There’s a whole planet out there — we need a place to talk about other political affairs than the narrow domain of the United States, and Beatrice will be curating the discussion about politics that aren’t centered on the US.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Germany is currently being massively shitty again. Racist riots in front of arriving refugees and burning refugee homes (at least two in the last couple of days: in Weissach im Tal and in Nauen). The police is protecting these “concerned citizens”, while beating down the Antifa (a left-wing anti-facism group) counter-protests. And Merkel is silent.
From what I read here:
Perhaps I am naive, but I am really hoping for Kurdish statehood in the aftermath of the Syrian and Iraqi civil war. From what I have heard, the Kurds are, generally speaking, among the most secular and progressive of the peoples in the Middle East (not saying they’re automatically saints). But they’re up against powerful forces, not in the least Turkey, and the role of the US is at the very least suspect. Nominally, the US, and any modern, democratic, secular society, Western or not, ought to support the Kurds in their ambitions, but naturally, despite everything, the US wouldn’t want to upset the Turks, who are a very useful ally with their access to the Black Sea and proximity to Russia. The Turks are really playing a dirty game, simply equating the YPG with the PKK and even ISIL, whereas one would think they’d have a lot more to gain allying themselves with the Kurds and in doing so extending their influence in the Middle East.
I posted about international politics quite a lot when I was on the network.
This is a cross post from Moments of Political Madness:
Well, it looks like North Korea won’t be waging war on South Korea after all … at least not right away.
The two sides agreed to a compromise. Pyongyang expressed regret for a land mine attack that injured two South Korean soldiers. Seoul agreed to turn off the loudspeakers it had been using to broadcast, among other things, pop (K-pop) music into North Korea.
Propaganda was also broadcast:
North Korea also agreed to resume the meetings in had previously allowed between divided families.
Found on Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science site:
Currently, has raised a grand total of $6.66:
This guy’s “Maters” was apparently in world salad with incoherent thought as a dressing, and his “Doctorial” looks like it’s in scamming to get an all-expenses paid vacation to the Galapagos Islands.
Interesting times in the UK Labour Party. Following their failure to oust the Tories in the May general election (although they slightly increased their share of the vote, they failed to make much headway in England and Wales, and lost all but one of their Scottish seats to the Scottish National Party, which campaigned on a platform well to Labour’s left, opposing austerity and the renewal of the UK’s nuclear weapons), both the UK leader, Ed Miliband (“Milibland”) and the Scottish leader, Jim Murphy, resigned. Scottish Labour have passed the poisoned chalice – they are expected to lose seats in the Scottish Parliamentary elections next May – to Murphy’s henchwoman, Keiza Dugdale.
The UK leadership election is where the unexpected is occurring – in spades. It is the first party leadership election to be organised as one-person-one-vote: apart from actual party members, members of affiliated trades unions could register to vote, and anyone could pay £3 to register as a “supporter” in order to vote. This system was introduced as a sop to the Blairite right after complaints that the “soft left” Milibland defeated his Blairite brother David due to trade union bloc votes. However, the right turn out to have shot themselves in both feet. To stand in the contest, an MP needed 36 nominations, only MPs having the right to nominate. Up to the last moment, it looked as though no representative of the left in the party would overcome this hurdle – but a few MPs from the centre gave the only declared left candidate, Jeremy Corbyn, their nominations, to “widen the debate” – and presumably, ensure that the left would be soundly beaten, but have no grounds to complain that they were excluded. But, having been quoted at 100-1 shortly before getting enough nominations, Corbyn is now the odds-on favourite. Over 600,000 people are registered to vote, the only two polls taken of these voters show him well ahead, he has more local party and union nominations than any of the three right-wing candidates (two retreads from the Blair and Brown eras, and a Tory who’s somehow ended up in the wrong party), he has thousands of volunteers in his campaign, and he’s packing out meetings of supporters. Labour “elder statespersons” and the media are falling over themselves to join the ABC (“Anyone But Corbyn”) chorus, and the right-wing Daily Telegraph, which started out hoping Corbyn would win and thus finish the Labour Party, now says “Jeremy Corbyn Must Be Stopped”. Evidently, they would not be saying anything of the kind if they did not recognise that his anti-austerity, tax-the-rich-and-big-corporations, renationalise-the-railways-and-energy providers, democratic socialist message would have wide appeal.
The ABC chorus have four main points:
1) His economic policies are absurd. But 40 prominent economists have written an open letter supporting them.
2) He’s not electable. This message has come from, among others, Neil Kinnock, who lost two elections as Labour leader, Gordon Brown, who lost one, and Tony Blair, probably now the most hated man in Britain. And the Daily Telegraph clearly disagrees.
3) He’d split the party. This has come from MPs who are, in fact, threatening to try to oust him from the day he’s elected. So what they are actually saying is “We’d split the party”. Most of them are careerists, so I don’t believe them.
4) Guilt by association. It is true Corbyn has shared pro-Palestinian and anti-war platforms with some repugnant Islamists. He should indeed have been a lot more careful – but there’s not a scrap of evidence he shares their vile views.
As a member of another party (the Scottish Green Party), I don’t have a vote in the election; and his election would both pull votes from our sister party in England and Wales, and make the Scottish independence I campaigned for last year less likely. Nor is Corbyn by any means without flaw (see 4 above, and he does not give climate change and other environmental issues the prominence they merit); also, I think he’s actually considerably less likely to win than commentators are currently saying*; but the prospect of an actual socialist leading the Labour Party, and taking the fight to the Tories rather than meekly accepting that, “there is no alternative” (©Margaret Thatcher) to market-worship, corporate greed, and ever-increasing inequality, for me greatly outweighs all other issues. And then there’s the delicious prospect of seeing Tony Blair’s face when he hears that Corbyn has won… Corbyn’s campaign website is here.
*The polls referred to above were taken when only about 2/3 of the eventual electorate were available to pollsters; I expect an increasingly dirty campaign from the ABC chorus; and the election is by “Alternative Vote”, meaning that voters get to place all the candidates in order, if they want, with the one with least votes having their votes redistributed until an overall majority is achieved – so if the right can get their supporters to place Corbyn last, he’d need over 50% on the first ballot.
Poopyhead: The link in the sidebar to this thread is broken. It looks like there is an extra space (
%20) at the end. So you get an+++ OUT OF CHEESE +++error, which makes the mildly deranged penguin not quite so mildly deranged…*waves*
I’ve mostly been focusing on refugee’s problems in Europe when pestering people with links to European news so… OK, I have to interrupt myself right away because I almost wrote the problem of refugees and had to stop and rephrase that. European countries have a number of problems, how to deal with refugees being just one of them. But as always, there’s the framing issue.
Refugees are not a problem.
What is happening in their home countries is a problem. The fact that they have to risk their lives, abandon everything they have including sometimes their families, travel and live in horrible conditions in a hope to reach a better life, for themselves and their loved ones…. that’s a problem.
That countries, many of which have contributed to reasons these people are running, are not ready to help people who come with nothing but hope and nightmares is a problem.
People are not a problem and we have to stop treating them as such.
Europe has a problem with a rise of popularity or far-right parties. Fascists and nazis. I don’t use those words just as insults but as accurate description of their policies. The influx of refugees is a good opportunity for these parties to get support – their odious actions, as those of suspected neo-Nazis in the town of Troeglitz in eastern Germany may get condemned by some people, but there will always be those who will say
That’s a direct quote from the linked article, by the way.
And that’s the banality of evil.
I believe this guy doesn’t think shelters should be burned down, but he’s not happy with refugees coming to his town. If only they were somebody else’s “problem”. I’m sure he wishes them well, just… somewhere else. But somewhere else lives that nice retired couple who feels really sorry about all those little kids crying on TV, but wouldn’t it be nicer if they weren’t sent to the town the couple lives? There must be a better place. And on and on it goes.
There are exceptions, of course.
I applaud the notable exceptions, but as usually, the “bad guys” are those who make the most noise and can do a lot of harm.
Also, those who have real power over the refugees’ futures – governments of most developed countries in EU – are unfortunately very likely to loudly condemn the violence in one sentence, but say something similar to our friend from Troeglitz in the other. And I don’t mean the one who wants to accept refugees in her own home.
Why us? can be heard as a whinge across EU.
– source
– source
–
source
Beatrice @ 9:
Here in the States, that attitude is known as NIMBY, Not In My Back Yard. You get a lot of “Oh, yes, something should absolutely be done about _______, I just don’t want that in my back yard.”
It’s disappointing to see how EU expects the countries outside its borders, usually poorer countries who usually have plenty of their own people seeking asylum in the wealthier EU, to “protect” its borders from the refugees.
What are Macedonia or Serbia to do with them?
A couple of days ago, Macedonia has declared a state of emergency and sent its military to the border with Greece.
(- source)
Where is Germany now? UK? Anyone?
I’m not going to hesitate to point fingers at the Macedonian government for allowing its military to beat the refugees in trying to stop them from crossing the border (source), but the EU countries are not innocent in this either. They are the ones with more resources – if we all already know groups of refugees that crossed that border are heading for Germany, why are they being forced to (after already traveling for who know how long to the border) wait in no man’s land between Greece and Macedonia – sometimes without food, water or shelter, then wait for trains to take them to Serbia where they will again have to try to find ways around or across the wall Hungary is building (source)?
Someone needs to take responsibility for these people instead of letting them wander and suffer until they find some hole to sneak through.
Organize, send buses or trains to relocate them to refugee centers.
Unless EU governments are silently hoping they all die from exposure or silently disappear into thin air… they are already here. They are not going back and this waffling about and waiting for someone else to solve the problem while people sleep on the streets, under the open air, is shameful.
Canada is in the midst of its longest election EVER — by a long shot. It’s about half as long as the US presidential primaries.
The front-runners are the NDP. This is completely shocking: their whole existence they were the perennial also-rans, the socialist gnats embarrassing the other parties from screwing the poor *too much*. Well, almost their whole existence — they’ve been the official opposition for the past four years. Now they’re acting like they will likely be running the country.
They are front-runners but not by much against the tories, who are running on a slightly more competent version of Bush’s platform: tough on violent criminals, tough on drugs, big on oil, shut up the scientists.
In Quebec, the federal party to represent the separatists is failing to capture the imagination. Still I’ll be volunteering to help my current NDP MP keep her seat against their party leader.
One of the major issues this election is half just luck of the draw, half a proof of bad planning. The Tories under Harper avoided the worst of the global depression, because their predecessors refused to deregulate the banks (the Tories desperately wanted to but didn’t have time to do so before disaster hit — and now that issue is political poison). So they got re-elected because they were so good on the economy compared to the rest of the world.
Now the oil price crashed. Our economy is so bound up with oil prices that it’s taking a beating on the national level (on a provincial level, I expect the non-oil regions to do quite well). There’s not a whole lot that Harper could have done to soften this bust, except to have avoided fueling such a big boom, but this situation is showing him up to not actually be a genius. Anyone paying attention knew it already, it’s those who don’t pay attention who are getting a wake-up call.
In Ontario, I’m volunteering for the NDP that numerobis mentioned @11; in my riding, we’re trying to elect the first woman professional engineer to Canada’s parliament. Go big orange!
re: Canada’s elections
It’s great when the party that is in the opposition actually offers something you can vote for with good conscience, especially when it actually has a chance of winning.
Alas, in the Canadian election, there is no good choice when it comes to carbon-reduction strategy; the (currently governing) Conservatives, being proverbial heads-in-the-sand types, simply don’t have one; while the Liberals and NDP, fearful of offending anyone (since they might get elected this time!) are making wishy-washy noises about cap and trade.
Only Elizabeth May’s Green party is proposing an effective tax on carbon, and unfortunately, they don’t have a snowball’s chance of actually forming the government.
One newspaper’s summing up of the situation:
In Election 2015, which party has it right on global warming?
I’m actually disappointed with the NDP, as Mulcair refused to attend a debate (? terminology ?) on women’s issues, just because Harper wouldn’t go, either. But then, as I’ve been living out of the country for too long, I’m not allowed to vote anymore anyway, so what does it matter. :P
BUT they’re still the best option overall, infinitely preferable to more years of Harper, and I’m sorry to say that the Trudeau family legacy isn’t helping Justin all that much right now. Legacy. Ha.
Illiteracy will cost global economy $1.2tn in 2015:
In USAlienstani, several of the thugs in the Kandidate Klown Kar effectively want to hinder education. Whilst that doesn’t equate to promoting illiteracy, it is nonetheless not even wrong.
Let’s give Saudi Arabia the world’s tiniest gold star for finally allowing women to vote>/a>
The debate thing is that Harper is refusing to go to many of the proposed debates, which is pretty much unprecedented.
Mulcair is refusing to go to any debate that his main opponent is skipping, because that means he gets attacked while his opponent is just not in the picture.
I think it’s by and large a reasonable response, but it leads to a very sucky result.
As for pipelines: yes, the NDP is playing a crappy game there. They’re against some of them, but for one of them because… uh… why?
If we can get an NDP just shy of a majority with enough Greens to form a majority, that would be my ideal.
Hey, a man can dream!
@petrander #3
The Kurds are on the frontline against ISIS, which is why Turkey is allowing ISIS a lot of leeway.
http://time.com/3974399/turkey-kurds-isis/
@Nick Gotts #7
There seems to be a resurgence of real-left candidates: in UK with Corbyn, in Greece with Syriza, in US with Sanders and in Australia with the Greens.
Let’s hope they don’t end up like Syriza.
I will allow myself to be optimistic here.
@Beatrice #9
Thanks for that.
It’s the very same in Australia.
The racist message has a very appealing subtext: “it’s their fault, not ours”.
It’s incredible how we support violence and exploitation in other countries and expect that not to bite us back in the ass.
But dehumanizing people and blaming them for everything is so much easier I guess.
How Australia is treating refugees is appalling, the US treats terror suspects better.
@Lynna #18
Good on them.
There is not enough talk about Saudi Arabia.
F.O.@21,
Yes indeed. A few days ago I attended a talk by Owen Jones, who noted the rise of opposition to the neoliberal establishment consensus in highly culturally-specific forms – some of them very unpleasant right-wing populism, e.g. UKIP in the UK, but very variable even on the left. He admitted he had thought it was the wrong time for a left candidate to stand for Labour leadership – Corbyn’s rise has been as surprising to his supporters, and I suspect to Corbyn himself, as to his enemies. Jones also argued that the right were able to use the financial crash of 2007-8 to intensify their class war offensives because the left did not have an alternative narrative and ideas ready (as the right did both in that crisis, and that of the 1970s). Perhaps the appearance of unexpected left alternatives you and he note will give us at least a chance to seize the initiative in the next crisis – which it seems possible could even now be upon us (hottest year on record, growing numbers of desperate migrants, stock market falls…).
On Syriza, I think they faced an extremely difficult problem on coming to office (a friend recently said they should have been much quicker about reforming the tax system, but I doubt they had enough civil servants who were both competent and honest, given the years of corruption in the appointments system), and a hideous dilemma when faced with the troika’s intransigence. But I wouldn’t write them off yet – especially as other currents of opposition arise in European countries.
Just found a remarkably enlightened article talking about a suggested German response to the refugee crisis, but am not sure if it’s actual policy or not (I hope so). https://uk.news.yahoo.com/comment/talking-politics/germanys-ten-point-refugee-plan-shows-how-151530992.html#zBiFyGh
Oh, it’s a Yahoo news article about immigration. The comments are depressing and dehumanising.
Taking a look at the Iran Nuclear deal from the European point of view:
Camile Grand also said, “In Europe, you don’t have a constituency against the deal. In France, I can’t think of a single politician or member of the expert community who has spoken against it, including some of us who were critical during the negotiations.”
When questioned about the quality of deal, Camille Grand said he was “surprised by the depth and the quality of the deal, the hawks are satisfied, and the doves don’t have an argument.”
Who opposes the deal? Some, not all, of the officials in Israel; Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate; and Iranian hardliners.
Republican politicians in the USA are extremely radical, even more radical than their conservative counterparts on the international stage.
NY Times link
numerobis @19
I know why he’s not attending, and I still think it’s stupid. That’s probably why I would never make it in politics.
The current mayor of Venezia is conservative who has been doing a number of dubious things. One that particularly annoys me is he has armed the police (for no clear reason that I know of, only saying something like “so the tourists feel safe”).
And now for the latest
dubiousboneheaded action, Venice mayor refuses to allow city to host gay pride parade:Human rights groups face global crackdown ‘not seen in a generation’ (this is quite a long but interesting article, from which I am only excerpting a few points):
katybe ,
from the article you linked
I can’t even…
Regarding Germany’s suggestions, I especially like this
They also demand “lasting and systematic financial support” for the municipal authorities in countries, like Hungary, Greece and Italy, which are under particular strain and properly funded rescue services in the Med
blf,
I realize that he’s a bigot but… The mayor of Venezia complains about the “height of kitsch”? Really. Carnevale di Venezia.
Ok then.
Egypt launches English blog to counter ‘inaccurate reports’ by foreign media:
Robert Mugabe booed in Zimbabwe’s parliament over economic crisis:
Mugabe launches charm offensive as Zimbabwe’s economic woes mount:
Berlin orchestra’s planned Tehran concert angers Israel:
What is the problem with ignoring deranged rants about the agreement?
Mr Barenboim is a strong critic of the occupation of Palestine. That is not the same thing as being “anti-Israel”, Ms Regev. I rather suspect Mr Barenboim has done more useful and constructive things then you have.
Not exactly politics, and this might be called “art” for certain values of “art” (such as so bad-it’s-amusing…), but put here because anything involving N.Korea seems to have a propaganda (read: made-up-shite, i.e., political) aspect — which is not saying this story is made-up, only that what is behind this story is about is, well, made-up: N.Korea as a modern travel destination! There is even a new airport terminal, North Korea’s shiny new airport falls short of expectations:
People entering Hungary despite their fence- building:
But oh noes, what if they are actually terrorists!!
I dunno, that curly haired little girl does look suspiciously collected for such a small child.
petrander,
You mentioned Kurds in Turkey, I found an interesting article confirming some of your thoughts and further speculating on Turkey’s actions:
http://www.thenation.com/article/turkey-is-using-isis-as-cover-for-its-war-against-kurdish-activists/
A couple of excerpts:
Another boat sinks off the Libyan coast.
– source
Our papers (not in English, sorry) said there was another boat and possibly even more victims, but I can’t find anything to confirm that.
How European smugglers “help” refugees:
I couldn’t find the exact number of people found dead (probably from suffocation) in a truck in Austria because the decomposition makes it difficult to determine.
After unknown horrors they reach Europe, only to suffocate in a truck. Locked in, left to die… I have no words.
Just have some tissues ready if you read the whole article.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/discovery-of-up-to-50-bodies-in-truck-highlights-european-migrant-crisis/2015/08/27/ef6efd82-4cca-11e5-80c2-106ea7fb80d4_story.html
More on refugees found dead in that truck in Austria:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/austrian-police-bodies-found-in-truck-likely-of-syrian-refugees/
We don’t know much about who they were yet and I doubt we ever will:
While plane crashes or horrifying accidents are followed with investigations of victims’ background, the most we will probably ever know about these people is their country of origin and their sex. I realize that when it comes to one of hundreds of refugees from Syria, we can’t exactly expect random Austrian journalists to track down their relatives in a war and terrorism torn country to interview them, but at the same time it is disgraceful how desensitized people have become to their suffering. No matter the reason for it, I would argue that the way we talk about the death of refugees or immigrants, the way their deaths are reported, adds to the general public’s perception of them as other. People with no identities, just a faceless mass moving towards us – threatening.
Some arrests have been made, so I’m hoping people responsible for this are brought to justice.
—
The article also mentions another smaller boat capsizing yesterday, so that must be the other boat I say mentioned only in one other paper before this. I’m not entirely sure, but I think the whole statement below refers to the victims of the same incident.
The European murdertools industry has long been known to rely heavily on USAlienstan goons and gun fondlers for much of its sales, revenue, etc. However, this is the first time I can recall seeing a suggestion on using an existing legal vehicle to slow or stop the exports of guns and ammo specifically to the USA, Europe has questions to answer over America’s gun crime:
This reminds me that the Europeans managed to mostly shutdown the lethal injection state murders by simply refusing to export the drugs used, partly out of revulsion, and partly (as I now recall) citing similar(? the same?) international agreements.
Which highlights the obvious problem with the idea: Not-exporting those drugs worked because they weren’t otherwise available. Not so with guns and ammo; the bloody things are made all over the place, and both domestic and other foreign makers would attempt to fill the gap.
Which doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be tried.
I only have Croatian and Serbian sources for this, but here goes a rough translation:
A little Syrian boy Abdul Kerim Faris (10) has traveled almost 2.500 km from Damask to Belgrade by himself, without a single family member. LItle Abdul, who is currently living in the park near the bus terminal in Belgrade says that his father sent him on the trip, as the youngest male child in the family.
– My father just told me: “Run, son and save yourself”, while he stayed in Damask to protect my brothers and sisters. He told me to go to Germany and that he’ll find me there. Every night I dream of my mother and him and wish I could see them again – this brave boy begins his story.
This boy is a favorite in the group of refugees that arrived in Belgrade from Preševo yesterday. Before that he spent 4 months walking to Gjevgjelija, where he survived hell in struggles with the police. And then to macedonian-serbian border, then to teh Serbian capital…
Even though adults take care of him and try to be there for him, he is still alone without anyone of his own.
– I survived all sorts of things before coming here! It was the most difficult last weekend where we were trying to cross from Macedonia to Serbia. POlice pushed us around and beat us, people were falling, children crying. I’ve never been as scared in my life – says Abdul Kerim.
Although he’s having a difficult time himself, he worries about his parents, brother and sisters.
— I’m afraid bombs will kill them. There’s a war in my country, it’s horrible, I’m always wondering if I will ever see them again, my loved ones. Even if I get to Germany, how will they find me there? – this little one is asking wondering.
They have their own problems, but other Syrian refugees are shaken by little Abdula’s fate. They it’s the worst at night, when he calls for his parents.
– We feel sorry for this boy. We see how scared he is and how much he misses his family. He cries every night, when he thinks we can’t see him. It breaks your heart to hear him sob.We tried to contact his parents, but we haven’t succeeded. Who knows what happened to them. When we were in Greece, kid got sick. He had a sore throat and high temperature. We were afraid for him. – says Hamad Ahmet from Damascus.
The boy will continue to HUngary today from where they will continue to Germany, with a group of men who have been taking care of him.
– He’s tough, he’s walking with us like a 20-year-old. What’s the poor child to do, he has no choice. Whatever happens, he has no choice. Whatever happens, we won’t leave him. What happens to us will happen to him – declared the Syrian men protecting little Abdul Kerim.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, since the beginning of the year 9.000 children have asked for asylum in Serbia. One third are refugees without parental supervision. That is only the registered number, the number of children who don’t register is significantly higher.
Canada government suspends scientist for folk song about prime minister:
Here is the YouTube video. It’s well worth a listen, Dr Turner seems a quite good songwriter and singer, albeit I must admit I did not get some of the presumably local (Canadian) jibes.
Blf @ 26:
So…there isn’t a single gay person in all of Venice. Remarkable.
@32
Nothing says “freedom loving democracy” like trying to make a foreign government stop an orchestra from performing. That’s how free societies voice disagreement.
The destruction in Palmyra and torture and death of Khaled al-Asad, an antiquities scholar who devoted his life (quite literary) to the archeological site are world known by now, but his name should not be forgotten:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/palmyra-isis-khalid-al-asaad-beheading-isis/402148/
Satellite images of IS destruction in Palmyra:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34090536
blf@39 unfortunately all that increasing restrictions on European gun exports to the US would do is encourage the companies to increase their US manufacturing operations. SIG Sauer, Beretta, FN Herstal, and Glock all have manufacturing plants in the US.,
Malaysia Bans the Color Yellow
yeah, that’ll be effective…
Turkey arresting journalists:
I’m not surprised. Considering they were “filming clashes between police and Kurdish militants”, who knows what they could have caught on tape. Turkey isn’t to be trusted when it comes to Kurds, militants or not.
More from the surreal Harperville, Canada’s prime minister wants to make it harder for people to vote against him:
The referenced New York Times article is well worth reading.
More bad news from Hungary.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/11836027/Budapest-station-orders-evacuation-due-to-migrants-after-Vienna-sees-biggest-daily-influx-by-rail.html
To repeat : the law for asylum seekers in the European Union says that they must seek asylum in the first EU country they enter, and wait there until their application is assessed. Of course, that puts a strain on the border countires, which is also one of the reasons Croatian government is panicking even though we still count asylum seekers in dozens.
If an asylum seeker crosses into another EU country before their application is processed, they risk deportation back to the country they first entered.
It seems unreasonable that HUngary isn’t letting people out even though places like Berlin are willing to accept them having documentation or not, but I guess they are afraid of suddenly having hudreds if not thousands of people sent back to them.
Video of Keleti railway station in Budapest, from three days ago when refugees were still let inside:
Some photos from the day before yesterday:
http://dailynewshungary.com/the-budapest-keleti-railway-station-has-become-a-refugee-camp-photos/
After the closing of the train station, people are waiting and protesting outside:
I’m honestly not sure what to think about this one.
On one hand – in these summer heats those sprinklers can bring visitors a much needed relief. On the other… yeah, I can see the unfortunate implications.
– source
Pope being generous again:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/01/pope-francis-tells-priests-to-pardon-women-who-have-abortions
I’m quoting the whole article, bolding parts I find especially revealing.
Dear Pope,
Fuck you and your condescending “mercy” and “forgiveness”.
Shorter Pope: I forgive you for making your own medical decisions.
Jesus..
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pictured-police-find-illegal-immigrant-5867236
German police forced to ask public to stop bringing donations for refugees arriving by train:
(note the use of the word refugees by The Independent rather than “illegal immigrants” or “migrants”, because they *are* refugees, a term with a specific meaning)
Too many donations to handle?
I wish that was a “problem” all the time.
Good job Germany. UK, step up your game.
Mr Tony, there was an interesting article about that “problem” in Germany in The Grauniad, but I can’t find it now… but whilst searching for it, found this, Günter Grass criticises refugee treatment from beyond the grave:
Also, another German idea which seems to be catching fire, ‘Airbnb for refugees’ group overwhelmed by offers of help: “Refugees Welcome, which matchmakes citizens willing to share their homes with displaced people, also receiving offers to set up schemes across EU”.
─────────────────────────────
On another subject, a letter published in The Grauniad, Uganda NGO bill will be blow for LGBT rights from Frank Mugisha, Executive director, Sexual Minorities Uganda (quoted in full):
Having been probably thwarted in his desire to start a war with Iran (latest reports are Mr Obama now has sufficient votes in the Senate to uphold a veto), Israeejit Netanyahu is now proposing to resume the active war on occupied Palestine, starting by shooting kids, Netanyahu hints at easing rules on firing at Palestinian stone-throwers:
Beatrice @54
Note the description: “the plucky man”.
Plucky? Seriously? What depths of incompetence do you have to be to describe desperation of that magnitude as ‘plucky’?
Still talk of ‘economic migrants’ going around this country. Yeah, they’re doing all this desperate hiding in bonnets and jumping on trains for a few thousand more in their pockets, and that’s it. Right.
Anyway, I know PZ posted about it, but here’s a CBC story on the pictures of the little drowned boy – mostly a discussion of should they be shown. But honestly, if it’s this kind of picture that is needed to awaken compassion in people, then the world is too broken. Too broken.
Warning, though, for anyone who hasn’t seen the photos yet (anyone?) – some of the photos are pixellated, and some are not. It is not pleasant viewing by any means.
rq,
Even if they were economic immigrants, I wouldn’t see an issues with it. People move. People from Eastern Europe have their own stories of immigration and searching for work in the wealthier West. We should really keep our mouths shut about economic immigration.
Regarding the other story, I actually wrote this comment on the other thread, but since you specifically mention the ethics of posting that photo here I’m pasting my respose I typed up there over here:
rq,
I’m sorry.
My reason for thanking PZ was that this image leaves them with some dignity in death instead of parading their corpses. I know the other image is powerful and that’s the reason at least some of the media is using it, but I also see it as a bit exploitative.
—
That was my reaction yesterday already, and now I’ll go and rread that article you link to. Maybe it clears it up for me a bit.
Oh, I didn’t notice it was the article from yesterday.
I’m conflicted but maybe now is not the right time for that discussion.
Beatrice
I think it’s fine to discuss. It’s just not emotionally easy to do, but perhaps it needs to be discussed.
Anyway, this is related.
For. Shame, Canada. For. Fucking. Godsdamned. Shame, Harper.
Jeezus craist.
Tony, above
Perhaps the German government can divert the extra items to neighbouring countries who may not have the same donations or resources. At least make use of them, if people are willing to help.
Fuck everyone.
The Turks and the Canadians and everyone else.
Macedonia and Serbia could certainly use some help.
While they are at it, send some transport to carry these people safely to Germany or wherever they were headed.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/02/eu-balkans-refugee-crisis-serbia
We are letting people drown and suffocate and soon we will be letting them freeze to death.
For anyone with the means and the time to maybe help out a little, I believe mostly aimed towards residents of the UK.
As the Starks are fond of saying, Winter is coming. And it’s not going to be mild in any sense for people (a) not acclimatized to it and (b) not appropriately dressed, housed or fed for it. Might as well be killing them outright. :(
So as not to cross-post everything, I’m going to be posting about refugees mostly here:
The world is broken since it’s a topic specific post by PZ.
In happier news (to a point), have some pictures of Guatemalans celebrating the order for arrest of their corrupt president and former genocidal general Otto Perez Molina:
BB: Guatemala’s Attorney General calls for the arrest of President Otto Perez Molina
Background at BB: In Guatemala, a popular uprising may send a US-backed president to prison. It’s about time.
Guatemala is a place where justice seldom reaches those who deserve it most. But today in Guatemala, something amazing has happened. And they’re calling it “Guatemalan Spring.”
Guardian, Nomad (in Spanish), Plaza publica (in Spanish)
Was just struck by a thought refugee-related but a bit off-topic for the broken world thread:
How many of my fellow citizens (and non-citizens, too!) in my* country are members of a family where one or more other members are off in the UK and Ireland and sending money home, plus enjoying all the government support and benefits that they can apply for (and this can be, compared to here, quite a bit!)? How many of their own family members are ‘merely’ economic migrants (the most despicable possible class of ‘migrant’ because they are surely living in palaces and merely looking to acquire a second within the European Union), and yet they have the nerve to protest refugees?
If anyone plans on bringing this up in any upcoming friend-gatherings (there’s at least two on the calendar), and they refer to immigrants, I’m going to point to myself and make sure they shut up about it.
(And by ‘point to myself’ I don’t mean that I’m some fine example of non-prejudice, but that I am an immigrant, and my grandparents were refugees, so maybe they could clarify their point about these ‘migrants’ they are so callously referring to?)
* Because I was going to write ‘this country’ and I realize that the only reason I want to do that is because I’m rather ashamed of it right now (both my countries, as it were), but actually, if I can call it ‘my country’ in the good times, I have to own the bad times, too.
If it’s August (well, September), then it is time for Teh Frogstrike! Angry French farmers hold tractor protest in Paris:
The article quotes one farmer as blaming “greenies who live in the city and can’t tell the difference between a rabbit and a chicken” — excuse me, I can certainly do that — which is perhaps accurate in the sense I myself do not have much of a clew what is going on.
Wingnuts in Harperville, Bad timing: how Canada’s prime minister walked into his own electoral trap:
rq,
That’s what pisses me off too.
We are proud of whole generations of people who went to Germany to work. What are they but economic migrants?
Our politicians are almost on their knees in worship when meeting teh dyaspora in Australia or Canada.
I hear a man who I know fled Bosnia and nearly wasn’t let into Croatia because no one would vouch for him and his mother (and he was just a child then) saying that we shouldn’t accept those people.
People are hypocrites.
You tell those relatives of yours.
So, since the Syrian refugee crisis is a topic now that a lot of it is reaching Europe I thought I would give some more information on it. The Syrian refugee crisis is the largest refugee crisis since the Afghanistan war in the 80s. There are over 4 million Syrian refugees. That takes Syria’s population of around 22 million prewar down to 18 million.
Lebanon is suffering the worst from it as they took in one million people. Along with Palestinian refugees, refugees make up a quarter of Lebanon’s 6 million people right now. Turkey has taken in two million people. Together both countries make up around 3/4 of all Syrian refugees. Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt make up most of the rest of the countries that took in Syrian refugee. Then there are tens of thousands that reach Europe. As horrifying as it sounds, they are a vast minority of refugees from Syria.
The numbers are worse when you take account of the internally displaced people though. Around 7.5 million people are displaced in their own country, often times due to having to flee rebel held areas because of systematic air strikes by the government. Combined this with the external refugees, displaced Syrians make up almost half the prewar population of Syria.
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/mothers-of-isis/index.html
long, but worth a read.
The article tells stories of four mothers whose sons left their families to fight for ISIS.
No real surprise here, le pen the older nazi has launched a new group of bigots, opposed to… le pen the younger nazi, Jean-Marie Le Pen launches new political party in France: “Front National founder, who was kicked out last month after a row with daughter Marine, unveils ‘Blue-White-Red rally’.”
And the French are still being quite beastly to the Roma, even without the “help” of the le pens, France’s War on the Roma (short editorial quoted in full):
COP21 is the upcoming UN Climate Change conference.
Funny how bigots are afraid Europeans will be converted to Islam and yet:
At a Berlin church, Muslim refugees from Iran converting to Christianity in droves
It shouldn’t be that surprising, but this priest sounds like a decent person.
Strike New Zealand off the list of desirable places, they have an overactive manipulatable censor, New Zealand bans award-winning teenage novel after outcry from Christian group:
Numerous commentators are pointing out this is perhaps the best recommendation the book could get.
One comment I liked, “Surely the correct response after such an outcry is not to ban it, but to put it on the syllabus.”
I can’t look (the wedsite seems to be down), but apparently the xian troglodytes responsible are quite reprehensible. (Apologies to all sane cavepeople everywhere, everywhen.) According to Ye Pffft! Of All Knowledge they advocate pretty much the full set of xian authoritarianism and self-centred bigotry.
Fear stalks Burundi as besieged regime turns to torture:
Picking your minions, How To, Not (Haperville example 22thousand-something), Wee problem for Canada’s ruling party as urination video sinks candidate:
Some of the better comments:
● Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are to be commended for the consistent quality of their candidates. The nation is scratching its head and asking, “Where does he find them?”.
● What a nice change. Cons are normally to be found pissing on vulnerable and marginalized groups. This guy is a humanitarian in comparison.
● I am surprised that he has been dropped as a candidate by the Conservatives. I would have thought that he fit their profile of the ideal MP. After all, isn’t that what they do to Canadians?
Fascists overcharging fascists, public funds loose, France’s Front National charged with fraud in election finance inquiry:
racism and blackness in te Netherlands
A poignant account by a young Somali
Sudan denies rape and torture report:
Why does he dismiss telephone interviews?
I’m sure the presence of government officials won’t deter anyone from agreeing to be interviewed. Or put anyone under pressure to take care with their words.
The assisted dying private member’s bill in the UK has been voted down by MPs in the UK parliament today. About 70% of MPs were against the bill, put polls indicate that about the same proportion of the general public actually supported it – so much for the democratic will. Despite extensive proposed safeguards only allowing terminally ill people with a diagnosis of six months to live or less being eligible and requiring two doctors and a High Court judge to agree that assisted dying is allowable in each case, the opposed camp argued that it would lead to vulnerable people being compelled to end their lives. Naturally, the critics of the bill provided no actual evidence to support their scaremongering claims.
It was glaringly obvious that the religious lobbies were heavily involved in torpedoing the bill (it is not just the US that has those, more’s the pity), and so in essence the status quo remains in the UK where religious value systems are being imposed upon the populous of a predominantly secular society with regard to this issue (among others), and where innocent people are being forced to suffer horrendously essentially so that the pious in our society can parade their ethically vapid self righteousness. It is utterly repellent.
Britain’s Labor Party elects a socialist as leader.
http://isp.netscape.com/news/world/story/1001/20150912/3872
Mr Corbyn has been elected British Labour “leader”. The corrupt B.Liar-ites who have been running the party are now resigning en mass.
We have our party back!
It is good news. The principle party of opposition in the UK may actually start to be meaningfully Left wing again for a change, rather than merely being Conservatism Light ( with only three quarters the concentrated evil of Conservatism!).
Well, Australia’s Catholic conservative Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has just been ousted by Malcolm Turnbull, merchant banker and former communications minister in a 55:44 party room vote. Hopefully Mr Turnbull can bring some sanity to the country’s leadership, only time will tell. Australia’s next federal election is due in around 10-11 months and the Labor Party opposition leader Bill Shorten has been lacklustre to put it mildly. Turnbull at least is intelligent, whether he can lead the Liberal rabble is another matter.
The secondary arsehole of Ozlandunder, tony abattoir of reason, has been “spilled” (Ozspeak for dumped on his arse by his fed-up party hacks). The primary arsehole, ken “piglet rapist” ham, was exported to USArseholianthanthouistan some time ago.
The secondary arsehole happened to be the PM, meaning he got most of the bribes. I assume he wasn’t generous enough in his payola to the minions.
More seriously, this means one of the more repulsive and arrogant bigots “leading” a nominal democracy has been ejected. Since the secondary arsehole is, e.g., a climate change denier, amongst numerous other thug-apeing nonsenses, this is very possibly quite good news.
The replacement is Malcolm Turnbull, about whom I know nothing. (Same was true of the secondary arsehole until around the time he lied his way to PMsink-the-ship, so…)
The Grauniad indicates there are good signs about Mr Turnbull, Australian leader Tony Abbott ousted by Malcolm Turnbull after party vote: “Turnbull [is] a moderate who supports same-sex marriage and strong action on global warming […]”
However, it goes on to report “It is understood Turnbull has told colleagues he would retain the government’s current climate policy […]”.
Brilliant comment in the Guardian about UK refugee policy
Flash and a bang as Mozambique is declared free of landmines:
USAnnihilate!annihilate!annihilate! has, of course, not signed the 1997 treaty — over 160 countries have — albeit “[i]n 2014, the United States declared that it will abide by the terms of the Treaty, except for landmines used on the Korean Peninsula” (according to Ye Pffft! of All Knowlege).
The Canadian leaders’ debate tonight was on economic policy.
Halfway through, we turned it off. When the moderator announced he was taking a short breather before the second part, my girlfriend and I looked at each other with the most painful expressions on our faces.
My verdict: Elizabeth May, leader of the Green party, won hands down. She wasn’t there.
TTP terrorists attack air force camp in Pakistan
I’m no monarchist and have only just heard of her but this speech :
https://www.facebook.com/QueenRania/videos/10152996299860826/
By Jordan’s Queen is pretty impressive and worth viewing I think. Strong, good words from a powerful and stereotype breaking human being.
Also another remarkable Muslim woman I’ve only just heard of :
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34275165
Noujain Mustaffa. Why are so many so scared and why do they harbour such hate against people like this?
And like this too :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-17/naziehs-search-for-his-family/6782034
And also like Ahmed Mohamed.
And why the needless cruelty like this :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-18/asylum-seeker-detained-on-nauru-reports-alleged-abuse-to-un/6778976?section=world
to refugees or just people anywhere?
Can we cannot just treat people like people, people?!
Shuit . This is looking bad.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-19/israeli-war-planes-bomb-gaza-strip-following-rocket-strike/6788644
Again.
This is looking bad still too :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-19/turkish-jets-hit-kurdish-militant-camps-in-iraq-killing-dozens/6789504
As is this :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-17/southeast-asia-haze-what-is-behind-the-annual-outbreak/6783688
But at least this :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-19/greek-election-polls-shift-toward-syriza-as-campaign-ends/6789320
is possibly good news~ish maybe?
I must admit I’d never heard of this case, despite living in France, but this sounds like a move in the proper direction, despite being long overdue, SNCF found guilty of discriminating against Moroccan workers:
The younger Le Pen nazi has a problem, Marine Le Pen faces court on charge of inciting racial hatred:
The nazis, with a complete lack of irony, are trying to cast this as an attack on “freedom of speech / expression”.
Regarding “Marine Le Pen faces court on charge of inciting racial hatred” I think the First Amendment is one of the most striking differences between U.S. and european countries.
I have to say that, being european, I would prefer to have the same freedom of speech guaranteed by the U.S. because very often the so called “hate speech laws” can be used as a political weapon.
Because of the cost involved in enforcing them, it’s far too easy to justify the lack of enforcement for friend.
At the same time is equally easy to justify the enforcement on someone many really don’t like.
Imho “inciting racial hatred” is so vague that it could means anything one like it to means.
blf,
These days, about a quarter of Europe could be charged with inciting racial hatred.
A follow-up to @57: Having been thwarted in his desire to start a war with Iran, Israeejit Netanyahu has indeed resumed the active war on occupied Palestine by ordering kids to be shot, Israel relaxes live-fire rules against Palestinian stone-throwers:
beatrice
Too true, too true. That fucker Orban should take his precious Hungary right out of the EU. But our very own wannabe right wing star, the Ministerpräsident of Bavaria demonstratively invited Orban and showed him some solidarity *puke*
Watching a report about immigrant centers in Italy.
A Tunisian immigrant is still in the center he was first admitted to, after a couple of years his status hasn’t been determined. By now, he’s learned Italian and is working with boys in another center for underage immigrants who came alone.
Mafia has taken hold of this business, as local government gives 35 euros per immigrant per day. There are protests held by activists in front of some centers daily, because the money is clearly not being spent as it should, considering it has been reported that in at least one center underage immigrants don’t have either heating or warm water – in winter!
I looked up some reports on the last bit mentioned: 13 people sewing their mouth shut in a detention center in Rome last year:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/04/italian-migrants-sew-mouths-shut-in-protest.html
The situation has escalated this last couple of months, but Europe shouldn’t pretend this is anything new. The immigration crisis has only escalated in degree, but we’ve had problems with our own xenophobia and bigotry breaking over the backs of poor people for a long time.
More on italian mafia’s new(ish) business venture:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/12/04/for-romes-mafia-more-refugees-means-more-money/
A bit more recent news:
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150415/1020920946.html
What was that fear about rape? Because it looks to me like in all that fear mongering about immigrants posing a threat to natives, the reversal of roles is much much closer to reality.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/saudi-arabian-hajj-stampede-death-toll-rises-150926130030311.html
Saudi is victim-blaming, natch.
This year makes up for the good luck of the past decade of the Hajj. Must be an amazing thing to run (or partake in): a couple million people descend on the city all at once. The hardest crowd management problem in the world — particularly the stoning, where part of the point is to get riled up.
This doesn’t seem to be a case of antivaccince loonies, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns into(or already has turned into) that, Ukraine could destroy 3.7m polio vaccines despite risk of major outbreak:
Oh FFS! “Pass it on to some poorer countries … We should vaccinate safely …”. But it is Ok for “poorer countries” to use vaccines you won’t use you think they pose a risk. Racism much?
(My added boldfacing.) Multiple FFS! Sputters with rage…
Big explosion in Ankara.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34495161
VIDEO from #Ankara: As people chant “This square, the bloody square”, explosion hits via @dokuz8haberA short video. It’s scary
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/thousands-rally-mourn-ankara-bombing-victims-151011103242225.html
Thousands Rally to Mourn Ankara Bombing Victims
Signs point to ISIL being involved, which would make sense since they’re at war with the Kurds and the rally was calling for peace with the Kurds (which would then allow them to fight ISIL instead of Turkey).
One of the many human stories out there, but one that touched me and I wanted to share the link. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34489248
Man calls police on a meeting of bearded men because he thought they were ISIL members
French towns scrape pork free school lunch options because “secularism”
Yeah totes. I love the argument that they don’t want to single out muslim and jewish students by giving them something different to eat, so they don’t give them anything to eat (except side dishes). Of course, if you didn’t want to give children different food according to their religion you could simply scrape all the pork….
Latest polls in Canada show Harper might be on his way out.
http://my.xfinity.com/articles/news-world/20151018/CN–Canada-Election-Trudeau/
Harper is hopefully finished, but I’m sad about who gets to replace him.
I’m just back from the last-dash party for the NDP. Standing 10 feet from Mulcair I got a good impression of why he failed to win the election. When he talks about progressive values and about what an NDP government will do, he’s great and the crowd gets riled up. Then he veers into vicious attacks against Harper and the Liberals, and … we politely boo because that’s what we’re expected to do.
How can you not love a country where a politician loses because he campaigned too negatively? (But the crowd was too polite to out and out tell him that that was the problem.)
I think it’s pretty universal:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_campaigning#Risks_and_consequences
Negative campaigning polarizes. So you get the partisans getting out the vote, and you get the undecided voters tuning out. And in this case, there was another party that they could tune in to that was *also* opposed to Harper. So they took all the swing voters.
Andrew Coyne is voting NDP.
That’s like, I don’t know, William Buckley voting Green.
Harper Government RIP.
My candidate won! And Harper is gone! But it’s a centre-left party that won, and the socialist party is right back at third place where it usually is. So I cheer with a heavy heart for what might have been.
Chatting with my candidate’s husband, he told me they ran a very different campaign locally than the national party. The national organization sent the local office 60,000 flyers. The local office didn’t hand them out — they instead printed out flyers that were about what the NDP was standing for and what positive things my candidate had done. That’s what they got the volunteers (myself included) to hand out and talk about. He didn’t say, but all the messaging I saw from the national party was focusing first on what horrible things the other parties had done, so I assume that’s what the stash of flyers were doing.
IOW, my guess about optimism is shared by my candidate’s husband.
…
I wonder if John Oliver is going to be made to pay up.
http://gawker.com/israeli-prime-minister-okay-but-the-holocaust-wasnt-t-1737786407
gobsmacked, that even Neten-Yahoo [sic] would absolve Hitler of Holocaust.
Overwhelmed I am by how much hate he must have to try to blame it on the Palestinians (blaming them en masse because, a Palestinian Leader supposedly suggested to Hitler, “burn em” [and factchecking, says it was never said])
(I just go ahead and mention what he left unsaid): The USA was also complicit, by refusing to accept the refugees he was expelling at the start of the “cleansing”. I say this to accept some of the guilt for the holo, not to relieve the guilty of any of it, just to acknowledge that there was even more than usually acknowledged.
Racist Hungarian cameraperson planning on suing Syrian refugee she tripped
slithey@124: So netanyahu is turning into a Holocaust denier of sorts? Fascinating.
saad@125: I’ve seen defenders of Laszlo going frame by frame to “prove” that she didn’t actually trip the guy, based on there doesn’t appear to be any contact between his leg and hers at any frame of the video. It’s pretty inventive: she only *tried* to trip him, and it was a coincidence that he fell right then, QED. Also: oh yeah, the other video where she clearly kicks a child and the kick connects, um, pay no attention to that one. She’s been framed! She’s a martyr and a saint!
re @126:
not quite, more like “blame shifting”. From Germany to Muslims. to inflame more hatred at the locals.
Seems he prefers conflict over accommodation (uhh cooperation).
Isn’t that a stereotype he should be avoiding?
Here’s something that would be *awesome* to see in the U.S. (which means we’ll never see it)-
Iceland sentences 26 bankers to a combined 74 years in prison for their role in the 2008 financial crisis:
Good move Iceland!
Not sure if this fits in the feminist thread, the racism thread, or the world politics thread, since it’s all three.
First nations women in Val d’Or were routinely sexually assaulted by police over the last 20 years (at least). The assumption is that the problem is more widespread than just that one area. It’s very likely there will be a provincial inquiry.
The Tory federal government had been ignoring calls for an inquiry into the sky-high violence that first nations women face throughout Canada, and that was one of the big issues in the recent election campaign, which saw high turnout to boot out the Tories. So this case intersects quite directly with national politics.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-politicians-activists-stunned-by-aboriginal-women-s-sex-assault-allegations-1.3284787
I can’t find the story again, but of course, the police union is defending the actions of its members saying that it’s just women who are making unsubstantiated allegations so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. I’m sure that when their members start getting charged they’ll argue it’s just a few bad apples who didn’t spoil the bunch, and we shouldn’t be so hard on them.
Ireland to decriminalize small amounts of drugs including heroin, cocaine, and cannabis for personal use:
If you want to reduce drug use, this is one of the things that needs to be done.
While Ohioans voted against marijuana, Mexico’s Supreme Court declares individuals have the right to consume and cultivate marijuana:
Ohioans vote wasn’t so much against mary jane as against a legalized monopoly of ten growers. Try again without the limited source, which was the objection of many voters….
Nerd @132:
Ah, thanks for the clarification.
****
Finland prepares universal basic income experiment:
Tony @133: A similar trial was run in Dauphin, Manitoba from 1974 to 1979, although the data was only recently analyzed.
I have not been following this closely, so perhaps some of our
MooseCanadian friends can fill in details, but there is a seemingly-political kerfuffle in the (and yes, there really is such a thing in the 21st C) “Miss World” contest, Canada renews backing for Miss World contestant’s human rights push in China:Some material I’ve read says Ms Lin is herself a follower of Falun Gong, but I am neither aware of any confirmation of that claim, nor should it matter. For that matter, Ms Lin’s age does not matter, so I elucidated it from the article, except where Ms Lin herself mentioned it in a quote.
Nope, sorry, no can do – I had never heard of Anastasia Lin before this week. The human rights situation in China is so universally bad, that it’s mind-numbing after a while….
In much better news, I am heartened to see that Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy has won, not just a majority, but a clear two-thirds majority in the elections in Myanmar/Burma. Not everything is rosy there, obviously (esp. with the generals still holding on to 25% of the seats) but it is a big step in the right direction.
“the”