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High court to decide if children can consent to gender reassignment

Jamie Doward
The Guardian
Sun, 05 Jan 2020 10:28 UTC
young student
© Alamy
Young people who wish to change gender can currently be given puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
A landmark test case to establish whether children can give informed consent to medical treatment for gender reassignment begins in the high court this week.

Lawyers acting for Susan Evans, a former psychiatric nurse at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust, which runs the UK's only NHS gender identity development service (Gids), and "Mrs A", the mother of an autistic 15-year-old girl who is on the Gids waiting list, will file papers to commence proceedings in a judicial review brought against the trust and NHS England.

At the heart of the case is the provision of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to young people who wish to transition or are considering doing so.

"We are essentially seeking to say that the provision at the Tavistock for young people up to the age of 18 is illegal because there isn't valid consent," said Paul Conrathe, a solicitor with Sinclairslaw, which is representing Evans and the mother.

Providing this treatment - puberty blocking and cross-sex hormones - to any young person who wants them requires, he argues, "a specific order of the court on a case-by-case basis. [The treatment] cannot be delivered as a matter of general approach". Conrathe suggested the legal action would be "pressing the case of Gillick to its breaking point".

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Comedian Ricky Gervais, man of the people

Bridget Phetasy
Quillette
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 01:50 UTC
Ricky Gervaise golden globes

Ricky Gervaise hosts the Golden Globes of 2020
In a room filled with self-absorbed narcissists, one brave, slightly less self-absorbed narcissist had the balls to speak truth to power — and his name is Ricky Gervais.

If courage had a face, it would be a slightly overweight, pasty British multi-millionaire drinking a pint. Taking the stage to host his fifth and final (allegedly) Golden Globe Awards, Ricky spoke for us, the oppressed, six-figure earning, working middle-class, little guy.

I may not have ever flown on a private jet to a private island with a temple, but I got an upgrade to First Class once, and those warm nuts have a way of seducing you into believing anyone cares about your shitty takes. In fact it was on that flight I was inspired to become an opinion writer. I appreciate your hypocrisy, Hollywood, it makes me feel better about my own.

Comment: Ricky Gervais divides social media after he eviscerates 'woke' Hollywood hypocrites in scorching opening monologue at the Golden Globes

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Bad Guys

Tide of people, anti-US chants, & sorrow - Tehran in mourning over the death of General Soleimani & Iraqi militia commander


RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 22:18 UTC
Soleimani funeral crowd
© Official Khamenei website/Handout via Reuters
A funeral procession for General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis
A massive funeral procession occupied the streets of Iran's capital as huge crowds of people - including the military's top brass - came to pay tribute to the deceased Quds Force commander and deputy chief of Iraq's Shia militia.

The remains of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force who was killed in a US air strike, was flown to Tehran after a day of funeral processions in Ahvaz and Mashhad. Bodies of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy chief of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and other "martyrs" who died alongside Soleimani in an American drone strike, also arrived in the city.

Comment: Iran marked its mourning of General Soleimani with threats of various sorts to Israel, the U.S., and the West in general, beginning with his daughter:
The daughter of the slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani addressed a funeral ceremony in Iran, where she said that her father's "martyrdom" will bring a "dark day" to the US and Israel, according to Iranian state TV.

"Crazy Trump, don't think that everything is over with my father's martyrdom," Zeinab Soleimani added.

Earlier, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council and former chief of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has warned of far-reaching repercussions from a possible US strike on the Islamic Republic.
In particular, Iran had harsh words for Israel which it sees as the true instigator of Soleimani's assassination as well as reconfirming that the U.S. would ultimately have to leave the Middle East:
"In response to Trump, who had said that Washington will attack Iran if it takes revenge, Rezaei said "be sure that in such a case we will completely level [Israel's port city of] Haifa and key Israeli targets", on Sunday.

Rezaei touted a "massive movement" that had taken shape in Iran in response to Soleimani's murder, pledging that Iran will be "firmly fighting the Americans" until it achieves "complete US withdrawal from the region".

"The whole world should know that that the Americans will be removed from the region soon," he pointed out. Trump Pledges 'Disproportionate' Response to Iran

His remarks come after President Donald Trump warned that the US would launch a "disproportionate" military response to Iran if it conducts a retaliatory strike against Washington.


According to POTUS, the US is "targeting" 52 Iranian military and cultural sites and will strike "very fast and very hard" if Tehran attacks Americans or US assets. Trump explained that the targets represented 52 Americans who were held hostage in Iran in 1979.


An unidentified eulogist purportedly offered an $80M bounty for Trump's head, Iran repudiates the last of its JPCOA nuclear commitments:
According to Al Arabiya, the prize was announced by an unnamed eulogist at the funeral procession for Gen. Qassem Soleimani, broadcast live on Iran's Channel One from the Iranian city of Mashhad on Sunday.

He told the crowd that if every Iranian chips in $1, the total sum would equal $80 million.

"And we would give this $80 million, on our own behalf, as a gift to anyone who brings [us] the head of the person who ordered the murder of the grand figure of our revolution," the eulogist said, referring to Soleimani.

"Anyone who brings us the head of this yellow-haired lunatic, we would give him $80million on behalf of the great Iranian nation. Chant if you agree," he added, as the crowd cheered on.

Although the proposal was aired on state television, the government stopped short of floating a similar one - which would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
[...]
The Islamic Republic on Sunday upped the ante by announcing a rollback of its remaining obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal. The country started curbing its commitments in May 2019, precisely a year after Donald Trump withdrew from the pact claiming it wasn't tough enough on Iran.

The Soleimani gambit has also backfired in Iraq, where the parliament adopted a resolution requiring the government to force the withdrawal of more than 5,000 US troops from the country.


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Bug

Bedbugs released inside Pennsylvania Walmart, police investigating

Emily Shapiro
ABC News
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 01:58 UTC
Bed bugs at Walmart
Bedbugs are believed to have been released inside a Pennsylvania Walmart, prompting a police investigation, authorities said.

The discovery was first made on Jan. 2, when an employee of the Walmart in Erie County found a closed pill bottle containing live bugs inside a boy's jacket that was on sale, Pennsylvania State Police said.

Walmart employees threw out the jacket and pill bottle and contacted Ecolab the next day, police said.

An Ecolab employee found bugs crawling around the store's men's fitting room and identified the infestation as bedbugs, police said.
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Pistol

FBI conducted record number of gun sale background checks in 2019, as Democrats promise gun control


RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 19:20 UTC
Guns
© Reuters / Eduardo Munoz
Guns for sale are seen inside of Dick's Sporting Goods store in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
The FBI carried out a record 28 million background checks on firearms purchases in 2019, as Americans rushed to buy weapons amid calls for tougher gun laws.

According to FBI data, 28,369,750 background checks were performed in 2019, smashing the previous record of 27 million in 2016. The agency ran 202,465 checks on Black Friday alone. The Christmas period was a festive one for firearms retailers, with just under three million checks carried out in December, the second-highest month since the National Instant Criminal Background Check System began in 1998.

The number of background checks performed does not directly correlate with weapons sales, the FBI cautioned. Some states, for example, carry out checks for concealed-carry permits, for example, and the figures don't account for multiple weapons purchased at once. Nevertheless, it is the most reliable indicator of nationwide gun sales that exists.

Firearms sales typically spike when gun owners feel like their Second Amendment rights are threatened. Though President Trump has been a vocal proponent of gun rights, his opponents spent 2019 pushing the opposite message.
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Attention

US Jerusalem embassy warning to Americans: 'Heightened tensions' may bring rocket fire


RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 17:45 UTC
USembassy
© Reuters/Ammar Awad
The US embassy in Jerusalem has warned US citizens that they face an increased likelihood of rocket fire and other "security incidents" amid "heightened tensions" following the US killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

Citing "heightened tensions in the Middle East," the embassy urged Americans in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza to "remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness" on Monday, noting that rocket fire and other "security incidents" seldom leave much time to react. The memo advised Americans to learn the location of nearby bomb shelters and pay attention to alert sirens.

The warning comes in the wake of a US strike that killed Iran's highest-ranking military commander, Qassem Soleimani, along with several high-ranking individuals in Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units. Iraq's Parliament has since voted on a resolution to expel foreign troops from the country, while Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has called for attacks on US soldiers and military assets.

Tehran has also vowed revenge over Soleimani's killing, which it called an "act of international terrorism." Esmail Qaani, his replacement at the head of Iran's Quds Force, has vowed to "remove America from the region."
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Bandaid

As Harvey Weinstein trial begins, Hollywood dutifully feigns the outrage it kept quiet for the years he operated

Helen Buyniski
RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 18:12 UTC
Harvey Weinstein
Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein is finally on trial for sexual assault and rape charges, and Hollywood wants us to know they're horrified - despite years of quietly letting Weinstein prey on women, and even joking about it.

Jury selection for Weinstein's trial has begun, and all eyes were on the one-time Hollywood titan as he hobbled into court on Monday, seemingly trying to look older than his 67 years. Over 100 women have gone on the record accusing him of varying levels of sexual impropriety, from unwanted advances to rape.

Hundreds more, however, remained silent while he was allegedly preying on these women, even though Weinstein's behavior was one of the biggest "open secrets" in the industry. When Weinstein was finally indicted on five felony counts of sexual assault and rape in 2018, the number of previously silent boldface names who admitted they had "heard stories" of the megaproducer's "inappropriate" behavior was almost comical. Most in Hollywood expressed relief that he was finally being held to account, but some continued to plead ignorance or even praise the mogul, especially actors whose careers he'd launched or aided.

Award-winning actors Meryl Streep and Matt Damon both insisted they hadn't known about his casting couch antics, though Damon himself was accused of helping to kill a story exposing Weinstein's predation. Filmmaker Michael Moore called Weinstein "one of the best people to work with" in Hollywood in 2015; two years later, he wasn't just acting shocked at Weinstein's sexual improprieties, but demanding the industry introduce gender quotas on its boards to forestall future Weinsteins.

Comment: See also: Sympathy ploy? Harvey Weinstein uses walker at criminal court hearing

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NPC

A 'woke' comic celebrated PewDiePie's wife being robbed, the internet said enough is enough

Sophia Narwitz
RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 18:31 UTC
pewdiepie comic
© Mallorie Jessica Udischas
A wholesome meme about empathy has set the internet ablaze as opposing sides duke it out. Initially created to ward off a vitriolic comic, far left reactionaries are not taking too kindly to being painted as perpetrators of hate.

As the next decade was ushered in, it brought with it what can only be surmised as the first official meme of the current year. Hitting the number one trending spot in the United States, 'New Guy' became an instantly popular method of combating toxic woke folk, a sort of resistance created by people who are tired of the abuse spewed by those who see themselves on the peak of morality mountain.

The meme took life after a comic created by trans cartoonist Mallorie Jessica Udischas began circulating last month. In it, a purple haired female meant to represent the artist is seen laughing at the recent real world crime in which popular YouTuber PewDiePie's house was robbed. The girl is then confronted by a coworker wearing a badge simply saying "New Guy" who upon learning what she is laughing at expresses a belief that she wouldn't like it if her own house was broken into. The girl then tells the guy she can see they will become good friends, to which he expresses a giant smile while asking "wow really" only for the chick to say "hell no." A line which brings the comic to an end.
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NPC

Liberal wokescolds are out in force decrying Guy Ritchie's 'The Gentlemen' as being 'stained with racism'

Zachary Leeman
RT
Sun, 05 Jan 2020 18:07 UTC
Screenshot from 'The Gentlemen'

Screenshot from 'The Gentlemen'
Guy Ritchie's return to the gangster genre is being labeled as racist and out of date, but the triggered reviews suggest the proudly politically correct simply don't understand how art works.

We're only a week into 2020 and the PC-police are already on patrol for anything and everything that does not conform to their box checking standards.

The latest cultural target of this woke rage is Guy Ritchie's 'The Gentlemen', the director's return to the gangster genre after spending years making Hollywood blockbusters like 'Sherlock Holmes' and last year's 'Aladdin'.
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NPC

Satire site Babylon Bee's article on Soleimani death as popular as mainstream news; journalists and cyberwarriors furious


RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 17:47 UTC
us flag
© Reuters / Jose Luis Gonzalez
A satirical article claiming the Democratic Party is officially mourning the death of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani has been shared more times than most CNN and New York Times articles, annoying the joke police.

Soleimani, who commanded the Iranian military Quds Force, was killed in an American airstrike last week, an assassination which raised already high tensions between Washington and Tehran to boiling point. Democrats criticized Trump for ordering Soleimani's killing, prompting conservative satire site the Babylon Bee to put its own spin on events.

"Democrats call for flags to be flown at half-mast to grieve death of Soleimani," read a headline from the site on Friday.
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