Category Archives: News to use

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

Bills to Combat Extremism in Law Enforcement Stall Across the Country

My general feeling on the matter is that if your job involves a gun, you should be held to a higher standard than everyone else. When it comes to the military, soldiers have limitations placed on what they can and can’t say for matters of combat readiness and unit cohesion. “Some of our rights are abridged because of the nature of the military organization and the importance of cohesion and combat readiness,” John Altenberg, a retired deputy judge advocate general of the Army, told NBC News when discussing extremism in the military. “We can’t just say anything we want.”

It only makes sense that that same principal should be carried over to people who are in charge of public safety. If you hate a large swath of the public, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to have a job where you can hurt those people. I don’t understand why this is a complicated issue. I mean I do—white supremacy will always try to intellectualize the brutality needed to maintain it—but still.

The result of all this hemming and hawing is that momentum on many of the bills introduced in these states has stalled. The bill in Portland is limited to just pre-screenings of potential officers, and the bill in California essentially boils down to a piece of text that says, “No member of a hate group should be in law enforcement and if you are a member of one of these groups don’t apply, you have no place in our profession.”

Source: Bills to Combat Extremism in Law Enforcement Stall Across the Country

Destruction of coastal forest for a major tourism project raises questions about Jamaica’s climate change posture · Global Voices – Emma Lewis

As Caribbean governments and people are painfully aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a serious blow to tourism. The Jamaican industry continues to struggle through another year of “lockdowns,” fluctuating vaccine supplies, and ever-changing travel requirements. However, as Jamaica works towards the reopening of hotels and attracting visitors again, a new development is raising concerns—and questions about the government’s commitment to climate change. Source: Destruction of coastal forest for a major tourism project raises questions about Jamaica’s climate change posture · Global Voices

Putin submits bill to Russian parliament on withdrawing from Open Skies treaty — Meduza

(Me: President Biden has not yet reversed Trump’s call on this vital issue) The United States withdrew from the Open Skies treaty on the grounds that Russia was in breach of the terms of the agreement. The U.S. State Department accused Russia of banning observation flights over Moscow, Kaliningrad, Chechnya, and near the borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Moscow denied the allegations, arguing that Washington hadn’t fulfilled the terms of the treaty.  Source: Putin submits bill to Russian parliament on withdrawing from Open Skies treaty — Meduza

An Archaeologist on the Railroad of Death – SAPIENS – WWII

Hendrik Robert van Heekeren - WWII Allied prisoners of war and civilian laborers worked in horrendous conditions to install a railway between Thailand and Burma.

It was here that the infamous “Railroad of Death” was constructed from 1942­–1943 over some 260 miles of mountainous jungles. The railway was built by at least 60,000 Allied prisoners of war, of whom about 16,000 died in the excruciating conditions, alongside almost 300,000 civilians from Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia, of whom over 100,000 perished. The POWs and civilian laborers were forced to lay track and build several bridges—including a large span over the Kwae Yai (River Kwai; called the Mae Klong River at the time) north of Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

One of these POWs was Hendrik Robert van Heekeren, an archaeologist born in 1902 in Semarang, Indonesia. Through financing his own research and fieldwork, van Heekeren significantly contributed to the study of ancient Indonesia prior to the outbreak of the war. But, like many of his Dutch compatriots, he was captured after the Japanese invaded Java in 1942. By February 1943, he was forced to work on the Railroad of Death.

Source: An Archaeologist on the Railroad of Death – SAPIENS

♫ If I Were A Carpenter ♫

Filosofa's Word

Tonight, I was in the mood for some soul, thinking some Four Tops.  Trouble is, I’ve played most of my favourite Four Tops songs … and reduxed them in the past year.  I’ve got my standards, y’know!  But then, as I was looking back at one, a comment reminded me that the Four Tops had covered this song, If I Were a Carpenter, and … lo and behold, I hadn’t played that one yet!  Now, since so many have successfully covered this song, it wouldn’t be fair to only play the Four Tops version, so I will add a couple of others, just for some variety.  Let me know which is your favourite.

This song was written by the folk singer Tim Hardin, who performed it at Woodstock in 1969.  The song, it is said, was partly inspired by the construction of a recording studio for Hardin, in the…

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En Colombia la policía detiene, abusa, tortura y desaparece – Cosecha Roja

Múltiples relatos de abuso policial y de retenciones irregulares por parte de la Policía Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá, en Medellín, explican una cifra de desaparecidos en disputa y que las detenciones han sido usadas como escarmiento contra los manifestantes del paro nacional.

Multiple accounts of police abuse and irregular detentions by the Metropolitan Police of Valle de Aburrá, in Medellín, explain a number of disappeared in dispute and that the arrests have been used as a lesson against the protesters of the national strike.

Source: En Colombia la policía detiene, abusa, tortura y desaparece – Cosecha Roja

Okinawa 75 years ago

Pacific Paratrooper

Front page of Stars and Stripes, 22 May 1945

By PFC. WILLIAMS LAND | STARS AND STRIPES May 22, 1945

Stars and Stripes presents these archive reports as they were written by the reporters in the field. The graphic and politically incorrect language used may be offensive to some readers.

Editor’s Note: A fortnight ago Bill Land, one of our battlefront reporters, learned that he was a father. Back to us by radio came this story of Oki’s orphans. Unable to go home to see his own daughter in Baton Rouge, La., Bill let himself go on Oki’s orphans – being left to die by the Sons of Heaven. But the GIs wouldn’t let the kids die… 

Front page, 15 May 1945

OKINAWA – Here’s a story you could call “The Children’s Hour.” Ever since I got that radio about my new baby daughter I’ve had in mind writing a…

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من أجل الشهرة والمال

Develop yourself and show your knowledge and talents to people through useful and meaningful content, and you will reach fame through effort and struggle, but beware that fame is your goal and your only message in life.

حلم الدرويش

أتاحت شبكة الإنترنت الفرصة أمام الناس لسهولة تداول المعلومات والتواصل بسهولة وسرعة مهما كانت المسافات بينهم , لكن انتشار مواقع التواصل الإجتماعى أظهر لنا بعض السلوكيات الخاطئة يمارسها عدد كبير من رواد هذه المواقع , وعندما تدقق هذه الممارسات وتحاول تحليلها تتوصل فى النهاية إلى أنها نابعة من هوس هؤلاء الأشخاص بالشهرة ومحاولة جلب عدد متابعين أكبر ومعجبين بما يقدم من محتوى يتوافق مع التفاهة والابتذال فى معظم الأوقات .

فى الماضى كانت الشهرة فى جانبها الإيجابى من نصيب كل فرد متميز فى مجاله العلمى أو الثقافى أو الفنى أو الإدارى وكل جوانب الحياة , أما فى عصر شبكات التواصل الإجتماعية ظهر مشاهير جدد يعرفون بمشاهير السوشيال ميديا , نجحوا فى جذب عدد كبير من المتابعين وفرض أفكارهم وسلوكياتهم على المجتمعات حتى لوكانت غريبة وشاذة ويساعدهم فى ذلك بعض المتابعين المهوسين بما يقدم من محتوى قد لا يهم شخص عاقل مثل الحياة اليومية بتفاصيلها لبعض الأشخاص وأماكن النوم والطعام ويتطور…

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Violência Psicológica e Moral

The woman who lives in a situation of violence today, most have already suffered this violence on the part of her father, brother, stepfather. In other words, many have already grown up in a hostile environment. And then, there is the reason for the abuser to act naturally. Of course, this is not always the rule, but machismo, for example, is something that is passed on from generation to generation.

Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

A Violência Psicológica, ela começa de um jeito sutil, mas, eu diria que ela tira o abusador sempre do anonimato. Por que digo isso? Porque todo manipulador emocional ele é cavalheiro, sedutor no início, mas no fim, torna-se insuportável.

É importante ressaltar que a violência psicológica é algo que atinge homens e mulheres. Porém, como estamos falando de violência doméstica nos últimos dias, falo de um comportamento que muitas vezes é encorajado desde a infância, muitas vezes pela mãe que não educa uma criança corretamente, e com isso, acaba ensinando o filho a ser homem que não tem a mínima preocupação em respeitar uma mulher na fase adulta.

A maior parte dos abusos, referem-se aos limites que a mãe, ou o pai não deram a seu filho no momento oportuno. Então, esse menino que um dia se tornará homem, vai achar que a violência é algo natural. E mais do…

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