Albin Wagener, Université de Rennes 2 Spirited public debate over language is a very French passion. So it’s no surprise that when the online edition of Le Robert, the famous French dictionary, chose to include the gender-neutral pronoun “iel” – … Continue reading No need to ‘iel’: why France is so angry about a gender-neutral pronoun
Kambaiz Rafi, UCL and Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham In late August 2021, the US completed its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year occupation. The Taliban retook the country with shocking speed. The Islamic fundamentalist political group was … Continue reading What’s next for Afghanistan? Two experts make predictions
Hossam Metwally case: how exorcism can become a cover for domestic abuse Helen Hall, Nottingham Trent University The sentencing of Hossam Metwally for poisoning his partner, Kelly Wilson, in a series of “exorcisms” was always likely to attract attention. The former … Continue reading How exorcism can become a cover for domestic abuse
Why do we tolerate the threat of another world war in our name? Why do we allow lies that justify this risk? The scale of our indoctrination, wrote Harold Pinter, is a “brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis”, as if the truth “never happened even while it was happening”. Every year the American historian William Blum publishes his “updated summary of the record of US foreign policy” which shows that, since 1945, the US has tried to overthrow more than 50 governments, many democratically elected; grossly interfered in elections in 30 countries; bombed the civilian populations of 30 countries; used chemical and biological … Continue reading Break the silence: World War is beckoning
The battle of Armageddon The nineteenth century reformer, Jamal ad-Din Afghani (1838-1897), wrote, “Every Muslim is sick, and his only remedy is the Quran.” But to some writers in the west, notably the Irish politician, historian and academic Conor Cruise O’Brien (1917-2008), “the sickness gets worse the more the remedy is taken…Muslim society looks profoundly repulsive…It looks repulsive because it is repulsive…A Westerner who claims to admire Muslim society, while still adhering to Western values, is either a hypocrite or an ignoramus or a bit of both.” On his death he was acclaimed by The Guardian as “probably … Continue reading The Viagra of Mullahs, Rabbis & Pastors – Armageddon
by BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT (Photo: Roadcrusher)In the course of his long career Pastor John Hagee has been chasing the end of times, beating a muscular pro-Israeli drum, establishing the world’s largest pro-Israel organization, and accumulating extraordinary wealth. Now, with Blood Moons rising, his End Times war chest is bubbling over. “I believe that the heavens are God’s billboard, that He has been sending signals to planet Earth, and we just haven’t been picking them up.” – Pastor John Hagee Harold Camping, the Oakland, California-based preacher who wrongly prophesized the coming of the End Times is now gone, … Continue reading A John Hagee Fairytale: “Blood Moons” and The End of Times
Too-big-to-jail Wall Street is ripping off taxpayers with a “social impact bond.” Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com In 2012, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that New York City would be the site of a new experiment very dear to his billionaire’s heart. He declared that Wall Street megabank Goldman Sachs would provide a loan of nearly $10 million to pay for a program intended to reduce the rate at which adolescent men incarcerated at Rikers Island reoffend after their release (currently almost half reoffended within a year). The city government was short of money, so Goldman Sachs would step in to do what … Continue reading Goldman Sachs’ Outrageous Scheme to Profit Off Jailed Young Offenders
A mother allegedly subjected her four-year-old child to regular beatings because she believed he was gay, a court has heard. Jessica Dutro’s son Zachary collapsed at a homeless shelter where he, his mother and his mother’s partner were staying in Portland and died in August 2012. Doctors found the boy was suffering from trauma to his abdomen which had torn his bowel. He was taken off life support two days later, The Oregonian reported. Dutro, 25, has been charged with murder, murder by abuse and second degree assault. Prosecutors say her son died as the result of a blunt force trauma and … Continue reading American Christian Mother Kills Her 4 Yearold Child For Being Gay!
To overcome the awe of guilt we seek refuge in religion, which demands our unconditional subservience to its hegemony. For his faith — genuine or not — man remains prepared to take life The Greek word blasphemia means speaking ill or using impious language. The word has two elements: blas, which has no clear meaning, is perhaps rendered as ‘in a spirit of hurtfulness’, while pheme is ‘utterance’. Prior to the hegemony of monotheistic religions, ‘blasphemy’ had a rare existence, though its echo can be heard as far back as 400 BC in one of the orations of Demosthenes. Among … Continue reading Blasphemers — the first victims of neurosis?
With reports that the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. dead, many quipped the Westboro Baptist Church, the very organization he founded, would picket his funeral as they have so many others in the past. It might sound like a joke, but apparently it’s the real deal: The WBC will hold a demonstration at the funeral of their former pastor. Phelps Sr., 84, got back in the news Sunday when his estranged son Nathan posted a note to Facebook saying the pastor is currently in hospice care and was excommunicated from the organization for reasons that remain unclear. As twisted as it may be, his daughter Margie … Continue reading Westboro Baptist Church To Protest Fred Phelps’ Funeral, Says Daughter
Mohammed Abbasi 