(2021-01-08). Hunger strikes at three New Jersey prisons. workers.org 
The filthy conditions, indefinite incarceration and escalating COVID infections have touched off desperate hunger strikes at three New Jersey county jails. Each jail operates as a prison-for-profit, renting space at $120 a day for ICE to jail out-of-state migrant detainees. The N.J. counties use the contracts to generate tens of . . . |
(2021-01-07). Police Reform Advocates Press Minnesota Legislature For More. popularresistance.org Civil rights organizers were back at Minnesota's Capitol as a new legislative session got underway Tuesday, ready to mount another push for changes to police accountability laws less than a week after another fatal police shooting in Minneapolis. | "We know that George Floyd is not an anomaly," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "George Floyd represents the history of state violence against people of color in this country and particularly against Black people." | Floyd's death last May in the custody of Minneapolis police officers made M…
(2021-01-07). British Judge Keeps Assange in Prison, Despite Ruling Against Extradition. globalresearch.ca A British district judge denied bail for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after a hearing in which the prosecution argued he had helped NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden "flee justice" and would abscond if released from the Belmarsh high-security prison. | "As far …
(2021-01-07). Police Arrest Several People Near Court After Assange's Bail Denied. popularresistance.org London – The police arrested several supporters of Assange who did not have press IDs and refused to disperse as the city is currently under a lockdown and public gatherings prohibited. Among the detained are several women and an elderly man. | Journalists with proper identifications were allowed to continue their work. Earlier in the day, Westminster Magistrates Court refused to release Assange on bail, leaving him incarcerated while a US appeal against the decision not to extradite him to the United States is considered. | Assange was arrested in London in April 2019 and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jump…
(2021-01-07). Proxy Jailor: Denying Assange Bail. globalresearch.ca History, while not always a telling guide, can be useful. But in moments of flushed confidence, it is not consulted and Cleo is forgotten. A crisp new dawn can negate a glance to the past. Having received the unexpected news …
(2021-01-07). PDF of January 7 issue. workers.org 
Download the 12-page PDF. Alabama prisons: ON STRIKE! 'Relief' bill offers little; Outrage at year's end; Workers as 'contractors'; Massive hack; Historic postal strike; Editorial: COVID unpreparedness. GLOBAL: Cuban and Haitian revolutions; Brexit crisis; Long live DPRK; Argentina: abortion rights victory. TEAR DOWN THE WALLS: Exonerate Mumia! Letter from Pennsylvania . . . |
(2021-01-07). "Too late to be pessimist! Ecosocialism or collapse" mronline.org 
From the analysis of the struggle between the great powers for a lesser dependence on fossil fuels (which can shape their rivalries or push towards convergence between them), to the reminder of the need for every subject of oppression to develop its own ecological reflection. Daniel Tanuro gives us illuminating and pedagogical tools to confront …
(2021-01-07). Brutal Human Rights Abuses — Torture, Sanctions and Our Failure to Discuss Economic Rights. zcomm.org People in advanced nations assume that their governments do not torture prisoners, but it is practized by the US, and was used by Britain in its colonies and in Northern Ireland…
(2021-01-07). Pamela Winn Fights the Shackling of Pregnant People. aclu.org Pamela Winn was sent to federal prison when she was six weeks pregnant. In prison, she fell down attempting to step into a van while shackled. She was not given prenatal care and she miscarried a little over three months later, shackled to a prison bed., , Winn, who was released from prison in 2013, is now an activist for the rights of incarcerated women. She helped enact a law to prevent the shackling of pregnant people in Georgia and is leading a mission to end prison birth altogether , But her story is not unique. There are currently thousands of pregnant people in prison. Many are not given proper medical…
(2021-01-07). Hirak activists on hunger strike against pre-trial detention hospitalized in Algeria. peoplesdispatch.org The three Hirak activists – Mohamed Tadjadit (25), Noureddine Khimoud (25) and Abdelhak Ben Rahmani (38) – began a hunger strike on December 27 last year after they were denied bail and their pre-trial detention was extended by the authorities…
(2021-01-07). Clearview's Dangerous Misreading of the First Amendment Could Spell the End of Privacy Laws. aclu.org Secretly, and without consent, a company called Clearview AI has captured billions of faceprints from people's online photos, amassing what it claims to be the world's largest face recognition database. Much like our fingerprints and DNA profiles, our faceprints rely on permanent, unique facts about our bodies — like the distance between our eyes and noses or the shape of our cheekbones — to identify us., , Using our faceprints, Clearview offers its customers the ability to secretly target and identify any of us, and then to track us — whether we're going to a protest, a religious service, a…
(2021-01-06). UN human rights expert 'cautiously' welcomes UK court's refusal to extradite Julian Assange. news.un.org An independent UN human rights expert has welcomed a British court's refusal to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States on the basis that he would be exposed to oppressive conditions of imprisonment.
(2021-01-06). Assange decision welcome but sullied by legal chicanery. greenleft.org.au The ruling that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the United States is welcome, but it comes after the charade in which British authorities held an unconvicted person in a top security prison and made his defence as difficult as possible, argues Stuart Rees.
(2021-01-06). Medical doctors respond to Assange extradition ruling: "He must be released without delay" wsws.org "We demand that all legal proceedings be dropped and that he be released from prison, and only then will his psychological torture finally end."
(2021-01-06). Advocates demand action as largest women's prison experiences COVID-19 outbreak. workers.org 
The following press release was issued Jan. 5 by the California Coalition for Women Prisoners CHOWCHILLA, Calif. There is a life-threatening massive outbreak of COVID-19 at the Central California Women's Facility, California's largest women's prison. In the past two weeks, there have been 500 new COVID-19 cases, representing 25% . . . |
(2021-01-06). EMERGENCY TWITTER/PHONE CALL ALERT! Alabama prison hunger striker beaten. workers.org 
On the morning of Jan. 4, a prisoner participating in the #Alabama11 hunger strike was beaten and bloodied by a guard, Officer Landrum, at the instructions of Sgt. Williams, for his participation in the hunger strike. The prisoner's name is Ronnie Miller, #244648. He is out of the infirmary, but . . . |
(2021-01-06). Civil War, Medical Discrimination, Spy Satellites and Cyborgs! How 2021 Could Make Us Yearn for 2020. globalresearch.ca People everywhere are eager to bid farewell to 2020, a year in which our lives were turned upside down by power-mad elites who seized the Covid-19 pandemic as a chance to go full police state. But be careful what you …
(2021-01-06). 'An unwanted prison sentence' for seafarers stuck at home and stranded at sea. news.un.org Hundreds of thousands of seafarers have been on board for many months longer than planned, stranded at sea due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Six months after the problem was first revealed, many of them are still struggling to cope with the ongoing uncertainty.
(2021-01-06). President and CEO of the NAACP Releases Statement on Disruption of Peaceful Transition of Power and Calls for Impeachment of President Trump. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2021-01-06). "This Is Voter Suppression" zcomm.org 198,000 Georgia Residents Were Illegally Purged from Voter Rolls…
(2021-01-06). 50 Years Into the War on Drugs, Biden-Harris can Fix the Harm It Created. aclu.org An earlier version of this blog appeared in
(2021-01-06). Ecuador: Court Lifts Ex-President Bucaram's House Arrest. telesurenglish.net Guayas' Court on Tuesday lifted the house arrest imposed on ex-President Abdala Bucaram (1996-1997) who is accused of patrimonial object trafficking, illegal possession of weapons, among other criminal charges. | RELATED: | A habeas corpus petition was filed by Bucaram who was subject to an investigation in August 2020 due to his alleged involvement in the irregular sale of medical supplies and illegal possession of pat…
(2021-01-05). Minnesota Is Changing The Way It Teaches Social Studies. popularresistance.org Minnesota's K-12 social studies standards are undergoing extensive revisions in search of a more inclusive approach that teaches about people previously left out of the discussion. | A diverse committee's first draft, now open for public comment, gives greater consideration to the Dakota and Anishinaabe tribes and covers for the first time the civil rights struggles of LGBTQ people. | The draft standards, according to Doug Paulson, the state education department's academic standards director, are "more inclusive" and "culturally affirming." | Still, some committee members think the first draft doesn't go far enou…
(2021-01-05). Proud Boys Leader Arrested for Burning BLM Banner at Black Church. truthout.org As thousands are expected to descend on Washington, D.C., to join far right protests over the election results Wednesday, the leader of the Proud Boys hate group, Enrique Tarrio, was arrested on property destruction charges for burning a Black Lives Matter banner off a historically Black church during similar protests last month. Many churches have requested extra protection, and the Metropolitan AME Church is suing the Proud Boys. "Sadly, our nation has a very dark and sordid history of targeting historic…
(2021-01-05). Assange Wins. The Cost: Press Freedom Is Crushed. popularresistance.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 Assange's case in the spotlight, even as the US and UK corporate media worked so strenuously to keep it in darkness, are the heroes of the day. They made the price too steep for Baraitser or the British establishment to agree to lock Assange away indefinitely in the US for exposing its war crimes and its…
(2021-01-05). Ruling Assange Can't Be Extradited Is an Indictment of US Prisons. thenation.com Ruling Assange Can't Be Extradited Is an Indictment of US Prisons…
(2021-01-05). "This Is Voter Suppression": 198,000 Georgia Residents Were Illegally Purged from Voter Rolls. democracynow.org 
As voters in Georgia cast their ballots in two key runoff races that will determine control of the U.S. Senate, voting rights activists fear many eligible voters will be turned away at the polls. Georgia has been called "ground zero" for Republican voter suppression efforts in the U.S., and in September the ACLU of Georgia revealed 198,000 voters had been wrongly purged from the voting rolls. We air a report into voting in Georgia by investigative journalist Greg Palast, narrated by the actress Debra Messing, and speak with voting rights activist LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund. "I think…
(2021-01-05). Qatar blockade: Saudi deal raises questions about prisoners, flight paths and bots. middleeasteye.net 
Qatar blockade: Saudi deal raises questions about prisoners, flight paths and bots | As Saudi Arabia declares the lifting of the three-year land and air blockade on its Gulf neighbour, many issues remain to be resolved | Tue, 01/05/2021 – 14: 05 | Many people have raised questions on what the end of the Saudi blockade will mean for prisoners, flight paths and the Saudi bot network (Screengrab/social medi…
(2021-01-05). 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 . . . |
(2021-01-05). Sri Lanka prison massacre autopsy confirms victims were shot. wsws.org After the bloodbath, the Rajapakse government is taking further measures to tighten the repressive conditions in prisons.
(2021-01-05). Protest over appalling conditions in New Zealand prison. wsws.org Twenty-one prisoners were involved in a six-day standoff to oppose rundown and unsanitary conditions at Waikeria Prison, exposing the false promises by the Labour Party-led government to make prisons more humane.
(2021-01-05). Lawsuit Launched to Protect 11 Species Kept on Waiting List by Trump Administration. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2021-01-05). What an Ex-Cop Learned in Prison About Police Culture. zcomm.org "If your anger is getting out of control, your work life is perfect, but marriage is a mess, or you think of harming yourself, deal with it now, so you don't end up as the next cop making headlines."
(2021-01-05). Chile: Court Rules Out a Claim Against Feminist Group Las Tesis. telesurenglish.net Valparaiso's Guarantee Court on Monday rejected a lawsuit against four members of the feminist group Las Tesis who were accused of inciting violence after "A Rapist on Your Way" performance. | RELATED: | The Military police (Carabineros) accused them of creating animosity against the institution, following the broadcast of a video in which Las Tesis appeared outside a police station denouncing violence against women. | Highlighting the…
(2021-01-05). Black Life Deserves More Than Meaningless Commissions. aclu.org This weekend the Trump administration released
(2021-01-05). Ecuador: Tribunal Hears a Claim Against Electoral Officials. telesurenglish.net Ecuador's Electoral Contentious Tribunal (TCE) Tuesday is set to hold a hearing against members of the National Electoral Council (CNE), whom the Social Justice Movement (SJM) accused of electoral infractions. | RELATED: | The lawsuit was filed against CNE President Diana Atamaint and councilors Luis Verdesoto, Enrique Pita, and Jose Cabrera. They were accused of "serious electoral offenses" for not complying with a ruling that granted new…