(2019-06-04). U.S. Prepares Sanctions to Block Food Subsidy for Millions of Venezuelans. therealnews.com 
Over half of Venezuelans currently receive a direct food subsidy delivered to their neighborhoods. Trump officials say that they are looking for ways to sanctions these. Mike Fox reports from Venezuela about the program…
(2019-06-04). US Gears Up for War With Iran. counterpunch.org Can a state that condemns, without real justification, an international disarmament treaty it spent years negotiating then threaten a co-signatory with military aggression? Can it order other countries to fall into line with its capricious, bellicose stance or face punitive sanctions? The US can. It's pointless trying to argue with the Trump administration's claimed reasons More
(2019-06-04). On Equating BDS With Anti-Semitism: a Letter to the Members of the German Government. counterpunch.org 
To the Members of the German Government: I write to you regarding the motion recently passed by the Bundestag that equated BDS with anti-Semitism. I also write to you as Jew, a child of Holocaust survivors and as a scholar of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My mother, Taube, and father, Abraham, survived Auschwitz among other horrors. More
(2019-06-04). The Murdering of Julian Assange. dissidentvoice.org Julian Assange is being slowly murdered by "Her Majesty's Prison Service" at Belmarsh prison in the south-east of London. The prison is notorious for holding people who have never been charged with a crime indefinitely. It is also called the British version of Guantanamo, and, typically used to detain so-called terrorists, thus called by the …
(2019-06-04). Irish civil rights NGO calls Trump's policies 'unethical and unlawful' as he prepares to visit the country. thecanary.co An Irish civil rights organisation, along with its US counterpart, has criticised Donald Trump ahead of his trip to Ireland on 5 June. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties ( ICCL) and the American Civil Lib…
(2019-06-04). Constitution — Title I: Fundamental Principles (Art. 1-9). mronline.org 
Article 1: The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is irrevocably free and independent, basing its moral property and values of freedom, equality, justice and international peace on the doctrine of Simón Bolívar, the Liberator. Independence, liberty, sovereignty, immunity, territorial integrity and national self-determination are unrenounceable rights of the Nation. | Source
(2019-06-04). Dr. King and Mr. Garrow. wsws.org The historian and King biographer David Garrow has unleashed a #MeToo-style slander campaign against the martyred civil rights leader.
(2019-06-04). Nearly 100 Animal Rights Activists Arrested for Protesting 'Torturous Practices' at Duck Slaughterhouse. commondreams.org "The real criminality is the systemic torture and slaughter of billions of animals in the cruelest, filthiest, most sadistic conditions. But the police protect the corporate criminals." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-06-04). President Kenyatta holds talks with Canadian PM in Vancouver. cgtn.com 
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the 2019 Global Women Deliver Conference in Vancouver. | The Global Women Deliver Conference is the world's largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and well-being of girls and women. It has brought together over 8,000 world leaders and players in the academic fields as well as various change-makers. | This year's Conference focuses on the key role of power for progress and change, how power operates at three levels: individual power, structural power and the power of movem…
(2019-06-03). Trans Asylum-Seeker Dies after Being Denied Healthcare by ICE. telesurenglish.net Asylum-seeker Johana Medina Leon from El Salvador, died Saturday due to complications related to HIV/AIDS after spending six weeks at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in New Mexico, where she asked, in vain, repeatedly for treatment, according to her lawyer. | RELATED: | Record Number of Cubans in ICE Detention Centers | "For weeks she pleaded for medical help, referring to health problems caused by complications with HIV/AIDS," Grecia, a transgender advocate and…
(2019-06-03). How Venezuelans Turn to Collective Action to Defy US Blockade. telesurenglish.net As the United States government intensifies its unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela, its people have turned to one another to push ahead and deal with economic sanctions. Local Colectivos (Collectives) and demonstrations of popular support have come to represent the unbreakable will of the Bolivarian Republic. | RELATED: | Timeline of Half a Decade of US Economic War Against Venezuela | Yet the economic blockade keeps piling up, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arre…
(2019-06-03). Switzerland turns to courts after Nigeria drops anchor over detained oil-tanker it seized. cgtn.com 
Nigerian naval vessel christianed Centenary sails in high sea during Obangame Express, a multinational maritime exercise involving 33 countries off the coast of Lagos on March 20, 2019. — Thirty-three countries are participating in Obangame Express, a multinational maritime exercise sponsored by the United States Africa Command to test multinational maritime forces in a broad range of operations to increase capability and capacity to respond, check piracy, illicit trafficking, and other maritime threats in the Gulf of Guinea. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP) (Photo credit should read PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Ge…
(2019-06-03). Swedish Court Rejects Request to Detain Assange over 2010 Case. telesurenglish.net A Swedish court on Monday said it considers Julian Assange a suspect in a 2010 rape case but rejected a request to detain him, dashing the prosecutor's hopes of having him swiftly extradited from Britain. | RELATED: | UN Rights Expert Defends Assange, Says Institutions Abusing Power for 'Ulterior Motives' | The Uppsala district court…
(2019-06-03). Human Rights, The Expelled Chagos Islanders, and Britain's Hypocrisy. counterpunch.org On May 20 the United Kingdom appointed its first human rights ambassador to the United Nations and two days later the General Assembly of the United Nations overwhelmingly condemned the UK for its continuing colonial treatment of the Chagos Islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, whose inhabitants it expelled fifty years ago. The irony escaped the UK's More
(2019-06-03). With a premature death every five seconds, air pollution is violation of human rights, says UN expert. un.org An independent UN expert said on Monday that the failure of governments across the world to ensure clear air, constitutes a "violation of the rights to life, health and well-being, as well as the right to live in a healthy environment."
(2019-06-03). Israeli Strikes Hit Iranian and Hezbollah Positions in Syria, Killing 10. theantimedia.com (MEE) — Israeli strikes on positions in Syria killed 10 people on Sunday, including three Syrian soldiers and seven foreign fighters, according to an activist group, and they were later followed by further strikes in Homs province, state media said. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israeli missiles fired from warplanes struck areas south …
(2019-06-03). Britain and Australia dismiss UN report that Assange has been tortured. wsws.org The brazen responses demonstrate the criminality of the US-led vendetta against Assange, which is proceeding in violation of due process and the fundamental tenets of international law.
(2019-06-03). 30+ Arrested as Hundreds of Animal Rights Activists Descend on Slaughterhouse, Locking Necks to Slaughter Line. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2019-06-03). Hundreds of Animal Rights Activists Descend on Slaughterhouse, Locking Necks to Slaughter Line. indybay.org Over 600 activists with the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) are marching to a massive duck slaughterhouse (facebook live video), with dozens planning to lock their necks to the slaughterhouse shackles and other machinery.
(2019-06-03). Who Controls Our Genes? Congress Is Deciding Right Now And It Could Harm Our Health. aclu.org Draft legislation will try to undo Supreme Court precedent forbidding patenting of human genes. | This morning the ACLU, along with 169 other civil rights, medical, scientific, patient advocacy, and women's health organizations, including the Mayo Clinic, Breast Cancer Action, Lung Cancer Research Foundation, the Huntington's Disease Society of America, the Women's March, University of Washington, and many others sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Intellectual Property strong…
(2019-06-03). How Voter Suppression & Gerrymandering Cleared the Path for Unprecedented Abortion Bans. democracynow.org 
As Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia attempt to outlaw abortions after six weeks, Missouri legislators approve an eight-week ban and Alabama passes a near total ban on abortions, we speak to journalist Ari Berman about how the widespread attack on abortion rights across the country is tied directly to voter suppression. He writes in a recent piece for Mother Jones, "These states have something else in common: a systematic effort to distort the democratic process through voter suppression and gerrymandering. These tactics have greased the way for near-total bans on abortion and for other extreme r…
(2019-06-03). A Demagogue, Fascist, and Serious Threat: UK Mobilizes to Make Sure Trump Knows He 'Is Not Welcome'. commondreams.org "Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat. The far-right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-06-03). Raising Some Issues at Oral Communications. indybay.org Continued delay and inaction on providing homeless shelter and services (to say nothing of civil rights) for homeless folks was the silent part of yesterday's Santa Cruz City Council agenda. Several of us raised issues at Oral Communications…
(2019-06-03). Clarence Thomas Cited This Author's Book to Link Abortion to Eugenics. He Says "It's Just Not True" democracynow.org 
Justice Clarence Thomas sparked harsh rebuke last week after claiming that abortion rights can be traced back to the 20th century eugenics movement. He made the comments in a 20-page opinion after the Supreme Court declined last week to take up a provision of an Indiana law that bars abortions based on the sex, race or disability of the fetus. The decision keeps in place a lower court injunction on the measure. But Justice Thomas indicated that he supports the law, writing in his opinion, "Enshrining a constitutional right to an abortion based solely on the race, sex, or disability of an unborn child, as Planned…
(2019-06-03). NAACP President and CEO Addresses Graduates at STCL Houston Commencement. naacp.org NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson gave an inspiring commencement address at his alma mater, South Texas College of Law Houston, on May, 25, 2019. ### About the NAACP Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the …
(2019-06-03). Not discussed at MoveOn presidential candidate forum: Impeachment, workers' rights. peoplesworld.org 
SAN FRANCISCO—It was a forum of Big Ideas. But two of them were missing. One by one, eight Democratic presidential hopefuls marched to the stage of an auditorium in San Francisco the weekend of June 1-2, there — in five minutes apiece — to tell hundreds of MoveOn activists one "Big Idea" that motivates their …
(2019-06-03). #NoMiddleGround Goes Viral as Sanders Backers Say Democrats Can't Afford to Compromise on Medicare for All, Reproductive Rights, and Bold Climate Agenda. commondreams.org "We cannot go back to the old ways, we have got to go forward with a new and progressive agenda," Sen. Bernie Sanders said at the California Democratic Party convention | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-06-03). New government powers are 'a serious abuse of civil liberties', according to rights groups. thecanary.co A frightening new law is now in force in the UK. It literally criminalises people simply for travelling to a specific area on the planet. And rights groups have called it "a serious abuse of civil liberties". | A presumption of guilt: | The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 (CTS) passed in February. It…
(2019-06-03). How Voter Suppression and Gerrymandering Cleared the Path for Abortion Bans. truthout.org As Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia attempt to outlaw abortions after six weeks, Missouri legislators approve an eight-week ban and Alabama passes a near total ban on abortions, we speak to journalist Ari Berman about how the widespread attack on abortion rights across the country is tied directly to voter suppression. He writes in a recent piece for Mother Jones, "These states have something else in common: a systematic effort to distort the democratic process through voter suppression and gerrymandering. These tactics have greased the way for near-total bans on abortion and for other extrem…
(2019-06-02). Despite Sanctions Venezuelan Gov't Secures Right to Housing. telesurenglish.net The Venezuelan government announced on Sunday that it will continue to defend and secure the right to adequate housing despite the ongoing economic blockade imposed by the Trump administration. | RELATED: | UN Recognizes Venezuela Among Top Nations for Right to Housing | "We are proud that Venezuela has taken on a creative formula to demonstrate that governing by placing human beings above goods and capital is possible," Minister of Habitat and Housing, Ildelmaro Villarroel sai…
(2019-06-02). Cuba's New Blockade. globalresearch.ca On 2 May 2019, the Trump administration implemented Title III of the 1996 Helms Burton Act. In doing so, it unleashed the most severe economic sanctions against Cuba since the blockade was first introduced by President Kennedy in 1962. | Title …
(2019-06-02). Biden Declares LGBTQ Rights His Top Priority. truthdig.com 
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declared Saturday that the Equality Act would be his top legislative priority, an effort to enshrine LGBTQ protections into the nation's labor and civil rights laws. | The former vice president shared his hopes of signing the legislation as part of a keynote address to hundreds of activists at the Human Rights Campaign's annual Ohio gala on the first day of Pride Month. In a half-hour at the lectern, his remarks ranged from emotional…
(2019-06-02). Dramatic Increase in Political Violence in Colombia due to Abandonment of Peace Agreement. therealnews.com 
Recent human rights reports show that murders of social leaders have skyrocketed since Colombia's right-wing President Ivan Duque came into office in 2017. Activist Manuel Rozental speaks to us about the situation from one of the most affected areas…
(2019-06-02). Turkey's road into the EU is blocked. uwidata.com The European Union published its regular report on the situation Turkey. The Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Expansion, Johannes Hahn, stated that no new developments in the framework of the negotiation process with Ankara. According to Euronews, Hahn stressed worsening human rights in Turkey, regress in many areas such as the economic sphere, and …
(2019-06-02). US History Is Defined by the Use of Torture. truthout.org Soon after 9/11, the US began holding people in secret prisons around the world in places called "black sites." Black sites were secret and what happened within them was unknown. When we did learn about the techniques our government was using to extract information, we were told it was not torture but something called "enhanced interrogation." It sounded new and not so brutal. But it was torture. An updated version of it, but torture nonetheless, which forced us to think about what we were willing to do to other human beings in a state of war. In this episode, Rebecca Gordon argues that enhanced interrogation…
(2019-06-02). Three Years After Rushing Bernie Sanders Event, Animal Rights Activist Takes Mic From Kamala Harris at MoveOn Event. commondreams.org The action, which saw a white man taking the microphone from a black woman, was panned by some observers | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-06-01). 'Beyond Barbaric': Internal Government Report Reveals Migrants Forced to Stand on Toilets for Breathing Space at Overcrowded US Detention Center. globalresearch.ca "This is insane. Not only can they not move, they can't breathe, they can't eat, they can't do anything like this. Children have died and will continue to die if this is not stopped now." | *** | A federal immigrant detention …
(2019-06-01). US watchdog finds 900 immigrants jammed into jail designed for 125. wsws.org The inspector general found detainees "standing on toilets in the cells to make room and gain breathing space, thus limiting access to the toilets."
(2019-06-01). US uses solitary confinement as weapon against detained immigrants. wsws.org An International Consortium of Investigative Journalists report documents the widespread use of solitary confinement by the US government against detained immigrants.
(2019-06-01). Findings of Torture: The UN Rapporteur and Julian Assange. dissidentvoice.org Another crude and sad chapter, yet more evidence of a system's vengeance against its challengers. Julian Assange, like they dying Roman emperor Vespasian, may be transforming into a god of sorts, but the suffering of his mortal physical is finding its mark. While some in the cynical, narcissistic press corps still find little to commend …
(2019-06-01). Missouri's Last Abortion Clinic Safe for Now Under Judge's Order. truthout.org A federal judge in Missouri stepped in Friday to allow the state's last remaining abortion clinic to continue operating. | The 11th-hour decision followed mass protests in St. Louis on Thursday, with rights advocates demanding that Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region be permitted to stay open, lest Missouri become the first state in more than four decades to make it impossible for women to access safe, legal abortion care without crossing state lines. | BREAKING: Mi…
(2019-05-31). Chelsea Manning's Legal Team Challenge Harsh Fines Levied Against Her By Federal Court. shadowproof.com The legal team for Chelsea Manning requested a hearing to challenge the harsh fines levied to force her to testify before the grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. | On May 16, Judge Anthony Trenga held Manning in civil contempt and ordered her to be sent back to the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria. The court also imposed a fine of $500 per day after 30 days, and then a fine of $1000 per day after 60 days. | If Manning "persists in her refusal" for the next 16 months, her legal team points out she will face a total amount of fines that is over $440,000. This excessive amount may violate he…
(2019-05-31). U.N. Special Rapporteur Calls for Julian Assange to Be Freed, Citing "Psychological Torture" democracynow.org 
The United Nations special rapporteur on torture is warning that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is suffering from the effects of "psychological torture" due to his ongoing detention and threats of possible extradition to the United States. The U.N. expert, Nils Melzer, also warned that Assange would likely face a "politicized show trial" if he were to be extradited to the United States. Melzer writes, "In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution, I have never seen a group of democratic states ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonize and abuse a single individual for such a lo…
(2019-05-31). Minnesotans say "No coup! No war! Hands off Venezuela!" fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – 30 people held signs reading "Hands off Venezuela" and a big banner saying "No coup – no sanctions – no war – hands off Venezuela" on a bridge from Loring Park to the Walker Sculpture Garden over Interstate 94 in Minneapolis during rush hour, May 30. Ten lanes of traffic filled with rush hour traffic traveled underneath. The protesters heard hundreds of honks of agreement that the U.S. shouldn't intervene in Venezuela. | Afterwards protesters gathered to hear from Tracy Molm, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, to hear an update from Venezuela, "Today we were seen by thousands of people in Mi…
(2019-05-31). WikiLeaks: Assange indictments 'the gravest attack on press freedom'. greenleft.org.au 
In response to the news on May 24 that the United States government is seeking to lay multiple espionage charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the organisation accused US President Donald Trump's administration of launching "an unprecedented attack on the global free press". | The unsealed Espionage Act charges carry combined sentences of 175 years in prison and relate to disclosures of war crimes and human rights abuses by the US government, including the groundbreaking Collateral Murder video, Iraq War Logs, Afghan War Diaries, Cablegate, and the Guantanamo Bay Detainee Manuals, published in 2010 an…
(2019-05-31). Ecological Importance and Human Rights Be Damned, Trump Admin Says Fossil Fuel Pillaging in Arctic Refuge Coming Soon. commondreams.org Interior Dept. statement that "lease sale will happen in 2019" comes as oil companies face heat over possible extraction on previously protected public land | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files……
(2019-05-31). The UN Torture Report on Assange Is an Indictment of Our Entire Society. dissidentvoice.org 
On the eighth of April, shortly before London police forcibly carried WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy, a doctor named Sondra S Crosby wrote a letter to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights requesting that the office look into Assange's case. Today, following a scorching rebuke of multiple …
(2019-05-31). UN expert criticizes States for 'ganging up' on Wikileaks' Assange; warns against extradition, fearing 'serious' rights violations. un.org After visiting Julian Assange in a London prison, an independent UN human rights expert expressed urgent concern on Friday, for the Wikileaks co-founder's well-being, accusing "a group of democratic States" of "ganging up" on the prisoner to "isolate, demonize and abuse" him and warned against extraditing the controversial publisher to the United States.
(2019-05-31). UN Special Rapporteur On Torture: 'The Collective Persecution Of Julian Assange Must End Here And Now'. shadowproof.com In a blistering statement against democratic countries collaborating to prosecute and enable the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture condemned the "collective persecution" against him. "In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence, and political persecution, I have never seen a…
(2019-05-31). UN Says Assange Tortured: Watch the Webcast. consortiumnews.com Julian Assange was "psychologically tortured" by four nations ganging up on him, said the UN special rapporteur on torture. Watch the replay with Pentagon Papers whistle blower Dan Ellsberg, and other guests. The 32nd webcast vigil for Julian Assange was… Read more →