'Effective discipline'!?! 8yo boy needs surgery on maimed knees after sadistic stepfather makes him kneel on buckwheat for HOURS
rt.com | 2019-12-16
An 8-year-old boy had to undergo a surgery to remove the sharp grains, virtually ingrown into his knees, after his mother's boyfriend routinely forced him to stand on raw buckwheat as punishment for the tiniest 'misbehavior.' | The photos of the child's knees, looking as if they were mutilated by a mystery disease, sent shockwaves across Russia. Doctors had to use general anesthesia to remove the ingrown seeds, cutting cut off large fragments of skin. | The surgery and weeks of painful rehabilitation, however, were nothing compared to what the starved kid had to endure at home in the Siberian city of Omsk, whe…
rt.com/russia/475964-buckwheat-child-torture-omsk/

"Ag-Gag" Laws Expose Whistleblowers to Prosecution for Reporting Animal Abuse
Staff | truthout.org | 2019-12-15
The U.S. has a long history of claiming (and often failing) to protect those who report injustice, corruption and unethical behavior in government and industry. The first law to protect whistleblowers was approved in 1778 — shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed. In the intervening centuries, additional state and federal laws have been enacted to shield whistle…
truthout.org/articles/ag-gag-laws-expose-whistleblowers-to-prosecution-for-reporting-animal-abuse/

Berkeley City Council Passes Resolution Supporting Factory Farm Whistleblowers
DXE | indybay.org | 2019-12-15
Six Berkeley residents potentially face years in prison after rescuing dying animals from Sonoma county factory farms…
indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/15/18828911.php

Brazil's Amazon Deforestation Rises Over 100% Year-Over-Year
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-15
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon jumped to the highest level for the month of November since record-keeping began in 2015, according to preliminary government data published on Friday. | RELATED: | Bolsonaro: Torture Methods of Dictatorship to Fight Corruption | Destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest totaled 563 square km (217.38 square miles) in November, 103% more than in the same month last year, according to the country's space research agency INPE. | That wo…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazils-Amazon-Deforestation-Rises-Over-100-Year-Over-Year-20191215-0005.html

How a Government Censored an NSA Whistleblower
Thomas Drake | commondreams.org | 2019-12-15
It was the head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre who finally admitted before an Australian Parliament committee that she had unilaterally directed and pressured the CyberCon conference to drop myself and an academic research professor (an Australian citizen) from the University of Melbourne as speakers.
commondreams.org/views/2019/12/15/how-government-censored-nsa-whistleblower?cd-origin=rss

Julian Assange denied access to lawyers and vital evidence in US extradition case
wsws.org | 2019-12-14
It is clear that the fundamental legal rights of the WikiLeaks founder and world-famous investigative journalist are being trampled in what amounts to an extraordinary rendition.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/14/assa-d14.html

SEP/IYSSE public meeting in Colombo: Free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning!
wsws.org | 2019-12-14
We urge all workers, youth and all those who cherish democratic rights to come forward and defeat the attack on Assange and Manning.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/14/asmt-d14.html

Kafka Down Under: the Threat to Whistleblowers and Press Freedom in Australia
Thomas Drake | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-13
It was the head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre who finally admitted before an Australian Parliament committee that she had unilaterally directed and pressured CyberCon to drop myself and an academic research professor (an Australian citizen) from the University of Melbourne as speakers. I viewed the extraordinary pressure exerted by the Australian Cyber Security Centre…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/13/kafka-down-under-the-threat-to-whistleblowers-and-press-freedom-in-australia/

The FBI: Another Worry in the National Security State
Melvin Goodman | counterpunch.org | 2019-12-13
The Department of Justice's Inspector General report of the FBI's Russian investigation has fully exposed one more dangerous aspect of the steady abuses of national-security surveillance against U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. Edward Snowden's revelations in 2013 of the national security abuses of the National Security Agency exposed the massive surveillance of U.S. citizens in the expanded campaign against terrorism. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the DoJ, has highlighted the abuses of the FBI and the misuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court over an extended period. It will require a compreh…
counterpunch.org/2019/12/13/the-fbi-another-worry-in-the-national-security-state/

Latin America says 'No to neoliberalism': Ecuador's ex-foreign minister talks uprisings and Assange
Anya Parampil | thegrayzone.com | 2019-12-12
The Grayzone premieres its new show Red Lines with Anya Parampil with an interview with the former foreign minister of…
thegrayzone.com/2019/12/12/latin-america-neoliberalism-ecuador-assange-guillaume-long/

Question for Kirbymoorside UK Hustings Meeting: Would you stand up for Julian Assange?
Heather Stroud | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-12-09
To those candidates who are putting themselves forward as MPs to become a voice within the UK Parliament — would you stand up for Julian Assange and for those who. in speaking truth, have the audacity to challenge the dialogue of power? I am disappointed that my question relating to the arbitrary detention of Julian …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/12/question-for-kirbymoorside-uk-hustings-meeting-would-you-stand-up-for-julian-assange99425/