It’s the last Weekend Reads of the year and I almost wasn’t going to write one today, because so many people have already left to enjoy the festive season. But it’s never been about numbers of eyeballs, it’s about consolidating what’s going on in the world and finding like-minded people who care and want to stay engaged.
So, if you’re reading this, I wish you a very happy festive season and want to encourage you to really take time off. The chaos will still be here when we return for the New Year, but for now, this is the only time of year when a majority of the world checks out. Therefore, take the time to recharge, focus on the people that matter, spend time doing what you love, and find some peace within, because 2026 is ramping up to be a doozy. We need to get ready for that.
But before I go, I want to talk about what happened in Australia this week. As an Australian, the terrorist incident in Bondi was a devastating gut punch. Australia prides itself on its gun safety laws, but now we know we’ve taken our eye off the ball, as we found out there are more guns in Australia now than after the 1996 massacre of 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania.
It seems the gun lobby has been silently working away in the background – succeeding – and there are now 2,000 new firearms lawfully entering the community every week, which adds up to 4.08 million guns in the country! We can only hope the new laws bring that number down!
Read, one of the best write-ups – Don’t look back in anger – The Shot.
Media coverage has been intense and global, with the Prime Minister criticized for not doing enough to stop antisemitism, and ASIO, (Australia’s equivalent of the FBI), attacked for being useless. However, what really pissed me off this week is the politicisation of it. As families and communities came together in grief and shock, politicians played the division card, in Australia and outside, predominantly the US and Israel.
Read: Israel Apologists Hasten To Use Bondi Shooting To Attack Anti-Genocide Activists.
American comments on guns are always stupid, and their leaders comments equally stupid, but it was the Israeli Government that really made my blood boil. Blaming peaceful protesters for this tragedy, those who came out in their thousands against the genocide in Gaza… yeah, it’s their fault! No responsibility by the Israeli Governments for its barbarism in Gaza over more than two years, which has not stopped, as babies freeze to death because of the Israeli Government’s decisions!
Read: Israel Propagandists Are Uniformly Spouting The Exact Same Line About The Bondi Shooting.
It’s really something else to watch Netanyahu and his cronies do everything they can to reclaim the narrative that THEY are the good guys, and they will jump on any opportunity to twist the world’s governments, media and influencers to their cause. The problem is, most of the world aren’t having it, because even though Israel’s leaders continue to manipulate, including keeping the media out of Gaza – no official witnesses there – the world sees what the Zionists are doing.
By blaming peaceful protesters, who are quite simply enraged by what is happening in Gaza, Israel’s leaders are NOT taking responsibility for their own actions. It’s almost farcical if you think about it. Thankfully many, including Jewish people, are speaking up. Remember actor, Many Patinkin earlier this year?
To be VERY clear here, antisemitism is WRONG. There is no question about that simple fact. Genocide is also wrong. Two truths CAN exist at the same time, and these two truths do exist. We all see it very clearly.
Unfortunately now Australians will have less rights, with Albanese’s government agreeing to adopt the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism. What this means is ANY criticism of Israel is perceived as antisemitism, and for a democratic country like Australia, this is profoundly wrong and disturbing.
Read this: Albanese’s adoption of antisemitism envoy’s plan a ‘profound threat to democracy’.
Read this too: What the Bondi Beach tragedy reveals about Australia’s political faultlines | Pearls and Irritations.
I say to my boys all the time, never EVER hate a people for the decisions of their governments. We’ve been having this discussion since Russia invaded Ukraine and we continue to have it now. The people of a nation are not responsible for their leaders’ decisions.
Unfortunately, terrorist incidents always ramp up hate and division – especially when the terrorists are Muslim. These terrible events galvanize the extremists in our communities and that is not good for ANY of us. Extremists of all descriptions – even if they are one of your own – ARE the problem. That is who we need to focus our anger on.
Again, as I say to my boys, the people we must keep our eyes on are fundamentalists of any religion or faith (Christian, Jewish, Muslims, Hindus, even Buddhists), as well as groups like White Nationalists (ugh). They are the enemy of peace, and they are really good at convincing us that the truth in front of our eyes is a lie and their interpretation of the truth is the only truth.
Learn more about the Theo Bros: JD Vance’s Power Network: How …–The Nerd Reich – Apple Podcasts
They cannot and will never bring peace and harmony to our societies, but more than that, they will make life worse for all of us, including themselves.
They have one primary goal, and that is to divide us more, make us hate “others” more, and ultimately, we ALL become less safe, as well as being more controllable. We must get our rational brains working here and see what’s happening, because this path is not one we want to continue to walk.
Whatever faith you follow, whatever god you believe in, whatever culture you are part of, we are not enemies and we need each other to face the future, together. It is high time for all of us to rise and say enough of our societies being highjacked by extremists and fundamentalists. Screw them! They believe they hold all the cards; they think we are ignorant and can be manipulated, but we must stop them taking us down this very dark, fearful and dystopian path. It’s a road to ruin.
We have many serious challenges to overcome, and we better get serious about what those challenges are, but the ONLY way we confront any of it is to do it together – all of us, with peace at the centre of how we approach the years ahead. It won’t be easy, not at all, fundamentalists will continually try to break our resolve, but if we do not stop those who seek to divide us and come together as a global community, we really have no chance at a future.
We cannot let fundamentalists hijack our future, regardless of which “side” they sit on. Your fundamentalists are just as bad as their fundamentalists, who are just as bad as my fundamentalists, so let’s focus on getting rid of ALL fundamentalists, and we do that by taking away their power. What say you?
Wrapping up
I must admit; this has been the hardest year so far to stay on top of what’s going on around the world. It’s a lonely pursuit too, because many would rather bury their heads in the sand, because it’s all gotten so ugly and the news is always so terrible.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I cannot turn away, because I am fighting for my boy’s future and for all our children’s futures and I don’t know how to stop doing that. How could I stop? Do I love the children of the world so little that I would give up on them? Never, ever, ever.
That’s why I’m here, week after week, facing this awful time, trying to make sense of it, trying to remind everyone what we need to do to tackle the challenges, and when you’re ready to face it too, I’ll be here, always here.
The superpower I’ve developed over the years is the ability to step back from the news and emotionally detach from it. That is a strength I know many do not have, but it’s also not something I can do 100% of the time. Recently, I haven’t been able to do it at all, and that sucks. It hits hard when it hits.
So I WILL take a break, but if you want to stay on top of the news, I add content to the World News page daily, although if you see it unchanged for a few days over the New Year, I will actually be taking a break then, only four days though and then I’ll be back.
Worth watching over the break
One of my favourite interviews this year was with Jan Umsonst, the Earth Systems Nerd. If you can make time to listen to this interview, you’ll grasp the enormous complexity of our global weather systems, how it all comes together and accelerates, and what we need to do about it. I don’t share information like this to scare people, I share it to make everyone realise we really have no time to lose and the time for radical action from everyone, everywhere, is right now. Have a listen and please share it with your community. Jan is a voice worth hearing.
Dig into the news
All of the end of year news is being added to the world news pages, and there’s always a lot to pay attention to. So click through to the reads at the image below, and a reminder, this goes back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you.
Let me know what caught your attention? Or share with me what has your attention now? There’s a lot going on, which means none of us can cover everything. Besides, it’s always great to get feedback so I know I’m delivering something of value.
Cheers
Andrea
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The Sh*t Show
The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.
Uncommon Courage: an invitation
Uncommon Courage is an invitation to be your courageous best self every day. It’s also an antidote to the overwhelm, fear, and rage rolling around the world. But it’s more than a book; it’s an invitation to join an inclusive community that wants to better understand humanities challenges – both global and personal – in order to take courageous action and create a better world for everyone.
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You can read the reviews, including a new five-star review on Book Commentary, another five-star review on ReaderViews, a review on BookTrib, and three more on Booklife, another on Book Commentary and Blue Ink Reviews. I’m also collating reviews on my Website too. Have a look and grateful to everyone who has written or recorded one.
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18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile
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Are you a Social CEO? The Social CEO: How Social Media Can Make You A Stronger Leader.
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