This originally appeared on my main blog at https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2020/09/post-no-1653-in-this-weeks-news.html.
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.
Content Warning: the linked articles and their descriptions here may be about violence, abuse, hate, and other problems.
My Articles this week include: “thoughts on embracing uncertainty”; the genocide in burma.
On Personal / Spiritual Matters: excellent thoughts of a Druid on rage.
Reading/Viewing I found interesting this week included: distraction.
Overall Commentary on
this week’s news:
what has really stood out for me this week is the depth of depravity and despotism of lyin’ 45’s regime in USA - especially now that the the surveillance programme revealed by Edward Snowdon has been confirmed to be illegal, and those defending it were lying. Lyin’ 45 has moved the USA closer to another civil war - but authoritarian despots elsewhere (such as our iron hearted Dutton) are also doing damage, and many have been enabled to do so by voters who allowed themselves to be duped by deceitful media (especially News Corpse). The climate crisis is existential for the human species, but between the despots and their unthinking sock puppet voters etc and the pandemic, I wonder how many of us will be alive to face the worst (which is yet to come!) of that crisis? Those enforcing the rules in my home state have done well mostly, but with some concerning lapses: are they suffering the police equivalent of shell shock/combat fatigue? Given their powers, we can’t afford that. Too many police overseas have been utterly appalling, and quite a few of those overseas police should be sacked and charged.
In This
Week’s News:
one of the few heroes from the Rwandan
genocide, now a critic of the Rwandan government for authoritarianism, has
been arrested on (disputed) allegations
of terrorism (my first reaction is that the charges are trumped up, given Rwanda’s
history of violently suppressing dissent, but the
arrest was under an international warrant, so there is either genuine evidence
or Interpol was duped - either way, this will be watched closely); “how the Catholic school system takes
from the poor to give to the rich”; a controversial social media platform with a
history of promoting conspiracy fantasists/misogynists and other bigots and
haters has thrown a tantrum
and is making false claims about the proposed fair news deal and threatening
to stop using Australian news - putting their profit ahead of our rights, but
see also here,
on a proposal to base news fees on the value placed on public interest
journalism; renewable energy technology
uses minerals, and thus has a mining
impact; multiple
crises facing farmworkers in parts of the USA;
a jerk with a jetpack chose
to put hundreds of lives in a jetliner at risk; some of the impacts
of bright light at night from the moon (and possibly also urban light
pollution); a review
of cyber security around two factor authentication; globalisation
and equality/inequality; the need
for scientists to communicate properly.
In the Environmental Arena, where we have been fighting World War III for some time now:
a major
business coalition has - after many years of actively resisting
this - urged our neolib denialist conspiracy
fantasist government to spend
at least $3 billion on renewables over the
decade; a
“construction and mining industry super fund … says it will slash emissions
from its investments by 45% within the next 10 years, putting carbon-intensive
companies on notice that they will need
to demonstrate how they will cut
greenhouse gas emissions in order to stay within the fund’s $54bn portfolio”; concerns
about our imminent and climate crisis worsened fire season; a critique
of hydrogen as a fuel; “in the
Murray-Darling: farm upgrades increase water prices more
than buybacks”; an
assessment by Israel’s Environment Protection Ministry using OECD guidelines
found that “the 570 biggest factories in Israel cost
the state … $3.9 billion in damage to public health and the
environment last year”; house
hunters are not
told energy ratings; a questioning of
why the bushfire commission appointed by the national neolib nitwits has not
addressed the critical link with climate change; the national neolibs are trying
to use an environmental fund for non-sustainable energy projects; police from a US city with a history of
hate and fatal shootings shot an unarmed black man who was riding a bicycle, handcuffed
him as he lay dying, and then left his body in the streets for hours; the history of when things started to go
backwards, under our deads**t former
28th
PM (who is still deads**tting
away - the UK government is facing increasing
criticism over hiring the misogynistic climate denial fantasist),
who purged
climate crisis warners; the storage battery in SA will be extended; 20 reptiles facing extinction; a retraction of a scientific paper over an
error has given loggers fuel; property
developers want compensation for not being able to destroy a sensitive area
(if
they bought the land in good faith, and didn’t know it was sensitive, they
actually have a good case, in my opinion); six Portuguese
youth are suing
Europe over inadequate action against the life threatening climate crisis.
other environmental matters have
occurred in:
a long standing Qld.
dam proposal; NSW; Argentina’s
wetlands; human
health.
This week on
the Protests in the Despotic USA and associated protests/issues elsewhere:
as US Democratic Presidential
candidate Biden accuses “toxic” lyin’ 45 of inflaming
violence (and said the police officer responsible should be charged)
and of defeating
hate, and the deaths now include a right wing vigilante (fascist?),
lyin’ 45 has insulted
the Mayor of Portland and suggested the National Guard should be called in: perhaps the
Mayor should do that, and use the guard to protect BLM protestors against the
right wing fanatics, both in and out of (or without) uniform - see
also this
opinion that conservatives in the USA have a history of winning on
law-and-order campaigns, so lyin’ 45 should not be underestimated on this. Following this, lyin’
45 moved the USA closer to civil war by defending the murdering teenage vigilante, going
to the city where he committed his murders,
and refusing to condemn violence by his supporters. On that, “the
former head of America's overarching counter-terrorism body is warning
political violence could ‘spin out of control’ in the days leading up to the US
presidential election, potentially resulting in ‘a
lot of people getting killed’ ”;
the struggle
facing social media platforms trying to address conspiracy fantasies; a
group led by a now 105 year old survivor is seeking reparations for a 1921 massacre
of hundreds of black people in the USA;
“an elderly couple in [the USA] was arrested and charged after
acting as vigilantes and shooting at three Black people they wrongfully
believed were stealing”; a review
of evidence showed the BLM protests in Israel did not spread coronavirus (why doesn’t
this mention the measures - such as face masks, some physical distancing, and
hand sanitising - that were taken by many of these protestors? This assessment
is either half baked or incompetently reported. I also wish to point out that protests are - quite lawfully
and for excellent reasons - banned in my home state until we have the
pandemic under control. Don’t Use [or
advocate for] Street Protests - other people have a right to LIVE); despite more
than 90% of protests being peaceful, around 42% of people believe
otherwise - largely due to false media reports; the experience
of one of the victims of a kidnapping by US secret police; police are using dogs
against blacks;
Internationally:
right wing ideological zealots and
conspiracy fantasists have tried to violently
invade Germany’s Parliament; an act
of Islamophobia has led to riots in Sweden; Israel;
Police:
seven
police have been suspended and are being investigated after a man they arrested
asphyxiated
in an anti-spit hood (for health reasons, I support the principle of having
something to stop spit - I have long thought sports spectators who spat should
be charged with attempting to cause an illness, but how does someone die from a
hood if it has been applied correctly?);
attacks on and actions by the Media:
a journalist has quit
over racism in the media.
On Human and Animal Rights:
“seven years after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the mass surveillance of Americans’ telephone records, an appeals court has found the program was UNLAWFUL - and that the U.S. intelligence leaders who publicly defended it WERE NOT TELLING THE TRUTH”;
the USA has joined all other despotic regimes - including the
Nazis - by sanctioning ICC prosecutors;
Turkey has cut
off water to one million people in Syria; the Philippines despot has ordered the head of
government department to shoot
and kill alleged drug criminals; China is transferring
its genocidal techniques (including forced
abortions and sterilisations) used against the Uighurs to be used against
Tibet, their “first laboratory” for genocide;
Australian soldiers are showing unprofessionalism,
incompetence and contempt for the laws of war on social media; more thoughts
on improving sanctions in sub-Saharan Africa against North Korea (this is a
talk on a set of suggestions I posted a link to some time ago); Israel is investigating
an incident where Israeli soldiers allegedly planted IEDs in a Palestinian
village; Belarus has called
for help; Inner
Mongolia; a social media platform tries
to remove hate speech in burma;
Gaza fishing people have been allowed
back to sea by Israel; Kashmir;
former First Lady Michelle Obama has called
out lyin’ 45’s systemic racism; an
examination of the possibility of a backlash
against actions against racism in sport;
how
to fix unfair healthcare for Māori; in
Australia, a “mother who spoke out about racial slurs made against her
teenage daughter by
elite private school students has received an influx of global
support”; a
town is closer to being returned
to its Indigenous owners;
“a former NSW coroner has revealed
that [a] case could have been resolved much sooner if not for police
treating the death as a suicide and closing the case” (so why
shouldn’t we, particularly in light of police history of violent homophobia,
assume this wasn’t also homophobia, rather than incompetence?);
a call for sexual harassment to be treated as an OHS
issue - and transphobic behaviour such as misgendering
/ deadnaming is attempted murder;
the problems
facing male victims of domestic violence;
“despite women facing the wage gap, eventual poverty and possible
homelessness, the government is quite happy to blame
us for our fate”; a Qld. police
officer who leaked the address of a domestic violence victim and encouraged
and promised to protect her abuser has has a
prior conviction overturned (what most people would consider a
non-punishment [community service - not even a requirement to get counselling] has
been imposed): do the courts and Qld police have ANY idea how chilling this will be
to victim/survivors of domestic violence?! It will stop victims
contacting the police-- especially if the police compound the staggeringly soft
handling of this DV enabler by not sacking the still serving officer); the need
for survivors of sexual assault to be able to speak out;
a call for an enquiry
into the suicides of child abuse victims;
refugees and asylum seekers have
pointed out that they are not
criminals;
the head of an Australian spy agency
has tried
to defend spying on Australians by saying not all are good: from historical behaviour and the signs of backwardness and
bias, that also applies to the spies, which is why we’re concerned; a “the former
Timor-Leste president . . . has urged Australia to show wisdom,
honesty and compassion by stopping the unfair
prosecution of Witness K and [his lawyer], a case he
described as “political” and one that had “profoundly shocked” the Timorese
people” (sadly,
I don’t think our cold hearted neolib government will);
the
eSafety Commissioner will be given powers to deal with cyberbullying of adults;
another staggering example of government incompetence on cyber data
security, this time in NSW;
the abusive use of solitary
confinement in Qld. jails.
Genocide matters (good and bad) in:
western
China; burma;
Torture, Disappearances and Execution/Killing matters (good and bad) in:
Saudi Arabia has opened the door to potentially
not killing children; how the EU can help torture
victims in Belarus obtain justice; Yemen; Nepal; Iran;
Refugee, immigration, and migration
matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
Malta;
Racism/caste based matters including
land rights (good and bad)
have occurred in:
USA; a call for
blackbirding history to be taught
in schools; science;
Child Abuse/Trafficking/Slavery &
Extreme Worker Abuse matters (good
and bad) have occurred in:
Australia; bystanders ignored
a girl being assaulted in Australia; Israel
(good news); Bangladesh; Asia;
LGBTIQ+ matters (including internalised
homo-/bi-/trans-phobia/hate) (good
and bad) have occurred in:
Cook
Islands; South
Africa; NSW;
Mexico; USA (good news);
Sexism (including internalised sexism), misogyny/misandry
and domestic violence matters (good
and bad) have occurred in:
Argentina; Argentina; Jamaica; a limitation
of sex education; Egypt; Afghanistan; Afghanistan (good news);
Disability matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
concerns
over risks of suicide as a result of one part of recent changes
to the NDIS;
Freedom of the Press / Expression matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
burma; Jordan; Zimbabwe; North
Korea;
Privacy/Surveillance matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
Australia; the problem
of AI governance;
Repression/Oppression / reduction of democracy and
other civil & political rights matters (good and bad) have occurred in:
Australia; Hungary; Hong
Kong; Tanzania; USA; burma; Zimbabwe; Turkey;
Other animal and human rights matters
(good and bad) have occurred in:
underpayment
of foreign students in Australia; New
Zealand; the Vatican
in WW2; schools
in Lebanon; DR
Congo; populism;
In the related human rights arena of Employment:
a major tech company appears to be breaking
Australian law by trying to prevent workers organising into a union using
secret surveillance; neoliberal
ideologues are attacking
superannuation for workers.
Risks or occurrences of Atrocities, Mass Violence and/or War(s) this week in:
Israel/Gaza; Colombia; Sudan,
China and the victims of enforced disappearance; Cameroon;
And:
media gatekeeping
is limiting what people see of kidnappings and other violence; a published UK policy
on protecting civilians in military conflict refers
to R2P: now to see how well it is implemented . . . ; the economic
damage of the war in eastern Ukraine;
Indonesia has been doing well with its presidency of the UN Security Council; peacekeeping in Lebanon; “the big lesson of peacekeeping in Sudan:
beware
of host-country obstruction”.
On Disasters
this week:
a building
collapse in China; flash
floods in Afghanistan have killed more than 100 people; the devastation and deaths caused by Cyclone
Laura in the USA; a Panamanian
registered live animal transport ship with 6,000 cattle and 43 people on it
capsized
and sank
off Japan; an explosion
in a fireworks factory in Sri Lanka;
And:
“COVID-19 and the consequences
of cascading
and compounding disasters”; devastation continues
15 years after Hurricane Katrina - especially of human rights; a Reuters
exclusive says fires in Brazil likely worst
in a decade - data is wrong;
Bushfires have
occurred in:
Brazil; Argentina’s
wetlands.
On Humanitarian Aid and Development:
“spending time in lower-income
countries may lead to greater support for charity but
less support for political change”;
“speaking truth to power about the SDGs”.
In the Democracy, Governance, Politics, Public Ethics, and Society
arena:
General Matters:
working
at home during the pandemic has been possibly the biggest
increase of productivity of the last
century; “4 things governments can do to help small business”; the pandemic has
shown the importance
of good (not necessarily more) governance;
in Australia:
a historical conservative icon used, contrary
to the current neolibs ideology, government deficit budgets; questions
over a large pandemic loan and a grant to a company that is using a “legal
technicality” to fight against the extent of compensation of a victim of an
incident it has admitted liability for;
a billionaire is pumping tens of thousands of dollars into his
“spoiler political party” to stop
environmental consideration and human rights restricting his fossil fuel income
- including paying employees of said fossil fuel companies to take political
action; a
health union has called for an increase in the Medicare levy to pay for proper aged care; “Australia’s top economists oppose
the next increases in compulsory super”;
in what could seem to a variation of the
police-clearing-police-they’re-investigating problem, an intelligence “watchdog”
review has cleared
spy agencies of neglecting the mental health of a secret prisoner (the
victims says the watchdog was duped by professional liars); a call for national education testing -
which is causing
bad writing - to be urgently reformed; anger after the two main national parties
join to avoid
stronger political donations laws; a Premier has said “parliamentary privilege
should not
be used as a ‘blanket shield’ to stifle a corruption investigation”; our neolib national government, which claims
to be focused on financial efficiency, is losing
three quarters of all decisions to deny compensation to veterans on appeal (how about
saving the costs of the court cases, the extra health and community costs, and
not being so cold hearted in the first place?); a call for the obvious: let Uni graduates claim their massive debts off their tax;
a charity appears to be hiding
its status when getting business; a
criticism
of the trend towards authoritarianism embodied in cold (so cold the word
iron could be used) hearted Minister Dutton.
The Unexceptional (and despotic) States
of America:
an author has suggested Republicans
who don’t want to vote for lyin’ 45 but are uncomfortable about apparent
disloyalty simply don’t
tell people how they really voted; the
leader of the House has foolishly given
lyin’ 45 ammunition by a moment’s failure to observe pandemic
measures; a YouTube channel of - they
say and seem to be - Republican
voters against lyin’ 45; a Reuters exclusive reports
on campaigns to reassure voters on the integrity of the US election process and
counter any campaign by lyin’ 45 if he loses;
lyin’ 45 has illegally urged people to illegally vote a second
time by mail and continued his campaign against “mail-in” voting - and called military
personnel who died
in war “losers”; lyin’ 45 is “is destroying
democracy in broad daylight”;
Elsewhere in the World:
confirmation
that the poisoning of Russia’s opposition leader was attempted murder using a
nerve agent used by Russia previously;
pop culture references are being used by protestors
to get around a ban on criticising Thailand’s monarchy; Belarus has entered its fourth week of peaceful protests
demanding the resignation of their President;
more cyber-attacks expected
in New Zealand; Lech
Wałęsa’s opinion is that “a dictatorship
is being created” in Poland;
after four decades, a possible
change of government in Samoa;
other democracy, governance, politics, public ethics,
and society matters have occurred in:
Israel; ASIC; Lebanon; Australia’s
award system; Iraq; Libya.
Internationally:
women victims of the misogynist
violent extremist group in Afghanistan are present,
albeit as a minority,
in the team seeking to negotiate peace; continuing
tensions between India and China; China
has not
matched Australia’s assistance to Pacific island nations on the pandemic; as India bans
118 apps from China, an examination of the “decoupling”
of China’s and India’s economies is published, as are details of the Tibetan
soldier fighting for India who was killed
on the border between India and Chinese occupied Tibet; Russian activity caused a mobilisation
in Sweden;
on China’s Communist Party (CCP) Regime and the reinvigorated ideological
Cold War this week:
an Australian working in China has been
detained
without charge; Germany is “diversifying” its
relations in Asia to be less dependent on China; “ ‘joint development’ is a misnomer
when China has no legal stake in what is Indonesian territory”; “there are signs that [the CCP] recognises
Australia’s positions on Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang are based on its own
interests”; a call for US support
for Taiwan to be unambiguous; an assessment
of China’s military capabilities and strategies;
on Israel’s intended Annexation
of the West Bank and other matters:
as
Palestinian artists lead the start of a boycott,
the UAE say they have “assurances”
from lyin’
45’s regime
that Israel’s annexation of the West Bank “won’t happen” . . . lyin’
45’s regime also claim
a two state solution will happen; recognition
by Kosovo appears imminent and Serbia will move it embassy to West
Jerusalem.
In
Africa - Democracy,
Governance, Politics, Public Ethics, And Society and International Relations:
the choice
now facing Burundi; talks
may happen on a possible transition from the military back to democracy in Mali.
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!!!):
“coronavirus has fuelled
authoritarian trends around the world”; a call
for kids only pandemic briefings - like those in Norway; an excellent rundown on the
causes and
prevention of pandemics (the commentary on the numbers of new
diseases now being discovered each year is staggering);
medical aspects: a comparative study of how US cities handled the 1918 influenza outbreak which shows the importance of physical distancing and lockdowns; some of the rarer symptoms; mental health issues from the perspective of brain functioning;
resources: a guide to state by state restrictions;
Human Rights Aspects (crisis
. . . running summary of impacts on elections here):
massacres
in Colombia may be by vigilante of those breaching pandemic containment
measures; the USA will refuse
to pay money it owes to the WHO; the increased use of new tech is creating serious
privacy risks;
also including
sexism:
it is likely fewer
women will be elected to local Councils in my home state; DV survivors in
India are helping other survivors;
rapes
during lockdown in El Salvador;
housing:
some renters are having problems
getting mould fixed; as a call is made to address the flaws in our
social security that have been exposed
by the pandemic, rentals will shortly become extremely
unaffordable; evictions in South
Africa.
Environmental Impacts: medical waste has deluged a river in Indonesia;
In
My Home State:
a counter view pointing out what a
nurse considers the hotel quarantine scheme in my home state got
right; a
slightly
overblown (mental health is an issue) opinion on how well Victorians are handling the lockdown; “public housing
tenants vulnerable to coronavirus will be offered private rental properties”; a call for mass
testing; the proposed 12 month
extension of our State of Emergency has been cut to the normal six and approved; fears
in regional areas of eased restrictions;
questions after police powers were used to issue stupid
fines (such as for not being home while in hotel quarantine), but there
have been nearly 2,000 fines, total cost over $2.9 million, and many
appear to be valid; four arrests
for inciting
acts to put people’s lives at risk; another
day with a sad
record daily death toll - but only six of those were from that day (the
others had been misclassified), and most were still from aged care; the enquiry into hotel quarantine is continuing;
Australia:
a review
of Australia’s ban on people leaving Australia; continuing
caution is urged (again); NSW is
improving its flawed
hotel quarantine scheme, but resisting
calls for facemasks in public;
Australian farmers will be allowed to hire
international fruit pickers (they will be quarantined for two weeks on
arrival, but this will also boost the Pacific); supermarket employees are wearing badges to remind
people they are human beings; a graphical
assessment of the economy; slacking
off on physical distancing (a work colleague in another state commented
on the lack of spacing on a domestic airline flight); company profits
have jumped . . . (there is a graph on social
media [here,
if you have access] showing that the more deaths, the greater the contraction
of the economy: unfortunately I cannot find a non-social media link to it); the political quagmire; no-one
seems to know where funding for aged
care is going; the approaching
job crisis; the national
cabinet is “fractured”;
Internationally:
New
Zealand is moving towards facemasks, as research shows “Māori are more
likely to die from COVID-19 than other New Zealanders”; the heartbreaking, devastating situation of
workers from rural
areas in Indian cities; schools
have reopened
in the UK; Indonesia appears to be
continuing to put the economy ahead
of people; some teachers in the USA
have resigned
over safety concerns when schools are forced to reopen; as it reopens, India
has nearly 4 million cases; 40% of South Korea’s new cases are aged; Israeli hospitals may
be overwhelmed within weeks; burma; land
theft is harming the indigenous peoples of the Amazon river basin; Venezuela; Syria is not
protecting health workers; boosting water
security in India;
Africa:
lessons
from the eradication of polio in Africa for the fight against COVID-19;
Irresponsibility,
Selfishness, and Unthinking Behaviour:
UK; a woman inciting
breach of the regulations and thus putting others’ lives at risk has been arrested
and charged.
WLNGRHDMT
And finally . . . Black Lives Matter!
