2019-07-05: Social Media Postees

Debate on Julian Assange at London's Frontline Club for journalists
wsws.org | 2019-07-05
Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore, arguably the most despised among the advertised speakers, pulled out at the last minute.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/05/fron-j05.html

An Hour with Noam Chomsky on Fascism, Nuclear Weapons, Climate Change, Julian Assange & More
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-07-05
In April, hundreds of people packed into the Old South Church in Boston to hear the world-renowned dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky speak. In this hour-long special, we air an excerpt of Chomsky's speech and his on-stage interview with Amy Goodman.
www.democracynow.org/2019/7/5/an_hour_with_noam_chomsky_on

Basta !!! Free Chelsea Manning & Julien Assange Oakland Weekly Friday Vigil
Orion Edmonson | indybay.org | 2019-07-05
MacArthuR and fruitvale oakland 94602…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/07/03/18824403.php

Australian workers and youth speak out at vigils for Assange's birthday
wsws.org | 2019-07-05
"The things he has done have changed the world. The people who hate him are usually the people who are in power."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/05/vint-j05.html

Julian Assange's birthday celebrated at vigils in Australia and New Zealand
wsws.org | 2019-07-05
Linda Tenenbaum, a longstanding leader of the SEP, indicted the Australian government and the political and media establishment for abandoning Assange, an Australia citizen.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/05/assa-j05.html

UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer replies to feminist legal critics on Assange
wsws.org | 2019-07-05
Melzer refutes the claim that he had belittled or denied the role of consent in the legal definition of rape.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/05/melz-j05.html

Trump nationalism has nothing to do with patriotism
Robert Reich | nationofchange.org | 2019-07-05
Let us reject Trump's notion of how to celebrate America — not with tanks and missiles that glorify war, not with a rally fit for a dictator, not with children held at the border in cages, not with disdain for the Supreme Court and charges of "treason" hurled at the free press. Instead, let us celebrate …
nationofchange.org/2019/07/05/trump-nationalism-has-nothing-to-do-with-patriotism/

Ten Questions for Robert Mueller
Bill Blum | truthdig.com | 2019-07-05
After weeks of dithering, the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees have subpoenaed Robert Mueller to testify July 17 about his investigation into Russia's election interference and possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump. Mueller has reluctantly agreed to honor the subpoenas. He will testify publicly in front of both committees, back-to-back, before continuing in closed sessions. | Here are 10 questions I would ask if given the opportunity. They are grouped by category, together with the rationales be…
truthdig.com/articles/ten-questions-for-robert-mueller/

Australian filmmaker James Ricketson calls on journalist Peter Greste to defend Assange
wsws.org | 2019-07-04
Ricketson's "Open Letter" debunks Greste's claim that Assange is not a journalist and therefore not deserving of support, and calls on him to defend the WikiLeaks founder, as he did Ricketson who was wrongly jailed in Cambodia.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/04/rick-j04.html

Ex-colonel says US at risk of 'dangerous takeover' by elitist 'cretins'
Bryan Wall | thecanary.co | 2019-07-04
Former US army colonel Lawrence Wilkerson has criticised the Donald Trump administration and US political elites, calling them "cretins". He went on to declare that the US under Trump is moving "backward", away from democracy, and that a 'takeover' by intelligence agencies and other elites is incre…
thecanary.co/trending/2019/07/04/ex-colonel-says-us-at-risk-of-dangerous-takeover-by-elitist-cretins/

Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights "Pleased" Justice Department Will Print 2020 Census Questionnaire Without Bigoted Citizen Question
Special To The Black Star News | blackstarnews.com | 2019-07-03
In response to the Department of Justice confirming the decision has been made to print the 2020 Decennial Census questionnaire without a citizenship question, and that the printer has been instructed to begin the printing process, Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, issued the following statement: | "The Supreme Court's ruling left little opportunity for the administration to cure the defects with its decision to add a citizenship question and, most importantly, they were simply out of time given the impending deadline for printing forms. We are…
www.blackstarnews.com/us-politics/white-house/lawyers%E2%80%99-committee-for-civil-rights-%E2%80%9Cpleased%E2%80%9D-justice

SPLC urges Supreme Court to preserve workplace protections for LGBTQ people
splcenter.org | 2019-07-03
Soon after Y.B. took the night shift as a forklift operator, her boss started harassing her because she is a lesbian.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/03/splc-urges-supreme-court-preserve-workplace-protections-lgbtq-people

Thousands of Voices Are Telling the Supreme Court: Don't Roll Back LGBTQ Rights
aclu.org | 2019-07-03
Businesses, women CEOs, civil rights organizations, Republicans tell the Supreme Court to protect LGBTQ employees like Aimee Stephens and Don Zarda. | President Trump has told the Supreme Court it should be legal to fire someone just because they're LGBTQ. The President may be a bully, but he's just one voice. Today, more than 2,000 voices from across the country joined together to tell the Supreme Court: Don't roll back our rights. | The message came in the form of friend-of-the-court briefs–nearly 50 in all–filed in a…
aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/lgbt-nondiscrimination-protections/thousands-voices-are-telling-supreme-court-dont

SPLC: Hate groups have long adopted symbols of U.S. history to promote white supremacy
Keegan Hankes, Intelligence Project | splcenter.org | 2019-07-03
As America prepares to celebrate the Fourth of July this week, the display of some of the nation's earliest regalia has rekindled a debate about racist symbolism.
splcenter.org/news/2019/07/03/splc-hate-groups-have-long-adopted-symbols-us-history-promote-white-supremacy

Is CIA Behind Hong Kong Protests?
RT | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-07-02
RT America's Michele Greenstein joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the ongoing protests in Hong Kong and the "National Endowment for Democracy," the US-based NGO funding the protesters.
dissidentvoice.org/2019/07/is-cia-behind-hong-kong-protests/

If war breaks out with Iran, it won't be an accident
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-07-02
Some things are still unclear about US President Donald Trump's recent decision to bomb Iran — and his rapid-fire follow-up decision not to. | We still do not know what he or his bomb-Iran cheerleaders — National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — thought the bombing would actually accomplish. | We also do not know why Trump decided to recall the bombers. (Trump claimed it was because a general told him 150 people would die in the attack. But given Trump's indifference to civilian c…
greenleft.org.au/content/if-war-breaks-out-iran-no-accident

Trump administration orders printing 2020 census forms without citizenship question
rt.com | 2019-07-02
Opponents of returning a question about US citizenship onto census forms in 2020 are rejoicing as the Trump administration confirmed it would start printing the forms without it, following a mixed opinion from the Supreme Court. | …
rt.com/usa/463242-census-forms-citizenship-question/

2020 Census Form Will Not Include Citizenship Question, Trump Administration Says
Robert Mackey | theintercept.com | 2019-07-02
The Trump administration admitted defeat on Tuesday, confirming that forms for the 2020 U.S. census will not include a question asking residents who respond to the survey if they are U.S. citizens. The change of plans follows last week's Supreme Court decision that the Commerce Department had failed to provide a valid reason for adding the question. | The news was conveyed in an email from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to lawyers who had contested the effort in lawsuits, and confirmed to The Intercept by…
theintercept.com/2019/07/02/2020-census-form-will-not-include-citizenship-question-trump-administration-says/

Interview with Jose "Cha Cha" Jimenez on original Rainbow Coalition
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-07-01
There are many 50-year anniversaries being celebrated these days, including the founding of the Young Lords on September 23, 1968, and the Rainbow Coalition in April 1969. | Fight Back! interviewed the founder of the Young Lords, Jose "Cha Cha" Jimenez, about the original Rainbow Coalition. The powers ruling Chicago were struck with fear when the Rainbow Coalition came together. The United States government and the FBI repressed the groups of the Rainbow Coalition with the courts and violence in the form of COINTELPRO, the counter-intelligence program. The Rainbow Coalition inspired many activists in the late 196…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/7/1/interview-jose-cha-cha-jimenez-original-rainbow-coalition

The Military Industrial Complex Loves Left Wing Hawk Adam Schiff
John Kiriakou | mintpressnews.com | 2019-06-28
If there was any doubt at all that Adam Schiff is in the grip of the military-industrial complex, one doesn't have to rely just on his stated positions on Iran, Venezuela, and China to make the situation any clearer. Just take a look at his donors.
mintpressnews.com/why-the-military-industrial-complex-loves-left-wing-hawk-adam-schiff/260069/

Supreme Court Hands GOP Big Victory on Gerrymandering, Ensuring "Massive Election Rigging"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-06-28
The Supreme Court hands down two major decisions. The first is a victory for Republicans, allowing extreme partisan gerrymandering to continue. The other temporarily blocks the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question on the 2020 census. We get response from Ari Berman, senior writer at Mother Jones, a reporting fellow at the Type Media Center and author of "Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America." He says the ruling that federal courts can't resolve claims of partisan gerrymandering is "almost guaranteed to facilitate massive election rigging in the future."
www.democracynow.org/2019/6/28/supreme_court_hands_gop_big_victory

Headlines for June 28, 2019
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-06-28
Supreme Court Says Partisan Gerrymandering Can't Be Challenged in Federal Courts, Trump Threatens to Delay Census After Supreme Court Blocks Adding Citizenship Question, Kamala Harris Takes on Joe Biden over Working with Segregationists and His Opposition to Busing, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Decries New Border Bill as an Unacceptable Betrayal, U.S. Helps Block Progress at German Climate Summit as Europe Sizzles in Record Heat, With a Smile, Trump Tells Putin at G20 Not to Meddle in U.S. Elections, Trump's Chief of Diplomatic Protocol Resigns After Accused of Carrying Whip at Work, Brazilian Air Force Officer…
www.democracynow.org/2019/6/28/headlines

Georgia Tried to Ban Abortion, So We Sued
aclu.org | 2019-06-28
Abortion bans place people in danger, and Georgia's is no exception. | Alabama. Arkansas. Kentucky. Ohio. And today, Georgia. That's the list of states where the ACLU has had to go to court over the last few months to challenge laws banning abortion. | The Georgia law bans abortion at six weeks of pregnancy and is in clear violation of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. In fact, that is the whole point of the law. Georgia politicians, including Governor Brian Kemp, emboldened by President Trump's appointment of two new justices to the Supreme Court, think this is their chance to get the court to take aw…
aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom/abortion/georgia-tried-ban-abortion-so-we-sued

SPLC: Sentencing of James Alex Fields Jr., who killed Heather Heyer at 'Unite the Right,' will not heal victims or their families
Keegan Hankes, Intelligence Project | splcenter.org | 2019-06-28
James Alex Fields Jr., who was sentenced to life in prison today for murdering a woman who was protesting a white supremacist rally two years ago, is a remorseless killer and a domestic terrorist.
splcenter.org/news/2019/06/28/splc-sentencing-james-alex-fields-jr-who-killed-heather-heyer-unite-right-will-not-heal

SPLC: Supreme Court decision not to stop politicians from rigging voting maps hurts our democracy
splcenter.org | 2019-06-27
The Supreme Court decided today that federal courts have no role in regulating state legislatures' gross abuses of power when drawing political lines.
splcenter.org/news/2019/06/27/splc-supreme-court-decision-not-stop-politicians-rigging-voting-maps-hurts-our-democracy

Statements by Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, on Supreme Court's Democracy Rulings
Austyn Ross | naacp.org | 2019-06-27
Statement on Rucho v. Common Cause and Lamone v. Benisek: "The Court's rulings today upend our democratic principles by allowing party politics to determine the outcomes of our elections. Extreme partisan gerrymandering has infected our electoral process for far too long. Exercise of the franchise, which many fought and even died for, must not be …
naacp.org/latest/statements-derrick-johnson-president-ceo-naacp-supreme-courts-democracy-rulings/

Supreme Court Finds that Wilbur Ross Lied To Put Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census
aclu.org | 2019-06-27
The ruling affirms that the Trump administration cannot offer pretextual reasons to cover up its anti-immigrant attacks. | This morning, the Supreme Court told the country what we and our clients have long known: that Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross provided a false reason for his decision to add a citizenship question to the Decennial Census. The court explained that the Trump administration's stated reason for adding a citizenship question–enf…
aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/supreme-court-finds-wilbur-ross-lied-put-citizenship-question-2020-census

Abrams Welcomes Venezuela's Former Intelligence Chief to the US, Reaffirms Trump's Commitment to Ousting Maduro
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-06-26
The press conference came as the Venezuelan military called for respect from those looking to fracture it.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14559

Exposed: The Pentagon's cyberwar against Russia
Brian Becker | liberationnews.org | 2019-06-19
Five years before Robert Mueller was appointed Special Counsel to investigate the allegation that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and had conspired with the Trump campaign, the Pentagon had been waging secret cyberattacks against Russia's electrical grid.
liberationnews.org/exposed-the-pentagons-cyberwar-against-russia/

Venezuela: Pompeo Exposes Frustration Over Opposition Divisions as China, Russia Call for Non-Interference
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-06-06
The US Secretary of State claims efforts to unify the opposition have been "devilishly difficult."
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14525