In June 2021, a federal appeals court ruled that the surveillance planes flying over Baltimore were an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment. After that, the Capitol Police in Washington DC announced that they were opening field offices in San Francisco and Tampa, and that the Defense Department had given them use of eight spy planes. These wide-angle surveillance planes were used in the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War, particularly in Fallujah. Their name, Gorgon Stare, refers to the three snake-haired sisters whose stare could turn a person to stone in Greek mythology.  They provide a picture of most of a city at one time and, combined with street level surveillance, they can pretty much track anyone's movements. I spoke to Tracy Rosenberg, Coordinator of Oakland Privacy and Executive Director of Bay Area-based Media Alliance about Gorgon Stare.

Gorgon Stare, the Latest in Mass Surveillance

*The Gorgon Stare - military-grade domestic surveillance - a conversation with Tracy Rosenberg
*Max Blumenthal and CJ Hopkins on COVID censorship
*Nick Espinosa (Security Fanatics) on lack of promised privacy for WhatsApp users
*Amazon algorithms put workers at risk

Produced by Ann Garrison and Polina Vasiliev
Hosted by Ann Garrison

09.14.21 / Censorship & Surveillance, Part 3: The Gorgon Stare

The Biden Administration keeps escalating threats to sanction Ethiopia for fighting the armed insurrection of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, commonly known as the TPLF. Tigrayans are only 6% of Ethiopia’s population, but the TPLF ruled the whole nation with an iron fist from 1991 to 2018, when popular uprisings forced them from power.   

Most Western press about Ethiopia has disparaged the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and blamed him for the war that began when the TPLF attacked a federal army base nearly a year ago. This week, however, the journal Foreign Policy published an essay by Mamo Mihretu, a senior policy advisor to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Ethiopia’s chief trade negotiator. Mihretu argued that, if Biden removes preferential trade arrangements under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, aka AGOA, ordinary Ethiopians, most of all women who work in the country’s fledgling manufacturing sector, will be those who suffer. The act, signed by Bill Clinton in 2020, gave tariff free access to goods manufactured in Ethiopia. Ethiopian exports then rose from $28 million to $300 million between 2000 and 2020.

This week, during a Web conference with People to People, an Ethiopian diaspora NGO founded to improve life in Ethiopia, Ambassador Fitsum Arega said that he had turned to African Ambassadors in the US, the African Union, and their trade experts for support.

The Ambassador also said that some of those who place orders with manufacturers in Ethiopia have already put orders on hold, waiting to see what will happen. 

On his Twitter page, he suggested that the African Union negotiate AGOA agreements as a block.
 
The Biden Administration is making a large, and some say unreasonable, demand to stop it from imposing sanctions. His executive order says that Ethiopia, a sovereign nation, must stop fighting the armed insurrection and negotiate with the TPLF “without preconditions.” To many Ethiopians, that seems tantamount to surrender.

Ethiopia: Poor rural women will suffer most if the US excludes it from AGOA trade advantages

Hunger and homelessness plague America's veterans, President Biden is set to sign the infrastructure bill Monday, and Florida's governor considers legal action over migrant flights.

11.11.21 / Hunger and Homelessness Plague America's Veterans

Biden says he'll fight for the filibuster; McConnell seeks an eighth term; and Fauci fires back at GOP senators.

01.12.22 / Biden Says He'll Fight for the Filibuster

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was resoundingly boo'ed at a Somali singer's concert on July 2nd in Minneapolis, and media outlets are still abuzz about it. 

Many Somali American residents of Congresswoman Omar’s district feel she has pursued an aggressive interventionist policy in Somalia and helped to engineer the defeat of their hugely popular president Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed, aka Farmaajo.

Ilhan Omar Booed Onstage in Minneapolis

Marcelline Nduwamungu, from the Women's International Network for Democracy and Peace, on how Paul Kagame is Behind M23 Terror in East Congo.

Taylor Report

Kagame must withdraw his M-23 gang from Congo

Taylor Report Facebook

UK nurses go on strike, African refugees accuse Europe of racist immigration policies, and Steven Were Omamo, former World Food Program Director in Ethiopia, reports that the Tigray famine story was a false, politicized narrative during the Ethiopian civil war.

KPFK Non-NATO News

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza prize for peace and democracy goes to John Williams Ntwali(journalist, deceased) and Kambale Musavuli, who has exposed the crimes of M-23 in East Congo.

Victoire Ingabire Prize for Peace and Democracy

Pacifica reporter and host Ann Garrison spoke to Michelle Witte of Sputnik Radio's "Political Misfits" about the US in Somalia, the drought and famine narrative, and South Africa's dilemma regarding Putin's visit for the BRICS conference while under indictment by the ICC.

Sputnik's "Political Misfits" on the US in Somalia and the Horn, and South Africa's ICC dilemma

Black History Month special: the legacy of the Nonviolent Movement, also known as the Civil Rights Movement. And a tribute to Cicely Tyson.

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images
https://pixabay.com/vectors/martin-luther-king-civil-rights-25271/

Pacifica Radio Network - Sprouts

02.10.21 / Black History Month: the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement

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Pacifica's mission is to promote peace and justice through communication between all races, nationalities and cultures. We strive to contribute to the democratic process through public discourse and promotion of culture. Unbeholden to commercial or governmental interests, we recognize that use of the airwaves is a public trust.
Description:
The Pacifica Foundation was founded in 1949 as a visionary alternative to commercialy-driven media. We pioneered listener-sponsored, community radio and have been a beacon for noncommercial, free media.
The Pacifica Network includes five sister stations in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and Houston along with many affiliated independent radio stations throughout the United States.

02.10.21 / Black History Month: the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement

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