2020-08-30: News Headlines

Lee Siu Hin, Immigrant Solidarity Network (2020-08-30). Fall 2020 National Immigrant Solidarity Network Immigrant News Alert! indybay.org ICE Is Leaving Immigrants To Die In Detention, Trump Used Looted Venezuelan Public Money To Build Border Wall With Mexico…

yenisafak (2020-08-30). Missing persons in Syria near 100,000: Watchdog. yenisafak.com In a report released on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said a vast majority of these people were picked up by the Syrian regime forces, followed by the ISIS/Daesh.A total of 84,371 were forcibly disappeared by the Syrian regime forces, including 1,738 children and 4,982 women, it said.An additional 8,648 individuals, including 319 children and 225 women, were disappeared by ISIS [Daesh], the report added.Stating that disappearances were on the rise since 2011, the report said 991 people according to the Syrian regime died in detention. T…

Binoy Kampmark (2020-08-29). Waiting for the Old Bailey: Julian Assange and Britain's Judicial Establishment. dissidentvoice.org On September 7, Julian Assange will be facing another round of gruelling extradition proceedings, in the Old Bailey, part of a process that has become a form of gradual state-sanctioned torture. The US Department of Justice hungers for their man. The UK prison authorities are doing little to protect his health. The end result, should …

_____ (2020-08-29). Assange 'In A Lot Of Pain' Says Partner After Prison Visit. popularresistance.org Julian Assange's partner has visited him in prison for the first time in almost six months, and said he looked much thinner than last time she saw him. | Stella Moris took the couple's two young children to meet their father, who is being held in Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, awaiting an extradition hearing on behalf of the United States government. | Ms Moris and the WikiLeaks founder had to wear face masks and visors for the 20-minute meeting and were not allowed to touch each other. "We had to keep social distancing and Julian was told he would have to self-isolate for two weeks if he touched the child…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-29). 500,000 Kashmiri have lost their jobs because of digital apartheid, says JKCCS report. peoplesdispatch.org A report by the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society remarks that the multi-faceted and targeted denial of digital rights is a "systemic form of discrimination, digital repression and collective punishment" for the Kashmiri population…

WSWS (2020-08-29). US government executes only Native American prisoner on federal death row. wsws.org Under the pro-death penalty, law and order administration of President Trump, the federal government has executed more inmates this year than in all previous 56 years combined.

_____ (2020-08-29). People Are Protesting The Desecration Of A Historic Black Cemetery. popularresistance.org This summer, on an industrial and commercial section of River Road near the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda, you can regularly find area musician Brian Farrow in the roadway playing "Potter's Hornpipe," a song written by Black composer Francis Johnson in 1816 in honor of a destroyed African American cemetery. Nearby, protestors hold signs that say "Black Ancestors Matter" and "Black Lives Matter from Cradle to Grave," while Marsha Coleman-Adebayo of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition and Macedonia Baptist Church leads chants of "Save Moses Cemetery!"

_____ (2020-08-29). Kings Bay Plowshares Sentencing Delayed. popularresistance.org The six remaining Kings Bay Plowshares defendants have had their sentencing dates moved from September to October 15 and 16. They had requested a continuance because they want to appear in open court in Georgia and the virus situation there is still too out of control to safely allow it. | Steve Kelly has now served almost 29 months in county jails since the action in April 2018 so has already met the guidelines for his likely sentence. The court may not want to grant him further extensions. (You can send a postcard to Steve to let him know you're thinking of him. Directions on writing here.) | The other defendan…

sputniknews (2020-08-29). Wisconsin Dems Became 'Less Approving' of BLM Protests Before Kenosha Riots, Poll Shows. sputniknews.com By throwing their support behind the cause of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and anti-racism protests, Democrats may have picked the wrong social trend trend to chase after, recent poll data suggests.

Staff (2020-08-29). Watered-Down "Anti-Racism Training" in Schools Is Perpetuating Racism. truthout.org High school students have been in the streets all summer, and they're not backing down. Black Lives Matter protests have gone on for weeks. They've popped up in hundreds of small towns. More and more kids don't need to be taught that policing is racist, nor that police anchor a historic system of racial domination. They see it Now students are demanding deeper teaching o…

Staff (2020-08-29). Trump Admin Faces Lawsuit for "Insidious" Attack on Major Environmental Law. truthout.org A coalition of 27 U.S. states, commonwealths, territories, counties, and cities filed a federal lawsuit on Friday challenging the Trump administration's "unlawful, unjustified, and sweeping revisions" to a 50-year-old law that the president claimed would "streamline" infrastructure projects by limiting environmental reviews. | After

Sue Sturgis (2020-08-29). Saving the U.S. Postal Service is a Civil Rights Issue. commondreams.org Dozens of mail boxes sit in the parking lot of a post office on Lafayette Avenue in the Bronx borough of New York City on August 17, 2020 . Mayor Bill De Blasio has called for an investigation after receiving reports of mailboxes being removed throughout the city. (Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/gettyimages-1228082630_1.jpg

yenisafak (2020-08-29). Palestinians appeal for return of martyrs' bodies. yenisafak.com It has been almost 50 years since Palestinian Ali Abu Maliha went missing.His brother, Mahmoud Amr, accused the Israeli occupation of being behind his brother's disappearance during an interview with Anadolu Agency.Amr, a resident of Dura, south of the West Bank, said he was in prison when his brother left home for a "struggle mission" against Israeli occupation in the early 1970s. It was the last time he and his family heard any news about Abu Maliha."The occupation is responsible for the disappearance of my brother," Amr said, adding that his family has communicated with the International Committee of the Red C…

WSWS (2020-08-28). Julian Assange receives first visitors in six months: "He is in a lot of pain" wsws.org The visit has underscored the brutal conditions in which Assange is imprisoned and has sparked renewed fears that his health is continuing to deteriorate.

W. T. Whitney (2020-08-28). Under Capitalism Black Lives Are Adrift and Vulnerable. counterpunch.org It's true. Too often, in too many circumstances, for too long, the lives of Black people in the United States don't matter. Black people fill prisons; their children fill terrible schools; many are poverty-stricken. But at issue here are the killings and people being left to die. Post-Civil War arrangements by which the victorious North

Deirdre Griswold (2020-08-28). Bannon's arrest exposes fraud at the top. workers.org Stephen K. Bannon may be in big trouble. Or maybe not. Pals of the very rich rarely pay for their crimes. It is generally the poor who are held in jail — which can be a death sentence in this COVID-19 pandemic. Advertising for money for the "privately-funded" We Build . . . |

The Canary (2020-08-28). March on Washington commemorations expected to be attended by thousands. thecanary.co Civil rights advocates in the US will highlight police and vigilante violence against Black people at a commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.Thousands are expected at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic I Have A Dream address about racial equality.They are gathering after another shooting by a white police officer of a Black man — this time 29-year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on 23 August — sparking days of protests and violence that left two dead."We've got to create a different consciousness and a different clim…

Kristen Lee (2020-08-28). 100 Years and Counting: The Fight for Women's Suffrage Continues. aclu.org One hundred years ago this month, the

Daniel Brown (2020-08-28). Kenosha: An American City Confronts White Supremacy and State Violence. progressive.org Following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, and the murder of two Black Lives Matter activists by a white teenage vigilante, protesters are still taking to the streets.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-28). Communists allege discrimination in official commemoration of Slovak resistance. peoplesdispatch.org Slovak National Uprising Museum authorities have denied permission to the KSS, saying the 76th anniversary of the uprising will be held as an apolitical event. This is despite ruling party representatives being invited…

WSWS (2020-08-28). New Zealand: Christchurch terrorist jailed for life. wsws.org There are many unanswered questions about how fascist gunman Brenton Tarrant was able to carry out his attack without being stopped by the police or intelligence agencies.

Michael Payne (2020-08-28). Trump and DeJoy's main objective: To incapacitate the US Postal Service. nationofchange.org What we need now is to see a plethora of other states joining in these lawsuits that are charging Trump and DeJoy with deliberate voter suppression.

_____ (2020-08-28). Racialized Austerity: The Case Of CUNY. popularresistance.org In the aftermath of the covid outbreak and in a moment of Black Lives Matter national organizing in response to police brutality the issue of racial justice has lit up cities and towns across the country. Racist policing practices have had a huge impact on public opinion, with polling data showing that even more white suburban voters favor policy reforms. The shift has been public, sudden, and potentially electorally-decisive during this political season. | What remains less visible are racialized and racist choices to deepen state disinvestment in institutions critical to the health and welfare of Black and brow…

commondreams (2020-08-28). Amnesty International USA Joins March on Washington's Call for Police Reform and Justice for Black Lives. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2020-08-28). 600+ Groups Representing Over Half of Jewish People in US Sign Full-Page Ad in NYT to 'Say Unequivocally: Black Lives Matter'. commondreams.org "By supporting this movement, we can build a country that fulfills the promise of freedom, unity, and safety for all of us, no exceptions." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/blm_ad.jpg

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-08-28). 'Get Your Knee Off Our Necks': On 57th Anniversary of Historic Civil Rights Rally, Tens of Thousands March on Washington. commondreams.org Fifty thousand people are expected to attend the "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" March in Washington, D.C. on Friday as racial justice advocates gather to mark the 57th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech at the 1963 March on Washington and commit to fighting for meaningful criminal justice reform. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-1228239145_1.jpg

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2020-08-28). 'Never Give Up': Ronnie Long, Wrongfully Convicted by All-White Jury, Freed After 44 Years in Prison. commondreams.org Sentenced to life behind bars for a rape he did not commit, Long's attorneys learned in 2015 that investigators withheld exculpatory evidence proving his innocence. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/long.jpg

Staff (2020-08-27). "On a Hunting Spree": Wisc. Rep. David Bowen Says Cops Turned Blind Eye to White Militias in Kenosha. democracynow.org The police shooting of Jacob Blake has sparked massive protests across the country and in Kenosha, where a white teenager opened fire on Black Lives Matter protesters and killed two people. Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old self-declared militia member and avid Trump supporter, was apprehended in Antioch, Illinois, after fleeing Wisconsin. He has been charged with murder. Wisconsin state Representative David Bowen, who has attended racial justice protests in Kenosha, says he "witnessed firsthand" how freely organized white supremacists targeted protesters without interference from law enforcement, and accuses pol…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-27). Netanyahu vs Gantz: Gaza Escalation as Reflection of Israel's Political Rivalry. dissidentvoice.org Only recently, the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Israel seemed close to reaching a prisoner exchange agreement, where Hamas would release several Israeli soldiers held in Gaza while Israel would set free an unspecified number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. Instead of the much-anticipated announcement of some kind of a deal, on August 10, …

Al Neal (2020-08-27). Pro athletes stage historic strike for Black lives. peoplesworld.org There are moments when unexpected action transcends the political bullshit, drowning out the white noise of ignorance, apathy, and prejudice. Often, these moments follow tragedy. Crimes against humanity so awful, that it is impossible to look away unless you condone such action under the guise of "law and order." And when such racist ignorance is …

Staff (2020-08-27). For some, homes and neighborhoods are now digital prisons. therealnews.com Authors Maya Schenwar and Vikki Law argue that many alternatives to incarceration follow the same model of oppression as physical prisons.

The Canary (2020-08-27). Teenager arrested after two shot dead during Black Lives Matter protests. thecanary.co A white 17-year-old police admirer has been arrested over the killing of two people gunned down during a third night of protests in Wisconsin over the police shooting of Black man Jacob Blake.Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. Antioch is about 15 miles from Kenosha where protests have been taking place.Two people were shot dead on Tuesday night in the attack carried out by a young white man who was caught on mobile phone video opening fire in the middle of the street with a semi-automatic rifle.Police officers in riot gear line up agai…

Sarah Jaffe (2020-08-27). Don't Call It a Boycott: NBA Players Are Inspiring a Strike Wave. progressive.org The Milwaukee Bucks refusal to play, and the wave of pro-athlete strikes they've inspired, has forced the message of Black Lives Matter into our living rooms.

WSWS (2020-08-27). TikTok files federal lawsuit against the Trump administration. wsws.org TikTok, the massively popular social media platform owned by China-based ByteDance, has filed a lawsuit seeking to block President Trump's executive order banning the app and forcing its sale to a US owner.

posted by Norse (2020-08-27). Abbi Samuels Letter to City Attorney Condotti Re: Police Harassment of Cooper D'Angelo. indybay.org Activist and ACLU Board member Abbi Samuels posted the following letter asking telling questions about the harassment of Cooper D'Angelo and her partner Russell on the sidewalk outside the Main Post Office last week.

_____ (2020-08-27). Is Movement Journalism Needed During Reckoning Over Race And Inequality? popularresistance.org Last summer I found myself at the M.W. Stringer Grand Lodge in Jackson, Mississippi. Considered "the epicenter of the civil rights movement," the well-worn building was once the training site for the Freedom Riders and home to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It seemed a fitting place to launch Freedomways, a journalism fellowship prioritizing women of color and LGBTQ+ people rooted in the American South and committed to doing reporting that advances justice.

Staff (2020-08-27). Wisconsin Rep.: White Supremacists Targeted Protesters Without Cop Interference. truthout.org Image Credit: Julio Rosas/townhall.com | The police shooting of Jacob Blake has sparked massive protests across the country and in Kenosha, where a white teenager opened fire on Black Lives Matter protesters and killed two people. Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old self-declared militia member and avid Trump supporter, was apprehended in Antioch, Illinois, after fleeing Wisconsin. He has been charged with murder. Wisconsin state Representative David Bowen, who has attended racial justice protest…

commondreams (2020-08-27). ACLU Calls for Immediate Resignation of Kenosha Police Chief and Kenosha County Sheriff for Failed Response To Attempted Murder of Jacob Blake. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Jon Queally, staff writer (2020-08-27). ACLU Demands Immediate Resignation of Kenosha Police Chief, Sheriff, and Mayor. commondreams.org The actions of the city's top law enforcement officials, said the group, "uphold and defend white supremacy, while demonizing people who were murdered for exercising their first amendment rights and speaking out against police violence." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/kenosha_sheriff_resign.jpg

commondreams (2020-08-27). Free Press and Allies File Lawsuit Challenging Trump's Executive Order Against Social-Media Companies. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-08-26). Reminder: The US Empire Tortures Journalists And Whistleblowers. thealtworld.com Julian Assange's partner Stella Moris was able to visit him with their children at Belmarsh prison for the first time since March of this year, and reports that his physical condition has deteriorated noticeably since that time. | "He was wearing a yellow armband to indicate his level of prisoner status, and you could see how thin his arms were," Moris "Moris said her partner is still suffering from a frozen shoulder, and had recently sprained h…

Staff (2020-08-26). Two Shot Dead in Kenosha as Armed Militias Confront BLM Protests over Police Shooting of Jacob Blake. democracynow.org Protests continue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where police shot an unarmed Black man in the back seven times as he was getting into his car, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Jacob Blake was reportedly breaking up a fight before police shot him, and the shooting was witnessed by his three young children. On Tuesday, the situation escalated further when at least one white gunman opened fire on a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters. Two people were killed, and a third was injured, as police continued a violent crackdown on protesters demanding justice for Blake. We speak with Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Ma…

_____ (2020-08-26). Over 40 Protests Across The UK On #StopArmingIsrael Day Of Action. popularresistance.org Hundreds have taken to the streets in dozens of towns and cities to call for an end to the UK's complicity in Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people, on the 6 year anniversary of the end of Israel's aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza. The protests come as Israel has conducted a renewed bombardment of Gaza, which remains under a crippling land, air and sea blockade. | The 2014 attack killed over 2,200 Palestinians in 51 days, nearly a quarter of whom were children. The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict found credible allegations that Israel committed war crimes throu…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-26). Netanyahu vs. Gantz: Gaza escalation reflects Israel's political rivalry. peoplesworld.org Only recently, the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Israel seemed close to reaching a prisoner exchange agreement, where Hamas would release several Israeli soldiers held in Gaza while Israel would set free an unspecified number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. Instead of the much-anticipated announcement of some kind of a deal, on August 10 …

Dianne Mathiowetz (2020-08-26). Thousands demand new trial for Imam Jamil Al-Amin. workers.org Jamil Al-Amin Imam Jamil Al-Amin, now in a U.S. prison serving 35 years to life and formerly known as H. Rap Brown, is one of the best-known Black liberation fighters of the 1960s and 1970s. He served as chair of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), a youth-led organization that bravely . . . |

Melvin Goodman (2020-08-26). The USA: Global Leader in Election Interference Abroad and Now at Home. counterpunch.org Putin's impact on the election is modest compared to the damage that Trump and Republican legislators throughout the country can inflict. Voter suppression remains a huge problem, particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in 2013 to weaken the Voting Rights Act. The campaign against mail-in voting is creating uncertainty and cynicism throughout the country as is Trump's constant ravings about vote by mail causing a fraudulent election.

_____ (2020-08-26). Overfunding The Military Drives Climate Crisis And White Supremacist Culture. popularresistance.org As the U.S. now approaches the third month since protests erupted following the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless Black Americans calls to defund and abolish the police are resonating throughout public consciousness. While the Black Lives Matter movement rightfully pushes for the defunding and abolition of a white supremacist institution, it must be recognized that another institution — U.S. militarism — is also an overfunded structure responsible for violence, oppression, and white supremacy.

_____ (2020-08-26). Doctors Decry 'Less Lethal' Police Munitions. popularresistance.org A group of doctors from the Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, Austin penned a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine to warn of the dangers of police's less-lethal munitions used to subdue Black Lives Matter protesters after treating several patients with severe injuries. | The Associated Press (AP) reports that 12 doctors from Dell Seton said Austin police used bean bag rounds in place of actual bullets to control the protests, but the bean bags still resulted in injuries like bleeding in the brain and a skull fracture.

yenisafak (2020-08-26). Protesters rounded up in Belarus; Nobel-winning writer due for questioning. yenisafak.com Belarusian police have rounded up dozens of protesters heading home from peaceful demonstrations, rights groups said on Wednesday, after days in which the authorities exercised comparative restraint towards mass anti-government rallies.The country's most celebrated writer, Nobel Prize-winner Svetlana Alexievich, was expected to appear for questioning later on Wednesday in a criminal investigation into an opposition council, two of whose leaders were jailed this week.President Alexander Lukashenko has faced more than two weeks of mass demonstrations against his 26-year rule since an election which his opponents sa…