2020-06-11: News Headlines

Staff (2020-06-10). Stir Crazy! Episode #50: Where Do We Go From Here? therealnews.com On today's show: Investigative journalist Justine Barron, The Progressive Army founder Ben Dixon, and TRNN executive producer Lisa Snowden-McCray. Hosted by Kim Brown.

Wendi C. Thomas (2020-06-10). The police have been spying on black reporters and activists for years. I know because I'm one of them. nationofchange.org Wendi C. Thomas is a black journalist who has covered police in Memphis. One officer admitted to spying on her. She's on a long list of prominent black journalists and activists who have been subjected to police surveillance over decades.

Stephen Lendman (2020-06-09). Defund, Reform, or Disband US Police? What About the Pentagon, CIA, NSA, US Gulag, and Wall Street Owned Fed Etc! globalresearch.ca Indeed police killings, brutality, and its other unacceptable practices against America's most disadvantaged are a major societal problem needing correction. | Cutting its funding or even replacing it with an alternate societal control system won't fix things. | The problem isn't cops. …

Charlotte Dennett (2020-06-09). Saudi Arms Sales, the Ghost of a Reporter, and America's Oil War in Yemen. counterpunch.org IG Steve Linick, who accused Pompeo of misconduct, has become the latest victim in a string of politically motivated firings of government watchdogs. If the president's bunker mentality isn't disturbing enough, a deeper look into this scandal shows how racism lies at the heart of Trump's and Pompeo's foreign policy. And how oil, most notably in the Middle East, and most particularly, in Yemen, is the driving force.

Vanessa Taylor (2020-06-08). 'Why Minneapolis?': How Deep Surveillance of Black Muslims Paved the Way for George Floyd's Murder. progressive.org The city has a long history of spying on its Black residents.

WSWS (2020-06-08). New Jersey health department whistleblowers' letter highlights criminality of state's pandemic response. wsws.org A letter by anonymous officials makes clear that thousands of deaths were the result of deliberate policy decisions.

Sputnik News (2020-06-09). Iran to Execute Alleged CIA Spy Involved in Killing of Ex-Quds Commander Soleimani. iranian.com On 3 January, a US drone strike, authorised by President Donald Trump, killed Qasem Soleimani and Shia militia commander Abu Mahdi Muhandis who both were in a car at the Baghdad International Airport. Iran's judiciary spokesman has announced that a citizen of the Islamic Republic, who allegedly provided the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with …

RT (2020-06-09). Austrian court convicts mystery former colonel of 'spying for Russia' — then sets him free. rt.com A year after the "Ibiza Affair" brought down a government in Vienna, Austria has sentenced an unnamed retired Army colonel to three years in prison on charges of being a spy for Russia. | Peter Egger, a spokesman for the court in Salzburg, confirmed the sentence to reporters on Tuesday, but did not disclose the officer's identity. The colonel was first arrested in 2018, with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz personally alleging that the accused had spied for Russia for at least 25 years, since 1992. Later Egger disclosed that the defendant was actually released on parole, after the 18 months served in pre-trial confin…

en.mehrnews (2020-06-09). MP calls on intelligence min. to pursue perpetrators of martyr Soleimani's assassination. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jun. 09 (MNA) — A member of Iranian Parliament in a letter penned to the intelligence minister called on him to submit a comprehensive report on the measures taken by the Ministry of Intelligence in connection with the assassination of martyr Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani by the US terrorist forces.

_____ (2020-06-10). The Police Have Been Spying On Black Reporters And Activists for Years. popularresistance.org On Aug. 20, 2018, the first day of a federal police surveillance trial, I discovered that the Memphis Police Department was spying on me. | The ACLU of Tennessee had sued the MPD, alleging that the department was in violation of a 1978 consent decree barring surveillance of residents for political purposes. One of the first witnesses called to the stand: Sgt. Timothy Reynolds, who is white. To get intel on activists and organizers, including those in the Black Lives Matter movement, he'd posed on Facebook as a "man of color," befriending people and trying to infiltrate closed circles.

_____ (2020-06-09). One Way To Deal With Cops Who Lie? Blacklist Them. popularresistance.org Kim Gardner has dropped more than 100 cases that relied on statements from the 29 officers who got on the list for alleged lying, abuse or corruption. And she won't accept new cases or search-warrant requests from them, either. | From Philadelphia to Houston to Seattle, district attorneys recently elected on platforms of criminal justice reform are building similar databases of their own. Often known as "do not call" lists, they are also called "exclusion lists" or "Brady lists" after a famous Supreme Court decision requiring prosecutors to disclose to defense lawyers information about unreliable police officers…

Adriaan Alsema (2020-06-10). Cristina Lombana, the village idiot of Colombia's Supreme Court? colombiareports.com The seemingly endless absurdities of magistrate Cristina Lombana are increasingly becoming an embarrassment for Colombia's Supreme Court. Lombana has been a problem ever since President Ivan Duque appointed the former…