Blog

Out and about this morning:

Jack Delano – September 1941. "South Royalton, Vermont. Storefronts on the main street."

[Photo: Shorpy/Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration]

ed to women’s liberation. True equality is a collective struggle.

Fair enough. As she notes, LGBT+ equality as practised by Stonewall is indeed deeply connected to women’s liberation….they're in direct contradiction. Trans women have different priorities from real women, and, as far as Stonewall's concerned, trans wins every time.

Some readers comments:

• And what has Nancy Kelley done for the many lesbians who only wish to date biological women without having men who claim to be women foisted upon them on every chatroom and dating website? Stonewall has betrayed its LGB mission for the transdollar…
• Nancy Kelley of Stonewall claims Stonewall represents the rights of all women. So, Nancy, can you tell us what happens when the rights of one of these groups contravenes, and then supersedes, the rights of another group? It seems to me that Stonewall has only one true objective: for the rights of trans women to be deemed more important than the rights of natal women, and if natal women object they deserve to be smeared as transphobic who deserve to have their hard fought for rights removed. Stonewall has no interest in protecting the rights of natal women if these rights stand in the way of the trans activists she truly represents. At least be honest, Nancy, and stop declaring you have all women’s interests at heart. Just admit that you will side with trans activists against natal women on every single occasion and if women object to this Stonewall couldn’t care less.
• Few women have done as much harm to women's rights as Nancy Kelley (and Stonewall). Trans women are male, they have no place in facilities for women. To say Stonewall supports lesbian women is beyond risible.They expect them to date males, intact or not, who identify as women. I will not be forced to give validation to this.
• I am a woman. It's not a feeling in my head. I was born female and belong in the sex class we call women. I used to be identified by my name but thanks to Stonewall, I now have to post under a pseudonym as the very act of defining my sex - one which does not include male-bodied people - is sufficient provocation for the trans-activists, emboldened by Nancy Kelly's organisation, to send death and rape threats. Perhaps she could explain how this aids my liberation and equality.

The message about Stonewall seems to be getting through.

ed_image_1758335759.jpg” style=”width: 550px” title=”Bank-top-Easton_Bank_Top_Mohammed_Ishaq_01″ />

[Photos © Craig Easton]

s of the organisation.

“Police Scotland requires no evidence or certification as proof of biological sex or gender identity other than a person’s self-declaration, unless it is pertinent to any investigation with which they are linked as a victim, witness or accused and it is evidentially critical that we legally require this proof, or there is reason for further enquiry based on risk.”

The Scottish government declined to comment, saying that “this is a matter for Police Scotland”.

So rapists can claim they're female, have their crimes recorded as female crimes, and then be happily transported to a women's jail…

er the issue, linking the Muslim minority to a security threat represents the surest way to keep the Uighur camps open. Little evidence of links to terrorism is offered, activists have said.

“When I saw the video I couldn’t sleep for two days. I feel so bad — I didn’t expect to see him in this situation,” Ablimit said. “And I can’t do anything to help him.”

Aykanat Wahitjan’s father, Wahitjan Osman, 58, also appears in the film. He was an award-winning book editor. In the documentary he also “confesses” to altering school textbooks to promote Uighur separatism. “I was so shocked — I could hardly recognise my own father,” Wahitjan, 25, said. “What he is saying is not possible. He is not a terrorist — he wrote books.”

CGTN is part of the China Media Group, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. As well as English, it broadcasts in Spanish, Russian, Arabic and French as it seeks to shift global opinion on China. The Beijing-based network had an office in London and broadcast on Sky and Freesat. This office was closed down in February by Ofcom, which ruled that it was controlled directly by the Chinese government despite being nominally a part of a private company….

It has also been subject to complaints from Chinese exiles in Britain, who say it has broadcast footage of their relatives making forced confessions.

“Sadly, this cruel and heartbreaking situation is very commonly inflicted,” Rahima Mahmut, of the World Uighur Congress, said. “It is extremely hurtful to see your family members confessing to a so-called crime when you know that they are completely innocent.”

Despite the close ethnic ties between Xinjiang ("East Turkistan") and Turkey, Erdogan's government has been noticeably silent on the issue of the Uighur genocide as it builds economic ties with Beijing. There are, however, at least some murmurings of dissent:

A diplomatic storm has erupted in Turkey after two politicians criticised China's treatment of its Muslim Uighur community….

Meral Aksener, chairwoman of Turkey's opposition IVI party, and Ankara mayor Mansur Yavas, from the opposition CHP party, joined in the criticism….

A Turkish foreign ministry official confirmed that China's ambassador was summoned on Tuesday, without giving further details.

In recent years, thousands of Uighurs have sought refuge in Turkey because of their shared cultural ties, and communities have repeatedly demonstrated outside the Chinese consulate in Istanbul and the embassy in Ankara.

"We will not forget our brothers in captivity and we will not remain silent in the face of their persecution," Aksener had said on Twitter.

"East Turkistan (the name given by Uighurs to the Xinjiang region) will surely be free one day."

Marion Post Wolcott in the Bible Belt:

December 1940. "Religious sign on highway between Columbus and Augusta, Georgia, indicating revival of interest in religion. This sign was painted red, white and blue."

December 1940. "Religious sign on highway between Columbus and Augusta, Georgia, indicating revival of interest in religion."
[Photos: Shorpy/Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration]

an>

“People die or get injured due to mine collapses, but a lot of people also die because of disease and malnutrition,” the source said, adding, “In the first quarter of this year, [the prison] cremated over 200 prisoners that died from accidents, diseases, and malnutrition.”

There have also been instances where prisoners died while being physically assaulted by management officers in the camps.

“There have been about 16 cases of managers killing prisoners by beating them to death with whips or the butt plate of their rifle, or by punishing them by stepping on their neck with their boot,” the source said. “However, they record these cases as ‘accidental deaths’ in their reports.” The source said that camp managers frequently conceal prisoner deaths resulting from assault.

Meanwhile, the handling of corpses of prisoners who have died from accidents or disease is also conducted in a haphazard manner.

“Prisoners are more susceptible to diseases,” the source said. “The ridiculously low food provisions lead to malnutrition, and group confinement in small cells and shared spaces weakens their immunity… When the managers send a prisoner to a ‘sick room’ because he is close to death, he will come out as a corpse within two or three days.”

According to the source, prison authorities “take the dead prisoners’ bodies – usually about ten in the summer and a few dozen in the winter – and burn them all together in a secluded mountain valley. Then they just leave the ashes there.” 

the Jews of the Middle East in the event of an Axis victory, here's a Tablet article by Marc Goldberg on a largely forgotten, and in the end abortive, 1944 mission: 

During the Second World War, the Nazis and Palestinian Arab leader Haj Amin al-Husseini, mufti of Jerusalem, planned and executed a commando mission whose primary objective was killing Jews in the land of Israel. The five men who were parachuted into Palestine had all lived there for much of their lives and knew the territory well. Their plan was to incite Palestinian Arabs against Jews and to attack individual Jewish targets, such as synagogues and Jewish-owned stores. The operation was codenamed Atlas and took place in October 1944. This is the story of an event that has been all but lost to history, but which casts important light on the global dimensions of Nazi war planning—and the key role played by their willing accomplices.

Read on…

Yes I do like a song title with brackets. Here are the Temptations on the Ed Sullivan show, January 1971, with Eddie Kendricks and his beautiful falsetto taking the lead:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ4Ym9Xiw3w&w=550&h=309]

It was Kendricks' last hit with the Temps. He co-founded the group in 1960, and was there right through their so-called "Classic Five" era in the late Sixties, but wasn't happy with the whole funky "psychedelic soul" direction that Norman Whitfield was taking them in. He left in 1971 to pursue a solo career.