Mick Hartley

The Islamist veto comes to Westminster. https://t.co/HxL0vwud40

— Alan Johnson (@Fathom_Editor) February 22, 2024

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This makes it explicit. MPs wanting to be seen to take a particular line on Gaza because they want to reduce the physical danger to them and their family. Very worrying. https://t.co/mZ2UxKn8Dj

— David Gauke (@DavidGauke) February 22, 2024

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Conservative MP Charles Walker, quoted in the Spectator:

‘People are frightened. People have weaponised this debate in this Chamber. Whips are frightened for their flocks because Members of parliament now feel that they have to vote in a certain way in order to safeguard their safety and that of their family. That is a far bigger issue than the debate we are having tonight, because if people are changing their votes or their behaviour in this place because they are frightened of what may happen to them or their family out there, we have a real problem. So this point scoring off each other is not going to resolve many issues.’

And Isabel Hardman:

MPs shouldn’t be changing their votes because of threats. That’s not how democracy works. It has, however, been sliding that way for a good while: members have been self-censoring and avoiding certain debates because of the amount of abuse they get on social media about a whole range of issues. But the idea that MPs would have to vote a certain way to calm the mob that was online, in their constituencies and indeed in Westminster yesterday is still a big move from that.

MPs have been under intolerable pressure in some cases. I have spoken to a number who have stopped going out on their own and who say they feel genuinely relieved when they get out of their constituencies. They also raised concerns with the Speaker last night about their safety: it wasn’t just Starmer who tried to make the case for the Labour amendment being selected using the safety argument.

Hoyle has come under a huge amount of opprobrium over the past few hours, and that will continue today. But just imagine the reaction if a Labour MP had been attacked or their children threatened and they linked it to the fact they hadn’t been able to vote for a motion they could support on Palestine. In the fickle world of Westminster, it’s entirely likely that the narrative this morning would be ‘why couldn’t the Speaker change the rules on this sensitive topic to help MPs stay safe?’ We are all excellent at hindsight, and when it comes to MPs’ safety, hindsight weighs very heavily when there have been two murders in the past decade.

The problem is that the Speaker’s selection will not make MPs safer, because it has suggested to the people putting this pressure on members that they can force democracy to move through threats. We all respond to incentives, and Hoyle’s well-meaning attempt to help MPs has unwittingly offered an incentive to campaigners to keep intimidating members. Neither parliament nor the political parties have really worked out how to deal with the new era of mob politics. But they’re going to have to learn fast.

Another sad tale from the Daily NK, giving a flavour of life now in North Korea:

Sinuiju residents are talking about two teenagers who ended up on the streets after their mother was imprisoned for non-socialist behavior, Daily NK has learned.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Monday that the teenagers enjoyed a prosperous lifestyle just two years ago, but recently became beggars due to a sudden change in circumstances.

The siblings’ father died four years ago and their mother, surnamed Lee, is currently serving a five-year prison sentence.

Lee had an illegal Chinese-made cell phone that she used in her work as a remittance broker. Because of her extensive connections in China, she was able to process more remittances and bring in larger sums of money than other brokers. She made enough money to provide her children with an enviable level of prosperity, despite having to raise them alone.

Even during the pandemic, Lee and her children experienced no major financial hardships, which proved to be their undoing. At a time when many were struggling to put food on the table, the family’s apparent affluence led someone to tip off the police and state security agents, who soon placed the family under close surveillance.

In January 2023, Lee was followed by state security agents when she attempted to deliver money to the family members of defectors and was caught red-handed. The agents immediately searched her home, where they found a Chinese-made cell phone and foreign currency, including U.S. dollars and Chinese yuan.

Lee was arrested and her illegal phone and cash were confiscated. After an investigation, she was sentenced to five years in prison and put behind bars.

The siblings were then placed in the care of a maternal uncle. The uncle sold Lee’s house and used the proceeds to care for the siblings. But after the money ran out, his wife began to complain about the siblings every day. Tired of being a burden to their uncle, the siblings finally left his house and took to the streets.

“At the moment, the siblings go to the houses of people they know and beg for food. But that will only take them so far, and they may end up starving to death. People who know the siblings’ situation feel very sorry for them,” the source said.

“No wonder people say you should just live for the moment because death could be lurking around every corner. People are afraid that even if they’re making good money now, they could end up like the Lee family. The reality for North Koreans is that life is a ticking time bomb.”

From the Jerusalem Post:

A report analyzing numerous testimonies from the October 7 massacre specifically relating to Hamas’s sexual violence revealed that families and friends were forced by Hamas terrorists to watch their loved ones be raped and sexually assaulted at gunpoint.

The report, presented by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, analyzes confidential and public testimonies, eye-witness accounts, and interviews with victims, first responders and witnesses….

“The terrorist organization Hamas chose to harm Israel strategically in two clear ways – kidnapping citizens and committing sadistic sexual crimes,” said ARCCI CEO Orit Sulitzeanu. “Silence will be remembered as a historical stain on those who chose to remain silent and deny the sexual crimes committed by Hamas.”

The report revealed that Hamas terrorists threatened victims, often injured women, with weapons in order to rape them violently, often collectively with collaboration between multiple terrorists.

Partners, family, and friends were forced to watch to “increase the pain and humiliation for all present.”

Most of those sexually assaulted by Hamas terrorists were killed afterward, and some even during the act of rape. Others still were found dead later, their genitals mutilated beyond recognition or penetrated with weapons.

The leaders of Hamas have made it clear that this is their strategy – to rebuild and repeat. Perhaps those calling for a ceasefire and an end to the violence might, reading this, begin to understand why it's something that Israel just cannot allow.

Update: here's the ARCCI report.

The report clearly demonstrates that this is not a "malfunction" or isolated incident but a clear operational strategy involving systematic, targeted sexual abuse. The report focuses on sexual and gender-based violence during the massacre of October 7, 2023, and the war that ensued, serving as a primary testimonial foundation indicating widespread sexual crimes.

Next up, the military:

Trans military personnel born as men can live in female-only accommodation, an official government document states.

Concerns have been raised to The Telegraph that the policy risks diluting “safe spaces” for women.

The document, written as part of the JSP 889, the official guidance regarding the recruitment and management of transgender personnel in the Armed Forces, states that the “determining issue” for allocating Single Living Accommodation (SLA), where a single, or unaccompanied person lives, is the “affirmed gender” of the transgender person.

It states that “as soon as the transition process begins the person should be provided with accommodation that is appropriate to their affirmed gender”.

“From the date of transition, the person should also have use of the toilet and changing room facilities appropriate to their affirmed gender. Under no circumstances should a transgender person be expected, after transitioning, to use the facilities of their assigned gender,” it reads.

Sarah Atherton, the MP who oversaw the 2021 report which examined the levels of sexual assault and harassment in the military, said the policy felt like a “knee-jerk reaction”.

“They haven’t thought this through properly,” she said.

Well how much thinking does it take? Men shouldn't be in female-only accommodation, whether they like to wear dresses or just the usual trousers. As always, the concerns of the women are simply not considered. 

“Having done extensive work around women in the Armed Forces, I am fully aware of the extent of sexual abuse that has gone on and continues to go on. Women need to have secure accommodation where they feel safe.”

They have an ongoing issue of failing to deal with sexual abuse – so now they're planning to let men into the women's accommodation.

Washington, ca. 1901. "View of Eighth Street N.W., east side, looking north from D Street with Hoy's Hotel on the corner and the U.S. Patent Office building at the end of the street."

[Photo: Shorpy/D.C. Street Survey Collection]

I worked in the female prison estate. These girls had absolutely horrendous stories of abuse by men.

Some couldn’t even look at me as a male officer as they were literally terrified of men. It took me months to even be able to make eye contact and get their trust.

I have…

— Malcolm Tucker 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸 (@PatriotUK4Life) February 20, 2024

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Full texts – JK Rowling:

The trans activist outrage that ensues on here whenever I share my belief that jailed women shouldn't be used as validation tools or emotional support props for trans-identified male sex offenders is as revealing as it's predictable.

Such activists can't bring themselves to concede that a man who was convicted of harming women/girls ought not to be incarcerated with the demographic to whom he is a proven danger, because if they do, all their stock arguments ('no sexual predator would bother to pretend to be trans', 'no trans woman has ever harmed a woman in a women's only space', 'there is no danger in making all single sex spaces unisex') are exposed as the lies they are. If they admit that even a single man isn't a woman because he says he is, the entire edifice of gender identity ideology crumbles. This leaves activists who rely on bullying and slogans with nowhere to go but 'you hate all trans people', 'so you're saying all trans people are rapists' and, of course, 'you are causing a trans genocide.'

I think this particular issue also causes conniptions because it threatens the activists' self image. These are people who preen themselves on their kindness and virtue, so acknowledging the truth – that they're indifferent to vulnerable women being assaulted or traumatised – threatens the idea they have of themselves. They therefore double down. The prisoners complaining aren't really afraid of rape or voyeurism or violence at all, they say. They're 'not exactly delicate flowers', as one self-identified empath put it.

If you support putting violent and sexually predatory men into women's prisons, you are knowingly forcing those women to live in fear of, and, in some proven cases, to suffer abuse that many of them will have endured pre-incarceration. You are not kind. You are not righteous. Women have the basic human right not to suffer cruel and unusual punishment. #WomensRightsAreHumanRights

Malcolm Tucker:

I worked in the female prison estate. These girls had absolutely horrendous stories of abuse by men.

Some couldn’t even look at me as a male officer as they were literally terrified of men. It took me months to even be able to make eye contact and get their trust.

I have heard and read stories that I couldn’t even type here or want to think about. Serious self harm and suicide attempts were a daily occurrence, this is how hurt and emotionally broken they were.

I later worked with male sex offenders.

I can state two facts based on my experience.

1. There is ZERO place for biological male prisoners in female prisons. Their very presence is cruel and incredibly dangerous.

2. Sex offenders are by their very nature some of the most intelligent, cunning and manipulative type of offender you will encounter. They will find any loophole possible to carry on their offending.

They will – and I have evidence from friends still in the job that this is being discussed amongst their kind – use these new ridiculous cult beliefs to access women’s spaces and offend.

Using a loophole to call themselves a female to get into the women’s prisons, a far nicer environment and a safe space from retaliation by other male prisoners is simply too good to be true for these types. If we don’t stand up and talk against this, regardless of the costs to our profiles this will become a vile and cruel system.

I can assure you all that there has been sexual assaults on female prisoners by these evil men. But it is being covered up as the MoJ simply have to record it as – wait for it – female on female assault. Not investigated.

 

A grim tale from the Daily NK, showing the lengths they go to in North Korea to catch and punish anyone who dares to watch a South Korean video:

In early February 2023, a young woman knelt in a cell at a police station in Haeju, South Hwanghae Province, her hands cuffed through the iron bars. The detainee was Jeong-im (a pseudonym), a student at a teacher training college in Haeju.

Jeong-im had been picked up by police after a friend-turned-informant had snitched on her, lured by the promise of officials not to prosecute her if she confessed and turned in a friend.

As more people watch and share foreign videos, North Korean authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on the practice, using harsh disciplinary measures to instill fear….

Jeong-im, who majored in music in college, had been giving dance and singing lessons to children after class to pay for her living expenses and tuition. She was so good at singing, dancing, and playing the accordion that she was much sought after by parents of school-age children.

But then her university announced that for one month, anyone who admitted to watching, purchasing, or distributing foreign videos would be completely forgiven. The announcement prompted several students to admit to watching foreign videos, including Jeong-im’s friend.

When the friend admitted to watching videos of South Korean singing and dancing, she was pressured to name someone else, and she ended up naming Jeong-im. As a result, the music student was arrested by the police and found herself in a terrible situation.

Jeong-im’s fate was sealed when her friend-turned-informant told the police that Jeong-im was the most popular singing and dancing private tutor in Haeju and that she secretly watched South Korean videos to improve her skills. The friend said that she had only watched South Korean videos with Jeong-im twice, but that Jeong-im seemed to watch them regularly.

When Jeong-im was brought in by the police, she admitted that she had watched South Korean videos with her friend-turned-informant twice, but insisted that she did not watch them regularly and did not use them to improve her skills.

However, the police investigators did not believe Jeong-im. Instead, they forced her to stand in the cell with her hands cuffed through the bars for five days in a row, without giving her a drink of water or even a grain of corn to eat, while pressuring her to confess to her crimes.

The frustration and injustice of it all wore Jeong-im down until late one night, while everyone was asleep, she bit off her own tongue. The prison guards found her unconscious and rushed her to the hospital, which caused an uproar at the Haeju police station.

Fortunately, Jeong-im regained consciousness at the hospital. When a police investigator asked her why she had mutilated herself, Jeong-im wrote on a piece of paper, “I thought it was pointless to speak if they would continue to harass me and ignore me even if I told the truth.”

The new When Forms Come Alive exhibition on the South Bank – "movement, flux and organic growth" in contemporary sculpture:

Undulating, drooping, erupting, cascading and promiscuously proliferating, these sculptures invite a tactile gaze, and trigger physical responses. In an era when our encounters are increasingly digitised and disembodied, these artworks call to mind the pleasures of gesture and movement, the poetics of gravity and the experience of sensation itself. 

"Tunnel Boring Machines" – Teresa Solar Abboud

"Untitled (Mylar)" – Tara Donovan

Matthew Ronay

Ruth Asawa

"Quartered Meteor" – Lynda Benglis

Phyllida Barlow

"Kain naht Abel" – Franz West

"Epiphanie an Stuhlen" – Franz West

"Pumping" – Eva Fàbregas

This, from Reduxx, is a grim one:

A trans-identified male and his wife have been accused of endangering the welfare of a child after their 10-year-old autistic son was reportedly found in “squalid” conditions. Robert Eugene Plummer, 45, who identifies as transgender and uses the name Kirstyn Piper, and his wife Amy Plummer, 46, were arrested in Ocean County, New Jersey on charges endangering the welfare of their young son….

On December 11, a Detective with the Ocean County Police Department interviewed the child, who revealed that he had been living in those conditions for one year.

The child explained that the toilet did not flush, and his parents would simply wait for the toilet to fill with feces before scooping the waste out into buckets. He was unable to bathe because the bathtub was also full of feces, and had been getting bullied at school due to his poor hygiene.

Police then spoke with the child’s mother, Amy Plummer, who stated that there had been problems with the pipes in their home since March of 2022. She stated she would take the child to a nearby convenience store to defecate and wash when possible.

Amy explained she suffered from multiple physical disabilities, hindering her from walking too far, and had no income, preventing her from hiring a plumber.

She noted that the child’s father, a trans-identified male who uses the name “Kirstyn Piper” Plummer, had “taken control” of the issue and refused to seek help from anyone, the problem becoming increasingly worse over time.

In the affidavit, Kirstyn Piper, born Robert, is referred to using “she/her” pronouns. An arrest warrant shows Robert was classified as a “female.”

Well of course.

The Plummers are vocal trans activists and have frequently posted to social media about their support for gender identity ideology and “LGBTQ+ issues.” Their foray into activism appears to have begun after Robert began identifying as a “lesbian woman” sometime in 2020.

Instagram posts made by Robert via his photography business use hashtags such as #lesbianpride, #transpride, #transgirl, and #savetranskids. Robert also appears to have produced and sold stickers and merchandise featuring the slogan “protect trans kids.” In some photos, his son is seen wearing a shirt reading “I Love My Two Mommies.”…

In February of 2023, Robert penned a blog entry about the importance of exposing children to “LGBTQ+ issues and transgender rights” from an early age.

“As caregivers, it’s our responsibility to provide a safe and inclusive environment for our children, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. By exposing them to diverse perspectives and experiences, we can help them understand and appreciate the unique struggles that people from different communities face,” Robert wrote.

And you don't get much more of a diverse perspective or unique struggle than growing up in a house full of shit.

More violent women! What is the world coming too? 

A woman live-streamed the sadistic killing of a cat four months before she brutally murdered a man, a court has heard.

Scarlet Blake, 25, is accused of targeting Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, as he walked home from a night out in Oxford in July 2021.

His body was found in the River Cherwell at Parson’s Pleasure having received what appeared to be a blow to the back of his head and then having drowned.

The court also heard Blake had watched a Netflix documentary called Don’t F*** with Cats in which a man kills kittens before filming the murder of a human.

That was the Independent report a week and a half ago.

Now, from the Oxford Mail:

Scarlet Blake, now 26, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with the murder of Jorge Carreno.

She is accused of allegedly strangling the 30-year-old Spanish man at Parsons Pleasure in the early hours of July 25, 2021 before pushing him in the water….

However, the prosecution's case showed messages between Blake and an ex-partner called Ashlynn Bell where she said she wanted to kill her parents.

They read: "I would murder my mum for you…I also want to kill my dad one day…maybe when they are old I can just put a respirator with pure nitrogen on their faces while they sleep."

When giving evidence on Monday (February 19), Blake explained the messages were a metaphor, expressing her hurt after her parents didn't immediantely accept her as transgender.

Aha! Now, at last, we get it. Scarlet Blake is a man. And he killed, possibly, because he's trans and messed up about it. But always always "she" in the report.

The BBC too, of course:

A woman accused of killing a man pretended to enjoy torturing and killing a cat to impress an internet girlfriend, a court has heard.

Jorge Carreno, 30, was pulled from the River Cherwell at Parson's Pleasure, Oxford, in July 2021.

Scarlet Blake, 25, is accused of targeting him after he spent a night out with work colleagues.

Oxford Crown Court has heard she livestreamed the torturing and killing of a cat months before.

Ms Blake, of Crotch Crescent [!], Oxford, denies murder.

Ms Blake, who is a trans woman, has started giving evidence and told the jury about an online relationship that developed with Ashlynn Bell, another trans woman, in the US.

In one message to her, Ms Blake wrote: "I'm a borderline psychopath, I love death lol."

The "trans" is dropped in as though it's some minor detail: Ms Blake, who is a trans woman; Ms Blake, who is a redhead; Ms Blake, who is left-handed. It's not some minor detail – it's clearly central to the whole wretched saga. This is not a woman, and this is not a woman's crime.

Some honest reporting would be nice….