aclu.org 
Because of the generosity of ACLU members, these people are free to live their lives again. | This year hasn't been easy: Thousands of families are still suffering the effects of family separation; the Muslim ban continues to keep loved ones apart; and whole generations of family trees are being decimated by an unfair, out-of-control mass incarceration machine. But beneath the headlines, the news alerts, and the legal battles are a few glimmers of hope that ACLU supporters made possible., , Here are some of our favorite moments from 2018. | Ansly Breathes Free Again : | Ethics teacher Ansly Damus fled…
(2018-12-20). Screen Shot 2018-12-20 at 7.46.15 AM.png. progressive.org "It was Paul Ryan and Reince Priebus who transformed the politics of Wisconsin with racist dog-whistle messaging, and that laid the foundation for Donald Trump."
(2018-12-20). Rohingya Refugees Pushed to a Frontline of Climate Change. telesurenglish.net Bangladesh, and its environment, has been struggling to accommodate over 1 million Rohingya refugees who have fled state violence in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist-majority country. | RELATED: | Bangladesh Creating Island 'Prison Camps' for Rohingya Refugees | More than 900,000 Rohingya live in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, mostly in camps, according to the United Nations. For decades, Cox's Bazar, a strip of land between Myanmar and the Bay of Bengal, has sheltered refuge…
(2018-12-20). Déjà vu on the Greek-Turkey Border. hrw.org 
| | Migrants that crossed the land border between Greece and Turkey are seen at the Pre-Removal Detention Center in the village of Fylakio, Northern Greece, February 24, 2017. | © 2017 Alexandros Avramidis /Reuters | Ten years ago, I documented a systematic pattern of brutal Greek border police pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers at the Evros River border that divides Greece and Turkey. Last week, as I edited a new Human Rights Watch report, I felt as though I was re-reading my old report. | Here's a paragraph fro…
(2018-12-20). US Deporting Iraqis Without Valid Documents. hrw.org 
| | Protesters rally outside the federal court just before a hearing to consider a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Iraqi nationals facing deportation, in Detroit, Michigan, US, June 21, 2017. | © 2017 Reuters/Rebecca Cook | (Beirut) — The United States government has deported at least 30 of a planned 1,400 people originally from Iraq back to their country, in some cases threatening long imprisonmen…
(2018-12-20). Iran: Imprisoned Dissident Dies. hrw.org 
| | Rajai Shahr Prison, Karaj, Iran. | © 2004 Private | (Beirut) — Iranian authorities should immediately carry out an independent and impartial investigation into the death of an imprisoned activist on a hunger strike, Human Rights Watch said today. Anyone found responsible for wrongdoing in the death of Vahid Sayadi Nasiri should be held accountable. Iranian authorities have systematically failed to conduct transparent investigations into at least prio…
(2018-12-20). Brexit — We Are Now All Political Prisoners to This Rancid Government. Britain in Crisis. globalresearch.ca There simply isn't any point in condemning the Tory party. They are now bereft of common sense, or morality for that matter. They listen to no-one, not even the electorate who are now aghast at not just their performance but …
(2018-12-20). 'Fair report privilege': Judge backs BuzzFeed in Russian's lawsuit over Steele dossier. rt.com 
A federal judge in Florida ruled for BuzzFeed in a defamation lawsuit brought by a Russian internet entrepreneur accused of hacking the Democratic Party in the salacious Steele dossier that was published by the outlet.
(2018-12-20). US Senate passes bipartisan criminal justice bill. wsws.org The First Step Act will have only a marginal impact on the brutal and overcrowded US prison system.
(2018-12-20). Despite Assurances From Trump, the U.S. Battle Against ISIS in Eastern Syria Is Far From Over. theintercept.com 
Despite assurances from President Donald Trump that the Islamic State is no more, the U.S.-led battle to oust the militant group from its last Syrian stronghold has intensified in recent weeks. | Amid heavy fighting between the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and hardened Islamic State fighters, scores of civilians and prisoners have been killed by American airstrikes in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, according to sources on the ground. | As part of that campaign, U.S. warplanes bombed a hospital in the village of Al Shaafa…
(2018-12-20). Episode One: Murder at Taco Bell. theintercept.com A murder in a small Georgia town sent a man to jail for 20 years. While he awaited trial, three more people were brutally killed. Did police get the wrong man?
(2018-12-20). Revisiting the Taco Bell Killing. theintercept.com 
In the fall of 2001, lawmakers in Cook County, Georgia voted to raise taxes for the coming year. The $1.75 million hike passed "unanimously but reluctantly," according to the Adel News Tribune, which cited large expenditures in the name of law and order. There was the opening of the new county jail, requiring new staff and equipment, but, more significantly, the previous spring Adel had seen its first death penalty trial in a generation. The weeklong trial of 20-year-old Devonia Inman for the killing of a single mother named Donna Brown "quadrupled the Superior Court budget," according to the newspaper. The seque…
(2018-12-20). NASA Director Firouz Naderi Calls For Release Of Iran's Political Prisoners. iranian.com The former director of NASA's Solar System Exploration program, Dr. Firouz Naderi, has joined the international call for Iran to release all political prisoners including Nasrin Sotoudeh, Farhad Meysami and Reza Khandan, who were all imprisoned this year in Iran for peacefully advocating human and women's rights.
(2018-12-20). Racism, Outsourcing & Retaliation At SF Civil Service With HR Director Micki Callahan. indybay.org At a San Francisco City Civil Service Commission meeting, city workers challenged the systemic discrimination, workplace bullying and outsourcing by CCSF Human Resources Director Micki Callahan and her managers. They are also spending hundreds of millions of dollars to outsource and privatize city jobs and targeting in particular the jobs of African American and Latino workers.
(2018-12-20). United Arab Emirates: Further Information: Hunger-Striking Academic In Critical Condition: Dr Nasser bin Ghaith. amnesty.org Dr Nasser bin Ghaith's health has severely deteriorated. The prominent Emirati economist and academic has been on hunger strike for over 70 days in al-Razeen prison in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to protest the detention conditions and the denial of access to medical care. He is a prisoner of conscience.
(2018-12-20). UAE: Fears grow for health of unjustly imprisoned academic. amnesty.org The authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) must immediately and unconditionally release Dr Nasser bin Ghaith, a prisoner of conscience whose health has deteriorated sharply in recent days, said Amnesty International today. | Dr Nasser bin Ghaith is serving a 10-year sentence for criticizing the UAE in comments posted on Twitter after a grossly unfair politically motivated trial. | "News that Dr Nasser bin Ghaith's health has deteriorated sharply…
(2018-12-20). Algeria: Forced to leave: Stories of injustice against migrants in Algeria. amnesty.org Over the past two decades Algeria has become a country of transit or final destination of many nationals from West and Central Africa looking for employment opportunities in a variety of sectors, mainly construction and agriculture. Yet despite the large number of Sub-Saharan migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the country, Algeria still lacks a clear legal framework for migrant workers and has a law criminalizing irregular migration making it an offence punishable by up to five years in prison. | Arbitrary arrests and mass expulsions of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa have reached an all-time high, in star…
(2018-12-19). CYNTOIA BROWN DESERVES CLEMENCY — THIS IS NOT A DEBATE. naacp.org 
This story is one that meets at the intersection of sex-trafficking and mass incarceration. Cyntoia Brown has been imprisoned since she was 16 years old in 2004, during which time she was charged with first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree felony murder and tried as an adult. Although she was a teenager, she was tried as an […]
(2018-12-19). Justice for Jakelin: Lawmakers Demand Answers in Death of 7-Year-Old Girl in Border Patrol Custody. democracynow.org 
Outrage is mounting over the death of a 7-year-old indigenous Guatemalan girl in Border Patrol custody, as lawmakers demand answers for the conditions that led Jakelin Caal Maquín to die after being detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. Maquin died on December 8, two days after she and her father presented themselves at the border alongside 161 other Central American asylum seekers. She had been held in detention for more than eight hours when she began to have seizures. Border Patrol agents brought the girl to the hospital after her body temperature spiked to 105.7 degrees. The 7-year-old died of dehydration, shoc…
(2018-12-19). Starting again from Marx. mronline.org 
Let us start again from Marx.(1) Why? Is it because we are communists? No, this answer is not convincing. We could start again from somewhere else, from Lenin, or Mao; or, we could believe that current feminist or anti-racist struggles have no need for Marx; we could even think that Marx's Eurocentrism makes him an […] | Source
(2018-12-19). Trump Administration Recommends Slashing Civil Rights Protections for Students of Color. aclu.org A federal commission's post-Parkland recommendations include reversing an Obama-era guidance on racial disparities in school discipline. | On Tuesday, the Federal Commission on School Safety issued recommendations that it claims will help makes schools safer following the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. But at the center of the report is a proposal that will endanger millions of public school students, especially students of color and students with disabilities, by reversing federal guidance intended to address racial disparities in school discipline. Doing away with the guidance will weaken federal civil rig…
(2018-12-19). Brutality Against Prisoners Is Often Unseen. In this Virgin Islands Jail, It Was Caught on Video. aclu.org 
The latest assault follows years of abuse and neglect at the St. Thomas jail. | When Benjamin Hodge, who is serving a nine-month sentence at the Criminal Justice Complex on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, told a corrections officer he had found a cockroach in his food, he did not expect that officer would choke him to near unconsciousness. | Though the jail's own chief investigator found that the officer, Jamal Crooke, had used excessive force and lied in his account of the incident, Crooke continues to work at the jail to this day. No criminal investigation was opened into potential assault charges. No kn…
(2018-12-19). May Days in Britain. counterpunch.org It is hard to envisage sympathy for a person who made a name as a home secretary (prisons, detentions, security and such) taking the mast and banner of her country before hopeless odds, but inadequate opponents will do that to you. Vicious, venal and underdone, the enemies from within Theresa May's own Tory ranks resemble More
(2018-12-19). Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Policy Gutting Asylum for People Fleeing Domestic and Gang Violence. aclu.org Once again, the Trump administration's attacks on asylum are held unlawful. | The Trump administration's campaign to dismantle our asylum system just suffered another major setback. | A federal judge in Washington, D.C., permanently blocked a June 2018 "expedited removal" policy that gutted asylum protections for immigrants fleeing domestic violence and gang brutality. Holding that "there is no legal basis for an effective categorical ban on domestic violence and gang-related claims," Judge Emmet Sullivan struck down the policy for being c…
(2018-12-19). NAACP to Host National Townhall on Thursday Dec. 20. naacp.org 
Leaders, activists, and organizers join in a candid conversation about #livingwhileblack, justice reform, protecting our vote, Facebook and more issues impacting black America FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: Malik Russell/ mrussell@naacpnet.org and Vanessa Mbonu/ vmbonu@naacpnet.org BALTIMORE (December 19, 2018) — NAACP will host its final national tele townhall of the year on Thursday, December 20that 8 pm EST. The townhall is an opportunity to […]
(2018-12-19). ALP National Conference a sham. greenleft.org.au 
Bill Shorten surprised no one with his laughingly tiny reforms at the Australian Labor Party National Conference over December 16—18. | If you expected debate, let alone proposals to stop the Adani coalmine or refugee boat turn-backs or the closure of off-shore detention centres, then you would have been disappointed as these things did not happen. | If you were hoping that there might be a commitment to increase the Newstart Allowance or to back progressive industrial relations reforms that will actually change the rules for workers, you would be doubly disappointed as these things were also rejected. | Cl…
(2018-12-19). US' poorest suffer from blood-sucking parasite because they can't afford septic tank (VIDEO). rt.com 
Hookworm, a blood-sucking parasite thought eradicated in the US in the last century, is now seeing a resurgence in Alabama. In the Now explains how wealth inequality and racism put the state on par with countries like Honduras.
(2018-12-19). DOJ faces lawsuits & NRA wrath as it outlaws bump stocks used in Las Vegas massacre. rt.com 
The US Department of Justice has banned bump stocks — firearm modifications that simulate automatic fire — to the ire of pro-gun advocates. Guns fitted with bump stocks are now legally considered machineguns.
(2018-12-19). DC attorney general sues Facebook over Cambridge Analytica. rt.com 
The Washington D.C. attorney general has filed a lawsuit suing Facebook for allowing political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica to gain access to personal data of tens of millions of the site's users without permission.
(2018-12-19). Trump's Criminal Justice Reform Act Is a Meaningless Smoke Screen (Pt 2/3). therealnews.com 
Congress's Criminal Justice Reform Act boosts privatization, fails to dismantle mass incarceration, nor does it implement sentencing reform. We speak to Eddie Conway and Natasha Pratt Harris about the proposed reform
(2018-12-19). Trump's Criminal Justice Reform Act Is a Meaningless Smoke Screen (Pt 1/3). therealnews.com Congress's Criminal Justice Reform Act boosts privatization, fails to dismantle mass incarceration, nor does it implement sentencing reform. We speak to Eddie Conway and Natasha Pratt Harris about the proposed reform
(2018-12-19). "Zuckerberg Must Resign": Facebook Lets Corporations Read, Delete Your Messages. theantimedia.com 
(CD) — Just hours after civil rights groups called on Facebook's top executives to step down from the company's board for allowing "viral propaganda" and "bigoted campaigns" to spread on the platform, demands for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to resign intensified after a bombshell New York Times report late Tuesday detailed a "special arrangement" the social media behemoth had with tech corporations that gave …
(2018-12-19). Uganda: Drop absurd charges against academic Stella Nyanzi. amnesty.org The Ugandan authorities must immediately drop charges against radical academic Stella Nyanzi and put a stop to the charade that has seen her spend weeks in jail, Amnesty International said today as her case finally went to trial. | The charges levelled against Stella Nyanzi under the Computer Misuse Act are in direct contravention of Uganda's constitution and its international human rights obligations to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the right to freedom of expression. |
(2018-12-18). Meet the Texas Speech Pathologist Who Lost School Job for Refusing to Sign Pro-Israel, Anti-BDS Oath. democracynow.org 
A Palestinian-American speech pathologist in Austin, Texas, has filed a federal lawsuit for losing her job after refusing to sign a pro-Israel oath. Bahia Amawi is an Arabic-speaking child language specialist who had worked for nine years in the Pflugerville Independent School District. But she lost her job last year after she declined to sign a pledge that she would "not boycott Israel during the term of the contract" and that she would not take any action that is "intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations with Israel." We speak with Bahia Amawi and Gadeir Abbas, senior litiga…
(2018-12-18). Court docs: Suspects in 'Martyr's Day' beating of black man were wearing Crew 38 attire. splcenter.org Several people arrested in the "Martyr's Day" beating of a black man at a Lynnwood, Washington, bar were sporting T-shirts and patches of the racist skinhead group Crew 38, according to recently released court records.
(2018-12-18). New Hampshire Police Arrested a Man for Being Mean to Them on the Internet. aclu.org 
Criminal defamation laws belong in the dustbin of history. | Should it be a crime to call public officials corrupt? Yes, according to the police in Exeter, New Hampshire. Earlier this year, they arrested a local man for writing a comment on a news website accusing Police Chief William Shupe of covering for a corrupt officer. | Robert Frese was accused of violating New Hampshire's criminal defamation law, which makes it a misdemeanor to intentionally and falsely disparage another person. New Hampshire's law [mda…
(2018-12-18). Trump Foundation charity agrees to dissolve after lawsuit alleging Trump used it as a 'checkbook'. rt.com 
The US president's charitable Trump Foundation is being forced to dissolve under the supervision of the New York Attorney General. The Defense argues that the case against the charity has been politicized.
(2018-12-18). Take the Money Out of Prison Slavery. therealnews.com 
Activists and students continue a national divestment movement to stop the corporate funding of private prisons. Sylvester Owino, a Kenyan immigrant, spent 10 years in an immigrant detention center while his case bounced between the lower and higher courts. Owino and other activists talk about the private prison divestment movement and abuses in the transporting…
(2018-12-18). MENA governments must end discriminatory crackdowns and abuse of migrants. amnesty.org Governments across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are collectively failing to protect the rights of migrants in their countries, said Amnesty International, marking International Migrants Day. | Across the region, migrants regularly face discrimination, exploitation and other forms of abuse as well as in some cases arbitrary arrest, detention and unlawful expulsion. Whether they are sub-Saharan African migrants passing through North African countries on their way to Europe or domestic or const…
(2018-12-18). Egypt: Court orders release of woman human rights defender imprisoned for speaking out against sexual harassment. amnesty.org Egyptian authorities must immediately comply with a court decision to release Amal Fathy, a woman human rights defender who was given a two-year sentence in September for posting a video online in which she criticized the Egyptian authorities for failing to tackle sexual harassment. | A Cairo criminal court today ordered Amal Fathy's release on probation after accepting…
(2018-12-17). Will the Supreme Court Overturn Roe v. Wade After All? aclu.org Reading the tea leaves on abortion rights. | This piece was originally published in The New York Times. | When the Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear cases brought by Louisiana and Kansas attempting to exclude Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from their Medicaid programs, legal soothsayers were out in full force opining about what it means for the future of abortion rights un…
(2018-12-17). We Need to Address Police Brutality in Alabama. aclu.org The ACLU and NAACP in Alabama have filed public records requests for police policies pertaining to use of force, body cameras, and racial bias. | E.J. Bradford. Chikesia Clemons. Ulysses Wilkerson. Sureshbhai Patel. Greg Gunn. | These are only a few of the names of those who have been in headlines after being brutalized or killed at the hands of law enforcement in the state of Alabama in recent years. Each of these incidents represents a state-wide pattern of police using excessive, and sometimes fatal, force against the people they're supposed to protect and serve. Disproportionately, the victims are people of c…