What's up? News of the world....

[Angrboda]

U.S. judge blocks Trump asylum restrictions

A U.S. judge on Monday temporarily blocked an order by President Donald Trump that barred asylum for immigrants who enter the country illegally from Mexico, the latest courtroom defeat for Trump on immigration policy.

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order against the asylum rules. Tigar’s order takes effect immediately, applies nationwide, and lasts until at least Dec. 19 when the judge scheduled a hearing to consider a more long-lasting injunction.

Representatives for the U.S. Department of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment.

Trump cited an overwhelmed immigration system for his recent proclamation that officials will only process asylum claims for migrants who present themselves at an official entry point. Civil rights groups sued, arguing that Trump’s Nov. 9 order violated administrative and immigration law.

In his ruling, Tigar said Congress clearly mandated that immigrants can apply for asylum regardless of how they entered the country. The judge called the latest rules an “extreme departure” from prior practice.

“Whatever the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden,” Tigar wrote.

[Angrboda]

Not exactly news, but still important information.

THROUGHOUT HIS TENURE as South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki rejected the scientific consensus that AIDS is caused by a virus, HIV, and that antiretroviral drugs can save the lives of people who test positive for it. Instead, he embraced the views of a small group of dissident scientists who suggested other causes for AIDS.

Mbeki stubbornly continued to embrace this position even as the evidence against it became overwhelming. When anyone—even Nelson Mandela, the heroic resistance fighter against apartheid who became South Africa’s first black president—publicly questioned Mbeki’s views, Mbeki’s supporters viciously denounced them.

While Botswana and Namibia, South Africa’s neighbors, provided anti-retrovirals to the majority of its citizens infected by HIV, South Africa under Mbeki failed to do so. A team of Harvard University researchers has now investigated the consequences of this policy. Using conservative assumptions, it estimates that, had South Africa’s government provided the appropriate drugs, both to AIDS patients and to pregnant women who were at risk of infecting their babies, it would have prevented 365,000 premature deaths.

~ Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter, Peter Singer.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Well, there goes the neighbourhood…

Quake Pushing North And South Islands Closer Together

GNS Science geodetic scientist Dr Sigrún Hreinsdóttir told Stuff that Cape Campbell at the top of the South Island was now about 35cm closer to Wellington since the quake.

At that rate, those South Island bastards will be at my doorstep in a little over six million years.  Time to start house shopping.

Boru

[The Valkyrie]

Well, there goes the neighbourhood…

Quake Pushing North And South Islands Closer Together

GNS Science geodetic scientist Dr Sigrún Hreinsdóttir told Stuff that Cape Campbell at the top of the South Island was now about 35cm closer to Wellington since the quake.

At that rate, those South Island bastards will be at my doorstep in a little over six million years.  Time to start house shopping.

Boru

The underhanded wsy some people try to get here.

It's disgusting.

Watch out, Trump, Mexicans may get it in their heads to try this!

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Whale Stranding Leaves 145 Dead

The animals were discovered by a walker late on Saturday, strewn along the beach of Mason Bay.

Authorities said half the whales had already died by then, while the other half were put down as it would have been too difficult to save them.


"Sadly, the likelihood of being able to successfully re-float the remaining whales was extremely low," Ren Leppens of the regional Department of Conservation (DOC) said in a statement.
"The remote location, lack of nearby personnel and the whales' deteriorating condition meant the most humane thing to do was to euthanise."
"However, it's always a heart-breaking decision to make."

Boru

[Angrboda]

[Fake Messiah]

I just saw that Megan Markle might be carrying twins! Maybe she births them out at the same time: one from the cunt and other from the asshole.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Hope For The Future?

A group of high school students has created a fully biodegradable fruit sticker and is scrambling to get intellectual property rights.

Sarah Wixon, Maggie Peacock, Rylie Bensemann and Zoe Rookes - all year 13 students from Woodford House in Havelock North - spent all year creating fully biodegradable and soluble fruit stickers. The idea was borne out of the waste minimisation revolution, and everything down to the glue is eco-friendly...The experimentation may have been undertaken in a food-tech classroom, but it combines just as much science and business. The exact recipe for the product, while secret, is made out of apple extract.

Boru

[Angrboda]

Wall Street jumps as Powell hints interest rate hikes may taper off

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell boosted U.S. stock markets on Wednesday when he said the policy rate is now “just below” estimates of a level that neither brakes nor boosts a healthy economy, comments that many took as signaling the Fed’s three-year tightening cycle is drawing to a close.

The S&P 500 and Dow posted their biggest percentage gains in eight months, while the Nasdaq saw its largest advance in just over a month following Powell’s speech to the Economic Club of New York.

[Angrboda]

Federal prisons were told to improve inmates’ access to mental-health care. They’ve failed miserably.
New data reveal an unsettling link between denying inmates treatment for mental health issues and an increase in violence and self-harm in federal prisons.

Current policy states that inmates are supposed to receive monthly or even weekly check-ins with a mental-health professional and be monitored by a team that meets regularly to review treatment plans and progress. Before 2014, there were no such teams, and mental-health staff were required to check in with inmates less frequently.

Patricia Griffin, a former psychologist at the federal prison in Otisville, N.Y., remembers her co-workers dreading the change. “You only have so much time in the day, and suddenly your workload increased pretty dramatically,” she said. Griffin said staff members scrutinized inmates to see whether they could safely lower care levels to decrease their caseloads.

Before the new policy, the inspector general’s report found, psychologists were more likely to increase an inmate’s care level when reviewing their mental-health status. But once the rules changed, they were significantly more likely to downgrade prisoners.