Turkish MP to be prosecuted for calling death of 1.5million Armenians 'a lie'

Muslims are big on denial

Amal Clooney is to appear in a high-profile case against a Turkish politician who denies the killing of 1.5million Armenians in 1915 amounted to genocide.

Mrs Clooney will advise the Eurasian country as they challenge the appeal of Doğu Perinçek, who was found guilty by a Swiss court in 2008.

His appeal is now being challenged by Armenia, which argues that denying the 1915 genocide is a crime on par with Holocaust denial.

Doğu Perinçek the leader of the Turkish Workers Party was fined by a Swiss court in 2008 after calling the 1915 genocide an ‘international lie’, during a visit to Switzerland.

Mr Perinçek later appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that Switzerland had violated his right to free expression in December 2013.

Armenia also says that the European Court of Human Rights’s ruling on Mr Perinçek’s 2013 appeal contains legal and factual errors.

This April marks the 100th anniversary of the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

Turkey rejects the term ‘genocide,’ says the death figure is inflated and that people died on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed amid World War I.

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Google Translate under fire for offering offensive and homophobic words including 'poof' and 'queen' when people use service for word 'gay'

It must use an impartial dictionary.  There is no room for impartiality these days

Google is under pressure to change its translation tool after it emerged it automatically replaces the word 'gay' with homophobic slurs like 'f****t', 'poof', 'queen' and 'fairy'.

More than 50,000 people have have signed a petition demanding the U.S. web giant re-programmes its translate system, which is used by 500million people every month.

When translating 'gay' from English into Spanish, French or Portuguese Google Translate comes back with 'f****t,' 'poof,' 'fairy' and 'dyke' as synonyms.

Google has apologised and said it is working to fix the problem, but MailOnline can reveal the translate system is still bringing up hateful words.

Campaigners from equality group All Out made the shocking discovery that Google was using hateful insults instead of neutral language for 'gay'.

When the Russian word for 'gay' is translated into English, some of the results thrown up include 'pansy boy', 'fairy' and 'sodomite.'

Gay rights group Stonewall have said the translation tool has revealed how much of a problem homophobic language is.

A spokesman said: ‘This demonstrates how commonly offensive slur words are used online to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.

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The translations from Russian are probably accurate.  Russians don't mince words when talking about homosexuality.  It is greatly despised in Russia

CUNY: Don’t Call Students ‘Mr., Mrs. or Ms.’ Because That’s Maybe Disrespectful

The Graduate Center of the City University of New York issued a memo advising staff not to address any students as “Mr., Mrs. or Ms.” beginning this spring because some could find it disrespectful.

The policy is intended to “ensure a respectful, welcoming and gender-inclusive learning environment . . . and to accommodate properly the diverse population of current and prospective students,” according to the memo, signed by interim provost Louise Lennihan.

School spokeswoman (wait – can I call her that?) Tanya Domi said the initiative was also part of the school’s “working within a regulatory framework to comply with Title IX legal principles,” which forbid discrimination based on sex at any institution receiving federal funding.

(Yes, the viewpoint that calling someone “Mr.” could ever be considered a violation of federal policy is terrifying.)

But attorney and Title IX consultant Saundra Schuster insisted to the Wall Street Journal that CUNY’s new policy isn’t necessary for complying with the law. ”They are not mandated to do this,” she said.

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Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar: Free Speech is Worth Full Protection

While we may not agree with all speech we come across, it is important for liberty-minded individuals to defend all constitutionally protected speech. If we do not protect speech that we may not agree with, or that is of limited importance to us, there will be fewer people willing to defend speech that we care deeply about. Also, once the Supreme Court rules some speech can be restricted and still withstand constitutional scrutiny, it becomes easier for the Court to rule other speech can be restricted as well.

On January 20 the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar. This case is important because the petitioner (Williams-Yulee) is appealing to the Supreme Court to protect her free speech right to personally ask for campaign funds when running for judicial office. This case is especially important because around half of the states currently ban personal solicitations by judicial candidates and there is a split within the state and circuit courts over whether the First Amendment allows such bans.

The origin of this case was Hillsborough County (Tampa) Florida in 2009, when Lanell Williams-Yulee decided to run for a judicial position in the county. As part of her campaign, she approved and signed a mass mailing that asked for funds to help her run her campaign. The Florida Bar deemed that by doing so she violated a rule against “personally soliciting campaign contributions.” The Referee handling the case decided that she should be publicly reprimanded and pay around $1,800 to cover the costs of bringing the case against her.

The case was then appealed to the Florida Supreme Court where Ms. Williams-Yulee argued the ban on personally soliciting campaign funds improperly limited her right to free speech. The Florida Supreme Court agreed that the ban clearly did restrict free speech but ruled against Ms. Williams-Yulee because the ban passed their strict scrutiny test.

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The vast incorrectness of "colored"

Someone should tell the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch has apologized after describing black people as 'colored' on US television, saying he is 'an idiot' and is 'devastated to have caused offense'.

The 38-year-old Sherlock star was widely condemned after using the racial term during a debate on the lack of diversity on British screens on the PBS talk show Tavis Smiley last Wednesday.

But on Monday night, he issued an apology for his 'incorrect' and 'offensive' use of the phrase, saying: 'I'm devastated to have caused offense by using this outmoded terminology.

'I offer my sincere apologies. I make no excuse for my being an idiot and know the damage is done.'

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A term that was routine up until a few years ago is now the deepest depths of wickedness, apparently.  Where will it end?

Charlie Hebdo killers should NOT be called 'terrorists', claims BBC executive Tarik Kafala

Tarik is no doubt a Muslim

The Parisian extremists who murdered 17 people in a series of attacks including the Charlie Hebdo massacre should not be called 'terrorists', a senior BBC executive has said.

Tarik Kafala, who runs BBC Arabic, said the term 'terrorist' was too 'loaded' and 'value-laden' to describe Said and Cherif Kouachi and their accomplice Amedy Coulibaly.

The Kouachi brothers shot dead 12 at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris and Coulibaly killed four at a Kosher deli after shooting dead a policewoman.

All three were eventually shot dead by French special forces after the Islamists all burst out of their hideouts two weeks ago.

Mr Kafalam runs the BBC's largest non-English language TV, radio and online news services, which have a weekly audience of 36million people.

He told The Independent: 'We try to avoid describing anyone as a terrorist or an act as being terrorist. What we try to do is to say that 'two men killed 12 people in an attack on the office of a satirical magazine'. That's enough.

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Another attempt to cover up what poison Islam is

Named after SS Nazi war criminal: World's largest ship sparks outrage as it arrives in Europe

The arrival of the world's largest ship in Europe has provoked outrage after it was revealed it was named after a SS Nazi war criminal.

The Pieter Schelte, which is so big it can lift oil rigs out of the water, is docked in Rotterdam after being constructed at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering shipyard in South Korea.

But as Holocaust Memorial Day nears, anger has erupted after it was revealed Pieter Schelte Heerema was a Dutch officer in the Waffen SS.

The vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush told the Observer: 'Naming such a ship after an SS officer who was convicted of war crimes is an insult to the millions who suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis.  'We urge the ship's owners to reconsider and rename the ship after someone more appropriate.'

Schelte was the father of Dutchman Edward Heerema, the owner of company Allseas, who commissioned the building of the ship.

He was an officer in the Waffen SS during the Second World War, when he acted as a director for the Dutch East Company.

It is thought he was responsible for recruiting Dutch men to be put into forced labour in Nazi-occupied territories in Eastern Europe.

However, he is reported to have left the SS in 1944 as he lost sympathy with the Nazis and joined a resistance party, fleeing to Switzerland.

He was tried and sentenced to three years in prison for war crimes after the war but was released early and went to Venezuela  where he set up a engineering company.

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It seems to me that the man is entitled to honor a father who  joined the resistance to the Nazis.  It seems that his father was in any case an office worker rather than an armed combatant

Criticizing Islam, Questioning Immigration Policy is Hate Speech according to Toronto Star & Canadian Press

The recent terror attacks in Paris have led to a barrage of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant comments on the Facebook pages of federal politicians and their parties in Canada — much of it plainly visible to the public.

Managing racist, sexist, homophobic and harassing material is just one of the new challenges facing parties who want to have an active social media presence, grounded in the concept of free speech and open dialogue.

A Jan. 7 post on Stephen Harper’s Facebook account, in which the prime minister said he was “horrified by the barbaric attacks in France,” received approximately 575 comments. Some six dozen — expressing support for blocking immigration from Islamic countries, closing Canada’s borders or just criticizing Islam — were still on the page more than two weeks later.

How shocking! Islam was criticized in light of the of the Charlie Hebdo Massacre! Because naturally it had nothing to do with Islam.

Oh the horror! People actually questioned the wisdom of allowing immigration from Islamic nations! Forgive my hatefulness but I wonder if that has anything to do with the daily litany of horror that Islam visits upon the world?

But the most awful horrid hateful thing was that some people actually discussed closing our borders! Next those citizens will want rights like free-speech!

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Former Miss Turkey, 26, facing trial after being arrested for posting satirical poem that criticised the country's president

A former Miss Turkey is facing trial for posting a satirical poem on social media that criticised her country's president.

The arrest of Merve Buyuksarac, 26, follows a crackdown in the country on critical media in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris.

Although officially Turkey is secular, 99.8 per cent of the population are registered as Muslim and there has been heated debate over freedom of expression in the wake of the Paris massacres.

Now it appears the Turkish crackdown is extending not just to monitoring the media, but also to its readers.

Officials confirmed that the model had been taken before prosecutors and questioned over the social media posting that they said had insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Merve, an educated young professional who works as an industrial designer and writer, ended up in court in the Caglayan neighbourhood of the western city of Istanbul.

Looking nervous and flanked by armed police, she told prosecutors that she 'may have quoted a poem' from the weekly humour magazine Uykusuz.

The judge, however, ruled to release Buyuksarac unconditionally, pending a date for the trial set to take place later in the year.

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UK: Argos accused of racism after selling black and Asian dolls for £10 less than white toy despite them being exactly the same

High street chain Argos has been accused of racism after selling black and Asian dolls for £10 less than the white version of the children's toy.

The store has been branded 'unacceptable' for pricing a white doll, called 'Maria', at £34.99 - £10 more than black doll 'Naima' and Asian doll 'Yang'.

Mother-of-three Lisa O'Reilly, from South Killingholme, Lincolnshire, complained to the retailer after noticing the pricing difference while shopping for her two-year-old daughter Darcy.

The 12-inch dolls, designed for children aged 18 months and above, are made my French firm Corolle Calin.

They are described on the maker's site as having 'cuddly soft beanbag bodies, sleeping eyes and supple vinyl skin that is delicately scented with vanilla'.

Mrs O'Reilly, 32, condemned the pricing difference by Argos and said there's 'enough prejudice in the world already without battling against racist toys'.

She told The Sun's Emer Martin, Rob Pattinson and Sam Christie: 'It's unacceptable for children to think white is better or more desirable.

In a statement, he said: 'As a responsible retailer, Argos strongly refutes any suggestion of discrimination with the pricing of the Corolle Calin dolls.

'A genuine online pricing error led to one of the dolls being advertised at an incorrect price.

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Must not aim merchandise at boys only

A range of dinosaur t-shirts aimed only at boys has landed both Marks and Spencer and the Natural History Museum at the centre of a sexism row.

The store has been accused of 'gender stereotyping' and sending a 'perplexing message' to girls with the clothing line, produced in partnership with the London Museum.

 'It is a real shame that children are being told implicitly what is for them and what is not,' said Ruth Lopardo, co-founder of Let Clothes Be Clothes.

'All kids like dinosaurs. I am sure we can all remember the excitement of going to the Natural History Museum and seeing those great big skeletons and I don't think that is gender dependent.

'It is perplexing message to send to girls at a time when the government are worried about the lack of women going into science and technology professions.'

The campaign group has called for the range, which includes pyjamas, t-shirts and underwear,  to be extended to include items for girls.

The Evening Standard reported that the National History Museum said that they would do their 'best to ensure the range is accessible to all children.'

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Finding short fat girls unattractive is 'prejudice'

I'm prejudiced

A flight passenger who complained an airline was only hiring 'short fat girls' as stewardesses has been shamed by social media users after the company hit back at his 'prejudice' online.

In the post sent directly to Argentina Airlines' Facebook page, the man noted the 'low quality' of airline stewardesses and bemoaned the fact that the company appeared to only be hiring 'short fat girls'.

He originally wrote: 'What gets my attention is the low quality of flight attendants that the company has. Before they were tall, nice. Now they only take short fat girls.'

The airline's social media promptly responded, listing the requirements for the role and noting 'prejudice doesn't fly, we leave it on the ground'.

Its requirements include that they're older than 18 and are between 5'4" and 5'7" tall.  They must also be an Argentinian citizen who has graduated high school, knows how to swim, can speak English and has the necessary training qualification.

The response soon went viral on Facebook and Twitter and was retweeted hundreds of times as people celebrated the airline's riposte.

One user wrote alongside a picture of the exchange: 'Excellent! #AerolineasArgentinas' amazing response to passenger (who) complained about physical appearance of the flight attendants.'

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It seems that the airline did not deny that its hostesses tend to be short and fat

Must not require tidy appearance in employees

A hotel in Queensland has had their Gumtree job advertisement removed because it asked for full length photographs of applicants.

Ravenswood Imperial Hotel in northern Queensland posted an advert on the classifieds website three weeks ago, prompting moderators to remove the ad.

Pub owner John Schluter stands by the employing process, saying that the need for well-presented employees is the same in every industry.

‘We need to know they’re compatible for the pub. If the girls are 4’2 and they can’t see over the bar that obviously isn’t going to work’ he said.

The ad sparked outcry on social media, where some have claimed it encourages discrimination

‘It’s offbeat to the customers who have just worked 12 hour shifts if the employees are daggy or poorly dressed. We get people here from all over the world.’

While The Fair Work Act does not deny employees the right to ask for a photo, it is considered unlawful to discriminate against employees over their race, colour, sex, age, physical or mental disability or marital status.

But Mr Schluter said this has been the hotels employment policy for some time.  ‘We’ve been doing this for eight years, and I’m not sure why it’s an issue. We run a careful establishment here and I can’t have anyone looking unkempt,’ he said.

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Canada’s law on hate speech is the embodiment of compromise

Freedom of expression in Canada is normally a dry legal concept, sporadically explored by law professors in dense papers, and taken for granted by everyone else. Until now, if freedom of expression got any attention at all, it was fleeting and superficial, like a bumper sticker on a passing car. The terrorist attacks in France and their aftermath changed all that, giving freedom of expression an extended tenure in the limelight and popular consciousness.

But the discussion in Canada so far fails to address the unique Canadian approach to freedom of expression, and thus fails to ask a crucial Canadian question. Does freedom of expression as legally defined in Canada provide the right tools for expression challenges in a fragmented and largely angry 21st century social media world?

Canadian freedom of expression law, like so many things Canadian, embodies compromise. In the United States, even the most hateful, virile and destructive speech is constitutionally protected. In many other countries, expression is suppressed if politically problematic. We walk between those extremes.

Here you can be put in jail for hate speech. But before you condemn the prospect of jail for speaking your mind, consider the built-in limits to the hate speech law. There are seven of them, and together they pour a big pail of cold water on any over-zealous prosecutor intent on duct-taping your mouth. For a prosecution to go ahead, all of these conditions must be met:

1. The hate speech must be the most severe of the genre;

2. The hate speech must be targeted to an identifiable group;

3. It must be public;

4. It must be deliberate, not careless;

5. Excluded from hate speech are good faith interpretations of religious doctrine, discussion of issues of public interest, and literary devices like sarcasm and irony;

6. The statements must be hateful when considered in their social and historical context;

7. No prosecution can proceed without approval of the attorney-general, which introduces political accountability because the attorney-general is a cabinet minister.

Even with these limits, the Canadian hate law still clearly curtails free expression.

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A thought

The federal government, which has " Tomahawk" cruise missiles and "Apache," "Blackhawk," "Kiowa" and "Lakota" helicopters - and used the code name "Geronimo" in the attack that killed Osama bin Laden, officially objects to the name of the "Washington Redskins."

Really?

UNB defends prof's academic freedom in wake of racism complaint

A University of New Brunswick vice-president is defending a professor's academic freedom in the wake of a recent complaint of racism.

Kerry Jang, a Vancouver city councillor, had asked the university to investigate the allegedly racist views of Prof. Ricardo Duchesne, who argues that the influx of Asian immigrants is threatening Canada's European character. Jang contends the sociology professor’s comments constitute hate speech.

But in an emailed statement to CBC News on Wednesday, MacKinnon said Jang's concerns were "carefully reviewed and addressed last summer."

"Academic freedom is a foundational principle of university life," he said.  "The university statement of mission and values very clearly supports the freedom of thought and expression while maintaining the highest ethical standards and a respectful environment."

​Duchesne, a professor in the department of social science at UNB Saint John, said he challenges students to rethink the values of multiculturalism.  "Why are people so afraid that they don't want people like me to talk?" he said.

Duchesne's published academic work exalts Western culture, which, he says, is threatened by overwhelming numbers of immigrants.

He said immigrants don't respect white liberals, who don't take pride in their own nation and hand over everything.

"Sweden had practically no rape. Suddenly, they open their borders, they have one of the highest rape statistics in the world," he said.  "In Norway, it's happening, the same thing."

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Art Spiegelman Criticizes US Press Over Charlie Hebdo Political Correctness

Pulitzer Prize-winning comic artist Art Spiegelman has recently spoken out against the decision of many US media outlets to not republish the cartoons that were featured in Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical publication that was attacked on January 7 (see 12 Killed at Magazine Previously Attacked for Satirical Cartoons).

"I think it's so hypocritical to drape yourself in freedom of speech and then self-censor yourself to the point where you are not making your readers understand the issues," Spiegelman told the AFP. "That cartoon was not making fun of the prophet, it was excoriating the believers who would kill."

Media outlets such as the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN, and NBC News have refused to show images of the cover from the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo. (see "Are Cartoons More Powerful Than Art?") News outlets have resorted to blurring and cropping photographs of the now famous image of Muhammad holding a sign that reads "Je Suis Charlie" to hide potentially offensive material, leading Spiegelman to argue that journalists  are choosing political correctness over freedom of speech.

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Must not even HINT that fat is bad

Only the government can do that

A super-fit mum has come under fire for 'fat-shaming' women - after she posted a picture of her six-pack on Instagram.

Fitness fanatic, Abby Pell, 33, from East Grinstead, East Sussex, thought she was helping encourage others to lose post-pregnancy weight when she shared the picture of her posing with her daughter.  She included the message 'I have a kid, a six pack and no excuse.'

But instead of support, the mum-of-one was branded 'shameless' by scores of people and met with abuse from her followers.

Dedicated mum Abby manages to juggle motherhood and running her own nutrition business while still hitting the gym up to six days a week.

Abby turned to intense weight training taking just a year to sculpt her impressive abs, after she ballooned to 13 stone when she was pregnant with daughter Bella, now six, and struggled to lose shed the extra 50lb. 

'I decided to have just one last push, so I started lifting weights, and I was astonished at the results that came so quickly.  'My bum was firmer, arms more defined and my abs were showing. 'Now going to the gym is where I have my 'me-time,' which all mums know they need.'

Abby, who now weighs 9st and is a size eight, says she feels better now than before she was pregnant.

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Homosexuality must be celebrated, not rejected

A controversial new show on TLC is sparking wave after wave of protests —  as thousands of people ask for the cancellation of the TV special featuring a group of Mormon men who say they're attracted to other men but chose to marry women because of their faith.

John Sanders —  who launched a Change.org petition asking for 'My Husband's Not Gay' to be axed — says 'the false and dangerous idea that gay people can and should choose to be straight in order to be part of their faith communities.'

'I started this petition because these men deserve compassion and acceptance,'  says Sanders, who has himself been a devout Christian who went through 'ex-gay' therapy and was told to 'pray the gay away' in the past.

In the show, a group of happily married Mormon men have admitted that they are attracted to their own sex - yet they refuse to identify as gay because of their devout faith.

These unconventional marriages are the focus of a new TLC special called My Husband's Not Gay, set in Salt Lake City, which follows three such couples and their single friend, Tom, who is seeking a wife despite his own sexual attraction to men.

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AGAIN: Indian head-dress must not be worn

Hysteria about "genocide".  Indians were certainly oppressed but they are still around: So no genocide.  I would have thought that adopting Indian garb expressed solidarity with them

Pixie Lott has been slammed after she wore a feathered headdress to celebrate her 24th birthday with a cowboys and Indians themed party in London, on Saturday night.

She chose a Tiger Lily costume, inspired by the Native American princess from Peter Pan but it soon landed her in hot water after she posted a picture and wrote: 'Tigerlily is out to play tonight for final BDAY celebrations #cowboys #indians'.

Previous stars who have donned Indian headdresses - including Pharrell Williams, Khloe Kardashian and Ellie Goulding - have found themselves being blasted for being 'insensitive' and Pixie was no different.

Within minutes of sharing a snap on Instagram, people were quick to lash out, with one horrified person fuming: 'I don't see how the genocide of many many many people is a "party theme".'

Another sarcastically added: 'Wowww cuz dressing up as people who have been wipped out is soooo cool. Why dont you dress up as the slaves next! Let's have a slave themed party!'

And one person blasted: 'Pixie Lott, cultural Appropriation isn't cute. Not even on your birthday. Terrible party "theme".'

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