The Stain on America's Soul That Will Not Wash Away
Robert Scheer | truthdig.com | 2019-11-22
Although the extent of our lawless detention program in Guantanamo Bay is something most of us know little about, it defines us all.
truthdig.com/articles/the-stain-on-americas-soul-that-will-not-wash-away/
Racist Stephen Miller Must Go, Activists and Lawmakers Say
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-11-22
President Trump may be consumed by impeachment, but White House Adviser Stephen Miller remains laser-focused on executing his racist anti-immigrant agenda. Despite calls for Miller's removal by lawmakers and civil rights organizations, his oppressive policies and appointments continue to be rolled out at a frantic pace. | Last week, Hatewatch exposed hundreds of emails Miller sent to th…
truthout.org/articles/racist-stephen-miller-must-go-activists-and-lawmakers-say/
Louisiana cop sentenced to prison after beating unarmed man on video
Andrew Emett | nationofchange.org | 2019-11-22
"Officers who deprive individuals of their civil rights will not be tolerated."
nationofchange.org/2019/11/22/louisiana-cop-sentenced-to-prison-after-beating-unarmed-man-on-video/
David Harris, Presente!
Howard Lisnoff | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-22
David Harris is a hero, and he is one of my heroes. While this may sound maudlin to some, it was David Harris who was there at the beginning of the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War and who preceded that era with his work in the civil rights movement in the US South. David Harris…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/22/david-harris-presente/
U.S. Congresswoman: "Israeli System of Military Detention of Palestinian Children is Immoral"
IMEMC & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-11-22
Ali Harb — Middle East Eye The Israeli army's mistreatment of Palestinian children is "completely preventable", a United States congresswoman said, as she urged other lawmakers to support a bill that would prevent American military aid to Israel from being used to abuse Palestinian minors. "The Israeli system of military …
imemc.org/article/u-s-congresswoman-israeli-system-of-military-detention-of-palestinian-children-is-immoral/
Meet the Tucson 12: Under Trump, Protesters Are Being Hit With Felony Riot Charges
Natasha Lennard | theintercept.com | 2019-11-22
Illustration: Hanna Barczyk for The Intercept | On the night of August 14, a small group of around 20 Tucson, Arizona-based activists and community members stood outside the Pima County Adult Detention Complex, making noise. They sang, they chanted, they banged drums and pans loud enough to reach the ears of those caged behind the facility's beige concrete walls. Standing on a sidewalk, some lit small, handheld fireworks; others held up a large banner bearing the famed prison abolitionist refrain, "Fire to the prisons." The message to those inside, as with most every noise demonstration held outside a prison:…
theintercept.com/2019/11/22/tucson-12-protest-felony-riot/
Lula Defends PT's Candidacies for 2020 Municipal Elections
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-22
Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday promoted the candidates representing the Workers' Party (PT) of Brazil, of which he is a founder, ahead of the 2020 municipal elections, as well as a few dissenters. | RELATED: | Lula As Opposition To Bolsonaro, Right Wants Him Back In Jail | "Nobody is going to defend the PT like the PT itself," Lula stated in Sao Paulo, a day before the beginning of the seventh congress of the political party, which will close on Nove…
telesurenglish.net/news/Lula-Defends-PTs-Candidacies-for-2020-Municipal-Elections-20191122-0008.html
Finding Peace Amid the New Opium Wars
Mattea Kramer | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-22
It was evening and we were in a windowless room in a Massachusetts jail. We had just finished a class — on job interview skills — and, with only a few minutes remaining, the women began voicing their shared fear. Upon their release, would someone really hire them? Beneath that concern lurked another one: Would…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/22/finding-peace-amid-the-new-opium-wars/
Fiat Chrysler workers react as further corruption allegations rock UAW in midst of contract talks
wsws.org | 2019-11-22
The explosive allegations contained in the pending General Motors lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler, detailing the company's buying of the UAW leadership, have further enraged FCA workers facing a new contract battle…
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/22/auto-n22.html
JFK: What the CIA Hides
Jefferson Morley | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-22
My own JFK questions involve George Joannides, a decorated undercover officer who served as branch chief in the Miami station in 1963. He ran psychological warfare operations against Cuba. In 2003, I sued the CIA for Joannides' files. The lawsuit ended 15 years later in July 2018, when Judge Brett Kavanaugh, in his last opinion before ascending to the Supreme Court, tossed my case. Kavanaugh declared the agency deserved "deference upon deference" in its handling of Freedom of Information Act requests about JFK files.
counterpunch.org/2019/11/22/jfk-what-the-cia-hides/
GM lawsuit: UAW engaged in criminal conspiracy with FCA to cut labor costs
wsws.org | 2019-11-22
The extraordinary lawsuit filed by General Motors peels back the curtain on the "purchase" of the United Auto Workers by Fiat Chrysler and the other automakers.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/22/pers-n22.html
Trump overrides Navy's bid to evict war criminal from SEALS
wsws.org | 2019-11-22
This was the fourth intervention by the US president in the case of Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL charged with shooting civilians and murdering a prisoner during the 2017 siege of Mosul.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/22/seal-n22.html
"In Defense of Julian Assange": Why WikiLeaks Founder's Case Threatens Press Freedom
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-22
This week Swedish prosecutors dropped an investigation into sexual assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, stemming from 2010. Assange, who has always denied the allegations, took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for over seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden on the charges. British authorities dragged him out of the Ecuadorian embassy in April and he has since been jailed in London's Belmarsh prison on charges related to skipping of bail in 2012, when he first entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over the now-dropped sexual assault charges. The United States…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/22/julian_assange_tariq_ali_margaret_kunstler
U.N. Rapporteur: Julian Assange Has Faced Psychological Torture; He Should Not Be Extradited to U.S
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-22
This week Swedish prosecutors dropped an investigation into sexual assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, stemming from 2010. Assange, who has always denied the allegations, took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for over seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden on the charges. British authorities dragged him out of the Ecuadorian embassy in April and he has since been jailed in London's Belmarsh prison on charges related to skipping of bail in 2012, when he first entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over the now-dropped sexual assault charges. The United States…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/22/nils_melzer_julian_assange
Bolivia: Ilegitimate Government Attempts to Sue Evo Morales
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-22
The illegitimate government of Bolivia introduced a criminal lawsuit against President Evo Morales, exiled in Mexico, for alleged sedition, terrorism and three other crimes. | RELATED: | Bolivia: Coup-Born Government Takes TeleSUR Spanish Off The Air | The accusation was filed by Arturo Murillo, appointed as Interior Minister by the coup-installed government. It is based on the recording of an alleged telephone conversation between Morales and a leader of the Tropic of Cochabam…
telesurenglish.net/news/bolivia-coup-government-criminally-sued-evo-morales-20191122-0010.html
Congress Just Temporarily Extended the Government's Spying Powers
Neema Singh Guliani | aclu.org | 2019-11-21
Congress today temporarily extended the NSA's spying powers that time and again have been used to violate our rights. Disturbingly, this three-month extension was snuck into a broader funding bill, forcing members of Congress to choose between extending this program and causing a government shutdown. The extension is an unnecessary lifeline to spying programs that are plagued with compliance violations, have no proven intelligence value, and violate our rights. | Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, one of the spying | powers extended, the government believes it has the right to collect our | personal inform…
aclu.org/news/national-security/congress-just-temporarily-extended-the-governments-spying-powers
Thursday's Daily Brief: Deadly Syria violence, risks of working at sea, poor health in jail, concern over ISIL suspect, and her child
United Nations | news.un.org | 2019-11-21
A recap of Thursday's stories in brief: Syria's violence continues to strike children; governments must do more for human rights in business; poor health in Europe's prisons; rights experts' concern over Irish ISIL bride and her child in Turkey; Fishing workers face huge risks at sea.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/11/1051931
'Humiliation and extreme distress': Jussie Smollett sues Chicago after faking hate crime
rt.com | 2019-11-21
Disgraced actor Jussie Smollett is suing the city of Chicago for malicious prosecution, saying he was subjected to "humiliation and extreme distress" after having falsely claimed to be the victim of a racist and homophobic attack. | In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, lawyers for the 'Empire' actor also said that the Chicago police department "obtained false, self-serving and unreliable statements" from the Osundairo brothers — the two men Smollett paid to help with the hoax hate crime, who claim that the entire incident had been orchestrated by the actor. | Smollett's attorneys say that investigators ignored…
rt.com/usa/474025-jussie-smollett-suing-chicago/
UAW President Gary Jones resigns as GM lawsuit charges that UAW is a "controlled enterprise" of Fiat Chrysler
wsws.org | 2019-11-21
Jones' resignation came after the UAW International Executive Board, in an act of damage control, took measures to remove and expel him.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/21/auto-n21.html
Australian Women Win Vaginal Mesh Landmark Class Action
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-21
More than 1,350 women who have suffered debilitating side effects of pelvic mesh implants won a landmark class-action lawsuit against multinational giant Johnson & Johnson on Thursday in Sydney. | RELATED: | Australia's Premier to Ban Climate Boycotts | The case, which began in 2012, has been described by the prosecution as the biggest class action concerning women's health in Australia's history. | The Federal Court of Australia held the behavior of the American mul…
telesurenglish.net/news/Australian-Women-Win-Vaginal-Mesh-Landmark-Class-Action-20191121-0012.html
Evo Denounces Set Up to Prosecute Him Internationally
telesurenglish.net | 2019-11-21
President Evo Morales denounced the coup regime in Bolivia, headed by Jeanine Añez, for trying to create a set up with the intention of creating an international trial to discredit him, reported Prensa Latina. | RELATED: | Bolivia: Police Attack Protesters Carrying Coffins of Killed | In a tweet from his asylum in Mexico, the leader of Movement to Socialism said that they will appeal against judicial manipulation to imprison anti-imperialist, leftist and progressive figures, somet…
telesurenglish.net/news/evo-denounces-montage-to-prosecute-him-internationally-20191121-0013.html
If Prison Conditions Don't Improve, 'It Will Be Our Blood Running Through the Water'
Olivia Heffernan | thenation.com | 2019-11-21
If Prison Conditions Don't Improve, 'It Will Be Our Blood Running Through the Water'…
thenation.com/article/prison-organizing-alabama/
Inside Australia's refugee prison camp in PNG
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-21
refugee rights Chris SleeIssue 1246 Australia MelbourneNovember 21, 2019The Refugee Action Collective (RAC) Victoria held a forum on November 18 to discuss the situation facing asylum seekers in Bomana Immigration Centre, a detention centre attached to Bomana prison in…
greenleft.org.au/content/inside-australia-refugee-prison-camp-png
Assange's case 'a threat to free speech worldwide'
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-21
civil liberties Jim McIlroyIssue 1246 Australia Julian Assange SydneyNovember 21, 2019Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer for imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, believes the United States' applicatio…
greenleft.org.au/content/assange-case-threat-free-speech-worldwide
Media continues its smear campaign against Lula
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-11-21
media lies Brian MierIssue 1246 Brazil stitch upNovember 21, 2019The Brazilian Supreme Court reversed a 2018 ruling on November 7, upholding the principle of innocent until proven guilty in the 1988 Constitution and declaring it illegal to jail defendants before their appeals' proces…
greenleft.org.au/content/media-continues-its-smear-campaign-against-lula
The U.S. Government Tracked, Detained, and Interrogated Journalists. We're Suing on Their Behalf
Scarlet Kim | aclu.org | 2019-11-20
As part of a coordinated effort that undermined the freedom of the press, the U.S. government tracked, detained, and interrogated journalists who were reporting on conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, we're suing on their behalf to defend their First Amendment rights. | Together with the New York Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, we're representing five photojournalists who traveled to Mexico in late 2018 and early 2019 to document the experiences of people traveli…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/the-u-s-government-tracked-detained-and-interrogated-journalists-were-suing
Saving Julian Assange is Saving Ourselves
Kim Petersen | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-19
The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner issued a statement based on special-rapporteur-on-torture Nils Melzer's fact-finding mission into the incarceration of WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange. The facts were a scathing indictment of those nations behind the targeting of Assange. 'The evidence is overwhelming and clear,' the expert said. 'Mr. Assange …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/saving-julian-assange-is-saving-ourselves/
Don't Suppress Votes of New Citizens
Terri Gerstein | progressive.org | 2019-11-18
A new kind of voter suppression is being perpetrated by the federal government and flying largely under the radar: a multi-faceted effort to prevent legal immigrants from becoming citizens in time to vote.
progressive.org/op-eds/dont-suppress-votes-of-new-citizens-gerstein-191118/
Students Told They Would Be Better Off 'If They Had Jesus in Their Life'
Heather L. Weaver | aclu.org | 2019-11-18
The ACLU and the ACLU of Tennessee filed a lawsuit against the Smith County School System for violating the separation of church and state on Monday. According to the lawsuit, four students who are atheists have had to contend with school officials promoting Christianity through official prayers, Bible distributions, religious posters, and even a giant cross painted in one of the school's athletic facilities. | We asked our three high school clients in this case — Harleigh, | Leyna and Pyper — to tell us about their e…
aclu.org/news/religious-liberty/students-told-they-would-be-better-off-if-they-had-jesus-in-their-life
An Arizona Sheriff Deputy's Abuse of a Quadruple Amputee Teen Highlights a Policing Culture That Must Change
Ezekiel Edwards | aclu.org | 2019-11-18
Inhumane. Cruel. Abusive. What other words could possibly describe a Pima County, Arizona Sheriff Deputy placing a 15-year-old quadruple amputee who posed no threat into a headlock and then pinning him to the ground at a group home? What if the Deputy then screamed at another teenager videotaping the abuse and yelled at him repeatedly "shut the hell up" and, "Am I your bitch?" before slamming the teenager's head into the wall while handcuffed? | This is not another example…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/an-arizona-sheriffs-deputy-abuse-of-a-quadruple-amputee-teen-highlights-a-policing-culture-that-must-change
Baby Shark Coup
John Steppling | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-11-18
I also write from time to time, and if any sweet breath fills my soul, it's the light of memory … Oh the memory in prison! How it gets here and falls upon the heart, which it oils with melancholy already so decomposed … In short, I don't know what these people will do. We …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/baby-shark-coup/
After Texas Court Blocks Execution, Rodney Reed Has a Chance to Prove His Innocence in 1996 Murder
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-18
In a stunning decision handed down Friday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Rodney Reed, an African-American death row prisoner who was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday for a murder he says he did not commit. The appeals court ordered a review of the case to examine claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Millions of people around the country had joined Reed's cause in recent weeks amid mounting evidence that another man may be responsible for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman. In 1998, an all-white jury sentenced Reed to die for Stites's murder after his DNA…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/18/rodney_reed_scheduled_execution_in_texas
Protesters demand end to Israeli attacks on Gaza
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-11-17
NY, New York – On the evening of November 15, over 150 people gathered on 42nd and Broadway to demand that Israel, backed by the United States government, stop the murder and occupation of Palestinians. | The emergency rally was called by several different organizations in New York City in response to Israel murdering 34 people, including eight children in Gaza. The organizations were Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, CODEPINK: Women For Peace, Labor for Palestine, Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, NY4Palestine, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, American Muslims for Palesti…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/11/16/protesters-demand-end-israeli-attacks-gaza
Whistleblowers Are Public Servants. We Must Protect Them
Kate Ruane | aclu.org | 2019-11-15
President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke on the phone. The president insists the call was "perfect." Others are concerned that, during the call, the president intimated he would withhold financial aid appropriated to Ukraine unless the Ukrainian president agreed to investigate former-Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival of the president. | How do we even know about any of this? A…
aclu.org/news/free-speech/whistleblowers-are-public-servants-we-must-protect-them
Gold Chains: The Hidden History of Slavery in California
Candice Francis | aclu.org | 2019-11-15
This is a cross-post from the ACLU of Northern California. | There is a story we tell ourselves about being American. Much of it is a lie. Two dates that students throughout the country are required to memorize to inform an American identity are 1492, when Columbus supposedly "discovered" America, and 1776, when the United States claimed sovereignty from England and through the Declaration of Independence declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." If we're honest, we'll admit that the "all men" in that catchphrase didn't include African Americans, Native Americans, and…
aclu.org/news/racial-justice/gold-chains-the-hidden-history-of-slavery-in-california
The Size of Your Wallet Should Never Determine Your Freedom
Twyla Carter | aclu.org | 2019-11-15
Lea Allison is a 30-year-old Alamance County | resident and mother to a 6-year-old daughter. She has been living with | relatives because she cannot afford to live on her own, but was about to start | a new job that she hoped would provide her and her daughter with financial | stability. | Lea's plans came to an abrupt halt when she was arrested and locked in an Alamance County, North Carolina jail on a $3,500 bond. Although she has not been found guilty of a crime, she will remain behind bars because she cannot afford to pay for her freedom. Instead of starting her new job, Lea is sitting in the Alamance Coun…
aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/the-size-of-your-wallet-should-never-determine-your-freedom
"This Is My Home": Meet the Lead Plaintiff in the Supreme Court Case to Save DACA
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-15
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from three lawsuits demanding the Trump administration preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The Obama-era program has granted protection from deportation and a work permit to at least 700,000 undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children. The court's conservative majority appeared poised to side with President Trump in ending the program, while some of the court's liberal justices seemed skeptical of Trump's efforts. In September 2017, the Trump administration announced it planned to terminate DACA, arguing the program…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/15/daca_supreme_court_oral_arguments_lead
Justice for Rodney Reed: Millions Urge Texas to Halt Execution Amid New Evidence of His Innocence
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-15
The Supreme Court considers Friday whether to take up the case of Rodney Reed, an African-American death row prisoner in Texas who is scheduled to be executed in less than a week for a murder he says he did not commit. On Thursday, Reed's family braved the cold to camp outside the Supreme Court for a vigil asking the justices to help halt the execution. Millions of people around the country have joined their cause in recent weeks amid mounting evidence that another man may be responsible for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman. In 1998, an all-white jury sentenced Reed to die for Stites's…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/15/rodney_reed_death_row_scheduled_execution
Trump Administration Forgoes Petition to Supreme Court in Jane Doe Case
Meagan Burrows | aclu.org | 2019-11-14
For more | than two years, the ACLU has been fighting a Trump administration policy that | prevents unaccompanied immigrant minors in federal care from accessing | abortion. We had previously won in the lower court, securing a preliminary block on | the policy. And last week, the Trump administration chose not to challenge that | ruling and ask the Supreme Court to review the case–a real victory in our fight | for justice for the Janes. | We first filed | the case in Octobe…
aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/trump-administration-forgoes-petition-to-supreme-court-in-jane-doe-case
Three Common Privacy Misconceptions That Companies Love
Jay Stanley | aclu.org | 2019-11-14
A significant number of Americans hold significant misconceptions about their privacy, according to opinion research — misconceptions that privacy-invading companies love. That's according to research on American understandings of privacy carried out over the past couple decades by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, lead by Prof. Joseph Turow, whom I recently heard give a talk summarizing these studies. | Misconceptio…
aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/three-common-privacy-misconceptions-that-companies-love
Neo-Nazi Group NSM Faces New Upheaval After James Hart Stern's Death
Hatewatch Staff and Brett Barrouquere | splcenter.org | 2019-11-13
The leadership of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM) has been thrown into chaos again following the death of self-described civil rights activist James Hart Stern.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/11/13/neo-nazi-group-nsm-faces-new-upheaval-after-james-hart-sterns-death
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
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
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