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the Guardian

The Black Lives Matter era is over. It taught us the limits of diversity for diversity’s sake | Nesrine Malik

Hastily established racial equality schemes are being shuttered. What survives is a movement that’s achieving real change, says Guardian columnis...

Glossary

Glossary

The Black Lives Matter era is over. It taught us the limits of diversity for diversity’s sake. I hope the Black Lives Matter campaign is not truly over. It is a campaign to put a stop to the hairtrigger racist violence of uniformed thugs. That campaign is as justified and necessary now as it …

the Guardian

Israeli abuse of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti ‘amounts to torture’

With thousands now held without charge, lawyers say Israel is signalling that no detainee is safe

Israel competes with HAMAS in regard to cruelty and violence towards prisoners. In effect, Israel is now using its political prisoners as hostages for revenge.

The Intercept

After Torturing Him, U.S. Breaks Guarantees of Safety to Former Guantánamo Detainee

The U.S. held Saeed Bakhouch at Guantánamo Bay for 20 years without charge, then sent him to have his rights violated in Algeria.

The US released a Guantanamo prisoner to Algeria, which supposedly promised to allow him to live in freedom, but instead it jailed him.

the Guardian

Norman Finkelstein on Gaza, ‘from the river to the sea’ and political messaging: ‘We need to bring unity to this struggle’

New York University professor Nikhil Singh interviews the political scientist and longtime critic of Israel after his speech at Columbia University

Norman Finkelstein on Gaza, "from the river to the sea" and political messaging: "We need to bring unity to this struggle."

North Carolina mask ban bill passes state senate

North Carolina's senate has attacked the right to protest by prohibiting wearing a mask for anonymity. Immunocompromised people like me are also endangered.

the Guardian

A new project promised low-income families ‘zero net energy homes’ – but they still rely on gas

Utilities attach themselves to social justice causes amid culture war over attempts to phase out gas

It’s not possible for the US to prosecute Assange while claiming to be a friend of press freedom. Biden should end this now.

[2/2] … "antisemitism". Jewish civil libertarians, including the author of the IHRA definition, are campaigning against this bill. Americans, if you love our freedoms, now is the time to defend them.

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the Guardian

Washington is pushing policies to combat antisemitism. Critics say they could violate free speech

In the wake of campus protests, some say proposals are part of of a broader effort to silence criticism of Israel

2024: March - June Political Notes

The US faces a wave of McCarthyism, this time using "antisemitism" rather than "communism" as the target for repression. Congress is working on a bill to "combat antisemitism" which is based on the IHRA criterion for antisemitism, which is a way of arbitrarily declaring some views on political questions to be …

the Guardian

Upside-down US flag reportedly hung outside Samuel Alito’s home days after Capitol attack

Incident casts doubt on supreme court justice’s impartiality in upcoming cases as inverted flag is associated with Trump’s stolen election claims

the Guardian

Red flag? Samuel Alito scandal casts further doubt on supreme court’s impartiality

The court will play a crucial role in November’s election. Alito’s pro-Trump flag adds fuel to an already raging ethics debate

Glossary

Justice Alito put up an upside-down flag outside his home in January 2021, when that gesture was a symbol of support for the corrupter's lie that the election had been stolen.

the Guardian

Supplies arrive in Gaza via new pier but land routes essential, says US aid chief

Samantha Power says barely 100 trucks of aid a day enter Gaza, far less than 600 needed to address threat of famine

The US-built pier in Gaza has begun operating, but it lacks the capacity to replace the land crossings that Israel has now blocked.

[2/2] … antisemitism scares, or whatever it may be, in order to gain power This is why I condemn the digital systems that provide all the infrastructure for Chinese-style total surveillance. All the more-or-less free countries today are threatened by this. You can fight back by insisting on buying only with cash, and by not carrying a portable phone.

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Reason.com

An American gangster at 100: J. Edgar Hoover’s authoritarian legacy

Hoover’s reign at the FBI compromised American civil liberties and turned the FBI into America's secret police.

J Edgar Hoover spent his career building and running America's repressive secret police. I love this quote from Justice Brandeis: "The greatest dangers to liberty lie in insidious encroachments by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." But they are generally aided by people motivated simply by unscrupulous ambition - people eager to create and use terrorism scares, …

[01/04] This is a message about Julian Assange, from Susan McLucas and Paula Iasella. "Julian is just one decision away from extradition" -- Stella Assange On May 20th two UK High Court judges will rule on Assange’s appeal hearing after considering the U.S. assurances submitted mid-April. We have sent 5,000 postcards, many personal and handwritten, to 100 senators, President Joe Biden, AG Merrick Garland and CIA director, William Burns. Now is the time to amplify those messages.

the Guardian

G7 agree to end use of unabated coal power plants by 2035

Agreement gives leeway to countries heavily reliant on coal and allows power plants fitted with carbon-capture technology

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/g7-fail-first-post-cop28-fossil-fuel-test G7 agree to end use of unabated coal power plants by 2035. However, they are failing to take action to reduce oil and gas use fast enough to avoid disaster.

Inquirer.com

How media’s money woes threaten democracy | Will Bunch Newsletter

Plus, what Donald Trump’s Wall Street windfall says about modern capitalism.

As the main remaining US newspapers become paywalled (and therefore off limits to me), disinformation "news" sites are springing up which are gratis.

[2/2] … doesn't give or sell pandas, it only lends them for a limited time, and any offspring belong to China. So China can demand concessions from countries that have pandas and don't want to relinquish them. Oddly enough, Taiwan has some pandas which it actually owns. If Taiwan can produce some baby pandas, it could undermine China's panda diplomacy.

Your voice needed: Stop Medicare Advantage abuse!

Corporate health insurers have been conducting a stealth privatization of our Medicare system, under the guise of for-profit plans marketed as “M...

https://stallman.orgtel:+12024561111 US citizens: call on Biden to end the gouging of private Medicare Advantage insurance plans. If you phone, please spread the word! White House: +1-202-456-1111 and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213

[1/2] https://environmental-action.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=55509&tag=email_blast:131029&supporter_KEY=229474 US citizens: support the EPA's plan to charge companies for excess methane emissions. If you have disabled the page's JavaScript, you may get a blank response after signing. That does not mean anything is wrong; your signature has probably been sent in properly. The blank screen has text that is rendered invisible by CSS; if your browser gives you a way …

https://environmental-action.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=55510&tag=email_blast:130747&supporter_KEY=229474 US citizens: call on the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect monarch butterflies.

the Guardian

After this week’s Julian Assange court hearing, this is clear: extradition would amount to a death sentence | Duncan Campbell

Lawyers posed the pivotal question: how can exposing crime and torture be worse than committing them, says former Guardian crime correspondent Dunc...

At Julian Assange's extradition hearing, lawyers posed the pivotal question: how can exposing crime and torture be worse than committing them?