Ali Abunimah (2021-07-19). Why isn't Israel held accountable for spying on journalists? electronicintifada.net NSO Group's Pegasus spyware used more extensively than previously known, investigation finds.

WSWS (2021-07-19). Data breach reveals extensive government spying on journalists and political activists. wsws.org A breach of Israeli spy company NSO Group revealed 50,000 phone numbers, including those belonging to journalists, slated for infection with spyware capable of viewing a target's personal messages and information.

Nan McCurdy, Nora McCurdy (2021-07-19). Evo Morales Denounces New U.S.-Led Operation Condor. covertactionmagazine.com Plan follows precedent of 1970s state-sponsored assassination campaign targeting leftists. Operation Condor was a U.S.-directed secret intelligence program in the 1970s and early '80s in six South American U.S.-backed dictatorships—Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay—that resulted in the torture and "disappearance" of thousands of people. The victims included dissidents and leftists, union and peasant …

Aviva Chomsky (2021-07-19). Migration Is Not the Crisis: What Washington Could Really Do in Central America. juancole.com By Aviva Chomsky | — ( Tomdispatch.com ) — Earlier this month, a Honduran court found David Castillo, a U.S.-trained former Army intelligence officer and the head of an internationally financed hydroelectric company, guilty of the 2016 murder of celebrated Indigenous activist Berta Cáceres. His company was building a dam that threatened the traditional lands …

Moderator (2021-07-19). What Biden Could Really Do to Help Central America. scheerpost.com Peter Haden / CC BY 2.0] By Aviva Chomsky / TomDispatch Earlier this month, a Honduran court found David Castillo, a U.S.-trained former Army intelligence officer and the head of an internationally financed hydroelectric company, guilty of the 2016 murder of celebrated Indigenous activist Berta Cáceres. His company was building a dam that threatened the traditional lands and water sources of the… |

_____ (2021-07-19). New Yorkers Rally For Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale. popularresistance.org A press conference was held on Saturday, July 17th on the High Line in New York City to support former Air Force "intelligence" analyst Daniel E. Hale, who faces 10 years in prison on July 27 after releasing government documents revealing atrocities of the U.S. drone program and details of its inner workings, such as the creation of "kill" lists. The event was organized by BanKillerDrones.org and held at an art installation by Sam Durant called "Untitled (drone)." | On Tuesday, July 27th, truth-teller Daniel Hale is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court, possibly up to 10 years in prison, after pleading guil…

_____ (2021-07-19). Biden Clarifies 'Facebook Isn't Killing People' After Blaming Social Media Companies for Covid-19 Deaths. commondreams.org An investigation revealing abuse of NSO Group's Pegasus malware led the whistleblower to declare: "This is an industry that should not exist."

_____ (2021-07-19). As UN Human Rights Chief Urges Stricter Rules, Snowden Calls for End to Spyware Trade. commondreams.org

Joe Lauria (2021-07-19). The Espionage Act & Julian Assange — Part 5: The Pentagon Papers. orinocotribune.com By Joe Lauria — Jul 12, 2021 | Part five of a six-part series on Julian Assange and the Espionage Act. | The 1971 Less known is that the Nixon Justice Department empaneled a grand jury in Boston with the intention of indicting reporters from the Times, The Washington Post and Th…

Joe Lauria (2021-07-18). The Espionage Act & Julian Assange — Part 4: In Hot & Cold War. orinocotribune.com By Joe Lauria — Jul 9, 2021 | Part four of a six-part series on Julian Assange and the Espionage Act. | With few exceptions, American newspapers voluntarily censored themselves in the Second World War before the government dictated it. In the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur said he didn't "desire to reestablish wartime censorship" and instead asked the press for self-censorship. He largely got it until the papers began reporting American battlefield losses. | On July 25, 1950, "the army ordered that reporters were not allowed to publish 'unwarranted' criticism of command decisions, and that the army wo…

Andy Kroll (2021-07-18). Migration Is Not the Crisis. tomdispatch.com Earlier this month, a Honduran court found David Castillo, a U.S.-trained former Army intelligence officer and the head of an internationally financed hydroelectric company, guilty of the 2016 murder of celebrated Indigenous activist Berta Cáceres. His company was building a dam that threatened the traditional lands and water sources of the Indigenous Lenca people. For years, Cáceres and her organization, the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, or COPINH, had led the struggle to halt that project. It turned out, however, that Cáceres's international recognition — she won the prestig…

cynthia papermaster (2021-07-18). Friday 7/16: Speaker Pelosi: "Help Free Julian Assange!" indybay.org Federal Building/Pelosi's office, 90 7th Street, San Francisco…

Joe Lauria (2021-07-18). The Espionage Act & Julian Assange — Part 4: In Hot & Cold War. orinocotribune.com By Joe Lauria — Jul 9, 2021 | Part four of a six-part series on Julian Assange and the Espionage Act. | With few exceptions, American newspapers voluntarily censored themselves in the Second World War before the government dictated it. In the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur said he didn't "desire to reestablish wartime censorship" and instead asked the press for self-censorship. He largely got it until the papers began reporting American battlefield losses. | On July 25, 1950, "the army ordered that reporters were not allowed to publish 'unwarranted' criticism of command decisions, and that the army wo…

cynthia papermaster (2021-07-18). Friday 7/16: Speaker Pelosi: "Help Free Julian Assange!" indybay.org Federal Building/Pelosi's office, 90 7th Street, San Francisco…

_____ (2021-07-17). CIA Stories: Death Squads In Afghanistan. popularresistance.org As the US Empire makes its major military retreat from Afghanistan, learn about the CIA forces that will be staying behind. | And their disturbing 20-year track record of war crimes. | Perhaps the most notorious piece of Central Intelligence Agency history is its creation and management of death squads. It's most known for doing that in Latin America. This record is long, consistent, and quite disturbing. It's an irrefutable story of CIA-directed mass murder of civilians for no other reason than to protect the rule of the rich from social movements of the poor. | "The CIA will secretly organize among the scattere…

Joe Lauria (2021-07-17). The Espionage Act & Julian Assange — Part 3: Passing the Espionage Act. orinocotribune.com By Joe Lauria — Jul 8, 2021 | Part three of a six-part series on Julian Assange and the Espionage Act. | In his 1915 State of the Union address, in the midst of the First World War, but before the US entered it, President Woodrow Wilson made a strident and authoritarian argument for the Espionage Act. He said: | "There are citizens of the United States, I blush to admit, born under other flags but welcomed under our generous naturalization laws to the full freedom and opportunity of America, who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life; who have sought to bring the aut…

Staff (2021-07-17). Eliminating the Hyde Amendment Would Be a Big Win for Abortion Care in the South. truthout.org In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, declaring that the right to an abortion was protected under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Although the ruling was an enormous victory for the pro-choice movement, it soon became clear that the fight for abortion access for all was far from over. | In 1976, U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican and outspoken abortion opponent, introduced to Congress a budget amendment that b…

Staff (2021-07-17). UK Supreme Court to Decide Soon on Seized Venezuelan Gold Dispute. orinocotribune.com On Friday, July 16, the lawyers representing the Constitutional Government of Venezuela confirmed that the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom will settle the dispute over Venezuela's gold reserves held by the Bank of England next week. | The seized gold case reached the British courts last year, after the Bank of England refused to hand over Venezuelan gold reserves back to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), arguing that a similar request had come from a banking board appointed by the self-proclaimed "president" and former National Assembly deputy Juan Guaidó. | In the first instance, the London Commercial Cou…

Joe Lauria (2021-07-17). The Espionage Act & Julian Assange — Part 2: The Espionage Act's UK Origins. orinocotribune.com By Joe Lauria — Jul 7, 2021 | Part two of a six-part series on Julian Assange and the Espionage Act. | The 1917 U.S. Espionage Act under which Assange is charged is descended from the 1889 British Official Secrets Act. The Espionage Act replaced the 1911 U.S. Defense Secrets Act, which was based on Section 1 of Britain's legislation, the Official Secrets Act of 1889. | The language of this section of the Defense Secrets Act is in places nearly identical with the Official Secrets Act. Some of that language has survived in the Espionage Act to ensnare Assange. | The 1889 British Official Secrets Act says: | W…