Ten years ago today.
Ten years ago today, two Islamist gunmen burst into the Charlie Hebdo office and murdered 12 people in cold blood for depicting Mohammed in a series of satirical cartoons. They were butchered for disrespecting Islam. pic.twitter.com/SJaQwr2Efz
— Jonny Best (@JonnyWorst) January 7, 2025
Dominic Green at The Free Press has the details.
The grooming and serial rape of thousands of English girls by men of mostly Pakistani Muslim background over several decades is the biggest peacetime crime in the history of modern Europe. It went on for many years. It is still going on. And there has been no justice for the vast majority of the victims.
That’s a very large claim. Is it really Europe’s biggest peacetime crime? Bigger than what Anders Breivik did for instance? Bigger than the July 7 bombings in London? These things are hard to measure.
… Read the restBritish governments, both Conservative and Labour, hoped that they had buried the story after a few symbolic prosecutions in the
Well clearly this business of Musk and the grooming gangs is going to run and run, so let’s remind ourselves of the background.
… Read the restThe row between Mr Musk and Starmer centres around a series of high-profile cases where groups of men – mainly of Pakistani descent – were convicted of sexually abusing and raping predominantly young white girls around the UK.
In 2012 The Times newspaper investigated Rotherham grooming gangs, which led to a major inquiry. At least 1,400 children were subjected to appalling sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, according to a 2014 report written by Prof Alexis Jay. The report made headlines in the UK and around the world and led to major debates in
… Read the restTrudeau, the latest incumbent to be driven out amid rising voter dissatisfaction worldwide, said it had become clear to him that he cannot “be the leader during the next elections due to internal battles.” He planned to stay on as prime minister until a new leader of the Liberal Party is chosen.
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The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada internationally. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if the government does not stem what Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs in the U.S. — even though far fewer of them cross into the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has
It seems that Labour made a slight error. It’s tricky finding an ordinary news story on it, because of the taboo on slang words for the female genitalia. Yet again social meeja has to substitute.
These are the actual lyrics of the song Labour used for their latest Tiktok advert. https://t.co/1G9crXLtqW pic.twitter.com/BdpCEB6pGO
— Alex Webster (@alexmaccaroon) January 6, 2025
What was that about grooming again?… Read the rest
… Read the restEmmanuel Macron took a not-so-thinly veiled swipe at Elon Musk on Monday, accusing him of meddling in European politics and backing what the French president called a “reactionary movement” across the world.
While Macron did not name the controversial tech billionaire in his annual speech to French ambassadors gathered in Paris, the description was unmistakable.
“Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany,” Macron said in a wide-ranging foreign policy speech at the Elysée Palace.
Macron’s comments, however, did not go
… Read the restWhen the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was asked in an interview about the barrage of insults being directed at him and other German leaders by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, his reply was: “Don’t feed the troll.”
Speaking to the German weekly Stern, Scholz described the criticisms as nothing new. “You have to stay cool,” he said in the interview. “As Social Democrats, we have long been used to the fact that there are rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics – and do not hide their opinions.”
He said he would make no efforts to engage with Musk, who has endorsed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)
Musk sez: Declare war on the UK, or no?
Elon Musk has questioned whether the United States should “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government” after
hitting out[raging] at top U.K. lawmakers.…
Musk accused the U.K. Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist” on Friday, before publishing a series of posts calling for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be ousted and face jail time over how child grooming gangs and other criminals who targeted children have been prosecuted.
His criticisms of the U.K. government over the weekend culminated in a poll, where he posed the concept of “liberating the people of Britain” to the platform’s users.
… Read the restAmerica should liberate the people of
The Pissed Off Lawyer, aka the lawyer who claims to be a man but is a woman, has a pattern. It’s not a good pattern.
When I hear “I want to eradicate gender ideology,” the translation is “I want to eradicate trans people.” Full stop.
— The Pissed Off Lawyer (@legaltweetz) January 2, 2025
No. That’s wrong. The issue really is the ideology. Nobody wants to genocide the people who believe trans ideology, we want to get rid of the ideology. Those really are two different things.
But, the next day…
Translation: “If there were no trans people, there would be no problem.” pic.twitter.com/qLfF5wdlLb
— The Pissed Off Lawyer (@legaltweetz) January 4, 2025
No. Again. It’s not about getting rid … Read the rest
Originally a comment by Artymorty on Friends in high places.
Taiwan is almost the size of Australia, population-wise. The idea that the democratic freedom of some 23 million people ought to be erased for any reason, let alone some romantic interpretation of the Maoist takeover of Beijing in 1949 or whatever, is absurd to me.
I know that “freedom” is a word that has been somewhat tainted by the Right, turned into empty jingo, but seriously: freedom versus non-freedom is not a two-way street. When people obtain freedom, they have to fight to keep it. And when they lose it, it’s often almost impossible to get it back. The Chinese Communist Party is a force for destroying individuals’ freedom, … Read the rest
Helen Lewis makes an important point in her piece in the Atlantic on male trans athletes in women’s sport.
The story of transgender women competing in female sports is frequently told as one of inclusion—creating opportunities for people to compete as their authentic selves. But for athletes such as Liilii, these rules were a matter of exclusion. Every spot taken by someone with a male athletic advantage is an opportunity closed to a female rival.
It’s obvious but it doesn’t get put that way often enough. Bro, your “inclusion” is our exclusion so shut up.
… Read the rest…the performance gap between men and women is estimated to vary from 10 to 50 percent, depending on the sport. Yet progressives have downplayed that
When all else fails there’s still the hilarity of Musk v Everyone.
Elon Musk has called for Nigel Farage to be replaced as leader of Reform UK, just weeks after reports the multi-billionaire was in talks to donate to the party.
In a post on his social media site X, Musk said Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the party – but did not explain his reasoning.
Farage suggested this was due to a disagreement over Musk’s support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
No you’re the sellout no you are no you are
… Read the restThe comment from the tech entrepreneur comes hours after Farage described Musk as a “friend” in an interview on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura
Originally a comment by Arcadia on Sez who?
This one chafes, it really does. I’m a lifelong couch potato, and ParkRun has been instrumental in changing that for me, in my forties. ParkRun is inclusive, in genuine and meaningful ways. When I go, I see all elements of society, coming together to cover five kilometres on foot or in a wheelchair. There’s no judgment over being slow, old, overweight, uncool, poorly coordinated, disabled, etc. There’s hardcore fitness fanatics, gym bros, skinny young fashionable types, parents with kids, pregnant women, young keen kids dragging their parents along, young sulky kids being dragged along, middle aged walkers, older ex triathletes, a young disabled man with his carer who can keep up and … Read the rest
I’ve written about the grooming gangs many times over the years. It’s a very large and very horrible subject.
Today in the Telegraph:
How the grooming gangs scandal was covered up
… Read the restSafeguarding minister Jess Phillips’ decision to block a public inquiry into the Oldham grooming gangs seems, from the outside, to be almost inexplicable. Children were raped and abused by gangs of men while the authorities failed to protect them.
A review of the abuse in Oldham was released in 2022, but its terms of reference only stretched from 2011-2014. Survivors from the town said that they wanted a government-led inquiry to cover a longer period, and catch what the previous review had missed. In Jess Phillips’s letter to the
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has distanced himself from Elon Musk’s support for jailed far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson. The tech multi-billionaire added his voice to calls to release Yaxley-Lennon, who was jailed in October after admitting contempt of court by repeating false claims against a Syrian refugee.
Farage has been proud to show off the support of Musk, flying to Florida to meet the owner of social media site X, who helped President-elect Donald Trump win the US election. But Musk’s support for Yaxley-Lennon is uncomfortable for Farage, who has made it clear over a number of years that he does not want him in his political party.
Welp, thieves … Read the rest
A puberty blockers resignation:
A councillor has quit the Labour Party in a row over its transgender policies. Zoe Hughes, Exeter City Council member, said the party’s support of a ban on puberty blockers for under-18s questioning their gender identity was “a policy I refuse to stand by and accept”.
So she’s confident it’s a good thing to tamper with teenagers’ puberties? She’s that sure it’s better to stop normal physical maturation than it is to let it proceed without interference? It’s an odd thing to be that confident about. It’s not as if being frozen physically at age 12 or 13 has no consequences.
… Read the restThe Labour Party said it was putting the welfare of children first and its
Not surprisingly, Musk’s insults and interventions aren’t all that popular in Germany.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling in second place at 20% and has seen prominent support by multibillionaire Elon Musk.
The South African-born entrepreneur, 53, is seen as having intervened directly in the election campaign, as well as making provocative attacks on the leaders of Germany’s highest democratic institutions: first the chancellor and then the head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“Steinmeier is an anti-democratic tyrant!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X. “Shame on him.”
In sharp contrast to Donald Trump, yeah? Nothing tyrannical or anti-democratic about him, right?
… Read the restMusk’s latest remarks came after he published an opinion piece in a German daily supporting the far-right AfD. A German
Trump seeks clemency for…TikTok.
… Read the restThe U.S. Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court late on Friday to reject President-elect Donald Trump’s request to delay implementation of a law that would ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale by Jan. 19.
Last week, Trump filed a legal brief arguing he should have time after taking office on Jan. 20 to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The court is set to hear arguments in the case on Jan. 10. The law, passed in April, requires TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest the platform’s U.S. assets or face a ban. TikTok did not immediately comment.
The DOJ said in its filing that Trump’s request could only be
Musk is throwing his weight around more by the hour. It’s more than slightly alarming.
Musk has feverishly spent the past few days boosting disinformation and divisive rhetoric on X about Muslim grooming gangs in the UK, posting almost 200 times, a WIRED review of the centibillionaire’s output has found.
These “grooming gangs” reference an organized child sexual abuse scandal that came to light in 2014 involving gangs of British Pakastani men who abused an estimated thousands of girls in several towns in the north of England over the course of several decades.
It is in fact an important subject, but Musk doesn’t really give a shit about thousands of girls in working class cities, he gives a shit … Read the rest
Dawkins is in good form in the Spectator:
… Read the restIn a recent interview, I imprudently said I was a “cultural Christian”, and I haven’t heard the end of it. I find myself unwillingly counted in the Great Christian Revival (translation, “We don’t actually believe that stuff ourselves, but we like it when other people do”) which is the subject of so much wishful thinking these days.
Of course I’m a cultural Christian. Always have been. Packed off to Anglican schools, I was confirmed when too young to know better. Large chunks of the English Hymnal were imprinted in my long-term memory, and duly pop out when I’m fooling around with my electronic clarinet. I know my way around the Bible,
