Daily Archives: 2020-08-26

2020-08-26: News Headlines

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…

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-08-26). Reminder: The US Empire Tortures Journalists And Whistleblowers. thealtworld.com "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 his ankle," PA reports. | "He is in a lot of pain," Moris added. | This additional physical pain is just one more piece of information on top of the mountain of evidence we already had that the United States and United Kingdom are t…

Staff (2020-08-26). Headlines for August 26, 2020. democracynow.org Two Killed as White Militia Member Fires on Black Lives Matter Protesters in Kenosha, WI, Family of Jacob Blake Demands Arrest of Officers Who Shot Him in the Back, Black Lives Matter Protesters Shot At While Marching in Pennsylvania, Republican National Convention Speakers Continue to Flout Hatch Act Ethics Laws, CDC Quietly Drops Test Recommendation for Asymptomatic People Exposed to COVID-19, Far-Right Militia Leader Ammon Bundy Arrested at Idaho State Capitol, Argentina Posts Record Coronavirus Toll; COVID-19 Resurgent in Europe, Hurricane Laura Could Become Category 4 Storm Ahead of Gulf Coast Landfall, Leba…

Editor (2020-08-26). Abolish the police! workers.org The recent Republican convention — led by the white-supremacist-in-chief, current U.S. president and enemy of the people — rallied its troops with racist scare tactics about "civil unrest" by Black Lives Matter protesters and left-wing activists. The Democratic convention offered an alternative, but not a solution. This party nominated for . . . |

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.

RT (2020-08-26). Progressive Twitter icon Shaun King threatens to DOX Kenosha cops after openly supporting violent riots. rt.com Prominent social activist Shaun King has threatened to indiscriminately publish the names of police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin if the city refuses to identify the cop who shot a black man, Jacob Blake. | Twitter users expressed disgust and reported King for harassment after the prominent Black Lives Matter advocate said he would begin targeting members of the Kenosha police force, regardless of whether they were involved in Sunday's shooting. | "If you do not name the officer who brutally shot Jacob Blake on Sunday, we will simply begin naming officers from your department who may or may not be him," King…

The Canary (2020-08-26). Belarus detains more people as protests demanding leader's resignation continue. thecanary.co Police in Belarus have detained more than 50 people across the country during protests demanding the resignation of its authoritarian leader.The renewed crackdown on protesters, who have been taking to the streets for over two weeks, comes as authorities crank up pressure on the opposition, jailing several activists, summoning others for questioning and selectively ordering dozens of demonstrators to appear in court.Belarus's Interior Ministry said 51 protesters were detained on 25 August at rallies that spanned across several cities.According to the Viasna human rights group, 15 people were detained in Minsk, th…

Neil Demause (2020-08-26). US Media Can't Think How to Fight Fires Without $1-an-Hour Prison Labor. zcomm.org Trained firefighters being good enough to work for nearly nothing, but ineligible to get real jobs, would seem to represent an even bigger irony — and a more important story — than California having to spend a few million dollars extra to fight two crises at once…

posted by Norse (2020-08-26). 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.

WSWS Repost (2020-08-26). The Republican convention: Four nights of fascist filth begin. indybay.org While the Democratic Party is running the 2020 election with the same strategy as 2016, Trump has a program—the forcible suppression of social contradictions using fascist methods.

_____ (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.

_____ (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). Houseless Resist Second Eviction Effort In Philadelphia. popularresistance.org An encampment of over 100 houseless people sits on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway here, steps away from the iconic art museum of "Rocky" movie fame and under the noses of the Philadelphia bourgeoisie. JTD camp is a self-declared autonomous and cop-free zone providing a safe environment at a time when the COVID pandemic is ravaging the city. A large "Black Lives Matter" banner hangs at the entrance. | The James Talib Dean camp, named to honor an organizer who died shortly after it was established in June, is the latest in a series of camps set up by local activist groups.

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…

yenisafak (2020-08-26). Biden | campaign says China's treatment of Uighur Muslims is 'genocide'. yenisafak.com A spokesperson for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden issued a statement on Tuesday referring to China's oppression of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang province as a "genocide," according to the U.S. publication

Staff (2020-08-25). "A Human Tragedy": Wildfires Reveal California's Reliance on Incarcerated Firefighters. democracynow.org As climate-fueled wildfires engulf California, tens of thousands of firefighters have been deployed across the state to combat the blazes amid a record heat wave and deadly pandemic. We look at how more than 1,300 incarcerated firefighters — who are annually deployed to the frontlines in California for just $1 an hour — are fighting back the blazes as coronavirus outbreaks in state prisons limit how many are available to fight the fires, and lay bare the state's reliance on prison labor to control its ever-growing wildfire season with an exploitative system many have called slave labor. "What they're…

RT (2020-08-25). 'You don't recognize my existence!': Former DNC head Donna Brazile has meltdown on Fox News (VIDEO). rt.com Former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile melted down in spectacular fashion on Fox News, accusing fellow commentator Tammy Bruce of racism and demanding she "recognize my existence." | Discussing Monday night's Republican National Convention on Tuesday morning's Fox & Friends, Brazile accused the GOP of "speaking to the choir" with their unabashedly pro-Trump lineup of speakers. Conservative contributor Tammy Bruce shot back, accusing the Democrats of being out of touch with ordinary Americans, and slamming the left for not speaking out strongly enough against the Black Lives Matter riots…

RT (2020-08-25). 'Are you a christian!?' BLM activists harass restaurant patrons who refuse to raise fists and shout slogans (VIDEOS). rt.com Disturbing videos have emerged online showing Black Lives Matter demonstrators screaming and yelling at restaurant patrons in Washington DC., demanding that they raise their fists in support of the protest movement. | In one scene which spread like wildfire on Tuesday, a large group of white protesters can be seen crowding around the table of a white woman at a Washington DC restaurant and demanding that she raise her fist to comply. | "Are you a Christian?" one activist repeatedly yells. Others yell slogans including "White Silence is Violence" and "No Justice, No Peace." As no videos have emerged showing the…

RT (2020-08-25). Teachers shot by pellet guns during 'active shooter' drills sue Indiana sheriff over physical & psychological distress. rt.com Eight schoolteachers from Meadowlawn Elementary School in Indiana have sued the local sheriff's department after a traumatizing course of "active shooter" training allegedly left them physically and psychologically scarred. | Active shooter training with the White County Sheriff's Department was "one of the most terrifying experiences of [their lives]," the educators alleged in a lawsuit filed last week, claiming they were shot at point-blank range with airsoft guns and otherwise terrorized above and beyond the normal active-shooter drill procedure. They have demanded a jury trial, with some saying the experie…

Manar Waheed (2020-08-25). Hundreds of Thousands of People in Limbo as They Wait for Justice. aclu.org Every day, nearly 400,000 people in America with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) wake up wondering whether today will bring news of a court ruling that could effectively end their immigration status and put them at risk for deportation. Perhaps worse is the impact the decision could have on their U.S. citizen children. Thousands of young Americans could face an impossible choice: leave the U.S. to stay with their parents or lose their parents if they choose to stay in the only country they've ever known. They can't have both, at least if the Trump administration has its way., , The court case on which the fat…

Ed Rampell (2020-08-25). Unlocking the Trauma Shall Set Ye Free. progressive.org New documentary chronicles a restorative justice program at San Quentin State Prison.

_____ (2020-08-25). Are Postal Service Cuts Motivated By Voter Suppression, Privatization Or Both? popularresistance.org Throughout its 245-year history,…

sputniknews (2020-08-25). Family of Black Man Paralyzed in Police Shooting in Wisconsin to File Lawsuit, Lawyer Says. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Lawyers for the Kenosha, Wisconsin police shooting victim Jacob Blake said they were filing a civil lawsuit to seek financial remedy for the man that a video clip showed being shot at least seven times from behind by police officers apprehending him.

Staff (2020-08-25). California's Dependence on Incarcerated Labor Exposed as Wildfires Rage. truthout.org As climate-fueled wildfires engulf California, tens of thousands of firefighters have been deployed across the state to combat the blazes amid a record heat wave and deadly pandemic. We look at how more than 1,300 incarcerated firefighters — who are annually deployed to the frontlines in California for just $1 an hour — are fighting back the blazes as coronavirus outbreaks in state prisons limit how many are available to fight the fires, and lay bare the state's reliance on prison labor to…

yenisafak (2020-08-25). More than 20 FETàñ suspects get jail terms in Turkey. yenisafak.com A Turkish court on Tuesday handed down jail terms to 24 FETàñ suspects in a case related to the infiltration of the armed forces.The sentences range from one-and-a-half years to 15 years. A total of 33 suspects stood trial.Three suspects benefited from the remorse law and their sentence was reduced to three years.Four suspects were acquitted and one was let off without a charge.FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-08-25). NY Attorney General Files Federal Lawsuit, Demanding Trump and DeJoy Reverse 'Authoritarian' Changes Made to USPS. commondreams.org "This USPS slowdown is nothing more than a voter suppression tactic." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/new_york_coronavirus_0_0.png

commondreams (2020-08-25). Lawsuit Fights Trump Administration Plan to Open 18 Million Acres of Western Arctic to Oil and Gas Drilling. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers (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 …

Ashoka Mukpo (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,

Staff (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.

Frances Madeson (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

RT (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…

The Canary (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.

The Canary (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…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-08-24). New York Attorney General Sues Trump Organization, Accusing President's Company of Misleading Lenders and Dodging Investigation. commondreams.org New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed Monday that she filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's business empire, calling on the New York State Supreme Court to force the Trump Organization to comply with seven subpoenas which would release thousands of documents regarding the company's alleged misleading of lenders regarding its assets. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/7236974336_96aab23dd1_o.jpg

Peoples Dispatch (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…

Robin McCall (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 …

WSWS (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.

teleSUR (2020-08-24). China Defends TikTok's Lawsuit to Protect Its Interests. telesurenglish.net In response to questions concerning the lawsuits that TikTok and some WeChat users have filed against the U.S. government executive order banning TikTok in the United States, Lijian defended their decision, assuring that "China will also continue to take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises." | RELATED: | Trump Signs Order to Ban TikTok Operations in the United States | He went on to say that some U.S. politicians are tr…

_____ (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). Grand Jury Resistor Jailed For Fighting Federal Repression Against BLM. popularresistance.org At 3: 00 pm, Wednesday, August 19th, Jesse Shackelford, 28, was taken into federal custody at the Dane County Jail and joined a long history of grand jury resisters. He claimed his Fifth Amendment right to silence in order to protect himself and his community and in a strong stand against both this grand jury in particular and the grand jury process as an oppressive, movement-busting tactic. | For refusing to testify in front of a grand jury targeting the Black liberation struggle and uprisings in Madison, Jesse was charged with civil contempt and put in a cage: he is currently being held in solitary confinement.

_____ (2020-08-24). Tennessee To Strip Right To Vote From Protesters. popularresistance.org Tennessee protesters will face harsh penalties, including losing the right to vote, as punishment for participating in protests under a law enacted by the Tennessee GOP-dominant General Assembly. Right-wing Governor Bill Lee quietly signed off on the bill Thursday, AP reports. | Under the new law, demonstrators who camp on state property can now be charged with a Class E felony, punishable by up to six years in prison, rather than a misdemeanor it was previously. | Since George Floyd's killing earlier this year, protesters have camped outside the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville, demanding a meeting with the govern…

Staff (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.

Staff (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…

commondreams (2020-08-24). ACLU Statement on Police Shooting of Jacob Blake. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2020-08-24). Environment America joins lawsuit challenging Trump administration's push to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (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…

WSWS (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.