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White Phosphorous War Crimes Connect Israel To Monsanto
File: A rain of deadly sparks falls from the sky during a controlled explosion of confiscated white phosphorous rounds set off by U.S. forces in Iraq. January 1, 2008. (Flickr / United States Forces Iraq)
June 16, 2015
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White Phosphorous War Crimes Connect Israel To Monsanto

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Monsanto Corporation, the agribusiness giant best known for its pesticides and genetically-modified crops, also manufactured white phosphorous for the U.S. government over at least the past 20 years. Used in incendiary military weapons, the United States sold white phosphorous-based weapons to Israel, which used those weapons to commit brutal war crimes against Palestinians living in Gaza in 2009.

White phosphorous is created from phosphorous through industrial processes — it is not a naturally occurring substance. Exposure can cause severe and often fatal burns, or other complications such as organ failure, with even survivors suffering from long-term health effects.

In addition to its use in weapons, white phosphorous is also used to create phosphoric acid, a key ingredient in some fertilizers, which likely explains why Monsanto would manufacture the substance.

At one point, Monsanto was the only U.S.-based firm manufacturing the substance. This, of course, caught the military’s attention.

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Activists Bring Solitary Confinement To College Campus For Alvaro Luna Hernandez
An activist in a prison jumpsuit sits in a simulated solitary confinement cell. June 11, 2016. (Kit O'Connell)
June 15, 2015
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Activists Bring Solitary Confinement To College Campus For Alvaro Luna Hernandez

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and MintPress News

Dressed in a real prisoner’s clothing, an activist sat in silence on a busy college campus, alone inside a simulated solitary confinement cell drawn in chalk, on Thursday. Thousands of Texas prisoners spend about 23 hours a day in tiny confines with real walls holding them inside.

“Will you sign a postcard for my friend Alvaro?” asked Azzurra Crispino, another activist standing nearby.

The “prisoner” and his friend are part of Prison Abolition and Prisoner Support (PAPS), an Austin-based group that raises awareness about prison conditions while supporting the incarcerated. They were honoring June 11, a national day of action for long-term anarchist political prisoners held in dozens of cities around the world. For the hour and a half activists and supporters gathered under a shady tree at a corner of the University of Texas at Austin campus, the “prisoner” in the cell represented Alvaro Luna Hernandez, who has spent the last 13 years in solitary confinement in Texas prisons.

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Disabled Texans Depend On Personal Care Attendants Paid Poverty Wages
In this May 15, 2015 photograph, Danny Saenz holds a sign demanding $10/hour wages for personal care attendants, along with other protesters at the Texas Capitol. (Kit O'Connell)
June 10, 2015
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Disabled Texans Depend On Personal Care Attendants Paid Poverty Wages

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

On May 19, about two dozen disabled Texans and their personal care aides gathered at the entrance to the governor’s office chanting: “Greg Abbott, come on out! We’ve got something to talk about!” Others were inside, refusing to leave. They’d come from around the state to demand better wages for personal care attendants, the helpers on whom their independence depends.

The disabled activists at the governor’s office represented ADAPT of Texas, and the aides were from an ADAPT subgroup, Personal Attendant Coalition of Texas (PACT). At issue in Texas are the wages for a type of aide known as community attendants, who are not hired by home care services that are paid by private insurance. Instead, community attendants’ wages are paid through federal Medicaid dollars and the Texas General Revenue fund.

At the time of the protest, the base wage for community attendants was $7.86 per hour, just slightly higher than the state minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. By comparison, the city of Austin enforces a living hourly wage of $11 for city employees and at construction projects supported by tax incentives.

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Anonymous Hacktivist Jeremy Hammond Promotes Prison Abolition From Behind Bars
Jeremy Hammond, hacktivist and political prisoner, was behind the now famous Stratfor email hacks.
May 31, 2015
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Anonymous Hacktivist Jeremy Hammond Promotes Prison Abolition From Behind Bars

Posted in Journalism, Occupy Wall Street, and Truthout

Jeremy Hammond has spent two birthdays in captivity now since his conviction, but his friends have promised to celebrate each one. As with many political prisoners, his supporters send him cards, but they’ve also invented a new tradition: turning his birthday party into political protest against his enemies.

Hammond was sentenced to a decade’s imprisonment in November 2013 for his part in the hack of Strategic Forecasting Inc., or Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based private intelligence agency. As part of LulzSec, an infamous collective from the Anonymous movement, Hammond liberated 5 million emails and the credit card numbers of Stratfor’s clients, which included government and military officials. The emails became part of a searchable archive on Wikileaks called the Global Intelligence files, while Anonymous used some of the credit card numbers to charge donations to charity.

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Department Of Justice Flying Secret Airplane Fleet Over American Cities
A Cessna airplane like the one being used by the U.S. Marshal Service to trick the cell phones of thousands, or perhaps millions, of Americans to give over their private data. (Flickr / Joao Carlos Medau)
May 27, 2015
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Department Of Justice Flying Secret Airplane Fleet Over American Cities

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

When a friend happened to spot a surveillance flight over his neighborhood, it led Sam Richards, an independent journalist, to uncover a fleet of secret airplanes registered to fake corporations apparently created by the Department of Justice.

While their purpose remains unknown, Richards has uncovered 100 of the aircraft and traced regular flights over major American cities.

Richards, who writes under the nom de plume Sam Renegade, first published his findings on his Twitter account, @MinneapoliSam, before gathering them into a report on Medium. In his report, published on Monday, he outlines how each of the planes is registered to a fake corporation with a three-letter acronym for a name, such as “OBR Leasing,” which doesn’t seem to otherwise exist as a viable business from Internet or public records searches. Richards reveals that dozens of these aircraft, from front corporations like “FVX Research” and “KQM Aviation,” are registered at the same Bristow, Virginia, post office boxes used for planes which are openly registered to the DOJ.

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Saudi Arabia’s Imprisoned Princesses Call For Revolution
Princesses daughters of King Abdullah of Sauda Arabia, taken on March 23, 2014. Sahar is the oldest of the four, she's the one with head cover. Red hat is Princess Jawaher. (Twitter / FreeThe4)
May 20, 2015
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Saudi Arabia’s Imprisoned Princesses Call For Revolution

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Though they are the daughters of royalty, even princesses cannot escape the plight of women in Saudi Arabia. Despite the United States frequently citing abuses of women’s rights to justify its military incursions, Saudi Arabia remains a key U.S. ally in the region, and one of the world’s most notorious women’s rights abusers. Once hailed for their bravery in speaking out through social media, the whereabouts of these princesses seem to be unknown.

Hala, Jawaher, Maha and Sahar, born to the late Saudi King Abdullah and his ex-wife, Alanoud Al-Fayez, spent over a decade in varying degrees of captivity, according to their mother. According to Al-Fayez, the princesses were imprisoned for their modern upbringing and outspoken views on the rights of women.

Sahar and Jawaher, both held in the same royal compound, made headlines last year for speaking out via social media, even after the House of Saud punished them by restricting their access to food and water. The pair gave several video interviews to the media, and each maintained a Twitter account. Sahar even pledged support for condemned political prisoner Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr in an openly revolutionary media statement last April. Their mother also maintained two Twitter accounts, one for herself and another, @FreeThe4, to raise awareness of her daughters’ imprisonment.

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