The Guardian UK:
'Was it coincidence that a mass raid on two Memphis homes occurred on the first day of a trial in which police face claims of illegal surveillance of Black Lives Matter campaigners? ...
Witnesses described more than 50 heavily armed officers: local police, sheriff’s deputies, some from other agencies. Many shielded their identity with black ski masks. The score from this elaborate, multi-agency gang task force effort? A single “roach” from an ashtray, containing a quantity of marijuana too small to trigger an arrest. The homeowner was given a written citation.
Minutes away, at a downtown courthouse, the police department was entering its first day on trial. The case, brought by activists and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), alleges the Memphis police department (MPD) engaged in illegal surveillance of activists involved with Black Lives Matter and Fight for 15, including “catfishing” them with fake social media accounts."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/26/memphis-police-raids-activists-family-black-lives-matter
-->Yes, the Memphis police are acting like the KKK in intimidating Black activists seeking justice in the courts. No, the US media including the NYT didn't print the story.
-----
The Guardian UK:
"Since the beginning of 2016 – the year that a peace agreement was signed with Colombia’s largest leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or Farc) – some 311 activists, community leaders, and human rights defenders have been murdered, according to the national human rights office. At least 123 of those killings took place in the first six months of this year, in what the country’s human rights ombudsman described as 'an extermination'.
The 2016 deal was supposed to close a chapter in a civil war that had taken over 220,000 lives and left 7 million displaced, but while military casualties have dropped dramatically, activists and 'social leaders' – those who are trying to implement peace at the grassroots level – are living in constant fear."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/23/colombian-activists-face-extermination-by-criminal-gangs
-->The NYT and mainstream media won't cover this dirty war in Columbia, promoted by the US government. The same is true for the story of death squads in Honduras, another country dominated by a US after a military coup overthrew its democratically elected president. The NYT spends all its energy printing stores supporting the US backed attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government in Venezuela. Pentagon propaganda always comes before real reporting for our "newspaper of record."
-----
Common Dreams:
"NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Receives Longest Sentence Ever For Unauthorized Disclosure. Her sentence for violating the Espionage Act is extraordinary, particularly when compared to sentences issued in other leak prosecutions. Yet, it is representative of the extent to which the government will go to make examples out of whistleblowers. ...
A [facility] was setup at the courthouse in Augusta for Winner to meet with her attorneys and work on her defense. Throughout this part of her case, she was routinely dehumanized, as she was shackled 12 hours each day. The shackles were at her waist so she could not drink a water bottle with her own hands.
When she wanted to use the bathroom, according to her mother, Billie Winner-Davis, officers would do a 'complete strip search on her.' Any time she was 'taken from the SCIF to return to jail,' they did a strip search on her. Humiliating and degrading strip searches served the purpose of domination and ensured Winner would recognize who was in control over her."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/23/nsa-whistleblower-reality-winner-receives-longest-sentence-ever-unauthorized
-->The NYT set the standard for US media reporting on Reality Winner's outrageously long sentence and her mistreatment in prison. For example, the newspaper didn't compare her long prison sentence to former general Petraeus, who gave top secret documents to his mistress and got no prison time at all. Her poor treatment was also completely omitted.
'Was it coincidence that a mass raid on two Memphis homes occurred on the first day of a trial in which police face claims of illegal surveillance of Black Lives Matter campaigners? ...
Witnesses described more than 50 heavily armed officers: local police, sheriff’s deputies, some from other agencies. Many shielded their identity with black ski masks. The score from this elaborate, multi-agency gang task force effort? A single “roach” from an ashtray, containing a quantity of marijuana too small to trigger an arrest. The homeowner was given a written citation.
Minutes away, at a downtown courthouse, the police department was entering its first day on trial. The case, brought by activists and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), alleges the Memphis police department (MPD) engaged in illegal surveillance of activists involved with Black Lives Matter and Fight for 15, including “catfishing” them with fake social media accounts."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/26/memphis-police-raids-activists-family-black-lives-matter
-->Yes, the Memphis police are acting like the KKK in intimidating Black activists seeking justice in the courts. No, the US media including the NYT didn't print the story.
-----
The Guardian UK:
"Since the beginning of 2016 – the year that a peace agreement was signed with Colombia’s largest leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or Farc) – some 311 activists, community leaders, and human rights defenders have been murdered, according to the national human rights office. At least 123 of those killings took place in the first six months of this year, in what the country’s human rights ombudsman described as 'an extermination'.
The 2016 deal was supposed to close a chapter in a civil war that had taken over 220,000 lives and left 7 million displaced, but while military casualties have dropped dramatically, activists and 'social leaders' – those who are trying to implement peace at the grassroots level – are living in constant fear."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/23/colombian-activists-face-extermination-by-criminal-gangs
-->The NYT and mainstream media won't cover this dirty war in Columbia, promoted by the US government. The same is true for the story of death squads in Honduras, another country dominated by a US after a military coup overthrew its democratically elected president. The NYT spends all its energy printing stores supporting the US backed attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government in Venezuela. Pentagon propaganda always comes before real reporting for our "newspaper of record."
-----
Common Dreams:
"NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Receives Longest Sentence Ever For Unauthorized Disclosure. Her sentence for violating the Espionage Act is extraordinary, particularly when compared to sentences issued in other leak prosecutions. Yet, it is representative of the extent to which the government will go to make examples out of whistleblowers. ...
A [facility] was setup at the courthouse in Augusta for Winner to meet with her attorneys and work on her defense. Throughout this part of her case, she was routinely dehumanized, as she was shackled 12 hours each day. The shackles were at her waist so she could not drink a water bottle with her own hands.
When she wanted to use the bathroom, according to her mother, Billie Winner-Davis, officers would do a 'complete strip search on her.' Any time she was 'taken from the SCIF to return to jail,' they did a strip search on her. Humiliating and degrading strip searches served the purpose of domination and ensured Winner would recognize who was in control over her."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/23/nsa-whistleblower-reality-winner-receives-longest-sentence-ever-unauthorized
-->The NYT set the standard for US media reporting on Reality Winner's outrageously long sentence and her mistreatment in prison. For example, the newspaper didn't compare her long prison sentence to former general Petraeus, who gave top secret documents to his mistress and got no prison time at all. Her poor treatment was also completely omitted.
