The explanation is called for by some idiots who cannot tell gays from racists.

Some good news from back home.

Jim Lopata has made a list.

To my Swedish readers, I recommend this article by Susanne Wigorts Yngvesson on the hatred of Judaism and Islam.

In 2011, 627 rockets and mortars were fired from the Gaza Strip towards civilian communities in Israel.

These people are scary.

“Police in India have apprehended a Swedish member of the armed forces when she allegedly attempted to board a plane carrying a live bullet in her baggage,” The Local reports.

A Swedish terrorist?

No, it is not. Andrew Sullivan:

Bullies love freedom. But so do rebels and prophets, who would be silenced without it. And the right response to bullying is to stand up to it, while the government diligently ensures that the free market is not dominated by monopolies or rentier classes; and that core political liberties, such as freedom of speech, are protected everywhere.

Freedom means evil, as well as good, will flourish. And a conservative, properly understood, is someone who understands that evil is eternal, but that evil backed by a monopoly of physical force is the only one that can be restrained by a political order, without undermining the freedom it requires to breathe and grow and think for itself.

Good.

A nightmare choice to most.

Now we know.

“Famously anti-gay politician Michele Bachmann has dropped out of the Republican party’s race for a Presidential candidate,” Pink Paper reports. Good!

“Michele Bachmann is an extremist who spouts weird conspiracy theories, garbles history and foreign policy, and tells untruths with such conviction that she’s less a liar than a denisen of an alterative reality,” Michelle Goldberg writes.

Now is the time for consenting adults to lock their bedroom doors.

An Iowa judge has ordered the Department of Public Health to issue a new birth certificate listing both members of a same-sex marriage as legal parents of a 2-year-old girl.

“The Haredi State is a welfare state that would make the Scandinavians jealous,” Aner Shalev writes. In one word, parasitism.

It’s called Kopimism.

A new year has begun. It’s my twelfth year as a blogger, and reading the stuff I have written over they years makes me realise how much both the journal and myself have changed. What began as an experiment with online diary writing has become more of a news log. When I read some of it now, I can remember the day I wrote a single entry—my life story is between the lines, sort of.

The blogging will go on. I’m too fond of it to let it go. However, there are things that need to change in my private life. I quit my part-time job at RFSL a couple of months ago, my time at Lund University is coming to an end, and I’m not sure I want to go back to full-time freelancing. Until quite recently, I was convinced I would stay at university, aiming for a doctorate. But for some time now, I have been considering doing something completely different. My interest for philosophy of religion could probably benefit from a more “freestyle-ish” creative writing—there’s a book in me, I just need to get it out.

Whatever else happens, the blog must go on.

This is funny.

You can always count on the idiots to say stupid things.

“Iran has this schizophrenia because it simultaneously has delusions of grandeur and profound insecurity,” Karim Sadjadpour says. “You could call it the Sarah Palin of nations.”

I bet this news will make new editions of all international newspapers.

Nah, not really.

Anyhow, the new leader’s name is Jonas Sjöstedt, and the only good quality about him is that he’s slightly less boring and predictable than his predecessor Lars Ohly. But nothing much will happen to this ancient communist party, which is completely defined by its anti-America, anti-Israel, and anti-Europe politics. You know the Swedish Communists by their enemies. If America, Israel, and the European Union is for something, the Sweden’s Radical Left is dead against it—no matter what it is.

But the people want digital downloading, not the traditional CD.

I predict that there will be no DVDs or CDs in a decade. Only people with a special interest will continue to save film and music on disc.

So says Ian McKellen.

Santorum is trying to make sense of his opposition to same-sex marriage by talking about polygamy.

It’s fascinating how same-sex love never seems to be the real threat when these bigots defend their discrimination. The reason for their hostile discrimination is always that if it were to stop, other things might happen—like acceptance of polygamy or paedophila.

It reminds me of the Swedish debate on male circumcision. Quite harmless, no real problem for most, but must be criminalised because some non-existent future religion might abuse religious freedom to cut of children’s ears.

And we’d like to see more of it in movies. Hear, hear!

One of the ideas I have for this blog is to make my “Shabbat Shalom” entries more of a personal comment on the past week. I think it could be great for looking back and remembering things that happened at a specific time. However, I won’t write anything like that this week. I’m too tired after New Years and Amsterdam.

שבת שלום

The New Republic has made a list.

“A popular Berlin theatre troupe has denied accusations that its adaptation of a Tony Award-winning play featuring a white man in blackface is racist, saying it’s ‘tradition’ for whites to play blacks in German theatre,” The Local reports.

I read up on the Epiphany, which is a national holiday in Sweden for some reason. No Swede I know of does anything special on this day, but according to Wikipedia, our online know-it-all, the tradition in Colorado is to throw cake at each other. The Epiphany is known as the “Great Fruitcake Toss”.

“Radical homosexuals have infiltrated Congress and want to indoctrinate children and eliminate traditional values from America while creating a society based on sexual promiscuity,” ACLU reports.

A society based on sexual promiscuity? And that’s why gay people want to marry and have children? Don’t think so.

The worst thing about religion has always been its claim on objective truth and disregard for pluralism. It’s therefor so absurd to see organised atheism behaving in much the same way. The latest example comes from Britain, where atheists oppose privatisation of schools because it could result in more schools being run by religious organisations. I suppose liberty is irrelevant when you know the truth and have a fixed idea about the perfect society.

The libertarian in me roars, “Leave people be!”

Those smug alp-people with their franc. Think they are all that.

Not even Illinois.

Great news from America.

Hello Kitty restaurant, theme park, hotel, and maternity suite.

I was fascinated by my own repulsion when looking at these pictures of children smoking.

Ha-ha-ha!

The Local reveals Sweden’s silliest place names.

What else can you call this? But I don’t for a minute believe that it was cannabis he was on.

That makes them the best-paid parliamentarians in Europe.

“Speaking at a boarding school in New Hampshire on Friday, Santorum cited an unnamed ‘anti-poverty expert’ to claim that children are better off having a parent in prison who abandoned them than having two same-sex parents,” Think Progress reports.

Children with gay parents were in the audience.

How sweet! He would deny his gay son a family and many of the rights and liberties awarded straight Americans, but he would love him equally.

A sad trend.

Andrew Sullivan:

Santorum is such a vile person it is hard for me to judge his performance. But he seemed to me to come off as the prize asshole he is: nasty, extreme, reactionary, callous.

Slap, slap, slap.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is right to oppose the French idea. Such a tax would hurt Europe. Unfortunately, Cameron has made Britain’s voice useless since he turned his back on the ongoing treaty negotiations.

From the Guardian:

Germany and France have both received encouraging economic news this morning—which suggests that both countries avoided being badly bruised by the crisis late last year.

The latest trade data showed that Germany’s trade surplus actually increased in November. Exports rose by 2.5% during the month, while imports dropped, which pushed its seasonally adjusted trade surplus up to €15bn.

Economists said the better-than-expected data indicated that Germany grew faster than feared at the end of 2011. Jurgen Michels of Citigroup called it a “positive surprise”.

There was a similiar story for France, where exports grew in November while imports were basically flat. That meant its trade deficit shrank to €4.4bn.

Growth is what will make Europe escape the current debt problem. What the leaders now need to do is to establish common bonds and a fiscal union. Europe now has a historic opportunity to use this crisis to end nationalism.

“The one lesson we have learnt over and over again in Europe, to our cost, is that we are stronger when we are together and weaker when we are apart,” Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says. “It is immensely important to work as liberals, in all our different countries, in all our different ways, to promote unity over disunity and to promote co-operation rather than needless rivalry and isolation.”

Hear, hear!

Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron says he still believes the euro will survive. Good!

Sarah Palin: “My opinion is that I can see what’s coming.”

Good for you!

The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirms that Iran had begun refining uranium to a fissile purity of 20 per cent at Fordow near the Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom.

Peter LaBarbera is a fool.

Whom, if not the libertarian-ish guy, should the sex workers vote for?

The Pope says same-sex marriage is a threat to the future of humanity itself. Dear God!

I think Ed is handsome.

This is so absurd. The very personalisation of millennia of opposition to human rights says he wants human rights. Well, for some people. Women, gays, Jews, and the poor are excluded.

Sweden’s budget surplus from 2011 stood at 68 billion kronor. That is €7.7bn, or $9.8bn.

Money well spent?

One being that Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads in the world.

Is it sexist to call a woman “bitch”? The problem with the word, in my opinion, is that it’s sometimes hard to know what people want to say when using it. In some context, it’s a positive thing, in other, a negative remark.

His name is Jack Lew. More fuel for the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists.

So says Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi. Not surprisingly considering Moore’s anti-Americanism.

This is so very wrong. Transexuals have right to a family, too.

“Archaeologists digging near Acre have uncovered a menorah-emblazoned ceramic seal they believe was used by a 6th-century village baker to certify his bread as kosher,” Jerusalem Post reports.

To people suffering from colour-blindness, my website looks very brownish and my profile picture makes me seem like someone with full-blown hepatitis.

Check your website here.

If you are at the low end of the spectrum for looks, you are more likely to be at one extreme end for IQ—either very dumb or very smart. Personally, I like to think I’m in the smart category.

Dr No is blamed for casting a long-lasting shadow over the image of nuclear power. I think it has more to do with the disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima and the like.

The first review I read suggests the new film about Margaret Thatcher is “a mediocre strategy touched by genius”.

The Milky Way is white.

Shabbat is finally here. It’s been a busy week with many days spent doing jury service. There is still no snow in this part of Sweden, and I can’t say I miss it for a second. On the contrary, I hope the winter stays this way.

שבת שלום

Talks between the Greek government and its private sector creditors appear to be on the verge of breaking down. The bad just got worse.

Standard & Poor strips France of its AAA status.

I agree with everything Ron Paul says in this video clip. As is the case on most issues, government involvement is unnecessary in the matter of marriage. However, as long as any state insists on defining marriage, it should treat its gay and straight citizens alike.

Read More

Is it an argument against biblical literalism? Maybe. In any event, the quotes from the Bible that are so important for the plot were written in another time, and no one knows if they were ever taken literally.

Now I’m waiting for Sweden’s many pro-Palestinians to say that he had to do this. It’s Israel’s fault somehow. It always is.

Libby Copeland on why Ron Paul appeals to young men.

“A failed Russian probe designed to travel to a moon of Mars but stuck in Earth orbit will come crashing down within hours, likely in a shower of fragments that survive the fiery re-entry,” the Guardian reports.

More than a hundred evangelical conservative leaders endorse Rick Santorum.

Another gay man lost to homophobia.

4:58 – That’s it. Now we have to wait for the Oscars.

4:56 – Best Drama to The Descendants.

4:49 – Best Actor in a Drama to George Clooney for The Descendants.

4:40 – Best Comedy or Musical to The Artist.

4:35 – Best Actress in a Drama to Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady.

4:26 – Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical to Jean Dujardin for The Artist.

4:18 – Best TV Comedy or Musical to Modern Family.

4:14 – Best Director to Martin Scorsese for Hugo. No surprise.

4:04 – Morgan Freeman is being honoured for his acting.

3:47 – Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture to Octavia Spencer for The Help.

3:45 – Best Actor in a TV Musical or Comedy to Matt LeBlanc for Episodes. Who? Just kidding.

3:36 – Best Actress in a TV Drama to Claire Danes for Homeland. My favourite!

3:33 – Best Foreign-Language Film to A Separation from Iran.

3:24 – Best Supporting Actress in TV Series, Mini-Series, or Made-for-TV Movie to Jessica Lange for American Horror Story.

3:23 – Best Screenplay for a Motion Picture to Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris.

3:14 – Best Animated Film to The Adventures of Tintin.

3:09 – Best Supporting Actor in TV Series, Mini-Series, or Made-for-TV Movie to Peter Dinklage for Game of Thrones. One of the things I have not seen.

3:02 – Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy to Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn.

2:29 – Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Made-for-TV Movie to Idris Elba for Luther,

2:48 – Best Original Song in a Motion Picture goes to Madonna for “Masterpiece” in WE, her film about King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson.

2:47 – Best Original Score in a Motion Picture goes to Ludovic Bource for The Artist. French accent is so 20th century.

2:40 – Damian Lewis is so handsome!

2:39 – Best TV Drama goes to Homeland!!! Based on a series from Israel.

2:37 – Best Actor in a TV Drama foes to Kelsey Grammer for Boss. Good, bit I would have picked Damian Lewis for his role in Homeland.

2:25 – Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Made-for-TV Movie goes to Kate Winslet for Mildred Pierce.

2:22 – Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture goes to Downton Abbey.

2:14 – Best Actress in a TV Musical or Comedy goes to Laura Dern for Enlightened. I’m no big fan, but OK.

2:10 – Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture goes to Christopher Plummer for Beginners. I did not like the film, but I like Plummer.

2:06 – Pooping in the sink is worth an award!

2:04 – Ricky Gervais is great.

Not surprisingly, he will endorse Mitt Romney.

He is Reagan Dunn. I don’t know much about him and I have absolutely nothing to do with Washington State politics, but I love everyone who has the guts to go against the stupid idea that conservatism must be homophobic.

In a new opinion poll published today, only about 23 per cent of Swedes say they would vote for the party that singlehandedly ruled this country for most of the last century. Good.

This is bad news for all of humankind.

So says the German national football captain Philipp Lahm. Personally, I have a bigger issue with homophobic morons like Lahm.

From Gawker:

America’s aging class of socially conservative evangelical leaders finally gathered this weekend to pick a presidential candidate to rally around, and, crucially, to make each other feel important again. The 150 or so big-time fundies, including representatives from the Family Research Council, American Family Association, and Focus on the Family, ultimately chose Rick Santorum but came nowhere near a unanimous decision. Let’s all congratulate these once-important gatekeepers: For the second straight presidential election, they’ve swooped in just in time to render themselves useless.

Poor losers.

Sadakat Kadri argues that religious courts could benefit the community as a whole. Personally, I think government should not restrict people in a free society. As long as no one violates the liberty of others, people should be able to abide by religious courts.

Support for equal rights and acceptance of gay people is the mainstream view in Canada.

Andrew Sullivan: “I’ve rarely been repulsed by the atmosphere of a debate as I was tonight.”

The European Commission has launched legal action against Hungary over its new constitution. This is good. Hungary’s new constitution would put too much power into the hands of government.

A new American law banning websites to link to copyright material has made Wikipedia go on a 24-hour strike.

For the fist time ever I have blocked a follower on Twitter. Well, this is not entirely true, I have blocked a few spammers, but this is different. The person I have blocked is Christer Sturmark, president of the Swedish Humanist Association, and the reason is simply his obnoxious rhetoric. And I have discussed many things with plenty of obnoxious people over the years—not least religious homophobes who miss no opportunity to send me insults and condemnations.

Anyhow, what makes Mr Sturmark get under my skin is his method of hurling offensive accusations at people and then retire to self-pity and labelling opponents psychological projectionists, meaning that whenever he is criticised for wrongdoing he replies that the critics transfer their own shortcomings onto him.

So, when Christer Sturmark says that Jews and Muslims violate human rights by mutilating children, I’m a bad man for pointing out that international law protects religious minorities and clearly stresses that children have the right to be part of their parent’s religious tradition. And when I refer to scientific studies on male circumcision that put his talk of mutilation in question, I’m somehow defending child mutilation.

Considering my two decades of debating gay rights with religious homophobes, it’s ironic that a man who says he favours science and reason to superstition should be the first person I block for being unbearably dogmatic and unreasonable.

I post this entry to help myself remember never to engage in a discussion with Christer Sturmark.

There are no winners in this religion-driven massacre of human life. Amen.

According to pastor Patrick Wooden, loving a person of the same sex as yourself is wicked, deviant, immoral, self-destructive, and anti-human. Unlike hating people, then.

The time is not right for Sweden to recognise a Palestinian state.

The First Amendment to the American Constitution is worth celebrating.

Here’s you chance to own a note from the famous director saying, “This cheese was more boring.” Problem is that you’d have to re-mortgage your house to get the money for this tiny piece of paper.

The human-rights activists bullying them, that is.

Had a private online discussion with an atheist friend who wrote something I think is spot on. I realise God is not needed for a person’s belief system, but believing in something is. In short, it’s a human necessity to hold some metaphysical ideas as true. To this, my friend replies, “I don’t believe in anything, that’s what I believe in.”

His name is Molotov Mitchell, and he makes baby Jesus cry.

I just read this article about a man stalking a woman for seven months after he met at Starbucks.

I had a stalker a few years ago. He hated my blog so much he felt it necessary to snoop into my private life and send disgusting letters to my friends and colleagues, telling them what an awful man I was for having libertarian views and being out about my homosexuality. My stalker lived many miles from me, so I never had to see him in person. But there were moments when I thought he might just do the trip and turn up at my flat. That nightmare never came true and my stalker lost interest in me after a few months.

Porn producers said they would consider leaving Los Angeles after a City Council vote mandating condoms be used on film shoots requiring a permit. I sympathise. Politicians should not mandate condom use. It’s ridiculous.

According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the consequences of occasionally smoking cannabis do not include long-term loss of lung function.

Matthew Yglesias says a little copyright infringement is good for the economy and society.

The Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam’s Orthodox Ashkenazi community was suspended this week after signing a declaration that homosexuals should learn to overcome their inclinations.

By accident, I came across the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of “wanker”. Apparently, it’s “a contemptible person”. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought it was quite funny because it’s not exactly what I mean when I use the word. So, I had to check with the Cambridge Dictionary, which has another definition, more in line with my own. According to Cambridge, a wanker is a very stupid person, or a man who masturbates. The latter definition makes just about everyone a wanker.

I’m watching the Republican debate on CNN, and most things these people say—although I love their pro-business approach—horrify me, but on the issue of Internet censorship, I was happy to see that all but Santorum stands for freedom against government intervention. I can’t remember who said it, but the right approach to piracy is for those holding copyright to take the pirates to court, not allowing government to censorship the Internet.

Listening to the Republican debate on abortion is really awful. Remind me of the Swedish debate on male circumcision. They simply cannot get past their own opposition to individual liberty on this issue.

A Swedish citizen who tried to kill Israelis in Thailand says Israel did it. Yeah, right!

Those old yearbook photos.

It comes as no surprise that Nigeria tops the list. Hm, well, maybe Uganda deserves the top rank. It’s actually in third place, after Jamaica at number two. No surprise, neither.

Ruben Brunsveld reflects on religion in Sweden.

IDF is so gay. Hamas is just a bunch of a-holes.

I’m dead tired, so rest is really needed. Shabbat shalom!

Does the American separation of state and religion make such classes illegal? I think it just might be to go one step too far. It’s one thing if the university promotes a religion, but to teach people how to do business with religious people seem justifiable even to a strictly secular state. Why not make sure the class doesn’t promote any one religion?

An Indonesian man who wrote “God does not exist” on his Facebook page has been taken into police custody for his own protection after he was badly beaten by a mob. This is yet another example of people not tolerating those who do not share their truth.

His name is Pekka Haavisto. Read about him in Swedish at QX.

The leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Håkan Juholt, resigned yesterday after months of turmoil and declining popularity.

More here.

Newt Gingrich won the pivotal South Carolina primary yesterday.

If the eurozone is to survive, policymakers will have to stop trying to save European nations and save European banks instead. Accepting failure is an important part of a working free economy.

Charges of an international Jewish conspiracy have been a central motif in the anti-Semitic propaganda that has accompanied the Arab Spring I still think the Arab Spring will be good for Jews, too. The problem is that anti-Semitism has been the only legal issue ta rally about for decades, which has allowed for conspiracy theories to stand unchallenged.

The hacker group known as Anonymous has made its biggest attack on websites belonging to people and organisations promoting copyright laws. From what I understand, it’s a protest against the closing down of a website where stolen music could be downloaded for free. Apparently, your website risk being vandalised if you dare to express the opinion that artists should be paid for their work.

Mark P. McKenna writes about PIPA and SOPA at Slate.

The study shows that the real effects of obesity may be underestimated when hip circumference is not fully taken into account.

The European Union takes a stand against Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme. No more oil from Iran until the programme is dead!

Disgusting. I hate cruelty to animals.

I still think federalism and joint eurobonds is the way to go.

Not surprisingly, Swedish anti-Semite Lasse Wilhelmson likes the ongoing campaign for a ban on Jewish circumcision and echoes the lobbyists who take the opportunity to depict Jews as evil child molesters. In rubbish English, he vomits his hatred on his blog.

Read more about Wilhelmson’s anti-Semitism in Swedish here.

It has become horrifyingly clear that the role of defining the meaning of the term anti-Semitism belongs to anti-Semites. So true—I see this in many debates in many countries and Internet forums.

I’m watching Barack Obama addressing the American Congress, and I’m once again reminded of what an excellent speaker he is.

Update 1: The problem with Obama is that he loves government too much—and he seems very fond of protectionism, too.

Update 2: Many attacks on China, which seems to be the Big Satan to Obama.

Update 3: Obama says, “America is determined to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.” And he wants closer ties with Israel. I like it!

I few days ago I wrote about my decision to block the first non-spammer on Twitter. Then a reader sent me a link to this article by Diana Adams. Hm, well, perhaps it’s best to adopt a policy not to block obnoxious tweeters? I just have to ignore the idiots.

The Supreme Court has outlawed laws against gay sex, but Kansas doesn’t care.

The Israeli government should take notice of this new poll. The link between Jews in Israel and the Diaspora is vital for both parties. There is only one Jewish people.

Photo taken by me in front of the Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal yesterday morning. It’s art.

An Oklahoma lawmaker files a bill to ban the making and selling of food or products that use aborted human foetuses.

Wow!

The German government has released the findings of a two-year inquiry into modern anti-Semitism, demonstrating that latent anti-Semitism affects one in every five Germans.

The president of the European Jewish Congress says Sweden has become a centre of anti-Semitism.

Last night I went to the premiere of “Gunilla”, a monologue written by Miguel Àngel Fraga and played by Kim Rosenbäck. If you are in Malmö in the next three weeks, I recommend you’ll see it at MAF. It’s only about an hour long, but it lasts for hours. In short, the monologue is about a man who transforms himself into a woman while being interviewed about his life at a Cuban prison-like sanatorium, where the regime confines people with HIV. In the 1980s, Sweden and Cuba were the only two countries where people with HIV were imprisoned simply for being HIV-positive.

Atheists are known for flying aeroplanes into skyscrapers and killing innocent people in suicide attacks?

Politics at its best: a penguin defaecates at the Kentucky State Senate.

Gawker investigates.

Today we remember the Holocaust.

“An Israeli study on electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) for severely depressed or psychotic patients has apparently disproved the claim that the similar process of stunning animals before slaughter is humane and minimises their suffering,” Jerusalem Post reports.

Bengt Westerberg is becoming something of an international celebrity in the Jewish world.

People who give in to racism and homophobia may simply be dumb. Perhaps we should pity them instead of wasting time arguing with them?

Progress is in the air.

God is very in at the moment. In Israel, 80 per cent of the Jews believe that God exists.

Homophobes gather to discus how to convert gay people to heterosexuality. London’s many gay saunas will be full at night.

A growing number of people refuse to make the choice.

Someone needs to teach Iran about the free market. If someone doesn’t want to buy your goods, you can’t punish them by refusing to sell that very same goods to them.

Ron Paul uses the words “freedom” and “liberty” more than all the other candidates combined.

This week, I have been busy with jury service. I spend more and more time at the Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal, where I’m a part-time lay judge. I like it. It’s a job I can combine with my studies and general nerdiness for news, politics, arts, and debate.

A new application on my iPhone has also made a big change for me. It allows me to blog while on the move. It’s the reason for the increase in short entries, which I tend to prefer to long blog entries that take more time and more resemble articles I wish to publish elsewhere. I have realised that I love blogging more now that it’s an integrated part of my daily life. Whenever I have a few seconds to myself, I pick up my mobile, browse through the latest news, and post links to what I find interesting at that precise moment. I blog on the bus, during dinner, and when I’m on the—hmm, you don’t need to know that. Anyhow, it’s fun for me to write, and I think it makes my blog more readworthy.

It’s Friday evening, the sun is almost gone, and Shabbat is here. Shabbat shalom!

שבת שלום

This is American politics in the twenty-first century?

The International Council of Christians and Jews has made a statement on attempted ban on circumcision.

A woman in Stockholm was dragged for nearly ten metres under her own car after she managed run herself over.

Mitt Romney is being attacked by homophobic activist Michael Carl.

By the way, isn’t funny how bigoted hatred can be described as pro-family activism? Who are the anti-family activists? Apparently, it’s the people who want everyone to be able to marry and have a family. Wanting more families equates to being anti-family? Make sense, right? Not.

Reporters Without Borders has published its annual World Press Freedom Index. Finland is at top position.

Watch the full list here.

Twitter has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis. This is bad.

Two men shot in Malmö. I’m not scared to go out, but it doesn’t feel very safe here anymore.

The British government think so. (The article contains some interesting facts about the court.)

An ambitious project:

1. Introduction
2. Hermeneutics
3. Science
4. Scripture

More to come.

A British drug manufacturer is hoping for a big score from consumers for its marijuana mouth spray.

It could be the next big trend in the English language.

“I think the European elites are at fault here in two respects,” says Harvard University financial historian Niall Ferguson. “First, they were not honest at the outset that the plan [for monetary union] was to back into a federal union. The second thing they got wrong was that they haven’t fully explained why there needs to be a federal union. There has been a crisis of leadership.”

He is right. Be honest about European federalism. It is the way to go.

I like the conclusion:

Ferguson believes that Europe will eventually find the right path. The idea that Europeans’ cultural differences are a barrier to them forming a closer union is a myth, he says. What matters are institutions and the fact that a European identity is emerging in people’s customs and behavior.

I am a European.

Fascinating story about Mitt Romney’s family: “Romney’s militantly atheist father-in-law, was indeed posthumously converted to Mormonism by his family, despite the fact that when he was alive he regarded all religions as ‘hogwash’.”

By the way, the word hogwash should be used more often.

An amazing new picture of our planet from NASA.

(Photo credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring)

Norway deported 772 Jews to Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War.

“I don’t think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is,” the Archbishop of York says. He is right. Problem for him is that the same goes for his church. It should be up to every adult citizen to make whatever partnership contract they wish and label it “marriage” if thy want to. The state should only be involved when there is a legal conflict over what the contract stipulates.

I still haven’t recovered from John Locke’s death.

“A Cabarrus County lawmaker wants to bring back public hangings in North Carolina as a deterrent to crime, and he says doctors who perform abortions should be in the line to the gallows,” WRAL reports. Madness.

Brilliant! I’m a big fan already.

Read More

The Christian Science Monitor has the list.

“Threats and attempts to scare off both crime victims as well as witnesses of said crimes have become more common in Sweden,” The Local reports.

This is a huge problem. Criminals are getting away by threatening people.

“Two 15-minute tickles could be the future of male birth control,” Live Science reports. “New research on rats indicates that currently available ultrasound machinery could be used to kill off sperm-growing cells, technology that could render males infertile.”

Good news for straight barebackers.

I feel very optimistic when I read articles like this one about Tawakul Karman. The tyrants are losing the war. Good.

I thank God for heroes like Gareth Thomas.

Lenore Skenazy on religious sexism.

“We believe that people who seek, freely, to resolve unwanted same-sex attractions hold the moral right to receive professional assistance,” the former archbishop writes in a letter. “Whether motivated by Christian conscience or other values, clients, not practitioners, have the prerogative to choose the yardstick by which to define themselves.”

Yeah, and if you take a black man raised in a racist environment and offer him skin-bleach, it has absolutely nothing to do with legitimizing racism if the man says he wants to become white?

I hate these people. Gay teenagers are committing suicide all the time because of these homophobic therapists.

Blogger Saeed Malekpour has been found guilty of promoting pornographic sites.

I think we all do.

It’s not often I have anything nice to say about the United Nations and its boss, Ban Ki-Moon, but this is great.

“Twitter’s announcement that it will be able to censor tweets on a country-by-country basis has prompted concern for gay communities in hostile countries,” Pink News reports.

“White People Solve Racism”, and Meryl Streep in “Total Bitch”.

Or, to be more precise, he blames “the virus of homosexuality and gay marriage” for the attacks.

His name is Patrick Wooden, and he’s very anal.

Three studies have shown that male circumcision is one of the best ways to combat AIDS. The biggest problem now is the shortage of doctors in Africa, which has prompted the development of devices that do the work.

“To say now, ‘I don’t use Facebook’ is like saying then, ‘I don’t use the telephone, I only do business in person’.”

The Left party’s proposal is to allow Germans to open exclusive cannabis clubs, where members will be able to grow marijuana plants. Good.

It’s OK for His Majesty to insult gay people, but damn those gays if they dare criticizing His Royal Pompousness.