Judge Tells ICE Not to Use Faulty Databases to Order Detentions. Will It Comply?
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-10-29
In 2012, deportations reached 409,849 — their highest level yet. That same year, a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported a major problem with the program that earned President Obama his "Deporter in Chief" moniker. | David Marin, head of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Los Angeles, emailed headquarters to alert them that agents had asked loc…
truthout.org/articles/judge-tells-ice-not-to-use-faulty-databases-to-order-detentions-will-it-comply/

Desieire Quintero Killed – Help her Son
Keith McHenry | indybay.org | 2019-10-29
Desieire Quintero was fatally crushed by a falling tree at her campsite in the Pogonip Park in Santa Cruz. She was the lead plaintiff in a historic civil rights lawsuit filed against the city of Santa Cruz.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/10/29/18827710.php

Tribute To A Persistent Progressive — Rep. John Conyers
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-10-29
Jacqueline Luqman pays tribute to John Conyers, the longest-serving Black Democrat in Congress and co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, died over the weekend at age 90. His political career spanned more than 50 years, and included a remarkable legacy of civil rights activism, challenging the expanding US military global footprint, and consistent support for…
therealnews.com/stories/tribute-persistent-progressiev-john-conyers

'We want to see change': Calls for national commissioner for AustralianIndigenous children
Luke Michael at ProBono Australia | indybay.org | 2019-10-29
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are 17 times more likely to be in juvenile detention and 10 times more likely to be in out-of-home care in Australia. | More than 80 community groups are calling for a national commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to help uncover systemic issues impacting Indigenous children.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/10/27/18827631.php

Statement in Support of MILPA
Vera Institute of Justice | indybay.org | 2019-10-29
The Vera Institute of Justice joins the community of Salinas, California in support of MILPA, a grassroots organization committed to nonviolence, racial justice, and healing. Vera partners with MILPA on Restoring Promise, an initiative to radically transform the living and working conditions inside jails and prisons and address the root causes of mass incarceration.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/10/28/18827685.php

Quebec Government Apologizes to Indigenous Peoples for 'Systemic Discrimination'
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-10-29
Marie-Claude Lacroix, two-row wampum liaison of the Kanienkehaka Traditional Council, says Quebec continues to treat indigenous peoples disrespectfully.
therealnews.com/stories/quebec-apologizes-indigenous-peoples-systemic-discrimination

Camp Bucca, Abu Ghraib and the Rise of Extremism in Iraq
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-10-29
Sunday morning, President Trump announced the death of Abu Bakr Al- Baghdadi and three of his children. | President Trump said Al-Baghdadi, the founder of ISIS, was fleeing U.S. military forces, in a tunnel, and then killed himself by detonating a suicide vest he wore. | In 2004, Al-Baghdadi had been captured by U.S. forces and, for ten months, imprisoned in both Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca. | I visited Camp Bucca in January, 2004 when, still under co…
truthout.org/articles/camp-bucca-abu-ghraib-and-the-rise-of-extremism-in-iraq/

With 330,000 People on Georgia 'Purge List,' Rights Advocates Warn of Massive Voter Suppression
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-10-29
Voting rights advocates in Georgia said on Tuesday they would work to notify more than 300,000 voters whose registrations may be purged from the rolls in the coming weeks by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's administration. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/georgia_0_0_1.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/10/29/330000-people-georgia-purge-list-rights-advocates-warn-massive-voter-suppression?cd-origin=rss

The FBI Spends a Lot of Time Spying on Black Americans
Alice Speri | theintercept.com | 2019-10-29
The FBI has come under intense criticism after a 2017 leak exposed that its counterterrorism division had invented a new, unfounded domestic terrorism category it called " black identity extremism." Since then, legislators have pressured the bureau's leadership to be more transparent about its investigation of black activists, and a number of civil rights groups have filed publ…
theintercept.com/2019/10/29/fbi-surveillance-black-activists/

John Conyers Carried the Civil Rights Movement Forward
John Nichols | thenation.com | 2019-10-28
John Conyers Carried the Civil Rights Movement Forward…
thenation.com/article/congress-obit-conyers/

Accused of Treason and Imprisoned Without Trial: Journalist Kirill Vyshinsky Recounts His Harrowing Time in a Ukrainian Prison
Eva Bartlett | mintpressnews.com | 2019-10-28
Eva Bartlett sat down with recently released Ukrainian journalist Kirill Vyshinsky. Vyshinsky endured 15 months of appalling conditions in a Ukrainian prison after being falsely accused of treason.
mintpressnews.com/interview-journalist-kirill-vyshinsky-ukrainian-prison/262498/

California to train poll workers to be courteous to trans people in bid to woo LGTBQs to polls
rt.com | 2019-10-28
Under a newly announced partnership with an LGBTQ group, California is to make sure that officials won't offend transgender people by being overly inquisitive if their names on voter rolls don't match their gender identity. | California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced earlier this week that the state would enlist help from the Equality California Institute, an LGTBQ civil rights group, in teaching poll workers what to do if a transgender person shows up to vote and their new identity does not match the one that is on record. | Announcing the partnership, Padilla argued that insensitive treatment of t…
rt.com/usa/471997-transgender-voters-training-california/

'Consent should be CONTINUOUS': Liberal professor implies not asking during sex is RAPE
rt.com | 2019-10-28
For Georgetown Law professor Preston Mitchum, a long history of stamping all men as sexist is not egregious or woke enough. According to his implication, "most men" (especially heterosexuals) are also unknowingly rapists. | On his personal website, Mitchum describes himself as an "unapologetically Black and queer civil rights advocate, activist, writer, and professor." Although he graduated from Kent State University with a BA in Political Science, he seems to have recently taken up an interest in the psychology of sex and intimate relat…
rt.com/news/472066-georgetown-prof-consent-straight-rape/

Long live the struggle of the working class and peoples of Chile!
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-10-27
Fight Back News Service is circulating following Oct. 24 statement from the Provisional Committee of International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) – Latin America and the Caribbean. | Since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, there has never been an attack against the Chilean people like the one that President Sebastián Piñera has unleashed against the massive protests of the working class and peoples in that country. More than 18 dead, hundreds of disappeared, over 1500 political prisoners across Chile: these are the results of the repression by the armed forces and carabineros who took control of the count…
fightbacknews.org/2019/10/27/long-live-struggle-working-class-and-peoples-chile

Trident Is the Crime
Kathy Kelly | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-10-26
On October 24, following a three-day trial in Brunswick, GA, seven Catholic Workers who acted to disarm a nuclear submarine base were convicted on three felony counts and one misdemeanor. The defendants face 20 years in prison, yet they emerged from their trial seeming quite ready for next steps in their ongoing witness. Steve Kelly, …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/10/trident-is-the-crime/

Is Rikers Island Really Closing? Or is De Blasio Misrepresenting the NYC Council Vote?
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-10-25
Eddie Conway spoke with organizer Albert Saint-Jean from Just Immigration about the impact of the NYC Council borough-based jail vote, about nonprofits that are funding more incarceration, and the misreporting of Rikers Jail closing.
therealnews.com/stories/rikers-closing-misrepresented-de-blasio

Tallahassee activists 'Say her name' and demand justice for victims of police crimes
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-10-25
Tallahassee, FL – On October 22, a lively group rallied in the streets of the historic Florida capital city, chanting "Say her name," "Black lives matter" and "Justice for Atatiana." The action was a part of the National Day Against Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. | The protest brought attention to a recent case of police brutality: that of 28-year-old African American Atatiana Jefferson, who was shot in her own home by Fort Worth, Texas police officer Aaron Dean. | Tallahassee Community Action Committee and Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society organized the protest…
fightbacknews.org/2019/10/25/tallahassee-activists-say-her-name-and-demand-justice-victims-police-crimes

Weekend Read: If your vote didn't matter, they wouldn't fight so hard to block it
splcenter.org | 2019-10-25
At the intersection of race and politics in the United States lies voter suppression — the array of laws and election practices intended to make it harder for people of color to vote.
splcenter.org/news/2019/10/26/weekend-read-if-your-vote-didnt-matter-they-wouldnt-fight-so-hard-block-it

"You Won't Take Down Lies or You Will?": AOC Grills Facebook's Zuckerberg on Lies in Political Ads
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-25
This week, as Facebook said it will not fact check political ads or hold politicians to its usual content standards, the social media giant's CEO Mark Zuckerberg was grilled for more than five hours by lawmakers on Capitol Hill on the company's policy of allowing politicians to lie in political advertisements, as well as its role in facilitating election interference and housing discrimination. We play highlights from New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ohio Congressmember Joyce Beatty, who asked Zuckerberg about Facebook's record on civil rights, which she called "appalling and disgusting." Bea…
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/25/you_should_have_known_better_lawmakers

LGBTQ Issues Missing in Presidential Campaign Coverage
Julie Hollar | fair.org | 2019-10-25
LGBTQ people–and trans people in particular–have been under attack since the day Donald Trump took office and removed all mentions of LGBTQ people from several federal websites. Trump reversed federal guidance for the protection of transgender students in schools, banned trans people from military service, and has worked to exclude LGBTQ people from a variety of nondiscrimination protections. (For a full list of his administration's anti-LGBTQ actions, see here.) Trans wome…
fair.org/home/lgbtq-issues-missing-in-presidential-campaign-coverage/

I Went to Mexico to Meet Asylum-Seekers Trapped at the Border. This Is What I Saw
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2019-10-24
Two weeks ago, I traveled to northern Mexico along with Mexican photographer Guillermo Arias to meet with asylum-seekers who've been trapped at the southern U.S. border by Trump Administration policies. Neither of us was prepared for what we saw there. | We visited two cities — Ciudad Juarez and Matamoros — to track down people who had been placed into the deceptively misnamed "Migrant Protection Protocols" that have slammed America's door shut to people fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries. Before we arrived, we wondered whether the stories we'd read of kidnappings, assaults,…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/i-went-to-mexico-to-meet-asylum-seekers-trapped-at-the-border-this-is-what-i-saw

Why is Missouri So Afraid of Finding out Whether Lamar Johnson is Innocent of Murder?
Somil Trivedi | aclu.org | 2019-10-24
In 1994, the St. Louis | Circuit Attorney's Office committed gross prosecutorial misconduct in order to convict Lamar Johnson of murder. | They knowingly presented perjured testimony, fabricated facts to negate | Johnson's strongly corroborated alibi, and buried the fact that a prime witness | against him was a paid jailhouse informant. Twenty-five years later, that same | Circuit Attorney's Office, now led by Kim Gardner, is doing everything it can | to get Johnson a new trial so the truth can vind…
aclu.org/news/smart-justice/why-is-missouri-so-afraid-of-finding-out-whether-lamar-johnson-is-innocent-of-murder

Barcelona, Catalonia: Massive general strike demands 'Free political prisoners'
Nelson Marinelli | workers.org | 2019-10-24
Marinelli writes often for Prensaobrera.com on Catalonia. This article was published Oct. 19 on redroja.org and translated by John Catalinotto. Some background on the events is included in a Note at the end of the article. Oct. 18 — More than a half-million people overflowed the streets of Barcelona today, . . . | Continue reading Barcelona, Catalonia: Massive general strike demands 'Free political prisoners' at Workers.org…
workers.org/2019/10/44148/

Ending Endless War: Andrew Bacevich on How Reckless Use of U.S. Military Power Caused Today's Crisis
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-10-24
President Trump has announced sanctions will be lifted on Turkey as a ceasefire remains in place in northern Syria, where Turkey invaded earlier this month after Trump withdrew U.S. troops. On Tuesday Turkey reached an agreement with Russia that would force Syrian Kurdish forces to retreat from a wide swath of the Syrian-Turkish border. The United Nations is reporting Turkey's offensive in northern Syria has displaced over 176,000 people, including nearly 80,000 children. The Turkish assault also led to a number of former ISIS fighters escaping from jail in northern Syria. We speak with Andrew Bacevich, co-founde…
www.democracynow.org/2019/10/24/trump_lifts_turkey_sanctions_syrian_kurds

Murdoch University seeks to silence whistleblowing academic
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-10-24
civil rights Pedro AlvarezIssue 1242 Australia Murdoch University PerthOctober 24, 2019Murdoch University is facing widespread criticism for its decision to seek potentially millions in compensation…
greenleft.org.au/content/murdoch-university-seeks-silence-whistleblowing-academic

Betty McCollum Is Pushing Congress to Stop Subsidizing the Torture of Palestinian Children
Ramzy Baroud | mintpressnews.com | 2019-10-23
"The legislation I am introducing is expressly intended to end U.S. support and funding for Israel's systematic military detention, interrogation, abuse, torture, and prosecution of Palestinian children." – Betty McCollum…
mintpressnews.com/betty-mccollum-bill-military-aid-to-israel-human-rights/262462/

'No rehabilitation,' just oppression, behind bars in Alabama
Kathryn Casteel | splcenter.org | 2019-10-23
splcenter.org/news/2019/10/29/no-rehabilitation-just-oppression-behind-bars-alabama

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/

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…
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/

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/

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

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

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

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

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/

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/

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

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