‘Cultures are not all equal,’ writes Australia’s former PM Abbott

Australians should stop apologizing for their Western values, Australia’s recently-deposed prime minister, Tony Abbott, has written in a newspaper. His opponents accused him of trying to “Trumpify” the nation’s politics.

Russia trying to carry out ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Syria’s Latakia: Turkish PM | Reuters {And Turkey knows about ethnic cleansing and genocide – Turkish Armenian Genocide!}

Russia is trying to carry out “ethnic cleansing” in Syria’s northern Latakia province, forcing its Turkmen and Sunni population out to create a safe haven and protect Russian and Syrian bases, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.”Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in northern Latakia to force all Turkmen and Sunni population who do not have good relations with the regime, they want to expel them, they want to ethnically cleanse this area so that regime and Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus are protected,” he told members of the foreign media in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Source: Russia trying to carry out ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Syria’s Latakia: Turkish PM | Reuters

Anxiety Grows in Texas With Syrians Due to Arrive Soon  {Home of the Afraid and Un-American?}

No other state has taken a more aggressive approach to blocking Syrian refugees than Texas, which last week became the first state to try to bar the refugees by suing the federal government. Federal officials and lawyers for local relief organizations that work with refugees said states did not have the authority to turn away Syrian refugees and that denying services or benefits to refugees based on their country of origin or religion was unlawful.Those warnings have not stopped leaders in Texas, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma and other states from publicly refusing to accept the refugees. The tone of the debate has been, at times, extreme. One Nevada lawmaker, Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, told listeners of her radio show last month she was “not OK with Syrian refugees” and “not OK with terrorists,” adding, “I’m about to fly to Paris and shoot ’em in the head myself.”

Source: Anxiety Grows in Texas With Syrians Due to Arrive Soon – The New York Times

Avian Flu Diary: Russia: H5 Avian Influenza In Wild Mallard – {If wild birds were the primary vector, avian influenza would be ever present globally and it is not. Industrialized poultry farming and transport is, I believe, the chief cause and facilitator… NH}

The fall often heralds the spread of avian flu in the Northern Hemisphere, which can often be carried long distances by migratory birds. In recent weeks we’ve seen outbreaks in France and Germany, and so all of Europe is on alert for signs of encroachment.From the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of the Republic of Mordovia and Penza region (Rosselkhoznadzor) we are notified of a recent detection of avian influenza in a wild duck from Zagorsk, in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia.

Source: Avian Flu Diary: Russia: H5 Avian Influenza In Wild Mallard

Decriminalizing Drugs: When Treatment Replaces Prison – The New York Times

With those caveats, here’s what’s happened in Portugal:Overdose deaths — down by 72 percent.Drug-induced deaths dropped from 78 in 2001, to 22 in 2013, the most recent year for which data is available. In 2012 Portugal had three overdose deaths per million people ages 15 to 64, the second-lowest number in Europe after Romania, while the European average was 17.2 per million.   The United States, by contrast, had about 200 overdose deaths per million in 2013, and the number has risen since then.Spread of H.I.V. — down by 94 percent.In 2001, 1,016 new H.I.V. infections were reported in Portugal. In 2012, there were 56. This is one of the largest drops in Europe.Drug crime and imprisonment — down, by definition.In 2000, drug offenders comprised 43 percent (pdf, Vol 1 p 141) of those sentenced to prison. Now drug-related offenders are at 24 percent — and they are the ones you want in jail: dealers and traffickers, not users. Drug-related crime — offenses committed while high, or to get money for drugs — is also down.Drug use — mixedThe number of people who report having used any drug in the past year (overwhelmingly cannabis) rose slightly until 2007, according to a national survey (pdf, page 103) carried out in 2001, 2007 and 2012. Then use dropped — by a total of 27 percent from 2001 to 2012.   Heroin use followed a similar pattern — slightly up, and then sharply down. In this, Portugal is similar to other European countries. Past-year heroin use is now statistically close to zero.

Source: Decriminalizing Drugs: When Treatment Replaces Prison – The New York Times

Dear Donald Trump, Meet My Very Scary Muslim Friends | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

I honestly and from the deepest parts of my heart wish on you, Mr. Trump, never to be subjected to what these people had to go through: I hope you never know what it is to see your loved ones die in front of you. I hope you never know what it is to see your home destroyed as you drive away from it. I hope you never know what it is to be stuck in limbo, not knowing how to move on with your life or what to do. I hope you never have your worth as a human be valued by how much you can contribute to a society. I hope you never have to be labeled as a terrorist until proven otherwise when you are ALWAYS a perpetual victim. I hope you never have to deal with the likes of you.These are the more than a billion Muslim in the world, Mr. Trump, who live in hellish conditions, whose lives are always contingent upon powers higher up doing whatever they please with their homes simply because they exist on profitable lands, and whose worth as human beings is always dependent on the net price of the oil barrel.These are the more than a billion Muslim in the world who scare you but are incapable of doing any harm to you, while you get people to hate them, to draw weapons at them for simply existing, for believing that they are worthless.

Except you are not a hater of all Muslims, isn’t that right? Or is it that you only love those rich Muslims who build golf courses in your name and whose name you can use to say that you have “some Muslims who agree with you” akin to those people who have “gay friends” who agree with them that gay marriage is an abomination.

Isn’t that you with Hussain Sajwani, head of Dubai’s DAMAC group?

Entertain me for a moment, Mr. Trump, and answer this: How is it that you will screen for Muslims entering your beloved country on its path to greatness? Is there a Muslim gene you isolated? Will you get them to recite Quran verses? Where would that place me, a non-Muslim, who knows quite a few of Quran verses? Do you need me to recite them now or would that scare you?What you’re saying Donald Trump is not scary. Let me call it what it is, because most American journalists are somehow still shying away from using the word with you: it’s disgusting, revolting, bigoted, racist, Nazi-like and inhumane. Is your middle name Adolf? If not, I suggest you change it to that because the last time someone had such a message broadcast in such a way was post-WWI in Germany and we all know how that turned out to be.

Source: Dear Donald Trump, Meet My Very Scary Muslim Friends | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

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