(2020-07-09). The Long Goodbye to Organized Religion. counterpunch.org It was the notice of an online meeting of a local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace that made me think of my long and troubled relationship with organized religion. I grew up during a time in the 1950s and 1960s when membership in a temple or synagogue was a given for most Jews. And
(2020-07-09). Alternative "Declaration of Independence Day" on July 4. indybay.org On the fourth of July, a CodePink caravan declared independence from racism, war, and climate devastation – all interconnecting systems of death. | Top Photo: Demonstrators use stencils to paint a message on the street in front of Nancy Pelosi's Pacific Heights Home. It reads, Pelosi Defund War $.
(2020-07-09). Why the Bill Gates global health empire promises more empire and less public health. thegrayzone.com Behind a veil of corporate media PR, the Gates Foundation has served as a vehicle for Western capital while exploiting…
(2020-07-09). Meet the Venezuelan Coup Regime's 'UK Ambassador,' a Pampered U.S. Heiress Who Threatens Journalists. strategic-culture.org 
Juan Guaidó's UK representative, a jet-setting US socialite named Vanessa Neumann, has threatened journalists with FBI investigations for reporting on her unhinged behavior. The coup-plotting heiress made her name spinning out conspiracies at neoconservative think tanks. | Ben NORTON | Since the United States initiated a coup attempt against Venezuela's elected, internationally recognized government in January 2019, the gang of far-right opposition activists the Donald Trump administration recognized as the country's unelected representatives have racked up a series of embarrassing scandals. | Top aides of the
(2020-07-08). TikTok Could Become Latest Victim of US War on Chinese Competition. mintpressnews.com A potential US ban on TikTok comes amid a rise in anti-China warmongering that suggests the move has more to do with re-establishing American dominance over social media than concerns over privacy.
(2020-07-08). Is China the New Indispensable Nation? strategic-culture.org 
Usually when there are protests, however minor, happening in a nation that has run afoul of the United States the "International Community" and "Human Rights Activists" rally to push for regime change. However, now that there are mass protests exploding over the United States these types of voices are completely silent. American police are free to destroy CHAZ and other camps however they see fit. This is the power of America, however this time around there sure are a lot of red flags and Communist sentiments in the mouths of the protestors. If we were still in the Cold War the Soviet Union would have been instan…
(2020-07-08). FRSO condemns Duterte's terror law, demands U.S. out of Philippines. fightbacknews.org The U.S.-backed government of Philippines and its President Duterte is putting in place the legal framework to carry out a wave of repression against activists in the popular movements who are fighting for social and national liberation. Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the recently signed Republic Act 1147, also called Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, for what it is: an attempt to criminalize trade unionists, environmentalists, women's groups, student organizations or anyone else who wants to challenge the cruel rule of Duterte. | Duterte is using an old trick — a slight of hand utilized for years b…
(2020-07-07). 'Godfather' Donald's Mafia War On The ICC. popularresistance.org Free advice: one way for an administration to avoid the ire of an International Criminal Court (ICC) is not to act like a mafia crime family. Appearances and all. Only discretion has never been Donald Trump's game. The kid from Queens — who built a casino empire in mobbed-up 1980s Atlantic City — thrives in another (under)world entirely. So, when the ICC had the temerity to even investigate America's spies and soldiers in Afghanistan, Trump tried rather stronger(-arm) tactics: Mafia-style intimidation. I'm no Martin Scorsese, but here's how it basically went down, in lay("made-")man's terms: | Youse f…
(2020-07-07). "Woke" America is More Asleep to Injustice Than Ever. thealtworld.com 
While America's "Woke" revolution topples statues and hunts down fictional characters at home, corporate America continues to engage in the mass murder and enslavement of blacks abroad. | To drive home just how superficial and empty recent protests in America are and how little besides further division and destruction will become of them — take the fate of two fictional characters recently put in the spotlight by baying activists — PepsiCo's "Aunt Jemima" breakfast food brand and Mars Incorporated's "Uncle Ben's" rice products. | Both came into the crosshairs of "woke" America. Both fictional characters…
(2020-07-07). Activists defy NSW Police bullying tactics. greenleft.org.au 
(2020-07-07). Activists defy NSW Police bully tactics. greenleft.org.au
(2020-07-07). How Black & Indigenous Groups Won the Fight to Stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. democracynow.org 
Anti-pipeline activists are celebrating after Duke Energy and Dominion Energy announced they are dropping plans to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile pipeline that would have carried fracked gas from West Virginia to North Carolina and threatened rural Indigenous, Black and Brown communities. "There was an awful lot of opposition to this," says Donna Chavis, senior fossil fuel campaigner for Friends of the Earth and an elder of the Lumbee Nation, whose territory the pipeline would have crossed. She says the communities that would have suffered "irreparable harm" from the pipeline "now have that cloud l…
(2020-07-07). Housing Activists Unite to Fight Mass Evictions and Defund Police. zcomm.org "I just don't feel that police evicting people is a way to 'protect and serve.'"
(2020-07-07). Activists and citizens rally against new anti-terror law in the Philippines. peoplesdispatch.org Critics argue that the new anti-terror law pushed through parliament by the Rodrigo Duterte administration makes it easier to criminalize dissent and crack down on critics…
(2020-07-07). 'Pattern' of Abuse by Colombian Soldiers Raises Questions Over US' Continued Funding for Forces. sputniknews.com The rapes of two young, Indigenous girls by soldiers in rural Colombia have shed light on the role that the US plays in expanding and training the Colombian military, two activists told Sputnik.
(2020-07-07). As Arctic Burns, New Data Shows June 2020 Capped Off Year Tied for Hottest on Record. commondreams.org European researchers revealed Tuesday that July 2019 to June 2020 effectively tied with another recent 12-month period as the hottest year on record based on global surface temperatures, bolstering calls from activists for international bodies and governments across the globe to take immediate action to tackle the climate crisis. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-07-06). The Battle of Seattle was Fought by the Pro-war "Left" in Northern Syria. dissidentvoice.org 
The ongoing series of protests, riots and unrest following the death of George Floyd culminated in the establishment of a self-declared "autonomous zone" by activists in Seattle, Washington, after police abandoned a local precinct in the city's Capitol Hill district. Lasting just three weeks until law enforcement retook the six block territory from occupants on …
(2020-07-06). NYC activists rename Washington Square Park 'Frederick Douglass Square'. liberationnews.org 
For many, the dissonance between the popular representation of the July 4 holiday and the everyday reality of living in this country has never been more visible.
(2020-07-06). On Disposability and Rebellion: Insights From a Rank-and-File Insurgency. counterpunch.org 
Homestead workers made beams for the Empire State Building. Their collective hand is embedded in the structures that millions encounter, unthinking, every day. Cross the Verrazano Narrows or the Golden Gate, that hand is there. Pose for a photograph at Rockefeller Center or the St. Louis Arch, it is there. Enter the United Nations building, curse the traffic on the Oakland Bay Bridge, depend on the Hoover Dam, it is there.
(2020-07-06). 'Victory for environmental justice': Activists rejoice after $8bn Atlantic Coast Pipeline NIXED amid long-running legal battle. rt.com 
The two energy companies behind the controversial 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline slated to run from West Virginia to North Carolina, said they are scrapping the project after it was on hold for years due to legal challenges. | In a joint
(2020-07-06). Egyptian Activist Laila Soueif on the Jailing of Her Children & the Fight Against Authoritarianism. democracynow.org 
Egyptian authorities have arrested scores of people, including doctors, medical workers, journalists, lawyers and activists, as the country grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. "Unlike nearly every other country in the Middle East, Egypt has not released thousands of prisoners as a precaution against the coronavirus. Instead, it's arrested more people and cut off communication," says Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. One of the most high-profile arrests is that of Sanaa Seif, a film editor and the youngest member of one of Egypt's most prominent activist families. Sanaa's brother, Alaa Abd El…
(2020-07-06). To 'Build Back Better,' We Must Ditch Public Financing of Fossil Fuels. commondreams.org Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Sandrine Dixson-Decl—êve, and Bas Eickhout | An Extinction Rebellion protester holds up a placard saying "Divest from climate change" on October 14, 2019 in London, England. (Photo: John Keeble/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-07-06). Russian church leader says calls to turn Hagia Sophia into mosque threaten Christianity. yenisafak.com Patriarch Kirill, the leader of Russia's Orthodox Church, said on Monday that calls to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a mosque posed a threat to Christianity.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has proposed restoring the mosque status of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, an ancient building at the heart of both the Christian Byzantine and Muslim Ottoman empires and now one of Turkey's most visited monuments.The proposal has been criticised by several religious and political leaders, including the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch, spirtual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, as well as Greece, France an…
(2020-07-06). Traces of history fascinate Turkey's Patara visitors. yenisafak.com The ancient city of Patara in Turkey's Mediterranean coast fascinates its visitors with traces of history and stories of people who once lived there.Located in the Kas district of southwestern Antalya province, Patara is known as the capital of the ancient Lycian civilization, which consisted of 23 cities in the middle of the first century BC.Chief excavator Havva Iskan Isik of Akdeniz University told Anadolu Agency that famous names from history frequently set foot to Patara.Isik said the first important person to come to the city was Tudhaliya IV, the king of Hittite Empire.Alexander the Great, she added, after…
(2020-07-06). 'Monumental Victory': Tribes and Climate Activists Celebrate Court-Ordered Shutdown of Dakota Access Pipeline. commondreams.org A U.S. district court on Monday delivered a major win to local Indigenous organizers and climate activists—and a significant blow to the fossil fuel industry and the Trump administration—by ordering the Dakota Access Pipeline to be shut down and emptied of oil by Aug. 5 while federal regulators conduct an environmental review. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
