This is a new, very
cut down series of posts based on some observations on matters that struck a
personal note: unlike the former “Gnwmythr’s News”, it is not
trying to convey key events.
My articles this week
include response to intellectual aggression, at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2020/02/religion.html,
and a follow up recognition that social media, which I’ve tried again, is not
for me, at https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2020/02/post-no-1498-aggression.html.
This week has seen more
proof of the bleedin’ obvious: older Aussies want easier lives, which means smaller, simpler homes: Allow Tiny Homes!
In the environmental
arena, as it appears Australia’s 2019/20 climate bushfires may finally
be ending (with rain
fixing a critical water shortage in many - not all - smaller towns, but also
causing flooding), Jews
and Pagans have come together for a Jewish holiday celebrating trees (that
is a simplification), and another reminder is made to use trees
in cities (this one is about fighting the “heat island” effect). Ways
to reduce the toll of tall buildings on birds have been described, and locusts
are now threatening food security in Uganda and Tanzania. A review
of whether legal action can compel governments to address the climate crisis. The
anger over a decision to allow irrigators to harvest recent
floodwater shows the Murray-Darling does not have enough water: we either
accept this and pay for our first LARGE BATCH of climate refugees and start
importing food, or we start getting extra water into the basin – not the stupid
redirection of rivers idea, but through desalination to river, not drinking,
quality. As an association of scientists publishes factual information on COVID-19 (not
helped by China belatedly fixing its counting techniques [and wrongly claiming
airborne spread], nor other nations’ dubious
claims about being unaffected [India is also doing some denial
- hiding a slum from view]), insane
- and illegal
- discrimination
occurs in several locations - but existing (particularly international) laws
have limits
that could impede sensible management of the risk; at least Singapore
(anyone else?) is offering financial relief. Meanwhile, Norway recycles 97%
of plastic bottles . . . wanna start catching up, world?
In human rights, a
continuation of discrimination in science (intersectional: against
women of colour in science - and sports)
marked by social commentary at
an entertainment event and fear
changing the behaviour of targeted groups, aggressive
backlash by bigots, calls
for an acknowledgement of reality in a marginalised group, and a realistic,
objective assessment of women’s involvement in both peacebuilding and
violent extremism. Meanwhile, in a nod to common sense, Australia’s High Court
has found that Indigenous people are not aliens, and thus cannot be deported, however, more
information shows the split decision had a multiplicity of reasonings, and thus
is not a strong one: nevertheless, on the sorry
12th anniversary of Sorry Day, it highlights the problems with
Australia’s failure
to properly acknowledge Indigenous people, culture, and sovereignty (at
least my home state is working at doing
this). A reminder of past changes for the better in society and
human rights – including how long they took, and the attitudes that had to
change along the way, as (increasingly shakily)
authoritarian (but still ruthless,
racist
and bullying)
mainland China continues to try to compel people to live by backwards ideas. One
Australian state’s - racist
- police have been abusing human rights by unprofessional (outmoded
decades ago) quotas
for committing sexual
assaults and “personal searches” - and blithely, uncaringly, and
incompetently “accepts”
civil cases as “the cost of doing business”. (Also on incompetence, our Commonwealth
Parliament’s cyber security has been described as having “a low level of
maturity” . . . Elsewhere, in a triumph of convenience over
responsible adulthood, data insecurity continues to be overlooked
or not
planned for, and India
sacrifices privacy in an unbalanced response, but my home state has a warning
about privacy risks.) The depravity
of scammers is on display. “White supremacist propaganda in US more than doubled
in 2019”. One company has addressed
- to some extent - the discriminatory disadvantages of maternity leave. A news
service has reported that concerning allegations about a health
service, which has also had a tribunal decision of discrimination, are being
investigated by an anti-corruption body. The UN has published
a list of companies (including Airbnb)
that support the human rights abuses of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Deaths
in Syria, Iraq, Libya (which is, nevertheless, more
dangerous), and Somalia from air attacks, while still totalling more than
two thousand, reduced
42% in 2019 as the war against Da’esh ended.
Immigration and refugee
matters (good and bad) have occurred in Singapore,
Lebanon,
Nepal, Italy,
Cameroon/Nigeria, and a reminder
refugees can be assets, rather than burdens; trafficking/slavery/child abuse matters
(good and bad) have occurred in Singapore,
Cambodia, Mexico, Venezuela, Mexico/USA, Singapore, and the half of the
world’s nations that have failed
to make slavery illegal;
LGBTIQ+ matters (good and bad) have occurred in the Union
of Soviet Socialist Russia; and other matters (good and bad) have occurred in Sudan,
Nigeria, and
Nigeria.
In the related human
rights arena of employment, while self-reporting is commendable, six years of
underpayment caused real hardship to employees – who are now being hit again.
If they’d been paid correctly, the business may not have grown as much, but it would have been sound. Workers in a multinational company
in Germany are struggling
to be treated decently.
In the governance, politics,
and society arena, the struggle for adequately
open - and not
spendthrift - government continues, with some dodgy
evasion, and a political scandal
continues
to grow.
In the USA, concerns grow
that the Democrats may not be able to choose a candidate who can beat POTUS45
. . . Kosovo’s PM has cut
their pay in half to fight inequality. Protests
against the electoral organisation’s head in Malawi after courts overturn results
of the recent election.
Internationally, an
examination of the disaster in Libya after 2011 states “The bigger problem
is what followed—or rather, what did not follow the intervention. The international
community had focused myopically
on the responsibility to react, but ignored the responsibility to rebuild.”
The UN Security Council has now approved
a 55 point “road map to end war” in Libya . . .
Tensions continue
between Iran and proxies on one side, and the USA (limited
by the US Senate in a rare moment of responsibility) and Israel on the
other. Priorities are suggested
for the African Union, as South Sudan’s integrated army is shown to be unready
for peace (and that nation hides
a report on birth defects in oil polluted areas), a call is made for the
year old peace agreement in the Central African Republic to be implemented,
Ethiopia tries
to curb hate speech, and press freedom continues to shrink
in Somalia.
On personal / spiritual
matters, one of the world’s wealthiest men, known for planning to give away
most of his fortune, has surprised
by choosing to build an ostentatious symbol of wealth. Why? Does he has
something in mind, or he is indulging himself?
Reading I found
interesting included "Teaching Without Credentials, the Dangers of Cursing, and Watered Down Paganism", "Is This a God or Not? How to Tell Who You’re Talking To" ("I completely reject the idea that “They’re Gods so They can do whatever They want” . . .)", "Approaching the Gods with Offerings and Service", "The Perils of 'Survivorship Bias'", from Scientific America.
