2021-01-17: News Headlines

MEE and agencies (2021-01-17). Australian father and son released by Qatar after months jailed without charge. middleeasteye.net Australian father and son released by Qatar after months jailed without charge | Advocacy group says the two men, one a professor who had been on Doha's Covid-19 task force, were secretly detained and tortured | Sun, 01/17/2021 – 09: 59 | Professor Lukman Thalib (right) received a teaching award at Qatar University in 2018. He is a public health expert and helped Qatar with its Covid-19 re…

Fight Back (2021-01-17). New Orleans FRSO announces MLK Day Virtual Rally. fightbacknews.org New Orleans, LA – Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) will host a Martin Luther King Day Virtual Rally this Monday, January 18. In support of a call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, New Orleans FRSO demands a mass release from prisons during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The rally will also demand justice for Jacob Blake and an end to police crimes everywhere. The gathering will take place over Zoom, as the city recently transitioned to stricter COVID safety measures. | After a long holiday season, this will be an opportunity for the community to regroup. "I'm just excite…

Ben Terrall (2021-01-17). Revisiting the Indonesian Massacres of 1965-1966. counterpunch.org Of all the tragic events of the 20th Century, the 1965-1966 campaign of mass killing in Indonesia is among the least known in the U.S. Researchers estimate that the Washington-backed Indonesian military and its civilian militias killed up to one million people. Around a million others were arbitrarily imprisoned with little to no legal process,

Ben Terrall (2021-01-17). The Indonesian Massacres of 1965-1966. counterpunch.org Of all the tragic events of the 20th Century, the 1965-1966 campaign of mass killing in Indonesia is among the least known in the U.S. Researchers estimate that the Washington-backed Indonesian military and its civilian militias killed up to one million people. Around a million others were arbitrarily imprisoned with little to no legal process,

_____ (2021-01-17). Apache Stronghold Lawsuit Over Oak Flat Halts Transfer To Mining Company. popularresistance.org Apache Stronghold, on behalf of traditional Apache religious and cultural leaders, placed a lien on Oak Flat on Wednesday, January 13, with the Pinal County Recorder's Office. The lien prevents the planned transfer of Oak Flat, or Chi'chil Bildagoteel, to a foreign mining company until the recently filed ongoing Apache Stronghold lawsuit is finalized. | The lien and one of the lawsuit claims are based on the Treaty of Santa Fe of 1852 between the United States and the Apache which promises that Apache lands, at the center of which lies Chi'chil Bildagoteel, are to remain in Apache ownership. The Treaty of Santa F…

_____ (2021-01-17). Mariame Kaba Talks Abolition, Mutual Aid And Campus Police. popularresistance.org Activist and prison-industrial complex abolitionist Mariame Kaba celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by praising NU Community Not Cops and speaking to the importance of mutual aid and political organizing in Wednesday's MLK Dream Week virtual keynote. | The keynote, which was broadcast to over 1,000 attendees, began with a virtual performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by Northwestern Community Ensemble members and alumni. Kaba then delivered her speech in which she laid out core tenets of abolitionist practice, tying the current movement to King's principles. | "Abolitionists have a lot to le…

Isaac Scher (2021-01-17). Illinois Will End Cash Bail — and Limit Use of High-Tech Incarceration. zcomm.org Reformers typically propose predictive algorithms and electronic monitoring as alternatives to money bail. Illinois is different…

WSWS (2021-01-16). US government executes intellectually disabled death row prisoner Corey Johnson. wsws.org Johnson's execution was the second time in less than five weeks that the federal government executed a likely intellectually disabled death row prisoner. The US Supreme Court denied his emergency application for a stay to permit him to present evidence of his disability.

_____ (2021-01-16). Black Lives Matter Protestors Charged As A Gang. popularresistance.org Maricopa County, AZ – In Washington, D.C., members of a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol and killed a police officer are so far being charged mainly with disorderly conduct and unlawful entry. The man photographed with his feet on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk faces three charges that carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison. After the violent siege, some members of the mob simply returned to their hotel. | Many were quick to point out an apparent double standard when compared to the way police in D.C. treated Black Lives Matter protesters over the summer—like when they tear gassed protesters to cl…

teleSUR (2021-01-16). Activists Demand Justice for Indigenous Leader Milagro Sala. telesurenglish.net Social movements mobilized in Jujuy province, Argentina on Saturday to demand freedom for the Indigenous activist Milagro Salas as January 16 marks the fifth anniversary of her illegal imprisonment. | RELATED: | Sala, the Tupac Amaru leader, gained nationwide notoriety for her fight against powerful conservative politicians in Jujuy province. The activist spent over three years in jail under inhumane conditions until the authori…

via Silicon Valley deBug (2021-01-15). Hunger Strike Starts Tonight in Santa Clara County Jail. indybay.org Prisoners of Santa Clara County Main Jail 7B will be standing in protest in the form of a hunger strike beginning tonight challenging their conditions of confinement and cruel and unusual punishment, specifically the jail and medical staff response towards Covid outbreaks in the jail. | The letter below is from the county jail prisoners to the Jail Administration.

W. T. Whitney (2021-01-15). The Shortage of Black Physicians is a Legacy of Racism and Class-Based Discrimination. counterpunch.org "Nobody wants to be an emergency at Harlem Hospital but if the Negro surgeon is visiting, pride cuts down the pain." Author Toni Morrison was alluding to the scarcity of Black physicians in 1926 (Jazz, 1992). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took similar note almost 100 years later. The basketball legend pointed out that, "Black babies survive more

Anthony DiMaggio (2021-01-15). A (Not-So-New) Profile of the American Right: On the Authoritarian-Fascist Crisis. counterpunch.org Following the January 6th neofascistic attacks on Capitol Hill, Americans are quickly waking up to the realities of growing extremism on the right. There is now a large share of reactionaries in this country who are drawing false equivalencies between Antifa and Black Lives Matter on the left, and the neofascists on the right. What

Caleb Granger (2021-01-15). La Marque, Texas protest demands jailing of cop who killed Joshua Feast. liberationnews.org On January 9, exactly one month after Joshua Feast was killed by officer Jose Santos in La Marque, Texas, over 100 people turned to march on La Marque City Hall to let officials know that Feast's murder will not be forgotten.

Roberta Wood (2021-01-15). Communists like my uncle were sent to prison because they fought for democracy. peoplesworld.org My late uncle, LeRoy H. Wood, spent years in a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa., for what he did in Washington, D.C. Roy was convicted of "conspiring to teach the advocacy of the overthrow of the U.S. government by force and violence." No, Uncle Roy was not a billionaire who incited a mob to storm …

_____ (2021-01-15). Black Cops Warned About Racist Capitol Police Officers For Years. popularresistance.org When Kim Dine took over as the new chief of the U.S. Capitol Police in 2012, he knew he had a serious problem. | Since 2001, hundreds of Black officers had sued the department for racial discrimination. They alleged that white officers called Black colleagues slurs like the N-word and that one officer found a hangman's noose on his locker. White officers were called "huk lovers" or "FOGs" — short for "friends of gangsters" — if they were friendly with their Black colleagues. Black officers faced "unprovoked traffic stops" from fellow Capitol Police officers. One Black officer claimed he heard a collea…

Fight Back (2021-01-15). SEIU Local 73: Statement of support for Human Rights Day 7 in the Philippines. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73. | | On International Human Rights Day, December 10, the Philippine National Police raided the homes and jailed Dennise Velasco of Defend Jobs Philippines; Romina Astudillo, Deputy Secretary-General of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Metro Manila; Mark Ryan Cruz, Regional Executive Committee of KMU-Metro Manila; Jaymie Gregorio Jr. of KMU-Metro Manila; Joel Demate of Solidarity of Labor Rights and Welfare (SOLAR); Rodrigo Esparago of Sandigang Manggagawa sa Quezon City (SMQC), and journalist Lady Ann…

Anoa Changa (2021-01-15). Georgia Organizers Won Because They Didn't Treat Elections as a Be-All, End-All. zcomm.org "We are undoing a history of voter suppression and injustice in Black and Brown communities. The changes we are seeing now didn't happen overnight, and we are not solving our challenges with just one vote."

commondreams (2021-01-15). Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Failure to Cut Airplane Climate Pollution. commondreams.org ______________________________…

teleSUR (2021-01-15). Ecuador's Local Governments Filed a Claim Against Budget Cuts. telesurenglish.net Consortium of Provincial Governments of Ecuador (Congope) Chairman Pablo Jurado filed a lawsuit of "unconstitutionality" before the Constitutional Court (CC) against budget cuts promoted by Presidente Lenin Moreno. | RELATED: | The claim seeks to obtain a ruling on the government's decision to suspend local budgets which have suffered in some cases a cut of 60 percent. | Congope representatives held that the provincial govern…

David W. Mathisen (2021-01-15). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Born this Day: Prophet Who Saw the "Far Deeper Malady" globalresearch.ca January 15 is the day on which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929. | He would go on to become one of the most powerful voices of all time against racism, oppression, violence, imperialism, and …

Somil Trivedi (2021-01-15). The Unspoken Agreement Between Prosecutors and Law Enforcement. aclu.org Last week's physical and civic violence at the U.S. Capitol has raised a terrifying set of questions about American democracy, including the potential complicity of law enforcement in insurrection. The president-elect joined the entire freethinking world in noticing that, if Trump's mob had been Black, it would not have received the same concierge service. But Trump's coup attempt was not the only law enforcement catastrophe last week: We cannot forget that, two days earlier, Kenosha County, Wisconsin District Attorney Mike Graveley chose not to charge police officer Rusten Shesky for shooting Jacob Blake seve…

CounterPunch News Service (2021-01-14). Western Wolf Coalition Files Lawsuit Challenging Nationwide Wolf Delisting. counterpunch.org Today, WildEarth Guardians and a coalition of Western wolf advocates, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (the Service) decision to prematurely strip wolves of federal protections in the contiguous 48 states, in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The most recent data from the Service and its

Melvin Goodman (2021-01-14). Bibi and Jonathan Pollard: Two Anti-American Peas in Their Own Pod. counterpunch.org Last month, the New York Times described the hero's welcome in Israel for Jonathan Pollard, who served 30 years in jail for spying for Israel, as "relatively subdued." In view of the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led this "subdued" reception, it is time to throw some shade on Bibi and Jonathan. After all, the United States has supplied Israeli with huge amounts of military and economic aid as well as intelligence support over the years with very little return.

Liberation Staff (2021-01-14). National Committee for Justice in Denver formed to defend anti-racist organizers. liberationnews.org Prominent movement leaders from across the country have launched the National Committee for Justice in Denver to demand that authorities drop the charges against anti-racist activists facing decades in prison on false charges filed against them in retaliation for their work demanding justice for Elijah McClain.

Don Fitz (2021-01-14). Two Principles of Racial Equity that Outrage Liberals. dissidentvoice.org The May 25, 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a civil rights explosion. It ignited pushes to demilitarize the police, reallocate police over-funding to necessary social services, end economic and power divides, and replace symbols of oppression with recognition of those who have suffered and resisted. In University City, one of the oldest …

Sara Flounders (2021-01-14). The Pentagon, Corporations and Slave Labor in U.S. Prisons. globalresearch.ca This article was originally published by Workers World on June 11, 2011. | It is not only federal prisons that contract out prison labor to top corporations. State prisons that used forced prison labor in plantations, laundries and highway chain gangs …

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2021-01-14). Conservationists File Lawsuits to Stop 'Death Sentence to Wolves' Ordered by Trump. commondreams.org "This delisting decision is what happens when bad science drives bad policy." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gray_wolves-trump-attack-lawsuits.jpg

_____ (2021-01-14). Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Charged In Flint Water Crisis. popularresistance.org Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who ran the state at the time of the devastating 2014 Flint water scandal, has been charged in the crisis that led to the Legionnaires' disease outbreak that killed 12 people. | Snyder pleaded not guilty Thursday morning to two counts of willful neglect of duty, before a judge set bond at $10,000. | The former governor was ordered to not leave the state ahead of his next date on Tuesday. He faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. | "We believe there is no evidence to support any criminal charges against Governor Snyder," defense attorney Brian Lennon told The Associated Pre…

commondreams (2021-01-14). ACLU Comment on Scathing Family Separation Watchdog Report. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-14). Lawsuits Challenge Trump Administration's Latest Assaults on Endangered Species Act. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-14). Praise for AG's New Lawsuit Against NYPD Over BLM Protests. commondreams.org ______________________________…

teleSUR (2021-01-14). Study: US Police 3x More Likely to Use Force Against the Left. telesurenglish.net The data find that police have used tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and beatings at a significantly higher percentage at Black Lives Matter protests than at pro-Trump protests. | Whether or not protests remained peaceful or not, police were far more likely to use force against the left-wing demonstrators. | RELATED: | The study's statistics are based on police interactions in the United States since April 2020, demonstrating a clear d…