Suffering in Kashmir and Palestine
Robert Fantina | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-26
While the world is pre-occupied with coronavirus and its impact on lives and the international economy, one must not forget that suffering due to oppression knows no season and has no vaccine, but is not without a cure. Sadly, for …
globalresearch.ca/suffering-kashmir-palestine/5710799

Hilarious Kim Jong Un Jokes, And Other Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Caitlin Johnstone | thealtworld.com | 2020-04-26
Ha ha ha let's all laugh about rumors that Kim Jong Un might be dead because he runs a crazy backwards regime where the media are a propaganda arm of the state and the public is oppressed and surveilled and people are imprisoned for exposing the truth about the government. | ~ | "I sure hope those North Koreans get to have democracy someday like we have here. Lemme log off this search engine algorithmically stacked toward billionaire CIA-tied media and ponder whether I want Donald Trump or Joe Biden to continue the wars and oligarchic exploitation." | ~ | The US needs to constantly bully the world, drop bombs, pa…
thealtworld.com/caitlin_johnston/hilarious-kim-jong-un-jokes-and-other-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix

Brazil's Attorney General Demands Inquiry Against Bolsonaro
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-25
Brazil's Attorney General Augusto Aras requested Saturday for the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to open an investigation against the nation's president, Jair Bolsonaro, following accusations presented by former Super-Minister of Justice Sergio Moro. | RELATED: | Brazil Justice Minister Quits in Bolsonaro's Worst Crisis Yet | Moro, the former judge who took former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to jail, accused Bolsonaro on Friday of political interference in the Federal Police…
telesurenglish.net/news/Fiscal-General-of-Brazil-Demands-Investigation-Against-Bolsonaro-20200425-0011.html

Joe Biden: no lesser, just evil
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-04-25
The only thing Joe Biden and Donald Trump should be battling over is the top bunk of a prison cell. Instead, these two crooks are vying for the presidency of the United States. If Biden is this year's lesser evil, he is sorely testing the meaning of "lesser". No Democratic politician has worked longer and …
mronline.org/2020/04/25/joe-biden-no-lesser-just-evil/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=joe-biden-no-lesser-just-evil

They Were Willing to Make the Ultimate Sacrifice for the U.S., but Trump Won't Let Them Become Americans
Scarlet Kim | aclu.org | 2020-04-24
Ange Samma, a 22-year-old green card holder from Burkina Faso, came to the United States seven years ago, when he was still a teenager. After studying electrical engineering at community college, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army in 2018. He wanted to give back to his adopted country and also hoped joining the military would help him achieve his goal of becoming an electrical engineer. , , Ange currently serves on active duty as a soldier in South Korea. But despite serving this country on a U.S. military base in a foreign country, he still hasn't been able to obtain citizenship through his military servic…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/they-were-willing-to-make-the-ultimate-sacrifice-for-the-u-s-but-trump-wont-let-them-become-americans

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Responds to CDC's Preliminary Release of COVID-19 Race Data
commondreams.org | 2020-04-24
______________________________…
commondreams.org/newswire/2020/04/24/lawyers-committee-civil-rights-under-law-responds-cdcs-preliminary-release-covid?cd-origin=rss

We're Going to Court on April 27 to Strike Down This Poll Tax for Good
Daniel Tilley | aclu.org | 2020-04-24
On April 27, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Florida, and our litigation partners will go to trial in U.S. District Court against the state of Florida to win the ability to vote for hundreds of thousands of eligible state voters now being denied that basic right. | In November 2018, more than 64 percent of Florida voters approved Amendment 4, returning the right to vote to Floridians convicted of felonies who completed their sentence and supervision. The only persons excluded are those convicted of homicide or sexual crimes. | Immediately, the Florida Legislature set out to undermine voters'…
aclu.org/news/voting-rights/were-going-to-court-on-april-27-to-strike-down-this-poll-tax-for-good

Aren't We All in This Together? College Students Told Hell No
Greg Moses | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-24
In a stormy week of denunciation and discrimination, the Trump administration sent a blaring announcement to America's college students: you shall not be in this together. Everything now depends upon college students resolving to believe different. Wedges of denunciation and discrimination were hammered in this week, beginning Monday morning with a Huffington Post headline that…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/24/arent-we-all-in-this-together-college-students-told-hell-no/

Election Protection in 12-18 States Will Decide the Fate of the Earth
Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-24
The 12-18 states that will decide the presidency this fall are already being primed for voter suppression and election theft by the Trump GOP. Our ability to overcome will decide the fate of the Earth. Donald Trump is in the White House because in 2016 the vote count was stolen in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/24/election-protection-in-12-18-states-will-decide-the-fate-of-the-earth/

"Stay at Home Orders": California Organizer of Protest Movement against Lockdown Faces Arrest
City News Service | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-24
A woman who organized last weekend's protest in downtown San Diego opposing stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus is facing arrest and possible misdemeanor charges that could result in 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, the woman and …
globalresearch.ca/organizer-downtown-san-diego-covid-19-protest-faces-arrest-possible-charges/5710632

Israeli Forces Detain 14 Palestinians, including Former Prisoner
Ali Salam | imemc.org | 2020-04-24
Israeli occupation forces invaded West Bank towns, early Thursday morning, and detained 14 Palestinians, the Palestinian WAFA News Agency reported. In the northern occupied West Bank, soldiers stormed Tulkarem and detained a former prisoner. Also in the northern West Bank district of Jenin, Israeli troops abducted 2 Palestinian men from …
imemc.org/article/israeli-forces-detain-14-palestinians-including-former-prisoner/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=israeli-forces-detain-14-palestinians-including-former-prisoner

After a Lifetime Apart, COVID-19 Prison Release Reunites Mother and Daughter
Leila Rafei | aclu.org | 2020-04-23
"You're on the list.", , It took a few seconds for Chalana McFarland to grasp what was happening. Her name was one of just a few on the list of people who would be released from prison early due to COVID-19. Behind her stood a line of dozens of other women waiting to see if they made it. Only some of them had. But as Chalana received the news, they started cheering, and caused such an uproar that the correctional staff had to reprimand them. That's when it finally clicked for Chalana

Car caravan to free Gerald Reed, prisoners facing pandemic
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-04-22
Chicago, IL – 100 cars surrounded the Thompson Center in Chicago's Loop, April 20, during Governor J.B. Pritzker's daily press briefing on COVID-19. The caravan protest was held to demand Pritzker free police torture survivor Gerald Reed and all vulnerable prisoners at Cook County Jail, Illinois Department of Corrections prisons and ICE detention centers in Illinois – especially those over 60, those with medical conditions, and those who the governor's own Torture Commission has already confirmed are victims of police torture and therefore wrongfully convicted. | In the lead car of the caravan, Frank Chapman of t…
www.fightbacknews.org/2020/4/22/car-caravan-free-gerald-reed-prisoners-facing-pandemic

New Model Shows Reducing Jail Population will Lower COVID-19 Death Toll for All of Us
Udi Ofer | aclu.org | 2020-04-22
The Trump administration optimistically projects that "substantially under" 100,000 people will die from COVID-19 in the United States. Horrific as that statistic is, a new model suggests it could be a huge underestimate. The government models fail to consider the impact of the virus on the incarcerated population, who will be infected and die at higher rates. And any prison or jail outbreak is bound to spill over into the broader community

First person to die in Alabama's prisons with COVID-19 spent more than four decades behind bars
splcenter.org | 2020-04-22
splcenter.org/news/2020/04/22/first-person-die-alabamas-prisons-covid-19-spent-more-four-decades-behind-bars

Death Trap Jail: Pepper-Sprayed, Otay Mesa Detainees Demand Release as COVID-19 Spreads Inside
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-21
We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are on hunger strike. We get an update from Ruth Mendez, community activist and volunteer with Otay Mesa Detention Resistance.
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/21/otay_mesa_immigrant_detention_center_coronavirus

Defying Medical Experts, Lawmakers are Weaponizing COVID-19 to Restrict Abortion Access
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2020-04-21
In the latest development in a fast-moving court case, on Monday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to block nearly all abortion services in the state. The ruling came after a legal challenge to Abbott's inclusion of abortion care in a March 22 executive order instructing health care facilities across the state to "postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary.", , For Abbott and his allies, the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be exactly…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/defying-medical-experts-lawmakers-are-weaponizing-covid-19-to-restrict-abortion-access

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, marijuana laws have been used to criminalize Black and Brown peo…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/a-tale-of-two-countries-racially-targeted-arrests-in-the-era-of-marijuana-reform

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

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

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

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

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

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