Shirley

This government is making terrible decisions 😠

Here’s a personal story about Palestinian child prisoners: - In 2012, I was arrested in Hebron while participating in a march to open Shuhada street, which was a main market street for Palestinians until the Israeli military shut it down, and made it for Israeli settlers only. It’s part of the area @JamaalBowmanNY visited. - Handcuffed and blinded by pepper spray, and thrown in the back of an Israeli humvee after my head was slammed against it, the soldiers drive off. They suddenly stop, run out, and all I hear is a child screaming and crying. - This child is then thrown on top of me, and is handcuffed. I ask him his age, he said 13. I asked him what happened, he says he was walking to his sister’s house and they just stopped and picked him up. He’s in panic mode crying “my sister cooked lunch for me, she’ll be terrified if I’m lost”. I tell him not to worry, we’ll make it out and give him the basic tips: You have a right to remain silent, don’t say anything without a lawyer…etc. - We get to the Israeli military outpost, we’re dragged out of the humvee. The kid’s terrified, telling them not to blind him (He thought I was blinded because of the pepper spray, I couldn’t open my eyes). - The smack the kid around and tell him to shut up. - We wait a bit, then kid is called in for interrogation. - The Israeli military interrogator literally tells him: I’ll let you go home, you just need to confirm the guy with you led the protest and told you to throw the stones at us. - Kid says I want to call my family/lawyer. Interrogator says ok: Picks up mobile and gives it to kid. Kid puts in his mother’s number. Soldier snatches mobile. The mother answers. Soldier says: Your son is going to go to jail and if he doesn’t talk I’ll come and arrest you too. Puts it on speaker, mother is panicking. Kid starts to panic. Soldier hangs up in her face. - Soldier tells kid: I can make your family’s life hell. But if you say what I told you to say, everything will be ok. - Kid starts sobbing and says: But I don’t know this guy I just met him in the humvee when you picked me up. Sitting outside the room, I yell: Kid, stay strong, say your truth and don’t fall into his lies. - They come and take me away. Thirty minutes later kid comes out of interrogation shaken. He says the soldier told him he’d shoot his mother. The poor child told me not to worry though, he only said the truth 🥺. - The case brought against this poor kid was stone throwing, with two soldiers “testifying” they saw him throw a stone. - He spent 3 months in prison as court hearings kept getting delayed, eventually he was advised by his lawyer to “admit” to stone throwing because that way he’d spend less time in prison because the lawyer could be able to negotiate his release in 4 months, while waiting for a ruling from Israel’s military courts could take a year. - In short, working on this issue in Palestine for 12 years, I can tell you the majority of child arrests in Palestine follow this exact pattern: - Israel wants to teach a Palestinian community a lesson, deterring people from protesting its oppression. - It targets the kids, arresting dozens - up to 700 a year. - Majority of kids get abused and interrogated. - Lawyers and kids know it’s better to “confess” even if they didn’t do the crime, as waiting for a ruling and being in uncertainty/limbo is hell. That’s why you have a 95% conviction rate. - Then the Israeli government, when challenged for the systematic abuse, comes out and says: “These kids are terrorists - they attacked our soldiers and admitted to it.” - And because the lives of Palestinian children don’t matter, the world turns a blind eye again and again and again and again.

I didn't know a lot of the grim details outlined in this @vox piece on Israel's mass-detention of #Palestinians: Many of those held are guilty of no crime, some subjected to torture, few given real legal recourse. You probably didn't either. You should: vox.com/world-politics…

@tashmahal Slow Horses. Industry. The Man in the High Castle. Black Bird. Sex Education. Mare of Easttown. (The film ‘Shackleton: the greatest story of survival’ was v engrossing).

@Jenene Agree! I went in June and it was mind-blowing. I can see a bunch more bands rolling it out

You're not alone. The majority of New Zealanders are worried about climate change and want stronger action. At this year’s New Zealand general election, we have a huge opportunity to make a difference. Every vote counts. #VoteForClimateNZ

@hadynz Medium and Substack (and personal websites) seem to be popular

I am looking to move my blog away from GitHub Pages. Anyone with insights on what the blogging platform scene looks like in 2022?

@sachajudd Agree! The documentary is outstanding.

This looks great but also don’t sleep on The Rescue on Disney+ for the doco version. It blew my mind.

@radionz I travelled from NZ to be at this year’s festival and it’s even better than your write up. (I mean, you didn’t mention Crowded House’s amazing set. And Lorde tomorrow!)

This year's festival featured its youngest-ever solo headline in Billie Eilish and Sir Paul McCartney as the oldest, and opened with a video message from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. rnz.co.nz/news/world/469…

@larnz1111 @holliejsmith Done ❤️ No need to apologise, car repairs are always rudely expensive

@WhatTheADHD @DrJinRussell Wow! @AWGHodder have you seen this?!

A new type of typeface might be beneficial to neurodivergent readers! 🤯 It's called bionic reading — the first few letters are bolded, making it easier for readers to glide through text and stay focused. (links in reply)

@summeroftech @mikiszikszai @PraeSongprasit from Xero's award-winning grad programme: - Give buddies & teams support to be good at onboarding. - All new staff need time to get up to speed, not just juniors. "Bringing on juniors helps you better onboard and grow *everyone*."

@summeroftech @mikiszikszai Treen Mearns (ex BNZ, now Summer of Tech) suggests: - Involve existing juniors in designing your approach. - Have a plan, get feedback, adapt. - Great opportunity for seniors to grow too. "Nothing beats the fresh eyes & enthusiasm juniors bring. The best way to pay it forward!"

Only 3 days to go! Register here for our TechWeek event: techweek.co.nz/whats-on/progr… Curious about hiring junior talent, but not sure where to start? Our panellists, Miki Szikszai, Katrina Mearns and Prae Songprasit, have years of experience attracting and growing junior talent.

@hellomotorbike @AndrewDickson13 @pbtechnz I shopped there twice in the last month. They’re a fantastic Kiwi business and their security guard is lovely! Thanks @pbtechnz.

LetsGooooooo @pbtechnz

Job adverts that don’t post the salary, instead using opaque and unhelpful jargon like “competitive pay” or “dependent on experience”, are not just a frustration, they’re entrenching the gender and ethnicity pay gap, and wasting the time of the applicant. Here’s why.

@Kat_Arney @historyhit with Dan Snow (a recent episode on 9 women who escaped from a WW2 concentration camp was fascinating). Not Just the Tudors. @BBCMoreOrLess “The Intelligence” and also “Babbage” (by The Economist)

Feel like I'm going to regret asking this, but I feel like i need some new podcasts in my listening queue. Either regular or series, I like factual deep dives in science, history, economics, politics, enjoy funny/curious stuff, hate "bantercasts" and celeb interviews. Any recs?

@nzdodo @pixelwench @lcsnz Another stretchy boi 👍🏻

for reasons I do not care to discuss at this juncture, please send your cutest animal pictures

@aleishaamohia @NZRise @mikiszikszai @RohanWakefield @CatalystNZ Aleisha, you were outstanding in that panel!

@jaxies Yes!! We were just saying yesterday that we need to watch Spaced again. (Brian, in the intro gets us every time 😂)