Utopia, you are standing in it!

There is much hype around Indian economy and how high its growth has been all these years. There are some others who manage it without much hype.

Mr Benjamin E Diokno, Governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (their central bank) in this speech highlights how Philippines economy has been growing for 20 years:

Let me begin with our growth story thus far in the Philippines. Our economy has experienced uninterrupted growth for over 20 years since 1999 despite challenges such as the 2004 fiscal crisis and the 2007 global financial crisis-that is 81 consecutive quarters of continuous growth, with annual growth averaging 6.4 percent in the past five years (2014-2018).

Growth in recent years has become more broad-based.

On the demand side,  private consumption remained robust in the first quarter of 2019, as in the previous quarters through the years. This is further supported by rising contribution from investments from 2010…

The first headline below (h/t: cesar) appeared in the National Review. Don’t like the site or trust it because it’s a conservative website? Well, do you think you’d see this in the mainstream of Leftist media? Actually, the New York Times has a very small article on it, which at least notes that “Homosexuality is taboo in Arab countries, many of which criminalize it.”

But don’t worry—there’s more! (Click on screenshots to read the articles).

How about Haaretz, a left-wing Israeli paper often critical of the Israeli government?:

From the left-leaning Times of Israel:

Or how about PinkNews, a pro-gay website in the UK? (It’s woke, and even accuses Israel of “pinkwashing“.)

Here’s part of the story from Haaretz:

Palestinian Authority police targeted the Palestinian LGBTQ community last week, calling on citizens to report “suspicious” activity and vowing to break off community events…

How far can the sanitizing of language go in the name of social justice? Well, sometimes the sanitizing is salubrious, but often it’s not. From the San Francisco Chronicle (click on screenshot) we have a particularly ludicrous example: changing the words used to characterize offenders in the criminal justice system. These guidelines were just adopted by the city’s Board of Supervisors, and they’re in a nonbinding resolution. Nevertheless, the Mayor and the city’s police department are considering the suggestions, while the district attorney’s office already agrees with them.

Here are some of the changes recommended in the article:

A “convicted felon” or someone released from jail is now a “formerly incarcerated person,” or a “justice-involved” person or simply a “returning resident.”

Parolees and people on probation are now “person on parole,” or “person under supervision.”

Drug addicts or substance abusers are now “a person with…

Heather MacDonald, writing in the Wall Street Journal:

Long before the El Paso massacre, President Trump’s political opponents accused him of sowing “division” with his “racist language.” Mr. Trump “exploits race,” “uses race for his gain,” is engaged in a “racially divisive reprise” of his 2016 campaign, stokes “racial resentments,” and puts “race at the fore,” the New York Times has reported over the past several months.

I don’t know about you, but I had certainly heard the claims of Trump’s racism, but I didn’t hear the examples. The president doesn’t seem to use racial categories in his tweets, or in his speeches. (The article is may be behind a subscription barrier)

The Democrats and the Media certainly do. Ms. MacDonald wrote:

Yet Mr. Trump rarely uses racial categories in his speech or his tweets. It is the media and Democratic leaders who routinely characterize individuals and groups by…

The other day I posted a tweet containing a clip of Bill Maher calling out the BDS movement for hiding its real aim—to get rid of Israel. The relevant section goes from 18:55 to 20:03 in this video of his latest show.

But keep listening, at least until 23:00.  As the article below notes, “Maher added that he understood why Tlaib and Omar were banned, given their past statements.”

“Congresswoman Omar has said things like, ‘It’s all about the Benjamins,’ ‘Israel has hypnotized the world,’ ‘May Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel,’ ” Maher said. “She apologized for it, but it’s out there: Jews control the world, control the money.”

Maher’s comments on BDS are appropriate since the purpose of the boycott, expressly avowed by its instigators, is to eliminate the state of Israel, largely through demanding the “right of return” of not…

We are wondering – here at Point of Order – which politician will go out to bat for the idea that all citizens of this country be accorded exactly the same voting rights they were given at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

To ensure nobody was denied those rights, all prisoners of all races in our prisons should be included in this entitlement.

We would like to think the Waitangi Tribunal might  consider endorsing this idea because today it has released He Aha i Pērā Ai? The Māori Prisoners’ Voting Rights Report in pre-publication format.

The tribunal says the urgency report addresses three claims that seek repeal of section 80(1)(d) of the Electoral Act 1993.  It looks at the level of advice provided to Parliament and the Law and Order Select Committee and the consequent ongoing effects of the legislation on Māori, including the individual…

By Richard Millett

As expected The Guardian published two full blown rants over the weekend concerning Israel’s refusal to allow congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to enter Israel due to their public support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).

The Guardian’s editorial called barring their entry “a bad day for Israel, and a worse one for the US” while Emma Goldberg called it a ploy “to quiet anti-occupation activism”.

So far, so Guardian.

However, a piece by Oliver Holmes explaining why Tlaib had rejected Israel’s humanitarian offer to visit her grandmother had a moment of unexpected clarity when Holmes writes:

“The BDS movement seeks to end the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories and discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel, who account for almost a fifth of the population. It also demands that Israel allow several million Palestinian refugees and their families to return to their…