Post No. 1,506 - In this week’s news

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:   “Humour, fairness, survivors of sexual assault in the workplace, and reversing excessive use of police checks”,   “Getting into management should NOT be like getting into a cult or a gang”,   “Reclaiming [magickal] power”,   “More about me” (including link to radio interview).

This week:   from the USA, the “pink fireman’s” three sisters cancer support network;   the taught, socially conditioned and violently imprinted problem of women apologising;   China’s lies and ineptness and Australian racism on a TV show;   yet another appeal for people to STOP being lazy, clueless, and irresponsible puppets by taking control of their data;   stay-at-home dads;   informal carers;   as the neoliberals demonstrate yet again their utter bloody stupidity, “Australia’s electricity market must be 100% renewables by 2035 to achieve net zero by 2050”;   a presentation on managing bushfire risk;   my home state is building an Indigenous food industry;   the 2019 Human Development Report continues to highlight the problems of inequalities;   cyber vulnerabilities of satellites;   an example of post-disaster fights with insurance companies.

In the environmental arena:   an oil exploration company does the right thing for the wrong reason in the Great Australian Bight;   my home state improves recycling;   a call for faster and stronger action against the climate crisis;   Colombian farmers are trying to co-exist with nature as they feel the climate crisis;   Queensland’s drought is stopping some traditional Indigenous activities;   “India's grandmothers harvest new social status from climate-smart farming”;   climate crisis denying dinosaurs are lying – as has the gas industry;   the growing impact of “killer heat waves”;   introduction of a marine sanctuary has backfired;   a court has declared a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport illegal because climate change commitments were not considered;   the need to keep city trees;   the climate crisis is harming coffee growers in Timor-Leste;   a call by US fossil-fuel subsidies must end;   the environmental cost of lithium batteries;   New Zealand has made the first donation to Fiji’s climate relocation fund.

On human and animal rights:   staggering revelations that “standard” pre-installed surveillance installed by a Spanish company - being investigated by Spain - in an Embassy was misused at the request of the UK Government to record privileged communication between a suspect (his treatment during the trial is so bad even the prosecution has asked for improvements) and his lawyers - and personal details of others, and even planned to steal a baby’s DNA to check for potential paternity (stronger allegations are also being made);   a social media platform has banned a channel for hate speech, another platform has banned accounts for (political) manipulation, a social media platform is being sued for not removing video of a murder, and a social media moderator is suing for PTSD in response to what he was exposed to, all as a US court says a social media platform “is not a ‘public forum’ that must guarantee users' rights to free speech”;   as one private school shows signs of learning, more misogyny from another private school’s students – including a clueless wrong denial that it affected anyone else;   the moral, spiritual, and possibly legal crimes of nondisclosure agreements and bullying people into retractions;   NSW police - who have been sexually assaulting children again -  admit giving wrong figures on drug sniffer dogs to Parliament;   as Scotland makes sanitary products free, an attempt to make provision of menstruation packs inclusive has revealed STAGGERING bigotry (including transphobia);   a multiple rapist - who apparently is not *eye roll*a serial predator - has been held to account (as has a DV murderer), but more  remains  to  be  done , including supporting victims with the long term effects (including answering questions as to why this violence is treated less seriously than other forms of violence);   the mainstreaming of far right haters / conspiracy nutjobs is a major problem (at least some in the USA have been charged);   in yet another blow to the reputation of Queensland police (who have tasered a teenager with cerebral palsy), a woman has successfully prosecuted her violently abusive ex in a case the police decided not to pursue;   the psychological trauma of the bushfires will likely lead to domestic violence;   the UN has made a 7 point call to realise human rights;   another article on burn out (the described symptoms are quite useful);   railway workers' union has stated a recent fatal train derailment could have been prevented by operating under state, rather than national, regulations;   the recapture of escaped baboons raises questions about an animal testing laboratory;   Australia’s “cashless welfare card” has now been shown to be abusive;   China’s attempts to silence an artist have failed, and they’re now trying to pressure a Chinese man who appeared on an Australian TV show by threatening his family;   an article on rainbow families;   the normality of rainbow families;   my home state will introduce a “spent  convictions” scheme;   my nation is blocking the investigation of war crimes in Palestine;   the ICC has stated that my nation’s “offshore detention regime is a ‘cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment’ and unlawful under international law” . . . but they won’t prosecute (??!!!);   a US state raises the terrorist threat level from white supremacists;   the USA’s Supreme Court says their border guards are allowed to murder other nation’s citizens;   another mass murder by guns in the USA.

Immigration and refugee matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   35 refugees have been rescued off Libya;  
trafficking/slavery/child abuse matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Egypt,   Australia,   Guatemala,   Niger,   Mauritania;   India (a good development);   Cambodia;
LGBTIQ+ matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Nigeria,   Croatia;   Poland,   Australia,   nine more nations are looking to ban so-called conversion “therapy”; and
other matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   South Korea (gender equality);   Australia (racism),   Cambodia (belated compensation from a bank to people forcibly dispossessed of their land),   Somalia,   Australia (disablism).

In the governance, politics, and society arena:   neo-nazis are one of Australia’s biggest security risks, according to the head of an intelligence organisation - to which our idiotic Home Affairs Minister responded by waffling on about left wing threats . . . ;   an assessment of the benefits of moving beyond GDP as the sole measure of “society’s success” (the comment by New Zealand’s prime minister[who is struggling with ethical problems of some in her government] Jacinda Ardern “that government policies should be directed towards the future wellbeing of our societies and even be influenced by values such as kindness, fairness and compassion” is INFINITELY better);   Australia’s much vaunted and one off Accord has been done as a matter of course by Germany since World War II; factual numbers and commentary on government debt, allegations of debt crisis, and the (proven to be effective) carbon price and resource rent recovery (aka “mining”) tax - and, on that, “if Australia's resources were taxed the way Norway’s are, we could secure the future of our schools”;   the problem of “optimism bias” in construction of infrastructure (I once urged for disruption costs for staging of a project to be included in preliminary planning, and was told in a horrified voice “if we did that, we’d have to build it all now” . . . and your point is? If we did, and paid for it with loans, we would probably get more effective and fairer intergenerational sharing of the financial impacts. The other MASSIVE problem this article highlights is that of deferring spending money to buy votes - at least infrastructure is now, four decades too late, focusing on the climate crisis);   Australia’s neoliberal national government, which claims to be good on economics, is buying water it has already purchased;   given the stupidity of how unemployment is measured, underemployment continues to be a real and persistent problem;   the need to adapt retirement planning for the reality that far fewer people own their own homes;   why some US voters don’t;   more conservative MPs are asking for decency in Australia’s social security system;   confirmation that the neoliberal government broke the law over an FoI request;   in the USA, a call to organise, not mobilise, and a favourable economic assessment of candidate Bernie Sanders’ economic policies;   flawed funding of education;   farmers who bought water from the neoliberal government are still waiting for it . . . after months.

Internationally:   more Palestinian-Israeli violence ends with more death (reported with the disturbing dehumanising word “neutralised”, showing a major loss of humanity on the part of those who did the killing), a “shaky” truce (and claims that footage of a front end loader clearing rocks was “sped up” doesn’t cover the entirety of what [irresponsibly] happened), a report of concerning actions in 2017, and this assessment;   Malaysia is dithering  over democracy again;   floods in the USA;   the last group of rebels in Colombia is engaging in violence as Venezuelan refugees inside the Colombian border experience crime and despair and murders of women activists increases 50%;   hundreds have been “detained” by police after massive, violent and fatal inter-religious  riots in India - which will buy $4 billion worth of weapons from the USA;   fighting continues in Syria as Turkish-backed rebels make gains against the Russian-led forces of the Assad regime, but Turkey will now allow Syrian refugees into Europe after 33 soldiers were killed by Assad’s forces;   Taiwan is showing that democracy IS consistent with Chinese culture and values;   an examination of the recent history of Afghanistan, and the determination of her peoples;   a call to give Tibet representation at COP26.

In Africa:   as Algeria - which appears to be continuing down its authoritarian path - settles on a government, concerns over election irregularities in Togo, and votes in Guinea (including its electoral register) and Guinea-Bissau;, as a murder charge raises questions over the government in Lesotho;   corruption has been in the news in Algeria, DR Congo, and Angola;   Cameroon has released its opposition leader from jail;   a call to stop the spiral of violence in Burkina Faso;   oppression in Burundi;   a suspicious death in Rwanda,   as, in a nod to normality, a bank prepares to issue a credit card, and women call for a greater role in peace negotiations, peace is in sight in Sudan’s east, although a Janjaweed thug has fled to evade justice and violence has taken some soldiers’ lives in South Darfur;   the drought is devastating Zimbabwe’s elderly more than others;   Tanzania appears to be continuing its suppression of the media - and the USA appears to be “drifting” into that area as well;   the agreement in South Sudan is being welcomed, with one of the key figures released from house arrest;   continuing hopes for peace in Libya;   the fight against locusts (which have also reached DR Congo) in Uganda continues, a challenge to Museveni’s reign over Uganda on the basis of age will be allowed to proceed;   violence around mining in Mozambique;   how Mauritania is defeating terrorism;   Togo is going solar;   social media is being used to fight far right extremists in South Africa, where several key Ministers’ phones have been hacked;   as Africa’s economic growth slows, concerns that loans from  China may cripple South America and Africa;   Mexico has returned an artefact to Nigeria, where a judge has been releasing forgotten prisoners;   Ethiopia has released political prisoners.

On COVID-19: which is still  spreading  epidemic (not yet a pandemic, although “very high” risk . . . but there are calls  to  prepare), now spreading more quickly outside mainland China, troubling suggestions the incubation period could be longer, but confirmation that transmission only occurs with symptoms, and actions are being enforced;   protection;   as a warning is made the economic effects could be as severe as the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08, economic markets belatedly show fear and Venice’s famous carnival is cancelled;   appalling racism is eventuating - and a reminder is made that discharged patients are not a risk or threat;   a vaccine is still months away;

On personal / spiritual matters:   the need for quiet in our cities to nurture our spirit.

Reading I found interesting this week included:   “9 Steps to Develop the True Sight”,   “Our Gods Are Not Jealous Gods: The Importance of Building a Pagan Worldview”,   an ad for personalised talismans by an artists I quite like: I’ve used representations of a natal horoscope in my creations as well, and consider it a good idea,   “Most people see the benefits of empathy as akin to the evils of racism: too obvious to require justification. I think this is a mistake”,   “The Pain Of Losing The Pack” (beginning with the story of a false accusation),   some common sense comments on cultural appropriation.