And the Rest of It

There are children who genuinely have something the matter with them.

They need resources to aid them in being productive, happy citizens.

When lazy, stupid parents force labels upon their kids so as not to take the blame for their bad parenting, it should be an outrage: 

It is a flattering story, if you’re privileged enough to be able to afford the support you need to prevent your neurodiversity disrupting your life — or if it didn’t disrupt it too badly in the first place. In other words, if your ADHD is more of a personality quirk than a disability. But ADHD, or autism, or whichever box he eventually gets put in, probably isn’t Josh’s superpower. He’s a lovely boy; right now, he’s also a liability. His mum can’t imagine him being capable of living independently without something terrible happening; she envisages caring for him for the rest of her life. There is grief in her vision of his future, and in her day-to-day experience of parenting a child who can scare his own siblings.

What does it mean to include Josh? Time, attention, and lots of structure provided by lots of different people. At the moment, he is getting none of that. As with most other parts of the NHS, mental health services are sleepwalking into an American-style two-tier system. Privately, some of us are able to afford neurodiversity labels, which are becoming a luxury. Meanwhile, the system is failing children like Josh.

Make Josh accountable for his bad behaviour instead of throwing up your hands in despair every time he hits someone.

Really?

Because it sounds like you are sticking the German taxpayer with a mosque bill:

A top Christian Democrat politician wants to amend the constitution if necessary, so that German taxes can be used to pay for mosques.  Jens Spahn—a former minister and deputy leader of the opposition center-right CDU/CSU’s parliamentary group—sees public funding for mosques as a bulwark against overseas influence.

Beatrix von Storch of the AfD previously warned it would be a mistake to finance mosque associations using German taxpayers’ money. While she agreed that the financing of mosques by Turkey or Qatar must be banned immediately, she argued that Muslims in Germany should finance their own mosques with their own contributions.

Germany has for many years faced the problem of mosques being financed by foreign countries such as Turkey, often combined with imams spreading radical, anti-Western and antisemitic rhetoric.

The debate has heated up once again, with rising levels of antisemitic attacks throughout Germany prompted by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

At the beginning of November, Spahn called it “a disgrace that Jews can no longer feel safe in Germany.” He said his country had imported antisemitism on a large scale through uncontrolled immigration, and “it is high time to end Turkish state financing.”

Turkish Islamic association DITIB, the largest Islamic association in Germany with some 900 mosques, has long been the subject of political controversy in the country, most recently when an Afghan Taliban member spoke at one of its mosques in Cologne last month. Under an agreement between Berlin and Ankara announced in December, a programme that posts Turkish imams to German mosques will be phased out. Subsequently, imams trained in Germany will gradually replace clerics employed by Turkish religious authority Diyanet.

As reported previously, Turkey isn’t Germany’s only worry: German police raided 54 properties in seven states on November 16th, all belonging to the Islamic Center of Hamburg (IZH), which has ties to the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and its sub-organisations. The IZH is said to exert significant influence over various Muslim communities and associations throughout Germany.

Some 5.5 million Muslims live in Germany, making up around 6% of the population. According to Deutsche Welle, Germany currently has between 2,000 to 2,500 Islamic religious leaders, who tend to come to Germany for four or five years, are often paid by their home countries and know very little about the local culture and customs.

“We need German mosque communities, not Turkish ones … It would be better to step in even with German taxpayers’ money, even if this may require a constitutional amendment,” Spahn said in November. He elaborated on his plan to stop the foreign funding of mosques on Thursday, January 4th in an interview with Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, saying mosques should be supported through a foundation set up by the state.

 The entire culture is foreign to Germany and it will never acclimate to that country.

Turf it while you still have time.

Did they pack snacks, as well?:

Employers are going above and beyond to not hire recent college graduates in favor of older workers, a new survey found.

The survey uncovered many reasons why older applicants are preferred — including that Gen Z jobseekers are even bringing mom and dad to interviews.

In December, Intelligent, an online magazine focused on student life, surveyed 800 managers, directors and executives involved in the hiring process.

It found that 39% of employers actively avoid hiring recent college graduates for roles they’re qualified for.

Out of the 800 people surveyed, a startling one in five (19%) said a recent college graduate brought a parent with them to their job interview.

But that’s not the only aspect stopping employers from hiring Gen Z applicants.

One in five employers say that recent college graduates are “unprepared” for interviews — and are often unprofessional.

 

 

It sounds like they are just being little nobs to me:

The first meeting of an After School Satan Club at a Tennessee elementary school drew protesters, but organizers said the children who attended had enjoyed the gathering.

Faith and education leaders denounced plans for the club at Chimneyrock Elementary in Cordova when it was announced last month, but said they would follow the law and allow the organization hosting the club to meet.

 

The Satan group is doing what it wants to do: corrupting children to spite their parents because the group members are mad at Dad.

Pathetic. 

Afuera!:

Technological progress and population growth.

About: Milei, Argentina, economic growth, techno-optimists, techno-phobics, human capital. pic.twitter.com/6hfJ1TLxbR

— Milei Explains (@Milei_Explains) January 7, 2024

 

 

All Canadians want is a cheap, tropical holiday on the backs of Cubans:

Whatever the weather in Cuba this February, people may be feeling gloomy about the cost of living.

The Cuban government is set to raise fuel prices fivefold at the start of next month. Havana says the move is a must, as it seeks funds to trim its deficit spending and buy needed goods from abroad.

The change is not expected to have much of an immediate impact on the costs of vacation packages for Canadians looking to get away to the popular Caribbean destination, but those travelling to Cuba's cities and towns might see the effects that the fuel hike — and the country's ongoing economic crisis — are having on Cubans.

Life is already hard for many as Cuba grapples with the economic crisis, food and medicine shortages, and inflation that economy minister Alejandro Gil pegged at 30 per cent at year's end. The pending jump at the pumps is yet another stress, as the cost of filling up a 40-litre tank with a popular gasoline blend will soon exceed the average monthly state salary.

"It's a considerable hike and I think it's going to be hard for us afterwards," said Javier Ernesto, a 33-year-old cab driver, who spoke to Reuters while waiting to fill up his car in Havana this week.

 

 

Where are the bodies?:

Almost 100 Christian churches in Canada have been systematically targeted in apparent revenge attacks following a hoax about mass graves containing Native American children. 

In 2021, a horrific story swept the internet as an indigenous group in Saskatchewan claimed to find 751 unmarked graves under the Marieval Indian Residential School, weeks after 215 children were supposedly discovered under another school in British Columbia. 

The schools were run by Christian churches - largely Catholic - and sought to eliminate their students' Indigenous culture so they could 'assimilate' into Canadian society.

However, excavations carried out last year failed to turn up any evidence of bodies, and most experts concluded that claims of mass graves were exaggerated. 

At the same time the excavations failed for the past two years, at least 96 churches have been burned, vandalized and destroyed, seemingly in retaliation, with phrases smeared on the walls including: 'Where are the children.'