(2020-06-28). Rally and March Show LGBTQ+ and Menlo Park Community Stand with Black Lives Matter. indybay.org Students from high schools in Menlo Park and Palo Alto pulled together an event that drew community members from the surrounding area and San Francisco. After a rally they took over several Menlo Park streets with a noisy march.
(2020-06-28). Families Of Deceased Workers Sue Tyson Over Outbreak At Meatpacking Plant. popularresistance.org The families of three workers who died after contracting the coronavirus in an Iowa meat plant outbreak sued Tyson Foods and its top executives Thursday, saying the company knowingly put employees at risk and lied to keep them on the job. | The lawsuit alleges that Tyson officials were aware the virus was spreading at the Waterloo pork processing plant by late March or early April but kept that information from employees and the public. | As the outbreak grew, the company failed to implement safety measures, allowed some sick and exposed employees to remain on the production line, and falsely assured workers and…
(2020-06-28). Activists Charged With Felonies After Delivering Formosa Plastic Pollution To Lobbyists. popularresistance.org Two Louisiana environmental activists, Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh, were taken in handcuffs and leg irons from a Baton Rouge police station to jail after they voluntarily surrendered themselves on felony charges after months' earlier delivering plastic pollution pulled from Texas waters to fossil fuel lobbyists' homes. The two posted bond and were released later the same day. | "The women are accused of terrorizing oil and gas lobbyists by giving them a file box full of plastic pellets found in Texas bays near a plastic manufacturing facility owned by Formosa Plastics," NOLA.com reports. | Rolfes and McIntosh a…
(2020-06-27). Bree Newsome Took Down the Confederate Flag 5 Years Ago. She's Still Organizing. truthout.org Five years ago today, 30-year-old activist Bree Newsome Bass shocked the world by climbing a 30-foot flag pole and taking down the Confederate battle flag at the South Carolina State Capitol Building — a flag that state leaders had first raised in 1961 to tell the budding civil rights movement to "stay out!" | Almost 55 years later, Newsome put her boots, courage and backpack on, and defied those racist warnings in the most daring and audacious way possible, head-on. After taking the f…
(2020-06-27). ACLU Files Federal Lawsuit Over Police Use Of Force During Anti-Racism Protests. popularresistance.org Denver – The ACLU of Colorado has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Black Lives Matter 5280 and other protesters against the City and County of Denver over police use of force during the protests against racism and police violence that erupted in the city last month after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. | The complaint alleges the use of force by Denver police, Denver sheriffs and Colorado State Patrol effectively "restricted, frustrated, and deterred" the First Amendment right of protesters in the city. The ACLU said police responded, "repeatedly with an overwhelming and unconstitutional use of forc…
(2020-06-27). Protest demanding end to police crimes meets Trump visit in Green Bay, WI. fightbacknews.org Green Bay, WI – On June 25, over 50 people gathered on the premises of the Austin Straubel International Airport to protest President Donald Trump, who was recording a town hall inside one of the facilities there. The effort was led by the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention, but also included Wisconsin Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement, Justice for Jonathon Tubby, and Black Lives United – Green Bay (BLU). | Protesters listened to comments from Coalition co-chair Ryan Hamann mixed in with a variety of chants attacking Trump. A theme throughout…
(2020-06-27). Black Lives Matter Wants to End Police Brutality. zcomm.org History Suggests It Will Go Much Further…
(2020-06-27). 'You're always crazy until you're right': BLM leader compares Defund the Police to innovators like Steve Jobs & Einstein on RT. rt.com 
Greater New York Black Lives Matter president Hawk Newsome told RT President Donald Trump is encouraging violence against him and the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements, which are led by "changemakers." | Newsome gained national attention this week following a The tweet, Newsome says, "put a target on a movement that most Am…
(2020-06-27). Demonstrators demand justice for 12 year old refugee Shukri Abdi in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests. thecanary.co 
Demonstrators have gathered in London and other UK cities to demand "justice" for a 12-year-old Somali refugee on the one-year anniversary of her death.A huge crowd descended on the capital on Saturday 27 June in memory of Shukri Yahya Abdi, who drowned in the River Irwell in Bury, Greater Manchester, exactly one year ago. Many in the UK have renewed calls to demand a fair investigation into her death in the wake of recent Black Lives Matter protests.People with fists raised in the air carried a "Justice for Shukri" banner, and some wore T-shirts displaying the child's name.Protesters demanded 'justice for Shukri…
(2020-06-27). Rally and March Show LBTQ+ and Menlo Park Community Stand with Black Lives Matter. indybay.org Students from high schools in Menlo Park and Palo Alto pulled together an event that drew community members from the surrounding area and San Francisco. After a rally they occupied several Menlo Park streets with a noisy march.
(2020-06-27). Wednesday 7/1: Black Lives Matter Capitola Village March & Speak Out. indybay.org Monterey Park, Capitola…
(2020-06-27). Tuesday 6/30: BAHBL Join Us! Solidarity Rally and March for Black Lives. indybay.org William McKinley statue (277 Baker St.) to Alamo Square Park…
(2020-06-27). Saturday 7/4: 4th of July SF Car Caravan: "Defund Police, Defund Pentagon, Fund Life!" indybay.org Meet up 2pm at SF City Hall, Polk St. between Grove & McAllister; Caravan to Stop 1: Defund Police, Black Lives Matter street painting, Fulton & Webster; Caravan to Stop 2: Defund Pentagon, Nancy Pelosi's House, Broadway @ Divisadero; Caravan to Stop 3: Fund Life!, Bayview Hunters Point.
(2020-06-27). Supreme Court rulings: Mass fightback and solidarity win concessions. workers.org 
This is a slightly edited version of a talk given on a June 25 Workers World Party webinar on "LGBTQ2S+ and the Black Lives Matter movement." How fortunate we all are to be in the struggle together this particular June Pride Month — a month of historic uprising and outcry . . . |
(2020-06-27). [World Report] LGBTQ discrimination in US health care under scrutiny. thelancet.com A US Supreme Court ruling could undermine the Trump administration's plan to roll back some protections against sex discrimination. Susan Jaffe reports.
(2020-06-27). Bayer agrees to pay $10 billion to settle RoundUp cancer cases. nationofchange.org Bayer will have to pay between "$8.8 billion to $9.6 billion to resolve current Roundup lawsuits."
(2020-06-27). COVID Is Skyrocketing in CA Prisons. zcomm.org Why Haven't More People Been Released?>
(2020-06-27). People's Strike: An Open Letter To All Forces Fighting For Our Lives. popularresistance.org The "normal" world roiled by this pandemic is deeply unequal, inequitable, exploitative, extractive, and repressive. It is deeply fractured around capitalist colonialism, racial oppression, gender, sexuality, nationality, and religion. It is this real world dystopia that has led to the needless death of more than 115,000 people in the United States of COVID-19, with at least 25,00 new infections daily. The vast majority of the infected and dead are Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. In the midst of the pandemic, it is this dystopian world that right-wing Republicans and neoliberal Democrats are determined to fo…
(2020-06-27). Open Letter To CCSF BOT Pres. Shanell Williams & Bd: Do You Know Who Dr. Rajen Vurdien Is? indybay.org San Francisco Community College Board of Trustees President Shanell Williams and her Board have hired a new interim Chancellor Dr. Rajen Vurdien from the same Community College that corrupt former CCSF Chancellor came from Pasadena Community College. He had a record of discrimination against African America staff at the college and was condemned by the NAACP for his actions.
(2020-06-27). Tenderloin Rises Up Against UC Hastings Lawsuit. indybay.org Speakers from organizations supporting the unhoused, law students, and community members protested UC Hastings move to clear black and brown residents from tent encampments in the middle of the pandemic. They started in front of the law school's Kane Hall and marched to the police station in the Tenderloin where they faced off with cops armed for battle.
(2020-06-26). Why Prosecutors Keep Letting Police Get Away With Murder. aclu.org This piece was originally published in
(2020-06-26). Supreme Court Sides With Trump Administration on Fast-Tracking Deportations. truthout.org The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a major victory Thursday when it ruled the government can fast-track deportations of asylum seekers without first allowing them to fight for their cases in front of a judge. The ACLU's Lee Gelernt argued the case in court on behalf of Tamil asylum seeker Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam. "It's a very serious decision and will adversely affect many, many asylum seekers," says Gelernt. "We're likely to see more people fail their hearings, and now they don'
(2020-06-26). The End of Asylum? Supreme Court Sides with Trump Administration on Fast-Tracking Deportations. democracynow.org 
The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a major victory Thursday when it ruled the government can fast-track deportations of asylum seekers without first allowing them to fight for their cases in front of a judge. The ACLU's Lee Gelernt argued the case in court on behalf of Tamil asylum seeker Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam. "It's a very serious decision and will adversely affect many, many asylum seekers," says Gelernt. "We're likely to see more people fail their hearings, and now they don't have a backstop in the federal courts."
(2020-06-26). Infiltrating Black Lives Matter: Cops, Feds, and White Supremacists. counterpunch.org 
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a major step forward in the ongoing struggle for Civil Rights in the United States and around the world. BLM was founded in 2013, following the acquittal over what organizers describe as 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's murderer, the gated community watchman, George Zimmerman. The organization came to international attention in July
(2020-06-26). Police Are Arresting Protesters Over Facebook Posts—And It's Just The Beginning. therealnews.com 
The FBI investigated and arrested Michael Avery for posting on Facebook about a Black Lives Matter protest. We talk with a tech industry whistleblower about "snitch apps" and how law enforcement uses technology to "protect" you.
(2020-06-26). Racism and the Neoliberal Consensus. counterpunch.org 
In the midst of protests and the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement, race is once again being put forward as the social axis most in need of rectification. From the perspective of 'racial capital,' the ills of capitalism can't be meaningfully addressed until white supremacy has been defeated. From a left perspective grounded in Marx and history, race is a product of capitalism, not its cause. The economic relationships of indentured servitude and slavery both preceded the concept of race. And the iterative view begins with economic relationships to claim that at some point race became a causal factor in it…
(2020-06-26). Class & Otherness: A Peculiar Dialectic. counterpunch.org Nothing captures the contradictions of American social life more than then the recent announcement by Jeff Bezos in support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The founder of Amazon, the owner of the Washington Post and the richest person in the world issued a tweet calling for an end to "the inequitable and brutal treatment of
(2020-06-26). US street-based projects are talking about more than just police reforms. They want outright liberation. thecanary.co On the west coast of America, authorities have threatened to send in police to retake Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). While on the east coast, the Black Lives Matter chair for Greater New York has called for armed "peace officers" to monitor police activity. | Meanwhile, all across the US, legislation is being introduced to
(2020-06-26). 2020: The year anti-fascists became terrorists. nationofchange.org When police in Buffalo pushed an elderly man to the ground during a Black Lives Matter protest, cracking his skull in the process, the president went on Twitter to rhetorically ask whether the injured man was, in fact, part of "Antifa".
(2020-06-26). The US Military Has A Boogaloo Problem. popularresistance.org The U.S. military appears to have a brewing boogaloo problem. Active-duty military are flocking to online networks frequented by the anti-government movement, known for its meme culture and Hawaiian shirt-clad adherents, who are often called Boogaloo Bois. | "Boogaloo" is code for civil war, which is the ultimate goal of the movement, and some of its followers trade in memes glorifying violence against federal agents and crack jokes about the impending "Boog." Recently they've become regular fixtures at anti-lockdown and Black Lives Matter protests in states that allow open-carry of military-style firearms. | An…
(2020-06-26). Moment of Truth? How BLM Leader's Words at Once Exposed True Aims & Utter Hypocrisy of the Movement. sputniknews.com On 24 June, leader of the Greater New York Black Lives Matter Hawk Newsome stated that if the movement sparked by the killing of George Floyd does not bring about tangible results the protesters will change the system forcibly. According to US observers, Newsome's remark is unsurprising and speaks volumes about BLM's true goals.
(2020-06-26). Saturday 6/27: Peaceful Protest for Black Lives Matter. indybay.org Santa Cruz Clock Tower | Pacific Ave. and Water St., Santa Cruz…
(2020-06-26). Pandemic Pride: LGBTQ struggle continues, learns from Black Lives Matter. peoplesworld.org 
This weekend marks a half-century since the first Pride march took place on June 28, 1970. That initial event in New York City, called "Christopher Street Liberation Day," recalled the Stonewall Rebellion of a year earlier—the night a band of fed-up queers stood up, fought back, and launched a liberation struggle that transformed the world. …
(2020-06-26). Chicago's Neighborhoods Will Remain "Occupied" Until The City Defunds CPD. popularresistance.org The book Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power, published last year, details the history of the Chicago Police Department's quasi-military occupation of the city's Black communities from the race riots of 1919 through the present day. Author Simon Balto, an assistant professor of African American history at the University of Iowa, demonstrates that "there is not a time in Chicago's history where the city was home to large percentages of black people, and in which they had a smoothly functioning relationship with the CPD." While most histories of mass incarceration start around…
(2020-06-26). US Supreme Court rules recent asylum seekers have no right to habeas corpus or due process. wsws.org As in Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court made the most sweeping anti-democratic ruling possible.
(2020-06-26). Activists Urge US Dept of Agriculutre to Deny Deadly New Monsanto GMO-Herbicide Combo. mintpressnews.com The US is considering approving the product even as Monsanto juggles multiple multi-million dollar lawsuits from cancer patients over its deadly Roundup herbicide.
(2020-06-26). COVID-19 Is Amplifying Racial Inequities, Educators Say. therealnews.com 
Baltimore Teachers Union President Diamonté Brown discusses a recent lawsuit over unpaid instructional days, global protests against racism, the movement to defund the police, and calls to remove officers from schools.
(2020-06-26). Truth is Our Weapon and Shield — An Interview with Black Panther Party Veteran Billy X Jennings. counterpunch.org 
Truth and reconciliation commissions attempt to heal divided nations after the injustice has ceased. They rely on a process of education in which a reckoning with hard truths of systemic oppression lead to national accountability, reparations for victims, healing and potential unity. However, truth and reconciliation commissions, such as the one in South Africa, are
(2020-06-26). Turkey jails 121 people for life over botched 2016 coup attempt. rt.com 
A Turkish court has handed down life sentences to 121 people found guilty of trying to overthrow the country's president back in 2016. The failed coup has triggered a massive purge, with thousands of Turks being fired or jailed. | The verdicts were announced by the court in Ankara on Friday. It found the defendants guilty of attempting to "violate the constitution" three years ago. | Some 35 individuals were given a life sentence for the crime, while another 86 received "aggravated" imprisonment for life. One of the defendants, a former military colonel, has been given a whopping nine "aggravated" life terms,…
(2020-06-26). Trump signs 'very strong' executive order protecting US monuments, stays in DC to 'make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced'. rt.com 
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to protect American monuments, after calling off a weekend trip to New Jersey to remain in DC amid ongoing protests, insisting "agitators" will be "brought to justice." | Trump announced the "very strong" order in a tweet on Friday, stating it would protect "monuments, memorials and statues," as well as combat "recent criminal violence," promising "long prison terms for these lawless acts." | I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues – and combatting recent Criminal Violence. Lo…
(2020-06-26). Will Big Oil Pay a Price for its Lies? progressive.org A new D.C. lawsuit targets the world's four largest oil companies for misleading consumers about climate change.
(2020-06-26). Bayer to pay $10 billion in cancer lawsuits over Roundup. nationofchange.org "Even as we celebrate and congratulate those who made this day possible, millions of people are being exposed to glyphosate."
(2020-06-26). Jailed Mexican Labor Activist's Immediate Release Demanded by Major U.S. Unions, Faith and Civil Society Groups in Letter Delivered Today to Human Right Commission. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2020-06-26). PPS Report: 95% of Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Prisons Subjected to Torture. imemc.org The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) said in a report, issued Thursday, on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which falls on June 26 of each year, that the torture practiced by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian prisoners, is not limited to the violent tactics …
(2020-06-26). US Must Return Its Political Prisoner Simón Trinidad to Colombia. counterpunch.org Murderous violence and oligarchy were in charge in Colombia during the 20th century. Colombians by the millions were marginalized, impoverished, and/or displaced from small land holdings. Violence and the failings of liberal democracy turned Simón Trinidad into a revolutionary. Few in the United States and Europe know about him. Colombia's allies in both places overlook
(2020-06-26). America's War on Her Own Children. thealtworld.com On April 29, 2020, a 16-year-old African American boy was involved in what institutional staff decided was a dangerous confrontation at a 'for profit' child prison run by a politically connected healthcare firm. | The child threw a piece of bread and was crushed to the ground, pleading for air, until his breathing stopped, and he went into cardiac arrest in a full George Floyd moment, one behind locked doors. | About the same time, four African Americans were found hanging in trees, all ruled suicides by police. | There is a tie in here, which we will be developing but first we will look at this Michigan case and…
(2020-06-26). Inside The US's Largest Maximum-Security Prison, COVID-19 Raged. popularresistance.org While the novel coronavirus burned through Angola, as the country's largest maximum-security prison is known, officials insisted they were testing all inmates who showed symptoms, isolating those who got sick and transferring more serious cases to the hospital in Baton Rouge, about 60 miles to the south. | But from inside Angola's walls, inmates painted a very different picture — one of widespread illness, dysfunctional care and sometimes inexplicable neglect. They said at least four of the 12 prisoners who have died in the pandemic, including Williams, had been denied needed medical help for days because t…
(2020-06-26). Escalation of State Power. indybay.org Uprising in America. The time has come to tear down the system and create a "different America." "The moderate white man for whom order is more important than justice is the greatest obstacle to freedom," said Martin Luther King in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail.
(2020-06-25). A month after George Floyd's death, what has changed? peoplesdispatch.org A month has passed by since the brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The protests that erupted across the United States and continue to rage on have significantly altered the political landscape of the nation's politics. Much like the protests of 2014-15 sparked by the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the protests happening today have brought some of the perennial questions and unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement. | From talks about police reforms to abolition of the police, from the lingering Confederate legacy to colonial-settler and slave-ow…
(2020-06-25). ACLU Comment on Bill Stopping Face Recognition Surveillance. commondreams.org ______________________________…