Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@social.cleverlibre.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
The President of Ireland's Christmas message is well worth listening to. It includes:
"..may I express my gratitude to the migrants who now call Ireland their home. Their presence enriches our culture, contributes to our society, bringing as they do experiences, traditions, and perspectives that make us stronger as a nation."
https://president.ie/en/diary/details/christmas-message-from-president-michael-d-higgins23/video
I really, REALLY don't understand why Britain always has to be 10 or 20 years behind every civilized country!
Voluntary, medical euthanasia is legal and practiced in:
The Netherlands
Belgium
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
Some US States
France is an outlier in that assisted suicide is not currently permitted but patients in intolerable pain with terminal illnesses may ask to be placed in an induced coma until natural death intervenes!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
An Israeli real estate company Harey Zahav, that specializes in developing settlements, posted this pic of destroyed #Gaza with homes and the title 'Wake up, a beach house is not a dream!" (Circulating) @israel @palestine
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
That's almost as revolutionary as suggesting that the US should have very low cost universal healthcare
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
"If politicians want to ‘stop the boats’ , the solution is simple; re-open the legal and safe routes for asylum seekers to come to our shore"
https://northeastbylines.co.uk/another-life-lost-in-the-channel-safe-routes-are-needed/
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
I don't think I'd be in least bit unfair if I said that I can see no evidence whatsoever that the IDF or indeed the Israeli govt. in general, give a flying fuck how many innocent women and children they murder in the course of their operations - collateral damage and the more the merrier!
This is not a war; this is a punishment beating pure and simple!
If you keep a dog and you kick it and beat it every day, you should not be too surprised if one day it turns on you and rips your face off. The Palestinians have been the underdog; beaten and kicked every day for over 70 years so why is everyone so surprised that the worm has turned.
I think what Hamas did was horrific and disgusting but am I surprised, not in the least, nor should anyone else be who pays any attention to what the IDF and jewish settlers have done, day in and day out, to the Palestinians for 75 years!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
🤦♂️ December 12, 2023- “Life insurers have been consistently sounding the alarm over these unexpected or, “excess,” deaths, which claimed 158,000 more Americans in the first nine months of 2023 than in the same period in 2019. That exceeds America’s combined losses from every war since Vietnam. Congress should urgently work with insurance experts to investigate this troubling trend. “ - https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/4354004-this-is-bigger-than-covid-why-are-so-many-americans-dying-early/
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
This horrific ruling should make very clear to every woman in this country that when ANY Republican is elected to ANY office, NO WOMAN IS SAFE. Republicans are sadistic, twisted, hollowed-out, woman-hating freaks acting out their sickness on a national scale. https://wapo.st/4adJrce
By vaccinating it out of existence. There is/was a highly effective vaccine against smallpox whose effectiveness was not greatly impacted by the pathogen mutating.
Influenza, on the other hand is very adept at mutating and therefore a new vaccine is required every single year. Even then, the vaccines for influenza are of extremely variable efficacy.
It's hard to imagine that the survival of the species was uppermost in peoples minds when successive wave of the Plague hit Europe in medieval times and as recently as the 1600s. Likewise with the terrifying outbreak of deadly influenza that ravaged the world around 1918. Why haven't we evolved immunity to them - well viruses and bacteria have this inconvenient habit of mutating so as to avoid our body's carefully laid immune system traps!
Quite so - would it not be more economical and emissions friendly to send them to Rwanda in the holds of ships?
We should save the expensive charter flights for our esteemed politicians!
I think we must be talking at cross-purposes! I am not admin of a Mastodon instance, I'm just a wally user on qoto.org.
By the way you are talking, I assume you think I am some sort of admin or that I run an instance.
You might as well be talking in Egyptian Hieroglyphs for all what you are saying means to me!
The Samaritans in the UK were founded by a Church of England vicar (Chad Varah) but have always been resolutely atheist in the way they deal with people who use their services.
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
