Obama, Gates and racial paranoia

Heather Mac Donald points out that Barack Obama is recycling long-discredited anti-police fictions.

Violence in South Africa's townships has spread as residents protest about what they say is a lack of basic services, such as water and housing

Police have fired rubber bullets at demonstrators in Johannesburg, the Western Cape and the north-eastern region of Mpumalanga. In Mpumalanga, there were reports of foreign-owned businesses being looted as foreigners sought police protection. More than 100 people have been arrested. The rising tensions in the townships have revived memories of xenophobic attacks on foreigners in 2008 in which more than 60 people died.

Hate crime hypocrisy

Nation of Cowards shows the double standards involved when deciding if a criminal act is a hate crime.

Immigration and genocide in Celtic Britain

Research shows that Anglo-Saxon migrations into Britain led to the extinction of British Celtic men.

Money-laundering rabbis

For Solomon Dwek, being an FBI informant was a full-time job. His life as a high rolling real estate king crashed in 2006 when he bounced a $25 million check. From that day forward, he was the FBI’s newest informant. Telling them he could infiltrate a ring of prominent rabbis laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, he worked overtime becoming their friends and partner in crime. Sometimes he had as many as three meetings a day while taking international phone calls and exchanging faxes. On any given day, he found himself passing dirty money to rabbis in their Brooklyn homes and synagogues, dealing with corrupt officials in greasy spoon diners or greasing development wheels at Atlantic City confabs. The probe eventually included a black market kidney broker and a rogues’ gallery of bribe-taking dirty politicians in New Jersey. In all, five rabbis and three Jersey mayors — from Hoboken, Secaucus and Ridgefield — were charged. Things grew really bizarre when he started meeting with Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, who offered to sell him a kidney. His chain of deceit started when Dwek, the son of a rabbi, went to defendant Eliahu Ben Haim, rabbi of Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal, N.J., where Dwek lives. In June 2007 at Ben Haim’s house, he gave him $50,000 to launder through his charitable group, to be repaid at a later day minus a 10% fee. In August 2007 Dwek met with Rabbi Edmond Nahum at his office in Jersey to discuss the best way to launder $45,000, court papers say. Nahum recommended he turn to Rabbi Mordchai Fish of Brooklyn, because he “can do millions of dollars under the ground. Fish is good.” Fish was good for Dwek. Next, they started laundering more than a million dollars together. In January, 2008, Dwek met Fish in his car which was parked outside his house in Brooklyn, to trade cash and talk about deals. A day later, Dwek met with defendant Schmulik Cohen outside his home in Brooklyn to collect $300,000 in cash. Two days later, he met defendant Arye Weiss in his Brooklyn home and left with $50,000 cash.

Apparently expecting firemen to be intelligent is racial discrimination

From the Daily News:

The city used written exams that "unfairly excluded hundreds of qualified people of color" from serving as firefighters, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The historic decision could recast the racial makeup of the predominantly white city Fire Department and cost taxpayers $20 million.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis said the Justice Department and a group of black firefighters have proved, without the need for a trial, that the city discriminated against blacks and Hispanics on two exams from 1999 to 2007.

Black and Hispanic applicants failed the two exams in disproportionate numbers to whites.

"These unlawful practices barred over a thousand additional black and Hispanic applicants from consideration for appointment as FDNY firefighters," the judge wrote in his 93-page decision, "and unfairly delayed the appointment of hundreds of black and Hispanic firefighters."

"These examinations ... closed the doors of opportunity for public service to large segments of the city's population."

Of course, the exams did not discriminate against blacks and Hispanics. The exams did discriminate against the less intelligent job applicants which is actually a good thing if you happen to believe that a smart fireman is better than a dumb one.

African immigrant boys charged with raping child in Arizona

One of four Liberian boys charged with raping an eight-year-old girl in Arizona will be prosecuted as an adult, authorities said. The details of the case have shocked local officials and provoked outrage across the United States after the parents of the young victim disowned her on grounds she had "shamed" her family. Officers responding to screams from an empty shed in an apartment complex found the partially-clothed girl and four boys aged 9 to 14 running away. The four boys had lured the girl into the shed with chewing gum. They held her down and took turns raping her for about 10 to 15 minutes, according to Phoenix police. The girl's parents shocked officers when they said she had brought shame to the family and did not want her back. Both the girl and the boys are Liberian immigrants.

Duffy and malaria

Evidence of recent adaption in Africans to malaria.

Related:

Japanese are brown-eyed a bit differently

Study finds a protein often found in schizophrenics also contributes to greater artistic capacity

The experiential link between creativity and mental illness is well documented, but a new study out of Budapest, Hungary, has discovered what could be a genetic link between the two. Szabolcs Keri, a psychiatrist and researcher, says he hopes the link will show people with mild forms of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and the rest of the world, that people with mental illness can be valuable, contributing members of society. Keri said although severe schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are highly self-destructive illnesses, milder forms of the conditions make those afflicted think more originally and creatively. Keri’s study looked at Neuregulin 1, a protein in the gene NRG1 often found in schizophrenics. It regulates the flow of information between neurons, easing them into the frontal lobe of the brain — the part responsible for many of the higher human functions including personality, intellect, creativity and long-term planning. Using widely recognized objective tests to measure the creativity and IQ of 200 “highly intellectual” Hungarians, he found that those who had the gene answered questions more creatively and “thought outside the box.” Keri asserts that the NRG1 gene — which is present in both highly intelligent, creative people and those with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — has been maintained through evolution because it is useful for society to have members who can think creatively.

Related:

Intelligence: Nature outpaces nurture as kids get older

Diversity is Chaos is mentioned in Jewish newspaper

Joyce S. Anderson:

The Report does have a section of Hate Websites: 630 hate sites active in 2008 under group headings: Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi, White Nationalist, Racist Skinheads, Christian Identity, Neo- Confederate, Black Separatist, Racist Music and General Hate. Here are a few at random if you wish to pull them up and sample their messages first hand: Jewish Treason, www.jewish treason.com, Bergen County Hooligans, www.furiat.net, White Knights of America, www.whiteknights of america.com, Aryan Union, www.aryanunion.org. Just reading the seven pages of names of the 630 Web sites is a sobering experience. Hatred distilled into the labels: "White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan," "Adolf the Great," "American Nazi Party," "Nuke Israel." "White Revolution," "Diversity is Chaos," "Jew Watch," "Supreme White Alliance' and "Yahweh's Truth."

Growth factor, hypertension and kidney failure in African-Americans

Physician-scientists from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center believe that a heightened level a certain growth factor in the blood may explain why blacks have a greater prevalence of hypertension and kidney disease compared to whites. Results from a new study are the first to show that an elevated level of a protein, called transforming growth factor B1 (TGF-B1), raises the risk of hypertension and renal disease in humans. African Americans constitute about 32% of all patients treated for kidney failure in the United States and are four times more likely to develop renal disease than whites, according to the National Institutes of Health's U.S. Renal Data System. The researchers' findings may someday lead to the development of a new class of anti-hypertensive and kidney disease drugs that target the TGF-B1 protein. "I believe we may now understand a great puzzle: why the black population has a greater prevalence of hypertension and kidney disease," says Dr. Manikkam Suthanthiran, first author of the study and attending physician at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, Stanton Griffis Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Professor of Biochemistry and Professor of Medicine in Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. Results from the study revealed that the TGF-B1 protein was significantly higher in 186 black study participants compared with 147 white participants. After controlling for race, sex and age, TGF-B1 protein levels were highest in hypertensive blacks (46 ng/ml). Non-hypertensive blacks also had higher levels (42 ng/ml) compared to hypertensive whites (40 ng/ml) and non-hypertensive whites (39 ng/ml), demonstrating that even healthy black patients may be at higher risk for future hypertension and renal disease compared to healthy and hypertensive whites. "Many black patients may have a disadvantage from the start - having a higher baseline level of TGF-B1," says Dr. Phyllis August, senior author and attending physician in the division of hypertension at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, Ralph A. Baer Professor of Medical Research and professor of medicine atWeill Cornell Medical College.

Related:

Young Black Women Prone To Gain More Unhealthy Abdominal Fat Than Hispanics

Genetics of BP in African-Americans Identified

Circumcising men who already have HIV does not protect their female partners from the virus, a study in Uganda has found

Circumcision is known to protect men from acquiring HIV. But the research showed no benefit in those who already had the virus and was stopped early because of the continued risk to women. Experts say HIV-positive men should still be offered circumcision, but also warned to use condoms.

The future of the United States

Pat Buchanan:

One million to 2 million immigrants, legal and illegal, arrive every year. They come with fewer skills and less education than Americans, and consume more tax dollars than they contribute by three to one.

Wise Latina women have more babies north of the border than they do in Mexico and twice as many here as American women.

As almost all immigrants are now Third World people of color, they qualify for ethnic preferences in hiring and promotions and admissions to college over the children of Americans.

Positive selection and non-Africans

New research shows significant genetic differences between and Africans and non-Africans.

Divorce, intermarriage and cultural differences

New research shows that divorce is more common in mixed marriages where the cultural differences are greatest.

Race and special needs pupils in England

Around 20 in every 1,000 black pupils in primary schools have special needs, the figures show. The proportion is 17 in every 1,000 for white pupils and 14 in every 1,000 for Asian pupils. In state secondary schools, 20 in every 1,000 white pupils have special needs. The figure is the same for black pupils, but lower for Asian pupils, at 15 in every 1,000 pupils.

Children taught in segregated schools do not suffer in their exam results, according to the first research of its kind to be carried out in Britain

A report published by researchers from Bristol University showed that the gap in performance between pupils of different ethnic groups at GCSE remained largely unaffected regardless of whether they were taught in well-integrated schools or those dominated by a particular ethnic minority group. Whether they were brought up in a segregated neighborhood or not does not make a difference, either. The results from the British study of 1.6 million pupils show - on average - white pupils scored 41 points at GCSE. Chinese and Indian pupils score higher at 55 and 48 points respectively - while Bangladeshi (40 points), Pakistani and black African (38) and Black Caribbean (33) do worse. The gap, however, between the performance remains largely unaffected no matter the circumstances in which they are taught. The only difference is - where the gap widens - in London amongst black Caribbean pupils.

Education Department: the gap between black and white students remains frustratingly wide

Despite unprecedented efforts to improve minority achievement in the past decade, the gap between black and white students remains frustratingly wide, according to an Education Department report. There is good news in the report: Reading and math scores are improving for black students across the country. But because white students are also improving, the disparity between blacks and whites has lessened only slightly. On average, the gap narrowed by about 7 points from 1992 to 2007, so that black students scored about 28 points behind white students on a 500-point scale. The divide between minority and white students is considered one of the most pressing challenges in public education. Closing the achievement gap was a central element of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law, which holds schools accountable for progress among every group of kids — including minorities, those who have disabilities and those who are learning English. The gap between black and white students shrank by 2 points after 2003, when accountability measures under No Child Left Behind took effect. The implications of the disparity reach far beyond school walls. Minority students are also much more likely to drop out of high school — half of minorities drop out, compared to about 30% of students overall. The future is bleak for dropouts; they are the only segment of the workforce whose income levels shrank over the past 30 years, according to the children's advocacy group America's Promise Alliance. Only about half of black and Hispanic fourth graders perform at or above "basic" in reading on the tests used in the study, the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Related:

Reading scores of black Wis. students worst in US

Experts believe women are naturally programed to be the weaker sex when it comes to fighting off HIV

It is well known that HIV progresses faster in women than in men with similar levels of HIV in the blood. Now a research team has found that a receptor molecule involved in the first-line recognition of HIV responds differently in women. The findings might provide new ways to treat HIV and slow or stop the progression to AIDS.

Racial bias and the menstrual cycle

Apparently racial bias in women increases when they are at the most fertile point in their cycle.

Related:

Miscegenation