Month: October 2020

NYPD, Housing Authority Complicit in Akai Gurley Death: Lawsuit

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The family of Akai Gurley, the unarmed black man who was shot dead by a police officer in a Brooklyn housing project last year, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against New York City.

Gurley’s partner, Kimberly Ballinger, brought the suit on behalf of his estate and their two-year-old daughter, Akaila. It names the officer who shot Gurley—Peter Liang—as well as his partner, Shaun Landau, the New York City Police Department, and the New York City Housing Authority. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Gurley, 28, was killed when Liang entered the Louis Heaton Pink housing project in East New York last November and fired his gun up an unlit stairwell, which Gurley was descending at the time.

The lawsuit says Liang shot Gurley “negligently and recklessly” and charges that both officers failed to provide adequate medical care after the shooting. It also says the city was negligent “in training, hiring, supervision and retention of the police officers involved in this incident” and in training officers on “the use and abuse of power while in the field.”

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It also says the housing authority created a “hazardous and traplike condition” in the stairwell by not providing sufficient lighting.

Liang was indicted on several charges in February, including second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Ballinger’s lawyer, Scott Rynecki, said during a press conference Thursday that “there was no reason or provocation” for Liang to have his gun out of its holster when entering the project. He said he hopes the lawsuit will push the city to independently review the training officers receive on weapons handling.

Ballinger also said that “it’s very hard and difficult to not have Akai in the home,” and that his daughter asks about him every day. “I will be in court every time to make sure that justice for him is kept, that justice for him is received.”

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China Slams US For Knee-Jerk Accusations over Massive Hacking Attack

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An army of “unnamed” U.S. officials on Friday were quick to allege that Chinese hackers were responsible for a breach of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)’s computer system in December, which compromised the data of about 4 million current and former federal employees.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the accusations were “irresponsible and unscientific” at a news briefing on Friday. “We know that hacker attacks are conducted anonymously, across nations, and that it is hard to track the source. It’s irresponsible and unscientific to make conjectural, trumped-up allegations without deep investigation.”

He added: “We wish the United States would not be full of suspicions, catching wind and shadows, but rather have a larger measure of trust and cooperation.”

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According to NBC News, unidentified U.S. officials “said the breach—which exploited a ‘zero day’ vulnerability, meaning one that was previously unknown—could be the biggest cyberattack in U.S. history, potentially affecting every agency of the U.S. government.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was among those pointing fingers at China. “The ramifications are very serious,” said Collins, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Potentially 4 million former and current federal employees have had their information compromised, and because OPM is the [agency] that holds security clearances, that’s giving a potential enemy like China very valuable information.”

Unnamed intelligence officials told CNN that “hackers working for the Chinese military are believed to be compiling a massive database of Americans,” though it was unclear what the purpose of such a database would be—and doubly unclear why CNN would report the unsubstantiated claims of unnamed “intelligence officials.”

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The hack comes just one day after the New York Times and ProPublica revealed that the Obama administration has expanded the NSA’s warrantless surveillance of Americans’ international Internet traffic to search for evidence of malicious computer hacking.

And as The Hill notes, “Within minutes of the story breaking, lawmakers were using the OPM breach to renew calls for the Senate to move on a stalled cybersecurity bill that would enhance the public-private exchange of information on hackers.”

Agence France-Press reports:

As for how the breach occurred and was detected in the first place, the Associated Press reports:

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Black Church Near Charleston Sixth to Burn in 10 Days

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A historic black church just north of Charleston, South Carolina was on fire Tuesday night, making it the sixth predominantly black church in the United States to burn in the less than two weeks since a white supremacist massacred nine people, all of them African-American, at their parish.

This is not the first time the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal church in Greeleyville, a town of 400 people, has caught ablaze. In 1995 the Klu Klux Klan burned it down, almost 20 years to the date before Tuesday’s inferno.

It is believed that no one was inside at the time of Tuesday’s fire. The chief of the South Carolina Enforcement Division, Mark Keel, told the New York Times that it was too early to determine cause of the blaze.

Many suspect that the string of fires is part of an anti-black backlash in the wake of the white supremacist killings at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on June 17.

The NAACP said in a tweet on Tuesday that “State Conferences and Units are now alerting black churches to take necessary precautions.”

Meanwhile, the hashtag #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches has been trending on Twitter:

#WhoIsBurningBlackChurches Tweets

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A report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center before Tuesday identified other fires that “damaged or destroyed” majority black churches in five states in the south since June 21—just days after the Charleston killings. According to SPLC’s count, at the following three churches, the fires are believed by authorities to have been caused by arson:

The other predominantly black churches that burned are:

The SPLC said that at least some of the fires constitute “suspicious and possible hate crimes.” The organization noted the blazes “occurred at a time when there is increasing public pressure to remove the Confederate flag—one of the last hallmarks of white superiority—from government buildings and public places as well as banning assorted Confederate flag merchandise sold in retails stores and online.”

Buzzfeed reported late last week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working with local authorities to investigate the fires.

Amid a growing, nationwide movement against institutional racism and killings, under the banner of Black Lives Matter, many say that the church burnings emphasize the need to address institutional anti-black terror in America.

Writer David A. Love wrote in the Atlanta Black Star last week that “the Black church always has been under attack because Black people always were under attack.”

Love continued: “We should remember that Emanuel AME was once burned down because of its ties to the Denmark Vesey slave rebellion in 1822. At a time of increased assaults against Black people in the streets, in the courts and the state house, in police custody and in all realms and spheres of life, the Black church is once again under assault.”

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'We Will Stand for Ourselves': Global Movement Stakes Claim for COP21

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Building on the momentum and message of last year’s People’s Climate March in New York City, activists are vowing to convene during the upcoming COP21 talks in Paris for what campaigners hope will be “the largest mass civil disobedience climate justice action that we have ever seen in Europe.”

From a huge march on the eve of the two-week UN climate summit to a mass mobilization on the final day of the conference to decentralized and creative direct actions in Paris and around the world, the events aim to demonstrate the energy and commitment of the people’s movement, even as world leaders and corporate interests meet behind closed doors to try to strike a global agreement.

“If enough people agree that it’s time for the world to move in a new direction, and push together, the world will begin to move.”
—350.org

“We want to have the last word as the climate talks conclude,” 350.org states in its call-to-action for the last day of the summit, December 12. “And we’ll get it by speaking in the language of movements: by putting tens of thousands of people into the streets of Paris, and making sure business as usual cannot proceed as long as world governments fail to do what’s needed.”

The 350 statement continues: “The Paris moment will be defined not by what happens in the negotiating halls, but in the streets of Paris and around the world. Politicians aren’t the only ones with power. If enough people agree that it’s time for the world to move in a new direction, and push together, the world will begin to move.”

The movement has articulated that its demands include a sustainable energy transformation, justice for frontline communities, and “immediate, urgent and drastic emission reductions.”

Beyond marches and rallies, Paris is set to become a playing field for the Climate Games, a global effort supporting acts of creative disobedience on the streets, in public spaces, and in cyberspace during the summit.

Backed by a wide range of grassroots groups including 350.org and Attac France, the Games are the brainchild of London-based artist-activists Isabelle Frémeaux and John Jordan, who say their goal is to “amplify this growing movement for climatic justice” and “highlight and act against the manipulation and engulfment of the negotiations by the power of multinational companies.”

Frémeaux and Jordan have dubbed that corporate power machine “the Mesh.”

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“Manifestations of ‘the Mesh’—austerity-dictating politicians, fossil fuel corporations, industry lobbyists, peddlers of false solutions and greenwashers—are converging to solve the climate catastrophe,” the Climate Games website declares. “Or so they tell us.”

However, the statement continues, “Paris will be a world stage where we, people power, raise the curtain on the smoke and mirrors of false corporate promises and pierce through the Mesh’s hold on us.”

“Paris will be a world stage where we, people power, raise the curtain on the smoke and mirrors of false corporate promises and pierce through the Mesh’s hold on us.”
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The Guardian reports Thursday that among the actions will be 10 blockades, themed around ‘red lines’ which climate campaigners fear negotiators may cross. On the last day of the gathering, thousands of people are expected to surround the Le Brouget summit site with inflatable red lines, each meant to represent a potential deal-breaker—such as equitable climate finance for poorer countries, or meaningful emissions reductions.

“The idea is not to lock the delegates in,” Jordan told the Guardian, “but to have acts of civil disobedience that block the streets and infrastructure, if they cross red lines that are minimal necessities for a liveable planet.”

“It is going to be the largest mass civil disobedience climate justice action that we have ever seen in Europe,” added Prayal Parekh, of 350.org. “We’re sensing a lot of excitement and appetite. It’s going to be colorful.”

Before Paris, however, there will be another opportunity to demonstrate collective desire for a global paradigm shift on climate.

This weekend, under the banner of Reclaim Power, groups and individuals will mobilize worldwide around the following demands:

  1. Ban new dirty energy projects
  2. End government subsidies and public handouts to dirty energy companies.
  3. Stop excessive energy consumption by corporations and global elites.
  4. Redirect and mobilize public finance to ensure people’s universal access to energy and make the complete shift to public and community/decentralized renewable and clean energy systems as soon as possible.
  5. Divest from fossil fuel corporations.

Follow those actions on Twitter this October 9 and 10:

#reclaimpower Tweets

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ThredUp rebrands itself with a new look

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ThredUp has gotten a makeover. The popular secondhand retail site
launched a new rebrand to better connect with a new generation of
thrifters who are proud to wear used clothing. Creative agency Red
Antler was selected to lead the rebranding effort.

The resale retailer describes its new identity as “a creative
direction inspired by thrifter confidence, pride, and individuality,”
that celebrates the growing momentum of secondhand clothing.

ThredUp said that its brand strategy will focus on accelerating
conscious consumption movement, emphasizing the belief that clothing
has the power to create change. The brand now stands on a slogan of
“Thrift Loudly,” to encourage its followers to stand for
sustainability, reject throwaway fashion culture and advocate for a
better fashion future.

“The perception of thrift has changed,” ThredUp’s CEO and
co-founder James Reinhart said in a press release. “Consumers are not
only open to shopping secondhand, but they are wearing it proudly.
ThredUp’s brand evolution acknowledges this shift from stigma to
status, and celebrates our community of thrifters who are thinking
secondhand first.”

Image: ThredUp

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GOP hopefuls crowd Georgia special race

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Republicans in the high-profile contest to fill an open House seat in Georgia are launching attacks at their main Democratic rival — and each other.

The special election to fill the suburban Atlanta seat left open by new Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is one of the first competitive races since President Trump assumed office. 

Democrats, facing a president with historic levels of unpopularity and looking to warn congressional Republicans about the costs of working with Trump, want to frame the contest as a referendum on Trump.

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Eighteen candidates are vying for the seat — 11 Republicans, five Democrats and two independents — with significantly more competition on the GOP side. The fractured Republican field gives leading Democrat Jon Ossoff a chance to win the April 18 jungle primary outright with the majority. But if Ossoff falls below 50 percent, he’ll have to face the other leading candidate in a one-on-one runoff in a historically red district.

Republicans like those odds.

“In a runoff, the Republican takes it very soundly,” veteran Georgia Republican strategist Seth Weathers, who believes a runoff is all but guaranteed, told The Hill.

“Maybe not as well of a margin as Price in the past, but it will be a decent margin,” Weathers said.

The district has remained in Republican hands since 1979, when future House Speaker Newt Gingrich won it. Price regularly won the seat with over 60 percent of the vote, and Democrats sometimes didn’t field a general election candidate.

Much of the buzz around the race has focused on the clash between Ossoff and the GOP. But with just weeks to go, the GOP candidates are starting to turn up the heat on their fellow competitors.

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Karen Handel, Georgia’s former secretary of State, is thought to have a slight edge among her GOP rivals. With the highest name recognition on the Republican side, thanks to her high-profile resignation from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation over Planned Parenthood funding and statewide bids for office, Handel has the backing of former Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby ChamblissClarence (Saxby) Saxby ChamblissLobbying world GOP lobbyist tapped for White House legislative affairs The Hill’s Morning Report – Gillibrand drops out as number of debaters shrinks MORE and has polled ahead of the other GOP candidates in most recent surveys.

Handel’s campaign initially focused its attacks on Ossoff, releasing a digital ad dubbing him the “Lightweight Liberal.” But last week, Handel turned her attacks on former state Sen. Dan Moody and former Johns Creek City Councilman Bob Gray with a new ad that jabs at two recent spots by the two men, both Republicans.

Moody had already been on the offensive, launching an ad in March that makes a thinly veiled attack on Handel by depicting an elephant wearing a pearl necklace — a staple of Handel’s wardrobe — as the narrator talked about needing to move on from “another career politician.”

And last week, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) starred in an ad in which he backed Moody and echoed the line about breaking up with career politicians.

Gray has launched some intraparty attacks of his own. His campaign released a misleading statement on April Fool’s Day claiming that Handel had dropped out and endorsed Gray. He then doubled down on the false statement, which he tweeted out to his followers, with audio from a robocall Handel made on Gray’s behalf in a previous city council race.

Gray has also sparred with Bruce LeVell, a former minority outreach leader on the Trump campaign, after LeVell and others charged that Gray overstated his personal support for Trump. LeVell, who is polling far behind other candidates, is backed by diehard Trump supporters such as former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and Trump surrogate Pastor Mark Burns.

Gingrich’s favorite, former state Sen. Judson Hill, is also considered competitive.

Outside groups have shifted into high gear as the election draws near.

Last week, the conservative Club for Growth’s affiliated super PAC launched a six-figure ad buy attacking Handel as a “big-spending career politician.” The ads are intended to boost the Club’s preferred candidate, Gray.

And in what could be a response to those attacks, Ending Spending Action Fund, a group backed by GOP mega-donor Joe Ricketts, dropped six figures Wednesday, according to Politico, on its own ad buy that calls Handel the “one proven conservative in the race.”

A Wednesday poll by Atlanta’s NBC affiliate found Ossoff has a strong 43 percent support with likely voters — ahead of the other candidates, but not by enough yet to avert a runoff. Handel followed with 15 percent, Gray with 14 percent, Moody with 7 percent and Hill with 5 percent.

Republican operatives have also poured resources into the state, ignoring specific GOP candidates in the hopes of keeping Ossoff’s vote total short of a majority.

Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with the House GOP’s leadership, devoted more than $2 million to advertising and field staff. And the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and the Republican National Committee have deployed staff, too, with the NRCC releasing its first ad last week.

All those ads are aimed at hurting Ossoff’s vote, rather than boosting a specific Republican.

Ryan Mahoney, the Georgia GOP’s spokesman, told The Hill last week that the party is confident about its chances in a runoff, adding that the party will be ready to help voters coalesce around whichever GOP candidate advances past the primary.

If Ossoff can’t win outright, the Democrat is still expected to easily make the runoff. So the Republican effort will have to play an important role if it goes to a runoff, both helping to unify fractured GOP voters and organize logistics after a resource-draining primary.

“They are going to be broke, so we need to step in to make sure we have the resources and grassroots volunteers to keep them moving [with] fundraising and trying to win the runoff,” Mahoney said.

But while Republicans are confident about making the runoff, it’s not guaranteed. Polls have shown Ossoff receiving between 40 percent and 45 percent of the vote — nearly an outright win.

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Trump, who hasn’t announced plans to boost Republicans in the race, is a wild card.

Ossoff came out of the gate blasting Trump, who won the district by a little more than 1 percentage point, though earlier GOP presidential candidates carried it by double digits.

With so many variables in play, there’s only so much that experts can predict.

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“Republicans do a much better job of getting their people back out [to the polls],” said Charles Bullock III, a political science professor at the University of Georgia.

“[But] there may be an additional challenge to that this year, in that Democrats across the nation and in that district are very excited about the possibility to send Trump a message and defeat him for the first time after he’s been inaugurated.”

Can Simply Living Near a Fracking Site Send You to the Hospital?

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People living near “unconventional gas and oil drilling” operations were more likely to be hospitalized for heart, nervous system, and other medical conditions than those who were not in proximity to those sites, a new study published Wednesday has found.

It’s the latest—and most comprehensive—indication that hydraulic fracturing, the controversial shale gas drilling method also known as fracking, and all the “noise, the trucks, the drilling, the flaring, the anxiety” it brings may have impact on residents in nearby areas, the study, titled Unconventional Gas and Oil Drilling Is Associated with Increased Hospital Utilization Rates, found—and the consequences hit more than their health.

The impacts of fracking “all can impart an aberrant stress response on the body that could make people more susceptible,” to health problems, and with “an inpatient stay costing on average [$30,000], this poses a significant economic health burden to the [commonwealth],” states the study, conducted by researchers with the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:

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“This study captured the collective response of residents to hydraulic fracturing in zip codes within the counties with higher well densities,” said senior author Reynold Panettieri, Jr., MD, a deputy director at Penn’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET).

“This study represents one of the most comprehensive to date to link health effects with hydraulic fracturing,” he added.

The authors warned that “more study is needed to determine how specific, individual toxicants or combinations may increase hospitalization rates,” according to Penn Medicine’s write-up of the study. However, Penn Medicine says:

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UN Report Card Gives US 'Failing Grade' on Human Rights

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A United Nations committee of independent monitors this week released a damning assessment of human rights in the United States, showing an overall dismal performance on issues from Guantanamo Bay detentions to mass surveillance to accountability for past atrocities—earning what the U.S. Human Rights Network called a “failing grade.”

The United Nations Human Rights Committee’s investigation was one of a handful of periodic reviews aimed at evaluating countries that have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights established in 1976. In particular, the assessment measured U.S. implementation of the committee’s recommendations for improving the country’s human rights record.

The experts determined that the U.S. performance in 2014 was “relatively poor,” Vincent Ploton, head of external relations for the Geneva-based Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), told Common Dreams.

The agency delivers grades that range from “A” the “E.” The U.S. score for 2014 was summarized in the following graphic, compiled by CCPR. Ploton explained: “There is only one B1 grade, which means substantial action was taken.  C1 means that there was no implementation, and C2 is worse, as it means the information provided by the U.S. was not relevant to the recommendations. D1 means there was no response.”

 

The U.S. had no A grades, and “the fact that the CIA report was only partially published was likely the reason for the B1 grade,” noted Ploton, referring to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of post-9/11 CIA torture.

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“These low grades suggest the U.S. has a long way to go before it is in compliance with international law,” said Faiza Patel, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, in a statement. The Brennan Center and Amnesty International previously raised concerns to the Committee about mass surveillance in the United States. “The Administration and Congress must take immediate steps to address the lack of intelligence oversight and restore the right to privacy in the digital age.”

The findings prompted immediate condemnation from human rights and social justice organizations based in the U.S., including the Dream Defenders, who joined a civil society delegation to Geneva last year to urge the repeal of “Stand Your Ground” laws.

“It is shocking that after being given an entire year to address Stand Your Ground’s ‘incompatibility with the right to life,’ the United States has failed to act with a sense of urgency,” said Ciara Taylor, director of political consciousness for the Dream Defenders. “We see utter disregard for the lives of people of color in policies like Stand Your Ground, and in the daily actions of local law enforcement officials, who are positioned within the system to uphold these policies and the State’s many systems of oppression.”

“The Committee is right: the US is pressing forward with military commissions which violate international human rights standards,” declared James G. Connell III, an attorney for Guantanamo detainee Ammar al Baluchi. “Torture corrupts everything it touches, and these military commissions are no exception.”

And as journalist Kevin Gosztola wrote in his assessment of the UN report on Wednesday, “Detainees in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay remain in prison cells without charge or trial. There is no plan to abandon the dysfunctional and second-class legal system known as military commissions. Not only do those detainees lack rights to a fair trial, but they continue to endure torture and abuse as the political class in America ignores the fact that most never committed any crimes against the United States.”

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Connecticut Abolishes Death Penalty, Bans Further Executions

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Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the planned executions of 11 men on death row, thereby abolishing all capital punishment in the state.

The 4-3 decision came three years after the state passed a law that repealed the death penalty but did not spare those already sentenced to die.

“Upon careful consideration of the defendant’s claims in light of the governing constitutional principles and Connecticut’s unique historical and legal landscape, we are persuaded that, following its prospective abolition, this state’s death penalty no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency and no longer serves any legitimate penological purpose,” Justice Richard Palmer wrote for the majority.     

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“For these reasons, execution of those offenders who committed capital felonies prior to April 25, 2012, would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment,” he continued.

The court’s decision came in response to an appeal by Eduardo Santiago, a man on death row in Connecticut. While he was represented by public defenders, the ACLU and its Connecticut chapter both filed separate amicus briefs to support his case.

Dan Barrett, legal director for the Connecticut ACLU, told Common Dreams: “We are overjoyed at the ruling, because it once-and-for-all declares that killing prisoners not a part of justice in Connecticut.”

The court concluded that the death penalty violates the state’s constitution because of: “the freakishness with which the sentence of death is imposed; the rarity with which it is carried out; and the racial, ethnic, and socio-economic biases that likely are inherent in any discretionary death penalty system.”

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Beyond Abortion and Equal Pay: Survey Highlights Wide Scope of "Women's Issues"

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Presidential candidates who think “women’s issues” are limited to abortion rights and equal pay are sorely mistaken, according to the results of a new survey released Wednesday by the Ms. Foundation for Women. 

“While just 16 percent of respondents identified as ‘feminist’ without hearing a definition of the word, that proportion jumped to 52 percent once the term was defined as ‘a belief in political, economic, and social equality across genders.'”

“This survey tells us that policymakers, community leaders, and movements must change the way we approach problems and issues,” said Ms. Foundation president and CEO Teresa C. Younger. “Women do not lead single-issue lives. For instance, access to birth control and abortion is impacted by income level, racial and cultural bias, gender discrimination and immigrant status. We must implement policies and build movements that address the totality of women’s lives, rather than creating a patchwork of silos.”

The survey results were publicized Wednesday to coincide with Women’s Equality Day, the national holiday commemorating passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Among the poll’s more intriguing findings was that while just 16 percent of respondents identified as “feminist” without hearing a definition of the word, that proportion jumped to 52 percent once the term was defined as “a belief in political, economic, and social equality across genders.”

“When people understand that a feminist believes in political, economic, and social equality across genders, the majority identify as feminists,” said Younger. “We have to do a better job of defining our movements for equality—rather than letting detractors define us. We also must work to address issues where they intersect—not in isolation.”

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The survey also found wide recognition that women of color have fewer opportunities than white women and that there is a deficit of women in positions of power at both the community and national levels.

Unsurprisingly, two-thirds of the survey’s respondents recognize income inequalities between men and women.

“There’s an awareness that economic issues disproportionately affect women that I did not fully expect,” said Tresa Undem, a partner at PerryUndem Research/Communication, which conducted the survey of 1,051 U.S. adults in late May. “How the economy affects women specifically is not something we hear a lot about. But it is clearly something many people recognize firsthand.”

To that end, researchers from the non-profit Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) said Wednesday that the pay disparity between men and women is lower among union members than among American workers as a whole but it still exists.

According to an IWPR analysis (pdf) of Census Bureau and Labor Department figures, women in labor unions “earn 88.7 cents on the dollar compared with their male counterparts, a considerably higher earnings ratio than the earnings ratio between all women and men in the United States.”

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