Coronavirus Covid-19 Research History – January 16-20, 2022

These are excerpts of January 2022 articles. For a quick sense of information and faster summary just read the red marked texted.

My primary source is the extremely well researched RFK jr.’s “Children Health Defense” organization. The CHD is suffering some severe censorship on social media because they are exposing government/corporate media inconsistencies, distortions and censored facts about the Covid pandemic!

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2020-01-20 White House Eyes Vaccine Mandate for Migrants The White House is considering requiring migrants aged 5 and older to receive a coronavirus vaccination as a condition for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to await court hearings, Axios has learned. The Biden administration has been offering the COVID-19 vaccine to people in immigration detention centers or shelters but hasn’t yet offered it to other migrants who’ve crossed the border — much less required it.If the proposal is green-lighted, contractors would begin providing vaccines to migrants attempting to cross the border illegally — or through legal ports of entry — before they’re allowed into the U.S. https://www.axios.com/white-house-vaccine-mandate-migrants-f596f9c6-6a7b-49c6-9ad8-2bb03e596ab5.html

2022-01-20 Supreme Court Rulings on Vaccine Mandates Left ‘Big Questions’ Unanswered In basing its split opinion on COVID vaccine mandates on narrow technical grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court mostly avoided the larger constitutional issues.

Childers noted that there were no real findings of fact — the three Democratic appointees gestured toward the claims submitted by OSHA and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and left it at that and the six Republican appointees did not make any attempt at determining the facts at all. This is very strange. 

Findings of fact are a standard part of any trial. And here we have a new, novel and likely man-made virus, several vaccines that have never worked in humans before and unprecedented vaccine failure and yet neither side wanted to discuss the facts!? In the highest court in the country? Even though one cannot make rational decisions about these matters in the absence of facts? We’ll return to this issue below.

Childers also pointed out that there is no mention of Jacobson v. Massachusetts in either decision. Jacobson is the 1905 case regarding a state vaccine mandate that has been used incorrectly ever since to justify all sorts of heinous state actions including forced sterilization of poor women.  If the Supreme Court wanted to rule on narrow technical grounds, it should have rejected the mandates because they clearly violate the rules in connection with Emergency Use Authorization of medical products.

Across two majority opinions, one concurring opinion and three dissents (44 pages in all) there is no mention of the Constitutional rights of individuals. This is very strange. As Naomi Wolf points out a Constitutional right to privacy and bodily autonomy has been the bedrock principle of liberal jurisprudence for the last 50 years and so it is more than a little odd that the three liberal justices suddenly pretended that they had never heard of this idea.  https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/supreme-court-vaccine-mandates-big-questions/

2022-01-20 Israeli Vaccine Scientist: Closing Schools Biggest Mistake During Pandemic In an interview with Unherd, Professor Cyrille Cohen, head of immunology at Israel’s Bar Ilan University and member of the advisory committee for COVID vaccines for the Israeli government, admitted closing schools was one of the biggest mistakes his government made during the pandemic. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cyrille-cohen-israel-closing-schools-pandemic/

2022-01-20 How Billions in COVID Stimulus Funds Led to Dangerous, Tyrannical Policies in U.S. Schools In 2020 and 2021, Congress passed trillions in COVID-related stimulus funds, a good portion of which went to schools — but only if school officials aligned their policies with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID guidelines. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-stimulus-funds-dangerous-tyrannical-policies-schools/

2022-01-20 40% Rise Nationwide in Excess Deaths Among 18- to 49-Year-Olds, CDC Data Show Death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show excess deaths increased by more than 40% among Americans 18 to 49 years old during a 12-month period ending in October of 2021, and that COVID caused only about 42% of those deaths https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rise-nationwide-excess-deaths-18-to-49-year-olds/

2022-01-20 Kennedy to Dore: How Fauci Turns Science Into Propaganda for Big Pharma In his bestselling book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. summarizes how Dr. Anthony Fauci wields his power to control and manipulate science across the globe and render the majority of global scientific research nothing more than pharmaceutical propaganda. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/kennedy-dore-fauci-propaganda-big-pharma/

2022-01-20 Bill Gates, Indian Government Targeted in Lawsuit Alleging AstraZeneca Vaccine Killed 23-Year-Old A lawsuit against Bill Gates, the Indian government and others, citing extensive case law, is attracting renewed scrutiny of Gates and his long-term, controversial involvement in India’s vaccine program.

Judges of the Supreme Court of India have generally adopted a pro-vaccine stance. Nevertheless, Yadav’s 265-page complaint stands out for the extensive legal precedent it draws upon, from Indian and common law, calling into question the legality of mandatory vaccination and other compelled medical acts. The complaint also stands out for the specific allegations made against figures such as Poonawala and Gates, a figure of extensive controversy in India.

One of the main court rulings referenced in the Yadav v. Maharashtra complaint is that of Registrar General, High Court of Meghalaya v. State of Meghalaya (herein referred to as Meghalaya). The central finding of the ruling, issued June 23, 2021, held that vaccination by force or deception, or through the introduction of restrictions on the non-vaccinated, is a violation of fundamental human rights and a civil and criminal wrong. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/bill-gates-indian-government-lawsuit-astrazeneca-vaccine-killed-shri-hitesh-kadve/

2022-01-19 COVID Lab-Leak Whitewash Has Been ‘the Death of Science’ Says Professor Who Found ‘Unique Fingerprints’ University of London professor Angus Dalgleish, who co-authored a paper in summer 2020 after spotting “unique fingerprints” in COVID-19 samples that point to genetic manipulation, says that he’s been the victim of a “disgusting whitewash,” and that anyone suggesting a non-natural origin for COVID-19 has been silenced by peers. “This goes back to the days of Copernicus and Galileo — it is the death of science,” said the oncologist — who in 1984 discovered how HIV enters and kills cells. https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/covid-lab-leak-whitewash-has-been-death-science-says-professor-who-found-unique

2022-01-19 Biden Administration to Give out 400 Million Free N95 Masks The Biden administration is planning to give out 400 million free N95 masks to Americans in the coming weeks, supplied from the country’s strategic stockpile as the nation is facing a record surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the Omicron variant.The free masks will be made available to the public at thousands of local pharmacies and community health centers nationwide starting late next week, according to a White House official, and will mark “the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n95-masks-400-million-free-biden-administration-strategic-stockpile/

2022-01-19 Holes in the Social Safety Net Leave Millions Without Access to Needed Benefits The pandemic has shone a bright light on our country’s social safety net. Now, most of those benefits have ended or will soon: Over the summer, Americans lost federal protection from evictions and foreclosures. In September, pandemic unemployment insurance supplements expired nationwide, the expanded child tax credit followed suit at the end of the year and federal student loan payments, paused since March 2020, will resume in May. Even with those benefits expiring, though, it seems that COVID-19 taught us a valuable lesson about how seriously we need to take our social safety net. https://www.newsweek.com/2022/02/04/holes-social-safety-net-leave-millions-without-access-needed-benefits-1670483.html

2022-01-19 ‘This Week’ With Mary + Polly: ‘Revolting’ and ‘Shocking’ Article Celebrates Deaths of the Unvaccinated + More Here are more of this week’s highlights:

  • At-risk Americans will soon become eligible for their fourth COVID shot.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data from its Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) showing a total of 1,033,994 reports of adverse events following COVID vaccines.
  • In an exclusive interview with The Defender, the mother of deceased Joseph Keating said her son’s only warning signs before he died were fatigue, muscle soreness and an increased heart rate, yet an autopsy confirmed he died of myocarditis directly caused by Pfizer’s COVID vaccine.
  • In an open letter to Israel’s Ministry of Health, Professor Ehud Qimron, head of the department of microbiology and immunology at Tel Aviv University, wrote, “When the destructive concepts collapse one by one, there is nothing left but to tell the experts who led the management of the pandemic — we told you so.” According to Mary, “It’s a very strong and very harsh letter.”
  • Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., senior research scientist at MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, told Fox News vaccinating young people for COVID may cause serious neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. “We should listen to this,” said Polly.
  • A rare spinal cord condition was flagged as a potential side effect of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccine. “This is a fairly common adverse reaction to vaccines,” said Mary.
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci testified to Congress about the country’s efforts to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine, meant to combat both COVID and other similar viruses that could emerge in the coming years.
  • New work by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of Oxford shows that even unrelated vaccines such as measles and flu shots could help reduce the burden of the pandemic. “There’s nothing to back this up,” said Mary.
  • Why shouldn’t we dance on the graves of anti-vaxxers? There may be no other way to make sure the lessons of these teachable moments are heard. “I think this is revolting,” said Mary. “This is shocking,” said Polly.
  • The U.S. Marine Corps approved two requests to service members who are refusing the COVID vaccine on religious grounds, marking what are believed to be the first known religious exemptions granted across all the armed services — out of thousands of requests. “This could be the turning point,” said Polly.
  • A federal judge denied a motion by the U.S. Department of Defense for a stay of discovery of evidence in an ongoing court case regarding COVID-19 vaccine mandates for military service members. “This is great news,” said Mary. “Some accountability is now happening.”
  • The world’s No. 1 ranked tennis player, Novak Djokovic, may not be able to defend his title in the Australian Open after officials canceled his visa over his failure to comply with the country’s COVID vaccine mandate.“This is not good PR for the country,” said Mary. (Update: Djokovic lost another court battle and was deported).
  • Thousands of Australians not vaccinated against COVID will be banned from nearly every activity outside the home from Jan. 31, Mark McGowan announced. “He is a bully,” said Polly. “A tyrant,” said Mary.
  • The Vatican tightened its COVID regulations by requiring the use of FFP2 masks inside and making vaccinations and booster shots mandatory for employees and visitors wishing to enter the Vatican Museums and gardens. “This doesn’t come as a shock but this is very demoralizing,” said Mary.
  • Human rights group Amnesty International urged Italy to change tough anti-COVID restrictions to avoid discrimination against unvaccinated people. “This is significant,” said Mary.
  • COVID should be treated as an endemic virus similar to flu, and ministers should end mass vaccination after the booster campaign, the former chairman of the UK’s vaccine task force said. “This is exciting,” said Mary. “The end is near.”
  • The Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver British Columbia allegedly served an eviction notice on unvaccinated children with serious illness, including cancer, and their parents. “A revolting article,” said Polly.
  • Quebec, which has seen the highest number of COVID-related deaths in Canada, will impose a health tax on the unvaccinated.
  • digital pass known as the SMART Health Card has a person’s name, date of birth, and the dates and brands of vaccination doses, all contained within a type of scannable bar code known as a QR code. “We need to fight against this,” said Polly. “Another road to mandates,” said Mary.
  • The New York Times rejected running a full-page paid advertisement for the bestselling book “The Real Anthony Fauci,” by CHD Chairman Robert. F. Kennedy, Jr.
  • Suspicion, misinformation, complacency and delays because of the holidays and bad weather have combined to produce alarmingly low COVID vaccination rates in U.S. children ages 5 to 11, authorities said this week. “This is so patronizing to parents who have done their research,” said Polly.
  • There are no studies showing Sanatech’s CRISPR gene-edited tomato, engineered to contain higher levels of a sedative substance, GABA, provides health benefits or is even safe. “These foods can be very dangerous,” said Mary.
  • Face masks make people look more attractive, study finds. “The unbelievable article of the week,” said Polly.
  • Join thousands at “Defeat the Mandates DC” on Jan. 23 as they peacefully march for freedom. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/chd-tv-mary-polly-article-celebrates-deaths-unvaccinated

2022-01-19 Politics, Not Science? CDC Takes Radical U-Turn on Pandemic Narrative In recent days, the pandemic narrative has undergone a remarkable number of U-turns, including the admission by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky that COVID shots cannot prevent transmission.

  • In recent days, the pandemic narrative has undergone a remarkable number of U-turns.
  • Jan. 9 CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky sent out a tweet saying “We must protect people with comorbidities from severe COVID-19,” in other words, focused protection, which is what tens of thousands of doctors have been calling for since the creation of The Great Barrington Declaration in early October 2020.
  • Jan. 10 Walensky admitted that the COVID shots cannot prevent transmission.
  • The CDC is now saying you should not retest once you’ve recovered from COVID, as the PCR can provide false positives for up to 12 weeks after the infection has been resolved. They’re also cutting the isolation requirement from 10 to just five days — probably because the failing economy is hurting Biden’s approval rating so they need people to work.
  • The narrative is also changing on what makes for a COVID case and how deaths are counted. Walensky recently admitted about 40% of “COVID patients” tested positive but do not have symptoms and are hospitalized for something else. She has also promised to deliver data on how many people have actually died “from” COVID and how many died “with” it.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/politics-cdc-u-turn-pandemic-narrative/

2022-01-19 Ivermectin 62% Effective in Preventing COVID Mortality, 86% Effective in Preventing Infection, UK Doctor Says Dr. Theresa Lawrie, MBBCh, Ph.D., in an interview Monday with America’s Frontline Doctors discussed her research on COVID treatments, including ivermectin. Lawrie, a physician, research analyst and consultant to the World Health Organization, urged listeners to take charge of their own health.

Lawrie, a UK medical doctor and research analyst who served as a consultant for the World Health Organization, founded the British Ivermectin Recommendation Development initiative (BiRD International) and is co-founder of the new World Council for Health, a coalition of more than 80 international health advocacy organizations in more than 30 countries. “We are completely independent, funded by non-profits,” Lawrie said. “We have never done any pharmaceutical industry-sponsored work.”

Lawrie reviewed the results of her co-authored meta-analysis of 24 controlled trials of ivermectin, published in the American Journal of Therapeutics. She said the results showed ivermectin was 62% effective in preventing COVID mortality and 86% effective in preventing infection when taken preventatively. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/ivermectin-effective-preventing-covid-mortality-infection/

2022-01-19 UK Ends Vaccine Passports, Mask Mandates, as Prime Minister Faces Calls for Resignation UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson today ended pandemic restrictions he instituted just last month, citing a drop in COVID cases. Some suggested the move was politically motivated as calls for his resignation increased in the wake of a scandal over alleged parties in Number 10 Downing Street during the pandemic. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/uk-ends-vaccine-passports-mask-mandates/

2022-01-19 Dr. Michelle Perro to Fellow Pediatricians: ‘Rise Up, Take a Stance’ Against COVID Vaccines for Kids In the Defender’s “Leading the Charge for Change” interview series, Dr. Michelle Perro explains why she advises parents not to give their kids the COVID vaccine and encourages other physicians to speak out against the vaccines.

Perro said in her experience treating children with COVID, the disease has been mild. “In a practice where I work, out of six practitioners, not one of us has seen an extremely sick kid with COVID. Some children have had fevers and body aches, although most have super mild symptoms. We have seen asymptomatic kids and others having mild flu-like illness — at the worst.” She said the disease is not dangerous in children, often lasting only one or two days. “It’s in the literature that this is a mild illness in young people,” Perro said. “And the rate of morbidity and mortality is next to zero — a more benign course than the flu.” For children she has treated with COVID, Perro said she supports their “naturally vigorous immune system,” emphasizing the importance of eating nutrient-dense organic foods along with supplements including vitamins C and D, zinc and quercetin. 

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/michelle-perro-take-stance-covid-vaccines-kids/

2022-01-19 Two Moms Share Same Story — Alienation, Ridicule for Questioning COVID Policies As some left-leaning parents rethink their stance on K-12 school lockdown mandates, they face censure from their former political allies. Meanwhile, a recent poll shows Democrats out of step with the majority of Americans on vaccine mandate enforcement measures. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/two-moms-same-story-questioning-covid-policies/

2022-01-19 PayPal Drops Nonprofits Opposed to Vaccine Mandates After “media watchdog” group Media Matters for America accused PayPal and GoFundMe of hosting crowdfunding campaigns for organizations that “spread harmful COVID-19 misinformation,” PayPal said it would no longer process donations for groups, including the National Vaccine Information Center, that oppose vaccine mandates.

  • Dec. 21, 2021, after business hours, PayPal notified the National Vaccine Information Center that it would no longer process donations from their supporters — effective immediately.
  • Other organizations also dropped by PayPal include the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance and Organic Consumer’s Association.
  • In October 2021, self-proclaimed “media watchdog” group Media Matters for America accused PayPal and GoFundMe of “hosting crowdfunding campaigns for organizations that spread harmful COVID-19 misinformation.”
  • PayPal is actively researching transactions that fund hate groups, anti-government organizations and extremists — it’s unclear, however, how they define these terms or the groups that fall under them.
  • Instead of ignoring, fearing or abandoning information that is being targeted with censorship, use censorship as a cue or guide that you should delve more deeply into the topic at hand to reveal the underlying truth.

PayPal is the latest tech giant to join the censorship game, shutting down its services for a variety of nonprofit organizations that are working to stop injection mandates.

This increasingly orchestrated attack has targeted the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), Organic Consumer’s Association (OCA) and many others — and should send a chill down the spine of anyone who values the freedom upon which the U.S. was founded.

Powerful forces are at play, and Big Tech is among them, working to suppress, discredit and silence certain science, speech and viewpoints. “No longer is there any doubt,” investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson reported, “that vaccine industry interests and other corporate and political interests are pulling the strings so that Big Tech moves to squash scientific views, studies, scientists, and opinions that are contrary to the narrative.”

Https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/paypal-nonprofits-opposed-vaccine-mandates/

2022-01-19 No COVID Vaccines for Kids, Medical Experts Tell Australia’s Leaders In a letter to Australian leaders, six medical associations including thousands of doctors, nurses and allied health practitioners called for a halt to the proposed rollout of the COVID vaccination program for 5- to 11-year-olds. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/no-covid-vaccines-for-kids-medical-experts-tell-australias-leaders/

2022-01-19 New Data Show Those Who Recovered From COVID Were Less Likely Than Vaccinated to Get Infected During Delta Wave New data released Wednesday showed that both vaccination and prior infection offered strong protection against infection and hospitalization from COVID-19 during the Delta wave — and that case and hospitalization rates were actually lower among people who had recovered from COVID-19 than among those who had been vaccinated. The data, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health agencies in California and New York, are sure to inflame arguments from those who insist they don’t need to be vaccinated if they can show they’ve recovered from COVID-19. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/19/those-who-recovered-from-covid-19-were-less-likely-than-vaccinated-to-get-infected-during-delta-wave/

2022-01-19 China Uses Anal Tests to Detect Omicron as COVID Variant Spreads Before Winter Olympics Chinese health authorities are ordering the use of controversial but more precise anal swabs to detect COVID-19 for a third year running as an Omicron cluster in Beijing grew to three people as of Wednesday. China has deployed anal swabs in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai since 2020. In the capital, the method was used in combination with antibody tests as well as throat and nasal swabs to screen millions last winter. While the approach isn’t considered practical for tracking larger clusters — an established method known as “pooling” is preferred — anal swabs are thought to be more accurate, especially in COVID hotspots. https://www.newsweek.com/china-uses-anal-tests-omicron-covid-variant-spreads-beijing-2022-winter-olympics-1670625

2022-01-19 Breastfeeding Study Finds That Mothers With COVID Didn’t Pass Infection to Babies Through Breast Milk Breastfeeding while infected with COVID-19, or just after an infection, is unlikely to spread the virus from mother to child, scientists have said. A small study from researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found the breast milk of mothers with COVID-19 didn’t contain infectious virus particles and there was no “clinical evidence” of babies contracting the virus due to breastfeeding. Other early research has found breastfeeding mothers that have had COVID-19 can pass antibodies to newborns, but it’s not yet clear if they give the baby any protection. https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-breastmilk-breastfeed-baby-newborn-coronavirus-infection-study-2022-1

2022-01-18 China’s Mandatory Olympics App Raises Privacy and Censorship Concerns, Watchdog Group Warns An app that China is using to track attendees at the Beijing Olympics next month has raised concerns from a cybersecurity watchdog about “a simple but devastating flaw” that it says poses privacy concerns. The Citizen Lab, based at the University of Toronto, said in an extensive report by research associate Jeffrey Knockel that the mandatory MY2022 app fails to validate some SSL certificates, which could leave open information to being intercepted by a malicious host, as reported by The Canadian Press.Those who attend the Olympics, including athletes and journalists, are required to download the app and upload their health and vaccination information to track potential outbreaks of COVID-19. The report warns that sensitive data even unrelated to medical information could leak given the flaws in the app, which was built by the Beijing Organizing Committee. “The worst case scenario is that someone is intercepting all the traffic and recording all the passport details, all the medical details,” Knockel warned. https://www.foxnews.com/world/chinas-mandatory-olympics-app-raises-privacy-and-censorship-concerns-watchdog-group-warns

2022-01-18 WHO Urges Manufacturers to Provide COVID Vaccine Data A World Health Organization committee urged COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers on Tuesday to provide it with the data it requires in order to list their shots for emergency use, saying the delays were affecting equitable vaccine access. “The Committee recognized the challenges posed by some manufacturers’ delayed submission of vaccine data to WHO,” its Emergency Committee said in a statement, urging vaccine producers to supply the data as soon as possible. The statement, the outcome of a closed-door meeting held last week, did not clarify which manufacturers had not yet submitted data. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-urges-manufacturers-provide-covid-19-vaccine-data-2022-01-18/

2022-01-18 WHO Says No Evidence Healthy Children, Adolescents Need COVID Boosters There is no evidence at present that healthy children and adolescents need booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Tuesday. Speaking at a news briefing, she said that while there seems to be some waning of vaccine immunity over time against the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus, more research needs to be done to ascertain who needs booster doses. “There is no evidence right now that healthy children or healthy adolescents need boosters. No evidence at all,” she said. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-says-no-evidence-healthy-children-adolescents-need-covid-19-boosters-2022-01-18/

2022-01-18 Israeli Vaccine Study Finds People Still Catching Omicron After 4 Doses A landmark Israeli trial is expected to show that four shots of vaccine didn’t stop infection by the Omicron variant, according to a study official. While the extra dose — of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccine — seemed to have some effect, rates of infection in the study were not substantially different to those who had three doses of Pfizer, the study official said. Gili Regev-Yochay, a lead investigator on the study, told reporters that “the vaccine is excellent against the Alpha and Delta,” but the study found that “for Omicron, it’s not good enough,” The Times of Israel reported Monday evening. https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-vaccine-trial-catching-omicron-4-shots-booster-antibody-sheba-2022-1

2022-01-18 Companies Face a Tangle of State Policies Following Supreme Court Ruling Against Federal Vaccine Mandate Companies have been grappling with the decision of whether to require COVID-19 vaccines for employees for over a year. Last week’s Supreme Court decision to block a federal mandate that would require businesses with 100 or more employees to make workers get the shot or weekly tests, leaves companies to figure out a solution on their own. The Supreme Court’s decision now means “companies have to take it upon themselves to have safe practices in the workplace,” because the federal government is not allowed to mandate it, says Los Angeles-based employment and civil rights trial attorney V. James DeSimone. Blocking the federal vaccine mandate for businesses now puts companies at the mercy of conflicting state policies as they look to protect workers from the surging omicron variant. As of Jan. 12, 14 states prohibit any sort of COVID-19 vaccine mandate to be in place, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/18/companies-face-differing-state-policies-in-absence-of-vaccine-mandate.html

2022-01-18 Sweden Scraps Demand for Negative COVID Test to Enter Country Travelers to Sweden will no longer be required to show a negative COVID test before entering the country, the government said on Tuesday. Sweden introduced rules for a recent negative COVID test on Dec. 28 last year in a bid to slow the spread of the more contagious Omicron variant. Since then, Sweden has repeatedly set new daily case records with Omicron now the totally dominant variant. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sweden-scraps-demand-negative-covid-test-enter-country-2022-01-18/

2022-01-18 Hong Kong to Kill 2,000 Animals After Hamsters Get COVID Hong Kong authorities said Tuesday that they will kill about 2,000 small animals, including hamsters, after several tested positive for the coronavirus at a pet store where an employee was also infected. The city will also stop the sale of hamsters and the import of small mammals, according to officials from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. The pet shop employee tested positive for the Delta variant on Monday, and several hamsters imported from the Netherlands at the store tested positive as well. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, animals do not appear to play a significant role in spreading the coronavirus. But Hong Kong authorities said they are not ruling out transmission between animals and humans. https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-covid-hamsters-animals-75f2d3507bdb8255cd2aee79e962fc35

2022-01-17 Wealth of 10 Richest Men Doubled in Pandemic as 99% of Incomes Dropped: Oxfam The 10 richest men in the world doubled their fortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic, a report published Monday by advocacy group Oxfam said, highlighting how the global health crisis has deepened the divide between the haves and have-nots as well as the need for policy intervention to address these “deadly” inequities. While the wealth of the world’s 10 richest men more than doubled — increasing from approximately $700 billion to $1.5 trillion between March 2020 and November 2021 — the incomes of approximately 99% of people around the globe fell during that time, and more than 160 million people have been forced into poverty, the Oxfam report added. The richest men were Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault & family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffett. The calculations also indicate that the wealth of the world’s billionaires has increased more since COVID-19 began than it has in the last 14 years. https://abcnews.go.com/Business/deadly-inequities-exposed-pandemic-highlight-tax-rich-oxfam/story?id=82308012

2022-01-17 Fauci Says It’s Still an ‘Open Question’ Whether Omicron Spells COVID Endgame White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday it is still too soon to predict whether the Omicron COVID-19 variant will mark the final wave of the coronavirus pandemic. “It is an open question whether it will be the live virus vaccination that everyone is hoping for,” Fauci said via videoconference at The Davos Agenda virtual event. The Omicron variant, while highly transmissible, has been found to be less severe than previous variants, sparking hope that it could hasten the end of the pandemic. Yet, Fauci said there is still no guarantee. “I would hope that that’s the case. But that would only be the case if we don’t get another variant that eludes the immune response of the prior variant,” he said. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/17/fauci-its-an-open-question-whether-omicron-spells-covid-endgame.html

2022-01-17 New York and Other Northeastern U.S. States See a Rapid Fall in COVID Cases New York City and some northeastern U.S. states appear to be seeing rapid decreases in their numbers of COVID-19 cases in recent days, raising the possibility that the Omicron wave has now already peaked in some parts of America. In New York City the rolling seven-day average of new cases was less than 28,000 a day on Jan. 16, down from an average of more than 40,000 on Jan. 9. Similar patterns were being observed in the state as a whole and in other nearby regions. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/17/us-coronavirus-cases-decrease-latest

2022-01-17 Nets’ Star Irving Steadfast on Vaccine Despite Durant Injury Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving insists an injury to teammate Kevin Durant won’t change his stance on not getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Irving, who only recently returned to action after a drawn-out stalemate over getting vaccinated, said Monday following a loss to the Cavaliers that he has no intention of getting the shot — and nothing will sway him. With Durant potentially sidelined for six weeks with a knee injury suffered Saturday, Irving was asked if he’s feeling more pressure to get vaccinated. Irving made it clear he’s not been moved to act. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-nba-sports-health-new-york-city-f3bdc4f0eae32e5ee45c0f42e6b81bdd

2022-01-17 COVID Vaccine Mandate Critic Faces Child Neglect Charges Over Ivermectin A leading opponent of COVID-19 vaccine mandates said the state’s child protection agency is trying to take custody of the youngest of his four children because he gave him ivermectin to treat the virus. Former state Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton, said two police officers and staff with the Division of Children Youth and Families showed up at his door Dec. 9 with an order seeking custody of Hoell’s children. The order has since been limited to Hoell’s 13-year-old son. This came hours after Hoell said he had told a nurse practitioner that when his entire family got COVID-19 in mid-November, he gave them a treatment regimen that included ivermectin, a medication neither the state of New Hampshire nor the Centers for Disease Control recommends for treatment of the virus. https://www.unionleader.com/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-mandate-critic-faces-child-abuse-charges-over-ivermectin/article_640bc6b7-b209-53fc-9787-c8c06aa5641e.html

2022-01-17 Doctor Accused of Spreading COVID Misinformation Sues Houston Methodist Houston doctor, who was in the spotlight late last year after being suspended by Houston Methodist Hospital for spreading information related to COVID-19 they called “harmful to the community,” has responded with a lawsuit. Dr. Mary Bowden, an ear, nose and throat specialist, who runs a private practice in River Oaks, announced the suit on Monday morning. In the lawsuit, she’s asking for data from Methodist detailing the effects of the vaccines and financial reports. Dr. Bowden had tweeted that “Vaccine mandates are wrong” and shared about her battle to give her patients Ivermectin, a controversial drug hailed as a treatment for COVID-19 by some. https://www.fox26houston.com/news/doctor-accused-of-spreading-covid-19-misinformation-sues-houston-methodist

2022-01-17 Europe Kicks off Some of the World’s Most Sweeping Vaccine Mandates and Fines Older people not vaccinated against COVID-19 face monthly fines in Greece as of Monday, the latest in a string of targeted restrictions as governments across Europe turn up the heat on vaccine holdouts in an effort to relieve pressure on struggling healthcare systems and combat record levels of coronavirus infections. The barrage of strict policies targeting the unvaccinated across Europe come as the region stares down one of its worst outbreaks since the pandemic began. https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/01/17/europe-kicks-off-some-of-the-worlds-most-sweeping-vaccine-mandates-and-fines/?sh=7307a8ed547e

2022-01-16 China Halts Winter Olympics Ticket Sales as Omicron Arrives in Beijing China has announced that tickets to the Winter Olympics will no longer be sold to the general public, as the country’s capital recorded its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Last fall, Beijing had already limited tickets to the Games to domestic spectators. On Monday, Beijing’s Winter Olympics Organizing Committee said this would be further restricted: Only certain approved groups will be allowed to watch the Olympics in person, after undergoing strict measures to prevent transmission of the virus. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/16/china-winter-olympics-omicron-beijing/

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Coronavirus Covid-19 Research History – Index

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in CDC, coronavirus, Covid-19, pandemic | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wokism, Cancel Culture, David Rovics and myself as Green Party candidate for Congress

Wokism, Cancel Culture, David Rovics and myself as Green Party candidate for Congress

I currently have had two FB warnings neither of which make any sense or violate any FB guidelines, but the appeal process is a joke! One more warning and I am banned for an unknown period of time. I have had to use special efforts to avoid censorship on certain political issues FB and other social media are now enforcing on behalf of government/corporate interests that would squash free speech and whistleblowers who would challenge their narratives!

As I am running for Congress again, I intend to tell it like it is! I try to do a lot of research behind my opinions, especially on controversial issues! I hold to my researched opinions until proven wrong! However, as I am more of a researcher with a poor memory rather than an accomplished speaker, I am sure I will mis-speak on many occasions especially as I intend to challenge some established narratives. I will be ignoring the politician’s “Golden Rule” never talk about controversial issues and if asked then skillfully deflect to something else! I won’t mind being corrected and will apologize as I think is appropriate, but I won’t accept outrageous attacks that ignore my 50+ years of progressive activism! Likewise, I will not join in superficial attacks on others who may have misspoken or have irritated some people’s sensibilities! I say, look at the total person as no one is perfect in everything! Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!

Woke was originally a term to signify awareness of racism and oppression of African-Americans in general, especially by the police. Alt-right extremists weaponized the word as a way to troll activists, and undermine their movement. However, what was even more common is extreme-right trolls using the term to mock white activists who supported the BLM cause. What was once a term for people who were aware of social issues, has now become a negative pejorative. The social media backlash is also an integral part of defining what is woke culture. It has come to refer to the disproportionate public outcry against anyone who doesn’t do the appropriate amount of activism. Some say how ‘woke culture’ has gone too far. It is no longer a way to point out problematic behaviors. Rather, it’s now an excuse to lynch anyone who isn’t an absolutely perfect activist. In an era where police brutality and social and economic equality (exist), taking a stance is more important than ever. You shouldn’t allow something like a negative buzzword to turn you off championing a good cause. [MEK Note: Edited from https://www.freewordcentre.com/what-is-woke-culture/ ] Cancel Culture is a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that offends you. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/…/english/cancel-culture

In this article’s case a long-time progressive singer David Rovics has been attacked by some on the left for something he said that others didn’t like! Here are some partial comments of others made under this article.

That’s what happens with free speech. Once you take it away from one person, pretty soon they cancel everyone except one voice / message.

Free speech doesn’t seem like such an absolute to me. We may be able to exercise it, but if its distribution is suppressed do we really have it?

We can freely say we’re against a war, or in favor of universal healthcare, as long as the side that says those things (is) respectively inevitable or “unrealistic” (to ever) retain control of the overall narrative.

WOKE culture is CAPITALISM driving wedges between the oppressed—Divide and rule—idiocy reigns supreme

Cancel culture is like the enforcement arm of wokeism. It’s mob mentality unleashed by the anonymity of the Internet. It’s a tool anyone with a social media account can use, so it sinks to a truly scurrilous lowest common denominator.

Wokeism, because of its internal inconsistencies, is very vulnerable to free speech, so cancelation is an obvious choice.

I have been censored, insulted and ostracized more in the last couple of years than ever. If you are being your true self and this ever happens it is a sign that you are disturbing entrenched powers of oppression. They need to be disturbed. It’s what you were put here to do. They will try to make your life as difficult as possible. Keep disturbing. They will drag your name through the mud. Keep disturbing. The power they rely on is temporal and unsustainable. The power that you speak from has traveled down the ages through the likes of Joe Hill, Woodie Guthrie and countless others around the world who have bravely struggled for peace, justice and freedom in their own particular ways. It is a fire unquenchable. Stay strong in the fire.

May be a Twitter screenshot of 3 people and text
Comments

Anatomy of a Cancellation

Response by David Rovics to his cancellation at Portland Worker’s Rally

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Some Comments to my post and Article above

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  • D**** Michael, you took a wrong turn, imo, w anti-vaccination stance. Also, though I have enjoyed Rovics music and shows, he’s platforming fascists, i.e., Matthew heimbach, and appears to advocate for red brown alliance which I wonder if you do, too. Red-brown alliance is Socialist/Fascist alliance.

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  • D**** I’m not smearing anyone, just stating a fact. David Rovics believes in dialogue and discussion w fascists. He, in fact, had M. Heimbach, leader of the a fascist group I won’t name on his podcast which he has apologized for and I accept however many others don’t which needs to be respected. You should look into it more. Your crusade for free speech is enabling fascists. Your crusade against vaccinations is spreading misinformation and dangerous. I’m not trying to change your mind, Michael. I realize that is futile.

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  • Michael Kerr D****, Free speech enables fascists? Now I am against vaccinations because I promote truths that were banned and censored. If you care about the truth, really take a look at my research. It is quite extensive. Then we can discuss specifics. About the other issue. If David Rovics interviewed a supposed fascist among, I image many other interviews and other things he has done in his life, so what! That’s cancel culture cultism! I condemn it fully and you should also!

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  • Michael Kerr Mauro Oliveira, I just did the research to uncover the truth! That led me to among other truths that vaccine mandates were not only unnecessary and in fact criminal in many ways! But my opinion is based on research of the “censored” as opposed to the promoted narrative that we were allowed to see and hear!

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  • Mauro Oliveira Michael Kerr, I did the same. I’m a big boy I can make my own decisions but I don’t mind hearing what all side have to say. Rogan shows that offended young What’s the most public cardiologist in the world and the scientist who not only created the technology the mRNA is based on but has 12 Patents. But nobody wants me to hear them Who are already vaccinated and insistent that I do so even though I’ve had Covid twice. My mother has three shots and has had Covid. I know someone who had three shots and had Covid three times. And my mother and my brother had horrible adverse reactions and my brother still can’t raise his arm six months later. John Hopkins studies close the lockdowns out the door, Israel has retracted the green card, England have stopped all mandates and 12 European nations have a greed the scale it all back by mid month. 20% of Canadian truck drivers are called Fringe by a man who wore black face three times in public and it’s still oppressing Indian in the western side of the continent. Thanks for the heads up on rovic. The fact that he’s creating controversy for whatever reason makes me want to hear him. Much better than listening to campaign promises by the left that clearly we’re not lies.

  • Michael Kerr Here is some research on David Rovics!
  • David Rovics’ Songs of Social Significance Website https://www.davidrovics.com/
  • Here is the song David was not allowed to sing at the Portland Worker’s Rally because of “cancel culture” https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-sjg9c-119921e
  • David Rovics – Wikipedia David Stefan Rovics (born April 10, 1967) is an American indie singer/songwriter. His music concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalization, and social justice issues. Rovics has been an outspoken critic of former President George W. Bush, the Republican Party, John Kerry, and the Democratic Party.Rovics is critical of the United States government’s policies and claims that the “U.S. government’s foreign policy represents U.S. corporate interests” and that “the U.S. government does not like democracy either at home or abroad.”Although some of Rovics’ work is not self-published, and much of it is commercially distributed, Rovics has made all of his recorded music freely available as downloadable mp3 files. He encourages the free distribution of his work by all non-profit means to promote his work and spread political messages, and speaks out against websites or programs like iTunes that charge money for downloading his songs. Rovics has also advocated the performing of his songs at protests and demonstrations and has made his sheet music and lyrics available for download. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rovics

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Nanotechnology

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) 

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Nanotechnology – SVTC

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

E-Waste

Sources & Organizations

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) 

Specific Information

E-Waste -SVTC

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in e-waste, recycled | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Political Parties

Democrats of East Contra Costa

Diablo Greens

Green Party of Contra Costa County [GPCCC]

Peace & Freedom Party

San Ramon Valley Democratic Club

Workers World Party – Bay Area

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Communism

Sources & Organizations

Rally Comrades

Specific Information

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Criminal Justice Resources and Organizations

Categories:

Control Units and Supermax Facilities

Criminal Justice Reform and Advocacy

  • National PREA Resource CenterThe National PREA Resource Center provides information about the Prison Rape Elimination Act standards, and implementation of PREA in correctional facilities nationwide.
  • Perilous – A chronicle of prison unrest across the US and Canada 2010-PresentPerilous is a project supported by a network of people—including you—who seek to gather and track information on prison uprisings, riots, protests, strikes, and other disturbances within public and private jails, prisons, and detention centers in the US and Canada. In this process, we rely on crowdsourced information in addition to local news outlets and our own reporting.
  • Recidivism: The Ultimate GuideA comprehensive guide to recidivism, including facts and statistics about recidivism rates as well as causes and impacts. 
  • The Next Frontier in the Criminal Justice ConversationThis resource explores the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees a defendant’s right to counsel, and discusses how the poor are still disadvantaged in court despite this right. The resource also provides statistics regarding the amount of money the United States spends on public defense in comparison to other major countries, and how many public defenders are being overworked.
  • Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted Peoples MovementAt the forefront of leadership in the struggle to end the US system of mass incarceration stands the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People’s Movement (FICPM), a nationwide coalition of formerly incarcerated men and women who are holding forth a radical vision for justice and transformation, and who are putting that vision to work in towns and cities across the nation.
  • National Association of Criminal Defense LawyersThe National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is the preeminent organization in the United States advancing the mission of the nation’s criminal defense lawyers to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or other misconduct. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL’s approximately 9,200 direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys — include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, active U.S. military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness within America’s criminal justice system. In addition to its website, resources include NACDL’s State Criminal Justice Network ConferenceAdvocacy CallsNACDL First Amendment Project and NACDL Reports.
  • JustLeadershipUSAJLUSA is a national criminal justice advocacy organization dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. We believe those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, and we are committed to lifting the voices of currently and formerly incarcerated leaders in the policy conversation. Contact: JustLeadershipUSA, 1900 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10035; (347)-454-2195
  • Justice Policy InstituteThe Justice Policy Institute works to end over-reliance on incarceration and advocates for alternatives to prison through research, public education and media outreach.
  • The Open File BlogThis website is the culmination of the work of an informal collection of lawyers, law professors, law students and policy advocates who are concerned about prosecutorial misconduct.
  • Real Cost of Prisons ProjectWorks to inform people about the real cost of prisons and mass incarceration; publishes the Real Cost of Prisons Comix; hosts the Coalition for Prisoners’ Rights Newsletters on their site.
  • Taxpayers for Improving Public SafetyThe site for Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety. Works to address the needs of “Inmates & Victims, Children and the Prison Reform Community,” with an emphasis on California, where they are based.

Death Penalty / Capital Punishment Resources

Disenfranchisement / Voting Rights

Drug War Resources

  • Drug War ClockThe Drug War Clock provides a running tally of the cost of the War on Drugs, including money spent by the government and citizens arrested and imprisoned.
  • National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)Education and advocacy organization for the legalization of marijuana.
  • November CoalitionSite devoted to everything you could possibly want to know about the War on Drugs and its effect on our society. They publish the Razor Wire, a bi-annual newsletter on drug war-related issues, releasing drug war prisoners and restoring civil rights. 

Education / Prison Issues

  • Prison University ProjectThe mission of the Prison University Project is to provide excellent higher education to people at San Quentin State Prison; to support increased access to higher education for incarcerated people; and to stimulate public awareness about higher education access and criminal justice.
  • Inside-Out Prison Exchange ProgramInside-Out Prison Exchange Programs partner college students with prisoners in mutually-beneficial, hands-on educational courses that discuss criminal justice-related issues. This site is for the Inside-Out program at Temple University; other programs have been started at other colleges.
  • Prison Education Program NYUProvides information about the prison education programs offered by New York University to NY state prisoners.
  • The Prison Studies ProjectThe Prison Studies Project is compiling the first nationwide directory of postsecondary programs in U.S. prisons. Searchable and continually updated, the directory is an online, state-by-state listing of primarily on-site degree-granting postsecondary education programs in prisons.
  • School to Prison Pipeline / ACLUACLU page on the “School to Prison Pipeline” — i.e., how children are channeled from schools into the criminal justice system through disciplinary expulsions, alternative education programs and interaction with the juvenile justice system.

Elderly in Prison

  • Anti-PolygraphAntiPolygraph.org has everything you want to know about why polygraph tests are unreliable and “bad science”; includes a section on polygraph-related litigation.
  • Positional Asphyxia, Restraint AsphyxiaThis site, operated by Charly D. Miller, who is a consultant and expert witness, contains a wealth of information on the issue of positional asphyxiation and asphyxiation while in restraints — which are often involved in jail and prison cases where prisoners die after being restrained or subjected to use of force.

Human Rights and Social Change

  • Amnesty International – USAAmnesty International advocates for human rights worldwide; their criminal justice-related projects include advocacy against the death penalty, torture, racial profiling and police misconduct, and support for political prisoners. They also compile information about prisoner torture, beatings, rape, etc. to include in reports about U.S. prison conditions. 
  • Critical ResistanceCRis a national organization that seeks to build an international movement to abolish the Prison Industrial Complex. They are dedicated to ending society’s use of prisons and policing as an answer to social problems. CR has chapters nationwide with offices in California, Florida, Louisiana, New York, and Texas. 
  • Human Rights Watch Prison ProjectHuman Rights Watch is a human rights organization; they have produced a number of excellent reports on abuses in U.S. prisons, and track prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners around the world.
  • Private Property – Civil ForfeitureA project driven by the Institute for Justice (IJ) and a group of Karen Christians from Burma and Thailand that challenges the civil forfeiture of more than $53,000 in seized assets by Muskogee County, OK.  
  • Stanford Prison ExperimentThis is the official website of Stanford Professor Philip Zimbardo’s ground-breaking 1971 experiment that substantiated the harmful effects on both guards and prisoners after exposure to a prison environment for only a few days.
  • Univ. of Minn. Human Rights LibraryThe University of Minnesota maintains an impressive online library of human rights-related documents, including materials related to torture, detainees, United Nations treaties, etc.
  • Vera Institute of JusticeThe Vera Institute of Justice works on immigration, justice, sentencing, corrections and youth justice issues, to effect changes in institutional and societal criminal justice policies.

Immigration Issues

  • The Business of Detention – CCA and immigation detentionThe Business of Detention is an excellent and informative site that profiles CCA’s involvement in the immigration detention business, from financial and political connections with the federal government to stock trends and an increasing number of ICE contracts. Includes multimedia, audio and graphs.
  • Detention Watch NetworkDetention Watch Network (DWN) is a broad coalition of groups that works to educate the public and policy makers about the U.S. immigration detention and deportation system, and to advocate for humane reform of immigration detention and policies. An excellent source of information and materials for those interested in immigration detention issues.
  • Global Detention ProjectThe Global Detention Project tracks immigration detention and related issues in a number of countries, including the U.S., which “maintains the largest immigration detention infrastructure in the world, which by the end of fiscal year 2007 included 961 sites either directly owned by or under contract with the federal government.” Includes an interactive map with detention facility information.
  • ICE Family Residential StandardsThis site, maintained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), lists the agency’s standards for family and residential detention facilities, such as the T. Don Hutto facility in Texas.
  • Jesuit Refugee Service USAJesuit Refugee Service USA provides religious services and advocacy for immigrant refugees, including chaplaincy programs at detention facilities and advocacy for reduced detention of immigrant detainees.
  • New Yorker article on CCA-run T. Don Hutto facility in TexasThis March 2008 article from the New Yorker Magazine is an excellent write-up on the CCA-run T. Don Hutto facility in Texas, which incarcerates women and children immigrant detainees.
  • National Immigrant Justice CenterThe National Immigrant Justice Center works to ensure human rights protections and access to justice for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Innocence Projects and Wrongful Convictions

  • The Arizona Justice ProjectArizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice operates the Justice Project, which will consider cases of wrongful conviction in Arizona ONLY.
  • Centurion, Inc.Centurion is an investigative and advocacy organization that considers cases of factual innocence. Centurion does not take on accidental death or self-defense cases or cases where the defendant had any involvement whatsoever in the crime.In cases involving sexual assault, a forensic component is required. Cases that fit the above may send a 2-4 page letter outlining the facts of the case. This summary should include the crime you were convicted of, the evidence against you, and why you were arrested. You will receive a return letter of acknowledgement from Centurion. If we find you meet our initial criteria, we will provide additional instructions for further review. Write to: Centurion,1000 Herrontown Rd., Clock Building 2nd Floor, Princeton, NJ 08540.
  • Death Penalty Information Center – Death Row ExonerationsThis section of the DPIC site specifically addresses wrongful convictions resulting in death sentences. There have been over 160 cases of innocent defendants sentenced to death and exonerated since 1973.
  • The Exoneration InitiativeThe Exoneration Initiative (EXI) is a pioneering organization that provides free legal assistance to wrongfully convicted persons in New York. We primarily focus on the most challenging cases, those that lack DNA evidence. Our mission is simple: To exonerate the actually innocent.
  • The Exoneration ProjectThe Exoneration Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to working to free prisoners who were wrongfully convicted. The Project represents innocent individuals in post-conviction legal proceedings; typical cases involve DNA testing, coerced confessions, police misconduct, the use of faulty evidence, junk science, faulty eyewitness testimony and ineffective assistance of counsel claims.
  • ForejusticeForejustice, a companion site to Justice Denied, includes a database of exonerated prisoners, articles book reviews and audio clips on wrongful convictions. Created in the spirit of The White Rose to increase justice in the world. News articles, case studies and an extensive database of people who were wrongfully convicted, plus a listing of Innocence Projects and other resources.
  • Innocent in Prison Project InternationalInformation about wrongly imprisoned people both in the U.S. and internationally. Hosts a number of discussion forums.
  • The Innocence ProjectThe Innocence Project at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in New York handles only cases of actual innocence provable by DNA testing. The Project has been instrumental in freeing dozens of prisoners who were wrongly convicted. The site also contains detailed information on why wrongful convictions occur, and links to other innocence projects by state. Case profiles, causes and remedies of wrongful convictions, and much, much more on this topic.
  • Innocence Project – NorthwestThe Innocence Project Northwest is a non-profit group of attorneys, professors and students working to free innocent prisoners. IPNW will ONLY consider cases from the states of Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho or Montana involving people with substantial claims of actual innocence. The efforts of IPNW attorneys and law students have helped to free 11 innocent prisoners since 1997.
  • Innocent Inmates Association of OhioInnocent Inmates Association of Ohio is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the rights of Ohio citizens who have been imprisoned unjustly and publicizing their cases.
  • Justice Denied – The Magazine for the Wrongly ConvictedComprehensive information on cases of innocence (including an extensive database). Publishes the “Justice Denied,” which is the only magazine in the world exclusively devoted to publicizing cases of wrongful convictions and how they occur. Extensive information is available on their website, including books and DVDs related to innocence and exonerations.
  • List of Innocence Projects in the U.S. and internationallyA comprehensive list of innocence projects and projects related to wrongful convictions are available at forejustice.org.
  • Witness to InnocenceWitness to Innocence is the nation’s only organization composed of, by, and for exonerated death row survivors and their loved ones. By engaging them in public education programs, direct action, and legislative and media work, we empower our exoneree members to be leaders in the stuggle to end the death penalty in the United States, and to actively challenge the public to grapple with the reality of a fatally flawed criminal justice system that sends innocent people to death row. We also provide peer support for death row exonerees, and campaign for federal compensation for them.

International

  • Action for Prisoners’ FamiliesA federation of services supporting families of prisoners in England.
  • Aswasa BhavenA home for children of prisoners in India.
  • Children of Prisoners EuropeEuropean-wide network on behalf of children separated from an imprisoned parent.
  • International Centre for Prison StudiesThe International Centre for Prison Studies is a project of the School of Law, King’s College, in London. It offers a wealth of information, data and publications related to prison issues internationally.
  • International CUREThe International CURE site is an umbrella group for international chapters of National CURE, primarily in Africa.
  • Pen InternationalPen International is a worldwide association of writers, artists, and intellectuals covering many fields that aims to bridge strengthen cross-cultural divides. The association strongly affirms and promotes its commitment to the free expression and exchange of ideas.
  • Reclaim Justice NetworkReclaim Justice Network is a collaboration of individuals, groups, campaigners, activists, trade unionists, practitioners and researchers and people most directly affected by criminal justice systems in the U.K., who are working together to radically reduce the size and scope of criminal justice systems and to build effective and socially just alternatives.
  • Security Force MonitorThe Security Force Monitor is a platform created by the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute that aims to monitor police, military, and other security forces in countries of human rights concern. 
  • Sisters InsideSisters Inside is an independent community organization that exists to advocate for the human rights of women in the criminal justice system in Queensland, Australia, and to address gaps in the services available to them. Sisters Inside works alongside women in prison in determining the best way to fulfill these roles.
  • LLRX – Law & Technology Resources for Legal ProfessionalsThis webpage provides a list of criminal justice resources related to prisoners’ rights and web-based resources.
  • PrisonLawBlog.comThe Prison Law Blog is an online resource that which regularly covers topics such as defense in prison disciplinary hearings, wrongful convictions, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and more. Their writers are comprised of incarcerated jailhouse litigators, attorneys, prison consultants and other criminal justice professionals. They write from a pro-prisoner and pro-defendant perspective.
  • PrisonSucks.comDespite its crude-sounding name, PrisonSucks is an excellent resource for research, books, fact sheets and statistics on issues related to imprisonment. Documentary videos are also available, as well as prison-related music. This site is linked with the Prison Policy Initiative.

Journals

  • Journal of Prisoners on PrisonsThe Journal of Prisoners on Prisons features peer reviewed, academically-oriented, critical writings of current and former prisoners designed to enlighten public discourse about imprisonment and criminal justice policies and issues.
  • Prison Culture: How the PIC Structures Our World…Prison Culture is an attempt to document how the current prison industrial complex operates and to underscore the ways that it structures American society.
  • The Prisons HandbookAn annual, comprehensive guide to prisons in England and Wales, edited by Mark Leech.

Justice Blogs

  • ACLU’s Blog of RightsThe official blog of the American Civil Liberties Union. Regurlarly updated with articles on a wide variety of human rights and constitutional issues.
  • California Criminal CrisisRun by faculty and students at UC Hastings College of the Law, the California Criminal Crisis blog offers news and commentary on criminal justice issues and correctional policy in California.
  • CDCR StarBlog of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, aggregating articles on criminal justice issues in California from a variety of news sources.
  • Paul’s Justice BlogPaul Leighton (Ph.D., American University 1995) is a Professor in the Dept of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology at Eastern Michigan University. Dr Paul’s areas of teaching and research interests include white collar and corporate crime; punishment; private prisons; inequalities (class, race and gender).
  • Prison Reform Movement’s BlogRegularly updated blog focusing on news, policies and laws related to the criminal justice reform movement.
  • Snitching BlogSNITCHING BLOG continues to offer ongoing news analysis, legal commentary, and cultural insights into how snitching affects the criminal system and the lives of ordinary people.
  • Support Prisoner ResistanceSupport Prisoners Resistance is a blog that reports on planned or ongoing individual and collective strikes across the United States. This ranges from anti-work protests to hunger strikes and plenty other forms of resistance.

Juvenile Detention

  • Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of YouthThe Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth is dedicated to ending the practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life in prison (juvenile life without parole, or JLWOP).
  • Uncompromising Photos Expose Juvenile Detention in AmericaOn any given night in the U.S., there are approximately 60,500 youth confined in juvenile correctional facilities or other residential programs. Photographer Richard Ross has spent the past five years criss-crossing the country photographing the architecture, cells, classrooms and inhabitants of these detention sites.  The resulting photo-survey, Juvenile-In-Justice, documents 350 facilities in over 30 states. It’s more than a peek into unseen worlds — it is a call to action and care.
  • California Habeas Handbook 5th EditionA practical guide to state and federal habeas corpus under the AEDPA; useful information on habeas issues, with an emphasis on California. Published by Kent Russell, an attorney in San Francisco.
  • California State Prisoners HandbookA “Comprehensive Practice Guide to Prison and Parole Law,” Third Edition. Written by experienced prison law attorneys, the Handbook’s 17 chapters include detailed discussions of the laws governing prisoner rights and the policies and practices of the California DOC (2006 supplement available). Includes many sample forms and pleadings. Sold by the Prison Law Office.
  • Jailhouse Lawyer’s ManualA Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual (JLM) is a handbook of legal rights and procedures designed for use by people in prison. Since publication of the First Edition in 1978, tens of thousands of prisoners in institutions across the country have used A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual to exercise their legal rights. The JLM informs prisoners of their legal rights and instructs them about how to secure these rights through the judicial process, clearly explaining legal research techniques and how to read legal documents. The JLM is published by law students of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. The Ninth Edition of the JLM, published in 2011, contains chapters covering a wide variety of topics that are listed and available for download in PDF format.
  • My Little Red Rules BookThe Little Red Rules Book is a pocket-size publication containing the Federal Rules of Evidence, some selected Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and some other useful references for use in court, published by the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho. The publication contains annotations with case citations. To obtain a copy please send a check or money order for $6.00 payable to the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho, 10 North Post St., Suite 700, Spokane, WA 99201.
  • Incarceration and the LawA fully overhauled, updated, and expanded edition of the leading case book on incarceration which examines the complex legal regime that defines prisoners’ rights.
  • Free Law Project’s RECAP ArchiveThe RECAP Archive is a free, searchable archive of millions of court records and dockets dating back to 1960.
  • AllLaw.comAllLaw.com is a general resource site for legal issues, with a variety of subject areas for both consumers and legal professionals.
  • American Civil Liberties Union – National Prison ProjectThe ACLU National Prison Project is involved in prison-related litigation nationwide, often through class-action lawsuits, and also advocates for criminal justice policy reform.
  • Civil Rights Litigation ClearinghouseThe Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse collects information and documents from civil rights cases in a variety of subject categories, including prison conditions, jail conditions, policing, juvenile facilities, and election/voting rights.
  • Federal Criminal LawA low-cost paid subscription legal research site devoted exclusively to criminal law, with some information on prison legal issues, too.
  • Collateral Consequences Resource CenterAn overview of state expungement and sealing laws to help individuals with a criminal record overcome barriers to employment and licensing through clearing their records. It includes links to other useful websites and case documents as well.
  • Federal Judicial CenterAn educational and informational site for federal courts and federal judges.
  • Federal Pattern Jury Instructions – Circuit, District CourtsThis site includes pattern jury instructions for federal circuit and district courts, among many other resources.
  • FindlawFindLaw provides a comprehensive set of legal resources legal professionals, businesses, students and individuals. These resources include Web search utilities, state and federal cases and codes, legal news, an online career center, message boards and even free e-mail.
  • LawInfo.comLawInfo.com is a general legal assistance site that includes an attorney locator, legal forms, legal guides, instructional videos and other free legal resources.
  • Lawyers.comProvides access to “criminal law basics” information; also has links to criminal law statutes for most states.
  • Martindale-HubbellProvides a searchable directory for locating attorneys.
  • National Lawyers GuildThe National Lawyers Guild is an advocacy organization dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system; members include lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers. They sponsor a Jailhouse Lawyers project and a Prison Law Project (New York).
  • OyezMultimedia project that maintains audio files of select U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments.
  • PACE Law Library – Prisoners’ RightsThe PACE Law Library maintains a legal resource section on issues related to prisoners’ rights.
  • Prison Law OfficeA non-profit public interest law firm that litigates prison-related issues in California. They offer a variety of prisoner legal self-help materials on their site.
  • The Expert Company – Prison and Jail expertsThe Expert Company provides a fee-based service that connects attorneys with experts; their database of experts includes those with experience and expertise in prison and jail-related litigation.
  • U.S. Supreme Court CenterEasily accessible U.S. Supreme Court decisions (full text) from 1791 to 2004. Plus blogs on the Supreme Court and Constitutional rights.

Magazines, Newsletters and Info Resources

  • EFF Launches Searchable Database of Police Agencies and the Tech Tools They Use to Spy on CommunitiesAtlas of Surveillance Shines Light on Deployment of Cameras, Drones, and More
  • Coalition For Prisoners’ Rights NewsletterNewsletter dealing with prisoner rights. For information please contact: Coalition For Prisoner’s Rights Newsletter; PO Box 1911; Santa Fe, NM 87504-1911.
  • Fines & Fees Justice Center ClearinghouseThe Fines & Fees Justice Center Clearinghouse aims to provide an easily-accessible library of information about efforts to reform fines and fees in the legal system. The Clearinghouse, which will be continuously updated, is designed for laypeople, justice system experts, and everyone in between. The Clearinghouse curates and organizes research, legislation, litigation, court-rule changes, pilot projects, community voices, data, and media related to fines and fees reform in the United States. 
  • Corporate Crime ReporterThe Corporate Crime Reporter, a weekly print publication with an on-line presence, reports on all things related to white collar corporate crime. Especially read “20 things you should know about corporate crime.”
  • Crime Magazine – An Encyclopedia of CrimeCrime Magazine is about true crime: organized crime, celebrity crime, serial killers, corruption, sex crimes, capital punishment, prisons, assassinations, justice issues, crime books, crime films and crime studies.
  • The Crime ReportThe Crime Report is a news, information and multimedia source for criminal justice-related news and developments.
  • GraterfriendsGraterfriends is a prisoner-oriented newsletter published monthly by the Pennsylvania-based Prison Society. It includes lots of interesting and useful information about criminal justice matters, with a focus on Pennsylvania. $3.00 per year for prisoners.
  • National Prisoner Resource ListThe National Prisoner Resource List is published quarterly by the Prison Book Program (although the latest version available is dated Dec. 2006). It contains numerous informational resources available for U.S. prisoners; however, some of the information may be dated.
  • The Nuclear ResisterThe Nuclear Resister is a bi-monthly newsletter published since 1980 that provides information for and about imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists.
  • PARC Prison Support DirectoryPrison Activist Resource Center (PARC) produces a comprehensive Prisoner Support Directory with contact information for a wide variety of organizations of interest to prisoners.
  • The Razor WireThe Razor Wire is an excellent newsletter published quarterly by the November Coalition. It predominantly deals with issues related to the war on drugs and sentencing reform.
  • Snitching.org – Criminal Informant Law, Policy and ResearchThis website provides educational information about all aspects of criminal informant use, law, and policy. SNITCHING.ORG provides resources for lawyers, journalists, law enforcement, legislators, and members of the public who want information about the law and policies associated with snitching.
  • 4Struggle Magazine4Struggle Magazine focues on U.S. political prisoners, and publishes 3 times a year. While this is primarily an e-publication, hard copies are available, too. (Free for prisoners.)

Media Access / Resources

Medical Issues & Resources

  • Drug Watch – HealthDrugwatch.com is a great drug and health resource for men and women of all ages. They also help people evaluate if they have a legal case because of life-changing side effects or complications that were caused by a device maker or a drug company.
  • Center for Health JusticeFormerly CorrectHELP. Provides information related to HIV in prison – contact them if you are not receiving proper HIV medication or are denied access to programs due to your HIV status. 
  • Drug Watch – ActosInformational website aimed at spreading awareness about the drug Actos, which used to treat Type 2 Diabetes, and its serious side effects and health complications.
  • National Hepatitis Corrections NetworkThis is a national educational group that brings together organizations and individuals to raise awareness and provide support and advocacy to prisoners suffering from Hepatitis C and HIV/HCV coinfection.

Movies

  • Cry FreedomSteve Biko was the most prominent leader behind the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) in apartheid-ruled South Africa. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr who fought to empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Cry Freedom is about his life and death.
  • The House I Live InAs America remains embroiled in conflict overseas, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. Over forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad.
  • Middle of NowhereAs Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi) rides a bus through the inner city streets, she wills herself to push away memories that crowd her. Four years earlier, she was a vibrant medical student married to the love of her life, Derek (Omari Hardwick). Now, she makes her way to the maximum security prison on the outskirts of town. This is where her love now resides.
  • Prison Lullabies – Documentary about pregnancy behind barsSite for the film “Prison Lullabies,” a documentary about four women who gave birth while they were incarcerated. Ordering information, media kits and outreach links are available.
  • Unlikely FriendsThe film explores the stories of friendships that have grown through forgiveness between victims of violent crimes and their perpetrators. The documentary is made by award winning director and activist Leslie Neale (Juvies, Road to Return), who has a strong commitment and history of social advocacy.
  • Mothers in Prison: The impact of incarceration on motherhoodMothers in Prison: The impact of incarceration on motherhood is a documentary on incarcerated women and their children. 

Open Records and Freedom of Information Requests

  • Chicago Justice ProjectThe core mission of the Chicago Justice Project is to increase public access to justice-related information, through FOI requests and the Citizen Open Data Access project.
  • Federal Freedom of Information Act GuideThis online guide to the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) contains useful details on how to file FOIA requests. Provided by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
  • GovernmentAttic.orgGovernmentAttic.org provides access to federal documents that have been obtained through FOIA requests — many are related to law enforcement and the military.
  • National Security Archive / George Washington UniversityThe National Security Archive collects and publishes declassified government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act related to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States. Includes the Torture Archives.
  • Open Government GuideThis site, part of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press site, includes a complete compendium of information on every state’s open records and open meetings laws. Each state’s section is arranged according to a standard outline, making it easy to compare laws in various states.
  • Public.Resource.orgPublic.Resource.org maintains links to government public information sites and documents.

Police Brutality and Accountability

  • Bad Cop, No Donut!A Reddit feed featuring law enforcement abuse stories regarding “abuse of power, corruption, and other misfortunes in developing police states.”
  • Citizens Police Data ProjectCitizens Police Data Project discloses statistics collected on police misconduct in the city of Chicago through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
  • Cop WatchCitizen initiative (with chapters in many cities) to “police the police.” Maintains a database of police abuse/misconduct and sponsors discussion forums.
  • Mapping Police ViolenceA website that tracks and reports the incidents of police killings all across the United States using data collected from third party crowdsourced databases.
  • National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law EnforcementInformation and resources related to civilian oversight of law enforcement agencies.
  • National Police Accountability ProjectA project of the National Lawyers Guild; includes a list of civilian review boards and other resources.
  • Open Data PolicingA project created by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, this online platform presents data on policing practices relating to stops, searches, and use of force. The platform focuses on North Carolina, Maryland, and Illinois. 
  • Open Police ComplaintsThis website allows people to prepare, file and track police misconduct reports.
  • Police Crimes (misconduct and brutality)Site devoted to citizen rights, police brutality and misconduct, filing complaints against officers, etc.
  • Police Use of Force ProjectPolice Use of Force Project documented and reviewed use of force of 91 of the 100 largest police departments in the United States. Their analysis of the data can be viewed in a report found on this website.  
  • Project ComportThis is a platform that helps law enforcement agencies publish and be transparent with their data pertaining to Complaints, Use of Force, and Officer Involved Shootings. The website currently presents data for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
  • Transparency and Accountability ProjectThe Transparency and Accountability Project publishes police disciplinary records in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Florida with the purpose of creating a better justice system. The data was made available through public records requests. 

Prison and Jail Phone Calls

Prison and Corrections History / Historical Information

  • Washington Prison History ProjectThe site features a robust collection of prisoner-produced newspapers from the late 20th century; oral histories and testimonials about the Washington state prison system; research on local histories of punishment; and a text-adventure computer game designed inside a maximum security prison. 
  • Alcatraz HistoryExtensive information about “The Rock,” including escape attempts, rules and regulations, famous prisoners and historical background.
  • Eastern State Prison (Pennsylvania)Site about the Eastern State Prison in Philadelphia, PA, which was built in 1821 and is is designated as a National Historic Landmark. Includes links to other prison museums worldwide.
  • New York Correction History SocietyThis site contains an archive of text and images related to corrections/prison history in New York.
  • Virtual Tour of AlcatrazVirtual pictoral tour of this famous island prison.

Prison Employees, COs, etc.

  • Correctional Officer EDUA website providing resources for all things on the correctional officer profession, including salaries, schools & training.
  • Correction Officers Going WrongThis site tracked news articles related to misconduct by correctional officers and other prison employees. No longer updated after 2010, but contains archived news articles.

Prisoner Advocacy Groups, Projects and Organizations

  • Prison WritersPrison Writers mission is to give incarcerated people a voice and to educate people on the outside about what is really happening inside America’s prisons. Incarcerated writers gain a sense of confidence and pride knowing their words are being read by the general public. Prison Writers believes those closest to the problem are closest to the solution.
  • ABA – National Inventory on the Collateral Consequences of ConvictionThis valuable resource by the American Bar Association addresses how a conviction will impact housing, government benefits, civic participation, and a whole range of other areas. Holistic legal practitioners and criminal defense practitioners who want to follow best practices will be sure to bookmark this site.
  • ACLU National Prison ProjectThe National Prison Project of the ACLU seeks to enforce constitutional conditions of confinement and strengthen prisoners’ rights through class action lawsuits and public education. The NPP is the only national litigation program on behalf of prisoners.
  • ACLU – Criminal Law Reform CampaignThe Criminal Law Reform Campaign is a priority of the ACLU. We seek to end excessively harsh criminal justice policies that result in mass incarceration and stand in the way of a just and equal society. Learn more about our campaign goals below, and support our work by taking action.
  • Black and Pink – LGBTQ Prisoner AdvocacyBlack and Pink is an open family of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer prisoners and “free world” allies who support each other. A national organization, Black and Pink reaches thousands of prisoners across the country and provides a free monthly newspaper of prisoner-generated content, a free (non-sexual) pen-pal program and connections with anti-prison movement organizing. Their website also hosts a blog by founder Jason Lydon, a Unitarian minister who was arrested and jailed for protesting at a military base.
  • Center for Prison ReformThe Center for Prison Reform is a think tank and coalition of like minded groups that lobby for prison reform.
  • Colorado Criminal Justice Reform CoalitionThe Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition is a statewide network of over 100 organizations and faith communities and nearly 5,000 individuals united to stop prison expansion and mass incarceration in Colorado.
  • Convict CriminologyThe “New School of Convict Criminology” is a relatively new and controversial perspective in the field of corrections and the academic field of criminology. It challenges the way crime and correctional problems are traditionally represented and discussed by researchers, policymakers, and politicians.
  • Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement (EPOCA)EPOCA consists of former and current prisoners striving to organize and assist (ex-)prisoners to promote criminal justice policy changes.
  • FedCUREFedCURE is a chapter of National CURE that deals with issues specifically related to federal prisons and prisoners. Current issues include reinstating federal parole, increasing good time, restoring PELL grants, and reentry issues. They publish the FedCURE Newsletter.
  • International Community Corrections Association (ICCA)The ICCA is a membership organization dedicated to promoting community-based corrections for adults and juveniles to enhance public safety.   Community corrections involves a variety of different community-provided and government-funded services. As such, the ICCA focuses on several program areas, from assessment and evaluation to siting to employment training.
  • Michigan Battered Women’s Clemency ProjectThe MBWCP seeks the release of battered women convicted of killing or defending themselves and their children against an abusive partner.
  • National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and GirlsThe National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls is a female-focused advocacy group that aims to bring policy makers, academics, researchers and the public together in order to make sure that incarcerated women and girls have a voice in adopted policies. 
  • National CURENational CURE is a grassroots membership organization that believes that prisons should be used only for those who absolutely must be incarcerated, and that those who are incarcerated should have all of the resources they need to turn their lives around.
  • Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC)PARC is a prison abolitionist group committed to exposing and challenging all forms of institutionalized racism, sexism, able-ism, heterosexism and classism, specifically within the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC).
  • Prison Mindfulness InstitutePrison Mindfulness Institute (PMI) is a Rhode Island-based organization supporting projects dedicated to promoting mindfulness and meditation programs in prisons around the world.
  • Prisoner SolidarityPrisoner Solidarity serves as a catalyst for communication between prisoners and people on “the outside.” It publishes updated research, news, opinion pieces and educational material from activists, writers, prisoners and the concerned public. Emphasis on justice-related issues in Ohio.
  • Stop Prison Abuse NowStop Prison Abuse Now’s goals are to are to make people aware that physical, psychological and medical abuse occurs in U.S. prisons, to convince Congress to investigate conditions within our prisons, and to pass legislation to protect prisoners from abuse.
  • The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) / Incarcerated Workers Organizing CommitteeThe Prison Reentry Network is a nonprofit that works with prisoner prior to their release in aiding their transition back into their communities. Their work encompasses providing information to inmates on how to find food, shelter, and work opportunities. They distribute this information directly to prisoners through print editions of their programs as well as online to the families of the incarcerated individuals. 
  • Whitestone Foundation – Civil CommitmentThe Whitestone Foundation is concerned with issues related to the civil commitment of sex offenders and their treatment. The link is to the Foundation’s Yahoo group (must have a free Yahoo account to join).
  • Cornell University Prisoners’ Rights SiteThe Cornell University Law School maintains this brief overview of prisoners’ rights with selected links to related materials.
  • FindLaw page on Rights of InmatesThis FindLaw page provides a brief overview of prisoners’ rights, including the ADA and PLRA.
  • Federal Office of Defender ServicesThe Office of Defender Services is the federal department that provides training and support for federal public defenders. Their site includes training materials and other publications on habeas, death penalty appeals and federal criminal law.
  • Prison Law OfficeA non-profit public interest law firm that litigates prison-related issues in California. They offer a variety of prisoner legal self-help materials on their site.
  • Southern Poverty Law CenterThe Southern Poverty Law Center handles civil rights cases against hate groups, as well as litigation involving immigration issues, workers’ rights, prison conditions and juvenile justice. The SPLC also tracks hate groups nationwide and publishes a quarterly magazine.

Prisoners’ Families and Children

  • Canadian Families and Corrections NetworkCanadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN) focuses on families, children, and friends who have someone they care about in jail. Our mission is “to build stronger and safer communities by assisting families affected by criminal behavior, incarceration, and reintegration”.
  • Angel TreeProvides Christmas gifts for children of prisoners.
  • Bethel Bible VillageResidential care agency provides support and ministry to children and youth of families shattered by crime and troubled environments.
  • Center for Children of Incarcerated ParentsThe Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents provides services in four components. (1) The Information component includes publications and audio-visual materials free of charge to prisoners, their children and their families; and provides advice to groups of incarcerated parents and family members. (2) The Educational component provides materials and holds parent education training for parents in the criminal justice system. A correspondence course in parent education is offered free of charge to incarcerated parents. (3) The Family Reunification component has about 60 service projects to help prisoners and their children maintain a relationship. (4) The Therapeutic Component provides therapy for incarcerated mothers and their infants and young children. 
  • Families for Justice as HealingFamilies for Justice as Healing focuses on raising public awareness about the incarceration of women and the impact on children and communities.
  • Child Welfare Information GatewayProvides information and resources related to issues involving incarcerated parents and their children.
  • Forever Family (Formerly Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers)Forever Family (formerly AIM) is a service organization based in Georgia (with chapters in other states). The agency assists incarcerated mothers, their children and other family members in maintaining critically important family ties during the mother’s incarceration.
  • Friends OutsideFriends Outside is a advocacy and outreach organization committed to improving the quality of life of families, children and communities impacted by incarceration, and to assisting with successful community reentry and family reunification for those transitioning from confinement to freedom. Friends Outside provides direct services to prisoners and their families in the State of California, and conducts advocacy worldwide.
  • Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC)Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) offers a comprehensive site dealing with issues involving incarcerated parents, families and children of prisoners, and women prisoners. Their focus is on women prisoners and their families, as well as prisoners rights. Publications available through their site include the Incarcerated Parents Manual, which is highly recommended.
  • Prison: The Hidden SentencePrison: The Hidden Sentence is a blog and online platform with a focus on educating and empowering families and friends of incarcerated individuals. The aim and purpose of which is to create a community where the people affected can share their stories with one another.
  • Save Kids of Incarcerated Parents (SKIP)Save Kids of Incarcerated Parents (SKIP) has chapters in several states; the organization provides supportive services to children of incarcerated parents and their families, and seeks to increase public awareness of the underlying problems these children face.
  • The National Resource Center on Children and Families of the IncarceratedNRCCFI is the oldest and largest organization in the U.S. focused on children and families of the incarcerated and programs that serve them, providing a comprehensive directory of programs, a library of helpful resources, and more.

Prison in the Arts – Song, Dance, Plays, Poetry

  • Cellblock VisionsCellblock Visions, a site maintained by Phyllis Kornfeld, provides a gallery of prison art and information about art behind bars.
  • Books Through BarsBooks Through Bar is a volunteer group that distributes free books and reading material to incarcerated people all across the United States. The organization aims to create a better understanding between people within and outside the walls of prison.
  • Digital Humanities Initiative: American Prison Writing ArchiveThere is a real need to create a single-site where American prison writers can write about and document their experience and where free-world citizens—including scholars and students in a growing field of study of criminal justice and mass incarceration—can access such writing. No such archive yet exists. The American Prison Writing Archive will be a place where incarcerated people can bear witness to the conditions in which they live, to what is working and what is not inside American prisons, and where they can contribute to public debate about the American prison crisis.
  • The Prison Arts CoalitionThe Prison Arts Coalition (PAC) is an independent space providing information and resources for people creating art in and around the American prison system.
  • NYC Books Through BarsNYC Books Through Bars is an all-volunteer-run group that sends free, donated books to incarcerated people across the nation, except for AL, FL, LA, MA, MI, MS, NC, PA, OH, and WI.
  • The Robben Island SingersThe Robben Island Singers are composed of three South African former political prisoners who were incarcerated on Robben Island. They perform stories, songs and discussions regarding forgiveness and building community.
  • Prisons FoundationPrisonsFoundation.org publishes books written in prison worldwide without cost to prisoners. They are also partners with SafeStreetArts Foundation, an organization that exhibits art made in prison.

Prison Medical Issues, Experiments, Health Care

  • California DOC medical care – Federal receiver’s websiteThis is the website for the federal court-appointed receiver over healthcare in the California DOC (in the Plata litigation). Includes reports, court pleadings, press releases, current projects, etc.
  • Cases Against DoctorsThis listing, updated by the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration, lists all DEA-involved investigations of physician registrants which resulted in the arrest and prosecution of the registrant. This list includes doctors who work for private and public prisoner medical care providers.
  • The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting ProgramYour FDA gateway for clinically important safety information and reporting serious problems with medical products.
  • Inmate Letter CampaignThis Yahoo group recruits people to write letters in support of prisoners who need medical care.
  • National Commission on Correctional Health CareThe National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) is a coalition that “is committed to improving the quality of health care in jails, prisons, and juvenile confinement facilities.” They provide accreditation services, establish health care standards, publish a journal, and sponsor conferences.

Prison Privatization / Privatization of Prison Services

  • Private prisons: Research, Data and ControversiesA collection of resources addressing the impact of privatization on public policy, immigration policy, and the overall cost of prison systems.
  • AFSCME Prison PrivatizationThe American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) maintains a site about corrections workers, which includes information against prison privatization. A publication titled “Don’t be a prisoner to empty promises” is available in the AFSCME privatization section.
  • Association of Private Correctional and Treatment OrganizationsAPCTO is an industry special-interest group for for-profit prison companies and companies that provide prison-related services.
  • CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America (CCA))Corporate website for CoreCivic/CCA, the nation’s largest private prison company.
  • GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections)Corporate site for the Geo Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections).
  • Grassroots LeadershipGrassroots Leadership is civil rights organization, committed to ending for-profit incarceration. Their site contains other information and resources about prison privatization, with an emphasis on private prisons in the southern U.S.
  • Management & Training Corp.Corporate site for Management & Training Corporation (private prison operator).
  • Private Corrections Working GroupOne-stop clearinghouse for information about the private prison industry with a state-by-state listing of news and events, company rap sheets, reports and studies, etc. Assists communities and groups opposed to prison privatization.
  • Tennesseans Against PuryearTennesseans Against Puryear is a site coordinated by PLN associate editor Alex Friedmann, which opposes the judicial nomination of Gustavus A. Puryear IV, general counsel of Corrections Corp. of America (CCA). Mr. Puryear has been nominated for a lifetime appointment to the federal court in the Middle District of Tennessee, the same jurisdiction where CCA is headquartered.
  • Why I Hate CCA BlogBlog on private prison companies, with an emphasis on CCA, detailing problems and failures of the private prison industry.

Prison Torture, Abuse, Sexual Abuse & Rape

  • Abu Ghraib photos and videoCBS has posted a collection of Abu Ghraib photos and a video clip.
  • NIC / WCL Project on Addressing Prison RapeThis is a joint project by the National Institute of Corrections and the Washington College of Law that provides training to corrections staff on the issue of sexual misconduct and abuse.
  • California releases controversial prison videosSix videos of dramatic confrontations between mentally ill prison inmates and California prison guards were filed Thursday in federal court, giving the public its first glimpse of what inmate advocates contend are inhumane uses of force.
  • Commission on Safety and AbuseThe Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s prisons is a national effort to clarify the nature and extent of violence, sexual abuse, degradation, and other serious safety failures and abuses in U.S. prisons and jails through public hearings.
  • Human Rights Report on Prison RapeExtensive report by Human Rights Watch on male rape in U.S. prisons. (2001)
  • Just Detention International (Stop Prisoner Rape)Formerly Stop Prisoner Rape, this is the premiere advocacy organization and information center on the problem of prison rape (both male and female rape). Offers a resource guide for rape survivors, numerous publications and other resources.
  • National Prison Rape Elimination CommissionHome page for the commission that was involved with the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (which has since been signed into law).
  • Prison MurderSite dedicated to profiles of prisoners who have died in custody, often from abuse by guards or medical neglect.
  • Restraint Asphyxia (Suffocation)Articles, scholarly papers and other information on deaths caused by restraint asphyxia (positional suffocation); some articles on tasers, too.
  • Slate Article on Prison RapeInformative article posted on Slate about prison rape, by Robert Weisberg, Professor of law at Stanford Law School, and David Mills, a senior lecturer at Stanford Law School (with rebuttal by SPR).

Radio Programs

  • Jaws of Justice RadioIt is the intention of Jaws of Justice Radio to investigate how to achieve justice in America, this includes issues of economic injustice, political injustice and the criminal justice system. We want to put a human face on those caught in the grasp of injustice and those that are part of an unjust system.  The Jaws of Justice Radio group is made up of formerly incarcerated citizens, family members of victims, family members of the incarcerated, lawyers, and justice seeking members of our community. We invite you to join the dialogue.
  • Prison PipelineThe Prison Pipeline radio show broadcasts every Tuesday at 6:30pm West Coast time on KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, Oregon. The program is broadcast live world-wide over the Internet at http://www.kboo.org. You will need to have either RealPlayer or WinAmp installed on your computer to listen to KBOO over the Internet.
  • The Prison ShowRay Hill’s “The Prison Show,” has been broadcast on Houston Pacifica radio station KPFT (90.1 FM) weekly since March 1980. You can tune in on Friday nights at 9 p.m. CST; previous shows are archived on the website.
  • Thousand Kites – Calls from HomeThousand Kites is sponsoring the “Calls from Home” radio show, which is a one-hour program that lets family members send greetings to their incarcerated loved ones. It will be recorded on Dec. 13, 2007 and available on their website soon afterwards.

Religion in Prisons

  • Aleph InstituteServes Jewish prisoners and their families
  • Appignani Humanist Legal CenterThe Appignani Humanist Legal Center is a nonprofit organization advocating progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists, and non-religious Americans. Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., its work is extended through more than 180 local chapters and affiliates across America. Humanism is the idea that you can be good without a belief in a god.
  • The Pluralism ProjectThe Pluralism Project at Harvard University provides this page of links and reports related to different types of faiths/religion in the prison context.

Research and Statistics

  • Federal Employee Salary SearchSearch for salary information for federal employees by name, agency, job title, or location. Does not include employees involved in security work, the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, nuclear materials, IRS and jobs “essential to national security.” The list contains most executive branch employees but does not cover the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, and independent agencies and commissions. 
  • Hall of JusticeHall of Justice is a robust, searchable data inventory of nearly 10,000 datasets and research documents from across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government. 
  • Jail MediaJail Media provides informational web pages about individual jails (e.g., the Maricopa, AZ jail;, the Sacramento, CA County jail, etc.). This link is for the list of individual jail web sites they maintain.
  • National Inventory of the Collateral Consequences of ConvictionA project of the American Bar Association, this online database breaks down collateral consequences to conviction on a state-by-state basis, listing federal and state laws and regulations that restrict employment, housing, and education benefits and other opportunities.
  • Opening up a Closed World – Prison OversightHeld in April 2006 in Austin, TX, the “Opening Up a Closed World” conference, which addressed the need for accountability and transparency in corrections systems, focused on effective prison oversight. This was an invitation-only gathering that included the top names in the criminal justice field, including federal judges, DOC directors, prisoners’ rights activists and representatives from a variety of agencies including the ACA and ACLU. The three-day event included frank discussions about the closed world of prisons and how effective oversight could be achieved.This Pace Law Review volume was born from that conference and contains a number of interesting articles related to oversight and advocacy.
  • Prison MapPrison Map attempts to compile satellite images of every detention center in the United States, displaying overhead maps of nearly 5,000 facilities.
  • Public.Resource.orgPublic.Resource.org maintains links to government public information sites and documents.
  • Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI)The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) website provides detailed evaluations and data on an ongoing reentry study conducted in conjunction with the Urban Institute.
  • Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics – BJSThe Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is a treasure trove of data related to crime, corrections and criminal justice in the United States. This site maintains the data from the last Sourcebook published.
  • Texas Justice InitiativeThe Texas Justice Initiative is a website that tracks, collects, and publishes statistics on the deaths of individuals in police, jail or prison custody. The data is collected from the office of the Attorney General of Texas through the Texas Public Information Act.
  • University of Michigan Law School Policy ClearinghouseA project started by the University of Michigan Law School, Clearinghouse aggregates state jail and prison policies governing prisoner grievances, mail, publication and visiting for all 50 states. A majority of the information was obtained by filing several state Freedom of Information Act’s (FOIA).
  • World Prison Brief (WPB), Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR)This site, by the International Centre for Prison Studies, provides numerical data for the highest and lowest prison populations in various categories in different regions worldwide, with excellent data on international prison systems.

Resources for Released / Soon to be Released Prisoners

  • After InnocenceAfter Innocence is an organization that provides assistance for wrongfully convicted prisoners upon their release. Realizing the tremendous disadvantages these former inmates face. After Innocence works to coordinate with different social services in order to ease the transition of former inmates into civilian life. 
  • Family ReEntryFamily ReEntry is a nonprofit organization that works to provide community based services to individuals and families impacted by the criminal justice system. Through the integration of three sectors; Prevention, Intervention, and, Reentry, Family ReEntry aims to break the cycle of incarceration.
  • National Reentry Resource CenterThis site, maintained by the Dept. of Justice, profiles prisoner reentry grant programs and resources. A number of downloadable publications related to reentry and recidivism are also available.
  • Federal Bonding ProgramInformation page for the Federal Bonding Program, which provides free fidelity bonds to employers as an incentive to hire ex-prisoners.
  • New York Public Library’s Correctional ServicesThe New York Public Library’s Correctional Services delivers a range of library programs at city, state, and federal facilities, including Connections, an annual guide and directory of resources in New York City available to help people when they are released from incarceration.
  • Prisoner Reentry NetworkThe Prison Reentry Network is a nonprofit that works with prisoner prior to their release in aiding their transition back into their communities. Their work encompasses providing information to inmates on how to find food, shelter, and work opportunities. They distribute this information directly to prisoners through print editions of their programs as well as online to the families of the incarcerated individuals. 
  • Restoration of Human Rights ProjectThe National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers offers a collection of individual downloadable documents that profile the law and practice in each U.S. jurisdiction relating to relief from the collateral consequences of conviction. 54 jurisdictional profiles include provisions on loss and restoration of civil rights and firearms privileges, legal mechanisms for overcoming or mitigating collateral consequences, and provisions addressing non-discrimination in employment and licensing.
  • The Fortune SocietyProvides post-release services and programs for prisoners in the New York City area and occasionally publishes Fortune News, a free publication for prisoners that deals with criminal justice issues, primarily in New York. 

Sentencing Issues (Mandatory Minimums, Three Strikes, etc.)

  • Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS)Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes is an organization specifically dedicated to amending California’s “Three Strikes” law to ensure it is narrowly applied to violent offenders. This site is a good source for statistics, stories of petty crimes resulting in life sentences, etc.
  • Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM)Families Against Mandatory Minimums is the premiere organization for information, advocacy and research on federal mandatory minimum sentences (plus info on state sentencing issues, too). FAMM publishes the FAMM-gram newsletter, a print publication.
  • NACDL’s Proportionality Litigation ProjectState profiles and related materials provide a detailed snapshot of existing proportionality doctrines and jurisprudence as of fall 2012. They are intended as a resource for practitioners in all phases of the criminal justice system, for sentencing and appellate courts, for policymakers and advocates concerned with the high economic and human costs of excessively long terms of imprisonment, and for defendants facing or serving extreme prison terms.
  • The Other Death Penalty ProjectThe Death Penalty Project is a UK-based charity that uses legal resources “to protect priosners facing execution and achieve fairer and more humane justice systems.”
  • The Sentencing Project / NASAConsidered one of the best sources for research and information on sentencing policies, alternative sentencing, felon disenfranchisement and related issues. Affiliated with the National Association of Sentencing Advocates (NASA), a membership organization dedicated to the promotion of fair, humane and equitable sentencing.

Sex Offender / Sex Offense Issues

  • 50 State Incarceration ProfilesThese 50 state profiles, plus one for the United States as a whole, draw on graphs made from two Prison Policy Initiative briefings and other materials PPI has produced on those states.
  • AZ: The Arizona Justice ProjectArizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice operates the Arizona Justice Project, which will consider cases of wrongful conviction in Arizona ONLY.
  • CA: Friends OutsideFriends Outside is a advocacy and outreach organization committed to improving the quality of life of families, children and communities impacted by incarceration, and to assisting with successful community reentry and family reunification for those transitioning from confinement to freedom. Friends Outside provides direct services to prisoners and their families in the State of California, and conducts advocacy worldwide.
  • CA: Prison Law OfficeA non-profit public interest law firm that litigates prison-related issues in California. They offer a variety of prisoner legal self-help materials on their site.
  • GA: Georgia Justice ProjectThe mission of the Georgia Justice Project is to eliminate injustices in the criminal justice system experienced by poor people and to provide them with resources to advance their human potential, proving that the cycle of poverty and crime can be broken.
  • IL: CAARPRChicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is part of a National Alliance founded to mount organized action against unjust treatment of individuals due to race or political beliefs. The Alliance can help publicize wrongful convictions, and advocate for prisoners by engaging in actions like calling and emailing IDOC staff when a prisoner does not receive the health care they need.
  • IL: Cabrini Green Legal AidCGLA provides criminal justice-related services to people in the Chicago area.
  • NY: CURE-NYNew York State chapter of CURE
  • NY: Legal Aid Society of NY – Prisoners’ Rights ProjectThe Prisoners’ Rights Project advocates for constitutional and humane conditions of confinement for prisoners in the New York City and State correctional systems.
  • NY: Prisoners’ Legal Services of New YorkPrisoners’ Legal Services of New York is a private, not-for-profit corporation that provides civil legal assistance to indigent prisoners in New York state facilities. PLS has been operating since 1976.
  • OH: FADS (Families Against Disparate Sentences)Family-of-prisoners oriented group focused on sentencing disparity in Ohio.
  • PA: Families OutsideFamilies Outside is our program which provides trips to Pennsylvania State Correctional Institutions for family members to visit their loved ones. Children and seniors are welcome.
  • PA: Pennsylvania Institutional Law ProjectThe Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project provides free legal assistance in civil matters to low-income people who are incarcerated or institutionalized in the state of Pennsylvania.
  • VA: Assisting Families of Inmates, Inc.Helps families preserve and strengthen positive relationships with relatives incarcerated in Virginia’s state correctional centers.

War on Terror – Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo

  • Univ. of Minn. Human Rights Library – reportsThe University of Minnesota, Center for Bioethics, maintains a collection of declassified documents related to the treatment of “war on terror” detainees in U.S. custody, including internal military memos and reports.

Women’s Issues – Prison and Corrections

Federal Prison Handbook - Footer

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Prisons/Incarceration

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Election 2021-22

Peace and Freedom Party

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POSITIONS ON LEGISLATION, 2021-2022-PFP

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Muslim Community

Muslim Community Center – East Bay (MCC)

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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Middle East

Middle East Study Group — Contra Costa

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

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