Society's ChildS


Attention

Woman in long term vegetative state suddenly gives birth, sparking sex abuse investigation


RT
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 08:28 UTC
hospitalized
© Global Look Press / Jacek Sopotnicki
The unexpected birth of a baby boy to a woman who has spent the last 14 years in a vegetative state has sparked a sex abuse investigation at a Phoenix nursing facility.

Staff at Hacienda HealthCare were reportedly unaware the woman was even pregnant "until she was pretty much giving birth," a source familiar with the situation told KPHO. "From what I've been told she was moaning. And they didn't know what was wrong with her."

The baby, a healthy boy, was delivered on December 29.

The mother has "lived" at Hacienda ever since a near-drowning incident left her brain-damaged over 14 years ago. She requires 24-hour care, meaning many of the facility's staff would have had access to her room, and is incapable of communication or voluntary movement.

Since the birth, Hacienda has adopted a policy requiring female employees to accompany male employees to female patients' rooms, most likely mandated by the Arizona Department of Health Services, which said in a statement that it has implemented "heightened safety measures" that include "increased staff presence during patient interactions" as well as increased surveillance of patient care locations.
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Smoking

The moral theater of the anti-smoking campaign is now taking target at the mentally ill

Will Truman
Arc
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
smoking mental illness
Pennsylvania has decided that unless you are willing to quit smoking for the duration of your treatment, you don't deserve mental health treatment from the state:
Tobacco products and vape devices have been banned at Pennsylvania's six state mental health hospitals, including Torrance State Hospital in Derry Township.
"Smoking is a contributing factor to the shortened life expectancy of individuals with a mental illness," Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller said Monday in a statement announcing the ban. "This initiative will further support health, wellness and recovery within these communities."
The hospitals will be posted to advise patients, staff, visitors, contractors and tenants that the campuses and buildings are tobacco-free zones. The facilities will offer smoking cessation programs and support as needed, including nicotine patches and gum. Information about cessation support groups and programs will be posted online for employees.
We are, apparently, so concerned with moral theater that we are willing to act at the expense of mental health. State officials can argue that the goal of this new policy is to encourage healthy choices, but they will in effect be denying care to those who don't make the state's preferred decisions.
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Smoking

Malaysian waiter slapped for enforcing smoking ban


The Straits Times
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 07:32 UTC
Malaysian waiter slapped for enforcing smoking ban
© The Star/Asia News Network
A mamak restaurant waiter who politely told a group of three men to stop smoking in the eatery got a rude shock when he was slapped and scolded.

Mr M. Selvam, 25, from India, was merely doing his job in reminding customers of the newly imposed smoking ban when one of the customers slapped him.

"It was around 12.30 pm on the first day of the ban on Jan 1. We had placed 'no smoking' signs but some customers were still smoking.

"I went over to a group of three men who were smoking. I politely told them to stop smoking but one of them got up and suddenly slapped me. I was shocked. They then left," he said, speaking at the restaurant in Seksyen 25 in Shah Alam on Thursday (Jan 3).

Comment: See also: Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State

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Control Panel

Facebook tracks users using Android apps - even if they don't have a Facebook account

Anthony Cuthbertson
Independent
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
thumbs down facebook
© Rex FeaturesFacebook is under increasing pressure to make major changes, both to its platform and its leadership
Report from Privacy International reveals how social network tracks people through popular apps like Skyscanner and Duolingo

Facebook's data collecting practices have once again been called into question, after a new report revealed that it "routinely tracked" people who do not use the app.

Privacy International analysed 34 apps on the Android mobile operating system with user bases of between 10 and 500 million.

The charity began the study after the scandal surrounding the now defunct London based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which was accused of improperly obtaining personal information on behalf of political clients and using it to influence the outcome of the US 2016 presidential election or the UK Brexit referendum.

Comment: See also:

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Sheriff

Officer fired, bullied and forced to move after neglecting to kill a suicidal man

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 19:56 UTC
officer Stephen Mader
As TFTP reported last year, former Weirton police officer Stephen Mader sued the city after he was fired for not killing a suicidal man who needed help. Mader received $175,000 in a settlement as a result of his unnecessary firing. But the successful settlement was the beginning of a dark road for this hero cop who was unafraid to show restraint.

"My hope is that no other person on either end of a police call has to go through this again," said Mader at the time. Sadly, however, this former Marine has since been forced to move because the intimidation and bullying has gotten so bad.

West Virginia attorney and ACLU representative Timothy P. O'Brien helped to bring the lawsuit against the city.

"No police officer should ever lose their job ... for choosing to talk to, rather than shoot, a fellow citizen," said O'Brien. "His decision to attempt to de-escalate the situation should have been praised, not punished. Simply put, no police officer should ever feel forced to take a life unnecessarily to save his career."
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Bomb

Terrorism suspected in Santiago bus stop blast that injured 5 people


RT
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 19:49 UTC
Santiago police
© Global Look Press / Fernando Lavoz
At least five people have been injured in an explosion at a bus stop in Santiago, the capital of Chile. An eco-terrorist group has claimed responsibility.

The explosion took place shortly before noon local time on Friday, at the intersection of Avenida Vicuña Mackenna and Av. Francisco Bilbao, in downtown Santiago. One of the people touched a bag that was left at the bus stop, triggering the blast, according to police.

Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick is visiting the injured at the hospital. Santiago mayor Evelyn Matthei told the local media that the circumstances point to "intention to cause harm."
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Attention

Miami-Dade cop charged with battery for kicking a handcuffed suspect


CBS Miami
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 19:18 UTC
Gustavo De Los Rios
© Miami-Dade County CorrectionsGustavo De Los Rios
A cellphone video showing a Miami-Dade police officer kicking a handcuffed suspect was released Thursday by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.

Seargent Gustavo De Los Rios, 38, was charged with a misdemeanor for the incident which took place in February.

The video shows several officers arresting a suspect, then De Los Rios is seen kicking the suspect once and then dropping his knee on his neck.

De Los Rios was relieved of duty with pay at the time the complaint was filed.

The incident occurred in Miami Lakes on Valentine's Day of 2018.
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Red Flag

Caring for caravan migrants has Tijuana fed up and on the brink

Sarah Cowgill
Liberty Nation
Wed, 02 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Carvan Tijuana
The financial burden on the border city is only one cost. Add in crime, illness, and unsanitary conditions.

As thousands of immigrants gather in Tijuana after a months-long march through poverty-stricken countries to reach the Calexico border, it appears the Guatemalan, Salvadoran, and Honduran wannabe refugees are receiving an unhealthy dose of reality.

Their promised America - mostly advertised as a life replete with bountiful resources, including unending welfare, free child care, and high-paying jobs for the uneducated - refuses to process the entire lot. And as a government scale-back and standoff over border security tediously plods along, legal immigration into the United States is held in perpetual limbo.

What could possibly go wrong?
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Fire

No traces of explosives found at collapsed house in Magnitogorsk, Russia - officials


RT
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 16:22 UTC
Magnitogorsk building collapse
© Sputnik / Emergencies Ministry
A probe of the debris from the collapsed house in Magnitogorsk has revealed no traces of explosives, Russia's Investigative Committee said. However, all possible reasons for the deadly blast are now being considered, it added.

The experts concluded their probe at the site of the tragedy on Friday. "No traces of explosives compounds or their components have been discovered," , spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said.

The investigators are currently "looking into all possible causes of the blast." According to earlier information from the authorities, a gas leak was among the top theories for the tragedy that saw over 30 people killed.

TASS reported that investigators were seizing gas stoves and other gas-related equipment retrieved by the rescuers during their search for survivors.

Comment: See also: 4 killed, 35 missing after gas explosion rips through residential building in Russia - UPDATE

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Attention

Hacker group threatens to leak secret documents on 9/11 'truth' unless paid in bitcoin - Update: 650 docs released


RT
Wed, 02 Jan 2019 11:36 UTC
world trade center
© Reuters / Sean Adair
The Dark Overlord hacker group has threatened to leak thousands of "secret" documents stolen from insurers and government agencies that they claim reveal the truth about 9/11 - unless they're paid not to.

The Dark Overlord, a "professional adversarial threat group" known for their hacks of Netflix, plastic surgery clinics, and other sensitive targets, posted a link to a 10GB encrypted archive of documents related to 9/11 litigation, promising to release the encryption keys if their demands were not met in a post on Pastebin on Monday.

The group claims the documents tell the story of what really happened on one of the most notorious dates in recent history, tweeting "We'll be providing many answers about 9.11 conspiracies through our 18,000 secret documents leak." They published a "teaser" consisting of letters, emails, and various documents that mention law firms, the Transport Security Administration, and the Federal Aviation Administration, with a promise of more to come.


Comment: Update (Jan 4.): After receiving about $12k in bitcoins, the hacker group Dark Overlord released decryption keys for 650 documents it says are related to 9/11. RT reports on the content of the docs:
By design, the "layer 1" documents - if authentic - do not appear to contain any explosive revelations. The publications focus mostly on testimonies from airport security and details concerning insurance pay-outs to parties affected by the 9/11 attacks. However, the data dump suggests that the group is not bluffing.

The documents - which were immediately scrubbed from Reddit, Pastebin and Twitter - are available for download on Steemit at the time of writing.


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