Far-Left Prez Candidate Mélenchon Invokes Robespierre While Laying Out Vision for Multicultural ‘New France’

Leftist presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon invoked French Revolution Reign of Terror architect Maximilien Robespierre at his campaign launch address over the weekend, vowing to usher in a “Sixth Republic” to serve the interests of the multicultural “New France”.

At a conference for his La France Insoumise (France in Rebellion/LFI) party in the Parisian suburb of Le Bourget, 75-year-old socialist presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon laid out his vision for radical changes to nearly every aspect of government, citing the French Revolution as the north star of his leftist political project.

As such, the LFI leader argued that a new constitution is needed and vowed that, if elected president next year, he would establish a “Sixth Republic” in which he would introduce a system of “permanent popular sovereignty”.

Under such a system, the power of the presidency — which was designed by WW2 leader Charles De Gaulle to be a muscular executive — would see its power greatly reduced, with much of the decision-making instead being left in the hands of the public in the form of referendums, giving voters “direct legislative power”. This would include 16-year-olds, whom he said should be granted the franchise.

In his envisaged future state, the public would also be able to recall any elected official during their term, including the President of the Republic, Mélenchon said.

“That’s no small thing. It is the fulfilled dream of the revolutionary sections of Paris in 1789. It is the fulfilled wish of the Paris Commune. It is the wish of all those—anarchists, socialists, communists, and all left-wing traditions—that power not be solely that of a representative democracy,” he said.

The Rebellious presidential candidate went on to claim that the 18th-century revolution was a precedent for his vision of a multicultural “New France” and as a justification for using the state to combat racism, while specifically citing Maximilien Robespierre, who infamously ushered in the Reign of Terror to eliminate supposed opponents of the Revolution, executing tens of thousands with the guillotine under the guise of the so-called Committee of Public Safety.

In addition to his planned constitutional overhaul, Mélenchon also used the Revolution to justify what is perhaps the even more significant political project of so-called “New France”, in which the results of past mass migration are formalised, and systems are set in place for continued demographic transformation of the country. Unlike other major Western leftists, Mélenchon does not deny that a “Great Replacement” of the French population is underway, but rather declares that such “creolization” is a positive development.

The LFI presidential candidate, who himself is only French by citizenship rather than by ethnicity, having been born in Morocco to parents of Sicilian and Spanish extraction, said that if elected, he would look to ensure birthright citizenship is the law of the land.

“For such is the French nation, that it is defined neither by religion, nor by skin colour, nor by anything other than the political will it forms around Robespierre’s maxim: liberty, equality, fraternity. And for the rest, everyone has their own way, their own way. The French nation was built around its State. It was built around a principle: everyone adopts it by receiving it according to the law of the soil: you are born here, you are French,” Mélenchon declared.

“And who can forget that citizenship was granted to all by the French Revolution and Maximilien Robespierre? It was then that secularism, the separation of Church and State, was first established. Glory to our founding Revolution, which allows us all to be French,” he added.

“The New France, this new world, is the France of generations from all backgrounds. The France of women in positions of responsibility everywhere—which wasn’t the case when the Constitution was established. The France of a massively urbanized population, more educated than ever. It is the France of the creolization of all music and all cultures. This New France advances with pride—and I ask it never to lower its gaze—onto the stage of our national history. It is its turn. Generations will always succeed one another. And no one will ever have the opportunity to sort through them. This new generation takes over from the republican generations that preceded it,” the leftist leader pronounced.

Much like Robespierre before him, Mélenchon also took pains to identify the enemies of his revolution, vowing to purge supposed “racists” from public life.

“Once in power, we will pursue racism with a fine-tooth comb, by all legal means, by all the punishments already provided, and by those that we will add. Structures under influence will be methodically decontaminated, from floor to ceiling,” he vowed, pledging to bring about a “cultural liberation of our country from fascist culture and its racist premises.”

Mélenchon specifically cited French conglomerate firm Bolloré, which owns multiple conservative media outlets, including CNews, which is often claimed to serve a similar function in France to Fox News in the United States. In recent weeks, LFI lawmakers have vowed to ban CNews and other similar media outlets over their alleged spreading of racism.

On top of his grand projects, Mélenchon also laid out a myriad of leftist policies that he would look to institute if given power, including outright socialist economic measures such as freezing prices of certain goods, while drastically increasing the minimum wage. The party has also advocated for a “climate wealth tax”, which would potentially serve as one of the largest tax grabs in French history, according to Le Figaro.

The LFI would also outright abolish all private health insurance options in favour of a completely government-run system. He also called for the transition away from France’s wildly successful nuclear power programme, to follow the lead of Germany in moving to so-called “renewable” sources of energy such as wind and solar.

On foreign policy, Mélenchon said that as president, he would look to withdraw France from NATO so as to avoid participation in future “American wars”. Meanwhile, he said that he would deploy French ships to “escort the flotillas” of Palestinians to confront the annexation of the West Bank and elsewhere.

The far-left candidate has seen his support surge since the summer, and his power has been put on full display in recent weeks amid national Islamo-leftist riots, which government and security service officials have attributed, at least in part, to his radical cohort. However, while polls currently predict that the LFI candidate would reach the second round of voting in next year’s presidential elections, he would be handily defeated by National Rally leader Marine Le Pen.

Commenting on Mélenchon’s platform, Le Pen said that it “is not a plan to put the country back on its feet. It is a plan to dismantle France. It takes to its logical conclusion the process of deconstruction Emmanuel Macron has pursued since coming to power.”

Le Pen, who, rather than Robespierre, invoked Joan of Arc during her own campaign launch, added that Mélenchon’s vision “should alarm the French”.

“A France that gives up on controlling its borders, enforcing its authority, protecting its citizens, defending its property owners, safeguarding its energy sovereignty and taking charge of its destiny,” she said.

“It is a plan that disarms, that gives up, that falls behind and that divides. It is a plan that runs counter to the French people’s deepest aspirations. It threatens our national cohesion, our security, our prosperity and even the foundations of our sovereignty. It does not prepare France for the future: it engineers its weakening and its disappearance. We must fight it with the utmost determination.”

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Man arrested after stealing, burning relic of St. Nicholas in France

Wikimedia Commons,Musicaline, CC-BY-SA-4.0

An unidentified man was arrested and charged after allegedly stealing, burning, and crushing a relic of Saint Nicholas of Myra from the 15th-century Basilica of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (photo) in late October.

On October 28, the man, who police have so far declined to identify but some on social media suspect is Muslim, allegedly broke the glass containing one of St. Nicholas’s bones beneath a statue of the saint, before burning the ancient relic, per French media. Following his arrest, the suspect said he acted on impulse, driven by a “desire to destroy” the relic.

The relic that the suspect destroyed was not the basilica’s famous reliquary arm, but another bone belonging to the 4th-century saint that has been on display since the 2000s.

“Beyond the patrimonial value of this object, it is above all a deep blow to our history, our faith, and the devotion of generations of pilgrims who are affected today,” the basilica parish said in a statement. “The parish is deeply grieved by this act. The relic of Saint Nicholas represents a precious link with our patron saint, whose memory we celebrate every year, and whose spiritual radiance far exceeds the boundaries of our Lorraine.”

“In this trial, we wish to remain united in prayer and to entrust to Saint Nicholas all those affected by this event. May Saint Nicholas continue to watch over our parish, our basilica, and all those who come to seek comfort and hope,” they added.

lifesitenews

California Gov. Newsom’s Death Row Clemency Plan Includes Transgender Killer Who Beat Two Infants to Death

California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced his plan to commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates on the state’s death row, replacing their sentences with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Among the prisoners included in the sweeping clemency initiative is a trans-identified male convicted of beating two babies to death and who is currently being held in a women’s facility.

In an open letter to Californians released Thursday, Newsom said the decision reflected his longstanding opposition to state-sanctioned executions, arguing that capital punishment was incompatible with the state’s values and that an imperfect justice system could not reliably administer an irreversible punishment.

The announcement has prompted sharply divided reactions, with prosecutors and some victims’ families condemning it as an affront to jury verdicts and the suffering of those affected by violent crime. Newsom acknowledged that his decision would be deeply painful for some families, but said he had concluded that the state could no longer morally justify executions.

Jessica Marie Hann.

Some 382 of the proposed 548 commutations require approval from the California Supreme Court because the inmates have been convicted of a felony on more than one occasion. The requirement leaves a significant legal question over whether Newsom’s unprecedented exercise of clemency will proceed in full. The governor, however, has expressed confidence that his decision is consistent with California law, arguing that his constitutional clemency powers allow him to commute the sentences of all 548 prisoners.

Among those criminals who stand to benefit from Newsom’s plan is a transgender killer who beat two of his own children to death.

Jason Hann was first arrested after the remains of his 10-week-old daughter were discovered in Arkansas. The little girl’s body was found in an advanced state of decomposition and stuffed in a tupperware container onboard an RV trailer once owned by Hann after the vehicle had been repossessed and sent to auction. The buyer of the RV discovered the body in February of 2002, and called police.

The baby’s corpse had been in the plastic tub for approximately one year before she was found, and it was determined that the girl had died of a fractured skull.

A 2013 excerpt in the Desert Sun announcing a trial date for Hann and Werntz.

Police were quickly able to connect the trailer to Hann using its registration history, and he and his girlfriend, Krissy Werntz, were found and arrested at a motel in Portland, Maine, in April of that same year.

During the multi-state investigation into the baby’s death, law enforcement discovered a second child’s remains in an Arizona storage locker rented by Hann. It was determined the body belonged to his 6-week-old son who he had murdered by head trauma in 1999.

In both cases, Hann had apparently kept and travelled with the corpses before finally storing them.

Disturbingly, when law enforcement initially went to arrest Hann and Werntz at the Oregon motel they had been living at, they discovered a third infant child who was already showing serious signs of abuse, including a dozen broken ribs, retinal hemorrhaging, bleeding under the skin, and internal injuries. The child was reportedly on “the brink of death,” but was given immediate medical attention and placed into protective custody.

In February of 2006, Hann was sentenced to 27 to 30 years in prison in the case of his son’s death. In 2013, he would be given the death penalty in the case of his daughter’s death after jurors were allowed to take into consideration his other conviction. Werntz, the mother of the infants, was sentenced to 15 years to life for the death of her daughter but avoided any charges in the death of her son. During her trial, it was learned that Werntz had been under significant duress during the relationship, and that Hann had threatened to murder her if she went to police.

Hann was initially placed at San Quentin State Prison, which was at the time a maximum-security prison and one of California’s most notorious and closely guarded correctional institutions. But in 2019, he began to identify as a woman named “Jessica,” and demanded the state provide him “gender affirming” accessories such as hormones, bras, makeup, and hair rollers. He also requested a legal name change, sex reassignment surgery, and a transfer to a women’s facility.

In 2020, he was moved to death row at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF). But after California Governor Gavin Newson signed an executive order suspending the death penalty in the state and mandating a stay on execution for all inmates on death row, Hann was allowed to move into the women’s general population after a cursory observation period.

Concerningly, Hann was set to be released into the very facility where Werntz was being held, despite having previously threatened to murder her. Fearing for her life, Werntz filed for an emergency transfer out of the institution and was granted a change in placement to the California Women’s Facility just days before Hann was turned loose.

In 2023, Reduxx learned that Hann was awaiting taxpayer-funded breast implants while at the women’s facility.

Hann was just one of the violent male inmates who benefited from SB-132, The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act, which formally established the right of inmates to be housed on the basis of gender identity. 

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has previously confirmed to Reduxx that prison transfer requests are based entirely off of a Gender Identity Questionnaire that could be issued during reception or requested by the inmate at any time during their incarceration. 

The CDCR Gender Identity Questionnaire. Source: CDCR Press Room

The Questionnaire is a form with a short series of questions in which inmates can declare their pronouns, honorifics, and gender identity. Male inmates do not need to identify as transgender to request transfer, and can simply identify gender non-conforming, or non-binary.

Since the Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act took effect in January 2021, California has reported 2,640 currently incarcerated people who identify as transgender, non-binary or intersex. During that period, 1,127 people from those categories have requested transfers to women’s correctional institutions or community facilities, according to figures published by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in October 2026.

According to earlier data collected by Keep Prisons Single Sex USA, 33.8% of the men seeking transfer to a female prison are known to be registered sex offenders.

reduxx

Germany: 2 Tunisians sexually harass a 21-year-old woman on high-speed train and film the offense

A 21-year-old woman was sexually harassed on a high-speed ICE train on the way to the German city of Stuttgart on Friday evening. One of the two Tunisian suspects filmed the woman being victimized and posted the video online, police sources reported.

Remix News has been unable to find the video after a search of various social media networks.

The alleged assault occurred about 8:35 p.m. on an Intercity-Express (ICE) train traveling from Munich to Stuttgart, according to a statement from the federal police in Stuttgart, according to MeineStadt.de.

A 23-year-old Tunisian man verbally insulted and sexually harassed the German passenger, then touched her thigh and made obscene gestures, police said.

His 20-year-old Tunisian friend filmed the encounter on his smartphone and uploaded the video to an unnamed social network.

Police officers were waiting for the two men when the train arrived in Stuttgart and moved to detain the two men. At that point, the 23-year-old resisted officers’ instructions and physically resisted. Officers recovered the smartphones of both suspects.

An investigation has been opened on suspicion of sexual harassment and additional offenses.

Recent data shows that foreigners committed 53 percent of all serious sexual offenses on public transport in the first half of 2026.

rmx

Recorded rapes almost double in Spain under Sánchez as killings rise by nearly a third

Medforth AI

Spain has registered sharp increases in its most serious violent crimes since Pedro Sánchez became Prime Minister in June 2018, according to official figures.

Data from the Crime Statistics Portal of Spain’s Ministry of the Interior showed completed homicides and murders rose 31 per cent between 2018 and 2025. Attempted homicides and murders increased 78 per cent over the same period.

Reported rapes went up 96 per cent. The number of cases recorded by police has almost doubled in seven years.

The trend has continued into 2026. Reported rapes in the first half of this year were 3.5 per cent higher than in the same period of 2025, according to the ministry’s latest quarterly balance, published in September.

Over the same six months, total crime rose 0.5 per cent and all offences against sexual freedom 4 per cent. Kidnappings increased 17.5 per cent, from 51 to 60 cases.

In 2025 alone, Spain’s police forces recorded 376 completed homicides and murders, 1,413 attempts and 5,363 sexual assaults involving penetration, the legal category that covers rape, according to the annual crime balance.

Compared with 2024, completed killings rose 7.7 per cent and rapes 2.8 per cent. Kidnappings increased 9.6 per cent and drug trafficking offences 5.5 per cent, the ministry said when it released the figures on February 20, 2026.

Overall recorded crime has moved far less. Total offences grew 0.8 per cent in 2025, largely because of online fraud, while conventional crime was broadly flat.

The 2018 baseline covers a year Sánchez shared with his predecessor, Mariano Rajoy of the conservative People’s Party (PP), who was ousted in a no-confidence vote that June. Fernando Grande-Marlaska has been Interior Minister throughout Sánchez’s time in office.

The gap between attempted and completed killings has widened. In 2025 police recorded almost four attempted homicides for every one that ended in death, against fewer than three in 2018.

Criminologists have long argued that better emergency medicine holds down murder figures because victims who once would have died now survive serious wounds.

A 2002 study led by US sociologist Anthony Harris, published in the journal Homicide Studies, concluded that advances in trauma care had substantially reduced the lethality of violent assault in the US since 1960.

On that reading, the steeper rise in attempts may give a more accurate picture of the growth in serious violence in Spain than the completed homicide figure alone.

The rape statistics also require care. Organic Law 10/2022, known as the “only yes means yes” law and promoted by the Sánchez Government, abolished the distinction between sexual abuse and sexual assault in the Spanish Penal Code.

Since it came into force in October 2022, all non-consensual penetration has been recorded as sexual assault.

The law became one of the most controversial of Sánchez’s tenure after courts used it to cut the sentences of hundreds of convicted sex offenders. Sánchez apologised to victims in April 2023 and parliament amended the text that month.

Some Spanish media have reported that rapes tripled under Sánchez. That calculation compares the 1,700 sexual assaults with penetration recorded in 2018 with the 5,363 of 2025.

It leaves out the 1,044 cases of sexual abuse with penetration that police registered in 2018, which would now fall into the same category, according to the ministry’s 2018 report on sexual offences. Once both are counted, the increase is close to double rather than triple.

The ministry has repeatedly linked the rise in sexual offences to awareness campaigns. In its 2025 balance, it said the increase should be seen partly as the result of active policies to reduce social tolerance of such crimes.

According to the ministry, those policies have made victims more willing to report attacks to police and reduced under-reporting.

Sánchez himself has defended his record on public security. At his end-of-season press conference in July 2025, he described Spain as “almost the safest country in the world”.

Police unions have contested that view. Jupol, the largest union in the National Police, said the 2025 data dismantled what it called the triumphalist discourse of Grande-Marlaska.

The PP, now Spain’s main opposition party, announced on February 22, 2026 that it would launch an audit in the Senate of the minister’s management of the ministry.

Cuca Gamarra, the PP’s deputy secretary for institutional regeneration, cited rising kidnappings, drug trafficking and rapes among her party’s concerns.

Earlier this year, the ministry’s first-quarter balance for 2026 showed completed homicides and murders up 10.6 per cent year on year.

brusselssignal

UK committee examines bill criminalizing ‘conversion therapy’

A U.K. Parliamentary Committee is currently examining a proposed government bill that would ban “conversion therapy” and could criminalize anyone who opposes transgender ideology.

The Joint Committee on the Draft Conversion Practices Bill, consisting of six MPs from the House of Lords and six from the House of Commons, has been tasked with examining the conversion therapy bill proposed by the left-wing Labor government and is currently taking in suggestions from the public.

The proposal was published in June and seeks to criminalize the use of “emotional pressure” on an individual in a way that causes them to believe they do or do not have a particular “sexual orientation” or “transgender identity.” Those convicted of an offense could face a fine, up to five years’ imprisonment, or both.

The Christian Institute reports that during a parliamentary session of the committee on October 29, Helen Joyce of the anti-transgender ideology organization Sex Matters pointed to a recent study done by the group with the help of 30 medical professionals, which concluded that the bill would have “a serious chilling effect” on their work.

Criminal lawyer Dennis Kavanagh warned that the government would introduce a bill “that says that there’s one area, and one area only, of medical practice where you could get prosecuted if you put a foot wrong. That won’t be a chilling effect, that’ll be a deep freeze.”

The barrister further warned that the bill conflicted directly with the European Convention on Human Rights, describing it as “incomprehensible” and arguing that it undermined parental rights, restricted freedom of speech, and discriminated against those who uphold biological reality.

Professor Ilias Trispiotis, an advocate for the bill and member of the Ban Conversion Practices Coalition, told the Committee that prayer intended to change someone’s sexual orientation could fall within the scope of the proposed legislation, provided it was directed at an identifiable individual and met the bill’s threshold for harm. Asked whether this could include someone approaching a pastor for prayer over concerns about their sexuality, he said the matter would depend on the context, intent and effects of the prayer.

Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute, called on everyone who values freedom of speech, religious liberty and parental rights to submit evidence to the Westminster Committee.

The committee reviewing the government’s anti-conversion therapy bill is inviting public submissions by 5 p.m. on Monday, November 16. The Christian Institute offers guidance to those who wish to submit their suggestions in England and Wales as well as Scotland.

lifesitenews

Islamic Party of Ireland Launches. Leaders Must Be Muslim Men

“My loyalty and allegiance will be to the truth and the Sharia”

The Islamic Labour Party of Ireland has launched. Its constitution is, for some reason, in Arabic, instead of Gaelic, but lays out a mission of “reforming the country economically and socially from an Islamic perspective”, limits its leaders, who will be described as ‘sheikhs’ to candidates who are “Muslim, male, adult, and of sound mind” and “preference will be given to candidates with knowledge of Islamic law, eloquence, and proficiency in both Arabic and English.”

Associate members must be “a Muslim and of age” so apparently women are allowed. Members joining the party must swear the following oath.

“I swear by Allah that my work will be purely for Allah and in accordance with the Sunnah of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and that I will abide by the party’s constitution, regulations and instructions, and that I will perform the tasks entrusted to me with honesty and sincerity, and that I will adhere to Islamic ethics in dealing, and that I will give precedence to the public interest over the private interest, and that I will seek, in my words and actions, the face of Allah and His pleasure, and that my loyalty and allegiance will be to the truth and the Sharia and not to the party, and that I will not divulge secrets and trusts.”

The rest reads, appropriately enough, like a mix of Communist Party doctrine and Islamic doctrine.

“​Breach of Party Security (Organizational Treason): Any affiliate who creates factions (wings or blocs) within the Party, establishes independent relations with other parties, or criticizes and defames the Party from the outside shall have their action deemed organizational treason. They shall be immediately referred to the “Security and Discipline Committee” for deterrent measures.​Article (14): Repentance and Review (Rehabilitation)​In the event that a member commits ideological or organizational violations that do not amount to treason against the Party, the door for “Repentance and Review” (Rehabilitation) shall be opened for them before the Sharia and Disciplinary Committee to correct their course and commit to the Party’s regulations.”

Most of the site is empty, but there is a Shadow Government section.

Shadow Government

Based on the circular issued by the Secretary-General of the Islamic Party for Action and Youth dated the fifth of Jumada al-Ula, 1448, regarding the formation of a shadow government tasked with developing the necessary plans and strategies for managing the country, the following conditions are stipulated:

All ministers belong to the Islamic Labor and Youth Party

Nothing to see here. What Ireland needs now is more Muslim mass migration so that this thing can be a viable proposition.

frontpagemag

Lessons from the Russell Brand Trial: A Different Justice System for White Men?

Screengrab youtube

British comedian, actor, and television host Russell Brand has been found guilty on one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. He was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison on Monday, 9 November.

Brand’s trial began on 12 October. He was facing a total of seven charges: three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault (which was amended to attempted indecent assault during trial). His defence was able to beat two counts of rape and the one count of attempted indecent assault, of which he was found not guilty by the jury, but he was ultimately convicted on the other charges.

The prosecution of Russell Brand has drawn criticism from sceptics from the get-go.

All the alleged criminal conduct the famous entertainer was charged with took place between 1999 and 2009—meaning the most recent event against a criminal jury was 17 years ago.

Therefore, some of the complaining witnesses’ recollections were understandably hazy. For instance, one of the charges Brand was convicted on was a sexual assault charge where the victim could not recall what year it took place. Her testimony states that the event took place in either 2004 or 2005. The jury found that Russell Brand kissed her and touched her breasts and buttocks without her consent in the Choice FM radio station’s studios.

However, there is a reasonable explanation why a jury still believed that Brand had committed such an act.

The comic had not only talked excessively about his extreme sexual appetite and promiscuity at that part of his career, but he is also on camera doing very similar things to women during numerous appearances. One famous example happened on the American late-night talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

In February 2013, Brand was featured on the show with singer-actress Katharine McPhee. Brand was still on the set when McPhee walked on for her interview. As she was trying to walk past him, Brand grabbed her by the arm and pushed her towards him. He was then instructed to move out of the chair so McPhee could sit down for the interview, which he refused. The actress then sat on his lap as a joke, but she tried to get up; Brand grabbed her by the waist and pushed her back onto his lap.

The prosecution also presented excerpts from the defendant’s 2007 autobiography My Bookie Wook, in which he claims that he ‘would never have relented until I received my birthright orgasm’.

{YouTube CC-BY 4.0}

Brand was acquitted on the earliest charge of rape.

The complaining witness alleged that Brand raped her after she had invited him to her hotel room after a Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, United Kingdom, in 1999. She did have photos of Brand in her hotel room from the night of the alleged incident. However, she erroneously described them in her testimony: she claimed the photos showed Brand in his underwear, when in fact he was wearing trousers (although shirtless).

The jury also found Brand not guilty of one count of oral rape. According to the prosecution, Brand and an MTV worker went into a bathroom stall of a bar in London’s Soho district during a party, where Brand orally raped her alleged victim. The way the rape was committed, according to the complainant’s testimony, however, was inconceivable. She told the court that Russell Brand, a 6’2 man, stood on a toilet rim to force his penis in her mouth. Standing on a standard-height toilet, Brand’s penis would have been around 4 feet and a couple of inches off the ground. It would only have been on level with the victim’s mouth if the victim was extremely short (below five feet).

Consequently, the jury found him not guilty on that charge. However, they found him guilty on one count of sexual assault for an act he committed against the same woman. The jury did believe that Brand had grabbed her breast at the same party before the alleged bathroom incident.

The one count of rape Russell Brand was convicted of—which accounts for the bulk of his sentence, nine years out of the ten and a half—was based on the testimony of Complainant #5. The victim was a fan of Brand, who met him after one of his stand-up comedy performances in 2009. The two then went back to her home, where they began to have consensual vaginal sex. Brand then began to penetrate her anally and did not stop even after, according to the victim’s testimony, she begged him to do so.

A text exchange between the perpetrator and the victim was also presented as evidence, in which the victim told Brand that he had ‘treated me like an animal’, to which Brand apologizes in writing multiple times.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution emphasized that the six complainants who came forward to report Brand to the police and testify against him did not know each other and could not coordinate before the trial. However, their experiences still have one major element in common: they all claim that they were motivated to press charges after watching the 2023 documentary by Channel 4 titled In Plain Sight: Dispatches, which is about allegations of sexual misconduct by Brand from five other women—none of whom are the ones who testified at the criminal trial.

The many critics of Russell Brand’s prosecution point out that the left-leaning TV station produced a big-budget documentary about the alleged sex crimes of Brand after the celebrity had pivoted to right-wing political commentary in 2022.

Comparisons Between Russell Brand and Immigrant Sex Offenders’ Sentences

The criticisms of the Russell Brand trial do not end there.

Many are pointing to the discrepancy in sentences between Russell Brand and other sex offenders convicted of more serious sex crimes who are of immigrant background and of Muslim faith. For example, Ibrar Hussain was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for two counts of rape in January 2025, even though his victim was just 14 years old.

Hamoud Al-Soaimi was given a two-year suspended prison sentence in March 2024 for sexually exploiting a 13-year-old girl.

Users also claim that the Muslim grooming gang scandal has received considerably less attention in the British mainstream media than the trial of Russell Brand, a white man. However, Channel 4 produced a documentary on that subject as well, titled Groomed: A National Scandal, which aired in April 2025.

hungarianconservative

German Chancellor Merz Holds EU Budget Hostage

GROK youwatch

Political opponents and financial analysts have intensified their criticism of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz following his threat to block the European Union’s next seven-year budget due to funding for Ukraine.

Opponents accuse the Chancellor of holding the bloc’s multi-trillion-euro financial framework hostage, alleging that his hardline stance on securing an additional €70 billion for Ukraine is influenced by his past corporate ties to the global asset management firm BlackRock.

The controversy follows a letter sent by Merz to European Council President António Costa ahead of Friday’s informal leaders’ summit in Dublin. In the letter, Merz made Germany’s approval of the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework conditional on a unanimous commitment from all member states to close Ukraine’s massive projected budget deficit.

Domestic critics and heterodox economists argue that the Chancellor’s rigid financial demands ignore severe socioeconomic challenges within the EU, where millions face distress. Instead, detractors suggest that the push to channel billions into Kiev is designed to secure the financial interests of international investment giants like BlackRock, which has previously signed agreements to manage the Ukraine Development Fund for post-war reconstruction. Merz served as the chairman of BlackRock’s German subsidiary before returning to full-time politics.

Over 92 million EU citizens remain at risk of poverty as stagnant wages and rising costs strain households. High inflation and a severe housing shortage have created a profound cost-of-living crisis across the bloc.

Housing Strain: Average home prices surged by nearly 70% over the past decade, forcing millions to spend over 40% of their income on rent and utilities.
Food Insecurity: A 25% spike in food prices has left vulnerable populations unable to afford regular, adequate meals.
Rising Homelessness: Shortages in social housing leave low-income families unable to absorb financial shocks, driving up eviction rates.
Unemployment Vulnerability: Over 66% of unemployed individuals in the EU face an immediate risk of falling below the poverty line.

Supporters of the Chancellor strongly reject these claims, arguing that safeguarding Ukraine’s public finances and defense is a matter of vital European security rather than corporate interest. They maintain that a stable Ukraine is essential to protect the EU’s eastern border and ensure long-term continental stability.

With net-recipient nations such as Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic refusing to contribute additional funds, negotiations in Dublin are expected to be highly contentious, leaving the future of the EU’s long-term budget uncertain.

freewestmedia

UK: Hundreds more criminals freed under Labour early release scheme today

GROK

Hundreds more criminals will be released in the third wave of Labour’s early release scheme today.

Around 650 offenders who are serving sentences of less than three years and two months will be freed.

They join the thousands of criminals who have been released from jail since the scheme began on October 1.

Criminals released in this wave include people convicted of affray, which has a maximum sentence of three years, burglary and fraud.

Some violent offenders convicted of wounding, grievous bodily harm with intent or lower-end firearm charges could be released.

Some 5,000 prisoners are scheduled to be released in stages over the next year, down from 6,000, after ministers intervened to exempt rapists and the most serious child sex offenders.

Earlier this year, Labour implemented the early release scheme in an effort to ease Britain’s prison crisis.

Some violent offenders convicted of wounding, grievous bodily harm with intent or lower-end firearm charges could be released.

Some 5,000 prisoners are scheduled to be released in stages over the next year, down from 6,000, after ministers intervened to exempt rapists and the most serious child sex offenders.

Earlier this year, Labour implemented the early release scheme in an effort to ease Britain’s prison crisis.

The rules do not apply to rapists, the most serious child sex offenders, criminals guilty of manslaughter, terrorists and murderers serving life sentences.

Andy Burnham exempted those guilty of manslaughter after it was revealed the killers of Pc Andrew Harper may have been freed.

Inmates cheered and punched the air as they were released early during the second phase last month.

And David Elliott, 50, who was released from HMP Brixton in the first wave, told GB News he was likely to steal again.

“I’m 50,” he said. “I’ve been in and out of jail all my life. I’ve got 360 convictions… I’ve got an addiction to stealing.”

When asked what he was planning to do now, Elliot responded: “I’m gonna go stealing again… Whatever I get, whatever I get.”

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s Home Affairs spokesman, blamed previous Tory and Labour Governments for Britain’s crumbling prison system.

He said: “Every single prisoner released today is an indictment of successive Tory and Labour ministers.

“They failed to build more prison places whilst throwing the door open to millions of people to come to our country.

“Now the public is paying the price. 5,000 prisoners – many of whom are dangerous – will be free to walk our streets and terrify their victims without serving their sentences.”

The prison population of England and Wales was 86,982 on Monday, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data, up from 86,883 last week.

There is a presumption that all criminals freed early will be fitted with GPS tags by contractor Serco, Government officials said.

And the Ministry of Justice has previously said the most serious offenders would face the “toughest supervision in British history” once released.

But the Government has not published figures for the rate of recall of prisoners to jail for breaching their licence conditions.

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