A continuing question and other matters:
Hey @TheElders and @AfricanUnion, given the widespread suffering, are you going to do anything for Uganda this year? @amnesty #SaveUganda #StandwithUganda
@MarisePayne @SenatorWong For decency's sake, sanction the genocidaires who committed the coup in Myanmar and stop our military aid. #SaveMyanmar #SaveBurma
Save Salla 2032 https://youtu.be/sSZSrjmmSIo #savesalla #Salla2032
This week I have made the following posts on my other blogs:
- Most
US republicans vote to acquit #45 - and thereby condemn themselves, what is
left of their party, and the USA's moral standing to hell
So, as expected, #45 has been acquitted, and Pelosi ruled out the 14th Amendment a few days ago so trump can run again in four years time. The other trials might hurt the psychopath, but unless he is in jail in four years time, they basically won't make much of a difference.
The inevitability of this makes the outcome even more frustrating - maybe if they had called witnesses, it would have made the result closer. I consider that an error - and now the whole impeachment is going to empower the psychopathic #45 and his equally psychopathic supporters (the trumpettes). Remember: none of their vitriolic insanity has ANYTHING to be with rationality, so all the rational and self-serving congratulatory assessments will miss the fact that the USA has just given a greenlight to the world's current Mussolini/wannabe Hitler.
I suspect some of 45's marginal supporters would have changed allegiances as a result of this trial, just as seven US Republican Senators did, but the core are going to be re-energised and empowered and FAR more aggressive and bigoted as a result of the acquittal.
. . . - Edited
copy of My Submission re Victorian LGBTIQ+ Strategy
One of the many things I like about the government in my home state is their use of public consultation. I've referred to this recently (here, on police, here, on tiny homes [yet to be submitted], and there are two more I am looking at); I have just made a submission on the government's proposed LGBTIQ+ Strategy - still open for a few days here.
A lightly edited copy of my submission is provided below.
. . . - Engineering
has become a cult
I got around to catching up with my engineering membership paperwork yesterday, and one thing I was appalled to discover is that I am supposed to commit to always promoting engineering - despite the widespread misogyny, LGBTIQ-phobia, and ABUSIVE work conditions and practices and expectations.
If we are so scared of honest opinion and so BLIND to the truth of working conditions in
. . . - Endorsements
This blog covers politics and human rights. I will not entertain any requests for endorsement on other (e.g., financial) matters, and any requests for endorsement are likely to be treated as spam. - Social
media and tech companies
I'm old.
I remember the days before the Internet - before PCs, even. My high school maths class was the last to learn how to use slide rules and the first to learn how to use a computer (one that ran off stacks of cards). When I finished uni, I recall the joy when the first company I worked for got one electric typewriter ... and then a telex ... and then another company I was at got a fax.
And here's the really scary bit: I also remember the days when everyone was fairly naïve and idealistic - Google really did start off with a determination to “not do the evil thing”, YouTube had more of an interactive, community feel, and then there was the - clunky, unsophisticated and unpolished to modern eyes - early versions of social media,
. . . - The
effects of climate change
Some articles this week have illustrated the increased potential for catastrophes as a result of the climate crisis:
. . . - On
Uganda, Burma, the attempted coup in the USA, and from the news
On Uganda this week:
as detentions are extended, security experts and political actors have stated that "unexplained arrests are [a] major cause for concern";
. . .
On Burma this week:
expert recommendations for the world on what to do (coordinated messaging against violence, targeted sanctions, directing aid away from the military & arms embargoes, talk to the generals);
. . .
On the attempted coup in the USA:
calls for "for 9/11-style commission to investigate" the attempted coup in the USA have been successful;
. . .
From the news this week:
the USA has rejoined the fight against the climate crisis;
an example from history showing how close we have sometimes come to accidental nuclear war reminds us why we must STILL be careful now;
an international coalition of 57 countries is condemning hostage diplomacy by China;
a call for change in Nigeria ("only Nigerians can change Nigeria") - and a supporting petition;
the CCP's bending of rules
. . .
I have a couple YouTube posts on random thoughts this week:
Interesting reading / sites this week:
- “relaxing with chaos”;
- “people who brag about their Paganism and witchcraft”;
- one of the books I had planned on reviewing eventually was “Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny” (Amazon) by Mark Stavish. I may not, now, as this review has been published;
- “Evolution Could Explain Why Psychotherapy May Work for Depression - Persistent rumination may be an attribute that lets us think our way out of despair—a process enhanced through talk therapy” . . . “The reason may be rooted in our deep evolutionary past. Scholars suggest humans may become depressed to help us focus attention on a problem that might cause someone to fall out of step with family, friends, clan or the larger society—an outcast status that, especially in Palaeolithic times, would have meant an all-but-certain tragic fate. Depression, by this account, came about as a mood state to make us think long and hard about behaviours that may have caused us to become despondent because some issue in our lives is socially problematic”.
- Monday,
Tuesday,
Wednesday,
Thursday,
Friday,
Saturday,
(these candles are the “lite” substitute for my former news posts).
