Domino Effect: Pompeo Vows US Will Help Uproot 'Authoritarianism' in Nicaragua & Cuba
RT News | globalresearch.ca | 2019-02-24
The United States will help the people of Nicaragua and Cuba to resist "non-democratic regimes" in their countries, Mike Pompeo has said. His comments come as Washington steps up calls for a new government in Venezuela. | The secretary of state | …
globalresearch.ca/domino-effect-pompeo-vows-us-will-help-uproot-authoritarianism-in-nicaragua-cuba/5669500
'Embrace democracy, Venezuela!' Bolton threatens new sanctions, Pompeo vows 'action'
RT | rt.com | 2019-02-24
Failure of the attempted forcing of US "humanitarian aid" into Venezuela has not deterred the Trump administration hawks from seeking regime change in Caracas. They now threaten new sanctions unless Venezuela "embraces democracy." | …
rt.com/usa/452277-bolton-pompeo-venezuela-democracy/
Manafort 'Brazenly Violated the Law' for Years, Mueller Memo Says
STAFF | truthdig.com | 2019-02-23
WASHINGTON–Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort committed crimes that cut to "the heart of the criminal justice system" and over the years deceived everyone from bookkeepers and banks to federal prosecutors and his own lawyers, according to a sentencing memo filed Saturday by special counsel Robert Mueller's office. | In the memo, submitted in one of two criminal cases Manafort faces, prosecutors do not yet take a position on how much prison time he should serve or whether to stack the punishment on top of a separate sentence he will soon receive in a Virginia prosecution. But they do depict Manafor…
truthdig.com/articles/manafort-brazenly-violated-the-law-for-years-mueller-memo-says/
Mueller recommends harsh sentence for 'hardened' criminal Paul Manafort
RT | rt.com | 2019-02-23
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has castigated former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for "repeatedly and brazenly" violating the law, and called on a federal judge in Washington DC to punish him appropriately. | …
rt.com/usa/452268-mueller-manafort-sentencing-memo/
Venezuela, Hezbollah and Iran: What You're Not Being Told
Middle East Eye | theantimedia.com | 2019-02-23
(MEE) — Speaking on 6 February to Fox Business about the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a grave warning about outside interference in the South American nation: "People don't recognize that Hezbollah has active cells. The Iranians are impacting the people of Venezuela and throughout South America." The next day, the US Southern …
The working class and the fight to free Julian Assange
WSWS | wsws.org | 2019-02-23
The persecution of Assange is the spearhead of a global offensive against freedom of speech and for censorship of oppositional voices on the internet.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/02/23/pers-f23.html
Elizabeth Vos, editor-in-chief of Disobedient Media, urges support for Free Assange demonstrations in Australia
WSWS | wsws.org | 2019-02-23
"We are collectively obligated to protect the 'rebel library of Alexandria' that Assange and others have built."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/02/23/voss-f23.html
John Pilger: The War on Venezuela Is Built on Lies
John Pilger | mintpressnews.com | 2019-02-22
Should the CIA stooge Guaido and his white supremacists grab power, it will be the 68th overthrow of a sovereign government by the United States, most of them democracies, argues John Pilger.
mintpressnews.com/john-pilger-war-venezuela-built-lies/255422/
Philippines: Break the culture of silence, violence and impunity
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-02-22
The following statement on the February 13 arrest of Filipino journalist Maria Ressa was issued by the Filipino human rights movement, iDefend. | iDefend condemns the arrest of Maria Ressa by the National Bureau of Investigation on February 13 on charges of cyber-libel. | Ressa's arrest is the latest demonstration of how government critics are silenced in a manner which mirrors a familiar style of the late Marcos dictatorship. | For two years, Senator Leila de Lima remains incarcerated on unproven drug charges; former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was removed from her post in a Quo Waranto proc…
greenleft.org.au/content/philippines-break-culture-silence-violence-and-impunity
Authorities confirm Assange's Australian passport was renewed last October
WSWS | wsws.org | 2019-02-22
News that the WikiLeaks publisher's passport was renewed last October does not reduce by one iota the danger that he confronts.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/02/22/pass-f22.html
Fixing Tech's Ethics Problem Starts in the Classroom
Stephanie Wykstra | thenation.com | 2019-02-21
Fixing Tech's Ethics Problem Starts in the Classroom…
thenation.com/article/teaching-technology-ethics-big-data-algorithms-artificial-intelligence/
Ending the Punishment of Poverty: Supreme Court Rules Against High Fines & Civil Asset Forfeiture
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-21
In a major victory for civil liberties advocates, the Supreme Court has unanimously ruled to limit the practice of civil asset forfeiture–a controversial practice where police seize property that belongs to people suspected of crimes, even if they are never convicted. On Wednesday, the court ruled the Eighth Amendment protects people from state and local authorities imposing onerous fines, fees and forfeitures to generate money. The case centered on an Indiana man named Tyson Timbs, whose Land Rover was seized when he was arrested for selling drugs. The vehicle was worth $42,000–more than four times t…
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/21/ending_the_punishment_of_poverty_supreme
5 stages of Russiagate grief: Dems and the media prepare for 'life without Mueller'
RT | rt.com | 2019-02-21
As Special Counsel Robert Mueller prepares to issue his long-awaited and likely flaccid 'Russiagate' report, Democrats and their supporters in the media have been riding a rollercoaster of emotions, not all of them pretty. | …
rt.com/usa/452110-cnn-life-after-mueller/
Ex-Pinochet secret police agent Adriana Rivas' extradition case deferred
Fred_F | greenleft.org.au | 2019-02-21
Former secret police agent under dictator General Augusto Pinochet Adriana Rivas will face court again on March 1 to see if she is extradited back to Chile, where she is facing charges relating to alleged torture and kidnapping offences. | While visiting Chile in 2007, Rivas was arrested for the aggravated kidnapping of seven victims in 1976. At the time she was the principal assistant to Manuel Contreras, the former head of Pinochet's National Intelligence Directorate (DINA). | All of the victims subsequently disappeared after undergoing vicious torture sessions. | However, Rivas breached her conditional bail an…
greenleft.org.au/content/ex-pinochet-secret-police-agent-adriana-rivas-extradition-case-deferred
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Pompeo, Pence & the Alienation of Europe
Consortiumnews | consortiumnews.com | 2019-02-20
If the objective was to further isolate the U.S., the two officials could not have done a better job last week, writes Patrick Lawrence. By Patrick Lawrence Special to Consortium News What a job Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary… Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2019/02/19/patrick-lawrence-pompeo-pence-the-alienation-of-europe/
Saudis Facing Criminal Charges in the U.S. Keep Disappearing. Is the Kingdom Helping Them Escape?
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-20
A growing number of Saudi students are vanishing while facing serious criminal charges in the U.S. Federal law enforcement officials are now launching an investigation into the suspicious disappearances to probe if the Saudi government was involved and how. We speak with Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, The Oregonian reporter who broke the story about the spate of Saudi student disappearances. He found that in at least four cases the Saudi government paid a defendant's bail and legal fees before he disappeared. In one case, police believe Saudi officials snuck a Saudi national out of the country on a private plane using a…
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/20/saudis_facing_criminal_charges_in_the
A Supreme Court Milestone for Students' Free Speech Rights
ACLU | aclu.org | 2019-02-20
In 1969, a group of public school students protesting the Vietnam War made First Amendment history that stands strong to this day. | This month marks 50 years since the landmark Supreme Court ruling that cemented students' rights to free speech in public schools, Tinker v. Des Moines. We're inspired to see that students still take advantage of their First Amendment rights and speak out on political issues today. | We grew up in Iowa, where our father was a Methodist minister. Believing that faith s…
aclu.org/blog/free-speech/student-speech-and-privacy/supreme-court-milestone-students-free-speech-rights
New hate map helps users explore landscape of hate
splcenter | splcenter.org | 2019-02-19
The Southern Poverty Law Center has introduced an updated, interactive hate map equipped with new features to help people better understand the hate groups operating in their state and across the country.
splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2019/new-hate-map
Can Turkey and Syria actually come to an agreement?
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-02-17
Ankara, who is now shifting away from the USA and towards the regional powers, is expected to begin negotiations with Damascus. Of course right now a low level exterior politics is underway with Syria. At this situation, intelligence agencies cannot just say "We execute whatever our leader orders.". Many times leaders are off the grid, …
uwidata.com/2245-can-turkey-and-syria-actually-come-to-an-agreement/
What Brett Kavanaugh's Dishonest Anti-Abortion Dissent Reveals About His Supreme Court Agenda
Jordan Smith | theintercept.com | 2019-02-17
The most obvious thing about the Supreme Court's decision to stay a Louisiana law that would have shuttered two of the state's three remaining abortion clinics is that it was Chief Justice John Roberts who stopped that from happening. Roberts joined the court's four more liberal justices to deliver a 5-4 majority that maintains the status quo, for now, and keeps the clinics open. | What is perhaps less obvious, at least at first glance, is the level of intellectual dishonesty baked into a four-page dissent penned by the court's newest justi…
theintercept.com/2019/02/17/louisiana-abortion-law-brett-kavanaugh-dissent/
Unequal Justice: Kavanaugh's Vote on Abortion Access Bodes Ill for Roe
Bill Blum | progressive.org | 2019-02-16
It hasn't taken Kavanaugh long to show his true colors. The big reveal came on February 7, when he voted against a "stay" that will keep a draconian Louisiana abortion law from taking effect.
progressive.org/dispatches/unequal-justice-dear-brett-your-ideology-is-showing-blum-190216/
SPLC statement on Supreme Court's denial of Trump administration's request to immediately enforce asylum ban
Melissa Crow, Senior Supervising Attorney of the SPLC's Immigrant Justice Project | splcenter.org | 2019-02-15
The U.S. Supreme Court today denied the Trump administration's request to immediately enforce a new policy of denying asylum to migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border between ports of entry.
splcenter.org/news/2019/02/15/splc-statement-supreme-court%25E2%2580%2599s-denial-trump-administration%25E2%2580%2599s-request-immediately-enforce
What it Really Takes to Secure Peace in Afghanistan
Kathy Kelly | progressive.org | 2019-02-12
Constant military surveillance of Afghans yields almost no real intelligence about the problems they face each day. An unusual group of volunteers uses a far different approach.
progressive.org/dispatches/securing-peace-in-afghanistan-kelly-19212/