abqtommy
abqtommy's JournalBBC: Your pictures of Scotland: 8 April - 15 April, 2022
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-61066827See the places, people and critters of Scotland. It's a "ducky" "reflection" in this weeks'
gallery.
BBC: 'Africa's week in pictures: 8-14 April 2022
A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond:'
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61092881
I always enjoy seeing the diversity of the people and places of Africa.
Guardian: 'The personal touch: this year's Portrait of Humanity prize-winners - in pictures.
From beach-dwellers to bee-keepers, drag queens and refugees, these photographs have all been rewarded for revealing the humanity of their subjects.'
NOTE: Due to the political commentary in many of the captions for this gallery that presents
views of people and places, I've posted it in General Discussion as a news source.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2022/apr/14/the-personal-touch-this-years-portrait-of-humanity-prize-winners-in-pictures
Guardian: 'UK plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda sparks fierce criticism.
Politicians, charities and rights groups condemn plans as ill-conceived, inhumane and evil.'
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/14/uk-plan-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-sparks-fierce-criticism
[Politicians have described Priti Patel’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as “evil” and “inhumane”, amid fierce criticism from refugee charities, which have said the move is ill-conceived.
The government is on Thursday expected to announce multimillion-pound plans for asylum seekers who cross the Channel in small boats to be flown for processing to Rwanda.
Ian Blackford, the Scottish National party’s Westminster leader, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s just chilling, absolutely chilling, to think that people who are coming here for a whole host of reasons – vulnerable people – are going to be taken all the way to Africa to be processed.
“This is not the mark of a civilised society. It’s evil. It just turns my stomach to see that our government acting in our name can behave in such a way, and I think a lot of people are going to be quite aghast.”]
There's a lot more text, a photo and a graphic at the link. Is it a coincidence that
far-right politicians around the world come up with similar immigration policies? No.
From 'Dayton Children's': 5 tips for raising an anti-racist child
https://www.childrensdayton.org/the-hub/raising-anti-racist-child[As parents, you aim to raise our children to be good humans. That usually means ensuring your children follow the golden rule “treat others how you want to be treated.” Parents work to reinforce this message and believe this message will teach our children to be non-racist.
The recent events and civil unrest regarding racial injustices illustrate the approach most parents have taken is just not enough. Thus, there has been a call for parents to raise anti-racist children. Why should I teach my child to be antiracist?
Historically, being not racist is like being “colorblind.” This approach focuses on treating individuals as equally as possible to end discrimination. In theory, this seems to be an acceptable approach.
However, the “colorblind” approach is NOT helpful. Being colorblind creates a society that
denies negative racial experiences, rejects cultural heritage, and invalidates perspectives
of people of color that are unique. When race-related problems arise, colorblindness
tends to blame individuals for conflicts and shortcomings while ignoring the larger picture,
the context. Cultural differences, stereotypes, and values are important in understanding
these conflicts or challenges. The colorblind approach teaches children that race shouldn’t be talked about and make it harder for them to talk to parents about their questions. Silence about race reinforces racism.]
This site presents much useful information for those of us interested in education as a
means to develop anti-racism attitudes. There's much more text and a list of additional
sites at the link above. I found this site yesterday while trying to expand on a reply I
posted at this DU thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/118769809
Here's a link to the search results that show many resources for those of us interested
in anti-racism:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=how+to+educate+children+to+not+be+racist&ia=web
On my ScreenPix cable channel the movie The Coca Cola Kid starts at 4:55PM,
U.S. Mountain Daylight Time. This is an entertaining Australian movie that I've seen
before and I plan to see it again now. Further I sayeth not.
Guardian: 'Herd immunity now seems impossible. Welcome to the age of Covid reinfection.
The virus is now embedded in our world. But there are steps we can take to keep it at bay while we continue to live our lives.'
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/12/herd-immunity-covid-reinfection-virus-world
[What do I wish I had known in early 2020? Other than to buy shares in toilet paper, Zoom and vaccine companies, I wish I had known that a safe and effective vaccine against severe disease and death from Covid-19 would arrive within a year – and that reinfection would nevertheless become a major issue in managing the disease. These two facts would have shifted the UK government’s response, and allowed for a more unified scientific front in advising them.
At the very beginning of the pandemic, several governments – including in Sweden, Netherlands and the UK – believed the best path through this crisis was to allow a controlled spread of infections through the population, especially the young and healthy, in order to reach some static state against the virus. The idea was that “the herd” who got infected would protect a more vulnerable minority.
This concept came from our approach to other vaccines, in which we inoculate the majority of children against, for example, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) in order to protect those who cannot be vaccinated due to health conditions. If Sars-CoV-2 only infected people once, or vaccinated people couldn’t catch Covid (ie if infection or vaccination resulted in lifelong immunity) then herd immunity would be possible. By now, we would have eliminated Covid completely in the richer world where seroprevalence – estimates of antibody levels – are more than 90%, and in Britain as high as 98%.
However, this is far from the position we’re in. The rising number of documented reinfections, sometimes occurring relatively quickly after the initial infection, as well as the high number of infections with the Omicron variant among the fully vaccinated, means that herd immunity is likely impossible – even if seroprevalence hits 100%. Relying on herd immunity to manage Covid-19 rather than on the strategies of east Asian countries to suppress it until a vaccine was available was a gamble that Britain took early in March and unfortunately lost. Especially given the presence of variants, Sars-CoV-2 will just keep circulating and reinfecting people.]
There's much more text and photos at the link. This is a very long Opinion piece and
while it's focused on The U.K. Experience it is very informative and useful.
My takeaway is: Keep mask and vax mandates in place. Of course, that's my plan.
And don't trust governments, The WHO, The NHS or The CDC. Of course, I've
followed that from the beginning too. Surviving is a lot of work but it's worth it.
CBC*: 'Photo project aims to increase autism acceptance in this Kanien'keh:ka community
Photographer Angel Horn wanted to do something special for World Autism Month.'
*Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/indigenous-autism-photography-1.6413806
[Rebecca Scott wants her community — and beyond — to know that her son William is just like everyone else.
"He's no different," said Scott, who is from Kahnawake, south of Montreal.
"He's more than his diagnosis. He deserves what everybody else gets, and he's awesome."
William has autism, a neuro-developmental disorder that impacts how a person communicates, and relates to people and the world around them. He is non-verbal and cannot tolerate certain smells, textures, bright lights or loud sounds, but is learning to communicate his wants and needs with Picture Exchange Cards or by using an iPad.]
There's more text and photos at the link.This is a very interesting and informative photo
essay. It won't do any harm if the rest of us develop some acceptance too.
BBC: In pictures: 2022 Sony World Photography Awards.
https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-61072096I'd label this gallery as a "photo essay" since it's very heavy on captioning. But I do
think the pics are great.
Face of Malawi: Botswana detects new Covid Omicron sub-variant.
https://www.faceofmalawi.com/2022/04/12/botswana-detects-new-covid-omicron-sub-variant/[The Botswana health ministry says it has detected a new lineage of the Covid-19 Omicron variant.
The infected are currently being monitored to establish more information on the potential impact of the disease and its severity. The new sub-variant, designated
as Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 has already been detected in three other countries and
on four people in Botswana. The four people were fully vaccinated and had been
experiencing mild symptoms.
So far, no conclusions have been made to establish whether this sub-variant is more transmittable than the known Omicron variant.
This happens as the World Health Organization announces it is tracking a few dozen cases of the two new sub-variants of the highly transmissible Omicron strain to assess whether they are more infectious or dangerous.]
Who coulda seen new variants occurring? These sure put the ending of mask and
vax mandates in perspective. I'm happy that I'm not part of The FreeDumb crowd!
There's a photo but no more text at the link. I have edited the text to meet our DU
4-paragraph rule.
NOTE: I first saw this article on The BBC site but couldn't link directly to the article
there. It wasn't difficult to find alternative sources and the article here at the Face of
Malawi site I do link to is exactly the same as the BBC article. It's good to find new
and reliable news sources.
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