South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has announced that his state will not enforce COVID mandates amid news of another incoming wave of the virus.The governor clearly stated his intentions in a press conference while also reflecting on lessons learned over the past few years:<blockquote>The lockdowns were a mistake. A lot of the information that was presented and opinions that were presented from official sources were in error and caused damage. I can assure the people of South Carolina that we are not going to have mandates requiring masks. We're not going to close down the schools. We're not going to do a lot of the foolish things that were done in other states that we limited to a great degree here in South Carolina. We have all learned from the pandemic how important common sense is and that was abandoned in many parts of the country…&nbsp;</blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">As talks of mask mandates and closures kick up across the country, I can assure the people of South Carolina we will not have mask mandates, we will not close schools, and we will not lock down. <a href="https://t.co/GlKgy8AhMi">pic.twitter.com/GlKgy8AhMi</a>— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) <a href="https://twitter.com/henrymcmaster/status/1699786391230775361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>&nbsp;During the pandemic, Governor McMaster repeatedly exhibited a non-alarmist perspective on COVID. In addition, he has emphasized the importance of personal choice regarding COVID safety measures.When the “Delta variant” of COVID was said to be circulating in the summer of 2021, Governor McMaster encouraged citizens to get the vaccine, but at the same time <a href="https://www.wistv.com/2021/08/09/gov-mcmaster-hold-briefing-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spoke out</a> strongly against school closures and masking children:&nbsp;<blockquote>The new variant, the Delta…does pose a real threat. We know that it spreads more easily…But shutting our state down, closing schools and masking children who have no choice -- for the government to mask children who have no choice to protect adults who do have a choice is the wrong thing to do. And we’re not going to do it.</blockquote>When asked in the fall of 2021 to <a href="https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/south-carolina/2021/09/17/sc-governor-henry-mcmaster-defends-covid-19-response-more-kids-hospitalized-virus-vaccination/8368836002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">explain</a> South Carolina's COVID response in light of an increasing number of child hospitalizations, the governor's reply again reflected respect for individual choice, and in the case of children, parental authority:<blockquote>I think [the response is] working well…But I urge everyone to inform themselves on the danger involved in this virus and what might be the next virus and determine what they are going to do to keep themselves and their families safe. In the end, it is an individual decision to be made and we respect that…Parents should be the ones to decide if their child is one that should wear a mask. There are lots of different kinds of children. Age makes a difference. A whole lot of things about learning, about home environment, [make a difference] and that's a decision a parent ought to make.</blockquote>In the winter of 2022 when the “Omicron variant” reportedly surfaced, Governor McMaster <a href="https://www.wyff4.com/article/sc-gov-mcmaster-covid-19/38675603" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">declared</a> South Carolina still open for business as usual.Later that year a post on the governor's Twitter account made an unequivocal statement about COVID vaccines for children:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">There’s some confusion on the CDC COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Let me clarify. As long as I am governor, I will never let the federal government - or anyone else - force the COVID-19 vaccine on South Carolina school children.— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) <a href="https://twitter.com/henrymcmaster/status/1583512263297626112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

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Pushback_Resistance

Face Mask

Governor Henry McMaster continues to build a track record of common sense

South Carolina governor rejects COVID mandates

Imagine all the people…If you were in the following scene, whose part would you play?<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="315" height="560" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/84Lwvc452SM" title="Man caught shoplifting giant bag of merchandise in broad daylight" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>Two people were brave enough to tackle this thief, who was apparently unarmed and didn't use excessive force in shaking off those customers, ultimately getting away.Imagine if all those in the store at the time had linked arms at the exit and barred him from passing.Imagine if several of them had pinned down the thief and made a citizen's arrest.Unfortunately, it takes a lot of imagination.&nbsp;What's that weapon for?Now try this: Imagine you have a concealed-carry permit and you see the shoplifter running away with his loot. Do you:a) Fire a warning shot?b) Fire at his legs if he runs toward you (or at the tires of his car as he speeds away)?c) Wave the gun around in the air and hope he notices and gets intimidated?d) Call the cops and keep the pistol in your holster?Back in 2015 this was a <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/10/06/cpl-holder-opens-fire-shoplifter-home-depot/73468588/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">real-life question</a> for a 48-year-old Michigan woman who fired several shots at a car in which two shoplifters were speeding away with over $1,000 dollars' worth of merchandise. The thieves still managed to escape (although one of the car's tires may have been punctured by a bullet) but the woman didn't escape castigation for firing her weapon even though it was in a non-life-threatening situation. She was not, however, prosecuted.&nbsp;When the cops cop outSeveral of those condemning the shooter justified their point of view by explaining that shoplifting is “only” a misdemeanor and that she could have, accidentally, injured bystanders when discharging her weapon. While danger to innocents is a valid concern, in general, it appears that bystanders are motivated to remain bystanders and not take an active citizen's role in preserving the social order due to fear for themselves, not for others.After all, “we the people” have effectively delegated policing powers to the police, and they have accepted upon themselves the duty to face danger, while using the power of the government, instead of us.But what happens when they don't? When they “cop out,” so to speak?&nbsp;Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, says step in:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">If you see someone shoplifting, stop them. If the police won't stop them, you should. Don't tolerate disorder, chaos, and evil in your neighborhood<a href="https://t.co/uAFBLuNC9m">https://t.co/uAFBLuNC9m</a>— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1488563733785808897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>&nbsp;Policing minister wants a nation of policeIn the UK, the Policing Minister, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/05/how-to-make-a-citizens-arrest-without-breaking-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Phelp</a>, recently made headlines when he called for more people to make use of citizen's arrest to curb surging shoplifting crime.&nbsp;<blockquote>The wider public do have the power of citizen’s arrest and, where it’s safe to do so, I would encourage that to be used because if you do just let people walk in, take stuff and walk out without proper challenge, including potentially a physical challenge, then again it will just escalate. While I want the faster and better police response, the police can’t be everywhere all the time.</blockquote>Among those criticizing him for his words was a director of a private security firm, <a href="https://www.ifsecglobal.com/guarding/caution-urged-after-policing-ministers-call-for-citizen-arrests-amid-rising-shoplifting-incidents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Triton Security</a>, who said that the general public should not enter a potentially dangerous situation but should instead rely on police and trained professionals to respond to crime, especially as the recent trend involves not only more crime in general but also more violent crime.&nbsp;A throwback to worse or better times?In the United States, citizen's arrest is legal in virtually every state. In Kentucky, it used to be obligatory for a citizen witnessing a felony in process to take “affirmative” steps to prevent it, if possible, but this is no longer the case.In most states, a person must actually see the crime being committed in order to lawfully detain the perpetrator; in some states, a “reasonable” assumption is sufficient. Laws vary from state to state on what happens if the person arrested is ultimately acquitted. In some states, the person who made the citizen's arrest will face no penalty for his mistaken assumption, as long as it was a reasonable assumption to make; in others, such a citizen can be sued for false arrest and/or imprisonment.In Georgia, a citizen's arrest jumped into the headlines following the Ahmaud Arbery case, when three men chasing Arbery were attempting a citizen's arrest. Arbery <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/05/us/ahmaud-arbery-jogging-georgia-shooting/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">struggles</a> with one of the men, attempting to grab his shotgun and throwing punches. Following the case, Georgia <a href="https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104&amp;context=gsulr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repealed</a> its citizen's arrest law, the (Republican) governor, Brian Kemp, <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/georgia-legislature-repeals-civil-war-era-citizens-arrest-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">saying</a> at the time that,<blockquote>This bill makes Georgia the first state in the country to repeal its citizen's arrest statute. Today we are replacing a Civil War-era law, ripe for abuse, with language that balances the sacred right to self-defense of a person and property with our shared responsibility to root out injustice and set our state on a better path forward … we continue to send a clear message that the Peach State will not tolerate sinister acts of vigilantism in our communities.</blockquote>&nbsp;Recruiting: Snitch officersKemp, in describing the law as “Civil War-era,” presented it as something archaic, and some believe that the law originated with the desire of slave-owners to arrest runaway slaves. This is a mischaracterization of a law that dates back hundreds of years to English case law, based in turn on the prevailing concept that all citizens share the duties of maintaining law and order.Today's governments are generally more hostile to the notion that powers delegated to the police may also be wielded by the man-on-the-street. Unless, that is, the average Joe or Jane can be co-opted for a very different type of crime: snitching.Toward the beginning of the COVID panic, reporting on one's fellow citizen breaking lockdown regulations spiraled up to the point that some police departments started to ask people to stop reporting these new “crimes," as they couldn't cope with the deluge encouraged by people such as Los Angeles Mayor Eric <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/coronavirus-los-angeles-eric-garcetti-snitches-get-rewards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Garcetti</a>:<blockquote>You know the old expression about snitches, well in this case, snitches get rewards. We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe.</blockquote>Across the Atlantic, as the UK government locked down the country for the first time during the COVID panic, over half of the country's police forces introduced new online forms to enable and encourage the public to report anyone breaking the rules. Within weeks, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/30/uk-police-receive-200000-calls-from-lockdown-snitchers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">almost 200,000 people</a> had become snitches.&nbsp;Freeing the police?While citizens' arrests may have once supplemented law enforcement, an actual movement to have citizens risk bodily injury to arrest shoplifters and other thieves could theoretically lead to more police removed from positions investigating and preventing theft and moved to enforce possession crimes or hate speech crimes for opposing various government policies online (which requires a good bit of an officer's time scouring social media for “problematic” posts).&nbsp;In such a case, citizens would not be supplementing police activities but replacing them, without any guarantee that there will be no risk to the customer.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Shoplifter Demands Arrest Of Customer Who Had The Nerve To Stop Him<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueLivesMatter</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BackTheBlue?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BackTheBlue</a> Full Story <a href="https://t.co/BYUcbHbACZ">https://t.co/BYUcbHbACZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/m3M3fyH3oy">pic.twitter.com/m3M3fyH3oy</a>— Blue Lives Matter (@bluelivesmtr) <a href="https://twitter.com/bluelivesmtr/status/1074002418613084168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>

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crime

Being an engaged citizen — is it worth the risk?

If cops cop out, should you step in?

By Alex NewmanKey leaders of the pro-Hamas riots on college campuses across America are connected to the mass-murdering dictatorship enslaving Cuba, an investigation by ADN America revealed. It is part of a broader strategy identified by key U.S. national security officials in which jihadists and communists work together — often hiding behind brainwashed students and useful idiots — to destroy liberty, America, and the West.&nbsp;The explosive news comes shortly after billionaire extremist George Soros and the Rockefeller oil dynasty — among the most powerful political interests in America — were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.freedomproject.com/2024/05/01/tnr20240501/">exposed providing enormous amounts of funding</a>&nbsp;to the groups behind the college uprisings. The pro-Hamas groups have been paying leaders and training them for “revolution,” training documents show.A major organization at the tip of the spear of these increasingly violent protests, known as The People’s Forum (TPF), is closely linked to the Cuban regime. The organization is funded by a pro-Chinese Communist Party billionaire Neville Roy Singham and other subversives. And ironically, since its minions claim to be opposing a “genocide” of Arabs, it specializes in denying the actual genocide being perpetrated against Muslim Uyghurs in China. &nbsp;&nbsp;TPF, described by the Hispanic-focused news organization ADN America as a “cornerstone” of the anti-Israel protests, organized a demonstration on Times Square the day after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Jews. The protest included celebrations of the barbarism, anti-Semitic slogans, and more, according to news reports.One year ago, the Cuban regime’s propaganda organs reported that hundreds of TPF activists had visited Cuba and even met with dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel. Pictures of the gathering showed flags of “Palestine.” Numerous other radical groups involved in the protests have also traveled to meet with the regime, which has been backing “pro-Palestine” terrorist movements for over 50 years. &nbsp;&nbsp;Co-executive director of TPF Manolo De Los Santos, a radical leftwing leader of the riots at Columbia, has extensive ties to the terrorist regime in Havana, too. Just one year ago, the Dominican-born De Los Santos&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/manolo_realengo/status/1653748099817283584">posted a picture of himself on Twitter</a>&nbsp;standing next to brutal Cuban dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel, heir to the throne of Fidel Castro, while condemning America and praising Cuba’s ruthless one-party state. &nbsp;“Leaving Cuba after 10 days learning with its people &amp; President Miguel Diaz-Canel,” De Los Santos said on Twitter. “Young people in the U.S. have great tasks ahead of them. We have a responsibility to defeat, once &amp; for all, this genocidal blockade for the survival of the Cuban people &amp; the future of humanity!”Communists often blame the horrific poverty plaguing Cuba on the U.S. embargo. But in reality, just like everywhere central planning reigns, the poverty is caused by communism, not the United States. The Cuban regime trades freely with countless other nations and is working with associates across Latin America such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to spread totalitarian governance.Over the weekend, De Los Santos urged the anti-Israel student protestors to “give Joe Biden a hot summer,” reported AND America. He criticized Columbia’s “Zionist” administration for wanting to “resemble its masters in Israel,” the news organ reported. And he praised the rioters for “deciding that resistance is more important than negotiations.” Echoing Black Lives Matter and other Marxist outfits, De Los Santos also called on the demonstrators to “make business as usual in this country unsustainable.”Another anti-Israel group involved in the riots on college campuses even sent a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1786929959002403271">video</a>&nbsp;from Columbia University to be played at a “Palestine solidarity” rally in Havana. Saluting the “comrades” and thanking them, the student vowed that “unity will bring us victory.” Representatives of the designated terror organization known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also participated. &nbsp;This would not be the first time that the brutal regime enslaving Cuba, which according to U.S. Ambassador to Cuba Earl T. Smith was installed in power by the U.S. State Department, has funded leftist extremism and even terrorism in the United States. In fact, the terrorist Weather Underground, founded by key Obama ally Bill Ayers, was working closely with Cuban intelligence. They also had unimaginably evil plans for America.After infiltrating the leadership of the Weather Underground, FBI operative Larry Grathwohl&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyKg5gErL18">revealed</a>&nbsp;that the group was planning a revolution in the United States and that numerous hostile foreign regimes were expected to help occupy the nation. The group was also planning to intern tens of millions of Americans in “re-education” camps, with the expectation that some 25 million would have to be executed, Grathwohl said. &nbsp;The mass-murdering dictatorship in Cuba is also a close ally of the South African regime, which consists of an alliance of the South African Communist Party and the SACP-controlled African National Congress. That regime has been leading the charge against Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court.The alliance between radical Islamists and Communists is not new, either. Former Romanian KGB chief Ion Pacepa, who defected to the United States, exposed how the Soviet bloc sent thousands of agents to the Middle East to radicalize Muslims in the early 1970s. “As KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov told me, a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions,” Pacepa said. &nbsp;&nbsp;<img class="image_resized" style="width:384px;" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.freedomproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/3364780_1225x377_2500.jpg?resize=696%2C214&amp;ssl=1" alt="">The vast majority of the tax-funded useful idiots protesting and rioting on college campuses have no idea what they are involved in. However, those behind the scenes — from Soros and the Rockefellers to the Cuban regime and the CCP — understand very well what they are doing. It is time for Congress and state law-enforcement agencies to get to the bottom of this. And it is time for lawmakers to seriously consider whether taxpayers ought to be funding this whole dumpster fire masquerading as “education.”&nbsp;Originally published at <a href="https://www.freedomproject.com/2024/05/08/nr5824/">FreedomProject Media</a>.<a href="https://libertysentinel.org/author/admin/">Alex Newman</a> is an award-winning international journalist, educator, author, and consultant who co-wrote the book “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children.” He writes for diverse publications in the United States and abroad.

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World News

US News

Jihadists and communists working together to destroy liberty, America, and the West

Cuban Regime linked to pro-Hamas campus riots

Private-sector policingA burglar with 105 previous convictions has been <a href=" https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13389409/Prolific-burglar-44-caught-breaking-M-S-jailed-private-prosecution-Met-refuse-investigate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sentenced </a>to prison after being detained and prosecuted not by the police but by a private investigation company, TM Eye. The store manager in the targeted business, Marks and Spencer in London, UK, had called law enforcement after identifying the burglar using CCTV footage; when London's Metropolitan Police declined to investigate, the manager turned to the private sector, leading to a successful conviction.&nbsp;No prolific police officers for prolific criminalsAs the police withdraw from policing — that is, the government withdraws from its most basic role and responsibility, that of protecting the citizenry — a space has opened up for private policing forces, such as <a href="https://tm-eye.co.uk/what-we-do/prolific-crimes-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TM Eye</a>, which claims to have made over 2,000 arrests of shoplifters, assisted in 800 prosecutions, and recovered almost $600,000 in stolen funds.It is noteworthy that TM Eye's department dedicated to retail crime is called the “Prolific Crimes Team.” The criminals they pursue are not random shoplifters, kids who ran out of cash for a Hershey bar and popped it into their pocket before sneaking away. They are repeat offenders, the scourge of stores across the world, who are responsible for massive losses for retailers.TM Eye “liaises” with police, which is <a href="https://www.jpllaw.net/blog/understanding-the-concept-of-a-citizens-arrest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">obligatory</a> when it comes to detaining criminals. But they also gather evidence, obtain witness statements, compile video footage, recover stolen goods, and detain criminals. Police, by their own admission, are understaffed for dealing with crimes against people and property and simply can't keep up with the numbers of shoplifters. Instead, they are focused on far more serious incidents, such as following up “hate crime" allegations or arresting people who broke lockdown regulations during the “pandemic” or committed “possession crimes.”&nbsp;Corrupted judgment?The police are not alone in cracking down on crimes without direct victims while de-emphasizing crimes with such victims. Sometimes district attorneys refuse to prosecute or pursue only minimal charges for dangerous criminals. Judges, too, can step in and ensure that even repeat criminals get off with a relatively lenient penalty which can be as little as community service with no time served behind bars at all.But the media, too, must accept its share of responsibility for downplaying or even excusing crime, as this headline from the UK's <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11454513/Tesco-puts-security-tags-four-pint-cartons-milk-cost-living-crisis-drives-shoplifting.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daily Mail</a> illustrates:<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1715206623/shoplifting_daily_mail_64d34e441b.png"></figure>Undoubtedly, the cost of living has risen in recent years. Nonetheless, people aren't actually collapsing of starvation. Although their suffering is real, people in earlier generations certainly experienced more challenging times, including those who lived through the Great Depression, without seeing (and certainly not condoning) anywhere near the level of theft seen today. Interestingly, even ChatGPT doesn't excuse shoplifting even when a person genuinely needs the food to survive.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1715207107/chat_25df18dbda.png"></figure>Presumably, ChatGPT's programmers recognize some basic adherence to moral law is necessary if society is not to entirely fragment.&nbsp;Are private militias to be the future of policing?Despite ChatGPT's outlook, society may indeed be fragmenting as few are those who are willing to step into the breach and do something about rampant crime (unless they are paid to do so).It's the stuff of movies, unless you live somewhere like South Africa:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Hijackers apprehended by South African private security after a high speed car chase <a href="https://t.co/D50AwtHSlX">pic.twitter.com/D50AwtHSlX</a>— alex (@africaken1) <a href="https://twitter.com/africaken1/status/1409912179441258497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>&nbsp;Only for Big Business?Marks and Spencer is a large, established chain of stores with the ability to absorb the costs of employing private detectives to detain (and ultimately deter) criminals. Small stores have no such ability and they are being driven from the marketplace due not only to crime, but also hyper-regulation, competition from online stores, and onerous DEI mandates.The costs are not merely economic. If things continue this way, with the public losing faith in the will and ability of police to maintain public order, one can envision a future of private guard forces (militias) increasingly taking the law into their own hands, aided and abetted by the police themselves as they effectively delegate their responsibilities (for which they are paid) to the private sector. After all, TM Eye was founded by a <a href="https://tm-eye.co.uk/our-team/david-mckelvey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">former chief detective of Scotland Yard</a>.

security.jpg

Are private militias the future for Big Business?

Private-sector policing: How private detectives step in where police fear to tread

Rebecca Riley's parents brought her to a child psychiatrist when she was just two years old. Doctor Kayoko Kifuji of Tufts Medical Center promptly diagnosed the Springfield, Massachusetts girl with bipolar disorder and ADHD. Two years later Rebecca was dead and her parents were on trial for her murder.&nbsp;Bipolar babies?To anyone unfamiliar with the state of psychiatry today, two things may strike them as odd. One: How could a child—and certainly a toddler—be diagnosed with bipolar disorder? And two: What is the point in such a diagnosis—surely, no responsible doctor would give psychiatric medication to children of two, three, four, or five years of age? Or would they?Unfortunately, there are no surprises here to those involved with pediatric psychiatry, as Dr. Kifuji could tell you. Twenty years after she “diagnosed” Rebecca and after the girl died of “prolonged abuse” (according to the medical examiner) of the drugs Kifuji prescribed, Kifuji is still in practice—she never lost her license, was never disciplined by the medical board, and even the payout made to Rebecca’s siblings following a civil lawsuit was covered by her insurance.&nbsp;Murder by prescriptionRebecca’s parents, by contrast, are still in prison—her father was convicted of first-degree murder, her mother of second-degree murder. Both of them watched the girl deteriorate in her final days without taking her to see a doctor, despite the entreaties of worried neighbors. Kifuji gave evidence at their trials but was under immunity, a fact that <a href="https://spitbristleandfury.wordpress.com/tag/kayoko-kifuji/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">shocked the jury members</a>, several of whom expressed their wish to see her in the dock as well.After all, Kifuji had seen Rebecca at many appointments and somehow failed to detect the signs of overmedication that nurses and teachers at her preschool program were <a href="https://www.uticaod.com/story/news/2010/01/21/social-worker-testifies-she-warned/47038828007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">concerned about</a>. She also knew that Mrs. Riley was giving her young daughter far more than the recommended dose of the drugs she was taking (if one can consider these drugs “recommended” at all for children). Although she apparently rebuked Rebecca’s mother for upping the doses without first getting permission, Kifuji gave that permission retroactively.&nbsp;No regretsWhile giving <a href="https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2010/03/18/psychiatrist-no-second-thoughts-in/47971690007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">evidence</a> at the trial of Rebecca's father, Michael Riley, she was asked by his defense attorney whether, in retrospect, she would have done things differently.<blockquote>[Attorney Darrell] Now that you’ve had this time for reflection, have you changed your mind about your diagnosis and treatment of Rebecca Riley?[Kifuji] No, I have not.</blockquote>This despite the doctor having being <a href="https://www.uticaod.com/story/news/2010/01/21/social-worker-testifies-she-warned/47038828007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">warned</a> by the school nurse that Rebecca was better off with less drugs:<blockquote>I did tell Dr. Kifuji that when Rebecca was a little more awake (after the clonidine wore off), she played nicely with the other children. She was more animated. She was a very sweet little girl.</blockquote>&nbsp;One in ten American kids on psych drugsAccording to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7243a5.htm#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20children%20and,%25)%20to%202022%20(9.3%25)." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CDC</a>, in 2022, 9.3 percent of children aged between 5 and 17 were taking drugs for their “mental health.” This translates to around five million children. As many anti-Pharma activists have pointed out, children are a very sought-after demographic for drugging, as they usually have little to no say as to whether to take the drugs or not, even when adverse events are disturbing, painful, and/or outright harmful. Furthermore, a childhood on drugs very often predicts adult life on more drugs—more of the same, plus others.Who is looking out for these children? Not the FDA it seems. Just a few months ago, the FDA decided to <a href="https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/appletter/2023/021323Orig1s055,021365Orig1s039ltr.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">expand its approval</a> of an SSRI-class drug, Lexapro, to “treat anxiety” in children as young as seven years old.The authors of the clinical <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/cap.2023.0004" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">trial</a> upon which the approval was based wrote that Lexapro “reduced anxiety symptoms and was well tolerated,” adding that, “the benefits of the product outweigh the risks.”One of the risks, apparently, is suicide—one child (out of 137) in the trial (in the Lexapro cohort) actually tried to commit suicide. None of the children in the trial had been actively suicidal prior to the study. The FDA approval does not mention the suicide risk. Perhaps it is considered sufficient that SSRIs in general come with a boxed warning that notes their associated risk of both homicidal and suicidal ideation.&nbsp;“Angel” parents wanting angelic kids?Those who criticize ADHD diagnoses for children who cannot seem to adapt to the demands of classroom life often claim that the “unnatural” rigidity of the school environment is to blame, rather than the child's “natural” nature. A similar claim is also often made of psychiatric diagnoses given to very young children who are basically just regular toddlers — only their parents are either unwilling to or incapable of dealing with them.Seeking advice on an online parenting forum, “Angel MDSN” <a href="https://community.babycenter.com/post/a23645227/does_anyone_else_have_a_bipolar_child_step_child" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">writes</a>:<blockquote>I'm having a really hard time with my stepson he is severely bipolar and has shown severe symptoms since he was 2 he is now over 5 1/2. We tried not medicating him for a long time but he just kept getting more and more out of control … Like tantrums for hours, telling lies all day, kicking/punching holes in walls. You get my drift and let me tell you we are a very strict boudry [sic.] set home and as consistent as you can get also have tried every discipline in the book. He has now been medicated for seven months We have tried various meds. and combinations. He is still so out of control though…</blockquote>“Glesa,” answering “Angel,” apparently has experienced something quite similar (and she’s far from being alone). Although she mentions that what she calls “Red dye” in food clearly makes her son “defiant and moody with outbursts,” she also writes:<blockquote>What you describe to me, sounds just like my DS when he was 2 and 3 ... it took constant pleading from me to get the dr to send him to see a behavioral specialist. Once she did our world changed. He has ADHD and Anxiety. DS has his moments still, but he knows that not having his meds, even in the summer, he is miserable and acts out. I really did not want to medicate him, but behavior modification alone was not working...</blockquote>&nbsp;A bleak outlookCommenting on the FDA’s approval of several “antipsychotic” drugs to treat children back in 2009, <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0906/S00142/fda-throws-life-line-to-antipsychotic-pushers.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Vera Sharav</a>, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, stressed that,<blockquote>The FDA's expanded marketing approval process for antipsychotics, highly toxic drugs, is unaffected by evidence uncovered by the US Justice Department showing that the studies submitted by drug manufacturers were often flawed, if not fraudulent.&nbsp;Rather than focus on protecting children's safety, FDA officials are doing their utmost to legitimize irresponsible, off-label prescribing of exceedingly toxic antipsychotics for children--thereby ensuring that far greater numbers of children will be victimized and die.</blockquote>Sharav was by no means exaggerating the dangers these drugs pose. In an <a href="https://karger.com/pps/article-abstract/77/4/198/282409/Irrational-Healers?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">editorial</a> published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Dr. David Healy notes that,<blockquote>For fifty years, the antipsychotics were viewed as too dangerous to use outside secondary care and were largely restricted to those with chronic psychotic disorders where the trade-off between hazards and benefits justified treatment.Yet now a new generation of possibly even more problematic antipsychotics is being given to preschoolers, in North America, on the basis that they might have a disorder that most of the rest of the world does not believe happens in children.</blockquote>

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Where is justice for Rebecca; diagnosed as bipolar at age 2, dead at 4 from overuse of meds