Category: Europe,

Iceland Has Nearly Eradicating Down Syndrome Births – Some Offer A Typically American Response (Unsophisticated, Un-nuanced, Holier-Than-Thou, Eschewing Reason, Logic, and the Valuation of Women’s Lives in Favor of Heavy Handed Religious Guilt, Not Grounded in Anything Like a Holy Text But Stemming From Four Decades of Politically Rooted Culture Wars ) 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Europe,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Iceland seems to be leading the world in the eradication of Down syndrome; on average, only one or two babies suffering from the condition are born in the nation of 330,000 each year. 

…Cognitive impairments resulting from Down syndrome can range from mild to severe, and deadly physical anomalies are also often associated with the disease. Roughly half of all those who suffer from Down syndrome have serious health conditions, including potentially deadly congenital heart defects. The life expectancy of those afflicted with the syndrome is roughly 60 years, and many require specialized medical care for the entire duration of their lives.

…Down syndrome is often not discovered until late in the 2nd trimester, which can pose a legal and ethical dilemma for some expectant mothers. However, Iceland allows for the termination of pregnancies after 16 weeks in cases of fetal deformity, including Down syndrome.

Only a couple of babies with Down syndrome are born during an average year in Iceland, and in many of those few instances it is because parents get incorrect genetic screening results. In the United States, roughly 6,000 Down syndrome babies are born annually.

…When genetic abnormalities, including Down syndrome, are discovered, Helga Sol Olafsdottir (also of Landspitali University Hospital) helps to counsel the pregnant women in the midst of crisis. She tells those feeling guilty over their decision to terminate that “this is their life.”

…Women in Iceland who choose to terminate Down syndrome fetus are given a prayer card following the procedure. The tiny memento includes the termination date and the footprints of the terminated fetus, a practice that is confusing to [anti-womens’ empowerment] activists in America, many of whom [are intellectually and emotionally shallow enough to] consider terminating a pregnancy to be tantamount to murder.

Iceland Under Fire Over Controversial Method Of Nearly Eradicating Down Syndrome Births

It is satisfying to re-title clickbait…

Viking warrior found in Sweden was a woman, researchers confirm 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

For more than a century, archaeologists and historians have assumed that the remains of a person found buried along with arms and horses in one of the most spectacular graves discovered in the Viking Age town of Birka, in Sweden, belonged to a man. Turns out they were wrong. Osteology- and DNA tests now show that that he has always been a she, and she was most likely a powerful military leader.

…Now, however, a DNA-analysis has been carried out, clearly confirming that the Viking warrior was indeed a woman.

“This image of the male warrior in a patriarchal society was reinforced by research traditions and contemporary preconceptions. Hence, the biological sex of the individual was taken for granted,” Hedenstierna-Jonson, Kjellström and the eight other researchers behind the study, wrote in their report.

Viking warrior found in Sweden was a woman, researchers confirm – The Local

Wild.

Switzerland’s smallest village is facing a battle to stay alive

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Corippo has no shop, no school and no children. It may be only 30 minutes’ drive from bustling Locarno, but the narrow access road, with its hairpin bends, may not be many people’s chosen commute.

What Corippo does have, however, are more than 60 traditional stone houses, with dry stone roofs, many of them still with their original fireplaces, and chestnut wood floors. And most of them are empty.

…And so, with the support of a foundation devoted to preserving Corippo, a plan has been developed: to turn some of the empty houses into hotel rooms.

The concept, known as albergo diffuso or “scattered hotel”, has already been tried in some Italian hill villages, but never in Switzerland.

Can modern makeover save smallest Swiss village? – BBC News

cool!

Human History ‘To Be Re-Written’ After Controversial 5.7 Milllion-Year-Old Discovery

On By peanutgallerynhIn Africa,, Europe,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Controversial new study could change the entire history of the origin of mankind after a footprint was discovered in Crete.

Human History ‘To Be Re-Written’ After Controversial 5.7 Milllion-Year-Old Discovery

Not sure it really changes the origins of mankind theory as much as it adds to or refines it. Crete and Morocco aren’t exactly on the opposite ends of the earth after all…

Schulz Fails to Break Through as Merkel Holds Firm in Debate 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,Leave a comment

Angela Merkel’s election opponent, Martin Schulz, failed to score a decisive breakthrough in their only televised debate as the chancellor stood firm on her record, insisting that controversial decisions on keeping the country’s borders open for refugees and striking a deal with Turkey were right.

Schulz Fails to Break Through as Merkel Holds Firm in Debate – Bloomberg

hmmm

The Berlin mosque breaking Islamic taboos

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Religion,4 Comments

A mosque in the German capital allows men and women to mix at prayer and welcomes gay people.

…”Our mosque is open for everybody,” says mosque founder Seyran Ates, a German Turkish-born lawyer and women’s rights activist.

“And we mean that really seriously: everybody, every lifestyle. We are not God. We don’t decide who’s a good or a bad Muslim. Anybody can come through this door – whether you are heterosexual or homosexual, we don’t care, it’s not our right to ask.”

…”To those who are Muslim and believe you can’t be gay or an emancipated woman at the same time as being Muslim, I would say: you can’t be homophobic, misogynistic, Judeophobic and pretend to be Muslim,” he replies.

“Because Islam means being at peace with yourself and others. So that would be an oxymoron, it would be a contradiction.”

…Miriam, who is leading a study group on how to recite the Koran. She patiently explains the correct pronunciation of the verses to Laqa, a man from Pakistan who has lived in Berlin for 28 years.

She tells me that the main point of the mosque is tolerance of each other’s view of Islam. I ask her whether she has different views to those of Ms Ates.

“That’s an easy one,” she laughs, pointing to her head.

“I wear the headscarf and she interprets that in a different way….”

This is the origin of our religion, adds Laqa. “We are all equal, whatever you look like, or whatever colour skin you have, whether you’re gay or lesbian,” he says. “I can’t know whether they have a better connection to God than me. Why should I judge that? I can’t. I shouldn’t.”

The Berlin mosque breaking Islamic taboos – BBC News

Very cool.

How the Nazis Made Art Fascist 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

German and Italian officials believed that modern states had the sacred duty to defend national art against the degenerative force of global cosmopolitanism. …Against vulgar American consumerism, laissez-faire capitalism, liberal democracy, and the threat of revolutionary Bolshevism, Nazi–fascist leaders offered an alternative framework for European society: spiritual rather than materialistic, organic and traditional rather than abstract and cosmopolitan, overseen by strong and racially pure states. Promoting these racist and anti-Semitic ideas, institutions like the Permanent Council and the Venice Film Festival also modeled a new style of global cooperation: a “totalitarian international” in which ethnic and racial differences were not transcended but rather proclaimed, celebrated, and deepened.

Schemes like these make one’s skin crawl. But the Nazi–fascist way of thinking about European culture found wide appeal, and it’s worth understanding why.

…New technologies had transformed the nature of work and the structure of politics, women enjoyed greater economic and sexual independence than ever before, and the continent was in thrall to American goods and the alluring spirit of mass consumption. Bedrock bourgeois values appeared to be under siege on every front—an impression worsened by a string of devastating economic crises that had erased middle-class savings and eroded livelihoods.

…It was Mussolini, after all, who had called cinema “the strongest weapon” of any political movement.

…inviting several thousand delegates to Berlin for a massive European film conference. The Nazis welcomed their guests with the formal trimmings of interwar diplomacy: dinners and flags and receptions; working sessions at the legislature and the opera house; tours of nearby film studios and the Reich Film Archive; and a formal ball presided over by a tuxedo-clad Goebbels. The event culminated with the creation of the Nazi-led International Film Chamber, a new venture formally announced several months later in Venice—during the Film Festival. Moviegoers then fêted the foreign premiere of Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, an exemplar of Nazi ideology and a masterpiece of modern propaganda.

How the Nazis Made Art Fascist | New Republic

hmmm

Angela Merkel becomes the star of G20 with epic eye roll at Putin.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Central Northern Asia and The Caucasus,, Europe,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

https://twitter.com/SimonNRicketts/status/883353965483741185

Angela Merkel becomes the star of G20 with epic eye roll at Putin.

Whether it was mansplaining or Putin just being an ass or an idiot (or both) doesn’t matter, this clip is absolute gold!

And as a bonus, Angela doing what all of us with both brains and souls do in our minds every time King Cheeto speaks….

Trump spars with Chelsea Clinton over Ivanka’s G20 seat 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Europe,Leave a comment

Donald Trump tweets:

Donald Trump tweets:

Chelsea Clinton, who was 12-years-old when her father Bill Clinton was sworn in as US president, responded:

“Good morning Mr President.”It would never have occurred to my mother or my father to ask me. Were you giving our country away? Hoping not.”

Trump spars with Chelsea Clinton over Ivanka’s G20 seat – BBC News

“Angela M” had better things to do with her time than read the tweets of a toddler but, no, she would pass off her seat to an incompetent hack who is not only wholly unfamiliar with the job at hand.