For the sake of my health, until I retire or change to an
easier day job , I have cut back these posts.
Throughout 2019, these posts are likely to be cut back even further as a family illness is dealt with.
Throughout 2019, these posts are likely to be cut back even further as a family illness is dealt with.
Information and Summary of News with Opinion / Advocacy / Analysis:
Notes:
(1) I am NOT a journalist (this blog was created for spiritual reasons, including a course), and make NO claims to objectivity or freedom from bias.
(2) 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 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. 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 March 2019), 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) dealing with the 45th “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 his mind-set, and strengthening that person’s BPM Guides and giving those BPM Guides 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 that person’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);
4. Ensuring opposition to POTUS45 is unified, cohesive and FOCUSED, NOT fractured or divisive;(d) the major events this week are:
(i) as attraction to violence continues to be inadequately addressed, the search for humans rights abusers continues, and further to the current map of genocides, this week there are risks of mass atrocities in Cameroon, Sudan and conflict-related sexual violence,
(ii) 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;
(iii) refugee and humanitarian crises; - the political madness of regimes with authoritarian leaders – and all who put or keep them there; - and, specific to this week, a call for more human-centric lifestyles, as the crisis around climate change builds and widens; cowardly attempts to cause fear and hate; a call for action to ensure better access to true information, as the costs of conflict are estimated; illogical, extremist and tribal reactions in politics (and elsewhere); abuse of power, including sexual / gendered abuse and sexism; some nations have resisted the bullying of another, as two others show their human rights flaws; some accountability for human rights abuses; concerns about thoughtlessness allowing Europe to go into oblivion; allowing a pleasure in front of one’s face to blind one to broader risks;(e) may all people be BPM aware, self-aware, and exercise patience, nuance, and forethought when choosing how to act or react;(f) may people never be duped by duplicitous actions;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; those without news deleted each week):
- Permanent Issues and Thematically Arranged News:
permanent issues; particular attention;
democracy, freedom, governance, and ethics; the USA and POTUS45;
violent extremism; refugees and migrants; human rights
(including homophobia/transphobia, white supremacism, trafficking
and children’s rights, sexism, religious rights, workers’ rights, animals’ rights,
and privacy, differently abled and other rights); war, violence and hate;
peace; spirituality and psychism; natural and other catastrophes;
modern lifestyle (including climate change and environment, technology
and science, economic and financial, housing, health and medical); media;
education; crime judicial and police;- Location-based News:
Africa; South and Central America;
mainland China, East and South East Asia, and the Pacific; Europe;
Ukraine; Russia and Central Asia; Afghanistan; South Asia;
West Asia and northern Africa;- Other Sites;opportunities/good news (in my opinion) are shown in green;comments (by me) are shown in purple; andWARNING: 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 and their Significant Others be kept BPM safe, undetectable and inviolable against indirect psychic attack, and may they have all the BPM resources (including an assured income), opportunities and assistance for them to be BPM effective, 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 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 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, and 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 (see also here, here, and here): the entirety of this blog and all other spiritual work and physical activism I and many others do; a call for a shorter working week;
on the Rohingya genocide this week:
- 30 Rohingya refugees have been rescued from traffickers;
on other matters requiring particular attention:
- the devastating impact of the war in Yemen (a 12 year old weighing 10 kg);
- “the gathering storm of human-caused threats to climate, nature and economy pose a danger of systemic collapse comparable to the 2008 financial crisis”; the appalling conditions under which electronic waste is recycled – by hand – in India;
- a fake letter is trying to stir Islamophobic hate in my home city;
- “the production of news and journalism cannot be left entirely to market forces, and regulation is needed to curb the power of [social media]”; online protests over fears of censorship after a major platform accepted money from China;
- the “revoking of [a refugee aid ship’s] flag sets [a] precedent for states to ignore international humanitarian law”; “the US Administration has eliminated almost half of the world’s total resettlement spots for refugees”; Australia’s neoliberal government has made absurd, extreme, reckless, and moronic responses (including lying about the limitation to refugees already in detention, and threats to reopen the gulag on Christmas Island – which, unlike the debate about the Bill, was noticed in Indonesia) to the bill to provide medical treatment to refugees in our gulags who need it, which is a Bill which addresses a shortcoming in our national character, while ignoring the record 27,000 on-shore asylum applications in 2018 (most by plane from Malaysia and China) – and the fact that the deaths are continuing, the fact that “the Department of Home Affairs dropped its target of processing 80% of citizenship applications within 80 days after it got through just 15% last financial year”, and the fact that this does not weaken our borders;
- a Thomson Reuters Foundation exclusive reports that the sex abuse scandal in the aid industry is growing; “calls to pull [a] Saudi app allowing men to monitor wives”;
- “people fleeing war, natural disasters or violence within their own countries could be costing countries a combined $13 billion a year”;
- Germany and the EU have rejected US calls to leave the Iran nuclear deal;
- Turkey has finally criticised China’s Uighur brainwashing (“re-education”) camps – which may have killed a musician, and include some Australian as other Uighurs in Australia are intimidated by China; as Canada calls for Australia, New Zealand and other “middle powers” to work together “to condemn and counter bad behaviour from” China, Australia has ramped up its competition “with China for influence in the Pacific”; the Australian stock exchange “delisted six Chinese companies in 2018, prompting experts to urge investor caution”; tales of hell from China’s brainwashing (aka “re-education”) camps for Uighurs;
- “two suspected former secret service officers from the Syrian government have been arrested in Germany on allegations of carrying out or aiding torture and crimes against humanity”; after Bahrain and Thailand talked and the extradition case was dropped, the Bahraini born professional soccer player granted refugee status in Australia has been freed, and is coming home - see also this assessment of the triumphal aspects of this, this analysis of the gross errors (how many were deliberate?) all the way through, and this call for “privileged sport officials willing to sacrifice [his] life [to] be expunged”;
- an opinion that “Europe is sleepwalking into oblivion and its people need to wake up before it is too late. If they don’t, the European Union will go the way of the Soviet Union in 1991”;
- Australia’s neoliberal government is “an old hand” at gagging empathy – the “energy that drives social change”;
- the medical profession is failing to examine differences in sex responses when trialling drugs [and sometimes doesn’t believe women about pain];
- yet another warning against the stupidity of sharing kids’ details online;
this week’s atrocity alert at R2P lists Cameroon, Sudan and conflict-related sexual violence; - With regard to democracy (which can
be measured [as can goodness], requires protection of minorities and the vulnerable - and are you fighting to change things [by 198 nonviolent methods], or to
punish), freedom, governance (e.g., here, here, here, here, here) and ethics:
Note: I have a section specifically for POTUS45 below
analyses, research and commentary this week include:
- an analysis of how Pakistan has been “navigating” the growing Saudi-Iran split;
of concern internationally this week:
- the hypocrisy of a UK MP who has opposed laws against upskirting and FGM is shown by his practice of not objecting to Bills proposed by his friends; the “proposed Israel embassy shift forced Australian consulates to close during protests”;
of concern in my nation (Australia) this week:
- the previous neoliberal Prime Minister “received direct warnings about paid lobbyists who were simultaneously occupying powerful roles in the Liberal party hierarchy”; mentally ill people in an Australian territory are being held in overcrowded jails, owing to the lack of appropriate facilities;
also of concern this week:
- other concerning events have occurred or are developing in: DR Congo, Algeria, Hungary, Canada, Nigeria (shutting women out of vote), Egypt;
with regard to cyber warfare and other cyber issues this week:
- “Russia is considering whether to disconnect from the global internet briefly, as part of a test of its cyber-defences”; accusations that Australia’s neoliberal government has welched “on a deal to support amendments consistent with a bipartisan security committee report” – which be pushed by the opposition will push them in the Senate;
- other events related to cyber warfare have occurred or are developing in: post death;
good news this week includes:
- good news has occurred: Central African Republic;
on development (in an “end poverty/thirst/hunger” sense):
- development news has occurred: Tanzania (good news), Ethiopia (good news);
and democracy/governance/political matters in my home nation this week:
on the Royal Commission into banks, and similar matters:
- one financial institution has, following the Royal Commission, lost 55% of its income and 97% of its profit; why did the former leaders of one Australian bank take so long to resign?;
on other matters:
- following a police investigation into misuse of public money, MPs in my home state will not be charged, but two others are under investigation, and questions remain about the strip search performed on the complainant - meanwhile, a court case related to another scandal has found a person who had been offered a job allegedly leaked news of a raid; a call “for a crackdown on Airbnb, pushing for a ban on the use of residential properties for tourist accommodation unless someone is living there”; an Australian state government’s hardline response to drug deaths at music festivals may push them interstate; a controversial aide has been stripped “of his parliamentary pass and banned him from entering the building following an altercation with a senator”; as the reasons why work for the dole doesn’t work are outlined, “out-of-work Australians have complained that private job service providers offered them [bribes (my word)] to lie about their employment status to help falsely claim incentive payments”; Australia’s “homophobic, anti-women, climate-change denying“ neoliberal government has been “warned its energy ‘big stick’ could scare away genuine investors”; - With regard to the USA and their schoolyard
BULLYING,
unpresidential, uncomprehending, delusional 45th “President” (POTUS45) (see here on actions
for US residents, and note that the VP is at
least as bad):
- after a deal appeared to be done to address nervousness about another shut down, POTUS45 has – as threatened – declared a National Emergency to build a wall on the USA’s southern border (which will cut US citizens off from their own homes, and can only use the army if they stick to constitutional limits);
- POTUS45 has praised the leader of North Korea – which Japan has accused of dodging sanctions - . . . (brothers in malignancy?);, and the US commander in South Korea says has made “little to no verifiable change” in its military capabilities;
- “the former acting director of the FBI has become the first public official to publicly confirm US government officials held meetings to discuss the option of removing [POTUS45] from the presidency”;
- despair at what POTUS45’s new Supreme Court justice will do to women;
- an opinion that the hypocritical support of POTUS45 by the religious right is a vulnerability;
- POTUS45 has belatedly apologised for an attack on a media person caused by POTUS45’s attitudes, actions and works;
- (valid) criticism of a US Democratic Presidential candidate’s foreign policy;
- the USA’s youngest elected representative has made some impressive responses on social media; - 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 as
well as acknowledging the variety in what provides genuine, BPM fulfilment as a counter to fanaticism as a source of meaning, and good
old fashioned police work. Also,
I don’t name groups in order to reduce their publicity):
- according to this Wikipedia page, there have been 6 attacks in Iraq, 3 attacks in Afghanistan, and 5 attacks in Syria (out of a total of 33), including an attack in Iran that killed 27 and is being blamed by some on the USA and/or Israel, an attack in Kashmir that killed 40 and has increased Indian-Pakistani tensions – see also here, on US requests to cut funding in Pakistan to violent extremist groups; - With regard to refugees (noting the New York Declaration), people
seeking asylum and migrants:
- the exploitation of African refugees and migrants in Italy; a former President of Nauru who oversaw the establishment of Australia’s gulag there now - hypocritically – wants Australia’s aid to get medical treatment . . . ; “Pakistan’s high commission has called for early redress for one of its citizens held in ‘overstretched and uncomfortably prolonged detention’ in Australia’s onshore immigration facilities”; refugees are selling their organs to flee to safe destinations; concerns about a company which was given half a billion dollars for security at one of Australia’s refugee gulags; “a Sudanese refugee has been flown from Manus Island to Geneva to receive a prestigious human rights award but said he will soon return to Papua New Guinea”;
- other refugee-related matters have also occurred in: Africa; - With regard to other human (and other) rights and
discrimination (incidentally,
bigots clearly have flaws of observation and thinking – shown by the fact that NOT all people choose to
discriminate [and there’s this]):
- other human rights matters have also occurred in: Bulgaria;
on HOMOPHOBIA/TRANSPHOBIA (including heteronormativity and cisgender-normativity and noting that trans kids are the same as cis kids of the trans kids’ true gender):
- “an overwhelming majority of Australians support a formal ‘truth telling’ process to acknowledge past injustices against Indigenous people”; “some of the most senior clerics in the Roman Catholic church who have vociferously attacked homosexuality are themselves gay, according to a book to be published next week” (this phenomenon is nothing new, but I consider the statistics claimed are likely greatly exaggerated – particularly in light of what other sources have said); pansexuality – which, despite the headline, is not mainstream; praise for a sportsman who called out an opposing player for a homophobic slur;
- other homophobic/transphobic (and heteronormativity / cisgender-normativity) matters have also occurred in: Japan, Middle East, a social media platform/Indonesia, Turkey, Greece, India, Brazil;
on white supremacist and other forms of RACISM / CULTURAL DISCRIMINATION and Indigenous matters generally this week:
- a dispute over ownership of indigenous land in Canada; rare bipartisan unity in Australia over the need to do better on indigenous wellbeing and life; a US sports store has had to close after it objected to an anti-racism campaign;
- other white supremacy / racism problems have also occurred in: Hungary, Australia;
on TRAFFICKING, and CHILDREN’s and associated human rights this week (from Thomson Reuters Foundation, Freedom United, and other sources):
- on child abuse, including institutional, this week: Australia / Somalia, Timor-Leste/Catholic Church, Israel, Australia, fashion industry, India, US schools, hotels;
- on slavery / human trafficking this week: Malaysia, UK, Cambodia/EU, Bangladesh, Portugal;
on SEXISM this week (keeping in mind the overblown influence given to testosterone, and the potential value to women of using anger):
- “why so many young women don't call themselves feminist”; scepticism over a sporting body’s one act against domestic violence; “dating guides aimed at both women and men are full of retrograde advice” - and, on a related matter, social media has been lobbied to “move faster to shut scammers’ pages [which may have stolen images] down”; the failure to use the correct v word for female genitalia (no adult filter); “women and children fleeing family violence are being sent to filthy and unsafe motels because of a severe shortage in emergency accommodation”; an organisation is aiming to support women and girls in jails, many of whom are victims of domestic violence;
- on sexual harassment/misconduct/violence this week, see: India, Australia, Kenya (progress on ending FGM);
- other sexism matters have also occurred in: USA, Poland, UAE, movie industry, Uganda, the World Bank, Hong Kong, Iran;
on WORKERS’ rights this week:
- a Dominican factory was founded in 2010 when Knights Apparel joined forces with the Worker Rights Consortium, with the backing of socially conscious US students and Dominican unions, aims to ‘treat workers decently’ and pay a living wage;
on ANIMALS’ rights this week:
- “chimpanzees ‘talk’ just like humans”; activism against Japan’s brutal dolphin slaughter continues; an Australian Territory may join New Zealand, Europe and Canada by recognising animals’ sentience; fear and “tensions between farmers and activists”;
on PRIVACY, AGED, DIFFERENTLY ABLED, AND OTHER forms of human rights this week:
- “the family of an elderly man who was overmedicated and died after a stay at a nursing home [and noting that homes ration incontinence pads] have called for a national database to weed out abusive workers and mandatory CCTV cameras” (I would refuse to go in to such a place if the cameras took away my privacy); Australia’s neoliberal government has “filibustered” the House of Representatives to avoid a vote on a Royal Commission into “people with a disability suffering violence, abuse or neglect”; - With regard to war (noting that
economic ties do NOT prevent war), violence
and hate generally:
- a satire on “when is the right time to talk” about gun violence in the USA; “how being a student gun control activist took its toll”; the “knock-on effects of war kill 300 babies every day”; the number of child soldiers has doubled; another mass murder using guns in the USA; - With regard to spirituality and/or psychism generally (including empathy, revolutionary
love, survival after death, good religion, UFOs, being single / asexual / off-grid / non-conformist / true to yourself):
- “keeping others’ secrets can take a toll on mental health”; - With regard to natural and other catastrophes:
- an unusual and “huge” bushfire in New Zealand, and, as bushfires continue in Australia, the heat wave combines with hay bales and cow manure to cause a stockyard to spontaneously combust and start smoking; as an opinion is given that “banks and insurers should ‘lift their socks’ and show compassion to north Queenslanders affected by the flood”, the serious shortcomings of current planning approaches to flood risks (largely, but not always, the one-in-100-year flood level) have been shown by the recent one in 1,000 years flood in Townsville – which also led to illnesses and death from a soil-borne disease, the deaths of half a million cattle, and a massive plume of silt heading towards the Great Barrier Reef; - With regard to overcrowding and “modern“ lifestyle issues (such as conflict minerals,
environmental harm and child labour in smart phones, FOMO [which can be overcome], addiction or unthinking pro-technology bias [new is NOT always good – see here],
social media making people miserable or envious, work
and lifestyles causing depression and burnout,
being duped by modern mantras and management fads,
“failing“ at being well, life options,
AI ethics, corporate misuse of mindfulness as
a distraction,
embedded emissions, plane pollution,
bigger, flashier homes/cars and financialisation,
the need for agroforestry,
insisting on busy-ness,
raising Prince Boofheads,
trying to force everyone to have children, the “Earth3” model [SDGs + 9PBs]):
on climate change (our World War III?) and other environmental matters:
- Australia won’t meet the Paris targets despite what recent research claims (“ appears to be a substantial underestimation of the ~70% of national emissions outside of the power sector”); a new energy generation plant using the by-products of agricultural, food and forestry industries; “plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten [to cause the] collapse of nature’ ”; some online data centres are trying to go carbon neutral by offsets; water pollution in a US coal mining region; “water flows at key environmental sites in the Murray-Darling Basin are unimproved or worse than before the basin plan was implemented”, according to the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists; the recent decision, based on climate change, against a coal mine could be a trendsetter - see also here; “China and India, two of the world's biggest polluters”, have 5% more foliage (“from ambitious tree-planting in China and intensive farming in both countries”), which “helps slows climate change, but . . .this will be offset by rising temperatures”; a coal-to-hydrogen plant has been approved (I’m not convinced of the environmental benefits – what happens where the conversion occurs?); “three-quarters of millennials would accept a smaller salary, and 10 per cent said they could take a $5,000-$10,000 pay cut” to work at an environmentally sustainable company; in response to climate change, some farmers are fleeing northern Australia for southern states;
- other environmental matters have occurred in: Brazil, burma, Norway, South Sudan;
on technology and science matters:
- a warning about clicking on links; an Australian phone company has revealed customers through a systems glitch;
on affordable, sustainable and decent housing and homelessness matters (why are politicians with “investment properties” not admitting a conflict of interest and staying out of housing affordability debates?):
- a warning that “any scheme that relied on owners to pay for remediation was an ineffective way to address the danger of flammable cladding”;
on health and medical:
- measles cases have jumped 50% globally – largely because of “falsehoods” spread by the anti-vax’ movement – and 70 have died in the Philippines; “cannabis smoking in teenage years linked to adulthood depression” (drinking alcohol at that age is also a major problem – not to mention smoking tobacco); mothers have become “socially isolated as playgroups find themselves homeless”; - 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 … ):
- threats against media freedom in Europe;
- other media / freedom of expression matters have occurred in: USA, the Philippines, Russia; - With regard to education:
- a hole that members of minorities are falling through in Australia’s higher education system; a school in a disadvantaged suburb has turned around its former problems (including violent students and aggressive parents) through five focus areas (phonics (letters and sounds), writing, numeracy, mindfulness and digital technologies) to improve NAPLAN results; - With regard to crime, judicial
matters and policing (noting (1) an
uncle of mine resigned when corruption was not comprehensively cleaned out of
the police force he served in, I have high expectations of police, and I
consider all violence, abuse of power and failure to understand the impacts of
their actions [e.g., see here and here] undermines and weaken all police – who
are under incredible pressure, and (2)
all people charged are innocent until proven guilty):
- when two aggressive men forced Protective Services Officers to protect themselves late at night with capsicum spray, several bystanders – including a baby and child – were affected; US police have found a gang’s underground shooting range; a “global drug trafficking operation [was] run out of [a] detention centre” and targeted vulnerable elderly; the advantages and disadvantages of “true crime” series; another US police shooting against a pattern of recent violence by police in that city, and claims of racial profiling by the victim’s family, but the victim did have a gun; “Victoria’s Royal Commission into the use of police informants has revealed that at least three other lawyers were approached by police to work with them, including one who has since been murdered” – see also here and here; “a female police officer in [an Australian state] is facing an internal probe after an 11-year-old boy was taken into custody to show him what it was like to be arrested” (there is a history of glibness over the abuses of this process); a “bush court” has an excessive workload;
- other crime, judicial and policing matters have occurred in: Indonesia, Mexico (good news).
Location based News:
- With regard to Africa, the Africa
Center for Strategic Studies (and other sources) has:
- “in accepting the controversial outcome of [the] DRC’s presidential election, the global community has failed the country”;
- “about a third of Kenya's farmers still do not use the national weather service to help them plan and protect their crops”;
- as he campaigns for re-election and “a number of people have been killed and injured in a stampede” at a campaign rally, concerns over the failure of Nigeria’s President to tackle corruption;
- fatal violence and torture continue in Sudan; - With regard
to South and Central America:
- a Mexican drug smuggler responsible for enormous, profound devastation has been convicted;
- with Venezuelan protestors intensifying their efforts, a US advisor has claimed the demise of the present President of Venezuela is “inevitable”; as the opposition leader says “We have almost 300,000 Venezuelans who will die if the aid doesn't enter. There are almost two million whose health is at risk”, “Venezuela’s Pemon, an indigenous people living along the border with Brazil, are determined to allow into the embattled country any foreign aid that may arrive, even if that means a showdown with Venezuelan security forces and the government”; the USA “is holding direct communications with members of Venezuela's military urging them to abandon” the current President of Venezuela (this did this before one of the Gulf Wars: did it work then?); - With regard to mainland China (may her
growing middle class bring a love of peace and freedom), East and South East Asia and the Pacific):
on increasingly totalitarian mainland China, and also 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:
- workers are protesting at unpaid wages;
elsewhere in Asia:
- Indonesia’s police have been caught out abusing a detainee with a live snake; soccer thugs;
- the Philippines’ president is continuing to persecute the media;
- after the Thai King’s hypocritical whinge (he was happy for the military to supplant democracy), the political party that nominated his sister, now a commoner, has caved in; debate over the “last open space” in Bangkok as the poor are evicted;
- a Vietnamese born Australian who “once fought alongside US troops during the Vietnam War and is a long-time pro-democracy and human rights activist” has been detained in Viêt Nám over charges that could lead to the death penalty;
and in the Pacific:
- “Papua New Guinea police are seeking the return of nearly 300 imported cars loaned to officials for driving world leaders around its capital during last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting”; - With regard to Europe and the European Union (EU) (which need
to step up, as the USA steps down):
- more serious injuries in France’s violent yellow vest protests;
- Hungary’s xenophobia has now extended to trying to out-breed immigrants . . . ;
- backsliding Poland is now attacking women’s rights activists;
- thousands of Spaniards want a harder line taken against Catalan separatists;
- expectations are growing that there will be a future accounting over the increasingly likely no-deal Brexit brought about by hard liners – and experience from Norway shows technology is not the solution to the UK’s Northern Ireland border woes, arising from “Brexit”; - With regard to the (forgotten or
ignored and underreported) conflicts in Ukraine, particularly in the east:
- “the European Union will [sanction] eight more Russians over a stand-off with Ukraine in the Azov Sea”; - With regard to Russia, Russian influenced nations and eastern Europe, Central Asia, and responses to same (see also
elsewhere):
Russia:
- “a remote Russian region has declared a state of emergency over the appearance of dozens of polar bears in its human settlements”; a Russian state media outlet editor has been forced to resign after criticising a Kremlin-connected businessman known as “Putin’s chef”; - With regard to the conflict in sexist Afghanistan (noting that Afghanistan was once a
peaceful and modern society, even allowing women in miniskirts, before the
Russian invasion – see here):
- “while negotiations . . . fuel dreams of peace in Afghanistan, [a] squatter village . . . highlights the tough realities ahead if the country is to re-build after years of war”; - With regard to South Asia (aka
the Indian
sub-continent), The
Hindu and other sources have:
on India:
- concerns over the stresses on democracy in India;
elsewhere in South Asia:
- the story of how an island’s inhabitants seized it back from 25 years of navy occupation; - With regard
to West Asia (aka “the Middle East”) and
Northern Africa, the Middle East Eye, the Times
of Israel, and other sources have:
on Israel and Palestine:
- “an Israeli Holocaust historian has praised Finnish authorities for publishing a report revealing atrocities likely committed by a volunteer battalion which served with Nazi Germany's Waffen-SS”; “with antisemitism at record levels, it is doubly important to grow and maintain awareness of the Holocaust”;
- other events concerning Israel/Judaism and/or Palestine have occurred or are developing in: Europe (neo-nazism), social media;
on the conflict and the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis in Yemen:
- “grain stores in Yemen's Hodeidah [are] ‘at risk of rotting’ ”;
elsewhere in the region:
- an Egyptian born Australian has been detained in Egypt without charge for a year, allegedly for “spreading false information” and association with a banned group;
- the 40th anniversary of Iran’s Great Leap Backwards – back to the Middle Ages;
- the “lawmaker who changed Jordan's rape law [is taking] on child marriage”;
- a woman has fled the UAE and is seeking asylum.
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 (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 [see Psychic
Weather Report]. 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.
