2019-12-03: News Headlines

Eds. (2019-12-03). Members of Argentine Delegation in Bolivia tell the horror they recorded (Coup Repression). mronline.org Disappearances, murders, arbitrary detentions, rapes, torture and hospitals that refuse to take care of those wounded by the repression were some of the events recorded during the first day of work. They were held and kicked at the airport by a pro-coup mob. Then the Minister of Government of Añez, Arturo Murillo, came out to […] | Source

teleSUR (2019-12-03). Morales Accuses Bolivian Gov't of Blocking His Migratory Status. telesurenglish.net President Evo Morales accused the de facto government of Bolivia for creating obstacles to his immigration legal procedures and his vice president àÅlvaro García Linera before the Bolivian consulate in Mexico. | RELATED: | Morales Vows To Do What's Best for Bolivia, Not Afraid of Jail | Morales through his account on the social media network of Twitter said that for a week they began with the steps and have requested collections that did not exist. | "Last week we started…

WSWS (2019-12-03). Opposing NATO and Trump means fighting to free Julian Assange! wsws.org The aim of Trump and Boris Johnson is to either send Assange to the US, lock him up and throw away the key, or subject him to such psychological and physical cruelty that he dies in prison.

Alex Darocy (2019-12-03). SCPD Request for New Tasers to be Addressed at Public Safety Committee Meeting. indybay.org The City of Santa Cruz Public Safety Committee will take up the issue of police Tasers at its next meeting on December 2. A request from the Santa Cruz Police Department for the Santa Cruz City Council to approve a contract with Axon Enterprise, Inc. to re-outfit the entire police department with new Taser guns, at a cost of $235,439, was placed on the consent agenda of the November 12 City Council meeting, but was pulled after inquiries from the Santa Cruz ACLU. SCPD's proposed Taser purchase is listed as item number four on the agenda of the Public Safety Committee meeting, which will be held at 5: 30 pm on Mond…

Sonia Gill (2019-12-03). Congress Must Act to Protect the Right to Vote. aclu.org Read the ACLU's report to Congress on the importance of restoring the Voting Rights Act. | This week, the House is expected to vote on H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019. The bill would help ensure racial barriers to voting are removed from elections across the country. Passing the VRAA will advance needed protections for people whose right to vote is under attack based on the color of their skin. | This will be the first time Congress votes on a bill to restore and update the protections of the Voting Rights Act since the Supreme Court…

Ramzy Baroud (2019-12-03). Israel's Unfinished 'Coup'. counterpunch.org This time, nothing seems to work. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has tried every trick in the book to save his political career and to avoid possible prison time. But for Israel's longest-serving leader, the honeymoon is certainly almost over. It is an "attempted coup", is how Netanyahu described his indictment on charges of fraud, More

Dan Bacher (2019-12-03). Fishing and environmental groups sue Trump administration for violations of ESA. indybay.org The lawsuit was filed at a critical time for salmon, steelhead, Delta smelt and other ESA-listed species in the Central Valley rivers and San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary.

teleSUR (2019-12-03). Honduras: 7 Sentenced in Murder Case of Environmental Activist. telesurenglish.net Honduras' Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) on Monday sentenced seven people to more than 30 years in prison for the murder of Berta Caceres, an internationally recognized environmental activist who was killed at home by a hitman on March 2, 2016. | RELATED: | President of Energy Company Linked to Berta Caceres Murder | Four of the material authors were sentence…

IMEMC News (2019-12-03). Two Hunger Striking Detainees Face Serious Health Complications. imemc.org The Palestinian Detainees Committee has reported that two detainees, holding ongoing hunger strikes in Israeli prisons, are facing serious, life-threatening complications, especially after they stopped drinking water three days ago. The Committee stated that the two detainees, Ahmad Zahran and Mosab al-Hindi, are held in the Nitzan al-Ramla prison, under …

IMEMC News (2019-12-03). Soldiers Abduct Five Palestinians In Ramallah, Illegally Confiscate Cash And Gold, In Jenin. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Tuesday at dawn, five Palestinians, including a former political prisoner, in Ramallah governorate, in central West Bank. The army also invaded Ya'bad town, southwest of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and illegally confiscated cash and gold from one home. Media sources said the soldiers …

IMEMC News (2019-12-03). Israeli Soldiers Abduct Eight Palestinians In Hebron, Nablus And Jericho. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Tuesday at dawn, eight Palestinians in Hebron, Nablus, and Jericho, in the occupied West Bank, in addition to invading homes in Shu'fat refugee camp, in Jerusalem, and attacking protesters. The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) in Hebron, in southern West Bank, said the soldiers invaded and searched …

Joe Emersberger (2019-12-03). Talking About Ecuador's Political Prisoners: an Interview With Marcela Aguiñaga. counterpunch.org In October, eight protesters were killed during eleven days of demonstrations against a decree by Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno to eliminate fuel subsidies in order to comply with a structural adjustment loan he signed with the IMF. Other articles and interviews on Counterpunch have discussed how Moreno ditched his left wing campaign platform as soon More

Staff (2019-12-03). How Loan Companies Prey on an Unsuspecting Public. truthdig.com ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. | All four were arrested by an armed constable, handcuffed and booked into jail. They spent anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days behind bars before being released after paying a few hundred dollars in bail or promising to appear in court. | None of the four, who live in northern Utah and were detained last year, had committed a crime. They had each borrowed money at high interest rates from a local lender called L…

Staff (2019-12-03). Meet Yetnebersh Nigussie: A Blind Ethiopian Lawyer Fighting for Global Disability Rights. democracynow.org December 3 is International Day of Persons With Disabilities. "Unfortunately, disability-based discrimination is still a global phenomenon," says Yetnebersh Nigussie, a lawyer and disability rights activist from Ethiopia who in 2017 received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." Nigussie is the director for advocacy and rights at Light for the World and the former chair of the Ethiopian National Association of the Blind women's wing. She has been blind since the age of five. Yetnebersh Nigussie speaks with us in Stockholm. She is one of many former Right Livelihood Award recipie…

John Pilger (2019-12-02). Visiting Assange, Britain's Political Prisoner. counterpunch.org I set out at dawn. Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh is in the flat hinterland of south east London, a ribbon of walls and wire with no horizon. At what is called the visitors centre, I surrendered my passport, wallet, credit cards, medical cards, money, phone, keys, comb, pen, paper. I need two pairs of glasses. More

Ramzy Baroud (2019-12-02). Israel's Unfinished "Coup" dissidentvoice.org This time, nothing seems to work. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has tried every trick in the book to save his political career and to avoid possible prison time. But for Israel's longest-serving leader, the honeymoon is certainly almost over. It is an "attempted coup", is how Netanyahu described his indictment on charges of fraud, …

teleSUR (2019-12-02). Morales Vows To Do What's Best for Bolivia, Not Afraid of Jail. telesurenglish.net The democratically elected President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, said Sunday that he would value the option of being imprisoned in Bolivia, if that action helps the Bolivian people, who suffer from a climate of anxiety and instability after the coup d'etat driven by the right of the South American country. | RELATED: | The Pro-Evo Upheaval in Bolivia: How is it Affecting the Canadian Political Scene? | "For the Bolivian people, for the political instrument, for t…

teleSUR (2019-12-02). There Can Be No Climate Justice Without Social Justice: Maduro. telesurenglish.net Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro issued on Sunday a letter addressed to the heads of state and government meeting in Spain as they participate in the 25th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25). | RELATED: | Morales Vows To Do What's Best for Bolivia, Not Afraid of Jail | In the letter, the Venezuelan leader stressed that "there can be no climate justice without social justice", and mentioned that problems such as defores…

Ted Glick (2019-12-01). How We Win via NVDA Campaigning. dissidentvoice.org Long-time peace, justice, democracy and lgbtq activist and trainer George Lakey has written a book, How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning, about the strategic centrality to movement-building of the approach of nonviolent direct action campaigning. Built upon his decades of organizing experience going back to the '60s civil rights movement, there …

LaLa B Holston-Zannell (2019-12-01). Reducing HIV Transmission Requires Decriminalizing Sex Work. aclu.org Transgender people are criminalized for our bodies. | We are profiled, stereotyped, and presumed | guilty based on the way we look or for failing to meet gender expectations, and | it must stop. | Nearly one | in six transgender people has been incarcerated. For trans people of color, | the number is one in two. It's staggering, and it demonstrates the deep bias in | our current laws and criminal justice system. | This World AIDS Day, let's not forget that transgender | women —…

John Pilger (2019-11-30). Visiting Britain's Political Prisoner. dissidentvoice.org I set out at dawn. Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh is in the flat hinterland of south east London, a ribbon of walls and wire with no horizon. At what is called the visitors centre, I surrendered my passport, wallet, credit cards, medical cards, money, phone, keys, comb, pen, paper. I need two pairs of glasses. …

Jordan Smith (2019-11-29). Fingerprint Analysis Is High-Stakes Work — but It Doesn't Take Much to Qualify as an Expert. theintercept.com One wrong fingerprint match could send an innocent person to prison or see a killer go free. But proficiency tests are frighteningly easy to pass.

Murtaza Hussain (2019-11-27). Did an American Billionaire Philanthropist Play a Role in the Imprisonment of Iranian Environmentalists? theintercept.com In September 2017, a group of Iranian environmentalists working on Asiatic cheetah preservation with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation felt a pang of alarm. Thomas S. Kaplan, a billionaire precious metals investor then best known for his fine art collection, had just made a surprise public appearance in New York at the annual conference of United Against Nuclear Iran. The Iranian environmentalists were concerned because their group had gotten aid from one of Kaplan's nonpolitical charities. Now, he was sp…

Ashoka Mukpo (2019-11-27). "If I Could Just Look at Her" aclu.org Watch the journey of two separated parents trying to cross the border and reunite with their children.: | " data-whitelisted="false" data-domain="www.youtube.com"> | In October, the Trump administration admitted that in a 12-month period, beginning in July 2017, it separated 4,370 immigrant children from their parents at the border. Since then, over 1,000 more have been separated under a dubious loophole that all…

RT (2019-11-27). Political affiliation bias is the last type of discrimination society approves of — and study shows we're embracing it fervently. rt.com In an ultra-PC society where even the suggestion of racial, ethnic or gender bias can get a person fired or ostracized, another type of discrimination — a political affiliation-based one — is thriving, according to a new study. | Discrimination may have become taboo in US society, but it hasn't gone away. A new study shows discriminatory behavior thrives in the one area where it remains socially acceptable to judge people based on shared attributes: political affiliation. Politics remains one of the few pers…

Kate Oh (2019-11-26). It's Past Time Congress Reined in the President's Emergency Powers. aclu.org The full Senate could soon consider legislation that would rein in the | president's emergency powers and bolster the principle of separation of | powers that underpins American democracy. This legislation, the ARTICLE | ONE Act as amended by a Senate committee, contains sensible reforms of the | National Emergencies Act of 1976 (NEA), the flawed and outdated law that | governs the emergency declaration process. | Under | the current national emergencies declaration process, Congress must muster a | veto-proof two-thirds supermaj…

Fight Back (2019-11-26). Chicago conference to relaunch National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression a huge success. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – More than a 1200 joined together for an historic gathering on the weekend of November 22 — 24, at the hall of the Chicago Teachers Union, to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The newly refounded Alliance will concentrate its efforts on building the fight against police crimes and for community control of the police, and it will campaign for the release of political prisoners and the wrongfully convicted. | Longtime leaders of the Black liberation movement Angela Davis and Frank Chapman, along with elected officials, trade unionists, and other progressive ac…

Staff (2019-11-26). Headlines for November 26, 2019. democracynow.org Judge Rules Trump Can't Stop Officials from Testifying in Impeachment Inquiry, Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Disclosure of Trump's Financial Records, U.S. Troops Resume Combat Mission Against ISIS, U.N.: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Surged to Record-High Levels in 2018, 56 Killed in Landslides in Kenya, Leaked Documents Reveal China's "Brainwashing" of Uyghur Muslims, Duque Calls for "National Dialogue" as Protests Continue to Rock Colombia, Global Protests Mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Argentine Catholic Priests Sentenced to Prison for Raping Students, Water Protectors Block…

David Cole (2019-11-26). We're Grateful for the Constitution. aclu.org Thanksgiving is here: that time of year when we pause to take stock of all we're grateful for. At the ACLU, we're saying thanks for all the crucial wins from our legal teams — and for the Constitution. | In just the last few months, we've racked up many essential victories in the ongoing battle to protect civil liberties and civil rights. The scope of these victories is breathtaking: they span criminal justice, privacy, religious freedom, reproductive rights, due process for immigrants, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, and the right to protest the Keystone pipeline, among others. We've won crucial victories…

Ashoka Mukpo (2019-11-25). In Nicaragua, She Dodged Bullets. Now She's Stuck at the Border. aclu.org (Ciudad Juarez, Mexico) The sting of tear gas was still in Julia's eyes when she ran into a public park in the center of the Nicaraguan city of Estelí on June 20, 2018. Earlier that day, she'd wrapped her face in a blue-and-white bandanna — the colors of the Nicaraguan flag — and joined a student-led march against the government of President Daniel Ortega, whose proposed cuts to social benefits were sparking tense street demonstrations across the country. [Note: 'Julia' is a pseudonym; the ACLU is protecting her identity for her safety.] | As the students marched through the streets, paramilitary p…

Charlie Hogle (2019-11-25). The Trump Administration is Unlawfully Detaining a U.S. Resident Without Charge. aclu.org Adham | Hassoun completed his criminal sentence and was set to be released from prison almost | three years ago. But the government — now claiming unprecedented and | unconstitutional powers under the USA Patriot Act — continues to hold Adham in | detention, indefinitely and without charge. | We're | in court to secure his freedom. | Adham | has called the United States home for 30 years. Born in Lebanon to Palestinian | refugees, Adham and his family — like many other refugees — suffered…

Staff (2019-11-25). Police Raid Egypt's Last Independent News Outlet Mada Masr Amid "Increasingly Hostile" Media Climate. democracynow.org Egyptian security forces raided the office of Mada Masr, the country's last independent media outlet, and arrested three of its journalists this weekend. The raid began Sunday afternoon, when nine plainclothes security officers entered the Mada Masr office in Cairo, seizing phones and laptops and holding the staff in the building for more than three hours. They then arrested editor-in-chief Lina Attalah, managing editor Mohamed Hamama and reporter Rana Mamdouh. It came just a day after security forces arrested senior editor Shady Zalat at his home. All four journalists were released from detention Sunday night. T…

Staff (2019-11-25). Pope Francis Calls Nuclear Weapons Immoral as Catholic Activists Face Jail For U.S. Nuke Base Action. democracynow.org Over the weekend, Pope Francis visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the United States dropped the first atomic bombs in 1945, killing more than 200,000 people. Pope Francis said, "A world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary." The leader of the Cathoilc Church met with survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and declared the possession of nuclear weapons to be immoral. The Pope's visit comes as a group of seven Catholic peace activists are awaiting sentencing for breaking into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia on April 4, 2018. The activists, known as the Kings Bay Plowshares 7,…

Fight Back (2019-11-23). Over 1200 rally in Chicago at relaunch of National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – More than a 1200 joined together November 22, at the hall of the Chicago Teachers Union, to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The newly refounded Alliance will center its efforts on building the fight against police crimes and for community control of the police, and it will campaign for the release of political prisoners and the wrongfully convicted. | Longtime leaders of the Black liberation movement, Angela Davis and Frank Chapman, along with elected officials, trade unionists, and other progressive activists addressed the packed rally that opened the confere…

Staff (2019-11-22). "In Defense of Julian Assange": Why WikiLeaks Founder's Case Threatens Press Freedom. democracynow.org This week Swedish prosecutors dropped an investigation into sexual assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, stemming from 2010. Assange, who has always denied the allegations, took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for over seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden on the charges. British authorities dragged him out of the Ecuadorian embassy in April and he has since been jailed in London's Belmarsh prison on charges related to skipping of bail in 2012, when he first entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over the now-dropped sexual assault charges. The United States…

Staff (2019-11-22). U.N. Rapporteur: Julian Assange Has Faced Psychological Torture; He Should Not Be Extradited to U.S. democracynow.org This week Swedish prosecutors dropped an investigation into sexual assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, stemming from 2010. Assange, who has always denied the allegations, took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for over seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden on the charges. British authorities dragged him out of the Ecuadorian embassy in April and he has since been jailed in London's Belmarsh prison on charges related to skipping of bail in 2012, when he first entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over the now-dropped sexual assault charges. The United States…

Neema Singh Guliani (2019-11-21). Congress Just Temporarily Extended the Government's Spying Powers. aclu.org Congress today temporarily extended the NSA's spying powers that time and again have been used to violate our rights. Disturbingly, this three-month extension was snuck into a broader funding bill, forcing members of Congress to choose between extending this program and causing a government shutdown. The extension is an unnecessary lifeline to spying programs that are plagued with compliance violations, have no proven intelligence value, and violate our rights. | Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, one of the spying | powers extended, the government believes it has the right to collect our | personal inform…

Kathryn Casteel (2019-11-21). After parole, Alabama man gets life back on track, helps others. splcenter.org Chris "Champ" Napier started speaking to students and at-risk youth about his experience in prison before he knew he would ever regain his freedom.

Scarlet Kim (2019-11-20). The U.S. Government Tracked, Detained, and Interrogated Journalists. We're Suing on Their Behalf. aclu.org As part of a coordinated effort that undermined the freedom of the press, the U.S. government tracked, detained, and interrogated journalists who were reporting on conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, we're suing on their behalf to defend their First Amendment rights. | Together with the New York Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, we're representing five photojournalists who traveled to Mexico in late 2018 and early 2019 to document the experiences of people traveli…

Hatewatch Staff and Brett Barrouquere (2019-11-13). Neo-Nazi Group NSM Faces New Upheaval After James Hart Stern's Death. splcenter.org 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.

Will Tucker (2019-11-07). After a hard-won sentence reduction, Huntsville man's court debt is another obstacle to freedom. splcenter.org 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 (2019-11-05). SPLC celebrates 30th anniversary of Civil Rights Memorial. splcenter.org 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.

Hatewatch Staff (2019-11-05). League of the South Resorts to Video Stunts as Membership Declines. splcenter.org 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 (2019-11-01). Civil Rights Memorial commemorates 30 years. splcenter.org Carolyn Wells Gee was in bed watching TV with her younger sister when she heard the shot that killed Medgar Evers.