I saw this on Twitter yesterday but couldn’t find any news sources at all, so I delayed posting about it. Now there are news sources, such as the International Business Times.
Tributes have been pouring in for Kurdish journalist Muhanad Akidi, who was reportedly murdered by IS militants yesterday [13 October].
His death was confirmed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, who said he was executed at the Ghazlani military base.
John Walker points out in a post on #GamerGate that there’s no escape from being political. Claiming to be not political is political; there is no not-political ground to stand on. (Unless you have always lived alone on a desert island, but then how did you get there?)
There’s a new game out, called Koala Fighters XVII. It’s a game about an elite squadron of fighter pilots, who are taking on the menace of the invading koala hordes. In it, throughout, are cutscenes showing bare-breasted women being kidnapped by the evil koalas, threatened with torture and death, to be rescued by the amazing gang of pilot men. [Read more…]
Update to add: Ex-Muslims of North America started this hashtage to highlight the often-neglected experiences of ex-muslims.
If you’re an ex-Muslim, contribute. If you’re not, read (and contribute: nons are tweeting their reactions, urging others to read, etc).
It’s powerful, some of it desperately sad, some of it joyous.
A few (without handles):
When the brothers of women you know from prayer tell you in the streets that you deserve to be sold into prostitution #AnApostatesExperience [Read more…]
You’ve probably already seen that dopy crude article by Michael Luciano explaining that atheism don’t need no stinkin liberalism. PZ has a post about it.
My favorite part, by which I mean the part that makes me cringe with loathing the most, is the way it’s illustrated – right at the top, under the title, before there are any words.
It’s like a giant “eat shit, bitches, it’s men who run this show and if you don’t like it you can fuck off.” [Read more…]
Update: I’m told that Noel Plum says he didn’t make money directly from this video.
Hahahahahaha – I Googled to find that piece where Sam Harris explained about the politically correct feminists, and in doing so look what I found – Noel Plum’s Patreon for the video he did about my take on Harris. He got $65.50 for it! That’s a lot more than I made for the post, I can tell you*. But we’re supposed to be the ones who “do it for the clicks,” remember? How come nobody ever says that about people like Noel Plum?
Sixty five dollars and fifty cents! I could buy a lot of Talenti gelato with that.
*Like, about 60 times more. Blogging really doesn’t pay unless you get many tens of thousands of hits per day, which I don’t.
Libby Anne has another great post on the way the more anti-feminist of the atheist guys use Islamist misogyny and abuse of women as a pretext for belittling women’s issues closer to home.
She starts with something Sam Harris said on that much-discussed Bill Maher program. [Read more…]
Another human rights defender charged with a “crime.”
Within two weeks of releasing leading human rights defender Maryam Al Khawaja from jail the Bahrain authorities detained another. On September 30 Nabeel Rajab was taken into custody for allegedly insulting the Bahrain regime on twitter. [Read more…]
John Sargeant at Homo economicus blogs about Maryam’s Secular Conference 2014 which took place in London this past weekend.
Imagine a conference where over two thirds of the speakers are women. From across the world. Artists, professors, authors, journalists, human rights activists. One who feared having children because of the threat to their lives. [Read more…]
Salman Rushdie gave a PEN/Pinter Prize Lecture the other day and used the occasion to talk about “jihadi-cool,” the Telegraph reported.
The so-called “jihadi-cool” image romanticises Isil, using rap videos and social networking to recruit followers – posing with AK-47s and bragging about their “five star jihad” in videos showing fighters lounging around in luxury villas as they urged the destruction of the West. [Read more…]
More on the realities of the Magdalene laundries at TheJournal.ie.
ALTHOUGH PREVIOUS REPORTS and testimonies reveal that labour in the Magdalene Laundries was forced and wholly unpaid, conditions harsh and the incarcerated women completely deprived of their liberty, suffering both physical and emotional abuse, survivors are still searching for an apology and redress. [Read more…]