The fundraiser for the pizza family in Walkerton, Indiana is now at $749,741 and still rapidly climbing. Quite a reward for making public their religious opposition to same-sex marriage.

A more worthy fundraiser is one to send Sunil Khandbahale to MIT.

Born and raised in a rural farming village in Nashik, India to uneducated and illiterate parents who firmly believed in the power of education to unlock their children’s potential, Sunil was the first in his family to go to university and now he’s been acccepted to MIT Sloan’s fellowship program.

Sunil has spent the past 14 years overcoming many obstacles and building from nothing to what is now a free technology enabled multilingual translation platform  that is being used by over 120 million users in 150 countries!

Additionally, he has also set his sights on ensuring that young children in and around his rural village get a strong foundation by building a family-run preschool attached to his parents home that now serves nearly 100 preschoolers.

The only problem is that there’s one thing Sunil didn’t do on his quest to impact the lives of hundreds of millions of people….and that’s focus on making a financial return. While it has never been what motivates him, the fact of the matter is that MIT’s program costs more money than Sunil has ever dreamed of.

Please join us in proving to Sunil that good things happen to people who commit themselves selflessly to improving the lives of others. We can think of no future leader more deserving of becoming equipped with the tools that MIT’s program offers than Sunil, and we hope that by using the power of technology and the same online platform that Sunil has used to improve the lives of so many, we can join together and raise the money needed to send Sunil to MIT.

H/t Kausik.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Ouch. More on that drought in California:

Southeast of Lake McClure is the town of East Porterville, where waterways aren’t the only thing drying out. The town’s residents have also run out of well water, the primary source of drinking water for many of the area’s homes, according to the New York Times.

Residents haven’t had running water in months and rely on donated water tanks to bathe, wash clothes and eat, the report added. To drink, many of the city’s residents rely on bottled water, either donated or purchased on their own.

The town is largely made up of Mexican immigrants who work in the fields all day, toiling under the sun. The local high school has allowed students to come in early to take showers in the locker rooms, if needed, the report added.

Mexican immigrants who work in the fields all day, toiling under the sun, who have to buy drinking water.

H/t Dave Ricks.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Since it came up, I’ll just share the 2012 news about how Malala’s classmates recovered from being shot on that little bus going home from school.

“Which one is Malala?” he barked. Terrified, the girls fell silent. Malala Yousafzai was their 15-year-old schoolmate, a well-known children’s rights advocate who frequently challenged the Pakistani Taliban’s stance against girls education. She was sitting to Shazia’s right. “I think we must have looked at her,” admits Shazia. “We didn’t say anything, but we must have looked, because then he shot her. He shot her in the head.” Shazia screamed when she saw Malala slump forward. The gunman turned and shot Shazia twice, just below her left collarbone, and in her left hand when she tried to protect herself. Then he aimed his Chinese-made imitation Colt 45 at Kainat Riaz, the 16-year-old 10th grader sitting to Shazia’s left. He shot her in the shoulder, then dropped off the back of the truck and disappeared.

They both recovered.

Shazia and Kainat, however, returned to the Kushal School and College for girls on Nov. 29, determined to continue their education no matter the threat. “I love to study, and nothing will stop me, not even a bullet,” Kainat told TIME on her first day back in class. Shazia was equally defiant: “Even if they attack me three more times, I will always go back to school.”

Their courage is awe-inspiring, but it would be so much better if they didn’t need courage to go to school. I would be so happy to do without any awe or inspiration in exchange for a world where girls can go to school and atheists can utter their thoughts without needing heroic courage.

Shazia and Kainat are true illustrations of how Malala is no outlier, but rather an example of the kind of students coming out of Khushal school: courageous, intelligent and articulate. Samar Minallah Khan, a documentary filmmaker who filmed the school in 2010, was astounded by the ambition and character of all the girls she met. “There has to be something exceptional going on with either the school or the person running the school if all these girls are as confident, as inspiring and as courageous as Malala,” says Khan.

Maybe the credit goes to the Taliban. What a horrible thought.

Both still struggle with fear, and how to quell the panic that rises every time the memories come flooding back. Kainat, a slim, pretty girl with a ready smile and gemstone-flecked glasses, has trouble sleeping. Still, she says, the attack has strengthened her determination to fight for girls’ education. Before the shooting it was always something abstract—after all, she is one of the lucky ones, with a family willing to pay for her education all the way through graduation. Now that she has seen first hand how far some people are willing to go to take away that right, she knows what is at stake. “I feel myself stronger now,” she says, as she sits on a traditional rope bed in her family’s high-walled courtyard. “It was an unfortunate situation, but it gave me courage. It made me realize that it is the duty of every girl to encourage education. Now that Malala is in the UK, we have to fulfill her mission.”

We want a world where girls are secure enough to be bratty spoiled teenagers who don’t need that kind of strength.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Drought in California. Jerry Brown ordered mandatory restrictions yesterday, standing on a mountaintop that should be snowy but isn’t.

The governor’s emergency order comes after a year of requests for voluntary conservation — and a record-breaking warm and dry spell culminating in the worst April snowpack in recorded history — have failed to alarm many Californians enough to cut back on water.

Do they think it will just be there anyway? Like magic?

Snow surveyors found no snow at the Phillips Station site — the first time that’s happened in 75 years of early-April measurements. In an average year, the site would have 5.5 feet of snow. Across the Sierra, electronic readings indicate the water content of the snowpack is only 5 percent of average.

5 percent!! That’s no good. That’s no good at all. Lots of people, lots of agriculture…not good at all.

That shattered the previous low record of 25 percent of the average April snowpack, set last year and in 1977. The implications are huge for the cities, farms and wildlife that depend on melting snowpack to yield water during the spring, summer and fall.

Snowpack traditionally is at its peak by early April, before it begins to melt. With the state’s historically wettest winter months now gone, the drought is now firmly rooted in its fourth consecutive year.

Not a good portent.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

What a good idea. No, I mean, what a bone-achingly bad idea. Alabama wants to see children carrying hand guns.

…lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the state’s gun laws that would allow minors to acquire their very own pistols. At the moment, the law is on a bit more even keel, stipulating that “no person shall deliver a pistol to any person under the age of 18.” Lawmakers want that changed to allow minors to have pistols, but only if they get the permission of a “parent, guardian, or spouse who is 18 or older (?)”

So little George age 5 who is married to Tina age 19 will be able to pack heat as long as darling Tina says yes. That’s sweet.

The measure is sponsored by three state senators: Arthur Orr, Greg Reed and Clay Scofield (all Republicans). A matching House bill is being sponsored by Ed Henry, Micky Hammon, Barry Moore and Corey Harbison (all Republicans). It’s unclear why the group of lawmakers felt that kids needed additional relaxation of existing gun laws.

On the flip side, we do know that childhood shooting accidents are in the top ten leading causes of accidental death among children. We should use the term “accidental” very loosely here because in almost every case the child stumbled across a loaded and unsecured gun somewhere in their own or a family member’s home. Now, in Alabama, children won’t even need to “stumble” on a gun, they’ll legally be allowed to possess it.

Get ready for fun!

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

The attack is over, the BBC reports, and all the students are accounted for.

The number of people killed in an attack by al-Shabab Islamist militants on a university in north-eastern Kenya has risen to 147, Kenyan government officials say.

The operation to secure the Garissa University College campus was now over, with all four attackers killed, they added.

Officials said 587 students had been evacuated, 79 of whom were injured.

Nine who are critically injured have been airlifted to Nairobi for treatment.

Student Collins Wetangula said when the gunmen entered his hostel he could hear them opening doors and asking if the people inside were Muslims or Christians, the AP news agency reports.

“If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot. With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die,” he said.

Al-Shabab says it attacked the university because it is at war with Kenya, BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper reports.

Kenyan troops entered Somalia in October 2011 in an effort to stop the Islamists from crossing the long, porous border between the two countries and kidnapping people – but their presence achieved the opposite effect, provoking al-Shabab to increase its activity in Kenya, our correspondent adds.

Because how dare Kenya try to stop al-Shabab kidnapping people in Kenya? Keny must understand that al-Shabab can do whatever it wants to, because Allah.

147 killed. A morning’s work.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Originally a comment by screechymonkey on But it’s terribly important to understand.

Who asked him? What makes him think it needs to be said? Who asked him to pronounce on which abuses of women are worse than other abuses of women?

He’s just trying to be helpful! He’s gearing up to start writing a regular advice column. It’ll be a big success:

Dear Richard Dawkins,
I’m currently unemployed, but have just received two job offers. One of them is in a predominantly Muslim country, and one of the job requirements is having my clitoris cut off. The other job is here in the U.K. and has no such requirement, but the boss is a bit handsy. I can’t decide which job to take — any advice?
Signed,
Confused

Dear Confused,
Sexual harassment is bad, but female genital mutilation is worse. Take the local job.

Dear Richard Dawkins,
My left pinky finger has become gangrenous and the doctors say if it isn’t amputated, the infection will spread and I will die. What should I do?
Signed,
Indecisive
Dear Indecisive,
Losing any finger — even a pinky finger on your non-dominant hand — is terrible. But dying is worse. Get the amputation.

Or maybe we can skip the advice column stage and just have John Prine re-work his song “Dear Abby”:
Dear Dawkins, Dear Dawkins, I just can’t decide,
Should I cut off my finger, or commit suicide?
Both things are bad, so how can I choose?
Please give me your logic, I’ve nothing to lose.
Signed, Indecisive

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

This time it’s al-Shabab.

They’ve killed at least 15 people and taken an unknown number hostage at a university in Garissa, Kenya.

Masked gunmen from Somalia’s al-Shabaab movement claim to be holding an unknown number of Kenyan Christians hostage after a dawn raid on a university compound that left at least 15 people dead.

The attackers stormed into the university shortly after 5am in the town of Garissa, about 90 miles from the volatile border with Somalia. Kenya’s national disaster operations centre said 280 of the university’s 815 students were accounted for but did not say how many it believed to be still inside.

…

As many as 60 are wounded, according to witnesses. “We have evacuated about 30 casualties, most of them with bullet wounds. Four are in a critical state and Kenya defence forces personnel have airlifted three victims, including two soldiers, to Nairobi,” Shiundu said.

A mortuary attendant in Garissa said at least 15 people had been killed. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had released Muslims while killing some Christians and taking others hostage.

“We sorted people out and released the Muslims,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters.

Save the believers, kill the kuffar.

The BBC has more:

George Musamali, a security specialist and former officer in Kenya’s paramilitary police, told the BBC the authorities had “failed the students” by being poorly prepared.

“We’ve had intel [intelligence] for the last three months that al-Shabab were planning this kind of attack… and still they have been successful.”

Inch by inch.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

How sweet. Those nice people who own Memories Pizza, the O’Connor family (I said FAMILY, do you hear me? Good god-fearing Christian family, not that made up kind the fagg gay people have), are being given tons and tons of money to reward them for their courageous stand on Not Providing Pizza For Any Damn Gay Wedding. There’s a fundraiser, and the funds are just pouring in, several donations per minute. It’s $108, 630 now but going up as I type, so it will be well over that by the time you look, if you do.

Purpose: To relieve the financial loss endured by the proprietors’ stand for faith.

“Because of,” that should read, but we get the drift. They gots faith, and the faith makes them hate the gays, so we love them and want to give them money. A pretty thought.

I’ve seen cynics claim that the O’Connors did this because the pizza biz wasn’t doing well, but surely that can’t possibly be right.

The top comment at the moment –

$30

Susan Guse

1 min ago

Remember Psalms 56 vs. 3 & 4 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

There’s one Indiana pizza company that’s pleased as punch with the state’s new RFRA, and is already making firm plans to not serve gays who go in there and ask for pizzas for their wedding.

WALKERTON, Ind. -A small-town pizza shop is saying they agree with Governor Pence and the signing of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The O’Connor family, who owns Memories Pizza, says they have a right to believe in their religion and protect those ideals.

“If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no,” says Crystal O’Connor of Memories Pizza.

Hmmmm. You know what? I bet the marryin’ gays of Walkerton, Indiana, wouldn’t want Memories Pizza for their gay gay wedding, because something tells me it might not be the best pizza you ever had. I don’t think I would look to the O’Connor family for pizza if I lived in Walkerton, Indiana.

It’s a small-town business, with small-town ideals.

“We are a Christian establishment,” says O’Connor.

The O’Connor family prides themselves in owning a business that reflects their religious beliefs.

“We’re not discriminating against anyone, that’s just our belief and anyone has the right to believe in anything,” says O’Connor.

To believe in anything, yes, but to act on those beliefs, it depends. It depends less in Indiana (and much of the US) than it should, but it does still depend.

When ABC 57 asked O’Connor about the negative backlash the bill has been getting for being a discriminatory piece of legislation, she says that’s simply not true.

“I do not think it’s targeting gays. I don’t think it’s discrimination,” says O’Connor. “It’s supposed to help people that have a religious belief.”

O’Connor says because she’s a Christian, she and her family don’t support a gay marriage and that is their right.

Yes – again, not supporting something is their right, but acting on that non-support may not be. It depends. It is discrimination to refuse to serve people for the reason given.

Kevin O’Connor, Crystal’s father, says he believes the negative backlash the bill and its supporters are getting isn’t fair.

“That lifestyle is something they choose. I choose to be heterosexual. They choose to be homosexual. Why should I be beat over the head to go along with something they choose?” says Kevin O’Connor.

I really doubt that I would like their pizza.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

In the Independent, Rory Fenton says something terrifying about the situation in Bangladesh.

Far from just being two random murders, these attacks are the methodical work of vigilante extremists working through a list of atheist bloggers. The list was drawn up last year when 100,000 protesters called on the government to introduce the death penalty for blasphemy. The government refused to introduce death penalty, but it did begin a crack down on the country’s free-thinking blog community. It shut down some of its most popular sites, and imprisoned bloggers accused of “offending religious feelings”. Once known as the only place where non-religious Bangladeshis could gather safely, the internet suddenly became unsafe for atheists wanting to air their views.

Working through a list. It makes the blood run cold.

I arrived in Dhaka over the weekend with the hope of speaking to bloggers here about the oppression they face in their own country. I met with one writer, who knew both Roy and Rahman. According to him, the two men had not been that discouraged by the government crackdown at first. “When Avijit Roy said he was coming back to Bangladesh from America, he was concerned for his safety, but we assured him he would be fine,” he told me on Saturday evening.

Roy was an atheist, but his focus was really on the importance of science and rational thought. He was careful to build consensus, and avoided criticising the Prophet Mohammad directly. Few people believed he was in immediate danger. His murder last month, also in broad daylight, sent the message to Bangladeshi atheists that no-one who challenged fundamentalism was safe.

Despite this, the writer I spoke to said he felt safe enough talk on the record. However, that was this weekend: this morning changed everything. Rahman was nowhere near as famous as Avijit Roy. In fact, he wrote under a pseudonym and never used images of his face in his posts. Like Roy, he was not especially strident in his views; his most “extreme” action being to post a Charlie Hebdo cartoon of Mohammad.

Well, I knew that, I guess – I knew the murder of Rahman was a demonstration that the murder of Roy was not a one-off. But I hadn’t thought of a list…

For many in Bangladesh, this is the crux of the matter. The target of these killings and crackdowns is not just atheism, but the very idea of questioning received wisdom and authority.

…

For the blogger I spoke to, who is also on this hit-list of atheist bloggers, this all makes for a stark state of affairs. “It is very simple and clear now. I cannot put myself and my family in that risk. I cannot write”.

It’s sickening.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

And let us not forget Thailand.

A Thai military court sentenced a businessman to 25 years in prison on Tuesday on charges of defaming the country’s monarchy in what appears to be the longest sentence handed down in recent years for the crime of lese majeste, a civil liberties lawyer said.

Yingcheep Atchanont of the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights Center said the court in Bangkok found Thiensutham Suthijitseranee guilty on five counts of lese majeste for postings he made on Facebook, and handed him a 10-year sentence for each count. It cut the total 50-year term in half because Thiensutham pleaded guilty to the charges.

Thailand’s lese majeste law is considered the harshest in the world, with those accused of defaming, insulting or threatening the monarchy facing jail terms ranging from three to 15 years on each count.

25 years in prison for saying things about people labeled majesty.

“The defendant insulted the beloved and revered Thai monarchy,” Prachatai quoted the judge saying. “The sentence handed down by the court is already light.”

After last year’s coup, the military decreed that any new cases of lese majeste would be tried in military courts, and that they could not be appealed. The military-installed administration declared defense of the monarchy a priority, and in addition to vigorously pursuing prosecutions at home, it has vowed to seek the return of critics abroad it considers to have insulted the monarchy.

Never forget Thailand.

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

But hey, don’t worry about it, that was a year ago, which is like, a lifetime, pretty much, and he was only young then, and people change, and besides it’s comedy, and what’s more comedy than laughing at Jews and “fat chicks”? NPR presents the minimizations:

Updated at 4 p.m.

Comedy Central has now responded to the criticism directed at comedian Trevor Noah. In a statement cited by Politico, it said:

“Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included. To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair. Trevor is a talented comedian with a bright future at Comedy Central.”

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: FTB