Daily Archives: August 7, 2020

2020-08-07: News Headlines

Alan Macleod (2020-08-07). Disbelief as Trump Appoints Disgraced Iran-Contra Criminal Elliott Abrams as Iran Envoy. mintpressnews.com Activists, the UN, and even mainstream news outlets expressed dismay at the Trump administration's decision to appoint regime-change champion Elliot Abrahams to the role of Special Representative for Iran.

T.J. Coles (2020-08-07). Fighting Over Kashmir Could Blow Up the Planet. counterpunch.org Jammu and Kashmir, widely referred to as Kashmir, has had many designations since India and Pakistan were partitioned by Britain and gained their respective independence from the Empire: a Princely State, a State, a Union Territory. The 86,000 mile, Muslim-majority region sits in the Himalayas on the border with China. It is of strategic significance

Staff (2020-08-07). DNC Platform Condemns BDS But Not Israel's Occupation of Palestine. truthout.org Due to a series of decisions by the Democratic National Committee's (DNC's) platform committee, progressives are concerned that the Biden-led Democratic Party's foreign policy toward Israel and Palestine will more closely resemble that of Republicans than that of the Democratic rank-and-file. | There has already been much consternation among party activists over

Bradley Allen (2020-08-07). Coalition Calls for Shut Down of Calpella Wood Pellet Plant. indybay.org Local tribes, activists and statewide organizations are joining forces to demand closure of the Calpella wood pellet plant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

_____ (2020-08-07). Professor Mounts High-Altitude Protest Against Pipeline. popularresistance.org Tim Takaro is by himself but insists he isn't alone. | Takaro, 63, is protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project by camping out in a cluster of trees in Burnaby, B.C. | Takaro is a professor of health sciences and environmental health at Simon Fraser University and a former physician, having retired from clinical medicine in December 2019. | He and other environmental activists say trees along the Brunette River near the boundary between Burnaby and New Westminster are slated to be felled between now and Sept. 15 as part of pipeline construction.

_____ (2020-08-07). Anti-Occupation Activists Find Their Place In Israeli Protests. popularresistance.org he growing presence of Israeli anti-occupation protesters has been one of the most notable aspects of the wave of demonstrations that started on July 14 outside the Prime Minister's Residence on Balfour Street, Jerusalem. Among other things, this bloc of protesters have demanded justice for Iyad al-Hallaq, a Palestinian with autism whom Israeli police shot dead in the Old City of Jerusalem in late May. | The anti-occupation bloc, comprising several hundred protesters, are not on the margins of the demonstrations. Last Saturday night, for example, it was possible to hear them chanting "Justice for Iyad" at the Pri…

Staff (2020-08-07). Young People Are Leading the Growing Movement for Police-Free Schools. truthout.org In this moment of transformative possibility, amid activists' growing calls to defund and The movement for police-free schools has a long hi…

Joelle Fishman (2020-08-06). Connecticut activists take up Hiroshima mayor's call: "Unite against all threats" peoplesworld.org NEW HAVEN, Conn.—"Civil society must reject self-centered nationalism and unite against all threats," warned Mayor Kazumi Matsui of Hiroshima, Japan on the 75th commemoration of the horrific devastation of its people when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city and three days later on the city of Nagasaki. The mayor's statement was read as …

Lowell B. Denny, III (2020-08-06). Attacks on Margaret Sanger are cover for right wing's assault on women. peoplesworld.org Recently, Planned Parenthood took steps to publicly disavow their founder, Margaret Sanger. The organization announced it was removing her name from a clinic in Manhattan, citing her support for eugenics. This decision has not satisfied right-wing "right to lifers" who continue to attack Planned Parenthood, but it has garnered support from pro-choice, anti-racist activists, who …

Robin Valenzuela (2020-08-06). Dreamers' Children: Up to 200,000 American Kids Could be Left Parentless. commondreams.org Immigration rights activists take part in a rally in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on November 12, 2019. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

NARAL Pro-Choice America (2020-08-06). Saturday 8/8: Our Freedom, Our Fight: NARAL Activists' Summit for Reproductive Rights (Day 1). indybay.org Online via Hopin…

NARAL Pro-Choice America (2020-08-06). Sunday 8/9: Our Freedom, Our Fight: NARAL Activists' Summit for Reproductive Rights (Day 2). indybay.org Online via Hopin…

yenisafak (2020-08-06). 'India not releasing jailed critics despite virus risk'. yenisafak.com India is among several countries where human rights defenders and activists imprisoned for criticizing the government have been kept in jail despite the risk of COVID-19, Amnesty International said in a report released on Thursday.The new briefing, Daring to Stand up for Human Rights in a Pandemic, states that India is one of the countries that has "left prisoners of conscience to languish in appalling conditions despite widely publicized prisoner release programs."According to the report, 131 people who speak up for human rights have been harassed, prosecuted, killed, or imprisoned on COVID-19-related pretexts i…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-08-06). On 55th Anniversary of Voting Rights Act, Advocates Call on Congress to Fully Restore Law to Honor John Lewis's Fight for Justice. commondreams.org Civil rights advocates on Thursday marked the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, both in celebration of the hard-won victory of activists in the 1960s and in honor of the late Rep. John Lewis, whose tireless organizing helped pressure lawmakers to sign the legislation. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies (2020-08-05). U.S. Cold War China Policy Will Isolate the U.S, Not China. counterpunch.org 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 have been

Nozomi Hayase (2020-08-05). From Bombing of Hiroshima to Collateral Murder; War Crimes of Empire and Prosecution of Free Press. commondreams.org On April 5, 2010, WikiLeaks released "Collateral Murder": a video showing a July 12, 2007 US Apache attack helicopter attack upon individuals in a Baghdad suburb. Amongst the over twelve people killed by the 30mm cannon fire were two Reuters journalists. (Image: Wikileaks/'Collateral Murder' video/Screenshot) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

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…

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 …

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…

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 …