Month: May 2024

By Andrea Widburg

In 1963, the BBC debuted Dr. Who, a show about an earth-friendly alien who zooms around time and space in his “Tardis,” a spaceship disguised as a 1960s-era police callbox. In every episode, he has exciting adventures with his female sidekick and often saves mankind from bad aliens. The original show was retired in 1983, only to be rebooted in 2005. Along the way, the Doctor periodically “regenerated,” allowing new actors to replace the old ones. The latest regeneration is a woke, black, gay guy. When audiences felt he failed in Dr. Who-ness, he told them not to watch…and it appears that 50% of them promptly turned off their sets.

Dr. Who has always been a leftist show because it’s a BBC production. It routinely castigates Christianity, capitalism, and guns (although it’s perfectly willing to have the good guys take up arms and kill in defense of saving England). However, of late, the show decided to take a dive into the sexual aspect of cultural Marxism. When one of the most popular Dr. Who actors returned to the show for a 60th anniversary special, the BBC inserted transgenderism into the plot:

Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary special clarifies the pronouns of the Doctor after Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration. After being called out for assuming the creature’s pronouns, the Doctor asks Beep the Meep what pronouns to use. The Meep says that, rather than using pronouns, the Meep uses the definite article in conjunction with the creature’s name. The Doctor says, “I do that too,” providing a definitive answer to how the Doctor uses labels after regenerating as both a masculine-presenting and feminine-presenting Time Lord.

Given that editorial direction, it was inevitable that Dr. Who would eventually be gay. Mizero Ncuto Gatwa, the latest Dr. Who, is a black man, born in Rwanda and partially raised in Scotland. Here’s the trailer:

Aside from that nice Rwandan-Scottish accent, you should have noticed two things watching that trailer. First, Gatwa couldn’t look more gay…which the actor is. Second, did you notice the Disney+ logo in the lower right-hand corner of the video? Yup. Dr. Who is now part of the Disney franchise and Disney went straight to the LGBTQ corner of the room, not only casting Gatwa, but also casting Jinkx Monsoon, a drag queen.

For Gatwa, his gayness is centrally important to his take on Dr. Who, along with other leftist shibboleths:

Davies is keenly aware that we live in dark, challenging times, and he wants the series to reflect that with pointed references to political topics including abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. “Attacks on drag queens … We just see the waves coming. And obviously, that’s my world,” says Davies, a gay man who frequently makes television about queer characters. “I will always have something to say about that.”

Dr. Who fans were less enthused than Gatwa about seeing the venerable show used as a platform for cultural Marxism. However, Gatwa was unperturbed. Indeed, he sees his casting in a show that generations of children have enjoyed as a great groomi… er, educational opportunity:

“I think if you’re 6 years old, you don’t care — not at all,” he says. “But nonetheless, as the world darkens — and I do think the world is darkening around queer rights — there is a joy and a celebration, and there’s a community. Whether you’re 12 years old and just beginning to work out who you are, 62 years old and you’ve never been who you are, or 61 years old like I am and beginning to worry about where we are in society — there is a hero out there cutting his way through the universe, looking damn good in his suits and doing it with a laugh and a smile.”

And for those who aren’t onboard with having yet another Disney show turned into a forum for LGBTQ+ advocacy, Gatwa was clear: “Don’t watch. Turn off the TV. Go and touch grass, please, for God’s sake.” Drag queen Jinkx Monsoon had the same message, opining that, “if we lose some of the transphobic ones, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

It turns out a lot of people took Gatwa’s and Monsoon’s advice—50% of the audience to be precise:

Unfortunately for them, that’s exactly what’s happened, with viewership for the last two episodes down 50%. The first episode last week, “Space Babies,” drew 2.6 million viewers. The second episode, “The Devil’s Chord” drew just 2.4 million. By comparison, the debut episode back in December boasted 4.7 million viewers (which itself was actually the lowest rated Doctor Who premiere since 1963).

Only a single episode from 2017 (‘The Eaters of Light’ — 2.89M) comes close to sinking as low as the ratings are now, in terms of viewership in the last eight years.

Back in the day, everything that Mr. Walt Disney touched turned to gold. Lately, everything that the Walt Disney Corporation touches turns to dross. I’m sad to see a once lovely company commit seppuku this way, but I’m even more happy to see that most people are still resistant to the non-stop drumbeat trying to tell us that homosexuality or so-called “transgenderism” are normal, happy lifestyles. They’re not.

There will always be homosexuals and sexually confused people (usually a result of parenting issues and abuse), and a humane society does not persecute them. However, as ordinary people look at what’s happening when homosexuality and its subsets are moved from the fringes of society to the center, they realize that this sexuality should not be either a societal norm or a goal.—and the Dr. Who audience is leading the way.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/gay_dr_who_actor_may_have_driven_away_half_the_show_s_audience.html

The National Trust has been branded “patronising” after replacing the term “ethnic minority” with “global majority”.

Global majority is a collective term for non-white people who constitute up to 85 per cent of the world’s population.

It is sometimes used instead of “ethnic minority”, with the Government dropping the term BAME in 2022.

The National Trust made the change as it launched an inclusive walking project.

Announcing the change, the conservation charity said: “Despite representing 15 per cent of the population in England and Wales, people from the global majority are widely under-represented in the outdoors, accounting for only one per cent of National Park visitors in 2019.”

The National Trust claimed there is a “lack of representation” of ethnic minorities in the outdoors, “which leads to the feeling that they might not be welcome in outdoor spaces, as well as fear of discrimination and cultural differences”.

The Walk Together Pathway brings together representatives from Black Girls Hike, Black2Nature, Bristol Steppin Sistas, Mosaic Outdoors, Muslim Hikers, NYCE (Nature, Youth, Connection, and Education), Peak District Mosaic and Sheffield Environmental Movement.

The charity angered both members and the wider public over some of its controversial decisions in recent years.

It sparked outrage after releasing a report in 2021 linking former Prime Minister Winston Churchill to colonialism and slavery.

National Trust bosses were also accused of “dumbing down” by removing important items from display and turning historic homes into “theme parks” designed for children.

It was also criticised for asking volunteers at one of its 18th century palaces to wear face paint and glitter to mark Pride month.

Volunteers at Ickworth in Suffolk were encouraged in 2021 to dress in colourful clothes, don rainbow flowers in their hair, wear multi-coloured make up and have their face or body painted for work.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer defended the trust earlier this year, accusing the Tories of going to “war” with the charity.

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, who previously served as deputy chairman of the Tory Party, was more scathing.

He insisted: “Brits expect the National Trust to protect our heritage, not lecture them on net zero.”

A spokesperson for the National Trust told the Telegraph: “The National Trust normally uses different language.

“However sometimes when sharing information about community groups, as we are on this occasion, we use the language that they feel is most appropriate.”

https://www.gbnews.com/news/national-trust-global-majority-ethnic-minority

The list of failures and shortcomings of French President Emmanuel Macron is too long to compile, but suffice to say he has managed to antagonize the whole Republic against him – and it’s reported now that even his older wife Brigitte has lost her patience and is interfering on his train-wreck of a second (and last) Presidential mandate.

He went to Marseille and launched a ‘crackdown on trafficking’ – but police rounding up the usual low-level small fish is hardly a compensation for the debacle of the escape by drug kingpin Mohamed Amra, aka La Mouche (The Fly), was freed from a prison convoy in an audacious ambush that saw two prison officers killed and others wounded.

Below, we see the British press going at the Globalist poster boy, a former Rothschild banker with unusual vehemence.

Daily Mail reported:

“Since Macron took office promising a new dawn for his country, Islamic militants have burned churches, murdered a priest saying mass and beheaded a teacher who offended a Muslim student. Anti-Semitic incidents have increased 300 per cent. The Holocaust memorial in Paris was attacked this week and yesterday morning, police shot dead a man armed with a knife who set fire to a synagogue in Rouen.”

Read more:

Amid France Chaos, Brigitte Macron Is Trying To Meddle in Her Failed Husband Emmanuel’s Presidential Mandate: Report

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has not only become one of the main drivers of Islamic mass migration, but also a haven for Islamists. This is the result of research by ‘Apollo News’. Already during the Hessian state election campaign in September, SPD top candidate and Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser appeared happy and unconcerned with the local Frankfurt SPD politician Mustapha Lahmjahdi. Faeser was apparently unaware of or did not care about his links to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist scene. However, this is certainly not an isolated case. SPD politicians frequent radical Islamic groups, while their members hold high positions within the party and the migration business.

In addition to Lahmjahdi, Frankfurt member of the SPD Mohamed Seddadi was also a member of the association ‘TUN e. V.’ (Toleranz Und Nähe -Moschee Frankfurt e.V – Attassamuh Moschee), which was monitored by the Hessian Office for the Protection of the Constitution and was in turn a member of the German-Islamic Association, which was dissolved in 2019. Seddadi is also a member of the municipal foreigners’ representation of the city of Frankfurt am Main, managing director of the Islamic Community Frankfurt e.V. (Abu Bakr Mosque) and coordinator of the Coordination Council of Mosques in Frankfurt (KRMF). In 2014, Seddadi took part in a training course organised by the European Institute for Human Sciences (EIHW) in Frankfurt, which, according to the Hessian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is a ‘cadre factory of the Muslim Brotherhood’. The certificate of participation was awarded to him by Sheikh Dr Abdullah Al-Judai, the current chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), an organisation controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, in which the ‘Islamic Community Milli Görüs e. V.’ (IGMG) is also part of and which maintains contacts with the Turkish Islamo-fascists of the Grey Wolves.

Abdassamad El Yazidi, also a member of the SPD, also maintains contacts with the Grey Wolves and was once a member of the Foreigners’ Advisory Council in Riedstadt (North Rhine-Westphalia). He is also frequently appearing in the media and has appeared on TV programmes such as ‘Hart aber fair’. When asked by ‘Apollo News’, the Riedstadt SPD said that El Yazidi was no longer a party member and that they knew nothing about his contacts with the Grey Wolves. The SPD in Plochingen did not want to comment on its member Davut Özyurt’s contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood. Three SPD members from the ‘Türk Federasyon’ association, one of the three large umbrella organisations of the Grey Wolves, are standing as candidates in the local elections in June. SPD member of the Bundestag Gülistan Yüksel also maintains contacts with the organisation as well as with the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) – now renamed the Union of International Democrats (UID) – a lobby organisation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This also applies to SPD politicians from Hamburg and Bremen, where they also declined to comment when asked. In Duisburg, four SPD representatives are associated with the Turkish-controlled mosque organisation DITIB.

And that is by no means all. A large number of SPD politicians are closely associated with various radical Islamic groups and are also often members of foreigners’ councils and other bodies through which they can exert influence. The party does not want to know anything about any of this. The Frankfurt SPD reacted particularly sensitively to enquiries from ‘Apollo News’. Because of alleged ‘multiple tendentious reports’, they did not want to comment and asked for ‘compliance with basic journalistic principles’ – which the SPD apparently only understands to mean favourable reporting. All in all, this shows how much the party is now seen as a useful idiot for those completing the Islamisation of Germany. People join the party and then allow themselves to be channelled into the countless committees and associations of the asylum system, where they can have a big impact at local level. You can then be celebrated in election campaign photos as an example of successful integration and present yourself as a pillar of this country. The SPD obviously doesn’t want to see this perfidious game – or, more likely, it is already so undermined that it no longer sees it as a problem.

Extremisten-Netzwerke in der SPD: Rote Vollender der Islamisierung » Journalistenwatch

A 14-year-old girl is said to have planned a terrorist knife attack on Jakominiplatz square in Graz. Police officers secured objects prepared for the attack as well as IS propaganda material belonging to the girl. Chats recovered had started the investigation.
The 14-year-old girl did not confess and refused to make a statement to the police. The public prosecutor’s office in Graz ordered the arrest and committal of the 14-year-old girl to Jakomini prison, and she has already been remanded in custody due to the risk of the offence being carried out and the risk of a cover-up.

Investigators from the Styrian State Office for State Security and Counter-Extremism (LSE) were put on the girl’s trail by a tip-off from a European security authority. A chat history was seized in which there was obviously talk of planning a terrorist attack on Jakominiplatz squre in Graz. The girl had already prepared weapons for this purpose – an axe and a knife – as well as special clothing. She sent pictures of them via Messenger to apparently ‘like-minded people’ abroad. The attack was to target ‘infidels’.

Based on her social media activities, the police managed to track down the 14-year-old girl from Graz, who has Montenegrin roots. The officers seized the alleged murder weapon, the clothing mentioned in the chat and several data carriers. The data carriers contained IS propaganda material as well as numerous combat and execution videos.

Mit Messer und Beil: Mädchen (14) wollte Terrorangriff in Graz verüben | Exxpress

Rebel members have been kicked out of the Scottish Green Party for declaring that “sex is a biological reality”.

Signatories to the Scottish Green Declaration for Women’s Sex-Based Rights were accused of making the party less safe for trans and non-binary members in an official complaint.

Now several members have been expelled with immediate effect by the ruling Conduct and Complaints Committee (CCC).

They include long-standing activists who have spent decades campaigning for Green politics.

In documents seen by Holyrood, a total of 13 Scottish Green Party members were accused of breaching its code of conduct by signing the declaration, which was published online in November last year.

The eight-point statement stated that “sex is a biological reality”, asserted that women have a right to maintain the sex-based protections enshrined in the Equality Act, said lesbians are same-sex attracted and declared that “women and girls have the right to discuss policies which affect them without being abused, harassed or intimidated”.

It stated: “We know that globally women, as a sex, are disproportionately affected by climate change and environmental degradation, and that their empowerment is essential to our work as environmentalists.”

The declaration was signed by current and former Scottish Green Party members and supporters.

A total of 13 activists who put their names to it, including office bearers and other persons “of seniority”, were reported to the CCC, triggering a disciplinary investigation.

Complainants, including the then-co-convenors of LGBTQI+ group the Rainbow Greens and a co-convenor of its Women’s Network, said the signatories had failed to “maintain political discipline” and broken rules that prohibit the undermining of party policy, bullying, “behaviours that constitute prejudice based on sexual orientation or gender identity” and “behaviours that constitute a threat to others”.

Now officials of the party, which since 2018 has had a rule which states that “trans-exclusionary individuals of any kind are not welcome as members”, have issued letters of expulsion.

All of the group have been expelled.

One of those to have his membership cancelled is David Jardine, who first became involved with the Greens in 1983. The 72-year-old, who rejects allegations of transphobia, said: “It’s quite clear that the party didn’t read the declaration very carefully or closely. All that it did was assert the right of women to advocate for a series of eight beliefs that they had. It wasn’t a demand that the party overturn policy, merely that people be allowed to speak without being harassed and pressurised.

“Some of the women who signed the declaration did so anonymously. Some were members who didn’t want to face a disciplinary, others were worried about their safety or their work.”

Another, grandfather Topher Dawson, has been a member for a decade. He said: “They seem to think that anyone who signed the declaration is transphobic. I have friends who are transgender women. It’s simply that to stretch the definition of ‘woman’ to include people who are not women makes a mockery of all the sex-based protections that have been hard-won by women, for women.

“There is no space to even discuss it. Anyone who even attempts to raise the subject is hounded out.”

Dawson compared the party’s tolerance for disagreement on the issue of sex-based rights to its position on independence. While the Greens are a pro-independence party, Dawson said there is acceptance within the membership of diverging opinion. He said: “It’s quite acceptable within the party to express a unionist view, no one will give you a hard time for it.

“I was proposing that being gender-critical ought to be an acceptable position within the party, even though lots of people would disagree with that position.

“It’s not the raison d’etre of the party. If I was a climate denialist that would be unacceptable – that issue is the reason for the party’s existence. But for this issue, it shouldn’t be make or break but it has become that way.”

One of those who submitted the complaint, Ryan Donachie, has since left the Scottish Greens. In a statement on X, he said the “fundamental mistreatment of ordinary members” by the party was “intolerable” and suggested his resignation could “act as a wake-up call to our leaders and underline the crisis in confidence that many members have in the direction we are currently being taken in”.

The document, in which MSP Ross Greer is cited as a witness, states that: “Given the serious nature of this complaint and the serious breaches of the SGP CoC [Code of Conduct], the only appropriate action to be taken on this occasion is that all current members who are signatories on the ‘declaration’ MUST be removed from the party with immediate effect, to ensure the safety of all trans and non-binary members of the SGP.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Green Party said: “We can confirm disciplinary action was taken against 13 individuals over a breach of our membership policy, which has resulted in their immediate expulsion from the party. The welfare of all our members is our primary concern. The CCC process found that the members were in breach of our code of conduct. 

“Next month is Pride month and we hope this decisive action will send a clear message that we stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community now and forever.”

https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,scottish-greens-expel-gender-rebels-deemed-threat-to-trans-members

The General Intelligence Department (DGSI) has uncovered an online correspondence between two teenagers. According to information obtained by RTL and confirmed by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) on Friday May 17, an 18-year-old adult and a 15-year-old minor were arrested last week and charged with criminal terrorist association on Sunday May 12.
The two young people, who had ‘obviously been recruited to the jihadist movement’, had been discussing ‘short-term coordinated attack projects’, i.e. simultaneous attacks at different locations in France, for weeks, the public prosecutor’s office told RTL. They had been in contact with each other via social networks. One lives in the Grand-Est and the other in Occitania.

Investigators have yet to confirm the younger man’s actual intention to commit the offence. He had only been radicalised for a few months and had been attending Christian confirmation classes until recently, as RTL reported. He was not taken into custody. The intention of the older man, on the other hand, was more firmly established. He may have intended to attack ‘institutional’ targets. The 18-year-old is said to have endeavoured to acquire weapons. Both of the defendants’ lawyers were contacted by RTL and did not wish to comment on the incidents.

Deux jeunes mis en examen pour des « projets d’attaques coordonnées » djihadistes – Valeurs actuelles

Belgian Post Group (Bpost), the country’s leading postal service with the Belgian Government as majority shareholder, is refusing to work with Doorbraak, a right-of-centre news magazine.

Less than a month before the Belgian and European Parliament elections on June 9, Doorbraak produced a special election edition offering analysis and interviews with politicians and public thinkers.

After initially agreeing to co-operate, Bpost has since deemed the content too political and even claimed Doorbraak was not a “real” news medium.

Pieter Bauwens, editor-in-chief of Doorbraak, told Brussels Signal he had not encountered such an issue with Bpost before.

“This is the first time we’ve been portrayed as a political action group rather than a media company,” he said.

Bauwens further claimed that Facebook also seemed to be acting against Doorbraak.

“I expect this is because of our content, but it is hard to be sure, as it is difficult to contact them,” he said.

“It is a waste of energy for trivial matters, keeping us from doing our real job. Why can’t we just be a medium like the others?

“[The left-wing magazine] Humo is much more activist but they never encounter any difficulties, is this because they are part of the DPG Media group? Are they allowed more?

“It becomes terribly annoying to justify what you do, which is simply news, opinion, and columns,” Bauwens added.

The editor-in-chief also said that, alongside this latest incident, there had been ongoing issues with the basic services provided by the postal company and claimed that was a frustration shared by many.

Michael Freilich, MP for the centre-right N-VA party, told Brussels Signal: “The decision of Bpost to refuse Doorbraak access to address databases is very concerning.

“This is a revealing illustration of how deeply the political tentacles, especially those of the [Socialist Party] PS, have entrenched themselves in the structures of this government-owned company.

“It also constitutes a blatant undermining of press freedom, where a legitimate news medium is excluded solely because its content may not align with the world-view of certain political forces,” he added.

“This incident is clear evidence that Bpost no longer functions as a neutral and independent postal company but rather as an extension of certain political interests,” he claimed.

“Given these developments, this incident reaffirms the need to privatise Bpost, something that my party, the N-VA, has been requesting for some time.”

Central in the Doorbraak special edition were 14 critical questions about politics, for example: “Why do citizens feel politically homeless?” and: “Can the city decide over the rural municipalities?”.

Others included: “Is Justice still just?”; “Does uncontrolled migration disrupt our society?” and: “Why is the gap between the EU and its citizens so large?”

In a promotional move, Doorbraak‘s management had wanted to distribute copies using an address database provided by a division of Bpost that commercialises such information.

Initially, there were no issues. The magazine contacted Bpost’s commercial services and submitted its request in mid-February.

Bpost received a draft version of the magazine on April 4 and on April 11 offered delivery of the requested address file.

“But on the afternoon of April 25, just as all the copies had been printed and were ready for shipment, Bpost suddenly changed its stance,” said Doorbraak marketing manager Roan Asselman. “They abruptly refused to do business with Doorbraak.”

In its justification for the sudden and late reversal to work with the magazine, Bpost said: “Legally, we are not allowed to rent the addresses in our Selectpost database to political parties or related organisations.

“We consider the format and themes proposed for the mailing to be highly politicised, which is why we have decided to reject the order,” it added, referring both to the magazine’s cover and the 14 questions.

Doorbraak said its staff were unable to speak to those at Bpost who were responsible for the decision.

VVJ, the Flemish association for professional journalists, which Doorbraak is part of, denounced the Bpost move.

Charlotte Michils, general secretary of the VVJ, noted that the magazine is a “real” news medium, where professional journalists are employed, and added: “That in itself is a guarantee of quality.”

Kathleen Van Beveren, chief executive of E-logistics Eurasia at Belgian postal giant Bpost and a member of its executive committee, is stepping down from her role amid accusations of fraud and foul play inside the company. https://t.co/ZXbRl8PH5f

— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 9, 2023

https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/05/belgiums-bpost-says-conservative-leaning-magazine-too-political-to-work-with

In a win for parental and conscience rights, a California teacher fired last year for refusing to comply with the gender-fluid agenda won a $360,000 settlement agreement with the Jurupa Unified School District Board.

As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, tenured Jurupa Valley High School physical education teacher Jessica Tapia became the target of a campaign by pro-LGBT students to pore over and report to school officials her social media posts expressing conservative views on LGBT issues, leading to a “religious exemption” review in which she was asked about her willingness to allow male students in female lockers and withhold from parents signs that their children were suffering from gender dysphoria. Upon answering that she could not do so in good conscience, she was fired.

“Some of the allegations, the evidence they submitted for them, were literally Bible verses that I posted,” Tapia explained in an interview last February. “There were some like that, and then there were some where, obviously on my social media I voice how I live my life and my opinions and my beliefs. And so some of the allegations were that I was not calling students by their preferred gender or pronouns. Which was very interesting too because I had never had a student come to me … with, ‘Mrs. Tapia, I would like you to call me this.’ I’ve never even been in that scenario, yet they were making these claims.” 

“I made sure to clarify, too, with this district personnel that were sitting across from me,” she added. “I looked them in the eye and I said, ‘Are you asking me to lie to parents?’ and they said, ‘Yes. It’s the law.’”

Now, the Washington Stand reported that the district has agreed to a settlement amounting to five times the median salary for a Jurupa teacher. The district is attempting to save face by stressing that the settlement does not contain any admission of wrongdoing on its part. 

“Today’s settlement serves as a reminder that religious freedom is protected, no matter your career,” Advocates for Faith and Freedom attorney Julianne Fleischer said. “Jessica’s story is one of faithful courage. She fought back to ensure her school district was held accountable and that no other teacher has to succumb to this type of discrimination.”

“What happened to me can happen to anybody, and I want the next teacher to know that it is worth it to take a stand for what is right,” Tapia herself said. “Across the country, we are seeing teachers’ freedom of speech and religious liberty violated through policies that require them to forsake their morals. I want teachers to be confident in the fact that the best thing we can do for students is educate in truth, not deception.”

California law ostensibly protects parents’ “absolute right to access to any and all pupil records related to their children,” but the state Department of Education declares that “preserving a student’s privacy is of the utmost importance,” and that “(d)isclosing that a student is transgender without the student’s permission may violate California’s anti-discrimination law by increasing the student’s vulnerability to harassment and may violate the student’s right to privacy.”

The indoctrination of children with left-wing ideology on sexuality and other left-wing agenda items has long been a major concern in American public schools, from libraries to athletic and restroom policy to drag events to classroom materials to even socially “transitioning” troubled children without parental input. Many schools have also displayed hostility to the rights and employment of individual teachers who refuse to go along with such agendas, regardless of their treatment of or rapport with gender-confused students.

The danger of keeping parents in the dark about such developments is grimly illustrated in the story of Yaeli Martinez, a 19-year-old to whom “gender transitioning” was touted as a possible cure for her depression in high school, supported by a high school counselor who withheld what she was going through from her mother. The troubled girl killed herself in 2019 after trying to live as a man for three years.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/christian-teacher-fired-for-defying-transgender-agenda-wins-360000-settlement-from-school/?utm_source=most_recent&utm_campaign=usa

An ancient Greek computer more than 1,000 years ahead of its time was able to accurately predict the motions of planets and stars, even when they would appear to move backwards across the sky, new research has found.

The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in a shipwreck off the coast of Greece early in the 20th century.Archaeologists immediately suspected it was some kind of astronomical clock, but figured it was probably renaissance in origin due to its complexity. 

It wasn’t until the second half of the 20th century researchers realised it dated to ancient Greece – probably around 100BC-200BC – and that it accurately traced the movement of the sun and moon, predicting when eclipses would occur.No other machine of such complexity dating back that far has ever been found, the technology having been lost until the late medieval era.It’s now been discovered that the Antikythera Mechanism also tracked the movements of Venus and Saturn – including when their orbit, when viewed from Earth, looked like they were travelling backwards across the sky.

Until now, no one knew that the Ancient Greeks possessed this kind of astronomical knowledge, let alone how to program it into an analogue computer – leaving the researchers baffled.”The classic astronomy of the first millennium BC originated in Babylon, but nothing in this astronomy suggested how the ancient Greeks found the highly accurate 462-year cycle for Venus and 442-year cycle for Saturn,” said PhD candidate and UCL Antikythera Research team member Aris Dacanalis.

Evidence the researchers uncovered using X-rays discovered that the mechanism, which was found in pieces, mapped the orbits of all the other planets known to the ancient Greeks too.”After considerable struggle, we managed to match the evidence in Fragments A and D to a mechanism for Venus, which exactly models its 462-year planetary period relation, with the 63-tooth gear playing a crucial role,” said team member David Higgons.

Left: Fragment A of the Antikythera Mechanism. Right:
Diagram of the gearing of the AM (courtesy of the Adler Planetarium, Chicago).

The next step, the researchers say, is to build a physical recreation of the Antikythera Mechanism – something they admit will be difficult, even with modern technology.”A particular challenge will be the system of nested tubes that carried the astronomical outputs,” said study co-author Adam Wojcik. The research was published in the Scientific Reports journal.”Our work reveals the Antikythera Mechanism as a beautiful conception, translated by superb engineering into a device of genius,” it concludes.”It challenges all our preconceptions about the technological capabilities of the ancient Greeks.”

On this day in 1902, the Antikythera Mechanism was discovered

https://greekcitytimes.com/2024/05/17/antikythera-mechanism-computer-2-2