(2021-10-06). "Becoming Abolitionists": Derecka Purnell on Why Police Reform Is Not Enough to Protect Black Lives. democracynow.org 
Derecka Purnell draws from her experience as a human rights lawyer in her new book, published this month, "Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom," to argue that police reform is an inadequate compromise to calls for abolition. Since the murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville in 2020, many states have passed laws aimed at reforming police, but congressional talks at the federal level have broken down. Purnell reflects upon her personal journey as a Black woman who believed in police reform before pivoting to abolition, saying, "I became a part of soci…
(2021-10-06). Missouri executes Ernest Johnson, intellectually disabled death row prisoner. wsws.org Johnson's lawyers and anti-death penalty advocates argued that his execution was illegal due to his intellectual disability and called for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison.
(2021-10-06). Attorney sentenced to six months for contempt in vindictive case brought by Chevron. indybay.org Steven Donziger, who exposed the decades-long contamination of the Amazon rainforest by the oil giant and won a billion-dollar settlement against the company, was sentenced on Friday to a maximum of six months in prison.
(2021-10-06). Human Rights Attorney Sentenced to Prison After Winning Case Against Chevron. zcomm.org In a move calculated to shield Chevron and deter other lawyers from suing giant corporate polluters, U.S. human rights attorney Steven Donziger was sentenced on October 1 to the maximum of six months in prison for criminal contempt…
(2021-10-05). Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over California Oil Spill. telesurenglish.net A class action lawsuit was filed late Monday against a U.S. company over the massive oil spill off the coast of Southern California, demanding monetary damages for the "environmental catastrophe." | RELATED: | In a 13-page document filed in a Los Angeles federal court, Amplify Energy and its Beta Offshore division, which own the offshore oil production facility from which the oil spilled, were listed as the defendants…
(2021-10-05). More of the Same: Private Prison Corporations and Immigration Detention Under the Biden Administration. aclu.org Over the last three decades, the federal government has largely outsourced immigration detention to private prison companies. Today, private prison corporations like the GEO Group, CoreCivic, LaSalle Corrections, and the Management and Training Corporation (MTC) own or operate facilities that hold the During the Trump administration, ICE expanded the immigration detention system by over 50 percent, signing cont…
(2021-10-05). New Study Shows More Than Half of Police Killings Have Gone Uncounted Since 1980. truthout.org 
New research appears to confirm what Black Lives Matter activists and abolitionist organizers have said for years: There is a crisis of police-perpetrated killings in the United States that has gone underreported for decades, and people of color (and Black people especially) are most at risk. | Deadly police violence has long been a major public health crisis, but an estimated 17,000 deaths from police violence were misclassified in federal public health data over the past four decades, a…
(2021-10-05). Lawyer-Organizer Tiffany Roberts: Atlanta Politicians Are Using Mass Incarceration Rhetoric, Approve $90 Million For 'Cop City'. moguldom.com The Atlanta City Council recently approved $90 million in funding to build a massive police training facility dubbed "Cop City," and local community activists including criminal defense and civil rights attorney Tiffany Roberts aren't too happy. There had been significant pushback against funding and building the facility. Still, on Sept. 8, the city council voted …
(2021-10-05). Russian Communist leader warns Putin that police 'brutality' & controversial online voting are 'bomb' waiting to 'blow up' society. rt.com 
The leader of Russia's Communists has written an open letter to President Vladimir Putin bemoaning the arrests of his comrades and what he sees as the "unjustified brutality" of the police, warning that trouble may lie ahead. | In the missive, published on the party's official website, Gennady Zyuganov complained about the detentions of Communists following protests on September 20 and 25. He described the arrests as "groundless" and "unlawful." | Last month, the party organized two demonstrations against the results of September's parliamentary election, which, for the first time, was held over multiple days.
(2021-10-05). Cherished citizen, NATO enhanced partners: Ukrainian council consoles Saakashvili in jail. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Ukrainian consul visits Saakashvili, his condition is satisfactory — MFA A Ukrainian consul has visited former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a citizen of Ukraine, in the detention facility of the city of Rustavi in Georgia, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said. **** The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian embassy to Tbilisi will continue …
(2021-10-05). Workers Struggles: The Americas. wsws.org Sugar care workers for GuySuCo in Guyana protested over unpaid bonuses and discrimination while hospital workers in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have returned a massive strike vote in defense of wages, staffing and services.
(2021-10-05). Activists Call For End To 'Death By Incarceration'. popularresistance.org The activists held a press conference and rally in Philadelphia Sept. 30 to promote SB835, introduced by a bipartisan group of legislators. If passed, the state bill would offer geriatric and medical parole for anyone, aged 55 years or older, who has served 25 years or half their sentence, whichever comes first. | The bill would offer incarcerated people with a chronic medical condition — either a physical or mental illness — a chance at parole. Currently, an incarcerated person in Pennsylvania needs to petition their sentencing judge to qualify for compassionate release. And they need a doctor to con…
(2021-10-05). WikiLeaks Turns 15 With Founder Assange Behind Bars as Threat to Powers That Be. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – WikiLeaks marks its fifteenth anniversary with founder Julian Assange jailed in the UK awaiting a US appeal to extradite him to the United States, where he would face up to 175 years in solitary confinement for leaking classified information.
(2021-10-05). Canadian Tire Fire #14: No More Injunction At Fairy Creek, Reconciliation is (Still) Dead. itsgoingdown.org This week saw Canada's first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation take place on September 30th. The official federal holiday has been criticized by many Indigenous people who see the hypocrisy in a state-sanctioned day for reconciliation while Canada's settler colonial violence continues. Are settler prison guards gonna get extra pay for working on…
(2021-10-05). Forbes Reveals Why The US Government Is Trying To Extradite Alex Saab. popularresistance.org Alex Saab is "the key that unlocks the Venezuelan monetary mystery—that is, how a country facing sanctions from the US, the UK and the European Union—is still able to export things like gold and oil…and really the only man who can actually explain how the country [Venezuela] survives today," according to Forbes. | The US would far prefer to just quietly extradite Saab to Miami, use whatever means necessary to extract sensitive information from him, and then warehouse him in the world's largest prison system. Forbes uses the euphemism "under pressure" by US prison authorities as the means to force Sa…
(2021-10-05). Peru: Ex-Dictator Fujimori Undergoes Heart Surgery. telesurenglish.net On Monday, the 83-year-old former dictator Alberto Fujimori underwent a coronary bypass to remove an arterial occlusion. | RELATED: | His daughter Keiko Fujimori said that his father's heart problems have worsened. Doctors found that "one of his arteries had a 70 percent blockage". | Last Friday, he was taken from Lima's Barbadillo prison to the Centenario Peruvian-Japanese clinic due to a sharp drop in his oxygen saturation. | "On Su…
(2021-10-05). Prisoners are 'sitting ducks' for COVID-19. greenleft.org.au Prisoner rights activists are demanding that authorities heed the health advice and protect people in prison. Adam Trumper and Rachel Evans report.
(2021-10-05). Saturday 12/18: Chris Hedges: OUR CLASS, Trauma & Transformation in an American Prison. indybay.org Online webinar | 1929 Martin Luther King Jr Way | Berkeley, CA 94704…