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How Cities Can Bring Some Humanity To The Criminal Legal System

October 26, 2024 Erica Perry, Next City. , , ,
Last month, the state of Missouri executed 55-year-old Marcellus Williams, who spent two decades in prison, despite prosecutors’ efforts to overturn his conviction for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle. The victim’s family and the St. Louis county prosecuting attorney’s office joined Williams’ family, faith leaders and thousands of community members in asking decision-makers to spare his life. But neither their pleas nor revelations of mishandled evidence and racially biased jury selection were enough to outweigh a legal system with disdain for human life. This pattern of unjust sentencing to death is true across America.

Fighting For More Evidence Of Assange’s Political Prosecution

October 24, 2024 Joe Lauria and Mohamed Elmaazi, Consortium News. , , , , ,
A tribunal in Britain is set to decide whether to order the government’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to prove it deleted emails that may have covered up more evidence of a politically motivated prosecution of Julian Assange. The three judges heard arguments on Sept. 24 in the nearly decade-long freedom of information saga regarding the emails that top British prosecutors say were deleted. They involved an exchange with Sweden during a Swedish prosecutor’s attempt, beginning in 2010, to extradite the WikiLeaks publisher from Britain. Assange was wanted in Sweden for questioning during a preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual assault, which was dropped three times, definitively in 2017.

An Abolitionist Approach To Debt

October 19, 2024 Chrystin Ondersma, Next City. , , ,
When individuals cannot meet their basic needs without turning to debt, they face threats to their human dignity. Survival debt — debt that individuals incur to survive and live a life with dignity — is inherently intimidating and degrading. A person does not have the freedom to obtain a standard of living consistent with human dignity if the only means of acquiring housing, transportation, food, medical care or an education is to incur debt. Many indebted households can barely survive, much less vivir sabroso. Those who incur debt to meet basic needs must work, despite knowing that the fruits of their labor will be diverted to repay debt — while they still struggle just to meet basic needs, let alone accumulate the necessary resources to weather future emergencies or to build savings for retirement.

Indian Fighting Today: Gibson, Dunn And Crutcher

October 15, 2024 Winona LaDuke, Portside. , , , ,
The business of Indian Hating is a lucrative one. It’s historically been designed to dehumanize Native people so that it’s easier to take their land. ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,” manifest destiny, and “merciless Indian savages” are all phrases which underscore the deep hatred of the American Empire for Indigenous peoples. After all, this is our land, indakiingimin, the very land to which we belong., And to make America, it’s important to steal it. That’s pretty much history — a lot of theft: land, cultural items and people. And where possible, the laws themselves. It starts with hating and expands to war. Welcome to the modern Indian Wars. Some of them are in the courtroom.

US Military Veteran Arrested By Israeli Forces In Occupied West Bank

October 12, 2024 Umar A Farooq, Middle East Eye. , , , , ,
A United States military veteran was arrested by Israeli forces while accompanying a Palestinian farmer in a village in the West Bank, according to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Michael Jacobsen was in the Palestinian village of Masafer Yatta in the Hebron governorate when he and other activists as well as Palestinian land owners were approached by Israeli soldiers on Thursday morning. The ISM said the farmer Jacobsen was accompanying was facing "daily harassment, attacks, and invasions of his private land by Israeli settlers and occupation forces".

Australia: Whistleblower David McBride Wins Leave to Appeal

October 12, 2024 Cathy Vogan, Consortium News. , , , ,
Australian military whistleblower David McBride was back in the Canberra Supreme Court on Wednesday where he won leave to appeal his conviction for leaking evidence of alleged war crimes by the Australian military in Afghanistan to Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC. McBride was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison in May. The former military lawyer was forced to plead guilty to stealing and leaking the classified documents to the media after he was essentially denied a defense at his trial last November. McBride’s defense had rested on the court accepting his argument that his oath to the British crown gave him a duty beyond obedience to military orders to instead inform the entire nation of government wrongdoing. The court rejected that argument. 

Israel Charged American Journalist With ‘Aiding The Enemy’

October 12, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , , ,
The Israeli government arrested, detained, and charged American journalist Jeremy Loffredo with “aiding the enemy during wartime and providing information to the enemy.” According to Israeli news site Ynet, Loffredo was arrested by security forces on “suspicion of endangering national security after reporting on where missiles landed in the attack launched by Iran earlier this month including in the [Israeli military’s] Nevatim Air Base and an intelligence base in central Israel.” Loffredo appeared in an Israeli Magistrate's Court on October 10 after being detained for nearly a day and a half. He was taken to an Israeli military base along with at least four other journalists, who were later released. 

New Approach To Prosecuting Low-Level Offenses ‘A Massive Success’

October 10, 2024 Kyle Dunphey, Utah News Dispatch. , , , , ,
It’s been one year since Salt Lake City launched a new court tailored toward individuals struggling with mental health, addiction or homelessness and so far, the data looks promising, with dozens of people who previously had hundreds of run-ins with police now steering clear of the criminal justice system. The city’s new, aptly named “Familiar Faces” program works with people who have had multiple contacts with Salt Lake City Police officers in recent years, resulting in dozens, sometimes more than 100, low-level, nonviolent charges during their life. That mostly includes class B and C misdemeanors like trespassing, illegal camping, theft or criminal mischief.

Burn The Planet And Lock Up The Dissidents

October 8, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , ,
Norfolk, U.K. — I am sitting with Roger Hallam, his gray hair pulled back in a ponytail, in the visitor’s room at HM Prison Wayland. On the walls are large photographs of families picnicking on lawns, verdant meadows and children playing. The juxtaposition of the photographs, no doubt hung to give the prison visiting room a homey feel, is jarring. There is no escaping, especially with prison guards circulating around us, where we are. Roger and I sit on squat upholstered chairs and face each other across from a low, white plastic table. Roger’s lanky frame tries to adjust to furniture designed to accommodate children.

First Just Stop Oil, Now Extinction Rebellion Activists Found Guilty

October 4, 2024 The Canary. , , , , , ,
Extinction Rebellion activists who took action in defence of life, known as the “Worley Three,” have been found guilty of causing £6,000 in “damages” for their peaceful protest at the offices of multinational corporation Worley. It was over the so-called EACOP project. Sentencing will take place on 14 November. The action involved washable fake oil and chalk spray, designed to spotlight Worley’s ties to the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), a project widely condemned for its devastating environmental and social impacts and to ultimately demand a boycott of the pipeline.

Judges In TikTok Case Seem Ready To Discount First Amendment

September 29, 2024 Ari Paul, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. , , ,
A US circuit court panel appears ready to uphold a federal law that would effectively ban the popular social media network TikTok because it’s owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The legal attacks on the video platform—which FAIR (8/5/20, 5/25/23, 11/13/23, 3/14/24) has written about before—are entering a new phase, in which judicial interpreters of the Constitution are acting as Cold War partisans, threatening to throw out civil liberties in favor of national security alarmism. Earlier this year, despite widespread protest (Guardian, 3/7/24), President Joe Biden signed legislation forcing TikTok’s owner “to sell it or face a nationwide prohibition in the United States” (NBC, 4/24/24).

Georgia’s Repressive Tactics Unravel In ‘Stop Cop City’ Case

September 29, 2024 Fight Back! News. , , , ,
Atlanta, GA – In a surprising but significant turn of events, on September 24, Georgia prosecutors have dropped all 15 counts of money laundering against three prominent activists involved in the “Stop Cop City” movement. These activists – Marlon Kautz, Adele MacLean and Savannah Patterson – are leaders of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF), a bail fund that has supported protesters opposing the construction of a controversial police training facility in Atlanta. While the trio still faces racketeering charges, the dismissal of the money laundering allegations nevertheless marks a victory against state repression and exposes the cracks in the state's legal strategy.

Ohio: Haitian Group Files Criminal Complaint Against Trump, Vance

September 25, 2024 Rafael Bernal, The Hill. , , , , ,
A grassroots immigrant advocacy group filed a complaint seeking criminal charges in Springfield, Ohio, against former President Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance (R), over their role in elevating false allegations about Haitian immigrants abducting and eating local pets. The complaint, filed by Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) in Clark County Municipal Court, alleges that Trump and Vance, by amplifying those claims, had a “direct impact” in spurring the 33 bomb threats that rocked the southwest Ohio city. “Like those who falsely shout ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater, Trump and Vance do not color within the lines of the First Amendment. They commit criminal acts,” the group said.

Legal Challenges Against Rosebank Oil Field Given The Green Light

September 25, 2024 Stop Rosebank. , , , ,
Rosebank will do nothing to lower energy bills, save jobs, or make our energy supply more secure. It will only make billions for oil giants, with the UK public footing the bill through billions in tax breaks. The previous government knew this - and approved the field anyway. We believe that the decision to approve Rosebank was not only a disaster for the climate, and morally and economically wrong, but unlawful.  Claims that drilling Rosebank is compatible with the UK’s obligations and a safe climate doesn't add up - and we will prove it in court. This is now a straight fight between a livable future and oil and gas industry profits. The UK government has already admitted the decision was unlawful.

The Cost Of Resistance

September 17, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , , ,
This video is a recording of a talk given by Chris Hedges at the Kairos Club London on September 11, 2024. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of resistance and repression, Hedges detailed the methods we need to adopt to defeat the powerful interests, including the fossil fuel industry and the animal agriculture industry, which have placed their profits above the protection of our species and all life on earth. Hedges’ talk is preceded by an audio intro from Roger Hallam. Hallam is part of the “Whole Truth Five,” who are five members of Just Stop Oil who were sentenced last month to the longest ever prison sentences for non-violent protes
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