/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

US to require $15,000 bond to visa recipients from 12 more countries
President Donald Trump's administration will require citizens from 50 countries to post bonds of $15,000 to apply for U.S. entry, a State ​Department official said on Wednesday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, ‌said 12 countries are being added to a list that already includes 38 other nations, largely in Africa.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-require-15000-bond-visa-recipients-12-more-countries-2026-03-18/

AIPAC finally notches some Democratic primary wins
Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller defeated former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and progressive state Sen. Robert Peters in the state's 2nd congressional district. Miller was supported by nearly $4.5 million in ad spending from AIPAC-affiliated group Affordable Chicago Now, according to AdImpact. … former Rep. Melissa Bean beat progressive rival Junaid Ahmed in the race to succeed Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), another unsuccessful Senate candidate. Elect Chicago Women spent $3.3 million in support of Bean while Chicago Progressive Partnership spent another $700,000 painting Ahmed as a wealthy ally of Elon Musk and fossil fuel interests.
https://www.axios.com/2026/03/18/aipac-illinois-primary-biss-abughazaleh-bean
https://archive.ph/yopSz

How lawyers got their hands on thousands of private patient records
The admission by GuardDog Telehealth came in response to a lawsuit brought by Epic Systems, the nation’s largest vendor of electronic medical records software. In January, Epic alleged that a “syndicate” of companies had improperly gained access to patient records and was selling them to lawyers for potential use in litigation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/03/18/digital-privacy-healthcare-epic-systems-lawsuit/
https://archive.ph/wTe1W

Kash Patel admits under oath FBI is buying location data on Americans
Patel’s admission came in response to a question from the senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is a longtime opponent of the warrantless surveillance of Americans. Wyden told Patel that his predecessor, Christopher Wray, testified in 2023 that the FBI did not at that time purchase location data derived from internet advertising, although he acknowledged that it had done so in the past.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/18/kash-patel-fbi-location-data

Lawmakers Mull Push to Strip Democratic Socialists of America of Nonprofit Status
Fine is one of several lawmakers on the federal and state level considering an effort to strip the Democratic Socialists of America of its tax-exempt nonprofit status after the DSA announced last week that it will travel to visit Cuba’s communist regime to “volunteer” its “labor in solidarity,” and fight America’s “brazen imperialism.”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/03/18/exclusive-lawmakers-mull-push-to-strip-democratic-socialist-of-america-of-non-profit-status/
https://archive.ph/hlSOY

Mamdani mandates 30-day NYPD body camera release after delays under Adams
The policy, announced on Tuesday, requires footage to be released within 30 calendar days of an officer shooting or seriously injuring a member of the public. It codifies a practice Tisch has largely followed since becoming commissioner in November 2024.
https://gothamist.com/news/mamdani-mandates-30-day-nypd-body-camera-release-after-delays-under-adams
https://archive.ph/FoC07

US financial regulator issues long-awaited cryptocurrency guidance
The SEC’s new interpretation – which the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission also joined – classifies crypto tokens into five categories: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities, with the agency specifying that federal securities laws only apply to digital securities. The SEC also said that a “non-security” crypto asset could become subject to securities laws if an issuer offers it by promoting investment in a common enterprise from which a purchaser could expect to profit.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/18/sec-cryptocurrencies-securities-rules

Call of the (Expanded) Meeting of the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran to All National and Freedom-Loving Forces of the Country On the Formation of a Peace Committee and the Establishment of an Immediate Ceasefire and Lasting Peace
Dear compatriots, national and freedom-loving forces of the country, The war ignited by U.S. imperialism and the criminal government of Israel is a horrific catastrophe that has placed the existence and territorial integrity of our homeland in grave danger. Thousands killed and wounded, the destruction of the country’s productive infrastructure, and the blow dealt by this devastating war to the popular movement—which had posed a serious challenge to the survival of the regime of Velayat-e Faqih—are among the immense hardships this war has imposed on our people and our country. For this reason, the (expanded) meeting of the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran has concluded that under the current critical conditions, one of the most important tasks facing all progressive and freedom-loving forces in the country is to strive to establish a broad peace movement, both inside and outside the country, in order to immediately halt this imposed war on our homeland. For the reactionary rulers, war is a “blessing” that allows them to cover up the crisis of legitimacy that emerged after the bloody suppression and killing of people driven to desperation by economic hardship, inequality, and deep class divisions. Under wartime conditions, reactionary rulers attempt to silence all dissent while continuing their anti-people policies and maintaining their grip on power. In recent days, we have witnessed this process through the arrest of hundreds of civil activists and dissidents following threats by Ejei (head of the judiciary), Radan (commander of the national police), and other leaders of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and the regime.
https://www.tudehpartyiran.org/en/2026/03/18/call-of-the-expanded-meeting-of-the-central-committee-of-the-tudeh-party-of-iran-to-all-national-and-freedom-loving-forces-of-the-country-on-the-formation-of-a-peace-committee-and-the-establishment/

The New Government in Chile is Already Repressive
On Thursday, Chile’s new right-wing president, José Antonio Kast, confirmed that his government is considering using the presidential power of pardon to grant leniency to police officers and military personnel convicted of crimes committed during the 2019 social uprising. The statement reopens the debate on the state’s responsibility for the repression of the protests that began in October 2019, when millions of people took to the streets to protest inequality, the cost of living, and the abuses of the neoliberal economic model. During the social uprising, thousands of arrests were made, hundreds of people were injured, and numerous complaints of human rights violations were filed. Various international reports documented cases of eye injuries, torture, and other abuses committed by state agents, leading to legal proceedings and convictions against members of the Chilean National Police and military personnel.
https://www.leftvoice.org/the-new-government-in-chile-is-already-repressive/

James Connolly: A War For Civilization
The war for civilization is waged by a nation like Russia, which has the greatest proportion of illiterates of any European power, and which strives sedulously to prevent education where it is possible, and to poison it where prohibition is impossible. The war for civilization is waged by a nation like Britain which holds in thrall a sixth of the human race, and holds as a cardinal doctrine of its faith that none of its subject races may, under penalty of imprisonment and death, dream of ruling their own territories. A nation which believes that all races are subject to purchase, and which brands as perfidy the act of any nation which, like Bulgaria, chooses to carry its wares and its arms to any other than a British market.
This war for civilization in the name of neutrality and small nationalities invades Persia and Greece, and in the name of the interests of commerce seizes the cargo of neutral ships, and flaunts its defiance of neutral flags. In the name of freedom from militarism it establishes military rule in Ireland, battling for progress it abolishes trial by jury, and waging war for enlightened rule it tramples the freedom of the press under the heel of a military despot. Is it any wonder then that that particular war for civilization arouses no enthusiasm in the ranks of the toiling masses of the Irish nation? But there is another war for civilization in which these masses are interested. That war is being waged by the forces of organized labour. Civilization cannot be built upon slaves; civilization cannot be secured if the producers are sinking into misery; civilization is lost if they whose labour makes it possible share so little of its fruits that its fall can leave them no worse than its security.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1915/10/wrfrcvl.htm