Coca-Cola employees were urged to be “less white” as part of the company’s alleged diversity training — but the material was yanked offline following a viral whistleblower post.

The “Confronting Racism” course in question was offered by LinkedIn Education and allegedly utilized by the soft-drink titan.

“In the U.S. and other Western nations, white people are socialized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white,” reads one of the slides, allegedly sent from an “internal whistleblower” and posted on Twitter by YouTube commentator Karlyn Borysenko.

Another slide suggests “try to be less white” with tips including “be less oppressive,” “listen,” “believe” and “break with white solidarity.”

Borysenko, who describes herself as a supporter of banning critical race theory, said the screenshots were sent to her from an “internal whistleblower” from Coca-Cola, who told her the course was “required.”

Her tweet from Friday has garnered 18,000 retweets and more than 34,000 likes.

On Monday, LinkedIn said it had pulled the controversial course — featuring interviews with sociologist Robin DiAngelo, the author of “White Fragility.”

“The Confronting Racism course featuring Robin DiAngelo is no longer available in our course library, at the request of the 3rd party content provider we licensed this content from,” Nicole Leverich, vice president of corporate communications, told Newsweek in an email.

Leverich continued, “We provide a wide variety of learning content, including more than 270 courses on the topics of diversity, inclusion and belonging. We will continue to add new courses to help people learn the skills they need to be more successful in their career, including the foundational skills we all need to be effective allies and help build a more equitable future.”

DiAngelo, meanwhile, insists she was unaware she was featured in the course.

“The slides included were not created by Dr. DiAngelo,” said her rep, Caitlin Meyer.

“She was unaware that the videos had been re-edited in this way, or that they were being marketed as a course/training on anti-racism, since the way the content was put together did not accurately represent the way she would facilitate that type of work.”

Coca-Cola denied that the training was mandatory for employees, Newsweek reported. But Borysenko told the outlet that multiple workers said it was, in fact, required.

The drink giant told the publication that while its “Better Together” initiative included access to the LinkedIn diversity training, the course “was not part of the company’s curriculum.”

“We will continue to listen to our employees and refine our learning programs as appropriate,” the company said.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/02/23/coca-cola-diversity-training-urged-workers-to-be-less-white/

Photo Credit: nypost.com

A 4-year-old UK girl hanged herself in a tree accidentally just days after becoming a sister to twins – and her mom has now spoken about her “hellstorm of grief” following the tragedy.

Freya Thorpe was wearing a bicycle helmet when she climbed a tree near her home in Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, in September 2019, South West News Service reported.

She slipped and fell but her helmet strap caught on the tree and she died despite efforts by emergency responders.

“I am a broken individual, caught in a hellstorm of grief,” Freya’s mom Elise said, The Sun reported.

“We live every day and night in hell, torture, sheer shock and grief that can’t be comprehended,” she said.

The devastated mother told SWNS that she and her husband “were on cloud nine after the long-awaited arrival and difficult pregnancy” of twins Kiera and Zack — and added that she would have taken her own life had she not given birth 10 days earlier.

“A brother and sister that Freya had awaited so patiently for nine long and difficult months to become a big sister,” she told the outlet.

“In the early afternoon daddy had to go off to collect the special milk from Boots Pharmacy in Cowley for the twins as they were allergic to cows’ milk,” Elise recounted.

Freya had been invited to a play date at a house a “10-second” walk away on a cul-de-sac where parents “‘confidently let their children out to play,” the mother said.

But on the fateful day, Freya ventured outside without her mother knowing.

“I had a gut feeling I wanted her home. Shortly after, I saw an ambulance at the end of the road – I panicked, at the time not knowing why I was panicking,” Elise told SWNS.

 “I called my husband to say I was going to get her back from the house behind. He said, ‘No, I’m five minutes away, stay with the babies,’” she said.

“I saw his car go past and not return from the little cul-de-sac. I knew something was wrong,” she added.

When she saw her husband with a firefighter, she grabbed the twins and rushed to a cordoned area where she saw first responders working desperately on Freya.

After waiting at John Radcliffe Hospital for two days, she and her husband were told their daughter could not be saved.

“I never stepped foot inside my home again. This is something I also lost and miss to this day — my home,” Elise said.

“Had I not given birth only 10 days before we would have taken our lives in the hospital that night, without a shadow of a doubt,” she said.

“We have had so much support over the last 18 months and we can’t tell you all how much that’s helped us through and for that I can never thank everyone enough for the support, kind words and donations – even from those we’ve never met,” the mother continued.

“But we’ve also experienced scrutiny and abuse from people who’ve asked, ‘Where were the parents? How could they let her out alone?’” she added.

“It has caused family rifts from relatives and judgment all because people didn’t know Freya wasn’t in our care when this happened.”

via: https://nypost.com/2021/02/23/4-year-old-uk-girl-accidentally-hangs-herself-in-tree/

Photo Credit: Elise Thorpe/SWNS

A trophy hunter is facing furious backlash for posing with the heart of a giraffe she had just shot – describing the bloody organ as her “perfect” Valentine’s Day present.

Merelize Van Der Merwe, 32, infuriated Facebook users when she shared the gruesome image after her “wonderful” husband spent more than $2,000 to make her dream come true at a South African game park, the Mirror reported.

“Ever wondered how big a giraffe’s heart is? I’m absolutely over the moon with my BIG valentine’s present,” Van Der Merwe, who plans to use the beast’s skin as a rug, wrote on Facebook.

The avid hunter, who incurred the wrath of animal rights activists, brushed off their complaints by insisting that killing the 17-year-old bull actually helps save threatened species, a claim refuted by conservationists.

She also insisted that such slayings contributes to tourism.

Van Der Merwe — who has killed as many as 500 animals including lions, leopards and elephants — said she posted the sickening photo to taunt the animal rights lobby.

“I have no respect for them – I call them the mafia,” she told the Mirror as she recounted the couple’s dream trip to the resort of Sun City.

A friend call to alert her that her dream kill was spotted at the game park.

“I’d waited years for my own perfect bull – the older a bull gets the darker he gets,” she told the outlet. “I love the skin and the fact it’s such an iconic animal for Africa.

“Our plans changed quickly. My wonderful husband Gerhardt knew this was my dream. I was like a child for two weeks, counting the days. Afterwards I was flooded with emotions,” she gushed.

The woman, who runs a citrus farm in Limpopo province, claimed her kill “created work for 11 people that day” and “a lot of meat for the locals,” adding that the old giraffe’s death would mean “a new bull can take over and provide new, strong genetics for the herd.”

Van Der Merwe claimed: “If hunting is banned, animals will become worthless and will disappear. Hunting has helped bring back a lot of species from the brink of extinction. The only people protecting these animals are trophy hunters.”

But Mark Jones of the Born Free Foundation told the Mirror that “trophy hunters’ claims they are concerned about wildlife conservation are highly misleading.”

“Trophy hunting is not a conservation tool, nor does it contribute significant funds to local communities,” Jones said.

A member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said: “Someone who kills another sentient being, cuts out their heart, and boasts about it fits the definition of a sociopath.

“One day, trophy hunting will be listed as a sign of a psychiatric disorder, as it should be today. It is grandiosity, serial killing, and bloodlust paired with a burning desire to show off,” Elisa Allen told the outlet.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/02/23/woman-kills-giraffe-cuts-out-its-heart-for-valentines-day/

Photo Credit: facebook.com

(CNN)In the fight against Covid-19, the pulse oximeter has been an essential tool for doctors and other medical professionals. But thesmall device that monitors oxygen levels may not work well for people with dark skin, according to multiple studies and government health agencies.

Pulse oximeters, which have increased in use during the pandemic, may yield inaccurate results, the US Food and Drug Administration warned Friday.

Earlier in week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also updated its coronavirus clinical guidance to warn doctors and nurses that data from several studies suggest skin pigmentation can affect the accuracy of the devices.”While pulse oximeters may be useful for estimating blood oxygen levels, these devices have limitations that can result in inaccurate readings,” Dr. William Maisel, director of the Office of Product Evaluation and Quality in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement.

Pulse oximeters are small clamp-like devices that attach painlessly to a patient’s finger and constantly monitor the amount of oxygen in their blood. Covid-19 is a respiratory illness, meaning it attacks the lungs first, so low oxygen levels are a sign a patient may be getting worse. CDC data shows Black, Latino and Native Americans are four times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than others.

The recent warnings come after a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in December. Dr. Michael Sjoding and several colleagues from the University of Michigan analyzed data from over 10,000 patients. For each patient, they compared the oxygen levels recorded by a pulse oximeter to those measured by arterial blood gas — a much more accurate, but painful and invasive, procedure.

The researchers wanted to know how often the pulse oximeter was showing a relatively normal oxygen level when it should have been registering something more concerning.In White patients, the pulse oximeter gave a misleading number 3.6% of the time. In Black patients, it was 11.7% of the time.

The takeaway, Dr. Sjoding says, is that pulse oximeters were three times as likely to miss significantly low oxygen levels — or hypoxemia — in Black patients. The study suggests one in every 10 Black patients may be getting deceptive results.

Why the readings aren’t precise

There’s a relatively simple explanation for why. Pulse oximeters work by sending two types of red light through your finger. A sensor on the other side of the device picks up this light and uses it to detect the color of your blood; bright red blood is highly oxygenated, while blue or purplish blood is less. If the device isn’t calibrated for darker skin, the pigmentation could affect how the light is absorbed. Dark nail polish can cause a similar effect.

Experienced physicians don’t rely on the pulse oximeter alone to make a diagnosis or decide a patient’s treatment, says Dr. Michelle Ng Gong, chief of Critical Care Medicine and the chief of Pulmonary Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

“They would never tell a patient that I don’t care how badly you feel, as long as that number is OK, don’t worry about it,” says Dr. Gong. “It is a tool. And as a tool, we need to be able to use it properly in the context of other information.”But, Dr. Gong says, during the pandemic, when hospitals are overwhelmed, and doctors who may not normally be in the emergency room are being brought in to see and triage patients, numbers from a pulse oximeter may hold more weight. An inaccurate reading could be particularly problematic if the patient’s oxygen level is borderline.

Doctors also need to be aware of their own unconscious bias, Dr. Gong says. Studies show, for example, when African Americans complain of pain, they are less likely to be given as much (or any) pain medication as Whites. If a patient says they are having trouble breathing, physicians shouldn’t dismiss them just because a pulse oximeter reading is normal.”The only way health disparities can be reduced,” Dr. Gong says, “is if we attack it from multiple ends, from both the larger contributions as well as our personal interactions.”

Doctors are also not the only ones using pulse oximeters. As hospitals reached capacity during the pandemic, some Covid-19 patients with less severe symptoms were sent home to monitor their progress. According to market research, sales of at-home pulse oximeters have increased 500% since the novel coronavirus arrived in the US.Amy Moran-Thomas, a professor of anthropology at MIT, started researching pulse oximeters last year when her husband was sent home with one.

The findings aren’t new

Moran-Thomas uncovered studies going back to the 1990s that suggested there was a problem with pulse oximeters in darker-skinned patients.In 2005, a study done at the University of California, San Francisco’s Hypoxia Lab, found that three different models of pulse oximeters overestimated oxygen levels in dark-skinned patients. They did a follow-up study in 2007 with similar results.

“A reading of 77 like my husband’s could hide a true saturation as low as 69 — even greater immediate danger. But EMTs or intake nurses might not be able to detect those discrepancies. The number appears objective and race-neutral,” Moran-Thomas wrote in Boston Review.

Moran-Thomas wondered why the problem, identified decades ago, hadn’t already been fixed.”I am a pulmonary and critical care physician,” says Dr. Sjoding, who began his study after reading Moran-Thomas’ article. “

One of our coauthors is a prominent Black physician from the University of Michigan. None of us knew this. None of us knew about these studies from the mid 2000s. It was not a part of our training.”

Public attention seems to be picking up. On January 25, several US senators sent the FDAa letter urging them to look into the issue. The FDA is responsible for approving any medical pulse oximeters before they go to market. The agency currently requires pulse oximeters to be tested on a variety of skin tones, meaning “at least 2 darkly pigmented (test subjects) or 15 % of the subject pool, whichever is larger.”

The FDA says it is carefully reviewing the available data to determine whether additional guidance or studies from the agency are needed. It recently approved a smartphone pulse oximeter that claims to work on all skin tones, using a 10-20 second automatic calibration period to accurately measure how light is moving through the user’s skin.”

These devices are not intended to be the sole or primary use of information to make a clinical diagnosis or treatment decision,” Dr. Maisel told CNN in an interview Wednesday. “

Someone shouldn’t overly rely on a pulse oximeter reading, even if it’s the most accurate product.”

“Just make sure you’re aware of that when you’re making decisions,” says Dr. Sjoding. “The pulse oximeter reading could be a couple of points off. And if that is the case, would you care for this patient in a different way?”

via: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/20/health/pulse-oximeters-dark-skin-covid/index.html

Photo Credit: cnn.com

An Ohio mom was arrested for leaving her two children home alone in order to go to work — and now more than $150,000 has been raised to help support her.

Shaina Bell, 24, was accused of leaving behind her daughters, ages 10 and 3, in Motel 6 hotel room where they live in Liberty Township so she could go to work at Little Caesars, news station WKBN reported.

“I had to go to work … My daughter told me that this is where she wants to be, and I felt that she was old enough to be able to stay here with her sister for a few hours because my job is right down the street,” Bell told the news station.

She claimed that she had someone check on her children while she was gone every hour during her shift at the pizza joint on Feb. 11, Fox4 reported.

But while she was at her job, she was arrested on charges of child endangerment.

“I never set blame on anybody for anything because at the end of the day, nobody left my kids in the hotel but me,” Bell told the news station.

“I’ve cried a couple of times since this situation started. I’m just trying to keep a level head and trying to stay strong because that’s all I can do.”

Her own mother, Danielle Hosey, started a GoFundMe page to help Bell and her children find permanent housing.

“She works hard and she loves her family very much,” Hosey wrote on the page.

As of Monday morning, the page has raised more than $165,000 for the family.

“A lot of people are saying hurtful things, but a lot of people are also being there for me and showing great support,” Bell told WKBN.

“I have over $100,000 in a GoFundMe account right now. I didn’t ask for that, but people gave it to me, and I’m just over appreciative to what’s going on.”

via: https://nypost.com/2021/02/22/over-150k-raised-for-shaina-bell-mom-who-left-kids-to-work/

Photo Credit: Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office