Poland: Amnesty International (AI) slams Poland for undermining freedom of assembly

Protest in Poland against Human Rights abuses by Government

Rights group AI has published a damning report into measures taken by the Law and Justice government that have weakened the rule of law in Poland. In particular it called on Warsaw to respect the right to free assembly.

The report "Poland: on the streets to defend human rights" focuses on several demonstrations against the government's policies since late 2015, when the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government came into office.

Amnesty alleges Polish police and justice authorities have suppressed anti-government protesters. The report was based on observations by Amnesty monitors at some protests and interviews with protesters.

The report published on Thursday notes that Polish authorities have carried out prolonged ID checks of protesters, depriving them of their freedom of movement.

"The Polish government is trying to instill fear in those who want to peacefully protest," Barbora Cernusakova, a researcher with Amnesty International who monitors Poland, said.

"[It] is cracking down on peaceful protesters in a blatant attempt to dissuade further protests," amnesty said in a report published on Thursday.

Note EU-Digest: "Lech Wałęsa, who co-founded and headed the polish Solidarity movement, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, and who eventually freed his country from its Russian occupation, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995. Wałęsa certainly can't be happy about the political direction Poland is taking under its new ultra-conservative leadership." 

Read more: Amnesty International (AI) slams Poland for undermining freedom of assembly | News | DW | 19.10.2017

PRISM Spy Program: Snowden may be a nobody, but liberty is not - by Hoppy Kercheval

Edward Snowden

The night of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush addressed the nation and said, among other things, that the terrorists had failed in their attempt to frighten the nation.

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America," Bush said.

But as we approach the 12th anniversary of the attacks, there is evidence that our response to terrorism has the potential of undermining the bedrock principles of the country - individual freedom and personal liberty.

Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former employee of a security contractor for the National Security Agency, has shocked the country with revelations about the NSA's massive data collection system.

We don't know if Snowden is the most significant whistleblower of the information age or just a computer geek with a self-inflated sense of importance or a combination of the two.

We should know eventually, but in the meantime many Americans are wondering whether the government has crossed the shifting line of demarcation that separates the desire for security from the constitutional protection of our privacy.

Those in charge of the security know they are the first and last line of defense. If the intelligence community overreaches to the point of bending or even violating Constitutional protections, Americans will become even more angry and cynical about the essential institution of government.

The best case is that the revelation of the encompassing surveillance produces a national discussion about how we go about protecting our country without trampling on liberty.

But if we are not so inclined, fear and suspicion may take hold. Then President Bush will have been wrong about an unshakable foundation.

Read more: Snowden may be a nobody, but liberty is not  - Hoppy Kercheval - Charleston Daily Mail - West Virginia News and Sports -

EU-Digest/ITNews: Europe is the most economically free region in the world says WSJ and Heritage Foundation Study

For the complete report from the ITNews click on this link

Europe is the most economically free region in the world says WSJ and Heritage Foundation Study

According to the 2008 "Index of Economic Freedom" published annually by The Wall Street Journal and The conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation Europe is the most economically free region in the world. Half of the world's 20 freest economies are in Europe, the only region where most countries are skewed toward freedom, according to The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation report.To compile the Index, the editors measured 157 countries across 10 specific factors of economic freedom. The higher the score, the lower the level of government interference. All countries were graded on a scale of 0 to 100. The 10 freedoms measured are: business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government size, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights, freedom from corruption and labor freedom. Ratings in each category are averaged to produce the overall Index score. The latest version of the Index, which has been published 14 consecutive years, is said to be the most precise measure of economic freedom ever.

TheStar.com - Immigration - More Americans heading North to Canada - by Tim Harper

For the complete report from TheStar.com click on this link

Immigration: More Americans heading North to Canada - by Tim Harper

An analysis of immigration statistics done by the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies showed the number of Americans who moved to Canada in 2006 hit a 30-year high, almost double the number who moved north in 2000 when Bush was elected for a first term as U.S. president. The day after Bush was re-elected president, there were 191,000 hits on Canada's immigration website, six times its average traffic, most of it from the U.S.

The analysis also showed the southward brain drain is being narrowed somewhat, and most of the American migrants are highly educated people who may be moving to Canada for quality of life and social reasons.For 34-year-old labour organizer Tom Kertes, the move last April from Seattle, Wash., to Toronto was based on human rights. "The words `human rights' are foreign words in the U.S.,'' Kertes said. "They only apply to other countries.''He also cited the war in Iraq and the torture of Iraqi prisoners by Americans – and the failure of the Bush administration to clearly disavow such practice – as contributing factors to what is a major decision.