news

But doesn't dissolve the monarchy

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/31/renowned-australian-journalist-john-pilger-passes-away-at-84

John Pilger, the renowned Australia-born investigative journalist who was a trenchant critic of the West’s “imperialist” foreign policy, has died at age 84.

I know him best from this lecture.

Propaganda in liberal democracies like America and Britain is much more thorough than in dictatorships and totalitarian states. [...] [T]he conformity of information and opinion is insidious. Its sameness implicit, ingrained, and even celebrated.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday inaugurated the federal government’s new “Well-Being Mega Pharmacy,” a facility he described as “possibly the largest pharmacy in the world.”

The opening of the Megafarmacia del Bienestar — a warehouse from which medications will be supplied to public hospitals and clinics — comes about five months after López Obrador first proposed the creation of a “kind of pharmacy, … a warehouse with all the medicines of the world in reasonable quantities” as a “definitive way out” of the medication shortages that have plagued his government.

There have been numerous protests against medication shortages in recent years, the most frequent of which have been demonstrations by parents of children with cancer. Shortages have eased somewhat compared to earlier in the government’s term, but many patients still encounter problems accessing the medications they need.

On Friday, López Obrador said that the establishment of the mega pharmacy will allow “everyone to have the medicines they need” wherever they are in the country and no matter whether they are rich or poor.

All the medications that will be distributed from the new facility will be free for patients, he said.

“This is what makes us different from our adversaries, and hopefully they’ll understand. Health care isn’t a privilege, it’s a right,” López Obrador added.

Where is the mega pharmacy?

The facility is in Huehuetoca, a México state municipality about 60 kilometers north of central Mexico City.

López Obrador said last month that the warehouse’s proximity to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) will allow medications to be promptly transported to different parts of the country. Huehuetoca borders Zumpango, the municipality where AIFA is located.

How big is it?

López Obrador said at his Friday morning press conference that the facility — formerly a warehouse owned by department store Liverpool — covers an area of 90,000 square meters, but the government subsequently clarified that it’s slightly bigger than that at 94,546 square meters.

The area is equivalent to about six or seven “Zócalos,” López Obrador said referring to the Mexico City central square.

Saying the mega phamarcy is twice as big as the Zócalo would be more accurate given that the central square spans an area of 46,800 square meters.

“It’s possibly the largest pharmacy in the world,” López Obrador said before challenging reporters to find out whether that was indeed the case.

“… The pharmacy is big, big, big, and it will have all the medications that are distributed in our country’s health sector,” he said.

Who will operate it?

The facility — which the government bought for around 1.4 billion pesos (US $82.5 million) — will be run by state-owned medical company Birmex, while the military will assist with the logistics of moving medications around the country.

Birmex director Jens Pedro Lohmann Itutburu said that the mega pharmacy will have the capacity to store 286 million “pieces” of medication.

He said that the facility will seek to resolve requests for medication made by hospitals and clinics affiliated with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), the State Workers Social Security Institute and the universal IMSS-Bienestar health care programs within three hours.

Individual patients and doctors will also be able to submit requests for medications.

How long will it take to get medications to public hospitals?

According to the government, public hospitals or clinics that request a certain medication or medications will receive their delivery within 48 hours.

Air Force planes and military vehicles will be used to transport medications.

López Obrador has stressed that medications will even reach hospitals in remote, rural areas of the country in no more than 48 hours.

Will the mega pharmacy actually solve Mexico’s medicine shortage problem?

The government certainly thinks so, but experts have some concerns.

Mauricio Rodríguez, a professor in the School of Medicine at the National Autonomous University (UNAM), questioned whether the government will have the capacity to purchase and distribute thousands of medications on a national scale from one central location.

He told the Associated Press that the government is opening the mega pharmacy without providing sufficient detail about how the system will operate, especially for urgently-needed medications.

Rodríguez also said that having such a large stockpile of drugs at one site is risky, and could sideline existing distribution systems.

Dr. José Moya, the World Health Organization’s Mexico representative, said that a centralized medicine warehouse could be a solution to the shortages problem, but stressed the importance of a good logistical system to support it.

“If they are considering a warehouse like this, it’s because there is a need, and this has to be very well organized,” he said.

Starting the day by posting some not depressing stuff.

This flying hose robot is pretty cool.

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Note that the USA is not a member of the International Criminal Court. And in 2002, the USA passed The American Service-Members' Protection Act (known informally as the "Hague Invasion Act"), wherein the USA authorized itself to order military action (including invading the Netherlands where the Hague is located) to protect and free Americans and their allies (including Israel) from custody. It's why George W Bush doesn't fear ICC consequences for his war crimes.

Edit: I originally had the title as "South Africa has applied for the International Court of Justice (colloquially known as 'The Hague' to go after Israel" but SoyViking provided me with education in the comments on why this is not entirely accurate, as well as elucidated some important distinctions between the ICJ and ICC:

Sorry for being a nerd but the International Court of Justice, while also being situated in the Hague, is a different body than the International Criminal Court, which is colloquially called the Hague.

The ICJ dates back to the League of Nations and adjudicates international law disputes between sovereign states, meaning that only states can be parties in cases heard by the ICJ. Their ability to actually enforce their rulings are limited and it is completely possible for states, especially those of the International Community, to go "no that's bollocks" and ignore their decisions.

The ICC is a much more recent invention. They adjudicate criminal cases against individuals. Their actual powers are more tangible than those of the ICJ. If the ICC issues an arrest warrant against someone there's a decent chance that member states of the ICC will actually arrest that individual and extradite them to the Hague. Once there, people who are convicted actually goes to real jail. This is also the reason for the American "Hague Invasion Act" that is an explicit threat that if an American war criminal is extradited to the ICC, the evil empire will invade the Netherlands to break him out of jail.

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni9vJPY-1AQ

“All I can tell you,” the Tesla manager said, “is we’re not a 100-year-old company like GM and Ford. We haven’t worked all the bugs out yet.”

And here I thought this shit would expose the blatant contradictions in IP law but it looks like it’s only creating the same cycle of vocal contrarians speaking out against a step in the right direction

Full article: https://imgur.com/a/n7cFp1A

Image: one of our POW camps filled with captured soldiers of the Christmas regime.

Season's greetings, fellow godless communists. I'm here to disseminate orders from our Supreme Communist Dictator as we once again find ourselves fighting against the very concept of Christmas. As a reminder, by the end of our five-year plan, we plan to be in a position to attack and dethrone God, but this intermediate step is required to fulfil this directive. Our forces in the field have made significant, if gradual, progress since you received your mission update last year. It has been difficult, but we have developed a series of defensive lines to prepare for a counteroffensive out of Lapland that will try and reach the Gulf of Bothnia in an attempt to cut the land bridge that we have set up across Scandinavia.

Currently, we foresee a few major threats. General Santa Clauswitz has been developing many tools in his workshop, including artillery-launched snowballs, barbed tinsel, and reinforced gingerbread armor plating for his tanks and infantry carriers. President Frostyy has made the following public statement: "The socialists who wish to destroy us have no idea what their defenses are about to face. Democracy will always defeat autocracy. Christmas will always triumph over X-mas. The leaders of the axis facing us are all on the naughty list and will be tried for crimes against festivity once this war is over."

Delusional as this may be, the next couple days will be the most dangerous as they stage their counteroffensive, and we need everybody to pitch in and get into defensive positions. We expect this to be the last major push that they will make before collapse. Please report any Christmas trees, mistletoe, or general symbology of the Christmas regime to your superiors.

Over and out.

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The Country of the Week is Finland! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

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"An unprecedented 146 opposition members of parliament of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been suspended for the rest of the winter session.  Apart from the ‘loyal’ opposition MPs belonging to parties like the BJD, YSRCP and AIADMK, there will be no opposition MPs left in either house by December 22."

Edit: swore I'd included the source: https://peoplesdemocracy.in/2023/1224_pd/destruction-parliament