Links - 4th June 2018 (3)

Students Hate Quotes from Trump's State of the Union, Until Realizing They Are Obama's - "Campus Reform’s Cabot Phillips spoke to students outside John Jay College in New York City, who unanimously criticized the supposed Trump quotes, describing them as “warmongering,” “aggressive,” and “immature.” The quotes, taken from some of Obama’s State of the Union addresses, included threats to destroy the Islamic State, statements of America’s military strength, and attacking China’s economic policy."

what therapy gifts - "I wasn’t aware of the healing/enriching qualities of having a relationship with someone who’s able to listen to us fully without judging, trivialising, or fixing. How often do we have that in reality? How often do people try to tell us we should feel a different way or we shouldn’t be having certain feelings? Maybe you would think, that’s what close friends or family can do, to support us unconditionally. But close friends and family come with their own worldviews and biases, sometimes even more so because they think they know you intimately, so without even properly listening and understanding they are already assuming they know what you’re actually trying to express. We need someone who doesn’t have an investment in the outcome of the dialogue. Imagine trying to tell your loved ones you wake up everyday feeling like you want to end your life or that you want to quit your job when their quality of life depends on you not quitting? On top of that, people carry their own baggage so they will try to understand us from that vantage point without giving enough consideration that we are different people with different needs and aspirations... Sometimes we don’t actually want someone to make us better. Sometimes we just need someone to truly listen and try to understand. Sometimes we just need a space to hurt, for as long as we need, without advice telling us to exercise more or think more positively or go for vipassanas"
Plus when you pay someone, you don't need to ever see him again

Yarra City Council tells staff to stop referring to Australia Day - "Yarra City Council has taken another step towards no longer recognising Australia Day by asking staff to stop using the term while at work... Employees were directed to refer to the day as the "January 26 public holiday" when at work and speaking to the public. The missive follows the council's unanimous vote in August last year to no longer mark Australia Day on January 26 and support the movement to change the date... Other inner-north councils Moreland and Darebin have also decided to stop celebrating Australia Day on January 26."
And this coming from part of the government

the rogue feminist — toenail-fister: drejofvalenwood: ... - "batched: I do not care about your gender, sexuality or skin colour.
I only care about whether you’re a nice fucking human being or not.
theroguefeminist: so basically you’re racist, sexist and homophobic"
Modern liberals in a nutshell

Swedish Politician Who Fought for Equality and Open Borders Is Beheaded in Congo - "Zaida Catalan was a Swedish Green Party politician who believed in open borders. Zaida was pro-immigration and supported migrant rights. She was the former leader of the Young Greens of Sweden."

'They ask if it’s my business’: Meet the Caucasian who works in a heartland provision shop - "American artists would struggle with the culture shock of living and working in a place like Singapore. It didn’t take long for Peter to experience the shock for himself. “Here in Singapore, clients would spend six months debating how much to pay, and as soon as they agree to the cost, they want the thing tomorrow,” he said. “My boss was constantly on my back, asking me to work faster and more efficiently.”... He described mee rebus as ingredients “floating around in this dark gravy”, while the smell of shrimp sauce in rojak “made me want to vomit”."

Association of Exposure to High Rates of Obesity With Overweight and Obesity - "Using data from military service members assigned to installations around the country, this study found that exposure to counties with higher rates of obesity (relative to counties with lower obesity rates) was associated with higher mean BMI and greater odds of obesity in parents and higher BMI z scores and greater odds of overweight/obesity in children. Associations were stronger among families who had resided longer in a given location and with off-installation residence; no evidence supported self-selection or shared built environment as explanations for these results... which suggests the presence of social contagion in obesity."

World Hijab Day versus Wear A Kimono Day « Why Evolution Is True - "Yesterday was World Hijab Day, a recent holiday confected to celebrate (and justify) the Muslim symbol of oppression... women throughout the West gleefully put on the hijab, hoping to have some kind of Muslim experience... That brought to mind the incident in 2016 when women in Boston were invited to try on a kimono in front of a Manet painting at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, just to see what wearing one felt like, as well as to match the painting. That brought down the wrath of Leftist youth, who decried this as blatant cultural appropriation. And it eventually led to the Museum’s cancelling of Kimono Wednesdays.. Why is hijab-wearing not only okay, but positively wonderful, while kimono-wearing is a no-no?... Remember, too, that the most demonized religion in America, at least judging by the rate of hate crimes experienced by its adherents, is Judaism. There are twice as many hate crimes for each Jewish person as there are for every Muslim. Should we then have World Yarmulke Day to decry anti-Semitism, asking all men to put on a beanie?"

Alishba Zarmeen on the Hijab - “What I feel about the ‘hijab-is-identity-and-liberation’ apologists is the same thing I feel about Confederate flag supporters: Yes, free speech protects your right to sport one–but do not forget the fucking history and traditional use of that symbol.”

Recycling on the brink of collapse in Victoria as China ban bites - "The recycling industry has been warning for some time that a decision by China – our largest export destination for recycling – to ban waste imports would have a catastrophic impact on the sector, possibly making it unviable... Mr Moles said if waste had nowhere to go, there was a chance councils would be forced to explore putting recycling into landfill, but Moyne Shire was doing everything it could to avoid that possibility because it was “environmentally and socially” wrong."
How sustainable are "sustainability" initiatives without subsidies of some sort?

Inside Edina's attempt to turn their school into a social justice factory - "Academic rigor is unraveling, high school reading and math test scores are sliding, and students increasingly fear bullying and persecution. The shift began in 2013, when Edina school leaders adopted the “All for All” strategic plan—a sweeping initiative that reordered the district’s mission from academic excellence for all students to “racial equity.” “Equity” in this context does not mean “equality” or “fairness.” It means racial identity politics—an ideology that blames minority students’ academic challenges on institutional racial bias, repudiates Martin Luther King, Jr.’s color-blind ideal, and focuses on uprooting “white privilege.” The Edina school district’s All for All plan mandated that henceforth “all teaching and learning experiences” would be viewed through the “lens of racial equity,” and that only “racially conscious” teachers and administrators should be hired. District leaders assured parents this would reduce Edina’s racial achievement gap, which they attributed to “barriers rooted in racial constructs and cultural misunderstandings.” As a result, the school system’s obsession with “white privilege” now begins in kindergarten... A course description of an 11th-grade U.S. Literature and Composition course puts it this way: “By the end of the year, you will have . . . learned how to apply marxist [sic], feminist, post-colonial [and] psychoanalytical . . .lenses to literature.” The primary vehicle in the indoctrination effort is a year-long English course—required of all 10th-graders—that centers, not on reading literature and enhancing writing skills, but on the politicized themes of “Colonization,” “Immigration” and “Social Constructions of Race, Class and Gender.”... Flores, who fled a Marxist regime in Nicaragua as a child, had this to say: “Years ago, we fled Communism to escape indoctrination, absolutist thinking and restrictions on our freedom of speech. If we see these traits in our schools in America, we must speak out and oppose it.”... The result of all of this? Four years into the Edina schools’ equity crusade, black students’ test scores continue to disappoint. There’s been a single positive point of data: Black students’ reading scores—all ages, all grades—have slightly increased, from 45.5 percent proficiency in 2014 to 46.4 percent proficiency in 2017. But other than that, the news is all bad"
SJW logic: that things aren't improving shows how bad racism, sexism etc, so more progressive indoctrination is needed

There is now a K in LGBTQQICAPF2K+ - "Users were quick to dismiss Kink as part of the LGBT+ community... “I’m gay, and I do not and will not use this silly LGBTQLAPK sh*t. They keep adding a silly letter for inclusion. You are just labelling yourselves, and that is a silly thing to do.”"

Teachers federation conducts 'LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP' training - "The acronym stands for Lesbian, Gay, Genderqueer, Bisexual, Demisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Twospirit, Intersex, Queer, Questioning, Asexual, Allies, Pansexual and Polyamorous."

10 Racist, Sexist, Xenophobic, And Homophobic Countries Ignored By The Left - "1. Jamaica (Homophobia)
2. Liberia (Racism)
3. Japan (Xenophobia)
4. China (Racism & Xenophobia)
5. Bhutan (Xenophobia)
Foreign visitation to the Kingdom of Bhutan (population 775,000) is extremely regulated under the seemingly Orwellian decree of “High Value, Low Impact” tourism, which is intended to minimize it’s impact on the country’s unique society and environment. One of those regulations is an exorbitant fee just to be in the country, at anywhere between $200-250 U.S. dollars per day depending on the season...
6. Laos (Sexism & Xenophobia)
The relatively quiet and uneventful country of Laos stipulates that foreigners may not have any sexual relations with Laotian women unless they are married...
7. Malaysia (Racism)
8. India (Racism)
Over 40% of Indians would be reluctant to have neighbors who are of a different race, while it was less than 4% in the United States by comparison....
9. Mauritania (Slavery!)
An estimated 10% to 20% of the population lives in slavery...
10. Saudi Arabia (Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Terrorism)"

Racial diversity lacking in some sports here - "Of the 23 Lions called up for Singapore’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup Group E qualifier against Taiwan in June, 18 were Malay. The rest: one Chinese, two Indians, and two Caucasians, who are naturalised citizens. The SEA Games-bound national table tennis teams are made up entirely of Chinese players. It is almost likewise in the national basketball and badminton squads. The national men’s cricket team, on the other hand, consists mostly of Indian players, although the women’s team has a fair mix of players of various races... Mr Khairul said football’s lack of racial diversity can also be caused by coaches who tend to favour Malays because of their own pre-conceived notions and assumptions."

Bangladesh frets about population boom in Rohingya camps - "It is our religious duty to have children. Using medicines to prevent childbirth is a sin. I don't think my family will use this stuff"

60 Subway branches in Singapore have stopped selling pork - "Reactions to the news have been mixed, with some customers bemoaning the loss and threatening to "boycott Subway", while others hoped that they'll still be able to get the regular menu in Singapore."
Curiously the reaction seems stronger than I expected, despite most fast food being Halal. Or maybe because of it

Scientific American - Posts - ""We cannot stand by while Bill Nye uses his public persona as a science entertainer to support an administration that is expressly xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, racist, ableist, and anti-science." — 500 Women Scientists"
Comments: "This is why Progressives lose. We will never change things by wagging our fingers from without. Nye is clearly using his position and fame as a means to affect the system from within. How one could honestly believe he is supporting the Trump administration is absolutely unfathomable."
"The left demands absolute purity in their candidates or they withhold their vote in tantrum."
"Oh give me a freaking break. You're going to disavow him because he's attending a state of the union address? That really makes us (liberals) sound insane."
"I'm thinking of not following Scientific American after this crap opinion piece. I'm a woman and a scientist and I see the value in bringing a knowledge base to those who remain ignorant."
"I am a woman scientist & these 500 women scientists do not speak for me, this is the dumbest article I’ve read this week."
"If everyone who hates this guy refuses to do their jobs in protest, we won't have a functioning country."
"By the writers logic, the dreamers accompanying Democratic leaders are anti-immigration."
"The blog is a textbook case of cynicism and ultimately suggests a point of view as repressive as that of the administration."

Paris Muslim accused of killing Jewish woman no longer charged with hate crime - "In the Halimi case, Traore was heard shouting about Allah and calling her “a devil” in Arabic. Halimi’s daughter said he had called the daughter a “dirty Jewess” in the building two years before the murder. But the examining magistrate in Traore’s trial, which opened this week, dismissed the aggravated hate crime charge before the trial actually began, Le Parisien reported Wednesday. Traore is pleading temporary insanity, though he has no history of mental illness."

German shock at car exhaust tests on humans and monkeys
If you ban animal testing, only humans are left

Exclusive: FBI Confirms Jihadi Training Camps in America

St Patrick's Day crackdown: Irish flag banned at parade in Strabane - "THE IRISH tricolour has been banned from a St Patrick’s Day parade in case it offends people attending the event in a crackdown on flags at the annual celebration"

Engineer spent three months in jail on false rape claim - "A teenager suspected of rape spent three months in custody because police did not disclose text messages that proved his innocence, he has claimed. BT engineer Connor Fitzgerald, 19, was arrested last year after a complaint was made against him. But charges were dropped only last week when it emerged that the complainant, who is entitled to lifelong anonymity, had sent texts threatening to destroy him... The case is the latest in a string of investigations or trials that have collapsed after police failed to disclose vital evidence to defence lawyers"
What happens when you have a feminist legal system (and it's not just the CPS)

I’m Sikh and I can’t eat halal - "the religion’s code of conduct says Sikhs are strictly prohibited from eating meat killed in a ritualistic manner... Sikhs are supposed to eat meat that has been killed quickly, without causing suffering to the animal. A Sikh woman from Bournemouth who wanted to remain anonymous had a strong view: “It’s strange that some Subway stores have actually banned ham and bacon. That’s something I don’t understand because people have a choice not to buy it so it won’t affect them if stores are selling it. Sikh people aren’t supposed to eat beef, but it would never be banned from a shop and I wouldn’t want it to be.”
Aka Jhatka

How Dirt Could Save Us From Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs - "Since 1939, when René Dubos, a researcher at Rockefeller University, smeared dirt across a Petri plate and isolated the antibiotic gramicidin, the search for antibiotics has largely been culture dependent: It’s limited to the finite percentage of bacteria and fungi that grow in the laboratory. If the chance of finding a new antibiotic in a random soil screen was once one in 20,000, by some estimates the odds have dwindled to less than one in a billion. All the easy ones have already been found."