EU Court Says No to Insulting "Prophet" Mohhamed

From Al Arabiya

A European Union Human Rights court has determined that insulting Mohammed is not protected free speech as it may "stir up prejudice and put at risk religious peace". 

The case stemmed from a seminar conducted by an Austrin defendant known as Mrs. S. where she "defamed" Mohammed by correctly claiming that he married his second wife, Aisha, when she was merely six years old and consummated their marriage when she turned nine. She claimed that this was evidence that the Prophet of Islam had pedophilic tendencies. Regardless of the truth of the statement, the court found that making the statement was prejudicial against individuals who may have their religious feeling hurt.

The judgement can be read here, it's short (for a judicial decision) and worth the read if you're so inclined.

I guess we'll see how long the truth can remain hidden, at least in Europe. 

Basically then, blasphemy laws have made their way back to the European continent, difference being though, it is now strictly Islam that cannot, under penalty of law, be insulted. Will this further empower radical muslims to report, or perhaps do worse, people who they deemed to have offended them? Most certainly, yes.

Freedom of speech, as it were, throughout Europe, now takes a backseat to whether or not someone feels offended if their religion is the subject of demeaning dialogue, whether true or not. Jesus Christ, that's screwed up.

A Celebration of Marx - NYU, Of Course

Not The Economics Department

NYU Tisch, School of the Arts is in the midst of a 2 week celebration to mark the 200th birthday of Karl Marx. 

Events include The P Project, where attendees can earn money by participating in performance art, details are otherwise sketchy. You could also attend a lecture on Racial Capitalism hosted by NYU professors who, presumably, will extol the "virtues" of Marxism vis-a-vis Capitalism. I suspect they'll gloss over some of the Marxist inspired atrocities that plagued the world during the 20th century. And don't forget to attend The Marxist Dance Party featuring DJ AndrewAndrew spinning Marxist dance tracks and reading from comunist propoganda. 

Fight the power, fellas

Participant Bios include: 

luciana achugar, a Brooklyn-based choreographer from Uruguay, has been making work in NYC and Uruguay independently and collaboratively since 1999.

Amin Husain’s interests focus on resistance and liberation, movement generated theory and practice. His research and teaching interests span debt and financialization, globalization and political economy, social movements and cultures of resistance, race, class and ethnicity in the media, and postcolonial theory. 

Julie Tolentino is a performance installation maker whose work draws from a variety of visual, archival, and movement strategies. Her work has been presented at many venues

Admission to the events is free but the organizers have requested that attendees pay what they think it's worth and they are provided with an itemization of what each performance cost so that one can better quantify how much is owed. 

There will of course be seminars on climate change, identity politics and the whole slew of left wing radicalism. Sounds. Like. Fun.

Finally, Some Attention

POLITICIANS TARGETED?

Political violence may finally be getting some much needed attention following "Bomb" intercepts intended for Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros. While the details of these suspicious packages threats remain exceedingly murky, you can expect the national press to begin to devote time to this growing issue in the run-up to the mid-term elections.

It is odd how they are describing these packages, the U.S. Secret Service indicating that they are "potentially explosive devices", meaning what, exactly? I've never heard of a bomb described that way. The FBI released a statement via Twitter, saying merely:

We are aware of a suspicious package found in the vicinity of the Clinton residence in Chappaqua, NY, and our JTTF has engaged with our federal, state and local partners to investigate. As this is an on-going investigation, we will have no further comment at this time

— FBI New York (@NewYorkFBI) October 24, 2018

The only suspicious package that made it to its intended recipient was the package addressed to George Soros, a left-wing billionaire and activist. The BBC reports,

"An employee of the residence opened the package, revealing what appeared to be an explosive device," a Bedford Police Department official told the New York Times.

 They go on further stating,

Arriving at the scene, police discovered a device that was later confirmed by officials to have contained explosive powder and "had the components" of a bomb. It was then "proactively detonated", police said.

A package with components of a bomb along with explosive powder was detonated, no mention of secondary explosion following detonation so no valuable information was obtained. Could the explosive powder have been gunpowder? Potentially explosive devices may have been bullets? I know, and there doesn't appear to be many answers forthcoming. I guess we'll stay tuned and hopefully this will encourage our political leaders to lay off the violent rhetoric that has been fulminating recently.

*UPDATE*

Additional explosive devices have been intercepted at CNN,

This photo obtained by @ABC and confirmed by two law enforcement sources shows the device recovered from @CNN by the NYPD bomb squad. pic.twitter.com/HFzTMSoJXG

— Gio Benitez (@GioBenitez) October 24, 2018

Addressed to John Brennan, a relentless critic of the Trump administration. Definitely looks like an attempt at a pipe bomb and is now being described as similar to the devices sent to the Clinton residence and the Obama residence. This one was described as functional by the authorities.