Hosted by Dr.G., Minister of Information of the Northbay MDS. Tune in Thursdays 4 to 5pm (PST), at 89.5FM in the northeast San Pablo Bay Area, or on a Smart Phone [link], Desktop U-stream [link], Live Mp3 (.pls) stream [link], Netbook [link].
Be a Community Journalist with our Community Journalist's Notebook [link]. Send news & info to [NorthbayMDS@) gmail.com]! Northbay Uprising News scripts [link]. Archived webpages at (archive.org) and at (archive.today) are available even if the original is taken down. News links are provided for educational purposes only, and do not constitute an endorsement of political tendencies, or, of foreign governments.
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ACTION CALENDER
A list of gatherings, workshops, and educational events in the greater Bay Area region
An official fundraising event for the family of Mario Woods. All proceeds from this event will go directly to the family. There will be live music performances and stand-up comedy.[facebook.com/events/967944149945618]
For those who can't attend but still wish to donate, you can do so at [gofundme.com/BQDCP6ZW].
December 23rd in SF at the Elbo Room from 6pm till... We're having a fundraiser for the family of Mario Woods.. The young man who was murdered by the SFPD on December 2nd.. This is to bring awareness to what's been going on for too long, to have us artists speak out, use our voice & walk with the people. Artists coming together like The Grouch, Mac Mall, members of Hieroglyphics & more, to rap to the crowd & let them know we need to be involved! We encourage all the people with concern & that want to help change things, to come out & support this event!! Let's come together & fight for justice!!
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ACTION HEADLINES!
Stories are reviewed and provided by Northbay MDS Committees and Affiliates
BAY AREA SOLIDARITY
Updates on campaigns for for Peace, Justice, & Freedom across the greater Bay Area, Norcal, and Socal
* (2015-12-16, Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War)
Happy Winter Solstice and Happy New Year!
The whole world is in turmoil suffering the capitalist descent into barbarism. At the same time, there is a great awakening of consciousness among the masses of working people that we are all in the same sinking boat. Across the globe, we are all facing the economic reality of austerity for us, and untold accumulation of wealth for the ruling elite. Democratic rights are being decimated. Police brutality and murder is rampant. And while the corporations can kill, mutilate and rob with impunity, the poor are locked up for the crime of being impoverished. We are reaching a tipping point both in our climate crisis and our overwhelming social crisis of unending war, poverty and criminalization of the poor.
The only solution is world socialist revolution under the democratic control of the whole working class and in defense of all life on Earth!
Peace and solidarity for a better tomorrow.
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* "Family remembers Vallejo man" (2015-12-11, timesheraldonline.com) [archive.is/nAdQB]:Andrea Jarreau-Griffin listens as Damon Williams of Vallejo sings ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings’ during a memorial Friday night for her son, Guy Jarreau Jr., shown in the background in a life-sized cardboard stand-up. Jarreau Jr., 34, was killed in an officer-involved shooting in 2010 at Maxwell Alley along Sonoma Boulevard where the vigil was held. It began at 5 p.m. to mark the fifth anniversary of the event. Jarreau-Griffin has returned each year to remember her son with friends in attendance, and then deliver toys to homeless children in the community.
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* "High School Walkout Against Police Brutality in SF" (2015-12-11, by Mícheál Madden, socialistorganizer.org) [archive.is/kvADN]
* "Students react to police brutality in San Francisco; Students in San Francisco react to the shooting of Mario Woods. Video and photos from police brutality protest that occurred in San Francisco on December 11th 2015" (2015-12-11, by D. Boyer via Indybay.org newswire) with nineteen photos [archive.is/KIFcp]: Young students from San Francisco walked out of their schools today to protest the killing of Mario Woods. Mario Woods was fatally shot by San Francisco Police on December 2nd 2015 in the Bayview neighborhood. There was speculation that he stabbed someone and was holding a knife, but witness video does not clearly show a knife nor does it show him lunging at police in a threatening manner. Many people in the San Francisco community are calling the shooting of Woods police brutality. It is common knowledge that police brutality results in the loss of trust of the police by people in the community. In other words, after incidences of police brutality the community suffers from disruption of basic activities like going to school because it enrages them. After incidences of police brutality the public stops reporting crimes, they stop cooperating with the police and they generally develop severe hate and prejudice against the police. The hate is so severe they design signs for their protests that call for the shooting of police. I have attached an example in this post. Police brutality affects everyone in the community. Watch the video at [indybay.org/uploads/2015/12/11/studentwalkout_policebrutality_sf_x264.mp4]
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* (Taylor Brickner writes): Battle wound California highway patrol gave me a year ago after police pushed us off of i-5, and before they arrested us. I'll never forget that day, and I'll never forgive the police for their actions. La lucha sigue!
(2014-12-10) [archive.is/t8Mh0]: Bruise from rubber bullet shot by California Highway Patrol (CHP) on Monday night at the Berkeley #kettleatross All the solidarity I experienced during and after the event from friends, comrades, and even strangers makes any wound, or jail time worth the fight for liberation.
Much thanks to y'all for caring so much about my privileged white ass but I was out there cause because many institutions are discriminatory and racist, especially the police. If a white stomach behind that bruise gets more sympathy, then I only hope I'm using that privilege to change the institutions and individuals who value white males over all other races, genders etc. #ftp #solidarityforever
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* "Revolution Ready: Designers invent protest toolkit" (2015-12-14, rt.com) [archive.is/VdD2m]
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* "15 ARRESTED MONDAY & TUESDAY AT BEALE AFB DRONE CENTER; 15 arrests connecting U.S. Military's role in Climate Change; Dozens of Anti-Drone, Climate Activists Try to Deliver Letter to Base Commander; Persistent resistance at Beale AFB, 2 days in a row: U.S. Military is # 1 user of Fossil Fuel in the World!" (2015-12-16):
Photos: [facebook.com/OccupyBealeAirForceBase]
Video: [facebook.com/350.org/videos/10153766654177708/?theater]
BEALE AFB (Marysville) – Seven peace advocates were arrested here at a drone operations center about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday – after blocking the road for 30 minutes. This was only 14 hours after eight other arrests took place late Monday at Beale Air Force Base/Wheatland Gate. That makes 15 arrests at the Air Force drone center in less than two days.
The 15 arrests were a result of activists attempting to deliver a letter to the base commander calling for an end to drone warfare, and explaining how the military contributes to climate change. Full letter: [archive.is/JP1VI].
Hundreds of peace activists have been arrested at Beale AFB over the past three years protesting the use of killer U.S. drones, which have murdered thousands of women and children around the world.
Protestors Monday held a 36 foot "red line" in sympathy with climate change activists around the world participating in "red line action."
Demonstrators called for "Peace for the World, Healing for the Climate" and an end to drone attacks and all wars for oil that cause death, suffering, and environmental devastation, including climate change.
Those arrested Tuesday were Barry Binks, Shirley Osgood, Michael Kerr, Mauro Oliveira, Chris Hanson, Flora Rogers and Catherine Hourcade. Monday arrests included Binks, S. Osgood, Pamela Osgood, Rogers, Sharon Delgado, Susan Pelican, Jane Kesselman and Oliveira. All activists hail from Sacramento, Marysville/Yuba City or Grass Valley/Nevada City.
In the letter to the base commander, activists charge the "US military is the single largest user of petroleum in the world, emitting a massive amount of greenhouse gases, and is the main enforcer of the global oil economy. Yet the Pentagon has a blanket exemption in all international climate agreements."
In the letter, activists note: "We oppose the Global Hawk Drones that are housed here, which provide surveillance that help identify targets for attacks by the US military, including killer drone attacks. We oppose the Pentagon plan to increase its drone fleet and double its number of drone pilots [archive.is/CbPV1]. We oppose all offensive US military action, and are especially outraged by the US attack on the Doctors without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. We join with people around the world in calling for an impartial investigation on this matter.
"With the recent disclosures by new whistleblowers and former drone operators [archive.is/Y72fz], we know that drone strikes are 1) not as effective as our government claims they are, 2) killing thousands of innocent civilians, 3) creating more enemies than they are killing, and 4) damaging the health & morale of our military personnel."
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SOLIDARITY WITH THE NEW AFRICAN NATION!Black Power! Revive the Community! Defend the Nation!
* "Why African Americans Should Stand with Muslims and Arabs" (2015-12-16, by Ajamu Baraka, blackagendareport.com) [archive.is/YI8W9]
* "How the sun of Palestine reached a Black Panther in jail" (2015-12-15, electronicintifada.net) [http://is.gd/eUiEdD]
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* "White privilege: Has our racial divide shifted?" (2015-12-12, by Bruce Newman, Bay Area News Group) [archive.is/aps4j] [begin excerpt]: Our national conversation about race has shifted from the overt outrages of Jim Crow to the subtler entitlements of “white privilege.” The simmering debate over what black and Latino student protesters described as white entitlement caught many college administrators serenely flat-footed, toppling the president and chancellor at the University of Missouri, and the dean of students at Claremont McKenna College.
It ignited again last week as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a University of Texas affirmative action case, when Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that African-American students may be better off at “a slower-track school where they do well.” But it has also sparked a free-speech debate over the right of protesters to effectively silence anyone who crossed them, not with police dogs and fire hoses, but with hurtful “microaggressions.”
“We all have a different starting point,” Diana Crumedy, an African-American graduate student at San Jose State University, said as she marched with members of the school’s Black Student Union in support of demonstrations at Missouri and Yale. “Why deny it?”
She wasn’t sure why it was so difficult for some white people to recognize their own privilege, or why they often respond with a counternarrative about ancestors who pulled themselves up from poverty by their bootstraps. “It’s great if you have bootstraps,” Crumedy said. “If someone took them from you, or you never got them to begin with, it’s a whole different story.” [end excerpt]
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* "Laquan McDonald killing exposes edifice of brutal oppression" (2015-12-03, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/HU91N]
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* "Chicago protesters block streets, scuffle with cops, demand Mayor Emanuel resign" (2015-12-09, rt.com) [archive.is/H1ptk]
* "Furious Chicago protesters say they won’t leave until Mayor Emanuel does: Here's why" (2015-12-10, rt.com) [archive.is/ZKEE7]
* " ‘Rahm gots to go!’: Chicago protests continue, new demands made" (2015-12-11, rt.com) [archive.is/JYIce]
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...Meanwhile in South Central L.A... Captain Ausar Sargon from Chicago visits and meets up with General T.A.C.O in Los Angeles...
BLACK RIDERS - New Generation Black Panther Party for Self-defense! Listen to Panther Power Radio today and every Tuesday. Call (215)383-3925 PST 7pm-9pm to listen and tune in... Black Power! All Power to the People! RBG 4 LIFE!
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WORKER'S POWER!
information collected by the Worker's Defense Committee [http://is.gd/VOkmLr]
* "A history of Amalgamated Transit Union 192" [www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEOGxd-7ySc]
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* "How You Can Help Inspire and Train a Stronger Labor Movement" (2015-12-08, Labor Notes, labornotes.org): My name is Ramon Torres, and I’m the president of Washington state’s only independent farmworker union, Familias Unidas por la Justicia. We are 400 immigrant workers, proud to be originally from indigenous Mixteco and Triqui communities in Mexico.
Farmworkers in the U.S. face racism and anti-immigrant fear every day. We’re often invisible. To defend ourselves, we’ve had to organize.
During the 2013 blueberry harvest at Sakuma Brothers Farms, after one of our co-workers was fired, 250 of us walked out on a six-day strike.
It worked: we got our co-worker rehired and a hostile foreman transferred. But we’re not done. We want a union contract with a $15 minimum wage, health benefits, and an end to retaliation.
We’ve been on strike eight more times, called a nationwide boycott of products from Sakuma Brothers Farms—including of Driscoll’s, the world’s largest berry distributor—and been picketing grocery stores that stock the boycotted fruit.
Labor Notes has covered our struggle from the beginning, most recently reporting on how we’re sharing strategies with other migrant workers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
This September at the Labor Notes Troublemakers School in Seattle, we got the chance to share our struggle with 250 dockworkers, day laborers, postal workers, grocery workers, social service workers, transit riders, musicians, and striking teachers.
In a workshop on direct action, I broke down how we’ve organized our strikes—and heard from nurses, hotel housekeepers, and airplane engineers about the tactics they’re using on the job.
At the end of the day many Troublemakers School participants joined us on the picket line. We were moved by their solidarity, and thankful for the space to build these new relationships.
This year Labor Notes has organized similar events in Indiana, Vermont, the Bay Area, New England, Oregon, Kalamazoo, and New York City. Toronto and Miami are coming up.
And in April I’m looking forward to meeting troublemakers from across the country and around the world in Chicago, at the Labor Notes Conference. Your donation will help provide scholarships so that young workers and low-wage workers like our members can get there.
What’s helped us along in our fight so far—and what we believe it will take to transform the industrial food system into something more just—is grassroots organizing. Real change comes from the base, when the people most affected by the problem are the ones who take the lead.
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* "Take action to tell McDonald's you’re not 'lovin’ it' " (United Farm Workers, ufw.org)
[action.ufw.org/mcdonalds]
Last month we came to you with an appeal from farm worker supporters protesting abuses of workers at Washington state dairies belonging to the giant Darigold cooperative. We physically took our appeal to four of the nation’s largest retailers of Darigold products.
This became necessary because executives at Darigold’s Seattle headquarters refused to accept a petition with more than 38,000 signatures from Nubia Guajardo. Nubia is the widow of dairy worker Randy Vasquez, 27, who drowned in a manure pond last February at Riverview Ranch, a Darigold-member dairy, which was later cited and fined for failing to comply with state health and safety laws. Due in part to lack of proper fencing, Randy's body was submerged in the manure pond for seven hours before anyone at the dairy found him.
McDonald's was the only major retailer we visited that flatly refused to accept our petitions with 38,000 names and even locked the doors, like Darigold did. The other retail chains at least courteously accepted the petitions and acknowledged our presence. Albertsons/Safeway met with Nubia, and discussed the situation.
McDonald's claims its values include being “committed to doing the right thing. And we've got the policies, programs and practices in place that allow us to use our size and scope to help make a difference. Because what's good for us is good for us all.”
How is locking the doors on a grieving widow and her supporters, and refusing to even listen to Nubia and farm worker supporters a reflection of what it claims are McDonald’s values?
Tell McDonald's to live up to its values and meet with Nubia and the United Farm Workers to discuss how it can use its great influence to encourage Darigold to remedy the many grievances workers have reported, including safety and health perils, wage and hour violations, gender discrimination, lack of clean drinking water, retaliation and animal abuse. Send your e-mail today!
* (2015, Stephen Payan, of Sacraztlan Brown Berets, Califas)
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* "Tell retailers: STOP doing business with lawbreakers in U.S. supply chain" (2015-12-10, via unionalerts@)calaborfed.org):
I’m Jose Rodriguez and I work at a warehouse at the Port of Los Angeles, for a company named California Cartage that moves goods for Target, Amazon, Ikea, Home Depot, Lowes, H&M, and Ross Dress for Less. The warehouse I work in is filthy dirty, the working conditions are unsafe, and the company is routinely violating wage and hour laws. The customers must enforce their “corporate responsibility” policies here in the U.S. – as they do overseas where the merchandise is made.
Sign our petition today! [actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-your-retailers-to-pressure-cal-cartage-to-end-wage-theft]
I’m John Jackson and I haul containers from the Port of Savannah to retailers’ warehouses and distribution centers for California Cartage in Georgia and frequently earn far less than the minimum wage because I’m misclassified as an “independent contractor. My employer, whose clients include Target, Home Depot, Ross, Lowes, Ikea, H&M, and Amazon, is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor for minimum wage violations in Georgia and is facing more than $50 million in liability for wage and hour-related litigation in California.
Help us end Cal Cartage’s illegal labor practices by signing this petition to its retailers.
We need to ensure that Amazon, Target, Home Depot, Ross, Ikea, and Lowe’s take a stand against the abuse of workers in their supply chain.Cal Cartageis the epitome of a company that works outside of the law in order to maximize its profits.We need to put an end to this NOW.
Sincerely,
[signed] John Jackson, Cal Cartage driver & Jose Rodriguez, Cal Cartage warehouse worker
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* "Despite vicious opposition, Chattanooga workers are unionizing" (2015-12-07, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/RBQco]
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* "UTR Teachers Rally For Wages ; 'Stop Taking Money From Teachers & Students For Charters'!" (2015-12-10, by Labor Video Project, laborvideo.org) [www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/12/10/18780842.php]: Hundreds of United Teachers Of Richmond UTR and community supporters rallied at the school board meeting on December 9, 2015 to protest the refusal of the school board to provide real wage increases after years of wage cuts. They also protested the continuing transfer of public money to privately run charter schools that cherry pick students away from public schools in Richmond while public schools are starved.
Teachers, students and community members protested low pay. West Contra Costa School Board shortchanges the students who joined the protest. Funds are going to charters while publicly run schools are starved.
Videos:
- [youtube.com/watch?v=VWO_zxwxZQg]
- [youtube.com/watch?v=TrmgFgfoFPw]
For more information on charters
- [ipetitions.com/petition/repeal-charter-school-act-of-1992-in-ca-ballot]
- (.pdf) [http://is.gd/rw8eQn]
- (.pdf) [http://is.gd/Dih2Wx]
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* "In Pennsylvania, a Steel Mill and Its Workers at a Crossroads" (2015-12-03, nytimes.com) [archive.is/18p4v]
* "Efficiency boasted amid ATI lockout" (2015-11-11, triblive.com) [archive.is/xhMBG]
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* (2015-12-16, Matt Sedillo): 1974, old Marxist documents. According to these numbers the Mexican worker on average given a forty hour work week would work 50 more days a year than the American worker for 1/5 the pay.
Today the the average Mexican worker makes around 9,000 a year whereas the average American is around 43,000, roughly 5 times the wages. On average the Mexican works 600 hours more a year for a whopping average of 75 more days a year.
The suppression of the Mexican wage within Mexico's national borders is closely related to the suppression of the Mexican wage within American borders. The suppression of Mexican labor is foundational to the economic development of the southwest as a whole.
The world's no mystery once you got some history.
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HANDS OFF OUR HOMES![HandsOffHomes.blogspot.com]
* "Section 8 renters face discrimination and are being abused" (2015-12-10, by Lynda Carson [tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com]: Section 8 renters are facing major problems in Oakland, the Bay Area, and across the nation because very few states, counties, and cities prohibit discrimination against Section 8 voucher holders.
The “Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program” provides rental assistance to the most vulnerable members of our nation, including woman with children, the elderly, and disabled. Section 8 renters generally pay 30% - 40% of the rent to the landlord, and sometimes more, and the housing program pays the rest.
Despite the major problems Section 8 renters face because of discrimination, the Section 8 Voucher Program, presently called the Housing Choice Voucher Program, has become the dominant form of federal housing assistance across the nation. With more than 5 million people, in 2.1 million low-income families that are currently using vouchers to subsidize their rents, it is a very successful program all across the nation.
However, in October, it was reported that 609 residents in Oakland had secured a federal Section 8 housing voucher during 2015, and only around 115 of them had managed to find housing in Oakland with their vouchers.
During April of 2015, in the nearby City of Richmond, it was reported that many public housing tenants trying to relocate away from slum conditions at their public housing units could not move, because landlords declined to accept their Section 8 vouchers.
Click here for more about Richmond voucher holders… "Richmond: City struggles to find homes for troubled public housing project's residents" (2015-04-24, mercurynews.com) [archive.is/ZzOXQ].
Before a City Council vote took place and passed in Santa Monica, CA., to protect Section 8 renters, according to Denise McGranahan, senior attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation in Los Angeles, as of May 2015, only 12 states, 9 counties, and 18 cities have outlawed discrimination against section 8 renters.
“Studies suggest that landlords discriminate against Section 8 voucher holders as a pretext for discriminating against minorities, disabled, and families with children,” McGranahan said. “These populations are over represented in the Section 8 program, including in Santa Monica, as compared to the general population,” reported David Mark Simpson.
Section 8 Renters Face Many Kinds Of Problems & Discrimination -
In a court ruling during late November 2015, that affects thousands of poor Section 8 tenants in Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, Richmond, and millions across the nation, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles illegally cut subsidies to thousands of Section 8 renters.
During 2004, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) cut Section 8 housing subsidies for around 20,000 low-income residents without giving proper notice in advance, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared.
The illegal cut-backs to the rental subsidies for the poor Section 8 tenants resulted in many elderly and disabled residents, including families with young children, paying much higher rents that averaged around $104 more per month, the court said.
According to court documents, the Housing Authority failed to provide comprehensible information to Section 8 beneficiaries about the payment standard change and its effect one year in advance of the change’s implementation.
Click here for more… "Court rules L.A. Housing Authority illegally cut Section 8 housing subsidies" (2015-12-01) [archive.is/8XL35].
In a different case, on July 20, 2015, the Justice Department announced a settlement with the Housing Authority of Los Angeles County (HACoLA), and the cities of Lancaster, California, and Palmdale, California, to resolve allegations that these parties targeted African Americans with discriminatory enforcement of the Section 8 housing choice voucher program, according to a press release. The parties have agreed to enter into a court-enforceable agreement that will provide broad relief meant to ensure unbiased enforcement of the voucher program so that African-American voucher holders in the Antelope Valley are not targeted because of their race.
“Local government officials worked with the Los Angeles County Housing Authority and the Sheriff’s Department to subject African-American families to discriminatory enforcement actions in an effort to discourage them from using Housing Choice vouchers to live in Lancaster and Palmdale,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California. “This type of discrimination is fundamentally wrong and is inconsistent with American values of freedom and equality. This settlement, together with an earlier settlement with the Sheriff’s department, will ensure it does not recur, and will also provide more than $2.6 million to compensate those harmed.”
Click on link here for more… "Housing Authority of Los Angeles County and the Cities of Lancaster, California, and Palmdale, California, Agree to Settle Fair Housing Claims in the Antelope Valley for $2 Million; Agreement Resolves Allegations that Defendants Discriminated Against Section 8 Voucher Holders on the Basis of Race" (2015-07-20, justice.gov) [archive.is/Eyltf].
In a July 31, 2015 press release from Congresswoman Maxine Waters, she blasts the housing authority, and Sheriff’s Department for their use of discriminatory actions against the Section 8 renters.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters released the following statement: “I am appalled by recent revelations of discriminatory and illegal actions of the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster, along with the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles and Sheriff’s Department, against low-income African American residents in the County’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The Department of Justice findings that are being resolved with these settlement agreements are simply shameful and part of a disgraceful effort to discourage these families from utilizing their Section 8 vouchers to live in certain neighborhoods.
The complaint filed by the DOJ against HACoLA acknowledged that the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster have a ‘history of residential racial segregation and of excluding African-American residents.’ From the use of excessive force, to biased policing practices, including housing discrimination, and unlawful searches and seizures, HACoLA and the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s department conspired to unfairly target these residents. They actively sought to undermine the intent of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, which is to provides low-income families with the opportunity to move into neighborhoods with greater opportunities, such as better schools and better employment prospects.
With the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act, and HUD’s recent release of its final regulation to clarify and strengthen a key aspect of the Fair Housing Act, conservatives continue to claim that segregation in American neighborhoods is simply the result of personal preferences, not discrimination. Nevertheless, these settlement agreements are prime examples of why this is a false assumption. Minorities continue to be actively discriminated against in the housing market, facing targeted harassment from police and local officials for simply choosing to live in certain neighborhoods.”
Click here for full press release… "Waters Blasts HACoLA, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department for Discriminatory Actions against Low-Income Residents" (2015-07-31, democrats.financialservices.house.gov) [archive.is/XkfFJ].
In another case during 2009, a family of Section 8 landlords, Riaz, Maryam and Mark Patras of Antioch, CA, who have rented several homes to Section 8 families, have sued the City of Antioch and five members of its Police Department in federal court for civil rights violations, including loss of rental income, emotional distress, humiliation and loss of privacy. They have also alleged that the police department’s Community Action Team (CAT) used rough and illegal tactics to force the landlords to evict their Section 8 tenants, all of whom are African-American.
Click on link here for more… "Section 8 landlords sue cops for civil rights violations" (2009-06-05, sfbayview.com) [archive.is/ByQeN].
The City of Antioch has faced numerous allegations regarding discrimination against Section 8 renters, and the targeting of Section 8 renters, that have made it into the news throughout the San Francisco Bay Area on different occasions.
Click here for more information regarding the cops in Antioch who allegedly targeted Section 8 renters… [archive.is/FJuhz]
There is plenty of documentation and evidence revealing that Section 8 renters are being targeted, and are facing major problems in Oakland, the Bay Area, and across the nation because very few states, counties, and cities prohibit discrimination against Section 8 voucher holders.
[Comment]: "Section 8 'A Voluntary Federal Program' " (2015-12-10, by J. Benning):
The Section 8 voucher program was launched in 1974 during the Nixon administration. This program was "by design" a temporary assistance program to help low income people afford better housing until they could handle the costs on their own. Unfortunately, the program is being utilized as a life time entitlement by most of the people who receive the vouchers.
One of the biggest problems with Section 8 is that there is no time limit on the voucher. Those who have received a voucher and found housing never give them up or strive to better themselves because they don't want to lose their voucher. As there is such a slow, if non exsistant rotation in the program, those seeking vouchers now are basically cut off by those who already have one.
Additionally HUD funding has been cut every year since 2005. The current FY2016 Transportation and Housing bill (which just passed the Senate) cut more funding resulting in a 28,000 voucher cut. This is in addition to the 70,000 vouchers lost by the sequester bill of 2011. Those vouchers have never been funded. HUD and Housing Authorities across the country do a diservice to people by opening waitlists which only provide a place on a list for very few. Then those few have a slim chance of ever getting a voucher and then the problem of finding housing.
The section 8 program is a voluntary program for landlords, they don't have to participate in the program if they don't want too. HUD has cut many of the incentives it use to supply to landlords as well as cut benefits, so there is far less of a reason for landlords to get into the program. Why take far less than market from a less than reliable government agency when you can rent market rate and not deal with the government at all. There are currently three court cases that I know of challanging the laws that local governments have passed about mandating landlords take Section 8. One such law in TX will probably be found unconstitutional by the TX Supreme court. It will probably go to SOCTUS but there is no guarantee it will ever be heard or they may choose not to rule against the lower court.
Section 8 is slowly crawling to its demise, of course the political hacks at HUD won't admit it but they have to justify their jobs so they just do alot of "spin" to make it look like they are doing something, while they are privitizing thousands of voucher attached units all over the country. If a Republican is elected president in 2016 you will see even more cuts and probably the elimination of the program, although they might grandfather in seniors and the handicapped but I just woundn't count on this program being around.
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information collected by the Committee to
DEFEND THOSE WITHOUT HOMES!
* "Freedom Sleepers confront city council at el Palomar" [indybay.org/newsitems/2015/12/09/18780826.php]: The Freedom Sleepers held a protest in front of the Palomar Inn in downtown Santa Cruz, where the city council planned to eat a celebratory dinner in honor of the appointment of the new mayor, Cynthia Matthews.
As the city council met in the Palomar Inn’s banquet room last night to celebrate the tenure of new mayor Cynthia Matthews, Freedom Sleepers held a protest on the sidewalk with free coffee, soup, and PB&J sandwiches. They set up signs, handed out flyers advertising an upcoming event at the Resource Center for Non-Violence on December 13, chanted, and sang with busking musicians that had set up right next door.
A small group of protestors also entered the banquet room during the council’s meal with a sign reading “A Ban on Sleep is a Ban on Life.” They stayed in the room for several minutes and exchanged some conversation with council members, then returned to the sidewalk to continue serving food and coffee. The group attempted to enter the banquet room a second time, but were halted by Santa Cruz police officers and told they would not be entering the room. An argument ensued between the protestors, police, and the managers of both el Palomar Restaurant and the Palomar Inn Building. Protestors maintained they had a legal right to access a meeting of city council members, while the managers insisted that they were on private property and had to leave under threat of arrest for trespassing. After a several minute stand-off, the protestors again returned to the sidewalk until the city council left the building.
The table, signs, and food were then relocated to city hall for the regular weekly sleepout. The Freedom Sleepers have been sleeping out in front of city hall once a week for the past 22 weeks to protest the Santa Cruz sleeping/camping ban law, which makes it illegal for anyone to sleep in public between certain hours of the night and morning. The Freedom Sleepers maintain that this law is inhumane and punishes people for existing while houseless, having no other option than to sleep outdoors.
Protest inside city council meal
---
* "Utah curbs 'chronic homelessness' by 91% in 10 yrs" (2015-12-11, rt.com) [archive.is/tHzp1]
===*===*===
COMMUNITY FASCISM WATCH
---
Community Fascism in itty-bitty Vallejo, the "City of God":
* "Orcem plays loose with the facts" (2015-12-11, by Lori Allio, PhD) [archive.is/WZlIV]
---
* "Vallejo residents upset over committee" (2015-12-14, timesheraldonline.com) [archive.is/g2sMd]
[begin excerpt]: Two Vallejo city council members expressed frustration after it was discovered that an economic ad-hoc committee has been meeting recently without much public knowledge.
Billed as “an informal citizens committee” seeking information about dredging the Mare Island Straits for economic development, the Mare Island Straits Economic Development Committee is comprised of members of private and public economic groups, representatives of state and local elected office, including three council members: Vice Mayor Jess Malgapo, Pippin Dew-Costa, and Rozzana Verder-Aliga.
Also on the committee are representatives from the Vallejo Marine Terminal (VMT) and the Orcem Americas. The city is currently vetting a combined project — from both businesses — which would call for the development of a deep-water terminal and construction of an industrial facility producing cement.
Orcem would import most of the raw materials it uses via ships docking at the proposed VMT wharf, a 39-acre site at 790 and 800 Derr Ave., in southwest Vallejo, on the Mare Island Strait.
During the Dec. 8 council meeting, several community members called the committee a “secret government” that was meeting in private without public input. Councilmembers Bob Sampayan and Katy Miessner confirmed they only recently heard about the committee.
“I’m astonished,” said Sampayan, when reached by phone last week. “Why was the council not told about the committee? This does smack of a shadow government.”
Sampayan said he and two other council members in 2014 were appointed to a Mare Island development committee, but that committee never met.
“This (new) committee is developing policy, putting together programs without the council being involved,” Sampayan added. “I’m angry.”
During the same meeting, Councilmember Katy Miessner read part of one of the committee agendas, which declares the committee as “not currently sanctioned by any public agency but has the endorsement and support of the Vallejo City Council as an informal citizens committee.”
“What I think that has done is put the integrity of everybody on that committee in question because they all believe that we, as a council, endorse the committee,” she said during the meeting. [...]
Malgapo, who chairs the committee, has come under fire from the community for an email he sent out to committee members in September.
“You will recall that we have two goals; one is to search for dredging funds but our second goal is to explore how Mare Island Straits could be transformed into an economic driver for the City of Vallejo and Solano County,” Malgapo writes. “In this regard, let us congratulate our committee members, ‘Vallejo Marine Terminal/ORCEM’ as they reached a key milestone with their project ... let us all wish them all the best and a successful public review.”
The council has yet to decide the fate of the VMT/Orcem project. Many in the community have stated that south Vallejo residents will be harmed by pollution, environmental, and transportation issues, should the project be approved.
Malgapo defended the committee as “a working group formed by individuals who believe that the straits, (if properly dredged), will revitalize the economy along the waterway.”
“From a handful of individuals who met over lunch to brainstorm and find the path forward in obtaining funding for dredging, the monthly lunch meetings continued, and over time, the working group expanded to include industry leaders, representatives of elected officials, and three council members,” Malgapo stated in an email to the Times-Herald. “Except for city staff, all committee members are volunteers.
It is important to note,” he continues “that the committee has no decision making authority outside of research and data collection and any recommendations are subject to approval by the City of Vallejo.”
Mayor Osby Davis said he was asked to speak before the committee about finding federal monies for dredging the Mare Island Straits.
“I don’t pay attention to who is on a committee,” Davis said, when asked about Orcem/VMT representatives on the committee. “I was asked to speak, which I did.”
Davis said it was a “stretch” to call the committee a “secret government.”
“The committee is comprised of interested stakeholders, who are attempting to locate resources for dredging,” Davis added. [end excerpt]
Vallejo resident writes: Now I understand the true meaning of Jump Start Vallejo. They get a jump start on the same projects they will later vote on by meeting and planning with the same industry reps that will directly benefit from the secret committee deals. To hell with the public and the other City Council members. Corruption, corruption, corruption.
===*===*===
Documenting human-rights abuse by domestic security agencies
NORTHBAY COPWATCH
[NorthbayCopwatch.blogspot.com] [copblock.org] [wecopwatch.org] [filmingcops.com]
* (2015-12-15, a voice from Napa Valley):
Police donation scam. Every year. They play on people's fear. This year they are saying poor police need support bc they have been cast on a bad light across the country in Baltimore and Ferguson. I wonder why?Those brown and black folk will come get you so give us money even though we are not Napa PD, so we can protect you... and give a few cents back to an organization in Orange County and elsewhere outside of Napa.
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* "Police shootings should be tracked by public health sector, according to Harvard initiative" (2015-12-10, rt.com) [archive.is/HpXkC]
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* " ‘Not justified, but not criminal’: No charges for Paradise cop who shot motorist in the neck" (2015-12-11, rt.com) [archive.is/bmR5w]
---
* "Chicago police killing of unarmed teen unjustified, fired investigator says" (2015-12-09, edition.cnn.com) [archive.is/nXUaf]
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* "Texas cop who wrote he loved to ‘kill people and not go to jail’ returning to work" (2015-12-10, rt.com) [archive.is/uT1ci]
---
* "Black man dies in police custody after pepper spray deployed" (2015-12-11, rt.com) [archive.is/7PrEy]
---
* "Ex-Oklahoma cop's rape conviction symbol of national problem" (2015-12-11, Associated Press newswire) [archive.is/EEEoq] [begin excerpt]: Holtzclaw's case was among those examined in a yearlong Associated Press investigation that revealed about 1,000 officers nationwide had lost their licenses for sex crimes or other sexual misconduct over a six-year period.
The AP's finding is undoubtedly an undercount, since not every state has a process for banning problem officers from re-entering law enforcement, and states that do vary greatly in how they report and prosecute wrongdoers.
One factor stands out, however — victims tend to be among society's most vulnerable: juveniles, drug addicts, and women in custody or with a criminal history.
That's exactly who authorities accused Holtzclaw of targeting. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
NORTHBAY COPWATCH: Domestic Security Agencies and private-sector partners
* "Government uses 18th century law to force companies to unlock customers’ cellphones" (2015-12-15, rt.com) [archive.is/A3b6j]
---
* "Small drone registry introduced by FAA, previous owners have 2 months to file" (2015-12-14, rt.com) [archive.is/p7Qbc]
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* "Texas Constable Urges Residents To Take Up Arms Against Migrant Children Housed In A Church Camp; Officials Claim Central American Teens Housed At Church Camp Pose Security Threat" (2015-12-11, thenewcivilrightsmovement.com) [archive.is/V0DlU]
---
The special relationship between Twitter, Facebook and Google with USA-backed ISIS and affiliated organizations has lasted for years, with an unofficial tolerance policy that perplexed many, especially when Twitter, Facebook and Google would remove social media connected to the People of Novorossiya who are currently held to be enemies of the USA yet who have never attacked the USA or, in the postings reviewed by the Northbay MDS Minister of Information, did not post anything that supported terrorism against the USA!
* "Social media link to attacks poses conundrum" (2015-12-15, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/Gls43]
===*===*===
from the Committee to
FREE 'EM ALL!
[PoliticalPrisonersUSA.blogspot.com] End the Drug War! Stop Jim Crow! Close the Torture Chambers!
Become a Human Rights Pen Pal! [link]. [solitarywatch.com] [facebook.com/incarceratedworkers] [supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org] [denverabc.wordpress.com] [prisonlegalnews.org] [prisonbooks.info] [nycabc.wordpress.com] [powmedicaljustice.com] [sacprisonersupport.wordpress.com]
* " 'Meeting a Man Like That, You Can't Help Wanting to Do More': A Visit With Political Prisoner Oscar López Rivera" (2015-12-07, truth-out.org) [archive.is/aQvTd]
---
* "Struggle grows to save Rev. Edward Pinkney" (2015-12-07, workers.org) [archive.is/7ocmL]
* "Struggle grows to save Political Prisoner Rev. Edward Pinkney" (2015-12-12, Political Prisoner News): Michigan political prisoner, the Reverend Edward Pinkney, fears for his life. With phone access denied, he is isolated in the far north Marquette Branch Prison, 500 miles from his wife, attorney and supporters. He recently wrote:
"I was transferred to Marquette Prison, shackled, mistreated, and intimidated. I was forced to strip on five different occasions. I am forced into overcrowding, inadequate exercise, lack of clean clothing, and inadequate medical care.
"I believe that [they] have put a hit on me, inside the prison system. I believe they are trying to force me to die in prison. If I do not survive this, you will know the reason why.
"The blatantly unconstitutional conduct by Judge Sterling Schrock, Prosecutor Mike Sepic, Sheriff Bailey, and the all-white jury have placed my life in danger.
"I need you to stand with me against the corrupt, broken system, a criminal enterprise operating in Berrien County and across the country: a lynch mob in black robes and three-piece suits."
Rev. Pinkney's family and supporters agree that his life is in danger. Racist guards are whipping up hostility among the 80% white prisoners against Rev. Pinkney. He lacks clean clothes, decent food, adequate medical care and exercise. Rev. Pinkney turned 67 at the end of October. We need to come together to put this critical situation before the whole nation and the entire world.
Emergency Conference to Save Rev. Edward Pinkney, Saturday, December 12, 2015, Noon to 5 pm, at the St. Matthew-St. Joseph Episcopal Church, 8850 Woodward Ave. (at King St.), Detroit, Michigan. Conference will be live-streamed. Link will be available here and on Facebook on Saturday at noon.
Streaming sites:
- MECAWI: Emergency Conference to Save Rev. Edward Pinkney [mecawi.org/emergency-conference-to-save-rev-edward-pinkney]
- Facebok event: Emergency Conference to Save Rev. Edward Pinkney [facebook.com/events/1700531523513283]
For more information and to endorse, please call [313-680-5508] or email [mecawi@)mecawi.org]
Initial Endorsers: Mrs. Dorothy Pinkney; Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice [mecawi.org]; Observers in the Court; Pan African News Wire [panafricannews.blogspot.com]; Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association (DAREA); Detroit Green Party; Detroit School Board (in exile); Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures[moratorium-mi.org]; Workers World Party.
For more information regarding Rev. Edward Pinkney, please visit [bhbanco.org]
---
* "Strike Supporters to rally at ICE as agency tortures hunger strikers; Protest to Free Detainees on International Human Rights Day, what will be Day 14 of Hunger Strike" (2015-12-09, #Freedomgiving Hunger Strike Support Committee):
The situation surroundingthe #freedomgiving hunger strike [archive.is/zFwXe] that was started by more than 100 asylum-seekers in several detention centers reached grave proportions as an Alabama judge authorized forced feeding of at least one of the men and invasive medical procedures of others held at Etowah according to documents obtained by supporters. Nearing two weeks without food, at least seven hunger strikers have been taken to the medical unit while strikers report authorities torturing them with sleep depriving cell visits every fifteen minutes for the past two days.
A protest outside the Clinton Campaign headquarters in New York prompted Sanders and O'Malley to express support [archive.is/ewioO] for the strikers, one of whom met with Sanders during a live telecast yesterday [archive.is/wQgZv] where the Senator committed to inquiring at ICE on the strikers? behalf and was asked to visit the strikers to investigate their situation.
While ICE reached a release agreement with strikers at the Theo Lacy center [archive.is/rRHRb], it has taken the opposite approach in other facilities; attempting to deport men who participated in an October hunger strike, enacting sleep deprivation tactics, placing participants in solitary confinement, and cutting off lines of communication to outside support.
"The men who are being tortured by ICE are experiencing at the hands of the US government the very treatment they sought asylum from," explained with alarm, Fahd Ahmed, director of DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving). "The detainees can't be kept safe in detention, let alone prepare their case for asylum in those conditions. They must be released immediately.The world is watching what immigration authorities are doing to these people seeking safety on international human rights day and it is outrageous. The current administration and the candidates, all elected officials have an urgent responsibility to put a stop to ICE's abuse."
On Thursday, supporters of the strikers will rally at the ICE headquarters to demand the agency release the detainees, halt the torture tactics, and cancel deportation proceedings against participants.
Strikes are continuing at multiple facilities including Aurora, Etowah, S. Texas, and Krome.
The series of releases and details of the strike are available at:
[notonemoredeportation.com/free-the-hunger-striking-detainees], archived 2015-12-17 [archive.is/9TIKf]
---
* "Support The Fort Dix Five - entrapped by the FBI - appeal hearing Jan 6, Camden, NJ" (2015-12-10, Political Prisoner News):
The Fort Dix Five Support Committee and Project SALAM invite you to Hold a Banner for the Dukas on Wednesday, January 6, 8:00 to 8:45 AM. Join the Dukas in Court at 9:00 AM, at Mitchell H. Cohen Building & U.S. Courthouse 4th & Cooper Streets, Camden, New Jersey.
Who are the Dukas? They are three brothers who were entrapped by the FBI and convicted in a case known as "The Fort Dix Five." In January 2006, the young men (Eljvir, Dritan, and Shain Duka) made a videotape of themselves enjoying a vacation in the Poconos with their families, which included target shooting at a public shooting range. They brought the videotape to a Circuit City store clerk for duplication for their families. The clerk, being "troubled" by images that were really just young men horsing around, sent it to the FBI.
The FBI responded by sending two agents provocateur to entrap the Duka brothers in criminal activity. The agents showered attention on them and used money and manipulation to try to create interest in jihad. They asked the men to download jihadist videos, taunted them for their lack of resolve to take action, and followed them around with hidden tape recorders to record every word spoken. One agent talked alone in general terms with a relative of the brothers, Mohammed Shnewer, about how one might theoretically attack the Fort Dix army base. In response to the agent's repeated demands, another defendant, Serdar Tatar, gave the agent a map of the Fort Dix base, which his father had used to deliver pizza there. (Tatar thought that the agent was suspicious and reported him to law enforcement, who said not to worry about it.) The other agent then persuaded the Duka brothers to buy some guns, supposedly for more target shooting in the Poconos, so they would not have to wait in line at public shooting ranges.
At this point, the whole group was arrested and eventually convicted in 2008 of conspiracy to attack Fort Dix, even though no plans had been made to attack anything and the government's own witness conceded that the Duka brothers had never been told about any conversation regarding Fort Dix. Under federal law, in a conspiracy case all associates are considered equally culpable, even if they do not know of the existence of a plan. Thus the Duka brothers were convicted for essentially vacationing while Muslim and given life sentences plus 33 years for a plot they literally had never heard of. The U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case was Chris Christie, now governor of New Jersey and candidate for U.S. president.
Recently a higher court ordered a hearing on January 6, 2016 to determine whether the Duka brothers received a fair trial and effective representation from their lawyers. This hearing, which the three brothers will be allowed to attend in person, is a chance to call attention to this outrageous miscarriage of justice. The entrapment of the Duka brothers destroyed their families, which include six children, as well as the family roofing business on which the Duka brothers and their parents depended for support.
At a recent event held December 12, 2015, at the Tabernacle United Church in Philadelphia, PA, Project Salam held a film screening showing "The Newburgh Sting" and "Entrapped" [archive.is/eFOVJ].
For more information, look up:
- Joe Piette [jpiette660@)hotmail.com]
- Lynne Jackson [lynnejackson@)mac.com]
- [projectsalam.org/events]
- [facebook.com/IACphilly]
* "Christie's Conspiracy: The Real Story Behind the Fort Dix Five Terror Plot" (2015-06-25, theintercept.com) [archive.is/cAuUl]
---
* "Inventing Terrorists -The Lawfare of Preemptive Prosecution" (2015-12-10, Political Prisoner News):
"INVENTING TERRORISTS: The Lawfare of Preemptive Prosecution", a study by Project SALAM and National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, published May 2014. Written by Stephen Downs, Esq. and Kathy Manley, Esq., with Lynne Jackson, database designer, and Jeanne Finley, editor.
- Download the report "Inventing Terrorists" by clicking here (.pdf) [http://is.gd/RlSiM8].
- Visit the SALAM Project database [projectsalam.org/database.html].
- Press Reports on "Inventing Terrorists" at Carl Strock's blog on the Times Union newspaper, June 13, 2014, [archive.is/hOPxx].
This study, sponsored by two national organizations, Project SALAM (Support And Legal Advocacy for Muslims) and the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (NCPCF), focuses on post-9/11 claims by the U.S. government that it keeps the county safe from terrorism by arresting hundreds of so-called "terrorists" who were about to strike the U.S. until the FBI foiled their plots. In fact, this study shows that there have been remarkably few actual terrorism threats to this country in the last decade. The vast majority of arrests in the war on terror have consisted of
- the FBI foiling its own entrapment plots; or
- the government arresting people on material support for terrorism charges that effectively criminalize innocent conduct, such as charitable giving and management, free speech, free association, peace-making, and social hospitality; or
- inflation of minor or technical incidents into terrorism events, such as immigration application inaccuracies, old weapons charges, or inaccurate statements to governmental officials The study shows that the war on terror has been largely a charade designed;
to make the American public believe that a terrorist army is loose in the U.S., when the truth is that most of the people convicted of terrorism-related crimes posed no danger to the U.S. and were entrapped by a preventive strategy known as preemptive prosecution. The theme of the study links preemptive prosecution to the metaphor of "lawfare," the use of the law as a weapon of war, in this case the war on terror.
Statistically, the study asks how many of the individuals who appear on the Department of Justice (DOJ) 2001 & 2010 list of "terrorism and terrorism-related convictions"
(.pdf) [http://is.gd/0j3N3y] (Appendix A) represented real terrorism threats, and how many were cases
of preemptive prosecutions. The study then categorizes the cases of the individuals on the DOJ list as one of three types of cases: preemptive prosecutions, cases that contained elements of preemptive prosecution, or cases that were not preemptive prosecutions/represented real terrorism threats.
The statistical analysis shows that 72.4% of convictions on the DOJ list represent cases of preemptive prosecution that were based on suspicion of the defendant's perceived ideology and not on his/her criminal activity. Another 21.8% of convictions on the DOJ list represent people who began on their own to engage in minor, non-terrorist criminal activity but whose cases were manipulated and inflated by the government to appear as though they were "terrorists"; these cases are referred to in the study as "elements of preemptive prosecution" or "elements."
Overall, 94.2% of all the terrorism-related convictions on the DOJ list have been either preemptive prosecution cases or cases that involved elements of preemptive prosecution.
The study (.pdf) [http://is.gd/RlSiM8] defines preemptive prosecution, gives background on the origin of the concept, discusses the tactical patterns that characterize its use by the government, and provides a methodology for determining the categorization of a case. The study then shows, for cases on the DOJ list, the percentages for each categorization of a case, as well as percentages for the tactical patterns used in each categorization. The study concludes that the government has used preemptive prosecution to exaggerate the threat of Muslim extremism to the security of the country, and presents some hypotheses as to why the government has done this, without taking a position on which possibilities may be correct. The study also makes recommendations to change the present unfair terrorism laws.
Access the Project SALAM Database [projectsalam.org/fmi/iwp/cgi?-db=MIP_MIP&-loadframes]. The purpose of the Project SALAM database is to bring together information in one place about United States Justice Department's post-9/11 terrorism-related prosecutions and convictions of Muslims.
For more information about Lawfare as the use of the law as a weapon of war, read:
- "Law and Military Interventions: Preserving Humanitarian Values in 21st-Century Conflicts" by Brigadier General (S) Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF.
- "In Humanitarian Challenges for Military Intervention", Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, November 2001.
---
* "Who is Putting the Most People in Jail? Not New York, Chicago, or LA. A new tool drills down on hidden incarceration rates" (2015-12-15, themarshallproject.org) [archive.is/8CH4c]
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* "Female Prisoners In California are Hunger Striking In Solidarity with Detained Immigrants" (2015-12-15, prisonphotography.org) [archive.is/CqGwk]
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* "Horrific Report: At Largest US Women’s Prison, Inmates Forced To Have Sex For Basic Necessities" (2015-12-14, thefreethoughtproject.com) [http://is.gd/zvf6L5] [begin excerpt]: The allegations sparked an investigation by the Miami Herald, which revealed that complaints of rape were frequently silenced by the staff at the prison.
“They come up and handcuff you. Then they say something like, ‘I found this razor blade in your stuff’ and you say ‘that’s not mine’ and they say ‘well, it is now’; or they say ‘oh, you spit on me’ and I say ‘what are you talking about?’ and they say ‘do you know that that is assault? You’re going to do a year and a half in confinement unless you do what I want you to do,’” former inmate Ginjer Ullman told investigators.
“If you report you are raped, you sit in a 10-by-12 cell with nothing but your uniform, and they close the door. They put you under investigation, they say for your own safety, then they leave you there until you write up a witness statement that it never happened,” another inmate, Crystal Harper said.
The Herald’s investigation confirmed that when inmates made a complaint, they were forced into solitary confinement.
In the past decade, only two officers were arrested for sexual misconduct at the prison, but both of them pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and only spent a few months in jail.
“The so-called punishment for an officer who rapes an inmate is to get transferred to another facility. Florida’s prisons allow officers to rape women in prison because the inmates aren’t considered to have any rights,” Nancy G. Abudu, legal director for the ACLU of Florida pointed out. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the
SAN PABLO BAY ECOLOGICAL PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION
Campaigns, info, and more [SanPabloBayEPA.blogspot.com]. Science [discardstudies.com]
* "Sea lions suffer from Alzheimer's-like brain damage due to algae toxins – study" (2015-12-15, rt.com) [archive.is/QNPBf]
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* "Paper Tiger: US govt agency stopped 0 of 88,000 projects posing potential risk to endangered species" (2015-12-15, rt.com) [archive.is/RBitM]
===*===*===
SAN PABLO BAY EPA: Health and the Human Ecology
Monopolists enforce a regime that does not recognize the natural right to health and life. Info [detoxproject.org].
* "Flint mayor declares emergency over lead water crisis, FEMA delivers 28,000 liters of H20" (2015-12-15, rt.com) [archive.is/zzkdD]
---
* "$130b mega-merger: Dow, Dupont to form world's largest agrochemical entity" (2015-12-11, rt.com) [archive.is/JEdEM]
===*===*===
SAN PABLO BAY EPA: Save The Birds [link]! and the Bees [link]!
A campaign to preserve and expand the habitat and populations of pollinators in the San Pablo Bay Area.
* "Endangered Tricolored Blackbirds Protected in California" (2015-12-10, biologicaldiversity.org) [archive.is/TyiKC]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the
NO NUKES! campaign
[StopNuclearDeath.blogspot.com] [nuclear-news.net] [nukeresister.org] [nukefree.org]
* "At least 33,480 US nuclear workers died of exposure: Report" (2015-12-13, presstv.ir) [archive.is/ZLdrz]
* "US Nuclear Weapons Complex Leaves 'Legacy of Death on American Soil' ; More than 100,000 Americans have been diagnosed with cancers and other diseases after building the nation's atomic stockpile over last 70 years" (2015-12-11, commondreams.org) [archive.is/6hiEb]
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* "Fukushima report declassified: Worse than we were told" (2015-12-11, rt.com) [archive.is/TkTPn]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the
SAN PABLO BAY SOVEREIGNTY Think-tank
[SovereignSanPabloBay.blogspot.com]
* " 'Hydricity' concept uses solar energy to produce power round-the-clock" (2015-12-14, purdue.edu) [archive.is/e4xu5], attached video [youtube.com/watch?v=OW_MmENqrwU]
---
* "The Toxic Agriculture of Monsanto and Big Agribusiness vs. Agroecology Rooted in Local Communities" (2015-12-09, by Colin Todhunter) [archive.is/RXIxp]
===*===*===
NORTHBAY ENTHEOGENIC FREEDOM
[NorthbayEntheogen.blogspot.com]
* "Benicia Planning Commission seeks to allow medical marijuana delivery" (2015-12-12, timesheraldonline.com) [archive.is/YDsSk]
* "Vallejo City Council to mull ban on cannabis delivery" (2015-12-12, timesheraldonline.com) [archive.is/nd8gZ]
* "AmCan readying medical marijuana ban" (2015-12-09, napavalleyregister.com) [archive.is/GBuCb]
* "AmCan council to discuss water supplies, liquor licenses, medical pot" (2015-12-12, timesheraldonline.com) [archive.is/cIdKL] [begin excerpt]: Planned is a first reading of an ordinance to impose an express ban on medical marijuana cultivation, processing, deliveries and dispensaries here, following a months-long moratorium. [...]
Authorizing the mayor to send a letter of support for future legislation to increase the number of Type 47 Licenses issued in Napa County. These are licenses only available to restaurants that also sell liquor and are not available to bars, liquor stores, and the like. Napa was originally issued some 70 licenses, but the cost swelled from $12,000 just seven years ago to about $400,000 today, placing a significant financial burden on property and business owners who have permission to develop or expand their property but can't obtain an ABC license at a reasonable cost, thus hindering commercial improvements and expanded local economies, according to the staff report. Other counties have successfully argued for increases in recent years.
The Downtown Napa Association is leading an effort to increase the number of Type 47 licenses available to Napa County restaurants, and is seeking 25 more be allocated by lottery at fiver per year for five years. A reasonable increase in the number of Type 47 licenses in Napa County could result in added businesses in American Canyon getting licenses. The fiscal outcome, while positive, is not possible to calculate with any degree of accuracy at this time. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the Committee for
ANIMAL RIGHTS
Protect Earth's Sentient Life!
* "Researchers document captive parrots using, sharing tools" (2015-12-16, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/4OaES]
===*===*===
UNITED STATES FASCISM WATCH
[UnitedStatesFascism.blogspot.com] Documenting the process of fascism and for whom it benefits.
More news:[exposefacts.org]
* "The Rise Of The American Totalitarian State. Harassment, Profiling, Surveillance of Muslims A War on Terror that targets Muslims Worldwide, a Police State at Home, Public Executions by Drones and Gulags, Propaganda and Political Demagoguery" (2015-12-10, by Garikai Chengu) [archive.is/fgbfm]---
* "The 1% versus the 99%: Realignment, Repression or Revolution; Wealth Inequality Is Putting the US on Course for a Showdown" (2015-12-11, whowhatwhy.org) [archive.is/K7llX]
* "We’re all terrorists now" (2015-12-12, rt.com) [archive.is/j8R76]
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* "And Just Like That, "Free Trade" Pact Trounces US Law; Congress kills country-of-original label law with provision tucked into omnibus budget" (2015-12-16, commondreams.org) [archive.is/lPAVh]
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* "Wal-Mart, Red Lobster, Whole Foods and other retailers sell slave-peeled shrimp – report" (2015-12-14, rt.com) [archive.is/7Y9Aw]
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* "Bah Humbug: Scrooges at Merrill Lynch cancel Christmas" (2015-12-09, rt.com) [archive.is/5gGMW]
* "Statement on Federal Reserve and Interest Rates" (2015-12-16, cepr.net) [archive.is/dVvHI] [begin excerpt]: Dean Baker, economist and a co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) issued the following statement in response to the Federal Reserve's decision regarding interest rates: "The Fed's decision to raise interest rates today is an unfortunate move in the wrong direction. In setting interest rate policy the Fed must decide whether the economy is at risk of having too few or too many jobs, with the latter being determined by the extent to which its current rate of job creation may lead to inflation. It is difficult to see how the evidence would lead the Fed to conclude that the greater risk at the moment is too many jobs. [end excerpt]
* "Treasury Report Shows Biggest Threat to U.S. Is on Wall Street" (2015-12-16, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/BPenC]
* "Pull Back the Curtain on Exchange Traded Funds and Out Pop Wall Street Mega Banks" (2015-12-15, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/UFxIV]
* "Regulators: Banks Are Now Making Riskier Loans, Just Like Before the Crash" (2015-12-10, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/GlgUi]
* "What Caused the Stock Market to Rally on a Fed Rate Hike?" (2015-12-17, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/Yftwm]
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* "The Paris Climate Talks and the 1.5C Target: Wartime-Scale Mobilization is Our Only Option Left" (2015-12-16, commondreams.org) [archive.is/H2dec]
* "Undercutting Climate Progress, Congress Agrees to Lift Oil Export Ban; Deal to lift 40-year-old ban smuggled into $1.1 trillion omnibus bill" (2015-12-16, commondreams.org) [archive.is/iHBTc]
* "350.org Calls Lifting Oil Export Ban 'A Christmas Present to Arsonists' " (2015-12-16, 350.org) [archive.is/QnvjK]
* "Republicans Deliver Windfall For Big Oil And The Koch Brothers" (2015-12-16, sierraclub.org) [archive.is/bQbGk]
* "Billions of oil barrels vanish in a puff of accounting smoke" (2015-12-13, msn.com) [archive.is/I4j8q]
* "US town fears solar farms would 'suck up all the energy from the sun' " (2015-12-10, rt.com) [archive.is/ri3O8]: A proposal for a solar farm has been rejected by the town council in Woodland, North Carolina following public concerns.
Members of the locality expressed their fear and distrust of solar panels before a vote on whether the land in question should be rezoned to allow Strata Solar Company to build a solar farm off US Highway 258.
One local man, Bobby Mann said that businesses would stop going to Woodland, the community would suffer as a result and the farms would suck up all the energy from the sun, according to the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald [archive.is/jigg2].
“You’re killing your town,” he said. “All the young people are going to move out.”
A retired science teacher, Jane Mann, expressed concerns that plants in the vicinity of the panels would not photosynthesize which would prevent the plants from growing.
She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her that solar panels didn’t cause cancer.
Woodland is a popular choice for solar farms because it has an electrical substation which the solar power generated by the panels can be hooked up to.
Three other solar farms have been approved by the council. One of them has started installing solar panels.
A petition rejecting solar farms coming to the area was handed to the council and it was requested that any future solar farm applications be put to a referendum.
Company representatives from Strata then spoke and tried to put the concerns of residents at ease.
They told them “there are no toxic materials on site” and “this is a tried and true technology.”
The council gave the people what the wanted and voted 3-1 against rezoning the land and later voted for a moratorium on future solar farms.
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USA FASCISM: Military State
Bloodthirsty war criminal proposes coup over the USA Military State...
* "Gen. Dunford proposes Joint Chiefs of Staff changes" (2015-12-15, upi.com) [archive.is/Vybnt]
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* "US sub scandal: Sailors filmed all female officers every time they showered, says new report" (2015-12-11, rt.com) [archive.is/9Kwpd]
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USA FASCISM: Two Party Dictatorship
* "Democracy Is Being Dismantled Before Our Eyes: Bob Herbert on Sheldon Adelson-Backed GOP Debate" (2015-12-16, Democracy Now!) [archive.is/RJLBq]
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* "Supreme Court Takes Up 'Fundamental Concept of Democracy' in Voting Case; Court to decide if states should be required to draw legislative districts based on eligible voters or total populations" (2015-12-08, commondreams.org) [archive.is/Co7TY]
* "Voters Aren’t Voting Because the Game is Rigged, Not Because It’s Difficult" (2015-12-07, ivn.us) [archive.is/8QFn2]
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* "Petition calls for Nevada lawmaker resignation after 'shoot 'em in the head' remark" (2015-12-09, .rt.com) [archive.is/xSr3m]
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* "Meet the GOPer Who Wants to Execute Undocumented Immigrants; Because nothing says 'compassion' like summary execution" (2015-12-02, Salon.com) [http://is.gd/VbUAWE]
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* "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: The Republican Debate" (2015-12-16, ourfuture.org) [archive.is/ylw3B]
* "The Republicans’ Principle-Free Presidential Debate" (2015-12-16, newyorker.com) [archive.is/GZydv]
* "Make America Great, Like It Was — When? Donald Trump and his followers clearly don't see the ugly parts of our nation's past as problematic" (2015-12-16, by Jill Richardson, otherwords.org) [archive.is/p0eX3]
* "With Anti-Muslim Bombast, Trump Doubles Down on 'Fascist Demagoguery' ; 'The truth is his language is dangerous,' say Bernie Sanders and other critics" (2015-12-08, commondreams.org) [archive.is/247j1]
* "In Trump, the right wing has created a Frankenstein monster" (2015-12-08, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/nu8FU]
* "Donald Trump’s “Ban Muslims” Proposal Is Wildly Dangerous But Not Far Outside the U.S. Mainstream" (2015-12-08, theintercept.com) [archive.is/dduTH]
* "All GOP frontrunners whistling the same tune as Trump" (2015-12-14, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/TVBMA]
* "Racist Gunman Shoots Punjabi Store Clerk in the Face: ‘I Killed People Like You in Iraq’ ; Trump should be proud" (2015-12-15, usuncut.com) [archive.is/hqfFi]. Red Martin writes: Obviously not a terrorist, just a misunderstood "patriot". This didn't make the national news of course, image if a Muslim shot a Christian clerk and said this is what we used to do to crusaders... And once again, a gun toting "patriot" doesn't even know the difference between a Punjabi and a Muslim or just used racism as the excuse figuring in this countries current climate he'd probably be acquitted or raise a million dollars on GoFundMe.
* "Hillary’s Secret Weapon: Donald Trump" (2015-12-09, 21stcenturywire.com) [archive.is/Sf53U]
* "Cruz Threatens to Nuke ISIS Targets" (2015-12-08, consortiumnews.com) [archive.is/No20Z]
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* "What Hillary Clinton Didn’t Tell You in Her New York Times OpEd" (2015-12-08, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/vQdUI] [begin excerpt]: Yesterday, the New York Times gave Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton a free infomercial (a/k/a OpEd) to spin her toothless plan “to rein in Wall Street.” Hillary begins by telling us this:
“Seven years ago, the financial crisis sent our economy into a tailspin. Over five million people lost their homes. Nearly nine million lost their jobs. Nearly $13 trillion in household wealth was wiped out.”
But that’s not what her husband, former President Bill Clinton told us was going to happen when he repealed the 66-year old Glass-Steagall Act on November 12, 1999. Here’s what Bill Clinton promised us from this massive deregulation of Wall Street: “You heard Senator Gramm characterize this bill as a victory for freedom and free markets. And Congressman LaFalce characterized this bill as a victory for consumer protection. And both of them are right…
“It is true that the Glass-Steagall law is no longer appropriate for the economy in which we live…And today what we are doing is modernizing the financial services industry, tearing down these antiquated laws and granting banks significant new authority. This will, first of all, save consumers billions of dollars a year through enhanced competition. It will also protect the rights of consumers. It will guarantee that our financial system will continue to meet the needs of underserved communities…
“This is a very good day for the United States. Again, I thank all of you for making sure that we have done right by the American people and that we have increased the chances of making the next century an American century…the future of our children will be very bright, indeed.”
President Bill Clinton was wrong on every single point and every single promise he made to the American people on November 12, 1999 when he signed the legislation that would once again set up the conditions of the 1929 crash, allowing deposit-taking banks to merge with securities trading firms. And because Hillary Clinton comes from that same Wall Street mindset and echo chamber that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, she cannot be trusted to repair the epic damage her husband and his Wall Street high roller pals have caused our nation. [end excerpt]
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* (2015-12-15): 86 Democrats and 244 Republicans in the House of Representatives, voted yes on H.R. 1737, which cancels regulatory guidance issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2013 that prohibits car dealers from practicing racial discrimination in car financing.
Says a consumer watchdog, "When I managed the consumer lending department of a local bank, one of my primary responsibilities was to make certain that the bank complied with the regulation that prohibits charging people of color higher interest rates than Caucasians are charged. So I was very pleased when the CFPB issued guidance to regulate on auto dealer loan rates in the same way. Now, with the help of Democrats, it looks like the clock is going to be turned back to the bad old days."
After passage in the House, H.R. 1737, called the “Reforming the CFPB Indirect Auto Financing Act,” now moves on to the Senate Banking Committee for consideration there.
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USA FASCISM: State Media Watch
[mediamatters.org]
* "Report: ABC World News Tonight Has Devoted 81 Minutes To Trump, One Minute To Sanders" (2015-12-11, mediamatters.org) [archive.is/imUM8]. ABC is owned by Disney which appears to be heavily invested in the promotion of an openly fascist politician.
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* "Credulous Reporting of Deceptive Propaganda Made Planned Parenthood Attack Inevitable" (2015-12-12, fair.org) [archive.is/PTrxr]
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* "Observers Slam CNN for Aiding and Abetting Hate Speech in GOP Debate; Watchdogs say corporate media is stoking racist and fear-mongering rhetoric" (2015-12-16, commondreams.org) [archive.is/dBmH7]
The following article is written to influence the audience into believing that USA President Obama is conducting a literal "war" against Christianity... "because he is a Muslim". The article's source is used by state media Fox News as part of their official topics list. Though not true, the article is an example of the style of propaganda that emboldens reactionaries and fascists to conduct militant action against the entire "liberal / left" (who all support Obama, of course, because, as fascists will say, "Obama is a communist").
* "Obama rips Bible, praises Koran" (2015-02-06, breitbart.com) [http://is.gd/IdWMgY]
Also:
* "Islamophobic Organization's Misleading Poll Used To Justify Donald Trump's Call To Ban Muslims From America" (2015-12-07, mediamatters.org) [archive.is/HmkSP]
* "Anti-Muslim attacks occurring in record numbers across US" (2015-12-14, rt.com) [archive.is/EhTsV]
* "Coachella mosque possibly ‘fire-bombed,’ investigated as arson – reports" (2015-12-11, rt.com) [archive.is/gAa8Z]
* "Muslim woman shot at and another nearly run off the road in Tampa after leaving mosques" (2015-12-11, rawstory.com) [archive.is/lDXLg]
* "Texans begin nightly smashing windows of Muslim family only six weeks after they move in" (2015-12-10, rawstory.com) [archive.is/UXYld]
* "Sikh Fans Refused Entry To Chargers Stadium Because Of Their Turbans" (2015-12-12, deadspin.com) [archive.is/gXAKo]
* "Professor Suspended For Saying Christians And Muslims Worship The ‘Same God’ " (2015-12-16, thinkprogress.org) [http://is.gd/YcdEm6]
The rise of vigilantes is a rise in civilian death-squads motivated by an ideology influenced by fascism to attack anyone who is a threat to the social order oft he dominant culture.
* " ‘Good guy’ violence up three years after Sandy Hook" (2015-12-14, rt.com) [archive.is/idFKa]
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* "Who Bought This Influential Newspaper? Its Own Journalists Don't Even Know; Secrecy behind Las Vegas Review-Journal sale even more troubling because of the role Nevada holds in the upcoming 2016 presidential election" (2015-12-15, commondreams.org) [archive.is/F4hzd]
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USA FASCISM: Artificial Poverty and Starvation
* "Middle class now the minority in US - report" (2015-12-10, rt.com) [archive.is/drJBL]
* "Impoverishment of the Middle Class in America: Middle-income Households No Longer The Majority" (2015-12-11, by Andre Damon) [archive.is/COzYQ]
* "Bernie Sanders Calls Fed Rate Hike Bad News for Working Families; Economists, warning of impact to low wage workers, said rate increase is a 'mistake' " (2015-12-16, commondreams.org) [archive.is/njsNX]
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WORLD FASCISM WATCH
Documenting the global economic dictatorship
* "The WTO has Impoverished Developing Countries; Declaration in Defence of People's Rights at the 10th WTO Ministerial in Nairobi" (2015-12-10, by Kavaljit Singh) [archive.is/zC1cU]
* "Climate Summit COP21: The Curtain Falls on a Masquerade. Peasants of the World Struggle for Food Sovereignty" (20105-12-13, by ViaCampesina.org) [archive.is/12aU6]
* "World's Small Farmers Fighting Back as WTO Pushes Corporate Agenda; The WTO is aiming to strengthen a 'corporate-driven free trade regime' while ignoring solutions that would protect small-scale farmers and increase food security, says La Via Campesina" (2015-12-16, commondreams.org) [archive.is/7YgHU]
* "5 Ways the COP21 Deal Dooms the Planet to Climate Change Chaos; The COP21 deal has been celebrated as a binding agreement, but what exactly countries are bound to is a telling sign of how far short the deal falls" (2015-12-14, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/0DDbx], photo caption: Representatives of Indigenous communities protest and demand respect for Indigenous rights at COP21 in Paris on Dec. 12, 2015.
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The "World's Policeman"
* "The Neoconservatives’ Hegemonic Goal Of Making Sovereign Countries Extinct Is Bringing Instead The Extinction Of Planet Earth" (2015-12-12, by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts) [archive.is/7ftYz]
* "Dead, Disabled, Displaced or Destroyed – Democracy Delivered" (2015-12-10, truepublica.org.uk) [archive.is/iKr1O]: Six months ago, the Washington DC-based Physicians for Social Responsibility (PRS) released a landmark study over the death toll from 10 years of the “War on Terror” since the 9/11 attacks. It was largely ignored by the world’s press.
The 97-page report accompanied by hundreds of studies, reports and investigations by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning doctors’ group is the first to tally up the total number of civilian casualties from US-UK led interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This article uses much of the content from that report called the IPPNW Body Count publication.
A poll carried out by the Associated Press (AP) two years ago found that, on average, U.S. citizens believe that only 9,900 Iraqis were killed during the 2003-2011 occupation of Iraq by the US, UK and allied forces.
Random spot checks have suggested that more than two-thirds of all violent deaths that occurred in Baghdad between 2003 and 2007 did not appear in the media, and were therefore not included in official statistics distributed by the Iraq Body Count (IBC). The IBC has a media-centered approach to counting and documenting the deaths and is considered very unreliable as a result but is much quoted by the establishment and mainstream press the world over.
For instance, evidence of the 27,000 bombs that were dropped in just the first year during the invasion of Iraqi cities is practically non-existent in the IBC database.
In many cases, the occupying powers explicitly blocked journalists from investigating instances where the British or American forces were accused of mass killings. Numerous journalists in Iraq who tried to report on the activities of the occupation troops and their consequences were killed or arrested.
In Iraq itself, only a small number of casualties made it to the central hospitals or morgues where they could be registered. That proportion decreased the more intense the military battles were and the more the violence between various sections of the population escalated. Since Islam requires a funeral within one day, relatives generally had no choice but to bury their dead directly – either in their yards or close to their homes.
Moreover, the occupying power often forbade the hospitals and morgues from making their numbers public.
The fate of Iraqi physicians is one area that is very well documented. According to data from the independent Iraqi Medical Association, of the 34,000 registered physicians, almost 2,000 were killed and 20,000 left the country. In its database, IBC lists only 70 Iraqi physicians. Even though this may in part be due to a lack of data on the profession of the victims, this piece of evidence alone suggests very large gaps in IBC’s calculations.
According to the Najaf governorate’s spokesperson Ahmed Di’aibil (member of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq), in this city alone, which has a population of close to 600,000, 40,000 non-identified corpses were buried since the start of the war. The IBC database documents only 1,354 victims in Najaf, barely 3% of the actual.
In a September 2009 speech, Samir Sumaidaie, the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. installed by the occupation power, talked about 500,000 newly widowed persons in Iraq. A February 2007 BBC poll in the region came to the conclusion that 17% of all Iraqi households have lost at least one member through violence since 2003. Given the total population at the time of some 27 million, this too suggests that more than 500,000 Iraqis fell victim to the war and its consequences just in the first four years.
By 2008, the number of refugees from Iraq in foreign countries and internally displaced persons had risen to 5 million.
Such a high number of victims – reaching genocidal dimensions – represented a massive indictment of the U.S. administration, British government and its allies that they simply could not allow to stand. Hence, the findings of this study was furiously criticized. Even though nearly all the experts in the field, including the scientists of the British administration, confirmed the accuracy of the study, it was slandered by governments and main stream establishment media.
Dr. h.c. Hans-C. von Sponeck, UN Assistant Secretary General & UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (1998-2000); UN Resident Coordinator for Pakistan (1988- 94) covering also Afghanistan said in his report:
“The U.S.-led Multinational Force have carefully kept a running total of fatalities they have suffered. However, the military’s only interest has been in counting “their” bodies.”
“Since U.S. and other foreign military boots are only intermittently and secretly on the ground in Pakistan, mainly in the northern tribal areas, there are no body count statistics for coalition force casualties available for Pakistan. The picture of physically wounded military personnel for both war theatres is in- complete. Only the U.S. military is identified: (a) 32,223 were wounded during the 2003 Iraq invasion and its aftermath, and (b) until November 2014 20,040 were wounded in Afghanistan.”
No figures are known for mental disorders involving military personnel who have been deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan but US veteran soldiers are still committing suicide at the rate of 22 per day.
Officially ignored are casualties, injured or killed, involving enemy combatants and civilians together. This, of course, comes as no surprise. It is not an oversight but a deliberate omission. The U.S. authorities have kept no known records of such deaths. This would have destroyed the arguments that freeing Iraq by military force from a dictatorship, removing Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and eliminating safe-havens for terrorists in Pakistan’s tribal areas has prevented terrorism from reaching the U.S. homeland, improved global security and advanced human rights, all at “defendable” costs.
The IPPNW Body Count publication must be seen as a significant contribution to narrowing the gap between reliable estimates of victims of war, especially civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and tendentious, manipulated or even fraudulent accounts.
After 58,000 dead US soldiers and 2 million civilian deaths in Vietnam, the Reagan Administration sought to resolve the negative public opinion problem by utilizing obeisant client states or surrogate forces, epitomized by the “Contra” armies and death squads deployed in Central America and Southern Africa instead of using its own attacking forces. With the end of the Cold War, U.S. policymakers triumphantly pronounced the end of the “Vietnam Syndrome,” and ushered in a new era of American “boots on the ground” that led ultimately to the debacle in Iraq, Afghanistan and the surrounding region.
This investigation and report comes to the conclusion that the war has, directly or indirectly, killed around 1 million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan and 80,000 in Pakistan, i.e. a total of around 1.3 million. The figure is approximately 10 times greater than that of which the public, experts and decision makers are aware of and propagated by the media and major NGOs. And this is only a conservative estimate. The total number of deaths in the three countries named above could easily be in excess of 2 million.
For some degree of context – should the number of Iraqis killed from the 2003 U.S. invasion until 2012 actually be around one million, this would represent 5% of the total population of Iraq. By contrast, during World War II Germany lost around 10% of its population.
In Iraq, results from statistical surveys conducted by the Johns Hopkins University, published in 2004 and 2006 in the medical journal The Lancet, (The basis of the Lancet study, which was executed by a U.S.-Iraqi team led by renowned scientists was a survey of a representative selection of 1,850 Iraqi households across Iraq) as well as by the British polling institute Opinion Research Business (ORB) in 2007 suggest that already by 2008 over one million Iraqis had died as a result of war, occupation and their indirect consequences. many more have died since.
Moreover, and in addition to the appalling numbers, according to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), between 250,000 and one million persons are missing in Iraq, presumed dead.
For an estimate of the current casualty numbers, one has to interpolate. The U.S. NGO Just Foreign Policy does exactly this with its Iraqi Death Estimator, where it multiplies the number of victims of violence determined by the Lancet study as of June 2006 by the increase in the number since then as provided by IBC. From the relation between the current number given by IBC and the one given for the end of June 2006 (43,394), it concludes that the number of Iraqis killed up to September 2011 is at around 1.46 million.
One development of the scale of bombing was that the health care system largely collapsed. Diseases spread because of the lack of access to drinking water and the contamination of rivers. Almost three million people became internal refugees; as a consequence, large parts of once reasonably affluent cities turned into slums.
The long-term consequences through the poisoning of the environment brought about by the war must also be taken into consideration. Many areas of Iraq that were subjected to furious attacks by the occupying forces show a dramatic increase in the number of diseases. In many areas, the number of occurrences of various forms of cancer, of miscarriages and abnormal and deformed babies multiplied. A major reason for this is likely to be the massive use of ammunition containing depleted uranium.
According to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), since 2003, U.S. and UK troops have used around 13,000 cluster bombs in Iraq. Iraq is littered with high levels of nuclear and dioxin contamination. These have disseminated their sub-ammunition – almost 2 million bomblets – widely in and around the fought-over cities. In addition, the 20 million bomblets from the 61,000 cluster bombs dropped in 1991 have also still not all been cleared. This makes Iraq one of the countries with the highest contamination of highly explosive unexploded ordnance in the world.
Evidence of this can be seen in child mortality that multiplied in the following years, the number of occurrences of cancer quadrupled, and the number of cases of leukemia increased by a factor of 40.
Afghanistan and Pakistan -
There have so far been no representative studies on the number of victims from the ongoing UN-mandated NATO war in Afghanistan. The few investigations that exist on deaths as a result of that war are all based on passive observation.
In Pakistan, the number of killed civilians and combatants is much harder to determine than in Afghanistan. Even data based on passive observation are barely existent. Taking all sources and factors into account, a total number of 300,000 war deaths in the AfPak War-Theatre until 2013 seems realistic.
Libya -
Estimates of deaths in the fall of Libya as a result of US/UK/NATO bombing and subsequent civil war between March 2 and October 2, 2011 vary. An exact figure is hard to ascertain, partly due to a media clamp-down by the Libyan government. Some conservative estimates have been released of around 25,000. NATO holds itself to no standard of measurement whatsoever in this regard. If Iraq and Afghanistan are anything to go by this number could easily be over 100,000. Some of the killing “may amount to crimes against humanity” according to the United Nations Security Council and as of March 2011, is under investigation by the International Criminal Court.
Conclusion -
It is impossible to calculate the death, destruction and decay incurred by the people of these countries. It is fair to say two million are dead, another one million presumed dead with many more deaths as a result of disease, lack of medical care, child birth, birth defects, cancer care and the like. One should not forget, these countries continue to feel the after effects of current governance and a lack of control over security that culminates in many bombings, shooting, kidnapping, murders and suicides.
The current death toll in Syria is reported at 250,000 and counting with 6.5 million displaced [archive.is/LEfgS].
Finally, as the FT reported in February [archive.is/4Rmll] “In all, more than 100,000 people, perhaps a third or more civilians, died violently in conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and the Gaza Strip in 2014, making it one of the bloodiest years in the Middle East’s history”. Death continues at a horrific rate.
Read the full IPPNW report HERE (.pdf) with photos [http://is.gd/aqsfXd], (.html) without photos [archive.is/W1dAW]
* "The CIA’s “Citizen Saboteurs”: Declassified Intelligence Manual Shows How the US “Destabilizes” National Governments" (2015-12-09, by Jake Anderson) [archive.is/5O2KM]
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* "The IMF Joins the New Cold War" (2015-12-10, strategic-culture.org) [archive.is/6Tv2e]
* "RISS conducts the expert opinion survey 'Prospects of the IMF reform' " (2015-12-10, en.riss.ru) [archive.is/H0tM3]
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* "This WTO Ruling Is Perfect Example of How Big Trade Deals Trump Democracy; NAFTA partners can sue the U.S. for a combined $1 billion annually in retaliatory tariffs over Country of Origin Labels for meat" (2015-12-07, commondreams.org) [archive.is/jfpmI]
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* "The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA): This is No Ordinary Trade Deal. A Fundamental Aspect of Washington’s “Pivot-to-Asia” Policy" (2015-12-08, International Movement for a Just World) [archive.is/ILqC8]
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* "'US is currency manipulator'; Seoul urged to engage in foreign exchange policy more actively" (2015-12-14, koreatimes.co.kr) [archive.is/yhOCD] [begin excerpt]: The United States should blame itself for ballooning deficits with its trading partners because they are a result of "excessive" market interventions since the global financial crisis in 2008, according to a global market expert.
He also said that the world's largest-economy should not force other countries, including Korea, to share renewed risks from a U.S. rate hike because of growing internal political pressure there.
"It is almost certainly true that the U.S. does not see itself in the mirror clearly and objectively when lecturing others about their trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies," Advanced Capital Partners Chairman James Rooney said in an interview with The Korea Times.
"The artificial weakening of the U.S. dollar over the last few years that has been driven by Quantitative Easing (QE) and ultra-low interest rates are definitely representative of currency manipulation and market distortions pursued by a huge nation that got itself into a deep mess and dragged everybody else down there with it," he added.
He said that the unconventional U.S.-led program of QE, which caused the printing of money beyond any reasonable economic need, has been a huge factor in driving liquidity movements and competitive devaluations around the world.
"The U.S. currently receives the singular benefits of being the world's ultimate reference currency, and numerous countries have their currencies directly or indirectly pegged to the dollar, including Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and others," he said. [...]
According to the Harvard Business School-graduate, to prepare for a possible dispute with the U.S. and to avoid wild fluctuations, the first thing the government should do is to develop a clear position and remain firm against U.S. pressure.
The second thing is to decide on an appropriate exchange target rate for the won suited to today's conditions, with the goal of maintaining stability around that level over a six to 12 month time horizon.
"As a sovereign nation we have to look after our own interests as a first priority, in spite of political pressure from trade partners that has no basis in economic reality," said Rooney who runs businesses in New York, Hong Kong and Seoul. [end excerpt]
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* "Fossils of the Day: Saudi Arabia, Australia and “The Spoilers” at the COP21 Paris Climate Summit" (2015-12-10, by Binoy Kampmark, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/yDxAy]
* "Paris Draft Climate Deal Fails to Deliver, Sparking Mass Protests" (2015-12-10, by Friends of the Earth International) [archive.is/zGcBf]
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* "Samsung aid for sick workers comes with conditions, secrecy" (2015-12-11, Associated Press newswire) [archive.is/fswQ3], photo caption: In this Oct. 23, 2015 photo, Hwang Sang-gi, a founding member of advocacy group Banolim, holds a picture of his daughter Yu-mi during an interview denouncing Samsung’s response in its latest negotiations with sick workers outside Samsung buildings in Seoul, South Korea. Yu-mi’s death from leukemia in 2007 galvanized concern about conditions at Samsung factories and South Korea’s semiconductor industry in general.
Photo caption: In this Oct. 23, 2015 photo, former Samsung worker Han Hye-kyung, denounces the company’s response in its latest negotiations with sick workers, during a protest outside Samsung buildings in Seoul, South Korea. Han became disabled after going through a surgery to remove a brain tumor that she and her lawyers believe to be caused by exposure to chemicals at Samsung’s factory, south of Seoul. Samsung’s hopes of ending years of acrimony and bad publicity over whether its semiconductor factories caused cancer have hit a hitch: some sickened workers and their families say they’ll never accept its highly conditional offer of financial assistance.
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WORLD FASCISM WATCH: Weapons for a New World Order
* "Israel successfully blows up space target with US-funded Arrow 3 missile" (2015-12-10, rt.com) [archive.is/LhSi2]
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* "Scientists teach machines to learn like humans" (2015-12-10, nyu.edu) [archive.is/f8rZ5]
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* "This article can be printed on a hair; Thanks to a new revolutionary laser printing technology, it is now possible to print this press release in colour on an area no bigger than a hair. This breakthrough in nanotechnology will be published on 14 December 2015 in an article in the scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology" (2015-12-14, Technical University of Denmark, dtu.dk) [archive.is/TcpJC]
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* "Spintronics, low-energy electricity take a step closer: A new class of topological insulators discovered" (2015-12-14, phys.org) [archive.is/3l4fi]
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* "Scientific Revolution in Internet Transmission? Li-Fi. “Light Transforms any LED Light into Internet Bandwidth” ; OLEDCOMM shows Li-Fi, 10mbitps Internet by Light" (2014-01-08, ARMdevices.net) [archive.org/details/OLEDCOMMInternetByLight]:
Li-Fi, 10mbitps Internet by Light Transforms any LED light into Internet bandwidth.
The light modulates at a very high frequency at up to 300 thousand times per second.
Connect your bulb to your ADSL/Fiber box, and anywhere the light reaches, a receiver can download that data at up to an up to 10mbitps speed.
For upload, the system can use infrared or something else.
They are just waiting for an investor, and all of the world may be using this technology for sending Internet data in the future.
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* "A 'hybrid' logic gate pushes quest for quantum computer forward" (2015-12-17, University of Oxford) [archive.is/lPfnq]
* "NASA Invites Media to Tour Quantum Computing Lab, Talk to Experts" (2015-11-20, nasa.gov) [archive.is/BzIrq]. NASA and Google quantum computing event: For the first time, NASA is inviting members of the news media to tour the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL) [archive.is/j5h57] located at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Media will hear from a panel of computer scientists involved in the emerging quantum computing effort at Ames as they speak about its importance, a variety of real-world applications being studied, and where quantum computing may take us in the future. QuAIL supports a collaborative effort among NASA, Google and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to explore the potential for quantum computers to tackle optimization problems that are difficult or impossible for traditional supercomputers to handle. One potential use is a quantum computer that could crack most types of encryption [archive.is/MHyZi].
About these photos: D-Wave Two computer uses a 1,097-qubit Washington processor (left); Support structure for installation of the D-Wave Vesuvius processor, which is cooled to 20 millikelvin (near absolute zero) (right).
* "Google to boost renewable energy for data center" (2015-12-03, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/JyKwq]
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information collected by the
SOLANO PEACE, JUSTICE, AND FREEDOM COALITION
[SolanoPeaceJustice.blogspot.com], for justice, dignity and human rights, and an end to the USA's endless wars, in harmony with Principle 1 & 6 of International Law [archive.is/tmncz], the 5 protocols of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) [archive.is/LhUTj], and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [archive.is/U1Ota].
* "The Nobel Foundation taken to court on the Peace Prize" (2015-12-10, worldbeyondwar.org) [archive.is/Vn6PO]. Here is the full text of the summons [archive.is/0raCy].
All other relevant information is available at the Nobel Peace Prize Watch [nobelwill.org].
The Nobel Peace Prize Watch Appeal: "An Imperative Condition For The Security And Prosperity Of Humanity" -
As armaments increase and threats and use of military force again permeate international politics, the Nobel Peace Prize Watch (see nobelwill.org) calls the attention of the world to Alfred Nobel and the original idea of his peace prize. Nobel wished to honor and encourage “the champions of peace” working for a grand co-operation to liberate all nations from weapons, warriors and wars. Using the term «creating the fraternity of nations» in his will, Nobel referred to a common idea at the time and envisaged nothing less than changing the course of history through a new global system for disarmament, peace and justice.
As far as we know, the Norwegian awarders, i.e. Parliament and the Nobel committee, have for over 7 years (as of March 2015) made no attempt to contest or refute the above conclusions as to the purpose of Nobel´s prize. To reverse and undo militarism is an imperative condition for the security and prosperity of humanity. The Nobel Peace Prize Watch has made a list of valid candidates for 2015. I/We point to this list and demand that the Norwegian awarders respect and promote Nobel´s visionary peace idea, and not a less ambitious purpose.
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* "Still Leading Merchants of Death, US Arms Sales Remain Sky High; U.S. and Western European companies together account for 80.3 percent of the arms revenue for the top 100 firms worldwide" (2015-12-14, commondreams.org) [archive.is/qf675]
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* "U.S. "War on Terrorism" Plunging Humankind into Chaos" (2015-12-14, rodong.rep.kp) [archive.is/Y58td]: The terrorism is one of those that the world community awaits an immediate solution.
Every country should see through the U.S. criminal intention in "war on terrorism".
Failure to see through the sinister intention of U.S. hidden behind the mask of "war on terrorism" may plunge many countries and people who suffered from the U.S. "war on terrorism" for the past decade into tragic fate again.
The U.S. thinks if there is no "enemy", there will be no pretext to set up the military bases in other countries and this will deprive it of a signboard for dominating the world.
The U.S. has committed terrorism against other countries and abused rights of people there under the pretext of "war on terrorism".
The U.S. seeks the goal of bringing down the countries standing in its way of realizing the strategy of the world domination. But as it advocates defending "freedom and democracy" some countries failed to see through the goal sought by it only to sustain misfortune and pains and fall into the evil cycle of confusion and disorder.
The U.S. "war on terrorism" should no longer be allowed, otherwise the humankind will see the repetition of terrorist acts such as what happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Turkey, Egypt, France, Lebanon and Mali.
* " 'Humanitarian' Military Interventions: 'Responsibility to Protect' (R2P) and the Double Game" (2015-12-13, by Prof. Tim Anderson) [archive.is/yorJH]
* "It’s Time to Stop “Supporting Our Troops”: Thirty Million People Killed by U.S. Since the End of World War II" (2015-12-13, by Joachim Hagopian) [archive.is/gDq4O]
* "Pentagon Announces Worldwide Expansion of US Military Bases" (2015-12-11, by Thomas Gaist) [archive.is/Mvf9r]
* "US 'Unofficially Waging War on Russia Without a Formal 'Declaration of War' " (2015-12-12, by Stephen Lendman) [archive.is/Pkv7a]
* "US Racing Recklessly Toward World War III? The possibility of global war with nuclear weapons should focus all world leaders on preventing it at all costs" (2015-12-10, by Stephen Lendman) [archive.is/Y0NWf]
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* "The Obama Two-Step on Syria" (2015-09-22, by Ajamu Baraka, blackagendareport.com) [archive.is/Mtvoe]
* "Conflicts of interest in the Syria debate; An analysis of the defense industry ties of experts and think tanks who commented on military intervention" (2013-10-11, public-accountability.org) [archive.is/owAnL]
* "A Circuit of Lies and “False Media”: Crimes against Humanity Go Unreported, The West Continues to Perpetrate Genocide in Iraq" (2015-12-10, by Mark Taliano) [archive.is/rL7nG]
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* "America’s Secret African Drone War Against the Islamic State; Predators and the “Neutralization” of 69 People in Iraq and Syria" (2015-12-17, by Nick Turse, intro by tomdispatch.com) [archive.is/8pO7K]
* "Drone operators rebel: Attacks Kill Civilians, Inspire Terror, Cause PTSD in Own Ranks" (2015-12-10, whowhatwhy.org) [archive.is/UZmwD]
As it is in the USA, so it is in the UKGB...
* "Britain killed our children with its ‘precision’ bombing from drones and jets" (2015-12-07, dronewarfare.wordpress.com) [archive.is/uwsdN]
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* "Biological warfare and the people of Iraq" (2003, ije.oxfordjournals.org) [archive.is/Uzizw]
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