Rotating on Boredom's Spit
Edward Curtin | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-19
"And all the news just repeats itself | Like some forgotten dream we've both seen" |

Iran Judiciary may free more prisoners amid outbreak: spox
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-04-19
TEHRAN, Apr. 19 (MNA)

Decision on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary release delayed again
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-04-19
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces another "deeply unsettling" couple of days as the wait continues to find out if her temporary release from a prison in Iran has been extended.The British-Iranian mother was temporarily freed from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.Zaghari-Ratcliffe's furlough was extended by two weeks in late March, and she was scheduled to return to prison on Saturday 18 April.When her family had not received a decision by Saturday on whether or not her furlough is to be extended, they were told to return to the prosecutors office in Iran on 19 April

Iran extends prisoner furloughs, closure of holy sites amid coronavirus
yenisafak.com | 2020-04-19
Iran has extended furloughs for prisoners for another month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, as the Islamic Republic endeavours to stem the spread of the new coronavirus in its crowded jails. Iran's reported temporary release of 100,000 prisoners since February – including prisoners of conscience and dual and foreign nationals – was welcomed by the United Nations on Friday as a good step, but one that must be expanded."Furloughs of those prisoners, who pose no threat to the society, have been extended until May 20," Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting.However, a letter by U.N. human right…
yenisafak.com/en/world/iran-extends-prisoner-furloughs-closure-of-holy-sites-amid-coronavirus-3517352

COVID-19 May Exacerbate Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-18
Concern about the deepening of Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis is enhancing due to the number of COVID-19 cases, lack of tests to detect the disease, and political instability. | RELATED: | Taliban Delegation in Kabul for Prisoner Exchange Process | On Saturday, Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz reported on 27 new confirmed patients and 933 people infected in the country so far. | According to local outlet Tolo News, fear is increasing because of the lack of tests and other health…
telesurenglish.net/news/COVID-19-May-Exacerbate-Humanitarian-Crisis-in-Afghanistan-20200418-0003.html

Evo Morales: Police Put Cochabamba Population's Health at Risk
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-18
Bolivia's former President Evo Morales Saturday denounced that the police entered the Cochabamba Department without taking due sanitary precautions and challenging the local population, which expelled several officers from the Shinahota Municipality on Thursday. | RELATED: | Bolivia Indigenous Denounce Añez for Discrimination | "The Police have…
telesurenglish.net/news/Evo-Morales-Police-Put-Cochabamba-Populations-Health-at-Risk-20200418-0005.html

Attorney General Barr Refuses to Release 9/11 Documents to Victims' Families
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-18
Months after President Donald Trump promised to open FBI files to help families of the 9/11 victims in a civil lawsuit against the Saudi government, the Justice Department has doubled down on its claim that the information is a state secret. | In a series of filings just before a midnight court deadline on Monday, the attorney general, William Barr; the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell; and other senior officials insisted to a federal judge in the civil case that furth…
truthout.org/articles/attorney-general-barr-refuses-to-release-9-11-documents-to-victims-families/

Colombia: Not Even the Pandemic Halts Killing of Social Leaders
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-18
Colombia's National Agrarian Coordinator (CNA) denounced that social leader Teodomiro Sotelo was assassinated on Friday while working on his farm in the El Tambo municipality. | RELATED: | Latam: COVID-19 Puts Imprisoned Environmental Defenders at Risk | "Armed individuals entered his property to murder him in front of his family and workers," local outlet El Colombiano reported and recalled that several farmers are migrating out of the area to avoid being new victims of violen…
telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-Not-Even-the-Pandemic-Halts-Killing-of-Social-Leaders-20200418-0006.html

Hamas Offers Israel a Mediated Prisoner Swap Deal
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-04-18
Political Leader of the ruling Islamist Hamas party in Gaza, Ismail Haniyya, told the Alaraby Arabic TV channel, on Friday, that his party has four Israeli soldiers in captivity, and that the party is ready to indirectly negotiate over a possible prisoner swap deal with Israel. The leader of Hamas …
imemc.org/article/hamas-offers-israel-a-mediated-prisoner-swap-deal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hamas-offers-israel-a-mediated-prisoner-swap-deal

As Coronavirus Spreads Through Prisons, States Are Failing Incarcerated People
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-18
On April 6, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order allowing "medically vulnerable" incarcerated people to be temporarily released on medical furlough for the duration of the state's disaster proclamation. Furloughs are typically temporary releases from prison, usually for no more than 14 days. Pritzker's executive order extends the order indefinitely during the pandemic; it is unclear whe…
truthout.org/articles/as-coronavirus-spreads-through-prisons-states-are-failing-incarcerated-people/

Arab Parliaments Call for Immediate Release of Palestinian Prisoners
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-04-17
On the eve of Palestinian Prisoners Day, the Cairo-based Arab States' Parliaments Forum, on Thursday, called for the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners from various Israeli prisons and detention centers, as well as halt of all Israeli violations against the Palestinian people. In a statement, issued by the forum …
imemc.org/article/arab-parliaments-call-for-immediate-release-of-palestinian-prisoners/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=arab-parliaments-call-for-immediate-release-of-palestinian-prisoners

Thousands Join Virtual Rally to Demand World Without Prisons as Coronavirus Spreads in Detention Centers
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-04-17
"In the midst of a global pandemic, prisons are Petri dishes and all sentences are death sentences." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-1209373472_1.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2020/04/17/thousands-join-virtual-rally-demand-world-without-prisons-coronavirus-spreads?cd-origin=rss

ICE is Deporting COVID-19 Positive Detainees from Private Immigration Prisons
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-17
By continuing deportations of quarantined detainees during a pandemic, ICE is greatly increasing the risk of spreading the deadly virus to other countries officials and activists warn,…
mintpressnews.com/ice-deporting-covid-19-positive-detainees-private-immigration-prisons/266739/

What it's Like in ICE Detention During a Pandemic
aclu.org | 2020-04-17
As millions of people in the U.S. shelter in their homes, and millions more who aren't able to stay indoors practice social distancing or other measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, a crisis is brewing in the facilities where immigrants are detained. Cramped conditions and inadequate access to hygiene or medical care have created what one medical expert called a "tinderbox" for the disease in a letter to Congress., , Many of those in detention are asylum seekers, who came to the U.S. to ask for protection after fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. Many others were long-time U.S. resi…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/what-its-like-in-ice-detention-during-a-pandemic

A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform
aclu.org | 2020-04-17

| For decades…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/a-tale-of-two-countries-racially-targeted-arrests-in-the-era-of-marijuana-reform

Marc Lamont Hill, Ahed Tamimi, Mariame Kaba and Others Lead Virtual Rally to Free All Prisoners from Rikers Island to Palestine
commondreams.org | 2020-04-17
______________________________…
commondreams.org/newswire/2020/04/17/marc-lamont-hill-ahed-tamimi-mariame-kaba-and-others-lead-virtual-rally-free-all?cd-origin=rss

Women's sports a likely coronavirus casualty
Anne M. Peterson | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-17
(AP)–Linked to the rising call for gender equity worldwide, women's sports were enjoying unprecedented attention and support before the coronavirus pandemic. The World Cup in France put a spotlight on women's soccer, culminating with the United States lifting the trophy to chants of "Equal Pay!"

Women's sports a likely coronavirus casualty
Anne M. Peterson | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-17
(AP)–Linked to the rising call for gender equity worldwide, women's sports were enjoying unprecedented attention and support before the coronavirus pandemic. The World Cup in France put a spotlight on women's soccer, culminating with the United States lifting the trophy to chants of "Equal Pay!"

NYC death rates from COVID-19 reveal class division and national oppression
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-04-17
New York, NY – As of April 6, the rates of death from COVID-19 are twice as high for Latinos and Black residents of New York City as they are for white residents. According to the Bureau of Communicable Disease Surveillance System, the rate of death from COVID-19 is 22.8 people per 100,000 among the Latino community, 19.8 per 100,000 people among the Black community, and only 10.2 per 100,000 white people. These numbers are based on 63% of confirmed cases in New York City. | This stark divide in death rates is outrageous yet unsurprising. Many factors underlie these numbers, including differences in access to hea…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/4/16/nyc-death-rates-covid-19-reveal-class-division-and-national-oppression

UK could have the highest death rate in Europe because government was 'too slow', doctor warns
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-04-17
Britain will face "further waves" of coronavirus and will probably have the highest death rate in Europe because the government was "too slow" to act, a leading physician has warned.Professor Anthony Costello, of University College London's Institute for Global Health, told a committee of MPs that the "harsh reality" is that "we were too slow with a number of things"."If we're going to suppress the chain of transmission of this virus in the next stage we all hope that the national lockdown and social distancing will bring about a large suppression of the epidemic so far

Myanmar Releases 25,000 Prisoners Amid COVID-19 Fears
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-17
Myanmar will free almost 25,000 prisoners in an amnesty to mark the traditional New Year

Palestinian President: "No Peace Deal with Israel, unless Prisoners Released"
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-04-17
On the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners' Day, on Friday, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, asserted that Palestinians will not sign a final peace deal with Israel, unless Israel clears all it's prisons of Palestinian prisoners, which he called heroes and fighters for freedom. In a statement he …
imemc.org/article/palestinian-president-no-peace-deal-with-israel-unless-prisoners-released/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=palestinian-president-no-peace-deal-with-israel-unless-prisoners-released

Chile Registers 9,252 COVID-19 Cases, With 116 Deaths
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-17
The Chilean Ministry of Health reported on Friday that the country has registered 9,252 cases of COVID-19, with 116 deaths. | Chilean Vice Minister of Health Paula Daza said that 3,621 people have recovered from the virus. | RELATED: Latam: COVID-19 Puts Imprisoned Environmental Defenders at Risk | The ministry's undersecretary of assistance networks, Arturo Zuniga, told a press conference that 385 patients are currently in intensive care units, 316 of whom are on ventilators, w…
telesurenglish.net/news/Chile-Registers-9252-COVID-19-Cases-With-116-Deaths-20200417-0011.html

Latam: COVID-19 Puts Imprisoned Environmental Defenders at Risk
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-17
The Spanish NGO Alliance for Solidarity reported that hundreds of Latin American environmental defenders who remain incarcerated are at high risk due to the pandemic. | RELATED: | Chile's Mapuche People Mourn the Death of Camillo Catrillanca | On the occasion of the International Day of the Farmer's Struggle on April 17, human rights defenders recalled that, in countries such as El Salvador, Colombia, and Guatemala, there are hundreds of social leaders imprisoned for defending th…
telesurenglish.net/news/Latam-COVID-19-Puts-Imprisoned-Environmental-Defenders-at-Risk-20200417-0006.html

COVID-19: Rights experts highlight LGBTI discrimination, antisemitism
news.un.org | 2020-04-17
New guidance from the UN human rights office, issued on Friday, sets out key actions to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people against discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1062042

PCHR Fears Coronavirus Spread in Israeli Prisons and Detention Centers
PCHR | imemc.org | 2020-04-16
The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR): Palestinian Prisoners' Day is celebrated every year on the 17th of April, which was endorsed by the Palestinian National Council in 1974 as a national day to pay tribute to Palestinian prisoners and their sacrifices, and to support, advocate and promote their right to …
imemc.org/article/pchr-fears-coronavirus-spread-in-israeli-prisons-and-detention-centers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pchr-fears-coronavirus-spread-in-israeli-prisons-and-detention-centers

Apple and Google Announced a Coronavirus Tracking System. How Worried Should We Be?
Jennifer Stisa Granick | aclu.org | 2020-04-16
Apple and Google last week announced a joint contact tracing effort that would use Bluetooth technology to help alert people who have been in close proximity to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Similar proposals have been put forward by an MIT-associated effort called PACT as well as by multiple European groups., , These proposals differ from…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/apple-and-google-announced-a-coronavirus-tracking-system-how-worried-should-we-be

'Lock your doors': Manhunt underway in Wisconsin for two violent escaped inmates who fled MAX-SECURITY prison
rt.com | 2020-04-16
A major manhunt is underway in Portage, Wisconsin after two inmates

CROWN Act movement seeks to protect Black people from racial discrimination based on hairstyles
splcenter.org | 2020-04-15
Jordan Winder did not apply to the high school of his choice, because the dreadlocks he's been growing nearly half his life are not allowed there.
splcenter.org/news/2020/04/15/crown-act-movement-seeks-protect-black-people-racial-discrimination-based-hairstyles

Isolation, Before and During a Pandemic
aclu.org | 2020-04-14
As many Americans round out the end of their first month of social distancing, it's clear that the toll of "stay at home" orders during the COVID-19 pandemic is much more than economic. The anxiety and fear that wash over us each day that we spend alone, away from friends, coworkers, and family, inflict their own kind of emotional damage. , , The cost of social isolation is a worthy cost in this case

Let's Stop the Scapegoating During a Global Pandemic
Cecillia Wang | aclu.org | 2020-04-14
Just like tens of millions of people sheltering in place in the U.S., I'm adjusting to the new realities and worries of day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. But on top of worrying about my elderly family members, U.S. hospitals' shortage of basic medical equipment, or where I can find toilet paper and eggs, I have another fear. Like other Americans of East Asian descent (including citizens and non-citizens), I worry that I might be attacked on the street or in a store because of my race., , There are so many news reports that spur my concerns. For example, on March 14, a man in Midland, Texas, attacke…
aclu.org/news/racial-justice/lets-stop-the-scapegoating-during-a-global-pandemic

Federal Wardens Must Immediately Flatten the Curve in our Nation's Prisons
Kanya Bennett | aclu.org | 2020-04-13
With 10 deaths and more than 500 positive COVID-19 cases in the nation's federal prisons, wardens must " move with dispatch" to " move vulnerable inmates out of these institutions." These are the words that Attorney General William Barr used on April 3rd when he directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to reduce the federal prison population in the wake of COVID-19…
aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/federal-wardens-must-immediately-flatten-the-curve-in-our-nations-prisons

Civil Liberties Never Sleep: The ACLU in the Pandemic
David Cole | aclu.org | 2020-04-10
The COVID-19 pandemic has closed down many businesses, but the work of preserving civil liberties and civil rights continues, as essential as ever. Reports of courts closing down can be misleading. While public trials that require jurors and in-person testimony have been suspended, most courts and lawyers can do their work remotely. The filing of legal briefs continues, and oral arguments and hearings are being held remotely. The work of securing justice continues., , At the ACLU, our most immediate focus has been on civil liberties and civil rights issues arising from the government's response (or lack thereo…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/civil-liberties-never-sleep-the-aclu-in-the-pandemic

ACLU Lawsuit Over Baltimore Spy Planes Sets Up Historic Surveillance Battle
Jay Stanley | aclu.org | 2020-04-09
Imagine a day in the future when everyone, from the moment they step outside their home, has to live with the knowledge that their every movement is being recorded by powerful cameras circling in the skies above. Not just where they work, shop, eat and drink, and whose homes they visit, but details about their political, religious, sexual, and medical lives

I'm Queer and I've Been in Solitary. Ellen Isn't Experiencing What I Did
Dominique Morgan | aclu.org | 2020-04-09
On Monday, I ended a 12-hour day returning emails to incarcerated queer folks, providing direct aid for housing to folks living with HIV & AIDS who have been incarcerated and challenging the state of Nebraska to provide humane conditions for incarcerated individuals and decided to mindlessly scroll on Twitter. , , I found the quote from the show Ellen DeGeneres filmed from her multimillion-dollar, multi-room mansion: "One thing that I've learned from being in quarantine is that people

Nativist Hate Groups Want to Keep People in ICE Detention Despite COVID-19 Threat
splcenter.org | 2020-04-08
Anti-immigrant think tanks are pushing for the U.S. to detain immigrants and asylum seekers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, even as prisoners stage hunger strikes and other protests in response to what they describe as deteriorating health conditions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/04/09/nativist-hate-groups-want-keep-people-ice-detention-despite-covid-19-threat

If COVID-19 Doesn't Discriminate, Then Why Are Black People Dying at Higher Rates?
ReNika Moore | aclu.org | 2020-04-08
COVID-19 is ravaging many parts of the United States, but nowhere more than in Black communities. Early data from the Midwest and the South reveal that Black people are contracting and dying from the virus at far higher rates than whites. Louisiana just released data which shows that African Americans account for 70 percent of all deaths in the state. In Milwaukee…
aclu.org/news/racial-justice/if-covid-19-doesnt-discriminate-then-why-are-black-people-dying-at-higher-rates

Fighting for immigrant rights during a pandemic
Katrina Huber | splcenter.org | 2020-04-02
As people across the country are confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention has been given to a group of people whose health is in danger because they are locked away from the outside world

Alabama prisons hold more than 1,100 older people at greater COVID-19 risk
Kathryn Casteel and Will Tucker | splcenter.org | 2020-04-02
More than 1,100 people age 65 or older are locked away in Alabama prisons, putting a group already highly susceptible to the deadly COVID-19 virus at an even greater risk, according to an SPLC analysis of the state's prison system.
splcenter.org/news/2020/04/02/alabama-prisons-hold-more-1100-older-people-greater-covid-19-risk

Evaluation of Association Between Gastric Acid Suppression and Risk of Intestinal Colonization With MDROs
Willems RJ, van Dijk K, Ket JF, et al. | jamanetwork.com | 2020-04-01
This systematic review and meta-analysis examines the association of use of gastric acid suppressants with the risk of colonization with multidrug-resistant microorganisms (MDROs).
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2761273

The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery played key role in launching SPLC's legal battle against Ku Klux Klan
splcenter.org | 2020-03-30
The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, who died on Friday at 98 years old, was a longtime friend of the Southern Poverty Law Center and played a leading role in the SPLC's first lawsuit against the Ku Klux Klan in 1980.
splcenter.org/news/2020/03/30/rev-dr-joseph-e-lowery-played-key-role-launching-splcs-legal-battle-against-ku-klux-klan