Links - 12th January 2019

WALSH: Nobody Wants To Take Away Your Birth Control, Liberals. We Just Don't Want To Pay For It. - "Thanks, Birth Control Day. It was a day for people — mostly leftists — to take to social media and explain why birth control is so wonderful, so essential, so necessary to a fulfilled and happy life, and why it must never be banned. The media tells us that yesterday's festivities were especially important because the future of birth control is in doubt. President Trump may soon take our birth control away, which would be very bad because birth control is a "health necessity."... What is really interesting about the Left's breathless defense of birth control is that they are defending it against an imaginary threat. Nobody is talking about banning birth control. Nobody is trying to take it away. Nobody is attempting to impede anyone's ability to obtain birth control. The Left is screaming at the weirdest straw man ever constructed. We have been told for years that women are having trouble "accessing" contraception. But where are these women with access problems? Where do they live? The Mojave Desert? If they live anywhere in civilization, they are surely only a few miles away from contraception. You can buy it at gas stations, grocery stores, drug stores, Walmart, Target, etc. You can get it for free at many medical clinics. You can even have it delivered to your door. Birth control practically rains from the sky... The Left invented the concept of "reproductive rights" and lumped abortion and contraception together under that same umbrella. While they pretend to be offended by the suggestion that abortion is birth control, that is exactly the impression they wish to foster. Now whenever a Democratic politician screeches about the evil conservatives who want to infringe on "reproductive rights" and end "reproductive health care" for women, what they mean is that conservatives want to stop abortion doctors from killing babies. But what the oblivious Democratic voter hears is that conservatives want to steal their birth control. The idea has settled into the liberal mind that anyone who opposes abortion must therefore oppose birth control. A lot of people do oppose abortion, so, by this confused way of thinking, a lot of people must oppose birth control... When people insist that they have a "right" to "access" contraception, what they mean is that they have a right to be given contraception for free. The thing that impedes birth control access is the same thing that impedes access to any other product: you have to pay for it. This is not due to the designs of dastardly Republicans. It's just how the free market works"
Since being against illegal immigration is being against immigration, which is being against foreigners, which is xenophobic, it's no surprise being against 'free' birth control is the same as a ban on it
So much for the "War on Women"

The harsh realities behind the rising sugar cane prices in Singapore - "Singapore imports more than 99 per cent of its sugar cane from Malaysia, where the best areas for growing the plant are in the western states, such as Negeri Sembilan, Perlis, Kedah and Perak as well as in Muar, Johor. Sugar cane’s water requirements are higher than other arable crops, yet too much water can also create problems... Even if the weather takes a turn for the better, Singaporeans might still have to pay more to get their sugar cane fix in the near future. Many of Malaysia’s sugar cane farms are small family holdings, and that model of business may well become a thing of the past."

Is that a boy or girl? Parents whose sons have long hair OK if child mistaken for girl - "Long hair on boys became an issue recently when a pre-school teacher punished a six-year-old boy with longer-than-usual tresses. She reportedly made him stand in front of his class and put on a girl's hair clip. The episode sparked outrage among people who felt it was cruel to embarrass a child for his appearance and for its rigid gender stereotyping... At the international school where he used to teach, it was common for boys to sport long hair. Pre-schools here say they do not dictate how long a child's hair should be... "If the long hair interferes with the child's vision or learning, we would highlight this to parents and encourage them to trim their child's hair, but the final decision still rests with the parents."... some people assume her son is a girl and refer to him as such. Her main concern is whether such assumption would confuse Matthias about his gender. She says: "I would check with him now and then by asking him, 'Are you a girl or a boy?' So far, he has answered correctly every time."... "I always tell my son you cannot control what others do, but you can control what you do." He says Lloyd handles questions about his hair confidently. "When people ask him if he's a girl, he would tell them, 'No, I am a boy.' If they ask why he has long hair then, he would say, 'Because it looks cool.'" In fact, Lloyd has grown so attached to his hair that Mr Loh is worried he might resist cutting it before he enters primary school next year. He says: "We have started preparing him for it and he seems to understand that he has to do it because that's the rule in primary schools.""

South China's schools finally give green light to girls having long hair - "High school student Li Chuling brushes her long hair into a ponytail before she leaves for school every morning. It takes time, but she enjoys it. "Every girl likes to be well groomed," she said. Yet up until recently, the length of girls' hair was strictly controlled at many high schools in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. The city hit national headlines in 2006 when female students were told to keep their hair short - level with their earlobes at the longest. This stirred heated discussions about whether schools had the right to dictate such things. But local media have reported that the once-strict requirement is being relaxed at many schools... "Now every floor of the girl students' dormitories has been equipped with a hair dryer," she added. Zhang Yiri, an associate professor at Guangzhou City Polytechnic, said the rules that require all the students to have the same, short hairstyle are outdated. "Students are not servicemen, and they have the right to develop their personality and like to look smart while studying hard," Zhang said. In recent years, more schools have quietly relaxed their rules on girls' hair, only requiring female students to have a short haircut at the beginning of the semester, rather than year-round. Xiao explained that the previous strict requirement was made in consideration for students' health and safety. "Girl students with long hair could have an accident during laboratory work in their chemistry lessons. They might also easily catch a cold after swimming, as their long hair cannot be dried in a very short time," Xiao said... Wang Yanyan, mother of a 16-year-old girl, said it was hard work persuading her daughter to have her hair cut before the new school term began. "My daughter used to cry and say she looked ugly after having a short hair cut," Wang said. "Fortunately I no longer have to do that.""

'Crawl back under your rock,’ Swedish FM tells anti-PC academic Jordan Peterson - "Sweden’s Foreign Minister has issued a rather undiplomatic request to Canadian academic and internet sensation Jordan B. Peterson, thrilling a Stockholm audience by expressing her desire to see him fade from the public eye. Speaking on a “pro-women” panel in Sweden’s capital on Wednesday, Margot Wallström said that Peterson should "crawl back under the rock he came from,” adding that she "can't grasp why people waste so much time on that man."

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson’s book is a hit in Sweden – even though FM loathes him - "A Swedish book retailer has listed Jordan Peterson’s new book as a top seller, just days after the country’s foreign minister told the Canadian academic to “crawl back under his rock”. Peterson’s new book, '12 Rules For Life, an Antidote to Chaos’, is currently one of the most popular titles on Adlibris – a Swedish online book retailer."

Three Girls: I prosecuted the Rochdale child grooming gang - it wasn't about race - "I took the then unprecedented decision to reverse an earlier decision made my other prosecutors and police in 2008/9 NOT to prosecute... These victims came, in the main, from chaotic and troubled backgrounds. Some in care, others alienated from their families. The term "child prostitute" was used extensively to describe them and it should be noted both that the Home Office in a circular to police in 2008 used that term and spoke of girls making an "informed choice" to engage in this behaviour. Parliament only finally removed the term from all laws a couple of years ago. It was clear to me that the yardsticks traditionally used to evaluate the credibility and reliability of victims in other cases was being used without adaptation to cases of child sexual exploitation. In my view, this led to the outcome of vulnerable victims being left unprotected by criminal law... they were deliberately targeted by these predators because they had troubled lives and chaotic backgrounds tinged with criminality – the predators sadly (and rightly) assumed that nobody would either believe them or act upon a complaint... The perpetrators in these so-called group grooming cases are disproportionately from British Asian heritage, according to the Child Exploitation Division of the National Crime Agency in a sample they looked at but, to put in context, 90% of sex offenders in the UK are white males. That said, there is very little research into why this is the case. It may be, in part, due to the disproportionate presence of men from minorities in the night time economy, and, as victims told me, they were drawn to this world by a need for warmth, food, transport and mind numbing substances, it is likely to be found where these predators existed... In a town hall meeting after the case (portrayed in the film), when challenged about whether I wanted people to be "grasses" and "informers," I said I wanted us to be a "nation of good neighbours" looking after each other and all our children."
By Nazir Afzal

Financial Times tool warns if articles quote too many men - "The Financial Times is automatically warning its journalists if their articles quote too many men, in an attempt to force writers to look for expert women to include in their pieces. The media organisation found that only 21% of people quoted in the FT were women, prompting the development of a bot that uses pronouns and analysis of first names to determine whether a source is male or a female. Section editors will then be alerted if they are not doing enough to feature women in their stories. The paper, which covers many male-dominated industries, is keen to attract more women readers, with its research suggesting they are put off by articles that rely heavily on quotes from men... “Desks that use quotes from a high proportion of women also feature more women in their pictures, and their articles are well read by women,” the deputy editor, Roula Khalaf, told staff in an internal email, saying that women tend to feature in stories about the NHS, US immigration, and EU tech regulation but less so in stories about US trade, the oil industry and banking."
Maybe this is going to increase turnover. It will almost certainly reduce quality
Maybe women experts and readers are just more interested in the NHS, US immigration and EU tech regulation than US trade, the oil industry and banking

Speaker at UK Labour conference reportedly called for killing Israeli MKs - "A woman scheduled to speak at a UK Labour Party conference later this month once called for attacks against the Knesset and Israeli lawmakers... Ewa Jasiewicz, 40, a British-Polish anti-Israel activist, is scheduled to speak about the future of trade unions at the Momentum festival organized alongside Labour’s annual conference. Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who reportedly called her a “good friend,” is also scheduled to speak. The Times said it had unearthed a report from Jasiewicz, written in 2002 when she was living and working in Jenin in the West Bank at the height of the Second Intifada, in which she suggested that terror groups should attack Israeli MKs instead of civilians... she had in 2010 vandalized a remaining wall of the Warsaw Ghetto, spraying it with “Free Gaza and Palestine” graffiti... Almost 40 percent of British Jews would “seriously consider emigrating” if Corbyn became prime minister"
What if someone vandalises a mosque while criticising the repression of women in Saudi Arabia?

Angela Lansbury: Women must 'sometimes take blame' for sexual harassment - "“We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive,” the 92-year-old said. “And unfortunately it has backfired on us — and this is where we are today.”"