Month: December 2017

(GVO) – The Indonesian Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusional or MK) has rejected the petition of an Islamic conservative group to outlaw extramarital and gay sex. Activists believe the proposal to amend several articles of the Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP) is aimed at persecuting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The petition was filed by Love Family Alliance (AILA) which asked the court to make a judicial review of Article 284 (extramarital sex), Article 285 (rape), and Article 292 (pedophilia). The group wanted the law to consider homosexual sex as…

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(TFC) – The President of the United States is apparently so embarrassed by his recent poll numbers that he set out to create a poll of his own and then he rigged it. If a voter thought they’d be able to express their true feelings through the “Official Presidential Job Performance Survey”, they would be mistaken. Unless they felt he was doing a “great”, “good”, or “okay” job. Any other feeling would be filed under “other”. There was no option presented to provide a negative response. You can access the…

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(TFC) – With the classrooms filled with technology, students no longer have the opportunities to take basic classes like home economics (aka Home Ec – a class that used to be required core curriculum). But many still feel that it’s important for schools not to let Home Ec die. Why? Because you Home Ec teaches you life skills that aren’t taught anywhere else in most schools. Skills? What Skills? Home Ec class taught students lifelong skills they need to adapt and get by in the adult world. Most employers today utilize…

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(Garrison) – The Goldwater-Nichols Act requires the president to submit a “National Security Strategy” report each year. Every president since Ronald Reagan has failed to comply with the law in one or more years of his administration, but on December 17 Donald Trump issued his report. Unfortunately, Trump’s offering is of a piece with his prior displays of economic illiteracy and foreign policy jingoism. It’s a dog’s breakfast of policy pronouncements that couldn’t be more opposed to real “national security” if that had been the author’s intention. The document reiterates Trump’s commitment…

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Hundreds of identical pro-Putin messages were posted on Vkontakte, a Russian social network; many of the users whose profiles posted these messages are deceased. Collage by author Alexey Kovalev On Friday, December 15, the day after Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference when he finally announced he will run for president in 2018, Vkontakte, a major Russian social network, was awash with messages praising the president. Quotes from the news conference were posted by hundreds of Vkontakte users with the hashtag #ПутинКрут (#PutinIsCool). There was just one problem: many of those…

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Youtube Ashwaq Hamoud and Areej Hamoud, in still from video, fled Saudi Arabia in late February to Turkey to escape abuse from male family members. (HRW) – Two Saudi sisters in Turkish police custody are at risk of forced return to Saudi Arabia, where they could face serious harm from Saudi authorities or family members, Human Rights Watch said today. One of the sisters lost a challenge to her deportation in a Turkish court in December 2017 and is at immediate risk of deportation, while the other’s case is still…

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