United States has the highest child detention rate in the world
wsws.org | 2019-11-19
A UN report released Monday finds that the United States leads the world in depriving children of liberty, particularly through immigration detention.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/19/dete-n19.html
Saving Julian Assange is Saving Ourselves
Kim Petersen | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-19
The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner issued a statement based on special-rapporteur-on-torture Nils Melzer's fact-finding mission into the incarceration of WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange. The facts were a scathing indictment of those nations behind the targeting of Assange. 'The evidence is overwhelming and clear,' the expert said. 'Mr. Assange …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/saving-julian-assange-is-saving-ourselves/
CAIR, 54 Other Civil Rights Groups Demand Removal of White Supremacist Trump Adviser Stephen Miller
commondreams.org | 2019-11-19
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commondreams.org/newswire/2019/11/19/cair-54-other-civil-rights-groups-demand-removal-white-supremacist-trump-adviser?cd-origin=rss
NO WAY TO TREAT A VETERAN "MIKE POMPEO"
anonymous veteran | indybay.org | 2019-11-19
I met with the deputy consul briefly while in detention in Shenzhen in February, 2019. I would like to followup with him regarding my experiences there, which were quite ugly and possibly not even legal.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/11/19/18828273.php
UN study claims US has the highest rate of children in detention
Marlee Kokotovic | nationofchange.org | 2019-11-19
Children are being detained at a younger and younger age and held for longer periods of time.
nationofchange.org/2019/11/19/un-study-claims-us-has-the-highest-rate-of-children-in-detention/
Prison Is Not Rehabilitation, It Is Modern-Day Slavery
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-11-19
Every aspect of modern incarceration has been meticulously engineered to threaten and shatter all sense of self-worth and to drain the mind and soul of all vigor and clarity: every filthy toilet, every rotten apple, every oven-hot cell, every act of control, coercion, violence, isolation. | Prison is punishment. Prison is racism. Prison is vengeance. Prison is the criminalization of poverty, the institutional oppression and enslavement disproportionately and intentionally inflicted upon the descendants of enslav…
truthout.org/articles/modern-day-slavery-from-incarceration-to-forced-adoption/
Brazil Issued Arrest Warrant for Paraguay's Ex-President
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-19
Rio de Janeiro's Seventh Federal Court on Tuesday issued a prison order for Paraguay' s former President Horacio Cartes for his involvement in a case related to the Car Wash Operation in Brazil. | RELATED: | Thousands of Paraguayans Protest for Impeaching President over Corruption | The decision was taken by Brazilian Judge Marcelo Bretas who is in charge of…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Issued-Arrest-Warrant-for-Paraguays-Ex-President-20191119-0002.html
Release of Western Hostages and Prospects of Peace in Afghanistan
Nauman Sadiq | globalresearch.ca | 2019-11-19
Three Taliban commanders have been released today, on Tuesday, by the Afghan government as part of a prisoner swap involving two Western hostages. Reportedly, the militant leaders, including senior Taliban leader Anas Haqqani, had landed in Qatar, which hosts the …
globalresearch.ca/release-western-hostages-prospects-peace-afghanistan/5695396
Army Releases A Palestinian Fisherman Who Was Abducted A Year Ago
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2019-11-19
The Israeli army released, on Monday at night, a Palestinian fisherman who was taken prisoner a year ago, after the navy ships attacked fishing boats in Gaza territorial waters, and opened fire on them. The Palestinian Fishermen's Syndicate said the fisherman, identified as Mohammad Qassem Saidam, was released after a …
imemc.org/article/army-releases-a-palestinian-fisherman-who-was-abducted-a-year-ago/
With Assange on Verge of Extradition to US, Sweden Drops Years-Long Rape Investigation Into WikiLeaks Founder
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-11-19
A Swedish prosecutor announced Tuesday that her office is ending a years-long investigation into a 2010 rape allegation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently being held in a British prison as he battles the U.S. government's effort to extradite him. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/assagne_0.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/11/19/assange-verge-extradition-us-sweden-drops-years-long-rape-investigation-wikileaks?cd-origin=rss
Tortured by CIA and Detained at Gitmo Without Trial, Ahmed Rabbani Gives Haunting Review of 'The Report'—a New Film He'll Likely Never See
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-11-19
A victim of the CIA's post-9/11 torture program who has spent over 15 years locked up in the U.S. military prison at the Guant√°namo Bay Naval Station in Cuba shared his thoughts on a new film entitled The Report in an op-ed published Tuesday by USA Today. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/the20report.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/11/19/tortured-cia-and-detained-gitmo-without-trial-ahmed-rabbani-gives-haunting-review?cd-origin=rss
Don't Suppress Votes of New Citizens
Terri Gerstein | progressive.org | 2019-11-18
A new kind of voter suppression is being perpetrated by the federal government and flying largely under the radar: a multi-faceted effort to prevent legal immigrants from becoming citizens in time to vote.
progressive.org/op-eds/dont-suppress-votes-of-new-citizens-gerstein-191118/
Students Told They Would Be Better Off 'If They Had Jesus in Their Life'
Heather L. Weaver | aclu.org | 2019-11-18
The ACLU and the ACLU of Tennessee filed a lawsuit against the Smith County School System for violating the separation of church and state on Monday. According to the lawsuit, four students who are atheists have had to contend with school officials promoting Christianity through official prayers, Bible distributions, religious posters, and even a giant cross painted in one of the school's athletic facilities. | We asked our three high school clients in this case — Harleigh, | Leyna and Pyper — to tell us about their e…
aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/students-told-they-would-be-better-off-if-they-had-jesus-in-their-life
An Arizona Sheriff Deputy's Abuse of a Quadruple Amputee Teen Highlights a Policing Culture That Must Change
Ezekiel Edwards | aclu.org | 2019-11-18
Inhumane. Cruel. Abusive. What other words could possibly describe a Pima County, Arizona Sheriff Deputy placing a 15-year-old quadruple amputee who posed no threat into a headlock and then pinning him to the ground at a group home? What if the Deputy then screamed at another teenager videotaping the abuse and yelled at him repeatedly "shut the hell up" and, "Am I your bitch?" before slamming the teenager's head into the wall while handcuffed? | This is not another example…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/an-arizona-sheriffs-deputy-abuse-of-a-quadruple-amputee-teen-highlights-a-policing-culture-that-must-change
Monday's Daily Brief: Progress and pitfalls in child rights, millions of Afghans acutely food insecure, Middle East nuclear-free zone, social media and child detention
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-18
A recap of Monday's stories in brief: Uneven child rights progress; over 10 million Afghans severely food insecure; Middle East nuclear weapons conference gets underway; Social media posts increasing child detention cases; UN and partners commit to universal health.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1051631
Family Members of Palestinian Detainee Arrested
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-11-18
According to the Prisoners Commission, the wife and the brother of a Palestinian prisoner in Israel were arrested, Monday, while attempting to a visit the detainee, The Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported. The Commission stated that Israeli forces detained the wife of Ramadan Eid Mashahreh, along with his …
imemc.org/article/family-members-of-palestinian-detainee-arrested/
"Narco country": AMLO's battle for Mexico's north
Miles Ellingham | peoplesworld.org | 2019-11-18
In this Feb. 22, 2014 file photo, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the head of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, is escorted to a helicopter in Mexico City following his capture in the beach resort town of Mazatlan, Mexico. | Eduardo Verdugo / AP | With "El Chapo" now in prison in the U.S., the head of the Sinaloa rattlesnake has been severed, but the body remains. A volatile power vacuum for control of prime narcotics real estate has opened up, a vacuum that has been filled by a cast of ruthless characters including Guzmán's sons–"Los Chapitos"–jostling for position with long-serving former lieutenants. | In 2017,…
peoplesworld.org/article/narco-country-amlos-battle-for-mexicos-north/
Baby Shark Coup
John Steppling | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-18
I also write from time to time, and if any sweet breath fills my soul, it's the light of memory … Oh the memory in prison! How it gets here and falls upon the heart, which it oils with melancholy already so decomposed … In short, I don't know what these people will do. We …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/baby-shark-coup/
Two Hunger-strikers in Serious Health Condition
IMEMC News & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-11-18
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs warned, on Monday, of the deteriorating health conditions of hunger striking Palestinian prisoners Ahmad Zahran and Mosab al-Hindi, who are imprisoned at Israeli Nitzan jail. The commission confirmed that the conditions of the two prisoners are getting worse every day, adding that …
imemc.org/article/two-hunger-strikers-in-serious-health-condition/
Anti-terror measures against youngsters' online posts 'linked to spike in child detention globally'
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-18
More than 5.4 million children are detained around the world, rights experts said on Monday, highlighting "aggressive" State counterterrorism measures for the spike in youngsters held for alleged links with armed conflict or national security concerns based on their social media posts.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1051581
After Texas Court Blocks Execution, Rodney Reed Has a Chance to Prove His Innocence in 1996 Murder
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-18
In a stunning decision handed down Friday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Rodney Reed, an African-American death row prisoner who was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday for a murder he says he did not commit. The appeals court ordered a review of the case to examine claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Millions of people around the country had joined Reed's cause in recent weeks amid mounting evidence that another man may be responsible for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman. In 1998, an all-white jury sentenced Reed to die for Stites's murder after his DNA…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/18/rodney_reed_scheduled_execution_in_texas
Protesters demand end to Israeli attacks on Gaza
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-11-17
NY, New York – On the evening of November 15, over 150 people gathered on 42nd and Broadway to demand that Israel, backed by the United States government, stop the murder and occupation of Palestinians. | The emergency rally was called by several different organizations in New York City in response to Israel murdering 34 people, including eight children in Gaza. The organizations were Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, CODEPINK: Women For Peace, Labor for Palestine, Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, NY4Palestine, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, American Muslims for Palesti…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/11/16/protesters-demand-end-israeli-attacks-gaza
UN film festival encourages young people to promote peace, dialogue and empathy
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-16
Demonstrating empathy, humour and intelligence, a group of young film-makers have been recognized for their short videos, which tackle the weighty issues of discrimination, intolerance and misogyny in a creative and entertaining way, at a ceremony held at UN Headquarters.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1051511
Gold Chains: The Hidden History of Slavery in California
Candice Francis | aclu.org | 2019-11-15
This is a cross-post from the ACLU of Northern California. | There is a story we tell ourselves about being American. Much of it is a lie. Two dates that students throughout the country are required to memorize to inform an American identity are 1492, when Columbus supposedly "discovered" America, and 1776, when the United States claimed sovereignty from England and through the Declaration of Independence declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." If we're honest, we'll admit that the "all men" in that catchphrase didn't include African Americans, Native Americans, and…
aclu.org/news/racial-justice/gold-chains-the-hidden-history-of-slavery-in-california
The Size of Your Wallet Should Never Determine Your Freedom
Twyla Carter | aclu.org | 2019-11-15
Lea Allison is a 30-year-old Alamance County | resident and mother to a 6-year-old daughter. She has been living with | relatives because she cannot afford to live on her own, but was about to start | a new job that she hoped would provide her and her daughter with financial | stability. | Lea's plans came to an abrupt halt when she was arrested and locked in an Alamance County, North Carolina jail on a $3,500 bond. Although she has not been found guilty of a crime, she will remain behind bars because she cannot afford to pay for her freedom. Instead of starting her new job, Lea is sitting in the Alamance Coun…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/the-size-of-your-wallet-should-never-determine-your-freedom
Whistleblowers Are Public Servants. We Must Protect Them
Kate Ruane | aclu.org | 2019-11-15
President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke on the phone. The president insists the call was "perfect." Others are concerned that, during the call, the president intimated he would withhold financial aid appropriated to Ukraine unless the Ukrainian president agreed to investigate former-Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival of the president. | How do we even know about any of this? A…
aclu.org/news/free-speech/whistleblowers-are-public-servants-we-must-protect-them
The Coup That Ousted Bolivia's Evo Morales Is Another Setback for Latin American Socialism
Elise Swain | theintercept.com | 2019-11-15
A socialist president from Bolivia is sent into exile as another member of the Latin American left is freed from prison in Brazil.
theintercept.com/2019/11/15/bolivia-evo-morales-coup-brazil-intercepted/
Disruptive protests don't justify police violence
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-15
civil rights Sue BoltonIssue 1245 Australia police MelbourneNovember 15, 2019It is unusual for the Police Union or Victoria Police chiefs to condemn the actions of any officer. But they have been forced to crit…
greenleft.org.au/content/disruptive-protests-dont-justify-police-violence
Justice for Rodney Reed: Millions Urge Texas to Halt Execution Amid New Evidence of His Innocence
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-15
The Supreme Court considers Friday whether to take up the case of Rodney Reed, an African-American death row prisoner in Texas who is scheduled to be executed in less than a week for a murder he says he did not commit. On Thursday, Reed's family braved the cold to camp outside the Supreme Court for a vigil asking the justices to help halt the execution. Millions of people around the country have joined their cause in recent weeks amid mounting evidence that another man may be responsible for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman. In 1998, an all-white jury sentenced Reed to die for Stites's…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/15/rodney_reed_death_row_scheduled_execution
"This Is My Home": Meet the Lead Plaintiff in the Supreme Court Case to Save DACA
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-15
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from three lawsuits demanding the Trump administration preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The Obama-era program has granted protection from deportation and a work permit to at least 700,000 undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children. The court's conservative majority appeared poised to side with President Trump in ending the program, while some of the court's liberal justices seemed skeptical of Trump's efforts. In September 2017, the Trump administration announced it planned to terminate DACA, arguing the program…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/15/daca_supreme_court_oral_arguments_lead
New Senate Bill Would Curtail ICE's "Unnecessary Overuse of Solitary Confinement"
Spencer Woodman | theintercept.com | 2019-11-14
A group of prominent U.S. senators introduced legislation Thursday that would dramatically curtail the use of solitary confinement inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. | The bill, sponsored by Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, takes aim at a range of practices identified in Solitary Voices, an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and Intercept investigation into the heavy use of solitary confinement by ICE. | Press releases from
theintercept.com/2019/11/14/ice-solitary-confinement-dick-durbin-bill/
Three Common Privacy Misconceptions That Companies Love
Jay Stanley | aclu.org | 2019-11-14
A significant number of Americans hold significant misconceptions about their privacy, according to opinion research — misconceptions that privacy-invading companies love. That's according to research on American understandings of privacy carried out over the past couple decades by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, lead by Prof. Joseph Turow, whom I recently heard give a talk summarizing these studies. | Misconceptio…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/three-common-privacy-misconceptions-that-companies-love
Trump Administration Forgoes Petition to Supreme Court in Jane Doe Case
Meagan Burrows | aclu.org | 2019-11-14
For more | than two years, the ACLU has been fighting a Trump administration policy that | prevents unaccompanied immigrant minors in federal care from accessing | abortion. We had previously won in the lower court, securing a preliminary block on | the policy. And last week, the Trump administration chose not to challenge that | ruling and ask the Supreme Court to review the case–a real victory in our fight | for justice for the Janes. | We first filed | the case in Octobe…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/trump-administration-forgoes-petition-to-supreme-court-in-jane-doe-case
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
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
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/
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 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
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
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
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
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