2022-02-17: News Headlines

Staff (2022-02-17). Freedom Convoy protesters threatened with losing their pets. rt.com Protesters arrested as part of "enforcement actions" could have their pets taken into care, Canadian authorities have warned | Canadians taking part in demonstrations against Covid-19 mandates were threatened with inadvertently relinquishing their pets if arrested by the police, authorities warned on Thursday. | According to an announcement on the Ottawa-By-law Twitter account, anyone arrested at demonstrations as part of "enforcement actions" by the government could have their animals placed in "protective care" for a week if they are unable to look after them. | The suspect must pay for the animal's care. Af…

Staff (2022-02-17). Ottawa cops crack down on protesters. rt.com Police put up fencing and bring in reinforcements in bid to break anti-mandate Freedom Convoy protest | Police have started to erect fencing around the Freedom Convoy protest in downtown Ottawa, Canada, and have brought in extra officers in a push to clear the demonstration. The move comes after the truckers were threatened with arrest under emergency powers enacted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. | Video footage captured on Thursday showed busloads of police arriving in downtown Ottawa, and officers purportedly holding crowd control drills. Meanwhile, workers were seen putting up metal fencing near the demo…

Robert Norse (2022-02-17). Police Brutality Claim Highlights City Council Censorship. indybay.org Rhonda Reyna accused the SCPD of abusive violence & kidnapping against a minor last summer. City Administrator/Clerk Bonnie Bush refused to post the full text of this Claim on the twice-monthly Santa Cruz City Council agenda for its 2-4 meeting, leaving the community in the dark before the upcoming Council meeting. But then, this may have been the whole point.

Danny O'Brien (2022-02-16). An inspiration for Black Lives Matter: Trayvon Martin will never be forgotten. workers.org Ten years ago today on Feb. 26, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, was murdered by an armed fascist in Sanford, Florida. The murderer, George Zimmerman, was found "not guilty" in a powerfully racist court decision, and all charges were let go. Labor unionists in Florida demand justice for Trayvon . . . |

Fight Back (2022-02-16). FRSO members meeting set for Feb. 17. fightbacknews.org Grand Rapids, MI – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization is hosting another online meeting for the growing numbers of members on Thursday, February 17 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. We will use Zoom to welcome our new members who joined since the last meeting on capitalism destroying the environment. | Tom Burke, the organizational secretary of the FRSO, will speak about the growth of the FRSO, the importance of union solidarity with the George Floyd rebellion, the recent uptick in strikes, and how we can lead the American working class toward revolution. | Emily Butt, a union steward, will speak on the victories of t…

Ann Brown (2022-02-16). Black Man Released After Spending 44 Years In Prison, Louisiana Judge Declares He Never Received Fair Trial. moguldom.com Vincent Simmons spent 44 years in prison. On Feb. 14, a Louisiana judge ruled he never received a fair trial. Simmons walked out of Angola State Penitentiary a free man — something he said he dreamed of for decades. Louisiana Judge Bill Bennett ruled that Simmons did not get a fair trial in 1977 when he was …

WSWS (2022-02-16). Federal hate crimes trial begins for men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery. wsws.org The federal trial of the three white men who murdered Arbery in 2020 began on Monday as prosecutors pursue charges that they willfully killed the young black man because of his race.

VINS (2022-02-16). Tennessee's Rutherford County Jails Black Children at a Disproportionately High Rate. projectcensored.org Between October and December, 2021, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio published a series of reports on the jailing of 11 children, ranging from 8 to 12 years in age, who…

Staff (2022-02-16). "45K People Died from Gun Violence on Your Watch": Parkland Survivors Demand More Action from Biden. democracynow.org Survivors and families of the victims of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida, have launched a new online tool called the "Shock Market" to track the occurrence of U.S. gun violence. This comes as Manuel Oliver, the father of 17-year-old victim Joaquin "Guac" Oliver, was arrested during a peaceful protest demanding the Biden administration take action to curb gun violence. "Very little has changed since the last four years," says Oliver. We also speak with David Hogg, survivor of the Parkland school massacre and a founder and board member…

2022-02-17 16:55 | 18:55 EST | jz | 11 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0