UK Abuse Victims Are Given ‘Ani’ Code Word

People in danger of domestic abuse during the coronavirus lockdown will be able to ask for help discreetly by giving a code word to pharmacists, under a UK wide scheme launched by ministers.

If someone asks for “Ani” at one of the participating pharmacies, they will be allowed to go to a private space to talk, to see if they require help from police or other services such as domestic abuse helplines. The name is an acronym for “action needed immediately”.

Abuse charities have expressed significant concern about the impact of domestic abuse during the lockdown when women, children and others are denied regular contact with others.

Pharmacies have been appointed as the outlet for the plan because they have personnel qualified to assist people and are also classified as essential retail, meaning they remain open.

The scheme will be available immediately, initially in 2,300 Boots stores and 255 independent pharmacies, and other pharmacies are being invited to sign up to the programme.

Throughout the earlier lockdown in England in November, the charity Refuge, which runs the National Domestic Abuse helpline, said it was extremely concerned by the continuing upward trend in demand for its services.

After the first lockdown, the Counting Dead Women project informed MPs that between 23 March and 12 April at least 16 domestic abuse killings had taken place, far higher than the average for the time of year.

The pharmacy-based initiative was first suggested during a hidden harms web summit hosted by Boris Johnson in June, which explored some of the repercussions of lockdown.

In a Commons statement, Victoria Atkins, the safeguarding minister, said the scheme would offer a necessary lifeline to all victims, ensuring they get help safely and discreetly.

But Jess Phillips, a shadow home office minister who speaks on domestic violence and safeguarding, called for more backing for support services.

She said that domestic abuse and community support services are currently preparing for redundancies in March, which was truly staggering in the middle of a global pandemic and a national lockdown.

She continued that the sector, the Labour party, the domestic abuse and the victim’s commissioner have all called repeatedly for sustainable funding for at least the next year and that the workers being made redundant are the very people the minister needs for ‘Ask for Ani’ to have any prospect of success.

But why just pharmacists? Why not the police as well? They should be helping with domestic abuse as well.

It’s not just women that are victims of abuse or violence, and this information must be available to everyone who needs it.

However, those women of abusive partners or children of abusive parents, those partners or abusers now won’t let their victims out of their sight because they know that when they go to the pharmacy to get a bottle of cough medicine or a packet of paracetomol, they might be going there for a cry for help.

And I’m not here to stick it to anyone but if the victim can see this, so can the abuser, so it wasn’t as discreet as it was designed to be, and it appears that someone didn’t think this through very well.

Any woman or child should be able to go somewhere where they can say in private that they need help without the aid of code word.

How about working on ways to further upskill professionals to recognise the signs of Domestic Violence. How about better support for women, men and children who are being abused?

Because it seems at the moment the only thing they’ve been able to publicly distribute is the code word, not the actual support needed.

Homeless People Have Been Given COVID Vaccines By The Council

Homeless people are being vaccinated against COVID 19 as part of a pioneering scheme after a council insisted rough sleepers and those living in shelters should be prioritised.

Under the Department of Health’s mass vaccination program, the over 80s, care home residents and health and social care workers are first in line to get the jab, but Oldham Council and local GPs insisted homeless people should be protected among the first group of people receiving the vaccine because they, along with the elderly, are most at risk from the virus.

Around 30 people in the region have so far been vaccinated after a clinic was set up at Depaul homeless shelter in Oldham, with more planned to receive the jab.

Dr Zahid Chauhan, who’s also an Oldham councillor responsible for health and social care, said homeless people were extremely vulnerable and that their life expectancy was between just 43 and 45 years old.

He said he was delighted with the scheme, as he issued a personal plea to the Government to please prioritise the homeless as it’s the right and human thing to do, and Dr Zahid Chauhan continued that it was setting an example for the remainder of the country, the rest of the world and said, please don’t ignore these people.

He continued that we can protect them, but that if they get COVID they become sick and if they become sick, they will end up in hospitals and then hospital beds will be taken, along with ICU beds.

And he said that made perfect sense from all directions to vaccinate these people and that he was asking the Government to please consider again and it was his appeal to them as these people are extremely vulnerable.

Homeless couple Kelly Heney, 38, and Lee Ullha,46, live at a homeless shelter and they were vaccinated with the Oxford AstraZeneca jab.

Lee Ullha said that they got evicted when this COVID thing kicked in, that’s why they were living in the park so they didn’t watch TV, so they didn’t know much about it.

He said that it was scary, especially with the new strain of COVID and he didn’t think that people take it as seriously as it is.

He continued that you see people strolling around without their masks and they’re saying it’s not real and that it’s all make-believe, and he said that it’s important that people have the vaccine and that it’s for their safety.

Ms Heney added that for her, she couldn’t believe it’s just happened and that she was thrilled and so pleased that they’d had the COVID injection because it was a huge thing.

The vaccinations came as the United Kingdom recorded another 1,654 deaths, the highest daily toll since the pandemic started, while more than 100,000 deaths have been linked to COVID 19.

These poor people need all the help they can get because most of us have a nice warm home to be in and we should be happy for them to go before us, at least we’re in the comfort of a nice warm home, and what a disgrace it is that these people are on the streets in the first place when they need all the help they can get, but then we should be asking Oldham Council why they’re homeless in the first place.

The homeless and rough sleepers quite often lead a somewhat turbulent lifestyle and would find it nigh on impossible to adhere to rules such as mask-wearing or social distancing.

And due to the transient nature of their lifestyle they can come into contact with many other people, so it makes sense to vaccinate them.

Many also have chronic illnesses and have to share space in shelters et cetera, so are extremely exposed to catching and suffering considerably with COVID 19, so it makes sense to vaccinate.

Millions of WhatsApp Users Ditch The App And Shift To Competitors Telegram Or Signal Ahead Of The Privacy Policy Update

Millions of Whatsapp users have taken the extreme measure of abandoning the app ahead of a privacy policy update that will force them to share their data with Facebook.

The update, which will be released on February 8, affects WhatsApp users in all countries outside of Europe and the UK, where there are strict data protection laws.

Users in these areas will be expected to give their permission for Facebook to access their data, including their phone numbers and information about how they communicate with others to continue using the app.

The requirement will apply regardless of whether or not the WhatsApp user has a Facebook account.

The news has led countless people to jump ship to competing apps, according to data from Sensor Tower.

When the privacy policy changes were announced on January 7, Telegram picked up approximately 1.7 million downloads and Signal gained 1.2 million downloads, while WhatsApp, which normally dominates, gained just 1.3 million downloads.

WhatsApp installations also fell about 13 per cent to 10.3 million downloads in the first seven days of January, compared to the seven days prior.

WhatsApp first alerted users to the new privacy policy changes in a notification last week.

The privacy policy explains that as part of the Facebook Companies, WhatsApp gets information from, and shares information with, the other Facebook Companies and it says that they may use the information they get from them, and they may use the information they share with them, to better operate, implement, develop, learn, customise, support, and market their services and their offerings, including the Facebook Company Products.

This means Facebook will now be able to access account information including your phone number, information on how you communicate with other users, and logs of how frequently and how long you use WhatsApp.

Other data that could be shared with Facebook includes your IP address, browser details, language and time zone.

WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 and has shared data with its parent company since 2016.

WhatsApp offered a one time opt-out for data sharing in 2016, but now users are being forced to agree to the privacy policy to continue using the app.

Many furious WhatsApp users have taken to Twitter to announce their departure from the app, in light of the new privacy policy.

One person said that they’d just deleted WhatsApp and Instagram from their phone because their new terms and conditions freaked them out, and people are also saying that people should drop their Facebook and Twitter accounts, also Apple too.

And that no one should be on Facebook because their oppressors will go after anyone who doesn’t adhere to their wishes and that everyone should drop any affiliation with Facebook and its subsidiary companies.

Leaving WhatsApp isn’t a drastic step, it’s the sensible choice.

However, even though these are wise words, people put themselves at risk every day because they’re posting and giving out information about themselves every second of the day – if people want privacy, they should get off their phones and all of these platforms, but then social media is the opium of the masses.

And it’s not just Facebook, it’s everything you download and every web page you look at, it’s scary stuff, so perhaps we should just stop using social media and try communicating with real people.

But then every time you leave the house to go shopping a camera somewhere will be recording you. The minute you have a bank account or mobile phone there’s data on you – we can’t have privacy now because we live in an age of technology.

JOIN JABS ARMY

A news outlet has urged their wonderful readers to join a jabs army of volunteers to help get millions of Brits vaccinated quickly against COVID.

There have been so many people that have wanted to play a more active role in defeating this terrifying disease, and now they can.

Through a major Sun campaign, backed by the NHS and Government, you can join 50,000 volunteers in a crucial job, helping to run pop up medical centres designed to immunise 15 million people by March.

It’s a vast logistical challenge which needs you, as a Steward Volunteer, to keep it running smoothly and reliably, and hopefully, this will be the year COVID is conquered and the Sun’s Jabs Army can play an important role in that.

And stars and health chiefs supported this and called for Sun readers to participate.

Match of the Day host Gary Linekar urged the nation to get together and roll up their sleeves to help everyone and he said that the vaccine seems to be the only way out of this hopeless situation.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the approval of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine means the light at the end of the COVID tunnel is burning brighter, but that we need one last push to get back to normal by spring.

He said the pandemic has shown the unbelievable spirit of the British people, and he’s asked anyone who can help to come forth and help the UK’s national vaccine effort.

The Sun has joined forces with the NHS and the Royal Voluntary Service to urge readers to volunteer as stewards at the pop-up vaccination centres across the United Kingdom.

And Sun stars, including columnists Jeremy Clarkson and Jane Moore, have promised to do their bit.

Jeremy Clarkson, 60, said, that saying you won’t take the vaccine is like saying you won’t wear an aqualung when diving and that it’s important and we should all do our bit, and he said that he will be getting the vaccine.

The Government wants to see 15 million people immunised by March and local NHS teams will be setting up centres capable of administering thousands of jabs a week in sports halls, conference centres and stadiums.

But more than 50,000 Steward Volunteers will be required through the NHS Volunteer Responder Programme to help them run smoothly and keep people protected.

However, we must remember that an ER nurse tested positive for COVID, 19 days after the first dose of the vaccine, so we must remember that protection is not instant.

And now health experts are weighing in after a local nurse tested positive for COVID 19 more than a week after getting the first of two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

In a Facebook message posted on December 18, Matthew W, an ER nurse at two different local hospitals, spoke about getting the Pfizer vaccine that day – he told ABC 10News his arm was sore for a day but he experienced no other side effects.

Six days later on Christmas Eve, after working a shift in the COVID 19 unit, Matthew, 45, became ill.

He got the chills and later came down with muscle pains and exhaustion.

The day after Christmas, he went to a drive-up hospital testing site and tested positive for COVID 19, but this isn’t surprising at all and this is what will occur if someone’s exposed even after the jab.

The first dose gives about somewhere around 50 per cent but you need that second dose to get you up to 95 per cent, and it was pointed out that Matthew might have been infected before getting the vaccine.

Chris Whitty warns UK heading into ‘worst point in the pandemic’ as he slams Covid-sceptics

Chris Whitty, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer, has warned that the UK’s heading into the worst point in the pandemic as he advised Britons to limit as much as possible in their social interactions with others outside their household.

Professor Chris Whitty joined Louise Minchin and Dan Walker on BBC Breakfast on Monday to answer questions from members of the public on the new lockdown rules that are in place in England to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The Chief Medical Officer gave the stark account as he used the opportunity to blast COVID disbelievers for spreading crazy ideas about the scale of the crisis facing the NHS this winter.

He said the situation was extremely serious and warned the country is heading into the worst weeks in terms of the pressure on the NHS of the whole pandemic.

Professor Chris Whitty said that he didn’t believe that the great preponderance of the British public, who are amazingly sensible, think this not happening and he believed that people understood that was a really serious dilemma.

He said that we will get through this and that we would get through this together, but that at this point, we were at the worst point in the pandemic for the United Kingdom, and that there were always going to be cries of people who come up with ridiculous ideas and suggestions of things that are either just not true or a misunderstanding of what’s going on.

He said that anybody who looks at some of the reports that the BBC and other news outlets have done from hospitals. Anyone who talks to a doctor or a nurse operating in the NHS. Anyone who reads any newspaper, they will know this is a really serious dilemma.

He continued that this was not a typical winter and that every winter has its difficulties, but that this was in a different league.

The remarks came as the UK wide death from COVID 19 exceeded 80,000 with infections climbing to more than three million.

Host Louise Minchin also read out a question sent in by Mike, who had asked when the UK would be able to return to life as normal.

In reply, Professor Chris Whitty said that he was confident that things would go back to how they were before and that was not in doubt.

People that have had the vaccine should be required to say at home for at least three weeks after they’ve had the jab, or at least until it’s known that it’s been effective, but it appears as if Boris Johnson is a puppet and someone’s got their hand up his bottom.

And do you think we will go back to what was normal? Of course not, they have us right where they want us and planned us to be, and it’s almost like modern-day slavery, and we should have closed our borders right from the onset of the virus, but then it seems that Great Britain welcomes everyone.

And what we should be having are stories about the people suffering from mental health problems during the lockdown and the people that have suffered as a result of that.

Let’s also have stories on people that have encountered bankruptcy because of the lockdowns, because SAGE unquestionably isn’t concerning themselves with these victims, but countless people suffer from severe mental health problems, which has been made more acute by the lockdown.

Numerous psychiatric doctors have either left or can’t work and the suffering are just left on their own and struggling and when they try to contact someone about it, it’s just blamed on COVID – it appears that COVID is the fall guy.

Woman, 50, Arrested For Sitting On Bench

A woman who has been arrested for supposedly sitting on a bench is a COVID conspirator who believes that the virus is no worse than getting the sniffles.

Tattoo artist Marcia Baker was videoed being arrested by three officers in a Bournemouth park on Saturday.

In the video, which was publicly shared online, she tells them that she was just sitting on a bench, but Marcia Baker, 50, is well known within the Bournemouth area for her resistance to the lockdown and had attended an anti lockdown demonstration in the town on Saturday, before her arrest.

One friend who fell out with her over her COVID conspiracy theories told a news outlet that she’d been into all kinds of conspiracy theories for quite a while but just became more neurotic when the pandemic started last year and that she was going around telling everyone that coronavirus was no more dangerous than getting the sniffles and that it was an attempt to control us all.

She said that she just couldn’t take it anymore and had to quit talking to her because she doesn’t think the virus exists and that it was crazy the stuff that she comes out with.

Marcia Baker works at the Black Pearl Tattoo studio in Bournemouth and is the mother of two daughters who are in their 20s.

Her friend maintained that if there’s a protest against the lockdown, Marcia is there and she said that her views were pretty wild but there was no debating with her because she’s convinced that COVID is one big conspiracy.

The footage, which has been shared extensively online, shows three police officers surrounding Marcia Baker in Bournemouth for supposedly leaving her house more than once in a day.

The clip then shows her being handcuffed and led away by officers as she repeatedly tells them that she was just sitting on a bench.

But Dorset Police announced the video was planned, staged-managed and recorded by members of an anti lockdown protest group.

Dorset Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Mark Callaghan said they believe the video was planned, stage-managed and recorded by members of the protest group who turned up in various areas, some of whom refused to engage and give their details.

He said that if people refuse to give their details in such circumstances, then it leaves officers with little option but to arrest until the details are confirmed.

It shouldn’t matter what this woman believes in. Police shouldn’t be arresting you for sitting on a bench on your own, and on Marcia Baker’s Facebook page, she posted a statement from organisers of Saturday’s demonstrations which said that they would be seeking legal advice after it was suggested that they staged the events.

There was video proof and similar things have been going on for months with the police over abusing their powers, and it appears to be the same everywhere, with police stopping people in their vehicles, asking if their journey is essential.

And what this woman believes in is irrelevant. I might believe the moon is made of cheese, but it doesn’t make it okay for me to be arrested for sitting on a bench.

What possible harm was she doing, sitting on a bench getting some fresh air? And it’s good for mental health to be outdoors and if anyone can prove that she was a danger to society sitting on a bench, then I’d love to hear your views.

It seems that we’re headed for communism and nobody appears to notice or care and it’s mind-blowing.

Every Social Media App And Website That Donald Trump Has Been Banned From So Far

Donald Trump’s ban from Twitter was perhaps the biggest and most significant social media suspension ever in the entire history of the United States presidency.

Donald Trump’s reliance on Twitter which he often used to share his spectators no matter how questionable they were was arguably his best means of communication, but following Wednesday’s riot in Washington DC, Twitter decided that they couldn’t risk any further provocations of violence and pulled the plug on @realDonaldTrump and his 57,000 tweets.

The Twitter embargo is just one of the many major platforms to either stop Donald Trump from using their apps or websites or impose major restrictions on any of his content.

To date, Donald Trump has been banned from 14 different websites and social media apps.

So without further ado, here are what websites and apps Donald Trump can no longer use.

Twitter banned Donald Trump on Friday 8th January over concerns that he would encourage more violence from his supporters on the US capital.

Facebook originally locked Donald Trump out of his account on their site on 6th January for only 24 hours but prolonged that ban to last for two weeks until there had been a peaceful transition of leadership to the Biden administration.

Instagram is owned by Facebook so the same prohibition pertains to Donald Trump on that app too. The ban was confirmed by the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri on 7th January.

Google was the first to raise concerns and ban the pro-Trump social media app Parler when it pulled the app from their Google Play store for failing to moderate those spread of threats of violence.

In a statement, a Google spokesperson said that to protect user safety on Google Play, their longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content have moderation policies and implementation that extracts egregious content like posts that encourage violence.

Following Google’s lead, Apple also banned Parler from their app store, and in a lengthy statement, an Apple spokesperson cited that Parler had not upheld its commitment to moderate and eliminate harmful or dangerous content inciting violence and illegal activity and that it wasn’t in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.

Parler has also been banned from Amazon’s web hosting service after finding numerous posts that encouraged violence.

In a letter from Amazon Web Services to Parler published by NBC News, Amazon said that recently they’d seen a steady rise in this violent content on their website, all of which violated their terms and it was plain that Parler didn’t have an effective method to comply with the AWS terms of service.

YouTube, the video website, which is owned by Google, put out a long statement following the riots claiming that they’ve removed thousands of videos that spread misinformation about the election results including some shared by Donald Trump. They added that any channel continuing to share fraudulent information will now get a warning.

Donald Trump was banned from Snapchat following Wednesday’s riot. Speaking to Business Insider, a Snapchat spokesperson said that they were not currently promoting the president’s content on Snapchat’s Discover platform and that they would not amplify voices who encourage racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover.

They said that racial violence and injustice have no place in our society and that they stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality and justice in America.

Ironically Donald Trump has spent much of the year attempting to ban TikTok because of security interests encompassing the Chinese company. However, TikTok has turned the tables and confirmed that they will be removing any of Donald Trump’s speeches that they consider to have prompted any violence as well as hashtags such as #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty.

Twitch, the popular stream service, which is predominately used by gamers, also moved swiftly on Thursday to eliminate any threats of violence.

A Twitch spokesperson told Axios that in light of the shocking raid on the Capitol, they have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel, and given the current unusual circumstances and the President’s inflammatory rhetoric, they believe this was a necessary step to protect the community and to prevent Twitch from being used to encourage further violence.

On Friday, Reddit reportedly banned the subreddit ‘r/Donald Trump, talking to Axios, Reddit added, Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit content that advocates hate, or promotes, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence against groups of people or individuals.

Following this, they have been proactively reaching out to moderators to remind them of their policies and to offer support or resources as needed.

Even Donald Trump’s merchandise is getting pulled. Shopify has confirmed that both the Trump organisation and the president’s official merchandise store will no longer be on their services because of their zero tolerance towards violence policy.

Pinterest is the strangest one and the one that’s generated several jokes, but despite not having a Pinterest account, the site has been banning any pro-Trump topics from their service since November, after the election was confirmed for Joe Biden.

A spokesperson said that Pinterest wasn’t a place for threats, promotion of violence or offensive content and their team was continuing to monitor and remove objectionable content, including misinformation and conspiracy theories that might encourage violence.

A viral image from Fox News has suggested that Donald Trump is banned from Spotify too but there have been no announcements as to whether this is correct. Either way, Donald Trump is going to struggle to keep himself entertained on the internet now.

But this is what happens when content becomes charged with hatred and violence with plans to disrupt. However, these platforms regularly permit hate speech, and they openly allowed Donald Trump to do this until now.

And isn’t this just another nail in the coffin for free speech? And anyone that has a different view will be told to shut up, but then we might be giving people like Hitler a free pass if they don’t.

Baffling Brexit Rules Threaten Export Chaos

Leading business groups have said that Ministers must restart trade negotiations with Brussels now to sort out the baffling array of post-Brexit rules and regulations that now threaten much of the UK’s export trade to the EU.

Amid rising excitement amongst UK firms at cross border conflict, they were told would not exist, British manufacturing and trade organisations met Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove in an emergency session on Thursday to address difficulties emerging from the deal struck by Boris Johnson with the EU before Christmas.

The Prime Minister had hailed what he alleged was a zero tariff and zero quotas agreement that would allow free and manageable access to the single market, but less than a month on, however, Britain’s EU departure seems to be anything but pain-free.

One leading person included in the discussions with Michael Gove describes the new rule book as a total shitshow. Another said Michael Gove appeared particularly concerned at hearing reports of difficulties, after a week in which Marks & Spencer was amongst leading companies to warn that more bureaucracy would raise costs.

The source continued that Michael Gove seemed to understand the full gravity of the situation that’s unfolding and about to get worse.

Michael Gove acknowledged on Friday that there would be significant additional disruption at UK borders as a consequence of Brexit customs changes in the coming weeks.

In the first week after the UK eventually left both the single market and customs union, the parcels firm DPD suspended some of its services, bookseller Waterstones halted sales to customers in the EU and UK fishermen warned they wouldn’t be able to sell their fresh produce into EU markets because of delays at borders.

There were also problems with consignments between Great Britain and Northern Ireland as new border checks caught numerous businesses unawares.

Luxury food store Fortnum & Mason also told customers on its website that they were temporarily unable to deliver to Northern Ireland or countries in the European Union, and Debenhams has temporarily shut its online business in Ireland.

Some of the problems are being blamed on a rush deal, and others on the sheer complexity of arrangements including rules of origin, some of which haven’t been conclusively determined.

Only goods made up mainly of parts that originate in the United Kingdom qualify as tariff-free.

Stephen Kelly, chief executive of the Northern Ireland business organisation Manufacturing NI said the reason why the United Kingdom and EU agreed that there would be an implementation period of 11 months was so that people could get their heads around what was needed and ensure their businesses were compliant, but they didn’t have that.

They had seven days before everyone had to be ready, and one of those was Christmas Day.

But it’s not like they weren’t warned that this would happen, but they decided to ignore experts and project fear.

So far, France has been pretty lenient, but wait until that all stops. But this is what Leavers wanted and I thought that they would be happy they’re going it alone!

And the view is pretty much like let the peasants live on potatoes and turnips, as long as they’re free to turn the country into a nefarious, third rate, banana republic who cares.

Add this to the rich UK elite that didn’t want their taxes scrutinised under the EU’s new Anti Tax Avoidance Directive and it’s inconceivable that the party that claims to serve the best interests of British businesses and commerce, could have left us in this mess, just goes to show, nothing good ever comes out of a lie.

Joe Biden Says Capitol Siege Domestic Terrorists Were Treated Too Leniently

Joe Biden said there was no question that the domestic terrorists who laid siege to the Capitol were treated more lightly than Black Lives Matter demonstrators as he placed the blame for one of the darkest days in the history of the country directly on President Trump.

The president-elect said the ease with which Donald Trump’s supporters had breached the Capitol’s defences and the relative lack of arrests portrayed an America in which two standards of justice were at work.

Presenting Merrick Garland, a prior Supreme Court candidate rejected by the Republicans, as his pick for attorney general, a palpably furious Joe Biden, 78, joined increasing criticism of the police response on Wednesday.

He said that no one could tell him that if it had been a pack of Black Lives Matter protesters on Thursday, they wouldn’t have been treated very differently from the mobs of hooligans that stormed the Capitol, and he continued that they all knew that was true and that it was unacceptable.

On Friday, Capitol police chief Steven Sund announced his resignation, effective on January 16, hours after the House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for his resignation, following strong rebukes for what many criticised as a lack of preparation.

Joe Biden said the attack on the Capitol was not a protest, it was chaos and he said they weren’t protesters, they were rioters, a mob. Domestic terrorists and that it was that basic and that simple.

And he said that he wished they could say they couldn’t see it coming, but that wasn’t true, they could, and that for the past four years they’ve had a President who’s made his contempt for their democracy, their constitution and the rule of law evident in everything that he’s done.

He said that he’s unleashed an all-out attack on the institutions of their democracy and that the riots were the culmination of that unrelenting onslaught.

In what may well have been an attempt to stave off mass resignations or invocation of the 25th amendment, Donald Trump unleashed a statement soon after congress certified Joe Biden’s victory on Thursday night that ultimately acknowledged that he wouldn’t have a second term, although it stopped short of concession.

In the statement published to Twitter by Dan Scavino, a social media aide, because Donald Trump was locked out of his account, the President said that even though he disagreed with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear him out, there would be an orderly transition on January 20th and that he said that they would continue to fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.

But Joe Biden was right when he said there was no way that Black Lives Matter protestors would have been treated with kid gloves, and there have been some laughable comments online.

Can anyone explain the appeal of Donald Trump, I would just love to know what your thoughts are about him.

Is it because he’s got money – even more money now that he’s conned his followers out of millions, and he knew he had complete control over his supporters, just like cult leaders do, but seem to be too dense to realise – denser than the complete works of Shakespeare in hardback and braille.

Although social media has hypnotised the ordinary person into insane but genuine beliefs. Deep-rooted beliefs that aren’t based on reality, but genuine beliefs in things that just aren’t true, achieved through repeated lies, targeted at people, often with pre-existing preconceptions, and re-enforced in numerous different ways over time.

And psychological operations warfare levels of brainwashing have been discreetly used on ordinary people, everywhere, on social media and by various agents, which explains both Donald Trump and Brexit.

George Orwell knew about all of this but presumably couldn’t anticipate the mass effect of billions of micro-targeted social media messages and images brainwashing ordinary, sensible, and often otherwise respectable people.

What is shocking is the depth of belief that these innovative campaigns can quietly and discreetly infuse into people’s belief systems.

Not only simply changing views on things, but successfully implanting a false, but profound, and absolute belief, in the hearts of millions of innocent, manipulated social media users, and there’s no easy solution to this brilliant mass hypnotism of otherwise good people.

Parents Are Lying That They’re Key Workers

Parents have been accused of pretending to be key workers to get their children a place in class.

Under the Government’s harsh new restrictions, only vulnerable pupils and children of key workers can still go to school during the third national lockdown, while other children must remain at home for online learning.

Our Lady’s Bishop Eton School in south Liverpool said they were swamped with requests for key worker spaces when the lockdown was announced.

But they began receiving a considerable number of complaints from other parents when an online lesson allowed them to see which children were attending class in person.

The school said they did ask parents for as much information as possible on the key worker application forms, and conferred with the local authority, and the school said that could do no more, particularly when parents making such allegations do not supply the school with the information necessary to investigate them further.

Boris Johnson warned schools may serve as vectors for transmission when he announced pupils in school and colleges would learn remotely until mid-February during the lockdown.

But despite the more stringent measures, primary schools in England are still seeing an increased demand for places, with one heads union reporting some have had 70 per cent of their families requesting on-site provision.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders union NAHT, said that they were increasingly concerned about the sheer demand for key worker and vulnerable pupil places.

He said that members are telling them that the demand for places is much more elevated than it was during the first lockdown last spring and that they’ve heard reports of some schools having 50-70 per cent in.

He continued that this could seriously undermine the impact of lockdown measures, and may even run the risk of growing school closures.

In the Commons, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed only one parent needs to be a critical worker to access a school place during the lockdown.

Gavin Williamson also confirmed that children who don’t have access to technology are seen as vulnerable and can attend school.

Government guidance says that vulnerable children may include students who may have difficulty engaging with remote education at home, for example, due to a lack of devices or a quiet space to learn.

The problem is there’s a lot of non-essential employers still open, this then gives the employee no alternative if they have to go to work, and it’s not just NHS and care workers that are needed.

Supply chains need keeping open – distribution, manufacturing. Boilers still need fixing, cars still need repairs and there are a million and one non-essential roles that are essential – if your toilet packs up in the first week of lockdown you can’t wait 12 weeks for a plumber.

But there’s a simple solution to this, which would be to request proof of key worker, critical worker status and those children who need places for other reasons such as vulnerability, disability et cetera will already be known to the school and I can’t believe that this wasn’t done already.

Although I don’t understand why vulnerable children are in school and yet fit and healthy children are at home – why would you send your vulnerable child to school during this pandemic?

However, financial support has been truly bad for a huge number of the population and people need to support themselves and their families and have no option but to work, as well as getting their children looked after.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started