(2022-12-17). Lawfare: Judicial And Legislative Coups In Argentina And Peru. popularresistance.org On Tuesday, December 6, An Argentine court sentenced Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to six years in jail and disqualified her from holding public office in a high-profile corruption case on Tuesday. | The vice president, who has temporary immunity due to her current role, will not face immediate prison time and is expected to appeal the sentence, with the case likely to spend years winding through higher courts. The crisis in Peru reached the streets, after Congress dismissed former President Pedro Castillo on December 7 for wanting to dissolve Parliament and establish an emergency government. | Th…
(2022-12-17). Perú, Argentina, México: lessons of coups and 'lawfare' in Latin America. iacenter.org By John Catalinotto December 13, 2022 Dec. 12, 2022 — Coup in Perú Dec. 7. "Lawfare" in Argentina Dec. 6. Confrontation in Mexico Nov. 27. In the past few weeks, Latin America's reactionary elites, junior partners of U.S. and world imperialism, have challenged leftist elected officials in these three countries. These events illustrate what Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin taught long ago about how the ruling class uses the state apparatus it controls — police, courts, jails, army, corporate media — to attack popular governments and prevent social progress. Opponents of the coup, or "golpista," against…
(2022-12-17). Brittney Griner And The US State. popularresistance.org WNBA player Brittney Griner was arrested in Moscow on February 17, 2022, exactly one week before the Russian government began what it called its Special Military Operation in Ukraine. Griner was returning home from playing in Russia during the off-season and was carrying CBD oil in her luggage. While legal in much of the United States, any marijuana formulation is illegal in the Russian Federation. She was finally released on December 8, 2022 in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. | The terms of the exchange seemed unequal to many people who wondered why a man dubbed the "merchant of death" was a…
(2022-12-17). Ghost Stories Of Capitalism: Racism Is Real, And It's A Class Struggle. popularresistance.org In today's political climate, the word racism has become taboo. Some on the "Left" take issue with the term because of how it has been co-opted by the neoliberal elite. This is understandable, since the neoliberal Democratic Party has indeed exploited race relations in the United States to forward a "lesser evil" but no less dangerous brand of U.S. imperialism. Racism is thus increasingly viewed as an ideological weapon of liberalism rather than a material force of oppression. So-called "conservatives" have pounced on the limitations of neoliberal racial politics to strengthen their own brand as crusaders against…
(2022-12-17). Turkish presidential hopeful sentenced to prison. wsws.org As Turkey heads to elections in 2023 amid growing class tensions and war threats, Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu, a potential rival of President Erdogan, was sentenced to prison and a political ban.
(2022-12-17). Critical hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal. workers.org 
Dec. 16 — Supporters and family of Pennsylvania political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal filled the courtroom and demonstrated outside the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center today. All were asking whether Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Lucretia Clemons would continue the long miscarriage of justice against Mumia — 41 years in prison . . . |
(2022-12-17). Northern Syria: U.S. Forces Conduct First Patrol In Raqqa City (Video). southfront.org 
U.S. Marines with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment provide security support during mission on Sept. 9, 2018, at an undisclosed location in Syria. (Cpl. Gabino Perez/Marine Corps) | On December 17, the United States-led coalition conducted an unusual patrol within the city of Raqqa in Syria's northern region. | The coalition's patrol, which was escorted by personnel from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), visited Raqqa's Central Prison, where many captives of ISIS are being held, then…
(2022-12-16). Golpe In Peru: Castillo Under Arrest, People Demand A Constituent Assembly. popularresistance.org Regardless of Castillo presidency's evident shortcomings and mistakes, his ouster represents a grave setback for democracy in Peru and Latin America as a whole. His election last year took place on the back of an almighty crisis of credibility and legitimacy of a political system rigged with corruption and venality in which presidents were forced to resign on corruption charges (some ended in prison), with one committing suicide before being arrested on corruption charges. In the last six years Peru has had six presidents. | The rot was so advanced that no mainstream political party or politician could muster suf…
(2022-12-16). Death Toll From Peru Protests Tops 20 as 'Coup' Government Extends Castillo's Jail Term. commondreams.org "The democratic space is closing; we are on the way to authoritarianism," warned a leading human rights advocate in the South American nation.
(2022-12-16). ALBA-TCP Summit Declares Arrest of Pedro Castillo Coup d'État. orinocotribune.com This Thursday, December 15, the summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) condemned the events in Perú against President Pedro Castillo, describing it as a coup d'état. | During the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the ALBA-TCP, which began this Wednesday in Havana, Cuba, the arbitrary detention of Pedro Castillo by police officers was condemned, and member states agreed with the arguments of Castillo's defense that there was in fact no court order against the president at the time of his arrest on December 7, when Congress ousted him fr…
(2022-12-16). 2022 Was Rikers Island's Deadliest Year — Again. popularresistance.org New York City, New York – 19 people have perished at Rikers Island in 2022, making this the deadliest year in the jail's history. Rikers Island's previous deadliest year was just last year, when 16 people died at the notorious pretrial detention center. NYC Mayor Eric Adams has rejected calls to close the facility, along with demands from advocates for a federal receivership. A federal receivership would give power to a court-appointed, nonpartisan expert to intervene in the situation on Rikers with wide latitude to change conditions in the jail. New York public defender Olayemi Olurin joins Rattling the Bars to…
(2022-12-16). Eric Adams Prescribes More Cops And Prisons For Poor And Oppressed. popularresistance.org New York City, New York – Last week, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced his new directive allowing cops to forcibly remove people from public areas and involuntarily detain them for transport to hospitals. The mayor's guidance expands previous definitions which allowed cops and qualified professionals to involuntarily detain someone if the individual is deemed to be a threat. Now, the new recommendations allow cops to detain people if they deem they are "unable to meet their basic needs." Adams claims this decision is best for public safety and individual well-being, but his decision was never about public safet…
(2022-12-16). Faking of safety docs can lead to jail time. ecns.cn People who work for safety assessment agencies and provide fake documents will be harshly punished in line with an interpretation released by China's top judicial authorities on Thursday.
(2022-12-16). Ben & Jerry's settles lawsuit, freezes out Israel. electronicintifada.net Outcome is a win for supporters of Palestinian rights.
(2022-12-16). Mississippi executes Thomas Loden despite ongoing lawsuit by inmates against state's lethal injection protocol. wsws.org Loden and four other death row inmates filed a lawsuit in 2015 challenging the state's three-drug lethal injection protocol as cruel and unusual punishment, which is banned by the Eighth Amendment.
(2022-12-16). Federal Marshals Seize KPFA Assets to Pay Defamation Judgment Against New York Sister Station. indybay.org This week US Marshals seized more than $300,000 of KPFA's cash reserves to pay for a monetary judgment for its parent organization the Pacifica Foundation. The asset seizure resulted from a defamation lawsuit by a former interim executive director of Pacifica, John Vernile in 2019 against programmers of its New York station, WBAI. Pacifica lawyers filed an appeal today to block the judgment. But KPFA is now facing layoffs and a massive budget shortfall.
(2022-12-16). Three men convicted of aiding plot to kidnap Michigan governor sentenced in state court. wsws.org Three Michigan men were given sentences ranging from seven to 12 years in prison for their role in providing support and participating in the plot to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the summer and fall of 2020.
(2022-12-16). You Know Gay Rights Are Mainstream When Biden Picks up the Rainbow Flag. scheerpost.com 
Larry Gross, author of the LGBTQ civil rights treatise, "Up From Invisibility," honors the achievement of the new same-sex marriage law with only feint appreciation for the president who signed the bill.
(2022-12-16). Rwandan President Kagame: America Would Have To Invade Before They Bully Me Into Releasing Prisoner. moguldom.com Rwandan President Paul Kagame told reporters the United States could not bully him into releasing a prisoner and would have to invade his country first. "We will make it clear: There isn't anybody going to come from anywhere to bully us into something to do with our lives and we accept it," Kagame told reporters …