Donald Trump has joined the chorus of right-wing—and, in some cases, even establishment—world leaders condemning a Paris court’s decision to ban Marine Le Pen from running for office.
The U.S. president compared the National Rally leader’s persecution to the blatantly partisan legal witch hunt against himself and said the ruling was a “very big deal.” This suggests that the French Right could eventually benefit from the state’s embrace of lawfare, just as Trump did in America.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce also decried Le Pen’s exclusion as “particularly concerning given the aggressive and corrupt lawfare waged against President Trump here in the United States,” adding:
We support the right of everyone to offer their views in the public square—agree or disagree.
In an apparent reference to Vice President JD Vance’s February Munich speech on Europe’s “enemy within,” Bruce also called on the West to “do more” than simply “talk about democratic values. We must live them.”
Trump’s administration has appealed to the same values when responding to the UK’s attempts to dodge hefty U.S. car tariffs, with one source tellingThe Daily Telegraph there should be “no free trade without free speech.” The official was referring to the case of a British woman who was arrested in March 2023 for peacefully protesting near an abortion clinic, simply by holding a sign reading: “Here to talk if you want.”
[2/2] While recently in the UK, DRL Senior Advisor Sam Samson met with Livia Tossici-Bolt, who faces criminal charges for offering conversation within a legally prohibited “buffer zone” at an abortion clinic. We are monitoring her case. It is important that the UK respect and…
— State Dept: Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor (DRL) (@StateDRL) March 30, 2025
A UK government source responded by describing attacks on free speech as a “bugbear” of Trump’s team, adding that “I don’t think”—(translation, don’t hope)—“enhancing our economic engagement that is beneficial for both countries is contingent on this particular issue.”
JK Rowling has condemned a nursery that suspended a toddler for alleged transphobia, describing the decision as “totalitarian insanity”.
The Harry Potter author took to the social media platform X to express her outrage after it emerged that a child aged either three or four had been suspended from a state nursery.
The incident has sparked debate about discipline policies in early education settings.
The child was suspended for “abuse against sexual orientation and gender identity”, according to data from the Department for Education.
Details of the specific school or case were not disclosed, but the incident took place around three years ago.
The suspension was recorded during the 2022-23 academic year at a state school.
Reacting to the news, Rowling penned on X: “If you think small children should be punished for being able to recognise sex, you are a dangerous zealot who should be nowhere near kids or in any position of authority over them.”
Lord Young, director of the Free Speech Union, echoed this sentiment when speaking to the Telegraph, saying: “If your ideology is so rigid it justifies you punishing toddlers for not complying with it, that’s a powerful argument for discarding it in favour of something less dogmatic.”
The case appears to be part of a wider trend. Data reveals that 94 pupils at state primary schools were suspended or permanently excluded for transphobia or homophobia during the same academic year.
Of these, 10 were from Year 1 while three were in Year 2 – where the maximum possible age of students is just seven.
Across all primary schools and state schools, the number of pupils suspended or expelled for homophobic or transphobic behaviour increased from 164 in 2021-22 to 178 in 2022-23.
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at human-rights charity Sex Matters, strongly criticised the nursery’s decision.
“Every once in a while, the extremes of gender ideology throw up a story that seems too crazy to believe, and a toddler being suspended from nursery for so-called ‘transphobia’ or homophobia is one such example,” she said.
Joyce added that this was not an isolated case, noting that 13 children aged four and five had also been suspended for similar reasons.
“Teachers and school leaders involved in this insanity should be ashamed of themselves for projecting adult concepts and beliefs on to such young children,” she stated.
Essex saw the highest number of suspensions and exclusions for homophobia or transphobia, with 16 in the academic year 2022-23.
Birmingham followed closely with 15 cases, while Bradford took third place with 11, and Norfolk recorded eight.
The Department for Education has only tracked this data since the 2020-21 academic year.
In 2022, a Church of England school in the Isle of Wight warned a six-year-old boy’s parents that he might be deemed ‘transphobic’ if he were to question another pupil wearing a dress.
Students can face exclusions for multiple reasons, according to the data.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “All pupils and staff should feel safe and protected at school and should never face violence or abuse.”
“The Education Secretary has been clear that she expects school leaders to enforce good behaviour and we are committed to a comprehensive programme of behaviour support for schools.”
The spokesperson added: “Our Plan for Change sets out our relentless focus on making sure every child gets the best life chances, no matter their background, including establishing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, providing access to mental health support and making attendance one of the four core priorities of our school improvement teams.”
The case has drawn parallels to other controversies in education. In 2021, feminist professor Kathleen Stock was forced to leave the University of Sussex following criticism of her views on gender identity.
Last week, Sussex University was fined £585,000 for failing to uphold free speech in relation to Stock’s case – the largest fine ever given to a university.
Sally and Nigel Rowe previously raised concerns after their sons’ Church of England school warned that pupils could be labelled “transphobic” for questioning another child’s gender identity.
The Rowes claimed they received a letter stating children could face this label for showing “an inability to believe a transgender person is actually a ‘real’ female or male.”
A Dutch pedophile who amassed one of the largest child pornography collections in the history of the Netherlands announced that he transitioned into a woman after he was arrested, and may now be in a women’s prison awaiting trial, according to local reports.
The unnamed man, who Reduxx is referring to as ‘Jan’ for the purposes of this article, first appeared in front of the Groningen court in the northeastern province of the Netherlands on February 20. Jan was arrested after police discovered eight million files of pornography on his computer, consisting of graphic and violent child sexual abuse material, wherein children were tortured and abused, and bestiality pornography.
The collection of material was so expansive that police stopped pouring through the sickening files after cataloguing two million horrific images and videos. Public prosectors have stated that the amount of material may make it the largest child sexual abuse material bust in the history of the Netherlands.
Jan, 40, has an extensive history of hoarding sickening images of children. He was first given a three month suspended prison sentence and 240 hours of community service for collecting 40,000 photos and 1,000 videos of child sexual abuse material in 2017. He was caught again in August of 2023, but was allowed to remain at home before his trial. Even though his computer was seized by police, Jan continued collecting child pornography through his PlayStation.
According to prosecutors, Jan had gained a notoriety amongst the pedophile community for sharing his extensive collection with others online, which led to him receiving “prestige” from fellow predators. He also had a “manual” in his possession instructing men on how to have “safe and harmless sex” with a child.
“I have seen a lot of child pornography in my profession, but this is the most disgusting child and animal pornography that exists,” the prosecutor said during the trial.
The court heard that Jan suffered from a borderline disorder, alcohol addiction, an identity disorder and a paraphilic disorder, giving him diminished responsibility. Jan blamed his collection of child abuse material on his alcohol abuse, and claimed that he had been abused as a child himself – an argument that didn’t sit well with the prosecutor. In court, Jan was revealed to have been the administrator of online group chats for pedophiles, where he hid his identity.
Prosecutors asked for Jan to receive a 5-year prison sentence, along with time in the TBS system, a Dutch network of penal hospitals for prisoners with severe psychiatric disorders. Behavioral experts suggested he shouldn’t receive any prison time at all, which the prosecutors and the court rejected due to his possession of “child pornography of the highest order.” Jan eventually received a three and a half year prison sentence plus time in the TBS system on March 6, 2025, along with a no contact order with children.
During his pre-trial detention, he spent his time in Leeuwarden prison, an all-male prison in the neighboring northwestern province of Friesland, around 40 miles from Groningen. However, following his conviction and gender transition, he was transferred to the prison in Zwolle, around 65 miles southwest of Groningen.
Zwolle’s prison is one of three in the Netherlands that can house female prisoners, with Zwolle being the only mixed-sex facility out of the three. It currently has capacity for 98 male and 39 female prisoners, along with a psychiatric center with six male wards, three female wards, and two mixed wards. Charlotte Hees, the spokesman for the Dutch Prison and Probation Service (DJI) said when questioned that they never comment on the situation of individual prisoners.
“Placement in the prison system takes place on the basis of the gender stated in the passport,” Hees explained. “Deviation is possible if there is reason to do so, for example for the safety of detainees. This is always custom work and is determined on the basis of a careful assessment and adjusted when necessary,” she added.
While it remains unclear whether Jan has changed his legal documents, Pauline Jacobs, an associate professor of criminal law and criminal procedure at Tilburg University, says it isn’t exactly true that the passport is the be all and end all for prison placements.
“The DJI announced last year that they are now looking at things more broadly than just the Personal Records Database,” Jacobs said. “They are now also looking at other factors, such as gender-related physical characteristics, the prisoner’s own preferences, the nature of the offence and the prisoner’s psychological and physical problems.”
According to Jan’s lawyer, he specifically does not want to detail why he chose to transition, and there has been no response to media inquiries as to whether he will be allowed to continue his transition within the prison or not.
