Anagārika Dharmapala’s Anti-Colonial Mission

Kamal Wickremasinghe, in Island, 19 September 2018, with this title “Anagarika Dharmapala needs no rescuing” … reproduced here with highlights by The Editor, Thuppahi

Social scientific study, for better or for worse, is the only available method of gaining insights into social structures including aspects of social organisation, governance and rituals, as an aid to solving problems in social relations. Social science, however, often yields erroneous results originating from prejudices associated with the frame of embedded cultural assumptions within which evaluations take place.

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Sivatheeban charged as an LTTE Killer in Germany

ONE: News Item in Derana, 4 August 2o18, taken from Associated Press. …. entitled ”

German authorities have arrested a Sri Lankan man suspected of involvement in killing captured government soldiers as a member of the Tamil Tigers rebel group a decade ago. Federal prosecutors said a judge ordered Thursday the 36-year-old, identified only as Sivatheeban B. because of German privacy rules, detained pending a potential indictment.

ri Lankan-born German man Yogendran G. (C), seen on January 18, 2016 in Hamburg, raised more than 81,000 euros ($88,000) for combat and terrorist activities ©Christian Charisius (Pool/AFP/File) 

Pic in Derana

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Visvakarma’s Celestial Manifestatations in Asia and Sri Lanka

Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai, in newsin.asia, 17 September 2018, where the title reads “Vishwakarma, the celestial architect who built Sri Lanka”

The Vishwakarma puja, which was observed on September 17, is not restricted to India but is observed in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The puja closely follows the celebration of the Ganapati festival. In some places, it is performed the day after Diwali in October or November.

Vishwakarma puja or Kanya Sankranti is celebrated in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in North India; Karnataka in the south; and Assam, West Bengal Odisha and Tripura in the east, in honour of Vishwakarma – the celestial architect.

Vishwakarma idols of Bengal made of clay

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A Sinhala Cartoon depicting Lanka’s Present Situation

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September 18, 2018 · 1:37 am

DEMONS IN PARADISE renders filmmaker Ratnam as a Tamil Traitor

Item in MSN.COM, 17 September 2018, with this title  I wanted ‘my side’ to lose the war”

By his own admission filmmaker Jude Ratnam is a “traitor”. A Tamil himself, he blames the Tamil Tigers for many of the atrocities carried out in Sri Lanka’s civil war. The director told the BBC’s Nalini Sivathasan why feels the way he does.”When the war was coming to an end, I wanted the [Tamil] Tigers to lose the fight. I wanted it to end, even if my own people had to be killed,” Ratnam says.

Warning: This story contains graphic details that some readers may find upsetting.

© Getty Images Formed in 1976, the Tamil Tigers said they were fighting for a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka

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Umpire Ramos was on the Mark — A Consummate Professional Umpire

Steve Flink, in Tennis.Com, 12 September 2018 in  where the title reads “Carlos Ramos was Correct– and A Consummate Professional at the US Open

Lost in the swirl of controversy surrounding Serena Williams and her altercations with umpire Carlos Ramos during her final-round loss at the US Open to Naomi Osaka is this: despite the fact that Williams felt so aggrieved by the way Ramos applied the rules in penalizing her, he is an outstanding umpire. He was well within his rights to make hard decisions that did not meet with the approval of Serena or the multitude of fans who wanted so fervently to see her tie Margaret Court’s record of 24 major singles titles, as well as break a tie for the women’s US Open singles title record she shares with Chrissie Evert. Both Williams and Evert have garnered six crowns.

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Rejuvenating Lanka: A Good Governance Plan for 2020

SWR de “Sam” Samarasinghe, in Sunday Island, 16 September 2018, where the title reads “A strategy and programme for Yaha Paalanaya 2020″”

Many Sri Lankans are frustrated with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for having failed to deliver good governance (Yaha Paalanaya – YP) and competent economic management. But lack of success with YP2015 is not a reason to abandon the concept of Yaha Paalanaya. We need a YP2020 to make a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka.

  196f06652faecd1245738c009b28844a

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Mark Knight’s Retaliation by Cartoon: Touche!

Mark_Knight SW cartoon 16-9-2018 HERALD SUN

THOSE who stew and fume in this world as fervent feminist victims –or victims tout court — are asked to look at themselves …. as incisively as the good cartoonist does.

AA SERENA FINGER

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A Legal Minefield: The 20th Amendment

Neville Ladduwahetty, in the Island, 14 September 2018,

The JVP has presented to Parliament the 20th Amendment to the Constitution under provisions of a Private Member’s Bill. The primary objective of the 20th Amendment is to abolish the Office of an Executive President being elected by the People as stated in Article 4(b) of the 1978 Constitution. It is reported that several petitions have already being filed in the Supreme Court.

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Fervent Feminism and Victimology in Indefensible Rage …. and A Cartoonist ‘set on fire’

The strident reactions of a number of women, as well as men, including Billie Jean King and JK Rawling, in defense of Serena Williams and in criticism of Umpire Carlos Ramos (whose history has been exemplary), displays  a form of extremism which is indefensible ,,, and yet another sign of the currents of “secular fundamentalism” in the Western world. It indicates that “victimology” can service extremism. Its absurdity is displayed in the rabid criticism of the cartoonist Mark Knight for pursuing his satirical craft in the pattern of satire  … See some of the news reportage, Michael Roberts

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