Sections of Chelsea Manning’s new book README.txt blocked from publication by government censors. “… the US government used the publication review system to block her from highlighting any of the documents from the Afghanistan War Logs, Iraq War Logs, or US Embassy cables that garnered widespread news headlines…. As is the case for all military or national security whistleblowers prosecuted under the Espionage Act, the US government may forever instill fear that FBI agents could come to her home and take her off to jail if she dares to speak about the [previously published] ‘classified information’—information we all are within our rights to read and share. This is also information which US officials are prosecuting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing in an unprecedented attack on journalism.” https://thedissenter.org/the-parts-of-chelsea-mannings-book-censored-by-the-us-government/ I suspect the censored information is material that most people are unaware of, unless they’ve been following the leaks closely, or have visited the Wikileaks web site, so the censorship of her book is mostly ‘damage control’ to keep the rest of the public in the dark.
Dept. of Homeland Security releases less redacted version of report on surveillance of Portland, Oregon anti-brutality protesters. “The newly public portions show in more granular detail how Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli led efforts to politicize intelligence operations in Portland, in many instances pushing constitutional boundaries. The now un-redacted portions of the report describe the two agency heads requesting so-called operational background reports, known as OBRs or ‘baseball cards’, on every person who attended protests, a request that would have entailed intelligence dossiers on potentially thousands of Portlanders. That was apparently motivated by a belief that a ‘U.S person’ was funding the protests in the city…. Rather than compiling reports on every protest attendee, as originally directed, the Department of Homeland Security’s Intelligence and Analysis personnel put together baseball cards on only those people who had been arrested or charged with ‘violent acts’. Those reports include past criminal history, travel history, ‘derogatory information from DHS or Intelligence Community holdings’, as well as publicly available social media. Draft reports included friends lists from social media accounts but even the final reports included ‘some of their First Amendment speech activity (posts)…’” https://www.opb.org/article/2022/10/27/newly-un-redacted-report-shows-how-feds-politicized-response-to-2020-portland-protests/
Dept. of Homeland Security employees monitored Twitter comments after Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade abortion decision. “In the hours after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, federal authorities were monitoring social media to gather intelligence about nationwide protests and possible violence. Madeline Walker learned the feds were trawling the internet first-hand, when one of them knocked on her door. After the Supreme Court declared that the constitutional right to abortion had ceased to exist, an apparently incensed Walker, a Texas resident, posted on Twitter, ‘Burn every f–king government building down right the f–k now. Slaughter them all.’ Six days after a commercial monitoring service flagged her tweet, an agent from the Federal Protective Service, the Department of Homeland Security arm responsible for protecting federal buildings and personnel, showed up at Walker’s home to deliver a letter. It ordered her to ‘cease and desist in any conduct deemed harassing/threatening in nature, when communicating to or about the federal government.’ …. I filed a Freedom of Information Act request for emails of the agent who appeared at her door. The documents I received hinted at the wide scope of US government social media-monitoring. They also paint a picture of a government apparatus that keeps constant tabs on public posts for potential flashpoints—a practice with the potential to conflict with freedom of expression.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-10-26/dhs-agents-monitored-twitter-after-roe-decision-foia-shows
Florida no longer allowing prisoners to receive physical postal mail. “In January, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) banned the 86,000 prisoners in its custody from receiving physical mail. All incoming mail (excluding legal documents) will be digitized by JPay, a for-profit contractor. Incarcerated residents will only be able to view scanned versions of our letters and photographs on tablets or at communal kiosks in cell blocks or dorms. Over the past few years, multiple states have adopted the same restrictions — as well as the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which oversees 122 facilities — in an attempt to prevent contraband like drugs from entering correctional institutions. But according to Nazish Dholakia of the Vera Institute of Justice, out of the 3.1 million items of contraband that entered the FDC between January 2019 and April 2021, roughly just 1 percent came through the mail. In fact, reports suggest that in most prisons and jails in the U.S., correctional officers are the primary source of drugs and other contraband, not the mail.” https://truthout.org/articles/physical-mail-was-my-lifeline-to-the-outside-world-and-now-its-gone/
Last of seven fired Memphis Starbucks union organizers rehired. “In February, Starbucks fired a group of workers at a unionizing store in Memphis, Tennessee, who the union said made up nearly the entirety of the organizing committee at the store. In a press release this week, the union said that the firings were the company’s response to the workers’ organizing efforts…. Labor officials found that the workers’ firing constituted illegal union busting this spring, and a judge ordered the company to reinstate the workers in August, finding “reasonable cause” in labor officials’ findings. NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo hailed the ruling, saying, ‘Starbucks, and other employers, should take note that the NLRB will continue to vigorously protect workers’ right to organize without interference from their employer.’ The company has continually denied any wrongdoing.” https://truthout.org/articles/starbucks-union-celebrates-as-last-of-7-fired-memphis-organizers-is-reinstated/
Black activist Mumia Abu-Jamal requests new trial after documents found in prosecutor’s office suggest prosecutorial misconduct. “One of the documents found in the boxes is a handwritten letter sent from the state’s star witness at trial, Robert Chobert, to the prosecutor, Joseph McGill. ‘I have been calling you to find out about the money own (sic) to me,’ Chobert writes. ‘Do you need me to sign anything. How long will it take to get it.’ Chobert was one of only two witnesses at the trial who claimed to have seen Abu-Jamal shoot the police officer. No other evidence directly connected the defendant to the killing…. The second witness who testified she had seen Abu-Jamal shoot Faulkner was Cynthia White, a prostitute with 38 previous arrests on her record. She was in prison in Massachusetts at the time of the trial, and had five current criminal cases pending against her. Among the documents in the boxes were letters from the DA’s office to prosecutors involved in each of the five pending criminal cases against White.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/26/ex-black-panther-mumia-abu-jamal-fresh-trial-amid-new-evidence
No changes in Twitter moderation policy or user bans until new ‘content moderation council’ convenes. “Several employees who spoke with Reuters on Friday said there had been no communication from management about what happens next…. Musk also tweeted on Friday that Twitter will form a ‘content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints’, and that no major decisions on moderation or account reinstatements will be made before it convenes…. European regulators also reiterated past warnings that, under Musk’s leadership, Twitter must still abide by the region’s Digital Services Act, which levies hefty fines on companies if they do not control illegal content.” https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-takes-over-twitter-free-speech-limits-tested-2022-10-28/ Twitter has reportedly been flooded with hate speech after the takeover. It would be interesting to know whether the sources of these tweets are mostly real haters or liberals trolling Musk over his ‘the bird is freed’ comment. I’ve also seen tweets such as ‘Men cannot give birth’, which presumably had previously been banned as ‘anti-trans hate speech’.
Man accused of assaulting Nancy Pelosi’s husband is a former nudism activist turned QAnon blogger. “The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s California home and severely beating her husband with a hammer appears to have made racist and often rambling posts online, including some that questioned the results of the 2020 election, defended former President Donald Trump and echoed QAnon conspiracy theories. David DePape, 42, grew up in Powell River, British Columbia, before leaving about 20 years ago to follow an older girlfriend to San Francisco…. David DePape was known in Berkeley as a pro-nudity activist who had picketed naked at protests against local ordinances requiring people to be clothed in public.” https://ktla.com/news/california/ap-suspect-in-assault-at-pelosi-home-had-posted-about-qanon/
Defense Dept. to send an additional $275 million in weapons and military equipment to Ukraine. “The package will include more ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), 500 precision-guided 155 mm artillery rounds, 2,000 155 mm rounds of remote anti-armor mine systems, more than 1,300 anti-armor systems, 125 Humvees, small arms and over 2.75 million rounds of small arms ammunition and four satellite communications antennas, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.” https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3709742-us-to-send-ukraine-another-275m-in-weapons-equipment/
Senate report, citing circumstantial evidence, suggests Covid-19 pandemic was the result of a Wuhan Institute of Virology lab leak. “Vanity Fair and ProPublica downloaded more than 500 documents from the WIV website, including party branch dispatches from 2017 to the present. To assess [China expert Toy] Reid’s interpretation, we sent key documents to experts on [Chinese Communist Party] communications. They told us that the WIV dispatches did indeed signal that the institute faced an acute safety emergency in November 2019; that officials at the highest levels of the Chinese government weighed in; and that urgent action was taken in an effort to address ongoing safety issues. The documents do not make clear who was responsible for the crisis, which laboratory it affected specifically or what the exact nature of the biosafety emergency was. The interim report also raises questions about how quickly vaccines were developed in China by some teams, including one led by a military virologist named Zhou Yusen. The report called it ‘unusual’ that two military COVID-19 vaccine development teams were able to reach early milestones even faster than the major drug companies who were part of the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed program. Vanity Fair and ProPublica spoke to experts who said that the timeline of Zhou’s vaccine development seemed unrealistic, if not impossible. Two of the three experts said it strongly suggested that his team must have had access to the genomic sequence of the virus no later than in November 2019, weeks before China’s official recognition that the virus was circulating.” https://www.propublica.org/article/senate-report-covid-19-origin-wuhan-lab
We Build the Wall executive found guilty of fundraising fraud. “A Colorado businessman was convicted Friday of charges that he and others siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from an online fundraiser to build a wall along the U.S. southern border despite a promise to donors that every cent would go toward building the wall…. After the verdict, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that [Timothy] Shea and his co-defendants lied to donors and ‘stole over $25 million from their victims’.” https://news.yahoo.com/second-build-wall-fraud-trial-194937828.html
Former Capitol Police officer found guilty of obstruction of justice in connection with Capitol riot. “Former US Capitol Police officer Michael Riley was found guilty of obstruction on Friday for deleting his own Facebook message telling another user to remove portions of a post that person made about entering the US Capitol on January 6, 2021…. ‘Hey Jacob, I’m a Capitol Police officer who agrees with your political stance,’ Riley wrote to Facebook friend, Jacob Hiles, on January 7, 2021. ‘Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to be charges. Just looking out!'” https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/28/politics/michael-riley-january-6/index.html
Thousands of Czech protesters march to oppose government’s policies. “The demonstration on a national holiday in Prague’s main square was the third organised by far-right political movements, fringe groups and the Communist party. Police estimated the crowd in the lower tens of thousands, less than the two previous rallies. The organising group “Czech Republic First!” opposes the European Union and NATO transatlantic alliance, and wants the nation of 10.7 million to be militarily neutral.” https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/czech-protesters-call-new-government-direct-gas-talks-with-russia-2022-10-28/
U.S. to deploy next generation of nuclear weapons in Europe ahead of schedule. “The United States has accelerated the fielding of a more accurate version of its mainstay nuclear bomb to NATO bases in Europe, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable and two people familiar with the issue. The arrival of the upgraded B61-12 air-dropped gravity bomb, originally slated for next spring, is now planned for this December, U.S. officials told NATO allies during a closed-door meeting in Brussels this month, the cable reveals…. The arrival date came as a surprise to some longtime observers, who fear it could further stoke an already dangerous situation in Europe.” https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/26/u-s-plans-upgraded-nukes-europe-00063675
U.N. issues warning on failure to hit climate goal. “The U.N. issued the reports on Wednesday and Thursday providing details on the state of the planet. For years, scientists both in and outside of the organization have warned with growing urgency that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times is critical to minimizing extreme temperatures and climate disasters. But according to U.N. Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report, there is now ‘no credible pathway’ remaining to make that happen. ‘Loss and damage from the climate emergency is getting worse by the day and global and national climate commitments are falling pitifully short,’ United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said…. ‘Under current policies, the world is headed for 2.8 degrees of global heating by the end of the century. In other words, we are headed for a global catastrophe.'” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-united-nations-global-warming-emissions-human-suffering/
Some overseas U.S. military bases accused of using labor supplied via human trafficking. “‘Abdulla’ is one of thousands of people allegedly trafficked into labor by private contractors on U.S. military bases — where workers have been paid less than promised, charged recruiting fees that leave them deep in debt, and pressured to sign improper contracts and work long hours, according to government reports. In some cases, they even faced physical abuse. NBC News, in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Washington Post, and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, interviewed more than 40 current and former employees of contractors at military bases. NBC News combed through thousands of pages of congressional testimony, reports from the Justice and the Defense departments, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other documents to reveal which companies were accused of trafficking workers or determined to have trafficked them…. ‘Our taxpayer dollars are being used potentially to support forced labor and human trafficking and that’s just unacceptable,’ said Latesha Love, a director at the GAO’s International Affairs and Trade team, which has repeatedly probed labor trafficking on U.S. military bases. ‘The way that [workers] are treated is similar to what some might call modern-day slavery.'” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/private-contractors-are-accused-abusive-labor-practices-us-military-ba-rcna52110
New York City and California laws will require employers to include salary range in job ads. “On November 1, New York City will require employers that have four or more people on the payroll – with at least one of them working in the city – to provide a ‘good faith’ pay range listing the minimum and maximum base salary or hourly wage in all job advertisements. Then come January 1, 2023, a similar law goes into effect in California for employers with at least 15 employees. Organizations will be required to include the salary or hourly wage range for what they ‘reasonably expect’ to pay for a position.” https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/28/success/pay-transparency-new-york-city-california/index.html
Oil company CEO spins boosted stock dividends after record profits as ‘returning profits to the American people’. “There has been discussion in the US about our industry returning some of our profits directly to the American people,” [Exxon Mobil Corp.’s CEO Darren] Woods said on the call, according to Bloomberg. “That’s exactly what we’re doing in the form of our quarterly dividend.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-oil-companies-record-profits-dividends_n_635c122be4b0cf522df875a5
75 year-old Guantanamo prison camp inmate released after being held 17 years without charges. “[Saifullah] Paracha had been held since 2003 on suspicion of having links with al-Qaida, but was never charged with a crime. In May 2021 he was notified that his release had been approved having been cleared by the prisoner review board, along with two other men, in November 2020…. Paracha, who lived in the US and owned property in New York City, was a wealthy businessperson in Pakistan. Authorities alleged he was an al-Qaida ‘facilitator’ who helped two of the conspirators in the September 11 terrorism attack with a financial transaction. He has maintained that he did not know they were with al-Qaida and denied any involvement in terrorism.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/29/oldest-guantanamo-prisoner-released-after-17-years
California man imprisoned for 38 years for murder is released after DNA evidence points to different suspect. “The conviction of Maurice Hastings, 69, and a life sentence were vacated during a 20 October court hearing at the request of prosecutors and his lawyers from the Los Angeles Innocence Project at California State University…. The victim in the case, Roberta Wydermyer, was sexually assaulted and killed by a single gunshot to the head, authorities said. Her body was found in the trunk of her vehicle in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood…. Hastings sought DNA testing in 2000 but the DA’s office denied the request. Hastings submitted a claim of innocence to the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit last year and DNA testing last June found that the semen was not his…. That suspect, whose name was not released, died in prison in 2020.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/29/man-released-from-california-prison-after-38-years-after-dna-test
Arizona woman sues after being arrested for feeding homeless people. “Norma Thornton, 78, became the first person arrested under Bullhead City’s ordinance in March for distributing prepared food from a van at Bullhead community park. Her lawyer said the lawsuit filed this week is part of a nationwide effort to let people feed those in need. Criminal charges against Thornton were eventually dropped, but she is seeking an injunction to stop the city from enforcing the ordinance that took effect in May 2021.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/28/arizona-woman-arrested-homeless-people-criminalizing-kindess
Amnesty International asks U.N. to ban spyware. “We are witnessing a global spyware crisis in which activists, journalists, and lawyers are targeted with invasive surveillance as a means to silence and intimidate them,” Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard said in a statement. “There is an urgent need for stronger human rights protections on the export of surveillance technology…. U.N. member states must stop using, and stop tolerating, spyware as a tool of repression,” Callamard argued. “And until this happens, states must step up and support a global moratorium on the export of spyware.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/10/28/100000-sign-letter-demanding-global-moratorium-sale-invasive-spyware
Bernie Sanders urges progressive to vote in mid-term elections. “‘To take on corporate greed and create an economy for all, we need a huge voter turnout in Oregon and across the country,’ he asserted. Sanders also took aim at elected Democrats, saying ‘I’m gonna be honest with you here, and maybe some of my friends here are gonna be a little offended, but the Democratic Party has not been strong enough in fighting for working families. We need you, your generation, from coast to coast to put pressure on Democratic leadership, to say, “To hell with the corporate PACs, stand up and fight for working families,”‘ he added.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/10/27/sanders-urges-massive-midterm-voter-turnout-preserve-american-democracy Someone wrote that we face a choice between neo-liberalism or fascism. Bleak.
Progressive News Service 