Links - 6th March 2018 (3)

"In Italy there are two types of fascists: fascists and anti-fascists." - Ennio Flaiano

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Karen Gillan Reveals Whether She Shaved Her Whole Head For Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 - "In the original, she had to completely shave her head for the role of Nebula, Gamora's sister. The good news for Gillan is that for the sequel the team has discovered a way to lessen the impact on her locks... “I shaved half of my head this time, but they took away the butt — like, the underneath-half of my hair, and then left the top part. That was the best gift ever”"

The Study That Said Female Doctors Are Better Than Male Doctors - "maybe hospitals that are more likely to recruit and retain female doctors have other characteristics that lead to better care, such as more resources, better-trained staff, more enlightened leadership and less hostile environments"
Maybe more women drop out of medicine, so those who remain are better

EU censors own film on Afghan women prisoners - "The European Union has blocked the release of a documentary on Afghan women who are in jail for so-called "moral crimes"... Half of Afghanistan's women prisoners are inmates for "zina" or moral crimes... Some of the women convicted of "zina" are guilty of nothing more than running away from forced marriages or violent husbands... "You hear the story again and again of women going to the police and asking for help and ending up in prison instead"... "It's very important that people understand that there are these horrific stories that are happening now - 10 years after the fall of the Taliban government, 10 years after what was supposed to be a new dawn for Afghan women.""
This suggests that it's not just the Taliban that were bad for Afghan women but a deeper factor

Muslim Council ends Holocaust memorial day boycott - "Britain's largest Muslim body has voted to end its boycott of Holocaust memorial day, the Guardian has learned. The Muslim Council of Britain voted this weekend to end its six-year protest, which had angered the government and Jewish groups... Those supporting the boycott believe the memorial day is too narrowly focused on Jewish suffering and ignores recent genocides such as that in Rwanda and of Muslims in Srebrenica"

Yep, Now Even 'No-Shave November' Is Under Attack - "Feminists, the reason why we can’t have nice things. Whenever we get a good thing going, be it Bear Grylls’ show ‘The Island’ or No-Shave November, SJWs have to swoop in to save us from our own misogyny... The tradition had a good run, but now, suddenly, No-Shave November (also known as Movember) is apparently problematic. Social-justice warriors worldwide have rushed to point out how the month-long event, regardless of its good intentions, is too gendered. In a nearly unintelligible run-on sentence published by Sydney’s Daily Telegraph this month, one critic wrote: “It’s disappointing that what could’ve served as a much-needed dialogue about the many ways in which men, trans men included, can express their masculinity without resorting to chauvinist caricatures is in danger of devolving into at best a pissing contest between bros about who can grow the most facial hair to prove their manliness and at worst an implicit endorsement of 1950s-style gender norms, complete with transphobia.”"

Coin stash that puts new spin on China’s 100 years of humiliation - "The devaluation of China’s currency through the course of the 19th century is a known cause of the weakness that led to dynastic collapse and the cession of Hong Kong to the British. However, before Burger, the mechanics behind the devaluation were unclear. The old cliché, that the British trade in opium depleted the Qing treasury of silver, leading to its downfall, is not true, Burger says. It was instead mismanagement of the monetary system, with roots long before the mid-19th century... Burger was 13 when a teacher took him to a visiting exhibition of Chinese paintings. Frustrated that “nobody could read the bloody text”, he decided to study China. “The more I knew, the more interesting it became, and the more excited I was,” he says. “I wanted to study Chinese and I wanted to marry a Chinese woman”... “It was the largest disaster of the Qing dynasty,” Burger says. “All because they didn’t take care of the money. The officials had only studied the Confucian classics and had no idea about money... “What one can learn from how the Qing dynasty ran its show is that, although they were good book keepers – much better than the British or the Germans – they did a lousy job of making a system of their economy. The Europeans very soon had Adam Smith and, by writing down the theory and challenging it, slowly they had the economy in their grip. The Chinese never did. They had no theory.”"

NYPD monitored jihad murderer Saipov’s mosque until Linda Sarsour convinced them to stop - "Back in 2014 the New York Police Department dropped a program that monitored potential suspects of Islamic extremism... the Demographics Unit would no longer exist. They didn’t make this decision on their own. They were pressed into the move by a feminist Sharia Law advocate & liberal activist named Linda Sarour [sic]. You might remember Linda from the Women’s March in DC earlier this year. She’s part of the Arab American Association of New York. She also called for a Jihad against President Trump [her words, not mine]. And she really dislikes Israel [the only Jewish state on Earth]... Fast-forward to October 31, 2017. That’s when New York City terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov allegedly rented a truck from Home Depot and used it to kill 8 people and injure 11 as he mowed down pedestrians... The Omar Mosque in Paterson, N.J., located near the suspect’s home, is one of the many mosques in the New York metro area that was previously being studied by the NYPD. The location was believed by investigators to be a possible destination for, “budding terrorist conspiracies.” And it turns out those investigators were right. In fact, the mosque was being monitored by the NYPD going back as far as at least 2006. They knew about this place and the possibility that it might be the hang out destination for a potentially lethal terror suspect. Detectives believed someone at this mosque was capable of infiltrating a terror attack [and they were right]."

Mark Latham criticises lack of English speakers in Sydney - "Political commentator Mark Latham has slammed multiculturalism in Australia as a 'disgrace' claiming it isn't working because so many people can't speak English. The former Labor leader travelled to the diverse suburb on Fairfield in Sydney's south-west this week, to determine whether Australia's multicultural communities were integrating. 'What I want to find out is, have we got general multiculturalism in Australia, or just ethnic enclaves?'... Mr Latham shows various people telling him they can't speak to him because they didn't speak English."

How to End Screen Time Without A Struggle - "Whenever you decide that screen-time should come to an end, take a moment to sit down next to your child and enter his world. Watch TV with him, or sit with him while he plays his game massacring aliens on the screen. This doesn’t have to be long, half a minute is enough. Just share his experience. Then, ask him a question about it."

Amazon And Ebay Opened Pandora's Box Of Chinese Counterfeits And Now Don't Know What To Do - "the team behind the Blooming Bath discovered that the source of many of the counterfeits was China and Hong Kong — the origin of 60% of the world’s knock-offs, according to the OECD... The versatility of grassroots Chinese manufacturing is something that is truly awesome. I’ve been in relatively small, "mom and pop" Shenzhen factories which made everything from cooling fans to wires for speakers to sex toys all in the same place. What they make on any given day is often a crap shoot — the workers come in, are handed photocopied instructions of whatever it is they will be making, and then they go and make it... The real problems arise when shanzhai goes global. When manufacturers who don’t need to abide by IP laws, labor regulations, or safety standards are given a platform to sell toe-to-toe against the original producers of the products they rip off -- when they can compete directly against original producers who need to pay for research and development, patents, trademarks, workman’s comp, health and safety tests, etc. In this scenario, there is often no competition on price points: shanzhai wins. And as Chinese counterfeiters often use the exact same photos and descriptions or even list on the same page as the original product, it is often impossible for the end consumer to tell the difference between a real and a fake before buying (and sometimes even after they never know)... E-commerce platforms like Amazon have opened up Pandora's box by actively encouraging Chinese manufacturers to enter their marketplace, and now seem to have little idea how to close it."

Brexit Latest: Students SHAMED for being ‘PROUD’ Brexiteers - "Undergraduates admitted they have suffered abuse on university campuses. One student said that she finished a lecture and heard someone say “I just wanted to punch that Brexit b***h in the face”"

CosmopoTamian Ali's answer to What are the best activities to do with children when visiting Baghdad, Iraq? - Quora - "Best activity you do there is to immediately buy a return ticket and go back wherever you came from, without reconsidering it even once... It’s a hell hole and has no natural beauty and almost nothing interesting at all, at least relative to any sub par destination any budget traveler might ever think of."

FLASHBACK: Harvey Weinstein Joins The Women's March At Sundance - "Trump had been accused of sexual impropriety, and that the nation had elected a man who once referred to "grabbing" women "by the pussy."... it is interesting to note how readily women's rights activists embraced Weinstein, even though rumors of his bizarre and sexually aggressive behavior have persisted for decades — and how willing some organizations, like Planned Parenthood, were willing to ignore those same rumors so long as Weinstein's checks kept clearing... as Ronan Farrow was seeking out Weinstein victims and pitching his investigation to NBC News, Weinstein dropped $100,000 at a Planned Parenthood gala in honor of the abortion promoter's 100th anniversary. As a reward, he got to sit next to another champion for women's rights, who also ignored the sexual abuse allegations until the absolute last minute: Hillary Clinton."
Ahh, male feminists. The lady doth protest too much, methinks

How NBC ‘Killed’ Ronan Farrow’s Weinstein Exposé

Ex-NYT Reporter Claims Damon Helped Kill a Weinstein Story

Rose McGowan Condemns Ben Affleck's Denial About Weinstein: 'You Lie' - "Actress Rose McGowan, who people might remember as Tatum in Scream, blasted actor Ben Affleck for claiming ignorance regarding movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual harassment and rape of women in the film industry. According to McGowan, who also accused Weinstein of sexual harassment before settling a lawsuit against him back in the late-90s, said Ben Affleck knew all about Weinstein's behavior despite his statement to the contrary."

Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck Know How Important Feminism Is, Thanks to Their Two Little Girls - "What's so exciting about their approach is that they're parents who are making feminism a meaningful part of how their children grow up"

Ben Affleck's reportedly sexist attitude may have ruined his marriage - "A source close to the couple revealed that Affleck's attitude toward gender roles in marriage veered so far into the "traditional" category that they could be deemed sexist — and that could help explain why Garner's once red-hot career slowed down considerably when the couple started having children."

Ben Affleck apologises for 'groping' MTV host Hilarie Burton - "Affleck made his apology a day after posting a message giving his views on Hollywood producer Weinstein's alleged sexual harassment and assaults. "I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," he said. "The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick. "This is completely unacceptable, and I find myself asking what I can do to make sure this doesn't happen to others. We need to do better at protecting our sisters, friends, co-workers and daughters. "We must support those who come forward, condemn this type of behaviour when we see it and help ensure there are more women in positions of power.""

Dear Hollywood: Your Reaction to Weinstein Proves You’re Disgusting, Amoral Hypocrites… - "you titans of morality did not rush to your iPhones to peck out virtue signaling screeds. Jimmy Kimmel hasn’t shed a solitary tear. Meryl Streep says she “had no idea” the man she called a “god” had ever taken advantage of his power as a studio behemoth to act as a real life Jabba the Hutt. Jennifer Lawerence and Emma Watson? As of this posting, have said absolutely nothing."

Jane Fonda: I Knew Harvey Weinstein Was Awful And Said Nothing - "Fortunately, Fonda cleared her name later in the interview by saying she is actively "resisting" Donald Trump, so clearly she's doing her part to oppose male hegemony, and need not be called on to take any responsibility for Hollywood's pile of filth."

Flashback Video: Barbara Walters Scolds Corey Feldman For Calling Out Hollywood Pedophilia - "What he is saying, or at least trying to explain, to Barbara Walters is that he and his best friend Corey Haim, another famous '80s child star, were both sexually abused by powerful men in Hollywood. Feldman believes that the abuse was a factor in Haim's drug addiction and untimely death in 2010... After Feldman advises parents who want to put their children in show business to not go into it with naivety, Walters, with clear disdain in her voice, cuts him off by saying, "You're damaging an entire industry!""

Miramax Insider's Scathing Facebook Post To Hollywood Elite Goes Viral - "Producer and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg, famous for penning the Nicolas Cage action hits Con Air and Gone In Sixty Seconds, as well as critical successes such as High Fidelity and Beautiful Girls, aired out his guilt and grievances with how Hollywood's elite are spewing "sanctimonious denial and condemnation" with regard to Harvey Wienstein and his criminally predatory ways. In his Facebook post, Rosenberg says repeatedly that "everybody f-ing knew" what Weinstein was doing to these women but nobody wanted to take a stand because Harvey was their "Golden Goose.""

Let’s Not Start A Witch Hunt Over Harvey Weinstein - "It started with a leap from indicting Weinstein to a general indictment of all men... People were rightly dismayed when Tablet magazine ran an essay suggesting there was something “specifically Jewy” about Weinstein’s “perviness” (the author later posted a brief apology). Yet there was no such condemnation of sweeping claims about men and male predation. Indeed, one critique of the Tablet piece argued that it scapegoated Jews “to let men in general off the hook.” One could argue that such statements are meant to apply only to men who behave badly. Not for Slate columnist Christina Cauterucci, who asserted on Twitter that “v[ery] few [are] totally innocent” since “harassment exists on a spectrum” — presumably, from rape to dirty jokes... while Weinstein did sexually harass and assault only women, his behavior toward men was also atrocious. Do they, too, have the privilege necessary to be condemned across the board?... Many of the people he mistreated and abused — though not sexually — were men. And some of those complicit in his abuses were women... Ironically, as one Twitter user pointed out, actress Rose McGowan, who says she was raped by Weinstein and has denounced his enablers, spoke warmly a few years ago of film director Victor Salva, a child molester convicted of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy actor in 1988... Paradoxically, at the same time, modern feminism promotes assertive female sexuality; its icons are women like Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer, who display their bodies and discuss their sex lives in the raunchiest of terms. Yet men can be vilified if their response crosses a subjective and shifting line... McCarthyism was not a good response to the real problem of communist espionage and infiltration. Sexual McCarthyism — to use a phrase coined by attorney Alan Dershowitz in the 1990s — is not a good response to the real problem of sexual predators."

Naked Slavic Women Take To Russian Streets In Support Of Harvey Weinstein - "One likely reason the women participating in this campaign aren’t choosing to be overly sympathetic to Harvey’s alleged “victims” is that modern Russian culture doesn’t really view these women as victims in the first place. As more and more information confirms that Harvey’s actions were a well-known occurrence behind the scenes in Hollywood. It’s obvious that any woman who got involved with the man likely knew on some level what to expect, and the likely price to be paid in return for him helping launch their careers. To the average Russian woman, these famous rich celebrity “victims” are just spoiled Western brats. Girls who used their bodies to get money or fame and now are complaining about the price they once chose to pay for it... no one is really accusing Harvey of assault. Instead just that he allegedly used his power and influence to encourage sexual favors... isn’t the Russian attitude towards Harvey, actually the stronger Feminist stance? As it holds women accountable for their own actions, as independent equal adults. As powerful women responsible for their own choices, and not some lesser creature so easily manipulated by a man"

Sweden's Sexual Assault Crisis Presents a Feminist Paradox - "while Swedish women rank among the most equal in the world, they increasingly fear for their physical safety on the streets. Reported sex crimes increased by 61 percent between 2007 and 2016. Meanwhile a rise in gang violence among men–the number of victims injured by gunshots increased by 50 percent between 2004 and 2016–indirectly affects the safety of women. Police admit that rape cases are piling up without being investigated because resources are being drained by gang violence and shootings... For more than a decade, the prevailing perception in Sweden has been that rapes and other sex crimes have not become more frequent in spite of data that suggest the contrary. Instead, rising numbers of reported rapes have been dismissed as an effect of a broadened legal definition in 2005 and 2013, and an increased propensity among women to report crimes. Paradoxically, growing rape numbers have thus been used as proof of Swedish gender equality. There are, however, reasons to think that there may indeed be a real increase in sex crime. While precise numbers are hard to come by, surveys of victims indicate that the share of women in Sweden stating that they have been victims of sex crime has grown rapidly... Previous studies (by now more than a decade old) have shown a large overrepresentation of immigrants, particularly from patriarchal societies in the Middle East and North Africa, among the suspects of sex crimes in Sweden... In total, 53 percent of rape suspects were either first or second generation immigrants... the exact link between sex crimes and immigration is not known, since the Swedish government will not update its statistics, and the data, which are still being collected, have not been made available to the public... What we do know from a recent police report is that there is a significant overrepresentation of immigrants when it comes to a growing phenomenon of group harassment of women in public spaces, such as music festivals and public swimming pools... While certain types of crime, such as manslaughter and car theft, have declined over time, recent studies show that Sweden has four to five times as many fatal gun crimes as Norway and Germany. Between 2014 and 2016, police authorities handled more than 100 cases involving hand grenades, an astonishing figure that makes Sweden stand out among countries not at war."

Unintended Consequences of Sexual Harassment Scandals - The New York Times - "building genuine relationships with senior people is perhaps the most important contributor to career advancement. In some offices it’s known as having a rabbi; researchers call it sponsorship. Unlike mentors, who give advice and are often formally assigned, sponsors know and respect people enough that they are willing to find opportunities for them, and advocate and fight for them. But women are less likely to build such relationships, in part because both senior men and junior women worry that a relationship will be misread by others... men have begun avoiding solo interactions with women altogether... Nearly two-thirds of men and women say people should take extra caution around members of the opposite sex at work, and about a quarter think private work meetings with colleagues of the opposite sex are inappropriate... The effect on women’s careers is quantifiable"