maeve harris @maeve@girlcock.club

Zen #Buddhist masterThich Nhat Hanh, author of 'The Miracle of Mindfulness', who is said to have formed (or reinforced) MLK's opposition to the #Vietnam War, has died at age 95.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60092461

#Florida House Committee passes bill to ban teachers from discussing sexuality and gender identity in classrooms. The FL Senate has passed a companion bill. Such silence on #LGBTQ issues could well increase suicide rates among the affected population https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/590838-house-committee-in-florida-passes-dont-say-gay-bill

#Ireland drops most #COVID19 restrictions, with the apparent exception of continuing to require masks in shops and on public transport. Pubs can stay open longer. "We have weathered the #Omicron storm", said PM Martin https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/ireland-set-rapidly-drop-almost-all-covid-19-restrictions-2022-01-21/

US House committee probing the Jan 6 takeover of the US Congress by Trump supporters gets 700 pages of related documents, by order of the SCOTUS https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/21/january-6-riot-probe-gets-over-700-pages-of-trump-white-house-documents-after-supreme-court-ruling.html

Draft of an executive order, never made official, authorizing US Military to seize voting machines, and setting up a special prosecutor on (non-existent) election fraud, likely Sydney Powell https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/21/read-the-never-issued-trump-order-that-would-have-seized-voting-machines-527572

#Twitter suspends 100shttps://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/twitter-suspends-hundreds-accounts-promoting-philippines-marcos-2022-01-21/ of accounts supporting the Philippines presidential campaign of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr (BongBong), son of the late dictator for violation of rules on spam and manipulation

US Federal Judge has blocked, at a national level, #Bidens #vaccination mandate for Federal employee and blocked the administration from punishing workers who refused to comply https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60077776

US Sec'y of State Blinken and #Russia foreign minister Lavrov meet in Geneva; no abatement of the tensions felt across Europe over Russia's intentions concerning #Ukraine. Russia has 100k troops on the border https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60077776

I was successful getting my #Covid booster at the hospital today, but because of some decision by the Thai ministry of health re persons who were vaccinated with Pfizer, mandating a longer period between 2nd vax and booster my gf will have to return in late March for hers. We are using KN94 masks when we're out in public, which is maybe 3 or 4 times a month.

#SCOTUS rejects another attempt to block #Texas' draconian 6 week #abortion law, indicating thereby the peril facing Wade v Roe https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/20/politics/abortion-texas-sb8-supreme-court/index.html

#Imelda #Marcos (wife of the late dictator) was convicted 3 years ago on 7 counts of graft, and yet has never been imprisoned for her offenses. Another example of the impunity of the rich in the #Philippines https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/11/09/1867185/imelda-marcos-found-guilty-7-counts-graft

If #BongBong #Marcos is elected president of the #Philippines, he will not be able to visit the USA, where there are outstanding arrest warrants awaiting him, according to rappler https://www.rappler.com/plus-membership-program/why-bongbong-marcos-cant-go-to-the-us/

#pdx: Portland's District Council of Trade Unions accuses the city administration of interfering with efforts to organize a strike by unionized workers over low pay https://www.opb.org/article/2022/01/18/trade-unions-accuse-portland-officials-of-interfering-in-labor-effort/

#Thailand's Ministry of Health has cut the recommended period for boosters after full vaccination from 6 months to 3, on Omicron concerns. My local hospital sent me a message on my Line app, announcing walk-in Moderna injections. We are going in tomorrow morning.

The economic outlook for #Thailand for 2022 described as 'bleak', principally because of the loss of the important tourism sector. Elsewhere, the finance minister predicted economic recovery in 2023 https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/bleak-outlook-thailand-2022

There will likely be no presidential debates for the 2024 election. A debate with a prolific liar like #Trump would be pointless. The #gop has no platform but sycophancy https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/18/rnc-debate-trump-527247

#Florida Congressman Matt #Gaetz' ex girlfriend gets immunity, testifies to Federal Grand Jury in sex trafficking probe. He may be in deep trouble, we will see. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-gaetz-ex-girlfriend-immunity-testimony-sex-trafficking-probe/

Right wing pundit Ann Coulter turns on #Trump, calling him a 'liar and a con man' 'whose grift is permanent'. She recommend the NYT stop giving him so much coverage because, in her words he 'is done' https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/589995-conservative-pundit-ann-coulter-says-trump-is-done

Goods imports from 'Britain' (probably meaning England) to Northern #Ireland have fallen by a fifth since #Brexit implementation. Imports from the Republic of Ireland to the Northern enclave have increased. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/great-britain-northern-ireland-brexit-irish-sea-government-b1994646.html

#Philippines Election Commission (Comelec) uses rather convoluted logic to toss a petition calling for ban on Ferdinand Marcos, Jr (BongBong)'s candidacy for president. Other petitions are before the court, but the likelihood is that he will be elected in May of this year, and will probably prevent an ICC investigation of Duterte's war on drugs. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ferdinand-marcos-manila-rodrigo-duterte-congress-hawaii-b1994470.html