Standin_In_My_Light

“...the sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark without the need for an official ban” George Orwell Preface to Animal Farm As true today as in 1945

@soniasodha @Glinner You are right. He made a serious error. I bet you have too at various times. Nobody gets it right all the time on every issue.

What were the early signs Keir Starmer had very bad judgment? Some might say it was in 2021 where he said it was "wrong" to say "only women have a cervix". A stupid and cowardly thing to say.

The art technique of Grandma Mei Ling, age 82 Wait for it

Findings and Conclusions of the Inquiry into the Conduct of an IDF Soldier Who Damaged a Christian Symbol in Southern Lebanon The inquiry found that during IDF activity in the area of the Christian village of Debel in southern Lebanon, an IDF soldier damaged a Christian religious symbol while another soldier photographed the act. Six additional soldiers were present at the scene and did not act to stop the incident or report it. The inquiry determined that the soldiers’ conduct completely deviated from IDF orders and values. The IDF expresses deep regret over the incident and emphasizes that its operations in Lebanon are directed solely against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and other terrorist groups, and not against Lebanese civilians. From the moment the report of the incident was received, the IDF has been working to assist the local community in replacing the statue. Accordingly, it was decided that the soldier who damaged the Christian symbol and the soldier who photographed the act will be removed from combat duty and will receive 30 days of military detention. The remaining troops who stood by have been summoned for clarification discussions that will be held later on, after which further command-level measures will be determined. Procedures regarding conduct with religious institutions and symbols were reinforced to the troops prior to their entry into the relevant areas, and will be reinforced again for all troops in the area following the incident. The findings of the inquiry were presented to the Chief of the General Staff and the Commander of the Northern Command. The Chief of the General Staff condemned the incident and stated that it constitutes unacceptable conduct and a moral failure, far exceeding any acceptable standard and contradicting IDF values and the expected conduct of its troops.

I am still shaking from a soul-crushing Uber ride today in Dublin. It started with "Where are you from?" I said Iran, and the driver's face lit up as he thought he'd found a partner in his hate. He looked at me and said, "It must be crushing what the f***ing Israelis are doing to

@campbellclaret That's because I wasn't interested in being used to boost the viewing figures of a pair of exceptionally arrogant men whose understanding of this issue drips with classism and misogyny, @campbellclaret. If you're genuinely interested in a debate I'm at a loss to understand why

🔴DON’T LOOK AWAY The Islamic regime is going to hang Diana Taherabadi because she participated in the January protests. She’s only 16. This is pure barbarism. Share this before they kill her.

2005: Israel GAVE Gaza away. Not “ended an occupation.” GAVE. IT. AWAY. — Every soldier: gone. — Every settler: gone. 8,000 Israelis dragged out of their homes by their own army, some kicking and screaming. Entire communities destroyed. — Jewish graves: exhumed, because Israel knew they’d be desecrated otherwise. — Greenhouses: LEFT STANDING. American Jewish donors paid $14 million to buy them and leave them intact so Palestinians could farm and build an economy. Within days, Palestinians looted and destroyed most of them. — Infrastructure: synagogues, farms, factories left behind as a functioning starter economy. Israel handed Gaza the keys to a functioning proto-state. A gift. 2006: They elected Hamas a genocidal terror group whose founding charter calls for the murder of every Jew on earth. Read it. It’s not subtle. 2005–2023: The world gave Gaza tens of billions of dollars. US, EU, UN, Qatar, Gulf states reconstruction funds, UNRWA, humanitarian aid. Estimates run $40+ billion total. What did Hamas build with it? — 300 to 500 MILES of terror tunnels longer than the NYC subway system. Under hospitals. Under schools. Under UNRWA facilities. Built with concrete meant for civilian housing. — Rocket factories. — A weapons smuggling empire through Sinai tunnels. — Personal billions for Hamas leaders. Haniyeh. Mashaal. Meshaal. Living in Qatari luxury hotels while children in Gaza starved. Look up their net worth. Go ahead. What they did NOT build: — A single functioning hospital they didn’t weaponize — A single school they didn’t store rockets in — A single bomb shelter for civilians (they have shelters for fighters) — An economy — A future Since Israel withdrew in 2005, Hamas and other Gaza terror groups have fired OVER 20,000 rockets at Israeli civilians. — 2008: rocket barrages + cross-border raid → Cast Lead — 2012: rocket barrages → Pillar of Defense — 2014: kidnap and murder of three Israeli teens + rockets → Protective Edge — 2021: 4,400 rockets in 11 days → Guardian of the Walls — 2023: 5,000+ rockets on October 7 alone. 12,000 more in the following months. ISRAEL STARTED NONE OF THEM. Every single war, every single round, started with rockets from Gaza or attacks on Israeli civilians. October 7 was not “resistance.” — 1,200 murdered in a single day. — Babies burned alive. — Women gang-raped beside the corpses of their friends. — Entire families executed in their safe rooms. — 250+ hostages dragged into tunnels. — The worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. “But the destruction in Gaza…” Yes. It’s devastating. And here’s what your genocide post leaves out: — Israel has nuclear weapons. Hasn’t used them. — Israel has the firepower to flatten Gaza in a day from the air. Hasn’t done it. — Instead, Israel has sent soldiers building by building, tunnel by tunnel, losing 900+ of its own young men and women, BECAUSE it’s trying to minimize civilian casualties against an enemy that hides behind them. — Israel issues evacuation warnings — leaflets, texts, phone calls tipping off Hamas in the process. — Hamas fires from hospitals, schools, mosques, UN facilities. They’ve admitted it. They’ve been filmed doing it. They’re proud of it. Gaza looks like this because the world continues to excuse barbaric terrorism instead of wiping it off the face of the map.

RT @FredSargeant: Show the world that you're a 21st century teenager who knows zip about the gay liberation movement history of the 50s, 60…

@SwipeWright @NeurolawNerd @jk_rowling F-

This new academic paper claims that @jk_rowling has essentially become Voldemort via her “celebrified transphobia,” which is apparently the authors’ term for Rowling publicly acknowledging basic biology. It argues that the “Wizarding World should be considered a cultural field” whose defining principle is “trans/queer inclusivity,” and says Rowling’s views have “significantly depleted her once-elite status.” It says Harry Potter has been read as “resisting binary gendering” and presenting gender as “varied, easily shifting, exploratory, and ‘slippery,’” with the Wizarding World offering trans and queer fans “identification and community” and “a ‘place of belonging.’” So Rowling became the moral equivalent of her own villain because some readers projected gender ideology onto the books, then felt shocked when the author turned out to believe sex is real. And in case the paper was not absurd enough already, its conclusion declares: “You’re a muggle, Joanne.”

Firefighters are deeply revered because they willingly put their lives at risk to protect others, often running into dangerous situations - like burning buildings - that most people are fleeing. In the Islamic Republic they are killed for carrying out their duties. Watch ⬇️

Inspired and in honour of today's @AllianceLGB conference I wrote a special joke about breaking away from the TQIAetc+. (Performed at @UnleashedComedy)

@benryanwriter @owenjonesjourno No, he blocks people ...seemingly unless they have a substantial following.

@owenjonesjourno Good grief, do you always behave this way when rightfully challenged intellectually?

Owen Jones is upset that I observed that when enumerating the harms of the USSR collapse, he only focused on Russia and did not observe the benefits to other nations, such as the Baltics and Poland. So he claimed I didn’t read what he wrote (I did) and called me a bad journalist.

Hezbollah official on Russian state TV: “We are currently investing in protests and demonstrations in Western countries, especially among college students…”

Senior MPs and peers have condemned the “disproportionate” punishment of a Royal Holloway student who called a Palestinian activist’s keffiyeh a “tea towel”. A cross-party group of MPs and peers, including former Cabinet ministers, have written to the university expressing

Hahahahahahaha

DAY OF INFAMY: New video shows the moment when Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Austria and Switzerland joined the consensus decision to nominate Iran—and when they were repeatedly invited to object. They chose silence.

@antisemitism @OurFightUk Great result, but what a terrible situation. I doubt it is that ecxeptional. The system will change IF... Those who sat on the evidence are disciplined AND the accused are compensated for stress to them and their families, trauma, loss of work, problems with visas, etc.

The CPS has just been ordered to pay CAA’s legal costs after falsely prosecuting Mark Birbeck for “assaulting emergency workers” when he held a sign saying “Hamas is Terrorist”. In September 2024, Mark, who is the founder of @OurFightUk, was accused of assaulting two emergency workers at a protest at which he had been holding the sign alongside Niyak Ghorbani. CAA stepped in and has provided Mark with free legal representation, as we have many times before (for Niyak too). Two days before Mark’s trial in October 2025, the CPS revealed that it had been sitting on video footage that exonerated Mark, and discontinued its prosecution. Last week, a Judge ruled that this was one of those “very rare” and “exceptional cases” where the prosecution had made such “clear and stark” errors that the CPS was ordered to pay defence costs related to their “improper” mistakes. The CPS instructed King’s Counsel to oppose the defence costs application, but the Judge found the CPS’s approach to disclosure to have been “shambolic”. In particular, the Judge castigated the CPS for failing to serve the crucial police videographer’s footage, which vindicated Mr Birbeck, until just before the trial. CAA is proud to have assisted Mark, a staunch ally of the Jewish community in the fight against antisemitism, by providing and paying for legal representation. Mark and Niyak have been repeatedly arrested and on occasion charged, only to have bail conditions lifted by courts and cases collapse, with our support. It is obscene that the police and prosecution are wasting time hounding people who are simply pointing out that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, rather than focusing on the terror sympathisers in the regular hate marches that have transformed our cities and made antisemitic hate crime a daily feature of Jewish life in modern Britain. If it risks public disorder to point out that Hamas are terrorists, that’s because there are too many people on our streets who think they aren’t. That trend is the real menace.

Breaking: Iran’s Regime Moves to Execute a Female Protester Bita Hemmati, a young Iranian woman, is reportedly at imminent risk of execution by hanging alongside her husband. She was arrested after taking part in the nationwide anti-regime protests in January, part of a wave of demonstrations demanding freedom and basic rights. According to reports, Bita Hemmati is being held in Evin Prison in Tehran, a place long associated with political prisoners, torture, and forced confessions. Like many others, she has been denied due process and access to a fair trial. Her “crime” is demanding FREEDOM. In just one week, at least 11 men have already been executed. Now, the regime is turning its machinery of death toward women. Hundreds of women are currently imprisoned. Many are under torture. Many are facing long sentences. And now, execution. Where are the voices that claim to defend women? Where are Western feminists leaders? Why are you silent. A massacre happened in Iran and many of you were silent and now your voice can save a life. Say her name: Bita Hemmati.

The violinist Nigel Kennedy has said he has not been invited to perform on the BBC for the last 13 years because he gently mocked a singer who dedicated her performance to "transgender people" telegraph.co.uk/music/intervie…