Month: October 2016

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Possible general election in focus after LDP by-election wins

https://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/possible-general-election-in-focus-after-ldp-by-election-wins

TOKYO —

The government’s top spokesman welcomed Monday victories by candidates aligned with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a pair of lower house by-elections, while remaining reticent over whether the results could convince Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to dissolve the chamber for a general election early next year.

Statements by ruling and opposition lawmakers have suggested Abe could be considering a lower house election in early 2017, but his administration has yet to confront a number of thorny issues that could exert a greater influence on his decision than Sunday’s wins in single-seat districts in Tokyo and Fukuoka Prefecture.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga stressed at a news conference Monday that the decision to dissolve the lower house is up to Abe alone.

Suga said Sunday’s victories in the districts, both previously held by the party, reflect voters’ endorsement of “the way we are managing policy, working to rebuild the economy and handling risk.”

Since strengthening the ruling parties’ control of the upper chamber in July’s House of Councillors election, Abe has reshuffled his Cabinet.

The ruling parties have passed more economic measures under the banner of the “Abenomics” policy strategy and initiated debate toward ratifying the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.

But the Abe administration will likely face clashes with the opposition over potential reform of the Japanese Constitution and a decision on whether to expand the duties of Self-Defense Forces personnel on a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

The victory for 59-year-old Masaru Wakasa in the Tokyo No. 10 district seat formerly held by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike is an apparent sign the LDP is moving to rebuild its rocky relationship with Koike and looking to woo her wider spectrum of supporters in the next nationwide election.

“Gov. Koike’s support made this election easy for us to fight,” LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai told reporters after meeting with Wakasa on Monday morning at party headquarters.

Koike drew ire within the LDP, as did a number of her supporters including Wakasa, when she ran in July’s gubernatorial election without the party’s blessing. She in turn stumped for Wakasa, who only had the official endorsement of the LDP’s junior coalition partner Komeito, in the by-election.

Nikai indicated Monday the LDP may reconsider a plan to kick seven members of Tokyo’s ward-level assemblies out of the party as punishment for having supported Koike in the gubernatorial race.

Wakasa defeated 40-year-old Yosuke Suzuki, a former journalist with public broadcaster NHK, who had the backing of the main opposition Democratic Party as well as the Japanese Communist Party, Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party.

The Fukuoka No. 6 district was won by 37-year-old Jiro Hatoyama, the son of former Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama who held the seat until his death in June.

The LDP gave its endorsement to Hatoyama after his victory became certain. Hatoyama was competing for the party’s support with 35-year-old Ken Kurauchi, secretary to an upper house lawmaker.

Up against Hatoyama and Kurauchi was opposition-backed Fumiko Arai, 49, a former staffer at Japan’s Consulate General in Chennai, India.

The failure of the opposition-backed candidates in both districts came in spite of the Democratic Party’s leadership change in August, which installed former administrative reform minister Renho as leader.

But the LDP’s executive acting secretary general, Hakubun Shimomura, indicated Monday the party could lose as many as 86 seats from single-seat districts in the next lower house election if the Democratic Party and three smaller opposition parties stick to their strategy of backing united candidates as they did Sunday.

Shimomura told a party seminar the number was based on July’s upper house election, where the strategy saw opposition-backed candidates win 11 of the 32 contested single-seat districts.

Following the by-elections, the LDP holds 293 of the 475 total seats in the lower house. Combined with Komeito’s 35 seats, the coalition holds more than two-thirds of the chamber.

© KYODO

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Female teacher faces 200 sex charges against two pupils

Randi Zurenko, 33 and married, was arrested yesterday and suspended from the mixed private Catholic school.

The pupils have been identified only as “Victims 1 and 2” and their ages have not been revealed.

Zurenko is said to have hooked up in January 2013 with the first one, who graduated later the same year.

The pair went to a park where Zurenko massaged the girl’s back and undid her bra, said police.

In early 2015, Zurenko allegedly started a relationship with Victim 2, which continued until last Friday.

They are said to have had sex multiple times.

Zurenko, a mother of five including twins, took photos of some of the acts and of the pupil in various states of undress.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/723759/Female-teacher-faces-200-sex-charges-against-two-pupils

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Female teacher allegedly had sex with 2 students on same day

Barbara Ellen:

do we seriously think that a female teacher sleeping
with a male pupil is on a par with a male teacher sleeping
with a girl pupil? I don’t.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/29/barbara-ellen-madeleine-martin-comment

 

A female teacher at an all-boys school allegedly had sex with two of her students — on the same day.

Cops say much-married June Kendall — a teacher at Chicago’s Urban Prep Academy — now faces charges of criminal sexual assault.

The 29-year-old woman allegedly had sex with one of her 17-year-old students early in the day then followed it up with a raunchy recess later in the afternoon with another boy, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Kendall’s alleged liaisons with the two boys began over Snapchat, which got increasingly sexually charged. The teacher allegedly sent these students photos of herself in various stages of undress.

“Over time, (the Snapchat) messages became sexual in nature, and (Kendall) indicated to (one of the boys) that she wanted to have sex with him,” according to a court document.

But someone saw the raunchy missives and reported Kendall and she was arrested.

Kendall’s husband is reportedly standing behind her.

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False Rape Accuser: Alice Paquet

http://www.returnofkings.com/99202/politically-motivated-rape-accusation-that-ruined-a-mans-life-has-been-debunked

 

It all started during the night of October 15th, 2016, in Québec city, Canada. Two young black men intruded in a student housing facility, knocked on doors, and allegedly sexually assaulted a few female students. The sexual behaviors were never specified, so we can only speculate about what happened. A week later, the severity of the behaviors has still not been specified (so far, there is only one count of home invasion in court). Considering that there has been at least 15 complaints within a few minutes, it was most likely milder forms of assault.

The absence of details of the ding-dong-ditch incident did not prevent the media from interpreting the event as unambiguous proof that women face daily violence, turning anecdote into politics. Rather than discussing the violence of “urban youth,” the media initiated nationwide discussions about rape and consent. Ministers made promises for new policies. Security guards were placed on the facility. The university rector was blamed for everything and booed. The local media published updates every few hours for a week. Victims were called survivors.

The atmosphere of moral panic about the security of women in society led a university student, Alice Paquet, to speak in front of more than 500 people who gathered in solidarity with the “survivors.” She claimed to have been raped by a liberal politician, Gerry Sklavounos. At the time, Paquet did not reveal who the liberal politician was, so she might not have expected to be held accountable for this accusation.

She said that she already went to the police, but they advised her against legal action, because it would ruin the man, his family, and his career. She said it was so violent that she needed stitches. “On vous croit! On vous croit” (We believe you!) shouted the crowd, which subsequently became a feminist rallying cry.

Within a few hours, politicians of the opposition jumped on the bandwagon to shame Sklavounos and the liberal party. Leaders of the Québec Solidaire party (a feminist woman, a muslim, and a lesbian with her iconic moustache) immediately demanded the resignation of Sklavounos “as a gesture of respect towards women and men [sic!] of [his district]”. An MP from Coalition Avenir Québec also suggested that the alleged perpetrator be removed from the caucus by the prime minister himself. The newly elected leader of the Parti Québécois claimed that the prime minister should be held accountable. Sklavounos was subsequently expelled from the Parti Libéral du Québec. This happened within a day, before the police could even get into the investigation.

The victim, Alice Paquet, then began being interviewed by multiple broadcasters. Her inconsistencies and statement withdrawals tore her credibility to shreds. Not only that, but to this day, after a week of being everywhere on TV and radio, she still has not met police investigators.

Paquet retracted the statement that the police told her to drop the charges. On Radio-Canada, she explained that what she meant was that they asked her if she clearly said “no”… which she did not. After, the police was accused of neglect and many people demanded an internal investigation, the police made a public statement in which they said that on the contrary, they have tried to reach Paquet multiple times to resume the legal process, but she never replied to their calls. Whoops. Looks like she lied. Shortly after the withdrew the claim that she needed stitches after the alleged rape.

Perhaps the most significant strike to her credibility occurred when she admitted to having borderline personality disorder. Girls with a borderline personality are famously known for making false rape allegations. It has also been documented that borderline girls are “especially likely to misinterpret or misremember social interactions, to lie manipulatively and convincingly, and to have voluntarily entered destructive sexual relationships.” More generally, borderline personality disorder is strongly linked to pathological lying.

Then, we were told more about the story. She was working as a waitress in a restaurant. She was instructed to treat Sklavounos well, and that he was a womanizer. Despite that, after a heated discussion about politics, she went to his room to “discuss politics” in more depth, and to have drinks. They were kissing and everything, “but foreplay is not a contract for sex.” Remember earlier when I said that she never said “no” either. Pretty hard to tell you’re raping someone when she is kissing you, and does not voice her wish to stop. Then the alleged rape occurred. Here’s the best part:

She came back to have sex again with him two weeks later. “I’m a little masochist,” she said.

“I can’t say I said no clearly. I don’t remember. But I know very well I didn’t say yes. If a woman doesn’t feel free to say no, she is being raped. If she feels uneasy, it’s rape.” However, a few minutes prior, she also said this: “at that moment, I thought, if I don’t feel like it, and he feels like it, I can pleasure him.”

“Why should we believe you?” asked a reporter. “Because you have to ask,” she replied.

The final blow came when Paul André Beaulieu (a blogger and member of the Roosh V forum) discovered that Paquet led a conference for sex workers. She was introduced to the attendees as an ex-prostitute. So she might have been working as a prostitute rather than a waitress. Many people started to ask how many of her claims will be debunked, and how many details will we uncover as the investigation goes.

Like nearly all media-hyped rape allegations, Paquet’s claims are unfounded. This is exactly why there needs to be proof and a trial before imprisonment. More often than not, public rape accusations are false.

 

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Trudeau meets with religious leader who legalizes wife beating under certain conditions

http://en.cijnews.com/?p=50643

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on Monday, October 17, 2016, with the Caliph, the Supreme religious leader, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad. “It was a pleasure to meet with the Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community,” Trudeau Tweeted.

 

Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious movement founded in Punjab, British India, near the end of the 19th century. It originated with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who claimed to be the promised Messiah and Mahdi awaited by Muslims. The mainstream Muslim groups argue that Ahmadiyya does not represent Islam and regard its believers as apostates.

Caliph of Ahmadiyya on wife beating

 

In a Friday sermon in 2004 dealing with the “Relationship of Husband and Wife”, the Caliph, the Supreme religious leader, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, said among other things the following (originally in Urdu):

“The responsibility of the man… [the husband] as the supervisor [and] the head of the family, it is the responsibility of the man that he has to keep an eye on the environment that is being cultivated in the house. He has to fulfill the rights of the wife and the rights of the children… Only then he will be earn the status of being the head of the family…

“When the punishments are mentioned [in the Quran] it is conditional. There are conditions when they are fulfilled only then those punishments will be allowed and then would be very seldom a woman amongst the Ahmadis who would deserve that punishment.

“So instead of making excuses men should try to fulfill their responsibilities as said in the holy Quran [Chapter Name:An-Nisa, Verse No:34]:

الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاء بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ وَبِمَا أَنفَقُواْ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ فَالصَّالِحَاتُ قَانِتَاتٌ حَافِظَاتٌ لِّلْغَيْبِ بِمَا حَفِظَ اللّهُ وَاللاَّتِي تَخَافُونَ نُشُوزَهُنَّ فَعِظُوهُنَّ وَاهْجُرُوهُنَّ فِي الْمَضَاجِعِ وَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ فَإِنْ أَطَعْنَكُمْ فَلاَ تَبْغُواْ عَلَيْهِنَّ سَبِيلاً إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ عَلِيًّا كَبِيرًا {34

“[Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to their husbands), and guard in the husband’s absence what Allah orders them to guard (e.g. their chastity, their husband’s property, etc.). As to those women on whose part you see ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful), but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance). Surely, Allah is Ever Most High, Most Great.]

“In that verse of the holy Quran Allah Almighty says men have been made supervisors upon women…

“The pious women are obedient. They safeguard what Allah has admonish them to safeguard.

“And for those women from whom you fear that they are rebellious then reprimand them… Allah Almighty says, first admonish them and then leave them alone in their beds and then if it continues then you can punish them.

“But if they turn to obedience then do not look for excuses against them…

“Allah Almighty says that if woman rectifies her behaviour then do not look for excuses to punish her…

“If the woman continues in a rebellion only then you are allowed to punish her, not that at every little thing you slap her or you pick up the stick…”

The book “Islam on Marital Rights” by Sheikh Mubarak Ahmad, Chief of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in East Africa, provides practical guidance for married couples. The following are excerpts from the book which appears on Ahmadiyya’s website:

“Men have been allowed a degree of superiority over women… for the smooth running of

family life, man has been made the head of the household and in that sense placed above the women…

“The Duties of Women…

“The wife’s second duty is that she should be obedient to and co-operative with her husband and give him the respect…

“Many wives do not consider it necessary to be docile and obedient to their husbands and insist on imposing their own wishes on them and want their husband to play the second fiddle. This is not correct. A good wife must obey her husband…

“Wife’s Ideal Qualities…

“The wife should not allow anyone into the house whom the husband does not like…

“The wife must not go out of the house without the permission of her husband…

“But in all other matters [except ordering to commit a sin] she must obey. If she does not do so she will be deemed disobedient, and the husband will be entitled to take disciplinary action against her in the manner and within the limits as prescribed by the Holy Quran for such cases. It says:

“And for those (wives) on whose part you fear disobedience, admonish them and leave them alone in their beds, and chastise them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them.” (4:35)

“Steps in respect of the above command have to be taken with the greatest care and due consideration. By leaving them alone in their beds does not mean perpetual separation. In the case of a very stubborn woman, who does not mend herself as a result of separation, which in no case should exceed four months, the husband should take recourse by giving a bit of corporal punishment. But this must be the last recourse.

“The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) has given very clear instructions on this point. He has advised that the punishment should be light, so light that it must not leave any mark on the body. And he has positively forbidden slapping one‘s wife on the face…

“It is also reported that once the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “If a husband invites his wife to his bed and she refuses, the angels keep cursing her the whole of the remaining night.”

“Calling upon the women to realize their duty of obedience to their husbands, the Promised Messiah (a.s.) once said, “For the woman it is imperative that she should obey her husband…

“A very important duty of women is prescribed by the Holy Quran in the following verse:

“And stay in your houses with dignity.” (33, 43)…

“This verse, therefore, calls upon the Muslim women to restrain their activities to their homes and not to go outside without a valid reason…

“The above Quranic injunction demands that women should mostly confine themselves to their houses…

“It is wrong to conclude from the above sayings that the woman is totally barred from stepping out of the house.

“Nevertheless, it is incorrect to hold that it is a part of a woman’s duty to go out and earn her own living by working in offices and factories. The true sphere of her activities is certainly her house…

“Thus it is the man‘s responsibility to provide the necessities of life for his family and children, for if the woman is engaged in earning the daily bread, who will look after the family and the household chores? Who will rear and bring up the children and fashion their character in the proper manner?”

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Another book at Toronto’s Dundas Square legalizes wife beating under certain conditions

http://en.cijnews.com/?p=50909

 

Muslim Dawah (outreach, “call to Islam”) activists distribute for free at Toronto’s Dundas Square copies of the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, accompanied with a modern interpretation of its verses.

CIJnews has recently obtained a copy of this book, which legalizes “light” wife beating as a last resort to prevent breakup of the family and explains that the beating “must not be severe or damaging and that the face be avoided.”

The following is a excerpt from the book:

Quran, Surah (Chapter) 4 – Al-Nisa’ (The Women), Verse 34:

“Men are in charge of women (182) by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband’s] absence what Allah would have them guard. (183) But those [wives] from whom you fear

arrogance (184) – [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them [lightly]. (185) But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.”

[Interpretation:]

“182 – This applies primarily to the husband-wife relationship.

“183 – i.e., their husbands’ property and their own chastity.

“184 – i.e., major rebellion or refusal of basic religious obligations.

“185 – This final disciplinary measure is more psychological than psychical. It may be resorted to only after failure of the first two measures and when it is expected to amend the situation and prevent family breakup; otherwise, it is not acceptable. The Prophet PBUH (who never struck a woman or a servant) additionally stipulated that it must not be severe or damaging and that the face be avoided.”

 

Free Islamic literature in Toronto introduces the “true Islam” to non-Muslims

Muslim Dawah (outreach, “call to Islam”) activists at Toronto’s Dundas Square, those affiliated with The Walk-In Islamic InfoCenter (WIIC), distributed during recent years a variety of Islamic literature.

The following are the highlights of some of Islamic books/booklets which were obtained by CIJnews:

  • Homosexuality is a major sin

  • ‘Liberated’ Western women… are trapped in a form of slavery

  • Polygamy is permitted in certain conditions

  • Wife must obey the “commands” of her husband

  • Wife beating is permissible in certain conditions (“Submissive or subdued women… may even enjoy being beaten”)

  • Muslims have a duty to spread the message of Islam in society

  • Prayers to Allah to give Muslims victory over the disbelievers
  • Non-Muslims of an Islamic State have to pay the jizya (poll-tax) tax

  • Punishment of flogging for public intoxication and traffickers

  • Punishment of stoning to death for married adulterers

  • Punishments of amputation (hand and leg), crucifixion and execution in serious crimes

  • Punishment of cutting off the hand for the thief

  • Punishment of execution for apostates
  • Possession of slaves is permissible in certain conditions.

To read snippets from the aforementioned books click HERE.

Status of woman in Islam – The Canadian perspective (click HERE)

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President apologizes for misspelling ‘Thailand’

http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=2994826

President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday apologized for misspelling Thailand when she paid homage to the country’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away on Oct. 13.

At a makeshift memorial at the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei, Tsai expressed her condolences on the king’s death in writing in English in a book of condolences, but left out the letter “h” from the country’s name.

“On behalf of the people of the Republic of China (Taiwan), I hereby extend my most profound condolences to the Royal family and the people of Tailand for their loss of a great leader, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej,” she wrote.

Tsai apologized to Thailand’s office for the misspelling, and the Thai side expressed its understanding and again thanked President Tsai and Taiwan for their concern for the Thai people, the Presidential Office said.

It also denied media reports that Tsai will lead a delegation to Thailand to attend the memorial service for the king.

“Such a report does not conform to the truth. We have made no such plans,” the Presidential office said in a statement.

Foreign Minister David Lee said, meanwhile, that Tsai’s misspelling was by no means intentional.

When Lee was first asked about Tsai’s misstep while attending a forum, he seemed surprised and said “that can’t be right.” Once he realized what happened, he tried to defend Tsai by saying, “I think people are asking too much (of her).”

He said he has made similar mistakes, and they were not intentional.

He also dismissed reports that Tsai had originally wanted to travel to Thailand to pay her respects to the late king but scrapped the plan because Taiwan and Thailand do not have diplomatic ties.

“In fact, we didn’t have such a plan,” Lee said.

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Wynne government targets ‘mother’ and ‘father’

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/10/16/wynne-government-targets-mother-and-father

“Mother” may soon be replaced in Ontario law by the term “birth parent.”

That’s what’s incorporated in amendments contained in the Liberal government’s proposed Bill 28 which is designed to change the “Children’s Law Reform Act, the Vital Statistics Act and various other acts respecting parentage.”

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government says a new All Families Are Equal Act will modernize the definition of families.

“People in Ontario value diversity and equality — that’s why all parents and their kids need to be treated equally under the law,” said Wynne spokesperson Clare Graham.

But opponents complain Wynne is re-defining the Ontario family.

“The communists had their one-child policy; Ontario has Wynne’s four-parent policy. Being a father or mother has been trivialized,” said Queenie Yu, who’s also a vocal critic of Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum.

She plans to be loud again.

Many religious and ethnic groups — also upset about “age inappropriate” introduction of sexual and gender identity teachings — are preparing for battle, too.

“The premier is re-engineering the family,” said Charles McVety, of Canada Christian College. “She removes ‘mother’ 17 times. Removes ‘father’ 23 times. The Act is amended by striking out the ‘mother’ and substituting it with ‘birth parent’ and ‘father’ with the word ‘parent.’”

However Graham countered “there is no one way to start and raise a family” and offered assurances that the terms “mother and father” will remain on a child’s birth certificate.

“We’re proposing to update Ontario’s parentage laws so that parents who have a baby with the help of a doctor don’t need to spend their money on a lawyer and go to court just so they can be their own kid’s parents,” said Graham. “The best thing for a kid is that there is no uncertainty about who their parents are. At the end of the day, this is about ensuring that all kids are treated equally by recognizing the legal status of their parents no matter if their parents are LGBTQ2+ or straight, and no matter if they were conceived with the help of a doctor.”

Progressive Conservative MPP Randy Hillier last week argued there needs to be more time for study, insisting the bill was introduced with too much haste.

And McVety agreed the government is rushing the bill through, calling it a “war on mothers” which could lead to the breakdown of the traditional family.

“Mothers are the bedrock of society and their love gives life,” said McVety. “A mother can take the place of all others but no one else can take the place of a mother.”

Yu added everything is moving so fast that the bill hasn’t been translated into Chinese languages, excluding some from the democratic process.

“The government is trying to erase all trace of biological parents from these children for an ideological motive,” she said. “It’s just unnatural.”

Meanwhile, with focus on the Blue Jays games, will public hearings at Queen’s Park Monday and Tuesday be noticed?

McVety will speak to the committee at 5:40 p.m Monday. Yu is slated to speak at 5:40 p.m. Tuesday. There are 20 others on the agenda.

Interesting debate. My feeling is modern family realities need to be accepted in law but it’s insulting to eliminate the words “mother and father.” They need to restore that.

But Wynne spokesperson Graham said the bill merely updates legal wording to comply with today’s norms.

“The reality is, family structures are diverse, and there are many people who need a doctor’s help to have a baby,” said Graham. “The definition of who is a parent in Ontario law hasn’t been updated since 1978 — a lot has changed since then. Right now, that definition is too narrow and excludes parents of modern families.”

Ironically, soon it could also exclude the words “mother” and “father.”

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Canada: Mosque demands neighboring brewery’s liquor license be revoked

https://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/canada-mosque-demands-brewery-lose-liquor-license/

Imposing the sharia on non-Muslims.

Source: Islamic centre calls for end to Good Robot Brewery’s liquor licence | The Chronicle Herald

A north-end Halifax Islamic centre is calling for the immediate cancellation of their next-door neighbour’s liquor licence for what they call a “frontal attack to our way of life.”

The Centre for Islamic Development and the Ishan Academy issued a formal complaint against their Robie Street neighbours, the Good Robot Brewing Company, to the Nova Scotia Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel, Tobacco Division on Sept. 28.

The facility is calling for Good Robot’s licence to be revoked under section 29 of the Liquor Licensing Regulations which allows for someone to ask in writing to have a liquor licence cancelled or limited based on the establishment “interfering with the quiet enjoyment of neighbouring properties.”

John MacDonald, executive director of the Nova Scotia Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel, Tobacco Division of Access Nova Scotia, referred the matter to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board on Oct. 12. The board has not yet issued directions on the matter.

Among the many complaints, the centre says it has faced increased cleaning, insurance and security costs, loud music, a marijuana smell and loitering.

“They installed tables against the side of our neighbouring window to them and the party began, much to our dismay,” Juan Carlos Canales-Leyton, a member of the Islamic centre, wrote in the document.

The religious group purchased the property in 2001 with the hope of turning it into a community centre, a place of worship and a temporary home for Muslims in difficult situations.

In 2014, the group had completed a multi-million-dollar renovation to their aging facility. The centre is now a fully-functioning Mosque, school and community centre.

“Generally speaking, we have had no disruptions or distractions worth mentioning until the Good Robot Brewing Company came to the neighbourhood,” Canales-Leyton wrote.

According to Canales-Leyton, the centre has been forced “to operate with closed windows, even in the hottest of days, to reduce the (vulgar) noise that invades us.

“The granting of a Liquor License to a neighbouring property has resulted in our loss of enjoyment of the property we built for religious and educational purposes.”

Good Robot opened in May 2015 with the mission to “take beer, but not ourselves, seriously.” A call and email to the company were not returned.

MacDonald wrote in his response to the complaint that Good Robot received their liquor licence because Service Nova Scotia followed the proper procedure for application and without any objections.

Muslim occupiers in Tennessee tried to do the same but Sharia was slowed in Tennessee, spirits to flow against mosque demands.

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High-Priced Humiliation

“Masculinity can be extremely toxic to our mental health, both to the people who are pressured to perform it and the people who are inevitably influenced by it. . . . Relevant to this discussion is how masculinity can harm our relationships with people and one’s ability to cope when relationships are difficult or end.”

— Claremont College, Oct. 3, 2016

Annual tuition at Claremont College is $50,945 and room and board cost $15,740, and the question is why any parent would pay $66,685 a year to send their son to such an avowedly anti-male institution. If masculinity — the normal behavior of normal males — is inherently “toxic” and harmful in its influence, why shouldn’t Claremont ban males from campus altogether? Well, the school’s football team is currently 4-0, so apparently masculinity has its uses in academia, and as long as parents don’t mind their sons being insulted by the administration of this elite private college, the cognitive dissonance will continue.

In a statement to the Claremont Independent, Sabine Scott, a leader of the “Masculinity + Mental Health” event, said it was “a productive conversation” which “empowered both the men and women.”

Exactly how it is empowering to men to insult them as “toxic,” Ms. Scott did not explain, but no one expects college girls to make sense nowadays. Daddy spends $66,685 a year to send his precious princess to one of the most expensive schools on the West Coast, where she learns to spew a lot of trendy jargon and nothing else is required of her.

If nothing else, this administration-approved insult to male students  — and the failure of anyone on campus to object to it — probably answers my question, “Why Does Claremont Need a ‘Queer Resource Center’?”

UPDATE: Oh, I guess there was at least one complaint:

“If masculinity is described as something negative — a mental illness — then this is sexism against men,” stated Will Gu [a freshman] in an email to the Independent. “Safe spaces . . . are supposed to make everyone feel comfortable. Criticizing masculinity makes males who adhere to traditional gender norms uncomfortable.”

Whining about “sexism against men” is weak sauce, Will. Male students at Claremont are being insulted by Sabine Scott and her feminist allies, and this insult — anti-male hate propaganda — is tacitly endorsed by the official authority of the college administration. Claremont collects $66,685 a year per student, thus requiring parents of male students topay for these insults against their sons. Indeed, the anti-male agenda promoted by Sabine Scott is a regular part of the Claremont curriculum, thanks to the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program.

Do not whine about being insulted, Mr. Gu — do something.

If there is still any male student at Claremont who has any shred of self-respect, he ought to withdraw from the college, and publicly announce this in a letter to the student newspaper explaining that the reason for his departure is the vicious hostility toward males on campus fomented by hate-filled feminist fanatics like Sabine Scott. It would be better for a young man to attend a community college or a second-tier state university than to be expected to tolerate insults for $66,685 a year at a posh playground for Special Snowflakes™ like Claremont.

Hell, boy, I’d rather drive a forklift than to put up with that nonsense.

 

High-Priced Humiliation

 

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Japan’s little prince could be last emperor on unreformed Chrysanthemum Throne

https://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/japans-little-prince-could-be-last-emperor-on-unreformed-chrysanthemum-throne

TOKYO —

When Prince Hisahito was born in 2006, ending a 41-year drought in imperial male heirs, Japan’s government gladly dropped proposals that women might head the world’s oldest monarchy, but a decade later the little prince remains the last hope for an unreformed Chrysanthemum Throne.

The issue is back in focus after Emperor Akihito, 82, hinted two months ago at abdication, with only five heirs in the line of succession, including Hisahito, his sole grandson.

The four older heirs are Akihito’s centenarian uncle, an 80-year-old brother, and two middle-aged sons whose wives are in their early 50s.

In a rare televised address, Akihito said in August he worried age might make it hard to fulfil his duties. The remarks were interpreted as a desire to abdicate, a step unprecedented in modern Japan and not possible under current law.

The succession quandary has long weighed on Akihito’s mind, Japanese media and royal watchers say.

“As the head of the imperial family, the emperor has a great sense of crisis that the royals will disappear,” said a veteran Japanese journalist and long-time royal watcher, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

In a country where the population is rapidly aging and projected to shrink about 30 percent by 2060, the dwindling royal family exemplifies a much larger trend that is also hitting succession planning at Japanese family firms.

This week a panel appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will start considering the topic of abdication. Domestic media and academics say the government appears to be leaning towards one-off legislation that would let Akihito step down in favor of eldest son Crown Prince Naruhito, Hisahito’s uncle.

Hidehiko Kasahara, an expert in imperial law at Keio University, does not expect Abe’s panel to broach the topic of male-only succession, which conservatives see as central to an imperial tradition stretching back 2,600 years.

“The government’s stance is to avoid tackling issues like female succession that divide the public,” he said.

Though surveys have shown a majority of Japanese favor letting women take the throne and pass it on to their children, conservatives are key to Abe’s political support.

Historically, Japan’s imperial line was preserved by a combination of concubines and cadet royal families called “miyake”, who could supply a male heir in a pinch.

Very occasionally, female place-holders might rule until a male heir was found, but such empresses were either widows or unmarried and did not pass the throne to any children.

But times have changed; Emperor Meiji, who died in 1912, was the last to have concubines, and cadet families were stripped of royal status by the Allied Occupation after Japan’s World War Two defeat.

A 1947 law limits succession to male descendants of an emperor.

In 2005, as hopes faded that Naruhito or his younger brother Prince Akishino and their wives would produce a boy, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi prepared to challenge that tradition.

A panel of experts recommended the first-born child of an emperor or empress should succeed regardless of gender, and Koizumi promised to submit legislation.

Hisahito’s birth to Akishino and Princess Kiko torpedoed the plan, but the problem has just been kicked down the road.

With Hisahito’s two sisters in their twenties and Naruhito’s daughter and only child Aiko turning 15 this year, the young prince may end up not only the last imperial heir but also the only member of the royal family, as its women become commoners upon marriage under current law.

“At some point, major surgery will be needed,” said Kanto Gakuin University professor Naotaka Kimizuka. “We have reached the point where this cannot be fixed with a band-aid.”

Conservatives favor restoring miyake families to royal status as a solution.

“We consider the tradition handed down by our ancestors to have great weight,” said Akira Momochi, a professor at Nihon University, referring to the male-only succession practice.

But restoring miyake could prove a hard sell for Abe, who has otherwise made a policy of promoting female participation in society. His No. 2 in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiro Nikai, has also suggested the imperial succession rules look dated.

“In an age of female empowerment, it is strange the emperor is an exception,” Nikai said in August.

Nikai’s counterpart in the main opposition Democratic Party, former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, also told the Nikkei business daily recently that parliament should discuss the problem of the shrinking number of royals as well as abdication.

“Abe is a realist,” the veteran journalist said. “It is clear if nothing is done, the imperial family will die out, so it’s hard to think he will do nothing.”