Black Lives Matter!
Stay safe - wash your hands, practice social distancing and wear a face mask in public, 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.
To counter despots, abuses of human rights and incompetent governance, and enable responsible, inclusive and participatory democracy, which is the ONLY sustainable basis for liberty and freedom, all people must embrace, instead of fearing, uncertainty, and commit to clear and objective/dispassionate thought, goodwill, and competence at being human, including having emotions.
This is a new, very cut down series of news aggregation 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. Also, being an Australian, I am now going to start referring to specific Australian states using accepted abbreviations. Editorial comments / personal opinion by me in grey. “Quotes are shown italicised and in quotation marks.”
Content Warning: the linked articles and their descriptions here may be about violence, abuse, hate, and other problems.
On Spiritual Matters: conspiracy fantasists are destroying the New Age/alternative spirituality movement - and this doesn’t help; a criticism of how Asian meditation has been imported to the West.
Reading/Viewing I found interesting this week included: “how’s your pandemic (still) going?”.
Overall Commentary on this week’s news:
in a week
with wonderful news in the DR Congo and elsewhere in Africa, and the EU
pledging to actively support democracy, a giant for justice has passed in the
USA - where accountability for power and sanity are edging closer to
realisation in a tough and close race. More voices are calling for action of
the climate crisis, but the voices on the pandemic are split between those
wanting to save lives now for the best long term gain, those split between that
and addressing short term issues, and conspiracy fantasists who share the same
abdication of responsibility as those social media sock puppets putting genuine,
real and true freedom and democracy at risk. Abuse of power exists from
the large scale of genocide and crimes against humanity down to the personal
with rape, sexual harassment, and finally some truth about the sadism of trolls
(and, in my opinion - based on my lived experience - school and other
bullies, which is why they should NEVER be given the satisfaction of knowing
they are causing pain). The sadism of denial and xenophobia and other
excuses, combined with incompetent “thinking”, is perpetuating racism, sexism,
homo-/trans-/bi-phobia and other bigotry, including against asylum seekers and
refugees - compounded by those who refuse to address their discomfort with
change, difference, challenges to their world view, and uncertainty.
In This
Week’s News:
an assessment of the forthcoming book
by noted journalist Bob Woodward
goes beyond the already staggering revelations that lyin’
45 KNEW how deadly the pandemic
was WHEN
he was “downplaying” it, but also that the USA has a
new, secret nuclear
weapons system (as the journalist says,
hello nuclear arms race), came close to nuclear war with North
Korea in 2017 (sounds closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis), and
there was ACTIVE BLOCKING of intelligence on Russian attempts to interfere with the 2020 US Presidential election (why is #45
still in power, and why do so many US voters still support #45? They are
putting the entire human species at risk); after this week’s anti-science
rants by lyin’
45 (whose anti-science stance also
contributed to people not evacuating ahead of a cyclone), the
magazine “Scientific American” is endorsing pro-science US Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden
- the first it has ever done so in its nearly two century history, and there
have been calls for Australia
(particularly MPs)
to take note;
Ruth
Bader Ginsburg
has died,
and a replacement
must now be found; conspiracy
fantasists are being sock
puppets for China and Russia; improved corporate accountability is the new norm - and what makes work meaningful; the diversity
on Australia’s Christmas Island; a man
jailed in the USA 37 years ago for rape has been exonerated
by DNA evidence; an ethnic community in
Qld has been left shocked
by a stabbing death amongst “outliers” from its community; increasing computing power is putting
passwords at
increased risk - see also here
and here; research shows trolls are likely sadists
(which is WHY those trolls described as bullies
should NEVER get the satisfaction of knowing they have caused distress),
rate themselves highly, and psychopaths; teaching young kids about money; “the Northern Territory coroner is examining
the apparent suicides and possible sexual assaults of three teenage girls in
separate remote Top End communities, saying police had been unable to determine
what happened to them”.
In the Environmental Arena, where we have been fighting World War III for some time now:
in the USA “leaders of the three
West Coast states say global
warming is to blame for the intensity of the fires”; Indigenous
hunting of feral cats;
a simple reorientation to improve the performance of solar panels; hottest
ever summer in the northern hemisphere; a regional Victorian council has rejected
an EPA approved but community opposed proposal to build the state's first lead
battery recycling plant, which would have processed 50,000 tonnes of spent
batteries into 28,000 tonnes of refined lead a year, less than two kilometres
from the local primary school - but a VCAT appeal may overturn that; the Earth is warming
faster than it has done for tens of millions of years; whales are attacking
boats off Spain and Portugal (this is not like accidental collisions that have happened
in the past - it is prolonged, and shows signs of anger); cockroach
farms for recycling in China; the neolibs started to rewrite environmental laws BEFORE they received experts’ recommendations.
other
environmental matters have
occurred in:
lyin’
45; USA; South
Africa (coal mining); Brazil (deforestation
for soy farming in the Amazon); Uganda-Tanzania.
This week on
the PROTESTS IN THE DESPOTIC USA and
associated protests/issues elsewhere:
the family of the woman killed by
police executing a “no knock “ warrant while she slept will receive $16
million in compensation; this terrible
incident shows the risks that police always face: it MAY also show the
consequences of police racist violence - i.e., someone retaliating with equally
deplorable violence. The protestors calling for the death of police are also .
. . unhelpful (I’ve toned that word down several times), as is the
arrest of a radio journalist who, contrary to police allegations, had ID on her
and had identified herself;
Police:
calls
in my home state - including officially from police
- for an independent enquiry
after a man with mental health issues was placed in an induced coma in hospital
after being hit by a police care and kicked in the head by a police officer
- and the police union is trying to abdicate
all notion of professional competence and responsibility after another
incident (I’ve experienced some very concerning comments - despicable, in one instance
- by the police union, however, the issue may also illustrate the problem of
current workload on police);
a police sergeant has been jailed
for theft of properties using a scam relying in part on her uniform;
Analysis/Commentary:
facts and myths about protests (this is not
quite correct in my home state under a state of disaster - and my home state is unique in having Parliamentary
scrutiny of such declarations -
[and see also this] ).
On HUMAN AND ANIMAL RIGHTS:
as changes are expected
to the SAS before a report on abuses, a former Australian military member has
been helping
a violent rebel in Libya; a contentious
execution in Iran; a Jewish terrorist who murdered a
Palestinian family has been sentenced in Israel to three life sentences; police in Belarus are
beating and torturing protestors;
a call to hold social media platforms to account;
hundreds
of self harm incidents in Australia’s refugee prisons; staggering allegations
of mass
hysterectomies without consent in US
immigration detention centres;
a trans
athlete’s experiences in the early 90s was good; Poland’s hate
is putting its place in the EU at risk;
major tech/entertainment companies are backing trans rights in the UK - and “the British Medical
Association has backed letting transgender and non-binary people legally change
gender without a medical diagnosis”; a call to stop bi-erasure;
an Indigenous man is seeking “$4.1m
damages from Federal Government over
500 days spent in immigration detention” when the neolibs tried
to deport him; new
Indigenous themed coins;
“women are not
financially illiterate. [We] need more than condescending advice”; a law on
“biodiscovery” that respects Indigenous rights;
a call
for “a global citizens’ assembly on gene editing”.
Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity matters (good and bad) in:
Bangladesh; China; Venezuela; Niger;
Torture, Disappearances and Execution/Killing matters (good and bad) in:
Australia; Viêt
Nám; the
Netherlands has started a case against Syria; Singapore;
Refugee, immigration, and migration
matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
Greece
(good news); how to improve early childhood engagement of CALD; Uganda; the
Mediterranean Sea;
Racism/caste based matters including Indigenous,
colonialism and land rights (good
and bad) have occurred in:
Australia
Post; sport; USA/sport; Colombia; South
Africa;
Child Abuse/Trafficking/Slavery & Extreme Worker Abuse matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
a
rebuttal
of conspiracy fantasists on our belowground infrastructure; what teachers need
to know about childhood trauma; a WA
school; an Amish
community; Brazil (good news);
Bangladesh;
LGBTIQ+ matters (including internalised homo-/bi-/trans-phobia/hate)
(good and bad) have occurred in:
a guide
to behaviour towards TGD people; the experience
of a supportive nurse; NSW
(good news); Barbados;
Sexism (including internalised sexism), misogyny/misandry and
domestic violence matters (good
and bad) have occurred in:
addressing
bigotry and ignorance around periods
(menstruation); sport; Hollywood; Australian
military; NSW; Hollywood; NSW; South
Sudan (good news); Senegal/STEM (good news);
an Indian men’s cricket team will be sponsored by a sanitary pad manufacturer; Botswana (good news);
Disability matters (good
and bad) have occurred in:
deaths
by suicide of prisoners
with disabilities / mental health issues in WA;
Freedom of the Press / Expression matters
(good and bad) have occurred in:
Hungary; Algeria;
Privacy/Surveillance matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
a small
step towards improved
cybersecurity/privacy;
Repression/Oppression / reduction of democracy and
other civil & political rights matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
Belarus; Israel; India; Nicaragua
- see also here; Zimbabwe; Cameroon;
Other animal and human rights matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
helping a pet calf;
In the related human rights arena of Employment:
underpayment at the BBC; backpackers.
Risks or occurrences of Atrocities, Mass Violence and/or War(s) this week in:
Afghanistan; Israel; Europe/Lebanon; Mali; Mozambique; DRC
(good news); Ethiopia; Niger; Nigeria; Burkina
Faso; the
southern Philippines; Mozambique,
Democratic Republic of the Congo and HRC45;
And:
since it started in 2011, the cost
of the USA’s so-called “War
on Terror”
has included taking
the lives of more
than 800,000 people (and indirectly possibly 3 million) and displacing
37 million people (I note this
link ends with “the $2.4 trillion
spent on the War on Terror created 20 million jobs and added $1.4 trillion
to the economy. But if it had gone toward education instead, it would have
created almost 4 million jobs. It would have added $3.1 trillion to
the economy. That may have helped end the recession sooner” - and the
costs of lives lost and injuries would have been reduced, although not
eliminated); concerns
about proposals to release violent prisoners in Afghanistan as part of the path
towards peace - and where, despite those “peace”
talks, fighting has killed
dozens in Afghanistan - see also here; a review
of the effect of the pandemic on the weapons industry in Europe; ”70 armed
groups agree
to end hostilities in DR Congo”; slow
progress towards peace in South Sudan;
arms dealing in Somalia; “analysts say a peace deal reached
between Eritrea and Ethiopia in July 2018 has brought few
tangible benefits”.
On DISASTERS
this week:
a hurricane in the USA; floods in Sudan; possible Ebola in DR
Congo;
And:
“new
bushfire resources for first responders to help autistic people [who
“can become disoriented because of loud noises and unfamiliar smells and
sights”, triggering “flight, fight or freeze reactions”] and those living with disability In emergency situations”; the west
coast fires in the USA are mirroring the 2019-20
climate fires in Australia - see also here; development is increasing flood risks in Turkey;
Bushfires have occurred in:
USA.
On Humanitarian Aid and Development:
restrictions on aid in Yemen are
putting millions at
risk; simple actions now
could help preserve development gains after the pandemic; gender
equity.
In the DEMOCRACY, GOVERNANCE, POLITICS, PUBLIC ETHICS, AND SOCIETY ARENA:
General Matters and Locations:
a call
for universities to be part of lifelong learning; an excellent analysis
of why and how people vote (they filter information of key issues through
the biases of their affiliations), and why there will be limited change
away from lyin’
45 (some clear errors in the article);
concern
that there may be no prosecutions from my home state’s police’s use of a lawyer
as an informant - despite the scores of convictions put at risk and the damage
done to the justice system; evidence shows the
effects of inequity; yellow vest
protests against government policy changes have resumed in France; more
than 100,000 Belarusians have continued protests against that
nation’s President as Russia prepares to intervene
militarily; the EU will use its budget to uphold democracy; suggestions
for improved financial stability of governance in Central and South
America;
in Australia:
Australia’s third national party may
back forcing tech giants to pay for news if the ABC
is also included; a correction
of the misunderstanding that had led to calls for the public sector to be
cut; the neoliberal national
government, with its history
of technology ineptness (robodebt, NBN cutbacks, data breaches, etc) now
wants to allow “government departments and agencies to share data for three
purposes: to deliver government services, to help develop government policies,
and for research and development . . . specifically excludes sharing
information for the purposes of law enforcement, compliance, national security
and targeted commercial marketing” (I would have trouble believing this could be
done safely); the rules
around political donations are not
being enforced; changes may undermine
Indigenous voices in the NT.
The Unexceptional (and despotic) States of America:
an assessment
finds an increased risk of violence, but civil war unlikely, in the USA after
the 2020 presidential election; an
examination of the reliability/otherwise of polls; a US judge has blocked “ ‘politically motivated’ changes to [the] U.S.
Postal Service ahead of [the US Presidential] election”, and a state
has extended mail ballot deadlines;
other democracy, governance, politics,
public ethics, and society matters have occurred in:
Thailand.
Internationally:
more
on the political risks in North Korea; despite
the recent attempted murder using a nerve agent, Russia’s
opposition leader is now recovering; a US citizen has been charged by Venezuela
with weapons smuggling and spying; cause
for some
optimism in the dispute between India and China on the India-Tibet border; Japan has a new Prime
Minister;
on China’s Communist Party (CCP) Regime and the reinvigorated ideological
Cold War this week:
information on China’s
international data
gathering on individuals, organisations, etc - and a suggested response; as Chinese investment halves,
an assessment that the deteriorating situation between Australia and China is serious; people of Chinese ethnicity in Australia are
fearing
guilt by association; anger
from China at staggering revelations that police have accessed diplomatic Chinese communications (while there are shades of grey
in this, China’s interference here, and the authoritarian despotism of the CCP
and Zi are major concerns, this
massive breach of international law recasts much of what has happened of late,
for me); the USA and UK have
also
warned their citizens of the risk of arbitrary arrest in China;
on Israel’s intended
Annexation of the West Bank and
other matters:
the USA has NOT stopped, only deferred Israel’s annexation of the West Bank - making
Palestinians’ objections valid;
while “the diplomatic detente is significant — the UAE and Bahrain
will join Egypt and Jordan as the only Arab countries to officially recognise”
Israel, “these agreements are little more than a footnote in the wider chaos
of” West Asia, and much
still depends on Saudi Arabia.
IN AFRICA - Democracy, Governance, Politics, Public Ethics, And
Society and International Relations:
wildlife
reserves in Burkina Faso are becoming a battleground with poachers and
“militants”; talks continue
on getting Mali back to democracy; work on reintegrating cities divided by apartheid in South Africa;
“circumvention of term limits weakens
governance in Africa”; concerns
about Guinea’s electoral roll; attacks
and other problems creating food insecurity in Nigeria; a call for an
integrated approach to development to overcome the problems
caused by silos; ECOWAS has suspended
a single currency launch; concerns
about Burundi’s new leader; a third
mass prisoner escape, some with weapons, in Uganda; the US has imposed sanctions/restrictions on
people in Nigeria
who have undermined democracy; youth in Sudan will be trained in democracy.
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),
and Wear Masks!!!):
death
threats against an overworked Chief Health Officer for keeping
people safe by closing borders (one
man has been charged); some people are
feeling “dispensable”; an explainer/myth
buster on statistics; anger
at our political point scoring neolib PM for turning a man’s
funeral into “a circus”; an examination
of governance and politics after the pandemic (I have not read all of this
yet); consideration of why
people are angry at lockdown breakers; improved
attitudes towards death and funerals;
good stories/news: an excellent mood lifter; communities are using open source tools to map handwashing stations and otherwise fight the pandemic;
medical aspects: three other illnesses that vaccines are being sought for; mental health; managing other health issues is declining during the pandemic (I can vouch for that personally, but I’m also stymied by finding a supposedly LGBTIQ+-friendly medical service isn’t); an example of How The Recommended Measures ACTUALLY DO WORK; ethical considerations around who gets the vaccine first; some more of the other diseases eradication is being sought for; the possible use of bacteria to cure the pandemic and other illnesses (this is not new - I heard a paper on this a few years ago at a conference discussing disinfection of potable water);
resources: an excellent article on helping family members deal with myths;
Human Rights Aspects (crisis
. . . running summary of impacts on elections here):
pandemic rules have blocked access to
pension in Ukraine; an examination
of the balancing act on rights in the pandemic; “securing the
lands of indigenous people can help protect biodiversity and lower the
risk of future
outbreaks of diseases such as COVID-19”; “the Digital Freedom Fund (DFF) warns
that measures to contain the coronavirus are increasingly infringing on privacy
and other basic rights”;
sexism:
NSW;
work /
workers’ rights:
low income workers are at greatest
risk - but are often not as vocal as higher income workers; possible child labour
in sugar cane farming which supplies ethanol for making hand sanitisers;
police:
Colombia; a legal
assessment of “pop up” police stations and increased surveillance; Victoria.
In My Home State:
as the numbers
in my home state - especially regionally
- start to head the right way (although
aged
care is still a concern - some experts expect 25%
of those cases will be fatal) and the lockdown (people have been buying
more pets, but breeders want the long
term [post-pandemic] to be considered) starts (social
bubbles for single people) to ease (although police have
introduced a new fine to stop
Melbournians flooding out into now safe areas [although they cannot
create offences - that is Parliament’s role] ), the Premier agrees
to face the hotel quarantine enquiry and the Chief Health Officer states
“he should have been given the position of state controller during the
pandemic so he could properly oversee the implementation of directives he was
responsible for” - and a class
action is launched alleging that the hotel quarantine errors cost jobs (one
individual
is trying this on as well); a new
outbreak has been linked to people in a small
group of families breaking the 5 km travel limit and visiting
prohibitions (visiting family members);
free range hens have also
been ordered indoors to manage my home state's worst ever avian flu outbreak;
Australia:
more on the problems
(hotel quarantine places are a limit - leading
to calls for a large Commonwealth facility and a state-Commonwealth
tiff) of getting Australians back home from overseas; cutting JobSeeker would cost
the economy $31 billion; “Australian
university students and their families have been left tens of thousands of
dollars out of pocket after [‘almost
unconscionable’ refusals] to refund
their costs” - but the reopening of regional
Victoria has been an employment
lifeline for international students who
face racism
and exclusion; a billionaire’s
claim that statistics is showing lockdown is causing an increase in suicides is
wrong; another
legal challenge, this one “for compensation from hundreds of agribusinesses
and farmers affected by border and travel restrictions” (do we get to
countersue for the potential loss of life and ability not having restrictions
would have caused?); Australia’s
unemployment rate has posted a surprise fall,
but they may be gig
economy jobs; migrant support services
are at breaking
point;
Internationally:
Chile
- which is one of several places that have stricter lockdowns than we do; acclimation
in the USA - where a call has been made for a second
lockdown; Israel
has imposed a second nation-wide lockdown
to manage a second
wave; the likely
economic scars in the USA;
peacekeepers in Lebanon; people in their 20s have the highest
infection rates in the UK - where thousands
may be left with kidney disease after the pandemic; risks of starvation in Syria; Canada; China is using vaccines while they’re still
experimental; India; “a quarter of Hong
Kong's social enterprises could go out of business by the end of the
year”;
Africa:
Mozambique has lifted
its State of Emergency and Zimbabwe eases its quarantine
measures as Kenya plans
to reopen its schools and in Rwanda, where masks
are being made for the vulnerable, the curfew
will be eased; South Africa has
launched an app to prevent
a second wave; tea production in Nepal
is struggling;
Globally:
Europe; antimicrobial
coatings for planes; a philanthropist
has said “the pandemic has highlighted the
need to address global inequality in education, pay and health care
access”; small island developing
nations are facing a looming debt
crisis;
Irresponsibility, Selfishness, and Unthinking Behaviour:
Victoria; WA
(necessitated an electronic monitoring bracelet); Qld.; lyin’ 45; the Philippines; Indonesia;
Blame Games: the world failed to listen to repeated warnings.
WLNGRHDMT
And finally . . . Black Lives Matter!
