2019-08-24: Social Media Postees

Trump's Concentration Camps for Children
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-24
This week, the Trump Administration declared that immigrant children can be detained indefinitely, and in conditions that can be described as concentration camps. We talk to Sasha Abramsky of The Nation…
therealnews.com/stories/trumps-concentration-camps-for-children

68 Protesters Detained as Leaders Gather at G-7 Summit
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-08-24
BIARRITZ, France–The Latest on the Group of Seven summit (all times local): | 11: 05 p.m. | French authorities have detained 68 people taking part in a tense protest near the G-7 summit. | The regional administration says those detained are accused of throwing projectiles, concealing their faces or possessing objects that could be used as weapons. | Police fired tear gas, water cannon and dispersion grenades at a crowd of about 400 mostly peaceful anti-capitalism demonstrators Saturday in the town of Bayonne. The regional administration says n…
truthdig.com/articles/68-protesters-detained-as-leaders-gather-at-g-7-summit/

Australian state Labor government's lies about "protest violence" exposed
wsws.org | 2019-08-24
Labor's fabricated "booby trap" claims illustrate how governments concoct fear campaigns to attack basic democratic rights.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/24/prot…

Corporate Interests Use Voter Purges To Disenfranchise Citizens
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-24
The SCOTUS decision in Shelby County v Holder ruled that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional. Greg Palast talks about how what followed has been the expansion of the very issue that the VRA was implemented to curb…
therealnews.com/stories/corporate-interests-use-voter-purges-to-disenfranchise-citizens

Double Standards in Iran Reporting
Florian Zollmann | indybay.org | 2019-08-24
Iran has not attacked any country militarily in the last 100 years. This is mostly unmentioned in the media. Demonizations occur in the Iran reporting. In comparison, reporting about human rights in Saudi Arabia is not on the agenda.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/08/23/18825629.php

Nebraska Supreme Court upholds law that ignores landowners' property rights, Indigenous sovereignty in flawed decision on Keystone XL pipeline route
ADMIN | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-24
Nebraska landowners and Tribal Nations said they would continue to fight the Trump administration's rubber-stamp approval of a federal permit for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, after the Nebraska Supreme Court ignored due process rights, property rights, and indigenous sovereignty in a flawed decision on the "Mainline Alternative" route through Nebraska. This new route has undergone no legitimate environmental, property rights or cultural reviews and was approved without any proper notice to landowners and Ponca members along the new route. | WHAT: Telepresser for Media on Nebraska Supreme Court KXL Decisi…
nationofchange.org/2019/08/24/nebraska-supreme-court-upholds-law-that-ignores-landowners-property-rights-indigenous-sovereignty-in-flawed-decision-on-keystone-xl-pipeline-route/

The Latest Victim in the Crucifixion of Julian Assange
Robert Scheer | truthdig.com | 2019-08-23
The case of Ola Bini, a Swedish data privacy activist and associate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has been shrouded in mystery since his arrest in Quito, Ecuador, on April 11. He was detained on the same day Assange was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy in the United Kingdom, inevitably raising questions about whether Bini was being held because of his connection with Assange and whether the United States was involved in the case in some form. | Bini, who initially…
truthdig.com/articles/the-latest-victim-in-the-persecution-of-julian-assange/

World Watching the Fate of Iranian Tanker
Prof. Vijay Prashad | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-23
At 11: 30pm on Sunday, August 18, the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya-1 left the shores of Gibraltar at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea. This ship had been detained about six weeks previous by British Royal Marines and Gibraltar officials. The …
globalresearch.ca/world-watching-fate-iranian-tanker/5686898

Activists demand Minnesota divest from border militarization contractor
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-08-23
St. Paul, MN – On August 22, immigrant rights and Palestine solidarity activists presented over 1000 signatures of Minnesota residents petitioning the State Board of Investments (SBI) to divest state pension funds from the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems. Elbit sells cluster bombs and weaponized white phosphorus to the Israel Defense Forces, whose indiscriminate use on besieged Gaza has been widely condemned by international organizations. Elbit also manufactures surveillance equipment for the Israeli apartheid wall, and drones used in targeted assassinations of Palestinian political leaders. | Advertisi…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/23/activist…

South Sudan: UN rights experts see little headway on peace deal amid spike in local-level violence
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-23
A United Nations expert group looking at human rights in South Sudan said on Friday that it is "deeply concerned" that, although the overall armed conflict has waned, there has been little progress in adhering to the peace agreement that guided the country thus far.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1044831

Trump Regime Threatens Illegal Sanctions on Nations Legally Buying Iranian Oil
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-23
The US under both extremist right wings of its war party is a rogue state by any definition. | It operates extrajudicially at home and abroad. It's increasingly repressive and totalitarian, heading toward full-blown tyranny if the present trend continues unchecked….
globalresearch.ca/trump-regime-threatens-illegal-sanctions-nations-buying-iranian-oil/5686908

Farmers Need a Bill of Rights
Jim Goodman | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-23
On January 11, 1944 in his annual State of the Union Address, President Roosevelt noted that while the Constitution guaranteed a set of political rights, they were in some respects inadequate. To ensure equality, Roosevelt proposed an Economic Bill of Rights that would guarantee: -Full employment with an adequate income -Freedom from monopolies and unfair…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/23/farmers-need-a-bill-of-rights/

U of MN Teamsters demand year-round work
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-08-23
Minneapolis, MN — While the University of Minnesota top officials gathered for the opening of newly renovated Pioneer Hall, August 21, about 50 members of Teamsters Local 320 and other campus unions held an informational picket line to demand the year-round, full-time employment for workers in M Dining. The U of M has curtailed summer work opportunities for Teamsters and is trampling on seniority rights. | Mick Kelly, a member of the negotiating committee for U of M Teamsters told the crowd, "The university is plunging us into poverty, and this is something that we will never put up with. It is unacceptabl…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/22/u-mn-tea…

Friday's Daily Brief: Education in Africa, Sudan flash-floods, WHO on Ebola, spike in South Sudan violence, Rwanda, Uganda move to normalize relations
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-23
A recap of Friday's stories: Education under fire in Central and Western Africa; Sudan flash-floods wreak havoc; Ebola outbreak spreads, albeit with fewer transmissions; UN rights experts on South Sudan; and UN chief welcomes understanding between Rwanda and Uganda…
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1044861

Indigenous People's Rights and Canada's 'Vampire' Pension Plan
Prof. James K. Rowe | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-23
Wet'suwet'en people have never ceded their land through treaty; like many Indigenous people they continue to practice relations of responsibility with the places and beings that give them life, including protecting them from ecological devastation. In January 2019, the RCMP …
globalresearch.ca/indigenous-peoples-rights-and-canadas-vampire-pension-plan/5686990

Sen. Merkley Condemns Trump's Decision to Indefinitely Jail Migrant Kids
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-23
| The Trump administration is moving to indefinitely detain migrant children and their families, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to issue a new rule today to withdraw from a 1997 federal court settlement known as the Flores agreement, which put a 20-day limit on migrant family detentions. We speak with Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who made headlines last year when he was barred from entering an o…
truthout.org/video/sen-merkley-condemns-trumps-decision-to-indefinitely-jail-migrant-kids/

Suddenly West is Failing to Overthrow "Regimes"
Andre Vltchek | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-23
It used to be done regularly and it worked: The West identified a country as its enemy, unleashed its professional propaganda against it, then administered a series of sanctions, starving and murdering children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups. If the country did not collapse within months or just couple of years, the bombing would …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/suddenly-west-is-failing-to-overthrow-regimes/

Selected Articles: The Geopolitics of the Kashmir Crisis
Global Research News | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-23
Online independent analysis of US-led wars, rampant corruption, corporate greed, civil rights and fraudulent monetary transactions is invariably relegated to the bottom rung of search engine results. | As a result we presently do not cover our monthly running costs which …
globalresearch.ca/selected-articles-geopolitics-kashmir-crisis/5686917

Interview: Lebanese solidarity with Palestinian refugees
Joyce Chediac | liberationnews.org | 2019-08-23
"For the first time in Lebanon, and possibly in any Arab country, banners supporting the rights of Palestinian refugees were carried along with queer and trans flags."
liberationnews.org/interview-lebanese-solidarity-with-palestinian-refugees/

Statewide protest says 'Black Lives Matter'
pip.hinman | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-23
Indigenous rights Zebedee ParkesIssue 1234 Australia #Black Lives Matter justice SydneyAugust 23, 2019Aboriginal rights activis…
greenleft.org.au/content/state-wide-protest-says-black-lives-matter

Sen. Merkley Condemns Trump's War Against Migrant Families as U.S. Moves to Indefinitely Jail Kids
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-23
The Trump administration is moving to indefinitely detain migrant children and their families, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to issue a new rule today to withdraw from a 1997 federal court settlement known as the Flores agreement, which put a 20-day limit on migrant family detentions. We speak with Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who made headlines last year when he was barred from entering an old Walmart where the government was detaining about 1,500 immigrant children in Brownsville, Texas.
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/23/jeff_merk…

Warnings of Grave Climate and Human Rights Impact as US Export-Import Bank Approves $5 Billion for Natural Gas Project in Mozambique
Jake Johnson, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-08-23
"If there is a project with serious alarm bells, it's this one." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2019/08/23/warnings-grave-climate-and-human-rights-impact-us-export-import-bank-approves-5?cd-origin=rss

A Louisiana Parish Jailed a U.S. Citizen for Being Latinx. We're Suing
aclu.org | 2019-08-22
Officers in a Louisiana jail held a U.S. citizen for four days on an immigration hold simply because of his skin color and name. | Ramon Torres had been a U.S. citizen for nearly ten years when he was detained for four days on an immigration hold — despite having a U.S. passport, a Louisiana driver's license, and a Social Security card, and despite that fact that a court ordered his release. | Torres' ordeal began in August 2018, when he was pulled over and arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Torres, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2009, was carrying multiple forms of identification, inclu…
aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/louisiana-parish-jailed-us-citizen-being-latinx-were

'Anti-alien Hysteria:' Journalist Elizabeth Glendower Evans and the Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti
Norman Stockwell | progressive.org | 2019-08-22
In a case perhaps more relevant now than ever, the trial of the two immigrants became a rallying point for 1920s progressives, labor activists, and human rights advocates around the globe.
progressive.org/dispatches/anti-alien-hysteria-elizabeth-glendower-evans-sacco-vanzetti-stockwell-190822/

South Africa bans old racist flag as hate speech
Mark Waller | peoplesworld.org | 2019-08-22
PRETORIA, South Africa — A landmark Aug. 21 ruling by South Africa's Equality Court has criminalized gratuitous displays of the national flag of the apartheid era. The case was brought before the court by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, backed by the South African Human Rights Commission. The apartheid flag is often displayed by far-right white …
peoplesworld.org/article/south-africa-bans-old-racist-flag-as-hate-speech/

Kashmir communications shutdown a 'collective punishment' that must be reversed, say UN experts
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-22
End the crackdown on freedom of expression, was the strong call to the Government by India from five United Nations independent rights expert on Thursday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1044741

DNC Rejects Call for a Climate Debate
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-22
Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials reversed the previous ban on candidates participating in non-sanctioned climate forums, but Carmen Bouquin of the Sunrise Movement says that's not enough…
therealnews.com/stories/dnc-rejects-call-for-a-climate-debate

Warren Apologizes to Native Americans; Sanders Backs Rescinding Medals for Wounded Knee Massacre
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-22
This week 10 Democratic candidates and one independent in the 2020 presidential race, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, addressed indigenous communities at the first-ever Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa. During the two-day event, candidates individually answered questions from a panel of tribal leaders and Native American youth and elders on issues including treaty rights, voter suppression, and murdered and missing indigenous women.
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/22/frank_lam…

We Have Been Here Before
Brandon Shimoda | thenation.com | 2019-08-21
We Have Been Here Before…
thenation.com/article/japanese-american-internment-migrant-detention-camps/

An Arizona Law Requires Surveillance of People Who Are Presumed Innocent
aclu.org | 2019-08-21
The government cannot take shortcuts around constitutional rights. | A pillar of our democracy is the presumption of innocence: before a person has been convicted of a crime, they are considered completely innocent under the law. Yet across the country, people who have not been convicted are punished–both explicitly and implicitly–based on the mistaken assumption that they are dangerous, purely on the basis of an accusation. We do not live in a society where you can be incarcerated or monitored simply because you have been accused of a crime. Doing so violates constitutional rights, fuels mass incarce…
aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/surveillance-technologies/arizona-law-requires-surveillance-people-who-are

Washington intensifies its collective punishment of Venezuelans
Eds. | mronline.org | 2019-08-21
Despite previous sanctions leading to over 40,000 deaths in Venezuela over two years, the U.S. is escalating its economic offensive. | Source…
mronline.org/2019/08/21/washington-intensifies-its-collective-punishment-of-venezuelans/

Birth certificate reform set to win in Victoria despite fauxminist fear campaign
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-21
LGBTI rights Karen FletcherIssue 1234 Australia Birth certificate reform Victoria Victorian Women's GuildA…
greenleft.org.au/content/birth-certificate-reform-set-win-victoria-despite-fauxminist-fear-campaign

Turkey: HDP calls for mobilisations against AKP attacks — 'We will not be silenced, we will not be stopped…'
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-21
Kurdish struggle Susan PriceIssue 1234 Turkey Turkish arrests Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)August 21, 2019Human rights organisations, solidarity groups and the European Unio…
greenleft.org.au/content/turkey-hdp-mobilise-against-akp-attacks-we-will-not-be-silenced

Hong Kong: Flashpoint of Class Struggle in China
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-08-20
What began as isolated protests against a standard criminal-extradition law has somehow erupted into a violent fury throughout Hong Kong. The Chinese city's American-and-British-flag-waving protesters are, on the one hand, calling for "freedom, human rights, and democracy" while, on the other, assaulting police and even random bystanders alike. Western media have already been on the …
uwidata.com/4966-hong-kong-flashpoint-of-class-struggle-in-china/

NPR Mocks Cancer Survivor in Drumbeat of Syria Propaganda
Rick Sterling | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-20
Asma al-Assad, First Lady of Syria (from released Syrian Presidency Facebook page) It may be a new low in propaganda. National Public Radio (NPR) used the news that Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad had overcome breast cancer to mock her and continue the information war against Syria. They interviewed a Human Rights Watch staffer named …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/npr-mocks-cancer-survivor-in-drumbeat-of-syria-propaganda/

Anti-War Committee denounces Israel's ban of Omar and Tlaib
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-08-19
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following August 15 statement from the Twin Cities based Anti-War Committee. | The Minnesota Anti-War Committee condemns the Israeli government's August 15 decision not to allow US Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering occupied Palestine, to which the Israeli state controls all access. Reps. Omar and Tlaib join the thousands of peace activists, human rights officials and people of conscience around the world who are denied entry over their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel and its Zionist policies of occu…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/18/anti-war…

Trump is Taking More Money for Raids and Detention. Congress Should Stop Him
aclu.org | 2019-08-19
Without congressional checks, ICE and CBP will continue to overspend and overstep. | The budget for Trump's turbo-charged immigration enforcement and border militarization is now larger than ever. And just last week, we learned that ICE plans to redirect even more money to further expand immigration detention and enforcement. The plan is currently being reviewed by congressional appropriato…
aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/trump-taking-more-money-raids-and-detention

SPLC, allies sue ICE for ignoring medical, mental health and disability needs of detained immigrants
splcenter.org | 2019-08-19
Faour Abdallah Fraihat, who ran a successful construction business for years in California, is currently in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
splcenter.org/news/2019/08/19/splc-allies-sue-ice-ignoring-medical-mental-health-and-disability-needs-detained-immigrants

Appointment of alleged war criminal to head of Sri Lanka army 'deeply troubling', says UN human rights chief
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-19
The appointment of Sri Lankan Lieutenant-General Shavendra Silva as Commander of the country's army is deeply troubling, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in a statement released on Monday, adding that the military leader had been given the role despite "serious allegations of gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law against him and his troops during the war".
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1044501

Support Mali reconciliation efforts 'in whatever way possible', urges UN expert
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-19
Reconciliation initiatives in central Mali, to bring together local leaders and end ongoing violence, have been welcomed by the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali, Alioune Tine, who said on Monday that they should be supported "in whatever way possible."
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1044461

On Gun Violence, 'We Need the Federal Government to Take Bold Steps' – CounterSpin interview with Ernest Coverson on guns & human rights
Janine Jackson | fair.org | 2019-08-19
Janine Jackson interviewed Amnesty International USA's Ernest Coverson about guns and human rights for the August 16, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
fair.org/home/on-gun-violence-we-need-the-federal-government-to-take-bold-steps/

"They Are Irreplaceable, and They Mattered": Group Identifies Human Remains Along the Border
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-19
In a special broadcast from the Arizona-Sonora border, we look at how the bodies and bones of more than 3,000 people have been found in the Sonoran Desert since 2001, and speak with Robin Reineke, the co-founder of the Tucson-based organization Colibrí Center for Human Rights. Colibrí Center is dedicated to identifying the remains of people passing through the desert and, since its founding, has identified at least 100 migrants through meticulous forensic work and DNA data collection of people's remains and family members who are alive. In 2018, it launched the Bring Them Back Campaign to call for dignity and dem…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/19/robin_rei…

North Korea Suspends Talks With South Korea Because of U.S. Sanctions
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-16
While U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks fail to proceed because of a lack of unanimity within the Trump administration, the North suspended peace talks with the South because of the U.S.'s refusal to lift economic sanctions, says Tim Shorrock…
therealnews.com/stories/north-korea-suspends-talks-with-south-korea-because-of-u-s-sanctions

Ernest Coverson on Guns & Human Rights, Carey Gillam Under Attack From Monsanto
CounterSpin | fair.org | 2019-08-16
Media…
fair.org/home/ernest-coverson-on-guns-human-rights-carey-gillam-under-attack-from-monsanto/

The Great Land Robbery: How Federal Policies Dispossessed Black Americans of Millions of Acres
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-16
Over the 20th century, black people in the U.S. were dispossessed of 12 million acres of land. Half of that loss — 6 million acres — occurred over just two decades, from 1950 to 1969, a period largely associated with the civil rights struggle. This mass land dispossession, which affected 98% of black agricultural land owners, is part of the pattern of institutional racism and discrimination that has contributed to the racial wealth gap in the United States. Many of the driving forces behind this land theft were legal and originated in federal policies, as documented by Vann Newkirk, staff writer at Th…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/16/vann_newk…

The Challenges of Breastfeeding as a Black Person
aclu.org | 2019-08-15
How our workplaces and healthcare system create barriers to breastfeeding. | The fight to protect individual choices about reproductive care, including breastfeeding, is an ongoing battle. The central lesson of the reproductive justice movement is that choice means little without access. That lesson applies equally to breastfeeding. | Though laws, in the workplace and other contexts, are in place to protect the right to breastfeed, many low-income women and w…
aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/pregnancy-and-parenting-discrimination/challenges-breastfeeding-black-person

The US is already interfering in the upcoming Venezuelan elections
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-08-15
US President Donald Trump has maintained strong economic pressure against Venezuela, having signed numerous decrees blocking the assets of the Venezuelan authorities within US jurisdiction. Giants such as the Central Bank of Venezuela and the state-owned oil company PDVSA were also included in the sanctions list. Now, Washington has announced it will even impose sanctions …
uwidata.com/4894-the-us-is-already-interfering-in-the-upcoming-venezuelan-elections/

SPLC joins brief opposing Kansas law targeting immigrants
splcenter.org | 2019-08-13
The SPLC and 29 worker and immigrant rights organizations filed an amicus brief today urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a court decision stating that a Kansas identity theft law cannot be used to turn local law enforcement into immigration agents.
splcenter.org/news/2019/08/13/splc-joins-brief-opposing-kansas-law-targeting-immigrants

Expanding Involuntary Confinement is Not the Answer to Solve Gun Violence
aclu.org | 2019-08-13
Institutionalizing people against their will is usually a mistake. | In the wake of last weekend's tragic shootings, President Trump did what he does best: stoked fear and cast blame. He proclaimed that "we must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence and make sure those people, not only get treatment, but when necessary, involuntary confinement." | There are two things wrong with the idea of involuntary commitment as a solution to gun violence. First, focusing on people with identifiable mental disabilities won't help. The data is clear: men…
aclu.org/blog/disability-rights/integration-and-autonomy-people-disabilities/expanding-involuntary

Unequal Justice: John Roberts' Dark Legacy of Voter Suppression
Bill Blum | progressive.org | 2019-08-13
Plaintiffs are litigating voting rights cases in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and several other states. Some will succeed, some will fail, but all will be more uncertain and expensive thanks to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
progressive.org/dispatches/unequal-justice-john-roberts-dark-legacy-of-voter-suppression-blum-190812/