An alternative daily newschannel. One hour with news as you do not see it elsewhere.
 
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Headlines for Dec 30, 2011

- Appeals Court Upholds Telecom Immunity Law, OKs Spying Suit
- Judge Says SEC Misleading, Obstructing on Citibank Settlement Ruling
- Bachmann Iowa Chair Joins Paul's Campaign
- Energy Industry Rewarded Gingrich After Shift on Climate Change
- Egyptian Forces Raid Human Rights Groups in Cairo
- Syrian Forces Reportedly Kill 25 Protesters
- North Korea Vows No Change in Direction Under Jong-un
- Russia Claims Containment of Fire on Nuclear Sub
- Activists Criticize Sentences of Argentine Junta Leaders


Special reports

- Scott Olsen, U.S. Vet Wounded at Occupy Oakland, on Recovery, Protests, Iraq, and Bradley Manning

For our last broadcast of 2011, we turn to someone who became one the faces of the global Occupy movement this year. Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old former U.S. Marine who served two tours in the Iraq war, was critically wounded after being shot in the head by a police projectile at Occupy Oakland. In a rare interview, Olsen joins us to discuss his life-threatening ordeal, his involvement in this year's historic Wisconsin and Occupy protests, the case of accused Army whistleblower Bradley Manning and how he too had access to similar types of information, and the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. "They aren't respecting our right to assemble, protest and redress our government for grievances," Olsen says of police repression of the Occupy protests. "They are terrorizing us from going out [to demonstrations]. That is a sad statement for our country." Olsen also says he expects to rejoin the Occupy and antiwar protests as his recovery progresses. "I look forward to being a part of the 99 percent and Iraq Veterans Against the War in 2012," he says.


- Election Fraud Galvanizes Russian Opposition, Communist Party 20 Years After Soviet Union's Collapse

Allegations of widespread fraud in the recent elections that gave Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party a parliamentary majority have galvanized massive street protests in opposition to the Russian political establishment. This comes on the 20th year anniversary of the breakup of the Soviet Union. "The reason that the people that control the financial oligarchy of Russia don't want free elections, is they know that ... the people would vote for candidates pledging to confiscate their property," which was privatized in the 1990s, says Stephen Cohen, professor of Russian studies at New York University. He notes "these elections were not free and fair, but they were the freest and fairest and 15 years," and that members of the country's middle class make up the bulk of the protesters. Cohen also argues the American media has failed to report on the resurgence of the Communist Party, supported mainly by working class voters in Russia's vast provinces, which could challenge Putin in the 2012 presidential race and force a run-off election.
 
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