Society's ChildS


Dollar

Banks could lose their licence if they discriminate against customers over political views

Louisa Clarence-Smith
The Telegraph
Wed, 19 Jul 2023 15:21 UTC
nigel farage
Banks face losing their licence if they discriminate against customers based on political beliefs under plans being drawn up by the Government, The Telegraph can reveal.

Ministers have ordered officials to start drafting legislation to give banks new free speech duties after it emerged that Coutts bank had closed Nigel Farage's accounts because his views did not "align" with its "values".

Andrew Griffith, economic secretary to the Treasury, has asked civil servants to explore adding free speech protections to banking licences, according to Whitehall sources.

Comment: See also:

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Toys

Surrogate claims gay dads told her to terminate pregnancy at 24 weeks on finding out she had aggressive cancer, 'they didn't want their DNA out there'

Alice Wright
Daily Mail
Sun, 02 Jul 2023 02:52 UTC
Brittney Pearson
Brittney Pearson, 37, from Sacramento told DailyMail.com she was told to terminate her surrogate pregnancy at 24 weeks by the child's prospective fathers after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
A California mother has claimed she was told to terminate her surrogate pregnancy at 24 weeks by the child's prospective fathers after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Brittney Pearson, 37, from Sacramento told DailyMail.com that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May at 22 weeks.

She says that after a full body MRI revealed the extent of the disease, the gay couple who were paying her to carry their child used legal threats to pressure her into terminating the pregnancy.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Wheat prices soar after West fails pledge on Black Sea grain deal and Russia pulls out

Abhinav Singh
WION
Thu, 20 Jul 2023 15:41 UTC
Grain wheat
© Reuters
After Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal, which allowed the safe passage for Ukrainian grain exports, global wheat prices have exponentially shot up.

On Wednesday, wheat prices on the European stock exchange soared by nearly nine per cent from the previous day to $284 per tonne. US wheat futures saw a jump of 8.5 per cent - the highest daily rise since the war broke out in February last year. Similarly, corn prices were up five to four per cent.

The immediate effect of the suspension is that millions of tonnes of wheat that was bound for Africa and West Asia has been stranded. While the wheat remains stuck, the Russian side has started "deliberately targeting the grain deal infrastructure", according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.


Comment: No, Russia targeting Ukrainian infrastructure critical to its Nazi-aligned, Western backed military, and this is actually in response to the terror attack on the bridge in Crimea that killed a mother and father, whose daughter was also injured.


Comment:


See also: We're done here: Russia launches second 'truly massive attack' on Ukrainian export facilities after not renewing lop-sided grain 'deal'

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Handcuffs

More than 28,000 convicted of Covid rule breaches in England and Wales

Maeve McClenaghan
The Guardian
Tue, 18 Jul 2023 10:00 UTC
police cops pandemic penalties UK
© James Veysey/Rex/ShutterstockNearly 125,000 fixed-penalty notices were issued in England and Wales during the pandemic.
Exclusive: Data analysis shows people severely penalised for relatively minor infractions of coronavirus laws.

More than 28,000 people in England and Wales have been convicted of breaches of Covid-19 regulations, despite the government's insistence that it never intended to criminalise people for minor infractions during the pandemic.

The convictions are for Covid-related offences, such as attendance at gatherings during lockdowns or arriving at airports without the proper evidence of a coronavirus test. Almost 16,000 of the convictions - or 55% - involved people under 30.

Comment: See also:

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Stock Down

$500 billion corporate-debt storm builds over global economy

Jeremy Hill
Bloomberg
Wed, 19 Jul 2023 19:06 UTC
silicon valley bank
A partner at Cleary Gottlieb, a top law firm for corporate bankruptcies, he's advised businesses worldwide for decades on what to do when they're drowning in debt. He did it through the global financial crisis, the oil bust in 2016 and Covid-19. And he's doing it again now, in a year when big corporate bankruptcies are piling up at the second-fastest pace since 2008, eclipsed only by the early days of the pandemic.

"It feels different than prior cycles," Cooper said. "You're going to see a lot of defaults."

His perch has given him a preview of the more than $500 billion storm of corporate-debt distress that's already starting to make landfall across the globe, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The tally is all but certain to grow. And that's deepening worries on Wall Street by threatening to slow economic growth and strain credit markets just emerging from the deepest losses in decades.

On the surface, much of it looks like the usual churn of capitalism, of companies undermined by forces like technological change or the rise of remote work that has emptied office buildings in Hong Kong, London and San Francisco.

Comment:



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Magnify

Best of the Web: 1 dead, 41 injured after street in Johannesburg mysteriously 'erupts' - cause of apparent explosion 'undetermined'

Ray White
Eyewitness News
Thu, 20 Jul 2023 07:32 UTC
explosion johannesburg
© Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness NewsOne person was killed, and 41 others injured in a blast during rush hour that overturned vehicles and destroyed sections of Bree Street and Rissik Street on 19 July 2023.
As thousands of people made their way through Johannesburg central on Thursday morning, city officials were till battling to determine the cause of a destructive explosion.

One person was killed, and 41 others injured in a blast during rush hour that overturned vehicles and destroyed sections of Bree Street and Rissik Street on Wednesday afternoon.

Egoli Gas - the company that runs a pipeline network in the city - said it hadn't seen a pressure reduction and its network wasn't compromised.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said that they received a report from the company.


Comment: Is the gas company lying (or at least unaware that they're responsible)? Was it some kind of natural incident? Small-time criminals? Or state sabotage?

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Eye 2

Trans former NH lawmaker faces federal charges for allegedly using daycare connections to generate child exploitation images

Thomas Stevenson
The Post Millennial
Wed, 19 Jul 2023 07:49 UTC
Stacie Laughton
The first openly transgender lawmaker in the US is facing federal charges in connection with sexual exploitation at a Tyngsborough, Massachusetts daycare center. A teacher at the daycare who assisted the lawmaker in obtaining sexual pictures of the children has also been arrested and was charged in June. In a press release, the Justice Department referred to trans-identified male Stacie Laughton as "a New Hampshire woman."

Stacie Laughton, 39, has been federally charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children and aiding and abetting by the US Attorney's Office District of Massachusetts. Lindsay Groves, Laughton's former girlfriend, was the alleged teacher at the center who helped Laughton, a former NH lawmaker, gather the images and has been charged with child exploitation.

Groves allegedly used bathroom breaks for the children, such as diaper changes, to take pictures of the children in the bathroom and would send the photos to Laughton.

There were over 2,500 text messages between Laughton and Groves on the phones obtained by the prosecution. These included at least four sexually explicit pictures of children between three and five years of age.

Comment: Previously: Nation's first elected 'transgender' state rep. arrested on child porn charges

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Clipboard

Most Britons regret Brexit vote - poll


RT
Wed, 19 Jul 2023 15:46 UTC
Nigel Farage
© Getty Images / Mary Turner/Getty ImagesNigel Farage, leader of UKIP and Vote Leave campaigner, arrives to speak to the assembled media at College Green, Westminster following the results of the United Kingdom's EU referendum on June 24, 2016 in London, United Kingdom
A majority of UK citizens would vote to rejoin the European Union (EU) if a second Brexit referendum was to be held, according to the findings of a new poll.

A YouGov survey of more than 2,100 adults in the United Kingdom released on Tuesday showed that 51% of respondents are in favor of re-establishing ties with the EU, with just 32% saying that they support the 2016 vote to leave. The percentage of people seeking a reunion with Brussels has risen by 11 points since 2021, when London formally withdrew from the bloc.

Some 57% of Britons, meanwhile, said that the UK made the wrong decision in the 2016 referendum. This is the highest-tallied figure of anti-Brexit sentiment noted among UK citizens to have been recorded by YouGov. The data also indicates that one in five people who voted to leave would now vote to remain in the EU.

Seven years after the Brexit referendum, many of the economic benefits promised by its most ardent campaigners have yet to bear fruit. The UK remains in the grips of a cost-of-living crisis, while recent inflation figures have shown rises at a faster pace compared to other major European countries.


Comment: And they never will.

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Light Saber

In-N-Out bans employees in 5 states from wearing masks without doctor's note


New York Post / AP
Wed, 19 Jul 2023 16:53 UTC
In-N-Out
© Adam Lau/AP
The In-N-Out burger chain will bar employees in five states from wearing masks unless they have a doctor's note, according to internal company emails leaked on social media.

In the memo announcing new guidelines for Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah workers, the fast food chain pointed to "the importance of customer service and the ability to show our Associates' smiles and other facial features while considering the health and well-being of all individuals."

The policy, which goes into effect August 14, applies to all In-N-Out employees in those states, except for those who need to wear masks or other protective gear for job duties that require it, like painting.

Employees could face disciplinary action, including being fired, if they do not comply, the memo says.

California and Oregon both have laws in place preventing employers from banning masks.

Comment: As a policy, makes more sense than what FDA recommends. Of course, leftists are up in arms about it... via Breitbart:
[...]

Even though masks have been proven ineffective in battling the coronavirus and even though the death toll for that virus was reportedly over-counted by 30 percent, leftists have been raging on Twiter that In-N-Out's policy is tantamount to discrimination and called for a boycott.

"Burger joint to avoid- In N Out," tweeted epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding to his over 700k followers. "In-N-Out employees in five US states will no longer be allowed to wear masks as part of new company guidelines. Employees would need to get a doctor's note if they do, explaining why."

Other leftists began pushing the hashtag #BoycottInnoutburger in opposition to the mask policy.



[...]

In a statement at the time, In-N-Out Chief Legal & Business Officer Arnie Wensinger said that the company "fiercely" disagrees with government mandates that force businesses to discriminate.

"We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government. It is unreasonable, invasive, and unsafe to force our restaurant associates to segregate customers into those who may be served and those who may not, whether based on the documentation they carry, or any other reason," he said.

"We fiercely disagree with any government dictate that forces a private company to discriminate against customers who choose to patronize their business," he added.
Good on ya, In-N-Out.

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Snakes in Suits

The media is a monster that eats advertising

Paulos
Myth Pilot
Wed, 12 Jul 2023 06:14 UTC
medusa
Last year I wrote a piece about Medusa. If you haven't read it, it's an exploration of the gorgon myth in relation to modern depictions of Medusa, and the implications for society this symbology represents.

I'll reveal to you now though, that while it might seem like I was writing about ancient myth, I was really writing about the New York Times.

Think about a monster that:
  • Does not possess any real power of its own, but mobilizes others by setting acceptable opinions
  • Can freeze a target merely by centering it in its journalistic gaze
  • Can ostracize, defame, or destroy
  • Has extensive powers of surveillance
  • Masks the power of others, presents a face for other interests
  • Enjoys all these powers through accumulated prestige
So the Medusa myth was a device for understanding mechanisms of control in oligarchic societies legitimized by propaganda rather than capacity for force.
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