In few hours time, UK will be voting in the referendum to decide whether to stay in European Union or not. The pro Brexit right wing Ultra nationalist rhetoric already have one victim, the charismatic and energetic first time MP from Yorkshire, Jo Cox, killed in broad daylight by a man howling “Britain first”.
Image credit –Yorkshire Post
The FBI first came out with a censored transcript of conversation between Islamist terrorist and Orlando Police control room. The censoring was supposed to be to prevent further publicity to ISIS. Later after pressure from social media and Republicans they were forced to come out with full transcript.
What is the purpose of hiding the well known fact that the killer proclaimed allegiance to ISIS ?
Does the Obama administration think releasing full transcript will help Right wingers like Trump ?
Actually it’s a self goal by Obama.
It is such censoring that make people think Trump is right when he says the Administration is weak against terrorism and Islamism.
Censored version:
Orlando Police Dispatcher (OD)
Shooter (OM)
OD: Emergency 911, this is being recorded.
OM: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficial [in Arabic]
OD: What?
OM: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [in Arabic]. I let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.
OD: What’s your name?
OM: My name is I pledge of allegiance to [omitted].
OD: Ok, What’s your name?
OM: I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted].
OD: Alright, where are you at?
OM: In Orlando.
OD: Where in Orlando?
[End of call.]
Uncensored version:
OD) Orlando Police Dispatcher
(OM) Omar Mateen
OD: Emergency 911, this is being recorded.
OM: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficent [Arabic]
OD: What?
OM: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [Arabic]. I wanna let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings.
OD: What’s your name?
OM: My name is I pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State.
OD: Ok, What’s your name?
OM: I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State.
OD: Alright, where are you at?
OM: In Orlando.
OD: Where in Orlando?
[End of call.]
Tomorrow , June 21 is the International Yoga day. It was in 2014 that the United Nations General assembly approved India’s proposal to make June 21 International yoga day. Just before the voting the President of the 69th session of General Assembly Sam Kutesa said:
“For centuries, people from all walks of life have practiced yoga, recognizing its unique embodiment of unity between mind and body. Yoga brings thought and action together in harmony.”
The UN Secretary General said:
“Yoga is a sport that can contribute to development and peace”.
Prime minister Modi on June 21, 2015 , New Delhi
Media in the state of Kerala, India, has reported prominently another vaccine preventable death in the state. A 15 year old boy from Malappuram district was the latest victim of the lethal mix of religion, conspiracy theories and pseudoscience. He died yesterday due to diphtheria.
Diphtheria outbreaks and deaths are not a big news in rest of India. India has 10-15 times more Diphtheria cases than any other country in the World. But it is news in Kerala state as it has comparatively much better health care record. Here in Kerala the diphtheria cases and thereby deaths are extremely rare in the last 10-15 years. Average annual incidence of diphtheria was around 10 cases in the whole of the state. But last two years saw a sudden spurt of cases from Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. There were also two deaths last year.
If in a particular society atheists are very less, the few who do not believe in god may stick together in a group.
But the moment the number increases beyond a critical number they tend to split into various interest groups.
Thus we will have atheist groups which primarily stand for social justice like humanist groups, feminist groups, LGBTQ groups etc. There may be politically Left and Right atheist groups. There may be post modernist or regressive Left atheist groups. There may nationalist or sub nationalist atheist groups. There will also be minority phobic, ableist, racist/casteist atheist groups, anti-feminists atheist groups and anti-gay atheist groups.
When atheism becomes a commonly accepted philosophy why one should stay in the same group as another with very intolerable views ?
Mary John Akhouri, a Christian Catholic lady died the other day in Mumbai, India. She was 94. Her last wish was to be buried in the premises of a church in which she was baptised at her native place in Kerala next to her father’s grave.
But when her body was brought for burial the church authorities refused permission. Their objection was she had married a Hindu man. They said that those who do not follow the Christian way of life will not get buried in the church.
Normally this issue might not have got much publicity,,but for the fact that the lady was the grandmother of a celebrity, the Bollywood film star Priyanka Chopra.
The actress Priyanka Chopra with her granny Mary John Akhouri
Church trustee Abraham PV told NDTV, “We could not bury her because after her marriage she lived like a non Christian – like a Hindu. After that she never came back to join us again. If she had given us a petition while she was alive, we would have done everything we could.”
The family was shocked. They insisted she was always a Christian.
They insist that she was a regular church-goer and had even gone for confession and partaken of the Holy Eucharist just a couple of years ago in the very same church which refused to bury her next to her father, as per her last wish.
No amount of pleading could change the heart of the clergy. The family was about to go back to Mumbai with the body. Hearing their sorry plight, a Bishop arranged for burial at another church some distance away. Thus the funeral happened, not as per the wish of the deceased , but still in a church premise.
But then came a shocker. The kind hearted Bishop was suspended from his duties, allegedly for facilitating the burial.
Then the final twist. Fearing a backlash of bad publicity the church head reinstated the Bishop the very next day.
And still some people will say religions are humane !
In India many ‘well meaning’ followers of Hinduism believe that Hindus will never involve in religion inspired terrorism. Even today a friend talking about Orlando massacre mentioned such a naive belief. He repeated the Hindutva propaganda saying “though all Muslims are not terrorists all terrorists are Muslims”.
“Aren’t you aware of the arrest of a Hindu outfit leader for the cold-blooded murder of the famous rationalist Dabholkar two days ago ? And did you forget the most infamous of all terrorist action in India, the Mahatma Gandhi assassination? “I had to ask.
The question got the expected excuses as reply. Usually such excuses ranges from “that is a fringe group” to “it has nothing to do with ‘real’ Hinduism” and “why should they hurt religious sentiments and provoke believers”.
The Gun country, USA, has witnessed another mass shooting !
LGBTQ community attacked again by homophobic theists!
Liberal Democracy attacked again by Islamist terror !
A mother burnt alive her 18-year-old daughter Zeenat Rafiq on Wednesday for marrying a man of her own choice in an area near General Hospital on Ferozepur Road, Lahore, Pakistan.
Parveen Rafiq, who confessed to having murdered her daughter for “bringing shame to the family”, was arrested at her home in a low-income neighbourhood on Mast Iqbal Road.
Zeenat Rafiq – AFP
Last week 19-year-old Maria Sadaqat was tortured then burned alive for refusing a marriage proposal from a school principal’s son in Murree.
In April a young woman was strangled and then her body set ablaze because she helped a friend elope in Abbottabad, another case that sparked revulsion.
Byra Reddy, a resident of Tamatampalli under Gownipalli police limits, Karnataka, India, allegedly strangled his daughter Priya Reddy (17). He was angry with her for her love affair with 20-year-old Harish, belonging to Ganiga (backward class), and suspected that they were planning to elope on Sunday.
Statistics indicate that about thousand people, almost always women, are killed both in Pakistan and India in a year in the name of protecting honour of the family.
Love and marriage are supposed to be happy events. But for vast sections of human society, even in this “enlightened” 21st century it is the cause of violence and sorrow, because of the culture of not respecting the autonomy of an individual, especially that of women.
From NYT website
Same lack of respect for autonomy of a woman and an undue respect for the athletic prowess of a rapist can be seen in this infamous court judgement in the Stanford rape case.
Both, the “honor” killings in Asia and trivialising of rape in USA, belong to two ends of the same universal misogynist cultural spectrum. The troubling thing to my mind is most people are shocked by the former but few by the latter.
After smallpox another infectious disease may be eradicated in near future. This year there are only two confirmed cases of Guinea worm infection. If things go according to plan, this horribly painful infection will be confined soon to history books.
This eradication is in many way unique. There is no treatment for Guinea worm infection. There is no vaccine.. So the tools for eradication are health education and preventive measures. Scientific knowledge of the way it spreads and common sense approach to prevent it spreading was the key for the success.
Medical worker Abaare Hussein extracts a Guinea worm from a child’s leg in Savelugu Village in northern Ghana in 2007.
Wes Pope/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images
