Wake Up

Unlocking The Hidden Me

Wake up you oblivious

Get over your sleep

You were in your sweetest dream

And look where the world has had its leap

The birds singing for you

Are no longer yours

They found a new perch and bid you adieu

Your garden once abundant with flowers

Is on the verge of senescence

You didn’t watered them and they lost their vigor and power

Wake up you oblivious

The time is slipping by

Storms and tornadoes have passed

And you remained aloof hearing lullaby

Your boulevard stands empty today

Awaiting your dawn

Get Awake O beloved and keep your loneliness at bay

Your birds shall return

Your garden will bloom

You will get what all you have had yearn

Just get out of this oblivion

And

Wake up

Wake up to turn the tides and fight

Wake up to reclaim what was once yours

O beloved, this should be…

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Manifesting and Music

God is Alive, Magic is Afoot saved me more than once – https://youtu.be/FhmeroR20lc

Divine Truth and Magick

What do you know about manifesting? I’ll give you a short version real quick and help you understand how you make your reality what it is.

We create everything around us through energy. We are vibrations and those vibrations effect how we perceive our lives. We think, and vibrations are sent out into the universe. We speak, and the same.

So, what’s your favorite music? Do you listen to music that brings you to a higher vibe? Do you listen to hateful and angry music? By all means have balance, but know… When you sing these songs, or rap them you’re also putting out vibrations.

In 2019 I got obsessed with a few songs that changed my life. One spoke of a love that I found months later. One spoke of not just preaching, and acting to make change in the world. And the other spoke of chemical addictions and…

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DHS agreements may tie Biden’s hands on immigration

181 days from now, new rules boys!

By Elliot Spagat | Associated Press

SAN DIEGO — During the Trump administration’s final weeks, the Department of Homeland Security quietly signed agreements with at least four states that threaten to temporarily derail President Joe Biden’s efforts to undo his predecessor’s immigration policies.

The agreements say Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas are entitled to a 180-day consultation period before executive branch policy changes take effect. The Biden administration rejects that argument on grounds that immigration is solely the federal government’s responsibility under the Constitution.

Former President Donald Trump relied heavily on executive powers for his immigration agenda because he was unable to build enough support for his policies in Congress. Now some of his supporters say Biden is going too far in doing the same to reverse them.

The first legal test is in Texas, where the Republican governor and attorney general are challenging the Democratic president’s 100-day moratorium on deportations, which took effect Friday.

The Homeland Security Department told lawmakers shortly before Biden’s inauguration last week that it reached nine agreements, mostly with states, according to a congressional official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss information that is not yet publicly available.

The department declined to comment, citing the lawsuit. The Trump administration, usually eager to trumpet immigration enforcement, stayed publicly quiet on the agreements, which were first reported by BuzzFeed News.

The nine-page agreements known as Sanctuary for Americans First Enactment, or SAFE, are expansive. They require that state and local governments get 180 days’ notice of changes in the number of immigration agents, the number of people released from from immigration custody, enforcement priorities, asylum criteria and who qualifies for legal status.

Without offering evidence, the agreements say looser enforcement can hurt education, health care, housing and jobs.

Sheriff Sam Page of Rockingham County, North Carolina, on the Virginia border, signed an agreement on Dec. 22.

“Any incoming administration is likely to make changes in policy,” the sheriff said. “Policy changes at the federal level affect us on the local level. It is our hope that the SAFE agreement will foster timely communications about any significant forthcoming policy changes. We are simply asking for notice of these changes.”

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed an agreement on Dec. 15 to “stem the tide of illegal immigration,” spokesman Cory Dennis said.

“While some may attempt to blur the lines, there is a difference between legal and illegal immigration, and it is important to recognize that,” he said. “Our office will continue to be a watchdog for any changes to immigration policies that may be detrimental to the people of Louisiana.”

In Indiana, former state Attorney General Curtis Hill, a Republican, signed the agreement on Dec. 22. Rachel Hoffmeyer, spokeswoman for Gov. Eric Holcomb, said it will remain in place after an initial review.

Katie Conner, a spokeswoman for Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, confirmed that the state signed, saying it “has numerous cooperative agreements with federal, state and local enforcement agencies, including DHS.”

In addition to the deportation moratorium, the Biden administration suspended a policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. Six of Biden’s 17 first-day executive orders dealt with immigration, such as halting work on a border wall with Mexico and lifting a travel ban on people from several predominantly Muslim countries.

Hiroshi Motomura, a professor of immigration law and policy at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, called the agreements “a very unusual, last-minute sort of thing” and said they raise questions about how an administration can tie the hands of its successor. He believes a deportation moratorium was within a president’s power.

Steve Legomsky, professor emeritus of the Washington University School of Law and former chief counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agreements are “a terrible idea” that could create “a race to the bottom,” with states opposing immigration competing against each other to drive immigrants elsewhere.

“For our entire history, immigration policy has been understood to be the exclusive responsibility of the federal government,” Legomsky said.

Keeping immigration enforcement with the federal government allows the nation to speak with a single voice as a matter of foreign policy and consistency across states, Legomsky said. We “can’t have 50 conflicting sets of immigration laws operating at the same time,” he said.

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The Biden administration made similar arguments in a court filing Sunday after Texas asked a federal judge to block the deportation moratorium.

Texas, which has led a challenge to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to shield hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation, argued that the moratorium violated its agreement with Homeland Security. The state also argued that the moratorium violates federal rule-making procedures.

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton in Victoria, Texas, who was appointed last year by Trump, held hearings on Friday and Monday to consider Texas’ request.

Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Washington, Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, Casey Smith in Indianapolis, Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Scientists address myths over large-scale tree planting – BBC News

Select the right tree species that can maximise biodiversity

Where tree planting is needed, picking the right trees is crucial. Scientists advise a mixture of tree species naturally found in the local area, including some rare species and trees of economic importance, but avoiding trees that might become invasive.

Source: Scientists address myths over large-scale tree planting – BBC News

Looking beyond COVID-19 vaccine phase 3 trials | Nature Medicine

Achieving the goal of development of a safe and efficacious vaccine had a 6- to 18-month timeline. The unprecedented effort has generated over 200 candidates in various stages of development, with over 50 candidate vaccines in human clinical trials and 18 in efficacy testing4. To date, Pfizer/BioNTech has announced efficacy of 95%5; Gamaleya has announced efficacy of 92%; Moderna has announced efficacy of 94.5%; and AstraZeneca has announced efficacy of 70%5,6. Sinopharm has now announced efficacy of 79%, and several countries participating in the Sinovac (another Chinese company) efficacy trials have announced efficacies (for the same product) of 50%, 65%, 78% and 91%7,8. Sinovac has yet to comment, and these data have not been published or peer reviewed. Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are RNA vaccines expressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spike glycoprotein, whereas vaccines from Gamaleya and AstraZeneca (partnered with Oxford University) express spike protein from adenovirus vector platforms. The vaccine developed by Gamaleya has a heterologous approach, with spike delivered in an adenovirus type 26 vector first, followed by a second dose containing spike in an adenovirus type 5, and AstraZeneca uses a chimpanzee adenovirus-expressing spike. Sinopharm and Sinovac have whole inactivated virus vaccines with alum as an adjuvant. However, effective vaccination is one part of effective, comprehensive control of the pandemic. In addition, scientific, social and political questions—around dose, schedule, ethics, effectiveness, surveillance and vaccine hesitancy—remain to be resolved, and pandemic control will require that some, if not all, of these issues be solved intercurrently. Source: Looking beyond COVID-19 vaccine phase 3 trials | Nature Medicine

The Story of Solar Energy in India | Eco Igloo

One of the biggest advantages of a Solar Photovoltaic System that I have found out is that it is very easy to create a local-grid cluster and distribute the electricity generated to a small village.

You just need to identify an open space near the locality/ community, add a few arrays of PV cells, and transmit the power generated directly. It is a very cheap and effective solution in lighting up the villages which are off the grid. By opting in a localized off-grid system one could avoid the cost of installing transmission lines, distribution stations, and huge power plants.

In India, there are hundreds of villages that are located in very remote terrain for instance in Ladakh, where the villagers have effectively utilized Solar Energy for their livelihood.

Source: The Story of Solar Energy in India | Eco Igloo

Coronavirus state tracker: California reported 16,711 new cases, 243 new deaths as of Jan. 24

California communities reported 16,711 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of people who have been infected to date to 3,160,458, according to California public heath websites’ end-of-day totals as of Jan. 24.

There were also 243 new deaths reported in California, bringing the total number of people who have died in the state to 37,065.

There were 291 fewer patients admitted into California hospitals, making for 18,347 hospitalizations statewide.

The elderly continue to be the most vulnerable age group. While those from ages 18 to 49 account for 58% of all cases they only represent 7% of all deaths, while those 65 and older account for 11% of all cases and 75% of all deaths.

RELATED: What public health leaders mean by ‘0% ICU beds available

OCR-L-STATE-TRACKER-0126-map.jpg?fit=620OCR-L-STATE-TRACKER-0126-tab.jpg?fit=620

 

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johns Hopkins University, the World Health Organization, the California Department of Public Health, The Associated Press, reporting counties and news sources

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Thai woman receives 43-year sentence for sharing audio clips ‘defaming’ the monarchy

Outrageous! Pardon her.

Accused had already spent over three years in jail for alleged offense

Anchan (right side). Source: iLaw / Prachatai

A 63-year-old Thai woman was sentenced to 87 years in prison for sharing audio clips deemed insulting to the monarchy. The prison term was reduced to 43 years and six months after the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge of violating section 112 of the Criminal Code or Lèse-majesté (anti-Royal Insult law). Despite the penalty adjustment, it is still the longest prison sentence handed out to a person convicted of disrespecting the monarchy.

Anchan (pseudonym), a food seller and former civil servant, was first arrested in 2015 for sharing 29 audio clips containing content that allegedly defame the monarchy.

The videos were sourced from an underground radio channel hosted by an activist named Hatsadin Uraipraiwan, aka Banpot. Anchan did not create the clips but merely shared them on social media between November 2014 to January 2015. She was detained for more than three years before she was allowed to post bail.

She was hoping for leniency from the court after pleading guilty to the charge, considering that she already served time in prison. Prior to her conviction on January 19, Anchan talked to iLaw, a non-profit organization, about what she was hoping from her trial:

My only hope is that the court has compassion for me. I was charged with 29 counts of violation of the law. I have been imprisoned for nearly 4 years. Even though all I did was share clips.

If I have to go back to prison, as a society, we have to ask, where is the standard of enforcing the law?

But the court decided otherwise:

Is sharing audio clips a crime worth 87 years of jail? In #Thailand the Court seems to think so as it sentenced Anchan, 63-year old woman to that punishment, claiming she violated 112. This is the longest, harshest & most cruel sentence EVER under #ม112 #ยกเลิก112 #saveอัญชัญ pic.twitter.com/Kf20j7e3Ye

— Manushya Foundation (@ManushyaFdn) January 20, 2021

Her appeal for bail was also denied the following day. The court cited the “trauma” caused by Anchan’s actions in denying her bail request:

After the bail application of #Anchan, defendant in Art.112’s case imprisoned for 29 ys and 174 mos, was submitted to the Court of Appeal to adjudicate, today the court ruled to dismiss the application, citing serious offenses /causing trauma to those loyal to the Thai monarchy. pic.twitter.com/sv4csNX434

— TLHR / ศูนย์ทนายความเพื่อสิทธิมนุษยชน (@TLHR2014) January 21, 2021

The bail rejection elicited criticism from civil society leaders:

🚨Thai Appeal Court denied #bail for Anchan who’s been unfairly sentenced to 43 years in jail for #LeseMajeste 😡

Is her entire life less important than feelings of royalists who claimed 2B traumatized? NO

❌ it’s CRUEL

❌ It violates #FreedomOfExpression#SaveAnchan #ยกเลิก112 pic.twitter.com/I5P9SekqrK

— Emilie Palamy Pradichit (@EmiliePradichit) January 22, 2021

Anchan’s guilty verdict and the long prison sentence she received alarmed human rights groups in Thailand. It reflected the increasing use of Lèse-majesté law to silence critics of the military-backed government.

#Thailand anti-government protest leaders like @paritchi @mike_rayong @PanusayaS saying they’re worried about 112/#Lesemajeste charges given how court just sentenced a woman on Tuesday to 87 years jail for insulting #monarchy. But adds they’re now beyond being fearful #ยกเลิก112 pic.twitter.com/Fb6OrbOXm2

— May Wong (@MayWongCNA) January 20, 2021

In 2020, massive protests mobilized young Thais who demanded the restoration of democracy, including the need to reform the monarchy. The government used emergency decree measures and the Lèse-majesté law to threaten activists with arrest if they continue to organize protests during the pandemic.

As of January 19, at least 54 people have been charged or summoned by the police to hear Lèse-majesté charges within the last few weeks.

Recently, a Lèse-majesté complaint was filed against an opposition leader for questioning the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program. Allegedly, a company involved in the planned distribution of vaccines is funded by the monarchy.

Several students, activists, and protest leaders were arrested by the police this month in connection to Lèse-majesté charges.

Any better things to do than bullying kids ? @prachatai_en @PravitR @suranand @G_Garachon @NuttaaBow @Piyabutr_FWP @AbbottKingsley @AbbottKingsley @sanitsuda @Thai_Talk @fishmyman @suthichai pic.twitter.com/RqyLg1ie9T

— stephff cartoonist (@stephffart) December 31, 2020

Manushya Foundation criticized the “cruel” sentence received by Anchan

Although her sentence was reduced to 43 years, it’s still too harsh & unnecessary cruel. Should a defamation case land someone several decades in jail? It’s time for us to talk about #ม112 & urging for it to be repealed!

Journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk wrote that Anchan’s case might push more Thais to action:

When a law ceases to become just in the eyes of enough people, it loses its efficacy. It draws more criticism and not just against the law, but the government and the monarchy as well.

At that point, the use of an unjust law will in fact become counter-productive. (I think it’s already the case.)

This tweet by a BBC journalist sums up the reaction of many observers of Thai politics:

This sums up the madness of lese majeste, and the warped reasoning it produces. How many royalists were ‘traumatized’ by the podcasts this lady posted? How many even heard them? Does the judge know? Any why ‘traumatized’ simply by critical comments about the monarchy? https://t.co/Rc9jTXcL0V

— Jonathan Head (@pakhead) January 22, 2021

Anchan is awaiting the result of her appeal.

Written by Mong Palatino

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