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Brick Wall

Flashback What happened when I explained Christian teaching about gender on Facebook

Francis Phillips
The Catholic Herald
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
Facebook offices
© AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, FileThe thread on Facebook was promptly closed.
First the commenters became angry - then they demanded the thread be shut down

Recently I had a surreally disquieting experience. Someone had randomly posted up a photograph of girls in school uniform on my school's Old Girls' Facebook page (this school used to be a convent boarding school but is now a girls' Catholic day school). Above the photo was a caption referring to private schools having to face up to new transgender issues.

I added a one-line comment, saying I hoped that such schools would not give in to political correctness on this matter. There were instant strong objections to my remark. So I added a couple of paragraphs, explaining why Christians follow history, the Bible, biology and common sense on sex and gender and recommending a couple of books. This led to an irrational and angry response on the part of several commentators who demanded that the thread be closed immediately. It was.

Comment: Although the controversy around social media censoring conservative voices is relatively recent, from this story, it's clear to see that Facebook has been silencing voices that counter the identity politics agenda, particularly Christian voices, for at least two years now.

See also:

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Light Sabers

Rise of extremist Buddhism in Asia is defying stereotypes of the peaceful Buddhist

Jerome Taylor
Yahoo News
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 09:29 UTC
myanmar buddhists
© AFP Photo/SOE THAN WINIn Myanmar, ultra-nationalist monks have poured vitriol on the country's small Muslim population, cheering a military crackdown forcing nearly 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh
Buddhism may be touted in the West as an inherently peaceful philosophy, but a surge in violent rhetoric from small but increasingly influential groups of hardline monks in parts of Asia is upending the religion's tolerant image.

Buddhist mobs in Sri Lanka last week led anti-Muslim riots that left at least three dead and more than 200 Muslim-owned establishments in ruins, just the latest bout of communal violence there stoked by Buddhist nationalists.

In Myanmar, ultra-nationalist monks led by firebrand preacher Wirathu have poured vitriol on the country's small Muslim population, cheering a military crackdown forcing nearly 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh.

And in neighbouring Thailand, a prominent monk found himself in hot water for calling on followers to burn down mosques.

What has prompted this surge in aggressive rhetoric from followers of a faith that is so often equated, rightly or wrongly, with non-violence?

Comment: One of the dangers of tribalism is that groups see others in terms of their group, and not as individuals. Naturally, these conflicts tend to be along ethnic or religious lines. It's ridiculous to think that because people are Buddhists they are naturally non-violent. People get violent when their group identity is threatened. From the article above you wouldn't think the Buddhists have any reason for feeling threatened. It's just "perceived (i.e. not real) historical grievances" and "Islamophobia". No mention is made of the Muslim attacks on Buddhists. Here's just one account, from WaPo:
The Hindu woman wept as she vowed never to return home, where she said Rohingya militants slaughtered her son, daughter-in-law and three granddaughters in August.

"They killed my family," Halu Bar Hla, 70, said through tears at a camp for internally displaced people in western Burma. "I will not go back. I will die if I go back to my village. They will slit my throat."
That's not to say a collective response is justified. But the situation is a lot more complex than AFP wants you to think.

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Attention

Couple accused of waterboarding 12yo daughter reaches plea deal


CBS Pittsburgh
Mon, 12 Mar 2018 09:20 UTC
Malisa and Dion Stevens
A couple accused of waterboarding their 12-year-old daughter have reached a plea deal.

Last year, Malisa and Dion Stevens, of Aliquippa, allegedly waterboarded the girl to punish her.

Under the deal, the couple will be on probation for five to seven years.

The family can also be reunited under supervision.

"We have entered into a tentative plea agreement with the district attorney's office. It's my hope that the agreement will be upheld. It's an agreement that is geared toward family unification," defense attorney Lee Rothman said.

The details of the agreement will be worked out at a future court hearing, but the Stevens would plead guilty to a felony county of endangering the welfare of a child.

Comment: We humans are strange creatures.
Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. (Romans 7:7-8)


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Info

Syrian army uncovers underground field hospital used by ISIS in Abu Kamal

Zen Adra
Al Masdar News
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 08:26 UTC
ISIS field hospital
ISIS field hospital
An underground field hospital previously used by ISIS militants was uncovered in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

Army units were conducting a mop-up operation in the city of Albu Kamal, located along the Iraqi borders, when they discovered an underground compound mainly equipped by US-made medical supplies.
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Star of David

Is Israel's 'deceit & coercion' of North African Jews to be revealed in declassified state papers?


RT
Mon, 12 Mar 2018 20:35 UTC
Yemen immigrants Israel
© Reuters /FileJewish immigrants from Yemen in a tent encampment in 1949
Israel intends to unseal controversial documents detailing the discriminatory treatment suffered by Jewish immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East in the early decades of the state's establishment.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced Sunday that she intends to make the controversial archive files accessible to the public following pressure from fellow politicians, Haaretz reports. "There is no reason that material that deals with the history of the state should not be revealed," said Shaked, who is on the Knesset committee for archive materials. "We will go over the material and make recommendations to publish it, so long as there are no sensitive issues pertaining to the security of the state."

Comment: Israel seems quite willing to acknowledge its past mistreatment of peoples it invited into the country, to maybe even expressing some sort of historical remorse. What a convenient distraction from its current daily persecution of the indigenous Palestinians.

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Bad Guys

Lemmings, NATO, the 'Russian threat' and the merchants of death

Peter Hitchens
The Daily Mail
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 19:52 UTC
Russian bear vs EU
Some things people believe just aren't true

Lemmings throw themselves off cliffs in mass suicides, right? Actually, no. A famous award-winning 1950s film allegedly showing them doing this, was faked. That paragon of responsibility, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, looked into the matter. See here.

Yet most people vaguely believe the lemming story to be true. It's become quite an important part of their thinking and they are unwilling to let it go.

Say to them that lemmings don't actually have a mass death-wish, and they will cry out in astonishment and disbelief. Could a similar delusion be affecting views on NATO expansion, supposedly caused by the shivering fear of tiny, furry states cowering on the edge of the Russian bear-pit, begging for our supposedly mighty protection?

Comment: Let it be noted the NYT published that article in 1998. The intertwining of the US government and arms manufacturers into one demonic aspect of the Deep State has only continued.

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Wine n Glass

Banned from flying: Pensioner faces €10k fine after he chugged 2 bottles of wine and set off aircraft alarm


RT
Mon, 12 Mar 2018 19:42 UTC
Wine
© Regis Duvignau / Reuters
Airport security is a drag, especially if you forget liquids are banned and put two bottles of wine in your carry-on. That's what happened to a pensioner who ended up chugging both bottles, getting so drunk that he couldn't fly.

The 67-year-old German citizen intended to give the two bottles of fine wine to the people who would be hosting him in Thailand. However, instead of wrapping them up safely and putting them in his checked luggage, he stored the bottles in his carry-on bag.

Of course, that was a problem since liquids over 100ml are banned in airplane cabins. Security officials at Frankfurt airport informed him he would have to get rid of the wine.
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Jet4

'Toxic, damaging, shameful': UK and Saudi Arabia sign huge arms deal


RT
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 16:56 UTC
Saudis leave Downing
© South China Morning PostGot what they came for.
To the surprise of no-one, Saudi Arabia and Britain signed a huge new arms deal on Friday. It comes despite repeated calls for the UK to halt arms sales in light of massive civilian casualties and a humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

British firm BAE Systems will sell 48 Typhoon fighter jets to the Saudis after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Prime Minister Theresa May for talks. A preliminary deal has been signed, according to reports, for the Kingdom to buy from the UK, as part of a multi-billion-pound deal.

Shares in BAE Systems shot up 2 percent after the announcement. BAE confirmed the news, saying in a statement: "This is a positive step towards agreeing a contract for our valued partner. We are committed to supporting the kingdom as it modernises the Saudi Armed Forces and develops key industrial capabilities critical to the delivery of Vision 2030."

However, civil and human rights campaigners are furious. The UK has already licensed £4.6 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the bombardment of neighboring Yemen began three years ago.


Comment: May brags about saving (unspecified) 'hundreds of lives' through intel sharing while, at the same time, supporting the bombing of a cholera-sick and war-devastated civilian population, killing thousands in incessant air raids. May ought to be ashamed (but isn't) as profits remain her moral master.

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Star of David

Colonel Wilkerson says Israel is dragging the US into WWIII

Darius Shahtahmasebi
AntiMedia
Mon, 12 Mar 2018 17:18 UTC
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson
© Foreign Policy JournalColonel Lawrence Wilkerson
Israel is in the process of plunging America into a war with Iran that could destroy what's left of the Middle East and ignite a third world war, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, warned in Washington approximately a week ago.

Wilkerson, a retired army colonel who now teaches at Washington-area universities, didn't hold back in his critique of where the status quo is leading the United States via its client state, Israel.

At the annual Israel lobby conference at the National Press Club, sponsored by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Institute for Research: Middle East Policy, Wilkerson explained that Israel is headed toward "a massive confrontation with the various powers arrayed against it, a confrontation that will suck America in and perhaps terminate the experiment that is Israel and do irreparable damage to the empire that America has become."


Comment: Israel is the US' Achilles Heel. That its grip is so tight tells us how big its jaws, how deep it has bitten and how encompassing its control of US policy, resources, illusions.

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Jet3

Turkish jet fighters conduct raids in N. Iraq, destroy 18 Kurdish targets


Sputnik
Sun, 11 Mar 2018 20:19 UTC
Turkish fighterjets
© UnknownTurkish fighter jets
In conjunction with allied Syrian militants, the Turkish military launched operation Olive Branch in January 2018 to oust Kurdish-led forces, which allegedly have ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), from parts of northern Syria near the border with Turkey.

Turkish warplanes conducted a series of raids across northern Iraq over the weekend, successfully destroying 18 PKK targets, according to reports by Turkish media. Areas targeted include the Zap, Metina, Gara and Hakurk regions of Iraq, according to information released by the Turkish military. Details regarding the number of casualties inflicted or the specific targets of the airstrikes are yet to be released.

PKK forces have been battling Turkey for decades, with fighting largely concentrating in southeastern parts of the country. The group - which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU - maintains a military presence in northern Iraq near the Turkey-Iraq and Iran-Iraq borders.

Turkey has regularly carried out similar attacks against the PKK in northern Iraq, and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu recently said that they would be conducting joint military operations with Iraqi forces, though he didn't specify when this campaign will begin, or if it will include a ground offensive.
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