(2019-07-07). SF Jews Demand Closure of Detention Camps. indybay.org "We've Seen This before, Never Again is Now" | Photos and Text: Leon Kunstenaar…
(2019-07-07). Another Whitewashed Trial of War Crimes by USA Invader. indybay.org The latest acquittal (except for an "unauthorized posing of a photo of a prisoner" charge) of a Navy SEAL is another case of Imperialist impunity of war crimes in America's global "War on Terror." Special Op. Chief Edward Gallagher was cleared of all other far more serious charges, including one for killing an injured teenage ISIS fighter in Iraq in 2017. He was released without having to serve any more time, since his sentence of 4 months for the "photo posing" charge has been offset by his pretrial detention. Apparently, this is a prime example of "victor's justice" in America's long history of overseas Imperia…
(2019-07-07). Day of Action: 2nd Detention Camps Protest. indybay.org Protests Resume at SF Federal Building | Photos and text: Leon Kunstenaar…
(2019-07-07). Sanctuary Leaders Fight Back Against ICE's "Psychological Violence" and Fines. truthout.org Ivan Ramirez, a 13-year-old Guatemalan asylum seeker, says he can't remember a time in his life when he felt free. Now that the federal government intends to fine his mother more than $300,000, he worries that whatever semblance of safety they have in sanctuary is being threatened. | Ivan and his mother Hilda Ramirez came to the United States fleeing familial violence in 2014. Since then, they have been "under attack" by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the elder Ramirez said. They were detained together for almost a year after first arriving in the United States. Since their release from detention,…
(2019-07-07). More Details Emerge About Horrible Conditions at Immigration Detention Centers. therealnews.com 
A DHS Inspector General report and a visit by members of Congress to detention centers, the inhumane conditions become clearer and spark more outrage…
(2019-07-07). Trump Blames Migrants for Appalling Conditions at Detention Centers. indybay.org Reposted from Common Dreams under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
(2019-07-07). In Palo Alto, 300 Demonstrators Protest Detention Camps. indybay.org On July 2, tens of thousands of people attended over 175 protests across the US to call on the Trump administration to close detention camps where migrants are being held under horrific conditions. Palo Alto, California, the site of one such protest, is the location of grassroots effort Caravan to Clint, a group that goes on trips to a children's detention facility outside El Paso.
(2019-07-07). Japanese American Internment Survivors Protest Plan to Jail Migrant Kids at Prison Camp. indybay.org Japanese Americans, including at least one from San Francisco, demonstrated at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma on June 22, one day after President Trump directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct a mass roundup of migrant families that have received deportation orders. They were met by uniformed military police who told them they did not have permission to congregate and might face arrest. "You need to move right now!" one of the officers shouted. "What don't you understand? It's English: Get out."
(2019-07-07). FBI's Leniency Toward Border Vigilante Contrasts With Harsh Treatment of "Black Identity Extremist" theintercept.com 
While militia leader Larry Hopkins remained free to terrorize immigrants, Christopher Daniels was jailed for months, losing his home and his job.
(2019-07-07). Jeffrey Epstein Jailed on New Charges of Sex-Trafficking Minors. truthdig.com NEW YORK — Wealthy financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was arrested Saturday in New York on new sex-trafficking charges involving allegations that date to the early 2000s, according to law enforcement officials. | Epstein, a hedge fund manager who once counted as friends former President Bill Clinton, Britain's Prince Andrew and President Donald Trump, was taken into federal custody and is expected to appear Monday in Manhattan federal court, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. | One of the officials said Epstein is accused of paying underage girls for massages and m…
(2019-07-07). Billionaire Epstein arrested on child sex trafficking charges, faces 45 years in prison — report. rt.com 
Financier Jeffrey Epstein has been arrested in New York for alleged years of sex trafficking underage girls. It comes more than a decade after he struck a plea deal with prosecution.
(2019-07-07). So This Is What It's Like. dissidentvoice.org Concentration camps in the United States are nothing new. As has been widely reported, one of the many new, austere, prison camps for dividing up and indefinitely detaining families for the crime of being refugees that has recently opened up is one in Oklahoma that was previously used for the same purposes during the Second …
(2019-07-06). Australian Student Expelled From North Korea For 'Spying Acts'. telesurenglish.net The official news agency for North Korea stated on Saturday that an Australian student was expelled from the country after spending ten days in detention for "spying acts" through his work with foreign media. | RELATED: | Nuclear Talks To Resume After Surprise Trump-Kim Meeting | The student,Alek Sigley, who had been held in North Korea since June 25, was an active social media user and also a regular contributor to international media organizations including NK News about his time in…
(2019-07-06). Crime still illegal even if you commit it 'patriotically', Robinson discovers. thecanary.co A judge has found Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) guilty of contempt of court. This is despite him assuring the judge that he was "one of the best patriots going". | Indefensible: | Robinson offered a number of unique defences. He claimed his 'patriotism' should make him immune to any crime. Examples of his patriotism included the fact that he: | Owns the complete DVD collection of Only Fools and Horses and has started making his way through…
(2019-07-06). I Spent 16 Months in Solitary Confinement and Now I'm Fighting to End It. commondreams.org I was just 17 years old when I was sent to solitary confinement in "Camp J," one of the most severe lockdown units at one of America's most brutal prisons, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. I languished in solitary for 16 months.
(2019-07-06). Judges are complicit in the opioid epidemic says new analysis. nationofchange.org Big Pharma is notorious for their role in the opioid epidemic that has killed more than half a million Americans. But according to a new analysis, judges have played a major contributing role as well. | An analysis of U.S. court secrecy, conducted by Reuters, shows that by sealing evidence from the public, judges may have lengthened and deepened the epidemic. | In 2001 the first lawsuit filed by a state against a Big Pharma company that manufactured OxyContin began. West Virginia brought the suit against Purdue Pharma LP, accusing them of minimizing the drug's risks and telling doctors that it was less addicti…
(2019-07-06). Lawsuit Seeks to Block Colorado Coal Mine Expansion Threatening Climate, National Forest. globalresearch.ca Five conservation groups sued the Trump administration late yesterday and called on a federal judge to block approval of Arch Coal's West Elk mine expansion, which would invade the wildlands of western Colorado's Gunnison National Forest. | The lawsuit and …
(2019-07-05). Over 1000 union educators protest Houston Detention Center. fightbacknews.org Houston, TX – July 4 saw union educators push for freedom for refugees and undocumented families. After a daylong meeting of the annual National Education Association's annual Representative Assembly, a massive group of educators demonstrated their anger at Trump's concentration camps for children and families. | Rank-and-file education workers organized the protest within less than 48 hours of arriving at the convention. The group marched around a detention center located in downtown Houston, holding signs reading "Free the children!" and "Close the camps!" As they marched, they chanted "Up up with education! Do…
(2019-07-05). Friday's Daily Brief: Sudan power-sharing deal welcomed, hope for Venezuela talks, Rohingya camps flooded, Libya airstrikes update. un.org Friday's main news stories include: Guterres welcomes Sudan power-sharing deal; six children are among 53 confirmed dead after Libya detention centre airstrikes; Monsoon rains wreak havoc in Rohingya camps; and Bachelet calls for "time and space" in Venezuela.
(2019-07-05). Six children among 53 confirmed fatalities after Libya detention centre airstrikes: Security Council condemns attack. un.org The toll from Tuesday's reported airstrikes on a detention centre in the suburbs of Tripoli has risen to 53 dead and more than 130 injured among the "severely traumatized" surviving migrants and refugees, UN aid agencies said on Friday, reiterating their appeal to close all such facilities in the embattled country.
(2019-07-05). Immigration Detention Center Conditions Cause Massive Outcry. therealnews.com 
The revelation of extreme immigration detention center conditions for exhausted asylum seeking children, who are separated from their relatives, sparked outrage nationwide. In Phoenix, Arizona, Jews for Justice demonstrated, demanding permanent medical staff for Border patrol's Provisional Detention Centers…
(2019-07-05). Abu Graib at Home in America. counterpunch.org "This is not what America is about" argues a U.S. reporter referring to revelations of misogynist, violent, racist behavior by employees of the U.S. Border Patrol 'guarding' migrants held in detention centers.Sorry Mr. Thompson (Pro Publica reporter who broke this story); THIS IS what America is about. Vulnerable people, i.e. women, men and children held More
(2019-07-05). 'Tommy Robinson' faces jail after being found in contempt of court. thecanary.co 
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) faces jail after being found in contempt of court by High Court judges for filming defendants in a criminal trial and broadcasting the footage on social media.Two senior judges found the former English Defence League (EDL) leader was in contempt when he filmed defendants accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls and live-streaming the footage, in breach of a reporting ban, outside Leeds Crown Court in May 2018.Yaxley-Lennon greets supporters as he arrives at the Old Bailey (Yui Mok/PA)Yaxley-Lennon denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not believe he was breaching…
(2019-07-05). Our Immigrant Prisons are an Atrocity. counterpunch.org Over the past several weeks, the brutal terror that immigrants face at the hands of our government has come into even sharper focus. As reports surface about immigrant children sleeping on concrete floors and people being forced to drink water from toilets, one fact has become unmistakably clear: It's well past time to demand an More
(2019-07-04). Pediatricians Release Migrant Children's Drawings of Their Time in US Border Prisons. theantimedia.com (TMU) — Pediatricians have shared harrowing images drawn by migrant children separated from their parents while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention camps that show people in prison-like conditions. The drawings were released by a social worker at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas to the American Academy of Pediatrics, who …
(2019-07-04). Libya's Civil War is Becoming a Proxy War. therealnews.com 
The shooting down of a Turkish drone near Tripoli and the capture of six Turkish sailors by Gen. Haftar's forces reveals the Turkey's and Egypt's involvement on both sides of the civil war. Meanwhile Haftar's forces are accused of bombing a migration detention center near Tripoli, killing 44 and injuring 130…
(2019-07-04). American Concentration Camps, Then and Now. theantimedia.com (FPIF) — In our history textbooks, "Japanese internment," as it's carelessly called, features as a mistake, blunder, or brief departure from constitutional piety following the trauma of Pearl Harbor. The summary detention of 120,000 people of Japanese descent — around 80,000 of whom were American citizens — can be more accurately described as one of the worst …
(2019-07-04). Paediatricians share children's drawings after release from 'inhumane' US detention camps. thecanary.co Pictures drawn by children recently detained by the United States border force depict their "inhumane" treatment, with figures of people in cages.The pictures were drawn by children following their release by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).Detention centres are the first places children go after they are picked up by customs officials.Immediate past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Collen Kraft said: "The cages they are kept in are metal cells. They are kept cold, there is not enough food or water, and they are crowded. There are open toilets and the lights are kept on 24/7."A picture…
(2019-07-04). There Are Alternatives to Caging Immigrants in Dehumanized Conditions. therealnews.com 
We talk with Vicki Gaubeca from Southern Borders Community Coalition about the conditions in the immigration prison camps, the Border Patrol's FB page, and proposals for humane treatment of refugees…
(2019-07-03). As Trump Announces Mass Immigration Raid, Documents Show How ICE Uses Arrest Quotas. theintercept.com As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, at the behest of President Donald Trump, plans mass raids following the July Fourth holiday, newly released documents shed light on the tactics the agency employs during such operations. | The documents, released Wednesday by the immigrant rights groups Mijente, Just Futures Law, and Detention Watch Network, show that ICE officials are building arrest target lists for mass raids to meet specific numbers, even as the agency continues to internally and publicly stress a "public safety" rationale for immigration arrests. | Most…
(2019-07-03). Tucson protest tells Trump: No raids! No deportations! No family separations! fightbacknews.org Tucson, AZ – Over 100 people braved the intense desert sun Tuesday morning, July 2, to demonstrate their anger at Trump's threat for ICE raids aimed at thousands of undocumented families. Many demonstrators also expressed their demand to reunite families and to close the concentration camps operating as detention centers. | Outside the federal building protesters held signs reading "Close the camps!" and "Dismantle ICE!" The group then marched to the Pima County Office to demand an end to the Sheriff's collaboration with ICE and Border Patrol. Organizer from Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Isabel Garcia, said "The…
(2019-07-03). Libya detention centre airstrike could amount to a war crime says UN, as Guterres calls for independent investigation. un.org An airstrike on a detention centre in Tripoli that killed scores of migrants and refugees "deserves more than condemnation", UN agencies said on Wednesday, as both the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the head of the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL), insisted that it may amount to a war crime.
(2019-07-03). Headlines for July 3, 2019. democracynow.org DHS Watchdog: "Dangerous Overcrowding" and Dire Conditions at Texas Migrant Jails, 30-Year-Old Honduran Migrant Dies in U.S. Custody, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Plan to Deny Bail to Asylum Seekers, DHS Fining Immigrants Up to $500,000 for Not Leaving the U.S., Nationwide Protests Demand Lawmakers #CloseTheCamps, Cory Booker Vows to End Immigrant Detention in 2020 Proposal, In Defeat for Trump Admin, 2020 Census Will Not Include Citizenship Question, House Dems Sue Treasury and IRS over Trump's Tax Returns, Airstrike Hits Migrant Detention Center in Libya, Killing At Least 40, Ethiopian-Israeli Community Protests…
(2019-07-03). Japanese Internment Camp Survivor: 'Never Again Is NOW!'. progressive.org A filmmaker and therapist tells of her family's internment in a maximum security camp during World War II, and her views on the current imprisonment of people from south of the border.
(2019-07-03). I Spent 16 Months in Solitary Confinement and Now I'm Fighting to End It. aclu.org A new report proves that the degrading conditions in solitary confinement continue to harm people and communities. | I was just 17 years old when I was sent to solitary confinement in "Camp J," one of the most severe lockdown units at one of America's most brutal prisons, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. I languished in solitary for 16 months. | Back then I didn't know that Louisiana was the solitary confinement capital of the world. All I knew was that I'd been convicted of a crime I didn't commit, and I had to maintain my humanity in one of the most dehumanizing places on earth. | It's called "23 and…
(2019-07-03). Letter from prison: Communist leader Carl Winter on the 4th of July. peoplesworld.org 
Editor's Note: Carl Winter, who was an editor of The Worker (formerly the Daily Worker and later re-named People's World), was among the first group of defendants falsely convicted under the anti-communist Smith Act of conspiring to overthrow the United States Government in 1949. Winter would serve a five-year sentence in federal prison. Upon release, …
(2019-07-03). Chicago: Book signing for Frank Chapman's autobiography. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – Frank Chapman's new book, The Damned Don't Cry: Pages from the Life of a Black Prisoner and Organizer, is getting a great reception. About 30 people attended a book signing at the office of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, July 2. Chapman's autobiography is available here.
(2019-07-03). Thousands of Voices Are Telling the Supreme Court: Don't Roll Back LGBTQ Rights. aclu.org Businesses, women CEOs, civil rights organizations, Republicans tell the Supreme Court to protect LGBTQ employees like Aimee Stephens and Don Zarda. | President Trump has told the Supreme Court it should be legal to fire someone just because they're LGBTQ. The President may be a bully, but he's just one voice. Today, more than 2,000 voices from across the country joined together to tell the Supreme Court: Don't roll back our rights. | The message came in the form of friend-of-the-court briefs—nearly 50 in all—filed in a…
(2019-07-03). Everyone counts: Trump's census "citizenship question" is dead. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—Lawmakers and state officials representing Hispanic-named citizens hailed the Trump Commerce Department's July 2 decision to throw in the towel and not add a "citizenship" question, one they deemed racist, to next year's census. So did the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which helped assemble the successful lawsuit against the query. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, …
(2019-07-03). How the Third Temple Movement in Israel Rebranded Theocracy as "Civil Rights" mintpressnews.com 
The Temple Activist movement is now more mainstream than ever before and its effort to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam, has advanced with great rapidity since the year began and has picked up precipitously in recent weeks.
(2019-07-02). Amnesty International Condemns U.S. Attacks on Border Journalists and Human Rights Defenders. theintercept.com The shape of the Trump administration's approach to policing immigration is at this point familiar. Since January 2017, federal agents and officers have been under orders to enforce a harsh interpretation of immigration laws without restraint. The result has most infamously manifested in the forced separation of immigrant parents from their children and, more recently, a series of horrific reports detailing conditions in border-area detention centers. | Though undocumented people have always been the core target of this campaign, the blast radius of the government's hyper-politicized crackdown has steadily expand…
(2019-07-02). Headlines for July 2, 2019. democracynow.org Lawmakers Decry Dire Conditions and Lack of Accountability During Visit to Texas Migrant Jails, Migrant Child Freed from Clint Border Patrol Jail: "They Treated Us Badly", ProPublica: Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Rife with Racist, Sexist and Anti-Immigrant Posts, Migrant Father and Daughter Who Drowned in Rio Grande Buried in El Salvador, #CloseTheCamps Protests Planned Across the U.S., Mexico Deploys National Guard, Ramps Up Crackdown on Immigrants, Hong Kong Protests Continue as Activists Renew Demands to Withdraw Extradition Bill, Iran Surpasses Enriched Uranium Stockpile Allowed Under Nuclear Deal, Jap…
(2019-07-02). SPLC sues Florida officials to keep citizens from losing right to vote again. splcenter.org After completing her prison sentence and probation time, Rosemary McCoy had her voting rights restored and cast a ballot in the Jacksonville, Florida, runoff city council election earlier this year.
(2019-07-02). Venezuela: 'Shocked' by alleged torture, death of navy captain, UN human rights chief urges 'in-depth' investigation. un.org The UN human rights chief has expressed her deep concern over the alleged torture and subsequent death of a retired navy captain who had been imprisoned in Venezuela, urging authorities to conduct a prompt, thorough, independent, and transparent investigation into his death.
(2019-07-02). 2020 Census Form Will Not Include Citizenship Question, Trump Administration Says. theintercept.com The Trump administration admitted defeat on Tuesday, confirming that forms for the 2020 U.S. census will not include a question asking residents who respond to the survey if they are U.S. citizens. The change of plans follows last week's Supreme Court decision that the Commerce Department had failed to provide a valid reason for adding the question. | The news was conveyed in an email from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to lawyers who had contested the effort in lawsuits, and confirmed to The Intercept by…
(2019-07-02). Democratic Governor Considering Signing Major GOP Voter Suppression Legislation in Pennsylvania. theintercept.com Gov. Tom Wolf is weighing whether to sign SB 48, a GOP bill that would ban straight-ticket voting and give Donald Trump an edge in 2020.
(2019-06-29). Smart Ass Cripple: Happy Birthday Olmstead. progressive.org Twenty years ago, a civil rights victory helped disabled people escape institutional life.
(2019-06-28). SPLC: Sentencing of James Alex Fields Jr., who killed Heather Heyer at 'Unite the Right,' will not heal victims or their families. splcenter.org James Alex Fields Jr., who was sentenced to life in prison today for murdering a woman who was protesting a white supremacist rally two years ago, is a remorseless killer and a domestic terrorist.
(2019-06-28). Charlottesville Federal Court Sentences James Alex Fields to Life in Prison for 'Unite the Right' Killing. splcenter.org A neo-Nazi sympathizer from Ohio received two consecutive and 27 concurrent life sentences in federal prison for killing a counterprotester and injuring others in the aftermath of 2017's racist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
(2019-06-28). Working in Prison, I Witnessed the Inhumane Conditions of Solitary for Incarcerated Women. aclu.org Solitary confinement can amount to torture. One practitioner witnessed this first hand, and shares her story and her journey to action. | At the first checkpoint at Tennessee Prison for Women, there was a large, scrolling television screen behind the desk displaying the image of two pairs of hands — one pair with a key and one pair in handcuffs. The message read, "You can either be one of us or one of them." I had been working in the facility for less than a year, but this message exemplified an uneasiness I had long felt without articulating: The prison's faàßade of "rehabilitation" masked a system s…