(2021-09-11). [Editorial] 9/11 at 20: after war, what? thelancet.com Two decades after the terrorist attacks that initiated a US-led "war on terror", what are the implications and prospects for global health and wellbeing? From an American—indeed, western—perspective, the dangers to security today are diverse and complex. The US intelligence community's annual threat assessment report, published in April, 2021, highlights risks from individual nations and destabilising transnational concerns, from conflict to the climate crisis to cyberattacks. The emergency that is today's Afghanistan was already cited as a cause for anxiety.
(2021-09-11). Messianic Failure: Pursuing the GWOT Jabberwock. southfront.org 
File image. | Written by Dr. Binoy Kampmark | Anniversaries can provide occasions for reflection and deep consideration. Past errors and misjudgements can be considered soberly; historical distance provides perspective. Mature reflections may be permitted. But they can also serve the opposite purpose: to cake, cloak and mask the record. | The gooey name GWOT, otherwise known as the Global War on Terrorism, is some two decades old, and it has revealed little by way of benefit for anybody other than military industrialists, hat…
(2021-09-10). Australian Labor Party helps push through "extraordinary" surveillance laws. wsws.org Labor backs bill to allow the police and intelligence forces to secretly hack into online devices, collect, alter or delete data, and take over social media accounts.
(2021-09-10). Headlines for September 10, 2021. democracynow.org Biden Orders Vaccine Mandates for Federal Workers and Large Employers, International Flights Resume from Kabul Airport; Taliban Torture Journalists Covering Protests, Syrian Army Enters Daraa, Birthplace of Uprising Against Assad a Decade Ago, Biden Admin Extends TPS for 400,000 People Through 2022, Whistleblower Details Abuse of Migrant Children at Fort Bliss Base in Texas, SCOTUS Stays Execution of Texas Death Row Prisoner, DOJ Sues Texas over Unconstitutional Abortion Ban , Biden Withdraws Gun Control Advocate as ATF Nominee, Names Ally to Big Polluters for Key Energy Post, EPA Seeks Permanent Block on Pebble…
(2021-09-10). Marjorie Cohn on Texas Abortion Law, Kimberly Inez McGuire on Abortion Realities. fair.org 
(cc photo: Beth Wilson) | This week on CounterSpin: Many people will know that the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade in 1973, enshrining women's right to access abortion—to choose when and whether to have a child. It seemed to signal recognition that abortion is healthcare, that most women who have abortions are mothers (in other words, they don't need to have an ultrasound to recognize what's happening), that medical reality and theology are not the same, and that outlawing abortion doesn't stop it, but just pushes women to have unsafe abortions. | Less often considered is how immediately after Roe, Cong…
(2021-09-10). Mexico decriminalises abortion in historic ruling. greenleft.org.au Mexico's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the laws that penalise women and pregnant persons for terminating their pregnancy are unconstitutional, reports Tanya Wadhwa. With the historic decision, the country's top court decriminalised abortions across the nation.
(2021-09-10). We Have to Stop Limiting Our Focus to Courts in the Defense of Abortion Rights. truthout.org 
A state defies a landmark decision by the Supreme Court and enacts legislation that effectively bans a hotly contested civil right. The state designed the legislation to evade the federal courts' jurisdiction. The Supreme Court hears the case and, in a unanimous opinion, blocks the state's actions. Each justice signs their name to the beginning of the opinion and they condemn the state's attempt to "nullify" the Court's landmark decision through "evasive schemes." | That's what should have…
(2021-09-10). A Chill Wind: Texas Unleashes Bounty Hunters on Women. counterpunch.org Back in the 19th century, Texas was awash in vigilante groups. In those dark years, various self-appointed "law enforcers" modeled after the Texas Rangers embarked on a decades-long campaign of ethnic cleansing of Indigenous peoples in the western territory. Thanks to the Supreme Court, the state is now unleashing another wave of newly minted bounty
(2021-09-10). The Bloody US Withdrawal From Afghanistan and the Persecution of Julian Assange: an Interview With John Pilger. counterpunch.org John Pilger is an Emmy Award winning investigative journalist and filmmaker. His compelling documentaries have won major recognition in the U.S. and Europe and around the world. He is the recipient of the Royal Television Society's Best Documentary and many other awards. The British Film Institute includes his 1970 film Year Zero, the Silent Death of
(2021-09-10). Scheer Intelligence: A Traitor To Torture. popularresistance.org Once upon a time, a keystone of American exceptionalism was the claim of a moral high ground when it came to how our forces operated abroad, in war or peace, especially when it came to the use of torture, that hallmark of enemies we stamped as evil, primitive and sadistic. The ends were not supposed to justify the means, lest we be no better than our rivals and predecessors. | Yet, within months of the 9/11 attacks, frustration with the interrogation of a single alleged enemy agent led to the creation of a sprawling, global CIA-run torture program using violence, sleep deprivation and isolation on more than 100 m…
(2021-09-10). John Kiriakou: A Traitor to Torture. scheerpost.com