Portland Trailblazers Launch Technology for Visual Impaired Fans to Follow Games

The Portland Trail Blazers, an NBA team in Oregon, have become the first professional sports team to offer haptic display technology at every home game, providing blind and low vision fans a way to experience basketball through touch.

The technology, developed by Seattle-based startup OneCourt, translates live gameplay into trackable vibrations that fans can follow with their fingertips. The service is available at no additional cost at the Moda Center where the Trail Blazers play home games

The team will make five devices available for the remainder of the 2024-25 NBA regular season on a first-come, first-served basis. Fans can check out devices from Guest Services stands at three arena locations after making reservations via email..

"This success highlights what's possible when innovation meets inclusivity," the CEO of the founding company OneCourt. 

However, we wonder if the device will eventually be outlawed by Trump's DEI decrees, as it is made to promote inclusion.

https://www.kgw.com/article/life/trail-blazers-haptic-display-technology-blind-low-vision-fans/283-983035d8-1aa1-46f2-a80e-8fe8998754ed

Perhaps One Way to Get Men to Take Responsibility for a Pregnancy

Mississippi state Sen. Bradford Blackmon referred to the high number of state legislative bills introduced in recent years that target women's access to reproductive health care, specifically abortion and contraception, when he proposed fines for men having sex but not intending to result in a pregnancy.

He introduced a bill this week that would seemingly ban men from masturbating or engaging in other sexual acts when they have no "intent to fertilize an embryo."

With conservatives passing legislation to try to force women into being "barefoot and pregnant," this bill could make sense. After all, men are 50% cause of pregnancies. But, as usual, conservative hierarchy builders targeting women want little or no accountability for the actions of the top, in this case, men and boys. Women and girls are much easier to control if they must care for the children from unwanted pregnancies forced to term.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna188938

Trump As a Threat to Human Rights

Tirana Hassan, the Executive Director of the New York-based independent rights group Human Rights Watch said that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House next week threatens freedoms at home and abroad. 

"The Trump administration's first term showed us what they're capable of and particularly showed their lack of commitment to human rights," Hassan told Reuters ahead of the annual report launch."

While the rise of concentrated power is occurring in some parts of the world, in places such as South Korea, people have stood up where there is an all-out assault on human rights, according to Hassan. 

We can hope that Republican attempts to curtail human rights in the United States will see the same resistance.

https://www.reuters.com/world/human-rights-watch-chief-says-trumps-return-threatens-freedoms-2025-01-16/

Costco Faces Possible MAGA Boycott for Not Favoring WHACCHUMs

Costco's board of directors rejected requests to remove its DEI program, which shareholders described as "illegal discrimination," prompting backlash from members of the MAGA movement.

The board of Costco said, "Our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion follow our code of ethics."

The defense was met with anger from many Trump supporters, with some calling for a boycott on social media.

These MAGA types want to return to the 1950's when hierarchies were stronger, and white heterosexual able-bodied cis-gender Christian hierarchy-building US-born males enjoyed the privilege that their hierarchies granted them over everyone else.

https://www.newsweek.com/costco-faces-maga-boycott-2007942?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1tRfLW2GY14NW1DpEYC3zD3EzyPNFKR-mvrDJ6qduqiQSTLsAZpx7wnns_aem_W7JDvWYcxtTpk-NrBiCzyg

Netflix Scores in Women's Soccer

Netflix has obtained exclusive US rights to the next two FIFA Women’s World Cups. In 2027 and 2031the tournament will appear for the first time on a streaming service. The 2027 tourney, which runs from June 24 to July 25, featuring 32 teams from across the globe, will compete in 12 cities throughout Brazil.

In addition to the matches, coverage will be supplemented with commentary and entertainment, including lead-ins spotlighting top players, how they got where they are, and information about the sport in general.

It is fabulous to see more interest from the media in women's sports. Nice they are catching up with what many of us for decades have known to be very exciting to watch. 

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/womens-world-cup-netflix

No Surprise Who Leads in Top Countries For Women's Rights and Gender Equality

Iceland tops the list of countries where women have the right to flourish and men and women live in the most equitable environment. 

Next comes Denmark, then Norway, followed by Finland and Sweden. 

Scandinavia is looking pretty good.

The United States did not fare too well. Might be interesting to see where it ranks after Trump and his minions have four years of putting in tremendous efforts into building the country's hierarchies back to where they have been years ago.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenpeddicord/2024/11/12/top-12-countries-for-womens-rights-and-gender-equality/

There Should Be No Ranking Among Hierarchies

Justice Mordy Bromberg, the President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, delivered the 2024 Higinbotham Lecture.

Bromberg emphasized the enduring equality of human rights, despite what sometimes seems to be a conflict between different human rights.

“All human rights are equal,” he said. “There is no hierarchy. There is no ranking.”

“One human right does not overrule another when they seemingly intersect. That is because all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.”

In other words, a hierarchy of hierarchy should be abolished, and particularly on an individual basis, no one hierarchy corners the market on how hierarchies can negatively affect people. 

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2024/oct/higinbotham-lecture