87 Perler Beads by Pappas Pärlor -Collection 1 | STREET ART UTOPIA

Pappas Pärlor: The Pixel Art Innovator

Source: 87 Perler Beads by Pappas Pärlor -Collection 1 | STREET ART UTOPIA

Hungary’s government makes Ukrainian refugees homeless – DW – 08/23/2024 (Me: Clearly Anti-Roma racism move by Orban)

People from one Ukrainian region particularly affected

Hungarian NGOs estimate that over 3,000 Ukrainian refugees will lose access to state-subsidized accommodation as a result.

Most of those affected come from Zakarpattia Oblast (Transcarpathia) in the far west of Ukraine or from other western Ukrainian regions. They have officially been given the status “in need of temporary protection.” Most of them are Hungarian-speaking Roma.

Source: Hungary’s government makes Ukrainian refugees homeless – DW – 08/23/2024

Israeli security chief condemns ‘terrorism’ of militant settlers | Israel | The Guardian

The head of Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, has warned the country’s leaders that Jewish terrorism in the West Bank is out of control and has become a serious threat to national security.

Ronen Bar issued the warning in a letter to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the attorney general and members of the Israeli cabinet, some of whom are outspoken backers of the extremist settlers responsible for the escalating violence.

Bar’s letter, sent last week but published by Israel’s Channel 12 News on Thursday night, has highlighted the wide, acrimonious gap between the far-right wing of Netanyahu’s coalition and Israel’s security apparatus.

The national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of those criticised by Bar for inflammatory behaviour, called for the Shin Bet head to be fired, triggering a rebuke on Friday from the defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

Bar’s letter focused on Jewish extremists known as the “hilltop youth”, violent militants who have been conducting a campaign of murder, arson and intimidation against Palestinians on the West Bank, aimed at driving them from their land, furthering the far right’s pursuit of complete annexation.

Bar said their actions should not be described as criminality but as terrorism.

“It isn’t crime because it’s the use of violence to create intimidation, to spread fear. That is terror,” he wrote, describing how the campaign had “significantly expanded” in the absence of an adequate police response and with the connivance of some national leaders. The militants had gone from using “cigarette lighters to the weapons of war”, the security chief said, adding that some of those weapons had been provided by the state.

The terror campaign, the letter said, was “a large stain on Judaism and on all of us”.

Bar warned the hilltop youth had gone “from evading the security forces to attacking the security forces, from cutting themselves off from the establishment to receiving legitimacy from certain officials in the establishment”.

Source: Israeli security chief condemns ‘terrorism’ of militant settlers | Israel | The Guardian

O’er The Land of the Free | From Behind the Pen

Image Credit: Mohamed_hassan

When I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Dr. Maya Angelou several decades ago, a phenomenal book that is banned by the way, I understood her plight, fight, and flight. As I have said in previous posts, ignorance and divisiveness are dangerous thieves, and continuing to give them energy by talking about them is exhausting. I am clearing my path of the stifling debris left and trying to leave such nonsense.

When things like this try to push and pierce my hope and optimism with fear and foolishness, I have a spiritual bulldozer that pushes such rubble away and out of my orbit. When it tries to come back and sneak in, I won’t and don’t give it the breath to thrive or survive. I’m too damn old for that. (Not today, not tomorrow, and next week ain’t lookin’ too good either!) I reach in and garner my strength to push such mess away again and again.

A few nights ago, the following poem came to me in a dream/vision. Although I was sleepy, my phone was next to me and I managed to type it down so I could rewrite it when I got up. I suppose I went to bed with my mind on the unrest in our land, as well as the heartbreaking wars and unrest in lands around the world. I wonder what goes through the minds of people who seek to kill and destroy innocent people, or at least try to destroy others so they can benefit from it. It’s not just the abusive people who hold high positions of power, but those around us trying to tear others down just to build themselves up.

But when things are reduced to rubble what then? The vitriol and clean-up are more costly and massive than one could imagine. When you think about or look at freedom, what are you escaping from, what do you see, what do you feel, what do you taste, smell, or hear? Wake up, open the cage door today, spread your wings like an eagle, and fly! 🦅

O’er The Land of the Free

Tell me, oh tell me, oh say, can you see
O’er the land of the free, voices united boldly
I see you, you see me, a beautiful tapestry of diversity
our hands that toil with honesty still hail proudly with glee

murdered dreams and nothingness never again permitted to be
not held hostage, in bondage, complete misery, or anxiety
fighting for what’s just, with courage, we stand and shall not flee
liberation for all people, he, she and we

a universal language spoken in love and humility
as ignorance is buried in ash-covered pits of bigotry
hands joined without fear, uplifting hope and democracy
from sea to shining sea, o’er the land of the free.

©2024 Kym Gordon Moore

Image Credit: Andrew-Art/Pixabay

Source: O’er The Land of the Free | From Behind the Pen

Climate Change Is Crisis for Entire Planet, Deputy Secretary Says > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News

Climate change affects the entire planet, said Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, and no one nation can solve the problem on its own — not even the United States.

During the “Climate and Defense Summit of the Americas,” being held August 22-23 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, civilian and military representatives from a variety of Caribbean, South, Central, and North American nations met to discuss the environmental challenges they face and possible solutions.

 

Uniformed service members shovel sand into bags.

“Climate change is a global security issue, it knows no borders, nor boundaries. It respects no sovereignty, and it can’t be reasoned with,” Hicks said today, adding that the U.S. has co-hosted several events in the past several months, including in Barbados, Peru and Honduras to discuss how to integrate resilience into defense strategies and to conduct security cooperation efforts.

 

“One thing is clear,” she said. “None of us can tackle the climate challenge alone. We have a better chance [of] tackling the threat when we find ways to confront it together.”

Within the defense community, Hicks said, a top concern for officials has been securing national interests in the face of climate change effects such as heat waves, flooding and storms.

“The U.S. national security community has been clear-eyed about these challenges for decades,” she said. “Earlier this year, the U.S. intelligence community released its annual assessment on the effects of climate change for our world, highlighting how it exacerbates risks in global health, deepens economic challenges and could lead to global unrest. We have a responsibility to act on this knowledge, adapting with common purpose to the threat that climate change poses.” …

Source: Climate Change Is Crisis for Entire Planet, Deputy Secretary Says > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News