www.independent.co.uk

Hibatullah Akhundzada and the Taliban #fundie #sexist independent.co.uk

The Taliban have banned windows in residential buildings to stop women from being seen while they are at home in Afghanistan

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, ordered that buildings should not have windows looking into places where a woman could be sitting or standing

The order applies to both new buildings and existing ones, according to a four-clause decree posted on social media site X (formerly Twitter) late on Saturday

The decree, posted by government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid on X, states that new buildings should not have windows where you can see “the courtyard, kitchen, neighbour’s well and other places usually used by women”, AFP reports

“Seeing women working in kitchens, in courtyards or collecting water from wells can lead to obscene acts”

The decree stipulates that in properties with windows that do not fit the new guidelines, owners will be urged to either construct a wall or block the view “to avoid nuisances caused to neighbours”[…]
Women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are currently prohibited from going to a salon, working out at the gym, and even speaking or praying in public[…]
The window ban comes as the Taliban have said they will close all national and foreign non-governmental groups (NGOs) in Afghanistan that employ women

It comes two years after they told NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, allegedly because they did not wear the Islamic headscarf correctly

Valentina Gomez and Laura Loomer #racist #psycho independent.co.uk

Aspiring congresswoman and controversial MAGA cheerleader Valentina Gomez has sparked outrage once again after posting a video in which she appears to simulate executing an immigrant

The 25-year-old, who tried and failed to be elected as the Missouri Secretary of State earlier this year, said in the disturbing clip that undocumented persons who committed violent crimes “deserve to be ended”

In the video, posted to X on Monday, Gomez is seen firing a handgun into the back of the head of a dummy tied to a chair with a black bag over its head

“It’s that simple, public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American. They don’t deserve deportation, they deserve to be ended,” she says

The video has been flagged by X as potentially violating the platform’s rules against “violent speech,” but it had not been removed as of Tuesday. “Public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American.” Gomez captioned the video

It quickly sparked outrage from other social media users, with some branding the Colombian native as a “psychopath.” “What’s wrong with these people?” one wrote[…]
However, others seemed to agree with Gomez’s stance, including fellow MAGA firebrand and Trump acolyte Laura Loomer who posted. “Love this”

After X started restricting the video, Gomez claimed that she was “the biggest threat to the establishment because I call it like I see it”[…]
Gomez gained only 7.4 per cent of the vote with finishing sixth out of eight candidates in the race for Missouri Secretary of State

Last week she announced that she was running for Congress in Texas and relocating to the state to challenge Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw’s seat. “I don’t fear pdfs, criminals, or the crooks in DC. I only fear God,” she wrote in a post announcing the move

Nick Fuentes and unnamed Internet trolls #sexist #forced-birth independent.co.uk

Women are facing a barrage of deeply misogynistic comments online following Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory[…]
In the wake of the former president’s shocking political comeback, women have reported men are writing “your body, my choice” on their social media posts, among other troubling reproductive rights remarks

The slogan “my body, my choice” was originally popularised by feminists defending reproductive choices as rights in the Sixties. However, the phrase has now been co-opted for the adverse effect[…]
Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist podcaster known for his long history of antisemitic and misogynistic remarks, wrote on X/Twitter as Trump’s victory emerged: “Your body, my choice. Forever”

The phrase has gained fast popularity on TikTok, where numerous women have been told their bodies no longer belong to them following the presidential election result

“‘Your body. Our choice’ and ‘We own your body now’ comments are starting to pour in,” Hannah Cor, advocate for women’s healing and liberation said in a post on the app

“Men no longer have or be quiet in their hatred for women,” she claimed. “They can hate us out loud and lose nothing”

Meanwhile, influencer Camila Guadarrama revealed: “I had to delete a video because I was being threatened and several men [were] commenting saying they couldn’t wait until I get [raped] or [they were saying] ‘your body my choice”

Jesse Watters #racist #conspiracy #pratt independent.co.uk

“He’s definitely going to interfere in this election,” the Fox News host claimed, pulling rhetoric often used by Trump.

“That’s why we’ll be sending Johnny [producer on The Five] to Hawaii to get the truth about the birth certificate,” Watters told viewers. “This time we will dig deep and find out what really happened.”

Co-host Greg Gutfeld intervened saying that the producer must get his passport, before Watters retorted: “To go to Kenya.”

“I meant to Hawaii, just to see him do it. Ask him what the exchange rate is for the Hawaiian dollar,” Gutfield sniggered.

Elon Musk and an anonymous 4chan user #crackpot #dunning-kruger #elitist #god-complex #sexist independent.co.uk

Elon Musk has used his large platform on X to promote a theory that a free-thinking “Republic” could only exist under the decision-making of “high status males” – and women or “low T men” would not be welcome in it.

On Sunday, Musk re-posted a screenshot of the theory – which appears to have been conceived on 4chan in 2021– on the social media site.

The theory, written by an anonymous user, suggests that the only people able to think freely are “high [testostrone] alpha males” and “aneurotypical people”, and that these “high status males” should run a “Republic” that is “only for those who are free to think.”

“People who can’t defend themselves physically (women and low T men) parse information through a consensus filter as a safety mechanism,” the post reads.

“Only high T alpha males and aneurotypical people (hey autists!) are actually free to parse new information with an objective ‘is this true?’ filter,” it adds. “This is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making. Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think.”

…

“Interesting observation,” Musk said, in response to the post.

Ian Gribbin #wingnut #sexist independent.co.uk

A candidate for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has claimed the country would have been “far better” off if it had “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality” instead of fighting the Nazis

Ian Gribbin, who is standing in Bexhill and Battle, also wrote online that women were the “sponging gender” and should be “deprived of health care”[…]
Mr Gribbin is reported to have posted on the Unherd website in 2022: “Britain would be in a far better state today had we taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality … but oh no Britain’s warped mindset values weird notions of international morality rather than looking after its own people”

The same month he wrote that the UK should “exorcise the cult of Churchill and recognize that in both policy and military strategy, he was abysmal”

The previous month he criticised women, writing: “Do you think you could actually work and pay for it all too like good citizens?

“Men pay 80% of tax – women spend 80% of tax revenue. On aggregate as a group you only take from society

“Less complaining please from the ‘sponging gender’”

In a separate post, he suggested squaring the inequality “by depriving women of healthcare until their life expectancies are the same as men, Fair’s fair”

In 2021, he wrote female soldiers “almost made me wretch [sic]” and were a “total liability”

In the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said that President Putin had “shown a maturity of which we can only dream of”

A Reform UK spokesman said: “Through offence archaeology, the BBC has found that Mr Gribbin has made a series of comments about a number of subjects

“They were written with an eye to inconvenient perspectives and truths. That doesn’t make them endorsements, just arguing points in long-distance debates

Glenn Beck and other Conspiracy Theorists #conspiracy #crackpot #dunning-kruger #magick #quack #wingnut independent.co.uk

Conservative conspiracy theorists are apparently convinced that an upcoming emergency broadcast is going to turn everyone with a Covid-19 vaccine into zombies.

According to a few "theories" floating around on social media, the EAS system will supposedly trigger something in the Covid-19 vaccines — maybe "nanoparticles" according to one believer — to nefarious ends. Many of the posts and videos spreading fear about the call claim it will activate graphene oxide in the Covid-19 vaccine. The only problem being that graphene oxide is not in the Covid-19 vaccines.

The "what" of the conspiracy is what seems to be most in discussion. Some have theorised that it will awaken a dormant Marbug virus in the vaccinated, leaving them to suffer with Ebola like symptoms before it "sadly turn[s] some of them into zombies."

Like any good post-2020 conspiracy theory, the EAS conspiracies incorporate a bunch of other popular theories to maximize its potential adoption.

The same woman who predicted zombies were coming noted that the EAS test would be conducted using "5G," which — along with the Covid-19 vaccine — has long served as a boogeyman in conspiracy circles.

Some users have suggested wrapping their phones in tin foil — a conspiracy classic — or hiding them in microwaves or faraday cages ahead of the test. One Reddit user even claimed his landlord sent out a complex-wide message informing his tenants that he planned to shut power off to the entire building for three hours in the middle of a work day to protect against any adverse effects.

In right-wing media personality Glenn Beck's world, the call actually won't interact with the Covid-19 vaccines at all, but instead suggests that global nuclear war is imminent.

"FEMA is conducting a nationwide emergency alert system test on Wednesday. Russia is also conducting emergency tests this week to prepare for nuclear blasts," Mr Beck said. "That’s JUST a coincidence though, right? Nothing to worry about, right???"

What Mr Beck failed to mention is that federal law mandates the EAS must be tested once every three years. The last test was on 11 August, 2021, so the test seems unlikely to be a novel event that was cooked up in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

Marianne Williamson #magick #racist #pratt independent.co.uk

Marianne Williamson has denied backing Donald Trump’s claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating people’s pets, after saying the unverified reports should not be dismissed out of hand and that “voodoo is real”

This week, Trump, JD Vance and other right-wingers have promoted the unfounded conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating residents’ cats and dogs[…]
Former Democratic presidential candidate and self-help author Williamson responded to the uproar by writing on X: “Continuing to dump on Trump because of the ‘eating cats’ issue will create blowback on Nov. 5

“Haitian voodoo is in fact real, and to dismiss the story out-of-hand rather than listen to the citizens of Springfield. Ohio confirms in the minds of many voters the stereotype of Democrats as smug elite jerks who think they’re too smart to listen to anyone outside their own silo”

But Williamson, 71, insisted her comments did not mean she was backing Trump’s claims[…]
Linking to a National Geographic article she added: “I said that the practice itself is verifiable (see below), and that automatically dismissing the stories of people in places like small town Ohio are very bad for Democrats and actually helps Trump”

However, officials in Springfield have said there have been “no credible reports” of cats or dogs being harmed

Meanwhile, some academics have previously suggested the historical use of the word “voodoo” had racist undertones[…]
Anti-Haitian racism has a deep-rooted history in the United States, dating back centuries. Americans have long been fed images of Haiti as a “voodoo and backwards, uncivilized Black country,” Mack told The Intercept

Peter Navarro #wingnut independent.co.uk

Donald Trump’s former adviser has urged Fox News pundits to “cut the Kamala c**p” and stop referring to the vice president by her first name because it “personalizes her.”

Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to Trump when he was in office, went on a three-minute rant about “Kamala” while appearing on Steve Bannon’s War Room on Tuesday.

Navarro warned Fox News and Newsmax hosts that in referring to Harris by her first name, they “personalize her” and it is not doing Trump any favors in the presidential campaign.

“Never refer to Kamala Harris only by her first name,” he said. “She is not a soccer star. Pelé, Messi, I get it, but when you use Kamala these days it does not do us any good. Works in the other direction. It personalizes her, it creates a favorable impression.”

Navarro, released in July from a four-month prison sentence, had some suggestions for fellow conservatives on how they could refer to the vice president.

“The only exception to that rule is if you use it with a Trump-like nickname. Kamachameleon... that’s not bad. Kamaliar... that’s not bad.”

Continuing his rant, Navarro pointed out: “When was the last time you heard somebody refer to Donald John Trump favorably or affectionately, simply as ‘Donald’? So cut the Kamala crap.”

Andrew Edwards #elitist #racist independent.co.uk

A Conservative councillor has been suspended after he was allegedly recorded saying "all white men should have a Black slave"

Andrew Edwards, who represents the ward of Haverfordwest on Pembrokeshire County Council, is also claimed to have said black people are "a lower class than us white people"

The Welsh Conservatives confirmed on Thursday that Mr Edwards has been suspended by the party while an investigation is carried out. He has also referred himself to the Public Services Ombudsman

In the recording, first published by news site Nation.Cymru, a man's voice can be heard saying: "Nothing wrong with the skin colour at all

"I think all white men should have a black man as a slave or a black woman as a slave, you know

"It's nothing wrong with skin colour, it is just they're a lower class than us white people, you know."

Other members of the council reportedly identified Mr Edwards as the man speaking after they were sent the audio[…]
In his statement published on Wednesday, Mr Edwards said: "I am aware of such serious allegations being made against me. This is why I have self-referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for an independent evaluation

JK Rowling #transphobia independent.co.uk

Speaking on the latest episode of podcast The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, released on Tuesday 14 March, the author said that she had been aware of the backlash she might receive from fans of her work over her views on gender and trans rights.

“When I first became interested in, and then deeply troubled by, what I saw as a cultural movement that was illiberal in its methods and questionable in its ideas, I absolutely knew that if I spoke out, many people who love my books would be deeply unhappy with me,” she said.

“I knew that, because I could see that they believed that they were living the values I had espoused in those books. I could tell that they believed that they were fighting for underdogs and difference and fairness. And I thought it would be easier not to.

“I knew that this could be really bad and it has been bad personally, it has not been fun, and I have been scared at times for my safety and, overwhelmingly, for my family’s safety.”

She continued: “Time will tell whether I’ve got this wrong. I can only say that I’ve thought about it deeply and hard and long and I’ve listened, I promise, to the other side, and I believe, absolutely, that there is something dangerous about this movement and that it must be challenged.”

…

When asked what she would say to people who claim she’s become like the villains in her books, Rowling said: “I would say that some of you have not understood the books. The Death Eaters claimed, ‘We have been made to live in secret, and now is our time, and any who stand in our way must be destroyed. If you disagree with us, you must die.’ They demonised and dehumanised those who were not like them.

“I am fighting what I see as a powerful, insidious, misogynistic movement, that has gained huge purchase in very influential areas of society.

“I do not see this particular movement as either benign or powerless, so I’m afraid I stand with the women who are fighting to be heard against threats of loss of livelihood and threats to their safety.”

Ted Cruz #pratt #wingnut independent.co.uk

“I’m pissed at these over and over and over again, if they’re indictments, it’ll be the fourth indictment of Donald Trump” Mr Cruz, who lost the Republican nomination for president to Mr Trump in 2016, said. “This is disgraceful. Our country’s over 200 years old. We’ve never once indicted a former president, or a candidate or a leading candidate for president and this is Joe Biden and this is the Democrats weaponizing the justice system because they're afraid of the voters.”

Tim Boyd #elitist #wingnut independent.co.uk

The mayor of a city in Texas reportedly wrote a Facebook post telling residents it was not the government's job to care for them during trying times, telling them "the strong will survive and the weak will parish [sic]" as an unprecedented winter storm leaves millions without power.

[...]

"Let me hurt some feelings while I have a minute!!" Mr Boyd said in his post. "No one owes you are [sic] your family anything; nor is it the local government's responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim it's your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!!"

He then complained that residents were looking for a "hand out" and told people they should have been personally prepared to deal with catastrophic circumstances like the massive winter storm that struck the region, leaving Texans in some areas without heat in single digit temperatures.

"I'm sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout! If you don't have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe. If you have no water you deal without and think outside of the box to survive and provide water for your family," he wrote.

Mr Boyd then accused people of being "lazy" because they are waiting for their power to come back on. He did not offer suggestions as to how individual people could restore Texas's failed power grid amid the devastating storm.

Elon Musk and fentasyl #elitist #racist #sexist independent.co.uk

Over the weekend, Elon Musk appeared in a Twitter post to endorse the idea of taking the right to vote away from people without children

The billionaire Tesla co-founder replied “Yup,” to a series of posts from Twitter user @fentasyl, which argued “democracy is probably unworkable long term without limiting suffrage to parents”

The exchange came as Mr Musk continued his recent run of interacting with right-wing figures on the social network

The posts from fentasyl themselves were a response to a previous post from Mr Musk

On Saturday, in the comments under an Islamophobic nonprofit’s video, where commenters insinuated that single white women were turning France into a majority-Muslim country, Mr Musk claimed, “The childless have little stake in the future”[…]
These opinions are hardly surprising for Mr Musk, who has long expressed concerns about declining birth rates in the US and the lack of “smart” people having enough children, views which critics have argued are verging on eugenicist

Charlie Kirk #wingnut #conspiracy #homophobia independent.co.uk

Charlie Kirk has called for a “midterm hero” to post bail for the suspect charged with a brutal hammer attack that left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul with a fractured skull

“If some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out,” a smirking Mr Kirk said on his podcast on Monday

“Bail him out and then go ask him some questions”[…]
Some Republicans, Maga media figures and Elon Musk have [url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/paul-pelosi-donald-trump-jr-meme-joke-b2214236.htmlspread baseless conspiracy theories[/url] that Mr DePape and Mr Pelosi were somehow romantically involved, despite strenuous denials from law enforcement.

San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins rejected lies being spread about the attack, confirming in comments on Sunday that Mr DePape’s target was the Democratic speaker

Mr DePape’s unhinged online rants echoed many Maga talking points, and friends said he had become increasingly radicalised in recent years

“Why is the conservative movement to blame for gay schizophrenic nudists that are hemp jewelry makers breaking into somebody’s home or maybe not breaking into somebody’s home?” asked Mr Kirk

Mr Kirk added that he thought the attack was “awful, it’s not right”, before going on to compare the incident to crime in San Francisco and Chicago

Revolutionary Court of Urmia, West Azarbaijan, Iran #homophobia #transphobia #enbyphobia #fundie #conspiracy independent.co.uk

Two Iranian LGBT+ activists who vocally challenged gender norms are facing possible execution, alarming advocacy organisations across the world and prompting outcry from their supporters

Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, 31, and Elham Choobdar, 24, are widely known as advocates of LGBT+ rights who were living in northwestern Iran

On Sunday, a notorious hardline revolutionary court in the northwestern city of Urmia reportedly sentenced the two to death on religiously motivated charges of “corruption on Earth”, for “spreading” homosexuality, propagating Christianity, and making contact with hostile foreign media

A news agency associated with Iran’s judiciary confirmed that the two had been placed on death row, but said they had been charged with “deceiving women and young girls and trafficking them to one of the countries of the region”

No evidence has been publicly released[…]
While little is known about Choobdar’s case, Sedighi-Hamadani has for months been the focus of efforts by activists and advocacy groups, including Amnesty International, which has described her as an “Iranian gender-nonconforming human rights defender”

The activist, a mother of two who is also known as Sareh, was reportedly arrested last October by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard while allegedly trying to cross into Turkey[…]
Legal experts are baffled at how a border-crossing charge that normally carries a fine of less than $200 (£174) somehow expanded into a death penalty case[…]
Citing no evidence, pro-regime social media channels have accused Sedighi-Hamadani of trafficking hundreds of Iranian women and girls and forcing them into sex work abroad

In April, the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated news outlet Tasnim published a propaganda video about the activist, accusing her of gambling and financial crimes, and mocking the campaign to have her released

Golden Calf Award

CPAC attendees #wingnut independent.co.uk

image

A golden statue of Donald Trump, wearing shorts in the print of the US flag and carrying a wand, has caused a stir on Twitter since a video of it being wheeled into the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) conference surfaced on the social networking site.

A Bloomberg reporter shared footage of staff at the conservative conference wheeling a golden statue of the former US president across the conference floor.

Voices in the background can be heard saying “awesome” and “that is so cool” in reaction to the golden model of Mr Trump. Others laugh and someone chants: “Four more years!” In reference to a chant popular with Mr Trump’s supporters when he was America’s president.
[...]
Launched in 1974, the annual CPAC conference calls itself the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world.”

On Sunday, it will welcome Mr Trump onto its stage to give his first post-White House speech.

Stewart Rhodes #wingnut #conspiracy independent.co.uk

The largest militia group in the US will refuse to recognise President-elect Joe Biden as the nation’s duly elected leader when he is sworn in on 20 January 2021.

The Oath Keepers, an armed right-wing organisation that boasts tens of thousands of members with law enforcement and military backgrounds, was one of several groups to demonstrate in Washington over the weekend at the “Million MAGA March” in support of Donald Trump, whom news networks project has lost the 2020 election.

“I think about half this country won’t recognise Biden as legitimate. They won’t recognise this election,” Stewart Rhodes, who founded the Oath Keepers, told The Independent on Saturday in the nation’s capital.

“What that means is that everything that comes out of his mouth will be considered not of any force or effect, anything he signs into law we won’t recognise as legitimate. We’ll be very much like the founding fathers. We’ll end up nullifying and resisting,” Mr Rhodes said.

State Representative Rob Harris (R) and 21 other South Carolina State Representatives #fundie #wingnut independent.co.uk

In South Carolina, Republican lawmakers are contemplating making a change to the state’s criminal code that would punish a person who gets an abortion with the death penalty

The bill, called the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023, would amend the state’s code of laws, redefining “person” to include a fertilised egg at the point of conception, affording that zygote “equal protection under the homicide laws of the state” – up to and including the death penalty

Representative Rob Harris wrote the bill and so far it has attracted 21 co-sponsors to date

The bill, however, provides an exception for pregnant women who underwent abortion “because she was compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or great bodily injury”

It also provides an exception if the procedure is needed to avert the death of a mother “when all reasonable alternatives to save the life of the unborn child were attempted or none were available”[…]
In addition, the proposed bill does not provide an exception for rape or incest. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina said on the House floor last week that “to see this debate go to the dark places, the dark edges, where it has gone on both sides of the aisle, has been deeply disturbing to me as a woman, as a female legislator, as a mom, and as a victim of rape”

Alex Jones #wingnut #psycho #conspiracy independent.co.uk

Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has told a Trump rally that president-elect Joe Biden will be removed "one way or the other" leading to calls for the Secret Service or FBI to investigate him for attempting to incite violence.
[…]
“The system is publicly stealing this election from the biggest landslide and the biggest political realignment since 1776,” Mr Jones said during a speech.
[…]
He said: "We will never back down to the Satanic paedophile, globalist New World Order and their walking-dead reanimated corpse Joe Biden, and we will never recognize him".

He then turned his attention to the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia, before referencing a recently-revealed Department of Justice probe into Hunter Biden's taxes.

"President Trump had zero connection to Russians. No proof. Four years of investigation. With the Bidens, it's open and shut," Mr Jones said.

"So I don't know who's going to the White House in 38 days but I sure know this - Joe Biden is a globalist and Joe Biden will be removed one way or another."
[…]
Violence erupted on the streets of DC following the rally. Four people were taken to hospital with stab wounds, DC fire spokesman, Doug Buchanan, said.

Lang Holland (Police Chief of Marshall, Arkansas) #wingnut independent.co.uk

When this is over and Trump is president for 4 more years. Do not got to sleep. Do not forget what these Marxist Democrat bastards have tried to do. When you see one in public get in their face do not give them any peace. Throw water on them at restaurants. Push them off sidewalks. Never let them forget that they are traitors and have no right to live in this Republic after what they have done.

The British Government #psycho #wingnut independent.co.uk

Immigrants to be stripped of right to challenge deportation using judicial review

Government accused of ‘grave injustice because the Home Office regularly gets decisions wrong’

Immigrants and refugees will be stripped of the right to challenge deportation orders in the High Court, under a new crackdown to speed up “removals”.

A Judicial Review Bill will overturn a Supreme Court ruling – nearly a decade ago – which allows tribunal decisions to be put forward before the court.

The government admits it does not know the success rate, the Queen’s Speech stating: “We are investigating how many of these cases result in a successful outcome for the claimant.”

It has briefed Tory-friendly papers that the crackdown is to stamp out “hopeless claims that have already been adjudicated by tribunal judges which frustrate removals at the last minute”.

But the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) attacked “a grave injustice, not least because the Home Office regularly gets decisions wrong”.

“People seeking protection in the UK deserve to have their voices heard, and their claims calmy and fairly assessed,” said Minnie Rahman, the organisation’s campaigns director:

“These plans will deny refugees rights and status and leave many more people in limbo as government’s asylum return deals with third countries appear completely mythical.”

Nazek Ramadan, director of Migrant Voice, said: “The government’s plans mean that a significant number of those who would have won their claim in the High Court could be deported.

“The government is taking legal rights away from people who need protection - with individuals deported to countries where they are at risk of harm or persecution. What does this say about us as a country?”

Uganda government, President Yoweri Museveni and Minister Simon Lokodo #homophobia #psycho independent.co.uk

Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals.

The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks.

The government said the legislation would curb a rise in “unnatural sex” in the east African nation.

“Homosexuality is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where they are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that,” the country’s ethics and integrity minister, Simon Lokodo, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Our current penal law is limited. It only criminalises the act. We want it made clear that anyone who is even involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalised. Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence.”

Mr Lokodo said the bill, which has the support of the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, will be reintroduced in parliament in the coming weeks.

He said it was expected to be voted on before the end of the year.

The minister was optimistic the bill would pass with the necessary two-thirds of members present, he said, as the government had lobbied legislators ahead of its reintroduction.

Uganda’s constitutional court overturned the law – formerly known as the “Kill the Gays” bill because it includes the death penalty – on a technicality in 2014.

Alabama State Legislature #transphobia independent.co.uk

Alabama’s state legislators gave final approval to a bill that could imprison doctors for up to to a decade for prescribing medical treatments to transgender youth.

The bill criminalising gender-affirming care for transgender people younger than 19 years old is the first in the US to make healthcare for young transgender patients punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Senate Bill 184 prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for transgender youth, though Alabama health care providers have repeatedly told legislators that such surgeries were not performed on minors in the state.

The legislation – which passed the state House on 7 April following its passage in the Senate earlier this year – also prohibits “a nurse, counselor, teacher, principal or other administrative officials at a public or private school” from “encouraging or coercing a minor” to withhold from a parent or guardian whether their “perception of his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn #fundie #wingnut independent.co.uk

Disgraced former Donald Trump aide Michael Flynn has sparked outrage by saying that the US must have only one religion

Mr Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, called for a single religion on stage at the “Reawaken America” conference in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday night – an event featuring a flurry of Trump loyalists and anti-vaxx doctors

“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion," he said

"One nation under God, and one religion under God”

Mr Flynn faced an instant backlash for his comments with critics saying he “hates the constitution” and warning about history repeating itself with the Holocaust
[…]
At the “Reawaken America” tour, Mr Flynn also branded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “Pontius Pilate” – the Roman official who ordered Jesus’ crucifixion – and called Steve Bannon’s indictment for contempt of Congress an "abuse of freedom of speech”

“I just did a media hit with Tucker Carlson for his show this evening and we talked about this nonsense going on with what I call the insurrection crucifixion and Nancy Pelosi is the Pontius Pilate,” he said

“She’s the Pontius Pilate. This is a crucifixion of our First Amendment, freedom to speak, freedom to peacefully assemble

Unnamed QAnon believers #conspiracy #crackpot independent.co.uk

Conspiracy theorist group QAnon hit a bizarre milestone on Tuesday, when its supporters gathered for what they believed would be the return of the late JFK junior – who, they postured, would be running on an imagined 2024 ticket with former President Donald Trump

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Junior’s plane was pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean more than 22 years ago in a crash that killed him
[…]
A bizarre theory has emerged suggesting that the accident was just a ruse to fake his death and that he will re-emerge – perhaps as early as next month – to join a reinstated President Donald Trump as his VP
[…]
And those devotees gathered on Tuesday for what they expected would be a dramatic revelation at the AT&T Discovery Plaza in Dallas – but was in fact more of a damp squib. When JFK junior unsurprisingly failed to make an appearance, people in the crowd suggested he would in fact make an appearance at a Rolling Stones concert later that day
[…]
The story goes that after faking his death, Kennedy returned two decades later to help Mr Trump drain the swamp. First he supposedly appeared as Q himself (or close to Q) with the “Q drops” of cryptic information. Then, he was to have revealed himself in 2019, to replace Mike Pence on the president’s 2020 re-election ticket, or maybe the 2021 “reinstatement” (supposedly scheduled for 13 August – although there is no mechanism for reinstating a former president), or maybe the 2024 campaign
[…]
The theory appears to have emerged from an April 2018 Q drop resurfacing a pre-Q era theory in which JFK Jr’s 1999 plane crash was orchestrated by the Clintons, supposedly to prevent him running for the New York Senate seat later won by Hillary Clinton

kedeshah #conspiracy #mammon independent.co.uk

Bakhmut has been increasingly surrounded for some time, but the Russians never seemed to advance very much, so the battle dragged and drags on. It seemed absurd they did not just push the Ukrainians out, as the Russians have more missiles, more artillery, more firepower, plus able to bomb the position relentlessly but it did not.
The Wagner group let the cat out of the bag, informing the world it could have joined the sided of the surrounding cauldron creating complete encirclement, and thus destroying what military was left isolated.
So why?
The answer is too simple, they left the door open for the Ukrainian military into Bakhumt so they could fight the Russians, and all the Russian had to do was to annihilate them as they continuously advanced into what is described as the Russian meat grinder. The life expectancy of a new troop in this theatre is 4 hours. Why go chasing the enemy when it presents itself for artillery decimation?. Putin stated clearly exactly Why and How he was going to conduct this SMO. To eliminate the threat, de-Nazify – simple to comprehend.
So exterminating the military – problem solved – Ukraine has been instructed to commit suicide by their US and NATO masters. There are several of these meat grinders where between 500-1000 Ukrainian troops die every day. There are now 80,000 new fresh troops ready to defend Bakhmut, so it might take a months or more to eradicate what the Russian regard as a threat unless they get bored that is.

Subhoban Rana and Kunja #fundie #psycho independent.co.uk

A man who was out on bail after being jailed for committing a human sacrifice has been arrested for killing his 12-year-old sister to appease a Hindu goddess of war, according to local reports.

Police in Odisha state, India, have said the man, Subhoban Rana, confessed to killing his sister Janani to gain favour with the goddess Durga just days after he was let out of prison on bail for a similar crime.

Janani had left home with her 28-year-old brother on 24 December and did not return.

Her family then filed a missing person report at the local police station, although villagers reportedly suspected the brother due to his arrest for a human sacrifice in 2018.

“After he confessed to his crime, we arrested him and took our team to a forest where we recovered the girl’s headless body,” Madkar Sandeep Sampat, the police superintendent for the Balangir district, said.

Mr Sampat added that Rana had been arrested with a man called Kunja for sacrificing the latter’s nine-year-old nephew in October 2018.

Katie Miller #wingnut #racist #psycho independent.co.uk

Mike Pence's spokesperson sent to child migrant detention centre 'to become more compassionate' - but reportedly said: 'It didn't work'

Ms Miller's interview appears in new book examining Trump administration's child separation policy

Vice President Mike Pence's spokeswoman Katie Miller said the US Department of Homeland Security sent her to a child migrant detention centre so she would build empathy for the children who had been separated from their parents housed there.

"But it didn't work," she said, according to the author of a new book on the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' family separation policy.

Ms Miller reportedly made the comments during an interview with Jacob Soboroff, who was conducting research for his book Separated. Mr Soboroff read the excerpt from his book containing the anecdote on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show.

Ms Miller is married to Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's senior policy adviser and the architect of the president's immigration agenda. Before joining Mr Pence's team, Ms Miller worked as a spokeswoman for the DHS. During that time, the DHS was overseeing the separation of children from their parents when immigrants were attempting to cross the border.

"My family and colleagues told me that when I have kids I'll think about the separations differently. But I don't think so ... DHS sent me to the border to see the separations for myself — to try to make me more compassionate — but it didn't work," she reportedly said.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday that Ms Miller denied making the remarks.

“She said those quotes are not true, as described in the book," Ms McEnany told reporters. "There's no greater ally of the Cuban community than President Trump. He loves the Cuban community."

Mr Soboroff, who visited the detention centres as well, said he was shocked by Ms Miller's comments.

"It didn't work? I will never forget what I saw. Seriously. Are you a white nationalist? I asked, exasperated," Mr Sobroff said, reading from his book.

"No, but I believe if you come to America you should assimilate," Ms Miller replied. "Why do we need to have a 'Little Havana?'"

Mr Trump eventually ended the family separation policy in June 2018.

The US Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general issued a report that claimed children who were detained in the camps under Mr Trump's separation policy were suffering from acute psychological trauma.

"According to program directors and mental health clinicians, separated children exhibited more fear, feelings of abandonment, and post-traumatic stress than did children who were not separated," the report said.

Mike Lindell (the MyPillow guy) #conspiracy #wingnut #psycho independent.co.uk

One of Donald Trump’s fiercest supporters, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, went to a meeting at the White House with notes suggesting “martial law if necessary”.

The notes, captured by a photographer as Mr Lindell entered the Oval Office on Friday, come after Mr Lindell tweeted then deleted calls for the president to “impost martial law” in the seven battleground states that won the election for Joe Biden.

The page is curved and not fully visible, but the heading is titled something like “[illegible] taken immediately to save the [illegible] constitution.

It references a “cyber” attorney and “Kraken” attorney Sidney Powell, while recommending “Kash Patel to acting CIA”.

“Insurrection Act now as a result of the assault on the… martial law if necessary upon the first hint of any…”, it read.

“… foreign interference in the election trigger [ineligible] powers. Make clear this is China/Iran.”

Pontins Management #racist independent.co.uk

Boris Johnson has denounced as “completely unacceptable” a blacklist of Irish surnames drawn up by Pontins to keep supposedly undesirable guests out of its holiday camps.

An investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that the company had been using the blacklist as part of a policy of refusing bookings by Gypsies and Travellers to its holiday parks.

Responding to the case, detailed in an EHRC report published today, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “This is completely unacceptable. No-one in the UK should be discriminated against because of their race or ethnicity.”

The EHRC said that by declining to provide its services to guests of a certain race or ethnic group, Pontins was “directly discriminating on the basis of race” and had “breached the Equality Act”, which recognises Gypsies and Travellers as distinct racial groups.

Discriminatory practices included:

- Monitoring calls and refusing or cancelling bookings made by people with an Irish accent or surname;

- A blacklist of Irish surnames, published on its intranet page, entitled ‘undesirable guests’ and requiring staff to block any potential customers with those names from booking.

- Using a ‘no commercial vehicles’ policy to exclude Gypsies and Travellers from its holiday parks.

EHRC executive director Alastair Pringle said: “It is hard not to draw comparisons with an ‘undesirable guests’ list and the signs displayed in hotel windows 50 years ago, explicitly barring Irish people and Black people. Banning people from services based on their race is discrimination and is unlawful. To say that such policies are outdated is an understatement.”

David Parnham #psycho #racist independent.co.uk

A white supremacist behind the “Punish a Muslim Day” campaign has been jailed for 12 and a half years.

David Parnham, who called himself “Muslim Slayer” and sent packages containing fake anthrax, is to serve his sentence in hospital until he is well enough to be transferred to prison.

The Old Bailey heard the 36-year-old had launched several waves of malicious letters targeting mosques, the Queen and politicians including David Cameron and Theresa May.

He admitted offences including soliciting murder, encouraging crime, bomb and noxious substance hoaxes and sending letters with intent to cause distress.

In early 2018, a series of typed “Punish A Muslim Day” letters were sent out to encourage violence on the date of an American white supremacist’s birthday.

The letters claimed Europe and North America was being “overrun” by Muslims and contained a makeshift scorecard for attacks ranging from pulling off women’s headscarves to acid attacks, torture, bombing a mosque and “butchering” Muslims with guns, knives and vehicles.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC said Parnham had been suffering from an autistic spectrum disorder but rejected the suggestion he was psychotic at the time of the offences.

“You have yet to appreciate the seriousness of what you have done and seem to want to return to the community at the earliest opportunity to live with your parents,” he told the court on Tuesday.

Parnham’s failure to appreciate the harm he caused to the Muslim and wider community meant the risk of reoffending was greater, the judge said.

The court heard that although no violence was linked to the campaign, it sparked widespread fear in Muslim communities across the UK after being received by politicians including the then home secretary, Sajid Javid.

Sharon Thomason #racist independent.co.uk

A Conservative council candidate who sent a message to a Jewish Labour MP about the “Aryan race” will no longer be standing for the party.

Sharon Thomason, who was to contest a seat on Warrington Borough Council, tweeted “Keep the Aryan race going…” at Charlotte Nichols on 29 February last year.

In another post from the summer Ms Thomason had suggested building a statue of Enoch Powell, who gave the infamous “rivers of blood” speech in 1968.

Local council leader Russ Bowden criticised the comments as “disgusting and inexcusable conduct”, while Ms Nichols herself said they gave “a feel for the calibre of candidates [the Conservatives are] selecting locally”.

The Conservative Party said it had taken action “swiftly and immediately” to remove the candidate.
[…]
Ms Thomason had made the comments in response to a tweet by Ms Nichols noting that Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds were expecting a baby.

comite espartaco #conspiracy #moonbat #racist independent.co.uk

It's funny how Barnier is proposing suspending immigration from outside the EU and allowing immigration from within the EU to continue, while Boris's plan is the reverse.

That is because these 'anti-immigration' policies are being implemented by the same people that implemented the 'immigration' policies. In reality the oligarchies will not renounce to the free importation of labour, as they have found in it a magic silver bullet to dominate and destroy their working classes. The truth is that we are defenceless, at the mercy of these victorious elites. That was the importance of having a PROPER socialist Labour Party, but most people has surrendered. They will hit us from inside the EU or from outside it. As they find fit.

Stephan Balliet #wingnut #racist #sexist #psycho #conspiracy independent.co.uk

The neo-Nazi who murdered two people in a marauding shooting attack in Germany has been named as Stephan Balliet.

The 27-year-old German man is suspected of storming a synagogue in Halle on Wednesday and shooting a female passerby, before attacking a nearby Turkish kebab shop where a man died.

Balliet broadcast a live video of the attack on the Twitch streaming platform and published an antisemitic and racist “manifesto” online, echoing the Christchurch terrorist and other recent far-right attackers.

He repeatedly called himself a “loser” in the footage for failing to break into the synagogue or kill more people, after his homemade gun repeatedly jammed.

The livestream stopped after Balliet dumped the helmet-mounted camera and his car while fleeing Halle, before hijacking a taxi and being arrested following a crash around 10 miles south of the city.

[...]

A source told Reuters that Balliet had done military service, which was compulsory in Germany at the time, but received no special training.

Balliet’s livestream and online documents seen by The Independent suggest he was deeply embedded in online forums, gaming culture and had a fascination with Japan.

He called himself a “weeb”, denoting an obsession with Japanese culture, and an “anon” – the term used to describe users of 4chan, 8chan and other imageboards that were used by previous mass shooters to share manifestos.

One of three documents Balliet posted online before the attack was entitled “manifesto” in Japanese and included an image of a sexualised anime “cat-girl”.

The tongue-in-cheek message said that readers could get a free cat-girl or “waifu” if they “kill at least one Jew”.

The document, written in English, called for “discontent white men” to murder Jews, non-whites, communists and “traitors”.

[...]

The document said he aimed to inspire attacks by “other suppressed whites” by livestreaming his attack, kill as many “anti-whites” as possible, and that he would wear protective clothing and aimed not to die.

It included a score sheet of “achievements” for the attack, including numbers of kills and methods, but few were met.

The documents appear to have been originally posed on the Kohlchan website, which is a predominantly German-language “chan” imageboard whose name translates as “cabbage chan” or “nonsense chan”.

Balliet said he had “originally planned to storm a mosque or an antifa ‘culture’ centre” which he thought would be less secure than the synagogue targeted.

But he claimed his ultimate target was Jews, after declaring his belief in conspiracies including the “Zionist-occupied government” theory.

Speaking in English at the start of his livestream, Balliet said he was a Holocaust denier and said he believed feminism was ”the cause of declining birth rates in the west”.

Bart Claes #wingnut #transphobia independent.co.uk

Belgium’s first transgender politician to be appointed as the country’s deputy prime minister has been attacked by the far-right just days after being sworn into office. Petra De Sutter was formally appointed in her new role last weekend, making her the highest-ranking transgender politician in Europe. But although her appointment was applauded by many for breaking new ground, it has not pleased everybody, including critics in the regional parliament of her native Flanders in northern Belgium.

Bart Claes of the Flemish Interest party posted on Facebook that De Sutter “wants to destroy and replace all cornerstones of our Western civilization". Claes also claimed in a tweet that De Sutter was “the personification of cultural Marxism”. The remarks were immediately criticised. De Sutter's party colleague, Bjorn Rzoska, decried attempts to “dehumanize her". And Liesbeth Homans, speaker of the Flemish parliament said she found Claes' comments “extremely reprehensible”, while at the same time defending free speech. Claes, however, would not back down and took to Facebook again to claim that: “I don't see the problem. I said that a transgender… is a transgender."

Marco Bonifazi, Marie Bonifazi, Massimiliano Mecozzi #quack independent.co.uk

The parents of a seven-year-old boy who died from an earache after they treated it only with homeopathic medicine have been found guilty of his manslaughter.

Marco and Marie Bonifazi failed to give antibiotics to their son Francesco when he was diagnosed with a common infection in the central Italian town of Cagli.

Instead, the pair saw a homeopath who “underestimated” the seriousness of the illness, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.

The youngster fell into a coma and died from encephalitis on 27 May 2017 – three days after his original diagnosis.

His parents were given a three-month suspended sentence.

Massimiliano Mecozzi, the homeopathic doctor who consulted on the case, will go on trial in September.

Prosecutors accuse him of negligence, inexperience and "having underestimated the typical clinical picture of a highly serious local infection, prescribing a therapy based on homeopathic medicines in spite of the recrudescence of symptoms”.

They also say he failed "to prepare any diagnostic analysis and avoided prescribing the necessary antibiotic therapies suitable for the treatment of the pathology".

Speaking after the parents' hearing, Francesco’s maternal grandfather said that the couple did not have a problem with conventional medicine but had resorted to homeopathy because they feared their child had been taking too many antibiotics after a series of illnesses.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei #sexist #fundie #conspiracy independent.co.uk

Iran’s Supreme Leader claims gender equality is 'Zionist plot' aiming to corrupt role of women in society

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a meeting of religious speakers that Iranians should resist feminist ideas and instead hold the Prophet Mohamed’s daughter Fatimah as their ideal. “Making women a commodity and an object of gratification in the Western world is most likely among Zionist plots aiming to destroy the society,” he said, according to a translation on the Shia Muslim leader’s official website.

“Today, Western thinkers and those who pursue issues such as gender equality regret the corruption which it has brought about.”

Khamenei claimed that men and women are equal in the “ascendance of spiritual positions, the power of leadership, and the capability to lead humankind”, but that some tasks for women “collapse and humiliate” their primary roles as housewives and mothers. A report by the government-controlled Mehr news agency said the Supreme Leader “expressed hope that views of those who raised similar [gender equality] issues inside Iran were not based on the Western misconception”.

Iranian religious leaders frequently cast pushes towards gender equality as part of conspiracy by the West or enemy “Zionists” in Israel.