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Earlier this month, two fan conventions came to London: Nine Worlds and the World Science Fiction Convention, commonly know as Worldcon. Worldcon is in its 72nd year, a huge old dinosaur (or perhaps an aging dragon) of science-fiction fandom. This year more than 10,000 people paid for memberships, which included entrance to the annual Hugo Awards. The official guests of honor were revered science-fiction and fantasy authors, editors, and illustrators, all of whom were in their 60s and 70s. Nine Worlds was smaller, younger, and catered to a more varied crowd including comics, TV, and fanfic followers. But since both...

The Islamic State and the other advocates of sharia law are growing rapidly, along with their zeal to eradicate or convert all “infidels.” For those who are asleep at the wheel, in the opinion of these fanatics, most of Western civilization — including America — fits into the infidel category. I normally encourage conversation and compromise where possible, but how does one negotiate or compromise with someone who desires your elimination? Maybe if you meet some of their demands, they will only dismember you or kill you more slowly. Obviously, the expansion of groups such as the Islamic State represents...

The New York Times is under fire for its profile of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by police in Ferguson, Missouri, on 9 August. The article, which was published on Sunday, the day before Mr Brown's funeral, paints an intimate portrait of his life. It also reveals some of the personal struggles he faced in the days leading up to his death. "Michael Brown, 18, due to be buried on Monday, was no angel, with public records and interviews with friends and family revealing both problems and promise in his young life," writes John...

ESPN has a nasty habit of suspending people who they hire to share opinions. Stephen A. Smith was recently suspended for daring to suggest a woman shouldn’t antagonize her violent husband. You would think this is common sense. If a woman knows her man is violent and knows what will trigger him, it’s probably not a good idea to antagonize him. That doesn’t let husband off the hook of course and Smith so much as said so. Max Kellerman admitted on the air he hit his girlfriend years ago (it was in context of the NFL’s Ray Rice suspension, which...

When Ideology Trumps Science: Neil deGrasse Tyson and Cosmos on Global Warming Jay W. Richards August 6, 2014 1:15 PM | Permalink I finally had a chance to watch the twelfth, penultimate episode of Cosmos, "The World Set Free." I was out of the country in June when it originally aired, but since there's no doubt the series is headed into the schools and remains relevant, I'll take this opportunity to comment. The episode stands out from most previous installments. Just when we've grown accustomed to circuitous narrative threads with obscure segues from one topic to the next, we get...

A star high school athlete in rural Marshalltown, Iowa has been suspended for three football games this fall because he posted a social media image of himself enthusiastically festooned from head to toe in white clothing during school spirit week. In the photo, he made the letter “W” with his hands — which in this case stands for white. “The actual school chose the colors that each grade would be wearing,” Cathy Van Staalduine explained. “Juniors wore white. So Blair, of course, being active in the school, dressed from head to toe in white.” She noted emphatically that the “W”...

•Men who have sex with other men have been banned from donating blood by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since 1977. •According to the CDC, gay and bisexual men accounted for 63 percent of new HIV infections in 2010. Universities across the country are hosting a National Gay Blood Drive today to encourage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to change its current policies which prevent gay men from donating blood. According to the FDA’s website, men who have sex with other men (MSM) have an increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and other types of infections that can...

Graham Nash feels optimistic that young people will once again change America for the better. So while he’s frustrated by political ideals surrounding issues like global warming and marriage equality, he realizes that “those powers against progress” will naturally run their course. “They will all die at one point and the children will take over,” Nash said. Then he added: “Do you know anybody under 25 that gives a damn whether you marry a man if you’re a man or if you marry a woman if you’re a woman? No.” …

Earlier this month, the story of a little girl’s experience at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) went viral. According to reports, three-year Victoria Welcher, who had been disfigured in a pit-bull attack, was kicked out of a Mississippi KFC restaurant because her face was making the other diners uncomfortable. Victoria’s family posted a photo of the child on Facebook with the caption, “Does this face look scary to you? Last week at KFC in Jackson MS this precious face was asked to leave because her face scared the other diners. I personally will never step foot in another...

Why the Redskins Trademark Ruling Should Terrify You Article Subtitle: Anyone deemed politically incorrect is now outside the protection of the law. Like most people, I haven’t been all that interested in the controversy over whether the name of the Washington Redskins is offensive. Personally, I’m more offended that Washington, DC, has become the kind of megalopolis that can support an NFL team. If I had my way, it would go back to being a humid, swampy backwater with impassable mud roads. Pierre L’Enfant has much to answer for. But I think everyone should be terrified by the new ruling...

Here is a transcript of the trans-Atlantic telephone conversation that would have taken place between General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, and President Barack Obama on the eve of the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944. Friday is the 70th anniversary of the landing. President Obama: General, are you sure we are doing the right thing by going ahead with this invasion? Ike: It's too late to turn back now. Obama: I should have flown to Berchtesgaden and talked with Mr. Hitler. Or at least called. Ike: He won't take your calls. Obama: OK, Ike. But...

Is there anything more intolerant than the Tolerance Brigade? At the Daily Beast, Joel Kotkin agrees with Bloomberg’s Stephen Carter on the rise of a new McCarthyism, this time imposing penalties for dissent from progressive orthodoxy rather than tolerating debate on a broad range of issues. Both use attempts to silence argument in academia as the flash point that exposes this thought-police mentality. Carter recently wrote about the attempts to intimidate Douglas Laycock, an opponent of same-sex marriage, and explicitly invokes McCarthyism as the dynamic in play: A law student and a recent graduate, spurred on by the advocacy group...

There comes a point where the Left’s calumnizing of conservatives, its endless quest to delegitimize ordinary words, and its determination to criminalize religious expression all combine to make me want to offend as many leftists as I can, in response, just for fun. But not only for fun: Deliberately choosing to offend them, and thus trying to shred their ideological straitjackets, is occasionally a necessary endeavor. We on the right must show that we need not cower; we can and must fight back. In that spirit: To 50-year-old men, 20-year-old females are indeed “girls.” Not women. Get over it. If...

Students at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota cancelled a “Hump Day” party last week featuring a live camel following complaints that the event could be viewed as offensive to Middle Eastern cultures. The campus’ Residence Hall Association nixed its own event after several students began organizing a protest on Facebook. The protest had received more than 100 RSVPs before it was deleted Wednesday, according to aThursday report in Campus Reform. The episode has since triggered a social-media backlash against campus political correctness, with critics expressing incredulity over the idea that a camel is somehow culturally insensitive or racist....

An Australian woman is fighting to get rid of compulsory bicycle helmet laws because she deems them to be "sexist." Sue Abbott of New South Wales believes that people should have the option of whether to wear bicycle helmets because forcing women to use helmets is "sexist." "It is a very sexist law because a lot of women have maintained hairstyles and would end up with helmet hair," Ms. Abbott explains. "And women have told me that’s one of the factors (for not riding bikes)." Specifically, Abbott is campaigning to make helmets optional instead of mandatory. She believes those who...

The number of careers and professions available to practicing Christians is shrinking by the day. You can add a career in public health to that list. Dr. Brendan Bain, one of the leading AIDS experts in the Caribbean, has been unceremoniously cashiered from his post for having the temerity to tell the truth about the cause of AIDS. A long-time and highly respected professor at the University of West Indies until his retirement in 2012, Dr. Bain was praised by all as a "pioneer” in the effort to combat HIV/AIDS, which is at epidemic proportions in Caribbean nations. Since his...

The Washington Redskins responded Saturday to Senate Democrats saying the nickname is a racial slur and must be changed, saying it is “respectful” to Native Americans and suggesting the lawmakers don’t have all of the facts. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, team President Bruce Allen wrote: “Our use of ‘Redskins’ as the name of our football team for more than 80 years has always been respectful of and shown reverence toward the proud legacy and traditions of Native Americans.” […] The three-page letter—titled “The Truth about the Redskins’ Name and Logo”—references research that “the term ‘Redskins’...

Look at this disgusting garbage! Know why I won't contribute to "my" or any college? See here. In my e-mail today. The main page, so you can see the context.... https://www.launch.umd.edu/ ...and the specific nugget in detail... https://www.launch.umd.edu/project/533c322d0920657409de13be

almost 50 self-described "Patriots" held tall U.S flags in front of a high school still at the center of a public debate over free speech and cultural pride. (barf)

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – News reports of frosted pop tart guns! Paper guns! Bubble guns! Pointed finger guns! Bang, bang, you’re dead! OMG! sound the alarm These days, everything’s a federal offense, so to speak, and no institution is ratcheting up the war-of-words like public education. This winter, public school administrators in Thousand Oaks, CA attended a “safe school” and “threat assessment” workshop, a collaboration of the local Ventura County Department of Education and the Ventura County Sheriffs where the education code was redefined to include a 21st Century list of words, phrases and expressions that can hurt. Literally. Yes,...