"Racist" app taken down after Twitter attack

Sounds like a useful thing to me.  There's no doubt that some areas are much more dangerous than others  -- and locals know best

A website and app called "Ghetto Tracker", designed to help people avoid going to the "bad" part of town has been taken down after it was attacked on Twitter for being racist.

Featuring a smiling white family on the home page, Ghetto Tracker purported to be an innocent travel tool for wary tourists wanting to keep out of trouble.

It posed the questions, "Travelling to a new city? Will you be visiting a safe part of town?" and the reassurance, "Ghetto Tracker can help determine which parts of town are safe and which parts are not."

The way the app worked was to allow locals to rate the safety of different parts of a given area.

The site appeared last weekend, and within 24 hours it was causing a stir on Twitter, with tweets from Americans accusing it of playing on people's fears and, Gawker said, being "a racist, classist app for helping the rich to avoid the poor".

Apart from the racist associations of the site's name - a ghetto is traditionally a poor area inhabited by African Americans, people were angry the site appeared to allow anyone to arbitrarily decide which neighbourhoods were good or bad, rather than rely on crime statistics.

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Cricket  boss rejects 'bigoted' barbs at Muslim player

Muslims can do things that no-one else would be allowed to do

Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland has condemned "bigoted" comments about spinner Fawad Ahmed, after former rugby international David Campese said he should "go home" if he didn't want to wear a beer sponsor's logo on his playing shirt.

Campese was commenting on a story that appeared in The Daily Telegraph, in which former Test batsman Doug Walters was quoted as saying: "I think if he doesn't want to wear the team gear, he should not be part of the team. Maybe if he doesn't want to be paid that's OK."

Campese tweeted: "Doug Walters tells Pakistan-born Fawad Ahmed: if you don't like the VB uniform, don't play for Australia Well said doug. Tell him to go home."

Ahmed was granted refugee protection in Australia on the basis that Taliban commanders in his homeland threatened on multiple occasions to kill him for coaching local children and promoting education free from religious extremism for women and girls.

He was granted permanent residency in Australia in November and became an Australian citizen in July. Sutherland said the comments were "out of order" and a poor reflection on Australian society.

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British High School pupil reported to police and his future university by headmaster after he criticised school

A London headteacher reported an A-Level student to police and informed the university he had applied for that the teenager had succumbed to 'violent extremism' after he criticised the school in a blog.

Jacques Szemalikowski, the headmaster of Hampstead School, told 19-year-old Kinnan Zaloom never to return to the school grounds again after he set up a website attacking the way it was run.

And he informed the school's on-site policemen and Glasgow University, where Mr Zaloom hoped to take a degree, that the student could be 'developing into an anarchist.

The Hampstead Trash, which Mr Zaloom started in February, contained a series of colourfully-worded articles that likened the school staff to characters in George Orwell's anti-totalitarian novels - most notably casting Mr Szemalikowski in the role of Animal Farm's chief pig, Napoleon.

In a style that he likened to that of the irreverent satirical magazine Private Eye, the young blogger accused the school of failing to push GCSE results any higher, a lack of investment in musical instruments and gym equipment, and of not listening to pupils' views.

Mr Szemaliskowski said he was particularly concerned 'that Kinnan has mentioned the ideologies of anarchism and individualism on this blog'.

'I must do something,' he said. 'In the last year he has become more and more enchanted by anti-establishment ways of thinking and has even said that there is an inherent risk that every government is corrupt.

Mr Zaloom, who co-founded a debating society at the school, compared his treatment to those fighting for press freedom in the Middle East.

He said: 'Obviously it’s not on the same scale at all, this injustice is small, I know that. But my family are from Jordan so I know how things work there, and newspapers are not allowed to write what they want.

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Sounds like a far-Left headmaster.  Individualism bad?

British man arrested for branding Gibraltar border check police ‘torturers’

A British man has been arrested in Spain after allegedly calling police officers in Gibraltar 'torturers' and publishing pictures of them on the internet.

The man, named by Spanish media as Emilio Esteban, launched the verbal assault on a website in retaliation for long queues at the Gibraltan border caused by security checks.

It is not known if Esteban comes from Gibraltar, where many Britons have Spanish names, but police revealed he has pleaded not guilty.

Jorge Fernandez Diaz, Spain's interior minister, said the post was 'an intolerable attack on security forces and the rule of law.'

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This sounds like Spanish machismo.  Machismo is common in Mediterranean countries where families are dominated by mothers.  The teenage son engages in exaggerated displays of masculinity and bravado to pretend that he is not dominated by his mother.  It is childish and insecure.

City Leaders Object to Church’s Cross

When the Left are as far as possible pushing Christianity out of public view, large crosses are one way of making sure they do not succeed

It’s a battle of Christians versus Christians in Brandon, Miss. where city officials oppose efforts by a prominent church to erect a giant cross because it violates a zoning ordinance. But the pastor of the church said elected officials are also afraid the cross might offend Muslims.

The First Baptist Church of Brandon petitioned the city to install a 110-foot tall cross on its property alongside Interstate 20. The project is sponsored by “Crosses Across America,” a non-profit group that builds giant crosses along the nation’s highways.

“They were led by the Holy Spirit to seek a location in Mississippi,” Pastor Scott Thomas told Fox News. “92,000 cars a day travel along the Interstate 20 corridor. Those are people who need hope, who need inspiration.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and the Mississippi Department of Transportation signed off on the plan, but the church hit a snag when they took their request before the city’s planning commission. They voted 4-3 to not recommend construction.

Mayor Butch Lee told Fox News the cross is considered an auxiliary structure and under the law the cross can only be 20 feet high.

“The tallest structure in the city is two stories,” the mayor said. “The cross is 11 stories.”

The final decision on the cross rests with the board of alderman and Pastor Thomas said the outlook is bleak. He said he suspects there’s more to their objections than just the size of the cross.

“They asked other questions that indicate to me that there’s something else that concerns them,” he said. “They asked, ‘what if the Muslims, the Buddhists want to build a sign?’”

Pastor Thomas said the city did offer to let them build a smaller cross.

“They said they would allow a 50-foot cross but they would not allow a 110-foot cross,” he said. “Our problem with that is that we want to make an impact. We want to make a statement. And it’s on church property.”

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Australia:  Must not report that an autistic person is autistic

THE following adjudication has been issued by the Australian Press Council:

The Press Council has considered a complaint about an article published on the news.com.au site on 23 November 2012, titled "Autistic man convicted of murdering WA mum". It concerned the conviction on that day of a man for the murder of his mother.

The first sentence read: "An autistic Perth man has been convicted of murdering his mother whose body has never been found". A later passage stated that he "stood in the dock and kept his head down during the proceedings, as he has done during most of his trial and court appearances. Justice McKechnie described [the man] as 'unusual' and ordered both a psychiatric and psychological report ahead of sentencing." The judge made no reference on that day to the man's autism but seven months earlier his autism had been discussed in a separate hearing on the man's fitness for trial and been mentioned in the judgment.

The complainant said identification of the man as autistic in the headline and first paragraph of the article was gratuitous and implied that his condition was a contributing factor to the murder. His complaint was about the prominence of the references to autism, especially as it had not been mentioned in the judgment. The complainant said that he was autistic and after the article was published, people had spoken to him as if they thought it meant he was also capable of the kind of act described.

Taking into account the judge's earlier decision on the man's fitness to stand trial and the references to autism at that time, the Council considers that it was justifiable to make some mention of autism when reporting the outcome of the trial itself. However, the headline and the first sentence were likely to have led many readers to conclude that autism had been found to be the main cause of the murder, or at least one of the causes. Nothing in the remainder of the article would have corrected this misunderstanding.

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NY: Case puts N-word use among blacks on trial

"In a case that gave a legal airing to the debate over use of the N-word among blacks, a federal jury has rejected a black manager's argument that it was a term of love and endearment when he aimed it at a black employee.

Jurors were weighing punitive damages Tuesday after finding last week that the manager's four-minute rant was hostile and discriminatory, and awarding $250,000 in compensatory damages."

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MA: Supreme Court to hear pledge in schools case

"In what is seen as a potential bellwether hearing for the nation, Massachusetts' highest court is scheduled to begin listening to the argument Wednesday that the Pledge of Allegiance, specifically the phrase, 'under God,' violates students' rights.

The Supreme Judicial Court will consider Doe v. Action-Boxborough Regional School District and it is expected to rule whether the pledge violates students’ rights."

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Must not mention that "coming out" may upset your parents

When they see the chance of grandchildren receding, most parents would probably be upset

Margarine giant Flora has become embroiled in a homophobia row after launching an advertising campaign that appears to liken a parent's anguish at being told their child is gay to a bullet through the heart.

On a pink background, the advert depicts the words 'uhh dad, I'm gay' fashioned into the shape of a bullet as it flies through the air towards a human heart made of china.

At the bottom of the poster, next to Flora's famous logo, appear the words: 'You need a strong heart today.'

The soft-spread monger, which is owned by consumer goods firm Unilever, has come under a barrage of criticism from gay rights groups who claim the advert, which appears to have come out of South Africa, is homophobic.

Twitter came alive with anger last night as users vented their outrage at the advert's connotations.

Jamie Rowe wrote: 'Dear @Unilever - great work with the homophobic Flora advert, d****ebags.

The campaign, apparently the brainchild of Lowe + Partners Johannesburg, also has a similar advert referencing the Kama Sutra.

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Anger as Pennsylvania state lawyers liken homosexuals to children

In fact they just used children as another example where marriage would be illegal in the State

Gay marriage advocates expressed outrage on Thursday over a court document filed by lawyers for the state of Pennsylvania that likens same-sex marriage to a partnership between 12-year-olds.

Lawyers for the Pennsylvania Department of Health included the statement in their lawsuit against a county clerk who has been issuing marriage licenses to gay couples despite a state ban on same-sex nuptials.

'Had the Clerk issued marriage licenses to twelve-year-olds in violation of state law, would anyone seriously contend that each twelve-year-old has a legally enforceable "interest" in his "license" and is entitled to a hearing on the validity of his 'license,' else his due process rights be violated?' the state lawyers wrote.

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In Obamacare, a tax is now a "shared responsibility payment"

Meanwhile, the IRS issued final rules this week regarding the individual mandate. The rules define what constitutes minimum essential coverage, the level of responsibility individuals hold for family members, and how the mandate applies to employees on union-sponsored plans and in other unique employment situations.

Interestingly, the agency, which will be responsible for making sure people comply with the new insurance rules, was careful to avoid the word "tax" when describing the penalty people face for not maintaining minimum coverage. The new euphemism of choice is "shared responsibility payment."

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts ruled in 2012 that the individual mandate was constitutional only if it was in fact a tax. But that's a politically inconvenient word and it disproves Barack Obama's claim that he isn't raising taxes on the middle class. So, "shared responsibility payment" it is.

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Moderate Leftist experiences far-Left hate speech

Over at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum appears to have discovered what it is like for conservatives every single time we criticize the president:

    "If you express anything short of absolute condemnation of everything the NSA has done, your Twitter feed quickly fills up with hysterical proclamations from the emo-progs that you’re a right-wing shill, a government lackey, a useful idiot for the slave state, and an obvious fool. Conversely, if you criticize the NSA’s surveillance programs, your Twitter feed quickly fills up with equally hysterical proclamations from the O-Bots that you hate Obama, you’ve always hated Obama, and you’re probably a racist swine who’s been waiting ever since 2009 for a chance to take down the nation’s first black president."

Welcome to my world, Kevin. Just so as you know, this rule goes also for Obamacare, the economy, foreign policy, firearms law, and absolutely every other area of public policy. I have been called a “racist” for so long now that I’m almost looking forward to a Hillary presidency so that I can be called a “sexist” instead.

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Liverpool football club issue apology after Twitter gaffe appears to mock Munich air disaster

English soccer rivalries are serious stuff

Liverpool have issued an apology after the club's official Twitter account appeared to endorse a 'joke' about the Munich air disaster.

On Thursday evening, the club's social media team invited supporters to recommend a song that should be played as the Liverpool players walk out on to the Anfield turf to face Manchester United on Sunday.

One supporter suggested Frank Sinatra's Come Fly With Me and Eric Idle's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, in reference to the tragic plane crash that claimed the lives of 23 people - including eight Manchester United players - in Munich in 1958.

The tragedy happened on 6 February 1958, when the plane bringing Manchester United players and staff and journalists crashed after attempting to take off in wintery conditions following a refuelling stop in Munich.

Twenty-three people - including eight United players - died and many, including manager Matt Busby, were seriously injured.

United fans have made references to the Hillsborough disaster, where 96 Liverpool fans died in tragic circumstances.

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Thai Donut company is criticised for ‘racist’ advert depicting ‘blacked up’ model

Thais have little respect for Western hysterias of political correctness



Dunkin’ Donuts have been called ‘bizarre and racist’ after using an advert featuring a ‘blacked up’ model.  The advert was released in Thailand earlier this year to promote their new charcoal doughnut.

But Human Rights Watch have criticised the move, saying that American audiences would have been outraged at the advert.

 A female model with dark skin and bright pink lips is used in both television commercials and posters.  She holds the chocolate doughnut with the slogan ‘Break every rule of deliciousness.’

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I wonder if dark chocolate donuts are racist?  Could they be seen as cannibalizing Africans?  What about dark chocolate itself?  Should it be called "high cocoa chocolate"?

Islam Display in Kansas  School OK by ACLU

They say the display did not "proselytize." Is this a new ACLU standard for action?

Two weeks ago, students at the Minneha Core Knowledge Magnet Elementary School in Wichita, Kansas, were greeted in the hall by this bulletin board display:



The display was later removed by the school after a brief media reaction.

PJ Media contacted Doug Bonney, legal director of the Kansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU has frequently taken action regarding similar displays regarding Christianity. Bonney said he was only peripherally aware of the issue as he is “not a blog reader,” but that he had received a brief phone call on it:

Nobody ever filed a formal complaint. I haven’t investigated, and since [the display is] down I probably won’t bother. I don’t know enough about it to know if it was objectionable or not.

However, Bonney said that the display was likely not objectionable to him, judging from the information he had:

There’s something of a fine line between teaching about religion and proselytizing. Proselytizing is, of course, prohibited.

He said a temporary display is different than a permanent display, and noted that in an educational context the display was probably acceptable. For comparison, Bonney noted that the Ten Commandments display at the University of Kansas Law School is legal because it is in context with several other displays of historical law, such as one depicting Hammurabi.

Ken Klukowski of the Family Research Council took exception to Bonney’s assertions:

[Bonney's response] is fascinating, because the ACLU routinely takes great exception to posting the Ten Commandments. They have always vehemently opposed the Ten Commandments. This is a great example of the double standard on the left.

Klukowski said the ACLU has argued that the very presence of a display of the Ten Commandments is a violation of the Establishment Clause, and that the ACLU rarely makes accusations of proselytizing.

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English people must not identify themselves as English in England!



A chip shop boss has insisted he’s not racist after putting up a banner boasting that the business now had 'English owners'.

Paul Bradbury insists customers 'want to know they are going to be served by somebody English' - even though the shop had previously been run by English people of east Asian descent and of Greek descent.

He and his wife Rachel took over the Chippy On The Green, in Hapton Road, Padiham, Lancashire less than a fortnight ago.

'People have said to us that they are glad somebody English is serving them and that the sign made them want to come in.

'They’ve never had anyone in the shop before. We are advertising that we are English.

'It doesn’t matter what colour or race you are, we’ll serve you. We welcome everyone here. I won’t be taking the sign down.

'We don’t want to upset anyone and we aren’t racist. We wouldn’t be serving foreign food if we were racist.'

The shop, which sells traditional English takeaways alongside Chinese food, kebabs and pizza, re-opened on Tuesday.

Gordon Birtwistle MP said: 'I would rather it didn’t say what it did. It would be better if it said "serving good quality food to the community". If it is causing consternation to people, it should either be taken down or changed.'

Gary Curson, a teacher at West Craven High School in Barnoldswick who lives near the shop, said he would not set foot in the takeaway again.  [So who's the bigot?]

Lancashire Police say they have not yet received any complaints about the banner.

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Surprising Canadian double standards

Hate speech against Jews and queers and blacks is bad but hate speech against individuals is OK?

It’s being called a crime of ignorance. But is it a hate crime?

Durham police have ruled out hate crime charges against the still-anonymous author of a vitriolic letter telling an Oshawa family they should “euthanize” their autistic son.

Experts, advocates and politicians say it’s the right call – and they don’t anticipate changing the law anytime soon.  “This is a crime of ignorance and a crime of stupidity, and I think it’s an exception rather than the rule,” said Liberal Sen. Jim Munson, an autism advocate.  “If we go out and have a vigilant group and circle the wagons and condemn somebody, I think it gets you nowhere.”

The criminal code includes the crime of hate propaganda, which is defined as advocating genocide, inciting hatred and promoting hatred.  But it only applies to hatred against “identifiable groups,” not individuals.

Toronto criminal lawyer Mark Sandler says the law is crafted in such a way that it applies to the most narrow kind of conduct.

He worries that broadening the scope to include individuals would lead to numerous court challenges threatening freedom of speech.

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Apparently the kid makes disturbing noises that can be heard in nearby houses.  That would probably get on my nerves too. It seems that actual nuisances can't be prosecuted in Canada  -- only theoretical nuisances. The letter concerned is here.  What it suggests is extreme but underlying it may be a lack of available more moderate remedies.

Hate Speech Out of the Mouth of a Child

The hateful incitement offered by Elias Hazineh, the former president of Palestine House in suburban Toronto, at an Al Quds rally in Toronto has attracted a lot of attention, as well it should. The man openly called for the murder of Israelis in the public square of Toronto.



At the same rally, a young boy who could not have been much older than 11 or 12 years old described the Jewish state as the enemy of humanity. No, that is not an exaggeration. He said it: "Israel is an illegal, terrorizing racist group which works for the destruction of humanity and peace in the world." During his rant, he referred to Israel as "cancers." This is incitement to the destruction of the Jewish state.

And the crowd cheered him on.

A blogger who goes by the name Blazing Catfur caught it on video and posted it on Youtube. (Click on the video above.) This kid has been taught to hate and encouraged to preach hate.

Do not watch the video after dark. It is that frightening.

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The crushing of dissent is the aim of speech regulation

The politics of personal destruction has become the de facto playbook for liberals who have for decades been unable to sell the American people on their policies, and have had to enact their policies through judicial fiat, executive order or, in Obama’s case, a blatant and outright disregard for the constitutional separation of powers.

This same assignment of hateful motives to their opposition has become a recurring theme by liberals, and has only grown more strident in the Obama era. A few other examples include:

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s declaration that opposition to homosexual marriage can only be driven by hate, and a desire to make homosexuals feel like second-class citizens. Never mind that Democrat hero Bill Clinton signed DOMA, and Obama himself just a few years ago opposed homosexual marriage. Never mind the fact that heterosexual marriage has been the standard for virtually every nation, culture, society and religion for thousands of years. No, according to Kennedy and many homosexual marriage proponents, only they, the enlightened few, are morally sound in their judgments, and the rest of us, billions of people acting since the beginning of history, are all hateful, morally evil bigots.

It is this type of thinking that has led to an inversion of accepted morality and attacks on religion by the Obama administration, where taxpayer dollars fund a performance by drag queens at a military instillation’s “Diversity Day,” even as Christians are threatened with punishment for such “offenses” as sharing their Christian faith with their fellow soldiers, or even simply having a Bible on their desk. The Obama administration considers religious expression a form of hate speech, and is actively trying to crush it.

It is darkly amusing to see how completely oblivious liberals are to their own double standards. Obama won re-election in large part based on class warfare, maligning the character of those that have achieved financial success as being “rich fat cats,” even as he lives in an enormous mansion, flies on the world’s most advanced and luxurious private jet, and takes lavish vacations more often than most people change the oil in their cars … all at taxpayer expense. Obama feels such a sense of entitlement, as if he is truly royalty, that he even had his dog Bo flown aboard a military MV-22 Osprey (an aircraft that takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane) to join his family on vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, the ultra-exclusive playground for the rich. It would be nice if Obama, who loves to lecture us about the need for “shared sacrifice,” would share a little in the sacrifice himself.

What we must understand is this suppression of free thought and rational debate is not meant to achieve uniformity of thought, but to crush dissent. As British historian Alan Bullock noted, “No one understood better than [Soviet dictator Josef] Stalin that the true object of propaganda is neither to convince nor even to persuade, but to produce a uniform pattern of public utterance in which the first trace of unorthodox thought immediately reveals itself as a jarring dissonance.”

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Global warming skeptics fire back at Al Gore

Global warming skeptics are hitting back at former Vice President Al Gore, who earlier this week compared them to racists and supporters of slavery.

“Gore is still trying to demonize and smear skeptics as modern racists and generally evil people,” Marc Morano, publisher of Climate Depot, a global warming skeptic site, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The problem is that the science is revealing Gore to be on the wrong side of history.”

“Al Gore has shown once again why he is seldom let out of his box without adequate adult supervision,” said Myron Ebell, director of global warming and international environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “When he is losing the debate, Gore has always resorted to nasty name calling, so this is just the latest embarrassing instance.”

In an interview with the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, Gore equated his fight against global warming to the struggles against slavery, segregation and apartheid.

Thus disagreeing with Gore about environmental policy is similar to opposing civil rights, gay rights and the end of slavery.

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Boycott halal

The inimitable Pat Condell again

Australia: Must not use slang to refer to breasts

Department store Target appears to be getting bang for its buck by using British reality TV guru Gok Wan in a series of TV commercials, but his use of "bang" has some viewers up in arms.

The Advertising Standards Bureau has been forced to make a determination on Wan's use of the word "bangers" to describe breasts in ads about women not being properly fitted for bras.

"Your bangers will never feel more loved," Wan promises women if they wear a correctly sized bra.

"I find it distasteful that he uses the term 'bangers' to describe women's breasts," one wrote to the bureau. "If a straight man were to use similar language during prime-time TV, there would be a huge outcry by women claiming sexist behaviour. There should be no different standards of acceptable language simply because a man appears to be gay."

"A female body is a beautiful thing, not to be cheapened by a poofter calling breasts "BANGERS"!!!," a third wrote. "I WAS BREAST FED, NOT BANGER FED! It's an insult to sooooo many Aussie men and woman to see poofs on tv but you let it happen

Target countered that the women in the commercials had "a range of normal body shapes" which were not idealised.

It also defended the choice of Wan, saying in its submission that he was a British style icon who was playfully irreverent, colourful and fun.

It said that "bangers" was an "irreverent term of affection" chosen "in wry acceptance" that some women are unhappy with their breasts.

It was not chosen to be derogatory or suggest that breasts were meat, Target said, accepting that the lack of Australian understanding of the word's colloquial British use meant "boobs" may be substituted in later commercials.

The bureau dismissed the complaints, ruling that the ad was positive and light-hearted and its intent was to alert women to the importance of buying a correctly sized bra.

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CO: Must not mention black genetics

Sparks flew between two legislators when one accused the other of making racially insensitive comments about minorities and the infant mortality rate during a meeting Wednesday.

The heated exchange occurred during a meeting of the Economic Opportunity and Poverty Reduction Task Force when Republican state Sen. Vicki Marble addressed health issues among African Americans.


Marble

"When you look at life expectancy, there's certain problems in the black race," said Marble, who is white. "Sickle cell anemia is something that comes up. Diabetes is something that is prevalent in the genetic makeup. Although I gotta say, I've never had better BBQ and better chicken and ate better in my life then when you go down South, I mean, I love it. Everybody loves it," Marble said.

Marble went on to blame government regulation for the demise of manufacturing jobs in the U.S., which she said harmed minorities by killing jobs and led some to lives of crime, hopelessness and addiction.

"If we would get a few things back in their lives, like a job, religion and family, and understand your genetic predisposition to certain diseases, and give them the responsibility to take care of themselves," Marble said, minorities would benefit.

Democratic state Rep. Rhonda Fields, who is black, responded by saying that Marble's statements were offensive and stereotypical.

Marble said her comments were taken out of context., adding there is nothing wrong with what she said.  "My comments were not meant to be disparaging to any community," Marble said in a written statement. "I am saddened they were taken in that regard."

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CA: Pols aim to censor “revenge porn” postings

"State lawmakers are attempting to limit a distressing social media phenomenon known as 'revenge porn,' where spurned suitors post intimate photos of their ex-lovers on the Internet for all to see.

The Assembly is set to debate a bill that would make such conduct punishable by up to a year in jail, while Gov. Jerry Brown is considering separate legislation that would make it a crime to impersonate or bully a domestic violence victim online. The measures are forcing lawmakers to consider where to draw the line between unfettered free speech and privacy rights."

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This is really a copyright issue.  Legislation clarifying the ownership of such images is probably what is needed.

Some choice Muslim hate speech

A Palestinian community leader in Toronto said Israelis should be given a two-minute warning before being shot.  Addressing the annual Al-Quds Day rally on Saturday, Elias Hazineh, the former president of Palestine House in suburban Toronto, called for “an ultimatum” to Israelis: “You have to leave Jerusalem. You have to leave Palestine.

“We say get out or you’re dead! We give them two minutes and then we start shooting. And that’s the only way that they will understand,” Hazineh said to cheers from a crowd of approximately 400.

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Incitement to violence is not protected speech.  Will the Canadians prosecute this guy?  Not likely.  They only prosecute Christians.

ANOTHER Manufactured Hate-Crime

Busted. Stone-cold busted. Just as I suspected, "progressive" pranksters at Oberlin College have been definitively unmasked as the perpetrators of phony campus "hate crimes" that scored international headlines in March. The blabbermouth academic administrators who helped fuel the hysteria are now running for cover.

The Associated Press, The New York Times, MSNBC, Yahoo News and the Huffington Post were among the media outlets that trumpeted the story of supposed racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism run amok at my alma mater. Throughout the winter, anti-black and anti-gay graffiti, swastikas, and a shadowy figure in a "KKK hood" surfaced on the tiny campus outside Cleveland, Ohio. Black Entertainment Television News decried the hate outbreaks and "KKK sighting."

Because of my firsthand knowledge of Oberlin's long history of self-manufactured hate-crime incidents, the fake-hate-crime alarm bells went off immediately for me when I read the reports. Back in the 1990s, race-obsessed nutballs at Oberlin College cooked up a horrid hate-crime hoax. Asian-American students claimed that a phantom racist had spray-painted anti-Asian racial epithets on a campus landmark rock. It turned out that it was a warped Asian-American student who perpetrated the dirty deed.

Student newspapers were filled with complaints about imaginary racism. One Asian-American student accused a library worker of racism after the poor staffer asked the grievance-mongering student to lower the blinds where she was studying. A black student accused an ice-cream shop owner of racism after he told the student she was not allowed to sit at an outside table because she hadn't purchased any items from his store.

My suspicions about the latest "hate" crime were bolstered by police statements that the "KKK hood"-wearing menace was actually a female student wrapped in a blanket. Hollywood darling and Oberlin alumnus Lena Dunham was undaunted, however, in ginning up emotional calls for Obie solidarity on Twitter, which the AP dutifully reported as "news." My warnings and reports on previous Obie hoaxes, alas, were not deemed AP-newsworthy.

And now, the rest of the story. According to police reports published by Chuck Ross of The Daily Caller News Foundation this week, two students had 'fessed up to most of the incidents (and fellow students suspect they are responsible for all of them). The Oberlin Police Department identified the hoaxers as Dylan Bleier (a student worker bee for President Obama's Organizing for Action and a member of the Oberlin College Democrats) and Matthew Alden. Bleier told police the pair posted inflammatory signs and a Nazi flag around campus to "joke" and "troll" their peers.

Investigators "caught them red-handed" trying to circulate anti-Muslim fliers, and a search of Bleier's email confirmed he had used a fake account to harass a female student. Cops told Oberlin President Marvin Krislov, but he failed to pursue any criminal action.

Sad to say, this is the sorry state of liberal arts colleges in America today: Extreme identity politics, multiculturalism and pedagogical self-indulgence are creating a generation of race trolls enabled by tenured cultural Marxist punks raking in beaucoup bucks. The bursting of the higher-ed bubble can't come fast enough.

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Australian politician accused of racial slur for alluding to affirmative action

As in America, Leftists lean over backwards to give preference to blacks.  They haven't made a black lamebrain their Prime Minister yet, though.  A female lamebrain had to do

Barry O'Farrell has been called on to apologise for a perceived racial slur against the [black] Labor frontbencher Linda Burney after he declared she hadn't achieved her career success on merit.

Ms Burney, the first Aborigine elected to the NSW parliament and a former national ALP president, served as minister for community services in the former Labor government and is deputy leader of the opposition.

During a heated exchange in question time on Tuesday over whether the current community services minister, Pru Goward, had misled parliament over caseworker numbers, Ms Burney said Ms Goward had "lost the confidence of every caseworker in this state".

The Premier responded that Ms Goward "has achieved every position in her life on merit", before turning to Ms Burney and declaring: "You can't say that."

The comment was met with laughter from the government backbench.

Opposition leader John Robertson said Mr O'Farrell to apologise for the comments "which have no place in Australia".

"Ms Burney is unequalled in merit and achievement," he said in a statement. "In addition to being the first indigenous person elected to the state's Parliament and first indigenous minister, Ms Burney is the chairperson of the Australian Rugby League Indigenous Council, has spoken at the United Nations on three separate occasions and is a former President of the Australian Labor Party."

Ms Burney, the member for Canterbury, is a former school teacher who holds an honorary doctorate in education from Charles Sturt University.

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Boardwalk Violinist vs. City Hall: Challenging Ocean City's Noise Ban

Ocean City, Maryland is known for a bustling boardwalk that's packed with the sights, smells, and sounds of summer.

The city's leaders, however, felt the noise was becoming too much to bear and approved an ordinance prohibiting anyone from being audible from more than 30 feet away while on the boardwalk.

Mayor Rick Meehan tells Reason that the goal was "to ensure that everybody had an opportunity to enjoy Ocean City."

But that wasn't how William Hassay saw it after being hassled by cops. Hassay has been entertaining passersby for almost 20 years by playing his violin for tips. "I was told I would be cited and that I would be subjected to face jail time," he says.

So Hassay reached out to the ACLU of Maryland to defend his right to play music.

"The distance limitation that Ocean City choose was so restrictive," James Burke, a lawyer on Hassay's case explains. "All sorts of sounds are audible at 30 feet." A judge granted a preliminary injunction against the noise ban, though Meehan says the city will rewrite the law.

Hassay hopes the preliminary injunction will keep other cities from considering ultra-restrictive noise ordinances that will not only rob citizens of sweet music but other forms of free expression. "If I do lose," he says, "the meaning of [it goes] far beyond playing on the boardwalk."

Source

Video at link.  It appears to be an acoustic violin, not an amplified one.

Muslim hate speech in Australia

Muslims show what real hate speech is

AN Adelaide Islamic preacher calls for all Buddhists and Hindus to be killed and describes Australian soldiers as "Crusader pigs" in an online video.

Sheikh Sharif Hussein, in a video clip published by the US-based Middle East Media Research Institute, also attacks Jews, former prime minister John Howard, US President Barack Obama, and Australian troops.

“Tens of thousands of women were raped in Iraq, by the American and British crusader troops, aided by the Australian troops,” he says.

“The Australian participation in the Crusaders’ war on Iraq is 6 per cent. This is out of approximately 365,000 Crusader pigs sent to Iraq, during the term of (Mr Howard), Allah’s wrath be upon him.

“Listen, oh Obama, oh enemy of Allah, you who kiss the shoes and feet of the Jews. Listen! The day will come when you are trampled upon by the pure feet of the Muslims.

“Oh Allah, count the Buddhists and the Hindus one by one. Oh Allah, count them and kill them to the very last one.”

The Advertiser has confirmed the translation of Sheikh Hussein’s speech with independent translators.

Sheikh Hussein is known in Adelaide’s Islamic community, used to be connected to the Marion mosque in Park Holme, and has preached at the Islamic Da’wah Centre of SA in Torrensville.

His comments were quickly condemned as “ravings” and “hate speech”.  Multicultural Affairs Minister Jennifer Rankine said they were “the ravings of someone completely out of touch with the views of South Australians”.

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Australia:  Liberal party candidate Kevin Baker stands down over "offensive" website

Politicians must not joke!

The Liberal candidate at the centre of a controversy over offensive comments on a web forum has quit.  Kevin Baker’s name will still appear on the ballot paper because nominations have closed but he is considered unlikely to win Charlton, a safe Labor seat in NSW.

Labor had demanded Mr Abbott dump Kevin Baker as his candidate for former minister Greg Combet's seat of Charlton in NSW over the "Mini-Mods" web forum.

The forum, which has been pulled down since the criticism broke, featured a general discussion section with the banner: "Talk about anything you want - no censorship, no stress!"

According to reports in the Daily Telegraph, the forum included jokes labelling the Pope as a paedophile, referring to women making love on pool tables and "Tit banter".

In a statement, Mr Baker said he had decided not to run as the Liberal candidate for Charlton.  "I understand that while my name will still appear on the ballot paper, my campaign is over," he said.  "I deeply regret the posts made on my website and decided that it was not appropriate to continue as the party’s candidate."

NSW Liberal Party state director Mark Neeham said the party had accepted Mr Baker’s resignation as the candidate for Charlton.   "Consequently the party will not be represented in Charlton at the election," Mr Neeham said.

Mr Abbott had earlier said he would be briefed on the issue, but noted Mr Baker had apologised for the comments.

"He's done the wrong thing. To his credit he's pulled down the site. He has abjectly and quite properly apologised but, yep, he's done the wrong thing," he said.

But Mr Abbott had left the door open to potentially dumping Mr Baker as a candidate, saying he would review further information about the issue later on Tuesday.  "I'm going to receive a further briefing on this later today," Mr Abbott said.  "I'll be further briefed on this. He has closed the site down and he has abjectly apologised."

In a statement, the Labor campaign said Mr Baker's website "included offensive references about incest, domestic violence, racism and child abuse" and "jokes about having sex with stripper

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USAF Airman Punished for Opposing Gay Marriage Files Complaint

An airman who was relieved of his duties after he told his commanding officer that he could not support gay marriage has filed a formal complaint with the military alleging he is the victim of religious discrimination.

Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk, a 19-year veteran of the Air Force was punished after he disagreed with his commander when she wanted to severely reprimand an instructor who had expressed religious objections to homosexuality.

“I was relieved of my position because I don’t agree with my commander’s position on gay marriage,” Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk told Fox News. “We’ve been told that if you publicly say that homosexuality is wrong, you are in violation of Air Force policy.”

The Liberty Institute filed a formal complaint against Major Elisa Valenzuela on behalf of the Christian airman.

"Major Valenzuela asked SMSgt. Monk if he could agree with her belief that openly voicing a religious or moral opposition to same-sex marriage is discrimination," the official complaint reads. "Because of SMSgt. Monk's sincerely held religious belief, he could not agree with the major. As a direct result, Major Valenzuela immediately relieved SMSgt. Monk from his First Sergeant duties and reassigned him to a different unit."

Monk was also banned from returning to his unit's building and required special permission to retrieve his personal belongings.

Liberty Institute attorney Michael Berry said the major's actions are a violation of the law.

"Your conduct constitutes unlawful discrimination," Berry wrote in a letter to the major. "According to Department of Defense Directive 1020.02, unlawful discrimination against individuals or groups based on religion is contrary to good order and discipline, counterproductive to combat readiness and mission accomplishment, and shall not be condoned."

Monk has served as a first sergeant at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio since 2011. He recently returned from a deployment and discovered he had a new commander – an open lesbian.

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Pastor Harassed by British police for Preaching the Bible

Report by Rev. Clifford:

I was informed that a complaint had been made to the Police by the ‘chair person’ of Norwich ‘gay pride’ (Norfolk LGBT Project) about an e-mail sent by me on 29 July. This e-mail consisted of a report sent to editors and others of a Christian witness five of us made against the city-centre ‘gay pride’ demo of the previous Saturday, 27 July 2013. (Since their official pamphlet gave a contact e-address, I decided to include them on the larger list of recipients.) The ‘gay pride’ recipient (or another) found the e-mail’s two attached leaflets offensive. These leaflets were ‘Christ Can Cure – Good News for Gays’ and ‘Jesus Christ – the Saviour we all need’.

PC Arnold said that there was reason to believe that I was chargeable with a homophobic incident, having communicated by electronic means something likely to annoy or cause offence. Accordingly, I had two options. I could admit I’d done wrong and pay an ‘on the spot’ fine of £90.00, or produce a signed statement in defence of our actions. I decided on the latter course.

PC Arnold proceeded to ask me a series of questions. Unfortunately, I was not permitted to make a photocopy of the statement I eventually signed (it then would be a document in the criminal investigation), so the following details from memory simply reflect the main points discussed.

Among other things, I was asked why I had sent this e-mail. Was it to annoy or cause offence? I said, “No. I was reporting to the ‘gp’ people our Christian complaint against the public display of their homosexual propaganda, which we find offensive.”

I was asked if I was aware that I’d committed a homophobic offence, as defined by the official police leaflet now presented to me: “Any incident which is perceived to be homophobic by the victim or any other person.”

I rejected the accusation, adding that everything depends on the meaning of ‘homophobia’. Since a ‘phobia’ (from Greek) is ‘a fear’, it does not mean ‘hatred’ in the now commonly-understood use of the term. I certainly fear the influence of homosexuality on society, but this should not be regarded as ‘hatred’ unless criticism is taken to mean ‘hatred’. I reminded the officer that my leaflet was subtitled ‘A Compassionate call to Christian Conversion’. Is that hatred? We don’t hate these people. We love them and want to help them. So, even though the ‘gp’ people are upset, we are guilty of no crime.

I asked the officer that since we are offended by their public display of homosexuality, could we not have made a complaint to the police? He answered that we had such a right to complain.

I then explained that we were perfectly within the law regarding our criticism of homosexuality. Yes, the ‘gp’ people are upset by my leaflets but they contain nothing wrong where the law is concerned. I elucidated this point by quoting as follows:

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in Handyside v UK (1976), made it clear that freedom of expression embraces not only information and ideas that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive, but also, ‘… those that offend, shock or disturb the state or any sector of the population. Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no democratic society’.

Lord Justice Sedley, in Redmond Bate v DPP (2000), famously said that, ‘Free speech includes not only the inoffensive, but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and provocative provided that it does not tend to violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having’.

PC Arnold then informed me that a senior officer would decide whether the complaint is sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. A decision on this should be made in about a week’s time.

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Nike forced to pull 'culturally exploitative' leggings after garment sparks outrage among Polynesians



Nike has been forced to remove a pair of tattoo-style leggings from its range after they were criticised for being culturally exploitative.

The monochrome printed garments have sparked controversy in Australia and New Zealand where residents say the design of the Pro Tattoo Tech Tights is similar to the traditional Samoan Pe'a male tattoo.

New Zealand's ONE News reports that by using the traditionally male print on women's leggings, Nike has offended many people in the Pacific community, who find it to be exploitative in the first place.

The Nike Pro Tattoo Tech collection was unveiled over a month ago and it was noted that they had taken inspiration from the tatau - the traditional tattoos - of Fiji, Samoa, and New Zealand.

An online petition against the leggings was posted in early August on Change.org petition, which described them as a 'direct violation of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific, and is furthermore in violation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples'.

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Saying "some woman" is sexist!

Re: Bloomberg and the "stop and frisk" policies of NYC police:

Now his reaction to the recent ruling by federal judge Shira Scheindlin, who found stop and frisk unconstitutional, is renewing questions of whether or not the mayor is not only racially insensitive but also insensitive when it comes to gender issues.

During an appearance on his weekly radio show, he was repeatedly condescending and dismissive of Scheindlin's ruling, qualifications and role as a jurist, referring to her as "some woman" who was unqualified to make such a ruling. "Your safety and the safety of your kids is now in the hands of some woman who does not have the expertise to do it," he said. He went on to add that she knows "absolutely zero" about policing.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, Scheindlin is actually far more qualified on the legalities of stop and frisk than the mayor. She "has a master's degree from Columbia University and a law degree from Cornell University, was a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn and general counsel to the city Department of Investigation before becoming a judge."

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Must not tell the truth about black crime

A tea party Republican state legislator in Arizona is apologizing for a series of racially charged tweets where he accused U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder of being "soft on crime" in order to keep black people out of prison.

State Rep. Bob Thorpe (R-Flagstaff) issued the apology Thursday following tweets he made this week on a series of crime- and race-related issues, the Arizona Republic reported. In one he called a rodeo clown who wore a President Barack Obama mask at the Missouri State Fair causing recent controversy, "crowd pleasing," the Phoenix New Times reported.

Thorpe mentioned three black teens who were arrested for allegedly beating a white teen and asked, "where's liberal press, the racial outcry now?" In the Holder tweets, Thorpe wrote, "Why is Holder now soft on crime? Perhaps: blacks = 12% - 13% US population, but make up 40.1% (2.1 million) of male inmates in jail or prison?"

Thorpe was criticized by Democratic lawmakers for the tweets. When state House Minority Leader Chad Campbell (D-Phoenix), a 2014 gubernatorial candidate, called Thorpe's Holder tweet "offensive, ridiculous and exactly why the tea party needs to go," Thorpe accused Campbell of supporting more crime.

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Must NOT mention racial difference

Even though she pointed out that some individuals depart from the average

A state appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a former science teacher in the Franklin Township school district for allegedly making racially insensitive remarks during a classroom lesson.

In a hearing before the Administrative Law judge, Chaki testified that she referred to ethnic demographics to illustrate “whether a sample of isotopes collected from a location would remain constant all of the time,” the appellate decision states.

Chaki said she told students that her community had been entirely made up of Caucasians, but they had grown old and moved out for many reasons, the decision states. Chaki claimed to have said that Asians were buying homes in her neighborhood because high-tech jobs were in the area, the decision states.

Referring to African-Americans, the decision quotes Chaki’s testimony: “I told the students not to laugh about the African-Americans because I have seen always the smartest students in my class were African-Americans, and I also see a lot of African-Americans in lab chemistry classes, they’re very smart, they should be in honors had they worked hard.”

But students said Chaki described African-American students “as manifesting poor work ethics,” the acting commissioner’s decision states. Students said Chaki characterized Asian students “as being superior in work ethics and ‘brain power,’” the decision states.

Students also said Chaki’s comments included that “Caucasian people could no longer afford to live in New Jersey” and “Spanish people were working class,” the appellate decision states.

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I’m proud to be a 'Paki’, how can that be racism?

"Paki" is just an abbreviation of "Pakistani" but Leftist Brits burst with fury when it is used

A British-Asian comedian has been questioned by police over accusations that he was inciting racial hatred by using the word “Paki” in his act.

Jeff Mirza, who was born in Pakistan but brought up in Essex, was questioned over the use of the term in his act “Meet Abu Hamsta and Paki Bashir” at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The complaint came from another man of Pakistani background, who claimed he was upset by a poster for the show, which attempts to “reclaim” the use of the racially offensive term.

Mr Mirza, 49, was dressed in character as a butcher, called Paki Bashir, when he was questioned at the police station on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. He was warned that he could be arrested and charged if he continued to use the poster, although he is continuing to do so.

Mr Mirza said: “How on earth can I be accused of racism against my own community?”

His act centres on jokes about Pakistan and the wider Islamic world. His main character, Bashir, tells the audience he loves his family, “otherwise of his workforce” and says of Pakistan: “We also have a thriving gay community and they are also known as clerics.”

A police spokesman said: “Police have a certain amount of room to give guidance and in this case it has been decided that there will be no further action.”

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Must not mock the President (unless he is a Republican)

"Bush=Hitler" is forgotten

Fallout continued Monday over the performance of a rodeo clown who donned a mask resembling President Barack Obama during Saturday’s bull-riding competition at the Missouri State Fair.

The Missouri State Fair imposed a lifetime ban on the rodeo clown whose depiction of Obama getting charged by a bull was widely criticized

The rodeo clown won't be allowed to participate or perform at the fair again. Fair officials say they're also reviewing whether to take any action against the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association, the contractor responsible for Saturday's event.

“The announcer wanted to know if anyone would like to see Obama run down by a bull,” the posting said. “The crowd went wild. He asked it again and again, louder each time, whipping the audience into a lather.”

Another clown then apparently joined the performance.

“One of the clowns ran up and started bobbling the lips on the mask and the people went crazy,” the posting said. “Finally a bull came close enough to him that he had to move so he jumped up and ran away to the delight of the onlookers hooting and hollering from the stands.”

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Since when has it been wrong to mock the President?  Swingeing  criticism of leading politicians has been normal for centuries.  It's something that distinguishes democracy from tyranny.

Must not refer to East Asians as "Orientals"

It's an old-fashioned word from the Latin but I don't see that it is racist.  The Orient is simply the East

 A media watchdog group recently declared that Seth MacFarlane’s new sitcom Dads is insensitive and racist.

One group that has taken particular offense to Seth MacFarlane’s Dads is Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA). The organization bills itself as “the only group solely dedicated to being a media watchdog for Asian American media issues.”

Deeply offended by some of the stuff found in the new sitcom, MANAA issued a stern letter to the folks at Fox asking them to reshoot some of the controversial scenes in question.

According to Digital Spy, the pilot episode of Dads features a character making reference to “Orientals.” The show also reportedly contains a few jokes made at the expense of the Chinese. Not surprisingly, the folks at MANAA aren’t exactly thrilled with the sitcom’s sense of humor.

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I think the Chinese are big enough, strong enough and confident enough not to be bothered by some idiocy in an American comedy show.

Australian workers told to cut the slang

I am more concerned about it dying out.  A lot of colourful expressions are seldom heard now.  Do young people today know the difference between a galah and a drongo, for instance? -- JR

AUSSIE workers have been urged to soften their strine and avoid traditional slang, in a Federal Government push to make workplaces more migrant friendly.

Despite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's penchant for obscure Aussie colloquialisms, the Immigration Department is frowning upon strine and slang in the workplace, in a new guide for employers.

Business groups have criticised the advice, one policy analyst dismissing it as political correctness "writ large" that would achieve nothing.

The official document warns the Australian accent can baffle even English-speaking migrants, and tells bosses and workmates to speak slowly, clearly and simply.  "Remember some people, including native English speakers ... may have trouble understanding the Australian accent," the guide says.

"Keep in mind common Australian expressions may be misunderstood, for example, 'bring a plate', 'this machine is cactus' and 'he really spat the dummy that time'.

"For some people, casual swearing may also be seen as aggressive or provocative and new employees may not be sure how to respond.

"If it appears your new employee is baffled by the sense of humour and the jokes of your other employees, have someone help them out."

The guide is accompanied by taxpayer-funded fact sheets on "Harmony in the Workplace", prepared by the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia.

Despite using "ethnic" in its own title, FECCA says the word is "an illogical term with negative and potentially discriminatory connotations" when used to describe individuals.

It says migrants should not be referred to as "ethnic", but as Culturally and Linguistically Diverse or CALD.

"Referring to someone as an 'ethnic' is not acceptable, given its assumptions and stereotypes, and connotations between the term and other racial slurs such as 'wog', 'chink' and other discriminatory labels," its fact sheet states.

Centre for Independent Studies policy analyst Alexander Philipatos, who has a Greek background, said the guide appeared to be a well-intentioned waste of money.

"My initial reaction is it is political correctness writ large," he said.  "I think it's well intentioned, but personally I don't think it's going to do anything and is probably a bit of a waste of money."

FECCA president Pino Migliorino questioned the Prime Minister's use of obscure slang, such as "fair shake of the sauce bottle".  "I think the Prime Minister is very interesting in his use of slang," he said. "It doesn't make it right."

Mr Migliorino said the guide was "not trying to be politically correct, but to give a sense of what's meaningful".

The Harmony in the Workplace guide says Australian culture can seem "alien" to migrants - including "Edna Everidge, pavlova, fish and chips, Australian Rules football, the summer barbecue and drinks after work".

One in four Australian workers was born overseas, and 17 per cent hail from non-English speaking countries.

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Must not mention Hitler to a Norwegian


Some novelty wines sold in Italy were too much for a sensitive Norwegian conscience.  No thought that the Norwegian Vikings were the terrorists and mass murderers of their day

A Norwegian holidaying in Italy came in for a nasty surprise when he stumbled upon a rack of 'Hitler' wine openly for sale in a local grocery shop.

"I have no personal connection to what happened during the war, but I naturally reacted with disgust," Håvard Furulund, who works at a Toyota dealership in Trondheim, told Norway's Adressa newspaper.

The bottles, sold in a shop on the Rimini seafront, had a shelf all of their own,  where they were sold alongside bottles of wine celebrating the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

They sported images of the Nazi leader, along with swastikas and Nazi slogans.

The Italian wine-maker Vini Lunardelli, which produces Hitler wine as part of its 'Historical' line, has been attacked in the past, with Italian prosecutors threatening it under a law which makes it a crime to glorify fascism.

Its Hitler bottles are embellished with slogans such as "Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Fuhrer!", and feature old propaganda pictures of the Nazi leader.

The company's 'Il Ventennio' line celebrates Mussolini, with wines carrying names like 'Il Duce' and 'Il Camerata', while the Communist Collection features Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky, Marx and Marshall Tito, leader of the former Yugoslavia.

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Must not mention that a cricketer is "Asian"


Usman Khawaja.  When Brits say "Asian", they usually mean  "from India and surrounds"

There is more to this than meets the eye.  The English cannot afford to have the ethnicity of a cricket team mentioned.  Why? Because around half of the England team are in fact white South Africans.  England supporters boast that at last they have got the upper hand over the Australians but fail to mention that the England team is not English!

Usman Khawaja has been dragged into the centre of a controversy over race after comments by a leading English cricket writer sparked a furore online.

English cricket writer Scyld Berry was condemned by some readers after referring to Khawaja's Asian heritage in a report filed after Australia's defeat in the fourth Test.

Khawaja is fighting for his place in the Australian team after a lean series with the bat.

"Usman Khawaja will be roasted for the limp defensive prod that he aimed at Graeme Swann when Australia were 147 for one. He could well be replaced in the Oval Test by Phil Hughes and Australia's experiment with their Asian immigrant population will be shelved,” Berry wrote in London's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Berry's comment was branded as “totally disgusting”, “idiotic” and “disgraceful” by some readers. The line referring to the Asian immigrant population was removed from the Telegraph's website.

Berry has since defended his stance and said he did not mean to “disparage” Khawaja. The piece also told readers his wife of nearly 30 years is an Asian immigrant from India.

“If I may explain, however, it is an observation I made without any intent to disparage Khawaja, but as an attempt to portray the unique position in which he finds himself as the first Muslim to represent Australia – and, broadly speaking, the first non-white since Sam Morris in the 19th century,” he wrote.

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How can anyone with a sense of humour censor Tom and Jerry as racist?

Picture this gloriously silly scene from a Tom And Jerry cartoon. In a jungle clearing, trapped in a steaming cauldron, is Tom the cat. He’s the prisoner of Jerry the mouse, who is perched on the pot’s rim.

With a bone tied between his ears, a grass skirt, and his fur blackened with soot, Jerry is waving a little spear and pretending to be a cannibal.

‘Peel dem potatoes!’ he roars, and Tom obeys miserably. ‘Chop dem carrots,’ bellows Jerry, and the cat adds them to the hot water he’s stewing in. Then he reaches for an onion. ‘Hold de onion!’ barks Jerry.

What’s wrong with that picture? Logically, just about everything — the mouse is talking, the cat is dicing vegetables and is terrified, despite his kitchen knife being much bigger than Jerry’s spear… and anyway, a cannibal mouse would eat mice, not cats. It’s perfect nonsense.

Even if you’re a Tom And Jerry fan, you might not have seen that cannibal scene. It’s from a 1951, seven-minute cartoon called His Mouse Friday, where the duo get shipwrecked on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe. It is never shown on TV now, for fear of causing racial offence.

The problem isn’t so much Jerry’s deep-fried accent, or that when the real cannibals show up, they’re talking hep Fifties jive, like jazz stars Duke Ellington and Sammy Davis Jr. No, the problem is the soot.

Jerry rubs his face and body with soot from the cauldron to disguise himself. He blacks up.

Blacking up, sometimes called blackface, is forbidden in the 21st century. It’s so unbearably racist that we are never allowed to see it. Not only our children but all of us, the whole of society, must be protected from the mind-polluting horror of witnessing a cartoon mouse blacked up with soot.

That’s why the next Tom And Jerry Blu-ray disc from cartoon giant Warner Bros — the Golden Collection Volume Two — will be missing two episodes originally scheduled for inclusion.

And two less controversial episodes that were pencilled in for the Blu-ray series have now been dropped. One is Casanova Cat, from 1951, where Tom blackens Jerry’s face by blowing cigar smoke at him. The other is Mouse Cleaning, a 1948 short in which Tom tries to talk his way out of trouble while his face is blacked up in coal dust.

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War On Words: NYC Dept. Of Education Wants 50 ‘Forbidden’ Words Banned From Standardized Tests

The New York City Department of Education is waging a war on words of sorts, and is seeking to have words they deem upsetting removed from standardized tests.

Fearing that certain words and topics can make students feel unpleasant, officials are requesting 50 or so words be removed from city-issued tests.

The word “dinosaur” made the hit list because dinosaurs suggest evolution which creationists might not like, WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond reported. “Halloween” is targeted because it suggests paganism; a “birthday” might not be happy to all because it isn’t celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Words that suggest wealth are excluded because they could make kids jealous. “Poverty” is also on the forbidden list.

Also banned are references to “divorce” and “disease,” because kids taking the tests may have relatives who split from spouses or are ill.

There are banned words currently in school districts nationwide. Walcott said New York City’s list is longer because its student body is so diverse.

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The Left Vs. the Redskins

Dennis Prager

The online magazine Slate announced last week that it will never again refer to the Washington's National Football League team, the Redskins, by its name.

The name, according to Slate, offends American Indians, and therefore should be dropped. And until such time, Slate will never mention it. It will become, in effect, the R-word.

The article, to its credit, acknowledged that the term "redskins" was not coined as a racist epithet:

"The word redskin has a relatively innocent history. As Smithsonian linguist Ives Goddard has shown, European settlers in the 18th century seem to have adopted the term from Native Americans, who used 'red skin' to describe themselves, and it was generally a descriptor, not an insult."

Argument Four is the key argument, offered by the Atlantic, in its support of Slate:

Response: "Whether people 'should' be offended by it or not doesn't matter; the fact that some people ARE  offended by it does."

This is classic modern liberalism. It is why I have dubbed our age "The Age of Feelings."

Teaching people to take offense is one of the left's black arts. Outside of sex and drugs, the left is pretty much joyless and it kills joy constantly. The war on the "Redskins" name is just the latest example.

Second, it is the left that specializes in offending: labeling the Tea Party racist, public cursing, displaying crucifixes in urine, and regularly calling Republicans evil (Paul Krugman, in his New York Times column last month, wrote that the Republican mindset "takes positive glee in inflicting further suffering on the already miserable." For such people to find the name "Redskins" offensive is a hoot.

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"Hamlet" is Banned in the British Library

On Monday, I was sitting in the British Library frantically trying to write my new book in a shturmovshchina [desperate hurry]. I had to quickly check a particular line in Hamlet, so I Googled Hamlet MIT, because the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has put the entire works of Shakespeare up on the Internet. (It takes 70 mins to order a physical book). I clicked on the link and...

A message came up from the British Library telling me that access to site was blocked due to "violent content".

Now, Hamlet is a violent play. I see that. When the curtain comes down there's a lot of bodies on the boards. But...

I took my computer over to the information desk, and after I had explained to them what MIT stood for (really), they called the IT department and told them about the webpage that I had been blocked from. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html

They had to spell out Shakespeare letter by letter. Really. Ess. Aitch. Ay. Kay...

I asked them if they were surprised that Hamlet was now banned in the British Library. They shrugged. I asked them how it was that I could still access youtube, facebook and twitter. I asked why the girl at the next desk to me had been able to spend the last half hour on Guardian Soulmates, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's website was banned. They shrugged.

I asked if they saw the problem, perhaps just the symbolism, of Hamlet being banned in the British Library. They shrugged.

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UPDATE: Twitter worked a lot better than talking to library staff.  When he got home the writer tweeted about it.  Shortly thereafter the library tweeted back that it had lifted the block

Danish Muslim leader who fuelled uproar about Prophet Muhammad cartoons now says he was WRONG and paper was RIGHT to print images

He was one of the most vocal critics of Danish newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked violent fury throughout the Muslim world.

But seven years on Muslim leader Ahmad Akkari has had an unexpected change of heart, declaring his decision to travel to Lebanon, Egypt and Syria to garner support for the ensuing protest was 'totally wrong'.

Lebanon-born Akkari, now 35, was the spokesman for a group of imams who led the outcry against the satirical drawings, and their tour helped to turn the dispute into an international crisis.

He now says the Jyllands-Posten newspaper had the right to print the cartoons.

Dozens were killed in weeks of protests over the drawings that included violent attacks against Danish missions in Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Tiny Denmark found itself on a collision course with the Muslim world — something Akkari now regrets.  'I want to be clear today about the trip: It was totally wrong,' Akkari told The Associated Press this week.

'At that time, I was so fascinated with this logical force in the Islamic mindset that I could not see the greater picture. I was convinced it was a fight for my faith, Islam.'

He said he's still a practicing Muslim but started doubting his fundamentalist beliefs after a 2007 trip to Lebanon, where he met Islamist leaders.  'I was shocked. I realized what an oppressive mentality they have,' Akkari said.

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Must not call the sainted Trayvon a thug


The sainted Trayvon at age 17

A Volusia County Beach Safety officer accused of sending insensitive racial messages at the end of last month’s Trayvon Martin trial was fired Friday for unprofessional conduct — or what county officials called “horrible judgment made worse during a racially charged atmosphere.”

Todd Snipes, 45, a Volusia lifeguard for 24 years and a law enforcement officer for 15, “engaged in behavior that threatens the respect and trust of the community and jeopardizes the perception that the department enforces the law fairly, even-handedly and without bias,” Department of Public Protection Director George Recktenwald wrote in Snipes’ notice of dismissal.

Snipes’ messages included a Facebook post the night after George Zimmerman’s acquittal that read: “Another thug gone. Pull up your pants and be respectful. Bye bye thug r.i.p.”

He was also involved in an exchange of a series of racially tinged picture messages that included a cartoon of Trayvon Martin, holding a bag of Skittles. The words across the cartoon were: “Those Skittles were to die for.”

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The “I ♥ boobies” case

It’s hard to think of a less sexually enticing word for the female breast than boobie. Boobie is the word only little kids use: My son started calling bras “booby-catchers” back when he was in preschool. It’s a word that sounds as benign, bouncy, even snuggly, as a word can sound, and yet it’s been at the heart of one of the most controversial student free speech cases in the country. When and if it gets to the U.S. Supreme Court, even the grim-lipped Justice Anthony Kennedy will probably speak the cheerful little word aloud.

This week, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, ruled in a longstanding case about the appropriateness of silicone bracelets inscribed with “I ♥ boobies!” in schools. The bracelets are sold around the country by the Keep A Breast Foundation to raise awareness for breast cancer research. The foundation says it donates 100 percent of the proceeds from the sales “to the Keep A Breast Foundation, a worldwide non-profit organization."

Often, students wear the bracelets to support family members struggling with the disease. But across the country, schools have banned the bracelets as offensive sexual speech, confiscated them, and suspended students for wearing them. In some schools, officials reportedly snip them right off. The constitutional question is whether the bracelets are lewd sexual speech that proves distracting and disruptive in schools, or a political symbol of support for breast cancer awareness.

Two middle school students in Easton, Penn., wore the bracelets (with their parents’ permission) despite a school ban that called them “distracting and demeaning.” The girls were suspended and banned from participating in extracurriculars. In November 2010, the ACLU helped them file a suit claiming the ban violated their right to free speech. In 2011, a federal judge enjoined the school policy. In a 9–5 en banc (meaning every judge on the court heard the appeal) decision issued this week, the federal appellate court agreed that the school ban violates the First Amendment. The school district has 90 days to decide whether to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court.

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Free speech on lawns

On first blush, the case of Peter and Peg Jasinski of Queensbury seems straightforward. The Jasinkis voluntarily bought a house in the Hudson Pointe development, where a homeowners association sets rules all homeowners must agree to follow. One of those rules bans the public display of signs in windows or on lawns or doors or anywhere else on the property.

The Jasinkis didn’t have to buy the house, and if they objected to the association’s rules, they could have gone elsewhere. Most neighborhoods in Queensbury don’t ban political signs, which is what the Jasinkis have been periodically planting in front of their house.

In June, the New Jersey Supreme Court (the top court in New Jersey) decided a homeowners association rule banning the display of political signs “violates the free speech clause of the State Constitution.”

It didn’t matter the homeowner, Wasim Khan, voluntarily bought his house within the development and agreed to the rules of the Mazdabrook Commons Homeowners’ Association. Since those rules were unconstitutional in New Jersey, he was under no obligation to follow them.

In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Ladue vs. Gilleo that a ban on lawn and home signs in Ladue, Mo., was unconstitutional. That case involved a municipality, not a homeowners association

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The Philadelphia Eagles’ Riley Cooper the latest victim of anti-white racism

Under the current Minority Occupation Government, the historic American nation exists only to be exploited. And the worst crime for Americans is not murder, rape, or treason—but whites saying a forbidden word.

The destruction of a public figure for saying a forbidden word is now an established American ritual. The dust has yet to settle on the Paula Deen n-word debacle, but another manufactured controversy has taken over the headlines. This time, it comes from “America's Opiate”--the National Football League. The sacrificial victim: the Philadelphia Eagles’ Riley Cooper, one of the few white wide receivers in professional football.

The National Football League is dominated by black players, in my opinion partly because of institutional bias and anti-white racism. As a result, the sport is pervaded by a ghetto culture, including frequent use of the “n word.” As one NFL player, afraid of giving his name, stated recently

The ‘n-word,’ as they like to say, is all over. I will tell you this, it’s said all over—on the field, definitely in locker rooms. This is really nothing new.

However, Riley Cooper is white, and the current much-vaunted “white privilege” does not extend to using a forbidden word. Cooper has become this generation's John Rocker because a video has surfaced of him drunk, cursing, using racial epithets and uttering the n-word in an altercation with a black security guard at a Kenny Chesney concert in June.

Since the video became public, Cooper has been the target of one of the Main Stream Media’s Two -Minute Hates, especially from sports reporters, notoriously PC.

Finally, he has been fined by the Eagles—all for using a word that his black teammates, remember, throw around with impunity.

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Hate speech against Christianity is OK

Should we call them "Christophobes"?

Another rabble-rousing community page is testing the limits of Facebook’s policies regarding offensive content, only this time it’s the devoutly religious who say they are the target of hate speech.

A group of Christian activists is calling on Facebook Inc.  to remove the page “Virgin Mary Should’ve Aborted,” calling it an attack on their faith and saying it violates the website’s policies against hate speech. The page, created in February, is described by its administrators as a “playground for fundamentalists and free-thinkers to challenge each other.” It includes numerous memes and status updates attacking organized religion as outdated, bigoted and harmful to society.

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Reality incorrect again

A senior UKIP politician was recorded telling activists that Britain should not be sending aid to ‘bongo bongo land’.

Godfrey Bloom, a UKIP member of the European Parliament, made the comments at a meeting of supporters last month.  He suggested foreigners used aid to ‘buy Ray-Ban sunglasses’ and ‘apartments in Paris’.

His remarks have emerged in the week his party is due to publish its list of approved candidates for next year’s European elections – at which the party hopes to get the biggest share of the vote.

In the recording leaked to The Guardian he says: ‘How we can possibly be giving a billion pounds a month when we’re in this sort of debt to bongo bongo land is completely beyond me.

‘To buy Ray-Ban sunglasses, apartments in Paris, Ferraris and all the rest of it that goes with most of the foreign aid. F18s for Pakistan. We need a new squadron of F18s. Who’s got the squadrons? Pakistan, where we send the money.’

Two months ago UKIP leader Nigel Farage ensured an Italian MEP was expelled from UKIP’s European alliance for saying a black minister in Italy was part of a ‘government of bongo bongo’ who would want to impose ‘tribal traditions’, and would be better suited as a housekeeper.

Last night a UKIP spokesman said Mr Bloom’s remarks were being ‘discussed right at the very highest level of the party’ while sources close to Mr Farage confirmed disciplinary action against Mr Bloom was being considered.

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There is no doubt about where a lot of the aid money goes.  Famously, Peter Bauer said:  "Foreign aid is a way of taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries"

Marmite advert faces ban as animal welfare campaigners either love it or hate it

Marmite is one of a family of yeast-based sandwich spreads much loved in Britain, Australia and other Commonwealth nations. I have three different versions of it in my fridge at the moment:  N.Z. Marmite, Vegemite and Ozemite. It is however something of an acquired taste and Americans almost universally loathe it. 

The makers of Marmite have stayed true to their "love or hate it" ethos after broadcasting an advert parodying the work of animal welfare campaigners, which received hundreds of complaints.

The advert features Marmite welfare officers visiting the homes of people who are neglecting their jars of yeasty spread and rescuing them from a life of abandonment.

One officer gets particularly choked up after finding a "baby Marmite jar" lingering at the back of the kitchen cupboard virtual unused.  "I just hadn't seen one that small," the officer says to his sympathetic colleague.

The tongue-in-cheek ad provoked 250 complaints to The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it made its debut broadcast on Monday.

People took to social networking sites to complain, one Facebook user said:  "Your new advert is very bad taste. Animal abuse is no laughing matter and think it's very wrong to jokingly use such a subject as a marketing scheme to increase your sales."

However animal agencies, such as PETA have welcomed the campaign saying it reminds viewers of the hard job that animal welfare officers do.

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People tend to be strongly partisan in the spread they prefer.  Australians will usually have only Vegemite and Kiwis will normally have only their version of Marmite. 

When the Christchurch earthquake knocked out the N.Z. Marmite factory, there was national panic, with even the Prime Minister getting involved and urging calm.  You would think that imports of British Marmite could fill the gap but no way!  Kiwis like THEIR Marmite and that is that.

There was at one time talk of Denmark banning Marmite.  In response a British expat living there said he would not know what to put on his toast in the morning.

Black hate speech has no restrictions



I’m a 23-year-old psychology student from Sydney and in June this year, I was subjected to a horrific torrent of abusive tweets from fans of touring American rapper Tyler Okonma. I challenged Okonma’s lyrics which encourage rape and violence against women by vocally supporting a petition on change.org that suggested he shouldn’t be playing all-age shows. 

At Tyler’s concert in Sydney the next day, he told his fans he hoped my children got STDs, and “dedicated” songs to me that included lyrics like “punch a bitch in her mouth just for talkin' shit”.

The abuse started almost instantly. First a drip, then a rush, then a flood.  I felt physically sick. He had 1.7 million fans, and it felt like every single one of them had some violence stored up for me - a promise to assault me, the threat that they would rape me, an expression of hatred for my life and my freedom.

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America sure is a racist country. The Left have created that.  Blacks and Leftists are privileged groups while whites and Asians have to know their place and mind what they say.