NoDeSi

Ferrari to introduce a new logo.

When you order a beer but you get an alcohol-free one. 🤬 #GirodItalia

How Belgium's Public Broadcaster Buried Its Own Data on Migration and anti-LGBT Views Here's a bit of context for English readers who are wondering why I've been posting so much in Dutch lately, getting angry about a strange entity called 'VRT'.😉 VRT is the Flemish public broadcaster, the Dutch-speaking counterpart to the BBC. Every few years it commissions a survey called De Foto van Vlaanderen ("The Picture of Flanders") to measure the social temperature of our region. This year's edition led to wall-to-wall coverage on every VRT outlet for several days about rising intolerance and conservative values. The headline finding: 17% of Flemish children aged 12–17, and 16% of those aged 18–44, agreed with the claim that there are circumstances in which men are allowed to hit women. One in three youngsters said they couldn't see themselves being friends with a trans person. Now VRT's editorial framing was instant and uniform. The villain was the so-called "manosphere": Andrew Tate, toxic masculinity, influencers, social media. Cue every talking head reaching for the same script. There was only a very brief mention of the role of conservative religion, buried deep in the article, and it was immediately downplayed. That evening I was invited on the Canvas current-affairs programme De Afspraak to discuss the findings. I asked for the full report with all data before going on air, but I couldn't get it. Which is already strange: why invite an expert if you're not even prepared to share the data? A young editor sent me a brief PowerPoint, but forgot to delete an internal comment from VRT editors in the margin that was not meant to be distributed. It contained an instruction to VRT journalists telling them NOT to report the breakdown by ethnic origin in their coverage, even though that data had been collected. Because the category was not sufficiently "representative." And lo and behold, that bar did indeed disappear from all the published charts. During the broadcast I pulled an A4 print-out from my back pocket and read it out loud. The clip went viral. Flanders has spent the past week arguing about it. So let me lay out what we know, and what we still don't. Why was the category not "representative" according to VRT? Because they used a catch-all category called "foreign origin," which they then proceeded to stuff with Dutch nationals and other Europeans, apparently because the survey hadn't reached enough Moroccans or Turks. (Of roughly 310 respondents in the "foreign origin" bucket, the largest group was Dutch.) That alone makes the category close to meaningless. And yet, even with the data diluted in that way, the "foreign origin" group still came out more intolerant on average than native Belgians. So why not leave out the group of Dutch nationals (and other Western Europeans)? But at this point VRT instructed its journalists to quietly drop those bars from the charts. As I write this, VRT still refuses to release the raw data. Several academics with statistical expertise have asked too, but none has received them. (They have promised to release the data to a select group next week.) Here is why the omission matters. Decades of research show that homophobia tracks religiosity, with Islam high on the list — the more devout someone is, the less tolerant they tend to be of LGBTQ people. The same pattern, incidentally, shows up in other religions. A quarter of young Muslims in Belgium say violence against gay people is justified (JOP Monitor). Half of Turks in Germany consider homosexuality a "disease." And half of European Muslims don't want to have gay people as friends (Koopmans). Reactionary attitudes about the role of women map onto the same religiosity gradient. All of this was true long before the rise of the — admittedly reprehensible — "manosphere," which VRT promoted as the explanation of the day. The whole "manosphere" framing is pure speculation; the survey supports no such conclusion, and contains zero questions about internet usage, familiarity with manosphere influences, and so on. But it slots neatly into the progressive narrative: it's all the fault of Andrew Tate and other influencers of toxic masculinity. After all, who could doubt that narrative after watching Adolescence on Netflix, a series that was fawned over for months by the liberal media, even though it's pure fiction, and not even particularly credible fiction? But now they even want to add it to the school curriculum! The cultural and religious factor, however, was not something VRT seemed keen to examine. Or rather, it preferred to "drown the fish" (as the French say) in that worthless "foreign origin" bucket. Nowhere does the survey probe the influence of religion or culture on the attitudes in question. Nowhere does it ask which religion young respondents adhere to. There is nothing on the link between Islam and LGBTQ intolerance, nothing on religious justifications for violence, nothing serious on non-European migration — just that meaningless container. So the problem is worse than the leaked slide suggests. The erasure of the link between religion and intolerance was baked into the design of the study itself, quite apart from the later decision to bury the results in the reporting. While we're at it, the questionnaire is dripping with the usual progressive assumptions: - It is overwhelmingly preoccupied with the prejudices of white native Flemings — fear of mosques, "Great Replacement" anxieties, even the silly "winter markets" (rebranded Christmas markets) merit their own question. Ironically, this framing implies that Muslim Flemings aren't "real" Flemings whose attitudes are worth interrogating. - The word "Islam" appears in the survey only in the context of "concern about Islam," "resistance to mosques," or fear of Islamisation and replacement. All coded as "problematic" attitudes by default. - The statement "there are only two sexes" is treated as a form of intolerance — something respondents allegedly "have difficulty with." Newsflash from biology: there are only two sexes. THERE ARE ONLY TWO SEXES. Apologies for the capitals: my toxic male aggression must be flaring up again. To be continued, once VRT releases the data. 😉 Here's the full episode (in Dutch, discussion starting around 16:30): youtube.com/watch?v=fp2D7Q…

🚨JUST IN: The arena filled with a standing ovation as Hunter Metcalf accepted the posthumous diploma for his twin brother, Austin Metcalf, who was fatally stabbed in the chest last year. Austin passed away in his brother’s arms after the alleged stabbing by Karmelo Anthony. Anthony has been charged with first-degree murder and could face up to 99 years in prison if convicted. This emotional moment happened during Memorial High School’s graduation ceremony in Frisco, Texas, where the crowd gave a heartfelt round of applause lasting around 30 seconds.

Ik denk dat ik binnenkort eens iets ga schrijven over dat een vrije samenleving niet alleen draait om de vrijheid van activisten, maar ook om het recht van gewone burgers om zich veilig te voelen, om normaal te kunnen reizen. Om niet permanent psychologisch onder druk te staan. Om toegang te houden tot werk, onderwijs en publieke voorzieningen. Ik ga eens uitzoeken hoe het zit met deze #SociaalContractBreuk

Je le vois tellement apparaître sur mon fil le branleur du parc que je le proposerais bien comme affiche pour la prochaine campagne "Visit Brussels".

Beaver scouts(6-8yrs)taken on a trip to Stirling mosque. Don't let them take your children to these places and participate in these activities.

@JoostVF Felix blijft onvervangbaar.😺

@NoDeSi2 Goh ja en neen. Hoovert constant in de nabijheid. Maar niet echt tactiel. En spinnen doet hij hoorbaar ook helemaal niet. Dus geen velcrokat zoals zijn voorganger Felix….

Smakelijk eten allemaal. Hier een alweer gelukte maaltijd (weliswaar wat te warm bij dit weer maar bon) in aangenaam gezelschap van de jongste, Bobbie en … Filou natuurlijk! #WelcomeFilou😻

@JoostVF @jvluijmans De Honda grasmaaier was er bijna ondersteboven van om de vervanger te zien.

Kijk eens aan @jvluijmans - Wat ruist het door het struikgewas?🤣

Mei. De maand van licht en schoonheid.

HLN deelde eerder vandaag op Instagram, en vermoedelijk ook op andere platformen, deze beelden van de kusttram in De Haan, maar dan geblurd. De beelden gingen viraal en de commentaren waren logischerwijs niet bepaald vriendelijk voor dit krapuul uit Brussel. HLN heeft de beelden ondertussen van Instagram verwijderd en bij de meeste andere kranten kan je niet meer reageren op artikels over deze degoutante gebeurtenis. Omdat ik hier zo kwaad van word, deel ik hier graag de niet-geblurde beelden. Waarom blijven onze politici en de MSM dit probleem ontkennen én minimaliseren???

@LudwigBollaerts @NoDeSi2 @MausMichel En omgekeerd: een klein aantal mensen betalen teveel belastingen. Anders kwamen we nooit aan dat hoge overheidsbeslag voor een shitty service. Maar we hadden wel een kookapp.

´Veel mensen betalen te weinig belastingen´ zegt @MausMichel. Socialisten kunnen dat. Zelfs in België, bij de wereldrecordhouder belastingen. Gemeenten nemen het heft in eigen handen: waarom ligt de hervorming van het kadastraal inkomen zo gevoelig? vrtnws.be/p.VL7jE16M5

De zelfcensuur van de VRT is onaanvaardbaar. Onze bestuursleden vragen een EXTRA raad van bestuur om verantwoording te vragen aan de top van de VRT: - volledig onderzoek MOET nu openbaar gemaakt worden, mét gegevens over de afkomst van de bevraagden; - waarom doet een publieke omroep een duur onderzoek als ongewenste gegevens toch maar gecensureerd worden?!

Eigen schuld van Delhaize met die 1 + 1 acties altijd 🤣

Aujourd’hui à la fête dans le village, scène assez révélatrice. On était tranquilles entre amis. Une table, quelques pintes, on parlait vélo, course à pied, boulot, sorties… Bref, des discussions normales de gens qui se lèvent le matin. À un moment, deux types débarquent. Très vite, ça glisse sur la politique. Ton un peu professoral. Ils commencent à expliquer que les gens votent à droite contre leurs intérêts, qu’ils devraient comprendre les mécanismes de solidarité, qu’il faut plus d’intervention, plus de redistribution… Sauf qu’en face, il n’y avait ni éditorialistes ni experts de plateau. Juste des gars qui travaillent. Principalement des métiers manuels. Des gens qui savent ce que coûte une journée, ce que représente une fiche de paie et ce qu’il reste à la fin du mois. Ils ont laissé parler. Puis un de mes amis a répondu calmement : « Je crois que vous ne comprenez pas quelque chose. Nous, si on vote à droite, ce n’est pas parce qu’on rêve d’être milliardaires. C’est parce qu’on veut vivre de notre travail. Parce qu’on veut garder davantage de ce qu’on produit. Parce qu’on pense que celui qui fait l’effort doit pouvoir en voir le résultat. » Silence. Puis mon pote jardinier a ajouté : « Peut-être que la vraie différence, ce n’est pas droite contre gauche. C’est ceux qui voient le travail comme quelque chose qui crée… et ceux qui voient surtout comment le répartir. » Personne n’a crié. Personne ne s’est disputé. On a fini nos pintes. Et on est revenus au vélo. Sur ce… retour au bar 🍻

Goed nieuws, de politie laat zich niet meer doen door die jongeren. 💪

Everyone needs a team-mate like this 👏 Tim Rex gave absolutely everything to help Jonas Vingegaard win Stage 14 and take the maglia rosa at the Giro d'Italia. 📸 Getty Images 🎙️ Sporza

Your official guide for bees this summer