Links - 24th September 2016

Chick-fil-A restaurants respond to Orlando massacre with free food at blood drives - "The Christian owners of the Atlanta-based organization, which is normally closed on Sundays, have been criticized for holding a biblical view of marriage as the union between one man and one woman. “But, wait, those people were waiting to give blood to victims that were mostly gay people,” wrote Vianna Vaughan at DC Gazette. “Doesn’t Chick Fil A hate gays? That’s what we kept being told.” “Turns out, that while the founders definitely don’t approve of that choice of lifestyle, they believe in compassion,” she wrote. “Who knew?” Several politicians have denounced the fast-food restaurant for its stance on marriage. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, for instance, last month encouraged his constituents not to eat at a new location in Queens"
Presumably it's better for the gay community to rage at gay marriage opponents online and denounce them than to help in the aftermath of a gay massacre

Nidal Hasan’s Murders Termed ‘Workplace Violence’ by U.S. - "the Purple Heart has been denied the soldiers who were killed or wounded at Fort Hood. And, because they were classified as victims of simple calamity rather than of combat, they and their families have been denied the accompanying benefits. A number of them say they have not even been able to secure adequate care for their wounds. And, perhaps in part because people assumed that the army would take care of the soldiers as it would any other fallen and wounded warriors, there was no huge outpouring of financial support for them as there would later be for, say, the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings... the FBI ignored repeated warnings that an increasingly militant Hasan was bent on jihadist violence. The suit charges that, among other things, the authorities “knew or should have known that Hasan was abusing his patients, who were American soldiers returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, by calling them ‘war criminals’ in the course of psychiatric treatment sessions, and promising criminal prosecution against them because these soldiers had killed Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq.”"

Homophobic Orlando shooting headline on Turkish newspaper with ties to President Erdogan - "Yeni Akit, a right-wing newspaper which has supported the likes of Al-Qaeda in the past, broke news of the attack with the headline: 'Death toll rises to 50 in bar where perverted homosexuals go!' The headline has caused a backlash online, where it has been suggested that the exclamation mark indicates that the paper is celebrating the attack, rather than condemning it... According to Turkish think-tank the Hrant Dink Foundation, Yeni Akit is one of the worst offenders when it comes to using hate speech against minorities, in particular the LGBT community, but also against Jews, Armenians and Christians."

Poll finds zero tolerance for homosexuality among UK Muslims - "The poll, part of the the Gallup Coexist Index 2009, found that not one of the 1,001 British Muslims interviewed believed homosexual acts were morally acceptable. Fifty-eight per cent of the general British public said they thought homosexuality was not morally wrong, compared with 68 per cent of Germans. French respondents were the most liberal, with 78 per cent of the general public saying it was not morally wrong. According to the survey, the opinions of Christians differed little from the views of the general public. In comparison to British Muslims, 35 per cent of French Muslims and 19 per cent of German Muslims did not have moral objections to homosexual acts. The survey also showed that British Muslims hold more conservative opinions towards abortion, viewing pornography, suicide and sex outside marriage than European Muslims, with markedly lower rates of thinking such issues are morally acceptable. A striking difference between the opinions of French and British Muslims was seen when respondents were asked their opinions on sex between unmarried men and women. While 48 per cent of French Muslims said it was morally acceptable, only three per cent of British Muslims agreed. However, it was found that 77 per cent of British Muslims identify themselves as British, compared with just 50 per cent of the general population. The paper’s authors concluded: “Some researchers point out that the greatest differences between Muslims and westerners lie more in eros than demos. In other words, the Muslim-west gap rests on differences in attitudes toward sexual liberalisation and gender issues rather than democracy and governance"

Muslim migrants threw Christians overboard, police say - "Muslims who were among migrants trying to get from Libya to Italy in a boat this week threw 12 fellow passengers overboard -- killing them -- because the 12 were Christians"

Confederate Flag & Islamic Terror -- the Left's Blatant Double Standard - "Claude Berube, director of the Naval Academy Museum, recently compared the rush to dig up Confederate graves and tear down statues in the U.S. to Islamic iconoclasm. The Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas on the grounds that they violate Islamic law. The terrorist group Islamic State is ransacking historic monuments for both God and mammon. The comparison has its obvious limits, but it does highlight a remarkable double standard. Islamic terror has been on the rise for decades, yet over that time the Left’s calls for nuance, tolerance, and understanding have only grown louder. Virtually no one condones or makes apologies for the Islamic State’s barbarity (one can’t say the same about Hamas or Hezbollah), but there has been a Herculean effort to put Islamic extremism in “context.”

Feminist website deems the term 'trigger warning' not sensitive enough - "EverydayFeminism.com, a self-proclaimed “educational platform for personal and social liberation,” does not use the term “trigger warning” in front of its articles, not because it dismisses concerns for distressing readers susceptible to sensitive material, but because “the word ‘trigger’ relies on and evokes violent weaponry imagery.”"

Bachelor saves 6,000 $1 coins in 2 years, netting him marriage proposals - "Although Mr Helmy does not have a girlfriend, he is planning ahead for his big day. He said: “With this sum of money, I am prepared to pay dowry and settle marriage costs. “It tells my prospective mother-in-law that I’m prepared and I’ve got what it takes to marry her daughter.”"
Some weddings are so cheap...

On immigrants, jobs and economics | Balaji Narasimhan - "ou think your degree is worth a job no less than $4,000 in the market, but the foreigner with a double masters is willing to do it for half that. Whom will an employer hire? The price has been set, and the foreigner has the same basic expenses you have (and usually more because rent in Singapore is not cheap and he pays 20% tax in lieu of CPF). So if he can do it at S$2,000 then that is what the job is worth. That is how it works. Why would companies want to recruit foreigners if Singaporeans were willing to work those jobs for that pay? They have to cross numerous hurdles, have to invest a lot of money in hiring and vetting candidates, and there is a huge risk that the person coming in is ill-suited for life here. Why do firms here still do it? Could it be because Singaporeans are not willing to do those jobs for those wages?"
Moral of the story: we need to be cheaper better faster, and to retire in the third world. And focus on pushing down wages instead of other costs of production (like rent) even if wages are comparatively low

'Legislative slut-shaming': How the German 'Cuckoo Kids' Law' punishes women - "Referred to by German press as the 'Cuckoo Kids' law', it is designed to protect men who have discovered themselves not to be the biological father of a child and to allow them to reclaim child maintenance for up to two years. Its purpose, according to Justice Minister Heiko Maas is "to offer more legal protection for 'sham fathers' to seek recourse". The bill was drafted after a 2015 case in which the country's highest court called on the Government to strengthen these men's rights. Exactly how many children grow up believing the wrong man is their biological father is difficult to determine, but a 2005 review of studies found the rate was about 4 per cent, or roughly 1 in 25 children... the highest court in Germany ruled men could not be forced to take paternity tests against their will... in the interests of clawing back up to two years' child maintenance, it constitutes a serious threat to a woman and child's right to privacy, especially when the ability to test parentage via DNA test already exists."
Women must be protected. Men must fend for themselves

NUSWhispers - "Didn't really do well for my A levels, didn't do well during my NS time either so I became a specialist. But signing on did provide me the means to own a car and many branded goods. Tldr, you don't have to be a law student. Drive a 2nd hand continental car, strap on a 2nd hand Rolex and take your credit card out to swipe from your Bottega wallet. Been to U town dorms to spend the night 8/10 times because the other 2 tinder dates occured when my car was in the workshop."

NUSWhispers - "I have kept a dark secret for a long time. My friends and bf see me as an innocent girl. Truthfully, I have a insatiably high sex drive. I have fucked at least one guy in every module I have taken in my years in NUS till I graduated recently. It was certainly helped by the fact that I was in Engineering and considered quite pretty even by FASS standards. Desperate Engineering guys..."

If Only Singaporeans Stopped to Think: Asset-rich, cash-poor retirees speak up - "SEVENTY-YEAR-OLD Wen Zhen counts every cent. He eats two slices of bread for breakfast and lunch each. For dinner, he cooks a vegetable dish, paired with a $2 packet of rice that he ekes out over two nights. Yet outwardly, the retired quality surveyor - who declined to give his full name - would seem to have no money worries. After all, he lives in landed property... SINCE Independence, home ownership has been linked to national identity and as a way for Singaporeans to own an asset that keeps giving as property values appreciate. But this may have created its own problem - putting too much money into homes and retiring with too little savings on hand...
Property price rises over the last 30 years have led to retirement savings being locked up in housing, he says... they have elderly and widowed neighbours without much savings and income who do not get the same government benefits as someone who may live in an HDB flat but drives a Mercedes or Maserati...
MR TERRENCE Netto still vividly remembers a comment by a government minister to private estate residents during a dialogue session in the 1990s. "He said, if you want government subsidies, sell your house and move to a three-room flat," says the 75-year-old. That remark riled him and many of his neighbours in the Seletar Hills private estate where he lived at the time. "We went on the warpath!" he says."
Maybe this is a way to force people into HDB flats

Protecting Families from Violence: The Singapore Experience - " According to the profile of PPO applicants in 2006 (Subordinate Courts, 2006), Chinese formed the largest group of PPO applicants (51%), followed by Indians (24%), Malays (20%) and other races (5%)... The Subordinate Courts conducted a study on the profile of family violence cases between 2003 and 20042. The findings showed that 82% of all complainants were female. The study also showed that family violence cuts across educational and occupational backgrounds. However, it was noteworthy that 71% of complainants and 65% of respondents were earning less than $1500 a month"

Sinda concerned over family violence in Indian community - "About one in five reported abuse cases and personal protection order applications are made against Indians, said organisations approached. This outweighs their 9.1 per cent representation in the Singapore population... Said Mr R. Ganesan, a trained counsellor engaged by Sinda for its roadshows: "There is a sub-culture among Indians. We accept violence as part of daily life and physical abuse as a form of punishment." Ms Devi (not her real name), 45, whose husband beat her daily for 20 years, agreed. "This (violence) has been going on since my mother's time. This is what we grew up seeing," she said... Anecdotal evidence suggests that Indians may be more predisposed to domestic violence due to their drinking habit, she said. Sinda has found that alcohol abuse increases the odds of a man lashing out at his family."

Behind The Mcdonald's Menu Lies The Skill Of A Master Chef - "The Queen of England, the King of Belgium, Cary Grant and Sophia Loren have savored Chef Rene Arend's creations. But the accomplishment he is proudest of is a treat prepared for the fans of Ronald McDonald The soft-spoken chef who rules the kitchen behind the Golden Arches explained, "Those meals were once-in-a-lifetime dinners long since forgotten. But Chicken McNuggets will go on long after I am gone.""