10 Celebrities You Probably Didn't Know Were Refugees

I'd also add Sergei Brin, the Google co-founder; Madeleine Albright, the first US Secretary of State; Nicola Tesla, the genius inventor who contributed so much to the development of modern technology; Joseph Pullitzer - no need of introduction; Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood superstar ( Read more... )

Miss Iceland has quit an international beauty pageant after she was told she had too much fat and broad shoulders. Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir published a hand-written farewell note on her Instagram profile, where she explained why she was withdrawing from the Miss Grand International pageant in Vegas:

Since the pageant is international, the organisers have ( Read more... )

"Let's be blunt about it. If you support the burkini ban, you're not a feminist or a secularist, you're a misogynistic bigot."OK, I admit I got grumpy putting this article together, but seriously I got tired pretty fast with people trying to tell me that Muslim women don't get to choose even in liberal democracies what clothing they wear, or if ( Read more... )

It's worth bringing up a dirty little politically incorrect secret here.

( Where and when it all began )

What's a burqa, and does it have a place in our place? That's the question that a number of European societies have been pondering about for some time. In Germany for example, some province ministers of the interior have decided to ban the controversial headgear as part of the measures to counter Islamic radicalization. Other countries already have ( Read more... )

The easier (lazier?) answer could be that there simply hasn't been a single female presidential candidate offered by either of the two main parties. Two women have, however, won nominations for VP candidates: Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin. In other words, few if any qualified women have campaigned for the job. On the other hand...

"When men ( Read more... )

How is this democracy?

North Carolina legislature researched black voting practices to suppress turn out

Good thing this law was struck down. It was so obviously racially discriminatory that it had the word "watermelon" written all over it. The worst thing? Not only did the North Carolina GOP "kinda" know the law, in that form, would specifically ( Read more... )

Interesting suggestion, this one. Why Ted Cruz Should Drop Everything And Watch ‘Zootopia’ Immediately -- The #1 movie in the country could teach him a lot about the problem with racial profiling.

First of all, I did love the movie, for the record. A very smart one, it was. It is one of the few truly fantastic films I have watched lately. Full of ( Read more... )

"The Constitution of Turkey establishes the Republic of Turkey as a secular state and provides for freedom of conscience, religious belief, and conviction, as well as freedom of expression and dissemination of thought".

Does freedom from religion count too, I wonder? Um, guess not:

In a nutshell: "Atheists are animals".

That's nice, you know. ( Read more... )

I came across this short story around our local blogosphere here, and though it isn't my creation, I've taken the task of translating it into English, and I would be grateful if the mods allow my version to be posted here, as I think it helps illustrate a point - even if it sounds a bit silly and hyperbolical. So here it is.

( The short story )