Monthly Archives: January 2021

2021-01-23: News Headlines

Staff (2021-01-22). The Eric Brandt story: How a controversial cop watcher became one of the most successful police reformers in the US. therealnews.com Known for his role in the Occupy Denver movement and his controversial, even profane, manner of exercising his First Amendment rights, Eric Brandt has been arrested roughly 200 times while protesting police brutality and advocating for reform. But he's also quietly racked up key victories in court.

_____ (2021-01-22). Forest Service: Cutting Snags To Eliminate Endangered Species Habitat. popularresistance.org It is an intentional act to seek out and cut large diameter dead trees to prevent them from becoming spotted owl and other endanger species habitat. Annual census of known spotted owl trees are conducted. Owls must be seen living in the trees. If the owls are scared off by nearby clear-cutting, road building, or the tree is downed, the habitat is delisted as critical and may now be clear-cut. If there are no potential habitat trees, owls are prevented from moving into an area. | This is an intentional act. Cutting large diameter dead trees is being conducted on gated locked Forest Service and BLM lands. Only staf…

Adlène Meddi (2021-01-21). France vows 'symbolic actions' but no apologies for colonisation of Algeria. middleeasteye.net France vows 'symbolic actions' but no apologies for colonisation of Algeria | While a new French report highlights moves to reconcile Paris and Algiers on 132 violent years of colonisation, some thorny issues remain | Thu, 01/21/2021 – 16: 15 | Algerians arrested during a French military operation on 21 April 1956, during the war of independence, in Algeria's Tablat and Bir Rabalou region (AFP)

MEE and agencies (2021-01-21). Tunisian groups say police arrested 1,000 people over six days of protests. middleeasteye.net Tunisian groups say police arrested 1,000 people over six days of protests | Rights groups said civilians who voiced support for protests on Facebook during the crackdown were also detained | Thu, 01/21/2021 – 14: 17 | Police used rubber bullets and water cannons against anti-government protests who hurled rocks and petrol bombs (AFP) | Tunisian security forces have arrested at least 1,000…

Fight Back (2021-01-21). Milwaukee Common Council reverses earlier vote, approves COPS Grant. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – Late in the morning on January 19, the members of Milwaukee's Common Council gathered for a second vote on the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant. People watched, angered as the council voted 9-6 to accept the grant. | The first time the council voted, back on December 15, the vote was the same (9-6) but to deny the program. In a curious – and perhaps revealing – decision, Alderperson Nikiya Dodd (a previous "no" voter) put forward a motion for the second vote, which was then passed. This time around, Dodd voted "yes," as did Alderpersons Ashanti Hamilton and Chantia Lewis. Hamilton…

Steve Martinot (2021-01-21). Police Obedience and Racialization. counterpunch.org What good is a constitution if you can't use it? What good is it if it tells you how to govern and you say: "we can't govern that way." What good is it if it proclaims democracy and you use it to dominate people? When the cops enact their brutality toward black people, are they

Anthony Cartalucci (2021-01-20). US-backed Thai Mob Stages Own Abduction. thealtworld.com US-backed mobs in Thailand continue following the US-funded "Hong Kong model," including staging their own abductions and blaming it on state security organizations. | I explain how little sense it would make for Thai security to "abduct" criminals who could easily be arrested well within the law and how such claims only serve to boost an unpopular opposition — just as was tried in Hong Kong.

Andrew Emett (2021-01-20). Racist County Commissioner arrested for breaching US Capitol. nationofchange.org "And I will embrace my Second Amendment, I will keep my right to bear arms, my vehicle is an extension of my home in regard to the constitution law, and I have a right to have those firearms in my car."

WSWS (2021-01-20). New York City police attack striking Hunts Point warehouse workers. wsws.org The NYPD arrested five workers as the warehouse workers' strike extended to day 3.

2021-01-22: News Headlines

Staff (2021-01-22). The Eric Brandt story: How a controversial cop watcher became one of the most successful police reformers in the US. therealnews.com Known for his role in the Occupy Denver movement and his controversial, even profane, manner of exercising his First Amendment rights, Eric Brandt has been arrested roughly 200 times while protesting police brutality and advocating for reform. But he's also quietly racked up key victories in court.

RT (2021-01-21). Politicians among 48 arrested in huge Italian bust on 'Ndrangheta mafia, hundreds of millions in cash seized. rt.com Anti-mafia police carried out sweeping early-morning raids against Italy's most powerful mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, on Thursday, arresting 48 people and placing the leader of a political party under investigation. | Officers from the Direzione Investigativa AntiMafia (DIA) immediately jailed 13 people, while 35 were placed under house arrest, with multiple politicians, low-level mob bosses and businessmen among those detained, according to local media. | The crackdown on the organized crime syndicate, based in Calabria, southern Italy, primarily targeted the economic arm of its operations, which prosecutors said…

Adlène Meddi (2021-01-21). France vows 'symbolic actions' but no apologies for colonisation of Algeria. middleeasteye.net France vows 'symbolic actions' but no apologies for colonisation of Algeria | While a new French report highlights moves to reconcile Paris and Algiers on 132 violent years of colonisation, some thorny issues remain | Thu, 01/21/2021 – 16: 15 | Algerians arrested during a French military operation on 21 April 1956, during the war of independence, in Algeria's Tablat and Bir Rabalou region (AFP)

MEE and agencies (2021-01-21). Tunisian groups say police arrested 1,000 people over six days of protests. middleeasteye.net Tunisian groups say police arrested 1,000 people over six days of protests | Rights groups said civilians who voiced support for protests on Facebook during the crackdown were also detained | Thu, 01/21/2021 – 14: 17 | Police used rubber bullets and water cannons against anti-government protests who hurled rocks and petrol bombs (AFP) | Tunisian security forces have arrested at least 1,000…

Fight Back (2021-01-21). Milwaukee Common Council reverses earlier vote, approves COPS Grant. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – Late in the morning on January 19, the members of Milwaukee's Common Council gathered for a second vote on the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant. People watched, angered as the council voted 9-6 to accept the grant. | The first time the council voted, back on December 15, the vote was the same (9-6) but to deny the program. In a curious – and perhaps revealing – decision, Alderperson Nikiya Dodd (a previous "no" voter) put forward a motion for the second vote, which was then passed. This time around, Dodd voted "yes," as did Alderpersons Ashanti Hamilton and Chantia Lewis. Hamilton…

Steve Martinot (2021-01-21). Police Obedience and Racialization. counterpunch.org What good is a constitution if you can't use it? What good is it if it tells you how to govern and you say: "we can't govern that way." What good is it if it proclaims democracy and you use it to dominate people? When the cops enact their brutality toward black people, are they

Andrew Emett (2021-01-20). Racist County Commissioner arrested for breaching US Capitol. nationofchange.org "And I will embrace my Second Amendment, I will keep my right to bear arms, my vehicle is an extension of my home in regard to the constitution law, and I have a right to have those firearms in my car."

WSWS (2021-01-20). New York City police attack striking Hunts Point warehouse workers. wsws.org The NYPD arrested five workers as the warehouse workers' strike extended to day 3.

Anthony Cartalucci (2021-01-20). US-backed Thai Mob Stages Own Abduction. thealtworld.com US-backed mobs in Thailand continue following the US-funded "Hong Kong model," including staging their own abductions and blaming it on state security organizations. | I explain how little sense it would make for Thai security to "abduct" criminals who could easily be arrested well within the law and how such claims only serve to boost an unpopular opposition — just as was tried in Hong Kong.

Juan Cole (2021-01-19). Respected Israeli Rights Group B'Tselem declares Israel an Apartheid State. zcomm.org Apartheid is one of the listed "crimes against humanity" along with enslavement, torture, war rape, and forcible deportation. A crime against humanity is the systematic and continuous commission of war crimes…

Hester D. (2021-01-19). Spraying Cotton in Bolivar County, Mississippi, the Summer Following My First Year of Medical School. jamanetwork.com The John Deere wheels cut hard coming to the turn row that runs along the county line near the evergreen copse in Paradise's south forty acres. In the wake of the tire tread, a dull patch flashes within the white blur beneath me. Exposed bone blooms among lobed leaves of cotton. Five vertebrae lie bleached and unstrung. I idle the machine, lurching to rest as diesel fumes rise in a dirge to these remains at the field's edge. I stand to see better. They are lumbar (without facets for ribs) but unknown. All bones being the same beneath skin. I have seen others, too: a woman's, this past fall. The instructors starte…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-19). Protests over economic decline continue for third day in Tunisia; hundreds arrested. peoplesdispatch.org According to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, the country saw more than 6,500 protests last year alone over the many socio-economic and political issues afflicting the people…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-19). B'Tselem head defies ban, addresses students. peoplesdispatch.org Education minister had announced a ban on members of organizations that called "Israel false and derogatory names." The ban came shortly after human rights group B'Tselem termed Israel an apartheid state…

2021-01-21: News Headlines

Adlène Meddi (2021-01-21). France vows 'symbolic actions' but no apologies for colonisation of Algeria. middleeasteye.net France vows 'symbolic actions' but no apologies for colonisation of Algeria | While a new French report highlights moves to reconcile Paris and Algiers on 132 violent years of colonisation, some thorny issues remain | Thu, 01/21/2021 – 16: 15 | Algerians arrested during a French military operation on 21 April 1956, during the war of independence, in Algeria's Tablat and Bir Rabalou region (AFP)

MEE and agencies (2021-01-21). Tunisian groups say police arrested 1,000 people over six days of protests. middleeasteye.net Tunisian groups say police arrested 1,000 people over six days of protests | Rights groups said civilians who voiced support for protests on Facebook during the crackdown were also detained | Thu, 01/21/2021 – 14: 17 | Police used rubber bullets and water cannons against anti-government protests who hurled rocks and petrol bombs (AFP) | Tunisian security forces have arrested at least 1,000…

_____ (2021-01-21). New Documents Suggest J. Edgar Hoover Was Involved In Fred Hampton's Murder. popularresistance.org In March 1976, we sat in a cavernous Chicago courtroom while FBI agent Roy Martin Mitchell testified in the federal civil rights case that we and our partners at the People's Law Office had brought on behalf of the families of slain Illinois Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark and the seven survivors of the murderous pre-dawn Chicago police raid on their West Side apartment. | Thanks to the liberation of FBI documents from the Media, Pennsylvania FBI offices, the revelations of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities and our own hotly contested pretrial battles to uncover the truth ab…

Fight Back (2021-01-21). Milwaukee Common Council reverses earlier vote, approves COPS Grant. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – Late in the morning on January 19, the members of Milwaukee's Common Council gathered for a second vote on the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant. People watched, angered as the council voted 9-6 to accept the grant. | The first time the council voted, back on December 15, the vote was the same (9-6) but to deny the program. In a curious – and perhaps revealing – decision, Alderperson Nikiya Dodd (a previous "no" voter) put forward a motion for the second vote, which was then passed. This time around, Dodd voted "yes," as did Alderpersons Ashanti Hamilton and Chantia Lewis. Hamilton…

Steve Martinot (2021-01-21). Police Obedience and Racialization. counterpunch.org What good is a constitution if you can't use it? What good is it if it tells you how to govern and you say: "we can't govern that way." What good is it if it proclaims democracy and you use it to dominate people? When the cops enact their brutality toward black people, are they

Andrew Emett (2021-01-20). Racist County Commissioner arrested for breaching US Capitol. nationofchange.org "And I will embrace my Second Amendment, I will keep my right to bear arms, my vehicle is an extension of my home in regard to the constitution law, and I have a right to have those firearms in my car."

WSWS (2021-01-20). New York City police attack striking Hunts Point warehouse workers. wsws.org The NYPD arrested five workers as the warehouse workers' strike extended to day 3.

Anthony Cartalucci (2021-01-20). US-backed Thai Mob Stages Own Abduction. thealtworld.com US-backed mobs in Thailand continue following the US-funded "Hong Kong model," including staging their own abductions and blaming it on state security organizations. | I explain how little sense it would make for Thai security to "abduct" criminals who could easily be arrested well within the law and how such claims only serve to boost an unpopular opposition — just as was tried in Hong Kong.

Fight Back (2021-01-19). Chicago MLK rally demands end to white supremacy. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – 500 people gathered in Federal Plaza today with a banner reading, "End the Trump era" and "End white supremacy!" Organizers including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, and Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. Also joining were SEIU Local 73 and other unions as well as Black, Latino and other organizations. | The protest was called in response to the white supremacist insurrection and attempted coup in DC on January 6. The aim of the racists was to invalidate the votes of hundreds of thousands of Black people in Atlanta…

Juan Cole (2021-01-19). Respected Israeli Rights Group B'Tselem declares Israel an Apartheid State. zcomm.org Apartheid is one of the listed "crimes against humanity" along with enslavement, torture, war rape, and forcible deportation. A crime against humanity is the systematic and continuous commission of war crimes…

Hester D. (2021-01-19). Spraying Cotton in Bolivar County, Mississippi, the Summer Following My First Year of Medical School. jamanetwork.com The John Deere wheels cut hard coming to the turn row that runs along the county line near the evergreen copse in Paradise's south forty acres. In the wake of the tire tread, a dull patch flashes within the white blur beneath me. Exposed bone blooms among lobed leaves of cotton. Five vertebrae lie bleached and unstrung. I idle the machine, lurching to rest as diesel fumes rise in a dirge to these remains at the field's edge. I stand to see better. They are lumbar (without facets for ribs) but unknown. All bones being the same beneath skin. I have seen others, too: a woman's, this past fall. The instructors starte…

Norman G. Finkelstein (2021-01-19). The Jewish supremacist state (A comment on B'Tselem's 'apartheid regime' designation for Israel). mronline.org During the past two decades, many respected individuals and organizations designated the regime Israel has established in the occupied Palestinian territory—the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza—as a form of apartheid.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-19). Protests over economic decline continue for third day in Tunisia; hundreds arrested. peoplesdispatch.org According to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, the country saw more than 6,500 protests last year alone over the many socio-economic and political issues afflicting the people…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-19). B'Tselem head defies ban, addresses students. peoplesdispatch.org Education minister had announced a ban on members of organizations that called "Israel false and derogatory names." The ban came shortly after human rights group B'Tselem termed Israel an apartheid state…

2021-01-20: News Headlines

Andrew Emett (2021-01-20). Racist County Commissioner arrested for breaching US Capitol. nationofchange.org "And I will embrace my Second Amendment, I will keep my right to bear arms, my vehicle is an extension of my home in regard to the constitution law, and I have a right to have those firearms in my car."

Fight Back (2021-01-19). Chicago MLK rally demands end to white supremacy. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – 500 people gathered in Federal Plaza today with a banner reading, "End the Trump era" and "End white supremacy!" Organizers including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, and Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. Also joining were SEIU Local 73 and other unions as well as Black, Latino and other organizations. | The protest was called in response to the white supremacist insurrection and attempted coup in DC on January 6. The aim of the racists was to invalidate the votes of hundreds of thousands of Black people in Atlanta…

Fight Back (2021-01-19). Chicago MLK rally demands end to white supremacy. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – 500 people gathered in Federal Plaza today with a banner reading, "End the Trump era" and "End white supremacy!" Organizers including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, and Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. Also joining were SEIU Local 73 and other unions as well as Black, Latino and other organizations. | The protest was called in response to the white supremacist insurrection and attempted coup in DC on January 6. The aim of the racists was to invalidate the votes of hundreds of thousands of Black people in Atlanta…

Norman G. Finkelstein (2021-01-19). The Jewish supremacist state (A comment on B'Tselem's 'apartheid regime' designation for Israel). mronline.org During the past two decades, many respected individuals and organizations designated the regime Israel has established in the occupied Palestinian territory—the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza—as a form of apartheid.

Hester D. (2021-01-19). Spraying Cotton in Bolivar County, Mississippi, the Summer Following My First Year of Medical School. jamanetwork.com The John Deere wheels cut hard coming to the turn row that runs along the county line near the evergreen copse in Paradise's south forty acres. In the wake of the tire tread, a dull patch flashes within the white blur beneath me. Exposed bone blooms among lobed leaves of cotton. Five vertebrae lie bleached and unstrung. I idle the machine, lurching to rest as diesel fumes rise in a dirge to these remains at the field's edge. I stand to see better. They are lumbar (without facets for ribs) but unknown. All bones being the same beneath skin. I have seen others, too: a woman's, this past fall. The instructors starte…

Juan Cole (2021-01-19). Respected Israeli Rights Group B'Tselem declares Israel an Apartheid State. zcomm.org Apartheid is one of the listed "crimes against humanity" along with enslavement, torture, war rape, and forcible deportation. A crime against humanity is the systematic and continuous commission of war crimes…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-19). B'Tselem head defies ban, addresses students. peoplesdispatch.org Education minister had announced a ban on members of organizations that called "Israel false and derogatory names." The ban came shortly after human rights group B'Tselem termed Israel an apartheid state…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-19). Protests over economic decline continue for third day in Tunisia; hundreds arrested. peoplesdispatch.org According to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, the country saw more than 6,500 protests last year alone over the many socio-economic and political issues afflicting the people…

MEE staff (2021-01-18). Tunisia arrests more than 600 after three days of unrest. middleeasteye.net Tunisia arrests more than 600 after three days of unrest | Amnesty International urges security forces to 'immediately' refrain from using excessive force against protesters, after third consecutive night of riots | Mon, 01/18/2021 – 19: 34 | "> | Tunisian authorities arrested more than 600 people during a recent bout of social unrest sparked by the country's economic crisis, which…

Juan Cole (2021-01-18). Israel Was Designated an Apartheid State by B'Tselem. What Martin Luther King Jr. Would Have Thought of That. commondreams.org Those who argue that Dr. King would have had no problem with Israel's policies in the Occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank after 1967 are being illogical. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Juan Cole (2021-01-18). Israel Was Designated an Apartheid State by B'Tselem. What Martin Luther King Jr. Would of Thought of That. commondreams.org Those who argue that Dr. King would have had no problem with Israel's policies in the Occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank after 1967 are being illogical. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Juan Cole (2021-01-18). Israel is increasingly an Apartheid State: What Martin Luther King Jr. Would have thought of that. juancole.com Revised Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose activism we honor today, took stands far beyond Selma and Montgomery, and called on other capitals than Washington, D.C., to ensure a dignified life for human beings. Dr. King was an early and vigorous opponent of the white South African Apartheid (segregationist) …

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2021-01-18). 'No One Can Censor Reality': Human Rights Group Pushes Back After Israel Retaliates Against 'Apartheid' Label. commondreams.org "Israel cannot be considered a democracy, for it works to advance and perpetuate the supremacy of one group of people, Jews, over another, Palestinians." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

_____ (2021-01-18). Homeless Encampment Evictions Highlight The Cruelty Of Capitalism. popularresistance.org In Canada's homeless encampments, two faces of state brutality are on display. One is the "organized abandonment" that has relegated hundreds of thousands across Canada to homelessness (at twice the rate as in the United States). The other is the "organized violence" that evicts homeless people from encampments erected in the shadow of the state's malign neglect. | In Toronto, Canada's largest and most unequal city, frontline workers estimate there are currently 1,000 to 2,000 people sleeping in dozens of encampments outdoors — several times more than the 400 acknowledged by city officials. Against the advi…

J.P. Linstroth (2021-01-18). After MLK, Unlearning Hate. counterpunch.org Based upon events over the last couple of weeks, it is clear we need a "federal re-education program" of "anti-hate", especially for those many arrested after the Capitol riot. Why should the country be held hostage to white supremacy? Moreover, the behavior of President Donald J. Trump after the 2020 presidential election has been appalling

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-18). Tunisians protest over growing economic crisis and oppressive state actions. peoplesdispatch.org The protesters were opposing increasing police brutality and the announcement of fresh lockdown measures on Thursday. Protests took place in at least 10 cities across the country…

D. Watkins (2021-01-17). The selective restraint of American police on display at the Capitol riot amazed me. salon.com We ran from police, even when we were innocent. White people freely walk towards cops even while committing crimes…