Lula is Free: Can Socialism Be Restored?
Ana Paula Vargas — Vijay Prashad | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-12
Just before 5 p.m. on Friday the 8th of November, Brazil's former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva walked out of his prison in Curitiba, Brazil. Lula went to prison in April last year on a 12-year sentence. Five-hundred and eighty days of prison are now over, as the Federal Supreme Court ruled that inmates who have not yet exhausted their appeals…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/12/lula-is-free-can-socialism-be-restored/

Nashville immigrant and refugee community celebrates "huge victory" over ICE
Albert Bender | peoplesworld.org | 2019-11-12
NASHVILLE–On Friday, Nov. 1, the immigrant and refugee community here celebrated a decision by the Davidson County Sheriff's Department to terminate its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Sheriff's Department will no longer house ICE detainees at its detention center in Nashville. The termination of the policy with ICE was hailed by community advocates as a "huge …
peoplesworld.org/article/nashville-immigrant-and-refugee-community-celebrates-huge-victory-over-ice/

As Arguments Begin, Civil Rights Leaders Urge Supreme Court to Uphold One of the Nation's Oldest Anti-Discrimination Statutes
commondreams.org | 2019-11-12
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commondreams.org/newswire/2019/11/12/arguments-begin-civil-rights-leaders-urge-supreme-court-uphold-one-nations?cd-origin=rss

Public defender Chesa Boudin wins San Francisco D.A. race in major victory for progressive prosecutor movement
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-11-12
Son of incarcerated parents, backed by Black Lives Matter co-founders, Boudin will be the next DA of San Francisco. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/11/12/public-defender-chesa-boudin-wins-san-francisco-d-a-race/

Supreme Court Lets Sandy Hook Shooting Lawsuit Go Forward
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-11-12
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Tuesday that a survivor and relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting can pursue their lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used to kill 26 people. | The justices rejected an appeal from Remington Arms, which argued it should be shielded by a 2005 federal law preventing most lawsuits against firearms manufacturers when their products are used in crimes. | The case is being watched by gun control advocates, gun rights supporters and gun manufacturers across the country because it has the potential to provide a road map for victims of other mass sh…
truthdig.com/articles/supreme-court-lets-sandy-hook-shooting-lawsuit-go-forward/

Mulvaney Won't Sue Over Impeachment, Declines to Cooperate
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-11-12
WASHINGTON — White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Tuesday that he no longer plans to sue over the House impeachment proceedings and will instead follow President Donald Trump's directions and decline to cooperate. | It's the latest reversal in position by Mulvaney, who last week asked to join the lawsuit of another Trump adviser before changing his mind Monday and saying that he intended to bring his own case. It appears to resolve once and for all a four-day legal dispute that exposed divisions among current and former Trump administr…
truthdig.com/articles/mulvaney-wont-sue-over-impeachment-declines-to-cooperate/

417 Palestinians Arrested in October — Including 75 Children
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-11-12
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained a total of 417 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip in the month of October, ALRAY reported. Prisoner and human rights organizations released a fact sheet Sunday, that the IOF detained 75 children and 16 women. The following is …
imemc.org/article/417-palestinians-arrested-in-october-including-75-children/

Walls in the Head: "Ostalgia" and the Berlin Wall Three Decades Later
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-12
Walls have always served a dual purpose: they keep people in, and others out. The mentality of the wall is one of imprisonment and exclusion. Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we see such infrastructure, both symbolically and in actuality, potent. On August 13, 1961, the German Democratic Republic began construction of…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/12/walls-in-the-head-ostalgia-and-the-berlin-wall-three-decades-later/

Mcdonald's Workers Sue Over Sexual Harassment, 'Toxic' Culture
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-12
McDonald's Corp was sued on Tuesday by workers in Michigan who accused the fast-food chain of allowing pervasive sexual harassment to flourish at its restaurants nationwide. | The proposed class-action lawsuit filed in a Michigan state court accused McDonald's of lacking policies to address sexual harassment, failing to train managers to prevent it, and retaliating against workers who complain. | RELATED: | Over 250 Lawsuits Vs Catholic Church Filed over Sex Abuse in NY | It s…
telesurenglish.net/news/Mcdonalds-Workers-Sue-Over-Sexual-Harassment-Toxic-Culture-20191112-0009.html

Latest Israeli Assault on Gaza Continuation of 'Torture and Torment of Palestinians,' Says Jewish Voice for Peace
Eoin Higgins, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-11-12
"The illegal blockade of Gaza by Israel imprisons every aspect of life for Palestinians in Gaza, and the inhumane restrictions on food, electricity, and healthcare are all forms of violence, carried out daily for the past 11 years by Israel." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gaza_14.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2019/11/12/latest-israeli-assault-gaza-continuation-torture-and-torment-palestinians-says?cd-origin=rss

The Edge of Democracy: Lula Is Freed in Brazil in Victory for Movement to Resist Bolsonaro
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-12
In Brazil, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was freed from prison Friday after 580 days behind bars. Lula's surprise release came after the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled to end the mandatory imprisonment of people convicted of crimes who are appealing their cases. He was serving a 12-year sentence over a disputed corruption and money laundering conviction handed down by conservative Judge Sérgio Moro, an ally of current far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and has long maintained his innocence. Lula has vowed to challenge Bolsonaro in the 2022 elections. At the time of his imprisonment in April…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/12/petra_costa_lula_edge_of_democracy

Black deaths in the custody of the settler colonial state must end
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-12
Indigenous rights Paul GregoireIssue 1245 AustraliaNovember 12, 2019Key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody assert that in dealing with First Nations peoples, the criminal justice system should apply both arrest and imprisonment as sanctions of "last resort". Sparked by suspicious deaths like t…
greenleft.org.au/content/black-deaths-custody-settler-colonial-state-must-end

Saudi Arabia Convicts 38 People on Terrorism-Related Charges
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-12
A Saudi Arabian court charged 38 people Tuesday of financing "terrorism" and declaring other Muslims as non-believers, handing out sentences ranging from 30 months to 25 years. | RELATED: | Repression Deepened Under Saudi Crown Prince MBS: Report | The state-run news outlet Al Ekhbariya did not give the nationalities or names of those convicted out of the 41 people in total on trial. | Although it reported one of those sentenced had set up a "terrorist organization" while in prison a…
telesurenglish.net/news/Saudi-Arabia-Convicts-38-People-on-Terrorism-Related-Charges-20191112-0010.html

The Worm in the Apple
Peter Linebaugh | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-11
The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution reads "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Slavery remains a punishment for crime; imprisonment is a continuation of slavery. That is the…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/11/the-worm-in-the-apple/

The Criminal Justice System Is Not Broken. It's Doing What It Was Designed to Do
Alice Speri | theintercept.com | 2019-11-09
Alec Karakatsanis's book "Usual Cruelty" is a powerful takedown of the U.S. mass punishment bureaucracy, also known as the criminal justice system.
theintercept.com/2019/11/09/criminal-justice-mass-incarceration-book/

Why I'm Fighting for Menstrual Equity in Prison
Kimberly Haven | aclu.org | 2019-11-08
My name is Kimberly Haven. I am an activist, an advocate, and I have also been referred to as the "tampon queen." I got this moniker because, while I was incarcerated, I learned how to make my own tampons out of the subpar menstrual products I was "given" while incarcerated. | For those who do not have firsthand experience with it, incarcerated women are typically provided with a very limited number of subpar products you would never buy outside of the carceral system. Access to pads and / or tampons is not a given–they are closely restricted and sometimes run out, leaving women without any solutions ex…
aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/why-im-fighting-for-menstrual-equity-in-prison

Texas Prepares to Execute Rodney Reed Amid a Flood of New Evidence Pointing to His Innocence
Jordan Smith | theintercept.com | 2019-11-08
Deke Pierce was wearing civilian clothes as he took to the lectern in a narrow press room inside the Texas Capitol in Austin last month, but it was still obvious that he was a cop. He stood with his feet wide and his arms slightly away from his body, a stance molded by years in a uniform encumbered by heavy gear. He was there to make an extraordinary announcement: He and 12 other members of law enforcement with more than 250 years of combined experience had filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a Texas death row prisoner named Rodney Reed, slated for execution on November 20.
theintercept.com/2019/11/08/rodney-reed-death-row-texas/

Egypt: 'Credible evidence' that 'brutal' prison conditions prompted Morsi's death, thousands more at risk
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-08
A group of independent UN human rights experts said on Friday that there was "credible evidence" that inadequate prison conditions in which former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was held may have led "directly" to his death in June, and thousands of other detainees may be at "severe risk".
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1050941

Friday's Daily Brief: Syria war update as talks continue, 'credible evidence' Morsi death due to prison conditions, force condemned in Chile protests
United Nations | un.org | 2019-11-08
A recap of Friday's stories in brief: Ongoing upheaval threatens civilians in Syria; 'Brutal' prison conditions may have prompted Morsi's death; Rights experts condemn use of force in Chile protests; ICJ will hear claims by Ukraine; 60,000 youth refugees who travelled alone, in need across Italy.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1051021

Remembering the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre When Police Shot Dead Three Unarmed Black Students
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-08
The 1968 Orangeburg massacre is one of the most violent and least remembered events of the civil rights movement. A crowd of students gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University to protest segregation at Orangeburg's only bowling alley. After days of escalating tensions, students started a bonfire and held a vigil on the campus to protest. Dozens of police arrived on the scene, and state troopers fired live ammunition into the crowd. When the shooting stopped, three students were dead and 28 wounded. Although the tragedy predated the Kent State shootings and Jackson State killings and it was the fir…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/8/remembering_orangeburg_massacre_1968_south_carolina

We Said We Would See Him in Court and We Did
David Cole | aclu.org | 2019-11-07
Several months into the Trump administration, my wife was | doing The New York Times crossword puzzle and came across this clue: "Group | that told President Trump, 'We'll see you in court.'" I'm not generally much use | when it comes to the crossword, but on that one I could help. She didn't really | need the assistance of course, as the ACLU is my employer, and she, The New | York Times crossword puzzle drafters, and much of the country already knew that | it was the ACLU who told the president we'd see him in court. | In fact, we told him that before he took office. Just days after | he improbably won t…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/we-said-we-would-see-him-in-court-and-we-did

After a hard-won sentence reduction, Huntsville man's court debt is another obstacle to freedom
Will Tucker | splcenter.org | 2019-11-07
Fresh out of prison after nearly 23 years, Archie "Jody" Hamlett appeared at his mother's door in Huntsville, Ala., one fall day in 2017.
splcenter.org/news/2019/11/12/after-hard-won-sentence-reduction-huntsville-mans-court-debt-another-obstacle-freedom

Algerian Protesters Are Still in the Streets, Months After Pushing Out Longtime President Bouteflika
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-07
In Algeria, protests against corruption, the jailing of opposition leaders and the army's powerful role in national politics have entered their ninth month. Tens of thousands filled the streets of the capital Algiers last Friday to mark the 65th anniversary of the war of independence from France and to demand a "new revolution" rather than an upcoming election they say will be rigged. Over 100 student protesters were arrested last night as the Algerian government intensified its crackdown on demonstrators ahead of the upcoming polls. Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah announced the country will hold a presiden…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/7/algerian_protests_enter_ninth_month_ahead

League of the South Resorts to Video Stunts as Membership Declines
Hatewatch Staff | splcenter.org | 2019-11-05
The League of the South made a 25-second propaganda video over the weekend at the memorial of a civil rights icon in an apparent attempt to attract members to its neo-Confederate ideology.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/11/05/league-south-resorts-video-stunts-membership-declines

SPLC celebrates 30th anniversary of Civil Rights Memorial
splcenter.org | 2019-11-05
The first African American elected mayor of Montgomery, Alabama — a city known as both the "Cradle of the Confederacy" and the "Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement" — urged those who gathered today to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Civil Rights Memorial to ask themselves how they can make an impact on the lives of others.
splcenter.org/news/2019/11/05/splc-celebrates-30th-anniversary-civil-rights-memorial

"Release My Mother": A Yale Student Fights to Halt Deportation of His Mother with Stage IV Cancer
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-05
Tania Romero, an undocumented mother from Honduras and survivor of stage IV cancer, is fighting to remain in the United States with her four children. Two months ago, Romero was imprisoned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the privately owned Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, interrupting her life-saving medical treatments. In mid-August, Romero was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and arrested for not having a driver's license. Tania Romero's attorney requested a stay of deportation on humanitarian grounds because of her fragile health, but it was denied in September. Her son, Cristian…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/5/cancer_patient_tania_romero_ice_detention

Trump Wants to Allow Discrimination with Billions of Dollars of Federal Funding
Louise Melling | aclu.org | 2019-11-05
Last Friday, the Trump administration announced | an alarming new proposal that would strip away critical protections against discrimination | in grants funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. | Initially, we thought this proposal would serve to fulfill Trump's promise to give taxpayer-funded child welfare agencies a license to discriminate. This proposal does…
aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/trump-wants-to-allow-discrimination-with-billions-of-dollars-of-federal-funding

American Graffiti: Church, Cancer, and 'Hate Faith'
Kevin Powell | progressive.org | 2019-11-02
Spirituality is love. Religion, as often practiced now and through history, is a convenient partner of oppression, and can easily become what I call hate faith.
progressive.org/dispatches/american-graffiti-church-cancer-hate-faith-powell-191102/

Civil Rights Memorial commemorates 30 years
splcenter.org | 2019-11-01
Carolyn Wells Gee was in bed watching TV with her younger sister when she heard the shot that killed Medgar Evers.
splcenter.org/news/2019/11/01/civil-rights-memorial-commemorates-30-years

Why Have a Forum on Reparations in Charleston and Why Now?
Jeffery Robinson | aclu.org | 2019-10-31
This year marks 400 years since enslaved, kidnapped people were purchased by the forefathers and — mothers of America. Are the events that began 400 years ago connected to today? William Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." | On June 19, 2019, the National African American Reparations | Commission (NAARC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) held | a forum on H.R. 40 in the historic Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, | D.C. As a follow up to that…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/why-have-a-forum-on-reparations-in-charleston-and-why-now

The FBI is Tracking Our Faces in Secret. We're Suing
Kade Crockford | aclu.org | 2019-10-31
Many of us wear masks on Halloween for fun. But what about a world in which we have to wear a mask every single day to protect our privacy from the government's oppressive eye? | Face | recognition surveillance technology has already made that frightening world a | reality in Hong Kong, and it's quickly becoming a scary | possibility in the United States. | The FBI is currently collecting data about our faces, irises, walking patterns, and voices, permitting the government to pervasively identif…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/the-fbi-is-tracking-our-faces-in-secret-were-suing

Abortion is Legal in All 50 States, and We Intend to Keep It That Way
Alexa Kolbi-Molinas | aclu.org | 2019-10-31
On | Tuesday, a federal court issued a decision in our challenge to Alabama's | near-total ban on abortion blocking the law from taking effect. The decision | comes on the heels of similar rulings blocking abortion bans in Arkansas, | Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Utah. In other words, the ACLU has an | undefeated, 7-0 record challenging state abortion bans in court. None of the state abortion bans passed | earlier this year will be permitted to take effect. Abortion is — and will | remain — legal in all 50 states. | The | Alabama ban, like all the others, is the anti-abortion movement's t…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/abortion-is-legal-in-all-50-states-and-we-intend-to-keep-it-that-way

Weekend Read: If your vote didn't matter, they wouldn't fight so hard to block it
splcenter.org | 2019-10-25
At the intersection of race and politics in the United States lies voter suppression — the array of laws and election practices intended to make it harder for people of color to vote.
splcenter.org/news/2019/10/26/weekend-read-if-your-vote-didnt-matter-they-wouldnt-fight-so-hard-block-it

Why is Missouri So Afraid of Finding out Whether Lamar Johnson is Innocent of Murder?
Somil Trivedi | aclu.org | 2019-10-24
In 1994, the St. Louis | Circuit Attorney's Office committed gross prosecutorial misconduct in order to convict Lamar Johnson of murder. | They knowingly presented perjured testimony, fabricated facts to negate | Johnson's strongly corroborated alibi, and buried the fact that a prime witness | against him was a paid jailhouse informant. Twenty-five years later, that same | Circuit Attorney's Office, now led by Kim Gardner, is doing everything it can | to get Johnson a new trial so the truth can vind…
aclu.org/news/smart-justice/why-is-missouri-so-afraid-of-finding-out-whether-lamar-johnson-is-innocent-of-murder

'No rehabilitation,' just oppression, behind bars in Alabama
Kathryn Casteel | splcenter.org | 2019-10-23
splcenter.org/news/2019/10/29/no-rehabilitation-just-oppression-behind-bars-alabama