We’ve had bomb threats at children’s hospitals here sparked by the assholes at Libs of TicTok spreading trans panic in the US. No clue if that’s the incitement here, but the answer to your question is “assholes.”
Ah, East Kent, one of the home counties (my home too), but in the top three most deprived counties in England (I may be mistaken).
Vit D costs pennies, but when it’s a choice between food and something like that… sigh.
She said the cost of living crisis was having a significant impact on some people’s health.
She explained: “We are incredibly concerned
“There is rickets, scurvy.
“There is a whole Dickensian list of diseases that come around because key food groups are missing from people’s diets.”
Let’s not forget measles, pertussis, TB. There are multitudes of things we know how to prevent but cannot be bothered to do so. Largely because “Dickensian” (or more accurately, “Scrooge-ian”) attitudes prevail in far too many so-called “leaders” of our nations.
(For any who have not read it:)
“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the [one of the gentlemen], taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”
“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.
“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”
“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”
“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.
“Both very busy, sir.”
“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”
“Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,” returned the gentleman, “a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?”
“Nothing!” Scrooge replied.
“You wish to be anonymous?”
“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.”
“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”
“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
That was my first thought actually. I haven’t heard the whole story but apparently some guy pulled up to the ambulance bay at ER and threatened to detonate a device in his car, but was apprehended an hour or so later. No word on motives yet, though.
And just like that, they released a statement saying it was likely a misunderstanding and the guy was actually attending the ER to get treatment for chemical exposure. Not sure how that turned into a ‘code black’ bomb threat, but I bet there’s quite a story there.
Wow, that’s quite the misunderstanding! “I’ve been blown up” maybe? Yeah, there is a story to be told. Glad it was relatively benign, and maybe (in retrospect) a little bit funny.
Housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children engaged in sexual abuse and harassment, DOJ says.
It sucks that lately, “doomscrolling” has entered my vocabulary again. 
“This devastating event highlights the risks faced by children, women and men migrating through irregular routes,” said Gregoire Goodstein, IOM’s chief of mission in the country.
The boat, carrying more than 80 people, had left the port of Labadee on Wednesday en route to the Turks and Caicos Islands, a 150-mile (240-kilometer) journey, the IOM reported, citing Haiti’s National Office for Migration.
Accused of abuse — and back in the gym
Gymnastics promised a reckoning, but coaches who faced allegations remain in the sport. Athletes say the truth of what happened in one top gym still hasn’t been told.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/07/23/gymnastics-abuse-safe-sport/
Gift article here:
https://wapo.st/3Sg8nZe
Fintech bullies stole your kid’s lunch money
Three companies control the market for school lunch payments.
They take as much as 60 cents out of every dollar poor kids’ parents put into the system
– to the tune of $100m/year.They’re literally stealing poor kids’ lunch money.
In its latest report, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau describes this scam in eye-watering, blood-boiling detail:
