"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"
The primary site for this blog mirror is HERE. Dissecting Leftism is HERE (and mirrored here). The Blogroll. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here. (Click "Refresh" on your browser if background colour is missing) See here or here for the archive index of this site
****************************************************************************************
30 April, 2017
CNN Host: Ann Coulter’s ‘Hate Speech’ Threatened Student Safety
CNN host W. Kamau Bell declared on Thursday the cancellation of college speakers like Ann Coulter is a matter of protecting students from so-called hate speech, and has nothing to do with free speech.
In an appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” host Wolf Blitzer asked Bell, who hosts the series “United Shades of America,” what were his thoughts about college free speech issues and the uproar at UC-Berkeley over conservative speakers showing up on campus.
Bell said that he is a proud resident of the “People’s Republic of Berkeley, California” and stated a riot that occurred there had disrupted a farmers’ market he frequents. He then went on to say that Berkeley was right to shut down right-wing speakers.
“That’s not about free speech,” the CNN host said. “The reason why people’s speeches are being canceled is because it’s a safety issue. If your free speech leads to hate speech, and it makes people feel unsafe, then universities have the right to protect the kids on campus.”
SOURCE
Striking ignorance of Cary Moon on hate speech
Ms Moon is among the candidates vying for Mayor of Seattle
Cary Moon made what has to be one of the most ignorant statements uttered by an educated candidate running for office. In an interview with Dave Ross, Moon claimed so-called “hate speech” is not protected. She is, in no uncertain terms, so incorrect. The mere utterance of her claim is as offensive as it is uninformed.
“I think hate speech is not protected,” she said. “Dialogue is good.”
Dialogue is good? That’s rather ironic since Moon takes a position that some of you who utter protected speech, which could lead to dialogue, should be thrown in jail or fined.
Is hate speech protected?
Hate speech is, indeed, protected speech. Anyone with even a basic understanding of the First Amendment knows this. Anyone running for office where you have an influence over the enforcement of laws has a duty to understand this.
When pressed as to who defines unprotected hate speech, she claimed: “Well, the ACLU and the courts figure it out pretty well.”
The ACLU and the courts are on the same side: hate speech is protected. In fact, just this week, the ACLU defended Ann Coulter’s right to speak on campus, despite critics labeling her speech as hateful.
“Controversial, critical, confrontational, and challenging speech is an essential part of any successful college education,” wrote Lee Rowland, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “Without it, institutions of higher education cannot truly be said to be preparing students for the world outside of the ivory tower.”
SOURCE
28 April, 2017
Principal at Florida school comes under fire for trying to protect white students in a black school
It's no secret that white students often get a hard time in a black school so they need any protection they can get
Hoffman has come under fire since she emailed her staff at Campbell Park Elementary last Tuesday instructions for next year’s classroom rosters.
Among the instructions, she wrote: ”white students should be in the same class."
Campbell Park has 606 students, 49 of them are white, 20 are Hispanic students, 18 are multiracial and 3 are Asian.
Hoffman told parents she made the comment in an effort to "make students feel more comfortable." Parents pressed the principal why she didn't make the same rules for students of other races. Hoffman emailed her staff last week apologizing for her "poor judgment."
SOURCE
Must not depict black neighborhoods honestly
A Florida artist sat down to an hours long meeting with Black Lives Matter Monday after people labeled his artwork racist.
Jerry Sparkman, a Sarasota architect, came under fire for an artwork display of the Newton neighborhood along Martin Luther King Boulevard, reports WFLA.
The display, called “The Face of MLK,” depicts the Newton neighborhood and includes syringes, white powder and basketball shoes. Some people took issue with the painting, calling it “racist” and a misrepresentation of the area.
“This is how the black community is depicted, not as human beings, but as prostitutes and drug dealers. All to promote the stealing of and gentrification of the black community,” Ruth Beltran wrote in a Friday Facebook post.
Sparkman sat down for a two-hour Black Lives Matter meeting to educate himself and to repeatedly apologize for any offense he might have caused. Members harped on the painting’s “racist” qualities and asked Sparkman if he understood it was racist.
SOURCE
27 April, 2017
Florida School Up to Its Necklace in Legal Trouble
Making a fashion statement wasn’t the point of a 9th grader’s cross necklace in Florida. Making a statement of faith was. And to her LGBT activist teacher, that was the problem. At Riverview High School in Hillsborough, a freshman girl barely set down her books on her desk when Ms. Lora Riedas pointed to her small cross pendant and said, “I need you to take your necklace off.” Stunned, the girl asked why. The teacher refused to answer and instead barked that it was “disrespectful” and repeated her demand. Not wanting to seem disrespectful, the teenager did what she was told.
Upset, her parents contacted our friends at Liberty Counsel who sent a letter to the superintendent explaining that it was the teacher who was disrespectful. “In banning cross necklaces from three different students in her classroom, Ms. Riedas has ‘intentionally violate[d] or den[ied] a student’s legal rights.’ The right to wear a cross necklace is clearly established. There is no question that students have the right to wear religious jewelry, despite any specious claim of ‘gang affiliation’ by Ms. Riedas. Subsequent to her cross ban, Ms. Reidas has subjected at least one of the students ‘to unnecessary embarrassment or disparagement,’ in singling the student out for false allegations of student behavior violations.”
This is exactly the kind of anti-faith hostility that flourished under the Obama administration. Of course, one look at Ms. Riedas’s classroom and it’s obvious where that hostility stems from. Plastered with rainbow flags, buttons, and propaganda, the teacher is a forceful LGBT advocate. At the beginning of the year, Liberty Counsel points out, she even put rainbow stickers on her students' folders without their permission. When one student peeled hers off, she noticed that she was treated with more hostility than her peers. Talk about hypocrisy! This teacher is banning crosses on one hand and engaging in “wholesale LGBT activism” on the other. If anything’s offensive, it’s that! “Ms. Riedas has further engaged in impermissible LGBT political activism in the classroom, and has indicated her intent to further do so during instructional time,” the letter claims. “Ms. Riedas is planning to promote GLSEN’s ‘Day of Silence’ coercive political activities during instructional time in her classroom this April 21, 2017.”
None of this is a surprise to Ms. Riedas’s Twitter followers. The teacher’s feed is full of advice about “how to talk to kids about what it means to be an LGBT ally” and how to engage on the transgender bathroom issue. And according to school policy, posting these things isn’t the problem — posting them during class hours is. As Liberty Counsel reminds Riverview High, “It is the policy of the Board that students, staff members, and District facilities not be used for promoting the interests of any non-school agency or organization, public or private, without the approval of the superintendent.”
Together with her attorneys, this brave 9th grader is asking for the right to express her faith, which is already guaranteed to her by the Constitution. Students should never have to check their beliefs at the school house door — or anywhere else for that matter.
SOURCE
Holocaust denial materials prompt concerns after distribution at Australian universities
Posters questioning the historical accuracy of the Holocaust have sparked concerns among students at the Australian National University (ANU) and at least two other universities where they were distributed.
On Friday students found flyers and posters at the ANU campus that give support to the views of controversial British writer David Irving, who has questioned the overwhelming body of evidence supporting the existence of the Holocaust.
The materials point to a website that includes questions about whether gas chambers existed at concentration camps.
ANU Students Association president James Connolly said the posters made reference to the new movie Denial, which dramatized a court case involving Mr Irving.
"There were a series of flyers and posters that had been found around the gym ... that challenged the historical authenticity of the Holocaust," Mr Connolly said.
"The impetus for the posters had come from a new film called Denial — the subject of the film was about Holocaust denial.
"It was challenging whether that film had resolved the matter of whether the Holocaust had actually happened."
Mr Connolly said it was not clear who distributed the flyers, but they were similar to ones that appeared on campus last year.
University 'appalled' by flyers
Mr Connolly said the materials were taken down immediately. "I was aware that it had happened in Victorian Universities," he said. "Holocaust denial is hate speech — it's usually peddling an agenda of anti-Semitism and it really has no place in an environment which values tolerance and inclusion."
A statement from the university also condemned the materials. "The University is appalled by the distribution of derogatory material on campus," it said. "The Vice-Chancellor has made it clear that the distribution of derogatory and inappropriate material is completely unacceptable. "ANU Security removed the fliers, and is reviewing CCTV footage to identify the perpetrators."
Melbourne University confirmed similar flyers were also distributed on its campus two weeks ago. A small number of flyers were also found in a carpark at Monash University. Police were notified of both incidents in Victoria.
SOURCE
26 April, 2017
Nationalist politician 'doesn't want Muslims coming to Australia'
Queensland MP Bob Katter has been accused of racism after he was filmed admitting he opposed Muslim immigration to Australia.
The video, filmed in a New South Wales pub, shows a man quizzing the leader of Bob Katter’s Australia Party on his stance towards Muslims. “You don’t like much, do you really?” the man asks.
“We’re nice to you white blokes, I think we are,” Mr Katter replies.
The man then demands to know whether the Federal Member for Kennedy is “in bed with One Nation”.
“I don’t want any Muslims coming here,” Mr Katter says, before backtracking. “I shouldn’t say that.”
“You don’t want any of them coming here at all – do you, Bob Katter?” the man taunts.
Mr Katter then walks away.
Mr Katter today responded to the video taking aim at the media storm. "There is something wrong in the media when you can address this issue formally and intelligently in the Parliament with reason and you get absolutely nothing; and some loud mouth Bludgerigar puts a video out and we get nation-wide publicity. I’ll be writing Pauncho a letter of thanks," he said.
"We will say again, and again, bring in the tormented, not the tormentors.
"As I’ve said on the public record many times, it is imperative the people from the Middle East and North Africa are barred from entering Australia. The time is long overdue to stop people from terrorist regions coming to Australia," Mr Katter said.
SOURCE
Hair company apologises for advert featuring white women
A HAIR product company that specialises in enhancing the natural curls of African-American women has apologised for an advert featuring white women.
Shea Moisture sparked heavy criticism on social media for the online commercial in which the women, along with a woman of colour, talking about “hair hate” and how Shea is their go-to product.
“Wow — we really f-ed this one up! Please know that our intent was not, & would never be, to disrespect our community,” the company’s official Twitter account, @SheaMoisture, posted.
Longtime customers expressed outrage over the brand’s comparison of embracing red hair to embracing natural black texture, a highly politicised issue in the US.
Shea Moisture posted a longer apology on its Facebook page, including: “You guys know that we have always stood for inclusion in beauty and have always fought for our community and given them credit for not just building our business but for shifting the beauty landscape.”
SOURCE
25 April, 2017
'No Israelis served here': Backpacker’s outrage over 'racist' sign after she was told to leave a body piercing shop
A sign hanging up in a body piercing shop that reads 'no Israelis served here' has sparked outrage. The sign was pictured inside Cold Steel Piercing in Cairns, in far north Queensland.
Several locals attempted to enter the shop when the store owner asked if they were from an Israeli background. When the customers replied they were Israeli, the store owner - named Mark - then allegedly told the customers they could not be served and pointed to the anti-Semitic sign.
Owner Mark, who said the sign has now been taken down, claims it was there because of his personal beliefs over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
'It is not because of religion or racism but because of my own beliefs in the ongoing issues in Palestine,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'I did not have it up with the intention to insult and I thought people would understand it was not a racist agenda.'
SOURCE
Cultural appropriation revs up
It seems like a week doesn't pass where I don't see something about tiny houses on my Facebook timeline. As a reaction to both the disastrous Obama economy and the climate change hysteria, people -- generally Brooklyn-style hipsters -- are building and living in comically small houses.
You'd think an ever-smaller "carbon footprint" would be a hit across the Left, but we all know by now that nothing is ever good enough for the Social Justice Warrior. Because silly houses have apparently become "poverty appropriation."
That's right -- your goofy home could HURT SOMEONE'S FEELINGS:
Such appropriation isn’t limited to the Tiny House trend, or even to the idea of simplicity. In major cities, people who come from high-income backgrounds flock to bars and restaurants that both appropriate, and mock, low-income communities. Perhaps the most egregious example is San Francisco’s Butter Bar, a trendy outpost that prides itself on being a true-blue, trailer park-themed bar, serving up the best in “trashy” cuisine and cocktails. With tater tots, microwaved food, and deep-fried Twinkies on the menu, the bar also serves cocktails that contain cheap ingredients, such as Welch’s grape soda. The bar has an actual trailer inside, and serves cans in paper bags, so that bar flies can have a paid-for experience of being what the owners of this bar think of when they think of trailer trash.
I'd like to think this essay means we've reached Peak Whine, but I don't think humanity is that lucky.
While the tiny house thing isn't my cup of tea, and some of the prices are ridiculous for the square footage you're getting, so what? Is your life negatively impacted by people living in smaller homes despite being able to afford larger ones?
SOURCE
24 April, 2017
Obama Disability Demands Raise Serious Free Speech Issues
In March, the University of California at Berkeley began removing 20,000 college lectures from the Internet. It did so in response to the Justice Department telling Berkeley that posting the lectures violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, because they were not fully accessible to the blind and deaf.
The Americans with Disabilities Act says that services do not have to made accessible to the disabled if doing so would impose an “undue burden” on the provider. The Obama Justice Department paid only lip service to this provision in its August 30, 2016, letter telling Berkeley that it was in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It claimed there was no “undue burden” in forcing Berkeley to make all of those lectures available to the blind and deaf, even though the cost apparently would have exceeded $1 million, a prohibitive amount for a free web site that does not make a profit.
Moreover, it claimed there was no “fundamental alteration” of the service required, even though the Justice Department’s demands for accessibility required more than just verbatim captioning or transcription, effectively requiring Berkeley to create new content. This gave short shrift to limits on the reach of the ADA, which does not require regulated entities to “fundamentally alter” their programs and services to accommodate the disabled.
In response, Berkeley announced that it will:
...cut off public access to tens of thousands of video lectures and podcasts in response to a U.S. Justice Department order that it make the educational content accessible to people with disabilities…On March 15, the university will begin removing the more than 20,000 audio and video files…a process that will take three to five months -- and require users sign in with University of California credentials to view or listen to them.
A third-party digital library copied the lectures from Berkeley’s web site, and plans to make them available to the public on its web site, but it remains to be seen whether this will trigger intellectual-property takedown demands or lawsuits.
As the Cato Institute’s Walter Olson noted last year, such removals of internet content could harm disabled people with mobility impairments: “Even if the welfare of disabled persons is treated as the only important outcome, the application of the ADA is probably going to do harm, because online alternatives to classroom instruction are particularly valuable to disabled persons, notably those with impaired mobility.”
SOURCE
Ann Coulter finds an unlikely ally in her free-speech spat with Berkeley: Bill Maher
An unlikely person has come to the defense of conservative pundit Ann Coulter in her ongoing push to give a speech at the University of California at Berkeley: liberal television host and comedian Bill Maher.
Coulter was scheduled to give a speech at the university on April 27, but the university canceled it Wednesday, citing security concerns. In recent months, the campus has been the site of several political protests, some turning violent.
Though the school reversed its decision and extended a new invitation for Coulter to speak on campus on May 2, she rejected the offer. Instead, she has vowed to speak in Berkeley on the original date and is accusing the university of trying to restrict her rights to free speech.
Maher addressed the controversy on his show, HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” on Friday night — by first acknowledging how surprising his defense of Coulter might seem to his viewers.
“I know, we don’t like Ann Coulter’s views,” he said, to audience laughter. “I like her as a person. I’ve never agreed with one thing she ever said.”
Maher referred to his own similar situation with Berkeley, when some students petitioned to remove him as the university’s commencement speaker in 2014. School officials ultimately stuck by Maher, allowing him to speak.
“They got their act together and I wound up doing it, and apparently that’s what’s going to happen to (Coulter), I think,” Maher said. “But Berkeley, you know, used to be the cradle of free speech, and now it’s just the cradle for f—ing babies.”
Speaking to S.E. Cupp, a conservative political commentator and guest on his show, Maher compared the cancellation of Coulter’s speech to “the liberals’ version of book burning.”
“And I feel like this goes on all over the country on campuses,” Maher told Cupp. “They invite someone to speak who’s not exactly what liberals want to hear, and they want to shutter it. … And it’s got to stop.”
SOURCE
23 April, 2017
Must not mention that mixed race people have lighter skin
Former world No 1 Ilie Nastase in racism storm after comment about Serena Williams' pregnancy
Ilie Nastase could face censure after apparently making a racist comment about Serena Williams' pregnancy on the eve of Romania's Fed Cup play-off against Great Britain.
At a press conference to preview the tie in Constanta, which starts on Saturday, Romania's captain was heard to say of Williams' baby, due in the autumn: "Let's see what colour it has. Chocolate with milk?"
Williams announced on Wednesday she is expecting her first child with fiance Alexis Ohanian, who is white, and will take time away from the tour.
SOURCE
Court: 75-Year-Old Vet Not Guilty for Displaying U.S. Flags Above VA Fence
A U.S. veteran who was charged in 2016 with the federal crime of desecrating Veterans Administration property by displaying two napkin-sized flags on top of a VA fence was found not guilty yesterday, according to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Robert Rosebrock, a 75-year-old veteran, had placed the tiny U.S. flags atop the fence at the Great Lawn Gate entrance to Veterans Park in Los Angeles on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016. He and other veterans regularly gathered there to protest what they say is the VA's failure to use the park properly for the benefit of veterans.
"Now that the court has rightly dismissed the government's outrageous flag-displaying charges against Mr. Rosebrock, we hope that he and his fellow patriots will be allowed to honor the flag and commemorate their fellow veterans as they deem appropriate," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in an April 18 statement.
Robert Rosebrock faced a six-month prison sentence if found guilty.
SOURCE
21 April, 2017
The Anti-Free Speech Movement
UC Berkeley, birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, has stabbed free speech in the back once again.
Last week it effectively canceled a long planned speech by David Horowitz. Today it canceled a long planned speech by Ann Coulter scheduled for April 27.
As they did with Horowitz, UC officials, citing safety concerns, first tried to bureaucratically shrink the Coulter speech out of existence by informing Young Americans for Freedom, sponsors of the event, that Coulter could speak only in the afternoon when students were in classes; that only students could attend; and, in a Kafkaesque twist, that the location of the speech would be distant from the center of campus and not be announced until just before it occurred.
Coulter agreed to these conditions. But she added two stipulations that called the bureaucrats’ bluff that this was about public safety rather than the suppression of the free speech of conservatives. She asked that the Chancellor not require police to stand down in the face of anticipated violence by thugs, as he has in the past; and she asked that the UC administration make it clear than any student trying violently to disrupt the speech would be expelled.
The University replied by cancelling Coulter’s speech outright.
SOURCE
UNC free speech bill silenced in House committee
RALEIGH, N.C. — A bill to "restore and preserve campus free speech" throughout the University of North Carolina system failed in a House committee on Wednesday amid concerns that it would do more to infringe on free speech than it would to protect it.
Calling the state's infamous Speaker Ban in the 1960s a mistake, Reps. Chris Millis, R-Pender, and Jonathan Jordan, R-Ashe, the sponsors of House Bill 527, said UNC campuses should be open to all ideas, even those that some students and faculty find objectionable.
"Intellectual diversity is extremely important," Millis told members of the House Committee on Education - Universities. "That's what we should be fostering."
Jordan, whose district includes Appalachian State University, decried the use of so-called "free expression zones" on campus, saying the entire campus should be a free expression zone.
Tom Shanahan, general counsel for the UNC system, said the Board of Governors and individual campuses already have free speech policies in effect that extend into such areas as codes of conduct for students and rental agreements for campus facilities. Controversial speakers frequently appear on campuses without any problem, he said, so there is no need for legislation setting up more policies.
"What's wrong with verifying that our constitutional rights are protected?" Millis asked, noting that there are currently no guarantees other than "trusting administrators" that campuses remain true to free speech policies.
The committee deadlocked 6-6 on the measure, effectively killing it for the session.
SOURCE
20 April, 2017
All mention of golliwogs must be wiped out
A Devon collector says online auction rules are 'nonsense' after he was banned from selling a 'racist' Robertson's jam golliwog badge on eBay - until he covered its head with a smiley face. Trevor Crocker, 56, put the iconic collectible pin from his childhood for up sale in a bid to make some money while having a clear out.
But he was baffled to when eBay sent a message telling him the one-inch pin "promoted or glorified hatred, violence, racial or religious intolerance". The listing was removed by eBay - but bizarrely Trevor was able to re-list it and successfully sell it when he covered the pin's 'face' with a smiley sticker.
Mr Crocker, who is from Exeter, said: "It is absolute nonsense what they are coming out with. We don't understand why they took it off in the first place. It was just a Golden Shred toy from the 1960s.
"They let us relist it, it sold for £18. Not bad for a little badge. We didn't think it would cause this much upset. eBay were making us feel we were racist."
Mr Crocker said the badge had been listed under the name 'Vintage Robertson's Golden Shred Cricketer Badge' when the row began. But days later after attracting bids the item was removed and he received a message stating eBay prohibited the sale of any items featuring a golliwog doll.
A message said: "We have made the decision to prohibit the same of golliwog dolls and many associated products from our site globally."
SOURCE
Snowflakes condemn even indirect reference to disasters
Adidas has apologized for sending out a marketing email using an unfortunate choice of words to praise customers who completed the Boston Marathon on Monday.
The subject line of the email sent Tuesday by Adidas Running read: 'Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!'
On social media, customers quickly reminded the company about the real survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Three people were killed and more than 260 others were wounded when two bombs exploded near the finish line in the attack.
The sports apparel company quickly apologized in an emailed statement, saying it was 'incredibly sorry' for the 'insensitive' subject line.
'We are incredibly sorry. Clearly, there was no thought given to the insensitive email subject line we sent Tuesday,' the tweet reads.
SOURCE
19 April, 2017
Cafe scolded over 'no burkas' sign - but the owner claims it's for safety after a MACHETE attack
A New Zealand cafe has landed in hot water after banning customers wearing burkas, but the owner claims it's a safety measure after a machete attack.
Coffee and Gems store, in New Zealand's Auckland, displayed a sign on the door reading 'No Burkas, No Hoodies, No Sunglasses, No Helmets'.
Auckland Auckland Councillor Cathy Casey took to social media to vent her outrage over the sign, before lodging a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.
The Albert-Eden-Roskill ward councillor told NZ Herald she believed the sign was discriminatory and illegal.
'It looks as though the business is basically flouting the Human Rights Act. I've checked the Act and it says you can't discriminate on the grounds of religion and the grounds of sex.'
She said she planned to contact the owner of the store, which sells coffee and second hand jewellery, as soon as they open after the Easter long weekend.
'If the Human Rights Commission rule that it's discriminatory then it is and it's kind of wider than just that one shop.'
Ms Casey's photograph of the store divided Facebook commenters, with some arguing it was discrimination but others claiming it was a safety measure.
The owner of the store, Llannys Burgess, told NZ Herald she put the sign up years ago after a man attacked a customer with a machete, leaving her fearing for her safety.
SOURCE
Beauty blogger is slammed after creating bloody make-up tutorial inspired by United Airlines behaviour
A recent incident on a United Airlines flight in which passenger Dr. David Dao was forcibly removed from his seat has already inspired its fair share of parodies - but critics are saying a beauty blogger's make-up tutorial inspired by the bloody incident takes things too far.
Though the video was self-proclaimed 'satire' whose intent was to allegedly to mock United Airlines, many felt the tutorial was insensitive and humiliating for Dr. Dao more than anyone.
Now, after being faced with an overwhelming backlash, the video has been taken down from YouTube, and an official apology issued.
Mykie, the Los Angeles-based make-up artist behind the since-deleted tutorial, is the force behind the YouTube channel Glam & Gore, which boasts nearly two million subscribers.
On April 11, Mykie tweeted: 'Hey United I was wondering if you wanted to come on my channel to show my subs your method of making someone gory. Yours is very realistic.'
She must have inspired herself, as soon after, she uploaded a 'satirical' make-up tutorial to YouTube titled 'Re-Accommodated Makeup Tutorial - Inspired by United Airlines.'
Many of Mykie's loyal fans saw the humor intended in the video, but many others unfamiliar with her grotesque style couldn't help but feel the 'tutorial' was anything but tone-deaf.
Though many agreed that United Airline's actions against Dr. Dao were unfair and unwarranted, critics saw Mykie's tutorial as a glamorization of Dao's pain as opposed to a more direct attack on the airline itself.
As the backlash brewed, Mykie removed the video, but did not initially issue an apology. On her Twitter, she simply said, 'Not everyone appreciates satire [and] that's alright.'
SOURCE
18 April, 2017
Britain’s Tesco supermarket chain criticised for promoting beer at Easter
Most Brits are not religious
A UK supermarket chain has been accused of cashing in on Good Friday and being “extraordinarily ignorant” of the day’s true meaning.
Tesco, Britain’s largest grocer, was forced to apologise over a Good Friday beer advert after being attacked by Christians, reported The Sun.
The advert, which was printed in some newspapers in the run up to Easter, read: “Great offers on beer and cider. Good Friday just got better.”
Reverend Richard Coles, a presenter on BBC television, shared a picture of the advert and described it as an “RE [religious education] fail”.
In reply to another social media user, he said: “It gets the Good of Good Friday wrong — and it will cause offence to many of their customers.”
SOURCE
Must not call even a white man a gorilla if he has some black ancestry
The Mayor of Liverpool has called on News UK to sack columnist Kelvin MacKenzie claiming an article he wrote contained a “racial slur” against Everton footballer Ross Barkley.
The alleged “racial slur” against Barkley centred on MacKenzie’s opinion that he was a “one of our dimmest footballers”. The columnist added: “I get a similar feeling when seeing a gorilla at the zoo.”
But the columnist said he had “no idea” of the 23-year-old England international’s heritage, as Barkley has a Nigerian grandfather.
Mayor Anderson reported the comments to Merseyside Police and IPSO – the Independent Press Standards Organisation – while MacKenzie was suspended by News UK.
SOURCE
17 April, 2017
Leftist hate speaker draws flak
The history professor at California State University, Fresno who appeared to advocate for the death of President Donald Trump on Twitter has apologized profusely and taken a temporary leave of absence in an undisclosed location because he now fears for his personal safety.
The professor, Lars Maischak, composed the tweets around the end of February. The tweets called for Trump to “hang” in order to “save American democracy.” “The sooner and the higher, the better.” The only “cure” for racist people is a bullet to their head, the tweets also said. Maischak used hashtags including “#TheResistance” and “#DeathToFascism.”
Maischak says he now deeply regrets composing and publishing the tweets.
“I ask forgiveness of those who felt threatened or offended by them,” Maischak wrote in a statement obtained by the Los Angeles Times. “It was never my intent to harm anyone, nor to encourage others to harm anyone.”
Maischak lamented that he has received a “flood of threats and hate-mail” for tweeting that the president and various racists should be murdered.
Maischak is now facing an investigation by the Secret Service. He has offered his complete cooperation, he said.
The professor had just 28 Twitter followers before his incendiary remarks on Twitter made him instantly infamous.
SOURCE
Hate speech against whites
When AOL bought Huffington Post, everyone knew they were getting royally screwed on the deal. Now, it’s come to this. A racist, black blog poster at the Huffington Post decided to write an article discussing how it’s time to take away the right to vote of white males.
The black racist Shelley Garland who wrote the article isn’t really that well known, which is why she was looking for attention with this post. She must have figured, with all the other crazy shit that comes out of the Huffington Post, no one would notice.
But the backlash against the Huffington Post and AOL has been so fierce that the Huffington Post has been forced to delete Garland’s racist article. They didn’t really apologize for the racist article. Instead, the Huffington Post says “We apologise for the oversight.”
Shelley Garland is an activist and feminist completing a Master of Arts degree in philosophy and “working on ways to smash the patriarchy.”
“Could It Be Time to Deny White Men the Franchise?” she asked Thursday in the title of her blog post.
“It is time to wrestle control of the world back from white males, and the first step will be a temporary restriction of the franchise to them,” according to Garland.
SOURCE
16 April, 2017
Must not tell the truth about WWII
The WWII government of France at Vichy was an unelected government of French politicians installed by the Nazis. Marine Le Pen is perfectly correct to say that they did not represent France. But national guilt must be proclaimed apparently
Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s rivals have slammed her for comments on the deportation of Jews from France during World War II.
During a television interview on Sunday a reporter asked her about the country’s previous official apology for wartime events including the rounding up of Jews who were held in a Paris cycling stadium, Vel d’Hiv, before being transported to Nazi concentration camps.
Le Pen replied that “France” was not responsible of the notorious event. “It was the responsibility of those who were running the country.”
“For years, France has been mistreated in people’s minds,” she said. “ I want our children to be proud of being French again because we have taught them a lot of reasons to criticize their country. They only see its darkest historical aspects.”
The French state at the time was administered by the collaborationist Vichy regime under Marshal Philippe Pétain, while the “Free French” government-in-exile, based in London, was led by Gen. Charles de Gaulle.
Shortly after her broadcast comments, Le Pen’s headquarters issued a press release in which she said that, “In my view, during occupation the Vichy regime did not represent France. France and the Republic were in London.”
But the clarification did not stop the criticism, from Jewish groups and presidential rivals.
The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions denounced what it called revisionist remarks that unveiled the true face of the National Front.
It recalled that the Vel d’Hiv roundup was organized by René Bousquet, chief of the Vichy Police, on July 16-17, 1942, representing the French state as it then was.
Under orders from the Nazis, 4,500 French police and “gendarmes” arrested around 13,000 Jews in Paris and the region, including 4,000 children, to be sent to concentration camps.
The Union of French Jewish Students also strongly condemned Le Pen’s comments.
Independent presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, Le Pen’s closest main opponent according to polls for the first round of voting (23 percent to her 24 percent), described her remarks as “a heavy political and historical error.”
“The truth is that the Vel d’Hiv was a crime committed by the French state,” said the candidate of the center-right Republicans, François Fillon, running third in the first-round polls.
SOURCE
Big reaction to anti-black sign in Australia
"Refugees" from South Sudan have been particularly troublesome in Melbourne
THE racist note displayed at a Melbourne milk bar was bad enough - but then came the online comments from ordinary members of the public.
A notice stuck to a window of a milk bar in the western Melbourne suburb of Melton caused outrage for many when it became public on Friday. The sign said black teenagers aged between 14-18 were not welcome because they "always steal".
Many were outraged at the racist tone of the note. But others who left comments online were supportive, some making shocking remarks that were even more offensive than the original note. The majority cannot be published here.
"I can't blame the store owner if being targeted by these A**s," said one commenter. "Wouldn't you put a stop to it if a certain group came to your home and stole from you regularly?"
Another added: "Yes we have gone back in time. We have let primitive Africans into the country who rape steal and assault people. What a lovely situation we are in. At least we don't offend anybody...."
One particularly vile post said: "Its not racist because blacks aren't humans."
The milk bar owner initially tried to explain the note by releasing CCTV footage of eight dark skinned youths in the store, some of who menaced him while their mates stole from the shelves. He told 7 News they always came into his shop and stole things which made him "very angry".
The note was an impulsive reaction to the incident with the eight youths, he said, but claimed there had been at least 20 other similar incidents in the past.
A common theme from many Australians on various forums was that it wasn't racism if Sudanese people had stolen from him.
Many people made direct links to Melbourne's youth gang crisis and spiralling crime rate. "The black c**** are on the news rioting and rampaging every night," wrote one. "Assimilation, and they don't do it."
Some used the incident to call for greater controls over who could come to Australia. "The immigration restriction act of 1901 [now repealed] was this country's greatest achievement."
Some of the messages were not overtly offensive or racist but supported the store owner's actions and the right to defend his business.
A typical response was: "Should he just fling open his doors and say help yourself? Obviously there's a hell of a lot more to this story than is here. He's been driven to this no doubt. The police have probably done little to nothing to help him."
SOURCE
14 April, 2017
A praying mantis civilization?
The male praying mantis is said to gyrate in seductive manner to attract the attention of the female, who after mating with him, promptly bites off his head. Strange as this ‘mantis-cide’ might seem for us human beings, our actions and some of the notions that permeate our crania can make us appear stranger than these creatures.
Of course, we often convince ourselves that a few letters behind our names or attendance at some would-be prestigious institution renders our utterances akin to the voice that emanated from the burning bush on Mount Horeb. And in today’s ‘enlightened’ world, ideals that we hold dear, or at least are entitled to have, we keep submerged or are afraid to proclaim because it might not be politically correct to voice them.
In countries such as the United States it seems that simply to verbalize one’s dislike of homosexuality or same-sex unions/marriages makes one liable to severe public criticism. One must accept such behaviour because it is politically correct to do so. There might come a time when heterosexuals will have to march and promote their “straight rights”. They could be viewed with derision for having abnormal attraction for the opposite sex.
SOURCE
Must not diss global warming
Even if you are black
At a Buckhead mayoral forum, Atlanta councilman Kwanza Hall raised some eyebrows with an answer to a question about global warming. Calling himself “kind of bit a conspiracy theorist,” he said Tuesday he’s skeptical of climate change.
“I got a question mark on the global warming thing,” he said. “I do believe in sustainability. I’m a science-minded person and I have a science background. But stuff is in the media too much … it’s hard for me to be convinced some times.”
Hall, one of about a dozen contenders seeking to succeed a term-limited Kasim Reed as mayor of Atlanta, went on to talk about the importance of conservation and a vibrant tree canopy in the city. But his opponents quickly piled on.
Hall later said in a lengthy statement he believes in “overwhelming scientific consensus that tells us that our planet is warming and it is caused by humans.” He also pledged that in his administration, Atlanta would be powered by 100 percent clean energy by 2050.
SOURCE
13 April, 2017
Sean Spicer criticised after saying Adolf Hitler 'didn't use chemical weapons'
Spicer is actually right. Hitler's Zyklon B was an insecticide, quite different from gas used in battlefield applications
Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump's White House press secretary, came under fire on Tuesday after suggesting that Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons, and apparently referring to Nazi death camps as "Holocaust centres".
Mr Spicer made his remarks while suggesting that Syria's Bashar al-Assad had sunk lower than Hitler by using sarin gas in last weeks attack in Idlib, which killed more than 80 people including children, and attacking Russia for continuing to back Assad.
The press secretary said: "We didn't use chemical weapons in World War Two. You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't descend to using chemical weapons.
"So the question is if you're Russia ask yourself is this a country, is this a regime you want to align yourself with. You have signed on to international agreements. At what point do they realise they are getting on the wrong side of history in a really bad way? This is not a team you want to be on."
Hitler did not use chemical weapons on the battlefield, but he used gas chambers while murdering six million Jews.
Mr Spicer was asked for a clarification of his comments moments later at his daily press briefing at the White House.
SOURCE
Fresno State lecturer faces backlash for ‘Trump must hang’ tweet
Threats of violence are not normally regarded as protected speech
Lars Maischak, an American History lecturer at California State University, Fresno, is facing backlash over a February tweet that declared President Trump "must hang".
“To save American democracy, Trump must hang. The sooner and the higher, the better,” American History lecturer Lars Maischak wrote Feb. 17, linking to an image comparing the president to brutal dictators like Hitler and Pol Pot.
Two days later, he tweeted: “#TheResistance Has anyone started soliciting money and design drafts for a monument honoring the Trump assassin, yet?”
The tweets, which are still live on Mr. Maischak’s account, were first reported by Breitbart News over the weekend, prompting the school’s president to issue a statement condemning the faculty member’s comments.
“Professor Maischak’s personal views and commentary, with its inclusion of violent and threatening language, is obviously inconsistent with the core values of our University,” Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro said, a local ABC News affiliate reported.
SOURCE
12 April, 2017
Must not mention urban renewal in a formerly black neighborhood
Eisenberg posted a statement on Facebook that, with good reason, can be construed as racist. Referring to a 2010 Slog post by Dominic Holden, "Urban Decay Officially Consumes All of 23rd and Union," he wrote:
I had forgotten about this article. I am not sure which is more depressing. The 2010 boarded up shut down 23rd & Union, or the protests because it is showing new signs of life and vitality.
Why might this be seen as racist? Because the system that underdeveloped the Central District when it was the largest black community in the Pacific Northwest, and began redeveloping it after the displacement of that community, is not neutral.
This system, which the social scientist Kenneth T. Jackson describes in great detail in Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States, has a long and deep history in urban America, and involved powerful federal and private institutions.
Make no mistake about this: The system was and still is racist. And to say otherwise is to say or imply that blacks caused "urban decay" because they are simply black, and not because of greedy landlords, housing segregation, redlining, underfunded schools, and the near complete absence of meaningful economic opportunities in these neighborhoods.
SOURCE
A victory for free speech in Colorado
Free-speech activists in the US state of Colorado are celebrating after the state passed a new bill prohibiting public universities from restricting speech on campus. The Colorado Senate Bill 62 was signed into law by Colorado governor John Hickenlooper.
Previously, students at many Colorado colleges were only allowed to engage in debate and political activity on campus within designated ‘free speech zones’.
The bill was greeted with bipartisan support, and has been recognised as a model for defending free speech in public universities. It reinforces the free-speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and emphasises public universities’ obligation to safeguard those rights. This extra measure was aimed at tackling Colorado colleges’ authoritarian policies, which were often implemented in breach of the First Amendment.
According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Colorado has just one public university with a ‘green-light rating’, meaning it doesn’t limit speech on campus.
SOURCE
11 April, 2017
The Average N*gga Is The Most Racist Mofo On Earth
CORY ALEXANDER HAYWOOD
Who’s more racist, black people or white people? It’s black people! You know why? Because we hate black people too! Everything white people don’t like about black people, black people really don’t like about black people.” – Chris Rock
*Be warned, this editorial will NOT include flowery language, textbook grammar or picture-perfect syntax. F*ck that shit.
This time around, my point is very simple: Black people are infinitely more racist than any other racial group in the world (including whites). And no, we shouldn’t have a license to insult others just because our ancestors were slaves (over 100 years ago) — that’s a bogus and worn out excuse. Anyone who supports this notion is utterly and deliriously retarded and deserving of a hard slap to the fucking face.
I’m tired of being politically correct, and I’m tired of making an effort to publish thoughtful material when you simple niggas would prefer to read about NeNe Leakes getting into a fistfight with Kandi Burruss on the Real Housewives of Atlanta.
So for the next 800 words or so, Ima tell you motherf*ckers like it is — no filter. Here it goes: (ahem) I can’t stand black people. You happy now? I said it. That’s what you Negroes have been waiting for me to admit since 2013. Well niggas, whoomp there it is.
What I can’t stand most about black people is how oblivious they are to how incredibly fucked up they are. We (and I’ll include myself briefly) are the ONLY racial group that rationalizes our dysfunctional behavior, but will turn right around and criticize the imperfections of other racial groups (especially whites and Latinos).
The most recent example that comes to mind is the outrage that was sparked when Bill O’Reilly took a shot at Congresswoman Maxine Waters, calling her hair a “James Brown wig”. I won’t waste time commenting on her appearance — although O’Reilly has a point, ol girl’s wig is slightly James Brown-ish (she might wanna start calling herself the “Godmother of Soul”).
You niggas have been trolling O’Reilly ever since he made that remark, flooding social media with angry Tweets and even angrier Facebook posts. It’s as if y’all have forgotten how much you have ridiculed Donald Trump over the past year and a half (even Snoop Dogg’s black ass pretended to assassinate Trump in a fucking music video). And may I remind you of how often black comedians rattle off racially insensitive jokes while the people they’re making fun of are sitting in the audience?
Let a white comedian, or Hispanic, or Asian, attempt to make a “black joke” in front of you niggas — it would spark a riot and probably result in that individual getting his ass booed off stage, getting beat down on stage, or getting shot behind stage. That’s a double standard — it’s a blatant, disgusting example of hypocrisy, and most of all, it’s a reflection of how insecure, whiny and nauseatingly weak (yes, weak!) black people actually are.
SOURCE
Must not mention poverty in Africa?
Filipina actress goofs
Model-TV host Isabelle Daza has earned the ire of netizens for her post on Instagram that mentioned hunger-plagued children in Africa.
In one of her Instagram stories on Saturday, Daza took a picture of herself trying on a brown hat with the text: “Buy this hat for my Africa looks or FEED children in Africa for the same price?”
“What would Angelina Jolie do?!” Daza added, referring to the American actress and humanitarian who was appointed special envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2012.
Daza’s controversial post has already been deleted as of writing, but many netizens were able to take a screenshot and called her out for being “insensitive,” “dense,” “racist,” “privileged,” and “matapobre.”
Hunger and malnutrition are major issues hounding Africa, the poorest continent in the world.
SOURCE
10 April, 2017
Korean pop groups not taking American sensitivities into account
Earlier this month, K-Pop girl group Mamamoo landed in some hot water after a video clip of the quartet in what many interpreted to be blackface aired at their Seoul concert.
As Popcrush reports, the group ran a parody video of themselves performing Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's "Uptown Funk," in which they don the same outfits featured in the original video, as well as some ill-conceived and highly offensive facepaint.
It was an incident that (rightly) incurred significant backlash from their international fanbase, who took to Tumblr and Twitter alike to take the group to task. As a result, the group apologized via Facebook the next day, admitting that there was "no excuse" for their "insensitive actions."
“We were extremely ignorant of blackface and did not understand the implications of our actions,” they posted. “We will be taking time to understand more about our international fans to ensure this never happens again. We hope that you will help to educate us on these and other issues so that we can become better people and better artists.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first time blatant racism has been spotted in K-Pop, which has a history of notorious missteps when it comes to race. Over the years, many of K-Pop's biggest stars, from CL to Taeyang to Keith Ape, have faced criticism for their tone-deaf, blatantly appropriative actions.
And to bring this all back to Mamamoo, one of the group's members, Hwasa, came under fire for singing the N-word in her cover of Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" just a few weeks ago.
Mamamoo isn't even the first K-Pop group or artist to don blackface — in 2012, Big Bang's G-Dragon (who have been called the "biggest band in Asia") posted a horrific photo that many believed was a reference to Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen who was gunned down by a vigilante neighborhood watchdog.
Of course, G-Dragon's rep told Spin that the photo was a "HUGE misunderstanding."
It's baffling to realize that we still need to explain how and why the concept of blackface is so offensive. Putting on face paint to pretend to be a different race is never OK. Blackface has a fraught history rooted in minstrel shows, where white actors would don greasepaint and act out racist stereotypes of black people.
And brownface, which has also recently become an issue in K-Pop, also minimizes an entire race of complex, nuanced people down to a costume.
SOURCE
Agony in Canada over non-display of tribal flag
If that's the only example of "racism" that they can pinpoint, they are doing pretty well
Lakehead University is a postsecondary institution that prides itself on its connection to the Indigenous community.
Can Lakehead truly make these claims when there is still anti-Indigenous racism present on its campuses and within the city of Thunder Bay itself? And what is to say for the role of the Thunder Bay Police Service, and the role of other city institutions in upholding and perpetuating this system of ongoing racism and violence against Indigenous people?
In conducting research into this issue, The Argus spoke with Tannis Kastern, an Indigenous woman and Lakehead student that sits on the LUSU (Lakehead University Student Union) Board of Directors.
“I do believe that discrimination,colonialism, and privilege are very much predominant and alive on this campus,” said Kastern.
While the issue does not solely pertain to Lakehead, Kastern believes there is a racial divide, whether intentional or not, amongst students. This lack of solidarity only serves to drive a wedge even deeper into the racial divide.
“It [Lakehead’s campus] is very divided,” says Kastern.
There are prominent issues of inequality regarding Indigenous students on Lakehead’s campuses that have gone unnoticed by many students in LU’s population. For example, the flag display in the Agora is set out to be a sign of unity and togetherness, but there is a particularly notable absence.
“Why don’t we get the Fort William First Nation (FWFN) flag here?” asks Kastern. “We’ve got every other country’s flag hanging in the Agora, except for Fort William which this campus sits on.”
This is an absence that is unacceptable, particularly in light of the university’s claims to have strong ties to the Fort William First Nation. What is even more unsettling is the response of administration when asked about putting up the FWFN flag in The Agora.
SOURCE
9 April, 2017
Must not make light of street demonstrations
They say there is no such thing as bad publicity. This was not what Pepsi anticipated when they released their latest advertisement, which has left a not-so-sweet taste in the mouths of many forcing the company to apologise and pull down the advert.
The advert at the center of the storm featured a young model – Kendall Jenner – who abandons a photoshoot, stuffs her wig in the hands of a clueless black female assistant and joins a street protest.
In what now looks like an attempt of art imitating life gone horribly wrong, the Pepsi advertisement was accused of being racist and trivializing the “Black Lives Matter” protests that have been going on in the US to protest against the killings of blacks by police.
In the advert christened “jump in” the model is seen standing up to police and offering them a can of Pepsi, which magically softens the mean-looking policemen who thankfully accept the can.
The advert is re-enacting the iconic image that captured 28-year-old Ieshia Evans, the young black woman standing up to a line of heavily armed policemen during a Black Lives Matter protest last year.
However, Pepsi opened a can of worms after the advert blew up on their faces, forcing them to release a statement admitting failure.
“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and we apologise…we are pulling the content and halting any further roll out,” said the statement.
As expected, the Internet did not spare Pepsi the backlash and mockery.
The advert was fiercely criticized for downplaying the massive sacrifices made by the Black Lives Matter protest and suggested it was tone-deaf and insensitive to the many lives lost in the civil rights movements.
SOURCE
Must not joke about nooses
A well-known New York butcher is being investigated for a hate crime after he was accused of giving a noose to a black deliveryman along with a hateful message, according to police sources.
The New York Daily News reports that according to its police sources, Joe Ottomanelli, of Manhattan’s Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market, fashioned a noose out of yellow rope, gave it to 36-year-old deliveryman Victor Sheppard and told him, “If you ever have any stress, just put it around your neck and pull it. I could even help you with it.”
Sheppard told the Daily News that he froze when Ottomanelli presented the noose to him as a “gift” Tuesday morning.
“I started shaking,” Sheppard said. “He was laughing. I don’t know what kind of joke that is.”
Sheppard went to the 6th Precinct police stationhouse and filed a report immediately, the Daily News reports. An investigation into the incident has been launched by the Hate Crimes Task Force.
Ottomanelli, 58, told the Daily News on Thursday that he has no beef (heh) with Sheppard and that the whole thing was a joke. “We were just fooling around,” Ottomanelli said, and added that he never thought that what he considered a joke would be taken as a racial attack.
SOURCE
7 April, 2017
Black is beautiful but you must not praise whiteness
Nivea, a German-based skin care brand, has pulled a “White Is Purity” advertisement after it caused quite a stir for being racially insensitive.
The ad, which featured a woman with dark hair flowing down her back while wearing a white robe in a brightly lit room, was a promotion for the brand’s Invisible for Black and White deodorant and featured the tagline, “Keep it clean, keep bright. Don’t let anything ruin it, #Invisible.”
The post was shared on Nivea’s Middle East Facebook page and sparked immediate outrage on social media, with people accusing the company of being insensitive and racist.
SOURCE
Must not tell the truth about Hispanics
Here are some words mayoral candidate Manuel Medina now uses to describe the San Antonio Express-News and/or columnist Brian Chasnoff: offensive, ignorant, narrow-minded, racist, hateful, insensitive, xenophobic, thoughtless and bigoted.
That's because of Chasnoff's column last week reporting that, despite Medina saying he's lived in the United States ever since he immigrated from Mexico at age 3 with his mother, public records show he worked at a Mexican university from 1997 to 2008, was divorced and married in Mexico, and even ran for public office in the country as recently as 2005.
The column, as you'd expect, did not go over well with the Medina camp. So on Monday, he gathered a group of a few dozen supporters to rally outside the daily's downtown building. After leading with the pledge of allegiance and calling himself "a proud American from the United States of America," Medina and his supporters proceeded to get very, publicly angry at the Express-News for reporting things.
"I will not tolerate the Express-News publishing this type of rhetoric, especially when it has negative effects on our children, our families and our city," Medina shouted as supporters chimed in with words like "racist" and "bigot."
Medina contends Chasnoff's column demonized naturalized citizens in order to "score political points." In case you hit the paywall, here's what a rundown of what the column actually reported:
- A Mexican social security statement shows Medina working at Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila in Torreón, his father's home, from 1997 to 2008, earning some 225 pesos (or, going by today's exchange rate, about $12) a day. Medina told Chasnoff he was living in Texas and just working for the Mexican university as an occasional "visiting professor, administrative aide and study abroad proponent."
- Records also show that in 2005, Medina ran what was basically a Mexican state legislative seat as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in Torreón. He lost by about 1,200 votes. Medina's explanation is that he was living in Texas but simply ran for public office in Mexico to "expand my political consulting business" into another country — which, while it may seem a little gauche, is not exactly unheard of.
- Again, according to public records, Medina divorced his first wife in Torreón in late 2006 and then remarried in Torreón nine days later.
- Medina became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009.
SOURCE
6 April, 2017
Muslim hate speech not tolerated in Singapore
In a major development, Singapore on Monday ordered the expulsion of an Indian imam after he was handed a nearly USD 3,000 fine by a local court for making divisive remarks against Christians and Jews during his Friday sermon at a mosque.
Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel pleaded guilty to a charge of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race at the State Courts.
He was handed a fine of Singaporean dollars 4,000 (USD 2,860), the Channel News Asia reported.
What did he say?
In February, a video was circulated online of the imam reportedly reciting a prayer in Arabic that said, "God help us against Jews and Christians", among other things.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in a separate statement, said Nalla has paid the fine and will be repatriated.
"Any religious leader from any religion who makes such statements will be held accountable for their actions," the MHA said.
"Under Singapore law, we cannot, regardless of his religion, allow anyone to preach or act divisively and justify that by reference to a religious text," it said.
SOURCE
M-103 controversy in Canada
Motion 103, also known as M-103, is a motion proposed during the 42nd Canadian Parliament by Iqra Khalid, a Liberal MP representing Mississauga—Erin Mills. The motion states that the members of the House of Commons call on the Government of Canada to condemn Islamophobia in Canada and "all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination"... The motion passed by a vote of 201–91 on March 23, 2017.
The motion has no legal force but a lot of people are fearful that it could be given legal teeth. They are particularly concerned about the loose way in which "Islamophobia" is used. Any criticism of Islam is routinely called "Islamophobia" by the Left. So is the motion blocking off free speech about Islam? It certainly could easily be seen that way.
There have been disturbances over the matter in Canadian streets because a lot of people feel that Islam is highly criticizable -- while the Left do their usual defence of Islam. Muslims can do just about everything without criticism according to the Left.
5 April, 2017
Must not be inspired by Trump
Halloween is still six months away, but a controversial 'Border Wall' costume inspired by President Trump's immigration enforcement policy has already come come under fire for being 'racist' and 'offensive'.
Costume Agent's unisex costume has the words 'Mexico Will Pay' splashed across a onesie that features a white and black brick wall pattern, and it is retailing for $19.95 for adult sizes and $12.95 for a teen version.
The getup, which is officially named 'Trump Mexico Will Pay Zip Up Costume Jumpsuit', is being sold on Amazon, and critics are flocking to the site to give the item abysmal one-star reviews.
'Disappointed in Amazon for promoting this type of item. Some people think it's a joke, for others is an insult. This item promotes hatred. Take this down Amazon!!' one person commented.
SOURCE
Controversial Auckland University club disbands
More Leftist hate-speech
A controversial Auckland University student club is calling it quits after its members were threatened with violence and accused of racism.
The Auckland University European Students Association has withdrawn its application to affiliate with the university on the eve of Orientation Week.
Yesterday the group's plan to hold a stall and recruit members on campus next week drew widespread criticism. Many feared it was a thinly veiled white nationalist group.
But in an overnight post on its Facebook page the president of the fledgling club said it had become extremely dangerous to continue in the face of "appalling rhetoric" by people on and off campus regarding the group and what it supported.
"The constant threats to our safety, exposure of privacy, and general abuse the group and individuals have received is simply unacceptable, dangerous and extremely worrying," wrote the president, who did not give his or her name.
"It is truly saddening that these actions go entirely against what those who have had a problem with us support and promote on their respective platforms and outlets."
He said people had formed their own incorrect opinions about the group, which had never intended to be political or engage in anything other than a mutual interest in history and culture.
"However, due to an extremely high number of physical threats and severe and unfounded accusations of racism and fascism we see that the costs outweigh the benefits to taking this club any further.
SOURCE
4 April, 2017
Professor Speaks On Free Speech And Political Correctness After Hecklers Try To Shut Down His Event
HAMILTON, ONTARIO -- Canada's McMaster University was the site of a clash between free speech advocates and trans-sexual rights demonstrators this week, at what was supposed to be a debate about a new law in that country criminalizing offensive speech on the basis of gender identity. The law, Bill C-16, mandates that individuals use the preferred pronouns of gender non-binary people or be faced with prosecution.
One of the speakers, University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson, has gained national attention in 2017 for his public stand against the idea that government can put regulations on individuals' speech and has produced a detailed series of academic lectures on YouTube explaining the philosophical and ethical backing for his position.
The subject of the event was: "Drawing the Line: an open discourse on political correctness and freedom of speech"
When he attempted to speak, Peterson faced continued shouting from hecklers in the audience, the blaring of air horns and cowbells, and chants such as: "Trans-phobic piece of shit" and "This is where we draw the line." At times, his suporters unsuccessfully chanted back: "Let him speak!"
After the attendees left the event, a group of students formed a wall around Professor Peterson outside and gave him a chance to speak.
Transcript:
PROFESSOR JORDAN PETERSON: So what I would recommend perhaps is that all of you who want to hear me talk, leave. Go outside and I'll come outside and talk to you.
[exits the building surrounded by students]
When you are faced with unreasonable opposition, it is best to let unreasonable opposition speak, because they manifest themselves as unreasonable. And then everyone can see it. So that is part of the reason you want free speech.
[interruptions begin again]
At least they're at the back of the crowd this time.
STUDENT: Let's insulate Dr. Peterson.
PETERSON: So, no, security can't help. No matter what they do, they are wrong. If they let this go on, they are wrong. If they intervene, they causing trouble for students, no matter who the students are or what they're doing, they are wrong then too. So, it is okay, listen. [The yelling man] is just about hoarse, he'll take care of himself.
So I can tell you a little bit about why I was opposed to Bill C-16, and there is a variety of reasons. I think the most important one is that it is the first piece of Canadian legislation that has ever been put forward that actually requires people to use a particular set of words.
There is other legislation that does govern to some degree what you can't say -- you can't incite a crime... but we've never had a piece of legislation ever that would require you to use a certain vocabulary -- no matter what that vocabulary is. And the fact that it happens to be about trans-gender terminology is beside the point.
SOURCE
Debate on political correctness finds the birthplace of Mardi Gras
Even the 133-year-old Comic Cowboys are bowing to the king of modern-day communication - political correctness.
The Cowboys, in a letter Friday to Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson, promised to "cease from comments which may be hurtful to our citizens" following outrage about the 2017 parade that included floats with derogatory statements toward African Americans.
As one AL.com commentator pointed out Friday: "A sad day indeed when the Comic Cowboys capitulate to political correctness."
The outrage prompted Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and City Councilman Joel Daves to resign their membership from the krewe that has long paraded their satire on the city's streets during Fat Tuesday with a simple message of "Without Malice."
The reaction to this year's parade in Mobile, where Mardi Gras is the king of all the city's annual events, has been split. Opponents say the entire production was akin to allowing racist language to parade on city streets before tens of thousands of onlookers. Meanwhile, supporters of the Comic Cowboys have fired back, calling the opponents oversensitive while using popular terms such "snowflake" to describe those easily offended.
In Mobile, critics of the Comic Cowboys parade said the signage paraded through downtown Mobile was racist. Among the most criticized was a sign mocking the Black Lives Matter movement by depicting a cartoon version of a black man running with a TV, accompanied by the legend: "BLACK LIVES MATTER DEMANDS JUSTICE But apparently it will settle for BIG SCREEN TVs."
Another sign suggested that Trump's African American outreach could be a pledge to "Make America Mo' Great Again."
At least three signs poked fun at the city of Prichard, a predominately black and poor community north of downtown Mobile.
SOURCE
3 April, 2017
Toronto: When traditional names foster a "hostile environment"
I think the only "hostile environment" is in this guy's head
Brad Gallant, a member of Qualipu Mi’kmaq First Nation, is at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario demanding the City of Mississauga stop supporting sports teams with names and logos he insists are “insensitive to the ancestry of indigenous people.”
At issue are five minor hockey teams which play in Mississauga: The Mississauga Reps and Braves, whose logos are similar to the Chicago Blackhawks; the Mississauga Chiefs, which uses an arrowhead in its logo; the Meadowvale Mohawks; and the Lorne Park Ojibwa. Since Gallant lodged his complaint two years ago, the Meadowvale team has changed its name to the Hawks and Lorne Park has merged with another club to become the Lorne Park Clarkson Wild.
Gallant first e-mailed the city in February 2015 asking them to stop subsidizing the teams with discounted ice time until they changed their “offensive” names. He no longer wanted his kids to have to play on hockey clubs that used caricatures of their heritage or in arenas with banners and trophies with logos that created “a hostile environment.”
According to Michael Cleland, area manager with Hershey facilities, sports and community development for Mississauga, it was the first request of its kind they’d ever received.
City staff held a sit-down meeting with Gallant on March 18, 2015 and explained that sports teams operated independently of the city. They choose their own names and logos. Mississauga simply facilitates the ice time and the municipality’s policy clearly states that it takes “no responsibility for the decisions made” by these groups.
SOURCE
Must not compare Hollywood to Nazi Germany
Seems pretty fair to me. The Green/Left ideology and intolerance is much the same
A disturbing trend is emerging among some of the Hollywood elite—reactionary, outspoken insensitivity.
Last week, on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Tim Allen, actor from “Toy Story,” “The Santa Clause” and most recently “Last Man Standing,” compared being a conservative in Hollywood to being in 1930s Germany. Based on a basic understanding of history, it’s fair to say that he equated himself to being like a Jewish person living in a ghetto.
The comparison is repulsive, absurd and intolerant. Because Allen is a celebrity and is saying something taboo, though, he gets a free pass. Try to defend it, but all in all, he compared having someone disagree with him to one of the worst genocides in human history. And Jimmy Kimmel and the audience laughed all the way through it.
SOURCE
2 April, 2017
Arizona college student fights for ‘mankind,’ penalized for refusing gender-neutral term
A battle for “mankind” is taking place inside a Northern Arizona University classroom. An English major at NAU contacted an educational watchdog this week after she was penalized for refusing to use a gender-neutral term in lieu of “mankind.”
“Included with [class rules] were several examples of what was and wasn’t OK to use,” student Cailin Jeffers told Campus Reform Tuesday. “In one of these examples she stated that we could not use the word ‘mankind.’ Instead, we should use ‘humankind.’ I thought this was absurd, and I wasn’t sure if she was serious.”
Dr. Scott took one point out of 50 off Ms. Jeffers‘ paper and noted that the Modern Language Association is working to have gender-neutral guidelines adopted on a national level.
“I will respect your choice to leave your diction choices ‘as is’ and to make whatever political and linguistic statement you want to make by doing so,” the professor wrote. “By the same token, I will still need to subtract a point because your choice will not be made in the letter or spirit of this particular class, which is all about having you and other students looking beneath your assumptions and understanding that ‘mankind’ does not mean ‘all people’ to all people. It positively does not.”
An email was sent to the entire class shortly afterward, which stated the “crucial” need to recognize that “our word choices mean a great deal and have consequences in terms of what we reveal about our assumptions about ourselves and others, and the world generally.”
Ms. Jeffers said that in a private meeting with her professor she was told that using the term ‘mankind’ is sexist, and that she should “make an effort to look beyond my preset positions and ideologies, as is the focus of the class.”
Efforts by Campus Reform to obtain a comment from Dr. Scott or NAU’s Dean of the College prior to publication were unsuccessful.
SOURCE
Must not associate blacks with cotton picking
It’s prom season, and many teenagers are going the extra mile to win the heart of their crush before popping the prom date question. Some adorable “promposal” pictures are showing up on social media.
Among the promposal images, there’s one in which three teenage girls display a sign that’s crude and racially insensitive.
Their cardboard sign, supposedly to a Black classmate, says, “You may be picking cotton, but we’re picking you to go to prom with us.”
According to Yahoo.com, the two White girls and one Black girl holding the sign are believed to attend Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida. A receptionist there told Yahoo Style that the principal knows about the photograph.
The outlet said the image is a screenshot from a now-defunct Instagram account, which was posted to Twitter by a former Monarch High School student identified as Jon Aro.
SOURCE
Just a poorly thought-out joke
BACKGROUND NOTES
This is Tongue-Tied 3
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"
Posts by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.)
HOME (Index page)
Alternative (monthly) archives for this blog are here
The war on "cultural appropriation" is straightforward racism
Is the American national anthem politically incorrect? From the 4th verse:
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
Mohammad
The truth can be offensive to some but it must be said
"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."
Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."
The double standard: Atheists can put up signs and billboards saying that Christianity is wrong and that is hunky dory. But if a Christian says that homosexuality is wrong, that is attacked as "hate speech"
One for the militant atheists to consider: "...it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg" -- Thomas Jefferson
"I think no subject should be off-limits, and I regard the laws in many Continental countries criminalizing Holocaust denial as philosophically repugnant and practically useless – in that they confirm to Jew-haters that the Jews control everything (otherwise why aren’t we allowed to talk about it?)" -- Mark Steyn
A prophetic comment on Norwegian hate speech laws: As Justice Brandeis once noted, repressive censorship “breeds hate” and “that hate menaces stable government,” rather than promoting safety; “the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies.”
Voltaire's most famous saying was actually a summary of Voltaire's thinking by one of his biographers rather than something Voltaire said himself. Nonetheless it is a wholly admirable sentiment: "I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it". I am of a similar mind.
The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.
The KKK were members of the DEMOCRATIC party. Google "Klanbake" if you doubt it
A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.
Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.
Categorization is a basic human survival skill so racism as the Left define it (i.e. any awareness of race) is in fact neither right nor wrong. It is simply human
Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?
If any mention of racial differences is racist then all Leftists are racist too -- as "affirmative action" is an explicit reference to racial differences
Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862
Gimlet-eyed Leftist haters sometimes pounce on the word "white" as racist. Will the time come when we have to refer to the White House as the "Full spectrum of light" House?
The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand
Mostly, a gaffe is just truth slipping out
Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)
First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean
It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.
It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."
"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica
Hate speech is verbal communication that induces anger due to the listener's inability to offer an intelligent response
Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech
"Negro" is a forbidden word -- unless a Democrat uses it
"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper
Why are Leftists always talking about hate? Because it fills their own hearts
Leftists don't have principles. How can they when "there is no such thing as right and wrong"? All they have is postures, pretend-principles that can be changed as easily as one changes one's shirt
When you have an argument with a Leftist, you are not really discussing the facts. You are threatening his self esteem. Which is why the normal Leftist response to challenge is mere abuse.
The naive scholar who searches for a consistent Leftist program will not find it. What there is consists only in the negation of the present.
The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
I despair of the ADL. Jews have enough problems already and yet in the ADL one has a prominent Jewish organization that does its best to make itself offensive to Christians. Their Leftism is more important to them than the welfare of Jewry -- which is the exact opposite of what they ostensibly stand for! Jewish cleverness seems to vanish when politics are involved. Fortunately, Christians are true to their saviour and have loving hearts. Jewish dissatisfaction with the myopia of the ADL is outlined here. Note that Foxy was too grand to reply to it.
Foxy
Email me here (Hotmail address).
DETAILS OF REGULARLY UPDATED BLOGS BY JOHN RAY:
"Tongue Tied"
"Dissecting Leftism" (Backup here)
"Australian Politics"
"Education Watch International"
"Political Correctness Watch"
"Greenie Watch"
Western Heart
BLOGS OCCASIONALLY UPDATED:
"Marx & Engels in their own words"
"A scripture blog"
"Recipes"
"Some memoirs"
To be continued ....
Coral Reef Compendium
IQ Compendium
Queensland Police
Australian Police News
Paralipomena (3)
Of Interest
Dagmar Schellenberger
My alternative Wikipedia
BLOGS NO LONGER BEING UPDATED
"Food & Health Skeptic"
"Eye on Britain"
"Immigration Watch International".
"Leftists as Elitists"
Socialized Medicine
OF INTEREST (2)
QANTAS -- A dying octopus
BRIAN LEITER (Ladderman)
Obama Watch
Obama Watch (2)
Dissecting Leftism -- Large font site
Michael Darby
Paralipomena (2)
AGL -- A bumbling monster
Telstra/Bigpond follies
Optus bungling
Bank of Queensland blues
There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here. Similar content can be more conveniently accessed via my subject-indexed list of short articles here or here (I rarely write long articles these days)
Mirror for this blog
Mirror for "Dissecting Leftism"
Alt archives
Longer Academic Papers
Johnray links
Academic home page
Academic Backup Page
General Backup
General Backup 2
My alternative Wikipedia
Selected reading
MONOGRAPH ON LEFTISM
CONSERVATISM AS HERESY
Rightism defined
Leftist Churches
Leftist Racism
Fascism is Leftist
Hitler a socialist
What are Leftists
Psychology of Left
Status Quo?
Leftism is authoritarian
James on Leftism
Irbe on Leftism
Beltt on Leftism
Critiques
Lakoff
Van Hiel
Sidanius
Kruglanski
Main academic menu
Menu of recent writings
basic home page
Pictorial Home Page
Selected pictures from blogs (Backup here)
Another picture page (Best with broadband. Rarely updated)
Note: If the link to one of my articles is not working, the article concerned can generally be viewed by prefixing to the filename the following:
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/42197/20151027-0014/jonjayray.comuv.com/
OR: (After 2015)
https://web.archive.org/web/20160322114550/http://jonjayray.com/
