Dozens of bodies recovered after refugee boats capsize off Libya
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-07-26
Libya's coast guard recovered dozens of bodies of Europe-bound refugees who perished at sea as search operations continued on Friday, a day after up to 150 people, including women and children, went missing and were feared drowned after their boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea.A top UN official described Thursday's shipwreck as "the worst Mediterranean tragedy" so far this year.Also on Friday, Libyan authorities transferred dozens of people rescued from the disaster to a detention centre near Tripoli that was hit by an airstrike earlier this month despite UN objections to such a move, the UN refugee agency s…
thecanary.co/global/world-news/2019/07/26/dozens-of-bodies-recovered-after-refugee-boats-capsize-off-libya/

Child Separation & Prison Camps: China's Campaign Against Uyghur Muslims Is "Cultural Genocide"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-07-26
Chinese authorities have been accused of systematically separating Muslim children from their families in the far western region of Xinjiang. According to a new report commissioned by the BBC, China is rushing to build boarding schools where children, mostly from the Uyghur community, are deliberately removed from their families, as well as their language and culture. This comes as an estimated 1 million adults from the Uyghur community are being imprisoned in camps that China claims are "vocational training centers" designed to combat extremism. We speak with independent researcher Adrian Zenz, who did the resea…
www.democracynow.org/2019/7/26/china_xinjiang_uyghurs_internment_surveillance

Family of Herbert Lee to visit Civil Rights Memorial that honors his sacrifice
splcenter.org | 2019-07-26
Clifton Franklin was a high school football running back who — at 16 — wanted to play in a big game between Louisiana rivals. His mother, however, had other plans.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/26/family-herbert-lee-visit-civil-rights-memorial-honors-his-sacrifice

Despite Faulty Drugs & Racist Implementation, Trump Is Bringing Back the Federal Death Penalty
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-07-26
Attorney General William Barr announced Thursday that the federal government is resuming the death penalty after nearly two decades. The execution of five death row prisoners were immediately ordered beginning in December. There are currently 62 prisoners on federal death row, including white supremacist Dylann Roof, who murdered nine black worshipers at the historic Emanuel AME Church in June 2015, and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Federal prosecutors are expected to push for the death penalty in both cases. This news comes despite a growing movement opposing the death penalty in the United States. T…
www.democracynow.org/2019/7/26/trump_administration_federal_death_penalty_announcement

Stop the right-wing conspiracy! Defend the SGP against the Verfassungsschutz secret service!
wsws.org | 2019-07-26
The German Verfassungsschutz has produced a 56-page response to the lawsuit filed by the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party–SGP) challenging its official designation as a "left-wing extremist" organisation subject to state surveillance. The government's response is an angry diatribe against Marxism and every form of socialist and progressive thought.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/26/germ-j26-1.html

Trump 'very disappointed' Sweden won't embrace American exceptionalism & release US rapper
rt.com | 2019-07-26
In the spirit of American exceptionalism, Donald Trump thinks nothing of demanding Sweden spring rapper A$AP Rocky from jail, ignoring the country's own legal system, while holding the rest of the world accountable to US laws. | …
rt.com/usa/465101-trump-free-rocky-us-laws/

US attorney general directs Bureau of Prisons to reinstate federal death penalty
wsws.org | 2019-07-26
The order by William Barr targeting five federal prison inmates of the death penalty for federal inmates sets the stage for the execution of inmates on federal death row for the first time in 16 years.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/26/exec-j26.html

Day of Action: Shut Down 850 Bryant at SF City Hall
No New SF Jail Coalition | indybay.org | 2019-07-26
Front Steps of City Hall | San Francisco…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/07/24/18824956.php

Hawaiians are Taking to the Streets and Exercising their First Amendment Rights
aclu.org | 2019-07-25
We're ensuring the right to protest and cultural access at the world's tallest mountain. | Driving up Daniel K. Inouye Highway on the Big Island of Hawai'i at 4: 30 in the morning is a sight few will forget: a silent, pitch-black road, with black lava and sparse trees. The dark air is a chilly 50 degrees. In our backpacks are packaged tuna, crackers, water, walkie talkies, and a voice recorder. However, the most important items are without a doubt our blue ACLU of Hawai'i legal observer vests and first aid kit, which is stocked with goods like antacid (to rinse our eyes of pepper spray) and earbuds. Sitting in the…
aclu.org/blog/free-speech/rights-protesters/hawaiians-are-taking-streets-and-exercising-their-first-amendment

This County Criminalized Students for Bad Grades — Until Now
aclu.org | 2019-07-25
Today, we filed a landmark settlement that will end the relationship between the probation department and school districts in Riverside. | Since 2001, the Riverside County, California probation department has been needlessly funneling young people struggling with grades, behavior, trauma, and mental health into the criminal justice system. | This direct line to the criminal system is the product of a partnership between local school districts and the county probation department called the Youth Accountability Team (YAT). Instead of counselors or other school and community-based supports stepping in to support and…
aclu.org/blog/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline/county-criminalized-students-bad-grades-until-now

Trump's DOJ Is Resuming the Death Penalty. Bernie Sanders Vows to Abolish It
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-07-25
| Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday vowed to abolish the death penalty at the federal level if elected president after news broke that Attorney General William Barr has directed the Bureau of Prisons to resume capital punishment for the first time in nearly two decades. | "There's enough violence in the world. The government shouldn't add to it," tweeted Sanders, the first 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to respond to the news. "When I am president, we will abolish the death penalty."
truthout.org/articles/trumps-doj-is-resuming-the-death-penalty-bernie-sanders-vows-to-abolish-it/

Trump Admin Reinstates Federal Capital Punishment
telesurenglish.net | 2019-07-25
The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday it was reinstating a two-decades long-dormant policy to resume the federal government's use of capital punishment and immediately scheduled the executions for five death row federal inmates. | RELATED: | What's Hidden Behind the Walls of US Prisons? | "Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people's representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President," Attorney General William Barr…
telesurenglish.net/news/Trump-Admin-Reinstates-Federal-Capital-Punishment-20190725-0005.html

Prison violence continues to soar as self-harming hits new high
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-07-25
Attacks on prison staff rose 15% in a year, while self-harm incidents in jails reached a new record level, official figures show.Assaults behind bars hit a new high of 34,425 in the 12 months to March 2019, up 11% from the previous year, and a rate of 415 incidents per 1,000 prisoners.There were 10,311 attacks on staff — the highest since comparable records began, a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) report showed.Of those, 1,002 assaults were classed as "serious" — such as those which require medical treatment or result in fractures, burns, or extensive bruising — an increase of 12% from 2017/18.The MoJ re…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/07/25/prison-violence-continues-to-soar-as-self-harming-hits-new-high/

SPLC: Resuming barbaric practice of federal executions serves no useful purpose
splcenter.org | 2019-07-25
The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that it plans to resume the executions of people who are awaiting the death penalty in federal prisons, ending nearly two decades in which the federal government had not imposed capital punishment.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/25/splc-resuming-barbaric-practice-federal-executions-serves-no-useful-purpose

SPLC: Resuming barbaric practice of federal executions serves no useful purpose
splcenter.org | 2019-07-25
The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that it plans to resume the executions of people who are awaiting the death penalty in federal prisons, ending nearly two decades in which the federal government had not imposed capital punishment.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/25/splc-resuming-barbaric-practice-federal-executions-serves-no-useful-purpose

Trump's Declaration of Inhuman Rights Includes Children in Migrant Jails
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-07-25
| Lately, I've been thinking about the Grimm's fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. Terrified by cruel conditions at home, the brother and sister flee, winding their way, hungry and scared, through unknown woods. There, they encounter an old woman who lures them in with promises of safety. Instead, she locks one of them in a cage and turns the other into a servant, as she prepares to devour them both. | Written in nineteenth-century Germany, it should resonate eerily in today's America. In place of…
truthout.org/articles/trumps-declaration-of-inhuman-rights-includes-children-in-migrant-jails/

Trump's Declaration of Inhuman Rights Includes Children in Migrant Jails
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-07-25
| Lately, I've been thinking about the Grimm's fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. Terrified by cruel conditions at home, the brother and sister flee, winding their way, hungry and scared, through unknown woods. There, they encounter an old woman who lures them in with promises of safety. Instead, she locks one of them in a cage and turns the other into a servant, as she prepares to devour them both. | Written in nineteenth-century Germany, it should resonate eerily in today's America. In place of…
truthout.org/articles/trumps-declaration-of-inhuman-rights-includes-children-in-migrant-jails/

'I Was Ready to Sign' Deportation Papers, Says US Citizen After Three Weeks in Horrific Immigrant Detention Center
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-07-25
Francisco Erwin Galicia, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen who was released from ICE custody on Tuesday after being detained for 23 days, said Thursday that he was subjected to "inhumane" conditions along with the dozens of immigrants he met during his detention. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-11534141222.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/07/25/i-was-ready-sign-deportation-papers-says-us-citizen-after-three-weeks-horrific?cd-origin=rss

Alleging Censorship and Condemning Outsized Power, Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for 'Threat to Free Speech, Fair Elections, and Democracy'
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-07-25
Arguing that Google's total control over internet searches presents a danger to democracy, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard filed a lawsuit in California against the tech giant on Thursday over its alleged censorship of her campaign. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/48011616441_0c4bd339dd_o1.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/07/25/alleging-censorship-and-condemning-outsized-power-tulsi-gabbard-sues-google-threat?cd-origin=rss

Sex workers thrown under bus in Latimer case
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-25
The case of the release from prison of repeat sex offender Edward William Latimer shines a light on WA's archaic laws which place sex workers in harm's way, writes Emma Softly.
greenleft.org.au/content/sex-workers-thrown-under-bus-latimer-case

Puerto Rico: The people rise up against oppression and exploitation
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-25
The people of Puerto Rico have risen up and forced Governor Ricardo Rosselló to resign, writes Barry Sheppard.
greenleft.org.au/content/puerto-rico-people-rise-against-oppression-and-exploitation

Trans People Led the Fight Against HB2 in North Carolina. And We're Winning
aclu.org | 2019-07-24
Transgender people in North Carolina cannot be banned from facilities based on their gender under H.B. 2 replacement law. | It's been more than three years since North Carolina lawmakers passed House Bill 2, the hateful North Carolina law that compromised the ability of transgender people like me to safely navigate our daily lives. | As the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit the ACLU and Lambda Legal filed to stop this measure, I've spent the last three years fighting alongside LGBTQ North Carolinians and others to mitigate the harm caused by H.B. 2…
aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/transgender-rights/trans-people-led-fight-against-hb2-north-carolina-and-were

With the Right to Boycott Under Attack, Some Members of Congress Are Pushing Back
aclu.org | 2019-07-23
In a sea of anti-BDS legislation, a resolution championing the right to political boycotts emerges. | More than 250 million Americans, some 78 percent of the population, live in states with anti-boycott laws or policies. With the right to boycott under attack across the United States, some members of Congress are pushing back against these dangerous and unrelenting attacks., , Last week, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), along with Representatives John Lewis (D-GA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), introduced a…
aclu.org/blog/free-speech/right-boycott-under-attack-some-members-congress-are-pushing-back

Libya: Renewed commitment to Mediterranean rescues encouraging, but 'overriding priority' must be 'lasting peace', say UN officials
United Nations | un.org | 2019-07-23
The heads of the two key UN agencies championing refugees and migrants have called for an end to their "arbitrary detention" across Libya, following an agreement on Tuesday by European Union countries to offer those fleeing across the Mediterranean a safe berth through a new distribution mechanism.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/07/1043071

Arkansas Wants to Make Sure You Know 'Almonds Don't Lactate'
aclu.org | 2019-07-22
An Arkansas law censoring plant-based products isn't just absurd and unnecessary, it's unconstitutional. | The state of Arkansas thinks you're confused about whether a veggie burger comes from a cow. In fact, it thinks you're so confused that it passed a law making it illegal for companies to use words like "meat," "roast," and "sausage" to describe products that are not made from animals. Under the law, it doesn't matter if those words are modified by "vegan…
aclu.org/blog/free-speech/arkansas-wants-make-sure-you-know-almonds-dont-lactate

Never Again: What about the Palestinians?
Kim Petersen | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-07-22
concentration camp: a guarded compound for the detention or imprisonment of aliens, members of ethnic minorities, political opponents, etc., especially any of the camps established by the Nazis prior to and during World War II for the confinement and persecution of prisoners.1 The people seeking a new life in the United States are mainly an …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/07/never-again-what-about-the-palestinians/

Justice Dept decision not to charge Eric Garner's killer sparks outrage
Liberation staff | liberationnews.org | 2019-07-21
In a blow to all who seek to keep their communities safe from hostile police, on July 1 the Federal government announced that Officer Daniel Pantaleo will not face any federal civil rights charges for murdering Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, five years ago.
liberationnews.org/demonstrations-hit-justice-dept-decision-not-to-charge-eric-garners-killer/

Thousands join vigil at Los Angeles detention center
Katerina Moore | liberationnews.org | 2019-07-18
On July 12, members of ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation joined thousands of people for a vigil outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Downtown Los Angeles.
liberationnews.org/thousands-join-vigil-at-los-angeles-detention-center/

The Dark Side of the Moon Mission
James Jeffrey | progressive.org | 2019-07-18
"For that kind of money," Vonnegut cracked on the CBS Evening News, "the least [NASA] can do is discover God." Civil rights activists, anti-Vietnam War protesters and even top scientists were skeptical of the Apollo moon mission at the time.
progressive.org/dispatches/dark-side-of-moon-mission-jeffrey-190718/

SPLC sues Trump administration over new rule that makes migrants who pass through other countries ineligible for asylum
splcenter.org | 2019-07-17
The SPLC and its partners filed a lawsuit and an emergency motion this week seeking to block a new Trump administration rule that categorically bars asylum for migrants who cross the southern border without applying for and being denied asylum in any country that they pass through on their way to the U.S.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/17/splc-sues-trump-administration-over-new-rule-makes-migrants-who-pass-through-other

SPLC sues Trump administration over new rule that makes migrants who pass through other countries ineligible for asylum
splcenter.org | 2019-07-17
The SPLC and its partners filed a lawsuit and an emergency motion this week seeking to block a new Trump administration rule that categorically bars asylum for migrants who cross the southern border without applying for and being denied asylum in any country that they pass through on their way to the U.S.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/17/splc-sues-trump-administration-over-new-rule-makes-migrants-who-pass-through-other

Migrants Are Fleeing Something Worse
Megan Klein | progressive.org | 2019-07-16
Clearly, if the appalling conditions in detention centers are an improvement from what they are fleeing, these migrants have a sufficient basis for seeking asylum in the United States.
progressive.org/op-eds/migrants-are-fleeing-something-worse-Klein-190516/

Author of 'Emanuel Nine' church massacre book to speak at Civil Rights Memorial Center
splcenter.org | 2019-07-15
As the prosecution made its closing argument, photos of the nine people that Dylann Roof had shot to death in a Charleston, South Carolina, church appeared on the screen in bloody, gruesome detail.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/18/author-emanuel-nine-church-massacre-book-speak-civil-rights-memorial-center

Pompeo's New 'Human Rights' Commission is Up To No Good
aclu.org | 2019-07-12
The Trump administration appears to be trying to find new moral footing for the president's discriminatory policies. | This week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally announced the creation of a "Commission on Unalienable Rights." Its stated purpose, according to a notice published in the Federal Register in May, is to provide "fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights." | Th…
aclu.org/blog/human-rights/pompeos-new-human-rights-commission-no-good

Manuel Duran, journalist who reported on ICE, freed from detention
splcenter.org | 2019-07-11
Manuel Duran, an investigative journalist who was detained after reporting on the collusion between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement in Memphis, Tennessee, was released today from ICE detention and will be reunited with his fiancée.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/11/manuel-duran-journalist-who-reported-ice-freed-detention

CBP Can't Detain Domestic Flight Passengers for Refusing Suspicionless ID Checks
aclu.org | 2019-07-11
The Constitution protects passengers deplaning domestic flights just as it protects people on the street or in a car. | In February 2017, two U.S. CBP officers stood on a jet bridge at New York's JFK Airport to meet Delta Flight 1583 as it taxied to the gate upon arrival from San Francisco. As passengers prepared to deplane, they were told by flight attendants — at the direction of the two officers — that all passengers would have to show identification documents to the officer…
aclu.org/blog/national-security/cbp-cant-detain-domestic-flight-passengers-refusing-suspicionless-id-checks

I Spent 16 Months in Solitary Confinement and Now I'm Fighting to End It
aclu.org | 2019-07-03
A new report proves that the degrading conditions in solitary confinement continue to harm people and communities. | I was just 17 years old when I was sent to solitary confinement in "Camp J," one of the most severe lockdown units at one of America's most brutal prisons, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. I languished in solitary for 16 months. | Back then I didn't know that Louisiana was the solitary confinement capital of the world. All I knew was that I'd been convicted of a crime I didn't commit, and I had to maintain my humanity in one of the most dehumanizing places on earth. | It's called "23 and…
aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/solitary-confinement/i-spent-16-months-solitary-confinement-and-now-im