Bits and Bites > Left Wing Madness blends with Spectacular Stupidity; Surprising Results from Stupid Study

..

Left Wing Madness blends with Spectacular Stupidity

Jeff Charles, Olive Garden's Favorite Person

@JeffOnTheRight

BREAKING: Progressive groups call for national boycott of Olive Garden after Italy elects "fascist" Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

"Pizza and pasta are now symbols of worldwide white supremacy," they wrote. "We must stand against any establishment serving this fascist food."

Safe-sex study delivers surprising result

Young people who were texted about safe sex ended up catching diseases

through sex more than those who weren’t, research indicates

A man poses holding a selection of condoms. ©  AFP / Leon Neal

Sending text messages encouraging safe-sex behavior to young people who have recently experienced a sexually transmitted infection (STI) is unable to prevent them from getting reinfected, a British study has found out.

The effectiveness of the Safetxt project, which is aimed at reducing reinfections of chlamydia and gonorrhea, has been tested by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

They published the results of the study, which involved more than 3,000 people aged between 16 and 24, in the medical magazine BMJ on Wednesday.

The participants were separated into two groups, with one of them being sent frequent messages from Safetxt and the other not getting any texts at all.

The researchers found out that 22.2% of those who had received the texts became reinfected with chlamydia or gonorrhea, compared to just 20.3% among those who hadn’t.

“The Safetxt intervention did not reduce chlamydia and gonorrhea reinfections at one year in people aged 16-24 years. More reinfections occurred in the Safetxt group,” the paper acknowledged.

The authors said that their findings “highlight the need for rigorous evaluation of health communication interventions.”

They also advised the World Health Organization (WHO) that recommends the use of such messaging to “revise its endorsement of digital behavior change communication for strengthening health systems, to specify which topics and content WHO endorses.”

This shows how far out-of-touch are the experts at the WHO and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Maybe they should talk to some young people occasionally.

==============================================================================================

Religion Can Help Improve Children’s Mental Health, New Study Finds

Surprised to find this story on a national news network in Canada

By Laura Hensley Global News

People who grew up in a religious household reported fewer symptoms of depression. Getty

Children who are raised with religious or spiritual beliefs tend to have better mental health into their adulthood, a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found.

According to the study’s findings, people who attended weekly religious services or prayed or meditated daily in their childhood reported greater life satisfaction in their 20s. People who grew up in a religious household also reported fewer symptoms of depression and lower rates of post-traumatic stress disorder.

On top of the mental health benefits, researchers found that religious subjects weren’t as likely to smoke, use drugs, or contract a sexually transmitted infection compared to people who had a less spiritual upbringing.

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, followed more than 5,000 youths between the ages of eight to 14 years.

Why does religion benefit mental health?

According to Dr. Tyler J. VanderWeele, the study’s senior author and a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, attending religious services, like church, for example, may benefit youth because it’s a shared experience with people who hold similar beliefs and values. Community is thought to be beneficial to well-being.

VanderWeele also said that being involved in a religious community may offer adolescents role models and mentors other than their parents.

When it comes to the positive effects of prayer and meditation, VanderWeele said it’s likely that the practices “give rise to an experience of God or of transcendence so that an adolescent need not turn to drugs or risky sexual behaviours in their search for something more.”

“That experience of God may fundamentally make a person more other-oriented, leading to greater volunteering, forgiveness, and a sense of mission, and these things ultimately make one happier and protect against depression,” he told Global News.

“Adolescence is a particularly critical time of development and self-understanding, and the establishing of these practices may shape health and well-being throughout life.”

Religion also helps people think about their health in a holistic way, where the mind, body and spirit are all connected, said Jane Kuepfer, a specialist in spirituality and aging at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo.

“[With religion], when one aspect of ‘who we are’ suffers, the whole suffers. And when one aspect is healthy and vital, ‘all that we are’ benefits,” she said to Global News. “Religion teaches us to value life, and to respect and care for our physical bodies.”

Kuepfer also stressed the importance of belonging and feeling connected to others as a factor contributing to well-being. Social isolation and loneliness are harmful to anyone’s mental health, but particularly to vulnerable populations.

“A sense of belonging is really important, and something we don’t always get in our society in other places,” she said. “[Religion] also gives you a larger perspective and connection across generations.”

Even for those who don’t attend religious services, spirituality benefits health

While attending regular religious services was key to well-being, the study also found that daily meditation and prayer greatly benefited mental health — even in adolescents who didn’t attend service as often.

VanderWeele, the study’s co-author, said that previous studies of adults showed that religious service had the strongest effects on health. But with kids, both service attendance and prayer and/or meditation were strongly associated with well-being.

“For some outcomes, the associations with prayer and mediation were even stronger than for service attendance,” he said. “This is different from adult populations.”

Kuepfer said prayer and meditation are known to be calming and can help people cope with stress. They also offer people a chance to connect with something larger than themselves and work through problems they’re dealing with.

“Religion or belonging to a faith community and participating in spiritual practice helps to slow us down and get perspective,” she said. “We realize that life isn’t all about us, and we don’t have to carry the world on our shoulders. It takes the pressure off.”

There is another aspect that has been completely ignored in this article, and that is that children, or adults, who pray and practice their faith, are living, generally speaking, in obedience to God, that is, 'in His Will'. As such, God may offer extra levels of protection from temptations and from evil. God may also very well bless those people in many various ways and direct their steps if they are listening to Him.

Christian prayer and church attendance are not just healthy exercises; they are ways of connecting to the living God, and preparing for Eternity, which is the real purpose for our existence on this earth.

Sweden Drops Rape Case Against Wikileak's Julian Assange

Caution: somewhat graphic sexual description below

‘I do not forgive or forget’: Assange responds

after Swedish prosecutors drop rape case

© Neil Hall

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he will not “forgive or forget” being “slandered” and “detained” for seven years without charge.

“Detained for 7 years without charge while my children grew up and my name was slandered. I do not forgive or forget,” Assange tweeted.

Assange is due to give a public statement shortly after rape allegations against him were dropped by Swedish prosecutors on Friday.

Swedish prosecutors said as “all options of moving the investigation forward are now exhausted” and “in light of the views expressed by the [Swedish] Supreme Court on the proportionality of remanding someone in absentia” it was no longer “proportional” to maintain Assange’s arrest warrant.

Sweden’s director of public prosecution, Marianne Ny, said: “I don’t want to assign blame and responsibility to any particular person for this. I must note however that the reason for this [investigation ending] is that Julian Assange has kept himself away from us for so long.”

Of course, you wouldn't guarantee not to extradite him to America, and it's not like you didn't know where he was. You were attempting to do America's bidding. Your case was very flimsy to begin with charging him for having sex with someone who was naked and in bed with him and with whom he had already had sex several times. 

Breakdown of the rape allegations

The crux of the rape allegations against Assange stem from two sexual encounters and the WikiLeaks’ founder’s reluctance to use condoms during them.

Assange had sex with two women, dubbed ‘AA’ and ‘SW,’ when he was in Sweden in 2010. The two women wanted Assange to get an STI test because they suspected he had unprotected sex with both of them.

The two women went to a police station to ascertain whether they could force Assange to take a HIV test, sparking an investigation that has plagued Assange for seven years.   

‘SW’

Assange had what he described as “consensual” sex with ‘SW’ on August 16, 2010, after meeting her at a talk in Stockholm two days before. The two went to the cinema on the day they met, where they kissed.

“We had consensual sexual intercourse on four or five occasions,” Assange said. “Her words, her expressions and her physical reactions made it clear to me that she encouraged and enjoyed our interactions.”

According to SW’s police interview, after the two had dozed off one night, “she awoke and felt him penetrating her.” She asked if he was wearing a condom and said, “You better don't have HIV.” ‘SW’ texted a friend on August 18 saying, “I was half asleep.”

“He was already inside her and she let him continue,” the police interview reads. “She didn’t have the energy to tell him one more time. She had gone on and on about condoms all night long.”

On August 20, Assange spoke to ‘SW’ who said she was at the hospital and wanted him to meet her there to get tested for STIs, so that she wouldn’t have to worry while she was awaiting for her own results. “HIV, for instance, needs months to show up,” Assange explained.

He told her he couldn’t do that until the next day. “She said that it was normal in Sweden to go to the police to get advice about STDs and that if I didn't come down to the hospital she would go to the police to ask whether I could be forced to get tested.”

After agreeing he would meet her the next day to be tested, Assange was surprised to find out he had later been accused of rape.

According to police records of SW’s phone seen by Assange’s lawyers, ‘SW’ wrote from the police station that she “did not want to put any charges on Julian Assange,” but that the police were “keen on getting their hands on him.”

The next day she wrote she “did not want to accuse” Assange “for anything” and that it was the “police who made up the charges (sic).”

‘AA’

Assange stayed at AA’s home when he was in Stockholm, before he had sex with SW.

The two had sex, which ‘AA’ said was “so fast” and that Assange was rough and impatient. She said she wanted to reach for a condom but Assange wouldn’t let her. She told him she wanted him to wear a condom and then he let her reach for it, and wore it.

However, ‘AA’ said she didn’t see any semen in the condom and suspected Assange had broken it during sex.

Assange stayed with ‘AA’ for a few more nights and he attempted to come on to her again, including one incident where he rubbed against her in the bed they shared, AA’s police interview says, but they had no further sexual relations.

‘AA’ said she went to the police largely to support ‘SW.’

“Anna states that she had consented to have sex with Assange, but that she would not have done so if she had known that he was not wearing a condom,” the police interview reads. “Anna does not desire any contact with a crime victims service, but will get back to us if she feels the need.”

It seems likely that neither woman tested positive for HIV or any other STD, or that would be part of the story. 

It's shameful that you, Sweden, have been so doggedly determined to bring Assange to 'justice' for his 'rape' of a Swedish woman and yet you are daily sacrificing Swedish women and girls to Muslim migrants on the altar of political correctness and stupidity.

Assange’s lawyer Per Samuelsson said his client was now considering suing Sweden.

“It’s not about money but redress,” Samuelson told news agency TT.

He added that Assange would eventually try to move to Ecuador. 

Assange sought political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and has been living there since, fearing the Swedish investigation would result in him being extradited to the US over leaked military documents and diplomatic cables.

Assange, 45, has always denied the rape allegations made against him.

It remains unclear how Friday’s development will affect Assange’s risk of being extradited to the US if he leaves the embassy and is arrested. The Metropolitan Police in London say they will still arrest Assange over a lesser charge of skipping bail in 2012 when he sought asylum.

Prime Minister Theresa May said any decision about Assange’s arrest or otherwise is an “operational matter” for police.

That's helpful! Great leader!