Text
Residential Care Home Policies and Procedures
Want to help older adults stay in their homes, where they feel most comfortable? We can provide all the information you need to start your own home care service and Residential Care Home Policies and Procedures. For more information, visit our website now.
#Residential Care Home Policies and Procedures#home care policies#policies and procedures in care home#care home policies and procedures#cqc policies and procedures in care homes#care home policies uk#supported living policies#16+ policies and procedures#home health care policies and procedures#care quality commission#cloud based document management system
0 notes
Text
Marvin Haynes, convicted in 2005 for the 2004 killing of a flower shop clerk in #Minneapolis, has been freed after the prosecutor's office requested his conviction be overturned, citing an unfair trial and a likely at-large killer. The move follows years of claims that Haynes was wrongfully convicted due to a flawed #police investigation. His defense argued that witnesses were coerced, exculpatory evidence was ignored, and improper procedures were followed in suspect lineups. The prosecutor's rare decision to seek the vacating of the conviction came after a thorough review of the case, acknowledging a "terrible injustice." Haynes, who maintained his innocence, was sentenced to life in prison at 16. The case against Haynes relied on the testimony of witnesses, including a cousin and a 14-year-old, whose reliability came into question in 2022 when affidavits were obtained suggesting coercion and inaccurate identifications. Minneapolis court found that suspect lineups were mishandled, violating policy. The release of Haynes, now 36, occurs as the Minneapolis #Police Department faces reforms following investigations into systemic discrimination and abuses, intensified after the #GeorgeFloyd killing in 2020. Haynes' sister, Marvina Haynes, who fought for his release, emphasized the broader impact of wrongful convictions on families and communities, stressing that the real killer might still be at large.
#white supremacy#racism#social justice#equality#end hate#anti-racism#racial equality#stop racism#no to hate#dismantle racism
257 notes
·
View notes
Text
The SUPERCOMMANDO CODEX - DRAFT
CONTENTS
Mandalorian Code Interpretation [link is found here]
Strength is Life
Honor is Life
Loyalty is Life
Death is Life
2. Honourable Conduct [link is found here]
Honour in self
Honour in the Community
Honour in the Galaxy
Honour Amongst Clan
Honour in Partnership
Honour in Leadership
Honour in Combat
3. Adoption Law [link is found here]
The Legal Definition of Foundling
Foundling Procedure
Disownment of Parent
Community Adoption
Adoption regarding criminal activities
Adoption regarding marital conditions
Adoption Consent
4. Marriage and Divorce [link is found here]
Spouse Definition
Spousal Privileges
Conditions for Legal Engagement
Consent and Age Restrictions
Conditions for Legal Marriage
Conditions for Legal Divorce
Children, Clan and House Considerations
5. Resolnare [link is found here]
The Six Tennent’s Broader accepted conditions
Way Followers Interpretation
Naasaade Interpretation and Redemption of Vows
Noncombatant Interpretations
The Mandalorian Healer’s Code
The Mandalorian Armourer's Code
Codes recognised in Conjunction
6. Clan and House [link is found here]
Definition of House
Responsibilities of House
Definition of Clan
Responsibilities of Clan
Requirements needed to be declared Alor of Clan
Requirements needed to be declared Alor of House
Requirements needed to be declared a Major House
7. Language Protectorate [link is found here]
Mando’a in Practice
Rights to change, add or remove words
Script usage and recognition in Mandalorian Space
8. The Position of Manda’lor [link is found here]
Requirements needed to be a candidate for Manda’lor
Responsibilities
Oversight
Commanding body
Restrictions, Compliance and Declarations of Misconduct
9. Education and Cultural development [link is found here]
The Education Responsibilities of Clans
The Education responsibilities of Schools and facilities
Freed Re-education programs and foundations
Religious and cultural rights within education systems
Parental rights throughout education
10. Electoral Process [link is found here]
The Court of Houses
The Sector Governors
The System Governors
The Astro Body Governors
District Electoral Members
Electoral Voters
Voting conditions
Overseers of the Ballot
Postal Elections
Voting Eligibility
Right and Responsibility
Conditions for Referendum, Re-election and Hung Parliamentary Votes
11. Court of Law
Family Court
Criminal Justice Court
Court of Appeal
Military Court
Financial and Business Court
Public Courts
12. Responsibility and due process
Parental Responsibility
Personal Responsibility
Political Responsibility
Financial Responsibility
Military Responsibility
Adoption Due Process
Engagement and Marriage Due Process
Divorce and Separation Due Process
Election Eligibility Due Process
Firearms Licensing Due Process
Verdgoten and Adult Graduation Due Process
Election Results Due Process
Parental Disownment Due Process
Clan and House Formation Due Process
13. Foreign interaction and policy
Foreign Ambassador acceptance
Externa; Ambassadors abroad
Foreign Currency and Exchange
Border Security
Digital Security and Programming Policy
Citizenship and Visa Acceptance
14. Employment within and outside of the sector
Legal age and parameters of employment
Contract and procedure for levels of employment
Foreign policy for Mando'ade working abroad
Foreign policy for outsiders working in Mandalore
15. Property and payment
Land ownership and tenancy
Forms of payment accepted in legal contract
Ownership and registration of vehicles
Ownership and registration of Firearms
Ownership and registration of Non-sentient Animals
Copyright, fair trade and artistic license
16. Beskar
Donations to Foundlings
Ownership
Sacred right to wear beskar as armour
Conditions for percentage declared
Rights to mine and export
Religious significance
17. Recognised Mandalorian Sects and Coverts
Traditionalists
Haat Mando’ade
Naasaade
Way Followers
Creed Bound
Silver Children
18. Armour and Weapon Classifications
Military Issue
Military Grade
Civilian Use
Hunter and Mercenary Equipment
Trade and Specialist Equipment
Journeyman, Protectorate
19. Criminal sentencing
Theft
Grievous bodily harm
Assault
Rape
Murder
Manslaughter
Negligence
Criminal Negligence
Medical Malpractice
War Crimes
Demagolkase - War Crimes against children
Sentient Trafficking and experimentation
Financial Misconduct and Tax Evasion
20. Military and Law Enforcement
Military
Mandalorian Protectors
Journeyman Protectors
Home Guard
Manda'yaim Reserve
21. Land Rights and Conservation
Land Ownership
Sale and Redistribution of land
Declaration of Sacred Places
Sector Council Lands, Protectorate Lands, Crown Lands and Stock Routes
Protected Areas
Water Ways
Tenancy, Lodging, and Temporary Accommodations
Public Areas
Squatters' Rights
Sanctioned and unsanctioned terraforming
22. Commerce, Business and Integrity
Currency and Zones
Business Licenses and Legal Procedure
External business practice
Monopoly businesses and Mega Businesses
Banking within the Sector
23. Discrimination [link is found here]
Species
Sex
Religious Interpretation
Language
Ability
24. Closing Statements
Manda'lor Jaster Mereel [link is found here]
The Translator
25. References
Regarding headcanons for Houses; [link is found here]
26. Contacts and Relevant Supervising Personnel of Note
[This post will be altered as I go, and as amendments are made]
#star wars#supercommando codex#true mandalorians#mandalorian codex#mandalorian culture#fandom#jaster mereel#ghost wrote this over my shoulder and screamed at my referencing#Jaster's 70k long legal document that changed the galaxy#autism my beloved#mandalorian language#mandalorian code#mandalorians#mandalore#haat mando’ade#haat'mando'ade#mandalorian canons of honour
399 notes
·
View notes
Text
STARR COUNTY, Texas — The Biden administration announced today that for the first time it will waive environmental, public health and cultural resource protection laws to fast-track construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Texas. The administration says it will take “immediate action to construct barriers and roads” along the border, including through fragile habitat near the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. “It’s disheartening to see President Biden stoop to this level, casting aside our nation’s bedrock environmental laws to build ineffective wildlife-killing border walls,” said Laiken Jordahl, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Starr County is home to some of the most spectacular and biologically important habitat left in Texas and now bulldozers are preparing to rip right through it. This is a horrific step backwards for the borderlands.” The waiver sweeps aside 26 laws that protect clean air, clean water, public lands, endangered wildlife and Indigenous grave sites. The announcement marks the first time the Biden administration has used the REAL ID Act waiver authority. “Every acre of habitat left in the Rio Grande Valley is irreplaceable,” said Jordahl. “We can’t afford to lose more of it to a useless, medieval wall that won’t do a thing to stop immigration or smuggling. President Biden’s cynical decision to destroy crucial wildlife habitat and seal the beautiful Rio Grande behind a grotesque border wall must be stopped.” Wall construction in Starr County could harm recovery plans for endangered ocelots, which depend on contiguous wildlife corridors of protected habitat along the Rio Grande. Two endangered plants, the Zapata bladderpod and prostrate milkweed, are endemic to the area and will likely also be threatened by wall construction with their protections stripped by the waiver. Last month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a damning report detailing the severe damage the border wall has caused to wildlife, public lands, and Indigenous sacred sites and burial grounds along the U.S.-Mexico border. Beyond jeopardizing wildlife, endangered species and public lands, the U.S.-Mexico border wall is part of a larger strategy of ongoing border militarization that damages human rights, civil liberties, native lands and international relations. The border wall impedes the natural migrations of people and wildlife that are essential to healthy diversity. Today’s action seeks to waive the following laws: 1. National Environmental Policy Act 2. Endangered Species Act 3. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 4. American Indian Religious Freedom Act 5. Federal Water Pollution Control Act 6. National Historic Preservation Act 7. Migratory Bird Treaty Act 8. Migratory Bird Conservation Act 9. Clean Air Act 10. National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act 11. Eagle Protection Act 12. National Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 13. Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 14. Archeological Resources Protection Act 15. Paleontological Resources Preservation Act 16. Safe Drinking Water Act 17. Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act 18. Noise Control Act 19. Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 20. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 21. Antiquities Act 22. Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act 23. Farmland Protection Policy Act 24. National Trails System Act 25. Administrative Procedure Act 26. Federal Land Policy and Management Act
(October 4th, 2023)
#death to america#borders#settler colonialism#colonialism#environment#biden#us politics#dhs#mexico#texas#my uploads#my uploads (unjank)
101 notes
·
View notes
Text
In the context of a turbulent and unsatisfying three years in office, the incredibly awful September in progress might rank as the three-party German government’s grimmest month yet. After elections in the east that issued record results for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party—another vote, in Brandenburg, looms on Sept. 22—the government is also reeling from the fallout of two Islamist terrorist attacks that left three dead and eight wounded. One of those attacks involved a Syrian asylum-seeker whose petition for protection in Germany had been denied; he had links to the fundamentalist Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
Now the government has announced its response: starting on Sept. 16, Germany will unilaterally impose border closures, for six months, on all nine of its borders with other European countries. Incoming foreign nationals will be screened according to arbitrary criteria, and rejected applicants will be forced onto Germany’s next-door neighbors.
Although some details remain unclear, Germany’s plan amounts to an unprecedented step. Eight of the neighboring countries are EU members, and all of them are part of the Schengen regime that guarantees freedom of movement across borders within the bloc and recognizes the right to political asylum. Meanwhile, Germany’s mainstream opposition party is demanding an even more severe policy—one that would essentially prevent the country from accepting any new asylum applicants onto its territory at all.
“Until we achieve strong protection of the EU’s external borders with the new common European asylum system, we must strengthen controls at our national borders,” said Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Faeser. Her proposal involves expedited procedures at the German frontiers to determine whether each person who arrives may enter and apply for political asylum.
According to Faeser, the planned border screenings will limit illegal migration and “protect against the acute dangers posed by Islamist terrorism and serious crime.” There will be more deportations during this period, she said, but they will conform to EU law. But some experts disagree. European law expert Alberto Alemanno, a professor of European law at HEC Paris, told the Guardian that the German controls “represent a manifestly disproportionate breach of the principle of free movement within the Schengen area.”
And Sergio Carrera, a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based think tank, told Foreign Policy that the border closures will most probably have a knock-on effect across the continent: “There’s the risk of these measures triggering a race to the bottom. Where’s the end point? We’re talking about rights that go to the very heart of what the EU is all about.”
The new measures at the German borders ratchet up pressure on European Union norms that are already strained. According to EU law, free movement within the bloc is guaranteed within the Schengen area, which encompasses most EU member countries (except Cyprus and Ireland) as well as Switzerland and Norway. Foreign nationals claiming political persecution have the right to apply for political protection in the country through which they enter the EU. But the bloc’s member countries may suspend Schengen’s guarantees in the case of “internal security concerns” as long as those concerns are proportional and legitimate and the suspensions temporary. Brussels must be briefed in advance.
Germany has had periodic border checks in place along the Austrian border since 2015—a response to the refugee crisis of 2015-16. Last year, in response to heightened migration flows, Germany established checks on its borders shared with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. In fact, across the European Union, member states have temporarily restricted internal border crossings 404 times since 2015, according to German daily Die Tageszeitung.
Germany’s move would take another step toward turning the exception policy of internal EU border checks into the rule, argued Christian Jacob of Die Tageszeitung. A European Parliament study issued last year claimed that this was already happening and that a “systematic lack of compliance with EU law” could undermine rule of law guarantees.
One result would almost certainly be a chain reaction across the bloc. Walter Turnowsky, a migration expert at Denmark’s Der Nordschleswiger, a German-language newspaper, fears exactly this. “Officially, the announced German border controls are also temporary, but ultimately the announcement means the end of free travel across the EU,” he said. “From now on, governments will claim: ‘Well, Germany controls its borders too,’” so they will do the same.
The new German measures aim to stop non-EU citizens who have already applied for asylum elsewhere in the bloc from entering Germany by bus, train, or car from Schengen zone neighbors. (Currently, only third-country nationals who have invalid papers or don’t intend to file for political asylum are refused entry.) Under the new measures, the migrants would be returned to the country where they entered the Schengen area and originally applied for asylum, which are usually one of the EU’s southern external border countries, such as Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, or Spain.
German border guards would detain the foreign nationals at the border—perhaps even in a kind of jail, apparently for no longer than five weeks—until their status can be verified. Foreign nationals who had not previously applied for asylum but who claim political persecution could then enter Germany and apply for protection, which German courts would rule on at a later date.
One of the looming questions is what criteria German police would invoke to screen those parties interested in entering the country. Since not every person traveling into Germany can be stopped, “it will be people who look different, regardless of citizenship,” said Carrera, of CEPS. “A certain racial appearance will make some people suspect. This is racial profiling, and it is illegal.”
Against the background of its fierce battle in eastern Germany with the AfD, Germany’s conservative opposition, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has opted to steal the other party’s thunder by endorsing measures very much like those of the far right—and until recently entirely taboo. Claiming that the government’s measures do not go nearly far enough, the CDU argues that no people—none at all—should be permitted to enter Germany in the absence of a visa or European passport.
This would de facto end the country’s commitment to offering asylum. In order to make this flagrant violation of international law at least appear to conform to EU regulations, under the CDU plan, Germany would declare a state of emergency as a result of internal security threats. This, the CDU believes, would legalize the across-the-board rejection of unwanted third-country nationals.
The proposal also goes a gigantic step beyond the limitation of movement in the EU, effectively eviscerating the right to political asylum.
“This kind of measure, and those the government are taking, will be investigated and could come before the EU court of justice,” Carrera said. “The EU will determine whether the security concerns really justify such a breach of EU law.” Other experts have said that Germany will not be able to prove that the recent attacks or the numbers of asylum-seekers—which have fallen this year—actually threaten the state’s internal security and thus justify (or indeed, are really aided by) these measures.
One of the many problems with the new German modus operandi: Neighboring states will have to accept people refused by Germany back onto their territory—and Austria, for one, which has general elections on Sept. 29 (and where polls indicate the situation for migrants is getting even worse, with a very strong showing of the far-right Freedom Party likely) said forget it, it won’t take them.
Poland is also up arms at the prospect of traffic jams at the borders that would obstruct commercial and private transportation. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the German move a “de facto suspension of the Schengen Agreement on a large scale.”
The Belgian daily Le Soir seems to hit the nail on the head: “With governments like this, there’s no need for the far right to be in power. The pressure of elections and the fear of extremes are causing those in power to run around like headless chickens, with migrants as the only means for decompression.”
EU expert Thu Nguyen, the deputy director of the Berlin-based Jacques Delors Centre, told Foreign Policy that unilateral decisions taken by Germany—the EU’s most populous state—are entirely unproductive. She noted that the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum, a set of new rules passed this year for managing migration and establishing a common asylum system at a bloc-wide level, addresses some of the concerns about immigration raised by Germany and other EU states, including by facilitating faster procedures for asylum applicants at the continent’s external borders.
After all, Germany—including the CDU’s parliamentary group in the EU, the European People’s Party (EPP)—was essential in drafting the pact, together with the 25 other EU member states. When the pact came in front of the European Parliament earlier this year, EPP parliamentarian Tomas Tobé said that “the absolute best way to help support a European migration policy is to be loyal to the whole migration pact.”
19 notes
·
View notes
Text
I want to address some comments that were made on one of my other posts. I've blurred their username and have already blocked them, so please don't go looking for them to harrass them over these statements.
I'm sure you can see the issue with these comments. I'm also half sure that this is a troll whose sole intent is to spread misinformation in and about the pro-choice movement. But honestly, with all the insanity out there (MAGA cult, anti-vaxxers), it's hard to differentiate between a troll and sincere belief.
This person claims that doctors who can still perform abortions are also doing those abortions at 30 weeks and are doing them without caring why the person wants one.
So, according to this person, you can walk into a doctor's office at 30 weeks pregnant and ask for an abortion, just because, and the doctor will do it, no questions asked.
Not only is this outrageous claim absolutely false, but it is also harmful to the pro-choice movement. It feeds into the anti-abortionists many conspiracy theories by framing it as something that the pro-choice movement supports.
So, let's look at facts.
The majority of abortions in the United States take place in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Abortions at later gestational durations are comparatively uncommon: only 1.0% of abortions take place at or after 21 weeks.
Not only is late-term abortions rare, but it's extremely difficult and expensive to achieve. Due to state level abortion bans, one would have to seek out a clinic that is able to perform such a late-term abortion. Then, take time off work, travel, and pay for accommodations and food. The costs can easily range from a few thousand to $25,000.
"Third‐trimester abortions typically take place over 3 days and can include laboring, which contributes to their high cost. Federal and state‐level bans on public insurance coverage in 34 states and regulation of or high deductibles in private insurance mean that most people must pay out‐of‐pocket for abortion care. Given research that finds that the out‐of‐pocket costs of a first‐trimester abortion strain the finances of many abortion patients, the cost of a third‐trimester abortion likely exceeds the financial capacity of most pregnant people."
Source
"In states without abortion bans or gestational bans before 22 weeks LMP, access to abortions later in pregnancy is often limited for many reasons, including viability bans, bans on certain abortion procedures, and a limited number of abortion providers who are trained or willing to provide abortions later in pregnancy."
"16 states that still allow abortions currently have laws restricting abortion at “viability” or at 24 weeks LMP / 3rd trimester, when viability is presumed to occur."
"Most of the 11 states that restrict abortions at “viability” define it as the point where a physician or other healthcare provider determines whether a fetus can survive outside the womb. Four of these states include language in their abortion policies defining viability as the point where there is a likelihood that the fetus could survive without the “application of extraordinary measures” and another three states have language clarifying the fetus could survive with or without extraordinary measures."
Source
TL;DR: It is extremely unlikely that a doctor is going to perform an abortion at 30 weeks without any questions asked.
#pro choice#pro life is anti women#stop project 2025#facebook memes are not a credible source#educate yourself#vote blue#maga morons#maga is a cult#fuck maga#fuck trump#maga cult#vote democrat
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
The truly sad thing is that TRAs are not going to take a moment for self reflection and look at the perverts that have overun the TQ+ movement. Instead they are going to lash out at "TERFs".
Judges have ruled that the UK government acted lawfully in blocking Scotland's gender self-ID reforms.
Legislation making it easier for people to change their legally-recognised sex was passed by the Scottish Parliament last year.
The UK government blocked it from becoming law over fears it would impact on equality laws across Great Britain.
The Court of Session in Edinburgh has now rejected a Scottish government legal challenge to the veto.
The Scottish government has 21 days to decide whether it wants to appeal against the ruling, and the case could ultimately end up in the Supreme Court in London.
The legislation received cross-party support in Holyrood, passing by 86 votes to 39 after a highly-charged debate.
Campaigners against the reforms warned the legislation could risk the safety of women and girls in same-sex spaces such as hospital wards and refuges.
Supporters argued it would make the process of obtaining a gender recognition certificate (GRC) easier and less traumatic for trans people.
The legislation would remove the need for trans people to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria by a doctor before they are allowed to change their legally-recognised sex in Scotland, and would lower the age that someone can apply for a GRC from 18 to 16.
The period in which applicants would need to have lived in their acquired gender would be cut from two years to three months.
The UK government stepped in to block the bill from receiving royal assent after it was passed by MSPs, using powers contained in section 35 of the Scotland Act for the first time.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack raised concerns that the reforms could adversely impact on the 2010 Equality Act, which applies in Scotland, England and Wales and sets out protections for groups including women and transgender people.
The Scottish government challenged the move at the Court of Session - Scotland's highest civil court - with its top law officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, arguing that Mr Jack did not have "reasonable grounds" to block the bill.
Ms Bain also claimed that if the UK government was successful, Westminster "could veto practically any act of the Scottish Parliament having an impact on reserved matters because he disagreed with it on policy grounds".
But in her written ruling, judge Lady Haldane dismissed the Scottish government's appeal and said the block on the legislation was lawful.
She said Mr Jack followed correct legal procedures when he made his decision to invoke section 35 and that the Scottish government had failed to show that he had made legal errors.
The judge wrote: "I cannot conclude that he (Mr Jack) failed in his duty to take such steps as were reasonable in all the circumstances to acquaint himself with material sufficient to permit him to reach the decision that he did."
Lady Haldane also said that "Section 35 does not, in and of itself, impact on the separation of powers or other fundamental constitutional principle. Rather it is itself part of the constitutional framework."
Welcoming the judgement, Mr Jack said it "upholds my decision to prevent the Scottish government's gender recognition legislation from becoming law".
He added: "I was clear that this legislation would have had adverse effects on the operation of the law as it applies to reserved matters, including on important Great Britain-wide equality protections.
"Following this latest court defeat for the Scottish government, their ministers need to stop wasting taxpayers' money pursuing needless legal action and focus on the real issues which matter to people in Scotland - such as growing the economy and cutting waiting lists."
Alister Jack blocked the legislation because of its potential impact on equalities law that applies across Scotland, England and Wales
Humza Yousaf decided to proceed with the legal challenge shortly after succeeding Nicola Sturgeon - a passionate supporter of trans rights - as first minister earlier this year.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he described the ruling as a "dark day for devolution".
Mr Yousaf said: "Today's judgment confirms beyond doubt that devolution is fundamentally flawed. The court has confirmed that legislation passed by a majority in Holyrood can be struck down by Westminster.
"The only way to guarantee we get true self-government is through independence. Sovereignty should lie with the people of Scotland, not a Westminster government we didn't vote for with the ability to overrule our laws."
He was the only one of the three candidates in the SNP leadership contest who backed taking legal action and the issue has been deeply divisive within the party.
Colin Macfarlane, director of nations at LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, said the ruling would "mean more uncertainty for trans people in Scotland who will be waiting once again to see whether they will be able to have their gender legally recognised through a process that is in line with leading nations like Ireland, Canada and New Zealand."
Labour's shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray said it was "disappointing this legalisation ended in the courts but this ruling should be respected".
Shortly after the reforms were passed, double rapist Isla Bryson - who changed gender after being arrested for attacking two women - was remanded to a women's jail.
Bryson was subsequently moved to a male prison after the case sparked widespread anger. The Scottish government said the new legislation had no impact on the decision about where Bryson was held.
As befitting an unprecedented case, this is in Lady Haldane's words a "novel and complex" ruling.
She actually concluded in part that this is a situation where many decisions could have been taken, and that "there is possibly no single right answer" - but that the courts should only intervene in the case of a clear error in law.
The judge concluded that Alister Jack was entitled to make a decision on this, and that he had taken the proper steps to come to a view, without going into the even knottier territory of whether it was the right one.
All of that complexity means there could be room for appeal.
The Scottish government will be combing through the ruling to see if there are grounds to go back to court.
Mr Jack has urged them not to, telling them not to waste public funds on further legal action.
But ministers will perhaps put more weight on the position of the Scottish Greens, their partners in government, who are absolutely furious about the "horrible, heartbreaking and unjust" outcome.
Challenging UK ministers on this has been a red line for the Greens in the past. It may be that Scottish ministers have little choice but to fight on if they are to keep their partnership government together.
#UK#scotland#Gender self ID laws#Court of Session in Edinburgh#TRAs want to make it easier for people as young as 16 to legally change their gender#The time spent being required to socially transition first would be reduced from 2 years to a mere three months#Three months would be a honeymoon period#2010 Equality Act
31 notes
·
View notes
Text
By: Marc Home
Published: Jun 29, 2024
Alan Cumming and Miriam Margolyes join secular society campaign that says policy breaches UN convention on children’s rights
Scotland’s policy of funding religious circumcision through the NHS will breach new human rights legislation and must be scrapped, campaigners have claimed.
The Scottish health service is the only one in the UK that allows for non-medical ritual operations to be paid for and carried out at NHS hospitals.
The National Secular Society, which has the backing of the actors Miriam Margolyes and Alan Cumming, insists that genital cutting is incompatible with the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.
The legislation, which was incorporated by the Scottish parliament and will come into force on July 16, stipulates that no one should be “subjected to unnecessary medical or surgical treatment during infancy or childhood” and that children’s “bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination” must be protected.
“The government in Edinburgh has set out the lofty aspiration of making Scotland the best place in the world to grow up,” said Alejandro Sanchez, a former NHS doctor who is the human rights spokesman for the society, which campaigns against religious privilege. “How do they plan to reconcile that with a state-sanctioned programme of ritual genital cutting? The legislation will introduce a public sector duty not to act incompatibly with the convention. It will be extremely interesting to see what happens when it comes into force.”
Sanchez insisted that children are incapable of giving consent to harmful, painful and medically unnecessary procedures. “Ritual circumcision is dangerous, irreversible, violates the child’s right to bodily autonomy and deprives adults of important erogenous tissues,” he said.
“The NHS notes that individuals experience a permanent reduction in sensation as a complication of this procedure. It’s completely at odds with child safeguarding norms which rightly demand that the most vulnerable are afforded the greatest protections. It is absurd that it is illegal to tattoo a child under 18 but legal to surgically excise the most sensitive part of their penis.”
[ Miriam Margolyes, who is Jewish, and Alan Cumming say circumcision is “mutilation” and “ridiculous” ]
Since 2008 the NHS in Scotland has allowed religious circumcisions to be carried out in hospitals by trained paediatric surgeons under general anaesthetic. In England and Wales the NHS will only perform circumcision on boys for medical reasons.
Margolyes, 83, who played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films and has appeared in Blackadder and Doctor Who, has lent her support to the society. “I will always be Jewish but the practice of circumcision is one I can no longer support,” she said. “You are mutilating a child.”
Cumming, 59, who was born in Perthshire, has described non-medical circumcision as “ridiculous”. He said: “I am horrified that it is happening with so little discussion or forethought about the dangers and the impact on the future lives of the little boys involved.”
The Humanist Society Scotland, whose celebrants conducted three times more weddings than the Church of Scotland and Catholic churches combined north of the border in 2022, called for the NHS to reconsider the policy. “Children are not the property of their parents to mark as they wish for ritual reasons,” said Fraser Sutherland, its chief executive.
“The NHS should not be funding non-medical circumcision for religious reasons. This is especially true for patients that are not able to consent to the procedure due to their young age. NHS Boards providing such a procedure need to review how they are considering the child’s best interests when making such decisions.”
However, Shiban Ahmed, a consultant paediatric surgeon who works in Liverpool, has claimed that carrying out circumcisions outside of hospitals by individuals who are not properly trained can cause far greater problems. He has operated on more than 20 boys whose genitals were damaged by botched private operations.
“I believe that the operation should either be performed safely or it should not be done at all,” Ahmed said. “The NHS guidelines for the hospital operation are the minimum standards of care for medical circumcisions.”
In the UK fewer than 9 per cent of males are circumcised, with the majority being Muslim or Jewish. This contrasts starkly with the United States where more than 80 per cent of males are circumcised, mostly for non-religious reasons.
In Jewish practices, circumcision is performed at eight days old, while in Islamic practice it is encouraged to take place before puberty.
The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities said it supported the provision of NHS circumcisions, but stressed that procedures were largely carried out by “our own highly trained experts”. A spokesman said: “Brit milah, literally the ���covenant of circumcision’, of a baby boy is one of the most fundamental tenets of Judaism. “It is practised almost universally amongst Jewish people worldwide, no matter what their level of religious commitment.”
The Muslim Council of Scotland and the Muslim Council of Britain did not respond to requests for comment.
The Scottish government declined to comment on the suggestion that religious circumcisions would be incompatible with the incorporation of the UN convention. A spokesman said: “In Scotland religious circumcision is carried out in one of the four paediatric centres by trained paediatric surgeons, under general anaesthesia, as part of a regulated NHS system. NHS guidelines on how male circumcision should be performed have been in place since 2008 to ensure procedures are carried out safely.”
Female genital mutilation has been illegal in Scotland and the rest of the UK since 1985.
[ Via: https://archive.today/I5QDl ]
==
Once again, the US is an outlier.
#Marc Home#religion#Miriam Margolyes#Alan Cumming#religious mutilation#circumcision#genital cutting#genital mutilation#male genital mutilation#female genital mutilation#superstitions#religion is a mental illness
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
WHY the media is focused on Biden's Debate Performance
There we are, that's why the media is centering so much on the Biden 1st debate performance to the exclusion of so much else:
With calls to replace Biden growing within the Democratic Party, and leading members openly discussing the prospect, the fact that the Heritage Foundation, arguably the GOP’s ideological engine, has already been preparing to thwart any such plans is worrying. According to the memo, the key states of Wisconsin, Nevada, and Georgia are where legal action to keep Biden on the ballot could pay off.
Something smells very off about this timing.
The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project began researching the laws for replacing a president in several battleground states about four months ago, putting together a report in April and releasing it before Thursday’s debate disaster, according to NOTUS.
4 months before the debate. And the head of the Oversight Project is the same guy who started Project 2025. Issuing a memo on the report 6 days before the debate.
From the memo:
Three of the expected six most contested states have some potential for pre-election litigation aimed at exasperating, with legitimate concerns for election integrity, the withdrawal process for a presidential candidate.
[...]
Important caveats include the timeline and triggering events. For example, some states allow withdrawal before the 74th day before an election,[12]and failure to adhere to these timelines can result in the candidate’s name remaining on the ballot[13](which provides its own corollary of post-election litigation).
[...]
There is also the possibility that states will be complicit in an improper withdrawal or substitution.
[...]
Much will come down to when Biden withdraws, what procedures he does or does not follow, and the operating state law timelines and triggering events. However, at least 31 states defer to state or national party rules and committees for nominating in the event of withdrawal.[16] These states circumvent the substitution process highlighted above. There may be some avenues for challenges to these laws on improper delegation grounds, however, these may be marginally beneficial. There is also the issue of applicability. In some of these states there are no statutes that deal with presidential candidate withdrawal or vacancy in nominations, or the laws only operate at the primary election. Even more, there is little caselaw determining when these statutes apply. Some of the extant cases do address applying these withdrawal statutes to different fact patterns than those contemplated by the statutory text, such as withdrawal of independent presidential candidates[17]or congressional candidates.[18] Yet, this confusion may be its own source of litigation.
In other words: get Biden off the ballot, and there is legal precedent in some places to prevent his replacement, and locking Biden on it. Meaning the vote is effectively nullified, it legally won't count even if it is marked correctly. And in many more states the law is unclear meaning it can be pushed out of the election system, where Republican voters are outnumbered by non-Republican voters, and into the court system that has been staffed, bought, and paid for by MAGA supporters such as, for example: Federalist society member U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (appointed by Trump in), Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (who has accepted at least 4 million in bribes that we know of), and (real estate magnate and Republican megadonor) Harlan Crow (Who has been bribing Justice Thomas for years).
According to Rolling stone:
A senior source involved with Donald Trump’s 2024 effort to win the presidency and another person working with the Heritage-based Project 2025 (the conservative policy agenda project) tell Rolling Stone that the point of these legal attack plans and potential blitz of challenges isn’t necessarily to win. A key point, the sources say, would be to weigh down the Democratic nominee, the national party, and their legal and political allies in as many unique court battles and sideshows as possible — so that the Democratic Party would have to waste resources and time on those matters when liberals would want to be laser-focused on, say, the battleground states that will likely decide whether Trump returns to power. Team Biden — or Team whoever — is going to be getting hit on all sides between now and Election Day,” the first source says. “Every legal and political weapon is on the table.” Still, the sources add, they do generally feel more confident in their legal theories than in the past, since Trump stacked the judiciary with right-wing jurists. Rolling Stone spoke Wednesday night with Mike Howell, a former Trump Homeland Security Department official who is now executive director at the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, which is spearheading the effort to prevent Democrats from replacing Biden. “President Biden today said he is the nominee, and I think the media has missed the importance of such a statement … If he, in those statements, is legally arguing that he is the nominee, I think that should be read as him circumventing the formal convention process,” he argued. “And Biden’s doing so has tremendous legal implications and statutory impact for states that specifically point to the DNC for who shows up on the ballot as the party’s nominee.”
So, damned either way. Ideally, it sounds like, there will be a failed attempt to replace Biden so it can be tried in the court both ways. And in both the literal courts and the court of public opinion, which is why Trump is having a go at George Clooney.
I swear, at this point, I'm half waiting for the furry hackers that hit Howell to reveal he blackmailed someone on Biden's staff to spike his cold medicine. I know that isn't what happened. It's simply being ready. Still: damned convenient.
9 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi!!! I love your blog so much, especially your weekly summaries-- they are just so helpful! I was wondering if you know of any Bls with the military/policemen/fire fighters? I know military service is mandatory in thailand and south korea so I was wondering if there were any Bls that have one the main characters in the military (or police, firefighters etc.) Thanks so so much!
Hi!!! Thank you!
BL BADGE BUNNIES ACTIVATED!
Sure thing. There are a few, not many. Countries with conscription policies (e.g. Korea & Thailand) usually have a defacto ban on realistic/non-positive representation of military service in their media. In other words, BL by its nature (gay in military) stays away from this setting.
BLs in uniform (featuring military/policemen/fire fighter romances)
A Tale of Thousand Stars Thai 2021 YouTube (ranger) - With great casting and cinematography this drama nods at BL tropes but manages to elevate them (and itself) with a strong mature story concept about a spoiled rich kid who gets a heart transplant and becomes a teacher it order to pay out survivor’s guilt. On the way he falls in love with a local park ranger and contends with his own classism and escapist tendencies. Everyone seemed to perfectly suit their roles and GMMTV made the most out of its stable. Combined with excellent production (and post production) values, 1000 Stars is without question GMMTV’s most mature, charming, and smart BL series. I think it should go down as one of the top BLs of all time. I feel safe recommending this one to friends and non BL watchers. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
HIStory 3: Trapped Taiwan 2019 Viki (cop) - Basically the definition of enemies to lovers from Lin Pei Yu. This is a cop + the mafia man he is chasing but WAIT, they fall in love. Added bonus side couple: assassin and nerd cop ALSO falling in love. It’s great. All the leads are stellar. Its high heat, fun action, and a bit of a mystery drama but pretty about all of it. My only warning is that the main couple doesn’t entirely end up together, it’s implied, but… amorphous ending. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Your Name Engraved Herein Taiwan 2020 Netflix? (army, recent history) - This movie is fantastic but it is also seriously depressing, it’s a self acceptance journey, but if you wanna wallow in high quality acting and serious gay drama, this’ll do it. MIXED REC, NOT FOR SPECIFICALLY BL FANS
S.C.I. AKA SCI Mysteries China/Hong Kong 2018 YouTube? (censored bromance, cops) - This is a police procedural with a censored main couple of police investigators who live together basically as husbands, it’s just not talked about. This is one of the first BLs I ever saw (I found their relationship very confusing). RECOMMENDED
Guardian China 2018 grey (censored bromance, cop) - Episodic urban fantasy meets police procedural, one of the most epic long term pinings in the history of long term pinings. RECOMMENDED
Light Taiwan 2021 Gaga (cop) - Ironically titled movie about a street hustler (incest, rape, abuse survivor - all depicted on screen) who falls in (and in love with) an undercover cop. TRIGGERS
Shorts & Sides
A First Love Story Korea 2021 YouTube & Gaga (military service) - Strongberry are true masters of their craft and yet A First Love Story is still one of the best things they have ever produced. It’s the only microfilm ever to make one of my year end top ten list. It’s two episodes of about 8 minutes each that manage to perfectly portray the sweetest friends-to-lovers confession ever. It’s joyful, and gentle with its characters, and a little hot. How on earth do they manage to leave us yearning for more yet completely satisfied at the same time? It’s like the perfect amuse-bouche, that one finger food at that one cocktail party that you will never forget. You are a ridiculous human if you haven’t spent 16 minutes with these two boys. Go watch it now. Or go watch it again. It’s time VERY well spent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Just Friends? Korea 2009 Gaga (military service) - Boyfriends, one of whom is on military leave, trying to decide on coming out and the future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
(also one of Korea's first BLs, they would NOT stick to this style, it's way more Taiwan feeling.)
The Immeasurable Taiwan 2021 Gaga (cop) - Police officer falls in love with a student who turns out to be an anti-establishment activist. MIXED REC
DanYok side couple in Not Me (cop)
I've left out bodyguards and historicals (or both).
I've left out the super dark, unhappy, violent, rapey, and pinks, because... I don't like 'em, and you asked me... so...
Now you know why the BL adaptation I want more than ANYTHING is Decedents of the Sun, soldier+healer but GAY? Come on, it writes itself!
(source)
#asked and answered#military bl#police bl#bl badge bunnies#Thai BL#Taiwanese Bl#Korean bl#A Tale of Thousand Stars#earthmix#HIStory 3: Trapped#rakutan viki#gagaoolala#Your Name Engraved Herein#SCI Mysteries#chinese bromance#A First Love Story#Strongberry#DanYok#Decedents of the Sun but make it gay you cowards
114 notes
·
View notes
Text
But politicians, seizing on some evidence of antisemitic displays at pro-Palestinian protests to link Muslims and migrants with antisemitism, have taken the opportunity to advance an anti-migrant agenda. When Mr. Scholz was asked about antisemitism among people “with Arab roots” in an October interview, he said Germany needed to sort out more precisely who is allowed to come into the country and who is not. “We are limiting irregular migration,” Mr. Scholz pronounced, before adding a little later, “We must finally deport on a large scale.”
Several other high-ranking politicians have also pushed the need for stricter border controls in the aftermath of Oct. 7. Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition Christian Democrats, spoke out against taking in refugees from Gaza, claiming that Germany already has “enough antisemitic young men in the country.” Christian Lindner, the finance minister and head of the center-right Free Democratic Party, called for a fundamental change in immigration policy to “reduce the appeal of the German welfare state.”
Mr. Lindner soon got his way. In early November, after months of intense discussions, the federal government and the 16 state governors agreed on stricter measures to curb the number of migrants entering the country. Asylum seekers now receive less cash and have to wait twice as long to get on welfare, taking even more autonomy away from their lives. According to the new plan, Germany will also extend its border checks, speed up asylum procedures and look into the idea of offshoring asylum centers.
Worryingly, antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in recent weeks. Yet it is troubling that Germany, of all places, should frame antisemitism as an imported problem. Crime statistics show that a vast majority of antisemitic crimes are committed by right-wing extremists and not by Islamists, let alone migrants or Muslims. Germany’s leaders, aided by major media figures, are using the fight against antisemitism as a pretext to encourage racist resentment and anti-migrant sentiment.
this is so worrying
22 notes
·
View notes
Text
Sample Policies and Procedures for Home Care Agency
Home Care Agency Policies and Procedures is an essential guide for the home health aide who wants to establish a quality home care agency. Our Sample Policies and Procedures for Home Care Agency are intended to ensure that an organisation fulfils its responsibilities and provides quality care to clients. To learn more about our services, visit us now.
#Sample Policies and Procedures for Home Care Agency#cqc policies and procedures in care homes#care home policies and procedures#home care policies#16+ policies and procedures#care home policies uk#cloud based document management system#home health care policies and procedures
0 notes
Text
A father of two young children hopes a lawsuit will lead to more transparency and improve student outcomes in Baltimore's embattled public school system.
"I'm all for funding schools," Jovani Patterson, told Fox News. "However, you don't just keep giving money without investigation on where the money has gone, especially with the amount of corruption and misuse of funds that have taken place for years in Baltimore City."
Patterson and his wife allege the school system misused taxpayer funds, reported ghost students — children not actually enrolled — in order to gain more funding, falsified pupils' records to push failing students through to graduation and more. Their suit names Baltimore City School Board of Commissioners, city council and Mayor Brandon Scott as defendants.
"It's all about power and control," Patterson said of the school system. "There's a lot of money in education."
That's $1.62 billion a year in Baltimore City Public Schools, to be exact. Baltimore has the fourth-highest funded large school system in the nation, behind only New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. Charm City's school budget increased 16% this school year, according to the city.
All that money — approximately $21,600 per student — isn't adding up to better outcomes. Baltimore had the lowest graduation rate across Maryland during the last school year. At one high school, 77% of students read at an elementary or kindergarten level.
And in February, FOX45's Project Baltimore broke the news that 23 schools had zero students score proficient on a state math exam. The state then removed the data and re-uploaded a heavily-redacted version.
"I think that they're trying to hide that the public school system is in worse shape than we thought," a whistleblower who previously worked in the Maryland State Department of Education told Project Baltimore.
Patterson agreed, telling Fox News "there's clearly a cover-up going on here."
"There's clearly things that we see that they don't want the people of the public to know when it comes to educating our kids," he said.
The question is simple for Patterson: Should Baltimore City students receive a good education?
"If you believe the answer to that is yes, then you should be joined in with this lawsuit as well," he said.
Baltimore's education woes are uniting people across the political spectrum. Patterson made an unsuccessful bid for city council president as a Republican in 2020. But prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump has joined his lawsuit.
"If you don’t get a quality education, often times you find yourself a victim of the school-to-prison pipeline," Crump told FOX45. "Hopefully, with this lawsuit, we can get it right and that way it can help make – not just Baltimore better – but it can help make cities across America better."
A spokesperson for Baltimore City Public Schools called the Pattersons’ lawsuit "meritless because it fails to identify a current controversy justifying judicial intervention" in an email to Fox News.
"Even if the plaintiffs’ lawsuit identified current concerns with City School policies or procedures, there is a robust local, state, and federal infrastructure to handle these types of issues," the spokesperson continued, adding that "City Schools stands ready to demonstrate our steadfast commitment to providing a quality education to all students."
The legal process could drag on for years, according to Patterson's attorney. A judge allowed the case to move into the discovery and deposition phase late last year after denying the city and school system's request to dismiss the suit.
But Patterson said he's in it for the long haul.
"Someone has to stay and fight," he said. "I met my wife here, [had] both of my kids here, I was born here, bought my first house here. I planted my flag. So I'm going to fight as long and as hard as I can."
To see the full interview with Patterson, click here.
87 notes
·
View notes
Text
Daunte Demetrious Wright (October 27, 2000 - April 11, 2021) tragically lost his life during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. He was born in Minneapolis to parents Katie Wright and Aubrey Wright. He had two siblings and attended Patrick Henry High School in 2019 before dropping out.
Officer Kimberly Potter attempted to arrest him on an outstanding warrant. A struggle ensued, she discharged her service pistol at close range, striking him in the chest. She claimed to have intended to use her Taser, a statement underscored by her shouts of “Taser! Taser! Taser!” before the fatal shot.
He managed to drive away, only to collide with another vehicle and a concrete barrier. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident ignited widespread outrage, starting in Brooklyn Center and rapidly spreading across the state and the nation. Both Potter and Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon resigned.
Potter was convicted of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter, leading to a 16-month jail sentence. His family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the City of Brooklyn Center for $3.25 million. A passenger in his car, injured in the collision, settled a civil suit with the city for $350,000.
His death catalyzed a movement for change. The Brooklyn Center Police Department revised its policy on arresting individuals for misdemeanor offenses and the city council introduced alternative public safety measures. His death led to changes in Taser procedures and other policing policies, not only in Minnesota but across the country.
The City of Brooklyn Center established a public memorial site. Located at the intersection of 63rd Avenue North and Kathrene Drive. This location is significant as it is where they were pulled over, and the fatal incident occurred. The memorial design includes a small granite plaza, a portrait of him, a plaque, and a planter adorned with symbols significant to him. It references a makeshift fist sculpture that had long stood at the site, symbolizing the enduring impact of his life and the movement his death sparked. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #blm
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
The medical transitioning of children has become one of the most controversial and polarising issues of our time. For some, it is a medical scandal. For others, life-saving treatment.
So, when hundreds of messages were leaked from an internal forum of doctors and mental health workers from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, it was bound to spark interest. WPATH describes itself as an “interdisciplinary professional and educational organisation devoted to transgender health”. Most significantly, it produces standards of care (SOC) which, it claims, articulate “professional consensus” about how best to help people with gender dysphoria.
Despite its grand title, WPATH is neither solely a professional body – a significant proportion of its membership are activists – nor does it represent the “world” view on how to care for this group of people. There is no global agreement on best practice. The leaked messages (and the odd recording) – dubbed the WPATH files – are disturbing. In one video, doctors acknowledge that patients are sometimes too young to fully understand the consequences of puberty blockers and hormones for their fertility. “It’s always a good theory that you talk about fertility preservation with a 14-year-old, but I know I’m talking to a blank wall,” one Canadian endocrinologist says.
WPATH’s president, Dr Marci Bowers, comments on the impact of early blocking of puberty on sexual function in adulthood. “To date,” she writes, “I’m unaware of an individual claiming ability to orgasm when they were blocked at Tanner 2.” Tanner stage 2 is the beginning of puberty. It can be as young as nine in girls.
Elsewhere, there are extraordinary discussions on how to manage “trans clients” with dissociative identity disorder (what used to be called multiple personality disorder) when “not all the alters have the same gender identity”. Surgeons talk about procedures that result in bodies that don’t exist in nature: those with both sets of genitals – the “phallus-preserving vaginoplasty”; double mastectomies that don’t have nipples; “nullification” surgery, where there are no genitals at all, just smooth skin. And doctors discuss the possibility that 16-year-old patients have liver cancer as the result of taking hormones. The problem is not necessarily the discussions themselves, but that the organisation is not so open when speaking publicly.
The views of WPATH matter to the UK. For years, the organisation and its SOC have been cited as a source of “best practice” for trans healthcare by numerous medical bodies, including the British Medical Association and the General Medical Council – and still is. The Royal College of Psychiatrists refers to WPATH in its own recommendations for care.
Most relevant is that WPATH is cited as “good practice” in the current service specifications underpinning youth and adult gender clinics in England and Scotland, albeit in both cases it is WPATH’s previous SOC that is mentioned. The most recent version does away with all age limits from the beginning of puberty for hormones and surgical interventions, other than female to male genital surgery, and contains a chapter on eunuchs.
Several staff at England’s NHS adult gender clinics are not just members of WPATH (one is the former president), but authors of that current SOC. So too was Susie Green, the former boss of the young people’s charity Mermaids; a lack of medical expertise does not exclude either membership of WPATH or the power to influence policy.
England’s only NHS children’s gender clinic – the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) at London’s Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust – will close its doors at the end of March, having been earmarked for closure since July 2022. But the 2016 service specification still underpinning Gids states that “the service will be delivered in line with” WPATH 7. While Gids was generally more cautious than other WPATH practitioners, clinicians I spoke to for my book, Time to Think, also relayed how young people claiming to have multiple personalities, or who identified with another race, could be referred for puberty blockers.
Gids staff have also presented at WPATH conferences for the past decade, including the most recent, held in 2022. This doesn’t imply agreement with WPATH’s principles, but association with the group becomes harder to justify as its views become more extreme.
It is difficult to see how the Department of Health’s assertion that NHS England “moved away from WPATH guidelines more than five years ago” holds.
What is true is that there is no mention of WPATH in updated guidance that will underpin the new youth gender services opening on 1 April. What’s more, NHS England has made it clear that WPATH’s views are irrelevant to its core recommendation that puberty blockers will no longer be available as part of routine clinical practice.
There is a battle raging over how best to care for children and young people struggling with their gender identity, with ever increasing numbers of European countries choosing to take a more cautious, less medical, approach after finding the evidence base underpinning those treatments to be wanting. NHS England insists that new services will operate in accordance with recommendations of the independent Cass review, and that it is well placed to develop policies “in line with clinical evidence and expertise”. But it won’t be easy. There is already discussion among professionals working in gender services planning a pushback against Cass’s as yet unpublished final recommendations.
It was difficult for Gids to stand up to external pressures, allowing the care it offered to suffer. At the same time, NHS England failed in its duty to provide proper oversight. Both they and those in charge of the new services must do better if they are to avoid the mistakes of the past. Without proper, evidence-based guidance on what good practice looks like, organisations like WPATH will continue to have influence.
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
What the latest failed Sarmat test means for Russia’s missile development and nuclear brinkmanship
Available evidence indicates that a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile exploded and destroyed its launch silo during a test last week. Open-source-intelligence researchers and professional weapons experts say satellite images show the results of a powerful blast at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, likely caused by the failed test of an RS-28 Sarmat rocket. NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System has also provided data that confirm a fire on the Sarmat launch pad. For a better grasp of the accident’s probable causes and consequences, Meduza spoke to Maxim Starchak, an expert on Russian nuclear policy and strategic weapons and a fellow at Queen’s University’s Center for International and Defense Policy.
What could have caused the missile explosion?
Sarmat missiles rely on heptyl-based liquid fuel that is “toxic, explosive, and fire-hazardous.” Starchak listed five possible explanations for last week’s launch failure:
The explosion could have occurred during fuel loading if some procedures were overlooked.
The explosion could also have happened during fuel unloading after technicians detected a problem and aborted the launch.
Design flaws could have caused a leak during the rocket’s launch preparation, leading to contact between the fuel and flammable vapors.
The first-stage engine could have exploded immediately after ignition or launch.
Commands to start the engine might have failed, causing the rocket to fall back to Earth, exploding and destroying the silo.
Following Russia’s only successful Sarmat launch in April 2022, Roscosmos's testing capabilities should have made another four to five test launches possible since then. If any of these had worked out, the world would have heard from the Russian Defense Ministry or the international experts who monitor missile launches.
Starchak told Meduza that the missile’s apparent technical shortcomings are less serious than the destruction of the launch silo. Restoration work (or the construction of an entirely new silo) will take months or even years, “significantly delaying the Sarmat’s testing program,” which will leave Russia without a “technically ready” heavy missile for a long time. The Sarmat’s predecessor, the “Voyevoda” strategic missile system developed in coordination with Ukrainian designers, hasn’t flown for more than a decade.
The Sarmat isn’t the game-changing weapon the Kremlin says it is
In theory, Sarmat missiles can carry up to 16 independently targetable nuclear warheads, as well as “Avangard” hypersonic glide warheads. They are silo-based missiles intended to be deployed in two Strategic Missile Forces divisions based in towns in the Orenburg and Krasnoyarsk regions. The Russian military ordered the start of serial production in 2022 and made the missiles formally operational a year later, but no Strategic Missile Forces regiment is yet armed with the new weapons.
Starchak said the Sarmat is fundamentally overkill — “like shooting sparrows with a cannon” — and would still fulfill its nuclear deterrence tasks even with weaker specifications. He attributed the Sarmat’s hurried development and adoption to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which ended the cooperation with the Ukrainian design bureau that worked on Voyevoda missiles. “Obviously, no one wanted to take responsibility for the Voyevoda, and the development of the Sarmat also meant additional funding,” Starchak explained.
Concerning nuclear deterrence, Sarmat missiles change nothing, he added. According to Russia’s space agency, Moscow plans to produce 46 of these rockets (plus a few extras for testing) — exactly the number needed to replace its Voyevoda arsenal.
The escalation to nuclear war
More than a year ago, Starchak told Meduza that Vladimir Putin’s escalatory rhetoric on nuclear weapons was more a bluff than an imminent threat. Asked about the Kremlin’s more recent bluster and Russia’s Sarmat tests, Starchak said his assessment is unchanged. “Nuclear weapons are not used in a vacuum; they are an escalatory measure in response to something,” he told Meduza. “Escalation is a two-sided process. The fact that the Kremlin and its supporters bring up nuclear weapons doesn’t actually change anything.”
According to Starchak, Russian nuclear escalation would trigger U.S. responses. Instead, when Moscow conducts exercises of its strategic and non-strategic nuclear forces, patrols the borders of Western countries with bombers and submarines, moves nuclear weapons to Belarus, and suspends its participation in the New START treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Washington says that Russia isn’t doing anything out of the ordinary — “nothing it hasn’t done before” — and doesn’t adjust its nuclear policy. “Since the U.S. isn’t responding to the escalation,” Starchak told Meduza, “the escalation isn’t happening, and nuclear weapons are not being introduced into the conflict, no matter how much Russia might want it.”
At the same time, said Starchak, Russia’s provocative actions are, in fact, cautiously crafted to avoid unpredictable escalation: “It does not load nuclear missiles onto strategic bombers for patrol missions, does not return tactical nuclear weapons to naval carriers, and has not resumed nuclear testing.”
On the subject of escalation risks in possible changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, Starchak warned that controversial military actions that don’t rely on nukes are already being debated in the West (authorization for Ukraine’s long-range strikes inside Russia) and Moscow (targeting Ukraine’s supply locations on NATO territory).
3 notes
·
View notes