#Law and Global Policy Development

[autisticincontinence]

Inclusivity Begins at the Bathroom Door | Theodora Siegel | TEDxRiverdal...

This goes for having a safe place to change and dispose of Incontinence supplies too.

[spartanmemesmedical]

Access to Abortion Care: A Human Rights Perspective

Introduction:Abortion remains a contentious issue globally, with complex implications for public health, human rights, and social justice. This assignment delves into the multifaceted aspects of abortion care, emphasizing its significance in promoting comprehensive healthcare, human rights, and gender equality. Overview:The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of complete…

[jovialbasementbouquetblr]

2024 Zhang Ming: Responding to Critical Domestic and International Changes

Yet another article calling for a new round of opening and reform for China as part of the solution for problems facing China today. Zhang Ming translated below also warns China to avoid over-securitization [泛安全化 fàn ānquán huà], to heed the lesson of 1980s era Soviet Union and President Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ program: don’t get into an arms race that will sap China’s comprehensive national…

[zvaigzdelasas]

South Africa’s genocide case has put the spotlight on a deeper fault line in global geopolitics. Beyond the courtroom drama, experts say divisions over the war in Gaza symbolize a widening gap between Israel and its traditional Western allies, notably the United States and Europe, and a group of nations known as the Global South — countries located primarily in the southern hemisphere, often characterized by lower income levels and developing economies.

Reactions from the Global North to the ICJ case have been mixed. While some nations have maintained a cautious diplomatic stance, others, particularly Israel’s staunchest allies in the West, have criticized South Africa’s move.

The US has stood by Israel through the war by continuing to ship arms to it, opposing a ceasefire, and vetoing many UN Security Council resolutions that aimed to bring a halt to the fighting. The Biden administration has rubbished the claim that Israel is committing genocide as “meritless,” while the UK has refused to back South Africa.[...]

As a nation whose history is rooted in overcoming apartheid, South Africa’s move carries symbolic weight that has resonated with other nations in the developing world, many of whom have faced the burden of oppression and colonialism from Western powers.

Nelson Mandela, the face of the anti-apartheid movement, was a staunch supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its leader Yasser Arafat, saying in 1990: “We align ourselves with the PLO because, akin to our struggle, they advocate for the right of self-determination.”

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that while South Africa’s case is a continuation of its long-standing pro-Palestinian sympathies, the countries that have rallied behind it show deeper frustrations by the Global South.

There is “a clear geopolitical context in which many countries from the Global South have been increasingly critical over what they see as a lack of Western pressure on Israel to prevent such a large-scale loss of life in Gaza and its double standards when it comes to international law,” Lovatt told CNN.

Much of the non-Western world opposes the war in Gaza; China has joined the 22-member Arab League in calling for a ceasefire, while several Latin American nations have expelled Israeli diplomats in protest, and several Asian and African countries have joined Muslim and Arab nations in backing South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ.

For many in the developing world, the ICJ case has become a focal point for questioning the moral authority of the West and what is seen as the hypocrisy of the world’s most powerful nations and their unwillingness to hold Israel to account. [...]

Israel sided with the West against Soviet-backed Arab regimes during the Cold War, and Western countries largely view it “as a fellow member of the liberal democratic club,” he added.[...]

“But the strong support of Western governments is increasingly at odds with the attitudes of Western publics which continue to shift away from Israel,” Lovatt said.

Israel has framed the war in Gaza as a clash of civilizations where it is acting as the guardian of Western values that it says are facing an existential threat.

“This war is a war that is not only between Israel and Hamas,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told MSNBC in December. “It’s a war that is intended – really, truly – to save Western civilization, to save the values of Western civilization.”

So far, no Western countries have supported South Africa’s case against Israel.

Among Western states, Germany has been one of the most vocal supporters of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The German government has said it “expressly rejects” allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that it plans to intervene as a third party on its behalf at the ICJ.

An opinion poll by German broadcaster ZDF this week however found that 61% of Germans do not consider Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip as justified in light of the civilian casualties. Only 25% voiced support for Israel’s offensive.

But it is in Germany’s former colonial territory, Namibia, that it has attracted the fiercest criticism.

The Namibian President Hage Geingob in a statement on Saturday chided Berlin’s decision to reject the ICJ case, accusing it of committing “the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions.” The statement added that the German government had not yet fully atoned for the killings.

Bangladesh, where up to three million people were killed during the country’s war of independence from Pakistan in the 1970s, has gone a step further to file a declaration of intervention in the ICJ case to back South Africa’s claims, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

A declaration of intervention allows a state that is not party to the proceedings to present its observations to the court.

“With Germany siding with Israel, and Bangladesh and Namibia backing South Africa at the ICJ, the geopolitical divide between the Global South and the West appears to be deepening,” Lovatt said.

Traditionally, the West has wielded significant influence in international affairs, but South Africa’s move signals a growing assertiveness among Global South nations that threatens the status quo, says Adekoya.

“One clear pattern emerging is that the old Western-dominated order is increasingly being challenged, a situation likely to only further intensify as the West loses its once unassailably dominant economic position,” Adekoya said.

19 Jan 24

[reasonsforhope]

"When Ghana’s parliament voted to decriminalise suicide and attempted suicide in March, Prof Joseph Osafo felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

Osafo, head of psychology at the University of Ghana, had been engaged in a near 20-year battle to abolish the law – brought in by the British – which stated that anyone who attempts suicide should face imprisonment or a fine.

“It was a very good feeling. I felt like a certain burden had been removed. I was extremely elated,” he remembers. “Then the next morning, I realised we had a lot of work to do.”

Four countries decriminalised suicide in just the past year

Ghana is one of four countries to have decriminalised suicide in the past year – Malaysia, Guyana and Pakistan are the others. More could soon follow, which campaigners say is a sign of greater awareness and understanding of mental health. Kenya and Uganda have filed petitions to overturn laws and members of the UN group of Small Island Developing States have committed to decriminalise. Discussions are also being held in Nigeria and Bangladesh.

“There seems to be a domino effect taking place,” says Muhammad Ali Hasnain, a barrister from United for Global Mental Health, a group calling for decriminalisation. “As one country decriminalises suicide, others start to follow suit.”

“It is quite unusual,” adds Sarah Kline, the organisation’s chief executive. “It’s a huge sign of progress and an important step forward for the populations most at risk, as well as the countries as a whole.” ...

A large number of laws were introduced by the British during colonial rule. Suicide was decriminalised in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the 1960s – it was never criminalised in Scotland...

The results of these punishments can be “devastating” and present “a huge barrier” to addressing the problem, says Natalie Drew, a technical officer with the mental health policy and service development team at the World Health Organization. Health experts and advocates argue that suicide should be treated as a public health issue rather than a crime.

Criminalising suicide denies people the right to access health services and discriminates against them because of something they’re experiencing, Drew adds. Research shows that in countries where suicide has been decriminalised, people can seek help for mental health and rates tend to then decline.

Next Steps

In September, the WHO is due to release a guide on decriminalising suicide for policymakers, with explanations of how countries have managed it...

“[Ghana’s decision] should have an impact on the work ongoing in other countries, especially in the Africa region,” says Osafo. Within the past couple of months, he has set up a mental health working group with representatives from about 20 African countries, and one of the biggest issues on the agenda is decriminalisation of suicide, he says. “Nigeria is active, Cameroon is active … Kenya has joined and is doing fantastic work. We have Uganda. People have been asking us how we did it.”

Since suicide was decriminalised in Malaysia last month, Anita Abu Bakar, founder and president of the Mental Illness Awareness and Support Association (Miasa), has already seen things change. Crisis response teams and helplines are expanding, and money from the mental health budget is being given to organisations who work in the community. “This is the shift we’re so happy to see,” she says. “It was such an archaic law.”

She adds: “I’m a person with lived experience. What does decriminalisation mean to people like me? We feel supported, we feel this conversation can go to a different level. Obviously decriminalisation is not the only way to prevent suicide, but it’s a big one. I’m happy for this progressive move – better late than never. I’m excited to see what happens next, not just for Malaysia but for the rest of us.”"

-via The Guardian, July 20, 2023

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - March 13, 2023

🐝 - Did you hear about the honeybee vaccine? It's creating quite the buzz! But seriously, it's a major breakthrough in the fight against American foulbrood and could save billions of bees.

1. Transgender health care is now protected in Minnesota

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order protecting and supporting access to gender-affirming health care for LGBTQ people in the state, amidst Republican-backed efforts across the country to limit transgender health care. The order upholds the essential values of One Minnesota where all people, including members of the LGBTQIA+ community, are safe, celebrated, and able to live lives full of dignity and joy.

Numerous medical organizations have said that access to gender-affirming care is essential to the health and wellness of gender diverse people, while states like Tennessee, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Florida have passed policies or laws restricting transgender health care.

2. First vaccine for honeybees could save billions

The US government has approved the world's first honeybee vaccine to fight against American foulbrood, a bacterial disease that destroys bee colonies vital for crop pollination.

Developed by biotech company Dalan Animal Health, the vaccine integrates some of the foulbrood bacteria into royal jelly, which is then fed to the queen by the worker bees, resulting in the growing bee larvae developing immunity to foulbrood. The vaccine aims to limit the damage caused by the infectious disease, for which there is currently no cure, and promote the development of vaccines for other diseases affecting bees.

3. Teens rescued after days stranded in California snowstorm: "We were already convinced we were going to die"

The recent snowstorms in California have resulted in dangerous conditions for hikers and residents in mountain communities. Two teenage hikers were rescued by the San Bernardino County sheriff's department after getting lost in the mountains for 10 days.

The boys were well-prepared for the hike but were not prepared for the massive amounts of snow that followed. They were lucky to survive, suffering from hypothermia and having to huddle together for three nights to stay warm.

Yosemite National Park has had to be closed indefinitely due to the excessive snowfall.

4. La Niña, which worsens Atlantic hurricanes and Western droughts, is gone

The La Nina weather phenomenon, which increases Atlantic hurricane activity and worsens western drought, has ended after three years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That's usually good news for the United States and other parts of the world, including drought-stricken northeast Africa, scientists said.

The globe is now in what's considered a "neutral" condition.

5. Where there's gender equality, people tend to live longer

Both women and men are likely to live longer when a country makes strides towards gender equality, according to a new global study that authors believe to be the first of its kind.

The study was published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health this week. It adds to a growing body of research showing that advances in women's rights benefit everyone. "Globally, greater gender equality is associated with longer [life expectancy] for both women and men and a widening of the gender gap in [life expectancy]," they conclude.

6. New data shows 1 in 7 cars sold globally is an EV, and combustion engine car sales have decreased by 25% since 2017

Electric vehicles are the key technology to decarbonise road transport, a sector that accounts for 16% of global emissions. Compared with 2020, sales nearly doubled to 6.6 million (a sales share of nearly 9%), bringing the total number of electric cars on the road to 16.5 million.

Sales were highest in China, where they tripled relative to 2020 to 3.3 million after several years of relative stagnation, and in Europe, where they increased by two-thirds year-on-year to 2.3 million. Together, China and Europe accounted for more than 85% of global electric car sales in 2021

7. Lastly, watch this touching moment as rescued puppy gains trust in her new owners

By the way, this is my newly started YouTube channel. Subscribe for more wholesome videos :D

---

That's it for this week. If you liked this post you can support this newsletter with a small kofi donation:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Let's carry the positivity into next week and keep spreading the good news!

[ammaterasu]

VICTORY! The Jewish National Fund of Canada’s (JNF) charitable status may be revoked because the JNF used its donations to support the Israeli military.

This week, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced its intention to revoke the charitable status of the JNF following a years-long audit that revealed the JNF utilized donations to develop infrastructure for the Israeli military, a foreign army, contravening Canada’s Tax Code.

Canadian grassroots Jewish organization Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) writes, “This is only possible because of the tireless efforts of Palestinians, IJV members and their allies who for decades have been denouncing the greenwashing, the dispossession and violence that the JNF enable on the Palestinian people and their land.”

According to reports, the Jewish National Fund controls 13% of illegally occupied Palestinian land. JNF’s policies prevent the sale or lease of land to non-Jews, a practice considered illegal under international law. These land acquisitions have been linked to heightened violence from settlers and the forced displacement of Palestinian families, further entrenching Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

The JNF is known for seizing Palestinian land as a façade to cover the displacement of Palestinian communities. For example, “Canada Park” was built over three destroyed Palestinian villages, which displaced over 9,000 people.

The potential loss of the JNF’s charity status could mean that the JNF will receive a significant decline in their funding, highlighting the global concern for JNF’s illegal land seizing and greenwashing activities in the occupied West Bank. This is just the beginning. Now, we have to keep up the pressure to ensure the JNF loses its charity status when the CRA’s decision goes to court.

Follow @ijv.canada to stay up to date on this story.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Nobody

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 2, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Aug 03, 2024

Today, Aaron C. Davis and Carol D. Leonnig of the Washington Post reported that there is reason to believe that when Trump’s 2016 campaign was running low on funds, Trump accepted a $10 million injection of cash from Egypt’s authoritarian leader Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. It is against the law to accept direct or indirect financial support from foreign nationals or foreign governments for a political campaign in the United States.

In early 2017, CIA officials told Justice Department officials that a confidential informant had told them of such a cash exchange, and those officials handed the matter off to Robert Mueller, the special counsel who was already looking at the links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives. FBI agents noted that on September 16, Trump had met with Sisi when the Egyptian leader was at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. 

After the meeting, Trump broke with U.S. policy to praise Sisi, calling him a “fantastic guy.” 

Trump’s campaign had been dogged with a lack of funds, and his advisers had begged him to put some of his own money into it. He refused until October 28, when he loaned the campaign $10 million.

An FBI investigation took years to get records, but Davis and Leonnig reported that in 2019 the FBI learned of a key withdrawal from an Egypt bank. In January 2017, five days before Trump took office, an organization linked to Egypt’s intelligence service asked a manager at a branch of the state-run National Bank of Egypt to “kindly withdraw” $9,998,000 in U.S. currency. The bundles of $100 bills filled two bags and weighed more than 200 pounds. 

Once in office, Trump embraced Sisi and, in a reversal of U.S. policy, invited him to be one of his first guests at the White House. “I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President al-Sissi,” Trump said. 

Mueller had gotten that far in pursuit of the connection between Trump and Sisi when he was winding down his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He handed the Egypt investigation off to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D C., where it appears then–attorney general William Barr killed it. 

Today, Brian Schwartz of CNBC reported that Elon Musk and other tech executives are putting their money behind a social media ad campaign for Trump and Vance, and are creating targeted ads in swing states by collecting information about voters under false pretenses. According to Schwartz, their America PAC, or political action committee, says it helps viewers register to vote. And, indeed, the ads direct would-be voters in nonswing states to voter registration sites.

But people responding to the ad in swing states are not sent to registration sites. Instead, they are presented with “a highly detailed personal information form [and] prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age,” handing over “priceless personal data to a political operation” that can then create ads aimed at that person’s demographic and target them personally in door-to-door campaigns. After getting the information, the site simply says, “Thank you,” without directing the viewer toward a registration site.

Forbes estimates Musk’s wealth at more than $235 billion. 

In June the Trump Organization announced a $500 million deal with Saudi real estate developer Dar Global to build a Trump International hotel in Oman. 

In January 2011, when he was director of the FBI, Robert Mueller gave a speech to the Citizens Crime Commission of New York. He explained that globalization and modern technology had changed the nature of organized crime. Rather than being regional networks with a clear structure, he said, organized crime had become international, fluid, and sophisticated and had multibillion-dollar stakes. Its operators were cross-pollinating across countries, religions, and political affiliations, sharing only their greed. They did not care about ideology; they cared about money. They would do anything for a price.

These criminals “may be former members of nation-state governments, security services, or the military,” he said. “They are capitalists and entrepreneurs. But they are also master criminals who move easily between the licit and illicit worlds. And in some cases, these organizations are as forward-leaning as Fortune 500 companies.”

In order to corner international markets, Mueller explained, these criminal enterprises "may infiltrate our businesses. They may provide logistical support to hostile foreign powers. They may try to manipulate those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, these so-called 'iron triangles' of organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders pose a significant national security threat."

In a new book called Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, journalist Anne Applebaum carries that story forward into the present, examining how today’s autocrats work together to undermine democracy. She says that “the language of the democratic world, meaning rights, laws, rule of law, justice, accountability, [and] transparency…[is]  harmful to them,” especially as those are the words that their internal opposition uses. “And so they need to undermine the people who use it and, if they can, discredit it.” 

Those people, Applebaum says, “believe they are owed power, they deserve power.” When they lose elections, they “come back in a second term and say, right, this time, I'm not going to make that mistake again, and…then change their electoral system, or…change the constitution, change the judicial system, in order to make sure that they never lose.”

Almost exactly a year ago, on August 1, 2023, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted former president Donald J. Trump for conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. The charges stemmed from Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A grand jury is made up of 23 ordinary citizens who weigh evidence of criminal activity and produce an indictment if 12 or more of them vote in favor. 

The grand jury indicted Trump for “conspiracy to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the government”; “conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified”; and “conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.” 

“Each of these conspiracies,” the indictment reads, “targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.” “This federal government function…is foundational to the United States’ democratic process, and until 2021, had operated in a peaceful and orderly manner for more than 130 years.” 

The case of the United States of America v. Donald J. Trump was randomly assigned to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who was appointed by President Obama in 2014 and confirmed 95–0 in the Senate. Trump pleaded not guilty on August 3, after which his lawyers repeatedly delayed their pretrial motions until, on December 7, Trump asked the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether he was immune from prosecution. Chutkan had to put off her initial trial date of March 4, 2024, and said she would not reschedule until the court decided the question of Trump’s immunity. 

In February the appeals court decided he was not immune. Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, which waited until July 1, 2024, to decide that Trump enjoys broad immunity from prosecution for crimes committed as part of his official acts. Today the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Chutkan, almost exactly a year after it was first brought.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[mapsontheweb]

European Nations by Corruption Perceptions Index(2023)

by Specific_Ad_685

Note :- Corruption Perceptions Index is a report released annually by Transparency International for generally Public Sector and Public Institutions based corruption.

It measures corruption on a scale of 0 to 100 with 0 meaning highly corrupt(basically fully corrupt) and 100 meaning no corruption and fully clean.

The CPI is calculated using 13 different data sources from 12 different institutions that capture perceptions of corruption within the past two years.

13 data sources were used to construct the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

2023:

1. African Development Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment 2021 2. Bertelsmann Stiftung Sustainable Governance Indicators 2022 3. Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index 2024 4. Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service 2023 5. Freedom House Nations in Transit 2023 6. Global Insight Country Risk Ratings 2022 7. IMD World Competitiveness Center World Competitiveness Yearbook Executive Opinion Survey 2023 8.  Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Asian Intelligence 2023 9. The PRS Group International Country Risk Guide 2023 10. World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment 2022 11.  World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey 2023 12. World Justice Project Rule of Law Index Expert Survey 2023 13.  Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem v. 13) 2023

[kp777]

Here’s Where Kamala Harris Stands on Climate

She pursued polluters as attorney general in California and later staked out bold positions as a senator, including sponsorship of the Green New Deal.

By Lisa Friedman

The New York Times

July 22, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris has for years made the environment a top concern, from prosecuting polluters as California’s attorney general to sponsoring the Green New Deal as a senator to casting the tiebreaking vote as vice president for the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in United States history.

As she runs for the White House, Ms. Harris is widely expected to try to protect the climate achievements of the Biden administration, a position that could resonate with voters during a summer of record heat. A clear majority of Americans, 65 percent, wants the country to focus on increasing solar, wind and other renewable energy and not fossil fuels, according to a May survey by the Pew Research Center.

Last year, Ms. Harris flew to the United Nations global climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she told world leaders that “the urgency of this moment is clear. The clock is no longer just ticking, it is banging. And we must make up for lost time.”

That was a subtle reference to former President Donald J. Trump, who made the United States the first and only country to withdraw from the global Paris Agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. (The United States subsequently rejoined under President Biden.) The Republican nominee in the current race for the White House, Mr. Trump has indicated that he would again pull back from the global fight against climate change if he is elected in November.

“Around the world, there are those who seek to slow or stop our progress, leaders who deny climate science, delay climate action, and spread misinformation,” Ms. Harris said at the summit. “In the face of their resistance and in the context of this moment, we must do more.”

Republicans have targeted the Inflation Reduction Act, promising to overturn it if they win control of Congress and the White House. That law pumps more than $370 billion over 10 years into wind, solar, batteries and electric vehicles. It is designed to help the country move away from fossil fuels, the burning of which is driving up global temperatures. At their convention last week, Republicans promised to halt any transition away from oil, gas and coal, and to promote more fossil fuel development.

Asked if Ms. Harris would pursue the policies she supported as a senator, like the Green New Deal, her climate adviser, Ike Irby, said she would focus on implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, which she helped to pass.

“She will fight every day for all Americans to have access to clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment,” Gina McCarthy, who served as national climate adviser under Mr. Biden, said in a statement Sunday. “Vice President Harris would kick ass against Trump.”

The vice president incorporated climate change into foreign relations, holding a round table in Bangkok to connect environmental activists with clean energy experts and starting a partnership with Caribbean countries to address climate change.

As a senator from California, the state that is at the forefront of climate policy, Ms. Harris promoted electrifying school buses to reduce greenhouse gases and to cut children's exposure to diesel engine pollution. She also supported efforts to replace lead water pipes and promoted measures to help agriculture become more resilient to drought.

But she also took positions far to the left of Mr. Biden on climate change.

She was an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, a nonbinding resolution supported by liberal Democrats that called for the United States to transition to 100 percent clean energy within a decade while providing people with job guarantees and “high-quality health care.” The measure never got out of committee.

When Ms. Harris ran for president in 2020, her climate plan called for a $10 trillion increase in spending over a decade as well as a price on carbon, with a dividend that would have been returned directly to households. Economists have said that a carbon tax would be the most effective way to get industries to reduce their pollution.

She also favored a ban on hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, which Mr. Biden said he opposed. Fracking is a technique that injects water and chemicals underground at high pressure to extract oil or gas that is otherwise difficult to access. Environmentalists say it pollutes the air and groundwater. California regulators have taken steps to ban fracking.

As California’s attorney general, Ms. Harris challenged federal approvals of offshore fracking along the California coast. She investigated whether Exxon Mobil lied to the public and its shareholders about the risks to its business from climate change, and whether such actions could amount to securities fraud and violations of environmental laws, but the case did not result in a prosecution.

She would later claim during a Democratic forum on climate change in 2019 that she had sued Exxon Mobil, which fact checkers reported as untrue. She did obtain settlements from other oil and gas companies, including Chevron and BP, over allegations that they violated pollution laws.

In 2019, Ms. Harris joined Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, to introduce legislation that would require the government to consider the impact of environmental regulations or laws on low-income communities, which tend to be disproportionately vulnerable to climate disruption because they are often located in flood zones, near highways, power plants and polluted land.

As vice president, Ms. Harris does not use the phrase “Green New Deal,” which has been relentlessly mocked by conservatives, who use it as shorthand for all climate and clean energy policies.

Her Republican opponents are not likely to let her forget it, though.

“During her ill-fated and short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, Harris was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Green New Deal and called for so-called ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2030, all of it with a $10 trillion price tag,” Daniel Turner, executive director of Power The Future, a group that advocates for fossil fuels, said in a statement.

He called Ms. Harris part of the “climate cult that calls the shots in today’s Democratic Party.”

Evergreen Action, an environmental group, endorsed Ms. Harris on Sunday. The youth-led Sunrise Movement, which last week called on Mr. Biden to end his bid for re-election, praised his decision to step away. The group did not directly endorse Ms. Harris but said any replacement must “put forth a bold vision to tackle the climate crisis and fight for our generation.”

Other organizations said they were holding back an endorsement until the Democratic nomination process is completed.

Article share from The New York Times.

[autisticincontinence]

Diaper Need Awareness

https://aeroflowurology.com/diaper-divide

[evidence-based-activism]

Is there any evidence that kink is bad for victims? Ppl love to say cnc is good cope for SA victims do their claims have any base?

Hi anon!

Unfortunately, there is very little research on this topic. Given the cultural taboos around sex in general and kink specifically, this isn't very surprising. I'll summarize what I did find below:

This thesis [1] argues that "the consent narrative that is used to justify sadomasochistic violence is flawed ... making two arguments .. that the conditions which need be met for consent to be valid are frequently not met in instances of sadomasochistic violence [and] ... that even when consent meets the conditions for validity this does not justify sexually motivated violence as consent does not have the normative power required to justify the infliction of harm."

This book chapter [2] "highlight[s] how easily sexual behavior within a coercively controlling relationship can be presented as consensual" and argues that "that there should be a strong legal presumption that if a relationship is marked by coercive control that sexual behavior within it is non-consensual". They also note that:

"Rough sex" is a "hallmark" of coercive control.

Strangulation is particularly prevalent in coercive control.

Among heterosexuals involved in BDSM, 71% of women identified as submissive and 75% of men identified as dominant (indicating a strong gender difference resembling patriarchal social inequality).

A significant aspect of coercive control is that victims can come to accept the abuse, seeing it as normal (i.e., later in the relationship they "consent" to the abuse because they believe it is appropriate). They indicate this makes it "challenging" to identify "genuine" cases of consent.

The legal system often presumes consent even in extreme situations and there is a growing cultural norm expecting "rough sex" in relationships

Safe words are often ignored and, moreover, the safe word system itself places the responsibility of revoking consent on the submissive, who may not be in an emotional/psychological state to protect themselves.

This article [3] found BDSM submissive were more likely to have an anxious-avoidant attachment style (which is a type of unhealthy attachment style). However, they also found no significant relationship between BDSM involvement and childhood trauma.

This article [4] found 25.56% of "kink practitioners" reported "consent violations in the kink context".

I found some articles that discuss the idea that BDSM could be used as a type of trauma therapy. Rather tellingly, however, these weren't accompanied by any actual data.

All in all, there is insufficient research on this topic. The research I've presented here suggests that sexual violence is common in BDSM, that BDSM - in many ways - cannot be reliably distinguished from abuse, and that many submissive practitioners are at a disadvantage both inside the relationship and in a larger cultural context.

Beyond that, traumatic backgrounds doesn't appear to be more common in BDSM relationships, so the implication that practitioners are commonly using it as a type of therapy is erroneous.

If I find or see any other research on this topic, I'll add it!

References below the cut:

Masterson, Jessica. The Ethics of Kink. 2023. University of Birmingham, d_ph. etheses.bham.ac.uk, https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/14335/.

Herring, J. (2022), "Coercive Control and Rough Sex", Bows, H. and Herring, J.(Ed.) ‘Rough Sex’ and the Criminal Law: Global Perspectives (Feminist Developments in Violence and Abuse), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 31-51. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-928-720221003

Ten Brink, S., et al. “The Psychology of Kink: A Survey Study into the Relationships of Trauma and Attachment Style with BDSM Interests.” Sexuality Research and Social Policy, vol. 18, no. 1, Mar. 2021, pp. 1–12. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00438-w.

Bowling, Jessamyn, et al. “Disclosing and Reporting of Consent Violations Among Kink Practitioners in the United States.” Violence Against Women, vol. 30, no. 6–7, May 2024, pp. 1453–76. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012221145299.

[thehopefuljournalist]

Am I a little bit late for some of you? I might be. But anyways. Here's what went right around the world this past week :)

Youth climate activists won a huge climate lawsuit

Sixteens youths (aged five to 22) from Montana, US, have emerged victorious after suing state officials for violating their right to a clean environment.

In their lawsuit, they argued that Montana's fossil fuel policies contributed to climate change, which harms their physical and mental health. Montana is a major coal producer, with large oil and gas reserves. The state has rebuffed these claims, saying that their emissions were insignificant on a global scale.

Judge Kathy Seely, in a 103-page ruling, set a legal precedent for young people’s rights to a safe climate by finding in their favour. “Every additional tonne of GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions exacerbates plaintiffs’ injuries and risks locking in irreversible climate injuries".

This win marks the very first time a US court has ruled against a government for a violation of constitutional rights based on climate change. It will now be up to Montana lawmakers to bring state policies in line.

“As fires rage in the west, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today’s ruling in Montana is a gamechanger that marks a turning point in this generation’s efforts to save the planet from the devastating effects of human-caused climate chaos.” - Julia Olson, executive director of nonprofit law firm, Our Children’s Trust, which represented the youths in this case.

Number of Mexicans living in poverty fell by millions

Thanks to a new minimum wage boost and increases to pensions, the number of Mexicans living in poverty fell by 8.9 million between 2020-2022, according to new data published by the country’s social development agency, Coneval.

Coneval’s statistics suggest that the number of people living in extreme poverty also fell – from 10.8 million in 2020 to 9.1 million last year – although that figure is still up from a pre-Covid 8.7 million recorded in 2018.

There is still a long way to go, and some critics do claim that during the current president, López Obrador's presidency has been characterized by austerity.

An organised crime group trafficking endangered species has been jailed

The Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC), a small European wildlife charity, is apparently busting kingpins behind as much as half of the world's illegal trade in pangolin scales. The traffickers began six-year jail sentences a few weeks ago.

The wildlife charity went undercover to expose three Vietnamese and one Guinean national, members of an organised crime group trafficking body parts of endangered species including rhinos. 

They were arrested in May 2022, following a four-year investigation by the WJC, and were accused of trafficking 7.1 tonnes of pangolin scales, as well as 850kg of ivory. Last month they pleaded guilty to smuggling and were jailed for six years.

All eight species of pangolin are listed as threatened animals, four critically endangered - they are protected by international law.

“There has not been a reported seizure of pangolin scales in Asia originating from Africa in more than 550 days,” said Steve Carmody, WJC’s director of programmes. “There is no clearer example of the importance of disrupting organised crime networks.”

AI gave conservationists a breakthrough

The use of AI-controlled microphones and cameras seems set to revolutionise

biodiversity monitoring in the UK following groundbreaking work by researchers at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). They used the tech to record and analyse 3,000 hours of wildlife audio captured by monitors located near London railway lines.

The computers detected dozens of bird species, foxes, deer, bats and hedgehogs, and mapped their locations.

It’s hoped the innovation will help improve conservation and habitat management on Network Rail land.

This year is best ever for UK renewable energy installations

This years looks to be the best year so far for UK renewable energy installations, with record numbers of households fitting solar panels and heat pumps.

2023 marks the first time solar panel installations have topped an average of 20,000 a month, as homeowners look to harvest energy from the sun amid rising utility bills. 

Read the full story here.

The UK’s Tree of the Year shortlist was revealed

The Woodland Trust has announced the shortlist for its annual celebration of some of the UK’s most treasured ancient trees, and for 2023 the spotlight is on the urban landscape.

“Ancient trees in towns and cities are vital for the health of nature, people and planet,” said the charity’s lead campaigner Naomi Tilley. “They give thousands of urban wildlife species essential life support, boost the UK’s biodiversity and bring countless health and wellbeing benefits to communities.”

Article published August 17, 2023

Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what interested you, and if there's any specific topic you'd like me to dig into, my DM's are always open :)

Much love!

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Michael Goodwin

It’s bad enough that the presidents tolerated takeovers of university properties, harassment of students and nonstop noise leading to canceled classes and threats to disrupt graduations.

Many school leaders also foolishly offered concessions during negotiations even though most protests included violations of rules and criminal laws.

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Some presidents essentially capitulated, with Brown agreeing to vote on the antisemitic divest demand.

Northwestern agreed to a quota system by setting aside five scholarships for Palestinian students each year and giving Muslim groups special spaces on campus for “community building.”

Columbia, the epicenter of the outbreak, is a textbook case of a weak leader allowing her campus to be held hostage for more than two weeks as she negotiated with ringleaders.

The Ivy League school’s president, Minouche Shafik, also twice called in the NYPD to arrest resisters who occupied university property and refused to leave.

The first time was on April 18, when New York’s Finest rousted people who set up a tent camp in the middle of the campus.

Police later said just 38 of those arrested were students, CNN reported.

During the second crackdown, 80 students were arrested, along with 32 outsiders, including James Carlson.

Combined, that means just 118 students were allegedly committing violations serious enough to be arrested in the two raids.

It’s a drop in the Columbia bucket.

Across its undergraduate and graduate programs, the university enrolls nearly 37,000 students.

Coddling troublemakers

Even if the scope is limited to the undergraduate programs at Columbia and Barnard colleges, the total number of enrolled students is about 10,000.

And just 118 of them were arrested.

Of course, more students than that participated in some demonstrations and no doubt others supported the demands or just their friends.

But the small number of hardcore disruptors illustrates how badly Shafik and Columbia’s board bungled the responses.

Had they firmly enforced existing policies against disturbances from the outset, they might have been able to stop the harassment and threats before they metastasized into full-fledged disasters.

By coddling the troublemakers, administrators encouraged them and turned them into campus leaders.

The result was a lost spring semester for serious students and more turbulence for the institution, which will suffer serious reputational damage.

Civil rights probes by Congress and the Department of Education, combined with class-action lawsuits over threats to Jewish students, promise expensive problems for years.

Alumni donations already are falling.

[decolonize-the-everything]

Hi, non American invested in your election here (it will inevitably have consequences in my life even if it'll take a few years to manifest so). I have a question regarding jasmine sherman - what is their stance on Ukraine (specifically on the money the US sends to Ukraine) as well as on NATO?

So far the only source I've found says that they want NATO to be abolished and for the US to stop sending defence funds to Ukraine, both of which seem like absurd propositions to me. (As they would invariable help in Russia's ongoing crusade to genocide/subjugate/take over Ukraine and potentially other eastern European and Caucasian (in the caucasus region) countries)

I hope the source I read is wrong, because otherwise the implications of jasmine's stances are concerning to me. Hope to see you respond soon

Foreign Aid:

When aid is offered, it will be of a type which the country in question has requested. If aid is undesired, it is not aid; it is imposition. Moving forward, to the best of our ability we are providing our global neighbors with the outreach and support they truly want (rather than what we’ve decided for them), because what is good for our allies is good for our nation. Foreign Aid will be designed to empower countries to grow on their own, towards their own future. If the USA is involved in developing laws in other countries, respect for human rights and equal opportunities will be of primary importance. Science based information will be used to inform all decisions regarding the specific nature, quantity, and delivery of aid. When offering aid, we will take measures to ensure that the aid is provided with sustainability in mind. Short term aid will still be provided, but a higher emphasis will be placed on aid with longevity that is placed in the hands of our allies. Energy facilities which we build for and with our allies will be sustainable and renewable energy sources, provided solely for the benefit of the country, not for our government’s gain off the lives and backs of those we claim to be helping, and the energy provided by these installations should be available to the population equitably

Democracy and Influence

Each country has the right to determine their own government and future. As with aid, we will only be assisting in establishing foreign governments in ways invited by that foreign nation’s people. The USA will no longer fund programs which are designed to violently inject our version of democracy into a foreign government. Self determination is paramount. Legal systems we influence should aim in the direction of a right to life, a right to peaceful assembly, a right to education, a right to security, and a right to a clean and healthy environment. Available healthcare, education accessibility, and science funding should also be included in our preferences when invited to offer guidance to developing, reforming, and restructuring government systems of allied nations.

International Community:

The USA has too long occupied a solipsistic position, separated, and acting above the other nations of the world. Our position must be one of equality with the other leaders of the world, not superiority. We must listen to the needs and the successes of our global, international community, in order to serve our own nation and strengthen those around us.

Our performance and respectability as a nation, when participating in NATO, the UN, and other international assemblies must improve. We must show our desire for diplomacy in actions and words, within and beyond such assemblies and summits.

Disputes:

The USA has been losing favor in the international community for some time by being short-fused and destructive, and by inserting ourselves into conflicts to which we were uninvited, unwanted, and ultimately detrimental to both ourselves and external conflicting states in a multitude of cases. It’s time we work on ourselves as a nation.

At present, our citizens are not equipped to interact with the global community. We need to be more inviting to visiting residents of our allied countries, as well as our immigrant communities. This means reducing biases and discriminatory practices against those for whom English is not their first language.

While education programs are important, our own education system is failing, and so we will not be taking it upon ourselves to educate the rest of the world. In the event that educational aid is requested, we will look to our allies who already have such organizations in place, with a better system of education than we may boast at this time.

We will be closing international military bases, and protecting our country while supporting our troops, by bringing them home. We will no longer be inserting ourselves into external conflicts in the hope of profiting. We will only get involved in foreign conflict in ways which will benefit all, namely by providing foreign aid.

In disputes which directly target the USA and its citizens, we guarantee we will follow the Geneva Convention, as well as strict deescalation directives. We must show the world we are ready for, and capable of peace.

[verdantlyviolet]

Adeia 2023: Modern Festival to Demeter

On a global scale, we’re dealing with a climate crisis that is putting food sources at risk. On a more local level, conflicts and abnormal weather are creating risks of bad harvests, resources shortages and/or inflations. We are aware that not everyone is impacted directly by the current ongoing issues, but we hope that this festival (or at least the idea) can be useful beyond these and be seen through a wider scope of praying for food security at large.  We named the festival Adeia, from the ancient Greek ἄδεια, which conveniently can signify both “abundance”/”plenty” and “freedom from fear”/”security”. All things the festival aims for. - @thegrapeandthefig’s original post

With El Niño threatening, a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, and record warmest winter almost Australia-wide, the upcoming summer is looking to be dry, hot, and ripe for bushfires.

The gods I am propitiating for my Adeia are Demeter Soteira (saviour), Herakles Alexikakos (averter of evil), Zeus Hyetios (moist/fertilising rain), Hermes Nomios and Apollon Nomios (protectors of pastures and shepherds), Olea (nymph of my garden), and Djarlgarra (local river god).

My menu includes:

Butterflied pork sausages with garden flowers and parsley

Flower shaped oranges with cranberry centres and honey on a bed of barley

Bread on a bed of garden parsley

Rain water in a pitcher

We call upon you in our time of need Benevolent gods, givers of good.

Crises threaten world-over and hardships befall many, and now again we raise our voices in plea.

If these smoky offerings please you, and these sweet drinks warm you, look well upon us. Kindly gods, bless our coffers and larders again, and see abundance flow to our house. And should strife visit our doors, grant us the fortitude to endure.

May Demeter’s lawful eye oversee policy development, so great changes can sprout in years to come

May Zeus meter his life-giving rains, so dry or soggy fields remain moist year-through

May Hermes keep a watchful eye on the flocks and farm-hands, that flystrike and heatstroke never hinder them

With outstretched arms I sing praises to you, bold Djarlgarra, he who holds moisture for our sun-stricken land

And to sweet Olea I gift equally sweet fruits, that you may keep my rain barrels at bursting and my garden fertile