Category: Bizarre

College Professor Objects To Exclusion of Whites From Campus For “Day of Absence” . . . Students Denounce Him As Racist and Call For His Termination

theevergreenstate640_c0-0-640-373_s885x516There is another controversy on an American campus after a professor objected to a plan that involved excluding whites from campus.  Evergreen State College biology professor Bret Weinstein made a reasoned objection to the plan for this year’s “Day of Absence” on campus. In prior years, people of color would leave the campus to highlight their contribution to the school. This year, it was proposed that whites should leave campus and Weinstein objected to the obvious unfairness of such a race-based exclusion.  The result, as shown in the videotape below, was a mob scene around Weinstein as students called him a racist and called for his resignation.  Protests have denounced his “anti-blackness” and demanded his removal from teaching.

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Trump Reportedly Denounced Germans At EU Meeting As “Bad, Very Bad” and Threatened To Curtail German Car Sales — White House Partially Denies Story [UPDATED]

donald_trump_president-elect_portrait_croppedPresident Donald Trump is being widely quoted by European allies as making a rather disturbing statements about Germany to EU Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk.   German news magazine Der Spiegel is quoting multiple sources that Trump went off on Germany over the trade surplus and said that “The Germans are evil, very evil.”  (Other translations have “bad, very bad”).  If true, it would not exactly be a diplomatic or even comprehensible approach. Trump also reportedly said that he would end the German car sales in the United States behind the surplus.  Der Spiegel is a widely respected publication.  However, this would be as big a story if the statement was not made.  The article describes almost open hostility and shock toward Trump. If the statement was not made (and Juncker has not denied it), it would be evidence of an open effort by top European diplomats to portray Trump as unhinged and unstable.  The White House, of course, should be able to confirm or deny the story.  I truly hope that this is a fake news story because the alternative would be unnerving. [Update: The White House denies that Trump made the statement]  However, the White House does not deny the car statement and only says that Trump was referring to “bad” trade policies.  That would be a considerable “lost in translation” moment.

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UCF Student Arrested After Allegedly Changing An “F” Grade To A “B” Grade in an Engineering Course

WPTV_SAMI_ADEL_AMMAR_1495718636984_60169645_ver1.0_640_480If Sami Adel Ammar, 22, is a criminal hacker, you have to hand it to him: he was modest.  Ammar is a student at the University of Central Florida and is accused of going into the computer system to change his “F” grade to a “B.”   While the B is a modest grade, the F was a stand out and the professor noticed when it went missing on his grade roster.

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“They Just Blabbermouth It”: British Police Cut Off Sharing Intelligence With Trump Administration on Manchester Bombing [UPDATED]

loose-lips-sink-shipsWe previously discussed the alarming breach of an intelligence sharing agreement with the U.K. after U.S. officials released details given to them from British intelligence on the Manchester bombing, including the identity of the bomber.  Now, British police have stopped sharing information with U.S. authorities after a series of leaks to American media.  In the meantime, after Trump’s rational odd denial that he mentioned Israel in his giving highly classified intelligence to the Russians, Israel has acknowledged it was indeed their intelligence and they had to implement a “fix” and “clarify” their position with the U.S. on intelligence sharing after Trump’s disclosure. Update:  Trump denounced the leaking of the information.   Some have noted that the statement was rather belated and others have noted that it is equally ironic (given Trump’s personal disclosure of the highly classified Israeli intelligence to the Russians).  Nevertheless, Trump is right to call for the FBI to investigate the leaking of the shared intelligence.

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“I Am History”: New Orleans Principal Forced Out Of Post For Merely Being Photographed Near Confederate Flag

5924a2da24d49.imageThere has been a roaring debate over the decision of the New Orleans city council to tear down all Confederate era statues, which many have argued is wiping out history rather than dealing with it.  The most controversial decision is the removal of the iconic statue of Robert E. Lee in the downtown.  One casualty of that debate is Nicholas Dean, principal of Crescent Leadership Academy, who was forced out of his post merely because he went to see the historic change and was pictured with a Confederate flag in the background. Not his flag, mind you. Just a Confederate flag held by a protester.

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White Owners Of Mexican Food Truck Shut Down After Being Accused Of Cultural Appropriation

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Photo: Ernesto Andrade

Kali Wilgus and Liz “LC” Connelly thought that they had realized their dream when they opened Kooks Burritos in Portland Oregon.  They were even more excited when the local newspaper Williamette Week decided to do a feature article on their new business.  The two women recounted how they watched Mexican women making tortillas on a trip to Baja California and adopted what they saw.  That admission however led to furious accusations that the two white women were guilty of “cultural appropriation.”  They eventually shutdown their food truck.

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Trump Administration Accused Of Leaking British Intelligence On Manchester Investigation

Royal_Coat_of_Arms_of_the_United_Kingdom_(HM_Government).svgMi5_crest_and_logotype.svgThis week President Donald Trump again made headlines in denying that he ever mentioned Israel in his giving highly sensitive intelligence to the Russians.  (The problem is that no one suggested that he had and the later statement appeared to reaffirm to the world that Israel was the source of the human intelligence from a spy inside ISIS.  News accounts suggested that Israel might have been the source but no one suggested that Trump said it was Israel to the Russians).  Now the Trump Administration is accused of leaking British intelligence to U.S. media in the aftermath of the massacre in Manchester.  The British were reportedly irate and made a formal complaint over the violation of core protocols and protections for intelligence sharing.  This is a very serious complaint and further undermines the core relationships that we rely on in the sharing of national security information. It should result in an immediate congressional investigation to determine what happened.

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“You Are A Good Man”: Trump Praised Philippine President Duterte For His Blood-Soaked Crackdown On Drugs

We have previously discussed the worrisome affinity that President Donald Trump has appeared to show toward authoritarian figures like Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Now the Department of Foreign Affairs has reportedly released a transcript of the call between Trump and its blood-soaked president Rodrigo Duterte.  The transcript shows Trump heaping praise on Duterte specifically for his crackdown on drugs — the very program that has made him an international pariah over its extrajudicial murders of suspects. Thousands have been reported murdered under Duterte’s reign of terror for criminal suspects.  The White House has not denied the accuracy of the transcript.  Duterte is now threatening to remove any semblance of a democratic system and declare martial law over the entire island.

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Commerce Secretary Praises Lack Of Protesters In Saudi Arabia . . . Where Protests Are Illegal

It appears that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has found relief from the pesky protesters of Western democracies.  He gave an almost breathless account of how he didn’t spot nary one protester in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, just tranquil silence of the Saudis.  It could be that the Trump Administration found a country unanimously and enthusiastically supportive of its policies. It could also be that protests are generally unlawful in the Kingdom.  The Saudis however are famous for public demonstrations of a different kind from beheadings to the image above of festive hangings.

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Russian Orthodox Bishop Ignores Objections To His Loaded SUV and Insists Jesus Would Not Have Passed Up Such A Sweet Ride

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Gathering of the Manna

In Oryol, Russia, Orthodox Bishop Nektary (Nikolai Seleznev) has declared that he is entitled to a new form of manna from heaven in the form of a new top of the line, fully loaded luxury Land Cruiser.  When confronted by the ethical questions over the gift from a local agribusiness, Seleznev insisted that Jesus would have definitely taken such a sweet ride if it were offered.

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Advice To Pregnant Women To Avoid Alcohol Denounced As “Sexist”

We have often discussed how controversial views or positions are often expressed in terms of discrimination as opposed to good-faith disagreements.  A case in point is found in a debate over the consumption of alcohol by pregnant women. The view of the medical profession has certainly changed where some doctors are suggesting that moderate alcohol consumption might not be harmful to a baby.  However, when Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, stated that the rule against any alcohol consumption was still advised, she was denounced as “sexist” and “alarmist.”

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Neo-Nazi Converts To Islam and Then Allegedly Murders Two Roommates for Blasphemy

downloadFor those of us who have long wondered where ISIS and other terrorist groups find people willing to commit atrocities of unspeakable brutality, one answer appears to be white supremacists willing to trade one extremist lifestyle for another.  That is what Devon Arthurs, 18, is accused of doing when he gave up a life as a neo-Nazi and became a radical Muslim.  He then proceeded to kill two of his roommates, 22-year-old Jeremy Himmelman and 18-year-old Andrew Oneschuk, for blasphemy after they mocked Islam.

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With Friends Like These . . . : Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Denies Trump Ever Discussed Comey . . . After White House Officials Confirm That He Did

President Donald Trump is finding friends in all the wrong places this week.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seemingly came to his defense by outright denying that he and Trump ever discussed the Comey firing in their controversial visit to the Oval Office.  After all, who are you going to trust if you are not going to take the word of dictator-loving, soulless apparatchik serving Vladimir Putin?

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Northwestern President Again Denounces “Absolute” Free Speech Values And Calls For Some Offensive Speech To Be Treated As Assault

I have previously criticized Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro for his lack of support for free speech on campus.  Unlike the University of Chicago across town, Schapiro has been leading the calls for limiting speech deemed to be a “microaggression” or offensive.  (For full disclosure, I am a graduate of both Northwestern and Chicago).  His lack of commitment to free speech has made him popular with some groups while alarming free speech advocates.  That concern was heightened this week when Schapiro defended his efforts to give protected “safe spaces” on campus and said that some offensive speech should be considered a form of “assault.”  The comments further distinguish Schapiro was one of the most hostile university presidents toward free speech principles in the country.   His pandering to those demanding speech codes and regulations should be an embarrassment for the university, which remains one of the world’s premiere academic institutions.  He has taught his students well.  Soon after the publication of his latest remarks, student groups shutdown a speaker and a class on immigration.  It appears that even classes must now adhere to the mob rule at Northwestern.

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Kentucky Woman Accused Of Stealing $26,000 In Girl Scout Cookies

In Kentucky, Leah Ann Vick, 26, probably does not want her case to go to a jury.  She is accused of stealing $26,000 . . . . from the Girl Scouts.  Notably, the theft was in cookies and the Girl Scouts are not sure if she kept the cookies or sold them on the side.  Either way, the aggravating element of alleging stealing from the venerable charity is enough to guarantee more time on sentencing.

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