Israeli Security Tech on US-Mexican Border Threatens Nation's Civil Liberties
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-09-05
The ACLU's Jay Stanley says that the Border Patrol's repurposing of surveillance technology and drones could open doors that put our liberty and privacy at risk…
therealnews.com/stories/israeli-security-tech-on-us-mexican-border-threatens-nations-civil-liberties

Hong Kong administration seeks to split protest movement
wsws.org | 2019-09-05
By withdrawing the extradition legislation, chief executive Carrie Lam is seeking the support of conservative protest leaders to pave the way for the suppression of more militant layers.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/05/hong-s05.html

Bayer adds Monsanto's toxic legacy to its own
Nadya Williams | peoplesworld.org | 2019-09-05
Incendiary exposés of Monsanto products–scientifically proven in court to cause cancers in workers and homeowners who have used them–have caused stocks to plunge and new owner, German pharmaceutical corporation Bayer, to no longer want to use the brand name. Three multi-billion dollar lawsuits, with 18,000 more pending, are quite a corporate burden for Bayer to acquire, …
peoplesworld.org/article/bayer-adds-monsantos-toxic-legacy-to-its-own/

Judge blocks ICE from denying parole to asylum-seekers
splcenter.org | 2019-09-05
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration today to change its blanket policy of locking up people lawfully seeking asylum in the United States as a lawsuit filed by the SPLC and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana makes its way through the federal courts.
splcenter.org/news/2019/09/05/judge-blocks-ice-denying-parole-asylum-seekers

Military deal with Israeli government firm makes Australia complicit in Palestine's oppression
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-09-05
weapons and military equipment Mark GovierIssue 1236 Australia Iron Dome Weapon SystemSeptember 5, 2019An Israeli government-owned military company has joined forces with an Australian firm to produce precision-guided missiles and other equipm…
greenleft.org.au/content/military-deal-israeli-government-firm-makes-australia-complicit-palestines-oppression

'Vision for Justice': 117 Rights Groups Offer Roadmap to Transform US Criminal-Legal System
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-09-05
"The American criminal-legal system is a stain on our democracy," declares a new policy platform from human and civil rights groups who aim to transform the existing system into one of respect and justice. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/criminal-law-reform_1.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/09/05/vision-justice-117-rights-groups-offer-roadmap-transform-us-criminal-legal-system?cd-origin=rss

Civil rights conference featuring renowned activist Angela Davis to gather in Chicago this November
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-09-04
Chicago, IL – Founded in 1973 as an organization that grew out of the movement to free the wrongfully imprisoned Angela Davis and other political prisoners, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is set to relaunch this November. This refounding, led by the Chicago Alliance against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and other organizations, will be taking place in Chicago, Illinois on November 22-24 at the Chicago Teachers' Union Hall. | The organizers' main objectives for this conference are to continue to build the struggle for police accountability as well as stand in solidari…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/9/4/civil-rights-conference-featuring-renowned-activist-angela-davis-gather-chicago-november

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Praises Pinochet in Chile
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-09-04
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro criticized on Wednesday U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, who is from Chile, by praising that country's 1973 military coup. | Bachelet "forgets that her country is not Cuba only thanks to the courage of those who stopped the left in 1973," Bolsonaro wrote on his Facebook page, adding that among the communists that were defeated then was her father. | Bachelet's father Alberto, an air force officer who opposed Gen. Augusto Pinochet during the coup, was imprisoned and tortured. He died in captivity in 1974. | The president's comments came as the U.N…
truthdig.com/articles/brazilian-president-jair-bolsonaro-praises-pinochet-in-chile/

American Gulag: Our Prisons Get More Oppressive by the Day
John W. Whitehead | counterpunch.org | 2019-09-04
counterpunch.org/2019/09/04/american-gulag-our-prisons-get-more-oppressive-by-the-day/

Support SCI Albion prisoner on hunger strike!
Jerome Coffey | workers.org | 2019-09-04
Greetings of love, peace and humanity! On April 28, politicized prisoner Demetrius Grant went on a hunger strike here at State Correctional Institution Albion. He is presently housed in the medical infirmary, being force-fed by correctional officers through a court order. Grant is on a hunger strike attempting to expose . . . | Continue reading Support SCI Albion prisoner on hunger strike! at Workers.org…
workers.org/2019/09/04/support-sci-albion-prisoner-on-hunger-strike/

Israel: Netanyahu courts far right in election bid to avoid jail
wsws.org | 2019-09-04
This month's election was triggered by Netanyahu's inability to assemble a governing coalition, despite Likud winning 35 seats in the April 9 election.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/04/isra-s04.html

Nigerian Journalist & Activist Omoyele Sowore Remains Jailed for Calling for Peaceful Protests
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-09-04
Journalist and pro-democracy activist Omoyele Sowore is entering his second month in jail for calling for peaceful nationwide protests against the government. Sowore called his movement "Revolution Now" and mobilized activists to take to the streets August 5. But just two days before the protests were set to begin, Sowore was arrested by the state and accused of attempting to take over the government. He's been imprisoned for more than a month now as human rights groups continue to call for his immediate release. We speak with his wife Opeyemi Sowore and Nani Jansen Reventlow, one of the attorneys representing Om…
www.democracynow.org/2019/9/4/nigerian_journalist_activist_omoyele_sowore_jailed

Nowhere is safe to hide in war-torn Yemen, say UN-appointed rights experts
United Nations | un.org | 2019-09-03
The people of Yemen have been subject to "numerous" possible war crimes in recent years including forced recruitment of children and sexual abuse in detention, UN-appointed senior rights experts said on Tuesday, in an appeal to the international community to do more to end the conflict.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/09/1045492

UN experts decry torture of Rakhine men and boys held incommunicado by Myanmar's military
United Nations | un.org | 2019-09-03
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment leading to the death of ethnic Rakhine men and boys being held in incommunicado detention by Myanmar's military, has prompted three independent UN rights experts to call for an end to the practice and for "credible, independent" investigations.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/09/1045442

A New York Jail Forced a Trans Woman Into a Men's Facility
aclu.org | 2019-09-03
Trans women routinely face harassment and discrimination in jails and prisons. | Jena Faith's experience in the Steuben County Jail was a living nightmare. | The military veteran spent four weeks in the jail awaiting trial last spring. She was initially housed in the jail's women's facility without incident, but things changed when officials suddenly transferred her to the men's facility, despite the fact that she is a woman. | During the weeks that Jena spent as a woman in a men's jail, she was routinely targeted with physical and verbal harassment from other incarcerated people and guards. On her first day in t…
aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/criminal-justice-reform-lgbt-people/new-york-jail-forced-trans-woman-mens-facility

How Elites Crush Black Dissent
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-09-02
What does it mean for the people living under systemic oppression when society frames their rebellion as a riot?
therealnews.com/stories/how-elites-crush-black-dissent

Death and Resistance on the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Democracy Now! Special
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-09-02
Democracy Now! travels to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona to follow the humanitarian activist Scott Warren into the Sonoran Desert as he accompanies other No More Deaths volunteers as they leave water and food for migrants making the treacherous journey north. Warren is currently facing up to 10 years in prison for his humanitarian work in the Sonoran Desert, where the bodies and bones of more than 3,000 people — nearly all migrants — have been found since 2001. We also speak to the Tucson-based artist Alvaro Enciso, creator of the project Where Dreams Die. He has built and installed over 900 crosse…
www.democracynow.org/2019/9/2/death_and_resistance_on_the_us

Was the imprisonment of Iranian-American journalist Marzieh Hashemi spun into expanded US sanctions?
Max Blumenthal | thegrayzone.com | 2019-09-01
The relationship between former Air Force analyst-turned-Iranian spy Monica Witt and Hashemi — who was jailed by US authorities this…
thegrayzone.com/2019/09/01/was-the-imprisonment-of-iranian-american-journalist-marzieh-hashemi-spun-into-expanded-us-sanctions/

In Secretive Court Hearing, NYPD Cops Who Raped Brooklyn Teen in Custody Get No Jail Time
Natasha Lennard | theintercept.com | 2019-08-30
Two NYPD cops coerced Anna Chambers into sex in exchange for her freedom. A judge just gave them no jail time.
theintercept.com/2019/08/30/nypd-anna-chambers-rape-probation/

"All-Out Attack": Trump's Anti-Immigrant Policies Target Children, Cancer Patients & Servicemembers
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-30
On Tuesday, the Trump administration reportedly ended its "medical deferred action" program, which allows immigrants with serious health problems to stay in the U.S. for up to two years beyond the terms of their visas to receive critical treatment. Just one day later, it announced that some children born to U.S. servicemembers and government employees stationed overseas will no longer automatically receive citizenship. The policy changes come days after the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to allow the Trump administration to implement its rule banning almost all migrants from seeking asylum in the Unit…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/30/lee_gelernt_aclu_immigrant_rights

Headlines for August 30, 2019
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-30
Florida Declares State of Emergency Ahead of Hurricane Dorian, Justice Department: Comey Violated FBI Rules But Will Not Face Charges, Former FARC Rebels to Take Up Arms Again in Colombia, Report: Indian Forces Are Beating and Torturing Kashmiris in Detention, UAE Accused of Bombing Saudi-Backed Forces in Yemen, Prominent Pro-Democracy Activists Arrested Ahead of Saturday's Protest, Scottish Judge Refused to Block Boris Johnson's Plan to Suspend Parliament, Ebola Death Toll Tops 2,000 in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Environmental Groups Threaten to Sue Trump over Methane Rules, NAACP Calls for Alabama Gov. t…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/30/headlines

Family of Mexican Teenager Slain by Border Agent Awaits SCOTUS Ruling to Determine If They Can Sue
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-30
This fall, the Supreme Court will decide whether the parents of Sergio Hernández Gàºereca, a 15-year-old Mexican teen killed by a Border Patrol agent in 2010, can sue the American agent in a U.S. federal court. It's been nearly 10 years since Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa Jr. shot across the El Paso-Juárez border and struck Hernández Gàºereca in the head. The central question in the case is whether a Mexican citizen killed on Mexican soil by a U.S. border agent is protected by the U.S. Constitution — allowing for the family members of victims to file civil lawsuits. If the Supreme Court rules in…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/30/scotus_case_border_patrol_killings_mexico

Marching for the right to protest
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-30
civil rights Alex BainbridgeIssue 1235 Australia BrisbaneAugust 30, 2019Hundreds of people marched through Brisbane on August 28 in opposition to the Queensland Labor government's proposed anti-protest laws. | The local council tried to ban the march but lost the cour…
greenleft.org.au/content/marching-right-protest

No right to discriminate
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-30
civil rights freedom of speech Alex SalmonIssue 1235 Australia religious discrimination bill PerthAugust 30, 2019A ral…
greenleft.org.au/content/no-right-discriminate-0

How Solitary Confinement Kills: Torture and Stunning Neglect End in Suicide at Privately Run ICE Prison
José Olivares | theintercept.com | 2019-08-29
Guards at an ICE jail put Efraín Romero de la Rosa in solitary confinement despite a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He killed himself after 21 days.
theintercept.com/2019/08/29/ice-solitary-mental-health-corecivic/

The Growing Push for Politicians to #VisitAPrison
Stephanie Wykstra | progressive.org | 2019-08-29
"It's our job. We represent them too. So whether or not they're enfranchised or disenfranchised, we are still their representative."
progressive.org/dispatches/growing-push-for-politicians-visit-prison-wykstra-190829/

Taxpayers Have Been Ordered to Pay Over $2 Million For Discriminating Against LGBTQ People
aclu.org | 2019-08-29
Government officials should know that discrimination comes with a cost to taxpayers. | Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that the Commonwealth of Kentucky was liable for $224,000 for the actions of Kim Davis, who refused to do her job and issue marriage licenses (to same-sex or different-sex couples) as county clerk. | While Davis' story made national headlines, her case isn't the only one in the past year where a court case filed by the ACLU has led to a bill for discriminatio…
aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/lgbt-nondiscrimination-protections/taxpayers-have-been-ordered-pay-over-2-million

Stripped of Their Rights
aclu.org | 2019-08-27
In 2011, guards at an Illinois prison violated the constitution when they carried out a mass strip-search of incarcerated women. | In March 2011, a tactical team of guards at a state prison in Lincoln, Illinois gathered 200 women and ushered them into a gymnasium, where they were brought in small groups into a separate room nearby. Inside that room, they were told to strip naked in plain view of other guards, cadets, and civilians, without any explanation. Women on their periods were ordered to remove their tampons and sanitary pads. One-by-one, each woman was ordered to lift her breasts, cough and squat, and dis…
aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/women-prison/stripped-their-rights

New Resource Tool Sheds Light on Government's Prepublication Review System
aclu.org | 2019-08-27
Millions of current and former government employees are subjected to this far-reaching censorship system. | This piece was originally published in Just Security. | For more than three years, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University have been litigating a series of Freedom of Information Act requests relating to "prepublication review." Under this far-reaching censorship system, millions of current and former government employees, con…
aclu.org/blog/free-speech/employee-speech-and-whistleblowers/new-resource-tool-sheds-light-governments

Breaking The Media Blackout on the Imprisonment of Julian Assange
Mnar Muhawesh | mintpressnews.com | 2019-08-26
The same media that has spent years dragging Assange's name through the mud is now engaging in a blackout on his treatment. If you are waiting for corporate media pundits to defend freedom of the press, you're going to be disappointed.
mintpressnews.com/media-blackout-imprisonment-espionage-act-julian-assange/261510/

Will North Carolina's Supreme Court Allow Racism to Remain a Persistent Factor in its Death Penalty?
aclu.org | 2019-08-23
North Carolina's Supreme Court will determine whether evidence of racism in capital punishment can be swept under the rug. | In 2009, North Carolina passed the Racial Justice Act (RJA), which allowed defendants to strike the death penalty from their cases if they could show that racial discrimination was a factor in their prosecution. The law came as a response to a series of exonerations of Black people who were falsely convicted of crimes they did not commit by all-white or nearly all-white juries. The legislature took a bold step to address was what suspected to be deeply troubling evidence of racism infe…
aclu.org/blog/capital-punishment/racial-disparities-and-death-penalty/will-north-carolinas-supreme-court

Israel's Online Occupation of Palestine
Miriam Deprez | progressive.org | 2019-08-23
How a Facebook post can land you in prison.
progressive.org/dispatches/israels-online-occupation-of-palestine-deprez-190823/

A Louisiana Parish Jailed a U.S. Citizen for Being Latinx. We're Suing
aclu.org | 2019-08-22
Officers in a Louisiana jail held a U.S. citizen for four days on an immigration hold simply because of his skin color and name. | Ramon Torres had been a U.S. citizen for nearly ten years when he was detained for four days on an immigration hold — despite having a U.S. passport, a Louisiana driver's license, and a Social Security card, and despite that fact that a court ordered his release. | Torres' ordeal began in August 2018, when he was pulled over and arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Torres, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2009, was carrying multiple forms of identification, inclu…
aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/louisiana-parish-jailed-us-citizen-being-latinx-were

An Arizona Law Requires Surveillance of People Who Are Presumed Innocent
aclu.org | 2019-08-21
The government cannot take shortcuts around constitutional rights. | A pillar of our democracy is the presumption of innocence: before a person has been convicted of a crime, they are considered completely innocent under the law. Yet across the country, people who have not been convicted are punished–both explicitly and implicitly–based on the mistaken assumption that they are dangerous, purely on the basis of an accusation. We do not live in a society where you can be incarcerated or monitored simply because you have been accused of a crime. Doing so violates constitutional rights, fuels mass incarce…
aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/arizona-law-requires-surveillance-people-who-are

Trump is Taking More Money for Raids and Detention. Congress Should Stop Him
aclu.org | 2019-08-19
Without congressional checks, ICE and CBP will continue to overspend and overstep. | 08/27/19 Update: Congress made public today a document outlining the Department of Homeland Security's plan to take nearly $280 million in funds meant for FEMA, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the TSA, among other critical priorities. Over $115 million of these funds will go towards President Trump's growing detention and deportations of immigrants, with the rest being used for sham border courts to…
aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/trump-taking-more-money-raids-and-detention

The Challenges of Breastfeeding as a Black Person
aclu.org | 2019-08-15
How our workplaces and healthcare system create barriers to breastfeeding. | The fight to protect individual choices about reproductive care, including breastfeeding, is an ongoing battle. The central lesson of the reproductive justice movement is that choice means little without access. That lesson applies equally to breastfeeding. | Though laws, in the workplace and other contexts, are in place to protect the right to breastfeed, many low-income women and w…
aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/pregnancy-and-parenting-discrimination/challenges-breastfeeding-black-person

SPLC publishes Opportunity Costs: Unequal Justice in Alabama's Community Corrections Programs
splcenter.org | 2019-08-15
A new investigative report published today by the Southern Poverty Law Center reveals serious flaws in Alabama's community corrections programs, an otherwise promising system for diverting people from the state's prisons.
splcenter.org/news/2019/08/15/splc-publishes-opportunity-costs-unequal-justice-alabamas-community-corrections-programs

The BDS movement calls to boycott three anti-Palestinian German clubs
SAMIR | bdsmovement.net | 2019-08-15
The BDS movement calls to boycott three anti-Palestinian German clubs: PACBI StatementConne Island, Golden Pudel and : //about blank are complicit in Israel's oppression of Palestinians | Cultural Boycott Right To BoycottAugust 15, 2019…
bdsmovement.net/news/bds-calls-to-boycott-three-german-clubs

BDS condemns antisemitic, fascist forces in Germany and worldwide
patrick | bdsmovement.net | 2019-08-14
BDS condemns antisemitic, fascist forces in Germany and worldwide: BNC StatementOur nonviolent movement opposes all forms of racism and racial discrimination. | Right To BoycottAugust 14, 2019 | By: | | Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) …
bdsmovement.net/news/bds-condemns-antisemitic-fascist-forces-germany-and-worldwide

Weekend Read: Neo-Nazi leader must pay more than $14 million in damages
splcenter.org | 2019-08-10
A federal judge has ruled in an SPLC lawsuit that neo-Nazi leader Andrew Anglin must pay more than $14 million in damages for using his website to launch an antisemitic campaign of terror against a Jewish woman and her family.
splcenter.org/news/2019/08/10/weekend-read-neo-nazi-leader-must-pay-more-14-million-damages