‘Innocent People… Indicted and Sentenced to Death’: The Persecution of Christians, January 2023

“[In Pakistan,] blasphemy is misused to settle personal disputes… to claim that religion has been defamed…. [T]hose who use spurious motives to accuse and stir hatred are not prosecuted, while innocent people who comment on social media end up being indicted and sentenced to death. In Pakistan, blasphemy has become a pretext for lynchings and extrajudicial killings. Islamic extremists have weaponised the… legislation [on blasphemy] to strike against religious minorities without legal due process Blasphemy accusations have become a quick way to exact appalling revenge and settling scores.” — asianews.it., January 14, 2023, Pakistan.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Islam's Persecution Of Christians, Islamization of the West

China is trying to strangle the world’s solar panel industry

China is moving to consolidate and exploit its position as world leader in solar power technologies, by restricting the export of key components. The move could deliver a severe blow to the European and American solar industries and is a stark warning about the dangers of over-dependence on Beijing for critical technologies of the future. It also illustrates the impact of China’s industrial-scale cyber theft.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State"

‘I too was an orangutan in a zoo’: Russia’s bizarre propaganda in Ukraine

As morning broke over the Ukrainian city of Kherson last summer, those fumbling for their radios at 7am might have heard a Russian presenter greeting the day with his surreal imitation of a motivational video.

“As Lenin said: ‘In work we are forged.’ I too was an orangutan in a zoo, but when I started working hard I bought a car, built myself a villa in Crimea and even raised my IQ. Work as hard all day and you’ll be like me.”

Later, at 3pm, between a jazz-and-metal medley and a quiz with donuts for prizes, listeners could have heard a political discussion on the theme of “the Americans screwed up. Let’s make the Alaska People’s Republic exist” – a reference to the US state’s history under the Russian empire, before it was sold to the Americans in 1867.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia"

The Militant Pacifists of World War II

In 1940, during the twilight between peace and war, a divided Congress passed a law to conscript young men into the Army—the first federal “peacetime” draft, which lasted throughout American participation in World War II. Congress accommodated young pacifist men whose consciences wouldn’t let them take part in the fighting: If they could convince the government that their pacifism was sincere, conscientious objectors would be assigned to either noncombatant military service or noncombatant civilian service.

They were a bit more direct in WW I.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWW II History

Prince Andrew fears loss of home as the King cuts spending

The Duke of York fears that he will be forced out of his luxury home in Windsor if the King tightens the royal purse strings.

Andrew, 63, is said to have told friends that he may have to move out of Royal Lodge by September if Charles cuts his funding. This would leave him struggling to afford the maintenance costs of the spacious property.

Since standing down as a working member of the royal family in 2019, he has been supported by private funds from the Duchy of Lancaster, the monarch’s private estate.

30 room mansion?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Woke Royals"

Iran ‘takes major step towards acquiring a nuclear weapon’

Iran has taken a major step towards acquiring a nuclear weapon, it emerged on Sunday, after Western diplomats revealed that it has enriched uranium to its highest levels so far, standing just short of the threshold for a bomb.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] found enrichment levels of 84 per cent at Iran’s nuclear sites, the highest levels recorded so far and just six per cent shy of the threshold for acquiring a nuclear weapon.

… It also increases the risk of a major confrontation between Iran and Israel, its arch foe which regards the nuclear programme as an existential threat. Israel is suspected of carrying out a series of surgical strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in recent years to slow down the Iranian weapons programme.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran

Thoughts on our ruling class monoculture

Our modern ruling class is peculiar. One of its many peculiarities is its penchant for fads, and what can only be called mass hysteria. Repeatedly, we see waves in which something that nobody much cared about suddenly comes to dominate ruling class discourse. Almost in synchrony, a wide range of institutions begin to talk about it, and to be preoccupied by it, even as every leading figure virtue-signals regarding this subject which, only a month or two previously, hardly any of them even knew about, much less cared about.

There are several factors behind this, but one of the most important, I think, is that our ruling class is a monoculture.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"The Ruling Class"

‘Asbury Revival’ church service in 11th day of nonstop worship in Kentucky

A non-stop church service at a small Kentucky Christian college is taking the US and parts of Europe by storm — with worshippers Sunday in their 11th straight day of praying.

“The Asbury Revival” began as an ordinary morning church service Feb. 8 at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky., where there’s a certain amount of required church attendance every semester.

But after the final choir that Wednesday, students didn’t leave, according to Christianity Today.

More … The Asbury Revival Is A Reminder Of The Blessings And Dangers Of ‘Mountaintop Experiences’

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inReligion

My son, 14, touched a girl’s leg. He was called a rapist

MeToo-style accusations against a teen snowballed into exclusion from school, a police interview and a stabbing threat, reveals his father

Last year our 14-year-old son was accused of sexually assaulting girls at his school. I was at home when the phone call came from my son’s private school near London. He was being sent home early. I was told he had been accused of inappropriate touching and was suspended till further notice. It was the start of a 14-month ordeal which included him being excluded from school, threatened with expulsion and reported to the local authority’s child protection service and the police.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in#MeToo

The earthquake that will devastate Seattle

Seattle could do with an earthquake.

At around eleven in the morning on February 28, 2001, I was standing in front of a mirror in my home in suburban Seattle, adjusting what remained of my hair prior to driving downtown to meet a friend for lunch, when the ground began to shake beneath my feet. The movement lasted about twenty seconds and wasn’t entirely unpleasant, with just the slightest hint of the old days when I was a devotee of Bacchus. After a bit, I checked that the house was all right, looked in on my infant son peacefully asleep in his crib, said goodbye to my wife, started the car and went on my way into the city.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mother Nature Hates You"