Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Care homes 'ordered not to resuscitate' residents during height of pandemic

elderly care
© SWNS
Care homes were told to impose a blanket 'do not resuscitate' order on all of their residents during the peak of the UK's coronavirus outbreak, according to a report.

Charity, The Queen's Nursing Institute, found one in 10 care homes were told by the NHS to change resuscitation orders for patients, without discussion with staff, the residents or their family.

Half of staff members who were told to change the orders, which were imposed in a bid to free up hospital beds, worked in homes taking care of people with learning or cognitive disabilities. The other 50% worked in elderly residential homes.

Professor Alison Leary, an expert in healthcare and workforce modelling at London South Bank University who wrote the report, described the findings as 'worrying' and called for an inquiry.

A fifth of the 128 surveyed care home managers and nurses said they received patients from the hospitals who had tested positive for coronavirus during March and April. Almost half of staff said they also received residents that had not been tested before leaving hospital, while a third said they often did not have access to PPE.

One respondent was quoted in The Times as saying:
"We were advised to have them in place for all residents. We acted in accordance with medical advice and resident wishes, not as advised by a directive to put in place for all by a clinical care group representative. We challenged this as unethical."

Bullseye

Top French professor of medicine exposes the 'casedemic' hysteria

Professor Jean-François Toussaint
Professor Jean-François Toussaint
Professor of Medicine Jean-François Toussaint exposes the lunacy of the current #Casedemic hysteria. Wakey wakey guys - the Epidemic is long since over. But now we are dealing with the rights-destroying and economy-eviscerating reactions to the current concocted #CASEDEMIC !


Comment: It seems a sane view of the "pandemic" is slowly making it's way into the mainstream.


Arrow Down

Ancestry.com acquired by Blackstone group

Ancestry.com
© REUTERS/George FreyAttendees look around the Ancestry.com booth at the RootsTech annual genealogical event in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., February 28, 2019.
Blackstone Group Inc BX.N said on Wednesday it agreed to acquire genealogy provider Ancestry.com Inc from private equity rivals for $4.7 billion, including debt, placing a big bet on family-tree chasing as well as personalized medicine.

Ancestry.com is the world's largest provider of DNA services, allowing customers to trace their genealogy and identify genetic health risks with tests sent to their home.

Blackstone is hoping that more consumers staying at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic will turn to Ancestry.com for its services.

"We believe Ancestry has significant runway for further growth as people of all ages and backgrounds become increasingly interested in learning more about their family histories and themselves," David Kestnbaum, a Blackstone senior managing director, said in a statement.

Attention

Suspected ISIS terror attack on major gas pipeline knocks out power across Syria

syria pipeline explosion Adra al-Dhamir
© SANAAccording to SANA, the electricity minister said a pipeline explosion in the Damascus area late Sunday "led to an electricity blackout across Syria"
An explosion at a gas pipeline in Syria caused a nationwide blackout on Monday, in an incident that the US believes was "almost certainly" perpetrated by Isis.

The blast struck lines that feed three power stations in the south of Syria and caused massive electricity cuts, the country's oil minister, Ali Ghanim, told state news agency Sana, adding that it "was the result of a terrorist attack".

The electricity minister, Zuhair Kharbotli, later told the agency the explosion hit the Arab Gas Pipeline after midnight between the towns of Adra and Dumair, northwest of the capital, Damascus.

Comment: Service is gradually being restored:
The electricity minister said some power stations had been reconnected and power provided to vital infrastructure, adding that by dawn electricity was gradually returning to several provinces.

The incident was the latest in a string of alleged attacks against the government's energy infrastructure.



Mr. Potato

CNN's Stelter says network will do live 'fact-checks' of Republican convention, gets mocked for not doing same with Democrats

brian stelter CNN
© Reuters/Andrew KellyBrian Stelter at a Media Literacy Week panel in Manhattan, New York
The news channel's media critic Brian Stelter says CNN will have live "fact-checks" for the RNC, leaving many to wonder where those fact-checks were during the respective Democratic event.

Warning about a possible "stream of disinformation" at the RNC, scheduled to take place from August 24 through August 27, Stelter promised CNN will "fact-check" and "cut away" from the event as needed.

He also blasted rival Fox News network for their coverage of the Democratic National Convention and their conservative bias.

Comment: Oy. There's our Brian, running true to form. One wonders if he's capable of producing an unscripted sentence. But then, he knows exactly what his boss, Jeff Zucker expects of him.


TV

'First Day', the drama about a transgender 12yo, shouldn't be on the BBC children's channel. It's harmful, shameless propaganda

First Day BBC kids television series
© First Day / CBBC / BBC
I'm transgender myself but this film is misleadingly telling viewers as young as six that if they are unhappy with their sex then they can choose the other one, and then all will be fine. But they can't and it won't, of course.

The transition from primary school to secondary school can be an anxious time for all children, and it is surely a worthy topic for children's television to cover.

But "First Day" - the latest offering from the children's arm of the BBC - focusses on a transgender-identified child who transitions from male to female at the same time. The synopsis is simple: an unhappy feminine boy, mocked and bullied by others, overcomes enormous adversity to become the centre of attention, popular with peers and feted by teachers after they metamorphose from boy to girl.

Attention

Married tax collector is accused of child sex trafficking and 'illegally using state's DMV database to look up a minor and women who he was engaged in "sugar daddy" relationships with'

Joel Greenberg
The charges were unveiled against Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector of Seminole County until his resignation in June, in a criminal indictment filed by the US Attorney’s office on Friday.
A former tax collector of a Florida county allegedly paid for sex with an underage girl and illegally used the state's DMV database to look up information on the minor and women with whom he was engaged in 'sugar daddy' relationships with.

The charges were unveiled against Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector of Seminole County until his resignation in June, in a criminal indictment filed by the US Attorney's office on Friday.

The document, which alleges six new counts against Greenberg in addition to six counts from two previous federal grand jury indictments, doesn't offer specifics about the sex trafficking charge.

Light Sabers

Portland erupts in violence as left-wing and right-wing protesters clash in all-out brawls

portland proud boys
© Twitter / Savanah HernandezProud Boys and BLM/Antifa clash in Portland August 22, 2020
Right-wing groups, including Proud Boys, believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory, Blue Lives Matter and Trump supporters such as Troops for Trump, held rallies, including the "No To Marxism" rally and the "Trump 2020 Cruise Rally" in Portland on Saturday afternoon. They were met by left-wing counter-protesters made up of Antifa, self-proclaimed anti-fascists Popular Mobilization PDX, and Black Lives Matter.


Comment: More from RT:
Sporadic brawls continued for several hours, with protesters in body armor and gas masks - many armed with bats and shields - rushing at each other, throwing various projectiles and deploying pepper spray. Authorities claimed they watched the altercations closely, but each skirmish appeared to involve willing participants and the events were not enduring in time, so officers were not deployed to intervene.


Police were only responding to certain incidents or criminal activity, like reports of a "male subject" pointing a firearm at the crowd.





Light Saber

Best of the Web: 'Reckless, fearmongering spin': Australia's female entrepreneurs slam tyrannical lockdown measures

Simson
© Nikki ShortRed Balloon founder Naomi Simson.
Three female entrepreneurs have slammed interstate border closures and the Victorian government's stage four lockdown as "reckless" and dependent on "fear mongering spin", urging political leaders to explain society will have to live with, rather than eradicate, the coronavirus.

At the half way mark of Victoria's six week lockdown, the toughest the nation has seen, entrepreneurs Tania de Jong, Naomi Simson and Julie Parker, whose businesses have operations in Victoria, told The Australian many of the restrictions had been an over-reaction that would see "deaths of despair" from economic and social damage outnumber lives saved.

"People die every day; part of life is death," said chief executive of experience company RedBalloon, Naomi Simson. "We have to learn to live with the virus; we don't stop work when influenza comes," she added.

Comment: The tyranny in Australia is only getting worse:


Yellow Vest

Over 10,000 Israelis protest against Netanyahu, corruption and the lockdown in Jerusalem

Netanyahu israel protest
© REUTERS/ Reuters / Ronen ZvulunA protester wearing a rubber mask of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a jail suit in Jerusalem August 22, 2020.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters held a march in Jerusalem on Saturday night, despite police orders banning the movement of demonstrators.

The protesters marched from the capital's Chords Bridge to the Prime Minister's Residence, despite police refusing to grant permission for the march.

Police attempted to stop the procession, leading to light scuffles and at seven arrests, but then relented and allow the marchers to proceed to the main protest area near the Prime Minister's Residence, the Ynet news site reported.

Estimates put the number of marchers at around 1,500 and the total number of protesters at 10,000.

Comment: RT provides further reporting on the protests:

As the demonstration escalated into sporadic scuffles between police and protesters, at least 30 people were detained, local media reported.


The protest brought people together over a variety of issues, including the long-standing corruption charges against Netanyahu, as well as the 20+ percent unemployment rate and overall state of Israeli economy.


The government's handling of the coronavirus crisis also faced criticism, as this week Israel passed the 100 thousand cases mark, a relatively significant number for the 9 million nation.

Activists of the so-called Black Flag movement, that perceives Netanyahu as a 'threat to Israel's democracy', were spotted among the protesters as well.

The new round of protests comes just before the August 25 deadline to pass the state budget. The government has been in deadlock over it for weeks already, and blowing the deadline could result in a new general election - the fourth one in less than two years.

Israeli police officer caught violently punching protesters

A senior Israeli police officer is in hot water after he was filmed violently punching people during mass protests in Jerusalem. The officer, however, claims he was defending himself from rowdy protesters.

The Justice Ministry launched an investigation into the conduct of Jerusalem District Police Chief Superintendent Nisso Guetta on Sunday.

The high-ranking officer was filmed overnight punching and throwing protesters to the ground during a demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


While the footage available does not conclusively show what exactly prompted the officer's violent behavior, he claimed the protesters attacked him and he was merely defending himself.

Another hot topic is the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. This week, the total number of Covid-19 cases reached over 100,000 - arguably quite a large number for a nation of 9 million people.
The main complaints about the lockdown and the coronavirus appears to be that economy government has yet to provide aid to those suffering the impact of the illogical measures: