2020-06-16: News Headlines

Staff (2020-06-16). Civil Rights Activist Annie Chambers Is Marching Again Against Police Brutality. therealnews.com Reverend Annie Chambers marched for civil rights with Dr. Martin Luther King throughout the 60s. This month she took to the streets to demand an end to police brutality when Baltimore City joined the nationwide movement calling for justice for George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in Minnesota. | The lifelong organizer says that while history repeats itself, racism is even worse than in her youth. "In the 50s and 60s we were taught to suffer. We got beat and shot and attacked by dogs. And you heard what Donald Trump say—get the dogs out on them," Chambers said in a phone interview with The Real News on…

yenisafak (2020-06-16). US authorities to monitor hanging deaths of two black men. yenisafak.com US federal authorities will monitor ongoing investigations regarding the hanging deaths of two black men in southern California, according to local officials."So we're making sure that we're transparent, fully accountable, and we're gonna constantly be cross-checking each other's to make sure we're right at the right conclusions based on the evidence and the facts that we have at hand," Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Monday, explaining why he requested a monitor and review from the FBI, US Attorney's office in the Central District of California and Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.It…

NLG-SF (2020-06-16). Civil Rights Class Action Filed in Reponse to Oakland Police Abuses of George Floyd Protesters. indybay.org "It was so heartening to see so many young Black people expressing their outrage and wanting to be part of the change, and they were attacked by our police department, that tells them 'don't come out here, because we will make your life hard, we will hurt you if you organize, we will hurt you if you say that there is anything wrong with society.'" | — Walter Riley…

Staff (2020-06-16). Headlines for June 16, 2020. democracynow.org In Long-Awaited Victory, SCOTUS Rules LGBTQ Workers Protected by the Civil Rights Act, Atlanta Mayor Orders New Police Rules After Killing of Rayshard Brooks, 911 Dispatcher Raised Concerns About Police Treatment of George Floyd During His Arrest and Killing, Protester Shot in Albuquerque While Toppling Racist Statue; Right-Wing Militia Members Arrested, 19-Year-Old BLM Protester Oluwatoyin "Toyin" Salau Found Dead One Week After Disappearance, Mourners Demand Justice for Killing of Black Teenager Na'Kia Crawford in Ohio, FBI, DOJ to Review Probes into Two Black California Men Found Hanging from Trees, U.N. Human…

Jim McMahan (2020-06-16). Seattle's 60,000-strong march propels anti-racist struggle in Washington state. workers.org Seattle June 13 — Some 60,000 people, propelled by the ongoing global struggle against racist police repression, took part in Seattle's June 12 march and statewide general strike. The march, called and led by Black Lives Matter of Seattle and Martin Luther King County (BLMSKC), followed two weeks of protests . . . |

Joe Reedy (2020-06-16). NFL Commissioner now encourages teams to sign Kaepernick. peoplesworld.org (AP) Roger Goodell would like to see Colin Kaepernick back in the NFL this season. And, quite honestly, it took too damn long, and cost too many Black lives, to get to this point. The NFL commissioner said during ESPN's "The Return of Sports" special on Monday that he is encouraging teams to sign the 32-year old …

_____ (2020-06-16). Corporations Now Love 'Black Lives'—But What About Their Own Black Workers? popularresistance.org Never underestimate US business community's capacity for hypocrisy. | That's one of the lessons to be drawn from the explosive reaction to George Floyd's murder. As demonstrators began flooding streets, corporate PR departments flew into rapid response mode, issuing a flurry of agonized, apologetic pledges to do more to combat racism and inequality. | Such statements may, on a personal level, be sincere: the depth of righteous pain and anger expressed by African Americans has induced widespread soul-searching, even in executive suites. Yet this high-profile hand-wringing is used to uncouple the outpouring of outr…

Lee Siu Hin, Immigrant Solidarity Network (2020-06-16). Summer 2020 National Immigrant Solidarity Network Immigrant News Alert! indybay.org Justice for George Floyd, Black Lives Matter! Multi-Ethnic Unity Against Racism & Police Brutality!

Movement for Black Lives (2020-06-16). Friday 6/19: #SixNineteen: Nationwide M4BL Actions to Defend Black Lives Juneteenth Weekend. indybay.org SF Bay Area, across the USA, & Online…

_____ (2020-06-16). July 1: Call To Action To Confront Israeli Annexation, Free Palestine. popularresistance.org We know that many Palestinians in exile and supporters of Palestine are, like Samidoun's members, engaged in the uprisings and mass mobilizations taking to the streets to confront anti-Black racism and demand the defunding and dismantling of police and other structures of oppression. Confronting Israel's annexation plans — fully backed by U.S. imperialism and inspired by Zionist racism — also comes as part of the global fightback against racism, colonialism and imperialism. Israel's crimes are backed by $3.8 billion in military aid from the U.S. each year as well as unlimited diplomatic, political and…

Stephen Lendman (2020-06-16). Convicted US Spy, Sentenced in Moscow on Charges of Espionage. globalresearch.ca On Monday, a Moscow court sentenced US spy Paul Whelan to 16 years imprisonment. | Charged with espionage, he was caught red-handed in December 2018 and arrested after accepting a flash drive with sensitive information from an undercover Russian Federal Security …

Fight Back (2020-06-16). Hundreds march to defend DACA for immigrant youth, support movement against police terror. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – With the Supreme Court set to rule on their future, almost 1000 immigrant youth and their supporters marched on June 12 to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that shields 800,000 young immigrants from deportation. | Organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the march started outside of Senator Amy Klobuchar's office on Washington Avenue and marched to the Hennepin County Jail in downtown Minneapolis. | The march was very spirited, and speakers and chants made repeated connections between the fight against deportation and the fight of Blac…

RT (2020-06-15). 'Seismic shift in policing': NYPD disbands controversial plainclothes 'anti-crime' unit. rt.com The New York Police Department has liquidated its anti-crime unit, reassigning some 600 plainclothes cops to neighborhood policing and detective work as protesters nationwide demand reforms in the wake of the George Floyd killing. | NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea announced the disbanding of the unit in a press conference on Monday, calling it "a seismic shift in the culture of how the NYPD polices this great city." Heralding the move as "closing one of the last chapters of 'Stop, Question and Frisk'" — the controversial policing tactic beloved by ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg and criticized by civil rights gr…

April Rodriguez (2020-06-15). We Won't Address Our Mass Incarceration Crisis Until We Rethink Our Approach to "Violent Crime" aclu.org During the COVID-19 pandemic, jails and prisons have become

Rose Saxe (2020-06-15). What Today's Supreme Court Ruling Means for the LGBTQ Community. aclu.org The Supreme Court has ruled that What did the Supreme Court's decision say?: | The Supreme Court ruled that the federal law prohibiting sex discrimin…

Dennis Broe (2020-06-15). Statues also die as racist memorials come down in Europe. peoplesworld.org PARIS—The first week of European and particularly French and Francophone protests in the wake of the U.S. Black Lives Matter movement concerned parallel police actions against French minorities, including the death on his birthday of Adama Traoré, held down by three French cops in a hold similar to that executed on George Floyd. Traoré was …

WSWS (2020-06-15). Washington, DC's Democratic mayor renames city street "Black Lives Matter Plaza" wsws.org Mayor Muriel Bowser's co-option of the slogan as protests surge throughout the US and internationally is an attempt to cover up the record of the Democratic Party.

A Guest Author (2020-06-15). Black Lives Matter in Alpine, Texas. workers.org This protest march and rally, in the small town of Alpine, Texas, might have been a common scene in the tumultuous summer of 1968, but this was June 6, 2020. Not Dallas or Houston or San Antonio, but in Alpine. Hundreds mobilized in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and against . . . |

Brett Heinz (2020-06-15). Rio de Janeiro: Police Violence and Solidarity. cepr.net On May 31, hundreds of people in Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city in Brazil, joined protesters around the world in marching against police brutality. While the protest was in solidarity with the wave of Black Lives Matter protests in the US following the killing of George Floyd, Brazilian protesters were marching against their …

Elie Mystal (2020-06-15). We've Protested for Black Lives Before—and We'll Have to Protest Again. thenation.com We've Protested for Black Lives Before—and We'll Have to Protest Again…

Eds. (2020-06-15). Statement of Support for Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police. mronline.org Between 1963 and 1972, there were more than 750 Black-led urban revolts in the United States in 525 cities. How did sociologists react?>

Staff (2020-06-15). Activists Paint 'Defund Police' In Front Of Baltimore City Hall. therealnews.com Black Lives Matter activists are demanding Baltimore cut half its police budget to fund schools and violence prevention programs.

_____ (2020-06-15). Minneapolis Is Trying To Punish Transit Workers Who Wouldn't Help The Police. popularresistance.org The Amalgamated Transit Workers union's public support for the uprisings, and some members' public refusal to do work that helps the police, sparked praise and inspiration around the country. As the Black Lives Matter protests spread, so did transit workers' refusal to assist in police crackdowns. In New York, bus drivers refused to transport people arrested at protests, as crowds cheered them on. "None of our bus ops should be used for that," J.P. Patafio, vice president of New York's Transport Workers Union Local 100, told Motherboard on May 29. Ryan Timlin: We are working on a class-action grievance because th…

sputniknews (2020-06-15). Anti-Racism Protest in Atlanta Over Rayshard Brooks' Death – Video. sputniknews.com Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by police near a drive-through restaurant after making an attempt to use a Taser against an offcier. His death has intensified Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd by police earlier in May.

RT (2020-06-15). Don't ask, don't tell? NYC mayor directs contact tracers not to question people about attending BLM protests. rt.com The army of contact tracers hired by New York City to conduct the 'test and trace' campaign to weed out coronavirus infection vectors will reportedly not be allowed to ask people if they attended Black Lives Matter protests. | Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on May 8 that NYC would be hiring hundreds of Covid-19 contact tracers to help bring the coronavirus, which wreaked havoc on the densely-populated city's population, to heel. The city has witnessed 210,000 cases resulting in at least 17,193 deaths from the infection. | However, before May came to an end, George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, sparki…

Staff (2020-06-15). Woman Struck by BPD Officer, Defunding the Police, and More. therealnews.com Attorney J. Wyndal Gordon talks about his client who was punched by an officer after she struck another officer.

Eds. (2020-06-15). Atlanta Police shoot and kill Rayshard Brooks as protests demanding racial justice continue worldwide. mronline.org "This is not the first time a black man has been killed for sleeping," said Rev. James Woodall, state president of the Georgia NAACP.

RT (2020-06-15). US Supreme Court refuses to hear challenges to qualified immunity doctrine shielding police from lawsuits. rt.com The US law doctrine, protecting police and other public officials from lawsuits, is not going to be reexamined by the country's Supreme Court. The decision comes amid nation-wide protesting against police brutality. | The US Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on Monday announcing its decision to decline hearing any further cases that seek to reconsider the doctrine of 'qualified immunity'. According to the doctrine, a police officer cannot be personally liable — and thus cannot receive a civil suit — unless their actions violate "clearly established" law or court rulings. Conceptually, the idea w…

RT (2020-06-15). 'Information heroes'?! Reporters Without Borders hails White House press corps for pandemic coverage. rt.com Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has praised journalists who distinguished themselves with courageous work on the Covid-19 pandemic — whistleblowers and reporters who were jailed and persecuted — and the White House press corps. | The press organization

Staff (2020-06-15). Supreme Court Ruling on LGBTQ Rights Defangs Trump's Attack on Trans Health Care. truthout.org The Supreme Court's ruling on anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people is not only an extraordinary victory for workplace equity, it also provides strong legal pushback against Donald Trump's attempts to roll back health care discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. | The Supreme Court on Monday unambiguously

Gabrielle M Haeusler, Robert Phillips, Monica A. Slavin, Franz E Babl, Richard De Abreu Lourenco, Francoise Mechinaud, Karin A. Thursky, Australian PICNICC study group and the PREDICT network (2020-06-15). Re-evaluating and recalibrating predictors of bacterial infection in children with cancer and febrile neutropenia. thelancet.com Degree of marrow suppression (low platelets), features of inflammation (temperature) and clinical judgement (severely unwell) have been consistently shown to predict infection in children with FN. Recalibration of existing CDRs is a novel way to improve diagnostic performance of CDRs and maintain relevance over time.

Hauwa Ahmed (2020-06-15). How Private Prisons Are Profiting Under the Trump Administration. globalresearch.ca There are more people behind bars in the United States than there are living in major American cities[1] such as Phoenix or Philadelphia. According to a 2018 report from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, nearly 2 million adults[2] were …

Ali Salam (2020-06-15). Israeli Soldiers Re-arrest Palestinian Immediately after his Release. imemc.org Palestinian prisoner, Salah Hussein, was released on Sunday, when he met his 5 year old son for the first time, accompanied by his wife, Quds News Network reported. Hussein just completed fifteen years in Israeli prison held his son, Ali, for the first time since he was born. Ali was …

Ali Salam (2020-06-15). Palestinian Child Sentenced to Ten Years by Israeli Authorities. imemc.org The Israeli administration, on Sunday, sentenced Palestinian child, Hammoudeh Khader Sheikh, to 10 years in prison, Quds News Network reported. The boy, 15, from occupied East Jerusalem, southern West Bank, was shot and injured by occupation soldiers on August 15, 2019, while with his friend Naseem Imkafeh, 15, whom the …

Ali Salam (2020-06-15). Eight Palestinians, Including one Minor Detained by Israeli Forces in West Bank. imemc.org Israeli forces arrested seven Palestinian civilians across the occupied West Bank, on Sunday at dawn, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Society. Israeli soldiers abducted three Palestinian civilians from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, identified as; 1. Osaid Al-Din Abu Shaira, 17, from Aida refugee camp, 2.

The Sentencing Project (2020-06-15). Private Prisons in the United States. globalresearch.ca Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 121,718 people in 2017, representing 8.2% of the total state and federal prison population. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 39%. | However, the private prison population reached …

Yanis Varoufakis (2020-06-15). Julian Assange called. To talk about the pandemic's effect on capitalism & politics! peoplesdispatch.org Yanis Varoufakis writes about receiving a call from Julian Assange, who is in Belmarsh prison awaiting a hearing in an extradition appeal by the US.

SF NAACP Youth Council (2020-06-15). Friday 6/12: "We are the Future" Youth March for Justice. indybay.org San Francisco City Hall | 1 Dr. Carlton Goodlett Pl., San Francisco, CA | Civic Center, San Francisco…

National Lawyers Guild (2020-06-15). Statement in Support of #8toAbolition. indybay.org The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) supports the #8toAbolition campaign, which builds on decades of work by Black feminist abolitionists to demand an end to policing and prisons, and community investment that prioritizes the lives and safety of Black people.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-06-15). Persecuted Egyptian LGBTQ activist Sarah Hegazy dies of suicide. peoplesdispatch.org 30-year-old Sara Hagezy was in exile in Canada since her release from jail in 2018. She was arrested after she waved a rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo…

Eds. (2020-06-14). Black Lives Matter & The Question of Violence | Gary Younge. mronline.org "Riots are often justified, what's the French Revolution but a riot blessed by history"

Fight Back (2020-06-14). Thousands march in Minneapolis to oppose police crimes. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN — More than 3000 rallied on the Hennepin County Government Center Plaza, June 13, as people across the country rallied and marched against police crimes. The spirited rally was followed by a march through downtown streets. | The protest was initially called by Black Lives Matter Minnesota as an International Solidarity Day of Protest Against Police Terror. The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar joined the effort, as a part of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repressions' National Day of Action to Stop Police Crimes. The Native Lives Matter Youth Alliance also join…

_____ (2020-06-14). US State Propaganda Outlets Censor Black Lives Matter Protests. popularresistance.org With a budget that hovers around $100 million, RFE/RL broadcasts to something like to 22 countries in 26 languages. And the same censorship regime extends to just about every RFE/RL language division. | I've looked at about a dozen of them. Most have no coverage of the protests at all. A couple — like the Russian and Afghanistan division — do have a tiny protest stories, but they are given very little attention. | In the case of RFE/RL's Russian coverage, the protests are presented from the most reactionary perspective possible: denying racism and blaming the violence on organized armed anarchist comm…

_____ (2020-06-14). George Floyd, Coronavirus And Inequality Stealing Black Lives. popularresistance.org Several Black protesters have said, "If the police don't get you, the coronavirus will." Floyd pleaded for mercy as Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck until Floyd could no longer breathe. His death triggered the protests of the past week. But the issues that have driven people to the streets are the same as those identified in the 1968 Kerner report. Over the years, the report has become a benchmark for racial progress. Though it is typically cited for indicting a white, paternalistic perspective in the news media, it also proclaimed "white racism" as the catalyst for the unrest, condemned polic…

Staff (2020-06-14). The Movement to Uplift Black Lives and Defund Police Can No Longer Be Ignored. truthout.org On May 25, 2020, the nation ignited after a bystander posted a horrific video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck for over eight minutes. | Now the movement to uplift Black lives, and to defund and dismantle police departments where officers disproportionately kill and brutalize African-American men and women, has grown to a point where it can no longer be ignored. | We'll hear from activists in Minneapolis, mourners in Houston, and we'll go to our archiv…

Tha Hood Squad (2020-06-14). Friday 6/12: Black Lives Matter – Justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor – East Palo Alto. indybay.org Jack Farrell Park | 2509 Fordham St | East Palo Alto, CA…

Fight Back (2020-06-14). 1000s march and caravan for community control of Chicago police. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – Over 1000 marchers and 400 cars drove several miles through the Washington Park neighborhood of Chicago, June 12, to demand community control of the police. Hundreds of people came out of hair and nail salons, stepped out of homes, or came off of the sidewalk to chant and march as well. Cries of "Black lives matter" were alternated with "CPAC now!" CPAC is the Civilian Police Accountability Council, legislation in Chicago City Council which would establish control of the Chicago Police by the Black, Chicano/Mexicano and Puerto Rican neighborhoods in the city. | Organized by the Chicago Alliance Agai…

teleSUR (2020-06-14). Venezuela Denounces Arbitrary Arrest of Alex Saab by Interpol. telesurenglish.net The Venezuelan government described the arrest of businessman Alex Saab by Interpol on Saturday as an arbitrary detention that seeks to infringe on the rights of citizens in the Bolivarian Republic. | RELATED: | Saab was traveling through the island-nation of Cape Verge on Saturday when Interpol arbitrarily arrested him and prevented him from returning home. | According to a statement from the Venezuelan Foreign Min…

teleSUR (2020-06-14). Sanders Proposes 10% Cut to Pentagon Budget For Social Programs. telesurenglish.net United States Senator Bernie Sanders announced Friday he will introduce an amendment in the coming days to cut the Department of Defense's US$740 billion budget by 10 percent and redirect that money toward healthcare, housing, and education in the poorest communities. | RELATED: | "Instead of spending US$740 billion on the Dept. of Defense, let's rebuild communities at home devastated by poverty and incarceration,"

Vicky Peláez (2020-06-14). The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery? globalresearch.ca This incisive and carefully researched article was first published by Global Research twelve years ago in March 2008. | Things have got worse since 2008. African-Americans and Latinos are routinely the victims of arbitrary arrest, incarceration and inhumane exploitation in America's …