All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Nearly half of QAnon supporters believe Jews want world domination – The Jerusalem Post

The QAnon conspiracy has its root in many other antisemitic tropes, including the belief that there was a “deep state” fighting against former president Donald Trump, evoking the claim that Jews secretly control the world’s media, banks and governments. Additionally, believers in the conspiracy theory think that members of the satanic cabal torture and kill children in order to harvest their organs, a claim which directly relates to ancient blood libel conspiracies. “Although we wouldn’t say initially that QAnon had antisemitic tropes, very quickly it became apparent that there was a strain within QAnon belief that articulated some of these very clearly antisemitic tropes,” Joanna Mendelson, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, told Morning Consult. The survey found that in comparison to QAnon believers, only 32% of right-leaning and 11% of left-leaning American adults believe in the claims made by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. When asked about the 2020 elections, a third of QAnon followers said they believe President Joe Biden stole the elections. “You can’t overstate, really, how much QAnon had a role in what happened on January 6 [in the

Source: Nearly half of QAnon supporters believe Jews want world domination – The Jerusalem Post

Google takes down maps made by Thai right-wingers targeting free speech activists – The Washington Post

The user-generated map featured the full names, addresses, professions and alleged offenses of more than 400 people, including many students and some activists. It also included their photos, with a black box over their eyes and the number 112: a reference to Thailand’s strict lèse-majesté laws that make insulting or defaming the monarchy punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

“This was a witch hunt map,” Sunai said. “It could lead to physical danger against people who are marked.”

HRW received reports about the map from many people on Monday, some of whom were included in the map and frantically seeking legal advice, he added.

By Monday night, Google had taken down two versions of the map, Reuters reported.

“The issue is now fixed,” Google said in a statement. “We have clear policies about what’s acceptable for user generated My Maps content. We remove user generated maps that violate our policies.”

The company did not respond to specific questions about when it learned of the maps or what it would do to prevent similar incidents.

The maps are the work of a right-wing royalist activist, Songklod “Pukem” Chuenchoopol, who told Reuters that he and a team of 80 volunteers planned to report everyone on them to police for insulting the monarchy.

“When each of us sees something offensive posted on social media, we put it on the map,” he said, adding the maps were also a “psychological” warfare operation intended to dissuade people from criticizing the monarchy online.

Source: Google takes down maps made by Thai right-wingers targeting free speech activists – The Washington Post

Australia’s deputy PM fined for not wearing mask

Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has been fined AU$200 ($151) for failing to wear a mask in a public indoor area in breach of COVID-19 public health orders.

Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce on June 23, 2021 in Canberra, Australia. (Getty/Kyodo)

Joyce, who just returned to the position of deputy prime minister last week after regaining leadership of the National Party, was spotted paying for fuel at a service station without wearing a mask in the New South Wales town of Armidale.

The state’s police confirmed Monday that a penalty had been issued to a 54-year old man who was found not wearing a mask in the store, following a tip provided by a member of the public on the national crime stoppers hotline.

Source: Australia’s deputy PM fined for not wearing mask

Can the Jaguar, King of the Forest, Save an Entire Ecosystem? – Atlas Obscura

At last, Ceballos speaks. “When the train was first announced…I told government officials that if they touched the biosphere, they’d have to deal with me.” As he and his colleagues learned more about the project, and its inevitability, he says, “instead of throwing our hands in the air and calling it an ecocide, we decided to get involved.” Ceballos and his team began modeling the potential ecological impact, and petitioned the government to incorporate wildlife crossings into the plans, to allow animals safe passage between both parts of the reserve. Campos Hernandez notes that the Maya Train project will destroy less forest than illegal loggers do each year. He and Ceballos are now hopeful that the project may actually encourage environmentally sustainable development. “Having the military and the government on our side means we can protect the biosphere from illegal logging and potentially expand the reserve,” says Ceballos. He also believes it could give locals an alternative to illegal logging and hunting. He finishes his tequila, and talk of the Maya Train. “And now, I highly suggest everyone gets some sleep, because we’ve got a four a.m. wake-up call,” he says.

Source: Can the Jaguar, King of the Forest, Save an Entire Ecosystem? – Atlas Obscura

Australia tightens lockdown amid Delta virus outbreak, vaccine chaos | Reuters

SYDNEY, June 29 (Reuters) – Australia reported a slight rise in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, while officials in several states tightened movement curbs and pushed for vaccinations to limit flare-ups of the highly infectious Delta variant.

After months in which it had nearly stamped out the virus, Australia is battling the variant in five of its eight states and territories, just two weeks after an infection in key city Sydney involving a limousine driver of overseas airline crew.

Worries that the variant first detected in India could touch off outbreaks have forced lockdowns in three large cities and curbs of varying strictness in several more, affecting more than 20 million Australians, or about 80% of the population.

Northern Queensland state imposed a three-day lockdown in capital Brisbane and neighbouring regions from Tuesday evening. The Western Australian capital of Perth began a four-day lockdown from Tuesday, joining Sydney and Darwin.

Source: Australia tightens lockdown amid Delta virus outbreak, vaccine chaos | Reuters

Russia announces international manhunt for top Navalny aide, arrests him in absentia — Meduza

On June 28, Moscow’s Nagatinsky District Court arrested top Navalny aide Ivan Zhdanov in absentia. Earlier, his lawyer told the state news agency TASS that the Russian authorities had added Zhdanov to an international wanted list.

Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s recently outlawed Anti-Corruption Foundation (the FBK), currently resides in Lithuania and is wanted by Russia in connection with a criminal case for the malicious non-execution of a court order. Zhdanov stands accused of failing to delete the FBK’s famous corruption investigation into former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, titled “Don’t Call Him Dimon.”

Source: Russia announces international manhunt for top Navalny aide, arrests him in absentia — Meduza

Day 42/67 of GED in Five Months, “discrete what?”, and, health terminology

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

 Adulting often requires understanding vocabulary, and how certain words have slightly different meanings when applied in a different context,  to understand how health care works, and why the Public Health Services are so important.  Here is one of my favorite words that makes a key difference in math, science, health care, and even in English grammar, as the lesson will show!

 Week 11/18
Day 42, Week 11
Grammar: Context and confusing words
Area and the Pythagorean Theorem
Day 42 Exit Ticket
Discreet quantities
Being discreet, as in exercising discretion…

(Day 41Day 43)

Action Items:

1.) Why might it be important to understand the different nuances of meanings of a word, aka different connotations, under various circumstances, like the word theory, or discrete?

2.) Please explain how it may (or may not) help citizens of a Republic, especially during a global pandemic…

3.

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