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About tonight's show
The week's news related show is going to be a bit different. As the episode begins (at 8pm EST, so 5pm PAC) the annual event known as 'The SCRIPT Conference' has ended, and we've traditionally followed each of the Conferences with a 'wrap-up' show.
As such, Bill Murray will call into tonight's episode, before he's left the site, and Carol Levine will host the show from New Jersey.
During the day-long conference, Bill will ask a few of the attendees to stop by his "Stop Child Abuse Now" talk radio show table to share some of their impressions on 'The SCRIPT Conference'. These folks will form the group of panelists for tonight's episode.
But anyone can call in .. join us just as you do on any of our shows -- (646) 595-2118
Let's find out .. What did participants enjoy most? What did they learn? Was this their first time attending an would they plan to attend again?
Here's a look at how the event had been promoted, with links to the web site and schedule:
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The SCRIPT Conference !! -- Monday, July 29th -- in Los Angeles -- FREE
Please attend 'The SCRIPT Conference'. All day long on Monday, July 29th. There will be a series of free assemblies, presentations and workshops. It's a wonderful annual event!
NAASCA is a sponsor: Bill Murray will speak at the assembly from 10 to noon!
More than 60% of the population has experienced at least one adverse childhood experience.
Evidence suggests that abuse, neglect and other types of adverse experiences are significant risk factors for later physical and mental health problems including drug and/or alcohol abuse, criminal activity, suicide attempts, domestic violence, cancer and heart disease.
The costs to society associated with child abuse and neglect exceed $124 billion per year.
Let's talk about it !!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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New York State
Insurers Face Risk of Child Sex-Abuse Claims
New state laws expand statute of limitations for filing suits
by Nicole Friedman
State laws expanding the statute of limitations for child sexual-abuse claims pose a growing financial risk to insurance companies, said ratings firm A.M. Best.
Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., have laws going into effect this year that extend or eliminate the amount of time victims of child sexual abuse have to sue or seek criminal charges against their abusers, according to advocacy group Child USA. Some states, including New York, have created short-term windows during which victims can sue their abusers and the institutions they were affiliated with regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred.
Insurers that have written liability insurance policies for schools, religious institutions or municipal entities will likely need to increase the reserves they set aside to pay for claims, A.M. Best said in its new report, which will be released Monday. Those types of entities are at risk of increased claims alleging they were negligent in hiring or supervising alleged abusers.
Most businesses annually buy general liability insurance, which typically covers legal defense and damages if companies are found liable for property damage, injuries or other types of negligent acts. The policies usually include a maximum amount the insurer will pay and a deductible that the policyholder has to pay.
The report compares child sexual-abuse claims to asbestos liability because the claims can affect decades-old insurance policies and the settlement amounts can be difficult to predict. Asbestos claims were devastating for the insurance industry in past decades and will cost insurers an estimated $100 billion in total, according to A.M. Best.
Two major U.S. insurers, Travelers Cos. and Chubb Ltd., said on recent earnings calls that they have added to their reserves because of uncertainty about sexual-abuse liabilities.
Travelers increased reserves in the first quarter by between $50 million and $100 million after New York's Child Victims Act was signed into law this year. “If more states enact, we would react accordingly,” said Daniel Frey, the company's chief financial officer, in an April earnings call. “It's an ongoing issue in a number of states that we're keeping an eye on.”
Chubb increased reserves in the fourth quarter “in response to the difficult environment around molestation and abuse,” said Michael Smith, the company's chief claims officer, in a May conference call.
Travelers and Chubb are both set to report earnings Tuesday.
Small, specialized insurers could be especially at risk. A.M. Best downgraded New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal's long-term issuer credit rating in June and changed its credit outlook to negative due to the potential for increased claims. The reciprocal didn't respond to requests for comment.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York sued 31 insurance companies last month in anticipation that the firms will deny coverage of claims stemming from expected lawsuits following the enactment of the state's Child Victims Act.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/child-sex-abuse-claims-are-a-growing-risk-to-insurance-firms-11563710520
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Ontario, Canada
Doug Ford just replaced the modern sex-ed curriculum with a 1998 vesrsion
published - July 2018
EDITOR'S NOTE: I just found out this change had happened last year. I include this and the following article (also from Ontario) because I was such a champion of the 'enlightened' approach to 'sex education' that Ontario had taken in 2015. Here's the article I wrote back then, extoling their wisdom. ==> Ontario School Curriculum - Prevention for Kids <== Now .. new politicians, back to old ideas!
Young people in Ontario will no longer learn about such things as same-sex marriage, cyber bullying and the dangers of sexting — at least not from their teachers, because none of these things existed in Canada 20 years ago.
Ontario's new PC government announced on Wednesday that it would be replacing the province's modern sex-ed curriculum from 2015 with a much older version of the program; one that hasn't been updated since 1998.
Imagine ON's sex ed policy applied to sciences. Circa 1998: Pluto still a planet. Existence of dark matter not yet confirmed. Major advances in stem cell research ignored. In social sciences: no social media, Jean Chretien is still PM, we pretend print journalism still dominates.
"We're going to be moving very swiftly with our consultations and I will be sharing with your our process in the weeks to come."
The news, while confusing to many, should come as a surprise to none.
The province's newly-minted Premier Doug Ford, who secured a majority win for the Progressive Conservatives in June, had promised voters many times that he'd repeal and replace the Liberal government's controversial sex-ed curriculum during the course of his campaign.
Based on this, nearly 50,000 had already signed an online petition asking the Premier to reconsider his stance before today's announcement.
"The curriculum was designed and written by experts in child development, internet safety, police, and social workers, in consultation with roughly 4,000 parents," reads the petition.
"Youth deserve scientific facts and unbiased information when it comes to their health," it continues. "It's simple: society will suffer if we don't educate children in these topics."
Religious groups like the Campaign Life Coalition were very vocal in their criticism of Ontario's modern sex-ed lesson plan when it was introduced in 2015, calling it "radical" and decrying lessons about the "immoral practice" of masturbation and "the idea that being male or female is merely a 'social construct'."
The group also took up issue with schools teaching anything about the LGBTQ community, writing that such lessons would "normalize homosexual family structures and homosexual 'marriage' in the minds of 8-year-olds, without regard for the religious/moral beliefs of families."
Many, many others in Ontario are speaking out today in defence of the 2015 curriculum, as its 2018 and we live in Canada, where gay marriage is legal and the majority of Grade 8 students have accessed hardcore porn.
If all goes as planned for the PCs, the 1998 sex-ed curriculum will replace the 2015 version in the coming school year.
This will eliminate lessons about the proper names for body parts and genitals in Grade 1, the concept of same-sex relationships in Grade 3, online safety in Grade 4, and sexual consent in Grade 6.
"Going backwards in terms of keeping our kids safe and giving them the information they need to stay safe is not the right direction," said NDP Leader Andrew Horwath at Queen's Park today in response to the move.
"We worked hard to make sure that everyone in Ontario feels that they are respected, that they are able to be who they are, able to have opportunity, able to be free of violence and hate," she said.
"And anything that starts to erode people’s ability to be themselves and be respected in this province is problematic."
https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/07/ontario-sex-ed-curriculum/
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Ontario, Canana
The differences between Ontario’s interim sex-ed curriculum and 2015′s
by JACK HAUEN
Just two weeks before classes start, the Ontario provincial government has given elementary school teachers a new interim elementary health education curriculum, leaving many scrambling to figure out what they can and can’t teach.
The document stresses the importance of sexual abstinence, contains no references to consent and makes no mention of scientific names for genitalia – the words “penis” or “vagina” appear nowhere in the update. The parts of the interim plan that deal with sexual education are largely the same as the last health curriculum update, from 1998.
The following is a list of some of the differences between the sections related to sexual education in the interim and 2015 editions.
Language
In the 2015 curriculum, students learn the names of different body parts, including genitalia, using scientific terminology (e.g., penis, vagina) as well as basic personal hygiene by the end of Grade 1.
In the interim version, by the end of grade one, students learn the names of “major” body parts, without using the names of any genitalia.
LGBT, gender identity and expression
The introduction of 2015 curriculum says teachers should always consider the needs of transgender and gender-non-conforming students.
In Grade 3, it teaches children that differences make people unique and to respect people with different skin colours, physical abilities, cultural values, gender identities, sexual orientations and so on.
In Grade 6, students learn to challenge stereotypes about gender roles, sexual orientation and gender expression, and how factors like gender identity, body image, mental health, and so on, can affect someone’s self-concept.
In Grade 7, students learn about physical and psychological factors related to decisions about sexual health, such as gender identity and sexual orientation.
In Grade 8, students learn about different gender identities such as two-spirit, transgender, transsexual and intersex, and how factors such as sexual orientation and gender identity can influence people’s decisions about sex, and that gay-straight student alliances can be sought out as support services.
In the interim version, students learn about similarities and differences between themselves and others, such as body size and gender, in Grade 2. This version does mention gender identity in its introduction but only to flag it as a potentially challenging topic to teach. The introduction also states that students of all gender identities should feel comfortable and free from harassment. This version does not specifically mention that the topic of gender identity be taught in any grades. The word “transgender” is mentioned once, in the glossary, using the non-preferred term “transgendered.”
First Nations, Métis, Inuit
In the 2015 curriculum, students learn the basic stages of human development in Grade 2, including a teacher prompt about “teachings from different cultures, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures, about the cycles of birth, life and death.”
In Grade 6, students learn how to build healthier relationships with others and themselves using skills based on First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultural teachings.
In Grade 8, students learn about the two-spirit gender identity, which is used by First Nations people to refer to someone with both feminine and masculine spirits.
In the interim version, students in Grade 4 learn about teachings of First Nations, Métis, or Inuit cultures to strengthen their relationships.
Abstinence
In the 2015 version, a teacher prompt urges Grade 7 students to be clear in their own minds about what they are comfortable doing, including delaying sexual activity. A prompt in Grade 8 notes that abstinence is the only way to be 100-per-cent certain about avoiding sexually transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancy.
In the interim version, students learn in Grade 7 about abstinence as it relates to healthy sexuality, and in Grade 8 about “the importance of abstinence.” The curriculum’s introduction instructs teachers to portray abstinence as a “positive choice.”
Consent
In the 2015 version, students learn in Grade 6 that consent is defined as “a clear ‘yes’ ”, and that anything else, including silence or uncertainty, is not consent. In Grade 7, students learn the importance of clear communication with a romantic partner about all aspects of sex, including consent. Consent is taught again in Grade 8.
The interim version does not mention the concept of consent.
Online behaviour
In the 2015 curriculum, sharing private sexual photos of others online is described in Grade 5 as “unacceptable” and "illegal.” Asking for sexual pictures or making sexual comments online is also discouraged.
In Grade 6, a teacher prompt describes relationships kids might see online as “not always accurate.” Ending a relationship online, it says, “may not be a sensitive approach.”
In the interim version, the potential of exposure to online sexual predators is introduced in a teacher prompt in Grade 4. In Grade 7, the risks of sexting, as outlined by a prompt, include messages becoming public, being “manipulated or misinterpreted,” or costing students future relationships or jobs. The 2015 version adds negative effects to the victim’s well-being to that list.
Both curriculae teach students about how negative actions can affect other people in Grade 5, but the 2015 version makes specific mention of online sexual harassment.
Both curriculae teach students about risks associated with using the internet in Grade 4, but in the 2015 version, “sexual predators” is changed to “people who ask you for sexual pictures."
Masturbation
In the 2015 curriculum, teachers are prompted in Grade 6 to explain wet dreams, vaginal lubrication and masturbation as normal, if asked. “Exploring one’s body by touching or masturbating is something that many people do and find pleasurable. It is common and is not harmful and is one way of learning about your body,” it reads.
The interim version does not mention masturbation.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-differences-between-ontarios-interim-sex-ed-curriculum-and-2015s |
