Author: Blazingcatfur
Does France hold the key to cracking down on Islamist extremism?
Are we being ‘poisoned’ by extremism? The Prime Minister seems to think so. His speech on the steps of Downing Street following the Rochdale by-election described a country where values of tolerance and civility were being deliberately undermined by Islamists and the far right. ‘Islamist extremists and the far right feed off and embolden each other,’ he warned. But in conflating those two threats, the Prime Minister made the same mistake as his predecessors.
Sunak followed the script, endorsed by too many institutions in Britain, that the big threat to our way of life comes in two equal halves. Yet treating the far right and Islamist terror as two sides of the same coin defies all the realities of who is in custody, who is in the graveyard and what makes up 75 per cent of the terror caseload. The equity obsession seems designed to comfort the sensibilities of a progressive audience rather than respond to what the data says. Islamist extremism is by some margin the biggest terrorist threat in this country. Sunak could, and should, have been much clearer on this point, about the extremism that has rocketed levels of antisemitic hate and infiltrated both pro-Palestinian marches and our electoral process. Seeking to leaven these uncomfortable facts with false equivalence is dangerous.
Something Like Fire – Will the AI revolution warm us or burn us?
Machines can now talk with us in ways that aren’t preprogrammed. They can draw pictures, write passable (if generic) college essays, and make fake videos so convincing that you and I can’t tell the difference. The first time I used ChatGPT, I almost forgot that I was communicating with a machine.
Artificial intelligence is like nothing that humans have ever created. It consumes vast amounts of data and organizes itself in ways that its creators didn’t foresee and don’t understand. “If we open up ChatGPT or a system like it and look inside,” AI scientist Sam Bowman told Noam Hassenfeld at Vox, “you just see millions of numbers flipping around a few hundred times a second. And we just have no idea what any of it means.”
Peter Menzies: Online Harms Act Is Using Child Safety as a Front to Assault Canadians’ Freedoms
The Online Harms Act, in all its ominous incarnations, was always going to be all about saving the children.
Except it was never just about that. It was really always about what has been revealed to be its core purpose: suppressing Canadians’ freedom of speech on the internet. The saving the children from exploitation by online predators part is just political exploitation. Either you agree with the bill entirely, its proponents will say, or you don’t want children protected.
France makes abortion a constitutional right in historic Versailles vote
The French parliament has enshrined abortion as a constitutional right at a historic joint session at the Palace of Versailles.
Out of 925 MPs and senators eligible to vote, 780 supported the amendment, which will give women the “guaranteed freedom” to choose an abortion.
There was thunderous applause in the chamber as the result was announced on Monday; in central Paris, the Eiffel Tower was illuminated to mark the occasion.
“Incorporating Sharia Law into European Legal Systems” vs A State in India Bans Sharia
Lawmakers in an Indian state ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have approved landmark legislation to unify personal laws across religions, a move that bans discrimination against women based on Islamic sharia law.
It’s Official: Rob Reiner’s Anti-Trump ‘God & Country’ Bombs
Christian Nationalists are the new White Supremacists.
The former is how the press and the Left, but we repeat ourselves, target right-leaning voters supporting President Donald Trump.
The Ruthless Variety Program mocks the press’ efforts in the podcast’s latest episode.
LILLEY: Toronto Police Chief Demkiw embarrassed Canada, he needs to resign
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw should do the honourable thing and resign after thoroughly embarrassing the entire country on Saturday. If he won’t do the honourable thing, the police services board should fire him with cause at the next meeting.
He has his orders from Chow, velvet gloves for Hamas.
Frankly I’m looking forward to the Yahya Sinwar memorial rallies.
WaPo Writer Makes It Official: Shoplifting Is Just Reparations
Do you know what the problem with capitalism is? It doesn’t want to sell stuff to people. Calling it “a late-capitalism horror story,” the Washington Post’s Maura Judkis might have just written the stupidest possible piece about Blue America’s state-sponsored shoplifting craze.
The Liberals table a fatally flawed online harms bill
The Liberals have bundled their online harms laws into a single bill, but that wide-reaching legislation is really two very different frameworks that have been unwisely conjoined.
The first part, the one actually called the Online Harms Act, is indeed plausibly about online harms. It would create an infrastructure – including statutory responsibilities for social media platforms – that would limit loathsome digital acts such as cyberbullying and revenge porn.
Bernie Farber likes this law, so do the Islamists. Our freedom of speech is being sacrificed to identity politics.
George Galloway is sworn in to Parliament – immediately compares Israel to the Nazis
George Galloway likened Israel to Nazi Germany today, suggesting the country was committing a ‘holocaust’ in Gaza after taking his seat as Rochdale MP.
In a highly inflammatory Westminster press conference conducted after taking his seat Mr Galloway said that the Palestinians were the victims of a ‘genocide’ at the hands of the Israeli military.
He also refused to condemn Hamas, saying they had been chosen by the people of Gaza in an election.
Terrorism charges laid against man accused in Edmonton City Hall attack
Mounties announced terrorism charges Monday against a man accused of firing a gun and igniting a Molotov cocktail at Edmonton City Hall in January.
Bezhani Sarvar, who is 28, is charged with counselling commission of a terrorism offence and possession of property for terrorist purposes, said the RCMP Federal Policing Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.
Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake’s names scrapped from school in ‘inclusivity’ drive
A private school has pledged to remove the names of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake from its buildings in an “inclusivity” drive.
Parents at Exeter School in Devon were told that the Elizabethan naval heroes no longer “represent the values and inclusive nature” of the school.
Louise Simpson, the head teacher, said they had “less than positive connotations” in modern times.
Rahim Mohamed: Giorgia Meloni’s Italy puts Justin Trudeau to shame
For the second time in a matter of months, a state visit from a key ally has ended in embarrassment for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, resulting in Canada taking yet another hit to its already faltering global reputation.
Biden has until March 19 to drop out
In late 1995, Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes had a problem. Instead of pulling out his checkbook and paying to get on state primary ballots, he chose to do it the old-fashioned way and get thousands of signatures on petitions, and it wasn’t going well.
As the deadline for the petitions in Rhode Island neared, staffer Doug Heye and two others headed to the Ocean State to finish the job.
Biden’s handlers like Trudeau’s are hoping the public will hold their noses one last time.
h/t Mauser