Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Travel to hike around Bornholm – Frits Ahlefeldt: Nomad & Walking philosopher

Storylinegrid drawing hiking on Bornholm arriving - Illustration by Frits Ahlefeldt Source: Travel to hike around Bornholm – Frits Ahlefeldt: Nomad & Walking philosopher

US diplomats: Budget cuts would be ‘devastating’ and ‘deadly’ — Radio Free Asia (Me: GOP playing a fools game with protecting USA from China and Russia!!!)

Cuts to the U.S. State Department’s 2025 budget proposed by the House of Representatives would be “deadly” and “devastating” to American efforts to counter China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific region, two senior diplomats told Congress on Thursday.

As part of a cost-cutting campaign, the Republican-led House is pushing appropriations bills that significantly differ from requests made by the Biden administration, including apparent proposals to remove Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s annual salary entirely.

The proposed 2025 budget for the State Department is down 11% from nearly $60 billion this year to about $52 billion, falling far short of the White House’s 2025 request for $64 billion.

It would, for instance, provide only $108 million in funding for U.S.-led international development projects, rather than the $544 million requested by the Biden administration, and only $4 million for global economic support, instead of the $204 million requested.

Source: US diplomats: Budget cuts would be ‘devastating’ and ‘deadly’ — Radio Free Asia

Oklahoma: Supt. Ryan Walters Orders Public Schools to Teach the Bible | Diane Ravitch’s blog

Ryan Walters, the far-right Superintendent of Schools in Oklahoma, was inspired by the passage of a law in Louisiana requiring every public school classroom to post The Ten Commandments. He decided that he could go even further. He just ordered every public school to teach the Bible. Given the religious diversity of students in Oklahoma, will he mandate the sacred texts of every religion? Will he mandate the Old Testament or the New Testament? Which version? Personally, I think the sacred books should be taught in their original language. Or not at all.

The wisdom of our nation’s Founders, who did not want religion and government to be entangled, becomes clearer every day. Is Supt. Walters imposing his own faith on others? Of course.

The New York Times reported:

Oklahoma’s state superintendent on Thursday directed all public schools to teach the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, in the latest conservative push testing the boundaries between religious instruction and public education.

The superintendent, Ryan Walters, described the Bible as an “indispensable historical and cultural touchstone” and said it must be taught in certain grade levels.

“The Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of Western civilization, to have an understanding of the basis of our legal system,” Mr. Walters, a Republican, said in his announcement, adding that “every teacher, every classroom in the state will have a Bible in the classroom.”

The directive is likely to be challenged in court and could provoke the latest tangle over the role of religion in public schools, an issue that has increasingly taken on national prominence.

“The basis of our legal system”? “An eye for an eye”? Or “feed the hungry”? Is this a warning in the New Testament to billionaires: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled… But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.” Or, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Source: Oklahoma: Supt. Ryan Walters Orders Public Schools to Teach the Bible | Diane Ravitch’s blog

Lawmakers add measure to end forced prison labor to ballot – Los Angeles Times

The new proposed amendment, through Assembly Bill 628, a companion bill to the ballot language, would make prison work optional by instituting a voluntary work program. The bill also explicitly says the state would not be required to pay prisoners minimum wage and that the secretary of the Corrections Department would set prison wages…

“We’ve had to make our concessions,” Cox told The Times. She added that, despite those compromises on wages, a triumph for advocates was to include language that forbids disciplinary actions against incarcerated individuals for denying a work assignment. “We will be the first state to amend the constitution and explicitly say you can’t punish people for refusing work.”

Source: Lawmakers add measure to end forced prison labor to ballot – Los Angeles Times

‘The state encourages it’ Amid the full-scale war in Ukraine, thousands of Russians have reported their fellow citizens for dissent. Who are they? — Meduza (Me: Convicted Felon Trump wants this in USA… loves Putin more than USA…)

Source: ‘The state encourages it’ Amid the full-scale war in Ukraine, thousands of Russians have reported their fellow citizens for dissent. Who are they? — Meduza

Pașii profetului – ore de drum

Cairo, 2018

Dintotdeauna, musulmanii au considerat obiectele prețioase un semn al reușitei sociale, un simbol al puterii și o scenografie a plăcerilor.

Cultura e preamărită fiindcă, atunci când o posedă, interesații se pot folosi de ea în strădaniile de a dobândi poziție socială și avere.

Ținutul Nilului a fost punctul de întâlnire al unor dinastii și grupuri de interese ale căror încleștări, garnisite cu vicleșuguri, compromisuri, împăcări și renunțări, se reflectă în creații de o somptuozitate inegalabilă.

De obârșie omeyadă, abasidă, fatimidă, ayubidă, otomană care au dominat, pe rând, Egiptul moștenit, cu nu mai puține enigme, de la faraoni, în obiectele din Muzeul de artă islamică din Cairo deslușim istorii.

În secolul 9, Egiptul se desprinde de califatul de la Bagdad și cade în mâinile unor năvălitori din Maghreb, fatimizii, puși pe fapte mari întru propășirea șiismului, întemeiază imediat un nou califat,

loc de întâlnire pentru comerț, arme, spiritualitate, sub influențele date de Mediterana, Africa, Marea Roșie, Sinai, înconjurat de opulenta antichitate faraonică.

Pe aici trecea drumul care transporta aurul și sclavii din Sudan spre Peninsula Iberică și era un punct strategic la care nu se putea renunța în ruptul capului, segment dezbătut în temele geopolitice actuale.

Source: Pașii profetului – ore de drum

Lost Kinjo: Oakland once had 2 Japantowns. Now there are none – AsAmNews

Picnic in Oakland Courtesy: Alameda Japanese American History Project: Family and Community Collection

 1907 Photo of Japanese Methodist Episcopal Church, later renamed West Tenth
Methodist Church
Courtesy: Yamashita Family Papers. MS 411. Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz
1907 Photo of Japanese Methodist Episcopal Church, later renamed West Tenth Methodist Church Courtesy: Yamashita Family Papers. MS 411. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz

Source: Lost Kinjo: Oakland once had 2 Japantowns. Now there are none – AsAmNews