Sri Lanka shuts down in general strike amid calls for government to resign | News | DW | 06.05.2022

Offices, factories and public transport across Sri Lanka were left empty and at a standstill on Friday as millions of public and private sector workers took part in a nationwide strike to protest the government’s mishandling of an ongoing financial crisis.

The strike was called by trade unions and civil organizations. Calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign have continued unabated.

Almost all public and privately run transport services were canceled. Over 3,000 factory workers from Sri Lanka’s main export processing zone also joined the strike.

“We can pinpoint the policy blunders of the president that led to this very sorry state of our economy,” said trade union leader Ravi Kumudesh. “He must go.”

Source: Sri Lanka shuts down in general strike amid calls for government to resign | News | DW | 06.05.2022

If Abortion Is Illegal, Will Every Miscarriage Be a Potential Crime? – Mother Jones

On a humid morning in early October, Brittney Poolaw sat in an Oklahoma courtroom waiting on a verdict. Instead of the jail uniform she’d donned over the past 18 months, she wore a yellow and white blouse. After less than three hours of deliberation, the jury returned with their decision: Poolaw was guilty of first-degree manslaughter. She was sentenced to four years behind bars.

But Poolaw, a 20-year-old and a member of the Wichita Tribe, had not driven recklessly or shot a gun. She’d had a miscarriage.

Poolaw will not be the last woman sent to prison for accidentally losing a pregnancy. Indeed, if the leaked Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade is in fact its final opinion on the matter, cases like Poolaw’s will likely become more common.

That’s because, as Dana Sussman, deputy executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, says: “Not only did Roe vs. Wade establish that there’s a constitutional right to abortion, it also rejected the idea that fetuses are people under the Constitution.” The draft opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, is steeped in language that paints fetuses—no matter what stage of development—as people. And when we lend credence to the idea of fetal personhood, it creates “a situation in which, when there is perceived harm to a fetus, it can be a victim of a crime. You can’t add fetuses to the community of individuals who are entitled to constitutional rights without diminishing the rights of the person carrying that fetus,” Sussman says.

Source: If Abortion Is Illegal, Will Every Miscarriage Be a Potential Crime? – Mother Jones

My Son Sanctuary, Vietnam – Svetilište Mi Son, Vijetnam

Myrela

Nešto manje od dva sata vožnje kolima razdvaja moderni Da Nang – vijetnamski treći grad po veličini, broju stanovnika i industrijskom značaju – od svetilišta Mi Son, najvažnijeg arheološkog lokaliteta u zemlji. Tokom vožnje, ta dva sata nesrazmjerno se protežu u putovanje kroz vrijeme. Asfaltni put je, u početku, u dobrom stanju i prolazi pored kuća i fabrika, ali postepeno postaje uži i neravniji. Saobraćaj se prorjeđuje, a pejzaž postaje izrazito zelen, s pirinčanim poljima i brdima okruženim plantažama kafe, sve dok konačno stignete do udoline ispunjene hramovima i zaštićene Hon Kvap, “Planinom mačjeg zuba”. Tišina danas vlada Mi Sonom, mjestom koje je bilo religiozna i intelektualna prijestonica dinastije Čam od kraja IV do sredine XIII vijeka. Njegovi hramovi možda nisu bili tako veličanstveni i prefinjeni kao oni u Angkoru (Kambodža), Paganu (Mjanmar) ili Borobuduru (Indonezija), ali oni predstavljaju važan dokument o najdugotrajnijem kraljevstvu iz jugoistočne Azije.

Podijeljena na dva…

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Gas stations and buggy whips

Darcy Hitchcock

In the 1800’s buggy whips made the vehicles go. Then horseless carriages took over and buggy whips became short hand for an antiquated business. Now electric vehicles are on the rise and guess what. Some gas stations are resisting instead of preparing for the trend.

Gas stations aren’t exactly enthusiastic about the government’s efforts to put EV chargers anywhere and everywhere. In Georgia, where several automakers want to build new EV-focused manufacturing plants, gas station trade groups are advocating for legislation that would limit the state power authority’s potential role in EV charging. At the national level, lobbying groups that represent the gas station and convenience store industries have pushed back against a proposal in Congress to build EV chargers at public rest stops on the interstate because, they argue, it would undermine gas stations’ ability to compete.

It’s not all together their fault. You can install charging stations…

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Vote for the climate

Darcy Hitchcock

Midterms are already starting in certain states. Who we elect to office, or don’t, will have a significant impact on climate change.

How do you know how the candidates stack up? You can’t, of course, just listen to their rhetoric. Politicians love to make vague statements (like, “Yes we can” or “Make America great again”), hoping voters will take it to mean what they want it to mean.

So here are some ways to assess the climate performance of candidates, according to a recent article in Inside Climate News. The list below includes direct quotations from the article.

  • Vote Climate’s 117th Congress scorecard reveals distinctions among Democrats in its separate scores on “leadership,” and whether the candidate supports a carbon fee or related policy to reflect the social costs of carbon in the price of fossil fuels.
  • Climate Hawks Vote produces a shorter list of endorsements than many other…

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When Life Gives You Lemons, Whatcha Gonna Do? 🍋

From Behind the Pen

Image Credit: Karen Arnold

     So the stuff has hit the fan, and the unexpected explodes with the question, “Whatcha gonna do now?” 🤔 In our bewilderment we don’t know what the heck we’re going to do at that moment, but whatever we do, let’s get a little innovative with it shall we?

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade is a proverbial expression used to inspire optimism and a positive can-do attitude in the face of difficulty or misfortune. Lemons suggest sourness or trouble in life; making lemonade is turning them into something positive or desirable. Source: www.theidioms.com

So Life Threw You a Lemon?

At the rise of some of life’s challenging moments
you tend to become worried and afraid
but encouraging words from an old quote I once heard
“When life throws you a lemon, then make lemonade.”

Suppose life throws you just one lemon
or perhaps several…

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How…?

De malinha pronta

Reprise

Photo : Filipa Moreira da Cruz

How long must we wait
To be, once for all, safe?
How far shall we go
To let our dreams flow?
How many words do I have to say
To show you I love you every day?
How much loneliness do I have to bare
To prove you that I really care?
How old will I be
When you decide to stay with me?
How fast can we run
Just to enjoy life and have fun?
How well do you know me
To trust our love and feel free?
How often will you deny
To spread your wings and fly?
Don’t push yourself too hard
Be gentle with your own heart
Take your time
Being in love is not a crime
Before waving goodbye
Give it a try!

Filipa Moreira da Cruz

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Next battle over access to abortion will focus on pills | AP News

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — It took two trips over state lines, navigating icy roads and a patchwork of state laws, for a 32-year-old South Dakota woman to get abortion pills last year. For abortion-seekers like her, such journeys, along with pills sent through the mail, will grow in importance if the Supreme Court follows through with its leaked draft opinion that would overturn the landmark Roe v.
— Read on apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-south-dakota-07c1bcbcb3f6b466100acedb28723069