Wednesday, January 12, 2022
‘Everyone has to speak in code:’ Utahns with reported COVID vaccine injuries say they’re being silenced on social media
About an hour after Brianne Dressen received her first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine as part of the clinical trial, she felt a tingling sensation down her arm, and later that night, she says her vision doubled and became blurred. The next day, she reported severe sensitivity to sound and light, and after multiple trips to multiple doctors, she says medical professionals still didn’t know what was wrong.
In the coming months, Dressen’s symptoms worsened – she says she was also experiencing heart and blood pressure fluctuations, in addition to profuse sweating and intense brain fog. Her ailments escalated to the point where she was confined to a dark room at all hours, largely isolated from her family, career, and the outside world.
After she reported motor dysfunction and incontinence, her condition ultimately ended up landing her in the hospital.
“I went through all of this by myself. I was totally alone. I didn’t know anybody else that was having these problems,” Dressen says. “And then I finally came in contact with a few people in the end of March/first of April and I was elated because I was no longer alone. And that’s actually when I was able to make that paradigm shift to not wanting to die anymore.”
It was in these social media groups, which were primarily hosted on Facebook, that Dressen met several other Utahns, Nicole Keddington and Pam Warren – in addition to a slew of others across the world – that were also reporting these symptoms.
Warren, who received the Moderna shot and was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder prior to receiving the vaccination, says finding the group helped her connect with the right medical specialists who could help her.
Talking with their peers was a source of hope for each of the women, but as quickly as they found the groups and were experiencing a sort of relief, they say the groups started to disappear.
According to the women, community groups and posts were – and still are – flagged by various social media platforms for alleged violations like “false information,” “spreading misinformation” and “dangerous acts.” They say that many of these groups are in their third or fourth iterations due to repeated takedown notices.
Dressen has documented vaccine injury-related content removal on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, GoFundMe, Reddit and Instagram.
Many social media platforms have some extent of a misinformation policy, which is intended to dissuade and prevent the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories. Most companies use a combination of computer algorithms and human factcheckers to identify and remove false information.
Facebook has invoked a specific set of rules pertaining to COVID-19 information. According to their help center, they are liable to remove “misinformation when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to contribute to imminent violence or physical harm,” According to the same help center article, Facebook is apt to remove content relating to “claims about the safety or serious side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.”
YouTube has a similar policy, though they do not explicitly mention the discussion of adverse side effects like those reportedly experienced by Dressen, Keddington, Warren, and their peers.
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Joe Rogan complains 'straight White men' will be silenced, not allowed outside due to cancel culture
Joe Rogan sounded off on cancel culture, courting controversy by speculating that it could lead to the silencing of "straight White men."
The podcast host, 53, sat down for an interview with comedian Joe List last week on his "Joe Rogan Experience" show where the duo got to talking about movies, specifically edgy comedies like "Superbad," "Step Brothers" and more. While List tried to think of the most recent edgy comedy he’d seen, Rogan went off on a rant about how filmmakers couldn’t make a movie in that genre today for fear of getting "canceled."
"The stuff that they talk about and say to each other I just don’t think you can do that today or if you did do that you’d face a tremendous amount of criticism," the host says in a video clip of the episode shared on his official YouTube channel.
The podcaster continues down a road of hypotheticals about trying to make a comedy movie in today’s hyper-sensitive climate, eventually bringing race and sexual orientation into the conversation by suggesting that "straight, White men" will be "silenced" and not allowed outside by "woke" people.
"You can never be woke enough, that’s the problem. It keeps going, it keeps going further and further and further down the line and if you get to the point where you capitulate, where you agree to all these demands, it’ll eventually get to a point where straight White men aren’t allowed to talk because it’s your privilege to express yourself when other people of color have been silenced throughout history," Rogan said. "It’ll be ‘you’re not allowed to go outside because so many people were imprisoned for so many years.' I’m not joking, it really will get there. It’s that crazy."
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Monday, January 10, 2022
YouTube removes video 'Blood on Your Hands' -- a video that slammed Biden for failed Afghan withdrawal
Grammy-nominated Five For Fighting singer John Ondrasik said his new music video that shows footage of President Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan has been censored and removed by YouTube.
A search for the song on the video service shows a lyric video and a still image video that plays the tune, called 'Blood on Your Hands,' but does not appear to feature the controversial video Ondrasik posted.
The singer, best known for hits like Superman and 100 Years, announced the removal of the video - which features images of what he calls 'Taliban atrocities' - on his Twitter account.
Ondrasik said he was aware that the video might hit a nerve, saying he placed a 'graphic warning' disclaimer and saying he agreed when YouTube inserted a child content restriction.
'YouTube has taken down the video due to a violation of "Graphic Content Policy,''' Ondrasik wrote.
'To not show said Taliban atrocities in any artistic statement on Afghanistan would be a gross injustice to the victims and enable the Taliban's ongoing persecution of 40 million Afghan citizens,' he added.
'There is a great tradition of artists speaking their minds and calling out their leaders for answers. Many of those have been inspirations to me,' he explained in a press release.
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Read Jane Eyre if you dare: University students are given 'trigger warnings' for classic literature
They have been celebrated as classics of English literature for more than 150 years, enjoyed by generations of children as young as eight.
But university students have now been given a 'trigger warning' that Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens's Great Expectations both contain passages they might find 'distressing'.
Critics last night described the cautions given to students at Salford University as 'absurd'. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said it was ridiculous that adults 'have to be protected from the stories that generations of children have been able to cope with without being damaged'.
And actor Simon Callow, who has appeared in several Dickens adaptations, joked: 'I don't think the university authorities have gone far enough.
'A more helpful alert would be: 'Warning – this book may make you think. In extreme cases, it may even make you feel.
Published in 1861, Great Expectations describes orphan Pip's adventures with characters including the fugitive Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and the beautiful but cruel Estella – and includes vivid imagery of poverty, prison ships and fights to the death.
Meanwhile Jane Eyre, written in 1847, charts the romance between Bronte's titular heroine and the troubled Mr Rochester, but also describes her unhappy childhood as an abandoned orphan.
Mr Bridgen added: 'Victorian readers could cope with tales of workhouses and children being groomed into criminal gangs. But we are in danger of creating a dystopian future far darker than any Victorian novel.'
The warnings accompany a reading list given to students on Salford's BA English literature course, and have been revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request.
Other titles on the list include Christina Rossetti's 1862 fantasy poem Goblin Market, and Robert Browning's 1836 poem Porphyria's Lover, in which a man strangles his partner.
Salford's warnings come despite film and TV adaptations of both Great Expectations and Jane Eyre being aimed at family audiences.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Friday, January 07, 2022
Jewish charity defends J K Rowling after US TV host accused the Harry Potter author of anti-Semitism
Jewish organisations have defended JK Rowling after a US comedian claimed that the depiction of goblins in her Harry Potter books was anti-Semitic.
Jon Stewart slammed the author over the goblins that run Gringotts bank in her Harry Potter series on his podcast, The Problem with Jon Stewart.
Stewart, who is Jewish, questioned why Rowling chose to 'throw Jews in there to run the f***ing underground bank' in a fictional world where people 'can ride dragons and have pet owls'.
But Jewish fans were quick to note that the author has consistently called out anti-Semitism in recent years; including as a frequent critic of Jeremy Corbyn during his leadership of the Labour Party and when she refused to join a cultural boycott of Israel.
And Dave Rich, director of policy at Jewish charity the Community Security Trust, told MailOnline that Rowling had been 'very supportive' of the Jewish community.
He said: 'JK Rowling has been very supportive of the Jewish community in recent years and tweeted repeatedly against antisemitism, so it is hard to imagine that she used anti-semitic caricatures in her books. Sometimes a goblin is just a goblin.'
Comedian David Baddiel also waded in, adding: 'The goblins in Harry Potter need to be seen not in a simplistic #teamRowling vs #antiteamRowling way but in a many-centuries long, deeply subconsciously embedded cultural context.'
Author and literature expert Nicholas Jubber told MailOnline: 'Rowling appears to have followed traditions in British fantasy literature. The old German word, 'kobold', gave us the word 'cobalt', signalling the association of these creatures with mining for precious ores. So it makes sense that goblins would be linked with vaults and underground storage.'
Fans also defended the author, suggesting that her depiction of the goblins was typical of the fantasy genre, with the likes of JRR Tolkien and Terry Pratchett using similar descriptions.
One said today: 'Goblins were described and depicted like that decades before Rowling. So if those activists have problems with how goblins are depicted - they should cancel fantasy books and mythos that existed before.'
Another added: 'You would have to tar all fantasy writers such as Tolkien and artists, who have portrayed goblins in exactly the same light since the 19th Century. In most fantasy and children's writings they are almost always portrayed as mean, hoarders of gold and jewels with the same features.'
Others noted that Rowling's original sketch of goblins was significantly different to the movie depiction of the creatures, which Warner Brothers are behind.
JK Rowling's public criticisms of anti-Semitism
October 2015: JK Rowling refuses to join cultural boycott of Israel.
April 2018: The author slams 'antisemite' for comments on Judaism being a religion not a race.
August 2018: She tells another writer: 'How dare you tell a Jew that their outrage is 'patently synthetic'? How dare you demand that they lay bare their pain and fear on demand, for your personal evaluation? What other minority would you speak to this way?'
September 2018: Rowling hits out at Twitter users for a lack of sympathy to victims of anti-Semitism.
December 2018: Rowling blasts Jeremy Corbyn and his handling of the Labour party
And one fan said: 'I was struck by it at the time but put it down to the deep cultural chauvinism that runs through Northern European folklore rather than any specific intent by the author. Same arguments can be and are thrown at Tolkien.'
Fans were also quick to defend the author following Stewart's remarks.
One wrote: 'My Jewish perspective is that this is a cheap shot by Stewart. I don't believe @jk_rowling ever thought 'Jews' when she made the bankers goblins (or that any child reading HP ever thought it, either). JKR has been a strong supporter of Jewish causes for decades & she has denounced real antisemitism when few non-Jews do.
'Perhaps she regretted the choice after critics made that connection, but if you look at folkloric creatures that have been described for centuries as gold hoarders & think 'Jews', that's not on her.'
Another said: 'JK Rowling is being accused of antisemitism over her depiction of goblins in her Harry Potter books. I think this is nonsense; she has always stood alongside Britain's Jews, and now that she's under continuous attack, we should stand by her.'
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BLM protesters cleared over toppling of Edward Colston statue
Anti-racism campaigners tonight hailed a jury’s decision to clear protesters responsible for toppling a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston as a huge step in getting the UK to face up to its colonial past.
Jake Skuse 33, Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, did not dispute the roles they had played in pulling down the statue and throwing it in the River Avon during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest but all denied criminal damage.
In closing statements following the nine-day trial, the defence had urged jurors to “be on the right side of history”, saying the statue, which stood over the city for 125 years, was so indecent and potentially abusive that it constituted a crime.
After just under three hours’ deliberation, a jury of six men and six women found the so-called “Colston Four” not guilty by an 11 to one majority decision at Bristol crown court on Wednesday afternoon.
“This verdict is a milestone in the journey that Bristol and Britain are on to come to terms with the totality of our history,” said David Olusoga, the broadcaster and historian of the slave trade, who gave evidence in the trial.
Olusoga said: “For 300 years Edward Colston was remembered as a philanthropist, his role in the slave trade and his many thousands of victims were airbrushed out of the story. The toppling of the statue and the passionate defence made in court by the Colston Four makes that deliberate policy of historical myopia now an impossibility.”
Clive Lewis, the Labour MP, said: “A British jury has confirmed the toppling of Edwards Colston’s statue was not a criminal act. The real crime was the fact the statue was still there when protestors pulled it down.
“Today’s verdict makes a compelling case that a majority of the British public want to deal with our colonial and slave trading past, not run away from it. That’s important to understand and I hope it gives political leaders a little more confidence when it comes to challenging the ‘culture war’ our government is currently pursuing.”
But some critics reacted with fury. Scott Benton, a Conservative MP, denounced the verdict as an “absolutely appalling decision”, tweeting: “Are we now a nation which ignores violent acts of criminal damage? This sends out completely the wrong message.”
The former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie said he could not help “questioning the sanity of the jury”. He added: “The verdict was a shocking signal to every lefty protester in the country that they can damage with impunity as long as they chant the phrase hate crime.”
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Thursday, January 06, 2022
Norman Mailer book cancelled after "White Negro" essay row
"The White Negro" attributed various anarchic characteristics to blacks. It was meant as praise. I am no fan of Mailer but I think he had a point
A publisher is said to have cancelled plans to release a collection of political essays by the American writer Norman Mailer after complaints from a junior member of staff about the title of his 1957 work The White Negro.
Penguin Random House is understood to have informed the Mailer family that it no longer had plans to publish the collection to celebrate the centenary of his birth next year.
Mailer was one of the defining voices of American 20th-century literature but courted controversy throughout his career and stabbed one of his six wives in the leg with a penknife during a drunken row.
Best-selling author Michael Wolff said Mailer’s oldest son had confirmed that Penguin Random House had told him of the cancelled plans.
Wolff wrote in The Ankler newsletter: “With slow-mo hammer-dropping predictability, Norman Mailer’s long-time publisher has recently informed the Mailer family that it has cancelled plans to publish a collection of his political writings to mark the centennial of his birth in 2023 . . .
The back-door apologies at Random House include as the proximate cause – you hardly have to look hard in Mailer’s work to find offences against contemporary doctrine and respectability – a junior staffer’s objection to the title of Mailer’s 1957 essay, The White Negro.”
The infamous 9000-word essay explored Mailer’s philosophy on “hipsterism” and declared the murder of a white shop owner by two black teenagers was an example of “daring the unknown”.
James Baldwin, the influential black writer, criticised the work and accused Mailer of employing racial stereotypes.
Mailer died aged 84 in 2007.
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Now Shakespeare is incorrect
The head of one of Britain's top universities has criticised Sir Patrick Stewart after he refused to read some of Shakespeare's sonnets because of 'political correctness'.
The actor, 81, skipped several poems about the Bard's 'Dark Lady' and one referring to a 'woman colour'd ill' during his recitation of a sonnet a day for online videos during the first Covid lockdown.
Sir Patrick, celebrated for his Shakespearean performances, explained that he disliked the attitudes conveyed in these verses - or struggled to make sense of them.
Professor Sally Mapstone, 64, the principal of St Andrews University in Scotland, praised the actor's decision to read the sonnets, which she found 'very salutary'.
But speaking on a podcast for the Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance she added: 'I didn't think he was right to skip a couple in a rather politically correct way, frankly. 'I think he should have just read them and let people make up their minds but, as he said, it was his choice.'
Some of the Shakespeare poems that Sir Patrick skipped are among a group known as the Dark Lady sonnets.
Although the subject of the verses is unknown, and still sparks debate, it has been suggested by some scholars that she may have been a woman of African or southern European heritage.
In one of Sir Patrick's videos he told viewers: 'I am skipping [sonnet] 131 because I don't like it'.
Sonnet 131 features a description of a dark-skinned woman as the 'fairest and most precious jewel' and continues: 'Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place. In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds.'
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Wednesday, January 05, 2022
Trump calls Twitter a 'disgrace to Democracy', slams 'low-life' Facebook and tells his fans to stop using both platforms after Marjorie Taylor Greene's ban
Donald Trump tore into Twitter and Facebook in a late Monday statement after the social media giants banned accounts linked to firebrand GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
On Sunday Twitter announced it had permanently suspended Greene's personal account for spreading COVID-19 misinformation, though she still retains access to her official Congressional handle.
The next day, Greene said Facebook suspended her account for a 24-hour period.
Trump, whose own accounts on the platforms were banned following the Capitol riot on January 6 of last year, urged his supporters to cease using both and called for a ban on their United States-based operations.
'Twitter is a disgrace to democracy. They shouldn’t be allowed to do business in this Country,' the ex-president said through his Save America PAC.
'Marjorie Taylor Greene has a huge constituency of honest, patriotic, hard-working people. They don’t deserve what’s happened to them on places like low-life Twitter and Facebook.
'Everybody should drop off of Twitter and Facebook. They’re boring, have only a Radical Left point of view, and are hated by everyone. They are a disgrace to our Nation. Keep fighting, Marjorie!'
Last February Twitter said Trump's access to his account there, his favored way of reaching supporters which also became a daily source of news headlines, would not be restored even if he took back the White House.
Facebook reached a decision in June to limit Trump's suspension there to two years.
Trump's call for his supporters to drop the platforms comes months after he announced the creation of his own social media venture, TRUTH Social, which the ex-president said is scheduled to launch in early 2022.
Greene meanwhile has joined Gettr, a relatively new social media platform created by former Trump adviser Jason Miller. The fallout from her Twitter ban resulted in more than 230,000 people joining the free speech site in a single day, Gettr said in a release.
On Sunday, the Georgia Republican's spokesman shared her response to Twitter, which she posted on messaging app Telegram.
'Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth. That's fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies,' Greene said.
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Wow! This guy let it rip
A Belgian plastic surgeon has been jailed after telling students that women 'don't want to open their legs any more' in a university lecture.
Jeff Hoeyberghs, 60, was given a ten-month prison sentence, half of which is suspended, after the extraordinary 2019 rant in which he said women exist to 'satisfy men sexually and perform household chores'.
The TV surgeon, who is qualified in the UK, had been invited to speak by the University of Ghent and the Catholic Flemish Students' Union, with his comments prompting a barrage of complaints.
Judges said the sentence plus an €8,000 fine were merited because he incited discrimination, hatred and violence against women and refused to back down.
He has maintained he was speaking the 'truth' and claimed his freedom of speech is being denied.
In the two-hour lecture to the postgraduate students, Hoeyberghs said: 'Women want the privileges of male protection and money, but they do not want to open their legs anymore.
'We have given women dishwashing machines and cleaning ladies, until they themselves became superfluous.
'You cannot treat a woman like an equal without becoming her slave.'
The surgeon added that women are 'hysterical, lazy, weak, stupid' and 'dirty creatures, who seek money and protection from men to whom they owe sex', comparing them to 'animals with udders'.
He even targeted specific female students in the auditorium with insults, as well as teenage activist Greta Thunberg, saying women were 'worthless' in high profile jobs such as doctors, judges, teachers and scientists.
The surgeon told one PhD student she was just 'blue eyes and t*ts', while another was 'a fine example of how things go wrong'.
He added women 'always let emotions get in their way' and said prisons, psychiatric wards and rehab centres are 'filled with children of single mothers'.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Tuesday, January 04, 2022
Twitter Suspends Media Site’s Account for Posting Video of Congressman Criticizing Big Pharma
Media company Grabien News has been suspended by Twitter for posting a video of a U.S. congressman criticizing pharmaceutical corporations, its founder said.
Grabien founder Tom Elliott wrote on Twitter on Dec. 31 that Grabien was suspended for citing comments by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) about COVID-19 treatments.
“Big Pharma Won’t Consider Therapeutics Like HCQ or Ivermectin Because of Economic Interests,” the post reads. It had an attached link to a video containing the congressman’s comments.
Elliott included a screenshot statement from Twitter, which sent him a boilerplate message that Grabien was suspended for “violating the policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19,” which Elliott described as “next-level Twitter absurdity.”
“Obviously, in this case, quoting an elected leader on an issue that matters to everyone is important and newsworthy, regardless of whether you agree,” Elliott said. “And I can’t help but add that his basic point was once mainstream among progressives.
“I’ve appealed, making this point. However, I have no confidence in Twitter doing the right thing and acknowledging this tweet did not violate its terms & conditions.”
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Facebook 'permanently' locks account of conservative children's book publisher - which tells stories of Ronald Regan and Amy Coney Barrett - for 'disruptive content' - but left-wing publishers pushing the 'ABC's of AOC' and 'Feminist Baby' are not banned
Facebook has permanently disabled the account of a conservative children's publisher for failing to comply with its 'low quality or disruptive content' policy.
Heroes of Liberty, which has published child-friendly biographies of Repulican figures like former President Ronald Regan, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and social theorist Thomas Sowell, launched in November 2021, with the goal of producing children's content on underrepresented 'heroes,' said co-founder and editor Bethany Mandel.
Facebook did not give exact examples of which posts violated its policy, but in a message to Heroes of Liberty it pointed to a rule included in its advertising guidelines that states: 'Ads must not contain content leading to external landing pages that provide an unexpected or disruptive experience.
'This includes misleading ad positioning, such as overly sensationalized headlines or prompts for users to inauthentically interact with the ad, and leading people to landing pages that contain minimal original content and a majority of unrelated or low quality ad content.'
In its last post on the now-disabled page on December 19, the publisher advertised one of its books saying: 'Teach your children and grandchildren the morals and principles of Thomas Sowell with his beautifully illustrated biography. There is no better way to ensure a more promising future for the next generations.'
While the conservative publisher has been shut out of its accounts, the publishers of left-leaning children's books remain active on the social media platform.
Penguin Kids Books - publisher of the Little Book of Little Activists, the She Persisted series, Change Sings, and more - remains active on Facebook. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - with titles including Feminist Baby and the ABCs of AOC - is also in control of an active Facebook page.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Monday, January 03, 2022
New York Dems Unveil Bill to Silence COVID Policy Criticisms
Apparently, as far as New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman is concerned, social media isn’t censorious enough when it comes to vaccines. (We know full well at The Western Journal that the opposite is true, given Big Tech companies like Google try to starve us of revenue when we deviate from the party line. We’re dedicated to fighting this censorship no matter what the cost — and you can help us in our fight by subscribing.)
Thus, we got this news release from the Manhattan-based Democrat: “As the Anniversary of the January 6 Insurrection Approaches, Senator Brad Hoylman Introduces Bill to Hold Tech Companies Accountable for Promoting Vaccine Misinformation & Hate Speech on Social Media.”
His legislation, according to the news release, would “hold social media platforms accountable for knowingly promoting disinformation, violent hate speech, and other unlawful content that could harm others.
“While Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media platforms from being treated as publishers or speakers of content shared by users on their apps and websites, this legislation instead focuses on the active choices these companies make when implementing algorithms designed to promote the most controversial and harmful content, which creates a general threat to public health and safety,” the release read.
If one is to judge by his statement, Sen. Hoylman sees little difference between hate speech, Capitol rioters and someone who engages in the deliberately vague thought crime of “vaccine misinformation.”
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Twitter bans Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene
Twitter has banned the personal account of far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene for multiple violations of the platform’s COVID-19 misinformation policy, the latest strike against the firebrand whose embrace of conspiracy theories has been called “a cancer” for her party and led the House to boot her from committees.
The Georgia Republican’s account was permanently suspended under the “strike” system Twitter launched in March, which uses artificial intelligence to identify posts about the coronavirus that are misleading enough to cause harm to people. Two or three strikes earn a 12-hour account lock. Four strikes prompt a weeklong suspension. Five or more strikes can get someone permanently removed from Twitter.
In a statement on the messaging app Telegram, Greene blasted Twitter’s move as un-American. She wrote that her account was suspended after tweeting statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a government database that includes unverified raw data.
“Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” Greene said. “That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Sunday, January 02, 2022
Article about censorship censored by Facebook
In its latest attempt to curb conservative coverage, Facebook censored a Federalist article on Wednesday about the dangers of COVID censorship.
Facebook flagged the article, titled “Forcing People Into COVID Vaccines Ignores Important Scientific Information,” with a “missing context” label and linked to a Lead Stories article dissecting a United Kingdom publication’s article, which said, “Only the Fully Vaccinated should fear the New ‘Worst Ever’ Covid-19 Variant; data shows they already account for 4 in every 5 Covid Deaths.”
The purported “fact check” authored by a former CNN employee for the obscure third-party company with ties to the sketchy Chinese company ByteDance, however, doesn’t actually address The Federalist article or any of the claims made in it. Instead, the article tries to downplay the fact that COVID case data from the U.K. shows that vaccinated people are increasingly contracting COVID-19.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/12/15/facebook-censors-article-about-dangers-of-covid-censorship/
*********************************************Louisiana judge RESIGNS after she was suspended for using n-word in video during attempted break-in by black burglar
IMHO I think the N-word is a reasonable description of a black burglar in a white home
A Louisiana judge has resigned after a video captured her repeated use of the n-word as she and her family watched surveillance footage of a black robbery suspect attempt to break into her home.
Odinet, a mother of four, is heard making racist comments at her home in Bendel Gardens in Lafayette early on December 11.
The short clip captured one of Odinet's children saying 'And mom’s yelling n****r, n****r,' to which a female voice responds 'We have a n****r. It’s a n****r, like a roach.'
The Republican judge has since come under fire for the racist slurs, with local officials and members of the community calling on her to resign.
Ronald Handy, 59, who is black, was arrested and charged with two counts of simple burglary and is being held at Lafayette Parish Jail on a $10,000 bond.
Handy was seen being taken down by two members of the Odinet family on the front lawn of their home during the attempted burglary.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Saturday, January 01, 2022
Style guide mayhem in Wales
As is fitting for a year in which fun and indeed most famous people born before the turn of the millennium were cancelled, the Welsh government has decided to round off 2021 by banning references to “Brexit” and the “able-bodied” in its style guide for civil servants.
“Wasting energy on problems that don’t even exist” was the verdict of the Welsh opposition leader – one which could also be extended to England’s civil service, whose style guide recently underwent an identical update (albeit more quietly).
The upshot is, wherever you find yourself in the UK, failing to know the lingo could see your social cachet fall further than Pizza Express Woking.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/01/seven-words-will-definitely-cancelled-2022/
**********************************************Twitter Suspends Key mRNA Vaccine Contributor Dr. Robert Malone
Dr. Robert Malone, a key contributor to mRNA vaccine technology and an outspoken critic of COVID-19 mandates and rules, was suspended by Twitter.
Writing on his Substack page, Malone, who had massed more than 500,000 followers, confirmed that his account was “permanently suspended from Twitter” and said, “We all knew it would happen eventually.”
“Over a half million followers gone in a blink of an eye. That means I must have been on the mark, so to speak,” he wrote on Dec. 29. “Over the target. It also means we lost a critical component in our fight to stop these vaccines being mandated for children and to stop the corruption in our governments, as well as the medical-industrial complex and pharmaceutical industries.”
According to Malone’s post, he directed users to read his Substack page for future updates. Meanwhile, he’s slated to appear on comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan’s podcast on Dec. 30.
“Substack is absolutely the best way to see my writings. I appreciate everyone’s support in signing up for my newsletter. It truly matters to me,” he wrote in the post.
Malone told The Epoch Times on Wednesday evening that Twitter provided him with no advance notice before it handed down the suspension.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Friday, December 31, 2021
British council U-turns over plans to rename a poorly-lit Dorset road called 'Darkie Lane' after a backlash from residents who say claims it is 'racially insensitive'
Officials have been forced to U-turn on renaming a road deemed racially insensitive after uproar from locals that it was 'political correctness gone mad'.
Darkie Lane in Swanage, Dorset got its name more than 70 years ago because it was lined by elm trees and hedgerows that made it dark and shady.
The local council agreed to change the name after getting a letter of complaint from a family who holidayed in the coastal town this summer.
They said the Darkie Lane - which like many rural lanes does not boast a physical street sign - had racist connotations and could 'very easily cause offence to others given our national history'.
Swanage Town Council voted to change the name to Dark Lane but after two months of deliberation, Dorset Council has announced it will not be renamed.
A Dorset Council spokesman said there are eight residences on Darkie Lane - five responded to the council's request for views on the naming of the road.
Four stated their preference was for no change of the road name, and one responded saying they wanted it changed to something else, not the proposed Dark Lane, and no responses were received in favour of changing it to Dark Lane.
Residents have hailed the U-turn as common sense prevailing.
One said on social media: 'Hallelujah! For once a bit of common sense has prevailed over the madness of political correctness.'
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Mercedes swept up in China internet furore over model’s exaggerated ‘slanted eyes’
The video was posted on Mercedes-Benz’s official Weibo account on Saturday and later removed due to public backlash, the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper said.
“The makeup of the female model looked like slanted eyes and once again aroused a heated discussion from netizens with many blaming that the makeup reflects Western stereotypes about Asian people,” the paper said on Tuesday.
Chinese internet users have recently been debating the way that models’ eyes are shown in advertising. The Chinese company Three Squirrels recently apologised for ads featuring model Cai Niang Niang wearing makeup that accentuated the slant of her eyes, the South China Morning Post reported.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Law Prof Punished for Perceived Racial Insensitivity Considers Lawsuit Against School
A law professor in Chicago has been ordered to undergo mandatory reeducation as punishment for using an abbreviated version of a racial slur in a legal hypothetical about race-based employment discrimination on an exam.
The question posed on the civil procedure exam by Jason Kilborn, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, included the following sentence, which was deemed hurtful to students:
“Employer’s lawyer traveled to meet the manager, who stated that she quit her job at Employer after she attended a meeting in which other managers expressed their anger at Plaintiff, calling her a ‘n____’ and ‘b____’ (profane expressions for African Americans and women) and vowed to get rid of her.”
A Change.org petition signed by more than 400 people stated that the “dark and vile verbiage” appeared in a question used for years on the Civil Procedure II exam administered by Kilborn and that the “fact pattern involved an employment discrimination case” where the issue “was whether or not the information found was work product.”
“The question was culturally insensitive and tone-deaf. It lacked basic civility and respect for the student body, especially considering our social justice efforts this year. … We cannot ignore the history and violence the N-word represents and the psychological impact, and mental trauma students were subjected to.”
Citing reports from anonymous students, the university accused Kilborn of calling minorities “cockroaches,” and of “diminishing” an unnamed student’s accent—allegations that Kilborn denies. The school’s Black Law Students Association has demanded that Kilborn be fired.
In a Dec. 16 letter to Kilborn’s attorney Wayne Giampietro, the university’s legal counsel, John B. Alsterda wrote that Kilborn will have to receive “individualized training and coaching … to facilitate his return to the classroom.”
Kilborn won’t be allowed to teach while he is taking the course but that prohibition on teaching is “not punitive,” Alsterda wrote. “We note that faculty, administrators, and executives routinely engage in these programs as a means of continuing their education and broadening their skillset.”
“The common goal is to return Professor Kilborn to the classroom,” Alsterda wrote. “The Law School is committed to ensuring that the entire Law School community benefits from a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment.”
The letter warns Kilborn not to sue and promises to “vigorously defend against” any legal claims he may make.
William A. Jacobson, himself a law professor, reported on Legal Insurrection, “This is nothing short of an attempt to humiliate Prof. Kilborn through a reeducation and supervisory program that would make Maoist Red Guards blush.”
Jacobson accuses the school of “psychologically torturing a professor just because it thinks it can.”
While Jacobson’s statement is “hyperbole, the abusive nature of the behavior of UIC officials is undeniable,” Kilborn told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“They have spread not only demonstrable but demonstrated lies about my conduct, ignoring a devastating revelation of the truth by Andy Koppelman in the Chronicle of Higher Education. As Andy concluded in that article, these administrators regard the truth as an inconvenient roadblock on the way to their preconceived conclusions about my guilt and need for ‘re-education.’”
“The whole episode is a despicable commentary on the sorry and irresponsible state of higher education administration today. I hope the truth attracts as much attention when it is fully revealed in a federal lawsuit that is all but inevitable at this point,” Kilborn told The Epoch Times.
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Lesbian entrepreneur gets 'daily death and rape threats' after JK Rowling plugged her feminist T-shirts
A lesbian businesswoman has blasted transgender rights activists for trying to 'intimidate' her by sending her 'death and rape threats on a daily basis'.
Angela Wild, 44, who lives in Wales, started her own business in September 2017 designing slogan-printed t-shirts and badges, which campaign for women’s sex-based rights.
She began selling her products on Etsy but many of them were banned for 'hateful conduct' after she was targeted by 'cruel' trans rights activists who sent her threatening messages and reported her items.
'My products are based on my own views. I do not accept the idea that anyone can have a cervix. It's simple biology that only women do. It's ridiculous that we can't even say that - how is biology now viewed as hate speech?
'Transgender activists are trying to stifle free speech by tearing down anyone who wants to express gender critical views - It's unacceptable!'
'You cannot simply shut us up. We are entitled to our opinion and I will make sure mine is heard every day.'
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Border Patrol official’s tweet about ‘potential terrorist’ arrest deleted
A tweet posted last week by a Border Patrol official that included a photo of a man described as a “potential terrorist” was taken down because Customs and Border Protection said it contained “law enforcement sensitive information,” according to a report Tuesday.
Border Patrol Yuma Sector Chief Chris Clem tweeted on Dec. 20 about an unidentified 21-year-old man who had been nabbed near Yuma, Ariz., the week before.
“#USBP #YumaSector agents apprehended a potential terrorist who illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico Thursday night,” Clem wrote. “The 21-year-old migrant from Saudi Arabia is linked to several Yemeni subjects of interest. #BorderSecurity is #NationalSecurity.”
CBP spokesman Luis Miranda said in a statement to Fox News that the posting was removed because “it contained law enforcement sensitive information, violating agency protocols.”
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Asian activist group demands boycott of ‘Licorice Pizza’ movie over ‘racist’ scenes
Not everyone has praise for this hit movie.
Activist group Media Action Network for Asian Americans is urging the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to boycott Paul Thomas Anderson’s acclaimed film “Licorice Pizza” over scenes that it believes promulgate anti-Japanese sentiment.
The org’s statement was first shared to LA-based paper the Rafu Shimpo on Dec. 17, but is currently gaining steam on social media.
The message reads: “Due to the casual racism found in the movie ‘Licorice Pizza,’ [MANAA] believes that Paul Thomas Anderson’s film is not deserving of nominations in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director or Best Original Screenplay.”
MANAA also implored other “film critic associations to pass over it this awards season.”
The group is referring to several moments in the 1970s-set dramedy, one of which involves white restaurant owner Jerry Frick (John Michael Higgins) adopting a stereotypical Japanese accent while asking his wife, Mioko (Yumi Mizui), to review an ad for their Japanese restaurant.
In another controversial scene, Jerry employs the same mocking voice to inquire what his new wife, Kimiko (Megumi Anjo), thinks of a waterbed. She responds in Japanese, prompting the main character, Alana (Alana Haim), to ask Jerry to translate, to which he responds, “I don’t speak Japanese.”
https://nypost.com/2021/12/28/activists-boycott-licorice-pizza-over-racist-depictions/
***********************************My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Censorship by an Israeli mayor
It was the museum that was in a position to do this censorship
Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama-Hacohen has appointed himself censor. Over the weekend, he requested that a work by artist David Reeb be removed from an exhibition at the Ramat Gan Museum, which reopened last Thursday. The painting shows a picture of an ultra-Orthodox Jew praying at the Western Wall, with two captions – “Jerusalem of Gold” and “Jerusalem of Shit.”
“Jerusalem is a symbol that’s in the heart of every Jew and sacred to all religions,” Shama-Hacohen wrote on his Facebook page. “Even at the opening event, there were people who couldn’t bear this insult and cut their visit to the museum short because of this work.” The mayor then added, “Ramat Gan didn’t build a museum for a huge sum of money and will not subsidize it every year to expose its children and others to gutter language.”
There are many other examples of censorship, with most objectors acting without authority and in defiance of court rulings and legal opinions stating that politicians and directors of art institutions are not authorized to censor.
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/.premium-a-mayor-not-a-censor-1.10495451
******************************************Oxford Union is accused of gagging free speech for advance vetting of controversial speakers
The Oxford Union has been accused of undermining free speech after agreeing to allow the vetting of controversial speakers.
The debating society, which dates back to 1823, will assess the 'impact' of guests before allowing them to visit.
Particular deliberation is likely to apply to critics of the transgender lobby, pro-Life groups and those who advocate for Israel.
Historically even the most controversial speakers were allowed to visit, including OJ Simpson in 1996 and Nick Griffin of the British National Party in 2007.
However the society plans to 'restructure' its invitations process to take into account any adverse effect on minority groups.
Documents show this could mean consulting 'specialist student societies'. The proposal is the result of an independent review by lawyers.
Chris McGovern of the Campaign for Real Education claimed freedom of speech would be curtailed.
But a spokesman for the Oxford Union welcomed the review, adding: 'We will defend any person's right to freedom of speech within the law.'
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Monday, December 27, 2021
Postmen are now postal operatives, judges told, under gender-neutral language makeover
Judges have been told to refer to postmen as “postal operatives” in a push for the court system to use gender-neutral language.
The Equal Treatment Bench Book, most recently revised this month by the Judicial College, provides guidance to judges to ensure defendants, victims and witnesses are handled fairly.
It includes advice on what it describes as “acceptable terminology” in an apparent effort to stop the judiciary inadvertently offending members of the public during a hearing.
Job titles where a gender is implied should be avoided, the guide says, including terms such as postman, air hostess, businessman and chairman.
Instead, judges are urged to refer to “postal operatives” when referring to a postman, or to a “flight attendant” if they are discussing a woman who works on a plane.
“Use gender-neutral language where possible,” the book says.
The guidance similarly warns that referring to a woman as a “lady” or a “girl” can be considered patronising, while care should be taken when talking about disabilities.
Blind or visually impaired people should not be called “the blind”, nor should individuals confined to a wheelchair be described as “wheelchair bound”, judges are told.
The 566-page document has also been forced to revise sections of its chapter on trans people after facing criticism earlier this year for taking its tone from hardline activists.
Policy Exchange called for an “urgent revision” of the guidance in July, expressing concern that it included ideological claims on gender “without warning judges they are hotly contested”.
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Canceling Christmas
In its recently published “Union of Equality” document (pdf), the European Commission demanded that the Commission employees use “gender neutral” pronouns, avoid addressing audiences as “ladies and gentlemen,” and refrain from wishing each other Merry Christmas.
These guidelines, part of a 30-page booklet designed to foster “inclusive communication,” elicited widespread criticism and received an unusually strong reaction from the Vatican’s highest political office. The top eurocrat behind the paper, EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli, issued a statement defending the already printed document as a mere work in progress.
A few days after the document’s publication, European Parliament’s LGBT* Ambassador Riccardo Simonetti added insult to injury when he proudly appeared on the cover of a German magazine dressed as the Virgin Mary. Brussels’ progressives seem to believe the New European Person should celebrate not Christmas but the December holiday season. As the Vatican can’t react to every single act of blasphemy, average European citizens outraged by Simonetti’s irreverence blew up his Facebook page.
This is neither the first nor the last attempt of European leftists to push the boundaries of what’s acceptable and expand their ideological dominance of the public square and regional organizations as aggressively as their American woke counterparts do. But much to the chagrin of those attempting to import the cultural and religious iconoclasm that has ravaged the American public life so successfully, there are Old World nations that still remember Marxism and its assault on tradition and faith.
East-Central Europeans, whose families actually experienced communist dictatorship, know all about ideologues trying to cancel Christmas and foist a totalitarian worldview on them. They have recognized earlier than most the threat of what was happening across the Atlantic when statues were being torn down, books banned or rewritten, and the unity of the nation challenged by racial identity politics and a new class war. They have seen it before.
Communists deliberately erased St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus, from the public forum and introduced “Father Frost” in his place, a secular figure who brought presents for children both on St. Nicholas’ Day and on Christmas. The holiday itself was renamed “Pinetree Festival,” and “Happy Holidays” was to supplant the politically incorrect “Merry Christmas.” Stalin’s birthday on Dec. 18, and not the birth of Christ, was the official “reason for the season.” It was dangerous to talk about the real meaning of Christmas—families observing the holiday in private risked potentially life-changing consequences of a young child inadvertently betraying his parents at school the following day. A reprimand or an outright punishment awaited the parents for contaminating their children with “undemocratic, retrograde, and reactionary” Christmas thoughts.
The attempts by modern apparatchiks, such as Dalli, to cancel Christmas, or of bureaucrat-provocateur Simonelli to pose for a blasphemous picture violate one of the most basic principles of the Maastricht Treaty (pdf). While the EU was to “deepen the solidarity between their peoples while respecting their history, their culture and their traditions,” Hungarians, Poles, and other nations of the post-Soviet bloc that trigger Brussels with their history, culture, and traditions can’t help but notice how hollow these phrases ring.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/cancelling-christmas_4175568.html
***********************************My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Sunday, December 26, 2021
Fauci Demands Fox News Host Be ‘Fired on the Spot’ for Using a Metaphor
Dr. Anthony Fauci has been the subject of a lot of criticism since the pandemic began. Most recently at Turning Point USA, Fox News host Jesse Watters openly criticized Fauci. In response, Fauci went on CNN and said that Watters should be “fired on the spot.”
Turning Point USA is a conservative nonprofit organization that promotes conservative values in high schools and universities. TPUSA has connections with most of the major conservative political figures such as Sens. Rick Scott and Ted Cruz, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump Jr., Candace Owens and others.
Currently, TPUSA is hosting “AmericaFest” and Watters was one of the featured speakers. In his speech he criticized Fauci for the many issues surrounding the pandemic.
Watters then described how Fauci should be called out and questioned and how an ordinary person could create a viral moment by confronting Fauci in public and getting it on video. In his description, he used the metaphor of “ambushing” Fauci in the style of an aggressive journalist.
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“Now you go in for the kill shot. The kill shot with an ambush — deadly, because he doesn’t see it coming … Boom, he is dead! He is dead!” Watters said.
Many reacted to Watters’ rhetoric, claiming that this language and encouragement to harass Fauci was dangerous and incendiary.
https://flagandcross.com/fauci-demands-fox-news-host-be-fired-on-the-spot-for-using-a-metaphor/
*********************************************Australian Federal government’s Christmas Eve veto of research projects labelled ‘McCarthyism’
The Morrison government has been accused of using the cover of Christmas to politicise research funding, after a federal minister vetoed grants for six recommended projects.
Proposed research relating to climate activism and China were among the projects recommended through Australian Research Council processes but blocked by the acting education minister, Stuart Robert.
Robert has argued the projects he rejected “do not demonstrate value for taxpayers’ money nor contribute to the national interest” – but the decision, announced on Christmas Eve, has drawn criticism from education figures and the federal opposition.
The vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, Prof Brian Schmidt, said that in a liberal democracy it was “completely inappropriate for grants to be removed by politicians, unless the grant rules were not followed”.
The Victorian Labor senator Kim Carr said the government was using Christmas Eve to “sweep under the carpet” its “further politicisation of the ARC and research” in Australia.
Carr, a former minister for research under the Rudd and Gillard governments, tweeted: “Their McCarthyism subverts research which was recommended by the ARC.”
The winning Discovery Projects for next year were finally revealed on Friday, with a report published on the ARC website saying it had received 3,096 applications for funding commencing in 2022.
The report said 587 of those projects had been approved for funding, totalling $259m over five years.
“Of the unsuccessful applications in 2022, 51 were found not to meet eligibility requirements and six were recommended to, but not funded by the minister,” the report said.
A spokesperson for Robert said the minister had approved “98.98%” of the 593 Discovery Projects the ARC recommended, but had not accepted the following six:
Robert’s spokesperson said the minister “believes those rejected do not demonstrate value for taxpayers’ money nor contribute to the national interest”.
“After going through a peer review process, it is clear to the minister the application of the national interest test is not working in every case,” the spokesperson said.
“This test should ensure taxpayer-funded Australian government research funding is directed to areas of national importance and delivers public value. It’s why in his letter of expectation the minister asked the ARC to strengthen the test.”
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Saturday, December 25, 2021
Journalist Alex Berenson SUES Twitter for 'violation of the First Amendment' over his permanent ban for questioning COVID vaccines
The independent journalist Alex Berenson has filed a federal lawsuit against Twitter challenging his ban from the service over a tweet questioning the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.
The lawsuit filed on Monday in US District Court for Northern California seeks Berenson's reinstatement to Twitter and unspecified monetary damages over his permanent ban in August.
A spokesperson for San Francisco-based Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Berenson, a former New York Times reporter and prominent skeptic of many pandemic policies, was banned from Twitter over a tweet in which he stated that COVID vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission of the virus.
'Mr. Berenson’s claim that the COVID-19 vaccines do not “stop infection” or “transmission” of COVID-19 was true at the time and is true now,' his attorneys said in the complaint.
'It is undisputed that vaccinated persons can contract and spread COVID-19,' the lawsuit adds, noting that Dr. Anthony Fauci himself has stated in published interviews that vaccinated people can be infected.
However, the crux of the lawsuit does not rest on whether Berenson's criticism of vaccines was objectively true or not.
The detailed 70-page complaint alleges that Twitter is legally a 'common carrier,' similar to a railroad or a telegram, which is required under California and federal law to provide service to all comers.
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Taking a Cue From China, Facebook Censors Chinese Whistleblower on COVID’s Origins
Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a Chinese virologist, escaped to America after facing threats for speaking out on the origins of COVID-19.
China couldn’t stop Yan from telling her story, so Facebook is stepping in to help the communist regime censor the whistleblower.
Last week, The Daily Signal published an exclusive interview with Yan about her research that COVID-19 was created in a Wuhan, China, research lab. Yan believes it was done with the approval of the People’s Liberation Army, the armed wing of Chinese Communist Party.
But when Facebook users attempt to share The Daily Signal’s story, it’s flagged with an obtrusive “partly false information” warning.
In at least one case, Facebook removed the post entirely and left this message in its place: “Independent fact-checkers reviewed the information and said it was partly false. The post is no longer available.”
The fact-check, conducted by Science Feedback, concluded, “The virus causing COVID-19 most likely evolved in natural wildlife populations before spreading to humans.”
Yan told The Daily Signal’s Fred Lucas a different story: “The virus actually does not come from nature. It came from the lab, the lab controlled by the Chinese Communist Party government and its military. … The Chinese government has developed a novel bioweapon.”
The doctor, who holds a medical degree and a doctorate in ophthalmology from Chinese universities, cites Chinese military documents to back up her claims.
Yan was warned not to go public.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Friday, December 24, 2021
Purple Heart Recipient Locked out of Facebook for Statement on Courage Has Been Reinstated
Teddy Daniels, who is seeking to represent President Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in Congress, found himself punished for posting an inspirational, patriotic comment last month on his Facebook page.
As related by Just the News, on Nov. 9, Daniels posted, “The power of evil men lives on the cowardice of the good.”
Last week, after taking more than a month to plumb the uncertain depths of whatever twists and turns Facebook could find in that sentence, the hammer came down.
Daniels did not take long to post his thoughts on the matter to his Twitter. “This is the Big Lie @RepLizCheney. Instead of persecuting Patriots, you … should have looked into the 2020 election Fraud,” part of the tweet read.
A Facebook administrator for Daniels last Wednesday posted the Facebook warning the page received.
Facebook said the comment was hate speech and not respectful.
Facebook’s intervention led to Daniels being barred from posting on the page, and also delayed a gun raffle that had been scheduled for Wednesday
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New Emails Reveal Evidence of Government Efforts to Suppress Free Speech
A previously unseen Oct. 2020 email from Dr. Francis Collins, the outgoing head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to his colleague Dr. Anthony Fauci is raising concerns about government-sponsored suppression of free speech—a direct violation of the 1st Amendment.
The email, which appears in a footnote of a Dec. 17 year-end staff report from House Democrats, shows the behind-the-scenes efforts from Collins and Fauci, who were pushing a fresh round of lockdowns, to discredit the Great Barrington Declaration and disparage its authors.
The Great Barrington Declaration was an Oct. 2020 letter that ran counter to the efforts of Fauci and Collins by declaring a unified opposition to broad-based lockdowns, and choosing instead to focus on the protection of vulnerable groups.
In the email, Collins told Fauci that “this proposal from the three fringe epidemiologists … seems to be getting a lot of attention,” adding that “there needs to be a quick and devastating published takedown of its premises. I don’t see anything like that online yet – is it underway?”
Collins’s directive to silence American scientists serves as a chilling reminder of the extent and intensity with which First Amendment rights have been undermined in the pandemic era.
Fauci appears to have been in full agreement with Collins’s proposal to take down the authors and their declaration, sending a one-line reply, “I am pasting in below a piece from the Wired that debunks this theory.” The article was essentially an op-ed castigating the declaration but lacking in any fundamental scientific rebuttal.
Fauci’s chief of staff Greg Folkers gave Fauci additional political op-eds from various sources that relayed the same anti-Great Barrington Declaration talking points, but again lacked any scientific basis or fact.
Within a day of Collins’s email, Google started to censor search results for “Great Barrington Declaration.”
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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Thursday, December 23, 2021
MI school district suggests joining BLM protests, warns calling US 'land of opportunity' is 'microaggression'
A public school system in Michigan spent 21 days teaching adults in the district how to be good "equity" allies, capped with a direct call for them to join a Black Lives Matter political protest.
Farmington Public Schools in Michigan released a "21 Day Equity Challenge" for interested parties in the district, aiming to help individuals "learn how to more effectively understand and celebrate our differences"
"Our Mission Statement is ‘Farmington Public Schools, together with our community, will engage every student in a quality experience, empowering each student to become a thoughtful, contributing citizen in a changing world,’" the school district wrote. "With this in mind, we, together with you, hope to deepen our understanding about the members of our community and to use this knowledge to confront bigotry, hatred, and discrimination against any individual or group."
Day 18 of the "equity challenge" includes a link to a list of "microaggressions" to avoid, such as calling America "the land of opportunity."
https://www.foxnews.com/us/michigan-school-district-blm-protests-land-opportunity-microaggression
*********************************************Lecturer becomes symbol of France's battle against wokeism as he is suspended by university because he said it had surrendered to 'Islamo-leftist' students and academics
A lecturer has become a symbol of France's battle against wokeism after he was suspended by his university because he said it had surrendered to 'Islamo-leftist' students academics.
Klaus Kinzler was suspended for four months by Sciences Po Grenoble after the institute ruled his remarks were defamatory.
The German professor accused the university of 'explicitly encouraging students to insult, abuse and defame teachers who have the audacity not to share their extremist opinions'.
The row erupted in March after Kinzler blocked a one-day conference on 'Racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia' claiming it was a politically charged subject rather than academic.
In response a left-wing students' union accused him and a fellow professor of 'fascism' and Islamophobia in a targeted campaign on social media and signs around the Grenoble campus.
In the wake of the case, President Macron's government condemned 'Islamo-leftism' - known as Islamo-gauchisme in French - which points to the alleged political alliance between leftists and Islamists, the Times reported.
But academics have pushed back, with 40 writing an open letter to the Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal warning 'the freedom of expression of academics, as well as their academic freedom within the framework of their teaching and their research, freedoms of which you are the first guarantor, are in danger in our country.'
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Australia: Journalist is slammed for 'disgusting' comments which sparked vile Twitter pile-on
Veteran journalist Peter FitzSimons has come under fire after suggesting Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny's visit to the Tasmanian jumping castle tragedy site was a political move.
The former Wallaby [footballer] fired up his Twitter account to weigh in on photos of the prime minister and his wife laying flowers outside Hillcrest Primary School, in Devonport, on Saturday.
Mr Morrison was pictured comforting Mrs Morrison as she broke down while paying tribute to five children killed when a freak gust of wind blew a jumping castle 10 metres into the air.
'To me this seems to be more a matter for the Governor-General to arrive expressing the nation's grief and shock, rather than the PM?' FitzSimons tweeted.
FitzSimons was one of several commentators who questioned the prime minister's motives, with some left-wing advocates accusing Mr Morrison of turning the event into a 'media circus'.
But FitzSimons' comment quickly backfired - with Australians jumping on the journalist and insisting he was the one politicising the memorial visit.
'Peter FitzSimons you really are a grubby left piece of garbage to politicize this tragedy. Just STFU [shut the f*** up] you clown and have some respect,' one person tweeted.
'You and your followers are disgusting! F*** you all! Five children are dead in my state! We are grieving and all you can bloody do is tweet about politics,' another said.
'Your a dead set low life piece of s***. How could you even dare to make a political play as you have on something so heartbreaking for all down here in Tasmania if not all decent Australians. Your comment is the reflection of your sadistic self entitlement. POS 100%,' someone else posted.
Others claimed FitzSimons' reaction would have been the complete opposite had the prime minister hailed from the opposition, with some citing his previous praise of NZ Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's response to tragedies.
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Pentagon bans troops from liking or advocating ‘extremist’ social content
Too bad about the First Amendment
The Pentagon unveiled new guidelines on “extremism” on Monday, including rules that clarify what kind of behaviors constitute “extremism.” The rules have been updated to reflect the social media era and now prohibit service members from “liking” or “sharing” social media posts from “extremist” groups.
On Monday, the Pentagon published an updated version of its Department of Defense Instruction 1325.06. The instruction defines “extremism” as:
In addition to existing guidelines like not distributing literature linked to “extremist” groups or words, flags or symbols of those groups, the updates to the instruction now describe what types of social media activity would be considered prohibited.
The updated instruction states, “Engaging in electronic and cyber activities regarding extremist activities, or groups that support extremist activities – including posting, liking, sharing, re-tweeting, or otherwise distributing content – when such action is taken with the intent to promote or otherwise endorse extremist activities. Military personnel are responsible for the content they publish on all personal and public Internet domains, including social media sites, blogs, websites, and applications.”
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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