Category Archives: News to use

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

Independent Watchdog Report Finds Inequity in Farm Aid Payments – The New York Times (Trump and Perdue grifting for votes- listening in upper midwest?)

The report, along with a separate analysis of it by Senate Democrats, found that Georgia farmers received an average of $42,545 from the program — more than twice the national average of $16,507 and the highest average per acre in the country.

It also found that eight of the top nine states — measured by average payments per acre of farmland — were in the South, a region at the heart of Mr. Trump’s political base. More generous payment rates for cotton and sorghum, which are grown in Southern states, were part of the reason for the disparity, the report said.

Conservatives once championed the sacredness of every human life – until Covid | Jeff Sparrow

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Any serious response to the virus must impinge on the economy. Market ideologues find this very difficult to accept

In 2017, Tony Abbott denounced Victorian “right-to-die” legislation: “We don’t want anyone ever to be regarded as useless, worthless or disposable,” he thundered.

In 2020, by contrast, he railed against government responses to Covid for seeking to preserve “almost every life at almost any cost”.

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Black churches accuse Donald Trump election ad of inciting ‘white terrorism’

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  • Leaders call for removal of ad depicting worshippers as ‘thugs’
  • Video pairs Biden at prayer with scenes of street violence

Black American church leaders have accused Donald Trump of inciting “white terrorism” against people of colour and depicting churchgoers as “thugs” in a presidential election campaign ad.

They are calling for the advertisement’s removal from display and federal protection from any bias or threats it could provoke.

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Hungary’s students are making a last stand against Viktor Orbán’s power grab | George Szirtes

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The University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest is the latest public institution in the authoritarian leader’s sights

As I write, the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest (SZFE) is being occupied by its students and staff. It is the latest battle, and possibly last stand, against the Hungarian government’s attempt to seize power in independent institutions of all sorts, including cultural ones.

Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has been in office since its landslide victory in the 2010 elections and there seems little prospect of change. That is because it has already seized control of most other institutions in areas including media, the law, finance, health, research and education. Pretty well everything – and it is still expanding.

Like most institutions of higher education everywhere, especially those with an emphasis on the arts and humanities, SZFE is identified with the “left-liberal” ethos the increasingly authoritarian government is committed to defeating. That is reason enough for Fidesz to muscle in.

In this respect Hungary is just one part of a widespread international conflict between systems of value and governance, one that has caused fierce divisions in many places, sweeping away whatever centre ground there was.

The campaign against the arts was initiated by Fidesz in 2006 when it gained control of the municipalities and declared that it had had enough of the old liberal order. It was, the party stated, their time now. The directors and boards of provincial theatres were sacked and replaced by local Fidesz-appointed figures.

It’s not just theatres, of course. Having assumed office in 2010, the Fidesz government, led by Orbán, immediately looked to seize control of any and all public institutions by much the same method of appointing governing bodies that could grant or withhold funds according to the willingness of organisations to toe the party line. The system has worked with dramatic efficiency. Hungarian society has no modern tradition of organised resistance. With individuals scared of retribution in the form of loss of income, effective solidarity is impossible.

In 2008, a new organisation for the supervision of theatres was established, the Magyar Teátrumi Társaság or Hungarian Theatre Society. It was generously funded and entrusted with the responsibility of carrying forward Fidesz’s programme. At its head was Attila Vidnyánszky, a brilliant provincial director. Vidnyánszky embodied the government’s enthusiasm for patriotism and a nominal Christianity. He more or less runs Hungarian theatre now.

Until recently, universities were independent, state-funded entities from which it was difficult to withhold financial support. Fidesz’s strategic aim became to privatise the universities and, as had proved so successful with other enterprises, impose a board of government-appointed trustees to determine policy, not just in spending, but appointments, the curriculum and all other matters, on an ideological basis.

This is the process currently in train at SZFE. It looked reasonable enough at first, privatisation being seen as a route to greater independence. Universities would become self-governing institutions with proper representation on the board of trustees. But SZFE was required to complete the process in a matter of months, by January 2021.

When it applied for an extension in July of this year, its completion date was actually brought forward to September. There was no consultation at all. A board of trustees was appointed over the heads of the university with Vidnyánszky leading it.

Suddenly, Vidnyánszky was not only running the National Theatre Society, but SZFE too. Despite his spectacular rise to power he regards himself as an avenging outsider and maintains a fierce animus towards many other members of the theatrical profession, particularly those teaching at SZFE, which has produced the greatest Hungarian actors and directors of the last century.

In the meantime, a campaign of abuse is being directed at the university by the government-supporting press.

The student body organised an occupation in support of the university’s senate and staff, and in defence of their own education. The senate has resigned and the staff are considering a strike. The students formed a human chain through the streets of Budapest extending from the university to the parliament building. The chain has received wide popular support. The atmosphere of the demonstration was joyful and calm, but firm.

It is an important moment. It coincides with yet another move to shut down Hungary’s one independent radio station, Klubrádió. Shows of solidarity are rare and may set an example. This one should not be swept under the government’s ever extending carpet.

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China coronavirus vaccine may be ready for public in November

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COVID-19 vaccines being developed in China may be ready for use by the general public as early as November, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

In an interview with state TV on Monday, CDC chief biosafety expert Guizhen Wu said that China has four experimental vaccines in the third and final stage of clinical trials. She added that phase 3 clinical trials were proceeding smoothly and the vaccines could be ready for the general public in November or December.

Wu also said that she took an experimental vaccine herself in April, and that she has experienced no abnormal symptoms.

A unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and US-listed Sinovac Biotech are developing the three vaccines under the state’s emergency use programme. A fourth COVID-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.

The novel coronavirus emerged last year in China’s Wuhan province. It has killed more than 925,000 people.

Moody Monday: Martin Luther King -Rabbinical Commentary poster inspired a Novel — ShiraDest: toward The Four Freedoms for All Human Beings

This famous speech made by Dr. King, treated as a sacred text: MLK3speechHillelCommentaryStudy inspired me to write my first practice Novel.   Everyone should write an autobiography and/or a novel.   Mine, an autobiographical novel (Biblical Science Fiction…), RealDraft6Creator Friend or Foe Beginnings,  can be available, if anyone wants to see it. Let’s #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness, & #EndMoneyBail and […]

Moody Monday: Martin Luther King -Rabbinical Commentary poster inspired a Novel — ShiraDest: toward The Four Freedoms for All Human Beings