Federal Court Rules That Border Officers Can't Arbitrarily Search Our Electronic Devices
Hugh Handeyside | aclu.org | 2019-11-13
In a major victory for privacy rights, a federal court | has held that the federal government's suspicionless searches of smartphones, laptops, | and other electronic devices at airports or other U.S. ports of entry are | unconstitutional. The ruling in our | case is a recognition that the Constitution protects us even at the border, | and that traveling to or from the United States doesn't mean we give the g…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/federal-court-rules-that-border-patrol-cant-arbitrarily-search-our-electronic-devices

Australian workers and youth speak-out in support of Julian Assange
wsws.org | 2019-11-13
"Governments are trying to hide the truth and lie to the people. That's why they are unfairly persecuting Assange and confining him to prison."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/13/aint-n13.html

Neo-Nazi Group NSM Faces New Upheaval After James Hart Stern's Death
Hatewatch Staff and Brett Barrouquere | splcenter.org | 2019-11-13
The leadership of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM) has been thrown into chaos again following the death of self-described civil rights activist James Hart Stern.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/11/13/neo-nazi-group-nsm-faces-new-upheaval-after-james-hart-sterns-death

Oklahomans Just Made History — and They Can Do it Again
Taylor Pendergrass | aclu.org | 2019-11-13
Last | week in Oklahoma, the largest single-day mass | commutation of prison sentences in U.S. history took place. When all is said and | done, nearly 600 people will be released from prison. This may seem like a | surprise coming from a state that's also home to the highest per-capita | incarceration rate in the nation. But these commutations follow the | will of the people: 58 percent of Oklahomans made clear at th…
aclu.org/news/smart-justice/oklahomans-just-made-history-and-they-can-do-it-again

Black Lives Matter‚Ä®, All Lives Matter
Eugene E Ruyle | indybay.org | 2019-11-13
NPML | 6501 Telegraph Ave, Oakland (just North of Alcatraz Ave.) | *plan ahead Berkeley half marathon Sun, Nov 17, 2019 6am-1pm*…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/11/13/18828090.php

The EU's Shame Is Locked Away in Libya
Jérà¥me Tubiana | thenation.com | 2019-11-13
The EU's Shame Is Locked Away in Libya…
thenation.com/article/libya-refugees-detention/

The Real Reasons Behind Israel's Arrest of Two Jordanian Nationals
Ramzy Baroud | mintpressnews.com | 2019-11-13
The release on November 6 of two Jordanian nationals, Heba al-Labadi and Abdul Rahman Mi'ri from Israeli prisons was a bittersweet moment. The pair were finally reunited with their families after harrowing experiences in Israel. Sadly, thousands of Palestinian prisoners are still denied their freedom, still subjected to all sorts of hardships at the hands of their Israeli jailers. | Despite the jubilant return of the two prisoners, celebrated in Jordan, Palestine and throughout the Arab world, several compelling questions remain unanswered: why were they held in the first place? Why were they released and what ca…
mintpressnews.com/real-reasons-israel-arrest-two-jordanian-nationals/262833/

Child prison & death in a blaze: Mother commits suicide after kids she kept in lockup for 10 years escape
rt.com | 2019-11-13
No school, no IDs and constant CCTV surveillance. Nobody in town knew that they existed. Three kids were locked up behind the fence of a private home for a decade, as their mother tried to protect them from the 'cruel world.' | …
rt.com/russia/473335-russia-children-mother-lockup-suicide/

Bolsonaro Threatens Lula With Activating National Security Law
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-13
Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro decided to continue his campaign of aggression against the recently released Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and threatened Tuesday to use the National Security Law to repress possible demonstrations in favor of the former president. | RELATED: | Brazil: Lula Stands As Opposition To Bolsonaro, Right Wants Him Back In Jail | The law is designed to suppress "insurrections," therefore, for Bolsonaro, any demonstration in favor of the ex-pr…
telesurenglish.net/news/bolsonaro-threatens-lula-with-activating-national-security-law-20191112-0023.html

Nashville immigrant and refugee community celebrates "huge victory" over ICE
Albert Bender | peoplesworld.org | 2019-11-12
NASHVILLE–On Friday, Nov. 1, the immigrant and refugee community here celebrated a decision by the Davidson County Sheriff's Department to terminate its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Sheriff's Department will no longer house ICE detainees at its detention center in Nashville. The termination of the policy with ICE was hailed by community advocates as a "huge …
peoplesworld.org/article/nashville-immigrant-and-refugee-community-celebrates-huge-victory-over-ice/

Lula is Free: Can Socialism Be Restored?
Ana Paula Vargas — Vijay Prashad | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-12
Just before 5 p.m. on Friday the 8th of November, Brazil's former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva walked out of his prison in Curitiba, Brazil. Lula went to prison in April last year on a 12-year sentence. Five-hundred and eighty days of prison are now over, as the Federal Supreme Court ruled that inmates who have not yet exhausted their appeals…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/12/lula-is-free-can-socialism-be-restored/

Public defender Chesa Boudin wins San Francisco D.A. race in major victory for progressive prosecutor movement
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-11-12
Son of incarcerated parents, backed by Black Lives Matter co-founders, Boudin will be the next DA of San Francisco. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/11/12/public-defender-chesa-boudin-wins-san-francisco-d-a-race/

Ecuador Recovers 530 Indigenous Artifacts From German Heir
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-12
Ecuador has recovered hundreds of historic artifacts after a German man who inherited them voluntarily returned them. | RELATED: | Ecuador: Prison Ordered For Another Leftist Opposition Leader | In 2015, Josef Rettinger contacted the Ecuadorian embassy in Germany to find out where to send a collection of artifacts that his uncle, who lived in the Andean country between 1985-2005, gave to him. | "We cannot determine how, when or where," the goods came from because…
telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-Recovers-530-Indigenous-Artifacts-From-German-Heir-20191112-0016.html

Palestinian, Regional, and International Groups Submit Report on Israeli Apartheid to UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
IMEMC News & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-11-12
11/12/19 / Press Release / Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights In November 2019, eight Palestinian, regional, and international organisations, including Al-Haq, BADIL, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Addameer, the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ), the Cairo Institute for …
imemc.org/article/palestinian-regional-and-international-groups-submit-report-on-israeli-apartheid-to-un-committee-on-the-elimination-of-racial-discrimination/

Hedge Fund-Backed GOP Group Is Digging Up Dirt on Elizabeth Warren, Documents Show
Lee Fang | theintercept.com | 2019-11-12
In October, documents surfaced that appeared to contradict a key story told by Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the campaign trail. In her telling, Warren's "dream job" as a public school teacher ended in 1971 when the school principal noticed she was "visibly pregnant," a form of employment discrimination that was legal and common during that era. On October 7, a conservative website presented archived documents that appeared to challenge that narrative, including the minutes of a meeting in which the school board had voted to extend Warren's tenure and another in which the board notes that Warren herself resigned from…
theintercept.com/2019/11/12/elizabeth-warren-pregnancy-fired-america-rising/

The Edge of Democracy: Lula Is Freed in Brazil in Victory for Movement to Resist Bolsonaro
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-12
In Brazil, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was freed from prison Friday after 580 days behind bars. Lula's surprise release came after the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled to end the mandatory imprisonment of people convicted of crimes who are appealing their cases. He was serving a 12-year sentence over a disputed corruption and money laundering conviction handed down by conservative Judge Sérgio Moro, an ally of current far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and has long maintained his innocence. Lula has vowed to challenge Bolsonaro in the 2022 elections. At the time of his imprisonment in April…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/12/petra_costa_lula_edge_of_democracy

Black deaths in the custody of the settler colonial state must end
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-12
Indigenous rights Paul GregoireIssue 1245 AustraliaNovember 12, 2019Key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody assert that in dealing with First Nations peoples, the criminal justice system should apply both arrest and imprisonment as sanctions of "last resort". Sparked by suspicious deaths like t…
greenleft.org.au/content/black-deaths-custody-settler-colonial-state-must-end

The Criminal Justice System Is Not Broken. It's Doing What It Was Designed to Do
Alice Speri | theintercept.com | 2019-11-09
Alec Karakatsanis's book "Usual Cruelty" is a powerful takedown of the U.S. mass punishment bureaucracy, also known as the criminal justice system.
theintercept.com/2019/11/09/criminal-justice-mass-incarceration-book/

Why I'm Fighting for Menstrual Equity in Prison
Kimberly Haven | aclu.org | 2019-11-08
My name is Kimberly Haven. I am an activist, an advocate, and I have also been referred to as the "tampon queen." I got this moniker because, while I was incarcerated, I learned how to make my own tampons out of the subpar menstrual products I was "given" while incarcerated. | For those who do not have firsthand experience with it, incarcerated women are typically provided with a very limited number of subpar products you would never buy outside of the carceral system. Access to pads and / or tampons is not a given–they are closely restricted and sometimes run out, leaving women without any solutions ex…
aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/why-im-fighting-for-menstrual-equity-in-prison

Friday's Daily Brief: Syria war update as talks continue, 'credible evidence' Morsi death due to prison conditions, force condemned in Chile protests
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-08
A recap of Friday's stories in brief: Ongoing upheaval threatens civilians in Syria; 'Brutal' prison conditions may have prompted Morsi's death; Rights experts condemn use of force in Chile protests; ICJ will hear claims by Ukraine; 60,000 youth refugees who travelled alone, in need across Italy.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1051021

Texas Prepares to Execute Rodney Reed Amid a Flood of New Evidence Pointing to His Innocence
Jordan Smith | theintercept.com | 2019-11-08
Deke Pierce was wearing civilian clothes as he took to the lectern in a narrow press room inside the Texas Capitol in Austin last month, but it was still obvious that he was a cop. He stood with his feet wide and his arms slightly away from his body, a stance molded by years in a uniform encumbered by heavy gear. He was there to make an extraordinary announcement: He and 12 other members of law enforcement with more than 250 years of combined experience had filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a Texas death row prisoner named Rodney Reed, slated for execution on November 20.
theintercept.com/2019/11/08/rodney-reed-death-row-texas/

Remembering the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre When Police Shot Dead Three Unarmed Black Students
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-08
The 1968 Orangeburg massacre is one of the most violent and least remembered events of the civil rights movement. A crowd of students gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University to protest segregation at Orangeburg's only bowling alley. After days of escalating tensions, students started a bonfire and held a vigil on the campus to protest. Dozens of police arrived on the scene, and state troopers fired live ammunition into the crowd. When the shooting stopped, three students were dead and 28 wounded. Although the tragedy predated the Kent State shootings and Jackson State killings and it was the fir…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/8/remembering_orangeburg_massacre_1968_south_carolina

We Said We Would See Him in Court and We Did
David Cole | aclu.org | 2019-11-07
Several months into the Trump administration, my wife was | doing The New York Times crossword puzzle and came across this clue: "Group | that told President Trump, 'We'll see you in court.'" I'm not generally much use | when it comes to the crossword, but on that one I could help. She didn't really | need the assistance of course, as the ACLU is my employer, and she, The New | York Times crossword puzzle drafters, and much of the country already knew that | it was the ACLU who told the president we'd see him in court. | In fact, we told him that before he took office. Just days after | he improbably won t…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/we-said-we-would-see-him-in-court-and-we-did

After a hard-won sentence reduction, Huntsville man's court debt is another obstacle to freedom
Will Tucker | splcenter.org | 2019-11-07
Fresh out of prison after nearly 23 years, Archie "Jody" Hamlett appeared at his mother's door in Huntsville, Ala., one fall day in 2017.
splcenter.org/news/2019/11/12/after-hard-won-sentence-reduction-huntsville-mans-court-debt-another-obstacle-freedom

Algerian Protesters Are Still in the Streets, Months After Pushing Out Longtime President Bouteflika
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-07
In Algeria, protests against corruption, the jailing of opposition leaders and the army's powerful role in national politics have entered their ninth month. Tens of thousands filled the streets of the capital Algiers last Friday to mark the 65th anniversary of the war of independence from France and to demand a "new revolution" rather than an upcoming election they say will be rigged. Over 100 student protesters were arrested last night as the Algerian government intensified its crackdown on demonstrators ahead of the upcoming polls. Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah announced the country will hold a presiden…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/7/algerian_protests_enter_ninth_month_ahead

League of the South Resorts to Video Stunts as Membership Declines
Hatewatch Staff | splcenter.org | 2019-11-05
The League of the South made a 25-second propaganda video over the weekend at the memorial of a civil rights icon in an apparent attempt to attract members to its neo-Confederate ideology.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/11/05/league-south-resorts-video-stunts-membership-declines

SPLC celebrates 30th anniversary of Civil Rights Memorial
splcenter.org | 2019-11-05
The first African American elected mayor of Montgomery, Alabama — a city known as both the "Cradle of the Confederacy" and the "Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement" — urged those who gathered today to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Civil Rights Memorial to ask themselves how they can make an impact on the lives of others.
splcenter.org/news/2019/11/05/splc-celebrates-30th-anniversary-civil-rights-memorial

"Release My Mother": A Yale Student Fights to Halt Deportation of His Mother with Stage IV Cancer
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-05
Tania Romero, an undocumented mother from Honduras and survivor of stage IV cancer, is fighting to remain in the United States with her four children. Two months ago, Romero was imprisoned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the privately owned Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, interrupting her life-saving medical treatments. In mid-August, Romero was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and arrested for not having a driver's license. Tania Romero's attorney requested a stay of deportation on humanitarian grounds because of her fragile health, but it was denied in September. Her son, Cristian…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/5/cancer_patient_tania_romero_ice_detention

Trump Wants to Allow Discrimination with Billions of Dollars of Federal Funding
Louise Melling | aclu.org | 2019-11-05
Last Friday, the Trump administration announced | an alarming new proposal that would strip away critical protections against discrimination | in grants funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. | Initially, we thought this proposal would serve to fulfill Trump's promise to give taxpayer-funded child welfare agencies a license to discriminate. This proposal does…
aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/trump-wants-to-allow-discrimination-with-billions-of-dollars-of-federal-funding

American Graffiti: Church, Cancer, and 'Hate Faith'
Kevin Powell | progressive.org | 2019-11-02
Spirituality is love. Religion, as often practiced now and through history, is a convenient partner of oppression, and can easily become what I call hate faith.
progressive.org/dispatches/american-graffiti-church-cancer-hate-faith-powell-191102/

Civil Rights Memorial commemorates 30 years
splcenter.org | 2019-11-01
Carolyn Wells Gee was in bed watching TV with her younger sister when she heard the shot that killed Medgar Evers.
splcenter.org/news/2019/11/01/civil-rights-memorial-commemorates-30-years

Why Have a Forum on Reparations in Charleston and Why Now?
Jeffery Robinson | aclu.org | 2019-10-31
This year marks 400 years since enslaved, kidnapped people were purchased by the forefathers and — mothers of America. Are the events that began 400 years ago connected to today? William Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." | On June 19, 2019, the National African American Reparations | Commission (NAARC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) held | a forum on H.R. 40 in the historic Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, | D.C. As a follow up to that…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/why-have-a-forum-on-reparations-in-charleston-and-why-now

The FBI is Tracking Our Faces in Secret. We're Suing
Kade Crockford | aclu.org | 2019-10-31
Many of us wear masks on Halloween for fun. But what about a world in which we have to wear a mask every single day to protect our privacy from the government's oppressive eye? | Face | recognition surveillance technology has already made that frightening world a | reality in Hong Kong, and it's quickly becoming a scary | possibility in the United States. | The FBI is currently collecting data about our faces, irises, walking patterns, and voices, permitting the government to pervasively identif…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/the-fbi-is-tracking-our-faces-in-secret-were-suing

Abortion is Legal in All 50 States, and We Intend to Keep It That Way
Alexa Kolbi-Molinas | aclu.org | 2019-10-31
On | Tuesday, a federal court issued a decision in our challenge to Alabama's | near-total ban on abortion blocking the law from taking effect. The decision | comes on the heels of similar rulings blocking abortion bans in Arkansas, | Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Utah. In other words, the ACLU has an | undefeated, 7-0 record challenging state abortion bans in court. None of the state abortion bans passed | earlier this year will be permitted to take effect. Abortion is — and will | remain — legal in all 50 states. | The | Alabama ban, like all the others, is the anti-abortion movement's t…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/abortion-is-legal-in-all-50-states-and-we-intend-to-keep-it-that-way

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

'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