Tuesday, January 24, 2017

BAUAW NEWSLETTER, TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017



100,000 protest in San Francisco, CA

Pictures From Women's
Marches on Every Continent

Crowds in hundreds of cities around the world gathered Saturday
in conjunction with the Women's March on Washington.  JAN. 21, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/21/world/womens-march-pictures.html


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 PLEASE SHARE!  (apologies for duplications)

Dear Friends,

Has the Great Uprising of 2017 begun? 

The last two days have been extremely inspiring.  Let's hope it's the beginning of a new era of progressive action!

Please join us on Thursday, February 9th,
as we take the battle to one of
the most controversial
corporations in San Francisco:
UBER! 

In November, Medea Benjamin called on local activists to draw attention to Uber's special relationship with Saudi Arabia. 

FACTS: Saudi Arabia is the only nation in the world that DOES NOT ALLOW women to drive. In recent months, Uber has accepted an unprecedented investment from the Saudi royal family of $3.5 billion. Even more important, 80% of Uber's customers in Saudi Arabia are women riders. 

An online petition set up by Code Pink -- linked below -- accuses Uber of directly profiting from the oppression of Saudi women and calls on its CEO to stand up for the right of women in Saudi Arabia to drive. 

On FEBRUARY 9TH AT 1PM, we will present this petition (currently at over four thousand signatures) to Uber and we are soooooo hoping you will be able to attend!

In the meantime, can you PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD? 

Sign the petition! 
RSVP for the protest!
Further fascinating info: 
On the tail of Donald Trump’s corporate takeover, this action seems perfectly timed. 

Please stand up for Saudi women and help RESIST THE CORPORATE COUP D'ETAT!

Michael Stone 
San Francisco

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Very Sad News from Amnesty International:

Native American Activist Leonard Peltier Denied Clemency


Native American activist Leonard Peltier was denied clemency by President Obama today after more than four decades in prison.
"We are deeply saddened by the news that President Obama will not let Leonard go home," said Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "Despite serious concerns about the fairness of legal proceedings that led to his trial and conviction, Peltier was imprisoned for more than 40 years. He has always maintained his innocence. The families of the FBI agents who were killed during the 1975 confrontation between the FBI and American Indian Movement (AIM) members have a right to justice, but justice will not be served by Peltier's continued imprisonment."
"Leonard Peltier is 72 years old and in failing health. The failure to act may have condemned him to die in prison."
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/native-american-activist-leonard-peltier-denied-clemency

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Chelsea Manning Support Network
President Obama Commutes Chelsea's Sentence!
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President Obama Commutes Chelsea's Sentence!!!

Chelsea Manning Support Network
January 17, 2017
"Today's victory is a victory for all those who stood with Chelsea Manning."
President Obama has commuted all but four months of the remaining prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former US Army Intelligence Analyst serving 35-years for releasing classified information. Chelsea's attorney Nancy Hollander, who spoke with President Obama's counsel earlier today, confirms that "Chelsea will walk out of Fort Leavenworth a free woman in four months, on May 17th."
The Chelsea Manning Support Network applauds this decision by outgoing President Barack Obama, and extends our heartfelt gratitude. A commutation can not be reversed by a future president.
"Today's fantastic news goes a long way to making amends for the brutal treatment Chelsea was illegally subjected to while awaiting trial at the Quantico Marine Brig. It's tragic that Chelsea had to spend 7-years imprisoned for releasing documents that should never have been classified in the first place, and were clearly in the public interest," stated Chelsea Manning Support Network co-founder Jeff Paterson. "All of us who worked on Chelsea's behalf are overjoyed."
The Chelsea Manning Support Network was founded in the weeks following Chelsea's arrest in Iraq in May 2010. The Network covered 100% of the legal fees associated with her pretrial hearing, court martial trial, and raised a significant amount toward the legal costs of her appeal. Many days during her trial, the courtroom was packed with supporters wearing "truth" shirts.
"Over the last few years, I've come to know Chelsea as a deeply intelligent, sensitive woman who doesn't deserve to spend decades in prison. I often feared that any more time behind bars would be devastating for Chelsea, or potentially even lethal, especially with President-Elect Trump taking office. Soon, she'll have a chance to live the life she's been denied for almost seven years," Rainey Reitman, co-founder of the Chelsea Manning Support Network.
In addition to fundraising, the organization worked to raise awareness of Chelsea's case. The Support Network held hundreds of rallies around the world, from San Francisco and London. Chelsea's supporters became regular participants in yearly pride parades the last several years. In addition, the Support Network placed billboards in Los Angeles and Kansas City, ran a full-page New York Times ad, and helped generate over one million petition signatures in support of Chelsea's release.
"In conversations Chelsea and I had while she was imprisoned, I learned that she's not only driven by principles, but that she believes in the foundations of America's government. She dreamed about attending graduate school, and helping to research ways that government could use technology to improve transparency and public participation. Whatever she chooses to do now, the world is better for having a bright young person free to pursue a meaningful life," noted former campaign manager Emma Cape.
"I believe that the support for Chelsea demonstrated that whistleblowers who oppose injustice will not face powerful government retribution alone," declared Rainey Reitman. "Today's victory is a victory for all those who stood with Chelsea Manning."






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BREAKING: BAD NEWS on Mumia Abu-Jamal:

ALERT:

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has filed the (predicted) appeal of Mumia's recent court victory, which granted his right to the curative drug for his Hepatitis-C infection. 

See Mumia"s comment below

Join the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal 
for MLK Day in Oakland:

_  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _
THE DOC APPEALS
[col. writ. 1/14/17] ©'17 Mumia Abu-Jamal

Several days ago, the Pa. DOC appealed the Jan. 3rd US District Court ruling that granted an injunction against the DOC's so-called 'protocol' covering hepatitis treatment (or should I say lack of treatment?).
The state waited almost 10 days to file an appeal saying they didn't have the time needed to obey a court order that gave them 2 weeks (14 days) to begin the process.
They also ignored the court's order that the DOC was enjoined from using its 'protocol'--they continue to use it, as if no court order was ever issued.
If that ain't contempt of court, what can it be called?
The State violates constitutional rights daily--because it can. What's another court order?
To them, it ain't worth the paper it's printed on.
From the very beginning the DOC has spit in the eye of the judge. They've filed false documents. They've made misleading claims. They tried to intimidate him.
Why should they now be any different?
And yet, the battle goes on, to save the lives of thousands of prisoners in Pa. dungeons.
--©'17maj.
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After last month's successful Mumia Action Coalition rally and march in Oakland, the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal is calling all activists to join the labor contingent for the MLK march on Monday January 16. We will be gathering in front of the State Building at 16th St. & Clay in downtown Oakland at 10:45 AM and then moving to Oscar Grant Plaza around the corner to join the main march. We'll have a large Free Mumia banner and posters, but if you have your own bring that.  Let's make Mumia's recent courtroom victories a reality by organizing a spirited contingent demanding his immediate release from prison after 35 years on slow death row! 

For more info: call Gerald at 510-417-1252

About the recently appealed Court victory:

On January 3rd, a federal court granted Mumia Abu-Jamal's petition for immediate and effective treatment for his Hepatitis-C infection, which has hitherto been denied him. The judge struck down Pennsylvania's protocols as "deliberate indifference to serious medical need."

This is a rare and important win for innocent political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal in a court system that has routinely subjected him to the "Mumia exception," i.e., a refusal of justice despite court precedents in his favor. Thousands of Hep-C-infected prisoners throughout Pennsylvania and the US stand to benefit from this decision, provided it is upheld. 

But, it is up to us to make sure that this decision is not over-turned on appeal--something the State of Pennsylvania will most likely seek.

Hundreds demonstrated in both Philadelphia and Oakland on December 9th to demand both this Hep-C treatment for prisoners, and "Free Mumia Now!" In Oakland, the December 9th Free Mumia Coalition rallied in downtown and then marched on the OPD headquarters. The Coalition brought over two dozen groups together to reignite the movement to free Mumia; and now we need your support to expand and build for more actions in this new, and likely very dangerous year for political prisoners. 

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"Labor Rising Against Trump"

Dear Friends,

Monday, January 16, 2017 was a success in the fight to reclaim Martin Luther King's legacy as we were joined by several thousand in the street in Oakland for the "Reclaim King's Radical Legacy March." To continue to build momentum in raising awareness about King's legacy, we invite you to join "Labor Rising Against Trump" to learn more about King's support for the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike during the final days of his life in the Spring of 1968. This film explores King's historic links with labor as he believed that economic justice and organized workplaces were central to the liberation of African Americans and all working people during the Civil Rights movement.

The film will be shown on Wednesday (1/18/17) at the Omni Commons Disco Room (4799 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland) at 7pm. Requested Donation of $5 (no one turned away for lack of funds). Snacks and light refreshments will be provided.

The link to the Film Screening Event on IndyBay.org is found below:

https://www.indybay.org/ newsitems/2017/01/16/18795388. php

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John T. Kaye invited you to Moms Clean Air Force's event
People's Climate March
Saturday, April 29 at 9 AM EDT
Washington, District of Columbia in Washington, District of Columbia


Going
  

Interested
  

Not Interested
Join us April 29th in Washington, DC to let Trump know that we won't let him destroy the environment on our watch. There is no denying it: Donald Trump's election is a threat to the future of our pla...
John T. Kaye and Dave Schubert are going.
  

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Protect Kevin "Rashid" Johnson from Prison Repression!

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

WHEN: Anytime
WHAT: Protect imprisoned activist-journalist Kevin "Rashid" Johnson
FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1794902884117144/


On December 21, 2016, Kevin "Rashid" Johnson was the victim of an
assault by guards at the Clements Unit where he is currently being held,
just outside Amarillo, Texas. Rashid was sprayed with OC pepper gas
while handcuffed in his cell, and then left in the contaminated cell for
hours with no possibility to shower and no access to fresh air. It was
in fact days before he was supplied with new sheets or clothes (his bed
was covered with the toxic OC residue), and to this day his cell has not
been properly decontaminated.

This assault came on the heels of another serious move against Rashid,
as guards followed up on threats to confiscate all of his property – not
only files required for legal matters, but also art supplies, cups to
drink water out of, and food he had recently purchased from the
commissary. The guards in question were working under the direction of
Captain Patricia Flowers, who had previously told Rashid that she
intended to seize all of his personal belongings as retaliation for his
writings about mistreatment of prisoners, up to and including assaults
and purposeful medical negligence that have led to numerous deaths in
custody. Specifically, Rashid's writings have called attention to the
deaths of Christopher Woolverton, Joseph Comeaux, and Alton Rodgers, and
he has been contacted by lawyers litigating on behalf of the families of
at least two of these men.

As a journalist and activist literally embedded within the bowels of the
world's largest prison system, Rashid relies on his files and notes for
correspondence, legal matters, and his various news reports.
Furthermore, Rashid is a self-taught artist of considerable talent (his
work has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, and books);
needless to say, the guards were also instructed to seize his art
materials and the drawings he was working on.

(For a more complete description of Rashid's ordeal on and following
December 21, see his recent article "Bound and Gassed: My Reward for
Exposing Abuses and Killings of Texas Prisoners" at
http://rashidmod.com/?p=2321)

Particularly worrisome, is the fact that the abuse currently directed
against Rashid is almost a carbon-copy of what was directed against
Joseph Comeaux in 2013, who was eventually even denied urgently needed
medical care. Comeaux died shortly thereafter.

This is the time to step up and take action to protect Rashid; and the
only protection we can provide, from the outside, is to make sure prison
authorities know that we are watching. Whether you have read his
articles about prison conditions, his political or philosophical
polemics (and whether you agreed with him or not!), or just appreciate
his artwork – even if this is the first you are hearing about Rashid –
we need you to step up and make a few phone calls and send some emails.
When doing so, let officials know you are contacting them about Kevin
Johnson, ID #1859887, and the incident in which he was gassed and his
property confiscated on December 21, 2016. The officials to contact are:

Warden Kevin Foley
Clements Unit
telephone: (806) 381-7080 (you will reach the general switchboard; ask
to speak to the warden's office)

Tell Warden Foley that you have heard of the gas attack on Rashid.
Specific demands you can make:

* That Kevin Johnson's property be returned to him

* That Kevin Johnson's cell be thoroughly decontaminated

* That Captain Patricia Flowers, Lieutenant Crystal Turner, Lieutenant
Arleen Waak, and Corrections Officer Andrew Leonard be sanctioned for
targeting Kevin Johnson for retaliation for his writings

* That measures be taken to ensure that whistleblowers amongst staff and
the prisoner population not be targeted for any reprisals from guards or
other authorities. (This is important because at least one guard and
several prisoners have signed statements asserting that Rashid was left
in his gassed cell for hours, and that his property should not have been
seized.)



Try to be polite, while expressing how concerned you are for Kevin
Johnson's safety. You will almost certainly be told that because other
people have already called and there is an ongoing investigation – or
else, because you are not a member of his family -- that you cannot be
given any information. Say that you understand, but that you still wish
to have your concerns noted, and that you want the prison to know that
you will be keeping track of what happens to Mr Johnson.

The following other authorities should also be contacted. These bodies
may claim they are unable to directly intervene, however we know that by
creating a situation where they are receiving complaints, they will
eventually contact other authorities who can intervene to see what the
fuss is all about. So it's important to get on their cases too:

TDCJ Ombudsman: ombudsman@tdcj.texas.gov

The Inspector General:  512-671-2480

Let these "watchdogs" know you are concerned that Kevin Johnson #1859887
was the victim of a gas attack in Clements Unit on December 21, 2016.
Numerous witnesses have signed statements confirming that he was
handcuffed, in his cell, and not threatening anyone at the time he was
gassed. Furthermore, he was not allowed to shower for hours, and his
cell was never properly decontaminated, so that he was still suffering
the effects of the gas days later. It is also essential to mention that
his property was improperly confiscated, and that he had previously been
threatened with having this happen as retaliation for his writing about
prison conditions. Kevin Johnson's property must be returned!

Finally, complaints should also be directed to the director of the VA
DOC Harold Clarke and the VA DOC's Interstate Compact Supervisor, Terry
Glenn. This is because Rashid is in fact a Virginia prisoner, who has
been exiled from Virginia under something called the Interstate Compact,
which is used by some states as a way to be rid of activist prisoners,
while at the same time separating them from their families and
supporters. Please contact:

VADOC Director, Harold Clarke
804-887-8081
Director.Clarke@vadoc.virginia.gov

Interstate Compact director, Terry Glenn
804-887-7866

Let them know that you are phoning about Kevin Johnson, a Virginia
prisoner who has been sent to Texas under the Interstate Compact. His
Texas ID # is 1859887 however his Virginia ID # is 1007485. Inform them
that Mr Johnson has been gassed by guards and has had his property
seized as retaliation for his writing about prison conditions. These are
serious legal and human rights violations, and even though they occurred
in Texas, the Virginia Department of Corrections is responsible as Mr
Johnson is a Virginia prisoner. Despite the fact that they may ask you
who you are, and how you know about this, and for your contact
information, they will likely simply conclude by saying that they will
not be getting back to you. Nonetheless, it is worth urging them to
contact Texas officials about this matter.

It is good to call whenever you are able. However, in order to maximize
our impact, for those who can, we are suggesting that people make their
phone calls on Thursday, January 5.

And at the same time, please take a moment to sign the online petition
to support Rashid, up at the Roots Action website:
https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/prison-activist-gassed-in-clements-unit-prison-texas-law-enforcement-is-violently-out-of-control

Rashid has taken considerable risks in reporting on the abuse he
witnesses at the Clements Unit, just as he has at other prisons. Indeed,
he has continued to report on the violence and medical neglect to which
prisoners are subjected, despite threats from prison staff. If we, as a
movement, are serious about working to resist and eventually abolish the
U.S. prison system, we must do all we can to assist and protect those
like Rashid who take it upon themselves to stand up and speak out. As
Ojore Lutalo once put it, "Any movement that does not support their
political internees ... is a sham movement."

**********************

To learn more about Kevin "Rashid" Johnson, the abuses in the Texas
prison system, as well as his work in founding and leading the New
Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter, see his website
athttp://www.rashidmod.com

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As Robert Boyle, Esq. said, "The struggle is far from over: the DOC will no doubt appeal this ruling. But a victory! Thanks Pam Africa and all the Mumia supporters and all of you."

"Everyone has to get on board to keep the pressure on. We have an opportunity here that we have never had before. We are going to do it as a unified community, everyone together." - Pam Africa  
Let me be honest. We fundraise like we breathe. We have to. We are going to win-- with your key help. We've got until midnight tomorrow to raise just $2,021! We're 97% there. Please pitch in today to help us reach $60K!

Tomorrow your phone will ring with a special message from Mumia. In it, he says, "This is indeed a serious time for me, and for us all. It is not easy to take on the state and prevail; however, it is right to do so. With your help, we may be able to prevail. This is Mumia Abu-Jamal, thanking you for supporting Prison Radio."

John, the clock's running out- but it's not too late to chip in and help us reach our goal! You can open the airwaves for prisoners to speak out in this urgent time of massive incarceration.

Will you pitch in with a gift of $103, $35 or even $250 to bring us to our goal by midnight and amplify the voices of prisoners?
CONTRIBUTE >
Thank you for being a part of this struggle.

Cuando luchamos ganamos! When we fight we win!

Noelle Hanrahan, Director
Facebook
Twitter
Website
To give by check: 
PO Box 411074
San Francisco, CA
94141

Stock or legacy gifts:
Noelle Hanrahan
(415) 706 - 5222

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Committee to Stop FBI Repression (stopfbi.net)

Rasmea Defense Committee statement - December 21, 2016

Rasmea retrial set for May 16, 2017

Support the defense now!


This morning, Rasmea Odeh and her defense attorney Michael Deutsch were called into Judge Gershwin Drain's courtroom in Detroit, where the judge and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel were in attendance. The parties all agreed on May 16, 2017, as the new starting date for Rasmea's retrial.

The defense committee will continue to send regular updates regarding any pre-trial hearings or other appearances that Rasmea must make between now and the retrial, as well as requests to participate in regular defense organizing and activities.

In addition, we urge supporters to continue to
call U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade at 313-226-9100,
or tweet @USAO_MIE
and demand that she stop wasting taxpayer money, that she stop persecuting a woman who has given so much to U.S. society, and that she #DropTheChargesNow against Rasmea.

Lastly, and in the spirit of the season, please help us win #Justice4Rasmea by making your end-of-year donation to the defense fund! We thank you all for your continued support!


Background info

Statement from Tuesday, December 13


U.S. Attorney extends political attack on Rasmea, brings new indictment against the Palestinian American


Today, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade announced that a grand jury she had empaneled returned a new, superseding indictment against Rasmea Odeh for unlawful procurement of naturalization. This new indictment, just four weeks before her retrial, is a vicious attack by prosecutors desperate after a series of setbacks in their case against the Chicago-based Palestinian American community leader. From the outset, the government has attempted to exclude and discredit evidence of Rasmea's torture at the hands of Israeli authorities, but the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the prosecution, which led to the retrial; and the government's own expert affirmed that Rasmea lives with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Knowing that it faces the real prospect of losing a retrial before a jury, the U.S. Attorney's office has reframed its case against Rasmea, putting allegations of terrorism front and center. In the first trial in 2014, prosecutors were barred from using the word "terrorism," because Judge Gershwin Drain agreed the word would bias the jury. The new indictment adds two allegations that preclude this protection: first, that the crimes she was forced by torture to confess to are "terrorist activity"; and second, that she failed to report an alleged association with a "Designated Terrorist Organization." Despite the government's claim that this is a simple case of immigration fraud, this new indictment is written to ensure that Rasmea stands before a jury as an accused terrorist.

The Rasmea Defense Committee is urging supporters to call U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade at 313-226-9100, or tweet @USAO_MIE, and demand that she stop wasting taxpayer money, that she stop persecuting a woman who has given so much to U.S. society, and that she #DropTheChargesNow against Rasmea. In addition, the committee is calling on supporters to help win #Justice4Rasmea by donating to the defense and organizing educational events about the case.

"They [the prosecutors] are switching course because they know that a jury will believe Rasmea," says Nesreen Hasan of the Rasmea Defense Committee and its lead organization, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network. "We have always said, from day one, that this is a political case, and that the government is prosecuting Rasmea as part of a broader attack, the criminalization of the Palestine liberation movement. This new indictment is literally the same charge, with the same evidence - immigration forms. Only now, they want to paint Rasmea, and all Palestinians, as terrorists. The real criminals in this case are the Israelis who brutally tortured Rasmea 45 years ago, as well as those in the U.S. government who are trying to put her on trial for surviving the brutality committed against her."

Prosecutors will be disappointed to find that these new allegations fail to erode Rasmea's support. People have mobilized by the hundreds for countless hearings, every day of her 2014 trial, and her appeal earlier this year. "We have people ready to come from across the Midwest to stand with Rasmea in Detroit on January 10, but we are also prepared to adjust those plans to be there whenever we are needed," says Jess Sundin of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, who lives in Minneapolis and has mobilized dozens of Minnesotans and others in support of the defense. "We will redouble our organizing and fundraising work, and make certain Rasmea has the best defense possible."

According to lead defense attorney Michael Deutsch, "We also intend to challenge this indictment as vindictive and politically-motivated."

Visit www.justice4rasmea.org for more information.

### End ###
Copyright © 2016 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights reserved.
Thanks for your ongoing interest in the fight against FBI repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists!
Our mailing address is:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN  55414

Add us to your address book



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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter

Table of Contents:

A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS

B. ARTICLES IN FULL


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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS

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Read more about this action at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_lsTTIlJff6anpUaUdoYWUwVU0/view

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Defying the Tomb: Selected Prison Writings and Art of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson featuring exchanges with an Outlaw Kindle Edition

by Kevin Rashid Johnson (Author), Tom Big Warrior (Introduction), Russell Maroon Shoatz(Introduction)

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013RU5M4S



Join the Fight to Free Rev. Pinkney!

Click HERE to view in browser

http://www.iacenter.org/prisoners/freepinkney-1-28-15/

UPDATE:

Today is the 406th day that Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan
languishes in prison doing felony time for a misdemeanor crime he did not
commit. Today is also the day that Robert McKay, a spokesperson for the
Free Rev. Pinkney campaign, gave testimony before United Nations
representatives about the plight of Rev. Pinkney at a hearing held in
Chicago. The hearing was called in order to shed light upon the
mistreatment of African-Americans in the United States and put it on an
international stage. And yet as the UN representatives and audience heard
of the injustices in the Pinkney case many gasped in disbelief and asked
with frowns on their faces, "how is this possible?" But disbelief quickly
disappeared when everyone realized these were the same feelings they had
when they first heard of Flint and we all know what happened in Flint. FREE
REV. PINKNEY NOW.

Please send letters to:
Marquette Branch Prison
Rev. Edward Pinkney N-E-93 #294671
1960 US Hwy 41 South
Marquette, MI 49855

Please donate at http://bhbanco.org (Donate button) or send checks to BANCO:
c/o Dorothy Pinkney
1940 Union St.
Benton Harbor, MI 49022

Contributions for Rev. Pinkney's defense can be sent to BANCO at Mrs Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022

Or you can donate on-line at bhbanco.org.

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State Seeks to Remove Innocent PA Lifer's Attorney! Free Corey Walker!


The PA Office of the Attorney General (OAG) filed legal action to remove Corey Walker's attorney, Rachel Wolkenstein, in November 2014. On Tuesday, February 9, 2016 the evidentiary hearing to terminate Wolkenstein as Corey Walker's pro hac vice lawyer continues before Judge Lawrence Clark of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas in Harrisburg, PA.

Walker, assisted by Wolkenstein, filed three sets of legal papers over five months in 2014 with new evidence of Walker's innocence and that the prosecution and police deliberately used false evidence to convict him of murder. Two weeks after Wolkenstein was granted pro hac vice status, the OAG moved against her and Walker.

The OAG claims that Wolkenstein's political views and prior legal representation of Mumia Abu-Jamal and courtroom arrest by the notorious Judge Albert Sabo makes it "intolerable" for her to represent Corey Walker in the courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Over the past fifteen months the OAG has effectively stopped any judicial action on the legal challenges of Corey Walker and his former co-defendant, Lorenzo Johnson against their convictions and sentences to life imprisonment without parole while it proceeds in its attempts to remove Wolkenstein.

This is retaliation against Corey Walker who is innocent and framed. Walker and his attorney won't stop until they thoroughly expose the police corruption and deliberate presentation of false evidence to convict Corey Walker and win his freedom.

This outrageous attack on Corey Walker's fundamental right to his lawyer of choice and challenge his conviction must cease. The evidence of his innocence and deliberate prosecutorial frame up was suppressed for almost twenty years. Corey Walker must be freed!

Read: Jim Crow Justice – The Frame-up Of Corey Walker by Charles Brover

Go to FreeCoreyWalker.org to provide help and get more information.

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The Oasis Clinic in Oakland, CA, which treats patients with Hepatitis-C (HCV), demands an end to the outrageous price-gouging of Big Pharma corporations, like Gilead Sciences, which hike-up the cost for essential, life-saving medications such as the cure for the deadly Hepatitis-C virus, in order to reap huge profits. The Oasis Clinic's demand is:

PUBLIC HEALTH, NOT CORPORATE WEALTH!


WE DEMAND:

PUBLIC HEALTH, NOT CORPORATE WEALTH!

IMMEDIATE AND FREE TREATMENT FOR ALL HCV-INFECTED PRISONERS!

NO EXECUTION BY MEDICAL NEGLECT!

JAIL DRUG PROFITEERS, FREE MUMIA!

This message from:
Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222 • Oakland CA 94610 • www.laboractionmumia.org
06 January 2016

Mumia Is Innocent!  Free Mumia!
 

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Major Battles On
For over 31 years, Major Tillery has been a prisoner of the State.
Despite that extraordinary fact, he continues his battles, both in the prison for his health, and in the courts for his freedom.
Several weeks ago, Tillery filed a direct challenge to his criminal conviction, by arguing that a so-called "secret witness" was, in fact, a paid police informant who was given a get-out-of-jail-free card if he testified against Tillery.
Remember I mentioned, "paid?"
Well, yes--the witness was 'paid'--but not in dollars. He was paid in sex!
In the spring of 1984, Robert Mickens was facing decades in prison on rape and robbery charges. After he testified against Tillery, however, his 25-year sentence became 5 years: probation!
And before he testified he was given an hour and a ½ private visit with his girlfriend--at the Homicide Squad room at the Police Roundhouse. (Another such witness was given another sweetheart deal--lie on Major, and get off!)
To a prisoner, some things are more important than money. Like sex!
In a verified document written in April, 2016, Mickens declares that he lied at trial, after being coached by the DAs and detectives on the case.
He lied to get out of jail--and because he could get with his girl.
Other men have done more for less.
Major's 58-page Petition is a time machine back into a practice that was once common in Philadelphia.
In the 1980s and '90s, the Police Roundhouse had become a whorehouse.
Major, now facing serious health challenges from his hepatitis C infection, stubborn skin rashes, and dangerous intestinal disorders, is still battling.
And the fight ain't over.
[©'16 MAJ  6/29/16]
Major Tillery Needs Your Help and Support
Major Tillery is an innocent man. There was no evidence against Major Tillery for the 1976 poolroom shootings that left one man dead and another wounded. The surviving victim gave a statement to homicide detectives naming others—not Tillery or his co-defendant—as the shooters. Major wasn't charged until 1980, he was tried in 1985.
The only evidence at trial came from these jailhouse informants who were given sexual favors and plea deals for dozens of pending felonies for lying against Major Tillery. Both witnesses now declare their testimony was manufactured by the police and prosecution. Neither witness had personal knowledge of the shooting.
This is a case of prosecutorial misconduct and police corruption that goes to the deepest levels of rot in the Philadelphia criminal injustice system. Major Tillery deserves not just a new trial, but dismissal of the charges against him and his freedom from prison.
It cost a lot of money for Major Tillery to be able to file his new pro se PCRA petition and continue investigation to get more evidence of the state misconduct. He needs help to get lawyers to make sure this case is not ignored. Please contribute, now.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
    Financial Support: Tillery's investigation is ongoing, to get this case filed has been costly and he needs funds for a legal team to fight this to his freedom!
    Go to JPay.com;
    code: Major Tillery AM9786 PADOC
    Tell Philadelphia District Attorney
    Seth Williams:
    Free Major Tillery! He is an innocent man, framed by police and and prosecution.
    Call: 215-686-8711 or

    Write to:
    Major Tillery AM9786
    SCI Frackville
    1111 Altamont Blvd.
    Frackville, PA 17931

      For More Information, Go To: Justice4MajorTillery/blogspot
      Call/Write:
      Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq. (917) 689-4009, RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com





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      Commute Kevin Cooper's Death Sentence

      Sign the Petition:
      http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/petition.php


      Urge Gov. Jerry Brown to commute Kevin Cooper's death sentence. Cooper has always maintained his innocence of the 1983 quadruple murder of which he was convicted. In 2009, five federal judges signed a dissenting opinion warning that the State of California "may be about to execute an innocent man." Having exhausted his appeals in the US courts, Kevin Cooper's lawyers have turned to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights to seek remedy for what they maintain is his wrongful conviction, and the inadequate trial representation, prosecutorial misconduct and racial discrimination which have marked the case. Amnesty International opposes all executions, unconditionally.

      "The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man." - Judge William A. Fletcher, 2009 dissenting opinion on Kevin Cooper's case

      Kevin Cooper has been on death row in California for more than thirty years.

      In 1985, Cooper was convicted of the murder of a family and their house guest in Chino Hills. Sentenced to death, Cooper's trial took place in an atmosphere of racial hatred — for example, an effigy of a monkey in a noose with a sign reading "Hang the N*****!" was hung outside the venue of his preliminary hearing.

      Take action to see that Kevin Cooper's death sentence is commuted immediately.

      Cooper has consistently maintained his innocence.

      Following his trial, five federal judges said: "There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing."

      Since 2004, a dozen federal appellate judges have indicated their doubts about his guilt.

      Tell California authorities: The death penalty carries the risk of irrevocable error. Kevin Cooper's sentence must be commuted.

      In 2009, Cooper came just eight hours shy of being executed for a crime that he may not have committed. Stand with me today in reminding the state of California that the death penalty is irreversible — Kevin Cooper's sentence must be commuted immediately.

      In solidarity,

      James Clark
      Senior Death Penalty Campaigner
      Amnesty International USA
        Kevin Cooper: An Innocent Victim of Racist Frame-Up - from the Fact Sheet at: www.freekevincooper.org

        Kevin Cooper is an African-American man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in 1985 for the gruesome murders of a white family in Chino Hills, California: Doug and Peggy Ryen and their daughter Jessica and their house- guest Christopher Hughes. The Ryens' 8 year old son Josh, also attacked, was left for dead but survived.

        Convicted in an atmosphere of racial hatred in San Bernardino County CA, Kevin Cooper remains under a threat of imminent execution in San Quentin.  He has never received a fair hearing on his claim of innocence.  In a dissenting opinion in 2009, five federal judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals signed a 82 page dissenting opinion that begins: "The State of California may be about to execute an innocent man." 565 F.3d 581.

        There is significant evidence that exonerates Mr. Cooper and points toward other suspects:

          The coroner who investigated the Ryen murders concluded that the murders took four minutes at most and that the murder weapons were a hatchet, a long knife, an ice pick and perhaps a second knife. How could a single person, in four or fewer minutes, wield three or four weapons, and inflict over 140 wounds on five people, two of whom were adults (including a 200 pound ex-marine) who had loaded weapons near their bedsides?

          The sole surviving victim of the murders, Josh Ryen, told police and hospital staff within hours of the murders that the culprits were "three white men." Josh Ryen repeated this statement in the days following the crimes. When he twice saw Mr. Cooper's picture on TV as the suspected attacker, Josh Ryen said "that's not the man who did it."

          Josh Ryen's description of the killers was corroborated by two witnesses who were driving near the Ryens' home the night of the murders. They reported seeing three white men in a station wagon matching the description of the Ryens' car speeding away from the direction of the Ryens' home.

          These descriptions were corroborated by testimony of several employees and patrons of a bar close to the Ryens' home, who saw three white men enter the bar around midnight the night of the murders, two of whom were covered in blood, and one of whom was wearing coveralls.

          The identity of the real killers was further corroborated by a woman who, shortly after the murders were discovered, alerted the sheriff's department that her boyfriend, a convicted murderer, left blood-spattered coveralls at her home the night of the murders. She also reported that her boyfriend had been wearing a tan t-shirt matching a tan t-shirt with Doug Ryen's blood on it recovered near the bar. She also reported that her boyfriend owned a hatchet matching the one recovered near the scene of the crime, which she noted was missing in the days following the murders; it never reappeared; further, her sister saw that boyfriend and two other white men in a vehicle that could have been the Ryens' car on the night of the murders.

        Lacking a motive to ascribe to Mr. Cooper for the crimes, the prosecution claimed that Mr. Cooper, who had earlier walked away from custody at a minimum security prison, stole the Ryens' car to escape to Mexico. But the Ryens had left the keys in both their cars (which were parked in the driveway), so there was no need to kill them to steal their car. The prosecution also claimed that Mr. Cooper needed money, but money and credit cards were found untouched and in plain sight at the murder scene.

        The jury in 1985 deliberated for seven days before finding Mr. Cooper guilty. One juror later said that if there had been one less piece of evidence, the jury would not have voted to convict.

        The evidence the prosecution presented at trial tying Mr. Cooper to the crime scene has all been discredited…         (Continue reading this document at: http://www.savekevincooper.org/_new_freekevincooperdotorg/TEST/Scripts/DataLibraries/upload/KC_FactSheet_2014.pdf)

             This message from the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. July 2015

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        CANCEL ALL STUDENT DEBT!

        Sign the Petition:

        http://cancelallstudentdebt.com/?code=kos


        Dear President Obama, Senators, and Members of Congress:


        Americans now owe $1.3 trillion in student debt. Eighty-six percent of that money is owed to the United States government. This is a crushing burden for more than 40 million Americans and their families.

        I urge you to take immediate action to forgive all student debt, public and private.

        American Federation of Teachers
        Campaign for America's Future
        Courage Campaign
        Daily Kos
        Democracy for America
        LeftAction
        Project Springboard
        RH Reality Check
        RootsAction
        Student Debt Crisis
        The Nation
        Working Families


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        Campaign to Free Lorenzo Johnson


        Updates from Team Lorenzo Johnson

        Dear Supporters and Friends,


        Show your support for Lorenzo by wearing one of our beautiful new campaign t-shirts! If you donate $20 (or more!) to the Campaign to Free Lorenzo Johnson, we will send you a t-shirt, while supplies last. Make sure to note your size and shipping address in the comment section on PayPal, or to include this information with a check.




        Here is a message from Lorenzo's wife, Tazza Salvatto:


        My husband is innocent, FREE HIM NOW!
        Lorenzo Johnson is a son, husband, father and brother. His injustice has been a continued nightmare for our family. Words cant explain our constant pain, I wish it on no one. Not even the people responsible for his injustice. 
        This is about an innocent man who has spent 20 years and counting in prison. The sad thing is Lorenzo's prosecution knew he was innocent from day one. These are the same people society relies on to protect us.

        Not only have these prosecutors withheld evidence of my husbands innocence by NEVER turning over crucial evidence to his defense prior to trial. Now that Lorenzo's innocence has been revealed, the prosecution refuses to do the right thing. Instead they are "slow walking" his appeal and continuing their malicious prosecution.
        When my husband or our family speak out about his injustice, he's labeled by his prosecutor as defaming a career cop and prosecutor. If they are responsible for Lorenzo's wrongful conviction, why keep it a secret??? This type of corruption and bullying of families of innocent prisoners to remain silent will not be tolerated.
        Our family is not looking for any form of leniency. Lorenzo is innocent, we want what is owed to him. JUSTICE AND HIS IMMEDIATE FREEDOM!!! 

                                  Lorenzo's wife,
                                   Tazza Salvatto
        Lorenzo is continuing to fight for his freedom with the support of his lead counsel, Michael Wiseman, The Pennsylvania Innocence Project, the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice, and the Campaign to Free Lorenzo Johnson.
        Thank you all for reading this message and please take the time to visit our website and contribute to Lorenzo's campaign for freedom!
        Write: Lorenzo Johnson
                    DF 1036
                    SCI Mahanoy
                    301 Morea Rd.
                    Frackville, PA 17932
         Email: Through JPay using the code:
                      Lorenzo Johnson DF 1036 PA DOC
                                              or
                      Directly at LorenzoJohnson17932@gmail.com
                                             or
                      Directly on ConnectNetwork -- instructions here

        Have a wonderful day!
        - The Team to Free Lorenzo Johnson

        Write: Lorenzo Johnson
                    DF 1036
                    SCI Mahanoy
                    301 Morea Rd.
                    Frackville, PA 17932

         Email: Through JPay using the code:
                      Lorenzo Johnson DF 1036 PA DOC
                                             or
                      Directly at LorenzoJohnson17932@gmail.com

        freelorenzojohnson.org

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        B. ARTICLES IN FULL


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        1)  'This Is Our Right': Inauguration Protests Erupt With a Mission to Disrupt
        By MATT FLEGENHEIMER JAN. 20, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/us/politics/inauguration-protests.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection
        %2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement
        =2&pgtype=sectionfront




        2)  U.S. Airstrike Kills More Than 100 Qaeda Fighters in Syria
        By MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT JAN. 20, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/world/middleeast/us-airstrike-al-qaeda-syria
        .html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=
        first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news




        3)  New York Police Officer Defends Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Man, 18
        By ASHLEY SOUTHALL JAN. 20, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/nyregion/nypd-police-shooting-ramarley-graham.html?rref=c
        ollection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=nyregion&region=
        stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront




        4)  Renewed Fighting and Drone Strikes in Yemen Kill About 75
        By SHUAIB ALMOSAWA and ROD NORDLAND JAN. 22, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/world/middleeast/yemen-houthi-qaeda-mokha.html?ref=world




        5)  After Success of Women's March, a Question Remains: What's Next?
        By SUSAN CHIRA and JONATHAN MARTIN JAN. 22, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/after-success-of-womens-march-a-question-remains-whats-
        next.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=rank
        &module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront




        6)  New York City Agrees to Settlement Over Summonses That Were Dismissed
        By BENJAMIN WEISER JAN. 23, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/nyregion/new-york-city-agrees-to-settlement-over-summonses-that-
        were-dismissed.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=
        nyregion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront




        7)  Protests in Bangladesh Shake a Global Workshop for Apparel
        By RACHEL ABRAMS and MAHER SATTAR JAN. 22, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/business/bangladesh-protest-apparel-clothing.html?ref=business




        8)  Trump Revives Keystone Pipeline Rejected by Obama
        By PETER BAKER and CORAL DAVENPORT



        9)  Silence on Abortion Equals Death
        By SERRA SIPPEL





        10)  Israel Approves Large Settlement Expansion in West Bank
        By ISABEL KERSHNER




        11)  Manhattan Jail That Holds El Chapo Is Called Tougher Than Guantánamo Bay
        By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN



        12)  Harlem Schools Are Left to Fail as Those Not Far Away Thrive
        By KATE TAYLOR




        13)  Malnutrition Wiping Out Children in Northern Nigeria, Aid Workers Say
        "Starvation in northern Nigeria’s Borno State is so bad that a whole slice of the population — children under 5 — appears to have died, aid agencies say."
        Global Health
        By  DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. 

        14)  Charlie Liteky, 85, Dies; Returned Medal of Honor in Protest
        By SAM ROBERTS



        15)  Barely Two R’s Are Taught at School That Led Tribe to Sue U.S.
        By FERNANDA SANTOS








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        1)  'This Is Our Right': Inauguration Protests Erupt With a Mission to Disrupt
        By MATT FLEGENHEIMER JAN. 20, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/us/politics/inauguration-protests.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection
        %2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement
        =2&pgtype=sectionfront




        WASHINGTON — The dissent came early.
        From ocean to ocean, from the Midwest and the Maryland suburbs, the protesters came here to stand on a different side of history, trudging beneath a spitting rain toward a celebration they were powerless to stop but desperate to at least interrupt: the presidential inauguration of Donald J. Trump.
        They hauled signs: "Reject, Resist," "Putin's Orange Puppet," "Rage, Rage Against the Dying of Our Rights."
        They chanted — "We are a peaceful protest!" — but by late morning, several shop windows in downtown Washington had been shattered, the air filling with a spray deployed by police.
        Others encountered officers in riot gear and crowd-dispersing sprays that burned in their eyes — the sprays' contents spreading to restaurant workers at a refreshment booth nearby.
        Along several access points, the protesters hoped simply to put themselves in the way, locking arms.
        "This is our right," said Mica Reel, 21, who took part in an attempted human blockade near an inauguration entrance, "to stand here."
        Mr. Trump was sworn in around noon. The resistance was already well underway.
        Across the city — and with rallies planned throughout the country all weekend, cresting with a massive women's march in Washington on Saturday — the demonstrations simmered in the hours before Mr. Trump was to take office.
        Some convened before sunrise, in downtown Washington, to protest Mr. Trump's immigration policies, a gathering dotted with black hats that read "Not My President."
        Ramah Kudaimi, 30, who sits on the board of the Washington Peace Center, helped organize the protest and said Mr. Trump's proposed immigration policies would destroy a number of communities and would hurt groups like Muslims and transgender people.
        "It's important from Day 1 of Trump's administration that we make clear that we are going to be disrupting his agenda," she said. "When communities are under attack, we are going to fight back."
        Just before 9 a.m., about 150 protesters gathered in McPherson Square, breaking off in groups to march along I Street. An organizer advised two dozen charges on the day's aims: to disrupt Mr. Trump's celebration as much as possible — an objective, he predicted, that would rankle "mainly police officers and Trump supporters."
        "Police officers," a woman in the crowd grumbled, "are Trump supporters."
        A few attendees drummed on buckets, nodding at the instructions. At least a few wondered aloud about divine intervention in the weather. "It's the Earth crying," said Elodie Huttner, 52, "about the climate-denial president."
        Before 11 a.m., windows at a bank and cafe had been shattered during a passing demonstration on I Street — images captured protesters holding hammers — with witnesses reporting that a police spray had been deployed.
        Most groups were tamer.
        Near the Capitol South Metro station, 52 middle-school students, bused in from Massachusetts, wore matching blue hats and held red pom-poms.
        "We have a pretty split group of supporters and nonsupporters," said Anna Baboval, a seventh-grade geography teacher. "But they're all pretty excited to experience history."
        A teenager approached Ms. Baboval. "Would it be bad if I bought a pin with a swear on it?" he asked.
        "Please don't do that," she said.
        Other protest literature was more subtle. Kenneth Harringer, a 54-year-old tax preparer from Silver Spring, Md., held a sign rendered in Russian, citing the country's interference in the election. Its message: "Not My President."
        "Google Translate," Mr. Harringer said.
        Reporting was contributed by Nick Corasaniti, Yamiche Alcindor, Sabrina Tavernise, Katie Rogers, Matthew Rosenberg and Jodi Kantor.


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        2)  U.S. Airstrike Kills More Than 100 Qaeda Fighters in Syria
        By MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT JAN. 20, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/world/middleeast/us-airstrike-al-qaeda-syria
        .html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=
        first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

        WASHINGTON — As the clock wound down on Barack Obama's presidency, an Air Force B-52 bomber carried out a punishing airstrike against a training camp of Al Qaeda in Syria, the Pentagon said Friday.
        The attack, which took place west of Aleppo, killed more than 100 fighters, according to the Pentagon. Armed drones were also involved in the operation, which took place Thursday evening local time.
        It was the second major strike carried out by American warplanes in Mr. Obama's waning hours in the White House. On Thursday, the Pentagon reported that B-2 stealth bombers had flown their first combat mission in nearly six years to attack two training camps in Libyathat were being used by the Islamic State, which is also known as ISISor ISIL.
        The flurry of airstrikes against militant groups in North Africa and the Middle East illustrates the challenges that President Trump faces in carrying out the vow in his inaugural address to combat "radical Islamic terrorism," which he promised to "eradicate completely from the face of the earth." The extremists have proved to be resilient and are operating in far-flung countries that are racked by internal fighting and where there is little or no American military presence.
        The B-52 strike on Thursday, the Pentagon said, was directed at the Shaykh Sulayman Training Camp in Idlib. Pentagon officials said that it had been in operation for several years but had only recently become a base for "core Al Qaeda" extremists, who have largely come from outside Syria to fight and plot attacks. All told, 14 bombs and missiles were used in that attack.
        "The removal of this training camp disrupts training operations and discourages hard-line Islamist and Syrian opposition groups from joining or cooperating with Al Qaeda on the battlefield," Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.
        The airstrike was condemned by the Syrian opposition group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which complained that the camp for new recruits was one of theirs and that the practical effect would be to eliminate fighters who are confronting Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader. Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, claims to have broken with Al Qaeda, but American officials say they are still a Qaeda affiliate.
        "America chose to confront the Syrian people and their mujahedeen," the group said in a statement, which was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, which studies terrorist groups.
        The Pentagon has announced other attacks against Qaeda operatives in recent days, asserting that more than 150 terrorists had been killed since Jan. 1.
        On Thursday, the Pentagon disclosed that it had carried out an airstrike on Tuesday in Idlib Province that killed Mohammad Habib Boussadoun al-Tunisi, whom it described a Qaeda leader linked to plots against Western targets.
        According to a Pentagon statement, Mr. Boussadoun went to Syria in 2014 after spending several years in Europe and other countries in the Middle East where he maintained ties with extremists. Earlier in January, airstrikes killed two other Qaeda leaders, the Pentagon said.


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        3)  New York Police Officer Defends Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Man, 18
        By ASHLEY SOUTHALL JAN. 20, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/nyregion/nypd-police-shooting-ramarley-graham.html?rref=c
        ollection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=nyregion&region=
        stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront

        A New York police officer facing dismissal for his actions in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in the Bronx expressed remorse at his disciplinary trial on Friday, but said his actions were justified.
        The officer, Richard Haste, took the witness stand on the fourth day of his trial at 1 Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan, where he is accused of poor tactical judgment in the shooting of Ramarley Graham, 18, who was unarmed when he was killed on Feb. 2, 2012. Officer Haste, 35, has been on the force since 2008.
        Under questioning from his defense lawyer, Stuart London, Officer Haste said that when he encountered Mr. Graham in the victim's bathroom, he felt he had no choice but to shoot after Mr. Graham did not obey commands to show his hands and reached deeper into his pants.

        "The absolute last thing that I ever wanted to do on this job was to pull the trigger on anything other than a paper target at the shooting range," Mr. Haste said.
        His response prompted two of Mr. Graham's female relatives to yell, "Liar!" and "Objection!"
        Officer Haste was the last to testify of the six officers, who were part of a narcotics team in the 47th Precinct when Mr. Graham came to their attention outside a bodega known as "The Icebox," where drug activity had been reported. Sgt. Scott Morris, and Officer Haste's partner, John Mcloughlin, also face disciplinary charges stemming from the incident.
        As his testimony ended, Mr. Haste said, "I know that what I did was justified in that I protected my life and my team, based on the information we had at hand."
        Referring to Mr. Graham's death, he said, "I'm not pleased with the result."
        The shooting resulted from what Police Department legal advocates, who act as prosecutors in disciplinary matters, said was a series of errors by Officer Haste and his unit. At the heart of the trial is whether the officers were justified in kicking in the door of Mr. Graham's apartment and entering.
        Mr. Haste's defense lawyers have argued that the officers acted reasonably and within department guidelines because they believed they were "in hot pursuit" of a suspect who was armed and dangerous.
        But the department prosecutors, Beth Douglas and Nancy Slater, argued that the pursuit ended once Mr. Graham entered the building where he lived at 749 East 229th Street in the Wakefield neighborhood and the door locked behind him. Three minutes passed before Officer Haste gained entry, when a tenant let him in through a back door. Sergeant Morris followed.
        The next moments were riddled with bad decisions, the police prosecutors and expert witnesses said. Neither officer interviewed the tenant or searched the building. Officer Haste said he asked the tenant if a teenager lived upstairs, and the man pointed up with his index finger and nodded.
        The officers, who were in plain clothes but were wearing police jackets and shields, went out of the tenant's front door to the vestibule, where Officer Haste let in Officer Chris Crocitto, the sergeant's driver, and Officer Mcloughlin, according to testimony.
        The officers left the outside of the building unattended, prosecutors said, putting themselves at risk of a potential ambush or allowing the suspect to escape.
        They went to the second floor, where Officer Haste and Officer Mcloughlin stood on opposite sides of the apartment door with their guns drawn. Sergeant Morris stood near the top of the stairwell, with Officer Crocitto behind him.
        Officer Mcloughlin knocked and demanded that someone open the door.
        It was at the apartment door that police officials called as expert witnesses said the officers should have stopped treating the incident as a "hot pursuit," given that Mr. Graham was behind a locked apartment door. Absent any indicators of an emergency, such as gunshots or cries for help, their responsibility was to retreat, seek cover and call for backup, the prosecutors said.
        Instead, Officer Mcloughlin kicked in the door, then followed Officer Haste inside. On Wednesday, Officer Mcloughlin testified that he had breached the door because he feared a bullet could penetrate the door.
        Inside, Mr. Graham appeared at the end of a narrow hallway. When Officer Haste directed him to stop and show his hands, Mr. Graham cursed and slipped into the bathroom, the officer said.
        Officer Haste followed him. He testified that he commanded Mr. Graham to show his hands, but the teenager reached deeper into his pants, prompting the officer to fire one shot, which struck Mr. Graham in the chest.
        "If he didn't have a gun, why did he aggress toward us in that manner?" Officer Haste said. "It didn't make sense to me."
        At a news conference during a break, Mr. Graham's mother, Constance Malcolm, accused Officer Haste of lying under oath, and said he was remorseless.
        "I can't see how this man can't be fired, or why he should not be fired," Ms. Malcolm said. "Richard Haste cannot be on the force and we have to make sure that doesn't happen."
        Loyda Colon, the co-director of the Justice Committee, a criminal justice advocacy group, said Officer Haste had mischaracterized his encounter with Mr. Graham's grandmother, Patricia Hartley, who complained she was mistreated after the shooting.
        "Richard Haste, on the stand, actually stood there and said that he treated her kindly," Ms. Colon said. "In fact, he actually put a gun in her head, threatened to shoot her too and shoved her."
        Mr. London, the defense lawyer, said her claims were not believable.
        "I understand how upset the family is, but this case is about facts and not about people putting themselves in positions they really weren't in," he said. "I just know that if the police department believed her, her testimony would be very material and very relevant. And I think it's telling that they chose not to call her as a witness."
        Mr. Haste was the final witness; closing arguments will begin on Monday. After that, Rosemarie Maldonado, the deputy commissioner of trials, who acts as the judge, will write a report with recommendations to the police commissioner, James P. O'Neill. Both sides will have a chance to respond before Mr. O'Neill makes a final decision.
        It is unknown if the Police Department will release his decision because of the city's broad interpretation of a state law shielding police officers' disciplinary records from public scrutiny.


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        4)  Renewed Fighting and Drone Strikes in Yemen Kill About 75
        By SHUAIB ALMOSAWA and ROD NORDLAND JAN. 22, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/world/middleeast/yemen-houthi-qaeda-mokha.html?ref=world

        SANA, Yemen — Renewed fighting in the Yemen conflict killed about 75 people on Saturday and Sunday, some of them in the first drone strikes launched during the new administration of President Trump, according to Yemeni news reports.
        Two drone strikes in the central Yemeni province of Bayda on Saturday killed 10 militants with Al Qaeda, three of them hit while riding on a motorcycle and the other seven killed in a vehicle in a separate drone attack in the same area, the reports said.
        The United States did not take responsibility for the strikes, as is its standard policy. No other forces are known to be conducting drone strikes in the area.
        While Mr. Trump has pledged to toughen American policy toward terrorist factions, his administration has not yet announced any concrete antiterrorism initiatives.
        The greatest loss of life in Yemen over the weekend was from an offensive begun two weeks ago on the Red Sea coast by the Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Yemen conflict began when Mr. Hadi was ousted by rebel Houthi forces, which now control the capital, Sana, and much of the Red Sea coastal areas of the country.
        The government offensive was aimed at retaking from the Houthis the port city of Mokha, close to Bab el Mandeb, a strategic strait that connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
        Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 52 Houthi fighters in Mokha on Saturday and Sunday, according to Yemeni news reports, while the Houthis killed 14 of the Hadi government attackers, said hospital officials in Aden, the informal capital of the ousted government. Both sides issued widely varying accounts of the casualties. The true number of victims was impossible to verify, but it was clear that large numbers had been killed on both sides in the current offensive.
        The government offensive reached within five or six miles of Mokha, a sleepy seaport once famous for its exports of the mocha variety of Arabica coffee beans, prized worldwide since the 19th century. The government has long accused the rebels of smuggling Iranian arms through ports on the Red Sea, including Mokha.
        "The government forces have stormed an air defense camp southeast of Mokha town in Taiz Province," said Abdo Abdullah Majili, a spokesman for coalition forces. "The town is within the range of our forces' fire. We have killed a big number of Al Houthis and a lesser number of our soldiers were killed in the fighting."
        The Saudi-led coalition includes around nine regional countries, which intervened in Yemen after the Houthis ousted the Hadi government in March 2015. The coalition includes Egypt, which on Sunday extended its military's participation in the coalition, according to state news media reports in Cairo.
        "We are just renewing support, but we are not expanding efforts there," Tamer el-Rafaei, a spokesman for the Egyptian military, said on Sunday. "We will announce how long this extension will be soon."
        Saudi and Yemeni government officials have long been frustrated by Egypt's limited participation in the campaign.
        Shuaib Almosawa reported from Sana, and Rod Nordland from Beirut, Lebanon. Nour Youssef contributed reporting from Cairo, and Saeed Al Batati from Al Mukalla, Yemen.


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        5)  After Success of Women's March, a Question Remains: What's Next?
        By SUSAN CHIRA and JONATHAN MARTIN JAN. 22, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/after-success-of-womens-march-a-question-remains-whats-
        next.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=rank
        &module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront

        More than a million people who turned out on Saturday for women's marches in all 50 states have put down their placards, taken off their pink hats and ended their chants after what was an extraordinary display of dissent against the Trump presidency.
        A critical question remains: What happens now?
        The challenge facing the organizers is how to channel the resolve and outrage of an organic protest into action that produces political change. That goal has eluded other popular movements, from Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter. It is no less daunting now, given that Democrats were unable to defeat President Trump in 2016 despite an emerging demographic majority.
        The organizers are trying. Within minutes after the march in Washington ended at sundown on Saturday, its leaders convened a four-hour pep rally and networking session called "Where Do We Go From Here?" On Sunday, Planned Parenthood held a training session for 2,000 organizers on turning mobilization into political action, with health care atop its priority list. David Brock, the Democratic activist, assembled a group of about 120 leading liberal donors in Aventura, Fla., to hear plans for lawsuits and other challenges to Mr. Trump.
        Past movements rallied around one unifying cause: the Vietnam War, civil rights, the government bailouts and spending that helped create the Tea Party. On Saturday, marchers and liberal activists embraced a vast array of issues, from reproductive rights to mass incarceration to environmental activism, raising questions about how to create a cohesive movement.
        But the leaders believe that the common thread — revulsion and contempt for the man who is now president — may be powerful enough.
        "Trump is the cure here," said Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat and supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the Democratic primary who was invited to Mr. Brock's conference. "He brings everybody together."
        Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, a sponsor of the marches, saw another rallying cry: "Women in America are not going back."
        Ai-jen Poo, the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, one of many partner groups of the march, said that organizers intended to study the protests in all 50 states to identify issues and recruit volunteers to gear up for the 2018 midterm elections. In Washington at the post-march panel, Planned Parenthood held a mass call-in event, where participants called their senators and urged them to protect their access to health care.
        Even before the march, the left was seizing on panic over Mr. Trump to rally voters who were not so easily roused during the election.
        In Macomb County, Mich. — the well-chronicled home of the Reagan Democrats and a county Mr. Trump decisively won — about 6,000 Democrats braved frigid temperatures on Jan. 15 to hear Mr. Sanders and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, among others, defend the Affordable Care Act. It was one of dozens of similar rallies across the country.
        The day before, so many constituents of Representative Mike Coffman, Republican of Colorado, packed an Aurora library to confront him over his support for repealing the health care law that he had to leave through a back door.
        Yet it was telling that women galvanized the largest protests. Hillary Clinton's defeat prompted soul-searching about why appeals to feminism did not carry the day. Now a wide range of groups that advocate for women are trying to capitalize on the momentum to turn an event into a sustained movement.
        Todd Gitlin, a former president of Students for a Democratic Society and a scholar of political movements, noted that the civil rights and antiwar movements succeeded because of the organized networks that preceded and followed any single mass protest. "The march on Washington in 1963 was the culmination of years of local activism, including civil disobedience, registering voters, protecting civil rights workers and voter education movements," he said. "Organizations need to be ready to receive the protesters when they're ready to take the next step. You need to be a full-service movement."
        That effort, the organizers say, is already underway. At the panel Saturday night, representatives from the partner groups made 90-second pitches to the marchers, urging them to sign up for any of the organizations that appealed to them. The key, Ms. Poo said, was to build a continuous relationship with voters and volunteers so that they are not only approached before elections.
        Tresa Undem, a partner in the polling firm PerryUndem, said that several years of convening focus groups had convinced her that women's issues can translate into political momentum. When she showed focus groups a list of specific restrictions on abortion and health care that had been passed on the local level, she said, they immediately began talking about how men were making those decisions. A poll she conducted that was released this month found that outrage at Mr. Trump's remarks was the primary predictor of whether women would take specific political actions.
        Still, the women's movement faces several potential obstacles.
        Leaders believe the only way to mobilize is to sweep in many disparate groups, which risks diluting their message. And the wounds inflicted by the election still run deep. Minority women in particular say they are concerned that the new attention to the white working class might mean de-emphasizing issues of race for fear of alienating white voters.
        "The coalition for Obama was never sustained after the election," said Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, a professor of law at Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles. "There's been a failure to engage the base."
        Democrats continue to debate strategy. A former governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, urged the conference in Aventura to continue competing for white Rust Belt voters because, she later told reporters, the assumption that "demography is destiny" has "not helped us."
        But at the panel on Saturday in Washington, organizers passionately endorsed the new demographic majority. They argued that without including the needs of minority, immigrant, Muslim and marginalized women, feminism would not rally a broad enough coalition, and Democrats would lose the presidency again.
        They also noted that the march itself brought to prominence a multiracial, younger generation of potential leaders. "The rank and file of the women's movement has not looked like the leadership for a long time," Ms. Crenshaw said.
        Ms. Poo argued that feminism, and the Democratic Party, should not have to choose. "There are so many women who are suffering and disenfranchised in rural communities, the Rust Belt," she said. "We want this movement to be fully inclusive."
        Finally, attention to specific causes has not always translated into votes on the local level, where Republicans have won statehouses and governorships. Democrats need look no further than the past eight years to find a cautionary tale about what happens when the excitement over a national movement — Barack Obama and his historic presidency — is not sustained in midterm elections.
        "In many parts of the country, the Democratic Party is a shell," Mr. Gitlin said.
        Concern over this atrophy is what is prompting so many Democratic officials — including Mr. Obama himself and Eric H. Holder Jr., his former attorney general — to urge donors and activists to direct their time and money toward unglamorous causes such as redistricting and statehouse races.
        The urgency of the Trump presidency, the organizers say, may help bridge the party's divides. "We together have to have the resources and creativity enough to solve problems for all of us," Ms. Poo said. "There's a lot of work to do to get there."


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        6)  New York City Agrees to Settlement Over Summonses That Were Dismissed
        By BENJAMIN WEISER JAN. 23, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/nyregion/new-york-city-agrees-to-settlement-over-summonses-that-
        were-dismissed.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=
        nyregion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

        New York City has agreed to pay up to $75 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit that accused its Police Department of issuing hundreds of thousands of criminal summonses that were later found to be without legal justification, the city's Law Department said on Monday.
        A total of 900,000 summonses, issued from 2007 to 2015 for offenses like disorderly conduct, trespassing and drinking in public, had been dismissed on grounds of legal insufficiency, which a federal judge later found was "tantamount to a decision that probable cause was presumptively lacking." The number of potential claimants is expected to grow because the settlement will also cover such summonses issued after 2015.
        The lawsuit, which was filed in 2010, also claimed that under an unlawful "pattern and practice" enforced by city officials, police officers were told to issue summonses "regardless of whether any crime or violation" had occurred in order to meet a minimum quota requirement — an allegation the city explicitly denied in the settlement agreement, a Law Department spokesman said.
        But under the settlement, the city agreed to send out departmentwide notifications to reiterate its policy that quotas and numerical performance goals were banned, that supervisors who implemented them could be subject to disciplinary action, and that officers who believed they had been threatened or retaliated against for failing to comply with a quota should notify the department's Internal Affairs Bureau.
        The settlement was expected to be finalizedsoon and will need to be approved by Judge Robert W. Sweet of United States District Court in Manhattan after a hearing, the Law Department spokesman said.
        Because of the large number of potential claims — the 900,000 summonses represent about one-quarter of all such summonses issued during the period — the deal lays out a process of notifying people who are eligible for compensation, which has been set at a maximum of $150 per person per incident. The city would set aside $56.5 million for those people, and individual payments could be lowered, depending on how many claims were made. Any settlement funds not paid out would revert to the city, which would also pay $18.5 million in attorneys' fees.
        Zachary W. Carter, the city's corporation counsel, said in a statement that the agreement was "a fair resolution" for members of the class-action lawsuit and was also "in the best interests of the city."
        Mr. Carter added, "This settlement reflects the remarkable progress the N.Y.P.D. has made to ensure that summonses are properly drafted and include sufficient details to document probable cause."
        A lawyer for the plaintiffs declined to comment on the agreement.
        The Law Department spokesman said the Police Department was already making changes in the summons process well before the settlement, with steps like Justice Reboot, a program announced in 2015 by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Jonathan Lippman, who was the state's chief judge at the time. The program included a provision to revise the summons form to allow officers to write down more details about an incident so that fewer summonses were later dismissed.
        The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, Sharif L. Stinson, received two summonses in March 2010 in the Bronx for disorderly conduct and trespassing, one of his lawyers, Joshua P. Fitch, said in an interview in 2015. Both tickets were later dismissed by a judge for being "legally insufficient." The summons for disorderly conduct accused Mr. Stinson, who was then 19, of using "obscene language and gestures, causing public alarm," but did not specify what the offensive language and behavior had been, Mr. Fitch said.
        The trespassing ticket said Mr. Stinson had entered and stayed in a building "without permission or authority," but he had his aunt's permission to be there, Mr. Fitch said.
        The settlement is nearly double the $41 million that the city paid to five men in 2014 to resolve the so-called Central Park jogger lawsuit, but the amount is less than the $98 million settlement (not including legal fees) reached that same year in a discrimination case against the Fire Department.


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        7)  Protests in Bangladesh Shake a Global Workshop for Apparel
        By RACHEL ABRAMS and MAHER SATTAR JAN. 22, 2017
        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/business/bangladesh-protest-apparel-clothing.html?ref=business

        At first, the police knocked. Then they tried to kick the door down.
        Protests over low wages had erupted at dozens of garment factories in Bangladesh, one of the top suppliers of clothing for global brands like H&M and Gap, and the officers had come to question Jahangir Alam, the president of a local trade union in Ashulia, a suburb of the capital, Dhaka. They told his wife that he would be back within a few hours.
        That was a month ago.
        Instead, his wife said, Mr. Alam has sat in a jail cell so dark he could not see his own hands. She said they had spoken briefly when she finally tracked him down to a Dhaka court.
        Mr. Alam is one of at least 14 labor activists and workers who have been detained since the unrest began in December, according to arrest records. The demonstrations disrupted work at factories that supply clothing to global fashion companies like Inditex of Spain, owner of the Zara brand, and PVH, which owns the Tommy Hilfiger brand. The police say the unrest has led to the suspension or firing of roughly 1,500 workers, many of whom took part in the protests. 
        The police have accused the activists of inciting vandalism and other crimes, and several factories have pressed charges against many of their workers.
        But labor rights groups say the government is trying to scare workers into silence by detaining innocent people. They say the detentions, and the looming risk of more arrests, are the biggest setback for workers since the collapse of Rana Plaza, a building that housed garment factories, where more than 1,100 people died in 2013.
        That tragedy, one of the worst industrial disasters in history, exposed major safety hazards at factories in Bangladesh, which churns out a steady stream of low-cost goods. And it prompted some of the world's biggest brands to push for better conditions for the workers who make their clothes.
        By some measures, conditions have improved. But the brands now say the arrests and firings could undermine the progress they have made.
        In letters to Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and other officials, retailers urged the government to take action to protect workers, including addressing wage issues that had led to the protests. The minimum wage in Bangladesh is 32 cents an hour.
        They stopped short, though, of threatening further action.
        "Such situations damage the industry's reputation and confidence levels, which we, together with the government and social partners, are all working so hard to bolster," wrote Rob Wayss, the executive director of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. The accord, a coalition of retailers, is dedicated to improving safety for the country's garment workers.
        Gap, in a separate letter, said it was troubled by the recent events, and urged officials to ensure that no one was targeted "solely because of any association with a trade union or other group."
        The prime minister's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
        Bangladesh exports billions of dollars' worth of clothes each year, making it the world's second-largest exporter of ready-made garments after China. But its factories are efficient for some of the same reasons that they have been deadly: overcrowded buildings, limited oversight and a government that has historically repressed workers' efforts to organize and fight for better conditions.
        In the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse, retailers formed two coalitions dedicated to improving the lives of workers: the accord, led by H&M, and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which includes Gap and Walmart.
        Both groups have created safety standards and mechanisms to enforce them, although the accord, with a legally binding arbitration provision, is largely seen as the stronger of the two. The alliance has no such clause, but it can impose financial penalties and expel members that violate its terms.
        Both groups point to progress, like the installation of fire doors and regular safety inspections. But as international attention has waned in the years since Rana Plaza, worker rights groups have expressed concern that the gains could be lost.
        "Now the spotlight is off Bangladesh," said Richard Appelbaum, a labor and worker rights expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "The government is responding more typically as it would have responded several years ago, if it could have."
        The police came for Mr. Alam at night, said his wife, Jhorna Begum. When he did not return after several days, Ms. Begum scraped together about $12 to pay a lawyer who helped track him down to a local jail. The couple saw each other briefly when Mr. Alam appeared in court, just long enough for them to shout at each other across a crowded room.
        With two children at home, Ms. Begum said she could not afford to fight his case. She recently returned to work as a machine operator for the Palmal Group, another garment maker.
        "We live hand to mouth, waiting for the paycheck at the end of the month," Ms. Begum said, tears in her eyes. "I don't know when he'll get out — how am I supposed to run my family without him?"
        While Ms. Begum was willing to give her name to a reporter, many garment industry workers are afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals by the government. Labor rights workers suspect that agents of the government or factory owners ransacked a number of union offices after the protests. And the death of Aminul Islam, a labor activist who was found tortured and killed in 2012, is still fresh in many minds.
        The complaints against the 14 people who have been arrested also include charges that could cover more than 1,000 possible suspects — a tool that can help the police arrest people in the future, according to labor lawyers. Some of the people who were arrested, for example, had been named in an unrelated political violence case that has been open since 2015."When they find someone they want to put in jail, they enter that person's name into the case," said Jyotirmoy Barua, a lawyer based in Dhaka, who is representing protesters who have been charged with conspiring to harm the state. "The cases are creating unrest, fear."This month, protesters gathered in Dhaka, chanting and holding up signs as a plainclothes officer took notes nearby.Abul Hossain, the president of the Dhaka chapter of the Workers' Party of Bangladesh, said workers were frustrated by stagnant wages in a country whose cost of living had risen over the past few years. Wages have risen only twice in the past decade, even as inflation has risen as much as 10 percent a year, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
        Workers expected their pay to be reviewed last year by a government wage board that can meet every three years. When that did not happen, they started protesting.
        Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, a trade association that represents factory owners, said factories, too, had come under pressure: Costs have risen 17.5 percent annually for the last two years, he said, even as global clothing prices have decreased.
        Mr. Rahman added that while global retail brands had called on Bangladeshi factories to improve safety standards and wages, they had resisted paying higher prices to help compensate for the increased costs.
        He also said that fewer than 1,500 employees had been fired, and that some had returned to work.
        Both Gap and H&M said that they supported a regular wage review mechanism to ensure stability in the future, and that they were monitoring the situation closely.
        Labor advocates, though, say the global companies should be doing more, since billion-dollar brands like H&M have a lot of leverage with local factories and the government.
        A spokesman for H&M, Patrick Shaner, said in an email that the company had no plans to change its sourcing arrangements.
        Other companies that buy clothes from the factories that are currently pressing charges, including Abercrombie & Fitch, PVH and American Eagle Outfitters, did not respond to requests for comment.
        "At a certain point in time you have to wonder just how much the brands and retailers will tolerate," said Scott Nova, the executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a labor rights group based in Washington that is among the most active nonprofits working in Bangladesh's garment industry. "They can tell the factories to drop these charges."
        Ellen Barry contributed reporting.


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        8)  Trump Revives Keystone Pipeline Rejected by Obama
        By PETER BAKER and CORAL DAVENPORT




        WASHINGTON — President Trump moved assertively on Tuesday to further dismantle his predecessor’s policies as he revived the Keystone XL pipeline that stirred years of debate over the balance between the nation’s energy needs and efforts to stem climate change.
        Former President Barack Obama rejected the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline in 2015, arguing that it would undercut American leadership in curbing the reliance on carbon energy. Mr. Trump signed a document clearing the way to government approval of the pipeline as well as for the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota.
        The decision came a day after Mr. Trump formally abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an ambitious, 12-nation trade pact negotiated by Mr. Obama. In his opening days in office, Mr. Trump has also signed an order that begins to unravel Mr. Obama’s health care program, reversed his policies on abortion and housing, and ordered a freeze of any pending regulations left behind by the departing administration.

        As proposed by a Canadian firm, the Keystone pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels a day from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast. Republicans and some Democrats argued that the project would create jobs and expand energy resources, while environmentalists said it would encourage a form of oil extraction that produces more gases that warm the planet than normal petroleum.
        Studies showed that the pipeline would not have a momentous impact on jobs or the environment, but both sides made it into a symbolic test case of American willingness to promote energy production or curb its appetites to heal the planet. Torn by competing policy imperatives and conflicting politics, Mr. Obama delayed a decision for years before finally rejecting the pipeline shortly before an international conference in Paris to forge a global climate change agreement.
        “Keystone has never been a significant issue from an environmental point of view in substance, only in symbol,” said David Goldwyn, an energy market analyst and a former head of the State Department’s energy bureau in the Obama administration. Regarding the pipeline’s effect on the nation’s broader energy market, Mr. Goldwyn said: “One additional pipeline? It’s useful. It’s not indispensable.”
        The Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota became the focus of protests when the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe objected to its construction less than a mile from its reservation. The tribe and its allies won victory last month when the Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would look for alternative routes for the $3.7 billion pipeline instead of allowing it to be drilled under a dammed section of the Missouri River.
        Terry Cunha, a spokeswoman from TransCanada, the firm that proposed the Keystone pipeline, said in an email on Monday that the company remains “fully committed” to building the project, although she declined to discuss the project’s next steps.
        Critics denounced Mr. Trump’s decisions. “Donald Trump has been in office for four days and he’s already proving to be the dangerous threat to our climate we feared he would be,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.
        Environmental activists vowed to keep fighting the projects. “This is not a done deal,” Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, the group that led the protests against the Keystone pipeline, said in a statement. “The last time around, TransCanada was so confident they literally mowed the strip where they planned to build the pipeline, before people power stopped them. People will mobilize again.”
        The president’s actions came on a day when he met with the leaders of the country’s largest automakers, whom he has been pushing to produce more of their products in the United States. He singled out General Motors in a Twitter post this month for building the Chevy Cruze hatchback in Mexico. “Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!” he wrote.
        Hosting the automakers on Tuesday, he made a point of holding out a chair for Mary T. Barra, G.M.’s chief executive. “You’re not being singled out, believe me, Mary, I promise,” he told her as journalists recorded the moment. “But you have a lot of plants from a lot of different items built in the United States. And it’s happening, it’s happening big league.”
        Mr. Trump said he understood that manufacturers faced regulatory burdens in the United States and he would make it easier for them to make their products in the country. “We’re going to make the process much more simple for the auto companies and for everybody else who wants to do business in the United States,” he said. “You’re going to find this to be from being very inhospitable to extremely hospitable.”
        Anticipating criticism from advocates of tackling climate change, he added: “I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist, I believe in it. But it’s out of control and we’re going to make it a very short process. And we’re going to either give you your permits or we’re not going to give you your permits. But you’re going to know very quickly. And generally speaking we’re going to be giving you your permits.”
        The auto executives offered praise for Mr. Trump after the session. “We’re very encouraged by the president and the economic policies that he’s forwarding,” Mark Fields, the chief executive of the Ford Motor Company, told reporters outside the White House as they left.
        He cited the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “We appreciate the president’s courage to walk away from a bad trade deal,” he said.


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        9)  Silence on Abortion Equals Death
        By SERRA SIPPEL





        In one of his first acts as president, Donald Trump introduced a ban on funding for any international organization that, anywhere in its health care programs, provides or even discusses abortions with patients, other than in cases of rape, incest or life endangerment.
        Known as the global gag rule because it prevents talking with women about the procedure, this ban has been enforced and revoked by different administrations since it was first imposed in 1984. It has been illegal to fund abortions as a method of family planning with U.S. money since 1973, but the gag rule pulls other family planning funding — for H.I.V. prevention or contraception, for example — if an organization even advises a patient on where to get an abortion. President Trump’s rule goes even further, and pulls all global health assistance, including for programs that address infectious diseases like malaria, Zika and Ebola.

        Whenever this rule is instated — always by Republican presidents — health clinics around the world are often forced to close their family-planning programs because they are dependent on funding from the United States. Not providing abortion counseling to patients because of the political agenda of a donor means abandoning a standard of care that women rely on for basic health needs. Though technically the law allows for exceptions for rape, incest and life endangerment, organizations on the ground have insufficient guidance on how to follow those rules. Many either cut abortion counseling altogether or forgo funding.
        But contrary to its stated purpose of reducing the number of abortions, the rule is actually associated with increased abortion rates as family-planning programs disappear without funding. In 2011, Stanford University researchers found that abortions rose in sub-Saharan Africa when the rule was in effect. Another study by the International Food Policy Research Institute found the same effect in Ghana in rural and poor populations. This makes sense: Without access to contraceptive education and resources, more women face unwanted pregnancies, and opt for unsafe abortions.
        The global gag rule even chokes off important research. In Nepal, after the rule was reinstated in 2001, surveys and campaigns to raise awareness about how unsafe abortions contribute to the country’s extremely high maternal mortality rate were defunded by the United States.
        Fewer family planning programs also increase the risk of the spread of sexually transmitted disease. In 2001, Lesotho Planned Parenthood — then the only provider of condoms in the country — went from receiving 426,000 condoms during the Clinton administration to becoming ineligible for any shipments. At the time, one in four women in the country were infected with H.I.V.
        This is costly for everyone.
        A growing body of research over the past few decades shows that family planning services contribute to healthier lives and stronger economies. If President Trump really respected women the way he claims, he would support their health rather than endangering it.

        Serra Sippel is the president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity.



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        10)  Israel Approves Large Settlement Expansion in West Bank
        By ISABEL KERSHNER




        JERUSALEM — Israel on Tuesday approved the construction of 2,500 housing units for Jews in West Bank settlements, throwing off diplomatic restraint just a few days into the beginning of the Trump administration.
        Just over a week after a gathering of world leaders warned that Israel must stop expanding its settlements in Palestinian-claimed territory, the announcement made clear that the Israeli government is feeling emboldened to shake off the constraints imposed by the Obama administration and more willing to disregard international condemnation.
        American and European officials had long argued that continued building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem was harming any hopes of achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace based on the two-state solution. Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuhas endorsed the principle of side-by-side states, he has also accelerated a campaign of settlement building.
        On Sunday, the Jerusalem City Council approved 566 new housing units in a contested part of East Jerusalem that had been delayed over President Barack Obama’s objections.
        The Israeli government said on Tuesday that most of the 2,500 housing units would be built in “settlement blocs,” referring to areas of the West Bank that Israel has long intended to keep under any future agreement with the Palestinians, possibly in return for land swaps along the 1967 lines. But in years of failed negotiations, the Israelis and Palestinians have never agreed on the size or location of such blocs.
        It also said it would bring to the cabinet a plan to build a large industrial zone to create work for Palestinians in the southern West Bank.

        “We are going back to normal life in Judea and Samaria,” Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s hard-line defense minister, said in a statement announcing the new settlement building, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.
        Palestinian officials immediately denounced the new plans.
        “Once again, the Israeli government has proved that it is more committed to land theft and colonialism than to the two-state solution and the requirements for peace and stability,” Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said in a statement.
        “It is evident that Israel is exploiting the inauguration of the new American administration to escalate its violations and the prevention of any existence of a Palestinian state,” she added, calling on the United States and other international players to take concrete measures against Israeli settlement activities.
        Israel’s continuing campaign of settlement construction has brought harsh international criticism. A month ago, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as having no legal validity and constituting a “flagrant violation of international law” after the Obama administration decided not to veto the measure.
        Days later, the departing secretary of state, John Kerry, rebuked Israel’s settlement activities in an impassioned speech, saying, “The status quo is leading toward one state and perpetual occupation.”
        But with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in its 50th year, the Israeli government, dominated by right-wing and religious parties, is clearly expecting a friendlier approach from the White House after years of tension with the Obama administration.
        David M. Friedman, the bankruptcy lawyer Mr. Trump has nominated as his ambassador to Israel, has led a fund-raising arm of the settlement movement and has dismissed the idea of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He has already declared that he intends to work in Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv, where the American Embassy has been for decades, under the State Department’s insistence that the holy city’s status be determined as part of a broader deal between Israel and the Palestinians.


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        11)  Manhattan Jail That Holds El Chapo Is Called Tougher Than Guantánamo Bay
        By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN



        The Metropolitan Correctional Center, the rust-colored fortress in Lower Manhattan where hundreds of federal inmates are housed, was described as less hospitable than Guantánamo Bay by one inmate who had been incarcerated at both. The highest risk half-dozen inmates — or at least the ones facing the most severe charges — are housed in conditions so isolating that some have blamed them for deteriorating eyesight.
        This is where federal agents brought Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as El Chapo, when he was extradited to the United States last week after two escapes from high-security Mexican prisons.
        The Metropolitan Correctional Center, which held Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Bernard L. Madoff, who orchestrated a $20 billion Ponzi scheme, has a reputation for stringent security measures. Even so, several inmates over the years have tried to escape, and a few have succeeded.

        The most sensational attempt occurred in 1981, when an inmate was nearly plucked off the rooftop recreational center by confederates in a hijacked helicopter. And in 1990, two inmates disappeared out a second-story window, lowering themselves with an electrical cord from a machine used to buff the floors. One is still on the United States Marshals Service’s list of most wanted fugitives.
        In 2009, Anthony Boyd, a serial bank robber, was released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center as a result of what appeared to be an administrative error.
        Whether there have been other successful escapes or missing prisoners in recent years is unclear. Officials at the Metropolitan Correctional Center did not return a phone call or respond to an email message seeking comment.
        The jail, opened in 1975, holds about 795 inmates. It is wedged between the Church of St. Andrew and the United States Court House. From the upper floors of the courthouse, inmates can be seen playing basketball in the rooftop recreation area.
        It is unlikely Mr. Guzmán will be permitted to join them. The inmates deemed most dangerous are housed in a half-dozen cells in a small wing known as 10 South, where they are held in solitary confinement and prohibited from calling out to one another. The lights are on 23 or 24 hours a day, according to court records, interviews with lawyers and written accounts. The frosted glass windows offer no view of the outside world. Even the slot on each cell door is kept shut, meaning that inmates see little beyond their solitary cell.
        But guards can see inside, by way of a camera directed at the shower stall and another above the toilet or bed, according to a published account by Uzair Paracha, who was held there for two years until 2005, when he was convicted of providing support to Al Qaeda.
        Mr. Paracha said it was not unusual for inmates to notice their eyesight deteriorating while in 10 South, and to request eyeglasses for an onset of nearsightedness.
        Other than prayers, the only human voices were typically the sounds of guards cracking jokes at the inmates’ expense, according to Mr. Paracha, whose detailed account of life in the Metropolitan Correctional Center is included in the 2016 book “Hell Is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement.”
        This litany of severe conditions, known generally as “Special Administrative Measures,” requires the approval of the attorney general. In 2011, Amnesty International wrote to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., expressing concern that the conditions amounted to cruel and inhuman treatment.
        “The segregated units are horrifying and inhumane,” David E. Patton, the executive director of Federal Defenders of New York, wrote by email. “If you wanted to intentionally design a place to drive people mad, you’d be hard pressed to do better.”
        Mr. Patton, whose office represents Mr. Guzmán and many inmates in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, described the isolation on 10 South as stark, with prisoners’ days mostly devoid of human interaction. “The fluorescent lights are always on,” he said. “The only sound is the occasional clanking of metal when doors are opened and closed.”
        The 10 South unit is reached by a stairway from the ninth floor, a secure area known as the “Special Housing Unit,” which has its own stringent security measures. Even so, getting into 10 South, from the unit on the ninth floor, requires passing through two locked metal doors, the first of which is controlled electronically and the second of which requires a key, according to testimony.
        In 2000, an inmate suspected of terrorism stabbed a guard in the eyewith a sharpened plastic comb on 10 South. That attack, which caused the guard severe brain damage, led to a tightening of security restrictions in the wing and a sense of vigilance that remains.
        Within the last three years, guards have reported that one terrorism suspect had left a “drop note” containing coded messages in the recreation room for his co-defendants to find. Defense lawyers, however, said the note reflected just “a hunger and a thirst for human contact.”
        Whether Mr. Guzmán will end up being held in 10 South or even in the Metropolitan Correctional Center while his case is pending in Brooklyn remains unknown. Most inmates facing federal charges in Brooklyn are held at a larger federal jail in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, but a few are held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, which is where Mr. Guzmán was returned after his arraignment on Friday.
        The Bureau of Prison’s online directory of inmates does not indicate his whereabouts. Mr. Patton declined to discuss Mr. Guzmán’s location or the case.


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        12)  Harlem Schools Are Left to Fail as Those Not Far Away Thrive
        By KATE TAYLOR




        Some of the best public elementary schools in New York City are in Community School District 3, on Manhattan’s West Side. At those schools, the vast majority of children pass the annual state tests, gifted and talented programs buzz with activity, and special programs attract promising young musicians or families who want a progressive approach to education.
        But none of those schools are in Harlem.
        In District 3’s Harlem schools, there are no gifted and talented programs. Of the six elementary schools there where students take the state tests, only one comes close to the citywide passing rates of 38 percent in reading and 36 percent in math. At one school, only 6 percent of third- through eighth-grade students passed the most recent math tests.
        The children in the Harlem schools are mostly black and Hispanic and low-income, while the majority of children in the district’s other elementary schools are white or Asian, and either middle class or wealthy.
        The New York Times has been examining the district over the past few months to look at the forces that shape the racial and economic makeup of the city’s schools. Unlike in many parts of the city, in District 3 — which runs from 59th Street to 122nd Street along Manhattan’s western flank, then takes a dogleg into Harlem — people from different races and socioeconomic levels often live near one another. The district’s schools, however, are sharply divided by race and income, and diverge just as sharply in their levels of academic achievement.
        Nowhere is that tale of two districts clearer than in Harlem.

        While the high-performing schools on the Upper West Side are generally at capacity or overcrowded, enrollment at the Harlem schools has been falling as parents abandon the traditional public schools in favor of higher-performing charter schools. There are now nine in the district, eight of them in Harlem. White families, who have moved into the area in increasing numbers, generally do not send their children to the neighborhood schools, district or charter, leaving them deeply segregated. And neither the Education Department nor the district superintendent has put forth a comprehensive plan for how to lift the Harlem schools’ academic performance.
        Instead, in October, the department proposed effectively closing one of them, Public School 241, the STEM Institute of Manhattan, which has been struggling academically and shedding students for years. There are just 128 students in kindergarten through fifth grade — in a school that a decade ago held 582 children and went up to eighth grade.
        The department planned to merge the school into nearby Public School 76, the A. Philip Randolph School, and then redraw school zone lines to redistribute parts of P.S. 241’s zone to other schools.
        Despite the STEM Institute’s poor performance, the plan was met with protests in the neighborhood. At contentious public hearings on the proposal, Harlem parents said they felt ignored by the department and the Community Education Council, the elected board that must approve new zone lines.
        At a meeting in November, Felicia Harrison, the mother of a fourth grader at the STEM Institute, asked why in the case of a proposed rezoning in the southern part of District 3 parents had been given a year and a half to debate new zone lines, while she and other Harlem parents had been notified of the proposed merger of the schools less than two months before it was to be voted on.
        “Why were we not given the same respect as the downtown parents?” she asked, eliciting applause and shouts of “Why?” from other parents in the audience.
        The complaints prompted some members of the council, most of whom live in the southern part of the district, to express regret for neglecting the problems facing the Harlem schools.
        “We’re all going to have to be able to look at ourselves and say what it is that we didn’t do and what it is that needs to be done,” one member, Daniel Katz, said at a meeting on Dec. 14. “I think the first step is definitely to shut up and listen, because we’ve got a lot of listening to do.”
        In the wake of the protests, the department dropped the merger proposal, at least for the moment.
        Some observers blame the struggles of Harlem’s traditional public schools entirely on the increasing number of charter schools in the neighborhood, saying that the administration of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg fostered the growth of charters while doing too little to help the traditional public schools compete with them in recruiting families.
        “The schools up here were put in a situation by previous administrations where they were told, ‘Compete for students,’” Mr. Katz said at the Dec. 14 meeting, “and then the people who told them to compete for students walked away from helping them compete.”
        Another council member, Noah Gotbaum, said at a meeting in October that the STEM Institute, then known as P.S. 241 Family Academy, had been successful until the Education Department put the Success Academy Harlem 4 charter school in the building in 2009. He said that the Success school had siphoned off families and resources from P.S. 241.
        “A thriving public school that we had is now closing because of a charter school,” Mr. Gotbaum said.
        That does not fit the facts. The Education Department first moved to close P.S. 241 for a combination of low enrollment and poor performance in 2008-09. It ultimately backed down after the teachers union filed a lawsuit. However, while he was forced to give the school a reprieve, the chancellor at the time, Joel I. Klein, hardly seemed to be rooting for it to succeed, sending a letter to parents there urging them to “seriously consider” applying to the Success school or to the other zoned schools in the neighborhood.
        The percentage of neighborhood children who choose to enroll at the STEM Institute and three other nearby district public schools is much lower than at most schools in the southern part of the district. Last year, less than a quarter of the kindergartners who were zoned to attend those schools and went to public school enrolled, according to the Education Department. (The department does not track how many children go to private school.) By contrast, Public School 87, the William T. Sherman School, on West 78th Street, last year attracted 89 percent of the kindergartners who lived in its zone and attended public school.
        Many of the neighborhood’s black and Hispanic families choose charter schools, which have higher test scores and long waiting lists. At Success Academy Harlem 4, 94 percent of the students who took the latest state math test passed it. Other families go to private schools or to public schools in other parts of District 3, like Public School 333, the Manhattan School for Children, a non-zoned school on West 93rd Street with a progressive approach that is open to anyone in District 3 and admits students by lottery. Last year it received 975 applications for 100 kindergarten seats and had a waiting list of more than 600 families.
        Kim Watkins, the chairwoman of the Community Education Council’s zoning committee, is zoned for one of the Harlem district schools, Public School 149, the Sojourner Truth School, but sends her daughter to a gifted program elsewhere in the district. P.S. 149 is in the city’s Renewal program, which aims to rapidly improve low-performing schools.
        Ms. Watkins said that when she toured P.S. 149 three years ago, she had thought it was not rigorous enough and lacked many of the benefits that exist in middle-class schools. In addition, Ms. Watkins said of her daughter, “she would have, frankly, been the only white kid in the class — I was concerned about that.”
        The district’s superintendent, Ilene Altschul, suggested at the Dec. 14 education council meeting that the main reason families were not choosing the Harlem schools was not low test scores, but a failure to “get the word out about the amazing programs that are going on in all of our schools.”
        She noted steps that some of the schools were taking to improve their performance, including the hiring of an academic coach to work with teachers at the STEM Institute and the hiring of a math consultant and a new writing curriculum at P.S. 149. She noted that P.S. 149 had also recently added programs in dance, singing, soccer, in-line skating and robotics.
        But more than two years after its academic struggles earned it a place in the Renewal program, P.S. 149 has not yet made clear progress on the goals set for it by the city. In the last school year, its first under a new principal, its attendance and performance on the reading exams improved while its performance on the math exams declined slightly.
        Charles DeBerry, the principal of P.S. 76, the school that was set to absorb the STEM Institute, said he felt outgunned by the promotional efforts of charter schools, especially the Success Academy network, which has three schools in District 3 and has spent millions of dollars to recruit students for its schools across the city. (The Success network now has 41 schools in four boroughs.)
        “We’re certainly not working with the advertising budget that some of the charter schools have,” he said.
        Dr. Inyanga Collins, a physician whose daughter has attended P.S. 76 since prekindergarten and is now in sixth grade, said that while P.S. 76 had many high-needs students, she felt it worked well with them. (The school has a partnership with the Harlem Children’s Zone, which provides a teaching assistant or an aide in every class.) She said she would like to see parents at the school be more involved.
        “I feel as though the school is doing their part — we as parents have to step up and do our part,” she said. Of the proposed merger, she said, “This has been a wake-up call that this could all be gone, just like that.”
        Two of the Harlem schools have had somewhat better success in attracting families: Public School 180, the Hugo Newman College Preparatory School, which has a Spanish dual-language program and has drawn an increasing number of middle-class parents in recent years, and Public School 185, the Early Childhood Discovery and DesignMagnet School, which offers an early childhood robotics program. P.S. 185 goes through second grade; it shares a zone with P.S. 208, the Alain L. Locke Magnet School for Environmental Stewardship, which goes from third to fifth grade.
        Clara Hemphill, the editor of InsideSchools.org, which reviews schools and advocates greater integration, has been studying District 3 closely.
        The aggressive marketing by charter schools, particularly Success Academy, “certainly hurt the district schools,” she said, “but the district schools did not fight back with effective leadership and teaching, which is what you need.”
        Ms. Hemphill said that schools like P.S. 149 and P.S. 241, which both have relatively new principals, should be given time to improve, but that it might ultimately be easier to start a new school than to turn failing ones around. She said she thought the district should try to replicate the Manhattan School for Children uptown.
        “That’s a kind of school that would be very popular among parents in the northern part of the district and would have a chance of being a racially integrated school, which we desperately need,” she said.


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        13)  Malnutrition Wiping Out Children in Northern Nigeria, Aid Workers Say
        "Starvation in northern Nigeria’s Borno State is so bad that a whole slice of the population — children under 5 — appears to have died, aid agencies say."
        Global Health
        By  DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. 
        Starvation in northern Nigeria’s Borno State is so bad that a whole slice of the population — children under 5 — appears to have died, aid agencies say.
        As the Nigerian army has driven the terrorist group Boko Haram out of the area, about two million people have been displaced. Many are living in more than 100 refugee camps.
        Doctors Without Borders, which has been in Borno State since 2014, reported in November that it was seeing hardly any children under age 5 at its clinics, hospitals and feeding centers.
        “There are almost always small children buzzing around the camps,” Dr. Joanne Liu, the agency’s president, and Dr. Natalie Roberts, an emergency operations manager, wrote then.
        “We saw only older brothers and sisters. No toddlers straddling their big sisters’ hips, no babies strapped to their mothers’ backs.”
        Measles, diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria — all of which are worsened when starvation weakens immune systems — were taking a huge toll on infants and toddlers, they said.
        Because the world’s attention has been focused on refugees in Syria and North Africa, less light has been shone on Nigeria’s humanitarian crisis.
        While more food has begun to arrive, Dr. Roberts said in a recent interview, the flow was seriously slowed for months by a struggle between the Nigerian government and aid agencies.
        In December, President Muhammadu Buhari accused United Nations agencies of exaggerating his country’s crisis in their appeal to donors for $1 billion. Two weeks ago, Borno’s governor, Kashim Shettima, said some aid groups were using his state as a “cash cow” and should leave.
        Doctors Without Borders — widely known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières, or M.S.F. — normally provides only medical care, Dr. Roberts said. But the organization had been forced to distribute millet and palm oil, along with packets of peanut paste, because so many of the people it served were starving.
        “Bureaucratic obstruction” by the government kept agencies like the World Food Program out for months, she said. “It’s an embarrassment to a big state like Nigeria to admit it has malnutrition,” Dr. Roberts added. “They don’t particularly enjoy outside interference.”
        The situation grew so bad that M.S.F. had to change some of its protocols, she said. Instead of measuring the height and weight of malnourished children before admitting them to feeding centers, doctors started using just arm-circumference measurements to speed up the process.
        And in remote villages where M.S.F. delivers food, staff members had to leave more than normal, she said. Usually, only a few days’ worth is given to families, because of the risk that large amounts will be stolen by any armed group nearby.
        But because some roads are so dangerous that food can only move with army escorts or by helicopter, and because Boko Haram may send suicide bombers into any large gathering, M.S.F. does more unannounced “one shot” deliveries for safety’s sake, hoping the food will remain in the intended hands.



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        14)  Charlie Liteky, 85, Dies; Returned Medal of Honor in Protest
        By SAM ROBERTS




        Charlie Liteky, a former Army chaplain who received the Medal of Honor for bravery in Vietnam, only to return the medal two decades later as a protest of American foreign policy in Central America, died on Friday in San Francisco. He was 85.
        His death was confirmed by a friend, Richard Olive, who said Mr. Liteky had suffered a stroke several weeks ago.
        Mr. Liteky, who was a Roman Catholic priest when he was given the award, is believed to be the only one of nearly 3,500 recipients of the medal since the Civil War to have returned it in a demonstration of political dissent, Victoria Kueck, the operations director of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, said on Monday.
        He acted out of opposition to the Reagan administration’s support for Central American dictators accused of brutally suppressing leftist guerrillas.
        In 1986, Mr. Liteky (pronounced LIT-key) left the medal in an envelope addressed to President Ronald Reagan at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. He also renounced the lifetime tax-free monthly pension — then about $600, now about $1,300 — that went with it.
        Mr. Liteky, who later served two federal prison terms for civil disobedience as a war protester, said he was motivated in his political dissent by the commitment that had inspired his bravery on the battlefield in Vietnam.
        “The reason I do what I do now is basically the same,” he told The San Francisco Chronicle in 2000 as he faced a second prison sentence. “It’s to save lives.”
        On Dec. 6, 1967, Mr. Liteky, the son of a career Navy petty officer, repeatedly neglected his own shrapnel wounds and, without a weapon, helmet or flak jacket, exposed himself to mortars, land mines and machine guns to rescue 23 wounded colleagues who had been ambushed by a Vietcong battalion. He evacuated the injured soldiers and administered last rites to the dying.
        Before that firefight, Mr. Liteky had never been in combat.
        He was one of three chaplains who earned the Medal of Honor in Vietnam. The other two were awarded posthumously.
        Mr. Liteky once recalled that when he went to Vietnam, “I was 100 percent behind going over there and putting those Communists in their place.”
        “I had no problems with that,” he added. “I thought I was going there doing God’s work.”
        After he volunteered for another six-month tour, Mr. Liteky returned home from the war as an Army captain. Troubled by the celibacy requirement, he left the priesthood in 1975.
        In the late 1970s, he was introduced by Judy Balch, a former nun, to refugees from El Salvador, “teenagers, whose fathers had been killed and tortured,” he recalled. He evolved into a vigorous opponent of American support for right-wing factions there and in Nicaragua and Guatemala.
        In 1983, he married Ms. Balch in San Francisco. She died last year. No immediate family members survive.
        In 1986, Mr. Liteky mounted a debilitating 47-day hunger strike near the Capitol against American involvement in Nicaragua. He later served two terms for trespassing at the Army’s School of the Americas (now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) at Fort Benning, Ga., which trains soldiers from Latin America.
        He was sentenced to six months in federal prison in 1990 for squirting blood on portraits at the school, and to the maximum one year in 2000 for a similar protest.
        In 2002 and 2003, he visited Baghdad to protest the impending American invasion.
        “I am in deep sympathy with all of those young men that are over there now doing what they think is their patriotic duty,” Mr. Liteky told NPR in 2004. “I think it is more of a patriotic duty of citizens of this country to stand up and say that this is wrong, that this is immoral.”
        He had recently completed a memoir, “Renunciation,” which friends of his plan to publish this year.
        Charles James Liteky was born in Washington on Feb. 14, 1931, to Charles Liteky and the former Gertrude Diggs. (His father had enlisted in the Navy when he was 15, lying about his age.)
        He was raised mostly in Jacksonville, Fla., where he was a high school quarterback.
        After attending the University of Florida for two years, he entered a seminary and was ordained a priest in 1960 as Angelo J. Liteky (the name under which he also received the medal) and joined the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, a clerical organization based in Silver Spring, Md.
        He volunteered as an Army chaplain in 1966 and served with the 199th Infantry Brigade.
        According to his official medal citation, during the firefight, in Bien Hoa Province, “through his indomitable inspiration and heroic actions, Chaplain Liteky saved the lives of a number of his comrades and enabled the company to repulse the enemy.”
        He was the fifth military chaplain since the Civil War to receive the award.
        After he left the medal at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, it was retrieved by the National Park Service and placed in the collection of the National Museum of American History.
        His very public protest in 1986 got mixed reviews from fellow medal recipients. While some criticized his action as unpatriotic, others described it as courageous.
        “When I look at Liteky, I have respect for the courage of his views,” Paul Bucha, a medal recipient and a past president of the Medal of Honor Society, said in 2000.
        “It’s difficult to be an iconoclast,” Mr. Bucha continued. “It’s much easier to go along. Men like Liteky are people who should force us to pause and think; they should not be ostracized and criticized. They are entitled to their views, and perhaps if we listened we’d be better off.”


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        15)  Barely Two R’s Are Taught at School That Led Tribe to Sue U.S.
        By FERNANDA SANTOS




        SUPAI, Ariz. — Students at Havasupai Elementary, the only school in this tribal village near Grand Canyon National Park, say they don’t have a regular schedule of science and social studies classes, or gym or art classes, either. Often there are not enough teachers, they say.
        The children — in kindergarten through eighth grade — learn mostly reading and math, though barely. In the most recent evaluation made public, they tested at the first and third percentile, well below every other school on Indian reservations, already among the worst in the country.

        The abysmal test scores are highlighted in a federal lawsuit filed this month against the government by the Havasupai Tribe on behalf of nine students at the school. The tribe, a dwindling nation of 730, says the United States has reneged on its legal duty to educate their children by, among other things, allowing a janitor and a secretary to fill in for absent teachers, and by failing to provide special-education services and enough books for all students.
        “It’s frankly a disgrace that these conditions exist in schools that are run by the federal government and have existed for many years,” said Kathryn Eidmann, a lawyer at Public Counsel, a law firm in Los Angeles that joined the Native American Disability Law Center and other groups to represent the students in the lawsuit.
        Reached by email, Jeff Williamson, principal of Havasupai Elementary, declined to comment.
        Tribal schools like Havasupai Elementary are overseen by the Interior Department, whose secretary under the Obama administration, Sally Jewell, once called them “an embarrassment” because of their dismal conditions and performance. In an exit memo detailing the state of her agency’s portfolio, she deemed the education and welfare of American Indian youths as “perhaps the area that demands the most attention from the next administration and Congress.”
        Though the legal action deals with conditions at Havasupai Elementary, the problems can be found across the entire system of Native American schools. The case, the students’ lawyers said, is at once a statement of the historic failures that persisted under President Barack Obama and a warning to President Trump that the tribe will not allow its needs to be forgotten.
        The position of the Trump administration on these schools is unclear; officials at the Interior Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
        After visiting the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota while president in 2014, Mr. Obama pledged to break the cycle of poverty among indigenous children, in part by giving tribes a leading role in their education, which is something that many tribes have long asked for, as a matter of sovereignty.
        His administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars to address decades of poor choices at the department’s Bureau of Indian Education, which funds and operates Havasupai Elementary and 182 other tribal schools in 23 states. Some schools have been connected to high-speed internet or undergone critical repairs, though there is still a lot to be done.
        A report by the department’s inspector general, released in September, found mold and asbestos in common areas, faulty electrical systems, structural problems and other deficiencies in schools throughout the system.
        In its effort to transfer more authority over schools to the tribes, the administration started a program to train indigenous teachers to teach in indigenous schools. Ahniwake Rose, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, an advocacy group, said this was an important first step.
        Her hope, she said, is that the idea of choice, so fervently embraced by Betsy DeVos, who has been nominated as secretary of education by President Trump, ultimately translates into “giving tribes the choice to run their own schools.”
        Native American children have a large gap to bridge. In general, their schools are poor-performing. The high school graduation rate among those enrolled in bureau schools is 53 percent, nearly 30 points below the national average.
        Havasupai Elementary was closed for winter break on a recent daylong visit to this village, a place so remote that it is reachable only by helicopter or along eight steep miles on foot or horseback. The Havasupai Tribal Council, its governing body, was meeting in the dark because the power had been out on the reservation for almost a full day.
        “We’re not asking for a handout” for the schools, said Carletta Tilousi, a member of the council. “All we’re asking is that the government fulfill its obligation and help us help our people.”
        The Havasupai are known as the people of the blue-green water, a nod to the turquoise falls that cascade from high up nearby mountains and that have turned this place into a tourist destination.
        The water courses through the edge of the village along a skinny creek — a streak of Technicolor against red rocks and dirt. It is an enchantingly deceptive sight, masking needs and wants all around it: boarded-up homes, horses grazing on fields of empty bottles and dried grass.
        Outside the Havasupai Head Start, a sign warns: “Head Start will not release any child or children to anyone intoxicated or under the influence.” Inside, preschoolers learn the language of their ancestors through colorful pictures arranged side by side on the walls.
        Havasupai Elementary sits on the other side of the helicopter landing zone, which doubles as the center of the village. The school occupies a single-story brick building between the cafe and lodge where tourists eat and sleep. In interviews, two former students said only clear bags were allowed inside the school to make it harder to smuggle in alcohol.
        At Havasupai, “you have eighth graders reading and writing on a second-, third-grade level,” said Sheldon Manakaja, a council member who has a grandson at the school. “Our children, when they come out of this school system, they are way behind.” He said students who misbehaved were routinely sent home, without a note of explanation or homework to make up for what they missed in class.
        Debbie Uqualla, who has three grandchildren at the school, could not name a doctor, engineer or lawyer who had graduated from Havasupai Elementary. But she easily recalled the stories of children who had dropped out. Some of these children were her own.
        Of her seven sons and daughters, all of whom attended Havasupai, four did not go to or graduate from high school, she said. One is unemployed. The youngest, who is 17, got pregnant and miscarried.
        “For most of our people,” Ms. Uqualla, 55, said while waiting her turn to fly out of the canyon so she could go grocery shopping, “high school is the last point, if you ever get there.”
        Among the plaintiffs in the case is a woman, identified in court papers as Laila R., who moved out of the reservation to give her sons a chance of a better education. The younger, who is 14, entered a new school in September, a month into eighth grade.
        In an interview near his home, he said it was only after he transferred that he read his first book in full, from “The Magic Tree House” series, which is suited for second grade.
        When his mother told him that he could share with a reporter whatever else he wanted — “Freedom of speech — it’s in the Constitution,” she said — the boy turned to her and asked, “What’s Constitution?”


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