'Sexist' Cup shirts withdrawn after Brazil complaint



Following a complaint by the state tourist board, official [football world] cup sponsor Adidas withdrew the shirts, which had gone on sale in the United States.

One of the designs depicts a heart completing the phrase "I love Brazil" but curved to suggest a tanga-clad female backside.

Another had a picture postcard view of Rio's Sugarloaf Mountain and a woman in a bikini holding a football with the double entendre strapline: "Lookin' to score."

State tourism body Embratur said it "strongly repudiates the commercialization of products linking Brazil's image with sex" and had contacted Adidas to demand the shirts be withdrawn.

Brazil's minister of state for women, Eleonora Menicucci, also complained of a "lack of respect towards our country."

SOURCE

Are they going to ban the Rio carnival too?  It's a lot more salacious than a shirt.

The joke got man banned for life from Hilton Hotel

WHEN Jason Payne returned home after his one-night stay at the Hilton in Basingstoke, UK, he was surprised to receive an email from the hotel informing him that he had been banned for life. It was all because of a rather inappropriate comment he’d made on the hotel’s online booking form three days prior to his February 8 stay at the hotel.

Mr Payne, 35, wrote under the additional comments and requests section on the form: “There’s a large snake in my trousers. Hope that’s OK.”

He claims he never expected the staff to actually read his joke, and was quite surprised when the receptionist at the hotel started laughing when he checked in. He claims the staff members didn’t seem bothered by it at all.

But in her email to Mr Payne after his stay, the hotel’s front office manager informed him that “we are not willing to accept that our team members are ever put into an uncomfortable situation, due to the abusive language a guest uses talking to them, writing to them or even on the booking form they fill in online”.

SOURCE

Sounds like the manager concerned is some dried-out old prune

Black hate speech OK

Despite condemning Minister Louis Farrakhan’s “unacceptable racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic statements” last year, Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers attended a three-hour Farrakhan sermon before 18,000 people Sunday.

During the final day of the movement’s four-day convention in Detroit, the Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan — known for his racist rhetoric, anti-Semitism, friendship with former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and homophobia — called for separate courts for African Americans, attacked pastors who defend gay marriage, and spoke about how America is headed for destruction because it has disobeyed God.

Seated behind Farrakhan for the duration of the speech was Conyers and Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Source

The disintegration of the First Amendment

The Obama Administration has engaged in an unprecedented assault on the First Amendment which is accelerating as he expands the reach of government using regulatory powers well beyond their legal limitations.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall famously wrote in McCulloch v. Maryland, one of our nation’s foundational legal decisions, that the power to tax is necessarily the power to destroy.  Rather than being warded off by this admonition, Obama’s IRS is in the process of formalizing regulations that would eliminate the tax exempt status of social welfare groups that engage in political discussion.  The net effect is to give the government the power to tax political speech, and destroy this basic right.

On the business front, the Securities Exchange Commission, yes the SEC (not the scandal ridden college football conference) is engaged in rulemaking that would require publicly traded corporations to disclose donations to social welfare groups in an attempt to stop them from protecting their corporate interests against an avaricious government that has a constant knife to their throats.

The Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board are seeking to tilt the scales toward Big Labor by forcing union elections as quickly as ten days after a union calls for them, and effectively denying a company advice on what can be legally said to their employees and how they can say it.

In Wisconsin, conservative supporters of Governor Scott Walker have had their homes raided by a local prosecutor who doubles as an ardent opponent of Walker’s in a blatant legal attack on these citizens ability to participate in the political process.  The simple fact that this Gestapo-like tactic can occur in a state that was the cradle of the original progressive movement which opened politics to public participation is particularly chilling.

We know that Obama’s Department of Justice has wiretapped AP reporters phones in an attempt to break constitutionally protected source confidentiality, and FoxNews reporter James Rosen is being prosecuted by this Administration for reporting national security news.

And Obama’s Department of Homeland Security conducted an early morning raid of the home of a Washington Times reporter over alleged firearm violations.  During the raid, they happened to confiscate the reports notes related to an investigative report dealing with malfeasance at the TSA.  These notes included the names of her internal agency whistleblowers ending not only the reporting, but also most likely the careers of the whistleblowers involved.

Shocked by this list?  It doesn’t even include the NSA domestic spying or hate crimes legislation that put religious leaders in jeopardy for preaching Biblical truths, or congressional efforts to license who should be considered a journalist.

What is really shocking is that every news outlet in the nation isn’t screaming at the top of their lungs decrying these varied, real and destructive attacks on the First Amendment.  The fourth estate which has vigorously defended the speech rights of pornographers, flag burners and “artists” who the government paid to place a crucifix in urine are strangely missing in action when it comes to Obama’s dismantling of the First Amendment.

Source

Comment spam

I rarely get time to look at the comments which Google throws into the spam box but on looking just now I noticed that there were some legit comments there that had been wrongly classified.  I released those I saw but there were over 2,000 comments in the box so I could only scratch the surface.

I released a lot by "Bird of Paradise"

It would help me to pick up legit comments if you used a handle rather than commenting  anonymously.  The spam always seems to be "Anon."

National City, CA, threatens gun shop over gun sign


The sign in question

Ares Armor is getting hammered by local government over its billboard.

“Take down the sign or go to jail. We do not approve of guns…or you.” This is the unmistakable messages sent by progressives when they take over a city and freedom pays the price. Ares Armor is a small tactical store operating one of their stores in National City, CA, a suburb of San Diego.

Nevermind that CEO Dimitri and his staff at Ares Armor are in complete compliance with all laws and ordinances. That does not matter. That’s because guns are at the heart of this debate. The City Council has taken offense to their presence there and is pulling out all the stops, perverting the legal system to destroy them.

But Ares Armor stands unbowed and has paid $10,000 just in the appeals process to get justice. Dimitri, a combat USMC infantry vet from both Iraq and Afghanistan, stands in complete defiance of this attack on both 1st and 2nd Amendments rights.

And yet he faces an uphill and expensive battle with slim odds. The  City has made up its mind and anything related to guns is unwelcome in this Califonia dystopia.

Source

Dem’s Try to Use FCC to Censor Anti-Obamacare Ads

What do Democrats do when a hard-hitting anti-Obamacare ad threatens the electoral prospects of a Democrat Congressman? Well… You unleash the lawyers. With any luck, you might even be able to use the weight of the FCC to muscle local stations into denying the ad any air time. Because, obviously, using government regulatory agencies to strong arm broadcasters into censoring political advertisements, is a tactic in total compliance with the intent of the First Amendment.

Julia Boonstra is currently suffering from Leukemia. And, until the implementation of Obamacare, she had insurance coverage that provided her with desired benefits. In fact, she was happy. Her condition was improving. Her treatments were working, and she was not driving herself into bankruptcy fighting a horrendous form of cancer… Then came Obamacare.

As is explained in the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) ad – aimed at Democrat Gary Peters – Julia was among the millions of Americans who saw their insurance evaporate as Obamacare implementation lumbered forward. And while she’s been able to retain the same doctor as before, her new Obamacare insurance has left her with an unpredictable schedule of out-of-pocket costs. In short: She liked her plan – she wasn’t able to keep her plan – and now she’s stuck with inadequate insurance that threatens her financial stability. Julia is now worse off (financially and physically) thanks to the President’s boondoggled web of regulation known affectionately as “Obamacare.”

But why allow little things (like Julia, the cancer survivor, losing her preferred healthcare) to interfere with the election of Democrats? Michigan Democrats, who support Gary Peters, have filed paperwork to get the ad pulled from the air. They’ve even threatened to have the FCC pull the broadcast licenses of any station that decides to air the ad.

So… Now the Democrats are going to go around threatening to strip broadcasters of their FCC license if they air ads that Democrats consider to be “misleading”? Don’t such authoritarian dreams of control give any other Americans a chill? Think of the irony: Democrats in Michigan are unleashing lawyers to censor the backlash created by Democrat lies.

Source

NFL set to introduce penalty for players who use the N-word during games

How amusing!  Blacks are close to the only users of the word.  Are dozens of blacks going to be thrown out of the game?  And if not, why not?

The NFL is expected to adopt penalties for using the N-word on the field that will be enacted starting this upcoming season.

A proposal currently circulating through the league’s competition committee seeks to impose a 15-yard penalty against the team of a player using the racial slur, with a second utterance resulting in ejection.

‘I will be totally shocked if the competition committee does not uphold us on what we're trying to do,’ Wooten said Saturday to a standing ovation during the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

‘We want this word to be policed from the parking lot to the equipment room to the locker room,’ he continued. ‘Secretaries, PR people, whoever, we want it eliminated completely and want it policed everywhere.’

Source

UK: Must not show that meat comes from dead animals



For more than 100 years, butchers in the market town of Sudbury have proudly displayed their meats in their shop windows.  But now one has been forced to stop hanging game such as pheasants, partridges and rabbits in his shopfront after a vicious campaign, blamed on ‘townies’ who have recently moved in. 

Staff at JBS Family Butchers, which has sawdust on the floor and takes great pride in its link to local suppliers and the countryside way of life, spent hours every week perfecting their window displays featuring meat and game.  Unplucked birds and the occasional pig or deer head were hung up in its shopfront in a small precinct in the Suffolk town. 

But it has reluctantly had to remove the display after it became the target of a campaign including anonymous hate mail and people hurling abuse in the shop."

Source

United States Falls to 46th in The World For Press Freedom

According to new data released by Reporters Without Borders, the United States as fallen to 46th place in the world when it comes to freedom of the press. The ranking shows the U.S. behind countries like South Africa, Cyprus, Uruguay, Canada, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and many other European countries. RWOB uses the presence of "conflict" as a way to determine press freedom.

This ranking comes after news last year the Department of Justice was (and probably still is) tapping the phones and monitoring emails of reporters from the Associated Press, Fox News and other news outlets. In the case of Fox News, the Department of Justice went so far as to monitor the phone lines of Fox News Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen and his parents. Fox News executives were also monitored.

Source

Must not compare Obama to the Devil



    "Son of God" producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey have cast Satan out of their upcoming Biblical epic about Jesus Christ an individual familiar with the 20th Century Fox project has told The Wrap. 

    "Son of God" is a reshaped version of last year's hit History Channel miniseries "The Bible," which co-starred Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni as Satan. Burnett and Downey came under fire last year because Ouazanni bears a striking resemblance to President Barack Obama, though the producers said at the time that the casting controversy was unintentional and merely coincidental.

    "Someone made a comment that the actor who played the devil vaguely resembled our president, and suddenly the media went nuts," Downey said in a statement Monday. "The next day, when I was sure everyone would only be talking about Jesus, they were talking about Satan instead.

For our movie, 'Son of God,' I wanted all of the focus to be on Jesus. I want his name to be on the lips of everyone who sees this movie, so we cast Satan out. It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the devil is on the cutting room floor."

    20th Century Fox will release "Son of God" on Feb. 28. The 10-hour miniseries has been pared down to two hours, which meant sacrificing Satan's scenes to focus on Jesus.

Coincidence or not, Burnett and Downey caved. They erred on the side of caution - and fear. After all, this is the kind of meat that race card players like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson dine on. And who would want to be their main entrée? It was more than Satan that was left on the cutting room floor. It was the freedom to express one's opinion about Barack Obama.

Source

Minnesota man claims win over NSA in parody case

Federal authorities have dropped an attempt to stop a Minnesota man from marketing merchandise poking fun at the National Security Agency for its surveillance of citizens.

Dan McCall, of Sauk Rapids, sued the NSA and Department of Homeland Security last fall after they issued cease-and-desist orders over the merchandise, which includes T-shirts bearing the NSA's official seal and the slogan, "The only part of the government that actually listens."

"It's a victory for First Amendment rights," said Dan McCall, of Sauk Rapids, who operates LibertyManiacs.com. He told the St. Cloud Times he was notified earlier this week that the NSA and DHS had dropped in their quest to block him from selling the material.

Source

Must not say that wives should be 'submissive'

In the traditional Leftist way, feminists rely on suppressing alternative views in order to get their way

A book advising newly-wed women on how to be "submissive" has become a publishing phenomenon in Spain while outraging feminists who have called for it to be banned.

The polemic book by married Italian author Costanza Miriano titled 'Cásate y sé sumisa – Get Married and Be Submissive – was published by the Catholic Arbishopric of the southern city of Granada in November and soared up the bestseller list.
Costanza Miriano

The book, which was a bestseller in Italy, preaches a message of "loyal obedience, generosity and submission" on the part of the new wife and offers nuggets of advice for the newly-wed on how to please one's husband.

Source

Obama's War on the First Amendment

Phyllis Schlafly

When President Barack Obama said he planned to "fundamentally transform" the United States, he wasn't referring only to spreading the wealth around or even to conforming our foreign-trade regulations to the dictates of globalist busybodies. He is also working openly and covertly, through administrative regulations and supremacist judges' decisions, to transform us into a sanitized secular nation.

The cutting edge of Obama's war on religion will come into public view on March 25, when the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about the Obama administration's attempt to force private companies, such as Hobby Lobby, to cover abortion-inducing drugs for their employees, even though the company's owners are morally opposed to them. Hobby Lobby has courageously stood up for its religious principles against this requirement despite the threat of fines of $1.3 million daily for not complying with this Obamacare mandate.

Another company, Conestoga Wood, has also stood up against this suffocating infringement on freedom of religion by Obamacare. The Supreme Court will hear both cases on the same day.

Hobby Lobby is a prime example of America as a land of opportunity. The family-owned company was started in 1970 with a $600 loan and garage workshop. Today, it boasts 588 stores in 47 states and 13,000 full-time employees.

The owners are devout Christians who treat their employees extra well, donate a big hunk of their profits to charity, and are closed on Sundays. The issue being addressed in the Supreme Court case is the Obama administration's attempt to force Hobby Lobby's owners to provide abortion-inducing products that violate their religious beliefs.

Hobby Lobby's owners are not demanding for these products to be banned or that anyone (including employees or customers) be prohibited from buying or using them. Hobby Lobby's owners just do not want to insure items that violate their moral principles.

This same Obama argument is already being used against adoption service providers and against Catholic hospitals. But all that is only the beginning of Obama's direct attack on religion.

We are already seeing regiments of Obamaites prosecuting smaller and smaller business owners who invoke the First Amendment to be faithful to their religious beliefs. These include the baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage and the photographer who refused to photograph a same-sex marriage ceremony, although they were quite willing to do any other business with gay customers.

The supremacist judge who ruled against the photographer and imposed a fine pompously declared it "the price of citizenship." Has kowtowing to Obama's redefinition of the First Amendment now become the price of American citizenship and of doing business in the United States?

Since Obama became president, two other groups have joined his anti-religion campaign, the military and the public school system. Perhaps they want to curry favor with the commander-in-chief or with the grant-awarding bureaucrats in the Department of Education, or maybe they merely want to show they are politically correct.

Source

Free speech under attack at Harvard

The unspoken Fascism below is that the Left will always know what is right and just so there is no need for any discussion.  And yet they also tell us that there is no such thing as right and wrong.  So the prospect is for people with very messed-up heads to rule us

In its oft-cited Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, the American Association of University Professors declares that “Teachers are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results.” In principle, this policy seems sound: It would not do for academics to have their research restricted by the political whims of the moment.

Yet the liberal obsession with “academic freedom” seems a bit misplaced to me. After all, no one ever has “full freedom” in research and publication. Which research proposals receive funding and what papers are accepted for publication are always contingent on political priorities. The words used to articulate a research question can have implications for its outcome. No academic question is ever “free” from political realities. If our university community opposes racism, sexism, and heterosexism, why should we put up with research that counters our goals simply in the name of “academic freedom”?

Instead, I would like to propose a more rigorous standard: one of “academic justice.” When an academic community observes research promoting or justifying oppression, it should ensure that this research does not continue.

The power to enforce academic justice comes from students, faculty, and workers organizing together to make our universities look as we want them to do. Two years ago, when former summer school instructor Subramanian Swamy published hateful commentary about Muslims in India, the Harvard community organized to ensure that he would not return to teach on campus. I consider that sort of organizing both appropriate and commendable. Perhaps it should even be applied more broadly.

Does Government Professor Harvey Mansfield have the legal right to publish a book in which he claims that “to resist rape a woman needs … a certain ladylike modesty?” Probably. Do I think he should do that? No, and I would happily organize with other feminists on campus to stop him from publishing further sexist commentary under the authority of a Harvard faculty position. “Academic freedom” might permit such an offensive view of rape to be published; academic justice would not.

Source

Must not disrespect art history

What good is it?  Either you like a piece of art or you don't,  as far as I can see  -- JR

President Obama has apologized to art history professor Ann Collins Johns from the University of Texas at Austin. Johns had taken offense to the president's comments about the job prospects of art history majors last month, and sent him an email defending the academic merit of art history.

The president replied with a hand-written note, which shocked Johns, a self-described "Obama fan."

"Ann —

Let me apologize for my off-the-cuff remarks. I was making a point about the jobs market, not the value of art history. As it so happens, art history was one of my favorite subjects in high school, and it has helped me take in a great deal of joy in my life that I might otherwise have missed.

So please pass on my apology for the glib remark to the entire department, and understand that I was trying to encourage young people who may not be predisposed to a four year college experience to be open to technical training that can lead them to an honorable career.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama"

The offending remarks last month were spoken at a GE manufacturing plant as President Obama was trying to promote the manufacturing sector.

“Manufacturing jobs typically pay well,” he said. “We want to encourage more of them.”

And while some young people might not think of the skilled trades as a lucrative career, Obama added, they can probably earn more “than they might than [with] an art history degree.”

Art historians were not pleased with Obama's rhetoric.

Source

Upset mother buys all of store's 'indecent' T-shirts

That's fair enough but the fact that she plans to return them for a refund seems crooked

A mother upset about "indecent" T-shirts on display at a Utah mall found a quick if not especially convenient way to remove them: She bought every last one.

Judy Cox and her 18-year-old son were shopping Saturday at the University Mall in Orem, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, when she saw the shirts in the window of a PacSun store.

The shirts featured pictures of scantily dressed models in provocative poses.

Cox said she complained about the window display to a store manager and was told the T-shirts couldn't be taken down without approval from the corporate office. She then bought all 19 T-shirts in stock, for a total of $567. She says she plans to return them later, toward the end of the chain store's 60-day return period.

Orem is a city of about 90,000 in ultraconservative Utah County that uses the motto "Family City USA." Most residents belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which frowns on pornography and encourages its youth to dress and act modestly.

Cox met with Orem city attorney Greg Stephens on Tuesday to discuss whether the images on the T-shirts violated city code.

Source

More black racism


Glover, author of racial fantasies

Partisan political comments by Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day banquet in Dickson prompted a walkout by state Sen. Jim Summerville, who described a portion of her remarks as “racist” and “drivel.”

Glover was the keynote speaker at the Freedom Fund Banquet hosted by the Dickson County NAACP. Her wide-ranging remarks focused on the importance of education and its role in the “pursuit of justice in our democracy.”

She said there are many challenges ahead for African-Americans, among them high poverty, illiteracy and crime rates.

“Why do we need education? Because we pursue justice. We’re dealing with a selfish government and a cruel electorate,” Glover said. “One that’s not only yelling disrespect for our nation’s president, but has shown its downright disregard, disrespect and absolute disdain for our president, and has made his skin color the No. 1 judging criteria. God will never forgive America and neither should we.”

At that point, Summerville said, he got up and left. In an interview Monday night, he described that portion of Glover’s speech as racist.

“It is false. It is wrong. It is bigoted. It is racist. I won’t stand for it,” he said. “I don’t have to listen to such drivel.”

Source

Must not criticize  interracial marriage

Donny Reagan runs the Happy Valley Church of Jesus Christ in Johnson City, Tennessee. This weekend, he was marked as “the most racist pastor in America” for the video sermon shown below.

On its website, Happy Valley Church — which has an all-white, all-male staff and board of trustees — claims to be non-denominational but steeped in Pentecostal traditions.

Happy Valley Church and Reagan’s controversial sermon follow the teachings of one grand old man of the American Pentecostal movement, William Branham.

 Branham says that “Martin Luther King is communistic inspired, which is going to lead about a million people to a absolutely a death trap [sic],” and that segregation was good for minorities, and that “my coloured brothers and sisters in the South oughtn’t to rise up to arms against their brethren and things like over such a little thing as that.”

It’s that fraught kind of benevolent, quietist racism — a racism that sees itself as divinely inspired progressive kinship — that Reagan was saluting when he cited Branham in this new viral sermon:

“We realise that there’s a move in the message of blacks marrying whites, whites marrying blacks … and folks think it’s all right. But you know what? My God still has nationalities outside the city.

Branham ends up railing against hybreeding of all sorts, on the grounds that you don’t mess with the stable categories that God has set up for you:

The people would be better off if you’d just let them the way they are, the way God made them. Let the brown race marry the brown race, the white race marry the white race, the dark race, the yellow race and whatevermore, stay the way God made them.

Source

Only a few decades ago, views such as pastor Reagan's were normal -- and even legally enforced.  I have no time for any kind of legally enforced segregation but voluntary segregation happens all the time.  That being so, why not mention it and advocate it? 

Any white woman thinking of marrying what appears to be a high-quality black man might think of asking Nicole Brown Simpson about it.  Ooops! You can't, of course.

Some blacks are also critical of interracial marriage

Federally funded Medical Center censors Fox News

I imagine the only thing worse than being forced to watch CNN inside an airport terminal is being forced to watch it in a doctor’s office.

So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered a Michigan health care facility, funded by federal tax dollars, blocked Fox News Channel from its waiting room television sets.

The president of Family Health Care directed staff to block Fox News after a board member complained about our network’s coverage of the Affordable Care Act, an employee told me.

“The board member complained that patients were turning the channel to Fox News,” said the employee who asked not to be identified for reasons related to the unemployment line. “They are pro-ObamaCare and they felt (Fox’s) stance did not mesh with our stance.”

Family Health Care is a private, non-profit business that operates community health centers in five Michigan towns. According to the employee, the health centers have ObamaCare facilitators on site to help people apply for the program.

The employee provided me a copy of an internal office memorandum that confirms the home of “Fair & Balanced” news is blocked.

“A while ago Kathy Sather had asked all sites not to air the Fox News channel on the public waiting room TV’s,” wrote a network manager in an email to staff members on Feb. 4. “Today I blocked the channel on both the medical and dental waiting rooms.”

Sather is president of Family Health Care.

“I did check with staff and they mentioned often the visitors are changing channels on the TV’s,” the network manager wrote. “I now have both TV’s blocking that channel, so the public won’t be able to change the station. If anyone asks for the TV to be put on that channel please let them know we cannot air that channel.”

That edict didn’t set well with the employee who contacted me.

“I feel like we are being manipulated,” the employee said. “Who are they to say you can’t watch something? If the patient wants to put on Fox they should be able to put on Fox.”

Back in Michigan, the employee told me Sather’s explanation is a bunch of “baloney.”

The employee said that there were no complaints from patients – only a board member of the organization.

“It’s all very politically correct,” the employee said. “This complaint thing is baloney. They don’t want anyone to get the idea that affordable care is not good.”

Source

Australian private High School sacks rowing head coach David Bellamy over slang

Seeing that the word in question was my nickname in the army, I can't see what the fuss is about.  It's basically a jocular term, not offensive -- JR

ONE of Queensland’s elite private schools has sacked its director of rowing in a ­bizarre sex-talk scandal.

David Bellamy, one of Australia’s most respected coaches, was dismissed by Brisbane Boys’ College after telling rowers not to twirl their “wangas”: slang for ­penises.

Bellamy also admitted using “theatrical body movements” and waving his finger in front of his trousers to mimic a penis as he spoke to 50 rowers and coaches on January 14.

Headmaster Graeme McDonald told staff of his dismissal in an email on February 11.

Angry parents have rushed to Bellamy’s support, saying the incident was blown out of proportion and his dismissal an injustice.

Bellamy declined to ­comment, but friends with intimate knowledge of the affair said he used the word humorously when giving the boys a serious warning not to repeat the sexual pranks that had marred a previous rowing camp.

There was laughter when Bellamy told the boys: “It doesn’t matter whether you believe every wife out there has had a wanga waved at them by their husband.

“It doesn’t matter what you believe is appropriate. It doesn’t even matter what I believe is appropriate. “What matters is that the headmaster of BBC does not consider this appropriate ­behaviour.’’

SOURCE

"Bankrupt"? No, say EU language police, it's "debt adjusted"

The EU is trying to erase ‘bankruptcy’ from the English language and replace it with the term ‘debt adjustment’.

A drive by Brussels to remove the ‘stigma’ of going bust would include a ban on the word, which has been in use in Britain since the mid-16th Century.

It raises the bizarre prospect of businessmen who run into financial trouble having to say: ‘Bad news. I’ve been declared debt adjusted.’

The idea is being considered as part of wider reforms to harmonise financial arrangements across the EU, including making it less troublesome to open bank accounts in different countries and easier to escape from debt and be ‘given a second chance’.

Italian Mr d’Alcala believes the word carries such a potent stigma  that individuals who have suffered it struggle to persuade banks to lend them money to fund new ventures. If the terminology is changed, he thinks, creditors are more likely to be forthcoming.

But Tory MP Brooks Newmark, a member of the Commons Treasury Committee, described the move as ‘another flawed, madcap scheme by Brussels’. He said last night: ‘This shows just how intellectually bankrupt – sorry, debt adjusted – the European Union has become.’

Source

Must not show Obama kicking a door



On October 17, 2013, an email to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) listserv was sent out including the phrase “Honestly midterms get out of here” and a link to a .GIF showing a clip from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The clip contained footage from a Barack Obama press conference that had been digitally altered to show the president leave by aggressively kicking a door.

A complaint relating to this image was made under SSMU’s Equity Policy. According to the policy, SSMU equity officers are responsible for investigating complaints and making recommendations, which can include letters of apology or dismissal from a position within the SSMU. Per Section 11.5 of the policy, “Recommendations for resolution made by the Equity Officers shall be considered binding unless two-thirds of Legislative Council votes against them.”

Two weeks ago, SSMU’s VP Internal Brian Farnan sent out a message stating, in part, “The image in question was an extension of the cultural, historical and living legacy surrounding people of color – particularly young men – being portrayed as violent in contemporary culture and media. By using this particular image of President Obama, I unknowingly perpetuated this living legacy and subsequently allowed a medium of SSMU’s communication to become the site of a microaggression; for this, I am deeply sorry.”

This apology was the outcome of an investigation under the Equity Policy. According to the McGill Tribune, “The apology has received widespread attention, much of it critical.”

Source

Must not hand out nail files and mirrors as swag

As Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs found out last weekend, wooing potential new talent with 'freebies' can be awkward business sometimes.

At a Harvard University conference aimed at female graduates interested in computer science, the bank handed out goodie bags featuring a number of arguably sexist 'swags'.

On top of the usual pen and notepads, attendees were given pocket mirrors and nail files with the Goldman Sachs logo, presumably as part of the company's strategy to lure more female programmers into the fold.

At least one attendee found this curious, and posted a picture of the branded freebies on Instagram with the caption, “Not sure if this is #sexyfeminism or gender stereotyping.”

Yuqi Hou's instagram was picked up by various news outlets, including the New York Times, which clarified that in addition to the vanity items, Goldman Sachs also provided T-shirts and key chains to hold headphone cords.

According to an annonymous spokesperson, the company was apparently 'encouraged' by organisers to "bring goodies that would appeal to a female audience".

To Goldman's credit, a swift apology was issued: “We are strong supporters of efforts to recruit and retain women in technology. We apologise if the gifts gave anyone offense."

Source

Teaching How to Beat Polygraphs Can Land You in Jail

Last September, Chad Dixon was sentenced to 8 months in a federal prison for teaching clients counter-measures for polygraph tests. Federal prosecutors charged Dixon with obstructing justice—they view his business as undermining an important tool used to check the credibility of government employees and prosecute criminals.

The information Dixon was selling wasn’t new. Books on beating polygraphs have been around since the machines were invented. So why is the federal government cracking down now?

In an effort to stop the next Edward Snowden, officials are emphasizing polygraphs’ ability to prevent leaks by keeping employees honest. The NSA has recently gone from polygraphing its employees once every five years to four times a year.

Relying on polygraphs is extremely risky according to most scientists. “There is no unique physiological signature that is associated with lying,” says Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. Polygraphs can only record physiological responses to situations and, Aftergood explains, you can train yourself to control those responses: "You can learn to regulate your heartbeat, you can learn to control your breath, and you can generate spurious signals.”

Supporters of polygraphs believe that up-to-date machines and well-trained operators can detect lies, making the counter-measures Dixon was teaching obsolete. “We’re trained in all those type of counter-measures,” says Darryl DeBow of the Virginia Polygraph School. “They are so antiquated, we know when they are doing it.” Yet if the counter-measures can easily be detected, it throws doubt on the argument that Dixon was hindering the federal government’s work.

Source

No free speech about polygraphs, it seems

More black hate speech


Scott

Last night on Fox News' Hannity, Republican Senator Tim Scott responded to North Carolina NAACP Leader William Barber after he doubled down on comments he made calling Scott a "dummy." Fox News Contributor, radio host and tea party leader David Webb traveled to North Carolina over the weekend to confront Barber, who refused to apologize. In addition, supporters of Barber laughed out loud at the idea Barber's comments were inappropriate. National leaders at the NAACP have refused to comment, despite Scott being the first African-American Senator since Reconstruction.

Scott also said the left's self appointment as the compassionate side of the political aisle is "inconsistent with reality."

Source

‘F*ck Shirley Temple’: Lefties bash late Republican star, smear her as ‘roaring racist’

Just read the hate-tweets here.  My stomach is not up to reproducing the words of these vile people

Below is something nicer  -- an image of her with someone we all know

Only one opinion about homosexuality permissible

Following the historic coming out of Division I college football player Michael Sam, the social media backlash was both predictable and horrifying. However, one college athlete is now experiencing the repercussions of what can happen when you choose to be homophobic on Twitter.

Kent State wrestler Sam Wheeler has reportedly been suspended from the university's team after taking to Twitter to voice his feelings about Sam's decision to publicly come out.

Through Wheeler's Twitter account has since been deleted, Outrage DC managed to take a screen capture of the initial statements.



Following outrage over Wheeler's anti-gay tweets and subsequent suspension, the university issued a statement from KSU Director of Athletics Joel Nielsen.

“We are aware of the insensitive tweets by one of our student athletes," Nielsen stated. "On behalf of Kent State University, we consider these comments to be ignorant and not indicative of the beliefs held by our university community as a whole. This is an educational opportunity for all of our student-athletes.”

Source

Black criminality must not be mentioned



Controversy struck a member of Team Australia on the currently running "Ultimate Fighter: Nations" season this weekend, and it's now cost him a future with the UFC.

Tyler Manawaroa, who is currently on the airing season on Fox Sports 1 on Team Australia, posted a racist photo to Instagram some 18 months ago that went unseen by the UFC until this weekend, when one of his fellow competitors outed the picture, along with the associated hashtags Manawaroa added which were even worse.

Manawaroa took to Facebook to apologize, removing the post and trying to pass it off as nothing more than an insensitive joke. His Facebook statement read:

"I posted a pic on instagram that has offended people..im very sorry !! As you can imagine that was never the intention. .as a dark skinned person myself who has delt with racism all my life ,I was making fun of the stereotype that all dark people go to jail..which is obviously not true....hence the irony...but I will remove it and I apologize for offending you."

That apology is too little too late for Manawaroa, who is currently still in the competition with episodes yet to air, as the UFC has released a statement saying they'll not be offering him a contract.

Source

Too much realism.  One third of black males spend some time in prison.  But black criminality must not be mentioned, of course.  Manawaroa appears to be of part Maori ancestry.

Must not mention disease among Africans in Israel

Back in May of 2012, neurologist Prof. Rafi Carasso was a guest on a morning show, where he went out of his way to warn against the health hazards posed by African illegals staying in Israel. Mind you, Carasso is no right winger—he went out of his way to explain that the fact that the high percentage of illegal Sudanese and Eritreans infected with tuberculosis, AIDS and Hepatitis B is not their fault.

Nevertheless, he warned that when these illegal workers wash dishes and cook food in restaurants, the public health risks are enormous.

Prof. Carasso also mentioned a frightening phenomenon whereby a full 50% of patients testing positive for AIDS are Sudanese, and that once they’re tested, they disappear from the clinic and cannot be traced.

So far, this has been a story about a dedicated Israeli medical professional, sounding the alarm about the very serious health risks stemming from the illegal African population in Israel.

It’s obvious that the good professor’s PC friends and had been assaulting him for daring to suggest a connection between third world Africans and health risks colleagues (most notably “Doctors for Human Rights,” which accused him of “contributing dangerously to the hate and violence speech that’s already out there”).

How dare he spread vile accusations against this helpless population, and so on, you know the drill.

Source

Homosexuals as the new gods

Apparently, all new Chevy ads must include at least one gay couple.

And if that bothers you, you’re a homophobe bigot whose religion denied women the vote and backed slavery. And any number of Facebook Crusaders are lurking about waiting to tell you that.

The new orthodoxy is on the march and if you don’t clap loud enough you will be handled like a North Korean uncle.

The new test of social acceptance in America is how enthusiastically you embrace all things gay. First it was sitcoms, now it’s Chevys, and while anchors gravely wonder if coming out as gay will hurt a young football player’s draft prospects, we all know it will help him, and will make him a lot of money.

Homosexuals have gone from persecuted to protected to privileged, and the swinging pendulum has just smashed conservative Christians right in the face. And while we watch an Olympics hosted by a country that functionally denies freedom of the press, religion, speech and assembly – to say nothing of free and fair elections – our outrage is exclusively limited to restrictions on homosexuals.

And even in our upset with the Russians at their anti-gay laws we are illogical. While Russia is certainly not polite to its gay citizens, it’s nothing like the 80-some nations around the Muslim and African world where homosexuality is totally illegal and sometimes punishable by death.

We bash Russia for its laws, and funnel untold U.S. government aid to dozens of nations that are dramatically worse.

It’s illogical.

Just like the belief that you can sell more cars by offending the social and religious sensibilities of almost half of Americans. With gay marriage legalized by courts and voters in 17 states – and specifically forbidden by voters in 29 states – the notion that it is mainstream enough to be embraced in an advertisement for a mass-appeal product like an automobile is insane.

Source

Must not have all-male comedy shows in Britain

All-male comedy panel shows will be consigned to the history books, after BBC bosses told producers that female guests must now be involved with the programmes.

Danny Cohen, BBC director of television, this week promised a better gender mix on such shows as Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which typically comprise all-male panels.

The move is part of a drive by the BBC Trust to address gender imbalance on our television screens.

BBC entertainment controller Mark Linsey said: 'Comedy panel shows are always better for having a good mix of people and of course that must include women.

'I’m making it clear to production teams that there’s just no excuse for delivering all male guest lists.'

Meanwhile, Lee Mack, who is a team captain on BBC1’s Would I Lie To You?, said men are better suited to being stand-up comedians as they are more competitive - and therefore dominate TV panel shows as a result.

Speaking on Desert Island Discs last September, Mack said: ‘When men sit around and talk, they are very competitive. One person will tell an anecdote and the next person will try to top that. When you get six women together, they share a lot more.

'They will be far more interested in what the other person has to say. The conservation is more interactive and less about individually showing off.’

The 45-year-old, who wrote and starred in the BBC1 sitcom Not Going Out, added: ‘The problem isn’t that there’s not enough women in panel games.  'The problem is there’s not enough women in comedy in general.’

Source

Jerry Seinfeld, the Racist?

How refreshing the sound of a top-flight celebrity fearlessly shrugging off the idiocy of political correctness! The other day, on CBS This Morning, an interviewer pointed out to Jerry Seinfeld that most of the guests he’s had on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, his online series on which he has automotive tête-à-têtes with fellow practitioners of the stand-up art (and the occasional just-plain-funny person), have been white males. “Oh, this really pisses me off,” replied a bracingly honest Seinfeld, who plainly saw where his fatuous interlocutor was headed. After a bit of back and forth, the comic spelled out just how he feels about the application of this kind of absurd bean-counting to matters of entertainment: “People think it’s the census or something. Its got to represent the actual pie chart of America. Who cares?…I have no interest in gender or race….It’s anti-comedy…It’s PC nonsense.”

The attacks on Seinfeld for these purportedly insensitive remarks began materializing almost at once. A contributor to the Gawker website, who sneeringly called Seinfeld a “maker of comedy for and about white people,” represented him as having indicated that he “isn’t interested in trying to include non-white anything in his work” and that in his view “any comedian who is not a white male is also not funny.” Having read the entire Gawker article, I strongly suspect that this characterization of Seinfeld, far from being deliberately deceitful, was in fact an honest reflection of the author’s utter inability to grasp the concept of colorblindedness.

Source

Policeman sues his police force for racial discrimination after colleagues refer to Romany gypsies as 'travellers'

Since they do tend to live in trailers it just sounds like an accurate description to me. 

"Pikey" is however derogatory. It originally referred to Gypsies but now can be used to refer to any low and presumably criminal person.  British law does however make use of the term an offence

A policeman is suing his bosses after colleagues allegedly offended him by referring to Romany people as 'travellers'.

Jim Davies, an Englishman of Romany descent, accuses police staff of using the word 'pikey' to describe other members of the Romany community.

The speed enforcement officer is suing Thames Valley Police for racial discrimination over the use of the terms.

He outlined his case at a preliminary hearing today, where a panel is set to rule which parts of his evidence will be admissable at the full tribunal.

The officer, who lives in Brackley, Northamptonshire, told the hearing in reading that he was offended by hearing Romany people described as 'travellers'.

He claimed the term had been 'institutionalised' at the force over the 20 years he has worked there, and was a discriminatory reference to his own ethnicity.

Source

Nazi strip show outrage in Canberra, Australia

Even mocking Hitler is unsafe

ORGANISERS of the Fringe Festival have defended a free public performance held in Civic on Friday night that featured a performer in a Nazi-style uniform and wearing a Hitler moustache who stripped down to her underwear, amid claims it was anti-Semitic.

ACT opposition multicultural affairs spokeswoman Giulia Jones said the burlesque performance, which allegedly also featured a man pretending to masturbate, was offensive.

She called on Multicultural Affairs Minister Joy Burch to explain how approval was given to spend government funds on support for a show that, in her view, was offensive and racist.

"There were lots of kids around at the time, there were families," Ms Jones said. "The real issue we need to know is how the minister thought it would be acceptable to hold a show with Nazi references within the footprint of the multicultural festival where we had Jewish, German and other stalls nearby?"

The director of the show - titled Die Fringe Burlesk! - Jorian Gardner, said he apologised if anyone took offence but the whole point of the event was to be edgy, and screening meant the show was not directly visible from Civic Square.

"We had a girl dressed up in a fuehrer's outfit and she had gold wings - and I'm not sure Hitler had wings - and she danced around with a Hitler accent," Mr Gardner said.

"If anything it was making fun of Hitler; it was not anti-Semitic in any way shape or form, and everyone who was here was having a laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

"Often with satire it's subjective, I guess, and in this case I think most of the audience saw it was a funny satirical skit, nothing else."

Mr Gardner said it had been the biggest night in the festival's history, and he had not received a single complaint from the jubilant crowd.

"We've given fair warning … of the risque nature of the show; no one can say we haven't promoted it. If people are coming to a burlesque show and a comedy show, they need to know what they're up for and that comedy could push the boundaries. You've got to deal with it."

SOURCE

Must not mention black food preferences

A California school is under fire after planning a Black History Month lunch menu that included fried chicken, cornbread and watermelon.

The planned menu at Carondelet High School for Girls, a private institution in Concord, was met with outrage from students and parents, according to NBC Bay Area.

School Principal Nancy Libby said the items will be removed from the menu, and the campus will hold a diversity assembly for faculty and students.

"I'd like to apologize for the announcement and any hurt this caused students, parents or community members," Libby said in an apology letter. "Please know that at no time at Carondelet do we wish to perpetrate racial stereotypes."

Source

Judge: Flashing Headlights To Warn of Speedtraps Is Protected by the First Amendment

In 2012, Missouri resident Michael Elli was pulled over and handed a $1,000 ticket for passing along just such a warning to motorists about a speedtrap. While the charges were dropped, he promptly sued Ellisville, Missouri, for its speech-discouraging ways.

Yesterday, he won.

U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Autrey pointed out (PDF) in his decision that Ellisville's ordinance forbidding any sort of flashing of lights by vehicles other than buses directly contradicts Missouri Department of Revenue (which licenses vehicles in the state) advice that lights should be flashed to signal emergencies. More importantly, people have the right to communicate with each other on the road.

Defendant suggested that flashing head lamps might be illegal interference with a police investigation; however, the expressive conduct at issue sends a message to bring one’s driving in conformity with the law—whether it be by slowing down, turning on one’s own headlamps at dusk or in the rain, or proceeding with caution... Even assuming, arguendo, that Plaintiff or another driver is communicating a message that one should slow down because a speed trap is ahead and discovery or apprehension is impending, that conduct is not illegal.

Ellisville officials promised, cross their hearts and hope to die, that they would stop enforcing their law against First Amendment protected speech. Judge Autrey found that unconvincing.

Elli is represented by the ACLU of Missouri, which seeks to have the injunction made permanent—and the lesson that motorists can warn each other about speedtraps if they damned well please shared with law enforcement everywhere.

Source

Indian student sues for £100,000 compensation for hurt feelings after box of crayons contained a pink one labelled ‘skin’ colour

"An Indian law student is demanding £100,000 compensation after claiming that his feelings had been hurt by a 'racist' pink children's crayon sold by one of India's largest stationery manufacturers.

Chirayu Jain, 19, who is studying at the National Law School of India University said he was shocked when he opened up the box of crayons to discover that the lighter pink crayon had been labelled 'skin'.

In the complaint he said: 'On opening the box, I discovered that the 'special skin crayon' was of a shade that did not match my own skin colour.

'It is both insensitive and inconsiderate to label one particular shade as 'skin colour' in a market where a majority of the consumers have skin tones that are either dark or at least different from the shade described as 'skin' by the company.'

He said he had contacted the maker of the 'Colorama' crayons - Hindustan Pencils Ltd - and had demanded an explanation but said he had not been given one.

Instead he was told that they had always called it that, and had no plans to change it.

He said: 'I believe that such a crayon will reinforce stereotypes about racial supremacy. It is written on the box of crayons that they are meant for four-year-old children. What impact will it have on these young minds when they realise that their skin colour is not recognised? Won't it reinforce the notions of beauty that fairness products or films seek to impose when they realise that their skin colour is not one that is regarded as the norm?'

Source

He overlooks the fact the the crayon did not say WHOSE skin it matched.  There is in fact a wide range of skin colors in India  -- from black at one end to what they call "wheaten" at the other.

A judge should point to a range of differently colored Indians and ask which one is the "right" skin color.  That would be fun.

The firing of a critic



A major topic of debate in England at the moment is the action of the England Cricket Board in firing their best batsman, Kevin Pietersen.  As one writer wrote:

"For the ECB to take the astonishing step of removing England’s finest player, without citing a shred of supporting evidence for any sackable offence, is as arrogant as it is absurd. Downton’s shambling statement – “the time is right not only to rebuild the team but also team ethic and philosophy” – is one even The Thick Of It scriptwriters would have struggled to contrive."

Paul Downton is the managing director of the ECB

What appears to have sealed Pietersen's fate was his criticism of the England team's coach while they were playing their disastrous recent series in Australia.  In a rational world, a losing team SHOULD be critical of their direction.  But serious criticism was in fact seen as disruptive.

One thing mostly going unmentioned is that Pietersen is South African.  The England team these days would be nothing without its frequent recourse to South African players so maybe a bit of resentment of that is coming out.  South African whites are keen to play for England as "affirmative action" discriminates against them in their homeland.

 

Must not joke about unisex bathrooms

The leader of the Utah Senate and another state lawmaker are apologizing Monday after tweets sent from their accounts that morning were criticized as homophobic and insensitive.

Senate President Wayne Niederhauser says an intern whose job includes tweeting on the senator's behalf used the platform to direct jibes at Lehi Republican Rep. Jake Anderegg.

Anderegg earlier on Twitter joked he considered switching his gender identity in order to use an unoccupied women's restroom. The tweet referred to another lawmaker's proposal that would bar transgender students from using the bathroom they prefer but would require schools to make another restroom available should the student's family request it.

Both lawmakers apologized Monday after criticism from LGBT rights advocates and others. Anderegg in a tweet called his prior comments "totally inappropriate."

Source

Beards are racist?

2013 was a landmark year for men’s facial hair. From flamboyant beards to the proliferation of “old-fashioned” shops, evidence of the trend abounds, embracing groups as diverse as the Boston Red Sox, the men of Movember, and the Robertsons of Duck Dynasty. In dens of hipsterdom, one can hardly throw a PBR without hitting a waxed moustache.

This is not the first time in recent memory that American men have sprouted facial hair in great numbers.

In an 1853 Punch magazine sketch satirizing the "beard movement," an old lady is approached by helpful railway guards and "concludes she is attacked by Brigands."

The beards of the mid-1800s were different from earlier styles of facial hair, including the mutton chops sported by Presidents John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren. They were more unruly than the waxed mustaches and “wreath beards” of the 1820s, trends that had been inspired by the French aristocrat Count d’Orsay. Mid-19th-century facial hair was big and robust, reflecting a near-total independence from scissors and razor.

At first, these untamed beards proved controversial. Many Americans continued to harbor 18th-century fears that beards marked maniacs, fanatics, and dissimulators. But by the late antebellum period, they were more widely accepted, thanks partly to a strenuous public relations campaign that reimagined the beard as a symbol of white, masculine supremacy.

A 21-part series in Boston’s Daily Evening Transcript, published in late 1856, was typical of such efforts. In these wide-ranging articles, pro-beard polemicists argued that the beard represented a rugged and robust ideal of manhood, proving white Americans’ dominion over “lesser” men and “inferior” races.

An anonymous “lady on beards,” writing in an 1856 issue of the New York Tribune, made the case even more succinctly. The “bearded races,” she proclaimed, “are the conquering races.” And in “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman transformed the case for beards into poetry: “Washes and razors for foofoos … for me freckles and a bristling beard.”

These appeals were especially persuasive at a time when America was in an active period of exploration and invasion, ranging from the U.S.-Mexican War to the ongoing Indian relocation and genocide. These projects were aimed primarily at peoples whom white Americans believed to be incapable of growing facial hair.

Source

Coca-Cola stirs up 'race' storm with Super Bowl ad

In the wake of a Super Bowl advertisement that featured the song America The Beautiful in seven languages, the American soft drink giant appears to have sparked a race war.

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck said the ad was intentionally divisive.  “It's in your face, and if you don't like it, if you're offended by it, you're a racist. If you do like it, you're for immigration. You're for progress. That's all this is: to divide people,” he said.

The ad was also attacked by conservative critics because it features a gay couple hugging their daughter.

First to vent their fury were the Twitterati, with the hashtag #BoycottCoke outpacing #AmericaTheBeautiful before the final whistle had been blown on the Super Bowl.

"America The Beautiful in a language other than English is just wrong,” said one furious Tweeter. “Couldn't make out that song they were singing. I only speak English,” said another.

Others displayed stunning ignorance, lambasting Coke for "desecrating” the US national anthem. America The Beautiful is a patriotic song written by Katherine Lee Bates in 1895. The US national anthem is The Star Spangled Banner.

“If we cannot be proud enough as a country to sing America the Beautiful in English in a commercial during the Super Bowl, by a company as American as they come, doggone we are on the road to perdition,” one Republican politician-turned-pundit, Allen West, said.

Source

Pushing multiculturalism down people's necks is clearly not popular.  But at least you are allowed to complain -- for the moment.  Why should one view of multiculturalism be attacked and insulted while another is enshined as unshakeably right?  Putnam's studies show that people are much more comfortable among their own kind.  Surely you should be allowed to express that  -- and vote for it.

UPDATE:

Matt Walsh says that the "backlash" against the commercial is mainly a Leftist fiction and that for most  people it was just another boring advertisement to put up with. 

Nonetheless, if I were running Pepsi, I think I would have advertisements out by now saying "We back America" or the like.

Homosexual show bombs

Sean may have saved the world, but he couldn’t save his own show. NBC has halted production on the freshman comedy Sean Saves the World, even though it still had an order in for five more episodes.

NBC requested a total of 18 episodes — 13 of which have already aired — of the comedy that stars Sean Hayes as a divorced gay dad. Two of the remaining five have already been shot. It’s unclear whether they will ever air.

At the Television Critics Tour earlier this month in Pasadena, CA., Sean Saves the World along with the other low-rated comedy The Michael J. Fox Show were notably absent from the network’s prime-time lineup hype reel. Most recently, the two comedies only earned a mere .7 rating in 18-49 during a special showing on Jan. 23.

Source

Did NBC think to ask  how most people feel about homosexuality?

Must not say that geeks wear glasses

Supermarket giant Tesco has removed a range of clothes featuring pictures of animals wearing spectacles and the words 'nerd' and 'geek' after a mum complained they would cause her toddler son with eye problems to be bullied.

Aneliese Whittaker, 28, of Ifield, Surrey, launched a campaign demanding the t-shirts be pulled from sale claiming they 'stereotype' people who wear glasses - including 18-month-old Logan.

Logan was born with dense cataracts in both eyes and wears thick 'goggle-like' blue-rimmed specs with powerful prescription lenses.

Miss Whittaker says she was outraged when she saw Tesco selling a range of t-shirts which featured pictures of different animals wearing glasses - and the words ‘geek’ or ‘nerd’ underneath.

She said the design would see her son and other visually-impaired youngsters bullied and launched a Facebook campaign demanding their removal from shelves.

Tesco has now issued an apology to Aneliese and say they are discontinuing the entire line.

Aneliese said: 'Logan is regularly teased by other children for his goggle-like glasses and this is all before he has even stepped foot in the playground.

'Luckily he’s too young to understand he looks different to other children with his glasses, but this Tesco range is really disturbing.

Logan was born with dense cataracts in both eyes and wears thick blue-rimmed glasses with powerful prescription lenses

She wrote: 'Tesco can you please tell me why it is acceptable to sell children’s clothes that have pictures of animals wearing glasses with the word NERD / GEEK on them?

'It’s ‘fashion’ statements like this that give children the negative associations to glasses

Source 

University of Minnesota Proposes Banning Mention of Race in Campus Crime Alerts

One guess why

The University of Minnesota is considering a proposal that would ban descriptions of a suspect's race or ethnicity in campus crime alerts.

From Campus Reform:

In a December 6, 2013 letter to UM President Eric Kaler and the Vice President of University Services Pamela Wheelock, several black student, faculty, and staff groups wrote that they "unanimously agree that campus safety should be of the UMPD's utmost importance; however, efforts to reduce crime should never be at the expense of our Black men, or any specific group of people likely to be targeted."

The letter included a list of 12 recommendations to give to UMPD Chief Gregory Hestness, such as requiring the school’s officers to attend diversity training and linking back to the school’s no-tolerance policy on racial profiling with each crime alert.

There is some sanity on campus, however. Wheelock has stated that she does not agree with the proposal to remove racial descriptions from crime alerts.

 “I firmly believe that a well-informed community is an asset to public safety…I believe that sharing more information in our Crime Alerts, not less, is most beneficial in terms of public safety, especially when that information is available.

This proposal is ridiculous. Student safety is more important than students getting their feelings hurt. The administrators behind the letter have mixed up "racial profiling"--thinking someone committed a crime because of their skin tone--with another process generally accepted as "being able to identify a suspect." A crime alert is useless without a full description of a subject. I have a hard time believing that students on campus are overly concerned with the race of a person committing a crime on campus when they are far likely more concerned with avoiding being a victim of a crime.

SOURCE

Must not depict the  hijab

Photos of women depicted wearing hijabs have been pulled from an forthcoming art exhibition in Melbourne's CBD.  The Platform art gallery in the Degraves Street underpass made a last-minute call on Monday to exclude the photo collection, claiming its representations of hijabs could imply disempower women.

The photos at the centre of issue show women with hair draped around their necks and faces to resemble the Islamic veil.

Australian expat artist Catherine Lane had been booked to exhibit her photo series on feminine beauty at the Platform art space on January 31, until gallery directors pulled the pin.  Lane, 25, was told the gallery directors believed her work was "putting forward the position that all women who wear the hijab are not empowered".

She said her artwork aimed to explore the cultural parallels between women of all backgrounds.

Gallery director Angela Brophy did not answer questions about why she thought the photos could be construed as offensive, but provided a statement saying they had the potential to be misread

The Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights' Tasneem Chopra said this was not the first time the hijab had been a divisive issue.  But it could be culturally dangerous when artists drew on minority community symbolism, she said.

Source

Leftist hate speech slapped down

In case you missed it earlier this week, a tweet sent out on the official MSNBC Twitter page accused the "right wing" of hating biracial families.

After backlash, the tweet was quickly deleted. MSNBC tried to backtrack, saying this "isn't who they are," but they aren't fooling anyone. This is exactly who they are. Remember this? When Melissa Harris-Perry and her show panel mocked Mitt Romney's African-American grandson Kieran? When panelist and actress Pia Glenn sang "one of these things is not the same" about baby Kieran? Harris-Perry eventually issued an apology.

Twitchy quickly jumped on MSNBC's latest moment of bigotry this week prompting conservative columnist Michelle Malkin (and Twitchy founder), who is part of a biracial family, to create the hashtag #MyRightWingBiracialFamily.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus sent a letter to MSNBC President Phil Griffin yesterday demanding a personal apology and banned all employees and people associated with the RNC from appearing on MSNBC programs until the apology was made. Just a few short hours after the letter was sent, an apology from Griffin was read on air at the network by Ari Melber.

Source

Russian TV channel under fire over Leningrad siege question

Soviet propaganda lives on

Someone at Dozhd TV, a popular independent television channel, thought that the eve of the 70th anniversary this week of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad would be a good time to get its viewers' opinions on a simple question: "Should Leningrad have been surrendered to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people?"

Wrong question.

World War II is a sacred subject in Russia, where it is known as the Great Patriotic War. It's not a topic that invites examination or scepticism. The facts, as understood in Russia, are that the Soviet people, through tremendous and heroic sacrifice, saved their country and the rest of the world from the Nazis. The story of Leningrad - today's St Petersburg - is part of that understanding.

Moving beyond those facts, which are largely correct, is not welcome.

Leningrad endured a siege by the German army that lasted 900 days, from 1941 to 1944. As many as 900,000 people died - 1000 per day - most from starvation and exposure. The siege left the city a shambles.

Outrage, much of it calculated, has poured down upon Dozhd since Sunday.  Irina Yarovaya, a member of parliament from the ruling United Russia party, called the survey an "attempt to rehabilitate Nazism," the Interfax news agency reported.  Other politicians accused the station of extremism, a crime in Russia.

Cable operators are dropping Dozhd from their packages. The Russian agency in charge of mass communications plans to issue a formal warning.

As if on cue, the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office, which called the question "blasphemous," said it "is carrying out an inquiry concerning possible violations - whether or not the TV channel overstepped the border of what is acceptable ahead of the memorable date of the breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad."

Russian official history doesn't care to dwell on the more horrifying aspects of the siege: cannibalism, families abandoning children, children abandoning parents. It isn't appropriate here to wonder whether Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who never liked the city, was trying to punish it by not doing more to lift the siege.

Maybe these were questions Dozhd had in mind, but the survey was quickly pulled from the website, and editor-in-chief Mikhail Zygar apologised. The station says it won't fire anyone over the survey. A few stalwart members of the opposition have come to its defence, on the grounds that simply asking such a question cannot be a legal offence, even in Russia.

"Closing the channel would demonstrate a profound contempt for those who want to compare different sources of information," wrote former politician Irina Khakamada on the Dozhd website.

Source

'The elderly' is now wrong

Town Hall chiefs have banned staff from using the term ‘the elderly’ and suggested ‘older people’ as an alternative.

According to Respect, a 31-page booklet handed out to 5,000 employees at Denbighshire County Council in North Wales, the word elderly is an ‘unacceptable’ phrase.

Similarly, an office is not manned but staffed, dinner ladies should be referred to as catering staff, workmen are workers, headmaster is head teacher, chairman is chairperson and a child or youngster is a younger person.

The booklet, produced in Welsh and English, told staff: ‘We should not make assumptions based on someone's age.  'Being older in the UK carries views of being worn out and of little use, it is also used as a term of abuse.

It added: 'The terms love, dear, pet may be considered offensive by some people, particularly women and should not be used.

Source

The terms love, dear, pet etc ('honey' or 'hun' in Southern USA)  have come under attack before.  It shows how mean-minded people are who want to ban affectionate language.  I think it's great when people address one-another that way.

There is a really funny variant in parts of the English Midlands.  Women there address one another as "m'dook" (My duck).