Jihadism has been an abject failure, but what does Western success look like? - "We now appear to be stuck in a holding pattern: jihadists cannot defeat us, but they will not give up; we can mitigate the jihadist threat, but we cannot eradicate it. It is a story of jihadist failure offset by mixed Western success.The truth is that we have probably reached the maximum point of threat-mitigation. Any improvements from here are likely to be at the margins, or adjustments to meet jihadist innovation... The appropriate analogy here is crime. No government pretends to be able to eradicate crime and no citizen expects it to. Success in the fight against crime is judged by the extent to which its harms are minimised, the operations of criminals constrained, and dangerous offenders removed from the community"
Manfred Man - My reply to this Canadian who wants to teach... - "My reply to this Canadian who wants to teach Singaporean how to be grateful.
Dear Mr Eric Brooks,
The reason why Singapore is what it is today, is because Singaporeans are always complaining and always pushing the govt to keep improving.... Afterall, they are the highest paid govt in the world, hence... when you have to pay such salaries to these people, it is natural that we demand them to live up to their worth..... you probably didn't feel the pain of many Singaporeans because you were privileged to be on the receiving end of the rope enjoying and reaping the benefits contributed by those on the other end of the rope that are exploited with suppressed wages while businesses (and you) profiting and benefiting from it....
Yes, high wages push up cost of things in Canada.... but they also enable people to earn a decent wage.... When you pay $40 a month for clearing of rubbish in Singapore, you enjoy the benefits of it.... but at whose expense? Let me tell you, it is at the expense of those lowly paid hardworking blokes that work like slaves.... If you are happy with that, it just shows what kind of man you are.... you are grateful for the benefits that you enjoy that was provided by the same people that you are now calling them "ungrateful".... the same people that you didn't think deserved a decent wage.... the same people that you think that it is ok to exploit so that YOU can get your rubbish cleared for $40 a month....
And that's probably why you came to Singapore... to seek a "better" life.... I went to Canada for the very same reason too.... to seek a better life... The only difference is, you came to seek a better life by exploiting on those that are less privileged.... while I sought a better life in Canada by bringing my business there that adds value and contribute to their economy so that those less privileged can earn a decent wage.... I don't complain about the high cost because I know it goes towards someone's decent wage.... I don't complain paying high taxes because I know (and feel assured) that should there be a day where I become incapable of earning an income, there will be social safety nets that I can fall back upon....
So in your same words, Canada do care for its people..... BE GRATEFUL, Eric....."
'Loco,' 'Hombres': Why Trump Uses Mock Spanish - "Trump’s use of hombres and loco illustrates what the late linguistic anthropologist Jane Hill termed “Mock Spanish,” an anglophone appropriation of Spanish words that, she argued, can serve as “a site for the indexical reproduction of racism in American English.”"
Code switching is racist!
12 NUS students would have been expelled under stiffer penalties for sexual offences - "For serious offences, offenders will get a minimum one-year suspension, which the university's Board of Discipline or Disciplinary Appeals Board cannot override or remove. In severe or aggravated cases, or multiple incidents without any mitigating factors, the offender will be immediately expelled... Examples of cases that the heads of the academic or non-academic units could handle are:
- Attempting an unwelcome kiss on a date
- Planting an unwanted kiss on the cheeks of a person
- Stroking a person's face without the person's consent
- Giving an unwanted massage on the arms of a person
- Briefly holding the waist or shoulder of a person without the person's consent
- Persistence e.g. continuing to communicate, send flowers, or to wait for another person even though the person has made clear that he/she is not interested in such advances.
- Staring inappropriately at the breasts of a person
- Making a joke about a person's private parts, sexual organs or sex life
- Using expletives such as "slut" or "whore" on a person
- Stealing undergarments
- Gesticulating body (fully clothed) in a sexually offensive way to another person.
The review committee also spelt out the types of sexual misconduct which it considers "severe" or "aggravated", and should lead to mandatory expulsion, even if it is a single incident or there are compelling mitigating factors such as being truthful during investigations. This includes touching a victim's private parts or sexual organs, perpetrating a significant number of sexual misconduct incidents or if there is an extensive duration of the misconduct. Other acts in this category are abusing authority, deliberately incapacitating a person in order to commit the sexual misconduct, possessing child pornography, affecting a significant number of people, and causing substantial harm, damage or trauma to the victim...
For serious cases which are single incidents, a suspension of at least one year will be meted out. The committee recommended that a two-year suspension or expulsion should be given if these offences happen more than once.
Offences in this category include:...
- Unwanted sexual advances or requests for sexual favours, sexually explicit remarks, offensive body language or gestures and other forms of sexual harassment"
In some ways, this is more extreme than the travesties that have happened/are happening in US college campuses thanks to Obama. Looks like gender segregation is going to come into effect in NUS
Removing discretion in response to public pressure is a good recipe for outrageous verdicts
Presumably "abusing authority" means the chairman of an ECA cannot enter a relationship with his vice-chair.
It seems if I make pelvic thrusts often or many people see me, I can be expelled. If I make them once and one person sees me, I can be suspended for a year
Corey A. DeAngelis on Twitter - Bernie Sanders: "The video game industry made $43 billion in revenue last year. The workers responsible for that profit deserve to collectively bargain as part of a union. I'm glad to see unions like @IATSE and the broader @GameWorkers movement organizing such workers."
"When you don't understand the difference between revenue & profit"
I’ll Have to Call My Lawyer - The New York Times - "“Good Samaritan” laws give legal protection to bystanders who courageously come to the aid of people in emergencies. Last month, the California Supreme Court gave its state law a disturbingly narrow interpretation that could discourage future good Samaritans from providing help out of fear of being sued.The ruling came after the victim of a car crash sued her would-be rescuer for negligence. On Halloween night in 2004 the car in which Alexandra Van Horn was riding crashed into a light pole. When her co-worker, Lisa Torti, who was in another car, saw the accident, she rushed over to help. Worried that the wrecked car would catch fire or blow up, Ms. Torti lifted Ms. Van Horn out of the front passenger seat. Ms. Van Horn, who ended up being paralyzed, sued, contending that Ms. Torti’s negligence in moving her caused her paralysis.In her defense, Ms. Torti invoked California’s good Samaritan law. All 50 states have laws of this kind, but the protection they offer varies. By a 4-to-3 vote, the California Supreme Court ruled that the state’s law did not give Ms. Torti immunity from liability because it applies only to people who offer medical help."
No good deed goes unpunished
Looks like this got amended later to include nonmedical help
Fake News: BBC Describes Refugee Terror Bomber from Iraq as 'Surrey Teenager' – Again - "The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been caught describing Iraqi refugee and convicted terrorist Ahmed Hassan as a “Surrey teenager” for a second time"
Poll: Trump Better for Black Americans Than Obama - "According to the national telephone survey, 55 percent think “life for young black Americans has gotten better since Trump’s election” or stayed about the same (33 percent and 22 percent respectively) while 36 percent think it’s gotten worse. In July 2016, only 13 percent said that “life for young black Americans had gotten better since the election of the nation’s first black president.”... Even though black Americans have better opportunities under Trump, voters still think the government should be doing more, and believe that the sour relationship between Trump and members of the Congressional Black Caucus doesn’t help—though it’s hard to say what the left-wing Congressional Black Caucus has actually done for black America. Years of race-baiting and playing the race card against Republicans to reinforce loyalty to the Democratic Party hasn’t had a positive impact"
Vernon Chan - Sounds fair since historically the Democrats were... - "Burgess Owens on Reparations: 'How About the Democratic Party Pay for All the Misery It Brought to My Race?'"
"Sounds fair since historically the Democrats were the slavery party, and modern SJW theory says historical sins are a permanent stain that cannot be forgiven or atoned"
Anti Social Justice Warriors - Posts - "Ordering a happy meal and the cashier asked 'for a boy or girl?' And then I explained for 30 minutes how damaging it is to enforce the gender binary. I am disgusted
"Now I see why Mcdonalds employees want 15 an hour"
Paris: metro tickets & gum tree tributes | The Lady Travels - "Some argue that the metro tickets left on Jean Paul Sartre’s grave symbolise communist struggles for freedom. Jean Paul Sartre was never afraid to show his communist sympathies throughout his life and writing, and was famously compared to fellow french philosopher Voltaire when pardoned by President Charles de Gaulle after being arrested for civil disobedience in 1968. “You don’t arrest Voltaire,” said de Gaulle in explanation for the pardon. France has always regarded Voltaire as a great French libertarian renaming Boulevard du Prince-Eugène after him in 1870 because it was the location of endless struggles for freedom and liberty. To this day, protests and demonstrations significantly take place along Boulevard Voltaire, and violence has often flared up along it. In 1962, nine people were killed by police outside the Charonne metro station located along the boulevard during communist protests against the Algerian war raging at the time. It is therefore believed the metro tickets represent the deaths of those individuals, their struggle and the location of their death, connecting Jean Paul Sartre with Voltaire: the location for freedom fighting and Voltaire: the freedom fighter.
Or it could just be that the metro tickets are left by fans who misunderstood it to be some sort of tradition practiced at all French luminaries’ graves having past Serge Gainsbourg’s head stone beforehand to reach Jean Paul Sartre’s."
