Australian media companies protest government attacks on press freedom
wsws.org | 2019-10-22
Threats to prosecute journalists underscore the need for media workers to defend Julian Assange, whose jailing has opened the floodgates for the assault on press freedom.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/10/22/medi-o22.html

Anti-Assange Court Continues Unfair Extradition Hearing to Railroad Assange to US
Kevin Zeese | globalresearch.ca | 2019-10-22
On October 21, 2019, Julian Assange appeared in court for an extradition hearing. Assange is being held in a British jail pending extradition to the United States after having served his sentence for skipping bail when he was given asylum …
globalresearch.ca/anti-assange-court-continues-unfair-extradition-hearing/5692706

Banks and the Real Estate Business Have Undermined Black Homeowners
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-10-22
Recent U.S. census data reveals the homeownership rate for African Americans has fallen to its lowest level since before the civil rights movement. In the second quarter of this year, the rate fell to just 40% — the lowest level since 1950. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's new book, Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership, examines the roots of this crisis. The book has just come out and has been longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award. From Philadelphia…
truthout.org/video/banks-and-the-real-estate-business-have-undermined-black-homeowners/

A Presidential Town Hall on Mass Incarceration — Who Will Show Up?
Alice Speri | theintercept.com | 2019-10-22
A group of formerly incarcerated men and women will moderate a presidential town hall for the first time ever next week, questioning candidates about their positions on the U.S. justice system before an audience made up exclusively of people with firsthand experience of the country's prisons and jails. | The event, to be held on October 28 at the Eastern State Penitentiary, a historic former prison in Philadelphia, aims to put questions of mass incarceration, broken courts, and racist policing at the forefront of the debate in an election season that has largely seen them eclipsed by other issues. So far, only Se…
theintercept.com/2019/10/22/mass-incarceration-presidential-town-hall/

Haiti's Endless Sorrows
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-10-22
Few people anywhere have suffered as long and egregiously as Haitians. | No strangers to adversity and anguish, for over 500 years, they endured severe oppression, slavery, despotism, colonization, reparations, embargoes, sanctions, deep poverty, starvation, unrepayable debt, and natural calamities. | Except …
globalresearch.ca/haiti-endless-sorrows/5692748

Trump and the Retreat of the American Empire
Robert Fisk | counterpunch.org | 2019-10-22
In days gone by, I used to compare the Trump presidency with the Arab dictatorships. He took preposterous pleasure in the company of Egypt's Sisi (60,000 political prisoners) and his inane ramblings had much in common with those of Muammar Gaddafi, who also "authored" a book he never wrote but whom Trump never met (albeit that Tony Blair and Gaddafi kissed each other on the cheek). But over the past week, I've begun to realise that the crackpot in the White House has much more in common with ancient Rome.
counterpunch.org/2019/10/22/trump-and-the-retreat-of-the-american-empire/

The Charter-to-Prison Pipeline
Alexandria Millet | progressive.org | 2019-10-22
The charter system that often paints itself as a better option for black parents does not acknowledge the harm rigid disciplinary policies can impose on black students.
progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/charter-to-prison-pipeline-millet-191022/

Why Is a Los Angeles City Attorney Trying to Criminalize Dissent?
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-10-22
In 2018, four protesters interrupted a speech by Steve Mnuchin at UCLA. Now a putatively liberal Democrat wants to send them to prison.
truthdig.com/articles/why-is-a-los-angeles-city-attorney-trying-to-criminalize-dissent/

Minnesota: Patriotic Chinese students oppose turmoil in Hong Kong
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-10-22
Minneapolis, MN – On October 18, the five-starred flag of the People's Republic of China fluttered in the wind, as a group of patriotic Chinese international students marched in opposition to a reactionary demonstration billed as the "Liberty for Hong Kong March." | The reactionaries made their way through the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus "in solidarity with Hong Kong people against oppression on democracy and human rights." Many of the 'liberators' wore black, and the leaders of the demonstration donned yellow armbands and face masks. Their demonstration coincided with the House of Representatives…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/10/22/minnesota-patriotic-chinese-students-oppose-turmoil-hong-kong

Race for Profit: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on How Banks & Real Estate Biz Undermined Black Homeowners
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-22
Recent U.S. census data reveals the homeownership rate for African Americans has fallen to its lowest level since before the civil rights movement. In the second quarter of this year, the rate fell to just 40% — the lowest level since 1950. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's new book, "Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership," examines the roots of this crisis. The book has just come out and has been longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award. From Philadelphia, we speak with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, an assistant professor at Princeton University.
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/22/keeanga_yamahtta_taylor_race_for_profit

San Diego protest demands closure of migrant concentration camps
San Diego PSL | liberationnews.org | 2019-10-21
"The detention of migrants and refugees seeking asylum is a direct result of U.S. imperialism."
liberationnews.org/san-diego-protest-demands-closure-of-migrant-concentration-camps/

Kings Bay Plowshares 7: Trial Begins for Liz McAlister & Others for Breaking Into Nuke Sub Base
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-21
Seven Catholic peace activists are going on trial in Georgia today for breaking into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base on April 4, 2018. The activists, who are known as the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. The activists entered the base armed with just hammers, crime scene tape, baby bottles containing their own blood and an indictment charging the U.S. government with crimes against peace. Over the past four decades activists in the Plowshares movement have taken part in about 100 similar actions at nuclear arms facilities, beginning in 1980 at the General Electric nuclear mis…
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/21/kingsbay_plowshares_seven_activists_trial

Longest-held Puerto Rican political prisoner sends support to Venezuela
Ben Norton | thegrayzone.com | 2019-10-20
Puerto Rico's longest-held political prisoner, Oscar López Rivera, who was incarcerated in the US for 36 years, sent a message…
thegrayzone.com/2019/10/20/us-political-prisoner-puerto-rico-venezuela-oscar-lopez-rivera/

News and resources: Catalonia's struggle for self-determination
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-10-19
international solidarity Dick NicholsIssue 1241 Catalonia BarcelonaOctober 19, 2019After the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced nine political and social Catalan leaders on October 14 to a total of 99.5 years jail for organising the October 1, 2017 independence…
greenleft.org.au/content/catalonia-news-and-resources

Why is the Trump Administration Trying to Tear This 26-Year-Old DACA Recipient Away From Her Child?
Naureen Shah | aclu.org | 2019-10-18
Anahi Jaquez –Estrada is scared. As soon as Monday, she may be deported to a country she hardly knows: away from her 8-year-old daughter and her husband, both of whom are United States citizens. She has lived in the U.S. almost her entire life and is in the process of becoming a lawful permanent resident. Her story is at once exceptionally tragic and a paradigmatic example of how our immigration legal system is failing — and tearing families apart. | I met Anahi in late July at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention site in Aurora, Colorado, where she has spent the last year and a…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/why-is-the-trump-administration-trying-to-tear-this-26-year-old-daca-recipient-away-from-her-child

Unveiling a State-by-State Plan to End our Mass Incarceration Crisis
Udi Ofer | aclu.org | 2019-10-18
The United States locks up more of its people than | any other nation in the world. A whopping 2.2 million people are living behind | bars in this country on any given day. Our national incarceration rate is four | times that of Australia, five times that of the United Kingdom, and six times that | of Canada. | This uniquely American problem is not one crisis | — rather, mass incarceration is a series of state-based catastrophes, each one | different from the next. While much attention was paid | to the federal reforms passed last year through the First Step Act, of | the 2.2 million people locked up on…
aclu.org/news/smart-justice/unveiling-a-state-by-state-plan-to-end-our-mass-incarceration-crisis

NYC Council Votes to Build More Jails, Continue Mass Incarceration
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-10-18
Eddie Conway speaks with No New Jails organizer Pilar Maschi ahead of the NYC Council jail vote about what grassroots activists can do to continue the fight to keep new jails out of New York City.
therealnews.com/stories/new-york-city-votes-rikers-jails-mass-incarceration

Spain Sentences Catalan Leaders in Contradictory Ruling
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-10-18
Police and protesters clash in Barcelona for a fourth consecutive day over a problematic, contradictory 9-13 year prison sentence for Catalan independence leaders.
therealnews.com/stories/spain-sentences-catalan-leaders-contradictory-ruling

Sentenced to Life in Prison as a Teen, How Cyntoia Brown Survived Sex Trafficking & Won Her Freedom
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-18
At the age of 16, she was arrested for killing a man who had picked her up for sex, after she had been forced into sexual slavery as a child. She was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for shooting the man who bought her for sex when she feared for her life. Today Cyntoia Brown-Long joins us to share her experience, what has happened in the 15 years she was incarcerated, and how she won her release. In an incredible development, after a years-long campaign to win her freedom, Cyntoia was granted clemency in January after former Tennessee Governor Bill Ha…
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/18/cyntoia_brown_long_sex_trafficking_survivor

Patients' Needs, Not Personal Beliefs, Come First in Health Care
Lindsey Kaley | aclu.org | 2019-10-18
From the | start, the Trump administration has issued one regulation after another that uses | religion to deny people — particularly pregnant people, people with low-incomes, | and LGBTQ people — health care access and coverage. Today, we are asking | a federal district court in New York to strike down one of the most pernicious | of these regulations: the refusal of care rule. | The refusal | of care rule, issued by the Department of Health | and Human Services (…
aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/patients-needs-not-personal-beliefs-come-first-in-health-care

The Real News' Marc Steiner Remembers Rep. Elijah Cummings
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-10-17
Cummings was a civil rights leader, a political powerhouse, and, most recently, an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump.
therealnews.com/stories/marc-steiner-remembers-elijah-cummings

Nebraskans Aim to End Predatory Lending with a Ballot Proposal to Slash Payday Interest Rates
Jennifer Bellamy | aclu.org | 2019-10-17
Nebraskans | for Responsible Lending announced this week that they will begin gathering | signatures to reduce the amount that payday lenders may charge to a maximum | annual interest rate of 36 percent. For loans with higher rates made in | violation of this rate cap, the payday lenders would be banned from collecting | principal, interest, or other charges. | Currently, | payday lenders in Nebraska, also known as delayed deposit lenders, can charge | predatory rates with an average annual percentage rate (APR) of 404 percent and | in some cases as high as 461 percent. To put this in context, this means | fa…
aclu.org/news/racial-justice/nebraskans-aim-to-end-predatory-lending-with-a-ballot-proposal-to-slash-payday-interest-rates

He Died in Jail From Dehydration. His Family Says a Leaked Video Shows it Was Murder
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-10-17
On this episode of the Police Accountability Report we examine the case of Shali Tilson, who died after he was jailed during a mental health crisis. But a leaked video shows he was denied water and medical treatment by GA prison authorities for a week–mistreatment his family says was criminal.
therealnews.com/stories/he-died-jail-dehydration-his-family-says-leaked-video-shows-murder

Amber Guyger's Sentence Doesn't Highlight a More Empathetic Criminal Legal System
Jeffery Robinson | aclu.org | 2019-10-16
"I'm sorry, | I can't explain that." | That's | what prosecutor Jason Hermus said to Botham Jean's parents after the jury gave | Amber Guyger a 10-year sentence for intentionally murdering their son. Jean's | father shook Hermus' hand and said, "You fought a good fight." | Jean's | brother hugged Guyger, saying he did not want her to go to jail. The judge also | embraced Guyger and gave her a Bible. Is this a sign of a new wave of racial | healing in the criminal legal system? Could it be the beginning of the end of | excessive sentences in America or a step down the road to prison abolition? | Unfortunately,…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/amber-guygers-sentence-doesnt-highlight-a-more-empathetic-criminal-legal-system

Trump Cabinet Officials Double Down on Religious Favoritism
Heather L. Weaver | aclu.org | 2019-10-16
Last Friday was a banner day for religious favoritism in the Trump administration. | In | Nashville, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a "speech" that was — for | all intents and purposes — a Christian sermon. Addressing an association of | Christian counselors, Secretary Pompeo discussed how to be a good Christian | leader, quoting scripture and urging audience members to conduct themselves in | accordance with his interpretation of biblical tenets. He also commandeered | State Department resources to advertise his sermon in advance, broadcast it live, | and disseminate a video of it after…
aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/trump-cabinet-officials-double-down-on-religious-favoritism

Hundreds pack State House to resist mass incarceration
Phebe Eckfeldt | workers.org | 2019-10-16
Hundreds of families, friends and supporters of prisoners packed the Massachusetts State House Oct. 8 to support "An Act to Reduce Mass Incarceration." This bill, H3358, would eliminate life sentences without parole. A person serving a life sentence would be allowed to have a parole hearing after 25 years, then . . . | Continue reading Hundreds pack State House to resist mass incarceration at Workers.org…
workers.org/2019/10/44054/

Atlanta Pride says 'Free Chelsea Manning!'
Dianne Mathiowetz | workers.org | 2019-10-16
For over three hours on Oct. 12, tens of thousands of Atlanta Pride marchers passed by stationary teams on both sides of Peachtree Street with banners and leaflets calling for freedom for Chelsea Manning, the anti-war whistleblower. Upon spotting the banners reading, "Free Chelsea Manning! Jail War Criminals,"countless participants reached . . . | Continue reading Atlanta Pride says 'Free Chelsea Manning!' at Workers.org…
workers.org/2019/10/44051/

Newark protesters: Democratic Party machine an accomplice in Trump's war on immigrants
Esteban Guevara | liberationnews.org | 2019-10-16
Protesters gathered in Newark, New Jersey for a rally and 3-mile march up to the detention center organized by the Resist the Deportation Machine Network on Oct. 12 to demand the closure of the ICE concentration camp in Essex county.
liberationnews.org/newark-protesters-democratic-party-machine-an-accomplice-in-trumps-war-on-immigrants/

California Lawmakers Passed a Bill Banning Private Prisons
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-10-15
Activist Amani Sawari talks about what the impact on people in private prisons and immigration detention centers will be if Governor Gavin Newsom signs AB32, which would phase out private prisons by 2028.
therealnews.com/stories/california-bans-private-prisons

'Smart' Cameras Are Now On the Lookout For Distracted Drivers in Australia
Jay Stanley | aclu.org | 2019-10-15
"Smart" traffic cameras that use artificial intelligence to try to spot people using cell phones while driving are being rolled out in Australia. The devices take a high-resolution photograph through the front windshield of each passing vehicle, and also capture its license plate. Each photograph is then analyzed by an AI algorithm. If the algorithm decides that the driver is touching a mobile phone, tablet, or another device, it then forwards the photograph to a human reviewer who confirms the violation and issues a citation to the car's registered owner along with a hefty fine. | This technology represents…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/smart-cameras-are-now-on-the-lookout-for-distracted-drivers-in-australia

Our Online Speech Rights Are Under Threat
Kate Ruane | aclu.org | 2019-10-15
Congress on Wednesday will examine a little-known law that has made the internet the space for self-expression and connection that it is today. The law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230), is one of the most speech protective laws Congress has ever enacted and it is now under threat. | The internet today provides us an indispensable platform to communicate freely with others who might otherwis…
aclu.org/news/free-speech/our-online-speech-rights-are-under-threat

Leonard Peltier subjected to unjust lockdown in prison: Write to the warden now!
Liberation Staff | liberationnews.org | 2019-10-15
The Party for Socialism and Liberation urges its supporters to write the warden to demand an end to this brutal lockdown.
liberationnews.org/leonard-peltier-subjected-to-unjust-lockdown-in-prison-write-to-the-warden-now/

Will the Supreme Court Sanction the Use of a Religious Litmus Test For Foster Parents?
Leslie Cooper | aclu.org | 2019-10-15
There are currently 440,000 children in foster care across the | country. And the Supreme Court has been asked to hear Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, | a case that could profoundly impact all of them. | In a petition filed with the court, a taxpayer-funded foster care agency is claiming a constitutional right to exclude prospective foster families that don't meet its religious criteria when providing public child welfare services. The ACLU and the ACL…
aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/will-the-supreme-court-sanction-the-use-of-a-religious-litmus-test-for-foster-parents

Houthis Vow Retaliation As Saudi Naval Blockade Sparks Fresh Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
Ahmed Abdulkareem | mintpressnews.com | 2019-10-11
Saudi Arabia has stepped up its seizure and detention of ships carrying food and fuel into Yemen, sparking shortages that experts warn will push the country's civilians into even more dire straits.
mintpressnews.com/yemen-retaliation-saudi-naval-blockade-humanitarian-crisis/262285/

Creative writing class in prison was 'light' in the darkness
Will Tucker | splcenter.org | 2019-10-11
splcenter.org/news/2019/10/15/creative-writing-class-prison-was-light-darkness

The Supreme Court Needs to Protect Trans People from Discrimination
Robin Savannah Carver | progressive.org | 2019-10-10
progressive.org/dispatches/SCOTUS-trans-people-deserve-job-protection-carver-191010/

White Supremacist William Fears to Get Five Years in Prison
Hatewatch Staff | splcenter.org | 2019-10-10
William Henry Fears IV, an avowed racist with a lengthy criminal record, has agreed to a plea deal of five years for choking his former girlfriend.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/10/11/white-supremacist-william-fears-get-five-years-prison

Beyond Bars: Life before and after incarceration in Alabama
splcenter.org | 2019-10-07
As criminal justice and prison reform take center stage in Alabama politics, Alabamians for Fair Justice, a broad coalition of advocates supported by the SPLC and other organizations, are working to lift up the voices of people directly affected by the criminal justice system.
splcenter.org/news/2019/10/15/beyond-bars-life-and-after-incarceration-alabama

Opportunity Costs: Community corrections program offers a roadmap for client success
Kathryn Casteel | splcenter.org | 2019-09-23
Positive client outcomes indicate promising investment for fiscally sound prison alternatives, rather than prison construction.
splcenter.org/news/2019/09/24/opportunity-costs-community-corrections-program-offers-roadmap-client-success