(2019-11-04). GOP Voter Suppression Campaign Continues in Georgia. therealnews.com 
The GOP barely won the Georgia statehouse despite their campaign of suppressing 1.4 million votes. Jacqueline Luqman talks to Anoa Changa about how a new round of voter registration purges is a continuation of the same campaign.
(2019-11-04). UN rapporteur Nils Melzer warns: Julian Assange may die in a British prison. wsws.org Melzer's statements confirm that the British government, acting on behalf of the US administration of President Donald Trump, is seeking nothing less than Assange's psychological and physical destruction.
(2019-11-04). Julian Assange's Life May be at Risk. UN Expert on Torture Sounds Alarm. globalresearch.ca The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, has expressed alarm at the continued deterioration of Julian Assange's health since his arrest and detention earlier this year, saying his life was now at risk. | Mr. Assange was sent …
(2019-11-04). US Blames Palestinians for Israeli State Terror Against Them. globalresearch.ca Israel is a police state, masquerading as democratic, State terror is the favored strategy against millions of Palestinians. They endure mass arrests, abductions, imprisonments for political reasons, torture, and other forms of persecution. | In its latest quarterly report through September, …
(2019-11-04). Dateline Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi: The Moratorium Days Against the War, 1969. counterpunch.org On November 26, 1969, Mrs. Trinh Thi Ngo, known to Americans as "Hanoi Hannah", read over Radio Hanoi an introduction to a tape provided from Hoa Lo prison, just a city block away: "Now listen to a US pilot captured over North Vietnam on the occasion of the [American] Thanksgiving Day." "To the Vietnam Moratorium More
(2019-11-04). Body of Deceased Inmate was in Jail Cell for More Than 24 Hours Before Santa Cruz Sheriffs Noticed. indybay.org Deceased inmate German Carrillo was in a cell at the Santa Cruz County Main Jail for over 24 hours before correctional officers discovered his body, according to a press release issued on October 30 by the Sheriff's Office. The press release states that Carrillo was found deceased in his cell at around 11 a.m. on October 14, and that their forensic pathologist and detectives have determined Carrillo was strangled sometime between midnight and the early morning of October 13.
(2019-11-04). Largest Sentence Commutation in US History: Nearly 500 Inmates Walk Free After Oklahoma Voters Demand Reform. commondreams.org Voters' approval of a state referendum in 2016 allowed for nearly 500 inmates to walk free on Monday from Oklahoma's massive prison system—the largest single-day commutation in U.S. history. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-6125733881.jpg …
(2019-11-03). Of 39 Women Detained In Israeli Jails, 16 are Mothers. imemc.org The Israeli occupation has 39 women detained in Israeli prisons, held at Damoun prison, with the exception of Jordanian citizen, Heba Al-Labadi, who began a hunger strike 41 days ago, held at Al-Ramlah prison clinic. In addition, wounded Palestinian detainee, Suhair Islamya, is currently held at Shaare Tzedek Hospital, the …
(2019-11-03). Four Palestinian Detainees Still on Hunger Strike. imemc.org Asra Media Office, on Sunday, stated that four Palestinian detainees, including a female prisoner, are maintaining their open-ended hunger strike in protest of their illegal imprisonment without charge or trial. The office added that the hunger strikers are identified as: 30-year-old prisoner Ismael Ali, a resident of Abu Dis village, …
(2019-11-03). Berlin Protest Stands in Solidarity with Palestinian Women Prisoners in Israeli Jails. imemc.org Photos by Magdalena Stefanova Vassileva The following report is reprinted from BDS Berlin: (German below) Photos by Magdalena Stefanova Vassileva In solidarity with Palestinian women incarcerated in Israeli jails, who are subjected to the most brutal forms of violence and repression, and in struggle for their liberation and the liberation …
(2019-11-02). Hundreds converge to demand end to "Death by Incarceration" workers.org 
A sentence of life without parole condemns those who receive it to die in prison. Pennsylvania has more than 5,300 residents serving Death By Incarceration, the second highest number of any state. According to prison abolitionists Quinn Cozzens and Bret Grote, 65 percent of people serving DBI are Black, even . . . | Continue reading Hundreds converge to demand end to "Death by Incarceration" at Workers.org
(2019-11-02). American Graffiti: Church, Cancer, and 'Hate Faith'. progressive.org 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.
(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.
(2019-10-31). Starbucks fired manager 'because she was white,' lawsuit claims in wake of infamous Philadelphia store arrest of 2 black men. rt.com 
A former regional manager has sued Starbucks for racial discrimination, claiming she was fired because she was white after two black men were arrested for "trespassing" at a Philadelphia location she oversaw. | Shannon Phillips, a 13-year Starbucks employee, has sued the chain, alleging she was fired for being white after video of a seemingly racially-biased arrest at one of the stores she managed went viral and triggered mass outrage against the coffee behemoth. If she was not white, Phillips charged in the suit filed in the US District Court of New Jersey earlier this week, she would still have her job, havi…
(2019-10-31). The Unchecked Growth of Policing Makes Everyone a Criminal, Even Children. therealnews.com 
Despite a nationwide drop in crime the number of cops continues to grow. In this episode of The Police Accountability Report we examine some of the consequences of that growth and how it leads to unnecessary arrests and increased incarceration…
(2019-10-31). Why Have a Forum on Reparations in Charleston and Why Now? aclu.org 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…
(2019-10-31). Abortion is Legal in All 50 States, and We Intend to Keep It That Way. aclu.org 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…
(2019-10-31). The FBI is Tracking Our Faces in Secret. We're Suing. aclu.org 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…
(2019-10-31). As Rich Hire Private Firefighters, Housekeepers Go to Work in Fire Zone & Prisoners Fight CA Blazes. democracynow.org 
As climate-fueled fires rage across California, we look at how the blazes are disproportionately affecting some of the state's most vulnerable communities. As a growing number of wealthy homeowners hire private firefighters to protect their properties for up to $3,000 per day, domestic workers and gardeners who tend to some of the most opulent homes in Los Angeles attended work despite the Getty Fire evacuation order earlier this week. Many of their employers failed to even tell them not to come in. Meanwhile, of the more than 4,000 firefighters currently working across the state, at least 700 are California pris…
(2019-10-31). From Climate Denial to "Green" Petroleum: Massachusetts Accuses Exxon Mobil of Deceptive Messaging. theintercept.com 
Exxon Mobil's relationship with the New York Times is a case study in how the fossil fuel industry's climate denialism has evolved over the past 20 years. Beginning in the 1970s, Exxon Mobil published an "advertorial" every Thursday on the New York Times editorial page. The quarter-page, essay-style ads were designed to mimic a Times op-ed. Starting in the 1980s, doubt about the seriousness of human-driven climate change was a repeated theme. The ads came with titles including "Apocalypse no," "Reset the alarm," "Less heat, more light on climate change," and "Climate change: a degree of uncertainty." | According…
(2019-10-30). The Presidential Town Hall on Mass Incarceration Was a Historic Moment and a Missed Opportunity. theintercept.com 
Collectively, the men and women in the room had hundreds of years of prison experience. The presidential town hall, the first ever to be hosted by formerly incarcerated people, was a unique opportunity for candidates to speak about the criminal justice system with those who know firsthand its devastating failures. But only three candidates showed up — and while the conversation delved into questions rarely tackled on the campaign trail, some of the candidates' answers left those in the audience disappointed. | The e…
(2019-10-30). Chesa Boudin, Son of 1960s Radicals, Runs for San Francisco DA on Criminal Justice Reform Platform. democracynow.org 
Chesa Boudin is running for San Francisco district attorney as the latest candidate in a wave of decarceral prosecutors running for office across the United States. Bernie Sanders and other leading progressives have endorsed Boudin, who is a public defender and the child of Weather Underground activists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert. His parents were imprisoned when Boudin was a toddler. These experiences have given him a first-hand view of "how broken our criminal justice system is," he says. "My earliest memories are going through steel gates and metal detectors just to see my parents, just to give them a hug.
(2019-10-29). Quebec Government Apologizes to Indigenous Peoples for 'Systemic Discrimination'. therealnews.com 
Marie-Claude Lacroix, two-row wampum liaison of the Kanienkehaka Traditional Council, says Quebec continues to treat indigenous peoples disrespectfully.
(2019-10-29). Tribute To A Persistent Progressive — Rep. John Conyers. therealnews.com 
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…
(2019-10-28). Accused of Treason and Imprisoned Without Trial: Journalist Kirill Vyshinsky Recounts His Harrowing Time in a Ukrainian Prison. mintpressnews.com 
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.
(2019-10-25). Weekend Read: If your vote didn't matter, they wouldn't fight so hard to block it. splcenter.org 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.
(2019-10-25). LGBTQ Issues Missing in Presidential Campaign Coverage. fair.org 
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…
(2019-10-24). I Went to Mexico to Meet Asylum-Seekers Trapped at the Border. This Is What I Saw. aclu.org 
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,…
(2019-10-24). Why is Missouri So Afraid of Finding out Whether Lamar Johnson is Innocent of Murder? aclu.org 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…
(2019-10-23). 'No rehabilitation,' just oppression, behind bars in Alabama. splcenter.org …
(2019-10-22). The Charter-to-Prison Pipeline. progressive.org 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.
(2019-10-18). Unveiling a State-by-State Plan to End our Mass Incarceration Crisis. aclu.org 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…
(2019-10-18). Patients' Needs, Not Personal Beliefs, Come First in Health Care. aclu.org 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 (…
(2019-10-16). Newark protesters: Democratic Party machine an accomplice in Trump's war on immigrants. liberationnews.org 
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.
(2019-10-15). Leonard Peltier subjected to unjust lockdown in prison: Write to the warden now! liberationnews.org 
The Party for Socialism and Liberation urges its supporters to write the warden to demand an end to this brutal lockdown.
(2019-10-11). Creative writing class in prison was 'light' in the darkness. splcenter.org …
(2019-10-10). White Supremacist William Fears to Get Five Years in Prison. splcenter.org 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.