Daily Archives: August 16, 2020

2020-08-16: News Headlines

RT (2020-08-15). Chuck Norris appears in bizarre YouTube video threatening to make Belarusian President Lukashenko 'cry'. rt.com Hollywood star Chuck Norris has filmed himself making a thinly veiled threat against Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko, who is facing intense protests following accusations of election fraud. | Update: The original video is no longer available on YouTube due to a copyright claim. | In the clip, posted on YouTube, Norris did not mention Lukashenko by name. Instead, he referred to him as "Sasha Zero-Percent," which is a play on 'Sasha Three-Percent', the nickname opposition activists used to mock the president for his supposedly low approval rating. | Norris also used the phrase "Mister Cockroach," a term…

RT (2020-08-15). Joe Rogan lambasts Alyssa Milano and other woke celebs, says they become activists 'as soon as the calls stop coming'. rt.com Joe Rogan has thrown major shade at Alyssa Milano, after she cursed the world over the fact he had more podcast listeners than her. The comedian said Hollywood celebrities want to appear "super woke" to keep their careers. | In the latest episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience', the eponymous host and comedian Tim Dillon discussed people's current obsession with airing political takes on absolutely every subject. At this point, Rogan appeared to suggest he was aware of Milano's recent tweets, in which she complained that his podcast was so much more popular than her own. | We live in a world WHERE JOE ROGAN's PO…

The Canary (2020-08-15). Protesters gather at site of activist's death amid calls for Belarus leader to quit. thecanary.co Thousands of demonstrators in Belarus gathered at the spot in the capital where a protester died in clashes with police, calling for authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko to resign after 26 years in power.It was the seventh consecutive day of large protests against the results of the 9 August presidential election, in which election officials say Lukashenko won a sixth term in office. Opposition supporters believe the figures have been manipulated.Despite harsh police action against the protesters, including the detention of some 7,000 people, the demonstrations have swelled into the largest and most susta…

Richard Eskow (2020-08-15). A Message to the Left About Kamala Harris — And Us. zcomm.org "Should activists sit this election out? Not if you believe in activism."

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-15). Activists in Denmark demand a consent based law against rape. peoplesdispatch.org Hundreds of people demonstrated in Copenhagen on August 14, Friday, to demand that the government draft a consent law to ensure proper legal protection for rape victims. The gathering was organised by around 24 groups including Everyday Sexim Project, Women's Council, Denmark's Social Democratic Youth (DSU), Socialist Youth Front (SUF), Red Green Youth etc. The participants in the march wore masks and gloves adhering to COVID-19 safety protocol. | According to Arbejderen.dk (The Worker), the demonstrators demanded that the government should immediately announce and submit proposals for a new consent-based rape la…

_____ (2020-08-15). Minneapolis: Anti-Racism Uprising Infiltrated By Extreme Right. popularresistance.org The city of Minneapolis is where it all began. It is where the last drop fell on the surface of a proverbial overflowing lake, causing the dam to burst, consequently starting to destroy the foundations of the empire. | A death of just one single man can, under certain dreadful circumstances, put into motion the entire avalanche of events. It can smash the whole regime into pieces. It can fully rewrite history, and even change the identity of a nation. It can… although it not always does. | George Floyd's death became a spark. The city of Minneapolis is where the murder occurred, and where the ethnic minorities…

Staff (2020-08-14). Silencing marginalized voices is not 'good trouble'. therealnews.com In a time when it feels like many of the civil rights gains that activists fought for with their blood and bones and spirits have been lost, where do we go from here?

RT (2020-08-14). First they came for WikiLeaks: 'BlueLeaks' activists pursued as 'criminal hacker group' by DHS despite not hacking. rt.com Distributed Denial of Secrets, the group that published the "BlueLeaks" trove of hacked police documents in June, is being persecuted as a "criminal hacker group" by the US Department of Homeland Security — just like WikiLeaks. | The transparency activists "conducted a hack-and-leak operation targeting federal, state, and local law enforcement databases," according to a document circulated by the DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis among law enforcement fusion centers in late June, recently obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and published by the Verge on Thursday. | There was just…

Medea Benjamin and Ariel Gold (2020-08-14). Don't be Hoodwinked by Trump's UAE-Israel "Peace Deal" dissidentvoice.org "HUGE breakthrough today," crowed Donald Trump on twitter as he announced the new peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The deal makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state and the third Arab nation, after Egypt and Jordan, to have diplomatic ties with Israel. But the new Israel-UAE partnership should fool …

Fight Back (2020-08-14). A great read for Fidel Castro's birthday. fightbacknews.org In honor of Fidel Castro's birthday, Fight Back! is circulating a speech he delivered on May 1, 2003. Castro was born on August 13, 1926. Enjoy. |
| Cuba's achievements and America's wars |
| Distinguished guests; |
| Dear fellow Cubans: |
| Our heroic people have struggled for 44 years from this small Caribbean island just a few miles away from the most formidable imperial power ever known by mankind. In so doing, they have written an unprecedented chapter in history. Never has the world witnessed such an unequal fight. |
| Some may have believed that the rise of the empire to…

George Stacey (2020-08-14). Just 1 percent of the US Pentagon budget could end world hunger. nationofchange.org The war machine must go on and keep on growing or, more than likely they'll end up out of an occupation.

_____ (2020-08-14). BLM Activists Hospitalized After Police Kneel On Her Neck. popularresistance.org Protesters said Jae Passmore had been leaving a demonstration in downtown Tampa on Wednesday night when she was detained by police, The Tampa Bay Times reported. | In on video shared on Instagram, Passmore is seen being pinned to the ground by several officers as protesters shout at them to free her. | "Stop! Get your knee off her neck!" A protester can be heard repeatedly yelling. Another is heard screaming: "Get off of her like that!"

RT (2020-08-13). 'Get the f**k out!': WATCH Chicago residents confront BLM protesters in tense standoff. rt.com Residents of Chicago's Englewood community angrily accosted a group of Black Lives Matter protesters who showed up to demonstrate at a police station, where hostilities between locals and activists nearly boiled over into a brawl. | A BLM protest march from Englewood to Chicago's 7th District police station on Tuesday ended in a showdown with community members, at times devolving into shouting matches as locals insisted the demonstrators were giving their neighborhood a bad name. | "If you ain't from Englewood, get the f**k out of here!" longtime south side resident Darryl Smith was heard shouting at the prote…

Haitian Popular News Agency (2020-08-13). Haitian teachers protest school reopening. peoplesdispatch.org Several dozen teachers and activists organized a rally on Monday August 10 outside of the Haitian Ministry of National Education and Professional Training. They were protesting against the decision taken unilaterally by the Minister Pierre Josué Agénor Cadet to reopen schools, which was done without consulting other actors that are crucial to the proper functioning of the Haitian education system. They also demanded better working conditions for teachers in Haiti. | "We do not have a problem with reopening schools, it is normal that it happen, but it would be necessary for it to be planned in complete collaborati…

Candice Bernd (2020-08-13). Climate Activists Push Biden to Cut Ties With Industry-Friendly Energy Advisers. zcomm.org "We must work to get in climate hawks who understand that every fossil fuel permitting decision is a potential step away from 1.5 degrees."

Lynda Carson (2020-08-13). Employing and feeding people at Millcreek Manor in Batavia, Illinois. indybay.org The Empire Room, A Dining Room At Millcreek Manor In The Late 1960s:…

_____ (2020-08-13). Seattle Just Defunded Its Police — Sort Of. popularresistance.org After a summer of explosive demonstrations that saw protesters take over several city blocks for weeks, the Seattle City Council approved a budget "revision" package on Monday that will cut $3 million from the police budget and eliminate up to 100 positions from the department. The move both fell far short of the demands of activists, and was so forcefully opposed by the city's establishment that the police chief resigned almost immediately. | Seattle police chief Carmen Best wrote a letter to members of the department announcing her retirement late Monday, effective September 2.

_____ (2020-08-13). Youth Are Leading The Movement For Police-Free Schools. popularresistance.org In this moment of transformative possibility, amid activists' growing calls to defund and abolish the police, young people across the country are leading a movement to remove police officers from schools. They are demanding that city and school district leaders reallocate funding for police into services and resources for students, including counseling, social workers and restorative justice programming. | The movement for police-free schools has a long history of Black youth leading this fight as a key strategy to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, a process of funneling predominately Black and Latinx st…

yenisafak (2020-08-13). India rights groups seek independent probe into killings of Kashmiris. yenisafak.com Human rights groups and rights activists in India have called for a "transparent" and "independent" probe into the case of three missing Kashmiris in Jammu and Kashmir, whom their family members say the Indian army killed in a fake gunfight."Amnesty International India calls for the extrajudicial execution to be investigated and prosecuted by independent civilian authorities. Civilian investigations and trials offer a degree of transparency and independence that is missing from the military justice system," Avinash Kumar, executive director of Amnesty International India, said in a statement on Wednesday.The stat…

Jeff Abbott (2020-08-12). The Other Americans: Indigenous Activists Are Being Targeted in Honduras. progressive.org As attacks on the Garifuna, an Afro-Indigenous community, increase, Trump ignores the violence.

Paul Antonopoulos (2020-08-12). Turkey Marks 100 Years Since Treaty of Sèvres. Renewed Hostilities with Greece. globalresearch.ca Yesterday marked the 100-year anniversary from when the Treaty of Sèvres was signed. The Treaty of Sèvres saw the Ottoman Empire dismembered, with Greece, Syria and Armenia gaining old lost lands, an independent Kurdistan established, and France, Britain and Italy …

The Canary (2020-08-12). Activist's arrest in Portland galvanises Black Lives Matter movement. thecanary.co The arrest during a protest in Portland, Oregon, of a Black woman who became a leading activist in the racial justice movement, has galvanised Black Lives Matter groups. The activist, Demetria Hester, was assaulted by a white supremacist three years ago. | Portland has endured more than two months of often violent, nightly protests since George Floyd's police killing in Minneapolis, including weeks of clashes between protesters and federal agents. The agents were dispatched to the city by US president Donald Trump. | Authorities said they won't be charging Hester, a prominent activist, following her arrest after…