(2021-01-04). Texas prisons: Scene of negligence toward COVID-19. liberationnews.org 
In Texas prisons, the class nature of COVID-19 spread is being exposed as infection rates surge.
(2021-01-04). Assange Wins. The Cost: The Crushing of Press Freedom. counterpunch.org 
The unexpected decision by Judge Vanessa Baraitser to deny a US demand to extradite Julian Assange, foiling efforts to send him to a US super-max jail for the rest of his life, is a welcome legal victory, but one swamped by larger lessons that should disturb us deeply.
(2021-01-04). "Victory for Julian": U.K. Blocks WikiLeaks Founder Assange Extradition to U.S. on Espionage Charges. democracynow.org 
In a stunning decision, a British judge has blocked the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, saying he would not be safe in a U.S. prison due to his deteriorated mental state. In 2019, Assange was indicted in the United States on 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act related to the publication of classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The United States has already announced plans to appeal the ruling. Press freedom advocates have campaigned against Assange's prosecution for years, arguing it would set a dangerous precedent for prosecut…
(2021-01-04). Julian Assange should not be extradited to US, UK court rules. middleeasteye.net 
Julian Assange should not be extradited to US, UK court rules | Judge rules that Wikileaks founder was suicide risk if convicted in the US, where he faces up to 175 years in prison on espionage charges | Mon, 01/04/2021 – 08: 56 | Witnesses told the UK court that Assange could commit suicide if imprisoned in the United States (AFP) | A UK court has ruled that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should not b…
(2021-01-04). Chris Hedges: The Empire is Not Done with Julian Assange. scheerpost.com By Chris Hedges / Original to ScheerPost Shortly after WikiLeaks released the Iraq War Logs in October 2010, which documented numerous U.S. war crimes — including video images of the gunning down of two Reuters journalists and 10 other unarmed civilians in the Collateral Murder video, the routine torture of Iraqi prisoners, the covering up of thousands of civilian deaths and the killing of nearly… |
(2021-01-04). Decision Is Good News for Assange But Sets Grave Precedent for Other Journalists. truthout.org In a stunning decision, a British judge has blocked the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, saying he would not be safe in a U.S. prison due to his deteriorated mental state. In 2019, Assange was indicted in the United States on 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act related to the publication of classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The United States has already announced plans to appeal the ruling. Press freedo…
(2021-01-04). Judge turns down plea to extradite Julian Assange to US; bail hearing on Wednesday. peoplesdispatch.org Judge Vanessa Baraitser refused the plea to extradite WikiLeaks founder to the US on the grounds that there was a high chance of his committing suicide due to the brutal prison conditions there. She accepted most of the other contentions of the prosecution…
(2021-01-04). Assange wins. The cost: Press freedom is crushed, and dissent labelled mental illness. dissidentvoice.org The unexpected decision by Judge Vanessa Baraitser to deny a US demand to extradite Julian Assange, foiling efforts to send him to a US super-max jail for the rest of his life, is a welcome legal victory, but one swamped by larger lessons that should disturb us deeply. Those who campaigned so vigorously to keep …
(2021-01-04). Assange Wins. The Cost: The Crushing of Press Freedom, The Labelling of Dissent as Mental Illness. globalresearch.ca The unexpected decision by Judge Vanessa Baraitser to deny a US demand to extradite Julian Assange, foiling efforts to send him to a US super-max jail for the rest of his life, is a welcome legal victory, but one swamped …
(2021-01-04). Protesters Gather In DC In Solidarity With Assange. popularresistance.org Press freedom activists and independent journalists endured the cold and rain outside the British Embassy in Washington D.C. on Sunday Jan. 3. With less than 24 hours until a potential blow to the future of press freedom, the crowd of free speech advocates was there to make as much noise as possible. | On Monday, Jan. 4, U.K. judge Vanessa Baraitser will announce if the U.K. government will extradite Australian journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison for charges under the Espionage Act. Leading press freedom and human rights groups have acknowl…
(2021-01-04). UK Judge Rules Against Extradition of Assange To US. telesurenglish.net British Judge Vanessa Baraitser on Monday ruled that Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States to face charges of espionage and hacking government computers, as reported by The Guardian. | RELATED: | In making her decision, the British judge argued that the U.S. prison system has terrible and repressive characteristics, which puts Assange at risk of suicide. | "The rejection by the U.K. court of the US Govt's request…
(2021-01-04). Stella Moris: If British Court Sends Julian Assange To The United States. popularresistance.org London – A month ago, I would wake up in the middle of the night seized by a recurring nightmare: my little boys, Max, 22 months, and Gabriel, who is three, had been orphaned. I was still here but their father was not. | Their father is Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks. Today, that terrible nightmare is all too close to becoming a reality. | Julian has been on remand in Belmarsh prison in South-East London for almost two years. | He is fighting a political extradition to the United States, where he risks being buried in the deepest, darkest corner of the US prison system for the rest of his life. Julian…
(2021-01-04). Father Takes Assange's Fight To New York. popularresistance.org The father of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has turned his focus from the UK to the US where he hopes a change of president could advantage his son. | Assange is being held at London's Belmarsh Prison, pending a court decision on a warrant for his extradition to the US to face charges. | A judgment is due to be handed down at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, but Assange's father John Shipton won't be there. | Mr Shipton says there's too much uncertainty about his ability to travel amid a series of border closures in the UK due to a mutant strand of coronavirus. | "It's all up in the air like it is for everybody…
(2021-01-04). Master Biden Speaks. globalresearch.ca The civil rights groups' rather basic requests for voting rights protections and the need for federal intervention to address police brutality were minimized and dismissed by the president-elect. | Joe Biden is nothing if not consistent. He has always been an …
(2021-01-04). COVID-19: Coming to a Jail Near You. progressive.org Illinois jails have become hotspots for the coronavirus, and county officials haven't done much to stop the spread.
(2021-01-04). Algerian court acquits three former Bouteflika regime officials, including his brother. peoplesdispatch.org In a setback to the popular Hirak resistance movement in Algeria, a court acquitted three officials of the erstwhile regime of ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, including his brother Said Bouteflika, multiple news outlets reported on January 2, Saturday. Bouteflika's regime was toppled by a popular revolution in 2019. Apart from the ex-president's brother, two powerful former spy chiefs, Mohamed Mediene and Bachir Tartag, were acquitted by the military appeals court on Saturday after a retrial cleared them of conspiracy charges. | The three had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in September 2019 after being c…
(2021-01-04). Political prisoner Facundo Molares wins freedom! fightbacknews.org Political prisoner Facundo Molares, an Argentinian photojournalist who was incarcerated by the Bolivian Añez regime, is now safely home in his native Argentina. | Molares was arrested during a violent incident between armed forces backing the coup d'etat and protests for democracy in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia on November 19, 2019, two days after the unelected Añez government took over. Molares was documenting the confrontation for the magazine Centenario, but during this incident he had a health crisis and was rushed to the hospital. | The Añez coup regime arrested Facundo in his hospital bed. It is widely…
(2021-01-04). Opening of schools in Germany based on deliberate lies and deception. wsws.org The criminality with which the campaign to open schools has been conducted was recently demonstrated by the deliberate suppression of a study from Hamburg showing massive outbreaks were taking place within schools in Germany.
(2021-01-04). The Georgia Senate Runoff Races Are Too Wild to Call. thenation.com The Georgia Senate Runoff Races Are Too Wild to Call…
(2021-01-03). Italian organizations condemn imprisonment of No TAV activist Fabiola De Costanzo. peoplesdispatch.org On December 30, an Italian court convicted three No TAV activists, including Fabiola De Costanzo, for their role in an agitation in 2012. The No TAV movement is opposed to the construction of the Turin-Lyon high speed Railway project…
(2021-01-02). Top 12 The Grayzone stories of 2020: From Julian Assange persecution to Bolivia coup defeat, corporate war on free speech to OPCW cover-up. thegrayzone.com 2020 was a chaotic year for the planet. While the Covid-19 pandemic dominated global politics, The Grayzone continued shining a light on the machinations of empire, from the persecution of imprisoned journalist Julian Assange to the defeat of a US-backed coup regime in Bolivia, from the growing corporate war on free speech to the OPCW's scandalous Syria cover-up. Throughout the year, The Grayzone's website had more than 5.24 million views and 2.48 million unique visitors. Our small, independently funded team …
(2021-01-02). [Correspondence] Germany's new global health strategy: leaving migrants behind. thelancet.com After 3 years of consultation involving various ministries, academia, youth, civil society, private sector organisations, and an international advisory board, the German Federal Government issued its new global health strategy on Oct 7, 2020.1 In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, growing nationalism, and declining support for WHO by some of its member states, Germany emphasises multilateralism and a global health in all policies approach. This statement is strong and timely, underpinned by unequivocal commitments to health as a human right and universal health coverage free of all forms of discrimination.
(2021-01-02). Family Faces Eviction By Agency Meant To Help Them. popularresistance.org Philadelphia, PA – Imagine being a parent, hustling "gig economy" jobs, without a home during the COVID-19 pandemic. For Jasmine and Ariel, this has been the reality since May. They are a couple in their 30s, both with children from previous relationships, and navigating the minefields of poverty and pandemic. They had an apartment, but when Jasmine missed a check-in with her probation officer, she was sent to prison, leaving Ariel with no way to pay the rent and without a home. | According to a recent study conducted by geographers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, there are 10 abandoned properties for eve…
(2021-01-02). Julian Assange's Imprisonment Exposes U.S. Myths About Freedom. scheerpost.com Assemblea Nacional Catalana / CC BY-NC 2.0] By Glenn Greenwald / SubStack Persecution is not typically doled out to those who recite mainstream pieties, or refrain from posing meaningful threats to those who wield institutional power, or obediently stay within the lines of permissible speech and activism imposed by the ruling class. Those who render themselves acquiescent and harmless that way… |
(2021-01-02). Prisons and Jails are COVID-19 Super-Spreaders. dissidentvoice.org 
San Quentin Inmates in federal prisons, state prisons and local jails should be in the first cohort of people to be offered COVID-19 vaccinations. One in five prisoners in the U.S. has been reported to have had COVID-19. That's 20% of people behind bars. And that is likely a "vast undercount," according to Homer Venters, …
(2021-01-02). Algeria clears Bouteflika's brother of conspiracy. middleeasteye.net 
Algeria clears Bouteflika's brother of conspiracy | While Said Bouteflika remains in detention pending corruption charges, military court frees former spy chief | Sat, 01/02/2021 – 14: 09 | In 19 May 2012 file photo, Said Bouteflika attends the Algiers funeral of the late singer Warda Al-Jazairia (AFP) | An Algerian court cleared former president Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika's once powerful broth…
(2021-01-02). Alabama Prisons Are On Strike. popularresistance.org Occupied Muscogee Creek / Cherokee / Yuchi / Choctaw / Shawnee / Chickasaw land – As of Jan. 1, 2021, incarcerated workers in Alabama's odious prison system are on strike! Led by the Free Alabama Movement, incarcerated workers throughout the state of Alabama have put down their work tools and refused to go to work from now until Jan. 31. | The inhumane conditions of Alabama Department of Corrections, their negligence around COVID-19, and their implementation of video visitation equipment in prisons that ADOC claims is "due to COVID," but is really a front for eliminating in-person visitation, has contributed furt…
(2021-01-01). Best of 'Scheer Intelligence' 2020: Chomsky, Abdullah, Prins, and More. scheerpost.com Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and the 2020 general election, Robert Scheer and the "Scheer Intelligence" team made sure to bring you progressive perspectives from a wide range of distinguished voices including Noam Chomsky, Melina Abdullah, Nomi Prins, Oliver Stone, and many more, to grapple with a crisis-ridden year and offer hopeful …
(2021-01-01). Alabama prisons: ON STRIKE! workers.org 
Occupied Muscogee Creek / Cherokee / Yuchi / Choctaw / Shawnee / Chickasaw land As of Jan. 1, 2021, incarcerated workers in Alabama's odious prison system are on strike! Led by the Free Alabama Movement, incarcerated workers throughout the state of Alabama have put down their work tools and refused . . . |
(2021-01-01). The Aftermath of the George Floyd Rebellion. counterpunch.org 
The media may not cover them much anymore, but Black Lives Matter protests have not died out completely. At their height, last summer, multiple cities convulsed in protest simultaneously. Smaller gatherings still trickle into public parks in cities like Washington, D.C., they have not stopped totally; nor, at all, have the police killings that prompted
(2021-01-01). What We Learned In Julian Assange's Extradition Hearing. popularresistance.org The prosecution of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange would be a landmark test of the First Amendment right to publish if he were brought to trial in the United States, as press freedom groups, constitutional lawyers, and newsrooms across the board have sounded the alarm about the ways in which the U.S. indictment intends to silence investigative journalism around the world. | But Assange would first have to be extradited from the United Kingdom, where he has been imprisoned in HMP Belmarsh for over a year and a half. At Assange's extradition hearing in London, comprising one week of oral arguments in February an…
(2021-01-01). National park ranger condemned for attacking unarmed Indigenous man on sacred Native land. nationofchange.org "Public lands are stolen lands," asserted Red Nation. "Indigenous people have the right to practice their culture and spiritual ways on Indigenous land without fear of repression, discrimination, or violence."
(2021-01-01). Wisconsin Pharmacist Jailed After Purposely Spoiling Hundreds of COVID-19 Vaccine Doses. sputniknews.com In mid-December 2020, Americans began receiving vaccines against COVID-19, after the country's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized two jabs — the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, developed in cooperation between the US-based Pfizer and the German-based BioNTech SE companies, and a second vaccine from US-based Moderna.
(2020-12-31). The Death Of Democracy In Brazil. popularresistance.org The dismantling of Brazil's democracy, which culminated in the jailing of former president Lula Da Silva as he looked certain to be reelected, is the subject of a new English-language investigative podcast. | Cícero Ezequiel Filho lay beneath the sweltering sun of Brazil's capital, Brasilia. He wore khaki shorts, John Lennon glasses and a long white beard, which stretched far below his chin and over a red long-sleeved shirt with the face of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the front. | When I met him in August 2018, Cícero had been outside Brazil's Supreme Court for two weeks. He refused to eat until…
(2020-12-31). Saudi preacher Yousef al-Ahmad sentenced to four years in prison. middleeasteye.net 
Saudi preacher Yousef al-Ahmad sentenced to four years in prison | Charges against the Islamic scholar and academic said to include attending a book fair and visiting detainees in jail | Thu, 12/31/2020 – 13: 50 | Ahmad was detained by Saudi authorities in September 2017 as a part of a widespread crackdown on scholars and intellectuals (Screengrab/Twitter) | Saudi preacher Yousef al-Ahmad has been sen…
(2020-12-31). Argentina: 'Ground-breaking' new abortion law crucial to ending gender discrimination — UN experts. news.un.org The year drew to a close in Argentina with "a ground-breaking law" that legalizes abortions up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, in a move that independent UN rights experts called on Thursday, "a crucial step in eliminating discrimination against women and girls".
(2020-12-31). Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy back in jail again. laprensalatina.com Hong Kong, Dec 31 (efe-epa).- Hong Kong's top court on Thursday remanded pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in custody again after allowing prosecutors to appeal against his bail in a national security law case. The Court of Final Appeal granted an interim order to detain the 73-year-old founder of Apple Daily until a hearing on …