#SocialWork #SFGH "Alberto Rangel, ‘nurturing’ S.F. social worker, remembered for his ‘beaming spirit’ ‘He made everyone feel special, he made everyone feel seen, he made everyone feel loved,’ said a friend and coworker Alberto Rangel, 51, died on Dec. 6, 2025, after being stabbed by a patient at S.F. General Hospital."

Mission Local

Alberto Rangel, ‘nurturing’ S.F. social worker, remembered for his ‘beaming spirit’

Coworkers and close friends describe Rangel as a dedicated social worker, with passions for art and fashion.

#JunkScience #cannabis #propaganda "Review of Medical Cannabis Use Finds Little Evidence of Benefit Researchers found a chasm between the health reasons for which the public seeks out cannabis and what gold-standard science actually shows about its effectiveness. To treat their pain, anxiety and sleep problems, millions of Americans turn to cannabis, which is now legal in 40 states for medical use. But a new review of 15 years of research concludes that the evidence of its benefits is often weak or inconclusive, and that nearly 30 percent of medical cannabis patients meet criteria for cannabis use disorder. 'The evidence does not support the use of cannabis or cannabinoids at this point for most of the indications that folks are using it for,' said Dr. Michael Hsu, an addiction psychiatrist and clinical instructor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the lead author of the review, which was published last month in the medical journal JAMA. (Cannabis refers to the entire plant; cannabinoids are its many compounds.) The analysis arrives amid a surging acceptance and normalization of cannabis products, a $32 billion industry. For the review, addiction experts at academic medical centers across the country studied more than 2,500 clinical trials, guidelines and surveys conducted mostly in the United States and Canada. They found a wide gulf between the health purposes for which the public seeks out cannabis and what gold-standard science shows about its effectiveness. The researchers distinguished between medical cannabis, sold at dispensaries, and pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoids — the handful of medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration with formulations containing either low-grade THC, a psychoactive compound, or CBD, a nonintoxicating compound. Those medicines, including Marinol, Syndros and Cesamet, are available by prescription at conventional pharmacies and have had good results in easing chemotherapy-related nausea, stimulating the appetite of patients with debilitating illnesses like H.I.V./AIDS, and easing some pediatric seizure disorders. The researchers found that doctors themselves do not have a firm understanding of medical cannabis." https://archive.ph/jwX1X#selection-691.0-733.100

#Arkansas "Brain drain Here’s what can happen when scientific truths get labeled as propaganda In Donald Trump's America, the concepts of truth and reason fall by the wayside, choked by government propaganda.

Brain drain | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

In Donald Trump

#refugees "Ethiopians in Colorado panicking after Trump administration cuts TPS protections, immigration advocates say Colorado has a large Ethiopian community; between 30,000 and 50,000 people, according to the University of Colorado Boulder Colorado Ethiopian Community. Now, many in the community, according to immigration advocates, are panicking after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that it's terminating the Temporary Protected Status designation of Ethiopia. That means any Ethiopians in the United States under the TPS designation have 60 days to leave the country or be subject to deportation."

Ethiopians in Colorado panicking after Trump administration cuts TPS protections, immigration advocates say

The Department of Homeland Security announced it

#immigrants "Immigrants Once Avoided Some Regions of America. That’s a Big Reason We’re So Divided. Today’s debates over immigration and assimilation have their roots in patterns of settlement that go back centuries It is said that America is a nation of immigrants, and for a truism, that’s pretty accurate. But it’s also true that the United States hasn’t always been a nation of immigrants — or at least not all at the same time and not in all the same places. These days, the debate over immigration still revolves around age-old issues — whether immigrants can assimilate, whether they must assimilate, whether the nation is augmented by newcomers or harmed by them. We see this debate playing out in public when President Donald Trump claims immigrants 'destroyed our country,' when Vice President JD Vance talks of 'heritage' Americans and when pop stars and other public figures push back. The reality is that from its founding the United States has been divided over how we define our nation and who can belong to it. And that divide has been geographic, built on massive differences in ideas about freedom, identity and belonging that go back to rivalries between this continent’s competing colonial projects that date back three and four centuries." https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/12/13/woodard-immigration-00679254

#guns "Two survivors of Brown University attack escaped other school shootings Mia Tretta was shot in the abdomen in 2019 at a school near LA and Zoe Weissman witnessed a Florida shooting in 2018 As the deadly attack unfolded at Brown University, leaving students hiding under desks and reeling as gunshots rang out, the scene was eerily familiar for at least two students. Years earlier, Mia Tretta, 21, and Zoe Weissman, 20, had both survived school shootings. 'What I’ve been feeling most is just, like, how dare this country allow this to happen to someone like me twice?' Weissman told the New York Times."

the Guardian

Two survivors of Brown University attack escaped other school shootings

Mia Tretta was shot in the abdomen in 2019 at a school near LA and Zoe Weissman witnessed a Florida shooting in 2018

#Sydney #Australia "Police condemn 'outrageous' Guildford West shooting as vision shows 30 bullets fired into home A gunman has fired about 30 bullets into the home of a figure with organised crime links overnight. Video from the scene shows a volley of rounds ringing out just after midnight on Sunday morning."

Video shows dozens of shots fired in 'outrageous' Western Sydney shooting

The vision shows the moment a gunman sprayed an underworld associate's home with up to 30 rounds while two women and a child were inside.

#Hanukkah #BondiBeach #Sydney #Australia "Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed Viral video circulating after the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack showed an unarmed man racing toward one of the shooters and tackling him from behind before wrestling the gun from his hands. The man has been identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed, the operator of a fruit stand in a Sydney suburb who happened to be in the area. He was shot twice but expected to survive. 'He is a hero, 100%,' a relative who identified himself as Mustafa told 7News Australia. Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales, the Australian state that includes Sydney, called the footage 'the most unbelievable scene I’ve ever seen.' He added, 'That man is a genuine hero, and I’ve got no doubt that there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery.'

The Forward

Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed

A Jewish man threw something at the shooter after al-Ahmed disarmed him.