#elected Leading Physician

[solarpunkbusiness]

Ritchie speaks to BBC Future Planet about what shifted her mindset, why the world might be reaching overall "peak pollution" – and ways that a more sustainable future could be secured.

What prompted you to change your mind about humanity's future? And why do you now think that "doomist" predictions do not inspire action?

Climate change has always been part of my life and I've always been quite worried, even as a kid. That got worse when I went to university, because I was studying environmental science and all the trends were very much going in the wrong direction. At the time I felt very anxious, hopeless, and like these problems were completely unsolvable.

The feeling of 'it's too late' just leads to inaction and paralysis – Hannah Ritchie

A key turning point for me was discovering the work of the Swedish physician and statistician Hans Rosling. When I was studying, I'd assumed that all of the human wellbeing metrics – such as global poverty, mortality and hunger – were also getting worse alongside the environmental ones. But Rosling would do TED talks where he'd show, using data, how the world had changed over the last few centuries for the better.

So, I started asking: can we do both things at the same time? Can we continue to improve human wellbeing while also reducing our environmental impact? And, over the last 10 years or so, according to the environmental data, there have been signs for cautious optimism. It's not inevitable that we get there, but I think there's the opportunity for us to do so.

[radiofreederry]

Happy birthday, Salvador Allende! (June 26, 1908)

President of Chile from 1970 to 1973, Salvador Allende was the first socialist to be elected to that office. Born to a progressive middle class family in Santiago, Allende was influenced during his education by anarchists, socialists, and progressives, and began involving himself in political and labor activism from the 1930s. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1937, beginning a political career which would span four decades. A physician by trade, Allende served as Chile's health minister in Pedro Aguirre Cerda's popular front government from 1939 to 1942. A committed, lifelong, and leading member of the Socialist Party, Allende ran for President on several occasions, finally winning in 1970 as the candidate of the Popular Unity coalition which united the Chilean left behind him. In office, Allende sought to better the conditions of the working class, nationalize key industries, and pursue land reform. His government was bitterly opposed by both the Chilean right and the United States, which backed efforts to sabotage the Chilean economy and overthrow Allende. These efforts culminated in a coup d'etat on September 11, 1973, in which the armed forces led by Augusto Pinochet toppled the Allende government and instituted a brutal right-wing dictatorship. Allende gave a final address to the nation before Pinochet's troops could reach him, and then committed suicide using an AK-47 gifted by Fidel Castro.

"Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, great avenues will again be opened, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society."

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Interesting. Very Interesting. 🤔

"Get your news from people who have a track record of telling the truth, people who do so at significant personal cost like whistleblowers."-Bill Ackman, Democrat Billionaire Hedgefund Manager

"Billionaire hedge fund manager and longtime Democratic Party donor Bill Ackman has blasted the Democrat party and fake news mainstream media outlets for lying and misleading the country about Joe Biden’s health and mental acuity. The White House, mainstream media, and even Biden’s personal physician have continually defended the Biden, insisting he is in good health and fit to serve. DEI White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre lashed out at conservative media outlets for circulating what she described as “cheap fake videos” of Joe Biden looking old, feeble, and senile. Joe Biden and Barack Obama appeared on stage together earlier this month at a fundraiser in Los Angeles, California. After the fundraiser wrapped up, Obama had to grab Joe Biden’s hand to lead him off stage. Biden was frozen. Barack Obama treated Biden like a nursing home patient and walked him off stage. Earlier this year, during a routine physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Biden joked about his health status. When asked about his physical examination and what his doctors had to say, he responded, “They think I look too young,” adding that “Everything’s great” regarding his health. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, responsible for evaluating the 81-year-old President, concluded that despite any perceived physical struggles, Biden is “fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.” Notably, the examination did NOT include a cognitive assessment test. The White House was probably scared of the results, knowing they would doom Biden’s re-election bid for good. However, big-time lefty and longtime Democratic donor Bill Ackman, who previously said he was open to voting for Trump, has publicly blasted the Democratic party and mainstream media for misleading the country about Joe Biden’s mental acuity and health."

@BillAckman

As much as last night was an indictment of the Democratic Party for misleading party members and the country about the mental acuity and health of the president, the media deserve far more derision and scorn. I and others were repeatedly criticized by the media for questioning the competency of the president. Among other false accusations, I was accused of spreading misleading videos which clearly showed Biden’s deterioration.

Do you remember the heavily excerpted and edited @POTUS Biden @60Minutes interview where the interviewer covered for the president by saying he was ‘very tired?’ @60Minutes knew. The @nytimes knew. @CNN knew. @MSNBC knew. Left wing media have had total and complete access to the president, his staff, and his administration. They all knew, but they told you otherwise. They outright lied to you. When Robert Hur, the special counsel who deposed the president, said that the president was not fit to stand trial and therefore chose not to bring charges, the media described him as a tool of the Republican Party and character assassinated him. When the @WSJ recently published a several-thousand-word, carefully researched, front page piece on the president’s mental and physical health, it was described by left wing media as outright propaganda. Now consider who has been feeding you propaganda. A favored technique of some of the most evil leaders in history was to mislead the people by constantly repeating the Big Lie. The Big Lie is so audacious that people accept it as truth because it is repeated so often that how can it be that something so important and material could be an outright falsehood? In this case the Big Lie was our president’s fitness for office, let alone a second term. A media organization is not supposed to be a branch of the Democratic Party. The media have a profound obligation to tell the truth to the American people, particularly about something as critical for the country as the president’s mental and physical health. People very close to me, my closest family and friends, trusted the media on Biden until the @CNN commentators finally owned up to the truth about Biden last night. For months I have been accused by many friends and family of being misled by an @X -based ‘right wing echo chamber.’ The sad reality is that one of our most important institutions, the so-called ‘Fourth Estate,’ fourth only after the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners, has destroyed any remaining credibility it has. Consider how your perception of @POTUS Biden and @realDonaldTrump has been manipulated. The media can no longer save itself. A suggestion. Rely on empirical data as much as possible. Listen to what someone actually said, rather than a headline summary or article about what someone said. Get your news from people who have a track record of telling the truth, people who do so at significant personal cost like whistleblowers. I follow broad constituencies on @X on multiple issues. That has led me closer to the truth. Citizen journalism has been a much more accurate representation of reality. Thank you @elonmusk for saving this platform. It gives us a fighting chance to save our democracy.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“Women are not without electoral or political power.”

April 3, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

APR 03, 2024

President Biden issued a statement on Tuesday condemning a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that effectively institutes a six-week abortion ban. The state supreme court’s decision overruled a 35-year-old precedent recognizing that Florida’s constitution protected reproductive liberty. Biden’s statement said, in part,

[The decision] will likely trigger Governor DeSantis’ even more extreme law that would prevent women from accessing care before many even know they are pregnant. It is outrageous. These extreme laws take away women’s freedom to make their own health care decisions and threaten physicians with jail time simply for providing the medical care that they were trained to provide. Vice President Harris and I stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to choose, including in Florida, where voters will have the opportunity to make their voices heard in support of a reproductive freedom ballot initiative this November. We . . . continue to call on Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade in every state.

As President Biden noted, the six-week abortion ban is effectively on the ballot in Florida in November, when Floridians will have the opportunity to enshrine reproductive liberty in the Florida constitution. Public support for the six-week ban is in the low 20% range.

The text of the proposed constitutional amendment (called “Amendment 4”) reads as follows:

No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.

Under Florida’s law governing constitutional amendments, Amendment 4 must garner at least 60% of the vote to pass. Although that is a high bar, it is not impossible. Other initiatives have surpassed the 60% threshold (approving medical marijuana and requiring parental consent for a minor to obtain an abortion).

As explained in an article on Substack by MCIMAPS, Floridians have reason to hope that Amendment 4 will pass by the 60% threshold in November. See MCIMAPS Report, Abortion and Weed will be on the Florida Ballot in 2024 (substack.com).

Will Amendment 4's presence help President Biden and other Democrats' chances on the Florida ballot in November?

Possibly, even probably.

First, because of the 60% threshold, supporters of Amendment 4 will have every incentive to drive massive turnout.

Second, supporters of a constitutional initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana will also drive turnout in November.

Third, as noted in an analysis by Mark Joseph Stern, the justices on the Florida Supreme Court indicated in Tuesday’s opinion that they favor the “fetal personhood” doctrine, which would outlaw abortion (and contraception) in Florida at every stage of pregnancy from the moment of conception. See Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, The threat lurking behind Florida’s November abortion vote. If Amendment 4 fails to pass, the six-week ban will likely turn into a total prohibition on abortion. When Florida voters realize the additional implications of failure to pass Amendment 4, turnout should be massive.

Finally, Senator Rick Scott is up for re-election in November. Rick Scott supports the six-week ban (“If I was still governor, I would sign the bill.”) His position on abortion is based on his belief that life begins at conception, a position that aligns with the fetal personhood movement in Florida.

There is reason to believe that Senator Rick Scott is vulnerable. See The Hill, (3/5/24), Scott narrowly leads Mucarsel-Powell in Florida Senate race: Poll. Rick Scott will be forced to run on a six-week abortion ban and the fetal personhood doctrine—positions that are highly unpopular in Florida.

The Biden administration is right to say that Florida is “winnable” for Democrats. Although the ruling by the Florida Supreme Court will impose hardship on thousands of women in the next seven months, the anti-choice extremists have overreached to the point they are prompting a national backlash.

In late-breaking news on Tuesday, it appears pro-choice activists have secured enough signatures to place a pro-choice constitutional amendment on Arizona’s ballot in November. See Arizona Likely To Join Growing Group Of States With Abortion Ballot Initiatives | Talking Points Memo. The group Arizona for Abortion Access has collected more than 506,000 signatures; only 383,923 are required to place the measure on the ballot.

Let’s make Justice Alito regret his attempt to patronize women with his snide statement in Dobbs, “Women are not without electoral or political power.” No, they are not. Nor are their partners, parents, siblings, friends, and fellow citizens. The reactionary anti-choice movement is about to find out just how much electoral power they have.

[perrysoup]

Been seeing stuff about the Green Party and one part has me worried.

Jill Stein

Now, I want to say that I have a hard time fully understanding all propaganda I get shown. That's literally the point of it, confuse people into thinking it's right.

(Note: this is using Propaganda as the following definition: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.)

With that, I remember not knowing who she was until 2020 came around, and the key thing I was shown over and over was her apparent (I say that because I'm genuinely curious if what I was shown was evidence or lying by omission) ties to Putin and the Russian Oligarchy.

I'm gonna just Copy/Paste the section from Wikipedia so I don't miscommunicate what it shows:

On December 18, 2017, The Washington Post reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee was looking at Stein's presidential campaign for potential "collusion with the Russians."[90] The Stein campaign released a statement stating it would work with investigators.[91]

In December 2018, two reports commissioned by the US Senate found that the Internet Research Agency boosted Stein's candidacy through social media posts, targeting African-American voters in particular. After consulting the two reports, NBC News reporter Robert Windrem said that nothing suggested Stein knew about the operation, but added that "the Massachusetts physician ha[d] long been criticized for her support of international policies that mirror Russian foreign policy goals." Windrem reported that his publisher (NBC News) had found that in 2015 and 2016 there had been over 100 favorable stories about Stein on Russian state-owned media networks RT and Sputnik.[92] In 2015, Stein was photographed dining at the same table as Russian president Vladimir Putin at the RT 10th anniversary gala in Moscow, leading to controversy.[93][94] Stein contended that she had no contact with Putin at the dinner and described the situation as a "non-event".[95]

In an official statement, Stein called one of the reports, the one authored by New Knowledge, "dangerous new McCarthyism" and asked the Senate Committee to retract it, saying the firm was "sponsored by partisan Democratic funders" and had itself been shown to have been "directly involved in election interference" in the 2017 US Senate election in Alabama.[96]

By July 31, 2018, Stein had spent slightly under $100,000 of the recount money on legal representation linked to the Senate probe into election interference.[97] In March 2019, Stein's spokesman David Cobb said she had "fully cooperated with the Senate inquiry."[98]

In October 2019, Hillary Clinton said that Russia's ongoing efforts to influence U.S. elections included a plot to support a third-party candidate in 2020, which could either be Jill Stein, whom she described as a "Russian asset," or Tulsi Gabbard.[99] A few days later, Clinton's comments were clarified to indicate that she thought that it was, in fact, Republicans who were behind the plot.[100] Stein denounced Clinton's comments on both herself and Gabbard, describing them as "slanderous".[101]

So the question is, is she a Russian asset? Does she genuinely have a history related to Putin? I believe there is a photo of her at a dinner with Putin and some other GOP people, but is it taken out of Context? Is it a meeting where she realizes she doesn't agree with them stuff? Legit I don't know, I want information, with sources please.

[scotianostra]

18th January 1782 marks the death of the Scottish Physician and philosopher John Pringle,

Sir John Pringle is one of three men who are named the "father of military medicine"

John Pringle led a varied life. Though a career in commerce beckoned, his life would lead a different path, he went first to be educated at St Andrews University and then to Edinburgh for a year before being sent to acquire commercial experience in Amsterdam.

One day, when visiting Leiden, chance and an inquisitive mind led Pringle to the lecture room of Herman Boerhaave, it inspired him to abandon his future in commerce and become a medical student. Compared with today, medical education was then extremely brief and, two years later, in 1730 Pringle qualified MD and returned to Scotland to set up practice in Edinburgh.

As well as practising medicine Pringle was known for his interest in moral philosophy and in 1734 was appointed Professor of Pneumatics and Moral Philosophy. However it was his medical abilities that earned Pringle his in history. In 1742 he was appointed as hpersonal physician to the Earl of Stair at Fladres who put him in charge of the military hospital.

Pringle was a careful and methodical man who believed that prevention was better than cure. He insisted on sanitary measures that reduced the rate of typhus and dysentery, diseases which killed more soldiers than actual battle, and pioneered the concept of hospitals in the field as neutral territory. In 1745 his services were recognized by the Duke of Cumberland who appointed him 'Physician General to His Majesty's Forces in the Low Countries and beyond the seas'. Pringle was subsequently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He had resigned his chair at Edinburgh but returned to Scotland where he witnessed the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and compared the varying degrees of morbidity in the forts which had been built to subdue the Highlands.

After another sojourn overseas with the army he settled in London in 1749 and carried out various experiments on putrefaction, recommending the use of ammonia whenever it occurred. He continued his interest in typhus (or 'gaol' or 'putrid' fever) and wrote the work for which he is primarily remembered, Observations on the diseases of the Army. This was first published in 1752 but ran to several editions. He was appointed physician to both King George III and Queen Charlotte, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and, in 1772, President of the Royal Society. The King acknowledged his work by awarding him a baronetcy in 1766. In 1778 Pringle retired as PRS because of declining health and returned to Edinburgh but, feeling that the city had deteriorated since his youth, returned to London where he died a year later.

There is a monument to Pringle in Westminster Abbey, as seen in the pics, it reads;

Sacred to the memory of Sir JOHN PRINGLE, Baronet, who was at an early period of life Professor of Moral Philosophy in the university of EDINBURGH: afterward physician to the ARMY, to the PRINCESS OF WALES, to the QUEEN and to KING GEORGE III. President of the ROYAL Society; member of the ROYAL Academy of SCIENCES at Paris etc.etc. His medical and philosophical knowledge, his inviolable integrity, and truely Christian virtues rendered him an honour to his age and country. He was born in SCOTLAND in April 1707 and died in LONDON in January 1782.

[mariacallous]

A doctors’ organization at the center of the ongoing legal fight over the abortion drug mifepristone has suffered a significant data breach. A link to an unsecured Google Drive published on the group’s website pointed users last week to a large cache of sensitive documents, including financial and tax records, membership rolls, and email exchanges spanning over a decade. The more than 10,000 documents lay bare the outsize influence of a small conservative organization working to lend a veneer of medical science to evangelical beliefs on parenting, sex, procreation, and gender.

The American College of Pediatricians, which has fought to deprive gay couples of their parental rights and encouraged public schools to treat LGBTQ youth as if they were mentally ill, is one of a handful of conservative think tanks leading the charge against abortion in the United States. A federal lawsuit filed by the College and its partners against the US Food and Drug Administration seeks to limit nationwide access to what is now the most common form of abortion. The case is now on a trajectory for the US Supreme Court, which not even a year ago declared abortion the purview of America’s elected state representatives. 

The leaked records, first reported by WIRED, offer an unprecedented look at the groups and personnel central to that campaign. They also describe an organization that has benefited greatly by exaggerating its own power, even as it has struggled quietly for two decades to grow in size and gain respect. The records show how the College, which the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) describes as a hate group, managed to introduce fringe beliefs into the mainstream simply by being, as the founder of Fox News once put it, “the loudest voice in the room.” 

The Leak

A WIRED review of the exposed data found that the unsecured Google Drive stored nearly 10,000 files, some of which are compressed zip files containing additional documents. These records detail highly sensitive internal information about the College’s donors and taxes, social security numbers of board members, staff resignation letters, budgetary and fundraising concerns, and the usernames and passwords of more than 100 online accounts. The files include Powerpoint presentations, Quickbooks accounting documents, and at least 388 spreadsheets. 

One spreadsheet appears to be an export of an internal database containing information on 1,200 past and current members. It contains intimate personal information about each member, including various contact details, as well as where they were educated, how they heard of the group, and when membership dues were paid. The records show past and current members are mostly male and, on average, over 50 years old. As of spring 2022, the College counted slightly more than 700 members, according to another document reviewed by WIRED. 

The breach exposes some material dating back to the group’s origin. It includes mailing lists gathered by the group of thousands of “conservative physicians” across the country. (One document outlining recruitment efforts states in bold, red letters: “TARGET CHRISTIAN MDs.”) The ongoing recruitment of doctors and medical school students seen as holding Christian views has long been its top priority. The leaked records indicate that more than 10,000 mailers were sent to physicians between 2013 and 2017 alone. 

While the group’s membership rolls are not public, the leak has outed most if not all of its members. A cursory review of the member lists surfaced one name of note: a recent commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, who after joining in 2019 asked that his membership with the group remain a secret. (WIRED was unable to reach the official for comment in time for publication.)

The SPLC’s “hate group” designation, which the College forcefully disputes, haunted its fundraising efforts, records reveal. A barrage of emails in 2014 show that the label cost the group the chance to benefit from an Amazon program that would eventually distribute $450 million to charities across the globe. Amazon would deny the College’s application, stating that it relied on the SPLC to determine which charities fall into certain ineligible categories.

A strategy document would later refer to a “unified plan” among the College and its allies to “continue discrediting the SPLC,” which included a campaign aimed at lowering its rating at Charity Navigator, one of the web’s most influential nonprofit evaluators. One of the group’s admins noted that despite SPLC’s label, another charity monitor, GuideStar, listed the College as being in “good standing.”

The College’s GuideStar page no longer says this and appears to have been defaced. It now reads, “AMERICAN COLLEGE OF doodoo fartheads,” with a mission statement saying: “we are evil and hate gays :(((”

The Google Drive containing the documents was taken offline soon after WIRED contacted the American College of Pediatricians. The College did not respond to a request for comment.

The Talk

Leaked communications between members of the group and minutes taken at board meetings over the course of several years speak loudly about the challenges the group faced in pursuing its deeply unpopular agenda: returning America to a time when the laws and social mores around family squared neatly with evangelical Christian beliefs.

Many of the College’s most radical views target transgender people, and in particular, transgender youth. The leak, which had been indexed by Google, includes volumes of literature crafted specifically to influence relationships between practicing pediatricians, parents, and their children. It includes reams of marketing material the College aims to distribute widely among public school officials. This includes pushing schools to adopt junk science painting transgender youth as carriers of a pathological disorder, one that’s capable of spontaneously causing others–à la the dancing plague–to adopt similar thoughts and behaviors.

This is one of the group’s most dubious claims. While unsupported by medical science, it is routinely and incuriously propagated through literature targeted at schools and medical offices around the US. The primary source for this claim is a research paper drafted in 2017 by Lisa Littman, a Brown University scholar who, while a medical doctor, had not specialized in mental health. The goal of the paper was to introduce, conceptually, “rapid onset gender dysphoria”—a hypothetical disorder, as was later clarified by the journal that published it. Littman would also clarify personally that her research “does not validate the phenomenon” she’d hypothesized, since no clinicians, nor individuals identifying as trans, had participated in the study.  

The paper explains that its subjects were instead all parents who had been recruited from a handful of websites known for opposing gender-affirmative care and “telling parents not to believe their child is transgender.” A review of one of the sites from the period shows parents congregating to foster paranoia about whether there’s a “conspiracy of silence” around “anime culture” that was brainwashing boys into behaving like girls; insights plucked in some cases straight from another, more notorious forum (widely known for reveling in the suicides of the people it has bullied).

A 2021 prospectus describing the group’s focus, ideology, and lobbying efforts encapsulates a wide range of “educational resources” destined for the inboxes of physicians and medical school students. The materials include links to a website instructing doctors on how to speak to children in a variety of scenarios about a multitude of topics surrounding sex, including in the absence of their parents. Practice scripts of conversations between doctors and patients advise, among other things, ways to elicit a child’s thoughts on sex with the help of an imaginative metaphor. 

While the material is not expressly religious, it is clearly aimed at painting same-sex marriage as aberrant and immoral behavior. Physicians lobbied by the group are also told to urge patients to purchase Christian-based parenting guides, including one designed to help parents broach the topic of sex with their 11- and 12-year-old kids. The College suggests telling parents to plan a “special overnight trip,” a pretext for instilling in their children sexual norms in line with evangelical practice. The group suggests telling parents to buy a tool called a “getaway kit,” a series of workbooks that run around $54 online. The workbooks methodically walk the parents through the process of springing the topic, but only after a day-long charade of impromptu gift-giving and play. 

These books are full of games and puzzles for the parent and child to cooperatively take on. Throughout the process, the child slowly digests a concept of “sexual purity,” lessons aided by oversimplified scripture and well-trodden Bible school parables. 

Another document the group shared with its members contains a script for appointments with pregnant minors. Its purpose is made evidently clear: The advice is engineered specifically to reduce the odds of minors coming into contact with medical professionals not strictly opposed to abortion. A practice script recommends the doctor inform the minor that they “strongly recommend against” abortion, adding “the procedure not only kills the infant you carry, but is also a danger to you.” (Medically, the term “fetus” and “infant” are not interchangeable, the latter referring to a newborn baby less than one year old.)

The doctors are urged to recommend that the minor visit a website that, like the aforementioned website, is not expressly religious but will only direct visitors to Catholic-run “crisis pregnancy centers,” which strictly reject abortion. The same site is widely promoted by anti-abortion groups such as National Right to Life, which last year held that it should be illegal to terminate the pregnancy of a 10-year-old rape victim.

The Professionals

The effort to ban mifepristone, legislation the Supreme Court paused last month pending further review, faces significant legal hurdles but could ultimately benefit from the appellate court’s disproportionately conservative makeup. Most of the legal power in the fight was supplied by a much older and better funded group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has established ties with some of the country’s most elite political figures—former vice president Mike Pence and Supreme Court justice Amy Coney Barrett among them.

A contract in the leaked documents dated April 2021 shows the ADF agreeing to legally represent the College free of charge. It stipulates that ADF’s ability to subsidize expenses incurred during lawsuits would be limited by ethical guidelines; however, it could still forgive any lingering costs simply by declaring the College “indigent.”

In contrast to the College’s some 700 members, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)–the organization from which the College’s founders split 20 years ago–has roughly 67,000. The rupture between the two groups was a direct result of a statement issued by the AAP in 2002. Modern research, the AAP said, had conclusively shown that the sexual orientation of parents had an imperceptible impact on the well-being of children, so long as they were raised in caring, supportive families.

The College would gain notoriety early on by assailing the positions of the AAP. In 2005, a Boston Globe reporter noted how common it had become for the American College of Pediatricians “to be quoted as a counterpoint” to anything said by the AAP. The institution, he wrote, had a rather “august-sounding name” for being run by a “single employee.” 

Internal documents show that the group’s directors quickly encountered hurdles operating on the fringe of accepted science. Some claimed to be oppressed. Most of the College’s research had been “written by one person,” according to minutes from a 2006 meeting, which were included in the leak. The College was failing to make a splash. In the future, one director suggested, papers rejected by medical journals “should be published on the web.” The vote to do so was unanimous (though the board decided the term “not published” was nicer than “rejected”). 

A second director put forth a motion to create a separate “scientific section” on the group’s website, strictly for linking to articles published in medical journals. The motion was quashed after it dawned on the board that they didn’t “have enough articles” to make the page “look professional.” 

The College struggled to identify the root cause of its runtedness. “To get enough clout,” one director said, “it would take substantial numbers, maybe 10,000.” (The College’s recruitment efforts would yield fewer than 7 percent of this goal in the following 17 years.) Yet another said the marketing department advised that “the College needs to pick a fight with the AAP and get on Larry King Live.” Another, the notes say, felt the organization was too busy trying to “walk the fence” by neglecting to acknowledge that “we are conservative and religious.” 

[laundrybiscuits]

Eddie reckons he has about six weeks left. Wayne would have a better idea, but like hell he’s telling Wayne about any of this. The damn fool would just harangue Eddie to confess his feelings like a middle-school girl, or worse yet, he might just roll up to Steve Harrington’s door and spill the beans himself.

Nope. Not gonna happen. Even if he doesn’t have to witness it, the thought of Steve’s pretty face twisting in confusion, disbelief, disgust makes Eddie’s guts roil in black-tar shame. 

Steve already saved him once. This time it isn’t something he can fix with his hero schtick, dragging the scruffy comic relief to safety before sweeping the leading lady off her feet, strings swelling and the shimmer of a suspended cymbal in the background.

The worst part is that Eddie actually thinks Steve would try. He’s got a heart the size of the moon, unlikely as that might’ve seemed once upon a time, and he probably would try to push past the basic unacceptable fact of who Eddie is, just to save one unworthy life.

In his worse moments, Eddie wonders about maybe letting him try. Eddie always recovers, though. Always remembers that actually it’s a pretty fucked-up thing to do to Steve, to put that kind of burden on him and make him wonder for the rest of his life if he could’ve done something different to stop all this from happening in the first place.

And of course, if the truth ever got out, Steve’s life would be ruined for real. 

People talk, when this kind of thing happens. It’s embarrassing, especially for guys. They all got the same lecture in PE about why casual dating is so dangerous; they all made the same shitty jokes about puking pansies, passed around the same shitty rumors about someone’s cousin’s friend’s sister who got the cut in another state. 

Indiana requires the signed consent of a parent or guardian, and a referral from a primary care physician. Eddie had honestly never thought that fact would be relevant to his life.

The other thing about the cut is that it’s super fucking expensive, since it’s technically an elective procedure and relatively few people actually need it. So, that was never going to be an option. 

It’s so goddamn unfair. They say that only one in a thousand people even has the biology for it, which makes sense. It’s not exactly something that gives you a leg up in survival of the fittest. And of those one-in-a-thousand, how many are unlucky enough to stumble on the specific cocktail of feelings that triggers the bloom? You have to be a hell of a romantic and also a hell of a cowardly loser freak, to want someone so much and be so sure it’s not gonna happen.

Turns out Eddie is both of those things, and he doesn’t see either one changing any time soon. So that’s why he’s loading up his van for one last trip, just planning to drive on out and see as much of the country as he can before the end. He thinks it’d be real poetic to cough up his final petals into the California surf. He’ll send Wayne a postcard once he’s far enough out, to give the old man a little closure. 

He pushes in the last of the bags and slams the back of the van shut, and then he nearly has a damn heart attack when he sees a familiar figure leaning up against the side of the van. 

“Going somewhere, Munson?” says Steve.

(ETA: now with Part 2)

(Snippet directory)

[swagyna]

A "Quick" Guide to Independent US President Candidates of 2024

Regardless of the party you usually vote for, I encourage you to go over this list

Jill Stein, Green Party

Ballotpedia

Wikipedia

A Jewish Doctor, she's been running in different campaigns for 21 years. This will be her third time running for presidency; her announcement was in direct response to President Biden's lack of action in regards to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Her main concerns are to reinvigorate our lacking Green New Deal, for the right of a living wage in a revised Economic Bills of Rights, an end to discrimination of women, BIPOC, and LGBT+ members; the removal of US influence in wars across the globe, as well as an end to our politicians being bought out by lobbyists.

Dr. Stein learned of the impacts of environmental pollution first hand while she was a practicing physician; her patients' were suffering from the nicknamed "Filthy Five" coal plants in her area. This spurred her into activism, which did eventually lead to the removal of these coal plants. While involved in this activism, she heard how many people had been demanding the removal of the plants for years. Local politicians refused to heed the people's words. Stein eventually learned it was due to lobbying, and helped to pass the Clean Elections Law. This law would only last for 5 years before Democrats removed it. A/N: Dr. Stein has only declared her running just this month on Nov. 9th. This may explain her lacking platform.

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Chase Oliver, Libertarian Party

Ballotpedia

Wikipedia You could describe him as sort of an "average Joe". Before entering politics, he worked restaurant jobs for 13 years. He's previously ran for Georgia's 5th district for House in 2020, as well as running for Senator in 2022 of the same state. He got enough support during his run for Senate that it caused a runoff election. His campaign is addressing many different problems, from positive immigration reform to being prochoice. Here's the list and a brief summary of what his plans are:

○ Healthcare system overhaul, swap to Direct Primary Care ○ Addressing Student Loans, making current loans interest free, ending FAFSA entirely, using Department of Defense money to pay for interest fees lost by this move. Also addressing high tuition costs. ○ Education, removal of the Department of Education to allocate money directly back to the states. ○ Allowing free market on Marijuana, signing full pardons for anyone with a non-violent drug-only criminal charge. ○ Changes to the Justice System, from courts to prisons to cops, removal of immunity from those in power, removal of mandatory minimum sentences, removal of prosecution of victimless crimes. ○ Work Changes, adjustments to taxes to make it easier on lower-income families, as well as law adjustments for people looking to open their own businesses. ○ Immigration reform, simplification for immigrants to become citizens to allow them to work and better integrate into our society. ○ Government invasion of Privacy, the potential repeal of the Patriot Act as well as any other invasive laws the government has passed in the guise of "safety". ○ The rights of bodily autonomy and Abortion, which should be codified. The exception here is that tax money cannot be used for it.

○ Ending the Death Penalty ○ Reducing Inflation by reducing government spending [a/n: this is not what causes inflation] ○ Removal of any Gun Restrictions and will strike down any new one that come up in the future What spurred him into activism roughly 2 decades ago, was President Bush's war campaign in Iraq. In 2008, he initially supported President Obama but later left the Democratic Party as he found that their policies were not anti-war and had no intention of becoming anti-war. He's spoken against regulations that prevent that feeding of the homeless and hungry in the City of Columbia [agenda], and has also made a public comment to the Atlanta City Council against Cop city (time stamp is 2:17:00).

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Independent Party

Ballotpedia

Wikipedia

An avid environmentalist lawyer who has won exceptional lawsuits for Indigenous People. This will be the first time RFK Jr. has officially ran for an election. In prior years, he's considered running for a Senator seat, NY's Attorney General seat, and has previously declined NY's Senate seat.

RFK Jr.'s campaign also has quite an extensive list of problems to address: ○ Housing Crisis and Cost: raising minimum wage to $15 an hour, changing zoning laws, changing taxes, opening ownership to local abandoned housing/buildings ○ Environment: restoring USDA and EPA control, incentivize companies to go green on a global scale, change agricultural practices ○ Ending of Lobbying: prosecution of officials and politicians who have been bought out by corporations, restoration of individual privacy, full government transparency. ○ Ending Party Division: RFK Jr. acknowledges that the Left vs Right is not helpful to the average person and seeks to remedy this divide by listening and compromising. ○ War: the removal of our troops and bases from countries in which we do not belong. The stop of unnecessary and profligate spending in our military machine. ○ Southern Border: Tighten control on checkpoints, restore lighting and motion detectors, but also allocate money into our courts to move asylum cases thru faster. This ties back with his stance on war, however; he wants the removal of our forces and weapons from the hands of the cartel. The US needs to stop funding the displacement of civilians in their own nations. ○ Restoration of Rights: Write into law that tech companies cannot ban, shadowban, or suppress someone if the government asks them to. Removal of government surveillance. ○ Civil Rights: to do this, a complete overhaul of these systems will happen - community repair, prison/police reform, focus on the working class and disenfranchised schooling, find addiction care that is long term, expanded youth programs, and free IDs for US citizens. ○ Native Americans: the restoration of land, the complete adherence to previous treaties that have been written and ignored by the US. ○ Veterans: optimization of the VA, creating a federal Veteran's council, to provide ways veterans can still "serve" in their communities. ○ Student Loans: the repeal of Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act which will allow people to file bankruptcy on student loans, allow people to refinance their student loans, remove interest on student loans, to hold universities accountable and not banks for loan defaults to prevent the rising prices of tuition.

Some things to note; Robert is a member of Children's Health Defense, which is an anti-vax organization that claims vaccines cause autism. Robert doesn't believe that HIV causes AIDS which he writes about in his book The Real Anthony Fauci (pg numbers: 298, 332, 347, 348, 351).

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

Cornel West, Independent Party

Ballotpedia

Wikipedia

Another Doctor on the list, Cornel is a philosophy professor at Union Theological Seminary. In his practice, he focuses on how American society treats differences between gender, race, and class. This is his first time running for office, and had previously been with the People's Party which he dropped for the Green Party. In October '23, he left the Green Party to be Independent. Here is a list of what Dr. West is looking to address during his presidency: ○ Environmentalism: Canceling any and all national oil projects, codifying informed consent (FPIC) for Indigenous people and their land, end water privatization by making a clean water committee ○ Racial Justice: Reparations for black residents, following thru on the Civil Liberties Act of '88, public review commissions for all police stations, creating a committee dedicated to finding missing and murdered Indigenous women ○ Prison/Police Reform: End the death penalty, abolish current privatized prison practices, shutting down Cop City, end and ban police training thru military forces ○ Voters' Rights: Election day is to be a national holiday to ensure everyone can vote, term limits for all elected officials, ban on past elected officials from becoming lobbyists, term limits for SCOTUS members ○ Gun Control: Create national gun registry, reduce gun sales at shows, similar requirements for driver licenses to gun ownership ○ Economics: Tax billionaires, remove tax loopholes for the super rich, end Wall Street housing market holdings, ban stock trading for elected gov. officials, national minimum wage of $27/hr, create UBI commission ○ Workers' Rights: Four day work week, review US trade agreements and ban any that exploit domestic and international workers, free pre-K childcare, all for-profit companies must allow the creation of unions ○ Healthcare: Free healthcare, codify abortions, address addiction and help those affected by it, create federal panel to oversee the creation/safety/effectiveness of vaccines, focus on giving more power back to disabled people ○ Education: Redistribute tax money equally across all public schools based on student count (this way rural students still receive the same schooling as urban students), minimum wage of 80k for K-12 teachers, abolish state laws that obfuscate our US history, cancel student debt ○ LGBTQIA+: establish standards for trans healthcare, end assaults on trans people, ban on state anti-LGBTQIA+ laws, codify equal rights for LGBTQIA+ people ○ Global Influence: Removal of military support in all current wars, establish Truth Commission for the global south, disband NATO, cut the military budget, end global patriarchy and help women in Iran and Afghanistan, cancel IMF debts

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

A note to end on: Firstly, I will not be discussing who I will be voting for on this post. Secondly, I want to add that just because a candidate has a large list of issues they're addressing doesn't mean they will actually get it done while in office. We regularly see candidates come in with large promises only to "forget" about them once they reach office.

Remember: the presidential election is important, but getting out and voting during midterms is infinitely much more impactful because those are our lawmakers!! A president cannot change anything if there is no house or senate backing her/him!

[lboogie1906]

Jurist Tanya Sue Chutkan (July 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-born lawyer serving as a US District Judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia. She is the judge overseeing the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump over his attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, including the events leading up to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.

She was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She has a younger brother, and a younger sister, both of whom are physicians. Her father Winston Chutkan is a doctor and her mother Noelle was one of the leading dancers at the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica. She is cousin to former Liverpool and England footballer, John Barnes.

She received a BA from George Washington University. She attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was an associate editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. She graduated with a JD.

She was in private practice at the law firm Hogan & Hartson. She worked at the law firm of Donovan, Leisure, Rogovin, Huge & Schiller. She was a trial attorney and supervisor at the Public Defender Service for the DC. She joined the law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, becoming a partner. Her practice focused on complex civil litigation and specifically antitrust class action cases.

President Barack Obama nominated her as a judge of the US District Court for DC. She received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 25, 2014. On March 27, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by a voice vote. On June 3, 2014, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 54–40 vote. On June 4, 2014, her nomination was confirmed by a 95–0 vote. She received her judicial commission on June 5, 2014.

Her husband, Peter A. Krauthamer, served as a judge on the Superior Court of DC (2012-23). They have two sons. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[beardedmrbean]

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona is waving goodbye to a Civil War-era ban of nearly all abortions as a repeal bill reaches the desk of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Hobbs says the repeal, scheduled for signing on Thursday, is just the beginning of a fight to protect reproductive healthcare in Arizona. But the repeal may not take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, in June or July. Abortion rights advocates hope a court will step in to prevent that outcome.

The effort to repeal the ban won final legislative approval Wednesday in a 16-14 vote of the Senate, as two GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats.

The vote extended for hours as senators described their motivations in personal, emotional and even biblical terms — including graphic descriptions of abortion procedures and amplified audio recordings of a fetal heartbeat, along with warnings against the dangers of “legislating religious beliefs.”

At the same time Wednesday, supporters of a South Dakota abortion rights initiative submitted far more signatures than required to make the ballot this fall, while in Florida a ban took effect against most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant.

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, an opponent of the near-total abortion ban, has said the earliest the dormant abortion-ban law could be enforced is June 27, though she has asked the state’s highest court to block enforcement until sometime in late July. But the anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, maintains county prosecutors can begin enforcing it once the Supreme Court’s decision becomes final, which hasn’t yet occurred.

The near-total ban, which predates Arizona’s statehood, permits abortions only to save the patient’s life and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. In a ruling last month, the Arizona Supreme Court suggested doctors could be prosecuted under the law first approved in 1864, which carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for anyone who assists in an abortion.

A repeal means that a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona’s prevailing abortion law.

Physician Ronald Yunis, a Phoenix-based obstetrician gynecologist who also provides abortions, called the repeal a positive development for women who might otherwise leave Arizona for medical care.

“This is good for ensuring that ensuring that women won’t have to travel to other states just to get the health care they need,” Yunis said. “I was not too concerned because I have a lot of confidence in our governor and attorney general. I’m certain they will continue finding ways to protect women.”

Arizona is one of a handful of battleground states that will decide the next president. Former President Donald Trump, who has warned that the issue could lead to Republican losses, has avoided endorsing a national abortion ban but said he’s proud to have appointed the Supreme Court justices who allowed states to outlaw it.

President Joe Biden’s campaign team believes anger over the fall of Roe v. Wade gives them a political advantage in battleground states like Arizona, while the issue has divided Republican leaders.

Abortion-ban advocates in the Senate on Wednesday gallery jeered and interrupted state Republican state Sen. Shawnna Bolick as she explained her vote in favor of repeal, joining with Democrats. Bolick is married to state Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, who voted in April to allow a 1864 law on abortion to be enforced again. He confronts a retention election in November.

The 19th century law had been blocked since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge that the 1864 ban could be enforced. Still, the law hasn’t actually been enforced while the case was making its way through the courts.

Planned Parenthood Arizona filed a motion Wednesday afternoon that asks the state Supreme Court to prevent a pause in abortion services until the Legislature’s repeal takes effect.

Advocates are collecting signatures for a ballot measure allowing abortions until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with exceptions — to save the parent’s life, or to protect her physical or mental health.

Republican lawmakers, in turn, are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals on the November ballot.

[cheerfullycatholic]

Address of his holiness Pope Francis to participants in the conference "Yes to Life! - Taking Care of the Precious Gift of Life in its Frailty" organized by the dicastery for laity, family and life

Clementine Hall

Saturday, 25 May 2019

Your Eminences,

Dear Brother Bishops and Priests,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good morning and welcome. I greet Cardinal Farrell and I thank him for his words of introduction. My greeting also goes to all taking part in this International Conference, “Yes to Life! Taking Care of the Precious Gift of Life in its Frailty”, organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, and by the Foundation Il Cuore in una Goccia, one of the groups that work daily in our world to welcome children born in conditions of extreme frailty. These are children that the throw-away culture sometimes describes as being “unfit for life”, and thus condemned to death.

No human being can ever be unfit for life, whether due to age, state of health or quality of existence. Every child who appears in a woman’s womb is a gift that changes a family’s history, the life of fathers and mothers, grandparents and of brothers and sisters. That child needs to be welcomed, loved and nurtured. Always! Even when they are crying, like that baby over there… (applause). Some people might think: “But, the baby is crying… they should leave”. No, this is music that all of us need to hear. (I think the baby heard that applause and thought it was for him!) We need to hear the sound always, even when the baby is a little annoying: Also in church: let children cry in church! They are praising God. Never, never chase a child out because he or she is crying. Thank you for your witness.

When a woman discovers that she is expecting a child, she immediately feels within her a deep sense of mystery. A woman who becomes a mother knows this. She is aware of a presence growing within her, one that pervades her whole being. Now she is not only a woman but also a mother. From the very beginning, an intense, interactive dialogue takes place between her and the child. Scientists call this “cross-talk”. It is a real and intense relationship between two human beings communicating with one another from the very first moments of conception, and it leads to a mutual adjustment as the child grows and develops. This ability to communicate is not only on the part of the woman; even more, the child, as an individual, finds ways to communicate his or her presence and needs to the mother. Thus, this new human being immediately becomes a son or daughter, and this moves the woman to connect with her child with all her being.

Nowadays, from the very first weeks, modern prenatal diagnosis techniques can detect the presence of malformations and illness that may at times seriously endanger the life of the child and the mother’s peace of mind. Even the suspicion of an illness, and especially the certainty of a disease, changes the experience of pregnancy and causes deep distress to women and couples. A sense of isolation, helplessness and concern about the eventual suffering of the child and the whole family – all this is like a silent cry, a call for help in the darkness, when faced with an illness whose outcome cannot be foreseen with certainty. Every illness takes its own course, nor can physicians can always know how it will affect each individual.

Yet, there is one thing that medicine knows well, and that is that unborn children with pathological conditions are little patients who can often be treated with sophisticated pharmacological, surgical and support interventions. It is now possible to reduce the frightening gap between diagnoses and therapeutic options. For years, that has been one of the reasons for elective abortion and abandonment of care at the birth of many children with serious medical conditions. Foetal therapies on the one hand, and perinatal hospices on the other, achieve surprising results in terms of clinical care, and they provide essential support to families who embrace the birth of a sick child.

These possibilities and information need to be made available to all, in order to expand a scientific and pastoral approach of competent care. For this reason, it is essential that doctors have a clear understanding not only of the aim of healing, but also of the sacredness of human life, the protection of which remains the ultimate goal of medical practice. The medical profession is a mission, a vocation to life, and it is important that doctors be aware that they themselves are a gift to the families entrusted to them. We need doctors who can establish a rapport with others, assume responsibility for other people’s lives, be proactive in dealing with pain, capable of providing reassurance, and always committed to finding solutions respectful of the dignity of each human life.

In this sense, perinatal comfort care is an approach to care that humanizes medicine, for it entails a responsible relationship to the sick child, who is accompanied by the staff and his or her family in an integrated care process. The child is never abandoned, but is surrounded by human warmth and love.

This is particularly necessary in the case of those children who, in our current state of scientific knowledge, are destined to die immediately after birth or shortly afterwards. In these cases, treatment may seem an unnecessary use of resources and a source of further suffering for the parents. However, if we look at the situation more closely, we can perceive the real meaning behind this effort, which seeks to bring the love of a family to fulfilment. Indeed, caring for these children helps parents to process their mourning and to understand it not only as loss, but also as a stage in a journey travelled together. They will have had the opportunity to love their child, and that child will remain in their memory forever. Many times, those few hours in which a mother can cradle her child in her arms leave an unforgettable trace in her heart. And she feels, if I may use the word, realized. She feels herself a mother.

Unfortunately, the dominant culture today does not promote this approach. On a social level, fear and hostility towards disability often lead to the choice of abortion, presenting it as a form of “prevention”. However, the Church’s teaching on this point is clear: human life is sacred and inviolable, and the use of prenatal diagnosis for selective purposes must be strongly discouraged. It is an expression of an inhumane eugenic mentality that deprives families of the chance to accept, embrace and love the weakest of their children.

Sometimes we hear people say, “You Catholics do not accept abortion; it’s a problem with your faith”. No, the problem is pre-religious. Faith has nothing to do with it. It comes afterwards, but it has nothing to do with it. The problem is a human problem. It is pre-religious. Let’s not blame faith for something that from the beginning has nothing to do with it. The problem is a human problem. Just two questions will help us understand this clearly. Two questions. First: is it licit to eliminate a human life to solve a problem? Second: is it licit to hire a killer to resolve a problem? I leave the answer to you. This is the point. Don’t blame religion for a human issue. It is not licit. Never, never eliminate a human life or hire a killer to solve a problem.

Abortion is never the answer that women and families are looking for. Rather, it is fear of illness and isolation that makes parents waver. The practical, human and spiritual difficulties are undeniable, but it is precisely for this reason that a more incisive pastoral action is urgently needed to support those families who accept sick children. There is a need to create spaces, places and “networks of love” to which couples can turn, and to spend time assisting these families.

I think of a story that I heard of in my other Diocese. A fifteen-year-old girl with Down syndrome became pregnant and her parents went to the judge to get authorization for an abortion. The judge, a very upright man, studied the case and said “I would like to question the girl”. [The parents answered:] “But she has Down syndrome she doesn’t understand”. [The judge replied:] “No, have her come”. The young girl sat down and began to speak with the judge. He said to her: “Do you know what happened to you”. [She replied:] “Yes, I’m sick”. [The judge then asked:] “And what is your sickness?” [She answered:] “They told me that I have an animal inside me that is eating my stomach, and that is why I have to have an operation”. [The judge told her:] “No, you don’t have a worm that’s eating your stomach. You know what you have? It’s a baby”. The young girl with Down syndrome said: “Oh, how beautiful!” That’s what happened. So the judge did not authorize the abortion. The mother wanted it. The years passed; the baby was born, she went to school, she grew up and she became a lawyer. From the time that she knew her story, because they told it to her, every day on her birthday she called the judge to thank him for the gift of being born. The things that happen in life… The judge is now dead and she has become a public prosecutor. See what a beautiful thing happened! Abortion is never the response that women and families are looking for.

Thank you, then, to you who are working for all this. Thank you, in particular, families, mothers and fathers, who have welcomed life that is frail – and I emphasize that word “frail” – for mothers, and women, are specialists in situations of frailty: welcoming frail life. And now, all of you are supporting and helping other families. Your witness of love is a gift to the world. I bless you and keep you in my prayer. And I ask you, please, to pray for me.

[meret118]

Health care workers at hundreds of Kaiser Permanente hospitals and medical facilities across the U.S. walked off the job on Wednesday morning, in an effort to ramp up pressure on their employer to fix a staffing shortage that has intensified since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 75,000 workers — including nurses, emergency department technicians, pharmacists and hundreds of others — went on strike in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

It is the largest health care strike in history, according to the unions. Kaiser, headquartered in Oakland, California, is one of the largest nonprofit health care providers in the United States, serving nearly 13 million patients. Most Kaiser workers will be on strike for three days, until Saturday morning, except those in Virginia and Washington D.C., who will be on strike for 24 hours.

The health care provider has said its hospitals and emergency departments will remain open throughout the strike, staffed by physicians and other staff. It said it is onboarding professionals who will service in critical care roles during the strike.

Kaiser has warned patients that non-emergency and elective services may be rescheduled. The organization is expanding its network of pharmacy locations to include community pharmacies, to ensure patients can access medication in the event that outpatient pharmacies temporarily close. Inpatient pharmacies at Kaiser hospitals will stay open

They're the latest group of crucial workers to strike over work conditions and pay this year, after the Hollywood writers and the ongoing United Auto Workers strike, among others.This walkout is driven by a short-staffing crisis that workers say has led to tough working conditions that make it increasingly difficult to retain Kaiser employees, while also simultaneously leading to a deterioration in the quality of care for Kaiser's patients.

More at the link.

[thepro-lifemovement]

A groundbreaking national study published in November 2021 by CLI scholars found that the rate of abortion pill-related emergency room visits increased over 500 percent from 2002 through 2015 (the most recent data available).

A follow-up study this year found that if a woman’s abortion pill-related complications are miscoded by emergency room personnel as a natural miscarriage, she is:

Twice as likely to be admitted for surgery for retained products of conception; and

At significantly greater risk of multiple hospital admissions for treatment of the same complication.

Major media outlets, including New York magazine and Daily Kos, have recently published pro-abortion articles encouraging women to “avoid mentioning abortion, and the pills, entirely” should they go to the emergency room due to complications.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, the CLI studies are the first to utilize Medicaid claims data to conduct a 17-year longitudinal analysis of 423,000 confirmed abortions and 121,283 confirmed subsequent visits to an emergency room in the 17 states which use state taxpayer funds to pay for abortion.

Dr. James Studnicki, CLI vice president of data analytics and lead author of the emergency room studies, said:

“This real-world data, based on actual Medicaid claims rather than a sampled survey population, should be a wake-up call to elected leaders, public health officials, and the medical community in New York.  The safety of the abortion pill is greatly exaggerated, a deception made possible by the FDA’s decision to stop collecting data on most abortion pill complications back in 2016.  Hemorrhage, emergency surgery, near death experience?  The FDA doesn’t collect that data, which leaves public health officials in the dark.   “Women are far more likely to visit the emergency room following a chemical rather than surgical abortion.  The rate of these emergency room visits is growing remarkably fast.  And now New York allows these pills to be mailed to women without even consulting with a physician?  This represents a serious public health threat.”

[hope-for-olicity]

Ontario has Privatized Healthcare Despite the Canada Health Act and the Silence is Infuriating

On May 8, 2023 the Ontario government, with it’s majority Progressive Conservative MPPs, passed Bill 60 under the thinly veiled guise that it was going to help people access healthcare and they could use their OHIP card to pay for surgeries in PRIVATE clinics.

Private clinics that will charge the government more than the public system and will offer upgrades that the patient will feel pressured to pay for out of pocket. All the while, publicly funded ORs in hospital remain dark. 

Am I am surprised the Doug Ford found another way to give his rich friends more money? Absolutely not!

What I’m disappointed and am enraged about is the federal government did NOTHING. In fact, the Prime Minister called the idea innovative. If the Liberals want to know what they have already lost my vote in the next election - THIS IS WHY.

THE CANADIAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS IN CRISIS!

Yes, I put that in all caps. I want to scream it from the rafters because while this is a well known fact, the people who have the power to do something about it are doing NOTHING.

Shockingly and outdated system does not work to meet our modern medical needs - nor should it. The world has changed since the Canada Health Act was brought in. It’s time for smart people - and we have them - to assess the system and come up with a plan to change to work for Canadians. This change won’t be overnight but to know that it has occurred to SOMEONE to start investigating it - would be a good sign. 

Right now it feels like healthcare professionals and patients are screaming into a void. 

As a person who has medical conditions that leads to emergency room visits this concerns me on a personal level when it comes to hospitals but it’s not just hospitals - 6 million Canadians do not have access to a family physician. I feel like we are long past the moment for warning bells - the warning bells have been going so long they have died without any action by the provincial or federal governments.

Let me be blunt, no province or territory in Canada is dealing with this. The ENTIRE country is in crisis. So far the federal solution has been to throw money on the problem - that’s what the provinces and territories who manage healthcare say they need. Well the money has been thrown - and I’m waiting....

This government also threw money at Ontario during the pandemic and Ford DID NOT spend it on healthcare. There is no point in throwing money at broken system without working on ways to change it. 

The federal government needs to prioritize healthcare, protect the Canada Health Act and either manage the provinces/ territories (which would go over like a lead balloon) - or simply takeover themselves.

I personally have lost someone dear to me due to the healthcare crisis and so have countless others. When will the federal government act?!

Because clearly provinces/territories are not/cannot - and some like Ontario, are taking advantage of the crisis to help their friends make money through privatization. 

And privatization is a genie that does not go back in the bottle. The federal opposition likes to say Canada is broken  - but I’ve yet to hear them say boo about healthcare...

Nothing but silence as people die.

[scotianostra]

Alexander Wood was born on 10th December 1817 in Cupar, Fife.

Alexander became a physician and gave the world the first   Hypodermic syringe.

Alexander Wood was born in 1817 in Fife, the son of a local doctor. The family moved to Edinburgh’s New Town in 1821 and Wood eventually enrolled at the University of Edinburgh in 1832 where he studied arts and medicine.

He graduated with the MD in 1839 and established his own private medical practice in the New Town. He also began lecturing at the Extramural Medical School from 1841.

But it's his 1850s invention that would lead him to notoriety.

Inspired by the work of fellow Edinburgh alumnus James Young Simpson around anaesthesia, Wood became fascinated with finding ways to relieve localised pain.

In 1853 his research led him to taking the earlier invention of a hollow needle and adding a plunger. He then developed this idea further into the first all-glass syringe with fine-bone needle that allowed doctors to estimate a dosage based on the amount of liquid observed through the glass, thus allowing for smaller measured doses to be administered.

His first patient was an 80 year-old woman who suffered from a form of neuralgia, which he successfully treated by injecting her area of discomfort with morphia (morphine dissolved in sherry). Wood had invented and used the world’s first hypodermic syringe.

By coincidence, Charles Gabriel Pravaz, a French surgeon who had had no contact with Wood, reported his very similar invention in the same year, shortly before he died. But while Wood's device was made of glass and featured a plunger, Prava's invention was composed of silver and used a screw to push medicine into the body; and while Wood performed his trials on humans, Prava chose sheep.

Wood's treatment by subcutaneous (as he referred to it, the term ‘hypodermic’ wasn’t coined until decades later) injection rapidly became popular in Britain.

His instruments were advertised as "Dr Alexander Wood's narcotic injection syringes", and the needles used in today’s medicine follow the same design.

Wood went on to play a prominent role in Scottish medical politics through his work as President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, including persuading the college to admit non-graduates into its licensing examinations, and campaigning for legislation pharmacy, the registration of births and marriages, and sanitary reform. He also argued for the official rights of the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine, which would have later implications for women wishing to study the subject.

Wood was also elected to the Edinburgh Police Commission and chaired the acting committee of the Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, a charity that provided food and work for the unemployed.

Wood died in his home in February 1884 after a short illness, and is buried in Edinburgh's Dean Cemetery. He left behind his wife, Rebecca Massey (incidentally the subject of a false rumour that she was the first known morphine addict after injecting herself using her husband's invention), and the lasting importance of his hypodermic syringe.