Daily Archives: 2021-04-24

2021-04-24: News Headlines

Staff (2021-04-24). Prioritizing Incarcerated People for Vaccine Quickly Reduced COVID in IL Prisons. truthout.org "One thing about prison, you don't want to get sick in here," says James Trent, who is incarcerated in Western Illinois Correctional Center. When the chance came to get the vaccine for COVID-19, most people inside got the shot "because this is very serious," he told Truthout over the phone. | Illinois is ahead of most states in vaccinating people who are incarcerated, thus far vaccinating 69 percent of the nearly 28,000 people in its prisons. The decision to prioritize providing the vacci…

Staff (2021-04-24). Minnesota Workers Took on the National Guard to Defend Black Lives. truthout.org On Sunday, April 11, a cop pulled Daunte Wright over for air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror and expired tags. Then she murdered him, saying she couldn't tell her gun from her taser. The killing happened 20 minutes down the road from where Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck. | Protests have erupted night after night since then, in Brooklyn Center where Wright was murdered and beyond. The repression by the mayor and governor has been savage. On Friday the 16th, for e…

Robin McCall (2021-04-24). Lawsuit Claims Merck's Gardasil Papilloma Virus Vaccine Caused Severe Injuries to Teen. globalresearch.ca First published on August 24, 2020 | It is vitally important to acknowledge that the same so-called "experts" in the medical/academic/scientific community, many of whom have serious undisclosed financial conflicts of interest at the NIH, the CDC, the NIAID, the FDA, …

WSWS (2021-04-24). Canada practicing "Torture by any other name"—Experts denounce continued use of solitary confinement in country's prisons. wsws.org The more than 13,000 Canadian prison inmates are living in an unhealthy and dangerous environment in which official abuse, violence, mental health problems, overdoses and suicides are prevalent.

Michael J. Moore (2021-04-24). In Restricting Outside Contact, Prisons Undercut Their Mission to Rehabilitate. progressive.org As someone who is incarcerated, I know how hard prison systems make it to communicate with friends, family, and the rest of the free world.

RFE RL (2021-04-24). The History Of Turkish Atrocities Against Armenians And Why Biden Is Poised To Call Them Genocide — Analysis. eurasiareview.com By Ivan Gutterman* | It's April 24, 1915. Some 250 Armenian intellectuals are rounded up in Constantinople and imprisoned by Ottoman police. Known as "Red Sunday," it is today a day of remembrance for a murderous yearslong campaign that would see the majority of the Ottoman Empire's prewar Armenian population expelled or exterminated. According to estimates, between 664,000 and 1.2 million people lost their lives. | A century later, recognition of the killings as genocide is still a divisive diplomatic issue, with Turkey and Azerbaijan — who share strong ethnic and cultural ties — officially denying genocide…

Iran News Wire (2021-04-24). Iran: Two Sentenced To Death For 'Insulting The Prophet, Blasphemy'. eurasiareview.com Two prisoners were sentenced to According to the Only one of the prisoners has been identified as Yusef Mehrdad from the northwestern city of Ardabil. | The 1st Branch of the Arak Criminal Court sentenced Yusef and the other prisoner to death for "insulting the prophet" and "blasphemy". | Me…

Eurasianet (2021-04-24). Prisoners Of The Caucasus: Post-War Report. eurasiareview.com By Joshua Kucera* | ( This week, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) held a session where the aftermath of the Armenia-Azerbaijan war was discussed. Lawmakers in Strasbourg lined up to criticize Baku for its intransigence on the issue; support […

Fidencio Aldama Solidarity Group (2021-04-24). New Website Launched in Solidarity with Yaqui Political Prisoner Fidencio Aldama Pérez. indybay.org We are excited to announce the launch of a new bilingual Spanish/English website to expand solidarity efforts with Fidencio Aldama, his family, and the community of Loma de Bácum.

sputniknews (2021-04-23). Supreme Court Ditches 'Permanent Incorrigibility' to Simplify Sentencing of Minors to Life in Prison. sputniknews.com The current U-turn ruling by the Supreme Court comes after the last two decades saw it cutting back on harsh punishments for crimes committed by offenders before they turn 18.

commondreams (2021-04-23). EFF and ACLU Ask Supreme Court to Review Case Against Warrantless Searches of International Travelers' Phones and Laptops. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Paul Street (2021-04-23). Slaves to the Constitution. counterpunch.org Slavery lives on in U.S.-American life, crippling "our" supposed grand "democracy" in numerous ways. The massive wealth, income, and health gaps between Black and white Americans and the related persistent segregation and mass arrest and incarceration of Black Americans cannot be properly understood without reference to the two and a half centuries in which Black

ACLU (2021-04-23). We Don't Lose Our Privacy Rights When We Travel. aclu.org Every year, millions of people cross the U.S. border through airports, land crossings, and other ports of entry. Each will pass through customs before entering the country. For some travelers, however, the process isn't simple. A growing number of travelers are being detained and subjected to warrantless and suspicionless searches of their phones, laptops, and other electronic devices by border officers who may cite a host of reasons for doing so, or no reason at all. By searching travelers' electronic devices, border officers can access a vast array of personal, sensitive information, including photos, texts,…

Eds. (2021-04-23). Migrant women farmworkers: An invisible essential labor force. mronline.org The Biden administration must address the industry's long-standing gender discrimination and systemic inequalities, which have become even more severe during the pandemic. | April 23, 2021 | Newswire…

Joe Piette (2021-04-23). Prison officials punish Bryant Arroyo for free speech. workers.org Bryant Arroyo, an incarcerated worker at Pennsylvania SCI Frackville, was placed in isolated custody for several days — in other words, thrown in the hole, the "Restricted Housing Unit" — for suggesting on separate phone calls to this reporter, his daughter and another person that they keep recordings of their . . . |

Mirinda Crissman (2021-04-23). U.S. role in Ecuador prison uprisings. workers.org "In places where inequality is the deepest, the use of prison and punishment is the greatest." (Ruth Wilson Gilmore) Prisons do not keep people safe from violence; in fact, these institutions perpetuate violence themselves and further entrench poverty. They are tools used by those who hoard mass amounts of wealth . . . |

A Guest Author (2021-04-23). Lavender and Red solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal! workers.org From the LGBTQ+ Caucus of Workers World Party We, the LGBTQ+ Caucus of Workers World Party, are outraged, disgusted and alarmed by the continued attempts to silence and kill Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black revolutionary political prisoner who has been inside the imprisoned nation for almost 40 years — first railroaded . . . |

_____ (2021-04-23). Scheer Intelligence: 'When We Fight, We Win'. popularresistance.org As the world awaited the fate of Derek Chauvin—the Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of killing George Floyd—Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah joined Robert Scheer on "Scheer Intelligence" to discuss what he calls the most successful social justice movement the country has perhaps ever seen. In the timely episode, Abdullah, a lifelong activist and California State University, Los Angeles professor, traces the roots of the BLM movement back to 2013 and notes that Floyd's killing was the moment the "world was cracked wide open" for everyone to see the deep-seated systemic racism a…

Moderator (2021-04-23). Black Lives Matter: "When We Fight, We Win" scheerpost.com Photo courtesy of Melina Abdullah and SpeakOutNow] Click to subscribe on: Apple / Spotify / Google Play As the world awaited the fate of Derek Chauvin—the Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of killing George Floyd—Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah joined Robert Scheer on "Scheer Intelligence" to discuss what he calls the most successful social justice movement the country has… |

Julia Conley, staff writer (2021-04-23). Critics Blast Oklahoma GOP for Passing 'Absolutely Insane' Law Shielding Drivers Who Run Over Protesters. commondreams.org The Oklahoma chapter of the ACLU is vowing to fight the state's Republican leadership following Gov. Kevin Stitt's signing of a law that will grant immunity to drivers who unintentionally hurt or kill protesters—while holding demonstrators accountable for threatening public safety instead. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/oklahoma_protest.jpg

Danaka Katovich, Ariel Gold (2021-04-23). Can a Formula 1 Star Send a Message to the Saudi Government? counterpunch.org For human rights advocates who also enjoy the sport of car racing, a great opportunity awaits us. Lewis Hamilton, the only Black driver in the history of Formula 1 racing, has been bravely and consistently supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. In the wake of the protests against the murders of George Floyd and Breonna

Julia Conley, staff writer (2021-04-23). After Republican Caitlyn Jenner Says "I'm In" for Governor, Equality California Says: "We're Out" commondreams.org California's largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, Equality California, shared its immediate reaction to the news that transgender rights activist and Olympic athlete Caitlyn Jenner is running for governor of the state. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/caitlyn_jenner.jpg

John Nichols (2021-04-23). Walter Mondale's Decades-Long Crusade for Fair Housing and the Full Promise of Civil Rights. thenation.com Walter Mondale's Decades-Long Crusade for Fair Housing and the Full Promise of Civil Rights…

Fight Back (2021-04-23). Tallahassee celebrates Derek Chauvin guilty verdict. fightbacknews.org Tallahassee, FL – On April 20, in less than two hours after the Derek Chauvin verdict was announced, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee gathered at Cascades Park to celebrate this win but also to reiterate the fight for Black liberation is not over. They chanted, "Indict convict, send that killer cop to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell." | The group played music and passed out pizza to rally attendees. | Trish Brown, stated "History has been made today. With so much wrongdoing and killings by the police throughout history with no Indictments, no convictions, no accountability – officers getti…

Susan Price (2021-04-23). The Kobane case: a Turkish show trial. greenleft.org.au One hundred and eight leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party — the third largest party in the Turkish parliament — will face a show trial on April 26 that could see them imprisoned for life, reports Sarah Glynn.

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