eveningstandard--2019-03-19--New Tottenham Stadium Fans fear being priced out of watching Spurs long term

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.


eveningstandard--2019-03-19--New Tottenham stadium Spurs Legends revealed for test event vs Inter Milan

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."


eveningstandard--2019-03-20--New Tottenham stadium Mauricio Pochettino to appear as special guest at first test event

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.


eveningstandard--2019-03-21--New Tottenham stadium Finishing touches applied to 1bn venue ahead of first test event

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...


eveningstandard--2019-03-21--New Tottenham stadium Spurs hope Paul Gascoigne will play in Legends match vs Inter Milan

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.


eveningstandard--2019-03-22--New Tottenham Stadium fixtures Every game at the new ground before the summer

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.


liveaction--2019-09-16--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!


liveaction--2019-09-30--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!


liveaction--2019-11-01--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!


pamelagellerreport--2019-12-29--The collective suicide of progressives

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.


sputnik--2019-02-20--Burberry in Hot Blunder Over Suicide Hoodie Noose Amid Twitter Fashion Fury

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'


thesun--2019-03-25--Prince William will write to family of tragic teen Molly Russell who committed suicide after viewing

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.


thesun--2019-05-15--Barber scarred by dads suicide after secret depression battle now helps clients open up

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.


yahoonews--2019-06-20--Assisted suicide Mercy or malpractice

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?


liveaction--2019-05-30--Its pornography California approves controversial new sex ed curriculum

‘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!


theguardianuk--2019-01-10--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.


conservativehome--2019-06-26--Benedict Rogers Character values and dignity Why I am voting for Hunt

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.”


lifesitenews--2019-12-06--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.


newspunch--2019-12-12--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.


breitbart--2019-10-07--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.


clashdaily--2019-09-13--Thrill Of The Kill Demonic New Sexual Fetish Prominently Features Abortion

‘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


cnsnews--2019-01-04--New Mexicos Poisonous Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill Would Hurt Entire Country

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.


cnsnews--2019-04-01--NJ Governor I Look Forward to Signing Bill Legalizing Assisted Suicide

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.”


cnsnews--2019-04-22--New Jersey Unleashes Pandoras Box on Residents Adopts Physician-Assisted Suicide

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.


cnsnews--2019-08-01--Physician-Assisted Suicide Now Legal in New Jersey Denies Humanity and Dignity

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.