Venezuelan court convicts the CITGO Six
Lyn Neeley | workers.org | 2020-12-09
Venezuela's Supreme Court sentenced six top CITGO oil executives to prison for corruption, embezzlement, money laundering and conspiracy on Nov. 26. The former executives went behind the back of the Venezuelan state and signed an agreement with two U.S. based-international financial companies — for which they were detained in Nov. . . . | Continue reading Venezuelan court convicts the CITGO Six at Workers.org…
workers.org/2020/12/53118/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=venezuelan-court-convicts-the-citgo-six

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin: A Certain Kind of Diversity
Editor | scheerpost.com | 2020-12-09
by Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.) / Original to ScheerPost America's first black presumptive secretary of defense grew up in the same town — Thomasville, GA — as the first black West Point graduate, Henry O. Flipper. I actually took select cadets from my civil rights history class to visit the southwest Georgia city on an academic trip in the summer of 2016. In fact, I vaguely remember the owner… | Source…
scheerpost.com/2020/12/09/secretary-of-defense-lloyd-austin-a-certain-kind-of-diversity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=secretary-of-defense-lloyd-austin-a-certain-kind-of-diversity

Georgia Moves to Shut Down Early Voting Sites Ahead of Senate Runoff
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-12-09
Civil rights groups warned on Monday that a decision by election officials in Georgia to shutter numerous early-voting sites ahead of the state's Senate runoff elections would disproportionately impact people of color. | The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the ACLU's Georgia branch and other groups said in a letter that the decision to close six of the 11 early-voting…
truthout.org/articles/georgia-moves-to-shut-down-early-voting-sites-ahead-of-senate-runoff/

US court orders CIA to explain withholding of Khashoggi report
MEE staff | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-09
US court orders CIA to explain withholding of Khashoggi report | Court ruling follows lawsuit by Open Society Justice Initiative regarding CIA report on Jamal Khashoggi and tape recording of murder | MEE staff | Wed, 12/09/2020 – 16: 54 | The CIA reportedly concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing (AFP/FIle photo) | A US judge has ordered that the CIA and Office of the Director of National…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-court-khashoggi-cia-report

Israeli 'anti-terrorism' lawyer was convicted over attacks on Palestinians
MEE staff | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-09
Israeli 'anti-terrorism' lawyer was convicted over attacks on Palestinians | Aviel Leitner, who works for Shurat HaDin, was jailed over 1980s attacks linked to far-right Kach party in East Jerusalem and West Bank | MEE staff | Wed, 12/09/2020 – 16: 54 | Aviel Leitner (L) pictured next to Israeli Minister of Public Security Amir Ohana (C) and Nitsana Darshan-Leitner at a Shurat HaDin conference in February 2020 (Facebook)…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-anti-terrorism-lawyer-shurat-hadin-convicted-attacks-palestinians

Egypt: World Bank warned funding for Covid-19 is neglecting jailed doctors
Areeb Ullah | middleeasteye.net | 2020-12-09
Egypt: World Bank warned funding for Covid-19 is neglecting jailed doctors | Human Rights Watch calls on the World Bank to condemn Egypt's arrest of medical workers who criticised Cairo's Covid-19 response | Areeb Ullah | Wed, 12/09/2020 – 10: 58 | Data collected by the Doctors' Syndicate shows Egypt to have one of the highest numbers of Covid-19 deaths among health workers in the world (AFP) | The World Bank was urge…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-world-bank-health-jailed-doctors

Shamed Tory ex-minister asked judge to show mercy to 'sexual predator' Charlie Elphicke
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-12-09
Disgraced former cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken was among those leaping to the defence of ex-Tory MP Charlie Elphicke after his conviction for sexually assaulting women, court documents show."Sexual predator": Aitken, who was jailed in 1999 after admitting perjury and perverting the course of justice, was among those who sent testimonies on behalf of his friend ahead of Elphicke's sentencing at Southwark Crown Court in September.Aitken also said he offered Elphicke "some advice" about being a prisoner, but pleaded for the court to exercise "mercy".Elphicke, the former MP for Dover, was jailed for two yea…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/12/09/shamed-tory-ex-minister-asked-judge-to-show-mercy-to-sexual-predator-charlie-elphicke/

Black Trans Feminist Thought Can Set Us Free
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-12-09
How can we move beyond a mindset dictated by the logic of prison, policing and anti-Blackness? What is "abolition feminism"? And how do the politics of gender, including the criminalization of trans and nonbinary people, dovetail with our understandings of race? How can deconstructing racialized gender binaries help us move toward justice and liberation? | To confront these questions, I spoke with Che Gossett, a Black nonbinary femme writer based in Brooklyn, New York. They are a 2019-2020 Helena Rubinstein Fellow in Critic…
truthout.org/articles/black-trans-feminist-thought-can-set-us-free/

Venezuela Votes to End Neocolonialism, Create Its Own Path
Margaret Flowers | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-12-08
On December 2, the Embassy Protection Collective (EPC) members, who were arrested in May 2019 when the United States illegally invaded the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC, completed their probation, ending the risk of the 30 days in prison that was being held over their heads. I am one of the four who were arrested. …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/12/venezuela-votes-to-end-neocolonialism-create-its-own-path/

Texas AG Sues 4 States, Asking Supreme Court to Toss Out Election Results
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-12-08
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing four states over their 2020 presidential election results, submitting his complaint directly to the United States Supreme Court with hopes that justices will invalidate legitimate votes by residents in those states on the baseless and unsubstantiated argument that election fraud took place. | Paxton's lawsuit alleges that changes to election l…
truthout.org/articles/texas-ag-sues-4-states-asking-supreme-court-to-toss-out-election-results/

Action for Change Starts in Congress
Ralph Nader | counterpunch.org | 2020-12-08
We know their names! We've given immense power to Five Hundred and Thirty-Five People to do good or bad. One Hundred Senators and Four Hundred and Thirty-Five Representatives. Unfortunately, some 1500 corporations control most Members of Congress. Think about all the dreams for a better world that could come to be realized if our elected officials…
counterpunch.org/2020/12/08/action-for-change-starts-in-congress/

'Not a Criminal': Top UN Anti-Torture Official Urges Julian Assange's Release
Brett Wilkins, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-12-08
The WikiLeaks founder's "prolonged solitary confinement in a high security prison is neither necessary nor proportionate," said United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/getty-assange_protestors_1.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2020/12/08/not-criminal-top-un-anti-torture-official-urges-julian-assanges-release?cd-origin=rss

Independent UN expert calls for Julian Assange's release, cites prison's COVID outbreak
news.un.org | 2020-12-08