Saturday 23 September 2017

Post No. 1,074 – Gnwmythr’s News Ed. No. 181


The demands of my day job continues to restrict my preparation of this news post: my apologies, but I have to pay the rent and bills.
Information and Summary/Analysis:
Note: I am NOT a journalist, and make NO claims to objectivity or freedom from bias. Furthermore, I do not hold copyright to any of the articles I link to, nor do I claim authorship, except for those links to material I have written for this and my related blogs, and my commentary in these posts.
The purpose of posting these news links is not only to inform; it is also to
   stimulate a connection to:
    - nonBPM units that need to be cleared, and
    - BPM units that need to be strengthened,
   so that you can do the clearing / strengthening that is required.
That only works if you don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by this, so take it in small chunks if you need to, but remember to actively clear and heal! … including yourself.
As part of that, note that there are key uncooperatives to be cleared (rescued): you should ONLY address those that are within your ability – if you get a sense (e.g., through meditation) or are told by your BPM Guides/Higher Self to back off, do so, and content yourself with clearing the smaller nonBPM units within your capability – which will weaken those uncooperatives. More importantly, there are many people doing this sort of work, and others are quite likely to be able to clear the uncooperatives concerned.
That is also one of the many reasons it is OK to take a break or cut back this work if you need – in fact, doing so will help you deal with the next point, which is …
… the energies we use and manifest in our daily lives contribute to the larger soup of energies that influence world events, so it pays to address those as well, to the extent that one can, or to at least stop oneself projecting them into the psychic soup.
The reminders / explanations about Sunday’s meditation-clearing are here;   see also here,   here,   here,   (here and also here and here are interesting),   here, here,   here,   and   this post reminds us to be patient and persistent, like a “speeding oak”.
Finally, one of the biggest concerns I have about spirituality in the world now is that the concept of agape type love has been perverted into both a quest for emotional warm fuzzies, and an excuse to avoid doing the hard work of improving oneself and all that one does.
The themes that come to mind for my work this week, after I review all this news, are:
(a)   based on my interpretation of information here and here with Saturn in Sagittarius contributing to finding an authentic balance (until 20th December, 2017), Uranus in Aries contributing to fresh and possibly radical starts (until some date in the Year 2018), and Pluto in Capricorn contributing to a transformation of power and business (and careers) (until some date in the Year 2024), conditions are ripe for a change for the better in world politics;
(b)   there is an enormous need to clear nonBPM energy – the thought forms, unattached energy and scars of the collective unconscious created by millennia of violence, including spirit rescue, and healing the warped views, seemingly “inherent” biases, and other damage created. Also, remember that:
        1. the counter to fear is genuine  EQ and clear thinking, expressed through calm, de-escalating speech,
        2. where problems exist, advocating for BPM responses, and being as BPM as one can be, are constructive solutions,
         3. peace is powerful, but it is a process requiring patient, persistent and nuanced nurturing, and a blend of conventional spiritual work, clearing nonBPM units, and physical world activism;
(c)   viewing the overall emotional state of the world from an elemental point of view, this week we need:
     emotionally (astrally), more BPM Earth;
     mentally, more BPM Æther;
     a plot of the elemental influences on a causal/spiritual level follows, and shows a need for the security of more BPM Earth;
(d)   I’ve created a bindrune for this week’s work, which is:
(e)   dealing with the 45th President of the USA (aka the USA’s CEO) requires:
        1. eroding the nonBPM influences feeding his arrogance and mind-set, and strengthening the USA’s CEO’s BPM Guides and giving them whatever BPM help they need to present a BPM alternative – see here– with a view to promoting what would seem to be a change of heart,
        2. lifting the nonBPM influences from the shoulders of the USA’s CEO’s marginal supporters, allowing them to “come to their senses”, and simultaneously strengthening the BPM influences around them (e.g., their BPM Guides) to counter them backsliding,
        3. to address the others, physical world activism (especially education) is required – e.g., this. As well as doing what one can there, help those who are doing this work (e.g., sending them “positive vibes”) and look for nonBPM blockages that can be cleared (e.g., setting up a BPM vortex above meetings to draw away external nonBPM influences/energies/units, so that the audience can listen as they are, without any obsession/possession);
(f)   the major events this week are:   as attraction to violence continues to be inadequately addressed, there are risks of mass atrocities in Burma and the Central African Republic;   the Rohingya and North Korean crises;   ongoing conflict in Central Africa and West Asia;   and recovery from natural disasters;
I also take this opportunity to emphasise that it is absolutely VITAL that this psychic / metaphysical / spiritual work be performed non-violently and as is for the Highest Spiritual Good – which is part of being BPM – on all levels and in all ways. Always remember (see here): Do you fight to change things, or to punish?
News and other matters from this past week follows:
   news items are presented in the following sections (there is overlap - items may appear more than once):
    - Permanent and Thematically Arranged News,
    - Location Based News,
   opportunities/good news are shown in green;
   comments are shown in purple; and
   WARNING: some of these links may contain triggers around issues such as violence, sexual assault, discrimination, etc.
Permanent Issues and Thematically Arranged News:
  • Permanent issue: may all actual and potential BPM Leaders be kept BPM safe, including keeping them undetectable to the nonBPM and keeping all their Significant Others inviolable against being used for indirect  psychic attack, and may they have all the BPM resources (including an assured income, given the power that nonBPM forces have in the structures of the material world), opportunities and assistance (including so-called “good luck”) for them to be BPM effective at influencing the world’s direction, development and unfoldment, all as is for the Highest Spiritual Good;
  • Permanent issue: may all humans recognise, irrespective of the appearance of difference, the essential shared humanness of other people, the inherent resilience, the dynamic power, the strength of BPM collaboration, and the opportunities of having a diverse, inclusive and welcoming population, and may all people choose fairness, when such decisions are before them;
  • Permanent issue: may all actual and potential BPM Violence Interrupters (and Interrupters of hate / fear / anger) of be kept BPM safe, and may they have all the BPM opportunities and assistance (so-called “good luck”) for them to be BPM effective at containing and stopping – along the lines of the Cure Violence model - the spread of violence (and hate / fear / anger), all as is for the Highest Spiritual Good;
  • Permanent issue: may all humans choose to live modestly – to forgo outdoing others, or trying to have more than they need - for the sake of an easier, more manageable life, if they cannot do it for the sake of the planet;
  • Permanent issue: may all humans be in better communication with the better parts of their nature – especially those who need that more than other, better people;
  • Matters warranting particular attention:
       -   Hitler, Idi Amin, Mugabe … the latest in dictators with questionable mental status is the Philippines’ rape-supporting, Marcos-worshipping, homophobic, crude, violent, lying, murderous and evil Duterte;
       -   “the US ambassador to the United Nations says the UNSC has run out of options [and the USA] may have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon”;   immediately after the UN calls for statesmanship, the USA’s 45th President threatened to totally destroy the DPRK … ;   a show of military force on the South Korean peninsula;   “North Korea's Foreign Minister says his regime may consider testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean”;   at least one commentator has said the possibility of nuclear war is real - see also here;   the personalisation of abuse between Voldemort II and Kim⅓;   China will limit oil sales;
       -   concerns over the camps Rohingya fleeing Burma have been forced into;   Bangladesh has warned Burma over aircraft incursions into its territory;   more utterly lacking in credibility rubbish from a Burmese general;   Buddhists in Burma are violently stopping aid;   aid groups are scrambling to vaccinate thousands of Rohingya children;   the once respected Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has continued her moral decline – whether as a result of the military’s greater power in Burma’s pseudo-democracy or for her own political reasons is immaterial;   aid is being increased;   Buddhist violence against the Rohingya is being continued;   Bangladesh's powerful Home Minister has said he believes Rohingya refugees are a threat;   a Jewish criticism of Israel’s continued sale of arms to Burma;   satellite imagery has shown the mass destruction of Rohingya villages;   the UN has estimated that $200 million will be needed over the next six months;   a US diplomat has reportedly described the Burmese response to Rohingya crisis ‘disproportionate’ … (ya think?);   Bangladesh has proposed – and is seeking support for - a five point peace plan for the Rohingya crisis (beginning with an immediate cessation of ethnic cleansing);
       -   some wider lessons for governance from an analysis of why Australia has gone from a world leader to a world laggard: “On marriage equality, people who call themselves leaders have trailed behind public opinion rather than doing anything to influence it. But it is dangerous for democracies when they lapse into this pattern. Citizens come to believe that what is best about their country exists despite rather than because of their political system. This attitude, even when it is unjustified, produces national stroppiness and erodes trust and confidence. In short, it helps generate the kind of disaffection that the surveys tell us is now increasingly characteristic of Australian democracy”;
       -   this week’s atrocity alert at R2P lists Burma and the Central African Republic;
  • With regard to democracy (which can be measured, and requires  protection of minorities and the vulnerable – and remember Gandhi’s question about whether one is fighting to change things, or to punish, and note this list of 198 methods of nonviolent action), freedom and governance (e.g., here, here, here and here, and see also here):
    Note: I have a section specifically for the 45th US President below
       -   analyses this week include:   a critique of an upcoming “Community of Democracies” conference in the USA, which appears to be no longer mentioning democracy in its greetings;   markets continue to worship dictatorships;   a reflection on “public interest”;   the world’s views on the USA’s CEO;
       -   of concern this week:   “executive members of the Australian Wool Innovation research and development body will be called before a Senate Estimates hearing to explain the ''bizarre'' behaviour of its chairman in the so-called mirror-gate controversy”;   “the deputy mayor of the Gold Coast has voted in favour of development applications linked to her campaign donors nearly 30 times since the last election, acknowledging a potential conflict of interest each time” after which an ABC news crew has been denied access to a council media conference;   “superannuation funds could be drained by as much as $100 billion as companies slash wages and force workers out of long-standing enterprise agreements to deliver better returns for shareholders”;   a verdict of “wishful thinking” from the FactCheck on claimed benefits from drug checking welfare recipients which Australia's neoliberal government is rolling out further … (see also here);   the USA is considering closing its embassy in Cuba after the recent "sonic attack";   a neoliberal MP has been caught muttering sexist slurs after a question about the number of female politicians– see also here;   Uber's London licence to operate will not be renewed over its “lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications”;   one Australian state is introducing an optional electronic drivers licence (so if people are pulled over by the police, what do they do – give their phones to police???);   an attempt to exacerbate religious bigotry in the US Congress;
       -   other concerning events have occurred or are developing in: Kenya, Australia, Spain, Togo, Uganda;
       -   in the grey/mixed [good and bad aspects] or neutral area this week:   after warnings by my home state’s Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission about corruption and illicit drug use in the state's ambulance service, management announced measures to address this, including drug testing;   an Australian Government foray into artificial intelligence to deliver critical services (the NDIS) has stalled, amid concern politicians and the bureaucracy have been “spooked by the census and 'robo-debt' bungles” (I’m glad of the delay, and wary of the move);
       -   other events in the grey or neutral area have occurred or are developing in: Indonesia (re Australia);
       -   good news this week includes:   my home state will ban foreign political donations and require speedier disclosure;   Australia's “biggest superannuation fund has moved to ensure under-25s no longer have insurance premiums taken from their retirement accounts unless they ask for it to happen”;   an electricity company is continuing to resist climate-change-denialist pressure from Australia’s neoliberal government over a  coal-fired power station by considering plans to replace it with pumped hydro and gas generation;   the daughter of a woman who drowned in her own blood in a hospital bed in front of her children is supporting proposed assisted dying laws in my state (as do I);   my home state’s “Protective Data Security Framework”;
       -   other good news has occurred: Asia (good news);
       -   and democracy/governance/political matters in my home nation this week:   one of the current batch of MPs who are having their eligibility to be in Parliament reviewed by the High Court was a dual citizen when he nominated – and showed an extraordinary lack of understanding of the issue;
  • With regard to the 45th US President (who I consider seriously dangerous, even if his administration looks like a Schoolyard Squabble Squad – see here on practical, physical actions for US residents [and the principles are useful elsewhere]) this week:
    I deliberately avoid using the 45th US President’s name for valid psychic reasons: however, to both simplify my typing and remind people that he is dangerous (actually, I consider him evil), I will use either “the USA’s CEO” or “Voldemort II” (or a combination – and the “II” is because the Harry Potter series had Voldemort I) or a variation thereof – in this section, at least - as an alias.
       -   a criticism of the table thumping speech by the USA’s Voldemort II (during which mode he also praised Grand Sultan “Erdogan”) - to the UN;   some members of the US Congress, which has the power to declare war for the USA, not that nation’s President, are considering ways to limit the USA's CEO's power to use nuclear weapons;
       -   more misogyny from the USA’s CEO, who wants to copy dictators like the one in North Korea and the former Soviet ones by having parades of "military might" ...;   an appointee to the US Department of Homeland Securities has an anti-minority history;
       -   concerns over the behaviour of a lawyer connected to the USA’s CEO in response to a US Senate intelligence committee enquiry into alleged Russian interference in the US election;   the US CEO’s former campaign chairman allegedly offered to provide "private briefings" for a Russian billionaire during the presidential campaign – see also here;   “facebook will provide the contents of 3,000 advertisements bought by a Russian agency to US congressional investigators, bowing to pressure that it be more forthcoming with information that could shed light on possible interference in the 2016 presidential election”;   a key figure at the current enquiry also worked on the Watergate enquiry;
       -   millions of US residents are possibly going to lose their access to health care … but see here;
       -   “a fast-growing number of White House staffers are starting to look for the exits”;
       -   “Hillary Clinton should have paid more attention to her husband's former adviser … who once said ‘Never interrupt your opponent when he's destroying himself’ ”;
       -   immigration processes can take decades;   a report that US border security has improved in recent years;
  • With regard to violent extremism (VE) (aka, terrorism - e.g., Da’esh) (ALL people advocating hate or discrimination in response to violent extremism are actively doing the work of violent extremists. This will be countered, in part, by the sort of approach advocated by “Cure Violence”, and, in part, by addressing real and perceived disempowerment and acknowledging the variety in what provides genuine, BPM fulfilment as a counter to fanaticism as a source of meaning. I am deliberately avoiding the use of specific names of violent extremist groups as much as possible to reduce the publicity they get – I’m not a primary news source, and thus consider I can do so):
       -   according to this Wikipedia page, there have been 3 violent extremist attacks in Iraq and 2 in Afghanistan (out of a total of 12);
       -   as internet companies are being requested for better efforts to prevent violence, “Twitter said it had removed 299,649 accounts in the first half of this year for the “promotion of terrorism” … Three-quarters of those accounts were suspended before posting their first tweet”;
       -   the recent London train attack could have been devastating;   “a study conducted by the UN Development Program … has found that measures deployed by African governments to combat terrorism actually impel more people to join violent groups”;
  • With regard to refugees (noting the New York Declaration) and people seeking asylum:
       -   fifty refugees in Australia's gulags are expected to be allowed to the USA (given the problems in the USA, that isn’t a good thing);  dozens of refugees have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea on a new route;
       -   other refugee-related matters have also occurred in: the DRC, Libya;
  • With regard to human (and other) rights and discrimination (incidentally, I consider it vital to identify people who are bigots as they clearly have flaws in their powers of observation and thinking – shown by the fact that NOT all people act hatefully without education/lobbying/the restraint of laws):
       -   on Australia’s postal survey around Equal Marriage, and the homophobia/transphobia (including heteronormativity, cisgender-normativity and the suppression of the religious freedom of those religions that support Equal Marriage by neochristian supremacists) resulting from that, this week  – and I am going to note that Australia’s current “debate” about the Equal Marriage postal survey IGNORES the FACT that there have been DECADES and CENTURIES of distortions, lies, attacks and hate speech against LGBTIQ people (rendering neochristianity utterly evil, in my view, particularly in view of the other abuses) – if the current debate gives equal air time within the debate, then it is UNFAIRLY biased against the “no” case. Furthermore, after my six decades of abuse and others’ experience, EVERY “no” voter has to be asked if they support violence against LGBT people – this is not just about marriage, it is about whether bigotry is simply being given a new, less overtly violent face – particularly given the “No” campaign’s conflation of this and transphobia:   an anarchist wearing a “yes” badge has stupidly, unacceptably committed an act of violence – an assault … and possibly sunk the “yes” case, in my view – although there are views that the campaign has been poorly conceived;   some postal surveys have been left out in the rain … ;   “former prime minister Tony Abbott's sister Christine Forster has accused same-sex marriage opponents of fearmongering”;   an Australian State Premier “has broken ranks with her ethnic church and declared she will be voting "Yes" in the same-sex marriage postal survey”, declaring the matter a “no brainer”;   there has been a 20% increase in access to LGBTI mental health support in response to the survey;   a business owner has made a stand against homophobic hate - to the bewilderment of the haters, who still don't realise same sex couples DO have kids - although Fair Work Australia is investigating, at the instigation of a notorious homophobe (how about some certainty that the sub-contractor would actually be sensitive if they went to a gay or lesbian couple's event?);   “fresh security concerns … after a Melbourne woman said she found a pile of surveys in a garden bed in the city's inner north”;   a slightly overblown call for straights to hold off marrying until we all can marry - which some public figures have done overseas;   a rebuttal of the lie that same sex and de facto couples have the same rights as married couples;   as a sports code confirms its support for diversity and inclusion, the usual idiots have whinged and whined about politics and sports supposedly being separate – which is utter twaddle;   a pizza shop has “altered the meaning of an anti-same-sex-marriage billboard next to their business, a day after a Hobart hotel distanced itself from a billboard atop its premises”;   a rebuttal of claims that attacks no longer happen on LGBT people (which really needs to use research from my state – and police statistics on hate crimes);   the history of LGBT activism in one Australian city;   an article which reduces the current “debate” about Equal Marriage to one of opinion, not core identity and access to benefits, although it does have some good quotes, such as "lucidity demands effort: passion automatically goes at a gallop" (quite a disappointment from this author – who should know better);   Sir Elton John, currently touring here, has called on Australia to legalise Equal Marriage;
       -   on homophobia/transphobia (including heteronormativity, cisgender-normativity and the suppression of the religious freedom of those religions that support Equal Marriage) this week (and noting that trans kids are the same as cis kids of the trans kids’ true gender):   a sports coach is looking forward to the time LGBT clubs are not necessary;   an Australian “teenager has been – deservedly - jailed for nine months – seems quite light - for … a key role in a scam that targeted users of [a] gay dating site … , and led to a man taking his own life”;   an LGBT student in the USA MAY have committed "suicide by cop";   an outraged tweet from a far right wing extremist Australian Senator “over a primary school's fundraising drive has resulted in it raising more than $140,000 — far exceeding the school's original target of $900”;
       -   on white supremacist and other forms of racism this week:   indigenous artists are pushing for proper payment for use of their designs in fashion;   my nation’s history of “blackbirding” (slavery – and I had quite a few descendants of those islanders in the Queensland high school I went to: this was real, and utterly, appallingly wrong – see also here, from the town I was in);   my state’s oldest indigenous organisation is receiving a boost;   indigenous history is being found buried in archives;   a white supremacist firefighter in the USA has resigned;   as statues of Confederate soldiers are being taken down across the US, two US politicians - a black Democrat and a white Republican - are calling for a monument at the South Carolina Statehouse grounds to honour a black American Civil War hero, who hijacked a Confederate supply ship he worked on, steered his family to freedom and delivered the ammunition-laden vessel to the Union;   “the tendency for courts in the United States and Canada to question jurors on their biases provides useful lessons for Australian judiciaries”;   moves to change the racist name of a school in the USA;   “the importance of training teachers to better understand their native students”;
       -   other white supremacy / racism problems have also occurred in: Taiwan (1st), Taiwan (2nd), USA;
       -   on male supremacist and other forms of sexism this week (keeping in mind the overblown influence given to testosterone):   more misogyny from the USA’s CEO;   the UN has praised the transformative power of women’s economic empowerment;   the world's number two men’s single player has written about tennis women making the same sacrifices as men;   more sexism at a notorious ride sharing service;   girls and boys in Madagascar are being taught the truth about menstruation - such it being OK to make mayonnaise during a period (where do these stupid ideas start?);   an idiotic MP has shown that he has no understanding of the inherent social privilege that straight white men have;   a stupid imbalance in public toilets - and the biological ineptness of a police officer - are on show in a European city where a woman was fined for urinating in public;   an example of extreme domestic violence;   a Canadian Conservative MP has apologised after referring to that nation’s environment minister as "climate Barbie";   (please note that the author of this article is considered by some to be sex negative) an article on the broader impacts of businesses using titillation (and the power abuse of strip searches);   a University in northern Australia has a “culture of predatory behaviour, harassment and cover-ups” (one victim said she was asked by a university coordinator to speak with the perpetrator to "confirm it was rape"! Others have been intimidated into silence) and a "dominant masculine culture" where there was a "normalisation of everyday sexism" (not the only organisation in Australia with such problems);   the experiences of women in regional, rural, and remote areas seeking help for domestic and family violence;
       -   other sexism matters have also occurred in: Indonesia, Mexico, Australia;
       -   on religious rights (including Islamophobia) this week:   a neochristian school has been found guilty of discrimination against a Sikh child;   a new definition of anti-Semitism has been adopted by Germany;
       -   other religious rights / Islamophobia matter have also occurred in: US politics (attempt to increase religious bigotry);
       -   on workers’, children’s, privacy, and other forms of human (and other – e.g., animal) rights this week:   as the UN leads the way to eliminating sexual abuse and exploitation, 40 million people are caught in modern slavery, and 152 million children in child labour – see also here;   staff at a retirement village have walked out after months of not being paid;   a call for foster children to get support until they are 21 (maybe a graduated transition is needed … );   a person with dwarfism;   “animal welfare is being neglected on long journeys across Europe amid a booming livestock trade”;   an idiot who ignored warnings not to marry an underage child is now in court;   a social media company has “apologised for letting advertisers use phrases like "Jew-haters" as a targeting criteria and for not noticing it until it was pointed out”;   workplace advocates have warned short video applications could open the door to discrimination and unfair hiring practices (as a first point, what about those who don’t have those types of accounts … );   a basketball Paralympian has called on thieves to return her custom-made hand-bike;   the experience of the homeless people who sell the "Big Issue" (the content of which is good, progressive journalism) reveals "the flimsy basis of the ‘lifters and leaners’ rhetoric, which still persists in recent government welfare policy changes. Punitive approaches such as welfare cards and drug tests have little grounds in research evidence, and do much to stigmatise and blame people for society’s inequalities";   a safe parking plan for the homeless;
       -   other workers’, children’s, privacy, and other forms of human or other rights matters have also occurred in: Indonesia (re Australia), India, India (2nd);
  • With regard to crime, judicial matters and policing:
       -   my state has a new, accessible website to help victims of crime navigate the justice system;   a prisoner has died violently in an Australian state prison;   a private prison company’s security manager has testified that he did not know an inmate was using ice when he died, despite security reports stating drugs were being thrown over the fence to the man;   two men found guilty of rape and murder have long criminal histories - including multiple police assaults (time for some social reflection on recidivism?);   a stupid child has killed a friend by stealing and crashing a car;   the situation of African-American police in the USA;   some US police are using a slower, more patient approach to avoid shooting people;   well organised, peaceful protests over the acquittal of a now-former police officer for the shooting death of a black man have continued - during the day, with concerning allegations of violence and police aggression at night;   although a documentary has highlighted young drivers using phones while driving, older drivers are actually far more likely to do this;   the Australian Government is being “urged to ban a highly speculative investment scheme ["binary options trading"] that has been hijacked by international fraudsters to steal millions of dollars”;   "it is an obvious scam for many reasons: the threat of police and legal action, the bad grammar, just a name a few are all tell-tale signs, the (real) ATO says";   “the former CEO of RSL NSW failed to act on concerns raised by several staff members about [a] former president … corporate credit card expenditure, telling the inquiry "a man's got to live"” (!);   a resource “to synthesise over forty years of research evidence to present an accurate and updated picture of sexual offending”;
      -    other crime, judicial and policing matters have occurred in: Norway, Australia;
  • With regard to press aka the media, and freedom of expression (keeping in mind that claims of presenting “both sides” of a debate can be WRONG if the other side is RUBBISH –as is the case on LGBTIQ issues: having an “equal say”, or a “right to respond” MUST be assessed in the context of what is happening overall in society – NOT solely in one limited incident. Also, funding is an issue … ):
       -   media / freedom of expression matters have occurred in: China, Mexico, office desks, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Togo;
  • With regard to overcrowding and “modern” lifestyle issues (is YOUR smart phone free of conflict  minerals, environmental harm and child labour? [IT manufacturers are making some effort in on those – in response to activist pressure.] Do you suffer from FOMO or addiction? Are you having second thoughts about technology? Is your social media making you miserable or envious? Are you being duped by modern mantras? Are you “failing” at being well? Does your AI use ethics? Does your corporation misuse mindfulness as a distraction from working conditions? Are you afflicted by management  fads? Do you understand embedded emissions? Do you want a bigger, flashier home/car than people had 50 years ago – which means you are actively abusing the environment and society’s cohesion and contributing to the problem of financialisation? Are you accursed with the “new is always good” groupthink of the computer world? Do you abuse workers by insisting on busy-ness? Are you raising a Prince Boofhead? Keeping in mind that, although I am a Pagan now, but have been a Buddhist, maybe the lesson of Buddhism that one must first recognise that one causes much of one’s own suffering is applicable … ):
       -   on climate change and other environmental matters this week:   protection in Australia’s marine parks have been cut back;   the potential of turning open urban drains back into living streams (as has been done in my home city);   citizen scientists will be used to indirectly monitor platypuses;   “going off-grid could be the way forward for communities on the fringes of WA's power network after a trial of solar units exceeded the expectations of those involved”;   trial of a new approach to culling wild dogs, who can kill 30 - 40 sheep in a single night;   “the photographer behind a compelling image of a seahorse gripping a cotton bud in Indonesia says he hopes the photo will affect people's lives and create a change”;   a piggery is catching up with the well established trend to use biogas from waste;   Australia could transition to 100% renewable energy in 20 years if just a few of 22,000 suitable locations for pumped hydro sites were built;   “a comprehensive study of sea-turtle nests has found a significant increase in turtle numbers at a majority of sites globally”;   the problem of goldfish getting into the wild and adapting;   a young person has started an online petition in support of (his father’s research on) using fungus to improve storage of carbon in soil;   the climate change targets are still achievable;   satellite data could help prevent water theft;   support for community energy projects;
       -   other environmental matters have occurred in: Australia, developing nations;
       -   on technology and science matters this week:   standing desks were oversold owing to misleading reporting on the dangers of sitting, and failure to mention commercial interests;   cyber war games are being held to help prepare against a cyber attack;   identity theft - and other online problems - plague young people as much as old;   a “mother has recalled the moment that three generations of her family were nearly killed in a head-on crash when a driver distracted by a mobile phone crossed into their lane”;   “Australia's privacy watchdog is warning former customers of leasing business Amazing Rentals to take precautions against identity fraud in the wake of a data breach”;
       -   other technology and science matters have occurred in: my home state’s justice system, Gaza;
       -   on economic and financial matters this week:   a US state is taking legal action against a credit company that was hacked - which has now admitted an earlier hack;   over the last twenty years, jobs are changing to part-time, and young people are finding it harder to get any jobs;   an article on the costs of child care (attributed to regulation: educator-to-child ratios and types of qualifications), while rates of pay are low, opportunities for career progression are limited, and Australia remains 'significantly below' international best practice;   the growing workforce casualisation suits some people, but not others;   unhappy employees result in major direct and indirect costs for businesses (bad bosses are the biggest source of misery, and dreaded team building exercises don't work);
       -   on affordable housing and homelessness matters this week:   the need for tiny houses is being blocked by inflexible planning regulations - thereby putting some older women at risk of homelessness;
       -   on health and medical this week:   parents who lost a child to suicide have started a charity aiming at educating about the risk of suicide;   a neochristian rehabilitation centre is having trouble coping with an increase in ice addicts, who now equal the number of alcoholics;   a warning that depression is not always obvious;   a call to manage energy, rather than time (which I've come across through friends with CFS, and use);   private drug rehabilitation providers in Australia are growing increasingly frustrated at a lack of government action to regulate the “trouble-plagued sector”;   doctors are pushing for a “three-parent technique” to be used in Australia to save babies from mitochondrial disease (wonder what the “no” campaigners will say about that one … );   a UK survey found one quarter of girls and nearly one in 10 boys show signs of depression at the age of 14, with many parents not attuned to the true anxieties of their teenage sons and daughters (underestimated daughters' stress and had concerns about sons that the boys didn’t);   the use of colour in a US march about suicide;   researchers have debunked the central tenets of the neochristian-based Alcoholics Anonymous doctrine and found dozens of other treatments more effective;
       -   on other matters in the category this week:   another article on urban sharing of excess backyard produce;
  • With regard to education:
       -   the dearth of male teachers in Australia;   my state will ban gambling ads near schools;   despite what the two sides involved claim, what the evidence is actually saying is match the method to the kid (and get parents into a financially comfortable enough situation where they can spend more time reading to their young kids, etc). Also, an article here on the need to shift our focus from data and results to learning and engagement;
       -   other education matters have occurred in: Australia (shocking University culture), Africa (good news);
  • With regard to war, violence and hate generally:
       conflict is keeping 27 million children out of school, with girls at particular risk of abuse;   the USA is preparing to deliberately export more violence;   at a –somewhat strange – fear-based protest about public safety, which drifted into standard right vs. left lines, police used their new powers to prevent violence by masked offenders;   news of the death of a former Soviet military officer who avoided nuclear war by deciding that a computer alarm was a false alarm (as it was) has trickled out of Russia;
  • With regard to natural and other catastrophes:
       a powerful earthquake has killed scores of people in Mexico, and left many trapped;   another Tropical Cyclone (“Hurricane”) has caused devastation in the Caribbean;   “Indonesia's emergency agency has expanded the evacuation area around a volcano in Bali amid fears it could erupt”;   unlike the facility where eight elderly patients died, other US health care facilities appear to have been adequately prepared for recent Tropical Cyclones (aka Hurricanes);   a Tropical Cyclone (Typhoon) has killed six people in Viêt Nám;
  • With regard to peace and/or spirituality generally (including survival after death, and good religion), development (in an “end poverty/thirst/hunger” sense) and the occasional nice story (are you crippled by the fear of being single or asexual or off-grid or in any other way a rebel / innovator / non-conformist / true to yourself, or believe in management  fads and fashions? Do you distract yourself and fill your time to avoid finding real meaning? If so, you have a spiritual problem, and a need to constructively remedy that):
       an explainer on the (EU and) UN Liaison Office for Peace and Security;   a close to reasonable article on Paganism (I might start keeping an eye of the "God Forbid" page, which appears to be far more balanced than the other religion pages at the ABC, which are just fronts for Abrahamic religions);   the stupid assumptions made about religion by academics (and it gets worse in the media, and worse again in a lot of the LGBT communities .. );   use of "‘inversion’ – a strategy that looks at problems in reverse, focusing on minimising the negatives instead of maximising the positives" to come up with a "no to do" list;   developing nations “can prosper without increasing emissions”.
Location based News:
  • With regard to Africa, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (and other sources) has:
       -   “a study conducted by the UN … has found that measures deployed by African governments to combat terrorism actually impel more people to join violent groups”;
       -   Angola’s support for the DRC is wavering as it is flooded by 1.4 million refugees;
       -   the “Democratic” Republic of Congo has been urged to protect refugees, after recent killings;   the DRC is leading the world in allegations of sexual abuse against peacekeepers;
       -   Ethiopia is kidnapping and abusing those who have fled;
       -   Ghana has made high schools free;
       -   after last month’s Presidential elections were ruled invalid, threats against Kenya's judiciary are increasing;
       -   rival Taureg groups in Mali have signed a ceasefire;
       -   the experience of Nigerian slum dwellers who were violently driven out for developers;
       -   “Somalia’s government [has] rebuked its three semi-autonomous regions … for cutting ties with Qatar, saying it was determined to stay neutral in the Gulf nation’s dispute with other Arab states”;
       -   Togo has blocked access to social media networks and shut down mobile messaging;
       -   after action by police described as a “parliamentary coup” and a siege to humiliate members, Uganda’s Parliament has deferred debate over a Presidential age limit;
  • With regard to China (may her growing middle class bring a love of peace and freedom), East and South East Asia and the Pacific (noting the risks of atrocities in North Korea and Burma):
       -   an article on the surprisingly good progress towards democracy in Asia overall;
       -   on China, including Hong Kong, the DPRK (North Korea) and South Korea (which need to accept their partition – for now – and sign a peace treaty), Taiwan, and the free but invaded and occupied nation of Tibet:
       -   a summary of China’s crackdown on freedom;   the UN Environment and the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group have “joined forces to improve energy efficiency and renewable energy use in Chinese cities, and so contribute to the fight against climate change”;
       -   “footage apparently showing police and paramedics failing to give medical treatment to a [fatally shot] Vietnamese worker has prompted outrage in Taiwan”, and “many people in Taiwan thought racism and prejudice didn't exist in their society - until a viral video of a British man and his Taiwanese girlfriend being verbally abused on the subway”;
       -   elsewhere in Asia:
       -   an Indonesian woman has challenged wearing hijab;   Indonesia has ordered the Australian Government enter mediation over 115 allegedly juvenile Indonesians put into adult jails in Australia, which Australia contends the Indonesian Court does not have the jurisdiction to handle (major human rights abuses are actually subject to action in whichever court can get to the matter – which is why a South American despot was tried in a British court);
       -   seven teenagers who had been bullied have been arrested over a fatal fire at a residential religious school in Malaysia;
       -   opponents of the Philippines’ President’s ruthless mass killings programme (aka, the so-called “war on drugs”) are finally joining forces -and one critic has called him a sociopath;
       -   and in the Pacific:   cheap imports are destroying the sale of cultural items in PNG;
  • With regard to Europe and the European Union (EU):
       -   Germany's interesting (seriously) electoral system;   a partial history of identity politics in Germany;
       -   a senior Norwegian police officer has been jailed for abuses of power;
       -   a powerful storm in western Romania has killed eight people and injured at least 67;
       -   Spain’s Prime Minister has described Catalonia’s current moves for a referendum, part of its desire for self-determination, as 'escalation';
  • With regard to the conflict in Iraq (noting that Iraq was once a peaceful and prosperous society, before the UK / USA / CIA backed revolution – see here, and that it needs an emphasis on a secular society and citizenship – but also here, although based in Syria and here):
       -   “an Iraqi cleric recently praised the Jewish people for having emerged from the Holocaust following World War II and managed to win the ‘respect of the world through science’, while Muslims are seen as having become ‘the world’s headache’ ”;   the UN has criticised moves by Kurds for self-determination on the basis that such is beholden to the fight against violent extremism … ;
       -   and the Iraq Body Count project reports 279 people violently killed in the last week;
  • With regard to the Libyan civil war:
       at least 8 refugees are dead and scores missing off Libya’s coast;
  • With regard to South and Central America:
       -   Mexico is facing a record number of murders of journalists;   photos from a march in Mexico against violence against women;   a powerful earthquake has killed scores of people in Mexico;   one regional Mexican city is coming to terms with the destruction and the lack of government help, as a girl thought to be trapped in rubble in Mexico City – which led to a lot of diversion of resources - is found to have never existed … ;
  • With regard to South Asia (aka the Indian sub-continent), The Hindu and other sources have:
       -   calls for a UN envoy on Kashmir (this has some merit, in my view);
       -   on India:
       -   the massive harm  done by colonialism in India is shown here;   a “scheme to gift saris to poor women as part of festival celebrations in [a] south Indian state … backfired after women began rejecting the "poor quality" garments”;   forced child marriage in India;   child labour in India;   after two men were arrested for criticising a judicial order, “the judge made it clear that no action should be taken against those who had commented on the orders without resorting to personal attacks or denigrating the majesty of the court”;   India’s Supreme Court has ordered that nation’s 22 state governments to stop cow vigilantes;
  • With regard to Sudan and South  Sudan:
       -   in a letter to the UN, South Sudan’s rebel leader has “expressed his frustration with the peace process led by the eastern African regional block saying they are no longer qualified to play this role and called for a new process aiming to end the war”;   police in South Sudan are being paid by residents to stop crime;
  • With regard to the conflict in Syria, where Assad’s regime has, in my opinion, lost all claims to legitimacy, and it is time to consider partition (see here, here, here and here):
       a senior Syrian opposition activist and her daughter have been murdered in Turkey;   a challenge to the view that destroying violent extremists is all that is required to “liberate” Syria;   the desperation of displaced civilians;
  • With regard to Turkey:
       a senior Syrian opposition activist and her daughter have been murdered in Turkey;   in a small town in Turkey, the poor never go hungry;   Miss Turkey has been de-crowned after a tweet was found where she compared her menstrual bleeding to the “bleeding” (loss of life) by those opposing the Turkish coup;   more violence at a Grand Sultan Erdogan (why isn’t it spelt “Erdowan”, if that is how it is pronounce?) event in the USA;
  • With regard to West Asia (aka “the Middle East”) and North Africa, the Middle East Eye and other sources have:
       -   on Israel and Palestine:   “the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, has agreed to hold talks with its rival … to form a unity government and says it is ready to hold general elections”;   in-between power outages, a Gazan prodigy has invented 20 games;   Israel has attacked a weapons depot of a Lebanese “militant group” (at what stage do they become violent extremist, rather than just militant?) in Syria;   a (confusingly written) defence of accurate teaching on Palestine in the USA;   a founder of an Israel volunteer program for Diaspora Jews has vowed the group will keep going after its benefactor “caved to right-wing pressure" and cut its funding over revelations that some of its participants took part in a pro-Palestinian protest in the West Bank;
       -   elsewhere in the region:
       -   a rebuttal of claimed religious tolerance in Bahrain;
       -   the fear, division and struggle to survive in Egypt;
       -   as the leader of the Revolutionary Guards urges actions to make the USA feel pain, Iran has revealed a missile that can reach Israel;
       -   “Qatar’s withdrawal of its peacekeepers … from the Djibouti-Eritrea border was a form of punishment [for support of] the quartet of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt”;
       -   Saudi Arabia has lifted a ban on internet calls, but will monitor and censor them;   the declining quality of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and the USA;
       -   the faults in Tunisia’s democracy are becoming apparent … ;   a detailed examination of the problems in  southern Tunisia;
  • With regard to the conflict in Yemen (unlike Iraq, I cannot find a source of regular information on casualties in Yemen, but the hardship and deaths from food, water and medical shortages that concerns me just as much – if not more, and I don’t know if such sites would report that; it is also important to remember that there are multiple sides in this dispute – and opponents to the government are not necessarily Houthi or violent extremist):
       “Gulf states must shell out more money to tackle widespread hunger in Yemen, which has been devastated by two years of civil war, the head of the World Food Programme [has] said”.
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