I Don’t Expect Much To Happen: Josh Duggar, guilty of possessing child pornography

You remember Josh Duggar.

The “quiverful” fundy xian who sexually assaulted his sisters.

The clod caught up in the Ashley Madison scandal.

The one who cheated on his wife, and she was forced by the cult to “forgive him”, as if it were her failing.

He has now been found guilty of possessing child pornography.

How Josh Duggar kept his wife from discovering his alleged child porn browsing

Given that he’s a white male, a cisgender heterosexual, a fundamentalist christian, you can be sure he’ll get a light sentence.   They always do – the pale and male, the white and right, the pastors and pederasts.  They are always given the “benefit of the doubt” no matter what sort of crimes they commit, something that a Global Majority person or an LGBTQIA person would never get.

Josh Duggar found guilty in child sex abuse image trial

Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was convicted Thursday of downloading and possessing child sex abuse images on his work computer.

A federal jury in Fayetteville, Arkansas, found the 33-year-old Duggar guilty on one count each of receiving and possessing child pornography. He faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count when he’s sentenced at a later date.

“We appreciate the jury’s lengthy deliberations, we respect the jury’s verdict, and we intend to appeal,” Duggar’s legal team said in a statement to NBC News following the verdict.

Duggar pleaded not guilty to federal charges of receiving and possessing child pornography in Arkansas back in April. Federal prosecutors contended that Duggar downloaded a Linux partition on the laptop in order to circumvent a computer software that monitors internet use.

Evidence presented to the court included logs of Duggar’s internet usage, which included downloading the images, sending personal messages, and saving pictures.

Defense attorneys for Duggar denied the allegations during trial, saying someone else downloaded the images and that Duggar’s own personal devices were clear of any illicit material.

In the second week of his trial, Duggar’s family friend Bobye Holt testified that he confessed to molesting underage girls during a conversation in 2003, according to NBC affiliate KNWA.

Bobye Holt told the court Duggar had informed them that he touched multiple girls under their pants and underwear, according to KNWA.

What Does This Accomplish?: It’s a meaningless gesture

The Commonwealth Games (formerly Empire Games) is the world’s third largest sporting event in terms of number of countries, sports, and athletes involved (5,000), exceeded only by the Olympics and the World Cup.  Not even the Asian Games, African Games, or Panamerican Games is as large.  Several times Commonwealth countries have used it as a way to demonstrate their capability to host the Olympic games, which have been awarded a few years later (e.g. Canada, Australia, England).

Like the olympics and other large events, the CGs are a large financial undertaking, so the only countries that bid to be hosts are those wealthy enough and capable of build the infrastructure and host the athletes.  Of the twenty two CG’s held in the past and in 2022, only three were held outside the UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand: India, Jamaica, and Malaysia.  Of the seventy countries or independently competing regions (e.g. Isle of Man) in 2022, many across Africa, Asia, and the Carribean are still developing countries and could not afford to host them.  South Africa, Nigeria, or Kenya could, but they have never put forth a successful bid.  Singapore could as well financially, but lacks the available space and air quality.

Many of these smaller and less wealthy countries are still vehemently and even violently opposed to LGBTQIA human rights.  The head of the CGF says such countries could be refused the right to host the games.

Commonwealth Games would consider boycotting countries that persecute LGBT+ people

In an interview with BBC Sport, Katie Sadleir, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), has said that she wants to hear athletes’ views on whether future Commonwealth Games should be held in countries with discriminatory laws against the LGBT+ community.

“We’re very open to them in terms of what our next steps are, in terms of understanding our hosting strategy and where we go in terms of our meetings.”

“But this is the beginning, and I’m looking forward to hearing about what more we should be doing as a movement.”

At next year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, LGBT+ athletes may be able to fly the flag on the podium. These considerations are part of the Commonwealth Games’ efforts to become more inclusive, Sadleir said.

They would be excluded from hosting?  Is that supposed to be a threat or a punishment?

It’s an empty gesture.  Why not bar those countries from participating until they change their laws, as South Africa was until 1994 after apartheid ended?  If it’s good enough a rule for EU membership, why not for the Commonwealth?  Oh, right.  Brexit.

Many of the most violently anti-LGBTQIA Commonwealth countries are either run by political and religious fanatics or are poor, or both.  (England, Nigeria, Kenya, and Malaysia are wealthy.)  Countries with hate laws on their books like Ghana, Mauritius, Eswatini, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Zambia, and others couldn’t afford to host the games, but they absolutely want to participate.  For many, this is their biggest appearance on the world’s sporting stage.  The threat of exclusion could change their attitudes.  Since 2017, Botswana has legalized non-cishetero sex and recognized gender reassignment.

The most galling thing about these hate laws is that it was the imperialist, hypocritical, and prudish Victorian English that imposed laws upon the countries they occupied.  The hate laws should have been repealed when the occupiers left, but instead became ingrained in said countries’ cultures.

The Cult Has Aged Out: Watching catholicism die in Ireland

The various catholic disease. . .I mean, diocese of Ireland are in panic mode.  Within a few years, they won’t have enough priests to run their ATMs and rip off the populace.  They will eventually have to close many of their churches due to operating costs and declining number of suckers.  I mean, revenue.

Don’t you just love the arrival of good news?  It’s the best news I’ve heard since learning boomers will start dying off in numbers after 2028.

‘Great change’ needed in Dublin’s ageing Catholic Archdiocese, says report

Almost half of the 312 priests in Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese are more than 70 years old, with just two students preparing for priesthood.

Catholic priests retire at 75, which means that the 139 now more than 70 will have retired by 2026, leaving 173 ageing clergy to serve Dublin’s 1.1 million Catholics.

According to the last census in 2016, 70 per cent of Dublin’s 1.57 million population identified as Roman Catholic. Of those aged 25-29 then, just more than half identified as Roman Catholic, while a fifth of Dublin’s total population recorded no religion.

Oddly, the COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in this.  Because people stayed home instead of obeying the cult, they realized they had more free time on their hands.  And once the lockdowns ended, many never went back.

‘A possible disaster’: Catholic Church reckons with declining interest post-pandemic

In a pastoral reflection on the future of the Catholic Church last month, one of the church’s newest and youngest bishops, Bishop of Clonfert Michael Duignan (50), pondered the challenges that lie ahead.

“I fear that we might mistakenly think that once the current Covid restrictions are lifted and once we return to public worship, everything will be all right,” said the bishop. Instead, he believes the future will be “very different”.

Some “fear a possible disaster”, he said, with “fewer people practising, financial difficulties, children and families further distanced from the sacraments and congregations permanently migrating to the comfort of online attendance”.

“There may even be a growing realisation that, although much of what we normally do as church was absent these last months, for many people, it was not really missed,” said Bishop Duignan.

Obviously the pandemic isn’t the sole reason for the decline, but public awareness of the cult’s crimes (the mass murder of children in orphanages, the torture, slavery, and abuse of women in the Magdelene Laundries, and the rampant pedophilia and rape perpetrated by their clergy) has done them no favours.  It’s hard to claim “moral leadership” when your leaders have been guilty of the worst moral depravities.

Why would Irish people need “moral leadership” from a cult when their own sense of morality is superior (e.g. leglization of abortion, marriage equality, guaranteed LGBTQIA rights)?

It Should Never Have Happened: The Anglo Irish Treaty of 1921

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed on December 6, 1921, one hundred years ago today.

Anglo-Irish Treaty signed 100 years ago today

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in London.

The Treaty formally ended the War of Independence, set the stage for British withdrawal from most of Ireland, and the handover of power to an independent Irish government.

It was signed in 10 Downing Street in the early hours of 6 December 1921.

It was signed on the Irish side by delegates Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, Eamon Duggan, Robert Barton and George Gavan Duffy.

On the British side were Prime Minister David Lloyd-George, Winston Churchill, Austen Chamberlain and FE Smith, Lord Birkenhead.

The signing of the Treaty was acclaimed in Ireland, Britain and around the world, but it was immediately surrounded by controversy.

Other news items on the anniversary:

BBC: NI 100: Signing of Anglo-Irish Treaty marked 100 years on

Breaking News Ireland: Taoiseach and Tánaiste mark 100th anniversary of signing of Anglo-Irish Treaty

Working under the ludicrous assumption that partitioning Ireland would “bring peace”, the deal was signed. Instead it led to resentment by reublicans and violent occupation by the English. Within a year, Michael Collins would be assassinated by his own people and 77 years of war marked by multiple “Bloody Sundays”, the most infamous of which reaches its 50th anniversary seven weeks from now.

Peace finally came with the Good Friday Accords in 1998, which thankfully have lasted 23 years.  A large part of that can be attributed to John Major’s political courage, his willingness to negotiate with Sinn Fein WITHOUT preconditions of disarmament.  For the first time, an English prime minister treated the Irish as equal partners, and it took less than ten years to reach an agreement everyone could live with.

Ironically, of all the attempts to reunite Ireland, it is the English destroying their own economy and society with “brexit” that will most likely result in reunification. The Occupied North still has access to the European Common Market, and if forced to choose between UK membership and starvation or Irish reunification and prosperity, they will likely make the smarter choice. Even the unionists may admit to the inevitable.

Colm Tóibín: will the Brexit fallout lead to a ‘united Ireland’?

[T]here has been an interesting change. Up to now, there was an image spread of the former colonies including Ireland. It suggested that we were somehow hot-headed and given to soft patriotism and nationalist sentimentality, that we could not be trusted in negotiation, that we spoke with a forked tongue. Now, all of these qualities have been taken over by Whitehall itself. But it is worse on this occasion. We, at least, were actually colonised. The United Kingdom, such as it is, was only ever colonised in its dreams, and by the EU, of all things. Dealing with the UK now, as Lloyd George said about Eamon de Valera, is like trying to pick up mercury with a fork.

In Ireland now, Brexit is still viewed with disbelief. It is hard to think of any real advantage that has been gained from it. Slowly, its implications are becoming clear in the most ordinary ways. There is a feeling in the Republic that someday soon Britain will wake up from this bad dream and benefit from some daylight.

[. . .]

Now, after Brexit, Northern Ireland may become subject to EU regulations on medicine, to take just one example, but has no democratic relationship to the EU and is not represented in the European parliament. Thus, arbitrary authority approaches from two directions – Brussels and Dublin.

The problem Northern Ireland has is serious. It has become low on everyone’s priority list. The British government was prepared to negotiate a hard Brexit, despite the implications for Northern Ireland. It promised one thing and delivered another. While Dublin wants the Good Friday agreement, in all its ingenuity and sense of inclusion, to be preserved to the letter, there is no appetite in the Republic to take over Northern Ireland or become responsible for funding it or dealing daily with its factions. Dismantling partition would be a most dangerous process.

A dangerous process, perhaps, but not an untenable one.  Reunification would mean access to the EU, not necessarily subservience to Dublin.

From the National Museum of Ireland:

The Signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921

Arthur Griffith’s statement told the world that the war between Ireland and Britain was at an end.

This note, hastily written by Arthur Griffith, was the first message to the public on the outcome of the negotiations which led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Written for issue to the World Press immediately after signing the Treaty on 6 December, it reads:

“I have signed a Treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain. I believe that treaty will lay foundations of peace and friendship between the two Nations. What I have signed I shall stand by in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand”.

[. . .]

Negotiations for peace

The War of Independence is generally recognised by historians as having started on 21 January 1919 in Soloheadbeg, Co Tipperary, when seven members of the IRA shot and killed two RIC constables. A series of actions in the form of raids and reprisals followed over the next year. In 1920 the RIC received reinforcements in the form of the British recruited Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries; a division made up of ex-British Army Officers, and the conflict intensified. In December that year, after the events of Bloody Sunday, Ireland was placed under Martial law. From this point the violence and death toll escalated, and when British Prime Minister Davd Lloyd George suggested a conference between the two governments Sinn Féin agreed, and a Truce was called in July 1921.

A series of meetings were held and in October an official delegation, headed by Arthur Griffith and including Michael Collins, was formed to carry out the negotiations with the British government. After two months an agreement was reached, officially known as The Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland.

The Treaty would see the withdrawal of British troops from the majority of the country, but gave dominion status to Ireland rather than that of an independent Republic, retained the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown, and provided for the establishment of a Boundary Commission to create a border between the Irish Free State and the Northern counties which opted to remain under British rule.

[. . .]

A lasting legacy

The Treaty was rejected by de Valera and split Republican opinion. Though it was narrowly ratified in the Dáil, this split eventually led to civil war, which started with the occupation of the Four Courts by Anti-Treaty Republicans in April 1922 and its bombardment by Pro-Treaty Republicans, now the Free State Forces, on 28 June. By its close in May 1923 many leaders in the Irish Republican movement were dead, with 77 official executions of Anti-Treaty Republicans during the war. Arthur Griffith died of heart failure on 12 August 1922, and Michael Collins was killed in an ambush and gun battle at Béal na Bláth, Co. Cork, ten days later. While this conflict lasted only 10 months, it was to effect Irish politics for the next decade, and lived long in the memory of the Irish people. The Irish Free State of 26 counties officially became the Republic of Ireland in 1949.

The Police’s “Invisible Sun” was written about “The Troubles” in the Occupied North.

When Courage And Cowardice Contrast: Sports and human rights collided

Recent weeks have been very telling about how the sports world responds to politics, who are the heroes and who is willing to Todt-y up to the mass murderers.

Peng Shuai is a professional tennis player from the PRC.  She was previously the #1 ranked doubles player in the world, so she’s a high profile player.  In October she reported how a member of the CCP had coerced her into having sex (read: raped her), after which the CCP arrested her and have held her in communicado except for carefully orchestrated propaganda.  They want to give the illusion that she is safe and free to move about, but the CCP has denied anyone direct contact with her except for those willing to participate in their scheme.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has taken the courageous stand to cancel ALL events in the PRC and Hong Kong until the end of 2022 (and possibly beyond then) until Peng Shuai’s freedom and safety are assured and her allegations of sexual assault are properly investigated.  The WTA now refuses to let players enter the PRC for the sake of their own safety.  This will cost the WTA tens of millions in prize money and endorsements, but the WTA has decided that principles matter more than principal.

Part of the statement from the official WTA website:

Steve Simon announces WTA’s decision to suspend tournaments in China

“When on November 2, 2021, Peng Shuai posted an allegation of sexual assault against a top Chinese government official, the Women’s Tennis Association recognized that Peng Shuai’s message had to be listened to and taken seriously. The players of the WTA, not to mention women around the world, deserve nothing less.

From that moment forward, Peng Shuai demonstrated the importance of speaking out, particularly when it comes to sexual assault, and especially when powerful people are involved. As Peng said in her post, “Even if it is like an egg hitting a rock, or if I am like a moth drawn to the flame, inviting self-destruction, I will tell the truth about you.” She knew the dangers she would face, yet she went public anyway. I admire her strength and courage.

[. . .]

As a result, and with the full support of the WTA Board of Directors, I am announcing the immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong. In good conscience, I don’t see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault. Given the current state of affairs, I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022.

Emphasis mine.  From The Guardian, December 3:

WTA does the right thing in standing up to China over Peng Shuai

When the Russian tanks roll westward, what defence for you and me? Colonel Sloman’s Essex Rifles? Or the 66-year-old chairman of the WTA? Well, there’s an unusual thing. It turns out there is at least one body in sport, and indeed in public life, with the guts, the spleen, the fuzzy green balls to make a stand in the face of power and basic questions of right and wrong.

It isn’t clear what the full implications might be of the decision by the Women’s Tennis Association to suspend its activities in China until it is satisfied over the treatment of one of its members, Peng Shuai, by the Chinese state.

For now there will be predictable noises off, from the suggestion this is the hand of state-led anti-China actors, to talk of sponsor pressure, of opportunism on a hot-button issue. This seems unlikely. First, because there is no money, no long-term power-play in standing up to China. The WTA has a 10-year deal for a season-ending tournament in Shenzhen. Scratch that then.

And second, because Steve Simon, the chief executive of the WTA, really doesn’t seem to give a crap.

“If we walk away from what we have requested, what we are telling the world is that not addressing sexual assault with the respect and seriousness that it requires is OK, and it is just not,” Simon said this week.

And there you have it, a most unlikely match-up: the governing body of women’s tennis against the governing global power of the coming century. A world of watch sponsorship deals and match etiquette regulations offering a long hard Paddington stare to one of the most powerful totalitarian states in human history. At a time when meaning is so often fogged, this feels like something real. Not to mention an act of leadership that shames so many sporting bodies by its clarity.

What has been the response of the ATP, the men’s tennis association?  Complete and utter silence for ten days, then a mealy-mouthed “statement” that did nothing to criticize nor condemn the PRC.   Retired players have spoken out against the ATP, but not current male players like Nadal and Federer who blather about “concern” but say nothing to condemn the PRC’s brutality nor the ATP’s cowardice.  The ATP won’t cancel any events, because money is more important than human rights.

ATP criticised for not joining WTA action on China in response to Peng Shuai safety concerns

The governing body of men’s tennis has been criticised for not joining the Women’s Tennis Association in suspending tournaments in China over the treatment of former doubles world No. 1 Peng Shuai.

The Association of Tennis Professionals, in a statement released a day after the WTA opted to take decisive action given concerns surrounding Peng and the safety of other players, said it will continue to monitor the situation.

Martina Navratilova and Andy Roddick were among the players to criticise the ATP’s stance.

“The situation involving Peng Shuai continues to raise serious concerns within and beyond our sport,” ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said.

 

 

This past week has been a similar story within Formula 1.  The FIA elected to have a race in Saudi Arabia (read: let the mass murdering regime buy legitimacy and sell propaganda with money).

But it has not gone as expected because all of the drivers (well, maybe not Mazepin, a Russian backed by dubious oligarch money) support Black Lives Matter, equality for women, and full human rights for LGBTQIA people.  Several have openly stated their opposition to holding a race in SA, that it should have never been placed there.  Those who wear pride and rainbow flags on their helmets and racing suits have refused to remove them while in the country.  For all the talk about racing drivers being privileged and coming from money (because most are), this act of solidarity and decency says otherwise.

Lewis Hamilton says had ‘no choice’ over Saudi Arabia race as he condemns barbaric anti-LGBT+ laws

Lewis Hamilton has spoken out against Saudi Arabia’s anti-LGBT+ laws which he described as ‘terrifying’.

The Formula One star took pole for the country’s inaugural Grand Prix on Friday (December 3). But speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the historic race in Jeddah, the driver condemned the country’s homophobic laws which include the death penalty for acts of homosexuality.

“There’s prison time, death penalty and restrictions from people for being themselves, and I don’t believe in that,” Hamilton said. “Religions can change, rules can change, rulers can change those things. They have the power to.”

Hamilton also made note to emphasise he was not in the country by his own choice but rather because of his Formula One commitments.

“We don’t choose where we’re going, others have chosen for us to be here, so we have to apply the pressure on them to make sure that they are doing right by the people in those places, sparking conversations, creating that uncomfortable discussion that is needed in these places,” he explained.

“Do I feel comfortable here? I wouldn’t say that I do.

“But it’s not my choice to be here. The sport has taken the choice to be here.”

Lewis Hamilton made headlines last month after he wore a bespoke helmet designed by British intersex artist Valentino Vecchietti, which features the LGBT+ Progress flag, and is also emblazoned with the words “We Stand Together” and “Love Is Love”.

From the same item, this load of garbage:

The Formula One series has faced major backlash for holding Grand Prix races in Middle Eastern countries due to the their abhorrent stances on LGBT+ rights and other human rights issues.

However, also speaking to Sky Sports, Formula Oneboss Stefano Domenicali argued that the series’ presence in these countries casts a global spotlight on their antiquated laws, thus acting as a catalyst for change.

“As soon as these countries choose to be under the spotlight Formula One is bringing, there is no excuse.

“They have taken the route of a change.”

Apartheid didn’t end in South Africa because the all-white rugby team was allowed to tour.  It was protests and bans that prevented them from playing that helped end apartheid.  Domenicali is my age (he was born in 1965), and is old enough to know he’s talking out of his ass.  He and Jean Todt (pronounced “toad”) are rationalizing support for mass murderers and fascists for the sake of profit.

Why am I not surprised that it is Todt and Domenicali (two of those running the Ferrari team when Schumacher raced) who are the scum supporting the regime, putting races into places like Qatar and Azerbaijan where human rights don’t exist? They’re the FIA’s twin Max Mosleys (son of nazi sympathizer Oswald Mosley).

F1 under pressure to speak out against Saudi human right abuses

Human rights organisations have demanded that Formula One act to mitigate human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia as the sport prepares to race there for the first time this weekend. F1 is accused of being complicit in sportswashing for the regime and has been presented with a large amount of criticism of the state, much of which appears to be in direct contradiction of F1’s commitment to equality and diversity.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch and the Reprieve group wrote separately to F1 outlining their concerns. Amnesty International wa unequivocal in its criticism and the Codepink group has sent a letter to Lewis Hamilton, the world champion, signed by 41 organisations, requesting he speak to Saudi leaders to highlight human rights issues.

[. . .]

The Reprieve group has also written to Hamilton, who has been strident in his campaign for diversity and equality in F1, and recently said the sport had a duty to investigate and make a difference on human rights issues in the countries it visits. On Wednesday evening, Hamilton tweeted: “Equality for all.” Reprieve sent F1 a letter from MPs and peers including Lord Hain, vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Formula One, stating their concerns over sportswashing.

[. . .]

Many drivers, including Hamilton and the four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, have been outspoken in their support for LGBTQI+ rights. Hamilton wore the rainbow colours on his helmet in Qatar and Vettel wore a T-shirt in support of LGBTQI+ rights at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Both are supporters of F1’s highly publicised We Race As One initiative, of which one of the stated aims is diversity and inclusion.

Amnesty has pointedly noted that same‑sex relations remain illegal in Saudi Arabia and are punishable by flogging or imprisonment. The group also claimed the authorities continued a “brutal crackdown” on critics of the government. Felix Jakens, Amnesty UK’s head of campaigns, demanded F1 take responsibility. “The Jeddah Grand Prix is yet another key moment in the Saudi authorities’ wider sportswashing effort,” he said. “It’s important that the glamour of F1 is not allowed to divert attention from the plight of Saudi women’s rights defenders who risk imprisonment for their work, or from the struggles of Saudi LGTBI people who live in a country where same-sex relations are illegal and punishable by flogging or imprisonment.

 

We’ll Soon Find Out

Taiwan’s government has mandated that all foreigners be doubly vaccinated by January 2022.

Good.  Now we’ll see who the anti-vaxxer clowns are and if they really believe in that “FREEDUMB!!!” nonsense they spew.  Or were they all talk and finally accepted reality?

There’s a two month gap between the first and second dose, so if any of them change their minds, it’s too late.  They had better pack up and leave voluntarily before being issued with a deportation order.

What worries me is friends who announced they are leaving Taiwan this month.  Are these planned departures and moving on with life?  Or were they secretly anti-vaxxers?  I don’t associate with anyone (friends or acquaintances) who is openly so.

Hilarity Ensues: DickDawk (gear) shifts the blame

I keep trying to leave this topic alone….

A few days ago, Richard “Dick Dawk” Dawkins claimed to be a “victim of road rage” after a cyclist used his U lock (not a “D lock” as DD ignorantly said) to smash his car’s window.  DD is asking for “witnesses”.

The more erudite have asked him, “Why don’t you post the last ten minutes of video that the Tesla automatically recorded?”  Of course DD drives a car made by a sociopathic billionaire. . . .

DD responded “I didn’t put in a memory stick.”  Seriously?  You removed the one that comes with the car? Is this not your first incident with the car?

Some have speculated that Dear Teslima doesn’t want people to examine his driving habits.