Some (mostly) human rights links [Note: Content Warning - reader discretion is advised!] and thoughts - Saturday 19th February, 2022

Black Lives Matter! Be Anti-Racist, Anti-Sexist, and Actively Inclusive in ALL Areas.
The Climate Crisis is real, urgent and existential!

The Pandemic is Real, and Vaccinations save lives. 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.

Some human rights (including significant, relevant links in other fields - such as geopolitics, democracy, or authoritarianism) links: 

• as hospitals crash under the weight of the latest COVID-19 wave, actions against protests by COVID- and reality-denying conspiracy fantasists in France, and Canada (which had been warned of extremists having infiltrated the protestors) & the US-Canada border (arrests) and New Zealand (including musical) . . . and our Prime Marketer dodges responsibility . . . but at least there are some "anti-vaxxers who changed their minds on Covid vaccines"; 
• nearly 100 people have died in more mudslides in Brazil;  
• talks are aiming for action on $2 trillion per year agricultural subsidies that harm the environment; 
• the activities of "tree-clearing criminals" are causing a plague of bushfires in Colombia;
  
• "a new kind of charger that allows an electric vehicle (EV) to be used as a giant home battery is close to going on sale in Australia"; 
• as the USA's "west has spent the last two decades in what scientists are now saying is the most extreme megadrought in at least 1,200 years", changes occur in Antarctica, and another fish kill may be about to happen in the Darling, confirmation that Australia's bushfire problem became catastrophic after the British invasion in 1788 (and land clearing in NSW has reached devastating levels - but see also here, on reversing desertification); 
• our inadequately designed electricity networks lack battery storage; 
• the flaw of limited or narrow focus in environmental footprint calculators;
  
• Russia continues to build up military forces on its border with Ukraine - and has started a cyber-attack / aka "hybrid war", prepared a media attack, and made a false flag attack in eastern Ukraine (where residents were told to flee to Russia), with claims Russia will try to institute coups after an invasion - and an interesting comment that "we should actually keep an eye on the Chinese embassy. As soon as it announces the evacuation of its employees, then the threat of war must be taken seriously. Russia will definitely warn China before bombing Kyiv. They are now strategic partners". Also, this may affect nuclear weapons controls - and US President Biden has failed so far to deliver on his promise to reform nuclear weapons policy (and the USA has not signed up to the ban on nuclear weapons); 
• an annual  conference on international security policy has this year found "more needs to be done to make people aware of the importance of deterrence as a method of conflict prevention", but "overlapping crises" has led to "a mood of "collective helplessness" ";
  
• the human rights suppressing military junta in Burma has announced it will pardon a few hundred of the more than 11,000 (hundreds just recently) of people who have been arrested as a call is made for "United Nations Security Council member countries [to] abandon their timid approach to the [Burmese] military’s mounting atrocities and replace mealymouthed statements with tough action" and Australia's "Future Fund has been forced to divest about $5m in taxpayers’ money from a Chinese state-controlled weapons manufacturer sanctioned for selling arms to the genocidal [Burmese] military"; 
• "the Netherlands’ Prime Minister ... has apologised to Indonesia after a study found the Dutch army used “systematic and extreme violence” in a vain attempt to regain control of its former colony at the end of World War Two";
  
• Tunisia's leader (aka "president") has removed judicial independence; 
• as well as heading a human rights abusing regime, Thailand's king is being investigated over taxation matters in Germany - where he lives; 
  
• "Hong Kong denies Australia access to detained citizen, violating international law";
  
• Palestinian anger with the Palestinian Authority over alleged corruption; 
• an examination of the complex reasons criminal organisations in some places may be diversifying into natural resources ("blood avocados"); 
• internally displaced people as a result of a drought in Somalia - where anti-terror police have been torturing journalists; 
• an "abduction spree" in Sudan;
  
• machine learning ("AI") is being used to fight poverty in Africa; 
• Cambodia, with close ties to China, appears to be heading towards Chinese-style digital surveillance;
  
• "mean and tricky" Australia wants to commit refoulement by returning a Hazara asylum seeker to Afghanistan - despite the seizing of power by a violent human rights abusing set of bigots; 
• "the field of human rights is littered with hypocrisy . . . but in the past decade or so, human rights have pretty much disappeared from our politics";
  
• "misuse of official information has been revealed as [a] key corruption risk for Commonwealth law enforcement agencies in a review by the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity" - and see here for one ex-police officers experience of becoming corrupt (this is the sort of experience that can guide a more effective response); 
• "Morrison and Dutton are puffing themselves up like mini-me McCarthyists – and it’s beyond reckless";
  
• "the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held ... that Slovakia is liable for violating the right to a fair trial and the right to obtain attendance and examination of witnesses in a Syrian national’s complaint that his trial and conviction on charges of migrant smuggling had been unfair" - and "a groundbreaking attempt to make Iranian and Syrian military officials answerable [before the ICC] for war crimes they may have committed in Syria is being launched"; 
• as European troops withdraw from Mali and other parts of the Sahel, Niger says it would welcome the aid of European troops;
  
• Egypt has been attacking the families of human rights defenders; 
• a proposed law in one US state would allow citizens to act against gun manufacturers in much the same way that another state allows bigots to attack abortion;
  
• the USA may take control of Afghanistan's currency reserves in the USA;
  
• the USA will "reopen its embassy on the Solomon Islands to help Washington counter Chinese influence" - and hopefully do some good for people in that region?; 
• "forgiveness requires more than just an apology. It requires action"; 
• New Zealand also has now banned conversion practices (i.e., abuses mis-described as a "therapy");
  
• "the UK’s equalities watchdog is facing calls for it to lose its status as an internationally recognised human rights body amid claims of politicisation and taking a “determinedly anti-trans stance”"; 
• Hungary has made an attempt at transphobic murder;
  
• the abuse of trans and gender diverse  children following Scomo's now on hold and missing-the-point(enable) religious discrimination bill continues (see also here and  here) - at least one government is being supportive, and not all religions are socially / ethically backwards; 
• a national neolib minister has admitted to religious bias;
  
• the ALP's national leader is not making much headway; 
• the national neolib nitwit's third attempt to pass its xenophobic and unnecessary bill to strengthen the already enormous powers of the immigration minister will no longer be opposed by the ALP (small target at the expense of decency and differentiation is a backward step, but Scott is trying out various scare campaigns and people are meekly allowing themselves to be duped by conservative media);
  
• the national neolib nitwits have planned tax cuts to benefit rich men;
  
• UN Deputy Secretary-General has said "that women had faced "unimaginable" horrors [including mass rapes] in conflict-torn regions of Ethiopia"; 
• CONTENT WARNING - GRAPHIC VIOLENCE: a woman married as a child and trying to escape domestic abuse has been subjected to a gruesome murder by a family member; 
• toxic masculinity drove one promising female swimmer out of a promising career; 
• the national neolibs are STILL openly smearing women who are victims of sexual assault and abuse;
  
• US police have breached a woman's rights, set up a barrier to women reporting sexual assault and a dangerous (global?) precedent by using a rape victim's DNA from her rape kit to get a criminal conviction;
  
• possible improvements for women in north-western Pakistan; 
• making a pretence of women's inclusion in conflict resolution and governance, rather than being genuine;
  
• against the problem of digital coercive control, an opinion that "online safety laws strengthen defences against online harms";
  
• "how online abuse in Australia is shutting down crucial debates and damaging democracy" - and violent threats have been made against an Indigenous Senator; 
• more violent right wing extremism by MPs in the USA - and see also here, on how the political spectrum has widened by the right becoming more extreme (and right wing violence is occurring here as well), and here, on an opinion that democracy may cease to exist in the USA in ten years; 
• another sham trial in Nicaragua as "a Kenyan lawyer went on trial ... at the International Criminal Court charged with bribing and threatening prosecution witnesses so that they would withdraw their statements in a case that ultimately collapsed amid widespread witness interference";
  
• a call to address conspiracy fantasies (particularly this one) before the next election; 
• "the Court of Justice of the European Union [has made a decision that allows] EU institutions to tie funding to EU states to respect for the rule of law" (this outcome rejects the attempt by Hungary and Poland to be allowed to step into fascism);
  
• as a neolib senator indulges in a "grubby attack", ASIO has warned it is "not here to be politicised"; 
• the reality of corruption;
  
• a call to rethink the use of prisons;  
• a call for major political parties to come clean on donations; 
• the ABC plans to breach viewers privacy by tracking their habits through a compulsory account; 
  
• irresponsible pet owners are putting disabled people at risk by falsely claiming pets are emotional support dogs;
  
• another call to embrace a four day week.
  

A new definition on my online (mostly not political) glossary: LGBTIQ+

From https://gnwmythrsglossary.blogspot.com/2022/02/lgbtiq.html:

This post will be expanded over time, but for now, I want to post some of the education materials that I am going to use soon for the place my day job is at (I am on the inclusion and diversity committee): 

 

More commentary will come in due course.

In the meantime, I have touched on LGBTIQ+ matters in the following posts: 

•    <reserved for future posts>  
  
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2021/12/more-on-scotts-proposed-religious.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2021/03/human-rights-abuses-evils-are-linked.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2021/02/an-update-on-registration-of-engineers.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2021/01/problems-within-lgbtiq-communities.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2020/08/exract-from-my-submission-to-victorian.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-partial-preview-from-my-submission-on.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2020/02/some-of-ways-that-tgd-people-get-thrown.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-morrison-government-s-proposed.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2019/11/moving-beyond-lip-service-in-human.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2019/11/transgender-day-of-remembrance.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2019/11/this-week.html;
  
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2019/06/apparently-competing-rights.html;
  
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-unprofessionalism-of-australias.html;
• https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2013/10/heaven-bent.html;
• https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2011/03/l-word.html.

Computer humans and their vulnerabilities

Further to my post at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2022/02/computers-and-their-human.html, something else mentioned in "Zero Day: The Threat In Cyberspace" by The Washington Post and Robert O'Harrow is that, at hacker conventions, no-one uses Wi-Fi (nor, presumably, Bluetooth): everything is run through cables for security ("in case [X] is stolen by another hacker"). 

So whenever computer people advocate for cable-free communication, they are basically saying our stuff is so unimportant no-one else could be bothered to steal it . . . not even out of idle boredom . . . 

Yeah, right. 

I'll continue to be cautious about ALL non-cable communication - more so than the concerns I have about cabled communication between digital devices.

Some (mostly) human rights links [Note: Content Warning - reader discretion is advised!] and thoughts - Saturday 12th February, 2022

Some human rights (including significant, relevant links in other fields - such as geopolitics, democracy, or authoritarianism) links: 

• an opinion that "a carbon tax would encourage companies to reallocate the capital they spend on consumption towards developing green technologies"; 
• "Colombia's Amazon indigenous groups train youth to defend rainforest"; 
• koalas in NSW are endangered;
  
• France will go off fossil fuels . . . by building nuclear reactors;
  
• wind and solar companies NEED to address human rights; 
  
• one US network included commentary on politics, human rights, and Ukraine in their coverage of the major international sporting event currently being held in human  rights-abusing, genocidal  China - where athletes have reported being traumatised by their abuse;
  
• from one of my favourite journalists: "as Putin draws closer to Xi, who among the leaders of the West will rise to their feet like Winston Churchill?" (I can't think of any potential candidates . . . ); 
• "it appears that coupists are learning to circumvent the international community’s typical demand in post-coup situations—that elections be held—to entrench themselves in power";
  
• Russia's government "is seizing ever-more control over biometric data of everyone resident in Russia. This carries serious risks for their rights"; 
• "Cameroonian authorities subjected dozens of asylum seekers deported by the United States to serious human rights violations between 2019 and 2021" (which would be the USA committing refoulement); 
• "the company behind Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru made a $101m profit last financial year – more than $500,000 for each of the fewer than 200 people held on the island";
  
• Libya is back to having two parallel governments;
  
• "Ethiopia has committed a wide range of human rights violations in its war against Tigrayan rebel forces ... according to a landmark legal complaint submitted to ... The African Commission [on Human and Peoples’ Rights]" - see also here, on concerns about Ethiopia, the DRC, and child soldiers; 
• a rift is developing between Europe and the Sahel; 
• a review of the violence in the eastern DRC;
  
• an attack has been made in an attempt to disrupt Somali's election process;
  
• from the USA: there is a "clear error in the Defense Department’s Law of War Manual on presumptions of civilian status";
  
• a call for South Sudan to advance human rights; 
• "thousands of Sudanese [have] marched against military rule"; 
  
• "although Nicaragua is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, ... international law still offers options for an eventual criminal trial against those officials of the Ortega-Murillo regime accused of committing crimes against humanity"; 
• after recovering records he wrongly took with him, "National Archives [has asked the] Justice Department to investigate POTUS45's handling of White House records";
• "calls for [the] federal government to strengthen modern slavery laws after [a] scathing report"; 
• "Arab states in the Gulf region have downplayed the legacy of repression and racism faced by minorities. But some countries are taking the first steps to address the past" of slavery;
  
• beginning with Ehud Barak's warning in 2010, a measured assessment of Israel's discrimination against Palestinians;
• Tunisia continues its backsliding towards authoritarianism - including secret detection centres; 
• China has praised the "positive steps" by the EU and the USA on restoring the Iran nuclear deal - see also this;
  
• the USA has restricted "visa issuance for Somali officials accused of 'undermining democratic process'";
  
• journalists are being silenced in Russia, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, and "the fight for democracy and media freedom in Hong Kong feels like it has “entered its endgame”, after a year of crackdowns, arrests and forced closures of outlets, the International Federation for Journalists has said";
  
• a criticism of the mainstream media response to growing corruption in my nation, and an apology to whistleblowers in Qld who weren't listed to;
  
• support for students wanting to wear hijabs at schools in India after government bans, as a warning is made hate speech is at dangerous levels; 
• another "school" - this time in NSW - is trying the LGBT-phobic hate line; 
• "religious discrimination laws could see people with disability 'insulted and humiliated'" - and won't protect trans students - there have been powerful  actions against this notorious bill, and calls for "a ‘Christchurch amendment’ to be included ... to protect people of faith from vilification and endangerment", but it actively causing serious harm right now . . . but has passed the lower house with the most egregious transphobic elements  curtailed (my preliminary thoughts from during the week are here); . . . until it was  suspended (NOT WITHDRAWN -  it is still on the books, and capable of being resurrected at some stage) in the Senate . . . after harm had been caused (as intended). Meanwhile, from the ultra-conservative and religious USA, "the US House of Representatives [has] approved a bill cracking down on human rights abuses against LGBTQ+ people in other countries, pledging to impose sanctions on foreign individuals involved in anti-LGBTQ+ harassment or attacks that have taken place abroad" (maybe they should have a look at out PM?), positive responses to LGBTIQ-phobia in Colombia, but a notorious NSW MP is opposing training police to be decent people and Iran has murdered two gay men;
• powerful speeches by two women who have highlighted the need to act against sexual assault, including of children, and discrimination - see here, here, here, here, and, on the threatening phone call to attempt to silence on of these women, here, here, and here;
  
• "Australia is suffering a democratic recession – and we can’t blame COVID ... The looming federal election provides the opportunity to start the process of repairing and restoring our democratic health";  
• businesses are leaving Hong Kong;
• hypocrisy in the soft response to extremist- led COVID deniers in Canada as opposed to responses to genuine human rights protests (Canada's PM has ordered the underplayed but extremely serious disruption ended); 
• "nearly one in five applicants to white supremacist group tied to US military"; 
• "Victoria’s parliament will formally investigate the rise of far-right extremism in the state and the risk it poses to multicultural communities";
  
• a far right wing conspiracy fantasist MP has been using taxpayer funds to spread his evil lies - and another has been taking people threatening violence into Parliament; 
• "UN experts: ‘UAE-funded mercenaries in Libya bankroll Darfur armed movements’";
  
• "the US Air Force has been ordered to pay more than $US230 million (a$323 million) in damages to survivors and families of victims killed in a 2017 Texas church massacre ... the Air Force failed to flag a conviction that might have kept the gunman from legally buying the weapon used in the shooting"; 
• Sri Lanka's tokenistic "reforms" aren't fooling the EU;
  
• a call for Mexico to legislate to enable people with disabilities make decisions for themselves; 
• PNG's hospitals are on "the brink of collapse";
  
• "hundreds of 'burnt out' aged care and disability care workers are quitting, union warns"; 
• in a further sign of giving up trying to save lives, "requirements to check-in to venues using QR codes are being questioned now the data collected is no longer used for COVID-19 contact tracing" - although police have been trying to access that information . . . ;
• "despite broad support in the United States for reshaping policing, movements to “defund” or “abolish” police departments generate strong public opposition. The resistance is largely due to discomfort with the movements’ policy goals, not their slogans or negative beliefs about the activists associated with them, according to a new study" - but, on the other hand, US police have killed a record number of people, and these recommendations have been made to address that;
  
• after decades of problems and decades of objections & protests from people such as myself, "delivery failure: the private sector is no place for essential services";
  
• in Germany "three out of five [people are] happy working from home" - which I suspect reflects the experiences of others in the world;
• comments by the treasurer appear to show a disturbing lack of understanding of the realities of the job market; 
• the "WHO [ has highlighted] benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence for older people" (discrimination including wrong assumptions remains a major problem); 
  
• Iraq has made its final reparation payment for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
  

How did we get here?

This is a preview - still being updated as events unfold - from my coming human rights post on Saturday: 

• "religious discrimination laws could see people with disability 'insulted and humiliated'" - and won't protect trans students - there have been powerful  actions against this notorious bill, and calls for "a ‘Christchurch amendment’ to be included ... to protect people of faith from vilification and endangerment", but it actively causing serious harm right now; . . . but has passed the lower house with the most egregious transphobic elements curtailed;

In the 50s and 60s, ignorance and transphobia were rampant. That started to be countered by activists in the 70s and 80s, and in the 90s and early 2000s, during my involvement in community activism, there were a few hold outs, but there was also a preponderance of support - after humanising trans people and basic education on gender identity - for protections.(See here for an excellent history.) 

Two Victorian MPs at the time were notorious for their opposition - opposition which, in my opinion, showed them to be transphobic, and opposition which nearly led to the anti-discrimination laws being blocked (we were in contact with both sides of politics, and thus the opposition would have blocked the bill on our advice if the transphobic [toilet] laws had been included) if they had transphobic elements added. A religious community supported the protections, but wanted teachers excluded, over their misunderstanding that exposure to trans issues would somehow "confuse" children - which has subsequently been clearly shown to be absurd by the many brilliant young trans and gender diverse advocates (and their allies). 

It may, however, have been a hint of what was to come. 

What was also to come was using the protections enacted as the toe in the door to get additional changes - such as the ability to correct Birth Certificates. At the time of our activism, corrected documentation wouldn't have been enough: it would have been possible - and likely - that an employee could say "I'm not sacking you because you're now male, I'm sacking you because you used to be female" - and vice versa - and get away with it.

In fact, it's still possible that some transphobic bigots will try that. 

The field of action has also quite rightly broadened, to include gender diversity (sometimes at the cost of denying those trans people who are binary), and that may be increasing the discomfort of the people who, as a result of their personal insecurities / inadequacies combined with a refusal to grow and develop as human beings, and that is partly behind the backlash.

However, just as anti-vaxxers are being used as a smokescreen for other forms of bigotry, transphobia may be using religion as a smokescreen: the majority of religious people are actually supportive of TGD people. 

However, a small element of religious extremists have used transphobia as a shield to enable them to avoid doing any acknowledgement / changing of their personal inadequacies, and they have then used their rat cunning and political acumen, much as hitler did to seize power in Germany in the 1930s from a minority position, to gain a level of political clout through their sock puppet Morrison that far exceeds their numbers. 

And, much as the others in Germany allowed hitler to seize power through ineptness and/or inaction or through being dupes, I am currently considering whether we have, through ineptness (there have, in addition to the successes, been mistakes) and/or inaction, or others have, through being dupes, allowed the transphobic element to seize power beyond what is reasonable?

The ALP's response to the national neoliberal nitwits (enable) religious discrimination bill has been botched - the TGD community is reeling, and explanations have been and still are too late and inadequate, but the question is: how, over the last couple of decades, did we get to this situation?

PS - also from my coming weekly post: 

[the bill] was  suspended (NOT WITHDRAWN -  it is still on the books, and capable of being resurrected at some stage) in the Senate

Computers and their human vulnerabilities

There's an old computer world joke about a bit of automated kit that comes with a person and a dog: the person is to top up the oil as needed, and the dog is to stop the person touching anything else (or maybe the person was to feed the dog, and the dog was to stop the person touching the kit).

Arrogant in its assumptions about the reliability of devices, the limitations of people, and who a dog would feel more loyalty to, but it also has a point: people can be the weakest part of a digital system. 

I'm reading "Zero Day: The Threat In Cyberspace" by The Washington Post, Robert O'Harrow, and it's good to read of thinks like the need for password (and social media) discipline, but it also includes this: 

"Social engineering works because it targets a vulnerable part of cyberspace that cannot be patched with technical fixes: human beings. People want to believe that their communication is safe."

I would put a slightly different slant on that. In my opinion, it seems to be that it's feeling deeply, personally, even mortally affronted by the occurrence of a cyber problem with anything they are connected to - almost as is a cyber problem is like a disease that only came into their home because they failed to keep their home clean enough, whereas it is really more akin to not being able to perform a heart transplant because they didn't get the right people involved instead of trying to do it themselves (any heart transplant surgeons reading this [you're a long way from Kansas!] will have to change that to something else - launching rockets, perhaps, or plumbing?).

Some (mostly) human rights links [Note: Content Warning - reader discretion is advised!] and thoughts - Saturday 5th February, 2022

Some human rights (including significant, relevant links in other fields - such as geopolitics, democracy, or authoritarianism) links: 

• the European Commission (the executive branch of the EU) has shown itself to be incompetent by declaring unsustainable fuels to be sustainable . . . but some leading nations want to form a climate crisis club to share ideas and punish bludgers like Australia - where a national neolib government member has wrongly claimed the carbon tax cost jobs;
  
• a video on the background, tools and possible events of a Russian war with Ukraine (including accusation of a possible fake ["false flag"] event as a pretext) - during which, NATO will support but not send troops directly to Ukraine - see also here, on the possible human rights impact; 
• as the US defence industry insanely claims a nuclear war can be "won", the USA's President Biden has been urged to keep his pledge to limit nuclear weapons;  
• in a blow to hopes of renewing the nuclear deal, the USA considers Iran could manufacture weapons much more quickly than in 2015, when the nuclear deal was reached;  
• a major violent extremist leader committed suicide to avoid being captured by the USA;
  
• an assessment of the dire situation in Lebanon; 
• the need for an economic ceasefire, as well as a military ceasefire and a political agreement, in Yemen, as the USA sends military support to a notorious  human rights abusing regime to defend it against human rights abusing rebels in Yemen;
  
• "Syrian war photos misused by senior Chinese diplomat";
  
• the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, northern Ethiopia; 
• example details of the torture - and it was that, no matter what US courts have declared - inflicted by unpatriotic (do those IPOCs have any idea how much damage they have done to the USA's standing in the world?), sadistic, psychopaths of the CIA; 
• Russian mercenaries are torturing their supposed colleagues in the CAR army; 
  
• violent right wing extremists and white supremacists - including in police - in the USA have appropriated a violent "superhero";
  
• the genocidal junta which seized power in Burma a year ago is repeating its village-burning atrocities - this time to attempt to intimidate the remaining population - and blocking aid as it slides towards economic collapse and possibly civil war; 
• concerns that some Hindus in India may commence a genocide against members of other religions;  
• calls for a fair trial of a whistleblower who reported worker abuses on a sports project in a Gulf state;
  
• as the struggle against the dissent suppressing military continues, " Sudan’s imperilled transition: policy recommendations for the USA ";
  
• "Australia’s Future Fund has invested over $90m in [a] weapons manufacturer"; 
• Turkey is extending its silencing of dissent to kidnapping whistleblowers to hide possible crimes; 
• Burundi is still silencing dissent;
  
• a call for Japan to match its actions to its words and stop funding coal powered power plants in Bangladesh, as it said it would;
  
• ECOWAS has suspended Burkina Faso's membership over the coup in that nation, as another coup is attempted and fails in Guinea-Bissau (with allegations of a drug connection); 
• the USA will block aid to Egypt over human rights abuses in Egypt; 
• "in Hungary, journalists sue state over spyware"; 
• teaching journalism in Hong Kong is now dangerous;
  
• The Democratic Republic of Congo will compound the murders of two UN workers by legally murdering DOZENS of people convicted (hopefully by a genuinely fair trial) of the two murders - thereby confirming that the DRC does not hold life as inviolable;  
• fears that a private (and therefore elitist) security company's plans to use cameras will be used against Indigenous youth and "fears over Aboriginal child removals as report reveals 'endemic racism' in WA Department of Communities"; 
• "confused polling distorts the debate on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament"; 
• "a Queensland parliamentary committee has concluded more needs to be done to counter “on-line and off-line hatred”, saying police data does not accurately reflect serious vilification in the state"; 
• "Australia’s structural cruelty goes beyond refugee policy";
  
• criticism of a major tech company over racism;
  
• racist hypocrisy on the part of the republican party in the USA; 
• "it is not necessary for race to be real for racism to be real. It is only necessary that people believe race to be real";
  
• our national neolib nitwits are, in my opinion, showing their true colours by wanting to be able to deport Indigenous people . . . (on the grounds that Indigenous ownership was allegedly extinguished . . . despite native title recognitions!!!); 
  
• the intersex ex-girlfriend of a former swimmer has criticised his hypocrisy over a trans swimmer; 
• revelations of the disturbing manipulation of social media algorithms by LGBT-phobic haters;
  
• as the majority of voters reject the national neolib nitwits desire to allow discriminatory religious statements, a school in Queensland - over the religious  objections of some of its parents - tried to get around anti-discrimination laws (and why are they getting public money? The principal has either lied or shown that he is an idiot), leading to moderate Liberals pushing for protection - and, eventually, after a costly backlash, a back-down; 
• as the opposition "offers conditional support" to the neolib's notorious (enable) religious discrimination bill, "reports on religious bill show both major parties out of touch";
  
• the importance of TGD inclusive language to ensure TGD access to health care (see also here);
  
• Poland is trying to stop human rights groups accessing schools to stop education on the Holocaust and human rights; 
• a Nigerian oil ship has exploded (with unknown consequences for the crew), creating a risk of an oil spill; 
• "Indian village banks on tree mortgages in bid to go carbon-neutral";
  
• a US coal mining company is alleged to have misreported its emissions in Australia; 
• "more than 20 women working for [a mining company] have reported actual or attempted rape or sexual assault in the last five years to a formal, independent review commissioned by the company" - and criticism of the complaints process at another; 
• 97% of those committing sexual assault are male - and it is important to note that women DO also commit sexual assault; 
  
• a court has found Mexico's government must protect human rights defenders; 
• Japan's Parliament has adopted a resolution asking Japan's government to 'relieve" the human rights "situation" in China; 
• "‘Apartheid state’: Israel’s fears over image in US are coming to pass";
  
• "the bombing of Gaza in May 2021 marred the last months of implementation of a five-year Australian government-funded agriculture development project in the Occupied Palestinian Territories"; 
• "Australians found to overwhelmingly support [a] path to permanent residency for migrants on temporary visas";
  
• the head of the neochristian catholic sect has described COVID misinformation as a human rights violation; 
• an opinion that a social media platform's response to a COVID misinformation scandal "falls short of its ethical and editorial obligations"; 
• "Australian billionaire mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest has launched criminal proceedings against social media giant Facebook, alleging the company has breached Australia's money laundering laws by failing to prevent false cryptocurrency advertisements"; 
  
• a translation app is being used to track ethnic minorities at the IOC's event in China - and a reminder of China's atrocities in Tibet;
  
• a call for Queensland's new "shield" laws to extend protection to journalists appearing before the anti-corruption body as well; 
• as a US politician pushes "for an internet Bill Of Rights", "electronic surveillance law review won’t stop Border Force’s warrantless phone snooping";
  
• "police officers face corruption charges for allegedly [remember: innocent until proven guilty] lying to obtain warrants"; 
  
• concerns that a religious chaplaincy programme would put volunteers at risk (and impinge on human rights of recently released prisoners); 
• an opinion that misinformation is less of a problem than is thought; 
• concerns over the influence of large political donations by a few conservative companies;
• progress in a campaign to ban asbestos from Asia; 
  
• a call for companies to share the benefits they get when people work from home (such as reduced power and Internet charges);
  
• a same sex penguin couple in a US zoo have successfully become foster parents;
  
• the benefits of migration.