TT Dec 21

16 January, 2022

Democratic congressman says it was a mistake for Twitter to suppress stories on Hunter Biden and Big Tech shouldn't be the 'arbiter of the truth'

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said in an interview Thursday that it was a mistake for Twitter to suppress stories about Hunter Biden's laptop.

'I am not for having either the government, or you know, tech companies ultimately being the arbiter of truth,' Khanna said in a Zoom interview with Joe Lonsdale for the American Optimist podcast. 'In the book, I write about how I thought it was a mistake for Twitter to take down some of the stuff about Hunter Biden.'

In October, Twitter locked The New York Post out of its account after the newspaper shared its stories based on files found in a laptop abandoned at a computer store in Delaware by the first son.

At the time, Twitter said The Post violated the company's policies on sharing 'hacked materials.'

DailyMail.com later independently authenticated material from the laptop.

Twitter demanded that six tweets linking to Post stories be deleted.

The social media company backed down after the Newscorp-owned New York City tabloid refused to remove the offending tweets.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10403473/Ro-Khanna-Twitter-mistake-suppressing-Hunter-Biden-laptop-story.html

*******************************************

Doctors call out Spotify over ‘tidal wave’ of COVID-19 ‘misinformation’ spread by Joe Rogan

Washington: A coalition of hundreds of doctors and public health experts have called out Spotify for allowing Joe Rogan to spread “false and societally harmful assertions” about the coronavirus and vaccination on the streaming platform that hosts his wildly popular podcast.

In an open letter published on Monday, more than 270 medical professionals urge Spotify to stop “enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance.”

Rogan, whose show reaches an estimated audience of 11 million people an episode, has repeatedly downplayed the need for coronavirus vaccines and used his platform to flirt with misinformation about COVID-19.

“Though Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, the company presently has no misinformation policy,” the group wrote in the letter.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Rogan has repeatedly spread misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine.”

Although the coalition is not asking for Spotify to cancel The Joe Rogan Experience, the group is pushing for the company to do more to prevent further misinformation from spreading on what is considered the nation’s most popular podcast.

Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health who signed the letter, said that the group of medical professionals came together to “fight against this tidal wave of misinformation” broadcast on Rogan’s show.

“I actually think he’s a menace to public health because he speaks on things that have no scientific backing,” she said Friday. “I’m to that point now where if I don’t use my platform to advocate for public health, who is going to do it?”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/doctors-call-out-spotify-over-tidal-wave-of-covid-19-misinformation-spread-by-joe-rogan-20220115-p59oh2.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

14 January, 2022

Mississippi middle school is slammed for offering SHAPEWEAR to its young female students to help them with their 'negative body image'

A Mississippi middle school has offered body-slimming shapewear to female students this month, leading to furious backlash.

Southaven Middle School in northern Mississippi sent a letter home to parents of teen and tween girls, educating on the issue of negative body image.

It concluded with an offer from the school's counselors to provide shapewear — a foundation garment that's used alter a person's body shape — to any of the students, aged 10 to 14, whose parents agreed to it.

The shocking letter was shared on social media by mom Ashley Heun, who said that she was 'beyond p***ed.'

Heun was shocked by the letter, and told Today that she turned to social media to 'rally the troops to change this and to really let the school know how exactly tone-deaf it was.'

She wrote on Facebook: 'I am beyond p***ed, though I’m not sure if I’m more pissed at the fact that they had the "balls" to send this home or the VERY IGNORANCE of the ‘counselors’ at the school.'

'So you begin this masterpiece detailing how damaging a negative body image is for girls, how the stress of conforming to an impossible perceived image can adversely affect their mental health, and then OFFER TO GIVE THEM SPANX SO THEY CAN BETTER FIT THE PERCEIVED IMAGE?!? What. The. Very. F@%text.”

Other social media users have expressed their disgust as well.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10399333/Mississippi-middle-school-slammed-letter-home-parents-offering-SHAPEWEAR-female-students.html

******************************************

UK: Supporters of popular doctor silenced

Cancer patients who say they were ‘written off’ by doctors are leading a backlash against an effort to strike a world-renowned oncologist off the medical register.

The patients claim to have been ‘silenced’ by a disciplinary panel that will this week decide the fate of Professor Justin Stebbing, a Harley Street oncologist and Imperial College cancer researcher.

In October, Prof Stebbing admitted 30 charges relating to over-treatment, not obtaining full patient consent, dishonesty and inappropriate behaviour in regards to 12 of his patients.

But supporters say evidence from some of the hundreds of patients satisfied with his care has been dismissed ‘out of hand’ by the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service (MPTS), which rules on cases brought by the General Medical Council (GMC).

Leading oncologists and medical researchers – some with personal experience of Prof Stebbing treating friends or family – also wrote to the MPTS to back him. In all, 600 messages of support arrived, of which 25 were submitted – but rejected – as potential evidence to the MPTS.

Extracts from letters praising the oncologist have also been passed to The Mail on Sunday, without the knowledge of Prof Stebbing or his legal team.

Restaurateur Graham Rebak, 47, who credits the oncologist with saving him from colon cancer, said: ‘I don’t understand why the GMC has done this to Justin. He only wants to help people.’ Another unnamed man with an ‘extremely rare’ cancer claimed he was told by another private oncologist that he would not ‘risk his career or pension’ to prescribe drugs that strayed from the ‘standard protocol’.

By contrast, he recalls, Prof Stebbing ‘has supported me’, adding: ‘If you have a rare or more complicated cancer in the UK you might as well be dead, as there is no room for thinking outside the box.’

Some former patients allege that insurance companies wanted to see Prof Stebbing’s wings clipped.

Efforts by Prof Stebbing’s lawyers to have testimonials admitted as evidence were twice rejected by an MPTS panel, which ruled them to be ‘of little (if any)’ value.

Medics at leading institutions including Imperial College London and Columbia University in New York have also written in his support.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10300621/Cancer-patients-written-doctors-claim-silenced-bid-save-maverick-doctor.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

13 January, 2022

Not so silenced

The author below has a point. After the initial attempts by the mass media and social media to ignore and censor the Barrington declarers, they did get a lot of attention elswhere.

Attempts to censor something often make it more widely heard. It can generate interest. It can be good publicity. But the fact remains that the mainstream media did give the Barrington group short shrift initially. And given the notable academic authority of the declarers that strongly suggests a political motivation. It suggests that there was a Covid orthodoxy that was not open to challenge

Supporters and opponents of the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) are unlikely to agree on many things. I hope one area of agreement may be the following: The authors of the GBD are not invisible, muffled mystery men and women. People who pay attention to COVID-19 policy know their names, and we know what they believe.

In fact, these individuals are rather omnipresent figures in the COVID-19 media landscape. They have been on many large podcasts. They have given many TV interviews. They have been interviewed by and written many editorials in large newspapers. They’ve been profiled by The New York Times and Medpage Today. They have a large presence on social media. They have made a truly remarkable number of YouTube videos (Dr. Jay Bahattacharya, Dr. Sunetra Gupta, Dr. Marin Kulldorff), some of which have been seen by millions of people. They have testified before Congress and in courts regarding COVID-19 policy. Some have gained new funding sources or found new employment in right-wing think tanks. They’ve met with and influenced powerful politicians, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. They held a “medical experts roundtable” at President Trump’s White House. Dr. Gupta met with and influenced UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Journalists rightly say they’ve become “famous voices” this pandemic.

Like I said, we know who the authors of the GBD are, and we know what they believe. Most importantly, we know how they’ve shaped our COVID-19 response.

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/muzzled/

*******************************************

Does free speech fly at Boston City Hall Plaza?

by Jeff Jacoby

NEXT WEEK the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Shurtleff v. Boston, a freedom-of-speech case that concerns a flagpole on Boston's City Hall Plaza.

The facts of the controversy are simple. The issues at stake are profound.

There are actually three flagpoles in front of City Hall. One always flies the American flag. The second is reserved for the flag of Massachusetts. The third pole is handled differently.

Ordinarily, the City of Boston flag flies from the third flagpole. But City Hall has a longstanding policy of letting private groups raise some other flag on that pole, typically in conjunction with an event taking place on the plaza below. Between June 2005 and July 2017, the city received 284 applications from various community, civic, or social organizations wishing to hold flag-raising ceremonies. Every one of them was approved.

Over the course of those 12 years, the banners of scores of countries and causes were temporarily flown from the third pole. Among them were the flags of Mexico, China, Brazil, and Puerto Rico, the LGBT Pride flag, the Juneteenth flag, and banners heralding Marcus Garvey Day, the Walk for Peace, and the Bunker Hill Association. Boston's published guidelines referred to City Hall Plaza and the third flagpole as "public forums" and said the city "seeks to accommodate all applicants." On its website, the city affirmed that its intention was to provide access to all groups: "We commemorate flags from many countries and communities at Boston City Hall Plaza. We want to create an environment in the city where everyone feels included."

In short, the City of Boston proclaimed a policy of unfettered free speech on the plaza and the third flagpole, and it upheld that policy without fail.

Until this case.

In 2017, Boston resident Hal Shurtleff and his Christian civic organization, Camp Constitution, applied for permission to hold a one-hour ceremony on City Hall Plaza to mark Constitution Day on Sept. 17, a federal observance of the day the US Constitution was signed, in 1787. They planned to raise a flag featuring a Christian cross in the upper left corner, as part of a program celebrating the Constitution and spotlighting the contribution of the nation's Christian Founders.

The city said no. For the first time ever, it refused to allow a private group to raise its flag — and it did so for one reason only: because Shurtleff's application had described Camp Constitution's banner as a "Christian" flag. Gregory Rooney, the City Hall commissioner who turned Shurtleff down, claimed that Boston had a policy of "refraining from flying non-secular flags on the City Hall flagpoles" — i.e., "a religious flag that was promoting a specific religion." But no such policy had ever been previously articulated. And Rooney later testified that it was solely the appearance of the word "Christian" on the application that triggered the city's rejection. There would have been no objection to Camp Constitution's proposed flag-raising if the flag had been described differently.

http://www.jeffjacoby.com/25933/does-free-speech-fly-at-city-hall-plaza

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

12 January, 2022

“Unreliable and harmful claims”: DrRoySpencer.com has been demonetized by Google

Roy W. Spencer

This means I can no longer generate revenue to support the website using the Google Adsense program.

From a monetary standpoint, it’s not a big deal because what I make off of Google ads is in the noise level of my family’s monthly budget. It barely made more than I pay in hosting fees and an (increasingly expensive) comment spam screener.

I’ve been getting Google warnings for a couple months now about “policy violations”, but nowhere was it listed what pages were in violation, and what those violations were. There are Adsense rules about ad placement on the page (e.g. a drop-down menu cannot overlay an ad), so I was assuming it was something like that, but I had no idea where to start looking with hundreds of web pages to sift through. It wasn’t until the ads were demonetized that Google offered links to the pages in question and what the reason was.

Of course, I should have figured out it was related to Google’s new policy about misleading content; a few months ago Google announced they would be demonetizing climate skeptic websites. I was kind of hoping my content was mainstream enough to avoid being banned since:

Many of you know that I defend much of mainstream climate science, including climate modeling as an enterprise. Where I depart of the “mainstream” is how much warming has occurred, how much future warming can be expected, and what should be done about it from an energy policy perspective.

For now I don’t plan on appealing the decision, because it’s not worth the aggravation. If you are considered a “climate skeptic” (whatever that means) Google has already said you are targeted for termination from their Adsense program. I can’t expect their liberal arts-educated “fact checkers” to understand the nuances of the global warming debate.

http://www.drroyspencer.com/2022/01/unreliable-and-harmful-claims-this-website-has-been-demonetized-by-google/

*****************************************

Based on False Assumptions, Amazon Still Censoring Book on Transgenderism

For three years, Amazon sold Ryan Anderson’s book “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment.” Then, last February, the book disappeared from Amazon’s virtual shelves.

Anderson—president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative research institute—first learned his book was being censored when he received a message from someone who wanted to buy the book, but could not find it on Amazon.

“So, I pull up my Amazon app, and the hardback is gone, the paperback editions gone, the Kindles gone, the audiobooks gone, even the used copies,” Ryan told The Daily Signal.

The author contacted his book agent and then the publisher. No one knew why Amazon had suddenly stopped selling “When Harry Became Sally.”

Upon contacting Amazon, a representative of the online giant informed Anderson it had removed his book because it violated its content policy.

Anderson, and many of the readers and political leaders who benefited from his extensive research on the transgender issue, were puzzled by Amazon’s vague rationale for censoring the book.

Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Braun of Indiana, Mike Lee of Utah, and Josh Hawley of Missouri sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last Feb. 24, asking a series of questions about why Amazon removed the book.

Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president for public policy, responded to the senators in a letter on March 11, writing: “We have chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness.”

But “the book doesn’t do that,” Anderson explained.

“When Harry Became Sally” details the topic of “gender dysphoria, though it doesn’t discuss it in the context of a mental illness,” Anderson said, adding that he avoided using such language because it’s “stigmatizing.”

“It belittles people. It marginalizes people,” he explained.

Anderson first decided to write a book about gender dysphoria and the “transgender moment” when he began hearing the stories of those who had transitioned and then detranitioned. One of those accounts Anderson first heard was that of Walt Heyer.

Heyer spent eight years living as a woman before he detransitioned more than 30 years ago. Heyer, now 81, has dedicated the past several decades of his life to helping others struggling with gender dysphoria. After Anderson heard Heyer’s testimony, he began reading and watching videos of others who struggled with gender dysphoria.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/09/based-on-false-assumption-amazon-still-censoring-book-on-transgenderism

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

11 January, 2022

‘Everyone has to speak in code:’ Utahns with reported COVID vaccine injuries say they’re being silenced on social media

About an hour after Brianne Dressen received her first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine as part of the clinical trial, she felt a tingling sensation down her arm, and later that night, she says her vision doubled and became blurred. The next day, she reported severe sensitivity to sound and light, and after multiple trips to multiple doctors, she says medical professionals still didn’t know what was wrong.

In the coming months, Dressen’s symptoms worsened – she says she was also experiencing heart and blood pressure fluctuations, in addition to profuse sweating and intense brain fog. Her ailments escalated to the point where she was confined to a dark room at all hours, largely isolated from her family, career, and the outside world.

After she reported motor dysfunction and incontinence, her condition ultimately ended up landing her in the hospital.

“I went through all of this by myself. I was totally alone. I didn’t know anybody else that was having these problems,” Dressen says. “And then I finally came in contact with a few people in the end of March/first of April and I was elated because I was no longer alone. And that’s actually when I was able to make that paradigm shift to not wanting to die anymore.”

It was in these social media groups, which were primarily hosted on Facebook, that Dressen met several other Utahns, Nicole Keddington and Pam Warren – in addition to a slew of others across the world – that were also reporting these symptoms.

Warren, who received the Moderna shot and was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder prior to receiving the vaccination, says finding the group helped her connect with the right medical specialists who could help her.

Talking with their peers was a source of hope for each of the women, but as quickly as they found the groups and were experiencing a sort of relief, they say the groups started to disappear.

According to the women, community groups and posts were – and still are – flagged by various social media platforms for alleged violations like “false information,” “spreading misinformation” and “dangerous acts.” They say that many of these groups are in their third or fourth iterations due to repeated takedown notices.

Dressen has documented vaccine injury-related content removal on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, GoFundMe, Reddit and Instagram.

Many social media platforms have some extent of a misinformation policy, which is intended to dissuade and prevent the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories. Most companies use a combination of computer algorithms and human factcheckers to identify and remove false information.

Facebook has invoked a specific set of rules pertaining to COVID-19 information. According to their help center, they are liable to remove “misinformation when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to contribute to imminent violence or physical harm,” According to the same help center article, Facebook is apt to remove content relating to “claims about the safety or serious side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.”

YouTube has a similar policy, though they do not explicitly mention the discussion of adverse side effects like those reportedly experienced by Dressen, Keddington, Warren, and their peers.

https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/everyone-has-to-speak-in-code-utahns-with-reported-covid-vaccine-injuries-say-theyre-being-silenced-on-social-media/

**********************************************************

Joe Rogan complains 'straight White men' will be silenced, not allowed outside due to cancel culture

Joe Rogan sounded off on cancel culture, courting controversy by speculating that it could lead to the silencing of "straight White men."

The podcast host, 53, sat down for an interview with comedian Joe List last week on his "Joe Rogan Experience" show where the duo got to talking about movies, specifically edgy comedies like "Superbad," "Step Brothers" and more. While List tried to think of the most recent edgy comedy he’d seen, Rogan went off on a rant about how filmmakers couldn’t make a movie in that genre today for fear of getting "canceled."

"The stuff that they talk about and say to each other I just don’t think you can do that today or if you did do that you’d face a tremendous amount of criticism," the host says in a video clip of the episode shared on his official YouTube channel.

The podcaster continues down a road of hypotheticals about trying to make a comedy movie in today’s hyper-sensitive climate, eventually bringing race and sexual orientation into the conversation by suggesting that "straight, White men" will be "silenced" and not allowed outside by "woke" people.

"You can never be woke enough, that’s the problem. It keeps going, it keeps going further and further and further down the line and if you get to the point where you capitulate, where you agree to all these demands, it’ll eventually get to a point where straight White men aren’t allowed to talk because it’s your privilege to express yourself when other people of color have been silenced throughout history," Rogan said. "It’ll be ‘you’re not allowed to go outside because so many people were imprisoned for so many years.' I’m not joking, it really will get there. It’s that crazy."

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/joe-rogan-striaght-white-men-silenced-not-allowed-outside-cancel-culture

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

10 January 2022

YouTube removes video 'Blood on Your Hands' -- a video that slammed Biden for failed Afghan withdrawal

Grammy-nominated Five For Fighting singer John Ondrasik said his new music video that shows footage of President Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan has been censored and removed by YouTube.

A search for the song on the video service shows a lyric video and a still image video that plays the tune, called 'Blood on Your Hands,' but does not appear to feature the controversial video Ondrasik posted.

The singer, best known for hits like Superman and 100 Years, announced the removal of the video - which features images of what he calls 'Taliban atrocities' - on his Twitter account.

Ondrasik said he was aware that the video might hit a nerve, saying he placed a 'graphic warning' disclaimer and saying he agreed when YouTube inserted a child content restriction.

'YouTube has taken down the video due to a violation of "Graphic Content Policy,''' Ondrasik wrote.

'To not show said Taliban atrocities in any artistic statement on Afghanistan would be a gross injustice to the victims and enable the Taliban's ongoing persecution of 40 million Afghan citizens,' he added.

'There is a great tradition of artists speaking their minds and calling out their leaders for answers. Many of those have been inspirations to me,' he explained in a press release.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10380487/Youtube-removes-singer-songwriter-John-Ondrasiks-Blood-Hands-video-slammed-Biden.html

*******************************************

Read Jane Eyre if you dare: University students are given 'trigger warnings' for classic literature

They have been celebrated as classics of English literature for more than 150 years, enjoyed by generations of children as young as eight.

But university students have now been given a 'trigger warning' that Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens's Great Expectations both contain passages they might find 'distressing'.

Critics last night described the cautions given to students at Salford University as 'absurd'. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said it was ridiculous that adults 'have to be protected from the stories that generations of children have been able to cope with without being damaged'.

And actor Simon Callow, who has appeared in several Dickens adaptations, joked: 'I don't think the university authorities have gone far enough.

'A more helpful alert would be: 'Warning – this book may make you think. In extreme cases, it may even make you feel.

Published in 1861, Great Expectations describes orphan Pip's adventures with characters including the fugitive Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and the beautiful but cruel Estella – and includes vivid imagery of poverty, prison ships and fights to the death.

Meanwhile Jane Eyre, written in 1847, charts the romance between Bronte's titular heroine and the troubled Mr Rochester, but also describes her unhappy childhood as an abandoned orphan.

Mr Bridgen added: 'Victorian readers could cope with tales of workhouses and children being groomed into criminal gangs. But we are in danger of creating a dystopian future far darker than any Victorian novel.'

The warnings accompany a reading list given to students on Salford's BA English literature course, and have been revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request.

Other titles on the list include Christina Rossetti's 1862 fantasy poem Goblin Market, and Robert Browning's 1836 poem Porphyria's Lover, in which a man strangles his partner.

Salford's warnings come despite film and TV adaptations of both Great Expectations and Jane Eyre being aimed at family audiences.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10382323/Read-Jane-Eyre-dare-University-students-given-trigger-warnings-classic-literature.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

9 January 2022

USA to start saying ‘up to date’ instead of ‘fully vaccinated’

The United States will begin moving away from describing people as “fully vaccinated” against Covid-19 in favour of new terminology to reflect the need for ongoing booster doses.

Many countries, including Australia, have either changed or left the door open to changing the definition of fully vaccinated from two doses to include a third or even fourth dose of a vaccine, as data reveals waning efficacy particularly after six months.

White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday that health officials were moving away from the term “fully vaccinated”, but the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reiterated that the definition is not changing for the purposes of travel requirements or other federal guidelines.

“We’re using the terminology now ‘keeping your vaccinations up to date’, rather than what ‘fully vaccinated’ means,” Dr Fauci said during a National Institutes of Health lecture on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.

“Right now, optimal protection is with a third shot of an mRNA or a second shot of a J&J.”

Dr Fauci made the remarks in response to a question on whether the US would follow Israel and start to offer fourth doses.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/united-states-to-start-saying-up-to-date-instead-of-fully-vaccinated/news-story/10e1ae953c54affda3c5554030ae52fc

***************************************

Colston’s last resting place: The battered statue torn down by BLM protesters now languishes in the scruffy store room of Bristol’s history museum

Still screened by protective glass, the battered statue of slave trader Edward Colston lies in a museum store room next to steam engine components, old chocolate wrappers and various other antiquities.

The bronze sculpture bears the red and blue graffiti from the Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020 when it was torn from its plinth in Bristol city centre, rolled through the streets and dumped in the harbour.

Museum visitors can view the statue, but only by booking a place on a once-a-day behind-the-scenes tour. Those hoping for commentary on the controversial effigy will be disappointed.

The volunteer guide who last week conducted a tour admitted: ‘I’ve been given a long list of things I can and can’t say, so I’m not going to say anything at all.’

Staff at the M Shed museum, which celebrates Bristol’s history, last week removed the statue from general view – a decision that, according to the museum, was in line with a visitor survey.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10382755/Museum-tour-guide-wont-speak-battered-statue-slave-trader-Edward-Colston.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

7 December, 2021

Jewish charity defends J K Rowling after US TV host accused the Harry Potter author of anti-Semitism

Jewish organisations have defended JK Rowling after a US comedian claimed that the depiction of goblins in her Harry Potter books was anti-Semitic.

Jon Stewart slammed the author over the goblins that run Gringotts bank in her Harry Potter series on his podcast, The Problem with Jon Stewart.

Stewart, who is Jewish, questioned why Rowling chose to 'throw Jews in there to run the f***ing underground bank' in a fictional world where people 'can ride dragons and have pet owls'.

But Jewish fans were quick to note that the author has consistently called out anti-Semitism in recent years; including as a frequent critic of Jeremy Corbyn during his leadership of the Labour Party and when she refused to join a cultural boycott of Israel.

And Dave Rich, director of policy at Jewish charity the Community Security Trust, told MailOnline that Rowling had been 'very supportive' of the Jewish community.

He said: 'JK Rowling has been very supportive of the Jewish community in recent years and tweeted repeatedly against antisemitism, so it is hard to imagine that she used anti-semitic caricatures in her books. Sometimes a goblin is just a goblin.'

Comedian David Baddiel also waded in, adding: 'The goblins in Harry Potter need to be seen not in a simplistic #teamRowling vs #antiteamRowling way but in a many-centuries long, deeply subconsciously embedded cultural context.'

Author and literature expert Nicholas Jubber told MailOnline: 'Rowling appears to have followed traditions in British fantasy literature. The old German word, 'kobold', gave us the word 'cobalt', signalling the association of these creatures with mining for precious ores. So it makes sense that goblins would be linked with vaults and underground storage.'

Fans also defended the author, suggesting that her depiction of the goblins was typical of the fantasy genre, with the likes of JRR Tolkien and Terry Pratchett using similar descriptions.

One said today: 'Goblins were described and depicted like that decades before Rowling. So if those activists have problems with how goblins are depicted - they should cancel fantasy books and mythos that existed before.'

Another added: 'You would have to tar all fantasy writers such as Tolkien and artists, who have portrayed goblins in exactly the same light since the 19th Century. In most fantasy and children's writings they are almost always portrayed as mean, hoarders of gold and jewels with the same features.'

Others noted that Rowling's original sketch of goblins was significantly different to the movie depiction of the creatures, which Warner Brothers are behind.

JK Rowling's public criticisms of anti-Semitism

October 2015: JK Rowling refuses to join cultural boycott of Israel.

April 2018: The author slams 'antisemite' for comments on Judaism being a religion not a race.

August 2018: She tells another writer: 'How dare you tell a Jew that their outrage is 'patently synthetic'? How dare you demand that they lay bare their pain and fear on demand, for your personal evaluation? What other minority would you speak to this way?'

September 2018: Rowling hits out at Twitter users for a lack of sympathy to victims of anti-Semitism.

December 2018: Rowling blasts Jeremy Corbyn and his handling of the Labour party

And one fan said: 'I was struck by it at the time but put it down to the deep cultural chauvinism that runs through Northern European folklore rather than any specific intent by the author. Same arguments can be and are thrown at Tolkien.'

Fans were also quick to defend the author following Stewart's remarks.

One wrote: 'My Jewish perspective is that this is a cheap shot by Stewart. I don't believe @jk_rowling ever thought 'Jews' when she made the bankers goblins (or that any child reading HP ever thought it, either). JKR has been a strong supporter of Jewish causes for decades & she has denounced real antisemitism when few non-Jews do.

'Perhaps she regretted the choice after critics made that connection, but if you look at folkloric creatures that have been described for centuries as gold hoarders & think 'Jews', that's not on her.'

Another said: 'JK Rowling is being accused of antisemitism over her depiction of goblins in her Harry Potter books. I think this is nonsense; she has always stood alongside Britain's Jews, and now that she's under continuous attack, we should stand by her.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10370787/Jewish-charity-defends-J-K-Rowling-Harry-Potter-anti-Semitism.html

****************************************************

BLM protesters cleared over toppling of Edward Colston statue

Anti-racism campaigners tonight hailed a jury’s decision to clear protesters responsible for toppling a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston as a huge step in getting the UK to face up to its colonial past.

Jake Skuse 33, Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, did not dispute the roles they had played in pulling down the statue and throwing it in the River Avon during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest but all denied criminal damage.

In closing statements following the nine-day trial, the defence had urged jurors to “be on the right side of history”, saying the statue, which stood over the city for 125 years, was so indecent and potentially abusive that it constituted a crime.

After just under three hours’ deliberation, a jury of six men and six women found the so-called “Colston Four” not guilty by an 11 to one majority decision at Bristol crown court on Wednesday afternoon.

“This verdict is a milestone in the journey that Bristol and Britain are on to come to terms with the totality of our history,” said David Olusoga, the broadcaster and historian of the slave trade, who gave evidence in the trial.

Olusoga said: “For 300 years Edward Colston was remembered as a philanthropist, his role in the slave trade and his many thousands of victims were airbrushed out of the story. The toppling of the statue and the passionate defence made in court by the Colston Four makes that deliberate policy of historical myopia now an impossibility.”

Clive Lewis, the Labour MP, said: “A British jury has confirmed the toppling of Edwards Colston’s statue was not a criminal act. The real crime was the fact the statue was still there when protestors pulled it down.

“Today’s verdict makes a compelling case that a majority of the British public want to deal with our colonial and slave trading past, not run away from it. That’s important to understand and I hope it gives political leaders a little more confidence when it comes to challenging the ‘culture war’ our government is currently pursuing.”

But some critics reacted with fury. Scott Benton, a Conservative MP, denounced the verdict as an “absolutely appalling decision”, tweeting: “Are we now a nation which ignores violent acts of criminal damage? This sends out completely the wrong message.”

The former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie said he could not help “questioning the sanity of the jury”. He added: “The verdict was a shocking signal to every lefty protester in the country that they can damage with impunity as long as they chant the phrase hate crime.”

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/uknews/blm-protesters-cleared-over-toppling-of-edward-colston-statue/ar-AASsGEN?ocid=chromentpnews

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

6 January, 2022

Norman Mailer book cancelled after "White Negro" essay row.

"The White Negro" attributed various anarchic characteristics to blacks. It was meant as praise. I am no fan of Mailer but I think he had a point

A publisher is said to have cancelled plans to release a collection of political essays by the American writer Norman Mailer after complaints from a junior member of staff about the title of his 1957 work The White Negro.

Penguin Random House is understood to have informed the Mailer family that it no longer had plans to publish the collection to celebrate the centenary of his birth next year.

Mailer was one of the defining voices of American 20th-century literature but courted controversy throughout his career and stabbed one of his six wives in the leg with a penknife during a drunken row.

Best-selling author Michael Wolff said Mailer’s oldest son had confirmed that Penguin Random House had told him of the cancelled plans.

Wolff wrote in The Ankler newsletter: “With slow-mo hammer-dropping predictability, Norman Mailer’s long-time publisher has recently informed the Mailer family that it has cancelled plans to publish a collection of his political writings to mark the centennial of his birth in 2023 . . .

The back-door apologies at Random House include as the proximate cause – you hardly have to look hard in Mailer’s work to find offences against contemporary doctrine and respectability – a junior staffer’s objection to the title of Mailer’s 1957 essay, The White Negro.”

The infamous 9000-word essay explored Mailer’s philosophy on “hipsterism” and declared the murder of a white shop owner by two black teenagers was an example of “daring the unknown”.

James Baldwin, the influential black writer, criticised the work and accused Mailer of employing racial stereotypes.

Mailer died aged 84 in 2007.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/norman-mailer-book-cancelled-after-white-negro-essay-row/news-story/a530b94d863a32bf2f06cf47c372e066

***********************************

Now Shakespeare is incorrect

The head of one of Britain's top universities has criticised Sir Patrick Stewart after he refused to read some of Shakespeare's sonnets because of 'political correctness'.

The actor, 81, skipped several poems about the Bard's 'Dark Lady' and one referring to a 'woman colour'd ill' during his recitation of a sonnet a day for online videos during the first Covid lockdown.

Sir Patrick, celebrated for his Shakespearean performances, explained that he disliked the attitudes conveyed in these verses - or struggled to make sense of them.

Professor Sally Mapstone, 64, the principal of St Andrews University in Scotland, praised the actor's decision to read the sonnets, which she found 'very salutary'.

But speaking on a podcast for the Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance she added: 'I didn't think he was right to skip a couple in a rather politically correct way, frankly. 'I think he should have just read them and let people make up their minds but, as he said, it was his choice.'

Some of the Shakespeare poems that Sir Patrick skipped are among a group known as the Dark Lady sonnets.

Although the subject of the verses is unknown, and still sparks debate, it has been suggested by some scholars that she may have been a woman of African or southern European heritage.

In one of Sir Patrick's videos he told viewers: 'I am skipping [sonnet] 131 because I don't like it'.

Sonnet 131 features a description of a dark-skinned woman as the 'fairest and most precious jewel' and continues: 'Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place. In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10371439/Patrick-Stewart-slammed-skipping-PC-Shakespeare-sonnets.html

**********************************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

5 January, 2022

Trump calls Twitter a 'disgrace to Democracy', slams 'low-life' Facebook and tells his fans to stop using both platforms after Marjorie Taylor Greene's ban

Donald Trump tore into Twitter and Facebook in a late Monday statement after the social media giants banned accounts linked to firebrand GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

On Sunday Twitter announced it had permanently suspended Greene's personal account for spreading COVID-19 misinformation, though she still retains access to her official Congressional handle.

The next day, Greene said Facebook suspended her account for a 24-hour period.

Trump, whose own accounts on the platforms were banned following the Capitol riot on January 6 of last year, urged his supporters to cease using both and called for a ban on their United States-based operations.

'Twitter is a disgrace to democracy. They shouldn’t be allowed to do business in this Country,' the ex-president said through his Save America PAC.

'Marjorie Taylor Greene has a huge constituency of honest, patriotic, hard-working people. They don’t deserve what’s happened to them on places like low-life Twitter and Facebook.

'Everybody should drop off of Twitter and Facebook. They’re boring, have only a Radical Left point of view, and are hated by everyone. They are a disgrace to our Nation. Keep fighting, Marjorie!'

Last February Twitter said Trump's access to his account there, his favored way of reaching supporters which also became a daily source of news headlines, would not be restored even if he took back the White House.

Facebook reached a decision in June to limit Trump's suspension there to two years.

Trump's call for his supporters to drop the platforms comes months after he announced the creation of his own social media venture, TRUTH Social, which the ex-president said is scheduled to launch in early 2022.

Greene meanwhile has joined Gettr, a relatively new social media platform created by former Trump adviser Jason Miller. The fallout from her Twitter ban resulted in more than 230,000 people joining the free speech site in a single day, Gettr said in a release.

On Sunday, the Georgia Republican's spokesman shared her response to Twitter, which she posted on messaging app Telegram.

'Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth. That's fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies,' Greene said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10368345/Trump-calls-Twitter-disgrace-slams-low-life-Facebook-tells-fans-stop-using-both.html

*******************************************

Wow! This guy let it rip

A Belgian plastic surgeon has been jailed after telling students that women 'don't want to open their legs any more' in a university lecture.

Jeff Hoeyberghs, 60, was given a ten-month prison sentence, half of which is suspended, after the extraordinary 2019 rant in which he said women exist to 'satisfy men sexually and perform household chores'.

The TV surgeon, who is qualified in the UK, had been invited to speak by the University of Ghent and the Catholic Flemish Students' Union, with his comments prompting a barrage of complaints.

Judges said the sentence plus an €8,000 fine were merited because he incited discrimination, hatred and violence against women and refused to back down.

He has maintained he was speaking the 'truth' and claimed his freedom of speech is being denied.

In the two-hour lecture to the postgraduate students, Hoeyberghs said: 'Women want the privileges of male protection and money, but they do not want to open their legs anymore.

'We have given women dishwashing machines and cleaning ladies, until they themselves became superfluous.

'You cannot treat a woman like an equal without becoming her slave.'

The surgeon added that women are 'hysterical, lazy, weak, stupid' and 'dirty creatures, who seek money and protection from men to whom they owe sex', comparing them to 'animals with udders'.

He even targeted specific female students in the auditorium with insults, as well as teenage activist Greta Thunberg, saying women were 'worthless' in high profile jobs such as doctors, judges, teachers and scientists.

The surgeon told one PhD student she was just 'blue eyes and t*ts', while another was 'a fine example of how things go wrong'.

He added women 'always let emotions get in their way' and said prisons, psychiatric wards and rehab centres are 'filled with children of single mothers'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10368223/Surgeon-JAILED-Belgium-sexist-speech-saying-women-dont-want-open-legs-more.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

4 January, 2022

Twitter Suspends Media Site’s Account for Posting Video of Congressman Criticizing Big Pharma

Media company Grabien News has been suspended by Twitter for posting a video of a U.S. congressman criticizing pharmaceutical corporations, its founder said.

Grabien founder Tom Elliott wrote on Twitter on Dec. 31 that Grabien was suspended for citing comments by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) about COVID-19 treatments.

“Big Pharma Won’t Consider Therapeutics Like HCQ or Ivermectin Because of Economic Interests,” the post reads. It had an attached link to a video containing the congressman’s comments.

Elliott included a screenshot statement from Twitter, which sent him a boilerplate message that Grabien was suspended for “violating the policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19,” which Elliott described as “next-level Twitter absurdity.”

“Obviously, in this case, quoting an elected leader on an issue that matters to everyone is important and newsworthy, regardless of whether you agree,” Elliott said. “And I can’t help but add that his basic point was once mainstream among progressives.

“I’ve appealed, making this point. However, I have no confidence in Twitter doing the right thing and acknowledging this tweet did not violate its terms & conditions.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/twitter-suspends-media-sites-account-for-posting-video-of-house-rep-criticizing-big-pharma_4189099.html

***************************************

Facebook 'permanently' locks account of conservative children's book publisher - which tells stories of Ronald Regan and Amy Coney Barrett - for 'disruptive content' - but left-wing publishers pushing the 'ABC's of AOC' and 'Feminist Baby' are not banned

Facebook has permanently disabled the account of a conservative children's publisher for failing to comply with its 'low quality or disruptive content' policy.

Heroes of Liberty, which has published child-friendly biographies of Repulican figures like former President Ronald Regan, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and social theorist Thomas Sowell, launched in November 2021, with the goal of producing children's content on underrepresented 'heroes,' said co-founder and editor Bethany Mandel.

Facebook did not give exact examples of which posts violated its policy, but in a message to Heroes of Liberty it pointed to a rule included in its advertising guidelines that states: 'Ads must not contain content leading to external landing pages that provide an unexpected or disruptive experience.

'This includes misleading ad positioning, such as overly sensationalized headlines or prompts for users to inauthentically interact with the ad, and leading people to landing pages that contain minimal original content and a majority of unrelated or low quality ad content.'

In its last post on the now-disabled page on December 19, the publisher advertised one of its books saying: 'Teach your children and grandchildren the morals and principles of Thomas Sowell with his beautifully illustrated biography. There is no better way to ensure a more promising future for the next generations.'

While the conservative publisher has been shut out of its accounts, the publishers of left-leaning children's books remain active on the social media platform.

Penguin Kids Books - publisher of the Little Book of Little Activists, the She Persisted series, Change Sings, and more - remains active on Facebook. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - with titles including Feminist Baby and the ABCs of AOC - is also in control of an active Facebook page.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10365085/Facebook-permanently-locks-account-conservative-childrens-book-publisher-Heroes-Liberty.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

3 January, 2022

New York Dems Unveil Bill to Silence COVID Policy Criticisms

Apparently, as far as New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman is concerned, social media isn’t censorious enough when it comes to vaccines. (We know full well at The Western Journal that the opposite is true, given Big Tech companies like Google try to starve us of revenue when we deviate from the party line. We’re dedicated to fighting this censorship no matter what the cost — and you can help us in our fight by subscribing.)

Thus, we got this news release from the Manhattan-based Democrat: “As the Anniversary of the January 6 Insurrection Approaches, Senator Brad Hoylman Introduces Bill to Hold Tech Companies Accountable for Promoting Vaccine Misinformation & Hate Speech on Social Media.”

His legislation, according to the news release, would “hold social media platforms accountable for knowingly promoting disinformation, violent hate speech, and other unlawful content that could harm others.

“While Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media platforms from being treated as publishers or speakers of content shared by users on their apps and websites, this legislation instead focuses on the active choices these companies make when implementing algorithms designed to promote the most controversial and harmful content, which creates a general threat to public health and safety,” the release read.

If one is to judge by his statement, Sen. Hoylman sees little difference between hate speech, Capitol rioters and someone who engages in the deliberately vague thought crime of “vaccine misinformation.”

https://flagandcross.com/new-york-dems-unveil-bill-to-silence-covid-policy-criticisms-nasty-punishments/

*******************************************

Twitter bans Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene

Twitter has banned the personal account of far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene for multiple violations of the platform’s COVID-19 misinformation policy, the latest strike against the firebrand whose embrace of conspiracy theories has been called “a cancer” for her party and led the House to boot her from committees.

The Georgia Republican’s account was permanently suspended under the “strike” system Twitter launched in March, which uses artificial intelligence to identify posts about the coronavirus that are misleading enough to cause harm to people. Two or three strikes earn a 12-hour account lock. Four strikes prompt a weeklong suspension. Five or more strikes can get someone permanently removed from Twitter.

In a statement on the messaging app Telegram, Greene blasted Twitter’s move as un-American. She wrote that her account was suspended after tweeting statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a government database that includes unverified raw data.

“Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” Greene said. “That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/twitter-bans-republican-conspiracy-theorist-marjorie-taylor-greene-over-covid-19-misinformation-20220103-p59le5.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

2 January, 2022

Article about censorship censored by Facebook

In its latest attempt to curb conservative coverage, Facebook censored a Federalist article on Wednesday about the dangers of COVID censorship.

Facebook flagged the article, titled “Forcing People Into COVID Vaccines Ignores Important Scientific Information,” with a “missing context” label and linked to a Lead Stories article dissecting a United Kingdom publication’s article, which said, “Only the Fully Vaccinated should fear the New ‘Worst Ever’ Covid-19 Variant; data shows they already account for 4 in every 5 Covid Deaths.”

The purported “fact check” authored by a former CNN employee for the obscure third-party company with ties to the sketchy Chinese company ByteDance, however, doesn’t actually address The Federalist article or any of the claims made in it. Instead, the article tries to downplay the fact that COVID case data from the U.K. shows that vaccinated people are increasingly contracting COVID-19.

https://thefederalist.com/2021/12/15/facebook-censors-article-about-dangers-of-covid-censorship/

*********************************************

Louisiana judge RESIGNS after she was suspended for using n-word in video during attempted break-in by black burglar

IMHO I think the N-word is a reasonable description of a black burglar in a white home

A Louisiana judge has resigned after a video captured her repeated use of the n-word as she and her family watched surveillance footage of a black robbery suspect attempt to break into her home.

Michelle Odinet, 52, stepped down from her seat on the Lafayette City Court Friday just weeks after the video using the racist language surfaced.

Odinet, a mother of four, is heard making racist comments at her home in Bendel Gardens in Lafayette early on December 11.

The short clip captured one of Odinet's children saying 'And mom’s yelling n****r, n****r,' to which a female voice responds 'We have a n****r. It’s a n****r, like a roach.'

The Republican judge has since come under fire for the racist slurs, with local officials and members of the community calling on her to resign.

Ronald Handy, 59, who is black, was arrested and charged with two counts of simple burglary and is being held at Lafayette Parish Jail on a $10,000 bond.

Handy was seen being taken down by two members of the Odinet family on the front lawn of their home during the attempted burglary.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10359895/Louisiana-judge-resigns-video-captured-shouting-n-word-black-robbery-suspect.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

1 January, 2022

Style guide mayhem in Wales

As is fitting for a year in which fun and indeed most famous people born before the turn of the millennium were cancelled, the Welsh government has decided to round off 2021 by banning references to “Brexit” and the “able-bodied” in its style guide for civil servants.

“Wasting energy on problems that don’t even exist” was the verdict of the Welsh opposition leader – one which could also be extended to England’s civil service, whose style guide recently underwent an identical update (albeit more quietly).

The upshot is, wherever you find yourself in the UK, failing to know the lingo could see your social cachet fall further than Pizza Express Woking.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/01/seven-words-will-definitely-cancelled-2022/

**********************************************

Twitter Suspends Key mRNA Vaccine Contributor Dr. Robert Malone

Dr. Robert Malone, a key contributor to mRNA vaccine technology and an outspoken critic of COVID-19 mandates and rules, was suspended by Twitter.

Writing on his Substack page, Malone, who had massed more than 500,000 followers, confirmed that his account was “permanently suspended from Twitter” and said, “We all knew it would happen eventually.”

“Over a half million followers gone in a blink of an eye. That means I must have been on the mark, so to speak,” he wrote on Dec. 29. “Over the target. It also means we lost a critical component in our fight to stop these vaccines being mandated for children and to stop the corruption in our governments, as well as the medical-industrial complex and pharmaceutical industries.”

According to Malone’s post, he directed users to read his Substack page for future updates. Meanwhile, he’s slated to appear on comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan’s podcast on Dec. 30.

“Substack is absolutely the best way to see my writings. I appreciate everyone’s support in signing up for my newsletter. It truly matters to me,” he wrote in the post.

Malone told The Epoch Times on Wednesday evening that Twitter provided him with no advance notice before it handed down the suspension.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/twitter-suspends-key-mrna-vaccine-contributor-dr-robert-malone_4183968.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************

31 December, 2021

British council U-turns over plans to rename a poorly-lit Dorset road called 'Darkie Lane' after a backlash from residents who say claims it is 'racially insensitive'

Officials have been forced to U-turn on renaming a road deemed racially insensitive after uproar from locals that it was 'political correctness gone mad'.

Darkie Lane in Swanage, Dorset got its name more than 70 years ago because it was lined by elm trees and hedgerows that made it dark and shady.

The local council agreed to change the name after getting a letter of complaint from a family who holidayed in the coastal town this summer.

They said the Darkie Lane - which like many rural lanes does not boast a physical street sign - had racist connotations and could 'very easily cause offence to others given our national history'.

Swanage Town Council voted to change the name to Dark Lane but after two months of deliberation, Dorset Council has announced it will not be renamed.

A Dorset Council spokesman said there are eight residences on Darkie Lane - five responded to the council's request for views on the naming of the road.

Four stated their preference was for no change of the road name, and one responded saying they wanted it changed to something else, not the proposed Dark Lane, and no responses were received in favour of changing it to Dark Lane.

Residents have hailed the U-turn as common sense prevailing.

One said on social media: 'Hallelujah! For once a bit of common sense has prevailed over the madness of political correctness.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10352763/Council-U-turns-renaming-Darkie-Lane-residents-call-political-correctness-gone-mad.html

*****************************************

Mercedes swept up in China internet furore over model’s exaggerated ‘slanted eyes’

https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_1600/t_resize_width/q_62%2Cf_auto/68dc636aebee95f0f5c1e3d755a350120b0d8620

Mercedes-Benz removed a video advertisement from a Chinese social media website, state media said, after the clip got swept up in a charged national debate over depictions of Asian-looking features by foreign companies.

The video was posted on Mercedes-Benz’s official Weibo account on Saturday and later removed due to public backlash, the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper said.

“The makeup of the female model looked like slanted eyes and once again aroused a heated discussion from netizens with many blaming that the makeup reflects Western stereotypes about Asian people,” the paper said on Tuesday.

Chinese internet users have recently been debating the way that models’ eyes are shown in advertising. The Chinese company Three Squirrels recently apologised for ads featuring model Cai Niang Niang wearing makeup that accentuated the slant of her eyes, the South China Morning Post reported.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/mercedes-swept-up-in-china-internet-furore-over-model-s-slanted-eyes-20211231-p59l1b.html

***********************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*********************************************

For the notes appearing at the side of the original blog see here

Pictures put up on a blog sometimes do not last long. They stay up only as long as the original host keeps them up. I therefore keep archives of all the pictures that I use. The recent archives are online and are in two parts:

Archive of side pictures here

Most pictures that I use in the body of the blog should stay up throughout the year. But how long they stay up after that is uncertain. At the end of every year therefore I intend to put up a collection of all pictures used on the blog in that year. That should enable missing pictures to be replaced. The archive of last year's pictures on this blog is therefore now up. Note that the filename of the picture is clickable and reflects the date on which the picture was posted. See here

My Home Pages are here (Academic) or here (Personal); My Home page supplement; My Alternative Wikipedia; My Blogroll; Menu of my longer writings; My annual picture page is here; My Recipes;

Email me (John Ray) here.