29 December 19
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Founder, Reader Supported News
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28 December 19
Michael Moore: Sanders Can Beat Trump in 2020
Marina Pitofsky, The Hill
Pitofsky writes: "Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore, a frequent critic of President Trump, believes Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) can defeat the president heading into the 2020 election."
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Marina Pitofsky, The Hill
Pitofsky writes: "Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore, a frequent critic of President Trump, believes Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) can defeat the president heading into the 2020 election."
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U.S. aluminum producers have seen their costs rise thanks to the tariffs. (photo: Bryan Woolston/Reuters
Fed Study Finds Trump Tariffs Backfired
Greg Robb, MarketWatch
Robb writes: "President Donald Trump's strategy to use import tariffs to protect and boost U.S. manufacturers backfired and led to job losses and higher prices, according to a Federal Reserve study released this week."
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Greg Robb, MarketWatch
Robb writes: "President Donald Trump's strategy to use import tariffs to protect and boost U.S. manufacturers backfired and led to job losses and higher prices, according to a Federal Reserve study released this week."
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Voters in Georgia. (photo: Mike Stewart/AP)
Georgia Does Not Have to Put 100,000 Voters Back on Rolls, Judge Rules
Associated Press
Excerpt: "Georgia doesn't have to put almost 100,000 voters back on its rolls, a federal judge ruled Friday."
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Associated Press
Excerpt: "Georgia doesn't have to put almost 100,000 voters back on its rolls, a federal judge ruled Friday."
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From left, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-MI, Rep. llhan Omar, D-MN, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA. (photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The Progressive Caucus Doesn't Want to Just Be a Social Club Anymore
Addy Baird, BuzzFeed
Baird writes: "In January 2019, newly elected progressives stormed into the halls of Congress, demanding that the Democratic Party move to the left on health care, economic and racial justice, and climate issues."
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Addy Baird, BuzzFeed
Baird writes: "In January 2019, newly elected progressives stormed into the halls of Congress, demanding that the Democratic Party move to the left on health care, economic and racial justice, and climate issues."
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Migrant looking over the Rio Grande river on International Bridge 1 Las Americas, a legal port of entry which connects Laredo, Texas, in the U.S. with Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. (photo: Marco Ugarte/AP)
Congolese Woman Dies After Entering US Border Custody
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "A Congolese woman seeking asylum died on Christmas Day in United States government custody shortly after she entered a border station in South Texas, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has said."
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "A Congolese woman seeking asylum died on Christmas Day in United States government custody shortly after she entered a border station in South Texas, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has said."
Deaths in CBP custody
At least 11 people died this year after entering CBP's custody, according to statements posted on the agency's website.
Family of victims of the Rio Negro massacres of the early 1980s in Guatemala take part in a Mayan ceremony outside the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica, before a trial in 2012. (photo: Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images)
As Guatemala Pursues War Criminals, a Dark Secret Emerges: Some Suspects Are Living Quiet Lives in the US
Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
Sieff writes: "For years, Francisco Cuxum Alvarado lived a quiet life outside Boston, working as a landscaper, part of a large and well-regarded local Guatemalan community."
Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
Sieff writes: "For years, Francisco Cuxum Alvarado lived a quiet life outside Boston, working as a landscaper, part of a large and well-regarded local Guatemalan community."
“In the 1990s to the mid-2000s, Guatemala was the land of impunity,” Burt said. “There were very few investigations into war crimes, and there was no sharing of information with the United States government about who was accused of what.”
It was during that period that many alleged Guatemalan war criminals fled to the United States. Some, such as Cuxum Alvarado and Samayoa Cabrera, applied for asylum and were denied but remained in the United States illegally afterward.
The United States backed the Guatemalan military during the civil war, which raged from 1960 to 1996, viewing it as a nearby front in the Cold War. Tens of thousands of Guatemalans were killed. When the conflict ended, Washington did little to support nascent efforts to create a war-crimes tribunal.
In 1979, the U.S. Justice Department created an office of special investigations to locate and deport former Nazis. The unit expanded to search for other alleged war criminals who had entered the United States.
But information about the Guatemalans remained limited until the 2000s, when the Central American country began holding its own trials of former military commanders. By then, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had created its own unit to hunt down foreign fugitives in the United States, including Cuxum Alvarado.
But while Cuxum Alvarado worked as a landscaper in Waltham, two separate cases were forming against him in Guatemala. One was brought by 36 women, who accused him and about a dozen other men of mass rape of indigenous Maya Achi women in and around the municipality of Rabinal. Another involved the killing of indigenous people in the same area.
The case of sexual assault advanced through the courts first. In court testimony, four women said they were raped by Cuxum Alvarado. Two said he participated in brutal gang rapes.
One woman interviewed by attorneys said Cuxum Alvarado took her “to a military house and raped her while threatening that if she resisted she would hang from the bloodied ropes that had been used to hang the men from Rio Negro” — referencing the massacres of indigenous Guatemalans by security personnel during the war.
The woman was pregnant at the time.
A koala. (photo: Getty Images)
Thousands of Koalas Feared Dead in Australia Wildfires
Associated Press
Excerpt: "Thousands of koalas are feared to have died in a wildfire-ravaged area north of Sydney, further diminishing Australia's iconic marsupial, while the fire danger accelerated Saturday in the country's east as temperatures soared."
Associated Press
Excerpt: "Thousands of koalas are feared to have died in a wildfire-ravaged area north of Sydney, further diminishing Australia's iconic marsupial, while the fire danger accelerated Saturday in the country's east as temperatures soared."
“Up to 30 percent of their habitat has been destroyed,” Environment Minister Sussan Ley told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “We’ll know more when the fires are calmed down and a proper assessment can be made.”
Images shared of koalas drinking water after being rescued from the wildfires have gone viral on social media in recent days.
See 7NEWS Melbourne's other Tweets
“I get mail from all around the world from people absolutely moved and amazed by our wildlife volunteer response and also by the habits of these curious creatures,” Ley said.
About 12.35 million acres of land have burned nationwide during the wildfire crisis, with nine people killed and more than 1,000 homes destroyed.
