'Conscience-free journalism is great career choice': Guardian mocked over failure to mention Assange in 'press freedom' article
rt.com | 2020-02-17
The Guardian newspaper has been mercilessly ridiculed on social media after it failed to highlight the plight of journalist Julian Assange in a piece on Amal Clooney's plans to "combat media repression globally." | The outlet's diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour published an article on Monday focused on the 'Report on the Use of Targeted Sanctions to Protect Journalists,' a document drafted by prominent human rights barrister, Amal Clooney. | Clooney, who represented the WikiLeaks co-fou…
rt.com/uk/481019-assange-guardian-press-freedom/

'Conscience-free journalism is great career choice': Guardian mocked over failure to mention Assange in 'press freedom' article
rt.com | 2020-02-17
The Guardian newspaper has been mercilessly ridiculed on social media after it failed to highlight the plight of journalist Julian Assange in a piece on Amal Clooney's plans to "combat media repression globally." | The outlet's diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour published an article on Monday focused on the 'Report on the Use of Targeted Sanctions to Protect Journalists,' a document drafted by prominent human rights barrister, Amal Clooney. | Clooney, who represented the WikiLeaks co-fou…
rt.com/uk/481019-assange-guardian-press-freedom/

Trump's Trade War with China: Imagine What Would Happen if China Decided to Impose Economic Sanctions on the USA?
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-17
In formulating these veiled threats, the Trump administration should think twice. These measures would inevitably backlash on the U.S. economy. China is not dependent on US imports. Quite the opposite. America is an import led economy with a weak manufacturing base, heavily dependent on imports from the PRC.
globalresearch.ca/imagine-what-would-happen-if-china-decided-to-impose-economic-sanctions-on-the-usa-2/5598941

Netanyahu Boasts He Destroyed Free Speech in America
Juan Cole | truthdig.com | 2020-02-17
This piece originally appeared on Informed Comment. | Israeli caretaker prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted for corruption and is facing an election soon, just boasted that his ministry of strategic affairs has managed to undermine first amendment protections for free speech in the United States by lobbying state legislatures to pass laws forbidding the boycott of Israel. | Anti-boycott laws of the Old South were used against Martin Luther King, Jr. and other activists in the Civil Rights movement to keep Afric…
truthdig.com/articles/netanyahu-boasts-he-destroyed-free-speech-in-america/

Netanyahu Boasts That He Destroyed Free Speech in America
Juan Cole | truthdig.com | 2020-02-17
This piece originally appeared on Informed Comment. | Israeli caretaker prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted for corruption and is facing an election soon, just boasted that his ministry of strategic affairs has managed to undermine First Amendment protections for free speech in the United States by lobbying state legislatures to pass laws forbidding the boycott of Israel. | Anti-boycott laws of the Old South were used against Martin Luther King Jr. and other activists in the civil rights movement to keep Africa…
truthdig.com/articles/netanyahu-boasts-he-destroyed-free-speech-in-america/

How Trump's "Peace" Plan Will Redraw Israel's Borders to Exclude to Non-Jews
Miko Peled | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-17
Trump's new Middle East "Peace" Plan will redraw Israeli borders to exclude towns with large populations of Arab citizens, an attempt, writes Miko Peled, to force them down the totem pole to a place where their rights will be even …
globalresearch.ca/how-trump-peace-plan-redraw-israel-borders-exclude-non-jews/5703828

Contribution of indigenous people to fighting climate change is hanging by a thread
Iokiñe Rodríguez and Mirna Inturias | zcomm.org | 2020-02-17
The recent history of Bolivia shows the danger of allowing the fight for indigenous rights and climate action to be co-opted…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/contribution-of-indigenous-people-to-fighting-climate-change-is-hanging-by-a-thread/

Anti-BDS Laws Violate Our Freedom
Sheldon Richman | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-17
Americans' free-speech and other rights are being violated by state laws aimed at stifling the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Movement against Israel's illegal rule of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, both conquered over half a century ago. Twenty-eight states have enacted anti-BDS laws or executive orders that prohibit state agencies and state-financed…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/17/119530/

Head of India's IT industry accuses US of labor rights discrimination
rt.com | 2020-02-17
The president of India's National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), Debjani Ghosh, has accused Donald Trump's government of discriminating against Indian workers seeking H-1B visas to work in the US. | "We're at a loss trying to figure out why we're seeing the kind of discrimination when this is actually benefiting the US," Ghosh said, as quoted by the Financial Times. He argued that Indian workers help to fill a vital skills gap. | Ghosh's accusations come ahead of the US president's visit to India this month. He has asked for a meeting with the Trump delegation. | Also on rt.com…
rt.com/business/480992-india-it-us-discrimination/

A Boom Time for U.S. Sanctions
Kathy Gilsinan | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-17
The United States, as of this writing, has 7,967 sanctions in place. | Treasury Department data show them in many sizes. There are sanctions on individual people, like the Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman; on companies, like Cubacancun Cigars …
globalresearch.ca/boom-time-u-s-sanctions/5703872

Sanctuary Rising – a new film in progress – with director Theo Rigsby
UUSF Sunday Morning Forum | indybay.org | 2020-02-17
Unitarian Universalist Society of S.F. | 1187 Franklin St. | San Francisco…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/16/18830726.php

Israeli Soldiers Chase Palestinian Shepherds In Northern Plains
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2020-02-16
Israeli soldiers chased, Sunday, many Palestinian shepherds in the al-Borj area, in the Northern Plains of the occupied West Bank. Human rights activist Aref Daraghma stated that the soldiers attacked and chased many Palestinian shepherds, and forced them out of grazing lands. He added that the attack comes just two …
imemc.org/article/israeli-soldiers-chase-palestinian-shepherds-in-northern-plains/

American Citizens Killed and Tortured by Israel?
Philip Giraldi | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-16
One of the principal functions of a United States Embassy overseas is to provide citizen services, which includes coming to the assistance of Americans who are treated badly by the local government. It is a responsibility that most embassies take …
globalresearch.ca/american-citizens-killed-tortured-israel/5703783

US Sanctions Policy On Iran Has Failed: President Rouhani
telesurenglish.net | 2020-02-16
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed Sunday that the policy of "maximum pressure" exercised by the United States on Iran has failed and that all the economic indicators of the Islamic republic show that the Iranians have overcome the worst phase of that policy. | RELATED: | 'The West Is Winning' Pompeo Says at the Munich Conference | "The U.S. has concluded that the path they have chosen to deal with Iran has been based on the wrong strategy," Rouhani said, referring to several…
telesurenglish.net/news/president-rouhani-us-hard-sanctions-policy-on-iran-has-failed-20200216-0009.html

Can Moscow finish Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline despite US sanctions? 'Never say never' says Gazprom
rt.com | 2020-02-16
Russia's $10 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline – which will pump gas more than 1,200 km to Germany – has been sanctioned by Washington, with US officials claiming Moscow can't finish the project. "Never say never," Gazprom replied. | The Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a joint project between Russian energy giant Gazprom and five European firms, was sanctioned by the US Congress in December. The State Department followed this with an ultimatum to the European firms working on the project: "immediately cease construction-related activity." | The warning was enough to scare away Swiss pipelaying firm Allseas Group SA, and…
rt.com/business/480981-gazprom-nord-stream-never/

Trump administration's national counterintelligence strategy focuses on "hacktivists, leaktivists and public disclosure organizations"
wsws.org | 2020-02-15
A major assault on First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of the press is being prepared.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/15/coun…

Trump to Deploy Heavily Armed Border Patrol Tactical Units in Sanctuary Cities
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-02-15
In a move that appears destined to escalate tension between the White House and opponents, President Donald Trump is reportedly deploying Customs and Border Protection tactical units across sanctuary cities in the U.S. to assist with arrests of undocumented people–despite warnings from critics and rights advocates. | The New York Times reported on the plan Friday afternoon, citing an official w…
truthout.org/articles/trump-to-deploy-heavily-armed-border-patrol-tactical-units-in-sanctuary-cities/

'The Bolivarian Shield' Prepares Millions to Defend Venezuela
telesurenglish.net | 2020-02-15
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro Saturday inaugurated the 2020 Bolivarian Shield, a defensive military exercise that is carried out amid U.S. threats and sanctions. | RELATED: | 'Justice Must Prevail in This World' Venezuela's President Says | "We start the 2020 Bolivarian Shield Exercise with the deployment of our glorious Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), which maintains a military-civic union with more than 2,300,000 mobilized combatants," Maduro said. | Defense Mi…
telesurenglish.net/news/The-Bolivarian-Shield-Prepares-Millions-to-Defend-Venezuela-20200215-0003.html

White House orders militarized border patrol unit to carry out raids in "sanctuary cities"
wsws.org | 2020-02-15
The new policy was announced as Trump gave a fascistic speech to border patrol agents, pledging to fight the "left."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/15/bord…

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Demolishes Fake Claims Targeting Julian Assange
Media Lens | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-02-14
On the face of it, the task seems almost hopeless. As Tolstoy wrote: 'The power of the government is maintained by public opinion, and with this power the government, by means of its organs

Anti-BDS laws are meant to censor & control speech, journalist Abby Martin tells RT after suing Georgia govt over cancelled talk
rt.com | 2020-02-14
Barred from speaking at a public university over her refusal to sign a pledge of allegiance to Israel, journalist Abby Martin is now suing the state of Georgia, arguing its anti-BDS legislation sets fire to the First Amendment. | Slated to give a keynote talk at a media literacy conference at Georgia Southern University later this month, Martin was asked to sign what amounts to a loyalty oath to the State of Israel, mandated under a 2016 Georgia law barring the government from hiring contractors who boycott Israeli products or associate with the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Martin t…
rt.com/usa/480806-abby-martin-georgia-bds/

Over 4000 Professors and Scholars from across Canada and around the world sign "Statement of Solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en people of British Columbia"
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-02-14
We ask that the illegal work on Unist'ot'en territory by Coastal Gas Link be immediately stopped. We request that the federal and provincial governments respect Indigenous rights as outlined in our constitution, in countless court rulings, as well as the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous people (UNDRIP) and 'Anuc niwh'it'en (Wet'suwet'en law) | Source…
mronline.org/2020/02/14/over-4000-professors-and-scholars-from-across-canada-and-around-the-world-sign-statement-of-solidarity-with-the-wetsuweten-people-of-british-columbia/

'These are the Bad Times': Trump to Deploy Heavily Armed Border Patrol Tactical Units to Help With Immigration Arrests in Sanctuary Cities
Eoin Higgins, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-02-14
"It is unbelievable how much this action will undermine public safety. Unbelievable." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/news/2020/02/14/these-are-bad-times-trump-deploy-heavily-armed-border-patrol-tactical-units-help?cd-origin=rss

Bill Barr Wants Sheriffs to Join His Attacks on State and Local Governments
Brian Tashman | aclu.org | 2020-02-13
Attorney General Bill Barr, speaking at the National Sheriffs' Association conference in Washington, D.C., encouraged sheriffs to join the Trump administration as it launches a "significant escalation" in the federal government's efforts to retaliate against cities and states with policies designed to protect immigrant communities. | For | Barr's Department of Justice, that escalation includes new lawsuits against | states and municipalities with immigrant-protective policies.
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/the-attorney-general-wants-sheriffs-to-join-his-attacks-on-state-and-local-governments

The Epidemic of Hunger Strikes in Immigrant Detention Centers
John Washington | thenation.com | 2020-02-13
The Epidemic of Hunger Strikes in Immigrant Detention Centers…
thenation.com/article/society/immigrant-detention-hunger-strike/

Transitional justice processes critical to lasting peace, Security Council hears
news.un.org | 2020-02-13
For countries to move forward after conflict or mass atrocities, suffering must be acknowledged and justice served, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Security Council on Thursday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/02/1057351

Gruesome Details Emerge of Israel's Torture of Palestinian Prisoners
Whitney Webb | mintpressnews.com | 2020-02-12
One prisoner was hospitalized for kidney failure and 11 broken ribs. Another had his genitals bitten by a security dog while a third man was left wheelchair-bound and unrecognizable.
mintpressnews.com/gruesome-details-israel-torture-palestinian-detainees/264857/

Gruesome Details Emerge of Israel's Torture of Palestinian Prisoners
Whitney Webb | mintpressnews.com | 2020-02-12
One prisoner was hospitalized for kidney failure and 11 broken ribs. Another had his genitals bitten by a security dog while a third man was left wheelchair-bound and unrecognizable.
mintpressnews.com/gruesome-details-israel-torture-palestinian-detainees/264857/

How Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Broke Through in Iowa
Ronald Newman | aclu.org | 2020-02-10
Our next president | must be committed to protecting and advancing the civil liberties and civil | rights guaranteed to all of us in the Constitution, and the current goal for | our Rights for All campaign is to educate voters on where the candidates stand on these | key issues. We now have most of the results from the Iowa caucuses last week, | and one thing stood out to us: Voters overwhelmingly supported candidates who | made specific commitments to Rights for All policies. | When we launched | the Rights for All effort last year, we were determined to elevate ke…
aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/how-iowa-elevated-civil-liberties-and-civil-rights

Iraq and Russia Prepare to Boost Military Ties as US Threatens Sanctions
Tyler Durden | theantimedia.com | 2020-02-08
Iraq and Russia are preparing for deepening military coordination.

Iraq and Russia Prepare to Boost Military Ties as US Threatens Sanctions

Animal rights groups' attempt to hijack climate movement rejected
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2020-02-07
Climate Jacob Andrewartha Sue BoltonIssue 1252 Australia MelbourneFebruary 7, 2020Animal rights activist in Melbourne have harmed the climate movement and their own cause by attempting to stack mee…
greenleft.org.au/content/animal-justice-party-attempt-hijack-climate-movement-rejected

Human Rights Watch: 200 Salvadoran Asylum Seekers Killed, Raped or Tortured After U.S. Deportation
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-02-07
A shocking new report says at least 200 Salvadoran asylum seekers were either killed, raped or tortured after being deported from the United States back to El Salvador. Human Rights Watch found that some 138 people deported to El Salvador were murdered by gang members, police, soldiers, death squads or ex-partners between 2013 and 2019. The report says most of the victims were killed within two years after being deported, by the same perpetrators the asylum seekers had fled from. From Denver, Colorado, we speak to Clara Long, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch. And joining us from El Salvador, we speak to "
www.democracynow.org/2020/2/7/hrw_report…

SPLC and the SPLC Action Fund Hire Internationally Renowned Human and Civil Rights Leader as New President and CEO
splcenter.org | 2020-02-02
Margaret Huang brings 25 years of experience advocating against discrimination and oppression around the world.
splcenter.org/news/2020/02/03/splc-and-splc-action-fund-hire-internationally-renowned-human-and-civil-rights-leader-new

SPLC sues Alabama school district for violating students' due process rights after cell phone is mistaken for gun
splcenter.org | 2020-01-28
Andre and his friend were taking turns on a cell phone, playing a video game called Last Day on Earth: Survival