2019-07-17: News Headlines

WSWS (2019-07-17). National strike against Ecuadorian government demands Assange's freedom. wsws.org The protests in defense of Assange and the recent five-day strike in Ecuador demonstrate that the only social basis for his liberation and the defense democratic rights is the international working class.

WSWS (2019-07-17). CNN peddles intelligence agencies' lies against Assange. wsws.org A recent CNN article recycles the discredited claim that WikiLeaks was involved in a Russian conspiracy to deprive Hillary Clinton of the US presidency.

Kevin Gosztola (2019-07-16). CIA Pushes for Expansion of Secrecy Law to Stifle Public Criticism. globalresearch.ca When the CIA and other agencies in the United States government pushed for the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA) in 1981, it was crafted to exclude "covert agents" who resided in the U.S. | There was consideration by the House Permanent …

Patricia J. Williams (2019-07-16). Artificial Intelligence Is Failing Humans. thenation.com Artificial Intelligence Is Failing Humans…

Akela Lacy (2019-07-16). Reformist District Attorney Larry Krasner Argues Pennsylvania Death Penalty Is Unconstitutional. theintercept.com Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who campaigned in 2017 as an unequivocal opponent of the death penalty, asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a legal filing Monday night to declare the state's death penalty system unconstitutional. | The death penalty as it stands "cannot survive the state Constitution's ban on cruel punishments," Krasner wrote in a brief he submitted to th…

WSWS (2019-07-16). The Assange precedent: Journalists in Britain threatened with Official Secrets Act. wsws.org What the Metropolitan Police proposed was the de facto criminalisation of journalism so that it could be bracketed within terrorist activity.

Anita Waters (2019-07-15). Ohio's defiant Communist, Anna Hass Morgan. peoplesworld.org Anna Hass Morgan (1894-1996) was an American Communist who is best known as the defendant in a First Amendment case that went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959. She was convicted as a "defiant witness" who refused to testify about her political affiliations and activities when called before the Ohio Un-American Activities Commission. She …

Staff (2019-07-15). Pompeo's 'Inalienable Rights Commission' — A Conservative Christian Assault on Human Rights? therealnews.com The newly-announced State Department "commission on inalienable rights" is a Trojan Horse for the long-planned Conservative Christian attack on human rights.

Caitlin Johnstone (2019-07-14). Main Twitter Account Defending Julian Assange Removed for No Reason. theantimedia.com The operators of the account report that they have been given no reason for its removal by Twitter staff, and no response to their appeals.

Caitlin Johnstone (2019-07-13). Top Assange Defense Account Deleted by Twitter. dissidentvoice.org One of the biggest Twitter accounts dedicated to circulating information and advocacy for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, @Unity4J, has been completely removed from the site. The operators of the account report that they have been given no reason for its removal by Twitter staff, and have received no response to their appeals. Any Assange supporter …

Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz (2019-07-12). Venezuela: 'Progress' Reported in Gov't-Opposition Talks as US Sanctions Counter-Intelligence Agency. venezuelanalysis.com The agenda of the talks has not been disclosed but the topic of elections is reportedly being left for last.

Kevin Gosztola (2019-07-12). Then CIA is Invoking Wikileaks to Push for the Expansion of a Cold War Era Secrecy Law. mintpressnews.com Three decades ago, the CIA mobilized to protect itself from radical acts of transparency, and now, with the internet and organizations like WikiLeaks, it hopes to be able to further isolate and criminalize those who challenge it.

ACLU (2019-07-12). Pompeo's New "Human Rights" Commission is Up To No Good. aclu.org The Trump administration appears to be trying to find new moral footing for the president's discriminatory policies. | This week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally announced the creation of a "Commission on Unalienable Rights." Its stated purpose, according to a notice published in the Federal Register in May, is to provide "fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights." | Th…

Janine Jackson (2019-07-12). 'This Is Designed to Shape the Electorate to Retain Political Power' – CounterSpin interview with Steven Rosenfeld on gerrymandering. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed Steven Rosenfeld on the Supreme Court's gerrymandering decision for the July 5, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. | Media…

pip.hinman (2019-07-12). Protecting rights requires confronting privilege. greenleft.org.au No sooner had the government won re-election its own actions once again showed politics is, after all, fundamental to how you live. | Shortly after home affairs minister Peter Dutton was re-elected, the Australian Federal Police (AFP), which falls within his ministry, executed search warrants against journalists who have investigated allegations of soldiers unlawfully killing Afghan civilians and government plans to spy on us. | The police claimed their target was the journalist's sources. But the raids were also a public show of force against whistleblowers in general, much like the prosecution of Witness K and…

Ryan Grim (2019-07-11). Amy McGrath Is Challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She's Everything Wrong With the Democratic Party. theintercept.com Amy McGrath is everything wrong with the Democratic Party. She launched her high-profile campaign Tuesday with a multimillion-dollar burst of fundraising, with Democrats across the country eager to see her upend Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. By Wednesday, she was apologizing for a bizarre flip-flop-flip on a question — Brett Kavanaugh's fitness for the Supreme Court — that seemed like a layup. In between, she told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that she was running on the mind-bending rationale that McConnell needs to go because he has been obstructing the agenda of Donald Trump. | Perhaps the strang…

Mazda Majidi (2019-07-10). Iran breaks out of nuclear accord: Should the world be concerned? liberationnews.org Since early July, President Hassan Rouhani and several other officials have been announcing Iran's intention to start going beyond the restrictions set by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Keegan Hankes, Intelligence Project (2019-07-03). SPLC: Hate groups have long adopted symbols of U.S. history to promote white supremacy. splcenter.org 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 (2019-07-03). SPLC urges Supreme Court to preserve workplace protections for LGBTQ people. splcenter.org Soon after Y.B. took the night shift as a forklift operator, her boss started harassing her because she is a lesbian.

ACLU (2019-07-03). Thousands of Voices Are Telling the Supreme Court: Don't Roll Back LGBTQ Rights. aclu.org 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…

Keegan Hankes, Intelligence Project (2019-06-28). SPLC: Sentencing of James Alex Fields Jr., who killed Heather Heyer at 'Unite the Right,' will not heal victims or their families. splcenter.org 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.

ACLU (2019-06-28). Georgia Tried to Ban Abortion, So We Sued. aclu.org 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…

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

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

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