Daily Archives: August 8, 2020

2020-08-08: News Headlines

reenvia Red Latina sin fronteras (2020-08-08). E$paña: No somos esclavos! indybay.org E$paña: °No somos esclavos! -reclamo antirracista de trabajadorxs agrícolas inmigrantes- | "A los negros aquí nos tratan como mierda"

RT (2020-08-08). Portland protesters attack another police HQ, throw rocks and fireworks at officers (VIDEOS). rt.com Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland fired rocks and fireworks at police on the 71st night of demonstrations in the city, with some even wearing body armor and shields as they clashed with officers. | On Friday night, demonstrators made their way to the Penumbra Kelly Building in Portland, a headquarters shared by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and Portland Police Bureau. | Portland Police said in a statement on Saturday that they warned the crowd several times that arrests would be made for trespassing, but not all protesters cooperated. Some eventually took to launching rocks and fireworks at the…

RT (2020-08-08). 'Why not a diverse Latino?' Maxine Waters claims Biden 'can't go home without black woman VP,' gets mocked for 'racism'. rt.com Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters was roasted online after saying 2020 presidential hopeful Joe Biden has no other choice but to pick a black woman as his running mate, suggesting he owed a debt to African American voters. | "We know that we're going to have a black woman as vice president," Waters said in an Let me guarantee you this, based on everything…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-08). The Likud Conspiracy: Israel in the Throes of a Major Political Crisis. dissidentvoice.org Protests against Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have raged on for weeks, turning violent sometimes. Israelis are furious at their government's mediocre response to the coronavirus pandemic, especially as COVID-19 disease is experiencing a massive surge throughout the country. Netanyahu warned protesters, thousands of whom have been rallying outside his residence in Jerusalem, against "anarchy …

Julia Conley, Common Dreams (2020-08-08). Supreme Court Rules Jail Does Not Have to Provide Basic Protections to Inmates. indybay.org Even as prisons across the US report a surge in Covid-19 cases, the Supreme Court ruled on August 5th that prisons do not have to provide basic protections to inmates.

_____ (2020-08-08). Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Under House Arrest. popularresistance.org The Colombian Supreme Court of Justice has ordered the preventive home detention of Senator and former President Alvaro Uribe for the crimes of procedural fraud and bribery. The Latin American right-wing leader became the first former president to receive this type of arrest order, suspected of trying to manipulate the statement of a defendant who linked him to the creation of paramilitary groups. "The deprivation of my freedom causes me deep sadness for my wife, for my family and for the Colombians who still believe that I have done something good for the country," lamented Uribe…

Autonomous Anti-Fascists in Marin (2020-08-08). Friday 8/14: F*ck Trump: Anti-Fascist Counter Protest. indybay.org DeLong Avenue Overpass in Novato.

_____ (2020-08-08). Utah Protesters Face Charges With Potential Life Sentence. popularresistance.org Salt Lake City, UT – Some Black Lives Matter protesters in Salt Lake City could face up to life in prison if they're convicted of splashing red paint and smashing windows during a protest, a potential punishment that stands out among demonstrators arrested around the country and one that critics say doesn't fit the alleged crime. | The felony criminal mischief charges are more serious because they carry a gang enhancement. Prosecutors said Wednesday that's justified because the protesters worked together to cause thousands of dollars in damage, but watchdogs called the use of the 1990s-era law troubling, especial…

Various Contributors (2020-08-08). Poor People's Campaign, Black civic groups condemn McConnell's obstructionism. zcomm.org On the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival and Black civic organizations representing millions of people worldwide announced a covenant to resurrect the protections of the Voting Rights Act…

Ahmed Abdulkareem (2020-08-07). With an Eye on Balkanization, Israel throws Support Behind Separatist Militants in Southern Yemen. mintpressnews.com Israel is hoping to capitalize on internal tensions in Yemen, throwing its support behind a UAE-backed militant group with eyes on secession and control of the coveted Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Staff (2020-08-07). "The World's Most Dangerous Man": Mary Trump on Her Uncle, President Trump, & Why He Must Be Ousted. democracynow.org "In my family, being kind was considered being weak," says Mary Trump, President Trump's niece, a clinical psychologist and author of "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man." We spend the hour with Mary Trump, discussing her book the president doesn't want people to read, in which she describes his upbringing in a dysfunctional family that fostered his greed, cruelty and racist and sexist behaviors — which he is now inflicting on the world. Mary Trump also discusses the president's mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, his long history of lies and misrepresentati…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-07). Apartheid or One State: Has Jordan Broken a Political Taboo? counterpunch.org What will it take for the idea of a two-state solution, which was hardly practical to begin with, to be completely abandoned? Every realistic assessment of the situation on the ground indicates, with palpable clarity, that there can never be a viable Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Politically, the idea

Miko Peled (2020-08-07). Susan Abulhawa Embodies the Spirit of Palestinian Resistance in Her New Book: Against the Loveless World. mintpressnews.com Writer and political activist Susan Abulhawa weaves a daring tale of a Palestinian woman's defiant experience in solitary confinement at an Israeli prison.

RT (2020-08-07). Israel shot down drone on Golan Heights overnight — military. rt.com Israel's military said on Friday it had shot down a drone overnight that crossed into Israeli airspace near Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights. The strategic plateau is at the frontier with Syria. | The army said the incident was not connected to the triggering of sirens later in the day by a false alarm regarding a drone infiltration, Reuters reports. | Israel has been on high alert as tensions have escalated with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Earlier in the week Israeli aircraft attacked targets in Syria. | Most of the Golan Heights were captured by Israel from Syria in a war in 1967.

Staff (2020-08-07). DNC Platform Condemns BDS But Not Israel's Occupation of Palestine. truthout.org Due to a series of decisions by the Democratic National Committee's (DNC's) platform committee, progressives are concerned that the Biden-led Democratic Party's foreign policy toward Israel and Palestine will more closely resemble that of Republicans than that of the Democratic rank-and-file. | There has already been much consternation among party activists over

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-08-07). 'Enraging and Inexcusable': Louisiana Supreme Court Rules Black Man Convicted of Garden Tool Theft 20 Years Ago Should Die in Prison. commondreams.org A 62-year-old Black man is expected to spend the rest of his life in Louisiana's largest maximum-security prison after the state Supreme Court denied his request to overturn his life sentence, 23 years after his conviction for attempting to steal a pair of hedge clippers. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-08-07). Prohibited From Holding Police Officer to Account, Federal Judge Calls on Supreme Court to Overturn 'Qualified Immunity'. commondreams.org Handing down a ruling dismissing a civil lawsuit which alleged a police officer violated a Black man's Fourth Amendment rights during a traffic stop in 2013, a federal judge in Mississippi made clear that he sided with the plaintiff—and demanded the U.S. Supreme Court overturn qualified immunity. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Fight Back (2020-08-07). Waupaca, WI: Black Lives Matter protest disrupted by cops, protester violently arrested. fightbacknews.org Waupaca, WI – On the afternoon of August 1, members of United Action Oshkosh (UAO) and supporters of Black Lives Matter from the Fox Valley area gathered with local supporters in the small town of Waupaca for a march. Nearly 30 people plus a small caravan of cars turned out for the rural action. | The Black Lives Matter march was the second in Waupaca for many of those in attendance, including the organizers from UAO. At the first march, the protest was greeted by a resistant police force and a slew of racists in their cars. At one point, one of these cars tried to drive through the back of the small march, nearl…

WSWS (2020-08-07). Violent, secretive fascistic networks operating inside California police stations. wsws.org Alongside rampant brutality, a secretive police culture has emerged featuring tattoos, occult rituals and symbols, codes of silence, and barbecues to celebrate murder.

WSWS (2020-08-07). Fascist death squads preparing to carry out mass murder in Germany. wsws.org Police officers, former military officers and far-right operatives engaged in a vast conspiracy to hoard large quantities of munitions and weaponry, establish safe houses, identify political opponents, and procure the necessary materials to secretly dispose of dead bodies.

William rivers Pitt (2020-08-07). Trump Isn't "Failing" on COVID Testing. He's Carrying Out a Brutal Plan. zcomm.org Men like White House adviser Stephen Miller are rolling out their most vivid fascist fantasies as the body count rises, and they are playing Trump like a badly tuned cello to do it…

Nicky Reid (2020-08-07). When the Chickens Came Home to Roost In Portlandistan. counterpunch.org Well folks, it's official, Donald Trump has declared war on America. Probably should have saw that coming. After all, I've long argued that our dayglow duce isn't an isolationist but merely the world's shittiest imperialist. After trying and failing miserably to bring fascism to Nicaragua and Venezuela, Trump has set his sites on targets much

Joseph Natoli (2020-08-07). American Failures: August, 2020. counterpunch.org It's probably unpatriotic and maybe treasonable to talk about American failures but they are now so glaring that some 12 minutes of read time seems pardonable in this Age of Twitter "discourse." That such obvious failures, if admitted at all, are politicized relative to which side of the Blue/Red street you are one is itself

Danny Haiphong (2020-08-07). American left silence on China helps lay foundation for the U.S.' New Cold War. mronline.org When it comes to China, Democracy Now, Jacobin, The Nation and others on the imperial-minded U.S. 'left" are allies of white supremacy.

Mehr News Agency (2020-08-07). 'Brian like John left White House without any achievement'. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Aug. 07 (MNA) — Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani reacted to the departure of US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook from his post.

Faith In Action (2020-08-07). Thursday 8/6: Voting Rights Act 55th Anniversary: COVID19, Voter Suppression, Vote by Mail, & More. indybay.org Online via Twitter…

_____ (2020-08-07). Resisting The Propaganda Of Status Quo Defenders. popularresistance.org First came the new names—Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and others—all added one by one to the long list of tragic, unjustifiable police killings of Black Americans. Then came the batons, the pepper spray, the tear gas, the flash-grenades, the helicopters, the armored vehicles, and the rubber bullets wielded against nonviolent Black Lives Matter protesters across the United States, from Minneapolis to New York City to Portland. And then came the chorus of privileged beneficiaries of our country's discriminatory status quo, denying and defending the reality of brutal, racist, militarize…

_____ (2020-08-07). Anti-Occupation Activists Find Their Place In Israeli Protests. popularresistance.org he growing presence of Israeli anti-occupation protesters has been one of the most notable aspects of the wave of demonstrations that started on July 14 outside the Prime Minister's Residence on Balfour Street, Jerusalem. Among other things, this bloc of protesters have demanded justice for Iyad al-Hallaq, a Palestinian with autism whom Israeli police shot dead in the Old City of Jerusalem in late May. | The anti-occupation bloc, comprising several hundred protesters, are not on the margins of the demonstrations. Last Saturday night, for example, it was possible to hear them chanting "Justice for Iyad" at the Pri…

_____ (2020-08-07). The Policy Of Maximum Pressure Against Iran Has Failed. popularresistance.org Depending on what policy the United States adopts after the elections, Sahimi expects "the response to come at a later time and in a manner and at locations where neither Israel nor the US would expect." | Biden has pledged, if elected, to reverse course on Iran. Izadi believes a Biden Administration would change the Trump policy of maximum pressure. "Whether doing it through rejoining the nuclear agreement or coming up with some other policies, we have to wait and see," he says. | Parsi, who is familiar with the views of Biden's Iran advisors, says the new administration would likely call for "compliance for com…

sputniknews (2020-08-07). 'I Can Say Anything': Michigan Official Remains Unapologetic Over N-Word Use, Refuses to Resign. sputniknews.com A Michigan county official has rejected calls to resign and is now doubling down on the racist, bigoted and dehumanizing remarks he uttered in defense of his decision to not wear a face mask to a public meeting.

Staff (2020-08-07). Mary Trump on Her Uncle, President Trump, and Why He Must Be Ousted. truthout.org "In my family, being kind was considered being weak," says Mary Trump, President Trump's niece, a clinical psychologist and author of Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. We spend the hour with Mary Trump, discussing her book the president doesn't want people to read, in which she describes his upbringing in a dysfunctional family that fostered his greed, cruelty and racist and sexist behaviors — which he is now inflicting on the world. Mary Trump also disc…

Evelyn Leopold (2020-08-07). Is Netanyahu Serious About Annexing Jordan Valley? counterpunch.org On July 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised he would annex part of the Jordan Valley. He did not, but he may still do so before U.S. elections in November and while President Donald Trump is still in office. It could be his legacy. Trump's challenger, former vice president Joseph Biden, has joined the

yenisafak (2020-08-07). 4-year-old Palestinian girl killed by 'stray' bullet. yenisafak.com A minor Palestinian girl on Friday lost her life after being hit by a "stray" bullet in East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported.According to daily Haaretz, Haneen Zaloum, 4, was at her home in the neighborhood of Silwan when she received a bullet injury in her head.Zaloum was pronounced dead at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, it said.According to the Israeli police, sources in Silwan said gunshots were heard in the neighborhood, adding that the area has witnessed several armed clashes between families.On Wednesday, gunfights occurred between families in the neighborhoods of Isawiyah and Shoafat in Ea…

yenisafak (2020-08-07). Mosques in Germany receive threat letters. yenisafak.com At least two mosques in the central German state of Hesse received threat letters this week, local Muslim community representatives said on Friday. | Suspected neo-Nazis sent threat letters to mosques in the small town of Fuerth and the nearby district Wahlen, Salih Ozkan, a representative of the Turkish-Muslim umbrella group DITIB, told local media. | He said the letters contained threats of violence against Muslims, and were signed by a group calling itself "NSE 2020". | He called on the police to carry out a serious investigation and provide greater protection for the mosques. | It was not immediately clear wh…

Mike Lofgren (2020-08-07). Remind Me, What Was the Civil War About, Anyway? commondreams.org Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) enters a Senators Only elevator before attending the Weekly Senate Policy Luncheon on June 25, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Tom Brenner/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

RT (2020-08-06). Israel strikes 'underground terror infrastructure' in Gaza in retaliation for 'explosive balloons' (VIDEOS). rt.com The Israel Defense Forces have announced they had targeted multiple "underground terror infrastructure" installations in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for several "explosive balloons" launched into Israel earlier in the day. | "Terrorists in Gaza launched explosive balloons into Israel throughout the day. In response, our aircraft just struck Hamas underground terror infrastructure in Gaza," the IDF tweeted following Thursday's strikes, adding that it wouldn't allow the group to "terrorize Israeli civilians." | Video of the IDF strike on Hamas' position in response to launching incendiary/IED balloons from

Fight Back (2020-08-06). Coalition to March on the DNC responds to Biden's decision to stay home. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – While Joe Biden shelters himself from COVID-19 and the movement for Black lives in Milwaukee, the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention (DNC) will be in the streets. Regardless of whether Biden comes to Milwaukee or not, the Democrats will hear from the people on the front lines fighting police crimes, especially the families who have lost loved ones to killer cops. | "Our main goal as a group is to defeat Donald Trump. He is the key figure in promoting racist killings of Black, Latino and indigenous people, whether by vigilantes or the police," said Ryan Hamann, one of the co-…

Talli Nauman (2020-08-06). Native Americans Win Historic Victories in U.S. High Court Rulings. counterpunch.org Heat on the U.S. Presidential election campaign thermometer reached new highs during the dog days of summer 2020, with the final rulings of the Supreme Court calendar year favoring indigenous causes diametrically opposed to those of incumbent candidate Donald Trump. The highest court in the land ruled in favor of the exercise of Native American

RT (2020-08-06). Democrats drifting to extreme left because they are 'owned by George Soros,' claims former House speaker Gingrich. rt.com The Democrat Party continues to drift radically leftward, and its leadership will never rebuke militant elements like Antifa, because it's controlled by billionaire leftist George Soros, former US House speaker Newt Gingrich said. | "All of these Democrats are now basically owned by the left," Gingrich said on Wednesday in an interview on Fox News. "They are not going to pick any fights. They are owned by people who are financed by George Soros." | Gingrich made his comments after Democrats in a US Senate hearing on Tuesday refused to directly criticize the conduct of Antifa, whose members have been accused of…

Brian Kelly (2020-08-06). Ireland and Slavery: Debating the 'Irish Slaves Myth'. counterpunch.org Over recent months, social media in Ireland and the United States has been saturated with claims and counterclaims about 'Irish slaves' and a broader controversy about Irish complicity in the transatlantic slave trade. The timing of the 'debate' is far from coincidental: a series of false and malicious assertions that the American far Right have

H. Bruce Franklin (2020-08-06). How the Fascists Won World War II. counterpunch.org Come you masters of war You that build the big guns You that build the death planes You that build all the bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks —"Masters of War," Bob Dylan This is a mystery story.

Lowell B. Denny, III (2020-08-06). Attacks on Margaret Sanger are cover for right wing's assault on women. peoplesworld.org Recently, Planned Parenthood took steps to publicly disavow their founder, Margaret Sanger. The organization announced it was removing her name from a clinic in Manhattan, citing her support for eugenics. This decision has not satisfied right-wing "right to lifers" who continue to attack Planned Parenthood, but it has garnered support from pro-choice, anti-racist activists, who …

Eds. (2020-08-06). Bolivia begins the week with an indefinite general strike and roadblocks. mronline.org In the early hours of this Monday morning, the indefinite general strike and roadblocks began throughout Bolivia, called by the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) and the organizations that constitute the Unity Pact, which demand that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal respect the election date established by law for September 6.

RT (2020-08-06). 'These are killers': Giuliani blasts BLM as 'terrorist group' that 'hate white people'. rt.com Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for President Donald Trump, has slammed Black Lives Matter as a "domestic terrorist organization" full of "killers" who "hate white people" and want to "overthrow our way of life." | Trump and officials from his administration have been critical of aspects of the BLM protests happening across the country, but none have gone as far as Giuliani did on Thursday's 'Fox & Friends.' | The former New York City mayor compared BLM to the left-wing Antifa group, labeling both "domestic terrorist organizations." | Do you know who knows that best? African-Americans. I've actually had them tell me,…

RT (2020-08-06). Hostage taker who demanded 'freedom for Palestinians' surrenders to police in France's Le Havre. rt.com The 34-year-old armed assailant who kidnapped six people inside a La Havre bank in France's Normandy and demanded freedom for Palestinians has surrendered to police and is now in custody after an hours-long standoff with police. | The as-yet unidentified man held six people at gunpoint in the bank on Thursday evening and demanded that "unjustly imprisoned Palestinian children" in Israel be released, and that free passage be granted to Palestinians under 40 into the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. | According to police, the man had a history of psychological issues. RTL news also reported he has a criminal record,…

RT (2020-08-06). 'Virtue signaling her way to reelection': Michigan governor roasted online after declaring racism 'PUBLIC HEALTH crisis'. rt.com Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was accused of pandering to those engaged in identity politics, after she declared racism a "public health crisis" and said that everyone is plagued by unconscious bias. | The executive order signed by Whitmer on Wednesday mandates implicit bias training for all state employees. The ultimate goal is to build "a more inclusive and unbiased state that works for everyone," the Democrat governor said. | Implicit, unconscious bias exists within each of us, and, as public servants, we have a duty to understand how our bias can impact the lives of others. | Another measure rolled ou…

RT (2020-08-06). Blade Runner & HAL 9000 racist? 'Whiteness' of artificial intelligence 'exacerbates racial inequality,' new study suggests. rt.com A University of Cambridge study examining the depiction of artificial intelligence in film, television, Google searches, images, and voices, suggests it is yet another area that showcases racism. | While most would likely assume a machine cannot have a race, the researchers said that they do indeed have "racial identities" influenced by "real world" stereotypes. | These "racial identities" can be found in both the fact that AIs and depictions of AIs have caucasion features and also typically talk in "standard white middle-class English," including voices given to smartphone technology. The study suggests "blac…

The Canary (2020-08-06). Artwork explores Hiroshima and Nagasaki in context of climate change and racism. thecanary.co Two London-based artists explore the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in new perspectives, including in the context of climate change and racism, with their digital artwork.I Saw The World End, by Es Devlin and Machiko Weston, reflects on the impact of the events from the points of view of the British artist and Japanese designer.The 10-minute video includes script from letters written by Albert Einstein and J Robert Oppenheimer during the Second World War, as well as first-hand testimonies from the survivors of the bombings.The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities on 6 and 9 Aug…

WSWS (2020-08-06). Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refuses to hear Socialist Equality Party candidates' appeal in California voting rights case until after ballots are printed. wsws.org The decision effectively deprives Joseph Kishore and Norissa Santa Cruz of the right to have their appeal heard on the merits before the ballots are printed.

Muhammed Shabeer (2020-08-06). Post-communism to barbarism: The Law and Justice Party's bid for absolute power in Poland. peoplesdispatch.org Poland's Supreme Court has upheld the election of president Andrzej Duda. His victory is another step in the consolidation of the ruling Law and Justice Party's hegemony over the country…