Links - 23rd July 2019 (1)

Man Who Threatened to Kill 2 Senators Who Supported Kavanaugh Gets 18 Months in Prison - The New York Times - "The man, Ronald DeRisi, 75, of Smithtown, N.Y., left multiple expletive-laden voice mail messages at the offices of the senators and threatened to assault and murder them. He was sentenced in Central Islip, N.Y., by Judge Joseph F. Bianco."
"Only the right causes violence"

China's divorce rule dubbed 'Law that makes men laugh and women cry' - "According to the new law, residential property is no longer to be regarded as jointly owned and divided equally in the event of a divorce.Instead, whoever paid for the apartment or house is the legal owner and gets to keep it in its entirety... My husband's parents bought it when we married. It's in my husband's name so he and his parents-in-law are saying that under the new law I am not entitled to half of it," said Mrs Zhang."My lawyer thinks I can get maybe 200,000 RMB (£20,000) based on money I paid towards the mortgage. That's ridiculous, because I think the effort I put into the marriage is priceless."A major reason why the new law is regarded as unjust by most women is that in China men, or their parents, traditionally buy the family home. Indeed, many women will refuse to marry until that happens.It is such a custom that tying the knot with a man who doesn't own a property is known as a 'naked wedding'. But as house prices have accelerated, there is now a widespread perception that some women have been marrying solely because they know it will guarantee them the right to half the home's value if they divorce"
Apparently gender equality means women expecting men to have a house before they'll marry them and yet being entitled to half of it if they divorce

China Guide: Driving in China, Traffic regulations, accidents: Understanding how traffic in China works will - "The Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China applies to all vehicles in China except military and often diplomatic vehicles, which are allowed to not follow any rules... Be aware that, in China, it is not uncommon to move into the opposing traffic lane, when possible, to take a left turn. As a consequence, vehicles enter the road to the left on its left hand side before going to the right. This practice can cause huge inconvenience to other road users.When nearing a junction, you should look out for vehicles that may be moving on the wrong side of the road or that might appear from random directions.Driving in the center of the road is not unusual. If a vehicle is approaching on the wrong side of the road you should make way as far as possible, even if that requires stopping and pulling over all the way to the right hand edge of a cycle lane.Roundabouts are vaguely explained in Chinese driving test preparation. At roundabouts in China only the vehicle that gets there first has priority, or if it is bigger, moves faster or has a specific purpose that gives it priority... Usually drivers don’t pay much attention to pedestrian crossings and people are often standing on a crossing, waiting for all the vehicles to pass.Even with the green light on, a pedestrian should not completely rely on it, since traffic lights have been programmed to allow vehicles to cross when the pedestrian green light is on. So, before crossing the street you should look to your left and right, and make sure it is safe to cross."

China Traffic with Traffic Rules, How to Drive in China - "People’s Republic of China Road Traffic Safety Law has a bias towards reducing collisions and being polite, which actually states that law-abiding citizens should give way politely to those breaking the law and driving impolitely... From experience, an obvious reason why vehicles do not always drive on the right hand side of the road, regardless of road markings, is that the middle of the road is the safest place to be. There are often pedestrians, and parked or slow-moving vehicles on the right hand side of the road, and vehicles often emerge from side roads without a safe gap in the traffic to do so. Therefore the incidence of oncoming vehicles is often less than the incidence of obstacles on the right of the road, hence the rule. It is easier to see obstacles in front and avoid them from a position in the center of the road... At junctions with traffic lights it would be hoped that vehicles would stop for the red light and go only on the green light. However this is not the case, with larger vehicles still streaming across the junction seconds after the light has turned red, and smaller vehicles and pedestrians ignoring the lights altogether and trying to get across the junction any way they can. Go on the green light, but be careful. The standard rules of priority don’t seem to apply in China, e.g. major road traffic has priority over minor road traffic, vehicles entering traffic in a lane yield priority to vehicles already in that lane, vehicles entering a roundabout yield to vehicles on the roundabout, pedestrians have priority over vehicles, especially on pedestrian crossings, etc. Instead the vehicle that is driven most aggressively or that is larger is given priority, or else there is a road traffic accident. Safety, or accident avoidance by the more responsible party, is number one in China. In fact “number one” (the first one in the gap or one’s self) is number one in China."

“We Singapore or Chinapore?” – Singaporean hits out after unsavoury experience with Mustafa staff unable to speak English - "A Singaporean vented his frustrations online after a sour experience with Mustafa Centre staff who were unable to assist him because they do not understand English.Revealing that he was exasperated by staff from China who could not answer his question about where a particular product is located, Facebook user Raguvaran Naidu recounted his experience on social media... Asserting that he is not racist or against Chinese nationals, Raguvaran urged the Singapore Government to “hire people who can speak English at the very least!” He added: “From ordering food at a coffee shop to this, it’s getting worse by the day! We Singapore or Chinapore? What’s our first language?! "
If you were in the US and complained about Spanish speaking staff being unable to speak English... good luck to you

“Speak American” – Multilingualism and the English-Only Movement | Change From Within - "Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act requires that public entities receiving federal funds must offer vital documents in every language their clients speak. That’s right. The U.S. officially endorses your right to have a voter’s ballot in any language you like, and it is the responsibility of the state or federal agency to provide such a document... “They need to learn to speak English” is a common statement when “those illegals” come up at family gatherings, and the anti-immigrant, anti-Spanish-speaking sentiment is undoubtedly tied to the deep-seated racism against Latinos that I, unfortunately, have to struggle to uproot from my subconscious.Understanding the problematic nature of this sentiment means understanding the history of white, Anglo supremacy in this country. To say that people must speak English is not an innocent statement rooted in a desire to have a functioning society as is often asserted by those who argue for English-Only legislation. Demanding, mandating, and forcing those who don’t speak English to do so has been a tool of cultural genocide in the United States for a very long time... the English-Only movement, as has often been the case in our history, is inextricably tied to racism against those who do not speak English"
I can already see the motte and bailey tactic used here - conflating monolingualism with expecting everyone to speak English (indeed OP expressly uses this in the comments)
Comments: "You refer only to white people as English speaking. Black people speak English as well. You sound like you have issues with white people. In fact, I know more white people who have taken the time to attempt to learn spanish than I do black people."
"while you may come across like the nicer guy, you are actually holding these people back and keeping them down."

Dodgeball isn’t just problematic, it’s an unethical tool of ‘oppression’: researchers - "Thousands of academics are gathering in Vancouver for the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences from June 1-7. They will present papers on everything from child marriage in Canada to why dodgeball is problematic. In its Oh, The Humanities! series, the National Post showcases some of the most interesting research... a trio of education theorists will argue that dodgeball is not only problematic, in the modern sense of displaying hierarchies of privilege based on athletic skill, but that it is outright “miseducative.”... Dodgeball is a tool of “oppression.”... Dodgeball is “miseducative” because it “reinforces the five faces of oppression,” as defined by the late Iris Marion Young, a social and political theorist at the University of Chicago. As Butler’s abstract describes it, those “faces” are “marginalization, powerlessness, and helplessness of those perceived as weaker individuals through the exercise of violence and dominance by those who are considered more powerful.” Young’s list of these fundamental types of oppression also includes exploitation and cultural domination... The moral problem with dodgeball, he said, is that it encourages students to aggressively single others out for dominance, and to enjoy that exclusion and dominance as a victory."

Decriminalizing prostitution would negatively impact Indigenous women: expert - "An academic testifying about Canada's prostitution laws says decriminalization would disproportionately affect Indigenous women and girls.The testimony was part of a court hearing in London, Ont. looking into the constitutionality of the country's prostitution laws, also referred to as the Nordic Model or Bill C-36. Indigenous women are now over represented in the sex industry but there's no evidence that prostitution existed prior to colonization, said Cherry Smiley, an academic who studies the impact of prostitution on the lives on Indigenous women and girls. "The underlying ideology of sex buyers is that they can buy a woman and engage in sex on his terms," Smiley said... Smiley testified that there's a hierarchy within the sex trade, and Indigenous women are near the bottom. They are seen as less desirable and cannot charge as much for the same sexual acts as white women, Smiley said.She said there are stereotypes about Indigenous women as hyper-sexed, and decriminalizing prostitution and seeing it as "work" would entrench those stereotypes because women would be choosing to work in the sex industry.Prostitution is built on a foundation of inequality, so decriminalization would justify that inequality, she testified... Smiley said she rejects the idea that decriminalization of prostitution, or allowing women to work in escort agencies, for example, is a form of harm reduction, because in her view the very act of prostitution is so harmful that the harm cannot be reduced.Two defence witnesses testified earlier that the laws push the sex trade further underground and put sex workers at greater risk of harm."
When you beg the question, you can get any result you want

Trump’s kids meeting the Queen during UK visit will cost millions - "US president Donald Trump’s four adult children and their spouses have joined him on his state visit to the United Kingdom this week. And US taxpayers are picking up the hefty bills for their hotels, transportation, and security."
Naturally, people were bashing him for this

Barack Obama's first visit to Brussels to cost Belgium more than €10m - "As Belgium's capital and host to the EU and Nato, Brussels is used to deploying heavy security when big names pop by. But US President Barack Obama's visit on Tuesday will strain the city like never before with €10m ($10.4m, £8.4m) of Belgian money being spent to cover his 24 hours in the country.The president will arrive on Tuesday night with a 900-strong entourage, including 45 vehicles and three cargo planes"
Naturally, if you criticised this you were racist

Barack Obama had the best interpreter during his Cuba trip – his daughter Malia - "Barack arrived in Cuba with his wife Michelle and two daughters Malia and Sasha... The President has had a busy itinerary during the trip, which has included a meeting with leader Raul Castro"