"Australian inquiry finds decadeslong epidemic of child abuse" by Jacqueline Williams New York Times December 15, 2017
SYDNEY — A government commission investigating the sexual abuse of children in Australia found Friday that the nation was gripped by an epidemic dating back decades, with tens of thousands of children sexually abused in schools, religious organizations, and other institutions.
For all those out there who doubt or pooh-pooh any talk of conspiracies, there it is. The Catholic Church sex abuse was kept quiet for centuries.
The royal commission, the highest form of investigation in Australia, made 189 recommendations, among them the establishment of a new National Office for Child Safety and penalties for those who suspect abuse and fail to alert the police, including priests who hear about abuse in confessionals.
The panel also urged Australia’s Roman Catholic leadership to press Rome to end mandatory celibacy for priests.
“Tens of thousands of children have been sexually abused in many Australian institutions,” said the report, which was particularly critical of Catholic organizations. “We will never know the true number. Whatever the number, it is a national tragedy, perpetrated over generations within many of our most trusted institutions.”
The ruling elite is rife with the stuff.
The Vatican called the report ‘‘thorough’’ and said it deserves to be ‘‘studied seriously,’’ the Associated Press reported. It said it was committed to helping Australian victims of pedophile priests find healing and justice.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the commission had exposed “a national tragedy.”
More like a crime, but whatever.
The commission’s chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, said the panel heard from more than 1,000 witnesses over nearly 15 months in discovering the magnitude of the abuse.
“It is not a case of a few rotten apples,” the report said. “Society’s major institutions have seriously failed. In many cases those failings have been exacerbated by a manifestly inadequate response to the abused person.’’
“The problems have been so widespread, and the nature of the abuse so heinous, that it is difficult to comprehend,” it added.
Besides, the AmeriKan pre$$ has been too busy groping at anything that moves.
Australia created the commission in 2012 to investigate decades of sexual abuse in religious institutions, schools, and other establishments — the only country in the world so far to initiate such a sweeping government-led inquiry.
I guess they are a trailblazer, and what is stopping the others?
More than 4,000 institutions have been implicated in abuse allegations, the commission found.
Australian government investigators found 4,444 victims of abuse and at least 1,880 suspected abusers from 1980 to 2015, most of them Catholic priests and religious brothers. The report released Friday said 62 percent of the survivors who had told the commission they had been abused in religious institutions had been abused in a Catholic facility.
Responding to the findings, Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne offered “our unconditional apology for this suffering and a commitment to ensuring justice for those affected.”
He said many of the panel’s recommendations would have a significant effect on the way the Catholic Church operates in Australia.
“Central to this Royal Commission is the painful truth that so many children were abused, trust was destroyed, and innocence lost,” the archbishop said. “They are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters — this should never have happened. As a bishop I express my deepest sorrow.”
The inquiry, which cost the Australian government more than $280 million, was unmatched in its scope in examining a scandal that has shaken the Roman Catholic hierarchy worldwide.
“Our inquiry revealed numerous cases where leaders of religious institutions knew about allegations of child sexual abuse but failed to take effective action, often with catastrophic consequences for children,” the report said.
The most damaging revelations centered on scandals in towns like Ballarat, the hometown of Cardinal George Pell, who this year became the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate to be formally charged with sexual offenses.
In Ballarat, a police officer investigated a pedophile ring at local Catholic schools and said up to 30 victims had since killed themselves.
The charges brought in June against Pell, one of Pope Francis’ top advisers, followed years of criticism that he had at best overlooked, and at worst covered up, the widespread abuse of children by clergymen in Australia.
That's where my print copy ended.
In addition to calling for the establishment of a National Office for Child Safety, the commission urged passage of laws that would penalize those who failed to alert the police if they suspected an adult “was sexually abusing or had sexually abused a child.”
Delving into sensitive territory for the Catholic Church, the report also recommended that clergy be required to report suspected abuse that they had heard about during confession. Church officials, however, argue that confidentiality is integral to the ritual, and Hart took issue with the proposal.
“I would feel terribly conflicted, and I would try even harder to get that person outside confessional, but I cannot break the seal,” he said, referring to the seal of absolute secrecy around what is said in the confessional. “The penalty for any priest breaking the seal is excommunication, being cast out of the church, so it’s a real, serious, spiritual matter,” he added.
The panel also recommended that the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference pressure the church’s leadership in Rome to “consider introducing voluntary celibacy for diocesan clergy,” saying that mandatory celibacy for priests contributed to child abuse.
If you say the cause was gayness, it is a hate crime.
Former prime minister Julia Gillard, who had called for the establishment of the royal commission, said previous efforts to conduct such an inquiry were resisted, despite efforts by whistle-blowers to expose the abuses.
She said that in formulating the inquiry, she found that previous such efforts hadn’t given survivors the sense of healing or closure they sought.
“I knew that it would be difficult to get it right, and I was very concerned that if we created an inquiry that didn’t work well it would end up retraumatizing survivors,” Gillard said.
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The Pope can try to tweak it, but his legacy is now tainted. He won't say the word even as he asks for forgiveness and tries to make up for his silence:
"Myanmar’s military said Friday that almost 400 people died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya ethnic minority. Both sides exchanged charges of atrocities, as thousands of Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh. At least 46 people believed to be Rohingya fleeing violence in western Myanmar were found dead on the banks of a river along the boundary with Bangladesh. The dead — 19 children, 18 women, and 9 men — were found at points along the Naf River over the past three days, Bangladeshi officials said Friday. Longstanding tension between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted in bloody rioting in 2012, forcing more than 100,000 Rohingya into displacement camps. The insurgent group that claimed responsibility for last week’s attacks, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, said it acted to protect Rohingya communities. A human rights group, Fortify Rights, said witnesses who escaped have supported accusations by Rohingya advocates that government security personnel and civilian vigilantes ‘‘committed mass killings of Rohingya Muslim men, women, and children.”
There they go again, waving kids at you. Never mind the militant attacks that are killing people and making others flee in what the U.S. has declared as ethnic cleansing.
Deal on Rohingya repatriation inches forward, but hurdles remain
Like the arrest of two spies, 'er, reporters.
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"Britain and EU break deadlock over British exit" by Stephen Castle New York Times December 08, 2017
LONDON — Britain and the European Union on Friday cleared the way to start a crucial new round of talks on British withdrawal from the bloc, announcing a breakthrough after months of deadlock, an internal political standoff in London, and a dispute over the future of the Irish border.
The deal would avoid a “hard” border in Ireland; set Britain’s divorce bill at between $47 billion and $52 billion, roughly double its original offer; and establish judicial protocols to protect the rights of the 3 million European citizens in Britain and the million British citizens in the European Union.
See: UK immigration falls as EU citizens exit Britain
Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain made a predawn flight to Brussels to make the announcement with Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, after May wrapped up tough negotiations with the small Northern Irish party on which her government depends.
The accord still needs the approval of EU leaders, but May apparently convinced negotiators that enough progress had been made in talks on Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc to move on to a new phase of difficult negotiations early next year.
The agreement, a rare step forward in the nearly nine months since Britain formally announced that it would leave the bloc, should allow the start of negotiations on future trade relations with the bloc, as well as on a period of transition for the time immediately after Britain’s scheduled departure in March 2019, during which a full trade agreement can ideally be worked out.
A trade and transition agreement will have to be concluded well before the exit date — probably by fall 2018 — in order to provide time for it to be ratified by member nations and by the European Parliament.
While negotiators managed to finesse the Irish border issue to reach this agreement, the matter seemed far from settled. It will now go to trade negotiators, and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland noted approvingly that there was now a “backstop arrangement,” in case they do not resolve the issue.
Under that deliberately ambiguous formulation, Northern Ireland and perhaps all of the United Kingdom would maintain “full alignment” with European rules as needed to “support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement” that ended the Troubles in the North.
The haziness surrounding the arrangement was cause for concern for Arlene Foster and the Democratic Unionist Party, who are determined above all to avoid a situation in which the rules governing Northern Ireland diverge from those for the rest of the United Kingdom. That direction, they fear, would ultimately lead to reunification with the South.
So, while welcoming the idea there would be no “red line,” or border, running through the Irish Sea, Foster said, “We cautioned the prime minister about proceeding with this agreement in its present form, given the issues which still need to be resolved and the views expressed to us by many of her own party colleagues.”
But that snag, should it develop at all, lies in the future, while Friday was portrayed as a day for celebration, however muted by recognition of the hard road ahead.
“This is a difficult negotiation but we have now made a first breakthrough,” Juncker said. “I am satisfied with the fair deal we have reached with the United Kingdom.’’
“If the 27 member states agree with our assessment, the European Commission and our chief negotiator Michel Barnier stand ready to begin work on the second phase of the negotiations immediately,” he said.
The heads of the member states will meet next week and are expected to confirm the deal next Friday.
“This government will continue to govern in the interests of the whole community in Northern Ireland and uphold the agreements that have underpinned the huge progress that has been made over the past two decades,” May said in a statement on the British government’s website.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who had said the union could “go whistle” if it thought it would get a hefty payment, congratulated May on “her determination in getting today’s deal.” Environment Secretary Michael Gove said she had “confounded her critics.”
The lone dissenter, it seemed, was Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party, who said on Twitter that the deal was “good news for Mrs May as we can now move on to the next stage of humiliation.”
Assuming that EU leaders agree at their summit meeting in Brussels to proceed, detailed trade negotiations will begin soon, probably early in the new year.....
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"Brexit cost rises as Britain retreats on divorce demands" by Stephen Castle New York Times November 30, 2017
LONDON — The proposition that Britain could have its cake and eat it if it left the European Union, as the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, once said, was always dismissed as a fiction by opponents. On Wednesday, it was quietly interred by the government as it capitulated on the amount it will have to pay for a divorce settlement.
And this was not Britain’s first capitulation over its EU departure, nor — almost certainly — will it be the last, analysts said.
What Johnson was saying was that Britain could secure the economic benefits of membership in the EU without paying a penalty or being subject to its rules, particularly on the free movement of labor within the bloc.
On Wednesday, Britain reportedly agreed in principle to a divorce check of around $47 billion to $53 billion in the hope of securing the start of talks on a future trade arrangement with the 27 nations.
The unofficial offer, which covers commitments made while a member of the club, roughly doubles Britain’s initial $24 billion pledge, made in September, which fell flat with the EU leadership.
For months, supporters of the withdrawal, known as Brexit, have rejected the idea of paying a substantial exit bill to honor commitments. Some, like the euroskeptic lawmaker John Redwood, have insisted that Britain owed nothing at all.
Yet, with time running out for Britain before it departs in March 2019, such pledges have collided, brutally, with reality.....
Tell it to Labor.
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Related:
"A Dec. 14-15 EU summit that will decide whether Brexit talks can move on to future relations and trade. The lack of progress so far has raised concerns that Britain may not have a deal by the time it officially leaves on March 29, 2019, and heightened fears that May’s government could collapse. Business leaders in particular are expressing alarm at the lack of certainty in the process. The chief executive of manufacturers’ organization EEF, Stephen Phipson, warned that inability to secure a transition deal before Christmas would be costly. ‘‘While international companies appreciate the nuances of complex negotiations, they will assess the situation based on the facts at hand and all they will be able to see is the probability of a cliff edge looming on the horizon,’’ he said....."
Also see:
EU chooses France and the Netherlands to host key agencies post-Brexit
Two drug firms set up new facilities in Britain to offset Brexit exits
Did you see who was offering them advice?
"Britain’s Treasury chief, Philip Hammond, revealed Wednesday a deteriorating outlook, as a slowing economy and stubborn deficit mean there is little money to increase public spending in the face of demands from teachers, firefighters, and the military. Adding to the pressure is the government’s need to preserve coffers for potential Brexit turmoil....."
You guys are getting screwed, but I'm sure it is the fault of Russians.
Is Prince Harry-Meghan Markle union a sign of change in Britain?
It was for the Globe.
Insipid commentary aside, congratulations to the happy (royal) couple
Meghan Markle will become Anglican
That will be a real test for her.
Royal wedding could bring in $80 million in business
May they live happily ever after and may she RIP.
"Two men sought by authorities after an altercation at a London subway station that led to panic at the heart of the Oxford Street shopping district turned themselves in to police for questioning Saturday. The men, aged 21 and 40, responded to a public appeal from investigators, and both were interviewed. They haven’t been identified or charged. The confrontation on an Oxford Circus subway platform Friday sparked rumors of gunfire (AP)."
Trying to trigger memories in a mental mind f***.
"A minibus crashed with two trucks on a British highway early Saturday, killing eight people and injuring four others. The drivers of the two trucks were arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. One of the men is also suspected of drunken driving. The vehicles involved in the crash, which took place near the southern town of Milton Keynes, were all traveling in the same direction (AP)."
"In London on Sunday, police arrested a second man in connection with a suspect who drove up to a police van not far from Buckingham Palace, then reached for a 4-foot sword, an incident detectives called a terrorism attempt. Scotland Yard said three officers were slightly injured when they confronted the 26-year-old man who drove at the police van then stopped in a restricted area outside the gates of Queen Elizabeth II’s London residence Friday night......"
Yeah, the monarchy is Britain’s great unifier and are they making this scitte up as they go?
Plot to kill UK prime minister foiled, court hears
Intelligence officers “got a great deal right, and could have succeeded had the cards fallen differently,” and the conspiracies by violent extremists could have been averted.
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"Decline of the church tilts Ireland to the left" by Liam Stack New York Times December 02, 2017
DUBLIN — Ireland was long a bastion of Catholic conservatism, a place where pedestrians might tip their hats and hop off the footpath when a priest walked past, but economic and technological changes helped propel a shift in attitudes that accelerated with the unfolding of far-reaching abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church.
Over a generation, Ireland transformed from a country where 67 percent of voters approved the constitutional abortion ban to one where, in 2015, 62 percent voted to legalize same-sex marriage.
Ireland moved to the left on other social issues, too. It decriminalized homosexuality in 1992, removed restrictions on the sale of contraception in 1993, and legalized divorce in 1996. The Irish voted twice, in 1992 and 2002, to permit abortion if the mother was deemed a suicide risk. In 2015, the country passed a gender identity law favored by transgender rights groups.
They now want to legalize abortion.
Priests once enjoyed great social and political power in Ireland, but the abuse scandal led to “the demise of the church,” the center-right prime minister, Leo Varadkar, 38, who is biracial and gay, said in an interview in September.
Perhaps it should have.
“In the ’40s and ’50s, people replaced the colonialism of the Brits with a kind of colonialism of the church,” said Aodhan O Riordain, a senator from the Labor Party. That fostered an intermingling of Catholicism and Irish identity that was “a toxic mix,” he added.
History has proved that out, at least in Western societies.
For decades, legislation opposed by the church was doomed to fail. Eamon de Valera, an ardent Catholic who served as president or prime minister several times between 1921 and 1973, enjoyed a close relationship with the archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, who helped steer Ireland’s religious life for three decades and made assertive policy suggestions.
“The Catholic Church’s hold on the state, the ways in which it sought to influence the state, remained strong for a very long time,” Smyth said. “For much longer than you might have thought possible.”
Even in its diminished state, the church continues to play a role. It controls almost all state-funded primary schools — nearly 97 percent — and the law allows them to consider religion as a factor in admissions. Many hospitals, too, are either owned by the church or on church property.
Would you trust them with your kids?
Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, said the church “certainly” enjoyed less influence now than in the past. He blamed the one-two punch of broad social trends and the abuse scandal for the church’s declining fortunes.
“The scandals emerged at a moment which was either just the wrong time or the right time, depending on which side you are, for them to emerge,” the archbishop said.
Wow!
Shouldn't we all be on the same side on this one, pervert?
Those changing attitudes were driven by epochal economic and technological shifts felt in all countries, like the expansion of free trade and the birth of the internet. But in Ireland, the old order had largely managed to adapt.
“If you were a cardinal in Ireland in 1989, you would have felt pretty good,” said Fintan O’Toole, a columnist. “You would have said: ‘You know what? We weathered a lot of social and economic change and we’re still the power in the land.’”
Cracks had begun to emerge, though.
Economic liberalization, which began in 1960s, drew women into the workforce, shrinking the size of Ireland’s traditionally large families and creating pressure for the legalization of contraception, which was anathema to the church.
It also began to stem the centurylong tide of emigration. Some emigrants returned to Ireland, and newcomers from Eastern Europe and elsewhere arrived, making Polish the country’s second most widely spoken language.
Ireland’s break from the past has been so sharp that Garry O’Sullivan, a newspaper and book publisher whose company will soon release a book by a priest titled “Why the Irish Church Deserves to Die,” described it as akin to “intolerance toward views that represent anything of the old guard or traditional Ireland.”
That old guard was discredited by the yearslong drumbeat of child abuse allegations that began to emerge in the early 1990s as well as a cover-up by church officials who spent years denying the problem and moving abusive priests from parish to parish......
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Time for them to step down or die in a pool of blood as they teeter on the edge of destruction.
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Time for some morality in religion:
"4 Palestinians killed in latest clashes over Jerusalem" by Fares Akram Associated Press December 15, 2017
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and more than 80 wounded along with an Israeli officer in clashes across the West Bank and near Gaza’s border on Friday as the fallout continued over President Trump’s announcement last week recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Protests in response to Trump’s announcement, which departed from decades of US policy that the fate of Jerusalem should be decided through negotiations, have yet to relent across various Arab and Muslim countries in the region.
I was told all week long reaction was muted and the region was relatively quiet.
After Friday prayers, Palestinians in the West Bank and along the Gaza border set fire to tires and threw rocks at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and live fire.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said two Palestinians were killed from gunshots to the head. He identified one of the men as Ibrahim Abu Thraya, 29, a disabled man with two amputated legs. He had taken part in several border skirmishes recently, images on social media show him carrying a Palestinian flag.
They are now calling Israeli oppression of the world's largest concentration camp a border skirmish.
Another 82 Palestinians were injured in clashes in several locations along Gaza’s border with Israel, at least five of whom were seriously wounded, he said. Another Palestinian died later from wounds sustained in clashes near Jerusalem, the health ministry said.
Friday’s deaths put the number of Palestinians killed since Trump’s declaration on Dec. 6 to eight.
The Israel military said thousands of ‘‘Palestinian rioters’’ rolled burning tires and hurled firebombs and rocks at security forces, who responded with tear gas and also ‘‘fired selectively toward main instigators.’’
You know, “as a society, people shouldn’t allow this type of violence, but they do.” It's the “new normal.”
Palestinians have been clashing with Israeli troops across the West Bank and along the Gaza border since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last week. The Islamic militant group Hamas that rules Gaza has called for a new armed uprising against Israel in response to Trump’s declaration.
East Jerusalem is home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim, and Christian holy sites and the fate of the territory is an emotionally charged issue at the heart of the conflict.
The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war from Jordan, as the capital of their hoped-for state. Israel says the entire city, including East Jerusalem, is its eternal capital.
Israel is not willing to share, or is that just a negotiating position?
Palestinians were infuriated by Trump’s announcement because they saw it as siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in the conflict. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said Trump’s move disqualified the United States from continuing in its role as the traditional mediator of peace talks.
It's his son-in-law they should be angry at.
Trump said his decision merely recognizes the reality that Jerusalem already serves as Israel’s capital and is not meant to prejudge the final borders of the city.
Yeah, okay, he has a point there. Makes you wonder who is really behind the ruckus then.
Vice President Mike Pence, however, was forced to delay a trip to the Middle East amid the outcry over Trump’s decision. Aides to Abbas said that the Palestinian president would not meet with Pence, who is now scheduled to arrive in Israel from Egypt on Wednesday.
It was almost the end of Abbas, but now...... hmmmm.
Cui bono?
Abbas had originally planned to host Pence, a devout Christian, in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem. White House officials also said Pence had no plans to visit the contested city’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre — the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected.
Meanwhile Friday, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, one Palestinian was shot and killed after he attacked an officer with a knife, stabbing him twice and wounding him moderately, said Israeli police.
Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police are investigating the incident, including whether the attacker posed as a journalist to get close to the Israeli officer and if he was carrying explosives.
Video of the incident later emerged online, showing the alleged attacker retreating after apparently stabbing the officer. Israeli forces shoot him in the legs and again after he falls. A suicide bomb belt then becomes visible underneath his jacket, but it was not immediately clear if it was authentic.
As two ambulances approach, the forces fire several more gunshots at the man and medical teams are forced to wait before evacuating him. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he died of his wounds.
In East Jerusalem, protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted ‘‘Jerusalem is Arab’’ as they walked the narrow streets of the Old City. Some threw bottles of water at police.
The clashes were fiercer in the West Bank where about 13 protesters were injured by live fire and 61 by rubber bullets while dozens more were treated for tear gas inhalation, according to the Red Crescent.
In the city of Nablus, some Palestinians used slingshots to hurl rocks at Israeli security forces while others torched tires to use the thick plumes of smoke as cover. Others, masked, threw firebombs at an armored water cannon used to disperse crowds.
In Berlin on Friday, police banned American and Israeli flags at a pro-Palestinian march, after flag burning at previous recent protests prompted outrage in Germany. Police also sought to crack down on anti-Semitic chants by having translators accompany the Friday march and record any illegal utterances.
Also Friday, in another declaration likely to inflame passions among Palestinians and others across the Middle East, senior Trump administration officials outlined their view that the Western Wall in East Jerusalem, considered Judaism’s holiest site, will ultimately be declared a part of Israel.....
That's more inciteful than his statement on Jerusalem.
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Related:
"In the deadliest single attack on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in recent memory, rebels in eastern Congo killed at least 15 peacekeepers and wounded more than 50 others in an assault on their base that was launched at nightfall and went on for hours. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed ‘‘outrage and utter heartbreak’’ and called the attack a war crime, urging Congolese authorities to swiftly investigate. The State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said it was ‘‘horrified.’’ The peacekeepers killed were from Tanzania. At least five Congolese soldiers also were killed in the attack Thursday evening that has been blamed on one of the region’s rebel groups."
Here's a knee to the you-know-where.
"Sanofi Genzyme puts hold on arthritis medicine following surge in side effects" by Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff December 08, 2017
About 18,000 gel-filled syringes sold by the Cambridge biotech Sanofi Genzyme to treat arthritis of the knee should not be used because that batch was linked to a surge in side effects, the company says.
Sanofi Genzyme informed doctors, pharmacists, and clinics Monday that they had received packages of Synvisc-One from a batch linked to “an unexpected increase in the number of labelled adverse events,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Globe.
Sanofi Genzyme, a subsidiary of the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi SA, told the recipients of the urgent “product hold” letter they should immediately stop dispensing the medicine while the company investigates.
The syringes were distributed in 36 states, including Massachusetts, between Oct. 25 and Nov. 7, Guzzi said. She declined to provide further details about why this batch was problematic and said the side effects were “consistent with documented adverse events in the product label. There have been no deaths reported.”
In the past, the company has said the most common side effects are pain, swelling, heat, redness, and fluid build-up in or around the knee.
Officials at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Medical Center, and Tufts Medical Center said they were unaware of any patients recently reporting serious side effects from the medicine.
Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009, Synvisc-One is made from a substance called hyaluronan. It comes from chicken combs, the fleshy crests on top of the birds’ heads, according to the company. The substance is also found in the joints of the human body.
When injected into the knee, Synvisc-One is supposed to act as a lubricant and a shock absorber to relieve the pain of arthritis. Orthopedic surgeons and rheumatologists typically administer the injections, which are supposed to provide up to six months of pain relief, although two specialists told the Globe that they haven’t found the product to be nearly that effective.
In 2001, the FDA warned Genzyme about documentation problems and manufacturing deficiencies at its plant in Ridgefield, N.J., in connection with an earlier version of Synvisc made there. That version had to be injected three times instead of just once.
Possible contamination?
The FDA said at the time that the company could face serious consequences if their problems weren’t addressed, including failure to get approval for similar medical products.
Sanofi bought Genzyme for $20.1 billion in 2011, and the subsidiary says responsibility for Synvisc-One has since been shifted to the French parent company. A generation ago, Genzyme pioneered the development of treatments for rare diseases, and it has refocused on that part of its business since being acquired by Sanofi.....
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They issued a recall and are now rebounding even with the hot fire still blowing.
Welcome to the company holiday party (being held at Penn State?):
"With the announcement that the Walt Disney Company intends to buy 20th Century Fox for $52 billion, the world of our corporate media conglomerates just got smaller and more tightly controlled. Is the deal bad for consumers and creators? Only if you think too much of the entertainment we inhale on a daily basis is founded on market-ready fantasy franchise properties and not enough on, you know, stories. About people. But, oh, the cross-promotional possibilities! Who cares if there’s one less content creator in Hollywood and the town’s that much more monolithic when the superheroes owned by Disney (the Avengers) and by Fox (the X-Men) can finally have lunch in the same studio commissary? Sadly, the deal doesn’t include Fox News....."
Related: Resources for victims of sexual misconduct
The Globe aborted their own.
UPDATE:
"A man angry about a parking dispute stabbed two people and then drove into a group of pedestrians on a sidewalk Sunday, leaving one person dead and several others injured, one critically, police said. The violent altercation started around 4:30 a.m. outside a hookah lounge in Queens....."
UPDATE:
"A man angry about a parking dispute stabbed two people and then drove into a group of pedestrians on a sidewalk Sunday, leaving one person dead and several others injured, one critically, police said. The violent altercation started around 4:30 a.m. outside a hookah lounge in Queens....."
