All entries by this author
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Jun 12th, 2016 5:15 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
So this is horrifying.
The United West investigative team uncovered a story so disturbing Field Sutton of Channel 9 news in Orlando, FL broke the story on their newscast.
The Husseini Islamic Center, 5211 Hester Ave, Sanford, FL 32773, invited Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar to speak at their Mosque. Dr. Sekaleshfar says the killing of homosexuals is the compassionate thing to do.
In a 2013 speech Sheikh Sekaleshfar said this regarding gays, “Death is the sentence. We know there’s nothing to be embarrassed about this, death is the sentence…We have to have that compassion for people, with homosexuals, it’s the same, out of compassion, let’s get rid of them now.”
The story is dated April 6. Two months ago.
… Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
11 comments
Tags: Orlando
Jun 12th, 2016 12:30 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
There are people who identify as victims of an organized group of stalkers, who are everywhere.
At first, Mr. Trespas wondered if it was all in his head. Then he encountered a large community of like-minded people on the internet who call themselves “targeted individuals,” or T.I.s, who described going through precisely the same thing.
The group was organized around the conviction that its members are victims of a sprawling conspiracy to harass thousands of everyday Americans with mind-control weapons and armies of so-called gang stalkers. The goal, as one gang-stalking website put it, is “to destroy every aspect of a targeted individual’s life.”
Mental health professionals say the narrative has taken hold among a group of people
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7 comments
Jun 12th, 2016 11:50 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Oh guess what. It turns out Omar Mateen wasn’t a nice quiet loving peaceful citizen even before he murdered over 50 people at Orlando’s largest gay bar and injured over 50 more; no, it turns out he was a violent abuser of – you’ll never guess – women.
The ex-wife of the 29-year-old man suspected of killing 50 people in a Orlando nightclub early Sunday said that he was violent and mentally unstable and beat her repeatedly while they were married.
The ex-wife said she met Omar Mateen online about eight years ago and decided to move to Florida and marry him.
At first, the marriage was normal, she said, but then he became abusive.
“He was not a
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
9 comments
Tags: Orlando
Jun 12th, 2016 11:25 am |
By Ophelia Benson
And now, in Los Angeles…
Authorities in Santa Monica found possible explosives as well as weapons and ammunition Sunday in the car of a man who told them he was in town for the L.A. Pride festival in West Hollywood, a law enforcement source said.
Early Sunday, Santa Monica police received a call of a suspected prowler near Olympic Boulevard and 11th Street. Patrol officers responded and encountered an individual who told officers he was waiting for a friend. That led officers to inspect the car and find several weapons and a lot of ammunition as well as tannerite, an ingredient that could be used to create a pipe bomb.
The car had Indiana plates. The man, was was
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1 Comment »
Jun 12th, 2016 9:56 am |
By Ophelia Benson
So what does the lieutenant governor of Texas do? He composes a “reap what you sow” tweet and shares it with the sinful world.
At precisely 7 a.m. Sunday Dan Patrick tweeted a photo with the words of Galatians 6:7. The verse reads, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
That’s so horrific in so many ways. One, he’s a high official in a state government – the largest state in the country in fact, with a population of 27 million. Two, he’s saying the victims had it coming. Three, he’s citing “God.” Four, he’s more than hinting that the reason the victims had it coming is because God hates fags. Five, it’s … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
1 Comment »
Tags: Orlando
Jun 12th, 2016 9:36 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Our Paris November 2015: 50 people killed in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.
Fifty people were killed inside Pulse, a gay nightclub, Orlando Police Chief John Mina and other officials said Sunday morning, just hours after a shooter opened fire in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
At least 53 more people were injured, Mina said. Police have shot and killed the gunman, he told reporters.
The shooter had an assault weapon.
Before Sunday, the deadliest shootings in U.S. history were at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, with 32 and 27 killed.
The three worst, in less than a decade. People think they’re in a movie, and the … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
2 comments
Tags: Orlando
Jun 11th, 2016 5:59 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Everyday Sexism continues to flourish.
A casting call for a new project produced by Quentin Tarantino has caused controversy after a Facebook post invited “whores” to apply.
The post, which has since been deleted, appeared on a casting agency page and began: “Casting Whores for Quentin Tarantino project”. The post later requested that all applicants have “natural breasts” and should put the word “whore” in the subject line.
So the question becomes, do they mean actors who want to play prostitutes? Or do they mean women in general, whom they like to call whores? It’s impossible to tell.
The film doesn’t appear on Quentin Tarantino’s IMDb page. His last film The Hateful Eight drew controversy for its abusive treatment
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
5 comments
Jun 11th, 2016 5:30 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
There I am, minding my own business as usual, and I see I have a DM on Facebook. I open the DM. It’s from a total stranger who is not a Facebook friend. I have one mutual friend with him. So Facebook is letting total strangers DM us now? I don’t remember agreeing to that.
The stranger’s name is Tony Philpott. Google tells me he’s a successful screenwriter in Dublin.
Dear Ophelia. Just viewed your recent exchange on Atheist Ireland. I have never, ever resorted to an ad hominem response, but having viewed your exposure on such issues I will break my rule. You are a “closed” person. A person without dimension, a person with whom discourse is impossible. The
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18 comments
Tags: Tony Philpott
Jun 11th, 2016 4:31 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Mike Skerrit asks his son what it means when she says stop.
My son is three years old. My daughter is five. They play. My son is strong and sometimes he gets the upper hand and giggles as he sits on top of his sister. She says stop. He won’t. He’s laughing so hard he doesn’t hear her. I come running. “What does it mean when she says stop,” I say. Silence. There is no missing my message. He is upset. “It means stop,” he answers ruefully. “When does it mean stop,” I say. “Stop right now.” “It means stop right now. Always. We don’t keep doing it, we don’t ignore her, we don’t make her say it
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2 comments
Jun 11th, 2016 4:18 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Peter Walker reports:
Went today to the LaVoy Finicum site on Hwy 395 to see what’s happening. An ongoing source of tension and anger. The memorial has been toned down. William C. Fischer of Idaho and a local friend watch it 24/7 from an adjacent legal (if symbolically problematic…) campsite. They told me they’ll stay until a permanent solution is found. They want the memorial set back off the road with a few parking spaces and a path to access the memorial from the camp. Being set off the road is key: others don’t have to see it. Possibly better than leaving it as a festering source of anger, potential conflict, and recruiting. Would require federal USFS authorization.
They … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
4 comments
Jun 11th, 2016 12:34 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Because of this claim in a comment:
Does Elizabeth Warren actually have any Native American ancestry?
If she claimed in public she did, but in reality didn’t, then she lied, didn’t she?
Here is Vox explaining the non-issue:
Trump’s comment may be racist against Native Americans, but he’s using it here to sarcastically suggest that Warren really isn’t Native American. (Which, oddly enough, proves that Trump can also be racist while trying to insult someone for being white.)
Trump is referring to a controversy Warren faced over her ancestry during her 2012 Senate campaign.
Warren says she grew up being told that she had Cherokee heritage. “Everyone on our mother’s side — aunts, uncles, and grandparents — talked
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
6 comments
Jun 11th, 2016 11:26 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Originally a comment by Theo Bromine on Mubarak dehydration month.
I was wondering about the rules for kids, and found the following:
1. Children before the age of seven should be encouraged to fast (without fasting the full day) and to love these acts of worship. They can pretend what it is like to fast for an hour, for example.
2. After seven, it is recommended for the child to fast, but not necessarily for the full day nor everyday. The emphasis on fasting should be increased until the child reaches ten.
3. At ten, the child should be expected to fast.
Other sites quoted scholars saying that a child over 10 “should be made to fast and … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
9 comments
Tags: Ramadan
Jun 11th, 2016 10:22 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Rape-excusing judges in history…
In 1911 California voters passed a measure allowing the recall of judges and added an amendment to the state Constitution giving women the right to vote.
Two years later, newly enfranchised women in San Francisco flexed their political muscles by petitioning for the recall of a police court justice, Charles Weller.
Like his colleagues, Judge Weller heard sexual assault cases and typically set bail at under $500, low enough so that several defendants chose to flee rather than stand trial. Judge Weller sometimes dismissed rape charges on technical grounds — as when a 15-year-old, impregnated by the accused, missed court because she was giving birth.
Why that lazy slut.
No one complained until a year
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
2 comments
Tags: Brock Turner
Jun 10th, 2016 5:49 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
And then there’s the junior Senator from Georgia, Republican Frank Perdue, at a “Faith and Freedom” conference today.
According to The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff, Republican Senator Frank Perdue jokingly told attendees: “We should pray like Psalm 109:8 says: Let his days be few.”
Christians well acquainted with Psalms 108, know that it is not just a wish for Obama to be out of office, but a call for vengeance upon a rival.
According to the American Standard Bible, Psalm 109:7 begins, “When he is judged, let him come forth guilty, And let his prayer become sin.”
Nah, let’s have the King James, instead.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let
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3 comments
Jun 10th, 2016 5:20 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Trump. He’s not funny, he’s not cute, he’s not a “rebel.” He’s no more cute than Milo Yiannopoulos or the bullies of reddit or Gamergate or any of this trash. Calling Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” is just trash. He’s trash. He has a trashy mind and mouth and political campaign.
The furor over Trump’s assaults on the impartiality of a Latino judge had just begun to subside when he lobbed two tweets Friday morning responding to Warren, who had lambasted him as a “thin-skinned, racist bully” in a speech the previous evening.
“Pocahontas is at it again!” Trump wrote in one. “Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. Senators, has a nasty mouth.”
Thus demonstrating that he’s not … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
12 comments
Jun 10th, 2016 11:04 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Maryam has plans for this matter of forced fasting (and deyhdrating) in Ramadan:
24 JUNE 2016: FAST DEFYING PROTEST DURING RAMADAN
On 24 June, from 17:00-19:00 hours, we will be organising an “eat-in” at the Saudi and Iranian embassies in London in solidarity with those defying fasting rules during Ramadan.
This is hugely important given that there are many people across the globe who are arrested, beaten and fined for eating during the month; many others are pressured into fasting, including in Europe. Join us at the ‘eat-in’ if you can.
Alternately, you can upload photos of yourself eating during fasting times or holding signs with messages of solidarity using hashtag: #IWillNotFast #لن_اص= م #روزه خوارى #Ramadan until the= end
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: Ramadan
Jun 10th, 2016 9:02 am |
By Ophelia Benson
The Advertising Standards Authority puts out a call for evidence on gender stereotypes in advertising.
In recent years, there has been increasing political and public debate on equality issues. The mocking of women and men in non-stereotypical roles, the reinforcement of stereotyped views of gender roles, and gender-specific marketing to children, as well as concerns regarding objectification, sexualisation and the presentation of an idealised or unrealistic body image are all issues that have gained considerable public interest.
As a proactive regulator, we want to find out more about these issues and others to ensure we continue to be alive to and in tune with prevailing standards when interpreting and applying the rules. Consequently, we will be doing three things:
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
4 comments
Jun 10th, 2016 7:56 am |
By Ophelia Benson
That thing I said the other day about how humans are a mistake. One branch of that mistakenness is the taste that some humans have for torture and cruelty as a form of entertainment. Take Andrew Picard, former Etonian, for instance.
Andrew Picard, 18, was found to have more than 2,000 pornographic images of children as young as two years old, including rape and bestiality. The images were found on his computer at [Eton] after Picard, then 17-years-old, shared the illegal material in an online chat room with an undercover police officer, The Daily Mail reports.
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Judge Peter Ross said: “This defendant Andrew Picard was a privileged young man. His family are clearly wealthy enough to send
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8 comments
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