2020-02-20: News Headlines

The Canary (2020-02-20). Mike Bloomberg attacked on all fronts during Democratic debate. thecanary.co New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg was savaged by his Democratic rivals on his first debate on the presidential campaign trail.Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who was once a Republican, was forced to defend his record and past comments related to race, gender and his personal wealth in a rocky debate stage debut in Las Vegas.Bernie Sanders lashed out at Bloomberg's policing policies as New York City mayor that he said targeted "African-American and Latinos in an outrageous way".Elizabeth Warren made repeated attacks on Bloomberg. She raised issues such as his vast wealth, his offensive remarks about policin…

Americans of Japanese Ancestry Relate Incarceration (2020-02-20). San Jose's 40th Annual Day of Remembrance: Recalling Life Under Executive Order 9066. indybay.org Executive Order 9066 led to the World War II-era incarceration of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were American citizens. Survivors shared recollections and re-enactors performed morale boosting era swing dance styles in Japantown on February 16th.

RT (2020-02-20). High crimes: NFL star Greg Robinson facing 20 years in prison after being arrested while transporting 157lbs of marijuana. rt.com Ex-Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Greg Robinson has been charged with intent to distribute marijuana and further related charges after being arrested near the USA-Mexico border with significant quantities of the drug. | Robinson, a former number two pick in the NFL Draft, spent the last season as a member of the Cleveland Browns but had been advised by the team in recent days that they would be declining the opportunity to re-sign him, and it looks like he is currently very far from a football field after being apprehended at a border patrol checkpoint. | However, it is understood that Robinson was not tran…

RT (2020-02-20). Making money by 'preventing apocalypse': Russian police raids cult that 'made millions' selling 'divine protection'. rt.com St. Petersburg police searched the apartment-turned-"temple" and stables of "Order of the Path," a family-run cult that claimed to be fighting against "black mages" in the gov't and sold "divine protection" for $300,000 a pop. | Earlier this week, St. Petersburg police SWAT teams raided the mysterious "Order of the Path," a cult run by psychologist-turned-"magister" Gayva Tihomirova, and arrested the leader, 78.ru reports. The raids targeted the main "temple" of the organization, which was converted from a two-bedroom apartment, their offices, and the stables outside the city where, the shady Order held their…

yenisafak (2020-02-20). Pompeo, Saudi king discuss regional affairs in Riyadh. yenisafak.com The meeting tackled "the relations between the two countries, the overall regional and international events, the position of the two countries, and the efforts made towards them.""Pleased to be back in Riyadh to discuss the U.S. government's strong commitment to Saudi Arabia's security and the continued need to stand together to counter Iran's malign behavior in the region," Pompeo wrote on Twitter.Pompeo's visit focuses on discussing regional security, economy, and most likely human rights issues such as that of Saudi-American physician Walid Fitaihi.Arrested in November 2017, Fitaihi was released pending trial…

RT (2020-02-19). A year in jail & quarter million fine since, lawyers seek freedom for Chelsea Manning refusing to testify against WikiLeaks. rt.com Chelsea Manning's attorney has filed a new motion requesting her release from jail, where she has been for nearly a year for continuously refusing to testify before a grand jury against WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. | Manning's incarceration has "exceeded its lawful scope" by moving from being a coercive tactic to a criminal punishment, her lawyer Moira Meltzer-Cohen said in a Manning was jailed in March of 2019 for refusing to testify before a gran…

The Canary (2020-02-19). Prime Minister facing questions over how controversial No 10 aide was hired. thecanary.co Labour has written to the prime minister asking him if he agreed with a former aide's controversial views on black people and about forcing contraception on the working classes.Party chiefs have also called for answers on how Andrew Sabisky, who resigned this week after his "offensive" past writings were discovered online, came to be hired to work in Downing Street.Sabisky, who once suggested enforcing the uptake of contraception to stop unplanned pregnancies from creating a "permanent underclass", announced he was standing down on Monday evening.He said he did not want to be a distraction to the government after…

John W. Whitehead (2020-02-19). Compliance 101: Gun-Toting Cops Endanger Students and Turn the Schools into Prisons. globalresearch.ca "Every day in communities across the United States, children and adolescents spend the majority of their waking hours in schools that have increasingly come to Just when you …

Richard Falk (2020-02-19). Trump's Deal Is a Show Hiding the Real Problem: Ongoing Israeli Apartheid. globalresearch.ca It was always foolish to expect a balanced political compromise from the current American administration. | Since he was elected four years ago, US President Donald Trump has entrusted the Israel/Palestine portfolio to his inexperienced, Zionist son-in-law, Jared Kushner, aided …

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2020-02-19). Chelsea Manning's Lawyers Demand Her Release, Decry 'Punitive' Incarceration. commondreams.org "No matter how much you punish me, I will remain confident in my decision," said the whistleblower. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

ACLU (2020-02-18). Our Vision to Transform What it Means to Be a Prosecutor. aclu.org It's a long-established fact that the United States is the largest incarcerator in the world. Over two million people are behind bars, roughly a quarter of whom are simply awaiting trial. Millions more are under some form of state supervision, such as parole or probation. | Many players have a hand in our mass incarceration crisis, but there's one actor with almost

Fight Back (2020-02-15). MN: County Attorney Mike Freeman's house picketed after cops who killed Brian Quiñones escape charges. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – In response to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman's decision to not press charges against the Richfield and Edina police officers who killed Brian Quiñones, the groups Justice for Brian Quiñones, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar (TCC4J), the Racial Justice Network and others gathered for a spirited picket of Mike Freeman's residence the evening of February 11. | About 50 people chanted, sang and played clips of Brian's music for about an hour. The most popular chant was "Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail. The whole damn system is guilty as hell!" Family and friends o…

Staff (2020-02-13). Did Amy Klobuchar Send an Innocent Teenager to Life in Prison? Questions Mount over Her Record as DA. democracynow.org After a surprising third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is attempting to gain ground in the national polls. But Klobuchar is also facing mounting scrutiny over her record as a district attorney in Minnesota. The Minneapolis NAACP, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities and other racial justice groups recently called on Klobuchar to suspend her presidential campaign following a shocking investigation by the Associated Press. The AP report centered on the case of Myon Burrell, an African-American teenager who was sentenced to life in prison over the 2002 murder of 11-year-old Tye…

Staff (2020-02-13). The Wet'suwet'en Fight Against New Pipeline Spreads Across Canada with Blockades & Occupations. democracynow.org A major anti-pipeline struggle continues in Canada, where protests have broken out across the country in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders whose sovereign land in northern British Columbia was raided last week and over the weekend by Canadian police. Dozens were arrested in the days-long raid of unceded indigenous territories, where hereditary chiefs have been in a protracted battle to protect their land from the construction of TransCanada's 400-mile, $4.7 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. The raids took place about 700 miles north of Vancouver and sparked outrage across the country. In Ontario, a Moha…

Staff (2020-02-12). Meet the Journalist Who Exposed Bloomberg's Racist Defense of Targeting Black & Brown Youth. democracynow.org "#BloombergIsRacist." That's the hashtag that's trending on Twitter since audio of remarks made by 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg surfaced earlier this week. In the clip from the 2015 Aspen Institute, Bloomberg is heard defending the New York City Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policies, saying, "Ninety-five percent of your murders and murderers and murdered victims fit one MO. You can just take the description, xerox it and pass it out to all the cops." He continues, "They are male minorities, 15 to 25. That's true in New York. It's true…

Staff (2020-02-12). South Bend Politician: I Worked with Pete Buttigieg. He Did Not Respect Black Residents' Struggles. democracynow.org 2020 presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg has surprised many with his strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, two of the country's whitest states. But as the race moves on to South Carolina and Nevada, Buttigieg continues to poll extremely low with African-American voters. His own former constituents are condemning his treatment of the black community in South Bend during his time as mayor, calling out systemic racism in the police force. During Buttigieg's tenure, black residents were 4.3 times more likely to be arrested for possessing marijuana than white people. We…

splcenter (2020-01-29). Weekend Read: 2020: African Americans and the Vote. splcenter.org Historian Carter G. Woodson in 1926 established "Negro History Week" to celebrate the contributions to our nation made by Black people.