Veteran journalist Amy Goodman claimed victory Oct. 17 after a North Dakota judge promptly dismissed a criminal charge filed by a state prosecutor against her for reporting on protests by Native Americans against the construction of an oil pipeline through their lands. Most civil liberties experts viewed the case as a form of intimidation against journalists, with some calling for the prosecutor, state’s attorney Ladd R. Erickson, to face professional sanctions for bringing the “riot” charge against the host of the Democracy Now! news program. Another journalist, Deia Schlosberg, also is facing criminal charges for covering a pipeline protest in North Dakota. Unlike the failed prosecution of Goodman, the charges brought against Schlosberg, producer of filmmaker Josh Fox’s new documentary “How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change,” may not represent a clear-cut example of prosecutorial overreach. — Of Pipelines and Protest Pens: When the Press Loses Its Shield
Quoting from a new report from the ACLU and Human Rights Watch (HRW), “Every 25 Seconds: The Human Toll of Criminalizing Drug Use in the United States,” Borden observed, “Every 25 seconds someone is arrested for possessing drugs for their own use, amounting to 1.25 million arrests per year.” She reminded her audience, “These numbers tell a tale of ruined lives, destroyed families, and communities suffering under a suffocating police presence.” The study is an impressive piece of rigorous research and analysis as well as a statement of moral conviction: it’s a political call to decriminalize all personal drug use. It paints a devastating portrait of not simply the nation’s failed anti-drug policy, but reveals it to be a mean-spirited, moralistic – and racist — program of social repression. — The War on Drugs is a Racket
A series of Executive Orders (EO) was used to create FEMA. It does not matter whether an EO is Constitutional or not, it becomes a law simply by being published in the Federal Registry. These orders go around Congress. There over 800 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States and all it would take is a presidential signature on a proclamation and the attorney general’s signature on a warrant to which a list of names is attached. Ask yourself if you really want to be on Ashcroft’s list. — Comprehensive List of FEMA Consentration Camps
The California Prison Industry Authority, which manages manufacturing, service, and agricultural work in 34 state prisons, did not respond to a request from the Guardian to confirm these figures, and a spokesperson for the California department of corrections told the Guardian that they had “no reported strike activities or work stoppage in our state prisons”. This claim was directly contradicted by the IWOC. Many inmates in the California system have only just ended a hunger strike, Dorsey said, while 300 others in the Santa Clara main jail have just started a second wave. — Inside America’s biggest prison strike: ‘The 13th amendment didn’t end slavery’
Comprehensive List of FEMA Consentration Camps What is the Federal Emergency Management Agency? Simply put, it is the “secret government”. This agency has powers and authority that go well beyond any other agency in the nation.Of Pipelines and Protest Pens: When the Press Loses Its Shield by Mark HandAs Election Day Nears, Military Hawks Circle to Promote New Wave of War A slew of bipartisan reports are hoping to push the former secretary of state to increased military action in the Middle East, particularly Syria by Lauren McCauleyName the Dangerous CandidateTo use a metaphor appropriate for the age, the big guns are being brought out to keep the unitary Presidency in Democrat hands. The term itself, in recent incarnation a (Dick) Cheneyism indicating the neo-royalist tendency to tamp-down every democratic tendency that might interfere with smooth operation of the heavily militarized corporate-state, indicates that something might be amiss in the land of the free. It is ironic-lite that the leader of ‘the people’s Party,’ Barack Obama, institutionalized the concept. by Rob Urie
A woman performing the national anthem before an NBA preseason game between the 76ers and Heat on Friday night did so while kneeling at midcourt, and she opened her jacket to show a shirt bearing the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” The singer was identified by the Miami Heat as Denasia Lawrence, who called the Black Lives Matter movement a “rallying cry” while explaining her decision to kneel in a Facebook post early Saturday. — Anthem singer at 76ers-Heat game kneels during performance
WikiLeaks: Citigroup Exec Gave Obama Recommendation of Hillary for State, Eric Holder for DOJ If there is any truth to the allegation that Russia is behind the hacking of emails being released by WikiLeaks, then the American public owes Russia a huge debt of gratitude. At a time when the American people are sharply focused on how the leader of the free world is chosen, WikiLeaks is giving us an unprecedented, historical opportunity to understand how corporate money in politics has corrupted everything we believe in as a democracy. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Aleppo, Mosul and Imperialist Hypocrisy The saying goes that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. To this list we must add diplomacy, which is lying raised to the level of an art form. Diplomacy is part of war and is the political equivalent of war. The purpose of diplomacy is to conceal the real war aims of a given state from its citizens and to lay the blame for war and all its attendant horrors and crimes on the other side. by Alan Woods13 Years of War: Mosul’s Frightening and Uncertain Future by Patrick CockburnCompare the coverage of Mosul and East Aleppo and it reveals a lot In both countries, two large Sunni Arab urban centres – East Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq – are being besieged by pro-government forces strongly supported by foreign airpower. Yet the coverage is very different By Patrick Cockburn
Education Usury
Quotes of the Day:
Of Pipelines and Protest Pens: When the Press Loses Its Shield by Mark Hand
As Election Day Nears, Military Hawks Circle to Promote New Wave of War A slew of bipartisan reports are hoping to push the former secretary of state to increased military action in the Middle East, particularly Syria by Lauren McCauley 
Name the Dangerous Candidate To use a metaphor appropriate for the age, the big guns are being brought out to keep the unitary Presidency in Democrat hands. The term itself, in recent incarnation a (Dick) Cheneyism indicating the neo-royalist tendency to tamp-down every democratic tendency that might interfere with smooth operation of the heavily militarized corporate-state, indicates that something might be amiss in the land of the free. It is ironic-lite that the leader of ‘the people’s Party,’ Barack Obama, institutionalized the concept. by Rob Urie 
The War on Drugs is a Racket by David Rosen
On the Stealing of U.S. Elections An extraordinary feature of the U.S. electoral process is that the two dominant parties collude to dictate —via their own bipartisan “commission” — who is allowed to participate in the officially recognized presidential debates. Needless to say, the two parties set impossible barriers to the participation of any candidates other than their own. Most potential voters are thereby prevented from acquainting themselves with alternatives to the dominant consensus. by Victor Wallis 
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
Inside America’s biggest prison strike: ‘The 13th amendment didn’t end slavery’ Tens of thousands of prisoners across the country withheld their labor – for which they are paid as little as 17 cents an hour – in support of inmates’ rights By Nicky Woolf The California prison system made $58m profit from the work of prison inmates in the financial year 2014-15, according to a study by the Solidarity Research Center, which also found that 4,000 incarcerated workers earn $2 a day fighting California wildfires. By Nicky Woolf
Labor:
