Monthly Archives: January 2021

2021-01-21: News Headlines

Ted Kelly (2021-01-22). 2021 is the Year of the Political Prisoner. workers.org The U.S. "justice" system, like every institution of a capitalist state, is a weapon designed and wielded by the billionaires to beat workers into submission. Special bodies of armed troops, deputized by the ruling class, round up workers by the millions and contrive laws to justify locking them in dangerously . . . |

Judy Greenspan (2021-01-21). The criminal injustice system is a bipartisan effort. workers.org Family members and prisoners' rights advocates gather outside the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez to demand the release of a prisoner suffering from medical neglect during the COVID pandemic. On Jan. 15 at the death row prison in Terre Haute, Ind., with less than a week to go of . . . |

Staff (2021-01-21). Headlines for January 21, 2021. democracynow.org Joe Biden Sworn In as 46th President of the United States, Ending Trump Era, Kamala Harris Sworn In as Vice President, Setting Several Historic Firsts, Biden Signs Executive Orders on Environment, Immigration, Civil Rights, Economy & Pandemic, Biden Unveils Pandemic Strategy as U.S. COVID-19 Deaths Near Record High, VP Harris Swears In Three Senators, Giving Democrats Narrow Control of Senate, Senate Confirms Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence, House to Vote on Waiver Paving Path for Retired General Lloyd Austin to Lead Pentagon, President Biden Fires Union-Busting Lawyer Who Refused to Resign from…

Judy Greenspan (2021-01-21). WW Commentary: The criminal injustice system is a bipartisan effort. workers.org Family members and prisoners' rights advocates gather outside the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez to demand release of a prisoner suffering from medical neglect during the COVID pandemic. On Jan. 15 at the death row prison in Terre Haute, Ind., with less than a week to go of Donald . . . |

Stephen Lendman (2021-01-21). Shut Down Dissent. Going After the New "US Domestic Terrorists" globalresearch.ca Post-9/11, war on dissent in the US raged. | In 2010, the ACLU said "freedom is under fire in the US." | "There is a pall over our fire. (There are) attempts to squelch dissent." | "A chilling message has gone out across …

Ragip Soylu (2021-01-21). Refusal to retry Turkish MP triggers second ruling by high court. middleeasteye.net Refusal to retry Turkish MP triggers second ruling by high court | Lower courts continue to dismiss the rulings of higher courts in politically sensitive cases, such as the imprisonment of former MP Enis Berberoglu | Thu, 01/21/2021 – 10: 31 | Enis Berberoglu, a former MP from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leaves after taking his oath at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Oct…

Mumia Abu-Jamal (2021-01-21). The Trump mobs attack America. workers.org By Mumia Abu-Jamal Taken from a Jan. 7, 2021 audio column aired on prisonradio.org It was a sight that will be long remembered — hundreds, then thousands of men scaling the walls of the U.S. Capitol like soldiers on a web. Then ripping, tearing, shredding all they could touch, . . . |

IMEMC News (2021-01-21). Israeli Soldiers Abduct Fifteen Palestinians In West Bank. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Thursday at dawn, fifteen Palestinians from their homes, in several parts of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported. The PPS office in Jericho, in northeastern West Bank, said the soldiers invaded and searched many homes in Aqabat Jaber refugee camp, southwest of the Jericho city, before …

Mirinda Crissman (2021-01-21). WW commentary: Diet discrimination in prisons, jails, and detention centers. workers.org Imam Siddiqui Abdullah Hasan, on death row in Ohio, was falsely convicted of the murder of a guard during the 1993 Lucasville prison rebellion. The rebellion started after Muslim prisoners objected to being forced to take a tuberculosis test containing alcohol, in violation of their religious practice. The interlocking systems . . . |

Mirinda Crissman (2021-01-21). Diet discrimination in prisons, jails, and detention centers. workers.org The interlocking systems of prisons, jails and detention centers were built up by descendants of those made rich from colonial conquest of this continent. The prison-industrial complex continues to benefit this very class of people every day by its existence. As the Prisoners Solidarity Committee of Workers World Party stated . . . |

Ali Salam (2021-01-21). Palestinian Prisoner Dies After 14 Years in Israeli Jail. imemc.org The Palestinian Prisoners' Society, and the Prisoners and Executives Affairs Authority in a joint statement, on Wednesday, announced the death of a Palestinian political prisoner Maher Thieb Sa'sa, 45, in an Israeli jail. Sa'sa died Wednesday in Rimonim Israeli prison, after spending years incarcerated and suffering from chronic illnesses, however no clear cause of death …

_____ (2021-01-21). New Documents Suggest J. Edgar Hoover Was Involved In Fred Hampton's Murder. popularresistance.org In March 1976, we sat in a cavernous Chicago courtroom while FBI agent Roy Martin Mitchell testified in the federal civil rights case that we and our partners at the People's Law Office had brought on behalf of the families of slain Illinois Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark and the seven survivors of the murderous pre-dawn Chicago police raid on their West Side apartment. | Thanks to the liberation of FBI documents from the Media, Pennsylvania FBI offices, the revelations of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities and our own hotly contested pretrial battles to uncover the truth ab…

Pip Hinman (2021-01-21). Medevac refugees released from torture centres, activists vow to continue the campaign. greenleft.org.au The release of refugees from detention has given activists hope that there will be a change in policy. But, as Chloe DS writes, they won't stop organising until all refugees are released from onshore and offshore prisons and given permanent protection.

Commonwealth Club (2021-01-21). Wednesday 2/3: Talk on the Mothers of the Civil Rights Movement w/ Author Anna Malaika Tubbs. indybay.org Online event…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-21). In Pakistan's North Waziristan, residents take to the streets against murder of doctor. peoplesdispatch.org Dr. Waliullah Dawar was killed last week by unknown assailants. On Wednesday, led by Pashtun Tahafuz Movement leader Mohsin Dawar, protesters demanded legal action against the perpetrators and immediate release of all political prisoners…

No Justice Under Capitalism (2021-01-20). Sunday 1/31: Newsom, Stop The Executions! Car Caravan to End the COVID Deaths in Prisons. indybay.org Middle Harbor Shoreline Park | 2777 Middle Harbor Road | (in the Port of Oakland)…

Judy Greenspan (2021-01-20). For exposing COVID-19 outbreak, Black newspaper editor faces retaliation. workers.org What happens when a federal prisoner who has just become the Editor-in-Chief of the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper is paroled to a halfway house run by GEO Group? That company is one of the largest managers of lockdown units and ICE detention centers in the U.S. Malik . . . |

Paul Street (2021-01-20). On "True Democracy" counterpunch.org On January 5, 2021, one day before Trump sparked his fascist Attack on the Capitol, the liberal New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg called for Americans "to defend democracy" by "investigating" Trump and wrote these words: "True democracy in America is quite new; you can date it to the civil rights era. If Trump's Republican

IMEMC News (2021-01-20). Israeli Soldiers Abduct Four Palestinians From Tulkarem And Nablus. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday at dawn, three Palestinians from Tulkarem and one from Nablus, in northern West Bank. The Tulkarem office of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS), in northern West Bank, said several army jeeps invaded Tulkarem refugee camp, before the soldiers stormed and violently searched homes in Anabta town, east of the city, …

IMEMC News (2021-01-20). Fifteen More Detainees Contract Coronavirus In Ramon Israeli Prison. imemc.org The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported, Wednesday, that fifteen more detainees have been officially diagnosed with the coronavirus in Ramon Israeli prison, bringing the number of infected detainees in the facility to fifty-three since January 11th, and increasing the total number of infected political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers to more than …

_____ (2021-01-20). Could Baltimore's Climate Change Suit Become A Supreme Court Test Case? popularresistance.org What began as a narrow jurisdictional question to be argued Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a climate change lawsuit filed by the city of Baltimore could take on far greater implications if the high court agrees with major oil companies to expand its purview and consider whether federal, rather than state courts, are the appropriate venue for the city's case and possibly a host of similar lawsuits. | The high court initially agreed to hear a request by the oil and gas industry to review a ruling by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in which the court affirmed a federal district judge's decision to…

Mike Ervin (2021-01-20). Smart Ass Cripple: Zoom's Inaccessibility for Hard-of-Hearing and Deaf Users. progressive.org The video-chat platform is facing a federal lawsuit for charging a monthly fee to folks who need closed captioning.

WSWS (2021-01-20). Coronavirus cases surge again at Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey. wsws.org For the second time in a matter of months, officials at Fort Dix have reported more coronavirus cases than at any other federal prison.

Norman Stockwell (2021-01-20). How Movements Are Made. progressive.org Two books bring the history of the civil rights struggle to a modern audience.

Center For Biological Diversity (2021-01-20). Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Gutting of Federal Protection for Migratory Birds. globalresearch.ca National environmental groups filed a

Lawrence Davidson (2021-01-20). A Brief But Portentous Insurrection. counterpunch.org There is a difference between attempts to change policy through public pressure and seeking to change the very nature of government through an insurrection. The civil rights protests of the late 1950s and 1960s; the anti-war protests of the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s; more civil rights protests (these have occurred repeatedly)

Staff (2021-01-19). New Documents Suggest J. Edgar Hoover Was Involved in Fred Hampton's Murder. truthout.org In March 1976, we sat in a cavernous Chicago courtroom while FBI agent Roy Martin Mitchell testified in the federal civil rights case that we and our partners at the People's Law Office had brought on behalf of the families of slain Illinois Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark and the seven survivors of the murderous pre-dawn Chicago police raid on their West Side apartment. | Thanks to the liberation of FBI documents from the Media, Pennsylvania FBI offices, the revelations of the…

MEE and agencies (2021-01-19). Qatar blockade ends: BeIN Sports unofficially returns to Saudi Arabia. middleeasteye.net Qatar blockade ends: BeIN Sports unofficially returns to Saudi Arabia | Riyadh cafes broadcast banned Doha-based broadcaster, as Qatar expected to drop $1bn piracy lawsuit against Riyadh | Tue, 01/19/2021 – 11: 21 | A woman watches beIN Sports from her home in Riyadh in January 2020, months before a Saudi ban on the broadcaster (AFP/File photo) | Qatar-owned beIN Sports was broadcast in Sa…

Ali Salam (2021-01-19). PPS "Israel Detains at Least 15 Palestinians" imemc.org Israeli soldiers detained fifteen Palestinians, on Monday morning, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported. In the occupied city of East Jerusalem, soldiers detained four young men, two from al-'Isawiya and two from al-Tur neighborhoods, searching civilian's homes, with dogs. In the East Jerusalem area, the army detained two young …

IMEMC News (2021-01-19). Israeli Soldiers Abduct Two Siblings In Jenin, Two In Nablus. imemc.org Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday at dawn, Kafr Ra'ey village, south of Jenin, and Salem village, east of Nablus, in the northern parts of the occupied West Bank, searched homes and abducted four siblings. Montaser Sammour, the head of the Jenin office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), said the soldiers abducted Bilal Nabil Thiab, …

Ria Tabacco Mar (2021-01-19). The Supreme Court's One-Two Punch Against Women. aclu.org With two swift actions last week, the Supreme Court proved it is alarmingly disinterested in protecting women's lives. , , The first action by the court involved mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortion and miscarriage care. The Supreme Court

commondreams (2021-01-19). Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Joins Lawsuit on Behalf of Black Man in Violent Attack by White West Va. Officers. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-19). Women in Sanctuary File Lawsuit Against ICE to Challenge Retaliatory and Excessive Civil Fines. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-19). Public Oral Argument in Lawsuit Challenging the Labeling of Hydroponically-Grown Foods as Organic. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-19). Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Gutting of Federal Protection for Migratory Birds. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Editor (2021-01-19). The Electoral College Must Go. scheerpost.com By Kevin Cooper / Original to Scheerpost DEATH ROW, SAN QUENTIN STATE PRISON — Ain't it a bitch! It was stunning to see such a sorry spectacle at the Capitol. We can't be too surprised, though, to see how differently violent white rioters are treated by law enforcement (one cop even wore a MAGA hat!) than peaceful Black protesters have been, historically and even recently. The drama does at least… |

Eric Toussaint (2021-01-19). In Memory of Patrice Lumumba, Assassinated on 17 January 1961. globalresearch.ca After a resounding victory in the first real elections in which the Congolese participated, Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister of Congo from 24 June 1960 until his overthrow and imprisonment on 14 September of the same year by Colonel Joseph-Désiré …

2021-01-20: News Headlines

Judy Greenspan (2021-01-20). For exposing COVID-19 outbreak, Black newspaper editor faces retaliation. workers.org What happens when a federal prisoner who has just become the Editor-in-Chief of the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper is paroled to a halfway house run by GEO Group? That company is one of the largest managers of lockdown units and ICE detention centers in the U.S. Malik . . . |

No Justice Under Capitalism (2021-01-20). Sunday 1/31: Newsom, Stop The Executions! Car Caravan to End the COVID Deaths in Prisons. indybay.org Middle Harbor Shoreline Park | 2777 Middle Harbor Road | (in the Port of Oakland)…

Paul Street (2021-01-20). On "True Democracy" counterpunch.org On January 5, 2021, one day before Trump sparked his fascist Attack on the Capitol, the liberal New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg called for Americans "to defend democracy" by "investigating" Trump and wrote these words: "True democracy in America is quite new; you can date it to the civil rights era. If Trump's Republican

IMEMC News (2021-01-20). Israeli Soldiers Abduct Four Palestinians From Tulkarem And Nablus. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday at dawn, three Palestinians from Tulkarem and one from Nablus, in northern West Bank. The Tulkarem office of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS), in northern West Bank, said several army jeeps invaded Tulkarem refugee camp, before the soldiers stormed and violently searched homes in Anabta town, east of the city, …

IMEMC News (2021-01-20). Fifteen More Detainees Contract Coronavirus In Ramon Israeli Prison. imemc.org The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported, Wednesday, that fifteen more detainees have been officially diagnosed with the coronavirus in Ramon Israeli prison, bringing the number of infected detainees in the facility to fifty-three since January 11th, and increasing the total number of infected political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers to more than …

_____ (2021-01-20). Could Baltimore's Climate Change Suit Become A Supreme Court Test Case? popularresistance.org What began as a narrow jurisdictional question to be argued Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a climate change lawsuit filed by the city of Baltimore could take on far greater implications if the high court agrees with major oil companies to expand its purview and consider whether federal, rather than state courts, are the appropriate venue for the city's case and possibly a host of similar lawsuits. | The high court initially agreed to hear a request by the oil and gas industry to review a ruling by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in which the court affirmed a federal district judge's decision to…

Commonwealth Club (2021-01-20). Wednesday 2/3: Talk on the Mothers of the Civil Rights Movement w/ Author Anna Malaika Tubbs. indybay.org Online event…

Lawrence Davidson (2021-01-20). A Brief But Portentous Insurrection. counterpunch.org There is a difference between attempts to change policy through public pressure and seeking to change the very nature of government through an insurrection. The civil rights protests of the late 1950s and 1960s; the anti-war protests of the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s; more civil rights protests (these have occurred repeatedly)

Center For Biological Diversity (2021-01-20). Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Gutting of Federal Protection for Migratory Birds. globalresearch.ca National environmental groups filed a

Norman Stockwell (2021-01-20). How Movements Are Made. progressive.org Two books bring the history of the civil rights struggle to a modern audience.

Mike Ervin (2021-01-20). Smart Ass Cripple: Zoom's Inaccessibility for Hard-of-Hearing and Deaf Users. progressive.org The video-chat platform is facing a federal lawsuit for charging a monthly fee to folks who need closed captioning.

Staff (2021-01-19). New Documents Suggest J. Edgar Hoover Was Involved in Fred Hampton's Murder. truthout.org In March 1976, we sat in a cavernous Chicago courtroom while FBI agent Roy Martin Mitchell testified in the federal civil rights case that we and our partners at the People's Law Office had brought on behalf of the families of slain Illinois Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark and the seven survivors of the murderous pre-dawn Chicago police raid on their West Side apartment. | Thanks to the liberation of FBI documents from the Media, Pennsylvania FBI offices, the revelations of the…

MEE and agencies (2021-01-19). Qatar blockade ends: BeIN Sports unofficially returns to Saudi Arabia. middleeasteye.net Qatar blockade ends: BeIN Sports unofficially returns to Saudi Arabia | Riyadh cafes broadcast banned Doha-based broadcaster, as Qatar expected to drop $1bn piracy lawsuit against Riyadh | Tue, 01/19/2021 – 11: 21 | A woman watches beIN Sports from her home in Riyadh in January 2020, months before a Saudi ban on the broadcaster (AFP/File photo) | Qatar-owned beIN Sports was broadcast in Sa…

Ali Salam (2021-01-19). PPS "Israel Detains at Least 15 Palestinians" imemc.org Israeli soldiers detained fifteen Palestinians, on Monday morning, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported. In the occupied city of East Jerusalem, soldiers detained four young men, two from al-'Isawiya and two from al-Tur neighborhoods, searching civilian's homes, with dogs. In the East Jerusalem area, the army detained two young …

IMEMC News (2021-01-19). Israeli Soldiers Abduct Two Siblings In Jenin, Two In Nablus. imemc.org Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday at dawn, Kafr Ra'ey village, south of Jenin, and Salem village, east of Nablus, in the northern parts of the occupied West Bank, searched homes and abducted four siblings. Montaser Sammour, the head of the Jenin office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), said the soldiers abducted Bilal Nabil Thiab, …

Ria Tabacco Mar (2021-01-19). The Supreme Court's One-Two Punch Against Women. aclu.org With two swift actions last week, the Supreme Court proved it is alarmingly disinterested in protecting women's lives. , , The first action by the court involved mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortion and miscarriage care. The Supreme Court

commondreams (2021-01-19). Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Joins Lawsuit on Behalf of Black Man in Violent Attack by White West Va. Officers. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-19). Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration's Gutting of Federal Protection for Migratory Birds. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-19). Public Oral Argument in Lawsuit Challenging the Labeling of Hydroponically-Grown Foods as Organic. commondreams.org ______________________________…

commondreams (2021-01-19). Women in Sanctuary File Lawsuit Against ICE to Challenge Retaliatory and Excessive Civil Fines. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Eric Toussaint (2021-01-19). In Memory of Patrice Lumumba, Assassinated on 17 January 1961. globalresearch.ca After a resounding victory in the first real elections in which the Congolese participated, Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister of Congo from 24 June 1960 until his overthrow and imprisonment on 14 September of the same year by Colonel Joseph-Désiré …

Rayhan Uddin (2021-01-19). UN Urged to Take Action Against France over 'Entrenching Islamophobia'. globalresearch.ca A coalition of civil society organisations has written to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to request that it opens formal infringement procedures against France's government for entrenching Islamophobia and structural discrimination against Muslims. | In a 28-page document seen …

Editor (2021-01-19). The Electoral College Must Go. scheerpost.com By Kevin Cooper / Original to Scheerpost DEATH ROW, SAN QUENTIN STATE PRISON — Ain't it a bitch! It was stunning to see such a sorry spectacle at the Capitol. We can't be too surprised, though, to see how differently violent white rioters are treated by law enforcement (one cop even wore a MAGA hat!) than peaceful Black protesters have been, historically and even recently. The drama does at least… |

Staff (2021-01-18). MLK Day Special: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in His Own Words. democracynow.org Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, "I've Been to…

Staff (2021-01-18). Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a Fierce Critic of US Foreign Policy. truthout.org Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his "Beyond Vietnam" spe…

A Guest Author (2021-01-18). Lisa Montgomery's execution: 'We cannot let this happen again'. workers.org This lightly edited statement was issued by Attorney Kelley Henry on the execution of Lisa Montgomery on Jan. 13 at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Lisa Montgomery The craven bloodlust of a failed administration was on full display tonight. Everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery . . . |

Sameena Rahman (2021-01-18). Prison authorities go on killing spree as end of Trump administration approaches. liberationnews.org With the end of the Trump administration nearing, there has been a flurry of federal executions in recent weeks, the most recent being the killing of Dustin Higgs in Indiana yesterday.

Ali Salam (2021-01-18). Israeli Military Court Orders Palestinian Prisoner's Home to be Demolished. imemc.org An Israeli military court ruled, on Friday, for the demolition of the home of Palestinian detainee, Mohammed Murawah Qabaha in Tura village, southwest of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank. In a press statement, Mo'yad, the brother of the detainee, said that the Israeli army handed the family a demolition notice against the two-story …

_____ (2021-01-18). California Truth, Healing Council Begins Historic Work. popularresistance.org Two years ago, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a formal apology to tribes in the state for atrocities committed against them and for the history of genocide and oppression they endured. | He also decided to put action, and money, behind his words. | Through an executive order, the governor established the California Truth and Healing Council to provide an avenue for Native Americans "to clarify the record — and provide their historical perspective — on the troubled relationship between tribes and the state." | This first-of-its-kind panel recently held its initial meeting to discuss what it hopes…