The Free

Abuse is not always ‘Visible’ as Megan Short was Punished by Death for Realizing

by MEGHAN MURPHY on Feminist Current.. shared with thanks

‘On August 6, Short’s planned moving day, she was found shot to death alongside her three children, her husband, and their dog in the family’s Pennsylvania home. A “murder/suicide note” was found “near one of the deceased adults,”

Megan Short, 33, posted a request to Facebook, asking for help moving on August 6. Only weeks earlier, she had commented under an article posted by a friend, saying she was leaving her husband.

The article, written by Leigh Stein, was titled, “He didn’t hit me. It was still abuse.” In it, Stein explained that, while working at a diner, her boyfriend made her shower twice a day, so she “wouldn’t smell like French fries after work” and so that she could shave her entire body, “or else he wouldn’t touch me.”

He also told Stein she “wasn’t sexy” and that, therefore, he needed to sleep with other women. Stein didn’t see her relationship as abusive, at the time, because her abuse was invisible — there were no bruises to prove it. “I didn’t know what to name what I couldn’t see,” she writes.

Like so many other women, Stein had learned that red flags were, in fact, “romance.” She writes, “I felt like I was in a movie — how quickly we moved in together and isolated ourselves from friends and family, because all we needed was each other.” Women are groomed to become victims of abuse, in this way. Continue reading “Abuse is not always ‘Visible’ as Megan Short was Punished by Death for Realizing”

Non-GM crops will feed the world; GMOs decrease yield, enslave farmers and destroy the environment

by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer at Natural News. shared with thanks

The dominance of GMOs in agriculture today is not based on their free market success. GMOs are prevalent because governments around the world subsidize these seeds, forcing small holders to introduce them. In this way, governments routinely assist biotech corporations in the takeover of a nations’ agriculture and farmer’s seed sovereignty. Of course, it’s all done under the guise of “feeding the world!” But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Monsanto's Roundup is a potent poison which can only be used GMO crops that are resistant, causing ba worldwide massacre that illustrates the dangers of GMO foods. — Monsanto’s Roundup is a potent poison which can only be used on GMO crops that are resistant, causing a worldwide massacre that illustrates the dangers of GMO foods.

In fact, observations in Africa have found that smallholders in South Africa are actually burdened by genetically modified maize, which was forced on them through government program interventions starting in 2001. A paper in the South African Journal of Science by researchers Klara Fischer, Johnnie van den Berg and Charles Mutengwa found that South African smallholders would benefit more from a diverse selection of seed that is suitable to various growing conditions and changing pest pressures. Continue reading “Non-GM crops will feed the world; GMOs decrease yield, enslave farmers and destroy the environment”

New US Nuclear Warhead B61-12 to Kill Us ALL

New US Nuclear Weapon Cleared for Production Engineering

from Friends of TFC with thanks

United States (SCF) – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has authorized the B61-12 warhead life-extension program (LEP) to enter the production-engineering phase – the final one prior to actual production.

Greenham Common Anti Bomb protests

Established by Congress in 2000, the NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy. While the Defense Department manages the delivery systems of the nuclear force, the agency has oversight over the development, maintenance and disposal of nuclear warheads.

The implementation of the program runs contrary to President Obama’s stated pledge not to create any new nuclear weapons or ones with new military capabilities.

Continue reading “New US Nuclear Warhead B61-12 to Kill Us ALL”

Greece: Anarchist Refugee Collectives Displace state Detention Centres

While the world’s media is suitably distracted by the Olympic Games in Brazil, the war in Syria and beyond continues to see thousands of people – men, women and children – killed each week and many more attempting the perilous journey as refugees to seek safety.

from Undercover1nfo with thanls

Meanwhile in the last two months there has been a deafening silence in the media about the plight of the thousands of refugees still stuck in Greece. Only 2500 refugees have so far been granted asylum status – the process is excruciatingly slow and most of those granted this status have yet to be relocated.

A report by the Greek Centre for Disease Control recommended all 16 of the refugee detention centres it inspected be closed due to unsanitary conditions and poor water supply. But while the Greek authorities seem unable to move forward, grassroots activists – anarchists – have yet again taken matters into their own hands and are providing shelter and food to those in need. However, this is not charity, or the result of a philanthropic endeavour, but direct democracy in practice.

Anarchists in Greece have been providing squatted accommodation – abandoned schools, hotels etc – for refugees – since the current conflicts in Syria began. And as soon as the Greek authorities organised evictions of these premises, more buildings have been squatted. Continue reading “Greece: Anarchist Refugee Collectives Displace state Detention Centres”

MEKONG MADNESS: STOP DAMS KILLING THE LARGEST INLAND FISHERIES

Investigative reporter, TOM FAWTHROP has just returned from the site of the Don Sahong – a hydrodam being constructed in the middle of an eco-paradise of wetlands in Southern Laos where over 200 fish species have been recorded.

Increasingly the Mekong has become an arena of unilateral ‘water grabbing’ for the sole purpose of hydro-dam construction by China and Lao, with scant regard for good governance in water sharing or for the protection of the rich biodiversity.

The Four Thousands Islands (Sipangdon) in southern Laos, has long beguiled explorers tourists and locals with its vast number of islets, spectacular waterfalls and 26 major islands. Over a stretch of 50 kms the mighty Mekong River splits into seven major braided channels. This pristine area of precious wetlands screamed out for international protection as provided for under the Ramsar Convention, a protection that has been embraced by Cambodia just two kilometres away across the border.

But the Lao authoritarian state opted for a hydropower dam, rather than Ramsar protection for endangered dolphins, the abundant fisheries and one of the region’s most cherished waterscapes. Continue reading “MEKONG MADNESS: STOP DAMS KILLING THE LARGEST INLAND FISHERIES”