The demon asbestos: How a simple house renovation left a celebrated professor with just DAYS to live

I think this is a bum steer. To develop a disease after something that happened 32 years ago is certainly consistent with mesothelioma but the principal symptom of mesothelioma is lung damage and resultant breathing difficulties. It is not reported that she suffered such symptoms. But even if she did, it is not what she is dying from. She has an inoperable cancer on her spine. Linking that to mesothelioma is tendentious. Cancer can have many causes

To declare a personal interest: 35 years ago I bought a large old house that was completely clad in fibro (Fibrous cement sheeting, where the fibre is asbestos). I took every last bit of it off and replaced it with pine chamfer boards. Neither I nor the person who helped me have any symptoms of mesothelioma. We both breathe as freely as we ever did

A loving wife and accomplished professor dying from asbestos-related cancer has pleaded for Australians to 'wake up' to the dangers hidden in the home renovations craze which has taken off during the pandemic.

Gillian North, 61, is in the final days of a harrowing mesothelioma fight and being cared for at home at home at Thirroul south of Sydney by her twin sister Jocelyn and her husband Martin.

They do not expect her to live to see Christmas.

A leading academic who had a career in law, accounting and at Deakin University, Ms North has written an incredible 18 research papers about asbestos dangers and reforms.

Ms North is convinced she developed the fatal disease after being exposed to asbestos while during home renovations in the United Kingdom 32 years ago and in Australia 25 years ago.

While Ms North admits it's not '100 per cent' certain she developed the cancer from home renovations, she said 'nobody can be certain of their exposure'.

'But I know of no other possible cause,' she said. She was diagnosed by her local GP in 2019, at 58, after developing a nagging cough.

After undergoing chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery Ms North got a two-year reprieve until X-rays showed an inoperable tumour against her spine. She has been steadily deteriorating since mid-2021.

Any exposure to asbestos fibres or dust is widely regarded to be the main cause of mesothelioma, a cancer which attacks tissues around major organs.

The disease is regarded one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with 94 per cent of Australian sufferers dying within five years.

While asbestos was banned in 2003, it remains in place in public buildings, including schools, and houses and unit blocks.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10314705/Asbestos-Gillian-Norths-dying-message-final-days.html

************************************************

Democratic Mayor started an emergency police intervention on Tuesday aimed at San Francisco’s rising crime and drug problem and called “bullshit” on left-wing policies such as defunding the police.

Breed described San Francisco as a city that prides itself on compassion and rehabilitation but warned that its compassion should not be mistaken for weakness or indifference. “We are not a city where anything goes,” she said.

Breed’s “tough love” program includes an emergency intervention plan for the Tenderloin district, providing emergency police funding, amending surveillance ordinances so law enforcement can prevent and stop crime in real-time and hinder the illegal sales of stolen goods.

Recently, retailers such as Walgreens and Safeway have been forced to close stores in San Francisco due to rampant and brazen theft.

Under Proposition 47, a California ballot initiative passed in 2014, theft of less than $950 in goods is treated as a nonviolent misdemeanor and rarely prosecuted. Retail establishments often instruct employees and security guards not to intervene when they witness a crime, due to fear of lawsuits and personal safety.

There were 3,375 reports of larceny-theft citywide in November, the majority of them were car break-ins. Tourist hotspots have seen 876 reports of smash-and-grabs in November, that number is up from 442 last year.

San Francisco is not alone in the fight against surging crime, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia have seen a drastic surge in violence and crime since the push from Democratic lawmakers to defund the police following the George Floyd protests.

Although Breed is hoping to rein in crime all over San Francisco, the Tenderloin district has “obvious problems” she said.

“Just imagine if you had to walk your kids down the streets of the Tenderloin every single day with people shooting up (on drugs), selling drugs and because the sidewalks were so packed with people, you had to walk out into the streets in incoming traffic on a regular basis,” she said.

“At the end of the day, the safety of the people of San Francisco is the most important thing to me. We are past the point where what we see is even remotely acceptable,” Breed concluded.

https://zerohourpatriots.com/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-cracking-down-on-crime-calling-bt-on-left-wing-policies/

**************************************************

Economic Effects of States’ COVID-19 Policies Could Lead to ‘Two Americas’

Differing local approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic have led to an uneven recovery across the United States, says economist John C. Goodman, president of the Goodman Institute for Public Policy and co-publisher of Health Care News.

“We are in some danger of becoming two Americas,” said Goodman. “One enjoys low unemployment and booming economies. The other has high unemployment and sluggish economic growth. The difference is directly related to public policies.

“Red states, in general, imposed limited lockdowns and were quick to let businesses and schools open back up,” said Goodman. “Blue states, by contrast, imposed harsh lockdowns and other restrictions that were harmful to their economies.”

State Unemployment Gap

States with less restrictive pandemic policies had the lowest unemployment rates, as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in October. The Committee to Unleash Prosperity (CTUP), an advocacy group, says the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates also happen to have Republican governors and Republican-majority legislatures. The exception is Vermont, whose general assembly is controlled by Democrats.

Eight of the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates, including the District of Columbia, are predominantly controlled by Democrats. Michigan and Alaska have Republican legislatures.

“Blue states are economic disaster areas,” writes CTUP. “The unemployment gap between red and blue states has persisted now for nearly two years…and [is] getting worse for places like California, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York.”

Lockdowns v. Jobs

In April, financial information provider WalletHub ranked states by Covid-19 restrictions using 13 metrics based on data from government and private sources.

The 10 least restrictive states, in order of increasing severity, were Iowa, Florida, Wyoming, South Dakota, Texas, Alaska, South Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Montana. Of those, four ranked in the top 10 for lowest unemployment in October: Oklahoma (No. 3), South Dakota (No. 4), and Montana (No. 8).

The 10 states with the most restrictive pandemic policies, from most to less severe, were Vermont, Delaware, Virginia, Washington, New York, California, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. Eight of these states ranked in the lower half of the nation for high unemployment, Vermont, and Virginia excepted.

Policies ‘Lacked a Sound Basis’

Many officials did not consider the economic impact of their edicts, says Brian Blase, president of Paragon Health Institute and former special assistant to the president for economic policy at the White House’s National Economic Council from 2017 to 2019.

“Throughout the pandemic, restrictions imposed by many state and local governments on businesses and schools lacked a sound basis and caused much more harm than benefit,” said Blase. “This harm includes lingering higher rates of unemployment and shuttered businesses.”

Government spending was also a factor, says Blase.

“A main reason that blue states have higher health care costs than red states is that they are much more likely to have profligate Medicaid programs,” said Blase.

https://heartlanddailynews.com/2021/12/economic-effects-of-states-covid-19-policies-could-lead-to-two-americas .

**********************************************

Biden DOJ Walks Away from Billion Dollar Giveaway to Illegal Aliens

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) is dropping its plan for a massive legal settlement with illegal aliens that would have cost U.S. taxpayers up to a billion dollars.

According to a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, the DOJ has ended settlement negotiations to pay monetary damages to families separated in 2018 under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy. The government will instead move to litigate the hundreds of claims filed by families seeking monetary damages for the lasting psychological trauma they say the prolonged separations caused, according to Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s immigrant-rights project and a lead negotiator in the talks.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

“The government and lawyers for the families had been in talks to pay up to $450,000 in damages to each person affected by those Trump administration actions. The lawsuits allege some of the affected children suffered from a range of ailments, including heat exhaustion and malnutrition, and were kept in cold rooms and provided little medical attention.

Amid political outcry from Republican lawmakers, after the settlement talks were reported, the government told outside negotiators the number would need to be lowered. This week, the lawyers say, the Justice Department pulled out of negotiations entirely.

“We are hardly naive that politics sometimes plays a role in Justice Department decisions but it is shameful that it happened when the lives of little children are at stake,” Mr. Gelernt said. “History will not look kindly on the Biden administration’s decision not to stand up for these small children.”

In early November, 11 Republican senators wrote to Mr. Biden urging him to not follow through with the settlement talks. “[R]ewarding illegal immigration with financial payments runs counter to our laws and would only serve to encourage more lawlessness at our border,” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and 10 other Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote.

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Richard Manning said the fact that the DOJ would even consider using taxpayer money for this was a “slap in the face to every working American and demonstrated the misplaced priorities of the Biden administration. Fortunately, it appears the administration is coming to its senses. But this is only due to the overwhelming outrage expressed by the American people.

https://dailytorch.com/2021/12/biden-doj-walks-away-from-billion-dollar-giveaway-to-illegal-aliens/

****************************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

*****************************************