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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