Mick Hartley

A return to Kenwood, Hampstead Heath, this morning:

I’m at UCLA and I just met Clementine, who recently detransitioned.

When she was 12, Johanna Olson-Kennedy at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles put her on puberty blockers.

At 13, she was put on testosterone.

At only 14 years of age, she was given a double mastectomy!… pic.twitter.com/J9MMSPXc6e

— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) October 22, 2024

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Full text:

When she was 12, Johanna Olson-Kennedy at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles put her on puberty blockers.

At 13, she was put on testosterone.

At only 14 years of age, she was given a double mastectomy!

Clementine had suffered sexual abuse, and that was the source of great trauma, and is why she didn’t want to be a girl.

Johanna Olson-Kennedy didn’t care about that. Within 30 minutes of her first appointment she was told she needed to go on puberty blockers, or she might kill herself.

Her parents were told they could have a dead daughter or a live son. This is standard practice at gender clinics. The only way they can justify this child abuse is to say that kids will die if they don’t do it.

Testosterone caused psychosis so Clementine went off it at 17.

She has now just turned 20, and can probably never have kids. She’s trying to get reconstructive surgery but insurance companies only want to pay for destruction of children’s bodies, not reconstruction.

I hope Clementine sues, and helps to bring down this industry, but mostly I’m incredibly thankful for her bravery in speaking up.

If you don’t believe this is happening. please listen to her story.

Nassim Badani (a pseudonym) on Lebanon after the death of Nasrallah:

All the blood is in vain. With deterrence now gone, the blood of Hezbollah’s many martyrs is in vain. The blood Hezbollah spilled in Syria to keep its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, in power was in vain.

Hezbollah and their allies killed hundreds of thousands to help Assad claw back control of the country. They supposedly entrenched themselves on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, promising a new front with Israel if war were to break out.

None of that happened. Bashar has been quiet and largely stayed out of the conflict in Gaza. The so-called Golan Front was never activated — was there ever one to begin with?

Invading Syria was sold as the necessary action to preserve and improve Hezbollah’s resistance capabilities. But when it came to it, these capabilities seemed nowhere to be found.

In the end, Hezbollah turned into a cliche. Across the 20th century, Arab despots instrumentalized the Palestinian cause and, under the pretext of fighting Israel, turned their guns on their own people and sowed tyranny….

Nasrallah is dead. No one is coming to save us.

Joan Smith at UnHerd on the SNP 24 gender nonsense (yesterday):

What’s really pernicious about this exercise, aside from being a waste of time and money, is the way it seeks to co-opt those of us who don’t buy into identity theory. We’re “agender”, according to the Scottish government, which means “a person who does not identify as having a gender”. A normal human being, in other words.

Not sure about that. As I understand it those of us who don't believe in gender theory are just dismissed as boring old "cisgender", bovinely content to amble through life with the sex/gender with which we were "assigned" at birth. "Agender" then means a kind of extreme non-binary rejection of any sex/gender distinction at all – a Nietzchean Beyond Man and Woman, perhaps. But I could be wrong. This is all arcane cult-speak after all. 

Scotland was one of the cradles of the Enlightenment, but it turned out that a couple of centuries of rationality was no defence against a belief system which is akin to magic. Suddenly, a handful of Scottish politicians affect to believe that sex isn’t fixed, that men can magically become women, and anyone who protests is smeared as Right-wing or “transphobic”.

A group of people insistent on defining themselves in any way they choose has thus denied that courtesy to everyone else. It’s clear that the terror of being called a bigot has affected politicians throughout the UK, and the impact is evident in the absurd documents just published by the Scottish government’s chief statistician.

When will someone call a halt to all this? We’ve witnessed far too much bowing and scraping to what is in effect a reality-denying cult. There are only two sexes, and collecting information about “gender” is nothing more than an exercise in appeasing narcissists.

Another one. From Reduxx:

A trans-identified male from Chester, UK, has been sentenced to 40 months in prison after being found in possession of child sexual abuse images and attempting to contact a child for sexual abuse. Chloee-Mae Danvers, 25, was a player with the “Trans & Enby Football Club in Liverpool.”

Danvers, previously known as Thomas Quinn, was already a “prolific” registered sex offender when he was caught hoarding child sexual abuse materials on July 15. Officers with the Sex Offenders Management Unit attended Danvers’ home address on Housman Close as part of their routine checks, and inspected his electronic devices in accordance with his conditions.

Upon doing so, officers located two Category A indecent images of children in a deleted folder stored on Danvers’ mobile phone. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, Category A child pornography is defined as depicting “penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal or sadism.” At that time, Danvers also admitted to attempting to wipe his laptop of evidence.

Despite the seriousness of the crime, Danvers was released into the community awaiting a hearing on charges of creating indecent images of children. But just weeks later, police became aware that Danvers had been using an undeclared social media account to communicate with a minor.

On August 5, officers seized Danvers’ electronic devices and found he had been attempting to make sexual contact with a 9-year-old girl. He had also been sharing Category A and Category B child sexual abuse images via the internet using social media accounts he had kept private from police.

Today, Danvers was sentenced to 40 months in prison during an appearance at Chester Crown Court.

Following his sentencing, Cheshire Police issued a statement in which Detective Constable Stephen Park referred to Danvers by “they/them” pronouns.

“Danvers is a prolific sex offender and an incredibly dangerous individual, and I welcome the sentence handed to them today,” Park said. “They were left with no choice but to plead guilty after a catalogue of evidence was gathered against them – including evidence of indecent material involving young children being discovered on their device.”

Why this craven pandering to the man's absurd pronoun demands? ["Enby", as in the football club, is NB, non-binary.]

An odd postscript:

On his X profile, Danvers frequently discussed his love for science fiction, notably Star Trek. In 2005, detectives from the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit claimed that of the over 100 offenders they had arrested in the previous four years, “all but one” was a “hard-core Trekkie.”

Not sure what to make of that. It's fandom, Jim, but not as we know it. 

Some say “there’s a difference between the Islamic Republic & its proxies”

Yes, there is a difference.

Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen are what it looks like before they’ve won.

The Islamic Republic in Iran is what it looks like after they’ve won.

— Elica Le Bon الیکا‌ ل بن (@elicalebon) October 21, 2024

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MEMRI TV:

British-Palestinian journalist Abdel Bari Atwan claimed that Israelis are making plans to flee Israel after it collapses, in an October 14, 2024 video on his YouTube Channel. He said that most of the Ashkenazi Jews returned to Western countries, and similarly, a million descendants of Moroccan Jews wish to return to Morocco. Atwan continued to claim that there is a proposed bill in Morocco that would allow these Moroccan Jews, their children, and grandchildren, to return to Morocco. He continued to say that the “brothers” who demonstrated against Israel oppose this bill. Atwan said that there is no place for Israelis in any Arab country and that they are criminals who should be put on trial and executed for their crimes.

Alan Johnson comments:

Three points. 1. The BBC used to give this vicious antisemite a regular platform. Gavin Esler would treat him as a valued interlocutor every weekend on Dateline London until 2022 when the show was dropped. 2. It's all lies. We are dealing with an entire political culture built on lies, illusions, and fantasies: a Comical Ali Culture. 3. The ranting. Always with the bloody ranting.

 

She speaks fluent Persian.

Thank you BBC Farsi for the chance to convey my message in Persian: Why would Iranians actively choose to follow the footsteps of Nazis, Pan-Arabists and Soviets and support Palestinianism as the ideology of no Jewish state? They were all defeated and in the dustbin of history. https://t.co/dKuKZEba5j

— Dr. Einat Wilf (@EinatWilf) October 21, 2024

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Though opinions differ on the accent:

"Wow I didn't know you were so fluent in Persian. You've got Shirazi accent, nice."

"You've really nailed the Tehrani accent."

From the Daily NK:

The Military Security Command, the North Korean military’s counterintelligence agency, has circulated a report detailing cases of illegal handling of foreign media within the organization over the past year. Additionally, a public trial was held in a military front-line unit to set an example.

The report, covering incidents from August 2023 to September 2024, was distributed to state security bureaus at the corps and command levels throughout the military on Oct. 2. A military source told Daily NK recently that the report’s main objectives are to monitor and punish ideological disloyalty among young soldiers and prevent information leaks to the outside world.

The day after distribution of the report, a public trial was held in a military front-line unit of the II Corps stationed in Kaepung county. Nine male soldiers in their 20s, investigated between June and early October for handling foreign media, stood trial. The location was chosen due to the high number of such cases in the area and to increase vigilance among soldiers close to the South Korean border.

During the trial, seven soldiers were convicted of distributing illegal videos and sentenced to dishonorable discharge and prison terms of up to ten years and six months. Two others, identified as ringleaders in circulating unauthorized foreign-made electronic devices, received death sentences. The seven incarcerated soldiers were immediately sent to prison, while the two sentenced to death were executed at the unit’s firing range the following day.

Simple as that.

Anna Slatz at Reduxx:

The father of a transgender athlete has been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for distributing child pornography. Marc Jacques, the father of Maelle Jacques, cited his son’s transgender identity and his own advocacy for transgender rights in his letter to the court requesting a non-custodial sentence.

What are the chances? – a trans son with a father into child porn.

On his laptop, Jacques was found to have stored 162 files containing child pornography, with an additional 60 files on his iPhone, and 6 files on his desktop computer. In one of the videos described by prosecutors, a female child was seen being orally raped.

Because he has two sons he has full custody of, Jacques was not remanded to custody and was instead released with conditions to self-report back to court for his hearings. On February 26, 2024, Jacques pleaded guilty to knowingly distributing child pornography, and waived his right to have his case heard before a grand jury.

Jacques’ fatherhood and children became a central point during sentencing, and both of his sons penned letters to the court requesting their father receive probation in lieu of a prison sentence.

Maelle Jacques, 16, is a trans-identified boy who has become a controversial athlete at Kearsarge Regional High School for advocating for the elimination of female-only sports. In April, Maelle testified at the New Hampshire state legislature in opposition to a bill seeking to prohibit males from self-identifying into women’s sports.

in his letter to the court, Maelle characterized his father as showing “sheer determination to improve from mistakes he’s made in the past,” and argued that his father should not be sent to prison because it would compromise his own ability to advocate for trans rights.

“The work I have begun to do with the ACLU in regard to my existence as a trans girl in sports is also reliant upon his moral support in my testifying and meeting with Senators,” Maelle wrote. “A prison sentence would also harm me and my brother’s future as we would stop receiving support for college payments without his salary.”

Jacques’ other child, Remi, similarly argued that his father should not be sent to prison, and highlighted his father’s support for LGBTQ issues. He also noted that their biological mother was not supportive of Maelle’s desire to participate in women’s sports, and that his father was a better caregiver as a result.

Another character reference was provided by Dr. Elizabeth Counselman-Carpenter, a professor of social work at Adelphi University, who, like Maelle and Remi, pointed out that Jacques was a “committed member of his community and LGBTQIA+ activist” in her argument against a custodial sentence.

Jacques also wrote a lengthy letter to the court in his own defense, noting the work he had been doing with the ACLU and GLAAD to support Maelle’s fight to be allowed to continue participating in girls’ sport.

Significantly, his letter inadvertantly reveals that he would have been actively attending meetings with politicians and political organizations with his son even after pleading guilty to distributing child pornography.

Well, what's a spot of violent child pornography compared to his fine work advocating for men in women's sport, and being a committed LGBTQIA+ activist?

Jacques went on to suggest that Maelle may commit suicide if he was not allowed to remain free from a custodial sentence arrangement, and notes that Maelle’s mother does not support his son’s gender identity in the same way that he does….

Reduxx located a social media profile belonging to Jacques showing he was an ardent supporter of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, being originally from Quebec, Canada. In 2021, Jacques shared a CBC article on a transgender olympian, captioning it: “Maelle, you can achieve your dreams. I love you.”