(2020-06-29). Pride 2020 Brings Wins And Losses For LGBTQ Civil Rights. therealnews.com 
Trump reverses medical discrimination protections for trans people, while SCOTUS rules employers cannot fire workers for being gay or trans.
(2020-06-29). After 17 Months of Unlawful Detention, Court Orders Release of U.S. Resident Wrongfully Detained Under Patriot Act. aclu.org For well over a year, the U.S. government has held Adham Hassoun in a detention facility without trial, without criminal charge, and without end in sight. Today, a court ordered the government to release him and expressed contempt for the government's frivolous and alarming legal position: "Distilled to its core, [the government's] position is that [it] should be able to detain Mr. Hassoun indefinitely based on the executive branch's say-so, and that decision is insulated from any meaningful review by the judiciary. The record in this case demonstrates firsthand the danger of adopting [the governmentR…
(2020-06-29). DHS Watchdog Confirms: ICE is Failing to Protect Detained People From COVID. aclu.org As cases of COVID-19 in immigration detention facilities have exploded in recent months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has continued to argue that it has done all that it possibly can to manage this crisis. A new
(2020-06-29). Modern Slavery and Woke Hypocrisy. globalresearch.ca The news has been filled with reports about Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters vandalizing and tearing down statues of slave traders, slave owners, and anyone who they perceive as having been historically involved with slavery. In Bristol, England, a statue …
(2020-06-29). Black Lives Matter UK expresses solidarity with Palestinians, rejects Israeli occupation plan. peoplesdispatch.org In a series of tweets that also critiqued the silence of the British political class on the issue, Black Lives Matter UK declared that it loudly and clearly stood "beside our Palestinian comrades. FREE PALESTINE"
(2020-06-29). NWSL players take a knee during the national anthem. peoplesworld.org 
(AP) Players for the Portland Thorns and the North Carolina Courage knelt during the national anthem Saturday when the National Women's Soccer League opened the Challenge Cup tournament in Utah. The players and coaches wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts in warmups before the game, which was nationally televised on CBS. The players also knelt during …
(2020-06-29). Naomi Campbell sees Black Lives Matter altering fashion and beauty industries. yenisafak.com Worldwide protests about the treatment of Black people will alter the global fashion and beauty industries by creating job opportunities and products catering for a broader range of consumers, model Naomi Campbell told Reuters in an interview.The fashion world has long been criticised for its lack of diversity. Some firms are already making product changes as protests about systemic racism sparked by the killing of Black people by police in the United States highlight issues related to race.Campbell, who during a 34-year career was the first Black model to appear on the covers of French Vogue and Time magazine, s…
(2020-06-29). Jewish Watchdog Slams Black Lives Matter UK Over Calls to Sanction Israel. sputniknews.com Created in the US in 2013 as an anti-racism activism and protest movement, Black Lives Matter has enjoyed a surge in support and media coverage in the wake of the George Floyd protests across the US and around the world. Activists have been criticized by conservatives, and by Israel supporters, however, over their attacks on the Jewish State.
(2020-06-29). 'You F**king Communists': US Woman Berates BLM Protesters in Expletive-Filled Rant. sputniknews.com An unidentified US woman was recently caught in a since-deleted video slinging a profanity-filled rant against a group of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters who were demonstrating over the weekend in Watsontown, Pennsylvania.
(2020-06-29). Rally and March Show LGBTQ+ and Menlo Park Community Stand with Black Lives Matter. indybay.org Students from high schools in Menlo Park and Palo Alto pulled together an event that drew community members from the surrounding area and San Francisco. After a rally they took over several Menlo Park streets with a noisy march.
(2020-06-29). NYC Queer Liberation March honors Black lives. fightbacknews.org New York, NY – Over 10,000 people gathered in New York City for the second annual Queer Liberation March on June 28. The Queer Liberation March was first organized in 2019 as an anti-corporate alternative to the main Pride March. This year, the theme of the march was standing in solidarity with Black lives and against police brutality, demanding a 50% reduction of the NYPD's budget and police force. Black trans people were especially honored, due to the increased targeting they face by police and for hate crimes. The march was organized by the Reclaim Pride Coalition. | The march met at Foley Square with many dif…
(2020-06-29). China 'carrying out demographic genocide' against Uyghur Muslims. thecanary.co 
The Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uyghurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population. This is taking place even as the government encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children.While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known. This is according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents, and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor.The campa…
(2020-06-29). Chris Hedges On Contact: Julian Assange Extradition Hearing. popularresistance.org Chris Hedges discusses the extradition hearing of Julian Assange with lawyer, author and professor, Marjorie Cohn. | Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where she taught from 1991 to 2016, and a former president of the National Lawyers Guild. | Professor Cohn is the editor of and a contributor to 'The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse', and 'Drones and Targeted Killings: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues'.
(2020-06-29). To Save the United States From Collapse, College Campuses Must Emancipate Themselves From Social Justice Warriors. strategic-culture.org The American university is restructuring itself along the lines of Liberal foreign policy in that it seeks to utterly destroy the enemy — in this case, conservatism and nationalism. The strategy depends upon a take-no-prisoner approach that shuns debate and crucifies dissenters in order to turn America into an authoritarian socialist state. | It has become something of a cliché among many American parents to relay stories about the moment when their children return home from their first semester at college. These radicalized youth, exposed to the social justice curriculum of leftist teaching, shock their el…
(2020-06-29). Marlon Craft — Gang Shit (Official Music Video). mronline.org 
Craft takes us inside prison for a chilling, hair raising verse from a 'black' gang member. He encompasses an identical, mirrored reality. Birthed into a gang with allies as brothers until death, he strikes fear before it strikes him. He clears up the controversy in one simple lyric, 'we all on our gang shit'.
(2020-06-29). Louisiana Activists Face 15 Years for "Terrorizing" Oil Lobbyist with Box of Plastic Pollution. democracynow.org 
Two environmental activists with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade face up to 15 years in prison for leaving a box of plastic pellets, found on the Texas coast, at the home of an oil and gas lobbyist in December. Advocates say the "terrorizing" felony charges reflect longtime attempts to criminalize environmental activists in Louisiana and come amid a campaign to block Formosa Plastics from building a new plant in St. James Parish, an area known as Cancer Alley. We speak with Anne Rolfes, director of the group Louisiana Bucket Brigade and one of those facing felony charges, and Gregory Manning, activist and pastor of…
(2020-06-29). Racism: Are we all prejudice? nationofchange.org Prejudice then is a form of conditioning; it is discrimination or bias unconsciously expressed in varying degrees, fueling hurtful destructive patterns of behavior and social division.
(2020-06-29). Racism: Are We All Prejudiced? dissidentvoice.org Loud acts of racism, like the atrocious killing of George Floyd by a US police officer; the disproportionate number of black men incarcerated in American prisons or the high percentage of young black or minority ethnic (BAME) men subjected to 'stop and search' by police in Britain are blatant and ugly. But an individuals 'unconscious …
(2020-06-29). Doctors for Assange Say UK May be Liable for His Torture. globalresearch.ca In a new letter to the British medical journal The Lancet, Doctors for Assange say that the British government may be held legally responsible for the torture of the imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher. | *** | Here is the doctors' statement followed by …
(2020-06-28). Four charged for vandalizing Jackson statue near White House as Trump demands maximum punishment. rt.com 
Four men filmed trying to tear down a statue of President Andrew Jackson have been charged with damaging federal property. President Trump earlier shared wanted posters related to the incident on Twitter. | Of the four individuals identified by investigators, one has been arrested and brought before a DC court, while three others remain at large. Aged between 20 and 47, the protesters face between up to 10 years in prison for their alleged crimes. | The attempt to topple the statue of President Jackson, accused by protesters of being a slave owner, happened on Monday, amid a wider wave of vandalism targeting m…
(2020-06-28). Families Of Deceased Workers Sue Tyson Over Outbreak At Meatpacking Plant. popularresistance.org The families of three workers who died after contracting the coronavirus in an Iowa meat plant outbreak sued Tyson Foods and its top executives Thursday, saying the company knowingly put employees at risk and lied to keep them on the job. | The lawsuit alleges that Tyson officials were aware the virus was spreading at the Waterloo pork processing plant by late March or early April but kept that information from employees and the public. | As the outbreak grew, the company failed to implement safety measures, allowed some sick and exposed employees to remain on the production line, and falsely assured workers and…
(2020-06-28). Activists Charged With Felonies After Delivering Formosa Plastic Pollution To Lobbyists. popularresistance.org Two Louisiana environmental activists, Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh, were taken in handcuffs and leg irons from a Baton Rouge police station to jail after they voluntarily surrendered themselves on felony charges after months' earlier delivering plastic pollution pulled from Texas waters to fossil fuel lobbyists' homes. The two posted bond and were released later the same day. | "The women are accused of terrorizing oil and gas lobbyists by giving them a file box full of plastic pellets found in Texas bays near a plastic manufacturing facility owned by Formosa Plastics," NOLA.com reports. | Rolfes and McIntosh a…
(2020-06-27). Bree Newsome Took Down the Confederate Flag 5 Years Ago. She's Still Organizing. truthout.org Five years ago today, 30-year-old activist Bree Newsome Bass shocked the world by climbing a 30-foot flag pole and taking down the Confederate battle flag at the South Carolina State Capitol Building — a flag that state leaders had first raised in 1961 to tell the budding civil rights movement to "stay out!" | Almost 55 years later, Newsome put her boots, courage and backpack on, and defied those racist warnings in the most daring and audacious way possible, head-on. After taking the f…
(2020-06-27). 'Not On Our Watch': AOC, In Powerful Floor Speech, Declares House Democrats Will Protect Civil Rights Law From Trump. commondreams.org "There is a difference between saying that we believe in the inherent dignity, equality, and value of our black brothers and sisters and actually committing to it." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/aoc_8.jpg …
(2020-06-27). ACLU Files Federal Lawsuit Over Police Use Of Force During Anti-Racism Protests. popularresistance.org Denver – The ACLU of Colorado has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Black Lives Matter 5280 and other protesters against the City and County of Denver over police use of force during the protests against racism and police violence that erupted in the city last month after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. | The complaint alleges the use of force by Denver police, Denver sheriffs and Colorado State Patrol effectively "restricted, frustrated, and deterred" the First Amendment right of protesters in the city. The ACLU said police responded, "repeatedly with an overwhelming and unconstitutional use of forc…
(2020-06-27). Protest demanding end to police crimes meets Trump visit in Green Bay, WI. fightbacknews.org Green Bay, WI – On June 25, over 50 people gathered on the premises of the Austin Straubel International Airport to protest President Donald Trump, who was recording a town hall inside one of the facilities there. The effort was led by the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention, but also included Wisconsin Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement, Justice for Jonathon Tubby, and Black Lives United – Green Bay (BLU). | Protesters listened to comments from Coalition co-chair Ryan Hamann mixed in with a variety of chants attacking Trump. A theme throughout…
(2020-06-27). Black Lives Matter Wants to End Police Brutality. zcomm.org History Suggests It Will Go Much Further…
(2020-06-27). 'Black Lives Matter' is About More Than the Police. commondreams.org A protester faces off with Minnesota State Police officers on May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis. (Photo: Kerem Yucel / AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/george_floyd_protest_1.jpg …
(2020-06-27). 'You're always crazy until you're right': BLM leader compares Defund the Police to innovators like Steve Jobs & Einstein on RT. rt.com 
Greater New York Black Lives Matter president Hawk Newsome told RT President Donald Trump is encouraging violence against him and the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements, which are led by "changemakers." | Newsome gained national attention this week following a The tweet, Newsome says, "put a target on a movement that most Am…
(2020-06-27). Demonstrators demand justice for 12 year old refugee Shukri Abdi in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests. thecanary.co 
Demonstrators have gathered in London and other UK cities to demand "justice" for a 12-year-old Somali refugee on the one-year anniversary of her death.A huge crowd descended on the capital on Saturday 27 June in memory of Shukri Yahya Abdi, who drowned in the River Irwell in Bury, Greater Manchester, exactly one year ago. Many in the UK have renewed calls to demand a fair investigation into her death in the wake of recent Black Lives Matter protests.People with fists raised in the air carried a "Justice for Shukri" banner, and some wore T-shirts displaying the child's name.Protesters demanded 'justice for Shukri…
(2020-06-27). Rally and March Show LBTQ+ and Menlo Park Community Stand with Black Lives Matter. indybay.org Students from high schools in Menlo Park and Palo Alto pulled together an event that drew community members from the surrounding area and San Francisco. After a rally they occupied several Menlo Park streets with a noisy march.
(2020-06-27). Saturday 7/4: 4th of July SF Car Caravan: "Defund Police, Defund Pentagon, Fund Life!" indybay.org Meet up 2pm at SF City Hall, Polk St. between Grove & McAllister; Caravan to Stop 1: Defund Police, Black Lives Matter street painting, Fulton & Webster; Caravan to Stop 2: Defund Pentagon, Nancy Pelosi's House, Broadway @ Divisadero; Caravan to Stop 3: Fund Life!, Bayview Hunters Point.
(2020-06-27). Wednesday 7/1: Black Lives Matter Capitola Village March & Speak Out. indybay.org Monterey Park, Capitola…
(2020-06-27). Tuesday 6/30: BAHBL Join Us! Solidarity Rally and March for Black Lives. indybay.org William McKinley statue (277 Baker St.) to Alamo Square Park…
(2020-06-27). Supreme Court rulings: Mass fightback and solidarity win concessions. workers.org 
This is a slightly edited version of a talk given on a June 25 Workers World Party webinar on "LGBTQ2S+ and the Black Lives Matter movement." How fortunate we all are to be in the struggle together this particular June Pride Month — a month of historic uprising and outcry . . . |
(2020-06-27). [World Report] LGBTQ discrimination in US health care under scrutiny. thelancet.com A US Supreme Court ruling could undermine the Trump administration's plan to roll back some protections against sex discrimination. Susan Jaffe reports.
(2020-06-27). Seattle mayor fails to clear CHOP zone barricades & gives occupiers more time, as city slapped with ANOTHER lawsuit. rt.com 
After a failed bid to remove barricades from Seattle's protester encampment — in which municipal workers were blocked by demonstrators — the city's mayor said they will try again Sunday, soon after being hit with another lawsuit. | Friday morning saw protesters at the "Capitol Hill Occupied Protest" (CHOP) stand-off with city workers who'd arrived to clear away street barriers set up around the zone, with one activist seen laying in the road to stop equipment from entering the area. Following the tense interaction and a lengthy meeting with protesters, however, Mayor Jenny Durkan now says the barri…
(2020-06-27). Bayer agrees to pay $10 billion to settle RoundUp cancer cases. nationofchange.org Bayer will have to pay between "$8.8 billion to $9.6 billion to resolve current Roundup lawsuits."
(2020-06-27). COVID Is Skyrocketing in CA Prisons. zcomm.org Why Haven't More People Been Released?>
(2020-06-27). People's Strike: An Open Letter To All Forces Fighting For Our Lives. popularresistance.org The "normal" world roiled by this pandemic is deeply unequal, inequitable, exploitative, extractive, and repressive. It is deeply fractured around capitalist colonialism, racial oppression, gender, sexuality, nationality, and religion. It is this real world dystopia that has led to the needless death of more than 115,000 people in the United States of COVID-19, with at least 25,00 new infections daily. The vast majority of the infected and dead are Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. In the midst of the pandemic, it is this dystopian world that right-wing Republicans and neoliberal Democrats are determined to fo…
(2020-06-27). Open Letter To CCSF BOT Pres. Shanell Williams & Bd: Do You Know Who Dr. Rajen Vurdien Is? indybay.org San Francisco Community College Board of Trustees President Shanell Williams and her Board have hired a new interim Chancellor Dr. Rajen Vurdien from the same Community College that corrupt former CCSF Chancellor came from Pasadena Community College. He had a record of discrimination against African America staff at the college and was condemned by the NAACP for his actions.
(2020-06-27). Tenderloin Rises Up Against UC Hastings Lawsuit. indybay.org Speakers from organizations supporting the unhoused, law students, and community members protested UC Hastings move to clear black and brown residents from tent encampments in the middle of the pandemic. They started in front of the law school's Kane Hall and marched to the police station in the Tenderloin where they faced off with cops armed for battle.
(2020-06-26). Why Prosecutors Keep Letting Police Get Away With Murder. aclu.org This piece was originally published in
(2020-06-26). Supreme Court Sides With Trump Administration on Fast-Tracking Deportations. truthout.org The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a major victory Thursday when it ruled the government can fast-track deportations of asylum seekers without first allowing them to fight for their cases in front of a judge. The ACLU's Lee Gelernt argued the case in court on behalf of Tamil asylum seeker Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam. "It's a very serious decision and will adversely affect many, many asylum seekers," says Gelernt. "We're likely to see more people fail their hearings, and now they don'
(2020-06-26). The End of Asylum? Supreme Court Sides with Trump Administration on Fast-Tracking Deportations. democracynow.org 
The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a major victory Thursday when it ruled the government can fast-track deportations of asylum seekers without first allowing them to fight for their cases in front of a judge. The ACLU's Lee Gelernt argued the case in court on behalf of Tamil asylum seeker Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam. "It's a very serious decision and will adversely affect many, many asylum seekers," says Gelernt. "We're likely to see more people fail their hearings, and now they don't have a backstop in the federal courts."
(2020-06-26). Infiltrating Black Lives Matter: Cops, Feds, and White Supremacists. counterpunch.org 
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a major step forward in the ongoing struggle for Civil Rights in the United States and around the world. BLM was founded in 2013, following the acquittal over what organizers describe as 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's murderer, the gated community watchman, George Zimmerman. The organization came to international attention in July
(2020-06-26). US street-based projects are talking about more than just police reforms. They want outright liberation. thecanary.co On the west coast of America, authorities have threatened to send in police to retake Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). While on the east coast, the Black Lives Matter chair for Greater New York has called for armed "peace officers" to monitor police activity. | Meanwhile, all across the US, legislation is being introduced to
(2020-06-26). Police Are Arresting Protesters Over Facebook Posts—And It's Just The Beginning. therealnews.com 
The FBI investigated and arrested Michael Avery for posting on Facebook about a Black Lives Matter protest. We talk with a tech industry whistleblower about "snitch apps" and how law enforcement uses technology to "protect" you.
(2020-06-26). Racism and the Neoliberal Consensus. counterpunch.org 
In the midst of protests and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement, race is once again being put forward as the social axis most in need of rectification. From the perspective of 'racial capital,' the ills of capitalism can't be meaningfully addressed until white supremacy has been defeated. From a left perspective grounded in Marx and history, race is a product of capitalism, not its cause. The economic relationships of indentured servitude and slavery both preceded the concept of race. And the iterative view begins with economic relationships to claim that at some point race became a causal factor in it…
(2020-06-26). Class & Otherness: A Peculiar Dialectic. counterpunch.org Nothing captures the contradictions of American social life more than then the recent announcement by Jeff Bezos in support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The founder of Amazon, the owner of the Washington Post and the richest person in the world issued a tweet calling for an end to "the inequitable and brutal treatment of