October 23, 2021

'I don't know how many moments we have to have before it matters'

From Gabby Petito to Tyga to 'MAID': 'I don't know how many moments we have to have before it matters'
Alia E. Dastagir
USA TODAY




From Gabby Petito to Tyga to 'MAID': 'I don't know how many moments we have to have before it matters'

In the last couple of months, there have been a number of high-profile incidents of domestic abuse in the news.

The murder of Gabby Petito has received overwhelming media attention. Bodycam footage and a 911 call before Petito's death raised questions about possible domestic violence issues between Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in her death whose remains were found Wednesday in a Florida wilderness park. Rapper Tyga, real name Michael Stevenson and famously the former beau of Kylie Jenner, was arrested last week after an ex-girlfriend shared photos of his alleged abuse to her Instagram Story. The hugely popular series "MAID," which premiered on Netflix this month, explores the lesser understood dimensions of emotional abuse.

There have been several important cultural moments before. Advocates point to the abused housewife Farrah Fawcett played in the 1984 film "The Burning Bed," the O.J. Simpson trial in the '90s, Rihanna's violent assault by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in 2009, and to some extent #MeToo. But combatting domestic abuse requires far more than increased public awareness – it is a complex social problem with many causes, different prevention points, affecting different populations with different needs. It also goes well beyond the highly sensationalized cases of physical violence or murder.


From Gabby Petito to Tyga to 'MAID': 'I don't know how many moments we have to have before it matters'
Alia E. Dastagir
USA TODAY






In the last couple of months, there have been a number of high-profile incidents of domestic abuse in the news.

The murder of Gabby Petito has received overwhelming media attention. Bodycam footage and a 911 call before Petito's death raised questions about possible domestic violence issues between Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in her death whose remains were found Wednesday in a Florida wilderness park. Rapper Tyga, real name Michael Stevenson and famously the former beau of Kylie Jenner, was arrested last week after an ex-girlfriend shared photos of his alleged abuse to her Instagram Story. The hugely popular series "MAID," which premiered on Netflix this month, explores the lesser understood dimensions of emotional abuse.

There have been several important cultural moments before. Advocates point to the abused housewife Farrah Fawcett played in the 1984 film "The Burning Bed," the O.J. Simpson trial in the '90s, Rihanna's violent assault by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in 2009, and to some extent #MeToo. But combatting domestic abuse requires far more than increased public awareness – it is a complex social problem with many causes, different prevention points, affecting different populations with different needs. It also goes well beyond the highly sensationalized cases of physical violence or murder.

One in 3 women has experienced intimate partner violence, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I don't know how many moments we have to have before it matters," said TK Logan, a professor at the University of Kentucky whose research focuses on intimate partner violence, specifically stalking. "I've been studying this for almost 30 years and the attention comes in waves. It's good to talk about it. I don't mean to minimize that, but we have to do more than talk. We need to start helping women."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2021/10/22/gabby-petito-maid-tyga-domestic-violence-everywhere-now-what/6132427001/
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OCTOBER IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH! And please remember that domestic violence does not always have to be physical. It can also be emotional, psychological or sexual

October 23, 2021

Elephant kills poacher in South Africa, park officials suspect

An alleged poacher was found dead and likely killed by an elephant on Thursday, according to a South African national park.

Kruger National Park tweeted a "suspected poacher" was killed by an elephant and "left behind by his accomplices." No animals were killed in the immediate area.

Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals. The park warned "it is dangerous to hunt illegally" in the area.

"Criminals stand to lose their lives and freedom," Kruger National Park tweeted. The park, located in northeastern South Africa, is the nation's largest national park, according to Britannica.com.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/23/south-african-national-park-elephant-killed-poacher/6153682001/
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Chalk up one for the elephants!

October 23, 2021

Rampant Poaching Forces Elephants to Evolve to Not Have Tusks, Study Finds

Elephants in Mozambique are evolving away from having tusks due to pressure from rampant poaching over decades, according to a daunting new study.

Published in the journal Science on Friday, the report from researchers across departments at Princeton University, the non-profit ElephantVoices, Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, and the University of Idaho, analyzed survey data that suggests natural selection has favored tusklessness in female elephants—a rare genetic trait that has become more common—amid high rates of poaching and population decline.

The researchers took scans of the entire elephant genome and located two genes associated with tooth development in mammals, both of which guide the formation of enamel, dentin, and other materials necessary for tooth and tusk development. One of the genes—AMELX, which provides instructions for the creation of a protein called amelogenin—was found to be associated with selection pressure due to poaching.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjbdnp/rampant-poaching-forces-elephants-to-evolve-to-not-have-tusks-study-finds

October 23, 2021

With a fifth of Virginia's nursing homes failing to meet staffing standards, stakeholders split on s

With a fifth of Virginia’s nursing homes failing to meet staffing standards, stakeholders split on solutions

One fifth of Virginia’s nursing homes are failing to meet expected staffing levels under federal standards. It’s increasing the risk of low quality care, especially for low-income and black Virginians.

That’s according to a new study presented to the General Assembly’s Joint Commission on Healthcare. Lawmakers are looking into various legislative solutions ahead of the 2022 session.

That report also found that Virginia has more nursing homes with low staff ratings than other states.

“Facilities with low staffing are more likely to have poor quality measures in health inspection ratings,” said Associate Health Policy Analyst Kyu Kang. “Low staffing negatively impacts care quality as well as staff and resident well being.”

Among the possible fixes being considered are mandatory staffing standards. Currently, Virginia is in the minority as one of 16 states that doesn’t require a minimum ratio, according to Kang.

https://www.wric.com/news/with-a-fifth-of-virginias-nursing-homes-failing-to-meet-staffing-standards-stakeholders-split-on-solutions/
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But of course the industry is opposed to standards, even minimum ones.....

October 23, 2021

Chesterfield mom says daughter distraught after local dentist uses little-known 'hand over mouth' te

Chesterfield mom says daughter distraught after local dentist uses little-known ‘hand over mouth’ technique

A Chesterfield mom said her young daughter’s latest dental visit was disturbing. Tracy Sikes said she was surprised to learn some dentists use a little-known technique to calm a hysterical child down during a procedure called “hand over mouth.”

The practice is no longer taught in local dental schools, frowned upon by some leading dental groups and even considered abusive by some dentists. Still, it is considered an acceptable practice in Virginia.

Sikes 9-year-old-daughter Emily had an appointment at Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics of Virginia on Hull Street Road to cap a molar. Sikes said her daughter left the dentist’s office distraught, swollen and in pain.

“She was just crying,” Sikes said. “She was extremely upset.”

The mother admits dental work is sometimes uncomfortable and scary for children. So, she pressed her daughter in hopes of understanding more about what happened during the visit.

Sikes said, “She said that she was crying and screaming because it hurt when he was drilling.”

However, what her daughter told her next about how the dentist, Dr. Steven Lubbe, handled her pain and fear left mom stunned.

“She told me that the dentist clamped his hand over her mouth and leaned down and told her to stop crying,” Sikes said. “When I hear that an adult man has put his hand over my daughter’s mouth when she is in pain and upset, of course, that brings out the mamma bear.”

https://www.wric.com/news/taking-action/mom-says-daughter-distraught-after-local-dentist-uses-little-known-hand-over-mouth-technique/
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Read on, it gets worse. Shit like this is why a lot of us hate dentists even as adults.

October 22, 2021

D.C. assistant police chief says she was told to 'have an abortion or be fired'

The assistant police chief in Washington, D.C., one of 10 Black women who filed a class-action lawsuit last month against the city alleging widespread discrimination, said this week that as a cadet she was told she had to get an abortion to keep her job.

“My choice to have a baby was personal, and it should’ve been mine alone and not for an employer ultimatum,” Chanel Dickerson said Tuesday at a community meeting. “I was told I had to have an abortion or be fired from the MPD cadet program.” She said she was 18 at the time.

It was unclear what happened afterward, but Dickerson has been with the department since 1988, according to the department's website.

Dickerson and the other former and current employees of the Metropolitan Police Department said in the lawsuit filed in September that they were discriminated against because of their race and gender, and that the division in charge of addressing harassment is run by a man who has expressed hostility toward female officers and tried to discredit women who have come forward.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/d-c-assistant-police-chief-says-she-was-told-have-n1282115

October 22, 2021

Illinois high schoolers survey if 'queers' should use the bathroom with 'normal people'

A survey asking students if they think "queers" should be allowed to use the school restroom with "normal people" circulated at an Illinois high school this week, the latest of a recent slew of reported attacks on LGBTQ students across the country.

The survey was distributed at Anna-Jonesboro Community High School in Anna, Illinois, on Wednesday by an unidentified number of students who called themselves the "Anti-Queer Association," according Rob Wright, the school's superintendent.

It asks students to vote either &quot YES) I WANT QUEERS TO GO IN THE BATHROOM" or &quot NO) I DON'T WANT QUEER KIDS TO GO TO THE BATHROOM WITH US NORMAL PEOPLE."

Wright told NBC News that only a few copies of the poll were handed out before the school discovered them Wednesday morning, but an image of the survey was posted on Facebook. He added that the number of students involved in the debacle was "very limited" and that disciplinary measures were taken against them.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/illinois-high-schoolers-survey-queers-use-bathroom-normal-people-rcna3582
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Southern Illinois aka "Egypt" aka northern Mississippi

October 22, 2021

GOP Candidate for CA Sec. of State Claims She Inspired Witch's Murder

In her bid to be California’s Secretary of State, Republican candidate Rachel Hamm has the backing of some of the leading lights in the Trump movement. She has the endorsement of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon called her part of a “​​rising generation of superstars.”

But Hamm’s new allies often fail to mention her role battling in what she imagines as a ceaseless war with Satanists and witches.

Hamm has claimed that devil-worshippers sacrificed animals and performed other occult rituals in front of her house. But she isn’t without her defenses, saying that her prayers also inspired the murder of a witch in her neighborhood.

Hamm laid out some of her beliefs about a real-life battle between devil-worshippers in an Oct. 7 event at Fresno City College hosted by Turning Point USA. Hamm claimed the neighborhood surrounding the community college was “known for having a lot of Satanic activity,” which she experienced herself when a devil-worshipper murdered a raven on her own lawn.

“The day that I moved into that house, someone from the Satanic community came to my house with a black raven in his hand, and he twisted off the neck of the bird and let the blood spill out onto my property to claim my property and assert the power of Satan over my home,” Hamm said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-candidate-for-california-secretary-of-state-rachel-hamm-claims-she-inspired-witchs-murder?ref=home

October 22, 2021

Sinclair Workers Say TV Channels Are in 'Pandemonium' After Ransomware Attack

In the early hours of Sunday morning, hackers took down the corporate servers and systems of Sinclair Broadcast Group, a giant U.S. TV conglomerate that owns or operates more than 600 channels across the country.

Days later, inside the company, “it's pandemonium and chaos,” as one current employee, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak to the press, told Motherboard.

Sinclair calls itself “the largest and most diversified television broadcasting company in the country,” but it has a controversial reputation. In the last few years, the company has aggressively tried to expand its already vast empire with an attempted—and failed—acquisition of Tribune Media. Critics have also criticized it for using so-called "must-run" segments to push local news stations around the country to run identical, conservative-leaning packages.

The company is now in the headlines for being the latest in a seemingly endless list of ransomware victims. Sinclair has released very few details about the attack since it was hacked Sunday. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the group behind the attack is the infamous Evil Corp., a ransomware gang that is believed to be based in Russia and which was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury department in 2019.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dypg4w/sinclair-workers-say-tv-channels-are-in-pandemonium-after-ransomware-attack

October 22, 2021

Eswatini protests: Nurses refuse to treat police after colleagues shot

Nurses in Eswatini are refusing to treat police officers as they accuse them of shooting colleagues during a pro-democracy rally on Wednesday.

Protests in Africa's last absolute monarchy, formerly known as Swaziland, have swept the country since June.

Some internet services, such as Facebook, were temporarily shut down this week in response to the unrest.

The government, which denies that security forces used live ammunition, has now banned all demonstrations.

But on Friday nurses were protesting at three hospitals, reports say.

The Swazi News Twitter account has shared a video which it says shows nurses demonstrating at the Nhlangano Health Centre in the south of the country.

Earlier this week, health workers and other public sector employees, who went to deliver a petition to parliament demanding better living conditions, were met with an "unprecedented show of force", the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SDNU) said.

Thirty nurses were injured as the police and army opened fire and a young bystander was killed, the union added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59011033
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Nurses are held in pretty high regard in Africa. I wonder what would happen in this country if.......