Sunday, November 26, 2017

Scientists have drawn on nearly 1,000 brain scans to confirm what many had surely concluded long ago: that stark differences exist in the wiring of male and female brains

Maps of neural circuitry showed that on average women's brains were highly connected across the left and right hemispheres, in contrast to men's brains, where the connections were typically stronger between the front and back regions. Ragini Verma, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the greatest surprise was how much the findings supported old stereotypes, with men's brains apparently wired more for perception and co-ordinated actions, and women's for social skills and memory, making them better equipped for multitasking. "If you look at functional studies, the left of the brain is more for logical thinking, the right of the brain is for more intuitive thinking. So if there's a task that involves doing both of those things, it would seem that women are hardwired to do those better," Verma said. "Women are better at intuitive thinking. Women are better at remembering things. When you talk, women are more emotionally involved – they will listen more." She added: "I was surprised that it matched a lot of the stereotypes that we think we have in our heads. If I wanted to go to a chef or a hairstylist, they are mainly men." The findings come from one of the largest studies to look at how brains are wired in healthy males and females. The maps give scientists a more complete picture of what counts as normal for each sex at various ages. Armed with the maps, they hope to learn more about whether abnormalities in brain connectivity affect brain disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. Verma's team used a technique called diffusion tensor imaging to map neural connections in the brains of 428 males and 521 females aged eight to 22. The neural connections are much like a road system over which the brain's traffic travels. The scans showed greater connectivity between the left and right sides of the brain in women, while the connections in men were mostly confined to individual hemispheres. The only region where men had more connections between the left and right sides of the brain was in the cerebellum, which plays a vital role in motor control. "If you want to learn how to ski, it's the cerebellum that has to be strong," Verma said. Male and female brains showed few differences in connectivity up to the age of 13, but became more differentiated in 14- to 17-year-olds. "It's quite striking how complementary the brains of women and men really are," Ruben Gur, a co-author on the study, said in a statement. "Detailed connectome maps of the brain will not only help us better understand the differences between how men and women think, but it will also give us more insight into the roots of neurological disorders, which are often sex-related."

Thursday, November 23, 2017

How do they control Muslims in India?

Fear of mob violence seems to keep Muslims under control in India.

Angela Merkel is now paying the price for her pro-Muslim stupidity

The immigration issue has finally come back to undercut Merkel directly, first costing her votes in Germany’s recent election, which saw unprecedented gains for the nationalist Alternative for Germany party, and then making a potential grand coalition impossible in part because the centrist, pro-business Free Democrats now see an opportunity in getting to Merkel’s right on migration policy.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Brazil promotes itself as a harmonious blend of races, but the reality as the country celebrates Black Awareness Day is that the darker your skin, the less chance you have of getting ahead

According to the state statistics office, only about 5% of management jobs are held by non-whites, who account for 54% of the population, according to the latest census. Among the richest 10% of Brazilians, 70% are white. Among the poorest 10%, 74% are black. Blacks are also hard to find in prominent media jobs or in fashion.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Israel’s cabinet has voted to close a migrant detention center, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an agreement to deport 40,000 Africans who had entered the country illegally

“The infiltrators will have the option to be imprisoned or leave the country,” the public security ministry said in a statement. Israeli official figures from June 30, 2017 show a total of 38,043 African migrants in the country. Speaking ahead of the vote, Netanyahu noted that after building a fence on the Egyptian border and deporting some 20,000 African migrants through various deals, Israel has reached the third stage of its efforts — “accelerated removal”. “This removal is taking place thanks to an international agreement I reached that enables us to remove the 40,000 infiltrators remaining, remove them without their consent,” he told ministers. Jews love diversity everywhere except Israel.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

A rabbi at one of the largest synagogues in Britain has come forward with details of sexual harassment that she and female rabbinic colleagues have received from their own congregants, urging the community to pay closer attention to the issue

Rabbi Hannah Kingston of North Western Reform Synagogue in London said in her sermon that amid the current public conversations about sexual harassment and assault, “One very close colleague of mine relived the moment that she found out that she was known by her congregants as ‘the rabbi with the nice legs.’ She said that after that she took to wearing trousers.” Kingston has had similar experiences on a “weekly basis,” she said: “I can lead an entire service and have someone come up to me at the end and say: ‘oh you look pretty today.’ That wouldn’t happen to a male colleague and it completely degrades what I’ve spent two hours talking about. It happens weekly.” Kingston said that she was originally “scared” about speaking out. “When we come forward and speak about sexual harassment we are letting our humanity show in a way that we might normally try to protect,” she explained. But ultimately, she concluded, “To ignore this issue as a female rabbi would have been a disservice to my community.” Kingston’s sermon was tied to the Torah portion recounting the death of Sarah. “What we see through the narrative of Sarah is a woman who is silenced,” she said. “Her own story is suppressed, she is not listened to….Not once do we consider how Sarah might feel about [being taken into Pharaoh’s palace] or what it could do to a woman to be passed so easily on to another man.”

A black couple has pleaded guilty to beating a restaurant owner and her teenage daughter after they complained of being sold cold fried chicken

Nathaniel Smith, 45, and Latasha Smith, 28, have entered guilty pleas to charges of aggravated assault and cruelty to children. Surveillance captured Latasha beating Jeanette Norris, the owner of the Qwik Chick, because the couple claimed that their food was cold and they didn't have enough fries. When Norris's 15-year-old daughter got out of a vehicle to help her mother, Nathaniel is seen punching her in the face, sending her flying backwards. Norris suffered a broken nose and her daughter was treated for a concussion.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

African-Americans are over 3 times more likely to commit a hate crime than a white

In 2016, blacks were 26.1% of known hate crime offenders even though they were only 13.3% of the U.S. population.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Saturday, November 11, 2017

In 2016, the overall rate of reported chlamydia cases among blacks in the United States was 1,125.9 cases per 100,000 population

The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black women was 5.1 times the rate among white women (1,387.2 and 271.1 cases per 100,000 females, respectively). The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black men was 6.6 times the rate among white men (839.0 and 126.4 cases per 100,000 males, respectively). Rates of reported cases of chlamydia were highest for blacks aged 15–19 and 20–24 years in 2016. The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black women aged 15–19 years (6,485.2 cases per 100,000 females) was 4.5 times the rate among white women in the same age group (1,433.3 cases per 100,000 females). The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black women aged 20–24 years was 3.7 times the rate among white women in the same age group (6,747.6 and 1,836.2 cases per 100,000 females, respectively). Similar racial disparities in reported chlamydia rates exist among men. Among men aged 15–19 years, the rate of reported chlamydia cases among blacks was 8.8 times the rate among whites (2,337.7 and 266.9 cases per 100,000 males, respectively). The rate of reported chlamydia cases among black men aged 20–24 years was 4.9 times the rate among white men of the same age group (3,316.9 and 682.5 cases per 100,000 males, respectively).

Friday, November 10, 2017

Do hateful words lead to unspeakable crimes?

The Weimar Republic tried to restrict the free speech rights of the Nazis. The Nazi party had 200 prosecutions brought against it for anti-Semitic speech. At one point the state of Bavaria issued an order banning Hitler from giving public speeches.

Jewish sex predator update: An Emmy-winning writer for AMC's Mad Men once thought her award would solidify a successful career path, but she was let go from the show a year later — and she's now accusing show creator Matthew Weiner of sexual harassment

Kater Gordon, who started as Weiner's personal assistant in 2007 before becoming a writers' assistant, said that she was working late one night with Weiner co-writing the show's season finale, an episode that won them both an Emmy in 2009. She said during their session, Weiner remarked that she owed it to him to let him see her naked, a comment she just let fade before continuing to work on the script with him. But the months that followed left her feeling "threatened and devalued," though she didn't report the incident because she said that she wanted the writing credit for that episode to help get her another job. "I saw no value to speaking out," she said. "So I did what I thought women were supposed to do." She said that she "lost respect" for Weiner, and a longtime writer on the show said "I could see her confidence was shaken" after the incident. Just weeks after her Emmy win, Weiner let Gordon go, rattling off a list of ways she'd "fallen short" on the job, she said. In a statement from his rep, Weiner said that he spent "eight to 10 hours a day" holed up working with Gordon, but he notes he doesn't remember making that remark and insists he had "a predominantly female driven writers room [and] has long believed in and implemented an egalitarian working environment." Gordon fell out of Hollywood after that and went on instead to found Modern Alliance, a nonprofit for sexual harassment victims. She said that she was "inspired" to speak out after hearing Harvey Weinstein stories.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

One of the world's leading Islamic scholars is on a leave of absence from the University of Oxford amid allegations that he raped two women

Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, has denied the allegations made by the two women in France and filed a slander complaint. One woman, author Henda Ayari, says Ramadan "literally pounced on me like a wild animal" when he attacked her in a Paris hotel room in 2012. Ayari says that the Harvey Weinstein accusations inspired her to come forward. The second accuser, a disabled woman who says that Ramadan beat her and raped her repeatedly in 2009, has chosen to remain anonymous. "By mutual agreement, and with immediate effect, Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies, has taken a leave of absence," the British university said in a statement, adding that the accusations had caused "heightened and understandable distress." Ramadan, 55, said that he "saluted" the statement, which he said "defended the principle of the presumption of innocence without minimizing the seriousness of the allegations against me." The four women in Switzerland have told local media that Ramadan sexually harassed them when they were teenage students in the '80s and '90s.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

There is a large over-representation of immigrants, particularly from the Middle East and North Africa, among the suspects of sex crimes in Sweden

Over-representation of immigrants has been even higher when it comes to group rapes, especially with three or more assailants. According to an official study from 1996, immigrant males were 4.5 times as likely as Swedes to commit rape. Immigrants from Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia were particularly over-represented, being more than 20 times as likely to commit the same crime. In total, 53% of rape suspects were either first or second generation immigrants. A similar study, conducted in 2005, showed an even higher over-representation of immigrants among sex crime suspects, by then up to 5.1 times as likely as Swedes to commit rape. In the 2005 study, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention explained the growing over-representation with reference to demographics and immigration: “[T]he number of people in Sweden belonging to the group of refugees, which have in earlier studies been shown to have an especially high propensity to commit crime, has increased.” It is a plausible hypothesis that the same mechanism is at work now. During the recent migration crisis, Sweden took in more refugees per capita than any other country in Europe. However, the exact link between sex crimes and immigration is not known, since the Swedish government will not update its statistics, and the data, which are still being collected, have not been made available to the public. In a recent interview, the Minister of Justice, Morgan Johansson, said that the facts are available in the 2005 study, and that no update is necessary. But since 2005, Sweden has absorbed a large influx of refugees from the over-represented regions in North Africa and the Middle East. If over-representation has not changed dramatically since this last survey, it is reasonable to infer that immigration has contributed to the increase in reported sex crime.

Black man put racist graffiti on his own car but won’t be charged, police say

Despite filing a false report, police say that Dauntarius Williams, 21, won't face any charges. The incident fueled racial tensions at Kansas State University and in the community, and the FBI had opened a civil rights investigation. As usual, another "hate crime" turns out to be a hoax and the perpetrator gets away with it.

Harvey Weinstein hired ex-Mossad agents to collect dirt on his victims

In what turned out to be a futile attempt to avoid his downfall, Harvey Weinstein hired an army of spies to target women accusing him of sexual assault or harassment and the journalists trying to report on their claims. Around a year ago, Weinstein employed private security agencies — including Black Cube, which is run by former agents of Israel's Mossad spy agency — to try to suppress the allegations. Agents met with actresses and journalists under false pretenses, including one who met with Rose McGowan several times, claiming to be a women's rights advocate. Weinstein supervised efforts to target dozens of individuals, and compile psychological profiles that sometimes focused on their personal or sexual histories. Weinstein also spoke to current and former employees to try and identify people who might speak out against him, and enlisted the help of journalists and allies including Dylan Howard at National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. to try to discredit accusers. Some of the women targeted say the use of private security agencies made it even tougher to speak out against the powerful producer. "Ex-Mossad operatives? The biggest international security firms in the world on your case?? And these women STILL spoke up!!," tweeted Anthony Bourdain, partner of Weinstein accuser Asia Argento, adding that Howard is "beneath whale s---."

Katie Hopkins has revealed that she is a DUP supporter - but believes it is only a matter of time before Ireland is reunited

In a typically frank interview she revealed she was "increasingly torn" about Northern Ireland's future in the UK. Hopkins said she had an affinity for the province as it would have been the first place she would have been posted to had she not been kicked out of Sandhurst Military Academy for not disclosing that she was an epileptic. The outspoken columnist was speaking ahead of the release of her autobiography, Rude. Dubbed the most hated woman in Britain, Hopkins is no stranger to controversy. Her views on everything from working mothers to Muslims have led to death threats, a libel case and her firing. She said: "The DUP increasingly have a role here in British life. I find the DUP and our transfer of cash to them was a curious thing. But a lot of what they stand for seems to be fairly sensible politics in my book. I am a supporter." Yet Hopkins revealed that she has serious doubts about Northern Ireland's future as part of the UK. She added: "I don't think that Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK. I can't imagine a time where we continue the divisions of countries according to lives that don't seem to make sense anymore. As much as I am a huge patriot and a defender of the United Kingdom, you watch Catalan (sic) and Spain, you see how passionate the Catalans are, and you hear Scotland, and you can't help, given the way I feel about Brexit, think that you are either a supporter of independence or you are a hypocrite. I am increasingly torn."

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Even Larry David can see that a lot of sex predators are Jewish

I wonder if other Jews will be equally honest?

If diversity is so wonderful why must it be imposed forcefully?

Surely if it was as beneficial as advertised, there would be no need for disparate impact lawsuits, training to overcome implicit bias and other punishing measures.