2020-02-19: Social Media Postees

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

'Journalism is not a crime': Australian MP says charges against Assange must be dropped after visiting him in UK prison
rt.com | 2020-02-20
Continued persecution of the WikiLeaks co-founder is a "crazy situation," Australian lawmaker George Christiansen told RT, adding that Julian Assange did not commit any crime aside from running afoul of US elites. | Christiansen, a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland, questioned the integrity of the legal process against Assange, who is now facing the possibility of extradition to the US over "unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defense." | The journalist was hauled out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London after his asylum was revoked in April 2019, an…
rt.com/news/481242-australian-mp-assange-journalism-crime/

Passengers Leave Ship Docked Off Japan After Quarantine Ends
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-02-20
The two-week action failed to stop the spread of the new virus, with the Diamond Princess the site of the most infections outside of China.
truthdig.com/articles/passengers-leave-ship-docked-off-japan-after-quarantine-ends/

Priti Patel defends PM after Dave brands him 'real racist' in Brit Awards rap
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-02-19
Home secretary Priti Patel has criticised rapper Dave for branding Boris Johnson a "real racist" during the Brit Awards.The Tory MP said the artist's comments shortly before winning album of the year were "utter nonsense", and she defended the prime minister as "not a racist at all".Dave added verses to the end of his song Black criticising the government for the Windrush scandal and its handling of the Grenfell disaster. | "The truth is our prime minister's a real racist," he rapped during the performance at London's O2 Arena.Patel was asked about Dave's criticism as she defended the government's immigration pla…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2020/02/19/priti-patel-defends-pm-after-dave-brands-him-real-racist-in-brit-awards-rap/

Organizers Work to Guide Deportees Toward Resources in Their Home Countries
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-02-19
What happens to people after they are deported from the United States? And if they no longer have family in their countries of origin, how do they make their way in an unfamiliar place? | In 2014, Christina Zaldivar found herself pondering these questions with some fellow activists after she had accompanied one of them to an immigration check-in in Centennial, Colorado. That friend had been living without legal status in the U.S. for more than 30 years and had no family left in Mexico. | "We s…
truthout.org/articles/organizers-work-to-guide-deportees-toward-resources-in-their-home-countries/

German politicians and cultural professionals demand release of Julian Assange
wsws.org | 2020-02-19
Some 130 prominent initial signatories, including nine former federal ministers, are demanding the "immediate release of Julian Assange, on medical grounds as well on the basis of the rule of law."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/19/germ-f19.html

Australian MPs visit Julian Assange at Belmarsh Prison
wsws.org | 2020-02-19
Andrew Wilkie and George Christensen said they agreed with UN official Nils Melzer's assessment that Assange is the victim of psychological torture.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/19/belm-f19.html

Assange's Extradition Case: Critical Moment for the Anti-war Movement
Nozomi Hayase | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
Earlier this week, Leader of the UK opposition Jeremy Corbyn challenged Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons on the US extradition request for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. Corbyn stated that Assange had been charged by the US "for exposing war crimes, the murder of civilians and large-scale corruption". Backing the Council of…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/19/assanges-extradition-case-critical-moment-for-the-anti-war-movement/

A year in jail & quarter million fine since, lawyers seek freedom for Chelsea Manning refusing to testify against WikiLeaks
rt.com | 2020-02-19
Chelsea Manning's attorney has filed a new motion requesting her release from jail, where she has been for nearly a year for continuously refusing to testify before a grand jury against WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. | Manning's incarceration has "exceeded its lawful scope" by moving from being a coercive tactic to a criminal punishment, her lawyer Moira Meltzer-Cohen said in a motion requesting her release filed on Friday. | Manning was jailed in March of 2019 for refusing to testify before a gran…
rt.com/usa/481233-chelsea-manning-wikileaks-grand-jury/

Assange Was Offered U.S. Pardon if He Cleared Russia, His Lawyer Says
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-02-19
Wikileaks founder will claim former Rep. Rohrabacher did so at behest of Trump in 2017 visit; president denies report through spokeswoman.
truthdig.com/articles/assange-was-offered-u-s-pardon-if-he-cleared-russia-his-lawyer-says/

Assange defence team: "The empire calls it espionage. We call it journalism"
wsws.org | 2020-02-19
A packed press conference was addressed by WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, lawyer Jennifer Robinson and Australian MPs Andrew Wilkie and George Christensen.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/19/assa-f19.html

Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent
Prof. Marjorie Cohn | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-19
The Trump administration is seeking extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States for trial on charges carrying 175 years in prison. On February 24, a court in the U.K. will hold a hearing to determine whether to …
globalresearch.ca/extradition-assange-would-set-dangerous-precedent/5704114

Julian Assange Must be Freed, Not Betrayed
John Pilger | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-19
On Saturday, there will be a march from Australia House in London to Parliament Square, the centre of British democracy. People will carry pictures of the Australian publisher and journalist Julian Assange who, on 24 February, faces a court that …
globalresearch.ca/julian-assange-must-freed-not-betrayed/5704099

Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent
Marjorie Cohn | zcomm.org | 2020-02-19
The Trump administration singled out Assange to send a clear message to journalists that they publish material critical of U.S. policy at their peril…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/extradition-of-assange-would-set-a-dangerous-precedent/

Mistrial Is Another Blow To US Coup In Venezuela
Kevin Zeese | zcomm.org | 2020-02-19
Last week, we along with Adrienne Pine and David Paul were unsuccessfully prosecuted by the Trump administration for our protection of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC from April 10 to May 16, 2019…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/mistrial-is-another-blow-to-us-coup-in-venezuela/

The Escalating Class War Against Bernie Sanders
Norman Solomon | indybay.org | 2020-02-19
Corporate Democrats and corporate media on the attack…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/17/18830739.php

While Nicaragua returns to peace, media and international NGOs conjure epidemic of violence with dubious reporting
John Perry | thegrayzone.com | 2020-02-19
Media bias against Nicaragua's Sandinista government is unremitting, and international NGOs are feeding it by misreporting a violent land dispute…
thegrayzone.com/2020/02/19/nicaragua-peace-media-international-ngos-violence-reporting/

While Nicaragua returns to peace, media and international NGO's conjure epidemic of violence with dubious reporting
John Perry | thegrayzone.com | 2020-02-19
Media bias against Nicaragua's Sandinista government is unremitting, and international NGOs are feeding it by misreporting a violent land dispute…
thegrayzone.com/2020/02/19/nicaragua-peace-media-international-ngos-violence-reporting/

Bloomberg Gains in Primaries, But His History With Unions May Be a Roadblock
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-02-19
We continue our conversation with Marcie Wells, activist and waitress who is a member of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada, and Hamilton Nolan, labor reporter with In These Times. Nolan says 2020 had been "the most promising election year for organized labor in a long time," with Democratic candidates releasing platforms with strong labor protections. But Michael Bloomberg's entry into the race threatens to upend the Democratic Party's pro-worker shift. The billionaire former mayor o…
truthout.org/video/bloomberg-gains-in-primaries-but-his-history-with-unions-may-be-a-roadblock/

Bloomberg Gains in Democratic Primaries, But Has History of Hostility to Unions Key to Voter Turnout
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-02-19
We continue our conversation with Marcie Wells, activist and waitress who is a member of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada, and Hamilton Nolan, labor reporter with In These Times. Nolan says 2020 had been "the most promising election year for organized labor in a long time," with Democratic candidates releasing platforms with strong labor protections. But Michael Bloomberg's entry into the race threatens to upend the Democratic Party's pro-worker shift. The billionaire former mayor of New York has a long track record of hostility toward organized labor, particularly teachers' unions, whom he has comp…
www.democracynow.org/2020/2/19/hamilton_nolan_michael_bloomberg_organized_labor

CNN reporter triggered by Fox interviewing InfoWars' 'Gun Girl' quickly reminded of own network's history with racists & criminals
rt.com | 2020-02-19
In a case of pot calling the kettle black, Oliver Darcy fumed at Fox News describing Kaitlin Bennet as a "gun rights activist" after her tumultuous visit to a college campus. Twitter was quick to remind him of CNN's own sins. | …
rt.com/usa/481244-cnn-fox-kaitlin-bennett-ohio/

US Middle East "Peace Deal" Designed to Perpetuate Conflict
Tony Cartalucci | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-19
A deal that is entirely unacceptable to one of its principal parties isn't a deal at all. In the case of the US-proposed "Middle East peace plan"

NATO Wars Against Freedom, Justice and Humanity
Mark Taliano | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-19
NATO commits Supreme International War Crimes Against Peace as military doctrine. The criminality is normalized. Perceptions are inverted and Western populations are hypnotized to believe that NATO and its serial war crimes are making us safe. | . | . | Hidden from …
globalresearch.ca/nato-wars-against-freedom-justice-humanity/5703971

Brazil Court Rules in Favor of Fired Petrobras Workers on Strike
telesurenglish.net | 2020-02-19
Parana's regional labor court temporarily suspended Tuesday the lay-off of more than 1,000 workers of the fertilizer factory Fafen-PR until at least March 6, following a collective strike that lasted more than two weeks. | RELATED: | Brazil: Citizens Protest Against Collapse of Social Security | The strike against the Petrobras executive board started in pro…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Court-Rules-in-Favor-of-Fired-Petrobras-Workers-on-Strike-20200219-0001.html

Truly Remaking Social Security is the Key to Having a Livable Society in the US
Dave Lindorff | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
Social Security is back in the news, as both Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg, two emblematic one-percenter oligarchs, raise the issue of its future as part of their campaign strategy. Trump (a faux wannabe billionaire) has put Americans on notice that while he may have promised during his 2016 campaign "not to touch" the New…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/19/truly-remaking-social-security-is-the-key-to-having-a-livable-society-in-the-us/

UN List of Firms Aiding Israel's Settlements Was Dead on Arrival
Jonathan Cook | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-19
After lengthy delays, the United Nations finally published a database last week of businesses that have been profiting from Israel's illegal settlement activity in the West Bank. | The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, announced that 112 | …
globalresearch.ca/un-list-firms-aiding-israel-settlements-dead-arrival/5704045

Russia Needs to Prioritize Greece as Relations Rift with Turkey
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-19
A revealing poll released earlier last week by the highly-reliable Pew Research Center found that the majority of people in Greece and Turkey viewed NATO unfavourably

Video: Towards The Liberation of Idlib City
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-19
Syrian government forces did not stop their operation in Greater Idlib with the success in the western countryside of Aleppo city, and continued making gains in the province. During the past 24 hours, they took control of over 10 settlements….
globalresearch.ca/video-idlib-city-preparing-ticker-tape-parade-assad/5704026

Netanyahu "Optimistic" Israel Can Use Political Pressure To Shut Down ICC War Crimes Probe
Whitney Webb | mintpressnews.com | 2020-02-19
Netanyahu's frenzied lobbying efforts to halt the ICC probe suggests that the probe greatly worries him, particularly as he has linked his current reelection bid to illegal acts like his planned annexation of the West Bank.
mintpressnews.com/netanyahu-optimistic-israel-can-use-political-pressure-shut-icc-war-crimes-probe/265021/

'Throat of fire' volcano signalling imminent, devastating COLLAPSE
rt.com | 2020-02-19
Scientists are warning that the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador is showing early signs of impending catastrophic collapse, after satellite data showed substantial internal damage from ongoing magma activity. | Tungurahua, has been persistently active since 1999 so wear and tear was inevitable, especially given that the 'Throat of fire,' or 'Black giant' as the Quechua indigenous people named it, has already collapsed twice before thousands of years ago. | | Tungurahua erupting on November 2nd, 1999. © US Geological Survey | "Using satellite data we have observed very rapid deformation of Tungurahua's west…
rt.com/news/481180-ecuador-volcano-imminent-collapse-danger/

Guaido is a "Fake President". "Lima Group" to Meet in Canada: Open Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Nino Pagliccia | globalresearch.ca | 2020-02-19
Re: "Lima Group" meeting of February 20, 2020 in Gatineau, Quebec | 18 February 2020 | Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: | I am addressing you as a concerned Canadian regarding Canada's foreign policy position vis-à -vis Venezuela. | Your government has announced a …
globalresearch.ca/open-letter-canada-prime-minister-justin-trudeau/5704023

Spanish Parliament Rejects Juan Guaido as Venezuelan President
telesurenglish.net | 2020-02-19
The National Executive in Spain rejected a motion to acknowledge Juan Guaido as the leader of Venezuela on Tuesday. The legal request faced the opposition of 190 parliamentary officials. | RELATED: | Juan Guaido Stars Venezuela's Biggest Corruption Case Ever | The left-wing parties, such as Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos, expressed their rejection of the motion, arguing that political parties like VOX, Ciudadanos, Foro Asturias and Navarra Suma, are usi…
telesurenglish.net/news/spanish-parliament-rejects-venezuelan-opposition-leader-juan-guaido-20200219-0007.html

Venezuela slams US sanctions on Russia's Rosneft as an attempt at grabbing control of global oil market
rt.com | 2020-02-19
Russian oil giant Rosneft's investments and commercial activities in Venezuela are legal, says state energy firm PDVSA, pledging to provide the necessary support for the producer's "operational and commercial continuity." | The PDVSA statement follows Washington's blacklisting of a Rosneft subsidiary on Tuesday over its trade ties with Venezuela. The US accused the oil brokerage subsidiary of handling over 70 percent of Venezuela's exports, in circumvention of US sanctions. It has also given the companies doing business with Rosneft Trading 90 days to disentangle those arrangements. | COMUNICADO OFICIAL&#63743…
rt.com/business/481181-rosneft-us-sanctions-venezuela/

US evacuates Americans from quarantined cruise ship in Japan
wsws.org | 2020-02-19
The US evacuated more than 300 Americans, including 14 confirmed infected with coronavirus, from a cruise ship in Yokohama harbor.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/19/viru-f19.html

Russia's tourism sector could lose $455 million if Chinese coronavirus crisis continues until summer – tour operators
rt.com | 2020-02-19
Health concerns over the new COVID-19 coronavirus have led to strong measures in Russia. The Far Eastern border with China has been closed, and most Chinese visitors face restrictions. Now financial losses are being assessed. | Experts forecast that the country's tourism industry may lose almost 3 billion rubles ($47 million), in just the next two months. That's according to ATOR, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia. China is typically the largest single source of tourists to Russia: providing 1.5 million visitors in 2019. | While the situation is bad, it could get much worse. If Chinese holidaymakers…
rt.com/russia/481201-coronavirus-russias-tourism-lose/

2 Iranians die after testing positive for coronavirus
rt.com | 2020-02-19
Two Iranians who were that country's first cases of coronavirus have died, health officials in Qom announced on Wednesday. | The deaths were also confirmed by health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur in a tweet just hours after confirmation that the pair had tested positive for the respiratory illness. Earlier, the ministry had said the patients had been put into isolation. | The highly contagious novel coronavirus emerged in China in December 2019, with the death toll there exceeding 2,000 for the first time on…
rt.com/newsline/481232-iranians-die-tested-positive-coronavirus/

Last ones to leave: 130+ Indian crew members to remain quarantined for TWO MORE WEEKS on coronavirus-hit cruise ship
rt.com | 2020-02-19
After the last passenger leaves the coronavirus-struck vessel, more than 100 Indian crew members, tending the quarantined guests, will be stuck on the Diamond Princess for another two weeks. | The Indian crew will not only be the last to disembark from the disease-hit luxury liner Diamond Princess, but will be quarantined for additional two weeks after all the passengers leave, the Times of India reported on Wednesday. | Passengers, who have tested negative for the virus began stepping ashore in the Port of Yokohama, Japan, earlier that day, after spending 14 days confined to the vessel. Indian personnel has b…
rt.com/news/481177-indian-crew-princess-diamond/

China: Over 14 Thousand Patients Recover From Coronavirus
telesurenglish.net | 2020-02-19
China's National Health Commission(NHC) reported that 14,376 patients have recovered from the coronavirus throughout the country. | RELATED: | China Suspends the Annual Meeting of the National Assembly | In their latest report, Chinese health authorities informed that 74,279 people have been infected by the disease and 2007 persons have died so far. | Seen from a temporary perspective, however, the outbreak control is yielding the expected results. | For 15 consecutive days, the…
telesurenglish.net/news/China-Over-14-Thousand-Patients-Recover-From-Coronavirus-20200219-0004.html

Overseas investors increase holdings of Chinese bonds despite coronavirus uncertainty
rt.com | 2020-02-19
Demonstrating confidence in China, international investors continued to invest in the country's economy. Net purchases of Chinese bonds were worth 43 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) after the Spring Festival, market data showed. | According to China Foreign Exchange Trade System, the country's bond market has become an important part of global asset allocation. It said, as cited by Xinhua News, that it will continue to improve overseas services and enhance financial infrastructure to facilitate bond trade. | Analysts largely expect growth to rebound after the containment on pent-up demand and production, the forei…
rt.com/business/481173-overseas-investors-chinese-bonds/

The Rule of Law Under Trump
Nick Licata | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
William Galston, a Brookings Institution senior fellow, said that "we are a government of men and not law." It has no force until people enforce it. That is the underlying theme of Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig's A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America. The test is how far can one person,…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/19/the-rule-of-law-under-trump/

A Treatise on Trinities
Sam Gordon | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
Back in the days of Thatcherism I watched a journalist interview a Conservative MP on British television. The MP had the wind in his sails and the journalist was decidedly in the doldrums. That was a scene often to be repeated. With an arrogance which we became accustomed to the MP, I can't recall his…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/19/a-treatise-on-trinities/

Open Letter to Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Lima Group Meeting
Nino Pagliccia | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
Re: "Lima Group" meeting of February 20, 2020 in Gatineau, Quebec 18 February 2020 Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: I am addressing you as a concerned Canadian regarding Canada's foreign policy position vis-à -vis Venezuela. Your government has announced a meeting of the so-called Lima Group on February 20, 2020 for the reported purpose of…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/19/open-letter-to-canadas-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-on-lima-group-meeting/

Hysteria Isn't Killing Nuclear Power
Linda Pentz Gunter | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
Time was, that a woman suffering from menopause, pre-menstrual syndrome, a heightened libido or lack thereof, was labeled "hysterical." Her very real medical or psychological troubles were put down to an "emotional reaction." For a while these symptoms were even attributed to a "wandering womb." What? Yes, really. For years, if you were a woman…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/19/hysteria-isnt-killing-nuclear-power/

Which Side Are You On?
Chris Floyd | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
My best friend from high school was in and out of the prison system the last two decades of his life. He was a drug addict. This was before the opioid epidemic; his poison was crack cocaine. His father had been a raging, violent alcoholic and his mother was a broken woman with chronic illnesses. My friend spent most of his adult life trying to take care of her.
counterpunch.org/2020/02/19/which-side-are-you-on-3/

Just Two Kings Talking
John Kendall Hawkins | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
[M]en should be treated in such a way that there's no fear of their seeking revenge… -Nicolai Machiavelli, "Mixed Principalities," The Prince "You come at the king, you bess not miss."

Corporate Occupations: The UN Business "Black List" and Israel's Settlements
Binoy Kampmark | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-19
Mikhail Bakunin, in that charming anarchist tradition, regarded the state as an evil to be done away with. Such collective formations were criminal, oppressive, eviscerating to the individual. The corporation might be regarded as a similar collective, adopting and aping elements of the state with, in some cases, greater latitude to achieve its object. At…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/19/corporate-occupations-the-un-business-black-list-and-israels-settlements/

Last Process: 50 Postees: 2020-02-20 02:13 GMT (19:13 EST)

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