Society's ChildS


Binoculars

Safe spaces and 'ze' badges: My bewildering year at New York University

Madeleine Kearns
The Spectator
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 15:47 UTC
SJWs
© Getty Images
As a child in Glasgow, I learned that sticks and stones might break my bones but words didn't really hurt. I'm now at New York University studying journalism, where a different mantra seems to apply. Words, it turns out, might cause life-ruining emotional trauma.

During my 'Welcome Week', for example, I was presented with a choice of badges indicating my preferred gender pronouns: 'he', 'she', 'they' or 'ze'?

The student in front of me, an Australian, found this hilarious: 'Last time I checked, I was a girl.' Her joke was met with stony silence. Later I realised why: expressing bewilderment at the obsession with pronouns might count as a 'micro-aggression'. Next stop, 'transphobia'.

It was soon obvious to my fellow students that I was not quite with the programme. In a class discussion early in my first semester, I made the mistake of mentioning that I believed in objective standards in art. Some art is great, some isn't, I said; not all artists are equally talented. This was deemed an undemocratic opinion and I was given a nickname: the cultural fascist. I've tried to take it affectionately.
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Red Flag

The removal of monuments is a symptom of the old Western diseases of victimization and resentment

Jonah Goldberg
Townhall
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 17:36 UTC
monument removal
The virus seems to be approaching its breakout phase. We could be looking at a full-scale epidemic here.

Zika? Ebola? Flu?

Nope. We don't have a great word for this sickness yet. "Iconoclasm" -- i.e., the destruction of images and monuments that offend this mob or that -- comes close, but the toppling of statues is just one acute symptom of the fever.

Indeed, the fight over Confederate statues is just a discrete and more understandable eruption of the larger trend. This stuff has been happening for decades. One of the first outbreaks involved the word "crusader." The term hurt the feelings of people who didn't know what they didn't know. Left-wing historians (and the Islamists who love them) convinced themselves that the Crusades were a trial run of Western imperialism and colonialism. They were, in fact, largely defensive wars intended to beat back the aggression of Muslim colonizers. Even the organization Campus Crusade for Christ changed its name to "Cru" lest people get the wrong impression.
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USA

Veterans boycott Cleveland Browns games after players take the knee during national anthem


RT
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 17:26 UTC
Brown's protest sign
© Tim Zvoncheck / Facebook
A society of war veterans has labeled stars of the Cleveland Browns a 'disgrace' after members of the NFL team staged the league's largest national anthem protest so far.

More than a dozen Browns players hunkered down on one knee during the Star-Spangled Banner before their preseason game against the New York Giants Monday.

Last year, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick became the first to kneel during the US national anthem. His protest against social injustice, specifically the number of people of color being killed by US police, has since inspired his fellow professionals in the ranks of the NFL.


Comment: Why Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest is fundamentally American


In response to the Browns protest, Tim Zvoncheck, a commander in the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) group in Strongsville, Ohio, has said that Cleveland Browns games will no longer be televised at their headquarters.
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Attention

IS claims responsibility for Kabul mosque attack; 13 killed


RT
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 17:19 UTC
Afghan soldiers
© Omar Sobhani / ReutersAfghan policemen take position at the site of a suicide attack followed by a clash between Afghan forces and insurgents after an attack on a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 25, 2017.
An explosion hit Imam Zaman Mosque in Kabul on the day of Muslim Friday prayers, followed by gunfire, the Afghan Interior Ministry and police said. At least 13 people were killed and dozens injured in the assault, authorities say.

The assailants stormed the mosque at around 1:15pm local time, local Tolo News reported. A Special Forces unit entered the building following the attack, Najib Danish, spokesman for the interior ministry, confirmed.

As of now, information on the total number of dead and injured varies.

Public Health Ministry said over 30 peple were killed and more than 80 injured, TOLO reports.
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Attention

No wonder US forces in a morale crisis

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:01 UTC
USS McCain damage
© REUTERS/ Ahmad Masood
The spate of deadly US Navy collisions is a symptom of a wider morale crisis among American military forces. Part of the reason is that American troops are simply exhausted from being abused by political masters in Washington.

"Over-stretch" is one way of putting it. American forces continue to be assigned in overseas wars and operations around the globe with no end in sight. And for no credible purpose either.

This is not just a Navy problem. It affects all other branches of the US military: Army, Air Force, the Marines and National Guard.

When President Donald Trump announced his brazen U-turn sending more American troops back to Afghanistan, the move had the backing of the Pentagon's top brass. No doubt stock prices for US arms manufacturers spiked.
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Alarm Clock

Alabama daycare worker dumps 5-year-old boy on the road after he dies in daycare van


WKRG
Thu, 24 Aug 2017 10:54 UTC
Kamden Johnson
© WKRG5-year-old Kamden Johnson
Court documents filed in the Manslaughter case against Valarie Patterson indicate that Kamden Johnson died from being left in the daycare's van. Final autopsy results have not been released but preliminary results showed there was no physical trauma to the 5-year-old boy.

Court documents also show that Patterson, after finding Kamden in the van, dumped his body "on the side of Demotroplis Road."

There is no mention of Johnson's death being attributed to a hot vehicle, but the high temperature that day was 93-degrees.

On Wednesday, Jasmyn Williams Johnson, the mother of Kamden Johnson, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the daycare and its owners. The civil suit alleges that the daycare owners, Carl and Angela Coker, along with Preschool Academy Director Kenya Anderson, were negligent in the operation of the unlicensed daycare causing the death of Kamden.
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Red Flag

International Olympic Committee buys into gender fluidity hysteria, will allow transgender athletes to perform during '18 Winter Games

WARNER TODD HUSTON
Breitbart
Thu, 24 Aug 2017 16:11 UTC
olympics
© The Associated Press
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed that it would allow transgender athletes to compete in whatever category they wish to participate in during the 2018 Winter Olympics, a report says.

IOC officials noted that they will not require athletes to compete in categories that match their birth gender nor will there be any gender or sex testing of competitors ahead of the games, Daily Caller reported.

"With regard to Hyperandrogenism in female athletes, there were no regulations in place at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and there will be no regulations in place at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 as we are still awaiting the resolution of the Dutee Chand case," the IOC recently claimed.

The Dutee Chand case concerns the Indian sprinter who is fighting rules that prevent her from competing because she exhibits "female hyperandrogenism," and has too many natural male traits which may give her an advantage over female opponents.
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Snowflake

Sorry Snowflakes: 85% of Americans see freedom of speech as more important than not offending others

TOM CICCOTTA
Breitbart
Thu, 24 Aug 2017 16:07 UTC
freedom of speech
© NOEL CELIS/AFP/GettyImages
An overwhelming 85 percent of Americans say freedom of speech is "more important than making sure no one is offended by what others say," according to a poll published by Rasmussen Reports on Wednesday.

A new poll released by Rasmussen Reports on Wednesday revealed that over 85 percent of American adults believe that the right to free speech is "more important than making sure no one is offended by what others say." A mere eight percent said they believe that guarding against personal offense is more important than protecting free speech.

73 percent also agreed with the famous line often attributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it." Another 10 percent disagreed with that statement, and 17 percent said they are undecided.

The poll reveals that there is bipartisan agreement with regards to freedom of speech. Despite overwhelming support for speech rights, Democrats are slightly less supportive as a group of protecting speech for those they disagree with than are Republicans.

Additionally, 47 percent of respondents said they believe that most college administrators and professors are more interested in getting students to toe a specific political line rather than to participate in a free exchange of ideas.
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House

Most Americans are still living paycheck to paycheck

Jessica Dickler
CNBC
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 15:27 UTC
US dollar with calculator
© Natalia Seliverstova / Sputnik
No matter how much you earn, getting by is still a struggle for most people these days.

Seventy-eight percent of full-time workers said they live paycheck to paycheck, up from 75 percent last year, according to a recent report from CareerBuilder.

Overall, 71 percent of all U.S. workers said they're now in debt, up from 68 percent a year ago, CareerBuilder said.

While 46 percent said their debt is manageable, 56 percent said they were in over their heads. About 56 percent also save $100 or less each month, according to CareerBuilder. The job-hunting site polled over 2,000 hiring and human resource managers and more than 3,000 full-time employees between May and June.
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Arrow Down

Hijab-wearing woman concussed in 'Islamophobic' Madrid assault by a group of men


RT
Fri, 25 Aug 2017 15:31 UTC
Hijab-wearing woman
© David Taylor-Bramley / Getty Images
Spanish police are investigating an "Islamophobic" attack which saw a group of young men beat up a 38-year-old Muslim woman in Madrid.

Three young men set upon the woman outside the Usera Metro station in the Spanish capital. She received several blows and was taken to hospital by ambulance, suffering from a panic attack and concussion.

Police in Madrid are treating the incident as a hate crime, El Mundo reports. The Diversity Management Unit of Madrid's police force is investigating the case.

The unit investigates any act of intolerance and discrimination that occurs in the Spanish capital, whether it's a criminal offense or not.

The woman told investigators that the men insulted her and started beating her because she was wearing a hijab and looked like a Muslim.
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