August 2015 E-Newsletter

Support for Political Prisoners Joseph Buddenberg and Nicole Kissane

An animal rights activist accused of freeing mink from mink ranches and vandalizing businesses pleaded not guilty in federal court in Oakland Tuesday to a charge of conspiring to violate the U.S. Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

Joseph Buddenberg, 31, of Oakland, entered the plea before U.S. Magistrate Donna Ryu.

Buddenberg and Nicole Kissane, 28, of Oakland, were indicted on the conspiracy count by a federal grand jury in San Diego last Thursday and were arrested by the FBI in Oakland on Friday.


 

Cecil The Lion Murdered

cecilkillerAnimal activists are condemning vandalism at the house of Dr. Walter Palmer, the man who killed Cecil the lion. (But we aren’t!)

The spray-painted phrase “Lion Killer!” on Palmer’s garage was still there a day after police first saw it. The pigs feet were removed but the animal crackers remained.

 

 

 

 


Direct Action of the Month


mink2

Kirk Rankin acknowledges that he may have been targeted by animal rights activists or whoever released nearly 7,000 mink at his St. Marys area farm overnight Tuesday.

But the president of the Canadian Mink Breeders Association responded with a firm “no” when asked if it would change anything about his involvement in the association or his outspokenness.

“I expect that I was a target,” Rankin said by phone Thursday as he continued the cleanup at RBR Fur Farms on Road 125 just north of town. “I have no doubt somebody was here in advance scouting it.”


Featured Articles, Essays and News

When Does Animal Rights Activism Become Extremism?

minkcartoon

On July 28, the FBI arrested Joseph Buddenberg and Nicole Kissane, two Oakland-based animal rights activists accused of releasing thousands of mink from fur farms during multiple cross-country sprees in 2013. The couple were also charged with vandalizing property owned by the meat and fur industries, including, allegedly, a meat distributor truck in San Francisco.“To free animals from enslavement you have to break minor laws,” says Will Hazlitt, a press officer who disseminates communiques from underground animal rights groups such as Animal Liberation Front. “Calling this terrorism is ridiculous. Is cutting a fence terrorism?”

 

 

 


Rash of break-ins at mink farms in Southwestern Ontario leaves region’s fur-bearing industry on edge

minkfarmer2Militant activists who free farmed animals have struck in Canada before, and there’s speculation they could be behind three recent break-ins at mink farms in Southwestern Ontario.

Anonymous activists have claimed responsibility for one of the Southwestern Ontario raids through a California-based organization, the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, that says it supports and encourages the Animal Liberation Front, an underground activist movement with a website.

“We did get a communique about one of the liberations and we have not received anything for the subsequent two liberations, but that doesn’t mean it is not the work of animal liberators,” Jerry Vlasak of the North American Animal Liberation Press Office said Wednesday.

“Of course, we support their actions. We support anything that inflicts economic sabotage on the people who profit from animal ­suffering.”


Animal Liberation Globally

Anonymous report (translation):

“Entering at night and achieving a change in their destiny, an activist rescued two sheep from an Argentine slaughterhouse, within hours of their death. Today they are safe, they have been adopted by a vegan family, they will live happily and without anyone hurting them in a field in northern Argentina.”


Other News

Dylann Roof Is Not a “Terrorist” — But Animal Rights Activists Who Free Minks From Slaughter Are

The FBI on Friday announced the arrests in Oakland of two animal rights activists, Joseph Buddenberg and Nicole Kissane, and accused the pair of engaging in “domestic terrorism.” This comes less than a month after the FBI director said he does not consider Charleston Church murderer Dylann Roof a “terrorist.” The activists’ alleged crimes: “They released thousands of minks from farms around the country and vandalized various properties.” That’s it. Now they’re being prosecuted and explicitly vilified as “terrorists,” facing 10-year prison terms.

Security Tech Articles

Confide Brings its Beautiful Self-destructing Messages to Android

What LinkedIn is to Facebook, Confide aspires to be to Snapchat — a grown-up, professional alternative for business users. It allows you to send text messages to your contacts that disappear after being read, with end-to-end encryption and some clever design touches designed to thwart screenshots. And as of today, it’s officially a cross-platform messenger: Confide is now available on Android, 100 days after it debuted on iOS. And it includes some platform-specific features likely to make iPhone users jealous.


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