March 2, 2020

Doctors Are Examining the Vaginas of Unconscious Women Without Their Consent

Informed consent and informed refusal are cornerstones of medical ethics. They’re also constitutional rights. A person can even refuse life-saving medical treatment. Doctors who ignore competent patients when they refuse medical treatment have committed a criminal assault.

But some doctors are ignoring this fundamental right when they treat women. According to several investigative reports, doctors are performing pelvic exams on women without their consent, and often against their will, when they go in for surgery. The practice doesn’t just apply to women who have gynecologic surgeries. A woman who goes in for a tonsillectomy or gallbladder removal might be subjected to a doctor probing around in her vagina, and never even know it.

The New York Times details the story of an Arizona nurse who checked into a hospital for stomach surgery. She told her doctor she did not want students involved in her procedure. After she awoke, doctors told her she had gotten her period. They knew because they had performed an invasive pelvic exam without her permission. Another woman told a hospital that she did not consent to a pelvic exam during routine, non-gynecological surgery. The hospital told her she had to consent to the surgery, and that if she didn’t, she should seek care elsewhere.

These incidents are not anomalous. At teaching hospitals across the country, students practice pelvic exams by performing them on unconscious women, even when those women do not consent or specifically state that they do not want an exam. Most women never know that they have been violated. But some, like science teacher Sarah Wright, report complications such as pelvic pain.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/26/1922213/-Doctors-Are-Examining-the-Vaginas-of-Unconscious-Women-Without-Their-Consent?detail=emaildkcc

March 2, 2020

San Jose opens first tiny home community for formerly homeless residents

Walking into San Jose’s first tiny home community for homeless residents is like stepping foot inside a miniature gated neighborhood.

After making your way past the 10-foot gate surrounding the property, 40 tiny homes — 80-square-feet rectangular structures with just enough room for a single bed, desk, shelf and air conditioning and heating system — are in neat rows with gravel paths, lined with potted plants, leading from one home to another.

The unconventional community built on a Valley Transportation Authority site leased by the city on Mabury Road near Coyote Creek offers a mix of stability and compassion for those trying to stay afloat in spite of the region’s chronic shortage of affordable housing.

And after more than three years in the making and months of delays, state and local leaders from Mayor Sam Liccardo to Assemblyman Ash Kalra to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday gathered at the site — formally called a bridge housing community — to tout it as an innovative approach to helping solve the state’s growing homeless crisis. In San Jose alone, more than 6,000 residents sleep in cars, shelters or on the streets every night.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/27/san-jose-opens-first-tiny-home-community-for-formerly-homeless-residents/

March 2, 2020

Wild elephant breaking an Electric fence

Elephants are smart cookies. You can see this one calculating. Its a real shame they were picked as the rethuglican symbol.

February 26, 2020

JP Morgan Chase Will Halt Financing of Arctic Oil, Gas Drilling, and Coal Plants

In a major win for environmental organizations and Indigenous groups, JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday announced that it will not finance oil and gas extraction in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, nor will it continue financing many coal-related enterprises, including thermal coal mines and coal-fired power plants across the world. The announcement comes after a years-long pressure campaign by environmentalists and Indigenous peoples, who together have called on the giant bank—which is by far the leading US investor in fossil fuels—to move away from projects that threaten the climate.

JPMorgan Chase executives made the announcement at the bank’s annual Investor Day, during which they promised to stop investing in and providing services to companies that derive “the majority of their revenues from the extraction of coal” by 2024, as well as to not provide financing to offshore and onshore oil and gas extraction in the Arctic. JPMorgan Chase CFO Jennifer Piepszak also announced that the bank is committing $200 billion in financing across three focus areas: supporting climate action, clean water, and waste management; increasing access to housing, education, and health care; and advancing infrastructure, innovation, and growth.

Environmental activists and Indigenous leaders who have been staging protests against Chase applauded the announcement, which comes just two months after another leading US bank—Goldman Sachs—made a similar commitment not to finance oil drilling in the Arctic.

“It was emotional when Goldman Sachs, and now JPMorgan Chase, made their announcement,” Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, told Sierra. “I’m really grateful that somebody who made that decision listened, and thank Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase for listening to the people and the Indigenous voices of the area. We just hope that more [banks] follow suit and more banks and oil and gas companies understand that Indigenous peoples in this country are not just going to allow you to come into our homeland and do whatever you want.”

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/jp-morgan-chase-will-halt-financing-arctic-oil-gas-drilling?utm_source=currents&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter


This is HUGE! Good article.

February 25, 2020

President Barack Obama & the Obama Foundation surprised the #NBARisingStars & local Chicago students

From Feb. 14th.

Once again, this is what a real leader looks like.

February 24, 2020

Scientists serve up 100% real meat, without the cruelty or carbon

Imagine a world where even the most committed vegan can bite into a beef burger without betraying their principles. Science has made this unlikely scenario a reality.

The argument that “meat is murder” could become a thing of the past, thanks to groundbreaking technology that produces real meat from animal cells.

Memphis Meats, which is backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson, is developing a process that churns out beef, chicken and duck, without the need to raise animals for slaughter.

Not only does this fledgling technology safeguard animal welfare, it also provides a solution to the sustainability and human health issues of raising livestock for meat.

With other companies also investing in the technology, it is hoped that so-called ‘clean meat’ could soon be available on the mass market.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/08/memphis-meat-vegetarian-humane-sustainable


Feed the world... Maybe not so far in the future.

February 24, 2020

Great Pyrenees Pup for Adoption/Rescue

Is that a face to love, or what? If I didn't already have 3 Pyr's, I'd grab him.

Adoption Fee: $100

"Hello! This is Levi, he needs to find a home ASAP! He is a loving dog and super sweet. He was given to me by a family that couldn't afford him. However, he needs a fenced yard or farm to live on! Please respond if interested. I have to find him a home. I cannot be his temporary home for much longer."

Good with Most Dogs
Good with Kids and Adults
Low Energy
Average Temperament
Needs to be Neutered
Vaccinations Current

Contact info on website:
http://post.rescueme.org/20-01-28-00356

He is in Tenn. currently.

February 24, 2020

The Call Of The Wild

Went to see it today. Its terrific! Loved it. The cinematography is spectacular, and the animation is believable and well done. Harrison Ford, as usual, slips into the part like a gravely-voiced glove.

Highly recommend.

February 21, 2020

Hey! Look what I got--From the Office of Senator McConnell

Dear ***,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the impeachment of President Trump. I appreciate your sharing your views with me, and I welcome this opportunity to respond.

From the very beginning of this presidency, President Trump’s opponents have been obsessed with impeaching him and nullifying the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Overruling the American voters is one of the gravest acts in which the House of Representatives can engage. Any such process must be conducted with the utmost fairness and transparency. Yet the inquiry in the House could not be described as fair or transparent. It instead was the most rushed, least fair and least thorough presidential impeachment inquiry in American history.

After rushing through an unprecedented, partisan impeachment process citing a great sense of urgency, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to prevent a fair and timely trial in the Senate by refusing to transmit the articles of impeachment for almost a month. Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution clearly states that “The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.” The House can begin the impeachment process, but only the Senate can resolve it. My Senate colleagues and I refused to cede our constitutional authority to the partisan motivations of Speaker Pelosi.

On January 15, 2020, Speaker Pelosi finally conceded and transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The following day, the trial in the Senate commenced with the swearing in of the Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. Unlike the House proceedings, the Senate trial gave both sides a fair platform. During the trial, senators heard sworn video testimony from 13 witnesses, entered more than 28,000 pages of documents into evidence, asked 180 questions of both sides, and considered all arguments.

On February 5, 2020, I, along with a majority of the Senate, voted to acquit President Trump on both articles of impeachment. By voting to acquit, the U.S. Senate also delivered a crucial statement for the long-term future of our Republic. House Democrats tried everything to take two presidential elections out of the voters’ hands. They want to cancel out the people’s choice in 2016 and take away their choice in 2020. The framers built the Senate to be a firewall against mindless partisanship. We held the line. We fulfilled our constitutional duty and protected our institutions from the partisan fervor that swept through the House. As long as I am Majority Leader, I will never let short-term rage inflict permanent damage on our Constitution.

Thank you, again, for contacting me to share your thoughts. If you would like to receive periodic updates from my office, please sign up for my eNewsletter at http://mcconnell.senate.gov/, become a fan of my page on Facebook by visiting http://www.facebook.com/mitchmcconnell or follow my office on Twitter @McConnellPress.


Sincerely,

MITCH McCONNELL
UNITED STATES SENATOR

February 20, 2020

First UK patients get Novartis' Luxturna gene therapy for blindness

The first NHS patients have started treatment with Novartis’ Luxturna, a gene therapy for a sight-robbing inherited disease, after the drugmaker agreed a discount on its £613,000 list price last year.

Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec) was recommended for NHS funding in September for use in patients with vision loss caused by inherited retinal dystrophy from confirmed RPE65 gene mutations, including children with Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA).

At the time, cost-effectiveness watchdog NICE said around 86 people in England would be eligible for the treatment, which has been shown in trials to prevent progressive sight loss and even improve vision in some patients. NHS England now says that number could be as high as 100.

--snip

The therapy is however only suitable for patients who retain some degree of vision, and there needs to be sufficient retinal cells remaining to take up and express the gene therapy.

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/first-uk-patients-get-novartis-luxturna-gene-therapy-for-blindness