Depression / Mental Illness

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has intensified his government's crackdown on gang members, leading to widespread arrests and controversial measures in the country's prisons. This effort is part of Bukele's broader strategy to eradicate gang violence that has plagued the nation for decades. However, these measures have drawn significant criticism for their harshness and alleged human rights violations. Since March 2022, Bukele's administration has enacted a state of emergency, suspending basic rights and giving police broad powers to detain suspected gang members. This policy has led to the arrest of over 75,000 individuals, including alleged gang affiliates and their relatives. The initiative has significantly reduced the country's homicide rate, bringing it down to one of the lowest in the region. The new El Salvador mega prison has caused murder rates to drop by 57%. Should gang members who murderer have to give up their constitutional rights? pic.twitter.com/E2ICF2mzPB — • ᗰISᑕᕼIᗴᖴ • (@4Mischief) February 17, 2024 While many Salvadorans support Bukele's tough stance on crime, the methods used have raised concerns. Human rights organizations report numerous cases of arbitrary arrests, inhumane detention conditions, and even torture. Thousands of those detained have been released due to a lack of evidence, but many innocent people remain incarcerated, caught in the dragnet of Bukele's sweeping policies. The crackdown has particularly affected El Salvador's poorest and most marginalized communities, where gang presence is most pervasive. Residents describe living in fear not just of gangs but also of police and soldiers who make arrests based on minimal suspicion, such as having tattoos or appearing nervous. This climate of fear has driven some citizens to flee the country to avoid arbitrary detention. El Salvador, more than 2,000 inmates accused of belonging to gangs transferred to mega-prison pic.twitter.com/O4ohS4sJxs — X LIVE (@xlivenews2024) June 12, 2024 Personal stories highlight the human toll of the crackdown. For instance, Sandra Hernandez's husband, a day laborer, was falsely accused of gang membership and died in custody under suspicious circumstances. Similarly, Maricela Mendez was wrongly imprisoned and experienced severe mistreatment while pregnant, leading to lasting trauma for her and her children. Despite these issues, Bukele's policies remain popular among many Salvadorans who feel safer and more secure without the constant threat of gang violence. However, critics argue that the social and economic costs, along with the erosion of democratic norms and human rights, may outweigh the benefits. The crackdown has also strained El Salvador's judicial system and increased its incarceration rate to the highest in the world. Reports indicate that many detainees suffer from inadequate medical care and other basic necessities, further exacerbating their plight. Human rights advocates continue to call for more humane and just approaches to dealing with the country's gang problem. As El Salvador moves forward, the international community watches closely, debating whether Bukele's hardline approach will lead to long-term peace and stability or further deepen the country's social and political divides. The post El Salvador’s Aggressive Gang Crackdown Sparks Controversy appeared first on The Conservative Brief.

A cat has been making friends in high places on this farm, and so far it looks like a beneficial relationship for everyone involved. In the sweetest clip you’ll see today, a farmer caught some adorable footage of her kitty hanging out with the resident cows. This feline looked absolutely blissful as she rubbed her tiny face against these massive livestock animals. We’re not sure if she was hoping to get any free milk out of the deal, but her affection certainly seemed genuine! It’s clear that these cows love the cat as much as she loves them. In the farmer’s precious video, you can see the larger animals bending down to nuzzle and kiss their small friend. She was definitely eating up all the attention! @bobbiraemyers Farm Cat loves her Moos #barncat ♬ original sound – Lady B “Farm cat loves her moos,” wrote the animals’ owner in her caption. This footage has gone viral on social media, receiving over five million views. Commenters fell in love with this friendly farm cat and her cow crew! “Oh to be a barn cat with cow friends,” wrote one user dreamily. Another added, “Cuteness overload. I love how gentle they are.” After this farm cat’s video went viral, Mom decided to check in with the kitty to see how she was feeling about her newfound fame. However, the feline declined to comment. In fact, she walked away while the woman was still talking to her! “Only the cows get to give her kisses, not us,” the cat’s owner joked. @bobbiraemyers Farm Cat loves her Moos Part 2 #viral #farmcat #farmcatsoftiktok #catsoftiktok #cow #moo #moew ♬ original sound – Lady B Perhaps this four-legged influencer was just too humble to brag about herself. Or, maybe she didn’t want to be a celebrity in the first place. After all, she’s already getting all the attention she needs from her bovine buddies! Who could ask for more than that? You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Precious Farm Kitty Makes Some Big Friends… And There Are Definitely No Milk-Related Ulterior Motives appeared first on InspireMore.

Leokadia Perevalova was killed on the grounds of the Taigan safari park

Targeting the fourth most common cancer in women globally, a new treatment regime combining chemo and chemoradiation therapy has reduced the rates of death by 40%. Cervical cancer affects over 300,000 women worldwide, and the regime has been heralded as “remarkable”— “the biggest gain in survival since the adoption of chemoradiation in 1999.” Those were […] The post New Cervical Cancer Treatment Regime Shows ‘Biggest Gain in Survival Since 1999’ appeared first on Good News Network.

What issue could be more important to a nation’s future than education? A country is about people. How Americans act, work, think, choose—and live—reflects their values. K-12 education, of course, is about learning to read and do math. This is what we measure in test scores. But education is a lot more than acquisition of technical skills. It is about transmission of values and our sense of meaning of what life is about. It’s these values that determine how we act, behave, work, and deal with life’s many challenges. Polling tells us that Americans are generally unhappy about education in our country. In a recent Gallup poll, 53% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, and 33% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, said they are “completely/somewhat satisfied with the quality of K-12 education.” Dissatisfaction with education in our country is not limited to those on the receiving end. A recent Pew Research survey shows there is also considerable dissatisfaction with those providing it—the teachers themselves. Per the Pew survey, among all U.S. workers, 51% say they are “extremely/very satisfied with their job.” But among K-12 public schoolteachers, only 33% say they are “extremely/vary satisfied” with their job. When the teachers were asked to rate academic performance of students at their school, 48% rated it “fair/poor” and only 17% rated it “excellent/very good.” When teachers rated behavior of the students at their school, 49% rated it “fair/poor” and 13% rated it “excellent/very good.” When teachers were asked about the problems they see in the students they are trying to teach, these are overwhelmingly behavioral problems. Forty-seven percent say students show “little or no interest” in learning. In high schools, the percentage increases to 58%. The bottom line, as I see it, is students learn when they are motivated to learn. Students don’t learn when they are not. Motivation comes from meaning, that life matters. This takes us back to the issue of values. The culture of meaninglessness and moral relativism, and the absence of absolutes in right and wrong, are destroying our kids and their education as it is our whole country. We have to change. But the great obstacle to change in K-12 education is the control of government in education and the control of teachers unions. It is crazy that in a country that is allegedly about freedom, we have so little of it in something so vitally important as education. The good news is school choice programs are growing around the country. But it is far too slow. According to EdChoice, in the 2023-2024 school year, more than 1 million children are learning in school choice programs. That’s up from almost zero 25 years ago. But this is 1 million out of more than 50 million youths in K-12 learning across the nation. According to the Freedom Foundation, the National Education Association—the nation’s largest teachers union—allocated 34% of its total 2022-2023 budget—$176,505,592 of a budget total $520,208,114—to “political activism and contributions.” Our nation’s largest teachers union is basically about politics, not education. And the political agenda is left-wing moral relativism. According to opensecrets.org, the NEA’s super PAC, NEA Advocacy Fund, in the 2023-2024 cycle, contributed $18,833,477 to liberal groups and not one cent to conservative groups. In their political contributions, $2,525,652 went to Democrats and $47,144 to Republicans. The NEA defines its mission, on its website, as “ending racism, sexism, homophobia, and other systemic injustices in schools.” How about the systemic injustice that parents, who go to church every Sunday, can’t free their child from the failing public school that is forced on them and cannot send their child to a Christian school to learn values that they see as truth? School choice is on the ballot this November in Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska. Parents must be free to educate their child as they choose. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Why, in Our Free Country, Do We Lack Education Freedom? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Almost a century since Sir Ernest Shackleton’s abandoned exploration ship Endurance sank beneath the ice floes of the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea, new 3D images compiled from 25,000 photographs show just how much of the ship survives. The images show Endurance’s hull intact as the vessel rests on its keel on the seabed at a depth of 3,008 metres. They reveal that the ship’s steam engine funnel, masts, anchors and guard rails remain attached, despite the damage inflicted by crushing ice after the ship became immobilised in 1915. Additionally clothing and crockery can be seen on the deck. Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition was halted in its tracks when their ship became beset in pack ice in January 1915. Having drifted in the ice, Shackleton ordered the evacuation of the badly damaged ship on 27 October. A month later, he watched the ship sink and its captain Frank Worsley estimated its sinking position. Endurance’s portside bowImage Credit: Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton's Legendary Ship (National Geographic Society) In March 2022, the ship was discovered by the Endurance22 team on board the S.A. Agulhas II, mere miles from the position given by Worsley. The subsea team led by Nico Vincent used the Saab Sabertooth AUV to capture thousands of images in 4K resolution, which were combined to create a digital 3D photo mosaic. “It is our hope,” writes Nico Vincent in the book Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary Ship, “the 3D digital model becomes the lasting testimony of our expedition and awakens a wide audience and new generations to Shackleton and the Endurance story.” The view of Endurance’s portside bow shows the ship’s broken foremast and both anchors on the forecastle deck, which was dislodged from the hull. It also shows the two intact glass portholes of the galley forward bulkhead. The flare gun (bottom-left) fired by Hurley; the boot that my be Frank Wild’sImage Credit: Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton's Legendary Ship (National Geographic Society) The imagery also shows items on the deck of the vessel. A flare gun, the same gun Frank Hurley recorded firing as the Endurance sank, is among the debris. A seaman’s leather boot is also pictured beside rigging and wooden pulleys. It is speculated to belong to Shackleton’s second-in-command Frank Wild, who is photographed in a similar boot. Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary ShipImage Credit: National Geographic Society The images, which depict a ship in a remarkable state of preservation, are highlighted in a National Geographic documentary which features Dan Snow and is co-produced by History Hit. They feature in the accompanying book Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary Ship by John Shears and Nico Vincent. It documents that months of analysis of the digital photographs and 3D laser data led to the identification of additional artefacts, including a telescope and a sewing machine.

The Pima Animal Care Center (PACC) just announced on Wednesday, October 16, that they’re willing to pay anyone who is willing to foster a large dog from their shelter for two weeks. In an effort to reduce the animal shelter’s space crisis and to give their dogs’ a break from the stressful shelter environment, the Pima Animal Care Center launches the “Foster for Five” incentive. According to the animal shelter, if you foster a 40lb dog or larger for two weeks, you are eligible to earn $5 a day, letting any person earn up to $70. Furthermore, fosters will receive a free crate for the dog, provided by Petco Love, a non-profit organization dedicated to animal welfare. “We’re aiming to reduce stress for our dogs in the shelter and send 150 dogs to foster homes starting this Friday,” the animal shelter reveals. The offer will run from October 18 to November 03. And Pima County residents or those with a valid Pima County address who are 18 years of age or older are eligible for the foster incentive. Pima Animal Care Center’s director, Monica Dangler, said she was hopeful that the monetary incentive and crate will make it a lot easier for people to give fostering a try. Dangler said, “I’m so grateful that we have partners willing to assist us in creative ways to incentivize fostering.” “I’m convinced that once people realize how rewarding fostering a pet can be, they’ll be hooked. You really can’t put a price tag on the joy of helping an animal in need,” she continues. If fostering for two weeks is not an option, the animal shelter has provided a few ways for people to help in their initiative. They said donating, spreading the word on the urgent need for adoption, keeping pets safe, volunteering, and participating in some of the shelter’s pet support projects will “make a huge impact without taking a pet home“. Studies have found that long-term shelter stay causes extreme stress to dogs. There have been many cases of shelter dogs’ health deteriorating due to the stress they feel for being in shelters for years. With the Pima Animal Care Center’s “Foster for Five” incentive, you are not only helping these dogs get adopted faster, but you are also making sure they stay healthy.

X-37B is about to perform a series of “novel maneuvers".

NASA has announced that the Sun has reached the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, an event that signals an increase in geomagnetic storms and auroras in the coming months. Solar cycles, observed since the early 19th century, are marked by periods of calm and activity, during which the number of sunspots ranges from zero to more than twenty groups. These sunspots are areas of intense magnetic fields—up to 2,500 times stronger than Earth’s. They serve as indicators of solar activity and are harbingers of various cosmic phenomena. “Sunspots aren’t just pretty pictures; they’re important indicators of our nearest star,” said NASA Space Weather Program Director Jamie Favors. “As solar activity increases, we have a unique opportunity to study the Sun, but it can also affect our planet and the entire solar system.” According to forecasts, we can expect more geomagnetic storms and auroras in the coming months. These phenomena occur when coronal mass ejections interact with Earth’s magnetic field, creating mesmerizing light displays in polar regions. Previously, experts had predicted that the solar maximum would not occur until 2025, but recent data has changed those expectations. A teleconference organized by NASA and NOAA revealed that we have already entered the solar maximum, which may last into next year. “While we have reached the solar maximum, that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the peak of activity,” said NOAA Space Weather Operations Director Elsayed Talaat. “It could be months or even years before we know when the true peak occurs.” The solar magnetic field changes throughout the cycle, becoming more complex during the maximum. This creates conditions for the formation of active regions and increases the likelihood of solar flares. Lisa Upton, co-chair of the Solar Cycle Prediction Group, noted that sunspot activity in the current cycle has exceeded expectations. “Despite some large eruptions, they haven’t been as powerful as we might expect during the peak phase of the cycle,” she added. With months of heightened solar activity ahead, scientists will have ample opportunities to study the Sun and observe the aurora borealis. This promises to be a period of significant scientific interest, as well as a visually stunning time for skywatchers. The post Sun Reaches Its Peak: Geomagnetic Storms and Auroras on the Horizon appeared first on Anomalien.com.