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The Marks and Spencer story. This one went through the whole cycle (from proud corporate declaration of spineless dhimmitude to meek apology therefor) with incredible – and gratifying – rapidity.
Just a couple of days before Christmas, a customer of the posh London retailer told the Telegraph that a Muslim clerk had refused, albeit politely, to ring up her bottle of champagne because the item offended the clerk's religious convictions. Confronted with this story, a spokesperson for M&S affirmed that, indeed, ou...
Result: a huge public outcry, including a Facebook page promoting an M&S boycott. Within hours, M&S was not only apologizing for its wrongheaded policy but (amusingly) insisting that, in fact, it had no such policy at all, and that in the champagne incident the store's actual policy had not been properly followed.
Here's another example of outraged reactions to dhimmitude having a real effect. Earlier this month, Le Figaro revealed the contents of a new report – commissioned by France's socialist prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault – which recommended a veritable blizzard of revolutionary acts by the government, from renaming stre...
Over the years, Prince Charles's gushing praise of Islam, his enthusiastic participation in Islamic ceremonies, and his occasional references to his own purportedly serious study of the religion have fed speculation that he was either a secret Muslim or was well on his way to becoming one. (A 1997 article in the Middle...
How surprising it was, then, to hear the Prince of Wales saying in a speech earlier this month that “we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are, increasingly, being deliberately attacked by fundamentalist Islamist militants.” Underscoring that he had been trying for twenty years “to build bridges ...
This doesn't mean he's now a hero of the counterjihad resistance, but it's something.
I've never, to say the least, been a fan of Willem-Alexander, who ascended to the Dutch throne this year upon the abdication of his mother. Beatrix was a notorious appeaser of Islam (opting, for example, to skip Theo van Gogh's funeral and instead visit a Muslim community center), and in this respect Willem-Alexander d...
I want to believe Niemoller, but is his claim credible? I suppose we'll know soon enough.
But now? There's no evidence that Cameron has had a Damascan road experience, but something is arguably going on. In October, for example, even as he was celebrating those new developments in Anglo-Islamic banking, a task force he'd set up recommended new state powers to limit the spread of what it identified as violen...
There have been other positive signs from the Cameron camp. Earlier this month, after Universities UK gave the go-ahead for universities to segregate men and women in lecture audiences at Muslim speakers' request, Education Secretary Michael Gove accused Universities UK of “pandering to extremism,” and Cameron, followi...
In short: no, these aren't earthshaking developments by any measure. But with counterjihad, as with jihad, every little bit counts.
Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong has landed his first film acting role.
The frontman will star opposite Gossip Girl‘s Leighton Meester in Like Sunday, Like Rain, an upcoming indie drama from writer-director Frank Whaley, whose previous movies include fellow indie flicks The Jimmy Show and New York City Serenade.
Filming is already already in New York City, Deadline reports.
Although Like Sunday, Like Rain is Armstrong’s first proper big screen acting job, over the years the singer has appeared as himself in several movies including Riding In Cars With Boys and This Is 40. He is also set to make a cameo in Anchorman: The Legend Continues, which opens in cinemas this December (2013).
The Super Bowl champion Ravens aren't totally hamstrung by a relatively tight salary-cap situation. But there are some notable constraints on their spending.
Under the rule of 51 that governs the offseason accounting for the salary cap, the Ravens are currently $7.207 million under the NFL salary-cap limit of $123 million.
That includes the $1.182 million carried over from last year and dead money for inside linebacker Ray Lewis ($2.95 million), kicker Billy Cundiff ($1.8 million), wide receiver Anquan Boldin ($1.531 million), center Matt Birk ($1.4 million) and offensive guard Bobbie Williams ($400,000).
SINGAPORE - More institutional investors are shifting risks from public to private markets amid concerns of the economic cycle taking a downturn, asset manager BlackRock has found in a survey of 230 of its largest institutional clients, representing over US$7 trillion in assets.
Of the respondents, 51 per cent intend to decrease their allocation to public equities in 2019. This represents a growing shift from public to private markets, compared to 35 per cent planning such a decrease in 2018, and 29 per cent in 2017. The trend is greatest in the United States and Canada where 68 per cent plan ...
The possibility of the economic cycle turning was the macro risk most cited as an influence on clients' rebalancing and asset allocation plans, named by 56 per cent of respondents overall, and 60 per cent of respondents from Asia-Pacific.
The most popular assets for a planned increase in allocations were real assets, named by 54 per cent of respondents; private equity, named by 47 per cent; and real estate, named by 40 per cent. These were similarly popular in Asia-Pacific specifically, with 65 per cent of respondents in the region intending to increase...
More investors are also looking to increase fixed income allocations, with 38 per cent planning to do so, up from 29 per cent the previous year. Within fixed income, the shift to private credit continues with 56 per cent of global respondents planning to increase their allocations.
Respondents also expect to increase allocations to other fixed income areas, such as short duration (30 per cent), securitised assets (27 per cent) and emerging markets (29 per cent), "likely reflecting relative value opportunities in these asset classes", said BlackRock.
However, most institutions want to maintain (65 per cent) or even increase (20 per cent) their cash levels in 2019, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, where a third of respondents plan to increase their cash holdings to protect their portfolios.
Within equity portfolios, institutions are also changing their focus. The top three aims are to reduce public market risk (41 per cent), to increase allocations to alpha-seeking strategies (32 per cent) and to focus more on environmental, social and governance strategies and impact investing (28 per cent). Asia-Pacific...
The survey was conducted over a four-week period in November and early December 2018. Assets from Asia-Pacific institutions represent a quarter of the total assets owned by all survey respondents.
A sacred staircase which Christ is said to have climbed to be sentenced to crucifixion by Pontius Pilate has been restored to its original state after nearly 300 years.
The 28 steps of the Scala Santa, or Holy Staircase, are believed to have been brought from Jerusalem to Rome in the fourth century AD by Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, who adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.
The marble staircase had been encased in wood since 1723, when the pope of the time, Innocent XIII, decided that it could no longer stand the wear and tear of millions of pilgrims, who by tradition must crawl up it on their hands and knees to earn indulgences.
During a long restoration, the wooden planks were removed and the intricate 16th century frescoes on the walls and ceiling above the staircase cleaned and returned to their original lustre.
Restorers found inscriptions and graffiti scratched into the frescoes, including a message of thanks by one Italian man who had escaped being held as a slave by the Turks.
The staircase was blessed by a cardinal, Angelo De Donatis, Vicar General of the diocese of Rome, after which crowds of Catholic faithful got down on their knees and inched their way up the deeply-worn marble stairway.
In some places, the steps are worn down to a depth of 15 centimetres, testament to the generations of Catholics who have laboured their way up to the top.
The restoration of the monument, located close to one of Rome’s great basilicas, St John in Lateran, was carried out by experts from the Vatican Museums.
They found hundreds of crumpled notes stuffed down cracks in the timber boards, carrying prayers or appeals for divine intervention in illnesses and family tragedies.
“We found them step by step as we removed the floorboards – many, many little notes and coins, left as offerings,” said Paolo Violini, the coordinator of the restoration.
The most significant discoveries were three ancient crosses, one made of bronze and the others of red porphyry stone, which mark the place where, according to legend, drops of Christ’s blood fell as he was led up the staircase.
Pilgrims kissed the crosses as they made their way up the steps, their feet encased in blue plastic covers to protect the marble.
The steps lead to a chapel called the Sancta Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies, so named for the many precious relics kept there. It was once the private chapel of popes.
“This is the first time in nearly 300 years that the steps have been exposed,” said Barbara Jatta, the director of the Vatican Museums.
“If you close your eyes for a moment, you can imagine yourself back in the medieval era, the last time that people scaled these steps on their knees,” said Guido Cornini, a curator from the museums.
The exposed steps will remain open to the public for 60 days, covering the whole Easter period.
The “extraordinary opening” will end on June 9, after which they will be covered up again.
The restoration of the steps was funded by a charitable organisation called the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, with donors including a British-Australian businessman and philanthropist, Sir Michael Hintze, and his wife, Lady Dorothy Hintze.
File - In this Aug. 26, 2013 file photo, a woman rides her bike between cars waiting to enter Burning Man in Gerlach, Nev. Burning Man organizers are threatening to sue federal officials over a dramatic increase in traffic stops of vehicles bound for the annual counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert 100 miles (1...
RENO, Nev. — A lawyer for Burning Man organizers sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs calling for an end to what he called the unconstitutional tactic of stepped-up traffic stops of vehicles bound for the annual counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert, the Reno Gazette Journal reported Friday.
Special counsel Adam Belsky also demanded federal officials preserve all records related to the stops and searches on a state highway through Pyramid Lake Paiute tribal land.
The weeklong event that begins at midnight Sunday is expected to attract 80,000 people to the Black Rock Desert on land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Belsky says many of the traffic stops are attempts to intimidate and harass travelers doing nothing more than passing through the reservation on a state-maintained highway.
“It appears that the BIA agents are unconstitutionally targeting attendees of the Burning Man event in violation of their First Amendment rights of free expression and of freedom to assemble,” Belsky wrote.
Burning Man organizers argued in the letter to acting Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Daryl LaCounte that the stops have slowed internal preparations for the event and could affect their ability to provide ice, portable toilet maintenance and public services at the event.
Federal authorities insist they are not targeting Burning Man travelers. Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, said the stops are part of an effort to crack down on a nationwide opioid epidemic on tribal lands.
“It’s a serious problem that Indian Country has, that the country has. This is an opportunity to help the tribe,” Darling told the Gazette Journal.
Billed as the largest outdoor arts festival in North America, Burning Man is a psychedelic adventure that combines wilderness camping with avante-garde performance — a Mardi Gras-like celebration on what appears to be the surface of the moon.
This year, so-called Burners making their trek to the ancient dried up lake bed have experienced stops in the area of Nixon, a small town halfway between Reno and the Burning Man site. A long stretch of State Route 447, which passes through Nixon, is the only main road to the site.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has not been involved in enforcing the law in years past, but BIA officers in partnership with tribal officers have been accused of stopping vehicles for minor infractions, Belsky said, adding that law enforcement officers are also searching some vehicles, sometimes with K9 units.
Burning Man attendees have been known to partake in controlled substances during the event, as evidenced by arrest and citation records. More than 50 people are arrested each year at the event, most on drug-related charges, and dozens more are cited for drug-related violations.
Deborah E. Lipstadt makes far too little of the relationship between Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza and growing anti-Semitism in Europe and beyond.
The writer is the Episcopal chaplain at Yale.
If Rev. Shipman had made analogous comments about any other “ism,” he’d be out of a job. [UPDATE: In response to an inquiry, a Yale spokesman tells me that “Rev. Shipman is called to serve the Episcopal campus community at Yale, but is not employed by Yale or the Yale Chaplain’s Office."] And if it were any group but J...
H/T Ted Frank via Twitter, who also provided the title for this post.
Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale welcomes open dialogue and genuine civil discourse. We are committed to the pursuit of Jewish life at Yale and the personal identities of our students, including close and serious engagement with Israel and world Jewry. We are adamantly against any justifications of anti-Sem...
PIKEVILLE — An Eastern Kentucky employment program has received $6 million in federal funding that will allow it to more than quadruple the size of its summer job programs for young people.
The Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program will use the money from the federal economic stimulus bill to pay for six weeks' salary at $7.25 an hour for 2,100 students and 900 non-students between the ages of 16 and 24.
Last summer, the program paid for about 450 jobs.
Mike Long, co-owner of Long's Pic Pac supermarket and Long's Floral and More stores in Pineville, expects to hire six employees for the summer program.
"It's pretty big for them to become part of a team, and feel like someone cares about them."
Dan Hendrickson, 18, was a beneficiary of one of the jobs last summer. He said it helped open his eyes to the possibility of college and a career path.
The Bell County High School senior worked at Yellow Creek Elementary School's youth service center, which organizes summer camps and provides other services for kids.
"It was a really good experience," said Hendrickson, who continued working with the office after the summer ended.
Because of his experience, Hendrickson said, he plans to go to Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., to study family and consumer sciences, and he wants to teach children life skills.
If not for the summer job program, "I would never have known this kind of job existed," he said.
"There are really good mentoring kinds of relationships that are created" in these job programs, said Jeff Whitehead, executive director for the program. He said the agency's youth programs aim to teach about work ethic, etiquette, timeliness and conflict-resolution skills.
The Let's Go 2 Work program is geared to full-time students who need summer jobs, but it also includes non-students who fit certain age and income requirements.
Past employers have included private, non-profit and public-sector jobs, including state parks, school systems, retail stores, legal or veterinary offices, and hospitals.
"Getting a lot of kids busy can cure a lot of the social ills we're faced with," Whitehead said.
We'll accept submissions through November 15, review them internally, and whittle the list down to 10 candidates. From there, we'll let the community vote. We'll announce the winner of The Feste Award sometime in December.
Have some fun with this and be as creative as you'd like in your nomination.
Evvie McKinney lit up the stage at the Teen Choice Awards with an absolutely stunning performance of “How Do You Feel”, and we still can’t get over it. Watch it here!
How is it possible that Evvie McKinney is this good? There wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the 2018 Teen Choice Awards when The Four winner took to the stage to sing her heart out. Evvie just dropped her debut single a few days ago, but it’s clear that “How Do You Feel” is already going to be a major hit — at least af...
Swathed in bright lights that made her look angelic, Evvie belted emotional lyrics like, “How do you feel, when you’re with her?/When she cracks a smile does it light up your world?/How do you feel, when it’s all said and done?/Are you in love with her?/Even though you can’t see.” It’s such a heartbreaking song, but wh...
She looked just as good as she sounded, too, in a glittery minidress and matching boots. Her makeup game was on point! Earlier in the night, one of the judges that sent her to stardom on The Four, Meghan Trainor, also performed (and nailed it). Can you believe this is the first time she ever sang at the Teen Choice Awa...
We can’t wait to see so much more of Evvie. This is only the beginning of what’s going to be a marvelous career. Now when’s that debut album dropping?
Chris Pratt Looks Hot AF At Teen Choice Awards -- But Where's Katherine Schwarzenegger?
Sadly, this is the wrong David Schwimmer.
That's right, there's a whole other David Schwimmer.
Today some exciting news was announced. At least it looked exciting enough to trend on Twitter.
The name "David Schwimmer" provoked a fair amount of confusion, not to mention amusement.
As well as appearing in a hit sitcom and playing Kim Kardashian's dad, Schwimmer has spent 20 years at Goldman, most recently as global head of market structure and global head of metals and mining in its investment banking arm.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear, right?
The London Stock Exchange just hired David Schwimmer from Goldman Sachs to be its new CEO.
I'm sure David schwimmer of London stock exchange has heard all the jokes about being from friends before but has David schwimmer from friends heard jokes about being from the London stock exchange ?
THE ONE WHERE ROSS RANG THE BELL. THE ONE WITH THE CIRCUIT BREAKER. THE ONE WITH A MASSIVE GLOBAL CORRECTION. I'm here all night.
Sorry David Schwimmer, you're just not David Schwimmer.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a new 1.5-acre dog park for La Crescenta, although at $645,000, the price tag has more than doubled from the original estimate of $300,000.
Construction on the facility, to be located within Crescenta Valley Park, is slated to begin in August.
The park will include two entries for small and large dog sections, with drinking fountains, hose-off areas, walkways, 6-foot fencing, shade coverings and other amenities.
Officials say additional measures, such as disability access, drove up the price tag.

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