Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Signs of the Times (October 11, 2017)

Satanic Temple Follower Wins Appeal in Abortion Religious Beliefs Case

A Missouri woman who is a follower of the Satanic Temple believes state abortion law goes against her religious beliefs, and she’s taken her case to court. Her case is now heading to the Missouri Supreme Court, after she won last week in the Western District Court of Appeals. According to The Kansas City Star, court documents show that the woman identified as Mary Doe argued her religion does not believe that life begins at conception. Therefore, she said what’s required for an abortion in Missouri violates her First Amendment freedom of religion.

The Cole County Circuit Court originally rejected Doe’s claims. The Kansas City Star reports that Doe had an abortion in May 2015 and had to comply with Missouri’s informed consent law. It requires women to wait 72 hours before having an abortion, look at an ultrasound and sign a form which states they’ve read material that contains the line, “(t)he life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being.” READ MORE

Man Fired For Bringing a Watermelon to Work, Deemed Racists By Co-Workers

Watermelon, when in season, is available at every grocery store. At many grocery stores, you can buy it whole, quartered, or even cut into rind free, individually wrapped pieces. But, if you show up with one at a certain Detroit firehouse, you’ll be fired. That’s what happened when firefighter trainee Robert Pattison brought a whole watermelon as a present for his new co-workers. Traditionally, probationary firefighters bring in a gift for the existing group. Donuts are the top choice
but are not required. The firefighters at Engine 55 at Joy and Southfield in Detroit are 90 percent African American and some took the watermelon gift as a racist statement. They complained, and Pattison was fired.Fire Commissioner Eric Jones Jones said: “There is zero tolerance for discriminatory behavior inside the Detroit Fire Department. On Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, at Engine 55, a trial firefighter (probationary employee) engaged in unsatisfactory work behavior which was deemed offensive and racially insensitive to members of the Detroit Fire Department.” READ MORE

Robocops have been deployed in busy city centre in bid to control holiday crowds

Robocops have been deployed in a busy city centre in a futuristic bid to control huge numbers of holiday crowds.
Police robots are being used for the first time by the authorities in China.
The bizarre looking bobbies have been used to control crowds during the recent public holidays.
But the made-in-China cops are nothing like the metallic bipedal humanoid android seen in the sci-fi film "RoboCop" and instead look like glorified vacuum cleaners.
However, the bots deployed this past week in the Chinese capital of Beijing are not to be underestimated, as they come with state-of-the-art facial recognition software that can sense danger - as well as an extendable electroshock arm.

The robocops are being used to control crowds (Image: AsiaWire)

The robots can sense danger (Image: AsiaWire)

Images taken by tourists queuing outside the National Museum, which is just next to the famous Tiananmen Square, shows two of the bots bearing a "Police" insignia rolling around between the lines.
But the visitors cannot get over its terrifying dystopian male voice, which asks them to "please queue in an orderly fashion and cooperate with security inspections."
"Please produce your identification documents and do not push or shove," it adds during the presumably automated broadcast.

California To Have Harsher Penalty For Pronoun Violations Than For Knowingly Spreading HIV

Beginning in 2018, California law will have harsher penalties for health care workers who address a senior transgender patient with the “wrong” pronouns than for people who knowingly infect others with HIV.

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on Friday lowering the maximum penalty for knowingly infecting or exposing a person to HIV to six months in prison - down from a maximum of eight years.

Also last week, Brown signed legislation allowing for penalties of up to one year in jail for health care workers who “willfully and repeatedly” use the “wrong” pronouns to refer to a senior transgender patient.
Democratic state Sen. Scott Weiner sponsored both pieces of legislation.

“The most effective way to reduce HIV infections is to destigmatize HIV,” Weiner told CNN.

“To make people comfortable talking about their infection, get tested, get into treatment.”

Weiner has also dismissed concerns about religious freedom regarding the criminal punishments for health care workers who don’t use transgender pronouns.

“Everyone is entitled to their religious view,” he said.

“But when you enter the public space, when you are running an institution, you are in a workplace, you are in a civil setting, and you have to follow the law.”

Opponents of the legislation disagreed.

“How can you believe in free speech, but think the government can compel people to use certain pronouns when talking to others?” Greg Burt of the California Family Council testified in July.

“This is not tolerance. This is not love. This is not mutual respect. True tolerance tolerates people with different views. We need to treat each other with respect, but respect is a two-way street. It is not respectful to threaten people with punishment for having sincerely held beliefs that differ from your own.”