Dimensionally Barrett

  MYANMAR: What you can do Here’s a resource cribbed from a variety of places (many of whom are resources themselves) of measures you can take and action items you can choose for yourself. There are a number of organizations that have been applying pressure for years to get corporations to cease relationships with the Tatmadaw/Burma’s military; these groups are listed below and can use funding and additional support. I will continue to add to this entry as time goes on. I’ll post updates on Facebook and you can sign up to receive updates from me directly via email. While much, if not most or what follows is specific to U.S., it’s important to remember that there is great parity with groups across the world in coordination. What helps one helps all. Organizations, updates, how to get involved: Justice for Myanmar ( https://www.justiceformyanmar.org/ ) Burma Campaign UK ( https://burmacampaign.org.uk/ ) Amnesty International – Myanmar: Military, Ltd ( https://www.amne...

  What happened? Briefly, the army (and one may assume with the blessing if not the rest of the military/Tatmadaw) in Myanmar has carried out a coup, overturning November 2020’s elections on the basis that they deem the election results fraudulent. The Tatmadaw answers to the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC), the head of which is Myanmar’s President, currently Win Mynt. The ramifications of the coup in Myanmar are more troubling than the casual eye might observe. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of the Burmese army, was supposed to retire last summer and has now placed himself at the head of government. Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Mynt have both been detained with up to 45 other people. It was obvious a week ago that the military was not going to accept the election results, but the largely resounding question is why? Since the enactment of democratic reforms over the past five years, Myanmar seemed to have put the military rule behind them and in th...

  Houston is a funny city. It has its issues; in fact, like any major city, it has significant problems. However, one thing it has that I have always appreciated is that it has remained a remarkably green city, in terms of green space . There are the bayous, Memorial Park, Hermann Park, and myriad smaller parks throughout the vast area that is the United States’ fourth largest city. When I was little kid and well into my twenties, there was more greenery than we have now (I’m pretty sure, though despite part of this being my subjective perception, I’ve seen large amounts of acreage paved over, excavated and built on). A mainstay has been the aforementioned Memorial Park and the Arboretum found within. I’ve taken quite a few photos over the years and typically pop one or two up on Facebook, but I think maybe now would be a good time to post some here. I’m not in the mood for politics or history or anything terribly weighty right now. In the aftermath of January 6 and President B...

  Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg Needless to say, Biden’s inaugural address is what this country has been needing for the past four years. Perhaps longer. The U.S. has been fractured and fissured for generations, and while I’m usually prone to not get lured by rhetoric, this felt very much like a signal for a fresh start. There’s a sense of “groundedness” in President Biden’s address that has been lacking in recent time. His list of challenges that the country has to face was unvarnished; but it is an inventory the like of which we rarely hear from a president and needs to be said, probably repeatedly for some time to come. Biden’s more of a Truman than I expected in this; he’s straight talking (and a better rhetorician; good speech-writing here!) and he has something else; a flair for the dramatic that I didn’t know he had! This was dramatic but not bombastic. I’m sure the pundits will dissect and pore over his words, his performance, and there will be an awful lot of bash...