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Jack Merritt, my classmate at Cambridge and a program participant, recited a poem he’d written on forgiveness and rehabilitation. I remember feeling surprised by his words, so unselfconsciously earnest. I’d known him mostly for his dry wit, his boyishly good looks and his reputation as a criminology class clown. Jack was stabbed to death during a terrorist attack near London Bridge on Friday. The attacker, Usman Khan, had been convicted of terrorism offenses in 2012. He was released from prison last year. Just before the attack, Jack was in Fishmongers’ Hall, a building adjacent to the bridge, helping to lead...

In the wake of a horrific tragedy, once again our President is politicizing events. He cannot call islamic terrorism "islamic terrorism", and then there's this: Obama's full remarks on Orlando nightclub shootingThe place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub — it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights. Unreal. The place where they were attacked is a place to advocate for their civil rights. Hey, he said it. The link is the full transcript. I'm seeing shades of...

...Supermarket chain says decision to remove the design followed tweets 'by a limited number of concerned customers' Aldi has removed T-shirts from its Australia Day range after the supermarket chain was accused of racism. Aldi advertised shirts which said “Australia Est 1788” to go on sale as part of its Australia Day range. The shirts drew criticism on Twitter where the supermarket was accused of racism for seeming to say Australia was only established after it was colonised in 1788, despite the existence of an Indigenous population before then. In a statement Aldi Australia said it had decided to remove...

The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter has halted a program to promote the adoption of black cats and dogs the week of June 14-20 after criticism that the event would have taken place the week of Juneteenth, Director Cheryl Schneider said today. “We apologize if our promotion to reduce fees on black dogs and cats offended anyone,” Schneider said in a statement. The shelter, which is located in Georgetown, had planned to reduce adoption fees for black-coated animals to $25 through its “Black is Beautiful” promotion. The normal fee for adoption is $85, Williamson County spokeswoman Connie Watson said. “Based...

And don't call al-Qaida a movement. The Bush administration has launched a new front in the war on terrorism, this time targeting language. Federal agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter Terrorism Center, are telling their people not to describe Islamic extremists as "jihadists" or "mujahedeen," according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Lingo like "Islamo-fascism" is out, too.

Teachers college violated rights of Iranian applicant: court CBC News Last Updated: Friday, January 12, 2007 | 1:50 PM ET The Ontario College of Teachers must find a way to determine whether an Iranian-born woman is qualified to teach in the province without having original documents to prove her credentials, a court ruled Thursday in Toronto. The Ontario Superior Court said the college discriminated against Fatima Siadit when it insisted that she provide original documents to back her qualifications. Siadit now runs a daycare in Ottawa. The ruling says the college must hold another hearing into her application without...

I am the father of the young man who did not stand for the singing of the Mexican national anthem during a cultural awareness program at Larkin High School. I have been constantly asked to explain the details of the event, and it is in response to these individuals that I offer the following facts. Some of the students, my son included, were compelled to attend this assembly. The Mexican national anthem was printed on fliers and handed out to the attending students. The Mexican flag was marched in and placed on a podium by itself. The attendees were then...

Alou won't accept radio host's apologyAssociated Press SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants manager Felipe Alou called a one-week suspension given to a radio host for making racial remarks about the team's Latino players "a slap on the hand" and said he wouldn't accept an apology from Larry Krueger. "He came to apologize to me? You have to be kidding me," Alou said Saturday, one day after the suspension. "There's no way to apologize for such a sin." Alou said he wasn't in position to accept an apology on behalf of the "hundreds of millions" of people offended earlier this week when...

Seven people have been threatened or attacked by deer on Southern Illinois University's main campus over the past two weeks, prompting the school to post warnings about the animal aggressiveness A deer also attacked a person Monday, and two of three people injured by a doe June 7 required hospital care, Sigler said. Campus officials have not seriously considered suggestions of killing the offending deer, "I don't want to be a statistic, I guess," said [Bill] House, a 20-year-old zoology student from Park Ridge. Molly Hacker, a 25-year-old plant biology student, said she would continue using the forest paths but...

After reading Marcy Newman’s article "Symbols of Racism" (1/13/05) in The Arbiter, I had to wonder if Boise State is an institution of higher learning or just another of those campuses specializing in a type of politically correct indoctrination. In her article where she mentioned "what the Confederate flag really means," Newman told of a student who, according to her description, violated her space by wearing a jacket displaying the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) battle flag. She rambled on with her interpretation of what the Georgia legislature had in mind when it adopted the ANV battle flag into its...

Mentioning Jesus verboten at ABC? On Tuesday’s The View, Joy Behar recalled how on a show the week before, she had exclaimed about her diet plan coming to an end: "Yes, and thank you, thank you, Jesus, is all I have to say! Goodbye to that damn scale and this whole diet. I'm sick of it!" But for the West Coast feed of that show, ABC bleeped out the name “Jesus.” Though it was created by and on some days features Barbara Walters, The View is not an ABC News program but one produced by ABC’s entertainment division. The day...