Links - 4th April 2019 (1)

Kellyanne Conway: White House advisor 'assaulted in restaurant' - "White House adviser Kellyanne Conway says a woman assaulted her in front of her daughter last year.The incident, which she described to US media, is said to have taken place in a restaurant in a Washington DC suburb.Ms Conway says the woman was "screaming her head off" when she grabbed her from behind and shook her in October.Mary Elizabeth Inabinett, 63, denies charges of second-degree assault and disorderly conduct. She is due to stand trial in March."

Man sexually assaulted girl on bus after she tried to help him - "A kind Devon teenager who tried to help a man catch a bus back to London was left in tears after he sexually assaulted her.Dan Wachira, 34, grabbed the 18-year-old and called her a ‘cutie’ before trapping her on the bus, stroking her thigh and fondling her bottom.The Kenyan-born asylum seeker took advantage of the girl's kindness in order to sexually harass and try to wear down her defences... He was served deportation documents the day after the incident but had lodged an asylum claim.He said because of the political situation in Kenya he would be killed if sent back.Judge Evans said his deportation was a matter for the government but it was almost inevitable he would be sent back to Kenya because he had overstayed his visa."

Finally, a New Emoji to Mock Men - "The latest batch of emojis features new possibilities for shattering fragile masculinities and capitalism alike... We’re finally getting an emoji that’s perfect for easily humiliating men when they’re being disgusting online or, you know, being men: the small dick emoji"
Elsewhere on Vice: Women Talk About the Worst Body Shaming They've Experienced
Walker’s Corner - Posts: "Liberals: “we need to end toxic masculinity and be inclusive.”
Also liberals:"
Comment: "We should just say it’s an alt-right symbol and destroy their fun!"
Presumably men who do not jump on the man bashing bandwagon have 'fragile masculinity'. Coming from people who meltdown over a 'smirk' from a teen in a red MAGA hat, or a strange man on the street saying hello (which is 'catcalling')

Buzzfeed reporter says foreigners shouldn’t celebrate Lunar New Year, Asians disagree vehemently - "Here is Kassy Cho, who is apparently a reporter for Buzzfeed based in London, with a friendly reminder.
"friendly reminder that you don't get to celebrate lunar new year unless you're literally from a country that does or if you are invited by someone who is from a country that does"...
the most heartwarming part was how Asians, who Kassy Cho deemed as the official gatekeepers of the holidays, turned up en masse to support anyone celebrating Lunar New Year."
Andy Wang‏: "friendly reminder that I hereby formally invite everyone to celebrate lunar new year"
Facepalm‏: "Rekt. Guess people are more into unity than hate/division eh @kassy?"
Keywords: celebrate Chinese New Year, can't celebrate, anyone, cultural appropriation

Derinkuyu Underground City, the World's Deepest Subterranean Metropolis - "It’s thought that the Derinkuyu underground city was started by the Phrygians, an Indo-European people, in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE. After the population became Christian in Roman times, they began to include chapels in their underground dwellings. It’s thought that the Christian population used the underground city to escape persecution by the Romans... Located in Cappadocia, the central Anatolian region of Turkey, the subterranean city is one of over 200 in the area."

Woman tasered autistic man because she thought he was staring at her breasts - "A woman tasered an autistic man as he made his way to the library - because she thought he was staring at her breasts. Hollie Baker ran off laughing after she zapped acquaintance Lee Pearson with the illegal stun gun, leaving him writhing on the ground in agony... She claimed she got the illegal Taser for protection, and would take it with her when she walked her dog late at night."
Is this toxic feminism?

Saudi study shows millennial jihadis educated, not outcasts - "A study by a Saudi research center is challenging the notion that jihadi fighters are necessarily disenfranchised and lacking opportunity, with its lead researcher saying on Thursday that a new generation of Saudi militants are relatively well-educated, not driven purely by religious ideology and show little interested in suicide missions... In contrast, issues of disenfranchisement, poverty and criminal pasts factored heavily in IS fighters hailing from European countries like France, Belgium and the US... among Saudi recruits a little more than half said they had basic knowledge of Islam. Much of the rest claimed to have intermediate and advanced religious knowledge."
"With guns you can kill terrorists, with education you can kill terrorism." - Malala Yousafzai

Racism row: Comment on Auckland restaurant receipt leaves woman shocked - "An Auckland restaurant has come under fire after a woman and her friends were referred to as "Asians" on their receipt.Staff at The Falls Restaurant & Cafe in West Auckland had written "Asians" to identify the group at lunchtime on Sunday, and then provided it to the group.The woman said she found it racist, while the restaurant called it a mistake and blamed it on a new employee.The woman told Stuff they were a "group of 'Asians' born in this country", and had visited the restaurant for coffee and drinks... The restaurant's Facebook page has been inundated with posts criticising them over their actions.One person called the incident "utterly disgusting"."
In 2019, it's racist to call Asians Asian

Andrew Dickens: Is describing someone as Asian racist? - "I wandered over to the café’s Facebook page. Funny sort of inundation. There was the original complaint and one other poster who was supporting her. So firstly this is not outrage but it’s worth a moment’s reflection"

Mother is arrested in front of her children after calling a transgender woman a man - "A mother was arrested in front of her children and locked up for seven hours after referring to a transgender woman as a man online.Three officers detained Kate Scottow at her home before quizzing her at a police station about an argument with an activist on Twitter over so-called 'deadnaming'.The 38-year-old, from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, had her photograph, DNA and fingerprints taken and remains under investigation.More than two months after her arrest on December 1, she has had neither her mobile phone or laptop returned, which she says is hampering her studies for a Masters in forensic psychology... The case is the latest where police have been accused of being heavy-handed in dealing with people who go online to debate gender issues.Sitcom writer Graham Linehan was given a verbal harassment warning by West Yorkshire Police after transgender activist Stephanie Hayden reported him for referring to her by her previous names and pronouns on Twitter. "

Man interrogated by police for liking a 'transphobic' tweet - "A man said he was questioned by police for over 30 minutes after he liked a tweet that appears to mock the transgender community. Harry Miller, who believes ‘trans women are not women’, says the formal probe by Humberside Police was into his ‘thinking’ and his reasons for liking the limerick on Twitter... Mr Miller, who used to be a policeman, says an officer told him he was investigating reports of a hate crime.‘Cop said he was in possession of 30 tweets by me,’ he recalled on Twitter.‘I asked if any contained criminal material. He said “No.”‘I asked if any came close to being criminal and he read me a limerick. Honestly. A limerick. A cop read me a limerick over the phone.’After telling the PC he did not write the limerick, he reportedly said: ‘Ah. But you liked it and promoted it.’ He concluded: ‘It’s not a crime, but it will be recorded as a hate incident.’Harry said the conversation turned ‘incredibly sinister’ as the officer tried to probe his ‘thinking’... 'he told me that I needed to watch my words more carefully or I was at risk of being sacked by the company for hate speech.’ Harry says he is actually the chairman of his company and later told The Spectator how the incident made him feel like a ‘criminal’."

Is it now a crime to like a poem about transgenderism? | Coffee House - " ‘All reports of incidents, whether from victims, witnesses or third parties and whether crime related or not, will, unless immediately recorded as a crime, result in the registration of an auditable incident report by the police.’... He isn’t the first person to have such an experience. I know of several other people who say they have also been interviewed and warned by police about their entirely legal comments online about gender issues."

ALTCON - Posts - "We received reports of a number of transphobic comments being posted on social media. We take all reports of hate related incidents seriously. We will always investigate to determine if a hate crime or incident has been committed & will take proportionate action."
"You didn't investigate my brother's flat in Hull when I told you I had concerns about his wellbeing. You told me you didn't have the resources. Two days later a neighbour found his body. I wish I'd told you he'd Liked a limerick on Facebook instead now, you useless bastards."
"PC Priorities.."

Acid attack victim says police could have stopped his assailant - "A man mutilated for life in an acid attack is suing police, alleging that they failed to act on information that should have stopped his ordeal before it began.Daniel Rotariu, 33, was attacked in July 2016 by his then partner, Katie Leong, who poured sulphuric acid over him as he slept at their home in Leicester in an attempt to kill him.Two professionals had passed police information five months before the attack that Leong was acquiring potentially lethal acid and possibly intended to throw it on someone, but officers took no action"
Hate crimes must be more important

Police launch hate crime investigation after Post Office refuses to accept Scottish note - "A police force launched an investigation after a man claimed he had been the victim of a hate crime when a branch of the Post Office refused to accept his Scottish bank note.Kent Police were called out earlier this month when 48-year-old Patrick Burgess accused postal staff of racism.He claimed the post office worker's refusal to accept the note amounted to a hate crime because it was based on nationality.Mr Burgess was born and brought up in Scotland, but speaks with an English accent.An officer was asked to investigate the claim and it has been recorded for official purposes as a hate crime, which will feed into national statistics... "I confirmed with her that the only notes they would not take were Scottish or Irish, to which she replied yes. In my opinion it's racist and it is a hate crime."... Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary asked the Law Commission to consider expanding the definition of hate crime by adding misogyny and ageism.But he has faced a backlash from many police chiefs who expressed concern that their frontline officers were spending too much time investigating such issues rather than tackling serious crime such as burglary and assault."

The police chiefs vs the thoughtpolice - "A tweet calling Anna Soubry a ‘fascist’, an Asian man saying his friend looked like a terrorist, and a newspaper column by Boris Johnson: these were among the 94,098 ‘non-crime hate incidents’ recorded by the UK police in the past year. The recording of such non-crimes has exploded in recent years. In the year 2017-2018, the number of hate incidents reached record levels, rising by 17 per cent on the previous year... the police’s Hate Crime Operational Guidance actually demands that the numbers increase. ‘Targets that see success as reducing hate crime are not appropriate’, it says. It also points out that the victim’s perception is the deciding matter as to whether a hate incident has occurred. You do not even have to be present at the time of the incident, or be fully aware of what exactly happened, to have an incident recorded and followed up by the police... when Amber Rudd delivered a speech on immigration to the Conservative Party conference in 2016, an Oxford professor reported her to the police, who treated it as a hate incident. The professor later said that he ‘didn’t actually see the speech’ but he had read about it. What’s more, some incidents have to be recorded twice if they are deemed by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility towards more than one protected characteristic. For instance, if a Pakistani-Muslim feels they were victimised because of both their religion and their race, two incidents have to be recorded, even though only one occurred."

Brookline incident reports: Dec. 28-30 - "A woman called the police after a man walked by her and said, “hello,” around the intersection of Washington and Beacon streets."
The feminist future where 'catcalling' is a crime is almost here