[01/03] US citizens: phone your senators to call on them to reconfirm Gwynne Wilcox to another term on the National Labor Relations Board. Republicans are trying to block her reappointment so that the board will not have quorum and will be unable to do its vital work. Please call as soon as possible — her reconfirmation will be voted on next week. I saw an online messaging campaign for this, but sending a message to a member of Congress does not allow ordinary email. It requires using a web...
A Ugandan man faces the threat of execution if convicted of "aggravated homosexuality."
the Guardian
Ugandan man charged with ‘aggravated homosexuality’ under new law
Twenty-year-old could face death penalty after anti-LGBTQ+ legislation was introduced this year
 The article leaves me wondering what aspect makes it "aggravated". You would think editors would anticipate readers' being left with curiosity.
Global heating effects are wiping out the peach crop in the southern US:
the Guardian
After two climate-decimated harvests, southern peach farmers wonder how to regroup
Warmer winters, late freezes and wildly variable rainfall have formed a perfect storm to wreck the one of the region’s favorite fruits
 If only the farmers understood this, they might start voting to curb global heating. The article's title says "decimated" but that word is an understatement here.
Australia has federal laws to protect whistleblowers from reprisals, but they have been totally ineffective. Of 70 whistleblowers who have filed for protection, none have been protected:
the Guardian
Australia’s federal whistleblowing laws have not protected anyone since inception, analysis shows
Human Rights Law Centre says there has ‘not been a single successful case’ brought by a whistleblower under federal laws designed to protect th...
[01/05] When a British politician discusses “tough choices”, person invariably reveals whose side perse is really on. A tough choice tends to involve emptying the pockets of those with little, or slashing a service ordinary citizens depend on:
the Guardian
Abandoning a wealth tax is a ruinous Labour strategy. It’s ‘Blairism without the cash’ | Owen Jones
The tough choice is not to court big business, but to invest in rebuilding our shattered society, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones
 In any country, the plutocratist politicians are the ones that do this. Labour's string of "tough choices" shows it has become a plutocratist party. The Tories, formerly the reasonable-sounding plutocratist party, has...
[01/XX] Environmentalists Owe an Enormous Debt to Julian Assange:
CounterPunch.org
Environmentalists Owe an Enormous Debt to Julian Assange
Environmentalists throughout the world owe an enormous debt of gratitude to political prisoner Julian Assange, the founder and publisher of Wikilea...
 Wikileaks revealed how the US twisted many countries' arms to legalize the farming of patented GMOs which promote pesticides that can wipe out all insects in the neighborhood, and to allow foreign corporations to buy their farmland. Wikileaks also published the secret text of the Pacific Partnership Trance (official name, Trans-Pacific Partnership), which helped the US to refuse to sign it. (How sad...
Some non-thuggish whistleblowers in the US Border Thug Department report that the department has been imprisoning migrants in the Arizona desert and denying them necessities such as beds that they are legally entitled to. And covering it up with falsehoods:
The Intercept
Border Patrol Violating Court Order Against Inhumane Treatment of Migrants, Officials Say
Officials said Border Patrol in Arizona is caging asylum-seekers in squalor, including overflowing toilets, against a federal court order.