Category: Activism

FBI misused surveillance authorities to investigate Black Lives Matter protesters

Nothing new here. The FBI has been spying on black activists from the very beginning. And it isn’t because of any financial improprieties. It’s about viewing black people fighting for their rights as a threat:

The FBI used a controversial foreign surveillance authority in 2020 to investigate whether protesters involved in the Black Lives Matter movement had ties to terrorists, according to two reports declassified Friday.

…According to a newly declassified memorandum order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, issued more than a year ago, the FBI ran a “batch query” related to 133 individuals “arrested in connection with civil unrest and protests” between May 30 and June 18 of 2020.

The analysts ran these names through information gathered using authorities from Section 702, which allows the intelligence community to surveil electronic communications by foreign individuals located outside the United States for national security purposes. But the data collected also includes information about Americans on the other end of emails or other communications.

AOC calls Democrats “Cowards” for not Extending Rent Moratorium

And she is right. They put their vacation plans above saving fellow Americans from being thrown out of their homes without a roof over their heads:

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling fellow Washington Democrats “cowards” for failing to extend a moratorium on evicting Americans during the pandemic, which after roughly 8 months of protection has put a reported 11 million Americans in jeopardy of losing shelter.

“The House and House leadership had the opportunity to vote to extend the moratorium and there was, frankly, a handful of conservative Democrats in the House that threatened to get on planes rather than hold this vote,” Cortez said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We have to call a spade a spade. We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have a majority.”

Today Biden announced a new moratorium. Why did it take him 5 days? Well, it took Cori Bush and AOC’s strong words and actions to make him do the right thing. Because on his own Biden won’t ever do the right thing:

Democrats go on Vacation while Their Voters are Thrown in the Streets and/or Lose their Voting Rights

It’s the same old story. Democrats are too cowardly and inept too stand up for the voters that courageously came in record numbers to give them control of the Congress and the White House. Now when their voters need them the most they are going on vacation. Democrats are leaving town without passing legislation that would prevent millions of Americans from being kicked to the curb. Because the rent moratorium is expiring today. Meanwhile, Republicans continue to impose their fascist and white supremacist agenda on America without fear from Democrats.

The leader of the movement to save the voting rights of Americas is now being led by Reverend William Barber:

Meanwhile in Washington, Cori Bush is leading the fight to keep Americans from losing their beds:

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Why did the Mainstream Media Ignore the Biggest Protests in Britain in a Generation

This video is narrated brilliantly by Russell Brand.

This is how the NY Times described the protests in March

The proposed legislation has come under intense criticism in recent weeks in the wake of the killing of Sarah Everard, a young woman who was murdered in London after walking home from a friend’s house in the evening, and a subsequent vigil to honor her that was broken up by the police.

It “gives broad authority to police forces when it comes to handling protests — and that has proved to be a lightning rod.

Under current law, the police must first determine that a demonstration could result in serious public disorder, property damage or serious disruption to the life of the community before it can impose restrictions.

But the new bill would offer much broader powers for the police. It will leave much to their own discretion, and potentially allow them to criminalize protests they deem a “public nuisance.””

Portland Protesters are Winning

But for how long. And will Trump’s goons start shooting protesters. That is a real danger:

Department of Homeland Security taskforce agents were again out firing waves of teargas and throwing stun grenades against a hard core of a few hundred demonstrators in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The confrontation centered on the courthouse at the heart of several blocks of downtown Portland that have effectively fallen under the control of the protesters after the city police withdrew.

But after pushing back demonstrators, many of them kitted out in helmets and gas masks, the federal agents retreated into their courthouse citadel to mocking jeers and women who were part of the “Wall of Moms” protest linking arms and chanting: “Our streets.”

A federal officer stares down a protester in front of the Mark O Hatfield US courthouse on Tuesday in Portland, Oregon. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Getty Images
Continue reading “Portland Protesters are Winning” →