In the wake of racial slurs scrawled on Air Force Academy prep school message boards, the superintendent of the academy stood all 4,000 cadets at attention and delivered a blistering speech on tolerance, telling them to record his words on smartphones so they won't forget them: "If you demean someone in any way, you need to get out."
Doug Stanglin, USA TODAYPublished 9:20 a.m. ET Sept. 29, 2017 | Updated 10:43 a.m. ET Sept. 29, 2017
Sporting three stars on his green camouflage uniform, Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria repeatedly leaned forward at the lectern to deliver his message Thursday: "You should be outraged."
The cadets, chins in and chests out, were flanked in cavernous Mitchell Hall by 1,500 officers, sergeants, athletic coaches and civilian professors, The Gazette reports.
As Silveria delivered the stern, five-minute lecture, investigators interviewed cadet candidates at the prep school to determine who wrote "Go Home" followed by an epithet on message boards outside the rooms of five black students.
The Colorado Springs-area prep school, whose student body traditionally includes more than 50% recruited athletes, gives cadet candidates a year of rigorous tutoring to help them meet the academy's strict academic standards.
"Security Forces are looking into the matter," Lt. Col. Allen Herritage said in an email without elaboration, The Gazette reported.
In his remarks, Silveria referenced current race issues across the country, including the NFL protests.
He also noted a recent forum the dean of faculty hosted for cadets to discuss the white supremacist incidents that accompanied an August "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va.
“We received outstanding feedback from that session." he said.
The Gazette noted that in the military the use of racial slurs can lead to a court-martial and charges of conduct unbecoming an officer.
Silveria, who took command of the academy in August, said he thinks dealing with the racial slurs in public is important.
"I wanted to make it clear, this is not something I am keeping from anyone," he told The Gazette." He said ensuring a climate of "dignity and respect" is a "red line" that can't be crossed without severe repercussions.
In his speech, Silveria said discussions about race are important.
"We should have a civil discourse, that's a better idea," he said.
U.S. Air Force Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria delivered a powerful message after racial slurs were scrawled outside the dorm rooms of five black students at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School. USA TODAY
BANGI: Teachers are allowed to cane students but only if the school head gives the go-ahead.
Friday, 29 Sep 2017
Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said school heads are allowed to delegate caning to a teacher if the need arises.
“However, caning cannot be done in public and must be done according to stipulated procedures,” he said after officiating the closing ceremony for the national level Excellent Cluster Schools Convention 2017.
He was commenting on a Malay daily’s report on Wednesday that the Education Ministry was studying whether to let teachers use the cane.
According to the daily, Mahdzir said the move, if adopted, would help curb social ills in schools. He said some quarters were against caning, but whether counselling alone was effective in dealing with disciplinary problems is questionable.
The ministry, he said, would update and make its existing guidelines more holistic.
Based on a 2003 circular, Mahdzir clarified that school heads, at their discretion, can appoint other teachers to cane students. However, he added, the strict caning guidelines must be followed.
These include no public caning, girls cannot be caned and only a light strike on either the hand or covered buttocks.
The caning must also be documented, according to the circular.
National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan said allowing teachers to cane students reduces disciplinary issues, misdemeanour and criminal offences.
Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie) chairman Mak Chee Kin, however, doesn’t think caning is necessary if the teachers and school heads are good.
He said a weak teacher would have a harder time controlling the class and handling students.
“Some schools have minimal disciplinary problems, while it’s rampant in others. So it boils down to management,” he said.
KOTA BARU: Kelantan says its move to serve notice on seven men for wearing shorts is “to educate the public on modesty in accordance with Islamic teachings”.
Friday, 29 Sep 2017
Mohd Fadzuli Mohd Zain, the state Islamic Affairs Department chief assistant director (enforcement), said netizens should stop branding the state religious authority as Taliban for reminding men not to wear shorts in public places.
“Some people are probably over-reacting and enforcement on men for exposing aurat is rare,” he said.
Mohd Fadzuli said this when asked to comment on the notice served on 30-year-old general worker Wan Khairul Hayyee Wali for wearing shorts recently. He has been wearing shorts to play futsal for many years.
“We are educating the community step by step. We rarely take the cases to court,” Mohd Fadzuli said, adding that only two cases were taken to the Syariah Court in recent years – in 2013 and in 2015.
“Those cases involved females dancing dangdut in public wearing tight-fitting outfits,” he said.
KANGAR: Another launderette serving only Muslims has been found to be operating in Perlis – just as the Sultan of Johor and the Government have sent out a message that such segregation must not happen in Malaysia.
Friday, 29 Sep 2017
Not for all: The green sign on the left inside the launderette in Kangar, Perlis, states that it is for Muslims only.
The self-service outlet in Jalan Kampung Bakau here has a sign that says: “This laundry is dedicated for Muslim use only”.
The main signboard stated the shop practises “Islamic laundry concept.”
A call made to the handphone number listed at the shop was answered by a man claiming to be the owner. He said he opened the laundry to serve only Muslims.
Asked why, the man said it was done for the “comfort” of the Muslim customers. He urged non-Muslims to use other launderettes and stressed the matter should not be turned into a controversy.
Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin, one of the vocal critics against the “Muslim-only” launderette in Muar, was not having any of that. He came down hard on the shop, making it clear that the state would not agree to any approach which segregated the people.
“I have received an instruction from Tuanku (the Raja Muda of Perlis) to investigate the matter and we will do it right away,” he said in a WhatsApp message.
On Wednesday, the controversial self-service launderette in Taman Seri Cempaka in Muar abandoned its Muslim-only policy and opened its business to all.
After a dressing down by the Sultan of Johor on Tuesday, the owner apologised for his action in putting up a signage at his outlet saying that it was for Muslim customers only.
Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar ordered the launderette in Muar to immediately stop its discriminatory practice or risk being shut down.
“I cannot accept this nonsense. This is Johor, which belongs to Bangsa Johor and it belongs to all races and faiths. This is a progressive, modern and moderate state.
“This is not a Taliban state and as the Head of Islam in Johor, I find this action to be totally unacceptable as this is extremist in nature,” His Majesty had said.
The Muar launderette owner, who refused to be named, said he had obeyed Sultan Ibrahim’s decree.
“I regret the issue and I will obey His Majesty’s command,” said the owner, adding that he took down the sign on Wednesday morning.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even without delivering on his biggest campaign promises, President Donald Trump has begun to reshape American life in ways big and small.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 / 10:53 PM
Over his first nine months, Trump has used an aggressive series of regulatory rollbacks, executive orders and changes in enforcement guidelines to rewrite the rules for industries from energy to airlines, and on issues from campus sexual assault to anti-discrimination protections for transgender students.
While his administration has been chaotic, and his decision-making impulsive and sometimes whimsical, Trump has made changes that could have far-reaching and lingering consequences for society and the economy. Some have grabbed headlines but many, no less consequential, have gone largely unnoticed amid the daily controversies and Twitter insults that have marked Trump's early months in office.
Under Trump, oil is flowing through the Dakota Access Pipeline. Arrests of immigrants living illegally in the United States are up. More federal lands are open for coal mining.
The administration has left its mark in smaller ways, as well. Trump has rolled back or delayed Obama-era rules and regulations that protected retirement savings from unscrupulous financial advisers, made it harder for companies that violated labor laws to land federal contracts and restricted what internet service providers could do with their customers’ personal data.
Those kinds of low-profile policy shifts are far from the dramatic change promised by the headline-loving Trump, who won the White House with a vow to fundamentally reshape Washington. But the effects can be just as real.
“Trump is doing an awful lot to shape policy and blow up policy,” said Norm Ornstein, a political analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Stymied by his failure to win congressional approval for his big-ticket promises like a repeal of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform, known as Obamacare, and a border wall with Mexico, Trump has turned to administrative action.
He has rolled back hundreds of rules and regulations, signed 47 executive orders and used a previously obscure legislative tool, the Congressional Review Act, 14 times to undo regulations passed in the final months of Obama’s presidency. The law had only been used once before, 16 years ago.
‘REGULATORY ROLLBACK’
The Trump administration has withdrawn or delayed more than 800 Obama-era regulatory actions in its first six months. Proposals for new rules, including those to delay or rescind existing rules, dropped 32 percent from the same period in 2016 under Obama, and are down from similar six-month periods under presidents George W. Bush, a Republican, and Bill Clinton, a Democrat, according to the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute.
At the same time, Trump has limited new federal regulations by requiring agencies to cut two rules for every new one they create. He has asked each agency to name a regulatory reform officer to take aim at unneeded rules.
“By far, this is the most significant regulatory rollback since Ronald Reagan,” said Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “The Trump mode so far is to regulate bureaucrats rather than the public.”
Many business leaders have applauded the moves, aimed at fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise to end policies he says are strangling the economy. But critics say his reductions in environmental and worker protections put corporate profits before public health and safety - in direct contradiction to the populist campaign rhetoric that helped Trump win blue-collar votes.
FILE PHOTO: Zarfishan Zahid (L) smiles as Sana Tahir (R) holds Malaika Noman, 3, as the child arrives in the United States after a federal judge ruled Thursday that President Trump's temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries cannot stop grandparents and other relatives of U.S. citizens from entering the country at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, U.S., July 14, 2017. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan/File Photo
“Where Trump has had success in changing the rules of the road it has been used against the very people who helped elect him,” said Ben Olinsky, vice president for policy and strategy at the liberal Center for American Progress.
Neomi Rao, who is helping to lead Trump’s deregulatory drive as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said the reforms would promote economic growth and job creation.
“Regulatory reform benefits all Americans,” she said in a statement, adding that it can have “particular benefits for low- and middle-income workers.”
The “Trump effect” also goes far beyond policy. After a precedent-shattering campaign, Trump has redefined presidential behavior with his freewheeling and sometimes confrontational use of Twitter, his refusal to step away from his businesses and his reliance on family members as top advisers.
He has rattled longtime foreign allies with his sometimes bellicose statements and stoked social and political divisions at home, most recently with his attacks on mostly black professional football players who kneel in protest against racial injustice during the national anthem.
Slideshow (2 Images)
Many of Trump’s biggest policy proposals, including a ban on transgender people serving in the military, withdrawal from the Paris climate change accord and an end to the Obama-era program protecting from deportation young adults brought to the United States illegally as children, remain in limbo or under review in an administration where policymaking is often messy.
But Trump has found ways to make headway on some other stalled initiatives. While a repeal of Obamacare has faltered in Congress, his threats to cut the subsidy payments that help cover expenses for low-income consumers have created enough uncertainty that major insurers have pulled out of some state markets or asked much higher monthly premiums for 2018.
TOUGH RHETORIC HAS IMPACT
The administration has slashed advertising and cut grants to community groups that help people sign up, raising fears that many people will forgo coverage or forget to re-enroll in health plans for next year.
While plans for a border wall are stalled in Congress, Trump’s tough rhetoric had an apparent effect on illegal border crossings, with the number of apprehensions on the southwest border falling 63 percent from 42,000 in January to nearly 16,000 in April. Since then, they have begun creeping up again, but are still below levels seen last year.
A crackdown on immigrants living in the country illegally also led to a sharp increase in arrests in the interior of the country. In Trump’s first 100 days, the number of arrests by immigration agents increased by nearly 40 percent over the same period a year earlier. The number of immigrants without criminal histories arrested by immigration agents and booked into detention has jumped by more than 200 percent from January to July of this year, according to data reviewed by Reuters.
A flood of lawsuits has been filed against the new Republican administration, with Democratic state officials often leading the charge. The lower federal courts, stocked with judges appointed by Obama, have at least temporarily blocked several Trump initiatives.
Trump has been forced to rewrite a travel ban the administration says is aimed at protecting federal borders after the first two versions faced legal challenges from critics who said it discriminated against Muslims. The latest version imposes travel restrictions on eight countries.
One of Trump’s most lasting accomplishments is likely to be the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch, who restored the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority and at age 50 is likely to serve for decades.
“I think Trump actually has accomplished a lot. There are a lot of things for conservatives to be happy about,” said Tommy Binion, director of congressional and executive relations at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “And I‘m optimistic there will be more.”
Follow Trump’s impact on energy, environment, healthcare, immigration and the economy at The Trump Effect [www.reuters.com/trump-effect]
PETALING JAYA: The G25 group of prominent Malays has called on Putrajaya to put a stop on religious extremism and intolerance following the recent detention of Turkish writer Mustafa Akyol (pic) by local immigration authorities.
Thursday, 28 Sep 2017
In a statement issued on Thursday, G25 pointed out that Malaysians are becoming increasingly concerned that "the rise of extremism and intolerance by various groups is a result of a perceived ambivalent attitude, if not tacit countenance, by the Government".
"We, in the G25, therefore call on the Government to take a firm stance to put a stop to the rise of religious extremism and intolerance, and take definitive action to promote unity and harmony in this beloved nation of ours," it said.
On Sunday, Akyol was summoned for questioning by the Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department (Jawi) for breaching Section 11 of the Shahriah Criminal Offences Act for conducting religious teachings without tauliah (credentials).
He was subsequently arrested at KLIA at 9pm on Monday after a warrant was issued for his failure to appear before Jawi.
Akyol was then released at noon on Tuesday after Jawi completed its investigation and was satisfied that the organiser had not informed him of the need to obtain credentials from the religious authorities in Malaysia.
The G25, in describing Akyol's treatment by Jawi as "heavy handed, extreme, and arbitrary", said that such actions could threaten the multicultural setting of the Malaysian society.
"We are particularly concerned that this action by Jawi is part of an increasing series of views and actions by Islamic authorities, groups and individuals which are becoming more and more intolerant and disrespectful.
"Arbitrary actions like these, in the name of religion, threaten the very foundation of the multi-racial and multi-religious character of Malaysia as a nation."
The G25 also said that Akyol should not be subjected to poor treatment by local authorities, as he was a prominent and well-respected Islamic scholar who spoke out against Islamophobia in western countries.
"He has always been a champion of Islam as a religion of peace, tolerance and moderation, and that democracy and Islam are compatible.
According to G25, such incidents could also undermine Malaysia's international reputation as a moderate Islamic country.
Akyol was in Malaysia over the weekend for several Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) events including a talk on Does Freedom of Conscience Open the Floodgate to Apostasy? and Is Democracy Still Relevant?
The United States-based journalist has written on Islamic issues and politics for Turkish newspapers, the New York Times among others.
His books include Islam Without Extreme: A Muslim Case for Liberty, which has been translated into Turkish, Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia.
PETALING JAYA: Turkish journalist Mustafa Akyol was given a "VIP-send off" at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Tuesday night after his detention by Immigration officers and questioning by local religious authorities.
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar has ordered a Muslim-only laundry to stop the discriminatory practice, saying it was embarrassing and against his inclusive vision of a Bangsa Johor.
Wednesday September 27, 2017
Pictures of the launderette in Muar displaying a sign that it only allowed Muslim customers at the premise has been widely shared on the social media since last week. — Picture via Facebook/Kelab
Sultan Ibrahim said such “nonsense” was unacceptable, and told the laundry operator that he must either comply or risk enforced closure, according to an interview published by The Star today.
“This is not a Taliban state and as the Head of Islam in Johor, I find this action to be totally unacceptable as this is extremist in nature,” he was quoted as saying.
“I want the owner to apologise to me and the people of Johor. He has made Johoreans very angry and embarrassed because this is not the Johor we want.
He was also reported as saying that he ordered state Islamic Religious Affairs committee chairman Abdul Mutalip Abd Rahim, the religious council and district council to investigate the matter.
Pictures of the launderette in Muar displaying a sign that it only allowed Muslim customers at the premise has been widely shared on the social media since last week.
After learning of this, Sultan Ibrahim said he was “deeply appalled” by the owner’s action.
The laundry changed this to “Muslim-friendly” following backlash, but the Johor Sultan saw through the ploy and said it was essentially the same thing.
Calling Johor a state that treats all races fairly, Sultan Ibrahim noted that even mosques were open to non-Muslims who are properly dressed.
“I wonder where this launderette owner washes his clothes when he is overseas? Is he saying only the clothes of Muslims are clean and those of non-Muslims are unclean? That’s what he means, I believe.
“From now on, I am directing the state executive council and all the councils to insist that any business owners who carry out such blatant discriminatory practices should have their licences revoked.
“Don’t mess around with your narrow-minded religious prejudices,” he was quoted as saying.
Sultan Ibrahim reportedly said that if he kept quiet about this incident, it could open up to more extremist practices such as “taxis for only Muslims or non-Muslims”.
In a separate report, the owner said he only initiated such a business practice because he wanted to show that he was a good Muslim.
“For Muslims, it is not just about clean clothes but cleanliness as a whole. I am just providing an avenue for Muslims to do that,” said the 40-year-old owner who declined to be named.
The owner said that he hoped non-Muslims would understand his point of view on the basis of his religion.
He pointed that non-Muslims could visit other nearby self-service launderettes, adding that one was just 300 metres away from his outlet.
PETALING JAYA: The controversial Muslim-only launderette in Muar has been ordered to stop its discriminatory practice or face shut down by the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar.
The Star newspaper today reported the Sultan as saying he was "deeply appalled" by the action of the launderette owner as it would lead to more narrow-minded actions in the name of Islam.
"I cannot accept this nonsense. This is Johor, which belongs to Bangsa Johor and it belongs to all races and faiths. This is a progressive, modern and moderate state.
"This is not a Taliban state and as the Head of Islam in Johor, I find this action to be totally unacceptable as this is extremist in nature," the newspaper quoted His Majesty as saying in its exclusive report.
The owner had put up a sign to say the launderette is "Muslim-friendly" after an uproar over its "Muslim-only" signage.
"Don't try to be clever. It's still the same. The owner needs to have his brains cleaned up," the Sultan said.
"I want to put a stop to such extremism. Extremism has no place in my state. We take pride in being Bangsa Johor and I want to know where the owner of this launderette learned his Islam? Islam teaches the faithful to be tolerant and respect other people and faiths."
