Daily Archives: 2019-11-26

2019-11-26: News Headlines

Lynda Carson (2019-11-26). Civil Rights Groups Demand Stephen Miller's Removal As Trump's Senior Advisor. indybay.org On November 18, 2019, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and its affiliates sent a letter to the abomination in the White House known as President Donald J. Trump, demanding the removal of Trump's senior advisor Stephen Miller!

James Handley (2019-11-26). Betrayed by Joe Biden: a Personal History. counterpunch.org Even at age 77, Joe Biden cuts a dashing figure. In 1972, when he was 29 and I was 15, he spoke at my high school in suburban Wilmington Delaware. I practically swooned over the handsome, charismatic young Biden as he spoke passionately about civil rights, environmental protection, womens' rights and ending the Viet Nam More

Pepe Escobar (2019-11-26). Iran's 'Only Crime Is We Decided Not to Fold'. globalresearch.ca Just in time to shine a light on what's behind the latest sanctions from Washington, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a speech at the annual Astana Club meeting in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan delivered a searing account of Iran-US …

Pepe Escobar (2019-11-26). The Road Toward Greater Eurasia. globalresearch.ca The Astana Club is one of the most crucial annual meetings in Eurasia, alongside the Boao forum in China and the Valdai discussions in Russia. China, Russia and Kazakhstan are all at the forefront of Eurasia integration. No wonder, then, …

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by a Senate committee, contains sensible reforms of the | National Emergencies Act of 1976 (NEA), the flawed and outdated law that | governs the emergency declaration process.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…

Ilana Novick (2019-11-26). Unlikely D.A. Chesa Boudin Wants to End Mass Incarceration. truthdig.com The newly elected top prosecutor in San Francisco is part of a wave of progressives who want to reform the criminal justice system.

IMEMC & Agencies (2019-11-26). Israeli Prisons on High Alert After Death of Prisoner. imemc.org Tension was high throughout the Israeli prisons this morning following the announcement that Palestinian prisoner, Sami Abu Diak, who was suffering from cancer, has died, according to the Palestinian Authority's Prisoners Affairs Commission. The Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported that the death of Abu Diak, 37, from Silat …

IMEMC & Agencies (2019-11-26). Israeli Forces Detain Nine Palestinians, Many Former Prisoners. imemc.org Palestinian security sources and witnesses confirmed, on Tuesday, that Israeli forces conducted multiple invasions, across the West Bank, at least nine Palestinians. The Palestinian News and Info Agency reported that Israeli forces detained three Palestinians, including two former prisoners, after ransacking their homes in Kafr Ra'i town, south of the …

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…

Strategic Culture (2019-11-26). Netanyahu's Get-Out-of-Jail Card… War With Iran. theantimedia.com The temptation will be ever-stronger for the hot-headed commando-turned-politician to rile up security tensions with Iran and Syria.

Cat Brooks (2019-11-26). Oakland Raids Housing Justice Village: Being Houseless Is Not a Crime. indybay.org Last night, dozens of unhoused community members with The Village and East Oakland Collective placed their tents on the lawn of City Hall; demanding to be seen, heard and helped by city officials. Instead they were terrorized, brutalized, arrested and taken to Santa Rita Jail.

RT (2019-11-26). 'Imposing collective punishment': Employees of Israeli spyware company NSO Group countersue Facebook for deplatforming. rt.com Eight employees of infamous Israeli spyware company NSO Group are countersuing Facebook after it took their accounts offline while suing NSO for spying on thousands of users of its subsidiary WhatsApp through a security exploit. | The current and former NSO Group employees slammed Facebook's "barbarous and unilateral" decision to block their private accounts "just because the company they work for or previously worked for was sued by Facebook," claiming in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday that the deplatf…

RT (2019-11-26). 'I've dreamt about this day': Three US friends freed after spending 36 YEARS in prison for murder THEY DIDN'T COMMIT. rt.com Three teenagers from Baltimore, wrongfully convicted of killing a school student in cold blood, have been exonerated after spending more than three decades of their lives in jail. | Childhood friends Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart were arrested in 1983, when they were 16, and subsequently convicted of gunning down a 14-year-old student at Harlem Park Junior High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Authorities said at the time that the boy was shot in the neck with a 22-caliber handgun in an attempt to steal a fancy jacket he was wearing. | The men have always insisted they were innocent. Nevert…

David Cole (2019-11-26). We're Grateful for the Constitution. aclu.org Saying thanks for recent wins from ACLU lawyers : | 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…

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…

Global Research News (2019-11-26). Selected Articles: Netanyahu's Real Crimes. globalresearch.ca Online independent analysis of US-led wars, rampant corruption, corporate greed, civil rights and fraudulent monetary transactions is invariably relegated to the bottom rung of search engine results. | As a result we presently do not cover our monthly running costs which …

Delilah Boxstein (2019-11-25). Blinded Palestinian Journalist Exposes Israel's Increasing Violence Against Media. mintpressnews.com 2018 saw a 52 percent increase in the number of violations against Palestinian press, the majority of them comprised physical abuse, arrests or detentions, questioning, preventing coverage and shutting down websites and social media accounts.

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…

WSWS (2019-11-25). Clinical Psychologist Lissa Johnson on Julian Assange: "A maximum security prison is no place to treat a torture victim" wsws.org Australian clinical psychologist Lissa Johnson is a lead signatory to the open letter by medical doctors in defence of Julian Assange.

WSWS (2019-11-25). Doctors demand "urgent" medical intervention to save Julian Assange's life. wsws.org More than 65 eminent medical doctors from the UK and around the world have issued an open letter calling for urgent action to protect the life of imprisoned WikiLeaks founder and journalist Julian Assange.

WSWS (2019-11-25). An open letter from doctors: Julian Assange "could die in prison" wsws.org "Were such urgent assessment and treatment not to take place, we have real concerns, on the evidence currently available, that Mr Assange could die in prison."

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…

teleSUR (2019-11-25). Peru Opposition Leader Accused of Graft Released From Jail. telesurenglish.net The Constitutional Court of Peru granted Monday a "habeas corpus" appeal to President of the Fuerza Popular (Popular Force) and opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, effectively nulling the preventive detention issued against her as part of the investigation for the alleged money laundering, criminal organization and obstruction of justice. | RELATED: | Peru: Judge in Keiko Case Ruled 'Partial' to State Prosecutors | With four votes in favor and three against, the judges approved the…

Matthew Stevenson (2019-11-25). An Impeachment Hearings Libretto. counterpunch.org I have no doubt that House Democrats will vote articles of impeachment against Trump, just as I have no trouble imagining that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell will stage his own Netflix original and exonerate the president. So why plunge ahead to certain defeat in the Senate and give Trump an I-got-out-of-jail card in time for the election in 2020? | More

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,…

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…

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…

RT (2019-11-23). 'We're in America': Latin American group up in arms after Texas teacher tells student to 'speak English' in class. rt.com A substitute teacher temping at a school in a Texas border town has come under fire for telling a Hispanic student to "speak English," prompting a heated response from a civil rights group calling for the teacher's dismissal. | A video of the incident posted online by a local news outlet on Thursday shows the teacher — then subbing at the predominantly Latino Socorro High School, located just a few miles from the border with Mexico — arguing with a student about his phone. | "Speak English, we're in America. Give me your phone," the teacher, who has not been named in press reports, is heard saying in…

Natasha Lennard (2019-11-22). Meet the Tucson 12: Under Trump, Protesters Are Being Hit With Felony Riot Charges. theintercept.com Illustration: Hanna Barczyk for The Intercept | On the night of August 14, a small group of around 20 Tucson, Arizona-based activists and community members stood outside the Pima County Adult Detention Complex, making noise. They sang, they chanted, they banged drums and pans loud enough to reach the ears of those caged behind the facility's beige concrete walls. Standing on a sidewalk, some lit small, handheld fireworks; others held up a large banner bearing the famed prison abolitionist refrain, "Fire to the prisons." The message to those inside, as with most every noise demonstration held outside a prison:…

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…

United Nations (2019-11-21). Thursday's Daily Brief: Deadly Syria violence, risks of working at sea, poor health in jail, concern over ISIL suspect, and her child. news.un.org A recap of Thursday's stories in brief: Syria's violence continues to strike children; governments must do more for human rights in business; poor health in Europe's prisons; rights experts' concern over Irish ISIL bride and her child in Turkey; Fishing workers face huge risks at sea.

Fred_F (2019-11-21). Assange's case 'a threat to free speech worldwide'. greenleft.org.au civil liberties Jim McIlroyIssue 1246 Australia Julian Assange SydneyNovember 21, 2019Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer for imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, believes the United States' applicatio…

Fred_F (2019-11-21). Inside Australia's refugee prison camp in PNG. greenleft.org.au refugee rights Chris SleeIssue 1246 Australia MelbourneNovember 21, 2019The Refugee Action Collective (RAC) Victoria held a forum on November 18 to discuss the situation facing asylum seekers in Bomana Immigration Centre, a detention centre attached to Bomana prison in…

pip.hinman (2019-11-21). Media continues its smear campaign against Lula. greenleft.org.au media lies Brian MierIssue 1246 Brazil stitch upNovember 21, 2019The Brazilian Supreme Court reversed a 2018 ruling on November 7, upholding the principle of innocent until proven guilty in the 1988 Constitution and declaring it illegal to jail defendants before their appeals' proces…

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…

Staff (2019-11-19). Headlines for November 19, 2019. democracynow.org U.S. Claims Israeli Settlements Are Not Illegal Under International Law, Four Witnesses Slated to Testify in Public Impeachment Hearings, U.N. Condemns U.S. for World's Highest Rate of Children in Detention, Political Crisis in Bolivia Continues After Military Pressure Ousts Evo Morales, American Professor Freed in Prisoner Swap in Afghanistan, 1,000 Students Arrested in Police Siege of Hong Kong University, Coal Mine Blast in China Kills 15; Pipeline Explosion in Bangladesh Kills 7, Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Skyrocketed Since Bolsonaro's Election, Syracuse Suspends All Fraternity Activities After String…

Heather L. Weaver (2019-11-18). Students Told They Would Be Better Off 'If They Had Jesus in Their Life'. aclu.org 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…

Terri Gerstein (2019-11-18). Don't Suppress Votes of New Citizens. progressive.org 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.

Ezekiel Edwards (2019-11-18). An Arizona Sheriff Deputy's Abuse of a Quadruple Amputee Teen Highlights a Policing Culture That Must Change. aclu.org 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…

Kate Ruane (2019-11-15). Whistleblowers Are Public Servants. We Must Protect Them. aclu.org 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…

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.

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 (2019-11-05). 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.

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.

2019-11-26: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

Betrayed by Joe Biden: a Personal History
James Handley | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-26
Even at age 77, Joe Biden cuts a dashing figure. In 1972, when he was 29 and I was 15, he spoke at my high school in suburban Wilmington Delaware. I practically swooned over the handsome, charismatic young Biden as he spoke passionately about civil rights, environmental protection, womens' rights and ending the Viet Nam…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/26/betrayed-by-joe-biden-a-personal-history/

Civil Rights Groups Demand Stephen Miller's Removal As Trump's Senior Advisor
Lynda Carson | indybay.org | 2019-11-26
On November 18, 2019, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and its affiliates sent a letter to the abomination in the White House known as President Donald J. Trump, demanding the removal of Trump's senior advisor Stephen Miller!
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/11/22/18828372.php

It's Past Time Congress Reined in the President's Emergency Powers
Kate Oh | aclu.org | 2019-11-26
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…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/its-past-time-congress-reined-in-the-presidents-emergency-powers

Unlikely D.A. Chesa Boudin Wants to End Mass Incarceration
Ilana Novick | truthdig.com | 2019-11-26
The newly elected top prosecutor in San Francisco is part of a wave of progressives who want to reform the criminal justice system.
truthdig.com/articles/unlikely-d-a-chesa-boudin-wants-to-end-mass-incarceration/

Israeli Forces Detain Nine Palestinians, Many Former Prisoners
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-11-26
Palestinian security sources and witnesses confirmed, on Tuesday, that Israeli forces conducted multiple invasions, across the West Bank, at least nine Palestinians. The Palestinian News and Info Agency reported that Israeli forces detained three Palestinians, including two former prisoners, after ransacking their homes in Kafr Ra'i town, south of the …
imemc.org/article/israeli-forces-detain-nine-palestinians-many-former-prisoners/

Israeli Prisons on High Alert After Death of Prisoner
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-11-26
Tension was high throughout the Israeli prisons this morning following the announcement that Palestinian prisoner, Sami Abu Diak, who was suffering from cancer, has died, according to the Palestinian Authority's Prisoners Affairs Commission. The Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported that the death of Abu Diak, 37, from Silat …
imemc.org/article/israeli-prisons-on-high-alert-after-death-of-prisoner/

Chicago conference to relaunch National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression a huge success
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-11-26
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…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/11/25/chicago-conference-relaunch-national-alliance-against-racist-and-political-repression-hug

Oakland Raids Housing Justice Village: Being Houseless Is Not a Crime
Cat Brooks | indybay.org | 2019-11-26
Last night, dozens of unhoused community members with The Village and East Oakland Collective placed their tents on the lawn of City Hall; demanding to be seen, heard and helped by city officials. Instead they were terrorized, brutalized, arrested and taken to Santa Rita Jail.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/11/25/18828416.php

Netanyahu's Get-Out-of-Jail Card… War With Iran
Strategic Culture | theantimedia.com | 2019-11-26
The temptation will be ever-stronger for the hot-headed commando-turned-politician to rile up security tensions with Iran and Syria.
theantimedia.com/netanyahus-get-out-of-jail-card-war-with-iran/

'Imposing collective punishment': Employees of Israeli spyware company NSO Group countersue Facebook for deplatforming
rt.com | 2019-11-26
Eight employees of infamous Israeli spyware company NSO Group are countersuing Facebook after it took their accounts offline while suing NSO for spying on thousands of users of its subsidiary WhatsApp through a security exploit. | The current and former NSO Group employees slammed Facebook's "barbarous and unilateral" decision to block their private accounts "just because the company they work for or previously worked for was sued by Facebook," claiming in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday that the deplatf…
rt.com/news/474390-nso-group-sue-facebook-whatsapp/

'I've dreamt about this day': Three US friends freed after spending 36 YEARS in prison for murder THEY DIDN'T COMMIT
rt.com | 2019-11-26
Three teenagers from Baltimore, wrongfully convicted of killing a school student in cold blood, have been exonerated after spending more than three decades of their lives in jail. | Childhood friends Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart were arrested in 1983, when they were 16, and subsequently convicted of gunning down a 14-year-old student at Harlem Park Junior High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Authorities said at the time that the boy was shot in the neck with a 22-caliber handgun in an attempt to steal a fancy jacket he was wearing. | The men have always insisted they were innocent. Nevert…
rt.com/usa/474324-three-baltimore-men-exonerated/

We're Grateful for the Constitution
David Cole | aclu.org | 2019-11-26
Saying thanks for recent wins from ACLU lawyers : | 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…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/were-grateful-for-the-constitution

Selected Articles: Netanyahu's Real Crimes
Global Research News | globalresearch.ca | 2019-11-26
Online independent analysis of US-led wars, rampant corruption, corporate greed, civil rights and fraudulent monetary transactions is invariably relegated to the bottom rung of search engine results. | As a result we presently do not cover our monthly running costs which …
globalresearch.ca/selected-articles-netanyahu-zionist-israel/5696008

An open letter from doctors: Julian Assange "could die in prison"
wsws.org | 2019-11-25
"Were such urgent assessment and treatment not to take place, we have real concerns, on the evidence currently available, that Mr Assange could die in prison."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/25/open-n25.html

Clinical Psychologist Lissa Johnson on Julian Assange: "A maximum security prison is no place to treat a torture victim"
wsws.org | 2019-11-25
Australian clinical psychologist Lissa Johnson is a lead signatory to the open letter by medical doctors in defence of Julian Assange.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/25/john-n25.html

Doctors demand "urgent" medical intervention to save Julian Assange's life
wsws.org | 2019-11-25
More than 65 eminent medical doctors from the UK and around the world have issued an open letter calling for urgent action to protect the life of imprisoned WikiLeaks founder and journalist Julian Assange.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/25/lead-n25.html

The Trump Administration is Unlawfully Detaining a U.S. Resident Without Charge
Charlie Hogle | aclu.org | 2019-11-25
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…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/the-trump-administration-is-unlawfully-detaining-a-u-s-resident-without-charge

In Nicaragua, She Dodged Bullets. Now She's Stuck at the Border
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2019-11-25
(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…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/in-nicaragua-she-dodged-bullets-now-shes-stuck-at-the-border

Peru Opposition Leader Accused of Graft Released From Jail
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-25
The Constitutional Court of Peru granted Monday a "habeas corpus" appeal to President of the Fuerza Popular (Popular Force) and opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, effectively nulling the preventive detention issued against her as part of the investigation for the alleged money laundering, criminal organization and obstruction of justice. | RELATED: | Peru: Judge in Keiko Case Ruled 'Partial' to State Prosecutors | With four votes in favor and three against, the judges approved the…
telesurenglish.net/news/Peru-Opposition-Leader-Accused-of-Graft-Released-From-Jail-20191125-0007.html

Blinded Palestinian Journalist Exposes Israel's Increasing Violence Against Media
Delilah Boxstein | mintpressnews.com | 2019-11-25
2018 saw a 52 percent increase in the number of violations against Palestinian press, the majority of them comprised physical abuse, arrests or detentions, questioning, preventing coverage and shutting down websites and social media accounts.
mintpressnews.com/blinded-palestinian-journalist-muath-amarneh-israel-violence-media/262981/

An Impeachment Hearings Libretto
Matthew Stevenson | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-25
I have no doubt that House Democrats will vote articles of impeachment against Trump, just as I have no trouble imagining that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell will stage his own Netflix original and exonerate the president. So why plunge ahead to certain defeat in the Senate and give Trump an I-got-out-of-jail card in time for the election in 2020? |…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/25/an-impeachment-hearings-libretto/

Police Raid Egypt's Last Independent News Outlet Mada Masr Amid "Increasingly Hostile" Media Climate
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-25
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…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/25/mada_masr_egypt_media_sharif_kouddous

Pope Francis Calls Nuclear Weapons Immoral as Catholic Activists Face Jail For U.S. Nuke Base Action
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-25
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,…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/25/pope_francis_nuclear_weapons_hiroshima_nagasaki

Over 1200 rally in Chicago at relaunch of National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-11-23
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…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/11/23/over-1200-rally-chicago-relaunch-national-alliance-against-racist-and-political-repressio

'We're in America': Latin American group up in arms after Texas teacher tells student to 'speak English' in class
rt.com | 2019-11-23
A substitute teacher temping at a school in a Texas border town has come under fire for telling a Hispanic student to "speak English," prompting a heated response from a civil rights group calling for the teacher's dismissal. | A video of the incident posted online by a local news outlet on Thursday shows the teacher — then subbing at the predominantly Latino Socorro High School, located just a few miles from the border with Mexico — arguing with a student about his phone. | "Speak English, we're in America. Give me your phone," the teacher, who has not been named in press reports, is heard saying in…
rt.com/usa/474146-texas-teacher-speak-english/

Meet the Tucson 12: Under Trump, Protesters Are Being Hit With Felony Riot Charges
Natasha Lennard | theintercept.com | 2019-11-22
Illustration: Hanna Barczyk for The Intercept | On the night of August 14, a small group of around 20 Tucson, Arizona-based activists and community members stood outside the Pima County Adult Detention Complex, making noise. They sang, they chanted, they banged drums and pans loud enough to reach the ears of those caged behind the facility's beige concrete walls. Standing on a sidewalk, some lit small, handheld fireworks; others held up a large banner bearing the famed prison abolitionist refrain, "Fire to the prisons." The message to those inside, as with most every noise demonstration held outside a prison:…
theintercept.com/2019/11/22/tucson-12-protest-felony-riot/

"In Defense of Julian Assange": Why WikiLeaks Founder's Case Threatens Press Freedom
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-22
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…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/22/julian_assange_tariq_ali_margaret_kunstler

U.N. Rapporteur: Julian Assange Has Faced Psychological Torture; He Should Not Be Extradited to U.S
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-22
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…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/22/nils_melzer_julian_assange

Congress Just Temporarily Extended the Government's Spying Powers
Neema Singh Guliani | aclu.org | 2019-11-21
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…
aclu.org/news/national-security/congress-just-temporarily-extended-the-governments-spying-powers

Thursday's Daily Brief: Deadly Syria violence, risks of working at sea, poor health in jail, concern over ISIL suspect, and her child
United Nations | news.un.org | 2019-11-21
A recap of Thursday's stories in brief: Syria's violence continues to strike children; governments must do more for human rights in business; poor health in Europe's prisons; rights experts' concern over Irish ISIL bride and her child in Turkey; Fishing workers face huge risks at sea.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1051931

Assange's case 'a threat to free speech worldwide'
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-21
civil liberties Jim McIlroyIssue 1246 Australia Julian Assange SydneyNovember 21, 2019Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer for imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, believes the United States' applicatio…
greenleft.org.au/content/assange-case-threat-free-speech-worldwide

Inside Australia's refugee prison camp in PNG
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-21
refugee rights Chris SleeIssue 1246 Australia MelbourneNovember 21, 2019The Refugee Action Collective (RAC) Victoria held a forum on November 18 to discuss the situation facing asylum seekers in Bomana Immigration Centre, a detention centre attached to Bomana prison in…
greenleft.org.au/content/inside-australia-refugee-prison-camp-png

Media continues its smear campaign against Lula
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-21
media lies Brian MierIssue 1246 Brazil stitch upNovember 21, 2019The Brazilian Supreme Court reversed a 2018 ruling on November 7, upholding the principle of innocent until proven guilty in the 1988 Constitution and declaring it illegal to jail defendants before their appeals' proces…
greenleft.org.au/content/media-continues-its-smear-campaign-against-lula

The U.S. Government Tracked, Detained, and Interrogated Journalists. We're Suing on Their Behalf
Scarlet Kim | aclu.org | 2019-11-20
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…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/the-u-s-government-tracked-detained-and-interrogated-journalists-were-suing

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

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

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

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

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

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