Friday at Minneapolis City Hall, Tim Dolan was reappointed as Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department by an 8-5 vote over widespread community opposition. Dolan’s original appointment in 2006 was approved 12-1, and since then his department has overseen the repression of dissent before and after the 2008 RNC; multiple police killings of people of color including Fong Lee; several expensive settlements resulting from false arrests, taser use, and police brutality; the Metro Gang Strike Force scandal; and a culture of disrespect for the law as it applies to police and for the human rights of Minneapolis residents.

This week in March, Americans note that federal health care reform has been in the works for a whole year. Bills have been written and amended; support has been promised and at times withdrawn.

A few thoughts on last week’s G20 appeal hearings

Last week, I was in Pittsburgh again to deal with my appeal on my summary offense conviction of “disorderly conduct”. At this time, there were also a few other appeal hearings from other G20 arrestees for similar offenses. So on March 1st, I went into a hearing of four other G20 Arrestees to get an idea of how the summary appeal process works in Pennsylvania. There were three students and one non-student – all of whom were either arrested on the evening of September 25th near the University of Pittsburgh or the day earlier at Lawrenceville during the un-permitted march.

CHICAGO – Federal Judge Wayne R. Andersen issued an historic ruling on Friday in Chicago, allowing a lawsuit that charges former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with authorizing torture to go forward. Rumsfeld argued that, as a high-placed government official, he was immune from allegations of torture and that the Constitution allowed a person in his position to order interrogation techniques that are widely considered by human rights experts to be torture. The Court rejected both arguments and held that high-placed cabinet officials can be held personally liable if they authorize the use of torture. Read more.

Five years after the Animal Liberation Front raids the University of Iowa, the government launches a prosecution that is a fraud on its face | From Voice of the Voiceless

In late-2004, morning workers arrived at the Spence Laboratories to find $450,000 in damage to equipment and 401 animals missing. Graffiti left at the scene read "Science Not Sadism" and "Free The Animals". In a long communique, the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) took credit.