(2020-08-24). Responding To Voter Suppression, Understanding Manipulated Elections. dissidentvoice.org 
Stop Voter Suppression from the Union of Concerned Scientists Voter suppression in the 2020 election has become a topic of great concern. In reality, voter suppression has been part of US politics since the founding of the country. The oligarchs who wrote the US Constitution enabled voter suppression by not including the right to vote in …
(2020-08-24). What's it Like to be in Immigration Lockup During a Pandemic? aclu.org 
In the 1980s, fewer than 2,000 people were locked up in an immigration detention facility on an average day in America. , , Since then,
(2020-08-24). Prisoners say they were intimidated over Black lives matter movement. therealnews.com 
Black prisoners were grabbed from their bunks and corralled without masks.
(2020-08-24). African Asylum Seekers Jailed in Louisiana Stop Eating in Protest. counterpunch.org 
In the Mankon language, spoken in northwest Cameroon, mughu is a word for hell. Northwest Cameroon was home to more than a dozen of the 48 African asylum seekers now confined in Louisiana at Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center, where COVID has taken a firm grip. Along with men from Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and Burkino
(2020-08-24). 'We simply have no choice': TikTok officially sues Trump administration over ban threat. rt.com 
TikTok has responded to Donald Trump's looming threat of a ban with a lawsuit against the government, arguing it has been denied due process as the president has deemed the company a national security risk. | The short-form video app, which has approximately 100 million users in the US, officially moved forward with the lawsuit on Monday, having announced its intention of litigation on Sunday. The company said that the administration has not given them a choice in the matter. | "We far prefer constructive dialogue over litigation," TikTok said in a statement. | "With the Executive Order threatening to bring a…
(2020-08-24). Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an Iranian 'hostage', documentary claims. thecanary.co 
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a "hostage" in Iran and was on the brink of being freed from jail in Iran almost two-and-a-half years ago until a planned deal collapsed, according to a new documentary.The mother-of-one's husband Richard Ratcliffe said the family had even been given a date of 28 December 2017 for his wife's return to the UK.It is unclear why the deal fell through.The revelations were made during a BBC Panorama investigation into the detention of British and other western citizens in Iran, which airs on 24 August on BBC One at 7.30pm.It has long been claimed Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held in order to…
(2020-08-24). Belarus detains three leading opposition activists amid continuing protests. thecanary.co 
Belarusian authorities have detained three leading opposition activists who've helped spearhead a wave of protests demanding the resignation of the country's authoritarian ruler.The opposition's Co-ordination Council said its members Sergei Dylevsky and Olga Kovalkova were detained by police in the capital, Minsk. Later in the day, the opposition also reported the detention of Alexander Lavrinovich, the leader of striking workers at a major industrial plant.Show of force: The move signals president Alexander Lukashenko's determination to stifle the massive demonstrations that have entered their third week.
(2020-08-24). Jordanian Teachers' Syndicate leaders and members released after one month in jail. peoplesdispatch.org The union leaders, along with other protesting teachers, were arrested last month while protesting the government's decision to go back on its promise to fulfill their demands on salary hikes and better working conditions…
(2020-08-24). Lawsuit Claims Merck's Gardasil Papilloma Virus Vaccine Caused Severe Injuries to Teen. globalresearch.ca It is vitally important to acknowledge that the same so-called "experts" in the medical/academic/scientific community, many of whom have serious undisclosed financial conflicts of interest at the NIH, the CDC, the NIAID, the FDA, the WHO, Medical Schools, teaching hospitals …
(2020-08-24). Florida court set to rule on lawsuit challenging in-person schooling. wsws.org The court is set to decide on a challenge by the Florida Education Association to Governor Ron DeSantis's edict for face-to-face instruction.
(2020-08-24). Reforms Are Won When Social Movements Inflict Real Costs On The Economic Elite. popularresistance.org In an interview over email, co-author Kevin A. Young discussed the limits of electoral politics to advance a more egalitarian social contract and the strategies today's social movements can employ to fight injustice. The challenges are formidable, especially given the Trump administration's exercise of a new and despotic federal police power in reaction to nationwide Black Lives Matter protests against police violence. As Levers of Power demonstrates through examples from the labor movement and the Civil Rights Movement, the path to enduring change requires mobilization that inflicts real costs on capitalists and…
(2020-08-24). Border Town Links Fight Against Trump's Wall to the Black Lives Matter Movement. truthout.org Under a sweltering August sun, just blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border, four local activists busily stage-direct the movements of about 100 residents of Laredo, Texas, who are lined up, fists raised, along the street in front of the city's George P. Kazen federal courthouse. | The four are standing on a 30-foot high scissor lift, making sure the crowd below is placed just perfectly along the giant street mural they have planned for weeks and just finished painting that Sunday morning, August 16.
(2020-08-24). Judges Are Buying the GOP's Lie That Mail-In Voting Causes Fraud. truthout.org The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee These high-profile lawsuits make the same argument that Republicans have made in many lesser-known lawsuits that were filed around the country during the primary season. In all of these lawsuits, Republicans argue that voting by ma…
(2020-08-24). ACLU Statement on Police Shooting of Jacob Blake. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-08-24). Environment America joins lawsuit challenging Trump administration's push to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-08-24). Lawsuit Aims to Block Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-08-23). New FOIA Docs Expose Conditions In Private Immigration Prison. popularresistance.org New documents shed light on what activists are calling "a dark pattern of abuse" at a privately-run, for-profit prison in Virginia used by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Obtained by the civil rights group the Advancement Project under the Freedom of Information Act, the documents describe a long pattern of abuse, neglect and mismanagement of detainees at Immigration Centers of America (ICA) Farmville — a facility where almost everyone has coronavirus. | In 2015, for instance, one detainee was pepper sprayed in the face while in full restraints.
(2020-08-23). Voter Suppression Has Haunted The United States Since It Was Founded. popularresistance.org In 1787, the Founding Fathers wrestled over how to address suffrage in the U.S. Constitution. At the time, voting was restricted to wealthy white landowners. The framers debated whether it should be extended to commoners who had joined arms with them in the American Revolution, but who might overrule their interests. Ultimately, the question was punted to the states in Article I, Section 4, of the Constitution, which declares: "The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law ma…
(2020-08-22). Global campaign frees Mahmoud Nawajaa. workers.org 
Mahmoud Nawajaa is free! An international campaign pressured Israel to release the general coordinator of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement from detention. Armed Israeli forces charged into Nawajaa's home near Ramallah in occupied Palestine on July 30 and brutally seized him. He was illegally held without charges until . . . |
(2020-08-22). Proud Boys vs. BLM & Antifa: VICIOUS Portland clashes with paintballs & street brawls caught on VIDEO. rt.com 
After months of violent Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon, hardline right-wing groups like the Proud Boys and other Donald Trump supporters showed up to support police, and things descended into chaos. | Proud Boys members gathered around the Justice Center in downtown Portland around noon on Saturday, some carrying rifles and others sporting shields that referenced c…
(2020-08-22). Defeat COVID-19 and put an end to hate and discrimination: UN chief. news.un.org In a message published on the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Violence Based on Religious Belief, which falls on 22 August, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of a rise in racism since the spread of COVID-19 across the world.
(2020-08-22). Justice Department accuses Yale of discriminating against Asian American and white students. wsws.org The lawsuit is a cynical provocation by an administration that seeks to stir the pot of racial antagonisms.
(2020-08-22). Antifascists Are Facing Off Against The Far-Right, Backed By Local Cops. popularresistance.org Every Friday in Sunland-Tujunga, a small neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, just 15 minutes from Downtown LA, a group of violent far-Right Trump supporters meets under the guise of rallying in support of the police. Here's how local antifascists have responded. | They assemble out front of a Big 5 on Foothill Blvd from around 11 am to sundown every Friday and have since the start of the George Floyd uprising. Their hate has been countered by members of the local community since day one. Early demos would have 2-3 Black Lives Matter protesters standing across from a group of…
(2020-08-22). Lenders Deny Mortgages For Black Homeowners At A High Rate. popularresistance.org Discrimination in home lending goes back to the beginning of home lending itself. During the last housing boom, when subprime mortgages were all the rage, predatory lending to minority borrowers was rampant. When the mortgage market came crashing down, taking the economy with it, some major lenders were held accountable. They ended up paying massive, multibillion-dollar settlements to the federal government. But there is clearly still bias in the market. | A majority (59 percent), of Black homebuyers, are concerned about qualifying for a mortgage, while less than half (46 percent) of white buyers are, according t…
(2020-08-22). Protesters hold seventh anti-Kremlin march over detained governor. yenisafak.com Around 1,500 people marched through the streets of the Russian far eastern city of Khabarovsk on Saturday, marking the seventh consecutive weekend of protests after the region's governor was detained in early July.Residents of Khabarovsk, 6,110 km (3,800 miles) east of Moscow, have protested since the detention of Sergei Furgal, the region's popular governor, on July 9 in connection with murder charges which he denies.His supporters say the detention is politically motivated.People marched on Saturday with posters reading "Freedom to Furgal" and "Belarus – Khabarovsk is with you" – a sign of support for oppositio…
(2020-08-22). Which Black Voices Should Their White Supporters Heed? commondreams.org Travon Brown, with megaphone, leads the Black Lives Matter Protest march through Marion, Virginia on Friday, July 3, 2020. (Earl Neikirk for The Washington Post via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/blm-va-955px.jpg …
(2020-08-22). Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Slams Controversial Tennessee Anti-Protester Law. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-08-21). Cornel West & Ben Jealous on the DNC and Whether Progressives Can Push Joe Biden Leftward. democracynow.org 
Harvard professor Cornel West and Ben Jealous, president of People for the American Way and former president of the NAACP, discuss the 2020 DNC, Joe Biden's vow to fight systemic racism and "overcome this season of darkness in America," the historic nomination of Kamala Harris as his partner on the ticket, and how the convention was a showcase for a broad anti-Trump coalition, including prominent Republican figures given plum speaking slots, but few voices from the party's insurgent left wing. "At this moment, with the decline and fall of the American empire, it looks as if the system is unable to generate enough…
(2020-08-21). The Black Led "Defund the Police" Movement Wins Great Breakthrough in Los Angeles: An Organizer's Interpretation. counterpunch.org 
At 11 PM on Tuesday June 30—after 13 hours of public testimony and board deliberations and yes, years of organizing—the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movement in Los Angeles and nationally took a great leap forward. The Los Angeles School Board, led by Board Member Monica Garcia, with the support of board members
(2020-08-21). Federal judge orders second investigation into Virginia immigrant detention center hit by mass outbreak of COVID-19. wsws.org The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found prison staff were refusing to use safety equipment or provide inmates with protection from COVID-19.
(2020-08-21). Build solidarity with prisoners: Fight for abolition! workers.org 
This slightly edited talk was given at an Aug. 13 Workers World Party webinar, "From Black August to Black Lives Matter," hosted by the WWP Prisoners Solidarity Committee. Texas: Credit: Kavin Rashid Johnson Revolutionary greetings from Houston, Texas, a city that contains the country's third largest jail. The Harris County Jails . . . |
(2020-08-21). Why Starbucks wouldn't let us say 'Black Lives Matter'. liberationnews.org 
More than media backlash, what corporations fear the most is a united workforce.
(2020-08-21). The psychological impact of solitary confinement. workers.org 
The following is a slightly edited commentary recorded for "Voices From the Inside" by PrisonRadio.org. The brain and nervous system, or "the mind," cannot function normally without stimulation. Neither can it function normally when given too much stimulus. The brain and the nervous system must be maintained in a "steady . . . |
(2020-08-21). Woke indulgences? Twitter CEO donates $10 million to 'anti-racism' scholar who preaches discrimination as a fix to all race issues. rt.com 
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has donated a "no strings attached" $10 million to Ibram Kendi's Center for Antiracist Research. Kendi is a bestselling author who's become famous by telling white people that they're racists. | Announcing the donation on Thursday, Dorsey said that the center's research "will inform and fuel much needed and overdue policy change." According to
(2020-08-21). Six states & DC sue US Postal Service over changes as its chief insists election mail will be handled 'securely and on time'. rt.com 
Several states have sued the US Postal Service and its new boss, alleging that recent service changes have harmed their ability to conduct free and fair elections.
(2020-08-21). Former US Army Green Beret indicted for 'conspiring with RUSSIAN SPIES'. rt.com 
A former member of the US Army Special Forces has been charged with providing classified information to Russian intelligence for over 15 years and faces life in prison, the Department of Justice has announced. | Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, was arrested in Gainesville, Virginia on Friday and charged with "conspiracy to provide US national defense information to agents of a foreign government," He allegedly made contact with agents of the R…
(2020-08-21). GLAD and Other LGBTQ Organizations Urge Supreme Court Not to Upend Settled and Vital Nondiscrimination Protections. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-08-21). Mapuche spiritual leader ends hunger strike. peoplesdispatch.org Mapuche political prisoner and spiritual leader, Machi Celestino Córdova, on August 18, announced to end Córdova has repeatedly denounced that Mapuche prisoners face discrimination and harassment in Chilean prisons and…
(2020-08-21). Thursday 8/27: Supporting Voting Rights in California Jails: A Community Training. indybay.org Online via Zoom…
(2020-08-21). Jailer Who Organized Assault On An Inmate Sentenced To Prison. popularresistance.org A former deputy jailer has been sentenced to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to violating the civil rights of an inmate at the Shelby County Detention Center. | William Anthony Carey, 31, admitted to asking an inmate to assault another inmate that Carey didn't like, according to his plea agreement. | Corey Lynn Hopper, 30, the inmate Carey asked to carry out the assault, pleaded guilty in January to aiding and abetting the violation of an inmate's civil rights. Hopper admitted to enlisting several other inmates to help him beat and kick the man, leaving him with serious injuries.
(2020-08-21). Are Postal Service Cuts Motivated by Voter Suppression or Privatization—or Both? commondreams.org A USPS postal worker wears protective gloves while making deliveries in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the COVID-19 pandemic on April 8, 2020. (Photo: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/postal_service_coronavirus_0.jpg …
(2020-08-21). The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Denounces Trump's Plan to Station Law Enforcement at Polling Locations. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-08-21). Civil Rights Group Condemns Trump Threat to Put Law Enforcement at Polls as a Tactic 'Right From the Jim Crow Playbook'. commondreams.org "This voter suppression scheme is intended to intimidate voters and cause a chilling effect on the electorate." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/screen_shot_2020-08-21_at_9.00.19_am.png …
(2020-08-21). 'They Have Nowhere To Run': Inmate Families, Advocates Push for Prisoner Release as California Wildfires Engulf State. commondreams.org "I'm furious at the incompetence and severe inhumanity of this," one advocate said. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/getty-prisoner_wildfires.jpg …
(2020-08-20). Global South Calls For Sanctions On Apartheid Israel. popularresistance.org Israel's decades-old regime of apartheid and theft of Palestinian land is continuing unabated. Reports that Israel is "suspending" formal annexation are a smokescreen for continued colonisation and piecemeal ethnic cleansing of Indigenous Palestinians. | Around the world, advocates for justice are pushing back.The Global South response, initiated by South African civil society, brings together notable figures, intellectuals, policy makers, civil society leaders and experts from Africa, Latin America and Asia, in a joint effort to promote lawful sanctions on Israel to end its decades-old oppression of the Palestin…
(2020-08-20). Prisoners' lives matter! 'Inmates cannot social distance'. workers.org 
Makinni Iyapo By Makini Iyapo This edited talk was given at an Aug. 13 Workers World Party webinar, "From Black August to Black Lives Matter," hosted by the WWP Prisoners Solidarity Committee. I am so honored to be here, in the company of people of like minds. I feel rejuvenated . . . |
(2020-08-20). Algerian journalist Abdelkrim Zeghileche faces prison term for "undermining national unity" peoplesdispatch.org Abdelkrim Zeghileche, an active supporter of the Hirak protests, has been in pre-trial detention since June 23 and his trial is expected to begin in a few days. He faces a three-year prison term if convicted…
(2020-08-20). Algerian journalist Abdulkrim Zeghileche faces prison term for "undermining national unity" peoplesdispatch.org Abdulkrim Zeghileche, an active supporter of the Hirak protests, has been in pre-trial detention since June 23 and his trial is expected to begin in a few days. He faces a three-year prison term if convicted…
(2020-08-20). Toronto police culpable in class action lawsuit over their brutal suppression of 2010 G20 protests. wsws.org The June 2010 police state blitz in Toronto was the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.
(2020-08-20). Former deputy sentenced to prison for ordering attack on inmate. nationofchange.org "The duty of correctional officers is to uphold the law and protect the people within their care. These actions are not only illegal and morally wrong, they go against the oath this officer took when he entered the job."