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- 6 participants
- 34114 discussions
Breaking News: Wells Fargo now has more fines and settlements than FTX, and
that makes it one of the biggest scandals in US history.
How does this PayPal BitLicense play into Wells Fargo? Was the PayPal
Conditional BitLicense a Covid earnings manipulation scheme?
----
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) agreed to pay $1 billion to settle a shareholder
lawsuit that accused it of making misleading statements about its
compliance with federal consent orders following the 2016 scandal involving
the opening of unauthorized customer accounts.
Wells Fargo to Pay $1 Billion in Class-Action Lawsuit
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-16/wells-fargo-to-pay-1-bil…
1
0
https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/us_atrocities.md
# List of Atrocities committed by US authorities
*Definition: An extremely wicked or cruel act, typically one involving
physical violence or injury.*
> "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care for human beings." - Nelson Mandela
## Contents
<!-- toc -->
- [Imperialism](#imperialism)
* [Middle East](#middle-east)
* [Western hemisphere](#western-hemisphere)
* [Africa](#africa)
* [Asia](#asia)
* [Europe](#europe)
- [Internal Repression](#internal-repression)
* [Native Americans](#native-americans)
* [Black people](#black-people)
* [Latinos](#latinos)
* [Asians](#asians)
* [LGBTQ People](#lgbtq-people)
* [Women](#women)
* [Workers and the Poor](#workers-and-the-poor)
* [Prisoners](#prisoners)
* [Religious minorities](#religious-minorities)
* [Pervasive](#pervasive)
- [Sources / Starting points](#sources--starting-points)
<!-- tocstop -->
Notes :
- Try to convey a sense of moral outrage.
- This is a living document, it will be updated as new atrocities pour in.
- Feel free to make pull requests (changes), or fork it if you'd like
to make your own versions.
- Name the specific source and recipient of the atrocity, and provide
a source for the claim.
- Try to do chronologically from recent to past; it should seem like a
running log.
[tradução portuguesa](https://telegra.ph/Lista-de-Atrocidades-cometidas-pelas-autoridades-dos-EUA-01-30)
## Imperialism
- The US empire currently maintains an [imperialist
network](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df4R-xdKvpM) of over [800
military bases in 70
countries.](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/us-military-bas…
(For comparison, all other countries combined have only 30 bases)
- The US has always been in a state of perpetual war; [as of 2021, it
has been at war 225 / 243 years of its
existence.](https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/595752-the-us-has-been-at-war-225-out-of-243-years-since-1776)
### Middle East
- On February 25th, 2021, in his first month in office, [Biden bombs
Syria](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-bombs-facilities-syria-used…,
killing at least 22 people. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby called
the bombing “proportionate” and “defensive.”
[2](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/25/us-airstrike-syria-iran-mi…
- On November 27th, 2020, Israel [assassinated Iranian nuclear
physicist Moshen
Fakhrizadeh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohsen_Fakhrizadeh) via a
satellite controlled vehicle-mounted machine gun, which then
self-detonated after killing him. The attack was likely commited by
Israel with US help and foreknowledge.
- On January 2nd, 2020, [President Donald Trump ordered the drone
assassination](https://i.imgur.com/EJYI44G.jpg) of [Iranian General
Qassem Soleimani](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/iraq-3-katyusha-rockets-f…
[2](https://apnews.com/5597ff0f046a67805cc233d5933a53ed), in a blatant
act of war against Iran. Soleimani was a beloved figure to the Iranian
people, his death sending shockwaves among residents, and a 3-day
national mourning period was declared. Hillary Mann Leverett, a former
White House National Security official, said the killing of Soleimani
was a "declaration of war" on Iran, and is "equivalent to the Iranians
assassinating the US defence secretary". The drone attack was part of
several targeted [US
airstrikes](https://www.fort-russ.com/2020/01/breaking-iranian-general-sole…,
and comes in the wake of turmoil following [another series of US
airstrikes](https://www.axios.com/pentagon-airstrikes-syria-iraq-hezbollah-…
in Iraq and Syria [which killed 25 members of the Iraqi Kataib
Hezbollah militia](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50951742),
after which [outraged Iraqi protesters surrounded the US embassy in
Baghdad](https://www.axios.com/us-embassy-baghdad-iraq-attacked-protestors-….
In response, the US blamed "Iranian infiltrators" for the embassy
attack, and [deployed an additional 750
troops](https://www.axios.com/us-embassy-attack-750-troops-deployed-iraq-2e…,
bolstering the 14k troops currently stationed in [~20 military bases
surrounding Iran](https://i.imgur.com/dlyDNr6.jpg). Abu Mahdi
al-Muhandis, an Iraqi militia commander, was also killed in a pre-dawn
raid on the same day. That evening, another US airstrike in Iraq
[killed 6 people.](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Air-Strikes-Targeting-Iraqi-Mi…
- In September 2019, the [US killed at least 30 pine nut farmers, and
injured 40 others via a drone
attack](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/afghanistan-dozens-civilians…
in the nangarhar province in Afghanistan. Malik Rahat Gul, a tribal
elder in Wazir Tangi, said the air raid happened at a time when tired
workers, mainly daily wage earners, had gathered near their tent after
harvesting pine nuts in a field nearby. "The workers had lit a bonfire
and were sitting together when a drone targeted them". This marks the
18th year of war in Afghanistan.
- In early 2018, US Navy Seal [Eddie Gallagher stabbed a defenseless
teenage captive to death in
Iraq](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gallagher_\(Navy_SEAL\)).
According to two SEAL witnesses, Gallagher said over the radio "he's
mine" and walked up to the medic and prisoner, and without saying a
word, killed the prisoner by stabbing him repeatedly with his hunting
knife. Gallagher and his commanding officer, Lieutenant Jake Portier,
then posed for photographs of them standing over the body with some
other nearby SEALs. Gallagher then text messaged a friend in
California a picture himself holding the dead captive's head by the
hair with the explanation "Good story behind this, got him with my
hunting knife.” After he was imprisoned, [Gallagher's other crimes
came to light](http://archive.is/9b2fR): fellow soldiers said they
witnessed Gallagher shooting and killing an unarmed old man in a white
robe, as well as a young girl walking with other girls. Gallagher
boasted that he averaged three kills a day over 80 days, including
four women. In video interviews with investigators, multiple SEALs
described how he would go on solo “gun runs,” emptying loads of heavy
machine gun fire into neighborhoods with no apparent targets. “I think
he just wants to kill anybody he can,” Corey Scott, a medic from the
platoon, told Navy investigators. After his case went public, it
became a conservative rallying cry: A website soliciting donations for
his defense raised > $375k, and a prominent veterans’ apparel maker
sold “Free Eddie” T-shirts. Spurred on by his family, 40 Republican
members of Congress signed a letter in March calling for the Navy to
free him, and soon after, US President Trump had him released from
prison to house arrest. In July, 2019, he was acquitted of all
charges. Gallagher was one of three military personnel accused or
convicted of war crimes on whose behalf Trump had intervened to pardon
or promote. Trump told a rally audience days after his intervention,
"I stuck up for three great warriors against the deep state."
[Gallagher has now started a chain of companies selling clothing and
nutritional supplements.](http://archive.is/hgUQC)
- On April 14, 2018, the US, UK, and France [launched 100 more
missiles](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/14/syria-air-strikes-u…
at 3 different targets in Syria, again claiming that the Syrian
government used chemical attacks against its own citizens in douma as
justification. On 10 April, the Syrian government again invited the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to send a team to
investigate the sites of the alleged attacks. Trump, Macron, and May
have all issued statements saying that this is not an intervention in
the Syrian civil war.
[1](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/14/syria-air-strikes-us-uk-an….
In a [leaked email](https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1198423637805666305)
in Nov, 2019, [an OPCW whistleblower stated that the US fabricated the
evidence](https://thegrayzone.com/2020/01/02/opcw-leaks-expose-criminal-syr…,
and used it justify the air-strike.
[2](https://wikileaks.org/opcw-douma/document/Internal-OPCW-E-Mail/Internal-…
- Starting in June 2017, photos and videos from Syrian civilians in
Raqqa showed that the US-backed coalition in Syria was illegally using
[white phosphorus](https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/josepha-iv…
in civilian areas. White phosphorus can burn human flesh down to the
bone, and wounds can reignite up to days later. “No matter how white
phosphorus is used, it poses a high risk of horrific and long-lasting
harm in crowded cities like Raqqa and Mosul and any other areas with
concentrations of civilians,” said [Steve
Goose](https://www.hrw.org/about/people/stephen-goose), arms director
at Human Rights Watch. One attack on an internet cafe killed at least
20 civilians, while other deaths are still being confirmed. One of
those civilians killed was in the process of sending a report to
Humans Rights Watch, when the cafe was struck. The US killed 273
syrian civilians in April, slightly more than the number killed by
ISIS. A US attack in July killed another 50 civilians. In August, the
US killed another 60+ civilians. On May 17th, 2020, [the US firebombed
over 200 acres of wheat fields in Syria, leaving many food
insecure.](https://www.ibtimes.sg/trump-ordered-us-forces-burn-hectares-wheat-field-syria-amid-covid-19-pandemicrussia-media-45482)
[1](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/world/middleeast/raqqa-syria-white-ph…
- On April 4th, 2017, following the [Khan Shaykhun chemical
attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Shaykhun_chemical_attack),
Trump ordered an airstrike of 59 tomahawk cruise missiles (worth $70
million) fired at the Shayrat air base in Syria (one that Trump claims
is the source of the chemical attack) in the [2017 Shayrat Missile
Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike).
This is the first attack by the US directly targeting
[Ba'athist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Socialist_Ba%27ath_Party_%E2%80%…
[Syrian government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_government)
forces, who are closely allied with Russia. Russian Prime Minister
[Dimitry Medvedev](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitry_Medvedev)
said the attack brought the U.S. "within an inch" of clashing with the
Russian military, and could've sparked a nuclear war. The attack was
praised by US politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well >30
countries. Over 700 children have been killed US coalition airstrikes
in Iraq and Syria since August 2014. The US conducted another
airstrike against Syria on June 7th,
2017.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike)
- On March 21st, 2017, A US airstrike [killed at least 30 Syrian
civilians](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/at-least-30-de…
in an airstrike on a school in the Raqqa province. The week before, 49
people were killed when US warplanes fired on a target in in the [2017
al-Jinah airstrike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_al-Jinah_airstrike),
a village in western
[Aleppo](https://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_location=Ale…
province. US officials said the attack had hit a building where
al-Qaeda operatives were meeting, but residents said the warplanes had
struck a mosque where hundreds of people had gathered for a weekly
religious meeting.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_al-Jinah_airstrike)
- On March 17th, 2017, A US airstrike killed ~112 civilians in Mosul,
Iraq. In response, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said, "There is
no military force in the world that is proven more sensitive to
civilian casualties."
[1](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/middleeast/mosul-civilian-deaths/)
- On February 15th, 2017, US-backed Saudi planes [bombed a
funeral](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/15/yemen-funeral-saudi-…
in Yemen, killing 5 women and wounding dozens more. In the [2015 -
Present Yemeni Civil
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%93present)
), 16,200 people have been killed including 10,000 civilians, 3
million have been displaced and left homeless, and over 200,000 people
are facing shortages of food, water and medicine. The US has used
drone bombers in Yemen, and has supported Saudi interests in the
region, with military contracts providing weapons and planes. The US
has weapons contracts with Saudi Arabia valuing over $110 billion. In
August 2018, Saudi planes bombed a school bus, killing 50, including
40 children, and wounding another
80.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%93present)
), [2](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/15/yemen-funeral-saudi-led-ai…,
[3](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/13/middleeast/yemen-children-school-bus-…
- In 2010, President Obama [directed the
CIA](http://www.salon.com/2010/04/07/assassinations_2/) to
[assassinate an American
citizen](https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-ame…
in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki, despite the fact that he had never been
charged with any crime, killing him [with a September, 2011 drone
strike](https://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2011/sep/30/anwar-al-awlaki-….
Two weeks later, a separate CIA drone strike in Yemen [killed his
16-year-old American-born
son](http://www.salon.com/2011/10/20/the_killing_of_awlakis_16_year_old_son…,
Abdulrahman, along with the boy’s 17-year-old cousin and several other
innocent Yemenis. In January 2017, Trump ordered a SEAL strike, and
reports from Yemen [quickly
surfaced](http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-yemen-qaeda-idUKKBN15D094)
that 30 people were killed, including 10 women and children. Among the
dead: the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar Awlaki, sister of the 16 year
old killed by Obama.
[1](https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-american-…
- In 2016, the US under Obama dropped [26,171 bombs in the Middle East
and North Africa](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-president-barack-obama-bomb-map-drone-wars-strikes-20000-pakistan-middle-east-afghanistan-a7534851.html),
up 3000 from the previous year. The countries bombed include Syria,
Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, and Somalia. He authorized
[10 times more drone
strikes](https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2017/01/17/obamas-covert-dro…
than George W Bush.
[1](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-president-barack-obama-bomb-map-drone-wars-strikes-20000-pakistan-middle-east-afghanistan-a7534851.html)
- In January 2015, the [US killed 13-year-old Mohammed Tuaiman in
Yemen](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/drones-dream-yemeni-te…
with a drone strike. A month earlier, the guardian interviewed him,
and he was quoted as saying: "“A lot of the kids in this area wake up
from sleeping because of nightmares from them and some now have mental
problems. They turned our area into hell and continuous horror, day
and night, we even dream of them in our sleep...In their eyes, we
don’t deserve to live like people in the rest of the world and we
don’t have feelings or emotions or cry or feel pain like all the other
humans around the world.” In 2011 an unmanned combat drone killed his
father and teenage brother as they were out herding the family’s
camels. [1](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/drones-dream-yemeni-teenag…
- Since 2013, The US has intervened militarily in the ongoing [Syrian
Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Civil_War#Western_coalition),
with airstrikes, naval bombardments, and funding and training Syrian
Islamic and secular insurgents fighting to topple the Syrian
government. Many have labeled the struggle as a proxy war between US
and Russian interests in the Middle East, in a highly unstable region.
Between 500-700 civilians [have been killed by coalition
airstrikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_Syri…,
and over 50,000
[ISIL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant)
militants and pro-bashad fighters have been killed.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_Syria)
- From 2011 up to the present day, the US ousted Mummar Gaddafi in
Libya, and began conducting an extensive bombing campaign (>110
tomahawk cruise missiles) in the [Libyan Civil Wars of 2011 and
2014](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2014%E2%80%93present)).
This includes 7,700 air strikes, resulting in 30,000 -100,000 deaths.
Loyalist towns were bombed to rubble and ethnically cleansed, and the
country is in chaos as Western-trained and armed Islamist militias
seize territory and oil facilities and vie for power. The Misrata
militia, trained and armed by Western special forces, is one of the
most violent and powerful in the
world.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2014%E2%80%93pres…
The country has since collapsed into a chaos of child soldiers,
[slavery](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/10/libya-public-slave-a…,
and violence between extremist groups, a haunting repetition of what
US imperialism has left in its wake in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
[An interview with Gaddafi's former spokesman about the US overthrow
of Libya.](https://www.rt.com/news/470321-libya-gaddafi-spokesman-interview/).
- US drone operator turned whistleblower [Brandon
Bryant](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-military-drone-nazis-brandon-bryant-a9324011.html)
told stories about his time as a drone operator in Afghanistan from
2006-2011. He estimates that he contributed directly to killing 13
people himself and says his squadron fired on 1,626 targets including
women and children. He tells of one instance of killing a child, with
his superiors telling him "it was a f**** dog, drop it". “That image
on the screen is still in my head. Whenever I think about it, it still
hurts me,” Mr Bryant said. “When I pulled the trigger, I knew that it
was wrong. When the missile struck I knew in my soul I had become a
murderer.” He tells of how his superiors would ridicule, punish, and
threaten legal action against anyone who had misgivings about their
orders. He believes that the US military is "worse than the nazis."
- In 2010, Chelsea Manning's leak of the [Iraq War
Logs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War_documents_leak) revealed
US army reports on civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan; [66,081
out of 109,000 recorded deaths were
civilians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War).
They show that US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of
reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and
soldiers, and that US troops killed almost 700 civilians for coming
too close to checkpoints, including pregnant women and the mentally
ill, and countless other
atrocities.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War_documents_leak)
- From 2000 up to the present day, the US has been carrying out a
campaign of drone strikes and asassinations in the Middle East and
Africa, including Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia, resulting
in thousands of civilian deaths, including women,
[children](https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/manhunting-in-the-hindu-kus…,
and US citizens.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_from_US_drone_strikes)
Drone strikes are used by the military and the CIA to hunt down and
kill people the [Obama
administration](https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2…
has deemed — through secretive processes, without indictment or trial
— worthy of execution. Drone strike targets are usually pinpointed
through cell phone usage. The Obama asassination complex is detailed
in the [drone papers](https://theintercept.com/drone-papers).
- On 3 October 2015, a United States Air Force AC-130U gunship
attacked and killed 42 people and wounded 30 more in the [Kunduz
Trauma Centre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike)
operated by Doctors Without Borders, in northern Afghanistan. The
airstrike constitutes a war crime (attacks on hospitals are considered
war crimes), and is the first instance of one Nobel peace prize winner
(Obama) bombing and killing another (Doctors without borders). CNN and
the New York Times deliberately obscured the US's responsibility for
the bombing, with the headline, "US is blamed after bomb hits afghan
hospital". [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_hospital_airstrike),[2](https://the…
- On 22 August 2008, A US airstrike killed ~90 civilians, mostly
children, in the village of [Azizabad,
Afghanistan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azizabad_airstrike).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azizabad_airstrike)
- On July 6 2008, the US bombed a wedding party and killed 47 Afghan
civilians in the [Haska Meyna Wedding party
airstrike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haska_Meyna_wedding_party_airstrik….
The first bomb hit a group of children who were ahead of the main
procession, killing them instantly. A few minutes later, the aircraft
returned and dropped a second bomb in the center of the group, killing
a large number of women. The bride and two girls survived the second
bomb, but were killed by a third bomb while trying to escape from the
area. Hajj Khan, one of four elderly men who were escorting the party,
stated that his grandson was killed and that there were body parts
everywhere. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haska_Meyna_wedding_party_airstrike)
- On September 16, 2007, employees of
[Blackwater]((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi)) (since renamed
Academi), a private military company, killed 17 Iraqi civilians and
injured 20 more in the [Nisour Square
massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre),
revealing a wide-spread policy to employ and enable private security
firms to use deadly force.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre)
- On July 12, 2007, US AH-64 Apache helicopters bombed and [killed ~15
Iraqi civilians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike),
including two reuters journalists, and wounding two children, in
Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, New Baghdad. The attacks received worldwide
coverage following the leaking of 39 minutes of classified gunsight
footage, in a video released by wikileaks titled collateral murder.
22-year-old American Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning (then
known as Bradley Manning) was arrested for leaking the video, along
with a video of another airstrike and around 260,000 diplomatic
cables, to WikiLeaks. She was being held in prison under the
[Espionage act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917),
a law used to jail dissidents, intended to prohibit any interference
with military operations, until early 2017.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike) On
March 8, 2019, Manning was held in contempt of court by a United
States District Court judge for refusing to testify to a federal grand
jury investigating WikiLeaks. Manning said she was objecting to the
"secrecy of the grand jury process". Except for a brief period of
release between May 9 and May 16, she continues to be held in the
Alexandria City Jail until she agrees to testify. Julian Assange, the
founder of wikileaks, has also been the target of the CIA, [who (aided
by a spanish security firm) continually spied on him while in asylum
in the Ecuadorian
embassy](https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/10/cia-spied-on-julian-assange-in-….
- On May 9, 2006, U.S. troops executed 3 male Iraqi detainees at the
Muthana Chemical Complex, called the [Iron Triangle
Murders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Iron_Triangle#Iron_Triangl…
- On April 26, 2006 in the [Hamdania
incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdania_incident), US troops
killed an unarmed civilian, staging a fake firefight to cover it up.
Members of the squad shot the stolen AK-47 rifle into the air to make
it sound like a firefight was occurring, and after the Iraqi man was
dead, the Marines scattered the expended AK-47 brass next to the body,
removed the plastic restraints, and placed the rifle next to the
body.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdania_incident)
- On March 15, 2006, 11 Iraqi civilians were bound and executed by US
troops in the [Ishaqi
incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaqi_incident).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaqi_incident)
- On March 12, 2006, US Soldiers gang raped and killed a 14-year-old
Iraqi girl named Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, and murdered her
parents, and her six year old sister, in the [Mahmudiyah rape and
killings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings)
- Beginning in 2005, the U.S. government secretly encouraged and
advised a Pakistani
[Balochi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baloch_people) militant group
named [Jundullah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jundallah_%28Iran%29)
that is responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside
Iran.[[85\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_reg…
ABC News learned from tribal sources that money for Jundullah was
routed to the group through Iranian exiles. “They are suspected of
having links to Al Qaeda and they are also thought to be tied to the
drug culture," according to Professor Vali
Nasr.[[87\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_reg…
U.S. intelligence sources later claimed that the orchestration of
Jundallah operations was, in actuality, an Israeli
[Mossad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad) [false
flag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag) operation that Israeli
agents disguised to make it appear to be the work of American
intelligence.[[90\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvemen…
- On November 19, 2005, a group of US marines killed 24 unarmed men,
women and children in the [city of
Haditha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haditha_massacre) in Western
Iraq. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich admitted to telling his men to "shoot
first and ask questions later". The eight marines were found not
guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haditha_massacre)
- In 2004, accounts of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse,
including torture (whitewashed as *enhanced interrogation
techniques*), rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the [Abu
Ghraib prison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse)
in Iraq came to public attention, revealing a systemic policy of
torture during the Iraq war, primarily perpetrated by US Military
police, and the CIA. Many of the torture techniques used were
developed at Guantánamo detention centre, including prolonged
isolation; sensory deprivation to induce psychosis, a sleep
deprivation program whereby people were moved from cell to cell every
few hours so they couldn’t sleep for days, weeks, even months,
short-shackling in painful positions; nudity; extreme use of heat and
cold; the use of loud music and noise and preying on phobias. Many,
such as [Manadel
al-Jamadi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Manadel_al-Jamadi),
were tortured to death.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse)
- On May 20, 2004, A US airstrike killed 42 civilians attending a
wedding, in the [Mukaradeeb wedding party
massacre.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukaradeeb_wedding_party_massacre)
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukaradeeb_wedding_party_massacre)
- On April 14, 2004, Lieutenant Ilario Pantano of the United States
Marine Corps, killed two unarmed captives. Lieutenant Pantano claimed
that the captives had advanced on him in a threatening manner. All
charges were dropped, and he received an honorable discharge.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilario_Pantano)
- In april, 2004, the US military lied to the family of [Pat
Tillman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman), a famous American
athlete turned soldier, surrounding his death by friendly fire, and
used a fake heroic story about his death as a recruiting poster. The
jingoistic media coverage was created by the spin of several top US
generals and Bush administration officials, who dictated a memo about
how best to handle the embarrassing death of such a high profile
soldier. This is chronicled in the documentary, [A Tillman
Story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tillman_Story).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tillman_Story)
- Starting with the Iraq war, the US increasingly began contracting
private mercenary companies to do military operations. These private
companies are authorized by the US to use lethal force.
[Blackwater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi#Role_in_the_Iraq_War),
one such company known for its ruthless reputation for killing
civilians, has been involved in various scandals, such as in Fallujah,
and Nisour square. Its founder, [Erik
Prince](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Prince), has close ties to
the Trump administration.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi#Role_in_the_Iraq_War)
- On December 10, 2002, US military police, aided by the CIA, tortured
and killed [Dilawar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilawar_(torture_victim)),
an Afghan taxi driver, at [Baghram
prison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagram_torture_and_prisoner_abuse),
highlighting a scandal of torture and murder at the prison. Dilawar
was chained to the ceiling of his cell, and suspended by his wrists
for four days. His arms became dislocated from their sockets, and
flapped around limplywhenever guards collected him for interrogation.
During his detention, Dilawar's legs were beaten to a pulp. They would
have had to have been amputated because damage was so severe. The
murder and US torture complex is chronicled in the 2007 documentary
[Taxi to the Dark
Side](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_to_the_Dark_Side).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilawar_(torture_victim))
- Since 2001, many enemy combatants have been held at the [Guantanamo
bay detention camp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp),
a prison camp in Cuba in which suspected enemies are jailed
indefinitely without trial. Several inmates have been severely
tortured, leading much of the world to decry its existence as a human
rights abuse. The military acts as interrogators, prosecutors and
defense counsel, judges, and when death sentences are imposed, as
executioners. All trials are held in private. Trump has vowed to keep
the prison open, saying, "[...] I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse
than waterboarding... Don’t tell me it doesn’t work—torture works...
if it doesn't work, they deserve it anyway, for what they’re doing to
us." At least [108 detainees have died while in US custody in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Guantanamo
bay](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4355779.stm), with at least
20 being declared by the Army as
murder.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp),[2]…
- The attacks precipitated the signing into law in 2001 of the
[Patriot Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act), which
expanded the powers of the NSA to perform mass surveillance, allowed
indefinite detention of immigrants, allowed warrant-less searching of
phone and email records without a court order, . Thousands of people
were jailed, and questioned under the new power the act granted to law
enforcement agencies. [Susan
Lindauer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Lindauer), a
congressional staffer turned activist, imprisoned from 2005-09 for
violating the "acting as an agent of a foreign government" provision
of the patriot act; the charges were later dropped after it was
discovered no evidence ever existed.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act)
- The September 11th 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New
York, provoked an international military campaign of Middle East
imperialism known as [The War on
Terror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror). Conflicts
include the [Nato led involvement in Afghanistan
(2001–2014)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(1978%E2%80%93…)
the [Insurgency in Yemen
(1992–2015)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda_insurgency_in_Yemen)
the [Iraq War (2003–2011)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War)
the [War in North-West Pakistan
(2004–present)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_North-West_Pakistan)
and the [International campaign against ISIL
(2014–present)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_intervention_against_…)
The enemy combatants of the war have mostly been people of the Middle
East. Casualty numbers are in the millions, detailed
[here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror#Casualties).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror)
- [1991, the U.S. bombed the Amiriya civilian air raid shelter in
Iraq, which was sheltering a thousand sleeping civilians, massacring
408 Iraqi civilians (261 women and 52
children).](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiriyah_shelter_bombing)
- Approximately
250,000[[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_syndrome#cite_note-www…
of the 697,000 U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War are
afflicted with an enduring chronic multi-symptom illness called [Gulf
War Syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_syndrome). From
1995 to 2005, the health of combat veterans worsened in comparison
with nondeployed veterans, with the onset of more new [chronic
diseases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_disease), functional
impairment, repeated [clinic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinic)
visits and [hospitalizations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitalization),
[chronic fatigue
syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome)-like
[illness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illness), [posttraumatic
stress disorder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posttraumatic_stress_disorder),
and greater persistence of adverse
[health](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health)
incidents.[[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_syndrome#cite_note-….
Suggested causes have included [depleted
uranium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium),
[sarin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin)
[gas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas), [smoke from burning oil
wells](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwaiti_oil_fires),
[vaccinations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination),
[combat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat)
[stress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_%28biology%29) and
[psychological](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological)
factors.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_syndrome)
- In 1990, The U.S. liberates Kuwait from Iraq in the [Gulf
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War). Iraq’s dictator, Saddam
Hussein, was formerly backed by the US when his regime invaded Iran in
1980, and before that was hired by the CIA in a botched assassination
attempt on the then Iraqi president. During this costly eight-year
war, the CIA built up Hussein’s forces with sophisticated arms,
intelligence, training and financial backing, cementing Hussein’s
power at home, and allowing him to crush the many internal rebellions
that erupted from time to time, sometimes with poison gas.
20,000–35,000 Iraqis were killed in the Gulf War, along with 75,000+
wounded. A vindictive U.N. embargo followed that several years later
still denied Iraq the technological resources to recover its food
production, medical services, and sanitation facilities. As late as
1993, CNN reported that nearly 300,000 Iraqi children were suffering
from malnutrition. Deaths exceeded the normal rate by 125,000 yearly,
mostly affecting ‘the poor, their infants, children, chronically ill,
and elderly’. Iraqi citizens, who previously had enjoyed a decent
living standard, were reduced to
destitution.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War)
- In 1988, a US navy cruise missile shot down [Iran Flight
655](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655), killing its
290 civilian passengers. In 1996 As part of the settlement, the US did
not admit legal liability or formally apologize to Iran but agreed to
pay on an ex gratia basis $61.8 million.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655),[2](https://www.snope…
- In 1980, the US helped Turkish armed forces in the [1980 Turkish
coup d'état](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Turkish_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat),
including supplying them with American-made Sikorski helicopters.
[1](1)
- In 1980, the US funded and sold weapons to both sides in the
[Iran-Iraq War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War),
hoping to destabilize the region and create a puppet regime favorable
to US interests. Over 500,000 people died in the conflict.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War)
- From 1979-89, the CIA begins supplying arms and money ($630 million
per year by 1987, and a total of 5-6 Billion USD) to factions fighting
against the soviets in their [invasion of
afghanistan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan),
In what was known as [Operation
Cyclone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone). the U.S.
government secretly provided weapons and funding for the
[Mujahadin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mujahadin) Islamic guerillas
of Afghanistan fighting to overthrow the Afghan government and the
Soviet military forces that supported it. Supplies were channeled
through the [Inter-Services
Intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Services_Intelligence)
(ISI) of [Pakistan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan).[[44\]](https://en.wikipe…
Although Operation Cyclone officially ended in 1989 with the
withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, U.S. government funding
for the Mujahadin continued through 1992. Fanatical extremists now
possess state-of-the-art weaponry, including [Sheik Abdel
Rahman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Abdel-Rahman), and [Osama
Bin Laden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden), who were
later responsible for the 1993 and 2001 World Trade Center bombings in
New York. The architect of the war, Zbigniew Brzezinski, an advisor to
president carter, admitted in a 1998 interview with the Parisian
publication Le Novel Observateur, confirmed that Carter signed the
first directive for secret aid to the Mujahadin against the
soviet-supported Kabul government, before the soviet invasion.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone),
[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan) In 2010
Hillary Clinton commented on how the house majority democrats, in
coalition with then president Reagan, thought that "it was a pretty
good idea" to create Al-Qaeda in order to combat the Soviet
Union.](https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1379509816385622016?s=20)
- Since the 1960s, the US has given immense economic and military aid
to Israel in the [Israeli-Palestinian
conflict](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflic…,
which has taken 100,000 - 200,000 lives. The US has used its UN veto
power to block a two-state solution countless times.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict)
- In 1958, [Eisenhower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower)
authorized Operation Blue Bat, an invasion of 14,000 US troops in the
[ongoing civil war in
Lebanon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Lebanon_crisis). This was
the first application of the [Eisenhower
Doctrine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower_Doctrine) under
which the U.S. announced that it would intervene to protect regimes it
considered threatened by international
[communism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism). The goal of the
operation was to bolster the pro-Western Lebanese government of
President Camille Chamoun against internal opposition and threats from
Syria and Egypt.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Lebanon_crisis)
- In 1953, the CIA in Iran overthrows the democratically elected
[Mohammed Mossadegh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh)
in a [military coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat),
after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him
with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police,
[SAVAK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAVAK), is as brutal as the
Gestapo. After the initial coup failed and the Shah and his family
fled to Italy, the CIA payed millions of dollars to bribe military
officers and pay gangsters to unleash violence in the streets of
Tehran. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
- In 1949, the [US aided a Syrian coup
d'état](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1949_Syrian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat).
The democratically elected government of [Shukri
al-Quwatli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shukri_al-Quwatli) was
overthrown by a junta led by the Syrian Army chief of staff at the
time, [Husni al-Za'im](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husni_al-Za%27im),who
became President of Syria on 11 April 1949. The exact nature of US
involvement in that coup is still highly controversial. However, it is
well documented that the construction of the [Trans-Arabian
Pipeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Arabian_Pipeline), which
had been held up in the Syrian parliament, was approved by Za'im just
over a month after the
coup.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1949_Syrian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
### Western hemisphere
- In March 2020, [the US placed a $15M dollar bounty on the head of
the Venezuelan president,
Maduro.](https://thegrayzone.com/2020/03/27/trump-bounty-maduro-guaido-plot…
This is the first time the US has publicly put a bounty on a ruling
head of state, accusing Maduro and his government of drug trafficking,
and harboring terrorists. The US Drug Enforcement agency itself states
that less than 7% of drug movement through south america transits from
Venezuela: [93% of cocaine comes from Columbia, a staunch US ally, 4%
from Peru, and 3% from
Unknown.](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/XgStB403WWFWtTXDj5pLdVCwb9hdcqw…
[2](https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1245881372360740867?s=20)
The US has historically been closely allied with South American drug
traffickers, [like Honduras's US-Backed president Juan Orlando
Hernandez](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/03/honduran-president…,
Panamanian President [Manuel
Noriega](http://elsiglo.com.pa/panama/muertos-invasion-misterio-aclarar/23829789),
[The Contras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_tr…,
and [many more](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking).
The US-appointed "president of Venezuela", Juan Guaido, [is closely
connected to the Columbian cartel Los
Rastrojos](https://www.codepink.org/the_venezuelan_opposition_s_paramilitar…,
a vicious cartel responsible for dozens of kidnappings and murders in
Tachira VZ.
- On Nov 10, 2019, newly re-elected [Bolivian President Evo
Morales](https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1193718218705264641)
was forced to resign by the Bolivian military as [part of a US-backed
right-wing coup.](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivia-President-Evo-Morales-Re…
[Right-wing violence](https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/Its-Now-or-Never-Bolivian-…
in the wake of Evo's re-election ( [a landslide
victory](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Evo-Morales-Fraud-Allegations-…
of > 10% the next runner ) included the kidnapping of Evo's brother
and sister, [cutting the hair of a leftist mayor, painting her red and
parading her down the street, forcing her resignation, burning the
town hall](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bolivia-protests-cut-hair-mayor-patricia-arce-mas-party-red-paint-a9193816.html),
the firebombing of several leftist government members' houses, and
street clashes in Cochabamba, Potosi, and La paz resulting in deaths
and injuries. The Radio Education Network of Bolivia (Erbol) has
released [16 recordings](https://www.en24.news/news/2019/11/10/bolivia-audios-leaked-from-opposition-leaders-calling-for-a-coup-against-evo-morales.html),
[2](https://erbol.com.bo/nacional/surgen-16-audios-que-vinculan-c%C3%ADvicos-exmilitares-y-eeuu-en-planes-de-agitaci%C3%B3n),
which uncover talks between U.S. officials, Bolivian opponents, and
former military, [outlining the coup
strategy](https://bbackdoors.wordpress.com/2019/10/08/us-hands-against-boli….
In a three-part plan outlined by U.S. officials, former President
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (2002-2003) is mentioned. Lozada had Carlos
Mesa (the principal opponent of Morales in the last election) as his
vice-president and currently lives in the U.S. U.S. senators Bob
Menendez, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio are some of the American officials
mentioned in the audios, linked to the Bolivian opposition planning a
coup against President Evo Morales. A [Wikileaks cable
confirmed](https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1193650483208052744?s=…
that the [US was using Mesa to undermine Evo for
years.](https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08LAPAZ2311_a.html) The US
government (through USAID) spent [over $97M dollars to try to topple
Morales and fund separatists in his first 7 years in
office.](https://nacla.org/news/usaids-silent-invasion-bolivia) [World
leaders have condemned the
coup.](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/World-Leaders-Organizations-Cond…
The primary reason for the coup: [a fight over Bolivia's
lithium](https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/12/after-morales-ousted…,
a crucial mineral required for smartphone and electric car batteries.
Bolivia is estimated to have over 70% of the world's lithium reserves,
and was on the cusp of completing a deal with China and kicking out
several French, US, and South Korea mining firms. Over the next few
days, [over 68k fake twitter accounts were
created](https://orinocotribune.com/non-existent-support-68000-fake-twitter…
supporting the coup, many coming from [airforce bases in
Virginia](https://i.imgur.com/gDOgavC.jpg). [Debunking US propaganda
on Bolivia.](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/dvdsds/effort_post_co…
- In 2017, [Hurricane Maria hit Puerto
Rico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria#Puerto_Rico),
leaving 3.4 million without electricity and fuel, and causing an
estimated $50 Billion in damage. 55% of Puerto Ricans have no potable
water, in one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades. In marked
contrast to the initial relief efforts for [Hurricane
Katrina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina) and the
[2010 Haiti earthquake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake),
on September 22 the only signs of relief efforts were beleaguered
Puerto Rican government employees. The US response has been dismal,
leading many to believe that the US prefers a decapitalized Puerto
Rico. On September 29, San Juan Mayor Cruz held a press conference to
plead for aid and to highlight failures by FEMA, saying, "This is what
we got last night. Four pallets of water, three pallets of meals, and
12 pallets of infant food — which, I gave them to the people of
[Comerío](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comer%C3%ADo,_Puerto_Rico),
where people are drinking off a creek. So I am done being polite. I am
done being politically correct. I am mad as hell." Cruz continued. "So
I am asking the members of the press, to send a mayday call all over
the world. We are dying here... And if it doesn't stop, and if we
don't get the food and the water into people's hands, what we are
going to see is something close to a
[genocide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide)." In response
[President Donald
Trump](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Donald_Trump) wrote on
[Twitter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter): "Such poor
leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan and others in Puerto Rico,
who are not able to get their workers to help."
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria#Puerto_Rico)
- Following a series of terrorist attacks against Cuba (such as the
bombing of [Cuban commercial flight
455](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_Flight_455), that originated
from anti-Castro Cuban exile groups in the US, such as [Alpha
66](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_66), the [F4
Commandos](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F4_Commandos&action=e…,
the [Cuban American National
Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_American_National_Foundatio…,
and [Brothers to the
Rescue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_to_the_Rescue)) the
Cuban government sent spies to infiltrate these insurgent groups
operating in Miami. Afterwards, the Cuban government then provided 175
pages of documents to FBI agents investigating [Posada
Carriles's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles) (a
former CIA operative) role in the [1997 terrorist bombings in
Havana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Cuba_hotel_bombings), but
the FBI failed to use the evidence to follow up on Posada. Instead,
they used it to uncover and imprison the Cuban spies, known as the
[Cuban Five](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five).
[[18\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five#cite_note-18)[[19\]](https:/….
The Cuban Five said they were spying on Miami's Cuban exile community,
not the US government. They were imprisoned from 1998, until their
eventual release via a prisoner swap in 2014. The terrorist bomber
Posada Carriles (who admitted to planning 6 bombings of Havana Hotels
and Restaurants) lived in Miami and was safeguarded by the US
government until his death in 2018.
[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles)
- In 2009, [a coup in
Honduras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Honduran_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
has led to severe repression and death squad murders of political
opponents, union organizers and journalists. At the time of the coup,
U.S. officials denied any role in the coup and used semantics to avoid
cutting off U.S. military aid as required under U.S. law. But two
Wikileaks cables revealed that the U.S. Embassy, and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, was the main power broker in managing the
aftermath of the coup and forming a government that is now repressing
and murdering its people, including popular leader Berta Cáceres. The
two men who killed [Berta
Cáceres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres) were
trained in the US. A former soldier with the US-trained special forces
units of the Honduran military asserted that Caceres' name was
included on a hitlist distributed to them months before her
assassination.[[66\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres#cite…
According to a February 2017 investigation by *The Guardian*, court
papers purport to show that three of the eight people arrested in
connection with the assassination are linked to the US-trained elite
troops. Two of them, Maj Mariano Díaz and Lt Douglas Giovanny
Bustillo, received military training in the
US.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres#cite_note-67),[2](h…
- In 1996, investigative journalist [Gary
Webb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb) exposed a CIA-run
business of selling cocaine produced in Nicaragua, to help fund the
anti-communist Contras in their fight against the Sandinistas in
Nicaragua. These drugs were mostly sold to black communities in
California, and helped spark the Crack epidemic. Several of the US
dealers such as such as
[Ross](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Freeway%22_Rick_Ross) and
[Oscar Danilo Blandon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Danilo_Bland%C3%B3n),
were found to have CIA and DEA ties. Webb's reports were suppressed in
the news media. In 1997, Webb stated: "If we had met five years ago,
you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper
industry than me ... And then I wrote some stories that made me
realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I'd enjoyed
such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I
was careful and diligent and good at my job ... The truth was that, in
all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to
suppress." In 2004, Webb was found dead in his home, shot in the back
of the head twice. His death was ruled a suicide.
- In 1990 in Haiti, Competing against 10 comparatively wealthy white
candidates, leftist priest [Jean-Bertrand
Aristide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Bertrand_Aristide)
captures 68 percent of the vote. A few months later, the CIA-backed
military [deposes him in a
coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat).
More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian
refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats. The CIA "paid
key members of the coup regime forces, identified as drug traffickers,
for information from the mid-1980s at least until the
coup."[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change…
Coup leaders Cédras and François had received military training in the
United States. As popular opinion calls for Aristide’s return, the CIA
begins a disinformation campaign painting the courageous priest as
mentally unstable.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
- In 1989, the U.S. invades Panama with 26k troops to overthrow a
dictator of its own making, [General Manuel
Noriega](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega), with the
stated goal of "Defending democracy and human rights in Panama".
Noriega had been on the CIA’s payroll since 1966, collecting at least
$100,000 per year from the U.S. Treasury. As he rose to be the de
facto ruler of Panama, he became even more valuable to the CIA,
reporting on meetings with Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua
and supporting U.S. covert wars in Central America, and had been
transporting drugs with the CIA’s knowledge since 1972. By the late
80s, Noriega’s growing independence and intransigence had angered
Washington. The UN human rights commission estimates that around 4,000
people were killed by US troops (The US claims only 250 people).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega) The US military
bombed urban neighborhoods, executed hundreds of civilians, and even
tested new experimental weapons. The Panama invasion violates both the
UN and OAS charter, which prohibits the invasions of a sovereign
country or their territorial integrity, as well as the Geneva
conventions. All the major US media supported the invasion: the New
York Times, Wallstreet Journal, The Washington Post, the LA times,
CBS, and NBC. Michael Parenti observes in his observation of media
complicity with the invasion: "The media is not *favorable* to
corporate america, they **are** corporate america." The UN voted on
Dec 29th 1989 overwhelming to condemn the invasion as a "flagrant
violation of international law". No US soldier or general has been
tried for these war crimes, despite the UN commission, or the dozens
of eyewitness accounts by Panamanians. These atrocities are chronicled
in the documentary [The Panama
Deception.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGIio2qMnto)
- In the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. supplied military equipment and
substantial aid for the Columbian government in their civil war to
fight against [FARC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Armed_Forces_of_Colombia),
known as [Plan Columbia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia).
The weapons, ostensibly delivered for use against narcotics
traffickers, was being used by the Colombian military to commit abuses
in the name of “counter-insurgency.” One estimate is that 67,000
deaths have occurred from the 1960s to recent years due to support by
the U.S. of Colombian state terrorism. Another 1994 Amnesty
International report, stated that more than 20,000 people were killed
for political reasons in Colombia since 1986, mainly by the military
and its paramilitary allies.
- In 1987, the former CIA Station Chief in Angola in 1976, [John
Stockwell](http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm),
testified to Congress and told a grisly tale of US involvement on
behalf of business interests in Latin America. He cited covert
operations in Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Haiti, the Dominican
Republic, and Cuba. Over the course of his testimony, he estimated
that given the bombings of water supplies and other essential
infrastructure, the invasions, the coups, that the United States, on
its quest for empire, has been responsible for **6,000,000 deaths.**
The CIA retaliated by [suing him into
bankruptcy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stockwell).
[1](http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm)
- From 1982-89, The U.S. government attempted to topple the government
of Nicaragua by secretly arming, training and funding the
[Contras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras), a terrorist group
based in [Honduras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honduras) that was
created to sabotage Nicaragua and to destabilize the Nicaraguan
government.As part of the training, the CIA distributed a detailed
"terror manual" entitled "Psychological Operations in Guerrilla War,"
which instructed the Contras, among other things, on how to blow up
public buildings, to assassinate judges, to create martyrs, and to
blackmail ordinary citizens. In 1986, the Nicaraguan government under
the Sandinistas shoots down a C-123 transport plane carrying military
supplies to the Contras. The lone survivor, [Eugene
Hasenfus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Hasenfus), turns out to
be a CIA employee, as are the two dead pilots, contradicting Reagan's
claims that the US was not aiding the contras.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Hasenfus)
- In the 1980s the CIA supported [Battalion
316](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_3-16_(Honduras)), a
torture/assassination squad in Honduras, which kidnapped, tortured and
killed hundreds of its citizens. Battalion 316 used shock and
suffocation devices in interrogations , and prisoners often were kept
naked and, when no longer useful, killed and buried in unmarked
graves. Declassified documents and other sources show that the CIA and
the U.S. Embassy knew of numerous crimes, including murder and
torture, yet continued to support Battalion 316 and collaborate with
its leaders. These constitute war
crimes.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_3-16_(Honduras))
- In 1981, the [CIA assassinated Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos via a
plane crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Torrijos#Death), over
the [Carter-Torrijos
treaty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrijos%E2%80%93Carter_Treaties),
which would return sovereignty of the Panama canal by 1999, and force
a closure of all 26 US bases in Panama by 2000, and for his support of
the Sandinistas. The US denies the assassination, but refused to allow
evidence to be submitted as it would violate the Classified
Information Procedures Act.
- In 1980, In El Salvador, The Archbishop of San Salvador, [Oscar
Romero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero), pleads with
President Carter to stop aiding the military government slaughtering
his people. Carter refuses. Right-wing leader Roberto D’Aubuisson has
Romero shot through the heart while saying Mass. The country soon
dissolves into [civil
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvadoran_Civil_War), with the
peasants in the hills fighting against the military government. The
CIA and U.S. Armed Forces supply the government with overwhelming
military and intelligence superiority, as well as over [3000 tons of
US made bombs](https://www.projectcensored.org/1-fierce-aerial-war-in-america-is-un…,
training death squads to roam the countryside, committing atrocities
like that of [El Mozote in
1982](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Mozote_massacre), where 800
civilians were massacred. By 1992, some 63,000 Salvadorans were
killed. Back then Salvador was controlled by a mafia of 13 families
who owned 50% of the land and wealth. The 13 families were heavily
linked with the United States. CIA provided weapons and military
training to the Salvadorean Army, as well as $6B in aid, and US
military training in Panama. As soon as the CIA discovered the priests
were indoctrinating the masses, they began killing them.
- In 1979, The CIA began to destabilize Grenada after [Maurice
Bishop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Bishop) became
president, for his marxist, pro-cuba, anti-racism, and anti-apartheid
stances. The previous leader, [Eric
Gairy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Gairy), was a British/US
puppet who furthered imperialist interests in the region, sacked the
treasury, presided over 47% unenemployment, and a 200% cost of living
increase. His right wing gang / secret police, the [Mongoose
gang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoose_Gang), ruthlessly
tortured Leftists, sending his police to Pinochet's Argentina to learn
torture techniques, and even murdered Maurice's father. [Under
Bishop's leadership](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z-AxNFx88o),
Women were given equal pay and paid maternity leave, and sex
discrimination was made illegal. Organisations for education (Center
for Popular Education), health care, and youth affairs (National Youth
Organization) were also established, as well as free education and
health care. A literacy campaign lowered it to less than 5% in 3
years. The campaign against him resulted in his overthrow and the
[invasion by the U.S. of
Grenada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada) on October
25, 1983, with about 277 people dying.
- In 1979, the US-backed dictator Anastasios Samoza II falls,
beginning the popular [Nicaraguan
Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Revolution).
Remnants of his Guard will become the Contras, who fight a CIA-backed
guerilla war against the left-wing
[Sandinista](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandinista_National_Liberation_Fr…
government throughout the 1980s, with Reagan authorizing covert
support to anti-Sandinista forces.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Revolution)
- In 1976, several CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles and members of
the Venezuelan secret police
[DISIP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Directorate_of_Intelligence_a…
were responsible for a terrorist bomb attack on [Cuban flight
455](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_de_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Flight_455),
killing 73 people. CIA venezuelan operative [Luis Posada
Carriles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles), one of
the bombers, fled and was granted amnesty in the US in 2007.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_de_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Flight_455)
- In 1976, The CIA backed an overthrow of Argentinan leader [Isabel
Martínez de Perón](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Mart%C3%ADnez_de_Per%C3%B3n)
by right wing anti-communist dictator [Jorge Rafael
Videla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Rafael_Videla). In 1983,
two years after the return of a representative democratic government,
he was prosecuted in the Trial of the Juntas for large-scale human
rights abuses and crimes against humanity that took place under his
rule, including kidnappings or forced disappearance, widespread
torture and extrajudicial murder of activists, and political opponents
as well as their families at secret concentration camps, and harboring
nazis. An estimated 13,000 -30,000 political dissidents vanished
during this period. Videla was also convicted of the theft of many
babies born during the captivity of their mothers at the illegal
detention centres and passing them on for illegal adoption by
associates of the regime. In his defence, Videla maintains the female
guerrilla detainees allowed themselves to fall pregnant in the belief
they wouldn't be tortured or executed.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Rafael_Videla)
- On 11 September 1973, The CIA backed a [military
coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
to remove democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende,
in favor of right-wing dictator [Augusto
Pinochet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet). His
US-supported regime was characterized by the systematic suppression of
political parties and the persecution of dissidents to an extent that
was unprecedented in the history of Chile, backed by the neoliberal
free-market economic policies of the [Chicago
Boys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Boys). Over-all, the
regime left over 3,000 dead or "dissappeared", tortured thousands of
prisoners, and forced 200,000 Chileans into exile. He's known for the
[Villa Grimaldi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Grimaldi), a
torture complex, and his [Caravan of
Death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravan_of_Death), a Chilean Army
death squad guilty of countless atrocities, including dropping
pregnant women and teenagers out of helicopters in the ocean, and
executions where prisoners were shot by parts, over extended periods
of time. Pinochet's forces are conservatively estimated to have
killed over 11,000 people in his first year in power.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat),
[2](http://www.spunk.org/library/otherpol/critique/sp001280.html)
- In 1971 in Bolivia, after half a decade of CIA-inspired political
turmoil, a CIA-backed military coup overthrows the leftist President
[Juan Jose Torres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Torres),
eventually being kidnapped and murdered by CIA backed right wing death
squads, as part of [Operation
Condor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor). In the next
two years, dictator [Hugo
Banzer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Banzer) will have over
2,000 political opponents arrested without trial, then tortured, raped
and executed. Banzer wwas trained at the U.S.-operated School of the
Americas in Panama and later at Fort Hood, Texas. A few years later
the Catholic Church denounced an army massacre of striking tin workers
in 1975, Banzer, assisted by information provided by the CIA, was able
to target and locate leftist priests and nuns. His anti-clergy
strategy, known as the Banzer Plan, was adopted by nine other Latin
American dictatorships in 1977.
- In 1971, A CIA operative told a reporter he delivered a strain of
the [African Swine
Fever](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_swine_fever_virus#Cuba)
virus from an army base in the Canal Zone to anti-Castro Cubans. An
outbreak of the disease then occurred in Cuba, resulting in the
slaughter of 500,000 pigs to prevent a nationwide animal epidemic. It
was labeled the "most alarming event" of 1971 by the United Nations
Food and Agricultural
Organization.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_swine_fever_virus#Cu…
- Starting in the 1970s, a CIA-backed coalition of right wing
governments in Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay,
Bolivia and Brazil, began [Operation
Condor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor), a campaign of
political repression and state terror involving intelligence
operations and assassination of opponents, with the stated aim of
"eliminating Marxist subversion." Victims included dissidents and
leftists, union and peasant leaders, priests and nuns, students and
teachers, intellectuals and suspected guerillas. An estimated 30,000
to 80,000 leftists or sympathizers were killed.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor)
- In 1969, amid a collapsing economy, labor and student strikes in
Uruguay, CIA operative [Dan
Mitrione](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Mitrione) initiates a
campaign of torture and violence against the left-wing student group
[Tuparamos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupamaros). Former Uruguayan
police officials and CIA operatives stated Mitrione had taught torture
techniques to Uruguayan police, including the use of electrical shocks
delivered to his victims' mouths and genitals. It has been alleged
that he used homeless people for training purposes, who were executed
once they had served their
purpose.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Mitrione#cite_note-9)
- In 1968, a CIA-organized military operation in Bolivia led by cuban
exile and CIA agent [Félix
Rodríguez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez_(soldier…
captures legendary guerilla [Che
Guevara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara), defeating the
[Ñancahuazú Guerrilla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%91ancahuaz%C3%BA_Guerrilla).
The Bolivian president ordered his immediate execution to prevent
worldwide calls for clemency, and the drama of a trial. Nazi war
criminal [Klaus Barbie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie)
aka "The Butcher of Lyon", advised and possibly helped the CIA
orchestrate Guevara's eventual
capture.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%91ancahuaz%C3%BA_Guerrilla#ci…
- In 1965, The US intervened in the [Dominican Civil
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Civil_War#April_Revolution_and…,
providing air support and 1,700 marines. This later transformed into
an [Organization of American
States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States)
occupation of the country.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Civil_War#April_Revolution_and_f…
- In 1964, [A CIA-backed military coup in
Brazil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Brazilian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
overthrows the democratically elected government of [Joao
Goulart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Goulart). The junta
that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most
bloodthirsty in history. [General Castelo
Branco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_de_Alencar_Castelo_Branco)
creates Latin America’s first death squads, or bands of secret police
who hunt down communists and political opponents for torture,
interrogation and murder. Later it is revealed that the CIA trained
the death squads. Thousands were tortured, and hundreds were killed.
- In the 1962 [Cuban missile
crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis), the Joint
Chiefs of Staff unanimously agreed that a full-scale nuclear attack
and invasion was the only solution, nearly plunging the world into
nuclear war. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis)
- From 1961 onward, The US [School of
Americas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Se…,
a US Department of Defense institute in [Fort
Benning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Benning), Georgia, was
assigned the specific goal of teaching "anti-communist
counterinsurgency training," to CIA-supported right wing
paramilitaries. It trained more than 19,000 students from 36 countries
in the western hemisphere, including [several Latin American
dictators](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_S…,
and, during the 1980s, included
[torture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture) in its curriculum.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_…
- In 1961, in Ecuador, the CIA-backed military forces the
democratically elected President [José María Velasco
Ibarra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_Velasco_Ibarra)
to resign. Vice President Carlos Arosemana replaces him; the CIA fills
the now vacant vice presidency with its own man.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_Velasco_Ibarra)
- In 1961, the CIA assassinated [Rafael
Trujillo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Trujillo), a murderous
dictator responsible for the deaths of more than 50,000 people, who
Washington had supported since 1930. Trujillo’s business interests had
grown so large (about 60 percent of the economy) that they had begun
competing with American business interests. The US later provided
troops on the side of the loyalists in the 1965 [Dominican civil
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Civil_War), to ensure US
interests. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Civil_War)
- After the Failed bay of pigs invasion, the CIA began [Operation
Mongoose](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Project), a series of
covert operations to disrupt and destabilize Cuba. The operation
included economic warfare, including an embargo against Cuba, “to
induce failure of the Communist regime to supply Cuba's economic
needs,” a diplomatic initiative to isolate Cuba, and [psychological
operations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_operations)
“to turn the peoples' resentment increasingly against the
regime.”[[32\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_…
The economic warfare prong of the operation also included the
infiltration by the CIA of operatives to carry out many acts of
sabotage against civilian targets, such as a railway bridge, a
molasses storage facilities, an electric power plant, and the
[sugar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar) harvest, notwithstanding
Cuba’s repeated requests to the United States government to cease its
terrorist operations.[[33\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_…
In addition, the CIA orchestrated a number of [assassination attempts
against Fidel Castro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_against_Fidel_…,
head of government of Cuba, including attempts that entailed CIA
collaboration with the [American
mafia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mafia).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Project)
- In 1961, the CIA sent 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade Castro’s Cuba in
the failed [Bay of Pigs
Invasion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion). B26
bombers attacked cuban airfields, providing initial air support. The
planners had imagined that the invasion would spark a popular uprising
against Castro -– which never happened. Several hundred were killed in
the action. Castro's government returned the captured invaders for
medical supplies.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion)
- In 1959, following the [US occupation of
Haiti](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Haiti),
The U.S. military helps ["Papa Doc"
Duvalier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier) become
dictator of Haiti. He creates his own private police force, the
[Tonton Macoutes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonton_Macoute), who
terrorize the population with machetes. They kill over 100,000 during
the Duvalier family reign. The U.S. does not protest their dismal
human rights record.
- In 1958, The United States supported the [Batista
dictatorship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista) in
Cuba. Batista aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the
largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that
widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. Eventually most of the
sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the
arable land. As such, Batista's increasingly corrupt and repressive
government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation
of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships
with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and
prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based
multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell
the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently
displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista
established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his
Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to
carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions;
ultimately killing anywhere from hundreds to 20,000 people. After the
[Cuban revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution),
the CIA launched a long campaign of terrorism against Cuba, training
Cuban exiles in Florida, Central America and the Dominican Republic to
commit assassinations and sabotage in Cuba. These include the [cuban
embargo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba),
and [over 638 failed assasination attempts on fidel
castro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castr….
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista)
- In 1954, the CIA overthrows the democratically elected Guatemalen
[Jacobo Árbenz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobo_%C3%81rbenz) in a
[military coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
in [operation PBSucess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_PBSuccess).
Arbenz threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit
Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is
replaced with a series of US-backed right-wing dictators whose
bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next
40 years, until 1996. The coup has been described as the definitive
deathblow to democracy in
Guatemala.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9…
- In 1953, A 2011 release of British intelligence files revealed that
[US and British MI5 forces overthrew the government of Cheddi
Jagan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/26/mi5-files-coup-british…,
the elected leader of British Guyana. They showed how British spies
kept up intense scrutiny on Cheddi Jagan and his wife Janet, who
together founded the People's Progressive party (PPP) to campaign for
workers' rights and independence from British rule for the
sugar-producing colony in northern South America. Churchill and the US
feared that the Jagans were communists, although MI5 found no foreign
ties. Churchill dispatched a warship, HMS Superb, and brought hundreds
of troops by air and sea to secure key sites. An outraged Cheddi Jagan
appealed by telegram to Britain's opposition Labour party for help.
Leader Clement Attlee replied curtly: "Regret impossible to
intervene."
- In 1941, the US used its contacts in the Panama National Guard,
which the U.S. had earlier trained, to have the government of Panama
overthrown in a bloodless coup. The U.S. had requested that the
government of Panama allow it to build over 130 new military
installations inside and outside of the [Panama Canal
Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone), and the
government of Panama refused this request at the price suggested by
the U.S.
- In [Smedley Butler's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler#The_Banana_Wars)
(A former US general and medal of honor recipient) 1935 pamphlet, [War
is a Racket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket), he
recounted his experience as being an agent of American Imperialism: “I
spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during
that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big
Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a
racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and
especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped
make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to
collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central
American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify
Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in
1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American
sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American
fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that
Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might
have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate
his racket in three districts. I operated on three
continents.”[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler#The_Banana_War…
- In 1928, the Columbian army killed ~800-3000 striking workers in
Cienaga, Columbia, after the US threatened to invade with [U.S. Marine
Corps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps)
troops if the Colombian government did not act to protect the [United
Fruit Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company)'s
interests, in the [Banana
Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_massacre). The banana
plantation workers were demanding written contracts, eight-hour work
days, six-day work weeks and the elimination of food coupons. The
troops set up their machine guns on the roofs of the low buildings at
the corners of the main square, closed off the access streets, and
after a five-minute warning opened fire into a dense Sunday crowd of
workers and their wives and children who had gathered, after Sunday
Mass, to wait for an anticipated address from the governor.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_massacre)
- From 1916-24, the [US occupied the Dominican
Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_the_Dom…,
with repeated actions in 1903, 1904, and 1914.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_the_Dominican_…
- From 1915–34, [Haiti was occupied by the
US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Haiti),
which led to the creation of a new Haitian constitution in 1917 that
instituted changes that included an end to the prior ban on land
ownership by non-Haitians. Including the First and Second [Caco
Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caco_Wars).[[13\]](https://en.wikipedia…
At least 15,000 Haitians were killed.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Haiti)
- In 1914, the US military invaded Veracruz, Mexico, after US sailors
were arrested by the Mexican government for entering off-limits areas,
in the [Tampico Affair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampico_Affair).
Over 200 were killed in the invasion.
- In 1912, the US military invaded Nicaragua after intermittent
landings and naval bombardments in the previous decades. It was
occupied by the U.S. almost continuously from 1912 through 1933. With
the onset of the [Great
Depression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression) and
[Augusto C. Sandino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_C._Sandino)'s
Nicaraguan [guerrilla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla) troops
fighting back against U.S. troops, it became too costly for the [U.S.
government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_…
and a withdrawal was ordered in 1933.
- In 1903 the US backed its puppet state [Panama's secession from
Columbia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_Panama_from_Colombia),
for Columbia's refusal to allow the US military presence there. The
[Panama Canal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal) was under
construction by then, and the [Panama Canal
Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone), under United
States sovereignty, was then created, and under control by the US
military for 100 years, until
2000.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_Panama_from_Colombia)
- From 1895-1917, the [Banana
Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars) refers to the
military intervention on behalf of US business interests in Central
America and the Caribbean (8 countries in total) after the Spanish
American War. In Honduras, for example, the [United Fruit
Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company) and
[Standard Fruit
Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Fruit_Company)
dominated the country's key banana export sector and associated land
holdings and railways, and saw insertion of American troops in 1903,
1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars)
- In 1896, the US fought the [Spanish-American
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War)
largely over economic interests in the Caribbean, primarily Cuba.
Historian Eric Foner writes: "Even before the Spanish flag was down in
Cuba, U.S. business interests set out to make their influence felt.
Merchants, real estate agents, stock speculators, reckless
adventurers, and promoters of all kinds of get-rich schemes flocked to
Cuba by the thousands. Seven syndicates battled each other for control
of the franchises for the Havana Street Railway, which were finally
won by Percival Farquhar, representing the Wall Street interests of
New York. Thus, simultaneously with the military occupation began . .
. commercial occupation."
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War)
- In 1846, the US sent a small force into Mexico with the aim of
bringing about a war, and started the [Mexican-American
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War). The
US prevailed, expanding its territory far into Mexico, and killed
~25,000 mexicans in the process, as part of an ideological goal of
white supremacy in north america called [manifest
destiny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny). The shift in
the Mexico-U.S. border left many Mexican citizens separated from their
national government. For the indigenous peoples who had never accepted
Mexican rule, the change in border meant conflicts with a new outside
power.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War)
### Africa
- In early 2017, the US began conducting drone strikes in Somalia
against [Al Shabab](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shabaab_(militant_group))
militants. An [attack on July
16th](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33550390) killed 8 people.
[1](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33550390)
- In 1998, the US bombed the [Al Shifa pharmaceutical
factory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_pharmaceutical_factory)
in Sudan, killing one employee and wounding 11. It was the largest
pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, producing medicine both for human
and veterinary use. The US had acted on false evidence of a VX nerve
agent from a single soil sample, and later used a false witness to
cover for the attack. It was the only pharmaceutical factory in Africa
not under US control.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_pharmaceutical_factory)
- In June 1982, with the help of CIA money and arms, [Hissene
Habre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiss%C3%A8ne_Habr%C3%A9#Support_of_the…
, dubbed Africa's Pinochet, takes power in Chad. His secret police,
use methods of torture including the burning the body of the detainee
with incandescent objects, spraying gas into their eyes, ears and
nose, forced swallowing of water, and forcing the mouths of detainees
around the exhaust pipes of running cars. Habré's government also
periodically engaged in ethnic cleansing against groups such as the
Sara, Hadjerai and the Zaghawa, killing and arresting group members en
masse when it was perceived that their leaders posed a threat to the
regime. Human Rights Watch claimed that Habre was responsible for
thousands of killings. In 2001, while living in Senegal, he was almost
tried for crimes committed by him in Chad. However, a court there
blocked these proceedings. Then human rights people decided to pursue
the case in Belgium, because some of Habre’s torture victims lived
there. The U.S., in June 2003, told Belgium that it risked losing its
status as host to NATO’s headquarters if it allowed such a legal
proceeding to happen. So the result was that the law that allowed
victims to file complaints in Belgium for atrocities committed abroad
was repealed. However, two months later a new law was passed which
made special provision for the continuation of the case against Habre.
In May 2016 he was found guilty of human-rights abuses, including
rape, sexual slavery and ordering the killing of 40,000 people, and
sentenced to life in prison.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiss%C3%A8ne_Habr%C3%A9#Support_of_the_U.S…
- In the 1980s, Reagan maintains a close relationship with the
Apartheid South african government, called [constructive
engagement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_engagement),
while secretly [funding
it](http://www.salon.com/2011/02/05/ronald_reagan_apartheid_south_africa/)
in the hopes of creating a bulwark of anti-communism and preventing a
marxist party from taking power, as happened in angola. Later on, in
the wars against Apartheid in South Africa and Angola, in which cuban
and anti-apartheid forces fought the white south african government,
the [US supplied south africa with nuclear weapons via
Israel.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-…
[1](http://www.salon.com/2011/02/05/ronald_reagan_apartheid_south_africa/)
- In 1975, Henry Kissinger launches a CIA-backed war in Angola,
backing the brutal anti-communist leader of UNITAS, [Jonas
Savimbi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Savimbi), against
[Agostinho Neto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agostinho_Neto) and his
Marxist-Leninst MPLA party, creating a [civil
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angolan_Civil_War) lasting for 30
years. The CIA financed a covert invasion via neighboring Zaire and a
drive on the Angolan capital by the U.S. ally, South Africa. Congress
continues to fund UNITAS, and their south-african apartheid allies
until the late 1980s. By the end of the war, more than 500,000 people
had died and over one million had been internally displaced.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angolan_Civil_War)
- In 1966, a CIA-backed [military
coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Liberation_Council#1966_coup)
overthrows he widely popular Pan-Africanist and Marxist leader [Kwame
Nkrumah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah) in Ghana,
inviting the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to take a lead
role in managing the economy. With this reversal, accentuated by the
expulsion of immigrants and a new willingness to negotiate with
apartheid South Africa, Ghana lost a good deal of its stature in the
eyes of African
nationalists.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah)
- In 1965, a CIA-backed military coup installs [Mobutu Sese
Seko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobutu_Sese_Seko), described as
the "archetypal African dictator" in Congo. The hated and repressive
Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for
billions.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobutu_Sese_Seko)
- In 1961, the CIA assists in the assassination of the democratically
elected congolese leader [Patrice
Lumumba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba), throwing the
country into years of turmoil. Before his assassination the CIA sent
one of its scientists, Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, to the Congo carrying
“lethal biological material” intended for use in Lumumba’s
assassination. This virus would have been able to produce a fatal
disease indigenous to the Congo area of Africa and was transported in
a diplomatic pouch. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba)
- In 1801, and again in 1815, the US aided Sweden in subjugating a
series of coastal towns in North Africa, in the [Barbary
Wars.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Wars) The stated reason
was to crack down on pirates, but the wars destroyed the navies of
Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, and secured European and US shipping
routes for goods and slaves in North Africa. US Representatives
stated: “When we can appear in the Ports of the various Powers, or on
the Coast, of Barbary, with Ships of such force as to convince those
nations that We are able to protect our trade, and to compel them if
necessary to keep faith with Us, then, and not before, We may probably
secure a large share of the Meditn trade, which would largely and
speedily compensate the U. S. for the Cost of a maritime force amply
sufficient to keep all those Pirates in Awe, and also make it their
interest to keep faith.” Thomas Jefferson echoed and carried out the
war, saying that war was essential to securing markets along the
Barbary Coast.
### Asia
- Between 1996-2006, The US has given money and weapons to royalist
forces against the nepalese communists in the [Nepalese civil
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_Civil_War). ~18,000 people
have died in the conflict. In 2002, after another civil war erupted,
President George W. Bush pushed a bill through Congress authorizing
$20 million in military aid to the Nepalese
government.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_Civil_War)
- In 1996, after receiving incredibly low approval ratings, the US
helped elect [Boris
Yeltsin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin), an incompetent
pro-capitalist independent, by giving him a \$10 Billion dollar loan
to [finance a winning
election](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/05/americans-s….
Rather than creating new enterprises, Yeltsin's democratization led to
international monopolies hijacking the former Soviet markets,
arbitraging the huge difference between old domestic prices for
Russian commodities and the prices prevailing on the world market.
Much of the Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, and as a
result of persistent low oil and commodity prices during the 1990s,
Russia suffered inflation, economic collapse and enormous political
and social problems that affected Russia and the other former states
of the USSR. Under Yeltsin, Between 1990 and 1994, [life expectancy
for Russian men and women fell from 64 and 74 years respectively to 58
and 71 years](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/05/americans-spot….
The surge in mortality was “beyond the peacetime experience of
industrialised countries”. While it was boom time for the new
oligarchs, poverty and unemployment surged; prices were hiked
dramatically; communities were devastated by deindustrialisation; and
social protections were stripped
away.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin),[2](https://www.thegu…
- In the 1970s-80s, wikileaks cables revealed that the US [covertly
supported the Khmer
Rouge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_United_States_support_f…
in their fight against the Vietnamese communists. Annual support
included an end total of ~$215M USD, food aid to 20-40k Khmer Rouge
fighters, CIA advisors in several camps, and ammunition.
- In December 1975, The US supplied the weaponry for the [Indonesian
invasion of East
Timor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_invasion_of_East_Timor).
This incursion was launched the day after U.S. President Gerald Ford
and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had left Indonesia where they
had given President Suharto permission to use American arms, which
under U.S. law, could not be used for aggression. Daniel Moynihan,
U.S. ambassador to the UN. said that the U.S. wanted “things to turn
out as they did.” The result was an estimated 200,000 dead out of a
population of 700,000. Sixteen years later, on November 12, 1991, two
hundred and seventeen East Timorese protesters in Dili, many of them
children, marching from a memorial service, were gunned down by
Indonesian Kopassus shock troops who were headed by U.S.- trained
commanders Prabowo Subianto (son in law of General Suharto) and Kiki
Syahnakri. Trucks were seen dumping bodies into the sea.
- In [1975 Australian Constitutional
Crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis),
the CIA helped topple the democratically elected, left-leaning
government of Prime Minister [Gough
Whitlam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam), by telling
Governor-General, [John
Kerr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerr_(governor-general)), a
longtime CIA collaborator, to dissolve the Whitlam government.
- In 2018 after the release of a suppressed ISC (International
Scientific Commission) report, and the release of declassified CIA
communications daily reports in 2020, it was revealed that the US used
germ warfare in the Korean war. Many of these attacks involved the
dropping of insects or small mammals infected with viruses such as
[anthrax, plague, cholera, and
encephalitis.](https://medium.com/@jeff_kaye/a-concealed-war-crime-u-s-anth…
After discovering evidence of germ warfare, China invited the ISC
headed by famed British scientist Joseph Needham, to investigate, but
the report was suppressed for over 70 years.
- Between 1963 and 1973, The US dropped ~388,000 tons of [napalm
bombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm#Military_use) in vietnam,
compared to 32,357 tons used over three years in the Korean War, and
16,500 tons dropped on Japan in 1945. US also sprayed over 5 million
acres with herbicide, in [Operation Ranch
Hand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ranch_Hand), in a 10
year campaign to deprive the vietnamese of food and vegetation cover.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm#Military_use),[2](https://en.wikipe…
- In 1971 in Pakistan, an authoritarian state supported by the U.S.,
brutally invaded East Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. The
war ended after India, whose economy was staggering after admitting
about 10 million refugees, invaded East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and
defeated the West Pakistani forces. The US gave W. pakistan 411
million provided to establish its armed forces which spent 80% of its
budget on its military. 15 million in arms flowed into W. Pakistan
during the war. Between 300,000 to 3 million civilians were killed,
with 8-10 million refugees fleeing to India. 1
- In 1970, In Cambodia, The CIA overthrows [Prince
Sihanouk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norodom_Sihanouk), who is
highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam
War. He is replaced by CIA puppet [Lon
Nol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lon_Nol), whose forces suppressed
the large-scale popular demonstrations in favour of Sihanouk,
resulting in several hundred
deaths.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lon_Nol#cite_note-kiernan302-17)
This unpopular move strengthens once minor opposition parties like the
Khmer Rouge (another CIA supported group), who achieve power in 1975
and massacres ~2.5 million people.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge) The Khmer Rouge, under
Pol Pot, carried out the [Cambodian
Genocide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide), which
killed 1.5-2M people from 1975-1979.
- In 1969, The US initiated a secret carpet bombing campaign in
eastern Cambodia, called, [Operation
Menu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Menu), and [Operation
Freedom Deal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freedom_Deal) in
1970. An estimated 40,000 - 150,000 civilians were killed. Nixon lied
about this campaign, but was later exposed, and one of the things that
lead to his impeachment.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freedom_Deal)
- US dropped large amounts of [Agent
Orange](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange#Vietnamese_victims_class…,
an herbicide developed by monsanto and dow chemical for the department
of defense, in vietnam. Its use, in particular the contaminant dioxin,
causes multiple health problems, including cleft palate, mental
disabilities, hernias, still births, poisoned breast milk, and extra
fingers and toes, as well as destroying local species of plants and
animals. The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million
people are disabled or have health problems due to Agent
Orange.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange#cite_note-56),
[2](https://www.projectcensored.org/15-vietnam-aftermath-the-untold-story-of…
- US Troops killed between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians, including
women, children, and infants, in South Vietnam on March, 1968, in the
[My Lai Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre). Some
of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated. Soldiers set
fire to huts, waiting for civilians to come out so they could shoot
them. For 30 years, the three US servicemen who tried to halt the
massacre and rescue the hiding civilians were shunned and denounced as
traitors, even by congressmen.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre)
- In 1967, the CIA helped South Vietnamese agents identify and then
murder alleged Viet Cong leaders operating in villages, in the
[Phoenix Program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Program). By
1972, Phoenix operatives had executed between 26,000 and 41,000
suspected NLF operatives, informants and
supporters.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Program)
- In 1965, The [CIA
overthrew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Indonesia)
the democratically elected Indonesian leader
[Sukarno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno) with a military coup.
The CIA had been trying to eliminate Sukarno since 1957, using
everything from attempted assassination to sexual intrigue, for
nothing more than his declaring neutrality in the Cold War. His
successor, [General Suharto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto),
aided by the CIA, massacred between 500,000 to 1 million civilians
accused of being communist, in the [Indonesian mass killings of
1965-66](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_1965%E2%….
The US continued to support Suharto throughout the 70s, supplying
weapons and planes.
- From the 1960s onward, the US supported Filipino dictator [Ferdinand
Marcos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos). The US
provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, which was crucial in
buttressing Marcos's rule over the years. The estimated number of
persons that were executed and disappeared under President Fernando
Marcos was over 100,000. After fleeing to hawaii, marco was suceeded
by the widow of an opponent he assasinated, [Corazon
aquino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corazon_Aquino).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos)
- Starting in 1957, in the wake of the US-backed [First Indochina
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Indochina_War), The CIA
carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos’
democratic elections, specifically targeting the [Pathet
Lao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathet_Lao), a leftist group with
enough popular support to be a member of any coalition government, and
perpetuating the [20 year Laotian civil
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laotian_Civil_War). In the late
50s, the CIA even creates an "Armee Clandestine" of Asian mercenaries
to attack the Pathet Lao. After the CIA’s army suffers numerous
defeats, the U.S. drops more bombs on Laos than all the U.S. bombs
dropped in World War II. A quarter of all Laotians will eventually
become refugees, many living in caves. This was later called a “secret
war,” since it occurred at the same time as the Vietnam War, but got
little press. Hundreds of thousands were
killed.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laotian_Civil_War)
- In 1955, the CIA provided explosives, and aided KMT agents in an
[assassination attempt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_Princess)
against the Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai. KMT agents placed a time-bomb
on the Air India aircraft, [Kashmir
Princess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_Princess), which Zhou
was supposed to take on his way to the [Bandung
Conference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandung_Conference), an
anti-imperialist meeting of Asian and African states, but he changed
his travel plans at the last minute. Henry Kissinger denied US
involvement, even though remains of a US detonator were found. 16
people were killed.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir_Princess)
- From 1955-1975, the US supported French colonialist interests in
Vietnam, set up a puppet regime in Saigon to serve US interests, and
later took part as a belligerent against North Vietnam in the [Vietnam
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War). U.S. involvement
escalated further following the 1964 [Gulf of Tonkin
incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident),
which was later found to be staged by Lyndon Johnson. The war exacted
a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (see [Vietnam War
casualties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_casualties))
Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed
vary from 966,000
[source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War#cite_note-Hirschman-30)
to 3.8 million.[source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War#cite_note-Oberme…
Some 240,000–300,000
[Cambodians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_people),[source](https://en…
20,000–62,000 [Laotians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_people),[4](https://en.wikipedi…
and 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict, with a
further 1,626 missing in action. Unexploded bomb [continue to kill
civilians](https://www.projectcensored.org/us-weapons-still-killing-in-viet…
for years afterward. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War)
- In the summer of 1950 in South Korea, anticommunists aided by the US
executed at least 100,000 people suspected of supporting communism, in
the [Bodo League
Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodo_League_massacre). For
four decades the South Korean government concealed this massacre.
Survivors were forbidden by the government from revealing it, under
suspicion of being communist sympathizers. Public revelation carried
with it the threat of torture and death. During the 1990s and onwards,
several corpses were excavated from mass graves, resulting in public
awareness of the massacre.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodo_League_massacre)
- In 1984, documents were released showing that [Eisenhower authorized
the use of atomic weapons on North
Korea](https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/08/world/us-papers-tell-of-53-policy…,
should the communists renew the war in 1953. The 2,000 pages released
show the high level of planning and the detail of discussion on
possible use of these weapons, and Mr. Eisenhower's interest in
overcoming reluctance to use them.
- In the beginning of the Korean war, US Troops killed ~300 South
Korean civilians in the [No Gun Ri
massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Gun_Ri_massacre), revealing
a theater-wide policy of firing on approaching refugee groups. Trapped
refugees began piling up bodies as barricades and tried to dig into
the ground to hide. Some managed to escape the first night, while U.S.
troops turned searchlights on the tunnels and continued firing, said
Chung Koo-ho, whose mother died shielding him and his sister. No
apology has yet been issued.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Gun_Ri_massacre#Killings)
- The US intervened in the [1950-53 Korean Civil
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War), on the side of the
south Koreans, in a proxy war between the US and china for supremacy
in East Asia. South Korea reported some 373,599 civilian and 137,899
military deaths, the US with 34,000 killed, and China with 114,000
killed.[[16\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War#cite_note-ROK_Web-1…
Overall, the U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs—including 32,557 tons
of napalm—on Korea, more than they did during the whole Pacific
campaign of World War
II.[[305\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War#cite_note-Walkom2010-3…
The US killed an estimated 1/3rd of the north Korean people during the
war. The Joint Chiefs of staff issued orders for the retaliatory
bombing of the People's republic of China, should south Korea be
attacked. Deadly clashes have continued up to the present day.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War#U.S._threat_of_atomic_warfare)
- From 1948-1949, the [Jeju
uprising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_uprising) was an
insurgency taking place in the Korean province of Jeju island,
followed by severe anticommunist suppression of the [South Korean
Labor Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Party_of_South_Korea)
in which 14-30,000 people were killed, or ~10% of the island's
population. Though atrocities were committed by both sides, the
methods used by the South Korean government to suppress the rebels
were especially cruel. On one occasion, American soldiers discovered
the bodies of 97 people including children, killed by government
forces. On another, American soldiers caught government police forces
carrying out an execution of 76 villagers, including women and
children. The US later entered the Korean civil war on the side of the
South Koreans. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_uprising)
- In 1949 during the resumed [Chinese Civil
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Civil_War), the US
supported the corrupt Kuomintang dictatorship of Chiang Kaishek to
fight against the Chinese Communists, who had won the support of the
vast majority of peasant-farmers and helped defeat the Japanese
invasion. The US strongly supported the Kuomintang forces. Over 50,000
US Marines were sent to guard strategic sites, and 100,000 US troops
were sent to [Shandong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandong). The
US equipped and trained over 500,000 KMT troops, and transported KMT
forces to occupy newly liberated zones as well as to contain
Communist-controlled
areas.[[51\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Civil_War#cite_note-nat…
American aid included substantial amounts of both new and surplus
military supplies; additionally, loans worth hundreds of millions of
dollars were made to the
KMT.[[59\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Civil_War#cite_note-62)
Within less than two years after the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT had
received $4.43 billion from the US—most of which was military
aid.[[51\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Civil_War#cite_note-nat-5…
- The U.S. installed [Syngman
Rhee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngman_Rhee),a conservative
Korean exile, as President of South Korea in 1948. Rhee became a
dictator on an anti-communist crusade, arresting and torturing
suspected communists, brutally putting down rebellions, killing
100,000 people and vowing to take over North Korea. Rhee precipitated
the outbreak of the [Korean
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War) and for the allied
decision to invade North Korea once South Korea had been recaptured.
He was finally forced to resign by mass student protests in
1960.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngman_Rhee)
- Between 1946 and 1958, the US [tested 23 nuclear devices at Bikini
Atoll, using the native islanders and their land as guinea pigs for
the effects of nuclear
fallout](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing_at_Bikini_Atoll).
Significant fallout caused widespread radiological contamination in
the area, and killed many islanders. A survivor stated, "What the
Americans did was no accident. They came here and destroyed our land.
They came to test the effects of a nuclear bomb on us. It was no
accident." Many of the islanders exposed were brought to the US
Argonne National laboratory, to study the effects. Afterwards the
islands proved unsuitable to sustaining life, resulting in starvation
and requiring the residents to receive ongoing aid. Virtually all of
the inhabitants showed acute symptoms of radiation syndrome, many
developing thyroid cancers, Leukimia, miscarriages, stillborn and
"jellyfish babies" (highly deformed) along with symptoms like hair
falling out, and diahrrea. A handful were brought to the US for
medical research and later returned, while others were evacuated to
neighboring Islands. The US under LBJ prematurely returned the
majority returned 3 years later, to further test how human beings
absorb radiation from their food and environment. The islanders
pleaded with the US to move them away from the islands, as it became
clear that their children were developing deformities and radiation
sickness. Radion levels were still unacceptable. The United States
later paid the islanders and their descendants 25 million in
compensation for damage caused by the nuclear testing program. A 2016
investigation found radiation levels on Bikini Atoll as high as 639
mrem yr−1, well above the established safety standard threshold for
habitation of 100 mrem yr−1. Similar tests occurred elsewhere in the
Marshall Islands during this time period. Due to the destruction of
natural wealth, Kwajalein Atoll's military installation and
dislocation, the [majority of natives currently live in extreme
poverty](http://hellomarshallislands.weebly.com/poverty.html), making
less than 1$ a day. Those that have jobs, mostly work at the US
military installation and resorts. Much of this is detailed in the
documentary, [The Coming War on China
(2016)](https://vimeo.com/277068625)
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing_at_Bikini_Atoll),[2](http:…
- After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Douglas MacArthur pardoned
[Unit 731](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cover-up_of_Japanese_war_crimes),
a Japanese biological experimentation center which performed human
testing of biological agents against Chinese citizens. While a series
of war tribunals and trials was organized, many of the high-ranking
officials and doctors who devised and respectively performed the
experiments were pardoned and never brought to justice. As many as
12,000 people, most of them Chinese, died in Unit 731 alone and many
more died in other facilities, such as Unit 100 and in field
experiments throughout Manchuria. One of the experimenters who killed
many, microbiologist [Shiro
Ishii](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shir%C5%8D_Ishii), later traveled
to the US to advise on its bioweapons programs. In the final days of
the Pacific War and in the face of imminent defeat, Japanese troops
blew up the headquarters of Unit 731 in order to destroy evidence of
the research done there. As part of the cover-up, Ishii ordered 150
remaining subjects
killed.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cover-up_of_Japanese_war_…
- In 1945 during the month-long [Battle of
Manila](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_\(1945\)), the
US in deciding whether to attack Manila (then under Japanese
occupation) with ground troops, decided instead to use indiscriminate
carpet-bombing, howitzers, and naval bombardment, killing an estimated
[100,000 people.](https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/americans-destroyed-manila-19…
The casualty figures show the US's regard for filipino civilian life:
1,010 Americans, 16,665 Japanese and 100,000 to 240,000 civilians were
killed. Manila became, alongside Berlin, and Warsaw, one of the most
devastated cities of WW2.
- US Troops committed a [number of
rapes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_occupation_of_Japan)
during the battle of Okinawa, and the subsequent occupation of Japan.
There were 1,336 reported rapes during the first 10 days of the
occupation of Kanagawa prefecture
alone.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_occupation_of_Japan)
American Occupation authorities imposed wide-ranging censorship on the
Japanese media, including bans on covering many sensitive social
issues and serious crimes such as rape committed by members of the
Occupation forces.[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_occupation_of_Japa…
- From 1942 to 1945, the US military carried out a [fire-bombing
campaign of Japanese
cities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan), killing
between 200,000 and 900,000 civilians. One nighttime fire-bombing of
Tokyo took 80,000 lives. During early August 1945, the US [dropped
atomic bombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagas…
on [Hiroshima](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima) and
[Nagasaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagasaki), killing ~130,000
civilians, and causing radiation damage which included birth defects
and a variety of genetic diseases for decades to come. The
justification for the civilian bombings has largely been debunked, as
the entrance of Russia into the war had already started the surrender
negotiations earlier in 1945. The US was aware of this, since it had
broken the Japanese code and had been intercepting messages during for
most of the year. The US ended up [accepting a conditional surrender
from Hirohito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan),
against which was one of the stated aims of the civilian bombings. The
dropping of the atomic bomb is therefore seen as a demonstration of US
military supremacy, and the first major operation of the Cold War with
Russia. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan),[2](http://foreignpoli…
- In 1918, the US took part in the [allied intervention in the Russian
civil war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_intervention_in_the_Russian_Civil…,
sending 11,000 troops to the in the Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok
regions to support the anti-bolshevik, monarchist, and largely
anti-semitic [White
Forces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_movement).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_intervention_in_the_Russian_Civil_W…
- In 1900 in China, the US was part of an [Eight-Nation
Alliance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-Nation_Alliance) that
brought 20,000 armed troops to China, to defeat the Imperial Chinese
Army, in the the [Boxer
Rebellion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion), an
anti-imperialist uprising.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion)
- In 1899, after a [popular
revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Revolution) in
the Philippines to oust the Spanish imperialists, the US invaded and
began the [Phillipine-American
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine–American_War). The US
military committed countless atrocities, leaving 200,000 Filipinos
dead. [Jacob H Smith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_H._Smith)
killed between 2,500 to 50,000 civilians, His orders included, "kill
everyone over the age of ten" and make the island "a howling
wilderness."[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine–American_War),[2](https://en.wi…
- Throughout the 1800s, [US settlers engaged in a genocide of native
Hawaiians.](https://wanderwisdom.com/travel-destinations/Hawaii-and-Native-…
The native population decreased from ~ 400k in 1789, to 40k by 1900,
due to colonization and disease. In 1883, the US engineered the
overthrow of Hawaii's native monarch, Queen
[Lili'uokalani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liliuokalani), by
landing two companies of US marines in Honolulu. Due to the Queen's
desire "to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss
of life" for her subjects and after some deliberation, at the urging
of advisers and friends, the Queen ordered her forces to surrender.
Hawaii was initially reconstituted as an independent
[republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic), but the ultimate
goal of the US was the annexation of the islands to the United States,
which was finally accomplished in 1898. After this, the Hawaiian
language was banned, English replaced it as the official language in
all institutions and schools. The US finally apologized in 1993, but
no land has been returned.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overthrow_of_the_Kingdom_of_Hawaii)
### Europe
- In late 2019, [CIA agent Anne Sacoolas hit and killed a British
teenage pedestrian named Harry Dunn with her
car](https://thegrayzone.com/2020/02/18/assange-us-extradite-cia-killed-bri…,
while she was driving on the wrong side of the road, near the RAF
Croughton base in the UK where she and her husband (both CIA agents)
worked. After the Foreign and Commonwealth office rejected Anne
Sacoolas request for diplomatic immunity, Anne fled the UK on a US Air
Force plane. Both the US and UK governments lied to the Dunn family,
saying that she was a US diplomat, and hid the fact that she had fled
for months. In October, the Dunn family visited the White House and
met with Donald Trump. According to Seiger, Trump tried to buy off the
couple, promising them that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was
“standing by ready to write a check.” Trump reportedly blindsided the
Dunns, telling them that Sacoolas was in the other room waiting to
meet with them. The couple refused the offer, demanding her
extradition. Sacoolas's lawyers have stated, “Anne will not return
voluntarily to the United Kingdom to face a potential jail sentence
for what was a terrible but unintentional accident.” As of February
2020, the extradition request is at an impasse, while at the same time
the UK is complying with Julian Assange's extradition to the US. RAF
Croughton base houses agents from the NSA and CIA, and is famous for
being exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for forwarding
information from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone to the CIA.
On march 2021, the [US admitted that sacoolas was a CIA
agent.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36C3gmE3fWY)
- In 2003, the CIA kidnapped Italian milanese Imam Abu Omar, took him
to Egypt, then tortured, including rape, genital electro-shock, and
resulted in him becoming deaf in one ear, in the [Imam Rapito
Affair.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imam_Rapito_affair) On 23
December 2005, a judge issued a European arrest warrant against 22 CIA
agents, but the US hasn't responded.
- In 2002, GW Bush signed into law the ["Hague invasion
act"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members'_Protection_Act),
IE the American Service-Members' Protection Act, which gives the US:
"all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any
U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf
of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court".
- From March to June of 1999, After Serbs refused to acquiesce in the
break-up of their republic, the US and NATO began [bombing
Yugoslavia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_Yugoslavia)
killing ~500 civilians, leaving thousands homeless, destroying
bridges, industrial plants, public buildings, private businesses, as
well as barracks and military installations.
[1](https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/18/breaking-yugoslavia-how-the-us-u…,
[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_Yugoslavia)
- In February, 1998, A US marine core plane flying wrecklessly below
regulations, cut a cable supporting aerial cable cars at a ski resort
near Cavalese, Italy, killing 20 people, in the [Cavalese Cable Car
Disaster.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_\(1998…
The pilots destroyed the plane's tape, and were found not guilty.
Italian prosecutors were outraged that the US refused to forgoe the
NATO treaty that gives all jurisduction to US military courts. By
February 1999, the victims' families had received USD $65,000 per
victim as immediate help by the Italian government, which was
reimbursed by the U.S. government. In May 1999, the U.S. Congress
rejected a bill that would have set up a $40 million compensation fund
for the victims. In December 1999, the Italian legislature approved a
monetary compensation plan for the families ($1.9 million per victim).
NATO treaties obligated the U.S. government to pay 75% of this
compensation, which it did.
- In 1995, the US conducted a campaign of airstrikes called [Operation
Deliberate Force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deliberate_Force),
as part of an intervention in the [Bosnian civil
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_War).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deliberate_Force)
- From the 1950s-90s, the CIA and NATO ran a series of clandestine
networks, headquartered in Rome, Italy called [Operation
Gladio.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio) Its purpose
was supplying aid (primarily money and weaponry) to right wing
paramilitaries to attack left-wing movements, and carry out
assassinations and bombings, as well as funnel money to centrist
political parties. It had operations in Belgium, Finland, Denmark,
France, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Turkey,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Austria. In Italy, the group had 600+
members, and carried out car bombings during Italy's [years of
lead.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_Lead) In Germany, it
included former Nazi SS members—Staff Sgt. Heinrich Hoffman, Lt. Col.
Hans Rues, and Lt. Col. Walter Kopp. CIA weapons caches are still
being discovered in all the countries above.
- Throughout the 1980-90s, the US, with the aid of the IMF and NATO,
[actively destabilized and
aided](https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/18/breaking-yugoslavia-how-the-…
in the [breakup of
Yugoslavia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_Yugoslavia), with
the goal of weakening and destroying the last surviving socialist bloc
in Europe. These include stirring up ethnic tensions between the
member countries, economic warfare, and military intervention. The
Reagan administration in a 1982 secret memo, advocated "expanded
efforts to promote a 'quiet revolution' to overthrow Communist
governments and parties," while reintegrating the countries of Eastern
Europe into a market-oriented economy. In November 1990, the Bush
administration pressured Congress into passing the [1991 Foreign
Operations Appropriations
Act](https://archive.org/details/TheUSLawThatPushedTheBreakUpOfYugoslaviaPu…,
which provided that any part of Yugoslavia failing to declare
independence within six months would lose U.S. financial support,
demanded separate elections in each of the six Yugoslav republics, and
mandated U.S. State Department approval of both election procedures
and results as a condition for any future aid. In 1991, Yugoslav Army
chief [Veljko Kadijević](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veljko_Kadijevi%C4%87)
stated: "An insidious plan has been drawn up to destroy Yugoslavia.
Stage one is civil war. Stage two is foreign intervention. Then puppet
regimes will be set up throughout Yugoslavia."
[1](https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/18/breaking-yugoslavia-how-the-us-u…,
[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_Yugoslavia),
[3](https://archive.org/details/TheUSLawThatPushedTheBreakUpOfYugoslaviaPubl…
- In 1967 in Greece, the CIA installed [Georgios
Papadopoulos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgios_Papadopoulos) in
a military coup, a CIA agent and former nazi collaborator, as the
military ruler of Greece. He's seen today as an relic of
authoritarianism , xenophobia, and anti-communism.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgios_Papadopoulos) Phillips
Talbot, the US ambassador in Athens, disapproved of the military coup
which established the "Regime of the Colonels" (1967–1974),
complaining that it represented "a rape of democracy"—to which Jack
Maury, the CIA chief of station in Athens, answered, "How can you rape
a whore?
- From the 1940s - 60s, the [CIA provided an average of $5 million
annually](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Italy) in
covert aid towards financially supporting centrist Italian governments
and using the awarding of contracts to weaken the Italian Communist
Party's hold on labor unions. It was also involved in bombings and
assassinations as a part of [Operation
Gladio.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio)
- In 1956, [Radio Free
Europe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Liberty)
(a CIA funded propaganda outlet) broadcasts Khruschev’s Secret Speech,
which played a role in the [Hungarian
revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956),
and also hinted that American aid will help the Hungarians fight. The
US fails to provide any military aid to Hungary in their ensuing
conflict with the Soviet Union.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956)
- From 1948 onwards, the CIA under [Allen
Dulles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Dulles) developed a
program of media manipulation called [Project
Mockingbird](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird),
having major influence over the media, including >25 newspapers. The
usual method was placing reports developed from intelligence provided
by the CIA to cooperating or unwitting reporters, or employing media
directly as American
assets.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird)
- In 1948, the [CIA corrupts the elections in
Italy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Italy), where
Italian communists threaten to win the elections. The CIA buys votes,
broadcasts propaganda, threatens and beats up opposition leaders, and
infiltrates and disrupts their organizations. The communists are
defeated.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_general_election,_1948#S…
- In 1947, in [Greek civil
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Civil_War) and ensuing [right
wing military junta of
1967-74](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_military_junta_of_1967%E2%80%9…,
Truman and the CIA provided money, 74,000 tons of military equipment,
and advisors to support anti-communist Greek dictators with deplorable
human rights records. Support for right-wing dictatorships in Greece
and Turkey were funded and sold under the [Truman
Doctrine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Doctrine), an
anti-soviet foreign policy platform, despite the fact that it was
Yugoslavia who provided support to the Greek labor movement rebels,
and not the Soviet
Union.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_military_junta_of_1967%E2%80%…
- In the post-war period, while the USSR carried out de-nazification
in East Germany, in West Germany many Nazis were kept in power. [One
study](https://www.thelocal.de/20161010/most-of-post-war-justice-ministry-were-nazis-study)
revealed that more than half of the leadership of the West German
Justice Ministry were former members of the Nazi party, including
dozens of former paramilitary SA members. Several former Nazi
Generals, including Adolf Heusinger, and Hans Speidel, [went on to
become generals in West Germany, and then
NATO.](https://i.imgur.com/px9WNrQ.png)
- During the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, eight unarmed Italian
civilians, including an eleven year old girl, were killed by U.S.
troops. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canicatt%C3%AC_massacre)
- US soldiers killed 73 unarmed Italian and German prisoners of war in
Santo Pietro, Italy on July 1943. The survivors were then shot at
close range, directly through the heart.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscari_massacre)
- The [Rheinwiesenlager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinwiesenlager)
(Rhine meadow camps) were a group of 19 US prison camps built in the
Allied-occupied part of Germany to hold captured German soldiers at
the close of the Second World War, holding between one and almost two
million surrendered Wehrmacht personnel. Prisoners held in the camps
were designated Disarmed Enemy Forces and not POWs, to avoid
international treaty regulations. Throughout the summer of 1945, the
[International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Committee_of_the_Red_Cro…)
was prevented from visiting prisoners in any of the Allies'
*Rheinwiesenlager*. Visits were only started in the autumn of 1945, at
a time when most camps had closed or were closing. During their
visits, the delegates observed that German prisoners of war were often
detained in appalling conditions. They drew the attention of the
authorities to this fact, and gradually succeeded in getting some
improvements made."[[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinwiesenlager#cite_note-7)
Between 3,000 to 10,000 died from starvation, dehydration and exposure
to the weather elements because no structures were built inside the
prison compounds. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinwiesenlager)
- A study by Robert J. Lilly estimates that a total of 14,000 civilian
women in England, France and Germany were raped by American GIs during
World War II.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes#cite_note-66).
It is estimated that there were around 3,500 rapes by American
servicemen in France between June 1944 and the end of the war and one
historian has claimed that sexual violence against women in liberated
France was common.[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes#cite_note…
- In July, 1945, the predecessor to the CIA, the US Office of
Strategic Services (OSS), under the name [Operation
Paperclip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip), rescued
and recruited 1,500 Nazi scientists, engineers, and spies. These
included [Reinhard
Gehlen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Gehlen), Hitler’s
master spy who had built up an intelligence network in the Soviet
Union, SS intelligence officers Alfred Six and Emil Augsburg (who
massacred Jews in the Holocaust), [Klaus
Barbie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie#US_intelligence_and_Boli…
(the "Butcher of Lyon", who was used by the US to further
anti-communist efforts in europe), [Otto von
Bolschwing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bolschwing) (the
Holocaust mastermind who worked with Eichmann) and SS Colonel [Otto
Skorzeny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Skorzeny) (a personal
friend of Hitler’s). The policy of collaboration with nazi spies was
deemed necessary to counter the threat from the USSR.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip)
- In February 1945, 527 airplanes of the [United States Army Air
Forces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Forces)
(USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of
[high-explosive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-explosive) bombs
and [incendiary
devices](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incendiary_device) on the city
of [Dresden, Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden),
killing ~25,000
civilians.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden)
- In the summer of 1942, the US turned away a [series of ships of
Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi
Germany.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/us-government-turned-away-…
Most notoriously, in June 1939, the German ocean liner St. Louis and
its 937 passengers, almost all Jewish, were turned away from the port
of Miami, forcing the ship to return to Europe; more than a quarter
died in the Holocaust.
[1](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/us-government-turned-away-thousan…
- The US maintained [a policy of neutrality during the rise of Hitler
and Mussolini](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_Acts_of_1930s),
discounting the rise of anti-semitism and European fascism. It was not
Hitler's attacks on the Jews that brought the United States into World
War II, any more than the enslavement of 4 million blacks brought
Civil War in 1861. Italy's attack on Ethiopia, Hitler's invasion of
Austria, his takeover of Czechoslovakia, his attack on Poland-none of
those events caused the United States to enter the war, although
Roosevelt did begin to give important aid to England. What brought the
United States fully into the war was the Japanese attack on the
American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7,
1941.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_Acts_of_1930s)
- In the 1936-39 [Spanish civil
war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War), the Roosevelt
administration sponsored a neutrality act that had the effect of
shutting off help to the Spanish government while Hitler and Mussolini
gave critical aid to Franco, aiding yet another fascist victory in
Europe. American President [Richard
Nixon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon) later toasted
Franco's "firmness and
fairness",[[41\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain%E2%80%93United_States_relations#cite_note-41)
and, after Franco's death, he stated: "General Franco was a loyal
friend and ally of the United
States.[[42\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain%E2%80%93United_States_re…".
## Internal Repression
### Native Americans
- In 2016, the US army corp of engineers approved a [Energy Transfer
Partners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Transfer_Partners)'
proposal to build an oil pipeline near the [Standing Rock Indian
Reservation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Rock_Indian_Reservation),
sparking the [Dakota Access Pipeline
Protests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Access_Pipeline_protests),
evoking a brutal response from North Dakota police aided by the
[National Guard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_of_the_United_States),
private security firms, and other law enforcement agencies from
surrounding states. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe believes that the
pipeline would put the Missouri River, the water source for the
reservation, at risk, pointing out two recent spills, [a 2010 pipeline
spill into the Kalamazoo
River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalamazoo_River_oil_spill) in
Michigan, which cost over billion to clean up with significant
contamination remaining, and a 2015 [Bakken crude oil spill into the
Yellowstone River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Yellowstone_River_oil_spill)
in Montana. Police repression has included dogs attacking protesters,
spraying water cannons on protesters in sub-freezing temperatures,
>700 arrests of Native Americans and ~200 injuries, a highly
militarized police force using armored personnel carriers, concussion
grenades, mace, Tasers, batons, rubber bullets, and tear gas. In
November 2017, the keystone XL pipeline burst, [spilling 210,000
gallons of oil](http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/16/us/keystone-pipeline-leak/)
in Amherst, South Dakota.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Access_Pipeline_protests),
[2](http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/16/us/keystone-pipeline-leak/)
- In 1975, FBI agents attacked AIM activists on the [Pine Ridge
Reservation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Indian_Reservation#Th…,
in the 'Pine Ridge
Shootout'.[[37\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Indian_Reservation#cite_note-TimeShootout-37)
Two FBI agents, and an AIM activist were killed. In two separate
trials, the U.S. prosecuted participants in the firefight for the
deaths of the agents. AIM members [Robert
Robideau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Robideau) and Dino
Butler were acquitted after asserting that they had acted in
self–defense. [Leonard
Peltier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Peltier) was extradited
from Canada and tried separately because of the delay. He was
convicted on two counts of first–degree murder for the deaths of the
FBI agents[[38\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Indian_Reservation#c…
and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life in prison, after a
trial which is still contentious. He remains in prison.
- In 1973, 200 [Oglala
Lakota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oglala_Lakota) and AIM activists
occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge
Reservation, called the [Wounded knee
incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_incident). They
were protesting the reservation's corrupt US-backed tribal chairman,
[Dick Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Wilson_(tribal_chairman)),
who controlled a private militia, called [Guardians of the Oglala
Nation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_Oglala_Nation)
(GOONs), funded by the government. FBI, US marshals, and other law
enforcement cordoned off the area and attacked the activists with
armored vehicles, automatic rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers,
and gas shells, resulting in two killed and 13 wounded. [Ray
Robinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Ray_Robinson), a [civil
rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights) activist who
joined the protesters, disappeared during the events and is believed
to have been murdered. As food supplies became short, three planes
dropped 1,200 pounds of food, but as people scrambled to gather it up,
a government helicopter appeared overhead and fired down on them while
groundfire came from all sides. After the siege ended in a truce, 120
occupiers were arrested. Wilson stayed in office and in 1974 was
re-elected amid charges of intimidation, [voter
fraud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud), and other
abuses. The rate of violence climbed on the reservation as conflict
opened between political factions in the following three years;
residents accused Wilson's private militia of much of it.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_incident)
- In Nov. 1969, a group of 89 Native Americans occupied [Alcatraz
Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz) for 15
months, to gauge the US's commitment to the [Treaty of Fort Laramie
(1868)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fort_Laramie_%281868%29)
which stated that all abandoned federal land must be returned to
native people. Eventually the government cut off all electrical power
and all telephone service to the island. In June, a fire of disputed
origin destroyed numerous buildings on the
island.[[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz#cite_not…
Left without power, fresh water, and in the face of diminishing public
support and sympathy, the number of occupiers began to dwindle. On
June 11, 1971, a large force of government officers removed the
remaining 15 people from the
island.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz)
- From its creation in 1968, The **American Indian Movement**
(**AIM**) has been a target of repression from law enforcement
agencies, and surveillance as one of the FBI's COINTELPRO targets.
This includes the wounded knee incident and the pine ridge shootout.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Movement)
- In 1942 the federal government
[took](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Co…
privately held Pine Ridge Indian Reservation land owned by tribal
members in order to establish the [Badlands Bombing
Range](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badlands_Bombing_Range) of
341,725 acres, evicting 125 families. Among the families evicted was
that of Pat Cuny, an [Oglala
Sioux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oglala_Sioux). He fought in World
War II in the [Battle of the
Bulge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge) after
surviving torpedoing of his transport in the [English
Channel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel).[[24\]](https://en.…
[Dewey Beard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Beard), a
[Miniconjou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniconjou) Sioux survivor
of the Wounded Knee Massacre, who supported himself by raising horses
on his 908-acre allotment received in 1907 was also evicted. The small
federal payments were insufficient to enable such persons to buy new
properties. In 1955 the 97-year-old Beard testified of earlier
mistreatment at Congressional hearings about this
project.[[25\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Indian_Reservation…
He said, for "fifty years I have been kicked around. Today there is a
hard winter coming. ...I might starve to death."
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Indian_Reservation#Taking_of_Ba…
- In 1890, US soldiers killed 150-300 people (including 65 women and
24 children) at Wounded Knee (19-26 people, including two women and
eleven children.) on the
[Lakota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_people) [Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Indian_Reservation)
in the U.S. state of [South
Dakota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota). Twenty-five
soldiers also died, and 39 were wounded (6 of the wounded later
died).[[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre#cite_note-7)
At least twenty soldiers were awarded the [Medal of
Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor). The event was
driven by local racism towards the practice of [Ghost
Dancing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dance), which whites
found distasteful, and the Native Americans arming up in response to
repeated broken treaties, stolen land, and their bison-herds being
hunted to near extinction by the
whites.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre)
- In 1887, the [Dawes Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act),
and [Curtis Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Act_of_1898),
resulted in the loss of 90 million acres of native-alloted land, and
the abolition of many native governments. During the ensuing decades,
the Five Civilized Tribes lost 90 million acres of former communal
lands, which were sold to non-Natives. In addition, many individuals,
unfamiliar with land ownership, became the target of speculators and
criminals, were stuck with allotments that were too small for
profitable farming, and lost their household lands. Tribe members also
suffered from the breakdown of the social structure of the tribes.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act)
- Starting in the 1870s, The US army, aided by settlers and private
hunters, began a widespread policy of [slaughtering bufallo and
bison](https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/05/the-buffalo-kil…,
in order to destroy many tribe's primary food source, and to starve
Native Americans into submission. By 1900, they succeeded; the bufallo
population dropped from more than 30 million, to a few hundred. The
country’s highest generals, politicians, and presidents including
Ulysses S. Grant, saw the destruction of buffalo as solution to the
country’s “[Indian
Problem](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40168089?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents…
By destroying the food supply of the plains natives, they could more
easily move them onto
reservations.[1](https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/05/the-b…
- Starting in 1830-50, The [Trail of
Tears](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears) was a series of
forced removals of [Native
American](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_Stat…
nations, including Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, Cherokee
people and the African freedmen and slaves who lived among
them, from their ancestral homelands in the [Southeastern United
States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_United_States) to
an area west of the [Mississippi
River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River) that had been
designated as Native Territory. The forced relocations were carried
out by various government authorities following the passage of the
[Indian Removal Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal_Act)
in 1830. "Marshaled by guards, hustled by agents, harried by
contractors,they were being herded on the way to an unknown and
unwelcome destination like a flock of sick sheep." They went on ox
wagons, on horses, on foot, then to be ferried across the
MississippiRiver. The army was supposed to organize their trek, but it
turned over its job to private contractors who charged the government
as much as possible, gave the Indians as little as possible. The
[Cherokee removal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_removal) in
1838 (the last forced removal east of the Mississippi) was brought on
by the discovery of gold near [Dahlonega,
Georgia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlonega,_Georgia) in 1828,
resulting in the [Georgia Gold
Rush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Gold_Rush).[[6\]](https://en.wi…
Approximately 2,000-6,000 of the 16,543 relocated Cherokee perished
along the way.[[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears#cite_note-7)[[8\]](…
- In 1848, the [California
Genocide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Genocide) is a term
used to describe the drastic decrease in Native American population in
California. The population decreased from ~300,000 in 1769, to 16,000
in 1900. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Genocide)
- The [Second Seminole
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Seminole_War), also known as
the **Florida War**, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in
[Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida) between various
groups of [Native
Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_Sta…
collectively known as
[Seminoles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole) and the [United
States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), part of a series
of conflicts called the [Seminole
Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars). The Second
Seminole War, often referred to as *the* Seminole War, is regarded as
"the longest and most costly of the [Indian
conflicts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars) of the
United States." ~3000 seminoles were killed, and 4000 were deported to
Indian territory elsewhere.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Seminole_War)
- In 1832, the [Black Hawk
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_War), was a brief
[1832](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1832_in_the_United_States)
conflict between the [United
States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) and [Native
Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_Sta…
led by [Black Hawk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_%28Sauk_leader%29),
a [Sauk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauk_people) leader, in
Illinois. The war gave impetus to the US policy of [Indian
removal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_removal), in which
Native American tribes were pressured to sell their lands and move
west of the Mississippi River and stay there. Over 500 Native
Americans were killed in the
conflict.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_War)
- In 1832, the [Chickasaw
Indians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickasaw) were forced by the
US to sell their country in 1832 and move to [Indian
Territory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Territory)
([Oklahoma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma)) during the era of
[Indian Removal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal) in the
1830s.
- In 1813, the [Creek War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creek_War),
was a war between the US, lead by the then notorious indian-hunter
Andrew Jackson, and the Creek nation, residing primarily in Alabama.
Over 1,500 creeks were killed. The war effectively ended with the
[Treaty of Fort
Jackson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fort_Jackson (August
1814)), where General Andrew Jackson insisted that the Creek
confederacy cede more than 21 million acres of land from southern
Georgia and central Alabama. These lands were taken from allied Creek
as well as Red Sticks. In 1814, Andrew Jackson became famous for his
role in the [Battle of Horseshoe
Bend](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Horseshoe_Bend_(1814)),
where his side killed more than 800 Creeks. Under Jackson, and the man
he chose to succeed him, Martin Van Buren, 70,000 Indians east of the
Mississippi were forced westward.
- The [Red Sticks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sticks), a
faction of [Muscogee Creek
people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscogee_Creek_people) in the
[American Southeast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Southeast),
led a resistance movement against European-American encroachment and
[assimilation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_assimilation_of_Native…;
tensions culminated in the outbreak of the [Creek
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creek_War) in 1813.
- From 1785-96, the [Northwest Indian
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Indian_War) was a war
between the US and a confederation of numerous [Native
American](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_Stat…
tribes, with support from the British, for control of the [Northwest
Territory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Territory).
President [George
Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington) directed
the [United States
Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army) to enforce
U.S. sovereignty over the territory. Over 1,000 Native Americans were
killed in the bloody conflict.
- In the 1800s, [Indian
removal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_removal) was a policy of
the United States government whereby [Native
Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_Sta…
were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands in the eastern
United States to lands west of the [Mississippi
River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River), thereafter
known as [Indian
Territory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Territory). That
policy has been characterized by some scholars as part of a long-term
genocide of Native Americans.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_removal)
- The [Texan-Indian
Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%E2%80%93Indian_wars) were a
series of 19th-century conflicts between settlers in Texas and the
Southern [Plains
Indians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_Indians). Its hard to
approximate the number of deaths from the conflicts, but the Indian
population in Texas decreased from 20,000 to 8,000 by 1875.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%E2%80%93Indian_wars)
- The [Indian Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars)
is a name given to the collection of over 40 conflicts and wars
between Native Americans and US settlers. The US census bureau reports
that they have cost the lives of about 19,000 white men, women and
children, including those killed in individual combats, and the lives
of about 30,000 Indians. The actual number of killed and wounded
Indians must be very much higher than the number given... Fifty
percent additional would be a safe
estimate..[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars)
- From 1500-1900s, European and later US colonists and authorities
displaced and [committed
genocide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_indigenous_peoples#The_…
on the Native American Population. Ward Churchill characterizes the
reduction of the North American Indian population from an estimated 12
million in 1500 to barely 237,000 in 1900 as a "vast genocide.. the
most sustained on record. Some of the atrocities will be listed above.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_indigenous_peoples#The_questio…,
[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history#Americas)
### Black people
- The origins of US police lie in the [slave-catching
patrols](https://medium.com/s/story/slavery-and-the-origins-of-the-american…
of the 1700s.
- The Obama era was one of the greatest decreases in working class and
[black wealth](https://jacobinmag.com/2017/12/obama-foreclosure-crisis-wealth-ineq…
in history: home equity decreased by ~$17k between 2007 and 2016. His
housing policies led to millions losing their homes. While Wall street
banks recieved $29 Trillion in bailouts, $75 Billion in relief was set
aside for housing foreclosures and mortgage assistance. Instead of
being paid to families, this was paid to mortgage servicers, and the
services found ways to pocket the money and continue foreclosures: by
the end of the program, less than 20% of the funds were used, and most
had dropped out of the program due to foreclosures. The Obama
administration refused to prosecute the fraud, or any of those
responsible for the 2008 financial crisis.
---
- On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinned
George Floyd with his knee on Floyd's neck [for over 7
minutes](https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/05/26/george-floyd-man-dies-af…,
killing him in a manner reminiscient of Eric Garner. Bystander
Darnella Frazier [filmed the
encounter](https://www.facebook.com/darnellareallprettymarie/posts/14254015….
During that time, Floyd moaned, sobbed, "Oh Mama, oh Mama," begged,
"Please, please, I can't breathe, I can't breathe" at least 11 times.
Other distressed witnesses joined in with "Bro, you've got him down,
at least let him breathe, man," and, "He's not even resisting arrest
... he's human, bro." One of the cops responds, "This is why you don't
do drugs, kids." After about four minutes, Floyd lost consciousness.
Though a witness charged, "You just really killed that man, bro,"
Chavin kept his knee on Floyd's unmoving neck for another four
minutes. Afterwards, protests erupted in dozens of US cities, [with
over 50 cases of police brutality.
](https://nitter.net/i/status/1266751520055459847) Many police posed
for US Media-friendly photo ops with protesters, then [immediately
tear gassed, shot pepper balls, and cleared them from the
area.](https://twitter.com/karaokecomputer/status/1267393445603115008?s=20)
Over 11k people have been arrested, and several killed, including a 13
year old. [A massive, documented list of all the cases of police
brutality in the wake of these protests, in every US
state](https://github.com/2020PB/police-brutality).
- On May 11th, 2020, [27 year old EMT Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend
were at their apartment in Louisville Kentucky, when police, doing a
no-knock-no-announce raid, stormed in and blindly fired more than 20
shots, killing her.](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/black-woman-shot-killed-after-ke…
Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, returned fire, thinking they were
intruders. The police were searching for [two drug suspects who were
already in police custody, who lived more than 10 miles away from
Taylor's house](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Breonna_Taylor).
Kenneth Walker was charged with first degree assault and attempted
murder, while the cops were placed on paid leave. Walker's case was
brough to a grand jury, but after protests erupted, he was released by
the judge, and the district attorney moved to dismiss all charges
against him. As of Septemeber 2020, the only charge brought, was
against one officer, none of whose bullets killed Breonna Taylor, but
for "wanton endangerment", since he fired shots into the walls of
other apartments. The [other officers who murdered Breonna Taylor went
free, and the nation erupted in
protests.](https://www.liberationnews.org/officers-who-murdered-breonna-tay…
- During the 2020 coravirus pandemic, it was found that a law that
empowered police to arrest those for not social distancing, lead to
[80% of those arrested being black and
latino](https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/national/nyc-politicians-outraged-af….
- On October 12th, 2019, yet another police officer went into a home,
and [shot and killed the inhabitant, 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson,
in Fort Worth, TX.](https://www.fox4news.com/news/woman-fatally-shot-inside-her-home-by-fo…
It began with a neighbor who called 911, after seeing a house with the
door open - “When I made that non-emergency call, I didn’t say it was
a burglary. I didn’t say it was people fighting. I didn’t say anything
to make them have a gun. All they needed to do is ring the doorbell,”
neighbor James Smith said. The officer has been placed on paid leave.
- On Augist 24th, 2019, Minneapolis police arrested black teen Elijah
McClain, beat him, held him down, [and injected him with ketamine,
killing him.](https://twitter.com/TheSharkPunch/status/1274774156848984064?s=20)
[Ketamine injections (forced drugging) are a widespread practice used
by police to subdue suspects.](http://archive.is/SJ9B1)
- On June 12th, 2019, [US marshalls shot and killed 20 year old
Brandon Webber](https://dailymemphian.com/section/metro/article/5619/Chaos-erupts-f…,
as he was getting into his vehicle outside his home. The police have
alternately claimed that he rammed them with his car, and that he was
carrying a weapon, but aren't releasing details or dashcams. The
killing provoked a [strong protest from the
community](https://apnews.com/c290fd44dace4fe7b836110de77c1894),
police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, and arrested three people.
36 cops were injured from flying rocks and bricks thrown by
protestors. Mayor Strickland stated: "Let me be clear, the aggression
shown towards our officers and deputies (Wednesday night) was
unwarranted." Memphis police have a history of killings of young black
men, including Darrius Stewart, an unarmed 19 year old shot and killed
in 2015.
- In March, 2019, an [Oklahoma City cop shot 14-year-old Lorenzo
Clerkley Jr. twice](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/07/i-think-its-cap-gun…
through a crack in a wooden fence, only giving him a 0.6 second
warning, while him and his friends were playing with BB guns in their
backyard. [The horrific scene showed that the cop knew they were BB
guns before shooting.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVP2xmahm70) It
also shows Lorenzo telling him he was shot in the right side, then the
cop rolling him on that side, as well as being dragged over broken
glass. The family does not have health insurance and can’t afford the
medical bills, including a $1,300 ambulance ride. Oklahoma County
District Attorney determined the shooting was justified, and the
Officer is currently on paid leave. A review of all of the
department’s police shootings between 2004 and 2013 found that [none
of the 78 police shootings investigated by the homicide unit ever
resulted in criminal charges, firing, demotion, or unpaid time
off.](https://newsok.com/special/article/4747453/deadly-force-a-decade-of-o…
- On September 27th, 2018, a Dallas TX police officer getting off work
entered the apartment of 26 year old Botham Jean (thinking it was her
own), and [shot and killed
him](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7202254/dallas-cop-enters-wrong-house-kills-man-thought-burglar/).
The officer, Amber Guyger, at first was placed on administrative
leave, and eventually was charged with manslaughter. Jeans family
accused the Dallas Police Department of using Jean's marijuana use in
news articles as a justification for his murder. The trial for Amber
Guyger concluded in October, 2019, finding Amber Guyger guilty, but
only receiving a 10 year sentence. The judge [hugged her after the
verdict.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/08/dallas-judge-def…
One of the witnesses of the murder, Jean's next door neighbor Joshua
Brown, is suspiciously [murdered a few days after the
trial](https://nypost.com/2019/10/07/slain-witness-joshua-brown-was-expecte….
He was expected to testify against police in a different case, a
second time. [1](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/botham-jean-family-wants-to-put-one-rumor-t…
- On June 20th 2018, a Pittsburgh PA cop shot 17-year old [Antwon Rose
in the back while he was running
away](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/06/20/police-fatally-…
and killed him. Luckily a cell phone video caught the incident,
showing officers handcuffing his corpse. "He was just a really lovely,
gentle kid," Gisele Fetterman told the newspaper at a World Refugee
Day event in Market Square on Wednesday. "His mom is amazing. All the
kids loved him. Just a fine person. Bubbly. Funny. Goofy. Just really
special."[1](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/06/20/police-fatally-sho…
- On July 19th, 2017, Cincinatti OH prosecutors decided not to pursue
a third murder trial for police officer Ray Tensing, who shot [Samuel
DuBose in the head](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Samuel_DuBose)
on July 19th 2015, killing him, after pulling him over for a missing
front license plate. The prosecutor told the mother, "since there are
more racists in Hamilton county than not, its pointless to pursue
another trial because you won't get a conviction." Tensing was wearing
a confederate battle flag T-shirt when he murdered DuBose.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Samuel_DuBose)
- On June 18th, 2017, Seattle [police murdered a 30 year old pregnant
woman](https://www.thenation.com/article/charleena-lyles-was-killed-by-a-po…
suffering from mental health issues, Charleena Lyles, while her 3 of
her 4 children slept in the next room. No charges have been brought
against the police officers.
[1](https://www.thenation.com/article/charleena-lyles-was-killed-by-a-police…
- On Feb 12, 2017, Jerimy Mathis, a white North Carolina state trooper
shot 31-year-old [Willard
Scott](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/police-shooting-nort…
twice in the back, killing him, as he was running away from the
trooper after a traffic stop. Mathis was placed on paid leave, and no
charges have been
filed.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/police-shooting-n…
- On July 18th, 2016, Police shot [Alfred
Kinsey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Charles_Kinsey), a
mental health therapist who was unarmed, while he was helping an
autistic patient in a park. Kinsey was lying on the ground with his
hands in the air and trying to negotiate between officers and his
patient when he was shot. Both Kinsey and his patient were unarmed.
Following the shooting, Kinsey stated he was handcuffed and left
bleeding on the ground for 20 minutes with police giving him no
medical aid. Authorities stated that they were investigating the
incident, which received significant media attention following the
appearance of cellphone video footage. The officer who shot Kinsey was
arrested in 2017 and charged with attempted manslaughter and
negligence. However, he remains employed and has not been fired.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Charles_Kinsey),[2](http://www…
- On July 6th, 2016, [Philando Castile was shot and killed by Jeronimo
Yanez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile), a
[St. Anthony, Minnesota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Anthony,_Minnesota)
police officer. Castile's girlfriend live-streamed the murder, showing
Yanez pointing the gun at both her and her daughter. After Yanez was
acquitted of all charges on June 16, 2017 by a jury, a video of the
murder was leaked, showing Philando openly disclosing that he had a
firearm on him, only to then be shot point-blank 5 times. According to
author and former FBI agent Larry Brubaker, who has written two books
on officer-involved shootings, "this is the first time an officer has
been charged for a fatal shooting in Minnesota in more than 200 cases
that spanned over three decades".
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile)
- On November 5th, 2015, [Two police officers shot and killed 24-year
old Jamar Clark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jamar_Clark).
The cops were placed on paid leave. Protests over the shooting lead to
another act of terrorism where 4 white men shot 5 Black lives matter
protestors. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jamar_Clark)
- In May, 2010, [Kalief
Browder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder), a 16 year old
black teen, was arrested while walking home in the Bronx, on suspicion
of robbery. He was held for 3 years on [Riker
Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikers_Island), a New York jail
notorious for its horrible treatment of inmates, without trial or
conviction, refusing to accept the state's plea deal and staunchly
defending his innocence, until the case was finally dismissed. Kalief
was held for 2 of his 3 years in solitary confinement, and his
deteriorating mental health lead him to attempt suicide multiple
times. After his release, Kalief Browder committed suicide by hanging
himself, in June, 2015.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder),
[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/10/18/kalief-bro…
- On May 16, 2010, Police officer Joseph Weekley [killed Aiyana
Stanley-Jones with a
headshot](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/31/detroit-aiyana-st…,
a 7 year old black girl, as she slept on a sofa inside her home on the
east side of Detroit. On January 28, 2015, a prosecutor cleared
Weekley of the last remaining charge against him, ensuring there would
not be a third trial.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Aiyana_Jones),
[2](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/31/detroit-aiyana-stanley-j…
- On April 12, 2015, [Freddie Carlos Gray,
Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Freddie_Gray), a
25-year-old [Black man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_American),
was [arrested](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrested) by the
[Baltimore Police
Department](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Police_Department)
for possessing what the police alleged was an illegal
[switchblade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchblade) under
Baltimore law. While being transported in a [police
van](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_van), several cops held him
down, putting pressure on his spinal cord, after which he fell into a
[coma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma) and died on April 19, 2015.
This sparked a series of [protests in
Baltimore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Baltimore_protests);
riot police responded violently, and called in the national guard to
aid against the "thugs", as they were labeled by [Obama in a press
conference](https://youtu.be/ml1LzRenH_Q). After the protests were put
down, the police officers were given separate trials, and all of them
were found innocent.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Freddie_Gray)
- On March 30, 2015, After being pulled over for rolling through a
stop sign, [Floyd
Dent](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/30/floyd-dent-police-ink…
was beaten by officer William Melendez, who had a history of civil
complaints for brutality. Melendez punched him 15 times in the temple,
put him in a chokehold, until another officer arrived and tased him.
Melendez repeatedly threatened to kill Dent, and plant drugs on him.
[1](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/30/floyd-dent-police-inkste…
- The [shooting of Walter
Scott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Walter_Scott)
occurred on April 4, 2015, in [North Charleston, South
Carolina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Charleston,_South_Carolina),
following a daytime [traffic
stop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_stop) for a
non-functioning brake light. Scott, an unarmed black man, was murdered
by Michael Slager, a white North Charleston police officer. Slager was
only charged with murder after an eyewitness video surfaced which
showed him shooting Scott from behind while Scott was fleeing, and
which contradicted his police report. Without the video, the shooting
would've likely been deemed justified, as nearly all murders by police
result in no charges.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Walter_Scott)
- On November 22, 2014, in
[Cleveland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland),
[Ohio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio), two police officers killed
12 year old [Tamir
Rice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Tamir_Rice), after
receiving a call that he had a weapon. It turned out to be a toy.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Tamir_Rice)
- On November 14, 2014,[Albuquerque New Mexico police officer Keith
Sandy killed a mentally ill homeless man,
Boyd.](http://theantimedia.org/cop-who-killed-homeless-man-retiring/)
Sandy told another officer: *“For this fucking lunatic? I’m going to
shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second.”*, then killed
Boyd 2 hours later. Sandy chose voluntary retirement (in order to
avoid an internal investigation) and a pension, getting 70% of his pay
for the rest of his life.
[1](http://theantimedia.org/cop-who-killed-homeless-man-retiring/)
- On October 20th, 2014, [17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot and
killed by police in
Chicago.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Laquan_McDonald) The
police at first claimed he was behaving erratically with a knife, and
shot him 16 times. The initial police portrayals of the incident,
consisting of about 400 pages of typed and handwritten reports,
prompted police supervisors to rule the case a justifiable homicide
and within the bounds of the department's use of force guidelines.
Dashcam footage released a year later (after the police denied 15
previous requests) showed that he was walking away from police when
shot. There was also a security camera at a nearby Burger King
restaurant that may have captured the shooting, but during the time of
the shooting there is a gap of 86 minutes in the recording. The
officer was found guilty of second degree murder, and a $5M settlement
was awarded to his family, however a USDOJ report released in January
of 2017, described police as having a culture of "excessive violence,"
especially against minority suspects. Three Chicago police officers
tried for allegedly attempting to cover up events related to the
shooting were found not guilty by the Cook County Circuit Court on
January 17, 2019.
- The [shooting of Michael
Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown)
occurred on August 9, 2014, in [Ferguson,
Missouri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson,_Missouri), a
northern [suburb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suburb) of [St.
Louis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis). Brown, an unarmed
18-year-old black man was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, 28, a white
Ferguson police officer, after robbing a convenience store. [Protests
in Ferguson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_unrest) erupted
after the murderer was found innocent, evoking a militarized crackdown
on black protestors by the predominantly white police force. After his
mother and some supporters put have been few industries which have
been immune.[1]. A long flowers and candles on the spot where he was
killed, [police ran over the spot with their
vehicles.](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/ferguson-st-louis-po…
systemic pattern of murder of unarmed black civilians spawned the
[Black Lives Matter
(BLM)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_lives_matter) movement.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown) At least
[6 of the most visual Ferguson protestors have been killed or
"suicided" under suspicious circumstances in the years
since.](https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-ferguson-activist-de…
Other harrassments include bullets being shot into protestors cars,
snakes being placed in cars, and cars being run off the road. The
Ferguson community suspects a vigilante murderer, or white
supremacists, working with the police. Missouri has over 5,000 militia
groups active in the state. Due to the protestors opposition to
police, their murders remain unsolved.
- The [shooting of John Crawford
III](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_crawford_III) occurred on
August 5, 2014. Crawford was a 22-year-old
[African-American](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American) man
shot to death by Beavercreek police officer Sean Williams, in a
[Walmart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart) store in
[Beavercreek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beavercreek,_Ohio),
[Ohio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio), near
[Dayton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton), while holding a toy
[BB gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BB_gun).[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wik…
- On August 5th, 2014, Tulsa Oklahoma police officer [Shannon Kepler
shot and killed his daughter's 19 year old black
boyfriend](http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/shannon-kepler-defends-lea…,
[Jeremy Lake](http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/shannon-kepler-defends-leaving-…,
after Lake tried to shake his hand. After the killing, he fled the
scene, and neither called for medical help, nor stayed to talk with
police. As of July 2017, there have been 3 deadlocked trials.
[1](http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/shannon-kepler-defends-leaving-sce…
- On July 17, 2014, [Eric
Garner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner) died in
[Staten Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island), [New
York City](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City), after a [New
York City Police
Department](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_Department)
(NYPD) officer put him in what has been described as a
[chokehold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokehold) for about 15 to
19 seconds while arresting him. A grand jury found the officer
Pantaleo innocent, sparking a series of nation-wide demonstrations
against police brutality of
blacks.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner)
- On April 30, 2014, a police officer, Christopher Manney, [shot and
killed Dontre Hamilton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Dontre_Hamilton),
a black man with a history or mental illness, at Red Arrow Park in
[Milwaukee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee),
[Wisconsin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin). After the
shooting, Manney applied for duty disability, saying the shooting and
its aftermath caused him to experience severe [post-traumatic stress
disorder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder),
after being fired. No charges were brought against
him.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Dontre_Hamilton)
- On March 3rd, 2014, Police claimed 22 year old Victor White shot
himself while handcuffed (behind his back) in the back of a Louisiana
state police car. A later autopsy revealed that he was [shot in the
front by a right-handed
person](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/handcuffed-black-youth-s…
(he was left-handed). Yet, the Iberia Parish coroner continued to
declare the death a suicide.
[1](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/handcuffed-black-youth-shot-h…
- In September 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Police
shot and killed 2 black civilians and wounded 4 others in the
[Danziger Bridge
Shootings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danziger_Bridge_shootings).
New Orleans police fabricated a
[cover-up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover-up) story for their
crime, falsely reporting that seven police officers responded to a
police dispatch reporting an officer down, and that at least four
suspects were firing weapons at the officers upon their
arrival.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danziger_Bridge_shootings#cite…
Although 5 police officers were initially convicted by a federal jury
in New Orleans, this decision was overturned. In 2016, the five
officers plead guilty and received reduced sentences from 3-12 years.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danziger_Bridge_shootings)
- In 2004, during a protest at the republican national convention,
over 1,800 people were arrested. They were held at [Hudson Pier
Depot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_depots_of_the_New_York_City_Transi…
at [Pier 57](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_57) on the [Hudson
River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_River_%28Hudson_River%29),
a three-story, block-long pier that has been converted into a
temporary prison, described as overcrowded, dirty, and contaminated
with [oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum) and
[asbestos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos). People reported
having suffered from smell, bad ventilation, and even chemical burns
and rashes. In 2014, the city was forced to pay \$6.4 million to 430
individual plaintiffs. \$6.6 million was paid to settle a class-action
lawsuit filed by 1,200 additional people.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Republican_National_Convention_protes…
- In 1991 in Los Angeles, [Latasha
Harlins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Latasha_Harlins) was a
15-year-old black teen who was shot in the head by Soon Ja Du, a
51-year-old female store owner from South Korea, who was tried and
convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Harlins' death. Harlins' death
came 13 days after the videotaped beating of [Rodney
King](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King). Du was fined $500
and sentenced to five years of probation and 400 hours of community
service but **no prison time for her crime**. Some cited the shooting
as one of the causes of the [1992 Los Angeles
riots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots).[1](https://en…
- In 1991, Los Angeles police beat up [Rodney
King](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Incident), a black
taxi-driver, and his two passengers, after he refused to pull over.
The brutal beating, in which he was gagged, tazed, kicked, and beaten
with batons by around 6 cops, with ~15 more idly watching, was caught
on video, and the media frenzy and black community reaction
surrounding his beating lead to the [1992 Los Angeles
riots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Incident)
- On May 13, 1985, the police again attempted to evict
[MOVE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE), [and bombed an entire city
block](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE#1985_bombing), killing 11
people (including 5 children, Delisha, Thee, Netta, Frank, Raymond,
Vincent, Conrad, Rhonda, Lil Phil, Thomaso, & Theresa Africa), and
leaving 250 homeless. Police initially lobbed [tear
gas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_gas) canisters at the
building, and a gunfight with
[semi-automatic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-automatic_firearm)
and [automatic firearms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_firearm)
ensued. Commissioner Sambor then ordered a bombing from a Pennsylvania
State Police helicopter, and [Philadelphia Police
Department](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Police_Department)
Lt. Frank Powell proceeded to drop two one-pound bombs made of C4
explosive (which the police referred to as "entry devices") made of
FBI-supplied [water gel
explosive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_gel_explosive), a
[dynamite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamite) substitute,
targeting a fortified, bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house.
The resulting explosions ignited a fire from fuel for a
gasoline-powered generator in rooftop bunker that eventually destroyed
approximately 65 nearby houses. The firefighters, who had earlier
[deluge-hosed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cannon#Riot_control)
the MOVE members in a failed attempt to evict them from the building,
stood by as the fire caused by the bomb engulfed the first house and
spread to others, having been given orders to let the fire burn.
Despite the earlier drenching of the building by firefighters,
officials said that they feared that MOVE would shoot at the
firefighters. Eleven people (John Africa, five other adults and five
children aged 7 to 13) died in the resulting fire and more than 25
people were left homeless. Ramona Africa, one of the two survivors,
stated that police fired at those trying to escape. No one from the
city government was charged criminally. Many MOVE members are still in
prison, fighting for their release.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE#1985_bombing)
- In 1979, a [communist-led
march](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Workers%27_Party_(United_Sta…
to oust the [Ku Klux Klan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan)
and the [American Nazi
Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Nazi_Party) lead to the
[Greensboro Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro_massacre),
where local police helped the KKK stop the march and kill 5
protesters. Edward Dawson, a Klansman-turned FBI informant as part of
the agency's [COINTELPRO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO)
program and was among the founders of the North Carolina Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan when the North Carolina chapter of the [United Klans
of America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Klans_of_America)
split. By 1979 he was working as an informant for the Greensboro
Police Department. He was given a copy of the march route from the
police and informed them of the potential for violence. Absent the
police, the attackers escaped with relative ease. All of the killers
were acquitted in state and national trials. The city lost a civil
lawsuit in 1980, being one of the few times in US history when "a jury
held local police liable for cooperating with the KKK in a wrongful
death." The Greensboro city council finally apologized for the
incident in 2017.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro_massacre)
- In 1979, Los Angeles police shot and killed [Eulia
Love](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Eulia_Love) over a
disputed gas bill. LA police had a notorious reputation for using
violence in black, brown, and gay communities. The police chief in a
press conference later corrected the amount of the bill, after a
reporter quoted an incorrect amount for the bill.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Eulia_Love)>
- In 1978, the police were involved in shootout with
[MOVE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE), a black power commune in
Philadelphia, after attempting to evict them. The 9 surviving members
(called the MOVE 9, including Charles Sims Africa) were given 100 year
long sentences, 7 of which are still currently in prison.
- Between 1932 and 1972, the US public health service secretly
infected ~200 black men with syphilis, under the guise of receiving
free health care, in the [Tuskegee syphilis
experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment).
None of the men infected were ever told they had the disease (told
instead they had "bad blood"), and none were treated with
[penicillin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin) even after the
antibiotic became proven for the treatment of syphilis in 1947. By the
end of the study in 1972, only 74 of the test subjects were alive. Of
the original 399 men, 28 had died of syphilis, 100 were dead of
related complications, 40 of their wives had been infected, and 19 of
their children were born with [congenital
syphilis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_syphilis).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment)
- Between the 1950s and the 1970s, predatory contracts called "home
sale contracts" were given to 75% of the 60k homes purchased by black
Chicaogans. These "home sale contracts" allowed the seller to hold the
property until the buyer paid off the entire mortgage. This meant that
no equity was accrued by the buyer and the owners could kick the
buyers out if a single monthly payment was missed. Black contract
buyers in Chicago payed an average of $71k more than they would have
through a conventional non-predatory mortgage. In total, between $3.2B
and $4B were [expropriated from Chicago's black
community](https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/5/30/18644165/chicago-redlinin….
- In 1969, the FBI in collaboration with chicago police, murdered an
influential black panther organizer, [Fred
Hampton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton#1969_raid_and_assassina…,
when he was 21 years old. An FBI informant drugged him in the evening,
then agents broke into the apartment, killing another, and firing into
the room where Hampton and his pregnant girlfriend slept. The FBI
targeted him as being a potential "Black Messiah", as Hampton was
organizing poor blacks, whites, Latinos, and Native Americans in
Chicago with the [Rainbow
Coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Coalition_(Fred_Hampton)),
to fight the repressive police brutality under mayor Daley. After a
break-in at an FBI office in Pennsylvania, the existence of
[COINTELPRO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO), an illegal
counter-intelligence program, was brought to light. One of the
documents that was released after the break-in was a floor plan of
Hampton's apartment. Another document outlined a deal the FBI brokered
with the deputy attorney general to conceal the FBI's role in the
assassination of Hampton and the existence of COINTELPRO.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton#1969_raid_and_assassination)
- Starting in 1967, The [Black Panther
Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party), a
revolutionary black socialist group, became the [target of FBI's
COINTELPRO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party#COINTELPRO).
Hoover deemed the Panther's free breakfast program (which served food
for 10,000 children daily at its height), and its free medical care
programs, as a dangerous threat to the US. Local police forces, aided
by the FBI, were involved with multiple break-ins of panther
headquarters, shoot-outs, the arrests, imprisonment, or murder of
nearly every high-ranking member, and achieved its systematic
destruction by 1980. A faithful account of its history is in founder
[Huey P. Newton's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_p_newton)
autobiography [Revolutionary
Suicide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Suicide), and the
history [Black against
Empire](https://www.amazon.com/Black-against-Empire-Politics-Foundation/dp/….
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party)
- In 1967, a nationwide series of riots broke out in the black ghettos
of the US, involving young blacks revolting against the
white-supremacist power structure. In the [1967 Detroit
Riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Detroit_riot), Lyndon Johnson
brought in the Michigan National guard to put down the revolt. The
result was 43 dead, 1,189 injured, over 7,200 arrests, and more than
2,000 buildings destroyed.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Detroit_riot)
- From December 1963 until his death in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr.
was the target of an intensive campaign by the FBI to 'neutralize' him
as an effective civil rights leader. This included wiretapping his
phones, blackmail letters threatening to expose his extramarital
affairs, a [letter encouraging him to commit
suicide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93King_suicide_letter),
as well as watching King [during his
assassination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.#Allegat…,
leading many to believe the FBI were either complicit, or accomplices.
The FBI are similarly accused of being complicit or accomplices to the
[nation of Islam's murder of Malcolm
X.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X#Allegations_of_conspiracy)
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.#FBI_and_King.27s_pe…
In February 2021, a deathbed confession from an NYPD agent revealed
that the NYPD and FBI aided in the killing of Malcolm X, by [arresting
Malcolm X's bodyguards days before his
assassination.](https://twitter.com/MXGMNational/status/1363283493078372352…
- In such cities as Birmingham, Alabama, [police ruthlessly enforced
segregation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_campaign#Conflict_esc…,
and white supremacist terrorism. In 1963, the police assisted the KKK
in bombing the black leaders of the [Birmingham Campaign for
desegregation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_campaign),
leading to the [Birmingham Riot of
1963](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_riot_of_1963), as well
as the [16th st. Baptist Church
Bombing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing),
where 4 black girls were killed. The US government sent in troops to
quell the revolting black populace. In the [1963 Children's
Crusade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Crusade_(1963)),
police mass arrested black children who had walked out of school
protesting segregation, using fire hoses and attack dogs against them.
Over 1,000 people were arrested throughout the campaign.
- In 1927, the US had [Marcus
Garvey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Garvey), a black
organizer, deported under false pretenses of mail fraud. Garvey was
unique in advancing a [Pan-African
philosophy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-African_philosophy) to
inspire a global [mass
movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_movement) and [economic
empowerment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_empowerment)
focusing on Africa known as
[Garveyism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garveyism).[[3\]](https://en.wikip…
Promoted by the UNIA as a movement of *African Redemption*, Garveyism
would eventually inspire others, ranging from the [Nation of
Islam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_of_Islam) to the
[Rastafari movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari_movement)
(some sects of which proclaim Garvey as a
prophet.)[[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Garvey#cite_note-4)[1]…)
- In 1921, a white mob started the [Tulsa race
riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot), attacking black
residents in [Tulsa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa),
[Oklahoma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma), in what is
considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in US
History. Thousands of whites rampaged through the black community for
two days, killing men and women, burning and looting stores and homes,
and using private planes to drop burning balls of turpentine on
rooftops. ~300 blacks were killed, and ~10,000 blacks were left
homeless. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and more
than 6,000 black residents were arrested and detained. In 2001 it was
revealed that the police and national guard assisted the whites.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot)
- In the years between 1889 and 1903, on the average, every week, two
Negroes were lynched by mobs -- hanged, burned, mutilated.
- In 1887, white paramilitaries attacked and killed between 35-300
black [Knights of
Labor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Labor) sugar workers
on strike for better conditions, in the [Thibodaux
Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibodaux_massacre). Victims
reportedly included elders, women and children. All those killed were
African American.[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibodaux_massacre#cite_note-…
- In the 1860s-70s, the Ku Klux Klan, aided by police, organized
raids,lynchings, beatings, burnings, throughout the south. For
Kentucky alone, between 1867 and 1871, the National Archives lists 116
acts of violence. A sample:
- Sam Davis hung by a mob in Harrodsburg, May 28, 1868.
- Wm. Pierce hung by a mob in Christian July 12, 1868.
- Geo. Roger hung by a mob in Bradsfordville Martin County July 11, 1868. ...
- Silas Woodford age sixty badly beaten by disguised mob. . ..
- Negro killed by Ku Klux Klan in Hay county January 14, 1871.
- After the Civil war, black voting in the period after 1869 resulted
in 2 black senators and 20 black congressmen. This list would dwindle
rapidly after 1876, due to the reactionary policies of [Johnson-era
reconstruction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era#Johnson.27…,
and the empowering of the KKK in the south. By 1901, there were no
blacks in congress, and the number still hasn't returned to its 1869
levels.
- The [Memphis Riots of
1866](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_riots_of_1866) occurred
after a shooting altercation between white policemen and black
soldiers recently mustered out of the [Union
Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Army). Mobs of white
civilians and policemen rampaged through black neighborhoods and the
houses of [freedmen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedmen),
attacking and killing black men, women and children. 46 blacks and 2
whites were killed, 75 blacks injured, over 100 black persons robbed,
5 black women raped, and 91 homes, 4 churches and 8 schools burned in
the black community.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_riots_of_1866#cite_n…
estimates place property losses at over $100,000, suffered mostly by
blacks. Police and firefighters made up one third of the mob (24% and
10%, respectively, of the total group); they were joined by small
business owners (28%), clerks (10%), artisans (10%), and city
officials (4.5%). Many blacks fled the city permanently; by 1870,
their population had fallen by one quarter compared to
1865.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_riots_of_1866)
- In 1865-66, the [Black
Codes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_(United_States)) were
laws passed by [Southern
states](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States) after
the [Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War).
These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting [African
Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American)' freedom,
and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages
or [debt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_bondage). Black Codes
were part of a larger pattern of Southern whites trying to suppress
the new freedom of emancipated African American slaves, the
[freedmen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedmen).
- In 1865, the [13th
Amendment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United…,
abolished [slavery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States)
and [involuntary
servitude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_servitude),
except [as punishment for a
crime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States).
This would become an important loophole, as white supremacists,
land-owners, and business-owners in the south would enact legislation
and find ways to imprison blacks for petty crimes, and thus be able to
use free prison labor for their businesses. This continues up to the
present day, in such policies as the disparity of sentencing between
prescription "white" drugs, and drugs typically used in poorer black
communities.
- In 1859, white
[abolitionist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism_in_the_United_Stat…
[John Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_%28abolitionist%29)
attempted to begin an armed [slave
revolt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_revolt), rallying nearby
black and white abolitionists, and raided an [arsenal at Harpers
Ferry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry),
Virginia. He intended to use the rifles and pikes he captured at the
arsenal, in addition to those he brought along, to arm rebellious
slaves with the aim of striking terror in the slaveholders in
Virginia. He planned to send agents to nearby plantations, rallying
the slaves. They would free more slaves, obtain food, horses and
hostages, and destroy slaveholders' morale. Brown planned to follow
the [Appalachian
Mountains](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Mountains) south
into [Tennessee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee) and even
[Alabama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama), the heart of the
[South](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States), making
forays into the plains on either
side.[[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_raid_on_Harpers_Fe…
Due primarily to intelligence leaks, the raid failed; 10 were killed
and 6, including Brown, were captured (lead by future confederate
general Robert E. Lee), then executed by hanging. Before his
execution, John Brown addressed the court: ''I John Brown am now quite
*certain* that the crimes of this *guilty, land: will* never be purged
*away;* but with Blood. I had *as I now think: vainly* flattered
myself that without *very much* bloodshed; it might be done. [...] Had
I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent,
the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either
father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that
class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference,
it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have
deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment."
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry)
- [The Fugitive Slave act of
1850](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850) was a
law that required all escaped slaves, upon capture, to be returned to
their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to
cooperate in this
law.[Abolitionists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism_in_the_Unite…
nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the
[dogs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodhound) that were used to
track down runaway
slaves.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850#cite…
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850)
- In 1831, [Nat Turner lead a Slave
Rebellion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner%27s_slave_rebellion)
in Southampton County, Virginia. Rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65
white slave-owners, the highest number of any slave uprising in the
[Southern United
States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States). There
was widespread fear in the aftermath of the rebellion, and white
militias organized in retaliation against the slaves. The state
executed 56 slaves accused of being part of the rebellion. In the
frenzy, many non-participant slaves were punished. At least 100
[African Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans),
and possibly up to 200, were murdered by militias and mobs in the
area. Blacks suspected of participating in the rebellion were beheaded
by the militia. "Their severed heads were mounted on poles at
crossroads as a grisly form of intimidation." Across the South, state
legislatures passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free
black people,[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner%27s_slave_rebellion#…
restricting rights of assembly and other civil rights for free black
people, and requiring white ministers to be present at all worship
services.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner%27s_slave_rebellion#R…
- In 1822, [Denmark
Vesey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_Vesey) a former slave who
had purchased his freedom, began organizing his parish for a slave
rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina. Vesey and his followers were
said to be planning to kill slaveholders in Charleston, liberate the
slaves, and sail to the black republic of
[Haiti](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti) for refuge, but were
arrested beforehand. Vesey and five slaves were among the first group
of men rapidly judged guilty by the secret proceedings of a
city-appointed Court and condemned to death; they were executed by
hanging on July 2, 1822. In later proceedings, some 30 additional
followers were executed.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_Vesey#Conspiracy)
- The [1811 German Coast
Uprising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811_German_Coast_Uprising)
was a [revolt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_rebellion) of
[black slaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States)
in parts of the [Territory of
Orleans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory_of_Orleans). Between
64 and 125 enslaved men marched from
[sugar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_cane)
[plantations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantations_in_the_American_Sout…
near present-day
[LaPlace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaPlace,_Louisiana) on the
[German Coast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Coast) toward the
city of [New Orleans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans).
During their two-day, twenty-mile march, the men burned five
plantation houses (three completely), several sugarhouses, and crops.
White men led by officials of the territory formed militia companies
to hunt down and kill the insurgents. Over the next two weeks, white
planters and officials interrogated, tried and executed an additional
44 insurgents who had been captured. Executions were by hanging or
decapitation. Whites displayed the bodies as a warning to intimidate
slaves. The heads of some were put on
[pikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_%28weapon%29) and displayed
at plantations. The alleged leader, Charles Deslondes, had his hands
chopped off, was then shot in one thigh & then the other, until they
were both broken – then shot in the Body and before he had expired was
put into a bundle of straw and roasted.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811_German_Coast_Uprising)
- In the summer of 1800, [Gabriel
Prosser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Prosser) planned a
large slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia. Information regarding the
revolt was leaked prior to its execution, and he and twenty-five
followers were taken captive and
[hanged](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging) in punishment. In
reaction, Virginia and other state legislatures passed restrictions on
[free blacks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_people_of_color), as
well as prohibiting the education, assembly, and hiring out of slaves,
to restrict their chances to learn and to plan similar rebellions.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Prosser)
- In 1787, the [Three-Fifths
Compromise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise),
was a compromise between southern and northern states for how slaves
should be counted for representation and taxation purposes, and
determining how many seats a state would have in the house of
representatives. Black slaves were counted as 3/5ths of a white
person. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise)
- In the 18th and 19th centuries, US plantation owners benefitted from
[African Slavery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States),
which eventually became the dominant mode of production in the south.
Words cannot do justice to the inhumanity of slavery as practiced by
the US, but specific examples above will attempt to highlight its
brutality. The total slave population in the South eventually reached
4 million before liberation.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States)
### Latinos
- On June 14th, 2019, an off-duty cop, Salvador Sanchez, in Corona,
CA, [shot and killed a mentally ill man, Kenneth
French,](https://abcnews.go.com/US/mother-pleaded-dont-shoot-off-duty-lapd-…,
as well as shooting his family 8 times, while his family was with
shopping for fathers day at a Costco. "I begged and told him not to
shoot," his father Russell French said. "I said we have no guns and my
son is sick. He still shot." Sanchez then fired at least eight rounds,
striking all three family members. A man inside Costco stood and
prayed over Russell French as he lied on the ground bleeding, he said.
Kenneth French was shot twice in his back, Galipo said. There were
also two gunshot wounds in his armpit and shoulder area. After the
shooting, Corona Police said Sanchez was assaulted "without
provocation" before Sanchez opened fire. He was placed on
administrative leave days after the shooting, into which the LAPD is
conducting an internal investigation.
- On Feb 7th, 2019, a US border patrol officer [shot and killed 21 for
old Mendivil Perez](https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5d24cd0ae4b0583e4828365f?guccount…,
an American citizen, in Nogales, AZ. More than six months later, CBP
won’t name the officer who fired his gun, or explain why he fired, or
acknowledge the killing.
- In early June, 2019, [several
reports](https://truthout.org/video/dhs-watchdog-confirms-horrific-conditio…
of [abuse](https://twitter.com/ECMcLaughlin/status/1139192167501484033)
surfaced about the US's migrant prison camps, run by US customs and
Border Patrol. One such facility, named ["The Dog
Pound"](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/border-patrol-outdoor-detention-migrants-el-paso/),
by border patrol agents, had no running water, no tarp or safety from
the elements. A group of prisoners were held in a single cell for 30
days without shower or clothes changes, in 100 degree temperatures.
There is severe overcrowding in the El Paso camp, with as many as 76
migrants packed into a tiny cell designed for a maximum of 12 people.
A number of children have died while being held, including [one baby
born in an overcrowded cell. The mother was never taken to a
hospital](https://ktla.com/2019/06/13/premature-baby-found-in-overcrowded-b….
[4 toddlers in a Texas facility were so ill and neglected, that a
lawyer intervened to force the government to hospitalize
them.](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/four-severely-ill-migrant-babies-hosp…
Children are often [taken from
mothers](https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/-it-s-inhumane-what-th…,
due to the horrible conditions in the camps. In several [Rio Grande
Valley facilities](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/21/detained-migra…,
migrants were not provided soap, toothbrushes, and were
sleep-deprived. Health and Human Service says it is past capacity with
over 13,000 kids in its care at the moment. A mole exposed a Facebook
group containing 9500 border patrol agents, with [incredibly racist
and sexist rhetoric](https://theintercept.com/2019/07/05/border-patrol-facebook-group/),
including threats against US rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was
planning a visit to the camps.
- On January 29th, 2019, Tempe Arizona police [shot and killed a 14
year old, Antonio
Arce.](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2019/01/30/family-t…
He was shot in the back between his shoulder blades while running
away. Police at first delayed, then released a [small section of the
bodycam footage, intentionally cut right before seeing the body, 3
days after the shooting.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tempe-police-shooting-antonio-arce-…
After backlash over the shortened video, they held a *private showing*
to select reporters, barring any cameras or recording devices,
seemingly showing Arce with the orange-tipped airsoft gun found near
his body. They've refused to release that video to the public, leading
many to believe it to be doctored, with police planting an airsoft gun
on him after the killing as a justification. The original video has no
such airsoft gun. The officer who murdered him is currently on
administrative leave.
- On Nov 25, 2018, US customs and border agents [fired tear gas at
hundreds of Central American migrants on the US
border](https://www.apnews.com/72efa4f1822241c2817a2fb6aa191fb4). “We
ran, but when you run, the gas asphyxiates you more,” Honduran migrant
Ana Zuniga, 23, told the Associated Press while cradling daughter
Valery, 3, in her arms. The use of tear gas [is banned in
warfare](https://jacobinmag.com/2018/05/tear-gas-protests-riot-control-poli…,
while its use for riot control is internationally accepted. Protesters
and amnesty seekers would have *more* rights and protections if they
simply declared war on the US government.
- In May 2018, at a California press conference regarding Sanctuary
cities, Trump, referring to Mexican immigrants stated: "[These aren't
people. These are
animals](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/16/trump-immi…".
- Starting in April 2018, the Trump administration began a policy of
separating families who attempt to cross the border. Separated
children have been housed in a number of newly constructed tent
facilities, such as [one in Tornillo,
TX](https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2018/06/trumps-holocaust-us-child-concen….
Another facility in [Fort Sill,
Oklahoma](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/06/12/geronimo-japane…,
the same military prison that held Japanese and Apache civilians, will
hold south american migrants. Andrea Pitzer, the author of “One Long
Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps" writes, “While
writing a book on camp history, I defined concentration camps as the
mass detention of civilians without trial, usually on the basis of
race, religion, national origin, citizenship, or political party,
rather than anything a given individual has done. By this definition,
the new child camp established in Tornillo, Texas, is a concentration
camp.” Recently it has been found that the Trump administration has
been [drugging children without
consent](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/07/31/trum….
Children as young as 14 [were abused at a Stanton VA ICE
facility](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/21/abused-….
"Whenever they used to restrain me and put me in the chair, they would
handcuff me," said a Honduran immigrant who was sent to the facility
when he was 15 years old. "Strapped me down all the way, from your
feet all the way to your chest, you couldn't really move. ... They
have total control over you. They also put a bag over your head. It
has little holes; you can see through it. But you feel suffocated
with the bag on."
[1](https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/5/concentration_camps_in_the_us_andr…
- Throughout 2018,
[I.C.E.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcem…
started another wave of deportations, breaking up hundreds of
families, and mandated the legal separation incoming parents from
their children (presumably to deter future asylum-seekers). ICE
arrested [114 people in Sandusky
OH](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/06/11/angry….
[Trump and Jeff Sessions have ramped up a trend of forcible
deportations](http://time.com/longform/donald-trump-immigration-policy-spli…
started by Clinton and Obama. Between 2016 and 2017, [apprehensions of
undocumented immigrants jumped by a
third](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/ice-agents-feel-more-em….
In 2017, President Trump deported more than double the number of
noncriminals than Obama had the previous year. Those deported include
a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy in San Antonio; a grandmother
described as the “backbone” of a Navy veteran’s family; a father of
two in Detroit who had lived in the U.S. since he was 10 years old. A
major consequence of this new policy has been an explosion of fear
among immigrant communities “When everyone’s a target, no one is
safe,” says Luis Zayas, dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work
at the University of Texas at Austin. He cites instances of ICE agents
arresting people who had just filed paperwork for a green card, left
church or dropped off their kids at school. “The arrests feel
arbitrary, and that’s different,” he says. “The fear is worse now than
I’ve ever seen it.”
[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/06/11/angry-…,
[2](http://time.com/longform/donald-trump-immigration-policy-splitting-famil…
- In July 2017, [police shot Ismael
Lopez](https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/29/us/mississippi-man-shot-dead/index.ht…,
a Mississippi car mechanic, in the back of the head at his own home,
killing him. While the police say that he was holding a weapon, his
guns were nowhere near his dead body, and police also killed his dog,
and bullet holes were found from police shooting through the front
door. No officer has been
charged.[1](https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/29/us/mississippi-man-shot-dead/ind…
- The [United States Department of Homeland
Security](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homelan…
rescinded [DACA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals),
or Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, a program which protects ~
800,000 minors from being deported, on June 16, 2017, while continuing
to review the existence of the DACA program as a whole. The DACA
policy was rescinded by the [Trump
administration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_administration) on
September 5, 2017, but full implementation of the rescission was
delayed six months to give Congress time to decide how to deal with
the population that was previously eligible under the policy.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals)
- Beginning in May 2017, ICE began another wave of deportation
targeting Mexicans. Hugo Mejia and a coworker, Rodrigo Nuñez, were
imprisoned by ICE officials, despite living in the US for 17 years,
and having clean
records.[1](http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/12/workers-detained-by-ice-w…
- Beginning in 1994, sheriff [Joe
Arpaio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio) opened up a "tent
city", outside of phoenix, a facility which he called, his own
"personal concentration camp", used to house prisoners, in terrible
conditions. In 2011, inmates complained that fans near their beds were
not working, and that their shoes were melting from the
heat.[[45\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio#cite_note-45)
During the summer of 2003, when outside temperatures exceeded 110 °F
(43 °C), Arpaio said to complaining inmates, "It's 120 degrees in Iraq
and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn't commit any
crimes, so shut your mouths!". Arpaio reinstuted chain gangs (for
female prisoners as well), forcing people to work 7 hours a day, 7
days a week. Arpaio also entrapped 18-year-old James Saville into an
assassination attempt against himself. Saville's attorneys eventually
discovered that MCSO detectives had bought the bomb parts themselves,
then convinced Saville to build it even though he was not predisposed
to commit such a crime. On July 9, 2003, a Maricopa County Superior
Court jury acquitted Saville, finding that the bomb plot was an
elaborate publicity stunt to boost Arpaio's reelection bid. On April
4th, 2017, newly elected Phoenix sheriff Paul Penzone finally closed
it down due to public pressure, after 23 years of operation. Trump
pardoned sherriff Arpaio in August 2017, after holding a rally in
Phoenix AZ in which [police tear-gassed
protesters.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8aKkaF93as)
[1](http://www.abc15.com/news/state/paul-penzone-to-shut-down-tent-city-afte…
- On March 25th-27th, 2017, ICE agents [arrested 84
immigrants](http://www.kgw.com/news/local/ice-arrests-84-people-during-3-da…
in Oregon and Washington. Many arrested had no criminal background.
[Oregon Governor Katie
Brown](https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/847529947899904000)
complied with ICE, but received vitriolic responses when she [tweeted
in support](https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/847529947899904000)
of immigrant families.
[1](http://www.kgw.com/news/local/ice-arrests-84-people-during-3-day-sweep-o…
- On March 27th, 2017, ICE agents in Chicago broke into the home of
[Felix Torres](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/unarmed-legal-resident-in-critical-…,
and shot him while he and his family slept in their home. After
speaking with Torres’ daughter, [the People’s Response Team
added](https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesResponseTeam/photos/a.72483878100567…
that “no members of the family are undocumented, and the family has
lived in the home for at least 30 years.”Carmen Torres said, “They
didn’t say anything. They just came in and pointed pistols in our
faces and dragged us out,” [DNA Info
reported](https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170327/belmont-cragin/police-sh….
“It’s a lie when they say he was holding a gun. He doesn’t even own a
gun,” she said. “They shot my dad. They shot him, and I don’t know
why.” He is in critical condition.
[1](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/unarmed-legal-resident-in-critical-condi…
- In early 2017, ICE began a [campaign of arrests and
deportation](https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/ice-arrested-nearly-700-pe…
of undocumented immigrants. 700 People have been arrested so far.
[1](https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/ice-arrested-nearly-700-people-last-…
- In the present day, [ICE
(U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.…)
the police tasked with immigration enforcement, operates over 500
prison camps, holding over 34,000 undocumented people deemed "aliens",
20,000 of which have no criminal convictions, in the US [system of
immigration detention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_Unite….
[The camps](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/reyes-immigration-detention/)
include forced labor (often with [contracts from private
companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enfor…)
poor conditions, lack of rights (since the undocumented aren't
considered citizens), and forced deportations, often splitting up
families. Detainees are often held for a year without trial, with
antiquated court procedures pushing back court dates for months,
encouraging many to accept immediate deportation in the hopes of being
able to return faster than the court can reach a decision, but
forfeiting legal status, in a cruel system of coercion. After the
creation of DHS and ICE, the budget for immigration enforcement
doubled from [$6.2 billion in 2002 to $12.5 billion in 2006 under
Obama.](https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/immigration-enforcement-un…
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_United_States…,
[2](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/reyes-immigration-detention/),[3]…
- In 1996, in response to increased immigration from countries such as
El Salvador and Guatemala ravaged by US imperialism and authoritarian
dictatorships, the US passed the [Anti-Terrorism and effective Death
Penalty Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiterrorism_and_Effective_Death_Penalt…,
allowing deportation of any immigrant ever convicted of a crime, no
matter how long ago or how serious. Lawful permanent residents who had
married Americans and now had children were not exempt. The *New York
Times* reported in July that "hundreds of long-term legal residents
have been arrested since the law passed."
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiterrorism_and_Effective_Death_Penalty_…
- By 1984, during the Reagan-era of social services and welfare
cutbacks, 42% of all Latino children and one-fourth of the families
lived below the poverty line.
- In 1983, a mostly latino workforce lead the 3-year long [Arizona
Copper Mine Strike of
1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983),
in which the police, national guard, and Arizona governor assisted in
one of the largest strikebreaking incidents of the 1980s, ending with
the [Phelps Dodge
Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelps_Dodge_Corporation)
replacing most of the workers and decertifying the unions. Miners were
subject to [undercover
surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance) by the
Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency, to identify strikers
engaged in violence, with the governor sending 325 National Guard
soldiers to Morenci, and increasing the number of state policemen
there to 425. Meanwhile, the local government passed
[injunctions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction) limiting both
picketing and demonstrations at the mine. The Arizona copper mine
strike would later become a symbol of defeat for American unions.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983)
- In 1954, the US implemented [Operation
Wetback](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback), a US law
enforcement initiative under Eisenhower to curb Mexican immigration,
in which over 1 Million Mexicans were arrested. After implementation,
Operation Wetback gave rise to arrests and deportations by the [U.S.
Border Patrol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Border_Patrol) that
were civil rights violations, which resulted in several hundred United
States citizens being illegally deported without being given a chance
to prove their citizenship. A total of 750 immigration and border
patrol officers and investigators; 300 jeeps, cars and buses; and
seven airplanes were allocated for the
operation.[[28\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback#cite_note…
Teams were focused on quick processing, as planes were able to
coordinate with ground efforts and quickly deport people into
Mexico.[[29\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback#cite_note-ng…
While the operation included the cities of [Los
Angeles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles), [San
Francisco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco), and
[Chicago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago), its main targets
were border areas in [Texas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas) and
[California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California).[[29\]](https://en.wi…
Overall, there were 1,078,168 apprehensions made in the first year of
Operation Wetback, with 170,000 being rounded up from May to July
1954. In addition, many illegal immigrants fled to Mexico fearing
arrest; over half a million from Texas alone.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback)
- In 1951, the Los Angeles Police Department severely beat up 5 latino
and 2 white men, in an event called [Bloody
Christmas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Christmas_(1951)),
leaving them with broken bones and ruptured organs, and covered it up.
After pressure from the Mexican-American community, the LAPD opened up
an internal inquiry, resulting in eight [police
officers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_officers) being
indicted for the assaults, 54 being transferred, and 39
suspended.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Christmas_(1951))
### Asians
- Between 1956-65, the [Chinese Confession
Program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program)
sought confessions of illegal entry from US citizens and residents of
Chinese origin, with the (misleading) offer of legalization of status
in exchange. The program resulted in 13,895
confessions,[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program…
with about 10,000 in the [San
Francisco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco) region (where
the bulk of the illegally entering Chinese population was
concentrated.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Progra…
This was far less than the number of people suspected of having
entered illegally, and the less than complete usage of the program was
attributed to lack of trust in the United States immigration
enforcement agencies among the Chinese population, the lack of clear
benefits from confessing, and the risk of deportation faced by the
confessor as well as his or her (blood and paper)
family.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite…
Since confessions by neighbors could implicate a person and cause him
or her to be deported, the program created fear and distrust in many
Chinese-American communities. Anybody who had illegally entered and
came in contact with the FBI before he or she had confessed was
subject to immediate
deportation.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program…
The confessions had a significant impact on the Chinese-American
community: as a result of the confessions, 22,083 people were exposed
and 11,294 paper son slots were
closed.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program#cite…
For comparison, the 1950 Census listed 117,629 Chinese in America
(excluding [Hawaii](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii)).[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.…)
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Confession_Program)
- From 1942-46, FDR [imprisoned ~120,000 Japanese
Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans)
in concentration camps after the attack on pearl harbor. The
conditions of the camps were notoriously horrible, and most were
forced to make "loyalty oaths", or risk deportation and separation
from their families. It was later admitted that government actions
were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of
political leadership". Most lost their homes and jobs, as whites took
over vacated homes.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans)
- The repression faced by Chinese Americans in the 19th and 20th
century are found in the articles, [History of Chinese
Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chinese_Americans),
and [Anti-Chinese Sentiment in the
US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Chinese_sentiment_in_the_United_Stat….
- The [Immigration Act of
1917](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1917) imposed
literacy tests on immigrants, and created new categories of
inadmissible persons and barred immigration from the Asia-Pacific
Zone.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1917)
- The [Scott Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Act_(1888)) of
1888 was a law that prohibited Chinese laborers abroad or who planned
future travels from returning. It left an estimated 20,000-30,000
Chinese outside the United States at the time stranded.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Act_(1888))
- In 1882, the US passed the [Chinese Exclusion
Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act),
illegalizing Chinese immigration, in a long chain of anti-chinese
legislation. It was repealed in 1943.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act)
- The [San Francisco Riot of
1877](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_riot_of_1877) was a
two-day [pogrom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogrom) waged against
[Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese) immigrants in
[San Francisco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco),
[California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California) by the city's
majority [white](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_American)
population from the evening of July 23 through the night of July 24,
1877. The [ethnic
violence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_violence) which swept
[Chinatown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_San_Francisco)
resulted in four deaths and the destruction of more than $100,000
worth of property belonging to the city's Chinese immigrant
population.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_riot_of_1877)
- The [Page Act of
1875](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875) prohibited entry
of immigrants considered undesirable, classifying that as any
individual from [Asia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia) who was
coming to America to be a [forced
laborer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfree_labour), any Asian woman
who would engage in
[prostitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution), and all
people considered to be
[convicts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict) in their own
country. It was introduced to "end the danger of cheap Chinese labor
and immoral Chinese
women".[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875#cite_note-2)
The Page Act was supposed to strengthen the ban against “coolie”
laborers, by imposing a
[fine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_%28penalty%29) of up to
$2,000 and maximum jail
[sentence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_%28law%29) of one
year upon anyone who tried to bring a person from China,
[Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan),or any Asian country to
the United States “without their free and voluntary consent, for the
purpose of holding them to a term of
service”.[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875#cite_note-3)
However, these provisions, as well as those regarding convicts “had
little effect at the
time”.[[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875#cite_note-4)
On the other hand, the ban on female Asian immigrants was heavily
enforced and proved to be a barrier for all Asian women trying to
immigrate, especially
Chinese.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Act_of_1875)
- The [Chinese Massacre of
1871](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871) was a
[racially motivated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime) riot
which occurred on October 24, 1871 in [Los Angeles,
California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles,_California),
when a mob of around 500 white men entered
[Chinatown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_Los_Angeles) to
attack, rob, and murder
[Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese) residents of the
city.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871#cite_not…
An estimated 17 to 20 [Chinese
immigrants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_immigrants) were
systematically tortured and then
[hanged](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged) by the mob, making the
event the largest mass
[lynching](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching) in American
history.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871#cite_…
- The [Pigtail Ordinance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigtail_Ordinance)
was a racist law passed in 1873 intended to force
[prisoners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison) in [San Francisco,
California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco,_California)
to have their hair cut within an inch of the scalp. It affected [Han
Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese) prisoners in
particular, as it meant they would have their
[queue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queue_%28hairstyle%29), a
waist-long, braided [pigtail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigtail),
cut off. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigtail_Ordinance)
- The [Anti-Coolie Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Coolie_Act)
of 1862 was passed by the California legislature in an attempt to
appease rising anger among white laborers about salary competition
created by the influx of [Chinese
immigrants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_American_history) at
the height of the [California gold
rush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gold_rush).The act
sought to protect white laborers by imposing a monthly tax on Chinese
immigrants seeking to do business in the state of
[California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Coolie_Act)
### LGBTQ People
- From ~1980-1996, its estimated that around 600k people have died,
and 1.2M are living with HIV as a result of the US's mismanagement of
the AIDS epidemic. It disproportionately affects gay and bisexual men,
black ppl, and latinos.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_the_United_States)
- In 1969, LGBT activists began the [Stonewall
riots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots) in response to a
police raid in Greenwich Village, which highlighted a pattern of
discrimination against gay people in the legal system. The Stonewall
Inn It catered to an assortment of patrons and was known to be popular
among the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community:
[drag queens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_queen),
[transgender](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender) people,
effeminate young men, [butch
lesbians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_and_femme), [male
prostitutes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_prostitution), and
homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s.
The riot began an extended confrontation with the [New York City
police](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_Department),
and within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist
groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and
lesbians to be open about their [sexual
orientation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_orientation) without
fear of being arrested.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots)
- In the 2nd [Red and Lavendar
Scare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_scare) of 1947-56,
Joseph McCarthy framed homosexuality as a dangerous, contagious social
disease that posed a potential threat to state
security.[[59\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#cite_note-Patriz…
Hundreds of suspected homosexuals were imprisoned or
fired.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#Victims_of_McCarthy)
### Women
- US police officers routinely commit sexual assault and rapes: most
go unreported, but over [1200 incidents, including over 400 rapes were
committed over a 9 year period from
2005-2013.](https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/19/us/police-sexual-assaults-maryla…
- In the period following WWII, the US capitalist-controlled media,
advertising, and consumer products industries propagandized and
glorified the ideal of the housewife-consumer, in order to sell
products, make labor space for returning soldiers, take advantage of
women's unpaid labor in the home, and to help build a new workforce
and potential army to combat the soviet union. This sparked an era of
regression with respect to the feminist victories of the previous 50
years, and caused psychological damage and demoralization to an
uncountable number of women. Women who remained in the labor force
were primarily only allowed in subordinate positions such as
secretaries, cleaning women, elementary school teachers, saleswomen,
waitresses, and nurses. This is chronicled in the [Feminine
Mystique](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feminine_Mystique).
- In September 2020, it was revealed that [ICE had performed mass
hysterectomies on immigrant women in several detention
centers,](https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/like-an-experimental-concent…
reminiscent of the long-standing [US policy of sterilization of black
and brown women.](https://theintercept.com/2020/09/17/forced-sterilization-ice-us-his…
[2](https://newrepublic.com/article/159390/immigration-detention-hysterectom…
- From the 1880s onward, many US states (27 + Puerto Rico in 1956)
operated a system of [forced
sterilization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#Unite…
of women, rooted in white supremacy. The principle targets were the
mentally ill, Native Americans, and blacks. For example, in [Sunflower
County Mississippi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_County,_Mississippi),
60% of black women living there were sterilized without their
permission. An estimated 3,406 Indian women were
sterilized.[[63\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_Sta…
California eugenicists in 1933 began sending their literature overseas
to german scientists and medical workers, sparking the beginnings of
Nazi Eugenics. In the end, over 65,000 individuals were sterilized in
33 states, in all likelihood without the perspectives of ethnic
minorities. The US enacted a system of forced sterilization in Puerto
Rico since its takeover by the US in 1989: [a 1965 survey of of Puerto
Rican residents found that about one-third of all Puerto Rican
mothers, ages 20-49, were
sterilized.](https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book-excerpts/health-articl…
148 female prisoners in two California institutions were sterilized
between 2006 and 2010 in a supposedly voluntary program, but it was
determined that the prisoners did not give consent to the procedures.
In [Madrigal vs.
Quilligan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrigal_v._Quilligan), many
unsuspecting women were coerced to sign paperwork to perform
sterilization, while others were told that the process could be
reversed. None of the women were fluent in English. 10 latina women
were sterilized, and the doctor was found innocent.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#United_States),[2…
- US elites in the 18th and 19th centuries pushed a narrative of
*domestic purity*, or the *cult of true womanhood*, for women as a way
of pacifying her with a doctrine of "separate but equal"-giving her
work equally as important as the man's, but separate and different.
Inside that "equality" there was the fact that the woman did not
choose her mate, and once her marriage took place, her life was
determined. One girl wrote in 1791: "The die is about to be cast which
will probably determine the future happiness or misery of my life....
I have always anticipated the event with a degree of solemnity almost
equal to that which will terminate my present existence." Marriage
enchained, and children doubled the chains. One woman, writing in
1813: "The idea of soon giving birth to my third child and the
consequent duties I shall he called to discharge distresses me so I
feel as if I should sink."
---
- In 2019, it was discovered that [US Border patrol had been
protecting rapes and abuse of its own members since the
1990s.](https://www.newsweek.com/border-patrol-game-smiles-sexual-assault-1…
In one instance, a trainee was forced to give oral sex to 5 officers,
and then raped while she was unconcious. At least 35 instances of rape
by officers was found.
- In May, 2019, Alabama lawmakers [banned
abortion](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/alabama-senate-passes-nat…
in the state, providing no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
Those caught performing abortions will face up to 99 years in prison.
The bill is part of a larger effort to overturn *Roe vs Wade*, a
long-standing supreme court decision affirming a woman's right to
choose. Alabaman women seeking abortions are now forced to travel
across state lines, and hide everything about the procedure from
friends and family, in order to avoid legal repercussions from their
home state. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a [federal
suit](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/planned-parenthood-aclu-sue-over…
against the state.
- On November 25, 2017, Yang Song died after falling from a 4th floor
balcony during a targeted police raid. Her personal messages revealed
that in 2016, [she was raped at gunpoint by an undercover police
officer, and was subsequently harrassed, threatened with deportation,
and then likely murdered by the NYPD.](https://t.co/CMBpgv7MwB)
- In the 1830s, The [Lowell Mill
Girls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Mill_Girls) were female
workers who came to work in industrial factories in [Lowell,
Massachusetts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell,_Massachusetts),
during the [Industrial
Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution), and
who despite living in cramped boarding houses and working from 5am-7pm
every day, developed a culture of defiance against the factory owners,
and created reform associations, and began strikes in 1834 and 1836.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Mill_Girls)
### Workers and the Poor
- [1 out of every 7 US citizens needs to visit food banks to
survive](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/17/hunger-study…,
despite having enough food to feed [10 billion
people.](https://www.oxfam.ca/there-enough-food-feed-world) Half of
all food produced is [thrown away by
retailers.](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/13/us-food-was…
[Food waste in 2018 enough to feed world's hungry 4 times
over.](https://reliefweb.int/report/world/food-waste-enough-feed-world-s-hu…
[An analysis by the Brookings Institution conducted the summer of 2021
found that, 27.5% of households with children were food insecure —
meaning some 13.9 million children lived in a household characterized
by child food insecurity. A separate analysis by researchers at
Northwestern found insecurity has more than tripled among households
with children to 29.5% in late
2020.](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/27/912486921/food-insecurity-in-the-u-s-…
- US federal and state governments have epically mismanaged and failed
to mobilize a response to a global pandemic caused by the [Covid
19](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19) virus. Many state
governments repeat an endless cycle of refusing to mandate protective
measures such as masks and stay-at-home orders, refusing to close
super-spreader locations like restaurants, churches, and gyms, then
seeing rising death counts, hospital crowding, and a shortage of
ventilators. Despite the high death count, many mainstream US news
sources continue to call the virus a hoax, and alternatively the
"Chinese virus", shifting blame for its mismanagement to the US's new
primary enemy. Before many countries developed vaccines, [Trump
attempted a backroom deal to buy a German company working on a
vaccine, prompting angry reactions from German
politicians](https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-confirms-that-donald-trump-tried-to-buy-firm-working-on-coronavirus-vaccine/).
The US, along with other OECD nations, [voted in Feb 2021 to block a
push by developing nations to waive vaccine patent
rights](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-wto-idUSKBN2B…
[2](https://i.imgur.com/uNj73qU.png), in an effort to stop developing
nations from producing current vaccines, and protect US pharma's
intellectual property. As of April 2021, there have been 540k civilian
deaths within its borders ( the worst death / capita rates globally of
any nation), and an uncountable more outside.
- An analysis of 2016 data showed that [8 men control as much wealth
as half of the world's
population](http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/15/news/economy/oxfam-income-inequ….
Those 8 men are Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim, Jeff Bezos,
Mark Zuckerberg, Amancio Ortega, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg,
and are collectively worth $426 billion.
[1](http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/15/news/economy/oxfam-income-inequality-men…
- US authorities have a [long history of murdering striking
workers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_Stat…
fighting for better conditions, dating back to the 1800s, up to the
present day. According to a study in 1969, the United States has had
the bloodiest and most violent labor history of any industrial nation
in the world, and there have been few industries which have been
immune.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_St…
A long list of these deaths and disputes can be found
[here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_…,
and [this article on the Labor History of the
US](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#Organi….
- US conservatives and authorities have systematically dismantled
labor unions over the past few decades, and by 2011 fewer than 7% of
employees in the private sector belong to unions. The number of major
work stoppages fell by 97% from 381 in 1970 to 187 in 1980 to only 11
in 2010.[129](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States…,
[130](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States#cite_…
The accumulating weaknesses were exposed when President Ronald
Reagan—a former union president—broke the [Professional Air Traffic
Controllers Organization
(PATCO)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_…)
strike in 1981, dealing a major blow to
unions.[131](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_Stat…
Union membership among workers in private industry shrank
dramatically, though after 1970 there was growth in employees unions
of federal, state and local
governments.[132](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United…
The intellectual mood in the 1970s and 1980s favored deregulation and
free competition.[134](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United…
Numerous industries were deregulated, including airlines, trucking,
railroads and telephones, over the objections of the unions
involved.[135](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_St…
Republicans, using conservative [think
tanks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_tank) as idea farms, began
to push through legislative blueprints to curb the power of public
employee unions as well as eliminate business
regulations.[128](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United…
Union weakness in the [Southern United
States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States)
undermined unionization and social reform throughout the nation, and
such weakness is largely responsible for the anaemic U.S. [welfare
state](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state).[137](https://en.wikipe…
- In addition to artificial housing crises, the US has high numbers of
homeless, despite the fact that there are, [~6 houses for every
homeless person](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-skip-bronson/post_733_b_69254….
Instead of human planning and intelligent distribution of resources,
the US ruling class upholds the market as the "the most efficient way
of allocating resources".
- Rising Housing prices from real estate speculation have skyrocketed
to the point that an epidemic of [hidden
homeless](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-angeles-hidden-homeless-priced-o…
has arisen: families who live in their cars, or on the street, but who
still work. In most US cities, such as LA, it's illegal to sleep in
your car overnight. 1/3rd of all renters pay half their income towards
landlords. Even in mid-size cities like Boise Idaho are experiencing a
[surge of homelessness as of
2019](https://www.kivitv.com/news/state-of-208/affordable-housing-crisis-le….
- Although the US economy produces more than enough food to feed those
in poverty, [UNICEF](http://www.unicef.org/sowc06/pdfs/sowc06_chap1.pdf),
[RESULTS](https://web.archive.org/web/20080527011602/http://www.results.org/…,
and [Bread for the
World](http://www.bread.org/hunger/global/facts.html) estimate that
**15 million** people die **each year** from preventable poverty, of
whom 11 million are **children under the age of five**. In addition,
The US has a comparatively terrible social support system to fight
poverty and prevent deaths: "approximately 245,000 deaths in the
United States in the year 2000 were attributable to low levels of
education, 176,000 to racial segregation, 162,000 to low social
support, 133,000 to individual-level poverty, 119,000 to income
inequality, and 39,000 to area-level poverty"
([sources](https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/how-many-u…)
That is 2 million people every 10 years in the US
alone.[1](http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/08/crimes-against-humanity-01…
- In the modern day, [20,000 to 40,000 people die every
year](http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insur…
because of lack of universal health care or health insurance. On
average, that's 300,000 over the last decade.
[1](http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insuranc…
- [FBI, and local police routinely ally with racists to target left
wing activists.](https://ricochet.media/en/2276/police-spies-and-white-supremacy-a-brief-history)
One conference on "radical left wings gangs in america", fittingly
enough is held yearly in Quebec City, home of far right groups like La
Muete, whose members include knife attacks, and the Quebec city mosque
shooting where a gunman killed 6 people during prayer. Federal agents
performed a key role in getting Nazi and Klan formations to
collaborate with police, and each other.
- [An outline of some of the US's worst human rights
offenses.](http://download.people.com.cn/waiwen/eight15840920921.pdf)
---
- On December 5th, 2019, [police opened fire on a busy
highway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Miramar_shootout) in
Miramar Florida, while in pursuit of 2 jewel thieves who stole $3k of
jewelry, killing the kidnapped UPS driver, the two thieves, and an
innocent 70-year-old bystander in traffic. [The graphic
video](https://twitter.com/rklueber28/status/1202722185690914817)
shows complete negligence for the hostage, and surrounding drivers,
all to recover some stolen jewelry. On a GoFundMe page that had raised
more than $100,000 by Friday evening, Roy Ordonez wrote that his
brother, the UPS driver, had been gunned “down like a criminal by the
Florida police.” He asked people to share the fundraising page to
“make people aware of trigger-happy police officers.” “They could
have killed many more people, could have been one of your loved ones,”
Roy Ordonez wrote. “Please don’t let my brother’s death be for
nothing. Police need to be held accountable.”
- In February 2019, an [11 year old was arrested by police after
refusing to say the pledge of
allegiance.](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/02/florida-student-ar…
The teacher then asked “Why if it was so bad here he did not go to
another place to live,” “They brought me here,” the boy replied. Polk
County Public Schools spokesman Kyle Kennedy insisted the 11-year-old
“was arrested after becoming disruptive and refusing to follow
repeated instructions by school staff and law enforcement.” The sixth
grader was then taken to a juvenile detention center, charged with
disrupting a school function and resisting arrest without violence.
- In 2020, the state of Michigan implemented a policy of [locking up
children for non-criminal
offenses.](https://www.propublica.org/article/judges-are-locking-up-childre…
This follows the trend of increasing police-presence within US
schools, which have massively increased the number of students
arrested for non-violent offenses.
- In 2019, a Phoenix Arizona resident, Jim Stauffer, learned that the
body of his deceased mother, Doris, who died in 2014, was one of [many
bodies sold to the US army used for "blast
testing".](https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/valley-man-learns-moms-body-was-sold-for-blast-testing)
He had checked "no" on the paperwork for medical tests involving
explosions. “She was then supposedly strapped in a chair on some sort
of apparatus, and a detonation took place underneath her to basically
kind of get an idea of what the human body goes through when a vehicle
is hit by an IED.” Stauffer is one of many plaintiffs named in the
suit against [Biologic Resource Center and its owner Stephen
Gore.](https://www.abc15.com/news/crime/fbi-shines-light-on-now-shut-down-h…
Gore pleaded guilty to running an illegal enterprise in 2015, but was
sentenced to serve probation.
- In January 2018 in Camden New Jersey, [a 33 year old police
Detective Rafael Martinez Jr raped and impregnated a 15-year old
girl.](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5645553/Former-New-Jersey-police-officer-33-given-five-years-probation.html).
He negotiated a plea deal in which he only serves 5 months of
probation, with no prison time.
[1](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5645553/Former-New-Jersey-police-officer-33-given-five-years-probation.html)
- On December 28th, 2017, Police in Wichita Kansas [murdered an
innocent man, 28-year-old Andrew
Finch](http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article193294019.html)
who was the recipient of "swatting" (where someone falsely reports an
emergency to draw police to an address). The [bodycam
footage](http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article193294019.html)
shows that the killing was entirely unjustified. The "swatter", [Tyler
Rai Bariss](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-tyler-barriss-swatting-201…,
has a long history of such pranks,
[1](http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article193294019.html),[2](http:/…
- On December 24th, 2017, Police officers [shot and killed an unarmed
suspected car thief, Amanda lee jones, and a 6 year old boy, Kameron
Prescott](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/kameron-prescott-anger-poli…,
in Bexar County Texas. Kameron Prescott is the youngest and 957th
person killed by US police in 2017. Bexar County Sheriff Salazar is
quoted as saying, “Right now, what I’m dealing with is a tragic
accident that led to the death of this young man.” Young man was used
instead of 6 year old
boy.[1](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/kameron-prescott-anger-police…
- On August 15th, 2017, [Police arrested 7 anti-racist activists for
toppling a confederate statue in Durham, North
Carolina](http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/14/us/confederate-statue-pulled-down-n….
>From New York to California, demonstrations have been organized since
the death of [Heather
Heyer](http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/16/us/heather-heyer-memorial-service/inde…,
who was protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. Many
demonstrators connected with each other through public Facebook
events. [1](http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/14/us/confederate-statue-pulled-down-north-ca…
- On July 19th, 2017, [Police arrested 155
demonstrators](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-ar…
on capitol hill, for protesting a republican-lead health care
dismantling initiative by Mitch McConnell, by occupying republican
offices. Authorities said demonstrators were warned “to cease and
desist with their unlawful demonstration activities” before police
made arrests. Police arrested 80 people for the same charge on July
10th. [1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-arrest-155-hea…
- In January 2017, LA county sherriff Neil Kimball, assigned to
investigate a sexual assault against a 14 year old girl, [tied up and
raped the victim](https://thefreethoughtproject.com/child-rape-victim-goes-to-police-…,
then attempted to intimidate the witness and the family from coming
forward, even threatening them at some point during the horrific
ordeal. He faces a maximum of only 3 years in prison, and will likely
serve less.
- In January, 2016, Philip “Mitch” Brailsford, a police officer in
Mesa Arizona, [killed Daniel
Shaver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Daniel_Shaver),
after someone called in a report of him holding a gun (which turned
out to be a pellet gun), out of a hotel window. Brailsford was charged
for second-degree murder, and acquitted by a jury a year later. After
his acquittal, the court released the [graphic bodycam
footage](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/08/grap…
showing Daniel Shaver crawling on his hands and knees and begging for
his life before he was brutally murdered. After giving contradictory
commands, such as telling Daniel to cross his legs, put his face down
in the carpet, put his hands behind his head, and crawl towards them,
the officer said, "I’m not here to be tactical and diplomatic with
you. You listen. You obey... If you move, we’re going to consider that
a threat and we are going to deal with it and you may not survive
it".[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Daniel_Shaver),
[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/08/graphic-vi…
- In March 2015, former US Marshal and DEA agent Matthew Fogg reported
in an interview that [DEA agents were instructed not to enforce drug
laws in richer, white
areas.](https://bennorton.com/dea-agent-we-were-told-not-to-enforce-drug-la…
His superior state, “You know, if we go out there and start messing
with those folks, they know judges, they know lawyers, they know
politicians. You start locking their kids up, somebody’s going to jerk
our chain.” He said they’re going to call us on it, and before you
know it, they’re going to shut us down, and there goes your overtime.
[1](https://bennorton.com/dea-agent-we-were-told-not-to-enforce-drug-laws-in…
- In 2014 in [Flint,
Michigan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michigan), the city
[exposed over 100,000
residents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis) to high
levels of [lead](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead) in the drinking
water due to insufficient [water
treatment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_treatment) in the
[Flint Water Crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis).
A federal state of emergency was declared in January 2016 and Flint
residents were instructed to use only bottled or filtered water for
drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing. At least six have died from
[Legionnaires disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionnaires%27_disease)
from the poisoning. As of 2017, the crisis is ongoing. Residents are
instructed to continue to use bottled or filtered water until all the
lead pipes have been replaced, which is expected to be completed no
sooner than 2020.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis)
- Since January, 2013, over 21 US cities have enacted legislation to
restrict giving food to the homeless, such as requiring expensive
permits to discourage food donations in public spaces, or direct
police intervention. In Tampa FL, on January 9th, 2017, police
arrested 7 volunteers of Food Not Bombs and 1 homeless person to
prevent them from distributing food.
[1](http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/In-Tampa-If-You-Share-Food-with-Ho…
- From 1980s to the present day, [Justice for Janitors
Campaigns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_for_Janitors) (a
group fighting against the low wages and minimal health-care coverage
given to janitors worldwide) in the US have been the target of police
arrests and crackdowns. On November 20, 2006, a few days after dozens
of strikers and their supporters were arrested by [Houston
police](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Police_Department) while
engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_for_Janitors)
- In 1996, Congress signed into law the deceptively titled [Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportu…,
which capitalized on a demonization of the poor as being lazy (in
reality there was a lack of jobs, and low-wage work proved unable to
sustain most families), in order to dismantle welfare benefits. Its
aim was to force poor families receiving federal cash benefits (many
of them single mothers with children) to go to work, by cutting off
their benefits after two years, limiting lifetime benefits to five
years, and allowing people without children to get food stamps for
only three months in any three-year period.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportuni…
- In 1988, Police charged a tent city/homeless center in [Tompkins
square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_Park_riot_(1988)),
arresting and clubbing protesters, injuring 35 people and arresting 9
more. "It's time to bring a little law and order back to the park and
restore it to the legitimate members of the community," said Captain
McNamara. "We don't want to get into a situation where we under-police
something like this and it turns into a fiasco." Protesters held up
signs saying "Gentrification is Class War".
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_Park_riot_(1988))
- In 1988, a founder of [Food Not
Bombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Not_Bombs), [Keith
McHenry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry), was one of nine
volunteers arrested for sharing food and literature at Golden Gate
Park on August 15,
1988.[[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry#cite_note-1)
In the following years, Keith was arrested over 100 times for serving
free food in city parks and spent over 500 nights in jail. He faced 25
years to life in prison under the California Three Strikes Law but in
1995, Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights
Commission brought about his
release.[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry#cite_note-2)
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_McHenry)
- In 1985-86, Hormel workers [went on
strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormel#1985_strike) in Austin
Minnesota, due to a cutwage from \$10.69 to \$6.50 and significantly
reduced benefits. After six months, a significant number of
strikebreakers crossed the picket line, provoking riots in Austin. On
January 21, 1986, the [Governor of
Minnesota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Minnesota), [Rudy
Perpich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Perpich), called in the
[National Guard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Guard)
to protect the strikebreakers. The strike ended in June 1986, after
lasting 10 months. Over 700 of the workers did not return to their
jobs, refusing to cross the picket line. In solidarity with those
workers, the boycott of Hormel products continued for some time.
Ultimately, however, the company did succeed in hiring new workers at
significantly lower wages.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormel#1985_strike)
- In 1983, a mostly latino workforce lead the 3-year long [Arizona
Copper Mine Strike of
1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983),
in which the police, national guard, and Arizona governor assisted in
one of the largest strikebreaking incidents of the 1980s, ending with
the [Phelps Dodge
Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelps_Dodge_Corporation)
replacing most of the workers and decertifying the unions. Miners were
subject to [undercover
surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance) by the
Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency, to identify strikers
engaged in violence, with the governor sending 325 National Guard
soldiers to Morenci, and increasing the number of state policemen
there to 425. Meanwhile, the local government passed
[injunctions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction) limiting both
picketing and demonstrations at the mine. The Arizona copper mine
strike would later become a symbol of defeat for American unions.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983)
- In 1981, the union [PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers
Organization)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Contr…)
went on strike for better working conditions, pay, and a shorter work
week. The union was
[decertified](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decertification), declared
illegal, and the strike broken by the [Reagan
Administration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Ronald_Reagan).
It is considered one of the last death throes of the US labor
movement. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organ…
- In May, 1970, the Ohio national guard shot and killed 4 college
students, and wounded 9 others in the [Kent State
Shootings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings). Some
of the students who were shot had been protesting the [Cambodian
Bombing Campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Campaign),
which President [Richard
Nixon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon) announced during a
television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been
walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance. There was a
significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of
universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the US due
to a [student strike of 4 million
students](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_strike_of_1970), and
the event further affected public opinion, at an already socially
contentious time, over the [role of the United States in the Vietnam
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role_of_the_United_States_in_the_Vietnam….
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings)
- From 1947-56, beginning with a 1947 Truman Executive order that
required all federal civil services employees to be screen for
"loyalty", a second [Red
Scare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare) took place with
senator [Joseph
McCarthy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy) at its head,
accusing large numbers of people of being communist infiltrators and
homosexuals, resulting in hundreds of imprisonments and some
10,000-12,000 people accused losing their jobs. The primary targets of
such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment
industry, educators and
[union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union) activists, who
McCarthy publicly targeted through the anti-communist [House of
Un-American Activies Committee
(HUAC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee)
hearings or public statements. The number imprisoned is in the
hundreds, and some ten or twelve thousand lost their
jobs.[[54\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#cite_note-54)
In many cases simply being subpoenaed by HUAC or one of the other
committees was sufficient cause to be
fired.[[55\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#cite_note-55)
In the context of the Cold War, McCarthy framed homosexuality as a
dangerous, contagious social disease that posed a potential threat to
state security.[[59\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#cite_note-Patriz…
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism#Victims_of_McCarthy)
- In 1947, the [Taft-Hartley
Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Management_Relations_Act_of_1947)
remains an anti-worker law intended to dismantle and break up labor
unions (around 1/4 workers were in unions at that time). It was passed
by capitalists as a response to [the post-WW2 strike wave of
1945-46](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_wave_of_1945%E2%80%9346),
as more than 5 million workers went on strike during the labor upsurge
of returning soldiers. The Taft–Hartley Act prohibited [jurisdictional
strikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdictional_strike),
[wildcat strikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_strike_action),
solidarity or political strikes, [secondary
boycotts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_action), secondary
and mass [picketing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picketing_%28protest%29),
[closed shops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_shop), and
monetary donations by unions to federal political campaigns. It also
required union officers to sign non-communist affidavits with the
government. [Union shops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_shop)
were heavily restricted, and states were allowed to pass
[right-to-work laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law)
that ban agency fees. Furthermore, the executive branch of the federal
government could obtain legal strikebreaking
[injunctions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction) if an
impending or current strike imperiled the national health or safety.
The amendments required unions and employers to give 80 days' notice
to each other and to certain state and federal mediation bodies before
they may undertake
[strikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action) or other forms
of economic action in pursuit of a new [collective bargaining
agreement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_bargaining_agreement).
Anyone opposed to the act was labeled a communist, in the rising red
scare initiated by McCarthy.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Management_Relations_Act_of_1947)
- In 1934, in the midst of the worsening conditions of the great
depression, 400,000 [textile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile)
workers from [New England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England),
the [Mid-Atlantic
states](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_states) and the
[U.S. Southern states](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Southern_states),
[went on strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_workers_strike_(1934)#The_aut…
for 22 days. Deputies and armed strikebreakers in South Carolina fired
on pickets, killing seven, wounding twenty others. State authorities
aided by the national guard suppressed the strikes, killing and
arresting dozens of picketers and strikers across the nation. Governor
[Blackwood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibra_Charles_Blackwood) of
[South Carolina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina) called
out the National Guard with orders to shoot to kill any picketers who
tried to enter the mills. Other governors soon followed suit. Nate
Shaw, a black alabama sharecropper on strike, was shot and arrested in
late 1932, and served twelve years in an Alabama
prison.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_workers_strike_(1934)#The_…
- In 1934, sailors in San Francisco began a general strike known as
the [1934 West Coast Waterfront
Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_West_Coast_waterfront_strike).
Police attempted to break up the strike by shooting tear gas into the
crowd, and charging the protesters on horseback. Police then fired
shotguns and revolvers into the crowd, killing 6 workers, in an event
known as "Bloody Thursday". A state of emergency was declared, and the
governor sent in the california national guard and federal army
soldiers with machine gun mounted trucks to assist vigilante
strike-breakers. Over 150 workers were arrested.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_West_Coast_waterfront_strike)
- In 1932, A [Bonus Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army)
consisting of 43,000 poor WWI veterans and their supporters gathered
in [Washington, D.C.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.)
in to demand cash-payment redemption of their service certificates.
Four troops of cavalry, four companies of infantry, a machine gun
squadron, and six tanks assembled near the White House. General
Douglas MacArthur was in charge of the operation, Major Dwight
Eisenhower his aide. George S. Patton was one of the officers.
MacArthur led his troops down Pennsylvania Avenue, used tear gas to
clear veterans out of the old buildings, and set the buildings on
fire. Then the army moved across the bridge to Anacostia. Thousands of
veterans,wives, children, began to run as the tear gas spread. The
soldiers set fire to some of the huts, and soon the whole encampment
was ablaze. When it was all over, two veterans had been shot to
death,an eleven-week-old baby had died, an eight-year-old boy was
partially blinded by gas, two police had fractured skulls, and a
thousand veterans were injured by gas.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army#Police_shooting)
- In the 1930s, the [Harlan County
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County_War), was a series of
coal mining-related skirmishes, executions, bombings, and strikes that
took place in [Harlan County,
Kentucky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County,_Kentucky). The
incidents involved coal miners and union organizers on one side,
organizing their workplaces and fighting for better wages and working
conditions, and coal firms and law enforcement officials on the
other. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County_War)
- The [Wall Street Crash of
1929](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929), caused
by a capitalist speculative bubble throughout 1920s, hit working
families the hardest, and along with the Dust Bowl, resulted in the
[Great Depression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression),
which had devastating social and economic effects on working people
everywhere. Unemployment skyrocketed to 25%, poverty and hunger
increased, and many families were displaced and forced to leave their
homes in search of work elsewhere. The worsening material conditions
gave rise to a large movement of industrial unionism (mainly the
AFL-CIO), and many large strikes in which workers fought to regain
their livelihood. This growing revolutionary movement scared American
capitalists into making concessions, and was only pacified by the
promises of FDR's social-democratic [New
Deal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal), which had the effect of
preserving American Capitalism, and dismantling the growing labor
movement. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929)
- In the late 1920s, during prohibition, the [US treasury department,
under orders from Calvin Coolidge's government, intentionally poisoned
alcohol supplies](http://www.slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/jeff-merkley-child…
leading to the deaths of at least 700 people, with thousands more
suffering from alcohol poisoning from methyl alcohol. Public health
officials responded with shock. "The government knows it is not
stopping drinking by putting poison in alcohol," said New York City
medical examiner Charles Norris, "[Y]et it continues its poisoning
processes, heedless of the fact that people determined to drink are
daily absorbing that poison. Knowing this to be true, the United
States government must be charged with the moral responsibility for
the deaths that poisoned liquor causes, although it cannot be held
legally responsible." Most of those sickened and dying were those "who
cannot afford expensive protection and deal in low grade stuff." The
program was finally ended in 1933.
[1](http://www.slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/jeff-merkley-child-detent…
- In 1922, the [Great Railroad Strike of
1922](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1922) was
a 400,000 person-strong nationwide strike of railroad workers, with
police and armed company guards killing 10 workers or their family
members. Troops bolstered armed company guards in their work
protecting railroad property and aiding in the defense and
transportation of strikebreakers, thereby working to undermine the
strike effort.[[12\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1922#…
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1922#Conflict_and…
- In 1921, The [Battle of Blair
Mountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain) was
the largest labor uprising in [US
history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_history) and one
of the largest, best-organized, and most well-armed uprisings since
the [American Civil
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War), resulting in
the US army killing 50-100 strikers, and arresting ~1000 more. Private
police planes even dropped mustard gas bombs on the strikers. In
[Logan County](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_County,_West_Virginia),
[West Virginia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia), some
10,000 armed [coal miners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_miner)
confronted 3,000 lawmen and
[strikebreakers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strikebreakers), called
the Logan Defenders,[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain#cit…
who were backed by coal mine operators during an attempt by the miners
to [unionize](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union) the
southwestern West Virginia coalfields. The battle ended after
approximately one million rounds were
fired,[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain#cite_no…
and the [United States
Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army) intervened by
presidential order.
- In 1920, the [Battle of
Matewan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matewan) was a
shootout between coal miners and the [Baldwin-Felts detective
agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin%E2%80%93Felts_Detective_Agenc…,
after they attempted to evict striking miners from company houses.
Shooting of undetermined origins resulted in the deaths of two coal
miners, seven agents, and the mayor, with [Sheriff Sid Hatfield siding
with the miners to defend
them](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Hatfield). Afterward, when the
charges against Hatfield and 22 others for the murder of Albert Felts
were dismissed, Baldwin-Felts detectives assassinated Hatfield and his
deputy Ed Chambers on August 1, 1921, on the steps of the [McDowell
County courthouse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDowell_County_Courthouse_%28Wes…
in [Welch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welch,_West_Virginia), West
Virginia. None of the Baldwin-Felts detectives was ever convicted of
Hatfield's assassination: they claimed they had acted "in
self-defense". [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matewan)
- In 1919, An [IWW general strike took place in Seattle,
Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_General_Strike), in
which dissatisfied workers in several
[unions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union) began a strike to
gain higher wages after two years of [World War
I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I) wage controls. The
strike was put down by the City's mayor, who called in federal troops
and nearby police. 39 labor leaders labeled as 'Bolsheviki' were
arrested, with Seattle's mayor [Ole
Hanson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Hanson) taking credit for
ending the strike. He resigned a few months later and toured the
country giving lectures on the dangers of "domestic bolshevism",
earning $38,000 in seven months, five times his annual salary as
mayor. After WWI, the IWW was largely dismantled.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_General_Strike)
- In 1919, A [massacre in Centralia
Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_massacre_(Washington))
occurred when the city-supported American legion attacked IWW labor
organizers, killing 6 people. Frank Everett, one of the wobbly
organizers, escaped, was dragged back to town behind an automobile,
suspended him from a telegraph pole, then locked him in jail. That
night, his jailhouse door was broken down, he was dragged out,put on
the floor of a car, his genitals were cut off, and then he was taken
to a bridge, lynched, and his body riddled with bullets. Seven
wobblies were imprisoned and sentenced to 25-40 years by city
officials. The primary reason for this was that the growing anti-war
labor movement was seen as a threat to capitalists in Centralia.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_massacre_(Washington))
- In 1914, Woodrow Wilson instituted the first modern draft (fighting
without pay), since only 73,000 people volunteered (indicating low
support for the war), and plunged American workers into
[WWI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I), widely regarded as
an [imperialist
war](http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnwarhea14.html)
between European capitalist powers over boundaries, colonies, and
spheres of influence in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, in which
millions were killed and wounded. Around 900 anti-war socialists such
as [Eugene Debs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs) were
arrested and imprisoned under the [Espionage
Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act) for "obstructing the
recruiting or enlistment
service."[1](http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnwarhea14.html)
- In 1914, The [Ludlow
Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre) was an attack
by the [Colorado National
Guard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_National_Guard) and
[Colorado Fuel & Iron
Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Fuel_%26_Iron_Company)
camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking [coal
miners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_miner) and their families
at [Ludlow, Colorado](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow,_Colorado),
fighting for an 8-hour work day, better pay, and union recognition, as
part of the larger [Colorado Coalfield
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Coalfield_War). The
national and camp guards killed 19-26 people, including two women and
eleven children. To finish clearing out the camp, the Guard moved down
from the hills with torches, set fire to the tents, and the families
fled into the hills. In retaliation for Ludlow, the miners armed
themselves and attacked dozens of mines over the next ten days,
destroying property and engaging in several skirmishes with the
Colorado National Guard along a 40-mile front from
[Trinidad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad,_Colorado) to
[Walsenburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walsenburg,_Colorado).[[2\]](http…
The entire strike would cost between 69 and 199 lives. Congress
responded to public outcry by directing the [House Committee on Mines
and Mining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Mine…
to investigate the
incident.[[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre#cite_note-5)
Its report, published in 1915, was influential in promoting [child
labor laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor_laws_in_the_United_States)
and an eight-hour work day. Historian [Howard
Zinn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn) described the Ludlow
Massacre as "the culminating act of perhaps the most violent struggle
between corporate power and laboring men in American history".
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre)
- In 1912, the [Paint Creek Mine
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_Creek%E2%80%93Cabin_Creek_strike_o…
was a violent series of confrontations between striking coal miners in
West Virginia, and police. The confrontation directly caused perhaps
fifty violent deaths, as well as many more deaths indirectly caused by
[starvation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation) and
[malnutrition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition) among the
striking miners. In the number of casualties it counts among the worst
conflicts in American labor union history. The strike was a prelude to
subsequent labor-related West Virginia conflicts in the following
years, the [Battle of
Matewan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matewan) and the
[Battle of Blair
Mountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_Creek%E2%80%93Cabin_Creek_strike_of_…
- In 1912, immigrant workers began a [Textile Strike in Lawrence
Massachusetts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Lawrence_textile_strike),
lead by the IWW, prompted by a two-hour pay-cut. The strike united
workers from more than 40 different
[nationalities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationality).[[2\]](https://en…
Carried on throughout a brutally cold winter, the strike lasted more
than two months, defying the assumptions of conservative [trade
unions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union) within the
[American Federation of
Labor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Federation_of_Labor)
(AFL) that immigrant, largely female and ethnically divided workers
could not be organized. Lawrence police killed 2 people, beat a
pregnant woman to miscarriage, and arrested >250. Congressional
hearings followed, resulting in exposure of shocking conditions in the
Lawrence mills and calls for investigation of the "wool trust." Mill
owners soon decided to settle the strike, giving workers in Lawrence
and throughout New England raises of up to 20 percent. Within a year,
however, the IWW had largely collapsed in
Lawrence.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Lawrence_textile_strike)
- In the year 1904, 27,000 workers were killed on the job due to
industrial accidents from poor have been few industries which have
been immune.[1]. A long working conditions, in manufacturing,
transport, and agriculture. In one year, 50,000 accidents took place
in New York factories alone. Hat and cap makers were getting
respiratory diseases, quarrymen were inhaling deadly chemicals,
lithographic printers were getting arsenic poisoning. According to a
report of the Commission on Industrial Relations, in 1914, 35,000
workers were killed in industrial accidents and 700,000
injured.[1](http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/socchal13.html)
- The [Coal Strike of
1902](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_strike_of_1902) was a strike
by 150,000 miners of the [United Mine Workers of
America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Mine_Workers_of_America)
in the [anthracite
coalfields](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite_coal) of eastern
[Pennsylvania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania). Miners
struck for higher wages, shorter workdays and the [recognition of
their union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_strike).
Although it was resolved with a modest pay increase (but a refusal to
recognize the UMWA union), police killed several strikers. An
immigrant striker named Anthony Giuseppe was found fatally shot near a
Lehigh Valley Coal Company colliery in [Old
Forge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Forge,_Lackawanna_County,_Pennsylv…;
it was thought the [Coal and Iron
Police](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_and_Iron_Police) guarding
the site shot blindly through a
fence.[[18\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_strike_of_1902#cite_note-1…
Contemporary reporting describes three other deaths and widespread
shooting injuries among strikers and Shenandoah police.
[[20\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_strike_of_1902#cite_note-20)
On October 9, a striker named William Durham was shot and killed in
Brownsville, Pennsylvania, near Shenandoah. He’d been loitering near
the half-dynamited house of a non-union worker and disobeyed an order
to halt.[[21\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_strike_of_1902#cite_note-21)
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_strike_of_1902#Aftermath_of_the_strik…
- In 1894, the [Pullman
Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike) was one of the
bloodiest battles between police and workers in US history. The
conflict began in [Pullman,
Chicago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman,_Chicago), when nearly
4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a [wildcat
strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_strike) in response to
recent reductions in wages, despite not reducing the rents or cost of
goods in the company town. Debs and the
[ARU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Railway_Union) called a
massive [boycott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott) against all
trains that carried a Pullman car. It affected most rail lines west of
[Detroit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit) and at its peak
involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states. Thirty people were killed
by the police. The federal government obtained an injunction against
the union, Debs, and other boycott leaders, ordering them to stop
interfering with trains that carried mail cars. After the strikers
refused, President [Grover
Cleveland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland) ordered in
the Army to stop the strikers from obstructing the trains. Violence
broke out in many cities, and the strike collapsed. Defended by a team
including [Clarence
Darrow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow), Debs was
convicted of violating a court order and sentenced to prison; the ARU
then dissolved.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike)
- During the late 19th century, the
[Pinkertons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_(detective_agency))
were a private security firm hired by the wealthy to [infiltrate
unions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_spy), supply guards, keep
[strikers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action) and suspected
[unionists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union) out of
factories, and recruit [goon
squads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goon_squad) to intimidate
workers. The Pinkertons were also used as guards in coal, iron, and
lumber disputes in [Illinois](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois),
[Michigan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan), [New
York](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_%28state%29),
[Pennsylvania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania), and [West
Virginia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia) as well as the
[Great Railroad Strike of
1877](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1877) and
the [Battle of Blair
Mountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain) in
1921. After bad publicity, and the rise of organized labor by the
1930s, police forces and the national guard were required to suppress
the labor movement.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_(detective_agency))
- In 1892, the [Homestead
Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike) was an
industrial lockout and strike between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania steel
workers, and the Carnegie steel company, who hired armed
[Pinkertons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agen…
to act as strike-breakers. It culminated in a battle between strikers
and private security agents on July 6,
1892.[[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike#cite_note-3)
The battle was one of the most serious disputes in [U.S. labor
history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States),
third behind the [Ludlow
Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre) and the
[Battle of Blair
Mountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain).
After the thousands of rioters forced the encircled pinkertons to
surrender, the US sent in national guard troops to suppress the
strike, killing ~9 and arresting hundreds.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike)
- The [Coal Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Wars) were a
series of [armed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_conflict) [labor
conflicts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_dispute) in the US
between striking workers, and the police and paid private security
firms, between 1890 and 1930. Although they occurred mainly in the
[East](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_United_States),
particularly in
[Appalachia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia), there was a
significant amount of violence in
[Colorado](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado) after the turn of
the century. Coal capitalists paid private detectives as well as
public law enforcement agents to ensure that union organizers were
kept out of the region, using intimidation, harassment, espionage, and
murder. Mining families lived under the terror of
[Baldwin-Felts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin-Felts_Detective_Agency)
detective agents who were professional strikebreakers under the hire
of coal operators. During that dispute, agents drove a heavily armored
train through a tent colony at night, opening fire on women, men, and
children with a machine gun.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Wars)
- In 1886, Chicago police killed several workers, and arrested many
more striking in support of an 8-hour work day. The next day, they
then attempted to break up the strike, upon which an unknown person
threw a dynamite bomb at police, killing several, in the [Haymarket
Affair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair). Four
anarchists were tried and hanged without evidence, and their
executions aroused a funeral march of 25,000 in Chicago.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair)
- The [Great Railroad strike of
1877](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1877#Reading)
was a nationwide strike in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois,
and Missouri, after the [Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_%26_Ohio_Railroad)
(B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. The strike finally ended
some 45 days later after it was put down by local and state militias,
and federal troops, who murdered around ~100 workers or family
members, and arrested ~1000 people. A newspaper recounting the
situation in Chicago reports: "The sound of clubs falling on skulls
was sickening for the first minute, until one grew accustomed to it. A
rioter dropped at every whack, it seemed, for the ground was covered
with them." The railroads made some concessions, withdrew some wage
cuts, but also strengthened their "Coal and Iron Police."
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1877#Reading)
- In 1874, Police charged and broke up a labor demonstration of
unemployed workers in [Tompkins
Square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_riot_(1874)),
New York. One newspaper reported: Police clubs rose and fell. Women
and children ran screaming in all directions. Many of them were
trampled underfoot in the stampede for the gates. In the street
bystanders were ridden down and mercilessly clubbed by mounted
officers. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_riot_(1874))
- In 1841, [Dorrs's
Rebellion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorr_Rebellion) was an armed
insurrection against Rhode Island elites in order to give universal
suffrage to factory workers and immigrants, previously only granted to
those who owned land and had at least \$134. Dorr had originally
supported granting voting rights to blacks, but he changed his
position in 1840 because of pressure from white immigrants, who wanted
to gain the vote first. The "Dorrites" led an unsuccessful attack
against the arsenal in [Providence, Rhode
Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providence,_Rhode_Island) on May
19, 1842. Dorr eventually disbanded his forces, realizing that he
would be defeated in battle by the approaching militia, and fled the
state. Governor King issued a warrant for Dorr's arrest with a reward
of $5,000.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorr_Rebellion)
- Throughout the late 1800s, robber barons and wealthy industrialists
like [J.P. Morgan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan), [John
D. Rockefeller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller),
[Andrew Carnegie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie),
[Philip Armour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Danforth_Armour),
[Jay Gould](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Gould), and the [Mellon
Family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellon_family), presided over
the [Gilded Age](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_age), a period
of massive wealth and resource accumulation into a small number of
hands. The wealthy capitalists pushed state and federal legislation to
serve their interests, and succeeded in enlisting the police to serve
their interests, including pushing farmers and Native Americans off
their land. [Henry George](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George)
and others criticized the immense accumulation of property, pointing
out that the lowest classes did not share in the gains of luxury and
comfort.
- In the 1830s, after the accumulation of farmland by a few wealthy
families, thousands of farmers forced to rent their land formed
Anti-Rent associations to prevent evictions, culminating in the
[Anti-Rent War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Rent_War), a
guerilla war between bands of sheriffs and farmers. The wealthy used
sheriffs and deputies to evict thousands of returning civil war
veterans unable to pay rent. The farmers had fought, been crushed by
the law, their struggle diverted into voting, and the system
stabilized by enlarging the class of small landowners, leaving the
basic structure of rich and poor
intact. It was a common sequence in American history.
- From 1786-87, [Shays'
Rebellion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27_Rebellion) was an
[armed uprising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_uprising) in
[Massachusetts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts) over
dissatisfaction from returning veterans. The rural farming population
was generally unable to meet the demands being made of them by
merchants or the civil authorities, and individuals began to lose
their land and other possessions when they were unable to fulfill
their debt and tax obligations. This led to strong resentments against
tax collectors and the courts, where creditors obtained and enforced
judgments against debtors, and where tax collectors obtained judgments
authorizing property seizures. It,and similar conflicts and unrest
were pacified by the passing of the 1789 [Bill of
Rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27_Rebellion)
- In 1787, [James
Madison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison) in the
[Federalist Paper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers)
#10, outlined the primary role of the US constitution, arguing that
representative government was needed to maintain peace in a society
ridden by factional disputes. These disputes came from "**the various
and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are
without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.**"
The problem, he said, was how to control the factional struggles that
came from inequalities in wealth. Minority factions could be
controlled, he said, by the principle that decisions would be by vote
of the majority. So the real problem, according to Madison, was a
majority faction, and here the solution was offered by the
Constitution, to have "an extensive republic," that is, a large nation
ranging over thirteen states, for then "it will be more difficult for
all who feel it to discover their own strength,and to act in unison
with each other.... The influence of factious leaders may kindle a
flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a
general conflagration through the other States." Madison's argument
can be seen as a sensible argument for having a government which can
maintain peace and avoid continuous disorder. But is it the aim of
government simply to maintain order, as a referee, between two equally
matched fighters? Or is it that government has some special interest
in maintaining a certain kind of order, a certain distribution of
power and wealth, a distribution in which government officials are not
neutral referees but participants? In that case, the disorder they
might worry about is the disorder of popular rebellion against those
monopolizing the society's wealth. This interpretation makes sense
when one looks at the economic interests, the social backgrounds, of
the makers of the Constitution. Charles Beard warned us that
**governments-including the government of the United States-are not
neutral, that they represent the dominant economic interests, and that
their constitutions are intended to serve these interests.**
- The 1787 [US Constitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution)
is falsely portrayed as a document representing an ideal of social and
political equality, despite **every framer being a rich white
propertied man**. Historian [Charles
Beard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_A._Beard) found that a
majority of the framers were lawyers by profession, that most of them
were **men of wealth, in land, slaves, manufacturing, or shipping**,
that half of them had money loaned out at interest, and that forty of
the fifty-five held government bonds, according to the records of the
Treasury Department. Thus, Beard found that most of the makers of the
Constitution had some direct economic interest in establishing a
strong federal government: the manufacturers needed protective
tariffs; the money lenders wanted to stop the use of paper money to
pay off debts; the land speculators wanted protection as they invaded
Indian lands; slave-owners needed federal security against slave
revolts and runaways; bondholders wanted a government able to raise
money by nationwide taxation, to pay off those bonds. Four groups,
Beard noted, were not represented in the Constitutional Convention:
**slaves, indentured servants, women, men without property**. And so
the Constitution did not reflect the interests of those groups. He
later wrote: "Inasmuch as the primary object of a government, beyond
the mere repression of physical violence, is the making of the rules
which *determine the property relations of members of society*, the
dominant classes whose rights are thus to be determined must perforce
obtain from the government such rules as are consonant with the larger
interests necessary to the continuance of their economic processes, or
they must themselves control the organs of government."
- The [American
Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_revolution) is
falsely portrayed as being a social revolution. [Carl
Degler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Neumann_Degler) says (*Out
of Our Past*): "**No new social class came to power through the door
of the American revolution.** The men who engineered the revolt were
largely members of the colonial ruling class." **George Washington was
the richest man in America**. John Hancock was a prosperous Boston
merchant. Benjamin Franklin was a wealthy printer. [Edmund
Morgan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Morgan_(historian)) sums
up the class nature of the Revolution this way: "The fact that the
lower ranks were involved in the contest should not obscure the fact
that the contest itself was generally a struggle for office and power
between members of an upper class: the new against the established."
Looking at the situation after the Revolution, Richard Morris
comments: "Everywhere one finds inequality." He finds "the people" of
"We the people of the United States" (a phrase coined by the very rich
governor Morris) did not mean Indians or blacks or women or white
servants. In fact, there were more indentured servants than ever, and
the Revolution "did nothing to end and little to ameliorate white
bondage."
### Children
- In 2021, it was revealed that the [Boston PD covered up that it's
union leader was a child molester for over 20
years.](https://archive.is/CmN5h)
### Prisoners
- The US **currently** operates a system of slave labor camps,
including at least [54 prison farms involved in agricultural slave
labor.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_farm#In_the_United_States_.28p…
Outside of agricultural slavery, [Federal Prison
Industries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Prison_Industries)
operates a multi-billion dollar industry with ~ 52 prison factories ,
where prisoners produce furniture, clothing, circuit boards, products
for the military, computer aided design services, call center support
for private companies.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_farm#In_the_United_States_.28partia…,
[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Prison_Industries),
[3](https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/06/20/mass-incarceration-prison-labor-…
- Ramping up since the 1980s, the term [prison–industrial
complex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison%E2%80%93industrial_complex)
is used to attribute the [rapid expansion of the US inmate
population](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate#…
to the political influence of [private
prison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prison) companies and
businesses that supply goods and services to government prison
agencies. Such groups include corporations that contract [prison
labor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_labor), construction
companies, [surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance)
technology vendors, companies that operate prison food services and
medical facilities, [private
probation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_probation) companies,
lawyers, and [lobby
groups](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_groups) that represent
them. Activist groups such as the [National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana
Laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organization_for_the_Reform_of…
(NORML) have argued that the prison-industrial complex is perpetuating
a flawed belief that imprisonment is an effective solution to social
problems such as
[homelessness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness),
[unemployment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment), [drug
addiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_addiction), [mental
illness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness), and
[illiteracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiteracy).
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison%E2%80%93industrial_complex)
- The [War On Drugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs), a
policy of arrest and imprisonment targeting minorities, first
initiated by Nixon, has over the years created a monstrous system of
mass incarceration, resulting in the imprisonment of 1.5 million
people each year, with the US having the most prisoners per capita of
any nation. One in five black Americans will spend time behind bars
due to drug laws. The war has created a permanent underclass of
impoverished people who have few educational or job opportunities as a
result of being punished for drug offenses, in a vicious cycle of
oppression. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs#cite_note-59),
[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs)
- In the present day, [ICE
(U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.…)
the police tasked with immigration enforcement, operates over 200
prison camps, housing over 31,000 undocumented people deemed "aliens",
20,000 of which have no criminal convictions, in the US [system of
immigration detention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_Unite….
[The camps](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/reyes-immigration-detention/)
include forced labor (often with [contracts from private
companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enfor…)
poor conditions, lack of rights (since the undocumented aren't
considered citizens), and forced deportations, often splitting up
families. Detainees are often held for a year without trial, with
antiquated court procedures pushing back court dates for months,
encouraging many to accept immediate deportation in the hopes of being
able to return faster than the court can reach a decision, but
forfeiting legal status, in a cruel system of coercion.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_United_States…,
[2](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/reyes-immigration-detention/)
- Over 90% of criminal trials in the US are settled not by a judge or
jury, but with [plea
bargaining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plea_bargain), a system
where the defendant agrees to plead guilty in return for a concession
from the prosecutor. It has been statistically shown to benefit
prosecutors, who "throw the book" at defendants by presenting a slew
of charges, manipulating their fear, who in turn accept a lesser
charge, regardless of their innocence, in order to avoid a worst
outcome. The number of potentially innocent prisoners coerced into
accepting a guilty plea is impossible to calculate. Plea bargaining
can present a dilemma to [defense
attorneys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_attorney), in that
they must choose between vigorously seeking a good deal for their
present client, or maintaining a good relationship with the prosecutor
for the sake of helping future clients. Plea bargaining is forbidden
in most European countries. John Langbein has equated plea bargaining
to medieval torture: "There is, of course, a difference between having
your limbs crushed if you refuse to confess, or suffering some extra
years of imprisonment if you refuse to confess, but the difference is
of degree, not kind. Plea bargaining, like torture, is coercive. Like
the medieval Europeans, the Americans are now operating a procedural
system that engages in condemnation without adjudication."
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plea_bargain#Controversy)
- A [grand jury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_juries_in_the_United_States#Criti…
is a special legal proceeding in which a prosecutor may hold a trial
before the real one, where ~20 jurors listen to evidence and decide
whether criminal charges should be brought. Grand juries are rarely
made up of a jury of the defendant's peers, and defendants do not have
the right to an attorney, making them essentially show-trials for the
prosecution, who often find ways of using grand jury testimony to
intimidate the accused, such as leaking stories about grand jury
testimony to the media to defame the accused. In the murders of
Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, all of whom were unarmed
and killed by police in 2014, grand juries decided in all 3 cases not
to pursue criminal trials against the officers. The US and Liberia are
the only countries where grand juries are still legal.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_juries_in_the_United_States#Criticis…
- The US [system of
bail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bail_in_the_United_States#Criticisms_of…
(the practice of releasing suspects before their hearing for money
paid to the court) has been criticized as monetizing justice, favoring
rich, white collar suspects, over poorer people unable to pay for
their release. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bail_in_the_United_States#Criticisms_of_ba…
---
- On Jan 26th, In Mississippi state penitentiary, an inmate was found
hanging in his cell, in a string of deaths in the prison. [This is the
12th death within a single
month.](https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2020/01/26/inmate-26-found…
- A photo surfaced of a November 2019 training class for prison guards
in west virginia, showing [34 trainees doing a nazi
salute](https://www.foxnews.com/us/west-virginia-corrections-employees-fire….
Only 3 people have been fired. [A large number of prison workers, and
populations in prison-towns, are white
supremacists.](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/…
- A black-site interrogation warehouse in Chicago called [Homan
Square](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/14/homan-square-detain…,
is notorious for sexual abuse, torture, and
[dissappearances](https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/02/behin…
of its prisoners. The main interrogator, Richard Zuley, [applied
torture techniques he learned at Guantanamo
bay](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/18/guantanamo-torture-chi…
at Homan Square[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Police_Department#Homan_Squ…,
[2](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/14/homan-square-detainee-po…,
[3](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/18/guantanamo-torture-chica…
- On Oct 25th, 2014, a mentally ill inmate, Michael Anthony Kerr, at
the Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville, NC, [died of
thirst after being denied water during a 35-day solitary
confinement.](http://www.rawstory.com/2014/10/mentally-ill-nc-inmate-dies-o…
Prison officials have said since Kerr’s death six months ago that they
would investigate the events that led to his death, but no report has
been issued and officials have not said when one would be.
[1](http://www.rawstory.com/2014/10/mentally-ill-nc-inmate-dies-of-thirst-af…
- On May 23rd, 2014, a mentally ill inmate at a Dade county
correctional facility near Miami FL was [tortured to
death](http://breakingbrown.com/2014/05/prison-guards-who-scalded-inmate-to…
by prison guards. Darren Rainey was serving a two year sentence for
cocaine possession when he was forced into a locked shower by prison
guards as punishment for defecating in his cell, says one inmate. Once
Rainey was inside the shower, guards blasted him with scalding hot
water as he begged for his life. Investigators determined that there
is not enough evidence to charge the guards.
[1](http://breakingbrown.com/2014/05/prison-guards-who-scalded-inmate-to-dea…
- The [Crime bill of
1994](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_Crime_Control_and_Law_Enforceme…,
signed into law by Bill Clinton, increased the size of the US prison
industry, and dealt with the problem of crime by emphasizing
punishment, not prevention. It extended the death penalty to a whole
range of criminal offenses, and provided $30 billion for the building
of new prisons, to crack down on "super predators", a term used by
Hillary Clinton to refer to remorseless juvenile criminals.
[1](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36020717)
- In the 1978 case [Houchins v. KQED,
Inc.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houchins_v._KQED,_Inc.) the
supreme court ruled that the news media do not have guaranteed rights
of access to jails and prisons. It ruled also that prison authorities
could forbid inmates to speak to one another, assemble, or spread
literature about the formation of a prisoners'
union.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houchins_v._KQED,_Inc.)
- In September, 1971, prison guards [killed George
Jackson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jackson_(activist)#Death),
a black Marxist and member of the Black Panthers in San Quentin prison
(who had served 10 years of an indeterminate prison sentence for a $70
robbery), after he attempted to free himself and other inmates.
Outrage over this, terrible prison conditions, and mistreatment by
white prison guards, caused the [Attica Prison
Riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riot), in which 33
inmates and 10 prison guards were killed, and sparked dozens of prison
riots across the country. In Attica, 100 percent of the guards were
white, prisoners spent fourteen to sixteen hours a day in their cells,
their mail was read, their reading material restricted, their visits
from families conducted through a mesh screen, their medical care
disgraceful, 75% were there as a result of plea bargaining, and their
parole system inequitable.
- Many companies in the 1800s were guilty of using prison laborers,
such as the [Tennesee Coal Iron and Railroad
company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Coal,_Iron_and_Railroad_Co….
In 1891, the prison workers struck, overpowered the guards, and other
neighboring unions came to their aid.
### Religious minorities
- From February to April of 1994, ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms)
and FBI forces besieged a religious [compound in Waco,
Texas,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege) after a botched raid
and arrest attempt of the leader of the branch davidians, David
Koresh, for sexual abuse and weapons charges. After a failed
negotiation, tanks were used to rip apart the building, while highly
flammable tear gas was shot into the building. 76 people, including
pregnant women and children, were burned alive in the firestorm. The
event is chronicled in the documentary, [Waco: Rules of
Engagement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco:_The_Rules_of_Engagement).[1…
### Pervasive
- In 2020, it was revealed that the Swiss company, Crypto AG, which
provided secure communications services to ~120 governments throughout
the 20th century, was [secretly ran by the CIA and West German
Intelligence.](https://outline.com/tTTmh6) The CIA and later NSA were
able to read encrypted communications for many countries such as Saudi
Arabia, Iran, Italy, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Jordan and South Korea.
- In August 2019, while [awaiting an impending
trial](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/jeffrey-epstein-in…,
infamous predator and pedophile [Jeffrey Epstein, was found "suicided"
in his cell, after being placed on suicide
watch](https://www.fairobserver.com/region/north_america/jeffrey-epstein-de….
Epstein was a close associate of two US presidents (Clinton and
Trump), British Royalty (Prince Andrew), and many global celebrities.
Authorities claim he killed himself after guards were absent from the
area. His death ensures that no further investigation will ensue,
uncovering underage prostitution rackets used by the world's rich and
powerful.
- Police repression against minorities and the poor have been
increasing in the last few years, leading to the establishing of
several online databases, such as [this one by the washington post
documenting shooting-deaths by
police](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2…,
and [killedbypolice.net](http://www.killedbypolice.net/). US police
shot and killed 952 people in 2017, 963 people in 2016, and 991 in
2015.
- The [Paradise
papers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Papers), first made
public on November 5th, 2017, are a leak of 1.4 TB of electronic
documents relating to offshore investments, detailing the secrets of
the world's elites hidden wealth. The leaks implicated hundreds of the
wealthiest people and companies on the planet in financial schemes.
According to the papers, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Disney, Uber, Nike,
Walmart, Allianz, Siemens, McDonald's, and Yahoo! are among the
corporations that own offshore companies, as well as Allergan, the
manufacturer of Botox. Some people implicated in tax avoidance schemes
are Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II, President of Colombia Juan
Manuel Santos, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Rex Tillerson,
Paul Allen (Microsoft), Bono, Carl Icahn, Sheldon Adelson, George
Soros, and 3 former canadian prime
ministers.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Papers),
[2](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/paradise-papers-leak-reveal…
- On July 23rd, 2017, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Washington DC
police, after [police sexually abused
protestors](https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/23/headlines/aclu_lawsuit_c…
arrested during Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, when
hundreds were arrested. A complaint by four plaintiffs charges
officers stripped them, grabbed their genitalia and inserted fingers
into their anuses while other officers laughed. One of the plaintiffs,
photojournalist Shay Horse, said, "I felt like they were using
molestation and rape as punishment. They used those tactics to inflict
pain and misery on people who are supposed to be innocent until proven
guilty." In a statement, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department
promised an investigation but defended its officers' actions, saying
all arrests on January 20 were proper. In December, 2017, all the
charges against the J20 protesters were dropped.
[1](https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/23/headlines/aclu_lawsuit_claims_dc_…
- In June 2017, the FBI arrested [Reality
Winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner), an NSA
contractor, shortly after *The Intercept* published an article
describing Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 presidential
election, based on classified [National Security
Agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency) (NSA)
documents leaked to them anonymously. She is currently in jail for
"willful retention and transmission of national defense information",
and was denied bail. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner)
- In 2017, Wikileaks published a series of CIA leaks titled [Vault
7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7). The files, dated from
2013–2016, include details on software capabilities of the agency,
such as the ability to compromise [smart
televisions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_TV)
[smartphones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone), including
[Apple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.)'s
[iPhone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone) and phones running
[Google](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google)'s
[Android](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29)
operating system, as well as [operating
systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system) such as
[Windows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows),
[macOS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS), and
[Linux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux). By adding malware to
the Android operating system, the agency can gain access to secure
communications made on a device. A program called "Weeping Angel", is
claimed to be able to use
[Samsung](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung) [smart
televisions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_TV) as [covert
listening devices](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_listening_device),
allowing an infected smart television to be used "as a bug, recording
conversations in the room and sending them over the internet to a
covert C.I.A. server" even if it appears to be off.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7)
- Despite claims from US political figures that they "support the
troops", there is a 100+ year long history of [experimentation on US
troops](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRMT1eozxPg) —from nuclear
tests to psychotropic drugs—as well as knowingly exposing them to
deadly poisons, from sarin gas to Agent Orange. Most damning is that
the hundreds of thousands of veterans seeking help from the government
for the side-effects are always met with lies and denial.
[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRMT1eozxPg)
- In 2013, [Edward
Snowden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Global_surveillance_d…,
an NSA contractor, leaked secret NSA documents exposing a world-wide
network of surveillance lead by the US, in the [Global surveillance
disclosures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_….
Some NSA programs revealed were
[PRISM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29)
(which collects the e-mail, voice, text and video chats of foreigners
and an unknown number of Americans from Microsoft, Google, Facebook,
Yahoo, Apple and other tech giants),
[UPSTREAM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)#Relate…,
in which the NSA made deals with fiberoptic undersea cable companies
to spy on emails, web pages, and phone calls across continents, GENIE,
in which smartphone manufacturers of iphone and android bundled spying
programs, and [XKeyScore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XKeyscore#Scope_and_functioning),
which allowed NSA agents to help build a "fingerprint" of a target by
watching their emails, traffic to and from website, and track
associations. *The Washington Post* revealed that the NSA has been
tracking the locations of mobile phones from all over the world by
tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that
serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. In the process of doing
so, the NSA collects more than five billion records of phone locations
on a daily basis. This enables NSA analysts to map cellphone owners'
relationships by correlating their patterns of movement over time with
thousands or millions of other phoneusers who cross their paths.
Australia ([ASD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Signals_Directorate))
Britain ([GCHQ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Communications_Headquarters))
Canada ([CSEC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Security_Establishment_C…)
Denmark ([PET](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politiets_Efterretningstjeneste))
France ([DGSE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directorate-General_for_External_Securi…)
Germany ([BND](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesnachrichtendienst))
Italy ([AISE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenzia_Informazioni_e_Sicurezza_Estern…)
the Netherlands
([AIVD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algemene_Inlichtingen_en_Veiligheidsdie…)
Norway ([NIS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Intelligence_Service))
Spain ([CNI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centro_Nacional_de_Inteligencia))
Switzerland ([NDB](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_intelligence_agencies))
Singapore ([SID](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_and_Intelligence_division))
as well as Israel ([ISNU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200))
were found to be spying on their own citizens, and sharing that data
with countries and businesses
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%8…
- Since 2012, the US military has a [state-run and funded astroturfing
campaign](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operati…
to manipulate public opinion online, and spread pro-US propaganda
through government funded sockpuppets, called [Operation Earnest
Voice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Earnest_Voice).
- The 2010 [US diplomatic cables
leak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak)
by Chelsea Manning revealed a pervasive policy of using US ambassadors
as spies, supporting dictatorships, spying on the UN, strong-arming
for US companies abroad, and disrupting nuclear disarmament talks. The
scope of these leaks touches every country the US has a relationship
with, and they are better detailed
[here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_United_States_diplomati….
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_United_States_diplomatic_c…,
[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak)
- In 2010, [Chelsea
Manning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning) was imprisoned
under the espionage act for a series of leaks which embarrassed the US
government, including the [July 12, 2007 Baghdad
airstrike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike),
[Afghan War documents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_War_documents_leak),
[Iraq War documents
leak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War_documents_leak), [US
diplomatic cables
leak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak),
and the [Guantanamo Bay files
leak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_files_leak). The
leak was, in Manning's Words: "possibly one of the most significant
documents of our time, removing the fog of war and revealing the true
nature of 21st century asymmetric warfare".
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning)
- Between 1850 and 2011, according to the World Resources Institute,
the United States was the source of [27 percent of the world’s carbon
dioxide emissions causing global
warming](http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/11/6-graphs-explain-world%E2%80%99s-t…;
the European Union, 25 percent; China, 11 percent; Russia, 8 percent;
and Japan, 4 percent. These emissions have led to the emergence of
large-scale [environmental hazards to human
health](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming_on_humans),
such as extreme weather, ozone depletion, increased danger of wildland
fires, loss of biodiversity, stresses to food-producing systems and
the global spread of infectious diseases. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that 160,000 deaths, since 1950, are
directly attributable to climate change. Many believe this to be a
conservative estimate. To date, much less research has been conducted
on the impacts of climate change on health, food supply, economic
growth, migration, security, societal change, and public goods, such
as drinking water, than on the geophysical changes related to global
warming.[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-is-the-worst-po…
- The [Espionage
Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917), a federal
law that allows imprisonment of anyone who *interferes with [military
operations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_operation) or
[recruitment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_recruitment)*,
was used to imprison socialists and dissidents for speaking out
against WWI, and involuntary conscription, as well as modern activists
speaking out against the US police state. In 1919, [Eugene V.
Debs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs), a popular
socialist candidate for president was imprisoned for his anti-war
speeches. Among those charged with offences under the Act are
German-American socialist congressman and newspaper editor [Victor L.
Berger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_L._Berger), labor leader
and four time [Socialist Party of
America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_America)
candidate, [Eugene V.
Debs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs), anarchists [Emma
Goldman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman) and [Alexander
Berkman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Berkman), former
[Watch Tower Bible & Tract
Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Tower_Bible_and_Tract_Society_…
president [Joseph Franklin
Rutherford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Franklin_Rutherford),
communists [Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg),
[Pentagon Papers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers)
[whistleblower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower) [Daniel
Ellsberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg),
[Cablegate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_le…
whistleblower [Chelsea
Manning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning), and [National
Security Agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency)
(NSA) contractor and whistleblower [Edward
Snowden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden).
- In 2004, during a protest at the republican national convention,
over 1,800 people were arrested. They were held at [Hudson Pier
Depot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_depots_of_the_New_York_City_Transi…
at [Pier 57](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_57) on the [Hudson
River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_River_%28Hudson_River%29),
a three-story, block-long pier that has been converted into a
temporary prison, described as overcrowded, dirty, and contaminated
with [oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum) and
[asbestos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos). People reported
having suffered from smell, bad ventilation, and even chemical burns
and rashes. In 2014, the city was forced to pay \$6.4 million to 430
individual plaintiffs. \$6.6 million was paid to settle a class-action
lawsuit filed by 1,200 additional people.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Republican_National_Convention_protes…
- In 1987, FBI agent [Jack
Ryan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ryan_(FBI_agent)) was
arrested for refusing to investigate non-violent activists. He lost
his job in September 1987 ten months short of retirement. He was thus
ineligible for a full pension and had to live in a [homeless
shelter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeless_shelter). In a report
by the *LA Times*, he stated his belief that the Bureau could
reinstate him to a position which would not conflict with his
personal beliefs that U.S. involvement in [Central
America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_America) is "violent,
illegal and immoral."[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ryan_(FBI_agent))
- In 1976, the US tested [Agent
White](https://www.projectcensored.org/4-agent-white/), a powerful
pesticide developed by Dow Chemical, in Cherokee county, North
Carolina. Within 3 years, the rate of cancer deaths leapt to 60% above
the national average.
- In 1968, the CIA implemented [Operation
CHAOS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_CHAOS), a spying
program targeting [Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_a_Democratic_Society)
the [Black Panthers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party),
the [Young Lords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Lords), Women
Strike for Peace, and Ramparts Magazine, in an effort to tie vietnam
anti-war protests to foreign intervention. CIA agents went undercover
as student radicals to spy on and disrupt campus organizations
protesting the Vietnam War. In total, Operation CHAOS contained files
on 7,200 Americans, and a computer index totaling 300,000 civilians
and approximately 1,000 groups, with no foreign interventionism found.
The operation was halted after the watergate break-in, and exposed a
few years later. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_CHAOS)
- In January 1961, the [US air force accidentally dropped two nuclear
bombs on North Carolina, each of them 250x the strength of the bombs
dropped on Hiroshima, and one of them came very close to
detonating](https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/us/north-carolina-nuclear-bomb-d….
This was covered up for nearly 50 years. In 2013, the US finally
[admitted the coverup and released the classified
documents.](https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/us/north-carolina-nuclear-bomb-d…
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara stated: "By the slightest margin
of chance, literally the failure of two wires to cross, a nuclear
explosion was averted." The estimated death tolls would have been
28,000 dead with 26,000 people injured.
- Beginning in August, 1956, **COINTELPRO** (a portmanteau derived
from [**CO**unter
**INTEL**ligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterintelligence)
**PRO**gram) was a series of
[covert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_operation), and often
illegal, projects conducted by the United States [Federal Bureau of
Investigation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigatio…
(FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting and disrupting
domestic [political
organizations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_organizations).
COINTELPRO resources targeted groups and individuals that the FBI
deemed [subversive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subversive),
including anti-[Vietnam
War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War) organizers, activists
of the [Civil Rights
Movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Movement) or
[Black Power movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Power_movement)
(e.g., [Martin Luther King,
Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.) and the
[Black Panther Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party))
[feminist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist) organizations,
anti-colonial movements (such as [Puerto Rican
independence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_independence)
groups like the [Young
Lords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Lords)) and a variety of
organizations that were part of the broader [New
Left](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Left). [FBI
Director](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_Federal_Bureau_of_I…
[J. Edgar Hoover](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover)
ordered FBI agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit,
neutralize or otherwise eliminate" the activities of these movements
and especially their leaders.
- In 1953, the CIA begins [Project
MKUltra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra), a human
testing program. Experiments on humans were intended to identify and
develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations and torture,
in order to weaken the individual to force confessions through mind
control. MKUltra used numerous methodologies to manipulate people's
mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious
administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals,
hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as
well as other forms of psychological torture. The scope was broad,
with research undertaken at 80 institutions, including 44 colleges and
universities, as well as hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical
companies. Many subjects died under testing, or committed suicide.
Others such as [Frank
Olson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Olson) were murdered for
threatening to expose the program.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra)
- In 1950, the US Navy secretly infected over 800,000 residents of the
San Fransisco Bay Area with [Serratia
marcescens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens), a
human pathogen known to cause urinary and respiratory infections,
during [Operation
Sea-Spray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea-Spray), in one
of the largest human experiments in history. The residents of the area
were not informed, making the event a serious violation of the
[Nuremberg Code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Code) on
medical ethics. In the following month, 11 residents checked in at a
local hospital with a rare urinary tract infection (one patient,
[Edward J. Nevin](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edward_J._Nevin&action=ed…
died as a result), and the area saw a spike in pneumonia cases. The
military tested biological agents on US citizens in at least six other
[similar tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea-Spray#Similar_tests)
causing a variety of symptoms such as [whooping
cough](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/12/17/report-su…
throughout the 50s and 60s in Florida, the Midwest, New York,
Washington, and Pennsylvania.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea-Spray)
- From 1945-70s, Scientists working under the Manhattan Project and
the [US atomic energy
commission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Atomic_Energy_Commi…
[injected hundreds of US citizens with
plutonium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plutonium_Files),
including children and pregnant women. In Nashville, pregnant women
were given radioactive mixtures. In Cincinnati, some 200 patients were
irradiated over a period of 15 years. In Chicago, 102 people received
injections of strontium and caesium solutions. In Massachusetts, 57
developmentally disabled children were fed oatmeal laced with
radioactive tracers in an experiment sponsored by MIT and the Quaker
Oats Company. In none of these cases were the subjects informed about
the nature of the procedures, and thus could not have provided
informed consent. During atomic testing, US soldiers and families who
lived downwind from the blast were deliberately exposed to nuclear
bomb blasts and radiation.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plutonium_Files)>
- Prior to WWII, under the banner of "Fitter Families for the future",
many US states practiced
[eugenics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States),
in the form of [forced
sterilizations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization#Unit…,
[euthanasia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_United_States),
and better baby contests. After the eugenics movement was well
established in the United States, it spread to Germany. [California
eugenicists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_California)
began producing literature promoting eugenics and sterilization and
sending it overseas to German scientists and medical professionals. By
1933, California had subjected more people to forceful sterilization
than all other U.S. states combined. The forced sterilization program
engineered by the Nazis was partly inspired by California's. The
[Rockefeller Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Foundation)
helped develop and fund various German eugenics programs, including
the one that [Josef
Mengele](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele) worked in before
he went to [Auschwitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz).[1](https://en.wikipedi…
- In 1933, The [Business
Plot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot) was a [political
conspiracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_%28political%29)
in the United States. Retired [Marine
Corps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps)
[Major General](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_General_%28United_States%29)
[Smedley Butler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler) claimed
that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a
[fascist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism) veterans'
organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a [coup
d'état](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat) to overthrow
President [Franklin D.
Roosevelt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt). In
1934, Butler testified before the [United States House of
Representatives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Repre…
[Special Committee on Un-American
Activities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Comm…
(the "[McCormack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_McCormack)-[Dickstein…
Committee") on these claims. No one was
prosecuted.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot)
- The [Immigration Act of
1924](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924) was a
[United States federal
law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_law) that
limited the annual number of
[immigrants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States)
who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people
from that country who were already living in the [United
States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) as of the [1890
census](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census,_1890),
down from the 3% cap set by the [Emergency Quota
Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Quota_Act) of 1921, which
used the [Census of
1910](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census,_1910). The
law was primarily aimed at further restricting immigration of
[Southern Europeans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Europe)
and [Eastern Europeans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe),
especially [Italians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_people)
and [Eastern European
Jews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_European_Jews). In
addition, it severely restricted the immigration of
[Africans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans) and
outright banned the immigration of
[Arabs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Americans) and
[Asians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Americans). According to
the U.S. Department of State [Office of the
Historian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Historian) the
purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of American
homogeneity". The new quotas for immigration from Southern and Eastern
Europe were so restrictive that in 1924 there were more Italians,
Czechs, Yugoslavs, Greeks, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Portuguese,
Romanians, Spaniards, Jews, Chinese, and Japanese that left the
[United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) than
those who arrived as
immigrants.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924)
- The [Alien and Sedition
Acts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts), signed
into law in 1798, originally made it harder for an immigrant to become
a citizen, but was later used during WWII by [President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Franklin_Delano_Roosevel…
to imprison [Japanese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_people),
[German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_people), and
[Italian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_people) aliens during
[World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), with
continued use after the war by Truman to imprison and deport people.
[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts)
- The [Naturalization Act of
1790](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization_Act_of_1790)
limited [naturalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization)
to immigrants who were "free white persons of good character." It thus
excluded American Indians, [indentured
servants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant),
[slaves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery), free blacks, and
later Asians. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization_Act_of_1790)
## Sources / Starting points
- [x] Skim through [peoples history of the
US](http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html)
- [ ] Killing hope
- [ ] Skim through untold history of the united states
- [x] Wikipedia sources on FBI, CIA, COINTELPRO, MKULTRA, war crimes
- [x] Wikipedia on war on terror
- [x] Capitalism death count, US death count
- [x] Noam chomsky on presidents video
- [x] http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html
- [x] http://www.salon.com/2014/03/08/35_countries_the_u_s_has_backed_internation…
- [x] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5rVD_TXrjo
- [x] http://xpatnation.com/the-cia-operations-that-undermined-latin-american-dem…
- [x] http://endgenocide.org/learn/past-genocides/native-americans/
- [x] http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-has-killed-more-than-20-million-people-in-3…
- [x] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wars_involving_the_United_States
- [x] https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/5q2oak/someone_dies_u…
- [x] http://www.petersaysstuff.com/2014/05/attempting-the-impossible-calculating…
- [x] http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/4/14/1201622/-Death-by-capitalism
- [x] Smedly Butler
- [x] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change
- [ ] https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-has-killed-more-than-20-million-people-in-…
- [ ] [Skim through settlers](http://readsettlers.org/)
- [ ] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/fn1uvi/whats_the_most_fucked_up…
- [ ] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16754432
- [ ] http://download.people.com.cn/waiwen/eight15840920921.pdf
- [ ] go through how to hide an empire, add puerto rico contraception
testing. 18% all births were followed by sterilization
2
6
18 May '23
CIA Experimented On 100s Of Orphans, Torturing Them To Reveal
Psychopathic Traits
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cia-torturous-experiments-children-orphan…
https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/danske-boernehjemsboern-brugt-i-hemmelig-…
https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-8322.2007.00510…
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cia-mind-control-documents-successful/
According to a new documentary out of Denmark, which interviewed
former victims, the Central Intelligence Agency secretly carried out
experiments on 311 orphaned children. The experiments were meant to
reveal psychopathic traits and map out the link between schizophrenia
and heredity. According to the report, the children were tortured in
clear violation of the Nuremberg Code of 1947 that introduced ethical
restrictions for experiments on humans.
Hundreds of Danish orphans were unknowingly used in experiments backed
by the CIA, according to Danish Radio, reporting on a new documentary
called “The Search for Myself.”
According to the report, the experiments began in the early 1960s and
spanned the course of two decades. They were conducted to investigate
the link between heredity and environment in the development of
schizophrenia. However, the children were not told what research they
were involved in. Not even after the experiments ended. It was also
funded in part by a CIA front associated with the MK-Ultra program.
Eerily, the examinations took place in a basement at the Municipal
Hospital in Copenhagen. The director and producer of the documentary,
Per Wennick, was actually a victim of the CIA and subjected to these
experiments as a child. In the documentary, he recalled being placed
in a chair, getting electrodes put on his arms, legs, and chest around
the heart and having to listen to loud, shrill noises, which attempted
to incite a psychological response.
“It was very uncomfortable”, Wennick told Danish Radio.
“And it’s not just my story, it’s the story of many children.”
By his own admission, he was promised “something funny” before being
taken to the hospital.
“I think this is a violation of my rights as a citizen in this
society. I find it so strange that some people should know more about
me than I myself have been aware of.”
According to historian, PhD, and museum inspector at the Danish
Welfare Museum, Jacob Knage Rasmussen, this was the only known
experiment in Danish history that used children under state care for
research — and it was funded by the CIA in violation of the Nuremberg
Code.
“I do not know of similar attempts, neither in Denmark nor in
Scandinavia. It is appalling information that contradicts the
Nuremberg Code of 1947, which after World War II was to set some
ethical restrictions for experiments on humans. Among other things,
informed consent was introduced, which today is central to the world
of research”, Knage Rasmussen told Danish Radio.
He emphasized the vulnerability of the group in the custody of the
state, who had nobody to complain to.
According to Danish Radio, the idea to experiment on the vulnerable
children came from American psychologist Zarnoff A. Mednick, who was
then a professor at the University of Michigan.
According to Wennick and the National Archives, the research project
was co-financed by the US health service. In the first year alone, the
project was supported with what today corresponds to DKK 4.6 million
($700,000). It also received funding from the Human Ecology Fund.
The Human Ecology Fund was a CIA funded operation through the Cornell
University College of Human Ecology Society for the Investigation of
Human Ecology to support covert research on brainwashing. It was also
connected to research under the MK-Ultra program in which social
scientists, including anthropologists, were led (mostly unwittingly)
to provide input into interrogation techniques still in use today.
Danish psychiatrist Fini Schulsinger dedicated his doctoral
dissertation to the experiments in 1977, titling it, “Studies to shed
light on the connection between heredity and environment in
psychiatry.”
While researching for the documentary, Per Wennick managed to locate
36 boxes at the Psychiatric Centre Glostrup in Hvidovre that detailed
the CIA’s unscrupulous child experiments. However, when the center got
word of the documentary, they began shredding the documents.
Danish Radio reports that Kent Kristensen, associate professor of
Health Law at the University of Southern Denmark, pointed out that the
shredding of the documents was illegal.
“I think it’s a huge failure for the former orphanage children who
are interested in the pieces of their own childhood to get a total
story made about their own lives. That possibility is deprived of them
if you shred the research material,” Knage Rasmussen told Danish
Radio.
Indeed. It also details the CIA’s depravity and violations of the
Nuremberg code. If history is any indicator, however, no one will be
held responsible for exploiting these children and it will be swept
under the rug, likely escaping any scrutiny by the mainstream media.
3
8
](http://assassination](https://i.imgur.com/EJYI44G.jpg)){kind=link}
](http://Iran](https://i.imgur.com/dlyDNr6.jpg)){kind=link}
){kind=link}
](http://Virginia](https://i.imgur.com/gDOgavC.jpg)){kind=link}
](http://NATO.](https://i.imgur.com/px9WNrQ.png)){kind=link}
](http://2](https://i.imgur.com/uNj73qU.png)){kind=link}
Puerto Rico’s CIA-station-chief at work
Ryan Lackey Retweeted
The Nunn Report w/ Dan Nunn
@TheNunnReport
·
5h
Great guest episode with 20-year Special Forces Veteran & former CIA Field Op
@joekent16jan19
. Let’s thank him for his lifelong service and get him to Congress in 2024!
Reposts not direct endorsement of kidnapping and slowly killing CIA station chiefs
1
0
Money never sleeps on Wall Street. Or at least that’s what Michael
Douglas’s character Gordon Gekko tells us in the Hollywood version of Wall
Street.
---
Brew Another Pot, Robinhood’s 24-Hour Stock Trading Is Here
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-17/new-robinhood-trading-ho…
1
0
[ot][crazy] Mainstream AI news snippets
by Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many 17 May '23
by Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many 17 May '23
17 May '23
Everybody seems to like synthetic imagery.
- genmo.ai claims to provide a text-to-video service with free demo. I
haven’t visited it.
- an early text-to-photorealistic-scene paper called dreamfusion came
out some months ago. this is like stable diffusion but generates
virtual scenes and models from text rather than just images. an open
source variant is at https://github.com/ashawkey/stable-dreamfusion .
i tried the colab briefly but for some reason it kept getting 0 loss
for me. i didn’t look for the results so i’m not sure if that’s a bug
or not.
1
8
CIA Releases Video Urging Russians To Spy On Their Own Country
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/16/cia-urges-russians-to-get-in-touch…
In an unusual attempt at public outreach 'spy-style', the world's most
powerful intelligence organization is openly encouraging Russians to
spy on their own country.
The CIA released a nearly 2-minute video Monday on its official
YouTube, Twitter, and Telegram channels. The Russian-language,
professionally produced video urges individual Russians to provide
intelligence on their country in the midst of the Ukraine war. Watch:
The video has a 'patriotic' orientation, assuring Russians they can do
something to improve their country and its situation by handing over
intelligence to the CIA.
"The CIA wants to know the truth about Russia, and we are looking for
reliable people who can tell us that truth," the agency said in the
video, according to a translation. "Your information may be more
valuable than you know."
The text on the screen of the clip further tells Russians to "Contact
us. Perhaps the people around you don’t want to hear the truth. We
want to."
Some of the narration includes the following messaging, according to a
description:
In the video – published on the CIA’s official YouTube channel and
the Telegram messaging app, popular in Russia – a male voice reflects
on the meaning of heroism and endurance as lone individuals are seen
weighing their decisions: a man trudging through snow, a woman staring
through a window.
“We are easily swayed by lies. But we do know what our reality is.
The reality we live in. And the reality we talk about in whispers,”
the voice says.
At the end, a man and a woman are shown in separate scenes with
their fingers hovering over mobile phone screens with a link saying
“Contact CIA”.
“This is my Russia. This will always be my Russia. I will endure.
My family will endure. We will live with dignity because of my
actions,” the narrator concludes.
The video at the end informs viewers how to submit information with a
Tor browser utilizing the dark web and suggests tools for encrypted
communications.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a daily briefing was asked about
the CIA's asset recruitment efforts. He responded, “I am convinced
that our special services are monitoring this space in the necessary
way.”
He added: “We all know perfectly well that the CIA and other Western
intelligence services are not reducing their activity on the territory
of our country.”
1
0
Cryptocurrency: Vivek Ramaswamy Trending 1st Crypto Pres Candidate, Not DeSantis, re CBDC
by grarpamp 17 May '23
by grarpamp 17 May '23
17 May '23
DeSantis is trying to bigstage Ramaswamy out of his anti-CBDC position.
However the crypto world knows Vivek has been making rounds and
sharing affinities in the pro crypto space since at least last year.
Vivek's appearances on the big crypto podcasts are easily searchable.
“To me, the American dream means you believe in merit. That you get
ahead in this country not on the color of your skin, but on the
content of your character and your contributions. It means you believe
the people who we elect to run the government are the ones who
actually run the government, not a federal bureaucracy. [...] It means
that the best ideas win instead of getting censored. It means you
don't have to choose between speaking your mind freely and putting
food on the dinner table. It means you think these ideals form the
backbone of the greatest nation on earth. -- Vivek Ramaswamy (February
2023)"
Mainstream clip...
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6315447241112/
1
2
1984: EU passes law requiring ID for all crypto transactions.
[–]IramDei_ 183 points184 points185 points 11 hours ago (8 children)
“prevent the misuse of crypto industry for the purposes of money
laundering and financing of terrorism”
Misuse? isnot thats the only use of crypto?
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[–]SnarkConfidant 53 points54 points55 points 11 hours ago (6 children)
"It's all misuse?" :O
"Always has been" :|
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[–]broodkiller 17 points18 points19 points 7 hours ago (0 children)
🌎🧑🚀🔫🧑🚀
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[+]purekillforce1 comment score below threshold-44 points-43 points-42
points 9 hours ago (4 children)
Good job other currencies can't be used to launder or finance
terrorism! The criminal empire will crumble without their precious
cyber money muahaha
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[–]powercow 27 points28 points29 points 8 hours ago (2 children)
OH sure sure sure. Thats why we have regulations for suspicious
activity reports and know your customer laws for stock exchanges.
ALso this might blow your fucking mind. You can kill people with a
knife. But its a lot easier with an AR-15. Your comment is like saying
"OMG you want to regulate AR-15s, when people can kill each other with
a knife" YEAH, because one is more easy to do than the other. ITs not
complicated. SO You need more of a debate than "OMG YOU CAN LAUNDER IN
FIAT TOO!!!"
I can launder in toasters if i want, its just not very convenient or
easy. Pointing this fact out is fairly meaningless for the
conversation.
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[+]purekillforce1 comment score below threshold-21 points-20 points-19
points 7 hours ago (1 child)
Seems pretty easy with cash laws for the stock exchange? They work well...
I'm not saying it can't be regulated and shouldn't be, but by design
you can avoid it. You can keep your own node and wallet and not have
to give identification to own and access your own wallet. Maybe for
criminal activity, maybe for privacy, maybe for security.
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[–]PresidentoftheSun 13 points14 points15 points 7 hours ago (0 children)
Look, you can disconnect yourself from the rest of society however you
want, but most laws exist to control potential abuses carried out on
people when they try to interact with other people.
Existing financial regulations surrounding fraud are being actively
danced around using crypto. This is why more regulation targeting
crypto fraud specifically are coming. This isn't complicated to
understand.
Also, crypto is being treated different to how money is treated
because nobody uses it as money. If you think that's a stupid thing to
say, then you don't understand the function of money. Crypto is not
money.
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[–]nachof 5 points6 points7 points 6 hours ago (0 children)
You known, you say that like it's obvious that banning crypto would
not do anything to reduce those issues, but in reality, we know that
this is going to help. We know this because since crypto started being
everywhere, ransomware exploded everywhere. So yes, crypto does help
criminals.
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[–]rich-evans 12 points13 points14 points 8 hours ago (0 children)
“We are trying to prevent the misuse of bombs for the purpose of
blowing shit up”
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[–]LaughingAddict 45 points46 points47 points 10 hours ago (6 children)
Just in: all crypto pulls out of EU.
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[–]Y_Sam 35 points36 points37 points 9 hours ago (3 children)
Oooh nooo what will become of us 🙁🙁🙁 How will I pay for my groceries ?
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[–]hiuslenkkimakkara 16 points17 points18 points 7 hours ago (0 children)
This filthy fiat Euro that can instantly settle my sauerkraut purchases, nooo
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[–]foxsheepgato 4 points5 points6 points 6 hours ago (1 child)
it's over for us eurobros 😞 tyranny won ✊😥
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[–]Ok-Possible-8440 3 points4 points5 points 1 hour ago (0 children)
"This is totalitarian, Europe will never be a developed country"
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[–]Noisebug 6 points7 points8 points 7 hours ago (1 child)
More like the EU pulls out of crypto. 😏
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[–]Ok-Possible-8440 1 point2 points3 points 1 hour ago (0 children)
😏👌
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[–]SemiCurrentGuy 53 points54 points55 points 10 hours ago (12 children)
Seeing the loudest idiots say either "good luck with enforcement" or
"how would this work with defi" shows truly how ignorant the typical
cryptobro is right now.
For point 1, they are basically saying the quiet part out loud and
willing to risk their entire lifesavings as well as that which belongs
to any potential greater fools they can attract, even if it means they
are breaking the law - as long as they do not actually get caught.
As for the second point, while true it would be quite hard to enforce
specific ID or KYC-related rules when it comes to that aspect of
crypto, it doesn't matter at all because those same rules would still
block all the entrances and all exists unless you actually comply.
These morons will be trading their magic internet money with each
other and starving to death on the way to homelessness if they
continue to avoid reality. The doors are closing and my popcorn stash
is not ready yet. When harvest?
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[–]PresidentoftheSun 19 points20 points21 points 7 hours ago (9 children)
Government: Passes law that makes it illegal to process blockchain traffic.
ISP Providers: "What you mean free up some bandwidth by shutting down
anything with protocols matching blockchain functionality? Hell yeah
brother."
The only people left using crypto will be turbo nerds whose networks
don't interact with the internet at large, and everyone in it as a get
rich quick machine gets left holding keys to wallets they can't access
anymore because their ISP completely blocks them out.
Now I think this would be a terrible overreach by the government of
course, but it'd be funny in a cosmic sort of way.
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[–]Ok-Row-6131 1 point2 points3 points 6 hours ago (6 children)
This might be hard to enforce because the ports could be changed
faster than ISPs can humanly react.
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[–]grauenwolfAgent of Poe 7 points8 points9 points 4 hours ago (5 children)
Port jumping only really works for a small number of people. They need
tens of thousands of machines all coordinating. They can't do that if
the machines don't know what phone number to call.
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[–]phire 1 point2 points3 points 2 hours ago (4 children)
There are ways around it.
For example, BitTorrent clients typically select random ports
automatically, and the currently active port numbers are communicated
via a 3rd party (the tracker, or the DHT network). They already needed
to share the active IPs via a third party so clients can connect to
each other, easy enough to bundle a port too.
Bittorrent also implements protocol encryption, because some ISPs were
using deep packet inspection to identify connections using the
bittorrent protocol. Encrypting the BitTorrent protocol neatly blocks
this method, as long as both clients support encryption.
Some ISPs tried pretty hard to block BitTorrent a decade ago, and they
never found a successful method. It would be the same if they tired to
block bitcoin.
Bitcoin already has methods for communicating ip:port pairs to other
peers, as the port is configurable by the user. Bitcoin would just
need to add a feature to automatically randomise the ports.
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[–]grauenwolfAgent of Poe 1 point2 points3 points 2 hours ago (3 children)
Ah, you're making me work for it this time.
The 3rd party is the real vulnerability. Everyone would need to know
about it, meaning it can't be a secret, which means the government can
easily find and block or shut down it.
The advantage of BitTorrent is that it is a truly decentralized
system. If you fragment the BitTorrent network into a dozen different
pieces, each of those pieces will continue to work. A particular
fragment might not have the file you need, but it's going to have a
lot of files in those files are going to be accessible.
Bitcoin is distributed, but it's not decentralized. It needs to be one
cohesive network at pretty much at all times. If the network is broken
into two, what's known as a network partition, it has no means of
recovery other than dropping all of the completed transactions on one
side or the other of the partition once it heals.
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[–]phire 1 point2 points3 points 1 hour ago (2 children)
Yes, the third party is a bit of a vulnerability.
Though the cat and mouse goes a bit further. If ISPs or goverments
start trying to block 3rd parties, then they will switch to using
shared third parties. For example, putting the lists of peers on S3,
reddit or facebook ways that the connections can't be blocked without
massively inconveniencing legitimate services.
And nodes only need to find one valid IP/port to connect to the
network and then the fetch more node addresses from there. To
effectively block the P2P layer, a government would eventually be
forced to just maintain blocklists of every single node.
I don't think a government would ever go down that route, because
there are much easier methods. The on-ramps/off-ramps (exchanges) are
much more vulnerable to targeted legal attacks and that produces more
or less the same result. If money can't flow in and out, bitcoin is
pragmatically worthless.
If they really wanted to shut the network down, they are better off
going after the miners and preventing more blocks from being created.
I've talked about this attack vector before.
It needs to be one cohesive network at pretty much at all times.
If the network is broken into two, what's known as a network
partition,
Sure, there could be multiple partitions. But multiple partitions with
different mining pools is unlikely to happen more than once or twice.
Goes against their ideals of decentralisation, but in the face of such
an attack, the mining pools would quickly learn to keep private
encrypted connections between eachother. It would be impossible for
governments to disrupt these links and partition mining pools, unless
they directly attack the miners.
Any partition that doesn't have communication with any mining pool
will never see any new blocks, or have their transactions included.
It has no means of recovery other than dropping all of the
completed transactions on one side or the other of the partition once
it heals.
This is less of a problem that you suggest.
The dropped transaction go back into the mempool and simply get
included in future blocks. The block size limitations would make this
scenario suck, but it doesn't fundamentally break anything. Someone
might manage to pull off a double spend in the chaos, but that
wouldn't be easy.
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[–]grauenwolfAgent of Poe 1 point2 points3 points 27 minutes ago (1 child)
I don't think a government would ever go down that route, because
there are much easier methods. The on-ramps/off-ramps (exchanges) are
much more vulnerable to targeted legal attacks
I agree with that wholeheartedly.
We'll probably never learn which of us is right on the other points
because it would be stupid for the government to not just use the easy
route.
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[–]phire 0 points1 point2 points 3 minutes ago (0 children)
Yeah.
Most governments simply don't have the infrastructure to censor the
internet at a per-connection level, but they already have large
amounts of infrastructure for policing companies that enable money
laundering and other illegal movement of money.
And the one government that already had the level of internet
censorship infrastructure to even start thinking about doing this
(China), already cracked down on cryptocurrency and they went with
route of suppressing on-ramps/off-ramps and outlawing mining
operations.
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[–]drdaeman 0 points1 point2 points 2 hours ago (1 child)
“Hell yeah?” You, good sir, must have no idea what you’re talking about.
ISPs hate being forced to set up any non-trivial traffic filtering.
That’s extra work that doesn’t bring any money - neither clients nor
governments pay for this. If anything, it consumes money - either in
engineering hours or in licensing costs. And liabilities for not
blocking something (especially sometime vaguely defined) is definitely
not something that makes ISPs happier. Large telecoms (especially
monopolies) can sorta shrug it off (still not being exactly happy
unless there’s some scheme how to spend money in a way it goes in
desirable pockets), smaller companies hate such ideas.
Bandwidth saving is approached differently, most commonly by
optimizing peering or deploying local caches.
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[–]PresidentoftheSun 0 points1 point2 points 28 minutes ago (0 children)
no idea what you're talking about
I mean yeah probably.
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[–]PatchworkFlames 8 points9 points10 points 8 hours ago (0 children)
Who needs exit ramps when they never plan to sell?
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[–]Ok-Possible-8440 2 points3 points4 points 2 hours ago* (0 children)
They say : " this will send Europe back into the stone age"."Europe
really wants to be set back against the developed world and Chinaaa!!"
"Eu is the worst country on the planet" 🤣🤣
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[–]Malfrum 75 points76 points77 points 11 hours ago (2 children)
I mean I think we've said for years that any world government could,
at any moment, raid the crypto party and shut the whole shitshow down
in a heartbeat. They just don't care to... yet
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[–]powercow 20 points21 points22 points 8 hours ago (0 children)
well i have always been amused when so many in the crypto subs think
the SEC and the GOV are scared of crypto. If they were scared the game
would be over already. The fact they want to label alt coins.. NOT
BITCOIN but other alt coins as securities doenst mean they are scared
of anything.
and fuck like anything else, if it took off big business would be up
to the neck in crypto. Banks already do have some investments into
crypto. SO the idea they are scared is rather laughable.
Yeah gov cant kill crypto, its sorta like tor in that respect, but
they can hobble the fuck out of it, so its only useful for .. well the
shit its used for right now. Illegal activity.
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[–]easyj86 10 points11 points12 points 8 hours ago (0 children)
Ya, the goal of government isn't to stop crime entirely, it's to be in
control. Right now, crypto offers them a trail to target those if and
so they wish. If they came down on it entirely, they'd lose that
power.
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[–]Kooky_General_3292 11 points12 points13 points 8 hours ago (4 children)
how am I supposed to buy coke now
edit: i'm not kidding how am I supposed to buy my benzos now?
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[–]amyo_b 11 points12 points13 points 7 hours ago (1 child)
The traditional way, I guess. Make a connection with a shady dealer
and exchange cash for the goods hoping that the sketchy dealer is too
motivated by future profits to bump off his customers by selling
tainted junk or just plain robbing them.
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[–]doubleyewdee 5 points6 points7 points 3 hours ago (0 children)
Literally you can just befriend (genuinely befriend, not be a
schmoozing jerk) people in service industry, at least in the US coke
flows through restaurant kitchens like water.
I've had so many buddies who are servers/kitchen staff just say 'hey
do you want a bump?' casually, they'll hook you up.
(should note: never actually DONE the bumps, but just because cocaine
isn't my personal preference in drugs, no judgment either way.)
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[–]Ok-Possible-8440 0 points1 point2 points 1 hour ago (0 children)
Like all bros do, ask mom for it
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[–]LaughingAddict 0 points1 point2 points 1 hour ago (0 children)
The only good thing about crypto was drugs delivered to your door.
With pharmacies and fucking doctors scared shitless of getting
financially ruined, it’s become increasingly harder in the states to
get help for pain management. It’s so much easier to just order what
you need off the dark web.
I hope society and doctors quit flipping the fuck out and get back to
actually helping people.
Now every doctor in my area is like Mother Theresa with the mindset of
“suffering is what brings you closer to god, so you should suffer.”
I wish I was joking.
The pendulum has swung too fucking far toward Mother Theresa.
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[–]marcio0 5 points6 points7 points 8 hours ago (0 children)
would be the future of finance, if not for those pesky regulators!
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[–]mangotree65 5 points6 points7 points 7 hours ago (0 children)
Crypto brought the level of intelligence required for successful money
laundering down to that of the average cryptobro. Laundering has been
done by intelligent people for a long time. It remains to be seen if
Bitcoin Bobby and Ethereum Ellie can pull it off without their crypto
crutch but the tilted heads and dripping drool I see when I gaze their
way doesn’t inspire confidence.
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[–]Mongorize 2 points3 points4 points 6 hours ago (0 children)
Cue the meltdown in r/cc
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[–]ililillillllili 2 points3 points4 points 5 hours ago* (1 child)
is this entire sub just feds circlejerking each other?
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[–]Ok-Possible-8440 0 points1 point2 points 2 hours ago (0 children)
Yes we are
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[–]EricBeTrappin 2 points3 points4 points 7 hours ago (0 children)
just to be the devils advocate here, this applies to crypto asset
service providers so it’s still equally as decentralized as it always
has been, i mean nothing decentralized about going to a centralized
site lol
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[–]deadpanjunkie 2 points3 points4 points 6 hours ago (0 children)
Cash is the only true decentralised currency, no one knows where it is
at any one time.
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[–]AmericanScream 2 points3 points4 points 5 hours ago (1 child)
Congratulations crypto bros!
You wanted to convince people crypto = money?
This is the result!
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[–]Ok-Row-6131 1 point2 points3 points 1 hour ago (0 children)
Turns out they just wanted money without the laws associated with it
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[–]homezlice 2 points3 points4 points 3 hours ago (0 children)
Laws. Turns out they exist.
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[–]Glad_Cauliflower8032 -4 points-3 points-2 points 6 hours ago (1 child)
people can send to eachother via there private wallets, this is just
for exchanges
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[–]Pablanomexicano[S] 9 points10 points11 points 6 hours ago (0 children)
Gotta cash out though.
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[+]TIRBU6ONAwarning, I am a moron comment score below threshold-10
points-9 points-8 points 4 hours ago (7 children)
So you celebrate government control over the people? Weirdos…
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[–]Pablanomexicano[S] 5 points6 points7 points 3 hours ago* (4 children)
You’re the same people that cry about your funds being stolen and that
there are too many scams. Crytpobros cry about how it needs to be
regulated to prevent such a thing. Then when regulations happen you
cry about it being too much. You people are delusional!
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[+]TIRBU6ONAwarning, I am a moron -1 points0 points1 point 47 minutes
ago (3 children)
“You people are delusional” or maybe you make a wrong generalisation
about two or more kinds of people who match the scenarios above?
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[–]Pablanomexicano[S] 1 point2 points3 points 31 minutes ago (2 children)
Bro you are all the same. Crying about don’t put your money on CEX’s
you can’t trust them, Meme coins are pump and dumps. , and etc. What
you crypto bros want is legality and legitimacy without the legality
and legitimacy part.
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[+]TIRBU6ONAwarning, I am a moron -1 points0 points1 point 23 minutes
ago (1 child)
Sure, millions of people are exactly the same, very sane theory.
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[–]Pablanomexicano[S] 0 points1 point2 points 5 minutes ago (0 children)
Sooo you want to continue to get scammed and get ripped off from your
money!? Lol you people are dumb
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[–]Ok-Row-6131 6 points7 points8 points 4 hours ago (0 children)
Yes, yes we do.
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[–]Ok-Possible-8440 2 points3 points4 points 2 hours ago (0 children)
Yeeeeeess we fucking do 👮
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[–]montuckyv2 -21 points-20 points-19 points 8 hours ago (4 children)
Tells you how scared they are of losing control.
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[–]IAMA_Plumber-AMA 20 points21 points22 points 7 hours ago (0 children)
Lol, "scared".
More like they've been letting cryptobros play store, and now that
people are getting scammed, they're bringing the hammer down.
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[–]VintageLunchMeat 1 point2 points3 points 3 hours ago (0 children)
Control? Cryptocoins don't benefit society. Moreover, they cause
demonstrable harm, be it co2 emissions, money laundering, asset
hiding, exchange administrators running thefts, or, perhaps most
importantly, defrauding newbies by telling them cryptocoins are a
reliable technology and are a safe investment.
Why tolerate their existence?
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[–][deleted] 5 hours ago (1 child)
[removed]
[–]spookmann👻[M] 1 point2 points3 points 4 hours ago (0 children)
Un-called for.
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[+]auron66 comment score below threshold-30 points-29 points-28 points
8 hours ago (3 children)
Government and banks really can’t digest crypto isn’t? Money laundry
my ass, criminal and rich people will always find their way to laundry
their dirty money, is just an excuse to not let the banks be replaced
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[–]IAMA_Plumber-AMA 18 points19 points20 points 7 hours ago (0 children)
Lol, get real. Governments could regulate crypto out of existence
tomorrow if they wished.
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[–]thehoesmakethemanincendiary and presumptuous (but not always wrong)
4 points5 points6 points 5 hours ago (0 children)
banks be replaced? has crypto ever issued even a single mortgage, ever?
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[–]Ok-Possible-8440 1 point2 points3 points 2 hours ago (0 children)
Are you sad cause your bank account is empty🥲
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[+]areq13warning, I am a moron comment score below threshold-62
points-61 points-60 points 11 hours ago (8 children)
And I just passed gas, which has the same effect on the blockchain.
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[–]SpandexPanFried 53 points54 points55 points 11 hours ago (3 children)
Nobody gives a shit about the coins themselves, or what they do on the
blockchain. They care when people try to convert them to fiat.
Go ahead, try and sell even one bitcoin for cash without using an
exchange to do it.
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[–]fattybread83 14 points15 points16 points 10 hours ago (0 children)
They're gonna have to move to South America to be able to live...
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[–]LaughingAddict 15 points16 points17 points 10 hours ago (1 child)
Only possible through IRL transactions. As in you hand me briefcase of
money and I give you frou frou token. Seems like a good deal….
This will push crypto into shadier corners. I don’t know how much rope
they have left honestly before they hang themselves with it.
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[–]dubov 8 points9 points10 points 9 hours ago (0 children)
Future of finance
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[–]BigFreakingPope 13 points14 points15 points 10 hours ago (0 children)
Good luck paying your taxes, rent, mortgage or anything else
meaningful in crypto.
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[–]SufficientAnalyst383 6 points7 points8 points 8 hours ago (0 children)
Flair checks out.
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[–]PatchworkFlames 4 points5 points6 points 8 hours ago (0 children)
That's because the blockchain is divorced from reality.
You understand it doesn't matter how much bitcoin you have, you need
to convert it to cash to buy that lambo, right?
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[–]sometimesworkhard 0 points1 point2 points 1 hour ago (0 children)
This is good for Bitcoin.
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1
0
17 May '23
Ledger keeps screwing up.
Trezor often seen as better.
In reality, neither, nor any other digital gizmo is needed.
https://v.redd.it/06cyilqto70b1 Old School Sledger Attack
Ledger is officially a hot wallet. It can expose your seed phrase to
third parties! (Confirmed on their sub) (self.CryptoCurrency)
by BusinessBreakfast3
I woke up to shocking news!
TLDR The ledger device actually can expose your seed phrase to the internet.
Initially it was a speculation and people were expecting updates.
Eventually, we got them:
https://np.reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/13itm7u/is_there_a_backdoor_y…
So yes, it's a service your can opt for for "recovery services", but
the bottom line is that it can expose the seed phrase.
Ultimately, it's a matter of the French government knocking on their
doors and asking for it.
This actually makes your funds at Ledger less safe than on MetaMask.
At least we don't have a confirmation that other hot wallets can
access or keep copies of the seed phrases.
Leger, it was nice while it lasted...
But it's game over.
Edit: to the people downvoting my comments: I'm also a Ledger user.
Have been using it for multiple years to store my crypto. I'm not
happy that this happened and I hate the upcoming inconvenience of
buying new wallets and sending crypto back and forth. But
unfortunately, this is the reality. :(
Edit 2: Many users say
but you can choose not to opt-in!!1
You can't opt out of the device being able to leak data to the internet.
You can only opt out of Ledger doing it with intent.
Edit 3: They just doubled down on Twitter spaces.
They described the product and didn't address the relevant comments
and concerns. They kept repeating that it's an "opt in service" and
finished by saying that their product is not for people with more than
$50k.
1640 comments
[–]CryptoMaximalistBitconnect Whale[M] [score hidden] 13 hours ago*
stickied commentlocked comment (14 children)
In situations like this, we try to pin official responses so readers
have both sides of the story. If there is further information from
Ledger, we would be happy to add it here.
Ledger has since posted this FAQ page and the following video:
https://twitter.com/Ledger/status/1658458714771169282
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[–]zoomercoomer9000 400 points401 points402 points 18 hours ago* (93 children)
The crazy thing is Ledger didn't provide details about this new
feature on their website or any obvious place. Until recently, you had
to dig under 8 paragraphs on an unrelated article about FTX customers
just to find it.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/ftx-crypto-investors-hardware-wallets
Ledger is preparing to launch a new service called Ledger
Recover that splits a wallet recovery phrase—basically, a
human-readable form of the private key—into three encrypted shards and
distributes them to three custodians: Ledger, crypto custody firm
Coincover, and code escrow company EscrowTech. If somebody loses
their recovery phrase, two of the three shards can be combined—pending
an ID check—to regain access to the locked funds. Essentially, Ledger
Recover is an additional safety net; for the price of $9.99 a month,
it takes the jeopardy out of crypto’s version of stuffing dollars
under the mattress. It’ll be available in the UK, EU, US, and Canada
and come to other territories later in the year.
You would think they'd display this information more prominently,
especially as it concerns something that fundamentally changes their
business model.
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[–]springdot1Tin 145 points146 points147 points 14 hours ago (33 children)
“ - pending an ID check - “
Well that’s fine then. Not like everybody keeps repeatedly getting
their government issued ID and other info repeatedly exfiltrated from
any company they do business with 🙄
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[–]KiiaruUneducated Opinion 69 points70 points71 points 13 hours ago
(7 children)
So you can get your identity stolen and your crypto drained all at
once! It's a feature not a bug...
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[–]conceiv3d-in-lib3rty 28 points29 points30 points 11 hours ago (5 children)
This is absolute bullshit. There’s no way ledger survives this blunder.
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[–]BentPinPlatinum | QC: ETH 38 | MiningSubs 28 5 points6 points7
points 8 hours ago (0 children)
Don't forget to pay for this privilege.
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[–]sweet_tinkerbelle 51 points52 points53 points 13 hours ago (21 children)
so it's just banking with extra steps pshh.
But I have an idea why they are doing this. Must be some people
forgetting or losing their seedphrases and blaming ledger for it like
the idiots they are.
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[–]trancephorm 53 points54 points55 points 13 hours ago (16 children)
No, they almost certanly doing it out of political pressure.
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[–]Kodeshii 17 points18 points19 points 10 hours ago (0 children)
Well this makes me scared for the security of my coins on my Ledger now!!
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[–]Legitimate-Source-61Tin | 4 months old 9 points10 points11 points
11 hours ago (2 children)
If it's political, then Trezor will soon follow.
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[–]CaponcapoffstillonSilver | QC: CC 286, DOGE 157, BTC 106 | r/CMS
229 4 points5 points6 points 10 hours ago (0 children)
This, seems like governments are making the companies crack.
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[–]DentinQuarantino 25 points26 points27 points 13 hours ago (1 child)
Perhaps you're not as cynical as me... But the underhand way they've
brought this out combined with what they're actually doing makes me
think it's more likely pressured from the authorities to undermine
cryptos power. Whatever the reason I'm glad I haven't got a Ledger!
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[–]zomgitsdukePlatinum | QC: BTC 107, CC 16 | LegalAdvice 167 4
points5 points6 points 13 hours ago* (0 children)
"We are sorry our outsourced workforce mass-approved a series of 100
photoshopped ID photos and handed over your crypto. We are
investigating the now-bankrupt company and will try to sue them for
recovery of your funds. No promises though."
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[–]Josefumi12 10 points11 points12 points 15 hours ago (1 child)
Another reason to not trust them
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 72
points73 points74 points 18 hours ago (18 children)
Crazy!
They're done. It's game over.
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[–]hadoob024 6 points7 points8 points 14 hours ago (11 children)
Is this an optional service? Are you able to opt out of it? God I hope so
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[–]JeremyBFPlatinum | QC: BTC 311, CC 209 212 points213 points214
points 19 hours ago (39 children)
Wow. WTF! A hardware wallet that CAN broadcast your keys to the
internet. Fucking POINTLESS. Might as well just use a software wallet
then.
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[–]BiggusDickus-Silver | QC: CC 266, SOL 32, ETH 22 | VET 560 |
TraderSubs 76 23 points24 points25 points 10 hours ago (6 children)
It is a flat out violation of their very directly claim that the seed
cannot physically leave the device under any circumstances. Obviously
that was just a flat out lie.
Perhaps the silver lining is that the blowback will be so hard that
they will make new models that really are that way.
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[–]TheLuckyO1neTin | LRC 14 | Superstonk 259 13 points14 points15
points 5 hours ago (0 children)
As if anyone would trust them now lmao
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[–]Mr_Bob_FergusonPlatinum | QC: CC 445 49 points50 points51 points 17
hours ago (1 child)
A hardware wallet
...and not just any hardware wallet, but THE one that is always recommended.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 44
points45 points46 points 18 hours ago (16 children)
Exactly!
And I'm getting downvoted for suggesting that.
Anyway, I'm getting BitBox02 or Coldcard today.
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[–]the_nin_collector 17 points18 points19 points 17 hours ago (2 children)
any reason not to consider a trezor? honestly curious. Haven't
compared wallets in a long time
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[–]BlockchainFoxTin 5 points6 points7 points 12 hours ago (0 children)
Yeah what about trezor?
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[–]Ur_mothers_keeper 4 points5 points6 points 11 hours ago (3 children)
Do either of those support monero?
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[–]helobro11 2 points3 points4 points 15 hours ago (0 children)
Exactly bro 💯
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[–]middlemangv 545 points546 points547 points 20 hours ago (212 children)
If this is true, then this is pretty disappointing.
They literally lost the only reason why I wanted to buy them..
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[–]SkuniMasterMind 269 points270 points271 points 19 hours ago* (40 children)
hey literally lost the only reason why I wanted to buy them
They really compromised their biggest selling point... for $10 a month
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[–]emp-sup-bryBronze | QC: CC 22 | LRC 6 48 points49 points50 points
15 hours ago (7 children)
Subscription model preys on the idea that people are overwhelmed
(somewhat by the goddamn number of subscriptions) and will just pay
forever
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[–]SkuniMasterMind 28 points29 points30 points 15 hours ago (6 children)
Subscription models were just transition from micro-transactions to
not so micro anymore.
Yet - we swallowed it
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[–]gt4674bTin 7 points8 points9 points 14 hours ago (1 child)
Not sure about that yet. I think people are starting to wake up to the
financial realities and will start making more rational purchase
choices. Maybe.
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[–]89timeTin 46 points47 points48 points 18 hours ago (16 children)
Damn, total palmface.
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[–]deathbyfish13Free Range Moon Farmer 16 points17 points18 points 18
hours ago (4 children)
I'm trying to figure out why they would do this but all it's making me
want to do is headwall
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[–]ice_blade_sorc 9 points10 points11 points 17 hours ago (1 child)
If "money" isn't the answer to your question then I'll wallbang my head myself
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[–]Mr_Bob_FergusonPlatinum | QC: CC 445 17 points18 points19 points 17
hours ago (7 children)
Damn, total palmface.
As they say... "$10 is $10".
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[–]MetaploidTin 10 points11 points12 points 17 hours ago (2 children)
A man's gotta eat
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[–]Aim_SuxPlatinum | QC: ETH 135, CC 346 | TraderSubs 135 5 points6
points7 points 16 hours ago (1 child)
No, $10 is about $3.50
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[–]user260421Platinum | QC: CC 44, ETH 23 | TraderSubs 10 3 points4
points5 points 16 hours ago (0 children)
Now I totally get their decision! /s
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[–]StolenApe 83 points84 points85 points 17 hours ago (16 children)
This seed saving service I think makes sense for a hot wallet, like a
mobile app. People don’t save their seeds, or save them on their
phones and then lose their phone. Lol. Online, encrypted seed saving
is about on par with the risk profile of a mobile hot wallet.
A ledger on the other hand… People who buy one have made the decision
to increase their security to the best possible security available.
Then suggesting those people should compromise the security they have
just purchased by doing the one thing they are never meant to do is
just insane
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[–]ErmingardiaPlatinum | QC: CC 540 | Unpop.Opin. 50 34 points35
points36 points 18 hours ago (28 children)
I was about to buy one this month, very disappointed...
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[–]Lillica_Golden_SHIBBronze | BANANO 5 | TraderSubs 13 32 points33
points34 points 18 hours ago (15 children)
I bought a new one three or four months ago. Feeling a bit uneasy about it...
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[–]pjlsnapTin 16 points17 points18 points 15 hours ago (2 children)
Two months ago here, waste of 150$
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[–]Aim_SuxPlatinum | QC: ETH 135, CC 346 | TraderSubs 135 8 points9
points10 points 18 hours ago (8 children)
Might as well as open another Metamask Wallet for free
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[–]Josefumi12 3 points4 points5 points 18 hours ago (2 children)
You're disappointed but at least you are still saving and not spending
your money.
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[–]Every_Hunt_160Platinum | QC: CC 672 | r/SSB 10 36 points37 points38
points 19 hours ago (11 children)
Ledger asking people for their seed phrase is pretty strange indeed.
Next thing you know KFC is gonna turn to a Broccoli restaurant
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[–]slasula 13 points14 points15 points 18 hours ago (1 child)
vile weed
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[–]redthepotato 16 points17 points18 points 19 hours ago (26 children)
Well this sucks. Is Trezor better? My ledger isn't even a year old yet.
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[–]bidet_enthusiastTin | Futurology 11 20 points21 points22 points 18
hours ago (17 children)
The trezzor code can also be modified to expose the seed. The problem
seems to be that ledger made this capability into a feature in their
code.
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[–]macethefacePlatinum | QC: LW 92, BTC 45, CC 37 | ADA 15 |
TraderSubs 28 11 points12 points13 points 17 hours ago (1 child)
Belive you need physical access to the Trezor for that hack tho
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[–]RunsOnJava98 5 points6 points7 points 17 hours ago (3 children)
There was a YouTube video where one person accessed the physical
device and was able to grab the PIN from its RAM after changing a few
things.
But, I don’t think it was the seed phrase.
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[–]ElonMusk0fficialBronze | Pers.Fin. 18 8 points9 points10 points 15
hours ago (0 children)
I wouldn’t consider someone using advanced electronics to listen in on
a hardware level to the chips “changing a few things”. This woikd have
to be a person specific attack where you have access to the physical
wallet itself. I don’t own or recommend any wallet but that attack
isn’t feasible outside of one off attacks where you can get to a
person and access their hardware wallet
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 36
points37 points38 points 20 hours ago (17 children)
Great timing. I have two devices which I'll dispose of soon.
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[–]partymslPlatinum | QC: CC 702 | r/WSB 16 36 points37 points38
points 18 hours ago (7 children)
This decision will really cost them a lot of money.
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[–]blitzlurkerno one knows anything 45 points46 points47 points 18
hours ago (2 children)
Even if they reverse the decision the damage is done. The trust is broken.
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[–]OPTIMUS-PRIME27Tin 5 points6 points7 points 17 hours ago (0 children)
Trust shattered, scars remain - actions speak louder than words.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 22
points23 points24 points 18 hours ago (2 children)
Definitely! I'll spread the word forever.
Although I was a user, I'm still holding a grudge from the data leak. :)
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[–]StarbugIThey're all dead. Everybody's dead, Dave. 9 points10
points11 points 18 hours ago (0 children)
Agreed, was not impressed at the data leak. This is the icing on the cake.
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[–]blitzlurkerno one knows anything 25 points26 points27 points 18
hours ago (3 children)
Kinda pissed off finding this post a day after I ordered one. I doubt
I'll be able to get my cash back but I'll try because an exploit like
this should be a valid reason for a refund.
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[–]Aim_SuxPlatinum | QC: ETH 135, CC 346 | TraderSubs 135 19 points20
points21 points 18 hours ago (3 children)
Boy this move is gonna bite back Ledger right in their asses
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 24
points25 points26 points 18 hours ago (2 children)
First they leaked our data, now they leak our seed phrases.
Let them burn!
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[–]Which-Occasion-9246 7 points8 points9 points 18 hours ago (0 children)
Agreed. Very disappointing... goes against what cold wallet stands for.
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[–]jimmycryptsoSilver | QC: CC 31, BCH 29 | CelsiusNet. 69 72 points73
points74 points 17 hours ago (4 children)
Somehow they managed to survive the massive data leak of customer
info. I don't think they will survive this though.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 38
points39 points40 points 17 hours ago (1 child)
My email was leaked and I "forgave" them.
Won't do it this time.
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[–]jimmycryptsoSilver | QC: CC 31, BCH 29 | CelsiusNet. 69 4 points5
points6 points 17 hours ago (0 children)
Same. Luckily I used a burner email and no longer have the same
address or phone number.
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[–]rock-island321 250 points251 points252 points 19 hours ago (45 children)
They'll be killing their business if that's true.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 126
points127 points128 points 19 hours ago (23 children)
Killed it from my perspective.
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[–]rock-island321 52 points53 points54 points 19 hours ago (11 children)
Bitcoin University will be doing a video on that today or tomorrow I
expect. He'll break it down.
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[–]deathbyfish13Free Range Moon Farmer 23 points24 points25 points 18
hours ago (5 children)
I don't see how it's not killing it, this goes against their main selling point.
I'll for sure watch the video when it comes out but I'm not expecting
anything shocking
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[–]Aim_SuxPlatinum | QC: ETH 135, CC 346 | TraderSubs 135 6 points7
points8 points 16 hours ago (4 children)
It's like KFC decided to stop selling fried chicken and started
selling boiled chicken
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[–]dorfelsnorfPlatinum | QC: CC 186 | CRO 14 | ExchSubs 14 17 points18
points19 points 17 hours ago (1 child)
What are they thinking. A security focused device that screws up their
security is nothing to have.
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[–]rock-island321 6 points7 points8 points 17 hours ago (0 children)
It could be they are aligning themselves with soon-to-be regulation.
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[–]DerpJungler"CryptoBro" 25 points26 points27 points 18 hours ago (6 children)
I feel bad for everyone who purchased their product.
We now have to be incredibly more sceptical when buying cold wallets..
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[–]CoronaryAssistanceBronze | QC: CC 21 | r/SSB 12 10 points11
points12 points 13 hours ago (1 child)
Besides ledger and Trezor what other option even is there?
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[–]SulkyVirusPlatinum | QC: GPUmining 46, CC 35 | Stocks 69 5 points6
points7 points 12 hours ago (1 child)
Just got one and moved everything over a couple months ago... Ugh.
So is this a case where as long as I don't sign up for that service my
seed is still secure? Or did they push and update out and as soon as I
plug my cold wallet in it will compromise my seed?
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[–]The_Lombard_FoxTin 7 points8 points9 points 16 hours ago (0 children)
Kind of defeats the entire purpose of a cold wallet
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[–]Josefumi12 9 points10 points11 points 18 hours ago (1 child)
They're just inverting their own business model /s
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[–]user260421Platinum | QC: CC 44, ETH 23 | TraderSubs 10 3 points4
points5 points 16 hours ago (1 child)
Maybe they're gonna do the same as paypal when they tried to slip
something in their T&Cs (the ability to fine you 2k if they don't
agree with your views), then they took it back and introduced it later
again when people were paying less attention.
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[–]ArcosimSilver | QC: CC 51 | VET 22 | Technology 39 3 points4
points5 points 15 hours ago (0 children)
It's insane, they were able to turn the name of their company into the
synonymous for cold wallet, and now they did this for a $10 bucks a
month completely unnecessary service.
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[–]Plasticites 176 points177 points178 points 19 hours ago (16 children)
Why did they have to go and screw this up? I used to be able to sleep
at night having my Ledger
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 43
points44 points45 points 19 hours ago (3 children)
Likewise, my friend.
It's really unfortunate!
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[–]JoNwOrDy 21 points22 points23 points 14 hours ago (1 child)
Ledger Recover: the gift that keeps on giving (to hackers).
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[–]FAyouPAB 5 points6 points7 points 13 hours ago (0 children)
Greed.
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[–]sw1mhouse 110 points111 points112 points 16 hours ago (18 children)
Would a class action be applicable?! This is ridiculous . . .
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[–]Josefumi12 51 points52 points53 points 14 hours ago (2 children)
I need refunds
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[–]sw1mhouse 33 points34 points35 points 14 hours ago (0 children)
I'd gladly take that too. This is absurd . . . They completely
obliterated their use case. We all could have stuck with free hot
wallets
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[–]LeThaLxdARkSilver | QC: CC 53, BTC 19 | CRO 67 | ExchSubs 72 8
points9 points10 points 10 hours ago (0 children)
Same, got more than only one and not only that, but false
advertisement is illegal and apparently put me at a risk i wasn’t
willing to take with anyone else but myself
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[–]Deep90Platinum | QC: CC 25 | Pers.Fin. 20 6 points7 points8 points
11 hours ago* (5 children)
I would say it's unlikely unless ledger actually experiences a breach.
Also need more information on how all of this works and if it's
actually compromising even if you opt out.
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[–]sw1mhouse 16 points17 points18 points 11 hours ago (3 children)
Agreed but I do think they duped their customer base. I & most others
I'm aware of wanted a cold wallet with no compromises. It's starts
like this & ends in KYC everytime essentially defeating the purpose
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[–]TwistedGlassesTin 55 points56 points57 points 18 hours ago (18 children)
Oh come on... I just bought one last month.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 22
points23 points24 points 18 hours ago (7 children)
It's tough to accept... I have two myself. :(
Security above all, that's it.
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[–]TwistedGlassesTin 12 points13 points14 points 18 hours ago (6 children)
The only thing I'm hoping is the 24 seed phrase must be saved
manually, if some kind of software can retrieve it automatically then
this wallet has lost its purpose.
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[–]chahouaPlatinum | QC: CC 51 | TraderSubs 11 16 points17 points18
points 16 hours ago (0 children)
If it's not done by saving the seed manually then ledger has been
lying to their customers for a long time.
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[–]perfect5-7-with-riceBronze | QC: BTC 21 | CRO 14 | Apple 24 4
points5 points6 points 11 hours ago (3 children)
They confirmed it is loaded from the ledger's secure chip
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 8 points9
points10 points 18 hours ago (0 children)
That's the actual problem!
Now, it turned out that the device can. It's not a cold wallet anymore.
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[–]KlemenKisi 206 points207 points208 points 20 hours ago (52 children)
This is some serious customer misleading practice. If I knew this, I
would never buy it in first place. Basically makes my Ledger worthless
now (ok maybe exaggeration, but still I would rather have a normal
free hot wallet instead of spending 150EUR on the physical one)
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[–]kirtash93The Ash Ketchum of Crypto | Gotta Catch 'Em All 126
points127 points128 points 18 hours ago (15 children)
This "feature" basically breaks the whole point of a cold wallet. I
dont know who is behind this great idea but it is a pretty dumb
mistake.
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[–]KlemenKisi 29 points30 points31 points 18 hours ago (10 children)
I cant believe what were they thinking, they probably dont follow this
subreddit haha
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[–]VicBear93 40 points41 points42 points 18 hours ago (7 children)
It's honestly like they thought up the worst thing they could do...and did it.
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[–]KlemenKisi 22 points23 points24 points 18 hours ago (3 children)
So someone had this idea, and someone else had to approve it. Double dumb
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[–]excubitor15379 10 points11 points12 points 18 hours ago (1 child)
In theory it could be the same person
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[–]Josefumi12 8 points9 points10 points 18 hours ago (0 children)
Seems like my ledger is slowly become hot hard wallet with an extra
pin because of this feature. I don't agree with this even though they
say it is optional.
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[–]_who_is_they_ 36 points37 points38 points 17 hours ago (5 children)
I wonder if lawsuits are in order. I feel scammed.
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[–]KlemenKisi 28 points29 points30 points 16 hours ago (1 child)
Same here. Kinda want my money back
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[–]pjlsnapTin 9 points10 points11 points 15 hours ago (0 children)
Yup $150
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[–]redthepotato 28 points29 points30 points 19 hours ago (3 children)
This. I spent money on something I could have gotten for free when it
could have gone through my crypto investment. Isn't this
misrepresenting a product? The co-founder in the thread still ain't
giving up on his stance that nothing changes.
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[–]TrylksJust joking! 8 points9 points10 points 18 hours ago* (0 children)
If it is broken now and “nothing has changed” then it was always broken.
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[–]KlemenKisi 11 points12 points13 points 18 hours ago (0 children)
As consumers we should have been aware of this before purchase.
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[–]89timeTin 10 points11 points12 points 18 hours ago (5 children)
I want cold storage so bad, but stuff like this makes me stick to hot
wallets and CEXs. I hope things change.
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[–]KlemenKisi 7 points8 points9 points 18 hours ago (4 children)
at least you didnt buy it yet
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[–]89timeTin 5 points6 points7 points 18 hours ago (3 children)
Question is, which wallet to buy now?
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[–]excubitor15379 7 points8 points9 points 18 hours ago (0 children)
As far as I know trezor is fine so far
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 12
points13 points14 points 20 hours ago* (9 children)
Fully agree.
The problem becomes bigger for users that have 6 figures or more. I'm
not comfortable with hot wallets
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[–]KlemenKisi 12 points13 points14 points 19 hours ago (8 children)
yep, I guess best way to handle crypto is really just having 20
wallets with smaller amounts on them...
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[–]moonpumperSilver|QC:CC58,ETH19,BTC16|GMEJungle97|Superstonk522 119
points120 points121 points 17 hours ago (36 children)
Have they confirmed the device actually exposes the seed phrase or do
you have to enter the seed phrase yourself when signing up for their
back up services?
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[–]maninthecryptosuitPlatinum | QC: ETH 95, CC 18 90 points91 points92
points 15 hours ago (26 children)
The cofounder Nicola confirmed the seed phrase leaves the secure
element..... interestingly in a reply to the exact question you asked.
https://np.reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/13itm7u/-/jkbxxhy
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[–]moonpumperSilver|QC:CC58,ETH19,BTC16|GMEJungle97|Superstonk522 25
points26 points27 points 15 hours ago (0 children)
I saw after some digging. I wish the comment wasn't downvoted into
oblivion so everyone could find out for themselves straight from the
horse's mouth.
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[–]Lobsters_Are_Ugly 22 points23 points24 points 16 hours ago (1 child)
This is a really important point, if it's the former that's just
shocking but I highly doubt ledger would implement that.
Regardless the optics of this is terrible.
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[–]bricarpPlatinum | QC: CC 28 | CRO 22 | ExchSubs 26 8 points9
points10 points 13 hours ago (0 children)
Explicitly confirmed by the co-founder of Ledger. It is indeed the former.
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[–]Snaggletoothlover 29 points30 points31 points 15 hours ago (2 children)
Also Ledger: "Never share your 24-word recovery phrase with anyone-
NOT EVEN LEDGER."
https://www.ledger.com/academy/crypto/what-is-a-recovery-phrase
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[–]hookmanukTin | CRO 7 467 points468 points469 points 19 hours ago
(62 children)
Amazed that OP is being voted down in this thread.
Ledger just announced that they have the technical capability to pull
your seed off your device, and everyone is OK with that?
Crazy.
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[–]Josefumi12 135 points136 points137 points 19 hours ago (11 children)
Hardwallet should not have the ability to do that. The main reason i
bought hardwallet is to make sure my seed is not exposed and i don't
remember ordering a device that can transmit my seed.
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[–]kirtash93The Ash Ketchum of Crypto | Gotta Catch 'Em All 51
points52 points53 points 18 hours ago* (8 children)
The whole basic point of a cold wallet thrown in the sea. Ledger the
new expensive HOT wallet.
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[–]Lillica_Golden_SHIBBronze | BANANO 5 | TraderSubs 13 4 points5
points6 points 18 hours ago (2 children)
Very disappointing. Thank goodness we have other options at least.
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[–]TheRealestLarryDavid 3 points4 points5 points 15 hours ago (1 child)
what is the best option. i have a ledger for a few years and been out
of touch with what's available
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[–]Lillica_Golden_SHIBBronze | BANANO 5 | TraderSubs 13 3 points4
points5 points 15 hours ago (0 children)
I'm thinking about getting a Trezor, gonna start looking at models and
reading reviews.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 79
points80 points81 points 19 hours ago (11 children)
I'm flabergasted as well.
Trying to save people and they attack you.
Crazy!
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[–]chance_watersPlatinum | QC: CC 61 | NANO 18 | AvatarTrading 29 32
points33 points34 points 19 hours ago (18 children)
They have not accounced how, at this point it is fully possible you
need to physically enter it for the encryption to occur. There's very
poor communication from them.
These encrypted recovery services are becoming standard though - they
are necessary for adoption. This is on the roadmap for all the
hardware wallets.
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[–]CCNightcoreBronze | Science 11 50 points51 points52 points 18 hours
ago (1 child)
It's a pretty dumb move either way. They should sell it as a different
product and make 2x as much money and not alienate their current
users. Dumbasses
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[–]WeaselJCDTin | Superstonk 25 13 points14 points15 points 18 hours
ago (7 children)
my comment was deleted, but the founder said in another subreddit that
the devices sends it
"The device sends encrypted shards of your seed to different companies
if you decide to use the service. You can of course still choose to
backup it yourself."
I can't link to it, but you should find it in the ledger subreddit
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[–]Fuglypump 23 points24 points25 points 15 hours ago (1 child)
This should turn into a class action lawsuit, I would never have
bought a ledger if I had known they were going to do this.
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[–]UrbanWoodyTin 25 points26 points27 points 14 hours ago (9 children)
They have just posted an update
https://twitter.com/Ledger/status/1658458714771169282
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[–]candlefirez 196 points197 points198 points 19 hours ago (68 children)
Time to build your own hardware wallet. Not your hardware wallet, not
your coins.
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[–]Questioning-Pen 90 points91 points92 points 16 hours ago (4 children)
If everyone needs to build their own hardware wallets for their coins
to be safe, crypto’s prospects for mass adoption are in severe
trouble.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 44
points45 points46 points 19 hours ago (46 children)
I'm on the verge of buying BitBox02 or Coldcard for my Bitcoin, but
what you're saying might be the ultimate truth at the end. Open source
would definitely make me sleep better.
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[–]redkoilSilver | QC: CC 37, ETH 24, BTC 18 | r/SSB 8 | Privacy 10 15
points16 points17 points 16 hours ago (13 children)
Please be aware that Coldcard has the same possibility to export your
private keys out of the device. I'm not going to trust such a device
and it was the reason I went with ledger..
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 8 points9
points10 points 16 hours ago (12 children)
Yup, just found that out as well.
BitBox02 and Trezor for the final competition.
Trezor One is great, but the 25th word (passphrase) needs to be input
on a PC, not on the device itself. That's the only thing I dislike,
but maybe it's okay.
What would you go for?
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[–]G4METin | PCmasterrace 22 5 points6 points7 points 14 hours ago (0 children)
Go with bitbox it is made by one of the bitcoin core maintainers, you
can have a 25th word which needs to be entered on the bitbox itself.
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[–]Dazzling_Lime2021Platinum | QC: BAT 146 30 points31 points32 points
18 hours ago (18 children)
I think Coldcard is the best possible hardware we have so far. Not
sure if Bitbox does this, but with the Coldcard you can sign
transactions without ever plugging it into a computer. They have an
attachment where it can be powered by a 9 volt battery and you use SD
cards to broadcast transactions. Neat stuff.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 11
points12 points13 points 18 hours ago (6 children)
Oh wow!
I'll watch some videos on that right away!
Not sure if that's a potential risk, but I'll investigate the pros and
cons of both.
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[–]Dazzling_Lime2021Platinum | QC: BAT 146 13 points14 points15 points
18 hours ago (4 children)
Yeah I'm actually looking for a second hardware wallet (currently
using Trezor). Almost bought a ledger and I'm glad I didn't now lol.
Might have to check out Bitbox too, the Coldcard is a bit expensive
but it does have a lot of security features. Check out BTC Sessions on
Youtube, he did a good video on it
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[–]Aim_SuxPlatinum | QC: ETH 135, CC 346 | TraderSubs 135 5 points6
points7 points 16 hours ago (3 children)
Whats the best choice for someone who holds coins/tokens on multiple
networks like BTC, ETH, Cosmos...etc ?
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[–]fnetmaPlatinum | QC: CC 21 | ADA 6 4 points5 points6 points 14
hours ago (1 child)
Probably Trezor
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[–]poyosoPlatinum | QC: XLM 59, CC 56 | SHIB 16 | AvatarTrading 39 8
points9 points10 points 18 hours ago (5 children)
How can you trust those devices though? How can you be certain that
they also dont leak? Because they said so?
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 21
points22 points23 points 18 hours ago (4 children)
They're open source.
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[–]special_onigiri 6 points7 points8 points 16 hours ago (1 child)
As a software developer, I'll never get tired of saying Open Source is
King. Base is public everyone can contribute and build on top of it,
which means variety, which in turn gives people more options and will
spread thin those who are trying to exploit vulnerabilities and
exploits.
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[–]Mr_Bob_FergusonPlatinum | QC: CC 445 7 points8 points9 points 17
hours ago (1 child)
And to expand on this point further...
Basically all the biggest encryption algorithms used for security in
general are open source.
Open source means that plenty of eyes from various organisations (and
individuals) can look over it.
And just because people can see the code doesn't mean that it any less secure.
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[–]Maxx3141Platinum | QC: CC 2677 139 points140 points141 points 20
hours ago (54 children)
I think it's still important to share the full details. If I got it
right, the device produces three shards with a concept similar to
Shamir’s Secret Sharing, and shares it with Ledger and two partner
companies. Two of these shards are needed to recover your seed and
knowing one shard gives you no relevant entropy advantage when trying
to brute-force it.
With that being said, I still hate the feature. This still heavily
relies on trust, and the connected PC can at least request the shards
- opening new ways to exploit it with man-in-the-middle or social
engineering attacks.
The best solution would be offering a separate fw without this feature
for the "fundamentalists" - similar to Trezor and Bitbox which offer
BTC-only-firmwares for their devices. Still I'd have a hard time to
recommend a Ledger to newcomers from now on.
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[–]R0Y-BATTYBronze 53 points54 points55 points 19 hours ago* (13 children)
100% this firmware that allows this feature needs to be optional,
otherwise I’d be out, in reality you never really know what they are
putting on a device when they update firmware so there is always a
matter of trust. But yeah this isn’t a good move by them and a very
odd thing to do for the small amount of people who might want it. I
will wait to see what is said on the coming days before having a
public meltdown like BusinessBreakfast is having, though I share their
concerns.
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[–]Qu1bbz 47 points48 points49 points 16 hours ago (1 child)
You realise that it doesn't matter if it's optional right? The fact
that it's even possible to extract your seed literally breaks the
entire purpose of a hardware wallet. As soon as you have to trust
ledger to not extract your seed phrase you might as well use a bank?
Besides ledger themselves this leaves the possibility for your ledger
firmware to be compromised by a 3rd party to be able to extract your
seed.
The firmware is also proprietary, so who knows if this feature didn't
exist already and whether or not they already extracted everyones
keys?
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[–]grandphubaSilver | QC: CC 56 | ADA 49 | ModeratePolitics 199 38
points39 points40 points 17 hours ago (3 children)
100% this firmware that allows this feature needs to be optional,
otherwise I’d be out
You don't seem to be grasping the extent of the issue.
The fact the hardware can leak your keys should be more than enough to
put you off, regardless of the firmware.
Firmware and software can be updated, the hardware can't.
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[–]Lillica_Golden_SHIBBronze | BANANO 5 | TraderSubs 13 4 points5
points6 points 18 hours ago (1 child)
I hope they come up with more information on it, although I think it
is very unlikely they actually say anything that makes this situation
look better. Anyway, the simple fact there is a backdoor now makes the
whole thing extremely concerning to me.
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[–]VicBear93 4 points5 points6 points 17 hours ago (0 children)
The Crypto space isn't short of people looking to exploit anything
they can either. If something can be exploited, then someone will find
a way. Its a disaster waiting to happen.
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[–]chestyspankersTin 6 points7 points8 points 13 hours ago (0 children)
I am surprised that in a crypto subreddit, so few people seem to be
aware of Shamir's secret sharing or what an encrypted shard means. To
most it appears they think their seed phrase is leaked directly from
the device with no checks in place.
I agree with your assessment and caveats, I guess I am just shocked
that I had to scroll so far to find a well balanced comment about
encryption on a subreddit that is for enthusiasts about encrypted
currency.
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[–]Mr_Bob_FergusonPlatinum | QC: CC 445 4 points5 points6 points 17
hours ago (1 child)
Still I'd have a hard time to recommend a Ledger to newcomers from now on.
I think we're now going to see an instead dive in recommendations in the sub.
But I think that your other suggestion will also come true, that
they'll offer a version without the feature ...or just remove it
completely.
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[–]SqueezitgirdleSilver | QC: CC 78 | CRO 42 | ExchSubs 43[🍰] 6
points7 points8 points 16 hours ago (2 children)
If you had to provide your key manually to these three companies it
would be fine.
The problem, if I understood correctly, is the fact that it can lift
your key for you automatically if you pay for their service. Ledger
led us to believe that wasn't possible.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 31
points32 points33 points 20 hours ago (21 children)
If I got it right, the device produces three shards...
TLDR It CAN expose your seed. By definition, it's not a cold wallet anymore.
That's all that matters.
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[–]Maxx3141Platinum | QC: CC 2677 32 points33 points34 points 20 hours
ago (20 children)
Every hw-wallet can expose your seed once, otherwise you couldn't do a
backup. This still makes them cold wallets because it stays offline.
The ledger won't ever share the seed without you confirming it, and
still I don't want this feature in my hw-wallet at all. I would agree
to call it a "hot hw-wallet" from now on.
There is a chance this feature can only be used once after setup and
will be disabled afterwards, similar to the seed backup. We don't know
the full details for now.
Also I think it's terrible how they just sneakily rolled it out
without a major announcement with technical details.
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[–]yuumonadi 14 points15 points16 points 16 hours ago (13 children)
I use a Nano S. am I safe?
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[–]oximoran 11 points12 points13 points 13 hours ago (2 children)
Looks like S will not support this "feature," but that's not a
guarantee of anything.
What Ledger devices are compatible with Ledger Recover?
Currently, Ledger Recover is compatible with Ledger Nano X. In the
near future, it will be compatible with Ledger Nano S Plus and Ledger
Stax as well.
⚠️ Ledger Recover isn't compatible with Ledger Nano S.
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[–]MindTheMindForMind 9 points10 points11 points 15 hours ago (3 children)
Same question, they didn’t specify if this feature is only a Nano X thing.
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[–]hippofireTin | 4 months old 16 points17 points18 points 20 hours
ago (5 children)
What’s the risk in not updated the firmware ever and just transferring
funds to it?
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 30
points31 points32 points 19 hours ago (2 children)
It's closed source, nobody knows.
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[–]Qu1bbz 13 points14 points15 points 16 hours ago (0 children)
Potential risks:
It's proprietary software so this feature might already exist and
worst case ledger already backed up your seed and can use your funds
however they please.
The government confiscated your ledger and can get access to your
seed through the ledger company by making them update your firmware
and extracting the seed.
A 3rd party might be able to compromise the firmware of your
ledger, extract the seed and steal your funds.
The fact that the possibility to extract the seed even exists is a
fundamental flaw and there is no solution other than not using a
ledger. The point of a hardware wallet is that it SHOULD be impossible
on a hardware-level to extract the seed. If a simple firmware update
is enough... the whole point is gone.
At this point ledger is nothing more than a bank you trust. On top of
this they already got compromised in the past, so good luck to anyone
who actually puts their trust in them.
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[–]Zwiebel1Platinum | QC: CC 432, BNB 20 | ExchSubs 20 11 points12
points13 points 19 hours ago (0 children)
You don't know if the functions used in that firmware update existed
before aswell. It might have existed for a long time and just went by
unnoticed. Its only a minor threat to security but are you really
willing to take chances if you bought a cold storage exactly for that
purpose?
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[–]ToufuNow 40 points41 points42 points 19 hours ago* (9 children)
The big problem here is how would they implement this service. If they
just ask the user to input the seed phrase to the ledger live and send
to them. Then it's just plain stupid but not a threat to an educated
users with basic sanity. However, if they can generate these social
recovery phrases jusy by asking users to connect their ledger to the
ledger live, then it would be a serious problem, as it means they
indeed have a backdoor to extract the seed phrases from the security
chip.
>From my humble opinion, the best solution to implement this (assuming
someone actually need this feature in the first place and there is
really no such backdoor to extract the seed pharse), is to make an app
running on ledger device that requires the user to input the seed
phrases to the ledger again. This app would do the cryptographic
calculation to generate these social recovery phrases and the user can
then submit them to online custody services provided by Ledger. In
this way, Ledger just act as an offline cryptographic calculator
processing the input seed pharse, and has nothing to do with the seed
phrase stored inside the security chip.
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[–]TrylksJust joking! 8 points9 points10 points 17 hours ago (2 children)
The “security chip” should be generating the social recovery, and the
passphrase never leaving it.
But “security chip” sounds like bullshit, TBH.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 26
points27 points28 points 19 hours ago (4 children)
Fully agree. Then it wouldn't be a problem.
Unfortunately, the co-founder confirmed that the device can leak data.
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[–]ToufuNow 18 points19 points20 points 19 hours ago (1 child)
It would be scary if that is the case. The existence of such method to
extract the seed pharse is a serious threat to all Ledger user. Even
if they choose not to use this service, a malicious program lurk in
the computer/smartphone that the Ledger connects to can exploit such
interface and cheat ledger to give out the stored seed phrase.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 10
points11 points12 points 19 hours ago (0 children)
Exactly.
It's game over. I'm buying Trezor and Coldcard today.
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[–]RealVoldemortPlatinum | QC: CC 52 32 points33 points34 points 19
hours ago (3 children)
Wtf are they doing. What the actual f
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[–]partymslPlatinum | QC: CC 702 | r/WSB 16 3 points4 points5 points
18 hours ago (0 children)
Ruining their own business in the pursuit of more profits. Just as all
do at a certain point.
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[–]Mr_Bob_FergusonPlatinum | QC: CC 445 6 points7 points8 points 17
hours ago (0 children)
Wtf are they doing
It's a really strange decision.
They should know their customer base well enough to know that trust
and security and the major factors that people are looking for.
And now they have ruined it.
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[–]crypteningTin | QC: BTC 28 | BCH critic 8 points9 points10 points
19 hours ago (1 child)
They already leaked everybody's name and home address so this latest
ledger service allows criminals to be less violent towards us.
Thank you ledger;/
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[–]Intelligent_Page2732Platinum | QC: CC 918 20 points21 points22
points 20 hours ago (4 children)
It's a disturbing development, I would immediatly opt out of this,
even the chance that it can expose your seed phrase is already to much
for me.
Besides that, if the French government is knocking down their doors, I
would get out of French if I were Ledger to stay in business.
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 15
points16 points17 points 20 hours ago (1 child)
Too late for all that.
Open source only from now on. As you say, the fact that it CAN is more
than enough.
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[–]slasula 8 points9 points10 points 18 hours ago (0 children)
oh ffs I’ve just finished moving everything over to ledger
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[–]FenweekoooBronze | MiningSubs 15 9 points10 points11 points 15
hours ago (2 children)
sigh.... has trezor fucked up anything i should be aware of in the last bit?
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[–]SandboChangTin | r/AMD 102 6 points7 points8 points 12 hours ago (1 child)
Ledger is officially done for, the damage is irreversible as by
introducing the service they have exposed the fact that their device
can be hacked that way, which was thought to be impossible.
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[–]Alarming_Associate47Tin 6 points7 points8 points 15 hours ago (0 children)
How to wreck you company in seconds 101
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[–]Knotley-Hunt-Brick 12 points13 points14 points 19 hours ago (5 children)
ummm should i cancel my ledger order and order rasberry pi instead ?
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[–]helobro11 10 points11 points12 points 15 hours ago (0 children)
Yeah bro
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 12
points13 points14 points 19 hours ago (0 children)
Yes!
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[–]OutTopTin | 3 months old 6 points7 points8 points 17 hours ago (0 children)
Time to switch
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[–]RicothebuttonpusherTin | Politics 60 5 points6 points7 points 13
hours ago (0 children)
What’s the next best cold wallet to use? Trezor?
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[–]Bunker_BeansPlatinum | QC: CC 224, BTC 40 | ADA 18 14 points15
points16 points 18 hours ago (2 children)
Glad I went with Trezor over Ledger.
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[–]EdgeLord19941 10 points11 points12 points 19 hours ago (4 children)
Hope this isn't available on older devices like the nano S?
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 7 points8
points9 points 19 hours ago (3 children)
We will never know.
I have a nano S, but after this news, I don't feel safe.
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[–]R0Y-BATTYBronze 3 points4 points5 points 19 hours ago (4 children)
Is it only on the Nano - X ?
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[–]CognizantSynapsidPlatinum | QC: CC 42 | r/WSB 43 4 points5 points6
points 13 hours ago (0 children)
This blows. Own two ledgers. The inconvenience continues
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[–]redbullandranchTin 12 points13 points14 points 17 hours ago* (3 children)
So, we get posts all the time with new users saying they were "hacked"
and lost their stash. Then everybody bombards them with some version
of "you weren't hacked, it's your fault".
This Ledger change makes you think. How long has it been in effect?
Maybe some of those hacks were caused by this because nobody knew
about it. Maybe it's already been compromised...
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[–]neverreddit1984 10 points11 points12 points 18 hours ago (1 child)
Ledger just signed their own obituary.
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[–]VeludoVeludoPlatinum | QC: CC 118 3 points4 points5 points 19 hours
ago (2 children)
Guess I will just memorize my seed phrase and pray telepathy won't
work anytime soon.
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[–]daken15Bronze 4 points5 points6 points 14 hours ago (1 child)
Just last week a paper came out of a team of researches that could
read a mouse mind and see an image of what the mouse was seeing, so
not far away.
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[–]VeludoVeludoPlatinum | QC: CC 118 3 points4 points5 points 14 hours
ago (0 children)
Fuck... aluminium foil hats it is.
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[–]TheJustinG2002Silver | QC: CC 86 | LRC 49 3 points4 points5 points
15 hours ago (1 child)
I have a Nano S Plus. I read it's only for the X. It's still an
absolute atrocity but I hope things don't get worse. I'm not looking
to buy a new hardware wallet anytime soon.
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[–]zzzz4xzzzz__Tin 3 points4 points5 points 14 hours ago (0 children)
Mf my life’s money is on my damn ledger fuck! Gotta get a Trezor!
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[–]SufficientNet9227Tin 3 points4 points5 points 13 hours ago (1 child)
we need a international class action lawsuit for a refund and refund
all the fees to transfer...
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 5 points6
points7 points 13 hours ago (0 children)
Yes, let's do it!
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[–]QptimisedTin 7 points8 points9 points 20 hours ago (4 children)
Newbie here. If not Ledger, any other good cold wallets for recommendation?
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[–]BlockChad 2 points3 points4 points 19 hours ago (6 children)
This is optional though right? You have to opt in?
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[–]BusinessBreakfast3Platinum | QC: BTC 28, CC 22 | CRO 5[S] 11
points12 points13 points 19 hours ago (5 children)
Yes.
But the device can expose data to the internet. That's the scary part.
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