Links - 21st June 2019 (2)

The Cult of Shamima - "The Cult of Shamima was in full flow yesterday when it was revealed that a shooting range in Merseyside has been using a picture of Shamima as a target. The owners of the range said it was just ‘lighthearted’ fun and that they were responding to customers’ requests – apparently a ‘record number’ of their shooters had requested an image of Begum to shoot. Cue meltdown in political circles and the liberal media. These horrible Scouse plebs with their violent Islamophobia – that was the tone of the coverage... The shooting-range story was swiftly folded into the bizarre narrative that the right-on have weaved around Begum over the past week: that she’s a victim, that she was groomed, that she needs our sympathy, that the real baddies are those nasty ill-educated Brits who support Sajid Javid’s revocation of Begum’s citizenship (78 per cent of the country, according to a Sky poll). Public dislike for Begum, all those mocking memes people are making of her, the thirst for her to be punished – according to the Cult of Shamima this is all proof of rampant Islamophobia; proof that many Britons loathe Muslims, especially Muslim women, and especially Muslim women who wear the veil. ‘I’m actually close to tears’, said one Corbynista journalist about the Shamima shooting-target image. Whether this journalist ever came close to tears about the Yazidi women who were enslaved, raped and burnt to death in the pseudo-state that Shamima happily made her home we will never know. Maybe pretending to shoot Shamima is a worse crime than actually shooting a Yazidi woman who refuses to sexually service her jihadist enslaver?"

How terror changed Europe’s Christmas markets | Coffee House - "yet another new tradition at Europe’s Christmas markets, which is the presence of army vehicles and police and military standing around with heavy duty weapons at the ready... Steyn has also pointed out in his observations about ‘bollard-isation’, there is a strange paradox at work here. Whichever European city you go to these days (Britain included) all of its public buildings and major infrastructure are positively surrounded by bollards and steel barriers. Yet at the same time the governments of these countries have never taken a more lax attitude to the place where bollards or similar security might be more usefully deployed. That is along what we used to call ‘a border’."

UPenn Facing Title IX Investigation - "The NCFM believes that “[t]he University of Pennsylvania is in violation of Title IX because it offers resources, funding, fellowships, and scholarships that are available to women only, even though men are a minority both nationwide [42%] and at the University of Pennsylvania [47%, incoming class of 2021].”The first group listed is the Center for Research on Reproduction and Women’s Health... The University of Pennsylvania Women’s Center was also targeted in the complaint. The NCFM alleges the Women’s Center is discriminatory in its “overall effect.” They assert the Center has a discriminatory name, offers resources only to women, and has only female participants and administrators. These different features combine to create a “hostile environment against men.” Further the NCFM claims the Women’s Center’s anti-discrimination clause is “hollow and illusory.”The NCFM also believes that Penn’s funding of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (GSWS) department constitutes a Title IX violation... the NCFM also takes issue with Penn’s Men Against Rape & Sexual Assault student group. Written in their news brief on their complaint against Penn, the NCFM remarked: “Although, for men, PENN offers, Men Against Rape & Sexual Assault. There is no corresponding Women Against Rape & Sexual Assault? Is it possible that PENN’s administration believes women do not rape or commit sexual assault? Really? We’d like to know.”"

How the World’s Only Feudal Lord Outclassed the Nazis to Save Her People - "Germany had invaded Hathaway’s home in the British Channel Islands, a tiny isle of 400 called Sark. Despite having no modern defense network or fancy gun emplacements—it didn’t even have electricity—Sark had proven itself to be uniquely prepared for its unwelcome visitors. The island had an advantage that the rest of Europe had discarded centuries earlier: feudalism."

Jazzmin Fry Stabs Man With Heel – Gets $250 Fine and No Conviction - "The Australian mother of a 19-year-old man who suffered a gruesome scalp injury after being assaulted with a stiletto heel is speaking out after her son’s 21-year-old attacker received a $250 fine and was not convicted of the offense, even though she plead guilty last week and the unprovoked attack was caught on camera."

'Deport my wife': Woman hits herself to 'frame husband' - "A man has called on the federal government to deport his estranged wife after he claims she attempted to frame him for domestic violence.Sydney man Faisal met Asmae through the Muslim dating website, Muslima.com... CCTV vision shows Asmae leaving the apartment and entering the lift... Inside the lift, she gave herself two uppercuts to her face.She then went to the police and claimed Faisal had assaulted her... He spent $20,000 on a lawyer and trolled through hours of apartment CCTV vision until he finally found the footage that proved his innocence. NSW Police immediately dropped the charges against Faisal, but never moved to charge Asmae with making a false accusation."

Men Face More Sex Discrimination When Job Hunting - "employers were more likely to seek candidates with feminine traits. The preference for feminine traits over masculine traits was even found in male-dominated, white-collar jobs... Employers seeking feminine traits favoured women and employers seeking masculine traits favoured men. This bias was slightly more pronounced for jobs requiring feminine traits... Discrimination against men appears to be more consistent in white-collar jobs"
Male privilege!
Journal article: Uneven Patterns of Inequality: An Audit Analysis of Hiring-Related Practices by Gendered and Classed Contexts

S’pore stars Carrie Wong & Ian Fang apologise after explicit texts exposed - "Both stars have issued public statements apologising for their actions. Fang admitted that his language used was “inappropriate” and that he felt bad for those reading the messages... Mediacorp’s head of artiste management, Ivy Low, emphasised that she expects artistes to maintain their professionalism at all time as they are public figures. She also added that their actions and behaviours have to be appropriate at all times."
So being a celebrity means even in private messages you need to be exemplary?

Is Trump guilty of obstruction of justice? It's complicated - "Truthfully, obstruction of justice is a complicated matter. As a law professor and one-time elected official, here’s my explanation of the crime—and its possible application to the president. According to federal law, obstruction occurs when a person tries to impede or influence a trial, investigation or other official proceeding with threats or corrupt intent... President Trump did many things to influence investigations into him and his aides—but did he do so with “corrupt” intent?... “corrupt”—meaning willfully improper—reasons."

Melania Trump's Shoes Draw Internet Backlash - "The impractical heels spurred the internet to action, with Trump Administration critics seeing an easy mark"
Criticising what women wear is appropriate in some circumstances, apparently

Toxic Masculinity and Gender Equity in the Australian Defence Force - "the Defence Force Recruitment website advertises female-only incentives including the choice of where to work, when to enlist, shorter initial minimum periods of service, as well as preparation courses. A reduction in the initial minimum period of service makes applicable servicewomen eligible for the Australian Defence Medal years sooner than their male counterparts, and this has provoked resentment among veterans. Additionally, various Defence Force Recruitment employees have reported receiving directives to prioritise female candidates over males, as well as closing off some jobs entirely for male candidates...
'ADF women strongly believe that when they are singled out, it makes it harder for them to fit in. Highly resistant to any initiative being directed solely at them, ADF women view identical—not differential—treatment as the path to delivering equality. This is most likely in part to avoid the backlash that inevitably trails any treatment perceived as ‘preferential’'...
Systemic preferential treatment is just the tip of the iceberg. Additional complaints have been made off-the-record about preferential treatment in military discipline, manual labour and work tasks, training exercises, postings, and performance reviews that significantly influence promotions and career progression on a daily basis... [The] control of information is reinforced by a policy that forbids members of the Australian Defence Force from making political statements, which was brought to light by the sacking of controversial Army Reserves Major, Bernard Gaynor. The resistance to contrarian viewpoints within ADF ranks was affirmed by multiple senior officers including General David Morrison who posted a video on the official Australian Army YouTube account with the following warning: “I will be ruthless in ridding the Army of people who cannot live up to its values.” After the release of this video, it was found that the scandal in question had been poorly investigated, and ruined the career of an officer subsequently found to be innocent. What makes the ADF’s road to gender equality more complex is the advice from activists and interest groups with very limited understanding of military service and the complexity of communal living, highly arduous and dangerous working conditions, as well as the absolute need to have confidence in your peers. In these environments—whether they be at sea, on land, or in the air—conventional theories on gender equality may not be optimal."

Matt Walsh on Twitter - "Gender is a social construct but I am woman hear me roar but anyone can be a woman but no uterus no opinion but transwomen are women but I demand women's rights but men are women but men are scum but drag queens are beautiful but appropriation is evil"

Daniel Bordman - Posts - "Remember that terrorist training camp they found in New Mexico, teaching kids to commit school shootings in the name of Jihad? The one were they found the dead kid? I know, hard to remember since it was hardly news worthy, I mean there were some teenagers wearing red hats somewhere. Now, they have found another one in Alabama.
Fun Fact: they were both run on the property of Siraj Wahhaj.
Even more fun fact: His Father Siraj Wahhaj Sr, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 world trade center bombing, a man who openly preaches of violent jihad as a means of overthrowing America (plus Jews and Christians of course) is coming to Canada next week to headline some Ramadan events for Islamic Relief Canada!"

How the Left Lost Its Mind - "The Trump era has given rise to a vast alternative left-wing media infrastructure that operates largely out of the view of casual news consumers, but commands a massive audience and growing influence in liberal America. There are polemical podcasters and partisan click farms; wild-eyed conspiracists and cynical fabulists. Some traffic heavily in rumor and wage campaigns of misinformation; others are merely aggregators and commentators who have carved out a corner of the web for themselves. But taken together, they form a media universe where partisan hysteria is too easily stoked, and fake news can travel at the speed of light."

Obama ripped for telling black kids to lose the gold chains and avoid twerking - "Former US President Barack Obama delivered a message of self-confidence to black youth: ignore twerking and don't chase wealth. He also called for more police in "some" communities. But his inspirational words didn't go over well. .. The social justice crowd, however, took Obama's remarks not as trying to lift up the youth, but rather picking on them for dreaming of emulating their hip-hop idols... Curiously, the offended Twitter mob seemed to have missed Obama’s assertion later in his speech that “Some communities need more police, not fewer police,” a statement apparently critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.While a passing reference, Obama’s defense of good old-fashioned law and order is a change of tone for the former president, who invited BLM leadership to the White House in 2016."

Khan's London: No Jail for Teen Who Left Ex-U.S. Ambassador with 'Horrific Injuries' - "A teenager who knocked a 74-year-old former British ambassador to the United States unconscious on the London Underground and left him with “horrific injuries” has been let off with a 12-month referral order and a £500 compensation charge.Uxbridge Youth Court heard that the 17-year-old, whose identity has been protected, ran up behind Sir Christopher Meyer and shoved him in the back on the Victoria station platform in London, knocking him unconscious and causing his glasses to break and inflict facial injuries when he hit the ground.Witnesses say the attack was launched after the pensioner “nudged past” the teenager at the train doors following a verbal altercation... British Transport Police statistics recently revealed that violent crime on the London Underground has risen by at least 43 percent over the last three years, with weapons offences up by an even more remarkable 125 percent."

Children have right to marry: Supreme Court - National - The Jakarta Post - "The 1974 Marriage Law sets the marriageable age for women at 16 and for men at 19, even though the 2002 Child Protection Law defines children as anyone “under the age of 18”.Religious courts, however, have been granting minors as young as 15 years old dispensation to be legally married, especially in regions where child marriage is considered the norm... justices usually cite cultural norms when considering marriage permit requests"