Daily Archives: August 16, 2019

2019-08-16: News Headlines

Nick Alexandrov (2019-08-16). Prevention Through Deterrence: The Strategy Shared by the El Paso Shooter and the U.S. Border Patrol. counterpunch.org It is a simple strategy. First: murder Latinos in the U.S. Second: news of the killings spreads south. Third: fear of violent death paralyzes those hoping to leave Mexico. Terror deters migrants. It appears this was Patrick Crusius' logic when he stormed an El Paso Walmart on August 3. His alleged manifesto insists "that the More

Sam Ordóñez (2019-08-16). Guatemala signs 'Safe Third Country'. workers.org The governments of the U.S. and Guatemala on July 26 signed a "Safe Third Country" agreement, forcing migrants applying for asylum in the U.S. to do so from Guatemala. This agreement is part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to prevent migrants from entering the U.S. These include the construction . . . | Continue reading Guatemala signs 'Safe Third Country' at Workers.org

Evaggelos Vallianatos (2019-08-16). The War on Nature. counterpunch.org Ancient Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese and Indians respected or worshipped several gods. Those gods were usually forces of nature, which opened the mind, eyes and hearts of human beings to the mysteries, beauty and truth of the natural world. The vast human majorities of the ancient world were peasant farmers and shepherds who cultivated More

Paul Street (2019-08-16). Uncle Sam was Born Lethal. counterpunch.org One of the occupational and intellectual hazards of being a historian is that current events often seem far less new to oneself than they do to others. Recently a leftish liberal friend told me that the United States under the Donald Trump had "become a lethal society." My friend cited the neofascist Trump's: horrible family separations and concentration camps on the border; openly white-nationalist assaults on four progressive nonwhite and female Congresswomen; real and threatened roundups of undocumented immigrants; fascist-style and hate-filled "Make America Great Again" rallies; encouragement of white suprema…

Rebecca Gordon (2019-08-16). What happens in El Norte. nationofchange.org It's hard to believe that more than four years have passed since the police shot Amílcar Pérez-López a few blocks from my house in San Francisco's Mission District. He was an immigrant, 20 years old, and his remittances were the sole support for his mother and siblings in Guatemala. On February 26, 2015, two undercover police …

Adrienne Pine (2019-08-16). US Trained Honduran Police Get Medieval as Political Prisoner Edwin Espinal Released. mintpressnews.com The Honduran corruption canard keeps the focus on police resources and individuals rather than on the pangs of privatization, and so it is often the line favored by the U.S. State Department.

Martha Rosenberg (2019-08-16). Catch and Hang Live Chickens for Slaughter: $11 an Hour Possible! counterpunch.org Koch Foods, a giant chicken processor that supplies Burger King, Kroger and Walmart (not affiliated with the Koch brothers) lost no time in replacing the five busloads of undocumented workers taken from its Mississippi plants this month due to an ICE raid. It is already holding "job fairs" to replace the workers. The August ICE More

Staff (2019-08-15). The US Has Driven Central Americans to Flee "the Northern Triangle" truthout.org | | It's hard to believe that more than four years have passed since the police shot Amílcar Pérez-López a few blocks from my house in San Francisco's Mission District. He was an immigrant, 20 years old, and his remittances were the sole support for his mother and siblings in Guatemala. On February 26, 2015, two undercover…

teleSUR (2019-08-15). Philippines: Dengue Deaths Keep Rising After Epidemic Declared. telesurenglish.net The Philippines is getting hit hard by the increase in dengue hitting many parts of the tropical world this year as the Department of Health (DOH) announced this week it has registered 167,607 cases of the mosquito-transmitted disease since January alone. Some 720 residents have died during the same time frame. | RELATED: | Honduras Fights Dengue Virus as it Reaches Epidemic Proportions | Last week, the government declared a national epidemic after there was a 98 percent increase i…

Staff (2019-08-15). Resistance in Honduras Marches on as Political Prisoner Is Released on Bail. truthout.org | | After 18 months in maximum-security jail enduring inhumane conditions, Honduran activist and political prisoner Edwin Espinal was released on bail last week. Upon his exit, Espinal opted to eschew the type of comforts many others might have sought after securing their freedom: Still wearing his jail garb, he went straight to a demonstration to greet his supporters, thank them for their tireless efforts, and pledged to continue the struggle against the regime of Honduran President Juan O…

Staff (2019-08-15). Headlines for August 15, 2019. democracynow.org Trump Administration Moves to Seize Iranian Tanker Held in Gibraltar, Chinese Paramilitaries Mass on Hong Kong Border as Pro-Democracy Protests Continue, Dow Jones Plunges 800 Points on Fears of Looming Recession, Study Finds CEO Pay Increased 1,000% Since 1978 While Wages Stagnated, Facebook Hired Hundreds to Listen In on Users' Audio Messages, Mexico City Police Officers Suspended over Rape of Two Teenagers, Italian Court Allows Rescued Migrants to Disembark as Hundreds More Remain Stranded at Sea, NBC News: ICE Now Jailing 8,000 Migrants in Mississippi, Louisiana, Federal Court Weighs Fate of Protected Status…

teleSUR (2019-08-15). 'Mexico Must Investigate All ‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚ÄãDisappearance Cases:' Ex-UN Rapporteur. telesurenglish.net Mexico should be investigating all the disappeared and not focus only on the case of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students who went missing in 2014, said Rainer Huhle, a former member of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). | RELATED: | Mexico Urges US to Designate El Paso Shooting an Act of Terrorism | "I fear that the day the 43 are found, the many other cases will be forgotten," Huhle said during a conference held in Mexico City Thursday. | The forme…

teleSUR (2019-08-15). Mexico City Prison Fire Kills 3, Injures 7. telesurenglish.net A fire at a prison in eastern Mexico City on Thursday morning killed at least three men and injured seven others, the city government said in a statement. | RELATED: | Mexico Urges US to Designate El Paso Shooting Act of Terrorism | Officials were still working to determine the cause of the fire, which was detected in a sleeping area at the prison in the Iztapalapa neighborhood at 5: 25 a.m. local time, the statement said. | The three inmates killed in the fire were identified…

Tom Conway (2019-08-15). A Tire That Should Inspire Fear in the Heart of Workers. commondreams.org Mickey Ray Williams, president of the USW local union at the Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama, with a tire made in Mexico. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2019-08-15_at_11.51.47_am.png

Staff (2019-08-14). Protests In Honduras Intensify as President Is Implicated in Drug Trafficking. therealnews.com Adrienne Pine and Jesse Freeston discuss Hondurans' demand that President Juan Orlando Hernandez resign and the repressive, violent police response to protesters…

Staff (2019-08-14). "A Narco State Supported by the United States": How Crime & Corruption in Honduras Fuel Migration. democracynow.org We speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Sonia Nazario, who has closely detailed why migrants from Central America are fleeing their homes in an attempt to seek asylum in the United States. Earlier this year, Nazario spent a month in Honduras documenting how corruption and gang violence are forcing many people to flee. Her piece, "Pay or Die," ran in The New York Times, where she is a contributing opinion writer.

Jeff Abbott (2019-08-13). The Other Americans: In Guatemala, Indigenous Residents Appeal to the President Over Stolen Land. progressive.org With a newly elected leader, hundreds of Mayan Mam families still await restitution—or face migrating north.

Staff (2019-08-13). Headlines for August 13, 2019. democracynow.org Trump Announces New Rule to Limit and Penalize Low-Income Immigrants, Trump Slashes Endangered Species Act, Hong Kong Protesters Shut Down Airport for Second Day, Flooding, Landslides Kill Hundreds Across South and Southeast Asia, Ebola No Longer "Incurable" After Success of Experimental Treatments, Reports: Director of Mexican Migrant Shelter Kidnapped, Racist Border Patrol Agent Who Intentionally Ran Over Guatemalan Man Pleads Guilty, Friend of Dayton Shooter Says He Bought and Stored Gun Parts and Ammunition Used in Massacre, WaPo Editor Responds to Sanders Claim That Paper Writes Negative Stories Because of A…

unitedEditor (2019-08-12). Guatemala's Elections May Decide the Future of the US' Migration Crisis. uwidata.com Guatemala is currently holding the second round of its presidential elections. With about 98% of polling places reporting, it seems that Giammattei had about 58% of votes, compared to about 42% for Sandra Torres. The first round took place on June 16 (parliamentary and presidential). The winner will be tasked with managing the most populous …

John Washington (2019-08-11). Border Patrol Arrest Reports Are Full of Lies That Can Sabotage Asylum Claims. theintercept.com On December 29, 2017, the night his daughter was born, Augusto left the hospital and rode his motorcycle to his home in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, to pick up a change of clothes for his wife. On his way back, he was stopped at a police checkpoint and taken into custody. Police officers questioned him for hours about his father, a former mayor and member of the opposition party to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. At one point, a police detective pushed Augusto into a windowless room and beat him with a plastic Pepsi bottle loaded with sand. The next morning, caked with blood and bruised to a pulp, Augusto was releas…

Adrienne Pine (2019-08-08). To Flee or Not to Flee? In Honduras, A Child Braves Tear Gas to Sell Vinegar Bags. mintpressnews.com Public education and job opportunities have been stolen from Honduran youth by a U.S.-backed narco-state bent on privatizing the whole of society. Youth face the choice of suffering violence and repression at home or risking the dangerous journey to the United States.

Aaron Maté (2019-08-05). White supremacist terror against Mexicans has deep roots. thegrayzone.com The shooting massacre in El Paso is the latest manifestation of a long history of white supremacist violence against Mexicans…

2019-08-16: Social Media Postees

What happens in El Norte
Rebecca Gordon | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-16
It's hard to believe that more than four years have passed since the police shot Amílcar Pérez-López a few blocks from my house in San Francisco's Mission District. He was an immigrant, 20 years old, and his remittances were the sole support for his mother and siblings in Guatemala. On February 26, 2015, two undercover police …
nationofchange.org/2019/08/16/what-happens-in-el-norte/

Guatemala signs 'Safe Third Country'
Sam Ordóñez | workers.org | 2019-08-16
The governments of the U.S. and Guatemala on July 26 signed a "Safe Third Country" agreement, forcing migrants applying for asylum in the U.S. to do so from Guatemala. This agreement is part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to prevent migrants from entering the U.S. These include the construction . . . | Continue reading Guatemala signs 'Safe Third Country' at Workers.org
workers.org/2019/08/16/guatemala-signs-safe-third-country/

US Trained Honduran Police Get Medieval as Political Prisoner Edwin Espinal Released
Adrienne Pine | mintpressnews.com | 2019-08-16
The Honduran corruption canard keeps the focus on police resources and individuals rather than on the pangs of privatization, and so it is often the line favored by the U.S. State Department.
mintpressnews.com/honduras-political-prisoner-edwin-espinal-released-us-trained-police-medieval/261374/

Uncle Sam was Born Lethal
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-16
One of the occupational and intellectual hazards of being a historian is that current events often seem far less new to oneself than they do to others. Recently a leftish liberal friend told me that the United States under the Donald Trump had "become a lethal society." My friend cited the neofascist Trump's: horrible family separations and concentration camps on the border; openly white-nationalist assaults on four progressive nonwhite and female Congresswomen; real and threatened roundups of undocumented immigrants; fascist-style and hate-filled "Make America Great Again" rallies; encouragement of white suprema…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/16/uncle-sam-was-born-lethal/

Catch and Hang Live Chickens for Slaughter: $11 an Hour Possible!
Martha Rosenberg | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-16
Koch Foods, a giant chicken processor that supplies Burger King, Kroger and Walmart (not affiliated with the Koch brothers) lost no time in replacing the five busloads of undocumented workers taken from its Mississippi plants this month due to an ICE raid. It is already holding "job fairs" to replace the workers. The August ICE…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/16/catch-and-hang-live-chickens-for-slaughter-11-an-hour-possible/

Prevention Through Deterrence: The Strategy Shared by the El Paso Shooter and the U.S. Border Patrol
Nick Alexandrov | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-16
It is a simple strategy. First: murder Latinos in the U.S. Second: news of the killings spreads south. Third: fear of violent death paralyzes those hoping to leave Mexico. Terror deters migrants. It appears this was Patrick Crusius' logic when he stormed an El Paso Walmart on August 3. His alleged manifesto insists…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/16/prevention-through-deterrence-the-strategy-shared-by-the-el-paso-shooter-and-the-u-s-border-patrol/

A Tire That Should Inspire Fear in the Heart of Workers
Tom Conway | commondreams.org | 2019-08-15
Mickey Ray Williams, president of the USW local union at the Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama, with a tire made in Mexico. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/screen_shot_2019-08-15_at_11.51.47_am.png
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/15/tire-should-inspire-fear-heart-workers?cd-origin=rss

The US Has Driven Central Americans to Flee "the Northern Triangle"
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-15
| It's hard to believe that more than four years have passed since the police shot Amílcar Pérez-López a few blocks from my house in San Francisco's Mission District. He was an immigrant, 20 years old, and his remittances were the sole support for his mother and siblings in Guatemala. On February 26, 2015, two undercover…
truthout.org/articles/the-us-has-driven-central-americans-to-flee-the-northern-triangle/

Resistance in Honduras Marches on as Political Prisoner Is Released on Bail
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-08-15
| After 18 months in maximum-security jail enduring inhumane conditions, Honduran activist and political prisoner Edwin Espinal was released on bail last week. Upon his exit, Espinal opted to eschew the type of comforts many others might have sought after securing their freedom: Still wearing his jail garb, he went straight to a demonstration to greet his supporters, thank them for their tireless efforts, and pledged to continue the struggle against the regime of Honduran President Juan O…
truthout.org/articles/resistance-in-honduras-marches-on-as-political-prisoner-is-released-on-bail/

Philippines: Dengue Deaths Keep Rising After Epidemic Declared
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-15
The Philippines is getting hit hard by the increase in dengue hitting many parts of the tropical world this year as the Department of Health (DOH) announced this week it has registered 167,607 cases of the mosquito-transmitted disease since January alone. Some 720 residents have died during the same time frame. | RELATED: | Honduras Fights Dengue Virus as it Reaches Epidemic Proportions | Last week, the government declared a national epidemic after there was a 98 percent increase i…
telesurenglish.net/news/Philippines-Dengue-Deaths-Keep-Rising-After-Epidemic-Declared-20190815-0020.html

Mexico City Prison Fire Kills 3, Injures 7
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-15
A fire at a prison in eastern Mexico City on Thursday morning killed at least three men and injured seven others, the city government said in a statement. | RELATED: | Mexico Urges US to Designate El Paso Shooting Act of Terrorism | Officials were still working to determine the cause of the fire, which was detected in a sleeping area at the prison in the Iztapalapa neighborhood at 5: 25 a.m. local time, the statement said. | The three inmates killed in the fire were identified…
telesurenglish.net/news/Mexico-City-Prison-Fire-Kills-3-Injures-7-20190815-0013.html

'Mexico Must Investigate All ‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚ÄãDisappearance Cases:' Ex-UN Rapporteur
telesurenglish.net | 2019-08-15
Mexico should be investigating all the disappeared and not focus only on the case of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students who went missing in 2014, said Rainer Huhle, a former member of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). | RELATED: | Mexico Urges US to Designate El Paso Shooting an Act of Terrorism | "I fear that the day the 43 are found, the many other cases will be forgotten," Huhle said during a conference held in Mexico City Thursday. | The forme…
telesurenglish.net/news/Mexico-Must-InvestigateAll-Disappearance-CasesEx-UN-Rapporteur-20190815-0027.html

Protests In Honduras Intensify as President Is Implicated in Drug Trafficking
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-14
Adrienne Pine and Jesse Freeston discuss Hondurans' demand that President Juan Orlando Hernandez resign and the repressive, violent police response to protesters…
therealnews.com/stories/protests-in-honduras-intensify-as-president-is-implicated-in-drug-trafficking

"A Narco State Supported by the United States": How Crime & Corruption in Honduras Fuel Migration
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-14
We speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Sonia Nazario, who has closely detailed why migrants from Central America are fleeing their homes in an attempt to seek asylum in the United States. Earlier this year, Nazario spent a month in Honduras documenting how corruption and gang violence are forcing many people to flee. Her piece, "Pay or Die," ran in The New York Times, where she is a contributing opinion writer.
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/14/sonia_nazario_honduras_crime_corruption_migration

The Other Americans: In Guatemala, Indigenous Residents Appeal to the President Over Stolen Land
Jeff Abbott | progressive.org | 2019-08-13
With a newly elected leader, hundreds of Mayan Mam families still await restitution–or face migrating north.
progressive.org/dispatches/the-other-americans-in-guatemala-indigenous-appeal-president-stolen-land-abbott-190813/

Guatemala's Elections May Decide the Future of the US' Migration Crisis
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-08-12
Guatemala is currently holding the second round of its presidential elections. With about 98% of polling places reporting, it seems that Giammattei had about 58% of votes, compared to about 42% for Sandra Torres. The first round took place on June 16 (parliamentary and presidential). The winner will be tasked with managing the most populous …
uwidata.com/4866-guatemalas-elections-may-decide-the-future-of-the-us-migration-crisis/

Border Patrol Arrest Reports Are Full of Lies That Can Sabotage Asylum Claims
John Washington | theintercept.com | 2019-08-11
On December 29, 2017, the night his daughter was born, Augusto left the hospital and rode his motorcycle to his home in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, to pick up a change of clothes for his wife. On his way back, he was stopped at a police checkpoint and taken into custody. Police officers questioned him for hours about his father, a former mayor and member of the opposition party to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. At one point, a police detective pushed Augusto into a windowless room and beat him with a plastic Pepsi bottle loaded with sand. The next morning, caked with blood and bruised to a pulp, Augusto was releas…
theintercept.com/2019/08/11/border-patrol-asylum-claim/

To Flee or Not to Flee? In Honduras, A Child Braves Tear Gas to Sell Vinegar Bags
Adrienne Pine | mintpressnews.com | 2019-08-08
Public education and job opportunities have been stolen from Honduran youth by a U.S.-backed narco-state bent on privatizing the whole of society. Youth face the choice of suffering violence and repression at home or risking the dangerous journey to the United States.
mintpressnews.com/flee-honduras-child-braves-tear-gas-sell-vinegar-bags/261243/

White supremacist terror against Mexicans has deep roots
Aaron Maté | thegrayzone.com | 2019-08-05
The shooting massacre in El Paso is the latest manifestation of a long history of white supremacist violence against Mexicans…
thegrayzone.com/2019/08/05/white-supremacist-terror-against-mexicans-has-deep-roots/