“….other developed countries have racism, demagoguery, and the internet. The reason only the United States has so many mass shootings is its lax gun laws.”
Commonweal editorial
Category: Politics and Society
Politics and society in Cambodia
Stop Covid-19 System


More than 155,000 shops and institutions have signed up to participate in the “Stop Covid-19” program which seeks to record who visits a site in order to assist contact tracing if necessary should a Covid-19-infected person visit that location. When introducing the scheme, the government downplayed any concerns about privacy but there are no restrictions or limitations on the way the government can use a person’s personal information if the person uses her phone to scan the QR code at a store.
Human Rights Watch has warned: “Cambodia’s QR Code system is ripe for rights abuses because it lacks privacy protections for personal data. These concerns are heightened by the government’s stepped-up online surveillance of Cambodians since the outset of the pandemic, putting government critics and activists at greater risk.”
COVID-19 in Cambodia

From January, 2020 to February, 2021, Cambodia experienced about 375 COVID-19 infections. Then on 20 February, two infected people started a series of infections and in the next two weeks another 600 infected people were found. Click here to see more background on this development.
Hong Kong, too…

Our Asia superior in Hong Kong reported today that John Clancey was arrested under Hong Kong’s new draconian state security laws. John was a Maryknoll priest in Hong Kong right before I came. He left Maryknoll but stayed on in Hong Kong as a lawyer working for civil and human rights. He must have been doing good work to get Beijing riled up. Hang in there, John!
This is the way the BBC reported his arrest.
What have we come to?

Trump and the GOP own this…

The Trump Virus

Press Freedom
Recently Reporters without Borders ranked Cambodia at #144 of 180 countries evaluated in their survey of press freedom throughout the world. That was a drop of one place since the last ranking.


An Insecure Man Always Comparing…
Say What?
“If we hadn’t reversed the failed economic policies of the previous administration, the world would not now be witnessing this great economic success.”
— Trump
6.6 million
— number of new jobs created in first 36 months of Trump administration
8.1 million
— number of new jobs created in last 36 months of Obama administration
From Doonesbury in the Washington Post
Hope…
Donald Trump won the presidency by fewer than 80,000 votes, spread out across 3 states. But more than 7 million new voters have turned 18 since that election. Make sure your friends and family are registered and get out to vote. (Numbers from Blue Future.)