(2019-07-13). Embargoes and Other Acts of War. dissidentvoice.org The war between the United States and Japan began with a US-enforced oil embargo against the Japanese Empire. Right now, in the United States, huge detention camps are being constructed for the increasingly criminalized refugee and migrant population, a campaign of government-sponsored domestic terror run by a supposedly temporary, "acting" head of the department created …
(2019-07-13). Lights for Liberty San Jose: End The Detention Camps & ICE Raids. indybay.org San Jose City Hall Plaza | 200 E Santa Clara St, San Jose 95113…
(2019-07-13). UK government holds "media freedom" conference while imprisoning Assange. wsws.org The "media freedom" conference was held seven miles from Belmarsh Prison, where the world's most famous persecuted journalist is jailed.
(2019-07-13). ICE protesters take down American flag & replace it with Mexican flag (VIDEOS, PHOTOS). rt.com 
A group of protesters removed the American flag from outside an ICE detention building in Denver and replaced it with a Mexican flag and a graffitied Blue Lives Matter flag.
(2019-07-12). Race Becomes New Flashpoint With Pelosi, Ocasio-Cortez. truthdig.com WASHINGTON—The debate between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other House Democrats over migrant children in detention at the border was wrenching enough. Then it became about race. | First, the freshman's chief of staff compared more centrist Democrats to 1940s segregationists. Then Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi of "singling out" her and fellow newcomers, all women of color. | By Thursday, the rhetoric escalated, overshadowing the agenda and pushing House Democrats way off message with the most divisive upheaval since they took control of the chamber this year. Longtime lawmakers were st…
(2019-07-12). First Foreign Bank To Stop Financing Migrant Detention Centers. telesurenglish.net France's BNP Paribas said Friday it will no longer finance U.S. private prison operators, making it the first foreign bank to distance itself from a sector shunned by domestic peers amid controversy over the Donald Trump administration detention policies for immigrants and asylum seekers. | RELATED: | Rashida Tlaib Witnesses Migrants Abuse in ICE Detention | Company spokesman Ilias Catsaros told Reuters of the change in policy. The decision does not effect existing…
(2019-07-12). Pompeo's New "Human Rights" Commission is Up To No Good. aclu.org The Trump administration appears to be trying to find new moral footing for the president's discriminatory policies. | This week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally announced the creation of a "Commission on Unalienable Rights." Its stated purpose, according to a notice published in the Federal Register in May, is to provide "fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights." | Th…
(2019-07-12). In aftermath of Libya airstrike deaths, UN officials call for refugees and migrants to be freed from detention. un.org "As a priority, we ask that 5,600 refugees and migrants currently held in centres across Libya be freed in an orderly manner and their protection guaranteed" the UN refugee and migrants chiefs said in a joint statement, released on Friday.
(2019-07-12). Glenn Greenwald Becomes Focus of Brazil Press Freedom Debate. truthdig.com RIO DE JANEIRO—Several weeks after publishing explosive reports about a key member of Brazil's far-right government, U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald was called before a congressional committee to face hostile questions. | "Who should be judged, convicted and in prison is the journalist!" shouted congresswoman Katia Sastre, an ally of President Jair Bolsonaro. | And by some accounts that wasn't an empty threat: A conservative website reported that federal police had requested that financial regulators investigate Greenwald's finances. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and his Brazilian husband also say t…
(2019-07-12). US Extradites Ex-Colombian Agriculture Minister for Corruption. telesurenglish.net The United States has extradited the Colombian ex-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Andres Felipe Arias Leiva to his native country after a five-year legal battle over embezzlement charges. | RELATED: | UN Visits Colombia to Review Failing Peace Accord | The Colombian official arrived in El Dorado, Colombia at 8: 20 Friday morning to serve his 17-year prison sentence for corruption and embezzlement during his tenure in the previous decade. | Leiva was convicted for diverting fe…
(2019-07-12). UN calls on Spain to free jailed Catalan nationalist politicians. wsws.org The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for the "immediate release" of Catalan nationalist political prisoners held in a show trial in Madrid.
(2019-07-12). 'Visit the Camps Yet?' Campaign Urges Pelosi to See for Herself the Horrific Conditions at Trump Detention Centers. commondreams.org "Speaker Pelosi, visit the camps! And bring the conservative Democrats with you—so you can all see why Trump's child abuse at the border needs to be reined in now." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/pelosi_camps.jpg …
(2019-07-12). Powerful and Emotional Testimony From Escobar, Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Pressley on Family Separation and Child Imprisonment. commondreams.org www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/child_detention_hearing_ocasio-cortez_escobar_tlaib_pressley.jpg …
(2019-07-12). UN Human Rights Council stands firm on LGBTI violence, Syria detainees and Philippines 'war on drugs'. un.org The 41st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council ended on Friday with measures taken to address worrying developments in Eritrea, Syria and the Philippines, along with other issues of global concern, such as violence and discrimination against the LGBTI community.
(2019-07-11). Manuel Duran, journalist who reported on ICE, freed from detention. splcenter.org Manuel Duran, an investigative journalist who was detained after reporting on the collusion between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement in Memphis, Tennessee, was released today from ICE detention and will be reunited with his fiancée.
(2019-07-11). The U.S. Women's Soccer World Cup Win Was a Victory for Title IX & the Fight for Equal Pay. democracynow.org 
Thousands gathered in Manhattan Wednesday to celebrate the U.S. women's national soccer team's fourth World Cup championship at a ticker tape parade that stretched up Broadway and past Wall Street. Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle and their teammates rode floats through New York City's Canyon of Heroes, ending their celebrations at a ceremony at City Hall. Supporters chanted "U.S.A.!" and "Equal pay!" The U.S women's World Cup victory came just months after members of the 2015 women's team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation over gender discrimination. Their high-profile fight for pay equity is focusing the s…
(2019-07-11). "Unconscionable & Unacceptable": Rep. Barragán Decries Detention of Migrant Children in Prison Cells. democracynow.org 
Yazmin Juárez, the Guatemalan mother whose child died from a lung infection after being held in an ICE detention center, testified before members of a congressional panel Wednesday. She shared the story of her daughter, 19-month-old Mariee, who died last year shortly after being released from the South Texas Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas. Juárez filed a $60 million lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol and the Department of Health and Human Services. The House subcommittee convened to examine the treatment of refugees in U.S.
(2019-07-11). Im/migrants and the repressive state. workers.org 
A grassroots movement has been growing across the U.S. to counter the government's brutal campaign targeting im/migrants. As more people of all ages die horrible deaths in the desert north of the border, in the border rivers and in detention camps — including the hellholes set up to warehouse small . . . | Continue reading Im/migrants and the repressive state at Workers.org
(2019-07-11). CBP Can't Detain Domestic Flight Passengers for Refusing Suspicionless ID Checks. aclu.org 
The Constitution protects passengers deplaning domestic flights just as it protects people on the street or in a car. | In February 2017, two U.S. CBP officers stood on a jet bridge at New York's JFK Airport to meet Delta Flight 1583 as it taxied to the gate upon arrival from San Francisco. As passengers prepared to deplane, they were told by flight attendants — at the direction of the two officers — that all passengers would have to show identification documents to the officer…
(2019-07-11). Ex-Tesla employee admits uploading top secret autopilot data before move to Chinese rival. rt.com 
A former high-ranking Tesla employee, who left to join a Chinese competitor, has admitted to uploading a trove of confidential data pertaining to the tech company's autopilot feature to his personal iCloud.
(2019-07-10). Headlines for July 10, 2019. democracynow.org Children Recount Mistreatment, Sexual Abuse at Yuma, AZ Migrant Jail, Scabies, Shingles & Chickenpox Spreading Among Children at Clint, TX Migrant Jail, Jewish Activists Arrested After Protesting Migrant Detention on Capitol Hill, Judge Rejects DOJ Move to Replace Legal Team Charged with Census Citizenship Battle, Court Says Trump Cannot Block Critics on Twitter, U.K. Ambassador Resigns After Leaked Cables Scandal, Afghan Peace Talks Close as Deadly Attacks Continue, Appeals Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of Affordable Care Act, Megan Rapinoe to Trump: "Your Message Is Excluding People", Calls Grow fo…
(2019-07-10). The Inhumane Treatment of Migrants Is Not New. It's a Key Part of a Decades-Old Bipartisan Policy. democracynow.org 
More than a week after lawmakers flocked to the U.S.-Mexico border to observe the horrible treatment of refugee children and families in immigration jails, reports of unsafe and unsanitary conditions for asylum seekers are continuing. In Clint, Texas, the Border Patrol station that garnered international attention for jailing hundreds of migrant children without access to sufficient food, water, beds or medical care now has a spreading outbreak of scabies, shingles and chickenpox, according to border agents. In Yuma, Arizona, NBC reports that jailed migrant children have been subjected to mistreatment and sexual…
(2019-07-10). From the Mediterranean to Mexico, Capt. Pia Klemp Believes Rescuing Refugees Is Worth Facing Prison Time. theintercept.com 
If governments are criminalizing people who "show basic human decency, then I think that shows that we're doing something very right."
(2019-07-10). Wednesday's Daily Brief: Guterres in Kenya, Prisoners sick in Iran, #GlobalGoals, Myanmar, Ukraine updates, and new space partnership. un.org This Wednesday's UN top stories are: latest global terror warnings; political prisoners denied health access in Iran; high-level discussions on Sustainable Development Goals; continued abuse of Rohingya in Myanmar; Odessa killings in Ukraine; and partnering with NASA.
(2019-07-08). Georgian protests, military parade, Libya and Turkey. uwidata.com Georgian protests New protests took place this week in Georgia. On July 4, the Georgian Interior Ministry announced the detention of four people accused of assaulting police officers during rallies in central Tbilisi on June 20-21. On Thursday, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that it was investigating a meeting about organizing mass riots and an …
(2019-07-08). U.S. Women's Soccer Team Wins World Cup, Condemning Pay Discrimination and President Trump. democracynow.org 
The U.S. national women's soccer team made history by winning its record fourth World Cup after defeating the Netherlands 2 to 0 on Sunday in Lyon, France. The U.S. women's World Cup victory came just months after members of the 2015 women's team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation over gender discrimination. Following the victory, audience members began to chant "equal pay" in solidarity with the team's demands for an equal salary to their male counterparts. Prize money for this year's Women's World Cup is just $30 million compared to $400 million for the 2018 men's World Cup. Co-captain Megan Rapinoe was awarded th…
(2019-07-08). Headlines for July 8, 2019. democracynow.org Trump & DOJ Reverse Stance, Will Keep Pushing for Citizenship Question in 2020 Census, Trump Admin Threatens It's Ready to Start Deporting Up to 1 Million People, ICE and FBI Have Used Facial Recognition Technology to Mine DMV Databases, Trump: Migrants "Very Happy" with Situation in U.S. Migrant Jails, Iran Breaches Nuclear Deal Limits, Condemns U.K.'s Seizure of Oil Tanker, Sudanese Military Leaders and Opposition Agree to 3-Year Power-Sharing Deal, Greek Snap Elections Hand Victory to Conservative Party, U.S. Women's Team Wins Soccer World Cup, Shining a Spotlight on Gender Pay Disparity, State of Emergency De…
(2019-07-07). 'Horrified at the sights': Coloradans protest ICE facilities and detention profiteers. liberationnews.org 
Human rights abuses are not just restricted to the border.
(2019-07-05). Over 1000 union educators protest Houston Detention Center. fightbacknews.org Houston, TX – July 4 saw union educators push for freedom for refugees and undocumented families. After a daylong meeting of the annual National Education Association's annual Representative Assembly, a massive group of educators demonstrated their anger at Trump's concentration camps for children and families. | Rank-and-file education workers organized the protest within less than 48 hours of arriving at the convention. The group marched around a detention center located in downtown Houston, holding signs reading "Free the children!" and "Close the camps!" As they marched, they chanted "Up up with education! Do…
(2019-07-03). Tucson protest tells Trump: No raids! No deportations! No family separations! fightbacknews.org Tucson, AZ – Over 100 people braved the intense desert sun Tuesday morning, July 2, to demonstrate their anger at Trump's threat for ICE raids aimed at thousands of undocumented families. Many demonstrators also expressed their demand to reunite families and to close the concentration camps operating as detention centers. | Outside the federal building protesters held signs reading "Close the camps!" and "Dismantle ICE!" The group then marched to the Pima County Office to demand an end to the Sheriff's collaboration with ICE and Border Patrol. Organizer from Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Isabel Garcia, said "The…
(2019-07-03). I Spent 16 Months in Solitary Confinement and Now I'm Fighting to End It. aclu.org A new report proves that the degrading conditions in solitary confinement continue to harm people and communities. | I was just 17 years old when I was sent to solitary confinement in "Camp J," one of the most severe lockdown units at one of America's most brutal prisons, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. I languished in solitary for 16 months. | Back then I didn't know that Louisiana was the solitary confinement capital of the world. All I knew was that I'd been convicted of a crime I didn't commit, and I had to maintain my humanity in one of the most dehumanizing places on earth. | It's called "23 and…
(2019-07-03). Chicago: Book signing for Frank Chapman's autobiography. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – Frank Chapman's new book, The Damned Don't Cry: Pages from the Life of a Black Prisoner and Organizer, is getting a great reception. About 30 people attended a book signing at the office of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, July 2. Chapman's autobiography is available here.
(2019-07-03). Japanese Internment Camp Survivor: 'Never Again Is NOW!'. progressive.org A filmmaker and therapist tells of her family's internment in a maximum security camp during World War II, and her views on the current imprisonment of people from south of the border.
(2019-07-03). Thousands of Voices Are Telling the Supreme Court: Don't Roll Back LGBTQ Rights. aclu.org Businesses, women CEOs, civil rights organizations, Republicans tell the Supreme Court to protect LGBTQ employees like Aimee Stephens and Don Zarda. | President Trump has told the Supreme Court it should be legal to fire someone just because they're LGBTQ. The President may be a bully, but he's just one voice. Today, more than 2,000 voices from across the country joined together to tell the Supreme Court: Don't roll back our rights. | The message came in the form of friend-of-the-court briefs—nearly 50 in all—filed in a…
(2019-07-02). SPLC sues Florida officials to keep citizens from losing right to vote again. splcenter.org After completing her prison sentence and probation time, Rosemary McCoy had her voting rights restored and cast a ballot in the Jacksonville, Florida, runoff city council election earlier this year.
(2019-06-29). Smart Ass Cripple: Happy Birthday Olmstead. progressive.org Twenty years ago, a civil rights victory helped disabled people escape institutional life.
(2019-06-28). Georgia Tried to Ban Abortion, So We Sued. aclu.org Abortion bans place people in danger, and Georgia's is no exception. | Alabama. Arkansas. Kentucky. Ohio. And today, Georgia. That's the list of states where the ACLU has had to go to court over the last few months to challenge laws banning abortion. | The Georgia law bans abortion at six weeks of pregnancy and is in clear violation of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. In fact, that is the whole point of the law. Georgia politicians, including Governor Brian Kemp, emboldened by President Trump's appointment of two new justices to the Supreme Court, think this is their chance to get the court to take aw…
(2019-06-28). Why the ACLU Is Suing Florida For Its New Poll Tax. aclu.org The law forces returning citizens with criminal records to pay for the right to vote. | On November 6, 2018, nearly 65 percent of Florida voters—more than 5 million people—resoundingly approved Amendment 4, restoring voting rights to over a million of their fellow citizens. By passing Amendment 4, Floridians successfully ushered in the largest expansion of the electorate in nearly 50 years. The people of Florida did it on their own, using a constitutional ballot initiative, to finally achieve change where Florida politicians had failed. | Instead of celebrating this progress, Florida politicians are t…
(2019-06-28). How to Help Families at the Border Right Now. aclu.org We know that a better future is possible, and we at the ACLU, along with our supporters and allies, are daring to create it. | The images of Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter Valeria, who lost their lives trying to seek refuge in the United States, have left us haunted. They serve as an ever-important reminder of the urgency of the fight for immigrant justice on our southern border and the need to stand up to the Trump administration's policies denying humanitarian protection and basic due process to families fleeing for their lives. | We remain at the frontlines of the family separation fight…
(2019-06-28). Working in Prison, I Witnessed the Inhumane Conditions of Solitary for Incarcerated Women. aclu.org Solitary confinement can amount to torture. One practitioner witnessed this first hand, and shares her story and her journey to action. | At the first checkpoint at Tennessee Prison for Women, there was a large, scrolling television screen behind the desk displaying the image of two pairs of hands — one pair with a key and one pair in handcuffs. The message read, "You can either be one of us or one of them." I had been working in the facility for less than a year, but this message exemplified an uneasiness I had long felt without articulating: The prison's faàßade of "rehabilitation" masked a system s…
(2019-06-28). Charlottesville Federal Court Sentences James Alex Fields to Life in Prison for 'Unite the Right' Killing. splcenter.org A neo-Nazi sympathizer from Ohio received two consecutive and 27 concurrent life sentences in federal prison for killing a counterprotester and injuring others in the aftermath of 2017's racist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
(2019-06-28). SPLC: Sentencing of James Alex Fields Jr., who killed Heather Heyer at 'Unite the Right,' will not heal victims or their families. splcenter.org James Alex Fields Jr., who was sentenced to life in prison today for murdering a woman who was protesting a white supremacist rally two years ago, is a remorseless killer and a domestic terrorist.
(2019-06-26). Horrific detention center conditions expose Trump's true immigration policy: unmitigated, unrelenting cruelty. splcenter.org A year ago, America awoke to the shocking images of children being held in cages — children who had been stolen from their asylum-seeking parents at the border by an administration that had no plan to reunite them.
(2019-06-24). UN Human Rights Head Visits Venezuela, Meets Maduro and Guaido. venezuelanalysis.com Michelle Bachelet commented on access to food and medicine, allegations of political prisoners, and the impact of sanctions, among other issues.
(2019-06-21). Brian Mier on Brazilian Political Scandal. fair.org 
The Brazilian anti-corruption crusade, called Car Wash or Lava Jato, that put popular ex-president Lula da Silva in prison and paved the way for fascist president Jair Bolsanaro—all while being celebrated in the US corporate press—was actually, as critics contended, less interested in corruption than in keeping Lula's Workers Party out of power.
