Daily Archives: July 23, 2020

2020-07-23: News Headlines

Black Alliance for Peace (2020-07-23). Trump Administration Deploys Federal Forces into Major U.S. Cities. globalresearch.ca The repressive U.S. state's chickens have come home to roost with President Donald Trump announcing federal troops will be deployed to several U.S. cities. This comes after federal agents reportedly disappeared protesters last week off the streets of Portland, Oregon….

William Boardman (2020-07-23). Defund the Police State, Before It's Too Late. globalresearch.ca The American police state is currently making its boldest test run to date in Portland, Oregon, escalating violence and lawlessness against the peaceful population of an American city. The people of Portland have responded with increased resistance, but support from …

DLI (2020-07-23). Secret police in Portland violated human rights of peaceful protesters. indybay.org Videos showing U.S. Federal secret police(with no badges and riding in unmarked vehicles)inflicting massive violence on mostly peaceful protesters are running viral across the Globe. Yet the Federal governing regime brazenly avows that this will be the "new normal" in major cities from now on…

Fight Back (2020-07-23). Stand with the resistance in Portland! fightbacknews.org Protesters grabbed off the streets by federal agents who refuse to identify themselves, placed unmarked vehicles, and taken to undisclosed locations. These same agents nearly killed a young man holding part of a sound system at a demonstration. This is the outrageous reality in Portland today, were Trump has deployed a paramilitary police force to carry out a wave of repression. The good news is that the resistance in Portland has been nothing short of heroic, as thousands have taken to the streets in a powerful display of opposition. | The Trump administration has repeatedly stated that it is deploying federal a…

Marilyn Bechtel (2020-07-23). Cities challenge Trump's dispatch of federal law enforcement officers. peoplesworld.org OAKLAND, Calif. — Outrage is growing throughout the country over Donald Trump's use of federal law enforcement against protesters in Portland, Oregon, and his threats to dispatch federal officers to other U.S. cities. On July 20, Trump told reporters he might send federal "law enforcement" to cities he claimed were experiencing heightened violence, naming cities …

_____ (2020-07-23). What Are Trump And His Goons Up To? popularresistance.org First and foremost, it is a political stunt to capture the law and order crowd and press on divides between the coastal cities and inland voters. But it's also more sinister than that. The use of federal forces is designed to weaken local accountability by freezing out local government that constituents can reach. Portland's mayor might not even have opposed some "help" from the feds, but he wasn't asked. In other words, this wasn't mutual aid. This was indeed an invasion. An alphabet soup of federal agencies have been employed to crack down on police brutality protests, including the National Guard, the US Marsh…

_____ (2020-07-23). Portland's Mayor Tear-Gassed By Militarized US Police. popularresistance.org The mayor of Portland, Oregon was tear-gassed by U.S. government agents as he stood outside a federal courthouse during another night of protests against the presence of federal police sent by President Donald Trump to quell the city's ongoing unrest. | Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, appeared slightly dazed and coughed and said Wednesday night it was the first time he'd been tear-gassed. | He put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front of the protest and continued to take tear gas as the demonstration raged — with protesters lighting a large fire betwe…

_____ (2020-07-23). New Civil Rights Lawsuit Filed Against Federal Law Enforcement. popularresistance.org The Western States Center, the First Unitarian Church of Portland, two state representatives and an ACLU legal observer are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges the federal government has violated protesters' 10th Amendment rights. It was filed Tuesday in federal court. | The 10th Amendment delineates the separation of powers between federal and state governments. | "The power to engage in ordinary law enforcement is one of the long-recognized powers that belong to the states and to their municipalities," said Cliff Davidson, an attorney with Snell & Wilmer, the firm filing the lawsuit. | The W…

_____ (2020-07-23). Federal Agents Retreat To Portland Base As Protesters Control Streets. popularresistance.org The DHS officers dispatched by the president to put down the demonstrations have instead become prisoners of the building they are ostensibly there to defend. | "The feds don't have control of the streets," said a woman holding a sign "100% not a terrorist", who gave her name only as Shannon. "I think they're more scared than us. They're hiding in there. They don't know what they're doing." If the intent was to intimidate the protesters into abandoning the few square blocks of downtown Portland under their control, it backfired spectacularly. | Residents of a city with a long history of radical street protest wer…

yenisafak (2020-07-23). In another night of unrest in Portland, tear gas hits mayor. yenisafak.com The mayor of the U.S. city of Portland, Ted Wheeler, was stung by tear gas early on Thursday morning after he joined demonstrators protesting against racial injustice and police brutality.Protests have rocked Portland every night for weeks, with security forces often tear-gassing and clubbing demonstrators.Visiting the protest site, Wheeler was jeered at by some demonstrators who called on him to resign and chanted "Shame on You". They said he should have done more to protect Portland's citizens.However, as he stood amongst the crowd outside Portland's Justice Center, Wheeler, who was wearing a face mask, was him…

RT (2020-07-23). Portland mayor cheers protesters & joins them to face tear gas, gets calls to resign anyway (VIDEOS). rt.com Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler failed to win over a crowd of angry anti-police protesters despite rooting for their cause. But rather than seeing him as an ally against federal agents, some said he's part of the problem and has to go.

Staff (2020-07-23). Paramilitary-Style Tactics in Portland Mirror Decades of U.S. Violence on the Border & Abroad. democracynow.org The harrowing scenes of paramilitary-style units in the streets of American cities like Portland has shocked mainstream America, but award-winning independent journalist Todd Miller, who has reported on border security and immigration for over a decade, says it's a reflection of how the U.S. has operated around the world. We also speak with Cecilia Menjívar, UCLA sociology professor, who says the image of unmarked vans snatching people from the streets "brings back memories to Latin Americans who lived through disappearances of families and friends and co-workers."

Staff (2020-07-23). Headlines for July 23, 2020. democracynow.org Trump to Send "Surge" of Federal Officers into Democrat-Run Cities, COVID-19 Hospitalizations in U.S. Near Same Level as Peak of Pandemic in April, Trump Falsely Claims Children Do Not Transmit COVID-19, McConnell to Unveil New $1 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Package, Global COVID-19 Cases Top 15M as Deaths Reach New High in Brazil, U.N.: Israeli Threat to Annex West Bank Is Hampering Palestianian Response to Pandemic, Federal Judge Rejects Releasing Detained Immigrant Families, Report: U.S. Holding Immigrant Toddlers in Hotels for Weeks Before Deportation, Canada Court Rules United States Is Not Safe for Asylum Seek…

Eds. (2020-07-23). As Trump threatens secret police deployment nationwide, Democrats debate expanding surveillance powers and new money for DHS. mronline.org The rogue deployment of secret federal police forces in Portland, Oregon, has added a new complication to negotiations over reauthorizing the Trump administration's vast surveillance powers and appropriating new money for the Department of Homeland Security.

Editor (2020-07-23). Defend Portland! Defend People's Resistance! No Police State! workers.org Despite the brutal attempt of the White House to crush the heroic Black Lives Matter movement by sending camouflaged federal agents ‚àí secret police ‚àí to Portland, Chicago and other U.S. cities, the movement and all who support it have been fighting back. The initial response to the threat of . . . |

RT (2020-07-23). Tehran says AMERICAN, not Israeli fighter jets endangered passengers of Iranian airliner over Syria. rt.com US Air Force, not Israeli, fighter jets were responsible for unsafely intercepting the Mahan Air plane over Syria, which resulted in injuries to several passengers traveling to Beirut, Iranian media reported. | Mahan Air Flight 1152 was en route from Tehran to Lebanon when it was intercepted by two F-15 fighters near the Syria-Jordan border. The approaching jets forced it to rapidly change course and altitude, resulting in several injuries among the passengers, the company said. | Initial reports from eyewitnesses on board spoke of Israeli planes, and were repeated by international media outlets. The captain…

RT (2020-07-23). Chicago mayor urges citizens to call cops on feds, so she can sue Trump for 'abuses' in crackdown on gun crime. rt.com Mayor Lori Lightfoot has urged Chicagoans to literally call the police over any "unconstitutional" actions by federal agents sent by President Donald Trump to help with a crackdown on skyrocketing violent crime. | Residents should call the police or social services if they "see something that doesn't look right," Lightfoot said at a press conference on Wednesday. | "If we see any steps out of line," she said, "we are not going to hesitate to take the president to court and stop any unconstitutional actions." The Democrat mayor singled out the Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for scrutiny…

Unicorn Riot (2020-07-23). Minneapolis Park Police Displace Sanctuary Encampment, Arrest 24. unicornriot.ninja Minneapolis, MN — On Monday, July 20, dozens of houseless people were displaced and 24 people were arrested as law enforcement executed an eviction of the eastern portion of a sanctuary tent encampment in Powderhorn Park. | After the raid, Unicorn Riot spoke to community members,…

Max Elbaum (2020-07-23). Guns? Yes. Masks? No. And Gestapo in Portland. zcomm.org The toxic mix of valuing gun ownership over protecting public health, conspiracism, and reactionary movements glued together by white supremacy and national chauvinism are too deeply rooted to be ended any time soon…

yenisafak (2020-07-23). In disputed Kashmir, Pakistan accuses India of increased shelling. yenisafak.com Pakistan's military this week said there had been an escalation in firing and shelling across the de facto border that separates Pakistani and Indian-controlled Kashmir, at a time of heightened diplomatic tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.Major General Amer Ahsan Nawaz, the commander of Pakistani troops in Kashmir, accused the Indian military of trying to distract attention from unrest in its part of Kashmir."If you compare it to the past years, there is a definite increase in this year," he told reporters on Wednesday near the so-called Line of Control (Loc), across which the two sides' militaries ha…

Fight Back (2020-07-22). The Wisconsin District of FRSO condemns the deployment of federal agents to Milwaukee. fightbacknews.org Milwaukee, WI – Last week, unmarked federal agents in military uniforms grabbed protesters off the streets of Portland, Oregon, and threw them into unmarked black vans. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed responsibility for the shadowy operation, citing "graffiti" as their justification for snatching activists off the street and interrogating them. | Now, Milwaukee has been named by the Trump administration as one of the cities that would likely be targeted for deployment of Homeland Security Investigation agents. Some Milwaukee activists have reported spotting unidentified agents in military gear n…

yenisafak (2020-07-22). US: Armenians attack peaceful Azerbaijani protestors. yenisafak.com A large group of Armenians living in Los Angeles, California attacked and injured a much smaller group of Azerbaijanis and Turks who gathered to peacefully protest recent Armenian aggression in border towns of Azerbaijan. The incident took place on Tuesday in front of Azerbaijan's Consulate in the city when thousands of Armenians verbally and physically assaulted some 70 Azerbaijanis and Turks across the street, despite tight security measures by the L.A. Police Department."Acts of violence by Armenian radicals against a much smaller group of Azerbaijani-American counter protesters in front of the Consulate Gener…

Fight Back (2020-07-22). Federal officers seen dragging protesters into unmarked vans in Portland. fightbacknews.org Portland, OR – For weeks now, officers under the oversight of the Department of Homeland Security have been terrorizing the residents of Portland Oregon in new attempts to stamp out the protest movement that has been ongoing since the killing of George Floyd. These officers can be seen in various videos wearing nondescript camo fatigues with no markings indicating who they are or, or what agency they are working for. These same federal officers nearly killed a protester in Portland last week after shooting him in the head with a 'less-lethal' impact device. | In an intensification of an already overzeal…

Joshua Hanks (2020-07-22). Outrage over Trump attack: Portland movement fights back. workers.org Federal officers were deployed to "quell" Portland's protests beginning the weekend of July 10 and continuing the following week. Camouflaged unidentified agents arrested and detained demonstrators without even a pretext. The Trump administration has escalated the confrontation between the people and the state apparatus, bringing a whiff of fascism to . . . |

Joan Walsh (2020-07-22). Another Long Day of GOP Disrespect for Women. thenation.com Attacks on AOC, Liz Cheney, and Portland's "Wall of Moms" make it seem like Republicans don't care about women. Except Ghislaine Maxwell.

Alan MacLeod (2020-07-22). Portland: "Wall of Moms" mobilizes to protect protests from police violence. mronline.org Chanting, "Feds stay clear! Moms are here!," groups of women congregated at the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse and other locations in Central Portland. They were met with tear gas, flashbangs, and pepper round bullets, injuring many.

Fight Back (2020-07-22). Trump deploying 150 federal agents in Chicago to repress our movement. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. | What we have watched in Portland is the dress rehearsal for what Trump is preparing for Chicago: an effort to squash the Black Lives Matter protests flowing from this uprising by violent military means. He claims he is targeting the cities controlled by Democrats because of the chaos caused by the largest rebellion in U.S. history. | In truth, broad democratic forces have come together to exercise their right to protest against police murder and violence. We've had signals this was…

sputniknews (2020-07-22). Over 100 US Lawmakers Ask Barr to Explain Unidentified Federal Officers in Portland. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US law enforcement chiefs need to explain the activities of unidentified federal personnel in Portland, Oregon, during the protests there, 114 members of the House of Representatives wrote in a letter to Attorney General William Barr and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Wednesday.

RT (2020-07-22). 'We won't retreat': DHS chief defends 'proactive arrests' amid Portland riots, stokes Minority Report dystopia outcry (VIDEOS). rt.com The head of the Department of Homeland Security set off alarms after saying that federal agents were making 'proactive' arrests in Portland amid heated protests, drawing comparisons to the dystopian "pre-crime" of Minority Report. | Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf appeared on a Fox News segment on Tuesday night, discussing the ongoing protests and rioting across Portland, which he says have continued for "52 nights in a row" as federal officers there are stretched to the limit. | "Because we don't have that local law enforcement support, we are having to go out and proactively arrest individuals, and we need…

Staff (2020-07-22). Philadelphia DA Says Trump's Police Will Be Arrested If They Assault Protesters. truthout.org As President Donald Trump defends his questionable use of federal agents to arrest and detain protesters in Portland, Oregon, in recent weeks, suggesting also that such actions could happen in other places across the country, one district attorney of a city Trump said might be next said he'd take direct action against any federal officers that unlawfully detained individuals. | Trump appeared to cite partisan politics on Monday as part of the reason he felt the need to take action against c…

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2020-07-22). In "Significant Rebuke" to Trump's Anti-Immigrant Administration, House Passes NO BAN Act. commondreams.org www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/no-muslim-ban.jpg

Staff (2020-07-22). As COVID Spikes in California, Latinx Workers Who "Keep the State Going" See Up to 5x the Deaths. democracynow.org Amid a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations across the United States, the Latinx community has been hit especially hard in places like California, where many Latinx workers fill essential jobs as farmworkers and meatpackers. "Latino and people of color basically do the scut work that keep the state going, its economy going, but get very little of the resources," says Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His recent study shows Latinx Californians between the ages of 50 and 64 have died at more than fiv…

Medea Benjamin (2020-07-22). Long Overdue For Latin America: A New "Good Neighbor Policy" zcomm.org Universal threats, such as coronavirus and the climate crisis, have taught us the limits of borders and should act as incentives to construct a Good Neighbor Policy for the 21st century based on those principles of non-intervention and mutual respect…

Staff (2020-07-22). This Is Not A Drill — 2020: Stand Up, Fight Back. therealnews.com Any strategy about the 2020 elections has to take very seriously the threats and attacks on particular groups and communities. Black, trans, immigrant, and indigenous folks, are organizing hard for radical change and to shape the outcome of the 2020 elections and beyond. In this episode of OrgUp's This Is Not A Drill, hosts Adam…

Mike Hastie (2020-07-22). Tear Gas, Beatings and Projectiles in Portland. counterpunch.org The last couple of nights I have been heavily involved in demonstrations in Portland, Oregon. ( July 18-19, 2020.) As most of you probably know these demonstrations have been going on in front of the Federal Justice Center for over 50 straight nights. Since Trump called in the Feds, the turmoil and violence has escalated. We

Ron Jacobs (2020-07-22). Trumpfen Sturmabteilung (Trump's Stormtroopers). counterpunch.org It is not hard to see the forces kidnapping individuals and teargassing Portland's streets as the Trump administration's private stormtroopers. Although they are operating under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the truth is it is the Executive Branch that issued their orders.

RT (2020-07-22). Russian visa liberalization continues as MPs pass law to allow foreigners into the country WITHOUT paper visa. rt.com The Russian visa process is about to get a lot easier. Parliament has passed a long-awaited law allowing foreigners to visit the country for 16 days with an e-visa, beginning in 2021. | The new electronic visa allows the holder a single entry into the world's biggest country for the purposes of visiting someone, business, tourism, or participation in an event. Not everyone can come to Russia with an e-visa at present, though; citizens from countries including the US, United Kingdom and Canada are currently excluded. | Electronic visas have been part of the Russian migration system since 2017, allowing citizens…

commondreams (2020-07-22). NO BAN Act Passage a Critical Step to Undoing Muslim Ban and Years' Worth of Discriminatory Immigration Policies. commondreams.org ______________________________…

WSWS (2020-07-22). Despite withdrawal of ICE ruling, international students in the US remain at risk. wsws.org Amid an intensifying anti-immigrant and anti-China campaign, Trump's tactical retreat from the July 6 ruling putting international students at risk of deportation is not any cause for celebration.

teleSUR (2020-07-22). Canadian Court Rules Asylum Pact With the US Unconstitutional. telesurenglish.net Canada's Federal Court ruled on Wednesday that the bilateral pact between this country and the United States, which prohibits migrants from seeking asylum when entering the country from the U.S., is unconstitutional and violates human rights. | RELATED: | Judge Ann Marie McDonald said that the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) contravenes a section of Canada's Charter of Rights, which specifies that the principles…

Abdul Rahman (2020-07-22). Workers returning from crisis-hit Gulf economies need state support back home. peoplesdispatch.org The six states in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) can expect an average economic downfall of 7.6% this year, according to the revised estimates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF had earlier predicted in April an overall 3% decline in these economies. While the projections may delay economic projects in some of these countries, the impact on millions of migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, among others employed in the Gulf, may be deeper and more significant. This is particularly due to lack of any social security net for most of these workers in the host countries which m…

Zoà´ Carpenter (2020-07-22). Why Portland Became the Test Case for Trump's Secret Police. thenation.com Why Portland Became the Test Case for Trump's Secret Police…

_____ (2020-07-22). 150 Federal Agents Set To Deploy In Chicago. popularresistance.org The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is crafting plans to deploy about 150 federal agents to Chicago this week, the Chicago Tribune has learned, a move that would come amid growing controversy nationally about federal force being used in American cities. One Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in Chicago, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, confirmed the deployment was expected to take place. The official noted that the HSI agents, who are part of ICE, would not be involved in immigration or deportation matters. "We're not going to leave New York and Chi…

_____ (2020-07-22). Portland's Wall Of Moms Joined By Dads With Leaf Blowers. popularresistance.org In response to the use of tear gas being utilized by federal officers against demonstrators, including a group of moms, in an uprising in Portland, Oregon, this week, a like-minded dads' group encouraged others to show up to the event with leaf blowers in order to dissipate the chemical agents. | Uprisings in Portland have happened nightly since the end of May, in response to police violence against Black Americans, including renewed attention to Jason Washington, a Black resident of the city who was shot and killed by police in 2018. | Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as federal officers began appearing a…

yenisafak (2020-07-22). Pompeo: China's behaviour was unacceptable in border clash with India. yenisafak.com India's recent border clash with China was the latest example of the Chinese Communist Party's "unacceptable behaviour," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday.He made the comment at the U.S.-India Business Council's India Ideas Summit, being conducted on line, adding: "I am confident that with our concerted efforts, we can protect our interest."India's relations with China have been strained after last month's deadly clash in the Himalayas, prompting calls in India for closer security ties with the United States and its allies including Japan.

sputniknews (2020-07-22). Indian Def Minister Asks Air Force to Stand Ready, Despite De-escalation Efforts Along China Border. sputniknews.com New Delhi (Sputnik): A month after violent skirmishes involving the armies of India and China in eastern Ladakh, the commanders of the Indian Air Force (IAF) met in New Delhi to "review the operational scenario and deployments" and to discuss "building the IAF capabilities in the next decade to tackle all emerging threats."

Staff (2020-07-22). COVID Deaths Quintuple for Older Latinx Workers Keeping California Going. truthout.org Amid a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations across the United States, the Latinx community has been hit especially hard in places like California, where many Latinx workers fill essential jobs as farmworkers and meatpackers. "Latino and people of color basically do the scut work that keep the state going, its economy going, but get very little of the resources," says Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the David Geffen School of M…

ACLU Foundation of Oregon (2020-07-22). ACLU Sues Federal Agents Over "Unconstitutional Nightmare" in Portland. indybay.org Organization Seeks to Block Federal Law Enforcement Attacks on Journalists, Legal Observers in Portland…

Coalition for Police Accountabiity (2020-07-22). Reject the "Exigency Clause" Measure — No Martial Law in Oakland. indybay.org This letter was written by Cathy Leonard on behalf of CPA in response to the Police Union's addition to a Measure LL [Police Commission] clean-up measure which would allow the city administrator to declare a version of martial law. If Mayor Schaaf really opposes the Portlandization of Oakland, she needs to demand this addition be removed from any police accountability measure now.

_____ (2020-07-21). Activists Camp At State House For Giving Undocumented Immigrants Driver's Licenses. popularresistance.org Two groups urging state legislators to include a provision that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses have been encamped outside the State House gates since Friday morning, according to organizers. | "This will put pressure so all the legislators can hear us and pass this bill," said Rolando Oliva, an organizer with Cosecha Massachusetts, in Spanish through a translator as he stood outside the State House late Sunday afternoon. "We have been trying to pass this for 15 years now." | The encampment Sunday afternoon included about 10 tents where activists have been sleeping during the night…