January 2016

On the 15th of January, the #StormSkanska protests kicked off in NYC with an estimated 150 protesters outside their offices at the Empire State Building. Skanska is a huge multinational construction corporation which is building a high-security, underground vivisection laboratory for University of Washington. Activists are determined to prevent this torture facility from ever being finished no matter what it takes. The Jan 15 office demo is just the beginning of a furious weekend of action against Skanska at their New York City offices.

On the 13th of January, the Washington Post announced that Virgina school officials plan to close the schools during the March 1 "Super Tuesday" presidential primary. This is due to fear that Donald Trump supporters may react with violence to the state GOP's requirement that voters wanting a GOP ballot attest that they are Republicans. Donald Trump has been unique among all candidates in the 2016 Presidential race in endorsing violence against Black Lives Matter protesters and other enemies of his racist, xenophobic campaign. Thus it is reasonable to expect that violence or even organized rioting could occur if Trump supporters physically contest the state GOP's requirement for a Republican ballot.

On the 11th of January, activists marked another year of prisoners being held without charge or trial at Guantanimo Bay, One detainee was released that morning, bringing the total number of men still buried alive at Gitmo to 103. This includes 44 (maybe 43 now) men "cleared for release" years ago but still held under conditions so bad many detainees have said they would prefer death to remaining at Gitmo.Obama has one year left to fulfill his oath to close Guantanimo Bay. Congress is but an excuse, a threat to pardon all remaining detainees would easily force Congress to enact any other plan the President put forth.

Video highlights of the GITMO 14 protest