Mick Hartley

Politics and Culture

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  • Sharing a shower with female inmates

    Genevieve Gluck at Reduxx:

    A trans-identified male serving a life sentence for murder who was quietly transferred in to a women’s prison is now sharing a shower with female inmates, causing them to feel “violated.” Bradley Richard Sirvio, 53, was transferred into Minnesota women’s prison MCF-Shakopee at the end of last year after claiming to identify as transgender and adopting the name “Aurora.”

    In November of 1995, Sirvio beat a man to death with a hammer before setting the victim’s house on fire. According to court records, Sirvio was checking himself into a detoxification center when he “volunteered to a staff member during the intake process that he may have murdered someone named George and then set the house on fire to cover up what he had done.”

    A repeat offender, Sirvio has several other convictions that include multiple charges of assault, burglary, and theft. He was quietly transferred to MCF-Shakopee, Minnesota’s only women’s prison, in November of 2023. The move was made a full five months ahead of the date that a newly-drafted gender identity prison policy was set to take effect, meaning that the state of Minnesota voluntarily chose to transfer Sirvio.

    Now, two women who are housed next to Sirvio have come forward to protest the situation. The women reveal that female inmates have been told to share a shower with Sirvio, despite the convicted killer having had “no surgery whatsoever.” The women, whose names have been altered to protect their identities, say that Sirvio’s presence is causing them to feel anxious and violated.

    One woman, Letitia, explained: “They put a man next door to me. He claimed to be transgender. I now have to share the same wing with him. I also share the same shower with no lock on the inside door … The whole wing of women share just one shower, and we do not have another shower besides this one. Some of the women live in the wing lounge, and this is their only bathroom.”

    She continued: “This man is not transgender. No surgery has been done whatsoever. He is fully a man, and still has a man’s body part attached to him. He acts like a man, sounds like a man, behaves like a man.”…

    As previously reported by Reduxx, there have been at least six male convicts transferred into MCF-Shakopee since 2023, half of whom are serving or have served sentences on charges related to the sexual abuse of children.

    The prison policy was altered following a 2022 lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Corrections which ultimately resulted in the implementation of measures permitting male convicts to be housed in the female estate. The lawsuit, filed by trans activist non-profit organization Gender Justice – which was recently revealed to have received nearly $500,000 in taxpayer funds from the administration of Governor Tim Walz.

    That's Tim Walz, the Democrats' prospective vice-presudent under Kamala Harris. He loves this gender stuff, Tim. He's progressive that way.

    Commenting on Lusk’s transfer last November, Aaron Swanum with the Minnesota DOC remarked, “Minnesota has now joined 10 other states and the District of Columbia in approving transfers to facilities matching an inmate’s gender identity. The DOC is committed to providing supportive and safe environments for people of all gender identities and our new policy reflects this commitment.”

    Sometimes the sheer mind-numbing stupidity of all this "gender identity" nonsense just takes the breath away.

    Last week, Reduxx revealed that a man who was convicted of sexually abusing a six year-old girl was transferred into MCF-Shakopee, where he had exposed himself to one of the female inmates. Despite having repeatedly lied about his identity to law enforcement in a bid to evade the law, Daniel Patrick Benz was permitted to change his name to Danielle Marie Whitebird in June of 2023 after his petition was approved by the state of Minnesota.

    In addition to the name change, Benz also was supplied with a “replacement birth record” which declared his sex as female, despite not having undergone any surgeries, according to his own legal complaints.

  • The decline of the progressive movement

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  • Next stop Jerusalem

    Some of those lovely HTS insurgents who've just overthrown the Assad regime. From MEMRI TV:

    After taking control of Damascus following the collapse of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024, HTS Islamist militants, in a video posted by Althawra Network Media on Facebook, declared that just as they entered the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, they will enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, and the Kaaba in Mecca. They also advised the people of Gaza to remain patient, suggesting they would soon come to Jerusalem.

  • Not just a few rotten apples

    From the JC:

    The UN’s main aid agency in Gaza employed headteachers who fought in Hamas’ Qassam brigades and were members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to documents released by Israel to the New York Times.

    The paper requested documents from Israel specifically related to UNRWA school employees after Israel distributed a list of 100 agency workers it said were terrorists.

    Through analysis of the documents, obtained by Israel during its military campaign in Gaza, and interviews with "current and former UNRWA employees, residents and former students in Gaza,” the New York Times found that “at least 24 people employed by UNRWA — in 24 different schools” belonged to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

    The tip of the iceberg. UNRWA employed some 30,000 Palestinians. It was an open secret that UNRWA schools parroted Hamas propaganda, and taught that Jews were the enemy and Israel an illegitimate coloniser.

    “A majority were top administrators at the schools—principals or deputy principals—and the rest were school counselors and teachers, the documents say. Almost all of the Hamas-linked educators, according to the records, were fighters in the Qassam Brigades,” the paper reported….

    The records show that Hamas viewed schools and other civilian facilities as "the best obstacles to protect the resistance" in the group’s war with Israel.

    Hamas's use of UNRWA schools also went beyond Gaza's borders. The Times noted that in September, Hamas announced the death of its leader in Lebanon. Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was killed in an airstrike in the Tyre area in the south of the country on Sept. 30.

    U.N. Watch revealed that el-Amin was the principal of the UNRWA-run Deir Yassin Secondary School in El-Buss and headed the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon, overseeing 39,000 students in 65 schools.

    Over the course of months, Israel has revealed that UNRWA employed hundreds of terrorists.

    In July, Israel’s Foreign Ministry released what it said was only a partial list, containing the names and ID numbers of 108 UNRWA employees who according to Israel worked for Hamas. According to the ministry, the wider list could not be released due to security considerations.

    “We have provided much evidence that UNRWA works hand-in-hand with Hamas,” said Prime Minister's Office spokesman David Mencer, referring to the Hamas server farm discovered underneath UNRWA's headquarters in Gaza City and Hamas tunnels underneath UNRWA schools in the Strip.

    In October, the Knesset voted to ban UNRWA, with the Foreign Ministry calling the refugee agency “rotten.”

    “It is not just a few rotten apples, as U.N. Secretary-General [Antonio] Guterres is trying to claim. UNRWA in Gaza is a rotten tree entirely infected with terrorist operatives,” the ministry said.

    For more on UNRWA, see here and here.

  • “Performative gender identity nonsense” in the NHS

    From the Telegraph:

    The NHS is allowing five subgroups of people with various gender and sexual orientations to meet and discuss personal issues in “safe spaces” during the working day.

    A scheme by NHS England’s LGBTQIA+ staff network allows aromantic, demisexual and bi+ staff to talk about their experiences, in addition to the main network’s meetings.

    The five groups involved in the scheme include asexual and aromantic, bi+, non-binary, rainbow family, and trans.

    It's like allowing religious groups to have their own special spaces and times off for prayer meetings and the like. Then again I suppose these are, if not exactly religious groups, certainly cult groups.

    Safe spaces for women, though? Ha!

    Describing the meetings as safe spaces is understood to have irked some NHS staff who are battling for women to have the right to single-sex spaces including toilets, showers, and hospital wards.

    One source told The Telegraph: “Safe spaces are really important but not if you are a woman who wants to use toilets or changing rooms without men who identify as female there with you.”…

    Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at human-rights charity Sex Matters, said: “By running these events, NHS England is perpetuating the myth that people with a so-called ‘gender identity’ are automatically at elevated risk of harm. Employees with special gender identities should of course be treated fairly – that is, the same way as everyone else.

    “It’s extraordinary to see this being pushed in the name of ‘inclusion’ at the same time as a group of nurses in Darlington are being treated as bigots and excluded from their own changing rooms because they don’t want to share with male staff who identify as women.

    “NHS England should provide genuine ‘safer spaces’ for female NHS staff and drop the performative gender identity nonsense.”

  • Very gently

    Siri, can you explain "patronising"?

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    Quite a (deserved) pile-on in the responses.

  • Freeing the prisoners

    From the Telegraph:

    Thousands of prisoners are believed to be stuck in hidden underground cells in Bashar al-Assad’s most notorious prison, according to survivors.

    The White Helmets, a Syrian civil defence group, said it had deployed five “specialised emergency teams” to Saydnaya prison in Damascus following the reports.

    Saydnaya, once described by Amnesty as a “human slaughterhouse”, was liberated after the Islamist-led opposition forces entered the capital after their lightning offensive across Syria.

    The Damascus Countryside Governorate is appealing to former regime soldiers and prison workers to give rebel forces the electronic codes to free “more than 100,000” detainees who can be seen on CCTV. Their claim could not be independently verified.

    Tens of thousands of prisoners have now been freed from the regime’s prisons across the country, where human rights groups said torture and mass hangings were carried out.

    More than 100,000 detainees! Well, it's believable. The true depravity of the Assad regime is about to be exposed.

    Any chance of the International Criminal Court getting involved? I know it's not Israel, but still….

  • The “moderate jihad” strategy

    A useful BBC report from Mina Al-Lami:

    Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani has dropped that nom de guerre associated with his jihadist past, and been using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in official communiques issued since Thursday, ahead of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

    This move is part of Jawlani's effort to bolster his legitimacy in a new context, as his Islamist militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), leading other rebel factions, announces the capture of the Syrian capital, Damascus, solidifying its control over much of the country.

    Jawlani's transformation is not recent, but has been carefully cultivated over the years, evident not only in his public statements and interviews with international outlets but also in his evolving appearance.

    Once clad in traditional jihadist militant attire, he has adopted a more Western-style wardrobe in the past years. Now, as he leads the offensive, he has donned military fatigues, symbolising his role as the commander of the operations room….

    Jawlani's journey as a jihadist began in Iraq, linked to al-Qaeda through the Islamic State (IS) group's precursor – al-Qaeda in Iraq and, later, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).

    After the 2003 US-led invasion, he joined other foreign fighters in Iraq and, in 2005, was imprisoned at Camp Bucca, where he enhanced his jihadist affiliations and later on was introduced to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the quiet scholar who would later go on to lead IS.

    In 2011, Baghdadi sent Jawlani to Syria with funding to establish al-Nusra Front, a covert faction tied to ISI. By 2012, Nusra had become a prominent Syrian fighting force, hiding its IS and al-Qaeda ties….

    To reshape his image, Jawlani actively engaged with the public, visiting displacement camps, attending events, and overseeing aid efforts, particularly during crises like the 2023 earthquakes.

    HTS highlighted achievements in governance and infrastructure to legitimise its rule and demonstrate its ability to provide stability and services.

    It has previously praised the Taliban, upon their return to power in 2021, lauding them as an inspiration and a model for effectively balancing jihadist efforts with political aspirations, including making tactical compromises to achieve their goals.

    Jawlani's efforts in Idlib reflected his broader strategy to demonstrate HTS's ability not only to wage jihad but also to govern effectively….

    Jawlani and the SG have since reassured domestic and international audiences.

    To Syrians, including minorities, they promised safety; to neighbours and powers like Russia, they pledged peaceful relations. Jawlani even assured Russia its Syrian bases would remain unharmed if attacks ceased.

    This shift reflects HTS's "moderate jihad" strategy since 2017, emphasising pragmatism over rigid ideology.

    Jawlani's approach could signal the decline of global jihad movements like IS and al-Qaeda, whose inflexibility is increasingly seen as ineffective and unsustainable.

    His trajectory might inspire other groups to adapt, marking either a new era of localised, politically flexible "jihadism" or just a temporary divergence from the traditional path in order to make political and territorial gains.

    I'm going for "just a temporary divergence" from the traditional jihad path – to seize power and gain international approval. But yes, of course, it's a huge moment for Syria to see the back of the Assad regime and the prisons being emptied and thousands of Syrians returning to their homes. So giving the new rulers some benefit of the doubt after the years of Assad brutality is entirely reasonable. But…

    The main backers of the new Syrian government will be Turkey, it seems. So, expect serious assaults on the Syrian Kurds. Which, according to the Jerusalem Post, have already begun:

    Representatives of the Syrian Kurds have recently appealed to Israeli officials via various communications channels seeking assistance and protection.

    This comes as the regime of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was crumbling, and the country was taken over by Islamist rebels.

    Earlier today, Turkish-backed Syrian rebels announced that they had begun attacking Kurdish forces in the Manbij area in northern Syria, northeast of Aleppo.

    Israel, which views the Kurdish community as a friendly and Western-oriented entity, has been working with Western countries since the beginning of the current campaign to ensure the security of the Kurds within the emerging new reality in Syria.

    The current situation, including the victory of Sunni jihadists and the intensification of the civil war, creates security and political uncertainty.

  • At the European Film Awards

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    Read all about it in the Guardian – Karla Sofía Gascón is the first openly trans actor to win best actress at Cannes for her role in Jacques Audiard’s audacious musical. She talks about awful corsets, riding motorbikes and suing her critics:

    When Madonna posted an image of the Spanish actor Karla Sofía Gascón on Instagram recently, the word she scrawled above it in vivid pink letters captured what most viewers will think after seeing her in the award-winning noir-musical Emilia Pérez: “WOW”. The 52-year-old Gascón, who was born and raised near Madrid and has spent the bulk of her career acting in Mexican telenovelas, plays the drugs kingpin Manitas, who fakes his death, transitions from male to female and reinvents herself as Pérez, a socially conscious activist. Emilia Pérez the movie, like Emilia Pérez the character, is a one-off. After all, there can’t be many films that feature brutal Mexican drug cartels and a singalong about vaginoplasties.

    As befits a project that began life as a libretto, the movie is operatic in its emotions. “Madonna was crying so much after the screening in New York,” says Gascón, perched demurely on the edge of a chaise longue in a London hotel room. Her thick chestnut hair brushes the shoulders of her black dress, which has white collars and white-trimmed short sleeves. “She told me: ‘You’re amazing!’ She was crying and crying. I said: ‘Madonna, please. It’s only a film. Be happy!’”

    You see? Men do women so much better than women do women. 

    Not that approbation precludes abuse. The morning after Gascón’s triumph, the French far-right MEP Marion Maréchal tweeted: “So a man has won best actress.” Six LGBTQ+ organisations filed complaints against Maréchal. Gascón has personally sued her.

    Well – only those on the far-right could possibly object to all this pink fabulousness. That's how it works in Guardian-land, isn't it?

  • Returning home

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