French "yellow vests" protest for Assange outside Belmarsh prison in London
wsws.org | 2020-01-25
The protests point to the deeply-rooted opposition among workers internationally to US and European governments' relentless campaign to destroy Assange.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/25/yell-j25.html

FBI, King and the tremors of history
Robert Koehler | zcomm.org | 2020-01-25
That the FBI

Zarif Says Iran Jailed Person Who Downed Ukrainian Passenger Plane Over Tehran
sputniknews.com | 2020-01-25
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Iranian man who shot down the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 passenger plane near Tehran's airport is in prison, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine.
sputniknews.com/middleeast/202001251078135600-zarif-says-iran-jailed-person-who-downed-ukrainian-passenger-plane-over-tehran/

SF Treasure Island Former Residents File Suit For Contamination /Injuries & For Shutdown
Labor Video Project | indybay.org | 2020-01-25
Former residents of San Francisco Treasure Island filed a lawsuit for their contamination by radioactive and other chemicals on them and their families and for the shutdown of the development project. They also charged there was collusion by government agencies and City, State. and National politicians to push ahead with the multi-billion dollar condo/hotel development.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/01/21/18829990.php

As strike struggles surge, US unions record lowest ever membership rate
wsws.org | 2020-01-25
The highest unionization rate is in "protective services" (33.8 percent), including police, prison guards and border patrol agents, whose function is to suppress the working class.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/25/unio-j25.html

I've Seen Firsthand the Heartbreak of ICE Detention. This Must End
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-01-24
Five hours into the dark, rainy drive, Ana Hernandez and Edwin Loredo laugh about how they've never seen the sun in Georgia. It's their third trip in as many months, and every time, it storms the whole way

Waiting for Justice in New Jersey
Linn Washington Jr. | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-24
Ask 100 New Jersey residents who is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and more than 90 will quickly reply, a civil rights leader. Ask 100 New Jersey resident who is Peter McGuire and more than 90 will quickly reply, Peter who? King and McGuire both made historic accomplishments. Both the Atlanta born King and the…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/24/waiting-for-justice-in-new-jersey/

Scientists for Palestine Conference Hears Message of Palestinian Scholar, Political Prisoner Ubai Aboudi
IMEMC News & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-01-24
Hind Shraydeh protests for Ubai's release with their three children, Khaled, Ghassan and Basel. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network On the evening of 10 January, a packed hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hosted the third international conference of Scientists for Palestine, a global initiative working …
imemc.org/article/scientists-for-palestine-conference-hears-message-of-palestinian-scholar-political-prisoner-ubai-aboudi/

Indigenous People in Brazil Vow to Defeat Bolsonaro After "Perverse" Attack Claiming Tribes Are Still "Evolving" Into Human Beings
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-01-24
Indigenous leaders in Brazil on Friday vowed to stop President Jair Bolsonaro's assault on their land and members of the country's 300 tribes, filing a lawsuit against the president for his latest racist statements about Indigenous people. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-01-24_at_11.06.54_am.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2020/01/24/indigenous-people-brazil-vow-defeat-bolsonaro-after-perverse-attack-claiming-tribes?cd-origin=rss

Murdoch University drops suit against academic
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2020-01-24
freedom of speech Mark Tan & Alex SalmonIssue 1250 Australia Whistleblowers PerthJanuary 24, 2020Mudoch University's decision on January 13 to drop its lawsuit against Associate Professor Gerd S…
greenleft.org.au/content/murdoch-university-drops-suit-against-academic

The Camp by the Lake
Jeffrey St. Clair | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-24
The Japanese-Americans, both citizens and immigrants, living in Hood River, Oregon were given seven days' notice that they were going to be "evacuated" from their homes. They were told to pack their belongings into one bag and assemble at the Union Pacific train station on the morning of May 13, 1942. They had no idea where they were going, how long they would be detained or what would happen to their property and businesses while they were imprisoned.
counterpunch.org/2020/01/24/the-camp-by-the-lake/

Amendment 4 is Still on the Line. Here's What's New
Orion Danjuma | aclu.org | 2020-01-23
The right to vote cannot depend on how much money you have. That's what a federal court ruled in October, when it blocked Florida's attempt to force returning citizens

In Latest Encryption Battle with Apple, Justice Department Still Wrong
Jennifer Stisa Granick | aclu.org | 2020-01-23
The | federal government is once again trying to force Apple to weaken the security | of millions of iPhones. On Wednesday, President Trump issued a call from Davos, | Switzerland for Apple to assist law enforcement in unlocking iPhones. Last week, | Trump made the same demand of Apple, tweeting that the | company should unlock cell phones as a quid pro quo for any benefits it enjoys | as a result of favo…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/in-latest-encryption-battle-with-apple-doj-still-wrong

Defamation suit aims to stop Hillary and her 'powerful elite friends' from silencing patriotic Americans, Gabbard says
rt.com | 2020-01-23
Suing Hillary Clinton for defamation is necessary in order to keep the former first lady and her powerful allies from smearing Americans who seek "peace and freedom" for all, Tulsi Gabbard has argued. | The Democratic presidential hopeful released a scathing statement in defense of her suit against Clinton, noting that the former secretary of state's attempt to smear her as "the favorite of the Russians" would have far-reaching consequences if left unchallenged. | "If Hillary Clinton and her allies can successfully destroy my reputation

Despite Lawsuit, Activists Find Evidence Plant in Texas Still Polluting Water
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-01-23
On the afternoon of January 15, activist Diane Wilson kicked off a San Antonio Estuary Waterkeeper meeting on the side of the road across from a Formosa plastics manufacturing plant in Point Comfort, Texas. After Wilson and the waterkeeper successfully sued Formosa, the company agreed to no longer release even one of the tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles in…
truthout.org/articles/despite-lawsuit-activists-find-evidence-plant-in-texas-still-polluting-water/

The National Archives Doctored A Women's March Photo Critical of Trump. We're Demanding Answers
Louise Melling | aclu.org | 2020-01-22
"God hates Trump." | "If my vagina could shoot bullets, it'd be less REGULATED." | "Trump & GOP

47 Years Later, We're Fighting to Make Roe a Reality Everywhere
Jessica Arons | aclu.org | 2020-01-22
Today we commemorate the 47th | anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the | landmark Supreme Court case that recognized a constitutional right to abortion. | In the nearly five decades since, the decision has weathered numerous storms | and faced plenty of erosion, leaving too many without meaningful access to | abortion care. But 2020 could be its most consequential year yet. | This spring, the Supreme Court will hear | arguments in June Medical | Services v. Gee and could uphold state abortion re…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/47-years-later-were-fighting-to-make-roe-a-reality-everywhere

'Obvious malicious intent': Tulsi Gabbard hits Clinton with defamation suit over 'Russian asset' smear
rt.com | 2020-01-22
Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard is suing two-time White House runner-up Hillary Clinton over her claim that Gabbard was a "Russian asset," alleging that the lie hurt not just her campaign but the entire election. | Clinton "lied about her perceived rival Tulsi Gabbard… publicly, unambiguously, and with obvious malicious intent" when she claimed Gabbard was "the favorite of the Russians," the campaign alleges in the suit, filed on Wednesday in the federal Southern Di…
rt.com/usa/478916-tulsi-russian-asset-clinton-lawsuit/

CBP Deported an Iranian Student With Valid Visa, Defying Court Order
Carol Rose | aclu.org | 2020-01-21
Last night, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deported an Iranian student with a valid visa, despite a federal court order prohibiting his removal. | Shahab Dehghani arrived at Boston Logan Airport on Sunday, January 19 to study at Northeastern University, where he was enrolled. Customs officials detained him and questioned him for hours, abruptly revoking his student visa, which the State Department granted after a year of intense vetting. | As CBP tried to put Shahab on the next available flight, supporters and friends gathered at night in the arrivals hall at Logan to demand that CBP stop deporting…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/cbp-deported-an-iranian-student-with-valid-visa-defying-court-order

Voting Rights Advocate: The Impeachment of Trump Is Needed to Protect Our Elections & Democracy
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-01-21
The impeachment trial begins its proceedings in the Senate today amid accusations of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attempting to rush the impeachment process. Senators will have 16 hours for questions and four hours for debate, after 24 hours for opening arguments on each side. We speak with Rick Perlstein, historian and author, and Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Clarke says that thanks to the rules set by McConnell, Trump's impeachment trial could be over within a week, with much of the debate taking place in the evening. The proces…
www.democracynow.org/2020/1/21/trump_impeachment_trial_us_senate_pt2

"Fight of the Century" Looks at 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases
Ayelet Waldman | aclu.org | 2020-01-21
Liberty and equality are everywhere under attack. And that's why the work of the American Civil Liberties Union feels more precious to us than ever before. The ACLU lawyers and staff are the brave souls who suit up, blast off, and do what they can to divert and repel all those incoming meteors, or blow them right out of the sky. We admire them. We admire them the way you must admire people who devote themselves to doing, to the utmost of their ability, any thankless, impossible, and absolutely essential job. | Liberty and justice for all. We used to stand up with our classmates | every morning and timelessly…
aclu.org/news/free-speech/fight-of-the-century-looks-at-100-years-of-landmark-aclu-cases

SPECIAL: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in His Own Words
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-01-20
Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, "I've Been to…
www.democracynow.org/2020/1/20/special_dr_martin_luther_king_jr

2019 Proved We Can Stop Face Recognition Surveillance
Abdullah Hasan | aclu.org | 2020-01-17
This piece originally appeared on Fast Company. | In 2019, we proved face recognition surveillance isn't | inevitable. Now, it's time for Congress to rein in the technology once and for | all. | Last year, communities banded together to prove that they | can

The White House's Dangerously Expansive Views on Trump's Powers That You Can't See
Kate Oh | aclu.org | 2020-01-16
A basic legal consensus about our democracy is that the Constitution assigns the " power of the purse" to Congress. Turning this edict on its head, White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) lawyers reportedly concocted a legal theory that President Trump can override Congress's foreign policy spending decisions enshrined in law. If such a dangerously expansive proposal exists as a full legal opinion, it…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/the-white-houses-dangerously-expansive-views-on-trumps-powers-that-you-cant-see

Arkansas Legislators' Attack on Abortion is Unconstitutional
Michele Goodwin | aclu.org | 2020-01-16
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled time and again that | reproductive privacy is "central to personal dignity and autonomy, [which] are | central to the liberty protected by" the Constitution. The Court has made | eminently clear that under the Constitution, the right of a pregnant person to | terminate a pregnancy prior to viability is a right so essential to our freedom | that our government cannot ban or impose an undue burden on its exercise. But | despite the long-standing clarity of this principle, reproductive health and rights | continue to come under blistering, unrelenting attack. | Nowhere is this cl…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/arkansas-legislators-attack-on-abortion-is-unconstitutional

Weekend Read: SPLC sues Trump administration over family separation policy
splcenter.org | 2020-01-10
The SPLC and its allies have filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration policy that has separated and traumatized thousands of migrant families.
splcenter.org/news/2020/01/11/weekend-read-splc-sues-trump-administration-over-family-separation-policy

Despite horrific prison stay, a mother comes to understand her addiction
splcenter.org | 2020-01-09
When Shanna Rainey was a mother to two young children, she began using methamphetamine.
splcenter.org/news/2020/01/15/despite-horrific-prison-stay-mother-comes-understand-her-addiction

Former Head of Identity Evropa Taken Into Custody for Contempt of Court
splcenter.org | 2020-01-06
Elliott Kline, the onetime leader of Identity Evropa, is in federal custody after being found in contempt of court for failing to cooperate in a civil lawsuit stemming from the violent "Unite the Right" rally.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/01/06/former-head-identity-evropa-taken-custody-contempt-court

Prison gave me a greater will to fight
Luiz ignacio lula Da silva | zcomm.org | 2019-12-28
Interview on the reality that Brazil is experiencing and the social protests that have occurred in several Latin American countries…
zcomm.org/zvideo/prison-gave-me-a-greater-will-to-fight/