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The Trump Presidency on Palestinian rights

President Donald Trump being sworn in on January 20, 2017 at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C

The Trump Presidency has started and barring any intervening acts, will last for either 4 or 8 years.

Now most people on social media are hyperventilating with either deep despaire or deep hope. Both are probably mistaken about their fears and hoples, but some of the things they fear /hope will happen.

While there is much debate about the impact of the Trump presidency on many things, there is less debate about its impact on the rights of Palestinians – where it will likely be a bigger catastrophe than previous American involvement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli right wing already considered it a major win when Trump won the US presidential elections.

BBC's "Read Housewives of ISIS" comedy sketch

Everyone seen this? Its an online comedy sketch by the BBC:

">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKL9b5-DL4A]

A lot of people have been offended by this. Some due tothe portrayals, some on using tragedy for comedy, others suggest it belittles the lives of people in the region and consider it as a form of continued mental colonialism.

There is even a change.org petition to get this banned (ever known a petition to actually matter?).

I thought it was audacious and funny.

Is ASDA milk Halaal or Haraam? (and the dangers of Gossip)

Glass of milk with cookies & candles

A few weeks ago I got shown a message which suggested that ASDA added animal based preservatives to its milk which would render it unsuitable for Muslims.

At first I considered it a hoax and then I promptly forgot about it as the local shop is way more convenient to getting milk.

Until today.

So I did a quick google of it all and came across . Conclusion: it is Halal.

There would be greater outrage if Israel carried out 1% of death and destruction by Syrian forces

Syrian Flag

What is happening in Aleppo (and Syria in general) is truly shocking. Yet most Muslims do not seem to be as outraged as when Israel attacks the Palestinians or even Lebanon.

A lot of leftists you can ignore because they are more defined by their awe of Russia and anti American sentiment more than by justice or humanity.

But even Muslims are the same. I have even come across sentiment suggesting “aah well, atleast it is Muslims killing Muslims” as if that is some sort of excuse and makes it less bad.

That makes it worse – people who are meant to have the highest humanity and morality carrying out such despicable acts.

The fall of Aleppo

As we speak the final opposition held areas of Eastern Aleppo are falling in the face of a massive onslaught of Russian air power, Syrian armed forces and their alliwed Lebanese and Iraqi shia militias.

Even before the final onslaught there were many reports that from civilians that had fled Aleppo, the men had been stripped out and disapeared. No doubt many of these will have been tortured and many murdered.

Is celebrating Christmas Blasphemy?

Is celebrating Christmas Blasphemy?

Blasphemy

noun: blasphemy; plural noun: blasphemies

The action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk.

"he was detained on charges of blasphemy"

Synonyms: profanity, profaneness, sacrilege, irreligiousness, irreverence, taking the Lord's name in vain, swearing, curse, cursing, impiety, impiousness, ungodliness, unholiness, desecration, disrespect; formalimprecation; archaicexecration

"he was condemned for his blasphemy"

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Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime: A sensible android phone with a long battery life

I have been looking for an upgrade for my mum for a few months now and a few weeks ago I finally purchased the Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime. (in most of the contents below, the 3s and the 3s Prime are used interchangeably – the only difference between the models is that the prime model also has a finger print reader.).

The Xiaomi Redmi 3 series of phones (I will explain the wording better later) have 5 inch displays, come in 2GB RAM/16GB storage or 3GB RAM/32GB Storage variants and more or less identical design, 720p IPS displays, 13 mega pixel camera and the later models also come with fingerprint readers. They use the MIUI variant of android. My phone came with MIUI 8 pre installed.

Teaching assistant sacked after objecting to showing graphic 9/11 footage to students taking school to tribunal

Have you heard about the one where a (Muslim) teaching assistant was sacked after raising an objection toshowing special needs students a video from youtube of people jumping from buildings on 9/11 - a video which was labeled as for adults only by Youtube’s filters?

I am not sure though whether it is a good idea for her to reject the settlement as UK law is often something that uses money to settle disagreements.

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