MSNBC'S Hart-Perry Apologizes For Poking Fun At Mitt Romney's Black Grandchild

So the Romney's have an adopted black grandchild, Kieran, and Mitt and Ann had a lovely portrait photographed surrounded by all their grandkids.

In very bad taste, MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry and her co-panelists chose to make Kieran the punch-line of a segment on the show. Video here.

Melissa starts off with:

"Everybody loves a baby picture, and this was one that really a lot of people had emotions about this baby picture this year." "This is the Romney family. "And, of course, there on Gov. Romney's knee is his adopted grandson, who is an African-American, adopted African-American child, Kieran Romney."

You can then hear Pia Glenn in the background singing:

 "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn't the same." 

The others start laughing and then Glenn then pipes in:

"And that little baby, front and center, would be the one" 

The pot-shots continue, and comedian Dean Obeidallah comes in with his oh-so-funny:

 "I think this picture is great. It really sums up the diversity of the Republican party, the RNC. At the convention, they find the one black person."

How's that for racism. And using a baby boy as political fodder is shameful. Even CNN was outraged, and Harris-Perry has since apologized. Big deal.

Kieran was adopted by Mitt's son Ben and daughter-in-law Andelynne.

Imagine had the same thing happened on a FOX show.

Harris-Perry was the stupid woman who claimed that the Boston Bomber's Muslim faith was irrelevant. Right.

Pakistani Woman Refuses Arranged Marriage Gets Charged With Blasphemy

Only in Pakistan does a refusal of marriage get you maimed or killed or possibly executed for blasphemy.

Combine arranged marriages with women considered to be chattel, and you have a recipe for disaster. And you can't always blame it on ignorance. Eraj Sajjad's dad is a senior bureaucrat in the Sindh government (so I assume he must be somewhat educated), who arranged for his daughter to be married to a wealthy businessman. She refused and the spurned would-be groom leveled a blasphemy charge against her. When she went to the Federal Interior Ministry for help- security and the charges dropped- they said sorry, no can do.

Federal Interior Ministry and Senior Minister Sindh Nisar Khuhro refused to help her. The Interior Ministry, in a letter to her, said that as she had been formally implicated in a case of a serious nature and this ministry could not help her.On the other hand, Senior Minister Nisar Khuhro, while refusing her any help, suggested approaching the proper forum of the court of law.

In her letter, she narrated that she had escaped from her residence in Lahore because her parents wanted her to marry a businessman Imtiaz Alam against her will. According to her, Imtiaz Alam belonged to a wealthy family and was an influential person therefore he managed to register a false blasphemy case by using his influence and money against her to get revenge as she had refused to marry him. In her letter, she sought protection and withdrawal of the false blasphemy case against her.

But it wasn't just Imtiaz trying to harm Eraj, according to Eraj when she fled her parents house, Imtiaz and her mum and dad wanted to honor kill her.

I suppose the best alternative to honor killing the woman is to charge her with blasphemy, which can garner the death penalty in Pakistan.

Source

Why It's Important For Millenials To Sign Up For Obamacare- Video

Revealing Politics has put together a little video explaining just why it's so important for the young 'uns to sign up for Obamacare.

In the words of Patty Fontneau of Connect for Colorado we see why the Millenials are needed, and Revealing Politics shows the marketing strategy to get those young working kids to sign on. It's "cool" to sign up, but they leave out some very important information that will impact them.

Hollande's 'Tax Millionaires 75%' Gets Court Approval

France is about to sock it to the wealthy for several years: retroactively for 2013 and 2014. If you make over 1 million euros ($1.4 million) you're going to be hit with a hefty 75% tax. Actually, the companies that pay you that amount will be liable for a 50% duty on those wages in addition to some other taxes and "social charges" for a whopping total of 75%.  At least that's what Bloomberg.com claims.

The constitutional court of France approved Socialist President Francoise Hollande's proposal.

“The companies that pay out remuneration above 1 million euros will, as expected, be called upon for an effort of solidarity on remuneration paid in 2013 and 2014,” the Economy Ministry said in an e-mailed statement.

Hollande, who once said he “didn’t like” the rich, announced the 75 percent tax in February 2012 as part of his presidential campaign to appeal to his Socialist base. It has become a symbol of his government’s record-high taxation rate. [snip] The total amount is limited to 5 percent of a company’s revenue.

Hollande tried last year but failed because individuals rather than households were to be taxed.

It appears the current incarnation (taxing companies) went to the courts because it was opposed by a bunch of MPs and senators.

I wonder if there will be a mass exodus of the wealthy from France.

Ex-Muslimah- Oppression Of Muslim Women Exists

"Marwa" is a "mostly-liberal" Arab, Middle-Eastern, ex-Muslimah, atheist blogger living in the U.S., and she's written an interesting response to an article she read on PolicyMic by Lauren Rankin. Rankin is a white, liberal feminist Western woman, who was being very critical of a series of tweets by Joyce Carol Oates equating the rape and sexual harassment of women in Egypt with religion.  Ms. Oates wrote:

Where 99.3% of women report having been sexually harassed & rape is epidemic--Egypt--natural to inquire: what's the predominant religion?
1:50 PM - 5 Jul 2013

Rankin launches into the typical accusations of Islamophobia, which she stupidly believes is a form of racism, claiming that it's patriarchy not religion that contributes to the oppression of Muslim women.  Marwa  begs to differ.

I love my feminist allies and friends, but sometimes white Western feminists get things all backwards when they try to speak about the experiences of foreign women of color. Especially if they’re talking about people they’ve never met, places they’ve never lived, religious and legal and patriarchal systems they are unacquainted with, and make broad, sweeping generalizations about those systems. This is such an example. I understand that it might be driven by a reflection of the voices of Muslim women who freely choose and cleave to their religion and rail out against accusations that they are being oppressed–what I do not understand is how the experiences and insights of free women with agency and self-determination can speak to the experiences of their sisters who do not have such freedom–the woman who is free to practice Islam or not, to wear hijab or not–this woman does not speak for me or my ex-Muslim and Muslim friends who suffer under Islamic systems any more than a Western woman does.

To be clear, I applaud the instinct to try to reduce anti-Muslim hate and bigotry. It is the approach here that I think is utterly misguided and frankly dangerous. Rankin is attempting to object to Islam being characterized in a monolithic manner…by characterizing it in a monolithic manner, as something that never contributes to or causes misogyny, rape, and oppression of women in Muslim-majority countries. And while I myself am a champion of trying to oppose anti-Muslim bigotry, I believe the strongest and most compassionate way of doing this is by resisting the characterization of Islam as a monolith. What has happened here is that Rankin has engaged in what I say is a dangerous refusal to examine the very real influences and intermingling of religion and patriarchy in violence and oppression against women and children in Muslim-majority countries.

The rest here on her blog Between a Veil and a Dark Place. It's an interesting read, not what some oppressed Muslim women and liberal idiots like Rankin would have you believe.

Marwa also wrote a great article about freedom and living in fear.

Billy Crystal's "Schmuck Dynasty" on Jimmy Fallon.

Billy Crystal's "Schmuck Dynasty".   Prior to the present controversy, of course.

Muslims Kill Christians In Iraq On Christmas

So yesterday was Christmas, but not such a merry day for Christians in Muslim-majority countries, however. Especially in Iraq where more than 37 Christians were killed in two different bomb attacks on one of their most holiest of days. And this in spite of high security, barbed wire and blast walls.

There aren't many Christians left in Iraq, they've either left the country or been killed. Of 1.5 million pre-Iraq War, only about half that amount are still there. According to rights activist William Warda every single day around 10 to 20 Christians leave.

“Many Christians ... are fleeing from the country because of this issue, because there is no sign of a bright future.”

Who can blame them. He does have a wee bit of hope: the government declared Christmas a national holiday this year. Not that it prevented the massacres from occurring.

And Christian religious leaders are trying to persuade their flock not to desert the Arab world.

“Immigration is not the solution,” said Monsignor Pios Cacha, a priest at Mar Yousif.

“Leaving the country means wiping out our identity, it means the end of our presence here. And our presence as Christians is a symbol of peace.”

And the Shi'ites (although the majority) are reaching out to the Christian minority, since they too are targets of al-Qaeda terrorists. In fact, Shi'ite politician Ammar Al-Hakim made an appearance at the Mar Yousif's Christmas Eve mass.

Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a Shi’ite party that has sometimes allied with and sometimes opposed Maliki, rose after the sermon and spoke of tolerance, forgiveness and peace, saying Jesus Christ was an example. Then he turned to al-Qaeda.

“They target you like they target us. There are people in this country who believe that anyone who has a different opinion should be killed,” he said as a small army of burly bodyguards in suits fanned out through the church.

“We are partners as targets. We are partners in this challenge. And we will remain partners in confronting extremism, violence and terrorism,” Hakim said.

One car bomb exploded near a church as worshippers were leaving a Christmas Day mass, 27 were killed, 56 or so wounded.  The other bomb exploded near a predominately Christian outdoor market killing 11 and wounding around 14. As is usually the case, those numbers could change.

People used to say that the violence in Iraq was a direct result of foreign 'occupation'- that was when foreign troops were still there- but they've been gone a few years and the violence continues. Big time. So much for that theory.  Extremists just like to fight, and kill, and that's not going to change any time soon.

Pajama Boy Touts Obamacare

Maybe not everyone knows, but for Obamacare to work the government needs as many to sign on to the programme, especially the young ones. They have been somewhat reluctant to do so, and even if they were interested, it's been pretty dang hard to accomplish that feat.  So step in team-Obama with 'pajama boy', an ad attempting to appeal to the young 'uns.

A photo that was posted on Twitter, and has subsequently become the laughing stock of social media and the media itself, you see a nerdy, metro-sexual model wearing a onesie, hot chocolate in hand, encouraging people to wear their jammies, drink some hot chocolate and "talk about getting health insurance."

Even MSNBC ridiculed it.

Log Cabin Republicans Blast Gay Stereotypes In Obamacare Ad

Log Cabin Republicans (our gay conservative brothers and sisters) are appalled at a pro-Obamacare ad by gay organization Out2Enroll which they feel uses gay stereotypes to try to get gays to enroll in Obamacare.

A statement from their website:

“This cynical ad betrays the depths Obamacare advocates will sink to in order to pad their pathetic enrollment numbers,” Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Gregory T. Angelo declared. “As a self-proclaimed ‘fierce advocate’ of gay equality, President Obama would do well to distance himself from this nonsense and denounce it immediately. This ad is also an example of the left promoting harmful stereotypes that gay men are nothing more than sex-crazed lechers. If anyone on the right made such a comparison, liberals would be apoplectic. At a time when left-wing propagandists are decrying Duck Dynasty‘s Phil Robertson for equating homosexuality with promiscuity and deviance, Out2Enroll and others should take a look in the mirror and ask if the truth is that they are the ones responsible for promoting such harmful stereotypes.”

H/T: Newsmax

Acid Attack On Unveiled Egyptian Woman - Young Activist Discusses

Here's an interesting article by a young Egyptian woman, Reem Abdel-Razek, regarding Egypt's horrendous problem with sexual harassment. Apparently what they are now doing is throwing acid on girls from behind, so she is initially unaware of what happened to her. It happened to the sister of a friend of hers in Cairo, in broad daylight.

Esraa [Mohamed] was walking in her own neighborhood at 3 p.m. when she realized she was being followed by a well-dressed, respectable looking stranger. He said, “I am not harassing you but don’t forget to wipe off your pants.”

She suddenly began to feel a burning pain in her backside and rushed into a cafe to see what was wrong. It was then that she realized she couldn’t remove her pants and took a cab home. By that time the pain was so excruciating that she almost fainted; her buttocks and the back of her thighs had been burned by acid that had eaten into her flesh. The doctor who examined her said she had second and third-degree burns, with cell necrosis in some areas. The diagnosis was “chemical burn by an unidentified corrosive.”

According to Abdel-Razek, this has also happened to others, most have just been too embarrassed to tell anyone.

Esraa does not wear a veil, and they think this might have been the reason she was attacked, at least that's what some Facebook users told her was the reason.

Abdel-Razek also talks about how sexual harassment was virtually unheard of in the 50s and 60s, during the time when very few women wore the veil. The harassment, she believes, has escalated (out of control) with the growing influence of Islamists.

The role of Islamist propaganda in promoting the acceptance of violence against women often gets overlooked by those who are afraid of appearing “Islamophobic” or racist. But addressing the roots of violence against women is one of the most important steps in eradicating it.

During the 1950s and ’60s, this level of sexual persecution was unheard of in Egypt. At that time, hardly anyone in cities wore the veil and Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, had virtually disappeared due to the Gamal Abdel Nasser regime’s systematic attempts to eradicate them. When Anwar Sadat became president in 1970, he eased up on the Islamists because he wanted their support against leftist groups. Thus the 1970s witnessed a religious revival. By the 1980s and ’90s, the Brotherhood’s influence and the social services it provided were entrenched in many villages and neighborhoods, and the number of women wearing the veil rose significantly as a mark of the influence of political Islam.

I remember a conversation about the hijab between my mother and a woman who belonged to the Brotherhood. She said, “Every time I think about how uncomfortable it is, I remember that by wearing it I am promoting our ideology.”

Islamists launched campaigns pushing the veil. One showed a picture of a three legged chair and said it was like a woman without a veil. Another showed a lollipop wrapped in paper next to an unwrapped lollipop covered with flies, which it compared to a woman who does not veil. These campaigns objectified women by comparing them to chairs and candy, and dehumanizing women is the first step in justifying violence against them.

Radio and TV channels that catered to Islamist agendas (most of which have been shut down in the past few months) endlessly justified wife beating, female genital mutilation, marital rape, and other forms of violence against women. They also promoted the idea that women are inferior to men and in need of constant monitoring and disciplining. Those on the receiving end of these messages aren’t just orthodox Muslims or Muslim Brotherhood members, but a much wider demographic.

And talking to the police about sexual harassment is futile because the police think the same way as the harassers.

Not to say that women wearing hijab don't get harassed, they do, they probably just don't get acid thrown on them.

More info- Source

Afghan Man Chops Off Wife's Nose and Lips For Disobeying Him

Drugs and alcohol are haram (forbidden) in Islam, but those Afghan men love their heroin.  Not sure how they reconcile the use of hardcore drugs with their religion, but they don't seem to care much since they grow the opium freely. In fact, Afghanistan grows more than any other country in the world. Not surprising they'd get hooked. And hooked Afghan men do beastly things when they need a fix, actually they do horrific things regardless, and tragically women bear the brunt of their anger and aggression.

Domestic violence is prevalent in places like Afghanistan and the Middle East. Maybe that has to do with the fact that the Quran says it's okay to beat your wife, or wives. Yes, some will quibble about what that actually means, claiming men should only use something like a toothbrush to punish disobedient spouses, but that's usually not the case.  Some men maim or kill their wives for disobeying them. Like Azim, the Afghan man who just chopped off his 30-year-old wife Sitara's lips and nose in front of their kids because refused to sell her jewelry to pay for his heroin fix. He left her there bleeding, and fled like a coward.

People have rallied around Sitara, and she is now getting treatment and reconstructive surgery in Turkey, but Azim has yet to be found.

This is what happens to females in a religious and cultural society that has no respect for women. According to RFE/RL Afghanistan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. And can you blame them? They live in a world where they are forced into marriage at a very young age, most are not allowed to go to school or work, they are bred like animals, hidden under burqas, and beaten and abused. Some are forced into prostitution. What kind of life is that?  They live lives with no hope.

According to Sitara's 14-year-old daughter Fereshta, Azim was a long time drug abuser and would often beat the kids and his wife:

 "Every time my mother refused to give money to my father, he would beat her."

One of the problems is that in spite of the fact that in 2009 Afghanistan implemented an Elimination of Violence Against Women law, which includes criminalizing child marriage, violence against women etc., abusers are rarely prosecuted.

More here.

Christmas Is Offensive- Says Kuwaiti MP

Bah humbug to Hamdan al-Azmi, a Kuwaiti MP, who said the Christmas celebrations are a "mockery" and "offensive" to Islamic culture and religious teachings. So he wants a crackdown on Christmas festivities.

“Allowing activities that promote occasions that are strange to our Islamic society is ridiculous and an offence to our religious teachings,” he said in a statement made available to the press on Sunday.

He further urged the Deputy Premier Sheikh Mohammad al-Khalid al-Sabah to monitor activities in camps and chalets, claiming youths in the country were planning to host Christmas parties in those locations.

Al-Azmi added that celebrating such events was “inappropriate” in an Islamic state and cautioned the authorities to bar anyone from profiting from such activities, local media reported.

He also had problems with Halloween, calling anything Halloween-related as  "signs of Satanism."

Apparently, nothing has been done about cracking down on the sale of Christmas products, but ex-pats are being warned about sticking to the rules of the land, most notably those dealing with alcohol. Watch out for that spiked egg nog.

Imagine if politicians in Christian-majority countries were to tell Muslims they shouldn't celebrate EID.

Source: Al-Arabiya

Mahmoud Abbas Says No To Israel Boycott, American Professors Say Yes.

Believe it or not, Palestine's Mahmoud Abbas opposes boycotting Israel, how's that for a shocker. He took the opportunity to tell it to the world while he was at Nelson Mandela's funeral. No doubt actress Emma Thompson and all her BDS movement cronies are foaming at the mouth, pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel factions across the world, including the South African BDS movement, have already expressed outraged. Not surprising.

Of course, Abbas does support boycotting products from "illegal" Israeli settlements in the West Bank, just not Israel itself. In response to a question, Abbas said:

“No, we do not support the boycott of Israel." “But we ask everyone to boycott the products of the settlements. Because the settlements are in our territories. It is illegal. But we don’t ask anyone to boycott Israel itself. We have relations with Israel, we have mutual recognition of Israel.” 

But on the heels of Abbas' anti-boycotting statement comes this: a group of around 5,000 American professors and scholars- members of the American Studies Association- voted 2 to 1 to boycott Israeli professors and academic institutions. The Association of Asian American Studies announced its boycott earlier this year.

Well what do you expect from liberal academia.

More here and here.

Kill All Infidels Including Obama and World Leaders: Syrian School Boys Told By Al-Qaeda Rebels

The latest from MEMRI.

Al-Qaeda indoctrinating Syrian school boys with hate for all infidels. And what should they do with infidels, including Christians , Obama, the president of Russia and China, in fact anyone who is not a true Muslim, because Bashar al-Assad and all Alawites are also considered Kuffars?  Slaughter them all.

Greenpeace's Over-the-top Global Warming Message From Santa

Greenpeace has an over-the-top 'global warming' warning for kids (well, world leaders, really) from Santa (played by Brit actor Jim Carter of 'Downton Abbey" fame) who looks more like a character from the horror film "The Hills Have Eyes" than jolly Santa. Yeah, I know the point is it's supposed to look dire, but at least cast someone you who you can sympathize with. But that's not really the point, the point is it's rather ironic, that right now every state save south Florida is in the deep freeze, and even the Middle East is experiencing the wrath of an historic snow storm called Alexa, the heaviest snow fall in some 60 years.

Anyway, Santa has this to say:

“Dear children, regrettably I bring bad tidings." “For some time now, melting nice here in the North Pole has made our operations and our day to day life intolerable and impossible. And there may be no alternative but to cancel Christmas.”

Bah Humbug!

Ari Lesser's- "Boycott Israel" Song

According to Ari Lesser's Facebook page, he's a rapper, reggae singer and spoken word artist from Cleveland, Ohio.

In this song he talks about if you're going to boycott Israel, then you better boycott all the nations of the world with major human rights violations. I don't agree with a few of his examples, but it's a clever song. And he has a point. Not that it will make one whit of a difference to the BDS (Boycott Israel) movement.

North Korea Executes Kim Jong-un's Uncle Jang Song-thaek

It's really no surprise that the Pillsbury Dough Boy's evil twin would eventually execute his very own uncle Jang Song-thaek after the initial purge. I mean, it's not the first time he's had someone close to him killed. Back in August he publicly executed an ex-girlfriend, popular singer Hyun Song-wol, and 11 other prominent North Korean musicians, on charges of pornography. I doubt there was any truth to those charges, but what the hey. He's the DPRK's God and he can do whatever he wants.

The official reason for Jang Song-thaek's removal and execution was for a panoply of criminal acts he purportedly committed and blamed on his "capitalist way of living," including:

In his personal life, Jang was “dissolute and depraved,” as well as corrupt.
“By abusing his power, he was engrossed in irregularities and corruption, had improper relations with several women, and was wined and dined at back parlors of deluxe restaurants,” the North said. “Ideologically sick and extremely idle and easygoing, he used drugs and squandered foreign currency at casinos while he was receiving medical treatment in a foreign country under the care of the party.”

Ironic since Kim Jong-un's daddy, Kim Jong-il, was just as dissolute and depraved:

"..he starved, tortured and kept his people in poverty, all the while living a lavish lifestyle. He is said to have deposited 4 billion dollars in banks in Luxembourg, just in case. A hedonist, he regularly chomped on lobster (with silver chopsticks), airlifted big macs from China, had 10,000 bottles of alcohol in his cellar, and had his personal chefs (many of whom were kidnapped and eventually fled) fetch caviar and other delicacies from around the world. And yet his people starved."

And no doubt the current "Dear Leader" is following in daddy's footsteps.

The Washington Post has published the full Pyonyang statement of  his other terrible crimes, one of which was not clapping heartily enough. No joke.

We all know this was just a great way of ridding himself of the second most powerful man in the DPRK, consolidating power, and keeping all his politburo underlings in line, not to mention the ordinary citizens of North Korea.

I would be very surprised if there isn't more purging of the old guard.

Kissing 'Girlfriend's' Hand Gets 6-Year-Old Colorado Boy Suspension and 'Sexual Harassment Label

This is for the good grief file.

6 year-old Hunter Yelton is a cute young kid from Colorado who has a little girlfriend. As young lads are wont to do, he gave his little girlfriend an innocent kiss on her hand at school one day. It seems some fellow young 'uns tattled to the music teacher at a Cañon City school and Hunter landed a two day suspension for 'sexual harrassment'. That's right, sexual harassment!  The school planned on keeping that label on his school record- forever- but have since dropped the sexual harassment angle to 'misconduct', but still.  The little girl likes Hunter, so why would this qualify as sexual harassment? And a kiss on the hand?  Yes, he kissed her on the cheek on another occasion, but so what.

Hunter explains what happened:

"It was during class, yeah. We were doing reading group and I leaned over and kissed her on the hand. That's what happened."

Now the boy thinks he's done something wrong, and that a kiss on the hand is something terrible:

"They sent me to the office, fair and square. I did something wrong and I feel sorry."

Where are they, Saudi Arabia?

Hunter's mama, Jennifer Saunders, was furious that her son was labeled a sexual harasser, and that he's now questioning her about sex when those kinds of things should be far from his mind at that age.

"This is taking it to an extreme that doesn't need to be met with a 6-year-old. Now my son is asking questions -- 'what is sex, Mommy?' That should not ever be said, sex. Not in a sentence with a 6-year-old."

If he groped her in inappropriate places, or if she told him to stop and he didn't, sure, go ahead and punish the kid, but that wasn't the case.

What is happening to this country?!

According to this psychologist kissing is normal behaviour for kids that age, and that the suspension could have a negative impact on the child.

You can read more on Hunter, with video footage of the cutie here.

What The Fake Nelson Mandela Sign Language Interpreter Really Said- By 'This Is Genius'

So everyone has heard of the fake Sign Language interpreter at the Nelson Mandela memorial. At least that's what South Africa's Deaf Federation claims.

BBC interviews an expert about the situation.

The whole thing is pretty dang funny, other than the fact that no-one knew who he was and he was within firing shot of dignitaries.

For a little fun, This Is Genius has come up with a translation of what he really said:

UK Students Protest Planned Gender Segregation At Brit Universities

British students are up in arms about a policy that Universities UK (UUK) is planning on implementing which would allow for gender segregation under certain circumstances in Brit colleges.
So people were out demonstrating yesterday, on what happened to be Human Rights Day. Quite fitting, methinks.

The universities want the option to allow gender segregation during speaking lectures from 'outside' speakers, if those 'ultra-orthodox' speakers happen to request it. 'Ultra-orthodox', of course, is just a p.c. reference to Islamists, because they're pretty much the only ones who would. In fact, University College London had a bit of a controversy back in March, 2013 when a debate between atheist Lawrence Krauss and Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, organized by the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA), ended up with Krauss walking out when he noticed the lecture hall had been gender segregated. The organization was banned from any future events, but obviously other universities think it's a grand idea- to separate men and women.

More here on the protests.

Obviously there are some who think it's a grand idea.  Camillia Khan, Head of Communications at FOSIS (Federation of Student Islamic Societies), had this to say about gender segregation:

The term 'segregation' denotes discrimination and isolation - and this couldn't be further from the general reality. There needs to be a linguistic shift in the discourse - but more importantly, the shift must be an ideological one which accepts that there exist differences based on sound spirituality, and these need to be embraced, led by brave and nuanced organisations such as Universities UK. Male and female seating is a simple religious manifestation that has been established for multiple millennia and is one that is still actively implemented today by many churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious communities. Taking away the basic freedom to choose a room arrangement from mature and democratically elected student groups such as Islamic societies will only seek to alienate Muslim students from social engagement by denying their right to religious freedom.

No, they don't need to be embraced. There is a major difference between public education institutions and religious institutions. If you want to sit in the back of the mosque (or synagogue) by all means do so, we have no say over what happens on private religious property. But universities, forget it.  If they want segregation go to Al Azhar in Egypt or universities in Iran or Saudi Arabia where that's common practice, those universities will be happy to accommodate them. They should feel right at home. Stay out of Western, secular universities.

Bridenapping- Marriage Kazakh-Style For Men Who Can't Find Their Own

Can't find a wife, then just have your family bridenap one for you.  Apparently that's what happens in Kazakhstan, even though it's illegal.

RFE/RL has posted a disturbing amateur video of a young red-dressed woman being dragged, kicking and screaming through the would-be-grooms house by his male and female kin-folk. She's berated, slapped, pushed, her hair is pulled, and she's told "this marriage is going to happen!"

The poor quality video was filmed with Kairat Kozhabekov's cellphone, and later posted on his Facebook page, where he claimed this was a common practice in his country. I'm not sure whether he was proud or just documenting a horrifying tradition for the world to see. You can't see much the first few minutes of the video, since it's pitch black outside, until they are inside the house.

RFE/RL has translated much of what is being said including a male at the beginning saying:

 "Make sure she puts her right foot forward when she is stepping into the home for the first time." 

That's so they have a happy life.

The girl seems to be clueless:

"Don't hold me! Why are you holding me? Why are you talking to me like this? I want to leave," she says. "What are you talking about? I will leave. Why? Why?"

You will notice a white scarf the people are trying to force on her head. She fights valiantly to prevent this from happening, since it would mean she accepts the marriage proposal.

One woman shouts:

"That is it! This [marriage] is going to happen!"  "We are going to make you wear this white scarf anyway."

Another male asks her:

"Why are placing obstacles in the way of your own bright future?"  "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

And another woman tells the frightened, panicked young woman:

 "Don't make us upset."

She responds:

"No, no, no!"  "I'm not going to sit, I won't stay in this house. I'll leave. Let me go!"

But she's told:

 "No one is letting you out from this house."

What a great foundation for a happy marriage.

According to the post she just gave up and now has a son.

The video did not garner positive comments, and some Facebook users mentioned friends who had been bridenapped usually wound up divorcing their kidnappers.

You can get up to seven years for bridnapping (a century's old tradition), but the victims rarely seek help.

Christian Statues Are Being Vandalized In Germany

Christian statutes and religious symbols are being vandalized in the Muensterland region of Germany. Authorities have no clue who is responsible or whether it's simply vandalism or religiously motivated. But when it comes to the destruction of religious property, one can usually assume it's the latter.  And I doubt it's atheists, or Jews of Hindus or Buddhists.

Raqqa, Syria's First Rebel-Freed City, Now An Islamic Hell

It's sad really, the Syrian revolution started as an effort to bring freedom and democracy to a country run by a nasty dictator, albeit a secular one. But what they have managed to do was replace that nastiness with something far worse.

An article on Al Arabiya talks about what happened to the city of Raqqa in eastern Syria. Initially referred to as the "bride of the revolution," it was the first city to gain freedom from Bashar al-Assad's forces back in March. At the time, the people there were elated. But not so much now that the rebel forces- the likes of the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL)-  that took control of the city have turned the place into an Islamic hell.

“At the time we were all happy with the liberation, it was not important who was there. Raqqa was for all Syrians and all those who helped liberate it,” said one of several residents and activists contacted by Reuters via Skype.

[snip]

In the weeks that followed, prisons appeared in public buildings, electricity was cut off and shops were banned from selling tobacco, considered anti-Islamic by the ultra-puritan, masked Islamist fighters who began patrolling the city.

“They also closed the universities saying that because women are also taking lessons there it should be shut,” said a resident whose son is a media activist and is now wanted by the Islamists.

[Snip]

“When Raqqa was liberated we thought now that the regime is out, the era of freedom has begun. People started cleaning the streets. We thought we were living a dream,” said another resident who, like most Raqqa locals, declined to be named for their safety. “It was dream. They killed it.”

Public executions have become commonplace, churches have been burned, and the streets empty out by nightfall since the only buildings that have electricity are the ones the rebels stole.

Many of the activists  have left, blaming the Free Syrian Army for basically handing over the city to the jihadists. One activist, no longer living there, had this to say:

“All the FSA cared for was stealing and accumulating money. From the first day of Raqqa’s liberation they left it to the Islamic State."

I think Syria, at this point, is a lost cause.

North Korea Prison Camps Expanding Says Amnesty International

Look at any of the comments on the pro-North Korea YouTube channels, and the DPRK tools deny there are problems there, and claim that the prison camps are an exaggeration.

But Amnesty International says the camps are actually expanding according to recent satellite images of Kwanliso 15 and 16.  There are new housing blocks and guard towers in both those camps.

Reindeer Meat Goes Halal In Norway

Yes, a Norwegian slaughterhouse (Vilteksperten) has started killing reindeer the 'Halal' way to appeal to the burgeoning Muslim population in that country. 105 relatives of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer have had their throats sliced, blood drained, and then been blessed by a Muslim approved by the Islamic Council of Norway.  Apparently, Vilteksperten does slaughter the reindeer in the same manner as Halal, the only difference is the blessing.

But it won't just be Norwegian Muslims gobbling down reindeer, the meat could also end up on plates in upscale eateries in Dubai.

Source: Al Arabiya

Merrill Newman (85) "Prisoner of War" In North Korea Apologizes For "Hostile Acts"

With so many incredible places to travel throughout the world what would possess someone to add North Korea to their bucket list? Merrill Newman (85) apparently thought it would be pretty cool, had wanted to do so for a long time, even studied the language, so off he went on a nine day trek to the shithole that is the DPRK. On October 26th, he and his buddy Bob Hamrdla were on a plane ready to fly home to Palo Alto when he was removed by a uniformed DPRK officer, and he has been sitting somewhere in that country ever since.

According to Newman's son Jeffrey:

"My dad got off, walked out with the stewardess, and that's the last he was seen."

Until now, no-one knew for sure what was going on, or why he was detained, other than some info from his traveling companion who said the old fool got into it with some DPRK officials about his time there during the 1950-53 Korean War. Not the smartest thing to do considering there never was a peace treaty so technically the two Koreas are still at war, and the certifiably insane leadership keeps the memory of that war fresh in the minds of the people on a daily basis.

Son Jeff seemed to think that his father would be released after North Korea realized they made a mistake and that Merrill was simply an "elderly traveler, a grandfather with a heart condition." But that doesn't seem likely any time soon, since we now have a 'confession' from Merrill, admitting to war crimes.



Of course, it's doubtful those are his words, but he's obviously playing their game.

Regarding his arrest:

The Korean Central News Agency released the following report on Saturday:

A relevant institution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea recently put in custody U.S. citizen Merrill Edward Newman who committed hostile acts against the DPRK after entering the country under the guise of a tourist. After entering the DPRK as a member of tourists' group in October he perpetrated acts of infringing upon the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK and slandering its socialist system, quite contrary to the purpose of tour. He also committed such crime as trying to look for spies and terrorists who conducted espionage and subversive activities against the DPRK in the area of Mt. Kuwol during the last Fatherland Liberation War as well as their families and descendants and connect them with the "Kuwol Partisan Comrades-in-Arms Association," an anti-DPRK plot-breeding organization of south Korea. According to the results of the investigation, he was active as adviser of "Kuwol Unit" of the UN Korea 6th Partisan Regiment part of the Intelligence Bureau of the Command of the U.S. Forces in the Far East since early in 1953. He is a criminal as he masterminded espionage and subversive activities against the DPRK and in this course he was involved in killings of service personnel of the Korean People's Army and innocent civilians. The investigation clearly proved Newman's hostile acts against the DPRK and they were backed by evidence. He admitted all his crimes and made an apology for them.

The San Jose Mercury News has some interesting information regarding Newman's part during the war including:

New revelations that 85-year-old Merrill Edward Newman had served in a once-top-secret U.S. Army unit nicknamed the "White Tigers.''

And that he trained anti-communist guerrillas fighting in North Korea. Even more reason not to go there. Kim Chang-Sun, one of those fighters he trained, believes the North Koreans knew who he was.

"Those bastards already knew Newman before the war was over. They obtained the roster of our entire regiment."

I feel terrible for the old man, but if my dad had fought over there and wanted to take a trip to North Korea, I'd confiscate his passport. Newman had no business traveling to a communist country with a generation of leaders that have violated the rights of the people in such a horrendous way, especially considering what he did during the war.

I hope they release him, but he's now considered a prisoner of war. As crazy as they are, that does not bode well.