Monthly Archives: January 2016

Deaths Reported as MSF-Linked Hospital Bombed in Yemen

The medical charity said it ‘cannot confirm’ attacker but noted the Saudi-led coalition was responsible for the two other air strikes in last three months

By Sarah Lazare, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-10-2016

Photo: Gordon Zammit [GFDL 1.2] via Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Gordon Zammit [GFDL 1.2] via Wikimedia Commons

A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)-supported hospital in northern Yemen was bombed Sunday morning, killing at least four people and wounding eleven—marking the third attack in as many months against a facility associated with the medical charity.

MSF said in a statement that it “cannot confirm the origin of the attack” on the Shiara Hospital, which is located in the Razeh district. But the organization noted that “planes were seen flying over the facility at the time.”  Continue reading

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Under-the-Radar Supreme Court Case Poses Profound Threat to Unions Nationwide

Case could result in the enforcement of ‘Right to Work’ laws on all public sector labor unions in the United States

By Sarah Lazare, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-8-2016

Photo: peu1.org

Photo: peu1.org

Workers across the United States are bracing for a major Supreme Court case, set for argument on Monday, that could strike a devastating blow to public sector unions nationwide.

Backed by right-wing anti-union groups including the Center for Individual Rights, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association seeks to overturn the legal framework under which public sector unions require workers who benefit from their representation—from higher wages to improved conditions—to pay their fair share. Continue reading

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Nebraska Is Torturing Incarcerated Youth for Having Too Many Books, Passing Notes

By Carey Wedler. Published 1-8-2016 by The Anti-Media

Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility, Douglas County

Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility, Douglas County

A report released by the Nebraska American Civil Liberties Union this week reveals the state’s extensive use of solitary confinement in children across multiple juvenile detention centers. Solitary confinement is considered a form of torture by the U.N., and in recent years, has been outlawed and scaled back in the United States. In Nebraska, however, children are being forced into isolation for offenses as minor as having too many books or passing notes.

According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, in the early 19th century, the United States pioneered solitary confinement as a form of punishment. After its damaging psychological effects became apparent, however, it was discontinued. Though the practice recently regained popularity, it has once again been skewered as excessive and dangerous. Continue reading

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Calls for Michigan Gov. Snyder’s Arrest as Flint Poisoning Scandal Implicates Top Staffers

‘To poison all the children in an historic American city is no small feat’

By Sarah Lazare, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-7-2016

Governor Rick Snyder

Governor Rick Snyder

Calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s ouster—and arrest—are growing after internal emails showed that his high-level staffers were aware of lead poisoning in Flint’s public water supply six months before the administration declared a state of emergency.

According to the newly-released emails, which were obtained by NBC News, Snyder’s chief of staff at the time, Dennis Muchmore, wrote to an unnamed high-level health department staffer: “I’m frustrated by the water issue in Flint.” Continue reading

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Feds, Militias, and Native Americans: A Deeper Look at the Oregon Standoff

The Paiute tribe, the Bundy militia, and the U.S. government are at the center of the Oregon Standoff. Anti-Media takes a deeper look at the controversy…

By Derrick Broze. Published 1-6-2016 by The Anti-Media

Since Saturday, January 2, a group of protesters calling themselves a militia have descended upon the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to occupy a federal building in a stand against federal tyranny. The incident stemmed from a dispute between rancher, Steven Hammond, 46, his father, Dwight Hammond, Jr., 73, and federal authorities. The two men were accused of setting fires in 2001 and 2006 to cover up evidence of poaching activities, however, the Hammond’s claim they were fighting off an invasive plant species.

The men were initially found guilty under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for arson on federal land. The Hammonds were sentenced to far less time, courtesy of U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan, who felt five years would be “grossly disproportionate” to the crime. However, shortly after the men were released from prison, the Department of Justice appealed the ruling — and won. The Hammonds were ordered to serve out the remaining time in the five-year minimum sentence. Both men peacefully turned themselves in on Monday. (For a great explanation of the problems with mandatory minimum sentences, see this piece) Continue reading

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Upholding Power of the People, Court Says Voters Can Weigh In on Citizens United

‘Are we a democracy of, by, and for the people, or are we to be ruled by an elite, moneyed class?’

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-5-2016

The California high court decision paves the way for the state legislature to put the ballot measure before voters statewide in 2016. (Photo: hjl/flickr/cc)

The California high court decision paves the way for the state legislature to put the ballot measure before voters statewide in 2016. (Photo: hjl/flickr/cc)

When it ruled Monday that California lawmakers can ask for voters’ opinions on campaign-spending laws, the state Supreme Court underscored “that the ultimate power of our government is vested in the people,” Common Cause senior vice president Karen Hobert Flynn declared in the wake of the decision.

By upholding the legality of Proposition 49—which would ask voters whether Congress should propose an amendment overturning the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Citizens Unitedthe court spoke “directly to the question we have faced since the Citizens United ruling,” Hobert Flynn continued. “Are we a democracy of, by, and for the people, or are we to be ruled by an elite, moneyed class, where the power of government rests in the hands of a few wealthy special interests?” Continue reading

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The Looming Environmental Disaster in Missouri that Nobody is Talking About

By Claire Bernish. Published 1-2-2016 at AntiMedia

West Lake Landfill. The canal is filled to the brim and the canal to the right where the brown grasses are growing is being fed the overflow from the filled canal. Photo: Facebook

West Lake Landfill, 12-26-2015. The canal is filled to the brim and the canal to the right where the brown grasses are growing is being fed the overflow from the filled canal. Photo: Facebook

St. Louis, MO — What happens when radioactive byproduct from the Manhattan Project comes into contact with an “underground fire” at a landfill? Surprisingly, no one actually knows for sure; but residents of Bridgeton, Missouri, near the West Lake and Bridgeton Landfills — just northwest of the St. Louis International Airport — may find out sooner than they’d like.

And that conundrum isn’t the only issue for the area. Contradicting reports from both the government and the landfill’s responsible parties, radioactive contamination is actively leaching into the surrounding populated area from the West Lake site — and likely has been for the past 42 years.

In order to grasp this startling confluence of circumstances, it’s important to understand the history of these sites. Pertinent information either hasn’t been forthcoming or is muddied by disputes among the various government agencies and companies that should be held accountable for keeping area residents safe.
Continue reading

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Media Coverage of Oregon Militia Standoff Raises Eyebrows — and Ire

Despite the extreme nature of the demonstration, both media and law enforcement response appears muted, especially in comparison to other recent protests

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-3-2016

Ammon Bundy. Photo: Facebook)

Ammon Bundy. Photo: Facebook

After members of a rightwing militia—many armed with assault rifles—seized the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon on Saturday afternoon, observers questioned the corporate media’s treatment of the event, pointing to a double standard in coverage compared to other recent protests.

The Oregonian reported Saturday that Ammon Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was the leader of a notorious standoff over cattle grazing rights last year, had “joined with hard-core militiamen Saturday to take over the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, vowing to occupy the remote federal outpost 30 miles southeast of Burns for years.” Continue reading

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The 2015 Creative Activist Awards

By Nadine Bloch. Published 1-1-2016 at Waging Nonviolence

It’s that time of year to embrace highlights and bury the out-of-date. As activists, this can be a critical time to evaluate our strategies and alight on alternate paths if needed.

Earlier this month, in Paris, activists with the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination and others launched the Climate Games to counterbalance the U.N. climate talks — yet another international convention full of hot air on an ever more scorched earth. Climate Game Awards were used as a tool to inspire strategic action and encourage community building. So, in appreciation for activists who have gone beyond the ordinary, mobilized magnificent resources, turned commonplace objects into magic wielding wands, or fabricated harbingers of even more technologically advanced and nuanced stunts, I bring you the 2015 Creative Activist Awards.

Let these awards inspire new creative heights for actions within your strategic activist plans. So, without further ado, here are the winners. Continue reading

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2015 a Deadly Year as Journalism ‘Put Daily to the Sword’

At least 109 journalists and media workers were slain by ‘targeted killings, bomb attacks, and cross-fire incidents,’ new report finds

Written by Sarah Lazare, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-1-2016.
Journalists and media workers continue to confront relentless pressure as they do their jobs, according to a survey of the verified incidents reported to Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project. Image via X-Index.

Journalists and media workers continue to confront relentless pressure as they do their jobs, according to a survey of the verified incidents reported to Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project. Image via X-Index.

From targeted bombings to fatal crossfire, the year 2015 was violent and deadly for journalists around the world, particularly those based in the Americas and Middle East, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Friday.

According to a survey by the organization, at least 109 journalists and media workers were slain by “targeted killings, bomb attacks, and cross-fire incidents.”

While the Charlie Hebdo media workers killed in 2015 perhaps had the highest profile, the plurality of those struck down were lesser-known nationals of the Americas (27) followed by the Middle East (25), Asia-Pacific (21), and Africa (19).

Joel Aquiles Torres, owner of the Honduran TV station Canal 67, was one of those killed. He was “shot dead while driving his car in Taulabe in the department of Comayagua on 3 of July,” according to UNESCO.

Ali al-Ansari, an Iraqi journalist for Al-Ghadeer, was killed “while covering fighting between the Iraqi security forces and militants of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in the Muqdadiyah area north of Baghdad,” IFJ reports.

“Sadly, there were scores of unreported killings, and unless the journalist is a well-known by-lined correspondent the world barely notices,” said IFJ president Jim Boumelha in a statement accompanying the report.

“Journalism is put daily to the sword in many regions of the world,” Boumelha continued, “where extremists, drug lords and reckless warring factions continue murdering journalists with impunity.”

The IFJ’s findings follow a separate round-up released earlier this week by Reporters Without Borders, known by their French acronym RSF.

According to RSF, which uses different criteria to establish their conclusions, at least 110 journalists around the world were killed in 2015 “in connection with their work or for unclear reasons.” The organization said it can definitively conclude that 67 of those people were “targeted because of their work or were killed while reporting.”

Most journalists directly targeted, or killed for unclear reasons, hailed from Iraq, Syria, France, Yemen, and South Sudan respectively, RSF revealed.

The organization noted that the majority of journalists knowingly killed in 2015—64 percent—were struck down outside of what is recognized as an official war zone. What’s more, last year’s grim tally brought the number of journalists killed since 2005 to 787.

While IFJ and RSF both reached slightly varying conclusions, both organizations agree that journalists across the globe are inadequately protected.

According to Anthony Bellanger, IFJ general secretary, the organization’s reports over the last quarter century “have clearly shown that journalists and media staff have become easy targets because there is very little respect for national and international laws that are supposed to protect them.”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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