Daily Archives: 2021-07-08

2021-07-08: News Headlines

Leon Kunstenaar (2021-07-08). Rallies in Bay Area for Voting Rights. indybay.org Bay Area residents mobilizing to demand Congress fight voter suppression and pass the For the People Act…

Andy Kroll (2021-07-08). America's Accountability Problem. tomdispatch.com America has an accountability problem. In fact, if the Covid-19 disaster, the January 6th Capitol attack, and the Trump years are any indication, the American lexicon has essentially dispensed with the term "accountability." This should come as no surprise. After all, there's nothing particularly new about this. In the Bush years, those who created a system of indefinite offshore detention at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, those who implemented a CIA global torture program and the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance policy, not to mention those who purposely took us to war based on lies about nonexistent I…

Anonymous669 (2021-07-08). Bloody Clashes Ended With Government Victory In Capital Of Afghanistan's Badghis Province (Videos). southfront.org Afghan National Army soldiers prepare to move out following an inspection of troops at the Regional Military Training Center at Tactical Base Gamberi, Afghanistan, on July 30, 2015. JARROD MORRIS/U.S. ARMY | On July 8, Afghan government forces recaptured Qala-e-Naw city, the capital of the northwestern province of Badghis, from the Taliban. | Taliban fighters stormed the city a day earlier following fierce clashes with local security forces. The fighters stormed key government buildings and freed around 600 prisoners from the province centr…

Juanita Ramos Ardila (2021-07-08). Whistleblowers Say Contractors Not Trained to Care for Migrant Children in Fort Bliss Detention Camp. latinorebels.com This was revealed in a July 7 Government Accountability Project report based on accounts from Laurie Elkin and Justin Mulaire, who monitored the Fort Bliss site from May 12 through June 2.

Henry Giroux (2021-07-08). Resistance is Not Futile: Fighting Back in an Age of Manufactured Ignorance. counterpunch.org The genocide inflicted on Native Americans, slavery, the horrors of Jim Crow, the incarceration of Japanese Americans, the rise of the carceral state, the My Lai massacre and George W. Bush's torture chambers and black sites, among other historical events, now disappear into a disavowal of past events made even more unethical with the emergence of a right-wing political and pedagogical language of erasure. For example, the Republican Party's attack on the teaching of "critical race theory" — labeled as "ideological or faddish" — denies both the history of racism as well as the ways in which it is enfo…

Henry Giroux (2021-07-08). Resistance is Not Futile: Fighting Back in an Age of Manufactured Ignorance. counterpunch.org The genocide inflicted on Native Americans, slavery, the horrors of Jim Crow, the incarceration of Japanese Americans, the rise of the carceral state, the My Lai massacre and George W. Bush's torture chambers and black sites, among other historical events, now disappear into a disavowal of past events made even more unethical with the emergence of

Mirinda Crissman (2021-07-08). Abuse continues as Texas repurposes prison for ICE detention. workers.org by Kim Dinh for Justeseeds.org Houston On July 16, by order of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) began clearing incarcerated people from the Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley. But the order did not mandate release of any people or the closing of the prison. . . . |

Staff (2021-07-08). Victory for Ghadanfar Abu Atwan after 65 days of hunger strike — towards victory for Palestine! samidoun.net Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes Ghadanfar Abu Atwan on his victory over Israeli imprisonment after 65 days of hunger strike. Abu Atwan's sister, Benazeer, and his lawyer, Jawad Boulos, confirmed that he will be released later today, 8 July, and the administrative detention order against him cancelled. His steadfastness and commitment to struggle, like that of his fellow Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, inspire all those around the world who support the Palestinian people and their just cause of return and liberation. His family has confirmed that he will not end his strike until he…

PAI (2021-07-08). House OKs bill making it easier for workers to prove age discrimination. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—In a bipartisan vote just before the congressional recess, the Democratic-run House made it easier to prove age discrimination in employment. The 249-178 tally included 29 Republican "yes" votes, but 178 GOPers voted "no." Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, speaking for the legislation (HR2062), reported two of the nation's biggest unions, AFSCME and the National …

Mark Gruenberg (2021-07-08). Jobless workers fight back against Republican governors' unemployment cutoffs. peoplesworld.org ANNAPOLIS, Md., and INDIANAPOLIS—Two successful lawsuits so far, in Maryland and Indiana. Another filed in Austin, Texas, by two Facebook groups representing more than 31,000 workers combined. A Florida AFL-CIO social media campaign. And a "we'll remember next November" promise from the Tennessee AFL-CIO President Billy Dycus. That's how unemployed workers in those states are …

Peoples Dispatch (2021-07-08). Israel detains Dr. Shatha Odeh of the Palestinian Health Work Committees. peoplesdispatch.org The detention of Dr. Shatha Odeh comes a month after Israel ordered her organization, the Health Work Committees, to cease functioning. Dr. Odeh is also the regional coordinator of the People's Health Movement…

teleSUR (2021-07-08). South Africa: Ex President Zuma Hands Himself Over to Police. telesurenglish.net On Wednesday, South Africa's ex-President Jacob Zuma (2009-2018) handed himself in to police to serve a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court. He was admitted to Estcourt Correctional Center in KwaZulu-Natal province. | RELATED: | On June 29, Zuma was sentenced for defying an instruction to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his administration. The 79-year-old politician considers this inves…

teleSUR (2021-07-08). Chilean Students Demand Release of Prisoners From Social Unrest. telesurenglish.net Students on Thursday occupied the headquarters of the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH), in Santiago de Chile, calling for the release of prisoners of the popular revolt that broke out in October 2019. | RELATED: | The students, members of the Coordinating Assembly of High School Students (ACES), also called for the release of Mapuche detainees. | Spokespeople of this organization told the media that they…

Sameena Rahman (2021-07-07). Supreme Court ruling gives green light to even more voter suppression. liberationnews.org A Supreme Court decision on two voter suppression laws in Arizona further gutted the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, a key concession won by the Civil Rights Movement. The two state laws upheld by the court's 6-3 ruling on July 1 ban anyone other than a relative or caregiver from collecting absentee ballots and …

Isiah Holmes (2021-07-07). How a Journalist Ended Up on an FBI Watch List. progressive.org I covered Black Lives Matter protests in Wisconsin, so the police put me on a list shared with the FBI.

_____ (2021-07-07). Whistleblowers Allege Kids Mistreated by ServePro Contractors Hired to Oversee Detention Camp. commondreams.org It is imperative that the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Venice this week act to provide the COVID-19 vaccines needed to achieve worldwide comprehensive adult immunization by early 2022. Given current production, this should not be a problem, so long as a global plan is quickly implemented.

_____ (2021-07-07). Why Daniel Hale Deserves Gratitude, Not Prison. commondreams.org It is imperative that the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Venice this week act to provide the COVID-19 vaccines needed to achieve worldwide comprehensive adult immunization by early 2022. Given current production, this should not be a problem, so long as a global plan is quickly implemented.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-07-07). Dispatches from India: Political Prisoner Stan Swamy dies at 84. peoplesdispatch.org In this episode, we take a look at the death political prisoner Father Stan Swamy, prisoner Bashir Ahmad Baba, who spent 11 years in jail before he was acquitted and finally, from the city of Chennai, food delivery workers talk about the issues they face due to the pandemic…

The Socialist Program (2021-07-07). Climate Change Activists Given Long Prison Sentences While Big Oil Makes Super-Profits. liberationnews.org This interview is an episode of The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, a podcast providing news and views about the world for those who want to change it. You can follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how …

Saheli Chowdhury (2021-07-07). Activists Demand Assange's Freedom as Journalist and Whistleblower Turns 50 in Belmarsh Prison. orinocotribune.com July 6, 2021 (special for OrinocoTribune.com)—On Saturday, July 3, Julian Assange, the most decorated journalist of the present times, who is being persecuted by the United States for exposing its war crimes, turned 50 in Belmarsh Prison in London, United Kingdom, facing possible extradition to the US. Despite an almost complete blackout by mainstream media, which has maligned and smeared Assange over the past ten years, protests and demands for his freedom have never stopped. On his birthday this year, activists and supporters in the US and the UK as well as in his home country Australia and across countri…

Kathy Kelly (2021-07-07). Why Daniel Hale Deserves Gratitude, Not Prison. dissidentvoice.org "Pardon Daniel Hale." These words hung in the air on a recent Saturday evening, projected onto several Washington, D.C. buildings, above the face of a courageous whistleblower facing ten years in prison. The artists aimed to inform the U.S. public about Daniel E. Hale, a former Air Force analyst who blew the whistle on the …

Kathy Kelly (2021-07-07). Why Daniel Hale Deserves Gratitude, Not Prison. zcomm.org The whistleblower acted on behalf of the public's right to know what is being done in its name…

Staff (2021-07-07). Free Haitham Siyaj: Stop PA Political Imprisonment of Palestinian Activists! samidoun.net Haitham Siyaj, Palestinian struggler and organizer, remains imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority, his detention extended another 24 hours on 7 July 2021. Even after many of the political detainees seized by PA security forces while protesting the assassination of Nizar Banat — part and parcel of PA security coordination with the Israeli occupation — were released, Haitham Siyaj remains behind bars. He was beaten so badly by PA security forces that he was hospitalized; he was then seized from the hospital and has been held in detention since that time. He is now on hunger strike for the third day to…

Staff (2021-07-07). Free Haitham Siyaj: Stop PA Political Imprisonment of Palestinian Activists! samidoun.net UPDATE as of 8 July: Political detainee Haitham Siyaj was released from Palestinian Authority prisons today following the tireless work of lawyers and activists seeking his release and following three days of hunger strike. He is currently receiving medical treatment in the hospital for the injuries he suffered due to beating and abuse by PA security forces as he protested the assassination of Nizar Banat. We continue to emphasize the call for the immediate release of all political prisoners in PA jails — they are detained as part of the PA's 'security coordination' with the Israeli occupation Haitham Siyaj…

Staff (2021-07-07). Palestinian student Layan Nasir seized by Israeli occupation forces. samidoun.net Palestinian student Layan Nasir was seized in the early morning hours of Wednesday, 7 July by Israeli occupation forces who invaded her home. She is a student at Bir Zeit University who wrote on social media only two days ago about the attacks she suffered at the hands of undercover Palestinian Authority security forces wearing civilian clothes, who violently beat protesters against the assassination of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat. She is currently being held in the Israeli Ofer prison. There are currently hundreds of Palestinian students detained by the Israeli occupation. At Bir Zeit University alone, Nasi…

Workers World Philadelphia bureau (2021-07-07). Rally: Free Mumia and all political prisoners. workers.org A 16-foot puppet of Mumia Abu-Jamal greeted participants and passersby July 3 at a rally: "In the spirit of Consuewella Africa! We must all MOVE to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal & All Political Prisoners." On July 3, 1982, political prisoner Abu-Jamal was given a death sentence by Judge Albert Sabo. Annual . . . |

Binoy Kampmark (2021-07-07). Thordarson's Fabrications: Another Hole in the Julian Assange Prosecution. counterpunch.org The tyrannical, brutal cynicism of keeping Julian Assange in Belmarsh prison remains one of the more inglorious marks of the British legal system and, it should be said, its sponsors and colluders. Having won his case against extradition to the US, if only in deeply qualified terms, the UK keeps the WikiLeaks publisher banged up

_____ (2021-07-07). UK High Court Allows US To Appeal Ban On Assange Extradition. popularresistance.org Baraitser had ruled that Assange's physical and mental health put him at high risk of suicide if he should be sent to a U.S. prison to stand trial on charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and of espionage in his work as a journalist publishing government secrets revealing evidence of state crimes.

_____ (2021-07-07). Why Daniel Hale Deserves Gratitude, Not Prison. commondreams.org "This was the hottest June on record. Until next year, and the year after that, and the year after that—unless we address the climate crisis."

Fight Back (2021-07-07). USPCN: Our Response to the PA's Recent Mass Arrests of Palestinian activists. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN). | USPCN uplifts the demands of our people who have called on us to shed light on the so-called Palestinian Authority (PA), its corruption, and its use of brutal force to silence, murder, and imprison dissenting voices! | We demand freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners who have been targeted by the traitorous PA and its security apparatus in the past few days. Every branch is an enemy to the cause of liberation, and the PA never has been and never will be a legitimate representative of the…

_____ (2021-07-07). Trump Roundly Ridiculed for 'Bogus' Big Tech Lawsuit. commondreams.org The suit claims the tech giant "enjoys virtually unchallenged power over Android app distribution and Android in-app purchases of digital content that extends to every state, district, and territory in the United States."

_____ (2021-07-07). 37 AGs Hit Google, 'Gatekeeper of Our Digital Devices,' With New Antitrust Lawsuit. commondreams.org

_____ (2021-07-07). 'Tax. The. Rich.' After Pentagon Cancels Contract, Bezos' Wealth Hits Record $211 Billion. commondreams.org "This is not a lawsuit," said Evan Greer of Fight for the Future. "It's a fundraising grift."

_____ (2021-07-07). 37 AGs Hit Google, 'Gatekeeper of Our Digital Devices,' With New Antitrust Lawsuit. commondreams.org "You can't raise taxes, you can't raise taxes that have just been lowered, and you can't enforce existing tax laws—a never-ending race to the revenue bottom," said one critic of the right-wing campaign.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-07-07). How the Indian state neglects the health of political prisoners. peoplesdispatch.org 84 year old human rights activist, priest and political prisoner Stan Swamy died in hospital on July 5 in India. Many have called his death an 'institutional murder' and a 'custodial killing.'

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