Category Archives: Special Reports

CIA plot to murder Assange is open season on independent journalism

If Assange is not freed then the war on truth is going to explode. All independent journalism and basic human rights are under threat.

A report that the CIA was plotting to murder or kidnap Julian Assange is credible and it should not be in the least bit surprising that the agency sometimes known as Murder Inc would stoop to such criminality. Continue reading

2020 election deniers still clinging to conspiracy theories after Arizona debacle

Arizona’s review found Biden won, but raised new doubts. Meanwhile, a closer look at Cyber Ninjas’ report finds false claims and accounting errors.

“Truth is truth and numbers are numbers,” said Arizona Senate President Karen Fann on Friday, September 24, as she summarized the most important finding in the long-awaited report from the body’s pro-Trump contractors to assess the accuracy of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County, where two-thirds of Arizonans reside. Continue reading

The Texas abortion ban ensures only the privileged get access to reproductive care

For too long, politicians relied on the Supreme Court to uphold the right to an abortion. Now that the Texas law has been allowed to take effect, its prime targets are low-income people of color.

Texas, with the help of conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, has made abortion all but illegal for most pregnant people living within state borders. Republican state legislators passed a draconian and diabolically innovative bill that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in May ensuring that all abortions after six weeks of gestation can be subject to lawsuits brought by any individual anywhere against anyone involved in the procedure. That includes the patient, their medical provider, or even their Lyft driver. Those seeking abortions will likely need to leave Texas, effectively making the procedure out of reach of the poorest residents of the state. Continue reading

Democrats urged to ‘ignore’ parliamentarian’s advice against path to citizenship

"Ignore this ruling or get a new one. The GOP didn't hesitate when they pushed their corporate agenda."

Democratic lawmakers and the White House are facing pressure to disregard the Senate parliamentarian after the unelected official on Sunday deemed a crucial immigration measure out of bounds for reconciliation, endangering an effort to provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of people. Continue reading

Texas Gov. Abbott has no intention of stopping his crusade to outlaw abortions

It wasn’t enough for Gov. Greg Abbott to sign a bill banning abortions after six weeks, before women even knew they were pregnant, and giving a green light to anti-abortion vigilantes to file civil suits—with a $10,000 reward if they prevail—against abortion providers and anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion, on Friday he signed another bill, Senate Bill 4, to make it harder for a woman to obtain an abortion-inducing drug. Continue reading

Supreme Court announces date for case directly challenging Roe v. Wade

"The fate of Roe v. Wade and legal abortion is on the line."

Abortion rights advocates geared up for a major fight as the U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will soon hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case in Mississippi which poses a direct challenge to Roe vs. Wade. Continue reading

Australia’s role in Chile confirmed in declassified documents

Proof of Australia’s involvement in Chile depicts the willing complicity in overthrowing a democratically-elected government to be replaced by a brutal dictatorship which tortured, killed and disappeared thousands of Chileans.

On the same day Chileans remembered the 48th anniversary of the U.S.-backed military coup which ousted President Salvador Allende, the National Security Archives (NSA) published heavily redacted documents which prove Australia’s involvement in the coup, at the formal request of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Continue reading

Haiti official demands ‘humanitarian moratorium’ as US ramps up deportations

The administration's rapid removal of refugees and migrants was denounced as "reprehensible" and "cruel."

With Haiti still reeling from the effects of last month’s earthquake and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse earlier this year, officials in the Caribbean nation on Monday demanded the Biden administration halt the ramped up expulsions of Haitian nationals seeking refuge in the U.S., an estimated 14,000 of whom are expected to be deported from Texas in the coming weeks. Continue reading

So-called Dem ‘moderates’ sabotage Medicare power to bargain drug prices

WASHINGTON—Three so-called House Democratic moderates, two of whom have received thousands of dollars in campaign cash from Big Pharma, voted last week to sabotage Medicare’s power to bargain drug prices down. Continue reading

‘I had a duty of care’: Doctor praised for violating Texas’ new abortion ban

"I hope the law gets overturned," Dr. Alan Braid said, "and if this is what does it, that would be great."

“I provided an abortion to a woman who, though still in her first trimester, was beyond the state’s new limit. I acted because I had a duty of care to this patient, as I do for all patients, and because she has a fundamental right to receive this care.” Continue reading

Hashtag ‘Untie_Our_Hands’: How many more Palestinians must die for Israel’s ‘security’?

A large Israeli army campaign is taking social media by storm. The unstated aim of what is known as the “#Untie_Our_Hands” initiative is the desire to kill, with no accountability, more Palestinian protesters at the Gaza fence. The campaign was motivated by the killing of an Israeli sniper, Barel Hadaria Shmueli, who was reportedly shot from the Palestinian side of the fence on August 21. Continue reading

FBI releases first declassified 9/11 document following Biden order

The newly disclosed report describes "multiple connections" between two Saudi nationals living in the U.S. and some of the hijackers, but it provides no evidence of direct involvement by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Saturday night released a previously withheld document related to its probe of the September 11, 2001, attacks and allegations of Saudi government support for the plane hijackers. Continue reading

Ocasio-Cortez slams Texas governor’s ‘disgusting’ defense of abortion ban

"It's not just ignorance, it's ignorance that's hurting people across this country."

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest defense of his state’s near-total ban on abortion as “disgusting” and said the Republican leader’s ignorance on matters of basic biology is actively harming people across the nation. Continue reading

‘Four-alarm fire’ for democracy as Texas voter suppression bill becomes law

"Texas already had some of the most restrictive voting laws in the nation, and the passage of this egregious bill just made conditions for voters even worse," said one voting rights advocate.

The voter suppression law signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tuesday already faces legal challenges that were promptly filed by a number of civil rights groups, which argue the restrictive measure is transparently aimed at keeping people of color from casting ballots and violates federal law. Continue reading

Texas abortion law is based on similar measure in Nazi Germany

Texas SB 8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, is based on a law enacted in 1933 in Nazi Germany and signed into effect in May 1933 by Chancellor Adolf Hitler—Gesetz zur Anderung strafrechtlicher Vorschriften vom 26.Mai J933. Like the Texas law, the Nazi measure banned the advertising of abortions by doctors or hospitals. It also prohibited Aryan women from receiving abortions or being administered abortifacients, abortion-inducing substances, including herbal and prescription drugs. Continue reading

The money that never arrives in Cuba

With the money she earns cleaning houses in the morning and an office at night, Virgen Elena Pupo, a 47-year-old Cuban migrant, has managed to raise her family in Washington, D.C., but has not been able to help her parents in Holguín, Cuba. She is separated from her parents by more than 1,246 miles. In Cuba’s eastern region, Holguín has been hit hard by an increase in COVID-19 cases, but Pupo cannot visit or send money to her parents due to the restrictions on flights and remittances from the United States as a result of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies that President Joe Biden has continued. Continue reading

Sotomayor rips right-wing justices as Supreme Court effectively overturns Roe v. Wade

In a blistering dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor slammed conservative justices for opting to "bury their heads in the sand" when faced with a "flagrantly unconstitutional law."

The conservative U.S. Supreme Court issued an unsigned order in the dead of night Wednesday leaving Texas’ draconian abortion ban in place, a move that effectively overturns Roe v. Wade and imperils reproductive rights across much of the United States. Continue reading

Roe v. Wade in grave danger as Supreme Court lets Texas abortion ban take effect

"Access to almost all abortion has just been cut off for millions of people. The impact will be immediate and devastating."

A draconian Texas law banning abortions beyond around six weeks of pregnancy took effect at midnight after the conservative U.S. Supreme Court did not act to block it on Tuesday, a decision that could have major implications for reproductive rights across the country. Continue reading

To avoid ‘spoiling’ hungry children, Wisconsin school district opts out of free meal program

"No matter their family income, it’s unacceptable for any student to go hungry at school," said the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

Hundreds of families and educators in Waukesha, Wisconsin, are calling on the city’s school board to reverse a decision it made earlier this year to opt out of a federal meal program that was introduced at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, offering free food to students regardless of income. Continue reading

Catastrophe in Afghanistan: U.S. wrecks another country thinking it’s playing the ‘great game’

As a tsunami of crocodile tears engulfs Western politicians, history is suppressed. More than a generation ago, Afghanistan won its freedom, which the United States, Britain and their “allies” destroyed. Continue reading

‘Monstrous human’: Erik Prince reportedly charging $6,500 for seats out of Kabul

The Blackwater founder previously pushed the Trump administration to privatize the Afghan war.

Blackwater founder Erik Prince on Wednesday faced fresh accusations of being a war profiteer in response to reporting that he’s charging $6,500 per person for a seat on an evacuation flight out of Kabul. Continue reading

Advocates call on Congress to #SealTheDeal for care, climate, and justice

The next few months will be crucial to securing the big, bold policy wins needed to build a more equitable, sustainable country for all.

With members of Congress back home for the summer recess, hundreds of activists took to the streets in communities across the country for a #SealTheDeal day of action. Their demand? That Congress fights for every dollar in the $3.5 trillion recovery package and protects investments in climate solutions, care, jobs, and justice. Continue reading

So-called Democratic ‘moderates’ trying hard to sink Biden agenda

Nine “moderate” House Democrats have joined powerful conservative forces trying to undo President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar domestic agenda. Continue reading

The murder of the ‘menacing’ water technician: On the shadow wars in the West Bank

There is an ongoing, but hidden, Israeli war on the Palestinians which is rarely highlighted or even known. It is a water war, which has been in the making for decades. Continue reading

Two years after the largest workplace raid in U.S. history, a path forward for undocumented workers

Democrats just passed a budget framework that could make millions of immigrant workers less vulnerable to exploitation.

Immigration agents arrested over 600 undocumented workers at a poultry plant in Jackson, Mississippi, two years ago in what remains the largest workplace raid in U.S. history. Continue reading

How a Black Lives Matter leader started a ‘Freedom School’ summer program for kids

Jasmine Richards views the education and empowerment of young Black and Brown children in her community to be just as important as fighting racist police brutality.

Middle- and upper-income parents know that summers are an opportunity to give one’s children the sort of well-rounded education that can enhance future college applications. Summer camp rosters fill up months in advance, and price tags for enrichment programs can run upwards of $500 a week. This is especially true in high-priced Southern California, where I live and where Jasmine Abdullah Richards started the Black Lives Matter Pasadena Freedom School, a free, three-days-a-week summer camp for children who live in her neighborhood. Continue reading

In final speech, Trumka said labor’s fighting for democracy under siege

LAS VEGAS (PAI)—In what turned out to be his final address to a union crowd, the late AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka declared organized labor is fighting not just for itself, but for “democracy, which has been under siege.” Continue reading

Bannon continues to unite global fascists against free and fair elections

Escaping a possible federal prison term thanks to a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, far-right political strategist Steve Bannon continues to engage in promoting international fascist solidarity, thumbing his nose at the 1799 Logan Act, which prohibits American citizens from engaging in their own foreign policy making. Continue reading

Further blow to press freedoms as US wins appeal in effort to extradite Julian Assange

"This disingenuous appeal should be dismissed by the court and President Biden should take the opportunity to drop these politically motivated charges."

As Britain’s High Court on Wednesday handed the United States a win in its bid to extradite Julian Assange, press freedom and other human rights defenders renewed calls for the Biden administration to drop all charges against the WikiLeaks founder. Continue reading

Washington’s terrorist friends: Prominent Americans continue to support a murderous cult

MEK is a curious hybrid creature that pretends to be an alternative government option for Iran even though it is despised by nearly all Iranians.

One might ask if Washington’s obsession with terrorism includes supporting radical armed groups as long as they are politically useful in attacking countries that the US regards as enemies? It is widely known that the American CIA worked with Saudi Arabia to create al-Qaeda to attack the Russians in Afghanistan and the same my-enemy’s-enemy thinking appears to drive the current relationships with radical groups in Syria. Continue reading

COVID’s lab leak theory obscures zoonosis and progression

Even as COVID-19 is found in apes, big cats, minks, domestic cats, other small mammals, and now in U.S. deer, some don’t want to let go of the insultingly simplistic “lab leak” theory. Do they really think the 1918 influenza and AIDS pandemics (or Ebola, MERS, and SARS ) needed lab mendacity to exist? We won’t even talk about the prehistorical plagues! Continue reading

Glen Ford’s journalism fought for Black liberation and against imperialism

I had the honor of working with the late Glen Ford for nearly 20 years. His passing has created a huge void not just for Black Agenda Report (BAR), the site we co-founded with the late Bruce Dixon, but for all of Black politics and left media. Ford identified his political and journalistic stance with both, having created the tagline: “News, commentary and analysis from the black left” for BAR. He was the consummate journalist, a man who demanded rigorous analysis of himself and others, and he lived by the dictum of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. Ford co-founded a publication in line with his core values: He did not suffer fools gladly, succumb to corporate media and government narratives, or feel obligated to change his politics in order to elevate the Black face in a high place. Continue reading