(2023-03-17). Trans Rights Are Women's Rights. aclu.org March is Women's History Month, which means I'm often asked to name the most pressing issue facing women in America. Answers spring to mind, sometimes faster than I can form the words. The fall of Roe and the Black maternal mortality crisis. The persistence of the gender wage gap and on-the-job sexual harassment, more than five years after #MeToo. Barriers to safe, affordable housing. Policing of Black and Brown mothers, leading to needless family separation. The lack of universal paid family leave coupled with the skyrocketing cost of childcare. The list goes on. | None of these ills, however, is the subject…
(2023-03-17). Celebrating 60 Years of Gideon v. Wainwright. aclu.org 
Sixty years ago today, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in In the deca…
(2023-03-17). Monroe Doctrine Plays Out In Perú. popularresistance.org March 7th marked three months of the congressional coup that ousted democratically elected President Pedro Castillo and claimed the lives of over 70 people during daily anti-government protests. Despite Western media 's attempt to whitewash the illegal ouster (which failed to reach the prerequisite 104 votes by 3), a resounding majority of the Peruvian people blame either coup leader Dina Boluarte, Fujimorismo, or the coup Congress for the political crisis facing the Andean country rich in vast minerals and resources. Despite this week's sentencing of Castillo to another 36 months of pre-trial detention, people o…
(2023-03-17). Human Rights Groups Call on Biden Not to Revive Migrant Family Detention. truthout.org This week nearly 400 human rights groups urged the Biden administration not to revive the controversial practice of migrant family detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Biden ended family detention when he took office two years ago but is now reportedly reconsidering it as part of a wider crackdown as his administration prepares to phase out the contested Trump-era Title 42 pandemic… |
(2023-03-17). Never Again: Human Rights Groups & Japanese Americans Warn Biden Against Jailing Migrant Families. democracynow.org 
This week nearly 400 human rights groups urged the Biden administration not to revive the controversial practice of migrant family detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Biden ended family detention when he took office two years ago but is now reportedly reconsidering it as part of a wider crackdown as his administration prepares to phase out the contested Trump-era Title 42 pandemic policy used to expel over 2 million migrants without due process at the southern border. We speak with Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network, who says "the Biden administration has faltered and is…
(2023-03-17). US: Destroy Taiwan Semiconductor Factories If China Invades. popularresistance.org Former White House National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien has hinted at a sinister US contingency plan in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Rather than see Taiwan's semiconductor factories fall into the hands of the Communist Party of China, the US and its allies would simply pull a Nordstream. | "The United States and its allies are never going to let those factories fall into Chinese hands," O'Brien told Semafor, a news outlet that has been funded by jailed Democratic financier Sam Bankman-Fried and his brother. O'Brien went on to compare the destruction of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Compa…
(2023-03-17). Julian Assange's Father & Brother Speak Out on His Jailing, Press Freedom & New Documentary "Ithaka" democracynow.org 
We continue our coverage of the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq by looking at the imprisonment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been jailed for exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. One video released by WikiLeaks showed a U.S. helicopter gunship in Baghdad slaughtering a dozen civilians, including a Reuters journalist. Assange has been held in London's Belmarsh prison since 2019 as he fights the U.S. campaign to extradite him to face espionage charges. If convicted, the publisher faces as much as 175 years behind bars. His legal fight is documented in the new film Itha…
(2023-03-18). Court: U.S. Failure to Protect Pacific Humpbacks From Deadly Entanglements Was Unlawful. indybay.org SAN FRANCISCO, March 15, 2023 — A federal court ruled in favor of the Center for Biological Diversity yesterday in a lawsuit arguing that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to protect endangered Pacific humpback whales from deadly entanglements in sablefish pot gear off California, Oregon and Washington.
(2023-03-18). Lawsuit Launched Over U.S. Delay on Petition to Phase Out Oil Drilling on Public Lands. indybay.org WASHINGTON, March 16, 2023 — Conservation groups today filed a notice of their intent to sue the U.S. Interior Department for failing to respond to a petition to phase out oil and gas extraction on public lands.
(2023-03-17). Cops illegally raided his house. This is what happened when he fought back. therealnews.com 
On Sept. 30, 2020, a SWAT team burst into the Henderson County, Indiana home of Chris Reiter under a falsely obtained warrant. Reiter's girlfriend, Tiffany Napier, was severely injured as police ransacked the house, ultimately finding nothing before departing without acknowledging any wrongdoing on their part. Reiter has since filed a lawsuit alleging violations of his constitutional rights, and dedicated himself to helping others hold police accountable. Reiter's efforts recently led to another arrest when he attempted to help the father of a victim of abuse by Clarksville police. Chris Reiter and Tiffany…
(2023-03-17). US Justice Department tells Supreme Court to reject Big Oil petition in Colorado climate lawsuit. nationofchange.org The Justice Department is siding with communities in Colorado and across the U.S. that are fighting to hold Big Oil companies accountable for their climate lies.
(2023-03-17). Parents, teachers, NAACP oppose Texas right-wing Gov. Abbott's 'hostile takeover' of Houston schools. peoplesworld.org 
HOUSTON—Right-wing Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has escalated his war against the people of color in his state's largest city, Houston. And its Black and brown residents, in this battle led by its teachers union and the NAACP, are fighting back. Abbott's not content with his multitude of measures to prevent the city's adults of …
(2023-03-18). [Editorial] Human genome editing: ensuring responsible research. thelancet.com In 2018, during the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong, Jiankui He shocked the world by announcing the birth of two children whose genomes he had edited using CRISPR technology. Following widespread condemnation and a criminal investigation, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The case caused international outcry and brought to the fore the need to reconsider the serious ethical, scientific, and social issues of heritable human genome editing. As science advances, especially in non-heritable, somatic gene editing for treatment of previously incurable diseases, regulatory gaps are…
(2023-03-17). British Lords Shed Crocodile Tears About Imprisonment of Corrupt Former Georgian President and Ukraine War Booster Mikheil Saakashvili as Another Color Revolution Looks to Be Afoot. covertactionmagazine.com Saakashvili promotes NATO expansion into Georgia which is a clear "red line" for Russia The Georgian capital of Tbilisi has been engulfed in protests over the last weeks that have the appearance of a color revolution backed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a CIA offshoot that finances civil society groups in countries targeted …
(2023-03-17). The wages of deregulation. workers.org 
Note: This lightly edited commentary first appeared on Prison Radio on March 3: A train races through the cool wintry air, its wheels turning on iron rails until sparks burst into flames, and in the blink of an eye, a city in eastern Ohio becomes the latest scene of a . . . |
(2023-03-17). Toulouse mobilization for the liberation of Palestinian martyrs' remains imprisoned by the occupation. samidoun.net 
On Friday, 17 March, the Collectif Palestine Vaincra — a member organization of the Samidoun Network — organized a Palestine Stand at the Bagatelle metro station in Toulouse, France. The Stand came as part of the week of mobilization organized as part of the International Campaign to Liberate the Remains of Palestinian Martyrs detained in …
(2023-03-17). Free Alex Saab Movement Makes Urgent Call for Help Regarding Diplomat's Alarming Health Condition. orinocotribune.com 
The Free Alex Saab Movement requested urgent help from the international community due to the alarming state of health of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, illegally imprisoned in a US federal prison. As of Thursday, March 16, Saab has spent one year and five months in a Florida prison after his illegal extraction from Cape Verde on October 16, 2021 by US authorities. | The Free Alex Saab Movement, through a