Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked
articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For
anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering
seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/.
Syria this week has started the daunting task of documenting the massive scale of the Assad regime’s crimes (evidence must be preserved - and mass graves are now being found), reportedly agreed on the need for an inclusive government, and given an assurance of peace which was ignored by Israel to continue its attacks (which have caused environmental problems such as oil leaks from sunken ships) and plan to expand its land seizures on the Golan Heights. The Alawite sect the al-Assads came from is fearful of revenge as a UN envoy stresses the need for credible, inclusive, ‘Syrian owned’ transition, Syrian women and youth call for human rights to be respected, and a warning is made that Syria is not yet safe for everyone. Claims are being made that Russia “chose” to allow the Assad regime to fall - despite the damage that losing its Mediterranean naval base in Syria as a result would cause to Russia ... which now may be shifting its focus (and military influence) to Libya, where factions had just agreed to form a unity government ...
And the USA has warned that Türkiye is preparing an invasion of the Syrian Kurdish Autonomous Region. (There is also a backgrounder on global influencers in Syria here, and a assessment of likely regional changes here.)
Elsewhere in West Asia (and the world), the Israel-Palestine war has seen Netanyahu saying he had “friendly” talks with Tr_ mp, a law suit in the USA alleging the USA is funding Israel despite knowing Israel is violating human rights - which is contrary to a specific US law and another lawsuit alleging the USA failed to evacuate Palestinian Americans, Israel killing three more journalists - including one who reported the killing by Israel of ICU babies, Israel deciding to close its embassy after Ireland supported the ICJ genocide petition - leading to Ireland saying it won’t be silenced, concerns about an epidemiological war against Gaza and allegations of deliberate deprivation of water and a “new report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz finds Israel’s military has designated the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts the Gaza Strip in half, as a “kill zone.” The report quotes Israeli soldiers describing how they arbitrarily killed dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children, then posthumously declared them to be terrorists”, thousands of Israelis protesting for a Gaza hostage deal, and Israel extending its attacks to Yemen after a missile attack from rebels in that nation.
And in my nation (Australia), there has been condemnation of Islamophobic graffiti but a Liberal senator wants to ban city centre pro-Palestinian protests, and a man has been charged for alleged N_ z_ salutes and another - in an act of unbelievable amathia - charged for allegedly displaying a H_______h flag. In better news, our opposition to Israel’s unlawful settlements appears to be real enough to impact the Future Fund.
However, there is more to consider in my nation.
Some time ago, my home state announced plans to extend anti-vilification laws to include long overdue and much needed protection for LGBTQIASB+ people - which was a move I have advocated for, and applauded then and applaud now. Since then, nominally in response to increased antisemitism, my home state has announced plans to implement further protections for Jewish people, including ensuring the antivilification measures clearly include them (no mention of Palestinian or Islamic people), and, additionally, to ban wearing face masks at protests (which I thought was already banned - although apparently not used in the case of n__-n_ z_s) and to ban protests near places of worship.
That raises some additional issues, being (1) the concerns of child abuse survivors that had they not been able to protest at churches they may not have achieved justice, (2) the lack of acknowledgment of the vital importance of pro-Palestinian protests, and (3) that the consideration of sacred spaces is limited to buildings - which excludes Indigenous sacred sites - and protests by Indigenous people at our sacred places is a vital part of protecting those sites.
On top of that, however, I have additional concerns, being: (4) that this seems to assume the divisiveness is solely a fabrication of people here, or that the terrible crimes committed against Israelis (whether Jewish or not) and others on 7th October (and subsequently - including sexual crimes), and the actions that Israel has subsequently taken, during its war in response, against Palestinian civilians (noting that at least 4-10,000 of the Palestinian deaths were members of H___s, and the fact of Israeli casualties, including deaths and significant tank losses, is confirmation that this is not an entirely one-sided rampage by Israel) in contravention of the rules of warfare and other human rights laws, possibly including genocide (which allegation is currently with the ICJ for consideration - which found the allegations were at least plausible, and the subject of other legal action) - or at the very least, noting the reported advertisements in Israel for sale of land in Gaza, ethnic cleanings - are somehow not valid cause for pain AND ANGER by both sides; and (5) that Victoria may be exhibiting a measure of state capture by police. From here: “Police powers that request protesters remove their face masks in prescribed areas already exist, according to lawyer at Human Rights Law Centre ... Mejia-Canales said Victoria was usually “careful and considered” when it came to such laws but the proposed changes appeared to be “kneejerk lawmaking” that was reflective of New South Wales’ approach to protests. “The premier has been under fire, and indeed by her own police service, for failing to ‘not do more on protests’,” he said. “We’re not going to fix racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia by criminalising protests.””
(I also note that Israeli settlers in the West bank are vandalising mosques ... )
Also:
“Islamophobia is an everyday reality for too many Australians | Aftab Malik | The Guardian” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/18/islamophobia-is-an-everyday-reality-for-too-many-australians-ntwnfb
In the USA this week, we have some good discussion on both sides of the topic of suggested pre-pardons by Biden here (I consider it also important to consider the families of those concerned) - and powerful discussion on a weak newspaper’s anticipatory compliance. On the topic of pardons, US Senator Bernie Sanders said pardons for the entire 6th January committee should be considered by US President Biden to “guard against “tinpot dictator”” - and I consider his pronouncements to be of substantive value and import. On newspapers, Tr_ mp has said he will sue a pollster and newspaper over a poll result that, as with so many, was ultimately wrong. In a move I am not entirely surprised about, a US state has (subject to further appeals) disqualified a prosecutor who became intimately involved with a colleague but did not reveal that from leading a case, but has not dismissed the case.
In two possible cases of anticipatory compliance for the incoming regime - in contravention of the rules of the existing, more transphobic attacks on (attempts to kill) trans kids in the USA - this time in the US military, and the USA’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported a mother and children, including newborn twins who met the birthright citizenship conditions, to Mexico using questionable (deceitful) tactics, leaving the father in the USA.
In addition, Biden has been urged to certify the Equal Rights Amendment as the USA's 28th Amendment to its constitution before he leaves office (it has been ready for that since 27th January, 2020 - why the <expletive deleted> delay???!!!!), the US Congressional Joint Economic Committee has published a report showing that planned mass deportations would be a "catastrophic blow" to the US economy, a former FBI informant has pleaded guilty to lying about the Biden family, and M_ sk may benefit from possible reduction of car crash reporting regulation for cars using advanced driver-assistance or autonomous-driving.
Also, on cyclic problems such as regulation of banks (which was started after the Great Depression, and the weakening of which led to the GFC), see here.
And elsewhere, Canada’s deputy PM has resigned from the Trudeau cabinet out of concern that not enough is being done to prepare Canada for the incoming US regime.
South Korea's president has been suspended from presidential duties after an impeachment vote, following which the leader of the ruling party, who supported the impeachment, stood down.
In other international news Chinese security companies are taking the risk of getting involved “on the ground” in Burma/Myanmar; the connection between Ukraine's successes and Russian desperation and the sinking of two oil tankers is explained - well - at https://youtu.be/oNSgxKw6-Rk; and the human rights abusing kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel have moved closer to normalising ties.
In human rights news, teen criminals are using hook-up apps to commit homophobic 'post and boast' crimes in Australia; the USA will pay more than US$100 million for prisoners who victims of a rape club in a now closed jail (changes are needed to stop this elsewhere) as a mass rapist in France is sentenced to 20 years in jail (which seems light) - and his fifty accomplices have also been convicted (but under-sentenced), the horrific trauma of women who were drugged and abused is revealed in an Australia court - and, in another case, that police ignored warnings about a child abuser for 13 years; the USA will transfer three more prisoners out of Guantánamo Bay; the convictions of a boy who couldn’t understand charges and didn’t enter pleas were overturned by a Queensland district court judge “who published a judgment last week ruling that the sentencing children’s court magistrate “could not have been satisfied” the boy understood the charges”” - which raises serious questions about the sentencing judge ... and Queensland; the NT has failed to consult with Traditional Owners over changes to water allocation; a National Indigenous Times exclusive reports that funding increases for Indigenous legal systems are inadequate; and in Nigeria an “annual state of media freedom report found that security agencies, including the police, military, and intelligence services, were responsible for the highest number of attacks against journalists in 2024”.
In the USA, a woman who made a vague threat to a healthcare company could be facing up to 15 years in prison - with this opinion piece giving nuance and context on that event - and, on the basis that police now appear to be acting on threats, a suggestion that they go look at those the author has received; and, related to that, Michael Moore, whose 2007 film “Sicko” examined the US health insurance system, has said “that the outpouring of anger at the industry is ‘1000% justified’ “Yes, I condemn murder, and that’s why I condemn America’s broken, vile, rapacious, bloodthirsty, unethical, immoral health care industry … But don’t get me wrong. No one needs to die,” added Moore. “In fact, that’s my point. No one needs to die – no one should die because they don’t ‘have’ health insurance. Not one single person should die because their ‘health insurance’ denies their health care in order to make a buck or Thirty Two Billion Bucks.””
There have also been reports of extremely disturbing abuses of power in jail systems - beginning with a The Guardian exclusive on guards at a facility in NSW who switched off the water to the cell of mentally ill, dying prisoner “as punishment for his strange behaviour, joked that his repeated pleas for help were “entertaining”, and then left him unobserved to die” - which a coroner found “highlight[s] the chronic under-resourcing of Australia’s secure mental health facilities and the dangers of using prisons to hold those suffering severe mental ill health” and is now the subject of legal action. It also, in my opinion, raises major questions about the competency of those who selected and trained those guards (who are clearly, as they were back then, unfit for their positions - but they may have changed since) and/or created the systems that were, and maybe still are, so quite evidently unfit for purpose. A privately run (i.e., for profit) prison in WA also saw the death of an Indigenous prisoner as a result of prolonged (over almost three years) failures of health care. Similar questions must be asked in that instance as well.
There are also questions about health care systems and people in SA as 18 staff “engaged in misconduct or 'inappropriately' accessed _'s medical records” ... and NSW is incapable of providing medical services at all hospitals ...
In societal matters, the rise of a ‘dangerous’ ideology (the sovereign citizen rubbish) among parents is causing havoc in custody disputes in Australia; a reminder that corporations “aren't your social justice warriors”.
Also, “the UN Secretary-General [has] urged the Security Council to act decisively to establish international guardrails for artificial intelligence (AI), warning that delays could heighten risks to global peace and security.”
Finally, there is an ongoing (for some weeks now, actually) “problem” with unidentified drones (some allegedly commercial are reportedly larger than most commercial) over US military bases and sensitive sites in Germany which have caused problems such as allegedly aircraft having to take evasive action, airport closures, and some staggeringly amathiac rumours. More serious considerations include spying or intelligence gathering ahead of some form of attack (Russia, anyone? And the intel isn’t limited to being useful for air strikes - it could inform sabotage as well, I suspect), concerns about shooting the drones down and causing injuries on the ground, or use of the “counter-drone measures [which] exist for either shooting down drones directly – using missiles, lasers, bullets and even other drones – or taking over control of suspicious drones and forcing them to land by using electronic warfare signals ... Such technologies have been commonly used during the drone-heavy war in Ukraine, while US Navy warships and other navy vessels have shot down dozens of drones threatening shipping in the Red Sea region”. At least one expert’s opinion is that most of the drones are small but low to the ground, and several have commented about misidentification (especially due to parallax error) of aircraft - and warned of the dangers of lasers, which are illegal. So ... groupthink? Something else? A combination?
As always, every one of these reports is an opportunity to do the work of this blog. Set your priorities, and get cracking - and don't forget to do your mundane world action as well.
On the resistance to the reign of Tr_ mp 2.Ø:
- everything in my candles with the label (Blogger version of hashtags) #PsychicABetterWorld - Viva La Résistance à Tr_ mp! (may all resistance be non-violent and BPM properly informed of and responsive to legitimate grievances that led to this situation);
- “They CAN’T Silence Me No Matter What” https://youtu.be/bNGebgPoMGY?si=I_4RgHpPrGoIcA9a This covers death threats, trolling, etc by the radical (far) right, and how that became worse (in both extent and nature) after the US presidential election and since then
- “Class War or Culture War?” https://snyder.substack.com/p/class-war-or-culture-war “Both” An excellent reflection and analysis piece from an authoritative author
- This is a long but well worth it read: “Defunding Dissent” https://jewishcurrents.org/defunding-dissent “Philanthropists have quietly withdrawn funding from grassroots groups that spoke out for Gaza, imperiling a broad range of social justice movements. ... Wealthy philanthropists, in general, are “deeply invested in the status quo.” ... Referring to donors who had walked away, N’sangou said, “I think that they just absolutely never did mean that Black lives matter. They were willing to use it for their political gain, and it makes me sick.””
- “The Mump Regime” https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-mump-regime “How to call this thing that is coming to America in a month?”
- “The American oligarchy is back, and it’s out of control” https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-american-oligarchy-is-out-of “It’s the third time in the nation’s history that a small group of hyper-wealthy people have gained political power over the rest of us. Here’s what we must do.” Written from an in-the-USA perspective
- ““A pattern of apparent war crimes”: Experts weigh in on TNH’s Gaza aid killings investigation” https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2024/12/17/pattern-apparent-war-crimes-experts-weigh-tnhs-gaza-aid-killings-investigation ““At a fundamental level, it is an abandonment of the Geneva Conventions.” ... Legal and humanitarian experts say that Israel’s attacks on aid in the Gaza Strip, detailed in a months-long investigation by The New Humanitarian, may be relevant to ongoing international cases about alleged Israeli genocide and war crimes against Palestinians and are part of a wider global pattern of striking aid activities with impunity.” I have included this here as the pattern is likely going to part of the Mump Regime
Here are some llinks that might of interest or value:
- “How I became ‘collapse aware’” https://rojospinks.substack.com/p/how-i-became-collapse-aware “And started to imagine what comes next” I first came across the idea of societal collapse in a serious way in the 80s, with that abusive but informative, transphobic group I have written about in the past (and several of those people would be called "preppers" today), although I came some references in the 70s. There have been predictions of collapses that have not occurred, but there have also been actual collapses caused by, for instance, climate events - 536 CE was one (see https://theconversation.com/volcanoes-plague-famine-and-endless-winter-welcome-to-536-what-historians-and-scientists-believe-was-the-worst-year-to-be-alive-175654), but I think there was something similar a couple of millennia beforehand. Given all that, I accept that the possibility of societal collapse is a real concept. This article criticises the amathiac notion of infinite growth - which is something I have been railing against for some decades now, so I strongly agree with the author on that (and I like the comment about this being an emotional event as the social contract unravels). I also love her inclusion of some perspective from Tyson Yunkaporta, and I also like her approach of (simplifying here) of small steps and community, etc as a response. There is definitely food for good thought in this article, and I have subscribed to that channel;
- “How We Became the McWorld - Global Culture is Getting More Boring” https://www.joanwestenberg.com/how-we-became-the-mcworld-global-culture-is-getting-more-boring/ This interesting article covers aspects such as “the Algorithmic Convergence Machine”, “Economic Gravity Wells”, and “Memetic Monoculture”, with discussion on higher numbers of choices not necessarily meaning diversity, subcultures not being geographically based but also being consumption-based, cultural strip-mining vs. exchange, the lack of any “any central planning or malicious intent”, and that a solution would involve (a) caring, and (b) “fundamental changes to our technological and economic systems”.This is well worth a read and a think;
- the peer support network “Duelling Minds” has a weekly e-newsletter.Although their website is behind, when it does post this week’s newsletter, there will be a lot of excellent content added, but there is one comment in it which I want to post now, as I think it could be helpful to a lot of people:
“On the days you only have 20% and you give 20% ... you gave 100%.”
- “Who’s More Giving: Atheists or Christians?” https://youtu.be/N10Ko_H_lC4 “... although conservatives gave the least of all of the groups ... I really don't see the point of focusing on religion at all as this most recent study did, when political affiliation is right there. This recent study suggested that conservatives are stingy and that’s extremely relevant because those same conservatives are the ones who are trying to destroy governmental safety nets for our most at risk friends and family, and they do it while insisting that private Charities will pick up the slack ... but the fact of the matter is, they’re not putting their money where their mouths are, necessarily - and past research does suggest conservatives aren’t really any more charitable than anyone else ”
- a new Open Access book: “The Entrenchment of Democracy” https://www.demoptimism.org/book-entrenchment-democracy
- “Meditators vs Magicians: New Study on Focused Intention and Real Magic” https://youtu.be/0bbtoSMnwTo This interview with Dean Radin was interesting in general, but also made some thoughtful comments on focused intent vs. “thoughts and prayers”
- this week’s “afterlife report” by the Zammits:
https://victorzammit.com/December20th2024/
- also from YouTube:
- from YouTube and elsewhere on neurodivergence:
- this is a short video on a very important point: being neurodivergent does NOT allow you get away with unconscionable or unacceptable wrongdoing (a principle which also applies to the neurotypical - especially when trying to enforce social conformity): “Autistic Not Alien | Is AUTISM an EXCUSE for bad behaviour?” https://youtu.be/p9oQV_sRGrM
- “Breakthrough moment: Autism + unlocking leisure” https://youtu.be/64JElZ4uK1I
- “Common Phases of Accepting You're Autistic” https://drdevonprice.substack.com/p/common-phases-of-accepting-youre “It can take years to embrace a disabled identity. Here's how that journey often looks” This is a very useful and, in my opinion, a very important article
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Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here.
(Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear)
Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither)..jpg)
