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Ruth King

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India: Caste Discrimination Remains, Despite Liberal Laws by Jagdish N. Singh

By on August 6th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14630/india-caste-discrimination

In spite of these laws, the more than 160 million so-called “ex-untouchables” continue to be subjected to discrimination, oppression and violence.

“…this history of religious freedom has come under attack in recent years with the growth of exclusionary extremist narratives—including, at times, the government’s allowing and encouraging mob violence against religious minorities. Those have facilitated a pervasive and ongoing campaign of violence, intimidation, and harassment against non-Hindu and lower-caste Hindu minorities.” — United States Commission on International Religious Freedom: Annual Report, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi must take effective steps to eliminate the discriminatory caste system not only in word, but in deed. He also needs to provide proper education and empowerment programs for the many impoverished and illiterate “untouchables.” Otherwise, India’s affirmative action policies, geared towards reserving slots for lower castes in government jobs, are of little practical significance.

To combat the evils of an age-old caste system — a form of hierarchical oppression enabling people born to upper-caste groups to discriminate against members of lower castes, particularly “untouchables” (Dalits) — the founding fathers of the democratic Republic of India, established in 1950, adopted a Constitution that guarantees all citizens equality before the law.

Articles 15 and 16 of the Indian Constitution forbid discrimination “against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them… No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition…”

Article 17 is even more specific:

“‘Untouchability’ is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of ‘Untouchability’ shall be an offense punishable in accordance with law.”

India’s Constitution also directs the state to promote the educational and economic interests of weaker sectors, and protect them from all forms of exploitation (Article 46). As a result, New Delhi has instituted a policy resembling American “affirmative action,” reserving 15% of government jobs for members of scheduled castes.

In spite of these laws, the more than 160 million so-called “ex-untouchables” continue to be subjected to discrimination, oppression and violence.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Judges Cave to CAIR Federal judge who sentenced Hamid Hayat now vacates his sentence and conviction. Lloyd Billingsley

By on August 6th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274523/judges-cave-cair-lloyd-billingsley

In 2006, federal judge Garland E. Burrell sentenced Hamid Hayat of Lodi, California, to 24 years in prison for, as the U.S. Department of Justice explained, “a series of terrorism charges related to his 2003/2004 attendance at a jihadi training camp in Pakistan and his 2005 return to the United States with the intent to wage violent jihad.”

As prosecutors charged, the man with “a jihadi heart and a jihadi mind” intended to target hospitals, banks and grocery stores. Hayat boasted about giving money to Sipah-e-Sahaba, a group that Pakistan declared a terrorist organization. The case was one the first major prosecutions of terrorism in the wake of 9/11.

Nearly 14 years later, judge Burrell, an appointee of  George H.W. Bush, has vacated the sentence and conviction of Hamid Hayat, now 36.  This  action was based not on new exculpatory evidence but what amounted to a post-facto performance review of Hayat’s trial attorney by magistrate judge Deborah Barnes.

In May of 2006, Hamid’s father, Umer Hayat, pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI and United States Customs and Border Protection. He was tried by a separate federal jury but the proceeding ended in a mistrial and Umer Hayat gained release in August of 2006. Hamid Hayat’s attorney Wahzma Mojaddidi, a former CAIR president in Sacramento, contended there was no evidence that Hamid attended a terrorist training camp and pushed for a new trial.

In 2007, federal authorities argued against a new trial, and as their legal brief noted, Hayat claimed that jihad was the duty of all Muslims. In recorded interviews, Hayat gleefully stated he was “so pleased” that jihadis had cut Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl “into pieces.” Hayat said Pearl “was Jewish” and that as a result of this “good job,” now “they can’t send one Jewish person to Pakistan.”

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Trinidad’s Darkest Hour The forgotten failed Islamic coup. Stephen Brown

By on August 6th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274516/trinidads-darkest-hour-stephen-brown

Last month saw the 29th anniversary of an Islamic coup attempt to take over the government of the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

It was the first and only such Islamic terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere attempting to overthrow an elected government. At the time, the coup was much underreported by the media due to the First Gulf War in Kuwait, occurring simultaneously.

On Friday, June 27, 1990, 114 members of a Trinidadian Islamic group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, stormed the Trinidadian parliament, also called the Red House, and Trinidad’s television and radio station.

By the time it was over six days later on August 1, 24 people were dead, including one Member of Parliament, a policeman and security guards. Much of the country’s capital, Port-of-Spain, was left a burnt-out ruin. This tragic event has been called Trinidad’s “darkest hour,” shaking the country “to its foundations.”

“The coup staggered the Caribbean country’s sense of itself as an easygoing land of calypso, cricket and British-style democracy,” stated an Associated Press report, sounding like Trinidad’s 9/11 moment.

Forty-two rebels took over the parliament building, taking 50 people hostages including the prime minister, ANR Robinson, while another 72 seized the Trinidad and Tobago television and radio station. The television station was the only one in the country.

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Basketball Player Uses Girlfriend’s Urine to Fake Drug Test, Finds Out He’s Pregnant By Stephen Kruiser ?!?!?

By on August 6th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/basketball-player-uses-girlfriends-urine-to-fake-drug-test-finds-out-hes-pregnant/

Well, this is both awkward and a solid entry for a Darwin Award. A basketball player attempting to return to the game after a hiatus found a way to spectacularly fail his drug test and get some family news at the same time.

The New York Post:

D.J. Cooper, a former Ohio University star who’s played professionally in Europe, is currently suspended by FIBA after using someone else’s urine for a doping test — a sample which showed Cooper was pregnant,  according to Eurohoops.net.

Cooper, 28, was interested in joining Bosnia as a naturalized player. Specifically, Cooper tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which is produced during pregnancy by the placenta. The urine allegedly belonged to Cooper’s girlfriend, according to RTV Slovenia.

It’s unclear what Cooper might have been trying to hide, but it stands to reason he wouldn’t have used his girlfriend’s urine had they known she was pregnant.

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Anti-Gun Agitators Harass Sen. McConnell at His Home: ‘Just Stab the Motherf*cker in the Heart!’ By Debra Heine

By on August 6th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/anti-gun-agitators-harass-sen-mcconnell-at-his-home-just-stab-the-motherfcker-in-the-heart/

Twenty to thirty left-wing agitators gathered outside of Senator Mitch McConnell’s house in Louisville, Kentucky, Monday night and made a ruckus to agitate for gun control in the wake of two mass shootings that roiled the nation over the weekend.

In addition to gun reform, one activist told WHAS11 News that the protesters also wanted to address immigration and LGBTQ rights.

The protesters told the local media they had been trying to reach the Senate Majority Leader but he hadn’t answered his phone. McConnell has been convalescing at his home since he fractured his shoulder in a fall on Sunday.

One of the agitators, a local Black Lives Matter leader ostensibly upset about gun violence, said on Facebook Live that she hoped someone would “just stabs the mother f*cker in the heart, please.”

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

‘Bias Teams’ Welcome the Class of 1984 A chilling look inside colleges’ systems for reporting and policing offensive speech. By Christian Schneider

By on August 6th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bias-teams-welcome-the-class-of-1984-11565045215

Hundreds of American colleges have “bias-response teams” or similar mechanism for students or faculty to report bias incidents. These systems enforce political correctness and turn campuses into miniature surveillance states.

Through the Freedom of Information Act, I recently obtained and reviewed nearly 300 alleged bias incidents at 11 major public universities. The reports, which we asked to be scrubbed of identifying information for both the accusers and accused, reveal students who are perpetually offended and on the lookout for ideological heresy. Actual crimes such as vandalism or threats of physical violence are typically handled by campus police. In most bias reports, campus community members simply heard or saw something that made them mildly uncomfortable.

 

At the University of Utah, a male student was joking around with his friends in the library and complained that his computer battery was dying. His friend gave him a power cord, and, when it turned out to be incompatible with his computer, told the student to jam the cord into the power socket anyway. “That’s rape,” the accused student whispered loudly. “I’m not raping my computer.” A female student overheard and filed a complaint.

Supporters of bias-response teams argue they are harmless, since they typically cannot formally discipline anyone. “They do not shut down free speech or charge into classrooms to stop offensive statements from faculty members or students,” two professors, two administrators and a doctoral candidate argued in a June article for Inside Higher Education.

Yet schools often investigate the complaints, and the teams themselves can call the accused in to demand an explanation in front an administrator or a panel of “diversity” specialists. At the University of Illinois, law-enforcement officers sit on the bias-response board—making the body a literal speech police. Complaints go down in permanent, often public, records, which can effect future employment prospects. Most bias-response systems don’t offer any process by which the accused can clear their names.

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Politics and the Shooters The Dayton killer was a left-winger, but don’t blame Sen. Warren.

By on August 6th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/politics-and-the-shooters-11565047588

Police in Dayton say they’re still seeking a motive for Connor Betts’ shooting spree that killed nine people, including his sister. But whatever turns up, we hope no one blames Elizabeth Warren.

We say that because the news site Heavy.com, which gained access to Betts’ Twitter account before it was taken down, reports that his politics appear to have been left of center. The shooter recently tweeted that he would “happily” vote for Senator Warren. His Twitter profile also read: “he/him/anime fan/metalhead/leftist/i’m going to hell and i’m not coming back.” In December last he wrote: “This is America: Guns on every corner, guns in every house, no freedom but to kill.” A month before that, he wrote: “Vote blue for gods sake.

The Dayton shooter’s leftist ravings are notable only because the media and Democratic politicians have drawn a straight line between the El Paso shooter’s anti-immigrant “manifesto” and Donald Trump and the Republican Party. After so many recent mass shootings, it is disheartening to see how quickly the issue of these two highly disturbed shooters was overwhelmed by the urge to assign political causation.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Jennifer Lopez, Lionel Richie and Bon Jovi Defy BDS

By on August 6th, 2019

With all the possible pressure, the BDS, the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, sanctions movement could not convince Jennifer Lopez, Bon Jovi and Lionel Richie to cancel their concert in Israel. Nurit Greenger

Enjoy:

1/ Lopez and family in Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgsXlBnFIvw

2/ Bon Jovi Shows His Love to Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuDmrVHBsds

3/ Lionel Richie: When they tried blocking @LionelRichie from coming to the#Israel – he blocked @codepink right back!

Haters gonna hate, and sometimes it ain’t worth your time to chat with them…

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BOOKS, MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

The Hollywood Legend Who Mobilized the English Language on Behalf of the Jews of Europe and Israel Rick Richman

By on August 6th, 2019

https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/history-ideas/2019/07/the-hollywood-legend-who-mobilized-the-english-language-on-behalf-of-the-jews-of-europe-and-israel/

Ben Hecht invented the gangster movie. He also prodded Roosevelt into saving thousands of Jews from the Nazis, and marshaled reluctant American Jews into becoming Zionists.

“In [1939], I became a Jew and looked on the world with Jewish eyes.”
—Ben Hecht, A Child of the Century

When Ben Hecht died suddenly in 1964, at the age of seventy, the New York Times carried the news on its front page. The lengthy obituary was spread across four columns on an inside page. Buried near the end was only a brief description of Hecht’s Zionism.

Hecht wrote newspaper columns, novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, essays, and books that, in many ways, defined the times in which he lived. His sketches of life in Chicago and New York were collected in two volumes. His first novel made him a national literary figure. He co-wrote the Broadway sensation, The Front Page, and became Hollywood’s highest-paid screenwriter, composing such classics as Scarface, Wuthering Heights, Twentieth Century, Spellbound, and Notorious. He received six Oscar nominations and won two Oscars.

In all, Hecht wrote 25 books, including several best-sellers, 250 short stories, 20 plays, and one of the great autobiographies, A Child of the Century, which Saul Bellow praised on the cover of the New York Times Book Review as “intensely interesting . . . independent, forthright, and original.” In 2011, Time magazine would place it at number 24 on its list of the 100 best nonfiction books since 1923.

Two noteworthy books on Hecht have appeared this year: a masterful study by Julien Gorbach, The Notorious Ben Hecht: Iconoclastic Writer and Militant Zionist (Purdue) and a short biography by Adina Hoffman, Ben Hecht: Fighting Words, Moving Pictures (Yale). Both conclude that Hecht’s encounter with Zionism in the 1940s, after a lifetime of indifference to Judaism and Jewish issues, “change[d] his life and legacy” (Gorbach) and was “in the end, as important to him as almost anything” (Hoffman).

Because of that encounter, these two biographies speak not only to one man’s life and times, but to ours as well.

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ISRAEL, POLITICS Comments turned off

Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson Pledges to Reverse Trump’s Golan Recognition

By on August 5th, 2019

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/08/04/presidential-candidate-marianne-williamson-pledges-to-reverse-trumps-golan-recognition/

Author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination next year, has pledged that, if elected, she would undo US President Donald Trump’s official recognition in March of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

“I would rescind the president’s affirmation of sovereignty of Israel over the Golan Heights,” she said in response to a questionnaire from the Council on Foreign Relations. “I understand the occupation of the Golan Heights, but only until there is a stable government in Syria with whom one can negotiate.”

Williamson, whose debate performances last month and on Tuesday caused a buzz, is one of 16 candidates who have said that they would re-enter the United States in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal if they become elected president.

Finally, Williamson, who is Jewish, is one of nine candidates who has vowed to keep the US embassy in Israel in Jerusalem. It was moved from Tel Aviv on May 14, 2018, five months after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“The capital of Israel is Jerusalem; it is the location of their Knesset, or Parliament building, and no one disputes that,” Williamson previously told JNS. “Countries such as the United States kept their embassies in Tel Aviv as a sign of the deference to the ongoing process of negotiations—or potential for negotiations—regarding parts of Jerusalem as related to any final plan for a two-state solution.”

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