Author: Mick Hartley

style=”font-size: 11pt”>Last December, after he failed to show up at a Toronto event celebrating the imprisoned Hong Kong dissident Jimmy Lai, it was disclosed that Cotler was under 24-hour police protection because of a threat to his life. The assassination plot was hatched in Tehran.

“Seeing that was heartbreaking,” Cotler-Wunsh told me. “The thought that this would happen in Canada, the thought that in this multicultural beacon of dignity for all, that Canada’s former justice minister, a human rights warrior who fought for hundreds of people around the world, is under house arrest—you could say, trapped in his own home—is really heartbreaking.”

Heartbreaking is a word that well describes the way Canadian Jews see their predicament these days. “I have never seen in all my life such a thing, such expressions from people of all ages, such expressions of apprehension, of isolation, insecurity, foreboding, expressed in different ways,” said Cotler, 84, when we spoke last week. “I see it when I meet with students; I see it when I meet with elderly people. I hear, ‘This is not the Canada I know,’ or ‘This is not the Canada I came to.’ Or ‘This is not the Canada I have ever experienced. This is something else.’ And they are afraid to publicly express it.”

In part, that’s because antisemitism is no longer just some protest culture eccentricity. It’s going mainstream, from the bottom to the top.

le=”font-size: 11pt”>Many ethical questions remain. How can you create a control group when those children on placebos would quickly know, since their puberty would begin? How can you disentangle the benefits of psychotherapy — which Cass has promised all patients — from those of a drug? How do you factor in that most patients have co-morbidities such as anorexia, autism or trauma from homophobic bullying or sexual abuse? Will a cohort of children feel under pressure from activists to be positive about these campaigned-for drugs? A key justification for blockers, especially among late-transitioning males, is they allow trans people to “pass” more easily as the opposite sex. But how can such cosmetic advantages be weighed against loss of physical capacity to have children?

Above all, how do you select child patients to test a drug when 85 per cent of dysphoria cases resolve themselves at puberty — but doctors can never predict which ones? And what if participants, whose bodies and lives are changed forever, have later regrets?

Maybe, say some clinicians, it would be better to study the huge new trans patient cohort that emerged only a decade ago: teenage girls. Or if a long-term view is required, compel adult gender clinics to release data on about 9,000 children who graduated into their care. (Six out of seven clinics have refused.) Yet there is one reason the NHS is compelled to launch a trial. If such an experiment were deemed too risky, why the hell was it being conducted at Gids since 2011?

It is time to throw puberty blockers into the pile of medical crazes, like lunchtime lobotomies and trepanning. End too the mad notion that demanding these terrible drugs is the metric of how much you care about gender-questioning young people. Are we really going to turn more children into lab rats because we haven’t yet convinced ideologues such as Creasy? Because the chances are no medical trial, no amount of scientific evidence, ever will.

*trying to stop laughing*

Even if they cast a man who claims to be a woman in the role of a man who claims to be a woman it will still just be a man playing the role of a man who claims to be a woman. There’s absolutely no way around this, fellas. pic.twitter.com/QTTIYvUVW3

— Sall Grover (@salltweets) December 13, 2024

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The Times, on Surrey council boss Joanna Killian:

The leader of the county council responsible for providing social care to Sara Sharif was given a £234,000 salary months before she was murdered.

Well, at least she died a wealthy woman.

Confusion in North Korea over this idea that, in South Korea, people can call, in public, for the resignation of their leader. How can such a thing be possible?

Students at Haeju Teachers College in South Hwanghae province faced disciplinary action for questioning content from a lecture about South Korean politics, Daily NK has learned.

“The college held a year-end lecture about South Korean public protests calling for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s resignation. Several students received warnings for privately discussing unfamiliar concepts from the lecture,” a source in the province told Daily NK on Wednesday.

According to the source, students attended a lecture about South Korea’s political situation on Dec. 4. While the lecture focused on daily protests against the Yoon administration, students became particularly curious when the speaker mentioned falling presidential approval ratings.

After the lecture, small groups of students gathered to discuss what approval ratings meant, how they were measured, and why anyone would be allowed to assess a leader’s popularity. One student reported these discussions to the college’s Socialist Patriotic Youth League chapter, which escalated the matter to the college’s party committee.

The party committee viewed the students’ questions about leadership approval ratings as challenging their authority. Several students were summoned for questioning by the college’s state security agent.

“The students explained to the security agent that they were simply curious about the South Korean president’s approval rating and had no ulterior motives. Nevertheless, they were ordered to write self-criticism statements to prevent rumors from spreading,” the source said.

“In their statements, the students expressed regret for making inappropriate comments and promised to maintain proper conduct during future lectures,” the source added.

Following the incident, the college has completely banned students from discussing politics.

UK Conservative Party leader @KemiBadenoch explains why she is a “gender critical feminist.”

“To say that you can just self-define as a woman, for me, has no basis whatsoever in reality. When I call myself a ‘feminist,’ it is about equality. I believe women should be able to do… pic.twitter.com/53mmvjECSx

— Honestly with Bari Weiss (@thehonestlypod) December 12, 2024

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“To say that you can just self-define as a woman, for me, has no basis whatsoever in reality. When I call myself a ‘feminist,’ it is about equality. I believe women should be able to do the same things as men. It’s about having equal agency and equal power.”

“One of the issues with feminism is that it became too academic and started going down rabbit holes, such as arguing that being a woman is merely a social construct. But no, it isn’t—it’s real, it’s biology. While there are stereotypes and social constructs, being a woman involves a shared experience that connects every woman on the planet.”

“What drives me crazy is seeing how the lives of young, sometimes very young, gay or autistic children are being destroyed in the name of trans activism, which often conflicts with feminism. Many women who call themselves feminists, in my view, are on the wrong side. They don’t understand what they are fighting for.”

“Meeting children and young people who have been effectively sterilized is horrific. How can people allow this to happen and justify it as just a matter of self-definition? I am very, very much against that.”

Watch the entire conversation: https://thefp.pub/3BpillT

Urgh. The language used by MPs protesting the necessary, sensible and welcome ban of puberty blockers for children caught up in transgender identity ideology:

– Maggie Chapman talked of 'trans siblings'
– Sian Berry 'trans youth'
– Stella Creasy 'young trans men', and

— Dr Karen Ingala Smith (@K_IngalaSmith) December 12, 2024

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The language used by MPs protesting the necessary, sensible and welcome ban of puberty blockers for children caught up in transgender identity ideology:

– Maggie Chapman talked of 'trans siblings'
– Sian Berry 'trans youth'
– Stella Creasy 'young trans men', and
– Nadia Whittome 'young trans people'.

It sounds a lot less palatable if you say you are against 'children' being prevented from taking drugs that will make them infertile, in circumstances where where there are grave doubts that consent can be meaningful and where there is an absence of proof that those drugs are safe or effective.

Again: there are no trans youth. It's not a thing. No one is born in the wrong body. There are only victims of a social contagion who will in the majority of cases grow up to be gay. They should be left alone to go through puberty; not be the subject of irreversible medical experimentation with – as Cass showed – no demonstrable benefits.

George Galloway swims, as ever, in murky waters. At least – some consolation – he's not at all happy with the latest developments in Syria. “October 7 now looks like a very bad idea, and it makes you wonder whose idea it was anyway.” Hmm.

From MEMRI TV:

Iranian Professor Mohammad Marandi, who teaches English at Tehran University, told former British MP George Galloway in a December 8, 2024 interview following the collapse of the Bashar Al-Assad regime that “Netanyahu has succeeded in raising the black flag of ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Damascus.” He lamented that after “what Erdoğan has done” he can no longer say that Israel has been defeated. Galloway replied that in fact, the collapse of the Assad regime is an Israeli victory and echoing a post on X he had written earlier that day, he said: “October 7 now looks like a very bad idea, and it makes you wonder whose idea it was anyway.” Marandi discussed Iranian regional influence saying that while Erdoğan was not serious about the Palestinian cause and did not give Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank a single bullet, Iran supplied weapons to the West Bank. He further said that Iran had sent troops and advisors to Damascus in order to ward off the opposition, but President Bashar Al-Assad and the Syrian army refused to fight them.

Not necessarily an Israeli victory, but certainly an Iranian defeat. Poor George.

Oh lord, that hat….

Translation: 'Dangerous, violent man who subjected a woman to terrible sexual and physical abuse is now pretending to be a woman in the hope of garnering sympathy and leniency from the judicial system.'https://t.co/27QqMRE6XW

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 12, 2024

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The Manchester Evening News report:

A judge has jailed a ‘dangerous’ woman for violent physical and sexual abuse.

Angel Hill, 20, was handed an extended sentence for her crimes. Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Hill, who is transitioning from male to female, had demonstrated ‘violent, manipulative and controlling behaviour’.

She pleaded guilty to assault by penetration, sexual assault, strangulation and threatening with a bladed article in relation to the victim. “I conclude you have no insight regarding your behaviour at all,” Judge Jason MacAdam told the defendant.

“I see no evidence whatsoever that would lead me to conclude you are motivated to change your behaviour. Your approach being ‘it’s all about me’. The consequences of your actions don’t seem to register in your thought process, or if they do you ignore them. I find you to be dangerous, in the legal sense.”

Hill, of High Peak, Derbyshire, was sentenced to an extended sentence of 11 years, including seven years in prison and four years on extended licence.

Prosecuting, Stuart Neale said that the victim had struggled to breathe when Hill committed the strangulation offence. He said that Hill had said ‘I’m going to kill you’ earlier on the same occasion.

A dangerous women? She? He's a man, ffs.

In Iran, the Khamenei regime’s parliament has passed new laws allowing the death penalty for women who refuse to cover their hair.

On the very same night as this shocking announcement, Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi performed without a hijab (veil).

The concert was streamed… pic.twitter.com/d17oKvLoIm

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) December 12, 2024

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The concert was streamed live on her YouTube channel, quickly going viral on social media.

Ahmadi is literally risking her life by performing with her hair uncovered.

Doesn’t this deserve protests, boycotts, and encampments? 

The brave Iranian women are waiting for your outrage.

Latest:

The Judiciary of the Islamic Republic has announced legal proceedings against Parastoo Ahmadi and others involved in producing an online musical performance….

Ahmadi wrote: “I am Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I like. This is a right I could not ignore – singing for the land I passionately love. Here, in this part of our dear Iran, where history and our legends intertwine, listen to my voice.”

Iranians on social media have praised Ahmadi for her defiance, as singing is forbidden for women under the Islamic Republic’s law.

“I’m proud of her,” one user wrote on X. “Parastoo Ahmadi held a concert in Iran without a hijab. Her courage and this act will be remembered in history.”

Another user shared: “I watched this video and cried with all my heart. For 45 years, women have been fighting despite gender apartheid in Iran, struggling for their most basic rights. For 45 years, a woman’s voice, body, and existence have been banned in Iran.”

According to the Mizan news agency, the Judiciary declared the performance “illegal, lacking legal permits, and not adhering to the country’s legal and cultural standards.”