Daily Archives: 2020-01-04

2020-01-04: News Headlines

Gregory Shupak (2020-01-04). Trump Order Aimed at Palestine Solidarity, Not Antisemitism. fair.org by Gregory Shupak Antisemitism is a very real problem—which Donald Trump is exploiting to advance an anti-Palestinian agenda. | President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month to deny funding to post-secondary schools that violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Jewish people. The order notes that such bigotry is rooted in antisemitism, and says that it will determine whether discrimination has occurred by using the non-legally binding working definition of antisemiti…

WSWS (2020-01-04). Apple, Microsoft and Google among five companies sued over deaths of Congolese child miners. wsws.org Apple, Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla are all accused in a lawsuit filed last month of knowingly using cobalt mined by children as young as six.

Partisan Defense Committee (2020-01-04). Holiday Appeal for Class-War Prisoners. indybay.org Oakstop, 1721 Broadway, Oakland near 19th St. BART stop…

commondreams (2020-01-03). ACLU Comment on Baghdad Strike. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Amy Goodman (2020-01-03). America Is a Democracy in Name Only. truthdig.com One hundred years ago, women won the right to vote in the United States. The women's suffrage movement took decades of organizing to achieve success, from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, to mass civil disobedience and protest leading up to the adoption and ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Now, a century later, the right to vote is on perilous ground, with aggressive and systematic efforts to disenfranchise voters in states across the country. | Voter suppression has long been a central strategy of the Republican party. In 1980, Paul Weyrich, a conservative Republican activist who founded right-win…

IMEMC & Agencies (2020-01-03). Israel to Demolish Family Home of 2 Palestinian Prisoners. imemc.org Israeli forces notified the family of two Palestinian prisoners, on Thursday, of an order to demolish their home in Kobar town, northwest of Ramallah city, the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported. Widad Barghouthi, a media professor at Birzeit University, said that Israeli military forces broke into her family's …

teleSUR (2020-01-03). Brussels Court Suspends Extradition of Catalan Leader Puigdemont. telesurenglish.net A Brussels court has suspended the extradition of former Catalan pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont, his lawyer said on Thursday. | RELATED: | EU Parliament President Lifts Ban on Top Catalan Politicians | Puigdemont cheered the suspension on Twitter and called on Spain to free Junqueras from prison. | "Spain must act in the same way as Belgium has done and respect the law," he said in a tweet. | Paul Beckaert told Reuters that the Belgian judge in charge of the case…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-01-03). "Chelsea Manning's incarceration and fines are akin to torture" peoplesdispatch.org Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has published a letter to the US government condemning its treatment of Manning…

J.B. Gerald (2020-01-02). Anglophone vs Francophone in Cameroon. dissidentvoice.org On an ugliness scale of one to ten, if the U.S. Guantanamo prison is 7, the French military in Algeria 8, Pinochet's controls of Chile 9, and the Inquisition 10, the severity, scale and number of Cameroon military human rights violations is possibly 4 and a half. Still, is the suffering of any victim ever …

teleSUR (2020-01-02). IACHR Requests Precautionary Measures for Former Ecuadorean VP. telesurenglish.net The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requested Thursday precautionary measures in favor of former Vice President of Ecuador Jorge Glas, jailed since October 2017 after being sentenced to six years in prison as part of a case linked to the bribe plot of the Brazilian company Odebrecht which Glas denies to have taken part of. | RELATED: | Pabon: Fear and Persecution Can Hurt the Pillars of Democracy | Glas' attorney Fausto Jarrin announced it with a photograph that sho…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-01-02). Italian organizations demand release of veteran communist Nicoletta Dosio. peoplesdispatch.org The progressive sectors of Italian society have expressed shock and outrage at the arrest and imprisonment of 73- old-year veteran communist and activist Nicoletta Dosio. She was arrested and imprisoned in Turin on December 30 in relation to a 2012 protest against the Turin—Lyon high-speed railway organized by the No TAV campaign. | Various events have been organized across Italy, including in Rome, Pisa, Milan, Bologna and Florence, in solidarity with Nicoletta Dosio and calling for her immediate release. | On January 1, she wrote from prison, "I'm fine. I am happy with the choice I made because it is the…

Staff (2020-01-02). Headlines for January 2, 2020. democracynow.org Iranian-Backed Militia Withdraws After Standoff at U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Reports: 9 Civilians Killed in Syrian Government Strike on School in Idlib, Wildfires Rage in Australia; Floods Kill 16 in Indonesia, Tens of Thousands Protest in Hong Kong on New Year's Day, Thousands March in Santiago, Chile, Against Austerity on New Year's Day, French Rail Workers' Strike Now Longest Since 1968, Netanyahu Asks Parliament for Immunity in Corruption Cases, 16 People Killed in Prison Riot in Zacatecas, Mexico, Pope Francis Condemns Violence Against Women in New Year's Day Speech, Scores of New Laws Take Effect Across the…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-01-01). Palestinian administrative detainee Ahmad Zahran has been on hunger strike for 100 days. peoplesdispatch.org Israeli authorities had earlier committed to not renewing his period of administrative detention once it expired in October but failed to honor their promise. This led Ahmad Zahran to once again launch a hunger strike…

RT (2019-12-31). Assange Said, "I'm slowly dying here" dissidentvoice.org WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims he's 'slowly dying' in a UK jail and is often tranquilized and kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. He made the disturbing revelations in a phone call to his friend Vaughan Smith on Christmas Eve. | Read more: on.rt.com/a85u

Staff (2019-12-31). Headlines for December 31, 2019. democracynow.org Protests Rage Outside U.S. Embassy in Iraq After U.S. Airstrikes Kill 24, Hate Crime Charges Filed Against Suspect in Hanukkah Stabbing in NY, Texas Church Shooter Had Long Criminal History, NYT: Top Officials Failed to Convince Trump to Release Withheld Ukraine Aid, Death Toll from Crackdown on Protests in India Rises to 27, Five Kashmiri Political Leaders Released from Detention, Sudanese Court Sentences 29 to Death for Killing Teacher in Anti-Protest Crackdown, Thousands Flee to the Ocean to Escape Australia Wildfires, Former Nissan Head Flees Japan to Lebanon to Escape Trial on Financial Crimes, New York Sett…

Luiz ignacio lula Da silva (2019-12-28). Prison gave me a greater will to fight. zcomm.org Interview on the reality that Brazil is experiencing and the social protests that have occurred in several Latin American countries…

Staff (2019-12-27). "Bedlam": Film Shows How Decades of Healthcare Underfunding Made Jails "De Facto Mental Asylums" democracynow.org Are prisons and jails America's "new asylums"? A new documentary looks at how a disproportionate number of underserved people facing mental health challenges have been swept into the criminal justice system, where they lack adequate treatment. Nearly 15% of men and more than 30% of women in jails have a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. For many of them, jail is their first point of entry into mental health treatment. The documentary "Bedlam" was filmed over five years in Los Angeles County's overwhelmed and vastly under-resourced Emergency Psychiatry Services, a…

Alan Macleod (2019-12-27). Wikileaks Still Holding Powerful to Account as Founder Julian Assange "Slowly Dies" in Prison. mintpressnews.com Julian Assange is dying inside Belmarsh Prison in London. Those are his own words, relayed through English journalist Vaughan Smith, who revealed that the Wikileaks founder called him on Christmas Eve to share his greetings. Smith also divulged that Assange told him he is kept in solitary confinement 23 hours per day and is often sedated. | His treatment has elicited protests around the world, from journalists, news organizations, human rights groups and celebrities. Last week a group of Australian doctors asked Foreign Minister Marise Pay…

Staff (2019-12-27). Headlines for December 27, 2019. democracynow.org In Confidential Videos, Navy SEALs Say Gallagher Was "Toxic" & "Freaking Evil", Hospitals & Health Clinics Shuttered by Heavy Bombing in Idlib, Syria, Japan to Deploy Destroyer to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions in Gulf of Oman, Nigerian-American Journalist Omoyele Sowore Released from Prison, In India, Protests Rage Against "Anti-Muslim" Citizenship Law, Netanyahu Staves Off Party Leadership Challenge Ahead of General Election, Mexico to Bring Complaint Against Bolivia's Interim Government to ICJ, Congolese Asylum Seeker Died in Border Patrol Custody on Christmas Day, Los Angeles Prosecutors Consider Filing Cri…

Staff (2019-12-26). Headlines for December 26, 2019. democracynow.org Murkowski "Disturbed" by McConnell's "Coordination" with White House for Impeachment Trial, Trump Attacks Windmills with a Series of False Claims, The Intercept: Bloomberg Used Prison Labor to Make 2020 Campaign Calls, Thousands of Syrian Civilians Flee Government Offensive in Idlib, 35 Civilians Killed in Attack in Burkina Faso, China Calls on U.S. to Take "Concrete Steps" Toward Peace with North Korea, At Least 21 Killed as Typhoon Phanfone Slams into the Philippines, U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Recalled After Criticizing Criminalization of Homosexuality, Evo Morales Vows to Return to Bolivia by Next Christmas, H…

Nicole Zayas Fortier (2019-12-24). Across the Country Harsh Sentencing Laws are Tearing Apart Families and Communities. aclu.org During the holiday season, in the picturesque town of Petoskey, Michigan, Kimiko Uyeda, and her son Marshall celebrate with an annual tradition of selecting a new ornament to add to their tree. Year after year, Kimiko and Marshall add to their collection of ornaments as a part of their tradition. | For years, however, they were separated from one another and unable to enjoy this holiday tradition together. It all began in 2013 when Kimiko was arrested for filing what the local sheriff believed to be a false police report. Because of broken sentencing laws, the prosecutor in the case was able to add four additi…

Liberation staff (2019-12-20). Public housing residents sue NYC over slum conditions. liberationnews.org In addition to demanding repairs, residents involved in this lawsuit are demanding full public funding for NYCHA.

Kanya Bennett (2019-12-20). A Fair Chance at Opportunity: The U.S. Government Bans the Box. aclu.org When Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) reintroduced the Fair Chance Act earlier this year, he | said: "This bill would give individuals who are reentering society from prison | a fair chance at truly achieving the American dream." The Fair Chance Act would | ban the box that employers use to ask about arrest and conviction history on | job applications. It also requires that federal agencies and contr…

Leila Rafei (2019-12-20). Four Lawyers. Four Projects. One Non-Stop Year. aclu.org It isn't news that the Trump administration has kept ACLU attorneys working at breakneck speed for the past three years. In 2019 alone, we saw historic moments and victories—from defeating the citizenship question on the 2020 census and bringing the first trans civil rights case to the Supreme Court, to blocking a wave of abortion bans and many of the administration's attempts to dismantle the asylum system. To name a few. | Here are some of our attorneys' takes on 2019 and the year ahead—what's changed for the better and for the worse, and how the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will a…

ACLU (2019-12-19). 10 LGBTQ Moments that Defined 2019. aclu.org 1. Aimee Stephens goes to the Supreme Court: | In October, the Supreme Court heard its first trans civil rights case ever. The case was brought by our client Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a funeral home solely for being transgender. That's sex discrimination and it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. | We have yet to see whether the Supreme Court will uphold the civil rights of trans people. But no matter what, history has already been made. | "I'll never forget the feeling of coming out of the Supreme Court and seeing a crowd of trans people and allies chanting to Aim…

Tarek Ismail (2019-12-18). A Secret CBP Team is Targeting and Detaining Innocent Travelers. We're Suing. aclu.org U.S. Customs and Border Protection is deploying secret teams that target, detain, and interrogate innocent travelers. We're suing to expose their activities. | In November 2018, three CBP officers detained Andreas | Gal, a former chief | technology officer at Mozilla Corporation and current Apple employee, at San | Francisco International Airport after he landed from a business trip to Sweden. | Andr…

Daniel Kahn Gillmor (2019-12-18). A Little-Known Privacy Battle Is Being Waged Over Encrypting the Nuts and Bolts of the Internet. aclu.org An important fight is brewing over the nuts and bolts of the | Internet that has significant implications for the privacy and security of all Internet | users. The fight has already pitted Google and Cloudflare against American | telecommunications companies, which are lobbying | Congress | to complain about the search giant. The fight is complicated, but at its core | are questions about c…

Melissa Grant (2019-12-18). A Tennessee City Banned Surgical Abortion Within the City Limits. We're Taking Them to Court. aclu.org For 30 years, I have | worked in reproductive health care. In my current role as Chief Operating | Officer of carafem, a nonprofit with a national network of health centers, I | know the difference compassionate and comprehensive reproductive health care | makes in the lives of our clients. I have witnessed the personal impact when | people who have the legal right to have a child or to have an abortion are denied | those rights due to outrageous societal barriers. Abortion providers are used | to opposition, but we've never experienced the kind of explicit targeting we | received from politicians in the city…

Twyla Carter (2019-12-17). It's Clear: In Oklahoma Cash Bail is Being Used as Ransom to Keep People Who Are Poor Behind Bars. aclu.org Imagine you are one of the 4,000 people arrested every year in Canadian County, Oklahoma, a county with less than 200,000 people. Maybe the police find marijuana in your car during a traffic stop, maybe the police have mistaken you for someone else, or perhaps you can't afford the $40 per month you owe the court from a different charge. | After you're arrested, things will go one of two ways. You may | spend an hour or two in the jail for booking and then go home until your court | date. Or, you might sit in jail for weeks or months until your court date, | eating substandard food and sleeping on a linoleum fl…

Will Tucker (2019-12-16). He spent 36 years in prison because he stole $100 in cash and $4 in food stamps. Now Willie Parker is free. splcenter.org It was pouring rain the day Willie Parker left William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility after 36 years in prison.

splcenter (2019-12-13). Weekend Read: Amid Alabama's prison crisis, the voices of the people living through it should be heard. splcenter.org For years, Alabama's prison system has been under a microscope. Harsh sentencing laws coupled with chronic underfunding have led to horrific conditions for people behind bars.

splcenter (2019-12-04). SPLC lawsuit seeks to restore Mississippi citizens' right to vote. splcenter.org When they were children, Herman Parker and his three sisters went to their grandparents' house every election day.

splcenter (2019-12-02). Prison By Any Other Name: A Report on South Florida Detention Facilities. splcenter.org

Marjorie Cohn (2019-12-02). Civil Rights Are on the Chopping Block in New Supreme Court Term. zcomm.org Hello, A very small proportion of ZNet content is available only to Sustainers. You can become a sustainer for a small repeating donation – monthly or yearly via the links for Sustaining, or Donating, available on the top page of ZNet.

Kathryn Casteel (2019-11-21). After parole, Alabama man gets life back on track, helps others. splcenter.org Chris "Champ" Napier started speaking to students and at-risk youth about his experience in prison before he knew he would ever regain his freedom.

Hatewatch Staff and Brett Barrouquere (2019-11-13). Neo-Nazi Group NSM Faces New Upheaval After James Hart Stern's Death. splcenter.org The leadership of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM) has been thrown into chaos again following the death of self-described civil rights activist James Hart Stern.

John Pilger (2019-10-24). Julian Assange's Extradition Case is a Show Trial. zcomm.org Interview on the lack of mainstream media coverage of Julian's persecution, his health and conditions in Belmarsh prison, CIA spying on Julian Assange and more…

2020-01-04: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

Trump Order Aimed at Palestine Solidarity, Not Antisemitism
Gregory Shupak | fair.org | 2020-01-04
by Gregory Shupak Antisemitism is a very real problem–which Donald Trump is exploiting to advance an anti-Palestinian agenda. | President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month to deny funding to post-secondary schools that violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Jewish people. The order notes that such bigotry is rooted in antisemitism, and says that it will determine whether discrimination has occurred by using the non-legally binding working definition of antisemiti…
fair.org/home/trump-order-aimed-at-palestine-solidarity-not-antisemitism/

Trump Order Aimed at Palestine Solidarity, Not Antisemitism
Gregory Shupak | fair.org | 2020-01-04
by Gregory Shupak Antisemitism is a very real problem–which Donald Trump is exploiting to advance an anti-Palestinian agenda. | President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month to deny funding to post-secondary schools that violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Jewish people. The order notes that such bigotry is rooted in antisemitism, and says that it will determine whether discrimination has occurred by using the non-legally binding working definition of antisemiti…
fair.org/home/trump-order-aimed-at-palestine-solidarity-not-antisemitism/

Apple, Microsoft and Google among five companies sued over deaths of Congolese child miners
wsws.org | 2020-01-04
Apple, Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla are all accused in a lawsuit filed last month of knowingly using cobalt mined by children as young as six.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/04/cong-j04.html

Holiday Appeal for Class-War Prisoners
Partisan Defense Committee | indybay.org | 2020-01-04
Oakstop, 1721 Broadway, Oakland near 19th St. BART stop…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/01/04/18829435.php

ACLU Comment on Baghdad Strike
commondreams.org | 2020-01-03
______________________________…
commondreams.org/newswire/2020/01/03/aclu-comment-baghdad-strike?cd-origin=rss

"Chelsea Manning's incarceration and fines are akin to torture"
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-01-03
Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has published a letter to the US government condemning its treatment of Manning…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/01/03/chelsea-mannings-incarceration-and-fines-are-akin-to-torture/

America Is a Democracy in Name Only
Amy Goodman | truthdig.com | 2020-01-03
One hundred years ago, women won the right to vote in the United States. The women's suffrage movement took decades of organizing to achieve success, from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, to mass civil disobedience and protest leading up to the adoption and ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Now, a century later, the right to vote is on perilous ground, with aggressive and systematic efforts to disenfranchise voters in states across the country. | Voter suppression has long been a central strategy of the Republican party. In 1980, Paul Weyrich, a conservative Republican activist who founded right-win…
truthdig.com/articles/america-is-a-democracy-in-name-only/

Brussels Court Suspends Extradition of Catalan Leader Puigdemont
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-03
A Brussels court has suspended the extradition of former Catalan pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont, his lawyer said on Thursday. | RELATED: | EU Parliament President Lifts Ban on Top Catalan Politicians | Puigdemont cheered the suspension on Twitter and called on Spain to free Junqueras from prison. | "Spain must act in the same way as Belgium has done and respect the law," he said in a tweet. | Paul Beckaert told Reuters that the Belgian judge in charge of the case…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brussels-Court-Suspends-Extradition-of-Catalan-Leader-Puigdemont-20200102-0027.html

Israel to Demolish Family Home of 2 Palestinian Prisoners
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2020-01-03
Israeli forces notified the family of two Palestinian prisoners, on Thursday, of an order to demolish their home in Kobar town, northwest of Ramallah city, the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported. Widad Barghouthi, a media professor at Birzeit University, said that Israeli military forces broke into her family's …
imemc.org/article/israel-to-demolish-family-home-of-2-palestinian-prisoners/

IACHR Requests Precautionary Measures for Former Ecuadorean VP
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-02
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requested Thursday precautionary measures in favor of former Vice President of Ecuador Jorge Glas, jailed since October 2017 after being sentenced to six years in prison as part of a case linked to the bribe plot of the Brazilian company Odebrecht which Glas denies to have taken part of. | RELATED: | Pabon: Fear and Persecution Can Hurt the Pillars of Democracy | Glas' attorney Fausto Jarrin announced it with a photograph that sho…
telesurenglish.net/news/iachr-asks-to-protect-the-life-and-integrity-of-jorge-glas-20200102-0021.html

Anglophone vs Francophone in Cameroon
J.B. Gerald | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-01-02
On an ugliness scale of one to ten, if the U.S. Guantanamo prison is 7, the French military in Algeria 8, Pinochet's controls of Chile 9, and the Inquisition 10, the severity, scale and number of Cameroon military human rights violations is possibly 4 and a half. Still, is the suffering of any victim ever …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/01/anglophone-vs-francophone-in-cameroon/

Italian organizations demand release of veteran communist Nicoletta Dosio
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-01-02
The progressive sectors of Italian society have expressed shock and outrage at the arrest and imprisonment of 73- old-year veteran communist and activist Nicoletta Dosio. She was arrested and imprisoned in Turin on December 30 in relation to a 2012 protest against the Turin–Lyon high-speed railway organized by the No TAV campaign. | Various events have been organized across Italy, including in Rome, Pisa, Milan, Bologna and Florence, in solidarity with Nicoletta Dosio and calling for her immediate release. | On January 1, she wrote from prison, "I'm fine. I am happy with the choice I made because it is the…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/01/02/italian-organizations-demand-release-of-veteran-communist-nicoletta-dosio/

Palestinian administrative detainee Ahmad Zahran has been on hunger strike for 100 days
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-01-01
Israeli authorities had earlier committed to not renewing his period of administrative detention once it expired in October but failed to honor their promise. This led Ahmad Zahran to once again launch a hunger strike…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/01/01/palestinian-administrative-detainee-ahmad-zahran-has-been-on-hunger-strike-for-100-days/

Assange Said, "I'm slowly dying here"
RT | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-31
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims he's 'slowly dying' in a UK jail and is often tranquilized and kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. He made the disturbing revelations in a phone call to his friend Vaughan Smith on Christmas Eve. | Read more: on.rt.com/a85u
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/assange-said-im-slowly-dying-here/

Headlines for December 31, 2019
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-31
Protests Rage Outside U.S. Embassy in Iraq After U.S. Airstrikes Kill 24, Hate Crime Charges Filed Against Suspect in Hanukkah Stabbing in NY, Texas Church Shooter Had Long Criminal History, NYT: Top Officials Failed to Convince Trump to Release Withheld Ukraine Aid, Death Toll from Crackdown on Protests in India Rises to 27, Five Kashmiri Political Leaders Released from Detention, Sudanese Court Sentences 29 to Death for Killing Teacher in Anti-Protest Crackdown, Thousands Flee to the Ocean to Escape Australia Wildfires, Former Nissan Head Flees Japan to Lebanon to Escape Trial on Financial Crimes, New York Sett…
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/31/headlines

Headlines for December 31, 2019
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-31
Protests Rage Outside U.S. Embassy in Iraq After U.S. Airstrikes Kill 24, Hate Crime Charges Filed Against Suspect in Hanukkah Stabbing in NY, Texas Church Shooter Had Long Criminal History, NYT: Top Officials Failed to Convince Trump to Release Withheld Ukraine Aid, Death Toll from Crackdown on Protests in India Rises to 27, Five Kashmiri Political Leaders Released from Detention, Sudanese Court Sentences 29 to Death for Killing Teacher in Anti-Protest Crackdown, Thousands Flee to the Ocean to Escape Australia Wildfires, Former Nissan Head Flees Japan to Lebanon to Escape Trial on Financial Crimes, New York Sett…
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/31/headlines

Prison gave me a greater will to fight
Luiz ignacio lula Da silva | zcomm.org | 2019-12-28
Interview on the reality that Brazil is experiencing and the social protests that have occurred in several Latin American countries…
zcomm.org/zvideo/prison-gave-me-a-greater-will-to-fight/

Wikileaks Still Holding Powerful to Account as Founder Julian Assange "Slowly Dies" in Prison
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-27
Julian Assange is dying inside Belmarsh Prison in London. Those are his own words, relayed through English journalist Vaughan Smith, who revealed that the Wikileaks founder called him on Christmas Eve to share his greetings. Smith also divulged that Assange told him he is kept in solitary confinement 23 hours per day and is often sedated. | His treatment has elicited protests around the world, from journalists, news organizations, human rights groups and celebrities. Last week a group of Australian doctors asked Foreign Minister Marise Pay…
mintpressnews.com/wikileaks-publishing-state-secrets-julian-assange-slowly-dies-prison/263775/

"Bedlam": Film Shows How Decades of Healthcare Underfunding Made Jails "De Facto Mental Asylums"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-27
Are prisons and jails America's "new asylums"? A new documentary looks at how a disproportionate number of underserved people facing mental health challenges have been swept into the criminal justice system, where they lack adequate treatment. Nearly 15% of men and more than 30% of women in jails have a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. For many of them, jail is their first point of entry into mental health treatment. The documentary "Bedlam" was filmed over five years in Los Angeles County's overwhelmed and vastly under-resourced Emergency Psychiatry Services, a…
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/27/bedlam_documentary_mental_health_criminal_justice

"Bedlam": Film Shows How Decades of Healthcare Underfunding Made Jails "De Facto Mental Asylums"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-27
Are prisons and jails America's "new asylums"? A new documentary looks at how a disproportionate number of underserved people facing mental health challenges have been swept into the criminal justice system, where they lack adequate treatment. Nearly 15% of men and more than 30% of women in jails have a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. For many of them, jail is their first point of entry into mental health treatment. The documentary "Bedlam" was filmed over five years in Los Angeles County's overwhelmed and vastly under-resourced Emergency Psychiatry Services, a…
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/27/bedlam_documentary_mental_health_criminal_justice

Headlines for December 27, 2019
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-27
In Confidential Videos, Navy SEALs Say Gallagher Was "Toxic" & "Freaking Evil", Hospitals & Health Clinics Shuttered by Heavy Bombing in Idlib, Syria, Japan to Deploy Destroyer to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions in Gulf of Oman, Nigerian-American Journalist Omoyele Sowore Released from Prison, In India, Protests Rage Against "Anti-Muslim" Citizenship Law, Netanyahu Staves Off Party Leadership Challenge Ahead of General Election, Mexico to Bring Complaint Against Bolivia's Interim Government to ICJ, Congolese Asylum Seeker Died in Border Patrol Custody on Christmas Day, Los Angeles Prosecutors Consider Filing Cri…
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/27/headlines

Headlines for December 26, 2019
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-12-26
Murkowski "Disturbed" by McConnell's "Coordination" with White House for Impeachment Trial, Trump Attacks Windmills with a Series of False Claims, The Intercept: Bloomberg Used Prison Labor to Make 2020 Campaign Calls, Thousands of Syrian Civilians Flee Government Offensive in Idlib, 35 Civilians Killed in Attack in Burkina Faso, China Calls on U.S. to Take "Concrete Steps" Toward Peace with North Korea, At Least 21 Killed as Typhoon Phanfone Slams into the Philippines, U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Recalled After Criticizing Criminalization of Homosexuality, Evo Morales Vows to Return to Bolivia by Next Christmas, H…
www.democracynow.org/2019/12/26/headlines

Across the Country Harsh Sentencing Laws are Tearing Apart Families and Communities
Nicole Zayas Fortier | aclu.org | 2019-12-24
During the holiday season, in the picturesque town of Petoskey, Michigan, Kimiko Uyeda, and her son Marshall celebrate with an annual tradition of selecting a new ornament to add to their tree. Year after year, Kimiko and Marshall add to their collection of ornaments as a part of their tradition. | For years, however, they were separated from one another and unable to enjoy this holiday tradition together. It all began in 2013 when Kimiko was arrested for filing what the local sheriff believed to be a false police report. Because of broken sentencing laws, the prosecutor in the case was able to add four additi…
aclu.org/news/smart-justice/across-the-country-harsh-sentencing-laws-are-tearing-apart-families-and-communities

Four Lawyers. Four Projects. One Non-Stop Year
Leila Rafei | aclu.org | 2019-12-20
It isn't news that the Trump administration has kept ACLU attorneys working at breakneck speed for the past three years. In 2019 alone, we saw historic moments and victories–from defeating the citizenship question on the 2020 census and bringing the first trans civil rights case to the Supreme Court, to blocking a wave of abortion bans and many of the administration's attempts to dismantle the asylum system. To name a few. | Here are some of our attorneys' takes on 2019 and the year ahead–what's changed for the better and for the worse, and how the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will a…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/four-lawyers-four-projects-one-non-stop-year

A Fair Chance at Opportunity: The U.S. Government Bans the Box
Kanya Bennett | aclu.org | 2019-12-20
When Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) reintroduced the Fair Chance Act earlier this year, he | said: "This bill would give individuals who are reentering society from prison | a fair chance at truly achieving the American dream." The Fair Chance Act would | ban the box that employers use to ask about arrest and conviction history on | job applications. It also requires that federal agencies and contr…
aclu.org/news/smart-justice/a-fair-chance-at-opportunity-the-u-s-government-bans-the-box

Public housing residents sue NYC over slum conditions
Liberation staff | liberationnews.org | 2019-12-20
In addition to demanding repairs, residents involved in this lawsuit are demanding full public funding for NYCHA.
liberationnews.org/public-housing-residents-sue-nyc-over-slum-conditions/

10 LGBTQ Moments that Defined 2019
aclu.org | 2019-12-19
1. Aimee Stephens goes to the Supreme Court: | In October, the Supreme Court heard its first trans civil rights case ever. The case was brought by our client Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a funeral home solely for being transgender. That's sex discrimination and it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. | We have yet to see whether the Supreme Court will uphold the civil rights of trans people. But no matter what, history has already been made. | "I'll never forget the feeling of coming out of the Supreme Court and seeing a crowd of trans people and allies chanting to Aim…
aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/10-lgbtq-moments-that-defined-2019

A Secret CBP Team is Targeting and Detaining Innocent Travelers. We're Suing
Tarek Ismail | aclu.org | 2019-12-18
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is deploying secret teams that target, detain, and interrogate innocent travelers. We're suing to expose their activities. | In November 2018, three CBP officers detained Andreas | Gal, a former chief | technology officer at Mozilla Corporation and current Apple employee, at San | Francisco International Airport after he landed from a business trip to Sweden. | Andr…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/a-secret-cbp-team-is-targeting-and-detaining-innocent-travelers-were-suing

A Tennessee City Banned Surgical Abortion Within the City Limits. We're Taking Them to Court
Melissa Grant | aclu.org | 2019-12-18
For 30 years, I have | worked in reproductive health care. In my current role as Chief Operating | Officer of carafem, a nonprofit with a national network of health centers, I | know the difference compassionate and comprehensive reproductive health care | makes in the lives of our clients. I have witnessed the personal impact when | people who have the legal right to have a child or to have an abortion are denied | those rights due to outrageous societal barriers. Abortion providers are used | to opposition, but we've never experienced the kind of explicit targeting we | received from politicians in the city…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/a-tennessee-city-banned-surgical-abortion-within-the-city-limits-were-taking-them-to-court

A Little-Known Privacy Battle Is Being Waged Over Encrypting the Nuts and Bolts of the Internet
Daniel Kahn Gillmor | aclu.org | 2019-12-18
An important fight is brewing over the nuts and bolts of the | Internet that has significant implications for the privacy and security of all Internet | users. The fight has already pitted Google and Cloudflare against American | telecommunications companies, which are lobbying | Congress | to complain about the search giant. The fight is complicated, but at its core | are questions about c…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/a-little-known-privacy-battle-is-being-waged-over-encrypting-the-nuts-and-bolts-of-the-internet

It's Clear: In Oklahoma Cash Bail is Being Used as Ransom to Keep People Who Are Poor Behind Bars
Twyla Carter | aclu.org | 2019-12-17
Imagine you are one of the 4,000 people arrested every year in Canadian County, Oklahoma, a county with less than 200,000 people. Maybe the police find marijuana in your car during a traffic stop, maybe the police have mistaken you for someone else, or perhaps you can't afford the $40 per month you owe the court from a different charge. | After you're arrested, things will go one of two ways. You may | spend an hour or two in the jail for booking and then go home until your court | date. Or, you might sit in jail for weeks or months until your court date, | eating substandard food and sleeping on a linoleum fl…
aclu.org/news/smart-justice/its-clear-in-oklahoma-cash-bail-is-being-used-as-ransom-to-keep-people-who-are-poor-behind-bars

He spent 36 years in prison because he stole $100 in cash and $4 in food stamps. Now Willie Parker is free
Will Tucker | splcenter.org | 2019-12-16
It was pouring rain the day Willie Parker left William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility after 36 years in prison.
splcenter.org/news/2019/12/17/he-spent-36-years-prison-because-he-stole-100-cash-and-4-food-stamps-now-willie-parker-free

Weekend Read: Amid Alabama's prison crisis, the voices of the people living through it should be heard
splcenter.org | 2019-12-13
For years, Alabama's prison system has been under a microscope. Harsh sentencing laws coupled with chronic underfunding have led to horrific conditions for people behind bars.
splcenter.org/news/2019/12/13/weekend-read-amid-alabamas-prison-crisis-voices-people-living-through-it-should-be-heard

SPLC lawsuit seeks to restore Mississippi citizens' right to vote
splcenter.org | 2019-12-04
When they were children, Herman Parker and his three sisters went to their grandparents' house every election day.
splcenter.org/news/2019/12/04/splc-lawsuit-seeks-restore-mississippi-citizens-right-vote