Trump's Other 'National Emergency': Sanctions That Kill Venezuelans
Mark Weisbrot | thenation.com | 2019-02-28
Trump's Other 'National Emergency': Sanctions That Kill Venezuelans…
thenation.com/article/venezuela-sanctions-emergency/

Trump and Freedom of Speech
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-02-28
US President Donald Trump, a man never shy of lecturing politicians around the world on human rights and freedom of speech, has once again found himself at the center of a media scandal. He has recently launched an all-out campaign to destroy Ilhan Omar, the first congresswoman in America to wear the hijab. Despite being …
uwidata.com/2402-trump-and-freedom-of-speech/

Historic Supreme Court Win: World Bank Group Is Not Above the Law
EarthRights International | globalresearch.ca | 2019-02-28
In a historic 7-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court decided today in Jam v. International Finance Corporation (IFC) that international organizations like the World Bank Group can be sued in U.S. courts. | The Court's decision marks a defining moment for …
globalresearch.ca/world-bank-group-not-above-law/5669991

U.S. Condemns Venezuela's Government Yet Commits Human Rights Abuses Across the Middle East
Dr. Leon Tressell | globalresearch.ca | 2019-02-28
globalresearch.ca/united-states-human-rights-abuses-middle-east/5669948

Mexico: President expands controversial preventive detention laws
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-02-28
Mexico's new left-wing government has tripled the list of crimes that carry automatic pre-trial detention, in what President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) says is a crackdown on corruption. Human rights groups, however, have warned the move may end up funnelling more innocent people into Mexico's already strained penal system. | On February 19, the Chamber of Deputies, approved an expansion of the constitution's controversial Article 19, which allows for the automatic "preventive detention" of individuals accused of crimes such as homicide, human trafficking, rape and any violent offence committed with a fir…
greenleft.org.au/content/mexico-president-expands-controversial-preventive-detention-laws

Reports document sexual abuse of immigrant children detained in US
WSWS | wsws.org | 2019-02-28
The Trump administration's assault on immigrants underscores the urgent need to oppose all attacks on democratic rights and due process.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/02/28/pers…

Growing calls for nation-wide struggle
WSWS Repost | indybay.org | 2019-02-28
The attack on public education is part of the broader onslaught against the rights and living standards of the working class across the United States and around the world. It is this global attack that produced the series of teachers strikes across the United States. | The only way in which the striking teachers can carry out their fight to defend public education is by forming rank-and-file committees independent of the union and building for a nationwide strike.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/02/24/18821445.php

It's Time to Make Sure Our Kids Are No Longer Bound, Shackled, or Locked Away When They're at School
ACLU | aclu.org | 2019-02-27
Congress is finally holding a hearing on the use of restraints and seclusion in our schools. | In 1998, teachers in West Virginia strapped a 4-year-old autistic girl with cerebral palsy to a wooden chair. Why? She was being "uncooperative" because she needed to use the bathroom. The girl suffered bruises and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. | In 2003, school officials in Michigan held a 15-year-old autistic boy in a face-down restraint for an hour after he had a seizure and lost control of his extremities. He died without receiving medical attention. | These are just two of many barbaric s…
aclu.org/blog/disability-rights/disability-rights-and-education/its-time-make-sure-our-kids-are-no-longer

Trump's Nomination of Kelly Craft for U.N. Ambassador Is a Slap in the Face of Climate Science and Human Rights
commondreams | commondreams.org | 2019-02-27
______________________________…
commondreams.org/newswire/2019/02/27/trumps-nomination-kelly-craft-un-ambassador-slap-face-climate-science-and-human?cd-origin=rss

North Carolinians Voted to End Cooperation With Trump's Deportation Force. ICE Retaliated
ACLU | aclu.org | 2019-02-27
The federal agency stepped up raids after sheriffs stopped notifying it about the immigration status of people arrested. | President Trump's Department of Homeland Security frequently claims to be motivated by a dedication to law and order, but its immigration enforcement tactics are often directly contrary to local communities' legal and electoral choices. | Recent raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in North Carolina were a failed attempt to achieve by force what was soundly rejected at the ballot box last November: Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. ICE targeted places and people based on democ…
aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/ice-and-border-patrol-abuses/north-carolinians-voted-end-cooperation-trumps

A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-1966
Gregory Elich | counterpunch.org | 2019-02-27
The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66, by Geoffrey B. Robinson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018. Half a million people killed and more than a million imprisoned and tortured; the tragedy that befell Indonesia in 1965 was among the more dramatic moments in 20th-century history. It was also one of the most…
counterpunch.org/2019/02/27/a-history-of-the-indonesian-massacres/

In 'Historic Vote,' Ohio City Residents Grant Lake Erie Legal Rights of a Person
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-02-27
Tired of receiving notices warning that their drinking water may have been compromised and having little recourse to fight corporate polluters, voters in Toledo, Ohio on Tuesday approved a measure granting Lake Erie the same legal rights as a human being. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
commondreams.org/news/2019/02/27/historic-vote-ohio-city-residents-grant-lake-erie-legal-rights-person?cd-origin=rss

Muslim Immigrants Sue ICE for Getting in the Way of Religious Observance
Maryam Saleh | theintercept.com | 2019-02-27
Muslim immigrants detained at a Florida jail made more than 20 requests — orally and in writing — for religious accommodation throughout last year. Their asks were simple: They wanted their meals to be religiously compliant, to be able to make their five daily prayers without obstruction, and to have access to basic items like prayer rugs and copies of the Quran. | The officials at the Glades County Detention Center, which doubles as an immigration detention center, ignored or denied those requests, according to five Muslim men at the facility. | Now, they're suing. On Wednesday, the men, all of whom…
theintercept.com/2019/02/27/ice-detention-center-muslim-immigrants-glades/

What Does Venezuela Tell Us About Socialism in the USA? — with Paul Jay
Shared by Jocelyn Dombroski | therealnews.com | 2019-02-27
According to Trump, the crisis in a small country with an oil based economy, facing onerous sanctions, discredits the progressive socialist movement in the United States — Paul Jay joins host Jacqueline Luqman…
therealnews.com/stories/what-does-venezuela-tell-us-about-socialism-in-the-usa-with-paul-jay

Thousands of Detained Children Sexually Abused While in US Custody
Julia Conley | theantimedia.com | 2019-02-27
(CD) — A House hearing on the Trump administration's family separation policy on Tuesday revealed that thousands of children in U.S. custody over the past five years have been subjected to sexual abuse in migrant detention centers. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) released documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) showing that more than 4,500 complaints …

Thousands of Detained Children Sexually Abused While in US Custody

Conservative Expert Privately Warned GOP Donors That a Voting Rights Bill Would Help Democrats
Lee Fang | theintercept.com | 2019-02-27
Testifying before Congress, Hans von Spakovsky gave high-minded reasons for opposing the bill. At a private meeting of GOP donors, he was more blunt.
theintercept.com/2019/02/27/hr1-bill-voting-rights-republicans/

US Sanctions Four Venezuelan Governors as Lima Group Nixes Military Action
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-02-26
Despite Saturday's failure to force in "humanitarian aid," Pence warned that there is "no turning back."
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14351

Israeli Interference in British Politics: Targeted against Corbyn
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2019-02-25
Asa Winstanley discusses the coordinated incitement campaign against critical voices in the UK. On the same day that the Israeli lobby attacked Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in the U.S, British right-wing activists launched an attack on Human Rights Watch, and later on Jeremy Corbyn…
therealnews.com/stories/israeli-interference-in-british-politics-targeted-against-corbyn

Lima Group Members Invoke Human Rights While Trampling On Them
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2019-02-24
Venezuelan human rights activist Antonio Gonzalez Plessman discusses the human rights situation in Venezuela and other Latin American states…
therealnews.com/stories/lima-group-members-invoke-human-rights-while-trampling-on-them

Hakeem al-Araibi's release celebrated in Pascoe Vale
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-02-23
I had the privilege of attending the Pascoe Vale Football Club's February 22 celebration of Hakeem Al-Araibi's homecoming after he spent about two and a half months in a Thai jail for no crime other than being a refugee and human rights advocate. | It was a moving event and gave a glimpse of the incredible diversity of people who had worked for Araibi's release, starting with the Bahraini community who alerted many to his arrest when they organised a 7-day protest in front of the Thai consulate in Melbou…
greenleft.org.au/content/hakeem-al-araibis-release-celebrated-pascoe-vale

US Sanctions on Venezuela Possibly Worse than Iraq Sanctions Before War
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2019-02-23
News about humanitarian aid shipments to Venezuela almost never compare how tiny a fraction this aid is relative to the devastating damage that US sanctions against Venezuela have caused, which is now as draconian as the pre-Iraq war sanctions were, says CEPR's Mark Weisbrot…
therealnews.com/stories/us-sanctions-on-venezuela-possibly-worse-than-iraq-sanctions-before-war

SPLC and Latin GRAMMY Award-winning band release song that teaches immigrants their rights
splcenter | splcenter.org | 2019-02-22
‚ÄãThe SPLC and the Latin GRAMMY Award-winning band Flor De Toloache launched a new song today whose lyrics teach immigrants about the rights they can exercise when interacting with law enforcement and immigration authorities.
splcenter.org/news/2019/02/22/splc-and-latin-grammy-award-winning-band-release-song-teaches-immigrants-their-rights

I Moved to Colorado for Freedom as a Transgender Man. Instead, I Found Discrimination
ACLU | aclu.org | 2019-02-22
Dashir Moore came to Colorado in part for the transgender friendly laws, but he found his employer refused to cover transition-related care. | This piece was originally published in The Denver Post. | When I was a kid, my mom gave me Barbies, but I preferred to play with G.I. Joes. By high school, I was dressing in my brothers' clothes. At Georgia State University, I first heard the word to name who I am: transgender. | I began living as male. I shaved my head and started getting fade haircuts. I started tak…
aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/transgender-rights/i-moved-colorado-freedom-transgender-man-instead-i-found

US actor Danny Glover slams US over Venezuela
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-02-22
During an interview with the Real News Network, US actor and activist Danny Glover criticised the US over its actions against Venezuela. | Glover accused the US of having "taken the billions of dollars that rightfully belonged to the Venezuelan people, [and] placed sanctions on…
greenleft.org.au/content/us-actor-danny-glover-slams-us-over-venezuela

US sanctions cost Venezuela US$38 billion
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-02-22
Venezuelan Vice President of Planning, Ricardo Menendez said on February 18 that direct losses to the nation's economy from US financial sanctions are estimated to be US$38 billion. | The figure corresponds only to the effects on the production of goods and services, as well as on the oil trade, he said in an interview with the Venezuelan News Agency. | Of this total, $23 billion corresponds to the impact on GDP. $15 billion is related to the siege against Citgo, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan state oil company, in the US, which was seized at the end of January. | The greatest amount of production losses coi…
greenleft.org.au/content/us-sanctions-cost-venezuela-us38-billion

Philippines: Break the culture of silence, violence and impunity
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-02-22
The following statement on the February 13 arrest of Filipino journalist Maria Ressa was issued by the Filipino human rights movement, iDefend. | iDefend condemns the arrest of Maria Ressa by the National Bureau of Investigation on February 13 on charges of cyber-libel. | Ressa's arrest is the latest demonstration of how government critics are silenced in a manner which mirrors a familiar style of the late Marcos dictatorship. | For two years, Senator Leila de Lima remains incarcerated on unproven drug charges; former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was removed from her post in a Quo Waranto proc…
greenleft.org.au/content/philippines-break-culture-silence-violence-and-impunity

Venezuela's Former Minister of Communes and Culture Talks to TRNN About the Crisis
Shared by Jocelyn Dombroski | therealnews.com | 2019-02-22
Well-known Venezuelan writer and theorist, Reinaldo Iturriza, says US sanctions and the low price of oil have devastated Venezuela'seconomy…
therealnews.com/stories/venezuelas-former-minister-of-communes-and-culture-talks-to-trnn-about-the-crisis

Brazil's Unions Push Back on Assault on Labor
Shared by Hezvo Mpunga | therealnews.com | 2019-02-22
Brazil's labor movement is gradually mobilizing against the new right-wing president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who is putting his program of assaulting labor rights and social security into effect. Mike Fox reports from Brazil…
therealnews.com/stories/brazils-unions-push-back-on-assault-on-labor

SPLC lawsuit: ICE raid at Tennessee slaughterhouse violated workers' constitutional rights
splcenter | splcenter.org | 2019-02-21
On a quiet, chilly morning in April 2018, Alma drove through the verdant Tennessee hillsides to the ramshackle slaughterhouse where she had been working on the kill floor for more than two years.
splcenter.org/news/2019/02/21/splc-lawsuit-ice-raid-tennessee-slaughterhouse-violated-workers%25E2%2580%2599-constitutional-rights

A Supreme Court Milestone for Students' Free Speech Rights
ACLU | aclu.org | 2019-02-20
In 1969, a group of public school students protesting the Vietnam War made First Amendment history that stands strong to this day. | This month marks 50 years since the landmark Supreme Court ruling that cemented students' rights to free speech in public schools, Tinker v. Des Moines. We're inspired to see that students still take advantage of their First Amendment rights and speak out on political issues today. | We grew up in Iowa, where our father was a Methodist minister. Believing that faith s…
aclu.org/blog/free-speech/student-speech-and-privacy/supreme-court-milestone-students-free-speech-rights

Civil rights groups sue New Orleans for map of surveillance camera locations
splcenter | splcenter.org | 2019-02-20
Representing a Louisiana public defender, the SPLC and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana today filed suit against the City of New Orleans over its refusal to provide a map of the city's 400 real-time surveillance cameras.
splcenter.org/news/2019/02/20/civil-rights-groups-sue-new-orleans-map-surveillance-camera-locations

Saudi Scholar: My Father Faces the Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia for Supporting Human Rights
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-20
While the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October sparked international outrage, far less attention has been paid to the ongoing Saudi repression at home. We speak with Abdullah Alaoudh, whose father has been locked up in solitary confinement in Saudi Arabia for his political activism since September 2017. Prior to his arrest, prominent Islamic scholar Salman Alodah had been a vocal critic of the Saudi monarchy who had called for elections with 14 million Twitter followers. But for the past 17 months, Salman Alodah has been silenced. He was one of dozens of rel…
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/20/saudi_sch…

Trump's Iran strategy: regime change or regime collapse?
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-02-19
When Donald Trump took office in January 2017, he made it clear that countering Iran was a top priority on his agenda. Trump ripped up the Iran Nuclear Deal, also known as JCPOA; reimposed pre-JCPOA sanctions and even added new ones that were unprecedented in terms of their scope and scale; and put Iranian citizens, …
uwidata.com/2271-trumps-iran-strategy-regime-change-or-regime-collapse/

Trump Hits Venezuela with More Sanctions as US Military Planes Bring 'Aid'
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-02-18
Three USAF planes landed 8km from the Venezuelan border, allegedly carrying "humanitarian aid."
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14332

Birmingham Civil Rights Group Reoffers Award to Angela Davis–But She Says Community Should Decide
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-18
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute sparked international outrage in January when it rescinded the Fred L. Shuttlesworth award for civil rights icon Angela Davis, soon after the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center sent a letter urging the board to reconsider honoring her due to her support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Facing swift and widespread outcry, the institute then reversed its decision and reinstated the award, but Davis has yet to accept it. Democracy Now! spoke with the president and CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Andrea Taylor, on Saturday, before an alternate e…
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/18/birmingha…

Racial Equity Groups Mobilize In Support of Voting Rights Act Hearings
Aba Blankson | naacp.org | 2019-02-18
Atlanta Event 2nd in Series of National Hearings to Restore Voting Rights ATLANTA (February 18, 2019) — On Tuesday, February 19, all eyes will be on Georgia when the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration holds its "Field Hearing on Voting Rights and Election Administration in Georgia." Scheduled for 9: 30 AM EST …
naacp.org/latest/racial-equity-groups-mobilize-support-voting-rights-act-hearings/

Black Civil Rights Advocate Takes Control of Neo-Nazi Hate Group the National Socialist Movement
splcenter | splcenter.org | 2019-02-15
The antisemitic and neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Movement (NSM) is now under the control of a black civil rights advocate from California who once dissolved a notorious Ku Klux Klan chapter in Mississippi.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/02/15/black-civil-rights-advocate-takes-control-neo-nazi-hate-group-national-socialist-movement

No EU cost for Israeli 'apartheid' in West Bank
patrick | bdsmovement.net | 2019-02-14
No EU cost for Israeli 'apartheid' in West Bank: In the NewsBy Andrew Rettman Sanctions and governmentsFebruary 14, 2019 | By: | | euobserver …
bdsmovement.net/news/no-eu-cost-israeli-apartheid-west-bank

Lawsuit Dismissed Against American Studies Association Over Israel Boycott
PACBI | bdsmovement.net | 2019-02-07
Lawsuit Dismissed Against American Studies Association Over Israel Boycott: In the NewsUS federal judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to deter academic associations from adopting boycotts for Palestinian rights. | Academic Boycott Right To BoycottFebruary 5, 2019 | By: | | Palestine Legal …
bdsmovement.net/news/lawsuit-dismissed-against-american-studies-association-over-israel-boycott

Palestinian Professors' Unions Urge Pitzer College to Uphold Faculty Vote to Suspend Study Abroad with Complicit Israeli Institutions
PACBI | bdsmovement.net | 2019-02-05
Palestinian Professors' Unions Urge Pitzer College to Uphold Faculty Vote to Suspend Study Abroad with Complicit Israeli Institutions: Open LetterThe Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) urges Pitzer College to stand by an overwhelming majority of its faculty refusing to be complicit in Israel's denial of Palestinian rights and its blatan…
bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-professors-unions-urge-pitzer-college-uphold-faculty-vote-suspend-study-abroad

UPDATED Venezuela: US Rejects Calls for Dialogue Ahead of Dueling Marches
Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-02-01
Draconian US sanctions and calls for dialogue set the stage for pro- and anti-government marches this weekend.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14282

US Hits PDVSA with More Sanctions as UNSC Fails to Pass Resolution on Venezuela
Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-01-28
US Treasury imposed a de facto oil embargo against Venezuela as the diplomatic standoff over Guaido's self-proclamation continues.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14268