Daily Archives: August 5, 2020

2020-08-05: News Headlines

Joshua Hanks (2020-08-05). Struggle makes headway, but fight far from over in Portland, Ore. workers.org When federal officers entered Portland, Ore., over the July 4 weekend and began to confront Black Lives Matter protesters, it quickly became clear that the protesters were not going to be driven out. The presence of federal officers only galvanized protesters, who turned out by the thousands night after night. . . . |

Rachel M. Cohen (2020-08-05). As Schools Reopen, Teachers, Parents, and Students Are Pushing Back. zcomm.org On the National Day of Resistance, activists say "going back to normal" isn't good enough…

NARAL Pro-Choice America (2020-08-05). Saturday 8/8: Our Freedom, Our Fight: NARAL Activists' Summit for Reproductive Rights (Day 1). indybay.org Online via Hopin…

NARAL Pro-Choice America (2020-08-05). Sunday 8/9: Our Freedom, Our Fight: NARAL Activists' Summit for Reproductive Rights (Day 2). indybay.org Online via Hopin…

Andrea Mazzarino (2020-08-05). Our Government Is Prioritizing Empire Over Health. thenation.com Our Government Is Prioritizing Empire Over Health…

MBNJSD (2020-08-04). U.S. Cold War China Policy will isolate the U.S. not China. dissidentvoice.org CODEPINK (Credit) Tensions between the United States and China are rising as the U.S. election nears, with tit-for-tat consulate closures, new U.S. sanctions and no less than three U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups prowling the seas around China. But it is the United States that has initiated each new escalation in U.S.-China relations. China's responses …

RT (2020-08-04). 'Erotic mind control community has a racism problem': BLM activists go after hypnotists in latest bizarre witch hunt. rt.com As street battles between murky federal agents, Antifa and various mom'n'pop protest groups over systemic racism continue in Portland, it appears a similar, but more insidious war is underway… in the erotic mind control community. | A seemingly never-ending thread, posted to Twitter by a self-professed 30-something white woman, who is part of the ultra-niche sexual "So, I want to address something that will probably surprise no one: The…

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-08-04). Shape Yourself Into The Perfect Weapon Against The Empire. thealtworld.com Do you want to win this thing? Actually win it? | By that I mean, do you actually want to create a healthy world instead of a world where we are ruled by lying, murderous, warmongering, oppressive, ecocidal, omnicidal sociopaths? Is that something you truly, deeply want? | It's okay if you don't, but be real with yourself about it. | A large percentage of the people who get involved in revolutionary political movements and criticism of establishment power structures, if they were honest with themselves, would admit that they do so not out of a sincere desire to replace the sociopathic ruling empire with something…

RT (2020-08-04). Tribute to xenophobia? Anti-Trump activists face backlash for 'statue' in Portland linking Putin to alleged police brutality. rt.com An activist group has unveiled a new 'statue' in Portland, Oregon which appears to connect Vladimir Putin to allegations of police brutality in the city. Isn't that a bit xenophobic? Twitter observers have asked. | The collective, known as the Trump Statue Initiative (TSI), used live actors covered in gold, and standing on top of a large pedestal, to create the impression that a new monument had been installed in the city on Monday. | Their performance art piece showed Donald Trump holding up a selfie-stick and making a thumbs-up sign as men wearing gas masks and riot gear pull a protester holding a 'BLM' plac…

Jacob G. Hornberger (2020-08-04). Empire Is the Root of U.S.-China Hostilities. globalresearch.ca The biggest factor that has led the U.S. government to initiate a hostile relationship against China involves the concept of empire. An empire wants to be the only empire or at least the dominant empire. That is, it wants to …

_____ (2020-08-04). US Empire Of Bases Is Spreader Of US COVID-19 Disaster. popularresistance.org American military personnel are getting sick in significant numbers in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. As The New York Times reported in a piece buried in the back pages of its July 21st edition, "The infection rate in the services has tripled over the past six weeks as the United States military has emerged as a potential source of transmission both domestically and abroad." | Indeed, the military is sick and I think of it as both a personal and an imperial disaster. | As the wife of a naval officer, I bear witness to the unexpected ways that disasters of all sorts play out among military families and lately…

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J.S. Davies (2020-08-03). US Cold War China Policy Will Isolate the US, Not China. commondreams.org "The sad truth is that 30 years after the supposed end of the Cold War," write Benjamin and Davies, " the U.S. military-industrial complex has failed to reimagine itself in anything but Cold War terms, and its 'New' Cold War is just a revival of the old Cold War that it spent the last three decades telling us it already won." (Image: CodePink) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

John Bellamy Foster (2020-08-03). A fractured empire, within and without. mronline.org Two things seem certain at this point: (1) The Trump administration will continue to extend its heavy handed neofascist tactics in the next three months, seeking to expand its political base by these means, and (2) the White House and the Republican Party will try to engineer another set of stimulus payments/tax cuts in early …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-03). BDS activist's detention extended for 15 days by military court in Israel. peoplesdispatch.org An Israeli military court approved a request by Israeli domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet to hold Mahmoud Nawajaa for 15 days. Nawajaa was illegally abducted from his home on July 30…

WSWS (2020-08-03). White House engineering a takeover of TikTok by Microsoft. wsws.org Under the White House's direction, Microsoft is preparing to acquire the video-sharing app TikTok in a forced-divestiture from its China-based company ByteDance.

_____ (2020-08-03). 15 Lessons From 15 Years Of BDS. popularresistance.org July marked the 15th anniversary of the launch of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. | Much has happened over those years. Here are 15 lessons I've learned on the journey to dismantle Israeli apartheid. It is incredible how many cities and cultural spaces have declared themselves "apartheid free zones," how many companies have divested from Israeli apartheid, how many artists have decided not to play in Israel and how many academics have ended relationships with Israeli institutions as a result of BDS campaigns. | Yet it is often difficult to keep our hopes up while knowing that Israeli aparthe…

_____ (2020-08-02). Law Enforcement Exposed: Massive Blue Leaks, Police Pentagon Papers. popularresistance.org In an email message, Betsy Reed, the editor-in-chief of the Intercept reports, "Hundreds of thousands of files from the FBI and local police departments have been leaked, exposing serious abuses of power by law enforcement." She writes, Blue Leaks "are like the Pentagon Papers for U.S. law enforcement." The leaks show how political activists are targeted and monitored on social media, that there is widespread racial bias by police and that police exaggerate threats by antifa to justify violence against protesters.

Lynda Carson (2020-08-01). Oakland tenants & activists are to hold press conference in front of Lapham Company Inc. indybay.org Tenants and activists plan to hold a press conference tomorrow Friday July, 31, 2020, at 12: 30PM, in front of the office of the landlord known as Lapham Property Inc., at 4484 Telegraph, Avenue, downtown Oakland!

Peoples Dispatch (2020-07-31). 212 Land Defenders were killed in 2019. peoplesdispatch.org A recent report shows that 2019 was the most dangerous year for land defenders with over 200 activists being murdered this year. Colombia and the Philippines were the worst affected.

_____ (2020-07-31). Korean Americans For Black Lives. popularresistance.org Liberty Park is one of the very few public green spaces left in Koreatown; the choice for 'Ktown for Black Lives' to meet here is intentional. | Organized by the neighborhood's activists and community members, the monthly gathering aims to mobilize residents against state-sanctioned violence that regularly takes the lives of Black and Brown people. Since its start in June, hundreds of 'Ktown for Black Lives' attendees have assembled on the 2.5 acres of land to participate in political education and mutual aid efforts such as the redistribution of meals and sanitary supplies. | 'Ktown for Black Lives' points to th…

_____ (2020-07-31). UK Students Fighting For Universities To Cut Ties With Israeli Apartheid. popularresistance.org Apartheid Off Campus is a newly-formed student network fighting to sever the ties between UK universities and the Israeli occupation. | "University students are in a powerful position to campaign in support of Palestinians and against the structures of racism by both challenging/exposing these links and forcing their universities to divest from complicit companies, as well as making their institutions commit to being APARTHEID FREE," reads the group's website. | Research recently released by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign shows that UK universities continue to invest over $580 million in companies complicit…