BBC Radio Ulster - Everyday Ethics, What Makes a Relationship Work? - "We use a phrase in accord: committed to my spouse on the good days, committed to my marriage on the days when it's difficult and committed to my commitment when it seems impossible... there are so many sort of seasons to marriage. So the way perhaps a young couple setting out, you know, on their, on their wedding day, that's a different marriage to maybe the marriage when the first children come along. And that's different to when the children leave, and then retirement. So you're talking about, marriage is constantly changing. It's not something that stays the same. And the beauty of marriage is that, well, it should be a place where people can grow and realize their full potential in the care of the other person."
Everyday Ethics: Miracles, Education and Boogie-Woogie 26 OCT 14 (William Crawley's last) - "In 2008, Pope Benedict gave Catholics a special time limited free plenary indulgence that will get them early release from Purgatory if they go to Lourdes. And that that was around the time that the Vatican had launched Vatican airlines, which was bringing people on pilgrimages to Lourdes. And I mean, everybody has the right to believe whatever they want to believe. These beliefs are causing people to I think, unfairly exploit vulnerable people by, by creating the impression that if they go to a particular place, that the creator of the universe will help them to get better, where there's no evidence that that's the case."
Opinion: Yes, there really is a coastal-elites bubble - "The point is to determine how insulated one is from mainstream American culture... Lo and behold, the thickest bubbles in America, as measured by the ZIP codes of the quiz respondents, exist right where you might expect: In the Northeast and on the West Coast... "The people living in zip codes in the top two (socioeconomic status) percentiles include almost all of those who run the nation's culture, economy, and politics. And that's where the bubble scores plunge.".... "The new upper class pervasively affects the lives of all Americans everywhere, through their effects on the nation's politics, economy, and culture. What we saw in the last presidential election was in part a result of the members of the new upper class being isolated in their bubbles. It would be good for the nation if they got out more."... If those are the states where our media and cultural elites live, is it any wonder they were flabbergasted Donald Trump won? Their peers and neighbors were nothing like the people in the majority of states, which went for Trump... that bubble wasn't just about not being able to foresee the election results. It was about being totally detached from the reasons voters opted for Trump. If you live in a world where everyone is prospering, cheering on rapid social changes, and benefiting (or at least not suffering) from the ever-greater power Washington, D.C., wields over the rest of us, you probably had a much harder time recognizing that people were ready to roll the dice on the changes Trump might bring."
BBC Radio Ulster - Everyday Ethics, Slavery, Angela Davis and Monastic Life - "[On modern ‘slavery’] ‘The people that come to us have not usually been brought by coercion into Northern Ireland, they usually come voluntarily. Many of our clients are EU nationals, and they've come to Northern Ireland for a better life. And as Clara said, deceit can be a key feature of why people end up in a situation of slavery.’
‘Can you really call it slavery, if they come here of their own accord?’
‘Erm, typically, the pattern of behavior that we come across with exploiters is they will target vulnerable people. And it is an issue of vulnerability. So the majority of our clients are migrant workers. But exploiters will target anybody who is vulnerable… we would come across groups of people who have been recruited in the home country, on the promise of work in Northern Ireland, perhaps in factories, or in agriculture, or horticulture. They'll be promised a certain level of salary, perhaps promised free accommodation, and they travel to Northern Ireland, usually voluntarily, but when they arrive here, they find the reality is very different. They may be told that the travel that they were told was being paid for, actually they have to repay. The accommodation is not free or is much more expensive than they had initially been told, and often are immediately put into a situation of debt bondage where they're told that they owe the exploiter money. They then can be put to work. And it's not in illegal areas’...
‘It's fair enough to say it's a continuum. But there is a material difference between the different types of slavery and exploitation we've, we've talked about. And it's important because the policy responses will be different. So if somebody has actually been physically coerced into working in a particular way, whether in a developed country or a poor country, that's different from where somebody has been defrauded and deceived, which may be an issue which is a bit more subtle, might be just as important to the individual concerned. But again, the response might be different. And that's different, again from a situation of somebody being in child labor. And if you just take the situation of child labor, specifically, you do find that child labor decreases dramatically as a country gets richer, Vietnam being a very good example. But there's a very strong correlation between child labor reducing and a country becoming more integrated in world trade, having better institutions and becoming generally richer. And the reason for that is that the vast majority of parents really do care about their children. And if they send their children out to work, it's almost always because they desperately need the income in order to feed the family. So if you respond to child labor, say by trying to ban child labor or make it more difficult, very often the, ,the what will happen as a result is that you will actually get more, actually something which is closer to slavery. There's a well known study which was done by UNICEF, of when the US tried to restrict the imports of Bangladeshi clothing which were made by child labour, and 50,000 children were put out of work and ended up on the streets working in prostitution, and rock breaking, whereas previously, they'd been working in factories. Now, their position working in factories was of course terrible, but their position caused by the attempt to try to stop the child labor was much, much worse and much more akin to slavery. And if you, so if you're going to reduce child labour, really the key is economic development in general. But I think dealing with, what the more overt, more explicit forms of slavery actually requires a different response.'"
Can You Hear Me Now? (Ep. 406) - Freakonomics Freakonomics - "PAI: [On the FCC] streamlining the process for deploying wireless infrastructure. Many might not appreciate it, but we have not just federal regulatory review, but state regulatory review, local review, as well as review by any one of the 573 federally-recognized Indian tribes. And so if you’re looking to put up a single wireless antenna, you have to jump through a lot of different regulatory hoops. And what we’ve tried to do is streamline that...
DUBNER: So your decision to repeal the F.C.C.’s earlier position on net neutrality — basically opening things up, as you characterized it, or at least exposing it more to the market — your position was met with intense blowback... So some of it on the merits, from legal and Internet scholars and others. And then some from people who were sending death threats to you, your family, your young children...
PAI: Much of the “debate” strayed far more into the level of vitriol and even personal threats and the like. I wasn’t surprised that the decision raised consternation in some quarters. But I was struck at how vicious some of the blowback was. It certainly affected my family, my parents, my in-laws, friends and the like. And that was distressing, because I think the one thing that has distinguished American democracy, generally speaking, is that we can disagree, but at the end of the day, approach each other with civility and respect. And that is certainly not something that I found among many who entered the public square on this debate... I keep on my desk some articles from way back then about how— back in 2001, for example, that demanding the Federal Trade Commission take aggressive action to block the merger of Time Warner and A.O.L. because that company would have an unbreakable monopoly on instant messaging. Another article from 2007 talking about how MySpace had an unbreakable monopoly in terms of social networking. And I think if there’s one lesson in the telecom and tech sectors, it’s that things are very, very dynamic. And I think it’s a mistake for regulators to have a static view of the market in a moment in time, because that snapshot very quickly becomes yellowed with age"
Thailand's foreign retirees see their good life slip away - Nikkei Asian Review - "for those living here on fixed savings or pensions, the baht's strength has decimated their income. British expats have lost about 30% of their purchasing power following the pound's plummet in the wake of Brexit. The financial squeeze comes amid changes to visa rules for retirees. As of February last year, foreigners must have a security deposit of 800,000 baht ($25,364) in a Thai bank account for two months prior to application or a monthly income of 65,000 baht; or a combination of the two totaling 800,000 baht.Applicants must now also have health insurance. For someone aged 75, for example, that is a "big problem" as the premium could be as much as 100,000 baht per month... Gerry does not own property here, but for those who do, a downturn in the real estate market has dashed their chances of a quick sell.Demand for properties has waned since last year as many expats, disgruntled with Thailand's tightening immigration system, have moved to other parts of Asia, while China has imposed new controls to curb capital flight, said Jean Charles, the founder of TwoFlat Real Estate. The situation has intensified Thailand's glut, which is set to worsen with arrival numbers decimated by the new coronavirus. Yet amid this turmoil, the country has been unflinching in its bid to capitalize on the world's aging populations, promoting Thailand, with its sunny weather and affordable health care, as a place to age with dignity.Thailand issued almost 80,000 retirement visas in 2018, an increase of 30% from 2014, with Britons accounting for the bulk... Low has noticed many around him have already abandoned themselves to despair, drinking heavily as their once-rosy vision of Thailand turns bleak."
Professor of Black Studies brands whiteness a 'psychosis' - "Furious Good Morning Britain viewers have blasted an 'arrogant, anti-white' academic who said that the 'British Empire did more harm than the Nazis' and branded whiteness a 'psychosis'.Kehinde Andrews, who is a professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid that the British Empire was worse than the Third Reich.He was appearing on today's programme debating Labour leader hopeful Lisa Nandy's proposal to removed the word 'Empire' from OBEs.Immediately after his appearance on the daytime television show, the professor took to his Twitter to continue to slam the British Empire and brand 'whiteness' a 'psychosis'... As Piers and Susanna accused him of racist language, he responded: 'Whiteness is not just for white people there also Asian people black people who purport the psychosis of whiteness. 'It's about the ideas, it's about the fact that in the 21st century 60 per cent of British people believe the empire was a force for good. This is like saying because the Nazis built motorways we should celebrate them.'... His extraordinary statements aired on Good Morning Britain on January 22 last year, when Piers Morgan asked him: 'Why do you see everything that we are proud of as sticks to beat our country with?... Dr Andrews, who believes Britain was 'built on racism', said: 'I'm not defending the vandalism of memorials at all. What I'm saying is the way we put up these memorials is the wrong way... Dr Andrews also clashed with Piers when he branded wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill a racist.He claimed in an appearance in October 2018 that Britain was 'built on racism' and that 'everyone involved in it probably has a really racist past'.The academic compared Churchill to Hitler for his treatment of Indians when the country endured a famine in 1943... Piers then asked Mr Andrews why he remained in Britain, despite being a 'successful man' who has 'enough money to live somewhere else'.Mr Andrews replied: 'This is the problem with Churchill; colonials and imperialism has ruined other parts of the world.'Britain's impact has devastated most of the world and Churchill is a big part of that.'...
Kehinde Andrews appeared on Good Morning Britain to argue that author Enid Blyton was not 'worthy' of the honour of a commemorative coin.He said: 'The reason why Enid isn't worthy ...it's just widely inappropriate, she was racist her books were racist. What the committee said was yeah she's popular but [it's] because of that racism, it's the 21st century. 'Mr Andrews added: 'If you look at children's books, they still are really conservative. We shouldn't be deifying Enid Blyton - there's other things to read just move on.'"
The reason why liberals in Western countries hate their countries so much yet stay there is because they know that other countries wouldn't put up with their BS
The College Student Who Decoded the Data Hidden in Inca Knots - "With the help of his professor, Gary Urton, a scholar of Pre-Columbian studies, Medrano interpreted a set of six khipus, knotted cords used for record keeping in the Inca Empire. By matching the khipus to a colonial-era Spanish census document, Medrano and Urton uncovered the meaning of the cords in greater detail than ever before. Their findings could contribute to a better understanding of daily life in the Andean civilization. "