Post No. 1,154 – Gnwmythr’s News Ed. No. 212

Don't overlook these recent, brief posts: Post No. 1,153 - "Lord of the Rings", Post No. 1,153 - The agreement between the Koreas, Post No. 1,152 - Cross-Posting of a Poem, Post No. 1,151 - The Struggle to Survive.

For the sake of my health, until I retire or change to an easier day job , I have cut back these posts.

Information and Summary of News with Opinion / Advocacy / Analysis:

Note: I am NOT a journalist, and make NO claims to objectivity or freedom from bias. Furthermore, I do not hold copyright to any of the articles I link to, nor do I claim authorship, except for those links to material I have written for this and my related blogs, and my commentary in these posts. (I try to make sure quotes are shown using quotation marks.)
The purpose of posting these news links is not only to inform; it is also to

   stimulate a connection to:
    - nonBPM units that need to be cleared, and
    - BPM units that need to be strengthened,
   so that you can do the clearing / strengthening that is required.

That only works if you don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by this, so take it in small chunks if you need to, but remember to actively clear and heal! … including yourself.
As part of that, note that there are key uncooperatives to be cleared (rescued): you should ONLY address those that are within your ability – if you get a sense (e.g., through meditation) or are told by your BPM Guides/Higher Self to back off, do so, and content yourself with clearing the smaller nonBPM units within your capability – which will weaken those uncooperatives. More importantly, there are many people doing this sort of work, and others are quite likely to be able to clear the uncooperatives concerned.
That is also one of the many reasons it is OK to take a break or cut back this work if you need – in fact, doing so will help you deal with the next point, which is …
… the energies we use and manifest in our daily lives contribute to the larger soup of energies that influence world events, so it pays to address those as well, to the extent that one can, or to at least stop oneself projecting them into the psychic soup.
The reminders / explanations about Sunday’s meditation-clearing are here;   see also here,   here,   here,   (here and also here and here are interesting),   here, here,   here,   and   this post reminds us to be patient and persistent, like a “speeding oak”.
There are some notes at the end of this post about other options for those who do not like this way of working.
Finally, one of the biggest concerns I have about spirituality in the world now is that the concept of agape type love has been perverted into both a quest for emotional warm fuzzies, and an excuse to avoid doing the hard work of improving oneself and all that one does. On that, it may help to consider the simplification that one cannot love perfectly until one has learned how to perfect. (And one of the concerns I have about those resisting change is that they are so shallow / superficial /stupid that they thing their actions have ONLY the meaning of their [limited] conscious intention … ) See also here and here.

The themes that come to mind for my work this week, after I review all this news, are:

(a)   based on my interpretation of information here and here with Uranus in Aries contributing to fresh and possibly radical starts (until some date in the Year 2018), and Pluto in Capricorn contributing to a transformation of power and business (and careers) (until some date in the Year 2024), conditions are ripe for a change for the better in world politics;

(b)   there is an enormous need to clear nonBPM energy – the thought forms, unattached energy and scars of the collective unconscious created by millennia of violence, including spirit rescue, and healing the warped views, seemingly “inherent” biases, and other damage created. Also, remember:   -   (1) the counter to fear is genuine  EQ and clear thinking, expressed through calm, de-escalating speech,   -   (2) where problems exist, advocating for BPM responses, and being as BPM as one can be, are constructive solutions,   -   (3) peace is powerful, but it is a process requiring patient, persistent and nuanced nurturing, and a blend of conventional spiritual work, clearing nonBPM units, and physical world activism;

(c)   viewing the overall emotional state of the world from an elemental point of view, this week we need:
           emotionally (astrally), the mӕgan (more or less, “spiritual honour”) of more BPM Æther ;
           mentally, the discipline of more BPM Earth;
           a plot of the elemental influences on a causal/spiritual level follows, and shows a need for the inspiration of more BPM Air (to be expressed BPM passionately in Fire);

(d)   I’ve created a bindrune for this week’s work, which is:

(e)   dealing with the 45^th President of the USA requires:
           1. eroding (i.e., slow, patient and persistent clearing of the little bits one can SAFELY cope with – remember, you are but one of many) the nonBPM influences feeding his arrogance and mind-set, and strengthening the USA’s CEO’s BPM Guides and giving them whatever BPM help they need to present a BPM alternative to promote a change of heart,
           2. lifting the nonBPM influences from the shoulders of the USA’s CEO’s marginal supporters, allowing them to “come to their senses”, which may result in them feeling bewilderment/shame, and simultaneously strengthening the BPM influences around them (e.g., their BPM Guides) to counter them backsliding,
           3. physical world activism (especially education) – e.g., this. As well as doing what one can there, help those who are doing this work (e.g., sending them “positive vibes”) and look for nonBPM blockages that can be cleared (e.g., setting up a BPM vortex above meetings to draw away external nonBPM influences/energies/units, so that the audience can listen as they are, without any obsession/possession);

(f)   the major events this week are:   -   as attraction to violence continues to be inadequately addressed, the risks of mass atrocities in Yemen and South Sudan, and ongoing violent conflicts and crises in Syria, Afghanistan, Mexico, Iraq, Burma, Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Libya, Sudan (Darfur and South Kordofan), Yemen, Egypt (Sinai), Kurdistan, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Mali, DR Congo, Burundi, Kashmir, Baluchistan (Pakistan and Iran), India (Maoist and other insurgencies), the Maghreb (Africa), Ukraine, and elsewhere;   -   refugee and humanitarian crises;   -   the political madness of regimes with authoritarian leaders;   -   and   hope on the Korean Peninsula;   continued abuse of those who are different;   continued abuse of power by egotists;   the sacrifice of freedom for a fearful pseudo-security by the everyday coward – who has the sort of cowardice that includes subservience and being obsequious to religions that, in too many (more than zero) cases, allow, perpetuate and facilitate the abuse of children, relying on the subservience of the obsequious to get away with that – and all their other misogyny;   arrogant and blind self-justification by petty tyrants and bureaucrats;

(g)   may all the self discipline, courage and determination necessary live in harmony with the concept of mӕgan ( “spiritual honour”);

(h)   may all express an objective compassion and agape-type love with passion and intelligent, reflective thoughtfulness;

(i)   may all refuse to countenance abuse of power or authority;

It is absolutely VITAL that this psychic / metaphysical / spiritual work be performed non-violently and as is for the Highest Spiritual Good – which is part of being BPM – on all levels and in all ways. Always remember (see here): Do you fight to change things, or to punish? See also here, here, here, here, here, and my comments about “authentic presence” in this post.

News and other matters from this past week follows:

   news items are presented in the following sections (there is overlap, and items may appear more than once):
    - Permanent and Thematically Arranged News,

    - Location Based News,

    - (from a range of) Other Sites;

   opportunities/good news are shown in green;

   comments are shown in purple; and

   WARNING: some of these links may contain triggers around issues such as violence, sexual assault, discrimination, etc.

Permanent Issues and Thematically Arranged News:

• Permanent issue: may all actual and potential BPM Leaders be kept BPM safe, including keeping them undetectable to the nonBPM and keeping all their Significant Others inviolable against being used for indirect  psychic attack, and may they have all the BPM resources (including an assured income, given the power that nonBPM forces have in the structures of the material world), opportunities and assistance (including so-called “good luck”) for them to be BPM effective at influencing the world’s direction, development and unfoldment, all as is for the Highest Spiritual Good;
• Permanent issue: may all humans recognise, irrespective of the appearance of difference, the essential shared humanness of other people, the inherent resilience, the dynamic power, the strength of BPM collaboration, and the opportunities of having a diverse, inclusive and welcoming population, and may all people choose fairness, when such decisions are before them;
• Permanent issue: may all actual and potential BPM Violence Interrupters (and Interrupters of hate / fear / anger) of be kept BPM safe, and may they have all the BPM opportunities and assistance (so-called “good luck”) for them to be BPM effective at containing and stopping – along the lines of the Cure Violence model - the spread of violence (and hate / fear / anger), all as is for the Highest Spiritual Good;
• Permanent issue: may all humans choose to live modestly – to forgo outdoing others, or trying to have more than they need - for the sake of an easier, more manageable life, if they cannot do it for the sake of the planet, may we all exercise our human characteristics of reason, self discipline and improvement to overcome the often evil flaw of seeking social status;
• Permanent issue: may all humans be in better communication with the better parts of their nature – especially those who need that more than other, better people;
• Matters warranting particular attention:
     this week on reversing the deliberate, well-funded, long-term strategy (from about the 70s) to make self-interest seem normal and a commitment to fairness (such as former US President Franklin D Roosevelt’s Four  Freedoms) an aberration:   the entirety of this blog and all other spiritual work and physical activism I and many others do;  
     on the Rohingya crisis this week:
     -   Australia’s military cooperation with burma has been described as “totally untenable”;   ASEAN – which may be restricted as a result of US-China tension – is ignoring the genocide against the Rohingya;   the devastation in Rohingya refugee camps, now hit by the monsoon;
     on other matters requiring particular attention:
     -   South and North Korea have agreed to work towards peace – which has challenges (such as the USA’s 45^th President, and China’s commissioning of “Guam killer” missiles), but there have been some encouraging signs;   in the lead up to this:   South Korea turned off its propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts into North Korea;   gentler rhetoric by the USA, with praise for North Korea’s leader;   more information on why a peace treaty was not signed in the 1950s – I was surprised by South Korea’s intransigence;   the different perspectives in North and South on what peace means;   the Pacific Islands hoping for peace;   the evidence is that it was South Korea, not the USA’s 45^th President that led to the talks;
     -   former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has warned of the risk of fascism in the USA;
     -   an “86-year-old social scientist says accepting the impending end of most life on Earth might be the very thing needed to help us prolong it”;
     -   the wearing of a Māori cloak to Buckingham Palace by New Zealand’s pregnant Prime Minister was praised as a proud moment for female leaders and Māori worldwide;
     -   a British Army veteran has become a pro-mosque campaigner;
     -   police leaving a woman half naked is, in my opinion, sexual abuse - and is, also in my opinion, DIRECTLY comparable to similar behaviour be the nazis that was condemned as a human rights violation in post-World War Part Two  trials (see also here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here);   privacy concerns after US “investigators” upload a suspects DNA to an ancestry website to try to find a connection outside the official DNA database;
     -   a social media platform is under fire for censoring a video exposing a misogynistic conspiracy theorist’s vicious, harmful lies about the Sandy Hook massacre, but has yet to censor the misogynist – “raising questions about its approach to fake news”;   a social media platform’s “claims to be outraged over the [data mining and analysis] scandal were simply hollow words in “PR crisis mode” ” (which raises questions over this);   the obscure and extended connections that result in personal data being spread widely, verging on indiscriminately;   Wikipedia’s founder has said that “internet users are adrift in the 'fake news' era”, but the sort of connected, actively debating community Wikipedia has is the best way of resisting that (which argument has some major flaws as a result of bias - see here, here, here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia");
     -   “the dank and cave-chested demi-monde” of the cretins calling themselves “incels” – see also here;
     -   the nutters who tend to attach themselves to whatever’s going around;
     this week’s atrocity alert at R2P lists Yemen and South Sudan;
• With regard to democracy (which can be measured [as can goodness], and requires  protection of minorities and the vulnerable – and remember Gandhi’s question about whether one is fighting to change things, or to punish, and note this list of 198 methods of nonviolent action), freedom, governance (e.g., here, here, here and here, and see also here) and ethics:
  Note: I have a section specifically for the 45^th US President below
     analyses, research and commentary this week include:
     -   a recent Australian Army directive banning the use of “death symbols” “has little to do with political correctness or avoiding offence and everything to do with a strong leader engineering a culture of discipline that is appropriate for a military force in the 21^st century”;
     of concern this week:
     -   “US “interrogators” made threats against [a] detainee's family in Qatar and Saudi Arabia”;   “we live in a world where presidents are men and their wives are first ladies: a job so inherently sexist it demands the women – sorry, ladies – who acquire it to abandon professions and opinions of their own in order to further their husbands’ careers”;   a judge has questioned why armed police stood over the victims of a hijacking on a plane instead of evacuating them (with an inadequate and downright stupid response by police);   “the administrator's report for [a] failed … art auction house alleges the company breached nine separate sections of the Corporations Act” and recommends criminal charges;   Australia’s spy agency is resorting to ludicrous excuses for keeping secret documentation that I personally suspect show Australia was guilty of in some way aiding the Indonesian invasion of the free nation of East Timor, and thus shares moral blame for the subsequent atrocities – if that wasn’t so, then why would they be trying to keep this secret?;   “China [is] waging 'psychological warfare' against Australia”;   questions after a late (by ten years … ) declaration of an MP’s connection to a scheme that benefitted the MP;   a threat by the USA against nations opposing the US bid for a world sporting event led to that sport’s world body reminding all of the ethics requirements around undue influence;   a US court has allowed a discriminatory election requirement in one US state to stand;   revelations that “powerful [Democrats] worked to crush competitive progressive candidates [in favour of] business-friendly candidates”;
     -   other concerning events have occurred or are developing in: UK, Romania, Burundi, Zambia, India;
     in the grey/mixed [good and bad aspects] or neutral area this week:
     -   new free range egg laws;
     good news this week includes:
     -   at the funeral of a former US First Lady, a photograph shows diversity, cordiality and non-partisanship;
     -   other good news has occurred: Madagascar;
     on development (in an “end poverty/thirst/hunger” sense – and being mindful of “intimate activism”):
     -   five years after the Bangladeshi sweatshop disaster, major Australian clothing brands still haven’t signed an agreement to improve workers’ conditions;   how to improve  financing of development;
     and democracy/governance/political matters in my home nation this week:
     on the Royal Commission into banks, and similar matters:
     -   Australia’s neoliberal Prime Minister – unlike several Ministers - has admitted the banking royal commission should have happened two years ago;   powerful criticism of ASIC for failing to use its legal powers against big business – only the little ones (there is apparently more money that way, the article claims) … see also here;   at least one customer was IMPERSONATED by a financial firm’s staff;   banks are leaving regional areas;   “it's now clear why the finance sector fought so hard against a banking royal commission” … but is the commission alone enough?;   financial planning isn’t worth it;   a surprisingly relevant bit of satire from seven years ago;   criminal charges could result from this week’s revelations;   see also here;
     on other matters:
     -   “we're starting to give up on the ideal of Australia as a nation of equals”;   disability rights activists say outsourcing NDIS contact centres to a controversial company (it has a poor history internationally) with a lack of disability experience is “an accident waiting to happen”;   an Australian mayor says plans to drug-test welfare recipients will further stigmatise and marginalise his region, and has the potential to drive up crime;   having not learned from the robo-debt debacle, Australia’s neoliberal government will threaten 170,000 alleged welfare debtors with threats of interest (everyone agrees the genuine rorters should pay the money back, but not those who were caught out by the staggering complexity, user-unfriendliness and viciousness of the system);   students on alleged government assistance are worried about their next meal, and many have given up on help;   privacy and training concerns have been raised over the neoliberal government’s plans to outsource for more phone staff at an welfare agency;   a government departmental opinion that legalising cannabis would add $36 billion to Australia’s economy … (I will refrain from asking what they’ve been smoking … );   reducing inequality in Australian schools by making them less socially segregated would reap enough fiscal benefits to pay for the country's entire school system;   the HTLV-1 crisis in central Australia, where up to 10% of those with the virus will get a fatal form of leukaemia;   the appalling practice of shelf clearing by Australia's Chinese personal shoppers has finally caused even that group to start trying to do something;   a notorious bigot who wants to shove her nose into the lives of Australians is unhappy that potential migrants are being asked about her proposed legal changes;   “the federal government has created a “false economy” by restoring the budget bottom line through cuts to the disability support pension and potentially pushing more people into homelessness, a leading economist has said” (this is the sort of numbers-based stupidity I expect when engineers are misplace into management, economics, or politics);
     -   other events relating to my home nation have occurred or are developing in: youth justice;
• With regard to the USA and their 45^th President (who is dangerous – see here on actions for US residents [and the useful principles]) of the Unexceptional States of America (which has some … “unique” characteristics that don’t exist elsewhere in the world) generally this week (I avoid using the 45^th US President’s name for psychic reasons – I may use either “the USA’s CEO” or “Voldemort II” as an alias; also, the US Vice-President needs to be worked on – and typically takes about three times as much effort to clear of negativity):
     -   the USA’s 45^th President told the former FBI director (see this critique of his book) of doubts about his first national security adviser;   the former FBI deputy director who was recently dismissed may face criminal charges (hmm … more to this than we knew?);   claims by conservatives – who are said to have ignored evidence in plain sight - that Russia interfered in the 2016 US Presidential election, but without any collusion;
     -   the militarisation of the US-Mexican order;   the problem of retaliation against whistleblowers at the USA’s Veteran Affairs department;   claims Voldemort II’s torturing, evidence-destroying nominee for Director of the CIA is privately assuring senators that she will not reinstitute a detention and interrogation program;
     -   as it commits scams, big business gets tax-led benefits;   a US Senator has asked the US administration's top consumer protection official if he is doing the bidding of the industries he is supposed to be policing;   “the US government may start scrutinising informal partnerships between American and Chinese companies in the field of artificial intelligence, threatening practices that have long been considered garden variety development work for technology companies”;
     -   “the scandal bro’s”;   growing ethical  concerns over the head of the US EPA;
     -   one of the abusive laws of the USA’s Vice-Bigot when he was a state governor has been struck down;
     -   controversy over the sacking of a chaplain serving at the US Congress, possibly over political elements in his prayers (e.g., a possible criticism of the conservative’s tax policy);
     -   the anti-Muslim travel ban  may be upheld, as current bans stop a US citizen from bringing his daughter to the USA for medical treatment;
• With regard to violent extremism (VE) (aka, terrorism) (ALL people advocating hate or discrimination in response to violent extremism are actively doing the work of violent extremists. This will be countered, in part, by “Cure Violence”, real and perceived disempowerment and acknowledging the variety in what provides genuine, BPM fulfilment as a counter to fanaticism as a source of meaning. I don’t name groups to reduce their publicity):
     -   according to this Wikipedia page, there have been 6 attacks in Afghanistan (out of a total of 14);
     -   there has been major disruption of a violent extremist group’s propaganda ability;
     -   other violent extremist matters have also occurred in: Nigeria;
• With regard to refugees (noting the New York Declaration) and people seeking asylum:
     -   support for hiring refugees;   an acceptance “without equivocation”  that the Australian Border Farce obstructed genuine medical transfers from Australia’s refuge gulags;   as Europe shuts the door, refugees are now fleeing to Algeria;
     -   other refugee-related matters have also occurred in: Indonesia, France, Lebanon;
• With regard to other human (and other) rights and discrimination (incidentally, I consider it vital to identify people who are bigots, as they clearly have flaws of observation and thinking – shown by the fact that NOT all people choose to discriminate unless they have been educated otherwise [and there’s this]):
     on HOMOPHOBIA/TRANSPHOBIA (including heteronormativity and cisgender-normativity) this week (and noting that trans kids are the same as cis kids of the trans kids’ true gender):
     -   the devastating legacy of the vicious abuse called “gay conversion therapy”;   a leaker triggered a vicious tabloid attack on a trans woman;
     on white supremacist and other forms of RACISM / CULTURAL DISCRIMINATION and Indigenous matters generally this week:
     -   just after the coffee chain controversy, a Pennsylvania golf club has had to apologise for calling police (“for an issue that did not warrant charges”) on black female members who were allegedly playing too slowly;   jubilation at the return of Indigenous artefacts, but there are many more displaced objects;   an outraged community has sent a clear message that racism will not be tolerated after a “no curries here” sign was displayed in a local bottle shop;   a powerful rebuttal of a white apologists desire for more power;   a memorial has been built in the US to the thousands of victims of lynching;   the judgement of strangers;
     -   other white supremacy / racism problems have also occurred in: Hong Kong, police, Hungary;
     on TRAFFICKING, and CHILDREN’s and associated human rights this week:
     -   sensationalist myths – especially in the US film industry – is undermining both the fight against real world trafficking and consensual prostitution;
     -   also on child abuse, particularly neochristian and other institutional, this week: youth justice, Africa / “peacekeeping”;
     -   also on slavery / human trafficking this week: North Korea;
     on SEXISM this week (keeping in mind the overblown influence given to testosterone):
     -   a celebrity has been convicted of rape – see also here;   a list of 80 surprising occupations where women allegedly earn more than men – which, where that is systemic, it is AS UNDESIRABLE as the reverse, but see also here;   a revenge porn site has been shut down;
     -   on sexual harassment/misconduct/violence this week, see: sport, business, Spain, here, here;
     -   other sexism matters have also occurred in: science, politics (and the world generally), China;
     on RELIGIOUS rights this week:
     -   religious rights / Islamophobia matters have also occurred in: UK media, India;
     on WORKERS’ rights this week:
     -   questions over whether holiday surcharges go to workers;   the owners of a café who have been underpaying their staff and were caught by protests after their appalling response to requests to talk with workers have retaliated further by threatening legal action;   “Unions want the Fair Work Commission to be given new powers to award compensation for underpayment of wages, saying Australia needs a “tough cop” to battle wage theft”;
     on ANIMALS’ rights this week:
     -   animals’ rights matters have also occurred in: India;
     -   opportunities to take action here;
• With regard to war, violence and hate generally:
     -   an examination of the – often temporary - political opportunities for women during war;
• With regard to peace:
     -   the UN has urged world leaders to put prevention at the heart of a new approach to sustaining peace;  a 20 year review of the Northern Ireland peace deal showing that continued civil society engagement is critical;
     -   other events concerning peace have occurred or are developing in: Nigeria;
• With regard to spirituality and/or psychism generally (including revolutionary love, survival after death, and good religion), and the occasional nice story (and to get people to constructively remedy: fear of being single / asexual / off-grid or a rebel / innovator / non-conformist / true to yourself, belief in management  fads and fashions, distracting themself aka filling their time, and accept extraterrestrial UFOs):
     -   street libraries;
• With regard to natural and other catastrophes:
     -   a landslide and a flood are blocking evacuation of a Ni-Vanuatu island;
     -   other events concerning disasters have occurred or are developing in: Vanuatu;
• With regard to overcrowding and “modern” lifestyle issues (such as conflict  minerals, environmental harm and child labour in smart phone , FOMO [which can be overcome] and addiction or unthinking pro-technology bias, second thoughts, social media making people miserable or envious, work and lifestyles causing depression, being duped by modern mantras and  management  fads, “failing” at being well or failing to consider life options, AI ethics, corporate misuse of mindfulness as a distraction from working conditions, embedded emissions, plane pollution, bigger, flashier homes/cars– which means actively abusing the environment and society’s cohesion and contributing to financialisation, the need for agroforestry, the accursed “new is always good” groupthink of the computer world, abuse of workers by insisting on busy-ness, raising Prince Boofheads):
     on climate change and other environmental matters this week:
     -   an Australian state government “may push [tougher] land-clearing laws through parliament as early as next week, after a committee report recommended few changes to its proposed vegetation management act”;   more suggestions on fixing Australia’s recycled waste crisis – and the industry considers “burning waste to produce energy should be an absolute last resort”, on the grounds that recycling is better;   another indicator of the failure of the Murray-Darling Basin plan;   “a solar energy storage system installed by a low-income student cooperative has reduced power bills for its tenants by around 55 per cent”;   “one of South Korea’s largest earthquakes on record may have been caused … fracking”;
     -   other environmental matters have occurred in: Rwanda;
     on technology and science matters this week:
     -   the gender gap in science will last hundreds of years unless more is done;   contactless cards have hidden charges;
     on economic and financial matters this week:
     -   Australia's competition regulator will investigate a car sharing service's allegedly unfair contracts with restaurant owners (this has a good discussion on the legal aspects);
     on affordable, sustainable and decent housing and homelessness matters this week (why are politicians with “investment properties” not admitting a conflict of interest and staying out of housing affordability debates?):
     -   the loss of affordability is extending to traditionally affordable suburbs in my home city – and see here, on homelessness;
     on health and medical this week:
     -   the benefits of “just” listening to people;   the USA’s first safe injection centre may open;   trying to fix mental health care at US tertiary education institutions;   a medical examination of the risks associated with illegal cannabis, with a suggestion medicinal cannabis would enable better management of the risks (as with all such opinions, it fails to examine other issues – such as links to crime, the abuses resulting from the thoroughly discredited so-called “war on drugs” – and thus must be taken with a grain of salt);   the problems of polycystic ovarian syndrome, including hirsutism;
• With regard to press aka the media, and freedom of expression (claims of presenting “both sides” of a debate can be WRONG if the other side is RUBBISH –as is the case on LGBTIQ issues. Also, media can be unprofessional, but funding is an issue … ):
     -   a major tech claims it sent more than 2 billion visits to Australian news websites last year, and is optimistic that quality journalism will survive digital disruption;   an imprisoned Egyptian photojournalist will receive this year’s UN press freedom prize;   in a major step towards accountability and ethics, a newly appointed UK editor has admitted to his paper’s Islamophobia;   “the explosion of digital media has ensured that a journalist is not the last word … the end consumer can now question and challenge” and thus journalists must strive for credibility;
     -   other media / freedom of expression matters have occurred in: Colombia (good news);
• With regard to education:
     -   cost is blocking an overhaul of Australia’s University entrance scheme;   one US state will finally raise teachers’ pay;
     -   other education matters have occurred in: Australia (pay for entire system by reducing inequality);
• With regard to crime, judicial matters and policing:
     -   an Australian state has committed – including funding - to more than 200 mostly preventative recommendations in a bid to reform its “broken” youth justice system;   US police tried – unsuccessfully - to use a dead man's finger to try to unlock his mobile phone as part of their investigation, leaving his partner feeling violated and disrespected and raising questions of appropriateness;   calls for an independent investigation after another death in custody, rather than police investigating police (police investigations seem to mostly focus on existing rules, rather than the needs of the human beings involved and the possible need to change those rules … and such internal investigations lack advocates for the victim and the public);   a car manufacturer “has agreed to pay a record $10 million fine for unconscionable conduct over the auto giant's handling of complaints about faulty gearboxes”;   a crooked, self-justifying cop in an Australian state has been jailed, as a psychopathic ex-cop in the USA is identified (see also here) as a mass murdering serial rapist – both of which cast doubt over the ability of police to investigate themselves;   “how police line-ups jail the innocent”;
    -    other crime, judicial and policing matters have occurred in: USA, Saudi Arabia, India.

Location based News:

• With regard to Africa, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (and other sources) has:
     on Africa generally:
     -   after and despite the UN’s reforms, another sexual assault of a child by peacekeepers has occurred, in South Sudan;
     on specific African nations:
     -   in what appears to be an act of political repression, a Burundian activist has been jailed for 32 years;
     -   an opportunity to help babies and their mothers in the “Democratic” Republic of Congo;   five probable mass graves have been found;   Congo’s opposition are defying repression;
     -   the UN has met dissidents in Ethiopia;
     -   the 15-nation Southern African Development Community has sent a former Madagascan president to mediate in the Madagascan political crisis;
     -   tin mines may bring peace to the conflict between herders and farmers in Nigeria – which is a potential problem throughout western Africa;   a violent extremist attack has been repelled in Nigeria;
     -   farmers in Rwanda are adapting for climate change;
     -   ten aid workers are missing in South Sudan;
     -   support for the new name of eSwatini;
     -   planned anti-government demonstrations in Tanzania were cancelled in response to a heightened police presence;
     -   a warning Zambia is becoming another Zimbabwe;
• With regard to South and Central America:
     -   archaeological evidence rebuts the racist, unfounded rumour created and perpetuated by early colonists that the Caribbean’s earliest inhabitants were peaceful farmers who were wiped out by “the ferocious man-eating Carib people”;   “Latin America has suffered more than 2.5 [million] murders since the start of this century and is facing an acute public security crisis that demands urgent and innovative solutions”;
     -   sex workers in Colombia have launched a newspaper;
     -   an assessment of Cuba after the Castros have left power;
     -   “Nicaraguan police have released dozens of students and lecturers arrested in protests triggered by planned changes to the social security system”;
     -   a Canadian has been lynched in Peru after locals accused him of murder (this is a timely reminder for the young admin people I have dealt with in workplaces about international travel and the risks);   Peru's former President Alberto Fujimori and three of his Health Ministers will be charged over the alleged forced sterilisation of five women during his time in office;
     -   in one of the biggest population flows the UNHCR has ever seen, many Venezuelans are taking short courses to help get jobs after they leave;
• With regard to China (may her growing middle class bring a love of peace and freedom), East and South East Asia and the Pacific (noting the risks of atrocities in North Korea and Burma):
     -   “economic losses to disasters in Asia and the Pacific could exceed $160 billion annually by 2030”;
     on China, Hong Kong, the DPRK (North Korea) and South Korea (which need to accept their partition – for now – and sign a peace treaty), Taiwan, and the free but invaded and occupied nation of Tibet:
     -   an activist is on a hunger strike for Uighurs;   three Australian warships were challenged by the Chinese military as they travelled through the disputed South China Sea recently;   grossly sexist job ads in China;   Chinese “diplomats” in a Pacific nation are refusing to pay utility bills or to move out;   coal miners are being retrained as floating solar panel assemblers;
     -   other events concerning China have occurred or are developing in: USA;
     -   some young South Koreans are wary of peace with the North and don’t want reunification (this is an even worse example of the problems around reunification of Germany);
     -   Africans are fighting racism in Hong Kong by shared games of soccer;
     elsewhere in Asia:
     -   the social stigma and health problems of an Indonesian village with many people with albinism;  in a victory for police fighting corruption in Indonesia, a senior politician has been jailed for his role in the theft of $170 million of public money;
     -   Me Too has reached Japan;
     and in the Pacific:
     -   Papua New Guinea's critical HIV drugs shortage may lead to deaths;
• With regard to Europe and the European Union (EU) (which need to step up, as the USA steps down):
     -   France’s President has claimed he convinced the USA’s 45^th President not to withdraw troops from Syria and to keep the recent Syrian air strikes limited ... hmm … I know France has a well-established history of active intervention (particularly in areas it has a colonial link to), but, in this instance, this story moved me to wonder how are the strikes and protests in France against their President’s new policies are going … - see this assessment;   “If Macron can position himself as the gatekeeper for [the USA’s 45^th President] in Europe, he will further establish himself as the primary leader on the continent”;   France is regressing on asylum;
     -   Germany is backing away from foreign affairs influence;   after Germany’s Jews were urged not to wear kippahs because of anti-Semitic attacks, thousands of Germans of all faiths have donned Jewish kippah caps in nationwide rallies to show solidarity;   Germany continues to differ from the USA over NATO and international trade;
     -   the problem of rampant xenophobia in Hungary;
     -   mass protests in Spain after five men were cleared of gang rape;
     -   the UK’s kick out long term residents unjustly scandal has spread;
     -   uproar after Romania’s Prime Minister exceeded her authority to endorse a deal to recognise Jerusalem (unspecified as to whether West or all) as Israel’s capital;
• With regard to the (forgotten or ignored and underreported) conflicts in Ukraine, particularly in the east:
     -   Germany has told Russia not to exclude Ukraine from a gas pipeline route;
• With regard to Russia (which is currently supporting an – in my opinion, based on R2P principles - illegitimate regime in Syria), Russian influenced nations and eastern Europe, Central Asia, and responses (see also elsewhere):
     Russia:
     -   a long read on rise of Russia's neo-nazi sports thugs;   in the war to force companies to allow government access to internet traffic, many websites have become collateral damage;
     in eastern Europe:
     -   Moldova’s president has been scared by the decision of that nation’s government to be part of the UK-led objection to a suspected Russian (possibly criminals) nerve agent attack;
     in Central Asia:
     -   following the resignation of Armenia’s Prime Minister after mass protests, the UN has called for the continuation of respect for the rule of law and human rights, and peace and stability;
• With regard to the conflict in Afghanistan (noting that Afghanistan was once a peaceful and modern society, even allowing women in miniskirts, before the Russian invasion – see here):
     -   a violent extremist attack in Afghanistan has killed dozens of people;
• With regard to South Asia (aka the Indian sub-continent), The Hindu and other sources have:
     -   “tens of thousands of Pashtuns are demanding an end to extrajudicial killings and abductions they blame on the Pakistani state (is the Philippines’ misogynistic (wannabe rapist), self-proclaimed murderer, mass killing enabler, human rights abusing president Marcos-Lite watching?)”;
     on India:
     -   (out of political cowardice/expedience?) India's cabinet has decided to send child abusers into future life opportunities for abuse, rather than trying to deal with the problem;   “the tragic lives of India’s mistreated elephants”;   grossly excessive delays in responses to Freedom of Information requests;   eight violent extremists have been killed;  13 children were killed when a train hit a bus;   the father of a man killed for an interfaith marriage will help other interfaith couples;   concerns over possible political influence in the selection of the next Chief Justice of India’s Supreme Court;   a possible reset of India and China’s relationship;   a detailed examination of the discrimination facing Dalits;
• With regard to West Asia (aka “the Middle East”) and Northern Africa, the Middle East Eye, the Times of Israel, and other sources have:
     -   “a project to support new, youth-driven initiatives in education, science, culture and the media to prevent violent extremism in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia”;
     on Israel and Palestine:
     -   the extremist Palestinian group ruling Gaza blames Israel for the death of one of their members in Malaysia, and has vowed revenge;   Israel is actively blocking education in Palestine;   nine teenaged hikers have been killed by a flash flood in Israel;   mixed reactions – including misogynistic abuse - over the decision of an Israeli-American actress not to accept the “Genesis Prize” (aka “the Jewish Nobel”) this year as “… the mistreatment of those suffering from today's atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values”;   growing Jewish protests against Israeli treatment of Palestinian protestors – particularly the use of snipers;   Israel is clearly viewing a protest tactic of trying to tear down the border fence as solely a cover for violent extremist infiltrators – and has even retaliated militarily in response … ;   an opinion that Israel’s violent response to peaceful Palestinian protests “will come back to haunt it”;   “an alleged “exploding” bullet, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law,” led to a Palestinian cyclist’s leg being amputated;
     -   violent incidents this week include: more Palestinian deaths in the ongoing protests;
     on the conflict in Yemen:
     -   a Saudi-led coalition air strike has killed at least 20 people at wedding in Yemen;   after the suspected murderers of a Lebanese aid worker were arrested, former allies have started fighting each other;
     on Syria (where the Assad Dictatorship has lost all pretence of legitimacy, and partition is needed):
     -   an old Cold War tactic of referring a matter to the entire UN general assembly may be used to get around Russia’s unconscionable use of its Security Council veto powers (so maybe that needs to be done in other matters, until there is some sensible reform of the much abused veto power);   the USA says the Assad Dictatorship has used chemical weapons 50 times;   the Assad Dictatorship is continuing to attack districts of Syria’s capital held by violent extremists – allegedly in a bid to enforce an evacuation deal;   medical staff where people are living underground in Ghouta are exhausted by the constant demands;   landmines are injuring children;   Russia has resorted to an “obscene stunt” to try to distance Dictator Assad from the recent 50^th chemical weapons attack;   19 civilians have been killed;
     elsewhere in the region:
     -   concerns that citizens are besieged by an Egyptian operation against violent extremists;   an opinion that Egypt’s repressive regime is a “breeding ground” for violent extremists;
     -   hints of a new Iran nuclear deal (oh no … );   claims that Iran has 80,000 “fighters” in Syria;
     -   censors have banned a Lebanese film about abuse of refugees;
     -   a report on Saudi Arabia’s continuing immorality (use of execution);   some Saudi Shia Muslims have gone into hiding over fears of execution;
     -   another UAE accusation of Qatari military fighter jets coming dangerously close to commercial airliners.

General Comments/Information

(Dear Reader, please remember, I expect you to think when reading this blog, and I reserve the right to occasionally sneak in something to test that)

Many others are very capably doing this type of work – for instance, the Lucis Trust's Triangles network (which has been running for many decades);   the Correllian Tradition's 'Spiritual War for Peace' (see also here, here, and here), the Hope, Peace, Love and Prosperity Spell (also from the Correllian Tradition, in around 2007 or 2008),   the Healing Minute started by the late, great Harry Edwards (running for decades);   the “CE 5  ET contact” movement started by Dr Steven M Greer, which is the one which appears to me to most capitalise on the teachings of “The Nine”,   the “Network of Light”  meditations;   the 1 Million Meditators movement,   and   also see here, here and here – even commercial organisations (for instance, see here), online groups (e.g. here and here – which I do not know the quality of) and even an app.    Thus, if you don't like what I am suggesting here, but want to be of service, there are many other opportunities for you – including secular opportunities: e.g., see here, here and here.

Again, activism in the physical world is also required - see here, here and here, here, and, of course, here.

(I specifically have a role for (absent) healers on Saturdays, as explained in the Psychic Weather Report posts. Anyone who wishes to be protector has a role every day :). At all times, on all levels and in ways, BOTH must ALWAYS be BPM in the way they perform such roles.)

If I am ever late getting my Psychic Weather Report up any week, there is a default plan.

I apologise for publishing these posts twice, but Blogger keeps changing my formatting.

No signature block for these posts.