Davide Mastracci(2020-04-22). Blame the Covid-19 failure on your governments, not on China.indybay.orgThe anti-Chinese narrative is based on false statements and serves to distract people from the failure of neoliberalism. Build hospitals and make health care universal! Cut military spending in half! Testing, not imprisonment, abuse and neglect!
Staff(2020-04-21). Death Trap Jail: Pepper-Sprayed, Otay Mesa Detainees Demand Release as COVID-19 Spreads Inside.democracynow.org We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are on hunger strike. We get an update from Ruth Mendez, community activist and volunteer with Otay Mesa Detention Resistance.
Staff(2020-04-21). Pepper-Sprayed, Otay Mesa Detainees Demand Release as COVID-19 Spreads Inside.truthout.orgImage Credit: AFSC — San Diego | We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are o…
Mark Gruenberg(2020-04-21). AFGE: Feds fail to protect 290,000 workers from coronavirus.peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—The top federal workers union, the Government Employees (AFGE), formally charged the Veterans Affairs Department and the Bureau of Prisons, with endangering the health and safety of 290,000 workers by exposing them, without protection, to patients — and prisoners — suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. Some 260,000 workers are in danger at the VA and …
Staff(2020-04-21). Trump Wants to Shield Companies Against COVID-19 Lawsuits From Sick Workers.truthout.orgPresident Donald Trump said during a press briefing Monday evening that his administration is aiming to shield corporations from legal responsibility for workers who contract the novel coronavirus on the job, a move that the Chamber of Commerce and right-wing advocacy groups are
The Canary(2020-04-21). Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's prison release extended.thecanary.coNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary release from an Iranian jail has been extended by a month, according to her MP. | The British-Iranian mother has been freed from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. | Tulip Siddiq tweeted on Tuesday morning: "Very happy to hear from Richard Ratcliffe that Nazanin's furlough has been extended for a month — in line with other prisoners in Iran." | The Labour MP added: "Now is the time for our government to do all it can to make it permanent." | Very happy to hear from Richard Ratcliffe that Nazanin's furlough has been extended for a month — i…
teleSUR(2020-04-21). Jailed Saudi Princess Appeals for Help After Months of Silence.telesurenglish.netA Saudi princess, princess Basma bint Saud, who has been missing for almost a year, spoke publicly for the first time, asking her uncle, King Salman, and her cousin Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to review her case and release her from prison. | RELATED: | "I am currently arbitrarily held at Al-Ha'ir prison without criminal, or otherwise any charges against my person," read one of the tweets posted last Wed…
Edward Curtin(2020-04-21). Rotating on Boredom's Spit.dissidentvoice.orgAnd all the news just repeats itself Like some forgotten dream we've both seen — John Prine, Hello in There, from his debut album entitled "John Prine", 1971 Without the ability to forget, we become imprisoned within a collective mental habit that induces us to repeat things that are as hard to escape as is …
IMEMC & Agencies(2020-04-21). Israeli Forces Abduct Freed Prisoner in Hebron.imemc.orgIsraeli troops abducted, early on Tuesday, a freed Palestinian prisoner from the Beit Ummar town in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Local media sources reported that an Israeli army force invaded the Beit Ummar town and began invading several Palestinian-owned homes, before they abducted freed Palestinian prisoner, …
Staff(2020-04-20). Headlines for April 20, 2020.democracynow.orgU.S. Fatalities Top 40,000; Nursing Homes Hit Hard as Death Tolls Soar | , Trump and Governors at Odds over Coronavirus Testing as Uneven Reopening of States Commences, Right-Wing Groups Organize Anti-Lockdown Protests Around the Country | , New Deal on Relief for Small Businesses Could Be Imminent But May Lack Key Democratic Provisions, Immigrant Prisoners at Otay Mesa Launch Hunger Strike, Denounce Inhumane Treatment | , Michael Cohen to Be Released from Federal Detention as Prisoners Nationwide Face Mounting Coronavirus Risk, Italy Records Lowest Daily Death Toll in a Week; Spain & France Also Show Signs of Pr…
Fight Back(2020-04-20). LA May Day car caravan protest set.fightbacknews.orgLos Angeles, CA – Luis Sifuentes, of the community group Cento CSO states, "Due to the pandemic and Stay At Home order in Los Angeles, Centro CSO is organizing this year's May Day as a car caravan through Boyle Heights with our demands: Jail killer cops, defend public education, and legalization for all – along with demands for hazard pay, better protections for workers in the front lines during this pandemic and expand COVID-19 testing in Black and brown communities." | The car protest will take place May 1, assembling before 4 p.m. on Chavez/Lorena at 5 Puntos, in Boyle Heights. | Event information here:…
Brian Terrell(2020-04-19). COVID-19 and the Wasting Disease of Normalcy.dissidentvoice.org "But what of the price of peace?" asked Jesuit priest and war resister Daniel Berrigan, writing from federal prison in 1969, doing time for his part in the destruction of draft records. "I think of the good, decent, peace-loving people I have known by the thousands, and I wonder. How many of them are so …
ACLU(2020-04-17). What it's Like in ICE Detention During a Pandemic.aclu.orgAs millions of people in the U.S. shelter in their homes, and millions more who aren't able to stay indoors practice social distancing or other measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, a crisis is brewing in the facilities where immigrants are detained. Cramped conditions and inadequate access to hygiene or medical care have created what one medical expert called a "tinderbox" for the disease in a letter to Congress., , Many of those in detention are asylum seekers, who came to the U.S. to ask for protection after fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. Many others were long-time U.S. resi…
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The Impacts of Roundup (Glyphosate): Immune Suppression, Total Corporate Control over Agriculture, Destruction of the Family Farm
Mischa Popoff | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-22
The war is on. A crucial weapon in the attack is Roundup (glyphosate), a herbicide that's being used for something for which it was never intended[1]: the forced ripening of crops, called desiccation, all but guaranteeing it …
globalresearch.ca/covid-19-roundup-immuno-compromised-marriage-hell/5710271
Blame the Covid-19 failure on your governments, not on China
Davide Mastracci | indybay.org | 2020-04-22
The anti-Chinese narrative is based on false statements and serves to distract people from the failure of neoliberalism. Build hospitals and make health care universal! Cut military spending in half! Testing, not imprisonment, abuse and neglect! indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/20/18832513.php
Death Trap Jail: Pepper-Sprayed, Otay Mesa Detainees Demand Release as COVID-19 Spreads Inside
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-21
We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are on hunger strike. We get an update from Ruth Mendez, community activist and volunteer with Otay Mesa Detention Resistance. www.democracynow.org/2020/4/21/otay_mesa_immigrant_detention_center_coronavirus
Defying Medical Experts, Lawmakers are Weaponizing COVID-19 to Restrict Abortion Access
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2020-04-21
In the latest development in a fast-moving court case, on Monday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to block nearly all abortion services in the state. The ruling came after a legal challenge to Abbott's inclusion of abortion care in a March 22 executive order instructing health care facilities across the state to "postpone all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary.", , For Abbott and his allies, the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be exactly… aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/defying-medical-experts-lawmakers-are-weaponizing-covid-19-to-restrict-abortion-access
Trump Wants to Shield Companies Against COVID-19 Lawsuits From Sick Workers
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-21
President Donald Trump said during a press briefing Monday evening that his administration is aiming to shield corporations from legal responsibility for workers who contract the novel coronavirus on the job, a move that the Chamber of Commerce and right-wing advocacy groups are aggressively lobbying for as the White House pushes to reopen the U.S. economy against the warnings of publ… truthout.org/articles/trump-wants-to-shield-companies-against-covid-19-lawsuits-from-sick-workers/
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's prison release extended
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-04-21
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary release from an Iranian jail has been extended by a month, according to her MP. | The British-Iranian mother has been freed from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. | Tulip Siddiq tweeted on Tuesday morning: "Very happy to hear from Richard Ratcliffe that Nazanin's furlough has been extended for a month
Jailed Saudi Princess Appeals for Help After Months of Silence telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-21
A Saudi princess, princess Basma bint Saud, who has been missing for almost a year, spoke publicly for the first time, asking her uncle, King Salman, and her cousin Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to review her case and release her from prison. | RELATED: | COVID-19 Reportedly Fast Spreading Among Saudi Royal Family | "I am currently arbitrarily held at Al-Ha'ir prison without criminal, or otherwise any charges against my person," read one of the tweets posted last Wed… telesurenglish.net/news/Jailed-Saudi-Princess-Appeals-for-Help-After-Months-of-Silence-20200421-0022.html
Rotating on Boredom's Spit
Edward Curtin | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-04-21
And all the news just repeats itself Like some forgotten dream we've both seen
AFGE: Feds fail to protect 290,000 workers from coronavirus
Mark Gruenberg | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-21
WASHINGTON–The top federal workers union, the Government Employees (AFGE), formally charged the Veterans Affairs Department and the Bureau of Prisons, with endangering the health and safety of 290,000 workers by exposing them, without protection, to patients
Car caravan protesters demand release of immigrant detainees in Arizona
Sarah Roberts | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-21
TUCSON, Ariz.
Man Who Filmed Police Murder of Eric Garner Says Prison Guards Threatened to Give Him COVID-19
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-20
WeCopwatch, an activist organization dedicated to the nonviolent observation of police, says that corrections officers threatened to deliberately infect Ramsey Orta for weeks before he fell ill. mintpressnews.com/ramsey-orta-says-prison-guards-deliberately-gave-him-covid-19/266782/
LA May Day car caravan protest set
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-04-20
Los Angeles, CA – Luis Sifuentes, of the community group Cento CSO states, "Due to the pandemic and Stay At Home order in Los Angeles, Centro CSO is organizing this year's May Day as a car caravan through Boyle Heights with our demands: Jail killer cops, defend public education, and legalization for all – along with demands for hazard pay, better protections for workers in the front lines during this pandemic and expand COVID-19 testing in Black and brown communities." | The car protest will take place May 1, assembling before 4 p.m. on Chavez/Lorena at 5 Puntos, in Boyle Heights. | Event information here:… www.fightbacknews.org/2020/4/20/la-may-day-car-caravan-protest-set
COVID-19 and the Wasting Disease of Normalcy
Brian Terrell | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-04-19
"But what of the price of peace?" asked Jesuit priest and war resister Daniel Berrigan, writing from federal prison in 1969, doing time for his part in the destruction of draft records. "I think of the good, decent, peace-loving people I have known by the thousands, and I wonder. How many of them are so … dissidentvoice.org/2020/04/covid-19-and-the-wasting-disease-of-normalcy/
What it's Like in ICE Detention During a Pandemic aclu.org | 2020-04-17
As millions of people in the U.S. shelter in their homes, and millions more who aren't able to stay indoors practice social distancing or other measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, a crisis is brewing in the facilities where immigrants are detained. Cramped conditions and inadequate access to hygiene or medical care have created what one medical expert called a "tinderbox" for the disease in a letter to Congress., , Many of those in detention are asylum seekers, who came to the U.S. to ask for protection after fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. Many others were long-time U.S. resi… aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/what-its-like-in-ice-detention-during-a-pandemic
A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform aclu.org | 2020-04-17
Apple and Google Announced a Coronavirus Tracking System. How Worried Should We Be?
Jennifer Stisa Granick | aclu.org | 2020-04-16
Apple and Google last week announced a joint contact tracing effort that would use Bluetooth technology to help alert people who have been in close proximity to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Similar proposals have been put forward by an MIT-associated effort called PACT as well as by multiple European groups., , These proposals differ from… aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/apple-and-google-announced-a-coronavirus-tracking-system-how-worried-should-we-be
Isolation, Before and During a Pandemic aclu.org | 2020-04-14
As many Americans round out the end of their first month of social distancing, it's clear that the toll of "stay at home" orders during the COVID-19 pandemic is much more than economic. The anxiety and fear that wash over us each day that we spend alone, away from friends, coworkers, and family, inflict their own kind of emotional damage. , , The cost of social isolation is a worthy cost in this case
Let's Stop the Scapegoating During a Global Pandemic
Cecillia Wang | aclu.org | 2020-04-14
Just like tens of millions of people sheltering in place in the U.S., I'm adjusting to the new realities and worries of day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. But on top of worrying about my elderly family members, U.S. hospitals' shortage of basic medical equipment, or where I can find toilet paper and eggs, I have another fear. Like other Americans of East Asian descent (including citizens and non-citizens), I worry that I might be attacked on the street or in a store because of my race., , There are so many news reports that spur my concerns. For example, on March 14, a man in Midland, Texas, attacke… aclu.org/news/racial-justice/lets-stop-the-scapegoating-during-a-global-pandemic
Federal Wardens Must Immediately Flatten the Curve in our Nation's Prisons
Kanya Bennett | aclu.org | 2020-04-13
With 10 deaths and more than 500 positive COVID-19 cases in the nation's federal prisons, wardens must " move with dispatch" to " move vulnerable inmates out of these institutions." These are the words that Attorney General William Barr used on April 3rd when he directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to reduce the federal prison population in the wake of COVID-19… aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/federal-wardens-must-immediately-flatten-the-curve-in-our-nations-prisons
Civil Liberties Never Sleep: The ACLU in the Pandemic
David Cole | aclu.org | 2020-04-10
The COVID-19 pandemic has closed down many businesses, but the work of preserving civil liberties and civil rights continues, as essential as ever. Reports of courts closing down can be misleading. While public trials that require jurors and in-person testimony have been suspended, most courts and lawyers can do their work remotely. The filing of legal briefs continues, and oral arguments and hearings are being held remotely. The work of securing justice continues., , At the ACLU, our most immediate focus has been on civil liberties and civil rights issues arising from the government's response (or lack thereo… aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/civil-liberties-never-sleep-the-aclu-in-the-pandemic
COVID-19: Rights experts highlight LGBTI discrimination, antisemitism news.un.org | 2020-04-17
New guidance from the UN human rights office, issued on Friday, sets out key actions to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people against discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic. news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1062042
ACLU Lawsuit Over Baltimore Spy Planes Sets Up Historic Surveillance Battle
Jay Stanley | aclu.org | 2020-04-09
Imagine a day in the future when everyone, from the moment they step outside their home, has to live with the knowledge that their every movement is being recorded by powerful cameras circling in the skies above. Not just where they work, shop, eat and drink, and whose homes they visit, but details about their political, religious, sexual, and medical lives
I'm Queer and I've Been in Solitary. Ellen Isn't Experiencing What I Did
Dominique Morgan | aclu.org | 2020-04-09
On Monday, I ended a 12-hour day returning emails to incarcerated queer folks, providing direct aid for housing to folks living with HIV & AIDS who have been incarcerated and challenging the state of Nebraska to provide humane conditions for incarcerated individuals and decided to mindlessly scroll on Twitter. , , I found the quote from the show Ellen DeGeneres filmed from her multimillion-dollar, multi-room mansion: "One thing that I've learned from being in quarantine is that people
Nativist Hate Groups Want to Keep People in ICE Detention Despite COVID-19 Threat splcenter.org | 2020-04-08
Anti-immigrant think tanks are pushing for the U.S. to detain immigrants and asylum seekers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, even as prisoners stage hunger strikes and other protests in response to what they describe as deteriorating health conditions in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities. splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/04/09/nativist-hate-groups-want-keep-people-ice-detention-despite-covid-19-threat
Fighting for immigrant rights during a pandemic
Katrina Huber | splcenter.org | 2020-04-02
As people across the country are confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention has been given to a group of people whose health is in danger because they are locked away from the outside world
Alabama prisons hold more than 1,100 older people at greater COVID-19 risk
Kathryn Casteel and Will Tucker | splcenter.org | 2020-04-02
More than 1,100 people age 65 or older are locked away in Alabama prisons, putting a group already highly susceptible to the deadly COVID-19 virus at an even greater risk, according to an SPLC analysis of the state's prison system. splcenter.org/news/2020/04/02/alabama-prisons-hold-more-1100-older-people-greater-covid-19-risk
Evaluation of Association Between Gastric Acid Suppression and Risk of Intestinal Colonization With MDROs
Willems RJ, van Dijk K, Ket JF, et al. | jamanetwork.com | 2020-04-01
This systematic review and meta-analysis examines the association of use of gastric acid suppressants with the risk of colonization with multidrug-resistant microorganisms (MDROs). jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2761273
We look at the mounting number of COVID-19 cases inside immigration jails across the country and one of the largest outbreaks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, run by private prison company CoreCivic. Prisoners were told to sign contracts, written only in English, in exchange for receiving face masks. When some refused to sign, guards pepper-sprayed them. This comes as activists say hundreds imprisoned in detention centers in California are on hunger strike. We get an update from Ruth Mendez, community activist and volunteer with Otay Mesa Detention Resistance.
WASHINGTON—The top federal workers union, the Government Employees (AFGE), formally charged the Veterans Affairs Department and the Bureau of Prisons, with endangering the health and safety of 290,000 workers by exposing them, without protection, to patients — and prisoners — suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. Some 260,000 workers are in danger at the VA and …
"But what of the price of peace?" asked Jesuit priest and war resister Daniel Berrigan, writing from federal prison in 1969, doing time for his part in the destruction of draft records. "I think of the good, decent, peace-loving people I have known by the thousands, and I wonder. How many of them are so …
