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The Donald Trump Problem

March 27, 2023 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , ,
Donald Trump — facing four government-run investigations, three criminal and one civil, targeting himself and his business — is not being targeted because of his crimes. Nearly every serious crime he is accused of carrying out has been committed by his political rivals. He is being targeted because he is deemed dangerous for his willingness, at least rhetorically, to reject the Washington Consensus regarding neoliberal free-market and free-trade policies, as well as the idea that the U.S. should oversee a global empire. He has not only belittled the ruling ideology, but urged his supporters to attack the apparatus that maintains the duopoly by declaring the 2020 election illegitimate.

English Lawyers Refuse To Prosecute Climate Protestors

March 25, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, Ecowatch. , , ,
A group of lawyers in England have signed a “Declaration of Conscience” saying they will refuse to participate in the prosecution of peaceful climate protesters like Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain. The group of about 120 lawyers, who go by the name “Lawyers are Responsible,” will also refuse to represent those participating in new fossil fuel projects. “Like big tobacco, the fossil fuel industry has known for decades what its activities mean. They mean the loss of human life and property – which the civil law should prevent but does not,” Director of the Good Law Project Jolyon Maugham, one of the key signatories of the declaration, wrote in The Guardian.

Black Residents Of Cancer Alley Sue Local Government

March 22, 2023 Sara Sneath, DeSmog. , , ,
A discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Louisiana alleges that the St. James Parish Council steered polluting facilities into Black neighborhoods along the Mississippi River. As a result, Black residents there are forced to breathe in more pollution and face a higher risk of related health problems, according to the suit filed by Inclusive Louisiana, Mount Triumph Baptist Church, and RISE St. James. “We’re being ignored and we have to do whatever we have to do to stop it,” said Myrtle Felton, a lifelong resident of St. James Parish and co-founder of Inclusive Louisiana, a community group focused on environmental injustices.

Operation Lone Star Has Cost Texans Nearly $4.5 Billion

March 16, 2023 Priscilla Lugo, In These Times. , , ,
Gov. Greg Abbott’s misguided Operation Lone Star is costing Texans $2.5 million a week — that’s about $4.5 billion since it began in March 2021. The money being misspent on Operation Lone Star could instead be going to more urgent needs for Texans — an updated power grid, infrastructure in rural communities, and it could even be invested in improving the lives of those in custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). Operation Lone Star was ostensibly created to deter migration through arresting, jailing and prosecuting migrants on illegal trespassing charges.

New Federal Proposal Could Seize 75% Of Commissary Funds Sent To Prisoners

March 13, 2023 Mansa Musa, The Real News Network. , , ,
Incarcerated people across the US could find their commissary funds depleted by a new proposed policy from the Bureau of Prisons to automatically deduct three quarters of all funds prisoners receive from loved ones on the outside. The BOP is justifying the proposed change by appealing to personal responsibility—claiming that the deductions will go towards covering prisoners’ financial obligations such as child support and court fees. But what about the financial obligations of the federal government? Billions of public dollars are earmarked for corporate contractors profiting from incarceration and war each year, while the costs of operating courts and raising children are pushed onto incarcerated individuals and their families.

Apache Stronghold Granted New Hearing On Copper Mine

March 12, 2023 Apache Stronghold, Popular Resistance. , , ,
After a divided ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has agreed to rehear the case “en banc”—meaning in front of a full panel of eleven judges. Oral argument will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Courtroom Three of the Richard H. Chambers Courthouse, located at 125 South Grand Avenue in Pasadena, California 91105. In June of this year, a panel of three Ninth Circuit court judges ruled 2:1 against Apache Stronghold, with Judge Berzon dissenting and calling the ruling “illogical,” “incoherent,” “flawed,” and “absurd.” Now, a majority of the Ninth Circuit’s 29 active judges has voted to rehear the case and will convene a special panel of eleven judges to decide whether the law allows the government to destroy sacred sites. 

Fascistic Judges

March 10, 2023 Craig Murray, Consortium News. , , ,
Three climate activists in two separate trials have been sent to jail by Judge Silas Reid using the entirely arbitrary powers of Contempt of Court, because they insisted on telling the jury that their protests had been motivated by the climate crisis and “fuel poverty,” the inability of people to keep their homes adequately heated. Juries are an essential safeguard from injustice by the state. That ordinary, randomly selected people decide on guilt or innocence has been fundamental to the criminal law in the United Kingdom for many centuries. The simplistic maxim is that the judge determines the law while the jury determines the facts. However, it is often more complex than that.

66 Organizations Urge That Domestic Terrorism Charges Be Dropped

March 8, 2023 Defending Rights and Dissent. , , , ,
Atlanta, Georgia - 66 environmental, human rights, and civil liberties organizations sent a letter to Georgia prosecutors urging them to drop domestic terrorism charges against Stop Cop City/Defend the Atlanta Forest protesters. The charges represent a draconian escalation seemingly intended to chill First Amendment protected activity. The letter reads, in part: Civil disobedience and disruptive activism are part of the American protest tradition. From the Boston Tea Party to the civil rights movement, Americans have long drawn on civil disobedience tactics akin to the occupation of the Atlanta forest by the Stop Cop City protesters.

Lawyers Urge UN To Review Solitary Confinement Of Black Americans

March 5, 2023 Cheyanne M. Daniels, The Hill. , , ,
A group of human rights attorneys have filed a joint submission urging the United Nations to review abusive solitary confinement practices used in the U.S. against Black Americans.  The submission, which comes ahead of U.N. officials’ April trip to the U.S. to review issues related to racial justice and equality in law enforcement, details the physical and mental health repercussions of solitary confinement.  The visit is part of a four-point agenda to end systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement against Africans and people of African descent. It comes after the Biden administration extended an invitation to the U.N. in December.

‘Ithaka’ And A Father’s Struggle For His Son’s Freedom

March 2, 2023 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , ,
“I don’t much like media,” mutters John Shipton, the father of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. During the first minutes of “Ithaka,” an Australia documentary that follows John as he campaigns for his son’s freedom, it becomes clear that he is not someone who is accustomed to appearing on camera or before groups of people to ask for their support. John is asked how he got along with Assange, a tedious question that he resents given the harsh circumstances. However, the question is reasonable given the fact that Assange grew up without his father. “The story is, I’m attempting in my own humble modest way to get Julian out of the shit,” John replies.

Law Is Politics By Other Means: Mumia Case Update

March 2, 2023 Noelle Hanrahan, Popular Resistance. , , ,
It has been 43 years. When is Mumia Abu-Jamal going to receive a new trial? Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons has the opportunity to overturn Mumia's conviction and grant a new trial. The time to do that is right now.  The shocking new evidence that suggests bribery, perjury, and packing the jury with white jurors should be heard in open court. Evidence of constitutional violations in jury selection (a Batson claim) and suppression of evidence favorable to the accused (a Brady claim) was buried in the prosecutors files for four decades. It is now before this court.

Ruling In Alex Saab Case Ignores Evidence To Support Immunity

February 22, 2023 Femi Falana, Council on Hemispheric Affairs. , , ,
I have been involved with Alex Saab’s legal fight over his assertion of diplomatic immunity since its earliest stages. As is to be expected in a case whose very origins are founded on the interference in the domestic affairs of Venezuela by the United States, there have been many inexplicable judicial decisions since Alex Saab’s initial arrest in Cape Verde on June 12, 2020. The recent decision handed down by Judge Robert Scola in Miami is probably the hardest to understand and justify. On December 23, 2022, Judge Scola denied Special Envoy Alex Saab’s motion to dismiss the indictment issued against him in 2019.

Drop The Charges Against War Critic Heinrich Bücher!

February 18, 2023 United National Antiwar Coalition. , , ,
A prominent antiwar activist in Berlin has come under attack by the German government for his criticism of Germany’s role in the war in Ukraine. Heinrich Bücker is the founder and operator of Berlin’s Coop Antiwar Cafe, a popular gathering place for leftist activists in the city. He also is a member of the board of directors of the German Peace Council; the Association of Anti-Fascists; the Berlin chapter of World Beyond War; and the advisory board of the Odessa Solidarity Campaign, among many other organizations. His offense? He publicly asked why Germany is supporting neo-Nazi organizations in Ukraine.

Peruvian Organizations Take Legal Action Against Dina Boluarte

February 17, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , ,
A group of Peruvian human rights organizations and independent lawyers, on Wednesday, February 15, filed a legal complaint against Dina Boluarte, her ministers, and police chiefs over the deaths of six people killed during protests in the Apurímac region in December 2022. The complaint states that during the first five days of demonstrations against Boluarte’s assumption of power, which began on December 7, 2022, six people were killed, 83 were injured, and dozens were arrested and tortured at the hands of police officers. According to a statement by the Legal Defense Institute—one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit—five of the deceased lost their lives due to firearm projectile impacts, two were adolescents, and the eldest victim was only 19 years old.

Interview: Taking Down A Fascist

February 12, 2023 Cindy Forster, Kawsachun News. , , ,
We were in our distinct regions when the coup took place. I was the first to leave my province because we met with the grassroots organizations, and they decided, “You are the representative of this province. While we defend our [vote] in the streets, you need to defend it in Parliament. Whatever it takes, you have to get back into Parliament.” I was able to re-enter, and I stayed there, while the rest were on the outside in the streets, communicating with us –they told us everything that was happening– they were being tear-gassed and arrested, they were chased, some lost their shoes, their aguayos or bundles. I chose the role of security inside Parliament. The right wanted to shut down Parliament and rule all branches of government.
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