Post No. 1,547 - In this week’s news

Stay safe - wash your hands, practice social distancing, and follow informed medical advice - and be considerate towards those at risk or in situations of vulnerability (including economic) while the COVID-19 pandemic is a problem.

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.

Content Warning: the linked articles and their descriptions here may be about violence, abuse, hate, and other problems.

My articles this week include:   more on helping older workers;   autumnal reflections;   telepathy;   a call for health professionals to be professional;   on dentists and professionalism;   harassment (work-related gendered violence) of LGBTIQ+ people in the workplace; "flummoxed by the unfamiliar";  .

On personal / spiritual matters:   from the northern hemisphere, a call for a better, more inclusive celebration of Beltane;   a don’t have a so-called “smart” phone, so I don’t know how good or otherwise this is, but there is an app (of course) for training oneself to be (more?) psychic . . . (I tried an online version of this principle, and while I was interested it worked, but that sort of thing just doesn’t interest me, just as computer games don’t).

Reading I found interesting this week included:   continued working from home after the pandemic could lead to a change in how we plan cities;   a major tech company has fired two internal critics.

In this week’s news:   two  examinations of the issue of debt levels;   “the US Department of Defense [sic] has released three declassified videos of ‘unexplained aerial phenomena’ ” - which is the latest term they use to cover up UFOs;   “Barack Obama’s team watched Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech whenever they were ‘really annoyed’ with Tony Abbott [- who Obama] went way off the script . . . to blast for climate inaction”.

In the environmental arena, where we have been fighting World War III for some time now:   animal disease detectives are being trained to try to prevent any further zoonotic diseases;   actions to help an endangered species;   “Australia could get 90% of electricity from renewables by 2040 with no price increase”;   air pollution is worse near major roads than official readings indicate;   more lies from right wing extremist think tanks;   investors have called on Australia’s largest oil company to do more against climate change;   more problems in the Murray-Darling basin;   a company associated with a controversial neoliberal MP has been found guilty of poisoning an endangered grassland;   far from being a problem, Australian bats - and flying foxes - play a beneficial role;   “coronavirus will trigger biggest ever plunge in energy demand, emissions”;   lockdown is allowing illegal logging in Tunisia.

On human and animal rights:
   official transphobia in backsliding Hungary;   research supporting the benefits of and the need to be inclusive of TGD people;
   judicial backsliding in the USA;   a government department has denied that its legal warning to a non-profit transparency website is a threat . . . ;
   “Uzbekistan ends plight of thousands of stateless people with landmark law”;
   concerningly, Kashmiri police are investigating journalists;
   bullying of children with disabilities, and one success story in overcoming same;
   Afghanistan’s misogyny also targets women with disabilities;
   the disgrace of incarceration of Indigenous people;   Hobart's kunanyi/Mt Wellington;   eight unknown warriors;   a call to correct errors around Cook’s landing, and the vital role of Cook’s Pacific Islander crew;   there were a dozen Africans on the British First Fleet to Australia;   my home state has appointed the first Aboriginal woman to serve as a member of a major Tribunal;   teachers “lack confidence” to teach Indigenous kids;   neoliberals are upset at historically accurate commentary about Cook’s arrival;
   redress for one colonial massacre may open the doors to redress for others;
   a call for the homeless not to be forgotten after the pandemic;
   some online payment systems are allowing support for right wing extremists / white supremacists.
Immigration and refugee matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Australia (good news);
trafficking/slavery/child abuse matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Australia;   Sudan (ban on FGM);   west Africa;
LGBTIQ+ matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   USA;   Israel (good news);   Poland.

In the related human rights arena of employment:   investors are paying more attention to workers’ rights.

Risks or occurrences of atrocities, mass violence and/or war(s) this week in:   Israel;   Germany (trial of war criminals from Syria and Iraq), Cameroon, and Niger;   the UN enquiry into Syria missed the real causes;   Canada will ban assault weapons after the recent massacre;   CAR;   Egypt.

In the governance, politics, public ethics, and society arena:   the claims of an Australian MP that documents he used to attack a city Mayor were from that city’s website have not been backed up by police investigations;   tech companies refusing to pay up for Australian content has led to the imposition of a mandatory code;   democracy is being undermined by inequality and repression.

On disasters this week:   ways to improve aid after disasters (nice to see the influence of GiveDirectly there - and in other places).

On humanitarian aid:   development vs. conflict.

Internationally:   Yemen’s separatists want South Yemen to go it alone - again (the history of two - struggling - Yemens and unhappy unification is complex), thus jeopardising Saudi Arabia’s plans for (an imposed?) peace - see also this, on preventing this;   Pakistan has test fired an anti-ship missile;   military expenditure has been increasing;   an examination of the inevitability of a collision between China and the West;   while this decision shows justice for the Israeli victims, it raises the issue that there are Palestinians who also deserve compensation;   a Saudi TV show character has urged closer ties with Israel, but another has been anti-Semitic and anti-US;   an examination of the quest for peace in Ukraine;   a review of Turkey’s now overt support for the internationally backed government in Libya, as opposed to those who are supporting the war criminal in the east;   a review of tensions and risks in West Asia;   Israel may also have interfered in the 2016 US Presidential election;   a review of Sudan one year after the coup;   violent protests in Lebanon;   water shortages in Argentina.

In Africa:   African mediators are more effective than non-Africans;   governance in Nigeria.

On the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus (there are other novel coronaviruses) (seven major risks to watch here, and seven sins of thought to avoid here):
   some US citizens have shown they are as stupid as POTUS45;   others are also falling into the trap of myths;   social analysis indicates we have three groups in response to lockdown measures;   these photos of Australia under lockdown remind me of the photos of 1950s Melbourne used for the film version of Nevil Shute’s “On the Beach”;   a bit of satire;

   good stories - particularly of people coming together:   even seeing nature on a screen will help mood;   UK;   finding stillness at home;

   medical aspects:   mobile phones need daily disinfection (so do keyboards, IMO);   at least a dozen children in the UK have fallen ill to a potentially fatal (they’re in intensive care) combination of COVID-19 related symptoms (“The cases have in common overlapping feature of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease”);   doctors in Germany have protested against the PPE shortage;   increased testing - which is not a substitute for safe behaviour - will increase the number of known cases;   the psychological toll of the lockdown may create a “second wave” (I hope people have some empathy for prisoners now);   a warning against quackery;   a reminder to look after mental health;   another study has concluded the pandemic has not been made by men (and probably not by women/others either - when will these ****heads learn to use the word “human” rather than being sexist?);   the increased cognitive load is exhausting;

   resources:   a guide to wider testing;

   human rights aspects (crisis . . . running summary of impacts on elections here):   the BETTER contact tracing alternatives to using an app;   Australians’ data provided through the app is NOT secure - see also this, and this explainer that the onus is on the government to obtain trust;   heavy-handedness from Poland’s police - through an app;   “the UN human rights office voiced concern on Monday about more than a dozen countries that have declared states of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic where police have arrested or detained hundreds of thousands of people and killed others”;   potential problems with “immunity certificates”;   invited vs. coerced measures;   refugees rights are being attacked;   staggering abuse in El Salvador;   POTUS45’s continued abuse of power;   more thoughtless cretins are developing yet more surveillance technology;   responses must be gender-sensitive;   the pandemic may strengthen the push for democratisation;

   Australia:   easing of restrictions in some  states - which will help domestic violence victims - as stupidity continues in at least one state;   pokie addicts are benefitting from not being able to gamble;   concerning claims about official approval for a test kit are being investigated;   attitudes to the pandemic:   vulnerable students could fall further behind;   a flaw in landlords’ insurance may counter attempts to help tenants;   as the neoliberal national government tries to bribe private schools to reopen, schools in my home state - and others - will remain closed (this has also been rejected in Israel);   vulnerable children and their carers are at particular risk;   hypocrisy from our neoliberal PM;   a business has been criticised for sacking workers who are ineligible for help;   concerns about the coming winter;   increased use of testing;   the devastation facing new groups of unemployed;   shelters for rough sleepers;

   internationally:   in a few months, the death toll from COVID-19 in the USA (which has one third of all cases in the world) has exceeded their death toll in the years long Viêt Nám war (although there is a long way to go to exceed the Vietnamese death toll, and other flus have killed more people in the USA);  Viêt Nám’s success against the pandemic;   Brazil’s health system is being overwhelmed, and its “leader” doesn’t give a stuff;   Singapore’s mistakes and attempts to boost its health system;   unsurprisingly, POTUS45 will invoke war powers to keep his burgers coming . . . ;   Russia’s motives for providing aid to Italy have been questioned (really? We know they’re going to milk everything for power and influence [so is almost every other nation] - is the aid useful, or, as with some of China’s too flawed to use?);   call centre workers in the Philippines - where lockdown measures are extreme, and enforcement is abusive - are facing extremely concerning working conditions;   China is retaliating  aggressively against calls for an investigation into its (mis?)handling of the pandemic, as it continues to use aid as a geopolitical tool - e.g., in the Pacific (once upon a time, the West did that) but tries to shut down the appalling “wet” markets;   ways to  provide support in South Asia;   deportations from the USA and Mexico are spreading the pandemic southwards;   Erdoǧan’s authoritarianism is the source of undermining of his situation in Turkey under the pandemic;   Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are “playing politics with the coronavirus”;   the problems facing North Korea;   easing of lockdown in Thailand, Switzerland, and Denmark, but not the UK, and France (which is also selling antiques to raise funds) will use aggressive testing as the way out;   cooperation in Israel;   stupidity in the USA has come home to roost;   concerns for the homeless in India;

   Africa:   concerns for west Africa - particularly prisons in the DRC;   the effects in Senegal, which is now receiving food aid;   “climate-smart cassava gets new use in Zambia: hand sanitiser”;   easing of lockdowns in Africa, including Ghana, which subsequently experienced a spike, and Rwanda;   stupidity in Burundi;   the World Bank is sending aid to South Sudan;

   globally:   the impacts of the pandemic on the world’s “blue economy”;   safe distancing on planes could be the new normal (and maybe the old practice of disinfection could be normal again);   the pandemic has “exposed” (many could have - and did - see the flaws actually) the flaws (stupidity) of the “just in time” economy;   consult with civil society in the developing world;   remittances from overseas workers have been severed, causing  a crisis;   the UN is sending aid to vulnerable developing nations;

   blame games:   Japan.