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Mon, 08 Nov 2021
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Bullseye

Student group at Georgetown targeted for promoting 'hateful' Catholic views on 'sexual integrity'

President of the Love Saxa group at Georgetown University, Amelia Irvine.
© Love Saxa / Facebook
President of the Love Saxa group at Georgetown University, Amelia Irvine.
A Catholic student group at Georgetown University has been accused by pro-choice activists of promoting hatred and intolerance for advocating a traditional view on marriage. If the organization is branded a "hate group," it will lose its yearly funding of $250 from the university.

Love Saxa, the student group at Georgetown Catholic University that champions old-fashioned marriage between a man and a woman, and which delves into and exposes the alleged dangers of porn and generally promotes Catholic values, was catapulted into the media spotlight following accusations by "pro-choice"student activists that the Christian circle was a "hate group."

The controversy was sparked late in September, when a student submitted a formal notice to the University Assistant Dean for Student Engagement, arguing that Love Saxa's views on marriage are "hateful" and should thus be stripped off its funding, the University news outlet the Hoya reported.

People 2

Bahamas resort offering vacation for plus-sized vacationers only

plus size resort
© James King
When Shawn-Marie Riley arrived at what's believed to be the world's only plus-size resort, the 375-pound Texan immediately felt right at home.

"Being able to feel 'normal,' even for a little while, was beyond a gift," says the 5-foot-8 benefits administrator of her visit to the Resort, on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera. Riley says she loved it so much, she plans to return next year.

The secret retreat, founded two years ago by entrepreneur James King, encourages fuller-figured tourists to let it all hang out while on vacation. They can loll on chaise lounges built to hold 560 pounds; sleep - or enjoy worry-free sex - on king-size, steel-reinforced beds; and stroll the private beach without what King calls "fear of judgment."

"What's so great is [the Resort's] recognition that people of size have insecurities and challenges that the general public never considers," Riley tells The Post of her visit in November 2015, soon after it opened. "Will they have chairs I can sit on? Will the bed hold my weight? Will I fit in the tub?

Heart

A US citizen apologizes to Russians

giving flowers
An apology to Russians on behalf of those with American citizenship.

For long we have been filled with information from news agencies that instilled fear against Russia, for long we have provided schools entire manuals of why fearing the "Russian bear" is a productive thing. We look with distrust to people who on average are more highly educated than most American citizens. When I was studying in Western business schools, discussions about anything positive about Russia (which was not discouraged officially) - I suffered from lower grades for explaining positive outcomes of the Russian economy. This happened in several papers, even though I substantiated my arguments with facts.

I wanted to go to Russia and see it for myself, I distrusted the media and I saw the discourses that sought the opposite justification to my expectations. Although no economy is invulnerable to crisis, the Russian one was no exception, since globalized services make all countries interlink - so, were we not out-casting the stand of the Russian government and excusing every other?

The sanctions and oil prices that were meant to break Russia, had failed to exert the mortal blow that was so desired by an international media, and an economic cartel that seeks to pulverize an economy they can't control, even if their rule over Western powers have brought many nations to collapse.

Eye 2

Austrian police arrest hitman-turned-migrant-trafficker, known as 'Butcher of Pakistan'

migrants crossing Europe
© Antonio Bronic / Reuters
FILE PHOTO
Vienna police have captured a 35-year-old man accused of killing 70 people in Pakistan. Atif Z. was arrested among a group of 42 illegal migrants in Hungary, local media have reported.

The suspect is on Pakistan's Most Wanted list and was detained following a tip-off in an international police operation near Boly in southern Hungary, from where he reportedly operated a people-smuggling ring.

"This case once again shows the importance of international cooperation in combating crime. I can only congratulate the Austrian investigators on this success," said Austria's Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka.

Laptop

Las Vegas shooter's laptop found at scene is missing its hard drive

Paddock's room mandalay bay

Paddock's suite room doors at the end of 'hallway 100' in the Mandalay Bay
A laptop computer recovered from the Las Vegas hotel room where Stephen Paddock launched the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was missing its hard drive, depriving investigators of a potential key source of information on why he killed and maimed so many people, ABC News has learned.

Paddock is believed to have removed the hard drive before fatally shooting himself, and the missing device has not yet been recovered, sources told ABC News.

Investigators digging into Paddock's background also learned he purchased software designed to erase files from a hard drive, but without the hard drive to examine it is impossible to know if he ever used the software, one source said.

The absence of substantial digital clues has left investigators struggling to piece together what triggered Paddock to kill 58 innocent concertgoers and injure more than 500 others on Oct. 1.

Comment: Option 1: Paddock removed the drive in the days before the shooting and disposed of it. Option 2: The drive was removed in the period right before, during, or after the shooting. If the latter, that raises the question: who removed it? Obviously not Paddock - it would have been recovered at the scene of the crime. Either someone with access to the evidence removed it. Or it was removed by someone else in the room.

See: Serious Problems With Official Las Vegas Massacre Narrative


Chart Bar

Pew poll reveals deep fissures on the Right and Left in American politics

pew poll
Nearly a year after Donald Trump was elected president, the Republican coalition is deeply divided on such major issues as immigration, America's role in the world and the fundamental fairness of the U.S. economic system.

The Democratic coalition is largely united in staunch opposition to President Trump. Yet, while Trump's election has triggered a wave of political activism within the party's sizable liberal bloc, the liberals' sky-high political energy is not nearly as evident among other segments in the Democratic base. And Democrats also are internally divided over U.S. global involvement, as well as some religious and social issues.

These are among the findings of Pew Research Center's new political typology, which sorts Americans into cohesive groups based on their values, attitudes and party affiliation, and provides a unique perspective on the nation's changing political landscape. Before reading further, take our quiz to see where you fit in the political typology.

The political typology reveals that even in a political landscape increasingly fractured by partisanship, the divisions within the Republican and Democratic coalitions may be as important a factor in American politics as the divisions between them.

In some cases these fissures are not new - they were evident in six previous Pew Research Center typology studies conducted over the past three decades, most recently in 2014. Yet, especially within the GOP, many of the divisions now center on the issues that have been front-and-center for Trump since he first launched his presidential campaign.

This study is based on surveys of more than 5,000 adults conducted over the summer. This was also the data source for our Oct. 6 report, "The Partisan Divide on Political Values Grows Even Wider." These reports were made possible by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which received support for the surveys from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Comment: You can take the quiz here:
Are you a Core Conservative? A Solid Liberal? Or somewhere in between? Take our quiz to find out which one of our Political Typology groups is your best match compared with a nationally representative survey of more than 5,000 U.S. adults by Pew Research Center.

You may find some of these questions are difficult to answer. For example, you may partly agree with both statements, or feel that neither quite describes your view. That's OK. In those cases, pick the answer that comes closest to your view, even if it isn't exactly right.
Pew says only 6% are "country first conservatives". Surely they jest. Maybe that's the way their data parses out based on the profiles they've made, a whole lot more than 6% of America consider themselves "America Firsters".


Bizarro Earth

Dispelling the myths about sexual abuse: Men are victims too, and women are often aggressors - but rates of violence are still lower than ever

violent woman
Over the past two weeks, America has been rocked by the revelation that the Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein has engaged in numerous instances of sexual harassment and possibly even sexual assault. In response, the actress Alyssa Milano began a social media campaign to raise awareness of these forms of abuse in the world at large, tweeting:

Arrow Down

Research finds Americans are dying sooner, retiring later and less healthy than 10 years ago

elderly walker
© West Coast Surfer / Global Look Press
The latest data shows the overall health of Americans is consistently declining. At the same time, the number of retirees, who live less and are less active, is growing.

According to the research by the Society of Actuaries, the US mortality ratio grew 1.2 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year. That is the first year-on-year rise since 2005, and only the second increase greater than one percent in over 37 years.

Experts say that almost one in three US citizens aged 65 to 69 are still working with nearly one in five working in their early 70s.

Later retirement for financial benefits makes it easier to afford a longer well-earned rest does not necessarily extend the pensioners' lifespan.

According to the Health Affairs Journal, Americans in their late 50s already have more serious health problems than people at the same ages did 10 to 15 years ago.

Eye 2

UK Chief Constable: "Horrifying" number of people in Britain view child porn

stuffed animal
© Rolf Kremming / Global Look Press
A "horrifying" number of people in Britain are viewing child sexual abuse images online, a police chief has warned amid suggestions that pedophiles who view indecent images should not be charged unless they pose a physical threat to children.

Society needs to discuss the issue, which is about "much more than law enforcement," Dave Thompson, chief constable of West Midlands Police, told the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.

"I am staggered by what I see in terms of the operations the force carries out on the peer-to-peer sharing of images and more sensitive covert policing techniques we carry out," he said, according to The Guardian.

"The amount of men in this country who appear to show an active interest in his area is horrifying and the scale of it, I think, takes my breath away.

"There is a really big discussion I think, as a society, about how we deal with this, that's much more than law enforcement. Of course, it makes us all feel deeply uncomfortable to think that people who have that involvement in those activities should in any shape or form escape punishment. But the scale of it is just absolutely huge," added Thompson.

Eye 2

ISIS uses doctored picture of Lionel Messi to make threats of attacks during World Cup in Russia

messi isis pic
© SITE Intelligence Group
Islamic State terrorists have used a doctored picture of football star Lionel Messi on a series of posters that threaten to carry out attacks at the FIFA World Cup in Russia next year.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) outlined its threat to target the tournament using an image of the Barcelona and Argentina striker on posters used by a pro-IS media entity, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

RT has blurred the captions on the pictures as they contain calls for extremism by Islamic State terrorist group, which is banned in Russia.

The poster shows the five-time Ballon d'Or winner behind bars and crying blood. It also contains a caption in both English and Arabic saying that the group does not know the word 'failure' and a slogan resembling Nike's "Just do it," replacing the last part with the word "terrorism."