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April 20, 2024
‘Only in Rio’: South Korea’s ambassador to Brazil is an unlikely samba star
Lim Ki-mo first heard Brazilian music 50 years ago in his home town of Busan; now his consular crooning marks a triumph of soft power
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Fri 19 Apr 2024 10.32 EDT
Brazil’s latest music sensation grinned from ear to ear as he moseyed down Copacabana beach contemplating his unusual rise to fame. “Samba brings me joy and makes me happy,” the 59-year-old crooner said in Portuguese, as he paused to pose for photos in the shade of palm trees.
The entertainer in question isn’t your average Rio samba star. In fact, he’s a South Korean diplomat from a very different seaside metropolis on the other side of the globe. But Lim Ki-mo, Korea’s Busan-born ambassador to Brazil, has sung his way to stardom since being posted to the South American country three years ago, with a series of viral performances in which he has belted out Brazilian hits.
This week, Lim’s singing career hit new heights as he took the stage at one of Rio’s most illustrious samba spots, Renascença Clube, to perform with one of its top samba groups. Hundreds of samba connoisseurs threw their hands in their and danced euphorically as Seoul’s man in Brasília sang tracks by the legendary composer Adoniran Barbosa and the chart-topping combo Grupo Revelação.
“The crowd went berserk,” said Gabriel Cavalcante, the singer who invited ambassador Lim to perform with his group, Samba do Trabalhador.
…more… links to performances…
(More singing and dancing diplomacy please.)
South Korea's ambassador to Brazil is an unlikely samba star
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/19/south-korea-ambassador-lim-ki-mo-samba-singer-brazil‘Only in Rio’: South Korea’s ambassador to Brazil is an unlikely samba star
Lim Ki-mo first heard Brazilian music 50 years ago in his home town of Busan; now his consular crooning marks a triumph of soft power
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Fri 19 Apr 2024 10.32 EDT
Brazil’s latest music sensation grinned from ear to ear as he moseyed down Copacabana beach contemplating his unusual rise to fame. “Samba brings me joy and makes me happy,” the 59-year-old crooner said in Portuguese, as he paused to pose for photos in the shade of palm trees.
The entertainer in question isn’t your average Rio samba star. In fact, he’s a South Korean diplomat from a very different seaside metropolis on the other side of the globe. But Lim Ki-mo, Korea’s Busan-born ambassador to Brazil, has sung his way to stardom since being posted to the South American country three years ago, with a series of viral performances in which he has belted out Brazilian hits.
This week, Lim’s singing career hit new heights as he took the stage at one of Rio’s most illustrious samba spots, Renascença Clube, to perform with one of its top samba groups. Hundreds of samba connoisseurs threw their hands in their and danced euphorically as Seoul’s man in Brasília sang tracks by the legendary composer Adoniran Barbosa and the chart-topping combo Grupo Revelação.
“The crowd went berserk,” said Gabriel Cavalcante, the singer who invited ambassador Lim to perform with his group, Samba do Trabalhador.
…more… links to performances…
(More singing and dancing diplomacy please.)
April 20, 2024
'You All Moved a Mountain': Tennessee Volkswagen Workers Vote to Join UAW
"We're poised to be the first domino of many to fall," one worker at the Chattanooga plant said.
OLIVIA ROSANE
April 20, 2024
Many of the talking heads and the pundits have said to me repeatedly before we announced this campaign, 'You can't win in the South,'" UAW president Shawn Fain told the victorious workers in a video shared by UAW. "They said Southern workers aren't ready for it. They said non-union autoworkers didn't have it in them. But you all said, 'Watch this!' And you all moved a mountain."
…
According to the UAW's real-time results, the vote tally now stands at 2,628—or 73%—yes to 985—or 27%—no. Voting at the around 4,300-worker plant began Wednesday.
…
The union's win comes despite the opposition of Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. "Today, I joined fellow governors in opposing the UAW's unionization campaign," Lee said on social media Tuesday. "We want to keep good-paying jobs and continue to grow the American auto manufacturing sector. A successful unionization drive will stop this growth in its tracks, to the detriment of American workers."
However, Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-52) celebrated the win. "Watching history tonight in Chattanooga, as Volkswagen workers voted in a landslide to join the UAW," he wrote on social media Friday night. "Despite pressure from Gov. Lee, this is the first auto plant in the South to unionize since the 1940s. This incredible victory for labor will transform Tennessee and the South!"
…more…
(This is stupendous. Breaking the gerrymandered power gridlock. If they won’t give you a seat at the table, bring your own chair: Shirley Chisholm. )
Tennessee Volkswagen Workers Vote to Join UAW
https://www.commondreams.org/news/tennessee-volkswagen-workers-join-uaw'You All Moved a Mountain': Tennessee Volkswagen Workers Vote to Join UAW
"We're poised to be the first domino of many to fall," one worker at the Chattanooga plant said.
OLIVIA ROSANE
April 20, 2024
Many of the talking heads and the pundits have said to me repeatedly before we announced this campaign, 'You can't win in the South,'" UAW president Shawn Fain told the victorious workers in a video shared by UAW. "They said Southern workers aren't ready for it. They said non-union autoworkers didn't have it in them. But you all said, 'Watch this!' And you all moved a mountain."
…
According to the UAW's real-time results, the vote tally now stands at 2,628—or 73%—yes to 985—or 27%—no. Voting at the around 4,300-worker plant began Wednesday.
…
The union's win comes despite the opposition of Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. "Today, I joined fellow governors in opposing the UAW's unionization campaign," Lee said on social media Tuesday. "We want to keep good-paying jobs and continue to grow the American auto manufacturing sector. A successful unionization drive will stop this growth in its tracks, to the detriment of American workers."
However, Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-52) celebrated the win. "Watching history tonight in Chattanooga, as Volkswagen workers voted in a landslide to join the UAW," he wrote on social media Friday night. "Despite pressure from Gov. Lee, this is the first auto plant in the South to unionize since the 1940s. This incredible victory for labor will transform Tennessee and the South!"
…more…
(This is stupendous. Breaking the gerrymandered power gridlock. If they won’t give you a seat at the table, bring your own chair: Shirley Chisholm. )
April 19, 2024
Colorado enacted a law meant to stop tech companies sharing your brain-wave data
Mia Jankowicz Apr 18, 2024
Lawmakers in Colorado have passed a law aimed at protecting a new frontier in privacy: your brain activity.
Gov. Jared Polis signed the new law after it passed in the Colorado House by a vote of 61-to-1, and in the Senate 34-to-0.
The bill takes aim at the growing neurotechnology industry.
In simple terms, the Protect Privacy of Biological Data Act expands the definition of "sensitive data" in the state's privacy laws to encompass biological and neural data.
…
"The things that people can do with this technology are great," Rep. Cathy Kipp, who introduced the Colorado bill, told the Times. "But we just think that there should be some guardrails in place for people who aren't intending to have their thoughts read and their biological data used."
//
CO law: stopping brain wave data sale
https://www.businessinsider.com/colorado-signs-bill-protect-privacy-rights-neurotechnology-neuralink-musk-2024-4?op=1Colorado enacted a law meant to stop tech companies sharing your brain-wave data
Mia Jankowicz Apr 18, 2024
Lawmakers in Colorado have passed a law aimed at protecting a new frontier in privacy: your brain activity.
Gov. Jared Polis signed the new law after it passed in the Colorado House by a vote of 61-to-1, and in the Senate 34-to-0.
The bill takes aim at the growing neurotechnology industry.
In simple terms, the Protect Privacy of Biological Data Act expands the definition of "sensitive data" in the state's privacy laws to encompass biological and neural data.
…
"The things that people can do with this technology are great," Rep. Cathy Kipp, who introduced the Colorado bill, told the Times. "But we just think that there should be some guardrails in place for people who aren't intending to have their thoughts read and their biological data used."
//
April 17, 2024
Leaked Document Shows NYT Censorship of Words Like “Genocide” in Gaza Coverage
The Times discourages references to “Palestine,” in a refusal to acknowledge the state Israel has been occupying.
By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT
Published April 16, 2024
The New York Times has a policy of systematically censoring words like “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in its coverage of Israel’s genocidal assault of Gaza, according to an internal memo obtained by The Intercept this week.
The Times memo instructs its journalists to avoid using the terms “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing” and “refugee camps” when writing about Palestine. It directs them to steer clear of referring to areas of Palestine as “occupied territory” — and, even further, discourages referring to Palestine as “Palestine” whatsoever. In addition, the memo claims that words like “slaughter,” “massacre” and “carnage” are often too emotional to describe Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The memo was written by Times standards editor Susan Wessling and international editor Philip Pan and their employees, and says its aim is to “offe[r] guidance” on terms the paper has “grappled with” since October, when Israel’s current siege of Gaza commenced.
…more…
NYT Censorship of Words Like "Genocide" in Gaza Coverage
https://truthout.org/articles/leaked-document-shows-nyt-censorship-of-words-like-genocide-in-gaza-coverage/Leaked Document Shows NYT Censorship of Words Like “Genocide” in Gaza Coverage
The Times discourages references to “Palestine,” in a refusal to acknowledge the state Israel has been occupying.
By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT
Published April 16, 2024
The New York Times has a policy of systematically censoring words like “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in its coverage of Israel’s genocidal assault of Gaza, according to an internal memo obtained by The Intercept this week.
The Times memo instructs its journalists to avoid using the terms “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing” and “refugee camps” when writing about Palestine. It directs them to steer clear of referring to areas of Palestine as “occupied territory” — and, even further, discourages referring to Palestine as “Palestine” whatsoever. In addition, the memo claims that words like “slaughter,” “massacre” and “carnage” are often too emotional to describe Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The memo was written by Times standards editor Susan Wessling and international editor Philip Pan and their employees, and says its aim is to “offe[r] guidance” on terms the paper has “grappled with” since October, when Israel’s current siege of Gaza commenced.
…more…
April 17, 2024
WA ecology department declares nearly statewide drought emergency
by Mai Hoang
Washington State Department of Ecology map showing that most of the state is now under a drought emergency. Several cities in the Puget Sound region are excluded because their water storage makes them more resilient to drought. (Courtesy of Washington State Department of Ecology)
The state Department of Ecology declared a drought emergency for most of the state Tuesday.
The department first noted the threat of drought after a dry start to the winter. While precipitation in the past three months contributed to an increase in Washington’s snowpack, there still isn’t enough water needed for farms, aquatic wildlife and people.
Snowpack is at 68% statewide, with several areas, including the Olympic Mountains, Lower Yakima and north Puget Sound region, having significantly lower numbers.
…more…
WA ecology department declares nearly statewide drought emergency
https://crosscut.com/briefs/2024/04/wa-ecology-department-declares-nearly-statewide-drought-emergencyWA ecology department declares nearly statewide drought emergency
by Mai Hoang
Washington State Department of Ecology map showing that most of the state is now under a drought emergency. Several cities in the Puget Sound region are excluded because their water storage makes them more resilient to drought. (Courtesy of Washington State Department of Ecology)
The state Department of Ecology declared a drought emergency for most of the state Tuesday.
The department first noted the threat of drought after a dry start to the winter. While precipitation in the past three months contributed to an increase in Washington’s snowpack, there still isn’t enough water needed for farms, aquatic wildlife and people.
Snowpack is at 68% statewide, with several areas, including the Olympic Mountains, Lower Yakima and north Puget Sound region, having significantly lower numbers.
…more…
April 16, 2024
No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent
As the soundscape of the natural world began to disappear over 30 years, one man was listening and recording it all
Read more: World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts
by Phoebe Weston
Tue 16 Apr 2024 07.00 EDT
The tale starts 30 years ago, when Bernie Krause made his first audio clip in Sugarloaf Ridge state park, 20 minutes’ drive from his house near San Francisco. He chose a spot near an old bigleaf maple. Many people loved this place: there was a creek and a scattering of picnic benches nearby.
…
As a soundscape recordist, Krause had travelled around the world listening to the planet. But in 1993 he turned his attention to what was happening on his doorstep. In his first recording, a stream of chortles, peeps and squeaks erupt from the animals that lived in the rich, scrubby habitat. His sensitive microphones captured the sounds of the creek, creatures rustling through undergrowth, and the songs of the spotted towhee, orange-crowned warbler, house wren and mourning dove.
…
But in April last year, Krause played back his recording and was greeted with something he had not heard before: total silence. The recorder had run for its usual hour, but picked up no birdsong, no rush of water over stones, no beating wings. “I’ve got an hour of material with nothing, at the high point of spring,” says Krause. “What’s happening here is just a small indication of what’s happening almost everywhere on an even larger scale.”
…more…
how a haven for nature fell silent
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/16/nature-silent-bernie-krause-recording-sound-californian-state-park-aoeNo birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent
As the soundscape of the natural world began to disappear over 30 years, one man was listening and recording it all
Read more: World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts
by Phoebe Weston
Tue 16 Apr 2024 07.00 EDT
The tale starts 30 years ago, when Bernie Krause made his first audio clip in Sugarloaf Ridge state park, 20 minutes’ drive from his house near San Francisco. He chose a spot near an old bigleaf maple. Many people loved this place: there was a creek and a scattering of picnic benches nearby.
…
As a soundscape recordist, Krause had travelled around the world listening to the planet. But in 1993 he turned his attention to what was happening on his doorstep. In his first recording, a stream of chortles, peeps and squeaks erupt from the animals that lived in the rich, scrubby habitat. His sensitive microphones captured the sounds of the creek, creatures rustling through undergrowth, and the songs of the spotted towhee, orange-crowned warbler, house wren and mourning dove.
…
But in April last year, Krause played back his recording and was greeted with something he had not heard before: total silence. The recorder had run for its usual hour, but picked up no birdsong, no rush of water over stones, no beating wings. “I’ve got an hour of material with nothing, at the high point of spring,” says Krause. “What’s happening here is just a small indication of what’s happening almost everywhere on an even larger scale.”
…more…
April 16, 2024
The Online Speech Given by Yanis Varoufakis After German Police Raid Palestine Congress
"Friends, we are here because vengeance is a lazy form of grief. We are here to promote not vengeance but peace and coexistence across Israel-Palestine."
BRETT WILKINS
Apr 12, 2024
Prominent Greek leftist Yanis Varoufakis on Friday condemned the German government's complicity in Israel's ongoing genocidal attack on Gaza as well as its domestic crackdown on pro-Palestinian advocacy in an online speech originally meant to be delivered before a conference that was raided by Berlin police earlier in the day.
Varoufakis—a former Greek finance minister who heads the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25)—was scheduled to address the Palestine Congress, which was slated to run through Sunday in the German capital. However, hundreds of police officers blockaded the event venue on Germaniastraße in Templehof before storming the building and demanding organizers cut the livestream and end the event. Several people including at least one Jewish participant were led away by police.
"This is what democracy in Europe right now really looks like!" DiEM25 said on social media.
In his speech, Varoufakis lamented that "a decent people, the people of Germany, are led down a perilous road to a heartless society by being made to associate themselves with another genocide carried out in their name, with their complicity."
…more…
Online Speech Given by Yanis Varoufakis After German Police Raid Palestine Congress
https://www.commondreams.org/news/varoufakis-palestine-congressThe Online Speech Given by Yanis Varoufakis After German Police Raid Palestine Congress
"Friends, we are here because vengeance is a lazy form of grief. We are here to promote not vengeance but peace and coexistence across Israel-Palestine."
BRETT WILKINS
Apr 12, 2024
Prominent Greek leftist Yanis Varoufakis on Friday condemned the German government's complicity in Israel's ongoing genocidal attack on Gaza as well as its domestic crackdown on pro-Palestinian advocacy in an online speech originally meant to be delivered before a conference that was raided by Berlin police earlier in the day.
Varoufakis—a former Greek finance minister who heads the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25)—was scheduled to address the Palestine Congress, which was slated to run through Sunday in the German capital. However, hundreds of police officers blockaded the event venue on Germaniastraße in Templehof before storming the building and demanding organizers cut the livestream and end the event. Several people including at least one Jewish participant were led away by police.
"This is what democracy in Europe right now really looks like!" DiEM25 said on social media.
In his speech, Varoufakis lamented that "a decent people, the people of Germany, are led down a perilous road to a heartless society by being made to associate themselves with another genocide carried out in their name, with their complicity."
…more…
April 14, 2024
The complex, contradictory and heartbreaking process of American climate migration is underway
Abrahm LustgartenandProPublicaApril 14, 2024
Another great American migration is now underway, this time forced by the warming that is altering how and where people can live. For now, it’s just a trickle. But in the corners of the country’s most vulnerable landscapes — on the shores of its sinking bayous and on the eroding bluffs of its coastal defenses — populations are already in disarray.
…
As the U.S. gets hotter, its coastal waters rise higher, its wildfires burn larger and its droughts last longer, the notion that humankind can triumph over nature is fading, and with it, slowly, goes the belief that self-determination and personal preference can be the driving factors in choosing where to live. Scientific modeling of these pressures suggest a sweeping change is coming in the shape and location of communities across America, a change that promises to transform the country’s politics, culture and economy.
It has already begun. More Americans are displaced by catastrophic climate-change-driven storms and floods and fires every year. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, the global nongovernmental organization researchers rely on to measure the number of people forcibly cast out of their homes by natural disasters, counted very few displaced Americans in 2009, 2010 and 2011, years in which few natural disasters struck the United States. But by 2016 the numbers had begun to surge, with between 1 million and 1.7 million newly displaced people annually. The disasters and heat waves each year have become legion. But the statistics show the human side of what has appeared to be a turning point in both the severity and frequency of wildfires and hurricanes. As the number of displaced people continues to grow, an ever-larger portion of those affected will make their moves permanent, migrating to safer ground or supportive communities. They will do so either because a singular disaster like the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California — or Hurricane Harvey, which struck the Texas and Louisiana coasts — is so destructive it forces them to, or because the subtler “slow onset” change in their surroundings gradually grows so intolerable, uncomfortable or inconvenient that they make the decision to leave, proactively, by choice. In a 2021 study published in the journal Climatic Change, researchers found that 57% of the Americans they surveyed believed that changes in their climate would push them to consider a move sometime in the next decade.
Also in 2021, the national real estate firm Redfin conducted a similar nationwide survey, finding that nearly half of Americans who planned to move that year said that climate risks were already driving their decisions. Some 52% of people moving from the West said that rising and extreme heat was a factor, and 48% of respondents moving from the Northeast pointed to sea level rise as their predominant threat. Roughly one in four Americans surveyed told Redfin they would no longer consider a move to a region facing extreme heat, no matter how much more affordable that location was. And nearly one-third of people said that “there was no price at which” they would consider buying a home in a coastal region affected by rising seas. When Redfin broadened its survey to include more than a thousand people who had not yet decided to move, a whopping 75% of them said that they would think twice before buying a home in a place facing rising heat or other climate risks.
…more… long read…
American climate migration is underway
https://www.alternet.org/the-complex-contradictory-and-heartbreaking-process-of-american-climate-migration-is-underway/The complex, contradictory and heartbreaking process of American climate migration is underway
Abrahm LustgartenandProPublicaApril 14, 2024
Another great American migration is now underway, this time forced by the warming that is altering how and where people can live. For now, it’s just a trickle. But in the corners of the country’s most vulnerable landscapes — on the shores of its sinking bayous and on the eroding bluffs of its coastal defenses — populations are already in disarray.
…
As the U.S. gets hotter, its coastal waters rise higher, its wildfires burn larger and its droughts last longer, the notion that humankind can triumph over nature is fading, and with it, slowly, goes the belief that self-determination and personal preference can be the driving factors in choosing where to live. Scientific modeling of these pressures suggest a sweeping change is coming in the shape and location of communities across America, a change that promises to transform the country’s politics, culture and economy.
It has already begun. More Americans are displaced by catastrophic climate-change-driven storms and floods and fires every year. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, the global nongovernmental organization researchers rely on to measure the number of people forcibly cast out of their homes by natural disasters, counted very few displaced Americans in 2009, 2010 and 2011, years in which few natural disasters struck the United States. But by 2016 the numbers had begun to surge, with between 1 million and 1.7 million newly displaced people annually. The disasters and heat waves each year have become legion. But the statistics show the human side of what has appeared to be a turning point in both the severity and frequency of wildfires and hurricanes. As the number of displaced people continues to grow, an ever-larger portion of those affected will make their moves permanent, migrating to safer ground or supportive communities. They will do so either because a singular disaster like the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California — or Hurricane Harvey, which struck the Texas and Louisiana coasts — is so destructive it forces them to, or because the subtler “slow onset” change in their surroundings gradually grows so intolerable, uncomfortable or inconvenient that they make the decision to leave, proactively, by choice. In a 2021 study published in the journal Climatic Change, researchers found that 57% of the Americans they surveyed believed that changes in their climate would push them to consider a move sometime in the next decade.
Also in 2021, the national real estate firm Redfin conducted a similar nationwide survey, finding that nearly half of Americans who planned to move that year said that climate risks were already driving their decisions. Some 52% of people moving from the West said that rising and extreme heat was a factor, and 48% of respondents moving from the Northeast pointed to sea level rise as their predominant threat. Roughly one in four Americans surveyed told Redfin they would no longer consider a move to a region facing extreme heat, no matter how much more affordable that location was. And nearly one-third of people said that “there was no price at which” they would consider buying a home in a coastal region affected by rising seas. When Redfin broadened its survey to include more than a thousand people who had not yet decided to move, a whopping 75% of them said that they would think twice before buying a home in a place facing rising heat or other climate risks.
…more… long read…
April 13, 2024
Petition Demanding Clarence Thomas Recuse From Trump Immunity Case Nears 200K Goal
Corruption on the Supreme Court has gotten out of control, and Justice Thomas is the poster child."
JAKE JOHNSON
Apr 12, 2024
More than 165,000 people have signed a petition demanding that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from a pending case on whether former President Donald Trump should be immune from criminal charges stemming from his attempt to overturn his 2020 loss.
The petition, organized by the progressive advocacy group MoveOn, urges Thomas to recuse from all cases related to the January 6, 2021 insurrection, including the high-stakes and closely watched Trump immunity case. Oral arguments in that case are scheduled for April 25.
MoveOn argues that Thomas should step away from the case because of the role his wife, Ginni, played in the right-wing effort to reverse the 2020 election results.
"From secret gifts from right-wing donors to weighing in on cases that his wife is connected to, Thomas has a longstanding history of conflicts of interest," the petition reads. "It's crucial that we raise the pressure now and demand that Justice Thomas recuse himself from this case immediately!"
…more…petition link in first para…
Petition Demanding Clarence Thomas Recuse From Trump Immunity Case Nears 200K Goal
https://www.commondreams.org/news/clarence-thomas-recuse-petitionPetition Demanding Clarence Thomas Recuse From Trump Immunity Case Nears 200K Goal
Corruption on the Supreme Court has gotten out of control, and Justice Thomas is the poster child."
JAKE JOHNSON
Apr 12, 2024
More than 165,000 people have signed a petition demanding that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from a pending case on whether former President Donald Trump should be immune from criminal charges stemming from his attempt to overturn his 2020 loss.
The petition, organized by the progressive advocacy group MoveOn, urges Thomas to recuse from all cases related to the January 6, 2021 insurrection, including the high-stakes and closely watched Trump immunity case. Oral arguments in that case are scheduled for April 25.
MoveOn argues that Thomas should step away from the case because of the role his wife, Ginni, played in the right-wing effort to reverse the 2020 election results.
"From secret gifts from right-wing donors to weighing in on cases that his wife is connected to, Thomas has a longstanding history of conflicts of interest," the petition reads. "It's crucial that we raise the pressure now and demand that Justice Thomas recuse himself from this case immediately!"
…more…petition link in first para…
April 13, 2024
20 years later, Abu Ghraib detainees get their day in U.S. court
By Matthew Barakat
April 12, 2024 2:35 PM PT
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Twenty years ago this month, photos of abused prisoners and smiling U.S. soldiers guarding them at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison were released, shocking the world.
Now, three survivors of Abu Ghraib will get their day in U.S. court against the military contractor they hold responsible for their mistreatment.
…
Retired Army Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led an investigation into the Abu Ghraib scandal, is among those expected to testify. His inquiry concluded that at least one CACI interrogator should be held accountable for instructing military police to set conditions that amounted to physical abuse.
…
But U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, determined that the U.S. government can’t claim immunity when it comes to allegations that violate established international norms, like torturing prisoners, so CACI as a result can’t claim any derivative immunity.
…more…
Abu Ghraib detainees get their day in U.S. court
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-04-12/20-years-later-abu-ghraib-detainees-get-their-day-in-u-s-court20 years later, Abu Ghraib detainees get their day in U.S. court
By Matthew Barakat
April 12, 2024 2:35 PM PT
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Twenty years ago this month, photos of abused prisoners and smiling U.S. soldiers guarding them at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison were released, shocking the world.
Now, three survivors of Abu Ghraib will get their day in U.S. court against the military contractor they hold responsible for their mistreatment.
…
Retired Army Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led an investigation into the Abu Ghraib scandal, is among those expected to testify. His inquiry concluded that at least one CACI interrogator should be held accountable for instructing military police to set conditions that amounted to physical abuse.
…
But U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, determined that the U.S. government can’t claim immunity when it comes to allegations that violate established international norms, like torturing prisoners, so CACI as a result can’t claim any derivative immunity.
…more…
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