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231,395 | globalresearch--2019-10-14--Bayer Shareholders: Put Health and Nature First and Stop Funding this Company! | 2019-10-14T00:00:00 | globalresearch | Bayer Shareholders: Put Health and Nature First and Stop Funding this Company! | Campaigner and environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason has just written an open letter to Bayer Crop Science shareholders and Chairman of the Board Werner Wenning. She has also sent them a 13,000-word report. Mason is appealing to shareholders to put human health and nature ahead of profit and to stop funding Bayer. In her report, she sets out why shareholders should take this course of action. Mason outlines how the gradual onset of the global extinction of many species is largely the result of chemical-intensive industrial agriculture. For instance, she argues that Monsanto’s (now Bayer) glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide and Bayer’s clothianidin are largely responsible for the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef and that the use of glyphosate and neonicotinoid insecticides are wiping out wildlife species across the globe. Mason also argues that the science behind (chemical-dependent) GMOs is fraudulent and that the devastating effects of pesticides on human health can no longer be ignored. She begins by addressing some of her concerns directly to Werner Wenning and Bayer shareholders. The following is a slightly edited (for clarity) version Mason’s letter to Wenning (and shareholders) and sets the scene for what is in her report. I have taken the liberty of writing an Open Letter to Bayer Crop Science Shareholders for your next meeting. I apologise because I can’t find the email address of Paul Singer, Founder of Elliott Management Corporation but could you please pass it on. I understand that Elliott disclosed in June that it has a $1.3 billion stake in Bayer and Paul Singer was anxious for a settlement (glyphosate litigation cases in the US). US District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco suggested a high-profile mediator, Ken Feinberg to lead settlement talks over the herbicide litigation. Has he resolved anything? I understand that the Monsanto lobbyist organisation Genetic Literacy Project (Founding Director Jon Entine) has suggested that you might take the European Union to Court if they ban glyphosate in 2022. Liam Condon for Bayer Crop Science said: If we feel a scientific process, an established regulatory pathway, is being completely ignored, then of course we’ve got to look at all our options. As you must be aware, Cancer Research UK protects the agrochemical industry: the CRUK website claims “there is little evidence that pesticides cause cancer” Michael Pragnell former Chairman of Cancer Research UK (2010-2017), founder of Syngenta and former Chairman of CropLife International, was awarded a CBE in 2017 for services to cancer research. CropLife International was founded in 2001. As of 2015, CropLife International´s member list included the following eight companies: BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, FMC Corp, Monsanto, Sumitomo and Syngenta. Many of these corporations make their own formulated glyphosate. CRUK said that there was little evidence that pesticides caused cancer. CRUK, the CMO England and PHE, linked cancer to alcohol, obesity and smoking. They blamed the people for ‘lifestyle choices’. But I have warned Lord Gardiner of Kimble, Under-Secretary of State for Defra, that when the British people wake up to the fact that pesticides are responsible for their reduced life expectancy (and the fact that they spend the last 16-20 years or so in poor health), Defra may be taken to court for re-registering Roundup when they knew it not only caused cancer but a host of other problems that have been outlined in my document. The 2019 UK State of Nature revealed shocking declines in the natural world 04/10/2019 Jon Snow, in the Channel 4 Report ‘Extinction Britain: Wildlife survey shows shocking declines in animals’, noted that 14% of UK wildlife faces extinction. Jon Snow has finally told the truth: “We all thought it was climate change. Now we are told we are actually poisoning the land with our agriculture.” Most UK farmers who manage ‘75% of UK land’ are drowning their crops in pesticides and lobbied to continue this The National Farmers’ Union, the Crop Protection Association and the Agricultural Industries Confederation combined to lobby the EU not to restrict the 320+ pesticides available to them. Global Chemicals Outlook II – From Legacies to Innovative Solutions: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development March 2019 Mandated by the UN Environment Assembly in 2016, this agenda seeks to alert policymakers and other stakeholders to the critical role of the sound management of chemicals and waste in sustainable development. It takes stock of global trends as well as progress made and gaps in achieving the global goal to minimize the adverse impacts from chemicals and waste by 2020. However, there is Continued growth in the pesticide/crop protection industry “Pesticides include herbicides, insecticides, termiticides, nematicides, rodenticides and fungicides. These products are largely used for crop protection in agriculture. Today the industry is valued at over US dollars 50 billion and there are around 600 active ingredients. Herbicides account for approximately 80 per cent of all pesticide use (Phillips McDougal 2018).” Top 10 products used on major crops in the United States by volume, 1968 – 2016 (Phillips McDougal 2018, p. 4) • No 1 Glyphosate (an herbicide, an antibiotic, a fungicide, an antiprotozoal, an organic phosphonate, a growth regulator, a toxicant, a virulence enhancer and is persistent in the soil. It chelates (captures) and washes out the following minerals: boron, calcium, cobalt, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, nickel and zinc. (Monsanto/Bayer), • No 8 atrazine, an herbicide and endocrine-disrupting chemical (Syngenta) • No 9 abamectin, an insecticide, an acaricide Do you really want to put your money into two corporations that lied about the safety of their products for more than 40 years and continue to produce BIOCIDES for agriculture; chemicals that are weapons of war and kill all life? Bayer Crop Science, the former IG Farben, a private chemical company allied with the Nazis in WW2, built a factory and a concentration camp at Auschwitz. IG Farben was probably the most well-known corporate participant in the Holocaust, and the company’s history sheds a chilling light on how genocide became tied in with economics and business. Key points for Bayer shareholders to consider The following lists just some of the key bullet points from Mason’s report. A wide range of peer-reviewed studies are listed in support of the claims made. Readers are strongly urged to access it in full via the acadameia.edu site. • Monsanto and pesticide regulators claim that Roundup only affects plants, fungi and bacteria because they have the shikimate pathway which is absent in humans and animals. Their assertion displays considerable ignorance of human physiology. Alternatively, it is deliberately fraudulent. Humans and animals have trillions of bacteria in their gut: the gut microbiome. • The gut microbiome is the collective genome of organisms inhabiting our body. Obesity is associated with low bacterial richness in the gut. Glyphosate, the controversial main ingredient in Monsanto‘s Roundup and other herbicides, disrupts the shikimate pathway within these gut bacteria, without which we cannot survive. Glyphosate is a strong chelator of essential minerals. In addition, it kills off beneficial gut bacteria and allows toxic bacteria such as Clostridium difficile to flourish. Two key problems caused by glyphosate residues in our diet are nutritional deficiencies, especially minerals and essential amino-acids, and systemic toxicity. • The richness of the human gut microbiome correlates with metabolic markers: we are facing a global metabolic health crisis provoked by an obesity epidemic. Britain and the US are in the midst of a barely reported public health crisis. They are experiencing not merely a slowdown in life expectancy, which in many other rich countries is continuing to lengthen, but the start of an alarming increase in death rates across all our populations, men and women alike. We are needlessly allowing our people to die early. • There is a gradual onset of the global extinction of trees and crops. Moreover, the fungicidal action of Roundup is destroying the means by which trees communicate. It would be irresponsible to release genetically engineered trees into the environment. • Glyphosate is being connected to Lake Erie’s troubling algae blooms, which has fouled drinking water and suffocated and killed marine life in recent years. Roundup and clothianidin are largely responsible for the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef because the APVMA did not read the instructions. • Massive kills of wildlife during flooding now make sense with glyphosate and clothianidin having been found to be toxic to aquatic invertebrates, biocides and immune suppressants. • Emerging pathogens are wiping out wildlife species across the globe partly due to immune suppression by glyphosate and neonicotinoid insecticides. • None The science behind GMOs is fraudulent. US Attorney Steven Druker says that governments and leading scientific institutions have systematically misrepresented the facts about GMOs. • None In the UK, each year there are steady increases in the numbers of new cancers and increases in deaths from the same cancers, with no treatments making any difference to the numbers. • Neurotransmitter changes in the brain derive from exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides. • The global legacy of aspartame, Monsanto’s neurotoxic sweetener: Erik Millstone has just analysed EFSA Panel decisions on Aspartame and finds they are biased towards industry (2019 paper). All of Rosemary Mason’s reports and open letters to officials can be accessed here | Colin Todhunter | https://www.globalresearch.ca/bayer-shareholders-put-health-nature-first-stop-funding-company/5691847 | Mon, 14 Oct 2019 14:17:07 +0000 | 1,571,077,027 | 1,571,090,969 | science and technology | scientific institution |
236,209 | hitandrun--2019-09-19--The Supreme Courts Next Big School Choice Case | 2019-09-19T00:00:00 | hitandrun | The Supreme Court's Next Big School Choice Case | In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Cleveland, Ohio's school choice program against the charge that it was unconstitutional for that city to provide tuition aid to parents who opted to send their children to religiously affiliated magnet schools. So long as "a government aid program is neutral with respect to religion, and provides assistance directly to a broad class of citizens who, in turn, direct government aid to religious schools wholly as a result of their own genuine and independent private choice," the Court said in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the program passes constitutional muster. The Supreme Court is now preparing to weigh the constitutional merits of another school choice initiative. At issue in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue is a 2015 scholarship program created by the Montana legislature "to provide parental and student choice in education." The program operates by creating a tax credit for individuals and businesses that donate to private, nonprofit scholarship organizations, which then use such donations to fund educational scholarships. Families who qualify for the scholarships may use the money to help send their children to a "qualified education provider," a statutory category which includes religiously affiliated private schools, grades K through 12. In 2018, however, the Montana Supreme Court declared religious schools entirely off-limits for the program, pointing to a provision of the Montana Constitution which prohibits the use of public funds "for any sectarian purpose or to aid any church, school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution, controlled in whole or in party by any church, sect, or denomination." In other words, the Montana Supreme Court said that the state Constitution prohibits the very sort of school choice programs that the U.S. Supreme Court has previously upheld under the federal Constitution. The Montana Court resolved this conflict by putting its own interpretation first. "We conclude that Montana's Constitution more broadly prohibits 'any' state aid to sectarian schools and draws a 'more stringent line than that drawn' by its [federal] counterpart," the state court declared. That judgment will now be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. It is difficult to imagine a majority of the justices allowing the Montana decision to stand. For one thing, the Montana scholarship program seems to easily satisfy the test of constitutionality set out in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris and related cases. For another, the Supreme Court is unlikely to let a state court chart its own path in opposition to the federal jurisprudence that is in place for the rest of the country. It is one thing, after all, to let the states operate as "laboratories of democracy," but it is something else to let the Constitution effectively mean two different things in two different states, to say that the Constitution protects the rights of parents and children to access school choice programs in Ohio but does not protect the rights of parents and children to access similar programs in Montana. Assuming the Supreme Court follows its own precedents, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue looks to be a winner for the school choice side. Oral arguments in the case are likely to be held sometime in early 2020. | Damon Root ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/3re-uOFF-Ec/ | 2019-09-19 18:50:29+00:00 | 1,568,933,429 | 1,569,329,837 | science and technology | scientific institution |
308,176 | mediamattersforamerica--2019-04-12--Candidates who care about climate change should be wary of partnering with Fox News | 2019-04-12T00:00:00 | mediamattersforamerica | Candidates who care about climate change should be wary of partnering with Fox News | Fox News is trying to entice Democratic presidential candidates to participate in town halls on the network, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) is scheduled to do on April 15. Though Sanders has explained his reasoning for wanting to do a town hall on Fox, there are plenty of good reasons why other candidates should think carefully about whether they want to partner with the network. Fox is a pernicious propaganda machine for the Trump White House, and it has a long history of both denying and downplaying climate change and helping to block climate action. Fox is currently at the peak of its political influence, but it's also at a precarious point both financially and in the court of public opinion. Many advertisers have fled and others are considering following suit, not wanting to be associated with the network's bigoted and toxic commentary. Fox is now desperately courting advertisers by trying to paint itself as a legitimate news outlet ahead of May 13, when it will host an "upfront" event at which it aims to sell about 60 to 70 percent of its advertising space for 2020. Democratic candidates might want to keep their distance and not enable Fox's attempt at whitewashing its toxicity. The New Yorker recently exposed how Fox News has developed a symbiotic relationship with the Trump administration and has become a nexus of the right-wing disinformation network. And earlier in April, The New York Times Magazine detailed how Fox founder Rupert Murdoch’s media empire “helped elevate marginal demagogues, mainstream ethnonationalism and politicize the very notion of truth” in the U.S. and beyond, “destabiliz[ing] democracies around the world.” After the New Yorker published its piece in March, the Democratic National Committee barred Fox News from hosting any of its upcoming presidential primary debates. Fox News has been especially destructive on the climate change narrative, serving as an echo and amplification chamber for climate denial and environmental deregulation efforts. For years, Fox has played a critical role in undermining the public consensus around climate change by eroding trust in climate scientists and scientific institutions, according to a 2013 study. A separate study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that 72 percent of Fox News segments about climate science in 2013 "contained misleading statements." In the years since, the network has continued to parade a coterie of network personalities, fringe cranks, and conspiracy theorists to push misinformation about climate change and attack those working to confront the climate crisis. During the Trump administration, Fox News has also provided a safe haven for disgraced officials like former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Not only did Pruitt and Zinke prefer Fox News over other news networks, they both used their appearances on Fox to question climate science and to advocate for harmful environmental rollbacks, often with little to no pushback from fawning hosts. Fox News claims that Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, the Fox hosts who will anchor the town hall with Sanders, are straightforward newscasters. But a closer look at their past comments and reporting reveals that they cannot be trusted to foster good-faith discussions about key issues, including climate change. MacCallum has denied basic climate science and made ridiculous claims about global warming. In 2014, on Fox News Radio's Kilmeade & Friends, she said: That same year, MacCallum downplayed the importance of climate change and argued that Democrats in Congress should be concentrating on other issues instead. And in March 2015, after the Obama administration announced a voluntary emission-reduction pledge ahead of the U.N. climate talks in Paris, MacCallum was critical of the move and falsely said that the U.S. was going to the "upper end of the range" with its commitment and "nobody else has to do it." In fact, dozens of other countries had by that point announced targets to cut or curb their greenhouse gas emissions, including the European Union, whose target was more ambitious than the one the U.S. put forth. Baier has a reputation for not being as bad as some of the more explicit climate deniers on his network, but according to a 2014 analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists, he has still aired "a number of segments containing inaccurate statements about climate science." He has given climate skeptics a platform to attack climate science and climate action, often with very little pushback. In March, Fox News executives held an unprecedented meeting with its advertisers to persuade them not to abandon the network after more than 30 companies had dropped their ads since the initial push began in December of last year. Recent calls for companies to pull their ads from Tucker Carlson Tonight and Justice with Judge Jeanine came in response to Media Matters releasing audio of Fox host Tucker Carlson's racist and misogynistic rants on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show from 2006 to 2011, and to Fox personality Jeanine Pirro’s anti-Muslim tirade against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). For years, Fox News has let its prime-time hosts spew bigotry, propaganda, and dangerous conspiracy theories on a nightly basis, while using its so-called "news" programming to give the network a veneer of respectability. But the "news" side and the "opinion" side of Fox News are two sides of the same coin. Fox is dangerous and corrupt from top to bottom. Bill Sammon, Fox's senior vice president and Washington managing editor, is courting Democratic candidates for town halls and trying to get the DNC to reconsider its decision not to let Fox host a debate. Sammon has a notoriously terrible record on climate change. In 2009, he sent a memo to Fox journalists ordering them to curtail honest reporting on climate change: He sent the memo out less than 15 minutes after a Fox correspondent accurately reported that U.N. scientists said the 2000-2009 period was "expected to turn out to be the warmest decade on record." When the correspondent returned to the air a few hours later, he added views from climate "skeptics" into his reporting. Sammon has also tilted Fox's coverage of other issues further to the right. Four years ago, Sammon played a key role in crafting questions for a Republican presidential primary debate. Do Democratic candidates want to invite Sammon to craft questions for them now? With Fox on the ropes with advertisers, Democratic candidates should consider if they want to throw Fox News a lifeline this spring. | Media Matters for America | https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/04/12/Candidates-who-care-about-climate-change-should-be-wary-of-partnering-with-Fox-News/223427 | 2019-04-12 17:33:38+00:00 | 1,555,104,818 | 1,567,543,098 | science and technology | scientific institution |
335,636 | naturalnews--2019-04-18--Wikipedia Our new technological McCarthyism Part 1 | 2019-04-18T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Wikipedia: Our new technological McCarthyism, Part 1 | (Natural News) Today, the internet, often thought of as our world’s “final frontier” for free thinkers and the flow and exchange of ideas and information, is seriously ill. It has been systemically infected by ideological viruses, memes of information intent on poisoning freedom of expression that we take for granted every time we use Google or visit Facebook, YouTube and now the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Censorship is not limited to the governments’ attempts to silence dissent. Yet when it succeeds, society is greatly hindered because people no longer have easy access to the whole truth. Censorship is one of the most effective ways to lessen people’s freedoms and numb the faculties for critical thought. And because the media, and having access to news and a wide variety of interpretations and opinions is at our finger tips, it has become a critical part of our daily lives. A censored society is an uneducated society. It destroys progress and can even destroy careers, reputations and personal lives. Over the years we have witnessed a slow and emerging awakening to the falsehoods behind government and corporate interests. The internet and its technologies have been largely responsible for this gradual awakening, evidenced by the growing distrust and suspicion towards an oligarchy wishing to control what we can and cannot view and read. This suspicion is healthy even if it means that many find themselves increasingly confused. Yet this sense of freedom, the allowance to be dubious about fake news and manicured knowledge being fed to us is fragile, and even in peril. An issue grossly ignored is that with all the new technology and enormous advertising campaigns on Google, Facebook and YouTube, the two younger generations rely upon social media daily. Rarely do they consider the level and depth that propaganda holds over their lives. During the Boomer generation through the 1960s and 1970s, support for free speech and holding a healthy skepticism towards federal agencies such as the CIA and Pentagon, and most importantly against mainstream media, strengthened critical thought. Today’s generation gives no thought towards the content in agreements they accept to use social media platforms. For example, recently it was announced that Yahoo’s “new” system will require access to information about your bank account and credit card purchases to sell to third parties. Consequently, virtually nothing in our lives will be private. Sadly, there is no sense of betrayal. No sense of apprehension and fear, and no efforts to protest these actions. To the contrary, people will simply accept YouTube’s terms blindly. In our era of fake news, from all sides of the political spectrum, we are rapidly sacrificing our common sense and reason to illusions and gut emotional reactions. Our compromised and biased mainstream media is now utterly beholden to party storylines. Complex national and global issues are reduced to simplistic and infantile images for mass consumption. The recent revelations about Facebook’s misappropriation of its users’ personal information should be a trumpet blast, a wakeup call to action. Tens of millions have been naively duped into the easy and free access to social media and the myth of untethered free expression promised by Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Medium and other internet platforms. Although Silicon Valley’s technological capacity for global surveillance and the censorship has long been a worrisome problem on the internet, Trump’s handling of fake news as the centerpiece of his campaign and presidency granted Facebook, Google and more recently Wikipedia a green light to increase censorship of dissenting and alternative news, opinions and even scientific facts. Recently Youtube announced it will flag videos it believes to communicate falsehoods and add links to Wikipedia.[1] Yet Wikipedia, as this series will put forth, is by no means a reliable resource for objective intelligence and knowledge, which is reason enough for universities to flag it as a capricious source for responsible research. This should raise serious concerns. Wikipedia is another internet behemoth, and like the other tech giants it is horribly compromised by biases and preferential treatment to private interest groups and extremist ideologies. Wikipedia’s ideological biases and favoritism to communities hiring and recruiting armies of internet trolls has been responsible for ruining the reputations and tainting the careers of numerous people, notably health professionals and academics who fail to live, teach and practice in alignment with Wikipedia’s very narrow scientific criteria of what is deemed as legitimate proven facts. When a belief system becomes a dogma, an ideological doctrine, debate and conversation shut down. Unpopular views on controversial subjects are jeopardized. Or even popular, common sense views are silenced. Only a single message is propagandized and opposing positions that have their own body of commendable evidence are blacked out or censored. Very early on, WikiMedia Foundation, the parent organization behind Wikipedia has become possessed by ideology and increasingly manipulates its control over content in specific subjects, discussed below, in a cult-like manner. In short, it is riddled with identity policies. Sophisticated technological algorithms for internet surveillance, utitized to their full extent by the large internet giants, have created what the father of virtual reality, Jaron Lanier, argues is a “behavior modification empire.” Facebook, for example, should no longer be regarded as social media.[2] And Silicon Valley, private corporations, regressive social movements, and the federal and private intelligence agencies are all too eager to take full advantage of this internet crisis. The tech companies have essentially shut down the public commons that once upon a time promised a cyber utopia, a free and unencumbered Internet that would gather people globally together. Sadly in its place has sprung up a shadow techno-regime dominated by the Internet’s ruling corporate regime, billionaires all too willing to sell their acquired information for enormous client fees. In return, illusions of a functioning democracy, Huxley’s soma, are spoon-fed to the masses seduced by the theater of images flashed across our monitors and mobile screens rather than the darker underpinnings behind this total charade. Erringly we believe we are completely free to express ourselves, share opinions, and find new friends with common values and to organize together. Yet how many people actually knew that every bit of information we share on Facebook with family and friends, groups and organizations and environmental, political and social activist causes would be gathered to generate profiles about our behaviors and then in turn reduce our personal profiles into commodities to be used by the private and federal elites. The scandal between the collaboration between Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, the latter founded by right wing nationalists and Trump supporters, has shown us the serious threats to personal freedom when every message, file and photo we’ve ever sent or been sent, when every personal contact on our mobile phones, and every audio message has been horded for the benefit of third parties, the least dangerous being advertisers. Likewise Google traces everywhere we have been or traveled and knows exactly where we are on the map in real time. As long as your mobile phone is in your possession, Google can always find you. You can even access a log and map of everywhere you have been for the past year, including how long it took you to get from home to visit grandma for the holiday. Google gathers every piece of data on our computers and phones, including our search and browsing histories. Even though you delete information or may happen to lose data, it remains in Google’s memory vaults. And this is not done secretly. Google is completely transparent about its intrusion into our private lives and anyone can request and receive a file of everything the megacorporation has collected about us. One individual, Dylan Curran, accessed and downloaded his personal Google file; it was 5.5 gigabytes, roughly equivalent to 3 million average sized Word documents. What Google actually does with this massive data collection is another matter.[3] In effect, the subconscious script behind Facebook, Google and other multinational internet media is designed to convert our lives into commodities, and then convert commodities into dead money. Lanier would consider this to be a severe threat to our species. “We cannot have a society,” Lanier said during a TED talk, “if two people wish to communicate with each other and the only way it can happen is if it is financed by a third party who wishes to manipulate them.”[4] But commodifying our personal lives to sell to advertisers is far more innocent than other insidious practices that target people for corporate, financial, national security and political benefit. We can be sure that Uncle Sam’s official spooks have immediate access to all our personal information. In 2011, Stratfor, a private intelligence firm in Austin was infiltrated by the hacker group Anonymous. Stratfor is one of the largest private intelligence and surveillance contractors for the National Security Agency and other federal intelligence agencies. The hack acquired addresses, credit card information, bank accounts and passwords on hundreds of thousands of citizens. Knowing enough about people is often the single most important weapon to be used against them. That is what made the Inquisition so successful in spreading fear over medieval Spain and Italy to keep citizens weak and passive. And all of this is available to NSA to keep a vigilant eye on the American public. In 1954, the late great French sociologist, philosopher and Christian anarchist Jacques Ellul foresaw that every form of technology would end up becoming a form of control, power and a means to achieve efficiency. The technological drive to gather more and more personal information on citizens, whether by Facebook and Google, and for the benefit of federal agencies, political parties and private corporations, which reward and shower favors upon these firms, is itself an attempt to manipulate the public’s uncertainty and confusion.[5] Most criticism is rightly directed against Google and Facebook. Nevertheless Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia project of the MediaWiki Foundation headquartered in San Francisco, remains relatively unscathed. Undeservingly it has managed to remain marginal from the light of public scrutiny. Rather than participating in intelligence gathering into private citizens’ lives, it has become the Internet’s monolithic gatekeeper, and controller, of free encyclopedic knowledge. Although it has its critics, often those who have experienced Wikipedia’s culture of victimization and abuse, the controversies surrounding Wikipedia are given no attention by mainstream media. Acting freely from third party advertising, draped in the security of its not-for-profit status, it has become an invaluable resource in the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Minimal efforts are made to investigate whether Wikipedia too has hidden agendas that adversely affect the public; or whether the Foundation is actively participating in stealth censorship. We know this to be a fact from firsthand experience. Do a Google search on any subject or notable person and Wikipedia will often be the first site to pop up in your browser. It describes itself as a free-content encyclopedia and uses a platform that portends to be open for editing content. This has been one of the encyclopedia’s admirable appeals as well as its curse. However, there is undeniable evidence that the site has injured the lives and careers of many innocent people, especially in the field of medicine and healthcare, and people who seek truths outside the confines of corporate science’s corridors and a quasi-Libertarian Objectivst universe. The sheer size of the encyclopedia is imposing. It is unquestionably the single largest juggernaut for online information. According to statistics compiled by DMR, a digital marketing collection firm, Wikipedia hosts over 5.5 million articles and adds 600 new articles daily. Eighteen billion pages are viewed weekly, and there are over 137,000 active writers and editors composing and editing articles in 280 languages, 13% in English. On the other hand the Foundation itself only employs about 300 people. It is also the first to appear in 99% of internet searches.[6] Supposedly, Wikipedia has NO employed editors. Content and edits are performed exclusively by volunteers. This does not mean that editors are not being paid by other third parties, including on the behalf of huge multinational corporations, advocacy groups, think tanks, PR firms and even governments, including their intelligence agencies and military. In 2009, Virgil Griffith, a 24 year old researcher at the Santa Fe Institute, one of the world’s preeminent progressive think tanks for systems theory, created a program called the WikiScanner, which “tracks computers used to make changes and edits to Wikipedia entries.” Griffith was inspired to design the scanner after he learned about US Congressional legislators “whitewashing” the content on their Wikipedia biographies. In 2014, the Foundation banned all computers within the US Congress from editing privileges.[7] Griffith’s Wikiscanner identified CIA and FBI computers editing Wikipedia content, including the doctoring of facts concerning the US invasion of Iraq, such as casualty numbers, and the human rights crimes committed at Guantanamo prison. He also identified computers at numerous organizations and private corporations engaged in editing activities. Senior Wikipedia editors, who have succeeded in making thousands of edits and therefore understand the game’s rules, have turned their experiences into consulting businesses for paying clients. Although Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales has strongly forbidden this activity, it is still widespread because the Foundation has lost control over the huge army of known, anonymous editors, trolls, sock puppets and even algorithmic bots who operate independently. This is further evidence of how chaotic Wikipedia has become, and one among other reasons why a growing number of colleges and universities forbid students from citing Wikipedia articles as reliable sources in their course assignments. On the other hand, Wikipedia has also become a source for widespread disinformation, especially on current events and controversial health, social and political issues. To the encyclopedia’s detriment, the Foundation has had a history of providing a platform for select independent factions to propagandize dogmatic and fundamentalist beliefs. Frankly, it is utterly foolish to assume that everything on Wikipedia is honest and factual. One man who rose through the editorial ranks to become a Wikipedia site administrator, claimed to be a tenured religion professor with a doctorate in theology. Later, it was discovered he was a high school dropout.[8] Likewise, many Skeptics control the Wiki pages about alternative medicine, natural health and the paranormal. Most have no medical background nor experience in healthcare. In a private conversation with one Wikipedia editor who has gone head-to-head with Skeptic trolls to correct falsehoods and abusive language in the Wiki entries for the New Age celebrity Deepak Chopra and biologist Rupert Sheldrake, Rome Viharo jokingly said most of these trolls are tech geeks who are likely mentally unstable and on psychiatric medications.[9] As we have discovered, behind the scenes and hidden from the public’s view, Wikipedia is a vipers’ pit. Its editorial culture is plagued with “wiki wars,” conflicts between antagonistic groups fighting for control over content. Perhaps this would be fine if the Foundation remained an innocent bystander, allowing editors to battle out the facts and falsehoods based upon Wikipedia’s own consensus guidelines to rule what is reliable, objective information. Unfortunately, that is not the case. A consequence is that the MediaWiki Foundation has become increasingly authoritarian in order to cover up its internal chaos. All who have failed to clean up the massive falsehoods and venomous text on their personal Wiki pages can attest to the Foundation’s culture of deception and censorship that riddles the encyclopedia. In his blog “Wikipedia We Have a Problem” Viharo describes the immensity of the problem: “There is a disturbing pattern of behaviors evolving across Wikipedia – a number of skeptic activists on Wikipedia believe that only they are qualified to edit a large swath of topics and biographies on Wikipedia, and they seek to purge other editors from those articles or Wikipedia itself. Skeptic activists take this very seriously and treat Wikipedia like a battleground for their activism, where online harassment, slander, bullying, character assassination, and public shaming are all used as tactics to control editing permissions on the world’s largest repository of knowledge.”[10] We are also gradually discovering that Wikipedia itself has been supporting certain creeds, networks of private organizations and corporate interests, and political support groups that enforce dangerous ideologies while diligently corroborating with chosen third parties to silence and/or censor critics and opposition. This is certainly in direct violation with Wikipedia’s mission and Wales’ consistent statements that he opposes censorship and surveillance. For example, societies and organizations identified with the rational Skeptic and scientific materialist movements are very prominent and granted free editorial reign on Wikipedia. Their technical sophistication has hijacked large amounts of the encyclopedia’s content and manipulated it to disseminate their rationalist and reductionist doctrines. Very valid scientific information concerning medicine and health are jeopardized, deleted and ignored. The site embraces the conventional pharmaceutical, drug-based paradigm. Complementary and natural medical disciplines, treatments and alternative doctors and practitioners are regularly denounced and castigated. On the other hand, Skeptics’ biographies and organizations’ own Wikipedia entries are without fault and consistently full of praise. Editors who attempt to add factual and referenced evidence, which may taint Skepticism’s shining image, are immediately blocked or edits are quickly removed. Many editors who try to correct these pages are censored and/or banned from editing pages–as in our own case–although they may have years or even decades of experience and expertise on a given subject. In this series we will focus attention upon one especially pernicious ideological network of individuals and organizations that has made enormous and successful strides in hijacking Wikipedia’s editorial platform. There is no single title that adequately gathers them under a single umbrella; however they all share a similar philosophy that embraces rational science-based Skepticism. Small-s skepticism itself is a healthy exercise for discerning truths and falsehoods. Wikipedia would fare far better if it practiced healthy skepticism towards its own editorial allies. However in this article we capitalize Skepticism to refer to an actual movement of independent individuals and groups, including one of Skepticism’s subsets, Science-Based Medicine (SBM), which share a mutual belief system and engage in internet harassment based upon the principles of behavior modification, common to cults. Modern Skepticism is a continuation of earlier Scientism founded by the early naturalists who declared that the only thing that exists is the natural world and everything else is unfounded, and therefore illusory and to be shunned. It follows the old tired adage that “I will only believe in what I can see, smell, taste, touch or hear.” In short, Scientism, in Swedish philosopher Mikael Stenmark’s words, is based upon the epistemic principle “there is nothing outside the domain of science, nor is there any area of human life to which science cannot successfully be applied.”[11] Skepticism, purports to be rational yet simultaneously is incapable of ascertaining other forms of non-scientific truth, such as ethical and moral, metaphysical, aesthetic truths. Although the scientific method is incapable of ascertaining or disproving other truths, nevertheless they too follow reason and logic, often every bit as rigorous as Skepticism’s reductionist determinism. For example, it may not be the case that science can yet accurately comprehend whether or not homeopathy is effective. But for tens of millions of people around the planet homeopathy has treated many serious medical conditions. For over 200 years after Samuel Hahnemann founded homeopathic medicine, countless numbers of people witnessed illnesses and symptoms disappear and they were healed. Skeptics have absolutely no proof that homeopathy’s positive effects are due to the placebo-effect alone, which is their only explanation to account for homeopathy’s successes. Yet for all Skeptics, homeopathy is nothing but quackery. And as we will describe later, Wikipedia agrees with them. The Skeptics’ only defense is “plausibility”; that is, in the absence of clinical research, which only they are willing to accept, rely instead on the flawed faculty of reason and logic to decide whether homeopathy is “plausible” and persuasive or not. This is the same rationale voiced by one of SBM’s leading inspirations, Dr. Stephen Barrett, founder of Quackwatch. When asked during an interview why he only disparaged alternative medicine and does not critique modern conventional medicine, Barrett noted that he lacks sufficient expertise in the medical field. Openly Barrett confesses that his efforts to debunk alternative medicine is solely based on his personal opinion as to whether alternative modalities are plausible. In the same way, SBM-Skeptics’ major proponents lack experiential knowledge about alternative medical modalities and nutrition. Rather than being truly scientific, they hypocritically hide behind the irrational methodology of faux notions of validity. Categorically, Skepticism espouses either atheistic or agnostic beliefs; however all the celebrity Skeptics admire Richard Dawkins, the British evolutionary biologist who is recognized as the father of the New Atheism. Dawkins’ endless mission to publicly preach an intolerant view of atheism has made him deserving of an international award for having offended more human beings than anyone in recent history. The Center for Inquiry (CFI), the umbrella organization that serves as the mother chapel for the Skeptic movement, fully embraces Dawkins’ atheistic Scientism. In 2016, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science merged with CFI. Its stated mission is to “foster a secular society based upon reason, science, freedom of inquiry and humanist values.”[12] Laudable words, but the Center fails horribly to tolerate, let alone respect, the freedom of others to their beliefs and the freedom to choose a medical intervention of their choice. Any discipline of inquiry that is performed outsides the Center’s narrow interpretation of science is condemned as heresy, exposed and publicly maligned. Everything that deals with religion and spirituality, the paranormal, unexplained phenomena, and alternative and natural medical modalities are accused of con-artistry. Other leading major Skeptic groups are the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, the Council of Secular Humanism, the James Randi Educational Foundation and the SBM-related Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health. The latter publishes the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, founded by Skeptics at Stanford University and the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. The publication makes the narcissistic claim of being the only journal that properly analyses alternative medical claims. However, on at least three separate occasions, this highly biased, one-sided interpretation of medicine failed to be recognized by the National Library of Medicine for inclusion into the National Institutes of Health’s Medline/PubMed registry of reliable medical and healthcare publications, the world’s largest source for peer-reviewed medical literature. Wikipedia on the other hand has permitted the journal the status of being referenced as a legitimate and reliable source for criticisms against alternative medicine. During a TED talk shortly after 911, Dawkins made his plea for “militant atheism.”[13] Although he was specifically calling for an unapologetic and disrespectful rationalist crusade against religion, his fundamental premise has been embraced throughout the Skeptic movement in its efforts to silence, ridicule and demonize all who advocate alternative medicine and question conventional pharmaceutical drugs, vaccination and industrial and genetically modified foods, pesticides, the junk food industry, etc. Medical treatments that fall outside its pharmaceutical paradigm–chiropractic medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy, energy healing, etc.–are categorically quackery and fraud. For the most zealous Skeptics, scientific “truths”, guided solely by “reason” (which Skeptics are unable to adequately define), is the only religion humanity should follow. It identifies itself as an intelligentsia and praises its superiority as a humanoid subspecies above anyone who questions or challenges their faith in scientific reductionism. In his book When Atheism Becomes Religion, Pulitzer Prize journalist Chris Hedges presents the argument that this extreme mindset, cloaked in the god of reason and science alone, is today’s “new fundamentalism.” Because science is solely concerned with discovering facts about our material existence, Skepticism is neutral towards universal human values and ethics aside from the cold values that science offers. Commenting on Scientism’s determinist ideology, Robert Wuthnow, chair of Princeton’s sociology department, writes, “Scientists are drunk on hubris, in it for the money or their own glory, and sadly incapable of any humility.”[14] Anyone reading the blogs and articles composed by the medical doctors leading the Science Based Medicine movement, will quickly observe the pretentious conceit noted by Wuthnow. But SBM propaganda goes beyond the confines of rationalist critiques of alternative medicine’s claims. They express a contemptuous disdain, and vile hatred, towards practitioners and advocates of the alternative medical paradigm and anyone who questions the conventional medical establishment. During a lecture in 1959, British chemist and novelist C.P. Snow challenged our civilization’s move towards an over-reliance upon scientific rationality as a means for solving world problems. Snow explained how this failure, which science and technology in isolation will continue to experience repeatedly, is due to scientific institutions having removed themselves from the humanities, which otherwise provide human value with moral guidance.[15] The consequence is that science will become increasingly technological, and this may lead to dire futures, including the rise of new postmodern programs of eugenics and genocide. Scientism’s hubris is grounded in the inflated belief that history is on its side. For this reason it becomes intolerant and impatient with other disciplines that also claim to hold universal values. Consequently, Snow warned that science is racing to sequester itself from the most precious elements that make us human. Science then becomes amoral. Likewise, the entire Skepticism movement is morally bankrupt, incapable of piercing through its nearsighted lens. Science writer John Horgan further sheds light on the darker underpinnings and irrationality of Skepticism, including a few of the leading voices within the SBM cult. In his recommended article published in Scientific American, “Dear Skeptics, Bash Homeopathy and Big Foot Less, Mammograms and War More,” Horgan targets a crucial failure in popular Skepticism today. He writes, “I’m a science journalist. I don’t celebrate science, I criticize it, because science needs critics more than cheerleaders. I point out gaps between scientific hype and reality. That keeps me busy, because as you know, most peer-reviewed scientific claims are wrong.” The Skeptics and their scientism have “become tribal,” notes Horgan. “They pat each other on the back and tell each other how smart they are compared to those outside the tribe. But belonging to a tribe often makes you dumber.”[16] Dumb indeed. Worse, exceedingly dangerous. Wikipedia’s Skeptics, who cling upon the words of SBM’s gurus, is a curious mix of Orwellian fascism and a quirky technological totalitarianism, which Aldous Huxley warned about in his 1958 follow-up to Brave New World. A world of scientific McCarthyism is the utopia they pray to. But conventional definitions of fascism and totalitarianism don’t accurately apply. Instead, Skepticism is the darker side of Liberalism, with noticeable parallels to Ayn Rand’s Objectivist and autocratic absolutism. These are the Liberals who find no fault in bombing Muslim nations back to the pre-Islamic sands of Arabia, criminalize faith healing as physical abuse, and stamp all currency with “In Science We Trust.” Yet it is important to make one observation clear: SBM is perhaps today’s greatest threat to the future physical and mental health of the nation and well-being of Americans. It is solely an ideological public relations campaign to promulgate a totalitarian dogma with McCarthyian interrogations that alternative medical modalities are perilous to public health and therefore should be avoided and preferably banned. It doesn’t conduct nor fund clinical research. Families who reject vaccinating their children, according to SBM physicians, ought to be charged with child abuse and have their children placed into the care of the State to lead miserable lives of psychological degeneration and abuse in foster care homes and institutions. In short, SBM is the harbinger of medical McCarthyism, and as we will see, the SBM movement and its allies in the Skeptic organizations are succeeding in their mission through their collaboration and support from Wikipedia. Another serious threat our nation faces from SBM is that the movement is systemically infected with what we call the “gene meme.” In his Scientific American article, Horgan calls it “Gene-Whiz Science.” He writes, “Over the past several decades, geneticists have announced the discovery of “genes for” virtually every trait or disorder. We’ve had the God gene, gay gene, alcoholism gene, warrior gene, liberal gene, intelligence gene, schizophrenia gene, and on and on. None of these linkages of single genes to complex traits or disorders has been confirmed. None! But gene-whiz claims keep coming.”[17] SBM advocates are also the advocates of Gene-Whiz Science; yet simultaneously they remain petrified of the potential conclusions to be drawn from environmental epigenetic research that challenges the scientific credibility of genetic determinism. For example, Paul Offit at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the co-developer of the first rotavirus vaccine and once held a seat on the vaccination advisory council at the Centers for Disease Control, is a leading advocate of pro-vaccine science, having stated in his institution’s Parents Pack Newsletter that infants’ immune systems can safely receive 100,000 vaccinations.[18]. He is adamant that autism is genetic, inherited, and has no association whatsoever with vaccines. While we agree that many autism cases involve mutated genes, categorically blaming parental inheritance is questionable since this denies epigenetic evidence. In fact, a University of Montreal review of the 100-plus genes now identified with autism, found that the majority of these “autism genes” were de novo genes, fetal polymorphisms occurring in the womb and therefore likely associated with an external environmental trigger, including toxic chemicals such as aluminum and mercury ingredients in vaccines, that may pass the placental barrier in the pregnant mother.[19] A second threat to national health is Wikipedia’s unguarded open editing platforms. It is irrefutable that the Foundation’s tight relationship with militant Skepticism has given license to trolls and sock puppets to dominate the flow of information about disease prevention and treatment. By hijacking these platforms, Skeptics have risen through the encyclopedia’s editorial ranks to grasp greater administrative authority to censor opposing voices. On the other hand, this is completely transparent. It is all visible. Yet this also raises a very serious ethical question. Is Wikipedia also part of the behavior “modification empire” Jaron Lanier has warned us about? In the following articles in this series, it will become more certain that it is. Richard Gale is the Executive Producer of the Progressive Radio Network and a former Senior Research Analyst in the biotechnology and genomic industries. Dr. Gary Null is the host of the nation’s longest running public radio program on nutrition and natural health and a multi-award-winning documentary film director, including Death by Medicine, War on Health, Silent Epidemic: The Untold Story of Vaccination. http://prn.fm | News Editors | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-04-18-wikipedia-our-new-technological-mccarthyism-part-1.html | 2019-04-18 09:34:47+00:00 | 1,555,594,487 | 1,567,542,557 | science and technology | scientific institution |
335,955 | naturalnews--2019-05-20--Earths ozone hole rapidly shrinking following ban of ozone depleting chemicals | 2019-05-20T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Earth's ozone hole rapidly shrinking following ban of ozone depleting chemicals | (Natural News) About three decades have passed since scientists made the devastating discovery that a massive hole had developed in the Earth’s ozone layer – the shield that protects us from the sun by absorbing most of its ultraviolet radiation – right over Antarctica. Recognizing the immensely dangerous potential of the situation, most of the world’s countries got together and signed the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which banned the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); man-made ozone-damaging chemicals. It would seem that their efforts have paid off, and though the hole in the ozone layer remains large (over 8 million square miles), it has stopped increasing in size, and actually seems to be shrinking. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have published a paper in the journal Science, claiming that the hole has shrunk by an impressive 4 million square kilometers (over 1.54 million square miles) since 2000, when the problem was at its most critical. Interestingly, the hole in the ozone is not static – it starts developing in late August each year, as Antarctica starts shaking off the winter, and is fully developed by the beginning of October. Ozone is depleted when three elements are perfectly positioned: Chlorine, such as that found in CFCs, or large volumes of sulfur dioxide such as is emitted by volcanoes, must be present in the atmosphere, along with the right amount of light, and a cold enough temperatures to create polar stratospheric clouds. The MIT scientists took measurements in September each year from 2000 to 2015, and based on their data, were able to calculate that the hole had shrunk by more than 4 million square kilometers in that time. They attribute most of the improvement to the reduction in atmospheric chlorine, which was accomplished by phasing out certain dry cleaning processes, aerosol cans and older refrigerators. The study authors are hopeful that the hole will close permanently by 2050. Support our mission to keep you informed: Discover the extraordinary benefits of turmeric gummy bears and organic "turmeric gold" liquid extract, both laboratory tested for heavy metals, microbiology and safety. Naturally high in potent curcuminoids. Delicious formulations. All purchases support this website (as well as your good health). See availability here. Their findings have been confirmed by several other scientific institutions. In 2014, Scientific American reported on a study by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program, which found that the phasing out of CFCs has indeed given the ozone layer a chance to recover, and that the hole is definitely not growing anymore. And in 2015, The Weather Channel noted that a study by NASA scientists, published in the journal Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, had drawn the same conclusion, based on data received from the satellite Aura. Their more conservative estimates found that though the hole has consistently been about the same size since 1990 (double the size of the United States), it should shrink and remain smaller by mid-century, and should disappear completely by the turn of the next century. This is amazing news for the planet, and shows what the human family can accomplish when it puts asides its many differences to work towards the common good. “Science was helpful in showing the path, diplomats and countries and industry were incredibly able in charting a pathway out of these molecules, and now we’ve actually seen the planet starting to get better. It’s a wonderful thing,” said Susan Solomon, lead author of the MIT study, and a professor of atmospheric chemistry and climate science at the university. “We can now be confident that the things we’ve done have put the planet on a path to heal. Which is pretty good for us, isn’t it? Aren’t we amazing humans, that we did something that created a situation that we decided collectively, as a world, ‘Let’s get rid of these molecules’? We got rid of them, and now we’re seeing the planet respond.” | Tracey Watson | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-05-20-earths-ozone-hole-rapidly-shrinking-following-ban-of-chemicals.html | 2019-05-20 17:00:35+00:00 | 1,558,386,035 | 1,567,540,422 | science and technology | scientific institution |
426,434 | prepareforchange--2019-01-16--Truths about our Human Origin Human Beings are a Slave Race | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | prepareforchange | Truths about our Human Origin — Human Beings are a Slave Race | Whoever seeks the truth however cannot afford to laugh off the Sumerian recordings, which in many cases have proven to be incredibly accurate. Just as we cannot ignore the overwhelming evidence of the influence of conspiracies within governments, the business world, science community, and the media. Have Admiration for writers from Antiquity It is amazing that so much information is available nowadays. Sitchin expresses his admiration for the countless people, who have never been lauded, who have recorded ancient knowledge; “If we consider that these ancient texts come to us over a period that spans millennia, we must have admiration for the writers of Antiquity who have recorded, copied and translated the earliest of texts, probably often without knowing what certain terms and expressions originally meant, while always stubbornly sticking to the corresponding traditions to ensure precise representation. It also proves the inner consistency of their reporting, and explains: “That the first settlements on Earth were established by astronauts from another planet, as dramatically depicted by the Sumerians. Consistently, in countless texts, a reference is made to the starting point, which always reads as follows: 432,000 years ago, before the flood, i.e. the Great Flood, “The Respected came with” Rocket Ships ” down from their own planet to Earth.” Although it may sound exaggerated, many people will become convinced, once they’re given this version of our history, which will become popular and widespread in the not too distant future, and eventually, it will be studied and taught in schools, at universities, and scientific institutions. Already, breakthroughs in astronomy, anthropology, archaeology and Egyptology tend to underpin the theses of Sitchin and others, based primarily on the translations of the Sumerian writings. The knowledge of the existence of the One God, who must have created the Anunnaki creators, together with the realisation that life encompasses more than a mere material level of existence in which we find ourselves now, is all covertly protected by the secret societies. The Sumerian explanation of the origin and creation of man is extremely fascinating. Whichever we look at it, it is much more rational and more appropriate than many of the known theories of today’s science and the past. Humanity exists in solitude in the universe, while at the same time in all probability, non-human intelligences have been involved in our creation? The idea that civilisations developed and advanced in ancient times is not new. In 1882, in a period of relative ignorance and disbelief regarding extraterrestrial matters, scholar Ignatius Donnelly wrote in his book on Atlantis: ‘The Antediluvian World’, “That the Gods and Goddesses of ancient mythologies were in fact kings and queens of Atlantis. This was a High-tech Pre-Flood Civilisation that was the founder of successive human civilisations and communities.” The British chemist Frederick Soddy discovered that isotopes can be used for dating in geology, he wrote in 1909: “I believe that in the past there have been civilisations that were familiar with atomic energy and these were totally destroyed by their misuse of it.” Swiss author Erich von Däniken has written extremely popular books from as far back as the 1970’s, books about alien visitors and ancient astronauts. Some authors such as William Bramley, David Icke and R.A. Boulay portray mankind as little more than a flock of sheep, which is dominated by extraterrestrial masters. “Human beings resemble a race of slaves that languish on an isolated planet”, Bramley concluded in 1989. As described earlier, the human race was developed as a source of labour for the Anunnaki extraterrestrial civilisation, and it would seem that this is true to this day. To maintain power over the people and to preserve their possessions on planet Earth which is set up as a people’s prison, this higher civilisation, i.e. our jailers incessantly cause conflicts between human beings on earth, creating continual physical hardships. This situation has existed for thousands of years and still exists today. According to David Icke, the race of this oppressive higher civilisation consists of crossed bloodlines of “royal” reptilian-human hybrids, and was concentrated in the Middle East in the Old World, and from there, they expanded their power over the millennia. In addition, religious institutions were created to keep the masses spiritually and emotionally imprisoned and to bring them to war with each other. The author Boulay suggests: “Man has been conditioned for millennia, being denied the truth about our origin, and as a numbing mediator, a convenient form of memory loss was developed. Consequently, people have resigned themselves to the interpretation of history that has been propagated by a self-sustaining clergy and science.” It is precisely the immense and ancient power of the omniscient elite – interwoven with their blood philosophy – that has endeavoured to suppress virtually every major movement throughout history that strived to fully develop human potential. It has been revealed that this knowledge is still firmly anchored in the highest degrees of today’s secret societies. The Anunnaki are still on Earth The question now is, whether the initiated elites continue to acquire wealth and power, hoping to get in touch with our Creators of Antiquity, or have they already made this contact and are they being guided and directed, or could it possibly be that the elites themselves are the Creators from Antiquity, the Anunnaki, the serpent kings? If the Sumerian version of our history is correct, it would appear that the Anunnaki are still present on Earth, in a form that would rely on advanced technologies. Whatever the truth is, it is wise to be on your guard with leaders who, through violence, manipulation or deception, are advancing all nations into a direction that people do not want to take, and that will not be beneficial to them. It is important to understand that many of these ‘leaders’ are not part of the government, but heavily influence the lives of the population, even more than any bureaucrat is capable of doing. This is made possible with bribes, in combination with an excessively large media influence over everything that is told and shown. In the past; wars and religions were used as control mechanisms, but today, organised religion is losing ground. With nuclear weapons in the arsenal, a large-scale war has become unthinkable. Due to these factors, the economy, or the power of money, has become the control mechanism for the initiated elite from secret societies, to exert their power over the people. The bad news is that most of what has been published on the FWC-site in recent years has now proven to be true. On the other hand, there is also good news, that many people have now awakened and that the age-old conspiracy to bully and use us as slaves is being noticed by many. Especially now that President Trump has visibly taken the lead and the Q-Anon organisation is generating more and more followers. Remember, as seen from the standpoint of George Orwell’s book written in 1948, under the title ‘1984’, our future is described as “a boot that stings forever on the face of man”, which now can be easily spotted, although admittedly many years later. We have now entered a situation which is eerily close to the objective of the elites of total enslavement. Little time is left before our world indeed turns into what George Orwell described, by the instruction of the Deep State! Nowadays, we talk about conspiracies at the government level. UFOs, contact with extra-terrestrials, new underground chambers and tunnels have been discovered in many Pyramids,and in some, such as in Bosnia with healing capabilities. This indeed confirms that a highly developed civilisation was on earth in the past, while even more revelations can be expected once more of the Sumerian clay tablets are deciphered and translated. Unfortunately, too many of us choose to look the other way in the hope that we do not have to deal with consciousness-expansion questions that evoke the newly acquired knowledge presented here. These are insights and facts which make many of the traditional ways of thinking not viable. Remember that knowledge is power. For those who long for freedom, the time has come to unite and to stand up against the negative forces that go all-out for the total domination of the human race, achieved through the sowing of fear and division. It is time to face the truth about our past and present, about who really has the power and inhibits our positive development. Understand that we are being exploited, deceived and belittled. Our environment is deliberately being destroyed, in order to destroy the human race forever. The time for cognitive dissonance is over. It is time to research all the facts presented here and in previous essays. It is time to let go of the lies which encompass our false history, our false heritage. Research these facts and find the true history of the human race, so that we can finally join and come together as one; an enlightened people based on a foundation of truth. Care about your fellow men and country by looking further than your own backyard. Throw a critical glance at the unimaginable corruption and bribery within the government of your own country. The truth must be revealed to everyone, and this truth is not only the privilege of the manipulative initiates within the secret societies. The time for secrecy is over. Acquaint yourself with the background of our history that has been specifically compiled for this purpose; easily readable and comprehensibly explained in my book The Great Awakening. Use the supercomputer, that your brain is, gifted to us by the Creator, and listen to what your heart tells you. Your soul in your deepest inner-self tells you what is good and bad. The Deep State can only control the seven billion plus people through deceit and secrecy. The time of rule by brute force is now running out for the cabal. Our greatest strength is that we – the masses – together, have more power and knowledge than the Deep State cabal can come up with. Participate, or support the yellow vest movement and show the government that they are actually employed by us, and that we will fire them if our expectations aren’t met. Our country belongs to us, the people, and is not owned by the criminals who pretend to be our authority. They are not. They are hired by the Deep State and are bribed to do the bidding of the cabal, following cabal instructions, instead of to listening to us. If, they do not do the latter; they have to be removed from office. And, that is precisely the way it should be and the yellow vest movement is demonstrating this to them. It is not the other way around, that they should tell us what to do. We vote for people who are supposed to represent us, the people. Keep in mind, ‘the truth will set us free’. Many things are happening at the same time these days, which can be seen as the beginning of the destruction of the Deep State. Take a look around in the EU; In France, Germany, the UK, Sweden, and the Netherlands. People in yellow vests take to the streets to protest against their own government. These people are angry and they say they do not want the Elite anymore. They no longer want a Central Bank with corrupt and criminal bankers. They have had enough of the Deep State. The population feels trapped and oppressed by their own government. They know that their government does not work for them, but for the cabal. Government is actually our biggest enemy. People want to be listened to, and know that things cannot continue any longer the way they are. They are fed up and are clearly saying stop it and shut-up and this movement is global! People are done with governments as they realise that they don’t have their interests at heart and instead, there is a massive abuse of power. People never wanted this situation in the first place. We want change. Be warned, the government puppets will not listen. They will simply continue with their New World Order agenda, all the while lying to us. But that is not going to work anymore, because people are waking up and are seeing through their deception. A little word of reassurance is, that in the end it makes no difference whether they listen or not. In no time, they all will be gone. For those who want to know more about their history, Bram Vermeulen reveals it in an original and fascinating way, inspired by the book ‘The Twelfth Planet’ written by Zecharia Sitchin. He explains how ancient texts, cosmology and newly discovered maps of space flights to Earth bring us to the shocking conclusion that we humans are descendants of the Nefilim, a superior race on the planet Marduk, the twelfth planet. Knowledge obtained from 6000-year-old clay tablets shows where, when, how and why astronauts from another planet settled on Earth, married prehistoric women and created the Homo Sapiens, the self-thinking man. It is mind-blowing how this knowledge overcomes the commonly-held, propagated reality. He explains how these ancient texts ended up in the Bible or were labelled as myths, and how recent scientific discoveries confirm these events time and time again. It is an active process. “In the beginning” … it starts. “Knowledge and insight change reality”. A particularly catchy Dutch-language story that is highly recommended. (approx. 50 min.) | Edward Morgan | https://prepareforchange.net/2019/01/16/truths-about-our-human-origin-human-beings-are-a-slave-race/ | 2019-01-16 23:51:11+00:00 | 1,547,700,671 | 1,567,552,169 | science and technology | scientific institution |
461,104 | renegadetribune--2019-05-30--Genetically Modified Babies The Genetic Editing of Human Life is Big Business | 2019-05-30T00:00:00 | renegadetribune | Genetically Modified Babies – The Genetic Editing of Human Life is “Big Business” | “Genetically modified humans” sounds like a term that belongs in Hollywood, but it’s actually a very real possibility, and one that’s being heavily discussed in the scientific community. Contributing to one of the most controversial topics to date, not long ago, a panel of science experts in the U.S. just examined and gave their support for germline editing. This means that in the future, parents will likely be able to tamper with the genetics of their children pre-birth. Germinal choice technology refers to reprogenetic technologies that enable parents to alter the genetic constitutions of their children. One of the ways this can be done is through germline editing, which is a fancier term for human genetic engineering. Germline editing alters the genes of a sperm or an egg, but it then changes the future DNA of every single cell in the embryo. This means that the genetic changes made to the embryos will then affect all future generations within that family lineage. The panels were made up of experts from two of the most prestigious scientific institutions in the U.S., both of which recommended that germline editing be viewed as a serious option in the future and not be prohibited outright (source). This is a dramatically different stance than the last assessment given in December 2015 by an international summit of scientists, who stated that it would be “irresponsible to proceed” with germline editing given the controversy surrounding the subject and the safety issues involved, all of which have yet to be resolved. The panels’ discussions can be further analyzed in a report released earlier this week by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine. The panel recommended that germline editing of early embryos, eggs, or sperm should only be permitted to prevent serious disease or disability if there’s significant scientific evidence illustrating that the procedures are safe. You can read more about that story here. For now, I wanted to point you to a piece written by Canadian economist, author, and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa and the president and director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Michel Chossudovsky, where this post originally appeared. Last November, He Jiankui, a Chinese biology professor at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Shenzhen (Guangdong Province) announced that he and his team had createdthe World’s first “genetically edited babies”: twin babies Lula and Nana. Dr. He Jiankui, used the CRISPR technology “to alter the embryos of seven couples [allegedly] to make them resistant to HIV”. He Jiankui made his announcement at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing held at the University of Hong Kong. Dr. He claims to have used CRISP “to tweak the DNA of human embryos during in vitro fertilization”. The broad implications of this experiment are far-reaching. The genetic editing of human life forms including embryos has a bearing on the future of humanity. It opens up the pandora’s box of genetic engineering applied to human beings. It undermines the “reproduction of real life”. Potentially, it destroys humanity. The experiment raises important scientific and ethical issues. Human embryos are not commodities. The Chinese government immediately opened an investigation, Dr He Jiankui was fired by his University in January 2019. Despite government regulations and ethical issues, there are powerful corporate interests involved in the development and patenting of genetic editing of life forms including Dr. He’s findings on “genetically modified babies”. While Dr. He’s University based lab biology project at SUST has been closed down, he nonetheless remains Chairman and major stakeholder of the Shenzhen based Direct Genomics Biotechnology, “a genome sequencing” firm, with extensive financial resources. Direct Genomics received at least US$43 million in funding from both Chinese and international investors: We’re talking about “Big Business” involving the potential marketing and sale of genetically modified human and animal life forms. Imagine the potential strategic and military applications, not to mention the emergence of a corporate health service economy for the super-rich, where “perfect babies” can be purchased for a million dollars. Following the Chinese government investigation, there is no concrete evidence that this corporate genetic editing project has been discontinued. Quite the opposite. It is worth noting that the intellectual property rights pertaining to the CRISPR -Cas9 gene editing technology used by Dr. He’s team (i.e. editing the DNA of human and animal life) are not registered in China. The patent belongs to a US based entity: the Broad Institute, located in Cambridge, Mass. with links to Harvard and MIT. The Broad Institute is firmly committed to the pursuit of genetic editing of human living cells: While the Broad Institute owns the intellectual technology, CRISPR-Cas9 was invented by a Chinese American scientist Dr. Feng Zhang based at the Broad Institute and MIT. MIT Prof. Feng Zhang responding to Dr He’s controversial announcement calls for “a moratorium on implantation of edited [human] embryos …until we have come up with a thoughtful set of safety requirements first.” This statement represents the interests of the Broad Institute. According to Feng Zhang’s colleague Professor David Liu (also on behalf of the Broad Institute): These statements are tantamount to “crocodile tears”. Failing effective government regulation (e.g. by the Trump administration), the ethical considerations will eventually be scrapped or bypassed. “Moratorium” rather than “Abolition” of a potentially dangerous technology is the talking point: “We have a legal moratorium on that here,” said U.S. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb… The potential applications are also relatively dangerous if they get into the hands of people who don’t have good judgment or have ill intent.” (Bloomberg SFGate, November 27, 2018) A moratorium on behalf of those who own the CRISPR patent does not foreclose the development and marketing for profit of genetic editing of human embryos. Money is the driving force. The Moratorium will eventually be lifted. Potentially, what is at stake is a multi-billion dollar undertaking. In all likelihood, there will be a battle for the intellectual property rights pertaining to CRISPR-Cas9 technology, involving both US and Chinese corporate interests. While the Broad Institute was granted ownership of the CRISPR-Cas9 patent by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, less than 3 months prior to Dr. He’s announcement in Hong Kong, the ownership of CRISP is actively contested. The University of California at Berkeley is also involved in the fight for patent ownership against the Cambridge based Broad Institute. (Wired, September 11, 2018). […] | renegade | http://www.renegadetribune.com/genetically-modified-babies-the-genetic-editing-of-human-life-is-big-business/ | 2019-05-30 18:21:35+00:00 | 1,559,254,895 | 1,567,539,752 | science and technology | scientific institution |
498,648 | sottnet--2019-03-17--Analyzing the current vectors of Russian military strategy development | 2019-03-17T00:00:00 | sottnet | Analyzing the current vectors of Russian military strategy development | The Unity of Theory and Practice Principles of preventing, preparing for, and conducting war "The strategy of limited actions" outside of Russia's borders Using a group of forces under the "strategy of limited actions" Collaboration among components of the state's military organization Collaboration between MoD and the defense industry The main tasks of military science and ways of achieving them Originally appeared at Red Star ; Translated byexclusively forThe assembly had the format of a military science conference dealing with the development of military strategy in current conditions. The conference was opened by Army General Makhmut Gareev, the Academy's president. Participants included Academy members, leadership of the Ministry of Defense (MoD), representatives from the Presidential Administration, State Duma, and Federation Council, as well as the leading scientists from the Russian Academy of Science, universities, research institutes working for the MoD.The General Staff Chief and First Deputy Minister of Defense, Army General Gennadiy Gerasimov, presented a report on the main trends in the evolution of military strategy and the tasks facing military science. We are presenting this report for our readers.We are currently seeing the development of the concept of conducting war through a coordinated application of military and non-military instruments, with the decisive role played by the Armed Forces.Traditionally, the annual Academy of Military Sciences conference is a platform for exchanging opinions among military specialists, concerning the most pressing problems of military science. The conference's outcomes de-facto define future development of military science, therefore they are widely discussed in Russia and abroad.This year we are discussing the question of military strategy development in contemporary conditions.Military strategy as a science, or "the art of commanding armies", was born in early 20th century and evolved on the basis of examination of wartime experience. Overall, strategy is a "system of knowledge and actions to avoid, prepare for, and conduct war".At present, we are seeing the expansion in the variety of kinds of war, and their content is undergoing significant change.We can expectin order to enhance the effectiveness of the non-military measures. Military force is used when non-military methods have not succeeded.Moreover, Russia's geopolitical rivals do not conceal their desire to achieve their political aims through not only local conflicts.In these conditions, our Armed Forces ought to be ready to fight wars and armed conflicts of the new type using classical and asymmetric methods. Therefore the search for optimum strategies for waging wars with various adversaries acquires paramount importance for the development of theory and practice of military strategy.We must review the form and content of military strategy, principles of preventing wars, preparing for wars, and conducting wars. We also ought to further develop, and continue to improve the organization of the state's defenses.During its evolution, military strategy underwent several phases, from the "crushing strategy" and "attrition strategy" to "global war", "nuclear deterrence" and "indirect operations".United States and its allies have embraced an aggressive approach to its foreign policy.Pentagon started to develop a qualitatively new strategy of military operations which has already been dubbed the "Trojan horse".It amounts to active use of the "protest potential of a potential fifth column" in the interests of destabilizing situation while simultaneously precision-guided munition (PGM) strikes are launched at key targets.I would like to note that. During the last few years, military science professionals and the General Staff developed conceptual approaches to neutralizing potential adversaries' aggressive actions. The foundation of "our answer" is the "strategy of active defense" which, taking into consideration thenature of Russia's Military Doctrine,Validation of the measures which are being developed ought to be the focus of our military science professionals. It's one of the priority realms in ensuring state security. We ought to anticipate the adversary in the development of military strategy, be "a step ahead".Developing strategy as a science ought to cover two directions. They are the development of the system of knowledge about war, and improving the range of practical activities concerning war prevention, preparation, and conduct.Military strategy research encompasses armed struggle, its strategic level.Nevertheless, the main content of military strategy is the preparation for war and its conduct, first and foremost using the Armed Forces. Yes, we do acknowledge the other non-military measures which influence the course and outcome of war, and also create conditions for effective use of military force. But one needs to remember that struggles in other realms represent separate problems with their own "strategies", methods of action, and corresponding resources. In order to achieve our common goal, we ought to coordinate among them, rather than direct them.Strategy ought to concern itself with predicting the nature of future wars, develop new "strategies" to conduct them, prepare the state and Armed Forces for them. It means it's necessary to renew the list of research objectives by supplementing them with new directions in scientific activity.Without a doubt, this work ought to be headed by the Military Academy of the General Staff, jointly with the Academy of Military Sciences.In order to effectively study these issues, we will need the involvement all the scientific entities of the MoD, the scientific capabilities of interested federal agencies, executive authorities. Practice has shown that difficult issues must be discussed at scientific/practical conferences, evaluated at round tables. Only then will they yield new contributions to the theory and practice of military strategy.As the nature of war, including its preparation and conduct, changes, some principles of strategy cease to operate, while others acquire new meaning.Principles of prior preparation for war are ensured by a high level ofof the armed forces, and also the. The principle of conducting war on the basis of coordinated application of military and non-military measures, with the armed forces playing decisive role, has evolved. The principles of surprise, decisiveness, and continuity of strategic operations remain current.This allows us to seize and maintain strategic initiative.The work on clarifying and validating new principles ought to continue using consolidated efforts of the entire scientific community. We must form general and universal principles, as well as principles applicable to specific conditions. That's what the main directions of the development of the theoretical aspects of military strategy look like. However, as the great Russian military commander Aleksandr Vasilyevich Suvorov said, "theory without practice is dead",The fundamental basis for the practical application of strategy is the system of studying forecasted scenarios of armed conflict initiation and conduct. A well-validated scenario forecast for future conflicts is the basis for developing the organization and doctrine of the Armed Forces. We currently have a theoretically developed and practically validated rational system for the use of Armed Forces, where strategic deterrence is an important component. Washington is currently pursuing further expansion of its military presence directly on Russia's borders, destruction of the system of arms control treaties, leading to upsetting strategic stability. Thus in 2002 the US unilaterally exited the ABM Treaty. Their next step, after the demonstrative suspension of participation in the INF Treaty, may be the refusal to extend START-3. Pentagon lately made several declarations of its intent to use outer space for military purposes. This is why it is forming a new branch of service, Space Forces, which may lead to the militarization of outer space.One of the current tasks facing the future military strategy is the theoretical foundation for, and improving, nuclear and non-nuclear deterrence measures.Our answer will shortly follow. To make sure of that, we are adopting modern weapon systems, including some qualitatively new ones. We have begun the production of new types of weapons, which are entering service. Avangard, Sarmat, the latest Peresvet and Kinzhal all showed high combat effectiveness. Poseidon and Burevestnik are successfully undergoing tests. Development of the Tsirkon hypersonic naval missile is progressing as planned.Thus, a decision was made to perform research and development of land-based short- and medium-range hypersonic missile systems.The policies of our Western partners force us to "respond to threats by creating a threat",Military scientists ought to intensify their research on search for and implementation of new methods of using future weapons systems, and to research ways of countering military actions by the likely adversary in space and from space.Syria experience plays in important role in the development of strategy. Its generalization and propagation allowed us to identifyThis strategy is based onwhose core is formed by one of the branches of armed services,. In Syria, that role was played by units of the Aerospace Forces.New methods of using forces during the operation were validated. The role of military strategy consisted of planning and coordinating, as well as paramilitary organizations of states participating in the conflict.Post-conflict settlement received further development. Syria saw the development and practical validation of the new form of using Armed Forces, namely humanitarian mission.Results achieved in Syria allowed us to identify specific research questions concerning the use of the Armed Forces outside Russia's territory in order to protect and advance national interests.One of the directions of strategy development is related toon the basis of modern information and telecommunications technologies.This system is used to detect, designate, and selectively strike critically important targets in near-real time, using tactical and operational-level non-nuclear weapons systems. In the future, military science needs to develop and validate a system capable of inflicting a comprehensive strike on the enemy.The next direction of research is related to the, to contribute to a wide range of missions.Another research direction concerns. Here the decisive role was played bywhich enabled selective responses based on the nature of the attack, the target, and time criticality.Here military science needs to work on the question of establishing a strategic anti-UAV system within Russian Armed Forces, and providing basis for future strategic EW systems and their systemic integration.One of the characteristic features of contemporary armed conflicts is the. For that reason,, its structure, organization, ensuring readiness, is an important task for military science and strategy. Currently we are doing a lot concerning non-military and military measures carried out by government agencies and ministries in the interests of national defense. All the same it is necessary to continue work on coordinating actions by federal executive agencies, delineating their responsibilities, and control over the territorial defense mission during a period of war threat escalation and during crisis.The situation also requires a comprehensive system for protecting key infrastructure from all kinds of threats during periods of direct threat of aggression, when the adversary will attempt to destabilize the situation and create a sense of chaos and loss of control.It will result in theoretical contributions, as well as a developed system for joint use of multi-agency assets to ensure comprehensive security.Until recent times, military science concerned itself with the application of Armed Forces in traditional realms of combat operations, on land, air, and sea.Future wars will also see conflict expand into that realm.The information realm which lacks clearly defined national borders, allows for remote, stealthy operations aimed at not only critical informational infrastructure, but also the population, with direct impact on national security.Therefore the matter of preparing for and conducting informational operations is a key task for military science.One of the priority future directions of military strategy is the research into increasing Russian Armed Forces' fighting power. It depends on both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the Armed Forces, their manning and equipment levels, morale, training, combat readiness and battle-worthiness.We are currently implementing the program on, which is progressing according to plan. By 2025, their number will reach 475,000 service members.Armed Forces' officer corps consists of trained, professional cadres.All branches and types of forces are undergoing balanced development process, receiving timely upgrades with modern equipment. The nuclear triad, which plays a key role in preserving strategic parity, is noticeably stronger. 82% of nuclear weapons systems are modern.Troop control and training establishments have become considerably more adept. Their abilities have undergone qualitative change.Surprise combat readiness inspections confirmed the ability to rapidly transfer formations across large distances and reinforcing strategically important sectors.Improving the means of ensuring ideological and moral resilience of the population, starting with the military personnel, is a traditionally important aspect of strategy. This is why the institution of military-political work has been revived in the Armed Forces.An important direction of defense strategy and a task for military science is the search for. In order to prepare the country's economy for addressing defense tasks, strategy ought to be able to state for which kinds of wars and in what direction should the economy ought to be shaped? How is one to ensure its survivability and resilience? How should economic facilities be placed to ensure their protection?I should note that a lot has been done by the MoD and the defense industry. First of all, we've built an effective system for collaboration. Scientific research institutions participate in developing requirements for weapon systems on the basis of analysis of combat experience, and monitor implementation during the entire development process, from the first drafts to state testing.Therefore military science and its forecasting of future wars define the nature of future weapons and equipment. Military scientists are conducting anticipatory research in order to define the forms and use of future weapons. TThis demand should become crucial when tasking defense industry with developing new weapons. It will allow defense enterprises to engage in long-term planning, and scientific institutions will have points of reference for their theoretical and applied research into military science.The most important task facing military science today is anticipatory, continuous, and focused research on the likely character of future conflicts, developing the entire system of military and non-military measures, defining future trends in weapons and equipment development.Addressing these tasks is first and foremost on the shoulders of the Armed Forces' military science establishment. In recent years, this establishment achieved certain successes. For example, it prepared a system of basic data for military planning for the mid-term (2021-2025) as a result of research tasked by the General Staff. It is the basis for clarifying and developing defense planning documents for the new period.Our military science always distinguished itself with its ability to see and uncover problems even as they were appearing, and the ability to quickly find ways to deal with them. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/409312-Analyzing-the-current-vectors-of-Russian-military-strategy-development | 2019-03-17 20:07:37+00:00 | 1,552,867,657 | 1,567,545,961 | science and technology | scientific institution |
4,823 | activistpost--2019-06-25--Gillette Stadiums Facial Recognition Can Identify Fans Before They Enter The Stadium | 2019-06-25T00:00:00 | activistpost | Gillette Stadium’s Facial Recognition Can Identify Fans Before They Enter The Stadium | One of the NFL’s premiere franchises, the New England Patriots is using “Evolve Edge” millimeter wave/facial recognition scanners to identify fans before they enter Gillette Stadium. According to Evolv Edge’s brochure, their scanners use facial recognition to identify everyone. Evolv’s scanners are designed to make it easy for private corporations and law enforcement to create blacklists of suspicious people. Because nothing says freedom quite like being placed on a so-called “locally defined gallery” (secret blacklist). Across the country, Evolv Edge’s millimeter waves are secretly scanning Americans without their knowledge. Gillette Stadium and the TD Garden have also been using FanCam to identify every fan since 2017. Gillette Stadium uses Evolve to whitelist and blacklist fans, calling out “valued customers” (VIPS) by name. Gillette Stadium plans to use facial recognition cameras to identify fans, Just how easy is it for someone to be blacklisted by Gillette Security? According to Gillette Stadium’s “Code of Conduct” page, fans can be blacklisted for exercising their right to free speech among others things. If a fan wants to be removed from Gillette Stadium’s blacklist, they must pay $250.00 and take a “4 Hour Online Fan Code Of Conduct Class” that teaches people things like “communication skills as prevention (Foul or abusive language or obscene gesture) [and] skills for becoming less impulsive and improving judgment.” Forcing blacklisted fans to take a “Code of Conduct” class, essentially turns stadiums into the Nanny State. Evolv Technology’s study shows just how much the Nanny State has become synonymous with stadiums and public venues. Evolv Technology’s CEO, Mike Ellenbogen, explains his close relationship with Gillette Stadium’s head of security, Mark Briggs, and describes how they worked together to identify fans before they even enter the stadium. Our vision—and TeamOps —is to use advanced connected sensors along with face and image recognition to identify potential threats as soon as they arrive on property or come in sight of the venue. Should our cameras spot someone of interest, or who might be carrying a suspicious object, we can give our law enforcement partners a heads up so they can take the appropriate action before the person gets within range to do major damage. Our credo is prevent, don’t just react. Private corporations notifying police of a suspicious or blacklisted fan before they enter a venue is extremely disturbing. Why? Because the public has no way of knowing why someone has been put on a blacklist since private corporations are exempt from FOIAs, Unfortunately, Evolv Technology is not alone in scanning people in public places. HEXWAVE, makes its money by scanning people in malls and retail stores from Florida, to Southeast Georgia. “Malls welcome hundreds – if not thousands – of visitors daily, including children and families. These are public spaces that face a security challenge with high volumes of foot traffic and multiple entry points,” said Bill Riker, Liberty’s CEO. “By providing a security solution that is modular, scalable, and capable of providing layered protection to identify threats before they evolve into an attack, we believe that we can make these spaces safer for patrons and merchants alike.” In Utah, HEXWAVE plans to scan people in just about every public venue imaginable, scanning them during “non-business hours to get system exposure to the full range of potential operating conditions to include environmental, frequency/volume of use or other operating conditions to which HEXWAVE would be subjected.” | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/06/gillette-stadiums-facial-recognition-can-identify-fans-before-they-enter-the-stadium.html | 2019-06-25 14:14:51+00:00 | 1,561,486,491 | 1,567,538,118 | sport | sport venue |
59,331 | birminghammail--2019-03-29--This is how Hall Green Greyhound Stadium will look in just two years | 2019-03-29T00:00:00 | birminghammail | This is how Hall Green Greyhound Stadium will look in just two years | This is the first look at the new homes which are being built on the site of a former greyhound stadium in Birmingham. More than 200 homes will be on land where the Hall Green stadium used to be. Work has now begun on the housing development which is due to be completed in March 2021. The start of construction marks the end of a three-year battle by local people to stop the development going ahead. In 2016, nearly 5,000 people signed petitions against the demolition of the stadium to make way for new homes. But last September Birmingham City Council granted planning permission for 210 homes. Of these, 110 will be sold under under the Linden Homes brand. The remaining 100 have been bought by WM Housing Group for more than £14.5 million and will be offered at affordable rents as well as shared ownership. These will be a mixture of one, two, three and four-bedroomed flats and houses. The cost of a four-bedroomed shared ownership house will start at £330,000, with a two-bedroom one costing £210,000 and £295,000 for three bedrooms. The Linden Homes development will be called Olympia and feature two, three and four-bedroom houses. Each style of house has been named after a famous person with links to Hall Green. The four bedroom house is called The Lycett - after the comedian Joe Lycett - and has a price tag of £345,000. Racing driver Nigel Mansell is the inspiration for the three-bedroom house - The Mansell - with prices starting at £297,500. Motor racing commentator Murray Walker and comedian Tony Hancock also lend their surnames to three bed homes. The two bedroom house, The Tolkien, is named after the Lord of the Rings author J R R Tolkien, and will cost £215,000. All the homes will be available with the Government's Help to Buy scheme, which enables people to get on the housing ladder. The affordable homes will include apartments and be managed by the WM Housing Group. Its executive director of development, Nick Byrne, said: "We have ambitious targets to deliver new homes for local people. " The site is a unique opportunity for a residential development and it is just four-and-a-half miles east of the city centre.” The marketing on the Linden Homes website emphasises how close the Olympia is to schools, shops and other local amenities, including Hall Green train station. Birmingham City Council has welcomed the scheme, with acting director of neighbourhoods, Robert James, saying: "It is a thriving and expanding area of the city and it will help provide much needed homes when the development is complete.” Residents were joined by MPs Roger Godsiff (Hall Green) and Jess Phillips (Yardley) in fighting the development. They objected to its size, as well as traffic and whether local schools and GP surgeries could cope with the extra residents They also argued there was no need for the greyhound stadium to close as it had been there 100 years and attracted more than 200,000 people a year. But it closed in 2016 and was demolished last spring. | Jane Tyler | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/property/how-hall-green-greyhound-stadium-16022490 | 2019-03-29 15:26:03+00:00 | 1,553,887,563 | 1,567,544,733 | sport | sport venue |
75,491 | breitbart--2019-11-10--Weak Ten: NFL Stadiums Still Full of Empty Seats | 2019-11-10T00:00:00 | breitbart | Weak Ten: NFL Stadiums Still Full of Empty Seats | If the NFL thought that its 100th season would be the big draw to fill seats in the stands this year, many teams are finding that is not the case as seats still remain woefully empty for many clubs across the fruited plains. In Chicago, as the Bears welcomed the nearby Detroit Lions into the Bear’s Den for a loss 20-13, fans stayed home despite the nice, if not somewhat chilly Chicago weather: Meanwhile, in Nashville, as the Tennessee Titans played to the home crowd against the Kansas City Chief beating the visitors in a close 35-32 game, fans had other plans for their Sunday: The Jet’s MetLife Stadium saw a cold day, but a warm 34-27 win over local rivals the New York Giants. But some fans were left asking where everyone was: Cleveland’s FirstEnergy Stadium formed the backdrop of Cleveland’s close 19-16 win over the Buffalo Bills, but fans were still discouraged over the low turn out: When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened their doors for the visiting Arizona Cardinals, they pulled out a 30-27 squeaker over the redbirds, but many noted the paltry attendance: Finally, the winner of the weekend’s “where are they now” award goes to the Cincinnati Bengals whose fans decided to take it easy elsewhere this Sunday when the Baltimore Ravens came to town to deliver a crushing 49-13 beat down to The Bungles: | Warner Todd Huston | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/TQ5Psaz3NcE/ | Sun, 10 Nov 2019 23:28:13 +0000 | 1,573,446,493 | 1,573,474,089 | sport | sport venue |
128,073 | dailyheraldchicago--2019-07-19--Cost of Raiders stadium in Las Vegas rises to 19 billion | 2019-07-19T00:00:00 | dailyheraldchicago | Cost of Raiders stadium in Las Vegas rises to $1.9 billion | LAS VEGAS -- Officials have raised the budget to $1.9 billion for the 65,000-seat Las Vegas Stadium being built for the NFL's relocated Raiders and UNLV football. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the stadium authority board on Thursday approved $40 million in construction additions. They include 20 more suites and a field-level club area to be paid for by personal and club seat sales that weren't part of the original budget. The stadium is due to open in 2020 just off the Las Vegas Strip. Taxpayers are funding $750 million of the project. Plans call for a translucent roof, a natural grass field and sliding doors that can open to view the Strip. The facility will be managed by a division of live-entertainment company AEG. Project officials say construction is about halfway complete. | null | http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20190719/sports/307199894/ | 2019-07-19 18:51:00+00:00 | 1,563,576,660 | 1,567,536,445 | sport | sport venue |
154,918 | drudgereport--2019-11-26--PHOTOS: NFL Stadiums Half-Empty... | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | drudgereport | PHOTOS: NFL Stadiums Half-Empty... | The NFL’s 100th season is going into its final stretch with only five weeks of regular season play remaining, but Week 12 is still “weak” for many teams trying to get fans into those empty seats. The Chicago Bears took some growling for the lack of fans in the seats at Soldier Field, this weekend, despite beating the New York Giants 19-14: The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t tame the jungle very well, either, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-10 at Paul Brown Stadium. Apparently, loads of empty seats kept watch on the game: As always seems to be the unfortunate case this season, the Washington Redskins are still having troubles getting seats filled at FedEx Field, even though they toppled the Detroit Lions in a close 19-16: The Philadelphia Eagles had trouble filling Lincoln Financial Field, too. But fans would only have seen them get crushed by the Seattle Seahawks 17-9. So, maybe it was for the best: But it seems like the biggest stones were being thrown at the Atlanta Falcons who not only lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35-22, but couldn’t get anyone out at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to even see their loss: | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/rxIbQ4Z72Nw/ | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:16:38 GMT | 1,574,745,398 | 1,574,727,464 | sport | sport venue |
156,331 | drudgereport--2019-12-16--Thousands of Empty NFL Stadium Seats Going into Home Stretch... | 2019-12-16T00:00:00 | drudgereport | Thousands of Empty NFL Stadium Seats Going into Home Stretch... | With only two more games left in the regular season, the NFL is still seeing thousands of empty seats all across the nation as Week 15 winds down. At press time, the game was not quite over as the Minnesota Vikings visited Dignity Health Sports Park to play the Los Angeles Chargers, but some felt the fans were simply uninterested in turning out: Another fan wondered why no one came out to Arrowhead Stadium as the Kansas City Chiefs dominated the Denver Broncos 23-3: The Washington Redskins lost by ten to the Philadelphia Eagles 37-27, but fans seemed very concerned about the empty seats at FedEx Field: MetLife Stadium gave the New York Giants the home field advantage for a 36-20 win over the Miami Dolphins, but many thought there were too many empty seats to watch over the game: On the other hand, the home field advantage sure didn’t help the Cincinnati Bengals who lost 34 to 13 to the visiting New England Patriots. Fans, though, maybe had some Christmas shopping to do: The Carolina Panthers welcomed the Seattle Seahawks to Bank of America Stadium, and lost 30-24, but there were many who commented on the lack of support for the home team: Finally, the Detroit Lions also found no luck at home when the Tampa Bat Buccaneers came to Ford Field to beat the Lions 38-17. But a lot of fans wondered if more empty seats were invited than fans: | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/36nzeqIqi08/ | Mon, 16 Dec 2019 12:19:38 GMT | 1,576,516,778 | 1,576,498,852 | sport | sport venue |
160,588 | eveningstandard--2019-01-21--NFL London 2019 teams confirmed for four games at Wembley and new Tottenham stadium | 2019-01-21T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | NFL London 2019 teams confirmed for four games at Wembley and new Tottenham stadium | The NFL has confirmed the eight teams who will play in London for the 2019 International Series, with Tottenham's new stadium and Wembley Stadium to host two games apiece. The NFL announced on Monday afternoon that Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chicago Bears, Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars will all be heading to the English capital this year. Should the Rams beat the New England Patriots in Sunday's Super Bowl LIII, that would mean UK fans would be able to welcome the Super Bowl champions for the second consecutive year after watching the Philidelphia Eagles at Wembley back in 2018. There will also be one International Series match held outside London, with Kansas City Chiefs meeting the Los Angeles Chargers in Mexico City. The NFL also confirmed that dates and kick-off times will be confirmed in the spring when then the full schedules is released. | Tom Doyle | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/nfl-london-2019-teams-confirmed-four-games-wembley-new-tottenham-stadium-a4044831.html | 2019-01-21 15:10:00+00:00 | 1,548,101,400 | 1,567,551,484 | sport | sport venue |
162,023 | eveningstandard--2019-01-29--New Tottenham Stadium How Crystal Palace could delay opening date | 2019-01-29T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham Stadium: How Crystal Palace could delay opening date | Crystal Palace's FA Cup run could affect Tottenham's hopes of moving into their new £1billion stadium in March. Spurs would like to move into their behind-schedule 62,062-seater home for the Premier League match against the Eagles, which has been moved to Sunday March 17 and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. But the game will be rearranged, likely for midweek, if Palace win at League One Doncaster Rovers to reach the FA Cup quarter-final, following their 2-0 win over Spurs in Sunday's fourth-round. The Metropolitan Police have already moved to block Spurs from hosting north London rivals Arsenal at the new stadium on March 2 over safety concerns and it remains to be seen if the Safety Advisory Group would approve a midweek opening fixture. The situation is further complicated because Spurs would have no control over the scheduling of the rearranged game. | Dan Kilpatrick | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-how-crystal-palace-could-delay-opening-date-a4051656.html | 2019-01-29 11:02:00+00:00 | 1,548,777,720 | 1,567,550,355 | sport | sport venue |
163,525 | eveningstandard--2019-02-07--New QPR stadium aposShockedapos Tony Fernandes hits back over councilaposs stadium claims | 2019-02-07T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New QPR stadium: 'Shocked' Tony Fernandes hits back over council's stadium claims | QPR co-owner Tony Fernandes has stepped up his war of words with Hammersmith and Fulham council over the club’s bid to build a new stadium within the borough. Fernandes has reacted furiously to a statement released by the council last night in response to comments he made earlier in the day. The QPR supremo had urged the club’s fans to pressure the council into backing their proposal to redevelop the Linford Christie athletics stadium. He also warned that the Championship side might have to move away from W12, where their current home Loftus Road is, if they did not get their way. However, a spokesman for Hammersmith and Fulham council said: “We’ve had many meetings with Tony Fernandes and his team. “He’s lobbied us to turn the current QPR stadium into housing and even lobbied us to add in the nearby council homes on Batman Close so he can become one of the biggest developers in White City. We’ve been extremely clear that we will never hand over people’s homes on Batman Close to any developer and cannot give any land away for free. “If QPR’s owners won’t put their money where their mouth is and invest in the current stadium, we’ve offered to consider other options such as renting other sites. “We call on the owners to put the club and its fans first and consider an FC Barcelona-style fan ownership. We love QPR but don’t see it as our business to help QPR’s owners engage in property speculation.” But Fernandes has hit back, saying: “What a horrific and disappointing statement and really unbecoming of a council after all we have done. “The council knows very clearly our heart is in the borough and we have tried everything to give our fans a new home and build affordable homes for our fans and community. Shock. “We are not property developers, never will be and don’t want to be. Just enough to build a new home. No different from any other club that has built a new stadium.” QPR have offered to refund supporters’ rail fares after their match with Bristol City was rescheduled. They were due to take on Bristol City at Ashton Gate next Wednesday, but the match has been moved due to the club’s progression in the FA Cup. QPR are in the fifth round of the competition for the first time in 22 years after beating Portsmouth 2-0 in their replay at Loftus Road on Tuesday. Goals from strikers Nahki Wells and Matt Smith fired Steve McClaren’s side through and they now face Watford. BT Sport have selected the Cup tie as one of their television picks and the match is now scheduled to take place a week tomorrow, leading to the club’s game with Bristol City being brought back 24 hours earlier to next Tuesday. The late rescheduling has risked leaving many fans who had already made travel arrangements out of pocket. QPR are well aware of the issue and as such they have have put a plan in place to ensure the late fixture change does not hit supporters too hard. The club are offering to refund any fans who had purchased a train ticket for the match with Bristol prior to January 31. Fans affected by the fixture change should contact the club’s supporters’ liaison officer Andy Rees via @andyr.qpr.co.uk with proof of purchase to be refunded in full. | simon johnson | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/qpr/new-qpr-stadium-shocked-tony-fernandes-hits-back-over-council-s-claims-stadium-claims-a4060491.html | 2019-02-07 12:49:00+00:00 | 1,549,561,740 | 1,567,549,296 | sport | sport venue |
163,527 | eveningstandard--2019-02-07--New Tottenham stadium Spurs have not ruled out March move-in date | 2019-02-07T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Spurs have not ruled out March move-in date | Tottenham have not ruled out moving to their new stadium next month after confirming the match against Arsenal on March 2 will be played at Wembley. The north London derby was never likely to be the curtain-raiser at Spurs' 62,062-seater new home after the Metropolitan Police warned against opening the ground with such a potentially volatile fixture. Spurs have turned their attentions to the home game against Crystal Palace on March 17 but the situation is complicated because the fixture will be rearranged if the Eagles beat League One Doncaster to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals. To compound the problem, Spurs' next home game, against Brighton on April 6, will also be rearranged if Chris Hughton's side reach the semi-finals with a victory over Derby County, having beaten West Brom 3-1 last night. In a statement this afternoon, Spurs made no mention of the Palace or Brighton fixtures, nor revealed details of the two necessary test events, but said they had nearly finished checks on the faulty wiring and critical safety systems, which have delayed the £1billion project since August. "We can today report that remedial works on the safety systems in the new stadium are near completion and we shall then move forward to the final stages of testing the fire detection and alarm system and its integration with the other safety systems," the statement read. "The success of this testing is critical to our ability to obtain a safety certificate and open the stadium. We can confirm, therefore, that we shall play our Premier League match against Arsenal on Saturday 2 March at 12.30pm at Wembley Stadium." Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said: "Once again, thank you all for bearing with us and for the great support we have received from so many different quarters. These next few weeks are pivotal." | Dan Kilpatrick | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-spurs-have-not-ruled-out-march-movein-date-a4060426.html | 2019-02-07 12:09:00+00:00 | 1,549,559,340 | 1,567,549,298 | sport | sport venue |
163,528 | eveningstandard--2019-02-07--New Tottenham stadium Wembley to host Spurs vs Arsenal north London derby | 2019-02-07T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Wembley to host Spurs vs Arsenal north London derby | Tottenham have confirmed that their north London derby against Arsenal on March 2 will be held at Wembley Stadium as delays over the completion of their new stadium continue. The north Londoners were set to move into their new 62,062-seater home at the start of the season but, due to ongoing delays with vital safety systems, have continued to host their ‘home’ games at Wembley Stadium, while one EFL Cup fixture had to take place in Milton Keynes. Met Police had warned against opening the stadium with a north London derby, while the two following home fixtures (vs Crystal Palace and Brighton) could be rescheduled dependent on the two sides’ progress in the FA Cup. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy thanked fans for their patience, saying: "Once again, thank you all for bearing with us and for the great support we have received from so many different quarters. “These next few weeks are pivotal." Tottenham must complete two test events before opening the new stadium for first team use. | Jack Rosser | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-wembley-to-host-spurs-vs-arsenal-north-london-derby-a4060381.html | 2019-02-07 12:04:00+00:00 | 1,549,559,040 | 1,567,549,296 | sport | sport venue |
163,708 | eveningstandard--2019-02-08--New Tottenham stadium opening date Mauricio Pochettino hints at move next season | 2019-02-08T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium opening date: Mauricio Pochettino hints at move next season | Mauricio Pochettino has said he believes it will be "tough" for Tottenham to play in their new stadium this season after the club announced another delay on Thursday. Spurs' 62,062-seater new home has been delayed since August following problems with the fire and safety systems but the club has always maintained that they will be able to move in this season. This week, they confirmed that the north London derby against Arsenal on March 2 will also be moved to temporary home Wembley, leaving them with just five more Premier League home matches before the end of the campaign. Standard Sport understands the Premier League are keen for Tottenham to play at least five League matches at the new White Hart Lane or stay at the national stadium for the remainder of the campaign. And Pochettino, who has always insisted Spurs will move to the new White Hart Lane as soon as it is ready, now says his gut feeling is the club will find it difficult to move in this term. "My wish is to play at the new stadium before the end of the season," the Spurs manager said ahead of Sunday's match against Leicester at Wembley. "We'll see what happens. My gut feeling is that it's going to be tough but my wish, my hope and my dream is to finish this season playing in the new stadium. "We'll see if you can trust more in my gut or the [club's] capacity to finish the stadium before the end of the season." Attendances at Wembley have steadily fallen throughout the campaign but Spurs remain in the hunt for a maiden Premier League title, trailing league leaders Manchester City by just five points, and changing homes mid-season could affect their rhythm. But Pochettino is adamant the move would have a positive impact on his players, adding: "Did you see in the last few games how many people were [at Wembley]? 30,000. "I want to play in front of 60,000 – not 30,000. 60,000 people in the stadium always helps you to achieve three points and for the fans it's going to be a massive boost and massive impact – and that's going to translate to the team. "Of course the people is going to be disappointed to play in Wembley, not because they don't like Wembley – we all love Wembley – but because we expect to already play in our new stadium. "That's why it's going to be massive to play the last five Premier League games in our new stadium. I hope that happens, I believe it can be very positive to move to the new stadium." | Dan Kilpatrick | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-opening-date-mauricio-pochettino-hints-at-move-next-season-a4061646.html | 2019-02-08 15:09:00+00:00 | 1,549,656,540 | 1,567,549,173 | sport | sport venue |
164,307 | eveningstandard--2019-02-12--New Tottenham Stadium Latest picture of new Sky Bar above 1bn home | 2019-02-12T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham Stadium: Latest picture of new Sky Bar above £1bn home | Tottenham fans have been given another glimpse inside their new home with a sneak peek at the Sky Lounge. As the grand opening of Spurs' new 62,062-seater home continues to be delayed, fresh images of inside the impressive stadium have been posted online. Following the news that Tottenham's cheese room is no more - and may never have been planned in the first place - fans can soften the blow with a stunning image of the new walkaway to the Sky Lounge. Here's how the club website describes the exclusive lounge: "Our Sky Lounges are modern, contemporary spaces where guests will enjoy stunning, panoramic views across London from the highest vantage point available in the stadium. "Dining will be at your command too, with informal, high quality bowl food, allowing for varied and flexible meal options. "Your match seats are located towards the front of the upper tier, centred along the halfway line for a fantastic view of the action." Nigel Lowe tweeted an photo of the ongoing construction, writing: "Walkway to the sky bar [at Spurs' new stadium]. Intense sense of height on there with glass side balustrade, will be even better with a full stand underneath." | ALEX YOUNG | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-latest-picture-of-new-sky-bar-above-1bn-home-a4064596.html | 2019-02-12 14:36:00+00:00 | 1,550,000,160 | 1,567,548,766 | sport | sport venue |
164,680 | eveningstandard--2019-02-14--New Tottenham stadium Uefa open to Spurs hosting Champions League quarter-final at new home | 2019-02-14T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Uefa open to Spurs hosting Champions League quarter-final at new home | Uefa remain open to Tottenham hosting a potential Champions League quarter-final in their new stadium if the £1billion venue is ready in time. Spurs have one foot in a first quarter-final since 2011 after beating Borussia Dortmund 3-0 at Wembley last night and they visit the Westfalenstadion for the last-16 second leg on March 5. Uefa regulations broadly leave venue open to discussions with clubs and the governing body should be willing to allow Spurs to move to the 62,062-seat ground later in the competition if possible. Spurs have been in dialogue with Uefa throughout last summer and this season amid repeated delays to the stadium and talks will continue over the next few weeks, with the quarter-finals scheduled for April 9/10 and 16/17. Spurs have confirmed they will remain at Wembley until north London derby on March 2 but they are yet to announce where their final five home league games will be played. Standard Sport understands the Premier League would prefer the club to either play all five in their new home or remain at Wembley for the season, raising the intriguing but unlikely possibility that Spurs could open their new stadium with a Champions League match but not play domestic football there until next term. Mauricio Pochettino said last week his gut feeling is that it will be "tough" for Spurs to play in their new home this season but chairman Daniel Levy is said to still be optimistic about the chances of relocating before the end of the campaign. Speaking after the draw at Barcelona which clinched their place on the knockouts Harry Kane said Spurs hoped the New White Hart Lane could have the same impact on them in Europe as Anfield has had on Liverpool. “It would be incredible, something special, Champions League games in the new stadium," Kane said. “We’ve got to try and create that atmosphere. Everyone knows Anfield’s been fantastic for that. They’ve pulled out some great comebacks and results there and I’m sure that’s what we’re going to have to do to progress in this competition." | Dan Kilpatrick | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-uefa-open-to-spurs-hosting-champions-league-quarterfinal-at-new-home-a4066916.html | 2019-02-14 12:31:00+00:00 | 1,550,165,460 | 1,567,548,512 | sport | sport venue |
164,964 | eveningstandard--2019-02-16--New Tottenham stadium Latest stunning photos as opening date draws closer | 2019-02-16T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Latest stunning photos as opening date draws closer | New photos of inside Tottenham's new stadium have appeared online as fans continue to wait for an opening date. Twitter user Ehsen Shah posted four photos of the £1 billion stadia, showing continuing maintenance of the pitch, the single-tier stand and press area. The stadium's repeated delays continue to frustrate fans with the club most recently moving March 2's north London derby to Wembley with further testing and works likely scheduled for late February. The new stadium needs to pass two official test events to get the safety licence required to open, though fan tours and other private viewings are understood to not count towards that quota. Standard Sport understands the Premier League want Tottenham to play at least five League games at their new stadium this season or stay at Wembley for the rest of the campaign, which would mean a move-in date currently no later than March 17's visit of Crystal Palace. To read all the latest about Tottenham's new stadium, read our guide. | ALEX YOUNG | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-latest-stunning-photos-as-opening-date-draws-closer-a4068641.html | 2019-02-16 11:02:41+00:00 | 1,550,332,961 | 1,567,548,300 | sport | sport venue |
166,508 | eveningstandard--2019-02-27--New Tottenham Stadium Mauricio Pochettino hopeful over opening new ground this season | 2019-02-27T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham Stadium: Mauricio Pochettino hopeful over opening new ground this season | Mauricio Pochettino says he is more positive about Tottenham’s chances of moving to their new stadium this season following weeks of testing on the behind-schedule ground. As revealed by Standard Sport last week, Spurs are hoping to stage test events on March 16 and 23, provided the stadium passes the ongoing checks to the fire and safety alarms, which have delayed the £1billion project since September. If the test events are successful, the club would be in a position to open the 62,062-seater stadium against Brighton on April 7, plans that could be confirmed this week. The venue for their final five home games of the season is still unconfirmed and it is understood the Premier League would prefer Spurs to play all five at their new home or remain at Wembley until the end of the campaign. Earlier this month, Pochettino was downbeat on the prospect of moving back to N17 this season, but the Spurs manager said Crystal Palace’s progress in the FA Cup — which has forced the Premier League to rearrange their visit to Spurs on March 17 — has given him fresh hope. “I saw Daniel [Levy, the Spurs chairman] yesterday and he’s very positive,” said the Argentine. “I still think it’s going to be tough, but that was before Palace went through in the FA Cup and we changed the game. Many things have happened [since] to make us more positive, to believe that we can move before the end of the season.” The situation is not straightforward because there is still no date for the rearranged Palace fixture, while their match against Brighton will also be moved if the Seagulls beat Millwall to reach the FA Cup semi-finals. A Millwall win would allow Spurs to move to their stadium sooner and, asked if he would be supporting the Lions on March 17, Pochettino said: “I’m going to support all the possibilities that can make us play [in our new home] before the end of the season.” Spurs can open a 13-point gap on rivals Chelsea with a win at Stamford Bridge tonight, but Pochettino has accepted that they will not win the title this season unless Liverpool and Manchester City suffer spectacular collapses. He said Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Burnley proved his side are not ready to be champions and claimed it could take years to change their mentality. “To be a real contender, playing well or not well, [Burnley] was a must-win game,” he said. “We showed Saturday that we are a good team, but it’s not enough to win the Premier League. That’s the reality. To change that is not only five years’ work, maybe it is 10 years’ work.” Pochettino will again be without Dele Alli (hamstring) and Eric Dier (tonsillitis), but Harry Kane is expected to start after coming through 90 minutes and scoring at Turf Moor on his return from injury. Meanwhile, UEFA have charged Barcelona after a complaint from Spurs about the treatment of their fans in December’s Champions League tie at the Nou Camp, where some were attacked by stewards and police. | Dan Kilpatrick | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-mauricio-pochettino-hopeful-over-opening-new-ground-this-season-a4077901.html | 2019-02-27 11:59:00+00:00 | 1,551,286,740 | 1,567,547,110 | sport | sport venue |
166,686 | eveningstandard--2019-02-28--New QPR stadium Councilaposs 425m plan for 45000-seat arena | 2019-02-28T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New QPR stadium: Council's £425m plan for 45,000-seat arena | QPR could move into a multi-purpose entertainment arena with a capacity of up to 45,000 under plans drawn up by Hammersmith & Fulham council. A consultation document outlines the proposal as one of four options for modernising the Linford Christie athletics stadium next to Wormwood Scrubs. The £425million scheme — the most ambitious and expensive of the four — would see the club effectively “ground sharing” with operators of “concerts, trade shows, exhibitions and theatre.” The pitch would be protected by raising it to become the roof during indoor events. The document’s financial projections also suggest that this option — with QPR offered a long lease — would yield the biggest returns with a surplus of £41.4m over 10 years. The redevelopment plan also includes a new athletics track and stand next to the stadium, hockey facilities and a skate park. It is unlikely to be popular with QPR’s owners, who hope to secure land from the council to build their own stadium at the Linford Christie site which is a mile away from Loftus Road. The consultation document draws up gloomy financial projections for QPR’s preferred choice of a sale of land to the club for a “traditional stadium” of 35,000 capacity but with no entertainment venue. While this would be the cheapest option at just £70.4m, it would result in a cumulative loss of £12.1m after 10 years. The council are set to launch a 12-week public consultation outlining the four options and designs from consultant Populous. The second option is for a 42,000-capacity stadium costing £350m, while the third option is for a 35,000-capacity venue costing £316m. Both options would see QPR take the stadium on a long-term lease. | JOnathan Prynn | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/qpr/new-qpr-stadium-councils-425m-plan-for-45000seat-arena-a4078916.html | 2019-02-28 10:46:00+00:00 | 1,551,368,760 | 1,567,546,981 | sport | sport venue |
167,228 | eveningstandard--2019-03-12--New Tottenham stadium test event Ryan Mason to be in Spurs dugout for Under-18s game | 2019-03-12T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium test event: Ryan Mason to be in Spurs dugout for Under-18s game | Ryan Mason will be in the dugout as Tottenham christen their new stadium with the test events over the coming days. Tottenham's Under-18s will host Southampton Under-18s in front over around 30,000 fans on Sunday in the first of two test events. Mason, after leaving Spurs for Hull City, last year saw his career cut short aged just 26 on medical advice following a nasty head injury sustained in 2017. Since hanging up his boots, Mason returned to Tottenham as a coach across a variety of age groups has he works towards his badges. Mason, a Academy graduate himself, will now be one of the first coaches to sit on the bench in the new £1 billion stadium. “It’s a great privilege for our group of players and staff to have the honour of participating in the first game in the new stadium," Mason said. "The Academy has worked well for the Club over the years and I think it’s fitting that the first match in our new home is going to showcase our current youth talent. "It’s going to be an historic moment for everyone involved – including the players, coaches and fans – and I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to be part of it. "I was lucky enough to have some incredible experiences as a player in the old stadium and to be part of this occasion now as we test out the new stadium fills me with excitement and pride." A Spurs Legends team will then host an Inter Milan Legends team six days later at an increased capacity to get the sign-off from the Premier League and Uefa. The first first-team fixture at the new stadium will be the Premier League visit of either Brighton or Crystal Palace. | ALEX YOUNG | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-test-event-ryan-mason-in-spurs-dugout-for-under18s-game-a4089916.html | 2019-03-12 18:21:00+00:00 | 1,552,429,260 | 1,567,546,545 | sport | sport venue |
168,089 | eveningstandard--2019-03-17--New Tottenham stadium First game confirmed as Spurs vs Crystal Palace on April 3 | 2019-03-17T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: First game confirmed as Spurs vs Crystal Palace on April 3 | Tottenham's first home game at their new stadium has been provisionally confirmed, with Spurs set to host Crystal Palace on Wednesday, April 3. Spurs confirmed last week that they had held talks with the Premier League, Brighton and Crystal Palace with their first match in their new 62,062-seater venue dependant on how far the Seagulls progressed in the FA Cup. With Brighton sealing a place in the FA Cp semi-finals by beating Millwall this weekend, Tottenham will now face Palace at their new ground on the first week of April - providing that the two scheduled test event matches go according to plan. The club’s Under-18 fixture at home to Southampton has been rearranged for Sunday, March 24 and is to hold the first test event. Spurs will hold a club legends match against Inter Milan on Saturday, March 30 for the second test event. In order to achieve a formal safety certificate for fixtures to be held at the new stadium, Tottenham are required to hold two test event matches with increasing levels of attendances. The Under-18s match against Southampton will have a matchday capacity of 30,000 with the legends match six days later increasing to 45,000. The £1billion stadium was originally due to open in September and the initial test events were an U-23 fixture and a legends match against Bayern Munich, which were cancelled. Since then, there have more delays - caused by problems with fire and safety alarms - but the end of a long wait for Tottenham fans is now in sight. Meanwhile, Daniel Levy has dismissed reports Tottenham's new ground will be called the "Nike Stadium". Asked to deliver an update on naming rights, Levy said none were "in place" and dismissed links with kit manufacturer Nike as sponsoring stadiums is "not what Nike do as a business." | Tom Doyle | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-first-game-confirmed-spurs-vs-crystal-palace-3-a4093961.html | 2019-03-17 16:46:47+00:00 | 1,552,855,607 | 1,567,545,885 | sport | sport venue |
168,090 | eveningstandard--2019-03-17--New Tottenham stadium update Daniel Levy denies Nike talks over naming rights | 2019-03-17T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium update: Daniel Levy denies Nike talks over naming rights | Daniel Levy has dismissed reports Tottenham's new ground will be called the "Nike Stadium" as they prepare to play their first game at the 62,062-seat ground in April. Earlier this month, Richard Keys 'exclusively revealed' the club's new home would be called 'The Nike Stadium' before a video clip of the beIN Sports anchor making the claim was deleted. Tottenham later denied the reports and during a meeting with the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust on Tuesday, Spurs chairman Levy confirmed the club had never been in talks with Nike. Spurs are seeking record sponsorship revenue worth more than the £400million agreement struck between Manchester City and Etihad in 2011. Asked to deliver an update on naming rights, Levy said none were "in place" and dismissed links with kit manufacturer Nike as sponsoring stadiums is "not what Nike do as a business." Southampton’s Under-18s will be the first visitors to the new stadium on March 24 for an academy fixture, while Inter Milan Legends are being lined up as the second visitors later this month. Tottenham could then host Crystal Palace in the opening Premier League fixture on April 3, depending on Brighton's FA Cup result at Millwall on Sunday. | tom dutton | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-update-daniel-levy-denies-nike-talks-over-naming-rights-a4093936.html | 2019-03-17 14:45:00+00:00 | 1,552,848,300 | 1,567,545,885 | sport | sport venue |
168,423 | eveningstandard--2019-03-19--New Tottenham stadium Opening ceremony confirmed before first game | 2019-03-19T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Opening ceremony confirmed before first game | Tottenham have confirmed an opening ceremony will be held ahead of the opening game at their new stadium on April 3. Crystal Palace are the visitors on Wednesday evening, with kick-off scheduled for 7.45pm. An opening ceremony will be held before kick-off, starting from 7.15pm onwards. An official club statement read: "We would ask supporters to please, therefore, make arrangements to arrive as early as possible. "There will be much to see and enjoy throughout the new stadium and the Opening Ceremony will commence approximately 20-30 minutes ahead of kick-off." The club's first of two test events, required to complete successful to be signed off by the Premier League, will be held on Sunday, March 24. Tottenham Under-18s will host Southampton's side in front of 30,000 fans before 45,000 fans will watch a Tottenham Legends team take on Inter Milan Legends six days later. The likes of Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov, Jurgen Klinsmann, Micky Hazard, Rafael van der Vaart, Allan Nielsen and Darren Anderton have been confirmed so far with more names to come. | ALEX YOUNG | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-opening-ceremony-confirmed-before-first-game-on-april-3-a4095956.html | 2019-03-19 16:46:12+00:00 | 1,553,028,372 | 1,567,545,621 | sport | sport venue |
168,590 | eveningstandard--2019-03-20--How new Tottenham stadium capacity compares to Premier Leagueaposs biggest grounds | 2019-03-20T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | How new Tottenham stadium capacity compares to Premier League's biggest grounds | Tottenham can finally look forward to settling into their new stadium next month after a series of delays. The north London club had initially planned to open the stadium in time for the start of the 2018-19 season. However, Mauricio Pochettino's side were forced to hold off that following delays and continued to call Wembley their temporary home. The club have announced that the first official fixture at the new White Hart Lane will be against Crystal Palace on April 3, subject to them receiving a formal safety certificate for the two test event matches with increasing levels of attendances: one at 30,000 and another at 45,000. Once they get the go-ahead, Spurs can welcome their army of fans into the new 62,062-seater arena for the final five home games of the domestic season. It is understood that when they were seeking planning permission, Tottenham were keen to usurp fierce rivals Arsenal by having the biggest stadium capacity in the capital and will do so by 2,062 seats once it opens. But how does the new stadium stack up against the rest of their Premier League rivals? Scroll down for the full list of all 20 club stadiums and their capacities... | JOE KRISHNAN | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/how-new-tottenham-stadium-capacity-compares-to-premier-leagues-biggest-grounds-a4096126.html | 2019-03-20 08:33:24+00:00 | 1,553,085,204 | 1,567,545,476 | sport | sport venue |
168,711 | eveningstandard--2019-03-20--Tottenham stadium news live All the latest from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium | 2019-03-20T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Tottenham stadium news live: All the latest from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium | Tottenham's new £1billion stadium today held the first of two test events ahead of the grand opening against Crystal Palace on April 3. The club have scheduled two test events; an Under-18 fixture against Southampton this afternoon and a club legends match versus Inter Milan on Saturday March 30. Everything appeared to run like clockwork in the first test as Spurs' youngsters ran out 3-1 winners over their Saints equivalent, with winger J’Neil Bennett claiming the honour of being the first player to score a competitive goal at the venue. Harvey White doubled their advantage from the penalty spot, while Dilan Markanday made sure of victory for Ryan Mason's side in front of a crowd of 28,987 after Kornelius Hansen had reduced the deficit for the visitors. Should Spurs, as expected, receive sign-off from the Premier League, the first senior competitive match at their new 62,062-seater home will be the visit of Palace. An opening ceremony was held ahead of kick-off, marking around four years since ground was broken on the site back in 2015. Interviewed on the pitch at half-time, first-team boss Mauricio Pochettino described the feeling of the stadium opening as "unbelievable" and said the club had realised a dream. Standard Sport were at the new Tottenham stadium on Sunday to bring you live updates and latest pictures from the first test event. Can’t see the new Tottenham stadium test event LIVE blog? Click here to access our desktop page. Scroll through the gallery above for the latest pictures of the new Tottenham stadium. | Standard sport | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/tottenham-stadium-news-live-all-the-latest-from-the-tottenham-hotspur-stadium-a4095921.html | 2019-03-20 06:35:00+00:00 | 1,553,078,100 | 1,567,545,480 | sport | sport venue |
169,073 | eveningstandard--2019-03-22--New Tottenham stadium Paul Gascoigne looks set to play in Legends match vs Inter Milan | 2019-03-22T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Paul Gascoigne looks set to play in Legends match vs Inter Milan | Paul Gascoigne has all but confirmed his participation in the second test event at Tottenham’s new stadium. Tottenham’s U18s take on Southampton’s U18 in the first test event this weekend, before a ‘legends match’ is held on Saturday March 30 against Inter Milan. As reported by Standard Sport on Thursday, Spurs were hopeful that Gascoigne – who played for the club for three years, winning the FA Cup in 1991 – would take part . And now Gazza, 51, has seemingly confirmed his participation. The Spurs and England hero tweeted: “Hi every1 the skipper GARY is getting hounded, he picked ME2PLAY FROM THE START I WAS THE 1 WHO SAID KEEP IT QUIET” The Tottenham Legends team will be managed by former captain Gary Mabbutt. A number of former Spurs players have already been confirmed for the occasion. German World Cup winner Jurgen Klinsmann (below) will be the star attraction, with a glittering support cast including Robbie Keane, Rafa van der Vaart, Darren Anderton and Dimitar Berbatov. Allan Nielsen, Stephen Carr, David Howells, Erik Thorstvedt, Neil Sullivan, Teemu Tainio, Mark Falco, Pascal Chimbonda, Micky Hazard, Chris Perry, Paul Stalteri and Nayim are the other confirmed names, while Mabbutt and Clive Allen will manage the side. The likes of Edgar Davids, Teddy Sheringham, Chris Waddle, Ledley King, Jermaine Jenas and David Ginola are also expected to be confirmed. | Richard Parry | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-paul-gascoigne-looks-set-to-play-in-legends-match-vs-inter-milan-a4098746.html | 2019-03-22 13:17:00+00:00 | 1,553,275,020 | 1,567,545,197 | sport | sport venue |
169,192 | eveningstandard--2019-03-23--New Tottenham stadium receives glowing early review from John McDermott aposIt looks unbelievable | 2019-03-23T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium receives glowing early review from John McDermott: 'It looks unbelievable!' | Tottenham development chief John McDermott has told Spurs' youngsters to savour the moment as they prepare to step into a new era at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs are hoping to open their new 62,000-seater stadium against Crystal Palace on April 3, but need to get through two test events in order to receive the relevant safety certificates from Haringey Council. The first one will see their Under-18s side take on Southampton in front of 30,000 people, with the second coming next Saturday when a Legends team take on Inter Milan. All being well their first competitive game will then be against Palace four days later in a rearranged Premier League match. Tottenham's U-18s will be managed on Sunday by former Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason and McDermott, the club’s head of player coaching and development. McDermott has previewed the game, telling Tottenham's website: "We trained this morning and now the boys have come down to see the bowl and pitch. "To come here and see this now, it's unbelievable. The colours, the space, the feel. "It's going to be absolutely brilliant for these young players to be able to come here to see this and have the honour and privilege of being the first players to play here. It's indescribable really." While the match is a test event for the stadium itself, it remains a competitive fixture for Spurs' U18s as they battle Arsenal for the title. McDermott added: "It's a fantastic opportunity for some of the boys to play on the biggest stage of their lives. "Obviously there are other things as well around making sure everything functions and works here, and that the operations goes well, but for us, the in-depth concentration is around playing well against Southampton. | Tom Doyle | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-unbelievable-review-coach-john-mcdermott-a4099291.html | 2019-03-23 16:01:00+00:00 | 1,553,371,260 | 1,567,545,087 | sport | sport venue |
169,262 | eveningstandard--2019-03-24--Tottenhamaposs new stadium is breathtaking imposing and certainly worth the wait | 2019-03-24T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Tottenham's new stadium is breathtaking, imposing and certainly worth the wait | A first glimpse of Tottenham’s new stadium takes the breath away, and will leave many forgetting the setbacks, delays and trips to Wembley over the past two seasons. The wait was more than worth it. Fans, players and even chairman stood in awe as they made their way into their new home for the first time, Mauricio Pochettino sharing brief moment of celebration with Daniel Levy as they stood on the pitch in the empty stadium before the supporters made their way in. They have every right to be proud. Everyone connected with Tottenham has seen CGI images, pictures and videos of the new stadium, but that does nothing to lessen the impact of the frankly astonishing view, the South Stand in particular. Holding 17,500 it is the largest single stand in the country, is ready for safe standing and, even when empty, is more imposing than many stadiums at capacity. The football on the day took a back seat, though there were special moments for J’Neil Bennett and Harvey White as they eased Spurs into the lead with the first and second goals ever scored here, while midfielder Oliver Skipp showed just why he’ll be turning out for the senior team at the stadium on a regular basis. There will, undoubtedly, be teething problems. But everything in this stadium is built to purpose, to impress. Their stadium is now one of the best in Europe, and Pochettino’s ambitions appear to match it. "My feeling is unbelievable,” the Spurs boss, who watched from the new directors’ box alongside Levy, said at half time. “It's so difficult to explain with only a few words. We all feel the same, so excited. I think I got the same feeling when we left the last day White Hart Lane. We were crying, now the first day here at the new stadium we feel the same emotion. “It's going to be a huge impact for the club. We're in a good place. 62,000 in the quarter-final of the Champions League it's going to be fantastic. We can make possible our dream to be in the semi-final, why not?” Wembley grew stale with Tottenham as tenants. Attendances dwindled and performances could often be flat as frustrations kept increasing numbers away from their temporary home. This new stadium, the events that will be a Premier League opener against Crystal Palace before that Champions League clash with Manchester City, they are all worth the frustrations suffered over the past two seasons. Nothing has been handled particularly well regarding the delays since the start of the season, but Tottenham’s new home sits resplendent as one huge ‘thank you’ to the club and the fans. The remainder of the season should be fun back in north London. | Jack Rosser | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-is-breathtaking-imposing-and-certainly-worth-the-wait-a4099526.html | 2019-03-24 17:11:00+00:00 | 1,553,461,860 | 1,567,544,997 | sport | sport venue |
169,683 | eveningstandard--2019-03-31--New Tottenham stadium would be aposperfectapos stage for an Anthony Joshua fight says Eddie Hea | 2019-03-31T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium would be 'perfect' stage for an Anthony Joshua fight, says Eddie Hearn | So how about Anthony Joshua fighting in front of 80,000 at Tottenham's fabulous new stadium? Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, would have a special reason for taking his heavyweight world champion phenomenon there. And he knows a top-class venue when he sees one. Hearn's father, Barry, staged his first boxing promotion at the old White Hart Lane when Frank Bruno beat Joe Bugner in 1987. "I'd love to emulate the old man and put on a fight at the new Spurs ground," Hearn junior told Standard Sport. Hearn has held two Joshua dates in front of 90,000 at Wembley and two more in front of packed houses at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. "The big stadium shows are quite rare but you're always looking out for places. And Joshua had outgrown the indoor arenas here. "Tottenham's new stadium looks magnificent. Its ultra-modern and state-of-the art. "I don't know what Spurs' plans are but it could be another option among several in London. "With no roof you'd be limited to dates between April and September. But it looks perfect. "It’s got to be on the radar for future big boxing events." The dream scenario of boxing fans is a series of fights involving the three leading and undefeated heavyweights '- Watford's WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belt holder Joshua, American WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury Boxing's tangled politics mean that each is currently following different paths. But if the big collisions ever happen, Tottenham would surely come under consideration. Understandably, Spurs have to get the football underway first - with the opening competitive game against Crystal Palace on Wednesday. But the size, design and superb facilities of the new arena will surely mean promoters of all kinds of sporting and entertainment events will have taken note of the opening of London's newest major venue, with big name concerts planned. Tottenham have already led the way with the revolutionary installation of a moveable American football pitch beneath the football pitch. Two NFL games will be staged there this autumn. This artificial NFL surface would be ideal for seating boxing fans as it would avoid damaging the football surface. Hearn also staged the record-breaking super-middleweight clash between Carl Froch and George Groves at Wembley in 2014. Bruno won the world heavyweight title at Wembley in 1995 on a major event promoted by Frank Warren. Henry Cooper took on Cassius Clay - by then Muhammad Ali - at Highbury in 1963 and again at Wembley in 1966. Barry McGuigan's epic 1985 world featherweight title win against Eusebio Pedroza was at QPR's Loftus Road. The heavyweight world title clash between Herbie Hide and Michael Bentt was at Millwall's Den in 1994. David Haye took on Derek Chisora at West Ham's old Upton Park ground in 2012. The ill-fated super-middleweight fight between Michael Watson and Chris Eubank was at White Hart Lane in 1991 - when Watson was severely injured. Boxing was first held at the Lane in 1922 and the 1945 British heavyweight title fight between Bruce Woodcock and Jack London took place there. The capital has also historically had iconic outdoor boxing venues such as the White City Stadium and the Mile End Arena. Hearn said he has explored the possibility of staging a Joshua fight at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium but it did not come to fruition. He added: "At Wembley you only get one crack a year because it’s so busy there "We planned for a Joshua fight there on April this year didn't work out. "My dad knows the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy very well. So in the future who knows what we could do? "AJ's next date is against Jarrell Miller in New York on June 1. But he wants as many of his big fights as possible over here. "One of the stumbling blocks attempting to set up the Wilder fight was that he wouldn't come to London." | JOHN DILLON | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/boxing/new-tottenham-stadium-would-be-perfect-stage-for-an-anthony-joshua-fight-says-eddie-hearn-a4105166.html | 2019-03-31 07:28:00+00:00 | 1,554,031,680 | 1,567,544,560 | sport | sport venue |
170,127 | eveningstandard--2019-04-03--Inside Tottenhamaposs stadium 10 brilliant features to look out for at first game against Crystal | 2019-04-03T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Inside Tottenham's stadium: 10 brilliant features to look out for at first game against Crystal Palace | The delays are over and it’s well worth the wait — tonight Tottenham’s new ground opens for its first competitive match. At 62,062 seats it is bigger than any club football ground in England bar Old Trafford and seats 25,000 more than White Hart Lane, the club’s home for 118 years. With its unique design and state-of-the-art facilities, it will also serve as a venue for American football and rugby union. Fans who did not attend either of the stadium’s test events will get their first glimpse of their new home tonight, when they take on Crystal Palace. Below, we bring you 10 brilliant features to look out for in our interactive graphic... At 65 metres long this bar, which runs the length of the South Stand goal line, is the longest in the UK. It is one of several unique bars in the stadium, including The Shelf — which uses bricks from the East Stand of the old White Hart Lane — and Beavertown’s taproom in the south-east corner, the first microbrewery in any football stadium. All of them are cash-free, taking card and mobile payments only. In the concourse underneath the south-east corner look out for this plaque marking the location of the centre spot at the old White Hart Lane, which the new stadium overlaps. The stadium will also host NFL games and there is a retractable, artificial American football pitch stored below the South Stand, lower than the football pitch. They can be switched in 25 minutes and the artificial surface will also be used for rugby union. Larger NFL dressing-rooms are in the East Stand. At the top of the South Stand sits a replica of the iconic golden cockerel from White Hart Lane. At 4.5m it is almost twice as tall as the original — which is in the club’s Lilywhite House offices — and has all the bumps and scratches, including from when Paul Gascoigne hit it with an air rifle! The 17,500-seat, 34m-high South Stand is the UK’s biggest single-tier stand and will become Spurs’ answer to The Kop — but with 5,000 more seats. Taking inspiration from Dortmund’s ‘Yellow Wall’, this will be bouncing for big games and is futureproofed for safe standing. Nods to Tottenham’s history abound, including this striking wall in the south-west corner displaying old programme covers. In the White Hart bar in the East Stand there is a tribute to legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson. This is the entrance to the media section, which seats more than 200. It is open to the public as a coffee bar and brasserie on days when the stadium is not hosting a match. The teams will run out from the West Stand, and can be seen from the exclusive Tunnel Club. It is similar to one at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, but unlike there the glass is two-way — so the players can see inside as well. Known as ‘The Tottenham Experience’, at 23,000 square feet this is the biggest football club shop in Europe. Inside the venue on the High Road is a 100-seat auditorium for events before and after matches. There are 23 entrances around the ground and fans enter via the electronic turnstiles, which work like the barriers on the London Underground — tap or scan your ticket and walk through. | Dan Kilpatrick | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/inside-tottenhams-stadium-10-brilliant-features-to-look-out-for-at-first-game-against-crystal-palace-a4108336.html | 2019-04-03 11:21:00+00:00 | 1,554,304,860 | 1,567,544,143 | sport | sport venue |
567,941 | tass--2019-07-24--New stadium and giant Olympic Village How Tokyo changed with a year to go to 2020 Games | 2019-07-24T00:00:00 | tass | New stadium and giant Olympic Village: How Tokyo changed with a year to go to 2020 Games | The New National Stadium is being constructed on the site of the old National Stadium, which was built for the 1964 Olympics TOKYO, July 24. /TASS, Alexei Zavrachayev/. Preparations for the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, which will kick off in exactly one year time, are in high gear. As the TASS correspondent saw for himself, most of the construction works are in their final stage and the organizers will only have to launch the 365-day countdown. A quiet and calm district of Shinjuku is not far from major railway station Shinjuku, which cuts through this district, and the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Typical Japanese high-density and low-rise buildings stretch deep inside the neighborhood with narrow roads for cars and pedestrians. Akasaka Palace is located not far from here. This is where the Olympic Stadium is being constructed, where exactly in one year time hundreds of athletes will march carrying national flags to the deafening applause of spectators at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympics. Meanwhile, the slow-paced life of the vicinity is slightly disturbed by the noise of the construction and voices of traffic controllers, who guide people along partly-closed sidewalks. The New National Stadium is being constructed on the site of the old National Stadium, which was built for the 1964 Olympics. The construction site is isolated by a low white fence, which is fitted out with the noise-level meters, while all exits provide a tyre washing service to avoid trucks' spreading dirt from the construction site around the city. With even the first glimpse of this enormous building it is obvious that constructors and designers lived up to their project promises. The territory is very green indeed, sporting newly planted trees, which are still young, while flower tubs with various shrubs hang down from the arena’s galleries. A small park has already opened not far from the stadium. It features Olympic Rings and the statue of Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games and the second president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It also sports downsized copies of the Olympic flame cauldrons built for the Olympic Games hosted by the Japanese cities of Tokyo (1964), Sapporo (1972) and Nagano (1998). This is currently the main venue, where residents of Tokyo and tourists gravitate to feel the spirit of the upcoming sports holiday and, of course, to take memorable pictures with the stadium and the Olympic Rings in the background. Japanese architect Kengo Kuma is the designer of the stadium construction project. His plan is rooted in the traditions of the national Japanese architecture in the style of ‘wood and green,’ which uses elements of ancient and medieval structures. The 68,000-capacity stadium is environmentally friendly and perfectly fits in the surrounding landscape. The construction work was estimated at $1.2 billion and is scheduled to be completed by December. One of the most ambitious 2020 Olympics projects is the Olympic Village for athletes on the artificial island, Harumi, in Tokyo Bay. The total area of the construction is 13 hectares, while five more hectares will be occupied by parks and infrastructure. In all, 21 residential houses, which will be between 14 and 18 floors tall, will be commissioned in the first stage to accommodate Olympians. The construction work will continue on the island after the Olympics are over and, according to the plans, two more 50-storey residential and office buildings will emerge in addition to kindergartens and schools. On the whole, by 2023, when residents will start moving in, 5,600 apartments will be in place and the population of the district will stand at over 12,000. "Apartments will go on sale on July 26. A client will have to book an apartment, but mortgage payments will start only in 2023, when we will commission all houses and complete the necessary infrastructure. In other words, moving in a new apartment will be possible only three years after the Olympics," a spokesperson for the construction contractor told TASS. According to her, a concept of "a city within a city" will be implemented on the island, whose residents will have access to all necessities within a walking distance. The plans also stipulate the planting of some 4,000 trees and the construction of two big parks. "Another important peculiarity of this district will be the introduction of the first system of high-speed buses in Tokyo, which will run at short intervals of time and along designated lanes," she added. Everything is on schedule Preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games have entered the final stage and, according to the Japanese authorities, there are currently no delays regarding the commissioning dates, while the International Olympic Committee has also reported a high state of readiness of the Japanese capital for the Olympics. Twenty-five sports venues are located in Tokyo, mostly in the port area, including on artificial islands in the bay area. Seventeen more venues are located outside the city. "We started holding testing events at the already constructed venues since late June to assess their capabilities. Moreover, we will also practice before holding the Olympics with the help of the Rugby World Cup, which kicks off next month in Japan. We must also start thinking now how we will be using the Olympic facilities after the Games," Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike told a news briefing with foreign journalists dedicated to one-year countdown to the Olympics. According to her, great attention is paid to security measures as well as to hot weather response. "We will be handing out headwear and hand fans at the stadiums. We are also installing special equipment to disperse water vapor in the streets across the city and will do our best to offer as many shaded places as possible. But we hope that next summer will be as cool as this one," she said. Among other measures is asphalt laying with a special coating, which is capable of absorbing the heat. The temperature of this special asphalt in the direct sun will be eight degrees lower compared to a regular asphalt. In an effort to minimize the heat impact part of the open-air sports disciplines, including marathon running, will be held early in the morning, beginning at 6.00 am. The 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo are scheduled for July 24-August 9 and the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games will run between August 25 and September 6. The Olympic flame will be lit on March 11, 2020 in memory of the 2011 tragedy and the Olympic torch relay will start on March 26, 2020 from the Fukushima Prefecture. | null | https://tass.com/sport/1070265 | 2019-07-24 18:01:05+00:00 | 1,564,005,665 | 1,567,535,945 | sport | sport venue |
571,832 | tass--2019-10-07--Moscow’s FIFA World Cup main stadium welcomes Russia, Scotland for Euro 2020 qualifier | 2019-10-07T00:00:00 | tass | Moscow’s FIFA World Cup main stadium welcomes Russia, Scotland for Euro 2020 qualifier | The match is scheduled for October 10. The Russian national team will compete at the main stadium of the 2018 FIFA World Cup for the first time since its match against Spain in the round of 16 of the World Cup, with Russia prevailing (1-1, 4-3 on penalties). MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium will welcome more than 45,000 people for a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament match between Russia and Scotland, the press service for the Russian Football Union (RFU) told TASS. "The tickets are selling fast. Currently, more than 45,000 were sold," the RFU press service said. The Luzhniki Stadium was renovated before the 2018 World Cup, its capacity was increased to 81,000 seats. The arena served as the main stadium for the tournament, hosting seven matches overall, including the opening match, round of 16, semifinal matches as well as the final. Russia was drawn into Group I and is placed second after six matches with 15 points. Belgium tops the group (18 points), Kazakhstan is in the third place (7), as followed by Cyprus (7), Scotland (6) and San Marino (0). To secure a ticket to the Euro 2020 on October 10, Russia needs to beat Scotland and see Kazakhstan draw Cyprus. The Euro 2020 will be held in 12 cities in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the European championships between June 12 and July 12 and will feature top two teams from each qualifying group. Russia’s St. Petersburg will host three group-stage matches and a quarterfinal. The matches are also scheduled to be hosted by London, Munich, Rome, Baku, Bucharest, Dublin, Copenhagen, Bilbao, Glasgow, Budapest and Amsterdam. | null | https://tass.com/sport/1081855 | Mon, 07 Oct 2019 17:56:45 +0300 | 1,570,485,405 | 1,570,493,010 | sport | sport venue |
695,086 | theguardianuk--2019-03-30--Spurs new stadium lets call it a home win | 2019-03-30T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Spurs’ new stadium: let’s call it a home win | It was, for a while, all about the cheese room. The new Tottenham Hotspur stadium, it was reported, was to offer its premium customers a selection of specially sourced cheeses, a concept which encapsulated how far the football fan has come from those black-and-white, crackly-voiced days when a gristly pie was all you got, an edible version of the brown balls that were hacked around the Flanders-like mud of those bygone fields – a distillation (conceptually speaking) of the catarrh of a million Capstans. Which, goes the narrative, was how it should be. In the tribal warfare of football you don’t want the food to be too nice. And what could be more Waitrose, more metropolitan elite, more Highbury and Islington than a range of fermented curds? What could be less likely, except perhaps CO foam or a flame-retardant blanket, to put fire in the belly? Then it vanished. The Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, announced that there was not and never had been a cheese room in the stadium plans. There was an accompanying shift in the presentation of the stadium. If much of the advance publicity was about the treats for the high-paying customers – a glass-walled “tunnel club” from where you can watch the teams preparing to go on the pitch; a “sky lounge” from where you can view both the game and a sweeping panorama of London – I’m now told, by Christopher Lee, of the project’s architects, Populous, that the priority is to make a “democratic” stadium. By this he means such things as ample concourses where all the paying punters can roam, a “market place” where you can consume multiple different kinds of food and beer brewed on site. The idea of a segregated “corporate level” is, he says, “archaic”. Those people paying more “shouldn’t be in a little bubble”. The tunnel club and the sky lounge are very much still there, and no one should be under any illusions that the aim is not to maximise revenue at every opportunity, but in Lee’s account “it’s all about experiences”, and everyone is invited to join in. He makes an analogy with airlines and the intermediate classes they create between economy and business. At the Tottenham Hotspur stadium there are 70 hospitality boxes, compared with the 150 at Arsenal’s 13-year-old Emirates stadium (which, like the former Olympic Stadium, Wembley and a proposed new stand for Fulham, was also designed by the prolific Populous). There are instead “loges” – small-scale, semi-private dining areas that might be hired by families or groups. These are still not cheap, of course, but it’s still better than having the sandwich of deathliness that comes with a corporate zone that rings a stadium. One might challenge Lee’s concept of democracy, with its emphasis on access to craft beer as a sign of equality. One might question his analogy of the inert interior of an aeroplane with the hopefully energising environment of a sports ground. But to judge by a visit to the first game played at the stadium – an under-18s match against Southampton last Sunday – his design does what he says. The concourses feel generous, with robust but handsome finishes in polished concrete and blue-painted steel. It’s not like the old White Hart Lane, which I knew well, whose bunker-like interiors made spectators feel like the huddled survivors of a nuclear conflagration, scavenging for crisps and tea from the inadequate food counters. Nor is it Wembley, the place where Spurs have spent their exile during the rebuilding of the stadium, whose grey corridors evoke the part-time conference centre that it, in fact, is. The food and beverage on offer, pitched between gristle pies and White Stilton Gold, is a touch more varied and imaginative than you might expect. While the market place is lively, there are also areas where the invitations to consume are relatively restrained. It avoids, just, feeling like a shopping mall. All of which is secondary – even now, in an era when matches are “experiences” – to the actual business of playing and watching football. Here the stadium is at its best, attaining the desired combination of magnificence and intimacy, with the stands placed as close as reasonably possible to the edge of the pitch and the upper levels rising at the steepest permitted angle. The kneeroom in front of each seat, which had become pointlessly generous in some recent stadia, is 4cm less than (for example) at the Emirates, which allows for greater compression. The design is helped, too, by advances in the technology of grow lights for the grass, which allow the architects to worry less about getting sunshine inside. The main talking point is a single bank of 17,500 seats at the south end of the pitch, which as well as presenting an imposing wall of humanity contributes to an asymmetry that gives the bowl character. Around the top level of the stands runs a sinuous horizon, rising in the centre of each stand to accommodate more seats and falling at the corners. This helps to create the feeling that you are in a single space, rather than an assemblage of structures for spectating. Most important of all is the acoustic, an intangible on which depends much of the success of Spurs’ billion-pound-plus investment, and the first signs are good. The under-18s game, intended to test the stadium’s operations in advance of more serious contests, was limited to a crowd less than half the capacity of 62,062, but those who were there tested the sound with old songs, which bounced nicely around their new home. The new Tottenham Hotspur stadium is trying to do many things, in catering to its multiple audiences and commercial imperatives while hanging on to what you might call soul. Yet another layer of difficulty is added by the fact that, with the help of a quite amazing mechanism whereby the grass pitch slides away to reveal an artificial layer underneath, it will host American football. What the design doesn’t achieve is to bring all this complexity together into a coherent whole: the exterior, while communicating a generalised sense of oomph and power, is a mess, with wannabe soaring curves grinding against a rectangular grid of cladding panels, and with ideas borrowed from here and there fighting for attention. My daughter and I used to share a little joke, as the old White Hart Lane hove into view from the train windows. “That’s the most beautiful building in London,” I said. It wasn’t, and the new one isn’t. In its ugliness it is like the outside of almost every stadium in the Premier League, if not the world. And almost none of the Spurs fans delighting in their new home last Sunday, relieved to be there after an opening delayed by six months, cared at all. On which note I will leave you for a while. I will be taking a sabbatical until September, after which I will return with new energy. Au revoir. | Rowan Moore | https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/mar/30/new-spurs-stadium-review-tottenham-hotspur-lets-call-it-a-home-win | 2019-03-30 13:00:37+00:00 | 1,553,965,237 | 1,567,544,692 | sport | sport venue |
695,612 | theguardianuk--2019-04-03--Astonishing new stadium brings hope and fear to Tottenham Hotspur Barney Ronay | 2019-04-03T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Astonishing new stadium brings hope and fear to Tottenham Hotspur | Barney Ronay | Welcome back then, Tottenham Hotspur. If the idea was to create something that felt unmistakably like home then the players did their best [in the first half against Crystal Palace](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/apr/03 /tottenham-crystal-palace-premier-league-match-report), producing a performance shot through with anxiety, met by intermittent waves of dread from the home crowd. Hello darkness, my old friend. You can take the twitchy blue- and-white shirts out of White Hart Lane, but you can’t take the Spurs out of Spurs. The moment of ignition arrived with 54 minutes gone. Tottenham had come out after half-time with a new sense of vigour, pressing high up the pitch in the classic Pochettino-era style. For a while you could feel those new-Spurs muscles straining, the shape of this excellent, slightly stuttering team starting to assert itself. Christian Eriksen pinched the ball and fed Son Heung-min. Son’s jinked shot found a crucial deflection. As the ball hit the back of the net there was a noise around those vast, steepling stands that was less a cheer, more a kind of shared shout, like the lid being ripped off a giant tube of angst. First goals in a new stadium are often forgettable things, lost in the drowsy August sun. But this is Spurs, this is April, this is an £1bn business plan tied inextricably to playing in the Champions League. Let’s face it. It was never likely to be easy. First things first: the [Tottenham Hotspur](https://www.theguardian.com/football/tottenham-hotspur) Stadium is an astonishing place, a giant, reverberating ball of air in a fine steel and glass case. It is a wonderfully open thing too, reaching up to the moon on all sides, but somehow also airy and uplifting.  **The journey** The old White Hart Lane was hidden from view until you were right on top of it. Now the stadium looms over the skyline nearly all the way up the High Road. It adds to the anticipation and feels like away fans will be impressed, even intimidated by it as they approach. **Stadium entry** Still some construction work going on around Park Lane but entry was seamless, with no queues and far smoother security than Wembley. The old houses around the ground mean it still feels like N17. **The food** Tofu and chips anyone? Not what you expect at the football maybe but there's every other greasy treat you can imagine as well - hot dogs, pizza, noodles etc and healthy options too. **The craft beer** Tottenham-based Beavertown brewery has five brews on offer, the cheapest at £5, which is competitive for quality beer in London. Nearby pubs selling cans of Fosters for the same price will need to up their game. Some teething problems at the Beavertown bar with beers running out, slow barrel changes and long queues. Other bars were fine. **The amenities** As vast as the ground is, it's still shoulder yo shoulder on the concourses so it feels like a day at the football, not the opera. WiFi works a treat and the loos are spacious. No elbowing your way to a crowded metal trough. Night and day with White Hart Lane, much loved as it was. **The seat view** Cannot stop smiling. I knew the place was big but nothing prepared me for this. The gangways are steep so even though my seat is high up, it feels like it's right on top of the pitch. Just breathtaking. **The atmosphere** Have to admit i choked up during the opening ceremony referencing the Tottenham riots. Deafening at times during the game, at other times an air of fans still finding their feet in new surroundings. Will be a pulsating cauldron of noise against Arsenal, Chelsea or one of the big clubs. Nice to have Palace there, best fans in the league for my money. **One other thing...** No need for the live music. Takes up space at the expense of fans. Nobody comes to football to watch a guitarist doing soft rock covers. _Rob Davies is a season ticket holder at_ _Tottenham._ From pitch-side the eye is drawn to the single tier stand at the south end, curving up to its central peak miles up in the sky above north London. In the course of this opening game it went from a pyramid of silent angst (one benefit of that noise-funnel design: we can hear the whining and whingeing a lot more clearly) to a bouncing, seething mound of human joy. The stands were already rocking half an hour before kick-off as the opening ceremony kicked into gear. A time may come when people around here tire of glossy video presentations about stadium funding and urban regeneration. But it’s not here yet. The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email. As the flags twirled and the lights dipped a local singer from the X Factor called Lanya Matthews sang (brilliantly). Later she was joined by a rotund, excitable tenor in a performance of Glory, Glory, Tottenham Hotspur, arranged by renowned musical director Steve Sidwell, who is an actual renowned musical director. After which: on with the other show on the pitch, the peg around which this vast financial undertaking will revolve. As Spurs kicked off in a fug of firework smoke, Son could be seen pirouetting his way down the left flank and turning to the crowd to demand a greater surge of noise. 'It's starting to feel like home': Mauricio Pochettino on Tottenham's new stadium – video For Spurs this was a moment of extraordinary jeopardy. Football likes nothing better than drawing a fully formed narrative out of a few chance details. But rarely can there have been a single league match with so much portentous, far- reaching light and shade riding on its result. All week the talk had been about those stunning, essentially-meaningless numbers. The largest bar in Europe. Ten thousand upward-spurting pints every minute! Seven hundred and seventy-three urinals! The largest club shop in the world with 23,000 square feet, the equivalent of 23 Victorian terraced houses. But there were more urgent numbers here, things like one point from 15 and zero wins in the league since the middle of February. Finishing in the top four and playing in the Champions League are important things. They become painfully stark when this is the business plan, the future vision, vindication for this looming super-project. Fireworks go off behind the golden cockerel on top of the South Stand before the match. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian This is the wider picture here. Tottenham’s new home isn’t so much a football stadium as a statement of economic ambition. The souvenir programme showed the Spurs cockerel brooding over the London night sky like Batman: its eye turned not towards the nail bars and chicken shops down below, but to the bright lights of the city and the Docklands, seats of London’s super-city wealth. It is a stunning project, one that will enrich Tottenham’s owners and will also drag a broader wealth this way, glossing one of London’s overlooked urban centres. But for all the homeyness and the care in the details, Spurs really do need to keep selling those mind-bendingly pricey boxes, those £15,000 H Club seats. This is what victory means now.  Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images Europe With 10 minutes to go Eriksen, who had a wonderful game, scored to make it 2-0 and settle the nerves. The cheer this time was warmer, shot through not just with relief but with a feeling underneath it all of gears clanking and of an era that is now decisively under way. | Barney Ronay at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium | https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/apr/03/tottenham-new-stadium-spurs-numbers-game-crystal-palace | 2019-04-03 22:40:31+00:00 | 1,554,345,631 | 1,567,544,218 | sport | sport venue |
696,346 | theguardianuk--2019-04-07--I dont care about the stadium Kevin De Bruyne says Spurs have no advantage | 2019-04-07T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | ‘I don’t care about the stadium’: Kevin De Bruyne says Spurs have no advantage | Kevin De Bruyne has rubbished suggestions that Tottenham’s new stadium could influence the outcome of the [Champions League](https://www.theguardian.com/football/championsleague) quarter-final against Manchester City. Spurs face City there on Tuesday in their second match at the 62,000-capacity ground, having beaten Crystal Palace 2-0 last week. Would it be an extra incentive for Mauricio Pochettino’s team? Might it affect the atmosphere? “I don’t care about the stadium,” De Bruyne said. “I care about the team we play. Everybody talks about the stadium like it’s something special. Everybody has a stadium. Everybody has supporters. They’ll be up for it. They’ll probably be a little bit more excited but in the end it’s a stadium with supporters. If they go to Wembley with 80,000 or there with 62,000, it’s going to be the same. It’ll be a tough game but I think we’ll be all right.” The focus of De Bruyne and his City teammates on the Tottenham game was apparent after they had secured a place in the FA Cup final by [beating Brighton](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/apr/06/manchester-city- brighton-fa-cup-semi-final-match-report) and safely maintained a four-pronged chase for honours. De Bruyne explained that as soon as they were back in the Wembley dressing room attention turned to the next step of this ambitious campaign. “It’s about focusing on Tuesday,” he said. “Most of the players have had a massage already to be ready. We know Spurs have had a rest and we try to be ready. We have to take every hour we can.” This [Manchester City](https://www.theguardian.com/football/manchestercity) machine is doing everything possible to stay finely tuned. “ Every game from now until the end is going to be like this. Eighty or 90% of the time we’ll have fewer rest days.” The straight-talking, straight-thinking Belgian believes there is “no point” thinking about the quadruple. “You know how heavy the schedule is? I think people underestimate how the fixtures come that quickly. You can’t think about it. We don’t even have time to have a rest ourselves, so how can we think about what’s going to happen in four weeks? We’re just going to play Tuesday and hopefully play a good game.” Tottenham played their first Premier League match at their new stadium on Wednesday. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA City are staying in London to minimise disruption at this crucial period of the season. Every detail that might have an impact on the players’ physical shape and amount of rest and recovery from matches is taken into account. “If you follow us every day, and come to every game then I think you can appreciate it a little bit because you know all the travel that comes in and the preparations,” De Bruyne said. “It’s what we do, what we like to do and hopefully we can play all the games until the end of the year because it means we’re in all the finals.” Their run of 22 wins from their past 23 games brings an inherent confidence. “It’s not bad,” De Bruyne mused. “We need to keep going because in the end, if we don’t make it, you guys will stand here and say we failed.” There are, he reckons, no comparisons to, and nothing to be learned from, last season’s all-English Champions League knockout tie against Liverpool, when City were [roundly beaten](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/04 /liverpool-manchester-city-champions-league-quarter-final-first-leg-match- report) in the first leg away and never recovered. “Different team, different year, different players. Last year we had a great season. We didn’t make it beyond the quarter-finals and that’s it.” Although City were not at their most flamboyant during a highly professional job against Brighton, they know they have more gears, and more options, to use against Tottenham. “You can’t play 70 games at your top level,” De Bruyne said. “We’re always disciplined. I don’t know why people would say that defensively we’re not disciplined. I think defensively we do well but, because we play more offensively than other teams, people look at that. I think our shape is always there, our pressing is always there, so that’s well done.” The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email. De Bruyne provided the decisive assist for Gabriel Jesus’s header in the early minutes against Brighton and it gives an insight into the way he thinks about the game that he made sure to whip the ball in at a very specific trajectory. “There’s no point playing that ball high because they’re probably three feet taller than everybody else,” he noted. Pep Guardiola will assess the fitness of Sergio Agüero and Kyle Walker to give them the best chance of helping the team at the right moment in this intense hunt for maximum trophies. | Amy Lawrence | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/apr/07/spurs-no-advantage-new-stadium-kevin-de-bruyne | 2019-04-07 21:30:30+00:00 | 1,554,687,030 | 1,567,543,701 | sport | sport venue |
795,479 | themanchestereveningnews--2019-02-15--New gym set for bio and life sciences campus Alderley Park | 2019-02-15T00:00:00 | themanchestereveningnews | New gym set for bio and life sciences campus, Alderley Park | Alderley Park, the Cheshire-based bio and life sciences campus, is set to bring a new gym and sports complex to its growing on-site community and local residents later this year. Opening in September, the new sports complex will include a health and fitness suite, dance studio, sports hall, three tennis courts and a five-a-side all-weather football pitch. There will also be new 7-a-side and 11-a-side football pitches and outdoor recreation areas. Managed by Cheshire-based Everybody Sport and Recreation, the sports complex is part of a £160m investment from Park owners Bruntwood SciTech. Chris Doherty, managing director, Alderley Park, said: “The facilities and amenities at Alderley Park are all designed to help support a healthy work-life balance. "Everybody Sport and Recreation shares our vision for the Park and we’re delighted that they will be operating the new gym and sports facilities. “Members of the new gym and sports complex will also be able to use 15 other Everybody Sport and Recreation-run centres across Cheshire including Macclesfield, Wilmslow and Knutsford.” The new gym and sports complex is an integral part of Alderley Park, which will also include a gastropub and retail outlets. Peter Hartwell, CEO, Everybody Sport and Recreation, said: “We’re thrilled to be running the new leisure facilities at Alderley Park and can’t wait to open our doors. “We’ll be putting together a varied schedule of classes, ranging from indoor group cycling to yoga, which will be open to the all the people working and living at the Park as well as for the local community to enjoy”. The gym comes off the back of the recent announcement that an additional £10m will be invested in a range of new laboratories at the Park. | Shelina Begum | https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/new-gym-set-bio-life-15836593 | 2019-02-15 12:41:32+00:00 | 1,550,252,492 | 1,567,548,430 | sport | sport venue |
651,360 | thedailyrecord--2019-08-05--Dalbeattie Community Initiative claims ambitious sports complex plans remain on track | 2019-08-05T00:00:00 | thedailyrecord | Dalbeattie Community Initiative claims ambitious sports complex plans remain on track | Ambitious plans for an outdoor sports complex in Dalbeattie remain on track, according to the developers. And Dalbeattie Community Initiative has vowed its Rocks and Wheels business plan will be ready within weeks. Under the project the former Dalbeattie Primary School and grounds would be transformed into a world-class mountain biking and climbing centre. The News revealed last week that timescales had slipped because £30,000 was needed for testing the seven-acre site for possible contamination. The delay led to David Robertson, the operator of the council-owned Islecroft Caravan Park, ending his involvement with the project. The disclosure prompted community concerns that the scheme had stalled. But at a briefing on Tuesday DCI directors said a new land deal with the council meant Rocks and Wheels was still on. Project manager David McMillan said: “Negotiations with the council have now enabled us to phase the work. “This means we will not be forced down the route of taking on the seven acres of land from the outset. “Our prime objective is to save the three listed granite buildings and keep them going for another 50 years. “Stage one will be to develop the main school building and the one behind as a hostel, refectory and indoor bouldering centre. “This first phase will allow us to generate income rather than waiting for the full project to develop.” Mr McMillan added: “Once we get the business plan that’s when we can go hunting for funding. “That will take some time as well but our project ticks all the main boxes in terms of cultural, health, social and economic benefits. “The clear objective for the initiative is to generate economic growth, create sustainable jobs for Dalbeattie and attract more people here. “We are optimistic not just for ourselves as a community initiative but also for Dalbeattie as a town.” DCI business manager Michelle McRobert said: “The business plan will be ready by the end of the summer when it will be seen by directors privately. “It will then be submitted under a stage two asset transfer request to the Stewartry Area Committee for approval.” Once the asset transfer is approved, DCI’s longer term plans include building a mountain bike pump track in the former school grounds. DCI director Dr Seb Pflanz said: “We had over 500 responses to our community survey and the huge majority wanted to preserve the buildings for the community. “But our vision remains that the whole package will be delivered.” | [email protected] (Stephen Norris) | https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/dalbeattie-community-initiative-claims-ambitious-18834867 | 2019-08-05 14:47:45+00:00 | 1,565,030,865 | 1,567,534,826 | sport | sport venue |
937,575 | thesun--2019-02-13--Inside the NAS Sports Complex in Dubai where Man Utd went for January sun and Dele Alli is working o | 2019-02-13T00:00:00 | thesun | Inside the NAS Sports Complex in Dubai where Man Utd went for January sun and Dele Alli is working on recovery | WHEN Ole Gunnar Solskjaer whisked his Manchester United players away to Dubai in January it raised some eyebrows. But it shouldn't have - the NAS Sports Complex has become the go-to venue for clubs and athletes looking for some winter sun. ![ Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took his side to the world- class NAS Sports Complex in Dubai]() Getty - Contributor Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took his side to the world-class NAS Sports Complex in Dubai The site contains everything elite athletes and clubs need to train and recover from injury [Dele Alli was there last week as he stepped up his recovery from his latest hamstring injury](https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8372400/spurs-dele- alli-dubai/) that has seen him miss five games since mid-January. The [Tottenham](https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1196652 /tottenham-hotspur/) and England star was just the latest high-profile athlete to pick the facility as the base for his recovery. [Cristiano Ronaldo was a visitor in December](https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8091760/cristiano-ronaldo- kisses-georgina-rodriguez-dubai-nye-pictures/), Patrice Evra is a regular and Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain, Virgil van Dijk, Novak Djokovic and Olympic gold medallist Greg Rutherford have all used the facility for injury recovery. [Manchester United weren't the only club to travel to the Middle East to use the facilities in Januar](https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8127681/man- utd-dubai-training-camp-fa-cup/)y - Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers and West Brom manager Darren Moore also took their sides. ![ Dele Alli was in Dubai last week as he works his way back from his latest hamstring injury]() Instagram @dele Dele Alli was in Dubai last week as he works his way back from his latest hamstring injury ![ The Spurs and England star works out on the IAAF-standard athletics track]() Instagram @dele The Spurs and England star works out on the IAAF-standard athletics track ### Facilities on offer **Health club and spa -** Luxury facilities include everything an athlete could need to recover from injury or a training session. It has the stuff you would expect, such as a fully-equipped gymnasium, swimming pool, plunge pool, steam room, sauna and large dressing room for 25 athletes. It also has hi-tech extras such as an altitude chamber, cryo chamber, climate chamber and a performance lab to give coaches data. There are also full medical facilities with on-site physios and masseuses. **Two Fifa-standard football pitches -** The facility has two full-size pitches with immaculate turf up to Fifa standards. One of them has an IAAF- standard athletics track circling it, while another is surrounded by trees to offer more privacy. **Sports Complex -** The sports complex houses courts for a number of indoor sports, including squash, padel, beach football and volleyball as well as badminton and fencing. There's even a mosque and a Starbucks, as well as a large car park just north east of the site. **Pearl Dive Centre -** Not part of the sports complex but on the same site, the shell-shaped Dive Centre houses the world's deepest recreational pool. Pearl diving is one of the favourite past-times in the UAE. **Indoor stadium -** The world-class 5,840-seat venue hosts local and international matches in futsal, volleyball, basketball, badminton, boxing, fencing, gymnastics and martial arts. United were there last summer for their pre-season tour, while Real Madrid and a host of other clubs around Europe have also held pre-season training camps at the venue. Teams and athletes are flocking to the desert not just because of the guaranteed sunshine, but because of the world-class facilites. The complex includes two Fifa-standard pitches, one with an IAAF-standard athletics track around the outside of it, and every hi-tech apparatus one could need for injury recovery. The sprawling site boasts a luxury health club and spa with a fully-equipped gym. Cristiano Ronaldo made a trip to the complex during the winter break ![ Man Utd players make the most of the sensational warm weather training in Dubai on last month's visit]() Getty - Contributor Man Utd players make the most of the sensational warm weather training in Dubai on last month's visit ![ Celtic also travelled to Dubai in January - with Brendan Rodgers saying the trip was 'great' for his players]() Kenny Ramsay - The Sun Glasgow Celtic also travelled to Dubai in January - with Brendan Rodgers saying the trip was 'great' for his players Liverpool's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returns to first-team training in Dubai camp after nine months out with knee injury The health club contains an altitude chamber, climate chamber, swimming pool, cryo chamber, a performance lab for real-time data and full medical facilities, including on-site masseuses and physiotherapists. There are indoor courts for squash, padel, beach football and volleyball, as well as badminton, volleyball, futsal and fencing. At the north end of the site is a world-class indoor stadium which hosts futsal and volleyball tournaments. Another huge bonus is the location of the complex - just a short trip outside of downtown Dubai. Aston Villa star Jack Grealish working out in the fully-equipped gym It is not just footballers who benefit from the first-class facilities on offer Manchester United [stayed at the five-star One&Only Royal Mirage, where the cheapest rooms are £289-a-night, with the complex just a 20-minute drive away](https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8133887/manchester-united-ole- gunnar-solskjaer-dubai-curfew/). The site also contains a mosque and even a Starbucks coffee shop. Robert Wadsworth, the complex's sports director told MUTV why he believed elite clubs and athletes picked Dubai. "Warm weather training is beneficial for all athletes - particularly ones from Manchester where you don't quite get the weather of Dubai," he joked. Michael Phelps, the most successful Olympian of all time, at the facility Footballers love it because of the guaranteed sunshine "Coming into warm weather training, [players] can train outside for a longer period of time, [they have] the advantage of getting Vitamin D. "From a sports science perspective the ability to train in those hot conditions benefits athletes and teams." Wadsworth also says that teams coming away on a trip together helps create and strengthen team spirit and the bond between players. Solskjaer must have been doing something right, with United dropping just two points in six matches since returning. Wadsworth added: "On top of the sports science aspect, the benefit of getting away as a team and to be together at a critical point in the season. "Hopefully they can come together, enjoy the experience at NAS and get the most out of it in terms of training and go on to have a fantastic second half of the season." ![ Lukaku and Darmian look all business on a recent trip to Dubai]() Getty - Contributor Lukaku and Darmian look all business on a recent trip to Dubai Solskjaer was clearly delighted with how the trip went after getting home. He said: "It was very good. We had four good days of training, so I think the boys enjoyed it. "We put some principles down and they worked hard — they enjoy working hard." The players also clearly loved the trip, with a number of the players sharing snaps of their trip on social media. Romelu Lukaku took a trip to Salt Bae's restaurant Nusr-Et, while others took trips to the zoo, as Solskjaer relaxed the curfew for his players. Celtic manager Rodgers also spoke highly of the his training camp at the facility. "It's been great... it's nice for them socially to be together," said the former Liverpool boss. "This gives us a chance to recharge and get some good coaching work into the players but also to really connect again - and in great weather. "We're able to work on some aspects out here that doesn't happen so much in the domestic season." He'd said ahead of the trip: "It’s a hard gig. Players aren’t robots. ![ It is no coincidence United's upturn in form coincided with their trip to the Middle East]() Getty - Contributor It is no coincidence United's upturn in form coincided with their trip to the Middle East Dele Alli steps up recovery from hamstring injury with warm-weather Dubai training "They are human beings and it doesn’t matter how much money the player is paid. "For the best quality of the game you want them to be as fresh as they can be. "We can come back mid-January feeling re-energised for the second part of the season. It will do us the world of good." It seems Rodgers was right - after losing three of their previous six matches, Celtic have won seven out of seven since returning from the desert. Expect many others to be doing likewise as well. | tsheen | https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8382021/man-utd-dubai-nas-sports-complex-dele-ronaldo-van-dijk/ | 2019-02-13 07:00:06+00:00 | 1,550,059,206 | 1,567,548,668 | sport | sport venue |
1,028,560 | thetorontostar--2019-08-28--Placido Domingo concert opening sports complex in Hungary | 2019-08-28T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | Placido Domingo concert opening sports complex in Hungary | SZEGED, Hungary - Placido Domingo received a warm reception Wednesday at a concert in Hungary to inaugurate a new soccer stadium for a Catholic diocese, the second of the opera star’s European engagements since he was accused of sexual harassment in an Associated Press report. Domingo, who shared the stage with his son, Placido Domingo Jr., and Puerto Rican soprano Ana Maria Martinez, faced allegations of sexual harassment from nine women in the report that was published Aug. 13. The audience in the Saint Gerard Forum, as the stadium is called, applauded respectfully when Domingo appeared on stage during a ceremony before a concert. But the welcome seemed more measured than the standing ovation awarded to him Sunday by the opera crowd at the Salzburg Festival, his first performance since the publication of the allegations. While two U.S. opera houses cancelled appearances as a result of the allegations, Domingo’s European engagements have continued as scheduled. Still, his interaction with journalists was limited. A news conference planned for Monday in Szeged was called off, and access to a rehearsal was restricted. Bishop Laszlo Rigo-Kiss referred to Domingo as “the master” when thanking him for his performance. The singer did not speak during the ceremony. Concert organizer Andreas Magony drew a link between the allegations against Domingo and the large number of lawyers in the United States. “What needs to be known is that the cultures of the United States and Europe are totally different,” Magony told the AP. “The United States is the home of the show. In reality, everything is about lawyers. There everything can be made into a show.” He praised Domingo’s “fantastic stage achievements,” his love of family and his “unbroken popularity.” “The honest and pure human communication with which he lives his life can only fill us with pride. And I believe the audience thinks the same,” Magony said. “We can have only honour and love toward Placido Domingo, who is a colossal artist and a colossal man.” The AP story included extensive allegations that spanned decades, starting in the 1980s. The women accused Domingo of using his power at the LA Opera, where he has been the longtime general director, and elsewhere to try to pressure them into sexual relationships. Several of the women said he dangled jobs and then sometimes punished them professionally if they refused his advances. Allegations included repeated phone calls, invitations to hotel rooms and his apartment, and unwanted touching and kissing. In a statement to the AP, Domingo called the allegations “deeply troubling and as presented inaccurate.” He said he believed his interactions with the women to be consensual. He has not spoken publicly about the report. The #MeToo movement has had limited effect in Hungary, where leading politicians have drawn criticism for statements seen as demeaning to women. In a 2015 speech, Parliamentary Speaker Laszlo Kover said that daughters should consider bearing grandchildren as “the height of self-fulfilment.” In 2013, a lawmaker said that his wife broke her jaw and cheek bones after tripping over their blind dog. He later admitted punching her and slamming her head against a wooden railing. Domingo has performed numerous times in Hungary, including a 1996 concert in Budapest with Jose Carreras and Diana Ross. He is also known for his support for “Virtuosos,” a Hungarian talent show for young classical musicians. Audience members at the Hungarian performance seemed skeptical about the allegations. “I can’t say for sure that there was no basis to it, but after so many years, I have my doubts. That’s all,” Istvan Garaczi said. Anna Orosz said she recently read a book about Domingo and said the allegations did not influence her “listening or the enjoyment of his music.” “Everyone liked him. Everyone was around him, and for sure he had many fans,” Orosz said before the concert. “He had no particular need for these types of things of which he is accused of.” The loudest cheers for Domingo were probably heard after he sang the patriotic “Hazam, Hazam” (“My Homeland, My Homeland”), the best-known aria from Ferenc Erkel’s “Bank Ban,” considered to be Hungary’s national opera. News stories about the concert in the Hungarian media, large parts of which now belong to a foundation with strong ties to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, often made no mention of the allegations. Independent outlets focused mostly on the stadium and sports complex built with public funds and church connections. The Gerard of Sagredo Youth Forum and Sports Center was built at a cost to taxpayers of some 14 billion forints ($47 million) and is owned by the Roman Catholic diocese of Szeged-Csanad, led by Kiss-Rigo, an avowed supporter of Orban’s policies, including his fervent opposition to immigration. The bishop is also the founder of Szeged-Csanad Grosics Akademia, a Hungarian soccer team that will play in the 8,000-seat stadium. The compound includes basketball courts, practice fields and other facilities. It will also be used by more than 9,000 students attending diocese schools and around 4,000 children in state care, according to the bishop. Gorondi reported from Budapest, Hungary. Associated Press Writer Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report. | Andras Nagy And Pablo Gorondi - The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/europe/2019/08/28/placido-domingo-concert-opening-sports-complex-in-hungary.html | 2019-08-28 23:04:03+00:00 | 1,567,047,843 | 1,567,543,635 | sport | sport venue |
564,125 | tass--2019-04-11--Nornickel Norilsk sports and recreation complex to open doors in 2020 | 2019-04-11T00:00:00 | tass | Nornickel: Norilsk sports and recreation complex to open doors in 2020 | KRASNOYARSK, April 11. /TASS/. A new sports and recreation complex in Norilsk (the Krasnoyarsk Region) will open 2020, Head of Non-Industrial Construction Department at Nornickel’s Polar Division Pavel Neputin told reporters on Thursday. The sports and recreation complex is built under an agreement between the Krasnoyarsk Region, Nornickel and the Norilsk administration. "We are finalizing the zero stage (the basement) and will begin to install the steelwork," the company’s representative said. "The complex will open doors in summer, 2020." Nornickel’s press service told TASS investments in the project were at 1.7 billion rubles ($26 million). Nornickel undertakes the construction expenses. The new complex will be the main training base for the Norilsk Nickel Futsal Club. The complex with the capacity of 1,000 fans will host Russian futsal championships. The medical facility there has up-to-date equipment, including for doping control. The complex will be available also for amateurs. It will host competitions in volleyball, basketball, badminton and other sports. The sports and recreation complex will be convenient for people with limited mobility. Nornickel is a diversified mining and metallurgical company, the world’s leading producer of nickel and palladium, a leading producer of platinum, cobalt, copper and rhodium. The company also produces gold, silver, iridium, osmium, selenium, ruthenium and tellurium. Nornickel is involved in exploration, production, enrichment and processing, as well as production and sale of non-ferrous and precious metals. In other media | null | http://tass.com/economy/1053274 | 2019-04-11 13:22:12+00:00 | 1,555,003,332 | 1,567,543,162 | sport | sport venue |
659,819 | thedenverpost--2019-01-31--Rangers new stadium will have synthetic turf not grass | 2019-01-31T00:00:00 | thedenverpost | Rangers’ new stadium will have synthetic turf, not grass | ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers will use specially designed synthetic playing surface rather than grass in their new retractable-roof stadium that opens in 2020. Texas’ decision will make the Rangers the fourth of the 30 major league teams to use artificial turf. Toronto’s Rogers Centre, which opened in 1989, and Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field, where then then-Devil Rays started play in 1998, have always had artificial surfaces. Arizona’s Chase Field is switching from grass to turf this season, giving MLB three turf surfaces for the first time since 2009, the last year the Minnesota Twins played in the Metrodome before moving to Target Field. MLB has a high of 10 artificial surfaces, in 1977-78 and again from 1982-94. There have not been four since 2004, the last season before the Montreal Expos left Olympic Stadium for Washington, D.C., and became the Nationals. The Rangers’ current stadium, Globe Life Park, has had grass since it opened in 1994. The new ballpark is being built across the street. Texas said Thursday the decision was made after almost two years of research regarding player safety, team performance and fan experience. Shaw Sports Turf, which will provide the synthetic turf field, used Globe Life Park’s current grass field as one of the benchmarks for an ongoing playability study. The company is also part of a kinesiology study with Auburn to research how players react on certain surfaces and says it will use that data to tune systems for player safety and optimal performance. | The Associated Press | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/01/31/rangers-new-stadium-synthetic-turf/ | 2019-01-31 22:52:29+00:00 | 1,548,993,149 | 1,567,550,051 | sport | sport venue |
741,231 | theindependent--2019-01-16--Everton new stadium aposFlexibleapos safe-standing plans welcomed by supporters group | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | theindependent | Everton new stadium: 'Flexible' safe-standing plans welcomed by supporters group | The Football Supporters' Federation has welcomed Everton FC 's plan to build their new stadium with the potential for safe-standing areas that could increase the overall capacity by 10,000 fans. While John Blain, the chairman of the Everton FC Supporters Association (EFCSA), believes the club's "flexible" approach to capacity could help close the financial gap to the 'big six' and keep ticket prices low. Everton want to build their new home at Bramley-Moore Dock on the banks of the Mersey and they are proposing a state-of-the-art venue with an initial capacity of 52,000 seats. But at the Premier League club's annual general meeting last week, deputy chairman Keith Harris said: "We expect the introduction of safe-standing during the period the stadium is being built, so original capacity has flexibility to increase by 10,000, depending on government legislation." Football grounds in England's top two divisions have had to be all-seater ever since the 1989 Hillsborough disaster but the legislation is under review, with many in the game expecting sports minister Mims Davies to announce plans to relax that requirement soon. Several clubs have said they would like to re-introduce standing areas, while Spurs have built their new home at White Hart Lane with 7,500 seats that can be quickly converted into standing places. They initially suggested this could increase capacity by nearly 2,000 but have since opted for a one-for-one ratio when converting seats to standing places. But standing sections can hold up to twice as many fans as seated areas of the same size, as several League One and League Two clubs prove and can be seen every week in the Bundesliga. Despite this fact, every Championship and Premier League club that has talked about standing areas so far has done so on a one-for-one basis, until Everton. The head of the FSF's safe-standing campaign Peter Daykin said: "Using standing to increase capacity has been politically sensitive because it has scared clubs with stadiums that cannot easily be retro-fitted to do this safely and it has worried politicians with mental images of terraces packed with boisterous fans all standing up. "But the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) gives licences to standing areas in Leagues One and Two with higher densities than seated areas, so if it's safe there, it should be safe everywhere. "As long as the areas are properly designed, maintained and stewarded, the FSF sees no reason why clubs cannot go for a greater ratio than one-for-one when they switch seats for standing places." Daykin also believes clubs able to increase their capacities with standing sections should be able to lower their prices. "We are not backing the campaign to give supporters the choice to stand because we expect prices to come down but, obviously, if they do, we will be delighted," he said. "We also think if you can increase spectator density, prices should come down and that will help with the lack of diversity at many grounds, as the cost of tickets is one of the biggest obstacles there." Blain, whose association represents about 15 per cent of the club's shareholders, agrees with Daykin on the game-changing potential of a stadium that can safely accommodate large numbers of standing fans. "Most fans believe the current plan for a 52,000-capacity ground at Bramley-Moore Dock is too low and worry we won't be able to compete financially unless we have a larger capacity," Blain told PA Sport. "But there are others who are not convinced we could consistently fill a 60,000-capacity stadium to justify the extra £70million or so in construction costs and wonder about the negative impact if seats are empty. "So I believe the board is being smart by still considering the base-capacity whilst exploring a more flexible solution for a standing section that could, subject to legislative changes, provide an absolute maximum capacity of 62,000. "The other factor is the cost of tickets, always a sensitive issue at the 'People's Club'. "If you go for the smaller capacity and we consistently fill it, as most believe we will, then the usual laws of supply and demand suggest prices will rise. Resisting that could hurt our ability to compete. "But with a large standing area, which significantly increases the capacity, prices could be kept low." Keep up to date with all the latest transfer news, rumours and done deals throughout the January window | Matt Slater | http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/everton-fc-new-stadium-latest-news-when-safe-standing-football-supporters-federation-a8730171.html | 2019-01-16 08:48:00+00:00 | 1,547,646,480 | 1,567,552,189 | sport | sport venue |
780,659 | theindependent--2019-12-23--Everton new stadium: Bramley-Moore Dock a 'statement of intent', says Denise Baxendale-Bar | 2019-12-23T00:00:00 | theindependent | Everton new stadium: Bramley-Moore Dock a 'statement of intent', says Denise Baxendale-Barrett | Everton will submit a planning application for their new Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium with chief executive Denise Baxendale-Barrett describing it as “a profound statement of intent”. Just two days after delivering a similar message about their on-field activities with the appointment of three-time Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti as their new manager, off the pitch things are moving forward. Following lengthy public consultation – which includes tweaking the proposals to integrate a multi-storey car park from the waterside into the stadium design and introducing additional environmental measures, including wind baffles – an application will be sent to Liverpool City Council later. “This is a huge milestone in the club’s history but also a profound statement of intent for our future,” said Baxendale-Barrett. “It marks the culmination of many years of work that has combined the passion of our fans with world-class design and a commitment to creating something truly special on Liverpool’s waterfront. “The stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock will deliver the best possible matchday experience for our fans, new facilities for cultural events and a building that will be a stunning new addition to Liverpool’s built environment. “If we are granted planning approval, this will be a world-class football stadium in a world-class location and a catalyst for Liverpool City Region’s ongoing growth and success. “We’ve always believed that this project can be a game-changer for North Liverpool...(it) isn’t just about a new football ground – it’s about regeneration, jobs and social value.” A separate planning application will also be submitted for a community-led legacy project at Goodison Park, the club’s home for 127 years. | Carl Markham | https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/everton-new-stadium-bramleymoore-dock-chief-executive-denise-baxendalebarrett-a9257701.html | Mon, 23 Dec 2019 10:21:00 GMT | 1,577,114,460 | 1,577,104,090 | sport | sport venue |
143,355 | drudgereport--2019-02-05--Tens of thousands pack stadium for first papal mass on Arabian Peninsula | 2019-02-05T00:00:00 | drudgereport | Tens of thousands pack stadium for first papal mass on Arabian Peninsula... | ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Catholics and several thousand Muslims attended an unprecedented public celebration of Mass on Tuesday by Pope Francis, the first pontiff in history to visit the Arabian Peninsula. More than 120,000 worshippers packed Zayed Sports City stadium and its surroundings in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, to see the pope, who is in the Gulf country to promote inter-faith dialogue. The UAE hosts about half of the two million expatriate Catholics living on the peninsula, home to the birthplace of Islam in neighboring Saudi Arabia. The community includes large numbers of people from the Philippines and India. “It is most certainly not easy for you to live far from home, missing the affection of your loved ones, and perhaps also feeling uncertainty about the future,” the pope said, telling those gathered to draw inspiration from Saint Anthony the Abbot, the founder of monasticism in the desert. “The Lord specializes in doing new things; he can even open paths in the desert,” he said at the end of a trip where he met with the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar mosque and UAE leaders. Francis entered the stadium in a white open top jeep to roars from the crowd. People wearing white baseball caps emblazoned with the visit logo packed the stadium stands and snapped pictures on their smartphones. Thousands of people cheering and waving Vatican flags lined the entrance to the stadium, with the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and Abu Dhabi’s skyscrapers glinting in the distance. “For me as a Christian, this is one of the most important days of my life,” said Thomas Tijo, a 44-year-old from India’s southern state of Kerala, who lives in the UAE and traveled by bus in the early hours to get to the stadium. “We are a long way from home and this is like a comforting blanket,” he said, holding his three-year-old son, Marcus. Organizers said Catholics from about 100 nations were expected to attend the Mass, along with about 4,000 Muslims, including government officials. The pope, who arrived on Sunday at the invitation of Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, has used the visit to condemn regional wars, including that in Yemen, the poorest country in the Peninsula, where the UAE is involved as part of a Saudi-led military coalition. He also called for greater cooperation between Christians and Muslims. “The pope has made pleas for ending the Yemen war, greater tolerance and more,” said Lina Ghattas, a 48-year-old Egyptian who had traveled from Bahrain. “I am not sure what will change: time will tell - hope, hope,” she said. During the service the pope spoke in Italian and English, which is widely spoken in the UAE where expatriates outnumber Emiratis nine to one. The congregation prayed for migrant workers and their families and for the ending of wars. The ceremony ended with a prayer, a thunderous round of applause from the crowd and organ music. “It’s a dream come true. I feel blessed,” said Rio Chavez, a 40-year-old security officer who has been in the UAE for five years. He had called his wife and mother back home in the Philippines before the Mass so the pope’s message about being far from home and loved ones had resonated for him. “I feel renewed, positive, he is an inspiration for me and my family. I will work very hard to bring my family here, I have the pope’s blessings now,” he said. A central part of the Christian faith, the Mass commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his apostles on the night before he died. Catholics believe the communion host and wine become the body and blood of Christ when consecrated by a priest during the Mass. Catholics believe the pope is the vicar of Christ on earth, so participating in a papal Mass is particularly special. Priests and diplomats describe the UAE as one of the least restrictive environments in the Gulf for Christian worship, which is allowed in church compounds with special licenses. There are more than 40 churches, nine of them for Catholics. But, like other Gulf states, it outlaws unsanctioned religious gatherings and non-Muslims must not proselytize. “This pope’s voice is heard, so our hope and prayer is that this historic visit brings peace to this strife-torn region,” said Clitus Almeida, an Indian engineer who works in Dubai. “Given the number of Catholics there is a dire need for more churches in the UAE,” he said, voicing hope that Saudi Arabia, where churches are banned, would also allow them. Although there has been no official comment from Riyadh, the pope has featured on the front pages of some of the main newspapers, which ran pictures of Francis’ meetings with the grand imam of Al-Azhar in Abu Dhabi on Monday and UAE officials. An opinion piece in Saudi-owned, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat praised the visit and its message of tolerance and coexistence, which it said confronted a discourse of extremism in the region. “The Arab region...for a very long time allowed rigid voices to hijack religious discourse, and it is time to correct the error.” | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/wKQIZbr9KhY/tens-of-thousands-pack-stadium-for-first-papal-mass-on-arabian-peninsula-idUSKCN1PU0H9 | 2019-02-05 15:40:37+00:00 | 1,549,399,237 | 1,567,549,605 | sport | sport venue |
168,233 | eveningstandard--2019-03-18--New Tottenham stadium Spurs freeze 2019-20 season ticket prices | 2019-03-18T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Spurs freeze 2019-20 season ticket prices | Tottenham have confirmed season-ticket prices have been frozen for next season, the first full campaign in their new stadium. Spurs sold 42,000 season tickets for the current season ahead of an expected move-in date for their new home, only for the opening game to be delayed until April 3. In a short statement on Monday, Spurs thanked supporters for their patience during nearly eight months of delays. The cheapest season-ticket anywhere in the stadium cost £795 for adults, £595 for young adults – aged 18 to 21 – and £397.50 for seniors and children. The most expensive were £1,995, while there were also £2,200 tickets with access to a private bar and complimentary food as part of Spurs' '1882' scheme. "The Club can announce that we shall be freezing the prices of all Season Tickets for the 2019/20 season. "We should like to thank our Season Ticket Holders for bearing with us and supporting the team at Wembley Stadium during what has been a challenging time. "We acknowledge the inconvenience caused by this unique set of circumstances. "Season Ticket renewals will open on Tuesday 22 April with the final deadline for renewals being Friday 17 May. "Full details on payment options will be communicated nearer the time." | Dan Kilpatrick, ALEX YOUNG | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-spurs-freeze-2019-2020-season-ticket-prices-a4094681.html | 2019-03-18 13:28:00+00:00 | 1,552,930,080 | 1,567,545,764 | sport | sport venue |
168,234 | eveningstandard--2019-03-18--New Tottenham Stadium test events Dates tickets and details as ground opens to public | 2019-03-18T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham Stadium test events: Dates, tickets and details as ground opens to public | The news Tottenham fans have been waiting for since last summer has finally arrived as Spurs have confirmed a move-in date for their new home. After almost two full seasons at Wembley and a string of delays, Spurs are finally returning to N17 for the 2018-19 season run-in. The opening match at the new stadium will be against Crystal Palace on April 3 following Brighton reaching the FA Cup semi-finals. However, before a single ball is kicked in the Premier League, the 62,062-seater home will have to pass two test events. Here's everything you need to know about the new Tottenham stadium test events... The club statement reads: "In order to achieve a formal safety certificate for fixtures to be held at the new stadium, we are required to hold two Test Event matches with increasing levels of attendances. "The two matches we have scheduled will provide an exciting opportunity to see the new stadium, support our lads in the academy, watch our legends take to the pitch and familiarise yourself with your matchday route. "We shall also use these test events as an opportunity to thank our neighbours and local groups." One key aspect of the stadium which must be given the all-clear is the safety systems, which has a big reason why the stadium has been so severely delayed. Only then will the Premier League and Uefa sign the stadium off for use in top-level domestic and European competition. Tottenham Under-18s will have the honour of playing being the first team to host a game in the new stadium as Southampton U18s visit on Sunday, March 24. Kick-off is scheduled for 3pm. The club hope to host around 30,000 in the stands and host a selection of guests in the various hospitality areas. A club legends game will come the following weekend on Saturday, March 30 at 5.30pm. The capacity will be upped to around 45,000 as general admission and all premium areas will be open and tested. The original legends game, tentatively scheduled for last August before being cancelled, was to be played against a Bayern Munich team but Inter Milan have been lined up as the new opponents. Spurs have revealed 17 names for their Legends squad (which will be managed by Gary Mabbutt): Robbie Keane, Darren Anderton, Rafael van der Vaart, Dimitar Berbatov, Erik Thorstvedt, Allan Nielsen, Stephen Carr, David Howells, Jurgen Klinsmann, Nayim, Micky Hazard, Mark Falco, Teemu Tainio, Paul Stalteri, Pascal Chimbonda, Chris Perry and Neil Sullivan. Priority access for both events will be given to season-ticket holders and executive members, before One Hotspur + and One Hotspur members and then to general sale. To read more about being a One Hotspur member, click here. The U18s match will cost £5 for adults and £1 for those over 65 years old and under 18 years old. The Legends match will cost £10 for adults and £5 for seniors and juniors. All profit from ticket sales will go to the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. Following Brighton's win over Millwall in the FA Cup quarter-finals on March 17, Crystal Palace will be the first team to visit in the league. The London rivals head to N17 on Wednesday, April 3. The kick-off time is yet to be confirmed, though it will be either 7.45pm or 8pm. Tottenham have confirmed they will host Champions League football at their new stadium this season, finally fulfilling the promise made no public almost 12 months ago. A 4-0 aggregate win over Borussia Dortmund in the last-16 stage means Tottenham are into the quarter-finals for the first time in eight years. They will now play over two legs for a place in the semi-finals, the first leg will be hosted on either April 9 with the return leg on April 17. The draw was made on March 15 and Manchester City are the opponents, with the home leg at Tottenham's new home up first. Should Spurs beat City over two legs, the first European visitors to the stadium will be either Ajax or Juventus in the Champions League semi-finals. | ALEX YOUNG | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-test-events-dates-tickets-and-details-as-ground-opens-to-public-a4094181.html | 2019-03-18 08:57:00+00:00 | 1,552,913,820 | 1,567,545,766 | sport | sport venue |
168,422 | eveningstandard--2019-03-19--New Tottenham Stadium Fans fear being priced out of watching Spurs long term | 2019-03-19T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham Stadium: Fans fear being priced out of watching Spurs long term | The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust (THST) has expressed concern at the price of tickets at the club's new stadium and warned that it will be difficult for fans to attend matches once the novelty of returning home has worn off. Having already announced a freeze on all season-ticket prices for next season, Spurs this morning revealed individual match pricing for their £1billion new stadium, which is due to open against Crystal Palace on April 3. The 62,062-seater ground will host the final five league matches of the season, and the first leg of Spurs' Champions League quarter-final against Man City on April 9, after delays from September forced Spurs to return to Wembley. For Category A matches – including West Ham's visit on April 27 – tickets at the new stadium start from £52, with the most expensive £98, while Cat B spans from £43 to £95 and Category B £30 to £80. The matches against Palace, Brighton and Everton will be Cat B, while Huddersfield's visit is Cat C. THST has argued that season-ticket prices at the new stadium are too high but it thanked the club for the freeze, while revealing concern at the individual prices for Cat B and C matches, which are some 30-50 percent higher on average than at White Hart Lane. "One reason we argued that ST prices were too high was because the Club left itself limited room for manoeuvre when announcing match day pricing," read a THST statement. "That has proved to be the case. If the total price of buying a ticket for every game individually had come in far below the price of a Season Ticket, there would understandably have been uproar from ST holders. "While Category A tickets are, unsurprisingly, among the most expensive in the country, high profile games against quality opposition are generally less price sensitive than other less attractive fixtures. Our main concern is that increases of between 30% and 50% on average throughout the stadium in Category B and C pricing from previous White Hart Lane pricing will make access to those games very difficult once the novelty of the new stadium has worn off. "The Club will argue that prices are not comparable, but fans’ pay packets are comparable and this is a sharp increase in a little over 2 seasons." Season-tickets at the old White Hart Lane included two cup games, removed from the package last season, and THST said it would be pushing for "progressive pricing" in all cup competitions to offset the high pricing of league matches. "Match day pricing is not only costly for...members and General Admission fans attending individual games," the statement added. "Now that a Season Ticket only comprises the basic 19 home Premier League games, having removed the remaining 2 cup credits before the move to Wembley, match categorisation affects ST holders in every home game outside that basic package." THST said it would publish a more detailed analysis of pricing at the end of the month. | Dan Kilpatrick | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-fans-fear-being-priced-out-of-watching-spurs-long-term-a4095586.html | 2019-03-19 12:00:00+00:00 | 1,553,011,200 | 1,567,545,621 | sport | sport venue |
168,424 | eveningstandard--2019-03-19--New Tottenham stadium Spurs Legends revealed for test event vs Inter Milan | 2019-03-19T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Spurs Legends revealed for test event vs Inter Milan | Tottenham have revealed the identities of a number of former players who will form their Spurs Legends side to face Inter Milan's legends side at the club's new stadium on March 30. Tottenham need to hold two test events order to receive a formal safety certificate ahead of the first Premier League game at their 62,062-capacity new stadium - scheduled to be Crystal Palace on April 3. Spurs' Under-18s side will face Southampton at the new ground on Sunday, 24 March with a 30,000-capacity crowd, with Spurs Legends to face Inter Forever the following Saturday with an increased 45,000-capacity crowd. Spurs revealed the first eight names for their Legends squad (which will be managed by Gary Mabbutt): Robbie Keane, Darren Anderton, Rafael van der Vaart, Dimitar Berbatov, Erik Thorstvedt, Allan Nielsen, Stephen Carr and David Howells. On Tuesday, nine further names were announced: Jurgen Klinsmann, Nayim, Micky Hazard, Mark Falco, Teemu Tainio, Paul Stalteri, Pascal Chimbonda, Chris Perry and Neil Sullivan Keane retired from professional football last November, but Spurs fans will be hoping to see his famous cartwheel celebration usher in a new era for the club. Anderton also won the League Cup in a 12-year spell at Spurs, making 299 appearances for the club in total. Van der Vaart and Berbatov both hold soft spots in many a Spurs fans' heart despite their relatively short spells in north London, while more former players will be announced in due course. Keane said of being picked: "It means such a lot to me to have the opportunity to play in this game. "Spurs is obviously a club that I hold very close to my heart and I have so many great memories of playing for the club over the years, but to see the new stadium and how good it looks, it’s going to be absolutely unbelievable to play inside it as one of the first players ever to do so. "The stadium is incredible and I can’t wait to get out there and play in it." Klinsmann said: "It's a huge honour and pleasure to be part of the first senior game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all the amazing Legends. "I can’t wait to be back again in Tottenham and to feel the very unique spirit that surrounds Spurs." | Tom Doyle | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-spurs-legends-vs-inter-milan-revealed-test-event-a4095821.html | 2019-03-19 14:23:00+00:00 | 1,553,019,780 | 1,567,545,618 | sport | sport venue |
168,641 | eveningstandard--2019-03-20--New Tottenham stadium Mauricio Pochettino to appear as special guest at first test event | 2019-03-20T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Mauricio Pochettino to appear as special guest at first test event | Tottenham have confirmed that first-team manager Mauricio Pochettino will be a guest at the first test event to take place at their new stadium this weekend. Spurs are set to host Crystal Palace in their opening Premier League fixture at the new 62,062-seater White Hart Lane on April 3, but that is dependent on them achieving a formal safety certificate during two test events to be held with increasing levels of attendances. A legends team coached by Gary Mabbutt and Clive Allen and featuring the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann, Darren Anderton, Robbie Keane, Rafael van der Vaart and Dimitar Berbatov are due to take on their Inter Milan equivalent on March 30 in front of a crowd of around 45,000. However, before then, Tottenham's U18s will become the first team to play in the new stadium as they host Southampton in an U18 Premier League fixture on Sunday - a match that will be viewed by approximately 30,000 spectators. Casting a watchful eye over proceedings will be Pochettino, with Spurs announcing on Wednesday that the Argentine - whose senior side are not in action due to the international break - would be in the stands for the event. He will also be interviewed during the half-time interval. All being well, Tottenham will play the final five home games of the domestic season - against Crystal Palace, Huddersfield, Brighton, West Ham and Everton - at their plush new ground in addition to the Champions League quarter-final first-leg meeting with Manchester City on April 9. | George Flood | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-mauricio-pochettino-to-appear-as-special-guest-at-first-test-event-a4097051.html | 2019-03-20 17:08:00+00:00 | 1,553,116,080 | 1,567,545,477 | sport | sport venue |
168,878 | eveningstandard--2019-03-21--New Tottenham stadium Finishing touches applied to 1bn venue ahead of first test event | 2019-03-21T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Finishing touches applied to £1bn venue ahead of first test event | It's all systems go at Tottenham this week as the club prepare their new 62,062-seater stadium ahead of the first of two test events to be held there in front of increasing attendances. A Spurs legends team coached by Gary Mabbutt and Clive Allen and featuring the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann, Darren Anderton, Robbie Keane, Rafael van der Vaart and Dimitar Berbatov are scheduled to take on Inter Milan on March 30, but before then Tottenham's U18s will have the honour of being the first team to play at the new White Hart Lane on Sunday. First-team manager Mauricio Pochettino will be a special guest as John McDermott's side battle Southampton in an U18 Premier League fixture, with both test events mandatory to ensure that Tottenham - exiled at Wembley for almost two full seasons - earn the necessary safety certificate from Haringey Council. Supporters no doubt already looking forward to stepping inside the new stadium after a host of delays will have seen their excitement further boosted by the release of the latest batch of impressive pictures. The new snaps are focused primarily upon the exterior, concourses, bars and food outlets at the plush venue, which, all being well, will host its first official senior fixture on April 3 as capital rivals Crystal Palace make the short trip to north London in the Premier League. Spurs then host Manchester City in the first leg of their all-English Champions League quarter-final a week later before further home contests against Huddersfield, Brighton, West Ham and Everton before the end of the 2018-19 campaign. Kick-off for the first test event is at 3pm GMT, with approximately 30,000 fans set to be in attendance. The legends match, which could yet involve Paul Gascoigne, is expected to feature an increased crowd of around 45,000. Scroll through the gallery above to get a detailed look at Tottenham's new stadium before its official opening... | George Flood | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-finishing-touches-applied-1bn-venue-first-test-event-a4097866.html | 2019-03-21 14:01:00+00:00 | 1,553,191,260 | 1,567,545,337 | sport | sport venue |
168,880 | eveningstandard--2019-03-21--New Tottenham stadium Spurs hope Paul Gascoigne will play in Legends match vs Inter Milan | 2019-03-21T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham stadium: Spurs hope Paul Gascoigne will play in Legends match vs Inter Milan | Tottenham hope Paul Gascoigne will be able to play in the Legends game at their new stadium a week on Saturday. Gascoigne is one of Spurs’ most iconic former players after helping them to their last FA Cup win, in 1991, during a three-year spell in north London. The 51-year-old former England international has endured a well-documented struggle with alcoholism and there are ongoing concerns about his health. In January, he pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault at Tesside Crown Court. On Wednesday night, Gascoigne tweeted that he was unsure if he would be invited to feature against Inter Milan in the second test event at the club’s £1billion new stadium on March 30. But a Spurs spokesman told Standard Sport: “Gary Mabbutt, who is a close, personal friend of Paul’s and our Legends team manager on the day, has been discussing Paul’s participation in this match with him for some time and we all hope it will be possible for him to play.” Gascoigne said on Twitter: “if there’s a game at spurs im up 4 it.” A number of former Spurs players have already been confirmed for the occasion. German World Cup winner Jurgen Klinsmann (below) will be the star attraction, with a glittering support cast including Robbie Keane, Rafa van der Vaart, Darren Anderton and Dimitar Berbatov. Allan Nielsen, Stephen Carr, David Howells, Erik Thorstvedt, Neil Sullivan, Teemu Tainio, Mark Falco, Pascal Chimbonda, Micky Hazard, Chris Perry, Paul Stalteri and Nayim are the other confirmed names, while Mabbutt and Clive Allen will manage the side. The likes of Edgar Davids, Teddy Sheringham, Chris Waddle, Ledley King, Jermaine Jenas and David Ginola are expected to be confirmed soon. The stadium must successfully stage two test events with increasing levels of capacity in order to earn a safety certificate from Haringey Council. The 62,062-seat ground, which has been delayed since September, is due to open against Crystal Palace on April 3. On Sunday, Spurs’ U-18s will host Southampton in the first test event in front of at least 25,000 supporters before Inter’s visit six days later, when the stadium could be full. Meanwhile, Premiership rugby club Saracens will play their future home London derbies against Harlequins at the ground, which has an artificial pitch for rugby, NFL and other events. The match was staged at Wembley for several years before being relocated to the London Olympic Stadium while Spurs were building their stadium, but Saturday’s games against Quins will be the last in Stratford. | Dan Kilpatrick | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-spurs-hope-paul-gascoigne-will-play-in-legends-match-vs-inter-milan-a4097601.html | 2019-03-21 11:36:00+00:00 | 1,553,182,560 | 1,567,545,335 | sport | sport venue |
169,072 | eveningstandard--2019-03-22--New Tottenham Stadium fixtures Every game at the new ground before the summer | 2019-03-22T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | New Tottenham Stadium fixtures: Every game at the new ground before the summer | Tottenham will finally play in their new stadium with Crystal Palace the first visitors to their new 62,062-seater home next month. Providing it passes two test events taking place this month, Spurs will host Roy Hodgson’s side on Wednesday April 3, with kick-off scheduled for 7:45pm. Mauricio Pochettino’s side have five home games in the league remaining this season with the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash with Manchester City also due to be held in north London. A concerning run of form of late has sucked Tottenham back into a battle for a top four finish with just four points separating them, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. But Spurs will hope the belated opening of their new home can help them end the season in style. | Tony Mogan | https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham/new-tottenham-stadium-fixtures-every-game-at-the-new-ground-before-the-summer-a4095911.html | 2019-03-22 07:53:00+00:00 | 1,553,255,580 | 1,567,545,197 | sport | sport venue |
292,127 | liveaction--2019-09-16--A Christian hospital in Colorado may be forced to commit assisted suicide | 2019-09-16T00:00:00 | liveaction | A Christian hospital in Colorado may be forced to commit assisted suicide | Centura Health, which operates hospitals in Colorado and Kansas, is fighting back after one of its doctors tried to force them to allow her to commit assisted suicide. Part of the Catholic Health Initiatives non-profit health system, Centura Health chose to opt-out of Colorado’s assisted suicide law when it was passed in 2016. One of their doctors filed a court order in an effort to force one of the hospitals to allow her to participate in assisted suicide, which led to her firing — and a possible court battle which could have devastating repercussions. After Neil Mahoney was diagnosed with cancer and learned he had just months to live, he turned to Dr. Barbara Morris, a geriatric physician at St. Anthony Hospital. Originally, she tried to refer him to a different doctor, but that would have meant undergoing more tests, which Mahoney did not want to do. So Morris worked with Mahoney to seek a court order which would allow her to commit the assisted suicide, despite the hospital’s policy against it, and prevent her from being fired. She claimed she is not able to properly care for Mahoney or hundreds of other elderly patients who may want to die. “To be forced to abandon patients has just been intolerable for me,” she told KMGH-TV. Centura responded by firing her — not for filing the lawsuit, but for encouraging an option that is in opposition to their religious principles. “You have encouraged a morally unacceptable option,” a letter from Centura Health to Morris read. “It is our religious principles upon which the hospital operates and warrants the termination of your employment for cause, effective immediately.” Centura Health CEO Peter Banko likewise affirmed that the issue at hand was Morris’ support for assisted suicide. “Had she never said any of that, we wouldn’t be discussing the termination of her employment,” he said to 9News. “We will never compromise or bend who we are as a health system; that’s not open for debate.” He added, “It’s a challenge to who we are as an organization, our mission and core values and who we’ve been for 137 years.” This has now launched a legal battle to clarify Colorado’s assisted suicide law, and determine if health systems are able to opt-out, or if that right is only reserved for individual physicians. For Centura Health, it’s an issue of religious freedom. READ: Former New Zealand abortionist’s revelation: I was exactly like the Nazis As for Mahoney, interviews with him revealed a devastating outlook on the remainder of his life. “At points it just gets so overwhelming,” he said to KMGH-TV, explaining that eventually, he will have trouble breathing and controlling his bowels. He has no children and does not want to burden his siblings with his care, adding, “Just because they’re blood, doesn’t mean they have to suffer and go through all of this.” This is notable because it lines up with what multiple studies on assisted suicide have found. Overwhelmingly, people are not requesting assisted suicide because they are afraid of experiencing pain and suffering; they do so because they feel depressed, hopeless, have no support, and are worried they will be a burden on their loved ones — and when these issues are addressed, the request for assisted suicide is often withdrawn. People who are sick or dying don’t need to be pushed towards death. They deserve to know that their lives still have value and dignity, and should be given the support and love they need in their final days. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/christian-hospital-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-09-16 18:15:54+00:00 | 1,568,672,154 | 1,569,330,156 | society | values |
292,205 | liveaction--2019-09-30--Catholic hospital in Canada forced to participate in assisted suicide | 2019-09-30T00:00:00 | liveaction | Catholic hospital in Canada forced to participate in assisted suicide | Despite an agreement saying that its beliefs and values would be respected, a Catholic hospital in Canada is being forced to participate in assisted suicide after facing legal battles from assisted suicide advocacy organizations. St. Martha’s Regional Hospital Complex in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, gave control of the hospital to the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) in 1996 after previously being run by the Sisters of St. Martha — but signed an agreement saying the hospital’s Catholic identity would be protected. This meant assisted suicide was not allowed at St. Martha’s. But outrage from assisted suicide advocacy group Dying with Dignity resulted in threats of a potential legal challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This led the NSHA to quietly announce that “[a]ssessments and provision of MAiD [medical assistance in dying] will be available in a section of St. Martha’s Regional Hospital complex at the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre” in a statement. Unsurprisingly, Dying with Dignity celebrated the change. “We hope that this is the start and that Nova Scotia’s regulation, Nova Scotia’s position will be used as a model in other jurisdictions across the country. We’re certainly pushing for that,” Jim Cowan, chair of Dying with Dignity, told Global News. However, a statement from the Sisters of St. Martha insisted that assisted suicide would not be committed within the hospital, but solely in the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre building, which is attached to the hospital. As noted by Bioedge, worldwide pressure is mounting on Catholic health care providers to drop their opposition to things like abortion and assisted suicide. One example is Jocelyn Downie, of Dalhousie University, who specifically singled out St. Martha’s to reporters. “[I]t’s indefensible to have a publicly funded institution have a faith-based filter on the services that are available,” she said, attacking the idea of organizations like St. Martha’s receiving taxpayer funding while refusing to participate in abortion and assisted suicide. Moves like these send a chilling message, not just for pro-life issues, but for religious freedom and conscience rights as well. Ultimately, what pro-death activists are saying is that any organization unwilling to participate in active killing should not be allowed to receive taxpayer funding, at a time when conscience protections are already under attack around the world. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/catholic-hospital-canada-forced-participate-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-09-30 15:45:39+00:00 | 1,569,872,739 | 1,570,221,885 | society | values |
292,340 | liveaction--2019-11-01--Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders unite to condemn assisted suicide | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | liveaction | Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders unite to condemn assisted suicide | As assisted suicide spreads throughout the world, religious leaders are taking a stand. In a meeting at Vatican City, leaders from the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — gathered to sign a declaration condemning the practice, and urging for greater palliative care options to be put into place instead. Representatives from the Vatican, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia, and Muslim and Jewish scholars and leaders were present, or expressed their support. Signees, who included David Rosen for the American Jewish Committee, Vincenzo Paglia for the Vatican, a representative for the Orthodox Church, and Samsul Anwar from the Indonesian Muhammadiyah (an Islamic social and cultural association), all agreed that assisted suicide poses a threat to inherent human dignity. Others sent letters of support. The idea was the brainchild of Avraham Steinberg, co-president of the Israeli National Council on Bioethics, according to the Times of Israel. “I think it’s by itself an historic event that the three major religions come together, talk to each other, agree on something and even sign on it,” he said at a press conference. “We oppose any form of euthanasia – that is the direct, deliberate and intentional act of taking life – as well as physician-assisted suicide – that is the direct, deliberate and intentional support of committing suicide – because they fundamentally contradict the inalienable value of human life, and therefore are inherently and consequentially morally and religiously wrong, and should be forbidden without exceptions,” the document read. “Care for the dying, is both part of our stewardship of the Divine gift of life when a cure is no longer possible, as well as our human and ethical responsibility toward the dying (and often) suffering patient.” READ: Assisted suicide laws a ‘direct assault’ on dignity of persons with disabilities, says council Instead of helping people to die, the document asserts that “we are morally and religiously duty-bound to provide comfort, effective pain and symptoms relief, companionship, care and spiritual assistance to the dying patient and to her/his family.” The document, which is almost 2,000 words long, demanded that physicians not participate in coercing, pressuring or assisting a patient’s suicide, called for greater palliative care options for the dying, and said laws are needed to protect the rights and the dignity of all people. It also noted that the three religions “share common goals and are in complete agreement in their approach to end-of-life situations,” which sometimes are in conflict with “current secular humanistic values and practices.” Assisted suicide is being legalized more and more often in countries across the world, and while it is framed as a way for the dying to have death with “dignity,” the reality is quite different. Instead, the vulnerable — such as the elderly and the disabled — are often targeted, manipulated, and scared into thinking death is their best and only choice. “To take the initiative to shorten a person’s life is murder,” Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss, who represents the Chief Rabbinate, told the Jerusalem Post, adding, “It was remarkable that representatives of the three major monotheistic groups were able to come together around the idea that we are all created in the image of God, and cannot take a life. People must realize that there is a glimmer of light that religions who have been warring together have found common ground and that is in the sanctity of human life. A person who saves a life saves an entire world, and a person who destroys a life destroys an entire world.” “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/christian-muslim-jewish-leaders-condemn-assisted-suicide/ | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 21:03:09 +0000 | 1,572,656,589 | 1,572,646,756 | society | values |
404,844 | pamelagellerreport--2019-12-29--The collective suicide of progressives | 2019-12-29T00:00:00 | pamelagellerreport | The collective suicide of progressives | Without the media that keep them artificially alive, leftists would be nothing but a distant bad memory. They have lost the battle of ideas, and as in Britain, they are losing elections everywhere. But the fight is not over. We must completely wipe them out. They have no religion. They want to destroy yours. They have no culture. They want to impose another culture on you. They have lost their values, they demonize yours. All they have left is their anger: let’s help it devour them. The left’s penchant for identity fetishism, victimhood obsession, racial swindling, is a subjugation and unbridled desire for power, which masquerades as compassion. Leftism turns gold into lead, prosperity into poverty, freedom into dependence, intelligence into propaganda, and lies into truth. They abuse you. They want to lock you up with its climate change hoax to impose restrictions on your lifestyle. They accuse you of racism and Islamophobia to silence you. They want to confiscate your wealth by forcing you to be ashamed of having worked to accumulate it. Your mother taught you not to accept candy from a stranger. Socialists are the strangers whose “help” you should not accept. Their social candies are meant to make you dependent on assistance that you can no longer do without, as a drug addict. The migrant population is the one that grows the fastest. But it’s not enough: they want more migrants. They are using the migrants to get rid of you before you get rid of them. Apart from self-hatred, hatred of your own culture, hatred of your own heritage. Apart from disgust for success. Besides hating freedom of thought and freedom of speech. Besides wanting your children to suffer from unemployment, poverty, drug, violence and terror. Apart from rejecting all measures that can boost the economy and employment, is there any other reason to vote Socialist? Oh, and I almost forgot. Your smartphone, developed by companies run by leftist billionaires, broadcasts your exact position thousands of times a day to dozens of different companies. Each of them has the power to follow you wherever you go, in near-real time. This is not a flaw in the system. It is the system. And they tell you you have nothing to fear from it. The devil’s greatest trick is to persuade people that he doesn’t exist. The Truth Must be Told Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more. Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible. Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too. Please contribute to our ground-breaking work here. Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best. | Jean Patrick Grumberg | https://gellerreport.com/2019/12/the-collective-suicide-of-progressives.html/ | Sun, 29 Dec 2019 18:27:06 +0000 | 1,577,662,026 | 1,577,664,649 | society | values |
526,090 | sputnik--2019-02-20--Burberry in Hot Blunder Over Suicide Hoodie Noose Amid Twitter Fashion Fury | 2019-02-20T00:00:00 | sputnik | Burberry in Hot Blunder Over 'Suicide' Hoodie Noose Amid Twitter Fashion Fury | During Burberry's LFW catwalk, a model sported a hoodie with a noose, which she criticized after the show. Another model, Liz Kennedy, who saw the piece on the runway, took to Instagram to condemn it. "Suicide is not fashion. It is not glamorous nor edgy and since this show is dedicated to the youth expressing their voice, here I go… [I]t is beyond me how you could let a look resembling a noose hanging from a neck out on the runway. How could anyone overlook this and think it would be okay to do this especially in a line dedicated to young girls and youth," Kennedy wrote in a lengthy message. Following the incident, Burberry's current chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci apologised for "causing distress" but said the design was "inspired by a nautical theme." "I realize that it was insensitive. It was never my intention to upset anyone. It does not reflect my values nor Burberry's and we have removed it from the collection. I will make sure that this does not happen again" Tisci said in an interview. Burberry follows a number of high fashion brands that got embroiled in controversial rows over sensitive social issues. Gucci and Prada have been criticised over using "blackface" imagery in their pieces, while the Dolce & Gabbana's #DGLovesChina campaign drowned in accusations over a ‘racist' commercial. READ MORE: Twitterians Accuse 'Blackface Gucci' of Jumping on 'Same Bandwagon as Prada' | null | https://sputniknews.com/viral/201902201072589371-burberry-hoodie-noose-suicide/ | 2019-02-20 12:45:00+00:00 | 1,550,684,700 | 1,567,547,933 | society | values |
948,538 | thesun--2019-03-25--Prince William will write to family of tragic teen Molly Russell who committed suicide after viewing | 2019-03-25T00:00:00 | thesun | Prince William will write to family of tragic teen Molly Russell who committed suicide after viewing disturbing online content | THE Duke of Cambridge is expected to write to the family of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life after viewing disturbing material online. Molly saw content on social media linked to self-harm and suicide before her death in November 2017 in Harrow, North West London. Molly, from Harrow, north-west London, was found to have viewed content on social media linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide before ending her life in November 2017. The duke has previously spoken out about social media companies and their responsibilities to stop the spread of harmful material online. In a speech at BBC Broadcasting House in London in November, he accused tech giants of "being on the back foot" when tackling issues such as cyber bullying, fake news and hate speech. "The noise of shareholders, bottom lines, and profits is distracting them from the values that made them so successful in the first place," he said. "They are so proud of what they have built that they cannot hear the growing concern from their users." Earlier this month, a pre-inquest review hearing heard police were confident they could access Molly's electronic devices to view the data. | Lily Hewitson | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8711043/prince-william-molly-russell-family/ | 2019-03-25 01:20:01+00:00 | 1,553,491,201 | 1,567,544,933 | society | values |
960,832 | thesun--2019-05-15--Barber scarred by dads suicide after secret depression battle now helps clients open up | 2019-05-15T00:00:00 | thesun | Barber scarred by dad’s suicide after secret depression battle now helps clients open up | CLIPPER in hand, barber Ken Hermes gets to work trimming another bloke's beard. While he values every customer, there's one guy he wishes he could have sitting in his chair – his dad Kenneth. The 45-year-old took his own life when Ken, from Halstead, Essex, was just 15 after secretly battling depression. Just hours before, the pair had enjoyed an evening together playing their favourite songs on the guitar, chatting and drinking beers. Ken, 28, said he had no idea how his dad was really feeling, despite always thinking he "wore his heart on his sleeve". As part of The Sun's mental health awareness and suicide prevention campaign, You're Not Alone this Mental Health Awareness Week, Ken has opened up about the struggles he faced after suddenly losing his dad. Ken explained: "My dad and I had a bit of turbulent relationship in my early teens but then we found peace with each other and became really good friends. "I had no idea he had depression though." His dad was originally from Colorado and worked for the American air force before meeting Ken's mum and eventually the pair settled in Essex. When he left the military, he set up his own transport business which was successful until an increase in fuel prices forced him to sell. He was later involved in a car crash, where he suffered a back injury that left him in constant pain. Ken said: "When they came back to England, he struggled to find his feet. "He worked for a dairy near our house, but then it closed and he got made redundant, along with numerous people in our village. "He was a bit of a calamity. He ended up in and out of work - he would take any job to try and support us a family. As a dad, I'm very much the same with mine. "When he lost his job, my mum had to go back to work as a night manager in a supermarket and that would have hurt his pride. "I can get how soul destroying that must've been." Ken explained: "Now I can see he was depressed, but at the time I would joke with him when I got home from school and say, 'you lost another job again dad?'" His parents worked opposite shifts, so barely saw each other, but his dad's hours meant he got to hang out with him in the evenings. "We'd just sit in the garage and chat. Back then, I thought we chatted about everything and were being really open. I realise now he wasn't telling me how he was really feeling." He had no idea that the evening of February 8, 2006, would be the last he would spend with his dad. The next morning as he was getting ready for school, his mum found Kenneth hanging in their garage. Recalling that morning, Ken said: "I was pampered and I'm not too proud to say that. I was the only child and mum held onto me. "That particular morning she asked what I wanted for breakfast and I asked for beans on toast. "I was wrapped up in a blanket talking to my friends on MSN when we’re supposed to be getting ready for school. "We had a pantry bit in the garage where we kept tins of food. It was cold and I didn't want to go out there so I had a bit of back and forth with mum over it. "I had just got up to go and do it when she went, 'no, I'll go'. "The next thing I heard was screaming and crying." Ken said he tried getting inside but she wouldn't let him, so he tried calling his dad's phone but heard it ringing inside. "I turned around and saw my dad's van outside and for me at that point it all goes blank. "The next thing I remember is being in the kitchen with my uncles and all the emergency services were there - police, paramedics, the coroner. "One of them asked me to sit down and, the phrase I remember him saying is, 'you know your dad hasn't been himself lately'. "And that was the moment the penny dropped. "I just wanted to escape the situation. I grabbed a picture of me and my dad and his eternity ring, which I put on my finger, and fled the house. "I went to the park and sat on a swing and cried." A few friends came by to comfort him and they spent the rest of the day hanging out before one of their mum's came to pick them up. "I had to go home and face what had happened," he said. In the days that followed, Ken and his mum struggled to come to terms with their loss. He said: "It’s like when you have a baby - suddenly everyone is there, but then when they return to their normal life it’s very isolating. "Before we knew it, my family had flown over from America and it was busy again. It was bittersweet, because I got to hang out with my uncle and grandfather. "But it was terrible because they were here for the reason that no one wanted. "I remember trying to stay strong, especially for my mum. I was scared she would do the same thing. "Years later, I found out my mum was worried about me for the same reason." Ken said that his family were in denial that his dad would want to end his life and felt relieved when the coroner ruled an open verdict on his death. The inquest heard Kenneth had been put on the anti-depressant Seroxat and thought they were "messing with his head and making him feel suicidal". When he told his doctor, he was put on an alternative anti-depressant, Citalopram, which his wife told the court had "changed his personality", it was reported. Ken explained: "We sought comfort in the ruling at the time. We were trying to find blame - it was the doctor's fault. "But looking back 13 years later, it's not comforting. And we don't have the answers." Ken says that for years he didn't want to talk about what had happened to his dad and struggled with his own crippling anxiety battle. "For a while I wouldn't talk about it. I figured people got bored of listening. "I wouldn't watch or read anything that referenced suicide, especially hanging." It was when he started getting into the hair industry that he decided to open up about what had happened. Through the Lions Barber Collective, he started to share his story and now he's helping other men open up about their mental health. He said: "I feel like we’ve helped a lot of people. I’ve gone back to my old school with some of the teachers that were there when it happened and given talks." Now an official ambassador for the collective, he's encouraging other barbers to sign up to the training to help men up and down the country. Ken said: "We're not trying to get barbers to be counsellors, because we're not, but it's a great opportunity to get them to open up. "It’s so intimate - if you’re going for a beard line up you’re with a guy with a razor close to your cheek. You’ve already broken down so many physical barriers. "We try to normalise the conversation and provide a non-clinical, non-judgemental environment. "From there we can spot the signs and encourage them to open up, and if we feel they need help we can signpost them in the right places." He added: "I find that because of my own experience it's a good conversation starter. They might already recognise me, which opens it up, or they'll ask how I got into hair and then I can tell them about the charity. "The majority of men can relate to something I say and it's endearing that men want to talk about it." Ken says anyone who wants to get involved should visit the Lions Barber Collective website for details on free training. A survey commissioned by the Lions Barber Collective and male grooming brand The Bluebeards Revenge revealed that more than half of British men now feel more comfortable discussing sensitive mental health issues such as depression with their barbers/hairdressers than with their doctors. The Bluebeards Revenge has also launched a new hair styling gel, with 50p from each tub sold going to The Lions Barber Collective, helping the charity raise awareness and prevent male suicides all over the world. The inside of the product cartons also carries branded messaging from the charity, signposting men to the Samaritans charity to seek additional support. If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans (free) on 116 123. | Gemma Mullin | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9022906/barber-dad-suicide-mental-health-depression/ | 2019-05-15 10:04:27+00:00 | 1,557,929,067 | 1,567,540,591 | society | values |
1,111,934 | yahoonews--2019-06-20--Assisted suicide Mercy or malpractice | 2019-06-20T00:00:00 | yahoonews | Assisted suicide: Mercy or malpractice? | The 360 is a feature designed to show you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories. What's happening: Last week, Maine became the eighth state in the country to legalize assisted suicide. The new law allows doctors to prescribe a fatal dose of medication to terminally ill patients who are expected to die within six months. The law stipulates that the patient must be of sound mind and must take the medication themselves. It includes a number of steps, such as a second medical opinion and waiting periods, to protect against misdiagnosis or coercion. Similar stipulations exist in other states that allow for assisted suicide. Oregon became the first state to legalize assisted suicide — also frequently called "aid in dying" — in 1997. The issue spurred significant controversy in the 1990s, in large part from the actions of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a medical pathologist who helped about 130 terminally ill people end their lives. He spent eight years in prison for second-degree murder stemming from one case. Why there's debate: Advocates for assisted suicide see it as form of mercy that saves a terminally ill person from what can often be a prolonged, painful and expensive natural death. They also argue that patients should have the ultimate say over how their lives end without having to consider nonmedical forms of suicide. Opponents believe there is too much risk of people being manipulated in choosing assisted suicide, either by family members or insurance companies. The American Medical Association says the practice is "fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer." Some doctors who support the principle have concerns about its practice, such as the availability of life-ending drugs and the lack of scholarly research on the topic. There are also fears that existing laws could be expanded until they resemble euthanasia laws in the Netherlands, where assisted suicide is permitted for patients as young as 12 and for those with psychiatric disorders. A number of religions forbid assisted suicide in all cases. What's next: Although assisted suicide is legal in just a handful of states and Washington, D.C., support for the idea is spreading. Maine is the fifth state to legalize the practice since 2015. Several other states have considered similar legislation recently. In March, an "aid in dying" bill came up short in the Maryland state Senate by a single vote. Patients should have the right to decide how their lives end. "Suicide may be a sort of failure, but deciding how one wants to end one’s life must be the ultimate human right. If people need help to handle it with dignity, doctors should offer them help, not condemnation." — Simon Jenkins, The Guardian "Sadly, it took my father's suffering to teach me what medical school did not: At a certain point, the suffering of ongoing treatment does not constitute a life worth living. I hope other patients and families might consider these issues while they still can. … I hope, too, that if I ever have to confront this decision, I will be allowed to make a choice." — Dr. Robert Klitzman, CNN Valid worries about abuse and coercion haven't come true. "Fears about abuse of the elderly or those with disabilities have not materialized, and, with [several U.S. states] having more than 40 years of combined experience with assisted death, there have been no instances of documented abuse or coercion." — Editorial, Washington Post "I anticipated having months left to live, but now my doctors say it may just be weeks. I want to rob cancer of its prize. I want to go out on my own terms. That’s why I want the option of medical aid-in-dying to peacefully end my suffering from the very possible end-of-life scenarios for me: gasping for air or choking on my own blood." — Kevin Roster, USA Today "We are told that doctor-assisted suicide should be a choice for patients who have tried everything. This ignores the fact that having access to ‘everything’ is a luxury that not everyone has." — Lisa Blumberg, Connecticut Mirror Lack of oversight allows space for misuse and abuse. “Nowhere in the laws is there any sort of guidance for how to do it. There is no oversight to make sure that it’s happening in a safe way." — Palliative care physician Laura Petrillo to the Atlantic "If we allow this form of euthanasia into our health care system, it will inevitably corrode and destroy the values that define the health professions and lead to public trust in them. … No one will be immune to its long term corrosive and destructive effects on the health care system." — Dr. Joseph Marine, Baltimore Sun Assisted suicide means accepting that terminal patients have no value left. "The person lying in a hospital bed might be distraught and convinced that he will be better off leaving living to others. But it can’t be denied that even a tiny slice of time can be used to accomplish much. A smile can be shared, a kind word spoken; an apology can be offered, or a regret confronted; repentance can be achieved or peace made with an alienated friend or relative." — Rabbi Avi Shafran, Fox News Laws don't protect vulnerable people from being coerced into suicide. "Proponents of assisted suicide like to point to the myriad of 'safeguards' in their laws, but the reality is once the prescription is picked up from the pharmacy, there is absolutely no oversight in the law to protect the ill person from someone else who wants to hurry their death along, be it an insurance carrier, an heir or a caregiver." — Mike Reynolds, Bangor Daily News Do body cameras make the police and the public safer? | null | https://news.yahoo.com/assisted-suicide-mercy-or-malpractice-192454418.html | 2019-06-20 19:24:54+00:00 | 1,561,073,094 | 1,567,538,556 | society | values |
291,618 | liveaction--2019-05-30--Its pornography California approves controversial new sex ed curriculum | 2019-05-30T00:00:00 | liveaction | ‘It’s pornography’: California approves controversial new sex ed curriculum | In a sweeping and controversial move, the state of California recently voted to overhaul its sex education curriculum, leaving some people dumbfounded by how the Golden State could advocate teaching graphic and age-inappropriate topics in every public school classroom. Ironically, the adopted framework claims to care about all viewpoints, including religious and cultural ones, according to its own documents, Chapter 9: Instructional Materials for Health Education (DOCX), which states the material as, “Appropriate for use with all students regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, culture, religion, sexual orientation, or living situation.” But as the Associated Press reported, many of the most controversial components for some parents are directly related to religious and/or cultural viewpoints. “The framework tells teachers that students in kindergarten can identify as transgender and offers tips for how to talk about that, adding ‘the goal is not to cause confusion about the gender of the child but to develop an awareness that other expressions exist,'” reported the Associated Press. But this sex “education” doesn’t stop at normalizing gender dysphoria. “It gives tips for discussing masturbation with middle-schoolers,” says the AP, “including telling them it is not physically harmful, and for discussing puberty with transgender teens that creates ‘an environment that is inclusive and challenges binary concepts about gender.'” There was a public comment period that lasted 60 days prior to the vote. In that time, parents, teachers, and a Planned Parenthood education manager, as well as other members of the public weighed in on the new sex education curriculum. Many expressed concern that abortion would be included in the curriculum. Others wanted to ensure abortion is included. These are a few of the comments from the document: One concerned mother, Patricia Reyes, attended Wednesday’s hearing with her four-year-old daughter who held a sign that read: “Protect my innocence and childhood.” “It’s just scary what they are going to be teaching. It’s pornography,” she said. “If this continues, I’m not sending them to school.” Regardless of these concerns and speculation prior to the vote, the Health Education Framework revision’s reality is chock full of controversy. Chapter 6 is the guideline for students in grades 9-12. While the words Planned Parenthood don’t appear, the content is reminiscent of job ads in which an inside candidate has already been chosen. Perhaps most concerning to parents of high schoolers is the very adult lessons their ninth graders may be taught in sex education classes. The standards say that “[g]uest speakers and media resources including books and videos should always be vetted for appropriateness, for compliance with state statutes, and to ensure the content they are providing is valid, age appropriate, and medically accurate.” Here’s some of what follows in that chapter (emphasis ours): It’s rather clear that when teenagers research local community resources online, a California kid will find Planned Parenthood. There are well over 100 Planned Parenthood locations in the state, and even if there is not one close by, their web presence is close enough that young people know where abortion services can be found. It’s also noteworthy that these are listed as “preventative” services. STI testing, HIV testing, and pregnancy tests are not preventative medicine. Parents are not only concerned about Planned Parenthood and outside access, but about what students are doing in the classroom, as evidenced on page 33: A condom (internal/female and external/male condom) and dental dam demonstration is provided. After the demonstration, students individually practice the step-by-step process on a penis model or their fingers (emphasis added). Many parents, especially of kids fresh out of middle school, don’t want their children learning how to put a condom on a model penis–and for that matter, neither do the students. Meanwhile, page 41 might be of concern to some parents whose Christian values teach that sexual activity outside of marriage is not appropriate. While this may seem old-fashioned to some, according to the state of California, some religious ideas are actually “spiritual abuse.” When “not allowing partner to do things they enjoy” becomes “spiritual abuse” this can also become manipulation and is very confusing to a 14-year old exploring both developing feelings for the opposite sex and growing faith in his or her religious environment. The state of California cannot monitor all the sexual dialogue in order to walk that line and offer appropriate definitions. The final word on exactly what is taught in sex education and how it is taught comes down to the school district where the student is, and that can vary with the local culture, teachers, principal, attitudes of the community, et. al; however, the curriculum is an opt-out curriculum. That means, students are automatically subjected to it unless parents specifically opt their children out in writing, which depends on their awareness and reading the fine print — something that should happen but isn’t always possible. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Susan Michelle-Hanson | https://www.liveaction.org/news/sex-education-california-approves/ | 2019-05-30 12:45:10+00:00 | 1,559,234,710 | 1,567,539,650 | society | values |
684,295 | theguardianuk--2019-01-10--Founder of South Korean pornography site jailed amid voyeurism epidemic | 2019-01-10T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Founder of South Korean pornography site jailed amid voyeurism epidemic | The co-founder of South Korea’s biggest pornography website has been jailed for four years over the distribution of obscene material, as the country attempts to tackle a voyeurism epidemic. The woman, referred to only by her surname Song in South Korean media reports, was sentenced this week after a court found her guilty of “aiding and abetting” the spread of obscene images on Soranet, which she allegedly set up with her husband and another couple in 1999. The file-sharing site, which used an overseas server, once had more than one million users and hosted tens of thousands of images, including “revenge porn” and videos of women recorded secretly in toilets and other public places. It was closed in 2016 following complaints from women’s rights groups. “Beyond the basic concept of pornography, the website severely violated and distorted the values and dignity of children and youths, as well as all human beings,” the Seoul central district court said in its ruling, according to the Korea Herald. “It is difficult to measure how much harm the existence of the website caused our society, visibly and invisibly.” Although it is illegal to distribute pornography in South Korea, videos featuring sexual content are widely shared via servers based overseas or through secret file-sharing sites, according to the country’s media. Molka, or secretly filmed images of a sexual nature, has reached epidemic proportions in South Korea and last summer prompted huge demonstrations by women demanding that police take action against those who film and share the material. Of the 16,201 people arrested between 2012 and 2017 for making illegal recordings, 98% were men; 84% of the 26,000 victims recorded over that period were women, according to police. Last year the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, acknowledged that the use of spycams had become “part of daily life” and called for tougher penalties for offenders. Government workers in Seoul have begun daily checks for spycams in public toilets in response to growing public outrage. Song was also fined 1.4 billion won (£980,000) and ordered to attend 80 hours of sexual violence prevention education, the Korea Herald said. The 46-year-old fled to New Zealand when the investigation into Soranet began in 2015, but handed herself in last June later after the South Korean government revoked her passport. She denied the allegations throughout her trial, claiming that her husband and the second couple – all of whom are living overseas – were responsible for running the site. | Justin McCurry | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/10/founder-of-south-korean-pornography-site-jailed-amid-voyeurism-epidemic | 2019-01-10 06:35:19+00:00 | 1,547,120,119 | 1,567,553,134 | society | values |
118,582 | conservativehome--2019-06-26--Benedict Rogers Character values and dignity Why I am voting for Hunt | 2019-06-26T00:00:00 | conservativehome | Benedict Rogers: Character, values and dignity. Why I am voting for Hunt. | Benedict Rogers is East Asia Team Leader at the international human rights organisation CSW, co-founder and Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, a former parliamentary candidate and a Senior Fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute. As a former journalist, a human rights campaigner and a Christian, there are obvious reasons why I like Jeremy Hunt. As Foreign Secretary he has done more in a year than any of his predecessors combined to champion human rights – and in particular press freedom and freedom of religion or belief, two foundational freedoms that underpin any civilized democratic society. Hunt has also done more to speak out against crimes against humanity in Burma, for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and peace in Yemen than his predecessors. His decision not just to mandate the Bishop of Truro to conduct an inquiry into the persecution of Christians but to write, every day throughout Lent, to a persecuted Christian, speaks volumes about his values. So too did his decision, on his first visit to Beijing, to meet the wives of jailed Chinese human rights lawyers. And his statements on Hong Kong, a city I lived in for the first five years of my working life and to which I was denied entry on the orders of Beijing 18 months ago, have been far more robust than his predecessors. Has he done enough? No, of course not: no activist would say enough had been done. But has he shone, as a Foreign Secretary who prioritises human rights? Definitely. But of course, one doesn’t vote solely on these issues. The challenges facing our party and our country are wide-ranging. Brexit is the most immediate and most obvious. But there are pressures on our public services, threats to our security, challenges to our economy and questions about our standing in the world. And the answer to all of these major questions is clear: Hunt. Of the original 11 candidates, there were only ever four whom I seriously considered – Sajid Javid, Michael Gove, Rory Stewart and Jeremy Hunt. Rarely have I had such a difficult choice. Rarely have I been such a floating voter. I didn’t declare my support until last Thursday, when Javid was knocked out, for the simple reason that whichever one of my four favourites made it into the final two would have won my support. It was only when Javid was eliminated that I decided, when it came down to the final three, to declare my support for Hunt. Once I made the decision, the reasons crystalised. It comes down to three factors: character, values and dignity. I have not really met Hunt. The only time we have encountered each other was just before Christmas last year. To my surprise, I received an invitation to a meeting with the Foreign Secretary to discuss the persecution of Christians – prior to his announcement of a review. Around the table were the Archbishop of Canterbury, a Catholic bishop representing Cardinal Nichols, the Coptic Archbishop Angaelos, the chief executives of three charities, and survivors of persecution. I was impressed by Hunt’s personal engagement with the issue. It was obvious by the fact that he allowed people to speak for far longer than they should have done, and asked insightful questions, that he really cared. While we had never met before, when he called me to speak he addressed me by my first name, and as he left he said: “It’s great to finally meet you.” There’s no reason, in the great scheme of things, why he should know who I am, but he did and that shows an impressive mastery of detail and personal focus. I first became aware of Hunt about 13 years ago. A colleague of mine was his constituent. My colleague is a living saint – the epitome of charity, compassion, justice and Christian faith. But he is definitely not a Tory – he is firmly on the Left. Yet he told me early on that he had become a fan of his local MP – Hunt – who, he said, was remarkably responsive, compassionate and interested in human rights. My colleague then brought a Burmese friend, the daughter of a political prisoner, to see Hunt. I am inspired by Hunt’s emphasis on turbo-charging the economy, deploying his experience as an entrepreneur to turn post-Brexit Britain into the world’s most dynamic economy. A man who has made millions from a successful business, and known the hard grind of business failure, is more likely to be able to take us forward as a global enterprise than one who has never run anything except some precarious newspaper columns. One handicap sometimes held up is Hunt’s conflict with doctors. But if you look at his record as Health Secretary in full, it is this: he stood up to vested interests, expanded NHS delivery, won battles for further funding and championed the NHS – all qualities we want in a Prime Minister. Brexit must be delivered, and made not just to work but to succeed. For that to happen all of us, whatever side we were on three years ago, must come together. That means we don’t need a ‘Brexiteer’ leader, we need a unifier, a leader who is not marked by labels but by their ability to implement the referendum result. We need a skilled and experienced negotiator. That man is Hunt. If Britain is to walk tall in the world post-Brexit, it needs a leader respected by his counterparts as a statesman, taken seriously and not regarded as a subject of mirth. And we need a man who is internationalist and outward-looking. Hunt is clearly that man. Just read his speech on building an “invisible chain” of democracies. My mother used to live in Japan, and speaks Japanese. When I showed her the video of Mr Hunt delivering a speech in fluent Japanese with no notes she was impressed. To have a Prime Minister who can speak several languages fluently walking the world stage would help turbo-charge Global Britain. I joined the Conservative Party at the precocious age of 13. In 2005, I stood for Parliament. I have been a Conservative for over 30 years, and I retain hope. In times of victory and wilderness, I have never doubted the Conservative dream and Conservative values. In ups and downs, in government and opposition, I have stuck with three things I hold dear: a Great Britain, a Global Britain and a compassionate conservatism. It is clear to me that it is Hunt who will deliver all three. I have always championed the underdog – minorities in Burma and Indonesia, prisoners in North Korea, dissidents in China and Hong Kong. So once again, I am with the underdog, and I believe he can win. As the American poet James Russell Lowell once wrote, “once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, in the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side … Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ‘tis prosperous to be just; Then it is the brave man chooses while the coward stands aside.” | Benedict Rogers | https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2019/06/benedict-rogers-character-values-and-dignity-why-i-am-voting-for-hunt.html | 2019-06-26 05:30:35+00:00 | 1,561,541,435 | 1,567,538,009 | society | values |
290,531 | lifesitenews--2019-12-06--Quebec considers allowing doctors to euthanize dementia patients without their active consent | 2019-12-06T00:00:00 | lifesitenews | Quebec considers allowing doctors to euthanize dementia patients without their active consent | QUEBEC CITY, December 6, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — The Quebec government is opening public consultations on allowing doctors to euthanize sick people with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other degenerative diseases who are no longer able to give their consent. Coalition Avenir Québec’s Health minister Danielle McCann announced at a press conference last week that all parties support consultations on the recommendations of an expert panel that spent 18 months studying the issue of prior consent, reported the Montreal Gazette. The panel recommended that individuals who received a diagnosis of a serious and incurable illness, including Alzheimer’s or dementia, can give an advance directive to be killed at some future time when they are no longer competent to consent. It also recommended “authorizing a third party to inform physicians of the existence of a prior consent in the event a person loses their faculties. The third party authorization would be kept in a government registry as a permanent record,” the Gazette reported. Quebec’s current euthanasia law specifies that Quebecers cannot be euthanized unless they fulfill all the following criteria: They are at least 18 years of age; suffer from a serious, incurable illness; are in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability; experience constant and unbearable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be relieved in a way they deem tolerable; are at the end of life; and can give informed consent. “We dedicate this announcement to all those Quebecers living with serious and incurable illnesses and who are saddled with persistent and intolerable suffering,” McCann said at the conference. “We are giving them the power and the freedom to decide and we do this while respecting their will, values and dignity,” she added. But Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, warned that advance directives means people will be killed against their will. “This is absolutely crazy, because it will allow euthanasia of someone who may never have wanted it, who might have in fear in an earlier state felt this was what they wanted, and when the time comes, they lose their right to change their mind,” he told LifeSiteNews. The euthanasia lobbyists say “it’s all about freedom of choice and autonomy, that’s how they sell it. But once you become incompetent, you won’t have a right to change your mind, and this becomes the problem,” added Schadenberg. Quebec’s current law requires that people be allowed to change their minds “until the last moment,” it said in a press release rejecting the panel’s recommendations. “A new incapacity implies that we can no longer respond to this demand, often to the displeasure of relatives,” the Vivre dans la Dignité statement said. “But this principle of consent to the end is paramount,” it stressed. “Remember that it makes the difference between execution and euthanasia.” Indeed, advance directives led to the horror of a 74-year-old Dutch woman being forcibly euthanized in 2016, Schadenberg pointed out. The woman had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s four years earlier, and wrote a statement saying she wanted to be euthanized before entering a care home, but added: “I want to be able to decide (when to die) while still in my senses and when I think the time is right,” according to the BBC. Deciding the time was right, a doctor slipped a sedative into her coffee, but the woman came to and began struggling. The doctor then told relatives to hold her down while lethally injecting her. “She didn’t want to die, but they did it anyway. This is exactly what they’re talking about allowing in Quebec,” Schadenberg told LifeSiteNews. Moreover, a court in The Hague exonerated the doctor September 11, 2019. The judges ruled the physician acted in the patient’s best interests, and that not euthanizing the woman would have undermined her wishes, the BBC reported. The same day as the Dutch ruling, a Quebec judge struck down as unconstitutional the requirement that an individual must be near death to be legally euthanized. Quebec Superior Court Justice Christine Baudouin’s ruling quashed both the federal Bill C-14 eligibility requirement that an individual’s death be “reasonably foreseeable,” and Quebec’s “end of life” requirement. Baudoin gave both governments six months to revise their legislation, but Quebec opted not to appeal the judgment. Moreover, Trudeau said during the election campaign that if re-elected, his government would act on Baudouin’s decision. And the federal Liberals are “also talking about having consultations” on advance directives, Schadenberg told LifeSiteNews. “The euthanasia lobby is pushing for that,” he said. “So the question is, who’s going to get it done first, the federal government or the Quebec government?” Quebec, he noted in a recent blog, “has its share of problems with euthanasia.” Between Dec. 10, 2015, and March 31, 2018, 1,664 people were euthanized in the province. Between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, there were 1331 reported euthanasia deaths according to the most recent provincial euthanasia report, Schadenberg wrote. Thirteen of the reported deaths did not fit the criteria of the law and three of the euthanasia deaths were for hip fractures. | null | https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/quebec-considers-allowing-doctors-to-euthanize-dementia-patients-without-their-active-consent | 2019-12-06T21:36:00+00:00 | 1,575,686,160 | 1,575,676,933 | society | values |
350,014 | newspunch--2019-12-12--Quebec Plans To Allow Doctors to Forcibly Euthanize Some Patients Without ‘Active Consent’ | 2019-12-12T00:00:00 | newspunch | Quebec Plans To Allow Doctors to Forcibly Euthanize Some Patients Without ‘Active Consent’ | The Quebec government in Canada has announced plans to allow doctors to euthanize certain patients without their active consent. The government has opened non-partisan public consultations before deciding whether to proceed with the change that has been described as “absolutely crazy” and means people will be killed against their will, according to critics of the recommendations. Québec’s Health minister Danielle McCann announced plans Friday to allow doctors to euthanize people with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other degenerative diseases who are no longer able to give their consent. McCann announced at the press conference that all parties support consultations on the recommendations of an expert panel that spent 18 months studying the issue of “prior consent”, reported the Montreal Gazette. The panel recommended that individuals who received a diagnosis of a serious and incurable illness, including Alzheimer’s or dementia, can give an advance directive to be killed at some future time, even if they become incapable of changing their mind. It also recommended “authorizing a third party to inform physicians of the existence of a prior consent in the event a person loses their faculties. The third party authorization would be kept in a government registry as a permanent record,” the Gazette reported. LifeSite report: Quebec’s current euthanasia law specifies that Quebecers cannot be euthanized unless they fulfill all the following criteria: They are at least 18 years of age; suffer from a serious, incurable illness; are in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability; experience constant and unbearable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be relieved in a way they deem tolerable; are at the end of life; and can give informed consent. “We dedicate this announcement to all those Quebecers living with serious and incurable illnesses and who are saddled with persistent and intolerable suffering,” McCann said at the conference. “We are giving them the power and the freedom to decide and we do this while respecting their will, values and dignity,” she added. But Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, warned that advance directives means people will be killed against their will. “This is absolutely crazy, because it will allow euthanasia of someone who may never have wanted it, who might have in fear in an earlier state felt this was what they wanted, and when the time comes, they lose their right to change their mind,” he told LifeSiteNews. The euthanasia lobbyists say “it’s all about freedom of choice and autonomy, that’s how they sell it. But once you become incompetent, you won’t have a right to change your mind, and this becomes the problem,” added Schadenberg. Quebec’s current law requires that people be allowed to change their minds “until the last moment,” it said in a press release rejecting the panel’s recommendations. “A new incapacity implies that we can no longer respond to this demand, often to the displeasure of relatives,” the Vivre dans la Dignité statement said. “But this principle of consent to the end is paramount,” it stressed. “Remember that it makes the difference between execution and euthanasia.” Indeed, advance directives led to the horror of a 74-year-old Dutch woman being forcibly euthanized in 2016, Schadenberg pointed out. | Baxter Dmitry | https://newspunch.com/quebec-allow-doctors-forcibly-euthanize-patients-without-active-consent/ | Thu, 12 Dec 2019 20:59:33 +0000 | 1,576,202,373 | 1,576,195,384 | society | values |
73,994 | breitbart--2019-10-07--Concentration Camp Survivors: China Using Forced Sterilization, Abortion for Genocide | 2019-10-07T00:00:00 | breitbart | Concentration Camp Survivors: China Using Forced Sterilization, Abortion for Genocide | Women who have survived China’s concentration camps for Muslim ethnic minorities reported widespread rape, forced abortions, forced sterilization, and other extreme sexual human rights atrocities in accounts published this weekend. Speaking to the Washington Post, the women echo the experiences of others who have escaped the estimated thousands of concentration camps built in Xinjiang, China’s largest and westernmost province, to house Uighur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz ethnic people. While survivors tend to be Kazakh – they can use their dual citizenship to escape to neighboring Kazakhstan – the majority of the 1 to 3 million people trapped in the camps are believed to be Uighurs. Others who have survived have been able to use their marital status to citizens of Pakistan or other neighboring countries to place pressure on Beijing to release them. The nations themselves have not made any official statements condemning the Communist Party’s attempt to eradicate ethnic minorities in Xinjiang – sometimes actively praising it – but have quietly helped individuals with the influence to get their attention. Camp survivors have previously testified to extreme torture, killings, live organ harvesting, infanticide, and slavery in the camps. An Associated Press (AP) report published last year revealed that some clothes made in slave facilities in the concentration camps made its way to America. “Any woman or man under age 35 was raped and sexually abused,” Ruqiye Perhat, a student arrested in Xinjiang in 2009 for four years, told the Post. More recent survivors say that the camps had made rape more systematic than in regular prisons; guards would “put bags on the heads of the ones they wanted” and take the women out of their cells to be raped all night, returned for their fellow prisoners to see in the morning. One human rights activist told the Post they had documented at least seven cases of women being forced against their will to receive intrauterine devices as part of their entering the concentration camp, presumably to keep them from getting pregnant through rape. Those who were arrested while pregnant – often for “crimes” like downloading the messaging application WhatsApp – were forced into harrowing abortions. Gulzira Mogdyn told the Post that Chinese regime officials slashed her open without anesthesia and “cut my fetus out.” The Washington Post testimonies echo those of other survivors who have endured sexual human rights violations and the killing of their unborn children. Many have also stated that the Chinese officials violated their bodily integrity in other ways, such as conducting medical examinations to prepare them for organ harvesting. Mihrigul Tursun, a camp survivor, testified last year that Chinese authorities killed one of her infant triplets upon imprisoning her. The death occurred while the children were with Chinese authorities, forcibly taken for her. She told reporters she believes the child died of force-feeding. An unnamed Kazakh concentration camp survivor testified to forced birth control accompanying the systematic use of rape to torture women at the camps. “Young girls are taken out and raped all night long. If you keep resisting, they will inject you with something and kill you,” the woman told the Epoch Times. “There are usually 40 to 50 people in one small room, but five to 10 are regularly taken out and they just disappear—they never come back. People are being killed in tens all the time.” Speaking to Radio Free Asia (RFA) last month, Zumuret Dawut described her forced sterilization in a concentration camp. Dawut escaped because her husband, a Pakistani national, petitioned his government to intervene. “The family planning office gave me a letter and said: ‘Come back on the date stated in the letter and we will offer you a free operation to stop you from becoming pregnant,'” she told the outlet. “On hearing this my husband pleaded, ‘Does she have to undergo this procedure?’ … They said, ‘If you don’t comply it will effect your entry back into the country in the future, also your children’s schooling.’” “On the day of my operation, I was taken inside the operating room, all I remember was that I was given an infusion. When I opened my eyes … There was no medical staff, doctors or nurses It was a very cold day, and I was covered with only a thin bed sheet,” she noted. “No one was allowed to visit from outside. When I looked around I heard other women moaning from pain. Once the effect of the anaesthetic wore off, I felt a sharp pain in my lower abdominal.” Dawut added that, in the camp, she was forced to strip naked in front of multiple male officers and forced to take drugs that made her “[become] numb emotionally” and prevented her menstrual cycle from naturally taking place. She also underwent organ testing to see if doctors could harvest them for profit, she said. Human rights activists, journalists, and whistleblowers have testified for years to China’s policy of cutting open political prisoners to extract their organs while alive, without anesthesia, and sell them to willing buyers. Speculation first arose when observers noted that the number of organ transplants conducted in China was far greater than the official existing list of organ donors, leaving unclear how the remaining transplants were conducted without organs. In 2014, Enver Tothi testified to cutting organs out of a live political prisoner in Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital. Tohti told the China Tribunal – a coalition of international legal experts investigating the Xinjiang camps – that he believed China was preparing to conduct these operations on Uighurs and others imprisoned in Xinjiang. China has traditionally reserved the torturous operation for use on practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that it considers a dangerous anti-communist cult. Jewher Ilham, daughter of imprisoned Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti, similarly accused China of live organ harvesting against her people in July. “They harvest prisoners’ organs for sale. At the airport, there is now a fast track security lane for organs to pass,” she said. The Washington Post noted that activists have called these practices “genocide.” The official international legal definition of genocide lists “imposing measures intended to prevent births” on a “national, ethnic, racial, or religious group … to bring about its physical destruction.” The issue of genocide in China came to the forefront of the sports world on Sunday evening when the NBA forced Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey to effusively apologize to the communist regime for posting a mild statement of support for anti-communist protests in Hong Kong on social media. The NBA itself also apologized to China, triggering a stern response from the World Uyghur Congress, an international organization fighting for human rights in Xinjiang and elsewhere. “The NBA has a dismal record of silence & self-censorship on Human Rights in China,” the World Uyghur Congress said in a statement on Twitter, noting that the NBA established a training camp in Xinjiang that profits the communist regime without challenging the existence of concentration camps there. “The NBA’s willingness to appease China & overlook its abhorrent behaviour contradicts the core values & business standards it claims to espouse,” the organization observed. | Frances Martel | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/TNOxssFKnm4/ | Mon, 07 Oct 2019 12:58:18 +0000 | 1,570,467,498 | 1,570,465,063 | society | values |
97,107 | clashdaily--2019-09-13--Thrill Of The Kill Demonic New Sexual Fetish Prominently Features Abortion | 2019-09-13T00:00:00 | clashdaily | ‘Thrill Of The Kill’: Demonic New Sexual Fetish Prominently Features… Abortion | We’re WAY past abortion being a ‘solution’ for a girl who’s gotten herself ‘in trouble’. We now have people who like abortion for its own sake. Most of us, when we think about the emotionally-charged question of abortion, are balancing two competing values. We have the difficulties and dramatic life changes that are attendant with bringing a baby into the world, especially when you find yourself pregnant before you are ready to look such responsibility right in the eye. That is the argument that drives the Left and their ‘women’s rights’ narrative. Trending: Second Amendment: Open Carry Bro Has THIS Happen At Walmart… Will YOU Still Shop There? On the other side of the debate is the fact that the life we are discussing inside that mother’s womb is ALREADY alive, and at no point does one human have the right to end the life of another human simply because the defenseless one lacks the ability to defend himself or herself. If the baby is alive, that life is not the mother’s to take. Mom’s choices extend in two directions — what to do before conception, or what to do with and for that baby AFTER delivery. We naturally assumed everything else was political navigation between those two starting points. Now we see that there are people for whom having an abortion isn’t merely making a problemmatic situation disappear but the abortion itself IS the actual endgame. In a Reddit post entitled ‘Question regarding abortion and breeding fetish’, one user reveals how she has “a female friend who has a really powerful fetish for breeding” and never used birth control. “She is with a male partner currently who is just like her, into breeding and they have been practising their fetish for quite a few abortions,” the post reads. …“I know this fetish. My girlfriend and me have the same fetish. My girlfriend enjoys her pregnancies and she enjoys the abortion. Her preferred date to abort is between 20 and 24 weeks of gestation. I enjoy making her pregnant. And I enjoy the time of her pregnancy. She has no menstrual period and she is sexually very active,” he writes. “In the last ten years in our relationship we have done seven abortions and my girlfriend is pregnant again with a little girl,” he adds. Source: Summit Combining sex and violence as an expression of ‘personal empowerment’? Gee, what could possibly go wrong with that recipe? GHOULISH CLAIM: US Hospital Had Special Room Set Aside For Abortion Survivors Hilarious Viral Video DROPKICKS Pro-Abortion Peeps On Their Lack Of LOGIC WATCH: Preachy Pete Buttigieg Says That The Bible Can Be Interpreted To SUPPORT Late-Term Abortion Alyssa Milano Is GRATEFUL For The 2 Abortions She In 1993 — She Can Experience ‘Life’s Great Joys’ Now In ‘Raising Righteous and Rowdy Girls’, Doug Giles reinforces the notion that little women don’t need to be pampered by their fathers to turn out right. And having met his beautiful daughters, I know his philosophy works. As a strong-willed woman who thinks her daddy is the greatest guy in the world, I can tell you this is a must-read for every man who hopes to earn the same title. —-S.E. Cupp Best Selling Author & Fox News Analyst | Wes Walker | https://clashdaily.com/2019/09/thrill-of-the-kill-demonic-new-sexual-fetish-prominently-features-abortion/ | 2019-09-13 13:21:53+00:00 | 1,568,395,313 | 1,569,330,328 | society | values |
108,858 | cnsnews--2019-01-04--New Mexicos Poisonous Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill Would Hurt Entire Country | 2019-01-04T00:00:00 | cnsnews | New Mexico’s Poisonous Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill Would Hurt Entire Country | A new bill introduced in New Mexico could make “suicide tourism” a reality. HB 90, or “The Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act,” would allow non-residents to travel to New Mexico to pursue physician-assisted suicide. Three state municipalities have passed resolutions endorsing the legislation. This bill could have disastrous, nationwide consequences. It also reminds us why physician-assisted suicide is so poisonous to our culture. The U.S. suicide rate hit a 50-year record high last year—so drastic that it lowered overall average life expectancy. Our society needs to put more emphasis on the inherent dignity of every human life, not less. Not only would this bill remove the current residency requirement on physician-assisted suicide, it also lacks many of the already insufficient so-called safeguards on the practice. For example, the bill would allow patients to receive a diagnosis that qualifies them for physician-assisted suicide via telemedicine—no in-person visit required. That means that patients across the country could simply consult an activist group to find one of the doctors who are willing to kill those entrusted to their care, and with one phone call, procure a guaranteed referral. That essentially means physician-assisted suicide would become accessible to every American with the means to travel. If adopted into law, this loophole could set a dangerous precedent and lead the other five states that have legalized physician-assisted suicide to follow New Mexico’s steps. Physician-assisted suicide is a direct attack on the inherent dignity of every human being because it treats some lives are more valuable than others. No one is safe in a culture that embraces physician-assisted suicide. Once we accept the premise that death is a legitimate “treatment” for suffering, who qualifies for physician-assisted suicide becomes a moving target. Canada and Europe have already gotten a head start down the slippery slope. In recent months, a hospital for sick children in Toronto, Canada, debuted a plan for how to terminate the lives of terminally ill kids—with or without parental consent. Meanwhile in Europe, many countries have continually expanded who qualifies for physician-assisted suicide and even practice euthanasia—the non-voluntary killing of patients. In places within the U.S. where physician-assisted suicide is already legal, supposed “safeguards” like waiting periods, written requests, and physician sign-offs do absolutely nothing to remove cultural pressure on patients to take their own lives or protect patients from abuse. So long as physician-assisted suicide is on the table, so too are less-than-pure motives to choose—or pressure someone to choose—death over life. HB 90 would only exacerbate these problems by further relaxing current practices and making physician-assisted suicide available to patients across the nation. No one should receive suicide assistance instead of suicide prevention. Instead, our culture should affirm that every human life has inherent dignity and strive to protect those who are most vulnerable: the sick and the weak, the very young and the very old. Suicide tourism is a Pandora’s Box that would usher in untold cultural evils. It is imperative that we stop this legal loophole before it can wreak havoc on the most vulnerable in our society. Monica Burke is a research assistant in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. : This piece was originally published by The Daily Signal. | Michael Morris | https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/monica-burke/new-mexicos-poisonous-physician-assisted-suicide-bill-would-hurt-entire | 2019-01-04 14:19:04+00:00 | 1,546,629,544 | 1,567,553,909 | society | values |
111,470 | cnsnews--2019-04-01--NJ Governor I Look Forward to Signing Bill Legalizing Assisted Suicide | 2019-04-01T00:00:00 | cnsnews | NJ Governor: 'I Look Forward to Signing' Bill Legalizing Assisted Suicide | New Jersey has passed legislation in both legislative chambers expected to make it the seventh state, along with D.C., to legalize physician-assisted suicide. “I look forward to signing this legislation into law,” Governor Phil Murphy (D) has said, New Jersey radio station WBGO reports. “The Medical Aid In Dying For The Terminally Ill Act” was introduced on January 9th 2018 by Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli. On March 25th of this year, it passed both the assembly and the senate. According to the legislation’s text, it grants “the right of a qualified terminally ill patient, protected by appropriate safeguards, to obtain medication that the patient may choose to self-administer in order to bring about the patient’s humane and dignified death.” Burzichelli was quoted in Philadelphia Daily News as saying his bill gives New Jersey residents an addition option for assisted-suicide.“There’s already aid in dying in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania through the magic of morphine. With a wink and a nod, people have gotten it," Burzichelli said, adding that "some people would like another choice and complete control over this.” Msgr. Louis A. Marucci, pastor at Saint Andrew the Apostle Church in Gibbsboro, condemned the bill, writing in the Catholic Herald Star that the bill threatens the lives of not only the terminally-ill, but also of people who could live long and productive lives with proper medical care: “Many people who are not terminally ill will also die, including persons who could live a long and productive life with appropriate medical treatment. Assisted suicide reflects a bias against persons with disabilities, serious illness and the elderly, facilitating an environment in which their destruction is deemed preferable to compassionately addressing their health problems. It undermines efforts to ensure that pain relief is available to all who need it, causing even greater pain and suffering to terminally ill patients and their families.” | Alex Madajian | https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/alex-madajian/nj-governor-i-look-forward-signing-bill-legalizing-assisted-suicide | 2019-04-01 18:39:01+00:00 | 1,554,158,341 | 1,567,544,447 | society | values |
112,078 | cnsnews--2019-04-22--New Jersey Unleashes Pandoras Box on Residents Adopts Physician-Assisted Suicide | 2019-04-22T00:00:00 | cnsnews | New Jersey Unleashes Pandora’s Box on Residents, Adopts Physician-Assisted Suicide | In becoming the ninth jurisdiction to legalize physician-assisted suicide, New Jersey has unleashed a Pandora’s box on its residents—and the poor, weak, and disabled will suffer the most. The Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act was signed into law by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, after it narrowly cleared both chambers of the state Legislature. As of Aug. 1, 2019, terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or fewer will now be able to self-administer lethal concoctions of drugs in order to take their own lives. Murphy claimed in a statement that this bill would “[provide] terminally ill patients and their families with the humanity, dignity, and respect that they so richly deserve at the most difficult times any of us will face.” This could not be further from the truth. Physician-assisted suicide directly attacks human dignity; it is anything but compassionate. Death is neither a solution nor a treatment for human suffering. Once we accept suicide as therapeutic, who qualifies for treatment becomes a moving target. When a country legalizes physician-assisted suicide, it is only a matter of time before the government expands who will receive suicide assistance instead of suicide prevention. In Canada, a hospital for sick children has unveiled a plan for how to terminate the lives of terminally ill kids, with or without parental consent. In Europe, many countries have even begun to practice euthanasia, i.e. the non-voluntary killing of patients. Even in countries still standing at the top of the slippery slope, physician-assisted suicide ultimately undermines efforts to provide more people with compassionate and ethical end-of-life care. The introduction of physician-assisted suicide, according to Heritage Foundation health care expert Bob Moffit, ultimately prevents the most vulnerable populations from having access to quality, ethical end-of-life care. As the demand for end-of-life care continues to increase, physician-assisted suicide emerges as a cheap alternative to appropriate palliative or hospice care. In this scenario, it is the poor, the uneducated, and the socially marginalized who are most likely to be pressured into taking their own lives. These are the same populations who are the least likely to have someone else advocate on their behalf for proper care. Physician-assisted suicide does not promote human dignity. Instead, it normalizes subpar and unethical care for those who are most vulnerable. That is why disability groups like Not Dead Yet are at the forefront of the movement pushing back against physician-assisted suicide. In fact, the organization describes physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia as “deadly forms of discrimination against old, ill, and disabled people.” Proponents of physician-assisted suicide claim that so-called safeguards—such as signed declarations of intent, waiting periods, and multiple witnesses—will prevent misuse. However, all of these safeguards are subject to abuse. Besides, no safeguard can overcome the first premise of physician-assisted suicide, that this practice assumes that some lives are not worth living. Physician-assisted suicide efforts like this latest law out of New Jersey are counterproductive. They prevent policymakers from focusing on how to expand ethical end-of-life care at the expense of human lives. That is why we must continue to oppose physician-assisted suicide wherever it is found and take action to change hearts, minds, and laws when it comes to end-of-life care. This bill is not the end of the fight. It is only the beginning. Monica Burke is a research assistant in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. : This piece was originally published by The Daily Signal. | Monica Burke | https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/monica-burke/new-jersey-unleashes-pandoras-box-residents-adopts-physician-assisted | 2019-04-22 16:39:04+00:00 | 1,555,965,544 | 1,567,542,120 | society | values |
114,097 | cnsnews--2019-08-01--Physician-Assisted Suicide Now Legal in New Jersey Denies Humanity and Dignity | 2019-08-01T00:00:00 | cnsnews | Physician-Assisted Suicide, Now Legal in New Jersey, Denies Humanity and Dignity | As of Thursday, physician-assisted suicide is legal in New Jersey. The new policy stems from legislation passed by the state’s Legislature back in April. The law allows terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or fewer to self-administer lethal concoctions of drugs to take their own lives. Lawmakers claim that this policy will promote “humanity, dignity, and respect”—but in reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Physician-assisted suicide denies the humanity, dignity, and respect owed to people at the end of their lives. It is a direct attack upon humanity, dignity, and respect for every human being—whatever lawmakers might say. Every human life has value, precisely because it is human. Physician-assisted suicide tells us that some lives are simply not worth living, and that lie is having a devastating effect on our health care system, familial and doctor-patient relationships, and our culture overall. Who qualifies for physician-assisted suicide has no natural limit. New Jersey is limiting practice to the terminally ill with a six-month prognosis—for now. But what about those who expect to live for another seven months? Eight? A year? Why limit this practice to the terminally ill? What about other kinds of challenging or painful circumstances? Other countries already have started down the slippery slope of expanding who qualifies for physician-assisted suicide. Many also practice nonvoluntary euthanasia—another seemingly natural consequence of the logic of physician-assisted suicide. Canada’s parliament is considering expanding physician-assisted suicide to include requests by mature minors, advance requests, and requests where mental illness is the sole underlying medical condition. In response, a Canadian children’s hospital unveiled a plan to help sick children commit suicide without their parents’ consent—a practice that is already legal in Belgium, where doctors have euthanized children as young as 9. In one recent case from the Netherlands, a teenage girl made news after her parents and doctors allowed her to commit suicide by removal of food and water because she believed she could not recover from sexual trauma. This incident is symptomatic of an overall depreciation of respect for life in the Netherlands, where doctors frequently disregard guidelines for physician-assisted suicide in order to euthanize patients. No amount of legal safeguards are sufficient to prevent these abuses. The legalization of physician-assisted suicide creates perverse incentives for hospitals and insurance companies to promote death as a cost-effective solution rather than invest in ethical end-of-life care. It also upends the doctor-patient relationship. Physicians are supposed to promote the health and holistic well-being of their patients. Physician-assisted suicide goes directly against that purpose, and against the time-honored Hippocratic Oath—“first, do no harm”—thereby undermining patient trust. Physician-assisted suicide also hurts families by putting pressure on family members to take their own lives and no longer be a “burden,” and absolving family members of their traditional responsibility to care of their young, elderly, and disabled kin. Ultimately, this disrespect for the dignity of human life poisons our entire culture. Instead of treating every human life as inherently valuable, some lives are set aside as categorically unworthy. This is not just wrong, it’s dangerous. The social contagion of suicide is claiming more and more lives every year. We cannot simultaneously give suicide prevention to some and suicide assistance to others. These mixed signals can only be bad news for those vulnerable populations most likely to be pressured to take their lives. Only time will tell what the future holds for New Jersey after this fateful day. We still have time to change course and promote a culture of human dignity. But to do so, physician-assisted suicide must go. Monica Burke is a research assistant in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. : This piece was originally published by The Daily Signal. | Monica Burke | https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/monica-burke/physician-assisted-suicide-now-legal-new-jersey-denies-humanity-and-dignity | 2019-08-01 13:34:02+00:00 | 1,564,680,842 | 1,567,535,105 | society | values |
290,668 | lifesitenews--2019-12-18--Dutch cardinal: It would be a ‘scandal’ for a priest to be present at an assisted suicid | 2019-12-18T00:00:00 | lifesitenews | Dutch cardinal: It would be a ‘scandal’ for a priest to be present at an assisted suicide | December 17, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) -- Days after the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life stated that a Catholic priest could remain at the bedside of a person committing assisted suicide in order to “hold their hand” and “accompany” them, Dutch Cardinal Willem Eijk told Catholic News Agency (CNA) that this was not permissible because of the “scandal” involved. Cardinal Eijk was responding out of concern that Archbishop Paglia's statement might lead people to believe in certain circumstances assisted suicide or euthanasia are not “morally illicit” according to the teaching of the Church. Cardinal Eijk, who is the Archbishop of Utrecht in the Netherlands, recalled that the first duty of the priest in such a circumstance is to tell the person who is considering taking his own life that such an act is “a grave sin.” His statements were picked up earlier Tuesday by the Dutch Christian-orientated daily Nederlands Dagblad, which underscored the difference of opinion between Eijk and Archbishop Paglia while reminding that Cardinal Eijk is himself a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. As a sign of the Netherlands’ deep involvement in euthanasia and assisted suicide – it has the oldest and one of the most liberal laws in the world on the matter – reader comments in the Dutch media have been very hostile to date, ranging from the idea that a priest can also be present when the death penalty is executed to accusations of narrow-mindedness, hardness and lack of respect for human dignity. It is true that Cardinal Eijk, in an interview with LifeSite last May, underscored that the majority of Dutch citizens no longer believe in a personal God: “The generation of those who are now grandparents has already received relatively little faith education,” he remarked. Eijk has expert knowledge of medical and ethical issues, having completed his medical studies before becoming a seminarian in 1979. As a future priest, he studied medical ethics at the Royal University of Leiden and obtained his doctorate after presenting a thesis on euthanasia. He also received a degree in philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Angelicum in Rome. In addition, Eijk is a specialist in moral theology and has taught that subject in seminaries in the Netherlands. In his interview with CNA, Cardinal Eijk made clear that “a priest must clearly say to those who opt for assisted suicide or euthanasia that both of these acts violate the intrinsic value of the human life, that is a grave sin.” This would be part of the spiritual accompaniment that can be given to all, but without creating any ambiguity about the act of euthanasia or assisted suicide itself. The Cardinal recalled that in assisted suicide, it is the patient himself “who takes the drugs the doctor intentionally prescribed to him to commit suicide,” while in “voluntary euthanasia,” “the doctor himself gives the drugs to end the patient’s life after the patient’s request.” He made clear that there is no “significant moral difference” between the two acts. “The responsibilities of the patient and the doctor are the same in both cases,” he said. In each instance, it is the patient who takes “the initiative to end his life, and this is the same both of he puts an end to his life or if a doctor does it.” In both instances, he added, physicians are equally responsible regarding the patient’s life. In euthanasia, the doctor “directly violates the value of his life, that is an intrinsic value. Helping in assisted suicide, the doctor cooperates with the patient’s will, and this means he shares the patient’s intention. For this reason, even mere cooperation is an intrinsically evil act, as grave as if the doctor personally ended the life of the patient,” Cardinal Eijk told CNA. “Assisted suicide is perhaps less psychologically heavy for the doctor. However, there is not a significant moral difference between the two things,” he told Andrea Gagliarducci of CNA during the interview that took place in Rome. Asked about the possibility of giving a Catholic funeral or the last rites to people who plan to end their lives through euthanasia, Cardinal Eijk said, “The priest cannot do so.” He clarified that there are three reasons for this. The first is the obvious lack of “good disposition” to receive the sacrament. “This is not the case when a person wants to oppose the order of creation, violating the intrinsic value of his life,” the cardinal said. He added that the second reason is the person “who receives the sacraments puts his life in the merciful hands of God. However, who wants to personally end his life wants to take his life in his hands.” Third, “if the priest administers the sacraments or plans a funeral in these cases, the priest is guilty of a scandal, since his actions might suggest that suicide or euthanasia are permitted in certain circumstances,” he told CNA. It is only when a priest prudently judges that a person who committed suicide took the decision in a state of “diminished freedom” that he can actually “celebrate the funeral” of that person. “Since ancient times, the priests accepted to celebrate funerals of people who committed suicide or asked for euthanasia in cases of depression of any other psychiatric diseases. In these cases, because of their disease, the freedom of the people is diminished, and so ending the life cannot be considered a mortal sin," Cardinal Eijk said. The mention of mortal sin has become a rarity: It was completely absent, for instance, from Archbishop Paglia’s remarks, although it is certainly a great charity to warn people who are considering taking their own life or having it taken by the doctor risk eternal damnation. There are several responses to the present pro-euthanasia trend, said Cardinal Eijk. The first response is doctrinal: The Church must “announce that God made the human being in his image in his totality, soul, and body. The Second Vatican Council constitution Gaudium et Spes described the human being as "a unity of soul and body. This means that the body is an essential dimension of the human being and is part of the intrinsic value of the human being. So it is not licit to sacrifice human life to end the pain,” he said. On the personal and social plane, Cardinal Eijk remarked that palliative care is an answer to the suffering of patients that the Church must also “do something against loneliness,” the “huge solitude” that leaves people who lack the attention and care from others “less able to bear the pain.” He also recalled the spiritual meaning of suffering. The Church “announces a Christian spirituality and a lived faith. This implies that you can also join to the suffering Christ and bear the pain with him. So, we are never alone,” said Cardinal Eijk, indirectly drawing attention to the fact that in secularized Western countries, the meaning of illness, pain and death have been forgotten. His remarks contrast greatly with Archbishop Paglia’s declarations. At a symposium on palliative care, Paglia responded to a recent statement by the Swiss bishops recalling that assisted suicide, which is legal in their country, is “radically against the Gospel message.” He said he did not believe that “anyone should ever be abandoned.” Paglia added, “We are against assisted suicide because we do not want to do the dirty work of death and because we are all well aware that, for believers, life goes on. To accompany and hold the hand of those who are dying” is therefore the “great task” of every believer, he said, along with fighting the culture of assisted suicide, which represents “a great defeat for society.” Paglia also said that the issue of the accompaniment of a person undergoing assisted suicide “goes beyond laws:” “I don’t want to give a rule to contradict and so on. I would like to remove ideology from the situations forever and for everyone. For me, those who take their own lives manifest the failure of the whole of society, but not of God. And God never abandons anyone.” This approach completely ignores the question of sin, the possibility of hell and the chance to obtain forgiveness through confession, which however supposes the firm intention of no longer sinning. While Cardinal Eijk is very clear on all these issues, Catholic bishops in neighboring Belgium appear to be hiding behind confusing statements. Their official guidelines for end-of-life pastoral care published last June require pastors to remain “close” to the dying person even when the euthanasia has been asked for and is about to be performed. Although the document itself is not clear about offering the Unction of the sick or the Viaticum – Holy Communion given when death is imminent – the Belgian press immediately understood it to mean that the last sacraments can be given before a chosen death and pastoral care givers immediately went public with the idea that there is no fundamental difference in the approach to a dying person who has chosen euthanasia and one who has not, even though the guidelines did recall that euthanasia is contrary to the Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” In Canada, the Catholic bishops of Atlantic Canada quoted Pope Francis and his idea of pastoral accompaniment in November 2016 in deciding to give priests latitude to decide whether to give euthanasia seekers the sacraments before they are killed. “Our concern is pastoral accompaniment. Pope Francis is our model,” said Bishop Claude Champagne of Edmunston, New Brunswick, at the time. “We must not make judgments about people’s responsibility and culpability,” he said. With such statements, moral theology becomes largely useless. And the aim of pastoral care, which is to help human beings to reach eternal bliss with God, is reduced to a horizontal task aiming to help them feel good while not being told about the conditions of salvation. | null | https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dutch-cardinal-it-would-be-a-scandal-for-a-priest-to-be-present-at-an-assisted-suicide | 2019-12-18T00:27:00+00:00 | 1,576,646,820 | 1,576,670,515 | society | values |
5,246 | activistpost--2019-08-10--Dad Sued for Slander Because He Criticized The Education System And Other Absurd Weekly News | 2019-08-10T00:00:00 | activistpost | Dad Sued for Slander Because He Criticized The Education System — And Other Absurd Weekly News | Welcome to our Friday roll up, where we highlight the most absurd and concerning stories we are following this week. Careful what you say about your kid’s public school curriculum. The company behind a controversial common core math program in North Carolina is suing a dad for libel and slander. The parent of a high school student has been on a “crusade,” the lawsuit claims, against the math program. Instead of teacher-led instruction, students are taught through self-discovery. He and many others see strong evidence that the old methods are better. That’s why he created a Facebook group and website where he lays out his criticism of the program. We checked out the guy’s website, and it is full of well thought out rational criticism. Whether he is correct or not is irrelevant. He is just expressing an opinion on the type of education his child will receive in public school. We’ve moved beyond gender-neutral pronouns and triggering micro-aggressions. Now just expressing any old opinion offends people. Apparently, you can’t do that in the USA, anymore. If you offend someone with constructive criticism, they turn around and sue you. Click here for the full story. The Pentagon is currently testing high-altitude surveillance balloons in several Midwestern states. Flying at about 65,000 feet, the balloons are able to track multiple vehicles at once, in any type of weather, using radar. The Pentagon says the purpose of the solar powered unmanned balloons is to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats.” The data gathered over broad swaths of the country will be saved so it can be rewound and reviewed after the fact. Click here for the full story. In this week’s edition of no good deed goes unpunished… An Illinois family let a 19 year old friend of their son stay with them when he became homeless. They kicked him out after he stole from them, and burglarized a nearby restaurant. And then the family got an eviction notice. But it didn’t come from the landlord, it came from the local cops. They were enforcing an ordinance which requires private landlords to evict all the occupants of a home when any inhabitant commits a crime. Even though this young man was a house guest who victimized them as well, the family will be punished for his crimes. The family’s landlord says they are model tenants, and he does not want to evict them. So he joined their lawsuit against the city. With the help of the Institute for Justice, the family is suing to protect their due process rights, so that they won’t be punished for someone else’s crime. Click here for the full story. But the solution is all too simple for Bernie Sanders. He tweeted in response, “We should cancel it.” That’s the solution, just cancel $1.65 trillion dollars of debt. What could go wrong? The idea that you can just solve this problem by canceling the debt shows how clueless these people really are. Student debt is the number one financial asset of the federal government. There is no bigger money maker in the asset column or the government’s balance sheet. And in case you missed it, the government isn’t in great financial shape. At $22 trillion dollars, the national debt is larger than the entire US economy. Cancel the student debt, and you’re wiping away a trillion dollars that the taxpayers will have to pay for. That’s bigger than the direct costs of the Iraq war. It’s bigger than the 2008 TARP bailout. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/08/dad-sued-for-slander-because-he-criticized-the-education-system-and-other-absurd-weekly-news.html | 2019-08-10 15:58:41+00:00 | 1,565,467,121 | 1,567,534,435 | education | parent organisation |
76,451 | breitbart--2019-11-26--Muslim Parents Permanently Banned From Protesting LGBT Education Outside British School | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | breitbart | Muslim Parents Permanently Banned From Protesting LGBT Education Outside British School | A High Court judge has ruled that Muslim protestors will be permanently banned from protesting LGBT relationship lessons outside a school in Birmingham, England. Today a High Court judge, Mr Justice Warby, upheld the decision in June of this year to create an exclusion zone around the Anderton Park Primary School, making the ban of anti-LGBT protests, by mostly Muslim parents, permanent in the area. The three main protestors: Amir Ahmed, Shakeel Afsar and his sister Rosina Afsar fought the injunction in court claiming that the protests should be protected as freedom of speech. The Muslim parents also objected to the school not consulting with them over the introduction of LGBT lessons, reports the Birmingham Mail. A Christian organiser, John Allman, joined the other defendants in condemning the breach of freedom of speech. The judge in the case said that the protestors had ‘grossly misrepresented’ the content of the LGBT relationship lessons causing harm to the children, teachers and local residents. The headteacher of the Anderton Park Primary School, Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, described the protestors as ‘toxic and nasty’ and said that there were ample opportunities to discuss concerns about the curriculum with the school. She said that in a meeting she had with Mr Afsar, he slammed his hand on her desk and demanded that she remove the LGBT lessons from the school. “It was volatile, it was aggressive. I had never had a meeting like that before in 26 years of teaching. He set up a WhatsApp group that afternoon … trying to whip up a frenzy”, she told the court. Earlier this year, another school in the area was also targeted by Muslim protestors after the introduction of a programme called ‘No Outsiders’ which taught students about LGBT issues alongside its existing sexual education courses. | Kurt Zindulka | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/Z40Hsei2v_E/ | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 19:36:07 +0000 | 1,574,814,967 | 1,574,813,265 | education | parent organisation |
258,717 | instapundit--2019-03-17--HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE At Stanford she said she saw students rely on their parents to s | 2019-03-17T00:00:00 | instapundit | HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: “At Stanford, she said, she saw students rely on their parents to s… | HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: “At Stanford, she said, she saw students rely on their parents to set up play dates with people in their dorm or complain to their child’s employers when an internship didn’t lead to a job.” | Glenn Reynolds | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pjmedia/instapundit/~3/apI6MYzg95w/ | 2019-03-17 14:00:31+00:00 | 1,552,845,631 | 1,567,545,870 | education | vocational education |
258,717 | instapundit--2019-03-17--HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE At Stanford she said she saw students rely on their parents to s | 2019-03-17T00:00:00 | instapundit | HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: “At Stanford, she said, she saw students rely on their parents to s… | HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: “At Stanford, she said, she saw students rely on their parents to set up play dates with people in their dorm or complain to their child’s employers when an internship didn’t lead to a job.” | Glenn Reynolds | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pjmedia/instapundit/~3/apI6MYzg95w/ | 2019-03-17 14:00:31+00:00 | 1,552,845,631 | 1,567,545,870 | education | parent organisation |
161,455 | eveningstandard--2019-01-25--Sex Education is funny filthy and every teen should watch it in a different room from their paren | 2019-01-25T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Sex Education is funny, filthy and every teen should watch it — in a different room from their parents | Why, even as an adult, is watching sex scenes with your parents so cringe-making? I still can’t sit with ease viewing anything close to raunchy in front of my familial elders. So when my son shouted with horror at my suggestion that we watch Netflix comedy Sex Education together, I was quick to give way. Instead, my husband and I have sat in one room, my teenager in another and we have separately binged our way through each episode. Only meeting afterwards to dissect the best bits — not so much watercooler moments as bedtime hot milk and peppermint tea. Girls discovering masturbation, boys who can’t masturbate, boys going down on girls, highly sexed virgin pubescents fantasising about “dicks”, vagina-shaming on social media … Blow-jobs, porn, your parents copulating, never mind mums prying into nocturnal emissions, it’s all here, in glorious American high-school technicolour. While also set and filmed in permanently sunny Wales. Gillian Anderson and Asa Butterfield play the oversharing sex therapist mother and awkward virgin son, Otis, who becomes the school’s oddly-cast unofficial sex counsellor. The series is brilliant, funny, unexpectedly poignant and totally addictive. No wonder Netflix felt confident enough to calculate viewers would hit 40 million by the end of this month. And it helped prevent further damage to my relationship with my son, savaged by puberty, by doing the job of discussing the stomach-churning, toe-squirming emotional challenges the teen years invite. If only there had been viewing like this when I was young. Naturally, not everything was up for discussion. We didn’t as mother and son deliberate in the kitchen over the scene where one of my favourite characters, the dippy, bosomy Aimee Lou, encouraged by her boyfriend, spends some serious me-time discovering the female orgasm. It’s a warm, explicit, riotous depiction of female sexual pleasure (with a British crumpet joke thrown in) that also cleverly instructs around a still peculiarly taboo subject, that of womanly masturbation. Thankfully another topic I can tick off the list, as teenage boys would definitely have taken note… He did want to discuss how sad he found the episode where Eric, Otis’s gay best friend, the son of religious African immigrants, is beaten up. Abandoned by Otis, who was chasing skirt, and shunned by his father battling with his repulsion of his son’s sexuality, Eric’s loneliness is moving. Given that two years ago a 14-year-old boy was fatally stabbed outside my local school in north-west London by another boy because he’d taunted him over social media for being gay, it’s not over-dramatisation. Sliding the consequences of this into a popular drama gets my praise. My stripling juvenile also adored the scene when the whole school stands up in assembly claiming, “No, it’s my vagina!” to save the humiliation of one girl from shaming on social media. Rap artists often glorify grabbing “pussy”, so I for one feel relieved there are other more positive messages getting through. I’m down to the last episode; my son has already finished. For a happy week it opened communication. Now he’s back to pushing his parents away. Here’s hoping it’s not long until series two. Literary editor and writer Diana Athill has died at 101. Journalism has some great attributes, a big one being the opportunities it provides in meeting your heroines. I found Athill serene and friendly when I visited her in an old people’s home six years ago. Her room was tidy, she said she had many friends there and she still wrote every day. Sadly, this assignation for Vogue turned into farce. A young photographer we’d not worked with before had been chosen to take her portrait. Whether it was nerves or obstinacy, he refused to settle on a picture he was happy with. My editor, there to do the interview, began to worry with me that we might actually kill Athill in the process and we’d have to take responsibility for ending the life of one of Britain’s literary greats. We eventually took over the session so a grateful, exhausted Athill could retire to her room. Fortunately, we kept one polaroid hidden as we never got the pictures — the photographer was so furious that we’d put her well-being over his artistry. And it is that polaroid blown full-page we ended up publishing. Still, it has remained one of my favourites. *Dry January has been a total disaster. I can admit that to myself now. So, too, my attempt at Veganuary. That lasted three hours, from breakfast — where I mistakenly popped a morsel of sausage into my mouth — until lunchtime, when I clean forgot that I’d gone vegan and ate a chicken kebab. I’m definitely of the flexitarian variety. The gym sessions have gone slightly better in that I do visit fairly frequently. Though it’s debatable that any exercise actually occurs as the warming pleasure of the steam room takes over. Fortunately, February is nearly here and I can stop pointlessly berating myself over every glass of red wine, revel in the last few days of January and focus on self-improvement next month. March might work even better. | Emily Sheffield | https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/sex-education-is-funny-filthy-and-every-teen-should-watch-it-in-a-different-room-from-their-parents-a4048726.html | 2019-01-25 11:27:03+00:00 | 1,548,433,623 | 1,567,550,849 | education | parent organisation |
246,429 | humansarefree--2019-11-05--Teacher Suspended for Questioning LGBTQP Sex "Education" of Children Without Debate or Consent from | 2019-11-05T00:00:00 | humansarefree | Teacher Suspended for Questioning LGBTQP Sex "Education" of Children Without Debate or Consent from Parents | It is now “homophobic” to express viewpoints that in any way trigger LGBTQPs | Alexander Light ([email protected]) | http://humansarefree.com/2019/11/teacher-suspended-for-questioning.html | 2019-11-05T06:00:00.000+02:00 | 1,572,951,600 | 1,572,960,908 | education | parent organisation |
260,329 | instapundit--2019-04-09--DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE CULTURE OF NARCISSISM AND THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE Parents | 2019-04-09T00:00:00 | instapundit | DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE CULTURE OF NARCISSISM AND THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Parents … | DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE CULTURE OF NARCISSISM AND THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Parents charged in college cheating scam turn to consultant to understand prison life. | Ed Driscoll | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pjmedia/instapundit/~3/zqaNCx0akZg/ | 2019-04-09 03:30:11+00:00 | 1,554,795,011 | 1,567,543,403 | education | parent organisation |
289,882 | lifesitenews--2019-10-09--Catholic parents must ‘resist’ Pope Francis’ promotion of sex education: pro-family leader | 2019-10-09T00:00:00 | lifesitenews | Catholic parents must ‘resist’ Pope Francis’ promotion of sex education: pro-family leader | CARDIFF, U.K., October 8, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Catholic parents have a “moral obligation to resist” Pope Francis’ and Catholic bishops’ promotion of “dangerous” teaching on sex education, which constitutes “child abuse,” the leader of the UK’s largest pro-life, pro-family group said in a talk last month. John Smeaton, leader of The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) in London said that Catholic pastors in Britain and in many parts of the world, including in Rome, are “supporting programmes of relationships education and sex education in educational institutions which constitute child abuse involving immeasurably greater numbers of young people than the cases of clerical sex abuse currently afflicting the Church.” His talk, titled “Family under attack – how anti-family sex education is corrupting children and targeting families worldwide,” was given at a conference organized by Voice of the Family, an initiative of LifeSiteNews and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. The Sept. 6-8 conference, titled “Handing on the Deposit of the Faith,” was held at Newman Hall, University Catholic Chaplaincy, in Cardiff, UK. Smeaton referred to Pope Francis’ statements in support of sex education in schools while on a flight to Rome from Panama in January. Pope Francis said during that flight: “I believe that we must provide sex education in schools.” During the same flight Pope Francis said that it was “not always possible” for sex education to “begin at home with the parents” but that “the school makes up for this”. Smeaton contrasted this with Pope Leo XIII’s and Pope Pius XI’s clear teaching that such paternal authority should never be assumed by the State. He also highlighted the global crisis in sex education programmes, saying: Smeaton continued by providing detailed evidence about the sex education programmes currently operating in both Catholic and non-Catholic schools in Britain, with the support of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales. He documented a host of disturbing facts about sex education and more in both Britain and other parts of the world, including: • The influence of radical LGBT lobby groups in sex education in both non-Catholic and Catholic schools in Britain with the support of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales • The display of pornographic videos in school to children as young as seven with the support of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales • The presence of obscene and pornographic images in a sex education programme produced by the Vatican and introduced at the World Youth Day in Poland in 2016 • Access to contraception and abortion for schoolchildren, without their parents’ knowledge or consent, in both non-Catholic and Catholic schools in Britain with the support of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales These are just some of the instances of abuse which were outlined in the speech and can be reviewed in detail in the full text of the speech below. Smeaton concluded his talk by announcing the launch of a new campaign of prayer and formation to combat these evils. The campaign is called “Perseverantes unianimiter in oratione” (persevering with one mind in prayer). The campaign will meet in Walsingham, England’s national shrine to Our Lady, on 8 December later this year – the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Smeaton said of the upcoming event that: He concluded his talk by encouraging Catholic parents to resist. “Catholic parents have a moral obligation to resist Pope Francis’s and British Catholic bishops’ promotion of dangerous teaching on sex education,” he said. “It will add fuel to the raging fire of child abuse. Parents must say loud and clear to Pope Francis, and to Catholic bishops in Britain: Sex education is not the solution to systematic child abuse and exploitation. Indeed, what the Vatican, the bishops of England and Wales and many other bishops around the world are promoting is child abuse, in the name of relationships and sex education, involving immeasurably greater numbers than the scandal of the cases of clerical sex abuse currently afflicting the Church,” he added. Family under attack – how anti-family sex education is corrupting children and targeting families worldwide We must pray for the Pope, and for Catholic bishops in Britain and elsewhere. Catholic pastors in Britain and in many parts of the world, including in Rome, are supporting programmes of relationships education and sex education in educational institutions which constitute child abuse involving immeasurably greater numbers of young people than the cases of clerical sex abuse currently afflicting the Church. During a flight to Rome from Panama, last January, Pope Francis told reporters that bishops did not know what to do about the clerical sex abuse scandal. He said: “We felt the responsibility to give … catechesis on this problem to the bishops’ conferences”. Significantly, the Pope went on to say: “I believe that we must provide sex education in schools”. Pope Francis then mentioned parents in connection with sex education, butin a somewhat negative way. The Pope said “the ideal” is “to begin at home, with the parents.” But, he added, this is “not always possible,” “The school makes up for this,” he said, adding that if sex education is not provided the “void” will be “filled by any ideology.” The first thing to say about these words of Pope Francis is that they contrast sharply with the teaching of previous Popes: “Paternal authority can be neither abolished nor absorbed by the State; for it has the same source as human life itself.” And Pope Pius XI taught in his encyclical Divini Illius Magistri [2] Which Pope is right? Are Pope Leo XIII and Pope XI right? Or is Pope Francis right when he says: “I believe that we must provide sex education in schools” because, he suggests, there are parents who can’t do it? Is he right when he says that “The school makes up for this” otherwise the “void” will be “filled with any ideology”? Allow me to reflect on the implications of what Pope Francis said: Firstly, worldwide experience indicates that school sex education is not confined to the children of parents for whom, in the words of Pope Francis, it’s not possible. School sex education is provided for all children regardless of parental wishes or competence. Secondly, when Pope Francis says “The school makes up for this” otherwise the “void” will be “filled with any ideology”, His Holiness ignores the fact that both Catholic and non-Catholic schools are currently communicating to children, through their sex education programmes, the ideology of the State and the ideology of the international pro-abortion lobby on matters relating to human sexuality, and His Holiness ignores the fact that both Catholic and non-Catholic schools are currently responsible for communicating images or ideas which represent psychological and spiritual child abuse on a worldwide scale. In countless Catholic primary schools in England and Wales, for example, children between the ages of seven and nine are being shown the video Living and Growing. The video is a cartoon depicting a naked couple chasing each other around a bed and engaging in sexual intercourse in numerous positions. An adult voice-over explains that sex is fun and makes people happy. A young girl’s voice over exclaims that ‘Yes, they do look very happy’. In this video there is no question of introducing the idea of marriage into the presentation of sexual activity. As Antonia Tully put it, the head of the Safe at School campaign run by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children: Antonia Tully says that the evidence suggests that boys are likely to understand the information as a game or joke, while girls are likely to become distressed. Thirdly, the call from Pope Francis for sex education must be evaluated in the context of the Vatican’s own sex education programme called The Meeting Point. A few months after the promulgation of Amoris Laetitia, an apostolic exhortation in which Pope Francis called for sex education in educational institutions, the Pontifical Council for the Family introduced a sex education programme called The Meeting Point at the World Youth Day in Poland in July 2016. This programme, which is intended to be taught in schools, in mixed classrooms, adopts a secularised and secularising approach, and exposes children to obscene and pornographic images. Serious questions about the programme have been raised by Dr Rick Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist and adjunct professor of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, at the Catholic University of America. [He writes:] A fourth consideration arising from Pope Francis’s repeated calls for school-based sex education is the fact that in various parts of the world Catholic bishops and Catholic bishops’ conferences have long been using their power and authority to promote programmes of relationships and sex education the content of which is explicitly anti-life, anti-family and anti-Catholic. The Catholic Education Service, a department of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, have a long-established approach to sex education which reflects the policies of the pro-abortion lobby, the homosexual lobby and the British Government and which constitutes the sexual abuse and corruption of children. From 1999 until 2008 the Chair of the Catholic Education Service was Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham (now Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster). Under his chairmanship the Catholic Education Service developed a policy which resulted in providing children in Catholic schools, including adolescents under the legal age of consent, with access to abortion and contraception services without parental knowledge or consent, through a state run confidential advice agency, named ‘Connexions’. In April 2010 the Catholic Education Service, under the chairmanship of Malcolm McMahon (then bishop of Nottingham, now Archbishop of Liverpool), appointed as deputy director, Greg Pope, a former Labour member of Parliament, who had an extensive anti-life, anti-family voting record. Greg Pope remained in that post until his promotion, in 2017, to be the Assistant General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. In the Spring 2019 edition of Calx Mariae, Dr Tom Rogers, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children’s education manager, takes up the story of the role of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales and of their agency in England and Wales, the Catholic Education Service, in relation to the Children and Social Work Act (2107). Dr Rogers wrote: “Despite the apparently strong statement with regard to parental involvement”, Dr Rogers wrote, Dr Rogers went on to explain: You can obtain a full copy of the article by Dr Tom Rogers from Voice of the Family. What then do Catholic parents do when Popes disagree on sex education and when bishops throughout Britain promote programmes of relationships and sex education which threaten to corrupt their children? What a blessing it is for parents, then, to hear the words of Christ in St Matthew’s Gospel (Chapter 11, verses 25 and 26): “At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father: for so hath it seemed good in thy sight.” Parents today are not for the most part theological scholars – and they never have been since the time of Christ. However, countless unlearned, but faithful Catholic parents both know and can confidently affirm, without fear of being contradicted by any authority in this world or the next, that God’s commandment “Honour thy Father and thy Mother”, reaffirmed by God the Son during his life on earth, establishes for all time that parents are the primary educators and protectors of their children. Faithful, unlearned, Catholic parents are also fully capable of understanding Christ’s words concerning giving scandal to children: “ … he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea”. Catholic parents know, but must be reminded, that these words provide a terrible warning to those, including Catholic bishops, who allow the showing of pornographic images in the classroom to children of all ages and who encourage false ideas about human sexuality, including homosexuality, to be taught in the classroom. Catholic parents have a moral obligation to resist Pope Francis’s and British Catholic bishops’ promotion of dangerous teaching on sex education. It will add fuel to the raging fire of child abuse. Parents must say loud and clear to Pope Francis, and to Catholic bishops in Britain: Sex education is not the solution to systematic child abuse and exploitation. Indeed, what the Vatican, the bishops of England and Wales and many other bishops around the world are promoting is child abuse, in the name of relationships and sex education, involving immeasurably greater numbers than the scandal of the cases of clerical sex abuse currently afflicting the Church. [1] Issued on 15th May 1891. [2] Issued on 31st December 1929. [3] For instance, Nick Gibb MP, stated in response to a Parliamentary question (03 July 2017) that ‘we expect schools to ensure that all pupils, whatever their developing sexuality or gender identity, feel that relationships and sex education is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs. As part of our engagement programme, we will consider ways to ensure that our guidance and regulations are inclusive of LGBT issues. We plan to work closely with organisations such as Stonewall and the Terrence Higgins Trust, amongst others’. Prime Minister Teresa May affirmed her support for ‘LGBT inclusive’ RSE in English schools in her speech at the Pink News LGBT Awards 2017. [4] Catholic Education Service, ‘Catholic Church welcomes move to improve Relationship and Sex Education in all schools’, Press Release, 19 July 2018: http://catholiceducation.org.uk/component/k2/item/1003657-catholic-church-welcomes-move-to-improve-relationship-and-sex-education-in-all-schools [5] Catherine Bryan, ‘Why Relationship and Sex Education is a must for all Catholic schools’ [online article], Catholic Education Service, 20 June 2018; http://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/component/k2/item/1003652-why-relationship-and-sex-education-is-a-must-for-all-catholic-schools . The same article also appeared in The Catholic Times, 15 June 2018, p.28. [6] Catholic Education Service, Made in God’s Image: Challenging homophobic and biphobic bullying in Catholic schools, 2018 edn; http://catholiceducation.org.uk/images/CES-Project_Homophobic-Bullying-Booklet_JUN18_PROOF-9.pdf . For comment see, for instance, Deacon Nick Donnelly, ‘UK bishops’ group pushing radical LGBT propaganda in Catholic schools’, Lifesite News, 18 May 2017; https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/uk-bishops-group-pushes-radical-lgbt-materials-in-catholic-schools. Also, Bishop Egan of Portsmouth has commented on the ‘ideological colonisation’ at work in our schools, including the influence of Stonewall and LGBT Youth on the CES’s Made in God’s Image document. Deacon Nick Donnelly, ‘Interview: UK bishop questions LGBT involvement in Catholic schools’ sex-ed program’, Lifesite News, 22 May 2017; https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/interview-english-bishop-questions-lgbt-involvement-in-catholic-schools-sex [7] CES, Made in God’s Image (2018), section 2, p.5. [8] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (signed by Cardinal Ratzinger), ‘Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of the Homosexual Persons’, 1 October 1986; http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html [9] Scottish Government, ‘LGBTI education: Scotland will lead the way in inclusive education’, Press release 8th Nov 2018; https://www.gov.scot/news/lgbti-education/ | null | https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-parents-must-resist-pope-francis-promotion-of-sex-education-pro-family-leader | 2019-10-09T00:12:00+00:00 | 1,570,594,320 | 1,570,622,554 | education | parent organisation |
607,319 | thedailycaller--2019-11-10--Here Is What Parents And Activists Say About Austin’s Progressive Sex Education | 2019-11-10T00:00:00 | thedailycaller | Here Is What Parents And Activists Say About Austin’s Progressive Sex Education | • The Austin Independent School District plans to implement a progressive sex education curriculum in 2020. • Parents and activists expressed concerns over the curriculum’s sexually explicit nature to the Daily Caller News Foundation. • “A lot of people will say that abstinence isn’t a reality,” a candidate for the state’s House of Representatives said. “Well in third grade, I hope it is.” An Austin, Texas, school district plans to implement explicit sex education in 2020, but parents and activists warned that this is an agenda-driven curriculum they fear sexualizes their children as young as 8 years old. Texas state law requires that educators emphasize abstinence in public schools if they are going to teach sex education — a conservative policy in a state where 52% of Texans voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election. The law also mandates that parents have the ability to opt their children out of these lessons. But the Austin Independent School District (ISD), located in liberal Austin, where about 66% of Austin residents voted for Hillary Clinton, drafted a curriculum that takes sex education to another level, parents told the Daily Caller News Foundation. These parents said the new curriculum teaches children sexually explicit material, how to obtain abortions, and how to get to an abortion clinic without a parent’s help, among other topics. The New Human Sexuality and Responsibility Curriculum The new Human Sexuality and Responsibility curriculum is an updated version of Austin’s former curriculum, which had not been updated since 2009, spokesman Scott Thomas from the Austin ISD told the DCNF. Thomas said the Austin ISD board unanimously voted to pass the curriculum Oct. 28, following a survey that “overwhelmingly” showed support for the update. (RELATED: Here Are The Details On California’s Sex Education) However, the survey shows that only 10.5% of family student primary contacts responded, leaving about 90% of family student primary contacts who did not weigh in on the curriculum. Thomas told the DCNF the ISD stands by its statement on the overwhelming popularity of the survey and is “very confident the survey is representative of the population.” “Instruction of the new curriculum will be taught in May 2020,” Thomas said. “Parents will be able to opt their children out of one, several, or all lessons.” He did not respond to a request for comment as to how the survey was representative of the population if 90% of family student primary contacts did not respond to the survey. The curriculum was originally based on Planned Parenthood’s sex education curriculum “Get Real,” but a recent bill signed by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott prevented this, vice president of Texas Values David Walls told the DCNF. Abbott signed Senate Bill 22, a bill prohibiting government transactions with abortion providers. “Essentially what they ended up doing was cobbling together a bunch of curriculums from some Canadian Abortion Providers,” Walls said, adding that the ISD board compiled the first draft so hastily that they forgot to update the age of consent listed in the curriculum from the age of consent in Canada, which is 16, to the age of consent in Texas, which is 17. “It was literally a hodgepodge of stuff that we are still looking into,” he said. (RELATED: ACLU Told CA Teachers To Help Students Obtain Abortions Without Parental Notification, Video Reveals) Dan Quinn, spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, which tracks sex education in the state, said opponents’ stance of the updated curriculum is “hair-on-fire extremism,” according to The Texas Tribune. “This is just a rerun of what we’ve seen over and over again for years,” he said. “At the same time, the state continues to have one of the highest teen birth rates in the nation.” From Emphasizing Abstinence to Teaching about Oral Sex The curriculum will tell children as early as the third grade that their doctor assigned them a gender at birth — and these children will be told that this gender is not necessarily the sex that they are, Walls said. Elementary school children will be taught that “most of the time” a doctor who sees that a child has male genitalia will assign that child as a boy, he added. The gender ideology and sexually explicit material emerge in the curricula primarily in fifth grade, Concerned Parents of Texas advocate Karole Fedrick told the DCNF. Fedrick has two grandchildren enrolled in Austin ISD. Fedrick said the curriculum instructs teachers to administer a worksheet to 11-year-olds that explains what health services are offered at certain clinics in the area. “And then they’re asked to figure out how they could get there if they had to go by themselves,” Fedrick said. The point of this is to help children understand how to get abortions on their own, without parental help, she said. “We’re supposed to be a district where there is no place for hate,” Fedrick added. “It’s supposed to be a bully-free environment. Well, they don’t have any trouble bullying us. It’s oppressive. Discriminatory.” There is a political agenda behind this sex education, said Jennifer Feck, a candidate for Texas state House of Representatives. Part of the district Feck is running for overlaps with South Austin, and Feck learned of the Austin ISD’s updated curriculum through friends in the area and Texas Values. Feck has dealt with progressive sex education programs before, but she said Austin ISD’s curriculum is the worst she has ever seen. What makes this curriculum so insidious, Feck said, is that about 50% of the curriculum essentially sexualizes children through its teaching material. “It’s not just about teaching children about sex,” she told the DCNF. “I always say I’m for optimal health of the student. What is the healthiest way we can teach a young child? That should be our goal.” Texas law requires that teachers emphasize abstinence in sex education for young children, Feck said, and this program seeks to sneak around the requirement by briefly mentioning abstinence before dwelling on topics like condoms and birth control. “A lot of people will say that abstinence isn’t a reality,” Feck added. “Well in third grade, I hope it is.” Some Austin parents look at their fight against the sex education curriculum as a moral issue, Feck said. The curriculum instructs teachers to steal primary terms from children, she explained, and replace these primary terms with more gender-fluid identification. “Teachers will teach children, ‘Instead of mom and dad, what are some other words we can use? Instead of girl and boy, what are some other words we can use?'” Lisa Williams, a mother of two elementary school–aged children in the Austin ISD, said the most alarming part of the situation is that the process was noncompliant with Texas law. “I don’t feel that the curriculum stresses abstinence enough,” she told the DCNF. “I feel it introduces things way too young. It’s teaching kids things that go directly against my religious beliefs.” Williams said under the updated curriculum, her children will be taught and encouraged to utilize contraception and abortion, and told that having sex is fine for children as long as everyone consents. “This process has really demonstrated that the school board does not care what the parents think,” Williams said. “They are just pursuing their own objective despite a lot of feedback that this is what people want. They are refusing to take a more moderate stance on this. There’s a lot of parents that aren’t even aware that this is going on. That’s the really sad thing. This is going to be taught to their kids unbeknownst to them.” It makes her lose trust in the school system in general, Williams said. “What else are you teaching our kids?” she asked. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]. | Mary Margaret Olohan | https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/09/austin-sex-education-texas/ | Sun, 10 Nov 2019 03:12:28 +0000 | 1,573,373,548 | 1,573,387,802 | education | parent organisation |
290,784 | liveaction--2019-01-01--7 reasons New Mexico assisted suicide bill is most dangerous yet | 2019-01-01T00:00:00 | liveaction | 7 reasons New Mexico assisted suicide bill is ‘most dangerous’ yet | A new bill being considered by New Mexico lawmakers has some opponents saying that it’s so radical, it’s the most dangerous bill yet. Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, and Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism and consultant for the Patients Rights Council, are both ringing alarm bells about New Mexico House Bill 90. Typically, assisted suicide bills have requirements to ostensibly prevent abuses, such as a terminal prognosis of 60 days or less to live, and barring people with mental health disorders from eligibility. New Mexico plans to do away with much of those safeguards. According to Schadenberg and Smith, there are a number of concerning facets to this bill. 1. It does not require a prescription from a doctor. A nurse, physician’s assistant, or even an osteopath can prescribe the fatal drugs. This is likely not something chosen cavalierly, as in countries with assisted suicide already legal, it’s not uncommon to find physicians unwilling to facilitate patient requests to die. By allowing non-doctors to participate, it makes it more likely that people seeking to kill themselves can find someone willing to cooperate. 2. It does not specify the length of time a patient has left to live needed to be eligible. Typically, the requirement is 60 days, yet this bill merely requires a patient to be diagnosed with a terminal illness, “a disease or condition that is incurable and irreversible and that, in accordance with reasonable medical judgment, will result in death within the foreseeable future.” This leaves eligibility completely open; anyone could choose to take advantage of assisted suicide so long as they have any kind of illness that will persist for their entire life, from HIV to a progressive disability. 3. It requires providers to lie on the death certificate. Rather than truthfully say that the person died of assisted suicide, the condition which made them eligible for assisted suicide will instead be listed. For example, if a woman with liver cancer chooses assisted suicide, her cause of death will be recorded as cancer, not suicide. This is concerning for more issues than just a desire to be truthful. “It would be impossible to determine if abuse of the law occurs,” Schadenberg pointed out. READ: Most people don’t know what ‘assisted suicide’ actually means 4. It shortens the window of availability to just 48 hours — so a patient could get their first consultation and have their lethal prescription filled just two days later — and requires physicians to give patients the option of assisted suicide at the time of diagnosis with a terminal disease, even if the patient isn’t yet dying. This is troubling, because as others battling terminal illnesses have pointed out, knowing suicide is available during their lowest moments is akin to an encouragement to stop fighting and choose death instead. Kristen Hanson, whose husband J.J. famously fought brain cancer and spoke out against assisted suicide until his death, talked of how even he wanted to die in his lowest moments. Hanson said he “felt such despair that he may have taken a lethal prescription had it been legal in New York, where we lived, and if he had it in his nightstand during his darkest days” and that he thought at times “ending his life would relieve the burden on his caretakers and allow him to bypass the experience of illness-induced disability that the disease would otherwise cause.” 5. It essentially erases the need for a second consultation, allowing telemedicine. A second examination by a different physician is usually required, but with New Mexico’s bill, telemedicine is allowed. The bill also obliterates conscience protections, so any doctor unwilling to participate in assisted suicide is required to refer the patient to another provider who will. It also gives protections for providers who participate in assisted suicide, so if someone is misdiagnosed or the provider is otherwise neglectful, they cannot be held accountable, so long as they were “acting in good faith.” Smith noted, “[A] treating doctor could be sued for malpractice under the same circumstance under the more rigorous ‘reasonable practitioner’ standard of care that normally applies.” 6. People with mental health disorders and intellectual disabilities would be eligible for assisted suicide. A licensed psychiatrist, psychologist, master social worker, psychiatric nurse practitioner, or professional clinical mental health counselor would need to approve, andapproval via telemedicine is allowed. There is no residency requirement, so essentially, if the bill is passed, it allows anyone in the United States to kill themselves. All they have to do is travel to New Mexico for a few days, and death is within anyone’s grasp. | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/7-reasons-new-mexico-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-01-01 14:03:54+00:00 | 1,546,369,434 | 1,567,554,287 | society | values |
290,823 | liveaction--2019-01-10--Assisted suicide is legal in Hawaii but most doctors unwilling to participate | 2019-01-10T00:00:00 | liveaction | Assisted suicide is legal in Hawaii, but most doctors unwilling to participate | Last year, Hawaii became the sixth state to legalize assisted suicide, with the law officially going into effect earlier this month. But for assisted suicide advocates, there has been a bit of a snafu: most Hawaiian doctors and pharmacists are not willing to participate. While health care facilities themselves are willing to provide the fatal drugs to allow patients to kill themselves, it is doctors and pharmacists that must prescribe and dispense them, and these health care providers are able to decide if they want to do so or not. Most appear to be refusing. “There are a number of health care providers, nurses and others who are really uncomfortable about this, so asking anybody to participate as a patient ends their life is a really tough thing,” Melinda Ashton said in an interview with KOAT. Ashton serves as the chief quality officer for Hawaii Pacific Health, one of the largest health care providers in Hawaii. “The most recent barrier does seem to be we haven’t yet located a pharmacy willing to provide the medication.” READ: Most people don’t know what ‘assisted suicide’ actually means While CVS Pharmacy, for example, has said they will comply with the law, they also said they will allow individual pharmacists to decide whether or not to fill the prescriptions. Hawaii Pacific Health and The Queen’s Medical Center both said their pharmacies will not fill the prescriptions, nor can hospitalized patients take the fatal drugs in the hospital. Dr. Daniel Fischberg, medical director of the Queen’s Medical Center Pain and Palliative Care Department, was not surprised. “There’s definitely diversity of opinion. A minority of physicians feel prepared to actually participate in terms of writing a prescription,” he said to KOAT. It’s not surprising that so many doctors and pharmacists are not willing to be complicit in the killing of their patients. As assisted suicide spreads, more and more doctors have been speaking out, re-affirming that their goal is to care for their patients, not help them die. Australian doctor John Obeid wrote a scathing criticism of assisted suicide in the Daily Telegraph, saying, “Assisting dying patients by providing pain management and emotional and psychological support is exactly what health professionals already do but assisting a dying patient is altogether different from deliberately ‘assisting’ that patient to die by administering or prescribing a lethal substance.” Likewise, Washington, D.C. doctor Gracie Pozo Christie has warned against assisted suicide, writing in The Hill, “Some of the most ardent opponents of physician-prescribed suicide are doctors and nurses with plenty of experience accompanying patients through the shock of a terminal diagnosis and the struggle of the last months of life. Becoming an agent of your own patient’s death is directly at odds with a vocation designed to prolong and enhance lives.” The American College of Physicians has recently affirmed their opposition to assisted suicide as well. Most people who go into the medical profession do so because they want to help people, to heal. Very few would have any enthusiasm for being paid to kill. It’s not altogether surprising, then, that there is reluctance among Hawaiian health care providers to participate in assisted suicide. The question then becomes, how long before euthanasia advocates move to force them to do it anyway? | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/assisted-suicide-hawaii-doctors-unwilling/ | 2019-01-10 21:35:48+00:00 | 1,547,174,148 | 1,567,553,023 | society | values |
290,931 | liveaction--2019-01-28--Assisted suicide proponents renew push to legalize it in New York | 2019-01-28T00:00:00 | liveaction | Assisted suicide proponents renew push to legalize it in New York | On the heels of New York’s Reproductive Health Act, which allows for abortions at any time under reasons of the mother’s “health” — broadly defined to mean emotional, mental, physical, familial, etc., according to Roe v. Wade’s companion case, Doe v. Bolton — comes a new push to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state. According to the Associated Press, “The proposal before lawmakers would require two doctors to sign off on the use of life-ending medication. It has been proposed for years, without a vote.” The AP adds, “Supporters say the proposal is carefully crafted to prevent abuse while giving people with terminal illnesses the choice to die with dignity. Opponents worry such a law could be misused.” No proposal can guarantee protection against abuses by family members or others who may pressure patients into choosing assisted suicide, or prevent a patient from choosing it based on reasons not related to a terminal condition. A previous Live Action News article by Cassy Fiano-Chesser noted, “Multiple… studies, including some published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the British Medical Journal, found that people pursue assisted suicide because they feel hopeless, are struggling with depression… are afraid they are a burden on their loved ones, or don’t have support. When these issues are addressed, the request for assisted suicide is often withdrawn.” READ: When assisted suicide was legalized, her insurance stopped paying for treatment According to the same Live Action News article, “Studies show that assisted suicide increases the number of suicides. A 2015 study published in the Southern Medical Journal found that ‘legalising assisted suicide is associated with a 6.3 per cent increase in the total suicide rate – including both assisted and non-assisted suicides. For the over-65 age group, the increase is 14.5 per cent.'” A study from New Zealand showed that many people don’t actually know what assisted suicide entails, mistakenly believing it includes removing life support or even Do Not Resuscitate orders. Seven states and Washington, D.C. currently allow physician-assisted suicide. | Newsroom | https://www.liveaction.org/news/assisted-suicide-legalize-new-york/ | 2019-01-28 05:22:17+00:00 | 1,548,670,937 | 1,567,550,470 | society | values |
291,088 | liveaction--2019-02-21--Doctor says assisted suicide leading insurance companies to deny treatments | 2019-02-21T00:00:00 | liveaction | Doctor says assisted suicide leading insurance companies to deny treatments | Brian Callister is a practicing physician and medical school professor with more than 30 years of experience. In his article in the Las Vegas Review Journal, he writes about the dangers of physician assisted suicide. He complains about the “sugar coated” phrase used by assisted suicide supporters, “physician aid in dying.” Supporters claim they are giving patients another option. In reality, Callister says, doctors and insurance companies have incentives to pressure patients to kill themselves. Callister writes: When insurers and our government are faced with skyrocketing health care costs, PAS gives them the real and inexpensive alternative to deny you care and provide you with a deadly prescription instead. It’s a lot cheaper to give you a bunch of pills to kill you rather than pay to treat you. Sadly, such real abuses are already being witnessed in states where PAS is legal. Since PAS became legal in California and Oregon, I have experienced firsthand the abuses that PAS incentivizes. He then goes on to describe his experiences: I cared for two patients in my hospital in Northern Nevada who were seeking transfers to their home states of California and Oregon for lifesaving treatments. With these particular treatment options, both patients had an excellent chance of cure. Without the treatments, both would likely die from their diseases. When I spoke with the medical directors of the patients’ insurance companies, both of them told me they would cover assisted suicide but would not approve coverage for lifesaving treatment. Neither the patients nor I had requested assisted suicide, yet it was readily offered. Instead of the best treatment options, my patients were offered the cheapest option — a quick death through lethal medications. This was perfectly legal to do in those states but certainly unethical. In the United States, insurance companies can — and often do — choose to deny coverage for expensive treatments. The assisted suicide “option” allows insurance companies a way to reduce the money they pay out by giving them a cheaper “treatment” to offer patients. And as Callister says, nothing can be done about this — an insurance company turning down an expensive cure and paying only for assisted suicide is legal. Assisted suicide isn’t just a threat to the disabled and chronically ill, it is a threat to everyone. Anyone can develop a life-threatening disease such as cancer and could be faced with assisted suicide presented to as the sole option. The push to legalize assisted suicide must be fought. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Sarah Terzo | https://www.liveaction.org/news/doctor-assisted-suicide-insurance-deny/ | 2019-02-21 14:54:08+00:00 | 1,550,778,848 | 1,567,547,732 | society | values |
291,254 | liveaction--2019-03-27--VICTORY Assisted suicide bill fails to pass in Maryland Senate | 2019-03-27T00:00:00 | liveaction | VICTORY: Assisted suicide bill fails to pass in Maryland Senate | Suicide is generally seen as something to be prevented, an awful tragedy — unless the person is disabled, poor, elderly, or ill, and then, it suddenly becomes an act of compassion and dignity. Even as other states are poised to legalize assisted suicide, an assisted suicide bill failed today in Maryland in a tie vote. Having previously failed three times before in the Maryland General Assembly, assisted suicide proponents in the legislature will now need to sponsor the bill again. Had it been passed, the bill would have allowed some adults with a terminal illness, with less than six months to live, to request a lethal prescription from a doctor with which they could commit suicide. Some who oppose assisted suicide have pointed out the problem with this kind of vague language, however. Many people with chronic illnesses or disabilities would die in less than six months if they stopped taking their medications or treatments, but with treatment, can live for years. Would these people then also fall under the “terminal illness” category? In order for the bill to advance for a final vote in the Senate, it needed 24 votes out of 47. Instead, it was tied at 23-23, thanks to Democrat Ohio Patterson, who refused to cast a vote. “I did not cast a vote simply because I could not bring myself to move right or left on the bill and therefore I didn’t vote at all,” he told the media afterwards, and then affirmed that he had done his job as a senator the best he could. “I researched it, I talked with folks and my decision today was not to cast a vote. But I think I did my job,” he said. “I did not relinquish my responsibility to thoroughly review all of the concerns I had about the bill. At the end of the day, I felt I could not cast a vote.” Some of the other senators pointed out that several years ago, the legislature voted to abolish the death penalty, under the view that every life — including a criminal’s — is worth protecting. Still others were concerned about the possibility of a mistaken diagnosis leading someone to choose to kill themselves. “There are no do-overs in this type of law,” Sen. Bryan Simonaire said to the Baltimore Sun. “Doctors have and will continue to make mistakes and miscalculations. They are humans. Once a life is taken, it is final.” The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Will Smith, said he plans to sponsor the bill again in the future, and noted that progress has been made legalization. “I’m proud of the work we did. I’m proud of the product that I brought to the Senate,” Smith said to the Baltimore Sun. “And I’m proud of my ‘Yes’ vote today.” “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/assisted-suicide-fails-maryland-senate/ | 2019-03-27 20:34:30+00:00 | 1,553,733,270 | 1,567,544,867 | society | values |
291,272 | liveaction--2019-03-30--New Jersey is on the brink of legalizing assisted suicide | 2019-03-30T00:00:00 | liveaction | New Jersey is on the brink of legalizing assisted suicide | New Jersey lawmakers have approved a bill that would legalize assisted suicide, meaning the Garden State could potentially join Colorado, Montana, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia in legalization if Governor Phil Murphy signs it into law. Previously, Murphy promised that he would. “Allowing terminally ill and dying residents the dignity to make end-of-life decisions according to their own consciences is the right thing to do. I look forward to signing this legislation into law,” he said in a statement. The bill passed with 21 votes in the state Senate, and 41 votes in the state Assembly. Under the proposed law, people who are terminally ill and mentally competent would be allowed to receive a fatal prescription after requesting it three times, with one of those times written down in the presence of two witnesses. While assisted suicide in and of itself is bad enough, what is especially horrifying about the New Jersey legislation is that the lethal medication will be covered by the state’s Medicaid program — so taxpayers will be forced to fund the assisted suicides of their neighbors. Advocates of assisted suicide call it “death with dignity,” but the reality is, there are growing abuses in states that have already legalized it, and assisted suicide merely preys on those who are extremely vulnerable, including people with disabilities, who are frequently pressured to die. READ: Study: Assisted suicide can be painful, prolonged and inhumane And though assisted suicide is said to be the kinder, more compassionate option for people struggling with terminal illnesses, it actually encourages people with life-limiting diseases to choose death in their low moments, as Kristen Hanson, wife of J.J. Hanson, explained. She said her husband sometimes “felt such despair that he may have taken a lethal prescription had it been legal in New York, where we lived, and if he had it in his nightstand during his darkest days,” and that he sometimes felt that “ending his life would relieve the burden on his caretakers and allow him to bypass the experience of illness-induced disability that the disease would otherwise cause.” It’s also not altogether surprising that the number of suicides increases when assisted suicide is legal. It’s because people don’t choose to kill themselves because they are afraid of their disease, as multiple studies show. People instead often resort to assisted suicide because they feel hopeless, don’t have support, are struggling with depression, or fear being a burden on their loved ones. When these issues are treated, the request for suicide is often withdrawn. It is shameful that suicide is seen as something to be avoided and prevented at all costs, unless the person is sick, elderly, or disabled — and then, it’s something to be embraced and accommodated. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/new-jersey-brink-legalizing-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-03-30 16:05:57+00:00 | 1,553,976,357 | 1,567,544,627 | society | values |
291,295 | liveaction--2019-04-03--Connecticut assisted suicide bill fails to gain support a second time | 2019-04-03T00:00:00 | liveaction | Connecticut assisted suicide bill fails to gain support a second time | For the second time in two years, Connecticut’s assisted suicide bill – HB 5898 — has died in Committee. On Monday, the legislature’s Public Health Committee realized they simply couldn’t garner enough support to advance the bill which would have allowed doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients. Assisted suicide failed to make it out of Committee in Connecticut last year as well. The bill states patients who are in pain and have just six months or less to live would be able to submit two written requests for a lethal dose of medication in order to kill themselves. Doctors would have to inform these patients of alternatives and risks but would be able to prescribe a dose intended to kill. Two doctors would need to confirm the diagnosis in order for the request for assisted suicide to be accepted. “It fails every year because there is no way you can ever make this right,” Peter Wolfgang of the Family Insitute of Connecticut told the CT Mirror. “It is never right to license doctors to prescribe suicide as a treatment and to grant immunity to the people that help you kill yourself.” This year, proponents of the so-called “aid in dying” bill in Connecticut were hopeful that the bill would pass because the Connecticut State Medical Society changed its stance against assisted suicide to take a neutral opinion on the issue. The group now says that it will let doctors decide whether or not they are willing to help people commit suicide. But that dash of support ended up offering no help. “This is as close as we’ve ever gotten,” said State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg (D), co-chair of the Public Health Committee. “You could argue it was nip and tuck for a while. But we didn’t have the votes.” Since the legislature remains the same until 2021, Steinberg said success in passing the bill in 2020 is unlikely as well. He plans to wait until 2021 to bring it up again. He cited strong morals among the current legislature along with the voiced concerns from people in the state with disabilities as major contibutions to the bill’s failure. “It is really not a left versus right issue,” Wolfgang told The Waterbury Republican. “It is not religion versus secularism. It is not pro-life versus pro-choice. on our side, we have the ideologically broadest coalition on this issue of any issue I’ve ever worked on.” “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Nancy Flanders | https://www.liveaction.org/news/connecticut-assisted-suicide-bill-fail-again/ | 2019-04-03 17:49:58+00:00 | 1,554,328,198 | 1,567,544,112 | society | values |
291,372 | liveaction--2019-04-14--People with disabilities and terminal illnesses speak out against assisted suicide | 2019-04-14T00:00:00 | liveaction | People with disabilities and terminal illnesses speak out against assisted suicide | For now, assisted suicide is illegal in New Zealand, although lawmakers in the island nation are closer than ever to legalizing it. While assisted suicide is said to be the remedy needed for people with terminal illnesses and severe disabilities, many of them are speaking out against it, insisting that their lives are worth living. When she was 17, Claire Freeman was in a car accident that broke her neck, and paralyzed her arms and legs. She now is a tetraplegic model, and speaks out against assisted suicide — even though she once considered killing herself at a euthanasia clinic. Despite her disability, Freeman got a college degree and was working as a designer in Christchurch, and thought she was happy — until the 2011 earthquake, which she said revealed “a whole lot of grief that I had been holding deep inside.” She then attempted to kill herself four times, once landing in the hospital for a week in a coma. But instead of trying to address her psychological pain, the psychologist at the suicide outreach clinic referred her to a Swiss euthanasia clinic. “I said I’m thinking about an assisted suicide. He said, ‘That could be an option for you,'” she told the New Zealand Herald. “So I started putting things together to do that. I was in constant pain, while still trying to work and build a house and all sorts of things.” But after suffering another medical emergency, she ended up even more disabled — and it ended up saving her life. She had to scale back, rest more, and work less, and started pursuing her doctorate degree. During her education, she began to see things differently. “She [her professor] started talking about quality of life, and I realised that a lot of the advice I had been given, like from the psychologist and from a psychiatrist who saw me after an earlier suicide attempt, was because they were looking at me and just seeing the disability,” Freeman said. “They were not saying, ‘Hey, what’s going on in your life? Are you working too much? Are you in too much pain?’ None of those questions were asked, it was just, ‘Of course she wants to die, she’s in a wheelchair, she’s in pain.'” Freeman now advocates for other people with disabilities, counseling them when they struggle with suicidal thoughts. She also has become a model. And she has appeared in a mini-documentary called #DefendNZ. READ: Study: Assisted suicide can be painful, prolonged and inhumane Also featured in the #DefendNZ series is Kylee Black, a New Zealander with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a terminal condition affecting her joints, ligaments, tendons, skin, blood vessels and internal organs, making her heavily reliant on others. Yet she still opposes assisted suicide, and worries about what it would mean for people like her if death was available. “I have difficult days and those days I don’t need to be confronted with easily accessible death,” she said to the New Zealand Herald. “If assisted suicide is legal it would be legal to promote it. I don’t want to be triggered by assisted suicide ads or flyers. I have multiple specialists and go to hospital many times a year. I know my care costs a lot of money. But I also know I contribute to society.” For Black, the idea that assisted suicide is a “choice” is a lie — and she argues that people like her would feel pressured to choose death, due to how much it costs for her to receive treatment and medical care. Black has good reason to fear that her life will come with a price tag, considering people with disabilities are barred from entering New Zealand because of the supposed cost of their health care. And it’s easy for people battling terminal illnesses or disabilities to feel that they are a burden on those around them or on their communities, especially when ableist messages are so common and people are told it is better to die than live disabled. Indeed, multiple studies from reputable medical journals have found that people do not choose assisted suicide due to pain or fear of death; they do so because they feel depressed and hopeless, lack support, and fear that they are a burden to the people around them. When these issues are addressed, the request to die is often withdrawn. Assisted suicide directly targets the most vulnerable in society — the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the sick; while those who are healthy and able are told that their deaths are something to be avoided at all costs, people whose lives are deemed not worth living are told that suicide is an acceptable choice. And there’s nothing dignified about it. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/people-disabilities-terminal-illnesses-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-04-14 12:22:10+00:00 | 1,555,258,930 | 1,567,543,001 | society | values |
291,410 | liveaction--2019-04-19--UK physician ethics committee chair resigns over assisted suicide change | 2019-04-19T00:00:00 | liveaction | UK physician ethics committee chair resigns over assisted suicide change | The chairman of the ethics committee for the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), originally founded in 1518, has stepped down, along with several other members, over the change of the British medical group’s official position on assisted suicide. Before, the RCP formally opposed the idea of doctors helping their patients kill themselves; now, the group has shifted to merely neutral. Albert Weale, a professor specializing in political theory and social policy, resigned and slammed the position change, calling it incoherent and unfair. Two other members likewise left with him. “There seems to be no chain of coherent reasoning leading to the council’s own position – a situation I regret deeply,” Weale said to the Telegraph. The position change came after a survey of doctors, the majority of which said the RCP should remain opposed to assisted suicide. Yet the organization had already decided to take a neutral stance, unless there was a super-majority vote of 60% of more outweighing their decision. So, even though only one in four doctors agreed with its decision, the RCP changed its stance to neutral. READ: Study: Assisted suicide can be painful, prolonged and inhumane Weale also complained that the council had already made up its mind, even as the ethics committee was giving them expert advice, leading him to feel as if the committee had been wasting their time. “There is simply no point in the committee offering reasoned positions if they are ignored by council,” Weale wrote in his resignation letter. A doctor who opposed the position change, David Randall, told the Telegraph, “These resignations from the RCP’s ethics committee add to the concern that the college has rushed into a position of neutrality on assisted dying without proper process, and without fully considering the implications of neutrality.” Assisted suicide is growing in popularity and is being increasingly legalized throughout the world — yet the people it affects most are not people who are actively dying, but the most vulnerable in society. Assisted suicide targets people who are elderly, sick, disabled, and poor, and those who seek it out are not doing so because they are scared of dying painful deaths. Study after study, including from reputable medical journals like the New England Journal of Medicine and the British Medical Journal, report that people choose assisted suicide because they are depressed, hopeless, without support, and afraid of being a burden to loved ones. Health care does not mean helping desperate people who think they have no other options to die — and that’s exactly why so few doctors are willing to get on board. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Cassy Fiano-Chesser | https://www.liveaction.org/news/uk-physician-ethics-chair-resigns-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-04-19 18:20:17+00:00 | 1,555,712,417 | 1,567,542,375 | society | values |
291,539 | liveaction--2019-05-14--After he was paralyzed he considered assisted suicide Now hes running | 2019-05-14T00:00:00 | liveaction | After he was paralyzed, he considered assisted suicide. Now, he’s running. | In June 2016, Steven Dowd was in a life-changing accident that left him paralyzed from the neck-down. Metro.co.uk reports that as he struggled to come to terms with his injuries, Dowd considered assisted suicide. However, during his hospital stay, doctors said he was a candidate for experimental spinal surgery at a nearby hospital. Today, less than three years after surgery, Dowd is walking, cycling, and even running to raise money for the charity that funded his surgery. The accident occurred when Dowd was cycling the 10 miles from his home to his work, which he did often while training for a cycling event. Dowd says after the accident, “I thought I would never be able to move again. I was paralysed from the neck down.” Immediately following the accident, Dowd saw no reason for hope. He says, “The doctors said my injury was devastating. They said they didn’t know what my prognosis would be. They said some people make some recovery and other people never get any sensation back.” Dowd explains that he and his wife, Helen, had a “very stark conversation” in which he decided that he would not want to live the rest of his life in a power wheelchair. While he says he understands “some people lead very full lives in that situation,” he says, “it was not what I wanted for me or my wife.” READ: Study: Assisted suicide can be painful, prolonged and inhumane Still reeling from the shocking impact of the accident, Dowd says on that day he told his wife that if he had to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair, “I wanted to go to Switzerland and end my life there.” Euthanasia is legal in Switzerland, and people from the UK, where Dowd lives, travel to assisted suicide clinics in Switzerland to end their lives. Dowd’s difficult discussion points to the unmet needs of patients considering assisted suicide. While doctors focus on the physical needs of the patient, the psychological are often not addressed. Understandably, the shock of a debilitating illness or condition may prompt someone to consider suicide, but his or her life is still valuable and meaningful. A culture that says some people can legally be assisted in ending their lives is one that endorses suicide. There are many other examples of patients deciding against assisted suicide when experimental treatment becomes available. Other patients found more supportive and successful treatment. Still others continue to suffer with life-limiting or even fatal conditions but found meaning in their life that prompted them to reject assisted suicide. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Anna Reynolds | https://www.liveaction.org/news/man-paralyzed-assisted-suicide-running/ | 2019-05-14 18:45:39+00:00 | 1,557,873,939 | 1,567,540,665 | society | values |
291,580 | liveaction--2019-05-25--Dangerous Oregon legislators push to allow same-day assisted suicides | 2019-05-25T00:00:00 | liveaction | Dangerous: Oregon legislators push to allow same-day assisted suicides | Oregon legislators are currently considering two bills that would radically expand the state’s physician-assisted suicide laws. House Bill 2217 would allow patients to take lethal medication through self-injection, while Senate Bill 579 eliminates waiting periods required for those who wish to end their lives. Currently, patients wishing to end their lives must ingest lethal medication through pills or a feeding tube. HB 2217 is meant to accommodate those patients who wish to commit suicide but are too weak or ill to self-administer pills, by allowing the medication to be provided via syringe or IV. As proposed, the bill would further blur the lines between suicide and euthanasia, since health care providers would be required to help a patient load the syringe with deadly medicine or insert a needle in their arm, thereby becoming more active participants in the act of suicide. “Oregon’s Death with Dignity law carves patients away from the health care delivery system when they want to commit suicide and doesn’t make us complicitly involved with this,” Dr. Bud Pierce, a Salem oncologist told the Bend Bulletin. “This bill makes us actors in the death of patients. I think it’s morally wrong for physicians to kill their patients.” Opponents of the bill warn that it would make it easier for doctors to administer lethal medications without a patient’s knowledge or consent. “The problem with this setup is that very easily, another person could administer the drugs without the patient having any knowledge of what is going on,” said Dr. Kenneth Stevens, a radiation oncologist. READ: People with disabilities and terminal illnesses speak out against assisted suicide While pro-life groups like Oregon Right to Life are vehemently opposed to this bill, it is also seeing opposition from some other surprising fronts, including Death with Dignity National Center and Compassion & Choices, two groups which advocate for physician-assisted suicide. “I can’t imagine that we want to risk botched deaths because we have allowed a law that would have patients administering medications through equipment they have no training to use. This is a risky proposition. The law, as written, does not protect patients from those risks,” wrote Sam DeWitt, Oregon Access Campaign Manager of Compassion & Choices. HB 2217 is currently pending in the state Senate. The state’s Senators pushed through another radical bill Monday, passing SB 579 with a 16-11 vote. That bill eliminates waiting periods for those wishing to commit suicide if a physician determines that the patient would die before the waiting period is up. These waiting periods are designed to prevent abuse and same-day suicides. “What is most alarming about SB 579 is that it permits on demand, same-day assisted suicide for people who are in a very fragile state of mind,” said Lois Anderson, ORTL executive director. “Every person has a right to be valued and treated ethically, especially during their last days of life. These people deserve the same protections under the law.” SB 579 next goes to the House of Representatives. “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Bridget Sielicki | https://www.liveaction.org/news/oregon-legislators-push-same-day-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-05-25 18:19:18+00:00 | 1,558,822,758 | 1,567,540,176 | society | values |
291,655 | liveaction--2019-06-16--As Maine legalizes assisted suicide governor hopes it is used sparingly | 2019-06-16T00:00:00 | liveaction | As Maine legalizes assisted suicide, governor hopes it is ‘used sparingly’ | On June 12th, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed a bill legalizing assisted suicide. Maine is the eighth state to legalize a doctor-ordered lethal dose of pain medication for select patients who request it. Similar measures were previously brought up no less than seven times in Maine’s state Legislature and once as a statewide referendum — the process of allowing voters to decide whether a law that has passed in the Legislature gets upheld or repealed — but each time they failed. Gov. Mills said, “It is my hope that this law, while respecting the right to personal liberty, will be used sparingly.” Given the trends of other states, this seems unlikely. Maine joins California, Colorado, Washington, DC, Hawaii , New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington (Montana does not have a law on the books, but a Supreme Court ruling in 2009 essentially allows for it) in legalizing the practice, with similar measures being considered in Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, and New York. New York is considered likely to vote before the end of this legislative session, in the next week and a half. The law is supposed to apply only to patients considered “terminally ill,” i.e. those having an illness that is incurable and likely to cause death in the next six months, even though many people have outlived medical estimates by months or years. Furthermore, a previous report on Oregon’s assisted suicide law found a loophole stating that being unable to pay for life-saving treatment could make a patient’s condition legally “incurable” in that state. Does Maine have such a loophole? Time will tell. In addition, the law isn’t supposed to apply to patients suffering from depression, which can cloud judgment. Sadly, a 2007 study done in Oregon, which legalized assisted suicide in 1997, found that none of the 47 patients who died by swallowing a lethal dose of pain medicine that year were evaluated for depression by a psychologist or psychiatrist. Critics of assisted suicide laws worry that patients with life-limiting, incurable diseases will be seen as a financial drain on society. They have reason to fear, as patients in Oregon and California have already been told that chemotherapy and other potentially helpful medications would not be medically covered, but pills to end their lives would be. What’s more, research suggests that the whole rationale for assisted suicide, the alleviation of unbearable pain, is a sham. Corinne Carey, an employee of the euphemistically-named Compassion & Choices (a euthanasia advocacy organization which led the campaigns to legalize assisted suicide in both New Jersey and New York), argues that assisted suicide is necessary because being able to die this way “could mean the difference between unbearable suffering and having the peace of mind to know that (the sick person) can die a peaceful death.” Rather than citing pain, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine claims people primarily seek assisted suicide because of 1) loss of autonomy due to their illness 2) fear of being a burden on others, especially family or 3) fear of no longer being able to enjoy life due to their illness, i.e. untreated or inadequately treated depression. Sickeningly, assisted suicide laws target vulnerable populations already at-risk for receiving inferior care: the poor, the depressed or otherwise mentally ill, the elderly, the disabled. Assisted suicide communicates to these people that suicide is unacceptable, except in their cases, because they are a burden. Maine’s new law comes mere days after the death of a 17 year old Dutch girl from anorexia following sexual assault and rape. Her story made headlines because assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands, though her request for euthanasia was reportedly refused. Responding to her story, Pope Francis tweeted, “Euthanasia and assisted suicide are a defeat for all. We are called never to abandon those who are suffering, never giving up but caring and loving to restore hope.” “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Anne Marie Williams | https://www.liveaction.org/news/maine-legalizes-assisted-suicide/ | 2019-06-16 17:40:51+00:00 | 1,560,721,251 | 1,567,539,060 | society | values |
291,846 | liveaction--2019-07-26--Oregon governor signs bill removing assisted suicide safeguards for certain patients | 2019-07-26T00:00:00 | liveaction | Oregon governor signs bill removing assisted suicide safeguards for certain patients | As previously reported by Live Action News, Oregon has continued in its attempts to further remove safeguards when it comes to assisted suicide in the state. And this week, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 579, removing waiting periods for assisted suicide for certain patients, into state law. According to ABC News, “The law allows those with 15 days left to live to bypass a 15-day waiting period required under the Death with Dignity Act, something proponents say will reduce bureaucracy and bring relief to gravely ill people.” But Oregon Right to Life Executive Director Lois Anderson stated in a press release, “By signing this bill, Governor Kate Brown shirked her duty to protect Oregon’s citizens. Oregon’s ‘Death with Dignity’ law already lacks important safeguards to protect vulnerable Oregonians. Removing one of the only safeguards that does exist is both unnecessary and incredibly ill-advised.” Anderson also points out that Oregon “has a significant elder abuse problem” and says the governor ignored the testimony of many medical professionals who believe this law will put vulnerable citizens at greater risk. ABC News notes that prior to the new law, “Those seeking life-ending medications had to make a verbal request for physician-assisted suicide, wait 15 days and then make a written request. They then had to wait an additional 48 hours before obtaining the prescription. Under the new amendment, doctors can make exceptions to the waiting periods if the patient is likely to die before completing them.” Another bill being considered in Oregon, as previously reported, is HB 2217, which passed the House and is currently in committee in the state senate. This bill, according to its webpage, “[p]rohibits anyone other than patient from administering medication to end patient’s life in humane and dignified manner.” As Live Action News previously noted regarding HB 2217, the bill “is meant to accommodate those patients who wish to commit suicide but are too weak or ill to self-administer pills, by allowing the medication to be provided via syringe or IV. As proposed, the bill would further blur the lines between suicide and euthanasia, since health care providers would be required to help a patient load the syringe with deadly medicine or insert a needle in their arm, thereby becoming more active participants in the act of suicide.” “Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary! | Newsroom | https://www.liveaction.org/news/oregon-governor-removing-assisted-suicide-safeguards/ | 2019-07-26 10:55:22+00:00 | 1,564,152,922 | 1,567,535,668 | society | values |
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