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31 July, 2016

Another incorrect logo



There was a time when they were the Lake Erie Warriors. It didn’t last very long.

The inaugural season of the National College Prospects Hockey League, a low level junior hockey league with teams in the U.S. and Ontario, was set to field the Warriors as one of their original eight franchises.

Then they unveiled their logo, a bright red-skinned, war-painted screaming Native American. It was extraordinarily culturally insensitive at best, if not outright racist on multiple accounts.

ESPN UniWatch writer Paul Lukas got hold of the new logo and set Twitter afire with recriminations for anyone who would dare field a team with such a logo.

To give the league organizers credit, the Warriors were quickly reconstituted as the Lake Erie Gulls. Apparently it wasn’t enough to just change the logo; they had to change the entire team name and brand to eliminate previous association with said logo.

There’s still not an official logo for the Gulls, per Erie Times-News writer Victor Fernandes and a very postmodern reporting exchange he had with league officials on, you guessed it, Twitter.

SOURCE 





Australia: Tricky to talk about the sexually confused

Who knew that "tranny" was wrong?

Today host Karl Stefanovic has apologised unreservedly for using the slur "tranny" while on-air on Thursday, calling himself "an ignorant tool".

Stefanovic was slammed by the LGBTQI community for using the term - considered a derogatory way to describe transgender women - while joking with colleagues.

The Today Show host apologises for using a transphobic slur and 'crossing a line'.

"I was an ignorant tool. And when I say 'ignorant', I really mean it. Yesterday I got it very wrong," he said on Friday morning.

The slur occurred on Thursday when Stefanovic and co-host Sylvia Jeffreys were interviewing Today reporter Christine Ahern, who was robbed by two transgender women while covering the Rio Olympics in Brazil.

"By using the word 'tranny', I offended an awful lot of beautiful, sensitive people," he said. "I honestly didn't know the negative and deeply hurtful impact that word has, not only on members of the LGBTQI community, but on their family and on their friends.

The 41-year-old presenter - who in the past has used his public platform to call out sexism and xenophobia - said he was wrong in assuming the transgender community would laugh along with him.

Not-for-profit organisation GLAAD states that 'tranny' is a defamatory word used to "dehumanise transgender people and should not be used in mainstream media".

'Transvestite' is also considered an outdated term, often used in the past to describe cross-dressers, and should not be associated with transgender women.

"Like so many other words we used in the past, it's time to throw that one in the bin," Stefanovic continued.

"I have no understanding of what it's like to feel like you are born in the wrong body, to feel uncomfortable in your own skin or the extreme courage it takes to accept yourself and live the life you've always wanted to live."

Critics rounded on Stefanovic on Twitter on Thursday, telling the presenter they'd be happy to buy him a beer and educate him.

Encouraging viewers at home to join him in educating themselves, Stefanovic called for tolerance.

"Given the events of the last year, now more than ever we need to educate ourselves, laugh together and embrace each others differences and live with tolerance, compassion and most of all, love and respect for everyone."

SOURCE






29 July, 2016

Some Green/Left hate speech

"There is no greater crime being perpetuated on future generations than that committed by those who deny climate change. The scientific consensus is so overwhelming that to argue against it is to perpetuate a dangerous fraud. Denial has become a yardstick by which intelligence can be tested. The term climate sceptic is now interchangeable with the term mindless fool"

SOURCE 

The author is Jarrod Gilbert, a New Zealand sociologist and I put up his whole article on Greenie Watch recently and pointed out how unsavoury and ill-informed it was.  As I sometimes do, I sent him a link to my criticisms.

Unusually, he replied.  He said: "The headline wasn’t mine and I certainly don’t think climate change denial should be criminalised. The article itself, I stand by."

He obviously had not looked again at the very first sentence of his article (see above), which called climate denial a crime.

So I sent him the excerpt above with the comment: "It's pure hate speech and very offensive to the millions who disagree with the orthodoxy"

And he even replied to that, but with a single word: "whatever".

In true Leftist style, he is unconcerned about being a hater.  "My hates are good" is no doubt his opinion of the matter.  Leftists are consumed by hate.  It's what they do. Their  "compassion" is just camouflage.




Must not speak the truth about Mrs Obama

Yet another white woman is out of a job after posting a disgustingly racist comment about First Lady Michelle Obama following her soul-stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention Monday night.

“Beautiful?? Seriously she is an ugly Black b****,” wrote home mortgage loan officer Lisa Greenwood in a now deleted tweet.

For the record, opting to use her real name on social media wasn’t the smartest move on Greenwood’s part, as Twitter users were quick to drag the mortgage loan officer for her distressful comment while notifying her employer, Home Point Financial, of the racist individual they had representing their company.

SOURCE 

The swooning praise heaped on Mrs Obama has always seemed to me unwarranted and nauseous. 




28 July, 2016

Homeless people can NOT be "inconsiderate"

Misusing private property can be OK if you "need" to do it, apparently.  Getting close to Communism

A BANK has sparked outrage after it posted a sign in its window suggesting homeless people were “inconsiderate”. The Bank of Melbourne put a notice on the door of its Footscray branch, west of Melbourne’s CBD, informing customers it had to close the foyer with the ATMs.

“Due to an inconsiderate person using the foyer as a place to live and litter, we are having to close this part of the branch until further notice,” the sign said. “Bank of Melbourne customers are welcome to use the ATM at the corner of Hopkins and Nicholson St.”

Melbourne resident Gemma Cafarella took a picture of the sign and expressed her outrage with a post on Bank of Melbourne’s Facebook page. “You refer to an ‘inconsiderate’ person who has been so selfish as to be homeless. WOW,” she said.

SOURCE 




Cartoonists thought a Koran page was just scribble

Understandable

The makers of Fireman Sam have 'apologised unreservedly' after an episode showed a character standing on a page of the Koran.

Eagled-eyed viewers claim the episode 'Troubled Waters' of the children's television classic is Islamophobic because it showed bumbling character 'Elvis' disrespecting the Muslim holy book.

Channel 5, which aired the episode last month, has removed it from its online catch-up service. 

The scene begins when Elvis takes a tumble holding a tray of tea when he slides on a piece of paper on the floor.

Pages of scripture then fly up into the air as they, and the character, come crashing to the floor.

Twitter users identified the pages as from the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

'The page was intended to show illegible text and we deeply regret this error. We sincerely apologise for any distress or offense it may have caused.

SOURCE





27 July, 2016

Australia: People must be prevented from discussing homosexual marriage, apparently

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has urged the Federal Government to abandon plans for a public poll on same-sex marriage.

Mr Andrews has written to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urging him not to hold a plebiscite on legalising marriage for same-sex couples.

In the letter, Mr Andrews argued the plebiscite would legitimise hateful debate about LGBTIQ issues. He said there was no public poll before the Marriage Act was changed to specify that marriage was a union between a man and a woman. "In 2004 the law was changed to be fundamentally unequal, to be discriminatory, to be unfair, without a national plebiscite," Mr Andrews said.

He said the $160 million plebiscite would be wasteful. "But the cost is not best measured in numbers," Mr Andrews said. "The cost is best measured in the pain, the anguish, the sense of inequality, the sense of not being treated fairly.  "This will be a harmful, spiteful debate — it will give legitimacy to hurtful views, views that are essentially bigoted."

The Premier said he did not want to speculate about what would happen if the plebiscite occurred, and returned a vote against legalising same-sex marriage. But he would not say whether Victoria would go its own way in introducing marriage equality laws.

"I haven't ruled that out," Mr Andrews said. "We have a proud history in this state of changing the law and trying to be the progressive capital of our nation and that's not going to change."

Last month, Mr Turnbull said he was confident Australians had the maturity to have a respectful discussion about the issue.

SOURCE




University of Iowa to Use ‘Preferred Pronouns’ When Addressing Students

Faculty and staff at the University of Iowa (UI) have been instructed to use "preferred names and gender pronouns” when addressing new and returning students – including "ze”, "zem”, "zir or hir”, "zirs or hirs”.

According to the Gender Neutral Pronoun Blog, ze/hir and its derivatives are just some of the "scores” of "invented pronouns” to use "when someone’s gender is unknown or when the individual is neither male or female.”

Other acceptable "preferred pronouns” at UI include using the grammatically incorrect plural "they” instead of the singular "she” or "he” when referring to one person.

"My pronouns are he, him and his,” UI president Bruce Harreld says in a July 6 video posted on YouTube announcing the new policy. "Don’t make assumptions. Help us make the University of Iowa as inclusive and affirming as possible.”

 "In 2013, the University of Iowa became the first public university in the U.S. to allow students to identify as transgender on their admission application,” Assistant Professor of Education Jodi Linley said in the video. "Now, in 2016, the University of Iowa will become one of the first universities in the nation to ask for students’ gender pronouns.”

"These changes give students an agency to tell us what name and pronouns to use in our communication and interaction with them,” Linley explained.

"Current students will be able to update their preferred name and gender pronouns in the MyUI system, and new applicants to the university will be able to tell us their preferred name, gender, and pronoun alongside their legal name and sex assigned at birth,” she said.

The UI community is advised to "just ask” about an individual’s "preferred pronoun” if they are uncertain which one to use.

"If you make a mistake, own it and move past it,” they were told in the video.

UI officials are also spending $30,000 to relabel 147 single-occupancy bathrooms with signs reading: "Anyone can use this restroom, regardless of gender identity or expression,” HeatStreet reported.

The university also intends to expand its "inclusion" policies beyond the campus.

Georgina Dodge, UI’s chief diversity officer, said that the university has begun a "partnership with the Tippie College of Business and the Downtown Business District to develop training and incentives for business owners and their employees to build skills for inclusion.”

SOURCE 




26 July, 2016

British government BANS abbreviations of Latin origin from its websites in case they prove too confusing to non-English speakers

These abbreviations are as well known as many ordinary English words so are we going to ban all less common words?  To be consistent one would have to.  A Google search reveals 2 billion uses of "etc" while "Gender" returns only one billion.  So should we ban "gender" from use?  Could be a good idea, come to  think of it

Common Latin abbreviations will be removed from all government websites, in a move to help non-English speakers.

Terms including eg, ie and etc will no longer appear on Gov.UK sites, as there are 'better, clearer ways' of communicating the same meanings, while also helping those who 'didn't grow up speaking English'.

Gov.uk, created by the Government Digital Service (GDS), provides a single point of access to all Government departments and public bodies.

Explaining the decision, GDS content manager Persis Howe said: 'We promote the use of plain English on GOV.UK. 'We advocate simple, clear language. Terms like eg, ie and etc, while common, make reading difficult for some.

'Anyone who didn’t grow up speaking English may not be familiar with them. 'Even those with high literacy levels can be thrown if they are reading under stress or are in a hurry - like a lot of people are on the web. So we’re phasing them out.'

Such terms also cause problems for people who are visually impaired, because programs designed to read web pages pronounce them incorrectly.

She added: 'Most people who use these programs are used to their quirks, but it’s jarring to hear the wrong words.

'And while ‘eg’ gets read correctly by screen readers, there are better, clearer ways of introducing examples for all users.'

SOURCE 




UK: Crackdown on hate speech after Brexit vote: Perpetrators to face tougher sentences

If this were a crackdown on hate crime, it would be understandable -- but it seems it is not.  It is a crackdown on negative speech.  In which case we might ask if the same applies to Muslim hate speech, which is to be heard in mosques across the land with great frequency

A crackdown on hate crime will be unveiled by the Government this week after a surge in reported incidents since the EU referendum.

The 'anti-hate crime action plan' will include moves to give perpetrators tougher sentences, as well as provide £2.4 million for security measures at synagogues, mosques, churches and other places of worship.

New Home Secretary Amber Rudd said last night it was 'completely unacceptable' for people to suffer abuse or attacks because of their nationality or ethnic background.

She added: 'Hatred directed against any community, race or religion has no place whatsoever in our diverse society and it needs to be kicked to the kerb.

'We are Great Britain because we are united by values like democracy, free speech, mutual respect and opportunity for all.

SOURCE 

There's a defective brain somewhere here: Cracking down on speech in the name of free speech is on the very border of mental illness.





24 July, 2016

"Jungle" a risky word

Australia.  Football

Fox Sports commentator Steve Roach has come under fire for using the phrase 'jungle ball' to describe the style of play by the New Zealand Warriors during their match against the Canberra Raiders on Saturday.

The former Balmain Tigers player used the phrase mid-way through his commentary on the first half of the game, The Courier Mail reported.

He said it while he was praising the Warriors for forcing another repeat set with a grubber into the Raiders' in-goal area.

'They look pretty structured early on in this game of football, the Warriors,' Roach said.  'We’re used to seeing them play a little bit of jungle ball where they offload the footy at every opportunity, but they’ve been patient so far.'

Viewers were outraged by the comment, with many interpreting it to have a racist connotation.

One Twitter user said: 'Steve Roach - 'jungle ball' eh? Bit of casual racism from the sideline.'

Another commented: 'Who hired Roach again? Fair dinkum. Every time he commentates a Warriors game... 'jungle ball' gets a run.'

Roach reportedly wanted to reference how the Warriors are renowned for their ad-lib football.

He apologised later in the broadcast for his choice of words.

SOURCE 





Even blacks can get into trouble for using the n-word now!



A racial slur used on a Papa John’s pizza order has outraged Denver’s black community and has led to an apology from an embarrassed company.

The customer was a 17-year-old, who is black. His mother saw the order ticket and called Brother Jeff Fard, a community activist to ask for help, Fard told The Denver Post on Wednesday.

Papa John’s fired the employee who created the label on the order, said Peter Collins, senior director of the company’s public relations branch. The company also apologized to the teenager who ordered the pizza.

“This action is inexcusable and doesn’t reflect our company values.  After an internal investigation, we identified the cause of the issue and the employee is no longer a member of the Papa John’s team.  We sincerely apologize for the insensitive behavior of this individual,” Collins wrote in an e-mail to The Denver Post.

Collins also said the employee who wrote the word is African-American and claimed to know the customer from high school.

SOURCE 



24 July, 2016

Wow!  Now "N--" is banned

The Illinois Republican Party on Wednesday revoked the convention credentials of a Donald Trump delegate from Chicago “for publicly-made racist comments and threats of violence” on a Facebook posting.

The executive committee of the Illinois GOP party made the decision regarding Fifth Congressional District delegate Lori Gayne after party officials said she confirmed to them she was the author of the offending post, made under a different name.

Gayne was elected a Trump delegate in the March Illinois Republican Primary from the North Side district.

The Republican National Convention welcome party was thrown Sunday at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Gayne wrote, over a photo of law enforcement officials on the roof on the iconic building on the Lake Erie shore:

“Our brave snipers just waiting for some “N—- to try something. Love them.”

She used an abbreviation for the racial slur.

SOURCE 

She was probably referring to hostility from the Black Lives Matter movement, which has staged demonstrations against the GOP convention

I have used "n*gger" in the past so I guess I would be in the gun if I lived in America




Australia: More naming nonsense

John Batman was the founder of what we now know as the city of Melbourne -- and a Melbourne park is named after him.  It's a very modest tribute to an important pioneer but some whites  claiming to be Aborigines want to change it to something just about nobody would recognize. They want to dishonour John Batman preciselty because he was the founder of Melbourne. 

It's all part of the Leftist need to wipe out all knowledge of history.  Like Pol Pot they want the present to be a year zero so that people have no past to learn from.  A knowledge of the past is of course very destructive to Leftist claims

To attain their aims on this occasion, they are exploiting the kindness of the average Australian to claim that the name Batman is offensive to Aborigines.  Because of that kindness the name change will probably go through. The current matter is all very trivial in the great scheme of things but at some point attempts  to erase history must be resisted.  The past matters.  It is an important tutor.


"Wurundjeri Tribe Land Council spokesman" Ron Jones is as white as I am


THE renaming of Batman Park is moving ahead, with the establishment of a naming committee and the proposal of three possible Wurundjeri replacement names.

Darebin Council last week unanimously voted to establish a Batman Park Renaming Committee to explore the dumping the use of John Batman’s name for its association with indigenous dispossession.

The explorer convinced indigenous elders to sign a treaty trading more than 200,000ha of ancestral land for blankets, flour and other goods in 1835.

Councillor Trent McCarthy said the push to rename the park in the spirit of reconciliation was “a terrific way forward”.
Wurundjeri Tribe Land Council spokesman Ron Jones at Batman Park. Picture: Stephen McKenzie

“It is a really powerful conversation, and quite an emotional conversation to be a part of,” Cr McCarthy said.

Councillor Julie Williams said it was important for the council to work with the Wurundjeri Tribe Land Council to find a more suitable name for the park.

“I think it’s really important that our Wurundjeri people have a voice,” Cr Williams said.

At the first of four public meetings held to discuss the name change, three Wurunjderi replacement names were suggested.

The names include two former Wurundjeri leaders present at the signing of Batman’s treaty, Be Be Jern and Billibellary, along with the last girl born on the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve in Healesville, Gumbri.

Darebin Council and the Wurundjeri Tribe Land Council last month renewed the campaign for the electorate of Batman and Batman Park to be renamed.

Land council spokesman Ron Jones last month said using Batman’s name in the area where the treaty was signed was a slap in the face to the indigenous community.

In an online Leader poll of almost 2000 readers, just 20 per cent agreed that the name Batman should be dropped.

There will be three more community discussions regarding the name changes.

SOURCE




22 July, 2016

Italian restaurant sees surge in business after posting controversial 'Black Olives Matter' sign

The owner of an Italian restaurant in New Mexico says he’s seen a surge in business after posting a billboard that featured a food-centric pun playing off the Black Lives Matter slogan.

Rick Camuglia, owner of Paisano’s in Albuquerque, posted what he thought would be a well-received joke on the marquee sign in front of his restaurant last week. It read:

"BLACK OLIVES MATTER — TRY OUR TAPENADE."

Eager to promote the seasonal fish dish, Camuglia also posted a picture of the sign to his restaurant’s Facebook page.

But the restaurant owner never expected the post to go viral.  “It wasn’t a mistake to put up the billboard,” says Camuglia, “but it was a mistake to post it on Facebook.”

Within hours of Paisano’s post, Camuglia says the page was flooded with negative comments and the restaurant was inundated with phone calls.

“People were calling us racist. Saying we were a white supremacist restaurant. Some got really derogatory and just started cursing me out.”

Despite the virtual vitriol, Camuglia says there’s been a major upside to the post—big business.

“Our phone has also been ringing off the hook with people making reservations. People are placing carry-out orders in the high hundreds,” says the restaurant owner. “And they’re asking for black olives on everything. Black olives on the salad, ‘I’ll have extra black olives on my sausage sandwich’—we’ve had to order more from our supplier.”

SOURCE 

In my observation, Italians -- and I grew up among them -- are usually hearty people with a good sense of humor, but political correctness seems to be difficult for them worldwide.  It's just not in them.



At GOP convention, ex-coach Lou Holtz says of immigrants: 'I don't want to become you'

Legendary retired Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said Tuesday that  immigrants coming into the U.S. made up “an invasion” and that they need to do a better job of assimilating, according to published reports.

Holtz, who supports Donald Trump, was speaking at a luncheon during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

“I don’t want to become you,” Holtz said of immigrants, according to the Daily Beast. “I don’t want to speak your language, I don’t want to celebrate your holidays, I sure as hell don’t want to cheer for your soccer team!”

According to the news outlet, the comments were met with laughter and applause.

The 79-year-old former ESPN analyst also said it’s immigrants’ duty to “become us” and that the large number of immigrants coming into the U.S. constitutes “an invasion,” the report said.

Earlier on Fox News, Holtz perhaps foreshadowed his comments by saying that speech that’s not “politically correct” really isn’t all that harmful.

“I grew up being smaller and weaker, and everybody picked on me and made fun of me,” he said. “But you know what? You learn to handle adversity.”

Holtz also said he used to be a Democrat, “but the Democratic party left me.”

SOURCE 

There are SOME places where you can be politically incorrect



21 July, 2016

Opposition to politically correct speech is widespread

To explore the question, we use data from the American National Election Survey 2016 Pilot Study (see our previous discussions of the dataset here). In that survey, people were asked “Some people think that the way people talk needs to change with the times to be more sensitive to people from different backgrounds. Others think that this has already gone too far and many people are just too easily offended. Which is closer to your opinion?”

About 62% of people surveyed express some level of resistance to changing the way people talk in order to be more sensitive. As can be seen in the chart below, white people are much more likely to express opposition to “political correct” speech than people who are black or Latino. Gender differences are more complex, however. On one hand, there are almost no differences between white men and women; about 70% of white women and men express anti-inclusivity attitudes. On the other hand, more non-white men express opposition to “politically correct” speech than non-white women: about 27% of black women and 30% of Latinas, compared to 42% of black men and 43% of Latino men.

SOURCE 





Calls for intervention over Sydney girls’ school gender neutral language policy

A LEADING Sydney girls’ school’s decision to eliminate gender-specific terms from its teachers’ vocabularies has prompted calls for sackings and government intervention at the exclusive institution.

Teachers at the prestigious northwest Sydney school, Cheltenham Girls High School, have been asked to stop referring to students as “girls”, “ladies” and “women”, and use only gender-neutral language, The Daily Telegraph today reported.

The request was put to teachers at a staff meeting earlier this year discussing the implementation of the Safe Schools anti-bullying program, the newspaper reports.

It was suggested to teachers that by using such language they could be seen to be breaking the law and could be at risk of being sued by LGBTI students.

Discussing the article on Sydney radio station 2GB, talkback shock jock Chris Smith described the arrangement as “deplorable”.

“They’ve been scared into doing this by whoever’s pushing that twisted bible the Safe Schools program, and they’re scared of somehow being sued,” he said.

Smith took calls from listeners calling for the minister responsible to step in and the teachers, principals and administrative staff to be sacked and the school taken over by administrators.

He said if the school was serious about its new language policy, it should take its signage with white paint, eliminating the world “girls” from its title.  “You just wonder what world we’re talking about, we’re talking about our suburbs,” he said.

SOURCE




20 July, 2016

Memphis newspaper apologizes for accurate, yet 'racist' headline

A newspaper in Memphis quickly apologized after protestors complained about its choice of headline in the wake of the deadly police shooting in Dallas.

“Gunman targeted whites,” read the lead story headline in the Commercial Appeal, a member of the USA Today network. The headline was accurate, as Dallas gunman Micah Xavier Johnson explicitly talked about wanted to kill white police officers before he was eliminated via robot bomb.

That didn’t stop protestors from gathering outside the paper’s office in downtown Memphis on Wednesday to express their displeasure, some holding signs that read “Black Lives Matter.”

Commercial Appeal editor Louis Graham quickly apologized after meeting with the protestors, and wrote an editorial titled, “We got it wrong.”

The paper’s president, George Cogswell, said the headline, “although not inaccurate, was very insensitive to the movement and we recognized that quickly.”

SOURCE 




Hate speech in Congress

The professional Warmists at DeSmog Blog have put up here a number of pages from the Congressional Record that report testimony on climate change by Harry Reid, Elizabeth Warren and other well-known scientists.

 The testimony by Harry Reid is a particular hoot.  He has repeated for the umpteenth time his sweeping condemnation of the Koch Bros.  They are a worm in Harry's brain. He can't get past  them.  According to him they are responsible for all climate skepticism. 

And Pocohontas is not much better.  She aims her spray rather more widely, with Lord Monckton coming in for a big blast.  She claims that he is not a scientist and seems to think that what he says is therefore worthless  -- quite overlooking the fact that she is not a scientist either.  Is her opinion worthless?  I think so but I'm betting that she does not.

But  in the end the whole session is just "ad hominem" argument, argument which is of zero logical force.  The pages concerned are awash with sweeping and unreferenced  personal vilification. When Pocohontas says that a Monckton claim has been disproved, we might have expected the name or names of the person/s who did the disproving.  But no such luck. And nowhere is there any mention of a single climate datum, fact or figure.

It's all rather Satanic, actually: An unending flow of hate and nothing but hate -- JR.



19 July, 2016

British schools are told to call transgender children 'zie' rather than 'he' or 'she' in case they cause offence

Teachers are being told to call transgender children 'zie' rather than 'he' or 'she' to avoid giving offence under new official guidelines.

The Boarding Schools Association has told teachers to learn a 'new language' as part of official guidance which is aimed at 'queering the education system'.

The advice aims to help teachers navigate the 'minefield' of gender identity and deal with children and young adults who do not want to be referred to by male or female pronouns.

As part of it teachers have been told to address children by their 'pronoun of choice', including they or 'zie'.

Alex Thompson, deputy chief executive of the Boarding Schools' Association, said the guidelines hope to help school staff who may be 'in the dark'.

SOURCE 

I know who is in the dark





Colorblind is racist, apparently

Recently, TV host Wendy Williams made some offensive comments about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Historically Black College and Universities

It all started with her response to Jesse Williams’ BET Awards acceptance speech:

“Jesse Williams speech was very poignant. On the other hand, I would be really offended if there was a school that was known as a historically white college. We have historically Black colleges. What if there was the National Organization for White People, only? There’s the NAACP.”

SOURCE 

It's true that the HBCUs were started when blacks were mostly barred from other colleges but in this day and age it seems a reasonable aspiration for them to replace that black identity with a non-racial identity.  Some whites do already go to them but there have been instances of them encountering unfair treatment there.

And the NAACP is explicitly racist.  Is the cure for racism more racism?  The NAACP did have a point early on but it is just a Leftist political organization now.





18 July, 2016

Must not joke about a Latino festival being different

When Connecticut radio DJ Gary Craig walked into Hartford's Latino Fest, he felt like he was entering a "parallel universe," according to a now-deleted YouTube video.

Throughout the video, Craig makes a series of racist, ignorant remarks regarding the festival. As he pans his camera across the crowd, Craig says, "I don't know what the hell this is."

He then proceeds to yell, "Help! Help!" as he walks past a number of Latinos while speakers play music in Spanish.

When the host walks up to a piña colada stand full of Puerto Rican flags, Craig says "Now I don't have to go to Cuba!" He then proceeds to sing, "I love Lucy and she loves me," a song that Cuban actor Desi Arnaz used to sing on I Love Lucy.

Victor Luna, Latino Fest's founder and organizer, called the video "disappointing, shocking and uncalled for," the Hartford Courant reported. The Courant later ran an entire editorial condemning Craig and his video.

Hartford mayor Luke Bronin called the video "repulsive and bizarre," and said "the festival was everything I love about our city," a local Fox affiliate reported. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hartford is 44% Latino.

The Courant also reported that city councilman Julio A. Concepcion called the comments "completely insensitive and degrading."

"Whether made in jest or not, his racist undertones are absolutely inexcusable and should be condemned by his employer," Concepcion said.vv

SOURCE 




Must not be proud to be white

Only black pride is OK

Bartlesville Police Chief Tom Holland said the Police Department is looking into allegations an officer made racial comments on social media.

“We will look at this, and if we determine that racism exists it will be dealt with and dealt with swiftly,” Holland told the Examiner-Enterprise in regard to accusations BPD Patrol Officer Daniel Elkins made racially insensitive posts on his Facebook page.

According to screenshots of the conversation emailed to the Examiner-Enterprise late last week, Elkins posted the status: “Dam (sic) I am a proud white man. Merica!!!” as his status at 1:51 a.m. July 7.

Former Examiner-Enterprise correspondent Trevor Persaud, who is friends with Elkins, took issue on July 12 by posting:

“Bartlesville Police Department, is this who you have patrolling the streets of my hometown? An officer posted this “White Pride”-themed post last week, the night after the world found out about the death of #AltonSterling.”

SOURCE 




17 July, 2016

'I am both delighted and disappointed': George Takei 'clarifies' his comments about Star Trek Beyond's decision to make Sulu gay

He didn't like the original characters being tampered with

The internet erupted after Star Trek veteran George Takei voiced disappointment over the decision to make the character Sulu gay in the upcoming Star Trek Beyond movie.

The 79-year-old however claimed his comments were taken out of context and that he his position is far more nuanced than has been represented so far.

The openly gay actor, who shot to prominence as the original Sulu on Star Trek, wrote a long and passionate essay on Facebook which he posted on Wednesday.

He began by writing, humorously: '[M]any of you have been following the “gay Sulu” story and wanted to know why I’m being such a sourpuss. I’m writing to set the record “straight,” if you will.'

'When the news first broke, I gave a lengthy telephone interview, but the headlines have been misleading. Apparently, controversy makes for better sales! Let me be clear: I am not disappointed that there is a gay character in Star Trek,' he continued. 'On the contrary, as I made clear, I am delighted that the Star Trek franchise has addressed this issue, which is truly one of diversity. It is thrilling to know that future generations will not see LGBTs go wholly unrepresented in the Trek universe.'

'On the specific question of Sulu being gay, when I was first approached with the concept, I responded that I hoped instead that Gene Roddenberry’s original characters and their backgrounds would be respected. How exciting it would be instead if a new hero might be created, whose story could be fleshed out from scratch, rather than reinvented. To me, this would have been even more impactful.'

SOURCE 



Your food court noodles? Some people may find them offensive

The cultural appropriation  nonsense in extreme form.  Apparently Mexican, Vietnamese and Japanese food should only be eaten by Mexicans, Vietnamese and Japanese.  And, Horrors! It should not be modified to suit American tastes

IF YOU ask someone to cite examples of cultural appropriation, there’s a good chance they’ll give you one of the two issues that have been well publicised in recent times.

There’s black face ... and the Native American Indian headdresses often spied at musical festivals and in fashion

But there’s a new culprit being called out for cultural appropriation and it’s in the spotlight today, as Girls creator Lena Dunham mentioned it in a recent magazine article.

Dunham is standing in solidarity with students from her old college, who protested that Oberlin College was “insensitive” for serving culturally appropriated food in its dining halls.

“There are now big conversations at Oberlin, where I went to college, about cultural appropriation and whether the dining hall sushi and banh mi disrespect certain cuisines.

The press reported it as, ‘How crazy are Oberlin kids?’ But to me, it was actually, ‘Right on,’” Dunham told the magazine.

SOURCE 




15 July, 2016

Water hoses are hate speech -- or something like that

On Tuesday, KRON learned about a troubling suggestion made during a meeting amongst Oakland police officers.

Multiple Oakland police sources confirm to KRON that they were present when acting assistant chief David Downing used racially insensitive language when referring to the handling of protesters in Oakland.

This happened over a year ago when Downing was a deputy chief, sources said.

One Oakland police source told KRON that they were in a meeting when they heard Downing advocate for using water cannons against protesters and that the then deputy chief Downing seemed oblivious to the racial overtones.

Another law enforcement source told KRON that they were with Downing at a different meeting of Oakland police commanders, and deputy chief Downing suggested using water hoses against protesters as well.

SOURCE 





When admiration becomes "hate"

Insane Britain misinterprets wolf-whistling

A police force revealed today it has become Britain’s first to recognise misogyny as a hate crime.

Nottinghamshire Police is recording incidents such as street harassment, verbal abuse, unwanted physical approaches and taking photographs without consent within the hate crime definition.

It also includes using mobile phones to send unwanted messages, unwanted sexual advances and ‘unwanted or uninvited physical or verbal contact or engagement’, possibly including wolf whistling.

The force’s chief constable Sue Fish said: ‘I’m delighted that we are leading the way towards tackling misogyny in all its forms.

‘It’s a very important aspect of the overall hate crime work being conducted and one that will make Nottinghamshire a safer place for all women.

‘What women face, often on a daily basis, is absolutely unacceptable and can be extremely distressing. Nottinghamshire Police is committed to taking misogynistic hate crime seriously.’

The force has spent three months training officers and staff on misogyny hate crime, and said it covers ‘incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman’.

Police, who have been working with Nottingham Women’s Centre on the subject, added that the crime includes ‘behaviour targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman’.

The NWC's centre manager Melanie Jeffs said: ‘We’re pleased to see Nottinghamshire Police recognise the breadth of violence and intimidation that women experience on a daily basis in our communities.

‘Understanding this as a hate crime will help people to see the seriousness of these incidents and hopefully encourage more women to come forward and report offences.’

A force spokesman said: ‘Unwanted physical or verbal contact or engagement is defined as exactly that and so can cover wolf whistling and other similar types of contact. If the victim feels that this has happened because they are a woman then we will record it as a hate crime.

‘This doesn’t necessarily mean that a criminal offence has been committed, but means we will carry out risk assessments and offer support as we would to any victim of a hate crime.

‘“Hate crime” is the terminology used to record all incidents and crimes which the victim perceives to be motivated by prejudice. We take all reports of hate crimes extremely seriously.’

SOURCE 





14 July, 2016

"Plus" is a risky word

An Instagram post shared by ASOS has sparked controversy after the fashion e-tailer labeled the model pictured as  'plus sized'.

The image, showing 28-year-old size 16 Naomi Shimada wearing a summery slip dress, quickly garnered hundreds of comments, with the majority slamming ASOS for its choice of words.

Enraging fans further, the retailer then removed the 'plus size' label, deeming the term 'uncool' and 'whack' - despite this being the name of one of its clothing ranges for sizes 18-30.

When the initial photo surfaced, @jasmine.persson wrote: 'It's not just those who aren't plus size that are offended.

'I was plus size I'm offended by everyone always having to use those terms when describing someone! Why does it need to say that she is plus size? Can she not be pretty either way?'

Meanwhile on Twitter the outpouring of fury continued.

?@christiana_gabi added: 'Oh @ASOS you f-d up! I've been spending my plus size money with you for 10 years, but I guess I'll take my whack plus size elsewhere.'

And @PBbutterflies complained: 'WOOOAAAHHH @ASOS - what happened!!!! I thought you guys were on #plussize fashion in an epic way. Then you go & basically discredit us!'

When ASOS proceeded to removed the 'plus size' tag, the complaints continued to roll in.

ASOS struggled to react to commenters, with the most recent post reading: 'It's a really interesting debate - we label petite, curve, tall and maternity on our site to help people find the best fit for them.

'Some of our community find 'plus size' empowering which is awesome, but we know that others find it offensive, which we don't love.'

SOURCE 




Censorship Is More Dangerous Than Hate Speech

Someone needs to tell Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, YouTube and the European Union that the only way to stop a bad guy's speech is to counter it with a good guy's speech, not censor it.

Recently, the internet giants took on the role of internet speech police when they agreed to monitor and combat so-called "hate speech" for the EU. No word on how they define hate speech.

I suspect the whole EU hate speech argument is less about preventing terrorist attacks, as they propose, and more about culling criticism of their immigration and refugee policies.

Oh, the hypocrisy of those who brag about their "open-mindedness" in one breath and cry about censorship in the next.

The only acceptable speech is that which is pleasing to their ears or palatable to their particular ideology, while supporting the prosecution of people for their personal opinions or religious beliefs, especially if those opinions and beliefs do not fall in line with theirs.

It sure sounds an awful lot like totalitarianism to me.

The way I see it, the dangers of censorship far outweigh the dangers of hate speech. Even still, we march closer to it every time we bend a knee to political correctness. You don't have to live in a totalitarian state to be controlled by totalitarianism. We're not there yet, but we're sure headed in that direction.

If we believe in the right to free speech, we also must believe in the right to offend.

SOURCE 




13 July, 2016

Must not suggest precautions against crime

Police were forced to apologise after officers giving a talk about sexual consent handed out a leaflet to teenagers titled 'R U ASKING 4 IT?'

Teachers had to stop the talk at North Bristol Post 16 Centre after outraged pupils were brought to tears as they accused Avon and Somerset police officers of 'victim blaming'.

Police have since apologised for the brochure which left the talk 'spiraling out of control' and admitted it was 'nearly ten years out of date'.

Kizzie Tims, 16, who attended the talk with 50 fellow students, said: 'The leaflet was about personal safety - robberies and muggings - but was not appropriate when taking about rape.

'It was not the most professional talk and at this age we are very sensitive about these sorts of issues.

It was handed to pupils at the school in Cotham, Bristol, at a police event called 'Only Yes Means Yes' last week.

The leaflets are believed to have been printed in 2008 following a spate of attacks on Clifton Down.

Police have since apologised for the talk and giving out the old leaflets.

Chief Inspector Marie Wright, force lead for rape and sexual assault, said: 'Any suggestion that a victim of rape or sexual assault can ever, in any way, be to blame is totally unacceptable and is the exact opposite of the message we've worked so hard to get across through our 'This is not an excuse' campaign.

'Our stance couldn't be clearer and the students were right to challenge the incorrect message.

SOURCE 





Must not suggest women are worse at skiing than men

Toyota has been called out for sexism after one of their advertisements at a ski resort suggested women are not as good at skiing as men.

The banner for the Toyota Kluger that was on display at Thredbo, in New South Wales' Snowy Mountains, recommends the easiest 'green' runs for children, the 'blue' intermediate run for mums and the most difficult 'black' routes for dads.

Sydney mother Romy Krassenstein, 41, posted the initial photo at the ski resort and said she was was 'embarrassed'.

'My son actually saw it yesterday and said...Mom [sic] u r not going to like this!' she wrote on the photo.

The widowed mother of four ironically drives a Toyota, but said she saw several other Kluger advertisements that made comparisons between mums and dads.

'We’re more progressive than that, this is 2016. And I do black runs, bad,' she said.

A Toyota spokeswoman said the company had since removed the advertisement to make room for a new campaign, and did not intend to cause offence.

'We simply wanted to highlight that Thredbo, much like the Kluger, has something for everyone,' she told The Daily Telegraph.

SOURCE 




12 July, 2016

Lynx deodorant ads to drop sexist stereotypes

This is idiocy. It was always clear they were meant to be ironic and self-mocking, ridiculing the idea that the path to sexual conquest begins with a spray-can procured from Boots. Have we become so priggish that even self-mockery is dead?

Advertisements for Lynx deodorant will no longer feature hordes of beautiful women following a man sprayed with the scent after the manufacturer promised to drop sexist stereotypes from its marketing.

Unilever said: “The time is right for us change how we portray gender in our advertising”

Unilever said that it was taking action after research showed that only 2 per cent of adverts featured intelligent women.

At the Cannes Lions advertising festival next week the company, which spends £6.3 billion a year marketing 400 brands across the world, will announce a strategy to “unstereotype” adverts and eradicate outdated portrayals of gender.

SOURCE 



Little girls must not breastfeed dolly

A MUM who shared a cute picture of her daughter pretending to feed her doll on Facebook was shocked to wake to a comment from another woman the next day — telling her it was “nasty” and unnatural.

The commenter, who even threatened to punch the horrified mum in the face, was annoyed at the fact that two-year-old Charlotte was pretending to breastfeed her doll, as she waited in a trolley seat.

She wrote: “I just saw some of the nastiest s*** of my life!!

“If you’re okay with your daughter lifting up her shirt and putting her baby doll’s mouth to her little ‘dots’ pretending to breastfeed then I personally think you need to be punched in the damn face!!!  “It’s just simply not okay!!!”

Posting on the Breastfeeding Mama Talk Facebook page, the anonymous woman explained that because her daughter had never been bottle fed — she would not know any other way to feed her doll.

She added: “A small rant because I wasn’t sure where else would understand the mix of emotions I have.

“I am absolutely blown away. I posted this picture of my daughter and woke up to messages asking if this was about me.

Dozens of parents have spoken out in solidarity with the mum, to reassure her that she had done nothing wrong.

SOURCE 





11 July, 2016

Vanity Fair calls Australians 'throwback people'

The article below from the London Telegraph says that Australians were incensed by what was said about Australia.  So I checked what various Australian writers said about it.  I found no outrage.  The predominant tone was one of amusement. The Telegraph writer is behind the times too.  Australians are more self-confident than he expected.

 The Vanity Fair writer was totally inaccurate about so many things in Australia that it would be tedious to ennumerate them.  He was obviously relying on fleeting impressions he had got over a number of years.  But there was nothing wrong with that.  He was not writing a travelog or an academic disquisition.  He was just waxing dreamy and poetic.  Such writing has a place

I was something of a literary critic in my early days and I recognized it immediately as falling well within the conventions of poetry.  It is a form of fantasy poetry.

And the description of Australia as "throwback" people is an allusion to a common view of Australia in America -- that  Australians are a less corrupted people, like America in an idealized past.  It is a complimentary description.

The thing that REALLY steamed up a lot of people -- both in Australia and elsewhere -- was that the article was sexist.  But that is a lot of nonsense.  Why should a man not be dreamy about a pretty girl?  It is the politically correct brigade who are abnormal and perverted




They pride themselves on being a youthful, vigorous nation who have thrown off their colonial past to embrace the modern world.

So it comes as little surprise that Australians have bristled at being referred to as “throwback people” living in a country 50 years behind America.

Particularly when the description comes in a Vanity Fair article supposed to be praising one of the country’s most successful exports – Margot Robbie, the actress.

The cover profile of the Australian star of The Wolf of Wall Street and the latest Tarzan movie by Rich Cohen, a contributing editor at the magazine, remarked that to appreciate Miss Robbie fully, readers had to remember where she hailed from.

“She is from Australia,” Mr Cohen wrote. “To understand her, you should think about what that means.

“Australia is America 50 years ago, sunny and slow, a throwback, which is why you go there for throwback people. They still live and die with the plot turns of soap operas.”

“Perhaps it’s time you got in your time machine and flitted over the Pacific to Australia to have a good look at a normal society,” she wrote in The Courier Mail. “Your piece has only shown that you, instead of Australians, are from another era, because your writing deserves to be published 50 years ago instead of today.”

Mr Cohen was also taken to task for apparent sexism in his article. In the opening paragraph Robbie is described as “blonde but dark at the roots. She is tall but only with the help of certain shoes. She can be sexy and composed even while naked but only in character.”

The article has caused outrage on social media, where it was condemned as creepy, voyeuristic, sexist and the “worst writing ever”. “That is the biggest piece of sexist c--- introductory paragraph I’ve ever seen,” said a comment on Twitter.

SOURCE

Here is the "offensive" text again:

"She is 26 and beautiful, not in that otherworldly, catwalk way but in a minor knock-around key, a blue mood, a slow dance."

"She is blonde but dark at the roots. She is tall but only with the help of certain shoes. She can be sexy and composed even while naked but only in character."

"She wandered through the room like a second-semester freshman, finally at ease with the system. She stopped at tables along the way to talk to friends. I don’t remember what she was wearing, but it was simple, her hair combed around those painfully blue eyes."

"It was Wolf that defined her. It put her up with Sharon Stone in Casino and Cathy Moriarty in Raging Bull — one of Scorsese’s women."

"Robbie grew up in Gold Coast, a city on Australia’s Pacific shore, 500 miles north of Sydney. In an old movie, you might have seen a crossroad sign demonstrating just how isolated it was, just how far from the known capitals."

"Now and then, she stayed with cousins who lived in the hinterland of the hinterland, where there really were kangaroos and a dingo really will eat your baby."



Australia: Must not describe a conservative as a "master politician"

Lisa Wilkinson has brushed off online criticism after being slammed by Twitter users for praising John Howard as a 'masterful politician' during a speech where he defended the Iraq war.

The Today Show host took to social media on Thursday to laud the former Prime Minister with praise as he responded to a scathing British report which ruled that the 2003 conflict was ill-informed.

Mr Howard, who was Prime Minister when Australia joined the UK and US in invading the Middle Eastern country, defended his decision on Thursday, insisting there had been 'no lie' behind the military action which at its peak involved 1,400 Australian troops.

Tweeting as he spoke, Ms Wilkinson said: 'This press conference by former PM John Howard is a reminder of what a master politician he was. And still is.'

Within minutes she was lambasted by social media users who said: 'He led us into a war without a UN mandate. How's that masterful?'

The presenter returned to Twitter defiantly to slap down critics' comments about her opinion of Mr Howard, reminding them she had herself protested against the war.

'Can e/one pls (sic) untwist their knickers over my tweet re John Howard being a masterful politician. I marched against the Iraq War. Enough said.'

By 2006 there were 1,400 Australian military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Howard remained Prime Minister until 2007, a year before troops began withdrawing from the conflict zones.

No Australians were killed in battle but two died while in the region in separate accidents. 

SOURCE 




10 July, 2016

Jokey sign about traditional sex-roles attracts ire

An international piano competition has attracted controversy after they displayed a 'rude and sexist' sign at their opening night performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

The sign read: 'A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man'.

The sign was displayed outside the Gala Opening Night Concert of the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia, which is on from 6-23 July and attracts pianists from around the world.

It prompted some angry outbursts on social media, with people taking to the competition's Facebook page to voice their disappointment.

One person wrote: 'I was shocked and appalled to see this was part of the decorations for last night's event. I'd like to know who on earth decided that this was appropriate for display. What a shame to tarnish the reputation of such a lovely competition. Disgusting.'

Another said: 'Reminder, it's 2016 people. We're better than that', while another person wrote that the sign was 'utterly appalling'.

The competition issued an apology on their Facebook page, saying:

'We would like to formally apologise to our guests that we may have offended last night at the Gala Opening Concert with a sign that featured our logo and a very rude and sexist quote.

'This sign was not approved by the Sydney International Piano Competition office and was removed immediately after it came to our attention.'

SOURCE 

No sense of humor




Must not express sympathy while on a yacht

WITH America rocked by the very public deaths of two black men at the hands of police this week, celebrities in the US and across the world are voicing their condemnation of the killings and lending their support to the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

And then there’s former The O.C. star Mischa Barton. Currently on holiday in Europe, the 30-year-old actor was still plugged in to the news back at home, and posted her thoughts about the death of Alton Sterling, who was shot and killed by police while selling CDs outside of a supermarket this week.

Barton’s text was impassioned and from the heart — she calls the spate of police killings an “embarrassment to America,” calling for “gun control, unity and a real President so think about that when this election is around the corner.”

“I’m truly heart broken to watch videos like the #altonsterling execution,” Barton writes. “This may have been going on forever in the United States but thank god the pigs get caught on camera now.”

However, Barton illustrated her thoughts, not with a picture of Sterling, but with a holiday picture.  Not just any holiday picture. Barton’s thoughts on systemic police brutality against black men was set to a picture of the actor clad in a bikini, living it up on the back of a yacht, a glass of rosé in her hand.

Those on social media were merciless:

SOURCE 





8 July, 2016

YouTube removes video critical of jihad, Sharia law for ‘hate speech’

A three-minute video criticizing the Muslim Brotherhood, jihad and Sharia law was removed by YouTube on Tuesday for “hate speech.”

Posted by CounterJihad on Thursday, the video criticizes “civilizational jihad,” or the imposition of Sharia in the West through nonviolent means.

Jim Hanson, executive vice president of the Center for Security Policy, told CounterJihad that the policy cited by YouTube was actually created to stop the spread of Islamic State propaganda.

“I am stunned that the policy that YouTube developed for the express purpose of fighting Islamic State propaganda is now being used to silence critics of radical jihad,” Mr. Hanson said.

“Instead of counteracting radical propaganda online, these policies are now being used to silence the very speech that YouTube said it wanted – speech that challenged ISIS,” he said.

SOURCE 




Must not describe women in a poetic way



A Vanity Fair cover article on Margot Robbie has sparked outrage on Twitter with critics branding the author 'creepy, slimy and lecherous.'

Rich Cohen, a non-fiction writer from Illinois, wrote the profile on the Australian actress. He describes himself as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone as well as the co-creator of HBO's Vinyl in his Twitter bio.

Titled 'Welcome to the Summer of Margot Robbie', the piece describes the star of summer blockbusters Tarzan and Suicide Squad - who dons a white bikini to grace the magazine’s August issue - at length.

Cohen describes her as ‘beautiful’, ‘a girl next door’ with ‘painfully blue eyes’ and at one point, comparing her to a ‘second-semester freshman.’

Twitter took him to task for the piece, with many blasting Cohen for the way he described Robbie.

Notably, writer Roxane Gay, the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist, called him out for the article.

Australian actor Josh Lawson blasted Cohen for the 'stomach-churning' way he writes about Robbie and his lack of knowledge of Australia. 

'The @VanityFair piece on Margot Robbie by Rich Cohen is so gross in so many ways,' wrote Lawson on Twitter.

'Clearly written by a man who knows NOTHING about Australia. It's full of things about the country that simply aren't true.'

He added: 'Not to mention the slimy, lecherous, stomach churning way he writes about Margot Robbie. Yuck.

'Hollywood sexism is very clear here as demonstrated by this creepy, ill-informed journalist. And I use that word very, very loosely.

SOURCE 

Here is the "offensive" text:

"She is 26 and beautiful, not in that otherworldly, catwalk way but in a minor knock-around key, a blue mood, a slow dance."

"She is blonde but dark at the roots. She is tall but only with the help of certain shoes. She can be sexy and composed even while naked but only in character."

"She wandered through the room like a second-semester freshman, finally at ease with the system. She stopped at tables along the way to talk to friends. I don’t remember what she was wearing, but it was simple, her hair combed around those painfully blue eyes."

"It was Wolf that defined her. It put her up with Sharon Stone in Casino and Cathy Moriarty in Raging Bull — one of Scorsese’s women."

"Robbie grew up in Gold Coast, a city on Australia’s Pacific shore, 500 miles north of Sydney. In an old movie, you might have seen a crossroad sign demonstrating just how isolated it was, just how far from the known capitals."

"Now and then, she stayed with cousins who lived in the hinterland of the hinterland, where there really were kangaroos and a dingo really will eat your baby."




7 July, 2016

A new symbol for antisemitism?

There is no end to what can upset people

Just days after Google pulled a Chrome extension known as the "Coincidence Detector," the symbol used by white nationalists to target Jewish people online has been labeled hate speech. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) announced today that the triple parentheses, or (((echo))) symbol, would be added to its "Hate on Display" online database.

"The echo symbol is the online equivalent of tagging a building with anti-Semitic graffiti or taunting someone verbally," said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO, in the official statement. "We at ADL take this manifestation of online hate seriously, and that’s why we’re adding this symbol to our database and working with our partners in the tech industry to investigate this phenomenon more deeply."

SOURCE 





Must not promote boob jobs

An 'irresponsible' television advert for cosmetic surgery - which featured a fashion blogger talking about her new breasts - has been banned.

The advert for Manchester-based firm Transform featured 21-year-old Sarah Ashcroft, from Buckinghamshire, who said she felt 'like a new person' following breast enhancement surgery.

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launched an investigation after receiving a complaint that the advert 'exploited' young women's insecurities about their bodies.

Transform was ordered not to show the advert again after it was found to be socially irresponsible and likely to cause harm to those under 18.

SOURCE 




6 July, 2016

Black racism called out

There's a new Change.org petition hoping to get Jesse Williams fired from his role as Dr Jackson Avery in Grey’s Anatomy after he made that moving speech at the BET Awards last month.

In his five-minute speech, Williams called out racism within the United States as black folks are still oppressed across the country whether they’re being gunned down by police, denied equal opportunities or having their ideas stolen, repackaged and sold without credit.

“Jesse Williams spewed a racist, hate speech against law enforcement and white people at the BET awards. If this was a white person making the same speech about an African American, they would have been fired and globally chastised, as they should be, but there has been no consequences to Williams' actions,” Erin Smith writes in her petition.

She continued: “There's been no companies making a stand against his racist remarks and no swift action condemning his negative attitude.”

SOURCE 




N.Y. Senate passes bill banning funding for university student groups that “encourage” “hate speech”

Earlier this month, the New York Senate passed a bill (S8017), co-sponsored by state senators Jack Martins and Todd Kaminsky, that would require New York public college and universities to:

"adopt rules that any student group … that receives funding from the [university] that directly or indirectly promotes, encourages, or permits discrimination, intolerance, hate speech or boycotts against a person or group based on race, class, gender, nationality, ethnic origin or religion, shall be ineligible for funding, including funding from student activity fee proceeds….

“Boycott” shall mean to engage in any activity, or to promote or encourage others to engage in any activity, that will result in any person abstaining from commercial, social or political relations, with any allied nation [defined to include a long list of American allies], or companies based in an allied nation or in territories controlled by an allied nation, with the intent to penalize, inflict, or cause harm to, or otherwise promote or cast disrepute upon, such allied nation, its people or its commercial products"

But the First Amendment forbids the campus rules that the bill would require. When the government funds student groups, it must do so in a viewpoint-neutral manner. See Rosenberger v. Rector (1994); Bd. of Regents v. Southworth (2000); Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2010). “In a series of decisions, [the Supreme] Court has emphasized that the First Amendment generally precludes public universities from denying student organizations access to school-sponsored forums because of the groups’ viewpoints.” And these “forums” include funding programs — as the Christian Legal Society majority noted, “The fact that a university ‘expends funds to encourage a diversity of views from private speakers,’ this Court has held, does not justify it in ‘discriminat[ing] based on the viewpoint of private persons whose speech it facilitates.'”

The Court in Christian Legal Society split on whether this no-viewpoint-discrimination First Amendment rule bans policies that restrict a certain kind of conduct (student groups’ exclusion of students). All nine Justices there agreed that the First Amendment bans policies that restrict speech of certain viewpoints.

Yet the law demands that universities do precisely what the First Amendment forbids — engage in viewpoint discrimination. A ban on speech that “promotes” or “encourages” “discrimination, intolerance … or boycotts” would be viewpoint-based: pro-discrimination, pro-intolerance and pro-boycott speech would be banned, while anti-discrimination, anti-intolerance and anti-boycott speech would be allowed

SOURCE 



5 July, 2016

Must not say that blacks can be racially insensitive

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has angered some city council members after she revealed the race of the officers who are being investigated for sending racist text messages.

Mayor Schaaf is in the midst of handling her first real crisis at the Oakland Police Department, a major sex scandal, when more troubling information came to light about OPD officers using racially insensitive language.

When discussing the issue, Schaaf gave little information about the incident but made a comment that did not sit well with some city council members.

“We think it’s relevant to share that the texts were sent by African-American officers,” Schaaf said.

City council members say that it was a poor choice on Schaaf’s part.

SOURCE 




Must not portray blacks as breaking the rules



When Margaret Sawyer first noticed the Red Cross safety poster at a pool in Salida, Colo., she thought she was looking at an unfortunate relic of the past.

When she saw it a second time at an entirely different pool in the central Colorado town, she was shocked, according to NBC affiliate KUSA.

“I saw this one, and I just kept thinking, ‘It looks like they’re trying to do something here that shows all kids together of all different backgrounds, but they’re clearly not hitting the mark,’” she said.

Not only were the poster’s designers not hitting the mark, Sawyer thought, they had created an image that was racist. Sawyer complained to a lifeguard at the first facility and penned a letter to management asking for the poster’s removal, she told KUSA.

The poster — titled “Be Cool, Follow The Rules” — depicts various children playing at the pool. But white children are labeled as behaving in a “cool” way while children of color who are depicted defying pool rules are labeled “not cool.”

SOURCE 

Blacks are very crime-prone so the poster was simply realistic




4 July, 2016

U.S. Prosecutor: Insult Islam, Go to Jail

Columnist Michelle Malkin recently reported on a disturbing case in Twin Falls, Idaho, in which three foreigners, all minors, allegedly violated a young disabled girl.

Not much is known about the case, and there is growing suspicion among Idaho residents that, because of the circumstances, Muslim sympathizers are attempting to bury the story. As such, Wendy J. Olson, whom Barack Obama picked as U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho in 2010, threatened last week to use the justice system to quash whistleblowers. “The spread of false information or inflammatory or threatening statements about the perpetrators or the crime itself reduces public safety and may violate federal law,” she declared on Friday.

As Gary Bauer points out, “While clearly high on the left’s wish list, there is no federal law under which someone can be prosecuted for 'inflammatory statements.‘ As one law professor explained in the Washington Post, Olson’s statement 'looks like an attempt to chill constitutionally protected speech through the threat of federal prosecution.’”

That’s exactly what it is, and it follows the Obama administration’s playbook. For example, on July 15, 2011, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation received the support of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in passing UN Resolution 16/18 to censor worldwide any speech perceived to be insulting to Islam. It’s part of the same strategy being utilized to penalize climate dissenters.

For what it’s worth, Olson later tried to walk back her incriminating remark, saying, “The statement was not intended to and does not threaten to arrest or prosecute anyone for First Amendment protected speech. I issued the statement because public officials in Twin Falls have received threats. Certain threatening or harassing communications may violate federal law and will be investigated.”

Regardless, Olson exposed a top priority of the Obama administration — using constitutionally protected “hate speech” as a means of regulating the First Amendment.

SOURCE 




German anti-immigrant advocate found guilty of hate speech

A German court has convicted the founder of an anti-immigrant group of hate speech.

Bachmann was first charged last October of posting Facebook comments describing refugees, mostly Muslims, as "cattle," "filth" and "scum."

He was sentenced to a fine of €9,600. He will not face prison.

The court said Bachmann openly insulted the human dignity of refugees who came to Germany from war-torn countries, maliciously acting and inciting hatred against them.

Bachmann. 43, is the founder of the German group Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West. The group, known as PEGIDA, organized anti-immigration rallies that drew thousands of people and has adherents in neighboring countries.

He opposes German's refugee policy, which welcomed more than 1 million asylum seekers in 2015.

The first few PEGIDA demonstrations drew massive counter-rallies that far outnumbered the anti-immigration crowds. But the PEGIDA movement has not only outlasted its opponents, but it also is growing, fueled in part by public fears of the ongoing refugee crisis.

"Every Monday night we come to gather peacefully. We are not Nazis," a man said in October. "We don't want to be labeled as Nazis and we don't want to be painted into the right-wing corner. We just don't want to become strangers in our own country."

SOURCE 





3 July, 2016

Must not mention that a woman is good-looking

BBC commentator Andrew Castle sparked a new Wimbledon sexism row after he remarked on the appearance of Marcus Willis' girlfriend.

The former tennis player was commentating on Roger Federer's second-round defeat of Willis on Centre Court when his other half Jennifer Bate, a dental nurse, appeared on screen.

Castle remarked: 'It's a pity my dentist doesn't look like that,' sparking a backlash on social media with Twitter users accusing him of making a 'creepy' and 'lecherous' comment.

One twitter user said: 'Any chance Andrew Castle could cut out the horribly creepy and sexist remarks?'

While another wrote: 'Really bad, patronising, rude, just embarrassing,' and a third added: 'Stick to the tennis eh?'

The 52-year-old TV and radio presenter initially hit back at the accusations of sexism.

He responded saying: 'Brilliant. I knew there would be someone who would comment. Earnest, humourless and probably no fun at all.'

He later apologised for his remark on social media, writing: 'Obviously never mean to upset anyone. If I did then I apologise.'

Castle has since received messages of support, including one from Dr Bate, 30, herself.

SOURCE 




Must not tell an attractive woman that someone misses her??



Australia's most talked about political staffer Tamara Candy has labelled maverick Independent Queensland MP Bob Katter 'sexist' after he made a suggestive comment to her on social media.

Ms Candy took offence to comments made by Mr Katter on Facebook where he wrote that Ms Candy's former boss, Liberal MP George Christensen from Dawson in North Queensland, 'missed her' and would like her 'volunteering' for him once again, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The 27-year-old, who is now working as a Liberal Party campaign staffer, previously worked as a policy adviser for Mr Christensen.

'Bob Katter excuse me, that is extremely sexist,' was Ms Candy's Facebook response.

She later told the Daily Telegraph that Mr Katter's Facebook post was 'very grubby' and that it clearly sent 'a strong message about how Katter views women in the workforce'.

SOURCE 




1 July, 2016

You must not even call yourself a "retard"

Tennis: Australian Bernard Tomic has been criticised over his use of the word 'retard' during a Wimbledon press conference.

The 23-year-old was responding to a question about being made to wait on court for his opponent, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

In a post-match conference, Tomic was asked: 'Tennis etiquette requires that both players arrive on court at the same time. You were kept waiting about eight minutes. Any idea why?'

Tomic replied: 'Yeah, well, I think because he was up in the locker getting something taped on as when I left and I thought he was leaving, so I just happened to walk out.

'Yeah, I did get to the court prior to him very early, and unfortunately I had to stand on court like a retard.'

Ciara Lawrence, who has a learning disability and is a campaigns support officer at Mencap, branded the Australian's language 'damaging and offensive'.

She said: 'I'd like the player to apologise and would encourage him to meet people with a learning disability so he can understand why the word is so damaging and offensive.

'Time and time again I hear this word used as if it has no effect. People clearly don't understand how upsetting and offensive this is to people with a learning disability like me.

SOURCE 





Even pictures of bombs are  dangerous

Cher apologizes after being slammed by fans for using bomb emoji in 'insensitive' tweet about Turkey terror attacks

Cher was slammed for her use of a bomb and explosion emoji to express her condolences for the victims of the Turkey terrorist attack on Tuesday.

But the 70-year-old star apologized for her 'insensitively timed' symbols to decorate her tweet in order to honour those who lost their lives.

The multi-talented star originally paid her respects on Tuesday with a post that read: 'WE ALL PRAY FOR INNOCENT PPL IN TURKEY AIRPORT [bomb emoji] [explosion emoji].'

Cher's followers were quick to react to the message, deeming it insensitive and immature.

Terrorists stormed Ataturk Airport on Tuesday firing guns and detonating suicide vests, resulting in the deaths of at least 41 people.

SOURCE 





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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


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