Lindy West gets a torrent of abuse for…the horrible crime of arguing that

comedy’s current permissiveness around cavalier, cruel, victim-targeting rape jokes contributes to (that’s contributes—not causes) a culture of young men who don’t understand what it means to take this stuff seriously.

What kind of abuse? Silly. You know what kind. She screencapped a slew of it. Ugly, nobody wants to rape you, cunt, fat, panties in a bunch. That kind.

Take a look. You’ll recognize one or two of the fun-loving abusers.

 … Read the rest

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It gets crazier every day. You would think it couldn’t, but it does.

The new thing is to send open or closed letters to Michael Nugent, telling him a pack of lies about me (mixed with a small amount of truth) and demanding that he take a stand and denounce me.

The first was the work of Tim Skellett aka Gurdur, who took a violent dislike to me years ago – something to do with the closing down of the forum at the Dawkins Foundation, and my having the wrong attitude to it – and has occasionally posted nasty stuff about me ever since. His open letter is all about my criminal act of not sufficiently protecting the secrecy … Read the rest

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In Greece the cops are torturing anti-fascist protesters, apparently; at least that’s what the protesters claim.

Fifteen anti-fascist protesters arrested in Athens during a clash with supporters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have said they were tortured in the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA) – the Athens equivalent of Scotland Yard – and subjected to what their lawyer describes as an Abu Ghraib-style humiliation.

Members of a second group of 25 who were arrested after demonstrating in support of their fellow anti-fascists the next day said they were beaten and made to strip naked and bend over in front of officers and other protesters inside the same police station.

One wonders if the cops are Golden Dawn.

Several of

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London again: a protest calling for an end to deportations to Uganda of known lesbians who face death if returned there.

Around 20 protesters from Queer Strike (part of the Global Women’s Strike movement) and the Movement for Justice protested this afternoon against the deportations of gay asylum seekers to countries such as Uganda, where gays are persecuted and even killed.

The protest came months after lesbian Jackie Nanyonjo died following injuries inflicted on her during her forced deportation by thugs contracted to the UKBA in March, and a single day before flights are due to return Linda N on Qatar Airways and Josephine by Royal Air Maroc.

… Read the rest

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Why look who’s there.

More on Facebook.… Read the rest

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But at least “Beatriz” got a C-section at last.

Health Minister Maria Isabel Rodriguez said the baby had died five hours after the C-section.

Doctors decided the procedure had become necessary when the woman started having contractions on Sunday night, Ms Rodriguez said.

She insisted that the medical intervention did not contravene the court ruling.

Under the ruling, she said, “mother had to be given all the necessary protection to save her life, while analysing how long one could wait and do the utmost to save the baby’s life”.

For no reason since the baby had no brain and would not survive more than a few hours no matter what. One should not have waited one single second.

A medical

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A terrible story out of the Burzynski clinic, the story of Amelia S., told by Bob Blaskiewicz.

3-year old Amelia S. lived in Reading. In about September of 2011, Amelia started displaying neurological symptoms–wobbliness and a trembling left hand (often drawn into a fist). The family brought her in to the hospital after she started falling down. On Jan 30th, 2012, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and on the 1st of Feb it was determined to be a large tumor on the brainstem. Surgery revealed a grade 2 diffuse astrocytoma, which the family was given to understand meant that the core of the tumor was likely grade 3. Doctors were unable to remove much of the tumor,

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It’s a funny thing…I thought Portrait of a Lady was one of my favorite novels, but I started reading it again for the tenth time or whatever it is and discovered that…it’s not any more.

Sad.

There’s less to it than I’d remembered. It’s just endless wandering around Gardencourt talking in a desultory way, and then Osmond and lots of baroque but boring plotty stuff and an annoying end. I’ve never liked the baroque plotty stuff after she marries Osmond, but I thought up through the fireside scene, where she reflects on the marriage and the awfulness of Osmond, was great stuff. Now I don’t. The fireside scene still is, but the hundreds of pages that lead up to it … Read the rest

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It’s a new blog or website or both (a blog is always a website but a website isn’t always a blog). Tell all your friends.

Jadehawk argues that feminism, secularism and skepticism all need each other.

Skepticism and secularism need feminism; feminism needs secularism and skepticism. The reason for this is that all three deal with removing or restricting the harmful influence of untrue ideas on people’s lives, even if each does so from a different perspective and with a different focus. And in many cases, the different perspectives can work together to achieve the specific goals of each movement better than they would be able in isolation from each other.

I would put that a little bit differently – … Read the rest

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Once upon a time there was a young girl who was an atheist, but then she got better. Praise the lord.

She grew up atheist; she read Dawkins and Hitchens. Then last year, at age 19, she decided to read something other than Dawkins and Hitchens.

I started by reading Pope Benedict’s Regensburg address, aware that it had generated controversy at the time and was some sort of attempt –futile, of course – to reconcile faith and reason. I also read the shortest book of his I could find, On Conscience. I expected – and wanted – to find bigotry and illogicality that would vindicate my atheism. Instead, I was presented with a God who was the Logos: not

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Nepal has indentured girl child laborers. Slaves, in other words.

KATHMANDU, JUN 02 – At least half a dozen Kamlaris (indentured girl child labourers) were injured when police launched an indiscriminate attack on them while they were staging a sit-in at the entrance of Singha Durbar, Kathmandu on Sunday.

The agitating Kamalaris have been demanding the government investigate the killings and ongoing sexual exploitation of Kamlaris.

How rowdy of them.

Five Kamlaris including Sita Chaudhari and Sujata Chaudhari, of Kailali, and Urmila Chaudhari, of Dang, fainted during the police attack . Some of them have suffered fractures of their bones and head injuries during police intervention.

The injured have been taken to Anamnagar-based Annapurna Hospital and Bir Hospital

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Don’t miss this article by Leo Igwe on his week at a witch camp in Ghana.

… Read the rest

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Yemi has pointed out a petition you can sign. (I don’t say “we” because I signed it yesterday.)

President Goodluck Jonathan: Don’t sign the JAIL THE GAYS bill into LAW

Petition by Nigerian LGBTIs in Diaspora Against Anti Same Sex Laws

Nigeria LGBTIs in Diaspora Against Anti Same-Sex Laws unequivocally condemns the passing of the Same sex Marriage Prohibition bill by the Nigerian House of Representatives. The draconian bill was passed in a voice vote on Thursday 30 May, 2013 by members of the House of Representatives. The bill stipulates a 14 years jail term for same-sex marriage and 10 years imprisonment for public show of same-sex affection. The approved bill also stipulates a 10 year imprisonment for anyone … Read the rest

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