Doctors' open letter defending Julian Assange wins global support
wsws.org | 2019-11-27
An open letter by doctors urging action to save the life of imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has received international media coverage, winning growing support among doctors.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/27/assa-n27.html

Asylum Seekers Are Being Misclassified Under Migrant Protection Protocols
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-11-27
A lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Brownsville, Texas, last Wednesday on the behalf of a 23-year-old woman who fled Honduras and was returned to the streets of Matamoros, Mexico, by U.S. immigration authorities in late July. | The petition filed on the behalf of the woman (identified as X.E.G.M. under conditions of anonymity requested by two San Antonio-based attorneys with San Antonio Region Justice For Our Neighbors) was one of a series of writ of habeas corpus petitions filed on the be…
truthout.org/articles/asylum-seekers-are-being-misclassified-under-migrant-protection-protocols/

"If I Could Just Look at Her"
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2019-11-27
Watch the journey of two separated parents trying to cross the border and reunite with their children.: | " data-whitelisted="false" data-domain="www.youtube.com"> | In October, the Trump administration admitted that in a 12-month period, beginning in July 2017, it separated 4,370 immigrant children from their parents at the border. Since then, over 1,000 more have been separated under a dubious loophole that all…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/if-i-could-just-look-at-her

Storied national civil rights group re-founded at Chicago gathering
John Bachtell | peoplesworld.org | 2019-11-27
CHICAGO — "We share a vision for community control of the police, freedom for all political prisoners and the wrongfully convicted. Abolishing the police and prisons, is part of a larger vision of changing and abolishing governments that oppress us," declared Frank Chapman, to a gathering here Nov. 22-24 to re-establish the National Alliance Against …
peoplesworld.org/article/storied-national-civil-rights-group-re-founded-at-chicago-gathering/

The High Crimes of Selling Churros and Loosies in NYC
Howard Lisnoff | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-27
Within about a half hour of going into an apartment complex in Harlem in New York City, I came out to hundreds of demonstrators chanting at the entrance to the ramp that leads to the Madison Avenue Bridge. That ramp connects the boroughs of the Bronx and Manhattan. Some protesters held signs reading Black Lives…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/27/the-high-crimes-of-selling-churros-and-loosies-in-nyc/

Take Action Now: Fight to End Mass Incarceration
NationAction | thenation.com | 2019-11-27
Take Action Now: Fight to End Mass Incarceration…
thenation.com/article/take-action-now-fight-to-end-mass-incarceration/

Evo the 'Terrorist' and the Weaponization of Fear-Mongering Labels
Andrew Korybko | globalresearch.ca | 2019-11-27
The coup-imposed "Interior Minister" of Bolivia demanded that ("former") President Morales be jailed for life because of his supposedly "terrorist" activities, which amounts to the weaponization of fear-mongering labels for purely political reasons intended to intimidate his majority-indigenous supporters into …
globalresearch.ca/evo-terrorist-weaponization-fear-mongering-labels/5696058

Oakland Raids Housing Justice Village: Being Houseless Is Not a Crime
Cat Brooks | indybay.org | 2019-11-27
Last night, dozens of unhoused community members with The Village and East Oakland Collective placed their tents on the lawn of City Hall; demanding to be seen, heard and helped by city officials. Instead they were terrorized, brutalized, arrested and taken to Santa Rita Jail.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/11/25/18828416.php

A secret trial in Canberra points to extent of Australia's police-state powers
wsws.org | 2019-11-27
All details of the man's prosecution and imprisonment, even the very existence of the case, have been suppressed by undisclosed gag orders.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/27/tria-n27.html

Soldiers Abduct Nine Palestinians, Including Four Children, In West Bank
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2019-11-27
Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday at dawn, nine Palestinians, including four children, from their homes in several parts of the occupied West Bank, including the occupied Palestinian capital, Jerusalem. The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported that the soldiers stormed and ransacked many homes across the West Bank, and interrogated …
imemc.org/article/soldiers-abduct-nine-palestinians-including-four-children-in-west-bank/

Did an American Billionaire Philanthropist Play a Role in the Imprisonment of Iranian Environmentalists?
Murtaza Hussain | theintercept.com | 2019-11-27
In September 2017, a group of Iranian environmentalists working on Asiatic cheetah preservation with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation felt a pang of alarm. Thomas S. Kaplan, a billionaire precious metals investor then best known for his fine art collection, had just made a surprise public appearance in New York at the annual conference of United Against Nuclear Iran. The Iranian environmentalists were concerned because their group had gotten aid from one of Kaplan's nonpolitical charities. Now, he was sp…
theintercept.com/2019/11/27/iran-environmentalists-panthera-thomas-kaplan/

PCHR: Fourth Case in 2019: Palestinian Prisoner Dies in Israeli Prison, Suspicions of Medical Neglect Arise
PCHR | imemc.org | 2019-11-27
On Tuesday morning, 26 November 2019, Palestinian prisoner, Sami Abu-Diak, 36, died at al-Ramla prison clinic. Abu-Diak, from Silat al-Dahr village near Jenin, had spent 17 years in Israeli prison, and was recently transferred to the clinic in Israel due to his deteriorating health condition, having cancer since 2015. The …
imemc.org/article/pchr-fourth-case-in-2019-palestinian-prisoner-dies-in-israeli-prison-suspicions-of-medical-neglect-arise/

UNHCR chief urges Greece to improve conditions in refugee camps
rt.com | 2019-11-27
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees urged the Greek government on Wednesday to improve living conditions in migrant camps. Greece's new conservative government said it would "shut the door" to people not entitled to stay in the country and announced plans to close overcrowded refugee camps. | They could be replaced with detention centers to be used both for deporting failed asylum seekers and as a reception and processing center for new arrivals. | "We cannot accept that [refugees] live in such miserable living conditions. The conditions are very challenging and need urgent improvement," Commissi…
rt.com/newsline/474502-un-refugees-greece-camps/

Julian Assange will 'disappear for the rest of his life' inside 'inhumane' US prison, UN envoy warns… if he makes it that far
rt.com | 2019-11-27
The UN rapporteur on torture has accused British and American authorities of waging a one-sided war against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, "violating due process at every step," as Assange's condition in prison deteriorates. | Speaking at a demonstration in Berlin on Wednesday, rapporteur Nils Melzer told RT that if the judicial institutions prosecuting Assange were "doing their job according to the law," then they would take the WikiLeaks head's declining health into account in their extradition efforts. However, Melzer does not expect any reprieve for Assange. | The whole system is skewed against him. It'…
rt.com/news/474501-assange-torture-un-berlin-protest/

Political affiliation bias is the last type of discrimination society approves of — and study shows we're embracing it fervently
rt.com | 2019-11-27
In an ultra-PC society where even the suggestion of racial, ethnic or gender bias can get a person fired or ostracized, another type of discrimination — a political affiliation-based one — is thriving, according to a new study. | Discrimination may have become taboo in US society, but it hasn't gone away. A new study shows discriminatory behavior thrives in the one area where it remains socially acceptable to judge people based on shared attributes: political affiliation. Politics remains one of the few pers…
rt.com/usa/474499-political-discrimination-colors-hiring-study/

Betrayed by Joe Biden: a Personal History
James Handley | counterpunch.org | 2019-11-26
Even at age 77, Joe Biden cuts a dashing figure. In 1972, when he was 29 and I was 15, he spoke at my high school in suburban Wilmington Delaware. I practically swooned over the handsome, charismatic young Biden as he spoke passionately about civil rights, environmental protection, womens' rights and ending the Viet Nam…
counterpunch.org/2019/11/26/betrayed-by-joe-biden-a-personal-history/

It's Past Time Congress Reined in the President's Emergency Powers
Kate Oh | aclu.org | 2019-11-26
The full Senate could soon consider legislation that would rein in the | president's emergency powers and bolster the principle of separation of | powers that underpins American democracy. This legislation, the ARTICLE | ONE Act as amended by a Senate committee, contains sensible reforms of the | National Emergencies Act of 1976 (NEA), the flawed and outdated law that | governs the emergency declaration process. | Under | the current national emergencies declaration process, Congress must muster a | veto-proof two-thirds supermaj…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/its-past-time-congress-reined-in-the-presidents-emergency-powers

Netanyahu's Get-Out-of-Jail Card… War With Iran
Strategic Culture | theantimedia.com | 2019-11-26
The temptation will be ever-stronger for the hot-headed commando-turned-politician to rile up security tensions with Iran and Syria.
theantimedia.com/netanyahus-get-out-of-jail-card-war-with-iran/

Chicago conference to relaunch National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression a huge success
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-11-26
Chicago, IL – More than a 1200 joined together for an historic gathering on the weekend of November 22 — 24, at the hall of the Chicago Teachers Union, to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The newly refounded Alliance will concentrate its efforts on building the fight against police crimes and for community control of the police, and it will campaign for the release of political prisoners and the wrongfully convicted. | Longtime leaders of the Black liberation movement Angela Davis and Frank Chapman, along with elected officials, trade unionists, and other progressive ac…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/11/25/chicago-conference-relaunch-national-alliance-against-racist-and-political-repression-hug

'I've dreamt about this day': Three US friends freed after spending 36 YEARS in prison for murder THEY DIDN'T COMMIT
rt.com | 2019-11-26
Three teenagers from Baltimore, wrongfully convicted of killing a school student in cold blood, have been exonerated after spending more than three decades of their lives in jail. | Childhood friends Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart were arrested in 1983, when they were 16, and subsequently convicted of gunning down a 14-year-old student at Harlem Park Junior High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Authorities said at the time that the boy was shot in the neck with a 22-caliber handgun in an attempt to steal a fancy jacket he was wearing. | The men have always insisted they were innocent. Nevert…
rt.com/usa/474324-three-baltimore-men-exonerated/

We're Grateful for the Constitution
David Cole | aclu.org | 2019-11-26
Thanksgiving is here: that time of year when we pause to take stock of all we're grateful for. At the ACLU, we're saying thanks for all the crucial wins from our legal teams — and for the Constitution. | In just the last few months, we've racked up many essential victories in the ongoing battle to protect civil liberties and civil rights. The scope of these victories is breathtaking: they span criminal justice, privacy, religious freedom, reproductive rights, due process for immigrants, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, and the right to protest the Keystone pipeline, among others. We've won crucial victories…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/were-grateful-for-the-constitution

The Trump Administration is Unlawfully Detaining a U.S. Resident Without Charge
Charlie Hogle | aclu.org | 2019-11-25
Adham | Hassoun completed his criminal sentence and was set to be released from prison almost | three years ago. But the government — now claiming unprecedented and | unconstitutional powers under the USA Patriot Act — continues to hold Adham in | detention, indefinitely and without charge. | We're | in court to secure his freedom. | Adham | has called the United States home for 30 years. Born in Lebanon to Palestinian | refugees, Adham and his family — like many other refugees — suffered…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/the-trump-administration-is-unlawfully-detaining-a-u-s-resident-without-charge

In Nicaragua, She Dodged Bullets. Now She's Stuck at the Border
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2019-11-25
(Ciudad Juarez, Mexico) The sting of tear gas was still in Julia's eyes when she ran into a public park in the center of the Nicaraguan city of Estelí on June 20, 2018. Earlier that day, she'd wrapped her face in a blue-and-white bandanna — the colors of the Nicaraguan flag — and joined a student-led march against the government of President Daniel Ortega, whose proposed cuts to social benefits were sparking tense street demonstrations across the country. [Note: 'Julia' is a pseudonym; the ACLU is protecting her identity for her safety.] | As the students marched through the streets, paramilitary p…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/in-nicaragua-she-dodged-bullets-now-shes-stuck-at-the-border

Blinded Palestinian Journalist Exposes Israel's Increasing Violence Against Media
Delilah Boxstein | mintpressnews.com | 2019-11-25
2018 saw a 52 percent increase in the number of violations against Palestinian press, the majority of them comprised physical abuse, arrests or detentions, questioning, preventing coverage and shutting down websites and social media accounts.
mintpressnews.com/blinded-palestinian-journalist-muath-amarneh-israel-violence-media/262981/

Police Raid Egypt's Last Independent News Outlet Mada Masr Amid "Increasingly Hostile" Media Climate
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-25
Egyptian security forces raided the office of Mada Masr, the country's last independent media outlet, and arrested three of its journalists this weekend. The raid began Sunday afternoon, when nine plainclothes security officers entered the Mada Masr office in Cairo, seizing phones and laptops and holding the staff in the building for more than three hours. They then arrested editor-in-chief Lina Attalah, managing editor Mohamed Hamama and reporter Rana Mamdouh. It came just a day after security forces arrested senior editor Shady Zalat at his home. All four journalists were released from detention Sunday night. T…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/25/mada_masr_egypt_media_sharif_kouddous

Pope Francis Calls Nuclear Weapons Immoral as Catholic Activists Face Jail For U.S. Nuke Base Action
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-11-25
Over the weekend, Pope Francis visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the United States dropped the first atomic bombs in 1945, killing more than 200,000 people. Pope Francis said, "A world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary." The leader of the Cathoilc Church met with survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and declared the possession of nuclear weapons to be immoral. The Pope's visit comes as a group of seven Catholic peace activists are awaiting sentencing for breaking into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia on April 4, 2018. The activists, known as the Kings Bay Plowshares 7,…
www.democracynow.org/2019/11/25/pope_francis_nuclear_weapons_hiroshima_nagasaki

Over 1200 rally in Chicago at relaunch of National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-11-23
Chicago, IL – More than a 1200 joined together November 22, at the hall of the Chicago Teachers Union, to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The newly refounded Alliance will center its efforts on building the fight against police crimes and for community control of the police, and it will campaign for the release of political prisoners and the wrongfully convicted. | Longtime leaders of the Black liberation movement, Angela Davis and Frank Chapman, along with elected officials, trade unionists, and other progressive activists addressed the packed rally that opened the confere…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/11/23/over-1200-rally-chicago-relaunch-national-alliance-against-racist-and-political-repressio

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/

"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

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

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

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

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

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/

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

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

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