Links - 18th June 2017 (1)

Chechnya’s President Promises To Eradicate Gay Community Before Ramadan - "Chechnya’s President Ramzan Kadyrov promises to eliminate the gay community from the predominantly Muslim country by the start of Ramadan... PinkNews reports they have “spoken to the Foreign Office, who verified that President Kadyrov made the threat in local Russian language media, seen by the UK government.” Wow. Alarming reports of gay men being hunted down, rounded up, and put into concentration camps in Chechnya began to circulate earlier this month... the Chechen government’s official line is that the stories about the killing and torturing of gay men in secret concentration camps were false because there are no gay people in Chechnya, and if there were gay people in Chechnya, their families would kill them first... As Head of the Chechen Republic, Kadyrov has introduced Islamic rule in the Muslim-majority region, and has been accused of multiple human rights violations. The Guardian reports Kadyrov has endorsed polygamy, and compulsory wearing of the hijab for women in public places. In addition, in 2009 Kadyrov stated his approval of honor killings, based on the belief that women are the property of their husbands"
Of course the liberal reaction is to blame Putin despite Chechnya having an extremely high degree of autonomy and Russia not doing anything like this

Dem Candidate Attacks Critic for Mansplaining Who Turns Out to Be a Woman - "Among the critics was a Twitter user named Quincy Fleming. Wu responded in now-deleted tweets, which were saved by Pro Publica's tweet archiving website Politiwoops. "What's so impressive is the loud confidence of your statement while you are in no position to understand this," she shot back. "The line for men explaining things to me on Twitter is over there… Thanks for stopping by!"... Fleming reported soon afterwards that she had been blocked by Wu."
Adding to the irony, Brianna Wu is a transwoman

Clemson: Expecting People To Show Up On Time Is Racist - "The “inclusive” thing for Alejandro to do, the taxpayer-funded diversity materials instruct Clemson professors, is to “recognize cultural differences that may impact the meeting and adjust accordingly.” Alejandro must understand “that his cultural perspective regarding time is neither more nor less valid than any other”... Clemson University is most famous, of course, because school officials swiftly apologized in for serving Mexican food during a food-themed “Maximum Mexican” night in campus cafeterias in 2015"

Half of UK graduates do not work in their field of study, survey reveals - "Only half of all UK graduates are working in a field that relates to their degree after leaving university, according to new research published today. In addition, 96 per cent say they had switched careers by the time they reached the age of 24."

Majority of STEM College Graduates Do Not Work in STEM Occupations - "The U.S. Census Bureau reported today that 74 percent of those who have a bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering and math — commonly referred to as STEM — are not employed in STEM occupations"
Plus just because you work in STEM doesn't mean you majored in the same thing you're working in

Male attractiveness: Abs-olutely fabulous | The Economist - "Women’s expectations of the opposite sex are at least as unrealistic as men’s... even the tallest, broadest-shouldered and best-endowed digital hunks that the researchers generated fell short of perfection. “The optimum values appear to lie outside the tested range,” they note, adding that the “maxima are more than two standard deviations from the population mean for each trait.” That means that, for each trait, fewer than 2.5% of the men whom women encounter in the real world will be as generously proportioned as they might hope. Men with perfect scores in all three traits will be rarer than hen’s teeth"

Lunch with Hassan Rouhani cancelled after Francois Hollande refuses halal request - "A second meal between the French and Iranian presidents in Paris has been canceled after France refused to remove wine from the menu... A breakfast was suggested instead, but Mr. Rouhani reportedly snubbed the meal for being “too cheap.”... Mr. Rouhani this week also visited Rome, where officials were much more accommodating to Iranian customs by removing alcohol from the menu for state dinners and covering up nude statues"

Here’s why you need to stop washing your dishes by hand - "modern dishwashers are now officially faster, more hygienic and way better for the environment that we’ll ever be"

I made my son cannabis cookies. They changed his life. - The Washington Post - "“Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects,” a Drug Enforcement Administration administrative judge wrote in 1988. “But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.”"

Trump’s election stole my desire to look for a partner - The Washington Post - "I’ve lost the desire to attempt the courtship phase. The future is uncertain. I am not the optimistic person I was on the morning of Nov. 8, wearing a T-shirt with “Nasty Woman” written inside a red heart. It makes me want to cry thinking of that. Of seeing my oldest in the shirt I bought her in Washington, D.C., that says “Future President.” There is no room for dating in this place of grief. Dating means hope. I’ve lost that hope in seeing the words “President-elect Trump.”
Maybe that's why she couldn't find one

Trump got more votes from people of color than Romney did. Here’s the data. - The Washington Post - "we should also remember that Clinton also failed to win the majority of white women"
Maybe Trump is so powerful he makes minorities racist

2 teenage girls in Morocco could face up to 3 years in prison for kissing each other - The Washington Post - "In July of last year, two women were arrested in Morocco on charges of “gross indecency” for wearing skirts after a market trader called out their clothing, the BBC reported. An article in the penal code says that anyone found guilty of “public obscenity” can face up to two years in jail. On April 1, Morocco’s Ministry of Justice unveiled a new proposed penal code that would supplement numerous provisions already criminalizing extramarital relations, homosexuality and the public consumption of alcohol."

Charles Krauthammer - Charles Krauthammer on the White House vs. Fox News - "The White House has declared war on Fox News. White House communications director Anita Dunn said that Fox is "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Patting rival networks on the head for their authenticity (read: docility), senior adviser David Axelrod declared Fox "not really a news station." And Chief of Staff Emanuel told (warned?) the other networks not to "be led [by] and following Fox."... While government can and should debate and criticize opposition voices, the current White House goes beyond that. It wants to delegitimize any significant dissent. The objective is no secret. White House aides openly told Politico that they're engaged in a deliberate campaign to marginalize and ostracize recalcitrants, from Fox to health insurers to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce"
The war on the media was started by... Thanks Obama

Faith McGregor’s rights complaint against Omar Mahrouk resolved - "Months after a Toronto woman filed a human rights complaint against a Muslim barber who would not give her a haircut, the issue has been quietly resolved... Faith McGregor and barbershop owner Omar Mahrouk came to an “arrangement” that satisfied them both, thus putting the controversial complaint to rest... public opinion split into two camps — one that felt Mr. Mahrouk’s right of religion and right to deny service superseded Ms. McGregor’s right to service without discrimination, and one that felt the opposite."

Obama once referred to a ‘Polish death camp.’ In Poland, that could soon be punishable by 3 years in prison. - The Washington Post - "historians are worried that the party might attempt to make it more difficult to discuss the culpability of at least some Poles in Nazi crimes"

This is the group that’s surprisingly prone to violent extremism - The Washington Post - "Significantly, Gambetta and Hertog find the opposite pattern among non-violent Islamic groups. In these groups, people with other degrees than engineering were over-represented. Gambetta and Hertog also examine non-Islamic terrorist organizations, where they find that left-wing terrorists are likely to be humanities graduates rather than engineers, except in movements in Turkey and Iran... They quote the famous right-wing economist Friedrich von Hayek, who argues that people with engineering training “react violently against the deficiencies of their education and develop a passion for imposing on society the order which they are unable to detect by the means with which they are familiar.”"

Why Turkey’s military wants to ban ‘Game of Thrones’ - The Washington Post - "the show was somehow an "insult to Turkishness."... It's a curious interpretation of "Game of Thrones," which takes place in an invented world that is a pastiche of historical periods and cultures. If WorldViews was to guess, the military censors were likely objecting to the depictions of the Dothrakhi, a fearsome group of horse-riding nomads who venture from their lands of steppe and tall grass to torment wealthy cities to the West."

China Hates Blind Loot Boxes, Rules They Should Be Itemized - "Some publishers are very upfront about these types of details, while other publishers leave it to dataminers to go through the code or actually run their own probability tests and publish them. While this is purely for China, it is possible that games that cross geopolitical borders could have the same information, especially when it comes to probability. Expect these publisher pages with loot drop information to be translated in several countires once the rule takes effect."

Italian Lady’s Advice: Relax About Carbs Already - "Italians are so traditional. If we put out a chocolate ravioli in Italy, people would say, “Are you crazy? It’s not Carnival!” In New York, we have the freedom to be creative. Like, we do a curry pappardelle here, which would never exist in Italy. It’s all about sharing ideas, sharing cultures, sharing food. And by the way, God doesn’t say pasta must be al dente, it’s just Italians who say pasta should be al dente... Italian women use the food as a tool to pull together the family. In New York, food is secondary to life, work, and the demands of the city. Food is just food. Italian women still think it’s more. It’s not Italian, but the movie Like Water for Chocolate explains the Italian woman. We know in our hearts that a table is not made just to eat, it’s made to [keep people] together."

Funnel-fed model’s dream is to become world’s fattest woman - "Meet the morbidly obese model who tips the scales at 700 pounds … and says she wants to become the fattest woman in the world. Monica Riley, 27, models on websites for “Big Beautiful Women,” and wants to keep on piling on the pounds – right up until she’s immobile. With the goal of becoming the world’s fattest woman, Monica gorges all day, scarfing food cooked by her devoted boyfriend, Sid Riley."

Soccer-Kenyan fan commits suicide after Man Utd's loss to Newcastle

I Didn't Unfriend You Over 'Politics' - "This is about humanity. Decency. Morality."
Comments: "do you believe it's ever possible for someone to change their mind, to grow or change as a person?... Aren't liberals supposed to believe that no one is beyond hope?... maybe it's something I will say or post that will start the ball rolling for them... I don't want to be in my own echo chamber"
"I haven't unfriended anyone because I'm an adult and can tolerate those who have opinions different from mine"
"I don't know a single right-winger who isn't a messed up human being."
"So abortion is moral, and decent? Destroying a life that if nature had it's way would most likely be born into a human child?"
""if they don’t inspire in you a pain and an anger so heartbreaking that it leaves you aching for your less-privileged neighbor"
This is so cartoonishly dramatic it's ridiculous."
"No one should end a friendship over those two. They're not worth it and you mean nothing to them. They'd throw you under the bus in a second if it meant they'd win your state. They don't deserve your loyalty. Your friends on the other hand, have been there for you and had more of a controlled impact on your life than some politician. In times like this all you have are your friends."
"If you have enough love and respect for someone to call them a friend, then you probably ought to have enough love and respect for them to accept their choices and not demand that they change to suit you. Truthfully, if someone is willing to sacrifice relationships because of different opinions, then I think the other person is better off for it... Having a different opinion is not a crime"
"your comment is patronizing and bigoted. It is not compassionate, it is self-righteous. Neither you nor like-minded people ever try to see things from others' points of view. It is always, "let me explain how wrong they are, how stupid they are, how beneath us they are." Those people you deride in fact have most of the same concerns as you and I and you would realize that if you troubled to really listen to them. "
"The first thing an abusive spouse does is try to isolate you from your friends. Why? So you lose perspective of reality and come to accept your existence as normal. Any demagogue would be thrilled at your decision to defriend one of their followers, lest you begin to sow the seeds of doubt in their mind... Rather than defriend, how many have actually *listened* to understand the underlying fears and values that drive the beliefs you find abhorrent?"

College’s husky dog logo promotes rape, says student - "The new logo for the University of Connecticut’s sports teams is a terrifying husky dog that calls to mind images of sexual assault, says one student"

Religious leader backs drive for cartoons for Muslim children - "One4Kids producer Subhi Alshaik told the BBC he enjoyed Peppa Pig but that "apparently there are messages in there that turn kids into brats"."

Poison Gas Pokémon Found In Holocaust Museum & Officials Are Real Mad - Pedestrian TV