Friday, February 08, 2019

BAUAW NEWSLETTER, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2019

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U.S. Hands Off Venezuela Rally



Saturday, February 9, 2019


1 PM


Lake Merritt Columns

599 El Embarcadero, Oakland, California 94610


Rally to demand U.S. Hands Off Venezuela in support of the elected Maduro Bolivarian government


We demand:

No U.S. Coup!
- No troops
- No sanctions
- Return Venezuelan money to the legitimate Maduro government
- No proxy interventions (i.e. through Colombia or Brazil)

Recognize the elected Maduro Bolivarian government

No recognition of the self-imposed, rogue Guaidò "government".


Initiated by:
We Are All Venezuela
Marcha Patriótica - Capítulo California
Task Force on the Americas
Communist Workers League

Additional endorsers:
- The Campaign To End US and Canada Sanctions Against Venezuela
- Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox Radio Show
- March on the Pentagon
- International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
- Answer Coalition Bay Area
- Party for Socialism and Liberation - San Francisco
- Workers World Party - Bay Area
- Alliance For Global Justice
- Socialist Organizer
- Peace and Freedom Party Alameda County Executive Committee
- Arab Resource and Organizing Center
- Professor Peter Phillips, former Director of Project Censored
- Prof. Dr. Richard Sorg, Hamburg, Germany
- Cuba Solidarity Campaign, UK
- Haiti Action Committee
- Ann Garrison, journalist, Black Agenda Report, KPFA, San Francisco Bay View

We invite other organizations to endorse. Please message with your endorsement, and we'll add you to the listed endorsers.

To see the latest list of endorsers, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/366629640735843/
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Send an email to the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center calling on them to open their books on activities in Venezuela 

The AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center has received at least $3,925,000 of public funds for its operations in Colombia and Venezuela, but next to nothing is known about its activities in Venezuela. Considering the role the Solidarity Center played in supporting coup plotters in 2002, and considering the current coup effort in Venezuela, the Solidarity Center should open its books and release details about what it is doing in Venezuela. We hope the Solidarity Center is not aiding and abetting today's coup plotters and Trump Administration plans for regime change. We need details that show us that the Solidarity Center is not going down the same road it did in 2002. If it is, we need to take action now to get the Solidarity Center on the right track. The Solidarity Center must represent workers, not the White House and its destabilization plans.  
BACKGROUND INFO:

What  is the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center Doing in Venezuela:  We Have a Right to Know!

by James Patrick Jordan 
The Solidarity Center--the AFL-CIO’s organization for acting around the world--has long been active in Venezuela, and not usually for good effect.  We demand that the Solidarity Center open their books, and honestly report about their current operations in that country. 
We hope they are not supporting the current coup attempt against President Nicolaus Maduro in any way, as the coup attempt is an illegal effort to replace a democratically-elected president with one not elected by the Venezuelan people but of the US Government.  But we don’t know; their past operations cause us great concerns; and we want them to prove to us they have nothing to do with the current attempt. 
The AFL-CIO associated Solidarity Center has received at least $3,925,000 for operations in Venezuela and Colombia between 2010 and 2019, and perhaps more. The Solidarity Center gets approximately 90 percent of its funding from the United States government, mostly via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The Solidarity Center has a history that includes advancing State Department goals even against the interests of workers. It channeled money to plotters in Venezuela behind the attempted coup of 2002. The Solidarity Center supported union officials who locked out their own oil workers during the economic sabotage that followed the failed coup attempt. In 2008, when the AFL-CIO was leading the resistance to a Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Colombia, the Solidarity Center was meeting with the U.S. Embassy in Colombia to discuss strategies for passing that same FTA. The Solidarity Center leadership that was in Venezuela and Colombia in 2002 and 2008 is still in place in 2019. 
The Solidarity Center’s operations are part of the AFL-CIO (and previously, AFL) foreign operations that have taken place over the past 100+ years.  This was most completely documented in a 2010 book titled AFL-CIO’s Secret War against Developing Country Workers:  Solidarity or Sabotage? by long-time labor activist and Purdue University sociologist, Kim Scipes (Lanham, MD:  Lexington Books).  The Solidarity Center has continued operating since then. 


Subject:  What is the Solidarity Center doing in Venezuela?
Message: 

Remaining:  1628
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Six Boxes of Mumia Abu-Jamal's Files Found Hidden in DA Storage Room



Mumia Abu-Jamal

BREAKING NEWS! SHARE WIDELY!

On January 3, 2019 the office of District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a letter memorandum to Judge Leon Tucker.  "DA [Larry Krasner], and members of his staff went to a remote and largely inaccessible of the DA's office marked "Storage" looking for office furniture." And found six boxes of files on Mumia Abu-Jamal's case that were not produced duringthe recent court proceedings.

The District Attorney Krasner's remarkable and suspicious discovery of six boxes of files marked Mumia or Mumia Abu-Jamal hidden in a storage room on December 28 was one day after Judge Tucker's historic decision granting Mumia Abu-Jamal new rights of appeal.

This is confirmation of what we've known for decades--the prosecution has hidden exculpatory evidence in Mumia's case.  Evidence that is likely proof that Mumia's guilt was intentionally manufactured by the police and prosecution and the truth of his innocence suppressed.

These files should be released to the public. DA Krasner should take this as evidence of the total corruptness of this prosecution against an innocent man. The remedy for this is nothing less than dismissal of the charges against Mumia and his freedom from prison!

It took DA Krasner six days to report this find to Judge Tucker. Why? And who has gone through those six boxes of files on Mumia's case? What assurance can DA Krasner give that there hasn't been further tampering with and covering up of the evidence, which led to an innocent man being framed for murder and sentenced to death?

The DA's letter was not publicly available, nor was the January 3 docket filing shown on the court's public access web pages of docket filing, until January 9.

Rachel Wolkenstein, January 10, 2019
WHYY (an affiliate of NPR)
https://whyy.org/articles/philly-prosecutors-discover-mysterious-six-boxes-connected-to-mumia-abu-jamal-in-storage-room/
Philly prosecutors discover mysterious 'six boxes' connected to Mumia Abu-Jamal in storage room
By Bobby AllynJanuary 9, 2019
A group of two dozen activists briefly block traffic during a rally outside the Philadelphia District Attorney's office on Friday. The group called on DA Larry Krasner to not challenge a Common Pleas court ruling that allows Mumia Abu-Jamal to file an appeal. (Bastiaan Slabbers for WHYY)

Days after Christmas, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and some of his assistants went rummaging around an out-of-the-way storage room in the office looking for some pieces of furniture. What they stumbled upon was a surprising find: six boxes stuffed of files connected to the case of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Five of the six boxes were marked "McCann," a reference to the former head of the office's homicide unit, Ed McCann. Some of the boxes were also marked "Mumia," or the former Black Panther's full name, "Mumia Abu-Jamal."

It is unknown what exactly the files say and whether or not the box's contents will shed new light on a case that for decades has garnered worldwide attention.

But in a letter to the judge presiding over Abu-Jamal's case, Assistant District Attorney Tracey Kavanagh wrote "nothing in the Commonwealth's database showed the existence of these six boxes," she said. "We are in the process of reviewing these boxes."

The surprise discovery comes just weeks after a Philadelphia judge reinstated appeals rightsto Abu-Jamal, saying the former radio journalist and activist should get another chance to reargue his case in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court due to a conflict-of-interest one of the justices had at the time Abu-Jamal's petition was denied.

Abu-Jamal's supportersare seizing on the mysterious six boxes as proof that his innocence has been systematically suppressed by authorities.

"There's no question in my mind that the only reason they could've been hidden like this is that this is the evidence of the frame-up of Mumia," said Rachel Wolkenstein, who has been a legal advocate and activist for Abu-Jamal for more than 30 years.

"What these missing boxes represent is confirmation of what we've known for decades: there's hidden, exculpatory evidence in Mumia's case, and that is evidence that Mumia's guilt was intentionally manufactured by the police and prosecution and the truth of his innocence was suppressed," Wolkenstein said.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office did not say anything at all about what is in the boxes, or whether there is evidence that the files are exculpatory, or capable of demonstrating that Abu-Jamal did not commit a crime. During his original trial three separate eyewitnesses testified Mumia did commit the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

Wolkenstein's assessment is wild speculation, according to Ed McCann, the former homicide unit chief whose name was scrawled across the six boxes. McCann left the office in 2015 after 26 years there as a prosecutor. He was never directly involved in Abu-Jamal's case.

"I can't tell you 100% what is in these boxes," McCann said Wednesday night. "But I doubt there is anything in them that is not already in the public eye."

How and why did six boxes tied to one of the most legendary and racially-charged cases the office has ever handled get relegated to a dusty storage room?

McCann is not sure. But he said when the office moved locations in 2006, hundreds of boxes with his name written them were moved into the current headquarters on South Penn Square, just across the street from Philadelphia City Hall.

"I don't remember these six boxes. But nobody over there discussed this with me before filing this letter," McCann said. "I would think if they were really interested in what happened, they would have reached out to me."

In the two-page letter to the court, assistant district attorney Kavanagh wrote that if Judge Leon Tucker would like to review the boxes, prosecutors will turn them over.

Tucker, who is the same judge who ordered that Abu-Jamal should be given a new appeals argument, has not weighed in on the newly-discovered boxes.

But in his opinion last month, Tucker said former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille should have recused himself from hearing Abu-Jamal's petitions, since Castille himself was Philadelphia's District Attorney when the case was actively on appeal. "True justice must be completely just without even a hint of partiality, lack of integrity or impropriety," wrote Tucker, saying a new hearing in front of the state's high court is warranted.

Prosecutors have not taken a position yet on Tucker's opinion. The files unearthed in the six boxes could influence whether Krasner's office supports or opposes a new hearing for Abu-Jamal.

Wolkenstein said the thousands of people who have joined the "Free Mumia" movement around the globe should be able to review the documents themselves.

"These files should be released publicly," Wolkenstein said. "The remedy for this is nothing less than dismissal of Mumia's charges and his release from prison."




Tell DA Larry Krasner: Do NOT Appeal Judge Tucker's Decision Granting Mumia Abu-Jamal New Appeal Rights!


Mail: 
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner
Three South Penn Square
Corner of Juniper and South Penn Square
Philadelphia, PA 19107-3499

phone:
215-686-8000

tweet:
@philaDAO

Here's an online petition to sign and share widely.
Mumia Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence in the 1981 fatal shooting of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. His prosecution was politically-motivated because of his Black Panther Party membership, his support of the MOVE organization and as a radical journalist. His 1982 trial and subsequent 1995 PCRA appeals were racially biased: the prosecution excluded African Americans from the jury; and PCRA trial Judge Albert Sabo, the same judge in Abu-Jamal's initial trial, declared, "I'm gonna help them fry the n----r." On Dec. 27, Mumia Abu-Jamal won a significant case before Judge Leon Tucker in a decision granting him new rights of appeal. Tell Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner:  We call on you to do the right thing.  Do not stand in the way of justice.  Do not appeal Judge Tucker's decision. As a progressive attorney you ran for Philadelphia District Attorney on a platform that included standing "for justice, not just for convictions."  You promoted reviewing past con


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Statement: Academic Institutions Must Defend Free Speech

The International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity issued the following statement on 23 December, signed by 155 distinguished academics and human rights advocates.



Petition Text


Statement issued by the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity:
We, the undersigned, oppose the coordinated campaign to deny academics their free speech rights due to their defense of Palestinian rights and criticism of the policies and practices of the state of Israel. Temple University in Philadelphia, USA and the University of Sydney, Australia have been under great pressure to fire, respectively, Marc Lamont Hill and Tim Anderson, both senior academics at their institutions, for these reasons. Steven Salaita and Norman Finkelstein have already had their careers destroyed by such attacks. Hatem Bazian, Ahlam Muhtaseb, William Robinson, Rabab Abdulhadi and others have also been threatened.
The ostensible justification for such action is commonly known as the "Palestinian exception" to the principle of free speech. One may freely criticize and disrespect governments – including one's own – religions, political beliefs, personal appearance and nearly everything else except the actions and policies of the state of Israel. Those who dare to do so will become the focus of well-financed and professionally run campaigns to silence and/or destroy them and their careers.
We recognize that much of the free speech that occurs in academic and other environments will offend some individuals and groups. However, as has been said many times before, the answer to free speech that some may find objectionable is more free speech, not less. We therefore call upon all academic institutions, their faculty and students, as well as the public at large, to resist such bullying tactics and defend the free speech principles upon which they and all free societies and their institutions are founded.
https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/academic-institutions-must-defend-free-speech?just_launched=true
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Courage to Resist
Hi Bonnie. Courage to Resist is working closely with our new fiscal sponsor, the Objector Church, on a couple projects that we're excited to share with you.
objector registry
Objector Registry launches as draft registration of women nears
The first ever Objector Registry (objector.church/register) offers a declaration of conscience for anyone to assert their moral opposition to war, regardless of age, gender, or religious affiliation. This serves to create a protective record of beliefs and actions with which to oppose a later forced draft. Given last week's release of the report by the Congressionally mandated commission on military service, this free registry is coming online just in time. Please sign up yourself and share with friends!
weekly meetup
You're invited to join us online weekly
This is a great way to find out more about the Objector Church and why we might be the religious humanist interfaith peace and justice community you have been looking for! Our live meetups are lead by Minister James Branum from Oklahoma City. This Sunday at 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern, if your not excited by the NFL's "big game", pop online and check us out at objector.church/meetup
COURAGE TO RESIST ~ SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHO REFUSE TO FIGHT!
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland, California 94610 ~ 510-488-3559
www.couragetoresist.org ~ facebook.com/couragetoresist



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COURAGE TO RESIST


New "Refuse War" Shirts


We've launched a new shirt store to raise funds to support war resisters.

In addition to the Courage to Resist logo shirts we've offered in the past, we now  have a few fun designs, including a grim reaper, a "Refuse War, Go AWOL" travel theme, and a sporty "AWOL: Support Military War Resisters" shirt.

Shirts are $25 each for small through XL, and bit more for larger sizes. Please allow 9-12 days for delivery within the United States.

50% of each shirt may qualify as a tax-deductible contribution.

Courage to Resist -- Support the Troops who Refuse to Fight!
484 Lake Park Ave. #41, Oakland, CA 94610, 510-488-3559
couragetoresis.org -- facebook.com/couragetoresist

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Abu-Jamal Wins New Right to Appeal

By Rachel Wolkenstein



 On December 27, Court of Common Pleas Judge Leon Tucker granted Mumia's petition for new appeal rights, over the opposition of "progressive DA" Larry Krasner. 

This is the first Pennsylvania state court decision in Mumia's favor since he was arrested on December 9, 1981.  

 In his decision Judge Tucker ruled former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille, who was the District Attorney during Mumia's first appeal of his frame-up conviction and death sentence, "created the appearance of bias and impropriety" in the appeal process when he didn't recuse himself from participating in Mumia's appeals. Judge Tucker relied heavily on Ronald Castille's public statements bragging that he would be a "law and order" judge, that he was responsible for 45 men on death row, that he had the political and financial support of the Fraternal Order of Police, and new evidence of Castille's campaign for death warrants for convicted "police killers." The appearance of bias and lack of "judicial neutrality" exhibited by Castille warranted his recusal.

Judge Tucker's order throws out the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions from 1998-2012 that rubber-stamped Mumia's racially-biased, politically-motivated murder conviction on frame-up charges of the shooting death of police officer Daniel Faulkner. 

Judge Tucker's decision means that Mumia Abu-Jamal's post-conviction appeals of his 1982 conviction, that he was framed by police and prosecution who manufactured evidence of guilt, suppressed the proof of his innocence and tried by racist, pro-prosecution trial Judge Albert Sabo who declared, "I'm gonna help them fry the nigger."   and denied him other due process trial rights must be reheard in the Pennsylvania appeals court. 

The new appeals ordered by Judge Tucker opens the door to Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom. Abu-Jamal's legal claims and supporting evidence warrant an appeal decision of a new trial or dismissal of the frame-up charges that have kept him imprisoned for 37 years. 

The international campaign for Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom has launched a new offensive. At the top of its actions is a call for letters and phone calls to DA Larry Krasner demanding he not appeal Judge Tucker's order granting new appeal rights to Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Tell DA Larry Krasner: Do NOT Appeal Judge Tucker's Decision Granting Mumia Abu-Jamal New Appeal Rights!

Email: DA_Central@phila.gov, Tweet: @philaDAO, Phone: 215-686-8000
Mail: Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner
3 S. Penn Square, Corner of Juniper and S. Penn Square
Philadelphia, PA 19107-3499

Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
SCI Mahanoy
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733


Listen to a radio report at Black Agenda Report:
https://www.blackagendareport.com/judge-soon-rule-mumias-appeal-bid

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A Call for a Mass Mobilization to Oppose NATO, War and Racism
Protest NATO, Washington, DC, Lafayette Park (across from the White House)

1 PM Saturday, March 30, 2019.
Additional actions will take place on Thursday April 4 at the opening of the NATO meeting

April 4, 2019, will mark the 51st anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the internationally revered leader in struggles against racism, poverty and war.

And yet, in a grotesque desecration of Rev. King's lifelong dedication to peace, this is the date that the military leaders of the North American Treaty Organization have chosen to celebrate NATO's 70th anniversary by holding its annual summit meeting in Washington, D.C. This is a deliberate insult to Rev. King and a clear message that Black lives and the lives of non-European humanity really do not matter.   

It was exactly one year before he was murdered that Rev. King gave his famous speech opposing the U.S. war in Vietnam, calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world" and declaring that he could not be silent.

We cannot be silent either. Since its founding, the U.S.-led NATO has been the world's deadliest military alliance, causing untold suffering and devastation throughout Northern Africa, the Middle East and beyond.

Hundreds of thousands have died in U.S./NATO wars in Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yugoslavia. Millions of refugees are now risking their lives trying to escape the carnage that these wars have brought to their homelands, while workers in the 29 NATO member-countries are told they must abandon hard-won social programs in order to meet U.S. demands for even more military spending.

Every year when NATO holds its summits, there have been massive protests: in Chicago, Wales, Warsaw, Brussels. 2019 will be no exception.

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) is calling for a mass mobilization in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 30.  Additional actions will take place on April 4 at the opening of the NATO meeting. 

We invite you to join with us in this effort. As Rev. King taught us, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

No to NATO!
End All U.S. Wars at Home and Abroad!
Bring the Troops Home Now! 
No to Racism! 
The Administrative Committee of UNAC,

To add your endorsement to this call, please go here: http://www.no2nato2019.org/endorse-the-action.html



Please donate to keep UNAC strong: https://www.unacpeace.org/donate.html 

If your organization would like to join the UNAC coalition, please click here: https://www.unacpeace.org/join.html

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To: Indiana Department of Corrections

Kevin "Rashid" Johnson Should Have Access to His Personal Property

Petition Text

1. IDOC regulation 02-01-101-VIII must be respected! Kevin Johnson (IDOC# 264847) must be allowed to select from his property the items that he most immediately needs. He has been left without any of the material he requires for contacting his loved ones, his writing (this includes books), his pending litigation, and for his artwork. 
2. Kevin Johnson (IDOC# 264847) should be released into General Population. Prolonged solitary confinement is internationally recognized as a form of torture. Moreover, he has not committed any infractions.

Why is this important?

Kevin "Rashid" Johnson (IDOC# 264847) – a Virginia prisoner – was transferred to Indiana on November 4. His transfer was authorized under the Interstate Corrections Compact, commonly used to ship prisoners out of state. Virginia is one of several states that make use of this practice as a tool to repress and isolate prisoners who speak up for their rights.
These transfers are extremely disruptive, and serve as an opportunity for prison officials to violate prisoners' rights, especially regarding their property. This is exactly what has been done to Rashid.
Rashid has 24 boxes of personal property. These are all of his possessions in the world. Much of these 24 boxes consist of legal documents and research materials, including materials directly related to pending or anticipated court cases, and his list of addresses and phone numbers of media contacts, human rights advocates, outside supporters, and friends.
At Pendleton Correctional Facility, where Rashid is now being kept prisoner and in solitary confinement, only one guard is in charge of the property room. This is very unusual, as the property room is where all of the prisoners' belongings that are not in their cells are kept. The guard in charge, Dale Davis, has a dubious reputation. Prisoners complain that property goes missing, and their requests to access their belongings – that by law are supposed to be met within 7 days, or if there are court deadlines within 24 hours – are often ignored, answered improperly, or what they receive does not correspond to what they have asked for.
Despite having a need for legal and research documents for pending and anticipated court cases, his requests to receive his property have not been properly answered. The property officer, Dale Davis, is supposed to inventory the prisoners' property with them (and a witness) present, according to IDOC regulation 02-01-101-VIII; this was never done. When Rashid did receive some property, it was a random selection of items unrelated to what he asked for, brought to the segregation unit in a box and a footlocker and left in an insecure area where things could be stolen or tampered with.
On December 19th, Rashid received notice that Davis had confiscated various documents deemed to be "security threat group" or "gang" related from his property. Rashid has no idea what these might be, as (contrary to the prison regulations) he was not present when his property was gone through. Rashid does not know how much or how little was confiscated, or what the rationale was for its being described as "gang" related. None of Rashid's property should be confiscated or thrown out under any circumstances, but it is worth noting that the way in which this has been done contravenes the prison's own regulations and policies!
Dale Davis has been an IDOC property officer for 8 years. He has boasted about how he does not need any oversight or anyone else working with him, even though it is very unusual for just one person to have this responsibility. Prisoners' property goes "missing" or is tampered with, and prisoners' rights – as laid out by the Indiana Department of Corrections – are not being respected.
Rashid is not asking to have all of his property made available to him in his cell. He is willing to accept only having access to some of it at a time, for instance as he needs it to prepare court documents or for his research and writing. 
After two months in Indiana, he has still not been supplied with his documents containing the phone numbers and addresses of his loved ones and supporters, effectively sabotaging his relationships on the outside. Rashid is not asking for any kind of special treatment, he is only asking for the prison property room to follow the prison's own rules.
We ask that you look into this, and make sure that Mr. Johnson's right to access his property is being respected, and that something be done about the irregularities in the Pendleton property room. We ask that the rules of the Indiana Department of Corrections be respected.

Sign the petition here:
https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/kevin-rashid-johnson-should-have-access-to-his-personal-property?bucket&source=facebook-share-email-button&time=1547257147&fbclid=IwAR3rjpTZog631Oxv6oqjZmaJQv1GLIMHMuhDaP4g0Xu_EajWwW6X1faBPbE


FOR UPDATES CHECK OUT RASHID'S WEBSITE AT RASHIDMOD.COM
you can also hear a recent interview with Rashid on Final Straw podcast here: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/tag/kevin-rashid-johnson/
Write to Rashid:
Kevin Rashid Johnson's writings and artwork have been widely circulated. He is the author of a book,Panther Vision: Essential Party Writings and Art of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson, Minister of Defense, New Afrikan Black Panther Party, (Kersplebedeb, 2010).

Kevin Johnson D.O.C. No. 264847
G-20-2C Pendleton Correctional Facility
4490 W. Reformatory Rd.
Pendleton, IN 46064-9001
www.rashidmod.com

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Get Malik Out of Ad-Seg


Keith "Malik" Washington is an incarcerated activist who has spoken out on conditions of confinement in Texas prison and beyond:  from issues of toxic water and extreme heat, to physical and sexual abuse of imprisoned people, to religious discrimination and more.  Malik has also been a tireless leader in the movement to #EndPrisonSlavery which gained visibility during nationwide prison strikes in 2016 and 2018.  View his work at comrademalik.com or write him at:

Keith H. Washington
TDC# 1487958
McConnell Unit
3001 S. Emily Drive
Beeville, TX 78102
Friends, it's time to get Malik out of solitary confinement.

Malik has experienced intense, targeted harassment ever since he dared to start speaking against brutal conditions faced by incarcerated people in Texas and nationwide--but over the past few months, prison officials have stepped up their retaliation even more.

In Administrative Segregation (solitary confinement) at McConnell Unit, Malik has experienced frequent humiliating strip searches, medical neglect, mail tampering and censorship, confinement 23 hours a day to a cell that often reached 100+ degrees in the summer, and other daily abuses too numerous to name.  It could not be more clear that they are trying to make an example of him because he is a committed freedom fighter.  So we have to step up.


Phone zap on Tuesday, November 13

**Mark your calendars for the 11/13 call in, be on the look out for a call script, and spread the word!!**

Demands:
- Convene special review of Malik's placement in Ad-Seg and immediately release him back to general population
- Explain why the State Classification Committee's decision to release Malik from Ad-Seg back in June was overturned (specifically, demand to know the nature of the "information" supposedly collected by the Fusion Center, and demand to know how this information was investigated and verified).
- Immediately cease all harassment and retaliation against Malik, especially strip searches and mail censorship!

Who to contact:
TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier
Phone: (936)295-6371

Senior Warden Philip Sinfuentes (McConnell Unit)
Phone: (361) 362-2300

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Background on Malik's Situation

Malik's continued assignment to Ad-Seg (solitary confinement) in is an overt example of political repression, plain and simple.  Prison officials placed Malik in Ad-Seg two years ago for writing about and endorsing the 2016 nationwide prison strike.  They were able to do this because Texas and U.S. law permits non-violent work refusal to be classified as incitement to riot.

It gets worse.  Malik was cleared for release from Ad-Seg by the State Classification Committee in June--and then, in an unprecedented reversal, immediately re-assigned him back to Ad-Seg.  The reason?  Prison Officials site "information" collected by a shadowy intelligence gathering operation called a Fusion Center, which are known for lack of transparency and accountability, and for being blatant tools of political repression.

Malik remains in horrible conditions, vulnerable to every possible abuse, on the basis of "information" that has NEVER been disclosed or verified.  No court or other independent entity has ever confirmed the existence, let alone authenticity, of this alleged information.  In fact, as recently as October 25, a representative of the State Classification Committee told Malik that he has no clue why Malik was re-assigned to Ad-Seg.  This "information" is pure fiction.   

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Listen to 'The Daily': Was Kevin Cooper Framed for Murder?

By Michael Barbaro, May 30, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/podcasts/the-daily/kevin-cooper-death-row.html?emc=edit_ca_20180530&nl=california-today&nlid=2181592020180530&te=1

Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile deviceVia Apple Podcasts | Via RadioPublic | Via Stitcher


The sole survivor of an attack in which four people were murdered identified the perpetrators as three white men. The police ignored suspects who fit the description and arrested a young black man instead. He is now awaiting execution.


On today's episode:
• Kevin Cooper, who has been on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California for three decades.



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Last week I met with fellow organizers and members of Mijente to take joint action at the Tornillo Port of Entry, where detention camps have been built and where children and adults are currently being imprisoned. 

I oppose the hyper-criminalization of migrants and asylum seekers. Migration is a human right and every person is worthy of dignity and respect irrespective of whether they have "papers" or not. You shouldn't have to prove "extreme and unusual hardship" to avoid being separated from your family. We, as a country, have a moral responsibility to support and uplift those adversely affected by the US's decades-long role in the economic and military destabilization of the home countries these migrants and asylum seekers have been forced to leave.

While we expected to face resistance and potential trouble from the multiple law enforcement agencies represented at the border, we didn't expect to have a local farm hand pull a pistol on us to demand we deflate our giant balloon banner. Its message to those in detention:

NO ESTÁN SOLOS (You are not alone).

Despite the slight disruption to our plan we were able to support Mijente and United We Dream in blocking the main entrance to the detention camp and letting those locked inside know that there are people here who care for them and want to see them free and reunited with their families. 


We are continuing to stand in solidarity with Mijente as they fight back against unjust immigration practices.Yesterday they took action in San Diego, continuing to lead and escalate resistance to unjust detention, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and to ICE. 

While we were honored to offer on-the-ground support we see the potential to focus the energy of our Drop the MIC campaign into fighting against this injustice, to have an even greater impact. Here's how:
  1. Call out General Dynamics for profiteering of War, Militarization of the Border and Child and Family Detention (look for our social media toolkit this week);
  2. Create speaking forums and produce media that challenges the narrative of ICE and Jeff Sessions, encouraging troops who have served in the borderlands to speak out about that experience;
  3. Continue to show up and demand we demilitarize the border and abolish ICE.

Thank you for your vision and understanding of how militarism, racism, and capitalism are coming together in the most destructive ways. Help keep us in this fight by continuing to support our work.


In Solidarity,
Ramon Mejia
Field Organizer, About Face: Veterans Against the War


P.O. Box 3565, New York, NY 10008. All Right Reserved. | Unsubscribe
To ensure delivery of About Face emails please add webmaster@ivaw.org to your address book.


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Major George Tillery
MAJOR TILLERY FILES NEW LEGAL PETITION
SEX FOR LIES AND
MANUFACTURED TESTIMONY
April 25, 2018-- The arrest of two young men in Starbucks for the crime of "sitting while black," and the four years prison sentence to rapper Meek Mill for a minor parole violation are racist outrages in Philadelphia, PA that made national news in the past weeks. Yesterday Meek Mills was released on bail after a high profile defense campaign and a Pa Supreme Court decision citing evidence his conviction was based solely on a cop's false testimony.
These events underscore the racism, frame-up, corruption and brutality at the core of the criminal injustice system. Pennsylvania "lifer" Major Tillery's fight for freedom puts a spotlight on the conviction of innocent men with no evidence except the lying testimony of jailhouse snitches who have been coerced and given favors by cops and prosecutors.

Sex for Lies and Manufactured Testimony
For thirty-five years Major Tillery has fought against his 1983 arrest, then conviction and sentence of life imprisonment without parole for an unsolved 1976 pool hall murder and assault. Major Tillery's defense has always been his innocence. The police and prosecution knew Tillery did not commit these crimes. Jailhouse informant Emanuel Claitt gave lying testimony that Tillery was one of the shooters.

Homicide detectives and prosecutors threatened Claitt with a false unrelated murder charge, and induced him to lie with promises of little or no jail time on over twenty pending felonies, and being released from jail despite a parole violation. In addition, homicide detectives arranged for Claitt, while in custody, to have private sexual liaisons with his girlfriends in police interview rooms.
In May and June 2016, Emanuel Claitt gave sworn statements that his testimony was a total lie, and that the homicide cops and the prosecutors told him what to say and coached him before trial. Not only was he coerced to lie that Major Tillery was a shooter, but to lie and claim there were no plea deals made in exchange for his testimony. He provided the information about the specific homicide detectives and prosecutors involved in manufacturing his testimony and details about being allowed "sex for lies". In August 2016, Claitt reaffirmed his sworn statements in a videotape, posted on YouTube and on JusticeforMajorTillery.org.
Without the coerced and false testimony of Claitt there was no evidence against Major Tillery. There were no ballistics or any other physical evidence linking him to the shootings. The surviving victim's statement naming others as the shooters was not allowed into evidence.
The trial took place in May 1985 during the last days of the siege and firebombing of the MOVE family Osage Avenue home in Philadelphia that killed 13 Black people, including 5 children. The prosecution claimed that Major Tillery was part of an organized crime group, and falsely described it as run by the Nation of Islam. This prejudiced and inflamed the majority white jury against Tillery, to make up for the absence of any evidence that Tillery was involved in the shootings.
This was a frame-up conviction from top to bottom. Claitt was the sole or primary witness in five other murder cases in the early 1980s. Coercing and inducing jailhouse informants to falsely testify is a standard routine in criminal prosecutions. It goes hand in hand with prosecutors suppressing favorable evidence from the defense.
Major Tillery has filed a petition based on his actual innocence to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Larry Krasner's Conviction Review Unit. A full review and investigation should lead to reversal of Major Tillery's conviction. He also asks that the DA's office to release the full police and prosecution files on his case under the new  "open files" policy. In the meantime, Major Tillery continues his own investigation. He needs your support.
Major Tillery has Fought his Conviction and Advocated for Other Prisoners for over 30 Years
The Pennsylvania courts have rejected three rounds of appeals challenging Major Tillery's conviction based on his innocence, the prosecution's intentional presentation of false evidence against him and his trial attorney's conflict of interest. On June 15, 2016 Major Tillery filed a new post-conviction petition based on the same evidence now in the petition to the District Attorney's Conviction Review Unit. Despite the written and video-taped statements from Emanuel Claitt that that his testimony against Major Tillery was a lie and the result of police and prosecutorial misconduct, Judge Leon Tucker dismissed Major Tillery's petition as "untimely" without even holding a hearing. Major Tillery appealed that dismissal and the appeal is pending in the Superior Court.
During the decades of imprisonment Tillery has advocated for other prisoners challenging solitary confinement, lack of medical and mental health care and the inhumane conditions of imprisonment. In 1990, he won the lawsuit, Tillery v. Owens, that forced the PA Department of Corrections (DOC) to end double celling (4 men to a small cell) at SCI Pittsburgh, which later resulted in the closing and then "renovation" of that prison.
Three years ago Major Tillery stood up for political prisoner and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal and demanded prison Superintendent John Kerestes get Mumia to a hospital because "Mumia is dying."  For defending Mumia and advocating for medical treatment for himself and others, prison officials retaliated. Tillery was shipped out of SCI Mahanoy, where Mumia was also held, to maximum security SCI Frackville and then set-up for a prison violation and a disciplinary penalty of months in solitary confinement. See, Messing with Major by Mumia Abu-Jamal. Major Tillery's federal lawsuit against the DOC for that retaliation is being litigated. Major Tillery continues as an advocate for all prisoners. He is fighting to get the DOC to establish a program for elderly prisoners.
Major Tillery Needs Your Help:
Well-known criminal defense attorney Stephen Patrizio represents Major pro bonoin challenging his conviction. More investigation is underway. We can't count on the district attorney's office to make the findings of misconduct against the police detectives and prosecutors who framed Major without continuing to dig up the evidence.
Major Tillery is now 67 years old. He's done hard time, imprisoned for almost 35 years, some 20 years in solitary confinement in max prisons for a crime he did not commit. He recently won hepatitis C treatment, denied to him for a decade by the DOC. He has severe liver problems as well as arthritis and rheumatism, back problems, and a continuing itchy skin rash. Within the past couple of weeks he was diagnosed with an extremely high heartbeat and is getting treatment.
Major Tillery does not want to die in prison. He and his family, daughters, sons and grandchildren are fighting to get him home. The newly filed petition for Conviction Review to the Philadelphia District Attorney's office lays out the evidence Major Tillery has uncovered, evidence suppressed by the prosecution through all these years he has been imprisoned and brought legal challenges into court. It is time for the District Attorney's to act on the fact that Major Tillery is innocent and was framed by police detectives and prosecutors who manufactured the evidence to convict him. Major Tillery's conviction should be vacated and he should be freed.


Major Tillery and family

HOW YOU CAN HELP
    Financial Support—Tillery's investigation is ongoing. He badly needs funds to fight for his freedom.
    Go to JPay.com;
    code: Major Tillery AM9786 PADOC

    Tell Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner:
    The Conviction Review Unit should investigate Major Tillery's case. He is innocent. The only evidence at trial was from lying jail house informants who now admit it was false.
    Call: 215-686-8000 or

    Write to:
    Security Processing Center
    Major Tillery AM 9786
    268 Bricker Road
    Bellefonte, PA 16823
    For More Information, Go To: JusticeForMajorTillery.org
    Call/Write:
    Kamilah Iddeen (717) 379-9009, Kamilah29@yahoo.com
    Rachel Wolkenstein (917) 689-4009, RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com




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    Free Leonard Peltier!


    Art by Leonard Peltier
    Write to:
    Leonard Peltier 89637-132
    USP Coleman 1,  P.O. Box 1033
    Coleman, FL 33521

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    Working people are helping to feed the poor hungry corporations! 
    Charity for the Wealthy!



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    MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN MUMIA'S CASE. TIME SENSITIVE. SHARE WIDELY. WE WANT KRASNER TO BE DELUGED.

    INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL

    December 29, 2018

    Dear Comrades and Friends Across the Globe:

     On December 27, 2018, in a historic action, Court of Common Pleas Judge Leon Tucker granted Mumia's petition for new appeal rights, over the opposition of "progressive DA" Larry Krasner. 
    This is the first Pennsylvania state court decision in Mumia's favor since he was arrested on December 9, 1981.  The new appeals ordered by Judge Tucker open the door to Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom. The legal claims and supporting evidence, previously denied in the PA Supreme Court with Justice Ronald Castille's participation, warrant a dismissal of the frame-up charges that have kept Mumia imprisoned for 37 years, or, at the very least, a new trial. 

     It is critical that Mumia can go forward immediately with these appeals. However, DA Larry Krasner has the authority to appeal Judge Tucker's decision. Krasner's position, to the surprise of many who had described him as the "new kind" of district attorney, more bent toward justice than mere conviction, with a history of defending dissident activists, been adamant in his opposition to Mumia' petition.  His legal filings, court arguments, and his statements on public radio have all argued that there is no evidence of Justice Castille's bias or the appearance of impropriety when he refused to recuse himself in Mumia's PA Supreme Court appeals from 1998-2012 (!).

     If the prosecution appeals, there will follow years of legal proceedings on the validity of Judge Tucker's order before Mumia can begin the new appeal process challenging his conviction. .Mumia is now 64 years old. He has cirrhosis of the liver from the years of untreated hepatitis C. He still suffers from continuing itching from the skin ailment which is a secondary symptom of the hep-C. Mumia now has glaucoma and is receiving treatment. He has been imprisoned for almost four decades.  An extended appeals process coming at the age of 64 to a person whose health had already been seriously compromised is the equivalent of a death sentence by continued incarceration.    

    We are asking you to join us in demanding that Larry Krasner stop acting in league with the Fraternal Order of Police. Mumia should be freed from prison, now!  We are asking you to call, email or tweet DA Larry Krasner TODAY and tell him: DO NOT Appeal Judge Tucker's Decision Granting New Rights of Appeal to Mumia Abu-Jamal.

    In his decision, Judge Tucker ruled that former PA Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille, who was the District Attorney during Mumia's first appeal of his frame-up conviction and death sentence, had "created the appearance of bias and impropriety" in the appeal process when he didn't recuse himself from participating in Mumia's appeals. Judge Tucker relied heavily on Ronald Castille's public statements bragging that he would be a "law and order" judge, that he was responsible for putting 45 men on death row, that he had the political and financial support of the Fraternal Order of Police, and in recently discovered new evidence that Castille had particularly campaigned for immediate death warrants of convicted "police killers".  Judge Tucker states unequivocally that the appearance of bias and lack of "judicial neutrality" exhibited by Castille warranted his recusal. 

    Judge Tucker's order throws out the PA Supreme Court decisions from 1998-2012 that rubber-stamped Mumia's racially-biased, politically-motivated murder conviction on frame-up charges of the shooting death of police officer Daniel Faulkner. 

     Judge Tucker's decision means that Mumia Abu-Jamal's post-conviction appeals of his 1982 conviction must be reheard in the PA appeals court. In those appeals Mumia's lawyers proved that Mumia was framed by police and prosecution who manufactured evidence of guilt and suppressed the proof of his innocence. And, he was tried by a racist, pro-prosecution trial judge, Albert Sabo, who declared to another judge, "I'm gonna help them fry the n----r" and denied Mumia his due process trial rights.

    We can win Mumia's freedom! We have a legal opening. It is our opportunity to push forward to see Mumia walk out of prison! The international campaign for Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom has launched a new offensive. At the top of its actions is this call for letters and phone calls to DA Larry Krasner demanding he not appeal Judge Tucker's order granting new appeal rights to Mumia Abu-Jamal.  Please take this action today.  Please send us back your name so we can compile a list of international signers.  Also, no matter how many letters for Mumia you have signed in the past year or two, please sign this one as well.  The moment is different, and the demand of Krasner is different.  We want all possible supporters included.

    CONTACT:    Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. 
                            Phone: (215) 686-8000; Email: DA_Central@phila.gov; Tweet: @philaDAO
                            Mail: Phila. DA Larry Krasner, Three South Penn Square, Phila, PA 19107

    Tell DA Krasner:     Do Not Appeal Judge Tucker's Decision Reinstating Appeal Rights 
                                     for Mumia Abu-Jamal!


    In solidarity and toward Mumia's freedom,

    (Initiated by all the US based Mumia support organizations)
    International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; The MOVE Organization; Educators for Mumia; International Action Center; Mobilization for Mumia; Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC); Campaign to Bring Mumia Home; Committee to Save Mumia; Prison Radio, Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Oakland; Oakland Teachers for Mumia; Workers World/Mundo Obrero

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    1) An Inmate's Death in Jail and a Journalist's Search for Why
    By Sarah Maslin Nir, February 1, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/reader-center/lamekia-dockery-jail-inmate-death.html

    A drawing of Lamekia Dockery when she was a girl, with her mother and grandmother.CreditCreditCourtesy of Charmel Dockery


    Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
    It was the headline of a news release issued by the prosecutor's office in Elkhart County, Ind., on an October morning last year. Instantly, the journalist's ever-present question pinged through my head: Why?

    Why was no one charged in the death of Lamekia Dockery, which occurred while she was in custody at the Goshen, Ind., work-release center? And a much bigger question: Why did a 36-year-old woman jailed for a probation violation, for shoplifting at a Walmart, die?
    Lamekia Dockery in an undated family photo. Courtesy of Charmel Dockery
    I was posted to The New York Times's Chicago bureau, on loan for a month to the National desk from the Metro section, where I cover the intersection of the president and New York City. Most national correspondents are posted to one of our 15 bureaus, each of which covers a swath of states. Every morning, my colleague Mitch Smith did the painstaking work of reading about 200 news sites and sending a list of the most interesting stories to our many correspondents across the country. When the story from Elkhart came along in his daily roundup, I was intrigued and disturbed.
    My first call was to Vicki E. Becker, the Elkhart County prosecutor, to ask why no one would be charged in the death, which was a result, according to the coroner's office, of sepsis from an untreated perforated ulcer. As I later reported, she said the guards were not culpable because "none of them expressed any belief that a stomachache could result in her death."
    For Ms. Becker, the case was closed. But for a reporter, the story of how Ms. Dockery died still needed to be told.
    With the blessing of Monica Davey, the Chicago bureau chief, I jumped into my rental car and sped to Goshen to find out more. By the edge of Rock Run Creek, I found the work-release center, and outside it inmates hustling back from their jobs at area factories to make curfew. Nevertheless, when I asked them what happened, many stopped to speak to me, risking penalization for being tardy.
    Ms. Dockery had died over the course of six days, begging for help from guards who did not listen in the open-ward jail. Her fellow inmates all heard her screams, and they wanted the world to know.

    Around the corner from the center is St. Mark's United Methodist Church, where prisoners in good standing can attend services. They crowded the sanctuary with their babies, partners and other visiting family members as I joined them for prayers one Sunday. The week Ms. Dockery died — the pastor, Tony Brinson, told me — inmates stood up during services to speak of what they had witnessed, many in tears. I interviewed several as we sat in the pews; each was wearing a GPS-tracking ankle monitor.

    Other inmates, such as Nini Mora, who used her own money to buy Ms. Dockery Tylenol — some of the only medical care she received during her ordeal — were not eligible for outside privileges. So I interviewed Ms. Mora over Facebook Messenger, asking her to record her thoughts as diary entries and send me the audio clips. I also spoke with Ms. Dockery's mother, her sisters and her aunt, who all told me of their searing loss.
    Eyewitness testimony, I knew, was not enough. So I reached out to the Elkhart Board of Commissioners, which runs corrections in the county. Not once was I allowed to speak with a member; over the months I was working on the article, the board responded solely through a lawyer, Michael DeBoni of the Goshen law firm Yoder, Ainlay, Ulmer & Buckingham.
    Typically, a reporter and a representative of a public entity will engage in on-background conversations to answer simple questions of fact, such as: How many inmates are there? And how many guards? But Mr. DeBoni refused to ever get on the phone with me. Nearly every snippet of conversation was conducted through formal legal letters, each delayed by several days.
    It was such an unusual correspondence that I have since initiated a freedom of information request to find out how many hours Mr. DeBoni's firm spent working on responses to my questions and the hourly rate the firm has charged the county. (I may report back when and if that request is fulfilled.)
    Nonetheless, little by little, my editor Shaila Dewan and I found that the official picture of what Ms. Dockery endured was emerging. It came via documents I obtained through the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
    The contents were so startling that, as I read the documents back in The Times's headquarters in New York, I gasped, startling my colleagues beside me.
    What the inmates had told me — that when Ms. Dockery became irate at not receiving medical help she was put in solitary confinement, or "the box"; that when she kicked the door there, she was shackled — was backed up completely in corrections officers' logs. And there was more: When she went to find help from a caseworker, she was punished. When she vomited into a cup of noodle soup in a day room, she was castigated. When she said she was dying, she was ignored.
    Ms. Dockery's death was likely preventable. But she died because, experts told me, as a drug user, a black woman and an incarcerated person, her human anguish was dismissed. My hope is that, by telling her story, Lamekia Dockery can finally be seen and heard.

    Sarah Maslin Nir covers breaking news for the Metro section. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her series "Unvarnished," an investigation into New York City's nail salon industry that documented the exploitative labor practices and health issues manicurists face. @SarahMaslinNir
    CreditCourtesy of Charmel Dockery

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    2) FamilyTreeDNA Admits to Sharing Genetic Data With F.B.I.
    By Matthew Haag, February 4, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/business/family-tree-dna-fbi.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

    FamilyTreeDNA, an at-home DNA testing company, apologized for failing to disclose it was sharing genetic information with the F.B.I. to help solve rapes and murders. Some of the site's users felt the company had betrayed them.CreditCreditSue Ogrocki/Associated Press


    The president of FamilyTreeDNA, one of the country's largest at-home genetic testing companies, has apologized to its users for failing to disclose that it was sharing DNA data with federal investigators working to solve violent crimes.
    In the booming business of consumer DNA testing and genealogy, FamilyTreeDNA had marketed itself as a leader of consumer privacy and a fierce protector of user data, refusing, unlike some of its competitors, to sell information to third parties.
    But unbeknown to its users, the Houston-based firm quietly and voluntarily agreed in 2018 to open its database of more than two million records to the F.B.I. and examine DNA samples in its laboratory to identify suspects and victims of unsolved rapes and murders.

    FamilyTreeDNA confirmed the deal on Thursday, in a report by Buzzfeed News, setting off a backlash among its loyal users who felt betrayed and igniting another debate over privacy and ethical issues with investigators using genealogical sites to solve crimes.

    In an email to its users on Sunday, the company's president, Bennett Greenspan, defended the agreement with the F.B.I. but apologized for not revealing it sooner.
    "I am genuinely sorry for not having handled our communications with you as we should have," Mr. Greenspan wrote, according to a copy of the email obtained by The New York Times. "We've received an incredible amount of support from those of you who believe this is an opportunity for honest, law-abiding citizens to help catch bad guys and bring closure to devastated families."
    The news underscored the lack of universal regulations governing direct-to-consumer genetic testing in the United States and how companies can use their data without consumers' knowledge.
    "It's a good example of, are you willing to stay abreast of every terms of service change with FamilyTreeDNA, or are you doing it once because it was a holiday present?" Erin E. Murphy, a professor at New York University School of Law who wrote the book "Inside the Cell: The Dark Side of Forensic D.N.A.," said in an interview.
    "Even if you were reading all of your spam email about all the privacy changes, did you get one that says you have agreed to be the F.B.I.'s testing lab? No, they did not issue that," Ms. Murphy said.

    Alan Butler, the senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, described the situation as "'bait and switch' behavior that consumer protection laws are meant to prohibit."
    "The company needs to either roll back the change or else delete all stored DNA data it has collected from individuals under the previous agreement," Mr. Butler said.
    Consumer DNA tests have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, with major sites like Ancestry.com and 23andMe offering personalized ancestry reports and tools to find possible relatives. They have also become useful tools for law enforcement agencies, helping detectives solve high-profile cases such as the Golden State Killer last year.
    While investigators have used open-source sites such as GEDmatch, which is free, to find DNA matches and possible relatives, the arrangement with FamilyTreeDNA includes the first known commercial site to provide some services without a subpoena or warrant.
    According to FamilyTreeDNA, the F.B.I. will have access to its website like any other user: After uploading a person's DNA file, investigators can search for potential relatives with overlapping DNA. Detectives will have access to the same repository of genealogical records as all users, the company said.
    In addition, the company's genetic testing laboratory, Gene by Gene, has agreed to create data profiles from DNA samples provided by the F.B.I., which can then be plugged into other family history sites. The company said on its website that the F.B.I. would need a subpoena to gain access to information not already available on its website.
    The company has not disclosed how many cases it has worked on, but Mr. Greenspan said in the email to users that it was "a handful of DNA samples for cold cases from the F.B.I."

    Mr. Greenspan defended the deal by saying his company was forcing law enforcement agencies to be transparent, unlike other DNA testing companies.
    "Law enforcement has the ability to test DNA samples from crime scenes and upload the results into databases, like any other customer can, and it appears they have been doing it at other companies for the past year," he said. "The distinction is that, according to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, we expect the FBI and law enforcement agencies to let us know when they submit something to our database."
    A company spokesman said late Monday that the F.B.I. is only able to see other DNA profiles on FamilyTreeDNA that share some of the same genetic profile. Users can disable the "matching" option in their account settings, which would prevent the F.B.I., as well as ordinary users, from seeing their information, the spokesman said.
    "Unless a valid court order is issued, such as a subpoena or search warrant, with which FamilyTreeDNA would have no choice but to comply, there is no difference in the level of database access provided to law enforcement than to an ordinary user of FamilyTreeDNA," the spokesman, Patrick W. Murphy, said in an email.
    The F.B.I. declined to comment.
    After Buzzfeed reported on the arrangement, genealogists revolted. Some discussed creating a petition to encourage FamilyTreeDNA to reverse its decision, while others threatened to delete their profiles.
    "Not being upfront about what it wanted to do and quietly changing its terms with no notice to current customers is a big 'no no,'" Rachel King, the founder of Toll Genealogy, a resource for genealogists, said in an email. "At the end of the day, this is valuable work. Anything that helps put a name to unidentified body, potentially enabling their loved ones to finally know what happened to them, is a good thing."
    More than 15 million people have submitted their DNA to companies like FamilyTreeDNA in recent years. While they represent a small fraction of all people, the pool of profiles is large enough to allow 60 percent of white Americans — the primary users of DNA sites in the United States — to be identified through the databases, according to researchers.

    As the number of tests expands in the coming years, researchers believe that 90 percent of Americans of European descent will be identifiable, even if they did not submit their own DNA, according to researchers.
    "It's about their third cousin that they don't know exists or their child that they haven't had yet," Ms. Murphy said. "We shouldn't be having this conversation about just the users on the site. It's more than their privacy that is at stake."

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    3) Jazmine Headley, Whose Child Was Torn From Her Arms at a City Office, Gets a Public Apology
    By Nikita Stewart, February 4, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/nyregion/jazmine-headley-nypd-arrest.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

    In December, video footage of Jazmine Headley enduring having her 1-year-old son wrested from her arms was widely shared on social media.CreditCreditMike Catalini/Associated Press


    Jazmine Headley, whose chaotic arrest at a public benefits office in Brooklyn two months ago sparked a national outcry, testified with tears in her eyes at a City Council hearing Monday, recounting the day that her 1-year-old son was wrested from her arms as she struggled to hold on to him.
    "It's not just the fact that I was arrested. It was the harsh way that I was treated by people who are supposed to help me," she said, adding later, "In my case, I was just sitting. A peaceful act."
    Video footage of the young mother desperately holding on to her baby went viral on social media and prompted the Council to introduce a package of more than a dozen bills aimed at improving the treatment of people who receive public assistance.

    In brief, but emotional, testimony she reminded Council members that she was one of thousands of New Yorkers who go to public benefits offices each day and face long waits, poor service and even disdain from caseworkers, security guards and police officers.

    Her remarks ended with the room offering a standing ovation, and Council members publicly apologizing to her.
    On Dec. 7, Ms. Headley had gone to an office in the Boerum Hill neighborhood to find out why public assistance she had been receiving for her son to attend day care had been suddenly cut off. To make the trip, she missed a day from her job cleaning offices and had to take her son with her because he could not go to day care.
    Seats in the main waiting area were taken, so Ms. Headley sat on the floor. A security guard told her to move, saying she was blocking a fire zone. Ms. Headley took exception to the guard's tone and refused. (Officials later determined that Ms. Headley was not blocking a fire zone.)
    The security guards, who are called peace officers and who work for the Human Resources Administration, called police. Chaos then ensued after a security guard grabbed Ms. Headley's arm as she tried to walk away. Ms. Headley was arrested and had to spend four nights at Rikers Island before she was released and charges were dropped.
    One guard has resigned, and the city is moving to fire another.
    During the hearing, some Council members cited a report by the Safety Net Project, an advocacy group that has closely monitored how poor people are treated in seeking social services.

    One of the bills in the legislative package would require the Department of Social Services, which oversees the Human Resources Administration, to issue quarterly reports on use-of-force incidents. Another bill would require the social services agency to create an "Office of the Special Handler," which would act as an ombudsman for complaints and questions.
    Other bills would create space for children, streamline appointments, hire social workers for all offices and administer training in de-escalation for employees.
    Steven Banks, the commissioner of social services, described similar pilot programs and efforts that were already underway. But Mr. Banks said the Council and Ms. Headley reminded him that his agency sometimes falls short. "I want everyone to hear our commitment to do more," he said.
    Mr. Banks, who publicly apologized to Ms. Headley in December, apologized again at the hearing, which was heavy on contrition from elected officials.
    Laurie Cumbo, a council member who represents Brooklyn, is a new mother like Ms. Headley. Sniffling through her own tears, Ms. Cumbo talked about the obstacles facing mothers as they pack up toys and supplies and navigate the city, only to face more obstacles in seeking assistance. Ms. Cumbo was so moved that she invited Ms. Headley and her son to attend her son's birthday party.
    Corey Johnson, the Council speaker, stepped down from the dais and hugged Ms. Headley. He addressed her directly, used the word "sorry" five times and apologized that she had to spend time in jail and endure poor treatment.

    "I am similarly deeply, deeply grateful for your bravery, for you wanting to tell your story, for you wanting to ensure that this doesn't happen to anyone else," he said.

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    4) Brooklyn Federal Jail Had Heat Failures Weeks Before Crisis, Employees Say
    By Benjamin Weiser and Ali Winston, February 5, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/nyregion/brooklyn-jail-heat-power.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

    A protester outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. A Manhattan federal judge visited the jail on Tuesday to investigate conditions.CreditCreditStephanie Keith for The New York Times
    The heat at a troubled Brooklyn jail started to fail as early as mid-January, weeks before the problem erupted into a public crisis, staff members and current and former inmates testified on Tuesday at a hearing on the deteriorating conditions.
    The hearing, before Judge Analisa Torres of Federal District Court in Manhattan, followed complaints that inmates at the jail, the Metropolitan Detention Center, were being housed in intolerable conditions.
    They were forced to huddle under blankets in frigid cells, lawyers said, after an electrical fire on Jan. 27 plunged much of the building into darkness. It led the jail to cancel lawyer and family visits for a week.

    The heating problems were unrelated to the electrical issues but worsened just as the city experienced temperatures that were among the coldest of the winter.

    Reports of the conditions drew crowds of protesters and a phalanx of elected officials to the jail over the weekend. Hugh J. Hurwitz, the acting director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, toured the jail on Monday. Power and heat now have been restored and family visits have also resumed, officials said.
    After the hearing, Judge Torres took the unusual step of visiting the M.D.C., which sits on the Brooklyn waterfront in Sunset Park, for more than two hours to carry out her own inspection. Afterward, she rejected a request, raised by lawyers for two inmates, that she appoint a neutral observer to investigate jail conditions and report to the judge.
    The judge noted that the federal public defender's office in New York City had already made the same request in a civil suit filed against the Bureau of Prisons on Monday in Brooklyn, and she said that court should take up the issue.
    The conditions at the jail also prompted defense lawyers to file emergency bail requests in Brooklyn federal court. Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, who heard three bail cases, condemned the conditions in the jail.
    "I can't imagine people in the dark, in subfreezing temperatures, without any understanding of when it will end. It's not humane," Judge Garaufis said during the proceedings.

    "They're keeping it together with Scotch tape," Judge Garaufis added, comparing the jail to an old, patched-up car. For years, he said, the jail's physical state had been deteriorating, and its disrepair was exacerbated by a perfect storm of the federal government shutdown, equipment failures and a fire that knocked out the electrical grid.
    The hearing before Judge Torres in Manhattan offered some of the first public accounts by jail employees and inmates about the jail problems, which federal defenders have called a humanitarian crisis.
    Anthony Sanon, the leader of the local chapter of the correction officers union, testified that problems with the heat began as early as mid-January, and another employee, John Maffeo, a facility manager, placed the date at about a week or two before the Jan. 27 fire. A third employee, Hai June Bencebi, remembered it became "extremely cold" in the jail about two days before Martin Luther King's Birthday, when temperatures in New York were plummeting.

    Current and former inmates testified that the cold and darkness of last week made living conditions almost unbearable.
    Miguel Cruz, who was recently released from the jail and is awaiting trial, said he slept "completely dressed" and wearing two pairs of socks. His cellmate, he said, used book covers to try to block cold air blowing through vents into their cell. There was no hot water, he said, so he did not shower.
    "It was horrible," Mr. Cruz testified. "I wasn't going to take a shower with frozen water."
    The jail houses more than 1,600 federal inmates who are being prosecuted in Brooklyn and, in some cases, Manhattan. Most of the detainees are awaiting trial and have not been found guilty of a crime.
    Judge Torres held the hearing in Manhattan after a lawyer for one of the defendants, Jose Segura-Genao, complained that his client was living with limited heat and light in the jail, and, because he had no money in his commissary account, could not buy thermal undershirts and underwear.

    "The last time I visited Mr. Segura-Genao, he was not wearing socks," the lawyer, Ezra Spilke, wrote.
    The United States attorney's office in Manhattan, which represented the government at the hearing before Judge Torres, declined to comment Tuesday night. The office had asked that the judge delay the hearing, telling her in a letter that the living conditions at the jail were "evolving and continue to require intensive work by M.D.C. personnel." The judge denied the government's request.
    Among those attending the packed hearing was Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.
    During the hearing, Mr. Sanon, the correctional officer and president of the officers' union chapter, testified about a power blackout at the M.D.C. in January, two weeks before the fire, which sent almost the entire building into darkness.
    "I saw the institution pretty much in the dark," Mr. Sanon said. The poor visibility created "a dangerous situation" inside the jail, he said, and complicated tasks such as searching inmates for contraband or moving them back to their cells in a lockdown.
    He said there were also problems with cold that he reported to his superiors in mid-January as corrections officers were wearing scarves, coats and hats on duty.
    "Numerous C.O.s, — I would say all of the C.O.s — called and complained that it was freezing in the building," Mr. Sanon testified.

    Family members of prisoners were among the spectators in the courtroom and in two overflow areas that showed the proceedings on a live monitor.
    Clara Salazar, 27, who sat in one of the overflow rooms, said that her father — whom she declined to name out of concern for his privacy — is an inmate at the M.D.C. and that the last time she saw him there was from the street. She was with protesters and he was inside, banging on a window alongside other inmates in a loud, clattering protest against conditions at the jail.
    "We didn't get to talk to him for a very long time," Ms. Salazar said. "No phone calls, no emails."

    Sean Piccoli and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
    Follow Benjamin Weiser and Ali Winston on Twitter: @BenWeiserNYT and @awinston.

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    5) Officer Faces No Charges in Fatal Shooting in an Alabama Mall
    By Richard Fausset, February 5, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/us/alabama-mall-shooting-death.html
    Emantic F. Bradford Jr. was fatally shot by the police on Nov. 22 at a mall in Hoover, Ala.

    An Alabama police officer will not be criminally charged for killing a young black man whom he had mistaken for the gunman in a shopping-mall shooting Thanksgiving night, the state attorney general's office said Tuesday. The decision is likely to extend the debate over a tragedy at the intersection of gun rights and concerns over racial biases in policing.
    The shooting death of Emantic F. Bradford Jr., 21, at the Riverchase Galleria mall in Hoover, Ala., prompted protests and raised questionsabout whether police officers are too quick to assume that a nonwhite person who is armed is a wrongdoer.
    In a 24-page report, Attorney General Steve Marshall concluded that the Hoover police officer — identified only as Officer 1 — who shot Mr. Bradford had "reasonably exercised" his duties.
    "Officer 1's actions were reasonable under the circumstances and were consistent with his training and nationally accepted standards for 'active shooter' scenarios," the report stated.

    The police officer shot Mr. Bradford, who went by E.J., a few seconds after gunshots rang out at the mall on Nov. 22, sending shoppers racing for safety and leaving an 18-year-old man, Brian Wilson, injured by two bullets.
    The officer, who was on duty at the mall, said in a statement that he had turned toward the sound of the gunfire with his weapon drawn, and saw an injured man clutching his stomach near a railing, with another man helping him. He said he also saw "an armed suspect" who was "quickly moving towards the two males standing near the railing."
    "The suspect was advancing on the two males and had a black handgun in his right hand," the officer said. "I fired my duty weapon at the armed suspect to stop him." That man was Mr. Bradford.
    The officer said he thought Mr. Bradford was going to kill the two men, and the report said the officer had "mistakenly believed" Mr. Bradford had fired the initial shots.

    The officer said he was unable to issue verbal commands before firing, "due to the quickness of the event and the immediate threat Bradford posed" to the two men he was approaching.
    The police later arrested another man — Erron Martez Dequan Brown, 20 — and charged him with attempted murder in connection with the shooting of Mr. Wilson, the injured man by the railing.
    The attorney general's report said there was no evidence that Mr. Bradford's handgun was fired at the mall.
    The report said the F.B.I. had found no evidence to prompt an investigation into whether Mr. Bradford's civil rights had been violated, a basis for federal prosecutions in cases that are otherwise under state jurisdiction. An F.B.I. spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter Tuesday.
    The decision not to bring charges did little to quell the suspicions and anger of Mr. Bradford's relatives and supporters. "I'm outraged," his mother, April Pipkins, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "In no way was justice served."
    Some surveillance video images of the events at the mall were released on Tuesday. But Benjamin L. Crump, a lawyer for the family, said he believed there was additional footage that had not been released, and he demanded that the public be allowed to see it. In a prepared statement, he said that Mr. Bradford's "only 'crime' was being black."
    Ashlyn McMillan, a witness to the mall shootings, told The New York Times that she considered Mr. Bradford a hero, saying that he had directed frantic shoppers to safety and had warned her to get down and seek cover inside a store.

    A man named Roosevelt Poole filled in some of the night's narrative blanks at a recent preliminary hearing in the case. According to the Alabama news website AL.com, Mr. Poole said that he and another man were with Mr. Brown, the suspected gunman, in front of the J.C. Penney store in the mall when Mr. Bradford, Mr. Wilson and about eight other people showed up.
    Soon, Mr. Poole said, Mr. Wilson was slapping and punching Mr. Brown, the website reported. Mr. Brown's lawyers say that he shot Mr. Wilson in self-defense.
    The attorney general's report said that video footage showed Mr. Brown and his friends running into the J.C. Penney store after the shots were fired. For his part, Mr. Bradford initially ran away from the store entrance after the shots, the report said, but then drew his weapon and chambered a round.
    "Bradford then charges back toward J.C. Penney, gun drawn," the report states.
    Mr. Crump said in a telephone interview that he believed Mr. Bradford was in no way intending to engage in a shootout.
    The attorney general's report concludes that the officer's initial mistaken belief that Mr. Bradford had shot Mr. Wilson did not render the officer's actions "unreasonable."
    "First, a reasonable person could have assumed that the only person with a gun who was running toward the victim of a shooting that occurred just three seconds earlier fired the shots," it said.
    The report also asserted that Mr. Bradford "still posed an immediate deadly threat to persons in the area. Video evidence suggests that Bradford, who was carrying a firearm, was running toward the initial shooter, Erron Brown, who was also carrying a firearm. Multiple shoppers were nearby, including a mother and child directly in between the two armed men."

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    6) Elliott Abrams, Trump's Pick to Bring "Democracy" to Venezuela, Has Spent His Life Crushing Democracy
    By Jon Schwarz
    Via Email, February 5, 2019
    Elliott Abrams, 2019

    On December 11, 1981 in El Salvador, a Salvadoran military unit created and trained by the U.S. Army began slaughtering everyone they could find in a remote village called El Mozote. Before murdering the women and girls, the soldiers raped them repeatedly, including some as young as 10 years old, and joked that their favorites were the 12-year-olds. One witness described a soldier tossing a 3-year-old child into the air and impaling him with his bayonet. The final death toll was over 800 people. The next day, December 12, was the first day on the job for Elliott Abrams as assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs in the Reagan administration. Abrams snapped into action, helping to lead a cover-up of the massacre. News reports of what had happened, Abrams told the Senate, were "not credible," and the whole thing was being "significantly misused" as propaganda by anti-government guerillas. This past Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named Abrams as America's special envoy for Venezuela. According to Pompeo, Abrams "will have responsibility for all things related to our efforts to restore democracy" in the oil-rich nation. The choice of Abrams sends a clear message to Venezuela and the world: The Trump administration intends to brutalize Venezuela, while producing a stream of unctuous rhetoric about America's love for democracy and human rights. Combining these two factors — the brutality and the unctuousness — is Abrams's core competency. Abrams previously served in a multitude of positions in the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, often with titles declaring their focus on morality. First, he was assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs (in 1981); then the State Department "human rights" position mentioned above (1981-85); assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs (1985-89); senior director for democracy, human rights, and international operations for the National Security Council (2001-05); and finally, Bush's deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy (2005-09). In these positions, Abrams participated in many of the most ghastly acts of U.S. foreign policy from the past 40 years, all the while proclaiming how deeply he cared about the foreigners he and his friends were murdering. Looking back, it's uncanny to see how Abrams has almost always been there when U.S. actions were at their most sordid.

    Abrams, a graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, joined the Reagan administration in 1981, at age 33. He soon received a promotion due to a stroke of luck: Reagan wanted to name Ernest Lefever as assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs, but Lefever's nomination ran aground when two of his own brothers revealed that he believed African-Americans were "inferior, intellectually speaking." A disappointed Reagan was forced to turn to Abrams as a second choice. A key Reagan administration concern at the time was Central America — in particular, the four adjoining nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. All had been dominated by tiny, cruel, white elites since their founding, with a century's worth of help from U.S. interventions. In each country, the ruling families saw their society's other inhabitants as human-shaped animals, who could be harnessed or killed as needed. But shortly before Reagan took office, Anastasio Somoza, the dictator of Nicaragua and a U.S. ally, had been overthrown by a socialist revolution. The Reaganites rationally saw this as a threat to the governments of Nicaragua's neighbors. Each country had large populations who similarly did not enjoy being worked to death on coffee plantations or watching their children die of easily treated diseases. Some would take up arms, and some would simply try to keep their heads down, but all, from the perspective of the cold warriors in the White House, were likely "communists" taking orders from Moscow. They needed to be taught a lesson.

    El Salvador
    The extermination of El Mozote was just a drop in the river of what happened in El Salvador during the 1980s. About 75,000 Salvadorans died during what's called a "civil war," although almost all the killing was done by the government and its associated death squads. The numbers alone don't tell the whole story. El Salvador is a small country, about the size of New Jersey. The equivalent number of deaths in the U.S. would be almost 5 million. Moreover, the Salvadoran regime continually engaged in acts of barbarism so heinous that there is no contemporary equivalent, except perhaps ISIS. In one instance, a Catholic priest reported that a peasant woman briefly left her three small children in the care of her mother and sister. When she returned, she found that all five had been decapitated by the Salvadoran National Guard. Their bodies were sitting around a table, with their hands placed on their heads in front of them, "as though each body was stroking its own head." The hand of one, a toddler, apparently kept slipping off her small head, so it had been nailed onto it. At the center of the table was a large bowl full of blood. Criticism of U.S. policy at the time was not confined to the left. During this period, Charles Maechling Jr., who had led State Department planning for counterinsurgencies during the 1960s, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the U.S. was supporting "Mafia-like oligarchies" in El Salvador and elsewhere and was directly complicit in "the methods of Heinrich Himmler's extermination squads." Abrams was one of the architects of the Reagan administration's policy of full-throated support for the Salvadoran government. He had no qualms about any of it and no mercy for anyone who escaped the Salvadoran abattoir. In 1984, sounding exactly like Trump officials today, he explained that Salvadorans who were in the U.S. illegally should not receive any kind of special status. "Some groups argue that illegal aliens who are sent back to El Salvador meet persecution and often death," he told the House of Representatives. "Obviously, we do not believe these claims or we would not deport these people." Even when out of office, 10 years after the El Mozote massacre, Abrams expressed doubt that anything untoward had occurred there. In 1993, when a United Nations truth commission found that 95 percent of the acts of violence that had taken place in El Salvador since 1980 had been committed by Abrams's friends in the Salvadoran government, he called what he and his colleagues in the Reagan administration had done a "fabulous achievement."

    Guatemala
    The situation in Guatemala during the 1980s was much the same, as were Abrams's actions. After the U.S. engineered the overthrow of Guatemala's democratically elected president in 1954, the country had descended into a nightmare of revolving military dictatorships. Between 1960 and 1996, in another "civil war," 200,000 Guatemalans were killed — the equivalent of maybe 8 million people in America. A U.N. commission later found that the Guatemalan state was responsible for 93 percent of the human rights violations.

    Efraín Ríos Montt, who served as Guatemala's president in the early 1980s, was found guilty in 2013, by Guatemala's own justice system, of committing genocide against the country's indigenous Mayans. During Ríos Montt's administration, Abrams called for the lifting of an embargo on U.S. arms shipments to Guatemala, claiming that Ríos Montt had "brought considerable progress." The U.S. had to support the Guatemalan government, Abrams argued, because "if we take the attitude 'don't come to us until you're perfect, we're going to walk away from this problem until Guatemala has a perfect human rights record,' then we're going to be leaving in the lurch people there who are trying to make progress." One example of the people making an honest effort, according to Abrams, was Ríos Montt. Thanks to Ríos Montt, "there has been a tremendous change, especially in the attitude of the government toward the Indian population." (Ríos Montt's conviction was later set aside by Guatemala's highest civilian court, and he died before a new trial could finish.)

    Nicaragua
    Abrams would become best known for his enthusiastic involvement with the Reagan administration's push to overthrow Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista government. He advocated for a full invasion of Nicaragua in 1983, immediately after the successful U.S. attack on the teeny island nation of Grenada. When Congress cut off funds to the Contras, an anti-Sandinista guerrilla force created by the U.S., Abrams successfully persuaded the Sultan of Brunei to cough up $10 million for the cause. Unfortunately, Abrams, acting under the code name "Kenilworth," provided the Sultan with the wrong Swiss bank account number, so the money was wired instead to a random lucky recipient.

    Abrams was questioned by Congress about his Contra-related activities and lied voluminously. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information. One was about the Sultan and his money, and another was about Abrams's knowledge of a Contra resupply C-123 plane that had been shot down in 1986. In a nice historical rhyme with his new job in the Trump administration, Abrams had previously attempted to obtain two C-123s for the Contras from the military of Venezuela. Abrams received a sentence of 100 hours of community service and perceived the whole affair as an injustice of cosmic proportions. He soon wrote a book in which he described his inner monologue about his prosecutors, which went: "You miserable, filthy bastards, you bloodsuckers!" He was later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush on the latter's way out the door after he lost the 1992 election.

    Panama
    While it's been forgotten now, before America invaded Panama to oust Manuel Noriega in 1989, he was a close ally of the U.S. — despite the fact the Reagan administration knew he was a large-scale drug trafficker. In 1985, Hugo Spadafora, a popular figure in Panama and its one-time vice minister for health, believed he had obtained proof of Noriega's involvement in cocaine smuggling. He was on a bus on his way to Panama City to release it publicly when he was seized by Noriega's thugs. According to the book "Overthrow" by former New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer, U.S. intelligence picked up Noriega giving his underlings the go-ahead to put Spadafora down like "a rabid dog." They tortured Spadafora for a long night and then sawed off his head while he was still alive. When Spadafora's body was found, his stomach was full of blood he'd swallowed.

    This was so horrific that it got people's attention. But Abrams leapt to Noriega's defense, blocking the U.S. ambassador to Panama from increasing pressure on the Panamanian leader. When Spadafora's brother persuaded North Carolina's hyper-conservative GOP Sen. Jesse Helms to hold hearings on Panama, Abrams told Helms that Noriega was "being really helpful to us" and was "really not that big a problem. The Panamanians have promised they are going to help us with the Contras. If you have the hearings, it'll alienate them."

    And That's Not All
    Abrams also engaged in malfeasance for no discernible reason, perhaps just to stay in shape. In 1986 a Colombian journalist named Patricia Lara was invited to the U.S. to attend a dinner honoring writers who'd advanced "inter-American understanding and freedom of information." When Lara arrived at New York's Kennedy airport, she was taken into custody, then put on a plane back home. Soon afterward, Abrams went on "60 Minutes" to claim that Lara was a member of the "ruling committees" of M-19, a Colombian guerrilla movement. She also, according to Abrams, was "an active liaison" between M-19 "and the Cuban secret police." Given the frequent right-wing paramilitary violence against Colombian reporters, this painted a target on Lara's back. There was no evidence then that Abrams's assertions were true — Colombia's own conservative government denied it — and none has appeared since. Abrams's never-ending, shameless deceptions wore down American reporters. "They said that black was white," Joanne Omang at the Washington Post later explained about Abrams and his White House colleague Robert McFarlane. "Although I had used all my professional resources I had misled my readers." Omang was so exhausted by the experience that she quit her job trying to describe the real world to try to write fiction. Post-conviction Abrams was seen as damaged goods who couldn't return to government.. This underestimated him. Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., the one-time chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tangled fiercely with Abrams in 1989 over the proper U.S. policy toward Noriega once it become clear he was more trouble than he was worth. Crowe strongly opposed a bright idea that Abrams had come up with: that the U.S. should establish a government-in-exile on Panamanian soil, which would require thousands of U.S. troops to guard. This was deeply boneheaded, Crowe said, but it didn't matter. Crowe presciently issued a warning about Abrams: "This snake's hard to kill."

    To the surprise of Washington's more naive insiders, Abrams was back in business soon after George W. Bush entered the White House. It might have been difficult to get Senate approval for someone who had deceived Congress, so Bush put him in a slot at the National Security Council — where no legislative branch approval was needed. Just like 20 years before, Abrams was handed a portfolio involving "democracy" and "human rights."

    Venezuela
    By the beginning of 2002, Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, had become deeply irritating to the Bush White House, which was filled with veterans of the battles of the 1980s. That April, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Chavez was pushed out of power in a coup. Whether and how the U.S. was involved is not yet known, and probably won't be for decades until the relevant documents are declassified. But based on the previous 100 years, it would be surprising indeed if America didn't play any behind-the-scenes role. For what it's worth, the London Observer reported at the time that "the crucial figure around the coup was Abrams" and he "gave a nod" to the plotters. In any case, Chavez had enough popular support that he was able to regroup and return to office within days.

    Iran
    Abrams apparently did play a key role in squelching a peace proposal from Iran in 2003, just after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The plan arrived by fax, and should have gone to Abrams, and then to Condoleezza Rice, at the time Bush's national security adviser. Instead it somehow never made it to Rice's desk. When later asked about this, Abrams's spokesperson replied that he "had no memory of any such fax." (Abrams, like so many people who thrive at the highest level of politics, has a terrible memory for anything political. In 1984, he told Ted Koppel that he couldn't recall for sure whether the U.S. had investigated reports of massacres in El Salvador. In 1986, when asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee if he'd discussed fundraising for the contras with anyone on the NSC's staff, he likewise couldn't remember.)

    Israel and Palestine
    Abrams was also at the center of another attempt to thwart the outcome of a democratic election, in 2006. Bush had pushed for legislative elections in the West Bank and Gaza in order to give Fatah, the highly corrupt Palestinian organization headed by Yasser Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, some badly needed legitimacy. To everyone's surprise, Fatah's rival Hamas won, giving it the right to form a government. This unpleasant outburst of democracy was not acceptable to the Bush administration, in particular Rice and Abrams. They hatched a plan to form a Fatah militia to take over the Gaza Strip, and crush Hamas in its home territory. As reported by Vanity Fair, this involved a great deal of torture and executions. But Hamas stole a march on Fatah with their own ultra-violence. David Wurmser, a neoconservative who worked for Dick Cheney at the time, told Vanity Fair, "It looks to me that what happened wasn't so much a coup by Hamas but an attempted coup by Fatah that was pre-empted before it could happen." Yet ever since, these events have been turned upside down in the U.S. media, with Hamas being presented as the aggressors. While the U.S. plan was not a total success, it also was not a total failure from the perspective of America and Israel. The Palestinian civil war split the West Bank and Gaza into two entities, with rival governments in both. For the past 13 years, there's been little sign of the political unity necessary for Palestinians to get a decent life for themselves. Abrams then left office with Bush's exit. But now he's back for a third rotation through the corridors of power – with the same kinds of schemes he's executed the first two times. Looking back at Abrams's lifetime of lies and savagery, it's hard to imagine what he could say to justify it. But he does have a defense for everything he's done — and it's a good one.

    In 1995, Abrams appeared on "The Charlie Rose Show" with Allan Nairn, one of the most knowledgable American reporters about U.S. foreign policy. Nairn noted that George H.W. Bush had once discussed putting Saddam Hussein on trial for crimes against humanity. This was a good idea, said Nairn, but "if you're serious, you have to be even-handed" — which would mean also prosecuting officials like Abrams. Abrams chuckled at the ludicrousness of such a concept. That would require, he said, "putting all the American officials who won the Cold War in the dock." Abrams was largely right. The distressing reality is that Abrams is no rogue outlier, but a respected, honored member of the center right of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. His first jobs before joining the Reagan administration were working for two Democratic senators, Henry Jackson and Daniel Moynihan. He was a senior fellow at the centrist Council on Foreign Relations. He's been a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and now is on the board of the National Endowment for Democracy. He's taught the next generation of foreign policy officials at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He didn't somehow fool Reagan and George W. Bush — they wanted exactly what Abrams provided.

    So no matter the gruesome particulars of Abrams's career, the important thing to remember — as the U.S. eagle tightens its razor-sharp talons around yet another Latin American country — is that Abrams isn't that exceptional. He's mostly a cog in a machine. It's the machine that's the problem, not its malevolent parts.

    Before joining First Look, Jon Schwarz worked for Michael Moore's Dog Eat Dog Films and was Research Producer for Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story." He's contributed to many publications, including the New Yorker, the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, and Slate, as well as NPR and "Saturday Night Live." In 2003 he collected on a $1,000 bet that Iraq would have no weapons of mass destruction.


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    7) Income Is a Strong Predictor of Drug Purchases for Some Serious Diseases
    By Kevin Quealy and Margot Sanger-Katz, February 7, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/upshot/income-strong-predictor-drug-purchases-serious-diseases.html?action=click&module=Discovery&pgtype=Homepage

    Among the striking disparities: There are more prescriptions for drugs to treat mental illness in wealthy neighborhoods, while in poorer ones, there are more for H.I.V. and hepatitis C.CreditGeorge Frey/Reuters


    There are many, many things that rich people buy in larger quantities. It turns out medications for certain serious diseases may be one of them.
    A new analysis has found that, for some types of medications, income is a pretty strong predictor of how often someone is picking up a drug to treat an ailment.

    The analysis, by GoodRx, a company that tracks prescription drug prices, looked at how often residents of different neighborhoods filled prescriptions for different categories of drugs.

    Patients in wealthier neighborhoods were much more likely to pick up prescriptions for lifestyle problems: erectile dysfunction, baldness, anti-wrinkle Botox injections and an eye medicine that thickens eyelashes. This may be unsurprising.

    But the analysis also showed that richer patients were more likely to buy drugs for certain serious conditions, including mental health disorders. This was the case even though the analysis showed that income doesn't track with overall prescription use. 
    These prescriptions for serious conditions were filled disproportionately in rich neighborhoods despite evidence that the rich tend to be in overall better health. In fact, people in rich neighborhoods filled fewer prescriptions than people in middle-class neighborhoods. The blend of data suggests that, while prescriptions and income don't track well over all, there are points where they do.

    The relationship between income and prescription drug purchasing is more complicated than whether someone has money to spend at the pharmacy. Depending on income and life circumstances, Americans may have different odds of developing certain illnesses and of seeking treatment — even before the direct cost of medicines becomes an issue.
    "There are definitely a bunch of financial barriers before you even get to the point of getting to fill a drug," said Stacie B. Dusetzina, an associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University. She said social and cultural factors could matter, too: Evidence has shown that doctors are less likely to prescribe pain medicines to black patientsthan white ones, for example.

    Niteesh Choudhry, a professor of medicine and public health at Harvard, said that his research hadn't shown a clear relationship between income and prescription drug use. Instead, he said, cultural and racial factors — and the details of insurance coverage — were better predictors. When it comes to treatments for very common conditions, "the income relationships are probably not linear," he said.

    Several experts in the demographics of drug use said all those factors might explain the higher usage of medications for mental health problems among wealthier people. Some mental health problems are more prevalent among Americans with lower incomes, evidence shows. But longtime holes in the health care system mean that richer patients are more likely to have private insurance or extra money to pay for psychiatric care that is not covered by insurance. And some people in lower-income communities may feel more stigma around mental health diagnoses.

    A similar dynamic could explain lower prescription rates for birth control among lower-income women. Under Obamacare, all women with health insurance should be able to get contraception with no co-payment. So cost at the pharmacy counter can't alone explain the differences. But higher-income women may be more likely to have a regular doctor to prescribe pills. (The data shows that emergency contraceptive purchases, also available without co-payment, were more common in lower-income neighborhoods.)

    The high cost of EpiPens alone may explain some of the differences in usage. Current guidance is for patients to stock several of the devices, used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions, and replace them often. But their high cost may lead some poorer patients to make do with fewer or older ones, while those with more disposable income might stock extras.

    Some drugs seem to be taken about equally regardless of income. The use of antibiotics appears to be roughly the same for middle-class and rich Americans. These drugs are used for some serious diseases, have few over-the-counter substitutes, and tend to be inexpensive.

    Some drugs are much more commonly used at the low end of the income scale. Consider treatments for hepatitis C and H.I.V. These are diseases that disproportionately affect low-income Americans, and that pattern is reflected in the prescription purchasing patterns.
    The GoodRx data looked at a sample of 53 million retail pharmacy purchases in 39 large metropolitan areas over a year ending in October 2018, then divided them according to the income characteristics of the people who lived in the census tract where the pharmacy was located.
    This is not exactly the same as tracking individual customers by income, but most people buy drugs at pharmacies near their homes. The data includes drug purchases by people with both public and private health insurance, and by some customers who buy their medications using cash. Analysts at GoodRx then grouped drugs prescribed for various diagnoses to build categories. They also made some adjustments to the data in cases where the sample overrepresented one kind of insurance.

    Kevin Quealy is a graphics editor and reporter. He writes and makes charts for The Upshot about a range of topics, including sports, politics, health care and income inequality. @KevinQ
    Margot Sanger-Katz is a domestic correspondent and writes about health care for The Upshot. She was previously a reporter at National Journal and The Concord Monitor and an editor at Legal Affairs and the Yale Alumni Magazine. @sangerkatz  Facebook
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    8) France Recalls Ambassador to Italy After Minister Meets 'Yellow Vest' Protesters
    By Richard Pérez-Peña, February 7, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/world/europe/france-italy-ambassador-yellow-vests.html

    Luigi Di Maio, deputy prime minister and leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, in Rome in January. He met with leaders of the "Yellow Vest" protests in France on Tuesday.CreditCreditRiccardo Antimiani/EPA, via Shutterstock


    It has happened rarely between European Union allies, and not between France and Italy since the start of World War II. But on Thursday, after months of barbed commentary from Italian leaders, the French government said it had had enough: It recalled its ambassador from Rome.
    "This is without precedent since 1940, when Mussolini declared war," said Marc Lazar, a leading specialist of Franco-Italian relations who teaches at universities in Paris and Rome.
    "This is very, very harsh," he added. ''There's never been anything comparable. And it demonstrates a disturbing exacerbation of bad relations between the French and the Italians."

    More than that, it reflected the mounting strains on Europe's core that have been placed by populist governments as they seek to gain political points at home by chipping at the European Union and it supporters, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, foremost among them.

    The list of insults, particularly on the Italian side, is long. Last month, Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy premier and most powerful politician, who has made a sport out of targeting France, called Mr. Macron ''a terrible president.''
    But the final straw appears to have been cast by Mr. Salvini's coalition partner, Luigi Di Maio, the political leader of the populist Five Star Movement, who met on Tuesday in France with a Yellow Vest leader who has called for civil war.
    On February 5 Luigi Di Maio, the political leader of the Five Star Movement, and Alessandro Di Battista, a rabble rouser who many consider the party's leader-in-waiting, posted a picture on their social media pages of a meeting near Paris with Christophe Chalencon, an organizer of the Yellow Vest movement from the south of France.
    In the post, Mr. Di Maio said "This is the picture of a beautiful meeting, first of many to come, where we talked about our countries, social rights, the environment and direct democracy. The wind of change has crossed the Alps. I am repeating. The wind of change has crossed the Alps."
    Mr. Di Maio hailed the French popular uprising for ushering in "a new Europe;" the French denounced the meeting with the Yellow Vests as "an additional and unacceptable provocation."

    It "violated the respect that is owed to the democratic choices made by an allied and friendly nation," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, underscoring the government's hostility towards the Yellow Vest movement.
    Thursday France recalled its ambassador back to Paris. The latest precedent was Hungary's recall of its ambassador to the Netherlands in 2017 after that country's ambassador criticized Viktor Orban.
    In Franco-Italian relations,
    The spat has had comic-opera overtones, with its outlandish insults from the Italians — France should get rid of its "very bad president," the Italian far right leader and interior minister Matteo Salvini said recently — and its injured dignity on the French side. "Outrageous declarations" had been aimed at France by Italy, the French foreign ministry huffed on Thursday.
    But beneath the provocation and posturing there is a serious undercurrent, recognized by both sides: a battle for Europe's leadership between the forces represented by the Italian interior minister, Matteo Salvini, and the more open, self-proclaimed "progressive" spirit of Mr. Macron, who last summer denounced the populist "leprosy" rising in Europe, in a barb deliberately aimed at Mr. Salvini.
    "It's a confrontation between two very different conceptions of Europe," said Mr. Lazar — the ultra-nationalist, populist conception of Mr. Salvini, and Mr. Macron's constant proselytizing for a more unified, transnational Europe.
    Mr. Macron's palpable disdain for the Italian populists has only multiplied Italian fury at the French government.
    The dispute between the two countries came to a first boil last summer over the migrant issue. The Italians, having born the great brunt of the migrant wave since 2015, were outraged when Mr. Macron denounced the new Italian government for failing to take in the 629 migrants of the Aquarius humanitarian rescue boat.

    But beneath the provocation and posturing there is a serious undercurrent, recognized by both sides: a battle for Europe's leadership between the forces represented by the Italian interior minister, Matteo Salvini, and the more open, self-proclaimed "progressive" spirit of Mr. Macron, who last summer denounced the populist "leprosy" rising in Europe, in a barb deliberately aimed at Mr. Salvini.
    "It's a confrontation between two very different conceptions of Europe," said Mr. Lazar — the ultranationalist, populist conception of Mr. Salvini, and Mr. Macron's constant proselytizing for a more unified, transnational Europe.
    Mr. Macron's palpable disdain for the Italian populists has only multiplied Italian fury at the French government.

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    9) Virginia Police Sergeant Suspended After Antifa Ties Him to White Nationalism
    By Matt Stevens and Elisha Brown, February 6, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/us/virginia-cop-white-supremacist.html

    Sgt. Robert A. Stamm of the Virginia Division of Capitol Police has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into a report that he has ties to white nationalists.CreditCreditVirginia Capital Police


    A police sergeant in Virginia who was assigned to monitor the protests related to Gov. Ralph Northam was suspended Wednesday after being identified by an anti-fascist group as having an "affinity with white nationalist groups."
    The sergeant, Robert A. Stamm, 36, "has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the results of a review," the Virginia Division of Capitol Police said in a statement. Sergeant Stamm joined the division in 2014 and was promoted to his current rank last year, officials said.
    "There is a review policy in place, and we will follow that policy," Col. Anthony S. Pike, the division's chief, said in the statement.
    Reached by telephone on Wednesday night, Sergeant Stamm declined to comment.

    The authorities said in the statement that they were "made aware" early Wednesday morning of a "possible violation of division policy" by Sergeant Stamm. A police official specified that the possible violation that prompted the suspension was outlined in a blog post published on Tuesday by Antifascist of the Seven Hills. The group describes itself as an organization that seeks "to fight fascists" in Richmond, Va., "as communists and anarchists united in militant opposition."

    In the blog post, the group published several pictures — apparently pulled from Sergeant Stamm's social media accounts — of what it said was him with tattoos, flags and banners that it said were symbols and images associated with Nazis and white supremacists.
    Prof. Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said some of the symbols could have "dual messages." For instance, the Wolfsangel symbol — which resembles one of the tattoos — is a centuries-old insignia that was later used in Nazi Germany, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
    "These symbols, whether Wolfsangel or others, embrace Nordic history and culture," Professor Levin said. "A lot of this has been appropriated by modern-day white supremacists and neo-Nazis."
    The anti-fascist group said Sergeant Stamm came to its attention during the recent protests on the Capitol grounds during which people have demanded that Governor Northam resign over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook. Sergeant Stamm came to the attention of anti-fascists because he had a large Band-Aid covering his neck during one of the protests, the group said in its blog post. The police official confirmed that Sergeant Stamm had been assigned to patrol Virginia's Executive Mansion at least twice in recent days.
    The group also alleges that on Sergeant Stamm's Facebook page — which, along with other social media accounts appears to have been deleted — he was "friends with a number of people who claim to be associated with the group Asatru Folk Assembly" and at one point earlier this year added a profile photo of himself with what the group said was the Asatru Folk Assembly logo overlaid on it.

    The Southern Poverty Law Center has called the Asatru Folk Assembly "perhaps this country's largest neo-Völkisch hate group." Neo-Völkisch adherents, the Law Center says, are "spirituality premised on the survival of white Europeans and the preservation of dead or dying cultures they presume to embody" and "organized around ethnocentricity and archaic notions of gender."
    As recently as 2015, the F.B.I. foiled a plot by two men in the Richmond area who ascribed "to a white supremacy extremist version of the Asatru faith," an F.B.I. agent wrote in a federal affidavit. The plot, the agent alleged, involved shooting or bombing black churches and Jewish synagogues and doing harm to a gun store owner.

    Doris Burke contributed research.

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    10) Border Residents Shrug at Trump's Dire Warnings: 'They Make Me Laugh'
    By Jose A. Del Real, February 6, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/us/border-wall-caravan-mexico.html

    Ferdinando Galeana, right, on Tuesday at D'Poly Taco Grill and Beer, the restaurant he owns in El Centro, Calif.CreditCreditEmily Kask for The New York Times


    EL CENTRO, Calif. — Donald Trump was on the television, but no matter. Ferdinando Galeana's customers were watching their plates, not the president.
    As Mr. Trump delivered an ominous State of the Union address from Washington, which warned repeatedly about the dangers along the southwest border, Mr. Galeana dutifully tended to orders of tacos, horchata and micheladas at D'Poly, the Mexican eatery his family runs here about 10 miles from the Mexican border. What the president was saying on the screen behind him, said Mr. Galeana, would not help his small business, his family or his five dozen employees.
    "What we need here is someone to help people looking for jobs," said Mr. Galeana, whose wife and American-born children work with him at the restaurant. "The things he says, they make me laugh."

    Residents of El Centro and several other towns along the California-Mexico border have watched with curiosity and apprehension in recent years as the president has escalated his calls for a wall along the southwest frontier. Mr. Trump repeated his warnings about such perils again Tuesday.

    "Republicans and Democrats must join forces again to confront an urgent national crisis," Mr. Trump said during his speech, delivered not long after a bitter impasse over funding for a border wall that shut down the government for 35 days. "Congress has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our government, protect our homeland, and secure our very dangerous southern border."
    [Sign up for Crossing the Border, a limited-run newsletter about life where the United States and Mexico meet.]
    On a busy Tuesday night at D'Poly, patrons occasionally glanced at the screen that played the president's address to the nation. Most paid it no mind at all. Mr. Galeana and others said they had largely tuned out what the president has to say because, too often, his rhetoric is disconnected from what their communities really want. They have struggled to reconcile the president's warnings about threatening conditions on the border with their own experiences living in this quiet, largely agricultural hamlet.
    "What he's saying on the news is different from what we're seeing here," said Cecy Magallanes, 45, who is originally from Mexicali, not far across the border in Mexico, and works as a school bus driver.

    She said Mr. Trump's previous calls for a border wall seemed "like a strategy to get votes."
    "His wall — always his wall," added Cesar Salas, Ms. Magallanes's husband, shaking his head.

    Located on El Centro's Main Street, D'Poly and its clientele embody the biculturalism of border towns across the Southwest. Farm workers, white-collar professionals, big families and off-duty Border Patrol agents congregate here for tacos, sopes and flavored juices. Modern and minimalist, the restaurant's gray walls and dark wood floors could be the backdrop of an elegant Crate and Barrel photo shoot — save for an arresting pink mural of Frida Kahlo that instantly sets the room apart. Flashes of pastel pop from behind a tiled bar, which includes a display of "Dia de los Muertos" statuettes.
    [Read: State of the Union Fact Check: What Trump Got Right and Wrong]
    English and Spanish are heard virtually interchangeably at table after table. Latin pop plays in the background, songs like "Dónde Estarás" by the Mexican electrocumbia musician Raymix.
    Mr. Galeana, who owns the restaurant along with his wife, Teresa, said he and his family decorated with the idea of showcasing Mexican culture in a modern setting, a concept that "so often is lost" in Mexican restaurants in favor of stereotypical décor like sombreros.
    "Our idea was to show that Mexico is not just what the stereotypes say: It's so much more," he said. "We are proud of our culture, and we want to show that."
    That is what many of those here say they wish the president understood: Immigration and cross-national exchanges are celebrated in these towns along the border.
    Hildy Carrillo, the executive director of the Calexico Chamber of Commerce, has been sharply critical of President Trump's immigration policies. She watched with exasperation last year when Mr. Trump called the replacement of the town's border barrier "the start of our Southern Border WALL!" She said she feared the president's remark would turn Calexico into an anti-immigration symbol and make it seem unsafe.
    For that reason, Ms. Carrillo, a Democrat, chose not to watch the speech Tuesday — "one of the few I've ever missed," she said. She went shopping instead, she said, because "I refuse to get stressed out having to listen to him."

    Such frustrations are frequently expressed in towns along the southwest border, which spans nearly 2,000 miles from California to Texas. Public officials from El Paso took to social media after Tuesday night's speech to accuse the president of intentionally misleading the public after he said a border barrier had turned around high crime rates in the city. "Simply put, walls work and walls save lives," Mr. Trump said.
    "He lies. @POTUS is once again lying and using the #SOTU address to spread falsehoods about our beloved city of El Paso," Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat who represents El Paso, said on Twitter.
    A fact check by The El Paso Times on the matter, prepared in January but circulated heavily again on Tuesday night, found the city's crime rate peaked in 1993, but by 2006 had sharply declined to its lowest level in decades. Construction on the border fence that Mr. Trump appeared to reference began in 2008.

    The paper also pointed out that, before the Bush-era fence was approved, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez had been separated by a border barrier for decades.
    Before the speech on Tuesday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, a Democrat, denounced "the president's charade of border fear-mongering" and ordered the withdrawal of most National Guard troops stationed at the border in her state.
    Many people living along the border, including Mexican immigrants, say they understand the desire for strong border security. But in conversations here in El Centro on Tuesday, even those who agreed with some of the president's positions were quick to point out that his statements about immigrants, and Mexicans in particular, made them disinclined to support him.
    Aleyda Montejano, 21, who is Mexican-American, lives in the town of Imperial but goes to hairstyling school in Mexicali because it is less expensive. She said that she agreed with the president that there needed to be a deterrent to illegal immigration. But she said that message was difficult to separate from his tone.

    "The way he talks about Mexicans, I just don't agree with it," she said. "The reason people come here is to have a better life. But, about the border, there are some people that cross illegally and that's not right."
    Brian Arturo Posada, 19, an American citizen who grew up in Mexicali, said that he was sympathetic to some of the things Republicans in Washington talk about, like preventing abuse of social benefits such as unemployment insurance. But he said the president's tone in past speeches too frequently crossed the line when he talked about immigrants and Mexican laborers.
    "The only thing that really I didn't like was when he said all Mexicans are gangsters," he said. "That's not true, it's not true. And when he was keeping those kids in jails, that made me really mad."
    Meanwhile, several Mexican laborers in the region said they fear that the president's warnings about immigrants and crime exacerbates discrimination against them.
    Cristina Bejarano, 34, a Mexican laborer who picks cilantro and lives in Calexico, about 12 miles south of El Centro, said that life for her and other immigrants in the region can be difficult because of the nature of farm work. But she said she moved to the United States two years ago because, even if farm labor is backbreaking, her life and prospects are better here than in Mexico.
    She said she wished President Trump and others could understand that.
    "A lot of people haven't had a chance to meet any Mexicans," Ms. Bejarano said. "They say we're all criminals when we're not. Just because we're brown doesn't mean we're dirty."

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    11) 21 Savage, American Rapper
    By Jon Caramanica, February 6, 2019
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/arts/music/21-savage-ice-atlanta-rapper.html

    21 Savage’s style of rap has evolved from cold brutalism into something more reflective.CreditCreditAmy Harris/Invision, via Associated Press


    The video for “A Lot,” 21 Savage’s elegiac single, takes place at a formal dinner and party in a cloud-high mansion, a lavish and exuberant celebration of black wealth. But there’s a moving sequence midway through that suggests trouble just beneath the surface.
    The cuts are quick — warm shots of confident guests at the dinner table interspersed with darker scenes in which they’re suffering: poor health, financial hardship, criminal past, abuse, death of a loved one. The message of the video isn’t exactly that nothing is as it seems, but more that where you end up may be far from where you came from, and that success doesn’t cure all obstacles.
    When 21 Savage first emerged in 2015, he was a cold brutalist of a rapper whose verses verged on the dead-eyed. But just a few years on, he’s taken a turn to the reflective. Later in the video, he added a ruminative new verse to the song, rapping, “Went through some things, but I couldn’t imagine my kids stuck at the border,” directly addressing the current administration’s divisive immigration policies.
    [Never miss a pop music story: Get our weekly newsletter, Louder.]

    On Sunday, just a couple of days after that video’s release, 21 Savage was arrested by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which said he was in this country illegally and placed him into deportation proceedings. As of Wednesday afternoon, he remained in ICE custody.

    Is 21 Savage American? By any measurement other than citizenship, yes. He was born She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph in England in 1992. According to Charles Kuck, one of his immigration attorneys, he came to the United States at age 7 and has been here continuously ever since, apart from a one-month period in 2005. He then re-entered the country on an H-4 visa, which expired in 2006, leaving him without legal status.
    But the events of the last few days underscore the ways in which the hard power of government authority and soft power of online conversation can align in peculiar and insidious ways. As news began to spread on social media of 21 Savage’s arrest on Sunday, the meme and joke ecosystem that uses trauma as oxygen went into overdrive, reacting with special intensity to the revelation that 21 Savage — one of the titans of Atlanta’s rap scene — was in fact British. As the government put his relationship with this country in peril, thousands of people chirped in online to poke at the unlikeliness, and precariousness, of his situation.
    That 21 Savage is in fact a British national is, ultimately, not particularly revelatory, or even meaningful. Foreign-born residents made up 13.7 percent of the United States population in 2017, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, published last year (which includes those in the country legally and illegally). Most of the humor turned on a high-society caricature understanding of England, and the dissonance of locating someone like 21 Savage — a seen-it-all stoicist with a dagger tattooed on his forehead — inside it. By and large, those people overlooked, or didn’t think as far as, the more odious association: that of empire and colonization. (His mother’s family hails from Dominica, a former British colony in the West Indies.)
    His success, however, is especially American. Growing up in some of Atlanta’s poorest communities, 21 Savage had a troubled childhood. He’s said that he dropped out of school to sell drugs, and has spoken in interviews of a youth marked by violence and crime. But after losing a close friend and a brother to gun violence, he turned to rapping. And within a year, he was one of Atlanta’s most promising prospects.
    He’s since worked with DrakeCardi B and Post Malone. His 2017 debut album, “Issa Album,” went gold, and his second studio album, “I Am > I Was,” released in December, debuted at the top of the Billboard album chart. At this Sunday’s Grammy Awards, 21 Savage is nominated in two categories.

    He has also been maturing in the public eye — advocating for gun control, donating money to educate young people in Atlanta on financial literacy (an announcement made on Ellen DeGeneres’s show, of all places), even walking alongside then-girlfriend Amber Rose in 2017 at her SlutWalk, a women’s empowerment event, carrying a sign that read “I’m a Hoe Too.”
    This is the American promise, no? To start from nothing and turn it into a bounty. To receive a cruel hand and still emerge victorious.
    And yet there is this other American promise, or threat, which is that all that comfort can be easily ripped away if it isn’t achieved in the correct fashion.
    In the case of 21 Savage, whose public image was built on a kind of impenetrable toughness mixed with weary resilience, this moment of vulnerability was destabilizing. Even in his most intimate music, he never presents as anything other than an agent of control.
    But the immigration system is beyond his jurisdiction, even though, since becoming a public figure, he has taken steps to address his status. According to a statement released by his attorneys on Tuesday, in 2017 he applied for a U visa, which, according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, can be issued by the government to crime victims “who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.” 21 Savage has said he was shot in 2013. The statement did not specify whether he cooperated with authorities.
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that 21 Savage was arrested at the same time DeKalb County police arrested another rapper, Young Nudy, on unrelated charges. But 21 Savage was detained directly by ICE, Kuck said. 21 Savage also was convicted on felony drug charges in 2014. The conviction record was expunged in September 2018 as part of Georgia’s first-offender program and the files have been sealed, according to Jacoby Hudson, who represented 21 Savage in the matter.

    (Though expunged convictions have been used in deportation proceedings, 21 Savage would be eligible for removal simply for the overstayed visa.)
    21 Savage is now among the highest-profile immigration detainees, his situation instantly becoming a flash point in national conversations about people living in this country without legal status, and in dialogues about the ways in which immigrants contribute to American society. A petition asking for his release started by Black Lives Matter has amassed over 200,000 signatures.
    On Tuesday, Jay-Z posted on Facebook that 21 Savage’s detention “is an absolute travesty.” Jay-Z has also hired an attorney, Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, to work on 21 Savage’s case, Spiro confirmed in an email.
    A star who built his own success, 21 Savage has in one fell swoop re-emerged as someone in need of protection. But in his recent music and public life, his identity was already becoming more complex and nuanced, delivering tales about the horrors of life at the bottom salted with a fresh understanding of just how slippery it can be at the top.

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