Category Archives: Post Human

Now, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2017 of the newly established Journal of Posthuman Studies (Penn State University Press) is available via jstor: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jpoststud.1.1.issue-1 It is a ground-breaking issue with amazing contributors! It is already possible to submit your work for consideration for future issues by accessing this link: http://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_JPHS.html The new journal is being edited by IEET Fellow Stefan Lorenz Sorgner and the Executive Director of the IEET James J. Hughes. The Editorial Board includes further members of the IEET as well as many other distinguished thinkers and artists: http://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_JPHS.html

The launch of this new journal as well as this new area of studies will officially be celebrated during the 9th Beyond Humanism Conference (Topic: Posthuman Studies) which will take place at John Cabot University in Rome from the 19th until the 22nd of July 2017: http://beyondhumanism.org/ The tentative conference program is already available: http://beyondhumanism.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Preliminary-schedule-5.pdf It will be a massive event with more than 100 speakers and participants and many thought leaders from a great variety of traditions and disciplines!!!!

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Inaugural Issues of the Journal of Posthuman Studies Now Available! - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies

WASHINGTON Hundreds of activists marched around the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the Republican health care bill in a demonstration organizers called a human chain protest.

Although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) canceled a vote on Obamacare replacement legislation on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers warned against growing complacent and insisted that progressives must keep the pressure on if they are to defeat the bill for good.

Yesterday was not a victory, not even close, said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Yesterday was an opportunity. Its an opportunity keep making your voices heard.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) suggested the July Fourth weekend was an ideal time to express outrage to Republican members of Congress.

Take that moment to celebrate and then get back on the horse!Because Ill tell you what: Nobody wants to get yelled at at a Fourth of July parade, he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

The event was announced by liberal groups like MoveOn.org, the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood days earlier when a vote on the Republican bill appeared imminent.

Tuesdays decision to delay the vote came a day after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its estimates that the Senate bill would result in 22 million fewer people having health care coverage over the next 10 years.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For a time it seemed as though the Senate bill, plotted rapidly and behind closed doors for the last several weeks, did not inspire the same level of grassroots outrage as had the bill that passed the House of Representatives in May and a failed run at a vote in March.

But the rally at the Capitol was the capstone of a week of smaller demonstrations, many of them by people with disabilities and other groups especially vulnerable to the bills cuts to Medicaid.

Most of the crowd on Wednesday, which was filled with pink Planned Parenthood T-shirts, hailed from the metropolitan Washington area. Livestreams of the event were broadcast on Facebook to hundreds of thousands of people.

One 32-year-old Washingtonian woman at the rally who declined to be named said she was worried the bill would hurt her personally. She is a college graduate and works in the arts, she said, but makes just $13 an hour and depends on Medicaid for her insurance.

Theres this misconception about people who are on Medicaid, she said. Thank God I can get Medicaid.

There were some health care advocates who traveled far distances to the rally, including Marcia Hams, chairwoman of the Boston-based organization Health Care for All.

We worked really hard to pass and make the Affordable Care Act work, so its really a terrible prospect that we might lose it and that so many people would lose their health care, she said. Itd be terrible for seniors, terrible for people with disabilities.

Other Obamacare supporters amassed outside the Trump International Hotel a few blocks away on Pennsylvania Avenue. They greeted President Donald Trumpwith jeers as he arrived to attend a re-election fundraiser.

In some ways the rally took on the feel of a 2020 presidential candidate cattle call, giving some of the Democratic Partys rising stars a chance to connect with party activists. In addition to Schatz and Murray, young targets of presidential speculation already,Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.) and Kamala Harris (Calif.) received a warm reception.

You must now look at the face of history and say, It is my turn to stand up, it is my turn to fight. It is my turn to unleash the forces of love on America, Bookertold the crowd. If we fight together, if we work together, and we love together and we get folk woke, this bill will die.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez were among the other leaders who spoke.

Nonetheless, there were signs of the divisions between the partys populist left wing and its more centrist faction.

At the edge of the rally, several dozen activists from the Washington and Baltimore chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America stood with banners displaying their logo of two shaking hands and a rose, and placards that said, Health care is a human right and Medicine for profit is a crime against humanity.

Periodically, one of the DSA members would yell out single-payer, only to be ignored by the other people assembled there. Attendees were disappointed that none of the speakers called for a single-payer health care system, or Medicare for all, but they were all happy to be protesting the Republican legislation with Democrats. The DSA, a dues-paying organization, works selectively with Democrats, even as it advances a more radical agenda. (Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of the Senate Democratic Caucus who is favored by DSA members, did not speak, having already returned to Vermont for the holiday weekend.)

We have to do it through both evolutionary and revolutionary means, meaning we need to work with Democrats, but we also need to be in the streets, said Jessica Crawford, 26, of Washington, D.C. So we can do both.

This story has been updated to include comment from Hams.

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Democrats Rally Troops To Protest GOP Health Care Bill In 'Human Chain' Around The Capitol - HuffPost

Trafficking in Persons Hero Boom Mosby of Chiang Mai poses for a photo with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US first daughter and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump. Ms Boom was cited in Washington for her personal achievements against human traffickers at Tuesday's presentation of the annual report. (EPA photo)

Thailand is disappointed with the US decision to keep the country on the Tier 2 Watchlist of its latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report but insists the latest ranking will not affect the country's export growth expected at 5% this year.

"Thailand views the report has not done justice to the significant and tangible progress Thailand has made in various areas during the past year," the Foreign Ministry said in response to the US TIP report which keeps Thailand on the same ranking with Myanmar and Laos.

What the country had done on anti-human trafficking includes: "Policy initiatives, prosecution of wrong-doers and complicit officials, prevention of potential victims, witness and victim protection, and partnership with various groups of stakeholders, both domestic and abroad," the ministry said.

The government remains committed to strenuously addressing human trafficking, while seeking to further strengthen and expand cooperation with truly concerned partners, it said.

"After all, tackling trafficking in persons by the government is not aimed at any evaluation but to better protect both Thais and foreigners in the kingdom -- equal in human dignity -- from the menace of human trafficking while upholding humanitarian principles to which Thailand has always adhered," the ministry said.

Washington on Tuesday night released the latest revision of the its TIP report 2017 which defines the Tier 2 Watchlist as countries where governments do not fully meet the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act's minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to meet those standards.

The worst category would be Tier 3 which may be subject to certain restrictions on US non-humanitarian and non-trade related foreign assistance.

According to the report unveiled by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, "Thailand is a source, destination and transit country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking."

Thai victims of trafficking and some of the estimated three to four million migrant workers in Thailand are forced, coerced or defrauded into labour or tricked into the flesh industry.

The government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so, the report said.

The Commerce Ministry's permanent-secretary, Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, said the decision was disappointing and regrettable.

The ranking could tame the reputation and image of Thai products.

However, she said, the report is unlikely to affect Thai exports as the Commerce Ministry is still confident the country's export growth this year will reach 5% as projected earlier.

"We have made a great effort in tackling human trafficking problems; both the government and private sector have made certain progress in doing so," Ms Wiboonlasana said.

"Unfortunately, the US did not realise this. Anyway, this will not have any bad impact on Thai exports this year since we will still keep export growth target at 5%."

Although the Tier 2 Watchlist may not lead to trade bans or any non-tariff barriers, it would tarnish the image of Thai products, particularly in the eyes of buyers in developed countries such as the US and Europe, where people care about human rights, she said.

Ms Wiboonlasana said the Commerce Ministry still expected that the recovering economies of Thailand's trade partners should help increase demand for Thai products.

That would apply particularly to Thai farm products as rising farm prices have reflected strong demand from overseas markets.

Thai exports jumped 13.2% year-on-year to US$19.9 billion (676 billion baht) in May, the highest in more than four years.

Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said Thailand will continue its strategy to boost exports in other new emerging markets particularly the group consisting of neighbouring Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, known as CLMV.

Referring to the TIP report ranking Wednesday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the human trafficking situation was bad two years ago when the country was placed on the lowest rung of Tier 3 before it was upgraded to the Tier 2 Watchlist last year after the government stepped up efforts to crack down on human trafficking networks, as well as amended relevant legislation on anti-human trafficking

This means the government's efforts to combat human trafficking have gained recognition especially in terms of improved law enforcement, he said. However, much work remained to be done.

Gen Prayut said he stressed at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday the need to take tough legal action against business operators and officials suspected of involvement in trafficking.

Even though Thailand has not been downgraded in this year's TIP report, the government still finds it unsatisfactory.

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Thailand again fails trafficking test - Bangkok Post

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

CMU spinoff uses facial recognition to stop human trafficking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette You've seen the ads online, adhered to a telephone post, on Craigslist. They often promise teens below the legal working age an impressive hourly wage but never specify an employer's name or even their location. Often, they're posted by sex traffickers. and more »

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CMU spinoff uses facial recognition to stop human trafficking - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Authorities round up illegal migrants in a village in tambon Mae Charao of Mae Ramat district, Tak, on Tuesday - a few hours before the release of the US TIP report. (Photo by Assawin Pinitwong)

The latest Trafficking in Persons Report by the US State Department does not do justice to Thailand's efforts to stop human trafficking over the past year, according to the Foreign Ministry.

"Thailand views that the Report has not done justice to the significant and tangible progress Thailand has made in various areas during the past year, including policy initiatives, prosecution of wrong-doers and complicit officials, prevention of potential victims, witness and victim protection, and partnership with various groups of stakeholders, both domestic and abroad," the ministry said in a statement issued on late on Tuesday night just after the TIP reportwas released.

The Thai government remained firmly committed to seriously and strenuously addressing human trafficking, while seeking to further strengthen and expand cooperation with truly concerned partners, with a view to improving its capacity to better prevent and suppress the problem, the ministry said.

The government's efforts were not aimed at any evaluation but to better protect both Thais and foreigners in the country - equal in human dignity - from the menace of human trafficking,while upholding humanitarian principles to which Thailand always adhered, it stated.

Get full Bangkok Post printed newspaper experience on your digital devices with Bangkok Post e-newspaper. Try it out, it's totally free for 7 days.

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Ministry: US human trafficking report 'unfair' - Bangkok Post

A billboard in a Yangon suburb discouraging recruitment of children for the Myanmar military. Photograph: Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP

The US asserted on Tuesday that Myanmar is no longer one of the worlds worst offenders on human trafficking, removing it and Iraq from a list of countries that use child soldiers.

But in its annual Trafficking in Persons report, the State Department also demoted China to the lowest ranking over its trafficking record, putting it in the same category as North Korea, Zimbabwe and Syria.

Afghanistan was recognised for taking steps to curb trafficking, while Iraq was seen as making insufficient progress on that issue.

Ivanka Trump, the senior White House adviser and daughter of President Donald Trump, said ending human trafficking was in both the moral and strategic interests of the US, describing the effort as a major foreign policy priority for the administration.

The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said the roughly 20 million victims of human trafficking globally illustrate how much more work must be done.

Regrettably, our challenge is enormous, Tillerson said. Human trafficking is becoming more nuanced and more difficult to identify. Much of these activities are going underground, and theyre going online.

Myanmar was promoted for its efforts against recruitment of child soldiers and its first prosecution of government officials under a human trafficking law. The south-east Asian nation had been demoted to the lowest tier last year, shortly after it shifted to civilian government, ending decades of oppressive military rule.

Myanmars elevation is a boost for Aung San Suu Kyis administration, which is facing growing criticism from human rights groups. The political transition in the country has been a bumpy one as it wrestles with ethnic conflict and deep-seated discrimination against its Rohingya Muslim minority.

The demotion of China was a particular surprise this year, marking the first major, public rebuke of Beijings human rights record by the Trump administration, which has generally avoided direct, public criticism of the country while seeking its help on North Korea.

The US said that not only was China not meeting minimum standards to stop trafficking, it also was not making significant efforts to do so. The report also said there were indications that Chinas government was still complicit in forced labour, including in some drug rehabilitation centres. The US said Chinas efforts to prosecute traffickers had also fallen.

Chinas foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said it strongly opposed the US using its domestic laws to attack another countrys record, and maintained that the results of Beijings anti-human trafficking efforts are obvious for everyone to see.

As we have said repeatedly, no country has the right to speak irresponsibly on Chinas domestic affairs, Lu said ahead of the reports official launch.

Chinas governments commitment to fighting human trafficking has been resolute and our results have been obvious for everyone to see, he said, adding that China is willing to work with other countries on the basis of mutual respect to combat global human trafficking.

Human Rights Watch said removing Myanmar was premature, and undermined US credibility in ending the use of children in warfare. The group said the UN documented child recruitment by Myanmars armed forces in 2016.

The annual TiP report ranks countries in a three-tier system on their effectiveness in tackling human trafficking and other forms of slavery.

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US human trafficking report promotes Myanmar but demotes China - The Guardian

Much analysis of Yuval Noah Hararis brilliant new book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, focuses on the harrowing dystopia he anticipates. In this vision, a small, geeky elite gains the ability to use biological and cyborg engineering to become something beyond human. It may upgrade itself step by step, merging with robots and computers in the process, until our descendants will look back and realize that they are no longer the kind of animal that wrote the Bible [or] built the Great Wall of China. This would necessarily involve the concentration of data, wealth and power, creating unprecedented social inequality.

In the early 21st century, argues Harari, the train of progress is again pulling out of the station and this will probably be the last train ever to leave the station called Homo sapiens.

Few of us Homo sapiens are eager to take such a trip, apart from some dataists who pant for the apocalypse. But, as Harari repeatedly insists, the prophets job is really an impossible one. Someone living in the 12th century would know most of what the 13th century might have to offer. Given the pace of change in our time, the 22nd century is almost unimaginable.

Yet the predictions are not the most interesting bits of the book. It is important primarily for what it says about the present. For the past few hundred years, in Hararis telling, there has been a successful alliance between scientific thought and humanism a philosophy placing human feelings, happiness and choice at the center of the ethical universe. With the death of God and the denial of transcendent rules, some predicted social chaos and collapse. Instead, science and humanism (with an assist from capitalism) delivered unprecedented health and comfort. And now they promise immortality and bliss.

This progress has involved an implicit agreement, In exchange for power, says Harari, the modern deal expects us to give up meaning. Many (at least in the West) have been willing to choose antibiotics and flat-screen TVs over the mysticism and morality behind door No. 2.

It is Hararis thesis, however, that the alliance of science and humanism is breaking down, with the former consuming the latter. The reason is reductionism in various forms. Science, argues Harari, revealed humans as animals on the mental spectrum, then as biochemical processes and now as outdated organic algorithms. We have opened up the Sapiens black box and discovered there neither soul, nor free will, nor self but only genes, hormones and neurons.

This rather depressing argument is well presented, with a few caveats. Hararis breezy style is sometimes in tension with his utter nihilism. Here is a moral rule: You can either be cheery or you can describe the universe as an empty, echoing void where human beings have no inherent value. But you cant do both.

And Hararis treatment of religion is, charitably put, superficial. He seems to think that the absence of an immortal soul can be proved by dissection. Scientists have looked into every nook in our hearts and every cranny in our brains. But they have so far discovered no magic spark. For future reference, religious believers dont generally view the liver or the pineal gland as the seat of the soul. And when Harari claims that religion is no longer a source of creativity and makes little difference, it is tempting to shout Martin Luther King Jr. at your e-reader.

But Harari has one great virtue: intellectual honesty. Unlike some of the new atheists, he recognizes that science is incapable of providing values, including the humanistic values of Locke, Rousseau and Jefferson. Even Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker and the other champions of the new scientific worldview refuse to abandon liberalism, Harari observes. After dedicating hundreds of erudite pages to deconstructing the self and the freedom of will, they perform breathtaking intellectual somersaults that miraculously land them back in the 18th century.

Harari relentlessly follows the logic of reductionism as it sweeps away individualism, equality, justice, democracy and human rights even human imagination. Yes, God is a product of the human imagination, but human imagination in turn is the product of biochemical algorithms.

This is the paradox and trial of modernity. As humans reach for godhood, they are devaluing what is human. Omnipotence is in front of us, almost within our reach, Harari says, but below us yawns the abyss of complete nothingness. A humane future will require someone to offer a bridge across the chasm.

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Humans reach for godhood and leave their humanity behind ... - Washington Post

2:12 This human food tray gets aroused when strangers eat off of her body

Lying on a dining table and wearing nothing but a flesh-colored thong, Miranda Robero from Bushwick keeps professional in her role as a living food platter a job she describes as "performance art." Robero, who also works as a fire juggler and gentlemen's club dancer, is one of eight so-called "human trays" at Brooklyn's latest hipster fad Lust, an "immersive erotic dinner party" founded by Abby Hertz.

For one Los Angeles resident, water is much more than a necessity its the future of luxury. Martin Riese is Americas one and only water sommelier, and he wants restaurant patrons choices to go far beyond sparkling or still. Riese not only created an extensive water menu for Patina Restaurant Group in Los Angeles, he started a Water 101 class where for $50, students can learn about what makes each glass so unique.

A 72-year-old man is making waves in synchronized swimming a sport almost entirely comprised of females. Harvey Burgett began swimming less than a decade ago in a continuing education class taught by Dale Mohammed at LehmanCollege in New York City.Burgett, who works as a music teacher and composer by day, is one of the few male synchronized swimming competitors in the world.

As a 6-year-old, this basketball phenom was already shooting her way to stardom. Jaliyah Manuel, from New Orleans, Louisiana, has been honing her skills since she was 4 with the help of her dad and coach, Javon Manuel.The duo trains for 30 hours every week. "I want to be in the WNBA," she said. Jaliyah may not have pro status yet, but she already has over 100,000 followers on Instagram, thanks to talent and hard work.

Divorce doesn't have to be ugly if you've got the budget. "My tagline is, 'There's no ugly women, just lazy ones,' which is also Coco Chanel's quote," New York image consultant Amanda Sanders told The Post. "But it's true." Sanders charges $250 anhour to give newly single womena sexy new look and a big boost in confidence after their split. "If you can afford me, I'm your fairy godmother," she said, adding that her services are the least expensive part of the process. Anew wardrobe for clients can cost as much as $15,000, cosmetics $4,000 and services like teeth whitening $1,000. Sanders' newest client, Jen, who chose not to share her last name, said the price isworth it now that she's separated from her husband.

They need to stop clowning around and get a job. When the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its doors this monthafter a 146-year run, a group of costumed entertainerswill be out of work. Were going back in the workforce and, of course, were constructing our resumes and demos. Were all sort of, you know, hustling, 41-year-old Johnathan Lee Iverson, the first African-American ringmaster of a major US circus., told The Post.

A 92-year-old yoga master has the secret to staying young going to raves! Madan Bali, the founder of Yoga Bliss studio, brings his fun-loving, no-stress approachtothe dance floor. Wearing a green Yoda hat topped by a bejeweled crown and paired with gold sunglasses, Bali looked like the ultimate club kid at the Igloo Fest in Montreal in February.Life is too short. I like to have a party. I like to enjoy and celebrate life and thats what were here for, Bali told The Post. Produced for the New York Post by Fanny Texier.

A Superman who turned into a down-and-out Clark Kent is thriving again after Post readers came to his rescue.Christopher Reeve look-alike Christopher Dennis who for yearsmade a living as aSuperman impersonator on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles was way down on his luck just a few months ago.Last August he was violently robbedof his Superman suit, laptop, phone and nearly $1,000. But Dennis is making a comeback as the Man of Steel thanks toreaders. In addition to 700 social media comments offering support, people donated money to buy him new costumesand helped him gethousing.

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This human food tray gets aroused when strangers eat off of her body - New York Post

Late-night host John Oliver took on anti-vaxxers over the weekend and made a passionate case forimmunizations.

Despite their success, small groups are both skeptical and vocal about vaccines, which is nothing new, he said Sunday on Last Week Tonight. But these days their voice has been amplified by the human megaphone that is the president of the United States.

Oliver cut to a video clip showing Donald Trump on the presidential campaign trail, saying that he supportsvaccinations for children, but I want smaller doses over a longer period of time because you take this little beautiful baby and you pump I mean it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child.

That's a point the president has made in the past.

That sounds like a decent compromise because its the middle-ground position, right? Oliver said in the episode. The problem is, its the middle ground between sense and nonsense. Its like saying, It would be crazy to eat that entire bar of soap, so Ill just eat half of it.

But Oliver said it is not only Trumpwho is skeptical.

I kind of get why vaccines can creep people out, Oliver continued. Vaccination can mean getting injected by a needle filled with science juice. Although, pretty much every medical practice sounds terrifying when you break it down like that. An appendectomy means removing one of your organs through stabbery. Antibiotics are poisons used to murder things living in you. And even exercise means forcibly burning up your insides. My point is, the human body is a true carnival of horrors, and frankly, Im embarrassed to have one.

[Anti-vaccine activists spark a states worst measles outbreak in decades]

In February, The Washington Post's Lena Sun reported on how President Trump's embrace of discredited theories linking vaccines to autism has energized the anti-vaccine movement. Once fringe, the movement is becoming more popular, raising doubts about basic childhood health care among politically and geographically diverse groups.

The anti-vaccine movement, which has been around for years, gained momentum in 1998 from a now-discredited study by conspiracy theorist Andrew Wakefield, who claimed there was a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Thestudy was later determined to be fraudulent and retracted by the medical journal that published it. As a result, Wakefield losthis medical license. But people have continued to debate.

Some parents favor the president's approach which has been dubbed slow-vaxxing. But, as The Post reported, the overwhelming majority of doctorswarns that spacing out vaccinations can leave children without protection from disease.

If infants dont get vaccinated as recommended, it really increases the time they could be at risk of getting vaccine-preventable diseases, Kristen Feemster, a pediatrician and infectious-disease specialist who is research director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, said earlier this year.

Sun reportedlast month that vaccination concerns have swept through the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota, where activists invited Wakefieldto talk to parents.

She wrote:

Immunization rates plummeted, and the first cases of measles appeared. Soon there was a full-blown outbreak, one of the starkest consequences of an intensifying anti-vaccine movementin the United States and around the world that has gained traction in part by targeting specific communities.

Sun added:

MMR vaccination rates among U.S.-born children of Somali descent used to be higher than among other children in Minnesota. But the rates plummeted from 92percent in 2004 to 42percent in 2014, state health department data shows, well below the threshold of 92 to 94percent needed to protect a community against measles.

OnLast Week Tonight, Oliver said parents are not just making decisions for their own children others' children are affected by those decisions as well.

When people hear about vaccines, so much of the emphasis is on nonexistent or wildly unlikely harms, hesaid. And we tend not to talk about the very tangible good that they do.

Oliver talked about his own situation, saying his son was born prematurely after a difficult pregnancy and he has often worried about his son'shealth. However, Oliver said, he will vaccinate his child.

It is likely that at some point you may hear scary vaccine stories from other parents or on the Internet, and it is hard not to be terrified when you encounter it, he said. Believe me, Im someone who is scared of literally everything the dark, the light, heights, depths, confined spaces, open spaces, strangers, intimacy, spiders and a sudden and mysterious lack of spiders.

But, he said, we are vaccinating him fully on schedule. And if I can overcome the temptation to listen to the irrational shouting of my terrified lizard brain, then I believe that everyone can.

This story has been updated.

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Why this babys mom is so angry at the anti-vaxxers

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John Oliver blasts Trump as a 'human megaphone' for the anti-vaccine movement - Washington Post

QUEENSBURY Police believe "human error" on the part of the girl who fell from a ride at The Great Escape was the cause of the weekend accident that has drawn national attention to the amusement park.

The 14-year-old, whose name has not been released, was not believed to be hurt, but was hospitalized for tests to insure she didn't have any internal injuries, sheriff's Lt. Steve Stockdale said.

He said he spoke with her family Sunday night, and she was expected to be released from Albany Medical Center either late Sunday or Monday barring complications.

The girl was hospitalized Saturday night after she fell an estimated 25 feet from the "Sky Ride," a gondola-style attraction that carries patrons over part of the park. She brushed against a tree, and a group of patrons helped break her fall, and numerous park visitors shot video of the incident that has gone across the Internet and television in recent days.

Stockdale said the girl, who is from Delaware, was riding with her younger brother, somehow slipped underneath the restraining bars that holds riders in the car.

The ride was also found to be functioning properly, Stockdale said.

Police had not interviewed the girl or her brother as of early Monday, but tests have ruled out a medical problem causing her to slip out, so it appeared that she was either not paying proper attention or was fooling around to slide underneath the bar.

Some witnesses surmised she may have been trying to kick trees as the ride passed them, but Stockdale said that did not appear to be the case. He said she had already slipped through by that point that she was seen flailing her legs.

Thankfully the girl fell at one of the points where the seats aren't at their highest on the ride, as they get significantly farther off the ground and over water closer to the end.

"It could have been a lot worse than it was," Stockdale said.

Albany Medical Center said it could not release patient information without the child's name to check her status.

Stockdale said the Sheriff's Office was besieged by media requests for interview about the matter, with national shows seeking access to the investigating officers and the victim and her family.

"I got two phone calls from 'Good Morning America,'" he said.

Two safety consultants contacted by "CBS This Morning" said gondola rides such as Sky Ride have good safety records. They told the network's reports that problems are typically caused by actions of the rider.

The state Department of Labor inspected the ride and cleared it to re-open Sunday, but the park opted to keep it closed through Sunday. It was unclear early Monday whether it would re-open Monday,as calls and emails to a corporate spokeswoman were not returned.

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Police: 'Human error' believed to be cause of Great Escape accident - Glens Falls Post-Star