Friday, September 22, 2017




France may make wolf-whistling and asking women for their phone number a CRIMINAL offence

This is almost certainly aimed at egregious immigrant behaviour

WOLF-WHISTLING is set to be banned in France as the government declares war on men hassling women in public.

Under new plans bugging women for their telephone numbers and following them could also be prohibited.

The crackdown comes after surveys show virtually all French women have been harassed on public transport, in the street or elsewhere at some time.

France’s new leader, President Emmanuel Macron, has pledged to end this during his election campaign this year.

Only a few countries, including Belgium and Portugal, have banned such behaviour.

The UK and others have broader laws against harassment in general but none so specific.

Some lawyers believe men should only be prosecuted when police officers witness an offence.

Others say women should be able to file criminal lawsuits against offenders at a later date.

But Marlène Schiappa, the under-secretary for gender equality, defended the plan and gave an example of behaviour that would be illegal. She said: "You are a woman in an underground train. I am a man. I follow you. "You get off the train. I get off. “You get on another train. I get on too. I ask you for your telephone number. I ask again. I ask a third time.

“You feel oppressed. That is street harassment."

Gilles-William Goldnadel, a lawyer, accused Ms Schiappa of seeking to outlaw "heavy Latin chat-up lines".

He said the only consequences of the law would be to enrich feminist lawyers and to clog up the court system.

SOURCE





Women soldiers are facing an enemy within

Rates of suicide and sexual attacks by male troops are shockingly high in the US military

Last Friday at 5pm the Veterans Affairs Department in Washington released its analysis of suicide statistics for the 55 million people who left the US armed services between 1970 and 2014. It’s a quiet time of the news week, designed to attract little interest. And that’s not surprising because the figures were shocking. They showed that male veterans had a 20 per cent increased risk of suicide over male non-vets. Female veterans, though, were 250 per cent more likely to kill themselves than other women.

Which raises the question: just as women are being encouraged to join in larger numbers, what is happening to them that so markedly increases their suicide risk? Serving in an army at war is stressful but why should women suffer so much more than men?

In the general population women are much less likely to kill themselves than men. Male suicide rates are 3.5 times higher. But the experience of serving pushes their rates up dramatically. When you break the figures down it is clear that it is the youngest veterans of both sexes who are by far the worst affected. Men under 30 who are serving have almost triple the suicide rate of male civilians. For women under 30 the rate is more than six times.

In the past three decades the official view of women in the military has shifted from keeping them at the fringes to declaring that there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be at the centre. Fifteen per cent of America’s 1.34 million active duty troops are female.

In December 2015 the US defence department announced that women would be allowed into frontline combat, driving tanks, firing mortars and leading infantry, as long as they could meet the same physical standards as the men. Last October the first ten female infantry leaders graduated from their course.

The assumption is that women in the forces should be treated equally. Unfortunately, the reality is that women are more likely to be assaulted, harassed and discriminated against within the military, and find it harder to get jobs and homes when they leave. For many, joining the forces is still a good career choice, offering opportunities that they wouldn’t have in their home towns. However, most women are simply not having the same experience that’s on offer to men.

The bleakest difference is in the rates of rape and assault. A 2013 paper on treating US veterans found that 25 per cent of military women have been assaulted and up to 80 per cent harassed. Women report being commonly referred to by male soldiers as either bitch, slut or lesbian. A 2014 survey commissioned by the defence department found that 6.5 per cent of women in the navy, almost 5 per cent in the army and 7.9 per cent in the Marines had been sexually assaulted in the preceding year. The figures for men were between 0.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent.

In 2013 a PBS documentary reported that a woman in a combat zone was more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by the enemy. The Pentagon estimates that only one in six assaults is reported. That is probably because women are 12 times more likely to experience retaliation for their reporting than they are to see their attackers convicted. Almost 60 per cent of victims are assaulted by a supervisor or unit leader. Fewer than one in ten cases are tried but more than half of women are professionally or socially victimised for reporting assaults.

Women recount the terrible disorientation they go through when this happens. In a discussion thread online one soldier described how she tried to stick to “the good guys” in her unit for security, only to be raped by one of her best friends after a year. The betrayal is immense, she says, and so is the confusion because everything in your training teaches you to cut ties with outsiders and rely on your small group, and yet they can turn out to be your greatest threat. The camaraderie that men can trust in does not exist for them.

A Marine told Human Rights Watch what happened when her attackers were cleared. She had anonymous text threats, her car was vandalised, her picture was posted to a Marines Facebook page, saying she was a “wildebeest” who must be silenced “before she lied about another rape”. Someone posted: “Find her, tag her, haze her, make her life a living hell.” She stopped going to the dining hall out of fear.

The differences between men’s and women’s experiences are compounded when they leave the forces. Women find it harder to get jobs, possibly because their skills are likely to be in classically male areas. While 40 per cent have children, they have less support from partners and three times as many women as men are single parents. Those who have been raped or violently attacked are more than six times more likely to be homeless.

Veterans’ mental health support groups are geared to men; a single woman doesn’t want to join a group of nine men to discuss her trauma from military sexual assault.

America is working on all this, collecting evidence, tracking veterans’ health, trying to transform sexist military culture. But what the evidence tells us is that women are being betrayed by optimistic assertions of equality and opportunity. They are dying for it.

Britain is taking the same path but with even less research or follow-up. Last year it too lifted the barriers on frontline troops. This isn’t good enough. Women cannot serve on equal terms unless the military finds effective ways of constraining male aggression. Until then women on the front line risk being sacrifices rather than leading lights.

SOURCE




Atheist Hypocrisy and the Assault on Religious Liberty

Attacks on faith have increased dramatically in recent years, but there's still hope and reason to fight

Knowing the perils of disease, shipwreck and discomfort, the Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower in search of one thing: religious liberty. While many died on the voyage, and half of those who made it here died in the first winter, they knew that their lives were but “stepping stones” for the next generation’s freedom to practice Christianity. Their journey had taken them from an underground church in Scrooby, England, to an escape in Holland. However, as Holland’s secular society began corroding the hearts and minds of their children, they realized that a voyage to the New World was worth the risk. The Plymouth landing in 1620 stands as one of the earliest pieces of our country’s quest for religious liberty.

Today, almost 400 years later, the United States has become an increasingly difficult place for a Christian to work, be educated, and to serve his or her country. This has happened despite the statement found in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

In fact, First Liberty Institute’s 2017 report notes that in the past five years, documented attacks on religious freedom have increased 133%. In the past year, attacks have increased 15%. These attacks take place across broad sectors of the public arena — education, religious institutions and the U.S. military.

A case from the public arena, Barton v. Balch Springs, involved a Texas senior center in which city officials told the senior citizens that they could not pray before meals, listen to messages with religious content, or sing gospel music because public buildings do not allow religion. The senior citizens filed a lawsuit, and the government officials threatened to take away their meals if they won because praying over meals paid for by the government violated the “separation of church and state.”

In Pounds v. Katy I.S.D., a school district in the Houston area banned religious Christmas items and religiously themed Valentine’s Day cards. School officials told one student that she could not answer the question “What does Easter mean to you?” with “Jesus.” A federal court ultimately ruled against Katy I.S.D. for its hostility to religion and for violating the student’s constitutional rights.

In Sterling v. United States, Montifa Sterling, a Marine Corps lance corporal, placed three notes in her cubicle that referred to the Bible verse: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). While her supervisor allowed the other service members to display personal items, he ordered Sterling to remove the notes. Sterling believed that her First Amendment rights protected her ability to post the notes, so when she found them in the trash the following day, she reposted them. As a result, Lance Corporal Sterling was court-martialed. The highest U.S. military court, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, believed the note to be minor and thus unworthy of religious protection. First Liberty Institute is appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

These examples, a small selection of more than 1,400 documented incidents, illustrate the direct assault on the constitutional rights of Americans. A combination of misinformation among the populous and lobbying efforts by atheist groups such as the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the American Humanist Association and the American Atheists have resulted in prayers being banned, Ten Commandments displays being made illegal and veterans memorials with crosses being torn down or moved.

The American Atheists claim to not be a religion, yet require equal representation of their “non-religion” at interfaith events and councils. Additionally, college campuses routinely list humanists, secularist, free-thinkers and agnostics among other religious groups. They claim to believe in nothing, but in fact believe in a lack of belief and have faith in a lack of faith.

Atheists claim that Christians force their religion on others. Yet atheistic secularism has been forcing students, military personnel, ministers and workers to adhere to their lack of belief standards or suffer the consequences. Far from learning to “coexist,” as many bumper stickers advertise, atheist lobby groups seek nothing less than to persecute and destroy all religions except their own lack of one. Their rejection of religion is their religion and their unrelenting desire to “convert” the rest of us is unconstitutional, intolerant and wrong.

In terms of the quest to totally eradicate religion, the Soviet Union at least communicated its objectives honestly: to destroy religion and establish an atheist, secular state. A state church or a state “non-church” both qualify as an establishment of a religious state. Are atheist lobbyists, then, not the greatest offenders of their own unconstitutional demands of others?

The Pilgrims came here for religious freedom, not freedom from religion imposed on them by atheist lobby groups. The right to “not be offended” does not outweigh the right to practice one’s religion. Ironically, people rarely ask Christians if it offends them to have their child told he cannot pray. Christians have a right to believe in God, just as much as atheists have a right to believe in nothing. The assault on religious liberty only gains victory if people of faith choose fear over courage. As Ronald Reagan stated, “Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.” While courage may cost social standing, job mobility or favor among others, ultimately standing tall in the face of evil gives others courage and reminds us of our purpose: to do the right thing, despite the consequences.

If you are experiencing religious persecution and need legal representation, contact these non-profit law firms:

SOURCE





Public fury after Australian discount chain removes the word CHRISTMAS from its replica Christmas trees

Discount department store Big W has removed the word 'Christmas' from boxes and signage in the lead-up to the holiday season.

The decision to remove references to the Christmas tradition from product lines in their Australian stores has baffled and infuriated shoppers.

Big W's Facebook page has been inundated with posts accusing the store of bowing to political correctness and 'banning Christmas'.

'You are joking,' wrote one disgruntled consumer. 'Banning the word Christmas. Hang your head in shame.'

Fabian Iuele, owner of Christmas Tree Farm, called the move 'disappointing' and said the store was ignoring both history and tradition, The Herald Sun reported.

'That's really sad. It ignores the religious element and history of the holiday which is still important to people,' he said.

'We get people from other religions purchasing our trees regularly but they always know that they're called Christmas trees like everybody else does.'

Renamed trees include the Black Forest [Christmas] Tree, White [Christmas] Tree, Emerald [Christmas] Tree and Mayfair [Christmas] Tree.

Cameron Harrison, a Big W Highpoint customer, said the store was overreacting and using the word Christmas is not a problem.  'Christmas did have a religious meaning but we are not a religious country. I think it’s more of a tradition these days,' he said.

Facebook has filled up with furious customers claiming they will be shopping elsewhere for Christmas.

'Big mistake Big W, how many people decorate their houses with trees just for the sake of it? It is Christmas CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS stop the ridiculous wording on your CHRISTMAS trees,' wrote one irate shopper.

'I will be shopping elsewhere from now on! One completely offended (former) customer.'

'If you don't want to acknowledge Christmas, don't sell it! Lost this customer. Plenty of other places to spend my money,' wrote another.

The Big W website still has trees listed under their original names, and spokeswoman told The Herald Sun the chain was proud of its line of trees this year.

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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