Grooming gangs of Muslim men failed to integrate into British society - "Researchers, who analysed 264 convictions of grooming gang members since 2005, had initially expected to find Asians had been unfairly singled out. However, they discovered that 222 of those convicted, or 84 per cent, were men of Asian origin. Only 22 were black and 18 were white with two offenders not having an identified ethnicity. The findings are in stark contrast to the fact Asians make up only seven per cent of the UK population... “There are elements from within the British Pakistani community that still subscribe to outdated and sexist views of women embedded within their jaded interpretations of Islam. These backward views are passed down from generation to generation until the lines between faith and culture dissolve, making it increasingly difficult to criticise one without being seen as a critic of the other.”... Since 2011, groups of men have been prosecuted for organised sexgrooming crimes against hundreds of girls in Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford, Telford, Leeds, Birmingham, Norwich, Burnley, High Wycombe, Leicester, Dewsbury, Middlesbrough, Peterborough, Bristol, Halifax and Newcastle. In only two of those cases were the men not of South Asian heritage. Of all the victims, only three were not white teenage girls."
Britain's 'worst ever' child grooming scandal exposed: Hundreds of young girls raped, beaten, sold for sex ... - "Authorities failed to keep details of abusers from Asian communities for fear of “racism”
Police failed to investigate one recent case five times until an MP intervened
One victim said cops tried to stop her finding out why her abusers had not been prosecuted because they feared she would talk to us
The scale of the abuse uncovered in Telford – population 170,000 – is feared to be the most brutal and long-running of all.
The Rotherham toll was put at 1,500 – but that was in a community of 260,000"
Police slammed over memo saying Telford child sex abuse was 'consensual' - "Officers investigating child sexual exploitation in the town were sent an internal memo telling them “in most cases the sex is consensual”."
Telford girls: the wrong kind of victims - "The very same newspapers that covered, at length and over many days, news that Kate Maltby’s knee may or may not have been touched by Damian Green or that Michael Fallon attempted to kiss Jane Merrick, were unable to muster up the same level of outrage for young women in Telford. The lack of comment on the Telford abuse scandal exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of the #MeToo movement... Perhaps the women of Telford are simply the wrong kind of victim. #MeToo prefers its victims to be posh... Or perhaps the Asian men accused of grooming, rape, drug-dealing, murder and paedophilia are simply the wrong kind of perpetrator. #MeToo prefers the accused to be powerful white men... the conspiracy of silence allowed abuse to continue in the town unchecked for decades. According to a council-commissioned report, social workers knew of sexual violence in the late 1990s. In 2016, a whistleblower was suspended from the police force after passing evidence to a newspaper. Another whistleblower was sacked from her post at a counselling service to help sex abuse victims – which received local authority grants... The #MeToo movement demonstrates a nauseating degree of hypocrisy. Worse, it distracts time and resources away from genuine victims of abuse. Last week the MP for Grimsby, Melanie Onn, led a debate in parliament calling for wolf-whistling and catcalling to be classified as misogyny and punished as hate crime. Crusaders like Onn prefer to focus on random whistlers than confront the more difficult issue of gangs of Muslim men targeting working-class girls"
The BBC’s shameful silence on the Telford sex scandal | Coffee House - "The front page of yesterday’s Sunday Mirror read ‘Britain’s ‘worst ever’ child grooming scandal exposed: Hundreds of young girls raped, beaten, sold for sex and some even KILLED.’ Like the scandals in Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxfordshire and a growing list of other places, it seems that the victims are, once again, white British girls and the perpetrators men of ‘Asian’ background. Of course while in most other situations the word ‘Asian’ means ‘Asian’, for these purposes ‘Asian’ means ‘men of Muslim background, mainly Pakistani’... girls as young as 11 were drugged, beaten and gang-raped in Telford... over the course of four decades, every arm of the state – including council staff, social workers and the police – allowed the mass gang-rape of children to go on in their town. And we learn – once again – how fear of accusations of ‘racism’ meant that the identities of the culprits were hidden and cases were not investigated. When the story broke yesterday it was covered across a range of other papers, including in all of the Mirror’s competitors. But the story clearly sent the BBC into a panic. As Ed West pointed out on Twitter, this morning the story was not even on the front page of the BBC’s website... the story was not on the ‘England’ page either. In fact, the mass gang-rape of underage girls in Shropshire didn’t even make it to the homepage of BBC Shropshire. Only after a fair amount of comment about this online did the BBC manage, this afternoon, to squeeze the rape of the area’s kids into their round-up of Shropshire news... It is easier to keep trying to cover it all over. And that is why there is now such a concerted effort online and in the non-online world to shut down, bar, silence, ban, deport and downgrade not the people who cover for these crimes but rather anyone who speaks out about them, highlights them, campaigns against them or does anything else other than join in the general silence. ‘For the good of diversity’."
Britain's Grooming Gang Crisis - "Taj Hargey of the Oxford Islamic Congregation has observed that “the view of some Islamic preachers towards white women” and “an attitude where women are seen as nothing more than personal property” might have been contributing factors in the stew of thought processes that characterised these men, along with provincial machismo, clannish contempt, and degenerate sexual appetites... Most of the victims have been white girls, but not all... “White women,” one rapist was reported to have said, “are good only for people like me to use as trash.” “All white girls are good for is sex,” another told his victim, “and they are just slags.” Lord Macdonald, a Liberal Democrat peer and former Director of Public Prosecutions, has called the perpetrators “profoundly racist” against white women... in 2003, Ann Cryer, then Labour MP for Bradford, reported that Asian men were abusing girls. A profile in the Yorkshire Post reveals that she was “ridiculed, branded a racist, a liar and a fantasist [and] forced to install a panic button in her own home.” More than a decade on, in 2017, Labour MP Sarah Champion wrote an article for a British tabloid which included the line, “These people are predators and the common denominator is their ethnic heritage.” Ms Champion soon resigned from the Labour front bench as her colleagues called her “incendiary and irresponsible.”... If someone were to observe that most of the perpetrators of sexual abuse are men it is difficult to imagine Mr Corbyn charging them with blaming or demonising a particular group."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused of 'ignoring sexual abuse' after former MP was denied a meeting - "Sarah Champion was denied the chance for “urgent” talks with the Labour leader this week to discuss new allegations."
As a Rotherham grooming gang survivor, I want people to know about the religious extremism which inspired my abusers - "They made it clear that because I was a non-Muslim, and not a virgin, and because I didn’t dress “modestly”, that they believed I deserved to be “punished”. They said I had to “obey” or be beaten... Religious indoctrination is a big part of the process of getting young men involved in grooming gang crime. Religious ideas about purity, virginity, modesty and obedience are taken to the extreme until horrific abuse becomes the norm. It was taught to me as a concept of “othering”."
Music professor who said Muslim woman safer in US forced out - The Washington Post - "An Ohio music professor who said Muslim women and girls are safer in the U.S. than in any Middle Eastern country has been forced to retire. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports University of Cincinnati assistant professor Clifford Adams has been placed on administrative for the remainder of the semester and will retire May 1."
Hate facts!
EDITORIAL: Trent students foolishly fuel toxic debate over race - "“It’s OK to be Against Whiteness” is not a debate over free speech, nor is it about racism as most understand the term — as discrimination or antagonism directed toward someone of a different race, or the belief one’s own race is better than another’s... it’s about a toxic and divisive ideology steeped in the intolerant loathing inherent in postmodernism and cultural Marxism that divides the world into us versus them groups, into victims and oppressors. It is the definition of bigotry, not the antidote to it. There is no “we” in “us and them.” The young social justice warriors at Trent swallowed the lie that a democratic society should create equality of outcome for all people, not equality of opportunity. It’s an ugly and corrupting belief that divides us based on sex and skin colour and class status. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that,” Martin Luther King taught us. “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”"
'Parts Unknown' Star Anthony Bourdain's Best Ways to Travel - "Bourdain recommends a tactic he likes to call “provoking nerd fury.” It’s a bit out of the box, but genius. It goes like this: If you want restaurant recommendations for, say, Rome, go to a foodie website like Eat Your World or even Chowhound—one with a comments section or a message board. Create a post saying, “Just got back from Rome” (even though this is blatantly untrue), and write that you just returned and ate the best Italian food you’ve ever had in your life at such and such a restaurant (pick one at random). “The torrent of informative abuse that will come your way from people who want to tell you how stupid, witless, and uninformed you are will be very instructive. It will, of course, mention the tiny little place, the tiny little trattoria ristorante that they experienced”"
The most expensive city to live in the world: Singapore - "while Singapore had some competitive prices for personal care products, household goods, and domestic help, the destination is host to some of the highest costs in the world. While Paris, France and Zurich Switzerland jumped up a few spots on the table, some incredibly high expenses for living in Singapore placed the island nation firmly in the number one spot. For example, it remains the most expensive place in the world to buy and run a car and is the third-most expensive place to buy clothes. Even the average price of a bottle of wine is $23.68, while it only costs $11.90 in Paris."
Calling video games rightwing is a massive oversimplification of their ability to empower - "you've probably already read this morning's contentious Guardian comment piece on the connection between video games and rightwing politics, and the 'alt-right' in particular... the acts of violence, state aggression, xenophobia and intolerance in games are all inherently problems of the right, and attractive to those who adhere to them. For starters, as anyone who lived behind the iron curtain, or continues to suffer under the yoke of religious fundamentalism knows, such abhorrent traits are not sole preserve of those who align themselves on the right, alt or otherwise. These are all traits of almost any authoritarian government, extremist or populist movement, so purportedly hard-left dictatorships are all as guilty of such acts as the alt-right - and in many cases far more so... the 'alt-right' has become heavily linked with video games. But it's not because of the violence or xenophobia - it's because video games offer two things that are hard to come by in the real world and even harder to possess in combination: freedom and purpose... in other aspects of games, such as their community-building and their potential to level the playing field for all players, no matter their abilities, appearance or background - they are also a rallying call for progressive liberals. They can be so inclusive, and at their very best they fight against tyranny in its most pervasive forms"
DNA tests can predict intelligence, scientists show for first time - "Although it is known that intelligent people live longer it was generally assumed that the link was due to social causes, such as a better education, leading to a more well-paid job, which brings a higher standard of living and a healthier life. But the new research suggests that intelligent people are biologically fitter... Previous studies by King’s College London discovered that up to 65 per cent of the difference in pupil’s GCSE grades was down to genetics, after analysing genetic data from, 12,500 twins. They found that all exam results were highly heritable, demonstrating that genes explain a larger proportion of the differences between children."
Inside Lindsay Shepherd’s controversial battle over free speech on campus - "Faculty at Laurier took sides. “We really see free speech as being under threat here,” says William McNally, an associate professor of finance. “I see this thing quite black and white. A university has to encourage free expression. How can it continue in its mission without free speech? On our crest, it says Veritas Omnia Vincit, which means “truth conquers all.” But how can truth win a battle if one side can’t compete—if one side gets censored?” McNally helped launch a petition that encouraged the school to take a strong position defending free speech. When he circulated amongst his colleagues to sign, however, he says only about 50 per cent of them said they would. Greg Bird saw that petition, but he didn’t sign. The associate professor in the cultural analysis and social theory department signed a different petition, this one calling on the school to establish safety measures for students and faculty being targeted and harassed, as well as issue a statement that transphobia and targeting of people based on their gender identity and expression will be monitored and reported... Debates over free speech can have the ironic effect on silencing a lot of people. Among Laurier’s communications studies faculty, many aren’t willing to talk about what’s happening on campus. At least not on the record with the media... Those who do speak are being extra careful with their words. In a telephone interview with Maclean’s, Laurier student Vivek Ramesh answers questions as voices in the background—who are never named—can be heard whispering responses to him... “We’re there to help to level the playing field in terms of writing. We’re not there to generate controversial discussion and do any deep-dive critical thinking. That’s what upper-year courses are for.”... perhaps she’s getting more support than Khan, the Dalhousie student, regarding free speech “because I didn’t make contemptuous and insolent comments about ‘white tears’ and ‘white fragility.'”... The Rainbow Centre continues to demand an apology from President MacLatchy for refusing to acknowledge the existence of transphobia on campus. They also want more safety measures installed at diversity and equity office buildings, such as a panic button and reinforced glass, and—among other asks—the school to hire a trans person of colour full-time as a counsellor within the diversity and equity office to offer mental health support for students."
What do two men kissing and a bucket of maggots have in common? Heterosexual men’s indistinguishable salivary α-amylase responses to photos of two men kissing and disgusting images - "This result held across the full sample, regardless of individual levels of prejudice. The results of the current study suggest that all individuals, not just highly sexually prejudiced individuals, may experience a physiological response indicative of stress when witnessing a male same-sex couple kissing"
Since seeing two men kissing harms straight men, maybe men should be banned from kissing
Interestingly: "This research was largely funded through a crowdfunding campaign on Experiment.com (http://www.drkarenblair.com/pdasponsors/)"
The Dark Art of Stealing from Self-Checkouts - "When Voucher Codes Pro, a company that offers coupons to internet shoppers, surveyed 2,634 people, nearly 20 percent admitted to having stolen at the self-checkout in the past... The authors further proposed that retailers bore some blame for the problem. In their zeal to cut labor costs, the study said, supermarkets could be seen as having created “a crime-generating environment” that promotes profit “above social responsibility... many police departments can’t be bothered with supermarket theft. In 2012, for example, the Dallas Police Department enacted a new policy: Officers would no longer routinely respond to shoplifting calls for boosts amounting to less than $50. In 2015, the threshold was raised yet again, to $100. Perhaps it’s not surprising that some people steal from machines more readily than from human cashiers. “Anyone who pays for more than half of their stuff in self checkout is a total moron,” reads one of the more militant comments in a Reddit discussion on the subject. “There is NO MORAL ISSUE with stealing from a store that forces you to use self checkout, period. THEY ARE CHARGING YOU TO WORK AT THEIR STORE.””
The Case Against Retweets - "Retweets make up more than a quarter of all tweets. When they disappeared, my feed had less punch-the-button outrage. Fewer mean screenshots of somebody saying precisely the wrong thing. Less repetition of big, big news. Fewer memes I’d already seen a hundred times. Less breathlessness. And more of what the people I follow were actually thinking about, reading, and doing. It’s still not perfect, but it’s much better... anger tops the list of shareable emotions in the social-media world, and a study of the Chinese internet service Weibo found that rage spreads faster than joy, sadness, and disgust... Twitter can destroy your perspective. “Every outrage was becoming the exact same size,” Mike Monteiro, a prominent web designer, wrote in a Medium post about quitting Twitter. “Whether it was a US president declaring war on a foreign nation, or an actor not wearing the proper shade of a designated color to an awards ceremony. On Twitter those problems become exactly the same size.”... social-media platforms don’t have to be organized around shareability. Instagram, for instance, doesn’t allow links, except a single one in each user’s profile. This dampens self-promotion and slows down the spread of information from the rest of the internet on the platform. It doesn’t have native reposting tools, either. And it is, by pretty much all accounts, a nicer place to spend time online."