Monday, July 15, 2019


Bizarre: £10k for Ulster civil servant offended by royal portraits

The Northern Ireland Office paid a senior civil servant £10,000 in compensation because he was offended at having to walk past portraits of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, it has been claimed.

Lord Maginnis told the House of Lords the NIO made the “scandalous” payment in an apparent effort to salve the official’s “hurt feelings and distress”, and later promoted him.

It was not possible to independently verify the claim. In a brief statement the NIO declined to confirm or challenge its accuracy. “The government takes its obligations under fair employment legislation very seriously. We will not comment on individual personnel matters,” it said.

Maginnis, a former Ulster Unionist party MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, told the Lords on Wednesday night the official was Lee Hegarty, who serves on the Parades Commission, a body that has angered unionists by banning and redirecting marches.

“This individual, who had worked in the NIO for between 15 and 20 years, claimed that under human rights legislation it was unfair to him to have to work where he was offended by portraits,” said the peer, in a speech first reported by the Belfast News Letter.

The portraits were removed and Hegarty was consulted on what should replace them, said the peer. “He suggested that the portraits of Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh should be replaced with photographs of, at best, the Queen meeting people during engagements in Northern Ireland.”

One replacement featured the Queen shaking hands in Belfast with Martin McGuinness, the late Sinn Féin deputy first minister, said Maginnis.

“I do not mind that; what I mind is that the case brought by the complainant was settled secretly and that the sum of £10,000 was handed over, presumably for hurt feelings and distress.”

Theresa Villiers, who served as Northern Ireland secretary of state from 2012-16, signed off the settlement on the recommendation of her permanent secretary, Jonathan Stephens, said Maginnis.

He contrasted the alleged payment with the delay in compensating victims of historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland who have been “shamefully left out in the cold when it comes to their justifiable claims for compensation”.

Maginnis called it a scandalous indictment of the NIO and the Conservative government. He urged the NIO to restore the original portraits and to expedite payments to victims of institutional abuse.

If verified, the peer’s allegation will put scrutiny on the Parades Commission, which regulates marches, at the height of the loyalist marching season. Hegarty currently serves as the commission’s secretary and accounting officer.

SOURCE 





'I won't let trans militants drown me out':  Sharron Davies  she defies her online hate mob to continue her campaign against male-born athletes muscling in on women's sport

Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies has had a lesbian living over her garage, has two grown-up mixed race children from her former marriage to British sprint champion Derek Redmond, gay friends, transgender friends and... well, let's just say she's raised her blended family (she also has a 12‑year-old son, Finley) to be a thoughtful, open-minded bunch.

'I'm really proud I brought up my kids to think of other people and not judge anyone. That's what hurts me most about being called these names. All my life . . .'

For a moment, tears threaten. Sharron, 56, pauses to collect herself. She's not going to let those tears fall. Absolutely not.

A steely resolution flashes in her eyes: 'I refuse to allow these activists to get to me,' she says.

'These activists' are part of the transgender community who have hurled all sorts of truly vile names at her this week from 'gay-trans hater' to 'bitch'. She even stands accused of advocating incest and rape.

The reason? Sharron posted a tweet five days ago which read: 'If you put 2 biological females on an island humanity dies out (but they'd talk loads) if you put a biological male & a trans woman on an island humanity dies out.

'But if you put a male & a female there we might stand a chance! Providing they can fish of course. Binary Sex matters.'

She followed with a second tweet: 'And we haven't killed all the fish with plastic first!!!'

Sharron is a passionate environmentalist who cares deeply about the sort of planet we leave our children.

She is also a campaigner for equality in sport, which is where she has found herself at odds with 'these activists'.

She's found, to her enormous cost, that even the most innocent rattle of this particular Twitter cage can invoke a terrifying response.

For her tweet was not a random attack upon the transgender community but part of an on-going debate among some of the sporting world's most prolific athletes who question the 'fairness' of trans women competing on the track, field and in the pool with biological women.

Sharron's outspokenness comes three years after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed guidelines which stated trans women had to have a medical diagnosis, had to have undergone sex reassignment surgery and had to have lived as a woman for several years if they wished to compete in women's sport.

Now trans women are eligible for female competitions if they self-identify for a year and reduce their testosterone levels to ten nanomoles per litre of blood [nmol/l].

A healthy range in biological men is 9.2 to 31.8 nmol/l and in females ten times lower, between 0.3 and 2.5 nmol/l.

While she has every sympathy for the torment suffered by trans people, that, says Sharron, is simply unfair. 'The potential for abuse is massive,' she adds.

Testosterone is the hormone which controls bone and muscle mass, fat distribution, and strength. It's what makes men stronger, bigger, faster, and is why there are separate male and female events.

SOURCE  






Standing With Israel
    
Thousands of pro-Israel activists are here in Washington, DC, for the 14th annual Christians United For Israel Washington Summit.

As you may know, Christians United For Israel was founded by Pastor John Hagee, who announced yesterday that CUFI now has 7 million members! As Pastor Hagee explained, “We stand with Israel because Israel is not a political issue. Israel is a Bible issue.”

Yesterday, attendees heard from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister thanked Pastor Hagee for his enduring support of the Jewish state, and he also thanked President Trump for all he has done for Israel. Netanyahu said:

A simple truth is clear: Israel has no better ally than the United States and I believe the United States has no better ally than Israel.

Vice President Mike Pence also addressed the summit. Like Prime Minister Netanyahu, Vice President Pence praised the hard work and dedication of Pastor Hagee and the millions of CUFI supporters. Pence also gave a shout-out to yours truly and my efforts as director of CUFI’s Washington office.

Pence warned Iran not to mistake American restraint for a lack of resolve. He vowed that President Trump would never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, and he also promised that there would be “no more pallets of cash to the mullahs of Iran!”

The vice president concluded his remarks by explaining why America has always stood with Israel, saying:

We stand with Israel because her cause is our cause, her values are our values, and her fight is our fight. We stand with Israel because we believe in right over wrong, in good over evil, in liberty over tyranny. And we stand with Israel because we cherish that ancient promise … that those who bless her will be blessed.

SOURCE 






Australia: Pauline Hanson worried Muslim extremists could exploit religious freedom laws

Pauline Hanson has predicted new laws banning religious discrimination could be exploited by Muslim extremists to justify child brides, female genital mutilation and polygamy.

The One Nation leader has voiced her fears as Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government plans to introduce legislation making it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their religious beliefs.

'I am concerned that such a bill could be used by radical Islamic extremists as a shield to protect the worst aspects of their political ideology,' the Queensland senator told her 278,000 Facebook followers on Tuesday night.

'By forcing this through without scrutiny the government may be creating a pathway for extremists to practice polygamy, genital mutilation, or even under-aged marriage and this cannot be allowed to happen.

'We must always be on guard for the unintended consequences of good intentions.'

The Coalition last year flagged a new Religious Discrimination Act, following a review into faith freedom by former attorney-general Philip Ruddock.

Plans for a new Religious Freedom Commissioner were announced in December, five months before Rugby Australia sacked star Wallabies player Israel Folau for tweeting that 'drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters' needed to repent or face hell. 

Section 116 of the Constitution already bans the federal government from 'imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion'.

It also says there shall be 'no religious test' to hold a Commonwealth position. That aspect of the Constitution, however, doesn't cover private sector employment.

Senator Hanson accused the government of failing to properly explain the details of its proposed legislation. 'Many people, including myself, are concerned about the rights of Australians who practice a legitimate religious faith,' she said. 'But what do we do when a belief clashes with the laws and customs of our land?

'The government wants to force a bill through parliament they say is aimed at protecting religious freedom but have failed to give any details of the bill.'

The Labor Opposition is expected to back the government's religious discrimination legislation, after suffering at the May election strong swings against it across south-west Sydney, where a swathe of electorates voted against gay marriage in a 2017 postal vote survey.

Government MPs from the Liberal Party's right faction are reportedly pushing to strengthen religious discrimination laws.

Existing laws already allow religious schools to sack homosexual teachers for leading lifestyles that contravened church teaching.

Attorney-General Christian Porter last week held a workshop for Coalition MPs to explain the bill, with more sessions to follow for other backbenchers.

The draft laws are likely to come under scrutiny from a parliamentary committee, making it unlikely religious freedom protections will pass the Parliament until at least late this year.

Senate Hanson is opposed to Muslim immigration and in August 2017 wore a burqa into the Senate to demonstrate her case for banning full facial coverings in public.

SOURCE  

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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