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Accountability

Shuttering Of Department Of Homeland Security Oversight Arm Freezes Cases

April 9, 2025 J. David McSwane and Hannah Allam, Pro Publica. , , , ,
On Feb. 10, more than a dozen Department of Homeland Security officials joined a video conference to discuss an obscure, sparsely funded program overseen by its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The office, charged with investigating when the national security agency is accused of violating the rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens, had found itself in the crosshairs of Elon Musk’s secretive Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. It began as a typical briefing, with Homeland Security officials explaining to DOGE a program many describe as a win-win.

Legal Coalition To Pursue Israelis Accused Of War Crimes

March 19, 2025 Areeb Ullah, Middle East Eye. , , , ,
Lawyers have launched a global coalition to pursue legal action around the world against Israelis and Israeli dual nationals accused of involvement in suspected war crimes in Gaza. At a launch event in London on Tuesday, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said the Global 195 initiative would seek to use domestic and international legal mechanisms to seek justice against Israeli soldiers and others “spanning the entire Israeli military and political chain of command”. Speaking at a press conference, Tayab Ali, director of the ICJP, began his remarks by paying tribute to the hundreds of Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes after it broke the ceasefire with Hamas in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

For Workers, There’s Nowhere To Go

February 22, 2025 Gabriel Thompson, Scheer Post. , , ,
When Connor Hovey began talking to his co-workers at Trader Joe’s in Louisville about forming a union, he knew it wouldn’t be easy. What he didn’t expect was that the campaign would transform from a marathon into a race without a finish line. Two years after Hovey and his co-workers won a union election in Louisville, their fight for union representation remains in limbo. The grocery chain with a progressive reputation filed six objections with the National Labor Relations Board after workers voted 48 to 36 to join Trader Joe’s United, an independent union.

USDA Inspector General Who Refused To Leave Post Escorted From Office

January 31, 2025 AJ Dellinger, Gizmodo. , , , , , ,
Last Friday, President Donald Trump purged several agencies of their inspectors general, demanding that at least 17 people in the role immediately turn in their work laptops and ID badges. One of those IGs, Phyllis Fong at the US Department of Agriculture, decided not to leave, believing the order to be illegal. According to a report from Reuters, she was escorted from the building today by security. Fong is a 22-year veteran of the inspector general office with the USDA. And while that multi-decade career is probably in part why the Trump administration axed her (something something swamp, something something career bureaucrat, etc.), she also likely carried among the most institutional knowledge of IG operations in the federal government.

Alberta’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ Enforcement Strategy Doesn’t Apply To Polluters

January 26, 2025 Mitch Anderson, DeSmog. , , , , ,
“Alberta is taking a zero-tolerance approach to crime,” bragged Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in 2023 on social media after her government announced more enforcement, greater emphasis on public safety, and limited discretion of prosecutors to let offenders off the hook. “ “There is an increasing sense that the system is not holding criminals properly accountable and letting the public suffer the consequences,” chimed in Alberta Minister of Justice Mickey Amery during the announcement. “This is simply unacceptable.” If only the governing United Conservative Party applied those laudable principles to oil sands companies that repeatedly flout legal requirements not to pollute waterways, air and land.

New York Climate Activists Show A Powerful Path Forward

January 25, 2025 Nick Engelfried, Waging Nonviolence. , , , ,
On the evening of Dec. 10, 12 self-identified elder climate activists sat around the Christmas tree in the New York State Capitol, in Albany, singing carols as they waited to be arrested. The protesters, who were there to support New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, had been told by police they would face criminal misdemeanor trespass charges if they stayed put. “Normally, for a protest like this, we’d expect to be written a citation rather than charged with a misdemeanor,” said Michael Richardson of Third Act Upstate New York, which helped plan the civil disobedience.

Judgement Day For The Merchants Of Death

January 11, 2025 Nick Mottren, Counter Punch. , , ,
On January 15, 2025, five days before the inauguration of a U.S. president who threatens to rain down hell on the Palestinian people, and more war to the world, the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal will release its final report on how Lockheed Martin, Boeing, RTX/Raytheon and drone-maker General Atomics have delivered hell to millions across the globe since 9/11. The Tribunal’s 35 evidentiary episodes explain how these four defendant corporations have been essential enablers of the U.S. colonial campaign of murder, extortion, and thievery since 9/11, epitomized in the horrific crescendo of violence that is already being rained down on the Palestinian people.

Israel Blocks UN Probe On ‘Hamas Rape’ Claims

January 9, 2025 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , , , ,
Israeli officials have obstructed a UN investigation into alleged sexual crimes committed by Hamas fighters during the 7 October 2023 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, fearing this would open the door to a probe into the rampant allegations of sexual violence against Palestinians inside Israeli torture camps. According to a report by Israeli daily Haaretz, Tel Aviv rejected a request from Pramila Patten, the UN special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict, to investigate the allegations against Hamas after she established that a necessary condition would be access to Israeli detention centers to probe claims against Israeli soldiers.

What US Mediation? 1000 Israeli Violations In Lebanon Go Unchecked

January 4, 2025 Lebanon Correspondent, The Cradle. , , , ,
Under the supervision of US special envoy and former Israeli soldier Amos Hochstein, Beirut and Tel Aviv reached a ceasefire agreement on 27 November after almost 14 months of intense conflict against the backdrop of the war on Gaza.  The Israeli military pledged to withdraw from Lebanese territory within 60 days of the agreement’s enactment.  To ensure compliance, a monitoring committee led by US General Jasper Jeffers was established, focusing on enforcing the cessation of hostilities and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

Parents Of Forest Defender Killed By Police File Civil Rights Lawsuit

December 21, 2024 Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot. , , , , ,
Nearly two years after police killed Terán, and a year after the state refused to bring charges against any of the state troopers responsible, Tortuguita’s parents are still seeking answers and accountability for the death of their 26-year-old child. Belkis Terán and Joel Paez, Tortuguita’s mother and father, are suing Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Ryan Long as well as Georgia State Patrol troopers Mark Lamb and Bryland Myers in federal court claiming that the raid that led to their child’s killing violated Tortuguita’s civil rights.

ICC Issues Arrest Warrants For Netanyahu And Gallant

November 21, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , , , , , , ,
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued on 21 November arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Gaza, in a landmark move coming several months after the court’s top prosecutor filed applications for their arrest. “Today … Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (‘Court’), in its composition for the Situation in the State of Palestine, unanimously issued two decisions rejecting challenges by the State of Israel (‘Israel’) brought under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute (the ‘Statute’).

Three Years After The Fuel Spill, Community Members Continue To Demand Accountability

November 20, 2024 Marti Townsend, Popular Resistance. , , , , , ,
Today, November 20, 2024, marks the third anniversary of the catastrophic 2021 Red Hill fuel spill, which contaminated the drinking water for thousands of our families and exposed deep flaws in the Navy’s management of its fuel storage facilities. On this solemn occasion, the Community Representation Initiative (CRI) reflects on the ongoing harm caused by the spill and calls for decisive action in light of recent Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports that confirm widespread mismanagement by the Navy and Department of Defense.

From Guantanamo To Abu Ghraib: Female Participation In Prisoner Abuses

November 18, 2024 Ann Wright, Popular Resistance. , , , , , ,
As a retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel with 13 years on active duty and 16 in the Reserves, I became interested in the topic of women involved in prisoner abuses when so many U.S. women at all levels were linked to the prisons or prisoners in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Cuba, and Iraq.  In reading press articles about detentions, incarcerations, and the abuse and torture of prisoners identified as threats to national security, I was struck by the number of women who had some role in the detentions -- women in the U.S. military, civilian women in various U.S. government agencies and civilian women contractors.

UCSF Health Professionals Charge Leadership With Complicity In Genocide

November 11, 2024 UC People’s Tribunal For Palestine, Mondoweiss. , , , , , , , ,
Almost a year ago, on October 31, 2023, faculty held a press conference in front of the Helen Diller Medical Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), in order to amplify the warnings of Palestinian colleagues at al-Ahli Hospital who predicted that Israel’s bombing of the hospital would be the first in a campaign that would decimate Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure. At the time, British-Palestinian surgeon Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, addressing the world while standing among the dead, stated that Israel’s targeting of al-Ahli Hospital signaled a decisive shift, marking the moment when its assault on Gaza “stopped being a war, and became a genocide.”

Former Rikers Detainees Urge NYC Officials To Address Sexual Abuse

November 1, 2024 Samantha Max, Gothamist. , , , ,
Women who say they were sexually abused by staff at the Rikers Island jail complex urged officials to take their allegations seriously at a City Council oversight hearing on Thursday. “You hear our stories, you hear our pain, you hear our trauma. We tell it over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again,” said Donna Hylton, who alleges a female captain raped her when she was a teenager at Rikers in the 1980s. “When will we be heard? When will we be believed?” Hylton is one of more than 700 women who have sued New York City, alleging they were fondled, raped or otherwise sexually abused while in custody over the last 50 years.
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