August 16, 2016


News and Views


https://www.yahoo.com/news/syrians-shave-lift-veils-celebrate-163656562.html?nhp=1

Syrians shave and lift veils to celebrate liberation from Islamic State in Manbij
Yahoo News Photo Staff
August 15, 2016

Syrians shave and lift veils to celebrate liberation from Islamic State in Manbij
Yahoo News Photo Staff 6 hours ago Comments Like Reblog on Tumblr Share Tweet Email

Photographs -- 1/28

Syrians shave and lift veils to celebrate liberation from Islamic State in Manbij; A man cuts the beard of a civilian who was evacuated with others by the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters from an Islamic State-controlled neighbourhood of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria, Aug. 12, 2016. (REUTERS/Rodi Said)

Victory signs are flashed, a man's beard is cut, a woman smokes a cigarette, another sets fire to a niqab, and civilians embrace soldiers in celebration after being evacuated by the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) from an Islamic State-controlled neighborhood of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria. The SDF has said Islamic State was using civilians as human shields. (Reuters/Yahoo News)

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FIGHTERS AGAINST ISIS


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Democratic_Forces

Syrian Democratic Forces

. . . .

The establishment of the SDF was announced on 11 October 2015 during a press conference in al-Hasakah.[25]

The alliance builds upon the successful Euphrates Volcano joint operations of the Syrian Kurdish YPG and certain factions of the Free Syrian Army, who helped defend the Kurdish town of Kobanî. Euphrates Volcano was later joined by Liwa Thuwwar al-Raqqa, who participated in the capture of Tell Abyad from the Islamic State. The larger Syrian Democratic Forces alliance also includes forces from the self-administered Jazira Canton, such as the Christian Syriac Military Council and the Arab tribe Al-Sanadid Forces both of whom contributed to combating IS from Al-Hasakah.[26] Although estimates of the size of the SDF's component forces vary significantly, their total number may be as high as 55,000.[27]

Some of the remaining U.S. Pentagon-trained rebels will also be part of the new forces, tasked with "calling in airstrikes against ISIS and recruiting moderate rebels".[28]

Additional groups that joined[edit]
Since its establishment, additional groups have joined the SDF.

. . . .

On 12 October 2015, the Pentagon confirmed U.S. C-17 transport aircraft having dropped 100 pallets with 45 tons of arms and ammunition over Northern Syria to benefit "Arab groups." YPG spokesman Polat Can confirmed the airdrop over Rojava, identifying the freight as being "assault rifles, mortars and ammunition, but no TOW anti-tank missiles nor anti-aircraft weapons."[49] However, the main Arab groups within the Syrian Arab Coalition denied that they had received the shipment and pointed out that the airdrop may have been intended for their Kurdish allies.[50]

. . . .

The ideologically Islamist Syrian opposition groups in the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, supported in this by Turkey, vigorously oppose international support for the secular SDF.[57][58]



There are so many political and cultural groups in the Middle East, most of whom hate each other, and too often haven’t shown what I call COURAGE in battling ISIS, that it really concerns me. The Kurds, however, have, whether they had international backing or not, put up a brave and effective fight. I’m glad to see that a local army has been formed that is ready, willing and able to fight the barbaric and extremely violent ISIS forces.

The Kurds are like the Jews in that they have an internally cohesive and mostly pragmatic view of religion, despite the extreme disapproval of many or most of the nations in the region. In Turkey, at least, they are considered dangerous. Like the Jews they have had to fight daily all their lives, so they’re “tough” like the Palestinians.

They educate themselves and allow non-believers to be among their societies; most are Sunni Muslims, but “a small minority” are Yazidis. They don’t have a religious mandate to be considered a Kurd. They also get along well with Westerners. In other words, they are socially liberal.

In regard to women, they don’t do so well, however. The BBC article did mention that the “Islamic influence” was holding them back in that way. See the following very long, but excellent, Wikipedia article for details and history of women among the Kurds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_women.
Kurdish women, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

EXCERPTS:

“Kurdish women (Kurdish: Jinên/Afiretên Kurd‎) have traditionally played important roles in Kurdish society and politics.[1] Depended on the country in which they live, Kurdish women's rights have differed significantly. Kurdish women's rights have improved dramatically since 2000. However, despite the progress, Kurdish and international women's rights organizations have reported problems related to gender equality, forced marriages, honor killings and female genital mutilation (FGM), mainly in Iraq and Iran, where women's rights have been threatened by Islamic influence.[2][3][4][5][6] . . . .”

Dr. Widad Akrawi received the 2014 International Pfeffer Peace Award in Oslo in October 2014. Asenath Barzani, who is considered the first female rabbi in Jewish history by some scholars, is believed to be the first known influential Kurdish woman in history. She wrote many letters and published several publications in the 17th century.

Knowledge about the early history of Kurdish women is limited by both the dearth of records and the near absence of research. In 1597 (16th century), Sharaf ad-Din Bitlisi's wrote a book named Sharafnama, makes references to the women of the ruling landowning class, and their exclusion from public life and the exercise of state power, wrote that the Kurds of Ottoman Empire, who follow Islamic tradition, took four wives and, if they could afford it, four maids or slave girls. This regime of polygyny was, however, practiced by a minority, which included primarily the members of the ruling landowning class, the nobility, and the religious establishment . . . .”



THE PRIDE SCHOOL

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-lgbtq-school-joins-battle-for-trans-rights-in-america/

New LGBTQ school joins battle for trans rights in America
By INES NOVACIC CBS NEWS
August 14, 2016, 8:55 PM

Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-09-59-pm.png, Josh Farabee at home in East Atlanta. CBS NEWS
Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-09-26-pm.png, Parents of Pride School students like Reagan Stewart say that public school have "failed" trans kids. CBS NEWS
Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-10-38-pm.png, Christian Zsilavets opening up a classroom on the first day of Pride school. CBS NEWS
Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-14-17-pm.png, Farabee holding up a binder that he wears to flatten his chest. CBS NEWS
Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-08-06-pm.png, Kyre Katz is a trans Pride School student who uses he/him pronouns. CBS NEWS
Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-07-49-pm.png, Jasper was born female and says he deliberated for a long time before realizing he was "all guy." CBS NEWS
Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-17-59-pm.png, Farabee and Katz picking out Pride School t-shirts. CBS NEWS
Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-11-28-pm.png, Farabee's parents say they're looking forward to happier times for him at Pride School. CBS NEWS
Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-08-12-at-1-18-12-pm.png, Pride School will be housed for now inside the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. CBS NEWS


ATLANTA -- Josh Farabee's 14th birthday fell on the same day as his first day at a brand new school. For him it was a double celebration.

"For me, the Pride School is kind of like a safe haven," Farabee told CBS News on a recent sunny afternoon at his home in East Atlanta. "I don't have to worry about what names people may call me or what people would pull in the bathroom. It feels very much like a gift, like finally something amazing in the world."

Pride School Atlanta is the first LGBTQ+ affirming school in the South. Spearheaded by Christian Zsilavets, an openly transgender educator, it will join just a handful of such schools in the U.S. specifically designed as safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth. It's based on the "Free School" model and Zsilavets told CBS News he's particularly focused on transgender students.

"I firmly believe that bringing trans rights to the forefront -- that we're totally ready for it," said Zsilavets, the director and co-founder of Pride School Atlanta. "Now we can start taking care of our trans youth especially."

"We have created a school where everybody gets to be themselves!" Zsilavetz announced to a classroom-full of incoming students and parents.

Farabee was born as female and named Sabrina. In February 2016, he changed his name and his pronouns after coming out to his parents, mother Stacia and step-father Jason Oberweis. His biological father transitioned from male to female in 2011.

"I don't think gender is finite," said Farabee. "To me it's how I feel most comfortable as."

"The full acronym is LGBTQQIAA," added Farabee. "It stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, ally -- and agender. Or asexual. I think it's like both."

With a multi-colored pixie cut and full face expertly-applied makeup, Farabee's five-foot-one slender frame solidifies an outwardly feminine appearance. He said he often gets called a girl and "she."

"I understand -- I look like a girl," he smiled. "I'm not really trying to "make myself" look like a boy, except for wearing baggy jeans and a binder, sometimes, to flatten my chest."

As yet, there is no data on how many trans students are enrolled in U.S. schools, or the specific risks they may face. According to a June 2016 report by the Williams Institute, about 1.4 million adults in the U.S. identify as transgender -- double a widely-used previous estimate.

The same week Farabee started at Pride School, the CDC released the first nationally representative study on the health risks of the estimated 1.3 million U.S. lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) high school students.

"I was bullied in school for a few years," said Farabee. "Most of my friends that are trans or gender fluid have attempted suicide or self-harmed, or have had addiction problems. I have too."

"I'd be walking down the street and I'd hear tranny or fag. I feel like that's just a problem with being bullied and not being accepted," Farabee said.

Of the eight students in attendance on the first day of Pride School, more than half shared a similar experience.

"At my last school I was teased a little bit -- I just went by 'she and her' and 'Maddie' and it was really awkward for me and I didn't like," Jasper, 16 - who asked us not to use his last name - told CBS News. "I dreaded going to school because I didn't wanna be known as somebody who was a stranger to me."

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's latest School Climate Report found that 85 percent of LGBT students experienced verbal harassment, 40 percent reported physically harassment, and 20 percent said they were assaulted.

"You don't have to believe anything [your kids] say about their own gender identity, but it doesn't change the fact of what it is," said Zsilavets. "If my kid came and said to me: 'Dad, I know I was born a girl, but I don't really feel like a girl inside.' I don't know what that means (...) I'm not gonna hold that against them."

Demands for equality for transgender people has become one of the newest civil rights movements, building toward the Supreme Court at a fast pace. Trans rights have been in the spotlight since North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law HB2, a state bill dubbed the "bathroom bill." HB2 requires people to use public bathrooms matching their birth sex. Proponents of HB2 say the law exists to preserve religious freedom, while opponents, including President Obama, say it discriminates against the LGBT community.

"This is about dignity and respect that we accord our fellow citizens," Attorney General Loretta Lynch told reporters in May 2016, as she announced the filing of a civil rights lawsuit in response to the bill. A few days later, President Obama ordered that public schools must comply in allowing transgender people the right to choose a bathroom based on their gender identity. The Obama administration has threatened to withhold federal funding over the issue, but has yet to do so. At least 10 states have responded by filing lawsuits challenging the Obama administration's enforcement of federal civil rights laws to protect transgender students.

"I don't think that a lot of people understand how painful it is for some of these children," said Farabee's mother, Stacia Oberweis. "I feel a lot more at ease now. If the transgender piece is something that was making Josh so uncomfortable and causing problems in Josh's life and now we're able to address it and move forward in this new way, I'm very hopeful that Pride School and the high school years are going to be a lot better."

Asked about whether there was a danger in separating LGBTQ+ youth instead of focusing on increased efforts to make public schools a safer space for them, Zsilavets said there wasn't enough time to wait to "fix every school."

"For trans kids especially, since we're focused on trans kids, we can't wait for another one of them to die," said Zsilavetz. "We can't wait for another one to die."

According to surveys, under five percent of the overall U.S. population has self-reported a suicide attempt. That number is as high as 20 percent for lesbian, gay or bisexual respondents. For transgender or gender non-conforming people surveyed, the rate is 41 percent.

"Until every student has permission to be themselves wherever they are, and get an education where they have a full seat at the table, there will be a need for schools like Pride School," said Zsilavetz.

The Supreme Court this week granted an emergency stay to prevent a Virginia transgender high-school student from using the boys' bathroom. The ACLU, which is involved in the case, has argued that the school board's policy violates Title IX, the federal statute that protect students from being excluded from school programs and resources on the basis of sex.

"People often think or feel that sectioning off, or segregating LGBT kids is like coddling them or giving them special treatment," said Reagan Stewart, a transgender parent whose child enrolled in Pride School Atlanta. "My answer is very simple. Yes. We are coddling our kids."

"We have left it up to public school systems and other school systems to work with them -- but [they] have failed. And these kids lives are at stake," said Stewart.

Both Stewart and Zsilavetz, as well as the other parents or students at Pride School, agree that safety, rather than gender, is the central concept behind Pride School.

"I don't see it as sectioning off as much as I see it as giving a safer space for kids that may have a rougher go of it in other environments," said Farabee. "You don't have to be gay or anything to get in. I just feel good that I'm open and I'm out and that everyone I surround myself with is accepting of me."

"I feel good about myself," Farabee added.



Excerpts -- "Now we can start taking care of our trans youth especially." "We have created a school where everybody gets to be themselves!" Zsilavetz announced to a classroom-full of incoming students and parents. …. "I don't think gender is finite," said Farabee. …. "It stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, ally -- and agender. Or asexual. I think it's like both." …. "I was bullied in school for a few years," said Farabee. ‘Most of my friends that are trans or gender fluid have attempted suicide or self-harmed, or have had addiction problems. I have too.’ ‘I'd be walking down the street and I'd hear tranny or fag. I feel like that's just a problem with being bullied and not being accepted,’ Farabee said. …. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's latest School Climate Report found that 85 percent of LGBT students experienced verbal harassment, 40 percent reported physically harassment, and 20 percent said they were assaulted. …. Demands for equality for transgender people has become one of the newest civil rights movements, building toward the Supreme Court at a fast pace. Trans rights have been in the spotlight since North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law HB2, a state bill dubbed the "bathroom bill." …. The Obama administration has threatened to withhold federal funding over the issue, but has yet to do so. At least 10 states have responded by filing lawsuits challenging the Obama administration's enforcement of federal civil rights laws to protect transgender students. …. Asked about whether there was a danger in separating LGBTQ+ youth instead of focusing on increased efforts to make public schools a safer space for them, Zsilavets said there wasn't enough time to wait to "fix every school." …. The Supreme Court this week granted an emergency stay to prevent a Virginia transgender high-school student from using the boys' bathroom. The ACLU, which is involved in the case, has argued that the school board's policy violates Title IX. …. "My answer is very simple. Yes. We are coddling our kids." "We have left it up to public school systems and other school systems to work with them -- but [they] have failed. And these kids lives are at stake," said Stewart. …. “As yet, there is no data on how many trans students are enrolled in U.S. schools, or the specific risks they may face. According to a June 2016 report by the Williams Institute, about 1.4 million adults in the U.S. identify as transgender -- double a widely-used previous estimate. …. According to surveys, under five percent of the overall U.S. population has self-reported a suicide attempt. That number is as high as 20 percent for lesbian, gay or bisexual respondents. For transgender or gender non-conforming people surveyed, the rate is 41 percent. …. "I don't see it as sectioning off as much as I see it as giving a safer space for kids that may have a rougher go of it in other environments," said Farabee. "You don't have to be gay or anything to get in.”


It used to be fashionable to speak of “pregnant pauses.” This is a pregnant news article, and due to give birth immediately. I think it’s triplets! I wanted to cut out more of these quotations because it’s just too much, but I can’t decide what to eliminate. I will talk about several of them below.

"I don't think gender is finite," really rings a bell to me, because I have never felt 100% female, though not gay or male exactly. Masculine and feminine, both, though I look like a woman and respond to men like a woman. I just don’t react and feel fully female. I don’t kowtow or hide anger, which has made some people dislike me – but not all people by any means. It has also made me be more rarely harassed by other kids in school than apparently occurs with these young people.

I “think like a man,” at least in some ways. My interests are sometimes more typical of men – (non-mathematical) scientific subjects, for instance. I wasn’t fascinated with dolls, but really enjoyed being outdoors in the woods or the yard with my dog, or helping my father in the garden. I felt that feeling of being a “poor fit” in my social role in society. Housework, shopping, and cooking don’t give me pleasure. Unfortunately, sometimes they have to be done, but I don’t “take joy” or feel “fulfilled” by them. Of course, I was young in the 1950s which was a very conservative time in the US, and when I got involved with the Women’s Liberation Movement I became much more at ease and satisfied with life. I simply dropped most of those female rules and regulations.

"We have left it up to public school systems and other school systems to work with them -- but [they] have failed. And these kids’ lives are at stake…” That sounds like it’s possibly an extreme statement, but suicide attempts in the 20 to 40% range are an epidemic. Suicide and simply depression aren’t just a matter of “insanity” as people used to think, but of societal variables that are controllable if schools and parents will simply do that. I honestly think we could use a “parenting” school to improve the conditions in the US, and any parents whose kids show problems should be sent to it mandatorily. There is also “family counseling” involving all the family members, which helps straighten out many serious problems which cause young people to become truly mentally disturbed. We could start with not beating children and not favoring one child over another. That’s not easy to do, but it is important. Bullying starts as early as 18 months or 2 years, according to an interesting article I read about 30 years ago. Parents have to step in and stop that immediately. It’s just not fair to the younger sister or brother, and bullying will become a lifelong habit if it isn’t curtailed. One of the most common things on that subject is the outright favoring of boys over girls, such as making the girl help clean house, but allowing the boy to watch a ballgame on TV until all the work is done.

"You don't have to be gay or anything to get in.” Now that is really significant. Maybe kids who have other kinds of social adjustment and emotional problems such as shyness or timidity, the loss of a parent to death or some other cause, could receive help in such a school. Some parents end up in prison and many simply abandon their families, which is as devastating as death. Abandonment is one of the most damaging things that can be done to a child, because it speaks a lack of love more clearly than words. A setting like this reminds me of my experiences in the Girl Scouts and Methodist Youth Fellowship, which most kids don’t join now, I don’t think. That’s a loss. It gave me supervised activities that were interesting, educational, and goal-oriented within a spirit of friendship and love. It helps make up for a terrible relationship with a parent, for instance.

All in all, I just want to say that this type of school is the most imaginative and significant advance I’ve heard about in human relations, I think. All my life people have ignored, hated, shamed, feared, and physically abused gays. There was no talk about being gay in those days except of course for words like dyke and fairy. Now people are facing it as a reality, trying to understand it, and beginning to treat everyone with respect, at least in this tiny little section of the world. Hopefully this idea will be seen as being so insightful that every right thinking citizen in the country will work to get more of these set up across the country. The Pride School – such a great name!




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anjem-choudary-islamic-extremist-london-guilty-inviting-support-isis-britain/

Law catches up with U.K.'s best-known Islamic extremist
By TUCKER REALS CBS NEWS
August 16, 2016, 11:59 AM

Photograph -- Anjem Choudary (R) speaks at a protest opposite Downing Street against the military action taken by the U.K., U.S. and France against Libya, March 21, 2011, in London, England. GETTY
Photograph -- British jihadist Abu Rumaysah seen in a photo purportedly taken in Syria and posted to his Twitter account on Nov. 26, 2014, with the caption: "With my newborn son." TWITTER
Play VIDEO -- Recruiting for ISIS
Photograph -- Islamic extremist preacher Anjem Choudary at meeting in an East London basement. At center is one of his followers, Abu Rumaysah, who was …. CBS
Play VIDEO -- Face-to-face with an extremist


LONDON -- An Islamic extremist preacher who managed to stay just on the right side of British law for decades while touting sharia law as the future for Britain and encouraging young Muslims to wage jihad, is now facing a possible prison sentence for his actions.

Preacher Anjem Choudary, 49, and one of his adherents, 33-year-old Mohammed Mizanur Rahman were both found guilty on July 28 of inviting support for ISIS, a designated terrorist organization.

The men's pledge of allegiance to the terror group's self-declared "caliphate," or Islamic state, and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014 was a "turning point for the police" that enabled officers to act under British law.

London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement that Choudary and Rahman were caught giving the pledge of allegiance to another know terrorist "via Skype, text and phone" during dinner at a restaurant in London.

"Choudary and Rahman are believed to have been recruiters and radicalisers for over 20 years and have been closely associated with another proscribed organisation Al Muhajiroun (ALM). ALM is believed to be the driving force behind a number of people who later committed terrorist attacks including the 7/7 bombers and Lee Rigby's murderers," the police said.

Choudary has been pick up by police on many occasions in recent decades, but in addition to being an expert in the tenets of sharia law, he's also well-versed in Britain's laws on free speech and incitement.

"These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counter terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations," Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement. "Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men."

Choudary is a familiar face to Britons, who have seen him at the front of pro-sharia law demonstrations and heard his extremist rhetoric in news video for years.

"60 Minutes" interviewed him and one of his young followers in 2014 for an in-depth look at the efforts to legitimize and recruit for ISIS on the streets of Britain.

In the interview, Choudary flatly denied encouraging young men to go and fight for ISIS or other extremist groups, claiming none had sought his advice on the matter and he wouldn't discuss "hypotheticals."

He has always dismissed man-made laws and governments as illegitimate, and advocated for the implementation of sharia law across Europe and the wider world.

"I believe Islam is superior. And will not be surpassed," he told CBS News. "The messenger Mohammad, he said, 'Fight them with your wealth, with your body, with your tongue.' So, I'm engaged here, if you like, in a verbal jihad."

Choudary went so far in the 2014 interview as to taunt British law enforcement: "There was a report out recently which said that I inspired 500 people, in fact, to carry out operations here and abroad. And if that were really the case, don't you think that I'd arrested be? And I'll be sitting in prison?"

Later that year, the young man who was interviewed along with Choudary, a Londoner who had converted to Islam from Hinduism and been a close follower of the preacher, popped up in Syria fighting for ISIS and taunting British intelligence services for letting him "breeze through Europe to the Islamic State."

Whether Choudary now actually ends up sitting in a prison will be decided in the sentencing phase of his trial in early September. Under the charge of inviting support for a terrorist group, he faces a maximum 10 year sentence.

While the judge handed down the decision on Choudary and Rahman in July, rules were imposed by the court barring the verdict being made public until today.



I’m glad to hear that these men have been arrested and convicted, soon to be sentenced. I first heard about them a couple of years ago in one of these news articles, and was horrified. They freely and publicly went around London inciting extremist feeling. Apparently they were sufficiently covert about it that the police could get no case. Also, like the US, England has freedom of religion now. That is a good thing, even if it did cause these radicals to be free to do whatever they wanted to for years and years. We do need some intelligent controls over dangerous societal forces like this, however.



HE MEANT NO HARM ….

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/noose-display-shocks-oklahoma-highway-drivers/

Noose display shocks Oklahoma highway drivers
CBS/AP
August 16, 2016, 8:05 AM

Photograph -- A noose display along Highway 75 in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma KOTV-TV


MOUNDS, Okla. - A display of nooses shocked motorists along an Oklahoma highway.

CBS Tulsa affiliate KOTV reports the display was up for only a short time, and had been placed there because the homeowner was trying to deter thieves.

The nooses were hung in a tree with a sign that read: "It's best not to be hanging around this area after dark."

Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice told KOTV the homeowner removed the signs voluntarily after a day or so because of the negative attention on social media and possible danger of people stopping on the highway to look at it. Rice said the display was not illegal.

KJRH-TV reports that the owner of the display, Merle Martindale, says it was not meant to be racist, just merely a warning to any potential thief.

But driver Terrance Reed Sr. says a noose in America represents what used to happen to African Americans. Reed says he considers the display to be an attack on his heritage.

Driver Dennis Varner says the display also bothered him. Varner says the display is discrimination and America shouldn't put up with it.



This needs very little commentary, except to say that anyone with any common sense knows that hanging nooses out on a tree for passersby to notice and be warned, is not in any way an acceptable or appropriate thing to do. He claims he was doing it to warn would be burglars to stay away. The NOOSE, however, always brings to mind the terrible years of Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and not “burglars.” It’s strictly racist. What he needs is a Doberman Pinscher or two behind a good sturdy fence keeping the dogs inside. That way, if anyone is foolish enough to try to break in, they will get what they deserve, but without being pointlessly insulted.