Irreligiosity of artists.

Sinlessness of man.

Iceland Elects Historian

The new president of Iceland is neither a career politician nor a businessman.  He's "a scholastic expert on political history, diplomacy and the Iceland constitution," who decided to enter politics after the Panama Papers implicated the Icelandic prime minister in fraud.

Since Iceland jailed its bankers, leaders the world over hope you won't notice that "Iceland is on track to become the first European country that suffered in the financial meltdown to 'surpass its pre-crisis peak of economic output.'"

European Jewish Congress Wants United Europe

I wonder why anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe? Is it because Europeans have finally begun to notice that Jews overwhelmingly support flooding European nations with non-Europeans? Perhaps the best solution to the issue of anti-Semitism would be for Jews in Europe to respect the self-determination and sovereignty of ethnic Europeans – but I think we all know that isn't going to happen.

Story Fabricated to Keep Memories Alive

Joseph Hirt was concerned about ignorance of the truth, so he made up a lie to support the truth.

He wasn't arrested by the Nazis, he didn't escape from Auschwitz under an electric fence, and he didn't meet Jesse Owens, Eleanor Roosevelt, or Dr. Mengele.  He did get a tattoo of Primo Levi's camp number, “in no way an attempt to take on his identity, but in an effort to incorporate his symbol as a way of remembering him”.

As historian Ken Waltzer wrote when Herman Rosenblat was found to have embellished his memoir, "This shows something about the broad unwillingness in our culture to confront the difficult knowledge of the Holocaust."  People's susceptibility to lies about the Holocaust proves the necessity of believing in it, obviously.

Historical investigation of the event remains verboten.

Study Shows Nature Heals Trauma

Man creates War.  War creates Trauma.  Nature offers plants, fungi, forests, and rivers for healing the wounded soul of Man.  Man outlaws Nature.

Demolition of the churches.

Blind pupils.

Dangerous game.

Proof by pleasure.

The Peaceful Donald

With increasing frequency over the last few months some of the most thoughtful left and progressive figures have begun to speak favorably of aspects of Trump’s foreign policy. Let us hear from these heretics.

Destiny of Christianity.

Industrial Farming Unsustainable

Better paid farm workers would do more to feed the world than bigger machines and stronger pesticides.  When the current higher yield of industrial farming is weighed against environmental, economic, and social considerations, organic farming comes out as superior in the long run.

Lone-Wolf Islamists Relatively Ineffective

Europeans acting alone are more deadly than Islamists without a support network.  The report making this assertion therefore suggests that “right-wing extremists represent a substantial aspect of the lone actor threat and must not be overlooked,” as if these lone actors are the greater threat, and they do not perceive themselves to be responding to an organised incursion by Islamists who do not act alone.

No More Klöpfer

Four schools in the Binningen district of Basel Canton have dropped pork sausages from their menu, because 5% of parents responding to a survey said they didn't want their children eating them.  There were no questions asked, and there will be no more sausages for the other 95% of students.

Zuckerberg Covers His Webcam

Even experts who don’t cover their cameras think they should. Why doesn’t Matthew Green, an encryption expert at Johns Hopkins University? “Because I’m an idiot,” he told Yadron.

“I have no excuse for not taking this seriously … but at the end of the day, I figure that seeing me naked would be punishment enough.”

Of the prudence of Christianity.

“This is the way it is.”

Another assault of another young person in another rural town has prompted another round of accusations of unfounded hate, phobia, and "white supremacy."

Deutschland Unter Allah

Prominent German architect Joaquim Reinig believes that Hamburg should demolish fifty Christian churches and replace them with the minarets of mosques, so migrants won't be afraid of losing their identity.  Because Jews and Christians are theological brothers of Muslims with many similarities, they should have no fear of this.

China Surpasses America in Computing

A Chinese supercomputer has been named the world's fastest computer for the seventh year in a row – but unlike previous winners, this year's champion uses only Chinese-designed processors, representing a decline of US dominance in the field.

Nosey Faces

Facebook's new head of policy and communication is a longtime senior advisor of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Music Improves Auditory Processing in Children

These initial study results, published recently in the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, provide evidence of the benefits of music education at a time when many schools around the nation have either eliminated or reduced music and arts programs. The study shows music instruction speeds up the maturation of the auditory pathway in the brain and increases its efficiency.

Advantage of being religious.

Virtual Reality and the Holocaust

A "virtual Holocaust survivor" who lived through an extermination camp and a death march will now be educating children by "upsetting the viewer’s sense of comfort." 

The interactive hologram and associated artificial intelligence answers questions with selections from 25 hours of footage of Pinchas Gutter, creating a vivid and convincing testimony intended to "jolt another world into your own." 

Historical investigation of the event remains verboten.

All-Male Refugee Centre Placed Across From Naturist Club

The nudists claim their starkers way of life - the club near the ancient porcelain manufacturing center of Meissen has been going since 1905 - is being threatened by officials not wanting to offend newcomers.

"I don't know whether it is wise to set up the asylum home here," said Petra Hoffman, 70-year-old club treasurer.

The un-Hellenic in Christianity.

"The precise motivation for the rampage remains unclear"

Here’s who the New York Times blames, in order: Republican politicians, Republican-led state legislatures, Republican governors, Republican federal lawmakers, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, anyone who believes in traditional marriage, anyone who’s ever voted to preserve traditional marriage, and anyone who has ever voted for anyone who believes in or has voted to preserve traditional marriage.

Pitfalls of the New Age

It turns out that cobbling together a syncretic religion from scraps of spirituality, self-help, and wishful thinking does not a perfect person make.

The Penultimate Frontier

Scientists have better data to suggest the absence of intelligent life on the planet Mars than they do in our own oceans.  Even without this tantalising possibility, any possible threats or opportunities down there are a lot closer to us, and so perhaps more pressing to discover than the shape of rocks on dead worlds.  There is now an initiative to rectify this at last by properly mapping the seafloor.

Fighting Radicalisation With Euphemisms

The Department of Homeland Security is requesting $100 million to do away with religiously-charged words like "jihad" and "sharia law" in an effort to deter young people from joining jihad groups hoping to enact sharia law.

Turks Can't Be Germans Too

Almost half of ethnic Turks living in Germany place the demands of their religion above the laws of the land in which they reside.  A third of those surveyed would rather live in the same society as Mohammed--almost a millennium and a half behind the rest of the world.  Nonetheless, a majority express a readiness to integrate, even while considering it impossible.  Germany will just have to change to make it possible.

Academic Apostate Doesn't Hate His Roots

“I could see the same pattern in the many failed left-wing revolutions of Latin America and elsewhere. By combining actual travel with the historical study of socialism and revolution, I succeeded in disabusing myself of the utopian notions that fatally attract people to leftist ideas.”

Christianity and antiquity.

On viewing certain antique sacrificial implements.

Origin of the religious cult.

The twofold struggle against an ill.

Murder by Madman Enthusiastically Politicised

The lone witness to allege that the killer of British MP Jo Cox shouted "Britain First!" before and after the murder is himself a member of the rival British National Party.  Another witness, a Muslim, denies the statement was uttered.  Journalists, politicians, and the pundits of social media proceed with their confidently bigoted denunciation of anyone with any ideas in common with the crazy person.

Flat Earth Debate Heats Up

A 56-year-old Brockville man was so enraged by his son's girlfriend's irrational suggestion that the Earth is flat that he threw a propane cylinder into their campfire.  Police expect to charge the man with mischief, while there are no charges pending for the woman's heresy.

Gardens Unconstitutional

In Miami Shores, "Aesthetics and uniformity are legitimate government purposes."  That's why your front yard must consist of inedible grass, sod, or "living ground cover," but absolutely no vegetables.  The government thinks they're ugly and messy, so you'll pay a fine or be made to dig up your unsightly nutrition!  Shamefully put that garden behind your house where no one will have to see the awful thing.

More Spying Makes US More Safe

Despite the fact that the FBI's awareness of Omar Mateen made no substantive difference to his plans, Hillary Clinton has promised to pressure tech companies to comply with intelligence agencies in an intensified program of domestic surveillance.

Meanwhile, in Israel

Israeli marriage law makes it a two-year prison offence for any Jew marrying outside of the rabbinical authorities in that country, it has emerged after a failed attempt to overturn the rabbinate’s authority in the Israeli parliament.

Closing Borders Will Drive Germans To Incest

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has been quoted as saying, "Isolation is what would ruin us - it would lead us into incest."  The answer is the importation of cultures with a long-standing tradition of cousin marriages.

Dalai Lama Neuters The West

A giggling old man employed as a humanitarian mascot thinks that universal secular ethics and common sense will inevitably defeat regressive imperialistic theology rooted in violence and oppression--so there's nothing to worry about.  The nice man said so.

Your Landlord Needs To See Your Sandwich

Make no mistake: The data will mislead. Among the behaviors that count against your Tenant Assured “credit” percentage — i.e., how confident the company is that you’ll pay rent — are “online retail social logins and frequency of social logins used for leisure activities.” In other words, Tenant Assured draws conclusions about your credit-worthiness based on things such as whether you post about shopping or going out on the weekends.

Terrorist Was Kind Of A Jerk

Omar Mateen was toxic, unhinged, unstable, racist, homophobic, prone to talking about killing people, and employed, prior to killing or injuring over a hundred people in Orlando.  A former co-worker left his job to get away from Mateen, and isn't at all surprised at what happened.  Their employer tolerated the man's offenses because he was Muslim, but don't you dare suggest he took up arms for the same reason.

Enriching Experiences on German Buses

Teen girls in Germany are being sexually assaulted by migrant men on public transit on a daily basis, but they haven't said anything because their elders have told them we mustn't judge.

The Dangerous Unconscious

Migrants Don't Get Breakfast, Destroy Exhibition Hall

Afghan migrants sided with Iranian security staff against the Arab residents of a Düsseldorf conference center.  As a chapter of an ongoing dispute, the Iranians are accused of deliberately not waking up the Arabs in time for their Ramadan breakfast.  In response, citizens of Morocco, Algeria, Syria and Iraq tried to burn the hall to the ground to get away from the Iranians. 

About 30 migrants have been treated for smoke inhalation, and one of the 70 firefighters called to the arson was hospitalised.  There are reports that as many as 280 migrants were evacuated, although there were only 160 residents officially housed there.

Don't Aggravate the Agitators

San Jose police showed admirable restraint by not intervening when those protesting a Trump rally became violent--throwing punches, eggs, drawing blood by swinging a bag of rocks, and stealing and burning hats.  It was good of them to do nothing, because it could have incited more violence.  It could have, but it didn't, when they eventually started making arrests after ninety minutes of violent protest had tuckered out the terrorists.  Donald Trump must take responsibility for this violence, because law enforcement sure won't!

Sweden Baffled By Too Many Men

In the natural course of things, there are usually slightly more women than men in a given population.  This standard has been established over millions of years of evolution to be about right for the needs of the species.  The country of Sweden has a curious case on their hands, where the natural order of things has been upended, and for some mysterious reason there are more men than women now.  No one knows why.

Cooperation Intensifies to Combat Hate Speech

Leading technology companies, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, have signed a collective pledge to the European Union to scrub any hate speech from their walls within twenty-four hours.  Some kind of definition or understanding of what qualifies as hate speech is presently lacking, but such details will surely be worked out cogently and transparently very soon.

Research Reliably Unreplicable

"Reproducibility is like brushing your teeth"--and 90% of scientists surveyed think there is a slight to significant crisis of oral hygiene in the published scientific literature.  No word on how concerned social scientists and arts professors are about brushing their teeth.

Dalai Lama Defends The West

Tenzin Gyatso, the present incarnation of Avalokiteśvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion, the 14th Dalai Lama, and one of the most popular personages in the world, thinks there are too many refugees in Germany.  He thinks "Germany is Germany," it "cannot become an Arab country," and the moral thing to do would be to admit refugees temporarily, with the ultimate goal of sending them back to rebuild.  This perspective is not in line with the pronouncements of Western political and religious leaders.