(2018-11-28). Migrant Teens at Risk as FBI Checks Are Waived for Detention Staff. truthdig.com An AP investigation and a new federal watchdog raise questions about a Texas tent city that houses more than 2,300 young people.
(2018-11-28). America Has Desegregated in Name Only. truthdig.com More than 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, people of color remain confined to the most destitute corners of the country.
(2018-11-28). Stranded refugees and migrants must be immediately allowed to dock in Italy or Malta. amnesty.org Twelve refugees and migrants who have been stranded in the Central Mediterranean on a Spanish fishing boat for almost a week must be allowed to disembark in Europe as soon as possible, said Amnesty International. | Six days after they were rescued from the water by the Nuestra Madre de Loreto vessel, the 12 – including two children – remain on board in overcrowded conditions and stormy waters. |
(2018-11-28). How Trump Weaponized the Government's Refugee Resettlement Agency. aclu.org The Office of Refugee Resettlement was supposed to protect vulnerable immigrant children. Now it's an arm of Trump's deportation force. | Back in April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, both under the Department of Homeland Security, entered into a memorandum of agreement with an obscure government agency known as the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. The office, known by its initials ORR, had traditionally served vulnerable immigrant youth coming to the United States without an adult. The agency took custody of those c…
(2018-11-28). Honduras: State must ensure access to justice for victims of post-election repression. amnesty.org One year after the Honduran security forces began their repression of those involved in mass post-election protests, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said: | "We reiterate our call for investigations into all cases of unnecessary or excessive use of force by the Honduran authorities during the post-election period last year, including killings, arbitrary detentions and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The people responsible for this brutal repression must be brought to justice without further delay." |
(2018-11-28). HRE workshop participants use storytelling to call attention to Lebanon's migrant workers. amnesty.org Youth from Beirut take action to abolish Lebanon's Kafala system after participating in a Human Rights Education Workshop. | In a small community bookshop and coffeeshop — snug within the hip area of Mar Mikhael, Beirut — university students, youth, activists and migrant workers gathered to share stories of oppression and resilience in an event put together by Amnesty youth volunteers. |
(2018-11-28). Prominent Rights Activist Goes On Hunger Strike In Iran Prison. iranian.com A prominent Iranian rights activist and political prisoner has started a hunger strike to support another prisoner of conscience whose health is deteriorating in prison. Nasrin Sotoudeh's family announced on November 26 that she has started a hunger strike in Tehran's notorious Evin prison to protest the deteriorating health of Farhad Meysami, who himself has […]
(2018-11-28). PPS: "Israeli Soldiers Abduct Eighteen Palestinians In The West Bank" imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday at dawn, at least eighteen Palestinians from their homes, in several parts of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported. The soldiers invaded dozens of communities across the occupied West Bank, before storming and ransacking homes, and interrogated scores of Palestinians …
(2018-11-28). A Mexican Perspective on Trump's Border Crisis. progressive.org "You've got a President of the United States who is a racist. Instead of having the United States be a world leader in human rights, Trump wants to be world leader of racism. It's very difficult."
(2018-11-28). Blacks are fighting back against privatization & systemic racist attacks on SF City Worker. indybay.org SF African American city workers have forced the second hearing by the City and County of SF to expose the systemic racism and to demand that managers and executives including HR Director Micki Callahan be held accountable for their support for racist practices and systemic discrimination.
(2018-11-28). The Baltimore Bureau Podcast Show: Weeks of November 12 and 19, 2018. therealnews.com 
Dharna Noor and Khalilah Harris talk about federal police oversight, Bloomberg's gift to Johns Hopkins University, a pipeline set to be built through Maryland, and global struggles against racism and fascism
(2018-11-28). Micki Callahan Has To Go! SF SEIU1021 Rank & File Leaders/Members Speak Out Against Racism. indybay.org San Francisco SEIU 1021 African American workers and other SF public workers spoke out about the systemic racism, workplace bullying and privatization and outsourcing before a SF Board Of Supervisors Audit meeting on systemic racism in the City and County of SF. They also called for the removal of SF Department of Human Resources Director Micki Callahan.
(2018-11-28). Trump retweets image of US deputy attorney general among others jailed 'for treason'. rt.com 
President Trump has retweeted an image showing a dozen of his opponents and critics jailed for "treason." Among them, his current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. |
(2018-11-28). Headlines for November 28, 2018. democracynow.org U.N. Report Warns World Falling Far Behind on Paris Climate Goals, Mexico Agrees to U.S. Demand to Hold Asylum Seekers While Claims Are Decided, Trump Administration Defends Tear Gas Use at U.S.-Mexico Border, Border Patrol Fired Tear Gas Dozens of Times Under President Obama, U.S. Waived Background Checks for Staff at Jail for Migrant Children, Mississippi: GOP's Cindy Hyde-Smith, Who Posed as Confederate Soldier, Wins Senate Seat, Ukraine's President Warns of "Full-Fledged War" with Russia, Trump "Not Even a Little Bit Happy" with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Trump Says "We're Not Necessarily Such Believers" in Cli…
(2018-11-28). 'Republicans Just Don't Want All the Votes to Count' – CounterSpin interview with Ari Berman on 2018 voter suppression. fair.org 
Janine Jackson interviewed Ari Berman about 2018 voter suppression for the November 16, 2018, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
(2018-11-28). What would Marx have said about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica? mronline.org 
Twitter says it is about "what people are talking about right now". Facebook argues its "mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what […] | Source
(2018-11-28). NAACP Comments on Mississippi Senatorial Runoff Election. naacp.org BALTIMORE — The NAACP issued the following statement regarding the results of the Mississippi senatorial runoff election: While we are hopeful that the Senator-Elect will prove herself worthy of her new office, this election demonstrates the need to continue broadening the tent of civic and democratic participation in our nation. We must continue to organize, […]
(2018-11-27). China Has Detained a Million Muslims in Reeducation Camps. thenation.com China Has Detained a Million Muslims in Reeducation Camps…
(2018-11-27). Russian National Dies After Detention by US Immigration. hrw.org 
| | Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington. | © Nathalie Graham/The Stranger | Over Thanksgiving weekend, another person who was in US immigration detention died. | Amar Mergensana, a Russian national who had been detained at Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, was taken off life support on Saturday, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE stated he had attempted suicide on November 15; the…
(2018-11-27). Radical black feminism and the simultaneity of oppression. mronline.org 
As the word intersectionality falls from the lips of Hillary Clinton and increasingly is normalized and sanitized, we should be clear about its radical moorings. | Source
(2018-11-27). U.S. Prisons Have a Mental Health Crisis. This Story of a New York Prisoner's Death Helps Reveal Why. democracynow.org 
A major new Marshall Project investigation looks at the the mental health crisis in U.S. prisons by diving deep into the story of Karl Taylor, a prisoner who died at a maximum-security prison in the Catskills of New York after an altercation with prison guards in 2015. Karl Taylor was serving out a minimum 27-year sentence for a rape conviction when his life came to a sudden end at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in April of 2015. The African-American prisoner had been diagnosed with delusional disorder and paranoid personality disorder when he was taken into custody in 1995. By April of 2015, Taylor was house…
(2018-11-27). Burundi: Human rights defender jailed for 32 years must be released. amnesty.org The Burundian authorities should overturn the 32-year sentence handed to human rights defender Germain Rukuki and set him free, Amnesty International said following his appeal hearing on 26 November. | "Germain was tried and imprisoned simply because he worked for a human rights organization. The appeal court should quash his sentence and release him immediately and unconditionally," said Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International's Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes. |
(2018-11-27). Mississippi Memories: "You're Not Black Are You?" counterpunch.org In Gulfport, Mississippi, 1998, you could depend on the gracious hospitality from whites and blacks alike, a haircut for just $3 — and perodic proof of an uncanny racism. It's hard to relate how bigotry on the Mississippi Gulf Coast was any different from racial indifference you might experience in say, Philadelphia or New York More
(2018-11-27). Amazon and UPS Stay Silent as Other Corporate Donors Renounce Support for Racist Mississippi Senate Campaign. theintercept.com Google, Facebook, and other companies have asked to take back their contributions to Mississippi Republican senatorial candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith in the wake of growing controversy over her celebration of Confederate history, comments about a "public hanging," and other newly surfaced incidents and information. But more than a dozen other high-profile public companies, including UPS, have yet to publicly withdraw their financial support. | Earlier this month, Hyde-Smith made headlines when she said of one of her supporters that "if he invit…
(2018-11-27). Hatewatch Headlines 11/28/2018. splcenter.org Facebook discrimination review still a mystery; Neuroscience explains bigotry's persistence; Proud Boys' new rules including less fighting; and more.
(2018-11-27). NAACP Calls for Withdrawal of Thomas Farr Nomination. naacp.org Statement of Derrick Johnson Calling for Withdrawal of Thomas Farr Nomination Thomas Farr needs to withdraw his nomination immediately. We've always known Thomas Farr as the architect of the worst voter suppression law in the country, however, we have now found that he was more deeply engaged than anyone knew in intimidating Black voters during […]
(2018-11-26). Jeff Sessions' Legacy Is Full of Dangerous Successes. aclu.org Attorney General Sessions proved how dangerous the nation's top prosecutor can be to criminal justice reform. | In his 636 days in office, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions secured a legacy that has been described as " unprecedented" and " dark." But Sessions' unwavering actions against criminal justice reform may also earn another descriptor for his time…
(2018-11-26). Court sides with L.A. cop who murdered Jesse Romero. fightbacknews.org Los Angeles, CA – In an outrageous decision, the jury sided with two-time killer and Los Angeles Police Department officer Eden Medina. The civil rights violations trial on 14-year-old Jesse Romero's killing started November 13 and lasted only six days. Early in the preceding, a judge ruled to exclude key evidence from the proceedings. | Killed on August 9, 2016 Jesse Romero was visiting his friends at the apartment complex in Boyle Heights. Someone inside of the apartment complex called 911 saying Romero and another teen were potentially smoking marijuana and graffitiing. LAPD officers Eden Medina and backu…
(2018-11-26). Azerbaijan: Right to freedom of peaceful assembly must be protected and detained peaceful demonstrators released. amnesty.org The 17 November 2018 detention of Azerbaijani opposition leaders and activists as they were attempting to organize a peaceful rally in the capital Baku is a violation of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
(2018-11-26). Russia: Bail refusal for Chechen prisoner of conscience is latest affront to justice. amnesty.org Responding to the news that a court in Chechnya has refused to release human rights defender Oyub Titiev on bail, Natalia Prilutskaya, Amnesty International's Russia Researcher, said: | "The decision not to grant bail to Oyub Titiev once again demonstrates the political motivation of the case against him. He has committed no crime, having been jailed on completely fabricated drug charges, and must be released immediately and unconditionally. |
(2018-11-26). Headlines for November 26, 2018. democracynow.org U.S. Border Patrol Fires Tear Gas at Families Seeking Asylum, Border Patrol Officer Who Shot Teen Acquitted of Manslaughter Charge, North Carolina: ICE Arrests Immigrant Who Left Church Sanctuary, White House Tries to Bury Climate Report With Devastating Conclusions, California: Camp Fire 100% Contained as Death Toll Climbs to 85, Russia Seizes Three Ukrainian Ships Near Crimean Peninsula, President Trump Contradicts CIA Findings on Jamal Khashoggi Murder, Yemen: U.N. Urges Warring Parties to Enter Peace Talks, UAE Pardons UK Academic of Spying After Months of Imprisonment, EU Approves Brexit Deal, France: Police…
(2018-11-25). The Counterinsurgency Paradigm: How U.S. Politics Have Become Paramilitarized. theintercept.com Donald Trump ran a campaign promising to refill the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison, to "bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding," to "take out" the families of suspected terrorists, to ban Muslims from entering this country, and to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Yet these policies didn't start with Trump: Torture, indefinite detention, extraordinary renditions, record numbers of deportations, anti-Muslim sentiment, mass foreign and domestic surveillance, and even the killing of innocent family members of suspected terrorists all have a recent historical precedent. | Trump's predecessor, B…
(2018-11-25). Minnesotans to rally in support of migrant caravan. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – As national attention has focused on the caravan of Central American refugees winding its way through Mexico towards the U.S.-Mexico border, immigrants and their allies in Minnesota will rally in support of the caravan on Friday, November 30. | Organizers are planning for a robust turnout in solidarity with the caravan. The rally will start at 5: 15 p.m. in front of the Minneapolis Federal Building at 4th Street and 4th Avenue. Afterwards, organizers will lead a march towards Wells Fargo to highlight the complicity of the banking industry in supporting for-profit detention centers across the U.S.
(2018-11-25). Ecuador's ex-VP Jorge Glas fights for justice amid right-wing push. greenleft.org.au 
November 12 was the 23rd day of the hunger strike led by Jorge Glas, the former vice-president of Ecuador. His health condition deteriorated significantly after his transfer to the Latacunga maximum security prison. | After enduring deplorable conditions, he was rushed into Carlos Andrade Marín hospital in Quito on November 7, but was transferred back to Latacunga afterwards. He vowed to continue his hunger strike against the continued persecution of him, ex-president Rafael Co…
(2018-11-24). Reality Winner Battles an Eating Disorder Behind Bars. theintercept.com In August, Reality Winner stood before a federal judge, ready to accept a plea bargain of more than five years in prison for sharing classified information with journalists. Surrounded by dozens of reporters, attorneys, and activists who have followed her case, the whistleblower told the court something deeply personal that she had not even shared with her closest family members before her arrest. | Winner struggles with depression and bulimia."I try to be optimistic, and then they just surprise me and I'm just like, I signed a plea deal to get help." | Weeks later, Winner made a distressed phone call from a crow…
(2018-11-23). Four Days in Occupied Western Sahara—A Rare Look Inside Africa's Last Colony. democracynow.org 
In this special rebroadcast of a Democracy Now! exclusive documentary, we break the media blockade and go to occupied Western Sahara in the northwest of Africa to document the decades-long Sahrawi struggle for freedom and Morocco's violent crackdown. Morocco has occupied the territory since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. Thousands have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the Moroccan occupation. A 1,700-mile wall divides Sahrawis who remain under occupation from those who fled into exile. The international media has largely ignored the occupat…
(2018-11-22). After Visiting Brazil's Lula in Prison, Noam Chomsky Warns Against "Disaster" Under Jair Bolsonaro. democracynow.org 
As Brazil's President-elect Jair Bolsonaro prepares to take office in January, we return to our conversation with world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky shortly after the election. Bolsonaro's impending presidency marks the most radical political shift Brazil since military rule ended more than 30 years ago. Bolsonaro is a former Army officer who has praised Brazil's former military dictatorship, spoken in favor of torture and threatened to destroy, imprison or banish his political opponents. Bolsonaro has also encouraged the police to kill suspected drug dealers, and once told a fem…
(2018-11-21). Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Anti-Immigrant Military Enlistment Policy. aclu.org Last year, the Pentagon implemented a background investigation process that effectively banned green card holders from serving in the military. | Despite attacking family members of fallen war heroes, criticizing Sen. John McCain for being captured in war, and recently deploying troops…
(2018-11-21). Libya: Migrants Forced off Ship at Libya Port. hrw.org 
| (Milan) — Libyan security forces forcibly removed 79 migrants and asylum seekers on November 20, 2018 from the Panama-flagged cargo ship Nivin in the port of Misrata in Libya, after they refused to leave the ship for 10 days, Human Rights Watch said today. Security forces reportedly used force and tear gas. An unknown number of people were taken to hospital, and others were taken to the al-Karareem detention center in…
(2018-11-21). Council of Europe: A Threat to Rights of People With Disabilities. hrw.org 
| | The headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. | © 2018 Human Rights Watch | (Brussels) — Council of Europe member states should oppose new proposed standards regulating the detention and forced treatment of people with disabilities, Human Rights Watch said today. The body in charge of developing the standards, the Council of Europe's Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO), consisting of expert…
(2018-11-21). Hundreds of teachers walk off for refugees. greenleft.org.au 
Teachers, education support staff and even some principals walked off government and private schools across Victoria and assembled at the State Library on November 20, in support of refugees currently being detained on Manus Island and Nauru. A similar protest was held in Brisbane that same day. | More than 30 refugee support organisations, including Teachers for Refugees, which organised the protest, had set November 20, Universal Children's Day, as the deadline for the federal government to evacuate refugee children and their families from offshore detention centres to Australia. | The Walk Off for Refuge…
(2018-11-21). Lebanon: Deportation Threat for Sudan Refugees. hrw.org 
| | People wave a Lebanese national flag during a protest in Central Beirut December 11, 2006. | © 2006 Reuters | (Beirut) — The Lebanese government should revoke the deportation orders of three United Nations-recognized Sudanese refugees and release them from detention, Legal Agenda, the Anti-Racism Movement (ARM), Human Rights Watch, Insan, and the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) said today. Dur…
(2018-11-21). Boston Police Has a Secret Point System That Turns Normal Teenage Behavior Into Gang Membership. aclu.org The department arbitrarily labels immigrant teenagers as gang members and helps the federal government deport them. | In the face of the Trump administration's stepped-up deportation efforts, officials in Boston and other progressive cities have declared their communities safe spaces for immigrants. But behind the scenes, progressive havens like Boston are facilitating the deportations of some of our most vulnerable young people. | As the federal government's rhetoric and action around immigration have sharpened and hardened, young immigrants are being systematically slandered and deprived of their rights here in…
(2018-11-21). I May Have to Quit Harvard Because the TSA Won't Stop Searching Me. aclu.org The TSA has repeatedly questioned a Muslim-American journalist about her religion and criticism of the government. We're demanding answers from DHS. | This piece was originally published by The Washington Post in August. | I realized my life had entered a new phase while crossing into the United States from Canada in September 2016. | "You both have to come inside," the border officer sa…
(2018-11-21). DR Congo: Pre-Election Crackdown on Activists. hrw.org 
| | Three members from the Vigilence Citoyenne (VICI) citizens' movement who were arrested in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 14 of their colleagues on November 1, 2018. The activists were charged with incitement to civil disobedience and were provisionally released on November 18. | © Private 2018 | (Kinshasa) — The Democratic Republic of Congo government has made new arrests of pro-democracy activists during November…
(2018-11-21). Shielding Hogan From the Democratic Wave – How the Washington Post, Big Money and a bit of racism re-elected a GOP governor in Deep Blue Maryland. fair.org 
The Washington Post ( 11/6/18) touts a "sane center" that it did much to define and promote. | The votes were hardly in when the Washington Post ( 11/6/18) started explaining why Republican Gov. Larry Hogan won reelection in de…
(2018-11-21). Headlines for November 21, 2018. democracynow.org Trump Sides with "Great Ally" Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi Killing, Lawmakers Condemn Trump's Defense of Saudi Arabia, WaPo Publisher Blasts Trump over Murder of Columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Rights Groups: Saudi Arabia Is Torturing Feminist Activists, Yemen: Saudi-Led War Caused 85,000 Young Children to Die from Hunger, Afghanistan: Suicide Bomber Kills 50 at Kabul Religious Gathering, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Warns Migrant Caravan over Asylum, Texas ICE Jail to Release 29 Families After Federal Ruling on Asylum, Mississippi GOP Senate Candidate Posed for Photos in Confederate Garb, Federal Judge Strikes Down…
(2018-11-21). SPLC vows to sue Trump administration again over second approval of Kentucky Medicaid waiver scheme. splcenter.org The SPLC said today that it will sue the Trump administration again for approving Kentucky's Medicaid waiver plan a second time. This lawsuit will be brought in collaboration with the National Health Law Program (NHELP) and the Kentucky Equal Justice Center (KEJC). The law firm Jenner & Block is representing NHELP in the lawsuit.
(2018-11-20). We Are Thankful for Our Friends. naacp.org 
As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, we're acknowledging a special group of people we are especially thankful to have at our side — our partners in the civil rights and social justice movement with whom we have powerful friendships with. 2018 was a pivotal year for NAACP, a year in which we made great strides […]
(2018-11-20). #WontBeErased, Won't Be Forgotten, Won't Be Alone. aclu.org We should honor the transgender people who have died this year by taking action for trans justice and survival. | On Trans Day of Remembrance the trans community honors our dead. Too many names are read and remembered at vigils around the world marking the deaths of trans people who have been murdered during the year. This year is again on pace to be the deadliest year for transgender people in the United States. As of October, …