Spectacular Irony - Duterte Outlaws Misogynistic Behavior

Duterte outlaws misogynistic behavior,

despite long history of public rape jokes

But with one loop-hole, just for him

File photo: © REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Outspoken Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill penalizing public sexual harassment ranging from cat-calls and wolf-whistles, to persistent telling of sexual jokes – for which he himself is famous.

Duterte signed the so-called Safe Spaces Act in April but, for unknown reasons, the legislation wasn’t publicly released until Monday.

Among the offending acts for which perpetrators will now be liable are:

intrusive gazing

cursing,

misogynistic acts,

the use of sexual slurs,

persistent telling of lewd jokes both in public and online.

In addition, the law targets those who expose themselves in public or engage in “groping or any advances, whether verbal or physical, that is unwanted and has threatened one’s sense of personal space and physical safety.”

Public spaces like bars, restaurants and cinemas will now be required to install clearly visible warning signs in addition to hotline contact information to report any offences. 

Senator Risa Hontiveros, the main author of the bill, called it a “massive victory” which allowed people to “reclaim our streets from sexual harassers and gender bigots.”

Under the new law, punishments for unseemly behavior range from small fines to imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offense. Foreign violators will be deported after paying their fine or serving their sentence.

Duterte himself has been excoriated by women’s groups and political opponents throughout his presidency for a slew of crude jokes, often involving rape. 

The women’s rights political party, Gabriela, described him in a scathing assessment as “the single most brazen violator of the law’s intent with his staple macho-fascist remarks.”

It looks like many will be watching like hawks in case Duterte breaks any of the stringent new rules himself. However they’ll be wasting their time as a spokesman said on Tuesday that the new law “does not apply” to the president.

“When he cracks jokes, it is intended to make people laugh, never to offend,” Salvador Panelo said, adding that Duterte respects women and is never lewd.

"We'll Approve Accreditation if You Approve Students Disobeying God"

In a follow-up to yesterday's post, below, Nova Scotia's bar society has ruled on whether or not they will approve the accreditation of Trinity Western's proposed law program. 

OK, the title is a paraphrase, they didn't actually say that, but that is their intention - to have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms destroy the Bible, nothing less.

Nova Scotia's bar society has voted to conditionally approve Trinity Western University's proposed new law school a day after barristers in Ontario ruled not to accredit the faith-based institution.

The B.C. university, which prohibits same-sex intimacy and bills itself as the largest independent Christian liberal arts institution in Canada, will open a law school in 2016.

At issue was Trinity Western's requirement that its 3,600 students sign a community covenant forbidding intimacy outside heterosexual marriage, which has been criticized as discriminatory against gays and lesbians.
Like I wrote yesterday, how many gay and lesbian students want to attend a Christian university? Probably, none! So this whole thing is a sham and a farce.

The conditional acceptance means that the Nova Scotia's Barristers Society will only accept articling students from the school if it changes the covenant for law students or allows them to opt out. 

In other words, so anybody can have sex with anybody they want, whenever they want. That will lift TWU into the echelons of other western universities where the 'Culture of Rape' is rampant. That would be such a great improvement???!!! Thanks Nova Scotia!

The decision for the conditional accreditation was reached after the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society council met Friday in Halifax and voted 10 to nine in favour of the move.

The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society held public hearings on the issue earlier this year, in which legal experts condemned the Langley, B.C., school's policies.

Elaine Craig, a faculty member at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, told the society panel that endorsing the institution would amount to sanctioning "blatant and explicit discrimination" and is not consistent with Charter values. What a load of dung! It doesn't discriminate against anyone because there is no such demographic!