On psychic, spiritual and related matters, including interesting reading:
- the USA's Pentagon has not tried to attribute the UFO/UAP sightings it has admitted it cannot identify to anything (so yes to UFOs/UAPs, but no comment that they are extraterrestrial in origin). Unfortunately, as predicted, they are trying to turn it into a false flag event;
- finally a review of Bruce Cathie's calculations that I understand - and a conclusion that Cathie's approach is not reasonable (mind you, I found the rest of that website a little too strange for my tastes, but the maths and analysis in the review was sound);
- more interesting thoughts from one of my favourite authors: "Finding Spiritual Support in an Era of Solitary Practitioners";
- I've found the Covenant of the Goddess site is still active, and appears to be more progressive than I remember (although they still seem to be US-focused/US-centric). I did find an updated version of Ma'at's 42 laws (described as ideals) here.
(Mægan)
On Uganda this week:
- Museveni is continuing his stay in, and abuse of, power;
- a police officer has shot and killed a 13 year old girl;
- hospitals in Uganda accused of profiteering;
- the OTT Internet tax will end;
- business rent and tax problems in Uganda - and a call for direct cash transfers;
- Uganda's opposition wants an urgent recall of Parliament to address lockdown issues;
- Uganda will compel all vehicle owners to pay to have electronic tracking devices fitted;
- the Constitutional Court has ordered that civilians be tried in civil courts, NOT military court-martials;
- Museveni's mob are arguing against aid to those in need ... .
On Burma this week:
- the protests and killing continue,
- "the brutal military junta in Myanmar is targeting independent journalists and lawyers in attempts to crush the opposition to its rule";
- an analysis of the growing risks from violent opposition to the coup;
- the victims of sexual violence in Burma;
- the Burmese military which violently seized and holds power in Burma has objected to being described as a junta and threatened legal action against those who do so;
- an opinion that Burma is "trapped in a vicious cycle of violence".
From the news this week:
- on the climate crisis and the environment:
we are still behind on electric vehicles; call for "debt-for-climate swaps"; hundreds of millions of people are at risk NOW from rising seal levels; a heatwave in western Canada and the USA's Pacific northwest has killed hundreds of people - and a town hit by the heatwave has now been engulfed by fire; complacency (or stupidity) on spending to address climate risk; "European Union countries have given the final seal of approval to a law to make the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions targets legally binding"; urban farming in Argentina; "via an unprecedented wave of lawsuits, America’s petroleum giants face a reckoning for the devastation caused by fossil fuels" - see also this; UK police have raided places used by XR - and possibly one that isn't - to limit imminent protests against the climate crisis; "taking action on climate change will ultimately boost economic growth, particularly as new technologies come into play that open up new job possibilities. The data currently available suggests that countries need not sacrifice sustainability for economic security or vice versa"; plans for limiting emissions by carbon storage are running in to the problem of not enough carbon storage;
(responsibility) - on international relations including war:
the danger and risks of autonomous weapons (which helped Azerbaijan win last year's war in Nagorno-Karabakh); a dissident's experience suggests that a diplomat's view of China is wrong; on probably the most appalling and shameful event in Australia's recent history: "how Australia cheated East Timor of its oil"; what would happen to us (Australia) if the USA and China had "a conflict" (war?) over Taiwan (and what would happen to the global chip supply???!!!! Actually, on that, see this assessment - US steps may make that less of an issue, at the expense of Taiwan's security ... ); "China’s domestic security measures and its foreign policy actions have incensed a global array of [religious extremist] elements"; following recent Russian naval aggression, NATO and Ukraine are conducting a naval exercise; an assessment of what Pakistan could do to promote peace in Afghanistan when the Taliban take over; rebels in Tigray are continuing to fight - and claim to have made gains; the history and basis of the "rules-based order"; an examination of drone warfare in West Asia; continuing "anger against an authority many Palestinians feel is out of touch"; "Ethiopia denies trying to ‘suffocate’ Tigray region"; "the United Nations Security Council will likely meet next week to discuss a dispute between Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt over a giant dam built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile"; "Israel launches air strikes on Gaza after incendiary balloons spark small fires"; China has taken action to suppress Thailand's sovereignty in the Mekong basin;
(BPM group leadership) - on the COVID-19 pandemic:
recurring lockdowns show the need for vaccination; politics and "the frankly rabid bias of the Murdoch tabloids"; collective trauma; the Royal Flying Doctor Service is delivering vaccines to remote areas; rising house prices are a threat to economic recovery after the pandemic; a report on the impact of the pandemic on Indigenous and minority peoples; yet more information on how early lockdowns are better (economically) than the higher death toll alternative; Israel is showing the benefits of high vaccination rates (amongst Israelis, at any rate); "small businesses take on insurance giants ... in COVID pandemic class action";
(Berkana - healing & compassion) - on genocides and other human rights issues:
the continuing crisis facing Rohingya refugees; more on the national neolib nitwits cracking down on dissent / free speech / activism by charities; an "orgy of killing" is likely when the Taliban conquer Afghanistan; Sudan signals ex-dictator to face International Criminal Court; "the Bangladesh government has failed to address widespread allegations of torture and ill-treatment by its security forces"; unrepentant slave keepers in Australia; the underemployed; an unprecedented rate of executions in Egypt; pro-democracy protests are sweeping eSwatini - but claims police have killed pro-democracy protestors; a controversial former South African president being tried for alleged corruption has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court; a UN call for global action against systemic police racism; there is an urgent need to repeal a "draconian" anti-terrorism law in Sri Lanka; another independent media voice in Hong Kong has been silenced by the CCP; Nigeria is considering extending its ban on one social media platform to all news media; an exposé of the CCP's lies; a killing and multiple revenge killings associated with divisions in Haiti's police; a permanent gun amnesty; "New South Wales police officers are testing out the federal government’s controversial facial recognition system to access passport photos as part of criminal investigations, despite legislation governing its use not yet passing parliament"; "rampant impunity" in Mali; "Genocide Watch considers Poland to be at Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 4: Dehumanisation, and Stage 6: Polarisation for its policies restricting the rights of women and LGBT+ persons. Poland is also at Stage 10: Denial concerning Polish cooperation in the Holocaust"; India's police have been acting as stooges of the CCP by arresting pro-Tibet protestors; Uganda will compel all vehicle owners to pay to have electronic tracking devices fitted; changes to defamation law; US announces third gender category in passports; Philippines' government will form new militias; a Turkish national has been abducted and deported from Kenya - contrary to a court order; security flaws in the EU's new rush-developed digital vaccination certificate; child traffickers in the Côte d'Ivoire's cocoa sector have been jailed; "UN expert calls on Morocco to stop targeting activists over Western Sahara"; human rights organizations have called for accountability in Afghan civilian deaths; a notorious former US defence secretary has died before facing justice for his role in war crimes and torture; Cuba is continuing to silence critical voices; we need corporate responsibility laws; continuing gender-based violence in Senegal; an Iranian-German national is still wrongly detained in Iran; French prosecutors have opened an investigation into four companies operating in Xinjiang for possibly concealing crimes against humanity; "fear mounts for the stateless Vietnamese fishing community in Cambodia as COVID-19 rages on both sides of the border"; "US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the Trafficking in Persons report that inequities undercut [the USA's] battle against human trafficking"; repression has made "Russian politics to be little more than a charade in which carefully curated “selectorates,” which owe their positions to fealty rather than legitimacy, govern for themselves instead of their citizens";
- on democracy:
the problem of militarism in civilian governance; more protests against the Palestinian Authority - and a resignation - after a critic of the PA "died" in custody; the Auditor-General has criticised another programme that appears to be a rort; concerns about repression ahead of elections in Zambia; Bitcoin WILL be taxed; Sudan has arrested supporters of the former despotic dictator on suspicion of planning violence; talks in Europe on a way towards elections in Libya; a fact check has supported the ALP leader's claim of flat lining wages; an element of realism has crept into Australia's long term economic forecasting; concerns about the likely reduced effectiveness of anti-corruption in Indonesia; a suggestion for a revised basis for viewing skills in migration assessments; "Colombia needs to reduce its extreme inequality if it is to overcome vulnerability to unrest. In the short term, the government should embark on comprehensive police reform, support efforts at national and local dialogue, and invite international observers to negotiations as a trust-building measure";
(democracy) - on LGBTIQ+ matters:
hypocritical companies that give messages of support for Pride events but also support anti-LGBT haters; "Transgender job quota law seen 'changing lives' in Argentina"; a controversial right wing pollie is holding an enquiry that is as homophobic/transphobic and unbalanced as the anti-LGBTIQ+ legislation he is currently proposing; a transphobic bigot in Qld has lost his legal appeal; Honduras has been ordered to track and investigate anti-LGBTIQ hate crimes; - on racism:
George Floyd's main murderer has been sentenced to over 20 years jail; disturbing levels of racism against women of colour; the Kakadu township, Jabiru, has been returned to its traditional owners; "powerful first-hand accounts of racism" and a call for "a "bold" and "revolutionary" multicultural vision for Australia"; "another 182 unmarked graves were discovered at a third former indigenous residential school in Canada as two Catholic Churches went up in flames on Wednesday, with anger mounting over the mushrooming abuse scandal"; - on sexism and misogyny:
reproductive coercion; a critique of the national neolib nitwit's latest attempt to not be sexist; a "barrister who specialises in discrimination and harassment law is the new chair of [a sporting organisation]'s independent panel investigating allegations of abuse in the sport"; period poverty in Lebanon; as it announced some months ago, misogynistic Turkey has now formally withdrawn from a treaty preventing violence against women; a researcher who "has studied misogynistic abuse on social media as part of his PhD and said he has serious doubts about the tech giants' commitments"; "financial firm Bessemer Trust asks to be withdrawn from Britney Spears's conservatorship case"; - on ableism:
no Auslan services for deaf patients in hospitals; - on animal rights:
a monk in Chinas has rescued and re-homed 8,000 dogs; a court case is seeking access to video from cameras potentially showing cruelty in abattoirs.
