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etrators appeared to be disproportionately of Muslim background, Quilliam did a great service in not only addressing the issue but doing so from a Muslim direction. This suggested to Muslims and non-Muslims alike that there were Muslims in this country willing to stand up to these problems, not simply sweep them under the rug and condemn people who’d noticed them.

Once again the response was clear. Every Islamist and Islamist-sympathising group and individual in the UK lammed into Quilliam. It was accused of being ‘far right’ or aiding the ‘far right’, just as it had spent years being accused of ‘Islamophobia’.

Of course, as we see from the above links, such accusations were also prominent across the left – most notably in the Guardian.

It is interesting, this disproportionate vitriol targeted not just at reformers but at real prominent moderates within Islam. The hatred and venom aimed at Nawaz and his colleagues has been exceptional. They have literally had to fear for their lives. And the hatred has far outweighed any aimed at Islamist groups operating in Britain. Certainly the moderates have got far more flak than the Hamas leaders living here. Or the Jamaat types and other backward tribalists who populate the discourse and occasionally the airwaves. And why should that be?

For two decades now, that has been perhaps the most suggestive question. Outside a school in Batley in recent weeks some Muslims have been organising to intimidate a teacher, his family, bosses and colleagues. Will there be campaigns against them? Will the ‘mainstream’ Muslim organisations do anything to de-escalate the problem? As always they will pretend to be brokers between people who can’t be negotiated with and the state.

I don’t say this with any glee, but anybody who put their chips on Islamic reformation or moderate Islam saving everyone should think on the demise of Quilliam. Some of this country’s best citizens, who happened also to be Muslims, gave Islamic reform a good shot here. But it was they — and not their critics — who as a result became the principal target. Not a good sign. Not a good sign at all.

Yep, it's all very depressing.

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In North Korea there is no culture outside Kim worship, pt. 79 –

National Photo Exhibition Opens to Commemorate Day of Sun:

A national photo exhibition "Always Finding Himself among People" opened to commemorate the 109th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung (the Day of the Sun).

On display at the venue of the exhibition were photos showing the revolutionary exploits and popular traits of the President.

Displayed there were photos showing the loving care of the President who projected the workers as the eldest son of the country and performers of miracles and feats.

Also on display are photos dealing with devotion and painstaking efforts made by the President who ceaselessly visited farms to discuss farming with agricultural workers till the last moments of his great life.

Some photos help visitors recall the President's warm love for the revolutionary soldiers, the exploits he performed by rallying all the Koreans to the patriotic movement for national reunification, and the history of his loving care for the future generations.

More from Marion Post Wolcott at Shorpy:

September 1941. "Cattle country and rural scenes. Hotel in Big Piney, Wyoming."

December 1940. "Wrecked cars of Camp Blanding construction workers. Starke, Florida."
[Photos:Shorpy/Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration]

span style=”font-size: 11pt”>Washington state radio host Dori Monson has detailed several accounts of women who are housed in women's prisons in the state and have been raped by gender non-conforming males who identify as transgender and have successfully been transferred into women's prisons. Monson writes that there were "two inmates moved from male to female prison. One is a serial killer who admitted to killing prostitutes and hating women, another is a sex offender charged with having sex with a 12 year old."

In California, after a bill was passed in July 2020 that authorized inmates to be housed according to gender identity and not biological sex, despite their status as regards sex reassignment surgery, more than 260 inmates have requested a transfer since the beginning of the year when the law took effect. California also has a policy of funding sex reassignment surgeries for inmates, and prior to the new law, once a biological male prisoner had undergone that surgery, namely castration, that person could be transferred to a women's prison. This resulted in the case of a notorious baby killer undergoing the surgery and then being transferred into the same prison where the women whose children he killed is housed.

Canada has had very similar problems, only instead inmates' gender identity being a matter for the states to determine on their own, the federal government has gotten involved. A bill that was passed in that country, with the backing of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has not only authorized biologically male prisoners to self-identify as women to gain access to women's prisons, but has altered the way data is recorded.

Women, including former inmates, have launched protests, but it's nearly impossible to figure out what's going on because once a biological male identifies as female, the Correctional Services of Canada officially records them as female. This means, additionally, that the crimes those biological men committed before they self-identified as women are recorded as crimes committed by women. And the numbers as regards the sex-breakdown of inmates in women's prisons is not accurate. There are biological males who have not undergone sex reassignment surgery, and those who have, who are classified by the prison system as female, simply on the word of those biological men alone.

According to Canadian prisoner advocate Heather Mason, women's maximum security prisons are equivalent to men's medium security prisons, meaning that once biological males transfer from their maximum security prisons into women's maximum security prisons, they are granted a much higher degree of freedom than they would have been had they remained in the prison to which they were sentenced.

So yes, there are good reasons for concern. But the ACLU doesn't want anyone to know about them.

Update: more details here.

WoLF [Women's Liberation Front] plans to fight this lawsuit, which is clearly aimed at suppressing citizen's rights to access public records.

Lauren Adams, WoLF Legal Director said, "It is troubling both that the ACLU is seeking to silence and intimidate an individual who is petitioning their government, as well as attacking the free press."

ties plan to send the prisoners to uranium mines and processing facilities to produce uranium concentrate immediately after they enter the camp, based on the source’s account. 

According to the source, the Pyongsan Uranium Concentrate Plant needs more manpower to expand uranium-related production, so the authorities decided to mobilize prisoners to supplement the labor shortage.

The new camp in Pyongsan will fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Social Security, unlike other political prison camps managed by the Ministry of State Security.

Once a convict is sent to a Ministry of State Security concentration camp, they stand almost no chance of being released. However, it is possible for an inmate at a Ministry of Social Security-operated camp to be released if they are judged to be a “model prisoner” during their incarceration period.

For this reason, prisoners at Ministry of Social Security-operated camps reportedly follow orders from camp authorities more closely than those at Ministry of State Security-operated prison camps.

North Korean authorities classify the refining of uranium as a top-secret industry, and ordinary North Koreans tend to avoid this kind of work because it is considered dangerous. These factors make it challenging to recruit people to work in uranium refinement facilities. 

And the overseas sales?

There are also rumors of North Korea smuggling concentrated uranium produced in Pyongsan to Iran, Syria, Qatar, and Egypt, which lend weight to claims that North Korean authorities are expanding the production of concentrated uranium.

In fact, Daily NK’s source claimed that North Korea is smuggling uranium ore in addition to concentrated uranium.

“As far as I know, China requested uranium ore, not concentrated uranium,” the source explained. “It’s not just that China doesn’t trust North Korea’s refinement capabilities. This way, they can also get uranium ore for a lower price.”

The source further reported that “regardless of the [uranium’s] form, the fact is that uranium smuggling is increasing,” adding, “That’s why more manpower is needed [for the uranium mining process].”

lso injecting disinformation into the global public discourse regarding Xinjiang.

And in particular the targeting of the BBC:

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) diplomatic accounts, Chinese state media, pro-CCP influencers and patriotic trolls are targeting the UK public broadcaster, the BBC, in a coordinated information operation. Recent BBC reports, including the allegations of systematic sexual assault in Xinjiang’s internment camps, were among a number of triggers provoking the CCP’s propaganda apparatus to discredit the BBC, distract international attention and recapture control of the narrative.

A couple of weeks ago we heard how one of the BBC's top investigative reporters in China, John Sudworth, who's done so much to expose Chinese repression in Xinjiang, has been forced to move to Taiwan following pressure and threats from the Chinese authorities.

o Districts and Kangdong County fulfilled their land administration plans.

Phihyon County excavated the beds of its two rivers at the same time. Nyongbyon County successfully dug up its river under the plan for the general mobilization for spring land administration.

Songchon County ceaselessly makes great efforts to better its river this year. It formulated a scientific plan for the project and made good preparations for it drawing on the successes and experiences it gained in the past. Consequently, it has carried out the project in a planned way.

Phyongwon County responsibly and successively ameliorated the upper course of the Pothong River. To this end it gave precedence to the relevant design and arranged for the riparian work to be done effectively by way of demonstration.

The officials and workers of Tokchon County try their hardest every day to manage its land.

Koksan County concentrated its labor on its riparian work and finished excavating the bed of its river within six days although it took it more than a fortnight in the past.

The officials and workers of Tonghungsan District, Hamhung City and Hongwon and Pukchong Counties dug out the beds of their rivers deep by dint of hard work.

Other cities, counties and districts also focus their energies on putting their rivers to rights excellently.

The Tokchon County officials and workers are damned with faint praise there – "try their hardest every day to manage its land".  Their regrettable incompetence is left unspoken…

Scientific American, after its publication last month of an article supporting the inclusion of trans women – ie men – on women's sports teams, now joins the list of those weighing in against that Arkansas law banning the prescription of cross hormones or puberty-blockers to supposedly transgender youth under age 18. 

The state senate sponsor of the Arkansas bill, Alan Clark, has said that puberty blockers and hormone treatments are “at best experimental and at worst a serious threat to a child’s welfare.” But medical and scientific organizations say his claim is wrong. They include the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the Endocrine Society. These groups represent thousands of clinicians and researchers nationwide. Among them, the AACAP recently argued that “state-based legislation regarding the treatment of transgender youth that directly oppose the evidence-based care … is a serious concern” that endangers young people.

Experts say claims that gender-affirming medical treatments are experimental or risky are flawed on several levels. Puberty blockers—a class of drugs called GnRH agonists that dampen the effects of sex hormones—have been used safely for decades to delay puberty in children who start it too early. In transgender youth, the drugs are used to prevent the development of permanent sex characteristics such as breasts and voice changes at the onset of puberty—generally age nine or older. Gender-affirming hormones—testosterone or estrogen—are not usually given until a person is in their teens. These hormones promote the development of sex characteristics that are different from those of the sex that an individual was assigned at birth.

What is this "gender-affirming"? What does it mean? There's an assumption here that all cases of gender dysphoria are entirely genuine, and cannot be questioned. There just so happen to be these people whose "gender" supposedly differs from their "sex assigned at birth", and that's an unassailable fact. Any attempts to deny this or to prevent immediate and irreversible medical intervention therefore can only be wicked and regressive.

But these teens don't suddenly decide in a kind of social vacuum that they've got the wrong gender. It never used to happen on anything remotely like this scale. They're troubled adolescents, soaked in social media trends. It's an entirely responsible position therefore, pace the Keira Bell case here, to ensure that young people of that age shouldn't potentially ruin their lives in pursuit of a fad – in pursuit of this gender identity pseudo-science. 

The fact that so many organisations support serious medical intervention in support of "gender identity" shows how widely the nonsense has spread.

ism, should always follow the trail of evidence to wherever it leads. This crucial issue was clouded by Donald Trump’s aggressive intervention on the subject, since his toxicity made it easier for experts to dismiss concerns of a lab leak as a conspiracy theory; it enabled respected scientific journals to close down debate and for reporters to ignore glaring conflicts of interest among key figures.

Yet the significance of these sleuths goes beyond even the task of unravelling the origins of a new virus that has killed almost 3 million people worldwide and raising uncomfortable questions over closed minds, let alone posing the question of whether scientists themselves might have accidentally sparked this global disaster. Ultimately, their digging is a reminder that in the digital age even the most powerful states, even an Orwellian dictatorship such as China under Xi Jinping, cannot erase everything from the past and hide all truths, however hard it tries.