Spontaneous joke condemned

During the live show in Johannesburg, Clarkson accidentally shoots an audience member with a paintball gun.

As the unfortunate victim is led away for treatment, Clarkson admits: 'I thought he was a burglar,' when James May replies 'was that a member of the audience you just shot in the bathroom, no, then it can't have been a burglar then, can it?'

Several members of the audience were filming proceedings on their mobile phones and some footage of the incident has been uploaded on YouTube.

Some of the audience can be heard laughing nervously after the poor-taste joke was made.

The three presenters had just finished a stunt involving racing around the auditorium on chariots pulled by several mopeds while trying to shoot each other with paintball guns. 

Oscar Pistorius told police that he had thought his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was a burglar in the bathroom of his luxury house when he gunned her down on Valentine's Day, 2013.

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WALMART Refuses To Bake A Confederate Flag Cake But Has No Problem Creating An Islamic State (ISIS) Terrorist Black Flag Cake



Chuck Netzhammer went to Walmart to get an edible image cake printed with the Confederate flag. Walmart denied his request, citing company policy, but accepted the Islamic State ISIS Black Flag of Jihad. Netzhammer then shared a video of his ordeal on YouTube, writing:

On 06/25/15 I attempted to get an Edible image cake printed with the confederate flag image on it at Walmart. It was denied. The next day I had them do the same for the ISIS battle flag image I brought to them. They cheerfully did it. and sold me my ISIS cake.

WTF Walmart! ISIS is beheading Christians, selling little girls into slavery, and is currently a terrorist org at war with the United States……..but you can’t buy the General Lee toy car at Walmart? It’s a damn shame.

The Islamic Stat (ISIS) has again been in the news recently following an onslaught of seemingly coordinated Muslim terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia, and Kuwait on Thursday.

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After publicity, Walmart of course backed down, saying the ISIS cake was a mistake made by an employee. No corporate guidance?  Corporate guidance for Confederate flag only?

Ban the Stars and Stripes too?

Now that Walmart, eBay and Amazon, three of the world’s largest retailers, have said they will stop selling merchandise bearing the Confederate flag, can we finally accept that those ostentatious displays of ‘free speech’ solidarity after the Charlie Hebdo killings were an utter fraud?

The clamour to denounce the flag, following the church massacre in South Carolina, is grimly ironic. While we in the mature, secular West are easily prone to stereotype Muslims as volatile, sensitive souls who are likely to get murderously enraged at any representation of the Prophet Muhammad, we now seem to subscribe to the notion that the mere sight of a flag has the capacity to transform the average American into a fanatical, gun-toting killer.

‘Je Suis Charlie’ was but a mere passing fad. The proper motto of our age is ‘I believe in freedom of expression, but…’. We live in hyper-cautious times, in which all are deemed imperilled by images that might make us lose our rational faculties. To use that mealy-mouthed word, it could rightly be deemed ‘inappropriate’ to have the Confederate flag on a state building. But on toy cars? This all-too-familiar, hollow grandstanding demeans us all.

The Confederate flag may represent racism and slavery to some, but if we’re going to apply the same rule, then the Stars and Stripes has a lot more blood on its hands.

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In addition to the blood on the hands of the Northern army during the North/South war, read this account of a series of racial atrocities committed under the banner of Old Glory.

As Jesus said: "let him who is without sin cast the first stone".

THE SILENCING: Paper Will Limit Anti-Gay Marriage comments

The editorial board of PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. is taking a hardcore stance against those who disagree with the Supreme Court ruling to legalize gay marriage.

“As a result of Friday’s ruling, PennLive/The Patriot-News will no longer accept, nor will it print, op-Eds and letters to the editor in opposition to same-sex marriage,” they declared.
After receiving strong pushback, the newspaper’s editorial board, which is overseen by Editorial Page Editor John Micek, quickly revised its policy. Freedom of speech will be allowed — but only for a “limited” period of time.

Micek explained on Twitter: “Clarification: We will not foreclose discussion of the high court’s decision, but arguments that gay marriage is wrong/unnatural are out.”

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Animal rights campaigners demand ‘Nancy the dolphin carer’ dolls are removed from shelves in Spain because ‘it promotes animal cruelty’



Campaigners have called for 'Nancy the dolphin carer' dolls to be removed from shelves in Spain over claims it promotes the exploitation of animals. A petition has been launched demanding that Spanish toymaker Famosa recalls the toy, which retails for the equivalent of £24.

The Catalonia-based animal rights group Associació Cetàcea has called the sale of the doll 'a backward step'.

According to The Local, the doll comes with accessories including a bucket, hoop and handbag and is one of the toymaker's most popular products.

Famosa has denied that the doll is meant to be a dolphin trainer.

But in its petition, Associació Cetàcea wrote: 'It represents a step backwards in terms of all those values animal lovers want to pass on to new generations.'

And it told the Spanish Huffington Post that the doll 'promotes the exploitation of animals' and that dolphins in captivity suffer 'high levels of stress and depression'.

The Local, which says the doll's packaging features an image of a dolphin leaping through a hoop, quotes a Famosa spokesman as saying that Nancy is a 'carer, not a trainer'.

'The doll has absolutely nothing to do with dolphins in captivity,' the spokesman said.

More than 1,250 people have already signed the petition since it was set up on the website change.org.

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Confederate flag must be EXTERMINATED! (2)



A police officer in North Charleston has been sacked after he was pictured wearing Confederate flag boxer shorts.  Shannon Dildine posted the photo, in which he is grinning and otherwise naked, on Facebook allegedly a few days ago. 

It went viral and was spotted by his bosses at North Charleston police department - who fired him the next day.

Police Chief Eddie Driggers sent Dildane a letter saying the Facebook photograph meant he was associated with a symbol of 'hate and oppression' and made it impossible for him to be an officer in Charleston,The Post and Courier reported.

Dildine can appeal the decision within ten days.

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Confederate flag must be EXTERMINATED!

These bans COULD make it more popular.  It wouldn't be the first time by a long chalk that Leftist dictates have backfired

Even a car is getting into strife over America's divisive Confederate flag: now a toy version of the iconic car from the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard is getting a makeover to remove the image emblazoned across its cabin, with one of the show's stars speaking up to defend the flag.

Ben Jones, who played Cooter in The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-85) is defending the flag as a symbol of the spirit of independence, writing on Facebook that the flag is being attacked in a "wave of political correctness" that ignores its meanings for the rural South as representing courage, family and good times.

Jones, a former US congressmen representing Georgia as a Democrat for four years, joins a passionate debate over the flag's place in contemporary culture following its association with the shooting deaths of nine people at an historic black church in Charleston last week.

A spokesman for Warner Bros. Consumer Products, which licenses the rights to The Dukes of Hazzard merchandise, told Rolling Stone the company had "elected to cease the licensing of these product categories".

Amazon, Wal-Mart, Sears, eBay, Google Shopping and Etsy have all announced they would stop selling items featuring the Confederate flag but there has been a counter-response: according to the New York Times collectors are surging to stock up on such merchandise before it becomes scarce. The General Lee, emblazoned with the flag, will no doubt become a pricey item.

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UK: Beer company 'makes light of child abuse'



A rather idiotic ad.  Not clear what the message was meant to be

A beer brand was forced to apologise last night after being accused of joking about child abuse to sell pints on Father’s Day.

A post on the official Twitter page for London Pride sparked a backlash after it appeared to trivialise hitting children.

The promotional tweet, pictured above, said: ‘For those telling offs, clips round the ear, raised eyebrows... and that first pint of Pride. #HappyFathersDay.’

It was removed after users on the social networking site bombarded the account with outraged messages and threats to boycott the beer.

The beer’s official Twitter account later said: ‘Point taken, post deleted. Apologies for any offence caused.’

A Fuller’s spokesman said: ‘We put up a tweet which was badly thought through. It was taken down as soon as we realised it was inappropriate.’

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Scotland: Muslim call to prayer must not be criticized

It would certainly irritate me to be forced to listen to it 5 times a day

A residents group has been branded racist after it urged locals to 'stock up on ear plugs' to block out Ramadan prayers from a nearby mosque.

The EH4 Residents Association, which represents those living in Drylaw, Edinburgh, has been slammed by equality campaigners after it posted the controversial statement on its Facebook page.

The message written on May 30, which has since been removed, said: 'Ramadan is early this year. Jun 18-Jul 17. If you live close to the [Blackhall] mosque and have to stay put, might be an idea to stock up on headphones/ earplugs etc.'

The organisation, set up to represent residents and to address concerns over issues such as crime, traffic and street lighting, has since been branded as 'hateful'.

Foysol Choudhury, chairman of the Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council, said the post would have been seen as offensive to Muslims.

'For anyone to refer to the use of headphones to avoid hearing prayers from a mosque is a hateful religious and racial insult that is based on Islamophobia,' he said.

Cllr lain Whyte, Conservative member for Inverleith, said: 'I know the mosque has gone out of its way to reduce any noise that comes from the building.

'My understanding is that if somebody feels offended for reasons of race or religion then that is an offence.

'I would hope that if people have said something that has caused offence, they would recognise that and apologise for it.'

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Gardening term bleeped by the BBC

His green-fingered pottering usually keeps him far from controversy.  But Alan Titchmarsh has found himself at the centre of an unlikely row after using an apparently risque gardening term during an interview on BBC Breakfast.

However, it is not the phrase ‘bastard trenching’ that is being complained about but the corporation’s over-the-top response.

Viewers heard a sharp intake of breath in the studio before presenter Louise Minchin made a speedy apology.

Last night other gardeners and viewers mocked the ‘pathetic’ BBC and said it was ‘ridiculous’ that it felt the need to say sorry for a gardener using a legitimate gardening term.

Titchmarsh, 66, was appearing on BBC Breakfast to promote his latest show, Love Your Garden.

The former Ground Force host said of the work that he does in his garden: 'I don't double dig every day. Nobody needs to double dig every day.'

When asked to explain the term by BBC presenter Charlie Stayt, Titchmarsh replied: 'Double digging is digging to two spades' blades' depth.  'There's also another name for it, which sounds dreadful, it's called "b*****d trenching" and by the end of it you realise it's a very fitting name for it.

The apology came despite the BBC allowing the term to be used both on Gardeners’ Question Time on Radio 4 and in an article on how to be a gardener.

Mick Bruce wrote: 'How pathetic of BBC Breakfast to apologise after Alan Titchmarsh used a legitimate gardening term to describe double digging.'

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Even Obama gets bleeped

In a recent discussion on racism in America, President Obama used the n-word, but viewers of MSNBC (and later Fox News) didn't hear him say it. Both cable channels bleeped the president in the clip that aired Monday morning.

"We have a warning for our viewers," MSNBC "Morning  Joe" host Mika Brzezinski said as she introduced the soundbite. "He (Obama) uses strong language, some of which may be considered offensive."

Viewers then heard Obama talking with Marc Maron, host of the WTF podcast, about the "legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives," as Obama put it.

"That casts a long shadow, Obama said. "And that's still part of our DNA that's passed on. We're not cured of it...racism, we're not cured of it.

"And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior."

The n-word is not bleeped on Maron's WTF website, but it was bleeped in the re-play on MSNBC. (Fox News also bleeped the n-word when it replayed those same comments from the president later on Monday morning.)

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Mitt Romney joins growing nationwide calls for Confederate flag to be taken down from South Carolina's Capitol



It flies there as a protest against Yankee arrogance and imperialism -- as it well might.  Lincoln caused the death of over 600,000 Americans. It is a memorial to them. Lincoln could have BOUGHT the slaves (and then freed them) for less than he spent on the war

Mitt Romney has joined growing calls for South Carolina's Capitol to take down its Confederate flag in the wake of the Charleston shooting.

His appeal comes three days after nine churchgoers were murdered during bible study by suspect Dylann Roof, who had Confederate plates on his car.

Hundreds of people staged a protest against the flag in Columbia, SC, on Saturday amid nationwide calls for the state government to take symbolic action. A petition on MoveOn.org has garnered more than 320,000 signatures. 

But despite promises from state governors to 'start talking about it', there is no indication that the appeals are having an effect.

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'Do you know what Obama coffee is'?  'Black and weak'

Must not defame the sacred person of Barack Obama.  You can call George Bush a Nazi but even joking about Obama is verboten

The wife of a senior Israeli politician has posted a racist tweet about Barack Obama, suggesting he is 'black and weak'.

TV host Judy Nir Mozes Shalom, who is married to Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, uploaded the offensive message on Sunday before quickly deleting it, insisting it was a joke.

She wrote: 'Do u know what Obama Coffee is? Black and weak.'

After causing a stir in Israeli media, Mozes Shalom apologized to Obama.  'President Obama I shouldn't have written the inappropriate joke I heard,' she wrote. 'I like people no matter their race and religion.'

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Jim Crow Hill in Australia has name removed after it was deemed racially derogatory

The name "Jim Crow" is meaningful only in the USA.  There would not be one Australian in a thousand who was familiar with it

A VICTORIAN council has been ridiculed for removing the name of a hill called after an early stockman whose name was deemed racially ­derogatory.

The Office of Geographic Names ordered Mansfield Council to remove or change the name of Jim Crow Hill.

It said Jim Crow refers to an 1828 US minstrel show song Jump Jim Crow, where a white man blackened his face to ­resemble a poor Negro.

It claimed the term has been widely used in Australia to disparage black people.

But locals are angry at the decision, claiming Jim Crow was an early stockman who had a hut on the hill.

The council, located in the foothills of the Victorian Alps, contacted the local Taungurung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, who confirmed the name was offensive.

This was despite research by the council which found records of a man named Jim Crow with some connection to the Benalla and Mansfield district in the 1880s.

Landowner Philip Newton told the council he was not interested in a name change.  “It has always been called this and as far as I am concerned it is of no one else’s interest what it is called,” Mr Newton wrote.  “So no change under my ownership.”

“The whole exercise is pointless anyway because locals will still carry on calling it Jim Crow hill.”

Deputy Mayor Cr Paul Sladdin said the hill, near the Mansfield Woods Point Rd in Piries, was now nameless.  “Unfortunately we were obligated to follow the direction of the Office of Geographic Names,” Cr Sladdin said.

“I know the locals will still refer to it as Jim Crow hill so you could argue it’s a case of political correctness gone wrong, especially as there was some anecdotal evidence of an early stockman.”

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Is there ANYTHING that people won't complain about? (2)



It was a small change that prompted a big reaction on social media.

And now a Spotify executive has revealed why the app icon colour was changed to a lighter, brighter green - and which shades narrowly missed the cut.

Paul Moulton, head of copy at the music streaming service, said a huge team scrolled through more than 5,000 shades - some of which were immediately dismissed as reminiscent of Kermit or Shrek.

But after several months of research the decision was unanimous and Spotify chose the colour they thought would 'pop' and reflect the 'emotional' element of music.

Despite this, hundreds of users took to Twitter to vent their frustration at the change with some saying the 'alien green' colour makes them want to 'kill themselves'.

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Is there ANYTHING that people won't complain about? (1)



Owners of a cake shop in Bolton have hit back at complaints that marzipan teddy bears on top of a three-year-old's christening cake were painted with 'vaginas'.

Mother-of-three Sharon Green refused to serve the 'offensive' £60 cake at her daughter Tahila Rose's christening on Sunday because of the line between the teddy bears' legs.

Mrs Green, who is also mother to Rhiannah, 20, and 10-year-old Tomas, ordered the cake in January and said the display version in the business' Wigan branch did not have the 'offending' mark.

When she took it back to the shop, an assistant even gave her some flowers to preserve the teddy's modesty, but Mrs Green said she was not able to stick them down.

The owners of Occasion Cakes, which has been in business for the past 30 years, hit back at Mrs Green's complaint - saying the crease is used on both 'boy and girl' teddies to represent where the toy's stitching would have been.

A spokesman for the business said because all the cakes were handmade, there are slight variations between display models and completed cakes.

He added: 'The small bear on top of the cake is exactly that - a teddy bear - and the crease on its stomach is supposed to represent the seam where the bear is sewn together.

'We have been making girl and boy teddies this way for 30 years and no-one has ever drawn such a bizarre, and, quite frankly, distasteful, connection.

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Only blacks can be victims

The judge who arraigned Dylann Roof sparked outrage when he referred to the 21-year-old's family as 'victims' and urged the community to 'rally round them'.

Charleston County Magistrate James Gosnell Jr told the court on Friday: 'We have victims - nine of them. But we also have victims on the other side. There are victims on this young man's side of the family.'

The bizarre statement prompted outcry from the victims' families in the public gallery, and a torrent of complaints branding him 'insensitive' and 'racist'.

He opened the court with his appeal to support Roof's family, adding: 'Nobody would have ever thrown them into the whirlwind of events that they are being thrown into.

'We must find it in our heart at some point in time not only to help those that are victims but to also help his family as well.'

He then charged Roof, whose grandfather C Joseph Roof is a prominent lawyer in North Carolina, with nine counts of murder.

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Confederate flag won’t fly on Texas licence plates

But OK on bumper stickers

The US Supreme Court yesterday said states can refuse to print images on vehicle licence plates to prevent symbols, such as the Confederate flag that’s seen by some as racist, from appearing to be government-sponsored.

The top court’s nine judges voted five to four against a request by a group in Texas to print a Confederate flag emblem on their licence plates.

The flag, which was flown over the southern states as they attempted to secede from the country during the Civil War, is considered a symbol of racism and slavery by many Americans.

The group wanted to have the logo printed, but Texas refused, arguing the flag would appear to be “government speech”. Four progressive judges, joined by conservative judge Clarence Thomas, agreed with the state.

Judge Stephen Breyer said: “A driver could just as easily express his message through a bumper sticker.

“Why would that driver want to place, say a flag, on the licence plate rather than on the bumper? Perhaps because placing it on the licence plate suggests at least to some that it is the state that is conveying the message that the flag embodies.”

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Swastikas and Nazi salutes see Mexican girls' cheer-dance team coming under fire for a themed routine that was in poor taste

Countries that were not involved in WWII are often indifferent to its issues

A cheer-dance team in Mexico has drawn criticism for a routine in which they displayed flags with swastikas, dressed in pseudo-military outfits and one girl appeared to toss a Nazi salute to the crowd.

The performance by about two dozen girls aged 10 to 16 and one boy, came at a cheer-dance competition in the western city of Guadalajara at the end of May.

The girls wore red armbands, camouflage dance outfits and carried red flags as they strutted in marching-style formations.

A video of the performance drew condemnation when it began to circulate on social media sites.

On local news sites, many readers said the girls probably didn't know much about the Nazis, and blamed the event organizers and the team's choreographer for the questionable routine.

Mexico doesn't have any significant neo-Nazi movements.

Cheer/dance competitions combine cheerleading and dance routines.

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TX:  Another teacher fired for blaming blacks for McKinney riot

Dangerous to mention reality

For the second time this week, a schoolteacher has been removed from their job for a Facebook posting that was ill-judged. To say the least.

As the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports, elementary-school teacher Karen Fitzgibbons saw the YouTube video from McKinney, Texas, in which a police officer dragged a 14-year-old girl in a bikini to the ground by her hair and pinned her with his knees. Fitzgibbons noted that the officer had resigned and that she felt the need to comment on Facebook.

Fitzgibbons, who's white, wrote: "I'm going to just go ahead and say it ... the blacks are the ones causing the problems and this 'racial tension.' I guess that's what happens when you flunk out of school and have no education."

She was fired from Bennett Elementary School, which is itself in McKinney. Perhaps it didn't help that she also added her thoughts on racial segregation to the post.

She wrote: "I'm almost to the point of wanting them all segregated on one side of town so they can hurt each other and leave the innocent people alone. Maybe the 50s and 60s were really on to something. Now, let the bashing of my true and honest opinion begin....GO! #imnotracist #imsickofthemcausingtrouble..."

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The DMV’s Lunatic Speech Dictatorship

What do the Confederate flag, the words "Respect Choice" and the message "Choose Life" have in common? DMVs in many states are arbitrarily banning them from license plates.

Texas officials nixed the Confederate flag after an African-American pastor labeled it a symbol of oppression at a public hearing, though nine other states allow it.

New York officials sell specialized license plates that promote union membership - but not adoption. The state claims any message linked to a pro-life cause is "patently offensive." North Carolina tried the opposite, authorizing pro-life plates but not pro-choice.

These officials are claiming to be peacekeepers, cracking down to avoid the possibility anyone could be insulted while driving.
Sorry, but that's un-American.

The exchange of ideas, however controversial (some would say especially the controversial ones), has always been the bedrock of our democracy.

Dictatorships and Muslim theocracies silence controversial ideas by jailing dissidents and imposing blasphemy laws. Our Constitution bars government from doing that.

And it's alarming to see government officials chipping away at our free-speech rights by censoring at whim what can be advertised on buses and subways - or displayed on the license plates of our own private cars and trucks.

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Don Lemon: Political Correctness Dangerous, Liberals Intolerant Of Other Views



Don Lemon of CNN believes that “dangerous” political correctness has run amuck and is far worse in liberal media precincts.

Following on similar anti-PC police views expressed by Jerry Seinfeld and others, Lemon expressed his opinion about the PC culture in a commentary for Black America Web.

While himself generally found on the liberal side of the political spectrum, Lemon has sparred with both liberals and conservatives on CNN and has also been chided on social media for making various wacky live TV comments. For what it’s worth, the Columbia Journalism Review “Darts & Laurels” blog identified Lemon as the worst journalist of 2014, although other publications were also so designated.

In his commentary, the CNN Tonight host warned listeners that they may be too politically correct for their own good because they might be short-changing themselves from considering other points of view as well as for the good of society collectively:

“Political correctness has become dangerous. We have to stop looking for reasons to be offended. We have to allow people leeway to make mistakes in conversations without calling them racist, bigots, stupid, dumb, sellout …on and on. Not everyone is going to, or should they, have to agree with you. In fact, it’s better when people don’t agree with you. That’s how we learn; that’s what conversation is really about. It’s not supposed to be an agree-fest.”

For all the lip service paid to tolerance, liberals are the most intolerant in the prevailing PC environment, Lemon insisted.

“After almost 25 years in the news business, you know who is the most easily offended and the least tolerant: Liberals and progressive — because many of them don’t really want to hear anyone else’s opinion but their own. Here’s a tip: If you only agree with people who hold your same political affiliation or who are of your particular race, gender or ethnicity, you are part of the political correctness run amuck problem. You are actually thwarting progress instead of advancing.”

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Sometimes banter is just banter

The first casualties of campus panics are usually the innocents. This was made all too clear in the aftermath of the LSE Men’s Rugby scandal last year, which exploded after members of the men’s rugby team distributed some jokey-sexist leaflets at the LSE freshers’ fair. As punishment for daring to exercise their right to offend, the team was banned for a year by the students’ union. Even the completely blameless freshers who had just joined the team, and had nothing to do with the leaflet, were left unable to play rugby.

While few people could deny that the leaflets, containing crude jokes about ‘sluts’ and ‘sloppy birds’, were unpleasant, it was hard to see what all the fuss was about. It seemed strange to me that so many intelligent adults had come to university completely unable to cope with a few off-colour jokes. At LSE, apparently, banter is a punishable offence.

The LSE rugby scandal came at the height of last year’s ‘lad culture’ panic. Overnight, ‘banter’ became a dirty word. ‘Good Lad’ workshop leaders, campaign banners and educational SU posters proclaimed that ‘banter is never just banter’. To which you couldn’t help but think: but what about when it is?

While it is often painted as the harbinger of a laddish, sexist dystopia, banter can be a wonderful thing. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as ‘the playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks’. Banter can play a pivotal role in forming and maintaining friendships, and springs from a healthy desire to push and mock the boundaries of acceptable speech. Plus, contrary to popular belief, banter is for everyone – it transcends gender, ethnicity and cultural divides. Everyone suffers when we lose the right to shoot our mouths off and rip the piss out of our dearest friends.

Innocent banter is just that – innocent banter. Don’t let the censorious killjoys tell you any different.

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High-flying RAF officer under fire after 'blacking up' to dress as member of Cool Runnings Jamaican bobsleigh team

An RAF flight lieutenant has been accused of offending his colleagues after 'blacking up' for a stag do.

It was thought John Hendstock, 28, who is a senior air traffic control officer at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, may have breached RAF rules after the stunt in Liverpool.

But an RAF source has since said he will not face any disciplinary action.

Mr Hendstock, who is white, published pictures on Facebook of himself and friends who smeared their faces with black paint to mimic the Jamaican bobsleigh team made famous in the film Cool Runnings.

The officer and two friends had blacked their faces, put on wigs and were all wearing a skin-tight suit in the colours of the Jamaican flag on Friday.

One anonymous RAF source told MailOnline that he had gone 'too far' and said the outfit was not 'appropriate'.

He said: 'John Hendstock is at RAF Brize Norton commanding various ethnic groups. I do not think it is appropriate for him to be blacking up at any time.

However, one of Mr Hendstock's friends, who was also pictured at the stag party dressed up as one of the Cool Runnings characters, has since defended him.

Daniel Brown said: ‘As someone who is mixed race and actually of Jamaican heritage myself, I find it hard to understand why John is being singled out and criticised for wearing Cool Runnings fancy dress with me and two of my friends on a recent stag weekend.

'It should be noted that it was my suggestion for the four of us to dress up as members of the Cool Runnings team.

But an RAF source said today: 'This is not being considered for any sort of administrative or disciplinary action.'

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Australia: Must not mention admirable breasts



A fitness model is suing the Commonwealth Bank and her former boss for sexual harassment in the workplace, claiming the manager told her she was ‘sexy’ with ‘perfect boobs’ and suggested she was limping due to rough sex.

Mary Molloy, 23, has filed documents with the Federal Court, claiming she endured months of unlawful discrimination from Frank Lopez, the former manager of the bank’s Queen Street Mall branch in Brisbane.

Ms Molloy, a former bank teller, claims the father-of-three lewdly compared her to Kate Winslet in a nude scene in the film 'Titanic' and allegedly sent her texts to say he would ‘kiss her if he was with her’, according to The Courier Mail.


The bank and Mr Lopez are defending the allegations, claiming the comments ‘were not unwelcome sexual harassment’ as Mr Lopez and Ms Molloy were friends.

Ms Molloy lodged her claim in July last year after resigning in May. Mr Lopez was stood down by the bank on July 17 and is now the manager of a Mount Isa caravan park.

Mary Molloy posts videos of her workouts on Instagram

Ms Molloy claims she was promised a pay rise and promotion but it never eventuated, prompting her resignation.

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Must not listen to wartime speeches

The Hitler era is widely scorned in Germany today so these guys were most likely just laughing at the fanatical old speech. I have listened to it myself yet Nazism is everything I oppose

Two German policemen have been carpeted and could face the sack for playing one of the most infamous of Nazi speeches given by wartime propaganda maestro Joseph Goebbels over their radios as they guarded world leaders at last weekend's G7 summit.

Bonn police admitted that disciplinary proceedings have been launched against the two officers who played Goebbels' 'Total War' speech which he made in 1943 following the crushing German military defeat at Stalingrad.

The young officers in question were part of a 17,000 strong police contingent assembled around Elmau in Bavaria to protect world leaders like David Cameron, President Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

According to officials, they downloaded the Goebbels speech from the Internet and played it over short range devices.

It contains the infamous quote: 'Do you want Total War?' which Goebbels barked at the fevered Nazi audience in the Berlin Sportspalast as he exhorted them to make ever greater sacrifices for the conflict which was already lost.

Because all radio traffic in and around Elmau was being monitored by other units of the German police, eavesdropping to thwart potential terrorist plots, the officers' transmissions were instantly rumbled.

Whether they were larking about or harbour neo-Nazi tendencies was not immediately clear, although the police said they did not believe they were right wingers.

The two officers were sent home before the end of the summit. 'The reputation of the police of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia has been recognisably damaged,' added Scholten.

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Miami principal loses job over unremarkable online comment on McKinney pool party

The McKinney pool party video is a national news story. It is something that is shared frequently on Facebook and almost everyone has some opinion on.

Enter a North Miami principal of a school who offered this comment on a news story online.  In the comment section after a story about the incident was posted on the The Miami Herald website, Alberto Iber posted:

“He did nothing wrong. He was afraid for his life. I commend him for his actions.”

I disagree with Alberto Iber about this incident.* But this comment is not only not a fireable offense, but utterly unobjectionable when it comes to social mores and whatever the ism of the day is. He’s losing his job for a political thought crime.

He holds the wrong opinion about this video. He didn’t communicate it with hate or stereotypes or vulgarity. The sin is one of “perceived insensitivity.” The school district actually says so.

On Wednesday, Miami-Dade Public Schools announced Iber’s removal and that they were looking for his replacement.

Isn’t it nice how “perceived insensitivity” puts your employment fate in the hands of whomever feels like objecting to you at any moment? That’s one of the tricks of the Left’s “End of Discussion” tactics—the actual words often don’t matter. It’s how even just one person feels about the words.

Iber reportedly said he meant to post his comment on the Miami Herald’s website anonymously. The comment was later deleted, but not before screenshots were saved and passed around social media.

Well, then. It’s nice to know you can be an American with an opinion and a job as long as you don’t ever identify yourself while giving your opinion.

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Scots don't like getting some of their own back

The abuse towards anyone not of them emanating from Scottish nationalists has been phenomenal -- so a sly dig at them was richly deserved.  They didn't see it that way, however



A new Tory MP has been bombarded with sexist and anti-semitic abuse by SNP supporters after making a joke about the Scots during her maiden Commons speech.

High-flying barrister Lucy Frazer was called a ‘Nazi’ and a ‘slag’ for referring to Oliver Cromwell’s suppression of the Scots more than three centuries ago.

The furore blew up after she noted that her South East Cambridgeshire constituency was once home to Oliver Cromwell, who ‘defeated the Scots… incorporated Scotland into his protectorate and transported the Scots as slaves to the colonies’.

The Cambridge-educated QC, 42, went on to make clear that her reference was light-hearted, joking that it would ‘solve’ constitutional headaches over how much voting power should be given to Scots MPs.

However, within minutes of her speech earlier this month, Ms Frazer’s personal Facebook page was swamped with dozens of deeply offensive messages from so-called ‘cybernats’, who use social media to attack their political opponents.

The posts continued despite the MP saying she was ‘extremely sorry for any offence’ and that she had ‘the highest regard for the Scottish people’. Ms Frazer, who is descended from Jewish immigrants, was subjected to vitriolic anti-semitic jibes.

The incident comes amid growing outrage over the activities of cybernats. On Friday, SNP official Brian Smith resigned after making abusive Twitter comments about the late Charles Kennedy.

An SNP spokesman said: ‘Political debate must be positive and respectful… Ms Frazer’s speech in which she appeared to laugh about Scots slaves being transported to the colonies... was obviously neither.’

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More Leftist race fakery


Dolezal as a youngster, before the dark makeup and frizzed hair

Frequent readers of this blog will be well aware of how often Leftists and blacks invent hate-crimes and hate-speech and try to blame it on others.  Putting up nooses in the dead of night is a favorite trick.  They have been doing it for years.  The female below has carried it to a new level, however.  And guess what?  Noose included!

Living a lie was full-time work for Rachel Dolezal, the Montana-born white woman who in recent years moved through the world as a black civil rights activist.

She posted a picture of a black couple on her Facebook page, announcing them as her parents — while her real mom and pop were actually white and living in Montana.

The African studies instructor eventually severed ties with her biological parents, telling a local television station they hadn’t spoken in years.

Sibling Ezra recalled how his sister asked him not to “blow my cover” before a 2012 visit, and then criticized her strange double-life as akin to wearing blackface.

“She’s basically creating more racism,” he told The Washington Post. “It’s a farce, really, is what it is.”

The racial controversy was coupled Friday with an announcement from Spokane police that they were suspending their probes into all racial harassment complaints filed by Dolezal.

A release of local police records showed cops felt Dolezal’s claim of discovering an envelope stuffed with racist material in the NAACP post office was sketchy at best. The envelope was never canceled or time-stamped, and was placed in a box accessible only to postal workers.

“I do not have any reason to believe that any of these employees were involved,” wrote the investigating detective without pointing any fingers.

Dolezal had previously made two police complaints about nooses left at her home, and a third about a swastika taped to the door of the Human Rights Education Institute in Washington state.

Police found no suspects and made no arrests in any of the cases.

Her parents, Ruthanne and Lawrence Dolezal, produced childhood photos of a blonde, blue-eyed, freckled Rachel — a stark contrast with the adult activist, who sports dark curly hair and light brown skin.

Her brother Izaiah was a 10-month-old black child when her parents adopted the boy in June 1994, according to Ruthanne and her husband Larry.

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She's a nut

Nobel scientist is forced to resign after calling women in labs a distraction

What was meant as a jolly comment was no such thing to the humor-deprived Left.  Like me, he is in his early 70s so comes from a time when jollity was safer.  I don't think I would much like being young today

A Nobel winning British scientist has quit over his claim that women are a distraction in the laboratory.

Sir Tim Hunt had outraged feminists by saying: ‘Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them, they cry.’

And last night University College London announced the 72-year-old father of two had resigned from his position as honorary professor.

It had emerged earlier that Sir Tim was speaking from personal experience when he suggested same-sex laboratories would be a good idea to stop colleagues falling in love.

For he met his wife, Professor Mary Collins, 56, while directing her biochemistry studies at Cambridge University. At the time she was dating a fellow student, Bret Collins, who she married in 1981.

A source told the Mail last night that Sir Tim at Cambridge was ‘well known for liking women, and they seemed to like him’.

He added: ‘After Cambridge Bret and Mary moved to London to do Phds, his was in a different area of science, and she stayed in touch with Tim, visiting him in Cambridge.

‘In about 1982 she went off to visit Tim at Woods Hole in America, where he was doing the research that led to his Nobel prize. When she came back she was full of remorse – and admitted she’d slept with Tim there. She also said she’d slept with him before she and Bret got married.

The university said: ‘We can confirm that Sir Tim Hunt has today resigned from his position as honorary professor with the UCL faculty of life sciences, following comments he made about women in science at the World Conference of Science Journalists on 9 June.

‘UCL was the first university in England to admit women students on equal terms to men, and the university believes that this outcome is compatible with our commitment to gender equality.’

Her husband, who won the 2001 Nobel for medicine, insisted his remarks were ‘light-hearted, ironic comment’ that had been ‘interpreted deadly seriously’. He told the BBC: ‘I did mean the part about having trouble with girls. I have fallen in love with people in the lab and people in the lab have fallen in love with me and it’s very disruptive to the science because it’s terribly important that in a lab people are on a level playing field.

‘I found that these emotional entanglements made life very difficult. I’m really, really sorry I caused any offence, that’s awful. I certainly didn’t mean that. I just meant to be honest.’

But leading female scientists criticised Sir Tim.

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Another joke gone wrong -- as Lego describe new toy character as a 'back-of-the-bus window licker'

Children's toy firm Lego has caused outrage after describing one of its new characters as a 'window-licker'.  The description - an highly offensive slur for people with disabilities - was applied to the online description of a toy called 'Turg'.

The full description was: 'Turg looks like an experiment that's gone very, very wrong! Part frog, part chicken, part back-of-the-bus window-licker, this Mixel has the longest tongue of them all.'

The description of the toy was changed on the website after it caused fury among disability campaigners.  However, it is still visible when searching for the toy through Google or other online retailers.

Lorraine Bellamy, a spokesperson at Mencap, who herself has a learning disability, said: 'It is unacceptable that a toy company like Lego have used a term that offends people with a disability such as this, especially as the toy is aimed at children

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Eastwood 'Mocks' Jenner, Hollywood Uproar Ensues

Bruce Jenner is an American television personality and former Olympic champion track and field athlete.  He now says he is a woman but has kept his dick.  Jenner appears to be a Republican but it is the Left who have covered him with figurative hugs and kisses.  His delusion is great food for their love of "change".  I am putting up a comment by Mark Steyn on the big celebration on today's  POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH

Iconic actor Clint Eastwood made the terrible mistake of stepping outside the bounds of political correctness during the taping of Spike TV’s Guys Choice Awards. The self-described libertarian, who has been in Hollywood timeout ever since he eviscerated Barack Obama in his illustrious “empty chair” rendition at the 2012 Republican National Convention, was introducing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson when he made an obscure — or what the Leftmedia is calling “insensitive” — reference to Bruce "Caitlyn" Jenner.

According to HollywoodLife.com, Eastwood “compared the San Andreas star to former athletes who have become actors, like ‘Jim Brown and Caitlyn Somebody.’”

The audience didn’t find it very funny, and neither did Spike TV. The network says it “will remove the reference in the version that will air” June 18. Aside from the obvious question — what exactly was so derogatory about Eastwood’s remark? — there lies a double standard.

Liberals thought it was hilarious when Barack Obama used the “lipstick on a pig” reference against Team McCain in 2008, and they smirk every time Democrats describe right-wingers as terrorists, to name just a couple. In other words, not only must we call Bruce a girl, but we must not make fun of him or any other protected class; meanwhile, the Right is fair game.

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Jerry Seinfeld: Politically correct students 'don't know what they're talking about'

Jerry Seinfeld has ruled out playing university audiences because they are too politically correct – and he counts the entire younger generation in that.

While Seinfeld was promoting his internet show Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee on a sports radio show, DJ Colin Cowherd said that Chris Rock and other comics steered clear of student audiences because of political correctness.

Seinfeld said, "I hear that all the time. I don't play colleges but I hear a lot of people telling me they're so PC."

When asked if political correctness hurt comedy, Seinfeld replied, "Yes it does."  He added that comedians like Louis CK, whose Saturday Night Live monologue about paedophilia and racism caused something of a stir last month, avoided problems because he "doesn't care".

“Everybody has their hot zone. Their heat map. Those are the jokes you do. For me, I talk about the subjects I talk about because for some reason, I can make them funny.”

Seinfeld described his 14-year-old daughter saying that her mother's suggestion she might one day spend time with boys on weekends was "sexist".

“They just want to use these words," he said. "‘That’s racist. That’s sexist. That’s prejudice.’ They don’t know what the [bleep] they’re talking about.”

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Fancy-dress stores forced to remove 'Terrorist Man' costumes after customer backlash



Just two days after Australia’s new national security boss said that there’ll be a growing threat of extremist terrorism for generations to come, the warning is not being taken as seriously elsewhere as fancy dress costumes of ISIS terrorists are being sold in the country.

National Counter Terrorism Coordinator Greg Moriarty prediction came after a new plan to stop the radicalisation of would-be jihadists was announced by Victoria Police.

However, despite this clear and real danger to the Australian public, terrorist fancy dress costumes are for sale at a Broadmeadows discount store in Victoria while others can be bought on eBay.

The ‘Terrorist Man’ costume was on sale at Giant 2 Discounts in Broadmeadows shopping centre in Victoria, but has seen been since withdrawn from sale after complaints.

On the cover of the pack is a man dressed in a keffiyeh hat, white shirt and trousers, with a long beard and holding an imitation AK47. Daily Mail Australia could not get a response from the Broadmeadows shop's owners.

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Political correctness leads to insincerity

Tennis no longer has entertaining rivalries because players are too scared of being fined for swearing about their opponents, Boris Becker has said.

The installation of on-court microphones at Wimbledon and other tournaments, capable of picking up every muttered expletive, has created a generation of players hamstrung by political correctness. Instead, stars maintain a “fake” friendliness.

It is an “open secret” in the tennis world that Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic dislike one another, Becker claimed, adding that Federer “cannot possibly” be as nice as he appears.

Writing in his latest autobiography, Wimbledon: My Life and Career at the All England Club, Becker said: “People occasionally put it to me that tennis is more boring now than when I played, and when I ask them why they say there are fewer characters.

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No free speech about guns?

The State Department has taken it upon itself to regulate firearms being trafficked out of the country. Known as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), these rules control the import and export of defense-related articles and services.

Stopping someone from sending weapons to an African warlord is one thing, but now the State Department believes it has the power to regulate and outlaw firearm knowledge on the Internet. They want to make you a criminal for sharing firearm knowledge online, even if it means violating your free-speech rights!

It’s important to understand where this all came from. In the 1990s, computer scientists came up with what was, at the time, unbreakable computer security software. They combined series of numbers, letters, and symbols and what they got was an unbreakable code. Instead of allowing this software to be shared with the world, the State Department classified it as “munitions” and outlawed it from being disseminated.

The State Department is taking this same principle and trying to expand it to regulate even more protected free speech! According to the latest update to the Federal Register, the State Department is aiming to “address the electronic transmission and storage of unclassified ‘technical data’ via foreign communications infrastructure.” In layman’s terms: if you talk about firearms online, and foreigners could possibly learn from it, it would be outlawed.

If an American posts a video online detailing how to clean a gun, he or she would be breaking the law. If a blogger posts an article about the pros and cons of a specific firearm, they’d be breaking the law as well.

This is free speech. If you or any other American wants to talk about firearms on the Internet, that is your God-given right. But as far as the Obama administration is concerned, this is no different than sending gun parts overseas to the Taliban!

This is a cut-and-dry case of the Obama administration going too far. The penalty for breaking these new regulations is up to a million dollars and 20-years in prison!

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Dana Loesch mocks gun haters

Dana Loesch, host of Dana on TheBlaze TV weeknights at 6 p.m. ET, decided to bring the “most politically incorrect” T-shirt to work on Tuesday, which just so happened to be “Gun Violence Awareness Day.”

The initiative was taken to the national level by anti-gun group Everytown for Gun Safety and encourages people to wear orange to protest gun violence.

Here’s the shirt Loesch, a highly outspoken pro-gun advocate, brought with her on Gun Violence Awareness Day:



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Abortion language excludes transgenders – ‘women’ now politically incorrect term

An MSNBC panel agreed earlier this week that to be politically correct, we should avoid using the word “women” when speaking about abortions because it excludes trans men, or female to male transexuals.

While discussing media “reaction to Caitlyn Jenner” during the June 2 airing of “All In With Chris Hayes,” Michelle Goldberg, senior contributing writer for The Nation, suggested that using the word “women” in abortion language “excludes trans men.”

Her statement was prompted by a general agreement among the panelists that younger people can more easily understand a fluid gender, one having no connection to biology.

“Well, yeah, I mean, among young people, you know. I’ve had this conversation.  I’ve written about this and they’re some conflicts especially within feminism over these issues,” Goldberg said, as a lead-n to her abortion argument.

“So a lot of the younger feminists, for example at the abortions funds,” she said, “no longer want to use the word ‘woman’ in relation to abortion because it excludes trans men.”

The general consensus among those on social media was that the MSNBC panel was nuts.

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Old jokes return to haunt lady wrestler

Former TNA Knockouts champion Havok would rather be in the news for something more positive, like landing a big-time WWE contract or something. Unfortunately, on the eve of one of the biggest opportunities in her career as a wrestler, the smashmouth lady grappler is immersed in a sea of controversy.

Wrestlezone reports that Havok, whose real name is Jessica Cricks, had a pall cast upon her recent participation in WWE tryouts when a batch of some incendiary tweets came to the attention of the online community. The tweets — most of which include language too offensive to reproduce verbatim here — feature racially insensitive language as well as racial and homophobic epithets. Ringside News notes that the “dozens” of inflammatory tweets by Havok include a racially charged joke about WWE wrestler R-Truth and another tweet in which a Twitter user is told to “get AIDS and die.”

According to TWNP News, Havok deleted the offensive tweets, some of which dated back to 2011. She later issued an online apology.

“I want to apologize whole heartedly for the OLD tweets that are being brought up right now.” Havok’s post read. “Legit, It was years ago and i don’t even rem.tweeting over half of this stuff. The stuff i do remember was jokes that were in bad taste. I was young and very new to social media promo and i was very immature and just said things to make my friends laugh at the time. Inside jokes between us.

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Black Attorney Disses Asians -- slapped on wrist

Price’s troubles first started in the course of his part-time private practice in a dispute with Hwang Martial Arts Academy. In a letter to the Hwangs’ lawyer, Price referred to the Hwang family as “greedy foreigners who simply did not understand simple contract relations” who were “relying on some ancient Asian principle” by not agreeing to a settlement.

Holy stereotypes, Batman! And wholly inaccurate to boot, as the Hwangs are American citizens. Not content to rest on this first instance of racism, Price doubled down, defending his letter in an interview with Insider Louisville:

“I do not think that that was derogatory,” said Price. “I thought that that was an appropriate reference to them, because I don’t know them to be American citizens… Some of those individuals (at Hwang’s) may be illegal aliens. I don’t know. My clients said that the individual they dealt with had some broken English. Now that doesn’t necessarily make them a foreigner, I understand that. But based on the information we had, no, I do not believe that that was insensitive to refer to them as that.”

These comments got back to Price’s bosses at the Jefferson County Attorney’s office. Even though the comments were made in the course of Price’s private practice, his bosses determined that the comments still violated the County Attorney’s office’s conduct policy and discredited the office. Price was dealt with by… being ordered to attend sensitivity training.

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The main threat to free speech comes from the Left

Brendan O'Neill, editor of "Spiked" says:

So, Holland’s Muslim-baiting MP Geert Wilders wants to demonstrate his terrorist-defying commitment to free speech by showing a clutch of cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad on Dutch TV. Wilders is right, of course, to assert the importance of free speech. But, like too many decent liberals in the West, Je Suis Charlie badges on their lapels, he is wrong about where the threat to free speech comes from.

As I wrote in a recent editorial, it's too easy to blame Islamist hotheads, or indeed feminist firebrands or daft students, for free speech's imperilment, too simplistic to hold a discernible 'them' responsible for our free-speech problem.

Because the real threat comes from within mainstream Western society. It comes from those, the liberal and respectable, who have turned a blind eye to the censoring and shushing of un-PC or inappropriate speech, those who have given a tacit thumbs-up to the idea that if expression causes offence or 'hurt', it should be shut down. It's this, the liberal, acceptable betrayal of liberty, that poses the greatest threat to free speech. Mocking Muhammad is just a childish distraction.

Via email

Must not imitate foreign accents

Emcee Sharon Au ruffled some feathers during the glittering SEA Games opening ceremony on Friday night during the ceremony's pre-show segment when she mimicked an Indian accent while talking to a young Indian girl.

Au took to Facebook Saturday morning to apologise in a Facebook post. "Some of you may have watched the pre-show and heard my attempt at mimicking an Indian accent," she wrote. "It was intended to be comic but in hindsight I realise how insensitive it was. I sincerely apologise to those whom I’ve inadvertently offended."

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The timid defense of free speech

Some of our liberal friends, particularly the art lovers among them, are terrified of the hobgoblins that Ralph Waldo Emerson warned about. “A foolish consistency,” he famously said, “is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.”

We see this writ large in the threat to public peace and the lives of the innocent by Islamic radicals. The radicals, who maim and kill in the name of the Prophet, are treated with respect (if not terror), and the Christians who have threatened no one, must be hectored, lectured and exiled to the fringes of the public square.

Pamela Geller, who organized the draw-the-Prophet cartoon contest in Texas that two homegrown ISIS wannabes tried to shut down with murder and lost their own lives trying, is a villain for some sunshine defenders of free speech. One pundit, writing in The Washington Post, is all for the First Amendment, err, uh, umm, “but.” She scolds Mzz Geller “for instigating this unnecessary clash.” As an “operating principle,” Kathleen Parker writes, “mightn’t we try less incendiary means of problem-solving? I don’t know, maybe something less likely to lead to violence?”

Some wizards on the left even accuse Mzz Geller of committing “hate speech,” the currently fashionable name for harsh opinions you may not agree with. He includes Mzz Geller’s drawing contest. Chris Cuomo of CNN, who says he’s a graduate of a law school, even says her “hate speech” does not rise to speech protected by the Constitution. This sounds like something he misremembers from a mail-order course of the Grinder’s Switch College of Law, Cosmetology, Dietary Science and Creative Writing.

The Constitution was not written by the sort of law-school weenies who would write it today, and it is not meant to protect nice, refined and respectable speech. It protects free speech, brash, unadorned and with the bark on. If you don’t like it, don’t listen. Respectable speech, the kind you might hear in nice, refined parlors, needs no protection.

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'I love the Irish, but these are people who can't grow potatoes'

In Australia, the Liberal party is the major conservative party.  It really does promote individual liberty, unlike America's so-called liberals

An advisor for the Liberal Party has launched into a shocking tirade while discussing Ireland's landslide same-sex union referendum.

Grahame Morris, a former advisor to Liberal leaders John Howard and Andrew Peacock, appeared on Sky News' PM Agenda with David Speers on Monday to talk about the opposition's push for a gay marriage vote in Australia.

However Mr Morris claimed Australia was not ready for the vote to be put to a public referendum and claimed the country should not feel like they have to 'follow suit', considering the Irish 'can't grow potatoes' and find it hard to 'vocalise the difference between 'tree' and 'three".

'But – and then all of a sudden – Australia has to follow suit.'

The conservative commentator appears to be referencing the Great Famine in his speech, where a potato blight killed over a million men, women and children in Ireland in the 1880s and caused mass emigration.

While it seems Mr Morris was making reference to the shamrock, which is a leaf and emblem associated with Ireland, the official national symbol of Ireland is actually a musical instrument - a harp. 

The renewed conversation about gay marriage in Australia has been prompted after Ireland became the first country to approve gay marriage by popular vote after more than 1.2million people overwhelmingly backed allowing same-sex unions in a historic referendum.

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The Irish are a traditional butt of jokes so I imagine the Irish can take this spray.

Students must not make disrespectful comments about women

I doubt that anybody needs to do anything about this.  Guys with a conemptuous attitude towards women will eventually find that no women want to know them. They might then change their tune

Videos made by students at an exclusive boys school which shows them making disrespectful comments about women ahead of their years 12 formal have surfaced online.

A parent complained to the principal of the $20,000-a-year The Southport School after one of the YouTube clips was played at the school's formal on May 23 at Outriggers hotel on Surfers Paradise in Queensland, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

At least three mock documentary-style videos have been viewed 45,000 times after they were posted online, with the one shown at the formal since being removed from YouTube.

It has been reported one of the students lost his position as a school leader after being identified in a video.

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Advertisement featuring a living skeleton condemned



This advert may be for a fashion house, but the first thing you notice about the model isn’t her clothes – it’s her worryingly frail figure.

Promoting Yves Saint Laurent, the woman in a black dress and platform shoes lies artfully on the floor with her rib cage visible through her skin and astonishingly thin legs.

The image, which appeared in Elle magazine, triggered a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, which has ruled it was ‘irresponsible’.

The firm has also been censured by the watchdog for using ‘anorexia chic’ to promote its clothes and has been banned from using the picture.  

Campaigners have become increasingly alarmed over the use of advertising images to promote being thin as the normal, desired body shape and so effectively shaming women to conform.

YSL said simply that it did not believe the model was unhealthily thin and refused to give any further defence or justification.

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Any promotion of an unhealthy lifestyle seems pretty dubious to me.  It is a form of harming people.

UK: Council sparks outrage by asking children as young as nine whether 'it is OK to marry someone from a different race or religion'

A council has sparked outrage with parents after it sent out a survey asking children whether it would be acceptable to 'marry someone from a different race or religion'.

Pupils as young as nine at Buxton Primary School in east London were handed the voluntary questionnaire by Waltham Forest Council last week as part of its new safeguarding project.

The Building Resilience through Integration & Trust (BRIT) programme, which is funded by the European Commission, aims to help protect youngsters from potentially harmful information online.

But parents were shocked to learn their children, who are in Year 5 or 6, had been asked a string of controversial questions including 'how much do you trust people of another race/religion?' and 'would you mind if a family of a different race or religion moved next door?'

Several took to social media, sparking outcry from other Twitter users who described it as 'unbelievable' and 'appalling'. One user said: 'How old are these kids?! Young children (esp. boys) have literally no idea about marriage [sic].'  Another added: 'It's very sad if any 7 year old thinks it is not OK to marry someone from a different race or religion'.

Others felt that the form was being directed specifically at Muslim children, asking if they agree with statements such as 'God has a purpose for me' and 'I believe my religion is the only correct one'.

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Australia: Risky kissing message



Students from a Melbourne girls school have started a campaign against an Australian cosmetics company over an ad campaign they say indirectly supports sexual assault against women.

Alexandria Mourelatos, a 19-year-old former student at Fintona Girls' School in Balwyn, and current students started a Change.org petition asking Klara Cosmetics to take down a lipstick ad that features the tagline 'Just kiss me don't ask'.

Ms Mourelatos said the company's 'abhorrent' tag lines – which also include 'Be passionate and leave no evidence' – promoted beauty in an irresponsible way.

A spokeswoman for the school said the campaign was being led by the school co-captain Smita who had encouraged all staff and students to sign the petition - which has received more than 13,000 signatures.

Klara Cosmetics marketing director Daniel Jacob said the ad was nine months old and the company did not aim to target teenage girls with its marketing. 'Our target audience ranges from 21 to 45 year old women who are independent, bold and want to make something of themselves.

Mr Jacob said the ad was intended to promote the brand's 'kiss proof' lipstick.

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UK: "Sweaty" is a bad word?

Controversial television personality Katie Hopkins has been cleared by police following a series of tweets that referred to Scots as 'sweaty jocks'.

The Sun columnist made the comments after Pauline Cafferkey, from Cambuslang, in South Lanarkshire, contracted Ebola.

Ms Cafferkey - who had volunteered with Save the Children at a treatment centre in Kerry Town, in Sierra Leone - was diagnosed with the deadly virus on December 29, after returning to Glasgow via London.

Remarking on the case, Ms Hopkins wrote on Twitter: 'Sending us Ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn't cricket.'

Another tweet said: 'Glaswegian ebola patient moved to London's Royal Free Hospital. Not so independent when it matters most are we jocksville?'

Within hours of the post, James Gilchrist from Glasgow had launched a petition calling for Ms Hopkins to be arrested on the internet.

He said in the petition: 'For years, Katie Hopkins has seemingly gotten away with a string of controversial statements, either via main stream media or social media, without punishment.

'Recently, she has attacked the Scottish people on twitter over the Ebola scare in Glasgow, calling them "Sweaty Jocks" and "Sweaty Glaswegians", before questioning the ability of the Scottish NHS.

Despite the petition gathering more than 20,000 signatures calling for her arrest, the police found no evidence of criminality following a five-month inquiry. 

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: 'An investigation has been carried out and on this occasion no criminality has been established.'

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UK:  Must not celebrate colonial times

Another self-righteous attempt to erase history

The elite Oxford Union has been accused of 'unforgivable' racism after its bar devised a new 'colonial comeback' cocktail advertised on posters showing a slave in chains.

The decision by the world's most famous debating society, which was discussing whether Britain owes former colonies reparations, has caused widespread revulsion.

Images of the poster advertising the £2.50 mix of brandy, peach schnapps and lemonade, have spread worldwide.

The incident led to an apology by the Union, whose alumni include Boris Johnson and Tony Blair.

But students at the university are not satisfied claiming it reflects 'deeper' racism and there were protests in the chamber during last night's debate.

Annie Teriba, founder of Oxford’s Black Students’ Union said afterwards: 'Apparently, it's okay to kick back in the union bar relishing in a 'Colonial comeback' cocktail. I am horrified that the Union thinks it's okay to trivialise centuries of oppression and racist violence in the form of a refreshing drink'.

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Australia: "Girly" is a bad word

Another "incorrect" footballer.  In dissatisfaction with his own team's performance, he called it "girly"

OLLIE Wines has come under fire on social media for describing Port Adelaide’s first quarter effort against Melbourne as “girly”.

The flippant remark came during a half-time interview and sparked outrage on Twitter with fans accusing the 20-year-old of being sexist.

“To be honest, that first quarter of football was pretty pathetic by us,” Wines said. “Playing a bit girly and not hitting the ball hard and winning the contested ball.”

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A sexist statue?

Feminists can tell what a statue is saying, apparently.  That must be pretty close to mental illness.  It's neurotic at least

A photo of a sculpture on a Texas college campus has gone viral after it was shared on Twitter and labeled as 'mansplaining'.

Cathy de la Cruz, 34, posted a tweet with the photo of the sculpture, Classmates, writing the caption '#Mansplaining The Statue' after she received the photo from her friend last week.

Hernandez, 34, who attended a high school with de la Cruz that is operated by the Texas university, was taking a teacher's certification test when she saw the sculpture.

She wrote in an email to Women in the World that the sculpture 'just screamed mansplaining'.

Mansplaining is described as when a man tells a woman, while in a condescending manner, how to do something she already knows how to do or tells her she is wrong about something she is actually right about, according to ScienceBlogs.

In the tweet with the photo of the sculpture shared by de la Cruz, her caption below it read: 'A friend spotted this in Texas: #Mansplaining The Statue'.

Friedman then shared de la Cruz's tweet with a slightly altered caption on Twitter: 'Mansplaining: The Statue (via @SadDiego).'

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