2019-12-09: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

Hundreds of journalists around the world sign open letter demanding freedom for Assange
wsws.org | 2019-12-09
The signatories declare: "As journalists and journalists' organizations that believe in human rights, freedom of information and of the public's right to know, we demand the immediate release of Julian Assange."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/09/jour-d09.html

UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer: "With censorship inevitably comes tyranny"
wsws.org | 2019-12-09
The World Socialist Web Site interviewed Nils Melzer, who denounced the role of governments and the mainstream media in the persecution of Julian Assange and warned of the dangerous consequences of the erosion of democratic rights.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/09/melz-d09.html

Question for Kirbymoorside UK Hustings Meeting: Would you stand up for Julian Assange?
Heather Stroud | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-09
To those candidates who are putting themselves forward as MPs to become a voice within the UK Parliament — would you stand up for Julian Assange and for those who. in speaking truth, have the audacity to challenge the dialogue of power? I am disappointed that my question relating to the arbitrary detention of Julian …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/question-for-kirbymoorside-uk-hustings-meeting-would-you-stand-up-for-julian-assange99425/

Exiled NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden condemns persecution of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
wsws.org | 2019-12-09
Edward Snowden gave an interview via live video link to The Right Livelihood Awards in Stockholm, in which he categorically defended WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange and imprisoned whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/09/snow-d09.html

US and UK Military-Intelligence Apparatus Campaigns to Destroy Jeremy Corbyn
Ben Norton | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
Days before Britain's historic election, the UK's military-intelligence apparatus is turning to the corporate media and US government-funded NATO cut-outs to smear Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with evidence-free Russiagate allegations. | *** | The popular socialist leader of Britain's Labour Party, Jeremy …
globalresearch.ca/us-uk-military-intelligence-apparatus-campaigns-destroy-jeremy-corbyn/5697123

Under Attack by Trump, Immigrant Justice is Advancing in the States
Naureen Shah | aclu.org | 2019-12-09
This year was another of devastating attacks on immigrants' rights | by the Trump administration. However, in both red and blue states, we fought | and won new measures that stymie Trump's deportation machine. These local wins, | though often overshadowed by the president's xenophobia, are powerful. Here are | some of the most surprising and significant of our 2019 immigrant justice victories | in the states. | In | Michigan, a former marine's arrest prompts police reform | Grand Rapids, Michigan police kept veteran and U.S. citizen Jilmar | Ramos-Gomez in immigration detention for 3 days — even though
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/under-attack-by-trump-immigrant-justice-is-advancing-in-the-states

Immigrants have been denied due process for years. In New England, that's about to change
Matthew Segal | aclu.org | 2019-12-09
One of the bedrock principles of our judicial | system is that the government can't just lock people up without showing why | it's necessary. | For noncitizens caught up in Trump's deportation | machine, though, that principle doesn't always apply. But now because of our | litigation in New England that's about to change. | Gilberto Pereira Brito was detained in March by ICE | — snatched from his wife and three children, all of whom are U.S. citizens — and | brought before an immigration judge for a bond hearing. To keep him in | detention, the government had to prove nothing, whereas Gilberto had…
aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/immigrants-have-been-denied-due-process-for-years-in-new-england-thats-about-to-change

'Sexy tricks': How journalists demonize Venezuela's socialist government, in their own words
Alan MacLeod | thegrayzone.com | 2019-12-09
Journalists revealed to me the tactics they use to sell stories painting Venezuela as a socialist dystopia. One described himself…
thegrayzone.com/2019/12/09/sexy-tricks-journalists-demonize-venezuela-anatoly-kurmanaev/

PHOTOS: A Year After the Caravans, Has Trump Won?
Jack Herrera | thenation.com | 2019-12-09
PHOTOS: A Year After the Caravans, Has Trump Won?
thenation.com/article/immigration-caravan-trump/

Kerry's Endorsement of Biden Fits: Two Deceptive Supporters of the Iraq War
Norman Solomon | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
The spectacle of Kerry praising Biden as a seasoned leader amounts to one supporter of the Iraq catastrophe attesting to the character and experience of another supporter of the same catastrophe. | *** | On Thursday afternoon, the Washington Post sent out …
globalresearch.ca/kerry-endorsement-biden-fits-two-deceptive-supporters-iraq-war/5697069

Kerry's Endorsement of Biden Fits: Two Deceptive Supporters of the Iraq War
Norman Solomon | indybay.org | 2019-12-09
Character and Experience… in Mass Slaughter…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/07/18828714.php

Arizona educators, progressives confront ALEC summit and Betsy DeVos
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-12-09
Tucson, AZ – On December 4, a coalition of union educators, immigrant rights, police crimes, and climate change activists confronted the agenda of corporations like UPS and energy industry giants and billionaires like Charles Koch and Sheldon Achelson. At its height the crowd numbered around 200 with signs reading: "ALEC: Oligarchy in progress" and "Privatization, criminalization, incarceration, climate change, imperialism: #ALECisBehindIt." | The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a notorious organization of hardcore conservatives, was holding its States and Nation Policy Summit in Arizona. ALEC hoste…
fightbacknews.org/2019/12/8/arizona-educators-progressives-confront-alec-summit-and-betsy-devos

Police Halt Activist-Led "Toxic Tour" of Corporate Polluters Sponsoring COP25
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-09
In Spain, the country's biggest fossil fuel polluters are also some of the most generous sponsors for this year's U.N. climate talks. On Saturday, we joined activists on a "toxic tour" of Madrid from the Madrid stock exchange to Santander Bank. Activists explained that when Spanish President Pedro Sánchez announced that Spain would host COP25, he went to IBEX 35 — the 35 biggest listed companies in the Spanish stock exchange — offering them a 90% tax break on a $2 million sponsorship.
truthout.org/video/police-halt-activist-led-toxic-tour-of-corporate-polluters-sponsoring-cop25/

Indigenous and Youth Activists Slam Global Leaders for Climate Inaction
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-09
We broadcast from Madrid, Spain, where the 25th United Nations climate conference is in its second week and representatives from almost 200 countries have gathered for the final days of negotiations. The summit — known as COP25, or conference of parties — has so far focused on meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to "well below 2 degrees Celsius," or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. But climate scientists say the talks are failing to produce the drastic measures nec…
truthout.org/video/indigenous-and-youth-activists-slam-global-leaders-for-climate-inaction/

Palo Alto Youth Lead Local Protest during U.N. Climate Conference
Text: RR Photos: Leo Leung, Pro Bono Photo | indybay.org | 2019-12-09
This year is the 25th meeting of the conference under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP25. The conference is being held December 2 through the 13th in Madrid. In Palo Alto, California on December 6th, youth activists led a Climate Strike, part of a coordinated international action timed to coincide with the U.N. Conference.
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/08/18828732.php

Israeli Soldiers Demolish Shed, Uproot Lands, Near Hebron
IMEMC News | imemc.org | 2019-12-09
Israeli soldiers demolished, Monday, a shed and uprooted six Dunams (1.48 Acres) of Palestinian farmlands in Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank. Media activist, Mohammad Awad, said the soldiers demolished a shed, owned by a Palestinian, identified as Ahmad Bader Abu …
imemc.org/article/israeli-soldiers-demolish-shed-uproot-lands-near-hebron/

Israel's War Minister Naftali Bennett Threatens Iran
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
Israeli ruling authorities are the most extremist in Jewish state history. Arab MKs aside, the vast majority of Knesset members are militantly hardline racists, threatening regional peace and stability. | New Right party head Naftali Bennett earlier held various ministries, including …
globalresearch.ca/israel-war-minister-naftali-bennett-threatens-iran/5697136

Political Collapse: The Center Cannot Hold
Kirkpatrick Sale | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
Have you noticed? From Hong Kong to Baghdad, Paris to Tehran, 2019 is shaping up to be, as the New York Times dubbed it, "the year of the protest." Violent–and often deadly–anti-government protests are breaking out throughout the world in an unprecedented fashion, in rich countries as well as poor, as people everywhere are expressing their anger at corrupt, inefficient, brutal, and unresponsive regimes.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/political-collapse-the-center-cannot-hold/

What Have the US and Protesters in Lebanon Achieved over Iran and Its Allies?
Elijah J. Magnier | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
For several weeks now, much of the Lebanese population has turned on the country's traditional political leaders and wrought havoc on the corrupt domestic political system. Those who have ruled the country for decades have offered little in the way …
globalresearch.ca/what-have-us-protesters-lebanon-achieved-over-iran-and-its-allies/5697160

What Really Happened in Iran? Wave of Protests in 100 Cities
Pepe Escobar | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
On November 15, a wave of protests engulfed over 100 Iranian cities as the government resorted to an extremely unpopular measure: a fuel tax hike of as much as 300%, without a semblance of a PR campaign to explain the …
globalresearch.ca/what-happened-iran/5697127

Youth demonstrating in Australia speak out against climate change and war
wsws.org | 2019-12-09
Students attended climate change protests in major cities in solidarity with rallies organised globally on November 29.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/09/clim-d09.html

SF Climate Strike at BlackRock and March to Senator Feinstein's Office
Leon Kunstenaar | indybay.org | 2019-12-09
Photos: Leon Kunstenaar, Pro Bono Photo | Message of climate urgency delivered where most needed in day of world wide protests…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/07/18828694.php

Hunger-striker in Serious Condition
IMEMC News & Agencies | imemc.org | 2019-12-09
Ahmad Zahran, a Palestinian administrative detainee held in Israeli jails who has been on hunger strike for 78 consecutive days, in protest against his incarceration without charge or trial, is in serious health condition and has been admitted to an Israeli hospital, today, said the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS). Zahran, …
imemc.org/article/hunger-striker-in-serious-condition/

Meet the Controversial Actor and Businessman Standing Up Against Egypt's el-Sisi
Robert Fisk | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
Mohamed Ali infuriates Field Marshal President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt. His waspish, cruel, outrageously funny, solemnly pedantic videos and social media messages transmitted from his self-exile in Spain, mocking the man who overthrew Egypt's first elected president, even brought demonstrators back on to the streets of Cairo in September. But the 45-year-old actor and…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/meet-the-controversial-actor-and-businessman-standing-up-against-egypts-el-sisi/

Why Not Also Go With "The Kitchen Table" Impeachable Offenses for Removal?
Ralph Nader | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
Will the Democrats move to impeach Trump for a narrow brace of violations and accept that the Senate Republicans will keep this outlaw in the White House? Or will they present the Senate with the President's many proven impeachable offenses, thereby requiring the Senate Republicans, before live national television, in a public trial to defend…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/why-not-also-go-with-the-kitchen-table-impeachable-offenses-for-removal/

NATO Doesn't Care that Montenegro Is a Haven for Crime and Corruption
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
There was international jubilation when Montenegro seceded from its union with Serbia in 2006 after a controversial referendum. The Referendum Law prevented Montenegrins living and registered in Serbia from voting in the referendum, ensuring that tens of thousands of Montenegrins, …
globalresearch.ca/nato-doesnt-care-montenegro-haven-crime-corruption/5697156

Savoring What Remains: Dealing With Climate PTSD
Dahr Jamail | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
Recently, I was in Homer, Alaska, to talk about my book The End of Ice. Seconds after I had thanked those who brought me to the small University of Alaska campus there, overwhelmed with some mix of sadness, love, and grief about my adopted state — and the planet generally — I wept. I tried…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/savoring-what-remains-dealing-with-climate-ptsd/

Savoring What Remains in an Age of Climate PTSD
Dahr Jamail | commondreams.org | 2019-12-09
Symphony Lake, near Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo: mcav0y/flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/alaskalake.jpeg
commondreams.org/views/2019/12/09/savoring-what-remains-age-climate-ptsd?cd-origin=rss

Dealing with climate PTSD
Dahr Jamail | nationofchange.org | 2019-12-09
Alaska, in other words, is suffering climate death by a thousand cuts, while I struggle daily to accept the new reality: that the state is already irreparably changed.
nationofchange.org/2019/12/09/dealing-with-climate-ptsd/

Premature Democratic Socialists: Reasons for Hope and Change
Scott Tucker | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
In the United States there was a time in the previous century when a political campaign was waged against "premature antifascists," namely against members of the socialist left who warned and fought against fascism well before World War II. In the wake of that war, the leading career politicians also worked within a corporate consensus…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/premature-democratic-socialists-reasons-for-hope-and-change/

Money, Power and Turf: Winning the Middle East Media War at Any Cost
Ramzy Baroud | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-09
Honest, objective and trust-worthy journalism in the Middle East is suffering a long, agonizing death, thanks not only to crackdowns on the media but also to well-financed propaganda empires.
mintpressnews.com/money-power-turf-winning-middle-east-media-war-cost/263274/

Money, Power and Turf: Winning the Middle East Media War at Any Cost
Ramzy Baroud | commondreams.org | 2019-12-09
All state-run media throughout the Arab world were stuffed with loyalists. (Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/world_press_freedom_day_0.png
commondreams.org/views/2019/12/09/money-power-and-turf-winning-middle-east-media-war-any-cost?cd-origin=rss

Money, Power and Turf: Winning the Middle East Media War at Any Cost
Ramzy Baroud | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-09
It is hardly surprising to see Middle Eastern countries at the bottom of the World Press Freedom Index, as the worst violators of freedom of the press. But equally alarming is the complete polarization of public opinion as a result of self-serving media and, bankrolled by rich Arab countries, whose only goal is to serve …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/money-power-and-turf-winning-the-middle-east-media-war-at-any-cost/

Banning Russian Athletes? Politicized International Sports Competition Rears Its Ugly Head Again
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
Olympism and other major international sports events are all about profiteering, exploiting athletes, scandalous wheeling, dealing, collusion, and bribery, marginalizing the poor, other disenfranchised groups, and affected communities, sticking taxpayers with the bill, and providing nothing in return but hype …
globalresearch.ca/banning-russian-athletes-politicized-international-sports-competition-rears-its-ugly-head-again/5697139

Hitting at Cuban Doctors and at Human Solidarity
W. T. Whitney | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
News item: Three rightwing Latin American governments have forced out Cuban doctors working in their countries. Over 8000 of them departed from Brazil in late 2018 and 382 doctors left Ecuador in mid-November, 2019. Some 700 Cuban doctors exited Bolivia after the coup there on November 10. Brazilian President Bolsonaro alleged that Cuban doctors were…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/hitting-at-cuban-doctors-and-at-human-solidarity/

Syria Will Not Cooperate with the OPCW New Investigation Team
Arabi Souri | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
OPCW was used before to justify the invasion of Iraq, providing a temporary cover before exposed, to the pariah states in the world is at it again, this time willingly and without death threats to its teams, and this time …
globalresearch.ca/syria-will-not-cooperate-opcw-new-investigation-team/5697080

Proof the Rich Have Decisively Won America's Class War
Ilana Novick | truthdig.com | 2019-12-09
Throughout the year, a barrage of studies has uncovered the breathtaking scope of wealth inequality all over the world. Among them was " Public Good or Private Wealth," the British charity Oxfam's annual study of global inequality that revealed, among other disheartening statistics, that the fortunes of billionaires increased by 12% in 2018–or $2.5 billion a day. In the same year, the wealth of the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity dropped by 11%. I…
truthdig.com/articles/the-triumph-of-the-rich-theyre-earning-more-and-living-longer/

Toys R Us Worker: Wall Street Billionaires Should Not Be Making Money By Putting People Out of Work
Sarah Anderson | commondreams.org | 2019-12-09
Giovanna De La Rosa (center) at a United for Respect demonstration. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/de-la-rosa-in-action-768×512.jpeg
commondreams.org/views/2019/12/09/toys-r-us-worker-wall-street-billionaires-should-not-be-making-money-putting-people?cd-origin=rss

Wisconsin Democrats double down on Foxconn con job
wsws.org | 2019-12-09
Despite campaigning in 2018 against the largest state subsidy in US history, Governor Tony Evers has bent over backwards to accommodate the multibillion dollar company at the expense of the working class.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/09/foxh-d09.html

Iran False Flag, Bolivia's Coup Gov Seeks Israel's Help, Israel's Been In Yemen 'Since Day One'
Ryan Cristián | thelastamericanvagabond.com | 2019-12-09
Welcome to The Daily Wrap Up, a concise show dedicated to bringing you the most relevant independent news, as we see it, from the last 24 hours (12/8/19). As always, take the information discussed in the video below and research it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Anyone telling you what the truth …
thelastamericanvagabond.com/daily-wrap-up/iran-false-flag-bolivias-coup-gov-seeks-israels-help-israels-been-in-yemen-since-day-one/

Stage-Managing the Pensacola Naval Base Shooting: Mollycoddling the Face of Evil
Kurt Nimmo | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-09
As should be expected, the government is attempting to stage-manage the shooting at the Pensacola Naval Base. The Pentagon said sailors killed by a Saudi student reportedly angry over the serial murder of Muslims by the US government "showed exceptional …
globalresearch.ca/pensacola-shooting-mollycoddling-face-evil/5697083

Meet Virgil Griffith: America's Newest Political Prisoner
Thomas Knapp | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
On November 29, FBI agents arrested hacker and cryptocurrency developer Virgil Griffith. His alleged crime: Talking. Yes, really. The FBI alleges that Griffith "participated in discussions regarding using cryptocurrency technologies to evade sanctions and launder money." Griffith, a US citizen who lives in Singapore, gave a talk at conference on blockchain technology in April. Because…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/meet-virgil-griffith-americas-newest-political-prisoner/

For Sama: A Beautiful Yet Deceptive Documentary That Betrays Reality in Syria
Rick Sterling | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-09
The documentary movie "For Sama" has won a host of awards in Europe and North America. Its producers and protagonists, Syrians Waad Kateab and her husband Dr. Hamza Kateab plus English film-maker Edward Watts, have received gushing praise. And the awards will probably keep coming. | Unfortunately, behind the human interest story, the film "For Sama" is little more than propaganda: biased, misleading, and politically partisan. | Hiding Basic Facts about Aleppo: | "For Sama" is a full-length documentary with a moving personal story. It combines…
mintpressnews.com/for-sama-beautiful-deceptive-documentary-reality-syria/263282/

UPS Joins Media Chorus In Thanking Police For Murder of Frank Ordonez
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-09
In a clear example of a US establishment shielding police from brutality, UPS released a bizarre statement thanking police for killing their driver, while CNN and NBC obscured officers from any wrongdoing.
mintpressnews.com/ups-media-thank-police-murder-frank-ordonez/263301/

Newsweek Journo Quits After Editors Kills Report On Syria Chemical Attack Scandal
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-09
"I have collected evidence of how they [Newsweek] suppressed the story in addition to evidence from another case where info inconvenient to US government was removed, though it was factually correct."
mintpressnews.com/newsweek-tareq-haddad-quits-syria-douma-opcw/263292/

Envisioning a United World
Robert Koehler | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
Let's bomb Iowa! Or maybe Texas or Michigan or Nebraska . . . Oh wait, I got confused for a second. Those places are part of America and we love them. We would never bomb them. These are places we would bomb: Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, Congo, Vietnam, Cambodia, Grenada, Libya, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Iran, Panama,…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/envisioning-a-united-world/

Bison Slaughter in Yellowstone…Again
George Wuerthner | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
State, federal and tribal representatives voted again to slaughter 600-900 Yellowstone Park bison this winter. The agencies and tribes use the less offensive sounding euphemism "cull". But let's be honest, what happens is nothing more than butchery done to appease the livestock industry. It is shameful that these agencies and tribes legitimize the annual butchery…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/bison-slaughter-in-yellowstone-again/

Coal and the Regions Left Behind
Dean Baker | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
The NYT had an article that focused on Buchanan County, Virginia as an example of a left behind area in the United States. The county's economy had centered on coal. While the discussion implies that its downturn is a recent story, the data presented in the piece shows that most of the decline occurred more…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/coal-and-the-regions-left-behind/

How the New Right Went Global — and How to Stop It
John Feffer | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
A succession of social upheavals over the last decade has radically realigned political power throughout the world. As a result of these tectonic shifts, what had once been on the furthest fringes of the right has now moved toward the center while the left has been pushed to the margins.
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/how-the-new-right-went-global-and-how-to-stop-it/

Polish Minister of Health Proposes Carcinogenic 5G Emission Levels as National Norm
Julian Rose | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-09
Hundreds of letters are pouring into the office of Polish Minister of Health, Lukaz Szumowski, from Polish citizens and people all over the world, responding to Mr Szumowski's proposition to exponentially raise the officially recognized limit for cell phone emissions. Under the proposed change, new emission levels will be aligned with the introduction of 5G…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/09/polish-minister-of-health-proposes-carcinogenic-5g-emission-levels-as-national-norm/