Monthly Archives: February 2020

Carnival 2020 hits full tilt in the Baton Rouge area this weekend, the final one leading up to Mardi Gras.

Whether you decide to catch the family-style Southdowns Parade on Friday night, take in the adult-themed Spanish Town Parade on Saturday, or head over to the west side for Good Friends or Comogo on Sunday, be safe out there, be respectful of others, and, as Wayne and Garth would say, party on!

There are also two parades in New Roads on Tuesday, wrapping up the revelry before the sun rises on Ash Wednesday.

Here's what you need to know (and a little extra) about each parade:

Krewe of Southdowns, 7 p.m. Friday, starting at Glasgow Middle School and ending at Acadian-Perkins Shopping Center. Children and pets welcome.

Fun facts: The Southdowns Flambeaux, flickering torches in hand, always lead the neighborhood parade, which first took to the streets in 1988.

More info: southdowns.org

Spanish Town, noon Saturday, starting on Spanish Town Road and ending on River Road. This year's theme is "Hiney Sight is 2020." The partying starts at breakfast for this saucy, politically incorrect bunch, so if you're bringing the kids, there's an alcohol-free family zone on the north side of Convention Street between 5th and 7th streets.

Fun facts: The residents of Baton Rouge's oldest neighborhood began parading in 1981. Parades from 1982 on have featured a theme, the first being "Everyman a King." And their mascot the pink flamingo.

More info: spanishtownmardigras.com

Krewe of Good Friends of the Oaks,1 p.m. Sunday, beginning and ending at the corner of the La. 1 Service Road and Oaks Avenue in Port Allen. Good Friends is rolling for the 36th year, with the theme"Wild Kingdom."

Fun facts:Residents of The Oaks subdivisionestablished the krewe in 1985. Want to join the krewe? You must live between the boundaries of Avenue A to Oaks Avenue and La. 1 to River Road.

More info: kreweofgoodfriendsoftheoaks.com

Krewe of Comogo, 7 p.m. Sunday, beginning at Court and Eden streets and ending on J. Gerald Berret Blvd., downtown Plaquemine. The krewe was formed in 2013 in memory of Brenda Comeaux.

Fun facts: Comeaux loved Mardi Gras, was involved with the Krewe of Okeanos, and was also the first woman co-ball captain of Krewe du Roi in 1988 and again in 1995. Shealways dreamed of starting a parade krewe in Plaquemine.

More info: kreweofcomogo.org

Community Center of Pointe Coupee, 11 a.m. Tuesday, starting and ending at the Community Center, New Roads. This year's theme is "At the Movies."

Fun facts: Founded in 1922, this is the third oldest Mardi Gras parade in Louisiana.

More info: facebook.com/ccofpcmardigras

New Roads Lions Club, 2 p.m. Tuesday, starting and ending at Park Avenue, New Roads. This year's theme is "Movies Made in Louisiana."

Fun facts: This is the state's oldest Mardi Gras celebration outside of New Orleans. The town's population is 6,000, but on Fat Tuesday, as many as 100,000 parade-goers converge on the town.

More info:facebook.com/New-Roads-Mardi-Gras

Read the original here:
Mardi Gras in Baton Rouge: See details on the last parades to roll in 2020 - The Advocate

Actor James Woods and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) came to national prominence two utterly different ways but both have found themselves in recent years thriving in the same space, social media. Both men have became must-follows for conservatives online and, since Woods made his big return to Twitter a few weeks ago, the two conservatives have been drawing attention at times to each others posts.

With socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) increasingly looking like the prohibitive favorite to take the Democratic nomination, Woods and Cruz have weighed in recently on Sanders and what his rise means about the direction of the Democratic Party, and the two conservative voices have found a lot of common ground.

In response to former Democratic candidate Andrew Yang telling CNN, as Sanders was cruising to victory in Nevada over the weekend, that the Democratic Party is no longer the party of the working class, Cruz agreed and expanded on Yangs premise.

Yang is right: This is the most fundamental political shift of the past decade, Cruz tweeted. The Democratic Party has abandoned the working class, has abandoned union members, and the GOP has become the blue-collar party of jobs.

Woods, in turn, noticed Cruzs tweet, likewise agreed with the premise, and offered his own, less senatorial and a little more dramatized take on the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party has been hijacked by screeching socialists, ranting intersectionalists, whatever they hell they are, and masked Antifa street thugs, he wrote. Republicans stand for jobs, borders, and national security. The Democratic Party is a vampirized husk, gone forever.

Cruz, who eventually retweeted Woods response,followed up his abandoned the working class post by highlighting Sanders anti-Israel stance, pointing his readers to Mark Levins highlighting of an article presenting eight of the candidates anti-Israel outrages.

This is the Democratic front runner, wrote Cruz.

Cruz, a Cuban-American, then addressed Sanders most recent praise of a dictatorial communist regime, his defense of murderous Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro. Were very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but its unfair to say everythings bad, Sanders told 60 Minutes on Sunday. When Castro came into office you know what he did? He had a literacy program.

It really makes a difference when those you murder at the firing squad can read & write, Cruz replied.

Woods likewise continued to offer commentary over the weekend about Sanders. After his Cruz-retweeted post, Woodsblasted out an even more politically incorrect summary of the current state of the commie curmudgeon-supporting party he once backed.

The election of [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], [Rashida Tlaib], and [Ilhan Omar]was a perfect storm that destroyed the Democratic Party, the actor wrote (posts below). Nancy Pelosi rolled over for them like a two dollar hooker, and the Democrats are now stuck with a commie curmudgeon screaming at billionaire boogeymen under his bed.

He followed up that post with a mocking image of Commie Bernie holding up a baby version of his most prominent advocate, Ocasio-Cortez, gleefully waving a Soviet flag.

As for Sanders fellow democratic socialists, Woods had this to say about Ocasio-Cortez in a subsequent tweet: Whats critical to remember about democracy is that stupid people also get to vote. Whats dangerous about that is that stupid people feel comfortable when they vote for other stupid people. Its a vicious circle.

Later, a Sanders tweet offered Woods a chance to sum up what he suggested was the fundamental flaw of the senators socialist policies.

What would free, quality child care and pre-K mean for you and your family? Sanders tweeted.

More taxes, Woods replied.

Woods continued to voice his complaints about the Democratic Party on Monday. In response to somebody announcing online that they were leaving the Democratic Party, Woods took a moment to explain his rationale for doing the same some years back.

I was a Democrat my whole life, he wrote Monday morning. The party in my youth stood for strong national defense, jobs for the working American, strong borders, the sanctity of human life, and equal rights. I never left the Democratic Party. It left me. And you. Welcome to sanity.

Related:Democrat Congresswoman Of Cuban Descent Rips Bernie After Castro Defense: Absolutely Unacceptable

Related:Sanders Praises Fidel Castro; Kaepernick Did Same Thing; WATCH How Miami Fans Responded

Original post:
James Woods, Ted Cruz Team Up To Take Down Sanders - The Daily Wire

However, without scandals has not managed. So, a March in the Belgian town of Aalst came under a barrage of criticism for parody of Orthodox Jews organizers accused of anti-Semitism, the city Council is already laying claims. At the time, as some need to reconsider the acceptable dress code for holiday, others lament that political correctness erodes laugh culture, which was so proud of Europe.

Among the targets of the carnival of satire be some kind of sacred cow

because of the accusations of nationalism, the celebration of 600 years of history in the past year were excluded from the list of world intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO. The newly rising political storm in Aalst has split not only our countrymen, but, as is often the case with Belgium, the whole country. The mayor, Christoph DEze, who plays for the independence of Flanders, declared that is not going to become the mayor of censorship. This parade charged social themes that are exhibited in a humorous way. I dont want to tell people something they laugh. Aalst grant the right to remain who you are, snapped the mayor, who, incidentally, quietly refers to the parodies of him.

the Holiday has changed: whats wrong with the Brazilian carnival

what is acceptable and What is unacceptable in carnivals, actively discussed and in neighboring Germany. Radio station Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk reminds us that formal law only prohibits unconstitutional Nazi or extremist symbols. In other words, it is impossible to change into Hitler or bin Laden. However, there are other unwritten restrictions. Now it is considered indecent to paint the face with wax, wrapped in leopard skin with bone beads and even make cornrows. Or come dressed as Indians with feathers by the way, they recently banned in kindergartens Erfurt and Hamburg. About an official ban, I have not heard, but the last time we really try to avoid politically incorrect outfits under the Africans or, for example, Mexicans, has confirmed RG one of the participants of the Cologne carnival.

furthermore, among the targets of the carnival of satire be some kind of sacred cow. If Cologne entertainers found nothing wrong with that, to depict Angela Merkel in the form of a spider a black widow devouring political opponents, then laugh over the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was nekomilfo. Showing her giant doll embodies a rather pathetic image of the girl-a prophet with uplifted to the sky hands holding the ear of lilliput from generation of parents. Greta is another story. Just because you can not say that do not take it seriously, says compatriot Tatiana, many years living and working in dsseldorf. Can not understand. That is censorship at all, but somehow shes a little bit there.

Medieval monks wrote parodies

As a born carnival tradition in Europe, what is possible and what was impossible to laugh at the participants of the mock processions, RG said culture expert, co-author of the book Suffering middle Ages: the Paradoxes of Christian iconography Sergey Zotov:

Where it all has went European carnivals?

Sergey Zotov: Medieval carnivals appeared quite early, they were born from the Church, liturgical views that are initially held right in the Church. It was that kind of plays on biblical themes, they are very fond of simple lay people who have never opened the Scriptures, but really wanted to submit as it was described in the event. Was simple scenes such as Moses climbs mount Sinai and receives the tablets of the Covenant. Moses could decorate the sacredICA, but could a guest actor. But gradually there was a growing indignation at the fact that sacrality is so boldly violated by plays for the common people. Already in the 13th and 14th centuries, the theologians write, that, say, they need to be banned. So under the strong pressure of the submission brought to the street.

In Venice because of an outbreak of coronavirus canceled carnival

what about the famous feast of fools?

Sergey Zotov: This phenomenon, which wrote Bakhtin, is also widely known. It is believed that it dates back almost to the Roman Saturnalia, when the commoners at least one day freed from the shackles of laws that weigh on them, and the world was turned on its head. In the Middle ages people once a year could forbidding to ridicule the Church. Conducted a mock service, which looked quite provocative. For example, a special Pope was dressed as a donkey. From the 15th century such action was officially banned. Meanwhile, the parodies were born within the monastery walls have survived many mehovih of sermons and prayers, for example, when the monks are asked to send them a lot of alcohol and joyfully preparing it to drink. It was a mockery not over God, but over some elements vnutrisustavno the routine of life, and in such humor her there was nothing blasphemous.

Sort of the skits?

Sergey Zotov: You could say that. Another thing is that they call criticism. However, the broad carnival tradition has never been interrupted constantly held fairs, festivals, accompanied by costumed parades. It was one of the few ways of mass entertainment, which could involve people of all ages and social strata. These processions and laid the basis Carnavalin the modern Europe.

That is some taboo images, themes still have ?

Sergey Zotov: We see that a certain frame, taboos still existed then, and now just for the history they were transformed. So, spectroanalyt medieval culture was allowed to laugh at the enemies by the Turks who in the imagination of Europeans often not imagined by human beings. In Germany almost every town has preserved historical names of streets, houses, pharmacies, derived from the word moor. They have now become politically incorrect, and in the country there are discussions about how decent these signs. Similarly, the Germans began to abandon some of the images that now seem they themselves are not funny.

a View from Brazil

Almost all the countries in the Latin American region at this time of the year covered by carnival extravaganza. The Grand carnival in Rio de Janeiro in addition to paints, dancing and fun is almost always accompanied by controversy. Samba school, Sapuca sambodrome on defiliruya often include in their statements certain elements appealing to the current political or socio-economic situation. And it can be a ironic, mocking sketches, and quite tragic, thoughtful images. According to school officials, any censorship on the part no, there is only common sense. But this does not mean that everything is permitted, especially on such a large broadcast to the entire world event.

At the carnival in Germany, the car drove into a crowd

According to Brazilian experts, in recent years, the main carnival censor become social networks. If before insulting or abusive way may have gone unnoticed, but today a photo or video instantly spread across the network. Therefore, the participants of processions, in order not to fall under a barrage of criticism, trying to responsibly choose not outdated or out of context of the time look. For example, no one paints the face in black or red color in an attempt to portray brought from Africa as a slave or a local Indian. Also almost gone out of fashion politically incorrect now but very popular in the last century music, where the lyrics featured references to racial, cultural and national differences. Such control on the part of users, in addition to positive aspects, it also carries negative. So says Brazilian historian and composer Luis SIMAS, pointing to the danger of total political correctness, inevitably leading to the already-present censorship. Carnival is a celebration of inversion, where each may appear desirable manner, adopting the personality of this character. Of course, there are issues that should be treated with attention, but we must be very careful in banning topics related to our cultural and historical identity, sure SIMAS.

Prepared by Alexey Churikov

More:
How does the culture of street festivals in Europe - The KXAN 36 News

2020 has not been a good year for Wendy Williams. In the short time since the new year has started, Williams has come under fire three times for controversial things she said on her talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. First she made fun of Joker star Joaquin Phoenixs cleft palate scar, then she said gay men shouldnt wear womens clothes, and the one she has yet to apologize for, a gruesome joke about Price Is Right host Drew Careys ex-fiancs murder.

Williams is no stranger to controversy. She got her start as a radio shock jockette, with all the trappings that came with it. Williams forte was outrageous, politically incorrect opinions, often at the expense of the celebrities she covered. When she first joined the daytime talk show circuit, it seemed like Williams had toned down her old shock jock tendencies. Those old habits are making a comeback in 2020, and audiences arent as charmed as they once were by them.

First came Williams comments about Phoenixs facial scar. On her show, she pulled at her lip, obviously mocking the actor. This mean affectation didnt go unnoticed and many called on the talk show host to apologize, including Cher, who tweeted images of herself visiting children with cleft palates. Theres even a petition to have Williams fired for her comment. Williams later apologized on Twitter and announced that the show would donate to two charities that helped those afflicted with the condition.

On Galentines Day, the unofficial holiday the day before Valentines Day in which women celebrate their friendships, Williams incited more outrage. She went on a tangent about why men shouldnt celebrate the informal holiday before zeroing in on gay men specifically. And stop wearing our skirts and our heels, she demanded. Just sayin girls, what do we have for ourselves? Though the audience applauded, the backlash online was swift and severe and once again, Williams issued an apology through social media.

One incident Williams has yet to apologize for are her comments that directly followed the news about Amie Harwicks tragic murder. Harwick was pushed from a third-story balcony by her ex-boyfriend. Come on down! Williams smirked at the audience, in a clear reference to not only the gruesome way Harwick was killed, but a ghoulish reference to Harwicks grieving ex-fianc, Drew Carey.

Though Williams involves herself in enough drama all on her own, tabloids still insist on coming up with new and inventive stories to tell about her, all false, of course. In 2019, the blog Naughty Gossip claimed Williams was afraid Nick Cannon was trying to steal her talk show. Gossip Cop checked in with a source close to Cannon, who assured us this story couldnt be further from the truth. When someone courts scandal as much as Williams, its pointless to make up stories.

See the article here:
Wendy Williams Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Year - Gossip Cop

The largest national minority group in the United Kingdom today is Polish. More than 900,000 Polish citizens currently live in the UK, accounting for more than 1.3 per cent of the population. Many other Britons can claim Polish descent, as the plethora of Polish surnames in British national life attests. Actual Polish citizens are more common in England and Wales than people claiming Bangladeshi, Afro-Caribbean or even Irish descent (Scotland and Northern Ireland publish less detailed summary statistics). Poles are everywhere you look.

But you wont find them in the national statistics. Unlike many other national statistical agencies, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not try to collect comprehensive data on population by national origin. Instead, it collects data only for 18 recommended ethnic groups. Recommended by whom? By government agencies and interest groups. In other words, the squeaky wheels get the data, while the quiet go uncounted.

The ONS and other UK statistical agencies produce detailed data on Black Caribbeans, Black Africans, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and a complex web of mixed identities, while ignoring other groups that, frankly, dont attract the attention of people in power. And where the ONS leads, organisational checklists follow. Thus the BBC has successfully pushed its on-air Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) on-screen representation up to more than one-quarter of total TV time, despite the fact that these groups make up just 14 per cent of the England and Wales population (even when including mixed-race people as BAME). British Poles are hardly visible.

It can be (and often is) argued that members of racial minority groups require special intervention because of the historical burden of poverty and discrimination. But at a time when by far the highest earning ethnicity in the UK is Indian, and White British people actually earn slightly below the national average, this hardly holds water. It can also be argued that racial minority groups have been treated unfairly because their ancestors were forcibly removed from their home countries, but this doesnt really apply to the UK in the same way it does to the US. Nor does the UK host minority indigenous populations of the kinds found in the settler colonies of the old dominions.

The real reason why particular minority groups are marked out and counted is that they are useful useful to elites, useful to those who would be their leaders, and useful in ways that other, less visible minority groups are not. No one particularly benefits from identifying and enumerating hundreds of thousands of hard-working, well-assimilated Poles. But theres a lot of money (and even more political capital) to be earned on the backs of BAMEs. And so, in Britain, BAMEs the game. Look abroad, and it becomes clear that BAME is just a name that British elites give to the people they want to groom for long-term dependence.

History is full of terrors and tragedies, but if one minority ethnic group has a special claim to restorative justice, it is the Jews. And for a brief period in British history, roughly corresponding to the second half of the 20th century, there was a distinctively Jewish claim to anti-defamation. Overt anti-Semitism was beyond the pale of polite society. No longer. Elite sympathy for the plight of the Jewish people is now waning, and as the troubling rhetoric of todays Labour Party demonstrates, tacit anti-Semitism is once again becoming (sadly and strangely) acceptable among otherwise respectable people. Overt anti-Semitism is only a tweet away.

British Jews, who have completed the full arc from social exclusion to protected group to assimilated whiteness, illustrate well the phenomenon of the sympathetic minority. Sympathetic minorities are distinct groups in society that receive the protection and sponsorship of societys elites. Before the Second World War, anti-Semitism was a routine reflex of British elites, but after the horrors of the Holocaust became widely known, the vilification of Jews became a social anathema. For a while, Jews continued to be excluded from full participation in White British society, but as the ONS statistical category demonstrates, that social exclusion has now largely disappeared. The days when gentile parents were shocked by the idea of their children marrying Jews are long gone.

With social inclusion came the loss of the special status of Jews in British society. Jews no longer needed the sponsorship of elite patrons and protectors. As a result, they no longer constituted a distinct political constituency, and no longer voted as a united bloc. Community leaders could no longer credibly claim to speak on behalf of all Jews. In effect, the Jewish community as such has disappeared: today, there are only individual Jews and the organisations to which they personally belong. They are still the members of an identifiable minority group, and they are still the targets of anti-Semitic vitriol, but they do not constitute a single, controllable, politically operational minority constituency.

Now that they are independent and assimilated, Jews no longer elicit the sympathies of political elites, because they are no longer useful to them. Some minority groups, like Australian Catholics and American Mormons, have never elicited elite sympathy, despite severe and well-documented historical discrimination. Others, like indigenous Canadians, have flipped in one generation from being unsympathetic to sympathetic. And it all has to do with the society, not the minority. A sympathetic British Indian becomes, on immigration to the US, a boring Indian-American. There is a clear minority pecking order in every society, but minorities themselves have little say in where they stand in it.

In the US, the legacy of slavery has made African-Americans the archetypical case of the sympathetic minority. Even though African-Americans no longer have legal impairments imposed on them by the majority white population, they remain sympathetic in the sense that white elites still find it possible to override majority opinion in the name of racial justice for African-Americans. Racism and racial discrimination certainly persist in the US (as they do everywhere), but these do not explain the special, sympathetic status of African-Americans. What makes African-Americans a sympathetic minority is their usefulness to white American elites.

To see this, consider the plight of Chinese-Americans. Though never literally enslaved, Chinese-Americans once faced similar levels of repression in California as those suffered by African-Americans in the South. But Chinese-Americans are no longer so socially excluded as to be ghettoised into a manageable political constituency. Thus, although Californians voted in a binding referendum in 1996 to ban all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, colour, ethnicity, or national origin in public education, University of California administrators persist in looking for ways to boost African-American student numbers at the expense of Chinese-American students. Not being particularly useful to political elites, Chinese-Americans simply arent a sympathetic minority.

It is deeply politically incorrect to admit it, but we all have a general idea of the minority pecking orders in our own societies. For example, in the US, where race outranks indigeneity, Native Americans have long lobbied unsuccessfully to convince the Washington Redskins football team to change its offensive name. But in Australia, where indigeneity is the crucial minority identifier, it is impossible to imagine a major commercial sports franchise calling itself something like the Blackfellas. In most developed countries, the disabled are a sympathetic minority, while the obese are not. Women are not literally a minority, but feminists are. Yet in the emerging battle between feminists and transgender activists, transgender minority status outranks feminist. Thus the feminist tennis star Martina Navratilova has been vilified for arguing that trans-women should not be allowed to compete in womens sports.

Vilified by whom? Its difficult to say. Not by the majority, thats for sure. The professions of the pen exercise an outsized influence: academics, journalists, lawyers, lobbyists and the like. The expert class as a whole tends to arrogate to itself the authority to decide which minorities matter and when. Political elites dont sit as a body to judge the status of minority groups, but individual members of the political elite do see similar opportunities and incentives. When a minority group is easily identified and socially excluded, it can be politically activated and used through coopting a small number of community leaders. That makes it useful, and nothing elicits sympathy so much as usefulness. When the same minority group goes mainstream (as Jews have done and feminists are doing), it loses its utility. You cant get much political leverage out of promoting women when other women are just as likely to support your opponents as they are to support you.

So BAMEs are in, Jews are out, and Poles never stood a chance. At least, thats the situation in the UK. In the US, blacks are still in, Hispanics are on their way out, and the Chinese never stood a chance. Down under, its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (to use their formal label) who form the only genuinely sympathetic minority, so sympathetic that there is strong (white) elite pressure to give them a constitutionally enshrined voice in parliament. What all of the sympathetic minorities share is their political usefulness to white elites in their own societies both via their votes and (more importantly) through the moral claims that white elites can make in the names of marginalised others. Dont like Donald Trump or Boris Johnson? Just label them racists on behalf of blacks or BAMEs.

As Boris and the UK Conservatives have discovered, despite the election victory, clearly demonstrable charges of anti-Semitism no longer pack the same political punch as vaguely argued charges of racism. For that matter, the US Democrats discovered the declining power of feminism in 2016, when Trumps sexist personal history was overlooked by the majority of (white) American women. Jews and (feminist) women are no longer socially excluded groups. By joining the mainstream, they lost their political usefulness. They are still minorities, but they are no longer sympathetic minorities or at least, they no longer excite the sympathies of those in positions of power.

Homosexuals are fast following feminists on the road to normalisation and political irrelevance. Gay and lesbian activists are desperately trying to hold their place in the ever-expanding LGBTQ+ alliance, but these days mere homosexuality is old hat. With gay-marriage rights widely embraced in developed democracies, and a gay prime minister in Ireland (of all places), it is becoming more and more difficult to characterise homosexuals as a socially excluded minority in countries like the UK, the US and Australia. Thats why transsexuals, despite their vanishingly small numbers, have become the sexual minority du jour. Despite their increasingly high profile, transsexuals remain profoundly socially excluded, and that makes them useful. Political elites now routinely use the threat of transgender suicides to push through their preferred education and healthcare policy agendas.

In the UK, look for the BAME category to disintegrate as British Indians increasingly prioritise assimilation over grievance politics. And when Brexit happens, look for a new category to emerge: British Europeans. British Poles may not be eager to relocate into a 21st-century ideological ghetto, but many other British Europeans are. And when they do, theyll find a large segment of the British political establishment chafing at the bit to take up their cause: the Remainer elite. The supposed rights of British Europeans have already been used as a parliamentary bludgeon by the Remainer resistance. Demands for policies to alleviate their post-Brexit suffering have the potential to drive politics for decades to come.

Salvatore Babones is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Sydney, and the author of The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism and the Tyranny of Experts, published by Polity Press. (Buy this book from Amazon(UK).)

Pictures by: Getty.

To enquire about republishing spikeds content, a right to reply or to request a correction, please contact the managing editor, Viv Regan.

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The use and abuse of ethnic minorities - Spiked

Do you frequentlyneed someone to defend you because you've made "politically incorrect" (racist, sexist or homophobic) jokes online and your children are threatening to emancipate themselves?

Are you afraid of what "cancel culture" means for you - a person who is unlikely to ever be "cancelled" due to not actually being a public figure?

Well we've got just the thing for you.

Journalist and professional contrarian Toby Young has announced he is now the general secretary of something he calls the Free Speech Union and he's charging near 50 a year for the privilege of joining it.

Unfortunately we cannot tell you how the union describes itself, because our work computers think its official website is a security risk.

But the general idea is that the Free Speech Union will defend you from no-platforming, cancellation - all that fancy modern stuff.

Announcing the scheme with a Twitter video, Young says: "We can't continue to appease the enemies of free speech.

"As Churchill said, an appeaser is someone who keeps feeding the crocodile in the hope it will eat them last.

"Many good men and women died fighting for our right to speak our mind and exchange our ideas without being persecuted by the enforcers of intellectual conformity and moral dogma.

"This is our precious inheritance and we owe it to them as well as our children to come to its defence."

Given Young's immediate defence of Andrew Sabisky, the former Downing Street adviser caught in a eugenics row, last week, it seems he is willing to overlook anything to stand up for your right to free speech!

READ MORE:Andrew Sabisky made vile claims about women and sex on Reddit

Though of course the people who criticised Sabisky's claims and called for his sacking were also using their free speech to say he was unsuited to a government position. But he did not see it that way. They were the "enforcers of intellectual conformity", to use Young's own words.

The reality is nobody needs to spend 49.95 to protect free speech (or even 24.95 for students and retirees).

And you definitely don't need to give it to Toby Young to do it for you.

If you're in a situation where you feel your free speech is truly under threat? Perhaps it's time to call a lawyer, not a journalist who is best known for slagging off a teenage climate activist.

Read the original:
Toby Young launches 50-a-year 'Free Speech Union' - The National

It seems counter-intuitive to claim that the re-election of the free-speech champion, the notorious politically incorrect jackhammer, Donald Trump, would pave the way to greater censorship rather than greener pastures.

Let me be clear: Im saying if a Democrat wins in 2020, the first wave of censorship would have proven to be not only an effective political strategy, but it would achieve what Project Veritas has exposed as Silicon Valleys desire to change the way people think. The digital book burners, modern-day tyrants, and behavioral re-educators, could take pause, needing only to tweak the successful model to be re-deployed in future elections, and set on autopilot.

What happens when the king senses his power is fading, and control is slipping from his grasp? Typically, they double-down on the very behavior that makes him the tyrant in the first place. If the past is prologue, then the re-election of Donald Trump will be the breaking point in 2020. The first wave of censorship would be deemed a failure, requiring retaliation and a second wave of expurgation. Unfortunately, what is even more chilling is that the political excommunication will worsen, and Donald Trump will do nothing about it.

According to a recent press pool report, the president applauded the so-called MAGA club. For 144 days, we set a record stock market. It means 401Ks, it means jobs. Four trillion-dollar companies: Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft. You have MAGA. The trillion-dollar club. Perhaps, he may be more concerned with the flattering numbers of financial success rather than the staggering numbers of banned or demonetized patriots: Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Gavin McInnes, Steven Crowder, Laura Loomer, and the list is literally endless.

Within minutes at the Social Media Summit, intended to highlight big tech censorship and biases, the president began to compliment the stock market and skyrocketing 401(k)s. Great, slow hand clap.Unfortunately, Trumps showmanship on censorship wont repair the harm done to those banned online, many of which depended on their conservative activism for a living, and ultimately assisted the president in his electoral success.

Is it financial success if the next 50+ years are consumed by technological oppression? None of the major players banned were in attendance even though they are widely credited for the presidents election. Why, are they too controversial? Would it detract from the summits purpose? On the contrary, it would have reinforced its objective. But, we as conservatives have allowed the left to designate what is considered fringe within our own party; meanwhile, the radical left runs rampant with no guardrails or moderators, only having drunken cheerleaders on the sidelines.

The left has lost the battle through the judicial system, and they have been unable to materialize hate speech as a legal definition. Consequently, leftist technology companies are embracing the concept of hate speech by creating community guidelines and banishing violators from their platforms.

Recently reported byThe Post Millennial, Censored.TV, founded by Vice co-founder Gavin McInnes, has been banned on Facebook and Instagram and it is literally impossible to send links to his channel through private communication or DMs. The leftist behavioral re-educators not only want to control what you post in public and in private, they seek to control how you think about issues through conditioning and intimidation.

According toStatista, 59 percent of the earths population is plugged into the world wide web, approximately 4.54 billion people. More than ever these social media platforms and applications are an essential component in our social environment and establishing itself as the modern public square. Ignoring the phenomena of digital gulags would hinder controversial, provocative, and inquisitive thinkers from ever reaching an audience, and without radicals, we wouldnt have Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., or the other Martin Luther.

Out of fear of violating conservative orthodoxy and the idolization of free-market absolutism, we are afraid to take meaningful steps in reigning in the political targeting and digital assassination exhibited by those who control information. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, is the second largest search engine, and many of the conservative firebrands have been de-platformed and deprived of access to a market that many leftist radicals continue to reach and enjoy.

If the right doesnt take action on censorship in fear of advancing the tentacles of big government, then the Trump phenomenon will fade; meanwhile, the burgeoning tentacles of big tech will strangle conservatism into a slow death, and there are only so many missteps one can make before the fall becomes fatal. Behold America, a new tyranny is amongst us. A citizen-tyranny where fellow Americans report you not to the government, but to a soy-pounding drone tech employee, sifting through content and complaints made for your improper and impure thoughts (posts).

How would the great architects of Western civilization see todays frenzy of censorship? We have inherited the worlds greatest tradition and we are squandering it to pathological political knuckle-draggers. Aristotle famously said, Man is by nature a political animal with the gift of contemplation and the power of morality. It is indisputable that those who have been targeted for censorship are not the hate-mongers theyve been falsely accused of being. The real hatemongers are hiding in plain sight, like David Duke, Richard Spencer and radical Islamic terrorists. Strangely, they all have been graced with the privilege of maintaining Twitter along with other various social media accounts. Perhaps, it serves the lefts purpose to raise certain individuals to prominence while degrading true conservatives into obscurity.

Aristotle would have probably agreed, to deny a man his political voice, is to deny him his humanity.

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Couple in car runs two Trump-supporting boys off the road - The Post Millennial

A culture of self-censorship and fear of backlash from funders, colleagues and the public is convincing arts and cultural workers to stay silent on important issues, according to new research from ArtsProfessional.

APs Freedom of Expression survey has uncovered pressures on arts workers ability to speak out ranging from the fear of harassment and humiliation to more overt measures like non-disclosure agreements. More than 500 artists and arts workers contributed some 60,000 words on questions about their experiences navigating controversy and coercion.

The research indicates the openness, risk and rebellion that many believe characterises the sector is being eroded. While about 90% of respondents agreed that the arts and cultural sector has a responsibility to use its unique talents to speak out about things that matter, regardless of the potential consequences, more than 80% thought that workers in the arts and cultural sector who share controversial opinions risk being professionally ostracised.

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While much of the sectors censorship is self-imposed, one in six respondents said they had been offered a financial settlement in exchange for their silence on circumstances an organisation wanted to keep private.ArtsProfessional Editor Amanda Parker said the research reveals a deep division between public perception and the reality of working in the arts and cultural sector.

Our survey shines a damning light on the coercion, bullying, intimidation and intolerance that is active among a community that thinks of itself as liberal, open minded and equitable.

We are very aware that this research doesnt reflect all views, but its a sad and timely indication of the suppressed hurt and anger felt by many, despite the loud and growing conversations about collaboration and inclusiveness.

The sector is biting its tongue for fear of biting the hand that feeds, the survey shows.

Nearly 70% of respondents said they would not criticise a funder for fear of jeopardising future investment and 40% said they had been subject to pressure from funders for speaking out.

There was a sense that funders are immune from scrutiny, with respondents citing times they kept quiet about waste and cronyism, among other issues. One described the relationships with funders as being like a parent and child: Its hard to challenge or open up a dialogue with them even if there are genuine concerns.

Criticising a funders decision to award or turn down a grant or their continued support of elitist organisations would be a problem for many. Responses on this issue largely fell into two camps: those who felt the sector was only paying lip service to diversity and those who thought it attracted too much attention but neither group felt able to speak their minds.

Pressure to keep quiet was most likely to come from colleagues, according to two-thirds of respondents. However, the survey also revealed examples of retribution from organisations against arts workers who spoke their minds, from marginalisation and isolation to lost commissions, cancelled contracts and being screamed, shouted at [and] bullied by my ex-boss.

Some workplaces censor their employees online activity while others actively gag them: One in six respondents said they had been offered money if they signed a non-disclosure agreement.

One person said they had been offered money to keep quiet about corrupt practices in arts funding at the EU level; a whistleblower who told top management about mostly male bosses bullying their female subordinates was paid off and invited to leave the organisation. Another respondent accepted a redundancy package when the redundancy wasn't wholly legal; and one person reported a gagging order regarding a colleagues sexual harassment case and a boards illegal processes.

The research indicates the arts and cultural sector is intolerant of viewpoints outside of the dominant norms. Anything that might be considered politically incorrect to the liberal-leaning sector including expressing support or sympathy for Brexit, the Conservatives or other right-wing political parties was felt to be risky territory.

Religion, gender and sexuality were also considered a minefield and no-go areas for many: Anything to do with gender issues, especially trans issues, will get a lot of flak for either not being on message enough, or being off message, or too on message, one person said.

More than three-quarters of respondents said workers who share controversial opinions risk being professionally ostracised. One person commented that people working in the sector are nowhere near as open as they pretend to be, there is a lot of hiding and backstabbing.

Only 40% of respondents agreed that personal views and opinions are met with respect by others working in the arts & cultural sector, and 42% said they feel free to speak publicly whether in person or online about their personal views on issues affecting the arts sector.

One person commented that it wouldnt be advisable to point out that the arts tend to do well under the Tories.

The dangers of this culture of self-censorship was summarised by another respondent:

Our arts, culture, and indeed education sectors are supposed to be fearlessly free-thinking and open to a wide range of challenging views. However, they are now dominated by a monolithic politically correct class (mostly of privileged white middle class people, by the way), who impose their intolerant views across those sectors.

This is driving people who disagree away, risks increasing support for the very things this culturally dominant class professes to stand against, and is slowly destroying our society and culture from the inside.

This culture of censorship is also affecting artistic expression and programming decisions. While four in five respondents agreed that organisations that wont risk controversy wont deliver the most exciting creative work, they also recognised the pressure on organisations. Only a third felt their boards were being unduly cautious about potentially controversial work.

But 45% had been pressurised, intimidated, ostracised, coerced, trolled, harassed or bullied, either in person or on digital media over their artistic and creative activities. Of that group, 44% had changed their product, programming or plans due to this pressure.

Negative public reaction can shut down free speech there is a culture of inviting and then overreacting to complaints when in fact they represent a tiny proportion of views, one person commented and cause artists to self-censor, the survey shows. Artists fear damaging their reputations or those of their organisations.

One person explained it as a matter of picking battles.

I sometimes have to weigh whether what I really need to say requires the element that will turn others away. If it is important to me, I will stick to my plan, but sometimes, it is not the most important thing and I choose to tame my ideas. I have felt like a traitor to my own self-expression, but I have to ask if anyone needs to hear from me at all.

Read theFreedom of Expression report, including over 1,000 comments and personal testimonies relating to freedom of expression in the arts and cultural sector.

Next week AP will launch an anonymous platform where you will be able to:

We won't share your identity anywhere.

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EXCLUSIVE: 'Culture of censorship' as arts workers fear backlash - ArtsProfessional

Britains National Health Service (NHS) has been a vocal and active advocate for trans affirmative medical care. Their latest foray into making sure male-bodied trans persons feel comfortable is to allow them access to medical care on womens hospital wards. If a female patient has a problem with it, she will be removed.

Women patients who complain about having a biological male in the next bed risk being kicked off the ward under new NHS transgender guidelines. Medical staff will be expected to deal with those who object to trans patients on single-sex wards as if the complainant is a racist or homophobe, the guidance states. Rather than relocate the trans patient, such as to a single room, it will be the person who makes the complaint who will be moved, according to the policy.

Womens groups complained about this change but were rebuffed. In fact, if a woman complains at being roomed with a male-bodied person, hospital staff is instructed to protect the trans person from the woman. The duty of care extends to protect patients from harassment and should the woman continue to make demands about the removal of the transgender patient and be vocal in the ward it would be appropriate to remind her of this Ultimately it may be the complainant who is required to be removed.

The NHS argument uses racism as a means to bolster the argument, claiming that If a white woman complained to a nurse about sharing a ward with a black patient or a heterosexual male complained about being in a ward with a gay man, we would expect our staff to act in a manner that deals with the expressed behaviour immediately. Of course, these are completely different things. Race has no bearing on gender, as both sexes exist within every race on earth. The same goes for sexual orientation, the fact of who a person is attracted to has nothing to do with their anatomy.

Under the guise of medical care, the NHS has encouraged hormone treatment, breast binding, and packing in minors. Before removing via surgery or chemical childrens reproductive capability, they may pay for the freezing of eggs and sperm, so that after the children undergo sterilization they will have access post-transition. At least one mother was threatened with the removal of her child by child services after she balked when NHS referred her 14-year-old daughter for gender reassignment hormones.

Grade school children are asked if they are comfortable in their own gender, while the NHS refers to children as young as 4 to gender reassignment doctors for assessment. There was even an NHS doctor who was fired for stating that gender is not assigned at birth, but is an innate condition. Women have pushed back against both the placing of male-bodied trans persons into womens prisons and refuges. One woman was appalled to receive care from a trans nurse when a female nurse was requested.

Over and over, womens spaces are being opened to male-bodied trans persons, children are being encouraged to assess their own bodies for correctness, young people are given life-altering drugs and surgeries before their brains are finished forming, and women are told to put up or shut up. Its bad enough to house men in womens prisons, or in battered womens shelters, both of which see women at their most vulnerable. But allowing men into womens hospital wards seems barbaric and cruel.

Anyone with a brain can agree that, despite gendery feelings, the difference between those with male bodies and those with female bodies are their bodies. Every time I write this it seems more and more absurd to say that men and women have different bodies or to try and justify just how bodies are relevant to medical care. But men and women have different bodies, the differences in those bodies are even more apparent when both take off their dresses and stand naked before medical professionals. The kind of medical care that men and women receive is different precisely because their bodies are different.

Rape victims should not arrive for hospital care only to be roomed with a male-bodied person. Male bodied persons need different care for their reproductive systems because they have different reproductive systems. Its frankly insane that we have to keep saying this. Male bodied persons do not need gynecologists, no matter how much silicone theyve been fitted with.

Gynecological patients should not have to undergo vaginal exams with a male-bodied person in the bed next to them, or be fitted with a catheter, or worry about their hospital gowns slipping, or showing too much skin when they carry themselves to the bathroom or fear intimate conversations about their anatomy being overheard.

This continued push against women having private spaces has so much to with mens needs being put first. In medical circles, it has come to light that the understood symptoms for heart attack were male-centric, and that there have been biases against womens pain. Women are less likely to be given CPR, to be properly treated for dementia, and often have their concerns overlooked. Now, even in womens hospital wards, women will have a harder time getting noticed, having their concerns heard, or even finding privacy.

Trans advocacy that puts men in womens spaces reflects the demand that women submit to mens wishes, desires, and delusions. The NHS should recognize this as the gaslighting it is, and give women back their medical autonomy. Medical services should be more aware of womens needs, not less. When women speak up for themselves, they should be heard, not silenced, shuttled off to some locale where they will get even worse medical care than that which they already access.

Most women who are housed with males on a womens hospital ward will not speak up, they will instead suck it up, for fear that their lives will be put at even more risk. Its up to the NHS, legislators, and womens groups to stand for womens rights, and not throw them under the proverbial gurney.

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Scotland to become the first country to provide free sanitary products to women - The Post Millennial