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A Pakistani man who became a Humanist and renounced Islam sought political asylum in the UK. His application was refused. From The Guardian:

Walayat, who has lived in the UK since 2011, said he had received death threats from members of his family and community in Pakistan after integrating into secular British life, forming a relationship with a non-Muslim partner and refusing to conform to the expectations of conservative Islam.

In true British pub quiz fashion, the Home Office tested his claim to be a Humanist by asking if he knew the names of any Greek philosophers who were humanistic.

When tested on his knowledge of humanism, Walayat gave a “basic definition” but could not identify “any famous Greek philosophers who were humanistic”

The last pub quiz I was at, the question master was adamant that Apollo 14 was the last manned mission to the Moon... I see the Home Office takes things as seriously.

Walayat joined the Humanists UK organisation in August, but said he had believed in the basic principles of humanism from childhood.

Now more than 120 leading philosophers have signed a letter asking the Home Secretary to reconsider the man's case since "Knowledge of Plato and Aristotle is not a reliable test for whether someone is a humanist.”

Sometimes I despair.

I think I won it today. I managed to single-handedly fend off the communist and socialist hordes with logic and reason, only garnering a very few disagreements remotely based in reason and none that could not be refuted.

I'm done with that article now though. I can't be spending all day educating the ignorant. That and it's nap time.

Trump Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House Counsel Threatened to Quit

Trump said he hadn’t given ‘any thought’ to firing Mueller two months after he tried to do so

Found this comment while I was searching for NASA GOLD stuff.

Zuma!

Men Only: Inside the charity fundraiser where hostesses are put on show

Female journalist goes undercover at posh ‘men only’ London fundraiser, reports widespread groping

WPP Cuts Ties With London Charity Dinner After Groping Report

Presidents Club: Women Groped at Exclusive Charity Event Filled With Politicians, Businessmen and Media Elite

Grab 'em in the ass, grab 'em in the wherever.

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Congressman Accused Of Harassment Defends Himself, Says He Saw Aide As A 'Soul Mate'

You know what's fun? Making regressive looter shitheads lose their entire mind by asking them to rationally and logically explain their position without trying to claim "muh feelz" as a valid argument. Ninety-nine out of a hundred of them won't be able to do it and will lose their shit on the spot. The one left over will be able to but more than half the time they'll have some foundational assumption that cannot be chalked up to anything but feelz.

Intel Has a Big Problem. It Needs to Act Like It

During the six months Intel was quietly working to try to fix the vulnerabilities, Krzanich sold $24 million in company shares. Intel says the stock sale was part of a plan that had been in place before anyone there knew about Meltdown or Spectre, but the day after Krzanich’s CES speech, two U.S. senators sent letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice demanding investigations. Consumer and shareholder lawyers have filed a dozen class actions against Intel, and there are few signs the pressure will let up on Krzanich anytime soon. In a research note, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. called the stock sale “indefensible.”

President Trump signed a bill Friday to reauthorize a controversial government surveillance program, extending the ability of law enforcement officials to collect and keep — but not always see — the private communications of American citizens.

Trump first suggested a year ago — with no supporting evidence — that Obama authorized eavesdropping on Trump Tower during the election. He made a similar suggestion last week when he tweeted that the law had been used "to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump campaign by the previous administration."

The bill was set to expire Friday unless Trump signed the renewal into law. It has now been approved by Congress three times under three different presidents.

Trump signs bill extending surveillance law — the same law he says was used to spy on him

From The Guardian:

Intriguingly, the Ancient Greeks had a word for what’s missing: isegoria, which they thought must accompany freedom of speech, and which means equality of speech – people need to hear their own voices reflected in political discourse.

Well, we have Farcebook and Witter.

Back in the days when phones still had cords, they had twelve buttons; ten numbers, *-star, and #-pound. Owen Benjamin was kind enough to point this out in relation to pronouncing the #MeToo hashtag. You lot being the fine connoisseurs of comedy that you are, I felt the need to share it along to you.