Cross posting: In this week’s news

This originally appeared on my main blog at https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2020/02/post-no-1499-this-week-in-news.html.

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.

My articles this week include response to intellectual aggression, at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2020/02/religion.html, and a follow up recognition that social media, which I’ve tried again, is not for me, at https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2020/02/post-no-1498-aggression.html.

This week has seen more proof of the bleedin’ obvious: older Aussies want easier lives, which means smaller, simpler homes: Allow  Tiny  Homes!

In the environmental arena, as it appears Australia’s 2019/20 climate bushfires may finally be ending (with rain fixing a critical water shortage in many - not all - smaller towns, but also causing flooding), Jews and Pagans have come together for a Jewish holiday celebrating trees (that is a simplification), and another reminder is made to use trees in cities (this one is about fighting the “heat island” effect). Ways to reduce the toll of tall buildings on birds have been described, and locusts are now threatening food security in Uganda and Tanzania. A review of whether legal action can compel governments to address the climate crisis. The anger over a decision to allow irrigators to harvest recent floodwater shows the Murray-Darling does not have enough water: we either accept this and pay for our first LARGE BATCH of climate refugees and start importing food, or we start getting extra water into the basin – not the stupid redirection of rivers idea, but through desalination to river, not drinking, quality. As an association of scientists publishes factual information on COVID-19 (not helped by China belatedly fixing its counting techniques [and wrongly claiming airborne spread], nor other nations’ dubious claims about being unaffected [India is also doing some denial - hiding a slum from view]), insane - and illegal - discrimination occurs in several locations - but existing (particularly international) laws have limits that could impede sensible management of the risk; at least Singapore (anyone else?) is offering financial relief. Meanwhile, Norway recycles 97% of plastic bottles . . . wanna start catching up, world?

In human rights, a continuation of discrimination in science (intersectional: against women of colour in science - and sports) marked by social commentary at an entertainment event and fear changing the behaviour of targeted groups, aggressive backlash by bigots, calls for an acknowledgement of reality in a marginalised group, and a realistic, objective assessment of women’s involvement in both peacebuilding and violent extremism. Meanwhile, in a nod to common sense, Australia’s High Court has found that Indigenous people are not aliens, and thus cannot be deported, however, more information shows the split decision had a multiplicity of reasonings, and thus is not a strong one: nevertheless, on the sorry 12^th anniversary of Sorry Day, it highlights the problems with Australia’s failure to properly acknowledge Indigenous people, culture, and sovereignty (at least my home state is working at doing this). A reminder of past changes for the better in society and human rights – including how long they took, and the attitudes that had to change along the way, as (increasingly shakily) authoritarian (but still ruthless, racist and bullying) mainland China continues to try to compel people to live by backwards ideas. One Australian state’s - racist - police have been abusing human rights by unprofessional (outmoded decades ago) quotas for committing sexual assaults and “personal searches” - and blithely, uncaringly, and incompetently “accepts” civil cases as “the cost of doing business”. (Also on incompetence, our Commonwealth Parliament’s cyber security has been described as having “a low level of maturity” . . . Elsewhere, in a triumph of convenience over responsible adulthood, data insecurity continues to be overlooked or not planned for, and India sacrifices privacy in an unbalanced response, but my home state has a warning about privacy risks.) The depravity of scammers is on display. “White supremacist propaganda in US more than doubled in 2019”. One company has addressed - to some extent - the discriminatory disadvantages of maternity leave. A news service has reported that concerning allegations about a health service, which has also had a tribunal decision of discrimination, are being investigated by an anti-corruption body. The UN has published a list of companies (including Airbnb) that support the human rights abuses of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Deaths in Syria, Iraq, Libya (which is, nevertheless, more dangerous), and Somalia from air attacks, while still totalling more than two thousand, reduced 42% in 2019 as the war against Da’esh ended.

Immigration and refugee matters (good and bad) have occurred in Singapore, Lebanon, Nepal, Italy, Cameroon/Nigeria, and a reminder refugees can be assets, rather than burdens; trafficking/slavery/child abuse matters (good and bad) have occurred in Singapore, Cambodia, Mexico, Venezuela, Mexico/USA, Singapore, and the half of the world’s nations that have failed to make slavery illegal; LGBTIQ+ matters (good and bad) have occurred in the Union of Soviet Socialist Russia; and other matters (good and bad) have occurred in Sudan, Nigeria, and Nigeria.

In the related human rights arena of employment, while self-reporting is commendable, six years of underpayment caused real hardship to employees – who are now being hit again. If they’d been paid correctly, the business may not have grown as much, but it would have been sound. Workers in a multinational company in Germany are struggling to be treated decently.

In the governance, politics, and society arena, the struggle for adequately open - and not spendthrift - government continues, with some dodgy evasion, and a political scandal  continues to grow. In the USA, concerns grow that the Democrats may not be able to choose a candidate who can beat POTUS45 . . . Kosovo’s PM has cut their pay in half to fight inequality. Protests against the electoral organisation’s head in Malawi after courts overturn results of the recent election.

Internationally, an examination of the disaster in Libya after 2011 states “The bigger problem is what followed—or rather, what did not follow the intervention. The international community had focused myopically on the responsibility to react, but ignored the responsibility to rebuild.” The UN Security Council has now approved a 55 point “road map to end war” in Libya . . . Tensions continue between Iran and proxies on one side, and the USA (limited by the US Senate in a rare moment of responsibility) and Israel on the other. Priorities are suggested for the African Union, as South Sudan’s integrated army is shown to be unready for peace (and that nation hides a report on birth defects in oil polluted areas), a call is made for the year old peace agreement in the Central African Republic to be implemented, Ethiopia tries to curb hate speech, and press freedom continues to shrink in Somalia.

On personal / spiritual matters, one of the world’s wealthiest men, known for planning to give away most of his fortune, has surprised by choosing to build an ostentatious symbol of wealth. Why? Does he has something in mind, or he is indulging himself?

Reading I found interesting included "The Perils of 'Survivorship Bias'", from Scientific America.