(2020-01-04). Geopolitical puzzle: What is behind Pompeo's visit to Kazakhstan? rt.com 
Kazakhstan is one of the stops on US State Secretary Mike Pompeo's whirlwind trip shortly after the New Year, with hopes that Washington can make inroads with a government in the key region between Russia, China and Afghanistan. | Washington has chosen to start 2020 by bringing its already strained relations with Iran to a whole new level of confrontation, as it ordered the killing of one of Tehran's top generals, Qassem Soleimani. The high-profile assassination is bound to make things difficult for the State Department. | And that's not to mention that it is far from being the only problem Pompeo and his staf…
(2020-01-04). Why a Shadowy Tech Firm With Ties to Israeli Intelligence Is Running Doomsday Election Simulations. mintpressnews.com 
A shadowy tech firm with deep ties to Israeli intelligence and newly inked contracts to protect Pentagon computers is partnering with Lockheed Martin to gain unprecedented access to the heart of America's democracy.
(2020-01-04). Mexican president calls for Julian Assange's freedom. wsws.org In response to a question from a reporter, Lopez Obrador said the WikiLeaks founder should be pardoned and his torture should be ended.
(2020-01-04). Ex-Australian foreign minister calls for release of Julian Assange to halt damage to US alliance. wsws.org Carr's statement is, first of all, a symptom of the alarm within the ruling class about the mounting popular demand for the freedom of the WikiLeaks founder.
(2020-01-04). The spooks' choice: Coup plotters and CIA agents fill Pete Buttigieg's list of national security endorsers. mronline.org Why are so many intelligence veterans throwing their weight behind a young Indiana mayor with such a thin foreign policy resume? | Source
(2020-01-04). US resumes Pakistan military training program. yenisafak.com Washington has resumed a military training program with Pakistan, U.S. officials said.The announcement on Friday said that the International Military Education and Training Program (IMET) came just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss the killing of senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani."To strengthen mil2mil [military to military] cooperation on shared priorities advance US national security, @POTUS [President of The United States] authorized the resumption of International Military Education and Training #IMET for Pak…
(2020-01-04). The Dangers of Privatized Intelligence. zcomm.org U.S. security state agencies are "out-of-control, virtually unlimited police state factions that lie, abuse their spying and law enforcement powers, and subvert democracy and civil and political freedoms as a matter of course."
(2020-01-03). Pompeo in Iran damage control? US 'committed to de-escalation,' Soleimani killing 'saved American lives'. rt.com 
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured everyone that Washington wants to ease the tensions in the Middle East, while defending the killing of Iranian elite Quds Force commander as "defensive action." | Pompeo made his remarks after speaking over the phone with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Yang Jiechi, the head of the Chinese ruling Communist Party's Foreign Affairs Commission. | "The US remains committed to de-escalation," Pompeo said. | A US drone strike killed Major General Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad's airport on Friday morning. The Pentagon later reveale…
(2020-01-03). UN Concerned over British Government's Failure to Investigate Whether Assange Has Been Subjected to Psychological Torture. globalresearch.ca United Nations special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer has written to governments to press them to investigate properly evidence that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been subjected to psychological torture. | On December 31 Mr Melzer shared on Twitter a letter …
(2020-01-03). Trump Judicial Adviser's Dark Money Network Hides Supreme Court Spending. truthout.org A secretive network spending millions of dollars to confirm President Donald Trump's Supreme Court picks terminated multiple 501(c)(4) nonprofit nodes last year while funneling money to an even more opaque limited-liability company, further obscuring the network's funding sources. | At the…
(2020-01-03). Evo Morales: Bolivia's Top Judge Must Take Charge, Call Elections. telesurenglish.net Evo Morales, who was forced to resign by the military and the opposition in November after winning the elections, said on Thursday that the chief of the Bolivian Supreme Court should step in as acting head of state and organize fresh elections in the Andean nation. | RELATED: | Evo Introduces Legal Team to Fight Coup Government Accusations | Under Bolivia's constitution, Morales said, the chief judge is supposed to assume the presidency in the event of a vacancy following the end…
(2020-01-03). "Right-Wing Populists Will Sweep the Elections": U.S. Killing of Soleimani Helps Hard-Liners in Iran. democracynow.org 
We host a roundtable discussion on the U.S. assassination of Iranian commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, who has long been one of the most powerful figures in Iran. He was the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force — Iran's powerful foreign military force, similar to a combination of the CIA and U.S. Special Forces. Iran called Soleimani's assassination an act of "international terrorism." "It was probably the best, the fastest, the quickest way to have a unifying rallying cry for the Iranian political establishment," notes Iranian journalist Negar Mortazavi. We are also joined by…
(2020-01-02). Federal appeals courts give workers some wins. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court hasn't taken, much less tackled, workers' rights cases in the last six months, but the federal appeals courts have—and they've given workers some wins. That's not to say the appellate victories would immediately set precedents and lay down the law, so to speak, for workers nationwide. That's what the U.S. Supreme …
(2020-01-01). Post-Iraq war US intel report predicting 2020 looks 'eerily prescient' only compared to agencies' political blunders. rt.com 
A 15-year-old intel report predicting the world of 2020 has been hailed for its accuracy, but much of the future it describes was already underway in 2004. Could today's hyper-politicized intelligence community see even that much? | Rolling out a list of "eerily prescient" predictions in order to brag about their accuracy — no flying cars here! — the National Intelligence Council (NIC) report is just what one might expect from an intel community desperate to…
(2020-01-01). Not the bees! Pentagon wants to use swarms of AI-powered drones for 'rescue' missions. rt.com 
The Pentagon is combing the AI developer community to try to build a self-starting swarm of AI-enabled drones capable of recognizing and tracking a target — ostensibly for search and rescue, but potentially for search and destroy. | The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) issued a request (RFI) late in December seeking the latest and greatest in AI and drone swarm tech — and looking for clever ideas on how to combine th…
(2019-12-31). Assange Said, "I'm slowly dying here" dissidentvoice.org WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims he's 'slowly dying' in a UK jail and is often tranquilized and kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. He made the disturbing revelations in a phone call to his friend Vaughan Smith on Christmas Eve. | Read more: on.rt.com/a85u
(2019-12-27). Wikileaks Still Holding Powerful to Account as Founder Julian Assange "Slowly Dies" in Prison. mintpressnews.com Julian Assange is dying inside Belmarsh Prison in London. Those are his own words, relayed through English journalist Vaughan Smith, who revealed that the Wikileaks founder called him on Christmas Eve to share his greetings. Smith also divulged that Assange told him he is kept in solitary confinement 23 hours per day and is often sedated. | His treatment has elicited protests around the world, from journalists, news organizations, human rights groups and celebrities. Last week a group of Australian doctors asked Foreign Minister Marise Pay…
(2019-12-26). Supreme Court allows Kentucky anti-abortion law to stand. liberationnews.org 
The Kentucky law was among a set of anti-abortion laws that have reached the Supreme Court this term.
(2019-12-21). Corporate Media Find All the Wrong Lessons for US Left in Corbyn's Defeat. fair.org 
Conservative leader Boris Johnson swept to power in the UK's December 12 elections, winning 365 of a possible 650 seats. Labour's socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn announced his resignation, after a bitterly disappointing night for his party. | Across the spectrum, corporate media all came to the same conclusion regarding the election: Corbyn's loss spells the end for the US left and a "crushing defeat" (New York, 12/13/19) of the discredited policie…
(2019-12-20). Four Lawyers. Four Projects. One Non-Stop Year. aclu.org 
It isn't news that the Trump administration has kept ACLU attorneys working at breakneck speed for the past three years. In 2019 alone, we saw historic moments and victories—from defeating the citizenship question on the 2020 census and bringing the first trans civil rights case to the Supreme Court, to blocking a wave of abortion bans and many of the administration's attempts to dismantle the asylum system. To name a few. | Here are some of our attorneys' takes on 2019 and the year ahead—what's changed for the better and for the worse, and how the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will a…
(2019-12-19). Julian Assange lawyers will challenge the 'political' framing of charges against him. thecanary.co WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's legal team will argue he should not be extradited to the US because his alleged offences are being framed as "political" in nature, a court heard. | His lawyers believe that a 2007 extradition treaty agreed between the UK and US offers the 48-year-old protection. | Assange appeared via video-link at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 19 November for a case management hearing to set the timetable leading up to a full extradition hearing in February. | He's being…
(2019-12-19). Queen's Speech unveils Boris Johnson's hardline plans to curtail Britain's democracy. thecanary.co Boris Johnson has unveiled a Queen's Speech with measures to toughen up criminal justice, limit parliamentary democracy and potentially weaken the scrutiny of government. | The government will look at whether the Official Secrets Act needs overhauling, which determines what protections and punishments whistleblowers are given. Whistleblowers are a critical check on power. It will also consider whether there is a case for updating the treason laws. | Work will be taken forward to repeal the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act — a move which would enable the prime minister to call an election without the consent of pa…
(2019-12-19). 10 LGBTQ Moments that Defined 2019. aclu.org 
1. Aimee Stephens goes to the Supreme Court: | In October, the Supreme Court heard its first trans civil rights case ever. The case was brought by our client Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a funeral home solely for being transgender. That's sex discrimination and it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. | We have yet to see whether the Supreme Court will uphold the civil rights of trans people. But no matter what, history has already been made. | "I'll never forget the feeling of coming out of the Supreme Court and seeing a crowd of trans people and allies chanting to Aim…
(2019-12-15). US Threatens To Attack Iran Over Rockets Fired In Iraq & Assange Blocked From Seeing Key Evidence. thelastamericanvagabond.com Welcome to The Daily Wrap Up, a concise show dedicated to bringing you the most relevant independent news, as we see it, from the last 24 hours (12/14/19). As always, take the information discussed in the video below and research it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Anyone telling you what the truth …
(2019-12-07). US Claims "Fresh Intelligence" Of Iran Attacks Yet Provides Zero Evidence — MSM Blindly Regurgitates. thelastamericanvagabond.com Here we go again with "fresh intelligence" to justify the continued sanctions and destabilization of Iran. It's a plan that has been well documented even by their own writings (See Which Path to Persia? — 2009). Of course, complicating U.S. foreign policy is the involvement of Israel. The Last American Vagabond covers the latest political posturing, distortion, and general …
(2019-12-04). TIAR Countries Blacklist Top Venezuelan Officials as US Slaps New Sanctions. venezuelanalysis.com US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Venezuela of "hijacking" mass anti-neoliberal protests in "our own backyard."
(2019-12-02). Civil Rights Are on the Chopping Block in New Supreme Court Term. zcomm.org Hello, A very small proportion of ZNet content is available only to Sustainers. You can become a sustainer for a small repeating donation – monthly or yearly via the links for Sustaining, or Donating, available on the top page of ZNet.
(2019-11-16). Weekend Read: The importance of documenting racism in the White House. splcenter.org Earlier this week, the SPLC's Intelligence Project released the first two installments of an explosive four-part series examining more than 900 leaked emails between White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and an editor at the Breitbart News Network, a far-right website that its co-founder once dubbed the "platform for the alt-right."
(2019-10-24). Julian Assange's Extradition Case is a Show Trial. zcomm.org Interview on the lack of mainstream media coverage of Julian's persecution, his health and conditions in Belmarsh prison, CIA spying on Julian Assange and more…