“Culturally sensitive” British cop has to check to see if pedophile can have a 12-year-old girlfriend

This is in today’s Sunday Times of London, but the rest of the story is behind a paywall unless you register. Readers Paul and Malcolm, however, sent me the full text. Click on the screenshot to see the truncated article: Full text: A police officer phoned a charity to ask whether it was “culturally acceptable” […]

FIDE may nix Tunisia’s World Chess Championship because it won’t give visa to 7-year-old Israeli chess champion

About a week ago I called attention to the fact that Tunisia banned the 7-year-old Israeli girl Lial Levitan, a young chess wizard, from playing in the upcoming International Chess Championship simply because she was Israeli. Regardless of what you think of Israeli’s politics, there’s no justification for punishing a young girl who wants to […]

Popular Kuwaiti beauty blogger complains about liberalized laws for guest workers (aka slaves); claims criticism is “Islamophobic”

This new article from The Independent highlights two aspects of Middle Eastern religious culture: the fact that a form of indentured slavery exists there, and that Muslims who are criticized for this little-known fact will cry “Islamophobia” to excuse it. (Click on screenshot to read the article.) As the International Labour Organization reports, there are […]

Keenan Malik’s blog also banned in Pakistan with the help of WordPress

As you may recall, WordPress, the organization that hosts this site, got complaints from the Pakistani government that some of my posts were offensive because they hurt the sentiments of Muslims. Those posts were were ones showing Jesus and Mo cartoons, which satirize Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike. WordPress decided to cooperate with Pakistan by simply […]

7 year old can’t compete in chess championship because Tunisia prohibits Israeli players

If you think Israel is an “apartheid state,” then what is Tunisia? For that country has just banned a 7 year old schoolgirl and chess champion, Liel Levitan, from competing in an International Chess Championship (presumably the competition for juniors), because she’s Israeli. And her dream is to become a world champion. “Just a few […]

Saudi Arabia features fashion show with no models, only drones flying clothes down the catwalk

Well, Saudi Arabia, had a “Fashion Week” during Ramadan, but something was missing. Models—women models.  Instead of actual physical women wearing the clothes down the catwalk, they used drones.  Here you go. It’s creepy as all get out! Saudi arabia fashion show#fashionstyle #fashionshow 😀😁 pic.twitter.com/2Fsen9NMpc — Think Tank (@KaburgaAdam) June 6, 2018 Now it’s true, as News.com.au […]

Egyptian atheist gets kicked out of television studio

Reader Barry called my attention to this tweet by Richard Dawkins, and, unusually, MEMRI has put the 3-minute video (with English subtitles) on YouTube. I’ve embedded it below: Listen to this decent, intelligent young man trying to explain something, quietly & respectfully. The TV host yells at him, then kicks him out. Religion poisons everything.https://t.co/lopJE5HVZS […]

Iranian woman who removed hijab sentenced to two years in jail

It’s International Woman’s Day, so here’s a report of a non-U.S. woman being the victim of draconian laws. The Foreign Desk and The Guardian both report that an unnamed Iranian woman has been sentenced to two years in prison for removing her hijab.  Hijabs, of course, have been mandatory since the theocracy began in 1979. At […]

Saudia Arabia hosts its first women’s marathon

Gulf News reports that Saudi Arabia just hosted its first women’s marathon, presumably as part of its professed liberalization of women’s rights. It wasn’t a full marathon, but 3 km—about 1.9 miles. It did excite a lot of interest among the women, though, as 2,000 signed up within hours, and 1,500 actually ran. That was […]

Egyptian singers get prison time for joking about the pollution of the Nile and making “debauched” videos

We take it for granted in Western democracies that we can make fun of everything, including the government and politicians. But of course that’s not the case in much of the world, including Egypt. But it’s even worse: a popular Egyptian singer, Sherine Abdel Wahab, was just sentenced to six months in prison for joking about […]