#education minister announcement

[sailorsally]

It's been a while since I talked about the situation in Georgia but today I have to say something:

The leading party with the oligarch Ivanishvili at the head once again rigged elections on the 26th of October.

Despite horrible cold in the following weeks, there has been a wave of protests since.

The unlawful ruling party Georgian Dream nominated an ex footballer with no high education for the role of the next president.

Yesterday the education ministry announced that children in school will no longer learn about the history of Georgian rebellions against Russia throughout history.

Today the Prime Minister announced that Georgia will halt its EU membership bid until 2028 which is anticonstitutional since joining the EU is a nationalwide goal that is literally written into the Georgian constitution. Just mere hours later Putin said he is proud of the Georgian government's resilience, once again making it clear that he controls the Georgian ruling party and all their decisions are really his.

This again sparked countrywide protests in cities like Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Gori. People are gathering as I am typing this but at some locations police have already used force to break up peaceful protests.

I don't know what the point of writing this post is. I guess I just want everyone to know that the majority of Georgians don't want Georgia to be part of Russia, we never did. If this happens, I want all my friends in foreign countries to remember that we did not choose this.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Month

Sorry for being not active this month as I had some health problems. I'll start posting weekly now :) Meanwhile here's some good from last month

1. Widow donates $1 billion to medical school, giving free tuition forever

Ruth Gottesman surprised by her late husband's $1 billion in Berkshire stock, decides to donate it in full to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City's poorest borough. The donation is intended to cover students' tuition indefinitely, ensuring access to medical education for generations.

A video capturing students' emotional reactions to the news, cheering and crying, circulated after the announcement, highlighting the profound impact of the donation on the medical school community.

2. Electric school buses outperform diesel in extreme cold

In Colorado's West Grand School District, electric school buses outperformed their diesel counterparts, particularly in the bitterly cold temperatures of towns like Kremmling, where morning temperatures can drop below -30 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite common concerns about reduced range in extreme weather, the electric buses maintained their battery charge even in these frigid conditions, providing reliable transportation for students.

This success has been welcomed by the school district, as diesel vehicles also face challenges in starting in Colorado's harsh winter weather.

3. Christian Bale unveils plans to build 12 foster homes in California

Christian Bale has led a tour round the new village in California where he plans to build 12 foster homes, as well as two studio flats to help children transition into independent living, and a 7,000 sq ft community centre.

The actor has spearheaded the building of a unique complex of facilities with the aim of keeping siblings in the foster care system together, and ideally under the same roof.

4. Average lifespan of a person with Down syndrome has increased from 25 years in 1983 to 60 years today

Today the average lifespan of a person with Down syndrome is approximately 60 years.

As recently as 1983, the average lifespan of a person with Down syndrome was 25 years. The dramatic increase to 60 years is largely due to the end of the inhumane practice of institutionalizing people with Down syndrome.

5. Greece legalises same-sex marriage

Greece has become the first Christian Orthodox-majority country to legalise same-sex marriage. Same-sex couples will now also be legally allowed to adopt children after Thursday's 176-76 vote in parliament.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the new law would "boldly abolish a serious inequality".

6. Massachusetts police K9 tracks scent for over 2 miles to find missing 12-year-old in freezing cold

A Massachusetts police K9 followed her nose to help find a 12-year-old who went missing in frigid temperatures last week, tracking the child’s scent for over two miles, authorities said.

K9 Biza, a female German shepherd, was called on to help after officers learned the child left their home at around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and was last seen in the Pakachoag Hill area of Auburn, the Auburn Police Department said.

7. Good News for the Socially Anxious: People Like You a Lot More Than You Think They Do, New Research Confirms

The "Lake Wobegon effect" or "illusory superiority" phenomenon highlights people's tendency to overestimate their abilities, but recent research suggests that in social interactions, individuals often underestimate their likability and charm.

Studies indicate that people consistently fail to recognize signals of others' liking toward them, leading to a "liking gap" where individuals believe they are less likable than they actually are.

Techniques such as focusing more on others during conversations and genuinely expressing interest in them can help alleviate social anxiety by shifting the focus away from self-criticism. Ultimately, understanding that others may also experience similar anxieties can lead to a more relaxed and enjoyable social experience.

---

That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation here:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog this post with your friends.

[mayasaura]

did you see te pati maori declared independence??

I DID NOT! Holy shit! Thanks for the news!

Okay, now reporting back from one research deep-dive, the recent context as I understand it is this:

Last November, a conservative right-wing Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, assumed office. He's got a lot of less than stellar right-wing policies, and that includes making cuts to the Ministry of Social Development and opposing co-governance with the Waitangi Tribunal and other Māori leadership organisations over the administering of public services such as education, health, and infrastructure. He's been openly critical of Māori seats in Parliament, though he hasn't (yet) opposed them. Over the course of his administration, there's been an initiative to omit or cut mentions of the Treaty of Waitangi, the foundational document of New Zealand that forms the basis of arguments for Māori protections, from official language.

Which brings us to yesterday, May 30th. Budget Day. The day the new administration would announce their first budget and a day of mass action for supporters of te Pāti Māori protesting the treatment of Māori under the new government. I don't have any concrete numbers, but RNZ reports thousands of protestors, while the NZ Herald estimates "tens of thousands" turning out nation-wide, and a walking protest that delayed rush-hour traffic in Auckland for hours.

You may have already guessed that the budget was Bad. As I understand it, the budget effectively cut any kind of targeted funding for Māori health or education, and decreased funding for Māori cultural festivals and celebrations. And again, I cannot stress enough how much I am not an expert on this topic, so there's probably a lot more in there I don't know about.

In response to the new budget, Māori Party MP Rawiri Waititi issued a Declaration of Independence to the New Zealand Parliament, (video of his speech in link) with the support of his fellow te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

There doesn't seem to be any concrete plan in place yet for the organisation of the new Māori parliament, but MPs Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer met with protestors to collect signatures for the Declaration, which they plan to bring to a hui taumata (meeting of congress) today, Friday, May 31st. The text of the Declaration can be found on te Pāti Māori website, in the form of a petition. You do not have to be Māori to sign, but I believe you do have to be kiwi.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

concepts related to different professions

Businessperson

abettor, adjutant, adviser/advisor, aid/aide, announcer, apprentice, archaeologist, assistant, auditor, authority, baker, barber, broker, businessperson, buyer, caretaker, cartoonist, chair, chef, client, colleague, conservator, consumer, correspondent, court, creator, curator, customer, dabbler, desk jockey, developer, drudge, employee, envoy, espionage, explorer, fellow, flier, flyer, fortuneteller, freshman, go-between, gourmet, guard, guru, hacker, hand, hawker, helper, hooker, inferior, informant or informer, inspector, interviewer, investigator, janitor, labor, liaison, messenger, moderator, monitor, navigator, newsman/woman, page, patron, picket, pioneer, poet, practitioner, prodigal, protégé, referee, representative, reviewer, rival, sailor, scout, seaman/woman, seller, shopper, speaker, spokesperson, spy, subordinate, tailor, traveler, virtuoso, wayfarer, writer

Educator

academic, adviser/advisor, alumnus/alumna, coach, conductor, disciplinarian, faculty, freshman, graduate, intellectual, learner, martinet, mastermind, monitor, practitioner, professor, rookie, savant, school, swami, trainer

Entertainer

acrobat, actress, aficionado, ballet dancer, character, comic, creator, director, fan, groupie, hero/heroine, humorist, inventor, luminary, magician, name, participant, personage/personality, player, protagonist, star, troubadour, virtuoso, zany

Financier

accountant, bean counter, broker, investor, spendthrift

Government officer

administrator, ambassador, authoritarian, autocracy, bureaucrat, consul, delegate, despot, diplomat, emir, empress, establishment, exile, fascist, figurehead, front runner, informant/informer, intermediary, leader, liaison, magistrate, master, mogul, mouthpiece, officer, oppressor, pacifist, patrol, personage/personality, police/police officer, prime minister, representative, snitch, spokesperson, tyrant, weasel

Legal practitioner

attorney, beneficiary, counsel, heir, judge, lawyer, officer, proponent, witness

Media person

commentator, journalist, newsman/woman, reporter, writer

Medical practitioner

analyst, druggist, nurse, patient, physician, researcher, therapist

Military person

combatant, conqueror, fighter, gladiator, lookout, militant, patrol, recruit, scout, seaman/woman, truant, warmonger, warrior

Politician

advocate, anarchist, apostle, arbitrator, conservative, dissident, extremist, firebrand, idealist, militant, mouthpiece, nonconformist, patron, picket, proponent, reactionary, sectarian

Religious person

acolyte, angel, atheist, chaplain, conformist, creator, deacon, doubter, dreamer, evangelism, father, genie, inventor, loner, minister, monk, pagan, pastor, priest, saint, skeptic, visionary, witch, wizard

NOTE

The above are concepts classified according to subject and usage. It not only helps writers and thinkers to organize their ideas but leads them from those very ideas to the words that can best express them.

It was, in part, created to turn an idea into a specific word. By linking together the main entries that share similar concepts, the index makes possible creative semantic connections between words in our language, stimulating thought and broadening vocabulary.

Source ⚜ Writing Basics & Refreshers ⚜ On Vocabulary

[floral-ashes]

Canada’s First Trans Healthcare Ban

Alberta’s anti-trans bills have dropped. A few observations. 🧵

The first thing I notice, and which is cause for hope, is that the bills do not invoke the notwithstanding clause. They can thus be challenged in Court, and struck down as unconstitutional. 

The healthcare ban is worse than they announced, at least in its present form. They ban all gender-affirming surgeries until 18, as expected. They also ban puberty blockers and hormones for minors. So far, the same as we expected. 

However, the bill is set up so that the ban is total for all minors *unless* the Minister creates an exception for some. This means that even 16-17 year olds whose parents consent cannot receive puberty blockers or hormones. They may plan to allow it, but it’s not in the law. 

There is also no clause that allows youth who are alreadyon puberty blockers or hormones to continue. This is especially concerning because it means they’ll lose access if there’s any delay with planned Ministerial orders—if they even plan to make an order. 

Unsurprisingly, it seems that the law wasn’t drafted by someone who is knowledgeable about trans realities. As a result, transition-related surgeries are defined as those that “treat gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.” 

While the loophole is unlikely to work, a literal reading would allow transition-related surgeries that are motivated by gender euphoria, framed as cosmetic, or understood through a depathologizing lens. The fact slightly amuses me, but again it’s unlikely to actually help. 

The name and pronouns policy is as expected. Trans minors will be forcibly outed to their parents if they request a change of name or pronouns that is related in some way to their gender identity. Parental consent isn’t required for those aged 16-17, but they still get outed. 

There is no exception to the outing requirement, even if it poses a grave risk. All it says is that schoolboards must give counselling or other assistance before outing the kids, in such a case. 

This creates a small loophope—willing schools could delay outing for some time and argue that it still respects the law. However, they still can’t respect under-16 trans youth’s name or pronouns without parental consent, and they must still out them eventually. 

If the law is applied negligently or unreasonably, and a child ends up seriously hurt or dead? Too bad—the law strongly protects people from liability if they believe they’re applying the law and are doing so in good faith. 

For an overview of why these rules are dangerous and unconstitutional, here is my recent Alberta Law Review article on the topic:

How about sexual education? Well, it’s basically dead. The law makes it mandatory for schools to receive Ministerial approval for any material primarily and explicitly related to gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality. 

In addition to the material needing approval, any third-party who delivers the material must be separately approved by the Minister. 

Even if the material is approved, teachers must (a) notify parents at least 30 (!) before teaching it, and (b) ensure alternative instruction for students whose parents didn’t consent. 

This isn’t really an opt-in system. While it’s superficially opt-in, the requirements are so absurdly onerous that nobody will teach materials related to gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality.

It’s as simple as that—sexual education is dead in Alberta. 

The only small comfort is that only regulating materials “primarily and explicitly” about these topics could serve as a good loophole for rebellious teachers. Incidental and indirect discussions of gender identity, sexual orientation, and human sexuality are expressly allowed. 

Lastly, the sports ban. To my surprise, there’s actually no ban on trans women in sports. One less thing on my plate!

Now there is indeed a law about sports, it just doesn’t quite reach the level of a ban. Instead, the bill tells schools and sports bodies to create a policy on fairness and safety in sports, including eligibity requirements and procedures for verifying eligiblity. 

The law also creates a mandatory reporting mechanism for any complaints related to that policy or to (more or less) trans inclusion in sports. This is unsurprisingly hypocritical—conservatives love surveillance states as much as they love to complain about ‘big government.’ 

This bill doesn’t so much ban trans women from sports as provide a cover for any organization that wants to do so. That they should ban trans people is a thinly-veiled subtext, but it’s legally-speaking only a subtext. 

The law also includes broad protection from liability for mostly anyone—including sports participants—who is trying to implement the act ‘in good faith.’ If racists decide to harass a Black woman and claim that she’s not a woman, as we have seen all-too-often in elite sports? If an adult decides to do ‘genital verifications’ on a child? They’re effectively protected from civil liability, so long as they claim it’s in good faith. Scary stuff...

That’s a wrap, but I’m happy to answer any questions about the bills!

[reasonsforhope]

Article

"Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that his government planned to cut student loans for around three million Australians by 20%, wiping off around A$16 billion ($10 billion) in debts.

The move builds on May's budget, which attacked cost of living pressures in Australia and gave debt relief for students, as well as more investment to make medicines cheaper, and a boost to a rent assistance programme.

"This will help everyone with a student debt right now, whilst we work hard to deliver a better deal for every student in the years ahead," Albanese said in a statement announcing the cut to student loans for tertiary education.

The changes would mean the average graduate with a loan of A$27,600 would have A$5,520 wiped, the government said, adding that they would take effect from June 1, 2025.

The government said it already planned to cut the amount that Australians with a student debt have to repay per year and raise the threshold to start repayments.

If reelected at the next general election, due in 2025, Labor would also legislate to guarantee 100,000 free places each year at the country's Technical and Further Education institutes, Albanese said.

"This is a time for building, building better education for all," he said in a speech to supporters in South Australia state capital Adelaide.

Cost of living pressures, stoked by stubbornly high inflation, have a special resonance with a federal election looming and the centre-left Labor government now polling behind their conservative opponents.

(US$1 = 1.5246 Australian dollars)

-via Reuters, November 2, 2024

[allthecanadianpolitics]

BCNDP just fired Victoria's school board for not letting cops in schools.

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2025ECC0004-000066

[osmanthusoolong]

“A right to information response received by a University of New Brunswick professor shows that from 2020 to May 25, 2023, the Department of Education received no written complaints from parents alleging the school was keeping them in the dark about their children's preferred pronouns.

Education Minister Bill Hogan cited "hundreds" of complaints when he announced in May that he was reviewing an education policy designed to ensure the safety of LGBTQ students.

But when education professor and former teacher Melissa Dockrill Garrett sought details through a right to information request, she was told the Education Department had no records of any complaints.”

Unsurprisingly, it was an entirely manufactured controversy from the beginning, as evidenced by nobody whatsoever caring until he started with this lie.

@allthecanadianpolitics

[dontforgetukraine]

The Karelian tract of Sandarmokh is just one of the places of mass burial of victims of Stalinist terror in the territory of the former USSR. From October 27 to November 4, 1937, they killed 1,111 prisoners of the Solovetsky stage there. Most were executed on November. Among them - representatives of the Ukrainian elite: writers, scientists, teachers, and engineers. In 1995, Veniamin Iofe, the director of the St. Petersburg Memorial Research Center, discovered firing lists in the archives of the FSB's Arkhangelsk Department. He wrote a letter to the SBU archive, informing them that among the victims at Sandarmokh were many people from Ukraine. In July 1997, 236 execution pits were found on hectares of the Karelian taiga. Mikhail Matveev led the punitive operation. He had long served in prison authorities, specializing in torture and execution of sentences. It is believed that Matveev killed with his own hand. He had two years of education. He shot, as stated in one of the documents, "quickly, accurately and sensibly." Researchers compare the consequences of Sandarmokh for the Ukrainian nation to beheading. "Shooted Revival" was executed in Sandarmokh. In particular, the following were killed there: • Mykola Zerov, neoclassicist; • Mykhailo Yalovy, President of the Free Academy of Proletarian Literature of Kharkiv (VAPLITE); • Mykola Kulish, a playwright and author of the play "Myna Mazaylo", which ridicules assimilation; • Les Kurbas, a creator of Ukrainian modern theatre, director of Kharkiv theatre "Berezil"; • Valerian Pidmohylny, the author of the urbanist novel "The City"; • Stepan Rudnytskyi, the founder of Ukrainian cartography, provided the foundational territorial and geographical arguments for Ukrainians' state independence. • Volodymyr Chekhivskyi,a chairman of the Council of People's Ministers and minister of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian People's Republic,under whose leadership the Act of Unification of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic was announced. At the time, the Stalinist regime destroyed the Ukrainian elite. Today, Russian troops are also targeting Ukrainian artists and scientists. Remembering the crimes of the past is essential for preserving our independence in the future. —Holodomor Museum

[vioredynamite]

hi! I want to rb a version of the post not from that source, do you have another article that talks about it instead?

Hey, I assume you're talking about the fires in Patagonia. The only sources I trust are alternative media in Argentina so I'm going to share the translated excerpts here.

---

Agencia Tierra Viva

"Within this movement are the volunteer brigadists who join the firefighting. This Wednesday (February 5), when the fire was about to be active for a week, Governor Alberto Weretilneck informed about the arrest of three brigadistas in Mallín Ahogado. The arrests were made against Nicolás Heredia, Tomás Anarella and Fabián Pasos, as part of the case being investigated by prosecutor Francisco Arrien on the causes of the fires. Aranella and Pasos were released this Thursday (February 6) at the 36th Police Station of Dina Huapi, while raids were being carried out and a fourth arrest was announced. (Update: all the detainees, who numbered up to 6, have been released.)

The organizations and assemblies denounced that the detainees, accused of starting the fires, are in fact brigadistas who were fighting the fire together with their neighbors. For this reason, the arrests generated an immediate reaction from the population and a protest at the door of the 12th Police Station of El Bolsón. But when the people mobilized to demand their release, a group of people on horseback chased the neighbors with "rebencazos" ("rebenques" are short whips) and beatings, under the watchful eye and inaction of the local police.

One of the aggressors, who beat people telling them "I am not afraid of you", was Víctor Hugo Araneda, a man linked to the mayor Bruno Pogliano and who is remembered in the town for participating in violent actions in the protests for the murder of Elías Garay, the young Mapuche from Lof Quemquemtreu; and against the participants of the march that, every year, mobilizes to Lago Escondido, owned by Joe Lewis (British tycoon and businessman with land in Patagonia)."

[...]

"The slogan "Mallín is rural" has been sustained in the face of the ever-renewed attempts of subdivision in Pampa de Ludden. There, in the area of Mount Perito Moreno, where the ski center of El Bolsón is located, the company Laderas - closely connected to the British businessman Joe Lewis and with municipal endorsement - has been trying to build a gated community for ten years. But there are also many other forced urbanization projects, such as land use change ordinances, tax revaluations, and street layout. Even the attempts to modify the educational project of the schools with changes in the school calendar, reduction of positions in subjects related to production or total absence of school transportation for long periods. The tension between tourism and rural production seems to have reached a point of no return with this catastrophe."

[...]

"Governor Alberto Weretilneck appears in the regional media thanking the Ministry of Defense, which sent some Army authorities to help with the situation. The pro-government media thank the helicopter of Joe Lewis' company without asking about the appearance of Lago Escondido in the name of the burned protected natural area. In order to divert the focus, the case against the brigaders appears.

In parallel, Patricia Bullrich, head of the recently renamed Ministry of National Security, which has under its orbit the National Fire Management Service (SNMF), is conspicuous by her absence. There are other active fires in the Patagonian Andes. And the Minister's response is only through the networks, bringing back the figure of the Mapuche Ancestral Resistance (RAM) and Facundo Jones Huala; whom she claims to denounce criminally for the appearance of a video in which he vindicates the fires. In the creation of the internal enemy, she is followed by the governor Ignacio Torres and the presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni, all on the same day."

---

Canal Abierto

"According to the National Fire Management Service, 95% of fires are caused by human action. Few fires originate naturally; the vast majority are generated by recklessness or intentional land-use changes in favor of agrobusiness, real estate, mining, and other sectors.

Added to this is the insufficient enforcement of environmental regulations, the lack of land use planning and effective territorial control. "In this context, fires cannot be treated as isolated or solely reactive events. A comprehensive approach is needed that encompasses prevention, vegetation fuel management, climate risk mitigation and adaptive territorial planning. Without these actions, fires will become increasingly intense, causing irreversible damage to ecosystems, communities and the biodiversity they sustain," states a report by the "Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales".

The current government, a denier of climate change and its consequences, defunds and under-executes the funds of the National Fire Management System which, on the other hand, was changed jurisdiction and is now under the orbit of Patricia Bullrich. In 2024, only 22% of its budget was executed, equivalent to $7,739 million. In 2025, the budget execution to date is 0%."

---

I also recommend following other media such as Revista Cítrica and ANRed, which cover this topic with some regularity.

[sissa-arrows]

The new French prime minister is a racist piece of shit but he’s gay and he’s the youngest (34) we ever had so some people as well as the medias are fawning over him…

It’s not even a progress for white gay men because when he was the ministry of education a 13 years old boy named Lucas killed himself because he was bullied at school for being gay. He announced that an investigation was opened by his ministry and… the investigation was never started and a month later it was officially dropped and he refused to address it when asked about it. (The judgement of the 4 bullies was also completely fucked up a first judgement said they were guilty of harassement and that the harassement and bullying led to Lucas’s death then the second judgement contradicted the conclusion of the investigation and said the bullying cannot be directly linked to Lucas’s death.)

When y’all will understand that being young and gay doesn’t make a rich white guy who never worked a real job in his life and never went to public school into an ally we might go somewhere.

Like for real imagine being a queer Muslim in France and being told there’s so much progress because the prime minister is a racist Islamophobic piece of shit who doesn’t care about protecting queer kids but he happens to be gay.

[hungwy]

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Education announced it is launching probes into the U of M’s Twin Cities campus, Columbia University in New York, Northwestern University in Illinois, Portland State University in Oregon and the University of California, Berkeley. The agency says the investigations are in response to the “explosion of antisemitism on American campuses following the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.” (...) The federal inquiry is a part of an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week that seeks to “investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities” and threatens the deportation of foreign students who are “Hamas sympathizers.”  The Department of Education’s announcement on the antisemitism investigations was made a day before Trump was set to meet Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister. Negotiations in the second phase of a ceasefire deal to end the war between Hamas and Israel are currently underway. All five universities are in states that are led by Democrats and that voted for Democratic former vice president Kamala Harris for president. Notably, the U of M was one of the first universities to negotiate an agreement with pro-Palestinian student protesters to end protest encampments on campus — raising the profile of the school.

[thedialoguedilemma]

The Dilemma Bulletin: Wednesday February 5th, 2025

Keeping you informed about the daily events of the Trump Administration

President Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu where he reaffirmed his stance on forcing Palestinians to relocate to Egypt and Jordan and then occupying the Gaza Strip under United States control. Trump boasted that Gaza would be the “Riviera of the Middle East” This is a full on support of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

Congressional Democrats held a press conference and protested In front of the US Treasury after Elon Musk and 6 college students unlawfully gained access to sensitive information and payment distribution systems. Multiple lawsuits against Musk are being filed as we speak.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) announce all packages and parcels from China and Hong Kong have been suspended until further notice. Reason is speculated to be because of Trump’s tariffs.

Republicans have introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to ban OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) This department ensures workplace safety and health within the workforce.

Trump signs an Executive Order withdrawing the US from the United Nations Human Rights Council with further explorations in withdrawing from the United Nations altogether.

The White House is drafting up plans to eliminate the Department of Education. This would be detrimental to underrepresented communities who look to the DOE for protections against discrimination, civil rights and school funding. Dozens of employees have already been placed on leave.

President Donald Trump is exploring options to send American prisoners to El Salvador. This would remove Constitutional protections for prisoners which could ultimately lead them to be subject to various human rights abuses.

The CIA has offered buyouts to all federal employees. Trump continues to purge longtime federal employees from the government in unprecedented and unlawful ways.

All USAID federal employees could be placed on administrative leave as soon as Friday.

The Senate Finance Committee has voted to advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Dept of Health and Human Services. His confirmation now heads to the main Senate for a vote.

-

[snowbunnywatching]

In the Blacked Denmark that you so beautifully describe, a third of the population are made up of young Black Men. They will immediately get full voting rights – anything else would be racist – and this makes them, on their own, a huge part of the voting population. When we add in the Snowbunny vote – I guess 90%+ of Danish women from 18 to 50 will soon be regularly parting their white thighs for the new arrivals, and keen to please them in the voting booths as well as in the bedroom – and the votes of white guys who (under the influence of blogs like yours) welcome this new world, this makes up a clear majority, more than enough to counter any racist parties opposed to progress.

What laws would a Blacked parliament pass for the new Denmark? This is a real opportunity to establish the BNWO with new laws about political participation, property rights, the workplace, education, sex . . . I have some ideas but would love to hear yours.

(Follow-up to this post.)

The Racial Justice Party soon emerges to break up the Danish political scene. It will be headed by a charismatic Black man who is as ready to cite Malcolm X and W.E.B. Du Bois in interviews as he is to pose with a sledge-hammer raised high above his head - a powerful manifestation of his vow to "smash white nationalism".

The party will be supported by all of the young Black men - a third of the population, as you point out - and by about half of the indiginous Danish population - mostly women, but also by progress-minded men.

The party surges into Parliament, forming a one-party government with a solid majority.

On the eve of the election, the new Minister of State announces the first promise of the new government: To put an end to the racist immigration policy of "Old Denmark" and fling open the gates to Africa. More dark-skinned men will be arriving at the Danish shores - a lot more.

The day after, the second promise is announced: Denmark will be contributing heavily to global reparations, funded with a new tax levied only on ethnically Danish people.

In the coming weeks, a flurry of legislation followers, including:

Racial Justice in Urban Planning, in which statues of the luminaries of Old Denmark (Hans Christian Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard) are torn down and replaced by statues of George Floyd and Martin Luther King.

Racial Justice in Land Ownership, in which land is redistributed, making sure fertile farm land ends up in the hands of the new arrivals.

Racial Justice in Education, in which curricula are Africanized - as described here and elsewhere on my blog.

[girlactionfigure]

Now this is a victory👇

After being exposed for encouraging, facilitating, and even participating in the murderous Hamas invasion of southern Israel, UNRWA has been forced to close its headquarters in Jerusalem.

UNRWA shutters eastern Jerusalem headquarters The agency’s exit from Jerusalem is a “historic moment” and “the end of the era of disgrace,” said Knesset member Dan Illouz. By Israel Today Staff • November 27, 2024 On Tuesday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced the closure of its headquarters in eastern Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The move, which marks a significant shift in its operations, comes in the wake of the Israeli government’s decision to sever ties with the agency and recent legislative action banning its activities within Israel. According to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hadath network, UNRWA is transferring key departments, including legal, communications, external relations and the commissioner-general’s office to locations outside Israel. The relocation affects Palestinian employees at the Sheikh Jarrah facility, who have been given 12 months to find alternative employment. The closure follows the Israeli Knesset’s approval in October of a law prohibiting UNRWA’s operations in Israel. Knesset member Dan Illouz, one of the law’s co-sponsors, celebrated UNRWA’s departure, stating, “The evacuation of UNRWA offices from Jerusalem is a historic moment. This is the end of the era of disgrace in which Israel allowed an anti-Israeli organization to operate in the heart of our capital.” The Israeli legislation followed revelations that a number of UNRWA personnel were deeply involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. UNRWA has consistently denied accusations of ties to terrorism, asserting its neutrality and humanitarian focus. The agency was established in 1949 with the mission of providing education, healthcare and social services to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East. However, critics, including Israeli officials and watchdog groups, have long accused the agency of perpetuating the refugee issue decades after the Palestinians should have been settled, as well as of being thoroughly infiltrated by terrorist groups. David Mencer, the spokesman for the Public Diplomacy Directorate of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told reporters, “We have provided much evidence that UNRWA works hand-in-hand with Hamas,” referring to the Hamas server farm found under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters, the UNRWA staffers who took part in the Oct. 7 massacre and the tunnels found underneath UNRWA schools in Gaza. “UNRWA is useless at aid distribution. UNRWA is useless at education, except glorifying suicide bombers and encouraging Jew-killing, and Israel sees no role whatsoever for UNRWA in Gaza after this war en

[reasonsforhope]

"France is to trial a ban on mobile phones at school for pupils up to the age of 15, seeking to give children a “digital pause” that, if judged successful, could be rolled out nationwide from January [2025].

Just under 200 secondary schools will take place in the experiment that will require youngsters to hand over phones on arrival at reception. It takes the prohibition on the devices further than a 2018 law that banned pupils at primary and secondary schools from using their phones on the premises but allowed them to keep possession of them.

Announcing the trial on Tuesday, the acting education minister, Nicole Belloubet, said the aim was to give youngsters a “digital pause”. If the trial proves successful, the ban would be introduced in all schools from January, Belloubet said.

A commission set up by the president, Emmanuel Macron, expressed concern that the overexposure of children to screens was having a detrimental effect on their health and development.

A 140-page report published in March concluded there was “a very clear consensus on the direct and indirect negative effects of digital devices on sleep, on being sedentary, a lack of physical activity and the risk of being overweight and even obese … as well as on sight”.

It said the “hyper” use of phones and other digital technology was not only bad for children but also for “society and civilisation”.

The report recommended children’s use of mobile phones be controlled in stages: no mobile phones before the age of at least 11, mobiles without internet access between 11 and 13, phones with internet but no access to social media before 15.

It also suggested children under three years old should not be exposed at all to digital devices, which it said were “not necessary for the healthy development of the child”.

“We must put the digital tool in its place. Up to at least six years old a child has no need for a digital device to develop,” Servane Mouton, a neurologist and neurophysiologist who was on the commission, said. “We have to teach parents once again how to play with their children.”

Banning phones in schools has long been debated across Europe. In countries where bans exist this is most often confined to their use and do not require children to hand them over.

In Germany there are no formal restrictions but most schools have prohibited the use of mobile phones and digital devices in classrooms except for education purposes. A quasi ban has been in place in Dutch secondary school classrooms since the beginning of this year, but as a recommendation and not a legal obligation. From this school year the directive will also apply to primary schools.

Italy was early to phone bans, introducing one in 2007 before easing it in 2017 and reimposing it in 2022. It applies to all age groups.

In February this year, the Westminster government issued non-statutory guidance that said schools in England should prohibit the use of mobile phones throughout the school day, but that it was for individual headteachers and leaders to decide on their phone use policy.

Portugal is experimenting with a compromise by introducing a number of phone-free days at schools each month, while in Spain schools in some autonomous regions have imposed a ban but there is no nationwide prohibition."

-via The Guardian, August 27, 2024