Adding a few points to us_atrocities.
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### Middle East
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- 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-ivanka-wessels/white-phosphorus-over-raqqa) 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. <sup>[1](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/world/middleeast/raqqa-syria-white-phosphorus.html),[2](https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/14/iraq/syria-danger-us-white-phosphorus),[3](https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/josepha-ivanka-wessels/white-phosphorus-over-raqqa)</sup>
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- 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-ivanka-wessels/white-phosphorus-over-raqqa) 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. <sup>[1](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/world/middleeast/raqqa-syria-white-phosphorus.html),[2](https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/14/iraq/syria-danger-us-white-phosphorus),[3](https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/josepha-ivanka-wessels/white-phosphorus-over-raqqa)</sup>
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- 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%93_Syria_Region) [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 syra on June 7th, 2017.<sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike)</sup>
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- On March 21st, 2017, A US airstrike [killed at least 30 Syrian civilians](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/at-least-30-dead-after-air-strike-hits-syrian-school-1.3020369) 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=Aleppo&article=true) 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. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_al-Jinah_airstrike)</sup>
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- 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." <sup>[1](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/middleeast/mosul-civilian-deaths/)</sup>
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### Western hemisphere
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- 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." <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria#Puerto_Rico)</sup>
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- 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) 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_note-66) 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.[[67\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres#cite_note-67) <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Honduran_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)</sup>
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- 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."[[66\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change#cite_note-Whitney320-66) 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.<sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)</sup>
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- In 1989, The U.S. invades Panama 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. Between 500-4,000 people died in the US invasion. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega)</sup>
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- 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 250 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. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE#1985_bombing)</sup>
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- In 1979, a [communist-led march](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Workers%27_Party_(United_States)) 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. 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." <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro_massacre)</sup>
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- In 1979, a [communist-led march](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Workers%27_Party_(United_States)) 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. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro_massacre)</sup>
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- 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. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Eulia_Love)></sup>
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### Latinos
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- The [United States Department of Homeland Security](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security) 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. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals)</sup>
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- 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.<sup>[1](http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/12/workers-detained-by-ice-while-doing-construction-job-on-military-base/</sup>
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- 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. <sup>[1](http://www.abc15.com/news/state/paul-penzone-to-shut-down-tent-city-after-decades-of-operation)</sup>
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- 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. <sup>[1](http://www.abc15.com/news/state/paul-penzone-to-shut-down-tent-city-after-decades-of-operation)</sup>
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- On March 25th-27th, 2017, ICE agents [arrested 84 immigrants](http://www.kgw.com/news/local/ice-arrests-84-people-during-3-day-sweep-of-pacific-northwest/426890395) 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. <sup>[1](http://www.kgw.com/news/local/ice-arrests-84-people-during-3-day-sweep-of-pacific-northwest/426890395)</sup>
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- 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-condition-after-ice-agents-raided-chicago-home-and-shot-him-family/), 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.724838781005672.1073741828.724231234399760/765074203648796/?type=3&theater) 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-shoot-wound-person-belmont-cragin). “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. <sup>[1](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/unarmed-legal-resident-in-critical-condition-after-ice-agents-raided-chicago-home-and-shot-him-family/)</sup>
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- In early 2017, ICE began a [campaign of arrests and deportation](https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/ice-arrested-nearly-700-people-last-week-advocates-are-bracing-for-more-to-come/) of undocumented immigrants. 700 People have been arrested so far. <sup>[1](https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/ice-arrested-nearly-700-people-last-week-advocates-are-bracing-for-more-to-come/)</sup>
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- 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_692546.html). 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".
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- 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/website/article.asp?id=241), 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-us-deaths-are-caused-poverty-lack-education-and-other-social-factors)). That is 2 million people every 10 years in the US alone.<sup>[1](http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/08/crimes-against-humanity-01-poverty-murder-over-400-million-people-since-1995-more-than-all-wars-in-recorded-history.html)</sup>
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- In the modern day, [20,000 to 40,000 people die every year](http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance-in-us/) because of lack of universal health care or health insurance. On average, that's 300,000 over the last decade. <sup>[1](http://obamacarefacts.com/facts-on-deaths-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance-in-us/)</sup>
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- 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-north-carolina-trnd/). 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/index.html), who was protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. Many demonstrators connected with each other through public Facebook events. <sup>[1](http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/14/us/confederate-statue-pulled-down-north-carolina-trnd/)</sup>
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- On July 19th, 2017, [Police arrested 155 demonstrators](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-arrest-155-health-care-protesters-at-us-capitol/2017/07/19/c6a04286-6cd4-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html) 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. <sup>[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-arrest-155-health-care-protesters-at-us-capitol/2017/07/19/c6a04286-6cd4-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html)</sup>
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- 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-laws-in-rich-white-areas/) 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. <sup>[1](https://bennorton.com/dea-agent-we-were-told-not-to-enforce-drug-laws-in-rich-white-areas/)</sup>
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- 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. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis)</sup>
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- 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-2016/), and [killedbypolice.net](http://www.killedbypolice.net/). US police shot and killed 963 people in 2016, and 991 in 2015.
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- 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_claims_dc_police_sexually_abused_anti_trump_protesters) 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. <sup>[1](https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/23/headlines/aclu_lawsuit_claims_dc_police_sexually_abused_anti_trump_protesters)></sup>
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- In Sept 2017, the Justice department asked dreamhost, a US-based website host, to [hand over 1.3 million IP addresses of those who visited the site disruptJ20.org](http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-trump-protests-dreamhost-20170815-story.html), a site that was used to coordinate protests on Trump's inauguration day. The request also covers emails between the site's organizers and people interested in attending the protests, any deleted messages and files, as well as subscriber information — such as names and addresses — and unpublished photos and blog posts that are stored in the site's database. Several J20 protesters are facing decades in prison. <sup>[1](http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-trump-protests-dreamhost-20170815-story.html)</sup>
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- 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.[[15\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner#cite_note-15). She is currently in jail for "willful retention and transmission of national defense information", and was denied bail. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Winner)</sup>
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- 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),[[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7#cite_note-NYT_7_Mar_2017_CIA_leaks-2) [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. <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7)</sup>
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- In 2013, [Edward Snowden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Global_surveillance_disclosures), 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_(2013%E2%80%93present)). 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),[[95\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-WaPo1-95)[[96\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-Greenwald1-96)[[97\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-97)[[98\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-98), [UPSTREAM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)#Related_U.S._government_surveillance_programs), 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.[[275\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-wapo52013-275)[[276\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-276)[[277\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-277)[[278\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-278)[[279\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-279)[[280\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-280)[[281\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-281)[[282\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29#cite_note-282) 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_Canada)), Denmark ([PET](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politiets_Efterretningstjeneste)), France ([DGSE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directorate-General_for_External_Security)), Germany ([BND](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesnachrichtendienst)), Italy ([AISE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenzia_Informazioni_e_Sicurezza_Esterna)), the Netherlands ([AIVD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algemene_Inlichtingen_en_Veiligheidsdienst)), 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 <sup>[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%80%93present))</sup>
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