US plunges, Obama's "War on Whistleblowers"

Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman (DemocracyNow.org)

National debt makes strange bedfellows.

There is not much freedom in the "Free World" nowadays. A new survey of press freedom around the world finds the United States has plunged 13 spots, now ranking just 46th among 180 countries. The annual survey by Reporters Without Borders also says Syria is the most dangerous country for journalists, showing a correlation between conflict zones and a low level of press freedom. Other countries that fell lower than in the previous year’s survey include the civil-war-torn Central African Republic, down 43 spots to 109, and Guatemala, where four journalists were killed last year alone. This comes as the United Nations General Assembly recently adopted its first resolution on the safety of journalists. The group has now called on the United Nations to monitor how member states meet their obligations to protect reporters. Delphine Halgand of Reporters Without Borders is  interviewed.


Russia's Pres. Putin has spent more than $50 billion on the Winter Games in Sochi, making this the most expensive Olympics in history. In the lead-up, Russia has faced worldwide criticism and calls for boycotts, especially after it passed a law in June banning the spread of so-called "gay propaganda" to children. Roundtable: Dave Zirin, sports columnist for The Nation magazine and author of Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down; Samantha Retrosi, a luge athlete who competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics; historian and former U.S. Olympic soccer player, Jules Boykoff, author of Celebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games; and Helen Lenskyj, author of several books on the Olympics, including Gender Politics and the Olympic Industry and the forthcoming book, Sexual Diversity and the Sochi 2014 Olympics: No More Rainbows.

• "Wounds of Waziristan" with missing anti-drone activist
• Drone on Your iPhone: Apple app tracks US drone strikes
• House GOP drops standoff over debt ceiling
• Holder calls for restoration of felons’ voting rights
• Washington State freezes death penalty
• Websites stage Global Action Against NSA Surveillance
• Appeals Court rejects halt to Guantánamo force-feeding, allows challenges to prison conditions
• New spill in West Virginia with leak from coal slurry
• Environmentalists: N.C. trying to avoid scrutiny of Duke Energy deal following toxic leak 
• 1 missing after natural gas explosion at Pennsylvania well 
• U.N. envoy calls on Russia, U.S. to help Syrian peace 
  
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (E. Kolbert) 
• How humans are causing largest die-off since Dinosaur Age

Vatican: C'mon, let us molest kids! (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; DemocracyNow.org, Feb. 6, 2014

Real stained glass window shows apparent homosexual fellatio from child victim of priests.

 

U.N. on Catholic Church's child sexual abuse

Gay priests rape our boys? Who am I to judge?

The United Nations has issued its harshest condemnation to date of the Catholic Church cover-up of child molestations by priests.

 

In a new report, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child says the Vatican has consistently placed its reputation above the welfare of child sexual abuse victims. Panel chair Kirsten Sandberg said the Vatican has enabled a culture of impunity that has wronged tens of thousands of children. Kirsten Sandberg:

C'mon, all popes cover-up for child molestaters.

"With regard to child sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic churches who operate under the authority of the Holy See, that is, clerics who have been involved in the sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide, the main finding of the committee was that the Holy See has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators. The Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests."

The U.N. report calls on the Vatican to hand over alleged or known abusers to law enforcement worldwide and release its entire archive on child sex abuse cases.