Daily Archives: October 5, 2020

2020-10-05: News Headlines

_____ (2020-10-04). FBI Seized Legally Privileged Materials From Julian Assange. popularresistance.org The FBI in the United Kingdom enlisted the Ecuador government's help in seizing legally privileged materials from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after he was arrested and expelled from their embassy in London on April 11, 2019. | According to Gareth Peirce, one of Assange's attorneys, that day she "made immediate contact with the embassy in regard to legally privileged material, an issue of huge concern." Assange wanted the material—in addition to "confidential medical data"—"identified and released to his lawyers."

Royal Thomas (2020-10-04). Philadelphia: Court moves to preserve secrecy in bail hearings. liberationnews.org A recent federal court decision has ruled that the right to record bail hearings is not protected by the constitution, overturning a lower court decision. In July 2019, a representative for the Philadelphia Bail Fund filed a lawsuit against several city officials in order to reserve the right to record bail hearings. Currently, the official …

Zolt√°n Grossman (2020-10-04). Why Far-Right Paramilitaries Are Not Just 'Vigilantes'. commondreams.org Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was arrested at his home in Antioch, Illinois on August 24, 2020, a day after he allegedly shot and killed two protesters, and wounded a third, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Photo: Andalou/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Judy Greenspan (2020-10-03). Jalil Muntaqim scheduled for release — Free them all! workers.org The New York State Parole Board has finally ordered the release of Jalil Muntaqim, aka Anthony Bottom, a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. Imprisoned for nearly 50 years, since he was 19, Muntaqim is one of the longest-held political prisoners in the world. . . . |

Raymond Tyler (2020-10-03). Ren Zhiqiang was not arrested for 'anti-communism'. workers.org When influential, former property executive Ren Zhiqiang was given an 18-year sentence in China, the Western media were quick to label his imprisonment as due to alleged "anti-communist" activity. The Washington Post, CNN, the Guardian, and the New York Times parroted the same message: that Zhiqiang was imprisoned for being . . . |

_____ (2020-10-03). Investments Should Be 'Determined By The Community'. popularresistance.org Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is pledging $100 million from the city's general fund to invest in communities of color. But where is that money going to go? And who is going to advise the mayor's office on how it should be spent? | Sean Goode, the executive director of Choose 180, a local organization that provides alternatives to incarceration for young people, was asked to be part of the task force that will look into how this money should be spent. He has since declined the invitation.

Carole J Lee, Sheridan Grant, Elena A Erosheva (2020-10-03). [Correspondence] Alternative grant models might perpetuate Black—White funding gaps. thelancet.com The White Coats for Black Lives and #ShutDownSTEM movements have galvanised biomedical practitioners and researchers to eliminate institutional and systematic racism, including barriers faced by Black researchers in biomedicine and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In our study on Black—White funding gaps for National Institutes of Health Research Project grants, we found that the overall award rate for Black applicants is 55% of that for white applicants.1 How can systems for allocating research grant funding be made more fair while improving their efficiency?

Staff (2020-10-03). If We Don't Act Now, the Entire US Could Become a "Cancer Alley" truthout.org People across the country are waking up to structural racism and coping with police brutality and civil unrest while also living through the nightmare of the COVID-19 pandemic. They're mourning losses and longing for life to get back to normal. | But in St. James Parish, Louisiana, where I'm from — a predominantly Black and low-income community nicknamed "

Tanya Wadhwa (2020-10-02). Thousands take the streets in national strike in Colombia. zcomm.org The nationwide protest was carried out in rejection police brutality, economic crisis, massacres and the indifference of the national government towards them…

MEE staff (2020-10-02). Amnesty presses Egypt to release detainees after rare protests. middleeasteye.net Amnesty presses Egypt to release detainees after rare protests | Rights group reports at least 496 people have been detained by Cairo since crackdown on protests began last month | Fri, 10/02/2020 – 18: 37 | Police had fired tear gas and in some instances live ammunition at demonstrators (AFP/File photo) | Amnesty International has called on Egyptian authorities to release hundreds of people who were arrested…

David Rosen (2020-10-02). Police Violence: Institutionalized Terrorism. counterpunch.org Last year, police killed 1,004 people and, as a recent Harvard study found, between 2013 and 2017, 5,400 were killed by the police. Going further, it found that "Black people were on average three times more likely to be killed by police than white people. Of the total fatalities, 2,353 (42.83%) of those killed were white and 1,487 (27.07%) were Black."

Staff (2020-10-02). The war on pot isn't over, just ask this doctor arrested for his research. therealnews.com Retired cardiac surgeon Dr. David Allen discusses being targeted for asset forfeiture because he supports legal marijuana and medical research into cannabis.

RT (2020-10-02). Arrest of Hamas co-founder by Israeli security forces denounced as attempt to undermine Palestinian reconciliation. rt.com Israeli security forces have arrested senior Hamas leader Hassan Youssef. The two rival Palestinian groups, Hamas and Fatah, have both condemned the move as being politically-charged and a bid to ruin their reconciliation talks. | Youssef was taken at his home in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning. While Israeli authorities have not provided any official information about the move, local media

MEE staff (2020-10-02). Middle East countries deported exiled Uighurs to China: Report. middleeasteye.net Middle East countries deported exiled Uighurs to China: Report | Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt arrested exiled Uighur Muslims and deported them to China in collaboration with Beijing, BBC reports | Fri, 10/02/2020 – 21: 52 | At least one million Uighurs are said to be held in internment camps where they are undergoing political "re-education" (AFP/File photo) | Some Uighur Muslims who fled China and sought refug…

teleSUR (2020-10-01). Colombia: Women Organizations Protest Against Police Brutality. telesurenglish.net Colombian feminist organizations, women rights advocators, artists, and activists marched on Thursday in Bogota to protest against Police gender-based violence, sexism, and abuses against womenfolk. | RELATED: | The demonstrators marched from the District Planetarium to Bolivar Square while shouting out slogans like "No more fear," "They will not silence us, it's time to denounce, this must stop," and "Women are not spoi…

Margaret Kimberley (2020-10-01). Freedom Rider: Breonna Taylor and Black Life. mronline.org Reactions to the Breonna Taylor murder, settlement and verdict all have one thing in common: Black people's inability to protect our lives.

RT (2020-10-01). Russia's FSB detains Siberian nuclear scientist suspected of passing classified technologies & state secrets to China. rt.com A Russian physicist is being accused of divulging state secrets, after conducting research at a physics lab in China. He couldn't return to his work there due to Covid rules and had recently been working at Tomsk State University. | The Urals-based news site Znak identified the suspect as 64-year-old nuclear physicist Alexander Lukanin. Znak reported that Lukanin was arrested for disclosing classified information belonging to the Russian government, but there has been no official confirmation of this. The outlet also reported that the scientist is currently in a pre-trial detention centre, and that the FSB has…

Staff (2020-10-01). DHS Officials Were Told to Portray Kyle Rittenhouse in a Positive Light. truthout.org Officials within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were directed to respond in a positive and defensive manner to inquiries regarding Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who shot and killed two Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in late August, according to an internal document. | Rittenhouse had traveled from Illinois to demonstrations in Kenosha, which began in response to the police-perpetrated shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot by law enforcement seven ti…

Staff (2020-10-01). Progressive Groups Are Mobilizing to De-Escalate Far Right Violence at the Polls. truthout.org In preparation for potential voter intimidation this year, the Women's March, Working Families Party, Movement for Black Lives Electoral Justice Project, United We Dream and other organizations are mobilizing "election defenders" to de-escalate tense situations as well as provide voters with personal protective equipment and water on Election Day. | "So far, more than 6,000 people across the country have signed up to be election defenders," Working Families Party National Director Maurice…