Rouge Forum Dispatch: Still Having at ‘Em!
We Say Fight Back!
Hong Kong Police Fire Tear Gas As Demonstrations Continue
Protests continued in Hong Kong for a 10th straight weekend on Saturday as demonstrators organized across the city, blocking multiple roads and a key tunnel under Victoria Harbor.
The protests checkered much of Hong Kong. At the airport, demonstrators dressed in black filled the arrivals hall with a massive sit-in, cheering in Cantonese, “Go, Hong Kong people!” and calling for the resignation of Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam. It was the second day of what protesters said would be a three-day occupation at the airport.
Protesters also demonstrated outside China’s military garrison in Hong Kong and marched through the city’s Central District, parts of the Kowloon Peninsula and a neighborhood in the New Territories, where police officers in riot gear cleared the demonstration with tear gas.
In Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, protesters set fires outside a police station, prompting the police to release a statement that the fires posed “a serious threat” to public safety. www.npr.org/2019/08/10/750143749/hong-kong-police-fire-tear-gas-as-demonstrations-continue
Op-Ed: The LAPD spied on our group. Here’s why we shut down the 101 Freeway
One of us grew up on the hard streets of South-Central Los Angeles. One of us moved from small-town Ohio to pursue a career in fashion. We are from different backgrounds, but on two separate mornings, we stood together to bring traffic on the 101 Freeway to a halt.
The first time we stopped freeway traffic was in September 2017, about a month after Heather Heyer was killed during peaceful counterprotests of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. At the time, Donald Trump said there were “fine people” among the torch-bearing white supremacists. We went back out onto the freeway two months later to unfurl a 50-foot banner that read “Trump/Pence Regime Must Go.”
Our freeway actions were completely nonviolent and had been planned carefully to ensure they were safe and well-executed. What we didn’t know until much later was that some of our meetings to discuss the state of the world and our actions in response to it had been infiltrated by an undercover spy sent in by the Los Angeles Police Department.
The city of Los Angeles waited almost a year to bring a total of 57 charges against us and nine other activists who took part in nonviolent protests, both on the freeway and at UCLA. As part of that case, police reports and transcripts were released documenting how, on four occasions in 2017, an LAPD informant secretly attended and recorded meetings of our group, Refuse Facism, at the Echo Park church where we met. www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-08/op-ed-why-we-shut-down-the-101-freeway
Moscow protests: Opposition rally ‘largest since 2011’
Tens of thousands have attended Moscow’s largest opposition rally since 2011, independent monitors say.
Up to 60,000 people reportedly gathered in the rain to demand fair elections.
The protest was officially authorised but dozens of people were arrested as they moved to other parts of the city, many outside President Vladimir Putin’s offices in the city centre.
Unauthorised rallies on the last two Saturdays saw hundreds detained. This is the fifth demonstration in a month.
Many Muscovites are unhappy that opposition candidates have been banned from running in municipal elections in September, but anger has increased after apparent incidences of police brutality in previous weeks.
Protests in solidarity with Moscow in several other Russian cities on Saturday also saw dozens of people detained. www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49305129
Congratulations on the paperback publication of:
Belew discusses her book on CSPAN (shoulda said “fascism”)
www.c-span.org/video/?444644-2/bring-war-home
The Little Red Schoolhouse
Opinion (Identity politics run wild!): Is California’s draft ethnic studies curriculum anti-Semitic?
The number of hate crimes against Jews in California increased more than those against any other group in 2018, according to the state Attorney General’s Office. That, of course, doesn’t include the gunman’s attack on a synagogue in Poway on the last day of Passover this last April. In fact, the only group that experienced more hate crimes last year were Latinos, whose population in the state is much higher. The number of hate crimes against Muslims was less than half that of those against Jews. The numbers of hate crimes and other incidents targeting Jews have been rising dramatically at the national level as well.
But don’t expect to find this or similar information about anti-Semitism in the draft of a “model curriculum” for teaching ethnic studies in public high schools in California. There’s a long list of the kinds of hatred that have oppressed minority groups in California, including bigotry against Muslims and transgender people. All of the items on the list belong there, but anti-Semitism is curiously missing.
It could be seen as an oversight if there weren’t other, distinct signs of anti-Jewish bias in this curriculum meant to address issues of ethnic history, misunderstanding and prejudice. In fact, the signs are so apparent that Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, author of a bill to mandate an ethnic studies course in California high schools, has joined with other legislators in signing a letter that shreds the curriculum. www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-09/ethnic-studies-curriculum-california-anti-semitism
The Learning Curve: How Cops Prepare for School Shootings
I am realizing, at no small cost to the image I keep of myself, that the more regular mass shootings become, the more I disengage.
I obviously knew the shootings in El Paso and Dayton happened. And I had a vague idea I should address them in this space – since it is all too clear that among the many future mass killings we will endure, some will occur in schools.
Just last week, a Department of Homeland Security-funded training took place at Bella Mente Montessori Academy in Vista. Twenty officers from around the region took part in active shooter simulations inside the school. The simulations used Marines from Camp Pendleton as role-players who acted as potential victims, casualties and even the shooter. Participants fired blanks from real guns.
I called Morgan Ballis, a security consultant and combat veteran who helped organize the event, to give me a window into how cops train to stop well-armed gunmen from mowing down scores of unarmed children. www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/the-learning-curve-how-cops-prepare-for-school-shootings/?utm_source=Voice+of+San+Diego+Master+List&utm_campaign=fec4054b73-
Florida’s New Board Of Education Chairman Is Anti-Evolution, Christian Extremist
Ignorance for the Lord: Florida’s new Board of Education chair is an anti-science Christian extremist who denies evolution.
Andy Tuck, an ignorant conservative Christian and a citrus farmer, is Florida’s new Board Of Education chair. Tuck, a self-identified “person of faith” has little if any scientific education, and demonstrates a profound ignorance that should disqualify anyone from serving in public office.
When Tuck was serving as a school board member he made his ignorance clear when he proudly declared
As a person of faith, I strongly oppose any study of evolution as fact at all. I’m purely in favor of it staying a theory and only a theory.
I won’t support any evolution being taught as fact at all in any of our schools. www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2019/08/floridas-new-board-of-education-chairman-is-anti-evolution-christian-extremist/?fbclid=IwAR0sDlnqXaOCySwd2btqcjhgaxa5G1ZbUzx1dvf3wOu8Mt2_mKzqXaPFE5c
(Tiny) Sweetwater school district budget understated spending by as much as $20 million, county official says
The county’s deputy superintendent said he has “serious concerns” that the district’s budget is inaccurate.
The San Diego County Office of Education has rejected the Sweetwater Union High School District’s current-year budget, which means, for the second year in a row, the district will have to revise spending plans for the school year it has already started.
The county office said it believes Sweetwater understated its spending by $15 million to $20 million, Deputy County Superintendent Mike Simonson said Thursday in an interview.
“We have serious concerns that the District’s adopted budget submission does not accurately reflect the current financial status,” Simonson wrote in a letter to Sweetwater officials on Wednesday. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2019-08-08/sweetwater-school-district-budget-understated-spending-by-as-much-as-20-million-county-official-says
Judge orders two more Learn4Life charter school centers to close in San Diego
A judge this week ordered the shutdown of two Learn4Life charter school centers in San Diego that serve about 600 students.
Judge David Danielsen on Monday granted a motion by San Diego Unified School District to close the two Learn4Life locations operating in the district’s boundaries: Diego Hills Central, a charter school authorized by Dehesa School District, and a resource center for San Diego Workforce Innovation High, a school authorized by Borrego Springs Unified School District. Neither of those schools have active locations in the districts that authorized them.
An attorney for the Learn4Life schools, Greg Bordo, is appealing the court’s decision.
“While we have great respect for the court, we believe that the order is erroneous on both legal and factual grounds and look forward to the opportunity to have the matter reviewed by the Court of Appeal,” Bordo said in a statement. “We expect this order to be stayed pending the appeal and that, therefore, there will be no immediate impact on our students.” www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2019-08-08/judge-orders-two-more-learn4life-charter-school-centers-to-close-in-san-diego
Students and faculty were left with questions about the future state of the campus following the cancellation of the Associated Student Organization’s 2019 election on May 2.
Both ASO slates aim to re-run in the fall
Southwestern College President Dr. Kindred Murillo said she called off the elections because she and her team found toxic racial tensions had undermined the validity of the election.
“Allegations of bias, allegations of discrimination, allegations of processes in the ASO constitution not being followed,” Murillo said. “And once we substantiated those processes had not been followed, we felt that with the other allegations that we do not have confirmation on, we believed it was best to stop the elections.”
The election featured two slates of candidates: the all-Latino Team Green and the all-black Team Elite.
Dimitrius Loa, a member of Team Green running for VP of Public Relations, was accused of making degrading comments towards Team Elite for being the first all black team.
After a series of meetings, which were held between April 29 to May 2, the ASO election board voted to allow Loa continue running if he issued a public apology and facilitated a racial bias retreat.
After Loa’s punishment was announced, members of the Black Student Union stood and said they believed a few members of Team Green attempted to incite a hate crime by making a fake Instagram post which called for the slaughter and enslavement of non-black people. www.theswcsun.com/both-aso-slates-aim-to-re-run-in-the-fall/
WSU loses public record lawsuit
Wayne State was ordered to pay $6,000 in attorney fees July 23 to the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation after a lawsuit was filed against WSU claiming the university ignored multiple Freedom of Information Act requests.
The lawsuit was filed in June 2018 by Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor. Edwards, a principal investigator and researcher for the Flint water crisis, claims WSU failed to complete three FOIA requests.
According to the lawsuit, Edwards submitted three FOIA request to WSU on March 30, 2017; March 1, 2018 and March 3, 2018.
The lawsuit states, “Dr. Edwards has submitted a number of FOIA requests that have sought information commonly obtained through FOIA — work-related emails, grants and proposals, and the like. In response to these FOIA request, Wayne State has delayed and otherwise been non-compliant and has ignored certain requests altogether.”
In a statement, Edwards said he submitted these FOIA requests after allegations were made of high-ranking state employees obstructing justice by interfering with a $3.35 million state-funded program on the Flint water crisis. www.thesouthend.wayne.edu/article_cceb05ac-b306-11e9-854d-134e8305bb62.html
Ex-MSU dean who had oversight of Larry Nassar gets jail time
LANSING, Mich. – A former dean who had oversight of now-imprisoned sports doctor Larry Nassar at Michigan State University was sentenced on Wednesday.
William Strampel was back before a judge Wednesday, nearly two months after the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s ex-dean was convicted of neglect of duty and misconduct in office. He was acquitted of the more serious criminal sexual conduct charge.
He faced up to five years in prison on the felony misconduct conviction, which stems from a charge he used his public office to sexually harass students. He also was convicted of willfully neglecting to monitor Nassar.
The judge sentenced Strampel to one year in Ingham County Jail.
Strampel was the first person charged after Michigan’s attorney general launched an investigation in 2017 into how Michigan State handled complaints against Nassar, who pleaded guilty to molesting patients and possessing child pornography. www.clickondetroit.com/news/ex-msu-dean-who-had-oversight-of-larry-nassar-gets-jail-time?breaking_news=4052&utm_content=17710093&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Breaking%20News%20Alert&utm_term=wdiv_breaking
The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor
Kashmir: Why India and Pakistan fight over it
How old is this fight?
Kashmir is an ethnically diverse Himalayan region, covering around 86,000 sq miles (138 sq km), and famed for the beauty of its lakes, meadows and snow-capped mountains.
Even before India and Pakistan won their independence from Britain in August 1947, the area was hotly contested.
Under the partition plan provided by the Indian Independence Act, Kashmir was free to accede to either India or Pakistan.
The maharaja (local ruler), Hari Singh, initially wanted Kashmir to become independent – but in October 1947 chose to join India, in return for its help against an invasion of tribesmen from Pakistan. www.bbc.com/news/10537286
Video within–Tear gas at Kashmir rally India denies happened
www.bbc.com/news/av/49306816/article-370-tear-gas-at-kashmir-rally-india-denies-happened
The Dangerous New US Consensus on China and the Future of US-China Relations
The trade war and technological competition with China are symptomatic of a much larger issue: a dangerous gridlock in US-China relations that may become permanent, with dire consequences not just for the two countries’ economies but also for the global economy and quite possibly East Asia’s and international security. Martin Wolf, Financial Times columnist, is right to conclude: “Across-the-board rivalry with China is becoming an organising principle of US economic, foreign and security policies.”1 The fact that this conflict has occurred at a time of trade, investment, and security disputes between the US and its major allies, US-Russia tensions, and US military interventions across the Middle East and Central Asia, heightens global instability.
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan charged that Japan “is stealing our future” “by counterfeiting or copying of American products.”2 Now the president’s target is China, with the anti-China chorus including not only leaders of Trump’s national security team but also his former senior adviser and arch cold warrior, Stephen Bannon, and a range of national security, economic and Asia specialists across the political spectrum.3 In 2011 Trump the businessman was decrying China’s unfair trade and technology practices, calling China an enemy, and saying that if he were president, he would be able to force China to back down because it needs us more than we need it.4 Today China looms so much larger—central to US and global trade and investment, but also a partner in critical relationships with many other countries, including major US allies such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the European Union.5
We argue that to make China the number-one threat to US national security, as Trump would have it,6 is not merely an exaggeration and misunderstanding of China’s ambitions and capabilities. It is a dangerous basis for US foreign policy, one that is inseparable from the Trump administration’s broader agenda that includes embrace of useful dictators, disregard for human rights and international law, diplomacy reliant on threats and sanctions, and overturning or weakening of international treaty commitments. apjjf.org/2019/15/Gurtov-Selden.html
US flexes military muscle in South China Sea with nuclear aircraft carrier port call in the Philippines
The United States has sent its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan to the Philippines to show its commitment to an ally and in a display of military might aimed at checking China’s expansion in the South China Sea.
The Ronald Reagan and its battle group – about 7,500 personnel, two guided missile cruisers, a squadron of at least two destroyers or frigates and a complement of 65-70 aircraft – arrived in Manila on Wednesday.
The American port call highlighted “the strong community and military connections between the Philippines and the United States”, the US Navy said. www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3021993/us-flexes-military-muscle-south-china-sea-nuclear-aircraft
A scathing new Pentagon report blames Trump for the return of ISIS in Syria and Iraq
- The Pentagon inspector general issued a report to Congress saying that the Islamic State is again growing in power in Syria and Iraq, with approximately 14,000 to 18,000 militants.
- The report specifically said President Donald Trump’s decision to rapidly draw down troops in Syria and pull diplomatic staff from Iraq increased instability and allowed the militants to regroup.
- Former Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk, who resigned following the drawdown announcement, has repeatedly warned of this scenario, saying that Trump’s policies would lead to chaos and “an environment for extremists to thrive.”
A report from the Pentagon inspector general found that President Donald Trump’s decision to rapidly pull troops out of Syria and divert attention from diplomacy in Iraq has inadvertently aided the Islamic State’s regrouping in Syria and Iraq.
The Department of Defense’s quarterly report to Congress on the effectiveness of the US Operation Inherent Resolve mission said that “ISIS continued its transition from a territory-holding force to an insurgency in Syria, and it intensified its insurgency in Iraq” — even though Trump said ISIS was defeated and the caliphate quashed, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Many officials and experts have repeatedly warned that a rapid US withdrawal from Syria would enable ISIS to regroup into an insurgency after their battlefield defeats by the US-led coalition. www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-blames-trump-for-return-of-isis-syria-and-iraq-2019-8?fbclid=IwAR1sRyEDmjM4Z0Mzc5UGH6sDXYfk3PiTH1G5NmdrPY2bD_eHLCFLl2xCeJA
Afghanistan election in doubt as US, Taliban near deal
Afghanistan faces a presidential election next month but few believe the vote will take place as the United States and the Taliban inch closer to a deal that could end the nearly 18-year war but bring uncertainty about almost everything else.
Few candidates — 18 are running for the country’s top job — have openly campaigned after the Taliban last week attacked the office of President Ashraf Ghani’s running mate on opening day of the campaign, killing at least 20 people. Amrullah Saleh, known for his fierce anti-Taliban stance, was unharmed.
This week, the Taliban declared the election a “sham” and warned fellow Afghans to stay away from campaign rallies and from the polls, saying such gatherings could be targeted. A day later, a Taliban car bomb aimed at Afghan security forces ripped through a Kabul neighborhood, killing 14 people and wounding 145 — most of them women, children and other civilians. www.apnews.com/5e53cba2df5d4ad793610faeeb3fad0d
Toxic leadership at the top
The U.S. military, and particularly the Marine Corps — in which I served both as an enlisted Marine and officer — puts a strong emphasis on leadership. Marines are taught leadership traits and qualities and are expected to exhibit them at nearly every level.
During my three decades of service, I saw good and great leadership, poor leadership, and toxic leadership. Nearly everyone in the military knows what toxic leadership looks like, even if they haven’t experienced it directly.
Unfortunately, our commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, exhibits the qualities of a toxic leader.
Toxic leaders lead by force, not example. They are abusive, belittling and self-serving. And while the military has conducted many studies into the topic, a 2003 Army War College report described destructive, or toxic, leaders this way: “Destructive leaders are seen by the majority of subordinates as arrogant, self-serving, inflexible and petty.”
By the Constitution, the president is designated as the commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces. He (or she) does not serve in the military nor is he subject to court-martial or military discipline. However, it’s not unreasonable to expect the president to live up to the values and laws that govern military service.
At a minimum, he should set the example with his conduct. Regrettably, President Trump is failing in that regard. taskandpurpose.com/op-ed-trump-toxic-leadership?utm_campaign=RebelAlerts&utm_medium=email&utm_source=RebelAlerts-taskandpurpose&utm_source=Task+%26+Purpose+Daily&utm_campaign=bc9089fcab-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_08_08_07_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_67edd998fe-bc9089fcab-76834115&mc_cid=bc9089fcab&mc_eid=7e099a64db
The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor
Video: Detroit’s Gentrification — ‘I Don’t Want to Make It a Race Thing, But it Is’
Longtime jazz pianist Charles Boles, 86, who over the years played with the likes of B.B. King and Etta James, is a lifetime Detroiter.
He has lived in the Jeffersonian Apartments for 12 years, but says that a new owner recently took over and rent hikes are on the way. In a video by Business Insider on gentrification in Detroit, he says:
“It’s the relocation of all the older citizens. I don’t want to make it a race thing, but it is.”
Business Insider also talks to a Cass Corridor resident worried about being pushed out, and to Mayor Mike Duggan. www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/22970/video_detroit_s_gentrification_–_i_don_t_want_to_make_it_a_race_thing_but_it_is?fbclid=IwAR0Jsbr7HDeisncvw23GGYNJbH7Q_qj_guKik-YjZ6QrI8wE7UxGHSw8qrM
Charlie LeDuff
BREAKING — Detroit City owned serial killer house still stands, wide open two months later
DETROIT — Remember the Detroit serial killer? The one yet to be charged with a serial killing? He is being charged, however, with attempted murder and sexual assault and his victim appeared in court today. The media was on that. I see the teases on the TV now.
Tonight at 11!!!
But here’s the thing the media doesn’t bother with. The follow up. The reality. The lives of real people. Consider that last June, the mayor and the chief of police, with great fanfare, took the opportunity of her assault and the found corpse of another woman both inside this same abandoned, eastside house to politically grandstand.
The mayor, whose administration is the subject of a federal corruption probe concerning demolition dollars, took the opportunity to pitch Detroit on taxing itself another $200 million for demolition. In In the meantime, he has spent millions more boarding up homes that should have been torn down.
The chief, who finds himself the steward of runaway crime twice the size of Chicago’s, promised at their joint serial killer press conference in June, that if anyone tore the boards down, the police would respond immediately.
Well, here’s that house today. Boarded-up and wide open. A fantastic symbol of incompetence.
The house, which is owned by the city, still stands.
Why?
Notice the doors are wide open. Notice the communal artwork. Notice this when you’re on your detour commute to Grosse Pointe.
And as the chief famously warned, don’t stop for gas (there is a station next door to the serial killer house.)
This is the neglected Detroit.
I was going to go in, and see what was in the basement, but thought better, since I wasn’t carrying at the moment.
Imagine to be the school children who walk by this everyday.
What an outrage.
Would they put up with this in your town?
Mayor Mike Duggan
Malaysia has charged 17 former and current Goldman Sachs bankers – including Richard Gnodde, the most senior banker in London – over the corruption investigation at its state development fund 1MDB.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas said custodial sentences and criminal fines would be sought against those charged.
Goldman helped raise $6.5bn (£5.4bn) through bond offerings for 1MDB.
The bank said it would “vigorously” defend the charges.
Mr Thomas said in a statement: “Custodial sentences and criminal fines will be sought against the accused.”
He said this was because of the “severity of the scheme to defraud and fraudulent misappropriation of billions in bond proceeds, the lengthy period over which the offences were planned and executed, the number of Goldman Sachs subsidiaries, officers and employers involved and the relative value of the fees and commissions paid to Goldman Sachs for their multiple roles played in arranging, structuring, underwriting and selling the three bonds”.
If convicted, those charged could face prison sentences of up to 10 years and fine of at least one million ringgit (£200,000).
www.bbc.com/news/business-49289840s
L.A. man pleads guilty to $1.3-billion scam with thousands of victims
A Los Angeles man pleaded guilty in Florida to orchestrating a $1.3-billion real estate fraud scheme that stole money from thousands of investors nationwide and agreed to forfeit valuable jewelry, wine and paintings by Picasso and Renoir.
Court records show that 61-year-old Robert Shapiro of Sherman Oaks pleaded guilty Wednesday in Miami federal court to mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. He faces up to 25 years in prison at sentencing in October before U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga.
At least 9,000 people, many of them elderly people who invested their retirement savings, suffered losses in the scheme, Miami federal prosecutors say.
Prosecutors say Shapiro’s Woodbridge Group had offices employing 130 people in California, Florida, Tennessee, Colorado and Connecticut. The pitch to investors was that Woodbridge held real estate loans that would pay them rates of interest between 5% and 10%.
In fact, the real estate was also owned by Shapiro through 270 shell companies and did not generate the necessary money for investors. Sometimes, the properties didn’t even exist.
It became a Ponzi scheme that paid older investors with money from newer ones, court records show. Five states entered cease-and-desist orders because Woodbridge was selling unregistered securities. www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-08-08/l-a-man-pleads-guilty-to-1-3-billion-scam-with-thousands-of-victims
GM is slowing production of a popular SUV to align market demand
General Motors is making some production changes at two of its assembly plants in North America.
Meanwhile, the fate of four U.S. plants slated to shutter remains uncertain, dependent on bargaining talks with the UAW, GM said.
GM is cutting production in Canada and Mexico where it builds the Equinox SUV in anticipation of slowing sales in North America and other markets.
GM will cut its third shift in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, effective next week, a GM spokesman said. Besides the Equinox, GM also builds the GMC Terrain and Chevrolet Trax at San Luis Potosi.
GM will shut down its CAMI plant in Ontario for one week the last week in September.
“Sales of the Equinox are very strong, however, we’re making a production adjustment to run the business in a responsible manner,” said Dan Flores, GM spokesman.
That means better aligning Equinox production to market demand. Flores stopped short of saying GM expects sales to sputter, but he emphasized the importance of not stockpiling too much inventory www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2019/08/07/gm-slows-production-equinox-suv/1947150001/
The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement and The War on Reason
Judge won’t reconsider daily fines against Chelsea Manning for refusing to testify
Chelsea Manning will not get a hearing to challenge steep daily penalties imposed for her refusal to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.
In an order issued Monday, Judge Anthony J. Trenga in Alexandria federal court said there were no “reasonable grounds” to reconsider his decision to impose the fines, which started at $500 per day and have now risen to $1,000. Manning, 31, who was first jailed in March for refusing to testify, could be in jail for up to 18 months, and her attorneys estimate that the total cost will be close to half a million dollars.
Her attorney Moira Meltzer-Cohen said Manning “expects to remain” in jail for about 400 more days. She added that while they are “evaluating our legal options . . . above all right now we are all working to strategize for her long-term health and welfare.” www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/judge-wont-reconsider-daily-fines-against-chelsea-manning-for-refusal-to-testify/2019/08/07/cf9bcfc6-b913-11e9-b3b4-2bb69e8c4e39_story.html?fbclid=IwAR22w-s7mqRfkKd3cy8SsVFGJRNSbn0CSe8dj3hJ_tcg5mOEnrgy6gveLOI
Feds investigating border surveillance program that targeted U.S. citizens
The Department of Homeland Security has launched an internal investigation into a covert surveillance program that targeted U.S. citizens engaged in humanitarian work in Tijuana, according to a letter released Thursday.
Customs and Border Protection launched “Operation Secure Line” in October 2018 to investigate whether any groups of individuals orchestrated the Central American migrant caravans that brought thousands of migrants to the southwestern border. During that investigation, agents tracked the movements of almost 60 journalists, lawyers and humanitarian workers and placed them on a secret watchlist.
DHS Acting Inspector General Jennifer Costello told legislators that her office was investigating the surveillance program in a letter dated July 2018 but released publicly Thursday by a group of Democratic senators.
“A multidisciplinary team of Office of Inspector General criminal investigators, program analysts and attorneys is conducting an investigation of this list and related issues, which will culminate in a final public facing report,” Costello wrote. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/story/2019-08-08/feds-investigating-border-surveillance-program-that-targeted-u-s-citizens
ICE releases hundreds rounded up in Mississippi as children left behind
Several hundred individuals who were arrested during an immigration roundup across Mississippi on Wednesday — leaving their children without parents in some cases — have been released, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said Thursday.
Children of the adults detained in the raids were taken to local elementary schools until they could be reunited with extended family members.
It was the second day of school, Scott County School District superintendent Tony McGee said. Only a couple hours into the day, McGee said that they started receiving reports about what was happening.
“It’s tough, it’s the second day of school and you’re 5-years-old, and you come to school with a mom and dad and all of a sudden you get ready to go home and you don’t have one,” McGee said.
There were about 15 families in McGee’s school district that were affected by Wednesday’s operations, he said. abcnews.go.com/US/ice-releases-hundreds-immigrants-rounded-mississippi-children-left/story?id=64848487
Solidarity for Never
Union Report: 19,000-Member California State University Affiliate Cuts Ties With State Union, NEA in Major Blow to National Organization
The faculty association has been unhappy with its representation on state union governance bodies, and the unexpected defeat of member Theresa Montaño for the presidency of the state union did not sit well either. The faculty association was the second-largest teacher union affiliate in California, behind only United Teachers Los Angeles. It is larger than 23 of the NEA’s state affiliates.
The loss of the faculty association will sting the state union, but otherwise it is sitting pretty with a growing membership and a pliant state government. It seems willing to accept an amicable breakup, without threats of trusteeship or litigation.
It is a much bigger blow to NEA, which has suffered a string of disaffiliations in recent years. It eliminates about 10 percent of the union’s higher education membership in one fell swoop and more than wipes out its total national membership gains for the past year. www.the74million.org/article/union-report-19000-member-california-state-university-affiliate-cuts-ties-with-state-union-nea-in-major-blow-to-national-organization/
Gompers’ New Union (NEA!) Is Moving Forward, But Tensions Remain
Gompers’ union is affiliated with the California Teachers Association, as well as the union that represents teachers at traditional San Diego Unified district schools, the San Diego Education Association.
At first glance, they are strange bedfellows.
CTA lobbies heavily in Sacramento to curtail charter school growth. Charter school teachers typically believe in the charter school ethos they are better off free from the constraints of traditional public schools and are a valuable part of the public school ecosystem.
A spokeswoman for the California Charter Schools Association, Brittany Chord Parmley, said in a statement, “We respect the right to unionize locally, but it is perplexing that while the union is trying to persuade charter school teachers to join their fight, the California Teachers Association has spent over $3 million in three months to destroy the charter school movement through the legislative process in Sacramento.”
But for Gompers teachers who wanted more say over their working conditions, CTA’s work wasn’t a concern. www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/gompers-new-union-is-moving-forward-but-tensions-remain/?utm_source=Voice+of+San+Diego+Master+List&utm_campaign=fec4054b73-Learning_Curve&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c2357fd0a3-fec4054b73-81862829&goal=0_c2357fd0a3-fec4054b73-81862829
Spy versus Spy
Joshua Wong Chi-fung, the secretary-general of pro-democracy party Demosisto, told the Hong Kong Standard that there was nothing sinister behind his recent meeting with Julie Eadeh, a political unit chief of the US consulate general in Hong Kong. Their rendezvous, which was caught on camera, was quickly seized upon by pro-Beijing media.
“I even went to Washington several times, so what’s so special about meeting a US consul?” Wong told the Standard.
www.rt.com/news/466078-hong-kong-us-joshua-wong/
Serving Citizens Abroad in Times of War
For MAAS alum Julie Eadeh, diplomacy is all about human relationships, whether building connections with local communities or helping Americans abroad in times of crisis.
By Julie A. Eadeh
In a diplomatic career that has taken me to Jerusalem, Riyadh, Beirut, Baghdad, Taipei, Shanghai, Doha, and Hong Kong, one of the highlights remains working alongside colleagues to successfully evacuate 15,000 Americans during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The conflict broke out only weeks after I arrived as the Chief of the American Citizens Services section in our embassy in Beirut. American citizens in Lebanon were trapped and desperate following Israeli strikes, which rendered Beirut International Airport inoperable and destroyed major roads out of the country. As the conflict began, foreign communities sought to leave as quickly as they could. Tensions rose swiftly and led to a scenario that any embassy recognizes as a remote possibility but rarely confronts: the mass evacuation of American citizens. Many citizens of other Arab countries left overland by bus through Syria, but the largest foreign communities, those of France, the United States, and Canada looked immediately to their embassies for assistance. ccas.georgetown.edu/news/serving-citizens-abroad-in-times-of-war/
Missionary, Businessman, Prisoner, Spy: An American’s Odyssey in North Korea
“I try not to blame anyone for what happened to me. I am just lucky to come out of North Korea alive,” Mr. Kim said in an interview in the South Korean capital, Seoul. “But I am sorry for those six North Koreans who worked for me as spies and were executed.” www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/world/asia/north-korea-us-spy-prisoner.html
Ex-CIA Director, “Lyin” John,” John Brennan Says Sue Gordon Resignation Shows Trump Administration Only Interested in ‘Personal Loyalty’
Former CIA Director John Brennan described his disappointment at the departure of Sue Gordon from the Trump administration, and said the loss of both her and Dan Coats is “basically decapitating the intelligence community.”
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Gordon will leave her post as principal deputy Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on August 15, the same day as the current DNI Coats will also depart the administration.
Trump also revealed that Joseph Maguire, the current director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will replace Coats as acting DNI. Many had anticipated that Gordon, who had spent years working in the CIA, would step up as acting DNI.
In a handwritten note to President Trump alongside her resignation letter, Gordon appeared to suggest she was pushed out. The note said: “I offer this letter as an act of respect: Patriotism, not preference. You should have your team.” www.newsweek.com/cia-john-brennan-trump-sue-gordon-resignation-personal-loyalty-1453423
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKzty5T39ys
The New Ways Your Boss Is Spying on You
It’s not just email. Employers are mining the data their workers generate to figure out what they’re up to, and with whom. There’s almost nothing you can do about it.
The Magical Mystery Tour
Indian nations ask Pope Francis to rescind Doctrine of Discovery
The Doctrine of Discovery, Pope Alexander VI’s papal bull, permits any Christian coming upon land inhabited by non-Christians to claim it all. It was published on May 4, 1493, and on May 7, 2018, representatives from the Confederacy of Haudenosaunee, the Assembly of First Nations Canada, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Yakima nation visited the Vatican to request a retraction. www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/ncr-today/indian-nations-ask-pope-francis-rescind-doctrine-discovery
Lawsuit Says Former Boy Scouts Have Named 350 More Abusers
Lawyers who represent victims of child sexual abuse have been urging former scouts to come forward with claims before a possible bankruptcy filing by the Boy Scouts of America.
A long-running sexual abuse scandal that has prompted the Boy Scouts of America to consider bankruptcy flared anew this week, when a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia asserted that there were hundreds more possible sexual predators associated with the organization, beyond those already listed in its files.
A man now in his 50s who brought the lawsuit alleges that an assistant scoutmaster sexually abused him in the mid-1970s, when he was a young scout in Luzerne County, Pa., and that the organization’s “negligent, willful, wanton, reckless and tortious acts and omissions” allowed the abuse to happen. The lawsuit also accuses the Boy Scouts of engaging in a cover-up to hide “the extent of the pedophilia epidemic within their organization.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Stewart J. Eisenberg of Philadelphia, belongs to an alliance of lawyers called Abused in Scouting that formed this year after reports surfaced that the Texas-based Boy Scouts of America was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That step would make it more difficult to pursue legal claims against the organization and recover damages.
The lawsuit says that former scouts across the country have come forward to identify 350 possible sexual abusers who were not included in the Boy Scouts’ confidential files on volunteers who were excluded from the organization because of accusations of child sexual abuse. This year, an expert on child sexual abuse who had reviewed those files testified in another case that there were nearly 8,000 people listed in them. www.nytimes.com/2019/08/07/us/boy-scouts-abuse-lawsuit.html
The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World
www.facebook.com/ABC10News/videos/848248618909673/?t=13
Naked man, woman found in fogged-up car parked at Birmingham Police Department
Clinton Township man, Sterling Heights woman issued citations
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. – A Clinton Township man and a Sterling Heights woman were found naked inside a running, fogged-up vehicle parked at the Birmingham Police Department, officials said.
A Birmingham police officer pulled into the parking lot at 200 Martin Street at 12:17 a.m. Aug. 1. He saw a vehicle running and parked in a spot marked for “municipal vehicles only,” according to authorities.
The officer said he noticed the windows were fogged up as he approached the vehicle.
He found a naked 24-year-old Clinton Township man and 25-year-old Sterling Heights woman in the vehicle, police said.
They were issued citations for disorderly conduct and given a court date, officials said. www.clickondetroit.com/news/naked-man-woman-found-in-fogged-up-car-parked-at-birmingham-police-department?utm_content=17726549&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Headlines%20%2820:00%20EST%29%202019-08-08&utm_term=wdiv_2000est
‘Check Out Her Ass’ Is What Got Civil Rights Agency Head Reprimanded
The director of Michigan’s Civil Rights Department urged a male staffer to “check out her ass,” or something along those lines, in reference to a woman he saw outside a middle school in Grosse Pointe, according to records released Friday.
When the staffer, Todd Heywood, reacted negatively, Agustin Arbulu said it was because he “did not like women.” . . .
Heywood, a communications analyst, told state officials on May 30 that Arbulu made the comments to him a day earlier during an event at Pierce Middle School.
During a break between two listening sessions [about civil rights concerns], Arbulu and Heywood were standing outside the school while parents were picking up their children, Heywood told investigators.
“There was one parent, a blond woman, that Director Arbulu began to make comments about, objectifying her appearance,”
Trump Pushes Conspiracy Theory That Clinton Was Involved in Epstein Death
Donald Trump, president of the United States of America, retweeted two tweets promoting the baseless conspiracy theory that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was involved in the apparent suicide of billionaire and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on Saturday.
Trump’s tweets came after a Trump HUD employee posted on Instagram the same accusation of Clinton.
Epstein was found hanging in his cell on Saturday morning in a DOJ-controlled facility where he was awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. Attorney General William Barr said he was “appalled” and that both the FBI and of Inspector General will open investigations.
So Long
Music film-maker DA Pennebaker dies, aged 94
Groundbreaking film-maker DA Pennebaker, who captured pivotal moments in the history of rock music and politics, has died aged 94.
He was best known for the Bob Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back, and the 1973 film that captured David Bowie’s final performance as Ziggy Stardust.
The War Room, his fly-on-the-wall look at Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, earned an Oscar nomination.
Pennebaker died on 1 August of natural causes, his family said.
www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49234294
The FBI is opening an investigation into the apparent suicide of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead on Saturday in the New York jail cell where he was being held without bail on sex-trafficking charges.
A source said he was not on suicide watch at the time of his death. Epstein, 66, was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) of the Metropolitan Correctional Center and transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates the lower Manhattan jail, said in a statement.
Epstein, who was arrested on July 6, had pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls as young as 14, from at least 2002 to 2005.
Last month, Epstein was found unconscious on the floor of his jail cell with marks on his neck, according to media reports, and officials were investigating that incident as a possible suicide attempt or assault.
Despite the incident, Epstein had been taken off suicide watch, a special set of procedures for inmates deemed in danger of taking their own life, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. He was on suicide watch as late as Thursday, the source said.
The financier was in a cell by himself when his body was found, the source said. One day before Epstein’s death, a woman who accused Epstein of keeping her as a sex slave said that one of his associates instructed her to have sex with at least a half-dozen prominent men.
The claim by Virginia Giuffre came in a deposition that was included in about 2,000 pages of documents related to her defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, the associate whom Giuffre said helped Epstein procure girls for sex. www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Jeffrey-Epstein-commits-suicide-598246