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COVID-19 Cases Surge Among Children As Kids Head Back To School
Just as most of the country is swinging into back-to-school season, new data shows coronavirus cases are surging in school age kids as pediatric diagnoses made up more than a quarter of new cases last week. Continue reading “COVID-19 Cases Surge Among Children As Kids Head Back To School”
Pediatric COVID Cases In Florida Surge Report Children’s Hospitals
Pediatric COVID cases are soaring in Florida, and not just among adults. On Tuesday this week, 46 pediatric coronavirus patients were hospitalized bringing the state’s total number of pediatric COVID-19 cases to 135, second only to Texas which has 142 children hospitalized due to COVID. Continue reading “Pediatric COVID Cases In Florida Surge Report Children’s Hospitals”
New Study Indicates Children Raised By Same-Sex Parents Perform Better In School
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A new study indicates children raised by same-sex couples perform better in school than those of opposite-sex parents, reports The Washington Post.
Using government data tracking all children born between 1995 to 2005 in the Netherlands, researchers found children with same-sex parents scored higher on tests in elementary and secondary school, and had a seven percent higher likelihood of graduating from high school than children reared by a mom and dad.
A team of economists at research university KU Leuven in Belgium crunched the data which followed the children’s progress through primary school through high school.
The research was presented at the American Economic Association conference in Atlanta last month.
Educational performance, family income and more was utilized in the massive study which followed over 1 million children, including 1,200 children raised by same-sex parents.
The researchers noted that same-sex parents tended to be more financially well off, more educated, and older.
Because same-sex couples often have to access to pricey fertility treatments, higher wealth and a deep motivation to have children can play a big part in same-sex parenting.
As we all know, gay and lesbian couples don’t have children ‘by accident.’
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“It is difficult for same-sex couples to obtain children so they have to have a high socioeconomic status,” said economist Deni Mazrekaj. “Research shows that socio-economic status positively influences the school outcome of children.”
Sometimes children become part of a same-sex family due to divorce between straight and gay parents. But that doesn’t necessarily mean those children were raised in same-sex family households.
Even when looking at children specifically born and raised in same-sex families, researchers noted higher educational performance when compared to heterosexual families.
Earlier studies have shown no real differences between children raised by heterosexual versus homosexual parents, although a 2014 study from the University of Melbourne in Australia indicated children of same-sex couples often exhibit happier and healthier behavior than those of opposite-sex parents.
In that study, researchers suggested same-sex couples sharing more equal household responsibilities may have contributed to “greater social cohesion.”
That same report showed one of the biggest issues children of same-sex parents face is stigma.
All 49 Senate Democrats Have Signed On To ‘Keep Families Together’ Act
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| Donald Trump |
UPDATE – All 49 Senate Democrats have now sponsored the Keep Families Together Act.
I’d say that’s “doing something.”
Your move, Donald Trump.
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Donald Trump went on a Monday morning Twitter rant about his administration’s harmful policy of separating children from migrant parents at the U.S. southern border.
In the past two months, over 2,000 children have been separated from their families according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Once again lamenting that it’s the Democrats in Congress who won’t fix the current policy – when it was implemented by Trump’s own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions – Trump tweeted, “Why don’t the Democrats give us the votes to fix the world’s worst immigration laws?”
The fact of the matter is there is a bill in the Senate that would stop Trump’s policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the border. There are currently 43 Democratic co-sponsors and zero Republicans.
Why don’t the Democrats give us the votes to fix the world’s worst immigration laws? Where is the outcry for the killings and crime being caused by gangs and thugs, including MS-13, coming into our country illegally?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
Children are being used by some of the worst criminals on earth as a means to enter our country. Has anyone been looking at the Crime taking place south of the border. It is historic, with some countries the most dangerous places in the world. Not going to happen in the U.S.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
CHANGE THE LAWS!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
It is the Democrats fault for being weak and ineffective with Boarder Security and Crime. Tell them to start thinking about the people devastated by Crime coming from illegal immigration. Change the laws!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
What probably kicked off Trump’s rant was former First Lady Laura Bush’s op-ed in The Washington Post this morning calling for a more humane and moral solution.
I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.
Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history. We also know that this treatment inflicts trauma; interned Japanese have been two times as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease or die prematurely than those who were not interned.
In 2018, can we not as a nation find a kinder, more compassionate and more moral answer to this current crisis? I, for one, believe we can.
Special Places
Speaking about the Roy Moore sexual misconduct allegations in Alabama, Ivanka Trump says, “There’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children.”
Yes, Ivanka, there is.
Remember that.
George Michael Quietly Donated Millions To Help Abused & Bullied Children
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| George Michael |
As the world reels from the passing of pop music star George Michael, we learn he was even more generous in private than most knew.
Michael had secretly been giving millions to a charity that helped UK children who were the target of abuse and/or bullying.
Via The Irish Times:
Behind the headlines and huge on-stage persona, George Michael was a generous man who kept quiet about his considerable charitable donations, it has emerged. The star donated all the royalties from his 1996 number one single Jesus To A Child to charity, and is said to have given a gameshow contestant thousands of pounds to fund her IVF treatment.
Michael has helped countless children as a result of his donations to Childline, the charity’s founder and president Dame Esther Rantzen said. “For years now he has been the most extraordinarily generous philanthropist, giving money to Childline, but he was determined not to make his generosity public so no-one outside the charity knew how much he gave to the nation’s most vulnerable children,” she told the Press Association.
“Over the years he gave us millions and we were planning next year, as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations to create, we hoped, a big concert in tribute to him — to his artistry, to his wonderful musicality but also to thank him for the 100s of 1,000s of children he helped through supporting Childline.”
From Childline’s official website:
Childline is here to help anyone under 19 in the UK with any issue they’re going through. Whether it’s something big or small, our trained counsellors are here to support you.
Childline is free, confidential and available any time, day or night. You can talk to us on the phone, by email or through 1-2-1 counsellor chat. Whatever feels best for you.
Our counsellors are trained staff and volunteers. All sorts of people become Childline counsellors. They could be 16 or 60. They could be gay or straight – or anywhere in between. They come from lots of different backgrounds and places.
What they all have in common is they want to help young people.
They’re real people who want to support you with any issue you’re facing. They’re trained but they don’t follow a script.
First Lady Michelle Obama For Hillary Clinton: “Our Children Watch Everything We Do”
First Lady Michelle Obama stumps for Hillary Clinton in new campaign spot that addresses why the former secretary of state is a better role model for the country’s children.
“Our children watch everything we do and the person we elect as president has the power to shape their lives for years to come.”
It’s an easy contrast to make when you look at what Republican Donald Trump has said about women in the past.
Campaign Ad: “Role Models”
Highlighting the sharp, heated rhetoric of the Donald Trump campaign, Hillary Clinton releases this new spot contrasting the images and language of the two presidential campaigns.
As Stephen Sondheim once wrote, “Careful the things you say, children will listen.”
Via the Washington Post:
The sharply negative spot comes a day before Trump is expected to announce his vice-presidential running mate and several days before the Republican Party’s convention.
In it, video of Trump plays in the background as children watch. Entitled “Role Models,” it contrasts Trump — using profanity, mocking a disabled reporter, apparently alluding to a female reporter’s menstrual cycle — with Clinton, who appears at the end of the ad.
“I love the old days, you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks,” Trump says in one clip. “And you can tell them to go f*** themselves,” he says in another.
Remember: When @realDonaldTrump opens his mouth, our kids are listening.https://t.co/pdphHQEzuk— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 14, 2016
Protect The Children
