2019-05-24: Social Media Postees

Assange, Espionage, and the Cult of Personality
Christian Christensen | commondreams.org | 2019-05-24
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds a press conference at Park Plaza Hotel on October 23, 2010 in London, England. The series released at the time included leaks of American military documents, nearly 400,000 in total, included details about how the torture and the abuse of detainees by Iraqi police, was ignored by U.S. forces. On Thursday it was reported that the U.S. government has filed charges under the Espionage Act for Assange's work as a journalist. (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/views/2019/05/24/assange-espionage-and-cult-personality?cd-origin=rss

Iran Runs Out of Patience due to Europe's Inaction over Nuclear Deal
plenglish.com | 2019-05-24
Tehran, May 24 (Prensa Latina) Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that the Islamic Republic has run out of patience due to Europe"s inaction over the withdrawal of the United States from the nuclear agreement and the resumption of sanctions on Iran.
www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id…

War is War on Mother Earth
Richard Moser | counterpunch.org | 2019-05-24
"In order to achieve the massive systemic and cultural transformations required for mitigating climate change…we're going to have to deal with the socially sanctioned, institutionalized violence perpetrated by U.S. foreign policy that is pouring fuel on the fire of global warming." — Stacy Bannerman Climate Change Causes War There is the close relationship between war…
counterpunch.org/2019/05/24/war-is-war-on-mother-earth/

Inmate Dies at Rountree Rehabilitation and Re-Entry Facility in Watsonville
Santa Cruz Police News | indybay.org | 2019-05-24
According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, 35-year-old inmate Carlos Bolanos was found dead at 5: 30 am today in the Rehabilitation and Re-entry Facility located at the Rountree Lane Sheriff's Detention Facilities in Watsonville. Carlos was in custody at the Rehabilitation and Re-Entry facility since December of 2018.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/05/20/18823528.php

Trump's charges against Assange are historic attack on press freedoms. Media and Obama helped set the stage
Ben Norton | thegrayzone.com | 2019-05-24
It is not just Trump, but the media, Obama, Bush, mainstream "human rights" organizations, Republicans and Democrats alike that put…
thegrayzone.com/2019/05/24/trump-charges-assange-press-freedoms-media-obama/

Oakland council resolution puts heat on county sheriff's office
Marilyn Bechtel | peoplesworld.org | 2019-05-24
OAKLAND, Calif. — With unanimous passage May 21 of a resolution urging an independent performance and financial audit of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office headed by Sheriff Gregory Ahern, the Oakland City Council has joined a rising chorus of demands by human rights and racial justice organizations and family members of inmates who have lost …
peoplesworld.org/article/oakland-council-resolution-puts-heat-on-county-sheriffs-office/

US abortion rights attacks escalate
kathy_f | greenleft.org.au | 2019-05-24
Legislative attacks on abortion rights in the US have escalated this year, as social conservatives have shifted tactics with an unprecedented wave of state abortion bans adopted. | The most restrictive legislation was signed into law by Alabama's governor on May 15. It bans abortion altogether, except for cases of medical emergency. Pregnancy resulting from sexual assault is no exception and doctors performing abortions are criminalised with penalties of up to 99 years in jail. | On May 7, Georgia became the fourth state this year (after Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio) to sign into law an abortion ban from t…
greenleft.org.au/content/us-abortion-rights-attacks-escalate

The Only Solution to America's Political Crisis
Paul Street | truthdig.com | 2019-05-24
Hardly a day has gone by over the last two years when one hasn't been able to learn of yet another soul-numbing outrage on the part of President Donald Trump and his administration. The stories have been relentlessly disturbing: | Trump's suggestion of moral equivalency between neo-Nazis and civil rights protesters in Charlottesville, Va. | The vicious separation of children from their migrant parents at the southern border. | The concoction of a fake na…
truthdig.com/articles/the-only-solution-to-americas-political-crisis/

Alabama Is Trying to Ban Abortion. Today We Filed Suit to Stop Them
aclu.org | 2019-05-24
Abortion is a right and this attack on abortion rights won't succeed. | Last week, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation banning nearly all abortions. The law, which threatens doctors with up to 99 years in prison for performing abortions, is the anti-abortion opposition's true agenda on display: ban abortion, jail doctors, and push this essential health care out of reach. | These are undoubtedly dark times in the fight for reproductive freedom as Alabama and states across the South and Midwest aggressively push to place such onerous restrictions on abortion so that the procedure is all but rendered inaccessib…
aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom/abortion/alabama-trying-ban-abortion-today-we-filed-suit-stop-them

Calling All Handmaids: Stop Fascist Attacks on Reproductive Rights
Curt Wechsler | indybay.org | 2019-05-24
Larkin Street side of Main Library, San Francisco…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/05/20/18823530.php

As the far right grows, its mask comes off
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-05-24
The brutal face of hard right and fascist reaction has been on vivid display on the issues of women's rights and the climate crisis in the past few weeks. | In Germany the AfD (Alliance for Germany) launched a vicious attack on inspirational teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, portraying her as an extremist and suggesting she needs treatment for her "psychosis" — a shabby reference to her autism. | Rejecting near-unanimous scientific opinion, the AfD said that the climate justice movement is scare mongering about levels of carbon dioxide emissions, asserting that the gas is a beneficial plant nutrient.
greenleft.org.au/content/far-right-grows-its-mask-comes

Six immigrant children dead in US custody since September
wsws.org | 2019-05-24
Protecting the lives and democratic rights of immigrants requires a fight against imperialist war and the capitalist system.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/24/immi…

Lone US senator decries use of Espionage Act against Assange as establishment keeps mum
rt.com | 2019-05-24
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) has become a rare voice among the US politicians to denounce the new US indictment of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange as an encroachment on First Amendment rights. | …
rt.com/usa/460127-assange-senator-first-amendment/

Despite Lawsuit, TBSC Leader Calls for Hosing Down a Sleeping Homeless Man
Peter Green | indybay.org | 2019-05-24
Samantha Olden, a leader of the "public safety" group Take Back Santa Cruz (TBSC), recently made a comment on social media suggesting a homeless man be hosed down with water to discourage him from trespassing in the area in which he was sleeping. The comment from Olden comes just over a month after homeless residents in Santa Cruz named Take Back Santa Cruz in a federal civil rights lawsuit, which calls for TBSC to, "be enjoined from dangerous inflammatory hate speech and ordered to publicly alert its members and followers to refrain from performing or inciting acts of physical violence against homeless persons."
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/05/20/18823516.php

In Latest Attack on Women and Trans People, Trump Invites Medical Providers to Discriminate Against Already-Marginalized Patients
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-05-24
The Trump administration unveiled its latest attack in recent days on the rights of transgender people and women, proposing a rule that would gut Obama-era protections against discrimination in the medical field. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2019/05/24/latest-attack-women-and-trans-people-trump-invites-medical-providers-discriminate?cd-origin=rss

Why Are Leading Democrats Supporting Trump on Venezuela?
Jeff Faux | thenation.com | 2019-05-23
Why Are Leading Democrats Supporting Trump on Venezuela?
thenation.com/article/venezuela-democrats-trump-sanctions/

Flu outbreak leads to quarantine at Texas immigrant detention center
wsws.org | 2019-05-23
The death of a migrant teenager on Monday has highlighted the inhumane conditions at one of the largest immigration detention centers in the US.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/23/immi…

Palestinians overwhelmingly condemn German Parliament's anti-Palestinian resolution
patrick | bdsmovement.net | 2019-05-23
Palestinians overwhelmingly condemn German Parliament's anti-Palestinian resolution: Open LetterPalestinian civil society coalitions, human rights organizations, labor unions, and representatives of the Palestinian people, condemn in the strongest terms the German Parliament's resolution which is based on outright lies and equates the nonviolent BDS movement for Palestinian right…
bdsmovement.net/news/palestinians-overwhelmingly-condemn-german-parliament%E2%80%99s-anti-palestinian-resolution

"India Loses Again, and the World Loses with It": Siddhartha Deb on Modi's Landslide Re-election
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-23
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears set to enter a second term in a landslide victory. Election results show Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP party leading in 325 of the 543 seats in Parliament. At this rate, these numbers will give him an even greater majority than in 2014, when his party claimed the first outright majority in decades. Most analysts had predicted Modi's BJP party would lose seats in this election. Modi's government has been criticized for a crackdown on civil society, targeting political opponents, journalists, human rights activists, lawyers and writers. Human rights groups have also raised…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/23/india_los…

How the U.S. Crackdown on Abortion Laws Influences Other Countries
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-05-23
As Americans struggle to decide the fate of reproductive rights state by state, the U.S. government has imposed a "Gag Rule" that would remove U.S. federal funding from any country or international organization that provides abortions or even advises women that abortion is their choice…
therealnews.com/stories/how-the-u-s-crackdown-on-abortion-laws-influences-other-countries

Selected Articles: Risk of Nuclear War Now Highest Since World War 2: UN
Global Research News | globalresearch.ca | 2019-05-23
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-risk-of-nuclear-war-now-highest-since-world-war-2-un/5678331

For Afro-Colombians, the 2016 Peace Treaty Brought No Peace
Roosbelinda Cárdenas | thenation.com | 2019-05-23
For Afro-Colombians, the 2016 Peace Treaty Brought No Peace…
thenation.com/article/colombia-francia-marquez-human-rights-defender/

The EU Opens to Colonialism Reparations. "Fundamental rights of people of African descent"
Colonialism Reparation | globalresearch.ca | 2019-05-23
Colonialism Reparation welcomes that the European Parliament has approved by a large majority the resolution on the "Fundamental rights of people of African descent" recognising the current situation of structural racism and asks that the former colonising Member States follow …
globalresearch.ca/the-eu-opens-to-colonialism-reparations-fundamental-rights-of-people-of-african-descent/5678299

Washington declared 'sanctuary state' as governor looks to stand out in crowded 2020 race
rt.com | 2019-05-23
Washington has passed a law barring authorities from questioning people's immigration status — what Governor Jay Inslee boasts is the strongest 'sanctuary state' law in the US, netting him progressive cred for the 2020 election. | …
rt.com/usa/460045-washington-sanctuary-state-inslee-nomination/

How ICE Is Using Solitary Confinement to Punish Asylum Seekers, Including LGBT & Disabled Immigrants
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-22
Since 2012, ICE has used solitary confinement as a routine punishment for thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers locked up in immigration jails across the country. We look at a new, damning investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that has revealed this widespread abusive use of solitary confinement in immigration jails overseen by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The United Nations special rapporteur on torture says solitary confinement should only be used in exceptional circumstances, and defines extended use of solitary as "inhuman and degrading treatment." Despit…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/22/solitary_…

Canada's NDP MP Randall Garrison's Disgraceful Anti-Palestinian Politics
Yves Engler | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-05-22
Randall Garrison is an embarrassment to everyone who supports universal human rights. The Victoria area New Democratic Party MP's anti-Palestinian politics are beyond disgraceful. Earlier this month Garrison was reappointed vice-chair of the Canada Israel Interparliamentary Group (CIIG). As such, he's continuing to refuse to heed a call from Roger Waters, Noam Chomsky, Maher Arar, …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/05/canadas-ndp-mp-randall-garrisons-disgraceful-anti-palestinian-politics/

The UN gives the Lib Dems a massive headache just a day before the EU elections
James Wright | thecanary.co | 2019-05-22
The UN has given the Liberal Democrats a massive headache only a day before the EU elections, which take place on 23 May in the UK. | "Tragic" policies: | The Human Rights Council report, released on 22 May, states that "policies of austerity introduced in 2010" have had "tragic social consequences". With the Lib Dems gaining support through Remain protest votes…
thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2019/05/22/the-un-gives-the-lib-dems-a-massive-headache-just-a-day-before-the-eu-elections/

Abortion rights rally in St. Paul, MN
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-05-22
Up to 500 people gathered at the state capitol building here, May 21, joining a national day of action in response to the new round of abortion restrictions and bans in Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri and Georgia. Chants of "Our bodies, our choice," and "No more" echoed across the capitol complex. | Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota helped organized the rally. There were a range of speakers and supportive politicians urging all to fight back on the attacks on women and choice. A woman spoke about a very hard personal decision she and her husband made in the second trimester. Doctors stated their…
fightbacknews.org/2019/5/22/abortion-rights-rally-st-paul-mn

Activists Push Back Against Conservative Threat to Safe and Legal Abortion
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-05-22
With abortion rights under threat across the country and conservative anti-abortion bills gaining momentum, women and activists are taking their protests to the streets to defend their right to privacy and bodily autonomy…
therealnews.com/stories/activists-push-back-against-conservative-threat-to-safe-and-legal-abortion

US shutters large migrant facility in Texas amid flu outbreak
rt.com | 2019-05-22
The US border control agency has halted intake at a migrant holding facility in Texas after an outbreak of a "flu-related illness." The closure comes just one day after a 16-year-old detainee died in custody. | …
rt.com/usa/460034-us-close-migrant-facility-flu/

Jennifer Harbury: Deaths of Guatemalan Children at Border Have Roots in Decades of U.S.-Backed Genocide
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-21
Five Guatemalan children have died after being apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol since December. We look at the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the border and its ties to decades of bloody U.S. intervention in Latin America with human rights attorney Jennifer Harbury. Her husband, Efraín Bámaca Velásquez, was a Mayan comandante and guerrilla who was disappeared after he was captured by the Guatemalan army in the 1980s. After a long campaign, she found there was U.S. involvement in the cover-up of her husband's murder and torture. "We trained them. We taught them torture techniques. We funded them, and we armed t…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/21/jennifer_…

Children of ISIL terrorists likely held in 'secret detention facilities', UN human rights office warns
United Nations | un.org | 2019-05-21
In Syria, it is suspected that children whose fathers fought for terrorist group ISIL are being held in unidentified "settlements" and "secret detention facilities" away from their mothers, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/05/1038901

Thousands of Immigrants Suffer in Solitary Confinement in ICE Detention
Spencer Woodman | theintercept.com | 2019-05-21
Dulce Rivera lived for the one hour a day she was allowed outside, to pace alone on a patch of concrete encased in metal fencing. | They called it "the yard," but it was really a metal cage. Still, it was far better than the misery she endured the other 23 hours a day, locked alone in a cell with no one to talk to and nothing to distract her from her increasingly dark thoughts. | Rivera, a 36-year-old transgender woman from Honduras and a longtime U.S. resident, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2017. She was placed in the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, and moved into s…
theintercept.com/2019/05/21/ice-solitary-confinement-immigration-detention/

Family of Jailed Saudi Feminist Loujain Al-Hathloul: She Was Waterboarded, Flogged & Electrocuted
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-21
It's been a year since women's right activist Loujain Al-Hathloul was detained and jailed in Saudi Arabia for leading a movement to lift the kingdom's ban on female drivers and overhaul its male "guardianship" system. Despite international outcry, she's been imprisoned ever since. During that time, her family says, she's been held in solitary confinement and faced abuse, including electric shocks, flogging and threats of sexual violence. The Saudi government has resisted calls from human rights groups and lawmakers from around the world to release Loujain and the other jailed activists. We speak with two of Louja…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/21/family_of…

Detained, Abused & Denied Medical Care: How Trump Immigration Policies Led to Child Deaths at Border
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-05-21
A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy died in U.S. custody Monday after spending a week in immigration jail. Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was found dead at a Border Patrol station at Weslaco, Texas, just one day after being diagnosed with the flu. He was not hospitalized. This marks the fifth death of a Guatemalan child apprehended by Border Patrol since December. Before last year, it had been more than a decade since a child died in the custody of U.S. immigration officials. We speak with Fernando Garcia, the founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an advocacy organization based in El Paso, and Jen…
www.democracynow.org/2019/5/21/detained_…

A Homeland Security Whistleblower Goes Public About ICE Abuse of Solitary Confinement
Maryam Saleh | theintercept.com | 2019-05-21
Ellen Gallagher was stunned when she first learned that immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement were sometimes placed in isolation with no human contact for 22 hours a day. It was February 2014, only a few months into her stint as a policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, where she thought she'd be empowered to ensure that the department did not violate the rights of those who came into its crosshairs. | For the next several months, Gallagher educated herself on solitary confinement, a controversial practice used frequently in penal i…
theintercept.com/2019/05/21/ice-solitary-confinement-whistleblower/

Taking Action to #StopTheBans
Ruth Conniff | progressive.org | 2019-05-21
Across the country this week, advocates for reproductive justice and women's rights are rallying to put a stop to the onslaught of restrictive abortion laws.
progressive.org/dispatches/stop-the-bans-conniff-190521/

Judge orders new union vote at Kumho Tire plant in Georgia
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-05-21
Washington D.C. – An administrative law judge ordered a new union vote at a Kumho Tire factory in Macon, Georgia, after finding that company officials violated workers' rights during the first election in October 2017. | The first vote resulted in a narrow loss for the workers, who were seeking to join the United Steelworkers (USW) union. After that vote, the USW filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the company of illegal conduct in its effort to suppress the union. | In his ruling, Administrative Law Judge Arthur J. Amchan wrote that the company's illegal conduct was "pervasive" and…
fightbacknews.org/2019/5/21/judge-orders-new-union-vote-kumho-tire-plant-georgia

'We're Still Going to Be Making Sure People Have Access to Abortions They Want and Need' – CounterSpin interview with Jill Heaviside and Oriaku Njoku on reproductive rights assaults
Janine Jackson | fair.org | 2019-05-21
Janine Jackson interviewed Jill Heaviside and Oriaku Njoku about resisting assaults on reproductive rights for the May 17, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…
fair.org/home/were-still-going-to-be-making-sure-people-have-access-to-abortions-they-want-and-need/

Tuesday's Daily Brief: Libya civil war, African displacement, global trade tensions, terrorists' children 'secretly detained', and more
United Nations | un.org | 2019-05-21
Tuesday's stories include: Libya facing "permanent division", regional war; Africa event highlights forcible displacement; terrorists' children 'secretly detained' in Syria; Venezuelans need protection; global trade tensions rise.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/05/1038921

Venezuela: Widespread Gasoline Shortages as Sanctions Take Toll on Oil Sector
Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-05-20
Long queues have been seen at gas pumps around the country in recent days.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14500

Border Patrol Museum Demonstrators Targeted In Crackdown On Immigrant Rights Protests
Will Parrish | shadowproof.com | 2019-05-20
Four activists turned themselves in to El Paso police on May 13 after the police issued warrants for their arrest related to a nonviolent demonstration inside a United States Border Patrol museum.
shadowproof.com/2019/05/20/border-patrol-museum-demonstrators-targeted-in-crackdown-on-immigrant-rights-protests/

Trump-Bolton Aggression Against Iran Contained by Russia, Japan, China, and EU
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-05-19
Vijay Prashad says the very dangerous statements, economic sanctions and military aggression unleashed by Washington this week against Iran was countered by cool headed diplomacy by Japan, Russia, EU and China…
therealnews.com/stories/trump-bolton-aggression-against-iran-contained-by-russia-japan-china-and-eu

Coalition win makes fightback urgent
kathy_f | greenleft.org.au | 2019-05-19
The right-wing dominated Coalition's win in the May 18 federal election is a major setback for the climate action movement, the union movement and the interests of working people in Australia. | It will no doubt lead to an acceleration of attacks on union rights, the living standards of workers and the poor and is a serious blow to the growing climate action movement among youth and the population generally. | We must now urgently take steps to unite and step up the fight to defend the movements for progressive change in this country. | Despite this electoral setback, which occurred in the face of opinion po…
greenleft.org.au/content/coalition-win-makes-fightback-urgent

New Abortion Laws 'Go Against Common Sense'
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-05-19
Conservatives have launched a new attack on abortion rights, which go against both medical science and common sense, says Anoa Changa, but the point is to bring the issue to the new conservative Supreme Court majority…
therealnews.com/stories/new-abortion-laws-go-against-common-sense

Oriaku Njoku & Jill Heaviside on Abortion Rights in Georgia and Beyond
CounterSpin | fair.org | 2019-05-17
Abortions will happen, as they always have. The question is what they'll be like, for whom? If that's your question about the future, it makes sense to talk with the people who are doing the work now — of support, advocacy and funding to allow women to access safe and affordable abortion care.
fair.org/home/oriaku-njoku-jill-heaviside-on-abortion-rights-in-georgia-and-beyond/

New York Passes a Bill to Ensure No One Loses Their Home for Calling the Police
aclu.org | 2019-05-17
Americans shouldn't be threatened with losing housing because they called for help. | In cities and towns across New York state — and around the country — you can be evicted just for calling for police or emergency assistance. Fortunately, that's about to change in New York. The State Legislature recently passed a bill — unanimously in the Assembly and 58 to 1 in the Senate — to prote…
aclu.org/blog/womens-rights/violence-against-women/new-york-passes-bill-ensure-no-one-loses-their-home

United States: Resisting Trump's attacks on migrants
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-05-17
Green Left Weekly's Jacob Andrewartha and Zane Alcorn spoke to Justin Akers Chacón, a Mexican-based, US immigrant rights activist, in Melbourne for the Marxism conference in April. | What can you tell us about the current situation in the US regarding immigration, particularly as we enter the second half of US President Donald Trump's term in office? | The situation is really dire in many ways. Trump has ratcheted up the attack on immigrants, including trying to prevent thousands of Central American asylum-seekers from even reaching the border where they could apply for asylum. | He has done this by essentially s…
greenleft.org.au/content/united-states-resisting-trump-attacks-migrants

NAACP and Civil Rights Groups Hold Rally on the 65th Anniversary of Brown v. Board
Austyn Ross | naacp.org | 2019-05-17
On May 16, NAACP along with civil rights organizations and members of Congress held a rally on Capitol Hill to make the promise of Brown v. Board of Education a reality for all. In honor of the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, speakers addressed the still urgent struggle for education equity as well …
naacp.org/latest/naacp-civil-rights-groups-hold-rally-65th-anniversary-brown-v-board/

What's Trending: Black News Recap
Vanessa Mbonu@naacpnet | naacp.org | 2019-05-13
Blavity: Civil Rights Organizations Are Fighting For Crystal Mason, Who Was Imprisoned For Voting, To Be Released From Prison Crystal Mason, a Texas woman who was sent to prison for voting, is fighting for her freedom with the help of new additions to her legal team.The Texas Civil Rights Project, American …
naacp.org/latest/whats-trending-black-news-recap/

2019-05-23: News Headlines

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez (2019-05-23). How ICE is using solitary confinement to punish asylum seekers, including LGBT & disabled immigrants. nationofchange.org The United Nations special rapporteur on torture says solitary confinement should only be used in exceptional circumstances, and defines extended use of solitary as "inhuman and degrading treatment."

Jeff Faux (2019-05-23). Why Are Leading Democrats Supporting Trump on Venezuela? thenation.com Why Are Leading Democrats Supporting Trump on Venezuela?

Andrew Korybko (2019-05-23). US Is About to Sanction the World if They Don't Stop Purchasing Russian Weapons. globalresearch.ca The CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) sanctions concept of economically punishing countries that continue to purchase Russian and Chinese arms is about to become much more effective after the forthcoming global application of the "European Recapitalisation Incentive Programme", …

Hans-Peter Martin (2019-05-23). We the Scattered in the Insult Society. indybay.org Hans-Peter Martin is the author of "Game Over. Prosperity for a Few, Democracy for No One, and Nationalism for Everyone" (2018). Now it is Game Over for the West, for our civilization model. Capitalism functions even without democracy and without observing liberal human rights.

Democracy Now! (2019-05-23). "India Loses Again, and the World Loses with It": Siddhartha Deb on Modi's Landslide Re-election. democracynow.org Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears set to enter a second term in a landslide victory. Election results show Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP party leading in 325 of the 543 seats in Parliament. At this rate, these numbers will give him an even greater majority than in 2014, when his party claimed the first outright majority in decades. Most analysts had predicted Modi's BJP party would lose seats in this election. Modi's government has been criticized for a crackdown on civil society, targeting political opponents, journalists, human rights activists, lawyers and writers. Human rights groups have also raised…

Staff (2019-05-23). In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wins in Landslide Re-election. truthout.org Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears set to enter a second term in a landslide victory. Election results show Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP party leading in 325 of the 543 seats in Parliament. At this rate, these numbers will give him an even greater majority than in 2014, when his party claimed the first outright majority in decades. Most analysts had predicted Modi's BJP party would lose seats in this election. Modi's government has been criticized for a crackdown on civil society, targeting political opponents, journalists, human rights activists, lawyers and writers. Human rights groups have also rai…

Santa Cruz Police News (2019-05-23). Inmate Dies at Rountree Rehabilitation and Re-Entry Facility in Watsonville. indybay.org According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, 35-year-old inmate Carlos Bolanos was found dead at 5: 30 am today in the Rehabilitation and Re-entry Facility located at the Rountree Lane Sheriff's Detention Facilities in Watsonville. Carlos was in custody at the Rehabilitation and Re-Entry facility since December of 2018.

WSWS (2019-05-23). Flu outbreak leads to quarantine at Texas immigrant detention center. wsws.org The death of a migrant teenager on Monday has highlighted the inhumane conditions at one of the largest immigration detention centers in the US.

Curt Wechsler (2019-05-23). Calling All Handmaids: Stop Fascist Attacks on Reproductive Rights. indybay.org Larkin Street side of Main Library, San Francisco…

Jessica Huseman (2019-05-23). New York City's early voting plan will favor white, affluent voters, advocacy groups say. nationofchange.org In a letter, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause New York and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said the plan "will impose a severe burden on many of the City's low-income voters."

Staff (2019-05-23). How the U.S. Crackdown on Abortion Laws Influences Other Countries. therealnews.com As Americans struggle to decide the fate of reproductive rights state by state, the U.S. government has imposed a "Gag Rule" that would remove U.S. federal funding from any country or international organization that provides abortions or even advises women that abortion is their choice…

Colonialism Reparation (2019-05-23). The EU Opens to Colonialism Reparations. "Fundamental rights of people of African descent" globalresearch.ca Colonialism Reparation welcomes that the European Parliament has approved by a large majority the resolution on the "Fundamental rights of people of African descent" recognising the current situation of structural racism and asks that the former colonising Member States follow …

Peter Green (2019-05-23). Despite Lawsuit, TBSC Leader Calls for Hosing Down a Sleeping Homeless Man. indybay.org Samantha Olden, a leader of the "public safety" group Take Back Santa Cruz (TBSC), recently made a comment on social media suggesting a homeless man be hosed down with water to discourage him from trespassing in the area in which he was sleeping. The comment from Olden comes just over a month after homeless residents in Santa Cruz named Take Back Santa Cruz in a federal civil rights lawsuit, which calls for TBSC to, "be enjoined from dangerous inflammatory hate speech and ordered to publicly alert its members and followers to refrain from performing or inciting acts of physical violence against homeless persons."

Robert C. Koehler (2019-05-23). Politicizing a Woman's Body. commondreams.org The harm begins with the dehumanization itself—the stripping of one's rights. (Photo: a katz / Shutterstock) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

RT (2019-05-23). Washington declared 'sanctuary state' as governor looks to stand out in crowded 2020 race. rt.com Washington has passed a law barring authorities from questioning people's immigration status — what Governor Jay Inslee boasts is the strongest 'sanctuary state' law in the US, netting him progressive cred for the 2020 election.

Democracy Now! (2019-05-22). How ICE Is Using Solitary Confinement to Punish Asylum Seekers, Including LGBT & Disabled Immigrants. democracynow.org Since 2012, ICE has used solitary confinement as a routine punishment for thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers locked up in immigration jails across the country. We look at a new, damning investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that has revealed this widespread abusive use of solitary confinement in immigration jails overseen by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The United Nations special rapporteur on torture says solitary confinement should only be used in exceptional circumstances, and defines extended use of solitary as "inhuman and degrading treatment." Despit…

RT (2019-05-22). US shutters large migrant facility in Texas amid flu outbreak. rt.com The US border control agency has halted intake at a migrant holding facility in Texas after an outbreak of a "flu-related illness." The closure comes just one day after a 16-year-old detainee died in custody.

teleSUR (2019-05-22). Sixth Migrant, 10-Year-Old Girl, Dies While in US Custody. telesurenglish.net The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Wednesday the death of a sixth migrant child in U.S. custody, a young girl, who's death had gone previously unreported. | RELATED | 5th Migrant Minor Dies While in US Custody | The young girl, 10, was from El Salvador and had been detained by United States Border Patrol, an organization that has come under fire of late after the deaths of five other children, either while under their care or shortly after ha…

James Wright (2019-05-22). The UN gives the Lib Dems a massive headache just a day before the EU elections. thecanary.co The UN has given the Liberal Democrats a massive headache only a day before the EU elections, which take place on 23 May in the UK. | "Tragic" policies: | The Human Rights Council report, released on 22 May, states that "policies of austerity introduced in 2010" have had "tragic social consequences". With the Lib Dems gaining support through Remain protest votes…

teleSUR (2019-05-22). Paraguay Prosecutes Campesinos who Protested Soy, Agrochemicals. telesurenglish.net Four Paraguayan Campesinos are in danger of being sentenced to preventative detention in a case where they, along with 30 other Campesinos, protested the planting of soy crops in their area of eastern Paraguay. | RELATED | Paraguay's Campesino's Join Indigenous People in Deman for Right to Land | The Coordinator of Human Rights of Paraguay (Codehupy), which is on the four women's defense, asserts that the Prosecutor's Office is "criminalizing people for defending a hea…

Yves Engler (2019-05-22). Canada's NDP MP Randall Garrison's Disgraceful Anti-Palestinian Politics. dissidentvoice.org Randall Garrison is an embarrassment to everyone who supports universal human rights. The Victoria area New Democratic Party MP's anti-Palestinian politics are beyond disgraceful. Earlier this month Garrison was reappointed vice-chair of the Canada Israel Interparliamentary Group (CIIG). As such, he's continuing to refuse to heed a call from Roger Waters, Noam Chomsky, Maher Arar, …

WSWS (2019-05-22). Thousands rally across the US to defend abortion rights. wsws.org The number of demonstrations reflect the broad popular support for the right of women to choose and in defense of democratic rights more generally.

Staff (2019-05-22). Activists Push Back Against Conservative Threat to Safe and Legal Abortion. therealnews.com With abortion rights under threat across the country and conservative anti-abortion bills gaining momentum, women and activists are taking their protests to the streets to defend their right to privacy and bodily autonomy…

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2019-05-22). 'Dangerous and Disgraceful': HUD Proposal Would Let Homeless Shelters Turn Away Trans People. commondreams.org In what advocates for LGBTQ rights condemned as "yet another dangerous and disgraceful attack on transgender people from the Trump administration," the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday announced a proposal to allow taxpayer-funded homeless shelters to turn away trans individuals. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Fight Back (2019-05-22). Abortion rights rally in St. Paul, MN. fightbacknews.org Up to 500 people gathered at the state capitol building here, May 21, joining a national day of action in response to the new round of abortion restrictions and bans in Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri and Georgia. Chants of "Our bodies, our choice," and "No more" echoed across the capitol complex. | Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota helped organized the rally. There were a range of speakers and supportive politicians urging all to fight back on the attacks on women and choice. A woman spoke about a very hard personal decision she and her husband made in the second trimester. Doctors stated their…

Democracy Now! (2019-05-21). Jennifer Harbury: Deaths of Guatemalan Children at Border Have Roots in Decades of U.S.-Backed Genocide. democracynow.org Five Guatemalan children have died after being apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol since December. We look at the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the border and its ties to decades of bloody U.S. intervention in Latin America with human rights attorney Jennifer Harbury. Her husband, Efraín Bámaca Velásquez, was a Mayan comandante and guerrilla who was disappeared after he was captured by the Guatemalan army in the 1980s. After a long campaign, she found there was U.S. involvement in the cover-up of her husband's murder and torture. "We trained them. We taught them torture techniques. We funded them, and we armed t…

Democracy Now! (2019-05-21). Detained, Abused & Denied Medical Care: How Trump Immigration Policies Led to Child Deaths at Border. democracynow.org A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy died in U.S. custody Monday after spending a week in immigration jail. Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez was found dead at a Border Patrol station at Weslaco, Texas, just one day after being diagnosed with the flu. He was not hospitalized. This marks the fifth death of a Guatemalan child apprehended by Border Patrol since December. Before last year, it had been more than a decade since a child died in the custody of U.S. immigration officials. We speak with Fernando Garcia, the founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an advocacy organization based in El Paso, and Jen…

Democracy Now! (2019-05-21). Family of Jailed Saudi Feminist Loujain Al-Hathloul: She Was Waterboarded, Flogged & Electrocuted. democracynow.org It's been a year since women's right activist Loujain Al-Hathloul was detained and jailed in Saudi Arabia for leading a movement to lift the kingdom's ban on female drivers and overhaul its male "guardianship" system. Despite international outcry, she's been imprisoned ever since. During that time, her family says, she's been held in solitary confinement and faced abuse, including electric shocks, flogging and threats of sexual violence. The Saudi government has resisted calls from human rights groups and lawmakers from around the world to release Loujain and the other jailed activists. We speak with two of Louja…

Spencer Woodman (2019-05-21). Thousands of Immigrants Suffer in Solitary Confinement in ICE Detention. theintercept.com Dulce Rivera lived for the one hour a day she was allowed outside, to pace alone on a patch of concrete encased in metal fencing. | They called it "the yard," but it was really a metal cage. Still, it was far better than the misery she endured the other 23 hours a day, locked alone in a cell with no one to talk to and nothing to distract her from her increasingly dark thoughts. | Rivera, a 36-year-old transgender woman from Honduras and a longtime U.S. resident, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2017. She was placed in the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, and moved into s…

United Nations (2019-05-21). Tuesday's Daily Brief: Libya civil war, African displacement, global trade tensions, terrorists' children 'secretly detained', and more. un.org Tuesday's stories include: Libya facing "permanent division", regional war; Africa event highlights forcible displacement; terrorists' children 'secretly detained' in Syria; Venezuelans need protection; global trade tensions rise.

Maryam Saleh (2019-05-21). A Homeland Security Whistleblower Goes Public About ICE Abuse of Solitary Confinement. theintercept.com Ellen Gallagher was stunned when she first learned that immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement were sometimes placed in isolation with no human contact for 22 hours a day. It was February 2014, only a few months into her stint as a policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, where she thought she'd be empowered to ensure that the department did not violate the rights of those who came into its crosshairs. | For the next several months, Gallagher educated herself on solitary confinement, a controversial practice used frequently in penal i…

United Nations (2019-05-21). Children of ISIL terrorists likely held in 'secret detention facilities', UN human rights office warns. un.org In Syria, it is suspected that children whose fathers fought for terrorist group ISIL are being held in unidentified "settlements" and "secret detention facilities" away from their mothers, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.

Fight Back (2019-05-21). Judge orders new union vote at Kumho Tire plant in Georgia. fightbacknews.org Washington D.C. – An administrative law judge ordered a new union vote at a Kumho Tire factory in Macon, Georgia, after finding that company officials violated workers' rights during the first election in October 2017. | The first vote resulted in a narrow loss for the workers, who were seeking to join the United Steelworkers (USW) union. After that vote, the USW filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the company of illegal conduct in its effort to suppress the union. | In his ruling, Administrative Law Judge Arthur J. Amchan wrote that the company's illegal conduct was "pervasive" and…

Ruth Conniff (2019-05-21). Taking Action to #StopTheBans. progressive.org Across the country this week, advocates for reproductive justice and women's rights are rallying to put a stop to the onslaught of restrictive abortion laws.

Janine Jackson (2019-05-21). 'We're Still Going to Be Making Sure People Have Access to Abortions They Want and Need' – CounterSpin interview with Jill Heaviside and Oriaku Njoku on reproductive rights assaults. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed Jill Heaviside and Oriaku Njoku about resisting assaults on reproductive rights for the May 17, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…

Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz (2019-05-20). Venezuela: Widespread Gasoline Shortages as Sanctions Take Toll on Oil Sector. venezuelanalysis.com Long queues have been seen at gas pumps around the country in recent days.

Democracy Now! (2019-05-20). Headlines for May 20, 2019. democracynow.org Trump Threatens "Official End of Iran" Via Tweet If It Provokes the U.S., First Phase of Kushner's Middle East Peace Plan to Focus on Palestinian Economy, Sweden Requests Detention of Assange as WikiLeaks Accuses U.S. of Illegally Seizing His Property, Australian Voters Choose Conservative PM Morrison Over Opponent Who Vowed to Tackle Climate Change, Austria Calls Snap Election After Far-Right Leader Caught in Corruption Scandal, Protesters Take to the Streets Ahead of European Parliament Elections, Narendra Modi on Track for Second Term as Prime Minister as Voting Ends in India, Taiwan Legalizes Same-Sex Marriag…

Will Parrish (2019-05-20). Border Patrol Museum Demonstrators Targeted In Crackdown On Immigrant Rights Protests. shadowproof.com Four activists turned themselves in to El Paso police on May 13 after the police issued warrants for their arrest related to a nonviolent demonstration inside a United States Border Patrol museum.

Staff (2019-05-19). Trump-Bolton Aggression Against Iran Contained by Russia, Japan, China, and EU. therealnews.com Vijay Prashad says the very dangerous statements, economic sanctions and military aggression unleashed by Washington this week against Iran was countered by cool headed diplomacy by Japan, Russia, EU and China…

Gary Leupp (2019-05-19). The Treasury Department and Moves Towards War on Iran. dissidentvoice.org As Patrick Cockburn has observed in a recent Counterpunch column, "At the end of the day, the US Treasury is a more powerful instrument of foreign policy than the Pentagon for all its aircraft carriers and drones." He refers, of course, to the success of U.S. sanctions on Iran and secondary sanctions on any corporations …

Staff (2019-05-19). Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Is Being Pushed By 'Islamophobia Industry'. therealnews.com Civil rights lawyer and activist Arjun Singh Sethi says, "Even the CIA actually came out and said it would be a mistake, because in many ways the Muslim Brotherhood more recently has been a force of moderation and democratization in the Middle East."

Staff (2019-05-19). New Abortion Laws 'Go Against Common Sense'. therealnews.com Conservatives have launched a new attack on abortion rights, which go against both medical science and common sense, says Anoa Changa, but the point is to bring the issue to the new conservative Supreme Court majority…

kathy_f (2019-05-19). Coalition win makes fightback urgent. greenleft.org.au The right-wing dominated Coalition's win in the May 18 federal election is a major setback for the climate action movement, the union movement and the interests of working people in Australia. | It will no doubt lead to an acceleration of attacks on union rights, the living standards of workers and the poor and is a serious blow to the growing climate action movement among youth and the population generally. | We must now urgently take steps to unite and step up the fight to defend the movements for progressive change in this country. | Despite this electoral setback, which occurred in the face of opinion po…

United Nations (2019-05-17). Friday's Daily Brief: Syria, Yemen airstrikes, Anti-torture panel, Gay rights, Climate change, #Vesak Day. un.org On Friday, we cover: Fighting in Syria's Idlib province; UN condemnation of airstrikes in Yemen; UK's forced-return policy; LGBTI rights; the UN chief's climate action trip to Tuvalu; and Vesak Day.

kathy_f (2019-05-17). Rocky Hill decision rocks mining lobby. greenleft.org.au The ruling by the NSW Land and Environment Court on February 8 to reject the Rocky Hill coalmine outside Gloucester is being felt beyond its local community and will have implications for human rights as well as climate change policy. | According to Lock the Gate Alliance: "Mining company KEPCO's new submission to the Independent Planning Commission on its proposed Bylong Valley coal project is recognition the Rocky Hill judgement changed the way the IPC should consider new coalmines in New South Wales." | KEP…

susan_p (2019-05-17). United States: Resisting Trump's attacks on migrants. greenleft.org.au Green Left Weekly's Jacob Andrewartha and Zane Alcorn spoke to Justin Akers Chacón, a Mexican-based, US immigrant rights activist, in Melbourne for the Marxism conference in April. | What can you tell us about the current situation in the US regarding immigration, particularly as we enter the second half of US President Donald Trump's term in office? | The situation is really dire in many ways. Trump has ratcheted up the attack on immigrants, including trying to prevent thousands of Central American asylum-seekers from even reaching the border where they could apply for asylum. | He has done this by essentially s…

CounterSpin (2019-05-17). Oriaku Njoku & Jill Heaviside on Abortion Rights in Georgia and Beyond. fair.org Abortions will happen, as they always have. The question is what they'll be like, for whom? If that's your question about the future, it makes sense to talk with the people who are doing the work now — of support, advocacy and funding to allow women to access safe and affordable abortion care.

Austyn Ross (2019-05-17). NAACP and Civil Rights Groups Hold Rally on the 65th Anniversary of Brown v. Board. naacp.org On May 16, NAACP along with civil rights organizations and members of Congress held a rally on Capitol Hill to make the promise of Brown v. Board of Education a reality for all. In honor of the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, speakers addressed the still urgent struggle for education equity as well …

ACLU (2019-05-17). New York Passes a Bill to Ensure No One Loses Their Home for Calling the Police. aclu.org Americans shouldn't be threatened with losing housing because they called for help. | In cities and towns across New York state — and around the country — you can be evicted just for calling for police or emergency assistance. Fortunately, that's about to change in New York. The State Legislature recently passed a bill — unanimously in the Assembly and 58 to 1 in the Senate — to prote…

Democracy Now! (2019-05-16). "Inside Syria's Secret Prisons": A Harrowing Account of How Assad's Torture Machine Crushed Dissent. democracynow.org A shocking exposé by the New York Times looks at how Bashar al-Assad's government has jailed and tortured tens of thousands of Syrians since the uprising began in 2011. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, nearly 128,000 people have disappeared. They are presumed to be either dead or still in custody. The group estimates almost 14,000 individuals have died under torture. The detentions are continuing even as the fighting winds down. More than 5,600 Syrians were reportedly arbitrarily detained last year in a 25 percent jump from the previous year. While the Syrian government has denied running a secre…