Links - 5th February 2020 (1)

UK polls: Brexit Party attracts numerous Indian-origin candidates - "Britain's Brexit Party, led by Nigel Farage as the far-right outfit pitching for a so-called hard exit from the European Union (EU), has managed to attract a large number of Indian- origin candidates to contest the General Election... "The UK has become the Jewel in the Crown of the European Raj," says Dr Kulvinder Singh Manik, who is contesting from Bradford South in northern England – a Labour Party stronghold."I want to stand up for my people, to emancipate them from this anti-democracy. We are living in a Marxist-Lenin attempt to overthrow our democracy," says Manik, who works in the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).The 47-year-old had voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 Referendum but has since changed his mind and says his family is fully behind his anti-Brexit stance. Punjab-born Surjit Singh Duhre, contesting a similar Labour stronghold of Doncaster Central, claimed receiving death threats on the campaign trail and had to be convinced by party leader Farage not to quit the race."I've been told I'm a racist, a traitor and a Judas just because I'm standing for the Brexit Party," says 64-year-old Duhre, a former Labour Party member... Ironically, despite being perceived as a party which is predominantly anti-immigration, it has managed to attract numerous candidates from Britain's immigrant communities."
Doubtless Uncle Tanveers according to liberals

The wealthy single Chinese women choosing white sperm donors to have a baby - they want a family but not a Chinese husband - "US sperm bank California Cryobank has 70 available donors out of 500 who identify as Chinese. But experts say regardless of the availability of Chinese or Chinese-American donors, women are still choosing to have mixed-race children.“Basically, the selected sperm donors are mostly white”... Zhan Yingying, a co-founder of the Diversity Family organisation, said it was rare for her to come across a mother who chose a sperm donor of Chinese ethnicity. Traits such as double eyelids and pale skin are often valued according to Chinese beauty standards. “Before choosing the sperm donor I had not considered a particular race,” insisted Carrie, but after seeing the catalogue she realised she had a preference for foreign physical traits – and now has two half-Danish children.For baby Oscar, Xiaogunzhu said personality was the major factor in her decision, as the donor was listed as “full of joy”. But on her Weibo blog, photos of Oscar with the hashtag #mixed-race baby draw admiration.“I personally don’t care about the colour of the skin,” she said. “I only care that the eyes are big and the features are good.”"

Meme - "Macaroni Cheeseburger"
"Why do Americans eat like they have free health care?"

Man whose deadly farts ‘can kill mosquitoes hired to create Mosquito Repellent made from his intestinal gas’ - "Joe Rwamirama, 48, from Kampala, Uganda says boffins have launched a study into the chemical properties of his unique trouser toxin. The odd job man says no one in his home village has ever contracted malaria because his powers knock out insects over a six mile radius.If true, that would make his fallout zone larger than that of the atomic bomb which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945."

In Japan, Dead American Brands Get a Second Chance - "North American visitors to the shopping corridors of Tokyo and Osaka may be surprised to find brands they’d written off as dead at home. In between the Uniqlos, Lawsons, Tokyu Hands, and other domestic chains that dominate the streets of Japanese cities, you’ll see American names that you’ll recognize from the nearest dead or dying mall: Toys ‘R’ Us, Tower Records, Barney’s, and Dean & Deluca. They echo U.S. chains that have been gone bankrupt in their homeland and yet survive, even thrive, in Japan and other Asian markets...
there are as many explanations as there are chains living out what seem to be second lives.
Licensing agreements
American brands still carry cachet
Density, density, density...
many Japanese listeners still consider obtaining actual CDs or even vinyl LPs an important sign of their fandom for artists. In 2016, Quartz reported that nearly 80 percent of music sales were on hard copies... The country is about ten times as dense as the United States, and that makes a big difference for retailers with an urban foothold. For example, most of the 40 million people that live in the Tokyo metropolitan area alone can reach the city center in about an hour"

The I.R.S. Sent a Letter to 3.9 Million People. It Saved Some of Their Lives. - The New York Times - "“There has been a lot of skepticism, especially in economics, that health insurance has a mortality impact,” said Sarah Miller, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan who researches the topic and was not involved with the Treasury research. “It’s really important that this is a randomized controlled trial. It’s a really high standard of evidence that you can’t just dismiss.”... gaining coverage was associated with a 12 percent decline in mortality over the two-year study period (the first months of coverage seemed to be most important, presumably because people could get caught up on various appointments and treatments they might have been missing)."

White Couple's 'Clean' Chinese Restaurant Shuts Down After Only 8 Months - "Lucky Lee’s, a Chinese-American restaurant ran by nutritionist Arielle Haspel, has closed down eight months after opening its doors in April... Lucky Lee’s opening in April received major backlash from the Asian community after its restaurateur marketed the restaurant’s Chinese food as “clean” while traditional food as “oily,” “salty,” and “icky.”... The reason behind the closure was not revealed despite a report in October from The Villager stating the restaurant was “flourishing” after the controversy died down."
A vegan German restaurant would probably fail too

In Rogue One, Cassian says he has been in this fight since he was 6 years old. But when he was 6, the Empire didn't exist yet. This is because he fought as a child soldier for a pro-CIS insurgent group against the Republic. : StarWars - "To Cassian, and presumably many former separatists, the fight against the Republic and against the Empire was one unified struggle. To Cassian, the rebellion he was fighting for in Rogue One was a continuation of the same fight he fought in the Clone Wars. An interesting perspective."

Meme - "Let us all remember the time before the Kardashian family knew about plastic surgery"

Court sides with bank staffer who says he was denied promotion because he’s not gay - "The Canadian Human Rights Commission was ordered to properly assess a discrimination complaint by a former employee of a major bank who claims his boss told him he had “no hope” for promotion unless he joined their “group” of gay and bisexual men.He was told only males who were gay or bisexual were promoted in the office, he claims.The commission had improperly dismissed the employee’s discrimination complaint based on sexual orientation, in this case for being straight... Aaren Jagadeesh worked as a financial services representative for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Toronto. He was repeatedly turned down for promotions."

Enforcement officer kicks PMD rider off device along Bedok Reservoir Road to stop him

Brooklyn teacher sacked after telling first graders that Santa and Tooth Fairy aren't real - "Parents at a Park Slope school were upset after their children came home crying Monday because their substitute teacher told them some unsettling news."

An American Food Site Misunderstood What Mincemeat Is And Published A Ground Beef Pie - "Others started getting into it over other food terms, like the lie that is grilled cheese, which maybe should be called "skillet-fry cheese?"... the site updated its very popular recipe to now read: Mincemeat and Apple Tart — Now Meat Free!!And, because Spruce "stands by everything we do," Handelsman said the office was going to bake the tart with the ground beef "and all try it.""People make beef and fruit dishes all the time," he laughed. "I bet it's going to be pretty good.""

Chinese Scholars Are Claiming That English Is a Chinese Dialect - "Apparently, almost all European languages are derived from Mandarin. At least that’s what the World Civilisation Research Association, a group made up of Chinese scholars and professors, would like us to believe, reports state. They say this claim is backed by over 20 years of research, which were presented at the first ever China International Frontier Education Summit in Beijing in July... Apart from language, the organisation claimed that Western civilisation also originated in China. They say this is backed by Zhai Du Gangjian, a professor who supposedly conducted 20 years of research that shows how the civilisations that first spoke English came from the Indus River Valley when China’s Yellow Emperor ruled it. Perhaps that wildest among the scholars’ statements is one that claims that accounts on ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt were all fabricated... “Thanks, we can no longer laugh at the Koreans who claimed Confucius and Genghis Khan are Korean”"
China is going to claim possession of the rest of the world due to historical precedent soon

The New York Times - Posts - "One of India’s most troubling rape cases of recent months was brought to a sudden and shocking end on Friday. Four men who had been accused of raping and killing a young woman were taken under a bridge by police officers and shot dead."
Not sure who is more disturbing - those cheering police executions or those gullible enough to believe the police brought 4 suspects to a crime scene at 3am to reenact the crime, where 2 tried to snatch the police's guns so all 4 were shot. And that this wasn't the first time this had happened

From the Indian community to Chinese to Filipinos, Singapore feels the strain of immigration - "When a Singaporean man was caught on camera in October yelling vulgarities at a security guard outside his apartment building, telling the hapless worker he had paid S$1.5 million (US$1.1 million) for the place and should not have to fork out extra for guest parking, the video of the exchange soon went viral.Singaporeans on social media quickly identified the man, assumed he was an Indian expatriate, and told him to “go home” and not bring his country’s caste system to the city state... Close to seven in 10 of 4,015 citizens and permanent residents polled thought immigrants were not doing enough to integrate into Singapore... Singapore Indians were among those who raged against Erramalli in private gatherings and on social media, their feelings fuelled by the perception that these new migrants tend to look down on them.As National University of Singapore historian John Solomon recounted in a 2016 book on the Indian diaspora, members of the Tamil community have expressed concern about the appearance of caste names in wedding and funeral announcements in Singapore’s only Tamil-language newspaper.“Whether or not new immigration from India is indeed bringing about a gradual revival in caste identities in Singapore, the growth of this perception has manifested itself in popular xenophobic stereotypes about the new Indian migrant as an exporter of atavistic and backward social ideas,” he wrote. Kumaran Pillai, publisher of current affairs website The Independent News, said recent Indian migrants tended to “have their own enclaves”. “They hang around and move in their own circles, they rarely mix and talk with locals”... Asked where this perception came from, he gave anecdotes. Pillai said Indian immigrants often cut queues “because [they are] richer or hold a better position”. It was common to see foreigners being rude to service staff, he added.  “They’re perceived as a bit uppity, those in management positions. It’s not caste, it’s class consciousness,” Pillai said. And Erramalli telling the security guard “I’m not staying in HDB [public housing] , you know” embodied that snobbery... He also gave examples in which Singaporean-Indian women had supposedly been judged by immigrant colleagues over practices deemed unacceptable in India, such as wearing short skirts or enjoying a drink in a bar with male co-workers."
Apparently condemning the caste system is xenophobic
Unmentioned in the article is that the security guard was Chinese. So much for 'Chinese Privilege'