NZ Police File Terrorism Charges Over Christchurch Shootings
telesurenglish.net | 2019-05-21
The New Zealand police have charged the man accused of murder in shootings at two Christchurch mosques in March with engaging in a terrorist act, the first time such a charge had been brought in the country's history, they said on Tuesday. | RELATED: | NZ Police Arrest Man with Suspected Explosives in Christchurch | The police filed the charges against Brenton Tarrant under the terrorism suppression legislation, they continued. "The charge will allege that a terrorist act was…
telesurenglish.net/news/NZ-Police-File-Terrorism-Charges-Over-Christchurch-Shootings-20190521-0004.html

Lula Represents Brazil's Sovereignty, PT Stresses
plenglish.com | 2019-05-21
21 de mayo de 2019, 09: 26Brasilia, May 21 (Prensa Latina) Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in prison for more than a year for alleged acts of corruption, represents Brazil"s sovereignty, due to everything he did for this South American country.
www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=42207&SEO=lula-represents-brazils-sovereignty-pt-stresses

Let's Shut Down the Economy to Fight for Abortion Rights
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-05-21
In recent weeks, several states have passed incredibly restrictive laws against abortion. The specifics of these laws vary, but the end result is the same: abortion is becoming illegal again. In many cases, these laws threaten anyone who gets or performs an abortion with prison time. | The Alabama bill (HB 314) reclassifies performing an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy as a Class A felony, meaning that doctors will face a minimum of 10 years and up to 99 years in prison. The law states tha…
truthout.org/articles/lets-shut-down-the-economy-to-fight-for-abortion-rights/

Outrage as Texas Senate Passes 'Unconstitutional' Bill That Would Hit Pipeline Protestors With Up to 10 Years in Prison
Jake Johnson, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-05-21
"Big oil is hijacking our legislative system," said Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/pipeline.png…
commondreams.org/news/2019/05/21/outrage-texas-senate-passes-unconstitutional-bill-would-hit-pipeline-protestors-10?cd-origin=rss

Family of Jailed Saudi Feminist Loujain Al-Hathloul: She Was Waterboarded, Flogged & Electrocuted
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-21
It's been a year since women's right activist Loujain Al-Hathloul was detained and jailed in Saudi Arabia for leading a movement to lift the kingdom's ban on female drivers and overhaul its male "guardianship" system. Despite international outcry, she's been imprisoned ever since. During that time, her family says, she's been held in solitary confinement and faced abuse, including electric shocks, flogging and threats of sexual violence. The Saudi government has resisted calls from human rights groups and lawmakers from around the world to release Loujain and the other jailed activists. We speak with two of Louja…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/21/family_of_jailed_saudi_feminist_loujain

Italy Unions Refuse to Load Saudi Ship to Protest Yemen War
telesurenglish.net | 2019-05-21
Italian unions refused Monday to load electricity generators onto a Saudi Arabian ship with weapons on board in a protest against the war in Yemen. | RELATED: | France Threatens Journalists With Prison for Exposing Its Role in Saudi War on Yemen | The Bahri-Yanbu vessel loaded arms in the Belgian city of Antwerp earlier this month, but was prevented from picking up another consignment of weapons in the French port of Le Havre following protests by humanita…
telesurenglish.net/news/Italy-Unions-Refuse-to-Load-Saudi-Ship-to-Protest-Yemen-War-20190521-0017.html

Saudi Feminist Loujain al-Hathloul Was Waterboarded, Flogged and Electrocuted
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-05-21
It's been a year since women's right activist Loujain al-Hathloul was detained and jailed in Saudi Arabia for leading a movement to lift the kingdom's ban on female drivers and overhaul its male "guardianship" system. Despite international outcry, she's been imprisoned ever since. During that time, her family says, she's been held in solitary confinement and faced abuse, including electric shocks, flogging and threats of sexual violence. The Saudi government has resisted calls from human rights groups and lawmakers from around the world to release Loujain and the other jailed activists. We speak with two of Lo…
truthout.org/video/saudi-feminist-loujain-al-hathloul-was-waterboarded-flogged-and-electrocuted/

India's Opposition Parties Allege Vote Machine Fraud
telesurenglish.net | 2019-05-21
India's main opposition parties Tuesday alleged voting fraud in the country's general election, days after exit polls predicted a comfortable win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling far right-wing party. | RELATED: | India's Brutal Torture of Kashmiri Prisoners an 'Instrument of Control': Report | Members of as many as 22 parties…
telesurenglish.net/news/Indias-Opposition-Parties-Allege-Vote-Machine-Fraud-20190521-0020.html

U.S. HOUSE PASSES THE NAACP-SUPPORTED EQUALITY ACT
Adam Lee | naacp.org | 2019-05-21
On May 17, 2019, by a bipartisan vote of 236 yeas to 173 nays the U.S. House voted to approve and send to the Senate H.R. 5, the NAACP-supported Equality Act. We must now do all we can to ensure the U.S. Senate takes up and passes the Equality Act as soon as possible, so …
naacp.org/latest/u-s-house-passes-naacp-supported-equality-act/

Detained, Abused & Denied Medical Care: How Trump Immigration Policies Led to Child Deaths at Border
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-21
A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy died in U.S. custody Monday after spending a week in immigration jail. Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was found dead at a Border Patrol station at Weslaco, Texas, just one day after being diagnosed with the flu. He was not hospitalized. This marks the fifth death of a Guatemalan child apprehended by Border Patrol since December. Before last year, it had been more than a decade since a child died in the custody of U.S. immigration officials. We speak with Fernando Garcia, the founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an advocacy organization based in El Paso, and Jen…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/21/detained_abused_denied_medical_care_how

How Trump's Immigration Policies Led to Child Deaths at Border
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-05-21
A 16 year-old Guatemalan boy died in U.S. custody Monday after spending a week in immigration jail. Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was found dead at a Border Patrol station at Weslaco, Texas, just one day after being diagnosed with the flu. He was not hospitalized. This marks the fifth death of a Guatemalan child apprehended by Border Patrol since December. Before last year, it had been more than a decade since a child died in the custody of U.S. immigration officials. We speak with Fernando Garcia, the founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an advocacy organization based in El Paso, and…
truthout.org/video/how-trumps-immigration-policies-led-to-child-deaths-at-border/

US media silent on re-jailing of Chelsea Manning
wsws.org | 2019-05-21
The attack on Manning and Assange is part of much broader global assault on basic democratic rights, including freedom of speech, the press and the internet.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/21/mann-m21.html

Trump administration shipping immigrants to sanctuary cities as fifth child dies in ICE custody
wsws.org | 2019-05-21
Trump is seeking to further inundate processing centers and jails to justify the border wall as the fifth Guatemalan child has died in ICE custody since December.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/21/immi-m21.html

Despite Lawsuit, TBSC Leader Calls for Hosing Down a Sleeping Homeless Man
Peter Green | indybay.org | 2019-05-21
Samantha Olden, a leader of the "public safety" group Take Back Santa Cruz (TBSC), recently made a comment on social media suggesting a homeless man be hosed down with water to discourage him from trespassing in the area in which he was sleeping. The comment from Olden comes just over a month after homeless residents in Santa Cruz named Take Back Santa Cruz in a federal civil rights lawsuit, which calls for TBSC to, "be enjoined from dangerous inflammatory hate speech and ordered to publicly alert its members and followers to refrain from performing or inciting acts of physical violence against homeless persons."
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/05/20/18823516.php

A Homeland Security Whistleblower Goes Public About ICE Abuse of Solitary Confinement
Maryam Saleh | theintercept.com | 2019-05-21
Ellen Gallagher was stunned when she first learned that immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement were sometimes placed in isolation with no human contact for 22 hours a day. It was February 2014, only a few months into her stint as a policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, where she thought she'd be empowered to ensure that the department did not violate the rights of those who came into its crosshairs. | For the next several months, Gallagher educated herself on solitary confinement, a controversial practice used frequently in penal i…
theintercept.com/2019/05/21/ice-solitary-confinement-whistleblower/

Telecom shill Ajit Pai shills for telecom
Fight for the Future | nationofchange.org | 2019-05-21
WASHINGTON — Today Ajit Pai, the former Verizon lawyer turned least | popular FCC chairman in history, announced his support for the T-Mobile / | Sprint mega merger. The $26.5 billion deal has faced widespread | opposition from Internet freedom, labor, civil rights, and consumer | groups. It would reduce the number of national wireless carriers from | four to three, leading to higher prices and worse plans, with the | biggest impact felt by low income people and communities of color. | Fight for the Future deputy director Evan Greer (pronouns: she/her) said, "Ajit Pai doesn't even try to pretend that he w…
nationofchange.org/2019/05/21/telecom-shill-ajit-pai-shills-for-telecom/

How the 'war on gangs' feeds mass incarceration
Terrence Myers | liberationnews.org | 2019-05-21
Why gang databases and raids are not a solution.
liberationnews.org/how-the-war-on-gangs-feeds-mass-incarceration/

Thousands of Immigrants Suffer in Solitary Confinement in ICE Detention
Spencer Woodman | theintercept.com | 2019-05-21
Dulce Rivera lived for the one hour a day she was allowed outside, to pace alone on a patch of concrete encased in metal fencing. | They called it "the yard," but it was really a metal cage. Still, it was far better than the misery she endured the other 23 hours a day, locked alone in a cell with no one to talk to and nothing to distract her from her increasingly dark thoughts. | Rivera, a 36-year-old transgender woman from Honduras and a longtime U.S. resident, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2017. She was placed in the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, and moved into s…
theintercept.com/2019/05/21/ice-solitary-confinement-immigration-detention/

Children of ISIL terrorists likely held in 'secret detention facilities', UN human rights office warns
United Nations | un.org | 2019-05-21
In Syria, it is suspected that children whose fathers fought for terrorist group ISIL are being held in unidentified "settlements" and "secret detention facilities" away from their mothers, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/05/1038901

Inmate Dies at Rountree Rehabilitation and Re-Entry Facility in Watsonville
Santa Cruz Police News | indybay.org | 2019-05-21
According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, 35-year-old inmate Carlos Bolanos was found dead at 5: 30 am today in the Rehabilitation and Re-entry Facility located at the Rountree Lane Sheriff's Detention Facilities in Watsonville. Carlos was in custody at the Rehabilitation and Re-Entry facility since December of 2018.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/05/20/18823528.php

They're Just About Ready to Destroy Roe v. Wade
Howard Lisnoff | counterpunch.org | 2019-05-20
Militarism, consumerism, and racism have drawn alongside, and even to, misogyny and anti-immigrant hate. The juggernaut of greed, power, and hate may be impossible to stop at this point in U.S. history. Those of goodwill have been fighting the good fight against these regressive forces for decades. When the Vietnam War ended, only a brief…
counterpunch.org/2019/05/20/theyre-just-about-ready-to-destroy-roe-v-wade/

Indian Dalit Killed for Eating in Front of Upper-Caste Men
telesurenglish.net | 2019-05-20
A 23-year-old Indian man belonging to the Dalit – the lowest-caste formerly known as untouchables – was killed by a group of upper-caste men, after the victim allegedly ate in front of them at a wedding celebration in the northern state of Uttarakhand, the Times of India reported. | RELATED: | India's Brutal Torture of Kashmiri Prisoners an 'Instrument of Control': Report | "It was our cousin's marriage. My brother made the mistake of taking food from the same coun…
telesurenglish.net/news/Indian-Dalit-Killed-By-Upper-Caste-Men-for-Eating-in-Front-of-Them-20190520-0017.html

What's Trending: Black News Recap
Vanessa Mbonu@naacpnet | naacp.org | 2019-05-20
Washington Post: Billionaire Robert F. Smith pledges to pay off Morehouse College Class of 2019‚Ä≤s student loans Smith told the graduates how he launched his lucrative career. He gave them wise words on grit and success. Then he deviated from his prepared remarks. "My family is going to create a grant to …
naacp.org/latest/whats-trending-black-news-recap-2/

Alabama's Abortion Ban Is a Political Stunt That Will Cost Its Taxpayers
aclu.org | 2019-05-20
The draconian law is a flagrantly unconstitutional attack on more than 40 years of established Supreme Court precedent. | This piece originally appeared at the Alabama Political Reporter. | For years, the Alabama legislature has been passing laws that push abortion out of reach. Now politicians have finally shown their true colors and are trying to ban abortion outright. | On Wednesday, Governor Ivey signed H.B. 314 — one of the most extreme attacks on the ri…
aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom/abortion/alabamas-abortion-ban-political-stunt-will-cost-its-taxpayers

France Threatens Journalists With Jail Time for Exposing Government Lies About Yemen
Middle East Eye | theantimedia.com | 2019-05-20
(MEE) — France has threatened three French journalists with potential jail time for using secret documents to reveal the country's involvement in the Yemen civil war. In a series of reports published in April, investigative journalists from Disclose and Radio France revealed the number of French arms sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The documents, authored by …
theantimedia.com/france-threatens-journalists-jail-time-exposing-french-arms-yemen/

Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Is Being Pushed By 'Islamophobia Industry'
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-05-19
Civil rights lawyer and activist Arjun Singh Sethi says,…
therealnews.com/stories/muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-designation-is-being-pushed-by-islamophobia-industry

For the Latest News on WikiLeaks Watch the 30th Online Vigil
consortiumnews.com | 2019-05-18
Host Elizabeth Vos led a discussion with author George Szamuely on Chelsea Manning returning to prison; Sweden reopening its case against Assange and the other big headlines of the week. Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2019/05/18/for-the-latest-news-on-wikileaks-and-assange-watch-the-30th-online-vigil-live/

Ellen & Rachel Meeropol and Boots Riley on art and resistance
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-05-18
Ellen Meeropol is the author of two novels about law, justice, and government surveillance. Her most recent book, "On Hurricane Island," explores a fictional secret domestic detention camp for citizens. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/05/18/ellen-rachel-meeropol-and-boots-riley-on-art-and-resistance/

Far right winning the social media war
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-05-17
A decade ago the left believed that it could use social media to outflank the established mass media. But it is the far right that now dominates social media. | Two recent events have focused attention on extreme right social media. The shooter in the Christchurch massacre was an addict of white supremacist message boards on platforms like Reddit and 4Chan. Like the alt-right platform Gab, these noticeboards are filled with overt racism, homophobia, misogyny and Hitler worship. | A very different sort of hard-right social media fuels Vox, the Spanish neo-fascist party that won 13% of the vote in the April general…
greenleft.org.au/content/far-right-winning-social-media-war

Chelsea Manning Back in Prison After Refusing to Testify
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-05-17
Freed eight days ago, Manning was subpoenaed before a new grand jury investigating Assange. Despite grave danger to her health, she refused to testify, saying she would rather die in prison than change her principles…
therealnews.com/stories/chelsea-manning-back-in-prison-after-refusing-to-testify

Meet The Alabama Doctor Who Could Face 99 Years In Prison For Providing Abortions Under New Law
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-17
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the nation's most restrictive abortion ban into law on Wednesday, effectively banning the procedure except in cases where a pregnant person's life is at serious risk. The law does not make exceptions in cases of rape or incest and doctors could face 99 years in prison for performing abortions. We speak with Dr. Yashica Robinson, the medical director of the Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives, one of only three clinics left in the state that offer patients abortion services. She is one of only two abortion providers living and working in Alabama. Under the new Alab…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/17/meet_the_alabama_doctor_who_could

NAACP and Civil Rights Groups Hold Rally on the 65th Anniversary of Brown v. Board
Austyn Ross | naacp.org | 2019-05-17
On May 16, NAACP along with civil rights organizations and members of Congress held a rally on Capitol Hill to make the promise of Brown v. Board of Education a reality for all. In honor of the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, speakers addressed the still urgent struggle for education equity as well …
naacp.org/latest/naacp-civil-rights-groups-hold-rally-65th-anniversary-brown-v-board/

New York Passes a Bill to Ensure No One Loses Their Home for Calling the Police
aclu.org | 2019-05-17
Americans shouldn't be threatened with losing housing because they called for help. | In cities and towns across New York state — and around the country — you can be evicted just for calling for police or emergency assistance. Fortunately, that's about to change in New York. The State Legislature recently passed a bill — unanimously in the Assembly and 58 to 1 in the Senate — to prote…
aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/violence-against-women/new-york-passes-bill-ensure-no-one-loses-their-home

Ohio Lawmakers Ignored Us When They Banned Abortion. They Can't Ignore Us in the Courtroom
aclu.org | 2019-05-17
When Ohio legislators decided to sign the bill into law, we knew we had to both continue to provide care and defend access to that care in the courts. | Last month, Gov. Mike DeWine signed the Ohio Legislature's abortion ban into law. The law recklessly prohibits abortions starting around six weeks. As an abortion provider, I can tell you this is, in fact, a ban on all abortions in Ohio. Approximately 90% of abortions in Ohio take place at or after six weeks. Before six weeks, most people do not even know they are pregnant. | In defense of people across Ohio, I knew that our clinic couldn't stand by and do nothin…
aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom/abortion/ohio-lawmakers-ignored-us-when-they-banned-abortion-they-cant

France Takes Unprecedented Action Against Reporters Who Published Secret Government Document
Ryan Gallagher | theintercept.com | 2019-05-17
Journalists in France are facing potential jail sentences in an unprecedented case over their handling of secret documents detailing the country's involvement in the Yemen conflict. | Earlier this week, a reporter from Radio France and the co-founders of Paris-based investigative news organization Disclose were called in for questioning at the offices of the General Directorate for Internal Security, known as the DGSI. The agency is tasked with fighting terrorism, espionage, and other domestic threats, similar in function to the FBI in the United States. | The two news organizations published stories in April [md…
theintercept.com/2019/05/17/france-takes-unprecedented-action-against-reporters-who-published-secret-government-document/

Chelsea Manning Sent Back to Jail for Refusing to Testify Against Wikileaks
Associated Press | mintpressnews.com | 2019-05-17
Manning already spent two months in jail for refusing a previous subpoena to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. She was released last week when that grand jury's term expired, but prosecutors quickly hit her with a new subpoena.
mintpressnews.com/chelsea-manning-sent-back-to-jail-for-refusing-to-testify-against-wikileaks/258591/

Chelsea Manning jailed again after telling judge she'd rather 'starve to death' than cooperate with grand jury
John McEvoy | thecanary.co | 2019-05-17
After just six days of freedom, former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was remanded into custody on 16 May for refusing to testify before a federal Grand Jury. | Manning will be held in confinement for the entire investigation. And Judge Anthon…
thecanary.co/trending/2019/05/17/chelsea-manning-jailed-again-after-telling-judge-shed-rather-starve-to-death-than-cooperate-with-grand-jury/

"Inside Syria's Secret Prisons": A Harrowing Account of How Assad's Torture Machine Crushed Dissent
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-16
A shocking exposé by the New York Times looks at how Bashar al-Assad's government has jailed and tortured tens of thousands of Syrians since the uprising began in 2011. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, nearly 128,000 people have disappeared. They are presumed to be either dead or still in custody. The group estimates almost 14,000 individuals have died under torture. The detentions are continuing even as the fighting winds down. More than 5,600 Syrians were reportedly arbitrarily detained last year in a 25 percent jump from the previous year. While the Syrian government has denied running a secre…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/16/inside_syria_s_secret_prisons_a

Arizona Officials Say It's Unsafe for Prisoners to Read About Race and Criminal Justice. They're Wrong
aclu.org | 2019-05-16
The ban is not only unnecessary and inhumane, it's unconstitutional. | For many people behind bars, books can be a lifeline to the outside world. In the words of poet, attorney, and former prisoner Reginald Dwayne Betts, "Books weren't really magic when I was a child, they were just something that I [enjoyed] reading. I thought it was important, but when I got locked up it became magic,…
aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/civil-liberties-prison/arizona-officials-say-its-unsafe-prisoners-read-about

Our Government Has Failed to Defend the Sixth Amendment
aclu.org | 2019-05-16
There is a crisis in our nation of disregard for protecting the right to counsel for people accused of crimes. | On May 8, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) elevated the crisis of federal and state governments' disregard for protecting the right to counsel for people charged with crimes. She did so by introducing the Ensuring Quality Access to Legal Defense Act (EQUAL Defense Act) a bill that uses federal money — $250 million dollars annually for five years — to incentivize pay parity between public defenders and prosecutors, ensure manageable defender caseloads, and reauthorize the student loan repayment pro…
aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/effective-counsel/our-government-has-failed-defend-sixth-amendment

Chelsea Manning Faces More Jail And Steep Fines To Force Compliance With Grand Jury Subpoena
Kevin Gosztola | shadowproof.com | 2019-05-16
*Listen to the story by clicking the above player. Unable to break Chelsea Manning's spirit by jailing her, the United States escalated efforts to force her to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks by imposing steep financial penalties. Judge Anthony Trenga held Manning in civil contempt and ordered her…
shadowproof.com/2019/05/16/chelsea-manning-prosecutors-fines-contempt-jail-debt/

As EPA Insists Weed Killer Roundup is Safe, a Jury Orders Monsanto to Pay $2B to Couple With Cancer
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-16
U.S. agribusiness giant Monsanto has been ordered to pay its highest damages yet in a massive lawsuit over the popular weedkiller Roundup. A jury ordered Monsanto to pay more than $2 billion in punitive damages to Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a couple who were both diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer after using Roundup on their properties for decades. Monsanto is owned by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer. The main ingredient in the weed killer Roundup, glyphosate, is said to cause the cancer. Attorneys estimate that there are thousands of similar cases against Roundup pending in courts around the country.
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/16/as_epa_insists_weed_killer_roundup

GOP-Led Efforts to Crush Unions Have a New Target: Home Health Care Workers
Rachel M. Cohen | theintercept.com | 2019-05-16
Five states are suing the Trump administration for a rule that would impede home care workers' ability to deduct union fees from Medicaid-funded paychecks.
theintercept.com/2019/05/16/lawsuit-home-care-workers-union-dues/

Protesters say 'Dutton out, refugees in'
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-05-16
Refugee rights activists rallied outside home affairs minister Peter Dutton's electorate office in Queensland on May 11. They are hoping Dutton will lose his seat at the federal election on May 18. | Regardless of who wins the election, the Refugee Action Coalition is organising another protest on July 19 — six years after the Rudd Labor government announced that, from that point on, all refugees who arrived by boat would be sent to offshore detention. | Mark Gillespie, spokesperson for RAC, said that the movement needs to continue to press its demands for refugee rights no matter which party forms governme…
greenleft.org.au/content/protesters-say-dutton-out-refugees

Justice Department: If FDA Regulated Execution Drugs, They Would Ban Them
Kevin Gosztola | shadowproof.com | 2019-05-15
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel drafted an opinion that definitively argues the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may not ban or regulate drugs used to execute prisoners. | As state governments that have yet to abolish the death penalty struggle to obtain drugs for lethal injections, a key issue is whether certain lethal injection protocols violate the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. | Texas sued the FDA in 2017 after the agency blocked [ PDF] a shipment of lethal in…
shadowproof.com/2019/05/15/justice-department-if-fda-regulated-execution-drugs-they-would-ban-them/

Alabama Passes Near Total Ban on Abortion as Part of "Stealth Campaign" to Overturn Roe v. Wade
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-15
Alabama lawmakers voted to effectively ban abortion Tuesday, passing the most restrictive anti-choice law in the country in a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. The bill approved by the Senate Tuesday and the Alabama House last month bans abortions at all phases. Doctors could face up to 99 years in prison for performing abortions. The bill's only exception is grave risk to the mother's life — not cases of rape and incest. The legislation is now heading to the desk of anti-choice Republican Governor Kay Ivey, and many expect she'll sign it. Opponents say they'll challenge the bill in court should it become la…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/15/alabama_passes_near_total_ban_on

Police Unions Should Never Undermine Constitutional Policing
aclu.org | 2019-05-15
Seattle's consent decree was meant to bolster accountability and transparency by law enforcement; it needs to have teeth to be effectuated properly. | In 2017, the Seattle City Council adopted an ordinance establishing a number of progressive police reforms aimed at strengthening community trust in police and ensuring police accountability. Fast forward to today and these reforms are under fire by a familiar opponent: Police unions. | The comprehensive reforms in Seattle…
aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police-practices/police-unions-should-never-undermine

We're Suing to Block Ohio's Abortion Ban
aclu.org | 2019-05-15
Abortion is a constitutional right. | Today we filed a lawsuit challenging Ohio's ban on abortion starting at six weeks of pregnancy. Our lawsuit comes a day after Alabama passed a similar law and weeks after Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi passed similar measures. | A ban on abortion starting at six weeks is a ban on almost all abortions. Before six weeks, most people do not even know that they are pregnant. | Legally, this case is…
aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom/abortion/were-suing-block-ohios-abortion-ban

New Homeland Security Secretary, Same Anti-Immigrant Agenda
aclu.org | 2019-05-15
Beware of walls, money grabs, and other sham solutions as DHS leadership shifts. | Kevin McAleenan, the new acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, abruptly assumed office in April because his predecessor reportedly wasn't tough enough for President Trump. Ironically, McAleenan claims that "you can be tough and compassionate at the same time." But actions speak louder than words., , Don't be fooled, McAleenan does not represent a new leaf. He is d…
aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/ice-and-border-patrol-abuses/new-homeland-security-secretary-same-anti

New Orleans Prosecutors Routinely Violate Defendants' Right to Counsel to Keep Them in Jail
Jordan Smith | theintercept.com | 2019-05-15
Prosecutors are sidestepping the Sixth Amendment by seeking bail hikes in undisclosed meetings with judges, according to a new report by Court Watch NOLA.
theintercept.com/2019/05/15/new-orleans-prosecutors-sixth-amendment-right-to-counsel-bail/