(2021-06-23). PayPal and Venmo are Shutting Out Sex Workers, Putting Lives and Livelihoods at Risk. aclu.org Everyone should have access to financial services. Using financial intermediaries such as PayPal and its subsidiary Venmo can make or break one's ability to work or survive in our increasingly virtual society. In spite of this, platforms like PayPal and Venmo continue to boot sex workers and other users off their platforms with little due process. The ACLU has joined 22 other civil rights groups in Polic…
(2021-06-23). Ex-Cop Eric Adams Takes Lead in New York City Mayoral Race. truthout.org 
We look at the early results from New York's highly anticipated primary election Tuesday. In the heated mayoral race, Brooklyn borough president and former New York police officer Eric Adams is leading, but it will likely take several weeks to announce a winner with the new ranked-choice voting system. Civil rights attorney Maya Wiley is currently in second place, followed closely by former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang has conceded after receiving less than 12% o…
(2021-06-23). Ex-Cop Eric Adams Takes Lead in NYC Mayoral Race in City's First Election with Ranked-Choice Voting. democracynow.org 
We look at the early results from New York's highly anticipated primary election Tuesday. In the heated mayoral race, Brooklyn borough president and former New York police officer Eric Adams is leading, but it will likely take several weeks to announce a winner with the new ranked-choice voting system. Civil rights attorney Maya Wiley is currently in second place, followed closely by former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang has conceded after receiving less than 12% of the tallied vote even after the media covered him as a front-runner. "My sense is that Adams will pr…
(2021-06-23). Graduate Student Researchers Seek Union Representation. popularresistance.org In one of the largest public employee organizing drives California has seen in over a decade, some 17,000 graduate student researchers at the University of California may soon become union members. | Student Researchers United, a committee of graduate student researchers, filed a petition for union certification with the California Public Employment Relations Board May 24. Organizers say they are seeking better wages and healthcare benefits, written protections against harassment and discrimination and a formal grievance procedure. They're also calling for more legal and political support for international studen…
(2021-06-23). McConnell Is Stacking the Courts and Using Voter Suppression to Maintain Power. truthout.org 
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued what surely must rank among the most hypocritical statements ever uttered by a senior senator. Were he to become majority leader again after the 2022 midterms he would, the Kentuckian stated, be McConnell is no stranger to hypocrisy. Rememb…
(2021-06-23). Atlanta: 'No Pride in Detention'. workers.org 
Members of several trans and Latinx organizations assembled at the Atlanta ICE headquarters June 15 to declare "No Pride in Detention." Initiated by Community Estrella and its founder, Li An (Estrella) Sanchez, the main demand was to end the detention of trans people. As the group marched around the heavily . . . |
(2021-06-23). Fatiha Briki is the latest Algerian human rights activist under detention. peoplesdispatch.org According to Fatiha Briki's family and the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees, of which she was a member, the activist was taken into custody on June 17. No reason has been provided by the authorities…
(2021-06-23). With support of Biden, federal court backs Trump's police-state assault on peaceful protests in Lafayette Square. wsws.org On Monday, a federal judge dismissed lawsuits alleging former president Donald Trump directed police to violate the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters who were violently attacked in Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020.
(2021-06-23). Senate Republicans block watered-down Democratic voting rights bill. wsws.org In the run-up to the vote, Biden and the Democratic leadership shamelessly courted West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who put forward a "compromise" proposal incorporating voter suppression measures supported by the Republicans.
(2021-06-23). Santa Cruz Grand Jury Finds Board of Supervisors Has Failed to Properly Oversee County Jail. indybay.org Due to a number of disturbing incidents occurring in the Santa Cruz County Main Jail over the past four years, the Santa Cruz Civil Grand Jury has found that the County Board of Supervisors has, "failed to assert and exercise proper oversight within their purview of the Main jail." This week, the Grand Jury released its new report titled, "Justice in the Jail," which cites a number of incidents, including inmate deaths. The report concludes: "we have a problem." (Photo: Summary of the Santa Cruz Civil Grand Jury report "Justice in the Jail." Read the full report below)…
(2021-06-23). Alternatives to capitalism: Buen Vivir. indybay.org Capitalism is seen primarily as a system of institutional and racist oppression, and it implies a way of life that sees nature only as a raw material to be exploited. The claim is thus to break with the capitalist mode of production and life in order to create "other forms of life that are not determined by capital accumulation" (ibid., 37). The aim is a "return to use values" (ibid., 39).
(2021-06-23). Our Fathers Fought GOP Voter Suppression 70 Years Ago. thenation.com Our Fathers Fought GOP Voter Suppression 70 Years Ago…
(2021-06-22). On the Podcast: Defending Speech We Hate. aclu.org The ACLU's role in defending freedom of speech has been hotly contested by some critics recently — but these conversations are far from new. Throughout its history, the organization has had to balance its dedication to advancing civil rights for marginalized people and
(2021-06-22). Georges Abdallah's statement for week of action salutes Palestinian resistance, urges solidarity. samidoun.net 
Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese Communist revolutionary and struggler for Palestine who has been imprisoned in France since 1984, delivered the following statement for the International Week of Action for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah, marked at demonstrations and events around the world between 12 and 19 June. Georges Abdallah is now the longest-held political prisoner in Europe. His story is chronicled in the new film, Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah, screened in cities across France, Switzerland, Italy and Tunisia as part of the Week of Action. Fedayin is available in French, English, Arabic, Spa…
(2021-06-22). 30 June, Cluj-Napoca (Romania): Film Screening — Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah. samidoun.net 
Friday, 30 June 7: 45 pm Strada RƒÉzboieni 60 400260 Cluj-Napoca, România Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/183670633741312 [EN] Fedayin, Georges Abdallah's Fight reconstitutes the journey of a tireless Arab warrior for Palestine. From the camps for Palestinian refugees where he developed his political conscience, to the international mobilization for his release, we will discover the man who became one of the oldest political prisoners in Europe. More than just a story of Abdallah's life, the documentary reconstructs the complicated history of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine, a ba…
(2021-06-22). Republicans Won't Even Debate "For the People Act" as They Flood States with Voter Suppression Bills. democracynow.org 
Senate Republicans are expected to use the filibuster to block debate on the For the People Act, a sweeping bill that would protect voting rights across the United States and improve ballot access. The Senate vote comes as Republican state lawmakers are passing sweeping measures to suppress the vote. According to the Voting Rights Lab, 18 states have enacted more than 30 laws to restrict voting since the November election. The For the People Act is "the most important voting rights bill since the Voting Rights Act of 1965," says Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman. "It just goes to show you how afraid the Republican…
(2021-06-22). Democrats Introduce Bill to Combat Republican Voter Suppression Efforts. truthout.org 
As part of their push to combat Republican voter suppression efforts sweeping the country, Democrats introduced bicameral legislation on Tuesday aimed at preventing Republicans from allowing local election officials to be removed or appointed through partisan efforts. | In states like
(2021-06-22). D.C. Statehood is Constitutional. Robert Kennedy Never Said Otherwise. aclu.org The movement for D.C. statehood has gained remarkable momentum in recent years. A bill to admit the district as the 51st state passed the House with unanimous Democratic support in April, and a hearing before the Senate is slated for June 22. As the hearing approaches, opponents of statehood are reaching back into history to bolster their agenda — but their interpretation may be misguided. | The movement's adversaries have misleadingly cited a
(2021-06-22). Jim Crow was Never Dead, but the Black Church can Lead the Way in Banishing Voter Suppression. juancole.com By Rev. Susan K. Smith and Rev. Levon C. Manzie | ( Otherwords.org) — We suspected it for years, and now we know it: Jim Crow was never dead. You might even say he was too mean to die. We know this because in too many places, the forces of racism are raging as laws …
(2021-06-22). Wednesday 6/23: Protest March on Manchin and McConnell: End Filibuster & Voter Suppression Now! indybay.org Join online via livestream: www.3rdreconstruction.org/…
(2021-06-22). Wednesday 6/30: Sheriff Oversight Commission: Establishing a Commission in Santa Cruz County under AB 1185. indybay.org Online Event, Register Here: | us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__zOjW8c0SFi3J7Defp-5BA…
(2021-06-22). Santa Cruz Grand Jury Finds Board of Supervisors Has Failed to Properly Oversee County Jail. indybay.org Due to a number of disturbing incidents occurring in the Santa Cruz County Main Jail over the past four years, the Santa Cruz Civil Grand Jury has found that the County Board of Supervisors has, "failed to assert and exercise proper oversight within their purview of the Main jail." This week, the Grand Jury released its new report titled, "Justice in the Jail," which cites a number of incidents, including inmate deaths. The report concludes: "we have a problem." (Photo: Summary of the Santa Cruz Civil Grand Jury report "Justice in the Jail." Read the full report below)…
(2021-06-22). Alternatives to capitalism: Buen Vivir. indybay.org Capitalism is seen primarily as a system of institutional and racist oppression, and it implies a way of life that sees nature only as a raw material to be exploited. The claim is thus to break with the capitalist mode of production and life in order to create "other forms of life that are not determined by capital accumulation" (ibid., 37). The aim is a "return to use values" (ibid., 39).
(2021-06-22). Gilbert Poole Jr. exonerated after 32 years in Michigan prison. wsws.org Poole's conviction was vacated after years of work by the WMU-Cooley Innocence Project to throw out unscientific "bite mark analysis" and to bring to light DNA evidence proving he did not kill Robert Mejia in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1988.
(2021-06-22). Juneteenth for white folk. nationofchange.org Is Juneteenth the national holiday going to fix the disparate outcomes for black people in education, health, income, wealth, home ownership, death by police, imprisonment, unemployment, and other inequities?>
(2021-06-22). New Evidence Reveals That Senator John McCain and Other High-Ranking Vietnam War POWs May Have Lied to the American Public About Being Tortured. covertactionmagazine.com Collusion by the White House, the Pentagon, and the mainstream media resulted in disparagement, denial, and suppression of eyewitness testimony confirming that most POWs were actually well-treated by their North Vietnamese captors (in contrast to the brutal torture and death often meted out to North Vietnamese POWs by U.S. forces). When numerous U.S. POWs began …
(2021-06-22). New Evidence Reveals That Senator John McCain and Other High-Ranking Vietnam War POWs May Have Lied to the American Public About Being Tortured. covertactionmagazine.com Collusion by the White House, the Pentagon, and the mainstream media resulted in disparagement, denial, and suppression of eyewitness testimony confirming that most POWs were actually well-treated by their North Vietnamese captors (in contrast to the brutal torture and death often meted out to North Vietnamese POWs by U.S. forces). When numerous U.S. POWs began …