Female Dutch doctor drugged a patient's coffee then asked her family to hold her down as she fought not to be killed - but did not break the country's euthanasia laws - "the case should come to court so that judges can confirm that any other doctor who acts in good faith when providing euthanasia to people with dementia cannot be prosecuted... the unnamed woman, who was over 80, reportedly suffered from dementia and had earlier expressed a desire for euthanasia when she deemed that 'the time was right'... the Netherlands is considering a proposed extension to the law which would give all over-75s the right to assisted suicide
Euthanasia wasn't a slippery slope, they said
The Holocaust's Forgotten Victims: The 5 Million Non-Jewish People Killed By The Nazis - "Historians estimate the total number of deaths to be 11 million, with the victims encompassing gay people, priests, gypsies, people with mental or physical disabilities, communists, trade unionists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, anarchists, Poles and other Slavic peoples, black people and resistance fighters. Half of the victims who weren’t Jewish were Polish.
Shaking up fried-chicken business - "Expansion - both at home and abroad - is on the cards this year for home-grown restaurant 4Fingers Crispy Chicken. The fried-chicken chain, which is Singapore's second-largest chicken brand after KFC, also has plans to ramp up its international growth, said chief executive Steen Puggaard. The company opened its first store in Ion Orchard in 2009 and now has 11 islandwide, with a 12th opening at the end of March in Causeway Point.
So much for their New York branding. Tsk.
Dildo epidemic hits Portland power lines
Extension List Dumper 2 :: Add-ons for Firefox - "This extension adds a button ("Dump list") to the Add-ons window. When this button is pressed, a new window is opened with the list of installed extensions, themes or plugins..."
Female genital cutting common in Indonesia, offered as part of child delivery by birth clinics - "In Indonesia, people perceive circumcision as a required act of faith and part of tradition. A majority of Muslims in Indonesia follow the Shafi'i school that obliges circumcision for boys and girls. Indonesia tried to ban the practice in 2006. But religious clerics reacted by releasing an edict declaring that it was part of a religious practice. In 2010, the Indonesian Health Ministry released a regulation that allowed medical personnel to perform female genital cutting on young girls... The majority of those who had undergone FGM could not remember the process or pain when asked as adult respondents. Consequently, there was no evidence of immediate or long-term physical or psychological complications... The 2001-2002 study showed that 92% of interviewed parents wanted the practice to continue... The 2001-2002 Population Council study shows that much of traditional circumcision in Indonesia is limited to scraping, rubbing and piercing with a needle to produce a drop of blood. In contrast, in Africa the practice frequently involves partial or total removal of the clitoris (or the prepuce) and stitching to narrow the vaginal opening (infibulation). Of the 1997 WHO types of female circumcision classification , the practice in Indonesia is referred to the “unclassified type” or Type IV: “All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes”."
Comment: "Hygiene is about washing, not cutting off body parts. Women’s genitals are harder to clean than men’s and they get more infections down there, but we wouldn’t consider surgery as a preventative measure."
Violent protests force cancellation of speech by Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos at Berkeley - LA Times - "A speech by conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos was canceled at UC Berkeley on Wednesday amid violent protest that sparked at least one fire. Police clashed with protesters, and much of the university was placed on lockdown. Campus police were ordering protesters to leave the area, but many were refusing. Witnesses said some windows were broken at the auditorium where Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak. This marks the second time in two weeks that rowdy protests have forced the cancellation of a Yiannopoulos speech"
How come conservatives don't riot?
Berkeley students should organize protest against Milo Yiannopoulos - "The Berkeley Against Trump coalition, previously known as the Berkeley J20 coalition, invites all solidarity-minded students and other members of the campus community to protest with us against far-right agitator Milo Yiannopoulos on Feb. 1. We will gather at 5 p.m at Sproul and show our unwillingness to allow our campus to be used to spread Yiannopoulous’s vile bigotry at this time when the forces of oppression are ascendant nationally. All those thousands who rallied with us on Sproul Plaza against the inauguration of hater-in-chief Donald Trump on Jan. 20 should join us to continue defending solidarity on our campus. The university administration’s refusal to cancel Yiannopoulos’s event is irrelevant — the campus belongs to the students, staff and faculty who run it, and in our numbers we will demonstrate exactly how we will run it. UC Davis shut down an event showcasing Yiannopoulous and pharma rich boy Martin Shkreli — we should all learn from this example... many other well-meaning people are also on the fence about how to respond to Yiannopoulous’s impending presence. They are repulsed by him and the vile racism and misogyny that he spreads, but feel the culture of free speech on our campus should give us pause about shutting him down. We implore all of these people to revisit the actual history of FSM... The Berkeley Against Trump coalition calls on all solidarity-minded members of the campus to fight for this true legacy of FSM. The far-right is getting organized against us — we must get organized against them. The first step is coming out en masse to kick Yiannopoulous and his hateful bile off our campus"
So apparently Berkeley's Free Speech Movement wasn't really about Free Speech
Milo Yiannopoulos speech canceled at UC Berkeley amidst protests and violence - "As one reader emailed me, “This is what happens when people start to believe that they are so morally superior that they can literally do anything and still be right. Ironically, they’re not a million miles away from fascism themselves anymore.” That’s exactly what Nick Cohen warned about in his book What’s Left?... What pains me as much as this violence is the excuse that the protestors had: they were exercising free speech, not suppressing it! Such is the Doublespeak of the Regressive Left... 'UC Berkeley sophomore Jonathan Gow, 19, rejected Yiannopoulos’ insistence that free speech took a hit. “The whole reason we’re here is for free speech,” Gow said. “Milo’s hate speech is not allowed here. When it’s hate speech, our free speech is to shut him down.”'"
Uncle Sam's Misguided Children - Timeline - "Organizer of UC Berkeley riots Yvette Felarca on camera instigating and assaulting a man who is simply exercising his 1st amendment rights"
UC Berkeley Thug Who Beat Conservative and Bragged About It Online - Is University Staff Member! - "Dabney Miller, a staff member at the UC Berkeley, bragged about how he beat conservatives. He posted images of one man he knocked to the ground and pummeled with his fists before someone pulled him away"
[GPGT]BANGLA FEMALE FOREIGNER PISSED OFF CNY NOT SHOPS OPEN, INSULTS CHINESE
Middle Eastern migrants refuse to claim asylum in Denmark as benefits are not good enough - "Asylum seeker Marwen el Mohammed said there are two reasons migrants do not want to go to Denmark. Mohammed claimed the first reason is that "the salary for refugees decreased about 50 per cent from 10,000 kroner (£1,000) to about 5,000 (£500)". The second is that Finland and its neighbouring countries allow migrants' families to join them within two or three months - but under Denmark's new laws they have to wait a year before they are able to join their loved ones. Speaking to Denmark's TV2 News, another migrant demanded: "We want Sweden.""
Migrant crisis: Queen Margarethe II of Denmark urges Muslim refugees to integrate - "Queen Margarethe II said it was “not a law of nature” that asylum seekers automatically integrated into society and called on Muslim groups to do more to help new arrivals understand Danish society. The Queen, who is one of Europe’s most respected and long-serving royals, said politicians needed to “put their foot down” and strictly uphold the country’s principles of democracy and gender equality in her unprecedented rallying cry... In a book, compiled with the Danish journalist Thomas Larsen, Queen Margarethe said that migrants arriving from south east Asia had “prospered”, but those coming from the Middle East “have had a hard time finding their rhythm in Denmark”. And she admitted that the sheer scale of the new arrivals seen across Europe over the last 18 months had changed her views of immigration which, as a young woman in the 1960s, she and other Danes saw as “exciting”. Speaking about the cultural values some migrants bring with them, she said: "We cannot pretend that it wears off by itself. It won't. Many of us thought that people who come to a strange place are a kind of a blotting paper that absorbs everything new. “The task becomes harder, however, when so many people having various backgrounds and a particular religion arrive at once. They risk isolating themselves regardless of their will.”"
Suspect In Shooting Outside MILO Event Claims Self Defence, Released Without Charges - "The suspect wanted in connection to the shooting of a 34 year old man turned himself in to police this morning and was promptly questioned by the University of Washington police. The Seattle Times article reports that, “one of the law-enforcement officials said the man who fired the gun claimed the man he shot was some type of white supremacist.” The suspect was released without charges pending further investigation and no one else is being investigated in relation to the incident according to UW Police."
ELI5: Why are there literally millions of porn movies on the internet for completely free viewing, but so few regular movies? : explainlikeimfive - "since porn is valued so cheaply, it's actually very inefficient to sell them directly. Instead, porn producers and distributors have realized that selling the attention of users of their pages to interested advertisers actually captures higher revenues. This is why you see some of the most clever ad-blocker workarounds on these porn sites; that's where they get most of their revenues from, even the more reputable sites."
Telegram not dead STOP Alive, evolving in Japan STOP - "Japan is one of the last countries in the world where telegrams are still widely used. A combination of traditional manners, market liberalization and innovation has kept alive this age-old form of messaging, first commercialized in the mid-19th century by Samuel Morse and others."
Application by registration - "Singapore does not allow its citizen to hold dual nationality. Under the Articles 134 and 135 of the Singapore Constitution, a Singapore citizen may be deprived of his citizenship if he is 18 years old or above and has:
voluntarily acquired foreign citizenship, or having acquired such citizenship before the age of 18 years, continues to retain it;
voluntarily exercised any of the rights of the citizens of nationals of a foreign country, such as voting in that country’s elections; or
applied for the issue or renewal of a foreign passport or used a foreign passport as a travel document...
A Singapore citizen of or over the age of 21 years and of sound mind who is about to become a citizen of another country may apply to renounce his Singapore Citizenship."
Singaporeans with dual nationality aged between 18 and 21 seem to be in a tight pickle (even ignoring NS)
Lewis Hamilton defends himself in sexism storm after spraying woman with champagne - "The world champion has been at the centre of a bizarre attack by women’s groups for “disrespecting” the 23-year-old secretary Liu Siying... Champagne has been sprayed on the podium for over 50 years and even Siying herself said she was unconcerned... Siying, a secretary in a Shanghai estate agents, said: “It lasted for only one or two seconds, and I did not think too much about it at all. “I think some foreign media are more sensitive about the topic compared to local media.""
Saudi millionaire cleared of rape after claiming he fell and accidentally penetrated teenager - "Property developer Ehsan Abdulaziz, 46, was accused of forcing himself on the teenager as she slept on the sofa in his flat in Maida Vale, west London, in August in 2014. But he claimed that he might have fallen on top of her while his penis was poking out the top of his underwear"
Addendum: So much for the MTV "Sex is not an accident" cartoon series
In Islam, there's more than one way to be an 'atheist' - "when it comes to atheism in the Muslim world, there is a conspiracy of sorts, akin to the "don't ask don't tell" principle on homosexuality in the US military –if a Muslim has lapsed, and no longer believes in God, there is no censure of that as long as one does not proselytise. Indeed, a 2012 poll by WIN-Gallup International found that up to 5% of Saudis polled identified as atheist, according to Sultan al-Qassemi, a number "comparable to the US and parts of Europe"."
Comment: "That model essentially boils down to 'stay silent', or else you will be harmed.
Its a model that Exmuslims living in Britain and elsewhere in the West understand too.
Its not a model of tolerance at all. Its a model of oppression and persecution and fear and silencing."
Berkeley vs. the Marines - "In January 2008, Berkeley, California's, city council passed by a vote of 8 to 1 a measure calling for that city to tell the United States Marine Corps that its downtown recruiting station was not welcome and that "if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome guests."... The council also called upon its citizenry to non-violently "impede, passively or actively" the work of the recruiters. Last, it resolved to ask the city attorney to look into possible violations of the Berkeley municipal code regarding sexual discrimination by the Marines."
The vet who 'euthanised' herself in Taiwan - "Ms Chien took her own life, using the same drug she used to put down animals. She said she wanted to help people understand what happens to strays in Taiwan"
Former Vietnamese refugee in Singapore on quest to find Norwegian rescuers from more than 30 years ago - "a Norwegian oil tanker by the name of Berge Tasta did just that. It passed by the rickety boat before turning back and welcoming them on board, eventually taking them to Singapore in late October 1980 where most of them were given shelter at the Hawkins Road Refugee Camp in Sembawang. The camp, which was run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 1978 and 1996, was the first and only refugee camp here... From 1975 to 1996, Singapore hosted a total of 32,457 Vietnamese boat people. At that point, Vietnamese refugees who could prove they could go to another country afterwards were given food and temporary shelter here. Many were also able to find employment outside the camp as cooks, waiters and movers, among other jobs... "She opened her arms to us...tired, poor and huddled masses yearning for freedom. Singapore is small but her heart is so big.""